Monthly Archives: February 2007

Gay Bishop Says No to Ultimatum

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The first openly gay Episcopal bishop, whose consecration has brought the world’s Anglicans to the brink of schism, said Tuesday that the Episcopal Church should not give in to demands that it roll back its acceptance of gays.

New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson said in a statement that Episcopalians should set aside the Anglican Communion’s request for now “and get on with the work of the Gospel” even at the risk of losing their place in the Anglican fellowship.

“Doesn’t Jesus challenge the greater whole to sacrifice itself for those on the margins?” Robinson said. “Now is the time for courage, not fear.

Gay Bishop Says No to Ultimatum – washingtonpost.com

The tomb of Jesus?

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The Lost Tomb of Jesus, produced by Oscar-winning director James Cameron and scheduled to be shown Sunday on the Discovery Channel, argues that 10 small caskets discovered in 1980 in a Jerusalem suburb may have held the bones of Jesus and his family.

One of the caskets even bears the title “Judah, son of Jesus,” hinting that Jesus may have had a son, according to the film. … The tomb of Jesus?

San Diego Diocese files for bankruptcy

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SAN DIEGO – The Catholic Diocese of San Diego announced Tuesday that it was filing for bankruptcy protection rather than face lawsuits from 150 people who alleged that they were sexually abused by priests. The first court case was set to begin today.

The diocese decision came despite a request Monday from a settlement judge to not file for bankruptcy until after a negotiating session set for Friday.

Bishop Robert Brom said in a statement that if the abuse cases went to court, monetary awards for those whose cases were first on the docket could “so deplete diocesan and insurance resources that there would be nothing left for other victims.” …  San Diego Diocese files for bankruptcy – Los Angeles Times

hokai’s blogue: Buddha and Myth

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One of special features of Buddhism is the function of myth. When Shakyamuni Buddha aka Siddhartha Gautama set in motion the wheel of doctrine in 6th century BC, his approach to myth was revolutionary for that time anywhere. And it still is for many minds today. The Buddha did not dispense with myth, but instead pointed out we need not be limited by mythical narratives, nor should we continue disempowering ourselves by unconsciously objectifying as external to ourselves that which we cannot grasp….  Buddha and Myth

Solace in Buddhism

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These days, Charan Pakdithanakul, 57, the permanent secretary for justice and concurrently the chairman of the Constitution Drafting Subcommittee, works virtually seven days a week, often going to his office at the Justice Ministry on Saturdays and Sundays to catch up with what he has missed during the week.

“I’m fed up with political quarrelling, especially over the contents of the new charter. There are complaints that I’ve talked too much about politics publicly. The latest onslaught came from a veteran politician and a former PM who completely disagreed with the proposal to redraw the constituencies for the next polls so that voters would vote for more than one MP in each of the constituencies,” says the former Supreme Court judge and secretary-general of the high court’s president. “So, please don’t ask me those questions. However, I’d like to discuss Buddhism as a scientific discipline.”

Charan, who earned his law degree from Cambridge University and became a barrister at law in 1978, says the Lord Buddha’s teachings should be treated as a comprehensive set of scientific principles for they are always valid when applied properly. …  Solace in Buddhism

Americans United Slams Justice Department ‘First Freedom Project’ For Hypocrisy

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“Expecting the Bush administration to defend religious liberty is a little like asking Col. Sanders to babysit your pet chicken,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “This administration has repeatedly worked to destroy true religious freedom by merging church and state.” … Americans United for the Separation of Church and State

Inuit accuse US of destroying their way of life with global warming

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A delegation of Inuit is to travel to Washington DC to provide first-hand testimony of how global warming is destroying their way of life and to accuse the Bush administration of undermining their human rights.

The delegation, representing Inuit peoples from the US, Canada, Russia and Greenland, will argue that the US’s energy policies and its position as the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases is having a devastating effect on their communities. Melting sea ice, rising seas and the impact on the animals they rely on for food threatens their existence.

