ACCEPTANCE IS THE KEY TO SERENITY

"If you think yourself too wise to involve yourself in government, you will be governed by those too foolish to govern." Plato

When they are exposed to what Jesus actually preached, many ignorant so-called "Christian Conservatives" cry "Communism". Ray Dubuque LiberalslikeChrist.org Please check out this amazing site, which explains where the religious wrong got their ideas. Read about slavery in the south, and how this is the model they are going for. This is an amazing website by a minister who says exactly what every good Christian knows: Christ had the values of liberals, definitely not conservatives. But you have to read how they distort the bible, and quote Paul of Tarsus over Jesus of Nazareth. Now I get it; they are not interested in Christ's teachings at all!

Drewl said: "Did anyone happen to see Tom Delay's comments the other day about "the enemies of virtue" who are out to destroy Christianity? He said this at a conference called, I kid you not, "War on Christians". What is with these people? The hypocrisy is incredible. If anything, these people are destroying what Christianity is supposed to be about. Sad."

You're right Drewl, I don't recognize Christ's teachings AT ALL in the religious right. In fact, they preach the exact opposite of what Christ taught. The hardest thing in the world is to love these people, these "enemies" who have so perverted The Great Peacemaker's teachings and mission. But that is what we are called to do: see them as children of God and forgive them, for they know not what they do. They are persecuting Christ all over again, on a daily basis. But the truth, the Christ consciousness, is resurrected every day and we have to go forward spreading the truth: "Blessed are the Peacemakers, bless those who persecute you; love your enemies, love your neighbor as yourself... BUT THAT DOESN' T MEAN NOT POINTING OUT CORRUPTION WHEN YOU SEE IT. Christ called the corrupt leaders of HIS day, "A brood of vipers!"

PORN AND THE RAPTURE: To My Last post's "Anonymous": Do you know who is responsible for the porn in America, and the incessant attention to Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, Pam Anderson and Paris Hilton? The conglomerates who make money off selling sex-appeal and TV ratings: and they are CONSERVATIVES. There are not many liberals who pander to the homogenized pop-culture, nor to the "ratings" of reality series. The big thinkers like David Kelly "Boston Public" and Paul Haggis "Crash" are liberals; they win awards for deeper-themed art. By the way, many protestants do not believe in the rapture; and certainly not the one designed by Tim LaHaye in the Left Behind books. This is an arrogant, self-serving construct meant to exclude people, and it is preposterously un-Christian.

I am so angry most of the time about the war, the needless deaths, the corruption of our government, the environment, global warming, the lackadaisical attitude in Washington, the powerlessness of the Democrats. How can Bush get away with so many crimes, such unconscionable lack of wisdom or care!? What is a public servant anyway? Isn't he supposed to serve the people? But the anger I am carrying around is not healthy. There must be a better way. And there is. The serenity prayer is amazing: "Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." If you can get to acceptance, really accept whatever is going on, no matter how tragic or bizarre, then you can dwell in the present moment - and that's where the key to peace lies. With peace, solutions come.

My husband and I have just been betrayed by a "friend" who is trying to steal his investment in a book he published. She is also going to the author of the book and trying to steal his book rights. This woman (and the people who are influencing her) are operating soley from greed, and after a few days of crying and thinking the worst of them, I realized that I must not fight my enemies. I must see the good in Julie and in these people, and the good will rise. This is a principle, a law of the universe. It is also the Christ truth. After praying about this yesterday, I suddenly picked up one of my favorite books by Wayne Dyer, "You'll See it When you Believe It" and I turned to page 151, and here was a solution to most of my current problems: "Whatever you are currently against can be restated and rethought so as to promote abundance in your life. Everything you are against blocks you from abundance. EVERYTHING! If you are against terrorism and war, you become part of the problem. You are one more soldier fighting for what you believe in. And fighting always weakens you and brings more scarcity into your life. Instead of being AGAINST terrorism and war, try being FOR peace. Once you are for peace, you will start directing your thoughts and consequently your actions in that direction. You will become a peacemaker (or environmental problem-solver) simply by not being against anything. This may sound like semantic juggling, but it is much more than that. Once you are focused on something that you FAVOR, you will expand that in your life. Whatever you tend to be against puts you right into a fighting mold, and expands dissension in your consciousness."

