Court bans punk "Pussy Riot" video

Wisdom Quarterly; Reuters; AFP

Punk band "Pussy Riot" (L-R) Yekaterina Samutsevich, Maria Alyokhina, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova sit in glass-walled Moscow court cage, 10-10-12 (Reuters/Maxim Shemetov).

  

Vlad the impertinent dictator will ruin country

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court ruled on Thursday [Nov. 29, 2012] that video footage of the Pussy Riot punk group protesting against President Vladimir Putin in a church was "extremist" and should be removed from websites. (See it below with lyrics).

The demonstration last February offended many Russian Orthodox Christians. But Putin has been criticized by U.S. and European leaders over what they saw as disproportionate jail sentences imposed on three Pussy Riot members. Their trial was also seen by Putin's critics as part of a clampdown on dissent.

(AFP) Putin reoccupied Kremlin after a crushing election victory that
Russian and foreign observers said was skewed in his favor from the start.

The Moscow court said it had based its ruling on conclusions by a panel of experts who studied the video, showing band members in colorful mini-skirts and ski masks dancing in front of the altar of Moscow's main Russian Orthodox cathedral.

Judge Marina Musimovich said the footage "has elements of extremism; in particular there are words and actions which humiliate various social groups based on their religion." More

PUNK PRAYER lyrics: Saint Maria [Kwan Yin], Virgin, Drive away Putin/Drive away! Drive away Putin!//Black robe, golden epaulettes/All parishioners are crawling and bowing/The ghost of freedom is in heaven/Gay pride sent to Siberia in chains//The head of the KGB is their chief saint/Leads protesters to prison under escort/In order not to offend the Holy/Women have to give birth and to love//Holy shit, shit, Lord's shit!/Holy shit, shit, Lord's shit!//Saint Maria, Virgin, become a feminist/Become a feminist, Become a feminist//Church praises the rotten dictators/The cross-bearer procession of black limousines/In school you are going to meet with a teacher-preacher/Go to class -- bring him money!//Patriarch [Kirill] Gundyaev believes in Putin/Bitch, you better believe in God/Belt of the Virgin is no substitute for mass-meetings/In protest of our Ever-Virgin Mary!//Saint Maria, Virgin, Drive away Putin/Drive away! Drive away Putin!

Read More

Europe's Buddhist Kalmykia to get Bodhi tree

Kalmykia.eu; Amber Dorrian, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Russia Today

(Kalmykia Tour) Gold Temple of the Buddha Shakyamuni. Хурул Золотой храм в городе Элиста. Калмыкия Европа. Буддийский храм "Золотая обитель Будды Шакьямуни".

 

The Golden Temple, Kalmyk capital, Elista

Kalmykia is an indigenously European Buddhist region in southwestern Russia. It practices Vajrayana Buddhism, an esoteric form of the Dharma blended with Siberian shamanism, establishing a long but little known history of the Dharma on the Continent.. Mongolian and Himalayan Buddhist kingdoms have apparently had a heavy influence its style of practice.

The Buddhist Dead Sea, Europe (kalmykia.eu)

HISTORY: The Kalmyks originate from Central Asia. Their ancestors -- the Oirats -- belonged to the western branch of Mongolian peoples. They represented a very powerful alliance of tribes, formations of the early feudal state under the dominion Mongolia found itself in during the first half of XV сentury. Consequently inter-regional conflicts and a number of military misfortunes caused the reduction of the Oirat Empire. More

Golden Buddha in Gold Temple abode

BODHI TREE: (Sandji Buvaev) On Nov. 27, 2012 the former president of the Republic of Kalmykia, billionaire Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, reported that he met with a Buddhist delegation from Sri Lanka.
 
