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o no
**Reflection of the Week** "For us Christians, the life in Christ has to be the starting point and inspiration of social action, not the ideology of left or right, nor a merely intellectualized, sophisticated understanding of the social , political, economic implications of Christian faith. That is not enough. We have to ask ourselves whether we are really in love with God and our neighbor and whether our commitment flows from compassion and love more than our ideological comfort zones and passing social trends and bandwagons." Allan Figueroa Deck, SJ, Director of the Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, from his keynote address at the Catholic Social Ministries Gathering in Washington, DC, February 7-10, 2010.
Yes, as a rapidly developing country with a large population and a fragile eco-environment, China is vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. Global warming threatens both the ecosystems as well as the economic and social development of the country. The Green Jobs strategy offers a win-win solution summer jobs for 15 year olds to the pursuit of growth, job creation, employment security and environmental protection. The ILO supports the Chinese government and its social partners in their efforts to pursue these goals. The main objective of the ILO green jobs programme in China is to help the country realize its potential for green jobs. The programme also aims to help China make a positive labour market transition in the face of climate change.
Gulf beach access freedom?
Ellen Radner indicated she was down on the Gulfcoast and she seemed gungho that the emergency response was sufficient to take care of the coastlines. She indicated all looked well taken care of.
However, nothing in her report indicated she was allowed to seek out any beach she wanted to check out. (Last I heard, Barataria Bay was neglected and the Pelican rookeries lost.) It sounded like she went on a press junket to certain sites that were uniquely cared for and prepared for a press/photography session. If my suspicion is wrong, I'd like to hear about it.
RE the bizarre concept of Gonzoporn with Donna Rice Huges and ACLU interviews:
Just some random thoughts about this topic as it is a topic that I find troubling.
o Why have a category that is called "gonzoporn"? Seems to me that the only reason is to distinguish one from another these two categories: To distinguish 1) images/ideas/imaginings/acts that possibly result in normal healthy sexual response (that is more than arousal alone -- including positive emotional responses and caring) from 2) images/ideas/imaginings/acts/CRIMES that result in arousning in persons with perverted sexual ideation the desire to combine sexual actions with humiliation, hate, abuse, harm, hurt, pain, injury, death or whatever the perverted pornographer desires to market.
o All sexual arousal is NOT equal. And in my opinion, all "methods" of sexual arousal should not be approached as if they were identical.
o This term 'pornography' is only necessary because twisted Puritan notions have demonized normal sexuality in the USA. And now this twisted notion is frozen in our laws. Clearly this is an injustice to normal humans, humans who express normal sexual behavior, humans who consider that sexual expression is an expression of Caring/Love/HealthyReproduction (as opposed to being an expression of perversion via Domination/Power/Hate/Exploitation/IntentToHarmOrKill).
o There is NO reason normal sexuality and socially positive sexual expression should be categorized as pornography.
o But because normal sexual behavior is categorized as pornography, and in the resulting illogic and injustice, criminal sexual perversion is given a free ride in the confusion of being categorized with normal sexual behavior. These criminal (or SHOULD be criminal) sexual perversions include animal abuse, hate crimes against women or other groups, exploitation of women and children, use of victims of human trafficking, murder of animals and humans; and all these negative, ANTISOCIAL expressions sneak under the radar to be classified with normal sexual behavior and debated in terms freedom of speech. It is crazy-making. And I question the sanity of those who have created this system of categorization.
o Instead of debating this insane category, we should be working to separate normal and beneficial sexual behavior from this category of pornography that should be reserved for only the material manufactured through criminally-motivated sexual perversion which has the result or intent to harm, exploit, promote/spread hate, exploitation and harm.
o I see the USA's inability to separate normal human behavior from antisocial human behavior as a result of a twisted, hypocritical culture that is militarist and imperialist and colonialist with a national program of purposely confusing exploitation and murder and profiteering (via trumped up wars, covert operations, assassinations and over-throwing sovereign nations) as if these actions were doing good, helping other peoples, or spreading something needed (i.e., democracy, modern civilization). So questions arise: Can children grow up in a nation this deceitful and still be able to develop the discernment to distinguish true kindness from antisocial behavior? Does the lack of a truthful national DECENCY affect its citizens' ability to navigate moral choices in general? Does the confusion about DECENCY flow over into all other areas, including personal sexuality?
