A Simple Report.

From the Human Rights Watch: ” … Waterboarding. Mock executions. Forced nudity. Shackling wrists and ankles in painful,stress positions. Locking someone for days in a confined, dark,coffin-like box. Threatening people, naked and hooded, with power drills, rape, and death. Exposing human beings to continuous loud music and light. Depriving them of sleep. Threatening to harm a person’s family...”

Why of the 6,000-page report compiled by the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence only 525-page were released?

A report that detailed the actions of CIA officials.

A report that took over 5 years and 40 Million to be completed. $40 Million of our money.

Why?

What do You Think? The most influential books ever written (according to me)

 (the library of Melk Abbey)

Add yours if you like…

I. The Jewish Bible, by Various Authors

II. The Iliad, by Homer

III. The Odyssey, by Homer

IV. Corpus Aristotelicum, by Aristotle

V. The Republic, by Plato

VI. Analectus, by Confucius

VII. The Aeneid, by Virgil

VIII. The New Testament, by Various Authors

IX. The Quran, by Various Authors

X. The Guide for the Perplexed, by Maimonides

XI. Summa Theologica, by Thomas Aquinas

XII. Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri

XIII. Institues of Christian Religion, by John Calvin

XIV. Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World System, by Galileo

XV. Principia Mathematica, by Isaac Newton

XVI. The New Science, by Giambattista Vico

XVII. Encyclopedie, by Denis Diderot

XVIII. The wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith

XIX. Phenomenology of Mind, by G.W.F. Hegel

XX. On War, by Carl Von Clausevitz

XXI. Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and F. Engels

XX. The Origin of the Species, by Charles Darwin

XXI. Experiment on Plant Hybridization, by Gregor Mendel

XXII. War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy

XXIII. The Interpretation of Dreams, by Sigmund Freud

XXIV. Relativity, by Albert Einstein

XXV. I and Thou, by Martin Buber

XXVI. If This Is a Man, by Primo Levi

January 27,1945-2015. Keeping the Memory alive.

Let’s not forget. Not now, not ever.

 

A Decalogue for Peace (II)

 (Edward Hicks, The Peaceable Kingdom 1826)

1. Say you are sorry
2. Put yourself at the periphery
3. Be courageous
4. Trust. Even if it hurts
5. Be loyal
6. Take a chance
7. Understand who is different
8. Don’t judge
9. Show your hands
10. Again. Talk about Peace

I AM NIGERIAN (Not only Charlie)

Today  I am also Nigerian (Not only Charlie).

Boko-Haram left bodies scattered everywhere in villages around northern Nigeria, killing as many as 2,000 people.

I don’t know their names.

That’s why today I am also Nigerian.

I AM CHARLIE

Aujourd’hui Je suis français.

 

A Decalogue for Peace

1. Listen
2. Accept diversity
3. Learn
4. Learn how to laugh about yourself
5. Give
6. Be the last to leave
7. Break bread
8. Be kind
9. Be strong
10. Talk about peace

You Are My Sister

REYHANEH JABBARI, today you are my sister.

She was hanged by the Iranian regime for defending herself against who tried to rape her.

You are my sister, like all the women who have suffered because of men.

Considerations of a Tired Man

The world outside seems like a crazy merry-go-around.

Severed heads. Shattered countries. Helpless presidents. Girls are raped like it’s nothing – in India and Sudan it can seem like it’s endemic. And the world is silent.

Chaos. Do we even know what we are anymore?

Everyone’s yelling about something; we’ve learned to bark better than the dogs. And the dogs are abandoned like they are trash.

Suffering. Children are used as human shields; it’s happening now in Syria and not too long ago in Gaza.

The North hate the South. The South swears the North is a plague. The Whites kill the Blacks. The Blacks murder other Blacks -and sometimes Whites, too. Ninety percent of the world is starving. Elephants are nearly extinct and tigers are killed to make throw rugs.

Priests speak of God, but they turn their backs and leave the little nuns in Burundi to do the work that Christ has asked of us: to love one another.

And we’re all waiting for the iPhone 6.

Brevi Considerazioni.

Stanchezza.

Il mondo la’ fuori sembra una giostra impazzita. Teste tagliate. Paesi squassati. Presidenti impotenti. Ragazze che vengono violentate come se non fosse nulla e il mondo tace (parlo dell’India e del Sudan dove il fenomeno pare sia endemico).

Confusione. Ma lo sappiamo più’ chi siamo veramente? Tutti che strillano. Gli esseri umani hanno imparato ad abbaiare meglio dei cani. Questi vengono abbandonati come se fossero semplice spazzatura.

Dolore. Bambini che vengono usati come scudi umani (non stupitevi, accade in Siria e, poco tempo fa e’ successo a Gaza). Il Nord odia il Sud. Il Sud considera il Nord come la peste. Bianchi uccido i neri. I neri ammazzano i neri (e qualche volta i bianchi). Il novanta per cento del mondo fa la fame. Gli elefanti sono quasi estinti e le tigri vengono uccise per fare tappeti.

I preti parlano di Dio, ma gli voltano le spalle lasciando solo qualche piccola suora nel Burundi a fare il lavoro che Cristo ha chiesto: amatevi.

E tutti attendevano l’Iphone 6.