American Buddhist Net

A majority of bishops and dioceses of the Episcopal Church have approved the election of the church’s second openly gay bishop, the Rev. Mary D. Glasspool, a decision likely to increase the tension with fellow Anglican churches around the world that do not approve of homosexuality.

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Tarpley makes some good points, but he is missing the crucial point that we have to take sides--either an open Internet or a closed one. For now, the US is far more supportive of an open Internet than China. The Obama administration seems to have made this position clear. I hope they stick to it. An open Internet is BOTH in the best interests of the USA and the world. IF the US abuses the principle of an open Internet, which they may very well do, I will oppose that 100%. But let's wait for that to happen before we oppose it. As for the partnership between Google and the NSA, same difference--it comes down to which side is more pro-open Internet. Yes, it's all dirty politics but there is no way to avoid that, so the US is the best bet again. I do not see anything worth supporting in the Chinese position. I am putting my money on the USA on this one. ABN

A cardinal seen as a future candidate for the papacy has broken a Vatican taboo by raising the possibility that priestly celibacy is among the causes of the sex abuse scandal sweeping the Roman Catholic Church.

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TOKYO — Japan ended decades of denials on Tuesday by confirming the existence of secret cold war-era agreements with Washington that, among other things, had allowed American nuclear-armed warships to sail into Japanese ports in violation of Japan’s non-nuclear policies.

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...A majority of users in Japan, South Korea and Germany felt that they could not express their opinions safely online, although in Nigeria, India and Ghana there was much more confidence about speaking out.

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"A Massive, Toxicological Experiment with Our Children"

By STEVEN HIGGS

One of the nation's leading voices on children's environmental health has called for focused and expanded research into the cause-effect relation between industrial chemicals and autism.

"Long and tragic experience that began with studies of lead and methylmercury has documented that toxic chemicals can damage the developing human brain to produce a spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders," Dr. Philip Landrigan from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine wrote in a Jan. 16, 2010, article in the medical journal Current Opinion in Pediatrics.

Today's children, he noted, "are at risk of exposure to 3,000 synthetic chemicals produced in quantities of more than 1 million pounds per year, termed high-production-volume (HPV) chemicals. HPV chemicals are found in a wide array of consumer goods, cosmetics, medications, motor fuels and building materials."

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I agree with everything Landrigan says, except his use of the word "experiment." That was and is no experiment. It's greed--careless, sloppy, abusive, ignorant, selfish greed. ABN

Do alien life forms exist in a Californian lake? Could there be a shadow biosphere? One scientist is trying to find out

Mono Lake has a bizarre, extraterrestrial beauty. Just east of Yosemite National Park in California, the ancient lake covers about 65 square miles. Above its surface rise the twisted shapes of tufa, formed when freshwater springs bubble up through the alkaline waters.

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No possible natural phenomenon could have caused the huge rise in temperatures experienced in last half-century

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Predictive Astrology Course starts Wed., March 24
2. Astrological Consultations, Courses, and Workshops
3. Learn Astrology One-on-One with Jim Shawvan
4. Llewellyn's 2010 Daily Planetary Guide
5. Quotations and Bonus Links: Important News Stories
6. JIM SHAWVAN'S ASTROLOGICAL PREDICTIONS,
MARCH 2010
7. Meditation on Lovingkindness, Compassion,
Sympathetic Joy, and Equanimity

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For immediate release (Stockholm/Oslo) China is preparing for the Arctic being navigable during summer months. An ice-free Arctic would provide China shorter shipping routes, possible access to natural resources and the incentive for closer cooperation with Arctic nations, especially the Nordic countries. But it also raises the possibility of new international tensions, according to a new SIPRI study launched in Oslo today.

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Wrangling over Copyright Protection Treaty

Recent leaks suggest the 39 countries negotiating an international copyright protection treaty could require Internet service providers to ban repeat piracy offenders from using the Web. The German government, however, has now voiced its opposition to the proposal, which has been heavily criticized by civil rights activists.

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Earlier this year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a speech in which she made it clear that Internet freedom would be a major theme of the US government's attempts to get information to the citizens of repressive governments. Things haven't change much in the interim, with the conviction of Google executives in Italy serving as a reminder that it's not simply repressive regimes that put companies in legal hot water. With those events as a backdrop, the US Senate's Judiciary Committee heard testimony today on Internet freedom that emphasized how challenging it will be to find a way to open up the flow of information in repressive regimes.

