GAIA AND HOMOSAPIENS

CBC Hourly News
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CBC World at Six News - "What's Going On Out There?"
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Video | "Show" | Homenaje al Espiritu de Chile
US Stream-TV - February 26. 2010 - Antes el Terramoto
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Music to accompany you on your cyber-visit
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Note-- The symbol ^ denotes that that article can be read in full at the link. Articles with two ^^ are from a recent issue.

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Opinion | Commentary | Editorials | Op-Eds

US - Antiwar Protesters: "Bombs Don't Bring Democracy"
Truthout - By Yana Kunichoff and Mary Susan Littlepage - March 19, 2010
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Two days before the seventh anniversary of the occupation of Iraq, more than a thousand antiwar protesters marched Thursday in downtown Chicago to chants of "Obama, don't lie to me. Bombs don't bring democracy!" and "Money for jobs and education, not for wars and occupation!" The rally is one of many antiwar events being held across the country in places ranging from New York to Utah to Georgia to protest the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We have given everything as veterans, as citizens, as people," Eugene Cherry, a former combat medic in Iraq and member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, told the rally. "The only way to support the troops is to bring them home. It is not their mission."

According to then-President George W. Bush, who led the push for the US invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003, it was a war of liberation. But according to the Iraqi refugees, parents of soldiers serving abroad, war veterans of US wars both old and new and advocates from more than 80 veterans' advocacy organizations, among others present at the march on Thursday, the war in Iraq is a war of occupation.

Opinion | How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America
The Atlantic - By Don Peck - March 2010
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The Great Recession may be over, but this era of high joblessness is probably just beginning. Before it ends, it will likely change the life course and character of a generation of young adults. It will leave an indelible imprint on many blue-collar men. It could cripple marriage as an institution in many communities. It may already be plunging many inner cities into a despair not seen for decades. Ultimately, it is likely to warp our politics, our culture, and the character of our society for years to come.

Commentary | St. Patrick's Day - Bless the Irish | Turning Green With Literacy
The New York Times - By Thomas Cahill - March 16, 2010
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Op-Ed | Text and Audio - Five Yards and a Cloud of Dust
On the background and basic failure of the proposed health care legislation - Scroll down to "Press Play to Listen."
Truthout - By William Rivers Pitt - March19, 2010
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Opinion | The Vaticac - The Current Vatican's Death Throes
The Atlantic / The Daily Dish - By Andrew Sullivan - March 14, 2010
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Complete here. >
What is happening in Germany with respect to the Catholic Church's sex abuse crisis right now is what happened in America after the first revelations came out of Boston. Instead of the Boston Globe, we have the Süddeutsche Zeitung. What's staggering to me is the Vatican response - which is the same as the Boston church's first reponse. Even now, even after all we have learned and seen this past decade, their response is to say it is primarily part of a campaign to vilify the Pope. Yes, despite hundreds of claims of sexual abuse against children, it's the Pope who's the real victim here:

In a note read on Vatican Radio on Saturday, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said it was “evident that in recent days there are those who have tried, with a certain aggressive tenacity, in Regensburg and in Munich, to find elements to involve the Holy Father personally in issues of abuse.” He added, “It is clear that those efforts have failed.”

Again, it is the reputation of the church and the Pope they care about first, not the welfare of children. In today's developments, the entire question of whether celibacy might have something to do with the stunted sexual and emotional development of priests (you think?) - let alone whether the repression and oppression of homosexuality contributes to psychological damage - has been ruled out of bounds of legitimate discussion by the Vatican:

Several prominent prelates -- in Germany and at the Vatican -- shot down any suggestion that the celibacy rule had anything to do with the scandal, a point echoed Sunday by the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. "It's been established that there's no link," said the article by Bishop Giuseppe Versaldi, an emeritus professor of canon law and psychology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. "First off, it's known that sexual abuse of minors is more widespread among lay people and those who are married than in the celibate priesthood,'' he wrote. ''Secondly, research has shown that priests guilty of abuse had long before stopped observing celibacy."

First: blame others before taking responsibility; second: a total non-sequitur. Has it occurred to Versaldi that the repressed, contorted sexual teaching of the church leads so many priests, gay and straight, directly into dysfunctional and, yes, disordered sex lives, alone or with others? Does he realize that forcing gay Catholic kids to hate themselves and then to seek refuge in a celibate priesthood as a cover for their unconquerable nature is just asking for later breakdowns and acting out, with teens and kids as the victims? Does he understand that straight men, denied any relationships with women their own age, can get stunted emotionally, fail to see women as equals, and are thereby less capable in many cases of proper pastoral care and sexual misconduct?

