“Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war.” -- Maria Montessori
One of my favorite online news sources, the Common Ground News Service, released a series of articles this week on the importance of education in building a lasting peace between Israel and Palestine. Three contributors—Gershon Baskin, CEO of the Israel Palestine Center for Research and Information, Reem Al Shareef, principal of the Qurtuba School in Hebron, Palestine, and Mike Prashker, founder of the Institute for the Advancement of Shared Citizenship in Israel—commented on their view of peace education in the region. While the authors all had obvious biases, this trio of articles imparts an important message about the role of informing students about the past.
As practitioners within their respective school systems, Al Shareef and Prashker both tried to paint rosy pictures of how each side now teaches all children the tenants of peace. However, I think Mr. Baskin most accurately described the situation in both education systems. Baskin states that even though Palestinian authorities have been criticized in the past for unfairly depicting their Jewish neighbors in textbooks, Israeli books fail to meet the same test. “It is easy to infer implied assumptions on both sides that the other nation should not exist,” observes Mr. Baskin. This view suggests that both sides need to critically review what and how they teach students.
I agree with all three authors when they state that a group of people has a right to convey its own version of history through its textbooks, but I also believe that a given version of events should not ignore other views. An essential part of learning is the process of critical thinking—being able to read multiple views of an issue and form judgments based on those varied accounts. I realize that textbooks are one of the least likely sources of prejudice, but they could be an important part of promoting peace. And in the arena of teaching about peace, both sides fail again. Al Shareef even admits that modern Palestinian curriculum does not “convey a peace-oriented mindset.” However, by switching from a tone of hostility to one that approaches history with emphasis on negotiating peace and ending war, mindsets could be changed.
Moreover, incorporating peace into education is not a naïve approach to conflict. In fact, education had become a major priority in international security. In April, I visited the headquarters of the OSCE in Bosnia, and each speaker emphasized the importance of changing Bosnian education. Following the horrific events of the 1990’s, the OSCE has used educational curriculum to uphold peace between Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks. Tensions are certainly still high in the Balkans, but using peaceful educational tools is still helping to patch together this severely scarred region.
Using this example, education officials the world over would be wise to head the lessons of Bosnia and Israel. Educating youth is a powerful tool. Children are blank slates. If we truly intend to seek peace, we will use messages of love and understanding to full those slates rather than violence and hate.
Trent, Youth Fed. Intern
Social Media Team
Youth Federation for World Peace
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whatever comes.
Because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
--Jelaluddin Rumi,
translation by Coleman Barks
The Pulse Of God
The limbs of a tree reached
down and lifted me, thinking
I was it's child,
and
in the meadows
my spirit becomes so quiet
that if I put my cheek
against the earth's body
I feel the pulse of God,
"tell me the way you
do that birds....
enter the private chambers
of my Lord?"
and they all sang,
they just SANG.
I gathered it was time
to become a musician,
and I did.
Years passed, and the
sky reached down
one day and lifted
me
and the birds noticed and spoke,
"how do you enter
the sun like
that and
know
the
pulse
of
God?"
From Saint Thomas Aquinas
In a kingdom of all colors
dwells our beloved brother.
He has made his home in heaven
above where moments are made of
dreams come true.
It is where the greatest power is love.
Michael is dancing with angels now.
They sing his songs
because, my lord,
it pleases you.
The virgin calls out to him,
"Young Michael."
Her eyes are soft and kind.
Then she asks him as she takes his hands,
"Are you lonely for something you left behind?"
Michael answers, "I miss my fans."
By Clarita Zarate
written for Michael Jackson, forever.
Los Angeles police under scrutiny in Jackson death
By LINDA DEUTSCH and THOMAS WATKINS, AP
L. Michael Jackson.Investigation
The rented home of Michael Jackson seen from the air, Monday, June 29, 2009,...
LOS ANGELES — The investigation of Michael Jackson's death is widening as questions intensify about the drugs he took, the doctors who provided them and the actions of police.
