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US Politics

Afghanistan, Military Budget, Iran and Israel: Update
The NSP–Network of Spiritual Progressives–is part of a national coalition called Win Without War. Our members, together with members of dozens of other organizations, have been working against militarism in all its different dimensions. Below, I’m attaching two communications which …
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Israel/Palestine

Hurrah for Egypt
Editor’s note: Uri Avnery is one of the most courageous leaders of the Israeli peace movement and Tikkun is honored to print and send out his articles. As with articles we select for the magazine and articles we print on …
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Help Us Create Passover Seders or Easter Gatherings for the 99 Percent
Both Passover and Easter have a message of liberation and hope for the downtrodden of the earth. And today, it’s important to understand that the “downtrodden”– those who are hurt by the materialism and selfishness built into the very ethos …
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US Politics

No Joy in Mudville–Iran & Romney; Obama abandons Habeas Corpus; Israel
Mitt Romney Embraces The Neocons  by MJ Rosenberg The top three vote-getters in the Iowa caucuses — Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) — responded to success in very different ways. Santorum, best known for his antediluvian …
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My Response to Anti-Palestinian Vandals Who Defaced My Home
After appeared on KQED Tuesday morning, two black-hooded men defaced my home with signs claiming, "Palestine is an Arab fantasy." I will not be deterred.
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Spiritual Politics

Occupy Chanukah and Christmas
Chanukah was the first recorded national liberation struggle against Greek imperialism, and Christmas celebrates the birth of a hoped-for messiah to free the Jewish people from Roman imperialism. Both Judaism born of slaves in Egypt and Christianity born of a movement of the poor and powerless were in their times the “Occupy” movement that confronted the powerful and those who served them.
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US Politics

Urgent: call your Congressperson, Senator and US President Obama to stop indefinite detentions!
URGENT  Dec. 14 The House is currently voting on the conference report for the National Defense Authorization Act which contains language authorizing indefinite detentions of persons SUSPECTED of terror activities detained on US Soil, including US citizens! Don’t be fooled–a …
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US Politics

What If They Sent in Social Services to Help Occupations Instead of Riot Cops to Bust Heads?
Call Mayor Bloomberg of NYC, Mayor Jean Quan of Oakland, or whoever is your mayor and suggest that they support the Occupy movement by providing encouragement to social workers, teachers, clergy and others to go down to the Occupy encampments …
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Israel/Palestine


Editor’s Note: The comparison of Israel to South Africa has incendiary elements–and caused Jimmy Carter’s very important book to be dismissed without a serious reading. But this piece is from the publisher of the only liberal newspaper in Israel, and …
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Health

Another element of the Obama Administration’s Lesser but Still real Evil
When people often say that they are going to reelect Obama as “the lesser evil,” it is important to acknowledge that though lesser evil, the Obama Administration has been involved in considerable evil. By Jeffrey Sachs Huffington Post November 25, …
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Israel/Palestine

MJ Rosenberg on Israel’s Possible Strike at Iran
Ehud Barak: Iranian Nuclear Program Not Really About Israel The classic definition of a campaign gaffe is when a politician inadvertently speaks a truth that will hurt him politically. The first George Bush committed a gaffe when he said that …
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US Politics

Exchange of letters and comments on Occupy Oakland and the larger Occupy movement
I think you might find this exchange between a student and me about Occupy Oakland and the Oakland community of some interest. There is a rumor that there may be a new violent confrontation hours from now as the occupiers …
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Spiritual Politics

Praying with Our Feet at Occupy Oakland
When my teacher and mentor at the Jewish Theological Seminary Abraham Joshua Heschel told me and others that he had been “praying with his feet” when he participated in the Selma Freedom march in 1965, he confirmed for many a way of overcoming the dichotomy between my religious practice and my radical politics. In many ways, the anti-war movements of the Sixties and early Seventies of the last century felt like that kind of community prayer. I had that experience again at my various visits to Occupy Oakland, most intensely this past Wednesday, November 2, 2011.
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NSP

Read the NSP’s “Occupy” Brochure
Read our vision for the Occupy movement and how the Network of Spiritual Progressives is involved.
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Israel/Palestine

AIPAC Hell-bent on dragging the US and Israel into a war with Iran
MJ Rosenberg details how AIPAC is pushing for  the US to go to war with Iran, presumably because Iran is Israel’s last militarily viable MidEast enemy. Could the US be that stupid? Or is this just a buildup that Obama …
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Israel/Palestine

