Saturday, April 04, 2009

THE WORLD TURNS! GOOD NEWS! ROAD TO RECOVERY

Two Traveling Angels

Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family.
The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion's guest room.
Instead the angels were given a small space in the cold basement.
As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it.
When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied,
'Things aren't always what they seem.'
The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife.
After sharing what little food they had the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night's rest.
When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears
Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field.
The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel how could you have let this happen?
The first man had everything, yet you helped him, she accused.
The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let the cow die.
Things aren't always what they seem,' the older angel replied.
When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall.
Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the
wall so he wouldn't find it.'
'Then last night as we slept in the farmers bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I gave him the cow instead.

'Things aren't always what they seem.'

Sometimes that is exactly what happens when things don't turn out the way they should. If you have faith, you just need to trust that every outcome is always to your advantage. You just might not know it until some time later..

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it's called the present!

I think this is special....live and savor every moment... This is not a dress rehearsal!

Never take away anyone's hope.
That may be all they have.

Some people
come into our lives
and quickly go..

Some people
become friends
and stay awhile...

leaving beautiful
footprints on our
hearts...

and we are
never
quite the same
because we have
made a good
friend!!

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it's called the present!

I think this is special....live and savor every moment... This is not a dress rehearsal!

(\ /)
( \ / )
( \()/ )
( /\ ) TAKE THIS LITTLE ANGEL
( / \/\ ) AND KEEP HER CLOSE TO YOU
/ \ SHE IS YOUR GUARDIAN ANGEL
( ) SENT TO WATCH OVER YOU
--------
Live at 8:15 AM: I haven't fully set up Twitter yet, but here is my latest Twitter update: "I'm on the radio right now while I"m typing. We have our resident political strategists on the show: Dave Schwartz and Peggy Maze Johnson. I just mentioned the woman who Googled her husband and found his car parked outside his mistress' house! We just had a caller who is in the military set to go to Afghanistan. He voted his Republican his entire life until this last election. He believes even Condi Rice voted for Obama!

New York Times
WORLD LEADERS PLEDGE 1.1 TRILLION FOR CRISIS: GIVES MORE THAN ASKED FOR! Among other steps Mr. Brown detailed were new regulations on hedge funds and rating agencies, as well as a crackdown on tax havens, which will be publicly identified and subjected to sanctions if they do not agree to share tax information with the authorities of other countries. A senior Obama administration official cautioned that the sanctions were “future oriented.” LONDON — Struggling to bridge deep divides over how to revive a paralyzed global economy, the leaders of the world’s largest economies agreed Thursday to bail out developing countries, stimulate world trade and regulate financial firms more stringently.

Stock markets around the world, especially in emerging nations, rose in the hours leading up to the announcement.

*********************
FROM WINDOW OF CHINA
Ottawa, April 2 (Xinhua) -- The meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and U.S. President Barack Obama ahead of the London G20 summit had substantially strengthened relations between the two largest economies in the world, a Canadian scholar said Thursday. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/03/content_11126101.htm

OBAMA'S DIPLOMACY AND FINESSE - The operative word here is HUMILITY, Obama diffused any antagonism among world leaders and was a gracious diplomat using a rare quality called humility. "He's a good listener." The operative word here is "humility, which means a lack of arrogance. Being thoughtful enough to really hear the person and not jump in like a know-it-all, with only self-serving interests. It's the idea that "it's better first to understand others than to be understood." - Lydia

Obama Wins More Praise In London

U.S. News and World Report
Media reports last night and this morning offer glowing reviews of President Obama's early diplomatic moves in Europe and in the process, implicitly or explicitly, are drawing contrasts between Obama and his predecessor, George W. Bush. The ranks of those openly comparing Obama's performance to Bush's include an unnamed "senior White House official." In a story about Obama's meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the CBS Evening News noted "a senior White House official said the US and Russia will now focus on mutual interests not 'a buddy/buddy relationship,' a reference to former President Bush's claim that he'd looked into Russian leader Vladimir Putin's eyes and got a sense of his soul." The Financial Times also notes that "Obama officials made it clear that the US president would 'not be looking into souls.'" Reuters draws a contrast between Obama and Bush, while The Politico says that yesterday, "in strokes of symbolism and on issues of substance," Obama "made one thing clear: The Bush era of foreign policy is over." Adds The Politico, "Gone was diplomacy by towel-snapping."

ABC World News Obama "is forging personal relationships with heads of state some of whom have not recently had warm things to say about the US." On MSNBC's Hardball, Chris Matthews said, "Barack rocks in Britain, bustling through history." The AP refers to "a stunning reversal from policies of the Bush administration," and under the headline "In Britain, Obama Vows To Listen, Not Lecture," the Washington Times reports Obama's "style was a stark change from that of his predecessor."

Obama Says ‘Historic’ G-20 Summit Put World on Path to Recovery

April 3 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama wrapped up his first international summit by declaring the event “historic” and a “turning point” toward recovery from a worldwide recession.

Obama, who used personal diplomacy to help push through an agreement on regulations and emergency aid, said he and his counterparts at the Group of 20 summit are taking “unprecedented steps” to prevent another financial crisis.

Economic risks remain and there are “no guarantees,” he said at a news conference in London yesterday. “I have no doubt, though, that the steps that have been taken are critical to preventing us sliding into a depression.”

The leaders agreed on principles for financial market regulation, including expanded controls on hedge funds and derivatives trading, and tax havens, as well as rules on compensation and bonuses. They also pledged additional financing for the International Monetary Fund and other institutions.

The summit ended amid signs the world economy is stabilizing after months of sliding. Confidence among U.S. consumers climbed in March after reaching the lowest level on record a month earlier, according to the Conference Board. U.K. house prices unexpectedly rose in March for the first time since October 2007, while Chinese manufacturing increased, reports today showed.

102 comments:

  1. Man, isn't it nice having a President again that the rest of the world respects?

    ReplyDelete
  2. For what it's worth, I apologize for my part in hurting anyone's feelings.

    I have always been accused by my family of being "too truthful."

    In polite society there is a certain diplomacy and finesse when you are invited into someone's living room or blog. You don't talk over people endlessly and hog all the airspace.

    In the program they say "restraint of tongue and pen." Don't say everything you are thinking if it is invasive or might hurt someone's feelings.

    The thing that some might not understand is that in an argument or marriage, it doesn't matter who is right. You can win an argument, but lose the love, lose the relationship.

    But to care more about defending your pride and create so much bad blood you lose your friends, your reputation and destroy the larger goal of peace and unity -- will make you a very lonely person. You may feel you are "right" but you've lost everything that really matters.

    Similar to what America went through the past 8 years. Arrogance, lack of patience and humility.

    The stronger man always uses discernment and restraint.

    What arrogance to think you can spew whatever crap that comes out of your mind on someone else's home page. This is my living room! This is bad etiquette if nothing else.

    I think this is the lesson for all of us: put "self" behind and don't focus on winning petty arguments.

    Always remember the bigger picture of spreading good will or winning hearts and minds. Don't put so much importance on your own personal pride that you destroy all the good will we are trying to do create here.

    We all need friends to confide in. No one can make it alone in this world.

