August 23, 2010 archive

Gestures, Mosques, and Peace Talks: Interview with Professor Marc Gopin

cross-posted from Sum of Change

Professor Marc Gopin is the Director at the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy, and Conflict Resolution (CRDC) with the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University. You can follow his work by visiting www.MarcGopin.com. He has focused a lot of his work around interfaith conflict resolution, which is why we asked to speak with him about the controversy over the proposed construction of the Cordoba Mosque in lower Manhattan. Right after we scheduled the interview, news broke that peace talks among Israel, Palestine, and the United States would resume in September. This is an issue that Professor Gopin has been deeply involved with for a very long time now, so we included that in our line of questioning.

Highlight clips with partial transcripts and the full 40-minute interview below the fold…

The Week in Editorial Cartoons, Part I – BP’s Soup Recipe

Crossposted at Daily Kos and The Stars Hollow Gazette

John Sherffius

John Sherffius, Comics.com (Boulder Daily Camera)

Note: Due to a deluge of editorial cartoons over the past week or so, I’m going to, time permitting, post Part II of this weekly diary in the next few days.  In addition to some of the issues covered in this edition, I’ll include more cartoons on the floods in Pakistan, the withdrawal of combat U.S. forces in Iraq, and Rupert Murdoch’s $1 million contribution to the GOP.

Here is what to do and how to do it.

        Also, here is what not to do and why not.

      Act locally. Avoid national electoral politics like the plague.  Vote for the least bad candidate, that is all the investment in electoral politics that is called for. Use human rights and social justice as your guide. We are all in this together, if one group is excluded, we are all brought lower. Pocketbook issues? A financial conservative is a social conservative. Revolution? Evolution by intention.

      Politics is business is entertainment is a conservative enterprise. Mature democracies have some inherent problems; they tend toward conservatism, they tend towards militarism, they seek to exclude illegal immigrants, they tend toward a two tiered class system, they are warlike in their quest to spread democracy and they are prone to moral and economic corruption. You all knew that, didn’t you?

      The bill of rights and a balanced constitution have not been enough to quell the social divides that are stoked by politicians whose only mission is to seek political domination.

     

News at Noon

From Reuters

Compensation czar takes charge of $20 billion BP fund

By Matthew Bigg

August 23, 2010

(Reuters) – A $20 billion compensation fund for economic victims of the BP Gulf oil spill opens for business on Monday amid accusations that the rules established by its administrator are unfair.

Kenneth Feinberg who will run the fund said those who sustained financial loss because of the spill could claim for damages and he promised claimants more generous treatment than they would get if they sued the energy giant for damages.

“The goal here is to try and explain to eligible claimants: ‘It is not in your interest to tie up yourself and the courts in years of uncertain protracted litigation when … there is a more efficient quick alternative'” Feinberg told a news conference on Sunday.

Some news from Hugh Giordano’s Green campaign for state legislature in Philadelphia

I’ve been gone all summer – traveling, gardening, volunteering a bit, and doing some other things – and as much as I had a lot of fun, it is nice to be back.  In all that time, some interesting things have happened with what I consider to be one of the better Green campaigns in the nation this year, and one that I’m very involved with, Hugh Giordano’s campaign for state legislature as a Green.

In case you don’t know who Hugh is, he’s a 25 year old union organizer running as a Green in PA’s 194th district, which is mostly in Philadelphia and also a bit in Montgomery County (for locals, it encompasses Roxborough, Manayunk, parts of Lower Merion, and some surrounding areas).  He’s been running a great campaign, knocking on doors, holding fun fundraisers, getting in the newspaper, and raising as much money as a typical Green congressional candidate.

Anyway, below the fold is some news from the campaign, including an endorsement from a fairly prominent local Democrat.

Teabaggers bag a black brother at the Ground Zero

Fucking hate the Tea Baggers. They have been skullfucking my Campaign for Liberty pony for a good two years now, with not even a friendly reach around. Still remember when these fucks showed up and told us their vision. Luckily, we got to name them TeaBaggers well before their name became national.

But I instantly knew this was about the HATE.

THat’s what TeaBaggers do, they hate. They will hate until there is nothing hate no more, and then hate on that fact.

And woo be the Brother caught downtown when the neoconservative pretty hate machine is in full roar:

Poor fella, was stupid enough to wear an under-armor sports cap to a hate rally!

The funniest, or saddest, depending on how you are keeping score, is that the brother in question is a union carpenter at Ground Zero who foolishly dropped by to show his support.

This is why you don’t TBWB.

Tea-Bagging While Black.

THat’s a lynching defense, as evident in this video.

Docudharma Times Monday August 23




Monday’s Headlines:

Pakistanis Say Taliban Arrest Was Meant to Hurt Peace Bid

Another news flash from Jupiter

USA

Far from Ground Zero, other plans for mosques run into vehement opposition

Growth puts pressure on California’s state parks

Europe

Rock-star critic takes new swipe at Putin

Half of French voters prefer Left candidate to Nicolas Sarkozy

Middle East

The families waiting for Iran to free their children

US troops ‘would only return to Iraq because of complete failure of security’

Asia

China may drop death penalty for economic crimes

Ex-policeman hijacks bus in Manila

Africa

Boys hoping to gain their manhood lose it – forever

Latin America

Trapped miners in Chile are alive

Muse in the Morning

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind VIII

‘It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

–Aristotle


Growth

Life doesn’t care

Life doesn’t care

if it’s flora or fauna

or something in between

It exists at a more basic level

cells reproducing

or not

growing…changing

evolving

Life doesn’t care

what genus or species it is

or how success is measured

in any other way

than the proliferation

of more life

eating…excreting

dying

A joshua tree, a mayfly

A redwood, a butterfly

A panda cub, slime mold

A humpback whale, Streptococcus pneumoniae

A human being

All passing fancy

Life doesn’t care

as long as there’s more life

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–January 5, 2006

Late Night Karaoke

New York Reprezent!

Here is what to do and how to do it.

       Also, here is what not to do and why not.

      Act locally. Avoid national electoral politics like the plague.  Vote for the least bad candidate, that is all the investment in electoral politics that is called for. Use human rights and social justice as your guide. We are all in this together, if one group is excluded, we are all brought lower. Pocketbook issues? A financial conservative is a social conservative. Revolution? Evolution by intention.

      Politics is business is entertainment is a conservative enterprise. Mature democracies have some inherent problems; they tend toward conservatism, they tend towards militarism, they seek to exclude illegal immigrants, they tend toward a two tiered class system, they are warlike in their quest to spread democracy and they are prone to moral and economic corruption. You all knew that, didn’t you?

        The bill of rights and a balanced constitution have not been enough to quell the social divides that are stoked by politicians whose only mission is to seek political domination.

     

On Homeland Security, Or, We Visit A Terrorist Gathering Place

They better not build that mosque down by Ground Zero, we’re being told, not just because it’s insensitive, but because we have no idea what they’ll be up to down there.

I mean, where did the money come from?

Who does this Imam hang out with, anyway?

And, at a time when our Nation faces more threats than ever, why would we let these Muslim madmen situate their “terror command posts” anywhere?

Well, I don’t know about all of that…but I do know a place where lots of these Islamic terrorists go to obtain the equipment and supplies they need to support their particular craft, and I decided to make a bit of an undercover visit to the spot, so that I might “observe and report” on what goes on at this specific location.

So put on your dark glasses…and let’s go see what we can find out.

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