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Google’s China Exit Strategy: Watch This Space

Web Firms Under Fire to Protect Human Rights

U.S. unveils cybersecurity safeguard plan

The leader of a worldwide Muslim movement with thousands of followers in the UK will today issue a fatwa - or Islamic religious ruling - condemning terrorism and warning suicide bombers that they are "destined for hell".

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March 1 (Bloomberg) -- The earthquake that killed more than 700 people in Chile on Feb. 27 probably shifted the Earth’s axis and shortened the day, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientist said.

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..."I don't think the Iranians, even if they got the bomb, are going to drop it in the neighborhood," Barak said. "They fully understand what might follow -- they are radical but not total 'meshugah.' They have a quite sophisticated decision-making process and they understand realities."

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The quote just above contradicts the headline. I agree with the quote, not the headline. Threats against Iran seem to me to have much more to do with US control of Central Asia, and keeping Russia and China contained and on their toes. War with Iran, of course, risks war with Russia or China or both, though I doubt either nation would do anything to invite an attack. Constantly threatening Iran also cloaks US military escalations in Afghanistan and Pakistan by keeping the public distracted. Notice also that none of the rhetoric surrounding the "Iranian threat" works very well when argued or discussed in even the most basic ways. It does work very well though when sound bites and scary pictures are beamed across the TV to passive audiences who willingly accept their intellectual defeat with a bowl of popcorn. ABN

They're numerous, outspoken, and range from secular to orthodox to one group calling itself "True Torah Jews Against Zionism."

They believe that "traditional" Jews don't support Zionism, an ideology they call "contrary to Jewish law and beliefs and the teachings of the Holy Torah."

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The tsunami unleashed by a massive 8.8 magnitude quake off Chile has killed five people and left 11 others missing on the remote Robinson Crusoe islands.

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The International Monetary Fund wants more power to police the global financial system and a bigger role in emergency financing, managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said Friday.

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Uh-oh. As a lesson in humility, I want to occasionally try to understand world events from a neocon, or crypto-neocon, point of view, which I shall now do: To wit, Now is a good time to press this IMF policy. When we have greater leverage, if not full control, of the global economy, we will cement our power. The wars are going well--we have mercenaries in Yemen; Saudi Arabia is surrounded as is Iran; we are stronger in Afghanistan and the destabilization of Pakistan is going well. Our enemies (China and Russia) are trapped, surrounded on the north and the south from Europe to the Pacific. China's oil deal with Iran and its energy deals with Central Asia are no stronger than the peace, which Israel helps keep on shaky ground by constantly threatening war with Iran. India has nowhere to go but deeper into our arms. Life is good. If Greece slips on Turkey and breaks the EU, whoopee doo! That puts us back on top again. No one is going to invest in Yuan or Yen. When the war with Iran starts, China and Russia will both be up the creek and they know it. If they fight, we fight back. If they escalate, we can escalate even more. Nuclear war will have the same outcome as economic war--we will be the strongest when the dust clears. How sweet it is to be a philosopher! ABN

By Peter Lee

Beijing is monitoring the evolving United States-led Iran sanctions campaign with alarm and - as conflicting responses to an Israeli initiative indicate - some uncertainty. It suspects the Barack Obama administration may be as interested in leveraging the Iran crisis in order to reassert America’s world leadership at China's expense as it is in removing Iran's nuclear weapons threat.

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ROME — Three Google executives were convicted of violating Italian privacy laws on Wednesday, the first case to hold the company’s executives criminally responsible for the content posted on its system.

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I doubt this verdict will have much effect on Europe or the world because Italy lags behind most industrialized countries when it comes to Internet use, understanding, and access. Moreover, Berlusconi is a major player in Italian media so the court decision smells bad, to say the least. ABN

SYDNEY — An Australian schoolgirl bidding to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world hit the home stretch Wednesday, passing South Africa's Cape of Good Hope for her final Indian Ocean leg.

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A coalition of human rights campaigners on Tuesday urged the US government to fund efforts led by the Falungong spiritual movement to circumvent Internet censorship in China and other nations.

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A rapid acceleration may have begun in levels of a gas far more harmful than CO2

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Aliens may be “staring us in the face” in a form humans are unable to recognise, the Queen’s astronomer has said.

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Who controls the internet? Well, at the moment a trade agreement known as ACTA is being negotiated by the U.S., Japan, the European Union, Canada and more than a dozen other countries, and, if ratified, would significantly regulate what you can and can’t do online. ACTA’s rules will supersede each country’s local laws. Oh, and the whole affair is secret. Danny O'Brien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation explains the possible impact on net users worldwide.

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Recent research suggests there are more tigers left in the wild than there are great white sharks

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