    The difficult thing is knowing when to rise above petty attacks, and do what John Kerry did -- not defend yourself when you've been Swiftboated.

    The truth is so obvious to any honest, intelligent person, there is no need to defend myself. So I withdraw.

    I await your sincere apology.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lydia Cornell said...

    * Slandered means spreading "false information" and lies about a person's good name, which are provable in court.


    That's right. And you'd better ask your attorney about that definition, because it also includes this.

    "It isn't slander if its TRUE".

    ReplyDelete
  4. You say the truth is "obvious".

    I agree.

    And all you have to do is give me permission to repost a few statements from your email on Sunday, and a few sentences from what you said last night.


    And then the truth will indeed be "obvious".

    What do you have to worry about, IF "I" am lying, as you claim?

    ReplyDelete
  5. The thing I want to know, Lydia, is can we criticize the president when we personally think he's wrong? At least from what I've been able to garner so far, that seems to be a pretty big no-no.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Here is the email I sent you yesterday:

    "I thought Jackie might be Larry. I was in a hurry and wanted you to stop attacking mch! You were bothering me on my son's birthday and you kept begging me to not get involved in my own blog!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. All the other emails were me just beseeching you to stop your anger and hatefulness toward MCH - who is the father of a special needs child.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yes, Sara is not a troll and never said anything against you or me.

    Sara has nothing to do with anything.

    Sara is a friend and supporter of yours! And I guessed it by myself not long ago.
    I always thought Sara was a really nice girl, but hated her use of the word "frickin"

    She is the only woman who visited this blog. .

    Obviously all the other trolls were the usual suspects according to you and everyone else.

    Goodbye

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your "I was guessing...figure it out" nonsense is just that.

    Nonsense.

    As we see the TRUTH now of what you said, we see there was no "GUESSING" involved.

    At least none indicated whatsoever.

    No hint of a "hunch".

    No inkling of a "guess".

    Just TWO, CLEAR, UNAMBIGUOUS statements claiming in no uncertain terms the identities of these two individuals.

    And now you act like I was just supposed to know that you were supposedly "guessing".

    Even though HALF of what you said on Sunday proved to be TRUE.

    Which indicates what you said on Sunday was closer to the truth, than your backpedaling now would indicate.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Now you have a lawsuit on your hands for posting a private email that is confidential.

    ReplyDelete
  11. To slander my name the way you have, to read my private email last summer, to illegally shut down my website --- and to never learn to see other people as human beings.

    All these years I really cared about you as a human being, and your trials, and I kept forgiving me but you just want to shoot me down. I forgave you 3 times. and you destroy all the good. You just want to destroy everything.

    God forgive you.

    Goodbye. Have a nice life and I wish you peace.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Lydia deleted the evidence that would clear my name.

    So all anyone has to do, is ask themselves "why?".

    ReplyDelete
  13. Lydia Cornell said...

    All these years I really cared about you as a human being, and your trials, and I kept forgiving me but you just want to shoot me down.



    Maybe you should stop worrying about "forgiving me" and look at your own hand in it.

    And as for where is my "heart"?

    You and others broke it.

    When you lied to me.

    ReplyDelete
  14. BART - I assume you are kidding, right? Because if you're not, then I don't know what to think of you.

    How dare you say I sent you any letter that sounded exactly like my friend Jim's comments. That is a LIE and you know it.

    How dare you lie and pretend I have any idea you use an "axe". I have never known this, wanted to know this nor remembered it if you ever mentioned it.

    How dare you attack and accuse and use the "f" word and take over this blog like a dictator.

    What hypocrisy to tell me to stay "aloof" in my own blog and then send me emails threatening me, implying I speak to my own friends! For your information, it doesn't take a person in recovery to see you need to look within.

    I don't have time for this. I don't have time to even talk to my good friends as I am in a crisis at home. I am a fool for believing you changed after you shut down my site and destroyed my life again.

    Aside from courtesy and blog etiquette, you sound like the most self-centered, person on the face of the earth. You don't have liberal values or Christ-like compassion. You have nothing good to say anymore. You sound exactly like Rush Limbaugh --

    All I told you was that MCH was not Jackie because in my heart I know he is not. I have a sixth sense about him. I felt you are on a witch hunt and this is wrong.

    I HAVE NO IDEA who JACKIE is or the imposters or all these new fakers. I'm sure Jackie is Volt or Freedom Fan. I used to think it was Larry but he DOSEN'T COME NEAR MY BLOG BECAUSE HE THINKS YOU HAVE RUINED MY LIFE. I have lost good people because of you, but you only care about yourself.

    Stop condemning people in recovery who have faced their demons. I practice a program of rigorous honesty. You know nothing about that.

    You have proven that you don't care about anyone but yoursellf. I was a fool to believe you had changed. Any human being that would do what George Bush did and spy on a private citizen's email is WORSE than anything I can think of.

    You were hosting my site because you offered your services as a way to make up for shutting down the new Wordpress blog you begged me to set up. I lost all my new writings.

    You should apologize publicly. I actually thought you were a good person. I am an idiot.

    You have never once asked how my child with brittle bone disease is. He just had his second bone surgery and I've told you I'm under a great deal of stress and to please tone it down on the blog.

    YOU HAVE NEVER EXPRESSED CONCERN ABOUT ANYONE BUT YOURSELF.

    ReplyDelete
  15. To Volt: I apologize for thinking you were Jackie. If you say you are not Jackie, I will take you at your word and start fresh.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Bart, why dont you just leave already?

    I've stated why I keep coming back. Why do you?

    I'm sorry that my presence offends you; that's your problem, not mine.

    I'm sorry Lydia was forced into the position to defend me against your attacks. If I hadn't have been attacked, it wouldn't have been an issue.

    If Lydia were to tell me today that my presence on her blog is causing her problems, I would stop coming. Why don't you?

    And stop with the nonsense of "They wont let me leave." There is a little x on the top right of your internet browser. Click on it. You've left. Nobody forbids you from clicking on it. Nobody requires you typing www.lydiacornell.com/blog.html into your address bar.

    You've been coming and staying out of your own free will.


    So aside from causing pain and trouble and mischief, why exactly do you keep coming back? Because if those are the only reasons, then you truly are an evil creature.


    As for me, I like the other format better. I have no interest in participating in a blog where someone such as you and Jackie will spread certain lies about me. So when the other rooms open, I will be there instead.


    After you left yesterday, the blog was fun again. I have no interest in being where you are.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh, and Lydia, even though Im not the most religious person in the world, I have been saying my share of prayers for your son. You have my email, feel free to unwind on me anytime you wish seeing as how I more or less understand what you're going through.

    Going back to work now.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Lydia Cornell said...

    BART - I assume you are kidding, right? Because if you're not, then I don't know what to think of you.

    How dare you say I sent you any letter that sounded exactly like my friend Jim's comments. That is a LIE and you know it.

    How dare you lie and pretend I have any idea you use an "axe". I have never known this, wanted to know this nor remembered it if you ever mentioned it.


    I sent you pictures of some of the logging on the mountain and my Axe was stuck in one of the logs.

    Your accusations against me in email Sunday were identical to the ones Jim expressed Sunday night.

