It's a dog and pony show

By - Errol Louis: It's a dog and pony show Thursday, August 23rd 2007,

While Vick gets ripped for animal cruelty, the jocks who beat their wives get a pass

For the life of me, I can't understand why the public outrage surrounding Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick doesn't extend to other pro athletes and entertainers who would rather hurt people than dogs."

For the life of me, I can't understand why the public outrage surrounding Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick doesn't extend to other pro athletes and entertainers who would rather hurt people than dogs.

If, as expected, Vick pleads guilty to conspiracy charges next Monday, he could wind up doing prison time, forfeiting tens of millions of dollars and perhaps ending his football career forever.
I have no problem with that. Vick is not the first man to face terrible consequences for whatever combination of folly, arrogance and pure evil led him to pour gasoline on his charmed life and carelessly strike the match.

But the parade of people and institutions condemning and shunning Vick have set a modern standard for selective outrage.

The same sports execs falling over themselves to sever Vick from the sport have been downright lenient when it comes to other offenders.

Three years ago Michael Pittman of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers faced assault charges after his fourth domestic-violence arrest. He'd rammed his Hummer into a car carrying his wife and infant son and their son's baby-sitter.

The penalty was a three-game suspension.

Lionel Gates, another Bucs player, was arrested and charged with beating a pregnant woman.
The team made him take an anger-management course.

Lamar Thomas, a former Miami Dolphins player, smashed his pregnant fiancée's head through a window. He was allowed to keep playing.

It's not just a football thing. Brett Myers of the Philadelphia Phillies baseball club allegedly dragged his wife around by the hair on a public street. The team gave him a paid leave of absence.

Bobby Chouinard of the Colorado Rockies was sentenced to a year in jail for holding a loaded pistol to his wife's head - but was allowed to serve the penalty three months at a time. During the off-season.

The hypocrisy even extends to the corporate sponsors who have dropped Vick like a hot potato. Reebok, official equipment supplier to the NFL, sanctimoniously announced it will no longer sell Vick's No. 7 jersey.

"We just find the allegations very upsetting and very disturbing," a Reebok spokeswoman said. "We felt that making this decision now was important and the right thing to do."

This is the same company that proudly sells and advertises those G-Unit sneakers promoted by convicted ex-heroin dealer Curtis (50 Cent) Jackson and his criminal buddies. Reebok apparently finds nothing upsetting about that.

When Sen. Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) freaked out on the floor of the U.S. Senate last month, something in me said, "Gimme a break."

"Barbaric!" screamed the animal-loving Byrd, referring to Vick and his dog-mauling pals. "Barbaric! Barbaric! May God help those poor souls who'd be so cruel. Barbaric! Hear me! Barbaric!"

We hear you, senator. Some of us also recall that you're the same Robert Byrd who began his political career in the 1940s as Exalted Cyclops of a KKK chapter, and later opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act.

I don't mind in the least that Vick is getting a rougher deal than the above-listed wife-beaters. And I salute animal-rights groups for organizing protests, mass e-mails and threatening to lead boycotts to persuade corporations to dump Vick's endorsement deals.

But count me among the growing army of baffled Americans waiting - somewhat impatiently - for the day when public figures found guilty of domestic abuse, drunken driving, drug dealing and other crimes draw the same level of condemnation as the fallen millionaire of the moment, Mr. Vick.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2007/08/23/2007-08-23_its_a_dog_and_pony_show.html

Online Rally - Ron Paul

Dear Freedom Lover,

We are holding an online rally for Dr. Paul.

We are doing this to publically and visibly display our support for his principled and consistent message of freedom and limited government.

We want this rally to be truly *massive*. We are going to show that, as Dr. Paul says:
Freedom is popular!

We need every Ron Paul supporter and freedom lover to get involved. Right now.

Please join us. Go to:

http://rally.ronpaulplanet.org

Then send this message to everyone you can think of.

A Letter to the Families of Those Who Serve

"John F. Kennedy said that here on earth, God's work is our work. That doesn't mean Wall Street's work. It doesn't mean the Washington Post's work. It doesn't mean Hollywood's work. It means the work you guys do and the work of your husbands and wives and kids. Living and dying for your fellow man. That is God's work in the deepest sense, and God bless you for what you do, and God keep you until you are with your loved ones again."

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Remarks delivered on Saturday evening in Arlington, Virginia, at the Memorial Day weekend seminar and grief camp of TAPS -- the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors.

THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME be a part of your family. This is the most important family on the planet right now. There is a First Family on Pennsylvania Avenue, but this is the real first family. The family of those who have paid the ultimate price to keep us free and dignified and alive.

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A bad day for me is when I get stuck in traffic or have a toothache or notice that I have gained weight or my teenage son is surly.

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A bad day for you is realizing that the only man or woman you have ever loved is gone for this lifetime.

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A difficult day for me with my wife is when she's out at her bridge lesson and comes home late so my dinner is late.

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A difficult day for you is when you wake up from a dream that your husband or wife or son or daughter or mother or father was alive and laughing with you and realize you'll never see that loveable person again for the rest of your natural lives.

A bad day for an ordinary American is seeing the stock market go down or watching his son sneak a beer.

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A bad day for you is a sort of loneliness, a hopeless, cruel loneliness that cuts right to the bone like the cut of a knife, that tells you that there is no one there to hug you, no one to kiss you, no one to fix the kids' bikes, no one to wipe away the tears that just come uncontrollably when you least expect them.

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A bad day for me is getting stuck in an airport security line.

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A bad day for you is being on the plane alone.

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Yet your loneliness has meaning. Your loneliness, your pain, is the mortar and concrete that anchors the nation. The sacrifice your loved ones made, the sacrifice you made, that your kids made, is what makes the whole American world safe from terror.

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Your loved ones' lives had what we all want: meaning. The knowledge you were doing something big for others. That is EVERYTHING in life.

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Wall Street does not have it. Hollywood does not have it. They're just in it for the fame and the money.

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Your loved ones were in it for unselfishness, for kindness, for love of one's fellow man. There is no higher meaning on this earth.

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The media try to rob your husbands' and wives' and kids' lives of meaning saying this war is not about anything.

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They're wrong and they say what they say because they don't see the truth. They print a story on the front page about Marines killing civilians in a town in Iraq and if they did, it was wrong. But the big media never report a MARINE throwing himself on a bomb to protect an Iraqi child, or a Marine giving his life to rid a town of murderers or a Marine or an Army man or woman or a Navy Seal or a Coast Guardsman offering up his life so that Iraqi human beings can have the same freedoms and rights we take for granted here in America.

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The media are like grave robbers, robbing you of the certain knowledge that your spouses gave their lives for something deeply worthwhile: human dignity.

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Your loved ones' lives and deaths had as much meaning at the lives and deaths of every American who died for freedom from Valley Forge to the Battle of the Bulge to Cho-Sin Reservoir to the Cu Chi tunnels to the Balkans to Kabul, Afghanistan, to Falluja, Iraq.

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And if the media doesn't know it, every other American does. This is a very difficult fight, but the ordinary American knows what your loved ones have done and respects them.

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Your families, your loved one, your children have more respect than Sean Penn and Barbra Streisand and the Dixie Chicks all put together times a million. And the media like to criticize because they know -- in their hearts -- that they will never have the guts that the man and woman in uniform have. I think media envy of your loved ones' courage has a lot do with media mockery of the war.

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To heck with them. Your husbands are the real stars. Your wives and kids are the real stars. They burn brightly forever as long as there are free men and women and the longing for human freedom burns bright in the human heart.

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John F. Kennedy said that here on earth, God's work is our work. That doesn't mean Wall Street's work. It doesn't mean the Washington Post's work. It doesn't mean Hollywood's work. It means the work you guys do and the work of your husbands and wives and kids. Living and dying for your fellow man. That is God's work in the deepest sense, and God bless you for what you do, and God keep you until you are with your loved ones again.

