Archive of
Positive Commentaries
March 2007
Archived Positive Commentaries
Monday, March 5th 2007
California ’s Assemblymember Jared Huffman recently introduced bill AB 541, The Food and Farm Protection Act, which would establish California's only state laws related to genetic engineering (GE) in agriculture and protect California farmers, consumers, and the food supply. AB 541 protects California farmers and the food supply in four ways: 1) Establishes the right of farmers and landowners to compensation for economic losses due to genetic contamination of their crops; 2) Protects farmers from being sued by a GE manufacturer if their crop is contaminated by that company's GE product; 3) Establishes a county-level GE crop notification process so that farmers can trace contamination to the GE manufacturer; and, 4) Protects the food supply by prohibiting the open-field cultivation of genetically engineered food crops used to produce drugs and biologics such as hormones and antibiotics. According to an article published by the
Monterey Herald
, "...the bill would clarify who would be responsible for damages if there was contamination. With some limited exceptions, it would be the seed producer, chemical company, or other manufacturer paying for the genetically altered crop rather than the farmer growing it under contract." According to its sponsors, the bill has the support of many agricultural, environmental, health, faith and business organizations. And while local rice producers welcome the bill, Greg Massa, co-chairman of the Rice Producers of California, doesn’t know if it’s really enough. His group of 200 farmers wants a moratorium on genetically modified rice experimentation and production. ''We can't take the risk,'' Massa said. ''The report we just put out said pretty clearly that our customers don't want (genetically engineered crops) ....''
"In physical creation the Universe Son provides the pattern while the Universe Spirit initiates the materialization of physical realities. The Son operates in the power designs, but the Spirit transforms these energy creations into physical substances." (
The URANTIA Book
, p. 374) Respecting the designs of the Original Creator is the divine patent law that must be respected by all of humankind.
Monday, March 12th 2007
Writer and activist Karen Horst Cobb, in an article published by Common Dreams, states that she believes the time has come to reclaim the meaning of Christ’s message. She and thousands of others are planning to gather at the National Cathedral on March 16th and walk to the White House. She decries the calls to war as well as the prosperity gospel put out by many so-called Christian leaders, stating, "Rather than teaching compassion and grace, they lead followers to the economic theories of the free market and capitalism and glorify the empire’s conquests through military force." Cobb believes that Christianity is due for a reform founded on love in the face of fear. She writes, "Much like Martin Luther and the radical reformers of the Middle Ages the 'new age' Christian reformers will do the equivalent of nailing our thesis to the door the National Cathedral. A church or a cathedral should never be the place to pray for the destruction of others and to bless the dropping of bombs." She plans to post on the door of the nation’s cathedral the following tenets of her thesis:
The message of Jesus, even as the Cosmic Christ, continues to encourage humankind to recognize the Father-/Motherhood of the Creator and the subsequent brother-/sisterhood of humankind. Those who understand this teaching are indeed inspired work towards higher and united global community.
The URANTIA Book
(p. 2084) tells us that, "The call to the adventure of building a new and transformed human society by means of the spiritual rebirth of Jesus' brotherhood of the kingdom should thrill all who believe in him as men have not been stirred since the days when they walked about on earth as his companions in the flesh."
Monday, March 19th 2007
Amy Goodman, host of
Democracy Now!
, recently published a commentary on Carlos Arredondo who has been crisscrossing the country pulling a flag-draped coffin to honor his son who was killed almost 3 years ago in Iraq. He calls it his public mourning: "I want the caskets coming home to be very public. The government doesn't want you to see them." Carlos was recently in New York parked outside the military recruiting station in Times Square, where activists have established an "Endless" War Memorial. For six days last week, sunrise to sunset, hundreds of people take turns reading the names of the Iraq war dead?the roughly 3,200 U.S. military fatalities, the other "coalition" casualties, the journalists, and the 7,733 Iraqi names they were able to find. The organizers pointed out that there are hundreds of unnamed dead Iraqis for each of the thousands they have gathered (based on the British medical journal
Lancet
study estimating more than 650,000 Iraqi dead). Goodman writes that Carlos showed her the latest recruiting letter sent to his youngest and only surviving son Brian. It contains a fake red, white and blue credit card with Brian's name on it. It says: ’This is not a credit card. It is money in the bank.’ An earlier letter promises him a bonus of up to $20,000. What can you do with $20,000? A new car? Pay off credit cards? Help your family? ... 'Remember the decisions you are making right now will have a huge impact on how the rest of your life turns out.' According to Goodman, this is exactly why Carlos prays his son Brian will not join up.
The URANTIA Book
states on page 1088, "The kingdom of heaven is neither a social nor economic order; it is an exclusively spiritual brother-/sisterhood of God-knowing individuals. True, such a brother-/sisterhood is in itself a new and amazing social phenomenon attended by astounding political and economic repercussions." Promoting the concepts of peace and planetary brother-/sisterhood may help dissipate hatred and violence in the minds of those who are more war conscious.
Monday, March 26th 2007
Haider Rizvi, a reporter with OneWorld.net, recently wrote on demands by environmental activists and community groups for safe drinking water worldwide. Rizvi writes, "From Bangladesh to Burkina Faso and Mali to Mozambique, activists reminded the world [on March 22, UN-designated World Water Day] that there are still more than 1 billion people who have no access to safe drinking water and another 2 billion—one third of the world's population—without any access to adequate sanitation." According to Rizvi's article, the director general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Dr. Jacques Diouf, believes finding more effective ways to conserve, use, and protect the world's water resources is the challenge of the 21st century. And, according to those involved in global campaigns for clean-water access, diseases spawned by unsafe drinking water and inadequate sanitation can be prevented if appropriate and timely actions are taken by those who hold the economic and political power. "The world knows how to do it. What is lacking is funding and political will," said David Douglas, president of Water Advocates, a Washington, DC-based group lobbying for increased funding for water-access programs around the world. The URANTIA Book tell us (p. 824-825) that in the early history of our planet, the "sanitary arrangements of the Garden were far in advance of anything that had been attempted theretofore on Urantia[/Earth]. The drinking water of Eden was kept wholesome by the strict observance of the sanitary regulations designed to conserve its purity. During these early times much trouble came about from neglect of these rules, but Van [see The URANTIA Book, p. 759] gradually impressed upon his associates the importance of allowing nothing to fall into the water supply of the Garden." The "modern-day leaders" of today would do well to follow the true leadership example of Van and his understanding of the value of pure water.