stormidae

random sounds 32: Etta James

2012-01-25T00:52:00.000-08:00

Etta James Jan 25, 1938 - Jan 20, 2012
6 Grammys, 17 Blues Music Awards.
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (1993), Blues Hall of Fame (2001), Grammy Hall of Fame (1999, 2008). Rolling Stone #22 of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time; #62 of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time
Etta's funeral is on Saturday.

"I'd Rather Go Blind" with Dr. John and B.B. King, live (1987)

"At Last" live

"You Can Leave Your Hat On" video montage

Etta James on YouTube
and on Wiki

caddisfly

2012-01-22T15:13:00.000-08:00

^^caddisfly

^^What's That Bug? says: "Though it is mothlike, this insect is actually a Caddisfly in the order Trichoptera. Caddisflies have aquatic larvae that carry cases about with them earning them the common name of Caseworm."

with wonder, and horror

2012-01-20T01:35:00.000-08:00

Curiosity is a GOOD thing: philhellens on You Tube

related links on stormidae:
Christian Right in America
"Corrective" rape
Lgbt teen suicide
Marriage equity
Ugandan Kill the Gays law
Vatican hides child rapists
update, offsite:
Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters (1)
Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters (2)

Wikipedia blacked-out for 24 hours

2012-01-17T14:44:00.000-08:00

From the Wikipedia public announcement:

"Today, the Wikipedia community announced its decision to black out the English-language Wikipedia for 24 hours, worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18 (you can read the statement from the Wikimedia Foundation here). The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United States — the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate — that, if passed, would seriously damage the free and open Internet, including Wikipedia... "
read more

first snow: night shots

2012-01-14T16:54:00.000-08:00

^^Shaughnessy at Atkins

^^city hall

^^tulip tree

^^city lights

blueberry shrimp: next gen

2012-01-13T18:21:00.000-08:00

^^blueberry shrimp (Neocaridina sp.) feeding on a small dead fish. It will be gone by morning.

boyhood crushes: Tony, Michael, Donny and Tony

2012-01-09T17:56:00.000-08:00

The Christian Right and the Rise of American Fascism

2012-01-05T23:14:00.000-08:00

found on: the Christian Left, 10/30/2011

The Christian Right and the Rise of American Fascism

by Chris Hedges (This is an article by Chris Hedges that no major publication will print.)

Dr. James Luther Adams, my ethics professor at Harvard Divinity School , told us that when we were his age, he was then close to 80, we would all be fighting the “Christian fascists.”

The warning, given to me 25 years ago, came at the moment Pat Robertson and other radio and televangelists began speaking about a new political religion that would direct its efforts at taking control of all institutions, including mainstream denominations and the government. Its stated goal was to use the United States to create a global, Christian empire. It was hard, at the time, to take such fantastic rhetoric seriously, especially given the buffoonish quality of those who expounded it. But Adams warned us against the blindness caused by intellectual snobbery. The Nazis, he said, were not going to return with swastikas and brown shirts. Their ideological inheritors had found a mask for fascism in the pages of the Bible.

He was not a man to use the word fascist lightly. He was in Germany in 1935 and 1936 and worked with the underground anti-Nazi church, known as The Confessing Church, led by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Adams was eventually detained and interrogated by the Gestapo, who suggested he might want to consider returning to the United States . It was a suggestion he followed. He left on a night train with framed portraits of Adolph Hitler placed over the contents inside his suitcase to hide the rolls of home movie film he took of the so-called German Christian Church, which was pro-Nazi, and the few individuals who defied them, including the theologians Karl Barth and Albert Schweitzer. The ruse worked when the border police lifted the top of the suitcases, saw the portraits of the Fuhrer and closed them up again. I watched hours of the grainy black and white films as he narrated in his apartment in Cambridge .

He saw in the Christian Right, long before we did, disturbing similarities with the German Christian Church and the Nazi Party, similarities that he said would, in the event of prolonged social instability or a national crisis, see American fascists, under the guise of religion, rise to dismantle the open society. He despaired of liberals, who he said, as in Nazi Germany, mouthed silly platitudes about dialogue and inclusiveness that made them ineffectual and impotent. Liberals, he said, did not understand the power and allure of evil nor the cold reality of how the world worked. The current hand wringing by Democrats in the wake of the election, with many asking how they can reach out to a movement whose leaders brand them “demonic” and “satanic,” would not have surprised Adams . Like Bonhoeffer, he did not believe that those who would fight effectively in coming times of turmoil, a fight that for him was an integral part of the Biblical message, would come from the church or the liberal, secular elite.

His critique of the prominent research universities, along with the media, was no less withering. These institutions, self-absorbed, compromised by their close relationship with government and corporations, given enough of the pie to be complacent, were unwilling to deal with the fundamental moral questions and inequities of the age. They had no stomach for a battle that might cost them their prestige and comfort. He told me that if the Nazis took over America “60 percent of the Harvard faculty would begin their lectures with the Nazi salute.” This too was not an abstraction. He had watched academics at the University of Heidelberg , including the philosopher Martin Heidegger, raise their arms stiffly to students before class.

Two decades later, even in the face of the growing reach of the Christian Right, his prediction seems apocalyptic. And yet the powerbrokers in the Christian Right have moved from the fringes of society to the floor of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Christian fundamentalists now hold a majority of seats in 36 percent of all Republican Party state committees, or 18 of 50 states, along with large minorities in 81 percent of the rest of the states. Forty-five Senators and 186 members of the House of Representatives earned between an 80 to100 percent approval ratings from the three most influential Christian Right advocacy groups - The Christian Coalition, Eagle Forum, and Family Resource Council. Tom Coburn, the new senator from Oklahoma , has included in his campaign to end abortion a call to impose the death penalty on doctors that carry out abortions once the ban goes into place. Another new senator, John Thune, believes in Creationism. Jim DeMint, the new senator elected from South Carolina , wants to ban single mothers from teaching in schools. The Election Day exit polls found that 22 percent of voters identified themselves as evangelical Christians and Bush won 77 percent of their vote. The polls found that a plurality of voters said that the most important issue in the campaign had been “moral values.”

President Bush must further these important objectives, including the march to turn education and social welfare over to the churches with his faith-based initiative, as well as chip away at the wall between church and state with his judicial appointments, if he does not want to face a revolt within his core constituency.

Jim Dobson, the head of Focus on the Family, who held weekly telephone conversations with K arl Rove during the campaign, has put the President on notice. He told ABC's “This Week” that “this president has two years, or more broadly the Republican Party has two years, to implement these policies, or certainly four, or I believe they'll pay a price in the next election.”

