You visit the earth and water it, making it abundantly fertile; your river is full of water; you provide the people with grain, for so you have prepared it. You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its young sprouts. You adorn the year with your bounty; your paths drip with fruitful rain. The pastures of the wilderness overflow; the hills are robed with joy, the meadows clothed with flocks, the valleys decked with grain; they shout and sing together for joy.

AKA Psalm 65

P.S.—One place on the web I found this Psalm is on a really useful Mennonite site discussing environmental/health issues inside our homes and suggesting actions we can take to reduce the negative effects of indoor pollution on our health and wellbeing.

P.P.S.—I've never looked at them before, but the Mennonites seem to be interesting folks, who, from what I can tell, have a fair range of Christian theological perspectives, united by a committment to peace and social justice. I thought they were the ones that made women wear funny hats, but it seems that there are different branches of Mennonites, so maybe only some of them have the hat thing, I don't know... But the Mennonite Church USA, which seems to be the most prominent group, has a page of Mennonite responses to Gibson's Passion film and they are diverse and thoughtful...

My comments: Amen, George. As I've always said, it's all about priorities, and ours are very much in the wrong places.

Principles from Israel's Constitution:

"...to foster the development of the country for the benefit of all the inhabitants, based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel: to ensure complete quality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants, irrespective of religion, race, and sex: to guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; to guard the holy places of all religions: and to be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the UN."

Wow. Sure would be nice if Israel's government paid attention to Israel's founding document. (Of course the same is true for the government of Israel's chief ally.)

I found a neat Israeli organization, Rabbis for Human Rights. Here is an excerpt from their Principles of Faith, affirming the dignity of human life:

"...and with our concern for human dignity and the preservation of life, be they Jews or Arabs, we are deeply disturbed by and seek to remove excesses and abuses such as:

• Expropriation of land.
• Uprooting of trees.
• Demolition of homes.
• Torture through the use of "moderate physical or psychological pressure."
• Coercion and torture to extract confession or to incriminate others.
• Bullying and humiliating, which is demoralizing both to perpetrator and victim: and we wish to save our children from the temptation to these vices.
• The exercise of double standards by, or the granting of relative immunity to those who wield political or military power and authority, in the pursuit of criminal proceedings in general, through delay, evasion, and protection.
• Shooting to kill when life is not in immediate danger.
• Collective punishment of "children for the sins of their parents" and "parents for the sins of their children."
• Imprisonment without trial in administrative detention.
• Removing the rights of residence through confiscation of identity cards.
• Sale of weapons to aggressive regimes.
• Undercover killings.

The organization has an affiliate in North America to which donations can be made.

Greenpeace has a detailed article about the theats of climate change, both ecologically and eventually politically as people fight for access to fresh water for drinking and crop irrigation. The scenarios are apolcalyptic, and they are coming from two of the most conservative institutions on Earth! "But", as Greenpeace's article puts it, "so far, George Bush is sticking to the line that the Kyoto treaty was 'unscientific,' that 'the jury is still out' on global warming, and that everyone 'misunderestimates' him." And Americans aren't concerned, because American "experts" have told them not to be. Funny how the rest of the world's experts have a radically different view of reality.

Take Action! Tell the World Bank to follow the recommendations made by its own panel of independent consultants in a report following a two-year study to consider the Bank's future role in the oil, gas and mining industries. It commissioned the report, but now its management proposes rejecting all but the weakest of the panel's recommendations!

If quantum mechanics hasn't profoundly shocked you, you haven't understood it yet.  —Niels Bohr

Everything you see has its roots in the unseen world. The forms may change, yet the essence remains the same. Every wonderful sight will vanish; every sweet word will fade, But do not be disheartened, The source they come from is eternal, growing, Branching out, giving new life and new joy. Why do you weep? The source is within you And this whole world is springing up from it.  —Jelauddin Rumi

The truth dazzles gradually, or else the world would be blind.  —Emily Dickinson

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.  —Martin Luther King, Jr.

A full-spectrum approach to human consciousness and behavior means that men and women have available to them a spectrum of knowing—a spectrum that includes, at the very least, the eye of flesh, the eye of mind, and the eye of spirit.  —Ken Wilber

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.  —Galileo Galilei

Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.  —Lewis Carroll

Do you remember how electrical currents and 'unseen waves' were laughed at? The knowledge about man is still in its infancy.  —Albert Einstein

You cannot see anything that you do not first contemplate as a reality.  —Ramtha

The spirit down here in man and the spirit up there in the sun, in reality are only one spirit, and there is no other one.  —The Upanishads

While the evangelical Christians revel in Gibson's gorefest (and in their twisted interpretation of the significance of the life and teachings of the executed Jewish radical Jesus of Nazareth), those of us interested in the present and the future of life on Earth and in increasing our understanding of the nature of the Universe and of humanity and of the human mind, as studied by physicists, doctors, and mystics (rather than as dictated in the writings of some patriarchal, anti-Goddess, war-obsessed, primitive, desert nomads!), a mind-altering film has just been released that I am excited about seeing—that is if it makes it to the Bay Area! I can only hope and assume that eventually it will!

As Radical as Einstein
As Blasphemous as Bruno
As Heretical as Galileo
"WHAT THE #$*! DO WE KNOW?!" is a radical departure from convention. It demands a freedom of view and greatness of thought so far unknown, indeed, not even dreamed of since Copernicus.
It's a documentary. It's a story. It's mind-blowing special effects.
A new art form
About a New Worldview
For a new audience
This film plunges you into a world where quantum uncertainty is demonstrated—where neurological processes, and perceptual shifts are engaged and lived by its protagonist—where everything is alive, and reality is changed by every thought.
Like the movies, The Matrix, Vanilla Sky, and Minority Report, this film shows you a greater reality behind the one we all accept as true, and you have the ability to create absolutely anything from your own thought.
But the difference between this film and those movies is—
This isn't science fiction.
It's stranger still—
It's real.
(Keep reading!)

My comments: Some suggest that the timeline on this impending catastrophic chain of events may be exaggerated (Gods I hope so!!), but even so, the fact remains that our environmental recklessness is seriously affecting our planet—and our very existence is in jeopardy! I seriously doubt Bush will listen even to the Pentagon, his favorite government agency, on this issue. He doesn't care. He has no understanding of or interest in science. (I can't believe anyone thinks he will actually be reading the report!) Plus, as some commenters on The Smirking Chimp site point out, Bush and his fellow foolish fundamentalists believe that soon enough the Rapture is coming and the Earth as a biological entity will be irrelevant (hence the subtitle of my "Earth Is My Home" category!). We have got to get him out! There are so very many serious and important reasons why he must go, but surely this is among the most pressing!

What We Need Is Here

Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here. And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye,
clear. What we need is here.

~ Wendell Berry ~

A lovely photo essay on animal mating practices...

Just recently I've had the good fortune to come across two excellent sites. They have a lot in common, and they complement each other perfectly. One explores the history of humanity, the other the history of the Universe. They are both fascinating and well-made, with wonderful images and information.

I encourage you to have a look!

This little flash movie rocks!!!

The movie was made by this foundation that looks pretty interesting—I really should check it out, since it's not far away from me.

I was originally pointed to the movie as an introduction for this group, founded by Nobel laureates, famous actors and authors, and other bigwigs, that just had what sounds like it must have been an incredible meeting in Puerto Rico, but then I found out the other foundation actually created it.

I love the wombat movie!!!!