    And even last night, Jim accused me of ruining your "GOOD MISSION" right after you got through in an email of accusing me of ruining your "GOOD WORK".

    Now.

    You don't have to be an expert to see the striking similarities between Jim and your statements to me.

    They mirror each other.

    Now I don't know if you are Jim.

    Never said you were. Said I "thought" you were but I also confessed I don't know.

    And the reason I don't know is because of what you wrote on Sunday, revealing the sock puppetry going on all around me without my ever knowing it.

    So once I saw that you too were either engaged in or at least passively involved in this dishonest nonsense, how was I supposed to not doubt you there?

    HUH?

    Tell me how I was supposed to not doubt you about Jim. Or still not doubt you?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Okay let's start fresh.

    No more of this. It's wrong on all sides.


    There is a tragedy going on in New York - does anyone know the details?

    ReplyDelete
  20. When on earth did you send me a picture of a log? When on earth?

    Good work is a term I used in the actual blog! Good mission is a term I often discuss with my spiritual friends when describing what we're doing on this planet.

    To help people.

    Underneath I know you are good person Bart. You have to stop being so reactive.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Lydia Cornell said...

    When on earth did you send me a picture of a log? When on earth?

    Good work is a term I used in the actual blog! Good mission



    Yea.

    Only "GOOD WORK" was a term you used in email last night that you accused me of "ruining".

    And "GOOD MISSION" was a term JIM used just a few minutes later, accusing me of the exact same thing.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Jim wrote about our good mission as peacemakers on all his CNN sites. It's not a stretch to say you are ruining someone's good work in the world.

    For you to make a leap like that and ride along with Volt's feigned outrage -- is surreal. For you to think the worst of me, when all I did was support you and give in to you. Unbelievable.

    Stop now.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Lydia Cornell said...

    Okay let's start fresh.

    No more of this. It's wrong on all sides.




    I'm not willing to do that.

    I'm willing to "end" fresh.

    Just stop talking about me and I'll do the same. Lets just end it.

    We'll call it a huge misunderstanding or something and go our separate ways.

    Fair enough?

    ReplyDelete
  24. For the last and final time: the only "sock puppetry that I was aware of was a woman named Sara who makes fun of the word "frickin"

    For the last time, I wrote you no such mysterioso email.

    Isn't a person allowed to correct themselves as I have done ad nauseum?

    God, do you ever allow a person to make a quick gut mistake out of impatience and CHILDREN in the background?

    Why can't I correct my 'conspiracy theory and state what I now know is the truth about Jackie?

    You are the most impossible person I have ever met, who keeps speaking untruths to make others think there is something going on.
    .
    That is all.
    An apology is the only thing that is acceptable. No matter who is right or wrong we make amends for our own behavior when we have upset people.

    I am sorry if I hurt your feelings or anyone else's. I never thought I'd ever reveal what happened last summer.

    This is a huge misunderstanding and now that I have finally explained my side it is over.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Lydia, have you ever considered putting up two blogs; one political, one nonpolitical (movies, music, art, theatre, literature, etc.)? You seem like a person with a lot of interests and it would be nice to get into some discussions that don't involve the words Limbaugh, Coulter, Obama, etc.. Just a suggestion.

    ReplyDelete
  26. BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – A gunman opened fire on a room where immigrants were taking a citizenship exam in downtown Binghamton on Friday, killing as many as 13 people before committing suicide, officials said.

    Gov. David Paterson said at a news conference that 12 or 13 people had been killed. The suspected gunman carried identification with the name of 42-year-old Jiverly Voong of nearby Johnson City, N.Y., a law enforcement official said.

    The name is an alias that the man has used in the past, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and was talking on condition of anonymity.

    The suspect's body was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in an office of the American Civic Association building, the official said. The gunman barricaded the rear door of the building with his car before entering through the front door, firing his weapon, the official said.

    The gunman had recently been let go from IBM in nearby Johnson City, said Rep. Maurice Hinchey, whose district includes Binghamton. The gunman opened fire on a citizenship class, he said.

    "People were there in the process of being tested for their citizenship," Hinchey said in a telephone interview. "It was in the middle of a test. He just went in and opened fire."

    Waiting outside a Catholic Charities office where counselors were tending to relatives of victims, Omri Yigal said his wife, Delores, was taking English lessons when the gunman attacked. He had no word on what happened to her.

    "At this point, I know the scale of what happened, but I just hope Delores is OK," the Filipino immigrant said. "I haven't got any information. ... The only thing I have right now is hope."

    The gunman's connection to the center isn't clear, Hinchey said.

    "One of the first questions is going to be, what motivated this?" he said. "What caused this to happen? What was the kind of person who did it?"

    A woman who answered the phone at a listing for Henry D. Voong said she was Jiverly Voong's sister but would not give her name.

    Asked if she was aware that he might have been involved in the shooting, she said: "How? He didn't have a gun. I think somebody involved, not him. I think he got shot by somebody else."

    "I think there's a misunderstanding over here because I want to know, too," she said.

    The American Civic Association helps immigrants in the Binghamton area with naturalization applications, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

    The association describes itself as helping immigrants and refugees with counseling, resettlement, citizenship, family reunification and translators.

    The association's president, Angela Leach, "is very upset right now," said Mike Chanecka, a friend who answered a call at her home as Leach wept in the background.

    "She doesn't know anything; she's as shocked as anyone," Chanecka said. "For some reason, she had the day off today. And she's very worried about her secretary."

    Two women and a man suffering gunshot wounds were being treated at Wilson Medical Center in Johnson City, said hospital spokeswoman Christina Boyd. One was stable, one was serious and one was critical. Their ages ranged from 20s to 50s, she said.

    Linda Miller, a spokeswoman at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton, said a student from Binghamton University was being treated there.

    The shooting occurred in a mixed neighborhood of homes and small businesses in the center of Binghamton, a city of about 47,000 located 140 miles northwest of New York City.

    College student Leslie Shrager told the AP that she and her five housemates were sleeping when police pounded on the front door of their house next door to the shooting scene.

    Officers escorted the six Binghamton University students outside, she said, and that's when they learned of the shooting.

    "One of our housemates thought they heard banging of some kind. But when you're living in downtown Binghamton, it's always noisy," said Shrager, of Slingerlands, an Albany suburb. "Literally two minutes later the cops came and got us out."

    At the junction of the Susquehanna and the Chenango rivers, the Binghamton area was the home to Endicott-Johnson shoe company and the birthplace of IBM, which between them employed tens of thousands of workers before the shoe company closed a decade ago and IBM downsized in recent years.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Lydia,

    First of all, you're not the only one who uses their real name:-)This is the name I was born with for better or for worse and BTW it's pronounced Fry.
    For info on the shootings, I would recommend www.cnn.com
    This is yet another example of the social damage done by the economic meltdown.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Hey Lydia, remember how i've been talking for YEARS now about how the country has tilted left and the increased demand for Progressive Programming.........well looks like I was right......you hear Ed Schultz is getting his own show on MSNBC.

    I REALLY Like Ed Schultz I think he'll do fine.......I would love to see Stephanie Miller and you and Doug Get your own shows as well.


