TOMB OF SECRETS

**There are almost 800 comments on this post, and there seems to be fight going on here. Please keep the violence to a R-rating. I will do a new post tonight or tomorrow about some very eerie breaking news.

From Clif, Gulf War I Desert Storm Commander disabled Vet:
Lydia,
I stood in the desert after the end of combat in 1991 and looked around at the death and destruction that we had done to so many of saddam's troops, one scene still haunts me, It was where a low ranking enlisted soldier had been captured by an Iraqi republican guards officer and senior enlisted, they shot the soldier in the back of the head, and almost immediately were killed by some sort of US cluster bomb. I thought it was ironic that they killed a man for trying to escape the Hell that is war but ended up being killed almost in the same moment, I thought it was poetic justice until I remembered Pvt Eddie Slovic from WW2, something changed that day, I started seeing the ghost images of the "enemy" in their fighting positions, the caves they dug in the ground to escape the bombing by the US Air Force, the bomb craters next to tanks where they died, I could imagine in my mind the horror they must have felt being bombed from the air but if they tried to get away they would end up shot.
As bad as the pics of Abu Ghraib look the horror is much greater because the camera never was focused in the interrogation chambers where the real horrors are done.
I have no patience for the chicken-hawks who shill for others to go into these corners of Hell so they can be safe in their minds, because that is where their fear lives.
11:12 AM

clif also said...
If you believe that this current (Bush) government is so interested in freedom take a LONG look at the pictures of the Abu Ghraib prison and ask your self a few questions... What are these prisoners accused of? Are they being charged or just detained? Do they have any "civil rights" if they are in the custody of the US military? Is the treatment of these prisoners in line with the spreading of freedom?Hint almost every person in those pictures has been released, so their crimes must not have been that extreme, so what justified their treatment?( Keep the answers based upon the spread of freedom and the US does no wrong, not flaming about 9-11(these prisoners weren't there), or terrorism, they can't be terrorists because WE invaded their country and destroyed a large section of their society. We do more damage in a month than was done here on 9-11, and we have been there for 35 months. Remember the anger over 9-11 here, YES THE ANGER IS AND WAS JUSTIFIED, but try to imagine the anger some Iraqi's have for what the US arny, US Marine Corp and US Air Force has done to their country. These people did not sponser 9-11 Osama Bin Laden did (he's Saudi) and 15 of the 19 Highjackers were also Saudi, the base of Bin Ladens operation was Afghanistan NOT Iraq. In 1990 Osama offered the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia his services to defend the kingdom against Saddam, but the King chose the US military, and so to Osama's mind slighted him. Osama's real aim is to topple the Saudi monarchy and reestablish the muslim chiaph(sp?) and the agreement bewteen Washington and Riyahd for the US military to defend the Saudi monarchy stands in his way. That is his beef with us. We defend the Saudi monarchy in excahnge for them stabilising the world oil markets. Since this administration is so consumed with 9-11(their justification for everything) why did they remove the only Special Forces team that was fluent in the local dialects from Afganistan and move the unit to Iraq to hunt for Saddam, the SF unit that was the replacement is fluent in spanish, makes you wonder where their real priorities are.

URGENT from Lydia: These shameful pictures of Abu Gahrib somehow seem worse than before; my heart is breaking; I feel overwhelming sadness for America and what we've become. These are human beings first and foremost. No matter what color, race or tribe, we are all brothers on this planet. We must hold bush & co accountable for whatever he is doing. We must get this mad man out of office. We cannot ever allow torture of detainees or "enemy combatants" - or whatever word he uses to circumvent the Geneva Convention. How can we ever be proud of ourselves as a nation again? This is unconscionable. As Darth Worfeus said: "Its a sad day when the industrialized nations of the world we share, who have always looked to the US as a bastion of good, and freedom, now look to us with quaking fear, of our abomidable and unspeakable crimes against humanity."

I am so sick of right-wing so-called "patriots" who dare to think the left are "traitors" because we value human life and abide by deep moral imperatives. We know the difference between right and wrong. You have sold out America for a quick anger fix. Only very primitive people would take the bait, and I guess these are the ones leading our country - Lydia


The guiding principle is the Geneva Convention built from the expierences of the allied prisoners of war at the hands of the NaZis and to a lesser extent the Japanese. What happened was a Nazi or Japanese tactic in WW2 for treatment of POW's and now we are doing it. The simple test for the question of "Are the actions proper"" is does the reversal of the roles: put the prisoners in charge and the soldiers in the prisoners place, how would you feel and do you want US soldiers treated this way? If the answer is no then the actions are wrong. If we don't want it done to our troops then we don't do it to theirs plain and simple.
** THIS IS THE GOLDEN RULE (Lydia)

I don't think our troops welfare is really high on the thought process for the neo-cons both in and out of the Bushco admin, otherwise the fiasco of not enough armor both personnel and vehicle etc wouldn't be happening here. The "support the troops" makes a good campaign-slogan but hard if you have to put money in the troop protection, VA, and support to the returning Guard and reserves, instead of Halliburton, Defense weapon industries that cannot even be used in an insurgency style war, if that is what Iraq is now.

Bush, Rumsfeld don't want to listen to anything as to why the battle in Iraq is not going like they want us to believe. They ignore any historical perspective on the situation: even Churchill realized in 1919 that Iraq as well as the middle east -- was not going to be conqured militarily by any western (christian from the arabs standpoint) power: not Iraq, not Afganistan, and they got out. Also no military power has ever been able to defeat an insurgancy if the insurgants were also the native population, from the American Revolution where Washington et al were the insurgents through vietnam where Ho Chi Mihn and Giap were the insurgenta against the Japanese, French and the US. The only way to defeat an insurgancy is what we did in the 1800's to the american Indian, whole sale slaughter and putting the rest on reservations( in WW2 we called them interment camps) , hopefully we can't even think of trying that, but as the days go by I'm not sure how far the Neo-cons would go to control the energy resources of this planet.
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Wow, we had over 680 comments on the last post (below). Thank you for all your brilliant ideas; we could solve a lot of Bush's problems with your help (but maybe not Cheney's.) Also, this blog was nominated for 2 Koufax awards. Voting starts soon; details below.

I have a feeling Cheney's initial coverup of this shooting incident was because he didn't want anyone to know that Mrs. Armstrong, the owner of 50,000 acre "quail ranch" is a Washington lobbyist giving Cheney a perk for some reason. I don't know, what do you think?

I am so sad that Paul Hackett dropped out of the Ohio race for Senate; I believe he is EXACTLY what we need and I pray he runs for President in 2008.

Many of you know about Skull and Bones, but last week I was deeply disturbed about even darker secrets I discovered about the secret society that Bush Sr. and Jr. are both members of, as well as John Kerry. I'll post here soon; I have to find it again. I always wondered why Kerry didn't fight the election results; something eerie was afoot and now I realize what it is: Skull and Bones. But what is the nature of the pact they made? What are the vows they take in that windowless tomb? So many missing pieces of the puzzle (including who runs the global economy) are found by looking into Yale's "Bonesmen". These people have very little interest in the lives of ordinary Americans.

This blog is a 2005 Koufax Award Double Nominee!! Thanks to everyone who nominated us!
BEST POST: Cornell's BradBlog article Death Is Sexier than Sex, to Ann Coulter

BEST NEW BLOG 2005 Koufax Award Nominee LydiaCornell.com

BEST POST voting will start soon at: Wampum (vote here for BRADBLOG: Death is Sexier than Sex)
BEST NEW BLOG voting at: Wampum

Be sure to check out this wonderfully generous website (Wampum) and all the nominees.

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Just got this from my friend Garth Bishop (Bixxo.com). It's a letter he wrote to the Guardian:

"Ironic to have to read U.S. General Peter Pace's comments in a UK newspaper re Bush administration plans for a "Long War."

This following sentence struck me as odd since Bush created the war himself through the most colossal strategic blunder in history (directed by Karl Rove and V.P Dick Cheney). To quote: "The message from General Peter Pace, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, was apocalyptic. "We are at a critical time in the history of this great country and find ourselves challenged in ways we did not expect. We face a ruthless enemy intent on destroying our way of life and an uncertain future." (my emphasis on "we did not expect")

The Iron Curtain fell more than 40 years after Pres Truman's containment strategy was launched, and any rational intelligent being would have followed the same course to stem the flow of anti-western influences. But it seems that sinister people bent on taking over power permanently have created a "war without end" to accomplish this purpose."

