by Varda Branfman
My travels with Bob Dylan
When I was transitioning from childhood to adulthood in the late Sixties, Bob Dylan's songs were a lifeline. So much of my time was spent living in the box. I ate, breathed, and slept S.A.T. scores and college applications. I lived in a highly competitive world where I was expected to accomplish great things. And there were those Bob Dylan lyrics talking about the coming times when "the last would be first," about white doves that sleep in the sand, aut a Tambourine Man and other things that resonated with a place in me I was beginning to locate -- called my "inner world."
There weren't too many people who seemed to care about the existence of an inner world, but I didn't give up trying to find them. In my sophomore year of college, I noticed a lot about the inner world in the poems of the French Symbolists, especially in Rimbaud who also happened to be one of Dylan's favorites.
After graduating from college, I worked at a good job in television for two years. Then suddenly, I dropped out and moved to Maine. A number of factors contributed to ...   more »

A strong earthquake could soon rock Lebanon and parts of Israel, authorities said on Monday, urging health officials in northern Israel to make preparations for such an event.
"The probability of an earthquake of a magnitude of up to six on the Richter scale, originating in Lebanon and being felt in Israel has increased," the health ministry said in a letter sent to medical officials in northern Israel.
Since February, abnormal seismic activity has been noted in southern Lebanon, which had suffered some 500 minor earthquakes in a three-month eriod, health ministry director-general Avi Yisraeli said in the letter.
"In May, the tremors have become more intense and were felt in northern Israel," he said adding that "should an earthquake of such magnitude hit northern Israel it may cause substantial infrastructural damage in the area."
"All medical facilities and organisations must do everything they can to enhance the level of readiness," Yisraeli said in the letter published by the ministry on Monday.
Some seismological experts point out quakes historically have rocked the region every eight decades, and the last one was just about 81 years ago. About 300 people were killed in Jerusalem and nearby Jericho by the July 11, ...   more »

Majority of 65 MKs backs motion stating if government, Knesset approve ceding of Israeli land, decision will be brought to referendum within 180 days. MK Katz: Vote sends clear message to Assad that Israel will not cede Golan Heights
Amnon Meranda
A bill stating that a referendum will be held before the ceding of any land belonging to the State of Israel has been approved in its preliminary reading by the Knesset on Monday.
Peace Talks 
Defense minister voices uncertainty about volatile ceasefire with Hamas during trip to Paris, says direct negotiations with Syria unlikely in coming year without American intervention. Israel, he says, is 'ready to consider putting an end' to its control over the Heights 
The motion was approved with a majority of 65 MKs, and was opposed by 18. According to the bill, if the government approves the ceding of Israeli land the decision will be brought before the Knesset, and if it is approved by the Knesset, a referendum will be held within 180 days. However, should a withdrawal be supported by at least 80 MKs, the matter will not be brought to a referendum.
The bill refers to areas that Israel has full sovereignty over, ...   more »

Herb Keinon ,
Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, the two soldiers whose kidnapping on July 12, 2006, triggered the Second Lebanon War, are expected to be returned to Israel within 10 days as a result of Sunday's cabinet approval of a swap with Hizbullah.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in a dramatic statement to his ministers at the outset of a six-hour discussion on the deal, said the two men are almost certainly dead.
"As far as we know, the two soldiers - Udi Goldwasser and Eldad Regev - are no longer alive," he said. "As far as we know, they were killed during the kidnapping or died from their wounds soon after the incident."
Nevertheless, Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi came out squarely for the deal at the cabinet meeting, saying the nation owed it to do everything in its power to win its soldiers' return. Ashkenazi was one of a number of top security officials who briefed the ministers.
According to the resolution that was approved by an overwhelming majority of 22-3, Israel will receive Goldwasser and Regev, as well as a Hizbullah report on the disappearance of airman Ron Arad, captured in Lebanon in 1986, and ...   more »

Israeli flags line streets of London, Manchester during celebratory solidarity event marking Israel's 60th anniversary
Hagit KlaimanSome 45,000 people took part in the 'Salute to Israel' parade in Britain on Sunday, celebrating Israel's 60th anniversary. 
The parade, an annual staple in New York, was brought to the UK through the collaborative efforts of the Zionist Federation and the Israeli Embassy in London.
The parade set off from Piccadilly and ended in Trafalgar Square, with floats, decorated vehicles and a band escorting participants through London's streets.
Guests of honor at the rally in Trafalgar were Israeli Diaspora Minister Isaac Herzog, London Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and British Education Minister Ed Balls. 
Minister Herzog delivered a speech that touched on the Iranian threat and efforts to secure the release of captive Israeli soldiers Eldad Regev, Ehud Goldwasser and Gilad Shalit.
Israeli Ambassador to Britain, Ron Proser, also addressed the assembled crowd. "It warms our hearts to see thousands of blue and white flags filling London's streets," he said.
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