Oprah to visit Israel and not Palestine - Sign Petition

http://www.petitiononline.com/104707/petition.html

To: Oprah WInfrey

Dear Oprah, You are planning to travel to "Israel for a solidarity visit". Israel's UN Ambassador, Danny Gillerman, said that a 'visit of a figure with such influence on the international media could help bring an end to the indifference towards the terror threat faced by Israelis'. This statement as well as your visit is troubling, frustrating and confusing us all. You are renown to stand for peace and to support the weak and the oppressed. As we all hailed for apartheid in South Africa and the God given right for all people to live together with equal rights, how can the world idly watch the continued building of the apartheid wall in Palestine? How can the world stay quiet about the thousands of men, women and children who are continuously tortured and confined in Israeli prisons? How can the world condone the Israeli constitution which only permits rights as a proper citizen to those of one certain religion? What is Danny Gillerman talking about? According to all international bodies worldwide (Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, United Nations etc.), Israelis are the terrorizors and Palestinians are the terrorized. One of the greatest leaders of our time, Nelson Mandela, said "The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not just an issue of military occupation and Israel is not a country that was established "normally" and happened to occupy another country in 1967. Palestinians are not struggling for a "state" but for freedom, liberation and equality, just like we were struggling for freedom in South Africa. Apartheid is a crime against humanity. Israel has deprived millions of Palestinians of their liberty and property. It has perpetuated a system of gross racial discrimination and inequality. It has systematically incarcerated and tortured thousands of Palestinians, contrary to the rules of international law. It has, in particular, waged a war against a civilian population, in particular children." The Arab-Israeli conflict has a long and complicated history filled with bloodshed, destruction and injustice. We only ask that you read some of the articles that we have attached to give you an idea about the other, less publicized , side. You have always epitomized truth and justice with such integrity - we are hopeful that you will not allow yourself to only see one side of a story - no matter the circumstances! During your visit, please go visit cities like Gaza Hebron, and Jenin in order to witness a life that is considered inhumane and, as a result, worthless to those enduring such humiliation. We hope that you will visit the Palestinian women and children who are taunted, raped, tortured , dehumanized and killed everyday while they guard their homes and families from everyday warfare . You will be amazed by the hope most of these people still have - their faith in God is great. We hope you re-consider the basis for your visit. We want Oprah to promote peace and co-habitation amongst Israelis and Palestinians. We hope that you will not ignore the massacre of thousands of innocent, unnamed Palestinian men, women and children. Israel is blatantly carrying out a massive genocide not to mention violations of basic human rights. There is a dire need for fair representation. If no one will bring it to the forefront, we only ask that you be honest to yourself by basing your visit on solidarity for the Middle East - inclusive of Palestinians. Be objective and ask yourself, who is oppressed? Who is terrorized? In short, Oprah, we hope that you seek truth. Thank you! With all our respect and hope,Seekers of peace and justice: FRIENDS OF PALESTINE

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

http://www.petitiononline.com/104707/petition.html

CIA to reveal decades of misdeeds

CIA to reveal decades of misdeeds

Friday, 22 June 2007

The US Central Intelligence Agency is to declassify hundreds of documents detailing some of the agency's worst illegal abuses from the 1950s to 1970s.

The papers, to be released next week, will detail assassination plots, domestic spying and wiretapping, kidnapping and human experiments.

Many of the incidents are already known, but the documents are expected to give more comprehensive accounts.

It is "unflattering" but part of agency history, CIA chief Michael Hayden said.
"This is about telling the American people what we have done in their name," Gen Hayden told a conference of foreign policy historians.

The documents, dubbed the "Family Jewels", offer a "glimpse of a very different time and a very different agency".

The full 693-page file detailing CIA illegal activities was compiled on the orders of the then CIA director James Schlesinger in 1973.

He had been alarmed by accounts of CIA involvement in the Watergate scandal under his predecessor and asked CIA officials to inform him of all activities that fell outside the agency's legal charter.

'Skeletons'

Ahead of the documents' release by the CIA, the National Security Archive, an independent research body, on Thursday published related papers it had obtained.

These detail government discussions in 1975 of the CIA abuses and briefings by Mr Schlesinger's successor at the CIA, William Colby, who said the CIA had "done some things it shouldn't have".

Among the incidents that were said to "present legal questions" were:

• the confinement of a Soviet defector in the mid-1960s
• assassination plots of foreign leaders, including Cuba's Fidel Castro
• wiretapping and surveillance of journalists
• behaviour modification experiments on "unwitting" US citizens
• surveillance of dissident groups between 1967 and 1971
• opening from 1953 to 1973 of letters to and from the Soviet Union; from 1969 to 1972 of mail to and from China

The papers also convey mounting concern in President Gerald Ford's administration that what were dubbed the CIA's "skeletons" were surfacing in the media.

Henry Kissinger, then both secretary of state and national security adviser, was against Mr Colby's moves to investigate the CIA's past abuses and the fact that agency secrets were being divulged.

Accusations appearing in the media about the CIA were "worse than in the days of McCarthy", Mr Kissinger said.

