MARK GREEN: NEW OWNER OF AIR AMERICA!

TODAY ON BASHAM AND CORNELL PROGRESSIVE TALK we interview Mark Green, new owner of Air America and author of the brilliant new book "LOSING OUR DEMOCRACY: How Bush, the Far Right and Big Business Are Betraying Americans for Power and Profit.

Listen to the archives or listen live to our show from 9-10 a.m. Saturday mornings at: BASHAM AND CORNELL PROGRESSIVE TALK

Mark is the founder and president of the New Democracy Project - a national/urban affairs institute utilizing the assets of New York City to promote democratic participation, economic fairness and social justice. He was Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York City in 2001. Check out Mark's web site New Democracy Project.org

Friday, March 9, 4 p.m. PST I'm on THE SPIRITUAL POLITICIAN on BBS Radio Melinda Pillsbury Foster's live radio show, which is also on tape THE SPIRITUAL POLITICIAN

THE COVERUP: AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY

"Economic domination through warmongering." - Hilary Rosen

GOOGLE IMAGE SHACK
In legal terms, the jury has spoken in the Libby case. In political terms, Dick Cheney is still awaiting a judgment.For weeks, Washington watched, mesmerized, as the trial of I. Lewis Libby Jr. cast Vice President Cheney, his former boss, in the role of puppeteer, pulling the strings in a covert public relations campaign to defend the Bush administration’s case for war in Iraq and discredit a critic. - From the New York Times: By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

“There is a cloud over the vice president,” the prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, told the jury in summing up the case last month.

This is not a simple coverup, this is an absolute tragedy. There are lives at stake; we've lost thousands of our own soldiers in an illegal, mismanaged war. And hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians have died in the needless bloodshed, including children. Two little boys searched for their 3-year old sister in the rubble of their apartment, after a car bomb went off. All they found was her hand clutching her teddy bear. What Cheney, Rove and Bush have done to this beautiful world, is criminal. I am a student of metaphysics, and believe that the more we view our fellow man with fear, hatred and negativity — the more we increase these evils, the very things we don't want. The new book THE SECRET basically says the same thing: what you focus on, grows. But when it comes to crimes like this, "Silence is complicity," in the words of Edmund Burke. I waver between wanting to see Bush, Cheney, Rove and Coulter as "spiritually sick" people who need our prayers on one hand — and corrupt criminals who have no compassion for their fellow man. It's a dilemma.

A WAR MOTHER: Marsha Walker's son survived a suicide bomb in Iraq. "...Military personnel have sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution, not an allegiance to this President-whose own mother, of course, did not have to endure being a "blue star" mom for a similar senseless war. This war is illegal, goes against the Constitution�. A person of my background does NOT make these accusations lightly." Marsha says she felt an obligation to correct misinformation. Just four months before, her son Chris was part of a convoy outside Baghdad ambushed by a suicide bomber. From Earl Brockenfeld's radio blog: radio.weblogs.com/ 0107064/2005/07/

WHY THE LIBBY VERDICT IS SO DAMNING by Arianna Huffington
Before the GOP spin machine kicks into high gear, shouting from the mountain tops that the Libby verdict is just about making false statements to the FBI, and that no one was ever charged with the underlying crime of outing Valerie Plame, let's make it clear that Libby was found guilty not just of perjury but of obstructing justice -- obstructing justice in order to encumber the investigation and keep secret the dark, ugly truth about how the White House sought to cover up its lies about Iraq and its efforts to intimidate and silence critics of the administration.

But the cover ups are unraveling. And they are unraveling at a speed and in a quantity that guarantee Bush's legacy will both be marked by the tragedy of the Iraq war, and soiled by corruption, indictments, and convictions.

So on the same day that the Libby jury returned its guilty verdict, we have the second day of searing and sickening testimony about the way we've been treating our wounded troops at Walter Reed, and Congressional hearings investigating the sudden firing of eight U.S. attorneys for allegedly being too zealous in their prosecution of GOP corruption. And with Democrats back in control of Congress we can expect more of the same over the next 22 months.

Following the verdict, one of the Libby jurors asked reporters, "Where's Rove? Where are these other guys?" The answer: waiting for a whole flock of chickens to come home to roost.
HUFFINGTON POST

NEW ITEM: It's too bad the corporate culture is so deeply entrenched in hurting the American worker. It's beyond Bush and Cheney and Rove. In L.A. just now, a sweat shop owner was busted. It was discovered he had 91 million dollars in U.S. Government contracts to make Army uniforms. Using slave labor in horrid conditions. Employees were docked $20 for taking bathroom breaks over 2 minutes....

CPAC: ANN COULTER'S CRIMINAL INTENT Part 2

God Bless our Vets and Troops. The WALTER REED HOSPITAL SCANDAL is more important than Ann Coulter, but I promised to get the whole Coulter-Borchers incident posted in Borcher's own words before we move on. Tonight's news was riveting as wounded vets testified against the bureacracy. One soldier, whose leg was blown off, was reported having to fill out 22 pages of paperwork before being treated.


