Spirit In Action

Change IS coming. WE can make it GOOD.


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Stealing J. Edgar Hoover’s Secrets – Video – NYTimes.com

Very interesting video. I’m so grateful for these people and the courageous actions they took so many years ago.

The hierarchs try to convince us all that we as individuals and small groups have no chance of influence over the big government and corporate powers.

But they are lying. We have every chance as long as we take them.

http://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000002635482/stealing-j-edgar-hoovers-secrets.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20140107


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Statement from Moriah Stephenson, one of the two activists facing potential “terrorism hoax” charges. | Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance

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Thank you for posting this. I hope everyone will read and share this important statement widely. This is exactly what George Orwell was warning us about-not just the surveillance but the corrupt use of language to hide evil and prosecute good.

Indiĝenaj Inteligenteco

I know the sound of terrorism. I felt the Murrah Building Bombing shake my body; I will never forget. My grandfather, a doctor, provided free medical care for those wounded. I was chosen to paint a tile for the memorial. Calling non-violent, peaceful protesting “terrorism” is an insult to all of those who suffered due to the indiscriminate violence that ensued April 19, 1995. Activism that is attempting to protect land and lives in Oklahoma is not terrorism. Charging us with “terrorism hoax” for hanging up a glittery banner is insulting, inconsiderate, and disrespectful to all of those who have actually experienced terrorist violence. TransCanada Corporation has been encouraging the police to charge environmental activists with varying charges that contain the word “terrorism” in order to scare and silence dissent.My hometown is older than Oklahoma statehood and is now being destroyed by the oil and gas industry. In rural Oklahoma…

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India and US: Nanny furor highlights ugly things about both sides (+video) – CSMonitor.com

I have been following this issue because I grew up with a lot of association with India thru my Mom’s friends, books, movies etc and because I am greatly looking forward to the Bollywood awards party being held near my home in a few months.

I hope this does not ruin the relationship between our countries.

I personally feel strip searching people is bizarre and awful even if it us warranted by circumstances.

When I was a teaching assistant in graduate school my professor required this publication as daily reading for students. He felt it was the most fair source for international news.

I would love to hear my readers opinions on this-both this issue and whether CSMonitor is the most fair source.
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India and US: Nanny furor highlights ugly things about both sides (+video)

(Read article summary)http://m.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2013/1219/India-and-US-Nanny-furor-highlights-ugly-things-about-both-sides-video#unhide

By Ben Arnoldy, Staff writer / December 19, 2013

BERKELEY, CALIF.

In happier times just a few years ago, US and Indian leaders trumpeted the shared cultural values between the world’s oldest and the world’s largest democracies. It’s instructive that in a matter of a few days, we are at each other’s throats over an incident that is not exactly the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Instead, an Indian diplomat was arrested in New York for allegedly falsifying documents that allowed her to illegally underpay a nanny she brought over from India. During the course of her detention, the Indian diplomat was “fully searched” by police, meaning at least a strip search.

This US-India relationship is historically young. Now that we are over the infatuation stage, we should absorb what the other is saying and admit that there are real differences in worldview between us, and that sometimes these differences highlight ugly things about ourselves.Thoughts for Americans to consider:

1. Americans are outraged at the way the Indian diplomat illegally exploited her nanny with wages far below New York’s prevailing wage. And then lied about it. But when is the last time Americans were really outraged over US tech companies bringing over Indians on special work visas and – illegally – paying them less than the prevailing wage? And then lying about it. Where are the arrests and strip searches of Silicon Valley CEOs? No one has the high moral ground on cross-border pay.

2. Americans are so busy trying to make the point that it’s standard operating procedure to strip search people after an arrest that we haven’t stopped to think whether that practice makes any sense at all. Set aside for a moment the emotions surrounding respect for diplomats or female modesty: If an arrest is a surprise, and doesn’t revolve around smuggling contraband or a violent crime, what are the chances really that a suspect has dangerous items hidden in her body? Currently there is a lawsuit brought by a US citizen who was strip searched, then cavity searched, then brought to a hospital to observe her bowel movement, all on suspicion she was carrying drugs. She wasn’t. This is the stuff of police states.

3. Try remaining consistent while arguing the US position on the Vienna Convention over Raymond Davis, the CIA contractor arrested in Pakistan, and the US position on Vienna protocols over the Indian diplomat. Maybe it can be done, but I haven’t heard it yet. Americans try to portray themselves as automatons before the law, as if the law often isn’t a matter of human interpretation where bias creeps in.Thoughts for Indians to consider:

1. Picking this battle will not make the US respect India, in fact it is eroding the country’s credibility fast. The US is currently one of the biggest champions of an expanded role for India on the world stage. Americans start to reconsider that when it appears (to them) that New Delhi is more concerned with defending elite privilege than the country’s strategic big picture. Does India even have a collective sense of national interest? A common refrain making the rounds is that the US would never treat Russian or Chinese officials this way. To make the US more wary of crossing India, as some commentators there want, would require flashing some willingness to use hard power. Maybe that would win “respect” of a sort, but the relationship would come to resemble something more like that of the US and Russia.