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Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/hi/americas/6229750.stm

Published: 2007/06/22

12:50:34 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Congress Set to Uncover Truth About NSA Spying Program

June 21, 2007

Congress Set to Uncover Truth About NSA Spying Program

Vote to Authorize Subpoenas Sets Stage for Showdown Over Illegal Surveillance
San Francisco - The Senate Judiciary Committee voted today to authorize subpoenas related to the National Security Agency (NSA)'s domestic spying program, setting the stage for a Congressional showdown over the surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans. The subpoenas demand certain legal documents that the Administration has withheld despite Congress' repeated requests.

"This subpoena authorization is a critical first step toward uncovering the full extent of the NSA's illegal spying and the role that telecommunications companies like AT&T played in it," said EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston. "Considering that it's been almost six years since the NSA started spying on Americans without warrants and over a year since that spying was revealed publicly, these subpoenas are long overdue. It's high time for Congress to get to the bottom of this mess."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is suing AT&T for illegally assisting in the NSA spying. The government has asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to dismiss EFF's case, claiming that the lawsuit could expose state secrets.

"Our case against AT&T includes evidence from a former employee that points to a massive spying program impacting millions of people -- a program far broader than the government has admitted to," said Bankston. "Americans deserve to know the truth about the NSA program."

For more on the class-action lawsuit against AT&T: http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/

Contacts:

Derek Slater

Acting Media Coordinator

Electronic Frontier

Foundationderek@eff.org

Dangerous Ruling Forces Search Engine to Log Users

Dangerous Ruling Forces Search Engine to Log Users

Public Interest Groups Urge Court to Block Radical Expansion of Discovery Rules
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) urged a California court Friday to overturn a dangerous ruling that would require an Internet search engine to create and store logs of its users' activities as part of electronic discovery obligations in a civil lawsuit.

The ruling came in a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by motion picture studios against TorrentSpy, a popular search engine that indexes materials made publicly available via the Bit Torrent file sharing protocol. TorrentSpy has never logged its visitors' Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. Notwithstanding this explicit privacy policy, a federal magistrate judge has now ordered TorrentSpy to activate logging and turn the logged data over to the studios.

"This unprecedented ruling has implications well beyond the file sharing context," said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry. "Giving litigants the power to rewrite their opponent's privacy policies poses a risk to all Internet users."

The magistrate judge incorrectly reasoned that, because the IP addresses exist in the Random Access Memory (RAM) of TorrentSpy's webservers, they are "electronically stored information" that must be collected and turned over to the studios under the rules of federal discovery.

This decision could reach every function carried out by a digital device. Every keystroke at a computer keyboard, for example, is temporarily held in RAM, even if it is immediately deleted and never saved. Similarly, digital telephone systems make recordings of every conversation, moment by moment, in RAM.

"In the analog world, a court would never think to force a company to record telephone calls, transcribe employee conversations, or log other ephemeral information," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Fred von Lohmann. "There is no reason why the rules should be different simply because a company uses digital technologies."

The decision also threatens to radically increase the burdens that companies face in federal lawsuits, potentially forcing them to create and store an avalanche of data, including computer server logs, digital telephone conversations, and drafts of documents never saved or sent.
The magistrate judge in the case has stayed her order while TorrentSpy appeals the ruling. The case is Columbia Pictures Industries v. Bunnell, No. 06-01093 FMC, pending in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California before Judge Florence-Marie Cooper.

For the full amicus brief: http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/torrentspy/EFF_CDT_amicus.pdf

Contacts:

Corynne McSherry

Staff Attorney

Electronic Frontier

Foundationcorynne@eff.org

Fred von Lohmann

Senior Intellectual Property Attorney

Electronic Frontier

Foundationfred@eff.org

Genocide

A Problem from Hell:
America and the Age of Genocide
By Samantha Power

ISBN 1417701188

http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/ghistory/powers.htm#ours

