Thursday, January 25, 2007

When Elephants Jostle

Guest Blog by Carl

There's an old Swahili saying: "When two elephants jostle, that which is hurt is the grass."

Today in AmeJostling Elephantsrica, two elephants jostle: On the one hand, we have the hate-filled religious right, which has co-opted Christ's teachings and turned them into dispensationalist nonsense, somehow linking Christ's message of love and peace with the Old Testament's God of vengeance and retribution. On the other, we have the all-too-predictable backlash of the "God is dead (or at least, never lived)" rational atheist lavage of our brains. Left Behind v. Left Brain, if you will.

I, and millions, maybe tens of millions like me, are the grass which is hurt by all this. We are neither radically religious, but neither have we no faith in Our Lord. Lydia and I recognized this in each other about a year ago when I discovered her blog during the last Koufax Awards cycle (voting begins soon, folks! Vote for Lydia...and you can throw me a bone, too ;-) ), and she mine.

I reject the evangelical teachings not just of the Religious Right, but of my parents' church. However, I also reject the purely "reasoned" belief that this is all random clumpings of matter that scattered across the galaxy and somehow evolved into us and whomever else is out there.

That way denigrates the imagination, and if there is one thing we as humans should treasure above all else, the one thing that separates us from every other....well, almost every other...animal on the planet, it is our imagination. I hasten to note that recent published studies indicate that Bonobo monkeys are able to create music and not just repeat it. In fact, Peter Gabriel has taught some to play keyboards, and some chimpanzees can make compound vocalizations that seem to mean more than either individual vocalization in its own right.

But for the most part, we seem to be the only animal that can forward think, time-displace ourselves to the future, and even imagine an afterlife. If the universe were strictly rational and random, then what purpose would planning and imagination serve?

Comes now the elephant for the rest of us: Francis Collins is the director of the National Human Genome Research Project, and co-led the Human Genome Project (along with Eric Lander of MIT...sorry, I had to plug a classmate...)

Dr. Collins recently published a book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, and sat down with science writer John Horgan for a discussion of theology, which was published in this month's National Geographic Magazine. I'm going to highlight some of the more cogent thoughts I read:

Horgan: The problem I have with miracles is not just that they violate what science tells us about how the world works. They also make God seem too capricious. For example, many people believe that if they pray hard enough God will intercede to heal them or a loved one. But does that mean that all those who don't get better aren't worthy?

Collins: In my own experience as a physician, I have not seen a miraculous healing, and I don't expect to see one. Also, prayer for me is not a way to manipulate God into doing what we want him to do. Prayer for me is much more a sense of trying to get into fellowship with God. I'm trying to figure out what I should be doing rather than telling Almighty God what he should be doing. Look at the Lord's Prayer. It says, "Thy will be done." It wasn't, "Our Father who art in Heaven, please get me a parking space."

As both a recipient and performer of miracles, I can appreciate Dr. Collins' statement: prayer isn't about finding a parking space. Prayer is about guidance to do His work.

Some might take issue with us on the left who are religious. All we really want is to live life in His grace, to live in peace with our neighbors, to do unto them that we would want done unto us, and to find our own salvation.

Like Dr. Collins, I don't think God watches us daily to keep tabs on us. What a waste of omnipotence that would be, and in fact, would speak to me of someone with a personality disorder like OCD.

What scares me about this world, and in particular this nation, is that (to flip to the other elephant), there are people who believe just that:
Collins: What faith has not been used by demagogues as a club over somebody's head? Whether it was the Inquisition or the Crusades on the one hand or the World Trade Center on the other? But we shouldn't judge the pure truths of faith by the way they are applied any more than we should judge the pure truth of love by an abusive marriage. We as children of God have been given by God this knowledge of right and wrong, this Moral Law, which I see as a particularly compelling signpost to his existence. But we also have this thing called free will, which we exercise all the time to break that law. We shouldn't blame faith for the ways people distort it and misuse it.
Don't blame faith for how people interpret it. In this country, people use faith almost like the red velvet rope at the door to a hot club. Wanna get in? Lemme see your faith. What? You're Jewish (or Muslim or atheist or Buddhist)? Sorry. You don't get in.

This is no different than what those who dropped planes on us on September 11 believe and I'll be damned but I thought we were better than this!

There's a lot more to this interview, but I don't want to ruin the surprises for you. Suffice it to say that DA Jostled Elephantr. Collins expresses in a few short answers what many of us have wrestled with our entire lives: why is there suffering? What is free will? Can you explain altruism without faith? Will we ever stop needing a God?

For me, God pushed the whole thing in motion and walked away for a sandwich, from time to time looking in on us to see if we're OK, and maybe throwing us a bone (or a Son) to remind us of who we are supposed to be.

God gave me a brain, true, but He also gave me a mind. He didn't ask me to be an automaton, but to find out that which I can about my world, and then find out what I can't know. If my beliefs are wrong, if I am condemned to die and spend eternity in hell, it seems to me that an awful lot of people (the Rapturists never talk about how Revelations really only expressly says 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from the Twelve Tribes, are going to heaven and everyone else is in deep trouble) are going to be by my side.


Or to sum up my feelings:

Henry Drummond: Then why did God plague us with the capacity to think? Mr. Brady, why do you deny the one thing that sets above the other animals? What other merit have we? The elephant is larger, the horse stronger and swifter, the butterfly more beautiful, the mosquito more prolific, even the sponge is more durable. Or does a sponge think?

Matthew Harrison Brady: I don't know. I'm a man, not a sponge!

Henry Drummond: Do you think a sponge thinks?

Matthew Harrison Brady: If the Lord wishes a sponge to think, it thinks!

Henry Drummond: Does a man have the same privilege as a sponge?

Matthew Harrison Brady: Of course!

Henry Drummond: Then this man wishes to have the same privilege of a sponge, he wishes to think!

The defense rests, Your Honor.

By CARL
Special Guest Blogger

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Democracy's not just for the Iraqi's

Got your purple finger yet?

Get your fingers dirty here! KOUFAX AWARDS : Vote!

SAY NO TO WAR * 2004 ELECTION RIGGED!

So Bush is not officially our president! OHIO ELECTION OFFICIALS CONVICTED FOR RIGGING 2004 PRESIDENTIAL RECOUNT!

While you're reading, listen to WXB 102 GLOBAL NEW WAVE the GREATEST RADIO STATION IN THE WORLD

From the Associated Press
January 25, 2007

CLEVELAND -- Two election workers were convicted Wednesday of rigging a recount of the 2004 presidential election to avoid a more thorough review in Ohio's most populous county.

Jacqueline Maiden, elections coordinator of the Cuyahoga County
Elections Board, and ballot manager Kathleen Dreamer each were convicted of a felony count of negligent misconduct by an elections employee. They also were convicted of one misdemeanor count each of failure to perform their duty as elections employees.

Prosecutors accused Maiden and Dreamer of secretly reviewing preselected ballots before a public recount on Dec. 16, 2004. They worked behind closed doors for three days to pick ballots they knew would not cause discrepancies when checked by hand, prosecutors said.

Ohio gave President Bush the electoral votes he needed to defeat Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry in the close election and hold on to the White House in 2004.

Maiden and Dreamer will be sentenced Feb. 26.


President Bush's State of the Union address only drives home why we need to take to the streets this Saturday. As much as he spoke of "hope and opportunity" for America's future Tuesday night, Bush is squandering our truest hopes and opportunities by funneling so much money into an unnecessary war.