Garth Bishop
Los Angeles
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*Outed CIA officer was working on Iran, intelligence sources say*

*Larisa Alexandrovna*
Published: February 13, 2006

The unmasking of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson by White House officials in 2003 caused significant damage to U.S. national security and its ability to counter nuclear proliferation abroad, RAW STORY has learned.

According to current and former intelligence officials, Plame Wilson, who worked on the clandestine side of the CIA in the Directorate of Operations as a non-official cover (NOC) officer, was part of an operation tracking distribution and acquisition of weapons of mass destruction technology to and from Iran.

Read the rest here:
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Outed_CIA_officer_was_working_on_0213.html

THE MORE YOU BLEED IN PEACE, THE LESS YOU BLEED IN WAR

Personally, I think Cheney, Bush, Rove used the secrets they found spying in order to blackmail and intimidate good people like Richard Clarke and Scott Ritter so they would be less ready to talk. I wonder how many others....

Questions: what do you think the possibilities are for impeachment, based on the spying program, if it's proven to be illegal? How about the Jack Abramoff scandal? Valerie Plame? The United Nations plane incident when Bush was overheard suggesting they paint the plane in U.N. colors?

I am opening this forum to hear from Recovering Republicans. You can leave anonymous messages if you don't want your identity leaked. I'm quite serious. I used to be a Republican, then I got sober on September 11, 1994. It's as if I woke up. I suddenly started looking at the world around me and put myself in others' shoes. I literally grew a new heart: did a turnaround on the death penalty, and stopped judging and fearing others. I also gradually started being less self-centered. I started giving things away. If we all just took care of our own side of the street and started nurturing those less fortunate instead of judging them, we could build an amazing world. We're all the same color and the same tribe.

Stuart Smalley is right; "It's easier to wear slippers than to carpet the whole world.

Remember, Sadaam was the one assurance that Osama Bin Laden's Al Quaeda would never get a foothold in Iraq. They were enemies and polar opposites: Sadaam was a secularist; Osama a religious fundamentalist.

There were many more creative ways to keep Sadaam from functioning. As long as we were "inspecting, hovering, talking and questioning the WMD program, we could have played this card until we smoked him out of his bunker. With our precision satellite technology -- you don't think we could have eventually made a surreptitious direct hit or contact? Or at least kept him in his luxury underground bunker for a few years, paranoid of coming outside? What good would he be then? With proper CIA plants, we could have made friends in the underground, won them over with ideas -- there had to be one or two Iraqis who eventually would turn against their leader. With satellite photos, we could see any WMD action, trucks leaving large facilities. It's one thing to bomb inanimate objects if you absolutely have to, but to announce to the world that you are going to assassinate a human being, even if he's an unofficial dictator, is not only UN-CHRISTIAN but gives the enemy a heads-up and makes us look like malicious invaders. No wonder more terrorism was created! The more we fight these guys, the more of them we create! It's like Lynn Woolsey said the other day, if you shoot at a worm, he splits in two. Wouldn't you get your cousins, aunts and uncles together to fight an invader who carpet bombs your city, and destroys schools, universites and the sewage system, to say nothing of creating toxic chemica air and a few "civilian casualties now and then." This is BARBARIC and we can't possibly be hearing the whole story. Are all the Iraqis really grateful to us as liberators? No wonder the whole world hates us. No human on earth of sound mind, thought this was a good plan! We must get together and pray for Bush to gain wisdom (which is compassion WITH intelligence.) And pray for the good in people to rise. Maybe it would be wise to understand our enemy: Al Qaeda was a fringe group, not a majority of Muslims. Not all Muslims believed all non-Muslims should be wiped out. This was not the part of the Koran normal people followed. Osama had a personal vengeance and a rinky-dink operation: terrorist hits on the WTC is not the same as missles. But now he has more friends: we've given the fence-sitting Muslims actual cause to hate us.

This blog is a 2005 Koufax Award Double Nominee!! Thanks to everyone who nominated us!
BEST POST: Cornell's BradBlog article Death Is Sexier than Sex, to Ann Coulter

BEST NEW BLOG 2005 Koufax Award Nominee LydiaCornell.com

BEST POST voting will start soon at: Wampum (vote here for BRADBLOG: Death is Sexier than Sex)
BEST NEW BLOG voting at: Wampum

Be sure to check out this wonderfully generous website (Wampum) and all the nominees.

A CALL FOR A TRUCE: I want to open up a dialogue with people who support this war. I sincerely want to know why you believe this war in Iraq is a good thing. From the bottom of my heart, I am pleading for real answers, not vicious attacks. We are all Americans here, and we have to bridge this chasm. We cannot be enemies anymore. Fopr my part, I am a mother with two sons and I never want them to fight in a war like this -- against people who are willing to blow themselves up and who "eat nuclear waste for breakfast" as I said in a prior blog. I cry almost everyday for the precious lives of our brave soldiers. These are just children we are sending off to die for a cause I honestly don't think is guaranteeing our freedom at all. Please reassure me that there is a good reason for this. Thank you and God Bless.

Regarding Iran: It is absolutely possible to prevent a world war. We must be vigilant, and you may not be ready to accept this, you may not believe me, but prayer tangibly changes things. Prayer is putting your thoughts on the good in people so intensely, that fear and negative influences are driven out. This is a "thought-universe" and what we focus on grows. Prayer is not begging some anthropomorphic (man-like) god for favors. It's actually dwelling persistently on the good, love. If you try this, you will see miraculous changes in your own life.

Commenter Moo Moo -- I've been writing two books and didn't mean to ignore you. You questions will be answered in these books and blogs coming soon, I just haven't had time to read all these comments yet as I'm raising children and am overwhelmed with work lately. Also getting ready to do standup comedy opening for Paul Rodriguez show -- with Destiny, my girlfriend. I'll keep you posted on this and our Vegas calendar.

Listen, seek and you shall find. If you're really interested in spiritual growth and the secrets of the universe, you will find them. I haven't begun to share with anyone what I absolutely know to be true yet -- but I will. But many others have: read Wayne Dyer, "You'll See it When you Believe It" Also, the BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ ABOUT THE TRUE CHRIST IS: EMETT FOX "The Sermon on the Mount" In very simple terms, he tells us how to get results from prayer, and the real meaning of Christ's mission. It is a crime what the current believers (Pharisees) have done to pervert Christ's real mission. I also love Mary Baker Eddy (very advanced spiritual thought, but it is absolutely the truth) and I love the movie "What the Bleep Do We Know". Please Google "The Miracle in the Water" and study this amazing way to put your thoughts on love. If love can change a water molecule, and we are 95% water, this is something to think about.

Thoughts are things. You say I haven't answered your questions, but if you read all my posts more will be revealed. Why don't you ask me another question, I'm not sure what it is you want answered. I will say this: I do not believe in a man-like God outside of ourselves. It's WITHIN.

I am talking about consistently taking the higher ground, resisting fighting, learning the key to life: that what we focus on expands. You don't need to fight your enemies if your thoughts are focused on your own business and the good in the "other". Charity involves stepping outside your own view and having real empathy for others' suffering. Breaking the grip of fear and depression takes a shedding of doubt, and a leap in consciousness. You can't see it until you believe it.

MOTHER OF A DEAD SOLDIER

Can you believe we live in such paranoid times that we have to suspect spies and hackers! Thanks Mr. President.

This blog is a 2005 Koufax Award Double Nominee!! Thanks to everyone who nominated us!
BEST POST: Cornell's BradBlog article Death Is Sexier than Sex, to Ann Coulter

BEST NEW BLOG 2005 Koufax Award Nominee LydiaCornell.com

BEST POST voting will start soon at: Wampum (vote here for BRADBLOG: Death is Sexier than Sex)
BEST NEW BLOG voting at: Wampum

Be sure to check out this wonderfully generous website (Wampum) and all the nominees.

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Americans need desperately to understand that 95 percent of all Muslim terrorists in the world were created in the past three years by Bush's invasion of Iraq. (Paul Craig Roberts http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts144.html)

When making such an ominous decision as whether to commit young lives to war, great men question the validity of their thoughts, do not arrogantly claim they are talking to God (as Bush did.) They do not refuse to deeply weigh the consequences, the "exit strategy", the repurcussions, the enemy's wrath, the clergy's advice, the Pandora's box. Wise men do not skew the evidence, lie to the people, rush to war and claim victory before the pullout. Who in his right mind would trust this man? And you wonder why we don't trust him when he says he's only spying on international calls to Al Queda? If we had faith in him to care about the common man, the common good, we'd be on his side. I have a feeling his team wants this information to formulate a strategy -- to find out where their base is, to ostracize certain people and find out their reading/buying/voting/ habits. To maybe prevent whole communities from voting -- or even worse.

