Internet muse.
Daring, bold, never sold.
My daily weblog of politics, humor, philosophy...and a constant and nagging reminder of the existence of universal love....
India and Pakistan on Thursday launched a historic bus link to reunite divided families on both sides of Kashmir. Greeted by cheers, tears and dancing, bus passengers defied militants and crossed the militarised line dividing Kashmir for the first time in nearly 60 years. Kashmiris wept joyfully and clutched their loved ones after being reunited by the historic bus service. “It’s a blessing. I never thought this day would come,” said passenger Raja Naseer Khan, 60, a retired civil servant from Srinagar, as he met his niece Noreen Arif for the first time.
Excerpt:
"Neo-pan-Arab West-blaming, which focuses on the symbols of neo-imperialism in Iraq and Palestine, deflects attention from the gross failures of domestic politics in the separate nations of the Arab world, and usefully serve the purposes of the ruling elites in Egypt, Syria, Saudi and elsewhere. Neo-pan-Arabism plays to the worst majority-rule instincts within the Middle East. It disallows distinctions between cultures, but also between political experience and history.
The US-UK alliance’s war in Iraq is to blame for only adding more fuel to this old ideological fire. As many liberal Arab commentators predicted, it has narrowed the margins of political discourse in the Arab world even further (opposition calls for reform – as we saw in Beirut – are immediately attacked for ‘betraying the country to the US’) and has tarnished the principle of democracy. But regardless, it is time to say that pan-Arabism of this nature does not serve anyone’s interests.
The Bush Administration’s democratization programme can, as we have seen in Georgia, Ukraine, Beirut (and perhaps even Kyrgyzstan), provide the impetus for real change if properly made use of. Reformers in the Middle East, be they of secular, Islamist, liberal or socialist ilk, cannot afford to fall into the trap set by their own authorities which casts reform as American and therefore suspect to the point of treachery. Let us hope that broad Arab support for the Lebanese ‘revolution’ (whatever its character) heralds a new era – when the Arab world realizes that to stand up to the West, it must use it."
--John Bolton (Mr. Milk Moustache) is definitely one of The Worst of the Bad Nominees."It is a privilege to appear today to present my thoughts on Iraq and our armed forces, to offer a brief retrospective on the mission there, to sketch out a successful way ahead, and to discuss the implications for the U.S. armed forces..."Related Story at Aljazeerah.com: Clark Says Bush's policy towards Syria and Iran encourage the two states to work against the U.S. interests in Iraq
"Protection of life and liberty must once again become the issue that drives political thought in this country. If this goal is replaced by an effort to promote world government, use force to plan the economy, regulate the people, and police the world, against the voluntary desires of the people, it can be done only with the establishment of a totalitarian state. There’s no need for that. It’s up to Congress and the American people to decide our fate, and there is still time to correct our mistakes."
Excerpt:
"If the changes sought by the administration take effect, they will result in one of the biggest cuts since Washington first began subsidizing housing: as much as $480 million, or 14 percent, of the $3.4 billion federal budget for day-to-day operations, including labor, maintenance, insurance and utilities, at the nation's 3,100 housing authorities. Housing authorities in New York State would be among the hardest hit, under a new formula that works against older urban areas."
Throughout American history, from the abolitionists and suffragists of the nineteenth century to the feminists and civil rights activists of the twentieth, mainstream-progressive religion has served as a bedrock of humane and democratic values. Renewed public visibility of faithful religions is essential to maintain America’s rich democratic traditions and to insure vigorous debate within the American public sphere.
Faith Voices amplifies the efforts of its progressive religious and progressive activist member organizations by delivering process efficiencies via community interconnectivity. Our goal is to contribute to the renewal of American democratic life.
Faith Voices and its partners share these values:
1. Appreciation for diversity.
2. The inviolable dignity of every human being.
3. Peaceful, multilateral resolution of conflict.
4. Responsible stewardship of the earth’s resources.
5. Justice for all, including the underprivileged and disenfranchised.
6. Hospitality toward immigrants and other strangers.
7. Care for the most vulnerable among us.
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"We invite clergy and lay people from throughout the country to join us. We seek a new commitment to active participation in the political processes of our nation by those members of religious communities who hold views larger than sectarian interests or narrow ideologies and who serve, beyond private advantage and any claim of spiritual superiority, the moral vision of the common good."
A MORAL MISSION
We will return America to its true moral mission and restore its historic commitment to the common good. We must do more for those among us who suffer from poverty, hunger, inadequate health care, and educational disparity. The progressive movement is now at a turning point. Dozens of progressive religious leaders and organizations are rising as one to speak out against war and greed, and to build what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called the Beloved Community. The Beloved Community promotes non-violence, social justice, fair and equal treatment under the law, care for the environment, and freedom.
"It is necessary for us to realize that we have moved from the era of civil rights to the era of human rights. When you deal with human rights you are not dealing with something clearly defined in the Constitution. They are rights that are clearly defined by the mandates of a humanitarian concern."
- Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated April 4, 1968