This recent graphic in the NY Times highlights how recklessly our tax dollars are being used. We are pouring $200 billion dollars into the war in Iraq, while universal health care for everyone in the country without insurance would cost just half that amount. Universal preschool would only cost our country $35 billion. Immunizing the entire world's children against diseases such as measles and diphtheria would cost $0.6 billion.

We can't let this madness continue.

Join us on January 27 to say No More Funding for War! Bring Our Troops Home Now! We will use our feet and our lungs and our signs and our outrage to let Bush and our new Congress know that we are serious about ending this war.

If you can't make it to DC, see if there is a solidarity event being planned in your area. If not, create your own, even if that means standing alone on a street corner with a sign! In lieu of lobbying, you can call your Congressperson to demand they cut the funding for George Bush's War. Our voices are powerful, wherever we may be geographically. We know peace is the only real path to hope and opportunity for this country. Together we will make it happen.We are packing our bags, jumping onto buses and trains and planes, flinging our pink boas around our necks, ready and excited to bring our Women Say No to War campaign to the streets of Washington, DC!

Women will be a powerful force at the massive Mandate for Peace mobilization this Saturday, January 27-before the march, too, when we will join with Jane Fonda, Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Eve Ensler, Q'orianka Kilcher, Rhea Perlman, Mimi Kennedy, Congresswomen Lynn Woolsey and Maxine Waters, and other amazing women for a colorful and rowdy Women Say Pull Out convergence. We hope you'll join us!

"I have been walking the halls of Congress this week with Iraq veterans to help get them the health care and benefits they need and deserve. And I'll be back on Saturday to join the anti-war march and encourage all Americans to come out and engage. Let's show we really care about our troops by bringing them home now and taking care of them when they get here."

Susan Sarandon

Read it here

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

The "State of the Onion"

Editor's note: Visitors, please leave comments on your opinion of Bush's State of the Union address last night in the comment section. Meanwhile, take a moment to read Worfeus' insightful "State of the Onion" article here. Also check out the exciting things going on right now in Davos, Switzerland at The World Economic Forum. This is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas. Read about Arianna Huffington's "bloggers' nightcap" at DAVOS HUFFPO

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The State of the Onion

Tonight we will all be treated to our 6th segment of "the World According to Bush", or "how to screw up an entire country without trying too hard", as the President takes to the pulpit once more to deliver his State of the Union speech to a fawning yet trepidatious congress. No doubt this segment will be another history lesson, science and social studies presentation, and certainly a lesson on our new form of democracy, courtesy of President Bush and his "hole in us all" gang, all rolled into one, neatly wrapped though hard to digest value meal.

In past speeches we have all been riveted by the Presidents illuminating and noticably offbeat views on everything froHowdy Doody Goes to Washingtonm the role of religion in government to stem cell research, to just why we have to kill lots and lots of Arabs so they won't all come over here and kill us. And tomorrow nights offering is not expected to let us down on neither one jot nor a single tittle. What lessons will we learn? Who knows? Perhaps we will be treated to a history lesson, that explains once more how Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden were drinking buddies in college back in their haydays at "Jihad U", where if we are to believe Mr Bush, Saddam Hussein graduated "Magna Cum Qaeda". Or maybe Mr Bush will treat us to his new age Constitutional law, where the right to habeas corpus is merely a figment of our combined imaginations, and unwarranted imprisonment accompanied with state sanctioned torture are simply God given rights to protect the American people from some possible, future, undefined threat. Or maybe he'll just throw his hands up in despair, proclaiming what he should have proclaimed 5 years ago, saying "I'm in over my head".

Of course I wouldn't hold my breath on that last one.

But whatever Mr Bush says, one things for sure. No one is really listening anymore. Oh sure, we'll hear the poorly articulated adjectives and verbs, as he muddles his way through them like a child reading an apology written by his mom for breaking the neighbors window, and delivered of course with his usual "Ricky Bobby" like statesmenship. But what we'll all really hear, is "blah blah blah, blah blah, blah blah blah", and then of course, "thank you for coming".

And what will the congress do while all this is going on? Why sit in their seats, until the cue comes on to stand and applaud like a herd of trained seals and then sit back down, while other members of congress show their opposition to whatever he says by refusing to stand or applaud, and glaring icily towards the pulpit, as if trying to project laser beams in his general direction without alerting the Secret Service. Then, at the end of the speech, they'll all applaud nonetheless, and shake hands and all head into the rotunda for juice and cookies and a few palm greasing photo ops.

Great work if you can get it.

Well I have a suggestion for congress on this the sixth installment of "the world according to Bush". Don't invite him.

That's right, don't invite the President to his own State of the Union address. After all, there is nothing in the Constitution requiring a State of the Union address be given at any particular time, situation or frequency. In fact, article II simply says the President shall inform the congress "from time to time' on the state of the union, and makes no stipulations as to the method of delivery. Perhaps Mr Bush could just "phone it in" like he did during Katrina. Or, maybe like Mark Foley, he could send them an instant message, with some bullet points on how screwed up we are tossed in between jibes at Pelosi and asking Duncan Hunter what he's wearing now. Or perhaps we could just forgo it all together this time around. After all, you'd have to live on Jupiter to not know how thoroughly screwed up our "union" is at present.

So what happens tomorrow night? Simple. The President is not permitted to enter the chamber unless invited to do so by the Congress. So don't invite him. And if perchance the invitation has already gone out, then the Sergeant at Arms of the House of Representatives has to announce the President to the Speaker of the House. Well if Mr Livingood refuses to introduce him, and the senate ushers refuse to open the doors, then I guess Mr Bush would simply be forced to climb back into his limo, open a can of "Busch" beer, and turn the moto-cade around. No biggy. He can just spend a quiet night with Laura, playing Yahtzee and eating Baloney sandwiches, while the girls head down to Georgetown to play Russian roulette with their kidneys and other vital organs they're not currently using.

And what would the networks do with all the dead air time? Thats easy. They could just show some comparative offering, like reruns of "the Simple Life", or maybe some classic Hee Haw episodes. After all, who would notice the difference?

And to accomplish this, all the Congress has to do, is grow a pair, and not invite the bum in. Just lock the doors, turn out the lights, and nobody say a word. Then maybe we can all get a good nights sleep.

WORFEUS

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Democracy's not just for the Iraqi's

Got your purple finger yet?

If not, then exercise your constitutional right and Vote!: KOUFAX AWARDS

Sunday, January 21, 2007

OLD IS THE NEW "NEW"

"Our lives begin to end the day we
become silent about things that matter"


Martin Luther King

BLOODIEST DAYS IN IRAQ: 25 U.S. troops killed and hundreds of Iraqi civilians killed and wounded in twin car bombings. God Bless these poor souls and their families. Send love and help to them.



DARKNESS BEFORE THE DAWN: I wrote this right before the election, when Democrats took back Congress: "Listening to the news, I am apoplectic, constantly appalled at what’s going on. But why don’t Republicans see it our way? What is the basic difference between us? I got an email that deeply moved me, with this line at the end: "We are on the daybreak of a new dark age, I fear." At first I agreed, then something else came out of the keyboard. I actually think this is the most hopeful time to turn it around. All signs seem to point to darkness, but it's almost dawn. That's why our collective energy, thought and voices are so important. We need to stand firm and not let the "powers that be" and their manipulation of news spin us downward. Like Viktor Frankl, who overcame concentration camp torture with the power of love (by focusing his thoughts on love for his wife & children) — his torturers did not touch him. He emanated such a spirit of harmony that no one could harm him. Renowned Austiran logotherapist Viktor Frankl wrote "Man's Search For Meaning" the premise of which is that no one can take your thoughts away from you — and therein lies the secret. We can take our power back. We have to raise our thinking, keep the faith, and not let these people take America away from us.

