tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33746052008-04-02T21:09:08.283-06:00Human need, not corporate greed ... without justice, there can be no peace. That's the meme stringing these items together.benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comBlogger334125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-73622354929683096932008-04-02T21:09:00.000-06:002008-04-02T21:09:08.344-06:00

This is a test of Writely and so that's how it goes.

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-58300140977680569982007-12-11T00:17:00.000-07:002007-12-11T00:18:56.611-07:00

*reprise* hfx_ben: If folk act as stunned as I say they do .... This post to LiveJournal, citing "'Thirst for knowledge' may be opium craving", reads in part:Maybe I get upset. Maybe too upset, and maybe too often. And maybe angry, and then depressed. But at least I'm thinking. So what? *D'uh!* is the appropriate answer to that pseuco-clever trash. [...] But hey, go ahead ... coast ... the

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-48440247110367510742007-10-20T13:34:00.000-06:002007-10-20T13:39:36.265-06:00

It comes down to this: not only what we do, but how we do it. Ultimately, "why" becomes the point. (Which is another way of saying that in the end our actual motive manifests ... it comes to be ... it creates karma.) The number of "errancy modes" is beyond estimation. Either our motive is some variation of "for the good of all sentient beings" or it's in error. Necessarily. Inexorably. Like

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-88544570968900334062007-03-10T21:36:00.000-07:002007-03-10T21:36:14.231-07:00

hfx_ben: Actual mysticism - 1 of a continuing series I finally had my say: Okay fine, I'll say it: the 1 thing I've been witholding from everyone, everywhere, everybody, all this time, is just that I've been training to be a shaman since I had my vision at age 5.That's why the unconventional life-style and personal history ... from having a scholarship to Banff School of Fine Arts to dropping

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-32361545365138455932007-02-21T09:41:00.000-07:002007-02-21T09:41:57.058-07:00

In the February 21 episode of CBC Radio's "The Current" there was an item about harassment of opinions that were anything other than hard-line, the persecution of whatever might be painted as "liberal". One spokesperson who in effect defended thugism by minimizing it and rationalizing it had a lot to say about "respect" and the need for "speaking softly". It's the classic bully-boy tactic. "If

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-13140600395242568032007-02-11T11:46:00.000-07:002006-10-19T10:19:43.860-06:00

Millennium Development Goals Symposium - Transcript - Panel Discussion on Eliminating Poverty - Welcome by Lisa Anderson; Webcasts and Transcripts; The U.N. Millennium Project: Practical Action Plan to Combat Poverty at Columbia's "Earth Institute"; Columbia's "Center for Environmental Research and Conservation" (CERC) UN Millenium Project - Project Publications Briefing and Discussion with

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-1158081354675352082006-09-12T11:15:00.000-06:002006-09-12T11:15:54.793-06:00

Google Groups: alt.gathering.rainbow "another MySpace.com trend: the social networking site now lets users make "friends" with fictional characters supplied by marketing companies pushing movies and new TV shows and who pay for a chance to form relationships with the nearly 45.7 million unique visitors MySpace logged last month. -- "The real counterculture: Music can make a difference" A friend

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-1157904520875808472006-09-10T10:08:00.000-06:002006-09-10T14:23:07.596-06:00

Science as Wisdom: The New Story as a Way Forward: from EarthLight Library This article came to mind when I was telling a friend how I saw tantra operating through vajrayana practice:"The point in vajrayana is to drop the ?what? puritanism and get to what moderns might call "the dark side". What motivates us is what motivates us; what we actually think and dream is what we actually think and

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-1157659759578859962006-09-07T14:09:00.000-06:002006-09-07T14:09:19.693-06:00

YES! Magazine - supporting you in creating a more just, sustainable, and compassionate world David Korten; "The Great Turning; From Empire to Earth Community" - greatturning.org; the ''GreatTurning blog at Yes! Tom Atlee's research on Interdependence Days & Declarations David Suzuki Foundation - davidsuzuki.org The Earth Charter - earthcharter.org YES! Issue #38, 5000 Years of Empire...Ready

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-1155450448242218642006-08-13T00:27:00.000-06:002006-08-13T17:43:21.516-06:00

Why the World is ready for the Semantic Web - O'Reilly XML Blog: "we’re still a couple of years away from fully embracing and adopting Semantic Web"Those who serve psychopaths will argue that technology is neutral. My instincts and my predispositions move me to align with Heidegger on the question. That this doesn't serve people as an answer sorta proves my point.Contrary to market mechanisms,

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-1155257725695083942006-08-10T18:55:00.000-06:002006-08-10T19:07:30.223-06:00

I posted my first rant comment on HuffingtonPost in response to Harry Shearer's "The Rhetorical vs. the Empirical":"It is the simplicity of the plot that yada-yada bla-bla-blah" ... CNN is having a field day!K, sorry, but it's not a happy day.In short: post-tantra I inevitably revert to what I extracted from Sun Tsu, "Let each and every strive in their own way to be a sage general."Minutes after

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-1155147234428259672006-08-09T12:13:00.000-06:002006-08-09T12:58:02.340-06:00

Flashing back to the fairly recent past I visited the ill-starred Indymedia site that so blighted my activity in Nova Scotia. (It was started by a small tight clique, quite contrary to Indymedia process; ours had all the problems of a pluralistic collective. With a bit of preferential help by a couple of friends in the elite group at the heart of the network that clique was up and running while

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-1154663038676014462006-08-03T21:43:00.000-06:002006-08-03T22:04:55.980-06:00