Uri Avnery on Gilad Shalit–the real story
Uri Avnery October 22, 2011 Everybody’s Son THE MOST sensible – I almost wrote “the only sensible” – sentence uttered this week sprang from the lips of a 5-year old boy. After the prisoner swap, one of those smart-aleck TV …
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Israel/Palestine

Gilad Shalit and the Palestinian Prisoner Exchange–Israeli and Palestinian analyses
Here we present some of the views that you may not hear in the mainstream Western media, first from Uri Avnery, chair of Gush Shalom, the Israeli human rights organization, then by two columnists in Ha'aretz, the Israeli equivalent of the NY Times. Then we present a Palestinian activist reflecting on what it means to be a prisoner and how that impacts on the consciousness of those held in Israeli prisons.
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US Politics

A Message and Strategy for “Occupy Wall Street”
This past weekend, Occupy Wall Street demonstrations were held in over 951 cities in 82 countries as people around the globe joined in an international day of solidarity against the greed and corruption of the 1%. The media, trying to …
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US Politics

Buddhist Reflections on Occupy Wall Street by David Loy
Waking Up from the Nightmare: Buddhist Reflections on Occupy Wall Street David R. Loy In a Buddhist blog about Occupy Wall Street, Michael Stone quotes the philosopher Slavoj Žižek, who spoke to the New York Occupiers at Zuccotti Park on …
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US Politics

The Congressional Progressives Caucus Presents a Budget Plan That Will Work to Create Jobs and Protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid
The Congressional Progressive Caucus Identifies more than $4 Trillion in Savings to Create Jobs and Protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid Washington, D.C. – The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) today sent policy proposals to Senator Patty Murray and Congressman Jeb …
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US Politics

Fixing Wall Street–50 concrete proposals in Solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement by David McClean
While Tikkun and the Network of Spiritual Progressives believes that the only real way to fix Wall Street is to adopt the ESRA–Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendments to the US Constitution, which we invite you to read and endorse at …
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Israel/Palestine

On Abbas at the UN–a perspective rarely heard
[Rabbi Lerner's note: Dr. Saree Makdisi, in the address below which he gave to the Palestine Center in early October,  gives an important window into the minds of Palestinian diaspora thinkers as they watch the current reality unfold. For some, …
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Occupy Wall St–It’s Everywhere where Corporate Power Shapes our Lives, So You Can Occupy it in Your Hometown too!
The prophet Isaiah stood outside the ancient Israelite Temple and denounced those fasting on Yom Kippur who nevertheless were participating in an immoral society. Said Isaiah (in a statement that is now read in synagogues around the world on Yom …
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Israel/Palestine

Obama’s Speech About Palestinian Statehood at the U.N.–A Critique
Stephen Zunes is a contributing editor to Tikkun Magazine Answering Obama’s UN Address By Stephen Zunes, September 30, 2011 During the Bush administration, I wrote more than a dozen annotated critiques of presidential speeches. I have refrained from doing so under …
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US Politics

Should Progressives Challenge Obama in the Democratic Primaries?
Editor's note: Subscribers to Tikkun and Members of NSP are mostly united in strong criticism of Obama's failures--failures due NOT solely to the obstruction of Republicans and his own conservatives in the Democratic Party, but to his failure to articulate and fight for a larger vision. Had he done so, a growing number of liberals and progressives agree, the American people might have responded enthusiastically. They don't blame him for failing to produce, they blame him for failing to fight for what he claimed to believe in. Last week, for example, with the nation hoping to hear a visionary economic plan, instead heard a wimpy and ineffective one--instead of the New New Deal for a Caring Society that we and many others have been advocating. Of course it would be blocked by the Republicans, but imagine how different people in the US would have felt if they felt that there was someone championing a New New Deal that would among other things spend enough money to put everyone back to work who wants to work!!! Just having that alternative as someting to fight for would have electrified the country and finally defined Obama in a winnable way. The latest wishy-washy-ness came at the UN where Obama, who a year ago called for a Palestinian state, now announces he will use the US veto to make sure it doesn't happen except on conditions acceptable to the most right-wing government Israel has ever had. No Republican or Democrat could have prevented the US from going along with the majority of people of the world in supporting UN membership,just as last December no Republican or Democrat could have prevented Obama from letting the Bush-years' tax reductions on the rich from expiring, or for that matter, from declairing VICTORY and the ENDING THE WAR ON TERROR once his troops had killed Osama Bin Laden (and he could have coupled that with an announcement of ending the war in Afghanistan and brining all troops and independent contractors home once and for all). Lose the Jewish vote? No way. Most Jews would still prefer Obama to Republicans who would take away their social security and destroy the advances in health care and further destroy our educational system and social support network--Israel would be a major issue for the 20% who already vote Republican and possibly for another 10-15%, but not enough to change the electoral outcome or keep a solid majority of Jews in his camp (most of whom are closer to Tikkun than to the Jewish establishment on most issues). So, now what? On that Tikkun subscribers and NSP members are very much divided. Many fear the disaster they believe would happen should any of the current Republican candidates become the next President of the U.S.--and therefore feel that they have no alternative but to support Obama. Others, a very small minority I've learned from some of your emails, support the very unlikely to win the nomination candidate (and principled libertarian and hence against our military adventures for sustaining the US Empire) Republican Ron Paul, arguing that he, unlike Obama and unlike any other Republican, he would end the wars and dismantle much of our military spending, and that differentiates him from all the rest who will likely continue the wars and do as much damage as he would do to destroying the social support network as the spineless Dems and anti-government Repubs are going to do anyway (or that's what they claim). Still others support the idea of a progressive slate of candidates ( a slate, so that no one person is seen as ego-tripping or looking for power, since the point of the challenge is to raise issues that would otherwise not be heard if it boils down to questions of 'is this particular person the right one?') challenging Obama in the primaries while supporting him in the general elections. I'm enclosing the letter from the latter group so that you can see if their reasoning appeals to you. I signed it along with many, many others, and on condition that it be made clear that organizations listed were for identification purposes only and did not reflect an organizational support for this letter (and that is true of all the other signatories and the organizations listed). Tikkun can comment on the issues in the campaigns ahead and we can provide space for those whose voices get least attention in the media, as we've done for the past twenty-five years. AND WE'D LOVE TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK AFTER YOU'VE READ THE LETTER BELOW IFF YOU ARE A SUBSCRIBER OR NSP MEMBER (there are over 150,000 people readng our emails, so we cannot give equal attention to those who read but do not help us financially to survive either by becoming members of the NSP at https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/525/t/3999/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=3793 or by subscribing to Tikkun (and/or buying others a gift subscription for chanukah, christmas, or some other special occasion) at http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/purchase-or-renew-a-subscription-to-tikkun ). And what if you have no faith in the whole electoral process? Well you can support our ESRA--Enviornmental and Social Responsiiblity Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and help us get your local congressional rep to endores House Res. 156C and/or our Global Marshall Plan at House Resolution 157. Want something more inthe way of non-violent civil disobedience? Then come to Washington D.C. for the non-violent civil disobedience being sponsored by the October 6 Coalition (info at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdKPXwXVQlg). THE INVITATION TO CHALLENGE OBAMA IN THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES September 17, 2011 Dear Colleague, We write to you in light of recent deteriorating events in Washington, D.C. Misguided negotiations by the Obama Administration over increasing the debt ceiling willingly put our nation’s vital social services on the chopping block while Bush-era tax cuts remain untouched. Clearly the situation has reached crisis proportions. In response, an innovative plan has been announced to reintroduce a progressive agenda back into the political discussion during the 2012 election season. Consider for a moment two very different scenarios for the 2012 Democratic presidential primaries. The First scenario, President Obama advances without contest to a unanimous nomination. There is no recognizable Democratic challenger, no meaningful debate on key progressive issues or past broken promises, just a seamless, self-contained operation on its way to raising one billion dollars in campaign funds. This scenario is what most observers expect. Mr. Obama will face neither opposition nor debate. He will have no need to clarify or defend his own polices or address the promises, kept and unkept, of his 2008 campaign. The president will not have to explain to his supporters why he directly escalated the war in Afghanistan and broadened America’s covert war in Pakistan, why he chose to engage in a military intervention in Libya, or why he has maintained the Bush Administration’s national security apparatus that allows for the suspension and abuse of constitutionally protected civil liberties--dismissing Congress all the way. In an uncontested Democratic primary, President Obama will never have to justify his decision to bail out Wall Street’s most profitable firms while failing to push for effective prosecution of the criminal behavior that triggered the recession, or his failure to push for real financial reform. He will not have to defend his decision to extend the Bush era tax cuts nor justify his acquiescence to Republican extortion during the debt ceiling negotiations. He will not have to answer questions on how his Administration completely failed to protect homeowner’s losing their homes to predatory banks, or even mention the word “poverty,” as he failed to do in his most recent State of the Union Address, even as more and more Americas sink into financial despair. He will never be challenged to fulfill his pledge to actively pursue a Labor-supported card check, or his promise to increase the federal minimum wage or why he took single payer off the table after he said he believes in it. The American labor movement, facing an unprecedented onslaught by the Right will not have the opportunity to voice its concerns and rally around a supportive candidate. The president will not be pressed to answer how he spent four years in office without addressing the ongoing destabilization of our climate or advocating a coherent and ecologically sound energy policy including defending his position on nuclear power and so called clean coal. Nor will he discuss regulatory agency deficiencies in enforcing corporate law and order in an era marked by a corporate crime wave having devastating economic consequences on workers and taxpayers and their savings and pensions. There will be no opportunity for the Hispanic and other relevant communities to speak out on immigration reform even as the Republicans continue to use it as a weapon of political demagoguery. 1 Add your own concerns, disappointments, and frustrated hopes to this list of what will surely be left off the table during an express-lane primary. The valid disagreements within the Democratic Party, let alone the goals of progressives, will be completely overlooked. The media will gleefully cover the media circus that is sure to be the Republican primaries, magnifying every minor gaffe and carefully cataloguing every iteration and argument of the radical right. The cameras will cover the Democratic side only for orchestrated events, the whiff of scandal, and to offer commentary on how the campaign is positioning itself for the general election. The summation of this process will be a tediously scripted National Convention, deprived of robust exchange and well-wrought policy. And here the danger is clear: not only will progressive principles past and present be betrayed but large sections of voters will feel bored with and alienated from the democratic candidate. This would not serve the president’s campaign, our goals, or the nation’s needs. Thankfully, there is another option. This second scenario would allow for robust and exciting discussion and debate during the primary season while posing little risk to the president other than to encourage him take more progressive stands. It would also accomplish the critical task of energizing the Progressive base to turn out on Election Day. Imagine: A slate of six candidates announces its decision to run in the Democratic primaries. Each of the candidates is recognizable, articulate, and a person of acknowledged achievement. These contenders would each represent a field in which Obama has never clearly staked a progressive claim or where he has drifted toward the corporatist right. These fields would include: labor, poverty, military and foreign policy, health insurance and care, the environment, financial regulation, civil and political rights/empowerment, and consumer protection. Without primary challengers, President Obama will never have to seriously articulate and defend his beliefs to his own party. Given the dangers our nation faces, that option is unacceptable. The slate is the best method for challenging the president for a number of reasons:  The slate can indicate that its intention is not to defeat the president (a credible assertion given their number of voting columns) but to rigorously debate his policy stands.  The slate will collectively give voice to the fundamental principles and agendas that represent the soul of the Democratic Party, which has increasingly been deeply tarnished by corporate influence.  The slate will force Mr. Obama to pay attention to many more issues affecting many more Americans. He will be compelled to develop powerful, organic, and fresh language as opposed to stale poll-driven “themes.”  The slate will exercise a pull on Obama toward his liberal/progressive base (in the face of the countervailing pressure from “centrists” and corporatists) and leave that base with a feeling of positive empowerment.  The slate will excite the Democratic Party faithful and essential small-scale donors, who (despite the assertions of cable punditry) are essentially liberal and progressive. 2  A slate that is serious, experienced, and well-versed in policy will display a sobering contrast with the alarmingly weak, hysterical, and untested field taking shape on the right.  The slate will command more media attention for the Democratic primaries and the positive progressive discussions within the party as opposed to what will certainly be an increasingly extremist display on the right.  The slate makes it more difficult for party professionals to induce challengers to drop out of the race and more difficult for Mr. Obama to refuse or sidestep debates in early primaries. The slate, if announced, will receive free legal advice and adequate contributions for all prudent expenses in moving about the country. The paperwork is far simpler than what confronts ballot-access- blocked third party and independent candidates. For the slate will be composed of registered Democrats campaigning inside the Party Primaries. This opportunity to revive and restore the progressive infrastructure of the Democratic Party must not be missed. A slate of Democratic candidates challenging the president’s substance and record is an historic opportunity. Certainly, President Obama will not be pleased to face a list of primary challengers, but the comfort of the incumbent is far less important than the vitality and strength of his party’s Progressive ideas and ideals. President Obama should emerge from the primary a stronger candidate as a result. This letter is sent to several dozen accomplished persons known to identify with the Democratic Party voting line for a variety of reasons. We ask that you consider several requests. First, would you consider being a slate candidate after due reflection beyond what may be an immediate no? History has illustrated greater discomforts, material sacrifices and other profiles of courage in our country's past for a perceived major common good. Second, if you are not interested in joining as a candidate, would you add your name as an official endorsee of the slate proposal. All endorsements are made as individuals and organizational or institutional affiliations are for identification purposes only. Your endorsement will be a vital signal of support and will help in compiling the strongest slate of candidates possible when we send out the letter to the candidate list, yet to be finalized. Third, can you suggest accomplished people to contact who may be interested in joining the slate as a candidate in one of the following fields: labor, poverty, military and foreign policy, health insurance and care, the environment, financial regulation, civil and political rights/empowerment, and consumer protection. This can be yourself if you feel it would be appropriate. Candidates and endorsements will be accepted on a rolling basis. All submissions or additional questions and comments can be directed to Colin O’Neil at colinoneil@gmail.com or 703-599-3474. We appreciate your response. Thank you. 3 Partial List of Endorsees All endorsements are in alphabetical order are made as individuals, organizational/institutional affiliations are for identification purposes only. Norman Birnbaum Professor Emeritus, Georgetown University Law Center Dr. Brent Blackwelder President Emeritus of Friends of the Earth Charles Cray Peter Coyote Actor, Author and Director Charles Derber Professor, Boston College Ronnie Dugger Founder, Alliance for Democracy James Abourezk Former U.S. Senator, South Dakota Gar Alperovitz Professor University of Maryland Co-Founder Democracy Collaborative Ellen H. Brown Lawyer and Author of Web of Debt Edgar Stuart Cahn Professor of Law, University of the District of Columbia Co-founder Legal Services for the Poor Pat Choate 1996 Reform Party Vice President Candidate Director of the Center for Corporate Policy Ronnie Cummins Executive Director, Organic Consumers Association John Fullerton President, Capital Institute 4 Rebecca and James Goodman Northwood Farm Randy Hayes Director, Foundation Earth Rainforest Action Network Founder Chris Hedges Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist of the New York Times and Author Hazel Henderson, Author of Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy President, Ethical Markets Media, LLC. Alan F. Kay Author of Spot the Spin and Locating Consensus for Democracy Harry Kelber The Labor Educator Andrew Kimbrell Executive Director, Center for Food Safety & International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA) Jonathan Kozol Educator, Author of Savage Inequalities Lewis Lapham Former Editor, Harper’s Magazine Rabbi Michael Lerner Editor, Tikkun Magazine Chair, Network of Spiritual Progressives Jean Houston Psychologist, Anthropologist and Author of The Possible Human and The Possible Society Nicholas Johnson Former Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission Former Administrator, U.S. Maritime Administration Leland Lehrman Partner, Fund Balance Dr. Richard Lippin, MD Physician Forecaster, Board Certified in Preventive Medicine and Advocate for both Individual and Institutional Prevention 5 Robert D. Manning Founder and CEO, Responsible Debt Relief Institute Author of Credit Card Nation Dr. Samuel Metz, MD Mad As Hell Doctors, founding member Physicians for a National Health Program, member of Portland chapter Carol Miller Community Activist, New Mexico E. Ethelbert Miller Board Chair Institute for Policy Studies Ralph Nader Citizen Advocate Michael Parenti Author John Passacantando Former Executive Director, Greenpeace USA Vijay Prashad Author and Professor, Trinity College Marcus Raskin Author of The Common Good and former White House Advisor Andy Shallal “Democracy’s Restauranteur” and Owner of Bus Boys & Poets Michelle Shocked Musician Gore Vidal Erich Pica President of Friends of the Earth Nomi Prins Author and former Managing Director at Goldman Sachs David Swanson Author, War is a Lie Chris Townsend Political Action Director, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) 6 Author and Political Activist Rabbi Arthur Waskow Chair, The Shalom Center Cornel West Professor and Author of Race Matters National Coordinator, Physicians for a National Health Program Harvey Wasserman Author of Solartopia! Our Green-Powered Earth Quentin D. Young MD ******************************* Feel free to post this on your website or send out to your list-serve. Share it with your friends.And if you like this kind of unconventional thinking, please subscribe to Tikkun at www.tikkun.org NOW!
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Israel/Palestine

Ali Abunimah says the effort for Palestinian recognition at the UN is a mistake
We are at this very moment collecting signatures for UN recognition of Palestine. But given our commitment to open debate, we are posting this article from a Palestinian activist whose words run counter to our position in content, and also …
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Responses to the Potential UN Recognition of Palestine
Here are some responses to the UN Recognition of Palestine discussion, including an article by The Israel Project strongly against the Tikkun position–part of our function to provide peace-oriented people with an understanding of some of the views we don’t …
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US Politics

Recognize Palestine AND Re-Affirm Israel as a Jewish State
Obama and UN: Recognize Palestine AND Re-affirm Israel’s Right to Exist as a Jewish State American and Israeli diplomats acknowledge that they do not have the votes to prevent the General Assembly of the United Nations from recognizing Palestine and …
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Economy/Poverty/Wealth

Obama’s Economic Plan–what do you think?
First, I want to congratulate the President of having said some important things to challenge the “free market fundamentalists” and pointing out that the kinds of problems we are facing requires a community to share its resources to take care …
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Economy/Poverty/Wealth

The Global Economy Undermined by Austerity Programs
Published in the New York Times by Niel MacFarquhar: UNITED NATIONS — The global economy faces a decade-long stagnation because governments are pursuing deficit cuts and other austerity measures rather than providing the needed stimulus packages, said a United Nations …
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War & Peace

Stephen Zunes on Lessons from the Libyan Revolution
Tuesday 30 August 2011 Lessons and False Lessons From Libya by Stephen Zunes, Truthout | News Analysis Rebels celebrate outside Col. Moammar Qaddafi’s Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli, Libya, August 29, 2011. Residents returning to their homes have found that …
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War & Peace

Libya and Syria: violence or non-violence (the debate over which strategy is best) with perspectives from Uri Avnery and Michael Nagler
This is a critical debate which evokes significant differences among secular and spiritual progressives. I hope you’ll let me know your reactions to it. I’m a huge fan of Avnery, whose articles regularly appear on our Tikkun web magazine site …
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US Politics

Who Funds all the Muslim-Baiting?
Who Funds All The Muslim-Baiting? by M.J.Rosenberg It has been just about a decade since Islamophobia exploded in this country. That was of moment that the World Trade Center and Pentagon were hit by al Qaeda terrorists. It existed prior …
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War & Peace

The Libyan Revolution
While Juan Cole’s article (below)  may be a bit too quick to declare that the Libyan revolution has succeeded, given the ongoing fighting in Tripoli and the possibility that there still might be an ongoing civil war for months or …
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Israel/Palestine

The Meaning of the Israeli Uprising: a Variety of Israeli Perspectives
Sushi, social justice and self-respect This uprising is about social justice. And yes, it is driven by the middle class. And it’s time to say something about the middle class’s right to a decent life without being apologetic. By Carlo …
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Health

Physicians Group: Debt Deal Threatens Health of Seniors and Disabled
The New York Metro chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), an 18,000-member national organization, denounces the federal debt ceiling deal signed into law by President Obama on Tuesday. “Politicians who say Medicare and Social Security are spared …
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US Politics

Don’t Fall for the GOP (and Obama) Lie about the Alleged Budget Crisis
We at Tikkun have been saying for the past 3 years what former Sec. of Labor and economist Robert Reich says below and what Paul Krugman has been saying for the past 2 years: there is no serious budget crisis. …
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US Politics

Democracy and Caring About Each Other–by George Lakoff
Democracy, in the American tradition, has been defined by a simple morality: We Americans care about our fellow citizens, we act on that care and build trust, and we do our best not just for ourselves, our families, and our …
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Economy/Poverty/Wealth

