Milk. Directed by Gus van Sant. Written by Dustin Lance Black. With Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, Vincent Garber, James Franco and Allison Pill. (2008).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Movie Brims with Life and Love This is an extraordinary film.  I was moved beyond words.  The movie is a labor of love and it has succeeded in making history come alive.

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Book Review: The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements.  Eric Hoffer. Harper Collins, New York. (1951). It’s time to take a new look at an old classic.  I had long heard about Eric Hoffer, longshoreman and philosopher but never read him . In the light of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai I decided to take a look at this old chestnut. It turns out that the old philosopher has a lot to teach us.  Hey world, listen up.

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Laughing as They Killed“ “They laughed as they killed,” read some reports from the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. I have been unable to verify these accounts but I tend to believe them.  Why do humans behave like this? Two vital questions beg to be examined: 1. Why are so many young people so easily engaged swept up into terrorism such that they become mass killers? 2. What will it take to eradicate terrorism and create a safer world?

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Joy Turns to Shock and Anger For many the joy of Obama’s Presidential victory was diminished by their shock and anger when Proposition 8 passed in California, overturning gay marriage in that state. The rage and pain for some of my gay and lesbian friends was visceral. They wanted to fight back. I support gay marriage. However, for me the larger question is: How can we encourage the arrival of social change? One gay friend argued with me vociferously when I referred him to an article by Lee Stranahan which recommends following Obama’s tactics: “What if instead of merely chalking up opposition to “fear and hate” they went in churches and communities and started engaging in conversations?

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Book Review: The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself. Michael A. Singer. New Harbinger Publications: Oakland, CA. (2007).                                                                                                     The Mind Screams: “No!

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 Taxi Driver Missing in the Fog of War                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    On December 5, 2002 an Afghan taxi driver took three passengers for a ride and never returned home. He was brought to Bagram Air Base where he was detained by U.S. military forces, then in action against the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces.  Bagram had been turned into a prison to hold and interrogate people captured in this first aggressive action in the War on Terror. Five days after his arrival Dilawar was dead. From Victim to Victimizer Taxi to the Dark Side, a searching, and meditative film, is a thoughtful inquiry by documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney (director of Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room), of the route the U.S. took after 9/11 from attack victim to torturer.

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Nightmare Portends the Future? Two days after Election Day I awoke from a terrible nightmare.  A torturer had just cut off my legs and was forcing me to walk on the stubs of my legs. I woke up screaming.  Who was my torturer? Why this dream? Why now? In August 2001 I experienced repeated waves of doom that something dreadful was coming.

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 A World in a Dramatic State of Change                                                                                                          The winds of change are whirling ever faster on our shrinking planet. If we could grasp why so many people around the world are caught up in deadly conflicts with each other, ones which cost so much suffering to so many, would we want to know that? I spent a week in intensive study in Boulder, Colorado recently, sponsored by Spiral Dynamics Integral with the primary exponent of the Spiral Dynamics theory, Don Beck. The Missing Piece for Peacemakers? On of the main challenges for peacemakers is that we tend to apply one size fits all solutions. If you bad people (terrorists or bad governments, take your pick) would just stop your violent ways, the rest of us could live in peace.

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 The Future Starts Now: We Must Create It Together                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Jubilation, Tears and Thanksgiving Barack Obama’s victory in the presidential race on Tuesday night was a time of jubilation, tears and thanksgiving that I will never forget. One of my most indelible teenage memories is of watching civil rights demonstrators being sprayed by fire hoses while my father screamed, “Get those niggers!”  To see this man elected President was the fulfillment of a dream for me and for so many others.                            Tsunami of New Energy Released The eruption of dancing, and joy on the faces of people all over this country and around the world was utterly remarkable. People saw a possible new future for themselves, for their children and future generations.  A wave of energy was released, which some have compared to a tsunami.  It is absolutely vital that this energy is not allowed to dissipate.                                                                                                                Problems too Complex to Leave All Up to Government The problems we face now are far too large and too complex. We cannot leave handling all these problems -from the financial crisis, education, health care, energy, transportation,- to the federal and state governments.  If we leave these policy decisions to Congress the lobbyists will descend on Washington once more and the money machine will start all over again. Then all hope for change will go out the window.

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An Acrimonious Bitter Election Divides the Nation The nastiness of the current political campaign is the worst in living memory. It has felt to me, at moments, that the nation is coming unglued . I have been disturbed at the rage and hatred expressed by people on all sides of this election. My concern is not with who wins, because whoever wins, we will cope with it. My concern is rather that we will not deal with the fear and the rage that is underlying this animosity.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Polarizing Cultural Changes Swept Through U.S.

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