"Denial helps the bystander"

I found this article about the new book from Jessica Stern, terrorism expert and rape victim, totally readable. Jessica says:

Denial helps the bystander. We don't want to know what the boys we send to Iraq have done to others out of terror, or what others have done to them. We would rather not know about terror or be confronted with evil. This is as true about Abu Ghraib as it is about personal assaults and more private crimes, the crimes that occur inside families. But the victim, too, cannot bear to believe. She may bury or disassociate from or disown her pain.

So much for the U.S. Constitution

But of course we already knew that, didn't we?

Cory Doctorow writes as fiction what is actually happening--the U.S. government's right to abduct, and torture, innocent people--with impunity.

You can hereby officially cancel out Article 1, section 9, and Amendments 4, 5, 6, and 8.

Only 42 months until I can apply for Aussie citizenship =).

Leaving gracefully

is not always possible. And that's okay.

From the age of 9 until the age of 24, I was deeply involved in a very sectarian Christian church--so much so that they supported me and sent me off in 1998 for a 2 year missionary trip with a huge worldwide Christian missions organization called Operation Mobilization.

I geographically returned to that church in early 2001, having married, and having changed enormously in a lot of ways.

A couple months later, my super awesome wife and I left that church--discontinued all association with it. We did not do so super gracefully.

Here's what I have to say about that: There is no scenario better than the one that happened. I'm *stoked* that we left--one of the best decisions in my whole life. I most certainly would not and could not be doing the amazing delightful work I'm doing now if I were still involved with that church. And we left in the best way we possibly could, as the people we were at that time and place.

Imagine

From Bears Kaufman:

BE A STUDENT OF OURSELVES: The idea of studying ourselves (not politics, not medicine, not carpentry, not driver education) as a PRIMARY PATH to self-understanding and change (individually and globally). A Five Step Process: Step #1, SELF-AWARNESS. What do I think (believe), what do I feel (emotions), what do I do (behave).

Imagine the universe has a heart-beat and that heart-beat within each of us. Imagine that by really knowing and understanding ourselves, we will also get magnificent insights into the universe (at least, how we operate in the universe and how the universe mirrors us). Imagine that the path of self-understanding is also a pathway not only to our own clarity but to the most spiritual embrace of ourselves. Imagine, just imagine, we came into life fully equipped – consciousness, thoughts (beliefs), choice and humanity. Therefore, we don’t have to go anywhere to jump into the heart of the universe – because we are that heart. Let’s get to know who we are and how we operate. It begins by sincere and serious study of our OWN thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Step # 1. Yeah!!!

Stupidest. Headline. Ever.

US Lowers Expectations for Quick Success in Taliban Stronghold.

'nuff said.

More "Make Believe Defines Reality"!

Wendy Wright, president of the Concerned Women for America, totally cracks me up in this article about a study which showed that the children of lesbian couples are better adjusted than children in the general populace. Wendy said

"You have to be a little suspicious of any study that says children being raised by same-sex couples do better or have superior outcomes to children raised with a mother and father. It just defies common sense and reality."

Brooke on the The Gaza Flotilla

In this post, Brooke writes so beautifully, perfectly, clearly, passionately, self-awarely. Thank you Brooke! In part, she writes:

how rather than learning how not to oppress, those who have been oppressed learn how to oppress. it’s a powerful comment and drawing from my experience in the LGBTA community i can see it. i can see the oppression in my own behavior and language. when we are powerless, we want power, and we express that power in the ways we learned. thus it makes sense, to me at least, that israel would act the way it does, and for its spin machine to spin as fast as possible so that it can legitimize its actions. the state of israel, and my own state, needs to be right.