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“In order to promote non-violence and reduce violence, ultimately we
have to address motivation through education, through awareness.
Here, I want to share with you a few thoughts about the concept of
war. In ancient times, when people remained separately, more or less
independently, there was no need for other people’s cooperation. You
could survive, you could live, completely independently. Under those
circumstances, the concept of war, destruction of your enemy, and the
victory of your side were a real possibility. Today’s world is no
longer that kind of reality. Your survival, your success, your
progress, are very much related with others’ well being. Therefore,
under these circumstances even your enemies- for whatever reason you
categorize them as an enemy in the economic field and in some other
fields- and you are still very much interdependent. In such a
situation, destruction of your enemy is actually destruction of
yourself. Judging from that viewpoint, the concept of “we”
and “they” no longer applies. Thus the concept of war, destruction
of the other side, is not relevant to today’s situation. Therefore,
I think it is very important to make it clear that the concept of war
not only is a painful experience but also is self-destructive.”

– His Holiness the Dalai Lama, from ‘The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace
Laureates discuss Human Rights, Conflict and Reconciliation’,
published by Snow Lion Publications.

Eighteen companies currently hold Class A allocations: Apple, AT&T, BBN Planet, Computer Sciences, Compaq, Ford, Eli Lilly, GE, Hewlett-Packard, Interop Show Network, IBM, MIT, Mercedes Benz, Merck, PSINet, Prudential Securities, Stanford University and Xerox.

(via /.)

Hannibal (Ars Technica) writes:

It has often been noted since the rise of the Web that journalism is undergoing a forced makeover, but I’m actually just as fascinated by the ways in which things haven’t changed. [..] Web publishing is still a very exclusive business, with its own gatekeepers, institutions, hierarchies, etc. For instance, out of about 5 billion people in the world, how many of them read, write, and use a computer regularly? Now, how many of those people have enough tech savvy to publish on the Web? And of that select group, how many have the motivation/inclination/ambition to actually publish anything online? Finally, if your voice turns out to be at all popular, it’s going to cost you to continue publishing–and if you’re really popular, it’ll cost you a lot. So what you wind up with is an “amateur” tech publishing sphere that draws from the exact same narrow demographic slice as traditional journalism: white, college educated, middle- and upper-middle-class people who’ve been professionally trained with a very specific skill set. Regardless of how many of these types of people you know, when you look at the Big Picture it’s a very small slice of the population. So while it may be true that, as Dan Gillmor says, “the rules of journalism are changing,” the faces making the new rules are the same as the ones making the old rules. “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss…”
(more…)

Dr. George Friedman, Stratfor Weekly, writes:

The inability to discover weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has
created a political crisis in the United States and Britain.
Within the two governments, there are recriminations and brutal
political infighting over responsibility. Stratfor warned in
February that the unwillingness of the U.S. government to
articulate its real, strategic reasons for the war — choosing
instead to lean on WMD as the justification — would lead to a
deep crisis at some point. That moment seems to be here.
(more…)

The Freedom Festival: June 20-22
1542 and 1550 n milwaukee ave. chicago il 606022

Freedom Festivals are gatherings of artists, thinkers, activists, citizens and friends who wish to celebrate and strengthen, through performance and art, music, discussions and theater, the spirit and intent of the founding documents of this state and other free and democratic societiesfreedom of expression, pursuit of happiness, freedom from persecution, and other various civil liberties. Freedom Festival is an open attempt to use our remaining rights, understand how to keep them, and reclaim the ones we have lost.

Freedom Festival is a gathering of cultural, social, and artistic communities seeking to expand our networks, challenge the dominant assumptions, strengthen our activities, and work towards defending our rights to work outside, beside, or without the occupied life.

Creative responses, satiric guerrilla theater, infowarfare, music, workshops, video screenings, performances, debates, talks, and fashion coalesce into a weekend laboratory and creative resistance camp to help kick off a Summer of Resistance and make a Response to Un-american Activities.

From a Warner Brothers Press Release:

“It is exciting that our characters, which for so many years have been associated with space adventures in the animated world, should now have a chance to become part of a real and important space exploration,” said Jordan Sollitto, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Warner Bros. Consumer Products. “We are thrilled about teaming up with NASA on these exciting missions and are looking forward to giving our characters the opportunity to touch down upon the Red Planet.”

“More accurately, the planet is an understated fiery umber,” Marvin interjected.

“I know.”
(more…)