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Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
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Project Censored director Mickey Huff was recently interviewed for "Inside Story." He discussed the ongoing problems of censorship and under-reporting in the US. Moreover, he highlighted some of 2012's most significant stories -- like the emerging police state, Fukushima, Occupy -- published in Censored 2013: Dispatches From the Media Revolution.
Censored 2013 focuses on the importance of independent journalism for democratic self-government. And it holds to account the corporate-owned ("mainstream") media for their failure to provide responsible and relevant news coverage.
The book has additional chapters of original analysis covering drones and targeted killing, “GuatánamoSpeak,” the democracy movement in Kashmir, corporate education “reform,” Iraq...
(Marc Pilisuk) The unjust foundations favoring the 1% over the 99% are everywhere. The Occupy Movement has found many targets among the corporate elite. The financial and extraction sectors have been clearly located (Phillips and Soeiro, 2012). But one hard to find target is the behind-the-scenes force propelling us toward nuclear war...
E. Landau, A. Dorrian, P. Macpherson, edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly
Is compassion for Palestinians in Gaza anti-semitism? Absolutely not. But one would never know that from reading through the mainstream mead's coverage of Israel's war crimes against Palestinians in the name of self-defense. And wherever Israel goes, the US/MIC is not far behind.
Often "we" (as if the average American had much to do with the decision-making motives of corporate war-profiteers and violence-prone generals at the Pentagon) are leading Israel around by the nose to do the bidding most profitable to us in the region. "Israel is worth ten CIAs" a CIA official once famously admitted.
Benjamin Netanyahu, "Bibi," was educated in America. That is why he has barely an accent. Yet no one speaks eloquently for the Palestinians. And it seems no one tells Muslim men and women being bombed to stop shouting and behaving "emotionally" when reporting the facts on the ground. Jewish soldiers are not allowed to brag or are not asked by reporters to explain why they kill and terrorize civilians. Is there an Arab League representative, an unbiased translator, any voice in the wilderness? Palestinians do not have a fraction of the sterling public relations support Israel and the US military take for granted.
Israeli warcrimes against Palestine: witnessessee KL War Crimes Commission(sabbah.biz)
The coverage, particularly on NPR, is astoundingly pro-Israel even when it seems to be showing the other side of the argument. The obvious slant is in reporting Netanyahu's spin; the subtle bias is far more insidious, leaving one to wonder how they do not lose all credibility news story after news story.
Such is the power of money, intellectual capital, and misguided sympathy for historical wrongs towards Jews and, only more recently "Israelis," if there is such a thing. Zionists? Usurpers? The people of the Bible? Anyone who claims the bloodline and mantle of The Chosen Ones?
It takes an Arabic or Palestinian scholar to point out that the people who call themselves and whom we call "Jews" today are hardly as distinct or rooted in and around Jerusalem as we now take for granted. The whole history of the genocidal founding of the modern state of "Israel" and its location in Palestine as their "promised land" is problematic.
However, PR firms pay off Christian scholars and other scientists to jump into the fray in favor of all things Israel. It doesn't even take that; for it is understood in scholarly circles that if one wants to make a name for him or herself and be widely cited and published, one's finding had better be in favor of Israel and its revisionist history. If all these voices silenced themselves, the CIA and its operatives would still rule the discussion. How much nicer that they self-select and use their clout to justify and further war.
This is not a question about Semitic languages, proto-Hebrew (apparently any earlier or current form of Arabic on any shard of pottery), or how far back the Bible can be pushed as unbiased historical document not a story of a people told by those very people to perpetuate themselves at the expense of neighbors or outsiders coming in claiming to be those descendents continuing a long tradition of forced relocation and cultural genocide.
The blame does not fall on individuals like Romney-supporting Netanyahu, his similarly educated brother, or the Kanesset. It is displaced onto other actors, even stone throwers trying to defend themselves against atrocities wrought by the super power on the other side of the wall. Yes, wall, not "fence."
Israeli nationalists are wrong. And their right-wing media machines, owned and operated by billionaires and multi-millionaries rather than the dogged journalists and editors who constantly bear the brunt, are hopelessly biased. Here is one problem. Polls are taken and reported acting as if the vast majority, 80%, of Israelis are for genocide, rubber stamping anything the Israeli Department of War (IDF) wants to do, short of ground invasions unless Netanyahu should deem them "unavoidable."