    I know your busy finishing up the book but when you have time You and Doug should try to do some guest appearances on some of the Progressive shows to allow a wider audience tap into the good stuff you guys are doing.

    ReplyDelete
  29. This shooting tragedy Is so sad. We all need to be kind to each other. People's nerves are frayed in this economy and so many people need love and compassion. Buddhist monks practice Compassion meditation whichhas been proven to actually change things in the physical universe.

    They pour loving thoughts out to suffering people and do this many times a day on the spot. And their brains are younger, smoother and with less damage than brain tissue of people who worry, stress and have anger issues.

    Meditation is quieting the mind and listening to God's thoughts - LOVE - putting your thoughts on all the goodness inside, where the kingdom of heaven is. It's within each of us but we drown it out by our chattering, small minds.

    Anger and stress actually create biochemical changes in the brain and snap neurons, and slow down or destroy the connections, synapses...

    I am so sorry for my participation in the ugliness on this blog and engaging in the argument at all. And I should never have stooped so low to defend anything. No one has control over what provokes another person, and we can't control what our friends might post even when they are trying to defend you.

    Mike Lux - Amazing author from Center for American Progress will be on our show Monday. He worked in the Clinton White House, and was on Obama's transition team.

    Love to you ALL!

    Mike Lux

    ReplyDelete
  30. Alright, so here's MSNBC's line-up; 3-5PM David Shuster, 5PM Chris Matthews, 6PM Ed Schultz, 7PM Chris Matthews (repeat), 8PM Keith Olbermann, 9PM Rachel Maddow, 10PM Keith Olbermann (repeat), 11PM Chris Matthews (repeat), 12Midnight Rachel Maddow (repeat). Oh well, I guess I know where certain people are going to be heading to get their "news" now. Seriously, though, for anybody to say that this network tilts "slightly" to the left is hilarious. I mean, who they going to hire next; Tavis Smiley, Al Franken (while he's waiting, I'm saying), Bill Moyers, Yugo Chavez? Enough already!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Here's some good news


    In an unanimous decision, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld the right of same-sex couples to marry. The court, which was reviewing a district court decision allowing six gay couples to marry, found that “limiting civil marriage to a union between a man and a woman violates the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution”:

    In a unanimous decision, the Iowa Supreme Court today held that the Iowa statute limiting civil marriage to a union between a man and a woman violates the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution.

    The decision strikes the language from Iowa Code section 595.2 limiting civil marriage to a man and a woman. It further directs that the remaining statutory language be interpreted and applied in a manner allowing gay and lesbian people full access to the institution of civil marriage.

    The ruling “makes Iowa the first Midwestern state, and the fourth nationwide, to allow same-sex marriages.” In the opinion, the judges compared protecting the right to same-sex marriage to past rulings by the Iowa Supreme Court that protected women’s rights and struck down slavery and segregation laws:

    So, today, this court again faces an important issue that hinges on our definition of equal protection. This issue comes to us with the same importance as our landmark cases of the past. The same-sex-marriage debate waged in this case is part of a strong national dialogue centered on a fundamental, deep-seated, traditional institution that has excluded, by state action, a particular class of Iowans. This class of people asks a simple and direct question: How can a state premised on the constitutional principle of equal protection justify exclusion of a class of Iowans from civil marriage?

    In its opinion, the court addressed concerns that today’s decision would trample on religious views of marriage, writing that “religious doctrine and views contrary to this principle of law are unaffected. “A religious denomination can still define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.”

    Richard Socarides, a former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton on gay civil rights, told the Des Moines Register today that the “decision could set the stage for other states.” AmericaBlog’s Joe Sudbay calls the ruling “a huge win for marriage equality,” writing that “more and more Americans support marriage equality and it’s only going to increase.”

    ReplyDelete
  32. Blogger Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

    Lydia, have you ever considered putting up two blogs; one political, one nonpolitical (movies, music, art, theatre, literature, etc.)? You seem like a person with a lot of interests and it would be nice to get into some discussions that don't involve the words Limbaugh, Coulter, Obama, etc.. Just a suggestion."


    Let me be clear here I think multi-channel multi interest blogs would be a good idea.........what I find confusing however Will is if it would be SO "NICE" to have discussions that DONT involve Limbaugh, Coulter, Obama, etc......how come thats ALL you talk about on your "blog".........just curious?

    ReplyDelete
  33. And Willy's AGAINST the Fairness Doctrine............BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

    ReplyDelete
  34. I "wonder" why?

    ReplyDelete
  35. Like I said since 2006 this country has tilted decisively towards freedom, justice and equality.......meaning it has tilted towards the left.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Just wait till all these financial institutions that are "TOO BIG TO FAIL". and all these media empires that are just plain TOO BIG to insure diversity of opinion are broken up and we have a "Honesty Doctrine", along with the "FAIRNESS DOCTRINE" and National Healthcare..........that shou;d have you "fair and balanced" types up in arms eh Will?

    ReplyDelete
  37. Will - here's the deal. MSNBC doesn't tilt to the left, it tilts to the truth.

    The truth has a liberal bias.

    Fox and O'Reilly get mad when they are caught on tape saying their own words.

    Fox has committed countless sins of omission -- leaving out entire parts of a story to sensationalize one angle - and they were actually caught running type at the bottom of the screen using the name "Osama" as Obama.

    Chris Matthews shilled for the Repugs for years until the truth became unbearably bright.

    Remember his fawning all over Tom Delay?

    He only recently woke up.

    Nora O'Donnell is married to a Republican bigwig and used to chorlte sarcastically toward all things slightly "liberal." Then it's as if she saw the light -- and began to actually see the corporate imbalance.

    Katie Couric also used to say what the corporate bosses told her to say -- until the media had the spotlight shined on them and suddenly they saw they had been used by the Bush administration to LIE to the American people.

    Tell me one lie or deliberately misleading statement that Keith or Rachel or anyone on MSNBC has said -- that wasn't a mistake or accident.

    Do you see the difference in lying as a job qualification and telling the truth?

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  38. Oh and by the way, I can't wait to get away from politics.

    It will be so much fun to talk about sex.

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  39. Mike, I've done posts on Greta Garbo, Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, Jean Simmons, Gregory Peck, Neko Case, Patty Loveless. I've even thrown in a few love poems (that Clif made fun of, of course), for God's sake. I did a post on UConn running back (and future NFL star, Donald Brown). Like I said in a previous post, me-bucko, most of MY heroes AREN'T politicians. As for all this other stuff, the country rejected (understandably so) the Republicans in '06 and '08. I don't think that that necessarily translates into an affirmation of the left (sorry, but that is also my opinion and I'm entitled to that one, too). I personally wish the president well (MY 401K, fellow, doesn't have a political affiliation and neither do I) and actually like him. I just wish that he'd listen more to people like Evan Bayh, Kent Conrad, Ben Nelson, and people like that than to the shallow and hackneyed Pelosi. A Fairness Doctrine? Hmm. Can we have that applied to PBS, too, please? And like I asked before, wouldn't it be better if, say, George Soros, bought up some of these stations instead of having the government tell us what the hell is fair and what the hell isn't fair? "Fair and balanced" types? 1) That's a stereotype (you seem to embrace them, I've noticed. And 2) You're shamelessly lumping with Fox News, an entity that I've been consistently been critical of (can you say strawman diversionary tactic?).