NB: as I post this CNN's headlines presents a severely skewed version of Hezbollah's latest statement ... spreading the lie, stiffling the gesture.Originally hfx_ben at LiveJournalConfirmed: Blitzer blew off a significant Hezbollah gesture. (Hey, Wolf, where were you during the Cuban Missile Crisis?!)Not only did Nazrallah /not/ say "If Israel continues to hit Beirut we'll hit Tel Aviv", not only

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-1154662496260458832006-08-03T21:34:00.000-06:002006-08-03T22:10:20.290-06:00

*as usual, blogger.com trashes the title to this item because I posted another more recently. "Amercian inventiveness", yaaaa right* And here's Rice with her god-damned "status quo ante" ... how often will she manage to say it tonight? 6 times? 8? more? Pathetically twisted puppy. ''The truly evil ones only show themselves from time to time ...'' ... and even then only for a moment.Originally

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-1153241317052096242006-07-18T10:48:00.000-06:002006-07-18T10:58:02.330-06:00

X-posted to Togo's LiveJournalIn a previous post I had written:"Guess what: once you're addicted to dishonesty you're just another junkie ... just another whore.That's the best you think you deserve? Sure ... it's like that ... the fuckers have messed with your brains.My experiences didn't make me a loser. I may not have succeeded in my work but I'm still hard at it.What are you doing?Are you

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-1153068473343713712006-07-16T10:47:00.000-06:002006-07-16T10:59:57.273-06:00

Listening to David Cayley on CBC radio brought something of my own past to mind. A moment on the web brought me to The Centre for Restorative Justice at Simon Fraser University, where I so much wanted to do media studies in 1978. (I was trying to find a way of staying in Vancouver to study shakuhachi.) Caley spoke about Illich's view of development work and how it was paradoxically

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-1153060081077222882006-07-16T08:28:00.000-06:002006-07-16T10:02:40.656-06:00

*a fine aggregation from TruthLaidBear: "Crisis in the Middle East: Local Bloggers Report"*X-posted Togo's LJ - hfx_ben: ''Who wishes for peace?''Too busy, too busy, far far too busy. Must buy, must consume, must maintain persona, must flirt, must schmooze ... like junkies scuttling around in search of a fix the "nice people" and "good citizens" of the wealthy nations lead their bug-like

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-1152726459990090002006-07-12T11:39:00.000-06:002006-07-13T03:53:19.776-06:00

*update at bottom*Israel has rolled into Lebanon. Six years after it "unilaterally" withdrew its forces, Israel has launched raids into southern Lebanon.see "Israel has rolled into Lebanon. Here we go again?" - HfxBen"How many realize that Hezbollah owes its existence to Israel's unilateral withdrawal from the area six years ago? Now they kidnap Israeli soldiers with a cross-border attack?! It

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-1151345351274113832006-06-26T12:08:00.000-06:002006-06-26T12:09:11.286-06:00

In his "Say what?" Jon Udell responds to a comment about his writing style. (He self-deprecatingly called it a "dope slap" ... Jon's the sorta fellow who knows the benefits arise from proper user of a clue stick or clue by 4.) BTW "Say what?" is an allusion to Ami Hendrickson's blog, ''Muse Ink''. Later in the piece Jon describes a system users Eureka moment ... "we bought the wrong kind of

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-1151183878555385472006-06-24T15:17:00.000-06:002006-06-24T15:18:01.816-06:00

hfx_ben: If folk act as stunned as I say they do .... This post to LiveJournal, citing "'Thirst for knowledge' may be opium craving", reads in part:Maybe I get upset. Maybe too upset, and maybe too often. And maybe angry, and then depressed. But at least I'm thinking. So what? *D'uh!* is the appropriate answer to that pseuco-clever trash. [...] But hey, go ahead ... coast ... the planet will die

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-1150775462915774112006-06-19T21:51:00.000-06:002007-09-16T17:13:30.606-06:00

In the first post to the blog for the new "Democratic Strategist", Scott Winship (the Managing Editor) included this invitation: "you (dear reader) can help make this a better blog by passing along links to articles or studies that I can deconstruct. I know that sounds like I'm pushing my work off on you, but hey"My reply was this: Passing along links and articles you can deconstruct? Ok! FWIW

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-1072886824973481732003-12-31T09:07:00.000-07:002004-04-11T12:39:15.950-06:00

A rough draft of my core idea (see also material on "dispositional" and "punitive"): Solipsistic, individuals seek out the company of those who a) they can dominate, or b) who do not threaten the integrity of their own denials (ideally, who actually corroborate them, conspiratorially, which provides entertainment, validation, and other forms of social utility). Those who maintain their

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-1063301050927948112003-09-11T11:24:00.000-06:002003-09-11T11:24:10.913-06:00

Two years ago, in NYC, hundreds of "just folk" died while going about their daily lives. Thirty years ago, in Chile, a nation's democratically elected government was overthrown in a coup that shocked even the aristocrats and oligarchs who had pressed for it. 3000 of those who were executed or killed by torture had their bodies hidden away so that their families could not reclaim them and grieve.

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-1061944611102908132003-08-26T18:36:00.000-06:002003-08-26T18:36:51.033-06:00

Why is 30 years more potent than 25? A couple of weeks ago I had a profound insight into my PTSD, but didn't get it quite right: it turns out that I taint moments of success /not/ because I have come to believe myself unworthy, but rather (and, friends, incredible as it might seem, this next detail explains away my writer's block!), because that "success" was actually negative ... retrograde ...

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3374605.post-1059353836701897562003-07-27T18:57:00.000-06:002003-07-27T19:01:47.516-06:00

War Nerd - Iraq: the “Duh!” Theory from eXile #170: "Q: Why don’t they love us? A: Cause we invaded them, DUH!"

benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04097630017893920397noreply@blogger.com