Google helps SF homeless with free phone number and voicemail

Here’s an example of how corporations can help renew society:
Google Expands Free Phone Number and Voicemail Project
San Francisco Chronicle
February 28, 2008 4:40 PM PST
Google is partnering with homeless shelters in San Francisco to distribute free phone numbers and voicemail accounts to those without homes, the company said Wednesday…
Since the acquisition of Grand Central last [...]

Christian Satyagraha

What is Satyagraha?:  Satyagraha and Christianity
Mohandas Gandhi called his philosophy of social change by peaceful means satyagraha. The word is derived from the Indian words satya (truth) and graha (from the same Indo-European root word from which comes our ‘grasp’, ‘grab’, and ‘grip’).
Satyagraha is more than a philosophical system; it is a metaphysical [...]

Notes: On the unity of world religious culture

I recently ran across the following quote from 20th-century Christian author, C. S. Lewis in his book, The Abolition of Man. These remarks preface an assemblage of quotes that relate to what Lewis termed Natural Law, which he more or less equated with ancient Chinese term, the Tao:
The idea of collecting independent testimonies presupposes [...]

Notes: On how the people in America and in Gaza are brothers and sisters

On how the people in America and in Gaza are brothers and sisters
A logical proof:
1. I am an American currently living in the center of Brussels. Perhaps half of the dealings I have each day are with Muslims from countries like Morocco, Pakistan, and Turkey, whose shops I visit and whose services I use. [...]

Notes: the spiritual children of Abraham should not battle each other

Some entries in this blog are formal articles. Others, like this one, take more the form of working notes, outlines for later development, or ‘thinking out loud’. Some are complete, and some are just sketches. For now I will label such entries as ‘Notes’.
I am aware of and distressed by the [...]

Op-ed: Don’t March into Gaza

From the Los Angeles Times Op-Ed Section
Don’t march into Gaza
Only thorns and scorpions await Israel if it decides to invade that hostile territory.
By Amos Oz
February 15, 2008
Anger, frustration and invective are riling us. Israel must not fall into the trap that Hamas is setting for us — we must not march into Gaza. Because the [...]

America’s Malaise: What is the Real Problem?

In her Huffington Post blog, Middle-East expert and columnist Judith Kipper recently added an article titled “America’s Malaise“. She made some good points. At least it’s good to see someone explicitly addressing the problem. America does suffer from something – you can call it malaise, severe uncertainty, a crisis of confidence, [...]

Urbanization Crisis and Sustainable Transportation

Ran across this article at the World Resource Institute website:
SUSTAINABLE CITIES, SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION
From the article:
Urbanization - A Glimpse of the Future
“Cities continue to be seen as offering economic opportunity superior to what can be realized in the countryside. Urban migration takes place on such a scale that we now have a new category [...]

Redeeming Corporations and Renewing America

Recently AOL, whom I pay to host one of my websites, has begun treating its customers so badly it’s almost unbelievable. I won’t go into details, but the bottom line is that I need to find a new hosting service. The search led me to the company BlueHost.com, where, among other things, I [...]

Politics: Inner and Outer

A fairly little-known fact is that Plato’s Republic, a work often taught in government and political science classes, is really about psychology. If you read the Republic closely, you see that Plato (through the character of Socrates) introduces the ideal State as a metaphor for the human soul. The idea is to, using [...]