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  40. Here's an example of what bugs me, Lydia. For years, Olbermann has been speaking out VOCIFEROUSLY against things like rendition and warrantless wire-taps. But now that Obama's the president, TOTAL SILENCE!! The man is putting his political love-affair with Obama over principle and that is something that I find revolting. The truth has a liberal bias? Did you actually say that? Well, that's it, I guess.

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  41. Will you OBVIOUSLY dont KNOW what the Fairness Doctrine is.........answer me THIS..........are you AGAINST both parties having to present BOTH sides of issues and NOT being allowed to lie or spread partisan propaganda.


    opinions are fine IF its made clear they are OPINIONS and not facts......but i'm confused you say you are AGAINST partisanship but then you say you are AGAINST both sides having to give the opposition a fair opportunity to present their facts and counterpoints and that you are against one side nOT being allowed to lie.

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  42. NO ONE is trying to limit what anyone can say other than not allowing EITHER side to LIE or present dishonest propaganda.


    Like Lydia said MSNBC might lean slightly to the left and might rip up and expose repugs that lie or spew dishonest propaganda and portray them in an unfavorable light but they DONT LIE OR MISREPRESENT FACTS......and the few times they have made honest mistakes they isdsue retractments set the record straight and apologize.........thats NIGHT AND DAY DIFFERENT from FAUX NEWS diliberate baldfaced lies and dishonest propaganda.

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  43. Are YOU KIDDING WILL.........almost everytime I watch Keith or Rachel they are calling out Obama over rendition and pressuring him to prosecute the Bush War Criminals.

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  44. Your OBVIOUSLY watching TOOO Much Faux News........Guess your buddy Voltron is starting to rub off on you.

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  45. Will, the truth has a liberal bias is more true than you will ever know -- and probably because you've been indoctrinated all your life with one point of view. Helen Thomas was on our show a couple of weeks ago, and she howled when I said that. In all her years, since traveling with JFK on Air Force One - she has never heard a more true statement.

    And she knows every secret and is absolutely revolted at the secrecy, outright lies and coverups the Bush-Cheney-Rove cabal perpetrated on the American people.

    Maybe we should define what "liberal" means and then you define what "conservative means, and I bet we can meet in the middle.

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  46. Mike - that's not fair. Will said he hates that channel and I believe him.

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  47. Hey, Edward Albee is on TV right now speaking about the state of American theater.

    What a legend. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?"

    Zoo Story was a play I studied in school.

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  48. Blogger Lydia Cornell said...

    Mike - that's not fair. Will said he hates that channel and I believe him."


    Lydia my post was referencing Will's CLAIM that Keith or Rachel NEVER Pressure Obama about Rendition............I was essentially saying he must not watch MSNBC that much if he can say that.........and since he DOES talk about O'Lielly and Hannity a good amount its only fair to say he DOES watch FAUX NEWS.


    See thats the HUGE GLARING difference the repugs keep trying to make murky and deceive people with KEITH and Rachel may rip up the repugs and present them in an unfavorable light but they deal in facts and they DO criticize theyre own party and try to hold them accountable unlike FAUX Lies and Propaganda.

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  49. Helen Thomas has to be happy after what went on the last 8 years.

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  50. I'm not being sarcastic Will, I read your blog about O'Reilly and I do believe you.

    By the way, on our show we have been angry at Obama for putting troops in Afghanistan.

    We have several military people who call in and defend the mission in Afghanistan. One Marine said he always voted Republican but changed to Democrat the last election because of the lack of ethics and unbalanced corporatism of the Bush administration.

    We have another WWII veteran whose grandson is going to Afghanistan and he's furious at Obama. We are all kind of perplexed and hoping Obama doesn't turn out to be just a puppet of the military industrial complex.

    I think Keith Olbermann and Rachel are not going to attack Obama as vehemently right now in the first 100 days - out of respect for the fact that we must give him a chance.

    I mean we are like people who were going down with the Titanic. We thought it was the end of America with Bush and the spying on Peace-groups and firms like Blackwater.

    Obama is our only hope - and no matter what, he's better than the fascists who lied us into a war that killed over 4,000 of our young troops for NO REASON

    How anyone can defend the Republican party of the last 8 years, they have to be deaf, dumb and blind.

    But the corporate media has never let you all know even one-tenth of the truth we know from reading all these books.

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  51. I REALLY hope Obama gets some reasonable Progressive Supreme Court Justices in place and gets a real sustainable energy policy and health care in place.

    I think our economic prosperity and good jobs are intertwined with energy independence and health care.

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  52. Yeah MIke - listen in the archives to our Helen Thomas show.

    I will post the link in the blog.

    We have to start podcasting too so you can get it on your ipod or in itunes.

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  53. I allready heard the helen Thomas show, I think I caught that one live.

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  54. Yeah, but I want more manufacturing to come back here. And I have always thought a new kind of biodegradable plastic should replace all toxic plastics (baby bottles are now dangerous and causing cancer because of the plastic)

    This may sound crazy but I keep thinking celery fibers could be made into disposable bottles or edible water bottles.

    They do have plastic cups made of corn at Urth Cafe and they look exactly like plastic but are totally biodegradable.

    On a mass scale we should start all sorts of green industry totally based in the U.S.

    Also wouldn't it be a great idea to have water pipelines from flood zones and states like Oregon and Washington where it rains a lot -- carrying water to the drought states?

    If anyone has a science background, can you please answer this question, because I may have no idea what I'm talking about:

    Would it be good to start delsalination of ocean water? I have mentioned this before but I keep thinking it sounds so logical.

    Wouldn't that help a little in bringing the rising oceans back down (that are caused by global warming/melting of the polar ice caps?

    If this sounds crazy,

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  55. Will - one last question.

    Please give me your definition of "liberal"

    Thank you.

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  56. I think the problems with desalination are the same problems we have with renewable energy right now they are expensive and we need government to create a market for these technologies and once the mass production and economies of scale kick in they would be very competitive and not too expensive anymore.

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  57. Thats so cool you had Ellen Brown as a guest........I was aware of that book for 2-3 years now I might have even blogged with her on some of the financial sites i used to go to..........I got an e-mail to preorder Web Of Debt like 2 years ago.

    Well I ordered the book once I start reading it i'll have to pop over to her blog.

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  58. Desalinization problems have been solved for YEARS, the Saudis entire water system exists of almost exclusively desalinized Persian Gulf water, and the US military used the (ROWPU) process during Desert Storm almost twenty years ago.

    It isn't the science but the greedy right wing attitude which has infected the politics of this country since Reagan started deceiving the country in 1980.

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  59. Thank you Clif!! I was looking for you and meant to thank you for helping me out yesterday.

    Thank you so much.

    Do you think desalinization will be introduced here now that Obama is in office?

    And also, wouldn't it be safer anyway -- because of all the excreted pharmaceutical drugs and hormones in our water supply?

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  60. Desalination would work where there are large enough bodies of water to be effective, but the political system works against it since the start up costs are quite high, new plants and new water lines from the oceans inland.

