Why We Oppose the War in Afghanistan   

The full explanation of our opposition to the war in Afghanistan can be found in the Nov/Dec 2009 issue of Tikkun magazine, which will be on news stands and in better book stores everywhere on Nov. 1, 2009. Or, you can get it delivered to  your home by the US Postal Service  by joining the Network of Spiritual Progressive (because when you join  you get a free subscription to Tikkun as part of your membership).

Information on the peaceful, non-violent demonstration in San Francisco  calling on President Obama (when he visits San Francisco sometime between Oct. 13-15) to JUST SAY NO to the War in Afghanistan will be available at this site by Monday, Oct. 13. 

 

read more  

Ecclesiastes   

A unique encounter between faith and reason, and an exploration of the search for meaning in life.
read more  

A letter from Michael Moore   

Michael Moore's new movie on capitalism has just opened and is a "must see." Here is a note he has written to people in the religious world (primarily to Christians, but it really speaks to all spiritual progressives).
read more  

Peter Laarman argues against the fixation on finding "common ground" with the religious right   

Common ground with reactionaries and racists may not be such a good idea.
read more  

Afghanistan: The New Person's Burden (a poem ala Rudyard Kipling)   

       Apropos of the Afghanistan escalation plans, I re-read Rudyard Kipling's 1899 poem "The White Man's Burden." Much of it still rings eerily true, evoking what's being pressed on Obama today.  So I prepared this humble update, offered herewith.
 
        Beneath it are some stanzas of Kipling, which show his prescience, even 120 years, and several versions of political correctness later.
 
        If it speaks to you, pass it on.
 
Chuck Fager
read more  

How to Pay off the National Debt--Quickly   

Nikki Alexander has some fun with thinking rationally
read more  

Israel in Denial About the Murderous Nature of its Gaza War in Response to UN Report Citing its Human Rights Violations   

Israel is at once trying to deny the truth of the UN report on its killing of hundreds of civilians in the Gaza war earlier this year and simultaneously trying to spin it as "this is what haas to be done to fight terrorism." Amira Hass probes the immorality of Israelis who refuse to confront the truth. Ari Shavit has an interesting response: the UN is being immoral when it holds Israel to a different standard than it holds other countries, e.g. the U.S. in Afghanistan. Tikkun's response: this is not an argument that should be used to let Israel off the hook, but instead should be used to demand a UN investigation of US human rights violations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, all of which have been justified using the same lame "prevention of terrorism" excuse that Netanyahu is using.
read more  

Slavoj Zizek: Quiet slicing of the West Bank makes abstract prayers for peace obscene   

Condemnation of 'illegal' settlements and violence only blurs the reality of what the Israeli state is sanctioning, day by day
read more  

Will the Collapse of Civilization Bring Us A Saner World?   

Two British thinkers debate each other on the likely consequences of the collapse of civilization.
read more