Getting closer to ending the death penalty

During my one-year Americorps service, I worked at the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP). I continue to be haunted by how sadistic our death penalty protocol remains. Simply unacceptable...........especially for a country claiming to be the moral example for the rest of the world. And yet - it was sooo hard getting people to acknowledge this because simply nobody wants to know the big, bad, ugly truth. However, things are changing, and finally the issue is making headway.......

Die Hardest
Why the states are standing by their outdated, messy lethal-injection protocols.

It's unofficial: The country is in the throes of a de facto moratorium on the death penalty. In the wake of a Supreme Court decision in September to take a case testing the constitutionality of Kentucky's lethal-injection protocol, and after a series of stays granted by state courts and the Supreme Court, prosecutors in Texas and elsewhere announced they will stop seeking execution dates. This past October was the first month in three years in which nobody was executed in the United States.
[....]
The prevalent three-drug protocol consists of an anesthetic rendering the victim unconscious, a paralytic that stops his breathing, and a drug that stops his heart. Mounting evidence suggests some prisoners may be suffering horribly. As Justice John Paul Stevens tartly pointed out at oral argument on a related question, the lethal-injection procedure we use "would be prohibited if applied to dogs and cats." (The American Veterinary Medical Association issued guidelines in 2002 saying the mix of drugs is unacceptable for putting animals to sleep.)
[...]
If academics, doctors, and prisoners—as well as death-penalty supporters and the guy who invented the protocol—have been criticizing the three-drug protocol for years, why haven't the states switched methods? [...] The reason the states haven't acted is one part strategic and one part inertia. As the appellants' brief in Baze  points out, most of the states have persistently stood by their protocols with the argument that everyone else is doing it. Kentucky adopted Chapman's cocktail without "any independent or scientific studies" because "other states were doing it … on a regular basis."
[...]
The reason our death-penalty methods are old and rickety is that they were cobbled together on the fly and broadly adopted without care. They are being defended for political and strategic reasons, as opposed to pragmatic ones. And the whole argument is a bad proxy for a larger fight about capital punishment. If carelessness, raw politics, and inertia should be driving policy, the current lethal-injection system is a penalogical grand slam. One shouldn't have to be opposed to the death penalty, be soft on criminals, or be a liberal crybaby to insist that procedures that are hopelessly outdated and medically suspect should be fixed.

Read full article here: http://www.slate.com/id/2176196/

Clean out those catalogs!

The mission of Catalog Choice is to reduce the number of repeat and unsolicited catalog mailings, and to promote the adoption of sustainable industry best practices. We aim to accomplish this by freely providing the Catalog Choice services to both consumers and businesses. Consumers can indicate which catalogs they no longer wish to receive, and businesses can receive a list of consumers no longer wanting to receive their catalogs.

http://www.catalogchoice.org/

stunning pics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.philborges.com/index.html

"Some day, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness the energies of love. Then, for the second time, man will have discovered fire." -Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

another reason for inversions - brain boosting

Exercise on the Brain

One form of training has been shown to maintain and improve brain health — physical exercise. In humans, exercise improves what scientists call "executive function," the set of abilities that allows you to select behavior that's appropriate to the situation, inhibit inappropriate behavior and focus on the job at hand in spite of distractions. Executive function includes basic functions like processing speed, response speed and working memory, the type used to remember a house number while walking from the car to a party.
[...]
How might exercise help the brain? In people, fitness training slows the age-related shrinkage of the frontal cortex, which is important for executive function. In rodents, exercise increases the number of capillaries in the brain, which should improve blood flow, and therefore the availability of energy, to neurons. Exercise may also help the brain by improving cardiovascular health, preventing heart attacks and strokes that can cause brain damage. Finally, exercise causes the release of growth factors, proteins that increase the number of connections between neurons, and the birth of neurons in the hippocampus, a brain region important for memory. Any of these effects might improve cognitive performance, though it's not known which ones are most important.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/opinion/08aamodt.html?ex=1195275600&en=50a8406c0b37f16a&ei=5070

At a Slaughterhouse......

At a Slaughterhouse, Some Things Never Die

Who Kills, Who Cuts, Who Bosses Can Depend on Race

 

TAR HEEL, N.C. -- It must have been 1 o'clock. That's when the white man usually comes out of his glass office and stands on the scaffolding above the factory floor. He stood with his palms on the rails, his elbows out. He looked like a tower guard up there or a border patrol agent. He stood with his head cocked.

[......]

Who Gets the Dirty Jobs

At shift change the black man walked away, hosed himself down and turned in his knives. Then he let go. He threatened to murder the boss. He promised to quit. He said he was losing his mind, which made for good comedy since he was standing near a conveyor chain of severed hogs' heads, their mouths yoked open.

[......]