    Also they need a large source of dedicated electricity for the Saudi approach, which could be produced by either solar power or even wave or tide induced electricity if the powers that be were open to building that.

    However very few voters can be convinced of building large dedicated plants right on the oceans edge since they want most of it either preserved or dedicated to beach front property.

    There could be solutions but they would increase the costs like more expensive pipelines to move the plants inland, since sea water is much more corrosive then fresh water.

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  61. Bill Maher is brilliant tonight. He said, "In 1980 the top 1% of earners got 8% of the pie. In 2006, the top 1% of earners got 26% of the pie.

    Can you believe this Joe the Plumber on Bill Maher?

    This guy "Sam" is famous for nothing!

    He thinks Obama is a socialist for wanting to raise the income tax on the richest people from 36% to 39%.

    Meanwhile, the banks are getting public welfare and they robbed everyone.
    The banks created this entire TRW credit rating system that only benefits them.

    Joe the Plumber thinks strength comes from showing force and putting on an aggressive macho stance!

    Maher corrected him and said, no, strength is in humility.

    Anyone can be a bully. It takes great strength to admit you make mistakes and that you might not know everything. America cannot act like a bully any longer.

    Something people on the right never bring up and probably haven't thought of (except the devious ones) is this:

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  62. Sam the fraud's 15 minutes were up in November, so why is anyone still listening to his raging delusions?

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  63. Blogger Lydia Cornell said...

    Bill Maher is brilliant tonight. He said, "In 1980 the top 1% of earners got 8% of the pie. In 2006, the top 1% of earners got 26% of the pie.

    Can you believe this Joe the Plumber on Bill Maher?

    This guy "Sam" is famous for nothing!

    He thinks Obama is a socialist for wanting to raise the income tax on the richest people from 36% to 39%."


    REALLY then Ronald Reagan Must have been a SUPER Socialist Since the wealthy paid taxes at about 50% under him...........Funny thing how the Right Wing seems to idolize Reagan when he's more the Socialist than Obama.

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  64. MCH - sorry I didn't mean to ignore you.

    Thank you for posting the Iowa Supreme Court ruling and the shooting tragedy today.

    Do they know what motivated that guy?

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  65. Lydia said "Oh and by the way, I can't wait to get away from politics.

    It will be so much fun to talk about sex."

    Ok, my jaw dropped open! Wasnt quite expecting that. I confess to checking Lydia's profile signature just to make sure it was her ...

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  66. "MCH - sorry I didn't mean to ignore you.

    Thank you for posting the Iowa Supreme Court ruling and the shooting tragedy today.

    Do they know what motivated that guy?"


    Bah, missing and ignoring are two different things; no worries.

    To the best of my knowledge, no. I havent read anything on it yet this morning however. I do knwo the guy was an immigrant himself. At first I suspected it was somebody who had been spurred on by the right about immigration (it was unfair of me, I know, but I thought it anyway) similar to that guy who shot up the church in Arkansas.

    I'll keep my eyes on it though and let you know.

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  67. BTW, Lydia, did you get my email? I had to get a minor confession off my chest.

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  68. BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – The man who police say killed 13 people in a shooting rampage inside an immigrant community center was depressed and angry over losing his job and about his poor English skills, the Binghamton mayor and police said Saturday.

    Police Chief Joseph Zikuski told NBC's "Today" that people "degraded and disrespected" the gunman over his poor English. Mayor Matthew Ryan, speaking on ABC's "Good Morning America," said the man, believed to be 42-year-old Vietnamese immigrant Jiverly Voong, was angry about his language issues and his lack of employment.

    On Friday, he barricaded the American Civic Association community center's back door with his car, walked in the front and started shooting with two handguns. Within minutes, a receptionist, 12 immigrants taking a citizenship class and the gunman were dead. Another receptionist, who played dead after she was shot in the abdomen, called 911 to get police to the scene within two minutes.

    Zikuski said the injured receptionist stayed on the phone for 90 minutes, "feeding us information constantly," despite a serious wound in the abdomen.

    "She's a hero in her own right," he said.

    Four people were critically wounded in the Friday massacre, and 37 others made it out, including 26 who hid for hours in a basement boiler room while police tried to determine whether the gunman was still alive and whether he was holding any hostages, Zikuski said.

    Investigators said they had yet to establish a motive for the shooting, which was at least the fifth deadly mass shooting in the U.S. in the past month.

    The suspected killer carried ID with the name of 42-year-old Jiverly Voong, of nearby Johnson City, N.Y., but that was believed to be an alias, said a law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    The man was found dead in an office with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, a satchel containing ammunition slung around his neck, authorities said. Police found two handguns — a 9 mm and a .45-caliber — and a hunting knife.

    A second law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the handguns were registered to Jiverly Wong, another name the man used. Both officials were not authorized to speak publicly.

    Initial reports suggested Voong had recently been let go from IBM. But a person at IBM said there was no record of a Jiverly Voong ever working there.

    "He had lost a job recently and was somewhat angry," Ryan told ABC. "He had language issues, didn't speak English that well, and was really concerned about his employment situation."

    The attack at the American Civic Association, which helps immigrants settle in this country, came just after 10 a.m.

    The gunman parked his car against the back door before barging through the front and opening fire, apparently without saying a word. He then entered a room just off the reception area and fired on a citizenship class while terrified people scrambled into a boiler room and a storage room.

    The center was filled with people from countries as far off as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, all working to become more a part of their new home — learning English, taking a class to gain U.S. citizenship. The gunman may have walked a similar path to become an American decades ago.

    "I heard the shots, every shot. I heard no screams, just silence, shooting," said Zhanar Tokhtabayeva, a 30-year-old from Kazakhstan who was in an English class when her teacher screamed for everyone to go to the storage room. "I heard shooting, very long time, and I was thinking, when will this stop? I was thinking that my life was finished."

    Police arrived in minutes, heard no gunfire and waited for about an hour before entering the building to make sure it was safe for officers. They then spent two hours searching the building. They led a number of men out in plastic handcuffs while trying to sort out victims from the killer or killers.

    Gov. David Paterson said the massacre was probably "the worst tragedy and senseless crime in the history of this city." Noting mass killings in Alabama and Oakland, Calif., last month, he said: "When are we going to be able to curb the kind of violence that is so fraught and so rapid that we can't even keep track of the incidents?"

    The center was holding class "for those who want to become citizens of the United States of America, who wanted to be part of the American Dream, and so tragically may have had that hope thwarted today," the governor said. "But there still is an American dream, and all of us who are Americans will try to heal this very, very deep wound in the city of Binghamton."

    The police chief said the suspected gunman "was no stranger" to the community center and may have gone there to take a class. He said he had no idea what the shooter's motive was.

    A woman who answered the phone at a listing for Henry D. Voong said she was Jiverly Voong's sister but would not give her name. She said her brother had been in the country for 28 years and had citizenship.

    On Friday evening, police searched Voong's house and carried out three computer hard drives, a brown canvas rifle case, a briefcase, a small suitcase and several paper bags.

    Waiting outside a Catholic Charities office where counselors were tending to relatives of victims, Omri Yigal said his wife, Delores, was taking English lessons when the gunman attacked. He had no word on what happened to her.

