Speedlinking 8/7/06

Good Monday morning to you all. Let's start the week with an observation from John Cage:

Value judgments are destructive to our proper business, which is curiosity and awareness.

And with that, we are off:

~ Stuart Davis grooves on the depth and span of Blackalicios. Stu knows music, so give it a listen.

~ Elza at Lebanon Rising argues that Syria will never allow for a free and prosperous Lebanon. She correctly interprets some of Syria's comments of late to mean they want a seat at the table when peace talks begin. The US and Israel have excluded them so far and are likely to continue to do so.

~ Mike at Unknowing Mind posts Flaws, Suffering, and Buddhism (Part 2), part 3 is coming tomorrow.

~ Katherine at Dating God was in a funk, but the emotions generated an insightful blog post.

~ Tom's Blogmandu has another cool roundup, including a list of the most linked-to Buddhist blogs. WoodMoor Village comes in at number one, with IOC and thinkBuddha tied for second. If Tom were being fully honest, Blogmandu would have been in the fourth slot.

~ Jeff Wilson at Tricycle Blogs informs us that in Japan, when children outgrows their toys, you can take the old dolls to the temple to be blessed and thanked before they are eventually cremated. Hmmm . . . seems kind of cool to have ritual like that for "the end of childhood."

~ Tom at Thoughts Chase Thoughts muses on the value of human life when there are so many of us -- and how to feel compassion for others' pain.

~ Colmar is grooving with Victor David Hansen, whom he sees as consistently second tier in his thinking. Mostly he seems to reject the mean green meme (MGM), or relativist post-modernism for those who don't do integral.

~ Anthony Judge at laetus in praesens offers Proportionate Response in the Eye of the Beholder, a rather fascinating look at the idea of proportionate response through history. Check this guy out -- he seems worth the time to read. Thanks to Bran for the link.

~ Steve Pavlina on Empowering Beliefs is another good post on personal development.

~ Ryan Oelke at Anxious Living offers a tip on Using Notecards as Cognitive Reminders.

~ David Byrne (yes, that David Byrne) reviews Jesus Camp, a new documentary that takes a hard look at the rise in fundamentalist religious indoctrination camps in America and the broader agenda of a literalist Christian nation.

They are getting these kids when they are 9-11 years old -- easily brainwashed because they want approval and acceptance, but not yet aware enough to question what they are being told.

Here is the Jesus Camp webiste. This film is going to generate a lot of buzz when people start to hear about it -- and Faux News will condemn it as anti-American.

~ Glenn Greenwald takes a look at the why the neoconservatives support Joe Lieberman and why the Democrats are right to reject him because of that support. Joe is going to lose the primary, and it'll be interesting to see what happens next.

~ Billmon at Whiskey Bar takes an in-depth look at the recent "peace treaty" for the Israeli-Arab war. This guy is smart, so take him seriously.

~ Howard Bloom was on with Art Bell last night -- have a listen here. Bloom is a brilliant man, so this was certainly a very good show. If you guys get to listen to it before I do, drop me a note about what you think.

That's all I have this morning. Time for me to go to work. Have a great day.

Howard Bloom Art Bell Billmon Glenn Greenwald Jesus Camp David Byrne Anxious Living Steve Pavlina laetus in praesens Anthony Judge Colmar Victor David Hansen Thoughts Chase Thoughts Tricycle Blog Blogmandu Dating God Unknowing Mind Lebanon Rising Stuart Davis Blackalicios John Cage