Silence is complicity. That's the reason I have to speak out, though I know that real power is in not fearing them, but somehow forgiving their weaknesses and transforming my thought about them, so I don't help create the very situations I most fear. In Christ's time, people had the same fears about government, the Pharisees. The world always feels like it's ending; but somehow the human spirit survives. That's our job.

Nothing makes sense anymore, so I may as well offer an alternative version. Here’s how I see it: it’s normal and natural to be a left-winger or Democrat and believe in Christ. In fact, "pro-war, conservative Christian" doesn't make sense; it's an oxymoron. Again, the religious right-wing so-called "Christians" are involved in the most dangerous perversion of Christianity I've ever seen. Jesus was the Prince of Peace. His entire ministry was spent caring for the poor, the lepers (todays Aids victims), the immoral "sinners", the prisoners, the downtrodden whom the religious leaders thought were too dirty to touch. By giving them love and compassion, they became whole. Whether Christian or not, it's our job as a society to care for the poor, the "least among us." People everywhere hunger for the love that passes all understanding, that heals human suffering. Liberal is a beautiful word: it means "generous, bounteous, freedom-giving". Liberals care about the things that really matter: the poor, the middle class, education, crime-prevention, the environment, peace, harmony, prosperity, diplomacy. Liberals are not "baby-killers" or" traitors" just because Ann Coulter says so. She uses the "language of extermination" and conveniently says she's "joking". Enlighten me; I don't get the joke. I don't get what's funny about an elderly Justice dying from ingesting rat-poison, do you? Coulter makes a living selling hate.

It’s okay to be bewildered at times with the ACLU, hate abortion and still be a Democrat. No one is pro-abortion. Under Clinton, the abortion rate dropped; it rose dramatically under Bush. How can you outlaw abortion? By assigning a police-watchdog to hover over every girl or woman and test them to see if they're pregnant. Then follow them around day and night to make sure they don't grab a coat-hanger or have a "back-alley" abortion which may kill them. That's all Democrats want to prevent: more needless deaths. Because history shows that unprotected sex will happen, and some women will try to get rid of it themselves. If you want to guard against this, have a Gestapo agent hold the woman down for 9 months to force her to have a baby. The guard will also have to force her to take Folic acid and to never put a chemical in her body that could hurt the fetus (junk food, caffeine, liquor). You can't stop people from smoking or damaging their own bodies. We know smoking kills. Why do we legalize smoking?

It’s okay to be offended by porn and still be a democrat who believes in free speech. Real women don't like being objectified by men's magazines and Howard Stern, and don’t think the F-word is representative of free speech. Dumb blondes are not always dumb; they are a persecuted minority and should have minority status -- so they deserve Affirmative Action. I hope you know that’s a joke.

Did you know that we have 1 million MORE hungry, poverty-striken American children than we did six years ago? According to the US Census Bureau, 35.9 million people live below the poverty line in America including 12.9 million children. (http://www.census.gov/Press
Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/002484.html)

Did you know that Dell Computers just outsourced 5,000 new jobs to India, with 10,000 already there? Did you know that Ford just cut 30,000 jobs? The STATE OF THE UNION address, showed us a president with no vision, no specifics, and no effort to discuss how he's going to pay for the endless war -- or draft soldiers to fight it once all our men are gone; how he's going to pay for Katrina & levee rebuilding, or how he's going to help the poor, middle classes and elderly afford health care. Oh yeah, I forgot -- by making them put whatever extra money they have in "medical bank accounts" that Citibank or some other Bush friend can "borrow" from to create a portfolio that will amass over 75 billion by 2010. As if the poor or the middle classes have any extra money.
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The Democratic Party, at its best, is light years ahead of the Republican party in the things that really matter to Americans. I have great hope for the future, because we know we have good on our side. It's truth, love & kindness and you know it in your heart. It's our job as citizens of the earth to take care of "the least among us." You will know good people by what they produce. This house of cards will fall, you'll see. Benjamin Franklin said something to the effect that "you cannot trade liberty for security or you will end up with neither."

DEMOCRATS CREATE WEALTH AND JOBS

1.From Harding In 1921 to Bush in 2003

2.Democrats held White House for 40 years and Republicans for 42.5 years.

3.Democrats created 75,820,000 net new jobs -- Republicans 36,440,000.

4.Per Year Average—Democrats 1,825,200---Republicans 856,400.

5.Republicans had 9 presidents during the period and 6 had depression or recession.

6.Republicans had a recession/depression in 177 months and Democrats in 32 months. 

7.DOW—grew by 52% more under Democrats.

8.GDP—grew by 43% more under Democrats. 
Comparing Democrat’s hero-CLINTON—versus Republican’s hero--REAGAN
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1.JOBS—grew by 43% more under Clinton.

2.GDP---grew by 57% more under Clinton.

3.DOW—grew by 700% more under Clinton..

4.NASDAQ-grew by 18 times as much under Clinton.

4.SPENDING--grew by 28% under Clinton---80% under Reagan.

5.DEBT—grew by 43% under Clinton—187% under Reagan.
6. DEFICITS—Clinton got a large surplus--grew by 112% under Reagan.

7.NATIONAL INCOME—grew by100% more under Clinton.

8.PERSONAL INCOME—Grew by 110% more under Clinton.

SOURCES—Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.BLS.Gov)--Economic Policy Institute (EPI.org)—Global & World Almanacs from 1980 to 2003 (annual issues) www.the-hamster.com (chart taken from NY Times) National Archives History on Presidents. www.nara.gov Clarence Swinney-Political Historian Please submit comments to cwswinney@netzero.net or P.O. Box 3411-Burlington NC-27216

THE POWER OF PRAYER
I suddenly snapped back to reality and realized I had been spiraling down into fear by paying too much attention to all the negative news: the gossipy alarmist politics, the backstabbing and fear-mongering. Reality is the opposite of what we think it is. The true substance of life is the underlying beauty, the harmonious structure beneath the chaos. I was in my son's room doing yoga yesterday, on my back, and I looked up and saw a perfect rainbow on the ceiling. It all became clear that harmony, love and beauty are the fabric of reality just beneath the surface. Remember there was a time we thought the earth was flat because we trusted only our eyes? Our physical senses betray us. As Shakespeare and Christ and every great force ultimately came to express: "there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." So we better keep our thoughts on the good in life because our thoughts create our reality. What you focus on GROWS. Whatever you think about all day long, is what you create, so it's important to elevate your thoughts to gratitude, love, beauty, truth, life. What we dwell on transforms us.

"Right reaction" is the supreme art of life, and Jesus compressed the secret of that art into a sentence when he said "Resist not evil" (This means: DON'T FIGHT ANYTHING) Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Heaven, by the way, is a state of mind, not a physical place. You create your own heaven or hell depending on the thoughts you hold.

Emmet Fox put it beautifully in his famous essay on LOVE:

There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer;
no disease that enough love will not heal;
no door that enough love will not open;
no gulf that enough love will not bridge;
no wall that enough love will not throw down;
no sin that enough love will not redeem . . .

It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble;
how hopeless the outlook;
how muddled the tangle;
how great the mistake.
A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all.
If only you could love enough you would be the happiest and most powerful being in the world . . .

The art of life is to live in the present moment, and to make that moment as perfect as we can by the realization that we are the instruments and expression of God (Love) Itself. Emmet Fox

In answer to a commenter named "Voltaire" who argued that Bush had a right to circumvent the FISA law because times and technology have changed since cell phones and electronic devices are now in use. He does have a point here, but there is something more important. I said he was using style over substance, that "the principle that the law is based on never changes."

Voltaire then mocked me with this, juxtaposing my own answers: Lydia said: "Principle never changes"/ "Bush is proud of himself for never changing his mind..."

To which I say this: WHO SAID BUSH'S MIND IS PRINCIPLED?

And I also said this: Principle never changes. Going to war is not "a principle." Being stubborn is not a "principle", does not connote good (Godly) principes.
Dictionary definition of Principle: "A basic truth, law, or assumption: the principles of democracy. A rule or standard, especially of good behavior."