When it comes to Bush & Co, I have not quite gotten to acceptance yet. Watching Bill Maher last night, I had forgotten how mad I was at bush for his deliberate snuffing of the truth about global warming. He actually hired an oil magnate as part of his staff to quash Hansen's scientific evidence that we have only 10 years left to turn it around.

I know for a fact that what you focus on GROWS. Whatever we negatively dwell on, worry or obsess about, stays in our life and becomes more and more of a catastrophe. This is not Pollyanna optimism; it's actually detaching from the worry and placing it in God's hands. Whether you believe in God or not, it doesn't matter; this is actually scientific. Thought is energy and power. Fear attracts like energy. When you radiate peace and love you attract peaceful and loving people, solutions, ideas. Maybe it's not as sexy as fighting (hence the proliferation of hate-speak, reality shows, Jerry Springer and Ann Coulter) — but it actually heals the situation. It works like magic. By the way, God is the force of love: and this power is greater than any other. I know here on this website, fighting really gets people going and it is very addictive and exciting — and sometimes by duking it out you can hear your point of view better or formulate solutions. But I am wondering what people have to say to "higher consciousness" for a change. And by the way, if you are an old-fashioned fire and brimstone Christian, these concepts are harder to understand. It takes a "spiritually open mind" to grasp what Christ really came here to tell us when he said, "You can move a mountain with faith (of a mustard seed.) But remember, the bible was written about flawed, desperate, imperfect people who needed healing. No one was perfect, and we have to remember that about our president too. We must see him with God's eyes: as a man in need of our loving prayers (as hard as that is to stomach!)
Love & more later .. and GO DIXIE CHICKS!! They have a great new song out, and they aren't backing down.
Lyd

I THINK I AGREE WITH THE SOFTER SIDE OF BUSH

I believe we should NOT make it a felony for the undocumented workers already in America, especially for the families who have been here for so many years. This might spark a backlash, a revolution of sorts, to say the least. But for once, I think bush is right: a guest worker program would be a gentler approach and also ease the "sneaking across the border" crimes which often end in bloodshed and tragedy. I'm not saying Bush is doing this for the right reasons; I still believe his motives are to help corporations get cheap labor. but at least I agree with his softer approach. Frist is a self-serving person who has an eye on the presidency and is also fear-based, FF.

Another view: Clif says to be wary of games the right are trying to play with imigration. Seems the newly found Immigration problem is another diversion tactic to bend attention from the Iraqi fiasco and the CENSURE issue and the DUBAI PORTS issue.
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Immigration_memo_intended_for_Rove_arrives_on_Demo_0919.html
Pay special attention to the passage "Liberals can easily and accurately be painted as opposing enforcement."

What do you think? Open thread.

From the L.A. Times today: Did you hear about the FBI spying on "peace, environmental and anti-war groups? They actually have files on "people who serve vegetarian meals to the homeless." They can't find Osama Bin Laden, but God forbid you care about the homeless, care about the land - you are a dangerous traitor to the pro-war movement. When did goodness become so perverted? When did it all turn around? Why is it patriotic to support death and destruction? We need separation of church and state. No good Christian could align himself with the party in power of today. I may regret these words, but I'm seeing a lot of greed, even in "friends" of mine. You know who you are.

KOUFAX FINAL ROUND

Support our troops by bringing them home.
Question for open thread: do you believe Congress will pass this new law that makes it a felony to be in America as an immigrant? Are we becoming what I think we're becoming? Please comment on the immigration laws and the borders.