Bush may turn out to be a transition figure, our version of Otto von Bismarck. Bismarck used “values” to energize his base at the end of the 19 th century and launched “Kulturkampt”, the word from which we get “culture wars,” against Catholics and Jews. Bismarck 's attacks split the country, made the discrediting of whole segments of the society an acceptable part of the civil discourse and paved the way for the more virulent racism of the Nazis. This, I suspect, will be George Bush's contribution to our democracy.

DOMINIONISTS AND RECONSTRUCTIONISTS

The Reconstructionist movement, founded in 1973 by Rousas Rushdooney, is the intellectual foundation for the most politically active element within the Christian Right. Rushdooney's 1,600 page three-volume work, Institutes of Biblical Law, argued that American society should be governed according to the Biblical precepts in the Ten Commandments. He wrote that the elect, like Adam and Noah, were given dominion over the earth by God and must subdue the earth, along with all non-believers, so the Messiah could return.

This was a radically new interpretation for many in the evangelical movement. The Messiah, it was traditionally taught, would return in an event called “the Rapture” where there would be wars and chaos. The non-believers would be tormented and killed and the elect would be lifted to heaven. The Rapture was not something that could be manipulated or influenced, although believers often interpreted catastrophes and wars as portents of the imminent Second Coming.

Rushdooney promoted an ideology that advocated violence to create the Christian state. His ideology was the mirror image of Liberation Theology, which came into vogue at about the same time. While the Liberation Theologians crammed the Bible into the box of Marxism, Rushdooney crammed it into the equally distorting box of classical fascism. This clash was first played out in Latin America when I was there as a reporter two decades ago. In El Salvador leftist priests endorsed and even traveled with the rebel movements in Nicaragua and El Salvador, while Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, along with conservative Latin American clerics, backed the Contras fighting against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and the murderous military regimes in El Salvador, Guatemala, Chile and Argentina.

The Institutes of Biblical Law called for a Christian society that was harsh, unforgiving and violent. Offenses such as adultery, witchcraft, blasphemy and homosexuality, merited the death penalty. The world was to be subdued and ruled by a Christian United States. Rushdooney dismissed the number of 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust as an inflated figure and his theories on race echoed Nazi Eugenics.

“The white man has behind him centuries of Christian culture and the discipline and selective breeding this faith requires...,” he wrote. “The Negro is a product of a radically different past, and his heredity has been governed by radically different considerations.”

“The background of Negro culture is African and magic, and the purposes of the magic are control and power over God, man, nature, and society. Voodoo, or magic, was the religion and life of American Negroes. Voodoo songs underlie jazz, and old voodoo, with its power goal, has been merely replaced with revolutionary voodoo, a modernized power drive.” (see The Religious Right , a publication of the ADL, pg. 124.)

Rushdooney was deeply antagonistic to the federal government. He believed the federal government should concern itself with little more than national defense. Education and social welfare should be handed over to the churches. Biblical law must replace the secular legal code. This ideology remains at the heart of the movement. It is being enacted through school vouchers, with federal dollars now going into Christian schools, and the assault against the federal agencies that deal with poverty and human services. The Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives is currently channeling millions in federal funds to groups such Pat Robertson's Operation Blessing , and National Right to Life, as well as to fundamentalist religious charity organizations and programs promoting sexual abstinence.

Rushdooney laid the groundwork for a new way of thinking about political involvement. The Christian state would come about not only through signs and wonders, as those who believed in the rapture believed? , but also through theestablishment of the Christian nation. But he remained, even within the Christian Right, a deeply controversial figure.

Dr. Tony Evans, the minister of a Dallas church and the founder of Promise Keepers, articulated Rushdooney's extremism in a more palatable form. He called on believers, often during emotional gatherings at football stadiums, to commit to Christ and exercise power within the society as agents of Christ. He also called for a Christian state. But he did not advocate the return of slavery, as Rushdooney did, nor list a string of offenses such as adultery punishable by death, nor did he espouse the Nazi-like race theories. It was through Evans, who was a spiritual mentor to George Bush that Dominionism came to dominate the politically active wing of the Christian Right.The religious utterances from political leaders such as George Bush, Tom Delay, Pat Robertson and Zell Miller are only understandable in light of Rushdooney and Dominionism. These leaders believe that God has selected them to battle the forces of evil, embodied in “secular humanism,” to create a Christian nation. Pat Robertson frequently tells believers “our aim is to gain dominion over society.” Delay has told supporters, such as at a gathering two years ago at the First Baptist Church in Pearland , Texas , “He [God] is using me, all the time, everywhere, to stand up for biblical worldview in everything I do and everywhere I am. He is training me, He is working with me.” Delay went on to tell followers “If we stay inside the church, the culture won't change.”

Pat Robertson, who changed the name of his university to Regent University , says he is training his students to rule when the Christian regents take power, part of the reign leading to the return of Christ. Robertson resigned as the head of the Christian Coalition when Bush took office, a sign many took to signal the ascendancy of the first regent. This battle is not rhetorical but one that followers are told will ultimately involve violence. And the enemy is clearly defined and marked for destruction.

“Secular Humanists,” the popular Christian Right theologian Francis Schaeffer wrote in one of numerous diatribes, “are the greatest threat to Christianity the world has ever known.”

One of the most enlightening books that exposes the ultimate goals of movement is America's Providential History , the standard textbook used in many Christian schools and a staple of the Christian home schooling movement. It sites Genesis 26, which calls for mankind to “ .have dominnion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” as evidence that the Bible callls for “Bible believing Christians” to take dominion of America.

“When God brings Noah through the flood to a new earth, He reestablished the Dominion Mandate but now delegates to man the responsibility for governing other men.” (page 19). The authors write that God has called the United States to become “the first truly Christian nation” (page 184) and “make disciples of all nations.” The book denounces income tax as “idolatry,” property tax as “theft” and calls for an abolish of inheritance taxes in the chapter entitled Christian Economics. The loss of such tax revenues will bring about the withering away of the federal government and the empowerment of the authoritarian church, although this is not explict in the text.

Rushdooney's son-in-law, Gary North, a popular writer and founder of the Institute for Christian Economics, laid out the aims of the Christian Right.

“So let's be blunt about it: We must use the doctrine of religious liberty to gain independence for Christian schools until we train up a generation of people who know that there is no religious neutrality, no neutral law, no neutral education, and no neutral civil government. Then they will get busy in constructing a Bible-based social, political and religious order which finally denies the religious liberty of the enemies of God.” (Christianity and Civilization, Spring, 1982)

Dominionists have to operate, for now, in the contaminated environment of the secular, liberal state. They have learned, therefore, to speak in code. The code they use is the key to understanding the dichotomy of the movement, one that has a public and a private face. In this they are no different from the vanguard, as described by Lenin, or the Islamic terrorists who shave off their beards, adopt western dress and watch pay-for-view pornographic movies in their hotel rooms the night before hijacking a plane for a suicide attack.

