The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

No book in modern times has matched the uproar sparked by Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, which earned its author a death sentence. Furor aside, it is a marvelously erudite study of good and evil, a feast of language served up by a writer at the height of his powers, and a rollicking comic fable. The book begins with two Indians, Gibreel Farishta (“for fifteen years the biggest star in the history of the Indian movies”) and Saladin Chamcha, a Bombay expatriate returning from his first visit to his homeland in 15 years, plummeting from the sky after the explosion of their jetliner, and proceeds through a series of metamorphoses, dreams and revelations. Rushdie’s powers of invention are astonishing in this Whitbread Prize winner. Buy The Satanic Verses

L. Ron Hubbard, writer and founder of the Church of Scientology…

Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (13 March 1911 – 24 January 1986), better known as L. Ron Hubbard, was an American fiction and self-help writer, creator of Dianetics and founder of the Church of Scientology. He served during World War II as an officer in the United States Navy. Hubbard was a controversial public figure, with many details of his life disputed. The Church of Scientology official biographies present Hubbard as “larger than life, attracted to people, liked by people, dynamic, charismatic and immensely capable in a dozen fields”. However, the Church’s account of Hubbard’s life has changed over time, with editions of the biographical account published over the years differing from each other as new information came to light proving some claims to be inaccurate and many more false. Biographies of Hubbard by independent journalists and accounts by former Scientologists paint a much less flattering, and often sinister, picture of Hubbard. In many cases they contradict the material presented by the Church. (read more…)

Index of Forbidden Books (Index of Prohibited Books)

Created originally by Pope Paul IV in 1557, the infamous Index of Forbidden Books is a list of books which all Roman Catholics were prohibited from reading or even owning except under special circumstances and with ecclesiastical permission. This was a very serious prohibition because those Catholics who violated it could be punished with excommunication. Books were placed on this Index because they expressed ideas which were contrary to Catholic morals, contrary to Catholic teachings, contained theological errors, or in any way posed a threat to the power of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Enforcement of the prohibitions was given to the Sacred Congregation of the Inquisition of the Roman Catholic Church, later renamed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Updates to the Index were added regularly by either the Congregation or the Pope until its 20th edition in 1948. The Index of Forbidden Books was finally abolished in 1966 by Pope Paul VI because its existence and enforcement had become inconsistent with the growing spirit of free inquiry which had been promoted in the Second Vatican Council. It had also become quite evident that the prohibition simply wasn’t preventing Catholics from becoming aware of and even familiar with the idea that the Index was designed to suppress.
Source: About.com

Prometheus, the Titan who stole fire from the gods

In Greek mythology, Prometheus is the Titan chiefly honored for stealing fire from Zeus in the stalk of a fennel plant and giving it to mortals for their use.

For that, Zeus ordered him to be chained on top of the Caucasus.

Every day an eagle would come and eat his liver, but since Prometheus was immortal, his liver always grew back, so he was left to bear the pain every day.

He is depicted as an intelligent and cunning figure who had sympathy for humanity.

To this day, the term promethean refers to events or people of great creativity, intellect, and boldness.

Sajani Shakya: The Child Goddess From Nepal

Sajani Shakya is a very special 9 year old girl. She is a living goddess. In her country, Nepal, she is worshipped as the earthly manifestation of the Hindu goddess Kali. She is one of only about a dozen children selected for this honor and is in the US on a tour to promote a documentary film about the living goddesses of the Katmandu Valley.
Read More

Grace Lee Boggs, all time activist

“The struggle we’re dealing with these days, which, I think, is part of what the 60s represented, is how do we define our humanity?”
At 91, Grace Lee Boggs has been a part of almost every major movement in the United States in the last 75 years, including: Labor, Civil Rights, Black Power, Women’s Rights and Environmental Justice. (read more…)

The Gaza Strip

The Gaza Strip is a coastal strip of land along the Mediterranean, bordering Egypt on the south-west and Israel on the north and east. It is about 41 km long, and between 6 and 12 km wide, with a total area of 360 km². The territory takes its name from Gaza, its main city. It has about 1.4 million residents, all Palestinians.

The Gaza Strip is not currently recognized internationally as a de jure part of any sovereign country. The Strip itself and its population is currently governed by the Palestinian Authority, while Israel controls its airspace and offshore maritime access. The Gaza strip is still internationally considered to be Israeli-occupied territory.

The Strip’s borders were defined by the armistice lines between Egypt and Israel after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which followed the dissolution of the British mandate of Palestine. It was occupied by Egypt (except for four months of Israeli occupation during the Suez Crisis) until it was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. In 1993, after the Palestinian-Israeli agreements known as the Oslo Accords, much of the Strip came under limited Palestinian Authority control. In February 2005, the Israeli government voted to implement Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan for unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip beginning on August 15, 2005. The plan required the dismantling of all Israeli settlements there, and the removal of all Israeli settlers and military bases from the Strip, a process that was completed on September 12, 2005 as the Israeli cabinet formally declared an end to military rule in the Gaza Strip after 38 years of control. Israel also withdrew from the “Philadelphi Route” that is adjacent to the Strip’s border with Egypt after an agreement with the latter to secure its side of the border. (read more…)

Hellfire Caves Ritual

On Friday, November 10th, 2006 the Hellfire Caves in West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, played host to over 70 Pagans who hired it for the evening. For the first time in 250 years, the amazing tunnels and caves echoed once again to the sound of chanting and the rhythmic beating of drums. Many of the revelers traveled from other parts of the country, some coming hundreds of miles for the event.

Owned by the Dashwood family since the 1750s, the notorious Hellfire Caves are reputed to be the venue for wild parties, sexual licentiousness and the practicing of black magic. Sir Francis Dashwood who owned the estate at the time was a prominent member of fashionable society and was elected to Parliament in 1741. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1762-3, retiring after just one year following an unpopular budget.

From 1765 until his death, Sir Francis was joint Postmaster General and during that time he met American Benjamin Franklin with whom he became friends. Franklin appears to have visited the caves in 1770. In addition, Sir Francis was a founder member of the Dilettante society, which came to play a prominent role in the study of classical art. He was also a well-known Freemason and Masonic symbols together with those of Paganism are in evidence throughout the estate. Tales abound of Witches and Nuns together with the most prominent people in society, holding wild parties and orgies. (read more…)