Ann Coulter's remark that Christians want Jews to be "perfected" proves she knows nothing about Christianity. Maybe she didn't mean it the way it sounded, but I have done enough research on Coulter to know she prefers a "cream-colored" ethnically cleansed population of "non-swarthy" types. Her comment that Jews need to be perfected is the kind of talk that sparked the Holocaust.
TOMORROW ON HBO: "RUN, GRANNY, RUN" follows the unique experience of 94-year-old Doris "Granny" D. Haddock as she runs for the U.S. Sentate in this inspirational documentary premiering tomorrow at 9 pm October 18 on HBO. Proving that age, sex, and social standing don’t necessarily determine political campaigns, "Run, Granny, Run" shows the “everyman” (woman) can make a difference when it debuts TOMORROW THURSDAY, OCT. 18 at 9:00 p.m. ET, exclusively on HBO. Check Granny D’s Official MySpace Page and see advanced clips from the film including what happens when Granny D tries to meet Howard Dean: http://www.myspace.com/rungrannyrun
Read the amazing new book "THE CONSERVATIVES HAVE NO CLOTHES: Why Right-Wing Ideas Keep Failing" by Greg Anrig, Vice President of Programs at the Century Foundation. We just interviewed him and you can listen in the archives at: Basham and Cornell Progressive Talk Radio The Basham and Cornell Show broadcasts weekday mornings at 8 a.m. Pacific (11 a.m. Eastern) on AM 1230 KLAV in Las Vegas.
Three items to discuss:
1. Blackwater down: Is Blackwater prolonging the war in Iraq? Iraqis want them out of Iraq. Erik Prince's Blackwater Mercenery Army was paid over $300 million of our taxpayer dollars
2. Wiretapping set in place PRIOR to 9/11
3. Ann Coulter's remarks and her enablers in the media.
Blackwater is hurting our troops. From ThinkProgress.org: "Given the choice, the right-wingnuts always choose Blackwater over our own troops. They're not on the same side, and haven't been ever... The whole "screw them" thing four years ago was exactly that -- the wingers were more outraged over four Blackwater mercenaries killed than they were about the five Marines that had died that very same day... I was pissed that the sacrifice of those Marines merited less attention that those of a private, profit-motivated, unaccountable militia.
It's always been clear where the US military has stood in regards to the mercenaries. Soldiers complain about them:
"They act like they're God's gift to combat operations" complained one soldier to me, "Swanning around with weapons and equipment every bit as powerful as anything in our armoury, but without any of the legal framework that we have to work within. They're rude, aggressive and to be honest, their attitudes piss us guys off so I dread to think how the Iraqis view them".
The top brass have been complaining about their ill effect for years:
In the post-9/11 world, demand for the commandos is not only soaring within the military. Private firms and government organizations - including the CIA - are luring away troops with bigger salaries. "It is a very lucrative opportunity right now for special operations folks to get out and take very high-paying jobs" with private security firms, says General Brown. A 20-year veteran leaving Special Operations receives about $23,000 in retirement pay, but can earn $100,000 to $200,000 in private industry, military officials say.
With no end to the demand in sight, the military must carefully allocate SOF while increasing their ranks. To fill the current gap, it is accepting added risks with less experienced forces.
Blackwater in Iraq: Killing for Profit By Saul Landau
The words "Support Our Troops" stain the rear bumpers of thousands of cars. The slogan, however, conceals a more pernicious demand: "Support Our Mercenaries." Yes, in Iraq, the mercenaries--euphemistically called "paid contractors"--outnumber US troops, 180,000 to 160,000. These contractors do more than provide armed security for US personnel. They do chores that previously belonged to regular army staff.
Private security companies employ for high pay former US soldiers, ex-kidnappers and torturers from Pinochet's secret police, death squad heavies from a variety of Central and South American countries and a few leftover South African apartheid thugs as well. The companies collect billions from US taxpayers. A typical U.S. soldier serving in Iraq makes about: $57 a day. The estimated daily take for a Blackwater security guard there runs between $500- $600. (FACING SOUTH A News and Politics Report Sept. 26, 2007)
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From Lydia: There was a time when I was a Republican, but that was before I got sober. It was when I was in my ego stage: very self-centered and full of myself. And in fear of losing what I had or not getting what I wanted. As we shed our ego, we become more compassionate toward others, more concerned about social justice and saving our earth and helping other flawed humans — not judging them, but helping them.