I just found out by accident that we are a Koufax Award Finalist for "Best Post" for my article on Brad Blog. There are 10 finalists chosen out of hundreds, I think. I'm very grateful, but part of me wants to go hide rather than ask you again to vote one last time. If you are so inclined, you can go to: Wampum just scroll down to the bottom and type a comment in the comment section, just type in my name or Brad Blog or the article title: "Death is Sexier Than Sex to Ann Coulter" Thank you, love Lydia

Just did the wonderful Keith Murphy show on XM Radio visit theUrbanJournal.org

I have spent too many nights crying for our troops and the children of this war — but suddenly it became clear that we are not powerless — compassion is a form of prayer, and this "hell" is giving us two choices: love or fear Like Viktor Frankl in the concentration camp; he overcame torture through the power of love, his focused attention on love, which is prayer. Each human life is precious, no matter what tribe, and we must pray for our planet and each other. If you don't believe in God, substitute the word LOVE; dwell on love for your fellow man, and love will be reflected back. Love will rise. I write left-wing political commentary combined with spiritual growth. Like Al Franken's book The Truth, With Jokes, mine is a new kind of "political spiritual therapy comedy". with snacks.

Last week's article "Bush's last Will and Testicle" was just published and you can find it in Macon, Georgia News and in various news/opinion columns on the web.

I have more some startling news coming tomorrow ...

You can read the article that was nominated here: Cornell's BradBlog article Death Is Sexier than Sex

WE HIT 1,000 POSTS! * BUSHIANITY by John Conley

Always remember, every moment is a choice between LOVE AND FEAR.

********************************************************
On the TV show America's Top Model, one of the contenders, Danny said: "I'm uber-conservative: I don't like gay people. I don't like Muslims. I don't like abortions. I don't like anything liberal. But, other than that-I really like to get along with people... Read more below in Open Thread #2 about Democrats and moral values.

How on earth does the right-wing get away with defining Democrats as "Unpatriotic Godless Abortionists"? This reminds me of Ann Coulter shouting out to a boy with a soft voice in her audience last week,"Hey gay-boy..." And yet Coulter still went on FOX the other night with Hannity and Colmes and was treated as a respected pundit and "thinker".

Are we living in America in the 21st century? Is this how we have devolved? Bigoted hate-speak swirled off Danny girl's tongue as easily as the Pledge of Allegiance. Bashing liberals has become second nature to right-wingers; sort of like the Islamic Fundamentalists who rock and bow and repeat ungly mantras from the Koran. This Danny girl must have learned to recite "I don't like gays, I don't like liberals... the way she learned the Ten Commandments. BY THE WAY, WAKE UP CHRISTIANS: The Ten Commandments are from the Old Testament; why are you so obessesed with putting these up on government buildings and not Christ's SERMON ON THE MOUNT?

She must hear her parents and A.M. talk-radio (90% of all radio stations are owned by right-wing monopoly!) This is a dangerous sign. It's anti-American, un-Christian elitist brainwashing. For this girl to think it's "a good thing" or it's "Christian" to brag about disliking an entire category of fellow Americans, is the exact mindset of the Hitler Youth. This is an insidious form of brainwashing and what is so disturbing is that this contestant thinks her "speech" will help win her a modeling contract, as if these are good values! For one thing, she will never have a good hair-day; all the hairdressers in the modeling world are gay! I guess it's not very Christian of me to judge her by pointing this out, as all my good Christian Ann Coulter fans point out in their hate-mail.

This blog is a 2005 Koufax Award Double Nominee!! Voting closed yesterday. It is an honor to be nominated. Now it's time to change the world. Thanks to everyone who nominated us, and check out this wonderfully generous website Wampum and all the nominees.

Please visit RANDI RHODES website for HABITAT FOR HUMANITY and donate. She is the host of Air America who is doing amazing things to help rebuild after Katrina. See links to the right.

I discovered a couple of great websites that deserve wider recognition VOTE FOR THEM TOO at Wampum! :

SimplyLeftBehind

and

FaithfulProgressive

When I get home later I'll post links. Also, BRADBLOG is the best for the VOTER SCANDALS. Brad is a tireless reporter and deserves support. He has single-handedly busted Diebold in several states. I also love John Amato's CROOKS and LIARS! And I want to express my thanks to all the commenters on this blog who pushed us over the 1,000 mark from zero to a thousand posts in less than a week.

