THE NEW ENLIGHTENMENT

Ann Coulter, a "Perfected Christian"

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:

GOOD CONSERVATIVES ARE LIBERALS AT HEART

October 10, 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Basham and Cornell Radio Show broadcasts weekday mornings at 8 a.m. Pacific (11 a.m. Eastern) on AM 1230 KLAV in Las Vegas. All shows are simulcast on the Internet (and archived) and can be listened to at BASHAM & CORNELL RADIO
Email: show@bashamandcornell.com

On Thursday October 11, 2007, former Nixon counsel, John Dean will make his 3rd appearance on the Basham and Cornell Radio Show at 8 am Pacific Time on AM 1230 KLAV in Las Vegas. And we have him for the entire hour. First time he was with us, we discussed his then new book “Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush.” Second appearance - his new book was titled “Conservatives Without Conscience.”

When he makes his 3rd appearance with us, we will be discussing his latest book, “Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches.”

John Dean has become one of the most trenchant and respected commentators on the current state of American politics and one of the most outspoken and perceptive critics of the administration of George W. Bush in his New York Times bestsellers Conservatives Without Conscience and Worse Than Watergate.

In his eighth book, Dean takes the broadest and deepest view yet of the dysfunctional chaos and institutional damage that the Republican Party and its core conservatives have inflicted on the federal government. He assesses the state of all three branches of government, tracing their decline through the presidencies of Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II.

Unlike most political commentary, which is concerned with policy, Dean looks instead at process— making the case that the 2008 presidential race must confront these fundamental problems as well. Finally, he addresses the question that he is so often asked at his speaking engagements: What, if anything, can and should politically moderate citizens do to combat the extremism, authoritarianism, incompetence, and increasing focus on divisive wedge issues of so many of today’s conservative politicians?

With the Democrats now in control of both the House and Senate, the stakes for the 2008 presidential election have never been higher. This is a book for anyone who wants to return government to the spirit of the Constitution.




Several points I want to bring up:

1. Iraqi PM's Office finds that Blackwater Committed "Deliberate Murder" in spraying bullets at civllians and killing a mother and child, among eleven others.

2. Bruce Springsteen on 60 Minutes, said silence is unpatriotic — it is unpatriotic NOT to speak out against the Bush administration forits ruinous policies such as illegal wiretapping, torture, voter suppression, and the immoral Iraq war.

3. I believe conservatism as an ideology is over — or at least unraveling. I don't see how any true Christian can ever vote Republican again, at least in the Party’s current “neo-incarnation,” with sociopaths running the asylum.
But still, I have hope that the good conservatives will wake up. This is an article I wrote for a magazine:

Good Conservatives are Liberals at Heart

One of the definitions of ‘liberal’ in the dictionary is “not conservative”. The word liberal also has several other definitions, all including similar qualities, including “marked by generosity and open-handedness, bounteous, broad-minded, unbigoted, tolerant.” Those qualities sound like the kind of qualities most of us would like to see in our children. Now, I wonder which of these qualities Coulter objects to? Does she dislike “generosity” or open-handedness — or is it the broad-minded part that bothers her? Of is it the “tolerance” concept to which she objects?

Following the dictionary definition of liberal as “not conservative,” in other words, the opposite — then it seems a liberal is marked by generosity and a conservative is marked by stinginess. If a liberal is broad-minded, it follows that a conservative is narrow-minded. If it is liberal to be tolerant, then it must be conservative to be intolerant.
Going by the dictionary definitions of these words, I would like for my family to be known as liberals, and surely not the opposite. The dictionary definition of conservative is basically “disposed to maintaining existing views” which is why conservatives of long ago were opposed to freeing the slaves, the right of women to vote or to become lawyers and professionals — as well as the rights of Blacks to vote and the Civil Rights Act.

I’ve always been taught that Jesus was generous, tolerant and broad-minded, which fits the definition of liberal. He washed the feet of the lepers, hung out with the moral outcasts and sinners — who were so transformed by his loving acceptance, they desired to "sin no more." In summing up, based on those qualities of character, it seems to me undeniably that Jesus was a bleeding heart liberal.

My conservative friends may disagree with the label, but not the spirit. We must never allow words to get in the way of communication.

Again, I would like to believe that good conservatives are really liberals at heart. To paraphrase Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, “Hath not a conservative eyes, hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Are they not fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer that a liberal is? If you prick them, do they not bleed? If you tickle them, do they not laugh? If you poison them, do they not die? If you wrong them, shall they not revenge? If we are like you and the rest, we will resemble you in that.”

We are not children of a lesser God; we are all children of the same God.

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America has an embarrassing history of dropping bombs on people, but always assuming everyone knows we’re really still the good guys. This is how an abusive lover acts. We should play hard to get with Iraq. When in a love-hate relationship, it often takes leaving to really win. Unless we leave Iraq, we don’t give the Iraqis a chance to miss us, to pick up the pieces, to take responsibility, to grow up and to solve their own problems. It’s a basic spiritual law, an unflinching principle that when you let go of pushing too hard, the very thing you want comes to you. It’s arrogant to think the Iraqis don’t have their own higher power and their own ability to find their way.

This is how I used to act with an ex-boyfriend. I’d try to control him like a dictator, but secretly the guy thought I was a wacko. I only pushed him away. Trying to control people never works because it’s fear-based behavior. People are never interested when you push yourselves on them. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Staying in Iraq is causing nothing but an increase in grenades and bombs being lobbed at us. We are the problem. We are the common denominator in all this chaos. We must remove ourselves. Of course our President may have ulterior motives. He’s not telling us why we’re really there. There’s no transparency in this administration.

