which superhero am I?

I came out as...

Supergirl

Lean, muscular and feminine.
Honest and a defender of the innocent.


Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

meta metta: toward sacred activism

"A new challenge awaits us at the beginning of the twenty-first century: to go beyond fragmentation of the inward and outward, to go beyond the incompatible sets of values held even by serious-minded people, to mature beyond the self-righteousness of one's accepted approaches and be open to total living and total revolution. In this era, to become a spiritual inquirer without social consciousness is a luxury that we can ill afford, and to be a social activist without a scientific understanding of the inner workings of the mind is the worst folly. Neither approach in isolation has had any significant success."

This essay - Awakening to Total Revolution: Enlightenment and the World Crisis, by Vimala Thakar - is essential reading. The insights here are central to the shift in consciousness we as a species need to make if we are to survive, much less thrive. Thakar points us in the right direction in figuring out approaches and mindsets that will allow us to live out the changes we, on a good day, can envision.

Print it up, take it home, read it with care...
http://www.wie.org/j19/vimala.asp?pf=1

habeas corpus suffers ignoble death

Democracy is about to take a big hit when Bush signs the shocking bill passed by Congress last Friday.

Why then am I not out on the street protesting?! And why aren't you? What is the expression about you don't know what you've lost until it's gone?

"With a smug stroke of his pen, President Bush is set to wipe out a safeguard against illegal imprisonment that has endured as a cornerstone of legal justice since the Magna Carta."

How could this be when Bush himself said in July 2003: "The United States is committed to worldwide elimination of torture, and we are leading this fight by example. Freedom from torture is an inalienable human right. Yet torture continues to be practiced around the world by rogue regimes, whose cruel methods match their determination to crush the human spirit."?

How do you spell hypocrisy? (or is it with 2 'c's?)

Do read Molly Ivins's
Habeas Corpus, R.I.P. (1215 - 2006)

meditation as sit-down strike

"It is subversive to gain some control over your desires, especially the excessive kind that have been stimulated by all the advertising messages. It is an act of dissent to sit down and do nothing, to be content with this moment, this breath, this mysterious aliveness. And when you aren't producing or consuming, then you are sabotaging the system. Meditation can be understood as a sit-down strike."

In April of 2001, I did a week-long silent meditation at Spirit Rock led by Joanna Macy and Wes Nisker, and the above is from Wes's book. He is a hilarious Buddhist sit-down comedian. His books are fun and insightful.

gym teacher secretly hates nerds

Ever felt like you were being singled out for punishment or difficult tasks in gym? Because you weren't as athletic as others? Seems you weren't imagining things. Here is an article that proves it wasn't just paranoia (though people may all be out to get you anyway). The Onion provides the definitive article on the subject.

metta connection: steiner and buddhism

As soon as I started reading Steiner's How to Know Higher Worlds, I saw the connection. I don't know whether Steiner studied Buddhism or not, but if not, the similarities would be almost miraculous. This essay explains the links - http://southerncrossreview.org/16/kirchoff.htm

More on this later...

Who killed the electric car?

Engineers modify hybrid cars to get up to 250 mpg

Politicians and automakers say a car that can both reduce greenhouse gases and free America from its reliance on foreign oil is years or even decades away.

Ron Gremban says such a car is parked in his garage.

Read the article from SFGate

Plus, there is a documentary out now called "Who Killed the Electric Car?" playing in the better theaters around the country. Here is a review

Why are Indian cotton farmers committing suicide? And what can be done to help them?

Burning GMO Cotton in India

On January 10 of this year, Jamuna Ramdas Ade decided she’d had enough. The cotton farmer from the Indian state of Maharashtra was so deep in debt that she swallowed a mouthful of monocrotophos, an insecticide so poisonous it is banned in Europe and the United States.

Read the rest of the article and find out how to help.

Also on the cotton squeeze, see the article about Seydou Coulibaly, a cotton farmer from Mali who was recently in Louisville to meet with local farmers and students. By Rasa Zimliki (Oxfam) and Andrew Kang Bartlett. Download the two-pager here.