OPEN THREAD... or here are some ideas:

#1. Senator Joe Biden or John Edwards: which would make a better Democratic candidate for President? If Edwards gets strong and forceful, I think he has the values that middle-America wants. I like him.

#2. Question: Do you think Democrats need to start framing our campaign more towards true moral and Christian values (the ones the right-wing ignores) such as "taking care of the 'least of these' and bringing the dialogue back to poverty, medicare, health insurance, raising minimum wage, veterans benefits, alternative fuels, environment — and reframing the argument to show that these are true Christian values, not the bizarre obsession with abortion and homosexuality.

#1. Cheryl Seal Port Deal 'Pull Out' Is PHONY - Dubai Will STILL Be Owner

"The new entity is supposed to have an American board and American managers, but the ownership was still questionable. Or, as New York's Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer observed, "the devil is in the details." If DP World is in fact merely planning to put its U.S. assets under a U.S.-managed subsidiary with oversight from a U.S.-staffed board, it would be following in a long line of foreign suppliers of defense technology to the U.S.

"This looks like a variant of that," says Clyde Prestowitz of the Economic Strategy Group in Washington. "
http://www.forbes.com/home/logistics/2006/03/09/dubai-ports-divests-cx_daa-0309autofacescan12.html

Compare this to the intentionally vague and misleading AP: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/terror/20060309-1223-portssecurity.html

Fortunately, not everyone in Congress is a clueless cluck. Rep. Peter King (NY) wasn't so quick to swallow the bait and said he would reserve any celebrations until he saw the details of the deal. And he's wise to wait - one of the warning signs was Bush brown-noser Bill Frist's too-quick observation: This[alleged pull out of DPW]should make the issue go away."

#2. The woman who got fired from her job for having a "PROGRESSIVE TALK 11.50 AM Radio" bumper sticker on her car. Her boss said, "For all I know you could be Al Quaeda..."

#3. This from NPR and HUFFPO: Sandra Day O'Connor Warns Of "Beginnings" Of Dictatorship... Slams Tom DeLay, Sen. John Cornyn... NPR | March 10, 2006 at 12:00 AM FROM HUFFPO...

NPR's Nina Totenberg aired an amazing story this morning about a talk that just-resigned Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor gave at Georgetown University. The first woman to serve on the High Court wouldn't allow her actual words to be broadcast, and that's a shame, because -- based on Totenberg's report -- every American needs to hear what she said. The Reagan appointee who became a moderate and an American icon -- Bush v. Gore notwithstanding -- all but named names in thinly veiled attacks on former House majority leader Tom DeLay and Texas Sen. John Cornyn, and ended with a stunning warning. O'Connor told her Georgetown audience that judges can make presidents, Congress and governors "really really mad," and that if judges don't make people angry, they aren't doing their job. But she said judicial effectiveness is "premised on the notion that we won't be subject to retaliation for our judicial acts." While hailing the American system of rights and privileges, she noted that these don't protect the judiciary, that "people do".... more at HuffPo


My hero and good friend JOHN CONLEY, Marine combat vet, wrote this to me this morning: "Bushianity, a new religion"
"A couple of years ago Osama Bin Laden was shown in a news report giving a speech, but the reporting of what he was saying was scant, except in general, home-spun terms. Lydia, I'd bet my life that Bush not only didn't know the content of the speech, but didn't want or care to know!

I'll admit, though, up to that point I was guilty of this same indifference concerning anything any Al Queda sympathizer had to say, let alone Osama Bin Laden. But...his particular day I found myself curious about what this psycho Bin Laden had to say for himself, so I went to my computer and found the English translation of Bin Laden's entire speech.

Yes, he's a murderer and a viscious war criminal, but much of what he said in that speech was very revealing about the true core of hatred these particular Muslims harbor for the West. Dare I say that I had a measure of understanding concerning some of the points made by Osama?