Joan Bokaer, the Director of Theocracy Watch, a project of the Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy at Cornell University , who runs the encyclopedic web site theocracywatch.org, was on a speaking tour a few years ago in Iowa . She obtained a copy of a memo Pat Robertson handed out to followers at the Iowa Republican County Caucus. It was titled, “How to Participate in a Political Party” and read:

“Rule the world for God.”

“Give the impression that you are there to work for the party, not push an ideology.

“Hide your strength.

“Don't flaunt your Christianity.

“Christians need to take leadership positions. Party officers control political parties and so it is very important that mature Christians have a majority of leadership whenever possible, God willing.”

President Bush sends frequent coded messages to the faithful. In his address to the nation on the night of September 11, for example, he lifted a line directly from the Gospel of John when he said “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.” He often uses the sentence “when every child is welcomed in life and protected in law,” words taken directly from a pro-life manifesto entitled “A Statement of Pro-Life Principle and Concern.” He quotes from hymns, prayers, tracts and Biblical passages without attribution. These phrases reassure the elect. They are lost on the uninitiated.

CHRIST THE AVENGER

The Christian Right finds its ideological justification in a narrow segment of the Gospel, in particular the letters of the Apostle Paul, especially the story of Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus in the Book of Acts. It draws heavily from the book of Revelations and the Gospel of John. These books share an apocalyptic theology. The Book of Revelations is the only time in the Gospels where Jesus sanctions violence, offering up a vision of Christ as the head of a great and murderous army of heavenly avengers. Martin Luther found the God portrayed in Revelations so hateful and cruel he put the book in the appendix of his German translation of the Bible.

These books rarely speak about Christ's message of love, forgiveness and compassion. They focus on the doom and destruction that will befall unbelievers and the urgent need for personal salvation. The world is divided between good and evil, between those who act as agents of God and those who act as agents of Satan. The Jesus of the other three Gospels, the Jesus who turned the other cheek and embraced his enemies, an idea that was radical and startling in the ancient Roman world, is purged in the narrative selected by the Christian Right.

The cult of masculinity pervades the ideology. Feminism and homosexuality are social forces, believers are told, that have rendered the American male physically and spiritually impotent. Jesus is portrayed as a man of action, casting out demons, battling the Anti-Christ, attacking hypocrites and castigating the corrupt. This cult of masculinity brings with it the glorification of strength, violence and vengeance. It turns Christ into a Rambo-like figure; indeed depictions of Jesus within the movement often show a powerfully built man wielding a huge sword.

This image of Christ as warrior is appealing to many within the movement. The loss of manufacturing jobs, lack of affordable health care, negligible opportunities for education and poor job security has left many millions of Americans locked out. This ideology is attractive because it offers them the hope of power and revenge. It sanctifies their rage. It stokes the paranoia about the outside world maintained through bizarre conspiracy theories, many on display in Pat Robertson's book The New World Order . The book is a xenophobic rant that includes vicious attacks against the United Nations and numerous other international organizations. The abandonment of the working class has been crucial to the success of the movement. Only by reintegrating the working class into society through job creation, access to good education and health care can the Christian Right be effectively blunted. Revolutionary movements are built on the backs of an angry, disenfranchised laboring class. This one is no exception.

The depictions of violence that will befall non-believers are detailed, gruesome and brutal. It speaks to the rage many believers harbor and the thirst for revenge. This, in large part, accounts for the huge sales of the apocalyptic series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. In their novel, Glorious Appearing , based on LaHaye's interpretation of Biblical Prophecies about the Second Coming, Christ eviscerates the flesh of millions of non-believers with the mere sound of his voice. There are long descriptions of horror, of how “the very words of the Lord had superheated their blood, causing it to burst through their veins and skin.” Eyes disintegrate. Tongues melt. Flesh dissolves. The novel, part of The Left Behind series, are the best selling adult novels in the country. They preach holy war.

“Any teaching of peace prior to [Christ's] return is heresy.” said televangelist James Robinson.

Natural disasters, terrorist attacks, instability in Israel and even the fighting of Iraq are seen as signposts. The war in Iraq was predicted according to believers in the 9 th chapter of the Book of Revelations where four angels “which are bound in the great river Euphrates will be released to slay the third part of men.” The march towards global war, even nuclear war, is not to be feared but welcomed as the harbinger of the Second Coming. And leading the avenging armies is an angry, violent Messiah who dooms millions of non-believers to a horrible and painful death.

THE CORRUPTION OF SCIENCE AND LAW

The movement seeks the imprint of law and science. It must discredit the rational disciplines that are the pillars of the Enlightenment to abolish the liberal polity of the Enlightenment. This corruption of science and law is vital in promoting the doctrine. Creationism, or “intelligent design,” like Eugenics for the Nazis, must be introduced into the mainstream as a valid scientific discipline to destroy the discipline of science itself. This is why the Christian Right is working to bring test cases to ensure that school textbooks include “intelligent design” and condemn gay marriage.

The drive by the Christian Right to include crackpot theories in scientific or legal debate is part of the campaign to destroy dispassionate and honest intellectual inquiry. Facts become interchangeable with opinions. An understanding of reality is not to be based on the elaborate gathering of facts and evidence. The ideology alone is true. Facts that get in the way of the ideology can be altered. Lies, in this worldview, become true. Hannah Arendt called this effort “nihilistic relativism” although a better phrase might be collective insanity.

The Christian Right has fought successfully to have Creationist books sold in national park bookstores in the Grand Canyon , taught as a theory in public schools in states like Alabama and Arkansas . “Intelligent design” is promoted in Christian textbooks. All animal species, or at least their progenitors, students read, fit on Noah's ark. The Grand Canyon was created a few thousand years ago by the flood that lifted up Noah's ark, not one billion years ago, as geologists have determined. The earth is only a few thousand years old in line with the literal reading of Genesis. This is not some quaint, homespun view of the world. It is an insidious attempt to undermine rational scientific research and intellectual inquiry.

Tom Delay, following the Columbine shootings, gave voice to this assault when he said that the killings had taken place “because our school systems teach children that they are nothing but glorified apes who have evolutionized out of some primordial mud.” (speech Delay gave in the House on June 16, 1999 )

“What convinces masses are not facts,” Hannah Arendt wrote in Origins of Totalitarianism, “and not even invented facts, but only the consistency of the system which they are presumably part. Repetition, somewhat overrated in importance because of the common belief in the “masses” inferior capacity to grasp and remember, is important because it convinces them of consistency in time.” (p.351)

There are more than 6 million elementary and secondary school students attending private schools and 11.5 percent of these students attend schools run by the Christian Right. These “Christian” schools saw an increase of 46 percent in enrollment in the last decade. The 245,000 additional students accounted for 75 percent of the total rise in private school enrollment.

