"Wangari Maathai" - Spiritual Environmentalism: Healing Ourselves by Replenishing the Earth

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/26-16

Published on Monday, September 26, 2011 by YES! Magazine

by Wangari Maathai

YES! Magazine Editor's Note: Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan activist and 2004 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, passed away on September 25. In this essay from her book Replenishing the Earth: Spiritual Values for Healing Ourselves and the World, she describes what motivated her groundbreaking work.Wangari Maathai (1940-2011)

During my more than three decades as an environmentalist and campaigner for democratic rights, people have often asked me whether spirituality, different religious traditions, and the Bible in particular had inspired me, and influenced my activism and the work of the Green Belt Movement (GBM). Did I conceive conservation of the environment and empowerment of ordinary people as a kind of religious vocation? Were there spiritual lessons to be learned and applied to their own environmental efforts, or in their lives as a whole?

When I began this work in 1977, I wasn't motivated by my faith or by religion in general. Instead, I was thinking literally and practically about solving problems on the ground. I wanted to help rural populations, especially women, with the basic needs they described to me during seminars and workshops. They said that they needed clean drinking water, adequate and nutritious food, income, and energy for cooking and heating. So, when I was asked these questions during the early days, I'd answer that I didn't think digging holes and mobilizing communities to protect or restore the trees, forests, watersheds, soil, or habitats for wildlife that surrounded them was spiritual work.

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"David Sirota" - Racism Isn't Responsible for the President's Drop in Popularity -- His Right-Wing Policies Are

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/26-11

Published on Monday, September 26, 2011 by Salon

Why White Liberals Are (Really) Ditching Obama

by David Sirota

A few weeks ago, I wrote an essay that got me a much larger truckload of hate mail than usual. The piece concerned the persistent problem of denialism in parts of White America when it comes to race. I lamented how, despite media and political insinuations that whites have become an oppressed group, it is people of color -- and in particular, African Americans -- who remain the real casualties of discrimination:"The truth," writes Sirota,"Is that some liberals may be holding President Obama "to a higher standard" than previous Democratic presidents like Bill Clinton -- not because they are racist, but because the times have so momentously changed. With the Wall Street collapse and the economic emergency -- combined with Obama's FDR-like rhetoric and much bigger margin of victory and electoral mandate than Clinton -- many were rightly expecting a more FDR-ish posture from the new president, especially because he himself had explicitly promised that kind of posture on the campaign."(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

You can see [this racism] in black unemployment rates, which are twice as high as white unemployment rates -- a disparity that persists even when controlling for education levels. You can see it in a 2004 MIT study showing that job-seekers with "white names receive 50 percent more callbacks for interviews" than job seekers with comparable resumes and "African-American-sounding names." And you can see it in a news media that looks like an all-white country club and a U.S. Senate that includes no black legislators.

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"Ralph Nadar" - As the Drone Flies...

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/26-15

Published on Monday, September 26, 2011 by CommonDreams.org

by Ralph Nader

The fast developing predator drone technology, officially called unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs, is becoming so dominant and so beyond any restraining framework of law or ethics, that its use by the U.S. government around the world may invite a horrific blowback.

First some background. The Pentagon has about 7,000 aerial drones. Ten years ago there were less than 50. According to the website longwarjournal.com, they have destroyed about 1900 insurgents in Pakistan's tribal regions. How these fighters are so clearly distinguished from civilians in those mountain areas is not clear.

Nor is it clear how or from whom the government gets such "precise" information about the guerilla leaders' whereabouts night and day. The drones are beyond any counterattack--flying often at 50,000 feet. But the Air Force has recognized that a third of the Predators have crashed by themselves.

Compared to mass transit, housing, energy technology, infection control, food and drug safety, the innovation in the world of drones is incredible. Coming soon are hummingbird sized drones, submersible drones and software driven autonomous UAVs. The Washington Post described these inventions as "aircraft [that] would hunt, identify and fire at [the] enemy--all on its own." It is called "lethal autonomy" in the trade.

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MARCI magazine Fall 2011 issue :: Interview With Gary Null

Click the image above to read the interview!

THE MYTH THAT VACCINATION EQUALS IMMUNIZATION

By Gary Null and Nancy Ashley

Currently, the American public through our government agencies, the CDC, the FDA the US Public Health Service, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is being told that only by vaccinating all children and infants, all adults and seniors can we confer complete protective immunity from major diseases, whether H1N1, the seasonal flu, chicken pox, measles, hepatitis, etc. to any given individual. Their arguments have never been put to the test. It is virtually impossible to have open, independent, objective scientific and public health discourse. You either accept without challenge that vaccines provide permanent lifetime immunity, or you are immediately relegated as a quack. However, a careful analysis and review of the scientific literature shows that no vaccine or combination of vaccines can be proven to confer complete immunity and be safe.