I felt no sympathy for him, for sure, nor any of the other criminal-crazies in that bunch, but some of what he had to say caused me to believe that this chasm between them and us can eventually be bridged with careful, intelligent, reasoned and persistent diplomacy. Are not our men and women fighting this war today and the fresh memories of those injured and fallen not at least worth the attempt?

By now it should be clear to everyone that this perpetual, "bring-it-on" style of diplomacy is going to require more and more U.S. blood and treasure in GW's never ending search for this mythic John Wayne legacy he lusts for.

Allow me to go out on this limb just a little further.....I could actually envision discussions with a Bin Laden-type in an attempt to bring the two sides together, or at least to a point where we have a better understanding of each other. At the least we might expect mutual understanding to lead to a truce of sorts. (Upon the keywording by the FBI and interception of this email I can imagine being wrestled to the ground and arrested as an "enemy combatant".)

Bush and Bin Laden have both sealed their individual legacies as international, murderous bullies, but we can pray that someone wise will emerge from each side with the understanding and Truth that is so plainly revealed in Proverbs 16:7 (KJV) which says: When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. Powerful, huh?"
there is more to this piece, I will post it later..." (from John Conley)
God Bless you all...
Lydia

CRASH BEST PICTURE! * LIBERALS HAVE AMERICA'S VALUES AT HEART

News Alert 1:58 p.m. ET Thursday, March 9, 2006
Dubai Firm Gives Up Stake in U.S. Ports
The United Arab Emirates company that was attempting to take over management operations at six U.S. ports announced today that it will divest itself of all American interests. The announcement appears to head off a major confrontation that was brewing between Congress and the Bush administration over the controversial deal.


Silence is complicity. I love America, but there is something very wrong going on here. I felt it in the pit of my soul, immediately after the last election; and all good people (who didn't have blinders on) knew the truth. Looking into Bush's eyes, I knew this was an impostor, a man with absolutely no true Christian values, no interest in the lives of real Americans or middle-Americans, or the working class or the poor. People in the South said "he looks like a guy I'd like to have a beer with at a barbeque." Love casts our fear, but this man has done nothing but create fear, anger, destruction, bankruptcy, suspicion, divisiveness, mistrust, embarrrassment, terrorism and death. And he doesn't ever seem deeply sad or apologetic or mortified over causing so many deaths, so many coffins, so much anguish. He seems to lack emotion, intelligence, depth and pathos. How on earth did this person become the leader of the free world? The people who are behind this administration have usurped our precious freedoms for their self-serving, anti-American agenda and should be ashamed of themselves.

For people who care about a free America, the country our parents' generation fought to protect — the single most important issue is reforming our election process and realizing there has been CRIMINAL VOTER FRAUD in the last election. This is not some conspiracy theory, it's a fact. WAKE UP! No one seems to take this seriously, but I urge you to go to BRADBLOG and read about Diebold being busted in several states for having illegal infrared data ports in the back of machines to switch votes — as well as known voter suppression. Diebold is being sued right now.) And the single most important book on this is Mark Crispin Miller's FOOLED AGAIN: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election & Why They'll Steal the Next One Too. This is a chilling account of Bush-right-wing election fraud.

LEGAL PROCEEDINGS LAUNCHED AGAINST DIEBOLD IN FLORIDA! COMPLETE STORY:
BRADBLOG

Also, from late last night if you missed it...
'Moscow Times' Covers Diebold, Crumbling American Electoral System
The World is Watching... BRADBLOG

We no longer live in a Democratic nation, but if we are true Americans we will not tolerate this immoral, corrupt idiotic administration — nor will we allow the current right-wing stay in power any longer. We all know these militant, war-mongering fake "Christians" and greed-driven global capitalists are not true conservatives, nor are they true Americans. WAKE UP! It has taken far too long to get anyone to take this issue seriously, and it may be too late for the next elections, unless we act now on voter reform. We need to insist on paper ballots, among countless other things.