Goodness, truth and beauty are actual laws (principles) of the universe, according to Einstein - wihch is why I believe he was on the verge of proving "God" (love) through his unified field theory.

Tonight I was in the kitchen making dinner for my boys, and I turned on the radio to KABC the Al Rantell show and heard this: "Tonight I have a special surprise guest, Ann Coulter." I was thinking about Coulter's remark last week at Philander Smith College where she got paid $20,000 to say this: "We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens' creme brulee," Coulter said. "That's just a joke, for you in the media." Suddenly I hear Al Rantell treating Coulter like royalty and laughing hysterically over "creme brulee" as some inside joke. He says to his listeners, "you have to be up on the news to know what we're laughing about." Then Al asks Coulter her expert intellectual opinion on the Cindy Sheehan debacle, and they both start putting Sheehan down like she's a criminal, rather than deeply talking about this from a new angle, trying to get inside the story. They parrot what CNN falsely claimed, assuming that Sheehan was there to make a scene. Then Coulter in her inimitable sarcasm says that this was "the President's show, his day where he gets to shine and Sheehan was obviously there just to upset him. Then I hear Al Rantell say, "Too bad liberals say such horrible, tasteless things, they say things Nazis would say... and Coulter chimes in, "and their jokes aren't even funny."

At this point my nerves are on edge and I'm so horrified (had nightmares after the State of the Union address, so didn't get much sleep) so I call Brad Friedman of BRAD BLOG who was the first of anyone in the mainstream or alternative media to break the Cindy Sheehan story last night - and Brad says, "Lydia you have to call in to Al Rantell and get on the air and challenge him!" I said okay, but meant "no way". Don't know why I was so nervous; I did 12 radio shows in one week after my Brad Blog article Death is Sexier than Sex broke but this time, I was "just a caller". So I thrashed through my fear and called. And guess who was already on the air confronting Al Rantell with all the lies he was spewing about Cindy Sheehan? Brad. He was magnificent, as usual: that guy is the most calm, rational, amazing voice of reason for our side, and he had Al agreeing with him about the treatment of Sheehan. Then they put me on the line - and I said, "How do you think the world views Bush talking about "freedom" while a mother who lost her son for the cause of freedom is handcuffed and marched out of her own Capitol building for wearing the number of our dead soldiers on her black shirt? Some freedom." After he said some things about the president visiting with Sheehan after Casey died, I finally got to what I really wanted to say, "Al, you let Ann Coulter get away with 'extermination-speak' and laughed about it. I'm writing a book on Ann Coulter with a conservative Christian, Dan Borchers, and I'm a liberal Democrat Christian..." to which Rantell acted shocked, "A liberal Democrat Christian!?" "Yes," I said (I should have said I'm a Democrat BECAUSE I'm a Christian as Rebecca Miller said, a woman from Ponca City, Oklahoma who left me the most wonderful message after Ann Coulter published my home number on her website, which is still up there, by the way after numerous requests to take it down.) Anyway, I went on, "Al, you were laughing with Coulter, does this mean you condone what she said about wanting to put rat poison in Justice Steven's creme brulee...and Rantell talked over me and said, "She said she was just joking..." "Yes', I said, "I know she said she was "joking" but what's so funny about an elderly Supreme Court Justice ingesting rat poison and dying? Where's the joke...?" Then Al went on to say, "What about that black lady, that black woman what's her name -- who advocated a senator dying of too much butter and cholesterol..: And I said, "That's appalling of course, but Coulter who wears a cross and claims to be a Christian...." CLICK. They hung up on me for the news. I wish I had said, "Did you invite that woman on your show and honor her hate-speak as an inside-joke with laughter? Wait a minute, now I realize he was talking about Julianne Malveaux and a comment she made to Clarence Thomas over 7 years ago! Is that the best he could come up with?

Letter from an Iraq War Vet to the chairman of Bucks County Young Republicans.
Don,

I called you to get some sort of understanding on the reason why you were upset that the Bucks County Democratic Headquarters has posted the death count of US Troops in Iraq outside their office. You had explained to me that you feel the local Democrats are trying to play politics on the issue of the Iraq war. They say they are just trying to honor our fallen troops.

I agree with you that Democrats voted right along side of Republicans to give President Bush the authority to invade Iraq. That is an undisputed fact. But in the end it was the decision of the President to
take us to war. As a veteran of that war I don't feel that it is wrong to let the public know that troops are dying every day in Iraq. It's not politics it's just plain reality.

This morning you told me that out of your whole organization (Bucks County Young Republicans) only two or three members plan to pursue military service. And at the same time you told me that your organization supports the war in Iraq. If your organization is so supportive of the war maybe more than two or three of your members should volunteer for military service. Believe me those troops in Iraq could use a little extra help. We have soldiers right now that are on their third tour of duty.

When I got home from Iraq after a year long combat tour I attended a Kerry/Edwards rally in Kansas City. At the rally I was confronted by a group of able-bodied males carrying signs that said "Students For Bush." They called me a traitor, a disgrace, and they told me to move to France. They said this because I was going to vote for Senator Kerry. They claim to be so supportive of the troops, but they were not at all supportive of me. I guess that only applies to troops who share their political ideas. I just returned home from a war that they support, but obviously don't have the courage to fight. If they did
they would be fighting it. It is much easier to support a war from your office, classroom, or from your cozy living room than from the actual battlefield.

I served with plenty of troops who are pro-Bush and pro-Iraq war. For the most part they were the majority. I had respect for them despiteour disagreements because those troops put their money where their mouth is. They have definitely earned their right to an opinion. Just as I have earned mine.

About a year ago I contacted an old friend of mine who belongs to the Philadelphia Young Republicans. I asked him how many in his group had served. He replied that he thinks that one of them served in Kosovo back in the late 90s. It seems like there is a lot of "false patriotism" going around these days. The hefty amount of "flag waving" and "chest beating" is not balancing out the low recruitment levels.

The purpose of this email is not to be confrontational or attack the Republican Party. I don't want people to misunderstand me. My motives are to try and educate as many people as I can about the reality of the situation in Iraq.

I am a strong supporter and advocate of Congressman John Murtha's resolution. My experience in Iraq has made me a critic of the war. At this point in time I feel that the US Military has done everything that can possibly be done in Iraq. The time has come to bring our troops home. Especially now that it has been established that every reason we went there never existed. And the Bush administration has conceded that as well. So why should more troops continue to die? I can't think of
one logical answer or reason.

Respectfully, John Bruhns
Iraq War Veteran

From the Comment section: False Patriotism? Try False Everything. Republican "warriors" have always sent others to die for their causes. Their SOP is to socialize costs while privatizing benefits. In the case of war, promoters are usually the beneficiaries while others pay the true costs. I wonder how many of those Young Republicans even visit the permanently maimed soldiers that lay in beds at the VA hospitals. Very few, I expect.
(Letter and comment Reprinted from Adam McKay at HUFFPO)

BOOBGATE AGAIN?

Thanks to everyone who voted on our "Best New Blog" nomination for a Koufax Award. Check out this wonderfully generous website and all the nominees at Wampum

HEY - WHY didn't any reporters in Bush's press conference yesterday, bring up the fact that JACK ABRAMOFF was on Bush's transition team?

We must FILIBUSTER ALITO. Along with Donald Rumsfield, Alito is part of the "Princeton elite" or "Concerned Alumni of Princeton (CAP) which wanted to stifle women and minorities on campus back in the 70's. I have some very interesting news about Rumsfield, who always seems so "aw-shucks" nice and innocuous, doesn't he? Well we all know he owns a multi-million dollar stake in Tamiflu -- the only drug that can combat "bird-flu". So guess why bird flu keeps seeping into the news? There is something going on here that will blow your mind. Stay tuned.

Bush said, in 2002, "Wiretapping requires a court order." Now he says, "The FISA law was written in 1978.
We're having the discussion in 2006. It's a different world." How convenient. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS were made over 2000 years ago. It's a different world, aren't you going to change them? (paraphrased from Randi Rhodes on Air America yesterday.)

Have you noticed more boobs in America lately? And I’m not just talking about our political leaders, though the two seem to go hand-in-hand. What I mean is, the larger the boobs, the more narrow-minded the politicians. (See below for the rest of Boobgate article; I'm interrupting this to post a summary of our position on Iraq and what the NSA spy scandal means to us, US! By the way, I changed the title from BOOBGATE REDUX because it was pretentious, not because "libs" are dumb, as a certain right-winger mentioned in the comment section.