It was agreed during that in the spring of 2013, a seed or cutting will be brought from the direct descendant of the world's oldest documented tree (the sacred fig or Ficus religiosa), under which the historical Buddha attained enlightenment. It will be planted in the European  Buddhist Republic of Kalmykia, according to KalmykiaNews. Recall that in 2011, the former Kalmyk president... More

• Buddhism in Europe: Girls of Kalmykia (kalmykia.eu)
• American actor Steven Seagal visits Kalmykia
• Non-Jonesian Indology and Alexander (RanajitPal.com)

Buddhism traveled West out of India (TSO)

Life in Siberia
The coldest place on Earth is not Himalayan Ladakh, Nepal, Tibet, or distant Bhutan, some of the highest inhabited places. It is the Russian republic of Yakutia, which makes up a fifth of Russia's land.

Read More

Topless protesters say No to Rape (video)

Femen.org; Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly UPDATED

Catholic nun joins topless protest (femen.org)

Yesterday [Oct. 15, 2012], topless FEMEN ACTIVISTS protested against the impunity of French rapists, who attack with few criminal or social consequences. A nun who happened to pass by soon joined our action. For us, the behavior of Catholic nuns has been a real eye-opener. Educated in cosmopolitan Moscow we would not have thought that there are those nuns who, at least for a while, put the ideals of female solidarity above corporate [church-state] perceptions of "morality." As it turns out, the "Dogs of the [Dominant] Lord" (Domini Canes) are much more human than wild Gundyaev. Cut down the [patriarchal] crosses and save Russia!

• Who? Russia's Eastern Orthodox Patriarch Gundyaev

Protesting Rape by Police
Guardian.co.uk
WARNING: Exposed mammary glands and defiant, attention-grabbing demonstrating!

                   

Activists from the Ukrainian protest group Femen staged a topless demonstration under the partially nude "Venus de Milo" statue inside Paris's Louvre Museum protesting rape. The nonviolent action was prompted by the case of a woman in Tunisia who was allegedly raped by police officers. Not only was she raped, to add insult to outrage she may face charges of indecency with her fiance. Source

Read More

The Most Dangerous Man in America (videos)

Wisdom Quarterly

   

Bradley Manning protesters call out Pres. B.S. Obama (again)

(RTAmerica) The Occupy Movement in Oakland has a new target now: Obama. One hundred protesters occupied his campaign office calling for the release of US Army Pfc. Bradley Manning. They invaded the offices of the Obama re-election campaign in California and stayed inside for hours before being forced out by police. RT Correspondent Ramon Galindo brings the latest from LA.

The Most Dangerous Man in America

(Dogwoof) In 1971 a top military strategist working for the RAND Corporation named Daniel Ellsberg leaked a 7,000-page document known as the "Pentagon Papers" to the New York Times, which committed high crimes and misdemeanors that would get WikiLeak's Julian Assange torture and life imprisonment in America by leaking the classified information the public. Disenchanted with the nation's conduct in Vietnam (Cambodia, and Laos), Ellsberg believed the release of the top secret paper -- which outlined the "secret history" of its illegal war of aggression -- was crucial to educating the public about the government's lies and atrocities. This documentary chronicles the media and political frenzy that Ellsberg unleashed and traces the effect of the leak on public perception of both the US war on Vietnam and the White House (as well as revealing the existence of a "military-industrial complex" independent of the government).

The Organization of American States convened on Friday to discuss the case of Julian Assange, while the UK and Ecuador remain locked in a diplomatic battle. Ecuador's Pres. Correa has granted the founder of WikiLeaks asylum. But the problem for Assange is how to get safe passage from the Ecuadorian embassy in London to the airport. UK law endorsement officials are threatening the whistleblower. Eva Golinger, attorney and author, joins RT's Liz Wahl to discuss.

• Naked Prince Harry having sex - not in British media
• VIDEO: Royals gone wild, Prince Harry's sex romp
• "Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same"
• Molestation-by-teacher on the increase in LA 
• Apple Computer's secrets revealed during trial
• VIDEO: Cop beats white female motorist, goes to jail
• Black skateboarder brutalized in Venice, taken to jail
• VIDEO: Police injure 9 to murder Empire State suspect
• US mermaid (naiad), Diana Nyad, foiled by jellyfish
• Tips for slugs, deer from the "sport" of gardening
• Coming food crisis: Play for rain, plant more crops
• Female-man banned from breastfeeding in Canada
• FOX outs Osama bin Laden killer, an Army SEAL

Read More

Pussy Riot, poor Phelps, Pot Shops, more

Wisdom Quarterly

Supporters perform in a dirt lot across from the Russian Embassy in DC, Aug. 10, 2012, in a solidarity concert for the Russian punk rock group Pussy Riot (Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty).

