IRON MAN * STEVE SPITZ * HERCULES at the GETTY

IRONMAN... and HERCULES AT THE GETTY VILLA


We all need to read Eckhart Tolle's new book A NEW EARTH — which has a section about how the rise of the male ego has dominated the world and virtually annihilated the nurturing, sacred feminine. This has created a catastrophic imbalance in our world and we are reaping the pain now. That said, I saw IRONMAN on Friday night and loved it. I thought Robert Downey, Jr. was brilliant — and I loved his inventor's lab with the 3-D computers. Of course the villain was a company like Halliburton and Blackwater or any giant weapons manufacturer. It was a morality tale about our blood lust. Why on earth is the U.S. so proud of it's hi-tech "smart" weapons that annihilate tribes of helpless civilians?


Took my stepson to the Getty Villa Museum in Malibu for extra credit this weekend. It's the home of ancient Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities. It is the most spectacular place, an exact replica of a spectacular Roman villa. Saw the bronze Victorious Youth, the Herculaneum Women. Here is Hercules, and below is a papyrus scroll piece from Homer's original Odyssey -- the actual original writing by Homer from 100 B.C.


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BETTER LIVING WITH STEVE SPITZ at MORONGO!
Taped a great show "Better Living with Steve Spitz" where I cooked my favorite Sesame Tofu recipe and chatted with the amazing Steve Spitz. SteveSpitz.com What a cool human being! Spitz does humanitarian work for Children with Aids, cooks, designs, is very spiritual and was the original inventor of honey mustard dressing. We filmed his really fun new talk show in the Desert at Morongo - a stunning hotel and casino which has five star dining at a sky-high all glass 3-story dining room overlooking the beautiful canyon below Idyllwilde. (Remember Albert Brook's classic Modern Romance when he and Kathryn Harold go to Idyllwilde?) Tony Dennison from The Closer was another guest on the show.
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People who create music blow me away. This song is so gorgeous it made me cry. And the generosity of the free piano teachers on You Tube that show close up lessons are like angels.
My stepson Kevin (12) has been learning this song "APOLOGIZE" by One Republic on his Yamaha piano. Click on this You Tube video and watch this gifted pianist play the piano part to this beautiful song. The version with TIMBLALAND and ONE REPUBLIC is below.


APOLOGIZE by ONE REPUBLIC with TIMBALAND

Another wonderfully generous pianist named "Ryan" shows you CLOSE UP how to play this song:
Apologize Close UP piano lesson
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Also: please comment on Rush Limpbotomy's comments and the way he is inciting a riot with his "Operation Chaos." The FCC needs to revoke Rush Limbaugh's license. This divisive, hateful "excellence in broadcasting has no place on the public airwaves. The propaganda must cease.

On Monday April 28, 2008, Bill Press will be the guest on the Basham and Cornell Radio heard weekday mornings at 8 a.m. on 1230 AM KLAV in Las Vegas and worldwide on the web.

Bill Press is a political commentator and author. He was the chair of the California Democratic Party from 1993 to 1996. He has served in different appointed positions such as a chief of staff to California State Sen. Peter Behr (a Republican) and director of the California Office of Planning and Research under Gov. Jerry Brown. One of the country's most well-known progressive commentators addresses how--and why--the conservative movement went off the rails in his new book “Trainwreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too Soon)”

According to even Newt Gingrich, "Republicans have lost their way." Always better with one-liners than worthwhile policies, John McCain recently said, "We spent money like a drunken sailor. Although I never really knew a sailor, drunk or sober, with the imagination of my colleagues."

Bill Press, however, says the Republicans have been governing exactly the way you'd expect. If a politician's most basic belief is that government always fails, why would anyone think he'd try to prove otherwise? Trainwreck details the rise of the modern conservative movement from Robert Taft to Ronald Reagan and its fall from Newt Gingrich to the abject failure of George W. Bush.

Once champions of fiscal responsibility, conservatives have brought us, instead, record high federal spending and bloated budget deficits. Once leery of foreign entanglements, conservatives have launched us, instead, into an unprecedented age of imperial wars and conquests. Once apostles of honesty and integrity in government, conservatives have, instead, used their positions of power to enrich themselves or evade the rule of law.

For decades, conservatives struggled to topple liberals from the federal throne, but, once in power, they didn't deliver. Everything they touched, they trashed. Here is the story of who, how, and why.

UPCOMING GUESTS: Bill Press, Senators Tom Daschle, Lincoln Chaffee and Arlen Specter. If you live in Vegas you can tune in Live or go to our website and listen in the audio archives.

The Basham and Cornell Show broadcasts weekday mornings at 8 am Pacific (11 a.m. Eastern) on KLAV 1230 AM Radio live in Las Vegas. Again, all shows are simulcast worldwide on the Internet (and archived) and can be listened to at Basham and Cornell Radio If you've missed our show, check out the audio archives. We have interviewed John & Elizabeth Edwards, Dennis & Elizabeth Kucinich, John Dean, Pat Buchanan, NBC Bureau Chief in Tel Aviv Martin Fletcher, Pulitzer Prize winner Charlie Savage, Congressman Charlie Rangel,Valerie Plame, Christine Pelosi, Larisa Alexandrovna, Dahr Jamail, Senator Mike Gravel; Senator Byron Dorgan; bestselling authors Greg Palast, Paul Krugman, Greg Anrig.

The Basham and Cornell Show broadcasts weekday mornings at 8 am Pacific (11 a.m. Eastern). All shows are simulcast on the Internet (and archived) and can be listened to at www.BashamAndCornell.com

UPCOMING GUESTS on our show: Bill Press & Senators Tom Daschle, Arlen Specter and Lincoln Chaffee

MUST READ!!