But what staggers me is once again the immediate, visceral circling of the wagons - when what is being revealed - again! - is a pattern of criminal abuse, aided and abetted by a powerful elite, led by the Pope himself. If this were a secular institution, the police would move in and shut it down.

We need a statement from the Pope explaining what he knew and didn't know about the abuse of children - and the protection of child-abusing priests - under his direct authority in Regensburg and Munich. His position does not render him above the law - or above taking personal responsibility for the crimes he was duty-bound to discover and prosecute and for the priests he did not remove from their positions of power.

Opinion | In Praise of Shared Outrage
Truthout - By Roy Eidelson - March 16, 2010
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Opinion | First time a thievery, second time farce
Lee Sustar looks at how Wall Street looted the U.S. Treasury while blocking any serious effort to impose financial reforms on the speculators. First, The banks drained your wallet. Now the people who stood by and let it happen are about to be rewarded, if Senate Democrats get their way.
Socialist Worker - March 17, 2010
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A Profound Analysis | Book Excerpts from ‘Ill Fares the Land’
The New York Times - By Tony Judt - March 16, 2010
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Opinion | Is the U.S. Following in Rome’s Footsteps?
Editor - Seriously, Don't bother to read this. And these media are mainline, top journalist-Opinionators!
The New York Times - By David Brooks and Dick Cavett - March 12, 2010
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BreaKing News

Species Conservation | Tuna, polar bear {nternational protections rejected
Washington Post - By Juliet Eilperin - Marcch19. 2010
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Delegates gathered in Doha, Qatar for a global conference aimed at protecting imperiled species rejected a proposal Thursday that would have banned international trade of Atlantic bluefin tuna, a coveted fish whose numbers have dropped steeply in recent decades. The proposal, offered by Monaco and co-sponsored by the United States, failed by a margin of 20 in favor and 68 against, with 30 abstaining. The vote came just hours after the 175 countries assembled at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) rejected a U.S. proposal to limit the hunting of polar bears.

US | '9/11 panel was warned not to probe too deeply'
Leaked info shows the 9/11 Commission was warned against crossing the lines in its probes
Press TV - March 18, 2010
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Complete here
Leaked confidential documents have revealed that senior officials from the former US administration had warned a 9/11 investigation panel against probing too deeply into the terrorist attacks.

In a letter obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the 9/11 Commission was refused permission to question terror suspects, with the Bush administration arguing that by doing so the panel would "cross" a "line" and obstruct the administration's efforts to protect the nation. Citing the need to "Safeguard the national security, including protection of Americans from future terrorist attacks," the government officials demanded the Commission not make further attempts at conducting a deeper probe into the September 11 terror attacks.

"As the officers of the United States responsible for the law enforcement, defense and intelligence functions of the Government, we urge your Commission not to further pursue the proposed request to participate in the questioning of detainees," the letter said.

The warning note dated January 6, 2004 has been signed by former Attorney General John Ashcroft, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and CIA Director George Tenet.

The 9/11 Commission was set up in November 2002 to prepare a full account of the circumstances surrounding the attacks, which still have an air of suspicion around them.

The revelation comes as, according to a recent survey, one-quarter of US adults believe that the 2001 terrorist attacks were fabricated.

U.S. | Court orders Fed to release bailout documents
Reuters - March 19. 2010
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In a significant victory for news media, a federal appeals court said the Federal Reserve must disclose records on emergency lending programs to banks bailed out by the government in the financial crisis. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ordered the Fed to release details of programs it adopted starting in late 2007 to shore up the financial system and forestall a complete meltdown of global financial markets. Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, and News Corp's Fox News Network sought details of the central bank's actions under the federal Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, which requires government agencies to make documents public.

United States Government

"In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress." -- John Adams

"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain

Opinion | Battling the Bipartisan Consensus for War
The Mindless American High and Armaments for Death and War Profits.
The Huffington Post - By Doug Bandow - March 15, 2010
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href ="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/15/AR2010031503289.html"> - LINK ^^

Activism at the Ground Level

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." -- Mark Twain

The people's history reading list for Activists
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Greenpeace won't Give Nestle a Break from Palm Oil Candy Bars
Grist - By Ashley Braun
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