September 2009

  • Guantanamo Bay Will Close Later Than Expected

    By ecoscott on 9/27/09 3:42pm
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    Guantanamo BayGuantanamo BayObama made a lot of campaign promises, from getting troops out of Iraq to working for healthcare reform to bring affordable health care to all people. Another that he made was to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, commonly known as Gitmo. The U.S. naval base detention center was established by the Bush administration in 2002. Used as the holding-place for terrorism suspects, initially for suspects arrested after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Gitmo has been controversial for years owing to allegations of torture and prisoner mistreatment by U.S. authorities.

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  • A Letter to Kenya

    By ecoscott on 9/26/09 3:55pm
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    U.S. Protest Over Kenyan ViolenceU.S. Protest Over Kenyan ViolenceInternational diplomacy takes on many strange forms- not only are you requesting things from people with a different language, background, culture and set of priorities, but you are asking for things based on your own goals, not theirs, even if you do have their best interests in mind. Add onto that the fact that everyone has different ways of asking for things, and of granting or denying those requests and all of the sudden you’ve got a challenge bigger than you could ever have imagined- and that’s international diplomacy: to start.

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  • “PETA-Like Discussion” – Where’s The Line?

    By erika on 9/24/09 3:13pm
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    Recently a forum thread I was participating in (not here) was deleted by the forum moderators. Not locked - deleted - and I trust you can see the severity of the difference. Outright deletion of threads is generally reserved for the "worst of the worst" offenders.  

    The crime?  "PETA-like discussion."  

    This is a forum with a  predominately rural demographic, a forum where several members have anti-vegetarian slurs and "jokes" permanently displayed in their forum signatures.  I have learned to tread carefully.  I habitually avoid passing judgment, and stick to simply stating facts.  I didn't say anything you wouldn't find inside the pages of Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" or Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma."


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  • Google Project 10^100

    By lisala on 9/24/09 2:15pm
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  • No Peace in the MidEast

    By ecoscott on 9/24/09 11:15am
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    Looking for an answer on the Gaza borderLooking for an answer on the Gaza borderAs if healthcare, the financial crisis and climate change weren’t enough, Obama is in the middle east pushing for a renewed fervor around the peace process- it doesn’t seem to be going any smoother there than it is over here according to Reuters.

    James Besser of Jewish Week wrote that 16 years ago Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin shook hands at the White House and “there was a sense among most mainstream Jewish leaders that the long Israel-Palestinian impasse could soon be broken." Well, that was 16 years ago. Now there is a “new consensus crystallizing that says that the status quo is about the best that can be hoped for."

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  • Bioneers, onward!

    By lafeeverte on 9/17/09 11:12am
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    ba ba BIONEERS.org !!!!ba ba BIONEERS.org !!!!Make way for the Bioneers ! Leading a revolution from the heart of nature and featuring an award winning radio series featuring the leading scientific and social innovators of our time.

    And it is time to prepare for the Bioneers Conference 2009!

    Oct. 16-18th in San Rafael, CA

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  • Suicide Prevention Week

    By sarajean on 9/12/09 11:54pm
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    gungun

    September 6 through 12 is Suicide Prevention Week. While we’d like to think that we’d never encounter or experience a suicide in our lives, most people will know someone, somewhere who has either attempted or committed suicide at some point in their lives.

    Almost 30,000 Americans die of suicide every year, making it more deadly than HIV/AIDS. It’s the third leading cause of death for young people ages 15 to 24, and it is estimated that for every person who commits suicide, another 8 to 25 have attempted it. In fact, at least 1 in every 7 teens has thought about doing it.

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  • Take Action Against Torture

    By sarajean on 9/3/09 5:52pm
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    Though I have never had an interest in films like Hostel or TV shows such as 24, I have to admit that I did enjoy the movie Taken—though mostly because it helped to raise awareness about human trafficking. Even so, we are completely blasé to such torture in the media from seeing it so often.

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