All of a sudden I have more faith than ever that this is the perfect time to turn it around. In spite of our anger and agony over Iraq, we must lift our thoughts above the horrors we keep seeing; we must send love & healing to our troops and to the Iraqi nation. "Miracles can and do happen as the result of prayer. The way to pray is to dwell so strongly on the good in life, on love, beauty, joy — that you drive out the worry & fear. Shakespeare said:"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

Recently when I heard that Senator Tim Johnson might not make it after his stroke, and we would then no longer have a Democratically controlled Sentate, but one that was 50-50 (meaning Cheney would be the tiebreaker) I went back into that old fear. I immediately felt that sinking horror and paranoia of last year.

After the November election, I felt we had awakened from a national nightmare. I spent most of 2006 ping-ponging between severe paranoia, deep sadness and jaw-dropping paralysis. It was surreal and absurd. I fantasized that we were all on a great big reality show called "The Government," and Bush was just an actor-clown they hired to make us go crazy. The Blue team went crazier than the Red team because the neo-Reds all owned Haliburton stock and were in on the secret. I thought any moment Donald Trump would say "Bush, you're fired!"

BUSH'S LAST WILL AND TESTICLE ... REDUX
copyright 2006 Lydia cornell (A slightly different version of this article was published in Macon Area Online)

"Every moment is a choice between love or fear."

Mr. Bush I'll never forget when you first said you would go to the ends of the earth to find Osama, then you turned around and acted like we were all crazy for asking if you'd caught him yet. You said, "Osama? I don't spend that much time (thinkin') about him.

And I'll never forget how you sat in a Katrina briefing, probably playing your Nintendo Gameboy under the table, as they showed detailed evidence of a catastrophic hurricane and levee breach on its way to the Gulf, and you had the nerve to later say: "I never knew the storms were gonna be that bad! I never knew the levees were gonna be breached till I saw it on TV four days later!"

Mr. Bush, please explain to me why you justify illegal spying on Americans, yet you were willing to sell our ports to the very people you were afraid we were talking to on the phone! My jaw dropped open last year when you said something like, "Heck other countries get to own parts of America, why not the United Arab Emirates, who've been our allies on the war on terror? Just because they harbored some 911 terrorists and cooked their books for them, and don't keep any paperwork and go on hunting trips with Osama and support the Taliban - is no reason for bigotry. We don't want them to think we don't like them just because they're Muslim. " But Mr. Bush, wasn't it only a short time ago that you said something like: "Any nation that does business with terrorists, or harbors terrorists, is a terrorist...” I guess you only meant that about your fellow Americans: Democrats or liberals - since Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage constantly bash liberals as being traitors! Why are we traitors? Because we value life so much we are horrified by this illegal war? Because we are pro-LIFE in the best sense of the word: we want our troops home alive? And this offends you?

Mr. Bush, my children have lost their innocence because of you. I keep trying to hide my tears from them during prayers for our dying troops, and the countless children lost in this war. I have to explain to my kids what good morals are: the opposite of yours, the leader of the greatest nation on earth. I would rather my sons have an appetite for love, not war. People who have morals do not do what our president does. You have destroyed the very definition of moral values. You say you're "pro-life" but that seems to only apply to frozen fetal cells.

Our president broke the law by not going to the FISA court to "legally" wiretap us; our Vice-president broke the law (shooting humans while drunk and waiting until the liquor wore off before filing a police report.) Our enemies hate us for our freedoms. Our troops are fighting for our freedoms; is this so we can be wiretapped so we can have no freedoms? Or are they fighting for our president to be able to break the law and sell our ports to a nation that funds terrorists? Does the Carlyle Group and the Saudi Royal Family get to be wiretapped too? Or just American moms and dads who might be wearing 'Peace' T-shirts? And by the way, does FOX News fall under Freedom of the Press?

And just for the record, your party's irresponsible Ann Coulter and Ken Starr-led witch-hunt/persecution/media blitz to expose the affair of Clinton and Lewinsky, two consenting adults, was in itself immoral and damaging to kids. In painstaking detail you paraded these blow-by-blowjob horrors for the press, not caring what effect it had on childhood innocence. And yes, we were all rightly appalled by President Clinton's behavior. But where was the right-wing morality brigade in keeping this porn out of the mainstream news for our children's sake? I still hear Republican mothers talk about how shameful Clinton was, yet they never see how the media salivated and profited at the sex appeal of it all. These same mothers never castigate you, Mr. Bush, for moral corruption on a life-threatening scale.

While you and Ralph Reed scour the cartoon channel for sexual immorality, seeing gays in square pants, how do I explain to my kids this pervasive news coverage of children being blown to bits because WE played the bully; we invaded a country that was pretty much under the world's watchful control? How do I explain your "Christian" morality of killing, invading and turning a blind eye to torture and corruption? Last week a little 3-year-old Iraqi girl died after the 3rd bomb hit her tiny apartment; the only piece her brother's found was her hand clutching her teddy bear.

I have to admit I'm a little more carefree these days, a little less paranoid that my phones are tapped or I might be taken away in the dead of night for e-mailing jokes about our leader - now that the whole world realizes that Bush is of questionable mental stability. In researching my book about Stalin, what horrified me the most were the pedestrian things that are now seeping into America: a woman, sitting in her communal kitchen in Stalinist Russia, said something about the Mediterranean Sea being as beautiful as Russia's Black Sea. A roommate overheard her, and reported this comment as being "unpatriotic." That night, a white "bread truck" came by and took the woman away; she was never heard from again. I also read about a young mother accidentally putting her coffee cup down on a newspaper photo of Stalin's face. Someone watching in the cafe, reported this as "defaming our great leader." A white "bread truck" took her away to a prison camp in Siberia. She left 3 young children behind. After I heard about James Moore, the author of "Bush's Brain" suddenly being on the "No -Fly list", banned from flying outside of America, and unable to get through the red tape to understand why, that's when I began to wonder what kind of country we are living in. I have a theory about when this all started, but that will take more space than I have here.

Uh-oh, spoke too soon; strange things are happening. This just in: Last night, March 15 at about 8 p.m., no joke, a white “bread truck” was parked outside our house. It didn't mean anything to me, until my little boy came running to the back of the house screaming, “There's a big man in our front yard looking through our junk mail-box, he came in the gate and he's wearing a knit cap.” I ran to the front door and peeked out. I saw a dark figure move through the lawn. I waited until I thought it was safe, and then opened the front door. Suddenly across the street, I saw this white van. A man wearing a knit cap was sitting in the driver's side, lights on, reading something. I immediately felt this person was reading addresses off my mail, maybe to see if I lived there. My son and I sneaked out the back door, and headed over to the van, but the van took off. Who knows? Maybe I'm just being paranoid. Again. But in light of the fact that Ann Coulter STILL has my home number on her website, it's not too far fetched to have a wingnut stalking me. After hearing Ruth Bader Ginzburg talk about the right-wing death threats she and Sandra Day O'Connor received, I have one question: WHY ARE RIGHT-WINGERS THE ONLY ONES WHO WANT PEOPLE KILLED FOR THEIR THOUGHTS? You never hear about Left-wingers threatening people's lives whose ideologies they disagree with.