ALERT: JOHN McCAIN THINKS BUSH BROKE THE LAW. (So does Walter Cronkite)

Things to think about: If we had known we were invading Iraq to spread democracy, and for “nation-building”, I wonder how many of us would have voted for this? Also -- How many of you believe Bush never met Jack Abramoff?

I received this comment from a right-winger named “StevieWonder” on my blog "Blessed Are the Peacemakers" this Christmas:

“If we lived in a country that limited your right to dissent from our war efforts (I.E. GWB has not chopped off your head for dissenting) I would be grateful for the right to have my democratic voice, as you have the right to yours”.

Here is my answer:

Figuratively, many people have had their heads chopped off for dissenting. People who wore "PEACE" t-shirts were arrested in malls. The Dixie Chicks seem to have vanished (Maybe I'm wrong, but where did they go?) Michael Moore has been marginalized and ridiculed. There's a sinister form of blacklisting going on in America right now. If you research it, there are thousands of "swarthy" types (Ann Coulter's term) who are still being held at Guantanamo Bay, who are completely innocent and whose lives have been ruined. "There are also things about this war that no one is telling us; our trusted leader did not do everything in his power to avoid war -- on the contrary, he chose to ignore every spiritual leader, even the Pope, who came to him and beseeched him to stop and really think this through, or at least slow down. There was no imminent danger: we were ON TOP of Sadaam. The whole world was watching him --and there was no IMMINENT DANGER. Bush RUSHED us to war. You say he didn't create more terrorists? It's only natural: if our country were invaded, more and more people would rise up against the invaders in very violent ways. More and more people in Iraq have joined the "resistance" and are committed to hating us -- more than ever before -- across all Muslim territories. Believe me, we would do the same thing if we were invaded -- even with a despot in power. ("He may be an evil despot, but at least he's MY evil despot.") You have to remember that at the time of Sadaam's reign, there was at least a routine and normalcy to daily life that people had been accustomed to: at least they could get food & housing & electricity. Students, even women, attended universities, had parties, and celebrated birthdays in cafes without fear of suicide attacks. And Time Magazine had a report on Christians in Iraq: they were not bothered or interfered with by Sadaam -- and some even owned laundries and corner markets. I actually read that they owned their own liquor stores! And at the time we were hovering over Sadaam while the U.N. inspectors made their rounds -- no one was going to look away for one second. We had Sadaam on his best behavior, after all -- he knew the world was his stage, and at that point, just to look like a good guy -- he might have actually been malleable enough (given enough time) to be willing to work with us. I wrote a book on Stalin and he definitely had an Achilles heel: his ego. There were many ways to get to Saddam - it would have been interesting trying, in a focused way, while the world watched. Or if not him, maybe his cronies. We could have won people in the underground over to our form of democracy -- by attraction not force. Nothing is ever truly won by force (and I mean that figuratively as well -- until a person reaches his own bottom or sees the light, they resist. You never win them over until they come to the decision inside first. Yes you can chain them up, but to win their hearts they have to want to change and be attracted to the light; they have to want it for themselves.) You think what they have now in Iraq is better? Living in constant fear of walking outside, going to school, buying groceries? Religious extremists blowing up Iraqi children as they blow themselves up -- because they are so passionately against the invaders? The Mideast has always been a hotbed, why on earth did Bush have to invade Muslim Holy land -- when the extremists made it known this was their biggest beef with us? American footprints on their holy land bringing capitalism to the Muslim world. Just like we did with the Saudis. 

I will not be smeared by propagandists like Ann Coulter. I have family in the military (Marine with purple heart) and the American flag flies high outside our house. I love my sons and love all children. We are the most patriotic family I know. This is a heinous, diabolical war, brought on by an unthinking elitist who couldn't even finish his Airforce training. I'd like to know why he doesn't send his own daughters to fight. Or why don't any of the other members of Congress who sold this war to the American people. American parents who have lost their only children in Iraq have a right to speak out against this evil war without being called unpatriotic. 

By the way, I do not hate Ann Coulter. As a Christian, I am called to hate the sin, but not the sinner. I do not hate anyone. But I will continue to speak out against her tactics. I am praying for her -- and for all of us to have softer hearts. I thank you for your understanding. 
Peace on Earth. Love, Lydia

(BOOBGATE....continued further down below)

BUSHGATE; OR HOW TO SPY ON EVERYONE AND NEVER LEAVE THE HOUSE Guest Blogged by MYSTERY BLOGGER

PART I

Friends, countrymen, lend me your earpieces……

The Bush administration announced a campaign to convince Americans that his warrant-less spying program is legal, and does not violate US laws, all this on the heels of several ongoing investigations into corruption involving high ranking members of both the Bush administration and other top ranking republican figures.

These efforts are designed to convince us that although the facts seem to point to the contrary, that the President has complied with all US laws and no improprieties exist.

But do the facts agree?

On Saturday the Washington Post indicated that Congressional research clearly demonstrated that Mr. Bush had broken US Law when he instituted his Warrantless domestic spying program.

A report by Congress's research arm concluded yesterday that the administration's justification for the warrantless eavesdropping authorized by President Bush conflicts with existing law…

Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 7, 2006; Page A01

Thursday, the New York Times published similar findings.

A legal analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service concludes that the Bush administration's limited briefings for Congress on the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping without warrants are "inconsistent with the law."

Scott Shane
WASHINGTON, Jan. 18

Yet the Bush administration and its supporters continue to defend illegal actions by the President, elevating Bush to almost kinglike status, ignoring the inherent balance of powers in our democracy and disregarding our own US law.

So why today would the Bush administration launch an all out effort, with an almost totalitarian disdain for oversight, and their typical our way or the highway mentality?

Yesterday the Department of Justice released in response to criticism of the Bush administrations spying program a 42 page document prepared under the direction of longtime Bush ally and appointee, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

The document, while filled with lengthy rhetoric, does little to demonstrate any legality for the program. On the one hand, the document argues Bush had the authority to launch his domestic spying program based on Congressional authority provided in 2001 following the 911 attacks.

On the other hand, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales argues that if they had asked Congress for approval, they may have rejected the requests; “that was not something we could likely get” Alberto Gonzales – and therefore opted to carry out the operations without Congressional oversight.

This week the debate heated up, however coincidentally after over a year in silence Osama Bin Laden decided to drop us all a note and remind us all what we’re fighting for, and subsequently took pressure off the White House and turned America’s attention back to the War on Terror.

As the week progressed however attentions shifted back towards the ongoing spy scandal and the ever
increasing possibility that the President has broken the law. Gore, Walter Cronkite and now John McCain believe Bush has broken the law.

Today, US Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D) MD, said with regards to the DOJ’s 42 page apology for the administrations actions;

Making their argument longer does not make it better
And ”Any first year law student can see this argument is specious “.

Later in the day, former Federal Prosecutor Richard Sauber said on Hardball;

”At best it's a weak argument. At worst it's a silly argument”

We are at a crossroads here. The President of the United States has broken US Law, openly and defiantly. The Department of Justice, headed by a long time Bush ally has chosen to defend this crime with legally unfounded official rhetoric.

And now, the Bush Administration is actively out trying to convince Americans that the President now makes the laws, and therefore he cannot break them.

A long time ago the Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith made a prediction that in the end of times, the US Constitution would literally ”dangle by a thread.

I cannot attest as to his prophetic capabilities however we can certainly see the relevance of this saying today, as we are faced with the ultimate threat to our democratic way of governing ourselves. Do we allow ourselves to be fostered under the wings of a benevolent monarch whose only concerns are purportedly to keep us all safe from terrorists? (forget natural disasters, crime, poverty, etc, terrorists are all we have to fear)

Or should we be more concerned as to letting Bin Laden win by turning America into exactly what he said he would force us to turn it into, a paranoid totalitarian, Orwellian like police state where the cure is far worse than the disease?

And while we make up our minds which poison will kill us first, our Constitution is precariously dangling by a thread.

BOOBGATE....continued:

... As the fixation with cartoon-porn blondes such as Anna Nicole Smith et al. has proliferated, so have the number of conservatives in Washington. Could it be a plot to distract us? In the case of Coulter, it’s her short skirt and "traditional values" that seem to give her that slutty attitude.

