Climate to Wreak Havoc on World Food Supply

Meanwhile - back on earth:

New report that we can expect in the very near future to see millions more facing starvation - here

We also learned this week that, despite the global recession, emissions have jumped even more, making the goal of holding the globe's temp below 2 degrees impossible given the current global political environment.

To learn more about the depressing environment on earth click here

To consider the environment on Pandora click here

Obama: US will Seek Oil in Alaska and Gulf of Mexico

Need one say more?

Teaching Polanski's "Ghost Writer"

The new (2010) Roman Polanski film "Ghostwriter," has strong potential for use in the classroom. At the box office the film, unsurprisingly, did better on the foreign market than domestically. Ghost Writer is intended for adult, thinking audiences, and the film is carried along by plot and character development. So, it might be difficult for our modern ADHD audience to sit through without the normal cognitive crutches of CGI, 90% seat time fighting, f*****g, cars crashing, etc. But for those who still remember when movies were not under the shadow of video games, this is a film to watch.

The other group that will no doubt suffer through the film belongs to those who support the Global War on Terror, invasion/occupation of Iraq, torture, etc. For example, the New York times review (and they did support the invasion of Iraq) tried to divert the attention from the context of the film and focus our attention on Polanski's private life (here). Certainly, there are interesting parallels. During the making of the film Polanski was under indictment and the threat of extradition (here)as is Prime Minister Lang. Both are in exile, attempting to escape justice. But by focusing on this (art as personal confession), the NY Times attempts to take our eye off the story (art as engagement with the cosmos).

"Ghost Writer" courageously raises the issue of the fact that those in the West who sanctioned and ordered torture, such as Cheney, have not been prosecuted. The argument that Cheney and his ilk make is that torture is justified because it works. The old ticking time bomb argument.

However,the recent killing of Bin Laden clearly illustrates just how misguided Cheney & Ilk are. The facts speak for themselves:

* Bin Laden lived in his compound for 5 years, plenty of time to find him, and plenty of time for many within the Al Qaeda network to know where he was (in fact, over 100 USA military advisors in 2008 lived just minutes from Bin Laden!)
* We don't know how many hundreds of people were tortured, but not one person divulged his location
* The CIA eventually (almost a decade later) found Bin Laden by tracking a phone call (and not waterboarding or using the rack)

Of course, there is reason to be relieved that Bin Laden is gone. But we will not have closure until those who perpetrated illegal acts of torture are brought to justice.

Perhaps it is time that we dug out a DVD of "Ghost Writer" and asked our citizenry (the oldest democracy in the world), if our political leaders should be held accountable for their actions? The standard answer from either wing is - "that would tear the country apart". Well - isn't democracy a messy business? Don't well functioning democracies hold their politicians accountable? Here's a list of countries that have prosecuted or pursued former leaders:

Peru - here

Pakistan issues arrest warrant for Musharraf- here and here and here

Taiwan - here

Philippines - here

France - here and here

Italy - here

In addition to "Ghost Writer", instructors may want to have their students watch:

Fair Game

Frost/Nixon

Time to Bring the 9/11 Era to a Close - Trial of Bush and Cheney

After eight seasons, the show 24 finally came to close. When you wrap up a show, there shouldn't be any cliff hangers. We should know what happened to the main characters. What about in the bigger "Truman Show" that we all live in? Here is how the script should go. But, instead of paralleling the 8 seasons of 24, we'll need to add 1 final season before we move on:

Season 1: "Attack on America"
Season 2: "Striking Back - The Invasion of Afghanistan"
Season 3: "The Treasure Hunt - The Invasion and Occupation of Iraq"
Season 4: "Weapons of Mass Destruction Exposed"
Season 5: "The Strangling of Civil Society and the Attack on Civil Liberties"
Season 6: "The Torture Chronicles"
Season 7: "Yes We Can - Hope out of Darkness"
Season 8: "The Killing of Bin Laden"
Season 9: "Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld on Trial at the ICC"

How Important is Bin Laden's Death?

The last few days there has been quite a bit of jubilation over Bin Laden's death. But how important is it? We find it interesting that the American media has avoided this question and instead focused on the tactical side of the raid.

Robert Fisk makes an excellent point that Al Qaeda was defeated by millions of Muslims as part of the Arab Awakening (Tunesia, Egypt) and still fighting on in places such as Syria and Lybia. Fisk points out that Al Qaeda was overtaken by the events. Watch.

Spiegel Online has an interesting article, positing that the death of Bin Laden comes 10 years too late. Read more. The author argues that America is not the same country is was before the 9/11.

The Guardian published an article where the author argues that Bin Laden's strategy, to suck the USA into major wars throughout the Islamic world, has worked. Read more.