Borchers caught this photo of the unknown "cameraman" who followed him, and seemed to be grinning most the time while Borchers was being harrassed by four CPAC/Coulter bodyguards.

This contains Dan Borchers entire statement of exactly what happened to him at CPAC on Friday.

By Lydia Cornell with Dan Borchers

On Friday March 2, 2007 at 11:15 a.m. I called my co-author Dan Borchers of Citizens for Principled Conservatism, http://www.principledconservative.org/ to see how he was doing.
He told me he was at CPAC, having a great time, and had gone to several seminars. I asked him if Ann Coulter was going to speak. He said she was scheduled for later in the day, but that it was probably standing room only. Dan said he was about to interview Mark Smith, an author. Forty-five minutes later, around 12 noon, I got a frantic call from Borchers. He sounded panicked and said, “I've just been assaulted and kicked out of the conference.” I said, “What? Why?” He said, “I don't know, they wouldn't say. But I was wrestled out of the hotel by four bodyguards, one I recognized as being Ann Coulter's - and they shoved me and tried to grab my name tag. They were incredibly hostile; one of them grabbed at me and cut my hand. They wouldn't say who they were.” I told him he should call the police, file a police report. He then told me he was being filmed the entire time, and the cameraman was grinning, as if it was a "set up." He said they forcibly pushed him out of the (Omni Shoreham) Hotel and told him he better get to his car. By the time he got to the parking lot, he said one of the bodyguards was waiting for him. He threatened him. You can read Dan's own account in his own words below.

This is an older photo of the same bodyguard who threatened, wrestled and grabbed Borchers, whom Borchers described as incredibly hostile and menacing. From Dan Borchers: “In September of last year, I sought press credentials for CPAC 2007. Floyd Resnick, Director of CPAC Security, denied those credentials. Resnick was described in Time magazine as “a bourbon-drinking ex-cop who says, quite believably, that he can kill with his bare hands.” I then registered online for a three-day conference pass, paying the $100 fee via credit card, and I received an email acknowledgement confirming my registration. That email acknowledgement was auto-signatured by CPAC Director Lisa De Pasquale.

On March 1, 2007, the morning of the first day of the conference, I arrived at the Omni Shoreham Hotel (2500 Calvert Street NW. Washington, District of Columbia 20008) and registered for the conference. I was immediately given a name badge with my name pre-printed on it: “Dan Borchers, Odenton, MD.”

That day and the next, I listened to speeches, toured the exhibition hall, took photographs, spoke with friends and conducted interviews. During both days, I spoke several times with Ian Walters, an employee of CPAC who has known me since 2002. Everything seemed fine.

At around 1 p.m. on Friday, March 2, 2007, I spoke with author and attorney Mark W. Smith, whom I had previously interviewed a few years earlier at a different venue, and I asked him a few questions which he readily agreed to. His manner was friendly and accommodating. But then I dared to ask a question about Ann Coulter and the Paula Jones case. At that point, Smith interrupted the interview for about ten minutes, then returned and we resumed the interview.

In less than an hour, probably a few minutes before 2 p.m., I was accosted by Floyd Resnick and several other people. Resnick appeared out of nowhere and stood in front of me, body-blocking me. His manner was very confrontational and hostile as he demanded to know who I was. He asked me my name, turned my name badge over to see my name, and then tried to forcibly remove that name badge from around my neck.

At no time did any of the individuals identify themselves by name.

Resnick insisted that I leave the premises and claimed that I was not authorized to be there. I told him that I had registered and paid to attend the conference. He said that my money had been refunded. All the while he insisted that I leave as he kept trying to get my name badge.

After insisting that I be able to retrieve my belongings, Resnick and his crew rushed me to the area where my belongings were located. Resnick continued to try to get my name badge, struggling with me. Once again, at no point did anyone offer any identification or credentials, so I was reluctant to relinquish the one proof of authorization that I had in my possession.

My belongings were near the booth for Muslims for America. I had to pass by the co-founder of that organization, Muhammad Ali Hasan (his phone number is 310-770-6953), to get my possessions.

I reached into my pocket to get my digital voice recorder in order to document what was taking place. At that point, my name badge was in my left hand extended far from Resnick, who then lunged forward, his body against mine, as he ripped the name badge from my hand. It was at that time that my hand was cut - a very minor cut - between my thumb and forefinger.

The Chief of Security for Omni Shoreham was also there. He didn't give me his name, though he later gave his title. He was conciliatory, stating that I would have to go through CPAC for any redress against them, but he was also firmly insistent that I leave the premises because I was not a guest of the hotel. They escorted me out through the curtain separating the basement exhibit hall from a maintenance area and exiting the building, past trash cans and parking. They carefully avoided all of the press in the area, yet throughout this incident, another person was filming the entire event from the beginning.

