Inter-Culturalism

Reagan’s Refugees: Why Undocumented Migrants Have a Right to Work Here

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Undocumented migrants have a right to work here because they deserve economic reparations for failed U.S. economic policies and disastrous military interventions. We hardly need another symptom of the spiritual and social bankruptcy of the system, but this new Arizona law targeting and criminalizing undocumented migrants is a good example. You might know that Gov. Jan Brewer signed last week a new law that broadens police power to stop anyone at anytime for virtually any reason simply for looking suspiciously like an undocumented immigrant. It is supposed to take effect in August, but this is unlikely since it is probably unconstitutional and will face a barrage of court challenges. This Saturday, May Day, the traditional day for workers rights, more than 70 cities are planning protests against the law, and boycotts against Arizona are spontaneously spreading — as they should.

Politics & Society

How Spiritual Progressives Can Celebrate International Workers Day: Social Justice, Anarchists, and Stewart Acuff

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I once worked for a small greeting card company in Berkeley, piecework packing cards into plastic bags: $7 for a box filled with twelve-card bags. After a while, I became quite efficient and could fill almost two boxes in an hour. The owner, however, was outraged at what my hourly wage had become and moved to cut it. Clearly she had earlier decided she could afford $7 a box, but now, apparently, the idea of a mere worker getting a decent wage was more than she could stand. Disgusted and furious, I left as soon as I could find another job.

Environment

Earth Day 2010 in Wisconsin

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We had much to celebrate at “Earth Day at 40.” But, of course, we had much to concern us as well. The good news is that whenever we touched on “global weirding,” water rights, or any number of other environmental issues, someone at the conference offered ideas or solutions. These ranged from the most massive — a new electric grid across the United States — to the smallest and most local — digging up your lawn and planting raised beds with vegetables. And there was even better news — we all left the conference fired up to make a difference!

Politics & Society

The Divestment Debate on Israel/Palestine at UC Berkeley

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Debates continue to rage over the UC Berkeley Student Senate’s call for divestment from two companies that help Israel maintain the Occupation of the West Bank. The argument isn’t over yet, because — after failing to override student president Will Smelko’s veto of the Senate of the Associated Students of UC Berkeley’s divestment bill on April 15 — the student senate passed a motion to reconsider the vote. The student senators met again for a closed session on April 21 but failed to come to consensus about whether to override the veto, so the issue remains open. [4/29/10 Update: In a meeting that started on April 28 and concluded at 4 a.m. on April 29, the student senate came one vote short of overriding the veto. The resolution was reportedly tabled, making it available again for reconsideration at a future time.]
Rather than charge in with my own position, I want to respect the intelligence of Tikkun’s readers by offering a variety of conflicting viewpoints and inviting you all to decide what you think.

General News

Faith in Our Founders: Jefferson on Taxation

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When we look back to our ancestors, at least to Jefferson, we see an expectation for the rich to carry the financial burden of government. As we look today at a federal budget deficit that threatens our current financial security and international standing in the world, it is clear that Congress will have to raise taxes. And, since so much of the nation’s wealth is concentrated in so few hands, the rich will have to carry this responsibility.

Christianity

Getting the Catholic Church Right

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A terminal case of patriarchy or a vibrant source of love and revolutionary potential? In case you missed it, Nicholas Kristoff got the Catholic Church just right in his last column, “A Church Mary Can Love.” It’s both. (I’m hardly an expert but I was happy to ask one or two Catholics who are, whom I met today at an interfaith conference on global poverty at St Mary’s Catholic cathedral in San Francisco: they shared my pleasure at the column). On the one hand, says Kristoff:
The Catholic Church still seems stuck today in that patriarchal rut.

Environment

Why Krugman is wrong about our economy's resilience

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I need to say more than I said yesterday about what is deeply wrong with this statement of Krugman’s:
If ours were a preindustrial, primarily agricultural society, extreme climate change would be obviously catastrophic. But we have an advanced economy, the kind that has historically shown great ability to adapt to changed circumstances. But first, I don’t want to be a doom-monger or to have Tikkun Daily too associated with predictions of doom. For reasons I don’t understand, but that are deep in Christian culture especially, European cultures have a strong affinity to predictions of doom. These seem to me to be connected to a dark view of human nature, as embodied in the Christian doctrine of original sin (which is not held by Jews or Muslims).

Environment

Is Krugman's "Building A Green Economy" Too Optimistic?

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There seems to be general praise from environmental blogs for Krugman’s major article on the economics of dealing with climate change in last Sunday’s New York Times. Krugman accepts the climate scientists’ consensus about the dangers of global warming and argues that it will actually be relatively cheap to prevent the worst of it happening. It’s been a hard week for me to do any research on this, with getting our next issue to press. So I haven’t had time to hunt around much and find anyone else having the same reaction I did to the article. Which was: Do Krugman and I live in the same planet as regards the effects of a nine degree rise in temperature by 2100?

Politics & Society

Dear Taxpayers, Thank you!

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Two weeks ago, my father’s dementia worsened and his legs seemed to be swelling up so I called his local VA clinic and they got me in to see a nurse practitioner the next day. She didn’t like the looks of things so she ordered a bunch of tests and asked me if I could head up to the VA Hospital in SF to get a sonogram. 45 minutes later he had the sonogram, all the other blood and urine tests, and we were waiting in the pharmacy for a prescription. Someone called out my name and I walked over thinking it was time to pick up Dad’s drugs. “The nurse practitioner called and said she thought it would be good for your father to get a chest X-ray too, could you go upstairs right now and get one?”

Earth-based Religions

Permaculture and Paganism (3) — An Interview with Starhawk

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Permaculture is a movement whose time has arrived. We’re all concerned about “global weirding” (climate change), and according to Starhawk, permaculture offers a set of simple solutions to this problem. In my last post (and the accompanying video), Starhawk talked specifically about how permaculture would sequester carbon in the soil. Carbon Farmers of America is a group that’s taking this issue seriously. Star explained that they’re funding research to discover the best practices for large-scale building of soil and paying farmers for every ton of carbon dioxide they capture in new topsoil by marketing carbon sinks to the public to fund the work.