WHO ELSE LIED US INTO INVADING IRAQ? Behind Analysts, the Pentagon’s Hidden Hand



In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded “the gulag of our times” by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure.

The administration’s communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo.

To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.

Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

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Trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty. - John Adams

Don't miss the HBO miniseries JOHN ADAMS, produced by Tom Hanks Playtone Prods. This is a riveting production that vividly depicts the struggle in giving birth to our nation. Abigal Adams is one of my favorite revolutionary heroes.
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More on the ABC Obama- Clinton debate debacle below... Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopolous spent 50 minutes on embarrassingly petty attacks and blatant character assassination — mostly aimed at Obama. It makes you wonder which side the mainstream media is on.
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Progressive Valerie Bertinell's book remains firmly on the New York Times Bestseller list...

If you missed it last Monday, check the archives for our interview with Valerie Bertinelli on the award-winning Basham and Cornell Radio Show heard weekday mornings at 8 a.m. on 1230 AM KLAV in Las Vegas, and simulcast worldwide on the web.

Valerie Bertinelli. Then: bubbly sitcom star and America's Sweetheart turned tabloid headline and rock star wife. Now: actress, single working mother of teenage rock star, and weight-loss inspiration to millions.

UPCOMING GUESTS: Bill Press, Senators Tom Daschle, Lincoln Chaffee and Arlen Specter. If you live in Vegas you can tune in Live or go to our website and listen in the audio archives.

The Basham and Cornell Show broadcasts weekday mornings at 8 am Pacific (11 a.m. Eastern) on KLAV 1230 AM Radio live in Las Vegas. Again, all shows are simulcast worldwide on the Internet (and archived) and can be listened to at Basham and Cornell Radio If you've missed our show, check out the audio archives. We have interviewed John & Elizabeth Edwards, Dennis & Elizabeth Kucinich, John Dean, Pat Buchanan, NBC Bureau Chief in Tel Aviv Martin Fletcher, Pulitzer Prize winner Charlie Savage, Congressman Charlie Rangel,Valerie Plame, Christine Pelosi, Dahr Jamail, Senator Mike Gravel; Senator Byron Dorgan; bestselling authors Greg Palast, Paul Krugman, Greg Anrig.
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Let's get Obama and Clinton together! An unbeatable ticket...


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Debate moderators abuse the public trust every time they ask trivial questions about gaffes and 'gotchas' that only political insiders care about. Enough with the distractions—ABC and other networks must focus on issues that affect people's daily lives."

Did you watch ABC's prime-time character assassination of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton last night?

The day after this disastrous "debate," Americans are shaking their heads in disbelief at what they witnessed, sarcastically speculating whether ABC News decided to launch an early roll-out of the Republican "swift boat" campaign. Editor & Publisher called it "perhaps the most embarrassing performance by the media in a major presidential debate in years."

"Moderators George Stephanopolous and Charlie Gibson spent the first 50 minutes obsessed with distractions that only political insiders care about--gaffes, polling numbers, the stale Rev. Wright story, and the old-news Bosnia story. And, channeling Karl Rove, directed a video question to Barack Obama asking if he loves the American flag or not. Seriously."

It's worse than that -- the video question specifically asked Obama about his thoughtful reluctance to wear an American flag-pin lapel. Apparently, wearing a flag pin is a legitimate symbolic proxy for whether or not a person is patriotic enough to be President. Questions about global warming, the economy, and the war? Mere trivialities in ABC's bizarro world.

Sad News: I received this letter from my friend Alison on Saturday:

"I am writing to you to let you know that my brother, Mark Metherell (also
the brother-in-law of Henry and Tori Cloud if you know them) was killed yesterday by a roadside bomb in Iraq while on a mission.

He leaves behind his loving wife, Sara Metherell, and their 1 year old adopted daughter, Cora. Please keep them in your prayers. They were the love of his life. He was kind and compassionate as evidenced by his many good friends.

Mark was an ex-Navy SEAL. I couldn't have asked for a better brother. He was the only son of my
parents, Pam and Alex Metherell. Please keep them in your prayers as well.

Mark Metherell is a true American hero, who died in service to this great country. God Bless him and his family.
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More on Valerie Bertinelli:
We all knew and loved Valerie Bertinelli years ago when she played girl-next-door cutie Barbara Cooper in the hit TV show One Day at a Time, and then starred in numerous TV movies. From wholesome primetime in America's living rooms, Valerie moved to late nights with the hardest-partying band of the decadent eighties when she became, at twenty, wife to rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen. Losing It is Valerie's frank account of her life backstage and in the spotlight. Here are the ups and downs of teen stardom, of her complicated marriage to a brilliant, tormented musical genius, and of her very public struggle with her weight.

Surprising, uplifting, and empowering, Losing It takes you behind the scenes of Valerie's acting career and marriage, recalling the comforts, friendships, and problems of her television family, her close relationships with her parents and brothers, the stress and worries of being the wife of a rock star, and the joys of motherhood. Like many women, Valerie often remembers the state of her life by the food she ate and the numbers on her scale. So despite her celebrity, Valerie's voice is down-to-earth, honest, and appealing. Funny and candid, Valerie recounts her attempts to maintain a healthy self-image while dealing with social pressures to look and act a certain way, and to overcome career insecurities and relationship problems, all of which will be familiar to the hundreds of thousands of women who struggle every day with these same issues.

From marital turmoil to the joys of a new career, from being named among Penthouse's ten sexiest women in the world to overhearing whispers about her weight gain in the grocery store, this is Valerie's inspiring journey as she finds new love, raises a terrific kid, and motivates other women as a spokesperson for Jenny Craig.

The Basham and Cornell Show broadcasts weekday mornings at 8 am Pacific (11 a.m. Eastern). All shows are simulcast on the Internet (and archived) and can be listened to at Basham and Cornell Radio