Samantha Power's book, "A Problem from Hell", chronicles the American government's reactions to cases of genocide in the 20th century. The reactions stand out, above all, because they mainly involved inaction. Power's book is largely documentary rather than accusatory, but the facts alone are enough to condemn almost all American responses (and lack thereof) to some of the most heinous and outrageous acts perpetrated over the past hundred years. Power begins with the mass killings of Armenians by Turks during World War I -- what is commonly considered the first modern instance of genocide. Despite receiving considerable media attention, the United States took essentially no action that might have limited the killings, a type of nonresponse that, as Power writes, "established patterns that would be repeated". Power devotes chapters to some of the indisputable cases of genocide after World War II -- Cambodia, Iraq, Rwanda, and various Serbian undertakings in what used to be known as Yugoslavia -- and the similarities in reactions are striking (and disappointing). Before going case by case and country by country, Power devotes a significant part of the book to the story of Raphael Lemkin, a Polish lawyer born at the turn of the century. Lemkin became obsessed with a single idea: to get the world ban such mass killings. Law seemed a means to accomplish this: if the international community could agree on a law banning the practice, that would be an important step to stopping the recurrence of such atrocities as the massacre of the Armenians. He had little success at first, but with the Holocaust and revelations of what the Germans had done during World War II to specific groups (Jews and gypsies, especially), the world became more receptive to outlawing such unconscionable behaviour. It was Lemkin that coined the word "genocide", and he was an important figure behind the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. With this UN Convention (passed 9 December 1948, entered into force 12 January 1951) an important step to preventing the practice -- and possibly holding perpetrators accountable -- was taken. Shockingly, the United States did not ratify this convention for some forty years -- and when they did only did so with reservations that made it little more than a symbolic act: as Power describes it, the US insisted on "an à la carte 'opt-out' clause" (which, as international law demands, is thus also available to any country the US accuses under the Convention). The bulk of "A Problem from Hell" then considers the various instances of genocide, and what the United States did. It is depressing, frustrating, and sometimes sickening reading. The abominations that were perpetrated defy easy understanding. In each of these cases, whether in Cambodia or Rwanda or elsewhere, the killings were of a brutality and ruthlessness that can only astound. In each case the United States largely stood back and did nothing. Power makes a convincing case for the idea that US intervention would have been effective in at least limiting some of these transgressions. Intervention need not always have been military: financial, political, and other pressure could have also helped in each of these situations. But the US largely simply stood aside. Power understands that it was not always easy to understand what was happening in these situations. She shows that information was often hard to come by -- especially, for example, in Cambodia, which under the Khmer Rouge truly became a black hole from which nothing seemed to emerge. This naturally affected decision-making -- though as Power also shows, in more recent instances (Yugoslavia and Rwanda) this is no longer any sort of excuse. Sheer ignorance also played a role: the belief that tribal tensions between Hutus and Tutsis are inevitable, or that the Balkans is always a hotbed of strife. Or simply not knowing where on a map Rwanda is, or what ethnic groups are involved in a certain situation. The tales of survivors who managed to flee the catastrophes were also often met with disbelief: the horrors -- and their magnitude -- seemed too senseless to be believable. (Power repeatedly notes that many accounts were simply not thought to be credible because the outrages were on such an incredible scale and of such obscene callousness and violence (and often served no remotely rational purpose). People apparently believe that people are fundamentally good and wouldn't do mean and bad things without a really good reason. One would have thought that Auschwitz and the like would have cured that ridiculous sentiment; one certainly hopes that this book will. There is no doubt: people are scum, the lowest of the low, and if given the opportunity they will do the unimaginable. The lesson is: don't give them the opportunity, and make any transgressions prohibitively costly.) Each situation Power describes was different. Some of the waffling and treading carefully was understandable -- but much wasn't. Indeed, much was absolutely inexcusable. The bizarre world of Realpolitik shockingly even led the American government to essentially side with and support the legitimacy of Pol Pot's government after Cambodia was invaded by Viet Nam -- despite the fact that there was then incontrovertible proof of the genocide there (talk about skewed priorities !). Rwanda -- in deepest, blackest Africa, with no American interests in any obvious way affected -- was most readily (and comprehensively) ignored. And when America finally did take action in Yugoslavia, it was largely because the situation threatened to become a public relations nightmare for the president, not because of the suffering of the locals. It is not always easy to act in these situations. One of the main stumbling blocks is that most countries strongly respect the idea of sovereignty: countries generally expect to (and are allowed to) do as they please within their borders. However, public opinion now seems firmly of the opinion that certain actions are beyond the pale -- genocide being one of them. America, with its strong