THE LAUNCHING OF THE WAR

Adams told us to watch closely what the Christian Right did to homosexuals. He has seen how the Nazis had used “values” to launch state repression of opponents. Hitler, days after he took power in 1933, imposed a ban on all homosexual and lesbian organizations. He ordered raids on places where homosexuals gathered culminating with the ransacking of the Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin . Thousands of volumes from the institute's library were tossed into a bonfire. Adams said that homosexuals would also be the first “deviants” singled out by the Christian Right. We would be the next.

The ban on same sex marriages, passed by eleven states in the election, was part of this march towards our door. A 1996 federal law already defines marriage as between a man and a woman. All of the states with ballot measures, with the exception of Oregon , had outlawed same sex marriages, as do 27 other states. The bans, however, had to be passed, believers were told, to thwart “activist judges” who wanted to overturn them. The Christian family, even the nation, was under threat. The bans served to widen the splits tearing apart the country. The attacks on homosexuals handed to the foot soldiers of the Christian Right an easy target. It gave them a taste of victory. It made them feel empowered. But it is ominous for gays and for us.

All debates with the Christian Right are useless. We cannot reach this movement. It does not want a dialogue. It cares nothing for rational thought and discussion. It is not mollified because John Kerry prays or Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday School. These naive attempts to reach out to a movement bent on our destruction, to prove to them that we too have “values,” would be humorous if the stakes were not so deadly. They hate us. They hate the liberal, enlightened world formed by the Constitution. Our opinions do not count.

This movement will not stop until we are ruled by Biblical Law, an authoritarian church intrudes in every aspect of our life, women stay at home and rear children, gays agree to be cured, abortion is considered murder, the press and the schools promote “positive” Christian values, the federal government is gutted, war becomes our primary form of communication with the rest of the world and recalcitrant non-believers see their flesh eviscerated at the sound of the Messiah's voice.

The spark that could set it ablaze may be lying in the hands of an Islamic terrorist cell, in the hands of the ideological twins of the Christian Right. Another catastrophic terrorist attack could be our Reichstag fire, the excuse used to begin the accelerated dismantling of our open society. The ideology of the Christian Right is not one of love and compassion, the central theme of Christ's message, but of violence and hatred. It has a strong appeal to many in our society, but it is also aided by our complacency. Let us not stand at the open city gates waiting passively and meekly for the barbarians. They are coming. They are slouching rudely towards Bethlehem . Let us, if nothing else, begin to call them by their name.

Chris Hedges

Chris Hedges, whose column is published Mondays on Truthdig, spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He has reported from more than 50 countries and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times, for which he was a foreign correspondent for 15 years.

Hedges was part of the team of reporters at The New York Times awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for the paper’s coverage of global terrorism. He also received the Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism in 2002. The Los Angeles Press Club honored Hedges’ original columns in Truthdig by naming the author the Online Journalist of the Year in 2009, and granted him the Best Online Column award in 2010 for his Truthdig essay “One Day We’ll All Be Terrorists.”

Hedges is a senior fellow at The Nation Institute in New York City and has taught at Columbia University, New York University and Princeton University. He currently teaches inmates at a correctional facility in New Jersey.

Hedges began his career reporting the war in El Salvador. Following six years in Latin America, he took time off to study Arabic and then went to Jerusalem and later Cairo. He spent seven years in the Middle East, most of them as the bureau chief there for The New York Times. He left the Middle East in 1995 for Sarajevo to cover the war in Bosnia and later reported the war in Kosovo. Afterward, he joined the Times’ investigative team and was based in Paris to cover al-Qaida. He left the Times after being issued a formal reprimand for denouncing the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq.

He has written eleven books, including “Death of the Liberal Class” (2010), “Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle” (2009), “I Don’t Believe in Atheists” (2008) and the best-selling “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America” (2008). His book “War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning” (2003) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction. In 2011, Truthdig and Nation Books published a collection of Hedges’ Truthdig columns called “The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress.”

Hedges holds a B.A. in English literature from Colgate University and a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard University. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, Calif. Hedges speaks Arabic, French and Spanish and knows ancient Greek and Latin. In addition to writing a weekly original column for Truthdig, he has written for Harper’s Magazine, The New Statesman, The New York Review of Books, Adbusters, Granta, Foreign Affairs and other publications.

the Christian Left

on YouTube

hey! festive new year!

2011-12-30T23:16:00.000-08:00

via Argentina

2011-12-24T16:04:00.000-08:00

from LGBT Federation of Argentina

see all 4 at Blabbeando
found on Milkboys

in passing: Christopher Hitchens

2011-12-17T08:57:00.000-08:00

scared to death

2011-12-12T23:16:00.000-08:00

(from: Vancouver Sun, Dec. 9, 2011, By Margaret Munro, Postmedia News)

" ...Clinchy says cats should not be allowed in wildlife areas as previous studies have shown that feral and domestic cats directly kill 22 per cent of birds in Victoria parks. He says the fear effect is likely reducing the number by another 20 per cent... "

Life on idyllic-looking islands in British Columbia took a noisy and decidedly deadly turn when biologist Liana Zanette set out to measure the effect of fear.
She and her colleagues hung speakers near song sparrow nests and began broadcasting the sounds of hawks, raccoons and other predators.
The sparrows were so scared they experienced something akin to post-traumatic stress. They laid fewer eggs and were so flustered many of their chicks starved to death.
By the end of the four-month experiment the sparrows had produced 40-per-cent fewer young than normal, demonstrating what scientists say is the very real effect of fear.
The results, published today in the journal Science, indicate the mere sound and presence of predators can be just as deadly as their claws and fangs.
"This effect can be as important as direct killing," says Zanette, of the University of Western Ontario.
She and her colleague, Michael Clinchy, a biologist at the University of Victoria, say the fear effect is common in animals and needs to be considered when managing wildlife: be it elk looking over their shoulders for wolves in national parks or birds flitting away from urban rats and cats.
"Wild animals are in peril every moment of every day of being torn limb from limb by any number of predators," says Clinchy, who says the stress response to predators may have parallels with post-traumatic stress disorder in humans.