Why didn't police seal the mansion where he had been living? Why were moving vans seen at the home, and were any items removed before police wrapped up their search? Why didn't they get immediate search warrants? Why did they tow away a doctor's car right after the death but not declare the home a crime scene?
Los Angeles police say proper procedures were followed based on the circumstances officers encountered when they were called to the home at 12:21 p.m. on June 25. A doctor was attending to Jackson and stayed with him when he was placed in an ambulance at 1:07 p.m. There was no sign of foul play.
Others say police should have assumed it was possible a crime occurred and taken precautions to ensure the scene was not disrupted so evidence wasn't lost or tainted.
"If I was the chief detective on the case, I would have said, 'We don't know what's going on. We should seal the scene,'" said defense attorney Harland Braun, who has represented celebrities including Robert Blake, Roseanne and Gary Busey. "You always have to think of the worst-case scenario and you have to think fast. I would have sealed the scene just because it was Michael Jackson."
Whether the Jackson probe turns into a criminal investigation hinges on what evidence emerges involving the drugs. Charges could be brought if authorities determine Jackson had been overly prescribed medications, if he had been given drugs inappropriate for his medical needs, or if doctors knowingly prescribed Jackson medications under an assumed name.
It's still not known what caused Jackson's death at age 50. The pop star went into cardiac arrest in his bedroom and his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, performed CPR while an ambulance was called, according to Murray's lawyers. Murray has spoken to police and authorities say he is not a suspect, though his actions have come under scrutiny because his own lawyers acknowledge it may have taken up to a half-hour for an ambulance to be summoned.
An autopsy was conducted but results are not expected for several weeks. The Jackson family had a second autopsy performed and those results also are pending.
On Wednesday, The Associated Press learned Los Angeles police asked the Drug Enforcement Administration to assist in the investigation.
DEA agents participated in the investigation of the 2007 overdose death of Anna Nicole Smith at a Florida hotel. California Attorney General Jerry Brown investigated her former boyfriend and two of her doctors.
Brown handed the investigation over to the Los Angeles district attorney's office, which filed charges of conspiring to provide Smith with prescription drugs.
Brown said the suspects broke the law because Smith was a "known addict." The former boyfriend and doctors denied the charges.
The DEA also probed whether painkillers found in actor Heath Ledger's system after his death last year were obtained illegally. Federal prosecutors did not charge anyone.
Jean Rosenbluth, a University of Southern California law professor, said the agency's involvement in the Jackson case suggests authorities are looking into whether drugs came from out of state. Murray lives in Las Vegas and is licensed to practice in Texas, Nevada and California.
Federal drug regulations include controls over whether and how frequently a doctor can write prescriptions over the phone, and DEA agents could be looking to see if these rules were broken, Rosenbluth said.
"You can't just get on the phone and continue to prescribe something for someone without having seen them for a long period of time," she said.
Jackson had a well-known history of using prescription medications, especially painkillers. Following his death, Cherilyn Lee, a registered nurse who had worked for Jackson, told the AP she repeatedly rejected his demands for the drug Diprivan, also known as Propofol. It's a potent anesthetic used in operating rooms and it would be highly unusual to have it in a private home.
Uri Geller, a former Jackson confidant, said he tried to keep Jackson from abusing painkillers and other prescription drugs, but others in the singer's circle kept him supplied.
"When Michael asked for something, he got it," Geller said in a telephone interview from his suburban London home.
Jackson had multiple doctors and many others like Geller who came in and out of his life. Which people are being interviewed by police is unclear because the LAPD has said virtually nothing about the probe.
"I am not going to make any comments on the investigation," Commander Patrick Gannon, the designated police spokesman on the Jackson case, said by e-mail Thursday.
Any evidence would be turned over to the district attorney's office, which has final say on criminal charges.
One of the key questions is why it took four days for police to issue a search warrant and remove medications from Jackson's home.
Although the home wasn't declared a crime scene, police did tow Murray's car the evening of the death to look for potential evidence.
Vernon J. Geberth, former commanding officer of the Bronx Homicide Task force in New York, said police should have known they were dealing with an extraordinary situation.