What are the poll questions being asked? And who is doing the asking and tabulating and spinning the results, an Israeli nationalist paper?
"Do you disapprove of a country defending itself from hostile rocket fire?"
"Are you for terrorism?"
"If a peaceful nation, which only wants peace, is brutally attacked by thugs hiding in slums on the other side of a Security Fence, is it all right for the peaceful nation to defend itself, or should it allow bombs to rain down on its children and elderly?"
Answer honestly and anonymously, and we promise not to twist or construe your answers as being in support of genocide, mutilation, or asymmetrical warfare against those godforsaken "dogs" in Gaza and the West Bank.
Has anyone ever heard something more true than that Sarah Silverman joke from her feature-length movie, "J is Magic"? She complains about someone criticizing Jews then, rhetorically, with biting satire, asks: Hey, I thought we owned the media. How are others getting their say?
The gist of it is, of course Israeli nationalists have an inordinate influence on the media around the world, but we aren't ever allowed to point that out. Wink-wink. That would be, pick your offending term, "racist," anti-Semitic, hateful, so unfair, so biased.
Angry Netanyahu, a real CIA asset (Al Jazeera)
God (YHWH) forbid anyone attribute anything negative to any Jewish person (except Bernie Madoff or Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, those pariahs), Israelis in and around Palestine, or any Hebrew-speaking person from here in Hollywood to there in Tel Aviv, that's "anti-Semitism!"
If a right-wing leader in Israel acts like that German guy andanyone dares to point out a similarity or two, dares to point out that the Emperor has no clothes, forgetaboutit. The gloves are off. Just last week Southern Californians were sympathizing with the plight of Palestinians in Westwoodat the beloved Federal Building, site of all the best protests.
Jews, Israeli nationalists, Christian fundamentalists, and/or students feeling guilty about not doing enough to support the Promised Land Project (i.e., the new state of Israel), which gives them dual US-Israeli citizenship while Palestinians have no citizenship anywhere, and free trips to Israel while Palestinians are free to travel to a neighbor's house but no farther, went to confront and provide a counterpoint to those Palestinian sympathizers. Violence erupted on the streets of Los Angeles as a result of their intimidating counter protest. West LA is the heart of the Jewish and pro-Israel presence in LA.
Most Los Angelenos slept in. We can't be bothered. We've got homework, housework, work (business), and lots of other busy-work to see to.
They may say we're "racists," but Wisdom Quarterly has to stand up and call it what it is: Israeli-planned attacks on a nearly defenseless population using Iran-made "missile strikes" as pretext, propaganda, atrocities, the world's biggest prison, ethnic cleansing, and if only there were a word for the attempted systematic elimination of a people...
What's the real motive? Even God (the war-like Jewish tribal one) doesn't know, but the MIC sure does.
Although some one or some "cabal" put him up to it, P.M. Netanyahu has to be called on to answer for it. Sec'y of State Clinton has to be called to answer. (Pres. Obama is smart using Bibi's pro-Romney comments to stay out of the fray, sort of earning his Nobel Peace Prize by sending in Hillary to do the handshaking and historic signing, while he himself enjoys the sights in Buddhist Asia instead).
Mansfield: "I chose to sit in here. Now there was a film showing, 'Where Should Birds Fly.' Now those of you who were in here would have been as shocked -- even though I thought I knew what was going on -- shocked as anybody could be about the appalling situation. We've heard a lot about the appalling situation, but the film says it all. Farmers being shot at as I speak... It's in that context that I have a feeling...that there's a sense of urgency, emergency, and that that has to be communicated into legal redress."
The RToP held its fourth international session in New York City on Oct. 6-7. It took place in the Great Hall at Cooper Union located at 7 East 7th Street, New York, NY.
The RToP is an International People's Tribunal created in response to the international community's inaction regarding Israel's recognized violations of international law.
The Tribunal aims to bring attention to the complicity and responsibility of various national, international, and corporate actors in the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the perpetuation of Israel's impunity under international law.
