October 29, 2014
by ohnwentsya Leave a comment

Five ways Ghomeshi reveals rape culture

This is very useful information-trigger warning for those with ptsd or similar issues though. I’m grateful to see people openly discussing and picking apart the deeply screwed up aspects of colonized patriarchal culture that mostly (like white privilege) remain unconscious and hidden, therefore much more dangerous and destructive.

cultivating alternatives

– by Nick Montgomery

There is a frenzy of activity to find “the facts” about Jian Ghomeshi, the allegations against him, and the women who have shared their experiences. Thousands of fans have flocked to defend Ghomeshi and deride his accusers as vindictive slanderers.

Others have expressed their moral outrage that Ghomeshi could be such a monster. Others have called for us to wait until there are “more facts.” These are consistent patterns that arise when discussing rape, sexual assault, and gendered violence. They are some of the patterns of rape culture.

As Jane Kirby explains, rape culture is “anything that normalizes unwanted, nonconsensual sex. In other words, rape culture is anything that makes rape seem like it is not really rape.” It gets disseminated through jokes, TV, music, advertising, legal jargon, laws, words, and imagery, that make violence against women and sexual coercion seem so normal that people think…

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October 29, 2014
by ohnwentsya Leave a comment

The Oracle Report | Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Elizabeth sunrise.JPG

The Oracle Report – Wednesday, October 29, 2014

“To Boldly Go…” Scorpio Lunar Cycle Overview – October 22, 2014

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Crescent Moon Phase: persevere

Moon in Capricorn

Ruling Mahavidya: Kamala (The Lotus Goddess)

Skill: be the wise owl in inner contemplation and outer observance

Negative Imprint: demanding one’s way, prejudice, projection of one’s own feelings onto others, moody, denial

Positive Imprint: integration of aspects of ourselves, openness, expansion, self-respect, clearing of emotions, drawing on inner resources, heritage

This month’s journey on the “sight-seeing bus filled with tourists” takes us along the water’s edge today.

The energetic signatures that most of the planets are delivering today involve water. Water is symbolic of emotions, cleansing, the unconscious mind, and mutability (things being changed by outer forces). Water can be placid or it can be whipped up into white caps. Since we will likely see and/or experience the variety of these “watery” states today, we will invoke the shamanic skill of being like the wise owl in a tree in inner contemplation and outer observance.

This means we quiet our minds. We direct (command) the swirling energies to whirl away from us by not engaging anything that tries to draw us into a power struggle, a dramatic conflict, an emotional tailspin, or lower-level vibrations. We go to the inner spaces and we do this while we are fully active in our everyday lives. We carry themindset of the wise owl in the tree. This is why it is called a skill. It requires practice. The goal is to be able to maintain it all day.

It’s easier to do when you remember the “observe” element. We aren’t in stasis in our inner contemplation. We are also alert to the liveliness of the world around us and the way Spirit wields the collective dream to impart messages, information, and wisdom to us. So we are open to direct interaction from Spirit, but neutral to the matrix.

This month’s ruling Wisdom Goddess is Kamala, who is also known as the Lotus Goddess because she brings passions back to life for blooming. She is especially good at helping us make admissions to ourselves about our shadow sides. When we integrate more of our shadow side, we become stronger. Today she will attempt to mutate or change patterns of behavior that keep us from actualizing the brilliant light codes of our souls. She draws something out of us, possibly something very deep, and then blesses us.

Regardless of what situations, feelings, and conditions are today, they are undergoing a transmutation into something else. When we get to the Full Moon phase of this cycle, we will have gained more clarity and insight about these things. Today is an important connecting piece on the journey.

Thank you for supporting the Oracle Report. Blessings to all!

Permission to repost is granted provided credit is given towww.oraclereport.com.

http://www.oraclereport.com/

October 29, 2014
by ohnwentsya Leave a comment

Truthout Daily Digest Monday, 27 October 2014

Dahr Jamail | On Climate Disruption, Washington Governor Inslee Vows “Disruptive Change”

Dahr Jamail, Truthout: In Washington State, the Chehalis River Valley is the site of some of the worst floods in the Pacific Northwest. Gov. Jay Inslee recently toured the region to meet with people affected by extreme weather events resulting from climate disruption, and emphasized policy solutions over political ideology.

