Israeli conscientious objectors

Israel is a divided country regarding its military actions in Gaza.  This video will give you an idea of the intensity of the dispute among Israelis. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cMs0nai4JQ&eurl=http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2009/01/whats-happening-in-gaza-is-wrong-it-needs-to-stop-now/[/youtube]

Continue ReadingIsraeli conscientious objectors

Parting Shot: A Rant

The obsession the Right has had for lo these many years with people's sexuality has received a final "gift" from the Bush Administration. This is like grade school stuff. It's classic "If we don't tell them about it, they won't want it" thinking. Many on the Right feel everyone should have the freedom to own weapons. They think, implicitly, everyone is capable of proper usage of guns and that just because a certain number of individuals clearly intend to use them to the detriment of others, that that is no excuse to keep them out of the hands of everyone else. They are supportive of education in proper use of firearms. So why the different attitude toward sex? I expect this question never to be answered in such a way as to be persuasive to those who think sex is something that ought to be left in the gutter and in the closet, who think that teenagers ought not be told about it in the vain hope that they won't use it, but I am so utterly and profoundly tired of this infantile crap.

Continue ReadingParting Shot: A Rant

Judging the violence of others

Psychologist Jonathan Haidt has written an excellent multidisciplinary work on the meaning of life, entitled The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom (2006). I am presently reading Haidt's book for the second time, paragraph by paragraph.  This is clearly one of the books I would take to a…

Continue ReadingJudging the violence of others