One of the first reactions to the death of Benazir Bhutto came from Hillary Clinton. She called for an international investigation into the assassination. That made me stop and think……
What if the tables were turned, and for instance, imagine it’s 2 weeks before the November 2008 election and the democratic candidate is assassinated. Would you, Mr. And Mrs. America, enjoy hearing that China wants to launch an international investigation of the deed? Wouldn’t you be terribly offended that China would even deign to interfere with what is obviously an American problem/concern? (And also, would you think the election, two weeks away, should be postponed or canceled? Interesting question, that one!)
But then I realized…..that is emblematic of the nationalist/ethnocentric thinking that we have to overcome if we are to survive as a species. Humans, that is. We cannot let our nationalistic fervor, our ‘us vs. them’ mentality, continue in a time that knows nuclear proliferation. If we are ever to overcome wars and prejudice, we must come to realize the oneness of all beings. We must validate this truth: that beneath all the bluster, all the differences of race and religion, we all want the same things from life: health, love and a better future for our children. Everything else is but a difference that allows us to judge and find someone lacking, and this is the attitude that must change.
Seen in that light, the assassination this week is but another chance blown, another conflict that we failed to resolve in a manner that promotes the future of the species, another in a long list of religious or ethnocentric failures. If we are to learn anything in a postmortem, let it be this:
What goes around, comes around.
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TechnoratiThe UN General Assembly voted on Tuesday for a global moratorium on the death penalty. The resolution was nonbinding; its symbolic weight made barely a ripple in the news ocean of the United States, where the rights of governments to kill a killer is enshrined in law and custom.
But for those who have been trying to move the world away from lethal revenge as government policy this was a milestone. The resolution failed repeatedly in the 1990s, but this time the vote was 104-54, with 29 nations abstaining. Progress has come in Europe and Africa. Nations like Senegal, Burundi, Gabon - even Rwanda, shamed by genocide - have decided to reject the death penalty as official barbarism.
The United States, as usual, lined up on the other side, with Iran, China, Pakistan, Sudan and Iraq. Together this blood brotherhood accounts for more than 90 percent of the world's executions
link to the entire International Herald article
Nice to know who else thinks like Americans....... and guess what? No word of this on CNN...
Scientists believe a patch of ground disturbed by the vehicle shows evidence of a past environment that would have been perfect for microbial life.
The deposits were probably produced when hot spring water or steam came into contact with volcanic rocks.
On Earth, these are locations that tend to teem with bacteria, said rover chief scientist Steve Squyres.
link to entire article, on BBC News.
The sign in the bank, over a 55 gallon tub, began: “No child should go through Christmas without receiving a present….please donate a toy for a child today.”
That got me to thinking….
Not every child recognizes “Christmas” in any meaningful way. Maybe the sign should have said, “No Christian child….” Or even “No American child…”
And after all, what is the meaning of “Christmas”? I have always railed against people who “get the holiday spirit” for a month or two late in the year, and then revert to their old ways in January. But what is the holiday spirit? Isn’t it a sense of belonging, of family, and of generosity? I would ask, what is the spirit of Christmas to you? And do you live that spirit every single day of the year?
Why not?
And if the spirit of Christmas is a good thing, where’s the urgency to spread it as far and as wide as you can? What have you done today to bring goodwill to someone you have met? How did you express your generosity today? And whom in the family of mankind do you feel estranged from this very moment? What can you do to reach out to them, to include them in your Christmas spirit?
May your days be merry and bright.
Someone left their post-it to-do list at the restaurnt last night. I'm not making this up. Here were some of their bullet points (they had drawn a tiny circle in front of each item):
- workout after work
- work at 5 pm
- call Heath
- text Terry
- drink water
- journal
- blog
- bike riding
- look for an apartment
You gotta love it....on this morning's national CBS Radio News: 2 stories separated by one other, the first about the Supreme Court challenge to Guantanamo Bay and the utter disregard of rights for the prisoners there. It included a sound bite from a supporter of Gitmo, to the effect that 'courts can't stand in the way of a President waging war...'
The second, about the release of a study showing that a majority of teenagers feel it's OK to break a rule or law if it means they will gain from said transgression.
Think these two stories are related? Yeah, me too.
The debate over who will one day succeed Tibet's iconic spiritual leader is heating up, even though the Dalai Lama himself says he is "good for another few decades".
"As early as 1969 I made clear the very institution of the Dalai Lama is up to the Tibetan people," he said.
He outlined other methods to appoint his successor as well, such as one similar to electing the Pope where senior lamas would choose the next Dalai Lama.
The Tibetan spiritual leader also raised the possibility of himself naming a new Dalai Lama while he is still alive, a proposal he outlined in Japan last week.
The Dalai Lama's ideas have been roundly condemned by Beijing.
"The Dalai Lama's statement is in blatant violation of religious practice and historical procedure", the Foreign Ministry said.
"The Chinese government will not accept any of these proposals as it wants to be in control of Tibet's future spiritual leadership."
Guess there's no "seperation of church and state" in China these days, huh?
link to the entire BBC News article
from the Japanese spacecraft Kaguya, in orbit around the Moon since mid-October, here's an HD photo of Earthrise. More notable for the high def view of the Moon than Earth (when compared to the historic 1968 Earthrise photo we all know from Apollo) it still blows my mind when you stop to think about what it really means....that little blue ball floating in the blackness......
Reminder: Even HD photos are not always 100% as they first appear. Case in point, this photo, and the famous Christmas Day 1968 Apollo snapshot, have been rotated 90 degrees clockwise. To be able to see the Moon beneath and the Earth 'rising' the satellite (or crew) would need to be in a polar orbit around the Moon. In all photos so far, this is not the case. The reality of the photo is that the Moon fills the right side of the frame vertically, and Earth moves from the center towards the left as it 'rises'. Doesn't make for as appealing a photo, does it?
-- Stanley Baldwin
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Yeah, but the article is just a headline grabber. Sure, these areas are more likely to have evidence of (deceased) life than others, but it's just another place to dig. The only new discovery was that hobbling around on Mars with a bad wheel could actually turn to scientific advantage.
NASA found life on Mars in the 70's; then went through a comical explanation of how their data and tests were flawed and that they were mistaken. I've already personally concluded the evidence of life beyond earth to be more than a statistical anomaly based on several sources. It's likely just a matter of time before it becomes a case of hard evidence.
What then? Do we re-interpret classical religions to portray them as possible visitations from other mortal societies rather than manifestations of an omnipresent, omnipotent being?
The entire foundations of the major religions could get shaken to the core. The net result of this issue will become much more important than a simple question of whether life exists or it doesn't on some patch of extra-terrestrial real estate.