Blood and Burnout

Slaughtering swine is repetitive, brutish work, so grueling that three weeks on the factory floor leave no doubt in your mind about why the turnover is 100 percent. Five thousand quit and five thousand are hired every year. You hear people say, They don't kill pigs in the plant, they kill people. So desperate is the company for workers, its recruiters comb the streets of New York's immigrant communities, personnel staff members say, and word of mouth has reached Mexico and beyond.

http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/race/061600leduff-meat.html

 

  

Sermon on the Mount

Mount of Beatitudes - where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount...actually it was delivered from the bottom of the mountain...where the bananna fields are now.

 

 

In honor of the Jivamukti Focus of the Month being Ahimsa, and given that one of my good friends recently returned from a trip to Israel where he saw the place where one of the greatest teachings on Ahimsa was given, here is the beautiful message of Christ on nonviolence:

 

Matthew 5-7:27 (New International Version)

 

 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying: 
 Blessed are the poor in spirit,
      for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 
 Blessed are those who mourn,
      for they will be comforted. 
 Blessed are the meek,
      for they will inherit the earth. 
 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
      for they will be filled. 
 Blessed are the merciful,
      for they will be shown mercy. 
 Blessed are the pure in heart,
      for they will see God. 
 Blessed are the peacemakers,
      for they will be called sons of God. 
 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
      for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

An Eye for an Eye

"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Love for Enemies

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

FLOW is famous!

Check it out - FLOW yoga studio was featured in the news!

http://video.nbc4.com/player/?id=179435

NOVEMBER Jivamukti Focus of the Month - Ahimsa

Ahimsa, Nonviolence, अहिंसा
 

This month's Jivamukti Focus is Ahimsa. Read Sharonji's message here:
Ahimsa: The Foundation of the Yoga Practice

And since we are living in DC, here is a more "political" approach to ahimsa, or nonviolence, as it has been used and can be used to affect change on a tactical level: 

 

How Nonviolence Works
Nonviolence rejects the use of physical violence in efforts to attain social, economic or political change. It rejects both passive acceptance of oppression and armed struggle against it, instead offering a number of other tactics for popular struggle such as:

• education
• persuasion
• civil disobedience (it could be said that it is compassion in the form of respectful disagreement)
• noncooperation with political, economic or social authorities
• nonviolent direct action (NVDA) - "Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored." --Martin Luther King Jr.

Central to any understanding of nonviolent strategic theory is the idea that the power of rulers depends upon the consent of the populace. Without a bureaucracy, an army or a police force to carry out his or her wishes and the compliance of key sectors of the population, the ruler is powerless. Power, therefore, depends largely on the co-operation of others. Nonviolence seeks to undermine the power of rulers through the deliberate withdrawal of this consent and co-operation.

Also of primary significance is the notion that just means are the most likely to lead to just ends. Gandhi said that "the means may be likened to the seed, the end to a tree." Proponents of nonviolence reason that the actions taken in the present inevitably re-shape the social order in like form. They would argue, for instance, that it is fundamentally irrational to use violence to achieve a peaceful society.

 

Nonviolent action generally comprises three categories.

1. The first, Acts of Protest and Persuasion , which include protest marches, vigils, public meetings and tools such as banners, placards, candles, flowers and the like;
2. secondly, Noncooperation, the deliberate and strategic refusal to co-operate with an injustice;
3. and thirdly, Nonviolent Intervention, the deliberate and often physical intervention into a perceived unjust event, such as blockades, occupations, sit-ins, tree sitting, truck cavalcades to name a few.

A useful source of inspiration, for those seeking the best nonviolent tactics to deploy, is Gene Sharp's list of 198 methods of nonviolent action, which includes symbolic, political, economic and physical actions.
 

Great nonviolence leaders and theorists who have thought deeply about the spiritual and practical aspects of nonviolence: Leo Tolstoy, Lech Wałęsa, Petra Kelly, Thich Nhat Hanh, Dorothy Day, Ammon Hennacy, Albert Einstein, John Howard Yoder, Stanley Hauerwas, David McReynolds , Johan Galtung, Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Ida Ford, Daniel Berrigan,Bacha Khan, Mario Rodriguez Cobos and César Chávez.
 

UN environment report: Humanity is putting Earth, and itself, at risk

The human population is living far beyond its means and inflicting damage to the environment that could pass points of no return, according to a major report being issued on Thursday by the United Nations.

Population growth and unsustainable consumption have resulted in an increasingly stressed planet where natural disasters and environmental degradation endanger millions of humans as well as plant and animal species, the report said.

The report, which is prepared by 388 experts and scientists, as the broadest and deepest of those the UN has issued on the environment, and called it "the final wake-up call to the international community."

Read on.

lesson in volunteerism

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- Dust off every disaster plan from Washington to San Diego, scrutinize them to your heart's content, and it's still unlikely you'll find mention of the emergency services provided by Shary Shores. Shores, a volunteer registrar at San Diego's evacuee shelter, has appointed herself the shelter's "hugger." Every person she signs in gets a warm, heartfelt hug.

Having lost her own home to foreclosure in March, Shores says she has empathy for the suddenly homeless. Her embraces may not be government-sanctioned, but they are appreciated.

"I can't tell you how many people say 'Thank you. ... I needed that,'" Shores said.