isolationist tendencies (and an ultra-stickler for the sovereignty notion), claims not to like to meddle much in other affairs. Viet Nam, the propping up of many of the pathetic regimes in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America over the past few decades, and other misadventures abroad would suggest that America does little but meddle, but certainly in cases of genocide they have tended to allow regimes to do as they please. However, because of the US's dominant position as the world power -- now more than ever -- it can not completely stand aloof. Historically the government has said it only gets involved where "American interests" are at stake. Moral leadership is clearly not something America is interested in -- but strategic support of mass-massacrer Pol Pot or Kurd-killer Saddam Hussein is something they've been glad to entertain. The notion that moral leadership is worth something -- even at the cost of a few American lives -- has been slow to catch on. One would imagine that Saddam Hussein would be the State Department poster boy of how not to go about winning friends and influencing people, but in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the fall of 2001 the US has again buddied up with tyrannical and reprehensible regimes (though these are admittedly apparently not yet engaged in genocide). Pragmatic, perhaps. Henry Kissinger is no doubt thrilled. But, as Power's history shows, doing the right thing (the morally correct rather than the Realpolitik-ally ordained thing) might very well be the better long term policy. And one could certainly sleep a lot better at night. Almost all the stories Power tells are infuriating. Isolated voices try to do some good, but are thwarted at almost every turn. The nature of bureaucracy, and the unwillingness of so many to admit that people are capable of such senseless acts as genocide, seem almost insurmountable hurdles. Media attention helps bring some of these outrages to light -- but Power shows how easily and shamelessly criminal regimes can hide their crimes. Amazingly, there is also little public outrage about these awful acts; one hopes that Power's book will cause more widespread unease about America's sideline-role in these horrific events. Former president Clinton is vilified for engaging in sexual acts with an intern, but hardly anyone damns him for his callous disinterest and inaction during the Rwandan atrocities. A strange sort of moral relativism indeed. (It's a wonder Clinton can sleep at night: there are few blacker marks on any former president than Rwanda on him.) Rwanda is, surely, the most shocking episode described here, because so much could have so easily been done to lessen the scope of the outrages -- and yet almost no one in the American government (at least at a level where it mattered) paid much attention. America suffered a savage blow in the fall of 2001, with some 3000 criminally killed in one day. International sympathy and shows of support were great, and huge sums of money been raised for the survivors as well as spent on military actions in response to those events. In Rwanda the US was unwilling even to spend the mere 8500 dollars per flight-hour for a plane that could have jammed the local radio broadcasts that were instrumental in facilitating the massacres. As Power reminds her readers: for a hundred days more than twice as many people were being butchered in Rwanda every day as died on 11 September 2001-- a total of 800,000. Certainly a large number of these murders were preventable -- but here America was not in the least bit interested in exerting any leadership, moral or other. (Disappointingly also: no politicians in the US were held accountable by their constituencies for their failure to act.) Power's book and message is not all bleak. The past is one grand disappointment, but there does appear some hope for the future. The Convention on Genocide seems to have gotten some teeth, and both Yugoslavian and Rwandan leaders have been indicted and brought to trial. Human rights organizations and others are more willing to entertain the idea of military intervention in the most outrageous cases. The United States is, perhaps, beginning to understand that "American interests" occasionally do also involve merely doing the right thing. Still, overall it's a sad and sorry history Power presents here. Power's book is an American-bashing one. And America certainly deserves some bashing in this regard. Still, the complexity of international relations, and the actions (or rather the American-like inaction) of many other nations do not figure prominently in the book. Power acknowledges this, admitting her focus is almost entirely on the US. Still, it does skew the understanding of some of these situations. Certainly, for example, European inaction (or Russia's leanings) in the various Yugoslav-genocides are as contemptible as American inaction (and each played a role in affecting the other). Power manages -- astonishingly -- to keep her emotions largely in check in the book. She recounts with some passion, but she never loses her objectivity. For the reader it might be harder going: the events recounted here are as unpalatable and disturbing as it gets. The book is, literally, a terrible one, telling truths that few people probably want to hear. Power presents her material very well: the focus on Lemkin and some of the others who tried to affect change (Senator Proxmire, peacekeeper Romeo Dallaire, and others), the cases of genocide, the possible ways of addressing (and redressing, to the extent possible) cases of genocide past and future. Still, it makes for a very broad survey, with a few loose ends. But there is no doubt: the book is an impressive accomplishment. This is one of those truly "important books". One hopes that it will lead readers to try and influence their elected representatives and help get America to assert some moral leadership in the world. It clearly shows: idly standing by is simply not acceptable. Recommended -- but be warned: it is a very disturbing read.