I asked my friend Doug Basham what he thinks of a possible Bush impeachment. (Basham of Progressive Talk Las Vegas, one of the best radio stations in the nation. Doug is so GOOD he should run for Congress.) Here's what he wrote to me last night: Dear Lydia, As for an impeachment, probably unlikely unless Democrats take back the House this November, and develop a spine and conscience in the process. I've read reports that Dems are leery of pushing for an impeachment because of the backlash Republicans experienced after their impeachment of Clinton (I guess they don't see the difference between lying about a semen stain and lying a nation into war?!?!) There are many smaller, grass roots-type impeachment movements around the country, plus one in congress. Problem with the one in congress: only 26 Democratic Congressmen/women out of over 200 have signed onto it. And even if all 200+ Democrats did sign onto it, the Republican controlled House wouldn't even entertain the thought of an impeachment. You would think that with Bush at 34% approval rating; the new video that shows he lied re: Katrina; the resistance from his own party re: the Dubai ports deal; and the illegal NSA eavesdropping program, the Democrats would be jumping all OVER this guy. And yet, they remain reluctant to endorse Bush's impeachment. Strange. Take care. Doug

GANDHI: You assist an evil system most effectively by obeying its orders and decrees. An evil system never deserves such allegiance.
Allegiance to it means partaking of the evil. A good person will resist an evil system with his or her whole soul.

Always remember: Every moment is a choice between LOVE AND FEAR.

Thank you so much for voting! I love you guys; and without you we couldn't come up with such amazing solutions to the world's crisis; I have never seen the level of intelligence from commenters in any other blog. But Please vote in both categories, especially for Best Post. Thank you!

This blog is a 2005 Koufax Award Double Nominee!! VOTING IS OPEN FOR THE KOUFAX AWARDS. BEST NEW BLOG voting at: Wampum

BEST POST for my BRADBLOG article: Death is Sexier than Sex) VOTE HERE: Wampum

Also, vote for BRADBLOG as best blog. Thanks to everyone who nominated us, and check out this wonderfully generous website WAMPUM and all the nominees. BEST NEW BLOG 2005 Koufax Award Nominee LydiaCornell.com
You can read the article that was nominated here: Cornell's BradBlog article Death Is Sexier than Sex, to Ann Coulter

Everyone - please read DEVIL'S GAME, a GREAT BOOK by my friend Robert Dreyfuss, investigative journalist for Rolling Stone, The Nation and Mother Jones.


Number One on the agenda is to unify the Democrats and win back Congress. But we have to redefine the word "liberal" which is one of the most beautiful words in the English language -- and has been smeared by right-wing propagandists and AM talk radio. Liberal means "generous, bounteous, open-handed, tolerant." Liberals actually have true Christian values without even knowing it at times! I've never met a liberal who didnt' want to do good things in the world. And I agree with Rabbi Michael Lerner and Rev. Jim Wallis --Christ mentions "taking care of the poor" as one of our main obligations. How to get rich: Give to the poor. This is the spiritual principle of abundance.

Took a couple of days off from writing and went to see Brokeback on Friday morning. Question: how many of you GUYS (and girls) saw Brokeback Mountain? How many of you are still a little reticent to see it — even though you may be Democrats? Great movie, much more complex than I thought it would be. "Elegiac" as Ang Lee says. I don't want to spoil it for you. I love Ang Lee and believe he is a genius, an enlightened thinker who crosses all cultural barriers. But mainly because I loved "Sense and Sensibility" (the Jane Austen novel, which Emma Thompson turned into brilliant screenplay and won an Oscar for).

But I do want to say I'm so glad CRASH won!! Paul Haggis is an incredibly evolved soul! He has always been on the cutting edge of the progressive movement. Years ago he was on the board of the environmental group ECO (Earth Communications Office) and held fundraisers at his home. He had me in to read for a pilot, but I blew it because I was nervous and (that's before I quit drinking 11 years ago.)

I heard Terrence Howard on Charlie Rose the other night; he was so articulate when he said he hoped CRASH would win because it might help to unify America now. We really need to look inside each other's hearts and see things from the other point of view. There is no spiritual growth with people who are just like you; we need to understand "the Other." We are all flawed and we all have a right to be here.