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House of Representatives Climbs Aboard the Crazy TRAIN to Nowhere

TRAIN Act would increase air pollution, lead to thousands of premature deaths every year.

WASHINGTON - September 23 - Today, by a vote of 249 to 168, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the TRAIN Act (H.R. 2401), the first act of a Toxic Agenda pushed by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) to dismantle our nation's clean air protections. The following is a statement from Marty Hayden, Earthjustice's Vice President for Policy and Legislation.

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Holistic Wellness Event :: Featuring Gary Null

HOLISTIC WELLNESS FEATURING GARY NULL

 October 15, 2011 Events Sponsors:

Ideal Farm & Garden Center, Lafayette, NJ-Will be decorating the fall event with pumpkins & gourds. The center is located in Sussex County and is known for their scenic hayrides, haunted house, apple cider, homemade donuts and lots of pumpkins to choose from. http://www.idealfarmandgarden.net

Tickets are $75 before Sept. 30 - $95 after Oct. 1
This includes all seminars & gourmet lunch
Seating is limited, please register early   

 

"Wellness Gala" is a trademark of Debbie Peterson Wellness Events, LLC and was previously used by HMN in error. The Holistic Wellness event is not in any way endorsed, sponsored, affiliated with or connected with Debbie Peterson Wellness Events, LLC."



A message from Senator Charles E. Schumer

Dear Mr. Torres: Thank you for contacting me in opposition to S. 1310, the Dietary Supplement Labeling Act of 2011. Like you, I believe that consumers should have access to safe and effective dietary supplements. As you know, the Dietary Supplement Labeling Act would amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to more effectively regulate dietary supplements that may pose safety risks unknown to consumers. This bill would require dietary supplement manufacturers to register products with the Food and Drug Administration and require product labels to include warnings associated with adverse events of specific ingredients, weight of those ingredients per serving, and a batch number for easier recall. Finally, this legislation would also direct the FDA to establish a definition of “conventional food” to clarify the distinction between food and beverage products with additives and dietary supplements.

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"Sarah Jaffe" - 5 Progressive Candidates To Watch As the 2012 Campaign Heats Up

http://www.alternet.org/story/152514/5_progressive_candidates_to_watch_as_the_2012_campaign_heats_up/

By Sarah Jaffe

Will Democrats take back Congress? Here are five candidates worth keeping an eye on as we get closer to Election 2012.

September 23, 2011  |  

 

Watching the news lately, you'd think that Election 2012 was only between Republican candidates for president, each trying to outflank the next to his or her right.

The Republican primaries may be getting lots of attention, but several progressive candidates around the country are gearing up for races that could swing the Congress and put some control back in the hands of progressives.

It can be easy to despair when audiences at GOP debates cheer executions and boo gay soldiers, but the fight is far from over. With Barack Obama striking a new, more populist tone as election season nears, we should all remember that a lot can happen between now and next November. And attention early on for the good candidates can help ensure their success in primaries and general election campaigns alike.

While Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul eat up time on cable news with their latest out-there soundbite, we thought we'd bring you five progressive candidates to keep an eye on. Their message is resonating with people in their districts, and these candidates are ready to steal some of the spotlight back from the ultra-right with policies that would actually improve the lives of working people.

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"Josh Harkinson" - 6 Dumb Arguments Against Taxing the Rich, Explained

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/09/6-dumb-arguments-against-taxing-rich-explained

By Josh Harkinson - Mon Sep. 19, 2011

On Saturday, the Obama administration unveiled the "Buffett Rule," a proposed tax on millionaires and billionaires named after celebrity investor Warren Buffett, who has long argued that the federal government should demand more of the wealthy. The millionaires tax is certain to become a major point of contention in the 2012 presidential campaign, and Republicans have wasted no time in heaping it with calumnies. Here are the six most popular conservative arguments against a progressive tax code, and why they're wrong:

It's class warfare!
Yeah right. Three decades of laissez-faire economic polices have allowed the rich to double their share of the national income while paying tax rates a fifth lower than before. The result, notes Kevin Drum, was "wage stagnation for everyone else, a massive financial collapse that ravaged the middle class, an enormous deficits that they'll be asked to pay off eventually." If the millionaires tax is the only blowback, the wealthy should count their blessings.

It's a tax on small business
"Don't forget that most small businesses file taxes as individuals," House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said on Fox News Sunday. "So when you are raising top tax rates, you are raising taxes on these job creators." Except when you aren't. ThinkProgress's Pat Garofalo points out that fewer than 2 percent of the nation's small businesses fall into either of the top two tax brackets. Plus, many of the small business filers in the upper brackets are merely investors who have nothing to do with running the business. And if small businesses don't want to pay taxes as individuals, they can file as corporations.

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