I am reprinting this letter from Dennis Taylor of Phoenix, Arizona. I think this man is very intuitive — which we are all capable of being when we open our minds.
"Dear Lydia, I have to share something that my wife said after reading your blog. Without sounding flakey…I’m convinced that my wife is correct and that this goes hand in hand with your statement regarding the next frontier being the center or the middle. We both have a strong internal sense of something impending that is difficult to explain. A feeling that many of us are going to be called to stand out for what is right and rescue the Constitution of the USA so that the country can get back to being a democracy. It seems like while America slept, we were slowly and silently robbed of Democracy. The irony is the fact that so many people who call themselves Christian as well as conservative played a big role in America silently surrendering Democracy to those who regard the constitution as a mere technicality to work around in order to promote their self-serving agendas.
Respectfully, Dennis Taylor
Tribal divisions and ethnic chauvinism seem so primitive. We can't survive without each other. It's also pretty clear that storing up material treasures on earth is useless. We are learning not to depend on material sustenance, but to depend on charity. Love for our fellow man -- there is nothing else worth talking about. And that is why the Gate is narrow: it's hard to love your enemies -- and I'm not just talking about terrorists. It's hard to love people you can't stand to be in the same room with. With my relatives this weekend, I kept asking myself: "How can I be of love and service to people who are incredibly annoying?" Very few will make it through this gate of loving their enemies, not fighting, and embracing those morally bankrupt people who disgust, offend and threaten them. But that's what we are called to do, and that's why the Way is narrow.
I want to start focusing on all the good we can do. Look at this incredible universe – it would take a blind slug not to see God everywhere. This is heaven and it is here now, if we choose to see it. I was at a peacock farm with my kids, chasing peacocks all over the place -- and in the design of a peacock's feathers, you see God’s artistry. In the calligraphy of a Monarch butterfly you see perfection. And in a baby's face, you see heaven. Why do people debate whether or not God exists when God is simply love? Who can argue with love, kindness, compassion? Asking to prove the existence of God is like asking to prove you love your kids. I actually believe that Einstein was on the cusp of proving God through science, for he said that 'goodness, truth and beauty are laws of the universe'; hence God and science are not mutually exclusive.
I also love Wayne Dyer's statement that "you'll see it when you BELIEVE it" and "the antidote to depression is kindness". One act of kindness to another human being is an anti-depressant; it actually raises your Serotonin levels. An observer of an act of kindness also gets a Serotonin boost. If everyone in America was engaged in volunteering, in "love and service" work, we wouldn't be thinking about ourselves or what we lack -- and we wouldn't be depressed. Depression is an epidemic in this country and the pharmaceutical companies love promoting our fears & obsessions. Getting out of our self-centered fear by helping others works every time.
My brilliant friend Chaz and I were discussing how the world has changed and how odd it is that something we thought was a given, makes so much sense to us, but make so little sense to right-wingers, and he said that if we weren't saying the truth, it wouldn't upset so many people. Kind of like the film "Good Night and Good Luck" about Edward R. Murrow's battle with McCarthy. He also said that "a frog never jumps out of a pan if you turn the heat up slowly." Which is what the people in power are doing to middle-class Americans: turning the heat up and taking away our earnings, choices and freedoms in such gradual degrees that we barely notice until it's too late.
Another letter from a fan: "I am convinced that if Jesus Christ almighty were to come pay us a visit incarnate today, he would have one thing to say to many of the religious right-wing and republican party as well as a result of the mess they have made. He would call them a 'brood of vipers,' which is what he called the Pharisees of his time. These very same people who did everything in their power to rake Bill Clinton over the coals for an indiscretion with a Whitehouse Intern seem to have absolutely no problem with telling lies, half truths and hiding Bush’s sins and crimes. It’s a sad but true statement when ya consider the fact that Nixon got impeached for things far less offensive then the crimes that Bush is flat out guilty of both locally and internationally..."
"I’m concerned about the future of this country as a result of the dangerous trend of growing lies and deception that the Bush administration and vicious mouthpieces like Ann Coulter and Bill O’ Reilly. Over the course of the last five years, people like this have effectively redefined the word “liberal” to mean a lot of things that it simply is not and never was. Liberal is actually a very positive and progressive term when examined under the light of honesty. However, in the hands of corrupt people like Bush, O’ Reilly and Coulter, it has been used to mislead the American public. Regretfully, they have used the stupidity of most Americans to believe that liberal is something bad, immoral, baby murdering and anti-Christian."
EARLY HALLOWEEN PHOTO:
