Sovereignty and the Citizen Ship

EBF Book Reviews - "Will" By By E. James Lieberman, MD

Link: EBF Book Reviews.

By E. James Lieberman, MD

"...We talk about strong-willed people and we act as though we have free will. The idea is old but elusive and controversial. Like music, family, and love, we recognize it better than we can define it. Sigmund Freud left it out of his psychology, panning will, like religion, as mostly illusion. Without will (which is conscious and free, unlike unconscious wish, id impulse or instinctual drive) there can be no personal responsibility, no sin or virtue, ethics or morals. Pride and guilt lose meaning. Psychologists before and since have reckoned with will, e.g. William James, Otto Rank, Jessie Taft, Rollo May, and Irvin Yalom. If will is only an illusion, it appears to be an essential one. ...read more on site

Indigenous Virtue Education and Self-Determination

--for American Indians and Non-Indians Alike
by Don Trent Jacobs

"In the absence of traditional American Indian wisdom that holds that morality stems from the natural world, current efforts to teach virtues fail. In failing, the demise of self-determination, the crucial element of tribal sovereignty and American democracy, continues, as does destruction of the environmental systems upon which we all depend. Until education recognizes this traditional wisdom, it will continue to be oppressive to Indian children and a threat to all life on earth. Until a new generation of parents embraces the stories that reconnect us to nature and its virtues, teachers have the responsibility for bringing these stories into the hearts and minds of children. Even if it requires civil disobedience to teach in this way, the goal of developing sufficient free will and character for following nature's path of beauty will be worth the effort. ..." --Don Trent Jacobs; read more on cite

Mad Farmer Liberation Front

--Wendell Berry

"Love the quick profits, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know. ..."

Report Card: Pesticides in Produce

--Environmental Working Group: Food News

snip: "Adjusting your eating habits can lower your intake of pesticides -- sometimes dramatically so. Substitute organic for conventional produce that is consistently contaminated with pesticides. When organic is not available, eat fruits and vegetables with consistently low pesticide loads.

Where Would Jesus Bank?

--Catherine Austin Fitts

"I think of Jesus as a real deal, straight up kind of guy who always cared deeply about his fellow man. That's why we often ask “What would Jesus do?” when looking for the action of highest integrity.[1]

Jesus and the Bankers

"Jesus acted with ferocious and bold integrity when he threw the money changers out of the temple. Needless to say, he hiccuped their cash flows on what otherwise would have been a big grossing day. Their business model threatened, the priests who managed the money changers insisted that the Romans crucify Jesus. The Romans tried to pawn the problem off on the local king, Herod, who ducked and sent Jesus back to the Romans. The Romans, still looking for a way out, tried a flogging. That did not work. The priests meanwhile had succeeded in persuading the crowd to support them and scapegoat Jesus. Thirsting for a crucifixion, the crowd voted to set the criminal Barabbas free instead of Jesus.

"Jesus died because the crowd voted for the criminal enterprise. The crowd voted for the priests and their rich endowments and their alliance with the money changers. The crowd did not ask “Cui Bono?” which is Latin for “who benefits?” If they had, they would have seen the real deal on who was making money on the death of Jesus and voted with their conscience, and for their own best interests instead.

"It's 2000 Years Later and We're Still Voting for the Criminals..." --Catherine Austin Fitts, Scoop; read more on cite

Psychedelics in the Suburbs

--Erowid Psychoactives & Families Vault

"...Pat and Tom live in a suburban neighborhood. Erowid first spoke with them when their son had left for college and their daughter was a senior in high school. At that time, they had been participating for many years in guided psychedelic sessions, referred to in conversation as "medicine work" or simply "the work" or "medicine." They had never spoken of this interest with their children. Over a year later, both children have flown the nest, and Tom has talked to their son, Derek.

In their explorations of consciousness, self, and spirituality, Tom and Pat have used cannabis and the psychedelics ayahuasca, MDMA, mushrooms, ibogaine, San Pedro cactus, LSD, Jaguar (5-MeO-DMT), and peyote...." --Erowid Interview; read more on cite

Drug Harm Reduction™

--RECOVERY ESSENTIALS

"RE specializes in the next level of drug harm reduction and recovery. We are the only company to scientifically develop bionutritional products for reducing the harm and recovering from the undesirable effects of psychoactive & recreational drugs....Consciousness-altering and recreational drugs are used in our culture despite stringent laws and taboos. Due to the predominance of the prohibition and abstinence-only models, practical methods for preventing the harmful effects of drugs have not been made available to the public.

RE is a resource for anyone seeking practical methods for reducing the harm and recovering from the adverse affects of drugs. Our mission is to bridge the gap between the scientific and drug using communities..." --Recovery Essentials, Drug Safety Science; read more on cite

Affirmation of Family Diversity

Statement of Principles, Alternatives to Marriage Project

"We believe that all families should be valued, that the well-being of children is critical to our nation's future, and that people who care for one another should be supported in their efforts to build healthy, happy relationships. One of America's strengths is its diversity, which includes not only a wide range of races, ethnicities, creeds, abilities, genders, and sexual orientations, but also a range of family forms. One family form is marriage, and we agree with the newly-formed "Marriage Movement" that marriages should be supported. What worries us is the mistaken notion that marriage is the only acceptable relationship or family structure...."

"We believe:

* that discrimination on the basis of marital status should be prohibited
* that policies designed to help children should focus on supporting all the types of families in which children live
* that laws and policies should be changed to allow for the full range of families to be recognized (this includes domestic partner benefits, family and medical leave, hospital visitation, and survivors' benefits)
* that more research is needed on unmarried relationships and families, so that we can address their needs directly
* that same-sex couples should be able to choose marriage as an option
* that there is much we can learn from the countries around the world that have already taken steps to recognize diverse families
* that the challenge that lies before us as a nation is how to support ALL relationships and families, not just married ones. ..." Alternatives to Marriage Project; read more on cite

What's Wrong With Copy Protection

--by John Gilmore

"...I think we should embrace the era of plenty and work out how to mutually live in it. I think we should work on understanding how people can make a living by creating new things and providing services, rather than by restricting the duplication of existing things. ... It's no coincidence that the open source, free software, and Linux communities are among the first to become alarmed at copy protection. They are actively making their livings or hobbies out of eliminating scarcity and increasing freedom in the operating system and application software markets. They see the real improvement in the world that results -- and the ugly reactions of the monopolistic and oligopolistic forces that such efforts obsolete.

"Converting the whole world to operate without scarcity is a huge task. Such a large economic shift would take decades to spread through the entire world economy, making billions of new winners and new losers. We will be extremely lucky if by 2030 we are prepared to end scarcity without massive social turmoil, including riots, civil unrest, and world war. If we are to find a peaceful path to an era of plenty, we should be starting HERE AND NOW, transforming the industries we have already eliminated scarcity in -- text, audio, and video. Companies that can't adjust should disappear and be replaced by those who can. As these whole industries learn how to exist and thrive without creating artificial scarcity, they will provide models and expertise for other industries, which will need to change when their own inefficient production is replaced by efficient duplication ten or fifteen years from now. ..." --John Gilmore; read more on cite

Deccan Development Society approaches Food Sovereignty

excerpt: "..At the heart of all activities of DDS is the fundamental principle of access and control, which leads to the autonomy of local communities. The autonomy becomes far more important in a globalising world, shrinking national boundaries, and disappearing national sovereignties. In this context, it is crucial for local communities to take over certain spheres of autonomies to protect themselves from being trampled over by invisible globalising forces. It is in this scenario that the women of the DDS sanghams have worked towards the following autonomies:

* Autonomy over food production
* Autonomy over seeds
* Autonomy over natural resources
* Autonomous market
* Autonomous media

"Responding to the emerging global challenges, the DDS communities, which had worked towards ensuring their food security over the last 20 years, are now moving into a regime of food sovereignty. Their collective effort over the coming years would be to smoothen this transition by ensuring their seed sovereignty, through practicing principles of permaculture, establishing eco-insurance and production of biomass to enhance the fertility of their soils. ..." --Deccan Development Society; read more on cite