How do you speak to an enemy? Coulter writes: "You must outrage the enemy. If the liberal you’re arguing with doesn’t become speechless with sputtering, impotent rage, you’re not doing it right. … Start with the maximum assertion about liberals and then push the envelope, because, as we know, their evil is incalculable. … Nothing too extreme can be said about liberals, because it’s all true. – Talk, pg. 10

Ann Coulter ridicules Liberals for hurling insults and being unable to argue back intelligently with equal venom. She accuses them of stammering and calling her names. But I submit that this is a normal person’s reaction when confronted with her insanity. Reasonable people stammer! But I know a better way: turn the other cheek and let her slap that one. Before trying that technique, I want to muck around in the dirt a little first. Here is a fantasy conversation:

Ann: Liberals are traitors and the spawn of Satan.
Me: That’s a little hostile. Are those claws on your reptile or are you just happy to see me?
Ann: Oh how I hate them! They should be tortured publicly if they can't get on board.
Me: Well it's kinda hard to get on board once the train’s already wrecked.
Ann: Wrecked!? The war is going perfectly! And Sadaam had WMD hidden in his toilet, which you would know if you read my column, you war-hating chicken ass.
Me: Thank you, I was hoping my ass was as small as a chicken’s.
Ann: You just want to tax and spend, tax and spend…
Me: No, I just want you and Delay to pay for this war. By the way, what do you have against helping the poor?
Ann: The poor are swarthy and they don’t wear Izod; they're not preppy! They can’t read and they take up too much space and they don’t bathe!
Me; Well they could if they had bathtubs.
Ann: But they’re swarthy.
Me: That’s just caked-on dirt, remember?
Ann: You and your liberal scum are against the war, which means that you long to see our troops blown up!
Me: No, I’m against the war because I want our troops alive. By the way, according to Websters “liberal” means ‘generous, open-hearted, bounteous.”
Ann: Swarthy types belong in coal mines. The poor have no work ethic; they should get jobs.
Me: They would if Bush starts actually creating some (for the people who already live here.)
Ann: How dare you! Job growth has been climbing steadily under this President.
Me: I wasn't talking about Haliburton. Hey, I have an idea -- let them work for you!
Ann: No they’ll steal my china. They just want to suck me dry.
Me: It looks like that’s already happened.
Ann: You’re obviously a moron with no education.
Me: I have a Bachelor of Science degree, but thank you. Guess I'm lucky to be a be a moron with no education as opposed to a moron with the best education money can buy. :D

CORRUPTION AT THE CORE ** HELP OUR VETERANS

"It's easier to wear slippers than to carpet the whole world." - Stuart Smalley

A method Bush Inc used was "intent to deceive" by word association. An analysis revealed that on over 100 occasions Bush and Gang had used Saddam and 9-11 in the same sentence to convey an association. Bush did it in 8 sentences during one speech. How else could 70% come to believe there was an association? The same technique was used on Saddam-Osama.
- From Political Historian Clarence Swinney
______________________________
From Ron Kovic, paralyzed from the chest down by Vietnam War wounds, and confined to a wheelchair for almost 40 years: "As I now contemplate another January 20th I cannot help but think of the young men and women who have been wounded in the war in Iraq. They have been coming home now for almost three years, flooding Walter Reed, Bethesda, Brooke Army Medical Center and veterans hospitals all across the country. Paraplegics, amputees, burn victims, the blinded and maimed, shocked and stunned, brain-damaged and psychologically stressed, over 16,000 of them, a whole new generation of severely maimed is returning from Iraq, young men and women who were not even born when I came home wounded to the Bronx veterans hospital in 1968."

"I have come to believe that there is nothing in the lives of human beings more terrifying than war and nothing more important than for those of us who have experienced it to share its awful truth."

"We must break this cycle of violence and begin to move in a different direction; war is not the answer, violence is not the solution. A more peaceful world is possible." To read Ron's entire essay, go to: TRUTHDIG
_________________________

Yesterday I had the honor of hosting Robert Dreyfuss for lunch at my house. He's the author of the brilliant new book, DEVIL'S GAME: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam (Holt/Metropolitan) This is a must-read, and answers all the questions about our Mid-East foreign policy stretching back 60 years, when America forged an alliance with the Islamic right in order to, among other things, combat Soviet atheistic communism. Dreyfuss is an investigative journalist who writes for Rolling Stone, The Nation, The American Prospect, Mother Jones and is a frequent contributor to NPR, MSNBC and CNBC. ROBERT DREYFUSS
__________________________
From this blog's feisty contributing commenter WORFEUS, who is not aligned with either party:

DON'T BE FOOLED: The increases Bush made in the VA are based on peace-time regular annual cost increases.
In peace-time we don't have many Post Traumatic Stress Disorder cases. And not too many Amputee's.

Right now the VA is dealing with some 16,000 GI's needing prosthetic limbs, seeing eye dogs, physical therapy, wheel chairs and reconstructive surgery.

We have another 30,000 + needing counseling, therapy, medication and hostpitalization for battle related stress and mental illness, family and medical counseling and so on.
------------------------
VA officials told Congress that the unexpected shortfall occurred because they had used an inaccurate, two-year-old financial model to calculate their spending requests. VA officials said the model underestimated the impact of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and made other forecasting errors

VA Undersecretary Jonathan Perlin said budget forecasts are created two years in advance, meaning that the current year's predictions were made before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. - Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, June 24, 2005

** What Bush did is take the lowest number he could get away with to tend for our nations veterans, based upon Peace Time Projections, then sent them to war, then cut that figure after he got elected by a Billion dollars to help pay for his war.
This is a prime example of Bushonomics. (WORFEUS)

Received this from my friend Doug Basham, whose amazing Progressive Talk-Radio show I did last month. DOUG BASHAM RADIO

Dear Lydia, Just wanted to share this with you. It hit me pretty hard last night. Back on Dec. 16, a little over a week after you appeared on my show, I had Specialist Douglas Barber as my guest, an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran suffering from PTSD. He was telling us how the VA had abandoned Iraqi vets, and how he couldn't get help for his PTSD. Last night, at the top of my 3rd hour, I received this email...

Mr. Basham: I was a dear friend of Douglas; I say was, because Douglas committed suicide today on the front porch of his trailer around 2:30 pm Opelika, Alabama time. I was just listening to your interview with him so I could hear his voice again. Just thought you might like to know.

Here is a link to the interview itself:
http://www.dougbasham.com/12-16-05DouglasBarber.mp3

********************************
GORE "The President of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and persistently."
Click here to hear Gore's electrifying speech at BRAD BLOG (Or read highlights of the speech at end of blog below)

On the eve of the election of 2004, I sent this excerpt and wrote the following letter to a Republican Christian friend:

"Al-Qaeda came into Iraq after the American invasion," claimed Said. He added that, contrary to claims in Washington, the deposed Iraqi leader was probably the most reliable bulwark against Al-Qaeda infiltration into Iraq." - Mohammed al-Sayed Said, deputy director of the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies and a former Washington correspondent for the Al-Ahram daily.

Dear Tristan (name changed)
For years I've done research on Islamic fundamentalism, Christianity and the Middle East. I am not implying that life under a madman was anything but terrifying, so please don't distort or spin my words, but do read TIME Magazine's article on "Iraq's Persecuted Christians" written by Iraqi Christian leader, Munir Mardirisosian. "The current violence in Iraq threatens one of the oldest Christian communities, dating back 2,000 years....Under Sadaam, Christians coexisted more or less amicably with the Muslim majority. Easter services were broadcast on state television, and Christians were allowed to own and operate liquor stores, beauty salons..."

Tristan, there is only one truth — but many distortions, manipulations and hidden agendas. I hate the way politics polarizes people; you seem to imply that people like myself (pro-environment, anti-guns/NRA, pro-peace) are not PATRIOTIC and madly in love with our country!! There are millions of faith-filled Democrats who support our troops but despise this illegal war — and it's corrupt how the extreme right-wing has smeared anyone against the war for lacking morals, faith or patriotism!

After much soul-searching and constant prayer for months, years — asking God to fill my heart with answers — without a doubt, the answer that keeps coming up over and over is that this war is wrong and our president is morally corrupt (as well as lazy, unconscious, severely misguided and resistant to truth.) There is something inherently wrong with the principles of current administration, their enablers and right-wing lawmakers. These are not true conservatives. The Republican party is hardly recognizable, though it used to be a party of balance. Please read Gore's speech below.