RToP has no legal status, but like other tribunals on Vietnam, Chile, and Iraq, its legitimacy comes from its universality and the strength it draws from the will of citizens and the support of international personalities who advocate for an end to the Israeli occupation and Israel's denial of Palestinian rights.
Why are we at war with Iraq? It was initiated by Ehud Barak for Israel's strategic benefit and US influence in the region.That's what "Israel" is for. It has its intelligence organization, Mossad, carry out false flag operations, deceiving others into attacking its enemies, getting others to fight wars for them. Wars for territory, wars for oil (or its control), wars for regional influence... Iraq is being turned into another Palestine for Israel.
Editors, Wisdom Quarterly; Tamjty (historical photo). HALLOWEEN SERIES
Prisoner portraits during atheist-Maoist-communist takeover of Buddhist Cambodia by Pol Pot and the NAGAS' own Khmer Rouge ("Red Army"). What followed in terms of police state war crimes and genocide of its own citizens is referred to as "Killing Fields."
Murder on an unimaginable scale: Killing Fields
(Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum) Upon arrival at the secret prison, victims were firstphotographed and required to give detailed autobiographies, beginning at childhood and ending with arrest. They were then forced to strip to their underwear, and all of their possessions were confiscated. The prisoners were then taken to cells.
Those taken to the smaller cubicles were shackled to the walls or concrete floor. Those who were held in the large mass blocks were collectively shackled to long pieces of iron bar. The shackles were fixed to alternating bars; the prisoners slept with their heads facing opposite directions. They slept on the floor without mosquito nets, mattresses, mats, or blankets. They were forbidden to talk to each other. More
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed a death penalty ban into law on Wednesday, making Illinois the 16th state to end capital punishment. Quinn also commuted the sentences of the 15 inmates on death row in the state. Instead, they will serve life in prison without parole. The ban on executions will take effect July 1. -by Jennifer Epstein for Politico.
James: State sponsored killed is the wrong way to show people that killing is wrong. Seriously, why do we kill people to show other people that killing is wrong? I believe that life in prison without the possibility of parole is a just, yet humane punishment as it avoids that taking of a life while ensuring that they will never kill again. It also gives them plenty of time to think about the horror and pain that they have caused.
They say that time heals all wounds, and I think there is some truth to that phrase. I've seen plenty of documentaries about men on death row who are older now and speak of how much they regret their previous actions. I've seen hardened criminals cry like a baby as an old man at the suffering they causes for their victims, themselves and the criminal's family.
And, what of the moral cost to the individuals that we task with the actual killing of the prisoner? I saw a documentary on the death penalty that interviewed several former executioners for prisons who are now emotionally scarred and experiencing nightmares from their former, grisly jobs. If we couldn't kill a person ourselves then how can we ask someone to do it for us and act like that blood isn't on our hands? And, what of the innocent blood that has surely been spilled from executing an innocent person? It seems we can't go a month without hearing someone being exonerated from prison after 20-30 years thanks to DNA evidence.
We can not hope to heal our society of violence when we are sanctioning it's practice in our name via capital punishment. It is my hope that all states in the U.S. move in this enlightened direction.
As the echoes of the "Saffron Revolution" in Burma continue to reverberate, I have often contemplated the humble monks living in a very real "Hell Realm" of unjust imprisonment. Along with other Buddhists living in prison. One doesn't have to look very far in this world to find the "Hell Realm."
Nor does one necessarily need to believe in a metaphysical "Hell Realm" to experience the concept rattling your fragile sense of identity. For these Buddhist in prison, however, their "Hell Realm" is an all too real cage of steel and razor wire that echoes with the sounds of pure suffering.
My nights have found me haunted by the imagery of such a place; and what it does to these innocent, peaceful monks and others. So, I decided to put my university degree to work and do some research into how monks (and others), who have been released or escaped imprisonment dealt with their "Hell Realm" without becoming bitter, angry, broken spirits. What I discovered in my sleuthing not only humbled and impressed me but gave me insight into dealing with my own demons and hellish suffering.