After 911, we had the whole world on the brink of love. Everyone's heart was open. Most Muslims were shedding tears for us. At that moment, our leader had a choice: Love or Fear.

Worfeus, a commenter on this blog said: "Vladimir Putin actually CALLED Bush on the phone that morning and not only offered condolences, but offered to do whatever he could to help. He even assured him that even though Protocol required he raise the Russian Defense Condition in proportion to ours, he understood WHY we were raising ours and assured Mr. Bush that Russia would stand down. It was an EPIC moment in history, that one single phone call. Mr. Bush called it "nice of him".

"And I think if the Taliban were part of the planning body of 911, then we should have invaded Afghanistan after 9/11, it seemed like the right thing to do. But the idea that they were hiding Bin Laden doesn't wash with me," Worfeus says. "If getting Bin Laden was the goal, WHY on earth did we BROADCAST for 2 months Exactly WHEN and WHERE we were coming, and WHAT we'd do when we got there? That's like calling up criminals and telling them you're coming over to arrest them later in the week. What idiot would possibly think they'd still be there when they got there?"

I went through agony when I lost my younger brother; I cannot fathom my mother's grief and heartache, having lost her only son. Her eyes well up with tears every time she hears my husband's name, Paul, which was my brother's name. It is too much to bear when I think of parents losing sons & daughters needlessly in Iraq. This is a war that was "sold" to us and shoved down our throats by a certifiable lunatic. George Bush has caused nothing but chaos, poverty, death, bankruptcy, bad global relations, division, hatred and sadness in the world. "By their fruits you shall know them."

Bush based his "evidence" for going to war in Iraq on LIES that Cheney and Scooter Libby had to cover up. He took money from corrupt lobbyists, grinned and lied about it, and he's still not helping the people of New Orleans! Guess why? Apparently certain "companies" don't want the people to come back; that's why the trailers are sitting empty, undelivered. These companies are waiting like vultures to clear the land for profitable building developments. A side benefit is that all these scattered homeless souls cannot register to vote, nor can they obtain absentee ballots. The longer the delay in rebuilding New Orleans, the better for the Corruption party.

Also, Bush's own mother said he shouldn't soil his mind with visions of poverty and ugliness. Weren't these the same parents who went to play golf when their baby daughter died? So Bush can't deal with death or grieving. Well he should have had some therapy before going to the White House. In fact, someone better be writing legislation to ensure that the next leader of the Free World has a brain scan to rule out mental disorders.

We must hold Bush accountable for causing, directly or indirectly, more deaths & destruction than anyone else has in this new century. If his goal is to spread democracy, he sure is killing a lot of people to do it.

Mr. Bush, your happy-blank stare is beginning to look like that of a Moonie. Have you had any visits from Rev Sun Yung Moon lately? I heard he poured billions into your party, hoping you'd call him Messiah.

Mr. Bush, couldn't you have tried to become evolved BEFORE you declared war? As eveyr alcoholic knows, "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result." Keep sending more of our young troops to die.

People who are unable to say they're sorry when they've been wrong, have a deep character flaw. If only you had a 12-step program. This is the fastest route to actual character change. It helps to look at YOUR own part in a conflict, take some responsibility, and take a "moral inventory of your character defects". Did it ever dawn on you that YOU are the common denominator in most of the world's problems? The polite thing to do would be to remove your agenda from the world stage, save some lives and say you're sorry.

I have to ask you point blank — why did you so urgently have to invade a foreign land? Don't you feel guilty at all for lying to us? Aside from war-profiteering, was there really imminent danger to America from Saddam, even though the whole world was hovering over him, watching him? Weren't there more brainy, imaginative ways of gaining allies in the underground - attracting people to our light, who would gladly usurp Saddam from within? Even if it had taken a few more years of clever spy-work, wouldn't it have been creatively challenging and fun - to work out diplomatic solutions to grotesque problems? Christ waited over 2,000 years for someone to finally put his teachings to use. And when biggest challenge comes along, our "Christian" leader disses Christ! You don't even give his method a half-hearted try. Wouldn't it have been worth saving lives and winning hearts to the cause of true Democracy and true Christianity? And after all the Mission Impossible spy movies you've seen, couldn't you figure out a more clever way than carpet-bombing? Did you do it to show off your heavy metal machinery, your SHOCK and AWE capabilities so the "enemy" (or anybody who doesn't agree with you) would be scared off? Mr. Bush, you have single-handedly robbed the world of its hope and innocence. To say nothing of the mockery you have made of true Christianity: the most peaceful force that ever came to man. You have rearranged the fragile building blocks of this planet with your Neanderthal eye-for-an-eye fraudulent, militant "Christianity". Maybe you don't realize the word Christ is in the word Christianity because the vowel sounds are different. But eye-for-an-eye is the OLD TESTAMENT! Christ came with the new law: LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, BLESS THOSE WHO PERSECUTE YOU. RESIST NOT EVIL. This means, “Do not fight or resist evil; do not fight anyone or anything, it doesn't work. Most evolved people know this. Schools teach that you deal with bullies on the playground by not engaging them in battle, by walking away, not hitting them back.

There's a saying: If you're in the jungle and a jaguar is chasing you, get out of his way because he's going to eat you. It's nothing personal; it's just the nature of the beast. So go back to your house and stay out of his way. Muslim fundamentalists would not be killing us if we would get our footprints off their oil, mind our own business, and pray for them. They do not seem to know the God of love, but since love is all there is, evil has no real power, no matter how much you physicalize it by focusing on it. In other words, what you focus on GROWS!

Before the recent Congressional election, average Americans had no voice in the mainstream media, so we have been blogging, screaming, organizing -- the collective is roaring YOU MUST STOP YOUR INSANITY. "Evil triumphs when good people do nothing,” as Edmund Burke said (and we keep hearing over and over and over these days.)

Fortunately I believe in a power greater than ourselves and I know we're going to be all right. God did not give us a spirit of fear.

Einstein did say "goodness, truth and beauty are laws in the universe" as is harmony. Play the piano and you'll hear it. Kiss your child and you'll feel it. Go outside and breathe in the sunshine while playing with an amazingly beautiful striped animal or a butterfly. Bring coffee to someone who thinks you hate them.

Why do people keep arguing about God when God is simply love? Who can argue with human kindness? Asking to prove God is like asking to prove you love your kids. Love is actually the energy of our focused attention on Good, which I define as God. You can be attractive even if you're not "good looking" because if you radiate love, you attract people. This energy is molecular. Einstein's Unified Field therefore is love, which is God. Science proves God; the two are not mutually exclusive.

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copyright 2006 Lydia Cornell

Coming up: Voting for the 2006 Koufax Awards: KOUFAX AWARDS If the spirit moves you, just type in this blog's URL for Best Writing, Best Post of Best Blog. I also recommend Carl's blog: Simply Left Behind Thank you.

