This is from http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/4/26/145027/776
You can run but you can’t hide. It’s over. Not history, not the world, just life as we have known it. Probably just as well. If what you have is not sustainable, and you aren’t smart enough or aware enough or concerned enough to change it to something that is, life will come in and change it around you. As it appears to be doing.
Credit: Zero Gravity Corp.
On the one hand, a great thing to imagine someone overcoming — if only briefly — 40 years of disability. On the other hand, to say that we have to go into space because we have no future on earth — well, better dead than permanently exiled from this magnificent garden.
This article from The Nation I found via Truthout.
The Establishment Rethinks Globalization
By William Greider
The Nation
30 April 2007 Issue
The church of global free trade, which rules American politics with infallible pretensions, may have finally met its Martin Luther. An unlikely dissenter has come forward with a revised understanding of globalization that argues for thorough reformation. This man knows the global trading system from the inside because he is a respected veteran of multinational business. His ideas contain an explosive message: that what established authorities teach Americans about global trade is simply wrong - disastrously wrong for the United States.
Communicating with Orcas, by Mary J. Getten, has won the 2007 Nautilus Book Award in the category of Animals/Nature.
Mary J. Getten
Why Is America So Violent?
By John W. Whitehead
April 26, 2007
Violence begets violence, and it is contagious.
America is a nation plagued by violenceâ€â€in our homes, in our schools, on our streets and in our affairs of state, both foreign and domestic. Violence permeates our entertainment culture with its glamorization of death and destruction in movies and video games. Indeed, it is estimated that by the time a child reaches 18, he or she will have witnessed 200,000 acts of violence, including 40,000 murders on television. Our nation has one of the highest murder rates and levels of incarceration of all industrialized nations in the world. We even export violence, with one of this country’s most profitable exports being weapons. All too often, these same weapons fall into the hands of our enemies. America is now seen as a violent empire with continual wars that stretch back to at least the beginning of the twentieth century.
But why is America so violent?
A nice ezine review, found at http://planetstarz.com/mlt/index.php?year=2007&month=04&pg=38
How People Heal Exploring the Scientific Basis Of Subtle Energy in Healing
by Diane Goldner
This 330 page marvel is a total breath of fresh air, and the perfect choice for those who are becoming aware of energy healing or who want to learn more. The author has done a fabulous job of tracing the roots of healing and giving us clear examples of how this little understood ability can bring life altering change to all of us, the world, and beyond.
Well written this special book has the ability to transform lives for the better, by teaching us about the different healing modalities, and about the subtle energies in our lives and how to work with them for the greater good. I also found the personal stories and the drawings and graphs to be useful in letting me see the fuller picture. I would recommend this one to anyone who feels the needs to learn more about what healers do and how they do it. Thanks Diane, for teaching us to use the light.
Riki Frahmann
How People Heal Exploring the Scientific Basis Of Subtle Energy in Healing by Diane Goldner may be purchased at: www.hamptonroads.com
As so often, John Whitehead correctly analyzes the problem.
In this case, however, I don’t think he goes far enough. The bad effects of television are so pervasive, so subtle, that I have been unable to find any “happy medium” and so do not watch it at all. The downside of this is that I undoubtedly miss occasionally worthwhile programming. But this downside is more than counterbalanced by the freedom from artificially induced artificial wants (commercials, in other words) and by the systematic inculcation of fear in various forms. I cannot conceive of anyone watching television seven hours unless a day unless confined to their homes by illness, age, or disability.
Suit yourself, but at least read Whitehead’s commentary.
TV News Can Be Dangerous to Your Health
By John W. Whitehead
April 23, 2007
Anyone who relies exclusively on television news reporting for insight into what’s happening in the world is making a serious mistake. However, since Americans have by and large become non-readers and primarily viewers of television, it has become an inescapable necessity for most that if they desire information on current events, they get it from watching TV news shows.
Yet TV news networks, having fallen prey to the demands of a celebrity-obsessed and entertainment-driven culture, provide viewers with what they want to see, rather than what is newsworthy. As a result, there tends to be little deviation between the networks as to what stories are covered. Hence, more time is spent titillating and entertaining viewers than educating them about pressing issues of concern.
This remarkable interview from the San Francisco Chronicle via SFGate — http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/04/23/findrelig.DTL — is of great value in clarifying two seemingly different subjects:
- dealing with anger and hatred in others and in yourself
- healing and prevention
There is no need for me to say more. Read this.
A Tibetan monk who was tortured for his religious beliefs shares his thoughts about compassion
David Ian Miller
Monday, April 23, 2007
Last week, as the news broke about the attacks that killed 33 people at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, I was editing this week’s interview with Phagyab Rinpoche, a Tibetan lama who survived torture by Chinese officials. Amid the incessant drone of televised experts, each one loudly advocating his or her pet project or policy as the antidote for the unbelievable horror in Virginia, Rinpoche’s peaceful response to the terror and violence in his own life struck a singular chord.
One thing I know is that ours is a heavily overmedicated society. I sometimes think that prescription drug abuse is more widespread than recreational drug abuse, and patent medicine drug abuse more widespread than either. We are extensively propagandized into thinking that the answer to any medical problem lies in some pharmaceutical product that did not even exist 50 years ago but is now somehow necessary.
I myself when I have a cold or the miseries prefer to cure it — or rather, let it cure itself — by staying in bed, drinking lots of water, and waiting. But our clockwork society has made people unwilling or unable to do that, mostly, and so the drug industry prospers.
All of this is an aside. This morning’s www.UrbanSurvival.com includes a little piece by website author George Ure on a bit of folk medicine someone sent him in an e-mail. Like him, I find the idea intriguing. Like him, I have no firsthand knowledge of whether this works. Like him, I pass it on to you for what it is worth. If you have or obtain first-hand knowledge of networking or not working, you might post it here as a comment so that others may benefit.
The text of the e-mail that was sent to him follows:
More and more, I rely upon foreign news sources to find out what is going on at home. A nice analysis piece from a British newspaper.
California: How the Golden State Went Green
ANDREW GUMBEL - The Independent (U.K.)
A few weeks ago, residents of Catalina Island off the coast of southern California were invited to a screening of Al Gore’s global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth. The mayor of Avalon, Catalina’s one and only town, didn’t have high expectations; the island, 20 miles out from the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, is known for its conservative politics and its population of affluent weekend yachting types who don’t believe in crimping their lifestyles for anything as nebulous as the future of the planet.
The event, though, was a sell-out - attracting about 400 people, or almost 12 per cent of Avalon’s population - and the crowd stayed at the end for a lively question and answer session.