  

KGB killer Vlad Putin killing fish

(SCPR) Pussy Riot, an all-female Russian feminist punk band, is “the latest symbol of young Russian discontent.” Anti-Putin youth of Russia now consider themselves on trial. Pussy Riot functions as a collective, with a rotating cast of characters who wear brightly colored balaclavas to conceal their specific identities.
   
No longer anonymous, three members of the band were sentenced to two additional years in prison Moscow on charges of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.” 

  

German supporters (Marcus Brandt/AFP/DPA)

Their conviction was a foregone conclusion. But Putin hinted that the judge should deliver a lenient sentence, such as time served. Instead, the judge made an example of them by attaching two more years for their involvement in making a statement against the government. More
   

Pussy Riot sentenced for "punk prayer"

How long can Russian anger be held back by Putin's repression?

• Arrests, Breasts, Chainsaws: Punks back Pussy Riot!
• Russian Orthodox Church "forgives" Pussy Riot
• Topless FEMEN activists join protests in Ukraine
• FEMEN attempt to save the world (partly nude) 
• Who's not congratulating Putin: Russia's middle class

Rule 40 violation could mean loss of medals

Undisputed pool hero risks it all for money. Attempting to cash in on his continuing fame, he did non-Olympic's related advertising. And that is a major violation of the rules, certainly no reason to lose his gold medals, but a violation nonetheless. Only he is not likely to have been the one doing the leaking (outside of the pool). Will it matter? Will it be enough to save his reputation? (SCPR) Michael Phelps could be in hot water -- not the cold bathtub he appears to be in -- for his recent photo shoot with the French luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton. Photos of Phelps taken by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz were leaked on the Internet late last week, violating the International Olympic Committee's controversial Rule 40... More
   
LA Pot Shop Ban Coming Soon 

Cannabis sativa (David McNew/Getty Images)

Before the Los Angeles City Council's unanimous vote last month in favor of the ordinance to BAN all medical marijuana dispensaries, Police Chief Charlie Beck assured council members that shutting down the nearly 1,000 pot shops in the city would be a smooth operation. Beck told the Council that it was his belief that "the vast majority of these establishments will willingly comply." Compliance seemed a long way off Friday. The Patient Care Alliance, which represents 300 pot shops, is suing the city to stop the ban that's due to take effect on September 6, 2012. More

• Medical Marijuana lawsuit
• Marijuana: Mothers' Little Helper

Ryan likes Rage, RATM does not like Ryan

First New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was rebuffed by The Boss. Now another well-know liberal musician has spurned the advances of a right-wing politician-fan. In a brutal Rolling Stone editorial, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello calls Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's recent vice presidential pick, the "embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades."
  

Che Guevara - raging rebel

The band ferociously advocate for unions, immigrants, and social justice. Morello is clearly amused and perplexed at how deeply, in his opinion, Ryan has missed the point of his band: "He can like whatever bands he wants. But his guiding vision of shifting revenue more radically to the 1% is antithetical to the message of Rage," Morello wrote. More

• "Psychic" services banned on EBay
• Texans to travel to Buddhist Asia
• Jew in hot water for bashing Jews
• L.E.A.F. (Nature Conservancy)
• The mystery of the bending mountains
• Japan releases Chinese Kyodo island activists 
• US men crave beer, women wine
• Don't Judge Us: Pot moms
• Rhianna cries to Oprah about Chris Brown
• Police gun down striking workers 
  
• VIDEO: Female billionaires increasing
• VIDEO: Man survives skull piercing pole
• The Most Dangerous Man in America

"Strawberry Fields Forever" (classic Beatles)

Read More

Pussy Riot goes to court (video)

Guardian.co.uk (See article)

• VIDEO: Pussy Riot on Putin, "punk prayers" and superheroes
• AUDIO: Punk band's case tests Putin's tolerance for dissent
  

Read More

"Topless Warriors" of FEMEN (video)

PripyatPripyat; FEMEN.livejournal.com; Wisdom Quarterly

WARNING: Nudity! FEMEN is a Kiev, Ukraine-based group of activists and topless protesters.