I have to say I loved Matt Dillon's performance most of all. His character made the most interesting transformation and character arc. I would love to see our friends whom we presume to be on the right, you know who I'm talking about -- make this transformation.

God Bless Aaron Spelling. He gave me my first job in Hollywood. This is from May 2005, at Duke Vincent's book party for "Mafia Summer."

By the way I have a friend who went to Regent University last year. This is a right-wing Christian college, like Liberty U. which is specifically set up to breed lawyers and citizens who will enter politics with the "right-wing" religious frame of mind. She said several of her classmates used the "N" word consistently! They also were very sheltered and had extremely narrow views on women, Catholics and all non-whites. But she somehow actually forged friendships with these kids, and they are now pen pals! I am doing an interview with this woman, and will report on Brad Blog. There is also a great article in The Nation by Eric Alterman.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!

Back during the late ‘60s, there was a series of missions that would lead up to a manned lunar landing of Apollo 8. It was going to take humans to the moon and back. And that mission took place about the same time that there was much upheaval in the world. Soviet tanks had rolled into Prague, in Czechoslovakia; Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy were assassinated; the Viet Nam war was escalating. And yet they went ahead with this mission to the moon.

And on that mission, one of the astronauts looked back at the earth. He saw this beautiful, vibrant orb floating in black space. And it suddenly dawned on him, “This is home. That is my home.”

So when we see pictures of earth from space, it looks so peaceful and beautiful, and as we get back down to street level, it can remain that way if we bring in the element of prayer—if we see each other and our earthly home as representing the spiritual idea of Truth and Love. And that becomes evident to the degree that we do that in our personal and collective experience.

I had to really stop watching the news. I was seriously in danger of apoplectic shock at Bush and all the bizarre news lately. But I have to tell you this: nothing is as it seems. As a person who has overcome unbelievable tragedy through prayer, and experienced absolute miracles in praying for others -- I know it's our job to "stand porter at the door of thought" and seek out the good no matter how much false evidence appears real, which spells FEAR. All we have to do is consciously overcome our fear with love, especially for those who offend us and look like crazy maniacs! Don't give these guys too much power by focusing on their wrongs too much. On that note, I have to at least point out the wrongs -- because "silence is complicity."

Remember: Every moment is a choice between LOVE AND FEAR.

Congresswoman Lynne Woolsey's fundraiser with the brilliant Ilene Proctor
photos by Margery Epstein

So, what has happened to our beautiful nation? How could one administration take away our freedom, destroy our precious constitution, be bribed by anyone and everyone, blatantly lie, not care at all about the poor or the Katrina victims, condone inhumane torture and detention of innocent people, put us into eternal debt, buy off the media, get drunk and shoot someone in the face and not file a police report, destroy medicare, sell our ports to the UAE -- never be challenged and not seem to care? But we cannot lose our minds, we have to actually do something! We have to stand up to these corrupt people in the White House. And the un-American, immoral, un-Christian forces behind these people -- as well as the propaganda media. How could this happen in America? Read about how the votes were stolen below. And Hurricane Katrina has scattered thousands of people to distant parts of the U.S. where they are not registered to vote. Plus no absentee ballots! I listened to AM talk radio the past 3 nights -- and was horrified: no wonder middle-Americans have the wrong concept of Democrats/liberals! Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Rush, Al Rantell -- their sole purpose on earth is to "eradicate liberals"; every other word out of their mouths is about how horrible liberals are. At least some of them have lost faith in Bush, but that doesn't make up for their campaign against their fellow citizens. You can always tell who the good guys are though. Instead of discussing their corrupt president, they bash the other party! And they constantly talk about "killing" people who distrub them; Michael Savage actually said criminals should be rounded up, stripped naked and forced to run in the hot sun, chased by something...Isn't it perverse? The only real Christians I recognize have distinctly liberal values: tolerance, caring for the poor, equal rights, liberty, generosity, caring for the earth. LIberal means "progressive or enlightened." We must rise above this state of affairs, and it's time to take action!! We have to stop them from getting away with this. First we have to change our thought about the essence of evil; we have to stop the hatred in our own hearts, and then IMPEACH BUSH NOW!! He is not a republican, not a conservative, what on earth is he?