2. India has an unacknowledged human rights problem surrounding its domestic workforce. Domestic workers have few real protections and exploitation runs rampant in the form of long hours, low pay, subhuman accommodations, physical/sexual abuse, and the lack of a fair system of dispute resolution. India needs labor laws to set some minimum standards, and to begin to move more people out of poverty. But the system is awfully convenient for a lot of people the way it is.

3. The removal of security infrastructure around the US embassy was the action of an enemy, not an angry friend. American officials are unlikely to make a big public stink about this for safety reasons. But it will be remembered as a reckless move. We should be able to disagree with each other without jeopardizing life and limb.

Math help for journalists:

1. The minimum wage in New York is $7.25/hour. At 40 hours/week, with roughly 4.3 weeks in a month, that equals $1,247/month, not $4,500/month. This mistake is all over Indian media and even in US outlets.

2. The legal obligation is for the nanny to be paid the prevailing wage, if it is above the minimum wage.According to the NY district attorney, that’s $9.75/hour, or $1,677 a month. If she worked for $573.07 /month as alleged, her per hour rate assuming a 40-hour week would be around $3.33/hour. However, she allegedly was forced to work “many more” hours. That means she was paid less than $3.33 / hour – maybe even less than $3/hour.

http://m.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2013/1219/India-and-US-Nanny-furor-highlights-ugly-things-about-both-sides-video


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Truthout Daily Digest January 8,2014

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USDA Moves To Approve “Agent Orange” GMO Seeds

Mike Ludwig, Truthout: Dow’s corn and soy seeds with the brand name Enlist are genetically engineered to be resistant to several herbicides. But critics and researchers say fighting weeds with tougher chemicals is not a sustainable solution to the challenges of modern agriculture.

Read the Article

Infrastructure 101: The Evolution of Building Big Things (Part 1)

Ellen Dannin, Truthout: The US has a “long and continuing history of successfully taking on big infrastructure projects through direct public support and funding” undermined by inadequate taxation and a lurch to privatization that is disastrous for transparency and democracy.

Read the Article

New California Legislation Seeks To Thwart NSA Spying

Michael Boldin, Truthout: Supporters say passage of a proposed California law would tell the NSA, “We don’t want you in California unless you follow the Constitution.”

Read the Article

Fakethrough! GMOs and the Capitulation of Science Journalism

Jonathan Latham, Independent Science News: While the media in general has taken much criticism recently for trivializing news and other flaws, the science media somehow has escaped serious attention. This is unfortunate because no country in the world has a healthy science media.

Read the Article

The NSA Is Hacking Our Hardware Too

Kristina Chew, Care2: We’ve known since June that the NSA has been engaged in mass surveillance programs, accessing information from global phone and internet networks. The German newsmagazine Der Spiegel recently reported that the NSA’s surveillance activities go beyond exploiting vulnerabilities in computer software.

Read the Article

Paul Krugman | In Economics, Old Is New Again

Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.: Many prestigious economists were all too eager to turn their backs on standard macroeconomics, even when it was working very well, because of their political leanings. We don’t seem to need different economics as much as we need different economists.

Read the Article

Solving the Climate Crisis

Peter G. Cohen, Truthout: Creating a Livable Climate Agency may be one way to arrest and reverse US emissions and their catastrophic impact on global climate.

Read the Article

Drones in US: Should We Question Who Really Benefits?

Ed Kinane, Truthout: Who will profit from the development of “civilian” drone technology? Who will suffer?

Read the Article

On the News With Thom Hartmann: Our Cars and Hamburgers Are Even More Toxic Than We Thought, and More

In today‘s On the News segment: The Senate advanced legislation to extend long-term unemployment benefits, and all but six Republicans declined to vote for it; our cars and hamburgers are even more toxic than we thought; Seattle has sworn in a Socialist; and more.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

Senior Gambling Addiction Rates Are Soaring in America, Driven by Corporate Greed and Bad Government Policy

Lynn Parramore, AlterNet: Seniors are the fastest-growing population of gamblers. It’s a no-win game, driven by a greedy industry united in unholy alliance with policy makers and politicians who turn a blind eye to the social and economic costs of gambling.

Read the Article

Take Roots Action

The Washington Post should be honest with readers about a big conflict of interest: The newspaper’s new owner, Jeff Bezos, is the founder and CEO of Amazon – which recently landed a $600 million contract with the CIA.

BuzzFlash

New York TimesEditorial Excoriates Obama for Reneging on Transparency Pledge

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: When The New York Times, the reigning national paper of the ruling elite, whacks a president upside the head, it gets noticed. Such is the case with a January 7 editorial on how President Obama has gone from promises of transparency to the ongoing legal defense of secrecy.

Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

Jim Hightower | MRAP, Maxx and the Militarization of Our Local Police Forces

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Long-Term Unemployed Still Face Dim Job Prospects

Read the Article at CNN

Legalized Marijuana: One Key Detail Threatens to Boost Crime, Raise Costs and Sink the Business

Read the Article at Salon

Top Christie Staff Sought to Disrupt Traffic as Revenge

Read the Article at The New York Times

The Polar Vortex and Climate Change: Why Rush Limbaugh and Others Are Wrong

Read the Article at Wunderground

Is America Ready for a New War on Poverty?

Read the Article at The Huffington Post

Dean Baker | All Eyes on New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, America’s Leading Progressive

Read the Article at the Guardian


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Galactic Lightship Dreamflights 11JAN2014

Thank you for posting this. It has been a while since I shared one of these so want to let any new readers know about this wonderful opportunity.

Even if you are on the fence about ET life etc the ability to interact with others from Earth in real-time over great distance is still a fascinating project to join.

While shamans from tribal cultures have been doing this sort of thing for millennia, it is very cutting edge science for colonized/modern society.

I am perfectly dreadful at dream recall so I hope to see you all there but I probably won’t know about it afterwards, except by the strange feeling of familiarity and friendship with some of you whom I have never met physically.

Spirit Train Chronicles

You are invited to join the next Galactic Lightship Dreamflight this Saturday night (11 January 2014) during dreamtime.

All who have expressed their intent to join us will be teleported on board our fleet of Galactic Light Ships.You may express your intent to join a specific ship (all are welcome!). We will be meeting during dreamtime on Saturday night, but you do not need to “schedule” the time you are asleep, since you will be timeshifted to the appropriate “place” in time in order to join us. Passwords provided are intended to enhance intent, not to limit access.

Our Fleet includes the following ships

GLS Mothership OcaTAwa (Password “Center Spiral Wings Unity”)
GLS Aeterna (Password “Wings“)
GLS Algiz (Password “Center“)
GLS Blaze (Password “Helix“)
GLS Chimera (Password “Emanate”)
GLS Salcys
GLS Angelon
GLS Susan
GLS Space Wave (Password “Unity”)
GLS Athabantian (Password “Radiate”; website: Up2the5th, Cosmic Paradigm)
GLS…

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The CCs via Aisha North: A Short Update on the Energies

Thank you Aisha! It is so amazing to feel things, know things and experience things internally, alone, and then read discussions.of these internal things online. For most of my life I was very isolated by my differences-both the internal knowing/magical sort if differences and the more obvious disabilities/aspie differences.
Now I am so grateful to find so many of you are often traversing the same territory I am.
I think maybe everyone has these magical internal worlds going on but most are trained out of discussing or even admitting them to themselves by the end of childhood.
How much more fun will everyday life be when everyone is fully alive and joyfully experiencing and expressing their own internal validity?!:-)

Openhearted Rebellion

By: Aisha North, 1/08/2014 | Thanks to the Galactic Free Press.

As many of you have noticed already, the very air that you breathe seems to have become slightly altered already, and more is to come, as that friendly neighbour of yours, the Sun, has once again let off a barrage of explosions that will fill your atmosphere with some rather interesting messages in the days and nights ahead. You see, these explosions or heavenly fireworks do you all a world of good, in every sense of the word, as the energy that is released during these spectacular shows are doing more than what they look like on the surface. As you are perhaps aware of already, all of these explosions come  laden with a whole lot of energetic debris if you will, that is being torn away from the very surface of that heavenly body and hurled out…

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EAT A VEGAN MEAL

Thank you! I love this post. I have been eating vegan and gluten free since long before it was this easy to do but it has always been easier for me to go without eating than to participate in the suffering and murder of others in order to eat.
I have to add after many years of hearing it from my Mom and Grandfather that I DO understand and recognize that when the people have a right relationship with the other living beings that hunting and killing for food is not always murder but can be sacred, loving, and reciprocal.

Factory farming does not fall under that rubric tho-and that is where most food in America comes from.

So no insult intended to any non-vegetarians by my sharing this but I hope everyone will consider eating more vegan meals both for health, financial savings and compassion.

Our ancestors outside the arctic did not eat nearly as much meat as modern society. The three sisters were sacred at least in part because they are good for you:-)

OrganicREADY

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Each year, the average American consumes 175 pounds of meat and poultry, almost double the global average. Eating less red meat may do you a favor: It can lower your risk of cancer and heart disease. “Learn to love big heaps of vegetables,” says Mark BittmanNew York Times food columnist and author of VB6.

To achieve that feeling, Bittman says to try meatless proteins, such as lentils, edamame, garbanzo beans and tofu. He also recommends roasting six sweet potatoes. “The more you cook and have stuff around, the less you’ll depend on junk.”

He’s right! Once you prepare your meals ahead of time, the less likely you will make bad food choices. I think salads are super easy. Every weekend I spend over $70 dollars on organic vegetables and fruits. Apples alone I spend about $10 dollars. Between me and my three children, we go through apples quickly…

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