And Israel becomes more and more like Iran:

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Let's see......at this rate the only differences between Israel and Iran will be that the former really does have nuclear weapons and has a modern army, the latter does not have nukes and has a few good units but most of its army is about the quality of Ba'ath Iraq. If anything this is just underscoring the similarities between Israel and the *other* nuclear-armed religious national-state:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12837953

The Israeli parliament has passed a law that allows the state to deny funding to institutions that question the country's existence as a Jewish state.

Civil rights groups say the law restricts the freedom of expression of Israel's Arab minority, which makes up about a fifth of Israel's population.

___________________

As a bit of curiosity, what would happen if any German Chancellor proposed a bill in the Bundestag that would deny funding to groups that refused to recognize that Germany is for the Germans? Somehow I don't think people would be quite so keen with that particular bill, particularly if to complete the analogy the Germans demanded the return of Kaliningrad. So with Israel having its own Department For the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice that throws acid in the face of women foolish enough to have their hair uncovered and to wear pants and with the Israelis having as of late also become steadily more influenced by a soon-to-be majority of their Jewish population that sees the Israeli state as so evil they want to mooch without jobs and not bother with actually existing in the modern world........

Israel seems to be imitating some very, very dangerous precedents. Nobody claims this is a good idea when say, Pakistan has another rendition of "This is a Muslim state for the Muslims, nobody else wanted." So how's Israel doing this any better?

On fixing what needs to be fixed.

[green-man-2010.livejournal.com]

The way that Japan reacted to the recent earthquake inspired an OP on here recently, and it's amazing and inspiring to see the way that Japanese society has reacted so swifly and effectively to a disaster of this magnitude.

Yet, when we look at many areas of the world, they are still affected by another greater disaster - The Era of Colonialism. Let me explain a little about this. ( Read more... )

They keep this up the Onion will be out of business:

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

First it was advocating Nullification, a crisis that was settled in the 1830s: ( cut for the link-phobic )

Not to mention collective punishment for strikers:

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/23/buried-provision-food-stamps/

Seriously, what's gotten into the Republicans in Congress as of late? I mean Democratic stupidity tends to be more banal than trying to literally return to 1890s social issues:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/mar/10/utah-legislature-goes-gold-silver-legal-tender/

I love history, sure, but why exactly are people deciding in the 2010s to refight battles long-since settled politically? Did the GOP come down with Miniver Cheevy syndrome? I mean really, you can't even use Poe's Law anymore with stuff like this. Next thing you know people will be advocating returning the USA to the British as a new Dominion of the Empire.

To be absolutely sure about Rule 8-I really don't think any of this is a good idea and I think it all frankly is the kind of behavior that makes me think that guy in the tiger suit is more typical of members of Congress than people like to admit. And I might note that I'm cynical but even I wouldn't believe some of this stuff unless I saw it in the first place.

Learning "emotional culture"

[airiefairie.livejournal.com]

In order to be mentally healthy, one must have the ability to express themselves properly, and without fear and shame of revealing their feelings and thoughts. And the conventional wisdom goes that the better one expresses themselves, the better they will be understood by others, and the more success they will have in society. But of course the development of decent communication skills should start from a very, very early age.

( Some anecdata and then some questions )

To relate this to you folks, my question is this: Are you aware of similar programs and initiatives where you live, and how useful do you think they are? If you think they are necessary, in what form exactly would it be most appropriate that they should be carried out? And from what age? What about home-schooling? Can it substitute the social environment in class, particularly as far as the development of adequate social and communication skills is concerned? Or, after all, is this a worthwhile issue at all, or people are getting too carried away about it and the kids should learn these things naturally, from the family and their peers alone? Your thoughts are very welcome.

Learning the right lessons from the Fukushima disaster?

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

It is nearly two weeks since the combined forces of a 9.0 earthquake and following tsunami overwhelmed the safety systems at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power station...the news continues to unfold as workers keep trying to cool both the reactors and storage pools for waste and prevent ever more release of radiation. We won't know for some time yet how successful they will ultimately be, but with people advised to not let babies have tap water in Tokyo it is hard to escape the conclusion that matters could still get a lot worse.

( What are we supposed to conclude about the future of nuclear power? )