o I see Liberals as incapable of dealing with this issue. They seek to apply their notion of liberality to EVERYTHING, even antisocial behavior. I choose to be a Progressive, and seek a human society that grows better over time; I don't see how it can get better if the spread of antisocial behavior is not stemmed. I view Liberals debating that antisocial behavior deserves free speech protection as so illogical as to result in the reactionary breakdown of community/civilization. And this liberality can be expressed even by a rightist Roberts Court, as the recent ruling on animal snuff films proved.
Republicans hold a pity party for BP while their supporters warn of *tyranny* :
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/537967/201006211813/Is-US-Now-On-Slippery-Slope-To-Tyranny-.aspx
Meanwhile, Big oil still calling the shots in our GuM:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_britain_gulf_oil_spill;_ylt=AnEnphSOeYrY.FIox8OFbpmWwvIE;_ylu=X3oDMTNlcDBjODFjBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNjIyL2V1X2JyaXRhaW5fZ3VsZl9vaWxfc3BpbGwEY2NvZGUDbW9zdHBvcHVsYXIEY3BvcwMyBHBvcwMyBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDYmlnb2lsc3RyaWtl
Congrats Shan!
Finally, going after the real culprits of the immigration glitch...the real felons...the corporations. We concentrate so much on the Mexico we forget about Canada? California's GSP is $1.8 trillion, and "illegals" make up 25% of the $1.8 trillion. Are they truly a hinderance or are they supporting us? And I long for the day when U.S. citizens must work on the farms in Mexico to make a decent living...illegally
Thom,
I just saw you refer to the BP catastrophe, as the "worst ever." I trust you meant in the United States. As the New York Times recently reported, the Niger Delta has experienced their own "BP catastrophe" every year for decades. The point is this: when will ever realize that punching holes in anything is not good. I say to all those "drill baby drill" types to take a pen and punch a hole in their arm and see how great that is when the gusher is their blood.
Steve
wow! that's so weird..the MSM makes it seem gm alfalfa is now allowed.
Actually, if you setup an administration account that you only have the password to, and then setup your firewall to only allow specific websites through, you can pretty much limit your internet on the computer. If you're kid is smart enough how to get around that, then I would say they're also smart enough (and knowledgeable) enough to interpret the porn sites they can view after that.
But this is just a red herring, this is avoiding the 500lb gorilla in the room, and that's censoring the Internet as well as the beginnings of privatizing it. If your 10 year old needs a phone, or is being left home alone, you've got bigger problems than what they're looking at on the Internet.
No one seems to care that these same kids can what all sorts of war footage, and other violent content. It's a hypocritical argument as far as I'm concerned
N
How About 'a good on you' to all the food activists who won this re GMOs/
High Court Delivers Ruling that Leaves Ban on Planting of Roundup Ready Alfalfa in Place in First-Ever Case on a Genetically-Engineered Crop
The United States Supreme Court announced its decision today in Monsanto v. Geerston Farms, the first genetically modified crop case ever brought before the Supreme Court. Although the High Court decision reverses parts of the lower courts’ rulings, the judgment holds that the ban on planting Roundup Ready Alfalfa still stands until and unless future deregulation by the Agency occurs. This is a major victory for the Center for Food Safety and the Farmers and Consumers it represents!
In the majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, the Court held: “In sum…the vacatur of APHIS’s deregulation decision means that virtually no RRA (Roundup Ready Alfalfa) can be grown or sold until such time as a new deregulation decision is in place, and we also know that any party aggrieved by a hypothetical future deregulation decision will have ample opportunity to challenge it, and to seek appropriate preliminary relief, if and when such a decision is made.” (Opinion at p. 22).
The Court also held that:
USDA indicated at the Supreme Court argument that full deregulation is about a year away and that they will not pursue a partial deregulation in the interim. Any new attempt at deregulation in full or part will still be subject to legal challenge.