Friday, January 19, 2007

NEW WAVE


Welcome visitors this past week from the Philippines, Morocco, South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, Israel, Senegal, Belgium, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Cambodia, Turkey, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France, China, Japan, Kuwait, Palestinian Territory, U.K, Ireland, Spain, Bulgaria, Poland, Singapore, Africa, India, Yemen, Ghana, Senegal, Canada, Hawaii as well as all across mainland United States. This week was an historic day in radio, as Philippines legendary New Wave radio station WXB102.tk presented by Sutton Records went LIVE for the first time since it went off the air in 1987.

What's going on in your country? Please tell us what is happening in your part of the world, what you're thinking about and if you are conscious of global warming. I would like to know what other countries are actively doing to help the environment. Also, what trends are popular; whether you have a Wii and an i-pod, we can at least unite the world through music — and connect different cultures with one common goal: to bring hope, love and understanding to each other. We need to join forces.

You can listen right now, LIVE! to the BEST New Wave MUSIC check out WXB102.tk presented by Sutton Records. WXB102.tk is the most revolutionary radio station in the world and there are great things to come!

Here is a hilarious article from Huffington Post
Bob Cesca: Iraq Is Not Delightful, Mr. President


After last weekend's 60 Minutes interview, I thought perhaps someone somewhere in Washington would inform our chief executive that grinning like a mental patient might not be the best way to express concern over the violence in Iraq. And if someone did in fact mention it to him, he didn't listen. Or he forgot. On PBS's NewsHour, he was doing it again. A lot. But unlike the sly, giggly grinning before, the NewsHour expressions more closely resemble a man who just finished watching a litter of puppies being fed ice cream by floating babies dressed in sunflower costumes.

Open Thread

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Lt. Ehren Watada vs. Illegal and Immoral War in Iraq

Please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our troops around the world. Of all the gifts you could give a Marine, US Soldier, Sailor, Airman, & all others deployed in harm's way, prayer is the very best one.

Stand with Lt. Ehren Watada Against Illegal and Immoral War in Iraq

"My fellow soldiers are fighting and dying in Iraq and their families are suffering because of the lies and deceptions crafted by the Bush Administration. The Iraq war is not only a crime against domestic and international law but [it] is a terrible moral injustice against the Iraqi people." Lt. Ehren Watada (CONTINUED BELOW)

Before we continue with a letter from Lt. Watada's mother, I need to say this: Life is not black and white, and human emotions change. Sometimes we incorporate conflicting nuances of behavior, and cannot be categorized one way or another. I am in conflict over my anger at our president, George Bush, as most of my fellow Americans are. First of all, we don't think he won the 2001 election fairly, and with every cell of my being we knew this war was evil. War should always be a last resort, but Invading Iraq was not a "last resort." Certain powers-that-be are engaged in war profiteering. This is criminal. How dare he put our young people in harms way, and destroy the beautiful Iraqi nation, just to enrich Haliburton, Cheney and other billionaire friends with "no-bid" contracts! The Iraqi people are builders too. They have their own higher power. Let them take care of their nation, even if they have to fight it out in a civil war at this point. We are only continuing to stir up a hornet's nest.

So the only way we can express our horror and sadness is by writing or taking to the streets. Last year, with the illegal wiretapping and the monopoly of the airwaves by big-business evangelicals —I did not feel I was in a Democracy. It felt like a dictatorship. Still, I don't feel it helps to call our president an idiot or a moron. Here is what I posted yesterday, and will repeat here: "I struggled with my anger toward Bush, because I know it doesn't heal things. But I feel such agony over the deaths of our soldiers — young kids barely out of high school — and I am so horrified that Bush doesn't seem to care about human life, that I lash out. I am angry at the way Bush is expanding this senseless, insane "war" he created. But I know that thinking the worst of Bush, or anyone, never helps them. Our thoughts about people and situations have to elevate them. We have to see the good in people, even those we think are evil. This is prayer: seeing the good in others so overwhelmingly that our vision of them actually changes the situation. Even with terrorists, dictators, "deciders" — and in the environment, world affairs, financial crises — it works for our worst enemies. George Bush will be lifted up and he will do the right thing, the more we send him love. " For more on the metaphysical answers to life, see below: yesterday's blog. - Lydia

MORE ON LT. WATADA:

As the first Army officer to publicly speak out against the war and refuse deployment to Iraq, Lt Watada will be punished by the U.S. Army with a maximum six years in prison. The military's intention IS to SILENCE VOICES OF RESISTANCE and make an example out of Lt. Watada.

Letter from Carolyn Ho – Mother of Lt Watada

Dear Friends, On behalf of Lt. Watada and our family, thank you for standing with us during this most difficult time. Because of his refusal to deploy to the illegal and immoral Iraq War, my son now faces a maximum of 6 years in a military prison. The pretrial is scheduled for Jan. 4, 2007. The court martial is calendared for Feb. 5, 2007.

We are just days away from the pretrial and must broaden his support base. Help us mobilize the local, national, and international community through your personal, professional, religious and other networks. Please forward the attached email alert with a brief explanation. Ask people to go to: www.thankyoult.org to learn more about Lt. Watada's case. On the main menu, supporters can click on SIGN PETITION/GET UPDATES AND ALERTS. They will receive weekly email updates that call for actions in support of Lt. Watada's stand.

Encourage your contacts to integrate these actions into the anti-war activism they are already doing. Their voices are critical to building an international public opinion campaign that demands justice and no punishment for Lt. Watada. His voice of resistance to this heinous war cannot be silenced!
In Solidarity,
Carolyn Ho (Lt. Watada’s Mother)

"The war in Iraq is in fact illegal. It is my obligation and my duty to refuse any orders to participate in this war. An order to take part in an illegal war is unlawful in itself. So my obligation is not to follow the order to go to Iraq." - Lt. Ehren Watada

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION

Feb. 5, 2007 - Lt. Watada Military Court Martial

Rally at the gates of Ft. Lewis, Washington or in your local community

5 Actions to Support Lt. Watada

1. Send letters or call Commander Dubik. Urge him to:

* Dismiss all charges
* Honor Lt. Watada's resignation

Lt. General James Dubik
Commanding General Fort Lewis
1 Corps Building 2025 Stop 1
Fort Lewis, WA 98433
Phone 253-967-1110

2. Spread the word about Feb. 5, 2007. Forward this email and post on blogs, MySpace, student, activist, social justice and media websites. Register for campaign updates.

3. Encourage your organization to endorse the National Day of Action and mobilize on Feb. 5, 2007. Please specify national, state, city, chapter/local, and contact person, and send to action@ltwatada.org.

4. Organize a student walkout, rally or vigil on Feb. 5, 2007. Tell us about your action so we can include your event on our website.

5. Donate online to Lt. Watada's Defense Fund.

website: www.thankyoult.org

January 20-22, 2007
Citizens' Hearings
Evergreen State College, Tacoma campus
Tacoma, WA

February 5, 2007
Court Martial Trial Begins

For more information contact info@ltwatada.org. Make your 2007 New Year's Resolution to Stand with Lt. Watada Against Illegal and Immoral War

On Monday, February 5, 2007 take action against the Iraq war and in support of Lt. Watada during his military court martial. Stand up with Lt. Watada and speak out against the illegal and immoral war! Join the national movement and organize student walkouts and non-violent demonstrations. Together let's build a mass movement in the streets, in our schools, and in our communities to end the Iraq War. On Feb. 5, 2007 rally at the gates of Fort Lewis, Washington or in your local community.

