Politics & Society

How We Survive: Resisting Foreclosures

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After reading several of Dave Belden’s posts about his experiences trying to help save a local family from losing their home to foreclosure, I’d been on the lookout for ways to help. This week, my friends at Making Contact, an international radio program, are focusing on the foreclosure crisis and with their permission I’m pleased to make their broadcast available right here at Tikkun Daily. Click here to listen to the program (or right-click to download it to your computer). Here’s all the information about this program from our friends at Making Contact:
How We Survive: Resisting Foreclosures
It’s been a couple of years since the mortgage crisis first broke. And there is little to indicate that the financial picture will be improving anytime soon.

Health

Follow Up on G-d Please Protect Me from the Government Health Care My Father Gets

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A while back I wrote a post about the incredibly wonderful health care my father receives from the VA. I got a lot of comments on that post, including questions about the disease afflicting my father and the medication that caused his condition to worsen. I write this new post with two thoughts in mind. Government health care can be superb and Americans need to know that the United States government can do, and does do, an excellent job caring for our veterans through the VA and for our senior citizens through Medicare. (Yes, I know the VA is far from perfect, but my experience with them has been fantastic.)
There’s a disease out there that is often mis-diagnosed and being put on the wrong medication can and does kill people. I want folks to know about this disease so that they can protect themselves and their loved ones from being put on the wrong medication.

Health

Narisula for President – Health Care for All?

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In 2002, a young Afghan boy named Nasrulah (we called him Narisula) taught me a lesson in government as we sat in the rubble-strewn mess that served as his home. The Afghans were in the midst of holding a Loya Jurga, a gathering of leaders of tribes, villages and cities across the country, who in a huge tent in Kabul would set the new direction for the country. We were there as part of an interfaith peace delegation, organized by Global Exchange. Months earlier, the Taliban had fled under the onslaught of coalition bombs. Narisula had become the victim of a U.S. cluster-bomblet that had not exploded on impact, and awaited him and his cousin on their way to school.

Christianity

A CIA Analyst Who Used to Give White House Morning Intel Briefings Speaks About Torture

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Ray McGovern is one of my biggest heroes. In the crazy lead-up to the Iraq war he was one of the leading voices questioning the “intelligence” the Bush White House was using to justify invasion. He led an organization called “Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity” and his organization was right about virtually everything they said was wrong with the White House’s “evidence” against Iraq. In the photo to the left, he is holding the infamous “Torture Memos” from the Bush Justice Department, which he urged participants in a recent anti-torture conference to read, after which he assured those assembled, they would need to take a long shower or bath. McGovern was one of President Ronald Reagan’s intelligence briefers from 1981-85; he was in charge of preparing daily security briefs for Reagan, Vice President George H.W. Bush, the National Security Advisor, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Cabinet.

Inter-Culturalism

Resources to Help Build Relationships Based on Success Between Palestinians and Jews

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Two amazing people with whom we have luckily connected along our journey at Reach And Teach are Len and Libby Traubman. Their dedication to building a more peaceful and just world through dialogue and engagement has inspired us immensely. Here’s how they describe themselves on their web site:
The Traubman family resides in San Mateo, California. Len is a pediatric dentist, retired after 35 years in his practice of dentistry for children in San Francisco. Libby, a retired clinical social worker, is a trustee of the Foundation for Global Community – formerly Beyond War – which they helped launch in 1982.

Culture

Is this heaven?

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As I (the Russian/Gypsy/Gay/Jew) stood with my Armenian-American friend Julie next to my Asian-American life-partner Derrick, and looked out across the park at boys, girls, men, women, old, young, every color of the rainbow and every hue in between, dancing together, eating together, playing together, laughing together….. I wondered, “Is this heaven?” Of course the line came to me from the wonderful movie Field of Dreams, where Kevin’s long-dead baseball-loving father comes out of the corn fields onto the baseball field his son has built in the middle of nowhere, and seeing the wonderful field asks “Is this heaven?” “No, it’s Iowa.” Well I was having my Field of Dreams moment.

Judaism

Why Jews Should Consider Vegetarianism

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In the July/August issue of Tikkun Magazine, which you can pick up at your favorite local independent bookstore or order from the Tikkun web store, Daniel Brook writes about why Jews should seriously consider becoming vegetarians. Rabbi Michael Lerner thought we should add a little something beyond Daniel Brook’s powerful writing and so we are presenting here two video segments provided by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Our thanks to Philip Schein at PETA for helping us get these on the web. [include-page id=”804″]