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Jews Protect Palestinians in Harvest of Hate

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:15:19 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: It is always good to find examples of Godliness and humanity beneath the global hurricane of violent hatred, vicious condemnation, shrill hysteria and poisonous anger.

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

In the shade of the trees where they have been picking olives all morning, in this wadi, south-east of Nablus, a Palestinian farmer, Jamal Otman Koarik, and two of his daughters share a lunch of home-baked bread, zatar, oil, courgettes and salad with three visitors. It's a bucolic scene that could have happened any time in the past century. But what makes it notable in 2008 is that the guests who have been helping Mr Koarik pick the olives are Israeli Jews: a rabbi, an anthropologist and a youth worker, Hellela Siew.

Asked why he and his volunteers make this often risky mission each year, the US-born rabbi says "if we really believe" the Biblical text that all human beings are made in God's image, "we have got to put our money where our mouth is and be here in an active way to defend human rights". And he also cites the "dialogue of the olive groves" in which Israelis and Palestinians who "have to live and die here together" have "no choice but to communicate"

Tags: palestine-israel

One in Four Children Believes it is Against the Law for Women, to be President

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:13:58 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks:

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

One in Four Children Believes it is Against the Law for Women, African Americans, or Latinos to be President of the United States

A new study in the journal Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy explored elementary-school-age children’s views about the role of race and gender in the U.S. presidency. Results indicated that most children are aware that women and people of color have been excluded from the presidency. Surprisingly, one in four children in the study stated that it was currently against the law for women, African Americans, or Latinos to be President. Many children also blamed those who have been excluded, arguing that they lack the necessary attributes to hold the position, including the fact women aren’t as smart as men.

Tags: usa, president, elections

Stop sending mail you later regret

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:50:11 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks:

Clip Source: gmailblog.blogspot.com

Sometimes I send messages I shouldn't send. Like the time I told that girl I had a crush on her over text message. Or the time I sent that late night email to my ex-girlfriend that we should get back together. Gmail can't always prevent you from sending messages you might later regret, but today we're launching a new Labs feature I wrote called Mail Goggles which may help.

When you enable Mail Goggles, it will check that you're really sure you want to send that late night Friday email. And what better way to check than by making you solve a few simple math problems after you click send to verify you're in the right state of mind?

By default, Mail Goggles is only active late night on the weekend as that is the time you're most likely to need it. Once enabled, you can adjust when it's active in the General settings.

Tags: email, gmail, regrets

Obama Will Be One of the Greatest (and Most Loved) American Presidents

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:24:09 GMT

clipped by: dulios
clipper's remarks:

Frank Schaeffer is the author of CRAZY FOR GOD-How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back.

Beautiful essay. I just sent it to my parents to shore them up in their hard decision to abandon the Republican party for Obama.

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Obama Will Be One of The Greatest (and Most Loved) American Presidents

Great presidents are made great by horrible circumstances combined with character, temperament and intelligence.

Obama is one of the most intelligent presidential aspirants to ever step forward in American history. The likes of his intellectual capabilities have not been surpassed in public life since the Founding Fathers put pen to paper. His personal character is also solid gold. Take heart, America: we have the leader for our times.

I say this as a white, former life-long Republican. I say this as the proud father of a Marine. I say this as just another American watching his pension evaporate along with the stock market! I speak as someone who knows it's time to forget party loyalty, ideology and pride and put the country first. I say this as someone happy to be called a fool for going out on a limb and declaring that, 1) Obama will win, and 2) he is going to be amongst the greatest of American presidents.

Tags: hope

A "Christian" Cure for Homosexuality

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:20:00 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Bastards.

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

"How many of you are in need of some hope here tonight?” A murmur passes through the dark auditorium, pleasing the man with the microphone. Heads nod. “How many of you are at the end of your rope?” he continues. “How many are ready for an encounter with the Lord?” The man on stage, dressed in chinos and a crisp white shirt, is Alan Chambers. The clean-cut, married father of two is the leader of Exodus International, an organisation that believes it can help people to “find freedom from homosexuality through the love of Jesus Christ”.

“Am I in denial?” he asks. “Absolutely. I live a life of denial and I love it. I didn't choose my same-sex feelings but I do choose how I'm going to steward them. Freedom is possible.” At Exodus people are not gay; they “struggle with same-sex attraction” (SSA).

“The opposite of homosexuality is not heterosexuality,” says Chambers, sagely. “It's holiness.”

Tags: heathens

World Timelines

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:06:44 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.worldtimelines.org.uk

Have you ever looked at an exhibit in a museum and wondered what was happening in other countries at that time?

Worldtimelines.org.uk places 2,000 artefacts from museums around the British Isles in their geographical and chronological context. The

Timeline Viewer (requires Flash)

lets you navigate using interactive maps and timelines. Select one of the regions on the right to get started.

Use the links above to open
each region in the Timeline Viewer

Follow a timeline to see what was happening in a region through history. Compare with another timeline to see what was happening in another part of the world. Cross the world using interactive maps. Link out to over 2,000 articles with information about the artefacts and the people who made and used them

Index Browse the world
Africa	Americas	Asia
British Isles	Europe	Oceania

Country First? Really?

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:41:58 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "Will the disgraceful and desperate attacks hurt Obama? Maybe, maybe not. But one thing is clear: they will hurt our country."

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Nothing has proven the utter hollowness of John McCain's "Country First" slogan than Sarah Palin's vile behavior the past few days.