For courageously standing up and speaking out against the Iraq War, New Year's Eve 2007 may be Lt. Watada's last holiday as a free man until 2013. While many 28 year-olds are starting their families and building their careers, Ehren will be locked away in military prison for following his conscience and refusing to fight in the Iraq War.

Now it is time for you to follow your conscience and join the national movement to support Lt. Watada and end the Iraq war.

As civilians, the responsibility ultimately falls on us to demand an end to the Iraq war. In fact, we owe it to the soldiers who are fighting and dying in Iraq every day, as well as those resisting the war. We must all stand up and speak out against the war and in support Lt. Ehren Watada!

Currently, the Bush Administration is planning to deploy 30,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq, yet the overwhelming majority of Americans oppose the Iraq war. Since 2003 the war has cost 3,000 U.S. soldiers' lives, approximately 950,000 Iraqi deaths, 2 trillion U.S tax dollars or approximately 8 billion dollars a week. We can no longer stand by and continue to allow this great injustice to occur!

********************
I urge you all to check out Robert Dreyfuss' recent articles at www.robertdreyfuss.com. He is an expert on Iraq and is often advising Congress. He is published in Rolling Stone, The Nation and Mother Jones. I spoke to him last night and he said he has an article coming out in Washington Monthly in which he describes what will happen if we pull out of Iraq immediately. It will help everyone and bring peace faster.

It is very arrogant of us to think the Iraqis have no ability to solve their own problems. It is arrogant of Bush to think he is the savior of this foreign land, and that they have no relationship with a higher power of their own. Bush is playing God.

Welcome visitors from Ghana, India and Pakistan!

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

AROUND THE WORLD * LOVE HEALS EVERYTHING

"You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note."
- Doug Floyd

LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA: Ran into some old friends at the Celebrity Meet & Greet fundraiser for Breast Cancer Awareness on Saturday: Catherine Bach (the REAL Daisy Duke); Mickey Rooney (yes THE REAL MICKEY ROONEY!); Lori Petty; Ed Marinaro; Lorenzo Lamas; Brandie Roderick; Sandra Taylor; Dan Haggerty; Angela Cartwright; Heather Menzies (Sound of Music) all at an autograph show. Our host was James Engelby, Corporate Sales Manager of the beautiful Holiday Inn Buena Park Hotel & Conference Center in Long Beach, California. Holiday Inn Buena Park

Stretch and me at Chiller. Lorenzo Lamas at Dragon Con. Ran into both Stretch and Lorenzo in Long Beach this past Saturday too. Have a new photo with Catherine Bach to put up soon. Found this photo of Richard Belzer, Michael Imperioli in Barbados at World Travel Awards.



Beautiful Boracay, Philippine Islands

Welcome international visitors from the Philippines, Morocco, South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, Israel, Senegal, Belgium, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Cambodia, Turkey, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France, China, Japan, Kuwait, Palestinian Territory, U.K, Ireland, Spain, Bulgaria, Poland, Singapore, Africa, India, Canada as well as all across the United States. Yesterday was an historic day in radio, as WXB102.tk presented by Sutton Records went LIVE for the first time since it went off the air in 1987. Uniting the world through music — and connecting different cultures with one common goal: to bring hope, love and understanding to each other. We are all ONE and we need to join forces. If we put love in the center of every issue, miracles happen. (more below on WXB102)


I owe an apology for something I said on this blog about George Bush. I shouldn't call him an idiot or a moron. I struggled with my anger toward Bush, because I know it doesn't heal things. But I feel such agony over the deaths of our soldiers — young kids barely out of high school — and I am so horrified that Bush doesn't seem to care about human life, that I lash out. I am angry at the way Bush is expanding this senseless, insane "war" he created. But I know that thinking the worst of Bush, or anyone, never helps them. Our thoughts about people and situations have to elevate them. We have to see the good in people, even those we think are evil. This is prayer: seeing the good in others so overwhelmingly that our vision of them actually changes the situation. Even with terrorists, dictators, "deciders" — and in the environment, world affairs, financial crises — it works for our worst enemies. George Bush will be lifted up and he will do the right thing, the more we send him love.

WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW? is a wonderful metaphysical movie that describes the infinite field of possibilities that exist. This amazing film awakened countless thousands of ordinary people to the possibility of a quantum existence; the realization that things may be happening simultaneously on many planes of existence, encompassing all possible outcomes.

THE MIRACLE IN THE WATER: "One of the most outstanding images in the film were the subway pictures of Dr Masaru Emoto's magnified water crystals, because they appeared to assume perfect ice-crystal-like form when exposed to positive thoughts of love and compassion. The inference was obvious; that the expression of love and compassion can alter reality at an atomic level." (Ian Blair Hamilton) My translation: Dr Emoto photographed water molecules and prayed over some, cursed others. The ones he sent love to, blossomed into majestic designs of incredible beauty. The ones he cursed over with words like "I hate you!" exploded into ugly images.

If one sentence could change one water molecule -- and out bodies are mostly water, imagine what our thoughts can do to our bodies! I've known this for years, but have just begun again to apply it to daily life. In praying for the world, see healing taking place. I always pray for the orphans all over the world, and in war-torn countries. See them being taken care of by loving people, by God (Love.)

It is up to us to choose our thoughts wisely. We must reverse the material picture and focus on the beauty of life. We actually create our own reality by our thoughts about it. Thought is the energy; it is creative. This is the power of prayer and spoken words. We must be careful what we think and say.

WXB102.tk will prove to be the most revolutionary radio station in the world and there are great things to come.

**Philippines legendary New Wave radio station WXB 102 has risen from the ashes since going off the air on June 9, 1987. Join original WXB veterans Cool Carla, Mick Flame, Julius Caesar, Allan K., the Ghost, George Frederick, the Morning Man, and the 102 volunteers alongside Sandman, Hilary, and Klyde as they spin 102 Music. Hear artists such as Seona Dancing, the Comsat Angels, Blue Zoo, the Chameleons, the Housemartins, Echo & the Bunnymen, the Mission, Clan of Xymox, the Dawn, Bob Marley, and more! Now with daily live broadcasts Monday through Friday from Manila. Mick Flame (7-11 a.m. PST); The Ghost (11 a.m.-3 p.m. PST); George Frederick (3 p.m.-7 p.m. PST); Naughty Natty & Tiny Tina (7 p.m. to 11 p.m. PST). Sandman live at 8-11 a.m. on weekends. Visit us at Sutton Records

Olbermann: "Only this president, only in this time, only with this dangerous, even messianic certitude, could answer a country demanding an exit strategy from Iraq by offering an entrance strategy for Iran."

Open Thread

Sunday, January 14, 2007

THE LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

Albert Einstein

If you've never seen the movie, "Idiocracy", you really should. In fact, this movie should be required viewing for any person aspiring to any public office, or leadership role of any kind. It's kind of a handbook for building civilization, a sad commentary on our current society, and a crystal ball, all rolled into one.

