When I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was “direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful.” Boy, no pressure there.
But let’s begin with the startling part. Hey, Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mind-boggling situation... but not one peer-reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute that statement. Basically, the earth needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.
This planet came with a set of operating instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don’t poison the water, soil, or air, and don’t let the earth
Wealth on the other hand is a state of consciousness that represents generosity of spirit that translates into material abundance.
In this course, Deepak Chopra & Marianne Williamson will take you through an in-depth understanding of consciousness as a field of infinite possibilities, infinite creativity, infinite energy & infinite abundance.
This video was shot by Salvador Reza and produced with Dennis Gilman. It is from the Maricop County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) "oppression saturation sweeps" last night in the town of Buckeye, Maricopa County, Arizona, January 9, 2009. The video is just over two minutes long and there is an aunt who came to claim the children after the mother was arrested. The children are interviewed while crying for their mother.
With so much attention focused on the passage of California's Proposition 8, a lot of people seem to forget that any hopes of Arizona's same-sex couples were similarly dashed with the passage of Proposition 102. Our state already had a law preventing members of an entire minority group from being able to marry the person they choose. Now that legal provision for discrimination has been added to our state constitution.
It's certainly no secret to anyone who's read this column that my husband and I support civil rights for everyone. That includes acknowledging all the marriage rights for same-sex couples that are now acknowledged for heterosexual couples. That's why we voted against Proposition 102, and we hope to vote for its repeal in the foreseeable future.
The Dignity, a ship carrying medical supplies from the people of Cyprus to besieged Gaza, was surrounded, in international waters 90 miles off the coast of Gaza, by a half dozen Israeli warships, who reportedly fired live ammunition around the Dignity, and ordered her return to Cyprus. The 66-foot yacht, flying the flag of Gibraltar, was bearing 15 civilian passengers, including medical doctors, journalists and human rights activists from the Free Gaza Solidarity Movement, from 11 different countries (see below for complete list). The only American aboard was Green Party Presidential candidate, and former Congresswoman, Cynthia McKinney, on a fact-finding mission.
* Israeli population centers in southern Israel have been the target of over 4,000 rockets, as well as thousands of mortar shells, fired by Hamas and other organizations since 2001. Rocket attacks increased by 500 percent after Israel withdrew completely from the Gaza Strip in August 2005. During an informal six-month lull, some 215 rockets were launched at Israel.
* The charge that Israel uses disproportionate force keeps resurfacing whenever it has to defend its citizens from non-state terrorist organizations and the rocket attacks they perpetuate. From a purely legal perspective, Israel's current military actions in Gaza are on solid ground. According to international law, Israel is not required to calibrate its use of force precisely according to the size and range of the weaponry used against it.
At 3:19 P.M. Sunday, the sound of an incoming missile could be heard over the telephone. And then another, along with the children's cries of fear. In Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, high-rise apartment buildings are crowded close together, with dozens of children in every building, hundreds in every block.
Their father, B., informs me that smoke is rising from his neighbor's house and ends the call. An hour later, he tells me that two apartments were hit. One was empty; he does not know who lives there. The other, which suffered casualties, belongs to a member of a rocket-launching cell, but no one senior or important.
After its severe strike on Gaza, Israel would do well to stop, turn to Hamas' leaders and say: Until Saturday Israel held its fire in the face of thousands of Qassams from the Gaza Strip. Now you know how harsh its response can be. So as not to add to the death and destruction we will now hold our fire unilaterally and completely for the next 48 hours. Even if you fire at Israel, we will not respond with renewed fighting. We will grit our teeth, as we did all through the recent period, and we will not be
A United Nations joint statement calling for countries to decriminalize homosexuality and keep LGBT people safe has been backed by nearly every Western nation -- except possibly the United States.
A U.N. spokeswoman for the United States said the government has not shown its support because the statement has not been finalized, but U.K. gay activist Peter Tatchell says it has been put through the final steps.
Catholic reformers hope to restore passages praising Mary and other biblical women to the lectionary used in Sunday Mass. A Vatican synod in October called for a review, providing them hope that women may gain a bigger role in church teachings.
(WOMENSENEWS)--The men and women gathered in a New York Roman Catholic church to hear the biblical song of praise that is never proclaimed on Sunday.
The 60 or so Catholics had come on a Wednesday evening in early December to listen to and meditate on the Magnificat, a canticle sung by Mary, believed by Christians to be the mother of God. In it, Mary praises God for choosing her to do his will.
The Church now faces a potentially disastrous series of court battles. The Church of England has reached an historic agreement on the consecration of women bishops.
After years of struggle to avoid schism, bishops have agreed a formula that enshrines the principle of equality for male and female bishops while appeasing opponents
Who speaks for the Gazans? Whose is the voice for a million and a half of the most victimized people on the face of our earth, serially colonized, exploited, deprived of work, deprived of food, deprived of basic freedoms, deprived, decade after degenerating decade, of any semblance of a future?
The warfare this week has demonstrated that, rather than coming to the Gazans' aid, the supposed allies of the people of the Strip have rendered Gazans more vulnerable than ever to military attack, to misrule, and to a world community less likely than ever to seek their rescue.
Channel 1 television broadcast an interesting mix on Saturday morning: Its correspondents reported from Sderot and Ashkelon, but the pictures on the screen were from the Gaza Strip. Thus the broadcast, albeit unintentionally, sent the right message: A child in Sderot is the same as a child in Gaza, and anyone who harms either is evil.
But the assault on Gaza does not first and foremost demand moral condemnation - it demands a few historical reminders. Both the justification given for it and the chosen targets are a replay of the same basic assumptions that have proven wrong time
There are two acceptable public objects of hatred in America today. Two groups of People, who can be derided, insulted, humiliated, ridiculed and for which public policies imposing discrimination are still actively sought. There are two groups of people whose rights and well being are routinely threatened by electoral initiative, of whom Governors, Bishops, Senators, and Pastors propose their removal or propose to relegate them to an inferior permanent status. It is no surprise therefore that members of both are targets of apparently incomprehensible violence by thugs and racist hooligans.
Scott Wong - Dec. 17, 2008 05:30 PM The Arizona Republic
Phoenix will become the second city in Arizona to offer its residents a program that grants hospital-visitation rights to all domestic partners.
The Phoenix City Council on Wednesday unanimously voted to create a domestic-partner registry, following in the footsteps of Tucson which launched a similar program in 2003. Councilmembers Maria Baier, Peggy Neely and Thelda Williams were absent for what was the last council meeting of the year.
That's because there's usually not just one change that happens - or NEEDS to happen - but lots of little changes and choices and decisions. As you know, some change goes smoothly and some, well, not so much. We all need help at some point with accepting change and sustaining transition: two different things.
After you surf the internet, read books, talk to friends and sit in contemplation, you're still responsible for decisions you make. Sigh. We live the consequences of our thinking and feeling selves - whether we're conscious of those thoughts and feelings or not!
TRICK OF THE WEEK ~ Don't confuse being HUMBLE with WEAKNESS.They're verrrry different. Humble has the same root meaning as "humus" or earth. It simply means
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