Read more: The Vancouver Sun

Aphyosemion elberti JVC 07

2011-12-07T01:05:00.001-08:00

^^Aphyosemion elberti JVC 07, dominant male

^^dominant male, about 15 weeks after hatching

more killies on stormidae here and here

beating the bullies 6

2011-12-05T21:49:00.001-08:00

To all my friends and supporters,
I made this video 4 months ago just before school was about to start. I was 13. It was a very emotionally dark time in my life. I made the video at 4:00am in the morning; I hadn't been sleeping at night for a long time, too many things going on in my head. I was dreading going back to school and I had not come out to my family yet. Only my closest friends knew. I didn't know how to say what I needed to say. All I could think about were all the bad things that had been happening at school last year, every year for that matter. I just couldn't bare to go through that anymore. I was done being fake happy, pretending hateful words didn't hurt, done hiding it from my family.
So this video was made for my friends that had moved on to High School who were worried for me, to say to them that I was going to take a stand, and to the haters at my middle school that I'm not going anywhere. I am who I am. I posted the video here and told people were to find it. That was it.
My friends were moved by the video and thought I did something important. I was encouraged to upload it to my Facebook page so more people could see it. Maybe it could help someone else going through the same thing. So I linked it Dec. 1st. My Parents saw it for the first time Dec, 2nd.
Then..... all this happened.
I never expected in a million years that it would have such a wonderful impact on so many people. I am truly humbled and truly thankful for all the love, encouragement and support from people all over the world. It's been incredibly overwhelming. I don't know what to say. Thank you so, so much!
Lastly, yes you have seen me happy in a couple short videos replies I posted; I would think that would be a good thing , and yes I do have friends, my High School friends, and I have made friends because when I came out they realized that they had hurt me and that they fealt sorry. The video is real, and true.
In the last few months everything eventually came out in the open, I felt a huge weight off my shoulders; I'm happy, I'm excepted for who I am, I'm more confident and feel stronger every day.
Thank you all, Love and peace to all who are hurting.
Jonah Mowry
BlahBlahBlah2145
everynone

no ethics without god

2011-12-01T19:14:00.000-08:00

(from: Vancouver Sun, Dec. 1, 2011, by Randy Shore)

"Religious believers distrust atheists more than members of other religious groups, gays and feminists, according to a new study by University of B.C. researchers.
The only group the study’s participants distrusted as much as atheists was rapists, said doctoral student Will Gervais, lead author of the study published online in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
That prejudice had a significant impact on what kinds of jobs people said they would hire atheists to do.
“People are willing to hire an atheist for a job that is perceived as low-trust, for instance as a waitress,” said Gervais. “But when hiring for a high-trust job like daycare worker, they were like, nope, not going to hire an atheist for that job.”
The antipathy does not seem to run both ways, though. Atheists are indifferent to religious belief when it comes to deciding who is trustworthy.
“Atheists don’t necessarily favour other atheists over Christians or anyone else,” he said. “They seem to think that religion is not an important signal for who you can trust.” ..."

read more at the Vancouver Sun
atheist registry

Amnesty International: sticking it to oppressors for 50 years

2011-11-21T17:47:00.001-08:00

50 years

Price of Silence

Water on a Stone

Amnesty on YouTube
Amnesty USA
AmnestyBusker on YouTube

random sounds 31: Lil Chris

2011-11-18T01:46:00.001-08:00

flowers at night: Stella's Delight

2011-11-13T20:10:00.001-08:00

Rememberance

2011-11-11T09:21:00.000-08:00

from flixxy.com: 'Il Silenzio' - Melissa Venema (13 yo)

Happy Birthday, Dr. Sagan, with thanks

2011-11-09T11:38:00.000-08:00

(from: eSkeptic)

Happy Birthday Carl Sagan!

November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996

If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. —Carl Sagan

FEW CELEBRITIES IN SCIENCE have done more for the promotion of science, reason, rationality, and critical thinking than Carl Sagan, whom we remember today upon the occasion of his birthday: November 9, 1934. Carl would have been 77 years old today. Happy Birthday Carl!

The Measure of a Man
In celebration of Carl Sagan Day, we would like to share with you a free lecture from our Distinguished Lecture Series at Caltech: Carl Sagan: The Measure of a Man. In this lecture, Michael Shermer, William Poundstone and Keay Davidson take an illuminating look back over the life and legacy of one of the 20th Century’s most celebrated astronomers.

Skeptic.com
Carl Sagan on YouTube
Carl Sagan on stormidae here and here

today in the nursery: just passing by

2011-11-04T22:59:00.000-07:00

^^Small Pond Snail, depositing an egg mass

^^a closer look

^^jelly discourages predators

the bullies keep winning: Jamie Hubley, 15, d.October 17

2011-10-29T10:22:00.000-07:00

CBC article
Advocate

happy Samhain: party in the house, tonite

2011-10-27T13:28:00.000-07:00

warning: flashing lights

more on YouTube

lizard on the half shell

2011-10-21T23:17:00.000-07:00

Red Lizard Catfish, (Rineloricaria sp.) L10a

beating the bullies: spirit day 2011

2011-10-20T17:12:00.000-07:00

(from: Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) "Millions of Americans wear purple on Spirit Day as a sign of support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth and to speak out against bullying. Spirit Day was started in 2010 by teenager Brittany McMillan as a response to the young people who had taken their own lives. Observed annually on October 20, individuals, schools, organizations, corporations, media professionals and celebrities wear purple, which symbolizes spirit on the rainbow flag. Getting involved is easy -- participants are asked to simply "go purple" on October 20 as we work to create a world in which LGBT teens are celebrated and accepted for who they are."

GLAAD

random sounds 30: hey Mona x5

2011-10-07T21:57:00.000-07:00

Bo Diddley 1987 (live)

Homer Henderson date? (live)

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers w/ Bo Diddley 1999 (live)

Craig McLachlan 1990 (music vid)

Timothy L 2011 (karaoke)

rethinking the birds and bees

2011-10-01T20:23:00.000-07:00

The astounding strength of homosexual bonds in Zebra Finches: Ladies need not apply…

(posted with permission of the author:
Dr. Carin Bondar, biologist with a twist,
posted originally on August 15, 2011)

Certain animal species are both sexually and socially monogamous – meaning that strong pair bonds are formed between two individuals, and these bonds withstand the test of time. Among the most faithful pair-bonded species are the Zebra finches, who have been shown to forge extremely long-lasting and exclusive partnerships that end only with the death of a partner. Partners engage in several behaviours outside of those involving direct sexual contact, including mutual preening, nest defense and foraging. It has been observed that zebra finches are capable of forming both heterosexual partnerships as well as homosexual ones – and researchers recently questioned the role of the sex ratio in determining the frequency of such affiliations. Not only were they interested in the frequency of same-sex partnerships in skewed sex ratio conditions, but they were also interested in the NATURE of the same sex partnerships.