Idiocracy takes us on an imaginary journey, where Luke Wilson portrays an average Joe, an enlisted man in today's army, who is selected for a deep freeze experiment, where he and a civilian (a prostitute played brilliantly by Maya Rudolph) are frozen in stasis, to be thawed out one year later. Of course circumstances occur that cause their stasis chambers to be overlooked, for 500 years. They awake to a world, where evolution has weeded out the intelligent among us, in favor of the dull, and slow witted. The movie opens by showing us just how this came to be. While the more intelligent members of society limited and even restricted their procreation activities, the more common, less intelligent members of society,( represented by tank top clad, toothless brutes and their dull witted haggardly spouses), were busy cranking out "young-uns" by the dozens. This phenomenon spread throughout the land, as the government, and the media, catered to this "lowest common denominator" by feeding them an endless supply of hillbilly entertainment, flavored energy drinks and fatty, low nutrition foods. Life was good for the masses, as long as they allowed themselves to be lulled into a national mindless stupor, where intelligence was mocked, and "macho" was considered the standard to be adopted by all.

Eventually, natural selection weeded out intelligence as a factor for survival, and the nation fell into a semi-chaotic circus, where the police shoot first, and ask questions later, and where buildings, machines, etc, all fall into a perpetual state of disrepair (the image of the leaning Washington Monument was as disturbing as it was hilarious), surrounded by ever growing piles of garbage and waste, as the people are just too stupid, to know what to do with it.

As I watched this movie, in between rib splitting belly laughs, I also found myself shuddering, as the eerie similarities to life here in the states today, was reflected again and again on the screen in front of me. The police and medical personnel were simply mindless automatons, repeating droll, unsympathetic mantra's often heard today in similar circles. Store clerk personnel and service workers, ignored the customers in front of them as they babble incessantly at a phone, or another employee. Citizens sat in their homes, sucking sweetened juices through a hose, and scooping up a sweetened paste from a tub with their fingers, licking them as they ate, and watching mindless dribble on the television. One show, a favorite, was clearly designed to mimic the popular movie series, "Jack Ass".

And then there was the sex. The foul, endless supply of mindless, loveless sex. Starbucks coffee had become a place for the male population to get a "hand job", and H and R Block featured tawdry hookers to help prepare ones taxes.

It was a seedy, corrupt, mindless, lifeless, foul and ignorant society, where the lowest common denominator had become the standard for all.

And the real poignancy of this film, lies in the reality that this grim, unseemly picture of our nation, is not a fantasy at all, but a glimpse into what we are rapidly becoming as a people, evident each time we step out of our doors in the morning.

Compassion, logic and reason, have been replaced by national antipathy, non-scientific theory and hubris on a national level disguised under the banner of patriotism. Dullness and apathy dominate our retail environment, as store clerks, mostly multi-pierced teenagers, crassly ignore the customer in front of them, for the cell phone permanently affixed to their ears. Even driving an automobile has become an experiment in needless hazard, as people, many merely children, not capable of balancing a checkbook, race down the highways in cars too fast for their driving skills, and too expensive for their incomes. And of course Hollywood has not failed to capitalize on our ever-growing national obsession with violence and cruelty, as they churn out movies where innocent victims are mercilessly tortured and mutilated in slow frame, grisly detail, while audiences of mindless drones sit with their 3 D glasses, shoveling over buttered popcorn into their mouths, in-between mob like cheers. Even the age old sport of Boxing, has been replaced by appalling, gladiator like style combat between chemically morph'd characters whose bloodflow to their brains has long since been slowed by the perpetual hemotoma's inflicted by being repeatedly pounded to the cheers of salivating, profanely jeering mobs, rabidly screaming for more damage to be inflicted on the loser of a bout that would make emperor Trajan himself proud of the bloody spectacle before him.

And of course, who can forget Jackass, the TV show that went on to become a box office hit, where undereducated street cretins beat each other over the head senselessly with metal folding chairs, baseball bats, and dead fish, all to entertain the lowest and most limited members of society, who crave such Neanderthal offerings like a pig craves slop. Does anyone actually comprehend the significance that "Jackass" the movie, was the top selling movie in the United States on its opening weekend? Does anyone think that we are not facing a national crisis?

This is America. This is not the America of our fathers, but it certainly is ours.

This is what we've become, by allowing the bar to be lowered to reach the lowest, and most mundane of our fellow countrymen. The "greatest generation" has been replaced by the "lamest generation", and we continue to drive ourselves further towards the edge of the cliff, dismissing as weak willed, unpatriotic or even "gay", anyone who dares to point out our national push towards stupidity on this universal scale. And the author is not exempt from this intellectual plague. In fact, I am a product of it.

The immediate damage from this national stupidity is evident in our daily lives, and the long term consequences are being revealed on a daily basis. Stupid people with advanced technology and weaponry is a recipe for disaster in anyone's cookbook.

We did not elect George W Bush because we are smart, or because he is smart. We elected him because he looked like a "good ole boy".

We did not start the war in Iraq for national security reasons, but because Arabs flew planes into our buildings, so we wanted to fly bombs into theirs.

And just because enough of the people were able to out vote the Diebold voting machines this time around, does not mean we are on our way to a national elevation of higher thought, or wisdom.

I am not sure what the answer is to this national crisis, but one things for sure, a crisis it is. We see it in the invasion of religion into the science classroom, where tight fisted bible thumping zealots demand that "their" interpretation of the creation of the earth be included in any scientific discussion on the topic. We see it in our state governments, as religious leaders are elected to state office, and proceed to mingle their religous beliefs with state issued law. We see it on television, with a constant assault on our senses of sex, unbelievable violence and cruelty, displayed in grizzly detail in between commercials for drugs designed to do everything but think for us. (stay tuned)

If this picture sounds grim, cold or callous, thats because it is, and was intended to. This post is not meant to be "politically correct", nor is it meant to pacify the dull masses. It is meant as a wake up call to anyone who would start a family, write a book, or put anything back into society that represents a peice of themselves, or their lives work. Because they are in the minority. A ever increasing miniority. If we continue on our current path, then it is quite possible, whether you "believe" in it or not, that natural selection will "weed out" the smartest amongst us in favor of the dull witted, who fit more comfortably into society.

Evolution may in fact, ultimately weed out the only people with enough intelligence to teach the rest of us about it.

I am not sure what answers there are, if any, but as I watch our society applaud ignorance, and reward hate, and stupidity on a grand scale, one thing is certain. America is not in danger of becoming a Theocracy. America is in danger of becoming an "Idiocracy".

In fact, we might already be there.

WORFEUS



Watch the trailer for the movie, "Idiocracy" here

Sunday, January 07, 2007

LAST WILL AND TESTICLE

We must practice somehow to see the good in George Bush, and lift him with our thoughts and prayers. He needs them, for our conception of him is what will become our reality. That said, I know my article here will sound contradictory. But it tells the truth. BUSH'S LAST WILL AND TESTICLE the article I wrote in March, lists many of Bush's crimes you may have forgotten about — in case you need to refresh your memory. I admit this title is provocative, but please take it in the spirit of comedy — in the midst of tragedy. So many crimes, so little time...Why is Bush allowed to roam free, let alone speak in public?


Does Bush really think 20,000 soldiers in a city of over 5 million is going to make a difference? More of the same? This is about saving face for him, since the Iraq War is HIS WAR, the only thing he's done in 6 years. The Iraq Study Group offered him an intervention, a way out, but he was too narcissistic to listen. Read more below, but first this:

Nominations are open again for the KOUFAX AWARDS. Please vote if you wish in the Koufax Awards for Best Blog, Best Writing or Best Post, Wider Recognition, etc.

If you need it, here is the URL for BUSH'S LAST WILL AND TESTICLE which was published on my blog, which you can paste into comment section at Koufax http://www.maconareaonline.com/news.asp?id=13664

Vote here by leaving a comment in the comment section. You can vote for a blog only once but in several categories.
KOUFAX

Larisa Alexandrovna of Raw Story and at largely has a great take on Bush's speech tonight.