It says in the Bible, that we must go to God in private to hear God's voice, and follow God's leading in our heart. If you get out of your head and go to your heart, and take away all intellectual arguments as well as personal profit or money motives, you will know this administration is morally wrong. In fact, they are behaving the opposite of any real Christian.

No matter what, as a follower of the Prince of Peace, no Christian can say that bombing an entire country to remove one man (among other reasons) is the method Jesus would have used. His teachings were very clear. I sent you an article that tells how much we are hated in the world because of Bush, and therefore in MUCH more danger. You don't have children yet, but now I'm really scared about the increasing hatred Bush has brought upon us.

"All Arab and Muslim peoples are convinced that (US President George W.) Bush is persecuting Muslims and Arabs and is targeting only the Arab world," said Makram Mohammed Ahmed, editor-in-chief of the semi-official Al-Mussawar magazine.
And this, he said, "increases tensions and hatred. The whole Arab world hates America and the Bush administration." Said said he found it even more disturbing that "the Americans do not have any regret for what they did to the Iraqi people as a result of their mistakes."

And you never answered my question: how do you explain Christ's explicit instructions for dealing with our enemies? Why don't Bush "Christians" take Christ's words literally, fundamentally: Bless those who persecute you, resist NOT evil, return love for hate, love your enemies? Even if we can't always follow this, at least we should never be the invaders, torturers or aggressors. Defense is one thing, a preemptive strike based on a lie is another. As Robert Dreyfuss put it: "Bush is like a kid with his hand stuck in the candy jar; he wants the oil, and he won't let go until many more of our troops have died.

I used to be a Republican, but I finally had to check my motives. To be conservative is admirable, but to be fear-based and withholding (as in conservative with your charity), motivated by increasing your own profits at the expense of others, and interested only in self-preservation (as these "new-conservatives" are) -- rather than elevating mankind and helping others, this to me is primitive and shameful. God is love and should never be used to justify war, "moral righteousness, hatred or judgment of others. And the bible is still being written because we are still living our history. Why do people think it all ends, when it's still going on! Every spiritual thinker is writing the living Bible right now. Our battles are truly within ourselves. Love is the essence of everything.

I am dismayed that our president was actually proud of the fact that he didn't like to read or think deeply! (He later denied it, but he did actually bragged that he didn't read books or newspapers!) He’s proud of himself for never changing his mind, never enlightening himself, never reflecting. 

All great men REFLECT, go within, read the great books, consult spiritual advisers with the big decisions -- and ponder the meaning of life. And a wise judge or leader always investigates, considers all sides, puts himself in another’s shoes. Remember Solomon?

I don’t want a Supreme Court justice that doesn’t change his or her mind in 20 years -- a quality Bush finds desirable! This would be just plain STUPID.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM GORE'S AMAZING SPEECH...

A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government. Our Founding Fathers were adamant that they had established a government of laws and not men. Indeed, they recognized that the structure of government they had enshrined in our Constitution - our system of checks and balances - was designed with a central purpose of ensuring that it would govern through the rule of law.
...
The President and I agree on one thing. The threat from terrorism is all too real...Where we disagree is that we have to break the law or sacrifice our system of government to protect Americans from terrorism. In fact, doing so makes us weaker and more vulnerable.
...
In the 70's and 80's, the oversight hearings in which my colleagues and I participated held the feet of the Executive Branch to the fire - no matter which party was in power. Yet oversight is almost unknown in the Congress today.
...
It is the pitiful state of our legislative branch which primarily explains the failure of our vaunted checks and balances to prevent the dangerous overreach by our Executive Branch which now threatens a radical transformation of the American system.

URL: http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002288.htm

THE TAPESTRY * SPYING ON AMERICANS

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." - Theodore Roosevelt

THE TAPESTRY

Imagine if the human pageant were just a tapestry — and God sees the complete picture on the finished side, but from our vantage point below, we only see dangling threads that keep disappearing as they are woven in and out. As people pass on, certain threads disappear because they are part of a grand stitch that completes a beautiful landscape — or picture on the other side. We can’t see the whole picture. But God can. We don't know the reason for death and suffering; we don't know what's on the other side, but I'm sure there are many mansions and colors -- and the weave creates a majestic tapestry.

Somehow in this day and age, we’ve seen too much, done too much, been too naked. There’s too much hard-core violence and porn in the airwaves. We can’t really take it back and become innocent again. But I really want to be a virgin again in more ways than one. There is nothing in the physical world left to want, do or imagine. I don’t want one more luxury or gadget to make my life easier except maybe a Gizmo can opener. I don’t think anything impresses anyone anymore. Except seeing, actually seeing God. The great mystical force of love inside us all. I was thinking about the tragedy of the hurricane and the tsunami – and how many bodies have rotted and evaporated – how quickly human life is snuffed out. It proves to me what I’ve always known: that man is not made of matter, that rotting flesh has no essence in and of itself --- no matter how real the illusion seems. Man is spiritual; we are linked to the Divine mind, the one mind, God -- and to each other with the fabric of love.

This is a universe of thought. Thought is energy and it is swift (too bad those lying 'Boat Veterans' forever ruined the word 'swift' for me, which just proves I am too much a victim of my thought.) Here's the Catch 22: what you think about all day long, is what you become; what you focus on grows. Whatsoever things are good, pure, lovely -- think on these things and you will bring these into your life in proportion to your thoughts. Our thoughts create our reality, and as Shakespeare said, "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." It's just so hard not to be horrified by this administration, the lies they told, the Machiavellian way they operate -- and the way they aligned themselves with truly good people in order to make liberals seem like heathens. This is a travesty. Liberal is not a dirty word: it's a great word. It means FREEDOM LOVING!

I have the profound sense that we can touch God everyday when we are loving to others, especially those who offend us and disturb us, and especially those less fortunate. Have you seen someone's face light up with just one kind word? Anne Frank was a pure and loving soul and thank God we have her diary to describe for us man's inhumanity to man. I have heard that at the moment of death, we transcend suffering - that it is removed. They did a study of people whose heads hit the tarmac after an explosion, and one woman who "died" and then was revived, said that she did not feel anything but went straight to the "light" as heaven embraced her. ** No one is going to hell by the way, unless their thoughts are already there and they are consumed with hatred for their fellow man.

I lived in Holland and visited Anne Frank's hiding place; it is so eerie to think humans can do this to other humans -- disparage an entire group of people and actually get the masses to believe that Jewish people were as worthless as rats. We have to be careful not to do this with any group - even extremist Muslims. The tendency in this divisive culture is to lash out at each other, and I have been guilty as well when I speak of the religious-right. But this new breed of militant "Christian" has completely missed the point of Christ's teachings and turned many people off to Christianity in the process. And I believe they are partly behind our foreign policy and this rush to war.

SPYING ON AMERICANS
"It seems the Bush administration — being a group of sane, informed adults — has been secretly tapping Arab terrorists without warrants" -- from ANN COULTER "WHY WE DON'T TRUST YOU (Democrats) WITH NATIONAL SECURITY" January 4, 2006

Tell that to James Moore, who is on the "No -fly list". He was once one of GW Bush's good friends, until he wrote a book called "Bush's Brain" about Karl Rove. He is all-American, not Middle Eastern, has no Middle Eastern business and has never had a connection to a terrorist. Now he is forbidden to fly anywhere -- and has no way to get off the list. WONDER WHY HE IS ON THAT LIST!!!

My friend Chaz has an analogy of this administration: "A frog will not jump out of a pan if you turn the heat up slowly."

God Bless the miners' families, the brave soldiers we have lost in Iraq, and Ariel Sharon. Our prayers are with you. I am deeply humbled by our men and women in the military, and in awe at their courage and sacrifice. These amazing people are true super-heroes -- along with fire fighters and police. God Bless those who died for our freedom.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." - Theodore Roosevelt


MAY ALL THE GIFTS HIDDEN INSIDE YOU MAKE THEIR WAY INTO THE WORLD, AND MAY ALL YOUR DEEPEST DREAMS COME TRUE.

Sending each and every one of you LOVE... and wishes for a joyous, abundant, wondrous year full of peace, harmony, prosperity -- and AN END TO WAR!! God Bless You!

No, I have not joined a Halloween cult. This is a photo of Claudia Wells ("Back to the Future") and me at Chiller in New Jersey, Oct. 2005. The guy in costume is scaring us, which reminds me of our current political climate. Sorry for all the changing pictures; my web guy can't be reached and I want to post the new photos with friends!)