Are homosexual partnerships as stable as heterosexual ones?

Do homosexual partners engage in the same ritualistic behaviors as heterosexual couples?

How do homosexual VS heterosexual relationships compare when it comes to attentiveness and intensity of interactions?

Captive zebra finches (laboratory reared stock) were placed into experimental setups with varied sex ratios. Generally speaking, at the population level you can expect a sex ratio of approximately 1:1; however, at local scales the ratios can become rather skewed due to various ecological factors such as emigration, habitat availability or social dynamics. The sex ratios tested in this study were, 6:6 (male: female), 8:4, and 11:1. In each case the finches were placed in their experimental setup and observed daily for the formation of partnerships as well as various characteristics relating to them. The level of interaction between the partners, partner attentiveness, preening, feeding and several other behavioral characteristics were observed and quantified in order to give a sense of not only the quantity of homosexual vs heterosexual partnerships, but the QUALITY of these relationships as well.

The first set of results was not incredibly surprising: when fewer females were present, males formed partnerships with each other instead. However, what is extremely interesting about this work is the careful observation of the nature of the partnerships. When it came down to measures of relationship strength, selectivity, stability and attentiveness between partners, NO DIFFERENCES were found in these qualities between heterosexual or homosexual partnerships. In other words, the bonds formed between partners appeared to be very similar, regardless of the sex of the partner. Same sex pairs were found to utilize the same behavioral repertoire as their heterosexual counterparts, including allopreening, nest displays, courtship and even copulation.

The last result from this work is little short of astounding. Once male: male partnerships had been established, females were re-introduced to the experimental cages in order to assess whether they had the power to ‘break-up’ the homosexual couples. It turns out that females could do little to tempt males out of their same-sex partnerships – males remained faithful to their homosexual partners REGARDLESS of the presence of extra females!

Establishing a strong partnership (regardless of the sex of your partner) is a critical part of survival for many bird species. Zuk (2006) proposed the ‘Social Partner Hypothesis’, which states that forming a close bond with a monogamous partner trumps the need for that partner to be one of the opposite sex. Advantages for survival (including nest defense and foraging) are much greater when one has an established and reliable partner, and in many cases homosexual bonding may be explained by such a phenomenon. Being in a couple is critical to survival in these socially monogamous birds, and this could be the driving force behind the evolution of homosexual bonding.

I find these results fascinating – especially the last one where male: male partnerships withstood the test of extra female presence. From a socially monogamous standpoint this certainly makes sense, and is seen in some other species such as waved albatross (where female partners have been observed to form bonds that last for more than a decade). However, at some point, an opposite-sex partner is required in order to produce offspring. Female albatross seek out males exclusively for this purpose, and then they return to their female partner to rear and raise the offspring. So far, this work with zebra finches has not looked at the long-term consequences of homosexual pairing, though I am actively anticipating it. Seeing as homosexual couples both COURTED and COPULATED with each other, this shows that sexual behaviors between same sex partners are not out of the question. However, long term studies will shed light on whether males will seek out females for the sole purpose of genetic propagation outside of their homosexual partnerships. For the sake of their evolutionary future I hope they do

Zuk, M. (2006). Family values in black and white Nature, 439 (7079), 917-917 DOI: 10.1038/439917a
Elie, J., Mathevon, N., & Vignal, C. (2011). Same-sex pair-bonds are equivalent to male–female bonds in a life-long socially monogamous songbird Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology DOI: 10.1007/s00265-011-1228-9

today in the nursery

2011-09-27T22:12:00.000-07:00

^^long fin White Cloud Mountain Minnows, less than a hour old and not quite ready to swim

^^slightly older siblings (by minutes). Barely 2mm at hatching, the fry congregate in groups at the water's surface.

In Rome They Trust: hiding child rapists at the Vatican

2011-09-24T17:07:00.000-07:00

random science: tiny tech

2011-09-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

NANOYOU Project

the killing of Lawrence King and the defense of murder

2011-09-15T02:28:00.000-07:00

Remembering Larry
Ellen

random sounds 29: Trunk Drive

2011-09-10T00:03:00.000-07:00

Trunk Drive performing at Leigh Square, Port Coquitlam, BC, August 20, 2011.
Video recorded by Storm.

same-sex detatcment disorder

2011-09-07T23:13:00.000-07:00

guest shots: photos by borneodya@gmail .com

2011-09-06T04:13:00.000-07:00

^^33g Corydoras habitat (with bristlenose plecs and minnows)

^^33g Corydoras habitat

^^Simese Algae Eater (SAE) Crossocheilus siamensis

^^White Cloud Mountain Minnow and Corydoras julii

^^Corydoras julii, the leopard cory

^^Corydoras aeneus, albino bronze cory

^^white cloud

^^White Cloud

^^zebra danio, the modified type

^^33g Zoogoneticus tequila habitat

^^10g, more white clouds

Storm's aquariums, photographed by borneodya@gmail.com on August 30, 2011

registry madness

2011-09-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

random science: her name was Hypatia

2011-08-28T23:37:00.000-07:00

See the entire Carl Sagan Tribute Series at Milky Way Musings

aliens

2011-08-26T23:54:00.000-07:00

The folks at What's that Bug? identified this as a stink bug nymph.

derelict housing

2011-08-19T23:24:00.000-07:00

^^active nesting site in 2010 and 2011, the entrance gave way around fledging time

more about flickers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: All About Birds

random sounds 28: Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole

2011-08-12T22:48:00.000-07:00

summer

2011-08-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

Coreopsis sp., Alyssum sp., Hen and Chicks, blue fescue grass.

Free Tibet: Stop the Torture

2011-08-05T18:11:00.000-07:00

Free Tibet
Tibet at Wikipedia
David Threlfall on YouTube

leaving home

2011-08-03T07:11:00.000-07:00

^^last day at home before the big adventure.

American Robin, Turdus migratorius.

happy Pride: we aren't done fighting

2011-07-31T10:17:00.000-07:00

Quminity Youth (BC)
Rise Against on YouTube
It Gets Better Project on YouTube

happy Pride: Gaye Adegbalola

2011-07-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

Gaye's home site
Ann Rabson's home site
Andra Faye's home site
Saffire the Uppity Blues Women home site

random sounds 27: Saffire the Uppity Blues Women

2011-07-25T21:16:00.000-07:00

prickly pears

2011-07-24T03:27:00.000-07:00

Shaughnessy at Wilson

moody July

2011-07-21T05:01:00.000-07:00

grayberry blueberry shrimp (Neocaridina sp.)

