Balanced Reporting

By Minimum Security
Other particularly good ones on stem cell ridiculousness, not being afraid to act, buying "green", high profile charity, feeding cars instead of people... and more ...

And another teriffic cartoon
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Spinoza - Reason in an Age of Religious Intolerance

Philosophers do have some very relevant things to say. For example, a very easy and interesting read perfect for the layperson, is Making Sense: Philosophy Behind the Headlines by Julian Baggini. He dissects a handful of contemporary issues such as abortion, euthanasia, cults vs religion, and even the Clinton Lewinsky affair (public vs. private sphere).

Spinoza's reaction to the religious intolerance he saw around him was to try to think his way out of all sectarian thinking. He understood the powerful tendency in each of us toward developing a view of the truth that favors the circumstances into which we happened to have been born. Self-aggrandizement can be the invisible scaffolding of religion, politics or ideology.

Against this tendency we have no defense but the relentless application of reason. Reason must stand guard against the self-serving false entailments that creep into our thinking, inducing us to believe that we are more cosmically important than we truly are, that we have had bestowed upon us — whether Jew or Christian or Muslim — a privileged position in the narrative of the world's unfolding.Spinoza's system is a long deductive argument for a conclusion as radical in our day as it was in his, namely that to the extent that we are rational, we each partake in exactly the same identity.

Spinoza's faith in reason as our only hope and redemption is the core of his system, and its consequences reach out in many directions, including the political. Each of us has been endowed with reason, and it is our right, as well as our responsibility, to exercise it. Ceding this faculty to others, to the authorities of either the church or the state, is neither a rational nor an ethical option.

Found here

I wish we'd see a lot more reason and a lot less extremism and intolerance. Want to listen to an interesting program about religion? Is Religion Dangerous?

More Philosophy & Reflection, Religion

In war, there are no winners

in war, there are no winners,
originally uploaded by jewschool23.

Graffiti in Jerusalem. Found originally on the Dominion Blog which led me to Orthodox Anarchist



More on war in the Middle East

A Most Amazing Interview

Listen to the first part of this podcast to hear an interview with the brother of Ted Kaczynski, the unabomber. David Kaczynski (who, despite his love for his brother, suspected he was the unabomber and notified authorities) talks about telling their mother. He said he had a moment of fear - what if she didn't love him any more after the news. Her response is one that will bring tears to your eyes. Other interesting interviews by David Freudberg.

Discovered through the amazing radio program, To The Best of Our Knowledge. (Other notable episodes include Women & Islam, Befriending your Brain, Sports and Society, Violence and Morality... and many more. Free to listen at their site.)

Feminist Toronto: Wading into Lebanon waters

Excellent post by Feminist Toronto.

She quotes from The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East by Robert Fisk.

Note that this book was written before Hezbollah kidnapped soldiers -- before Hamas became the government of Palestine.


"The same skewed semantics were applied to the July 1993 Israeli bombardment of southern Lebanon. In revenge for the killing of nine Israeli soldiers inside its occupation zone in Lebanon, Israel attacked the villages of southern Lebanon, killing more than 100 men, women and children -- and putting 300,000 refugees on the road to Beirut...And President Clinton's reaction? He blamed the Hizballah -- which killed the nine Israeli soldiers -- for all the deaths, then called on 'all sides' to exercise 'restraint'."

More on The Middle East

Perspective on World Population

Click here and remember one person is one pixel

Combat + Sexual Trauma = I Can't Even Imagine

Trauma has complex and life-destroying consequences. If you've never been involved in something like that there's a tendency to brush it off and think severely traumatized people can simply get on with their lives, but this is ignorant and wishful thinking, as trauma shatters the self in ways that are hard to imagine. An excellent exploration of this is the well-known Trauma and Recovery: From Domestic Abuse To Political Terror by Judith Herman (Powells).

We hear of soldiers returning from Iraq with Post Traumatic Stress, but many women have the added problem of sexual abuse, assault, and rape. Sexual assault is more than a physical crime, but reaches right into a person and violates the person from within. This is not a few isolated incidents, as explained here, here, and here. If a soldier has more fear of their own than of the "enemy" there is no safety, anywhere for them - not in the barracks, not in the toilet, not even in their own heads.

Support for Suzanne Swift is incredibly important. She was jailed for going AWOL after her repeated attempts to get someone to do something about her ongoing sexual assault was ignored - she was essentially hunted by a predator, and displayed great courage trying to save herself. You can hear her mother tell the extremely moving tale on Democracy Now.

Filed Under: Iraq, Women

Strangely Beautiful

by Edward Burtynsky
Strangely beautiful photos of garbage and refuse.

Recycling yards, mine tailings, quarries and refineries are all places that are outside of our normal experience, yet we partake of their output on a daily basis.

Thanks to the Magical Urbanism blog.

More art, environment