This blog is a 2005 Koufax Award Double Nominee!!
BEST POST: Cornell's BradBlog article Death Is Sexier than Sex, to Ann Coulter

BEST NEW BLOG 2005 Koufax Award Nominee LydiaCornell.com

BEST POST voting will start soon at: Wampum (vote here for BRADBLOG: Death is Sexier than Sex)
BEST NEW BLOG voting at: Wampum

Thanks to everyone who nominated us, and check out this wonderfully generous website and all the nominees.


Trey Wyatt just sent me this picture of us on Prince Albert's boat in Monte Carlo. Those jet-set days were wild!


308,000 cancelled registrations put Bush back in the White House? by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
February 28, 2006

While life goes on during the Bush2 nightmare, so does the research on what really happened here in 2004 to give George W. Bush a second term.

Pundits throughout the state and nation---many of them alleged Democrats---continue to tell those of us who question Bush's second coming that we should "get over it," that the election is old news.

But things get curiouser and curiouser. In our 2005 compendium HOW THE GOP STOLE OHIO'S 2004 ELECTION & IS RIGGING 2008 (www.freepress.org), we list more than a hundred different ways the Republican Party denied the democratic process in the Buckeye State. For a book of documents to be published September 11 by the New Press entitled WHAT HAPPENED IN OHIO?, we are continuing to dig.

It turns out, we missed more than a few of the dirty tricks Karl Rove, Ken Blackwell and their GOP used to get themselves four more years. In an election won with death by a thousand cuts, some that are still hidden go very deep. Over the next few weeks we will list them as they are verified.

All this, however, pales before a new revelation just released by the Board of Elections in Cuyahoga County, the heavily Democratic county surrounding Cleveland.

Robert J. Bennett, the Republican chair of the Cuyahoga Board of Elections, and the Chair of the Ohio Republican Party, has confirmed that prior to the 2004 election, his BOE eliminated---with no public notice---a staggering 175,414 voters from the Cleveland-area registration rolls. He has not explained why the revelation of this massive registration purge has been kept secret for so long. Virtually no Ohio or national media has bothered to report on this story.

Many of the affected precincts in Cuyahoga County went 90% and more for John Kerry. The county overall went more than 60% for Kerry.

The eliminations have been given credence by repeated sworn testimony and affidavits from long-time Cleveland voters that they came to their usual polling stations only to be told that they were not registered. When they could get them, many were forced to cast provisional ballots which were highly likely to be pitched in the trash, or which remain uncounted.

Ohio election history would indicate that the elimination of 175,000 voters in heavily Democratic Cleveland must almost certainly spell doom for any state-wide Democratic campaign. These 175,000 pre-2004 election eliminations must now be added to the 105,000 from Cincinnati and the 28,000 from Toledo.

Therefore, to put it simply: at least 308,000 voters, most of them likely Democrats, were eliminated from the registration rolls prior to an election allegedly won by less than 119,000 votes, where more than 106,000 votes still remain uncounted, and where the GOP Secretary of State continues to successfully fight off a meaningful recount.
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The rest of the above is a long post, I will post a link to this instead of keeping it here.

** In addition, it seems evident that the Democratic Party will now enter Ohio's 2006 gubernatorial and US Senate races, and its 2008 presidential contest, with close to a half-million voters having been eliminated from the registration rolls, the vast majority of them from traditional Democratic strongholds, and with serious legislative barriers having been erected against new voter registration drives.

Here's a pic of Warren Beatty and me at Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey fundraiser 3 weeks ago, at the Sheinbaums. I admire Warren's work and have known him for years. He went to Northwestern with Nancy Dussault, who played my mother on Too Close for Comfort.