Read the Article

The Uncertainty of Access: Reproductive Health in the Rio Grande Valley

Katie Klabusich, Truthout: As goes reproductive health-care access in Texas, so may go the nation. The tireless work of the activists in the Rio Grande Valley should be informing national organizing because it’s effective and because the legal challenge to Texas law HB2 will likely land in front of the Supreme Court.

Read the Article

Author Nora Barrows-Friedman Chronicles Rise of Student Movement for Justice in Palestine

Charlotte Silver, Truthout: Nora Barrows-Friedman, author ofIn Our Power, discusses what makes the Students for Justice in Palestine movement sustainable, why it’s growing in the face of an amply funded opposition, and how the BDS strategy is a game changer.

Read the Interview

Dean Baker | The Ebola Vaccine, Traffic Congestion and Global Warming

Dean Baker, Truthout: While the spread of Ebola and needless traffic congestion are both areas where many have paid a price from their determination not to help others, the greatest cost comes in the context of global warming. There is a real cost of having determined selfishness as a fundamental political principle.

Read the Article

In Midterm Elections Farce, Public Ignored by Both Parties

Michael Meurer, Truthout: With both parties representing big money rather than competing economic visions, voters are opting out, and the 2014 midterm elections have devolved into an empty and expensive spectacle in which trivia such as White House chicken-wing recipes take center stage.

Read the Article

Bill Moyers | The Fight – and the Right – to Vote

Bill Moyers, Moyers & Company: The Lone Star state’s voter ID law is part of a nationwide effort to suppress the vote as demographic changes are altering the electoral landscape. Close to half the states in the United States have passed laws restricting the right to vote.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

Not Feeling Up for That Hanky Panky? There’s a Pill for That

Mara Kardas-Nelson, Truthout: The pharmaceutical industry is pressuring the FDA to approve a pill for “Female Sexual Disorder” that isn’t significantly better at increasing the frequency of “satisfying sexual events” than a placebo and comes with some significant side effects for many women.

Read the Article

This City Came Up With a Simple Solution to Homelessness: Housing

Kara Dansky, The Nation: Salt Lake City was spending $20,000 per homeless resident per year. Homelessness was not going down. Instead, for for $7,800 a year, through a new program called Housing First, the city found it could provide a person with an apartment and case management services. The initiative has reduced chronic homelessness by 72 percent.

Read the Article

When It Comes to Torture, Silence Is Bipartisan

Victoria Bassetti, Brennan Center for Justice: Torture politics makes for strange bedfellows. For those of you who think the Obama administration doesn’t know how to work with Republicans, think again. North Carolina’s Republican Senator, Richard Burr, may soon be one of the administration’s best friends.

Read the Article

Still on the Thank-You Tour-of-Duty Circuit 13 Years Later

Rory Fanning, TomDispatch: Many veterans enlisted in the military thinking that they were indeed serving a noble cause, and it’s no lie to say that they fought with valor for their brothers and sisters to their left and right. Unfortunately, good intentions at this stage are no substitute for good politics.

Read the Article

Amy Goodman | Former Weapons Inspector in Iraq Questions Claims That Iran Hiding Nuclear Tests

Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!: Six world powers leading nuclear negotiations with Iran have set a November deadline to reach a deal to constrain Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for easing Western sanctions. Earlier this month, a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency found Iran is meeting its commitments under a temporary deal.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

On the News With Thom Hartmann: In the US, Wealth Accumulation Outpacing Income, and More

In today‘s On the News segment: The US has added more than $31 trillion of household wealth since the crash of 2008, but that’s not necessarily something to celebrate; many retailers have opened earlier and earlier on Thanksgiving Day to draw in customers for Black Friday sales; the Social Security Administration announced the cost-of-living adjustment for 2015 benefits; and more.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

BuzzFlash

How the Corporate Media Use the Word “Militant” to Crush Dissent

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: Based ontoday‘s US government and media standards, rebels such as George Washington, Tom Paine and Thomas Jefferson were militants, weren’t they?

Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

Grim Numbers From the 2014 Global Wealth Report

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

Infant Deaths Near Oil Drilling Sites Raise Questions for Researchers

Read the Article at The Denver Post

Ebola Deaths in the US Won’t Even Come Close to the Number of Deaths Caused by Tobacco and Alcohol

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

In Brazilian City, Homeless People Face Extermination

Read the Article at Al Jazeera America

Fellow Nobel Peace Laureates to Obama: Stain of US Torture Is Your Job to Repair

Read the Article at Common Dreams

Louisiana Is Grabbing Millions of Dollars in Oil Royalties From Lands It Failed to Protect