This is a documentary from Finnish TV about the Ukrainian female rights organization FEMEN (WARNING: nudity). English subtitles added: click the CC-button (located on the bottom of the video screen, above the number of video views). The Finnish subtitles are hard coded and could not be removed. The English subtitles are present simply by clicking the CC.

• PHOTOS: Topless protests in Europe (allvoices.com)

Read More

Pussy Riot: Punks Against Putin (video)

TheWorld.org; Guardian.co.uk; Wisdom Quarterly

Russia was never actually atheist. That was just an official position. Siberia is Buddhist as was the USSR in Central Asia (including the only indigenously Buddhist part of Europe: Kalmykia. But "Russians" are Christians who conquered neighboring lands for empire. It is a country of blue-eyed blondes. It tried to do the right thing and live communally. But corruption ruined it. Punks call out its new emperor, Putin, a KGB chief and uber-hypocrite to rival US leaders.

The all-female Russian punk band Pussy Riot ran afoul of the Kremlin with protest performances [in church]. Their impromptu show in one of Moscow’s holiest sanctuaries, the [Eastern Orthodox] Cathedral of Christ the Savior, was pretty wild. They sang their tune, “Holy Mother, Throw Putin Out!” The women were arrested in February and have been in jail since [after their video of the stunt garnered too much attention and they became a scapegoat for Putin’s dilemma].
   
Last week a judge ordered them to remain in custody to await their July trial. And if they’re eventually convicted, they face up to seven years in prison. The Moscow News Deputy Editor Natalia Antonova wrote in The Guardian last week that the women are “scapegoats for Russia’s political crisis.” She tells [TheWorld.org’s] anchor Marco Werman why: More 

• Pussy Riot are scapegoats for Russia's political crisis
• The World: Russia’s Anti-Putin All-Girl Punk Band
• Swedish fans bemused by topless protest (FEMEN)
• VIDEO: "The Invisible War" - U.S. military sexism
• PHOTOS: Topless protest in Ukraine for Swedish fans

VIDEO: FEMEN activists go topless chanting "F**k Euro!"

Italian: Miss Euro 2012 supporters paint their nude bodies

PHOTOS: Topless protest at Warsaw Stadium for Euro 2012

FEMEN, like many Europeans, is against the Euro system.

• Who is FEMEN? (Bikini Drill Team @ Occupy LA)

Read More

Interdependence in World Politics.

Recently American President Barack Obama traveled to Russia and with the help of his Russian counterpart negotiated a deal to reduce nuclear weapons between the two countries. For too long America has seen itself as the only important country in the world, which has bred the three poisons with alarming but predictable speed: Greed, hatred and delusion. Thankfully America now has a leader that better understands how interconnected the world is and just how destructive and counterproductive the "us vs. them" mentality can be. I thought this quote from Obama about interconnection in world affairs was refreshing talk for a political leader because politics is all too often used to exploit people, money and power:

There is sometimes a sense that old ways of thinking must prevail; a conception of power that is rooted in the past rather than in the future... In 2009, a great power does not show strength by dominating or demonizing other countries... As I said in Cairo, given our interdependence, any world order that tries to elevate one nation or one group of people over an other will inevitably fail. The pursuit of power is no longer a zero-sum game - progress must be shared.

James: A verse from the Tao Te Ching comes to mind:

If you want to govern the people you must place yourself below them If you want to lead the people you must learn how to follow them.

Tao Te Ching v.66, Paragraph 2.

Barack Obama isn't a perfect leader but it is refreshing to hear a leader speak of interconnection, interdependence and the oneness of all people and cultures.

~Peace to all beings~

Read More