"If it's a high-profile person, you have to do more than you would do ordinarily," he said.
Still, Geberth, who now acts as a private forensic consultant, said he believes the LAPD acted appropriately.
"Having a doctor present altered the equation. It was not a homicide scene. It was an emergency medical scene," he said.
Police spokesman Lt. John Romero declined to comment when asked if the LAPD was reviewing its handling of the investigation.
Rosenbluth said if the case ends up as a criminal prosecution, any defense attorney would seize on the LAPD's failure to immediately seal Jackson's home.
"If you can get even one juror think, I don't know, maybe somebody fiddled with the medicine before the police came in and collected it, that's reasonable doubt," she said. "All that the defense attorney needs is one juror."
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The Faces of War -- Why Irresponsible or Fanatical Individuals and/or Governments Must Never Gain Control of Nuclear Weapons http://civact6.tigblog.org/post/417257
***
Would you like to explore the possibilities for volunteer, professional, and/or career involvement in civic action, community service, and other constructive developmental efforts in countries that are of greatest interest to you ??
Visit and explore the wide range of available choices for programmatic and/or administrative professional specialization and possible careers, at:
Dave Matthews, Facilitator
The Civic Action Free University http://www.tcafu.net
"Nation-Building: Are You Serious ??"
E-Mail Address: civact6@yahoo.com
Remember National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) back in November? You all used the opportunity to take a swing at churning out a 50,000-word novel on your blogs in only one month — some with great success!
It’s an even more fitting occasion for posting regularly to your blog on the topics that interest you. And maybe the best part is that it starts whenever you want it to! The only objective is to post every day for a month. So why not begin with July? To make it official, sign up here. It’s open to anyone with a blog, anywhere in the world.
The NaBloPoMo team provides a theme for each month, which isn’t mandatory, but is a nice way to gain inspiration that can kick off your daily updates.
Not into that? Then we suggest sticking to the stuff you’ve been blogging about all along — the things you experience and love — with the added caveat of keeping it on the regular.
If you run out of steam, you can always find ways to blog about the dozens of weird celebrations and holidays that take place in July, in addition to Independence Day in the U.S. — like Ice Cream Soda Day, Video Games Day, or Bugs Bunny’s Birthday.
To plug the WordPress community into your endeavor, we suggest using NaBloPoMo09 as a tag on each post you publish to your blog. They’ll show up on the tag results page, which is also a great place to get inspired by your fellow bloggers.
A note: Please refrain from commenting with questions about NaBloPoMo in response to this post. It’s not a WordPress project. Instead, check out their FAQ to learn more about its objectives and requirements.
Last month we launched the Yahoo! App and 360 importer so you can migrate your content to WordPress.com quickly and easily. And we introduced the SocialVibe widget, which helps you earn donations for the charity of your choice. July will bring more feature updates, and more of the themes and customizations you’ve been asking for. We’re listening.
Here are the stats for June:
388,580 blogs were created.
5,845,417 posts were published.
411,540 new users joined.
5,800,941 file uploads.
3,633 gigabytes of new files.
810 terabytes of content transferred from our datacenters.
8,330,617 comments.
6,841,633 logins.
1,245,935,191 pageviews on WordPress.com, and another 1,245,882,985 on self-hosted blogs (2,491,818,176 total across all WordPress blogs we track).
2,153,176 active blogs where “active” means they got a human visitor.
It brings Joy to my heart to hear that Michael Jackson wills complete and sole custody of his children to his mother!!!.
I am grateful to him for the beautiful music and for leaving a third of his great fortune to charity. I pray that it goes straight to the needy children he wants it given to.
RIP dear Michael
I know you are with angels!
Clarita
The infolinks challenge is an online video contest about smart ways of making money online. So what are you waiting for? film your creative way of making money online and win the $5000 Challenge! ..
Whatever My President decides is ok with me. It is the first time in my life I have ever trusted and felt affection for a president and his family!
May they always stay blessed!