When “Market Man” Consigns the Common Man to the Dustbin of History
When “Market Man” Consigns the Common Man to the Dustbin of History July 28, 2011 Dear Citizens and Elected Officials: PART I: “We’re All Entrepreneurs Now…” Introduction It’s very hard not to be mesmerized by the dispiriting spectacle now underway in the nation’s …
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Oppose the Tar Sands Oil Pipeline, Raise your Voice in Washington!
In upcoming months, President Obama alone will decide on the fate of the Keystone XL oil pipeline that would bring dirty, muddy oil from Canada down to Texas to be cooked and processed to feed our addiction to this temporary …
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Interfaith

Being with the Dalai Lama
by Rabbi Michael Lerner I was honored to be invited to be on a panel with the Dalai Lama July 18 in Chicago. This is the third time I’ve been invited to be on a panel with him, and by …
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Israel/Palestine

Why Israelis must fight against the boycott law by Gideon Levi, Ha’aretz, Tel Aviv
In mid July the Israeli Knesset passed a law making it illegal to advocate for boycotting, sanctioning or divesting from Israel--including boycotting products made in the Occupied territories by Israeli settlers. This in turn has set off an explosion of opposition inside Israel by peace oriented groups and civil liberties and human rights groups.
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Israel/Palestine

The Jewish Ayatollahs and Their Hatred of Non-Jews
The racism of these rabbis is outrageous. Please ask your rabbi whether she or he will introduce a resolution to his or her rabbinical organization condemning these racist policies that are apparently gaining ground in Israel today.
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US Politics

Call Your Senators: Protect Hungry People in the Debt Ceiling Bill
The White House and congressional leaders are in final negotiations to raise the debt ceiling. Call your senators through our special toll-free number (1-800-826-3688) and ask them to urge Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to create a circle of protection around funding for programs for hungry and poor people in the United States and abroad in the bill to raise the debt ceiling.
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US Politics

US Supreme Court’s June 27 Decision Shows Why the ESRA is Needed
The Supreme Court's June 27 narrow 5-4 decision called McComish v. Bennett continues the Roberts Court’s retreat on fairness in elections, striking down trigger provisions that allowed publicly financed candidates in Arizona to receive additional funds for their campaigns when their spending was outstripped by their privately financed opponents.
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US Politics

Make July 4 Inter-dependence Day and if you are in the Bay Area Come to the Tikkun/NSP Picnic!
Make July 4 INTER-DEPENDENCE DAY! Do July 4 with a community of people who are not into the reactionary nationalist rah-rah, but into seriously thinking about and celebrating what is good in America!  If you happen to be in the …
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Afghanistan

Call the White House: We Need a Real End to the Afghanistan War!
Osama bin Laden is dead. Al-Qaida is relatively crippled. We don't need to continue fighting in Afghanistan. Last night, President Obama announced a plan for Afghanistan that will leave nearly 70,000 troops on the ground at the end of his first term. That's still almost double the number of troops President Bush had in Afghanistan.
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Analysis of Israel/Palestine

Is AIPAC Trying to Undermine Obama? Plus Thoughts on Palestinian Statehood
Tikkun ally and policy analyst M.J. Rosenberg looks at the recent behavior of the right wing pro-Israel lobby AIPAC and detects an agenda of undermining and discrediting Obama, not to mention anyone seeking peace between Israel and Palestine. That demand for "negotiations now" is shown to be a non-starter in the editorial today in Ha'aretz newspaper and in the analysis provided by the moderate King of Jordan. Please read this to understand why, unless Palestinians get more leverage through the UN, no move toward peace is going to happen as long as Netanyahu or his right-wing supporters are still shaping Israeli policy.
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Spiritual Politics

The Culture Wars Continue: Catholic Church Blames the 1960s for Priests’ Pedophilia
A report on the child abuse scandal in the U.S. Catholic Church -- released in mid-May and reported in the Guardian -- “concluded that the permissive society of the 1960s was to blame for the rise in sexual offences by priests.” Why are conservatives still so focused on the 1960s? Why are they so deeply interested in invalidating the experiences of that epoch? Why do they hold on so deeply to the cultural struggles that emerged in that period?
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US Politics

Weiner’s Right-Wing Stance on the Middle East
The Netanyahu government is now just where it wants to be. It feels no need to take any action to accommodate the Palestinians or entertain President Obama's suggestions for restarting negotiations.
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