2005 wrap-up:
I have to admit I'm getting a little paranoid here, wondering if my e-mails are being monitored or I'm being spied upon simply because I don't agree with the corruption of this administration. What a terrifying thought: that the very freedoms our country was built on -- freedom of thought, religion and speech -- are being usurped. The blatant propaganda of the Fox network has contributed to this Orwellian climate of fear. And the news blackout on electronic voting fraud is also quite astounding.

This Christmas, I have to say that I spent hours in prayer for the mothers, children and spouses of soldiers who died in Iraq. I can't imagine spending the holidays without your only child -- and my heart goes out to all of you.

Here is a letter I got from a Marine Combat Vet in November:

Dear Lydia,
I heard you on the radio with Brad tonight. For what it's worth, Lydia, you have my strong and full support here in my little corner of the world in Oklahoma. I can barely stand the thought of our kids fighting bravely in a hostile land as a result of lies and self-serving motives of this Administration.

I'm a combat Marine veteran of Viet Nam (1969) and was awarded two Purple Hearts for combat wounds for which I am very proud. For sure, my military service makes me no more or a less a "patriot" (whatever that word means anymore) than any other American. But, I relate it to you to encourage you to maintain what you're doin g by speaking out and don't back up an inch! I know there are many veterans like myself who appreciate you and your courage. And I especially appreciate the fact that you pray (and that you keep your clothes on, too, by the way.......not that I'm a prude or anything, but...well, you know).

Don't let Coulter get you down. Who knows......maybe the Lord has plans for you in Ann's life. God knows she needs something. Stay strong and good luck on your show. I'll be watching.
John Conley

Dear Lydia, Your email took my breath. Yes, we live in a strange world, Lydia. And I admire those of you with such national exposure (by the very definition of your career) speaking out from your heart, untainted by political pressures.

There are so many things I would like to express to you about the soldier's heart, but I don't want to take very much of your time. If you do happen to find some time, please go to http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/heart/view/special.html and hear from other soldiers and Marines. These are clips of interviews with four veterans and I believe you will find them interesting and informative. I relate more to Jim Dooley and Viet Nam, but then again, though we are of different generations and different wars.....in ways most important we are all the same. Pray, Lydia, that God guides my memories and my words. Love, John

After my article was published, a Brad Blog commenter named Freedom Fan, asked me: "In your conversations with God Lydia, has he revealed to you when your life began? At what moment do you think all genetic information is in place to create a human life? Does God consider it a sin to intentionally snuff out innocent human life?"

My response: "When I got sober on Sept. 11, 11 years ago -- I experienced a string of catastrophic miracles, spine-tingling evidence of what I now call God in my life. Around this time I found my beloved younger brother's dead body, bloated and purple with lividity -- and I began my spiritual search. It became clear to me that flesh does not contain life. Life is spirit. And yes, I am absolutely sure of the answers to these questions. But I don't want to impose my discoveries on you without some background, and this is not the place. I have written extensively on life, love, death, faith and spirit -- and my own hilariously embarrassing adventures in spiritual growth.

For me the key is in Christ’s words and the meaning behind his parables. We are eternal and spiritual. And God is love. Love is an actual force, the creative force of the universe, more powerful than hate. Where you put your thoughts, there your heart is. If we were all to focus only on the GOOD in each other -- and return love for hate -- (very difficult to do, hence Christ's famous saying that the "gate is narrow") -- but if we could do this, we would create heaven on earth. It's here, we just can't see it, but some can when they change their perspective. (When we are all able to do this, to change our hearts, that is when I believe the "Second Coming" will happen. That's what Christ meant when he said that only he was the way to the Father: it is LOVE! And it's an inside job.) And in this expression, as a reflection of God, we come into form to express God’s qualities through man, His most glorious creative idea. Our natural state is joyous and childlike. And we are all in fact capable of doing what Christ did, we are supposed to be doing the healings he did. We are all the sons of God, made in God’s image, which is spiritual. You cannot kill spirit. So putting so much emphasis on the fetus or body as “life” is wrong to me. Now dont' get the wrong idea: I am against all killing, and I don't believe in partial-birth abortions. But not everyone in America subscribes to the belief that fetal cells prior to 8 weeks have consciousness or soul; and since we can't legislate religion in a free country where separation of church and state is a tenet of the Constitution - we have an obligation here. I also don't think Jesus wanted us to worship him, his flesh, his body so much -- he wanted us to acknowledge the Christ-truth within ALL of us. It's similar to when Jesus said not to focus on the "letter of the law, but the spirit." Soul, consciousness never dies, cannot be killed, is at-one-with God (atonement.) Is killing pro-life? Wars cause more damage to the families left fatherless, motherless and without their loved ones. We are here in this embodiment to learn to love and accept ourselves and transfer that love and acceptance to each other. Life is spiritual and eternal.

I feel God can be proved through science -- because love is a powerful force, an energy, and it's molecular. Anyway, there is no solid matter. Christ meant what he said when he said we could move a mountain with our faith. The problem is, we just don't believe it. If we did, we'd be walking through that metaphorical Gate. But all our doubts arrest God's work through us. Perfect Love casts out Fear, remember? I have had absolute transformative miracles through this kind of prayer; anyone can. Anyone can heal, for we must put our thoughts on the true spiritual essence of life, not the body. Beneath what is visible is the invisible where true power lies. It's like the software or inner language of a computer, beneath the surface. A great movie to rent to begin to understand in layman's terms this field of infinite possibilities is "What The BLEEP Do We Know". Also click on Google and type in "The Message in the Water" -- and read about a famous Japanese scientist's experiment in how our thoughts create everything. Anyway, my own personal journey (and horrific crash and burn) is coming out in a book soon. I was forced to find these answers on a very personal level. I explain this better in the book, and with more humor. Getting too serious lately. Just saw SYRIANA and GOOD NIGHT and GOOD LUCK. Two excellent movies.

More wrap up from 2005: This is from a BRADBLOG commenter named "Big K", who posted numerous comments on my article, and kept attacking me as a member of "the abortion party." I am getting sick of this; I have never even connected being a liberal with abortion! It's the furthest thing from my mind. This right-wing evangelical cabal invented this as a political smear campaign. There are so many wonderful things about the Democrats, which I will post in my next blog -- and no Democrat likes or wants abortions. Like Jimmy Carter, I am NOT pro-abortion and resent this bizarre right-wing obsession. To me, "liberal" means freedom loving, open-hearted, compassionate toward the poor, saving the earth and pro-LIFE in the ways that REALLY matter: we hate senseless death in any form, especially seeing our young bright soldiers killed and maimed (15,000 without legs and arms now) in a needless, corrupt war! If this war was to get rid of an evil despot and to save the poor Iraqi lives, then why didn't we go to Rwanda where the genocide was actually visible on a constant basis? Okay, so it was to fight terrorism. But the terrorists weren't even there at the start of the war. At least not the ones we were pursuing. Finally Big K explained to me: " What many of us have been saying here Lydia is you are just as liable for the “hate speech” you supposedly despise. Likening us to Nazi’s is not going to get me to see any point you have. (I never likened anyone to a Nazi; I simply pointed out that Coulter's "joking" about killing liberals is the same exact "joking tone" Hitler used when he as dehumanizing the Jews in the early propaganda days.) Then Big K goes on to say this: In Mosaic law, you should stone homosexuals since this is an abomination of nature" does not sound very liberal to me." First of all, I can't believe Big K believes Christ would have stoned a homosexual! Is that what he is saying? He lost me there.

Then a Democrat named Autarkis chimed in: "I can't imagine Christ taking a look at a secular leader taking his largest lifetime contributions from an outfit like Enron, which was the case for President Bush until just a couple years ago, and think that this was what he had in mind. Christ might be troubled to learn that the disparity between rich and poor in this country is growing at a staggering rate with no end in sight, and that Christians, at least the Fundamentalist ones, seem to celebrate this as the bounty of God when they're on the receiving end. But that's Ceasar's business. Maybe Christ wouldn't have given it much thought at all. He probably would be astounded to find that someone capable of mocking a prisoner begging for her life, (as Bush did to Carla Faye Tucker) called Christ his favorite philosopher. And then that this fellow launched wars, if not in his name, at least because he thought God put him in the Presidency to do this? And God's vicar, The Pope, tried to talk him out of one of them?"