Where was the Buddha really born?

Ranajit Pal, Ph.D. (ranajitpal.com)

Bamiyan, Afghanistan, was near Kapilavastu, birthplace of the Buddha (Afghan Treasures)

The fantastic recent find of about 10,000 ancient Buddhist fragments at Bamiyan [Afghanistan], part of which is now in the Schoyen Collection, shows that Buddhism was born here. 

  

The names Tiŝŝa, Siddhartha, and Suddho-dana, of the Persepolis Tablets prove conclusively that Gotama [Gautama Buddha] was from Seistan-Baluchistan. 

  

About the iconography of a beautiful schist stele from Mes Aynak, G. Fussman of the College de France writes that the prince shown sitting under foliage of [a] Pipal [tree] is Siddhartha before his enlightenment. 

  

Sistan-Baluchistan, ancient Indian frontier

Gregory Schopen also writes about a "cult tied to a cycle of festivals celebrating four moments, not in the biography of the Buddha but in the pre-enlightenment period of the life of Siddhartha."
  
Yet neither he nor G. Fussman recognizes the need to integrate the Mes Aynak findings with the priceless inscriptions from the Persepolis Tablets, which mention Tissa, Sedda Saramana (Siddhartha), Sudda Yauda Saramana (Suddodana), and Saman.
  
Schopen's video, entitled "Buddha as a Businessman," is largely based on false Nepalese data. More

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Welcome to the Military (trailer)

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Coming to theaters June 22, 2012. Facebook: Invisible War movie

THE INVISIBLE WAR is a groundbreaking investigative documentary about one of our country's most shameful and best kept secrets: the epidemic of rape within the US military. Today, a female soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. The number of assaults in the last decade is in the hundreds of thousands. More male soldiers are raped by fellow US male soldiers than women. Focusing on the powerfully emotional stories of several young military women, the film reveals the systemic cover up of the crimes against them and follows their struggles to rebuild their lives and fight for justice. THE INVISIBLE WAR features hard-hitting interviews with high-ranking military officials and members of Congress that reveal the perfect storm conditions that exist for rape in the military, its history of cover-up, and what can be done to bring about much needed change.

• Ian Masters interview  Whistle blowers speak out. Directors Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering discuss their groundbreaking investigation into the epidemic of rape in the US Armed Forces. It has claimed half a million victims, yet there are institutions that perpetuate a cover up.
• Madeleine Brand interview: Exposing serial rape and molestation  Rape in the military, of women and men, is the subject of a new documentary called "The Invisible War," which debuted at Sundance this year and now opens theatrically in Los Angeles.

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