But I really believe in a power greater than ourselves and I know we're going to be all right. God did not give us a spirit of fear. Thank God for the Twelve Steps, where I learned to at least see my part in a conflict and to say I’m sorry. In the words of Stuart Smalley, “It's easier to wear slippers than to carpet the whole world.”

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"No problem can be solved at the same level it was created on." – Albert Einstein

What I've discovered is that the solution to any material problem is never at the level of the problem. It is always above the problem or challenge. It is always by “letting go” and looking away from the problem, never by fighting it on its level. It is always a spiritual solution.

No human power can relieve alcoholism. More alcohol cannot cure it. Nor can therapy, psychoanalysis or dissecting the brain heal the "dis-ease" of alcoholism.

No military power can solve this conflict in Iraq. We can’t fight fire with fire; we need to go above the problem and approach it from a diplomatic or spiritual solution. This is what Bush doesn’t understand. Fighting ones enemies never resolves anything, as the Great Peacemaker said. More military might only escalates the conflict. All great spiritual leaders know that what Christ taught creates peace: a soft answer turns away wrath. Withdraw our energy from the situation and the situation will solve itself. We must take care of our own side of the street.

From my friend Carl's blog at wwwsimplyleftbehind.blogspot.com:

"Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things – every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, ‘Liberal,’ as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won’t work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor." -- Matt Santos, The West Wing

BLACKWATER TAKES TAXPAYER MONEY

Upcoming: Obama and Hilary on BASHAM and CORNELL RADIO Reecently we've had Democratic Presidential candidates John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel on our show as well as Pulitzer Prize winner Charlie Savage and several Congressmen. If you missed any of these shows, check out the archives. The Basham and Cornell Show broadcasts weekday mornings at 8 am Pacific AM 1230 KLAV in Las Vegas. All shows are simulcast on the Internet (and archived) and can be listened to at BASHAM AND CORNELL.COM



Blackwater CEO and founder Erik Prince


Best selling author John Grisham is finally speaking out. He said the current administration is built around "bad people with evil intent" and contends President Bush played politics as thousands died in Iraq.

Between 75-100 coalition forces (mainly Americans) die every month in Iraq.

Blackwater's Prince Has GOP, Fundamentalist "Christian" Group Ties (the "quotes" are mine)
by Corey Flintoff

With more than $800 million in contracts, Blackwater USA, led by Erik Prince, is among the biggest companies providing armed guards for U.S. officials and government contractors in Iraq.

Prince, the heir to a Michigan auto-parts fortune, has close ties to the Republican Party and conservative Christian groups. He began his career with a stint as an officer in the U.S. Navy SEALs, and co-founded Blackwater in 1997 with other former commandos. His family's wealth made it possible for the then 27-year-old Prince to fund the Blackwater start-up with his own money.

Prince and his firm have drawn scrutiny from members of Congress after Blackwater guards were accused of opening fire on civilians in Baghdad in an incident that left at least nine people dead.

Blackwater has said that its employees were defending a State Department convoy and denied that they had done anything improper, though Prince has made no public statement on the issue. The Iraqi government threatened to expel the company from the country, but after four days, Blackwater was allowed to resume its activities guarding State Department personnel.

Republican, Christian Ties

Prince grew up in Holland, Mich., where his father, Edgar Prince, built Prince Corporation, an auto-parts company that based its success on novel products, such as the lighted vanity mirror for car window visors. The elder Prince was a close friend and supporter of Christian evangelists, such as James Dobson of Focus on the Family, as well as a contributor to the Republican Party. He was an early benefactor of the Family Research Council.

Residents of the Tiny Town of Potrero, California - East of City of San Diego
Need Your Help to Stop Blackwater West!

As US Congress and Iraqi government officials probe recent killings of civilians by the notorious private contractors in Baghdad, join local residents to the expansion of Blackwater USA at a major rally and encampment at the gates of the proposed “Blackwater West” site in Potrero, a tiny town in east San Diego county on Saturday, October 6th - Sunday, October, 7th. Events planned for just days after Blackwater founder Erik Prince is scheduled to testify before the US Congress.

STOP BLACKWATER WEST CAMP, RALLY AND WALK!
Saturday, October 6th and Sunday, October, 7th Two day Educational Encampment and Walk to Stop Blackwater West in
Potrero, California - East of City of San Diego

Join us, Saturday, October 6 and Sunday, October 7, 2007 to:

MARCH TO THE GATES OF THE PLANNED BLACKWATER WEST
800 ACRE MERCENARY TRAINING FACILITY IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

--SAY NO TO THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR ENVIRONMENT
--SAY NO TO WAR PROFITEERS
--SAY YES TO KEEPING POTRERO A SAFE, LIVABLE COMMUNITY

As Blackwater USA Comes Under Increasing Fire for Actions in Iraq,
Turn Up the Heat to Stop Blackwater West ! Join Local Residents for the Largest Protest to Date
at the Gates of Planned Blackwater West Site Near Tiny Border Town

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Some things to think about:

Why is the Republican party pushing Hilary to be the candidate? Newt Gingrich started pushing this plot, and if he's behind something you know it has to have a sinister design. I like Hilary and think she'd be a terrific president — as would Obama, Kucinich, Edwards, Gravel, Richardson, Biden -- but there must be a reason Bush and Rove want Hilary to be the nominee. What is up there sleeve? I think it's this: they do not believe the majority of men and women in the United States could stomach voting for a woman. I think they're counting on this archaic, mysoginistic view that the neocons share.