Jesus Christ and Buddha

Living Buddha, Living Christ
by: Thich Nhat Hanh
Riverhead Books 09/97 Paperback $13.00
ISBN: 1573225681

Buddha and Christ, perhaps the two most pivotal figures in the history of humankind, each left behind a legacy of teachings and practices that have shaped the lives of billions of people over the course of two millennia. If they were to meet on the road today, what would each think of the other's spiritual views and practices?

In Living Buddha, Living Christ Thich Nhat Hanh, the prolific Buddhist teacher and practitioner of nonviolence, considers the seeds of love, understanding, compassion, and personal transformation which have grown into the flowers of Buddhism and Christianity. He believes that the enlightenment of the Buddha and the lovingkindness of Christ are kept alive when each of us dwells in the moment. "To take good care of yourself and to take good care of living beings and of the environment is the best way to love God."

Thich Nhat Hanh looks deeply at mindfulness, presence, gratitude, touching our ancestors, and other practices which are the jewels of these two spiritual traditions. Living Buddha, Living Christ is a masterwork that builds bridges by celebrating the best within Buddhism and Christianity.


Excerpt From His Book:

Religious Life is Life
Twenty years ago at a conference I attended of theologians, and professors of religion, an Indian Christian friend told the assembly, "We are going to hear about the beauties of several traditions, but that does not mean that we are going to make a fruit salad." When it came my turn to speak, I said, "Fruit salad can be delicious! I have shared the Eucharist with Father Daniel Berrigan, and our worship became, possible because of the sufferings we Vietnamese and Americans shared over many years." Some of the Buddhists present were shocked to hear I had participated in the Eucharist, and many Christians seemed truly horrified. To me, religious life is life. I do not see any reason to spend one's whole life tasting just one kind of fruit. We human beings can be nourished by the best values of many traditions...............


Touching Jesus
But my path to discovering Jesus as one of my spiritual ancestors was not easy. The colonization of my country by the French was deeply connected with the efforts of the Christian missionaries. In the late seventeenth century, Alexandre de Rhodes, one of the most active of the missionaries, wrote in his Cathechismus in Octo Dies Divisus: "Just as when a cursed, barren tree is cut down, the branches that are still on it will also fall, when the sinister and deceitful Sakya [Buddha] is defeated, the idolatrous fabrications that proceed from him will also be destroyed." Later, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Catholic Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc, in his efforts to evangelize Vietnam, leaned heavily on the political power of his brother, President Ngo Dinh Diem. President Diem's 1963 decree prohibiting the celebration of Wesak, the most important Buddhist national holiday, was the straw that broke our back. Tens of thousands of lay and ordained Buddhists demonstrated for religious freedom, leading to a coup d'etat and the overthrow of the Diem regime. In such an atmosphere of discrimination and injustice against non-Christians, it was difficult for me to discover the beauty of Jesus' teachings.

It was only later, through friendships with Christian men and women who truly embody the spirit of understanding and compassion of Jesus, that I have been able to touch the depths of Christianity. The moment I met Martin Luther King, Jr., I knew I was in the presence of a holy person. Not just his good work but his very being was a source of great inspiration for me. And others, less well known, have made me feel that Lord Jesus is still here with us. Hebe Kohlbrugge, a beautiful Dutch woman who saved the lives of thousands of Jews during World War II, was so committed to helping Vietnamese orphans and other desperately needy children during the war that when her government refused to support this work, she gave them back her World War II medals. Reverend Heinz Kloppenburg, General Secretary of the German Fellowship of Reconciliation, also supported our humanitarian work. He was so kind and so open, I only needed to say a few words to him and he understood everything right away. Through men and women like these, I feel I have been able to touch Jesus Christ and His tradition.
Real Communication
On the altar in my hermitage in France are images of Buddha and Jesus, and every time I light incense, I touch both of them as my spiritual ancestors. I can do this because of contact with these real Christians When you touch someone who authentically represents a tradition, you not only touch his or her tradition, you also touch your own. This quality is essential for dialogue. When participants are willing to learn from each other, dialogue takes place just by their being together. When those who represent a spiritual tradition embody the essence of their tradition, just the way they walk, sit, and smile speaks volumes about the tradition.
In fact, sometimes it is more difficult to have a dialogue with people in our own tradition than with those of another tradition. Most of us have suffered from feeling misunderstood or even betrayed by those of our own tradition. But if brothers and sisters in the same tradition cannot understand and communicate with each other, how can they communicate with those outside their tradition? For dialogue to be fruitful, we need to live deeply our own tradition and, at the same time, listen deeply to others. Through the practice of deep looking and deep listening, we become free, able to see the beauty and values in our own and others' tradition.