Many of you may have read press this morning reporting that the 7-1 decision announced by the Supreme Court today went entirely in Monsanto's favor. Not to our surprise, Monsanto’s PR machine is working hard to overpower the truth in today's decision in the first-ever Supreme Court case on genetically engineered crops (Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms). While the decision is complicated, this Court opinion is in many ways a victory for CFS and a defeat against Monsanto—especially given that it is still illegal to sell or plant GMO alfalfa.
CFS’s Executive Director, Andrew Kimbrell authored an article in today's Huffington Post to help clarify the legal ramifications of the decision. Grist also has a good piece outlining the decision, as does Eco Centric.
Despite what Monsanto is claiming—and what many mainstream media outlets reported earlier this morning—today’s ruling isn’t even close to the victory they were hoping for. Generally speaking, Monsanto asked the Supreme Court to rule on three main issues: (1) to lift the injunction on GMO alfalfa; (2) to allow the planting and sale of GMO alfalfa; (3) to rule that contamination from GMO crops not be considered irreparable harm.
In fact, the court only ruled on the first request which it did affirm by stating that the injunction was overly broad and should be overturned. However, the Court ruled in CFS's favor on the other two issues, which in many ways are more important as the fact remains that the planting and sale of GMO alfalfa remains illegal. The Supreme Court ruled that an injunction against planting was simply unnecessary since, under lower courts’ rulings, Roundup Ready Alfalfa became a regulated item and illegal to plant. In other words, the injunction was “overkill’ because our victory in lower federal court determined that USDA violated the National Environmental Protection Act and other environmental laws when it approved Roundup Ready alfalfa. The court felt that voiding the USDA’s decision to make the crop legally available for sale was enough.
The Center is victorious in this case in several other ways: most importantly, the High Court did not rule on several arguments presented by Monsanto about the application of federal environmental law. As a result, the Court did not make any ruling that could have been hurtful to National Environmental Policy Act or any other environmental laws. In addition, the Court opinion supported the Center’s argument that gene flow is a serious environmental and economic threat. This means that genetic contamination from GMOs can still be considered harm under the law, both from an environmental and economic perspective, another huge victory for CFS.
We could not have gone all the way to the Supreme Court without your support—thank you! Your letters, phone calls and donations have been invaluable in the efforts to ban GE alfalfa. We will keep you updated on any Agency attempts to deregulate GE alfalfa and on the ongoing EIS process. In the meantime, if you have not already done so, please take a moment to contact your Congressional representatives and ask them to sign the “Dear Colleague” letter circulating in the U.S. House and Senate urging USDA to ban GE alfalfa.
Further background information on the history of this case and scientific studies are available at http://truefoodnow.org/publications/supreme-court-briefs/. Today’s press release can be found here: http://truefoodnow.org/2010/06/21/supreme-court-ruling-in-monsanto-case-is-victory-for-center-for-food-safety-farmers/#more-1217, and The Supreme Court decision can be viewed here: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/09-475.pdf
Breaking- Russian Battleship docking at San Francsico - last here 1863 to support the unions- green960.com
Yeah, wonder what would the general's opinion of President Palin be?
Palin would be blaming President Bartlet but she would still send him to Afghanistan after General McChrystal-Kurtz..
@Maxrot- through eye ball signature?
ooh- ask Adam about Crush Videos-
Pornographers on the web want what every other business on the web wants... Money. When it comes down to it, Thom's suggestion of creating an age verifying domain group is workable.
N
any .com site can be setup to route automatically to another site (say .xxx) in fact any site can be setup to automatically route to another site. It doesn't cost any thing to create the link, or re-route, so no one has to give up their domain name (.com name), they just have to setup the link.
N
or Carter.
Palin would be blaming Clinton...
BP is a corporate felon, but it's dependents (empoyees) want it to go back to doing the same thing that it was doing when it was convicted... MORE DEEPWATER DRILLING ! I am sorry, but we don't release INDIVIDUAL felons just because they are the breadwinners for THEIR dependents.
@Foodfascist, I second your comment!!!
Compared to?
Beats stupid, useless and illigitimate..
And President Palin would be doing what?
A lack of reactionary blustering is not impotence. It is control backed by thought.
Come on.
Rick
Brilliant! - let the Bush Deficits Expire-