By Richard Smoley

A few days ago I saw Persepolis, an animated film based on a graphic novel (or rather memoir) by a woman who grew up in Iran during the revolution. It's a fine piece of work, though I wouldn't recommend it if you need a few extra drops of sunshine in your life.

One thing that struck me was the hypermodest attire inflicted on the women of Iran by the inevitably tyrannical "revolutionary" regime. The West was denounced by the "revolutionaries" on the basis of its depravity, allowing women to run around in all sorts of provocative clothing.

It's true, of course: women in the West do run around in all sorts of provocative clothing, and standards have inexorably been relaxing more and more over time.

My question is, what exactly constitutes depravity here? Which is the more depraved society--the one in which women can run around in sexy clothing without fear of molestation or one in which women must shroud themselves in black robes and veils to protect themselves from the lusts of the men?

In a strange way, the permissive attire of the West attests to a remarkable level of restraint on the part of its citizenry. I certainly wouldn't argue that a woman in provocative (or for that matter modest) attire is safe in every conceivable circumstance in this country, but the level of safety is remarkable even by our own past standards. After all, in the U.S. a century ago, a glimpse even of a woman's ankle or calf was titillating and scandalous.

I'm really happy to have been able to view and review The Atheism Tapes. This two-DVD set presents itself as the "leftovers" of the "Brief History of Disbelief", which included interviews from Dennett, Dawkins, Arthur Miller, etc. But in reality this is far more than the set of "deleted scenes".

What is presented in The Atheism Tapes are jewels of knowledge -- rare and valuable. To say I learned something is an understatement, as each speaker presented an interesting view of the world and how religion & Atheism play their respective roles. The fact that they are further helping the Cause with this promotion is a cherry on top.

I loved this DVD, and I'm sure to watch it over and over again.

Buy the DVD!

by Mark Rowlands

What if there was a way of reducing global warming emissions by 18%? 18% is more than total percentage of emissions produced by all forms of transport. To do this, we would have to accept some small modifications in the way we lived but nothing too drastic in the great scheme of things. Wouldn’t you have thought the press would be all over this? Wouldn’t you have thought at least some politicians would be exhorting us to make these changes, and telling us that we owe it to future generations? But it’s well known how to reduce global warming emissions by 18%, and it has been well known since a United Nations report published in 2006. We stop eating meat. Just the news vegetarian Hummer drivers have been waiting for it seems.

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by Starhawk

Perhaps because I am again in the midst of teaching a permaculture course, I find myself thinking about dirt. What is more sacred than the living soil? That matrix of life, the complex underground ecosystem that grows our food. Soil rich in organic matter is a whole world of microorganisms, fungi, bacteria, insects, worms, roots minerals all interacting in a web of relationships that sustains life.

And yet how we denigrate the earth that feeds us! Anything that pertains to earth and ground--‘soiled’, ‘low’, ‘dirty’—is an insult. “High”, “Light”, “celestial”—the unearthly and disembodied are all positive terms.

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