Boy Scouts Looting the Forest for a Foul Play Badge?

This is not to be believed - Boy Scout leaders selling redwoods from land they control - shameful!

clipped from www.commondreams.org Stumps of 300-year-old redwood trees that were logged three years ago rest in front of a Boy Scouts sleeping structure during the off-season on the grounds of Camp Masonite-Navarro. (Mike Kepka / The Chronicle)

Is a Future withou War Possible - Si, se puede!

“…we need to end it at the point of where it is created each day anew: in our daily living conditions, in the constant stress of mindless and monotonous work, in the methods of profit maximizing and distribution, in offices and factories, in schools and families, in the tragedies of love, in our ideas about being either man or woman, in sexuality and love and in the cages of our professional, social and sensual life which are all far too small.
Do we want that the youth of the world no longer goes to war?
If so, we need a higher aim in life, a life worth living and better opportunities to put the power of the youth into meaningful action.
Do we wish to end the worldwide sexual violence?
If so, we have to create living conditions under which sexual joy is experienced without violence, without humiliation and without unnecessary restrictions.
Do we want to free the world from despotism, betrayal and lies?
If so, then let us build up concrete conditions under which despotism, betray

clipped from futurewithoutwar.wordpress.com Objective of this project – developed over the last 30 years – together with its worldwide cooperation partners is to free the earth from violence and war. This is not a ‘great dream’ but a real historical possibility. The key aspects of our work: healing the collective trauma, building applicable prototype models, establishing an efficient global network, and helping in crisis areas. Previous operations include Bosnia, Middle East, Colombia, India.

Un-common Good Sense About the Death Penalty in Colorado

clipped from www.denverpost.com Bill targets Colorado's death penalty A bill to be introduced next week would let Colorado use the savings on investigating more than 1,300 cold cases. By Jessica Fender The Denver Post

Women 2 Women Peace in Our Time!

Go here and read the views of real women on the front lines of peace!

clipped from www.peacexpeace.org January 29, 2009 11:01am  Every day, you think about the women across the globe who are "living on the edge." You care deeply but feel so overwhelmed that you shut down and push the feeling away. You want to reach out, but how? Share your own breaking news and peaceful actions, your story and pictures here. Or, step deeper inside our site where women from the Amazon to Europe, the Middle East and Africa are waiting to connect with you.

The Old Ways of Development Don't Work - Here's a Way that Does Work

Good read about an on-the-ground way for meaningful and appropriate technology to spur development and provide much needed water for drinking and for agriculture.

clipped from us.oneworld.net Martin Fisher. © Lemelson-MIT ProgramThe water pumps and other products bought from Fisher's company KickStart generate over $80 million of extra income each year for farmers in some of the poorest countries of the world. More than 350,000 people have moved out of poverty thanks to the products they've bought from KickStart.

Playing for Change - Peace Now

Video is at mypeace.tv - a social space that I belong to. Everyone needs a little peaceful and uplifting music today - grin.

clipped from mypeace.tv

A Merciful Peace for Gaza and Israel?

Let's take the opportunity to change the road to peace and pave it with mercy.

clipped from www.theamericanmuslim.org Beyond Gaza:  An Abrahamic Peace By Rabbi Arthur Waskow Beyond anguish, what can we say about the massive death and destruction in Gaza and the traumatic fear of falling rockets in Israel?  How do we shape not just the temporary palliative of “cease-fire” but a true alternative? Not just in pretty theory, but in political practicality?

Antibiotics given to Animals Ends Up in Fresh and Canned Vegitables

Bummer! There's just no getting away from facts that industrialized animal farming has bad effects on people, and the planet. When there were thousands of small farmers, instead of hundreds of mega-industrialized farms animals did not get so stressed and disease prone. Forget if you are a vegan, it still gets to you. Let's hear it for going back to small farms!

clipped from www.environmentalhealthnews.org

For half a century, meat producers have fed antibiotics to farm animals to increase their growth and stave off infections. Now scientists have discovered that those drugs are sprouting up in unexpected places. Vegetables such as corn, potatoes and lettuce absorb antibiotics when grown in soil fertilized with livestock manure, according to tests conducted at the University of Minnesota. Today, close to 70 percent of the total antibiotics and related drugs produced in the United States are fed to cattle, pigs and poultry, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. Although this practice sustains a growing demand for meat, it also generates public health fears associated with the expanding presence of antibiotics in the food chain.

Tet and Bird Flu risk - Word is Finally Out

Dr. Olive of the World Health Organization, has let the bird out of the bag. Tet brings millions of birds and people in close contact and that means there is an increased chance for bird flu and mutation of traditional flues into more dangerous versions. The unintended consequence of breeding millions of birds for live market during a short period of time is that all sorts of flu variants can mutate under such conditions - even a pandemic version.

clipped from army.qdnd.vn Avian Influenza With the surge in the sale and slaughter of poultry for family feasts at Tet, there is a corresponding escalation in the risk of avian influenza. This is exacerbated is by low winter temperatures in the north of the country, as this weather seems to be conducive to the spread of the virus. Dr. Olivé also introduced some key actions such as: avoiding contact with sick or dead poultry, reporting sick or dead poultry immediately to the authorities, slaughtering all poultry safely (wear masks and gloves and use disinfectant), cooking poultry thoroughly (do not eat pink meat, runny eggs or raw duck blood) to protect the community from this very serious threat.

French "Invent" Novel Protest of Capitalism and Materialism

It's in-house shop lifting and inviting shoppers to a free lunch - grin - which we all know capitalism does not offer - "there's no free lunch." But the current bailouts of banks and companies across the world seem like "free lunch" for those who say no free lunch to the rest of us.

clipped from www.commondreams.org Workers enjoy a picnic among shoppers using food taken from the aisles a giant super market in Bagnolet, near Paris, during a protest action October 25, 2008. Several dozen people from a French group, "L'Appel et la Pioche" (a play on words - Shovel and Pick) entered a supermarket, selected food items without paying, and ate a picnic amongst shoppers to protest global capitalism, rampant consumerism, bank bail-outs, poor housing, expensive food, profit margins and pretty much everything else that is wrong in the world. (Reuters Photo)

Calls for Positive Intervention in Zimbabwe

Calls are growing for the international community to do more about Zimbabwe, and now global human rights leaders including Desmond Tutu are engaging in a "relay fast" and other nonviolent acts to pressure neighboring countries -- particularly South Africa -- to support the Zimbabwean people's struggle for democracy and human rights.

clipped from www.commondreams.org Villagers collect food aid in Chirumanzu district, 250 kilometres from the Zimbabwean capital Harare. Southern African leaders opened fresh talks to end Zimbabwe's political crisis amid a new threat by President Robert Mugabe to form a government excluding his arch rival from power.(AFP/File/Desmond Kwande)

Militarization of the Mexico/USA Border Is Not the Answer

USA and Mexico should be working together over treatment in US of those who want to leave Mexico and work to improve Mexican economy so migration is not due to despair over not being able to feed and care for families.

clipped from www.icatholic.org

Bishops urge President-elect Obama, Mexican President Calderon to protect rights of migrants, address root causes of migration

WASHINGTON — Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City, Utah, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, urged President-elect Barak Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon to work together to end abuses against migrants - both in the United States and Mexico - and to address “push” factors that compel migrants to undertake dangerous journeys to the United States. President-elect Obama and President Calderon were scheduled to meet in Washington on Monday, Jan. 12.