Rethos.com - eli's News Feed

You Been Beeped!

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 18:55:09 -0400

A hilarious video about predatory lending and why you should read the fine print. Brought to you by Americans for Fairness in Lending.

A Guide To Countering Mainstream Bias

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 13:14:01 -0400

I am a frequent critic of the mainstream media and their distorted coverage and analysis of world events. However, I am often criticized by my family and friends for not providing solutions to the problems I complain about. So, I thought I’d mix it up and publish a guide to countering Main Stream Media (MSM) bias. This is going to be a work in progress so I welcome any suggestions/contributions. Without further ado, here I go…

Clear Your Mind and Set Goals

This may be the most important step I can give you. Before you start reading articles and forming new...

Facebook under fire over targeted advertising

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:29:04 -0400

Excerpt:

Social networking site Facebook has announced it will increase its use of personal information to target advertising to individual members, despite privacy concerns among its 39 million users.

The California-based site will add new advertising features in coming weeks in an attempt to boost revenue.

Until now, Facebook has not allowed external websites to trawl its member database, which includes about 5 million UK users.

Owen Van Natta, the company’s chief revenue officer, said making advertisements more personal was a priority for Facebook...

As Alive As Elvis - The New Bin Laden Tape

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:48:07 -0400

Excerpt:

The video shows Bin Laden in his white hat, white shirt, and yellow sweater. This is the same clothing he wore in the 2004-10-29 video. In 2004 he had it unzipped, but in 2007 he zipped up the bottom half. Besides the clothing, it appears to be the same background, same lighting, and same desk. Even the camera angle is almost identical.

So here’s my question… If you were on the run through mountains on foot, would you be carrying around unnecessary clothing? No – you would only take the essentials. A fancy shirt and yellow sweater are not es...

Bush 'Kicking Ass' in Congress by Robert Parry

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:26:50 -0400

Excerpt:

As part of their ongoing surrender (or â€œvictoryâ€), congressional Democratic leaders also continue to mislead the public about the number of votes needed to challenge Bushâ€™s Iraq War policies.

Prominent Democrats, such as Sens. Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin, have argued that the party needs at least 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a Republican filibuster and 67 to defeat a presidential veto.

Since the Democrats control the Senate with only 51 votes and one of those is independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, a staunch neoconservative war s...

The Only Thing We Have To Fear

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 18:13:55 -0400

My fellow Americans,

In his first inaugural speech, FDR addressed the nation by saying that â€œthe only thing we have to fear is fear itself.â€ Although the phrase is widely popular today, when it was first spoken, the media largely ignored it, in favor of more substantive rhetoric. This was of course because FDR came to power in the midst of the Great Depression.

Today, the phrase is saturated, a historical remnant of our nationâ€™s past, reserved for gravestones, history classes, and shameless commercials. Howe...

My Challenge to Al Gore and Global Warming Celebrities

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:38:57 -0400

http://www.eliasfeghali.com – Al Gore and global warming celebrity activists need to start publicizing the effect of factory farming on climate change—or else they are nothing more than well intentioned but ignorant hypocrites.

Status Quo Christianity and the Iraq War

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 20:12:47 -0400

Here is an excerpt from a research paper I wrote about the role of mainstream Christianity in the lead up to the Iraq war:

Of all the major religious groups in the USA, evangelical Christians were the biggest backers of Washingtonâ€™s war against Iraq. The most enthusiastic of the evangelicals were white Protestants who supported the war at a rate of 80% [21]. More generally, some 69% percent of theologically conservative Christians favored military action against Baghdad; 10 percentage points more than the US adult population as a whole [22].
...

Speech on Nonviolence from Movie "Gandhi"

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 18:20:07 -0400

Great clip from the movie “Gandhi”

School Program Puts Peace Into Practice

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 19:03:08 -0400

When 12 students from across Rockland regrouped after a recent conference on peace, their laughter, applause, and friendships created a party-like atmosphere.

The issues they discussed, however, were serious.

From Aug. 20 to Aug. 23, they had joined six other Rockland students, ranging in age from 15 to 17, for the first ever R PEACE conference. The acronym stands for Rockland’s Peaceful and Educational Advocates Changing Environments, an intensive training event leading into a year of community service projects and to the spreading ...

Are Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich CraZy?

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 15:11:43 -0400

http://www.eliasfeghali.com – My response to people who think that Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich are nut jobs.

Time Article Criticizing Violent Protest

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 15:03:32 -0400

Must read article about why violence is ineffective as tactic for change. Here’s an except:

Nonviolence Is the Only Way For G-8 Protesters Lance Morrow

What does that death in Genoa mean?

Are Genoa, and the death of the protester Carlo Giuliani, to be remembered as the anti-globalizers’ Bunker Hill, or its Altamont?

The anti-globalization protesters have grown now into a permanent nomadic tribe â€” all wired, and indeed globalized, by Internet and cell phones â€” that follows the G-8 and the WTO and the other S...

A Brief History of Nonviolence

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 18:49:46 -0400

This is a great summary of the history of nonviolence in the 20th century. I highly recommend it.