Many years ago, I recognized that by understanding your own tradition better, you also develop increased respect, consideration, and understanding for others. I had had a naive thought, a kind of prejudice inherited from my ancestors. I thought that because Buddha had taught for forty-five years and Jesus for only two or three, that Buddha must have been a more accomplished teacher. I had that thought because I did not know the teachings of the Buddha well enough.
One day when he was thirty-eight years old, the Buddha met King Prasenajit of Kosala. The king said, "Reverend, you are young, yet people call you ‘The Highest Enlightened One.’ There are holy men in our country eighty and ninety years old, venerated by many people, yet none of them claims to be the highest enlightened one. How can a young an like you make such a claim?"
The Buddha replied, "Your majesty, enlightenment is not a matter of age. A tiny spark of fire has the power to burn down a whole city. A small poisonous snake can kill you in an instant. A baby prince has the potentiality of a king. And a young monk has the capability of becoming enlightened and changing the world."

http://www.spiritsite.com/writing/thihan/part4.shtml

Israeli-Palestinian civil initiative

Statement of Principles

(Signed by Ami Ayalon & Sari Nusseibeh on July 27, 2002)

1) Two states for two peoples: Both sides will declare that Palestine is the only state of the Palestinian people and Israel is the only state of the Jewish people.

2) Borders: Permanent borders between the two states will be agreed upon on the basis of the June 4, 1967 lines, UN resolutions, and the Arab peace initiative (known as the Saudi initiative).
Border modifications will be based on an equitable and agreed-upon territorial exchange (1:1) in accordance with the vital needs of both sides, including security, territorial contiguity, and demographic considerations.
The Palestinian State will have a connection between its two geographic areas, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
After establishment of the agreed borders, no settlers will remain in the Palestinian State.

3) Jerusalem: Jerusalem will be an open city, the capital of two states. Freedom of religion and full access to holy sites will be guaranteed to all.
Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem will come under Palestinian sovereignty, Jewish neighborhoods under Israeli sovereignty.
Neither side will exercise sovereignty over the holy places. The State of Palestine will be designated Guardian of al-Haram al-Sharif for the benefit of Muslims. Israel will be the Guardian of the Western Wall for the benefit of the Jewish people. The status quo on Christian holy site will be maintained. No excavation will take place in or underneath the holy sites without mutual consent.

4) Right of return: Recognizing the suffering and the plight of the Palestinian refugees, the international community, Israel, and the Palestinian State will initiate and contribute to an international fund to compensate them.
Palestinian refugees will return only to the State of Palestine; Jews will return only to the State of Israel.
The international community will offer to compensate toward bettering the lot of those refugees willing to remain in their present country of residence, or who wish to immigrate to third-party countries.

5) The Palestinian State will be demilitarized and the international community will guarantee its security and independence.

6) End of conflict: Upon the full implementation of these principles, all claims on both sides and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will end.

http://www.mifkad.org.il/en/

http://www.mifkad.org.il/en/principles.asp

Obama says the Christian Right has ruined faith

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Sen. Barack Obama told a church convention Saturday that some right- wing evangelical leaders have exploited and politicized religious beliefs in an effort to sow division.

"Somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together and started being used to drive us apart. It got hijacked," the Democratic presidential candidate said in remarks prepared for delivery before the national meeting of the United Church of Christ.

"Part of it's because of the so-called leaders of the Christian Right, who've been all too eager to exploit what divides us," the Illinois senator said.

"At every opportunity, they've told evangelical Christians that Democrats disrespect their values and dislike their church, while suggesting to the rest of the country that religious Americans care only about issues like abortion and gay marriage, school prayer and intelligent design," according to an advance copy of his speech.

"There was even a time when the Christian Coalition determined that its number one legislative priority was tax cuts for the rich," Obama said. "I don't know what Bible they're reading, but it doesn't jibe with my version."

Obama is a member of the United Church of Christ, a church of about 1.2 million members that is considered one the most liberal of the mainline Protestant groups.

In 1972, the church was the first to ordain an openly gay man. Two years ago, the church endorsed same-sex marriage, the largest Christian denomination to do so. Obama believes that states should decide whether to allow gay marriage, and he opposes a constitutional amendment against it.

Conservative Christian bloggers have linked Obama to what they call the "unbiblical" teachings of his church. Theological conservatives believe gay relationships violate Scripture, while more liberal Christians emphasize the Bible's social justice teachings.

Obama trails Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York by 33 percent to 21 percent in the most recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll among Democrats and those leaning toward the party.