One year ago I was in Palm Springs at a Christmas parade watching the young ROTC troops marching by, looking as young as 12-year-olds. (Everyone seems 12 to me these days, maybe because my sons are around this age.) Tears were streaming down my cheeks. I could not stop crying over the war in Iraq, the hate mail and death threats I had received — and the over-all feeling that by speaking out against the war — I was somehow not supporting the troops; I was somehow "unpatriotic."

But sometime last year — during that bizarre episode in which I wrote an article about Ann Coulter DEATH IS SEXIER THAN SEX (TO ANN COULTER) and in retaliation, Coulter published my home number on her website along with the cryptic admonition: "Death is certainly sexier than Lydia Cornell" (which opened up a flood of mail from Americans and Europeans, both pro and con) — I went deep down the dark well of fear and loneliness. I was literally threatened in emails and on the phone at all hours of the day and night. One man yelled at me that since I was a Democrat, I must be a baby-killer and should be shot!" ( I guess he wrongly thought I was pro-abortion. Again, I don't know a single soul who is pro-abortion.) Another email expressed the wish that I should have been killed in the WTC attacks. And on more than one occasion, an angry stranger pounded on my front door; another stole our mail, and another lit our trash cans on fire and threw the lighter into our yard.

But the phone calls and countless letters of love I received overwhelmed the hateful ones. And then I received an incredible gift: a Purple Heart from a Marine combat vet. His name is John Conley and he sent me the most precious medal awarded to him for his bravery and wounds in the Vietnam War. He wanted me to have it for my courage in speaking out. This blew away the doubts I had about what I was doing, whether I was on the right track. Conley is a deep thinker and devout Christian who is as appalled as I am at this very un-Christian war Bush is waging in Iraq. But we knew all along it was a bad choice, this war. We ALL knew all along it was the wrong war.

The republicans are just waking up. Why so late? I heard on Tom Hartman today that Bush is one of those neanderthal non-thinkers who believes EVERYTHING CAN BE SOLVED BY KILLING! He loves to kill. As governor of Texas he unblinkingly signed more execution orders than any governor in U.S. history. He'd rather bomb an entire city block just to catch one bad guy, than to try diplomacy! Why? Because, heck it's just easier, and it probably gives him a more powerful feeling.... than using his brain.

Who can stop Bush, this madman and war criminal; this deciever who is driving our nation straight down to destruction? Why does an unevolved moron get to be the leader of the free world? Why do we allow him to remain in office after all the lies? Why does he get to singlehandedly kill more of our young, precious troops? WHY??????? I am so angry I can't breathe sometimes.

I was unable to talk to anyone about this but my fellow left-wingers — but it was equally hard to talk about my faith. In light of all the right-wing Christian hate-mongering, I walked around excusing my faith whenever it came up by saying "I'm a Democrat, but I pray." As it turns out, there are many more of us than I knew.

The central, defining moment of my life was 12 years ago on September 11, when I surrendered to a power greater than myself and took the leap of believing in God, on a personal level. Religion aside, it takes a certain amount of "blind faith" and willingness in order to activate the magic in one's life. Faith itself opens the door to wondrous things. I knew God was the force of love in the universe, and not the harsh, judgmental anthropomorphic version the fundamentalists believe in.

I was picked up and transformed so completely, that I hardly recognize myself today. My life now is defined by my absolute conviction that God exists, but PLEASE — not the god of fundamentalism or dogma or religiosity. Overtly Christian people who talked about Jesus all the time were such a turn-off to all of us, and so focused on all the wrong things — I couldn’t very well talk to most liberal bloggers I knew at that early stage of blogging. Thanks to Dennis Taylor, John Conley, hundreds of my own bloggers here — as well as Jim Wallis' Sojourners and Rabbi Lerner's Tikkun — spiritual progressives are coming out of the woodwork in droves. As my sweet mother said, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if people would express love before they start evangelizing?" Or something like that. I'll get the quote later.
xo

Friday, January 05, 2007

THE COLOR PURPLE





The red and blue states are having a hard time becoming purple. But since Halle Berry is perfectly blended, why aren't we? She's the most beautiful combination of black and white, which goes to show that we are not meant to be divided. We are meant to be integrated as a nation, for the whole is better than the sum of its parts. This is a metaphor and I'm not speaking literally about integrating the races, though I do think we need to become color blind.

At least Nancy Pelosi wore purple on her first day as the first female SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE. I believe she meant this as a sign of uniting red and blue, but she may have worn purple for a specific reason: it's the color of the Suffragette movement.

I could not believe Tucker Carlson was playing so dumb the other day, saying "I don't understand the big deal about Nancy Pelosi, why is everyone saying it's such a big deal that she's a woman?"

"This is an historic moment - for the Congress, and for the women of this country. It is a moment for which we have waited more than 200 years. Never losing faith, we waited through the many years of struggle to achieve our rights. But women weren't just waiting; women were working. Never losing faith, we worked to redeem the promise of America, that all men and women are created equal. For our daughters and granddaughters, today we have broken the marble ceiling. Nancy Pelosi

Why I Am A Liberal And A Progressive And A Democrat by digby
I am a liberal because it is the political philosophy of freedom and equality. And I am a progressive because it is the political path to a better future. And I am a Democrat because it is the political party that believes in freedom, equality and progress.

More to come...

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

THE DAWN of HOPE



Here's wishing you all a happy, prosperous, peaceful New Year.

I felt a shift yesterday on my way to a meeting. A shift in my own consciousness, and the words came very loudly: "This is finished. You are now free." I'll expound on what this means later, but I feel that a dark cloud has lifted and hell is over.

This is a thought universe. Consider the material world as the clay which the artist works with, to make of it something beautiful or ugly. We need not fear material things, which are neither good nor bad in the moral sense. There seems to be no active force for evil — outside of human beings themselves. Humans alone can have either evil intentions — resentments, malevolence, hate and revenge — or good intentions — LOVE and GOODWILL. This is God: the energy of love. We can make something beautiful out of the clay of our lives. It's up to us. But avoid fear as you would a plague.

Shed peace, not discord, wherever you go. Try to be part of the cure for every situation rather than part of the problem. Try to ignore evil, rather than to actively combat it. (This diminishes it.) Always try to build up, never to tear down.

We hope 2007 will be a year of peace and love in your homes and throughout the world.

May each of us endeavor to express compassion, understanding, integrity and honesty in all our dealings with our fellow man and in all our activities.

If we are wrong, if we have made a mistake or offended anyone, let us admit it promptly, ask for forgiveness and make amends.

Let us keep Love (God) foremost in our thoughts and prayers, pray daily for guidance, and be willing to take
whatever human footsteps we need to take to improve our lives, our relationships, our fnancial situations, our talents, our mental and physical health.

"Progress is the Law of God," and we pray that you experience much progress in your daily lives throughout the New Year and always.

Wishing you a MOST HAPPY, PEACEFUL AND FRUITFUL NEW YEAR!

PRAYER CHANGES THINGS. Prayer is focusing so completely on the good, that good becomes all you see. We have to become willing to put on a new pair of glasses and adopt a new point of view.
Fear = False Evidence Appearing Real. Love (God) casts out fear.

This is an open thread. I will add to this post later today.