2011-07-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

random sounds 26: Saffire the Uppity Blues Women

2011-07-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

random sounds 25: Joan Jett, Sweet

2011-07-12T01:08:00.000-07:00

voodoo

2011-07-07T22:23:00.000-07:00

lost loves: Mino richardsoni

2011-07-03T00:40:00.000-07:00

random sounds 24: the Moffats

2011-07-01T10:47:00.000-07:00

random science: the secret life of chaos

2011-06-27T11:25:00.000-07:00

logging the Amazon

2011-06-22T17:28:00.000-07:00

expanded logging in the Brazilian Amazon

(photo and text from AVAAZ)

To President Dilma Rousseff : We call on you to take immediate action to save Brazil's precious forests by vetoing the changes to the forest law. We also urge you to prevent further murders of environmental activists and workers by increasing the enforcement against illegal loggers and ramping up protection for people at risk from violence or death. The world needs Brazil to be an international leader on the environment, your strong action now will safeguard the planet for future generations.

view the petition

rain garden

2011-06-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

random sounds 23: Bobby Breen

2011-06-15T14:19:00.000-07:00

From 'Way Down South', 1939. Bobby Breen on You Tube

The Intelligence² Debate: Is the Catholic Church a force for good in the world?

2011-06-08T19:12:00.000-07:00

Christopher Hitchens:

The Intelligence² Debate - Christopher Hitchens... by Xrunner17
Stephan Fry:

The Intelligence² Debate - Stephen Fry (Unedited) by Xrunner17

The full debate on YouTube

Intelligence Squared

SoundCloud public tracks

Intelligence Squared Australia

Intelligence Squared US

Last stand against the Belo Monte Dam

2011-06-03T11:49:00.000-07:00

The Brazilian government is preparing to give the green light for the Belo Monte Dam to be built on the Xingu River in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. If built, it would be the third-largest dam in the world. The dam complex would divert nearly the entire flow of the Xingu River along 100 kilometers and devastate an extensive area of the Amazon rainforest, threatening the survival of indigenous and traditional peoples and displacing up to 40,000 people. With more than 80 percent of the Belo Monte dam to be funded by BNDES (the Brazilian National Development Bank), Belo Monte is a critical battle in the fight for the Amazon and for Latin America’s future. Belo Monte is the gateway dam for 70 proposed dams throughout the Amazon (from Amazon Watch).

Additionally, a number of distinct species of rainforst fish face extinction as a result of this project. Here's a partial list (from AMAZONAS 31, September/Oktober 2010 The Belo Monte project):
links will take you to a photograph at PlanetCatfish, FishBase, KillicoUK, SeriouslyFish, or Hypancistrus.
Aequidens michaeli
Anostomoides passionis
Astaynax dnophos
Moenkhausia heikoi
Ossubtus xinguense
Parancistrus nudiventris
Pituna xinguensis
Plesiolebias altamira
Simpsonichthys reticulatus
Teleocichla centisquama
L013 Peckoltia sp.
L014 Scobinancistrus aureatus
L015 Peckoltia vittata
L017 Hopliancistrus sp.
L018 Baryancistrus sp.
L019 Baryancistrus sp.
L020 Oligancistrus sp.
L046 Hypancistrus zebra
L047 Baryancistrus sp .
L048 Scobinancistrus sp.
L066 Hypancistrus sp.
L075 Peckoltia sabaji (Xingu Population)
L081 Baryancistrus sp.
L082 Ancistrini sp.
L172 Ancistrini sp.
L173 Hypancistrus sp.
L174 Hypancistrus sp.
L177 Baryancistrus sp.
L236 Hypancistrus sp.
L250 Hypancistrus sp.
L252 Ancistrini sp.
L253 Scobinancistrus sp.
L254 Spectracanthicus sp.
L258 Parancistrus sp.
L315 Spectracanthicus sp.
L333 Hypancistrus sp.
L353 Oligancistrus sp.
L354 Oligancistrus sp.
L399 Hypancistrus sp.
L400 Hypancistrus sp.
Hypancistrus sp. „Unterer Xingu“ Artenkomplex
Leporacanthicus heterodon

Amazon Watch link
Facebook link

random sounds 22: Saint Janis with Big Brother

2011-06-01T04:06:00.000-07:00

leaving home

2011-05-30T21:25:00.000-07:00

the size of our bits

2011-05-27T01:51:00.000-07:00

A brilliant documentary about men's obsession with penis size.

Warning: male nudity and frank discussion.

My Penis and I from Lawrence Barraclough on Vimeo.

random sounds 21: Lori Anderson

2011-05-22T23:33:00.000-07:00

today in the nursery: after and before

2011-05-18T19:01:00.000-07:00

Zoogoneticus tequila

^^born early this morning

^^mighty hunter

^^mom and dad

^^thinking about maybe having some more

^^courting. It's a fuzzy clip, but shows the colour change nicely.

killer rings

2011-05-16T14:31:00.000-07:00

summer reminder: please cut up beverage rings before discarding
photos taken by C.J. Vos at Trout Lake, Vancouver, BC

fledging

2011-05-14T20:12:00.000-07:00

welcome to Uganda: death penalty for “serial" gays

2011-05-09T22:54:00.000-07:00

from AVAAZ:

In 48 hours, the Ugandan Parliament may vote on a brutal new law that carries the death penalty for homosexuality. Thousands of Ugandans could face execution -- just for being gay.

We've helped stop this bill before, and we can do it again. After a massive global outcry last year, Ugandan President Museveni blocked the bill's progress. But political unrest is mounting in Uganda, and religious extremists in Parliament are hoping confusion and violence in the streets will distract the international community from a second push to pass this hate-filled law. We can show them that the world is still watching. If we block the vote for two more days until Parliament closes, the bill will expire forever.

... Being gay in Uganda is already dangerous and terrifying. They are regularly harassed and beaten, and just months ago, gay rights activist, David Kato (pictured above), was brutally murdered in his own home. Now LGBT Ugandans are threatened by this draconian law which imposes life imprisonment for people convicted of same-sex relations and the death penalty for “serial offenders”. Even NGOs working to prevent the spread of HIV can be imprisoned for “promoting homosexuality” under this hate-filled law.

Right now, Uganda is in political turmoil -- in the wake of the Arab spring, people across the country are taking to the streets, protesting high food and gas prices. President Museveni has responded by violently cracking down on the opposition. This upheaval has provided religious extremists in Parliament the perfect chance to slip in the shelved anti-gay bill just days before Parliament closes and all proposed laws are wiped from the books.