We all know by now that her low-blow, guilt-by-association stump speeches, in part claiming that Obama is "palling around with terrorists" -- called "unsubstantiated," and "racially-tinged" by the Associated Press and "appalling" and "the dark territory of race-baiting and xenophobia" by the New York Times -- are part of a negative attack strategy announced publically by senior Republican operatives on Saturday.

Will the disgraceful and desperate attacks hurt Obama? Maybe, maybe not. But one thing is clear: they will hurt our country.

Barack Obama will most likely be the next President

How is President Obama supposed to lead our country through two wars and the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression when candidates have spent a month trying

through ugly innuendo

to convince

the population that he's an evil, black Muslim terrorist who hates America?

Tags: country first, mccain, obama, palin

GeoEye-1, Google's Satellite Sends First Image

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:43:41 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: In an interview for Wired magazine, GeoEye's vice president of communications and marketing, Mark Brender, explained, “This is the opposite of a spy satellite. Spies don't put info on the Internet and sell imagery. We're an Earth-imaging satellite, and we can sell our imagery to customers around the world who have a need to map and measure and monitor things on the ground. We're commercializing a technology that was once only in the hands of the governments. Just like the internet, just like GPS, just like telecom – all invented by the government. And now we are on the front end of the spear that is commercializing this technology.”

Clip Source: news.softpedia.com

The picture shows a high resolution view of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania

Clip Source: news.softpedia.com

Since its launch, on September 6^th this year, Google's top-notch satellite has constantly been fine-tuned in order to get even more accurate results. The ultra-high definition images that it is able to provide make GeoEye-1 the world's best commercial satellite.

The state-of-the-art device's first public attempt consisted of a top-down accurate view of Pennsylvania's Kutztown University

Google's next satellite, GeoEye-2, will be able to provide 25-centimeter resolution images, but Google will still be restricted to their 50-centimeter limitations. The launch of GeoEye-2 is set for sometime in 2011 or 2012.

Sexiest Electric Cars from the Paris Auto Show

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:19:44 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: earth2tech.com

This year’s Paris Auto Show is turning out to be the most electrifying one yet, with car makers from all over the world debuting their electric vehicles. The offerings range from far-flung concept cars to very real production models. Solar roofs are a popular theme and lithium-ion battery packs abound. While it will take years to get the world’s cars off petroleum, electric transportation is imminent and the showing in Paris offers a glimpse of what that will look like.

Venturi - Volage

Renault - Z.E. Concept

Chevrolet - Volt

Daimler & Smart - smart fortwo ed

Nissan - Nuvu

Pininfarina - B0 (B Zero)

China Automobile - Chika

Audi/Volkswagen - VW Up! (Maybe)

Tags: cars, green

ACLU: Bush Tried to Create 'Gitmo Inside the US'

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:25:53 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: Everyone who thinks the Bush Administration has stopped these "standard operating procedures", just because the Supreme Court told them to, raise your hand...

Pfftt!!!

Clip Source: rawstory.com

The US military was using the same procedures employed at the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison at other facilities inside the United States where US citizens and legal residents were detained, according to documents released Wednesday.

"These documents are the first clear confirmation of what we've suspected all along, that the brig was run as a prison beyond the law. There was an effort to create a Gitmo inside the United States,"

“Guantánamo was designed as a law-free zone, a place where the government could do whatever it wanted without having to worry about whether it was legal,”

“It didn’t take long for that sort of lawlessness to be brought home to our own country. Who knows how much further America would have gone if the Supreme Court hadn’t stepped in to stop incommunicado detentions in 2004?”

the e-mails suggest that Guantanamo standard operating procedures were being employed in the domestic brigs.

Jihad-as commonly understood-not truly Islam

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 05:04:53 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: This Islam expert insists it never means war in the Koran, and the word itself is infrequent compared to words for mercy and compassion. Good!

Clip Source: www.atimes.com

Making a mockery of jihad

Recent terror attacks in India and abroad have created an impression that jihad is central to Koranic teaching

jihad does not mean war in the Koran as there are other words for it like qital and harb. Jihad has been used in the Koran in its root meaning: to strive for betterment of society, to spread goodness

and contain evil

But supposing jihad means war, as some Muslims believe, even then it still isn't central to Koranic teachings. The word "jihad" occurs in the Koran 41 times though not a single verse uses it in

the sense of war.

The four most fundamental values in the Koran are justice

benevolence

compassion

and wisdom

One who fails to practice these values can hardly claim to be a true Muslim

It can be said that compassion is most central to Koranic teachings. The words "compassion" and "mercy" in their various forms occur in the Koran 335 times

To seek revenge is human weakness, not strength

jihad can be declared only by the state

Tags: islam, koran, jihad

Scientists Explore New Source of Stem Cells

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:07:30 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

Scientists explore new source of stem cells

Scientists have converted cells from human testes into stem cells that grew into muscle, nerve cells and other kinds of tissue, according to a study published Wednesday in the online edition of Nature.

The stem cells offer another potential alternative to embryonic stem cells for researchers who aim to treat diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's by replacing damaged or malfunctioning cells with custom-grown replacements.

Scientists have also derived flexible adult stem cells from skin, amniotic fluid and menstrual blood.

They are theoretically superior to traditional embryonic stem cells because they can be obtained directly from male patients and used to grow replacement tissue that their bodies won't reject

The cells also have an ethical advantage in that they do not require the destruction of human embryos.

it remains to be seen whether the germline stem cells are able to form as many kinds of functional cells as embryonic stem cells.