Prison does not seem like a place conducive to any kind of Buddhist practice. It's chaotic, violent, loud and uncaring. However, something interesting happened with these people who were thrown down into the pit of despair. They were not only able to practice in captivity but understand how to live with suffering without letting it consume them. This research has been a project that has sharply focused my view of trials in my life. And just how far the human spirit can endure despite overwhelming odds stacked against it.
I want to speak first about a Buddhist layperson serving time in incarceration. In prison, there are no distractions from suffering. It is all around you. You are forced to learn how to live with your suffering and stay rooted in the now without burning a hole through your view of humanity. Take for example the case of Buddhist inmate Jarvis Jay Masters. Susan Moon relayed the following wisdom in a Shambhala Sun article from Mr. Masters:
“It’s challenging to meditate in prison,” he says, “but it’s also the perfect place. People think they have to get a nice new cushion to be able to meditate. I would be that way, too, if I had the choice. But I’m fortunate not to have a new cushion. I feel the hard floor. This is where life is. Not knowing what’s going to happen tomorrow has its way of making time more precious. When you’ve been sentenced to death, you know you don’t have much time. You’re forced to look at what is, right now.”
James: Masters realized that trapping himself inside his mind, fighting in vain to take back his crimes wasn't going to change anything except ensure a deepening of suffering for all involved. Desiring to escape the consequences of his actions wasn't going to help. After all, desire, he says are what got him in trouble in the first place. He had to absorb himself in the moment and find freedom in the Dharma. Again from the Moon piece: "You’re either going to go crazy, or kill yourself—just go dead inside, in your soul if not your body—or find something to sustain you in a spiritual realm. You’ve got to have a way to take care of yourself when things go wrong, when you don’t get any mail or visits, or you start messing with your own head..."
This brings us to the monks. Palden Gyatso spent 33 years in a Chinese prison for being a Tibetan Buddhist monk who refused to denounce the Dalai Lama. Murderers, were set free before prisoners like Gyatso. The suffering he faced makes what most of us endure sound like pleasure. The following quotes about Gyatso come from an article by George Bryson. "His worst experience of all was the time he was under interrogation and a prison guard shoved the electrical cattle prod straight into his mouth. The explosive shock that followed knocked him unconscious."
James: How do you carry on with life after being treated worse than animals for slaughter? Especially the self-torturing question of, "Why me?" Gyatso's Buddhist practice of not clinging to a sense of self (anatta) is what helped him keep from being consumed with a feeling of personal injustice.
"It's not just Tibet. It happened to Jewish people (during the Holocaust), and it's happening all over the world." In this regard, he was far from alone. He was linked to all wrongfully imprisoned people around the globe. This gave him a reason to live -- to help others suffering in prison through meditating on compassion. That is also what aided him to avoid being utterly consumed by rage for his captors. "His torturers simply struck him out of ignorance, he said. The ignorant need our compassion and our help. He holds no lingering animosity toward them. Said Gyatso: "I have no anger toward any human, any Communist Chinese."
In countries like China and Burma, it is common for police, military and prison guards to have taken that job out of fear of being the one oppressed. Plus, it's a job in a society where economic opportunity is rare. The karma from their actions will sting far longer than the whips lashed upon their innocent prisoners. So, for Gyatso to be able to see the fear and weakness in their minds brought about a change in focus that made all the difference in surviving prison not only intact, but spiritually stronger. For Burmese activist, Nay Tin Myint, the turning point to surviving wrongful imprisonment came through not attaching to the limitations of the body. "They put my body in prison, but I decided they could not have my mind" said Myint in an article for The Wall Street Journal.
In conclusion, I can not imagine the suffering that these prisoners face. Nor can I imagine the physical pain they endured, but I am convinced that the Dharma is a powerful tool if we remember to use it. This isn't just something that only well-trained monks are capable of; we're all capable of it as well. Take the example of lay Buddhist meditator, Wang Jianxin of China. The ditch digger survived being buried alive for two hours by controlling his breath through meditation; according to the article from The Daily Mail online by
(Marc Pilisuk) The unjust foundations favoring the 1% over the 99% are everywhere. The Occupy Movement has found many targets among the corporate elite. The financial and extraction sectors have been clearly located (Phillips and Soeiro, 2012). But one hard to find target is the behind-the-scenes force propelling us toward nuclear war...