Museveni backed away from this bill last year after international pressure threatened Uganda's aid and support. With violent protests sweeping the streets, Museveni is more vulnerable than ever. In the next 48 hours, let’s build a massive international outcry in support of respect for human rights, justice and tolerance and against the gay death penalty. Together we can save lives by stopping this bill -- sign below, then tell friends and family:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/uganda_stop_homophobia_petition/?vl

Earlier this year, we stood in solidarity with Uganda's equality movement to show that every human life, no matter what creed, nationality or sexual orientation, is equally precious. Our international petition condemning the gay death penalty law was delivered to Parliament – spurring a global news story and enough pressure to block the bill for months. When a tabloid newspaper published 100 names, pictures and addresses, of suspected gays and those identified were threatened, Avaaz supported a legal case against the paper and we won! Our community has funded security for gay rights activists and operational funding for gay rights organizations. Together we have stood up, time and time again, for Uganda’s gay community -- now they need us more than ever.

With hope and determination,

Emma, Iain, Alice, Morgan, Brianna and the rest of the Avaaz team

SOURCES:

Ugandan lawmakers hold hearings on anti-gay bill
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article

Uganda gay activist Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera hailed
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13278374

Pulling Out All the Stops to Push an Antigay Bill
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/world/africa/14uganda.html

TED Talks: Susan Savage-Rumbaugh

2011-05-01T19:40:00.000-07:00

our coolest cousins, hands down.

ancistrus rising

2011-04-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

Avaaz: take back democracy ad

2011-04-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

find out how

perspective: the Sagan Series

2011-04-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

today in the nursery

2011-04-16T00:04:00.000-07:00

^^Indian Dwarf Puffer, Carinotetraodon travancoricus, a few days old

pass it on

2011-04-06T21:15:00.000-07:00

Foundation for a better Life valuesdotcom

random sounds 20: Mahalia Jackson

2011-04-01T01:50:00.000-07:00

random sounds 19: Mungo Jerry

2011-03-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

spring

2011-03-22T01:03:00.000-07:00

wet pet's guest

2011-03-17T21:50:00.000-07:00

some lost summer ago

2011-03-13T00:16:00.000-08:00

international women's day: Holly Near and Ronnie Gilbert

2011-03-08T22:19:00.000-08:00

The "disappeared" in Pinochet's Chile:

'Hay Una Mujer Desaparecida'
Holly Near, Ronnie Gilbert, the Weavers

more about International Women's Day here
more about Pinochet's dictatorship here

random sounds 18: Melanie

2011-03-04T21:34:00.000-08:00

the story of bottled water

2011-02-28T18:59:00.000-08:00

storyofstuff.org

broken iris

2011-02-27T21:26:00.000-08:00

defiance

2011-02-24T02:16:00.000-08:00

Pink Shirt Day - stand against bullying

2011-02-22T19:37:00.000-08:00

passion

2011-02-19T19:58:00.000-08:00

random sounds 17: Mica

2011-02-14T23:05:00.000-08:00

today in the nursery

2011-02-11T16:19:00.000-08:00

^Heterandria formosa, one day old

^Corydoras aeneus 'albino', one day old

^Aphyosemion punctatum 'Buong Bai, juvenile

heart u

2011-02-09T22:45:00.000-08:00

TED Talks: eating in the new millennium

2011-01-31T16:35:00.000-08:00

corrective rape: how South Arfica 'cures' lesbians

2011-01-24T19:31:00.000-08:00

link to avaaz.org petition to stop 'corrective rape'

from AVAAZ.org... "South Africa, often called the Rainbow Nation, is revered globally for its post-apartheid efforts to protect against discrimination. It was the first country to constitutionally protect citizens from discrimination based on sexuality. But in Cape Town alone, the local organization Luleki Sizwe has recorded more than one 'corrective rape' per day, and impunity reigns.

'Corrective rape' is based on the outrageous and utterly false notion that a lesbian woman can be raped to 'make her straight', but this heinous act is not even classified as a hate crime in South Africa. The victims are often black, poor, lesbian women, and profoundly marginalised. But even the 2008 gang rape and murder of Eudy Simelane, the national hero and former star of the South Africa women's national football team, did not turn the tide. And just last week Minister Radebe insisted that motive is irrelevant in crimes like 'corrective rape.'... excerpt from AVAAZ

SOURCES:

Blog of Luleki Sizwe, South African organization leading the call to their government to stop 'corrective rape', and provides support to victims
http://lulekisizwe.wordpress.com

Minister of Justice Radebe’s nationally televised interview (South African Broadcasting Corporation)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkx-PYqHM0U

Protest against ‘corrective rape’ (The Sowetan)
http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2011/01/06/protest-against-corrective-rape

Petition launched on Change.org by activists from Luleki Sizwe
http://humanrights.change.org/petitions/view/south_africa_declare_corrective_rape_a_hate-crime

"South Africa's shame: the rise of child rape" (The Independent)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/south-africas-shame-the-rise-of-child-rape-1974578.html

"Exploring homophobic victimisation in Gauteng, South Africa: issues, impacts, and responses" (Centre for Applied Psychology, University of South Africa)
http://www.avaaz.org/out_ucap_gauteng_study

"We have a major problem in South Africa" (The Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/nov/18/south-africa-murder-rape

"South Africa: Rape Facts" (Channel 4)
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/articles/south-africa-rape-facts

"Understanding men’s health and use of violence: interface of rape and HIV in South Africa" (Medical Research Council)
http://gender.care2share.wikispaces.net/file/view/MRC+SA+men+and+rape+ex+summary+june2009.pdf

"Preventing Rape and Violence in South Africa" (Medical Research Council)
http://www.mrc.ac.za/gender/prev_rapedd041209.pdf

random sounds 16: faces, stories and michaels

2011-01-24T01:09:00.000-08:00

lee michaels_do you know what I mean

stories_brother louie (live)

faces_stay with me (live)

in the woods today

2011-01-16T19:22:00.000-08:00

TED Talks: plant intelligence

2011-01-14T23:29:00.000-08:00

this talk may be easier to understand using the 'subtitles' feature

random sounds 15: Mamie van Doren

2011-01-14T21:33:00.000-08:00

with an eye towards spring

2011-01-03T23:54:00.000-08:00

surprize

2011-01-03T23:38:00.000-08:00

hey! festive new year!

2010-12-30T23:59:00.000-08:00

communards_dancing queen

dead or alive_lover come back

bronski beat with eartha kitt_cha cha heels

winter flowers

2010-12-23T19:51:00.000-08:00

Corydoras paleatus

2010-12-20T20:35:00.000-08:00

but the bullies keep winning... Seth Walsh 1997-2010

2010-12-18T21:10:00.000-08:00