    "They told me they don't have much hope for me," the Filipino immigrant said before going home to wait for a telephone call.

    Dr. Jeffrey King, speaking at the Catholic Charities office, said he was certain his mother, 72-year-old Roberta King, who taught English at the community center, was among the dead.

    Authorities read a list of survivors and his mother's name wasn't on it, he said.

    King, one of 10 children, described his mother as a woman brimming with interests ranging from the opera to the preservation society to collecting thousands of dolls. He recollected a recent conversation in which he told her to enjoy her retirement.

    "I said, 'Mom you're in your 70s,'" King said. "She said, 'What? You don't think I enjoy working?'"

    They were talking about taking a trip to the Jersey shore this summer.

    The shootings took place in a neighborhood of homes and small businesses in downtown Binghamton, a city of about 47,000 situated 140 miles northwest of New York City. The region was the home to Endicott-Johnson shoe company and the birthplace of IBM, which between them employed tens of thousands of workers before the shoe company closed a decade ago and IBM downsized in recent years.

    A string of attacks in the U.S. in the last month left 44 people dead in all.

    A gunman killed 10 people and himself in Samson, Ala.; shootings that began with a traffic stop in Oakland, Calif., left four police officers and the gunman dead; an apparent murder-suicide in Santa Clara, Calif., left six dead; and a gunman went on a rampage at a nursing home Sunday, killing seven elderly residents and a nurse who cared for them.

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  69. 41 years ago today, Martin Luther King was murdered for advocating we all treat each other as equals.

    Funny the right wing still fights that idea, with their anti equal rights and anti immigration stances they take to rally their base.

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  70. I am so excited about the new world. It feels like a fresh start.

    When you get a chance, check out the photo on the blog. Took it yesterday at Destiny's -- it's Roxanne's new baby Maave, 2 months old.

    Tuscan, Dest's 3 year-old son was gaga over this infant and kept holding her tiny fingers and saying, "She's so toot (cute)."

    This makes me believe.

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  71. THE LAW OF ATTRACTION
    NEEDS NO PRACTICE
    There are three powerful Universal Laws that are of value for you to understand if you wish to guide your life deliberately, and the Law of Allowing is the last of these. It would seem logical that we would talk of the first Law, then the second and finally the third—and we have done exactly that in previous books. We are, however, emphasizing this third important Law because it is really the Law that you have come here, in this time and space, intending to master. This is the Law that you must practice if you are to become the Deliberate Creator that you came forth to be. The first Law, the Law of Attraction, is not something that you need to practice or even something that you can practice, for it is a Law that exists in every particle of the Universe—and it just is.

    Abraham-Hicks

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  72. Thank you for the visit and kind words, Lydia. You actually made my morning. MCH, have you ever seen that kiss between Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman at the GLAAD awards? Youtube it. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

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  73. That's Felicity Huffman!

    Hey, in your guys' opinion, do you think Marcia Cross is sexy?

    Thanks Will!

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  74. Blogger Lydia Cornell said...

    I am so excited about the new world. It feels like a fresh start.

    When you get a chance, check out the photo on the blog. Took it yesterday at Destiny's -- it's Roxanne's new baby Maave, 2 months old.

    Tuscan, Dest's 3 year-old son was gaga over this infant and kept holding her tiny fingers and saying, "She's so toot (cute)."

    This makes me believe."



    Wow So Destiny's son is 3 now..........I remember when I met you guys and she was still pregnant and doing all the breastfeeding jokes in Vegas.

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  75. Yeah Mike, can you believe it! Paris, her older son is already 6.

    I have so many funny tweenager stories I have to post.

    My son, who is into music (piano and guitar and filmmaking) said the other day, "You don't know how to act cool like my friend's mom, you're more of a traditional mom."

    I said, "I'm cool, what do you mean 'traditional'?

    He said, "You always offer us food."

    I said, "You mean because I bake brownies for your friends, I'm too tradiitional?"

    He says, "I should be living on my own, with no limitations. I want to be independent. I'm thinking of living in New York City right after high school. I don't want to end up working my whole life for "the man."

    !!!!

    And he says he hates it when I talk politics. So I'm going to stop... I only got into politics because of the women's issue in Hollywood.
    More later.. xoxo

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  76. At least he made 9th grad Honor Role and got back into Honors English after taking time off to chase girls in 8th grade.

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  77. Between Marcia's cheekbones and Felicity's overbite (the best since Gene Tierney's, in my opinion), let's just say that I was pretty happy with that situation. And MCH, Kristin Scott Thomas shares a very sexy dance (and kiss) with another girl in 1992's Bitter Moon. That's on Youtube, too, bro.

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  78. And now, my own two cents.

    There is less than no doubt that Lydia is a gentle soul. She has tolerated a lot of things that I have absolutely no patience for. What I do NOT see is any evidence of a "slandering." I do not believe, having read and re-read a lot of this, that any such evidence exists. If we do not want to accept what someone is saying, this does not equate to a slander-it equates to a difference in perceptions. You have to lie to slander somebody, and I don't see that; I see differing opinions as to the nature of some of the behavior here.

    I do not post under my real name, although who I am and where I live are easily discernible to the internet-savvy. The one thing you will no longer find anywhere is my phone number; I had to change it because Rushpublican spewmasters called me incessantly in the runup to the 2004 election. The name "Reconstitution" doesn't just indicate what I think must be done with our country; the blog, itself, is a rebirth of another blog that I got rid of because I got tired of having to defend it from DoS attacks. The new blog came up considerably more hardened to attack.

    Larry turned me onto Lydia Cornell. I got a completely new perspective on someone I had laughed at (and, quite frankly, ogled) as a teenager. Now she's turning me onto her infinite patience with something she shouldn't have to deal with. She has managed to turn her lifetime of experiences into unique and heartfelt perspectives, and she gives this to us freely, by radio and by blog. It is my opinion that we ought to respect her efforts towards something that all but a few Rushpublican mutants agree we should be working towards. Why don't we put away the personal barbs and reflect on the greater good that is being done here? And if we can't do that, then why not go away and leave it alone? I stopped contributing to (big liberal site not to be mentioned here) because I got tired of the personal distractions; there is a bigger picture here and we all need to keep our eyes on it. I like Lydia, but even if I did not, I'd still be reading and contributing because her head and her heart are both in the right place. Let's focus on where we all want to see this country, because it is the glue that binds a successful Hollywood actress and a barefoot Cherokee from the hills of Virginia-and a whole lot of other people in-between. We don't all have to be holding hands to work towards a just and prosperous society.

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  79. For the record, yes Marcia Cross is very sexy!


    Will, you're right -- that dance is the thing dreams are made from.


    Speaking of dreams, I had one last night. Michelle Malkin (who almost never crosses my thought path) kidnapped my dog and took her to Iowa ... blogging about it the whole way. A lawyer friend of mine advised me taking a dog over state lines is illegal and I could sue.

    It was a very weird dream

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  80. It's looking more and more like the right-wing fringe lunatics like Coulter, Limbaugh, Savage, and Hannity are bearing a certain amount of responsibility for the NY shooting yesterday and the PA shooting today.