Apparently the estimated total financial and human cost of the hunt for Bin Laden is valued at over 3 trillion dollars. Read more here and here

Juan Cole reports that the Taliban are fleeing their stronghold in Qunduz and that his death has been a real blow to their morale. here. One short term outcome is that the Taliban, freed from their pledge of hospitality, may sever ties with Al Qaeda (the Taliban were always a local movement and not a global network). If so, this would render a huge blow to Al Qaeda in South Asia.

The Dalai Lama discussed the death of Bin Laden. He said: "whether in some situation ensuring justice is more important than being compassionate to the perpetrator of a crime. It referred to the news of the death of Osama Bin Laden and the celebrations of it by some, and asked where compassion fit in with this and ethics. In his response, His Holiness emphasized the need to find a distinction between the action and the actor. He said in the case of Bin Laden, his action was of course destructive and the September 11 events killed thousands of people. So his action must be brought to justice, His Holiness said. But with the actor we must have compassion and a sense of concern, he added. His Holiness said therefore the counter measure, no matter what form it takes, has to be compassionate action. His Holiness referred to the basis of the practice of forgiveness saying that it, however, did not mean that one should forget what has been done." Learn more

How to Stop the War Machine

It's interesting to compare civil opposition to the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to that during the Vietnam ear. You would think that with all the IT capes the Left would have been able to organize to "bring them home". So where are all the protesters? Which university campus has had a sit-in this week? Oh wait - how about this year (or last, for that matter)? Today's American Left is demoralized in the face of an apathetic youth. With the growing political power of those who ruled the streets in the '60's, there is still one last chance to end the war machine (and it wasn't vested in electing Obama). Here is the only plan that will do it -

1. War Tax. We need legislation that requires that the cost of war be taxed outright and balanced by the end of the year. No more deficit fighting! If the democracy wants to war, then each member must pay for it on a yearly basis. So, if the war costs a X per year then we must divide X by the number of tax payers. We guarantee that from then on people will pay attention when the drums start beating. Is this a war that the USA must fight? will be on everyone's lips. No more make war to get out the votes.

2. Education. We must make conflict resolution and peace studies a central part of the K-16 curriculum. Every child instinctively knows how to make a fist and punch someone. Humans need to be taught alternative ways to violence.

3. Stop selling weapons to "developing" nations and entrenched dictators. It is crucial that the West, particularly the USA, scale back its sales of arms to other nations. Today much of the world's war machinery is being driven by military export sales from the West to the Rest. The money that the Rest could be spending on infrastructure (education, social services, roads, technology) instead goes into purchasing Western weapons. A case in point is the fact that Europe fell over itself to help Gadaffi - read

4. Pursue international arms dealers. Most deaths around the world are caused by small arms (read more). International arms dealers often traffic in small arms. The world must stand united in pursuing these ruthless individuals with the same energy and gusto that the world pursues international terrorists.

5. Strengthen real international treaties such as the ban on land mines. Stopping the war machine can only happen through a concerted effort on the part of all people of good will. It must take place through international regimes that slowly dismantle the means of death (land mines, cluster bombs, small arms, etc.) and sideline the merchants of death.

6. Universal Draft. Yes, one of the big accomplishments of the Left was to end the draft. Well, it was the death sentence to the Peace Movement. College students could bury their heads in the attitude that "well, they signed up." Parents could forget about the kids who are over there because theirs are safe. Only by making war truly democratic will civil society respond appropriately.

Eisenhower's speech on the military-industrial complex - here

EVERYDAY MAKE YOUR OWN HISTORY - MJ - HERE

Iran: Dog Ownership to Be Outlawed under Lawmaker's Plan

A new bill introduced in Iran would ban dog ownership (click here for more information). Once again the clerics have shown just how far out of touch they are with the Movement of Spirit and we can only hope that it spurs Iranians on to removing these misguided legalists from power. Sadly, many dogs are, in fact, mistreated in Islamic societies. Some would legitimize the mistreatment of dogs under the banner of anti-colonialism/anti-Westernism, and attempt to justify the practice by calling the keeping of dogs "un-Islamic." Thankfully, not all Islamic groups agree. The Rose Sufi Crescent, for example, points their members back to the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad who, apparently, commended people for showing compassion to dogs. Learn more.

In our opinion, in order for the earth and all its creatures to survive (including humanity) an earth based spirituality must evolve. This doesn't mean that it will replace the existing religions, but that it will permeate and transform those religious traditions. Scholars and clerics from all of the world's wisdom traditions will have to revisit the sacred texts and draw out the earth centered, creature friendly, aspects. Taking care of dogs and cats, in our opinion, is one place to begin and then enlarging the circle to include all animals.

Learn more about spirituality on Earth here

Consider spirituality on Pandora here

We have solidarity with the dog owners of Tehran who are fighting to protect their beloved family members.