The Inuit’s efforts to force the US to act are part of an unprecedented attempt to link climate change to international human rights laws. … Independent Online Edition > Environment

Yeah.  Like Little George and the Gang give a big rat’s ass about human rights of any description — except maybe the divine right of kings.

U.S. keeps making mistakes in Mideast

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The collapse of the shah in Iran was the beginning of American troubles in the Middle East. The shah was “our guy,” an absolute ruler who was secularizing the country and freeing his people from the shackles of religious superstition and obscurantism. It never occurred to our foreign policy thinkers and experts that the people of Iran wanted their obscurantism and old-fashioned religion. The American leadership did not see the ayatollah coming and was unprepared for the defeat of the shah. Educated as they were in the great secular universities, our foreign policy gurus did not have a clue about the importance of religion in Middle Eastern countries.

The same gurus or their successors have made the same mistake again. They expected the Iraqis to welcome our appearance on the horizon, like the 7th Cavalry riding to the rescue in the old Western movies. … Andrew Greeley

Father Andrew Greeley is Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago, and a visiting professor at the University of Arizona.

Saving Radio in the Satellite Era

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…does anyone believe that consolidation has been good for radio? During the past five years, I’ve traveled the country asking people to describe what has happened to their local stations, and not one has told me that radio is better than it was a decade ago. Listeners complained that their favorite local D.J.’s, talk show hosts and reporters have disappeared, replaced by syndicated shows, automated programs, predictable song cycles and endless commercials.

Before the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which allowed a company to own up to eight radio stations in a single market and an unlimited number nationwide, one could hear the sounds of Chicago, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Seattle through their local radio stations. Today, big-brand stations dominate the dial coast to coast. Radio no longer makes our hometowns feel like home. … Saving Radio in the Satellite Era – New York Times

Not only that…consolidation means that our news and commentary are controlled by the same media giants that control the print media — and who, in turn, are controlled by big business.  Remember how they pimped our current war?

Jailers Testify About Padilla’s Confinement

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MIAMI, Feb. 27 — As Jose Padilla dropped his head and grew still, a senior official from the naval brig in Charleston, S.C., testified on Tuesday in federal court here that he had twice observed Mr. Padilla weeping in the electronically monitored cell where the military detained him for three years and eight months.

The brig’s technical director, Sanford E. Seymour, also said that Mr. Padilla, an American citizen who was designated an enemy combatant in 2002, sometimes slept on a steel bunk without a mattress, that the windows in his 80-square-foot cell were blackened and that brig employees covered up their nametags around him. … http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/us/28padilla.html?th&emc=th

Colleges and Universities – Institutional Review Boards – Ethics – New York Times

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Among the incidents cited in recent report by the American Association of University Professors are a review board asking a linguist studying a preliterate tribe to “have the subjects read and sign a consent form,” and a board forbidding a white student studying ethnicity to interview African-American Ph.D. students “because it might be traumatic for them.” “It drives historians crazy,” said Joshua Freeman, the director of the City University’s graduate history program. “It’s a medical model, it’s inappropriate and ignorant.”

One student currently waiting for a board to approve his study of a strike in the 1970s, Mr. Freeman said, had to submit a list of questions he was going to ask workers and union officials, file signed consent forms, describe the locked location where he would keep all his notes, take a test to certify he understood the standards.

Source: Colleges and Universities – Institutional Review Boards – Ethics – New York Times

Low Pay and Broken Promises Greet Guest Workers – New York Times

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To a rice farmer from Thailand making $500 a year, the recruiter’s pitch was hard to resist — three years of farm work in North Carolina that would pay more than 30 times as much as he earned at home.

But after he arrived in North Carolina with 30 other Thai workers, he found there was only about a month’s work. He was then taken to New Orleans to remove debris from a hotel damaged by Hurricane Katrina — work he says he was never paid for. This month, he and other Thai workers filed a federal lawsuit asserting that they were victims of illegal trafficking. … Low Pay and Broken Promises Greet Guest Workers – New York Times