    The NY shooter had lost his job and was frustrated at his poor English speaking ability; having had to endure taunts from the English-only crowd. Sure, I definitely agree that people immigrating here need to learn the language but I'm all for making it as accessible and affordable as possible.

    Today's PA shooter was apparently afraid that Obama was going to come and take his guns away from his ... despite Obama's official stance of supporting 2nd ammendment rights and having never once advocating taking guns away from people.


    When are these people going to realize their words have effect? When are they going to learn that some people are very fragile and it doesnt take much to make them snap? More importantly, when are they going to start caring about it?


    Ladies and gentlemen -- the Republican party; the pro-life party.

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  81. Glad you liked it, MCH. I might have to purchase the entire movie in that, yeah, the whole story-line sounds erotic. Have you ever seen a movie called The Last Seduction? It stars Linda Fiorentino in her absolute prime (1994) and it's AWESOME! She plays a nymphomaniacal chain-smoking con-artist....with an attitude! You might want to check that out, too. I got my copy from the Amazon market-place for a song. Happy youtubing in the mean-time, bro.

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  82. JR - Thank you for your kind words. You have no idea how much I appreciate hearing from you.

    xoxo

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  83. We just went to see Duplicity with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen.

    Great writing and complex story for a change. It's all about corporate spying and it's spot on in mocking these corporate monoliths and the CEOs who take themselves so seriously. These are the real kings of America.

    I LOVED Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson. Hilarious fight scene in slow motion on the tarmac.

    Hey, my radio co-host won't even let me mention things like Bohemian Grove, because he hates tin-foil hat wearers, but I have a friend whose husband goes to the Forest and hangs out with Kissinger, etc. What a wild place!

    I

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  84. Or I should say "did."

    Has anyone seen any great movies lately?

    Which is better:

    "Sunshine Cleaning" or
    "I Love You Man"

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  85. Actually, Lydia, I did see a great movie. Last night. Queen Christina with Greta Garbo and John Gilbert. I personally think it was one of her better performances. There was this was scene in which she was masqerading as a man and it was absolutely brilliant. I mean, your an actor. So you would clearly know better than me but, I'm telling you, I was totally devastated. Are you into Garbo at all? Monty Clift? Those are my 2 favorites.

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  86. Will -- It's so weird I was just talking about Greta Garbo today. I haven't seen Queen Christina, but I hear it's her best film. She used to go to a skin doctor I lived next door to near Fox studios. Joan Collins lived across the hall. The doctor pointed Garbo out to me one day and said she'd sneak into his office through the back door and always use the name "Mrs. Brown." I saw her in his office once, slipping through the back door.

    Also I was thinking about the play "Misalliance" by George Bernard Shaw, which I had performed in years ago. We then drove by the Odyssey Theater and on the marquee it says Misalliance! I love these coincidences. They always happen when I get back into alignment.

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  87. mch said,

    Today's PA shooter was apparently afraid that Obama was going to come and take his guns away from his ... despite Obama's official stance of supporting 2nd ammendment rights and having never once advocating taking guns away from people.


    Let us not beat around the bush here (no pun intended); Bachmann, Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, and the rest of the Rushpublican scum are morally culpable in the murders of 3 Philadelphia policemen, even if they aren't legally culpable. They also have blood on their hands in the case of 2 innocent Unitarian churchgoers in Knoxville, Tennessee. And I'm going to go that one better, and assign some of the blame to them for the murders of 4 Oakland police officers and 13 innocent people in Binghamton, NY as well. Their insostence that everybody ought to have easy access to guns created the conditions that led to the deaths in Oakland and Binghamton, and their hysteria-fanning led DIRECTLY to the deaths in Philadelphia.

    I'm sick to death of it.

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  88. Mike says,

    I REALLY Like Ed Schultz I think he'll do fine.......I would love to see Stephanie Miller and you and Doug Get your own shows as well.


    Big Eddie is the man. I was just as happy as a clam when I found out he's FINALLY coming to TV. The Rushpublicans have in Ed Schultz a guy they simply cannot box into one of their ideological corners; he looks, and sounds, like most of them do. Until you listen to what he's saying :)

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  89. Lydia, you actually SAW Garbo? Was this like back in the 80s? Wow. I heard she was beautiful right to the end. I collect classic cinema, btw. My next target is Waterloo Bridge with Vivien Liegh and Robert Taylor. I'd also love to score My Foolish Heart with Susan Hayward and Dana Andrews but it doesn't seem available yet in DVD. Do you have any favorite classics? P.S. The only thing I didn't like about Queen Christina was Garbo's hairdo. It was combed straight back and totally flat on the top. Oh well, maybe that was the style back in 1629. LOL

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  90. Hey Will, have you ever seen Dr. Caligari?

    I watched it once in shall we say an "altered" state. Watched it again totally sober.

    No difference.

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  91. Sunday pancakes. We're going to IHOP then walk on the beach.

    Just spoke to my friend in Nebraska who says it's snowing there.

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  92. Will, yes I saw Garbo! She was wearing a brown hat and brown coat, kept her head down. This was in the late 80's I think. I was living with Truitt, my fiance at the time. (He's from Morganfield, Kentucky and I remember seeing my first Walmart there!

    I love Preston Sturges films like Sullivan's Travels. Wait, I have a few others too.

    My son's dad, who is a comedy writer, is a huge collector of old films.

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  93. "Just spoke to my friend in Nebraska who says it's snowing there."

    I grew up in Nebraska; I can believe it. Usually we got 1 last good snow around Easter time.

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  94. Dr. Caligari -- guess it's a takeoff on Caligua.

    I love Fellini - La Dolce Vida! It has so many great lines.

    Also, when I first saw Satyricon there was a rumor going around that one of the actors allowed his arm to actually be cut off in exchange for $10,000 for his family. He was a peasant who needed the money.

    Gruesome. Apparently Fellini wanted realistic effects.

    I really believed this for years. But it can't be true, can it?

    Oh, I love Hitchcock - Rear Window and Vertigo.

    Also, Bette Davis - Of Human Bondage
    Susan Hayward in "I'll Cry Tomorrow" and "Back Street"

    My father played violin at the Hollywood Bowl and in a couple of Susan Hayward movies.

    Did anyone see Angelina Jolie in The Changeling? It was so good, so sad.

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  95. oops sorry. I drowned out your comment.

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  96. Voltron said...
    Hey Will, have you ever seen Dr. Caligari?

    I watched it once in shall we say an "altered" state. Watched it again totally sober.

    No difference.

    ReplyDelete
  97. Hitchcock remains one of my absolute favorite TV programs. But so does The Twilight Zone. Rod Serling was a man with an infinite mind and a heart to match it.

    Why does no one even dare to produce such television any more? "Empire Falls" was probably as close as anything I've seen to bing uber-brilliant, in at least the last quarter-century.

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  98. Just published a new blog "Where is God" during tragedy.

    I had a miracle I have to publish later today, with this article.

    Got the Gandhi item from Demi Moore (MrsKutcher) on Twitter.

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  99. I am turning off comment moderation. You can leave comments on the new blog thread, if you wish.

    Would love to hear your opinions on Where is God during tragedies....

    And your definition of "God."

    I do not believe in an anthropomorphic God. To me, God is the consciousness of love.

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