I repeatedly demanded that I get a copy of that video and the person who later identified himself as the chief of security for the hotel kept reassuring me that I would be given a copy.

We arrived outside the front entrance of the hotel. I was refused re-admittance to the hotel, blocked by their words and their bodies. The Omni Shoreham Chief of Security took my coat check and retrieved my coat, giving it to me.

While he was retrieving my coat, I kept asking the other men, as they circled around me, who they were and why they were doing this. They refused to identify themselves. Resnick did not give me his name, but he eventually told me that he was the chief of security for CPAC and that he was the one who had denied my press credentials. (That's how I know his name.) Meanwhile, we had quite an audience with people at the hotel entrance questioning themselves about what was taking place before their very eyes.

I attempted to take a picture of Resnick at 2:05 p.m., but that photo did not turn out (perhaps the FBI can recover the digital photo). I did take a picture of the cameraman at 2:06 p.m.

After receiving my coat, I was told to leave. I left, walked down the driveway, turned right on Calvert Street, crossed 24th Street and waited at the intersection for the light to change so that I could cross Calvert Street toward the Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan metro station.

The cameraman was still filming me! Students at that intersection were staring in wonder at what was taking place, asking each other what was going on.

The light changed, I crossed the street and took the two escalators down to the metro station. I turned back to see if the cameraman was still there. He wasn't. Instead, one of Resnick's people, still unidentified, was stalking me. I approached him. He told me I'd better get on the train. He refused to answer my questions or identify himself. Nor did he say what would happen if I did not get on the train, though he ominously held his cell phone conspicuously ready to put to his ear.

As I reached into my pocket, my mysterious stalker threatened me! He said, “If you take out your camera, I'll smash it into a thousand pieces.”

I turned, went through the turnstile and spoke to the metro attendant who was on duty. Turning, I pointed to my stalker and said, “That man is harassing me.” I then briefly explained the situation and the verbal threat. I pulled out my camera to take a photo and my stalker turned and walked away, putting his cell phone to his ear.

After getting the name of my metro station witness, I took that metro train to where my car was parked. At that time I discovered the bleeding cut to my hand. However minor, it is evidence of the assault (photo taken at 2:34 p.m.).

I called the DC police at 2:46 p.m. (cell phone time). A unit arrived about one hour later. I told them my story and showed them the cut on my hand, but they were unable to help because they were from a different district. The name of one of the officers was Officer Douglas A. McAndrew (Badge # 2471).

It is worth noting that Floyd Resnick, Director of CPAC Security, is also Ann Coulter's personal bodyguard and that CPAC Director Lisa De Pasquale is also one of Ann Coulter's publicists. They are seeking to silence me, a conservative who is critical of Ann Coulter.

On March 3, 2007, I received a certified letter from CPAC refunding my registration fee. They had mailed it on Saturday, February 24, 2007, but it didn't arrive at the Odenton Post Office until March 2, 2007, while I was at CPAC. I did not receive that letter until Saturday, March 3, 2007, the day after being accosted at the CPAC convention.

In that letter, Lisa De Pasquale cites my “past behavior at CPAC” as the reason for not permitting me at CPAC, without describing what that behavior was. It was, of course, my CPAC 2002 press kit critical of Ann Coulter.

On March 5, 2007, I spoke with Rafaello McKeython, Chief of Security for the Omni-Shoreham Hotel (202-234-0700) and one of the four individuals copied on De Pasquale's letter to me. [Floyd Resnick was also copied on that letter.] When I asked for a copy of the tape, Mr. McKeython said: “I didn't promise you a tape. They haven't gotten a copy for me yet. I don't even have a copy for myself. They just finished their conference on Saturday and I was off that day. I asked the gentlemen for a copy. Call me back on Wednesday and I should have it by then.”

At approximately 1:50 p.m., I spoke with Police Officer A. DeLosSantos (Badge # 2271) of the Third District. After describing the incident, Officer De LosSantos refused to file a police report on this incident and refused to initiate an investigation into what took place.” - Dan Borchers

The original letter accepting Borcher's registration, sigined by Lisa de Pasquale, as well as photographs Borchers took while being manhandled, are available upon request.

Note: Borchers and I been collaborating on a couple of projects together, including a book from a left wing and right wing Christian perspective. I am not at liberty to discuss the project here. Dan Borchers is a lifelong Republican, a conservative military veteran, whose only crime is being morally offended at the way conservatism has been ruined by people like Coulter, who claims to be a Christian, but indulges in hate-speak and amoral, felonious behavior. He believes it is his moral obligation to bring attention to this, and that "evil triumphs when good men do nothing."

Borchers is the most mild-mannered, humble Christian. He is critical of the way Ann Coulter has "mainstreamed extremism" and has written articles about her. He accused her of plagiarizing her early books, and at the CPAC conference two years ago, he tried to distribute press kits calling for Coulter to stop her hate speak.

For interviews with Dan Borchers or Lydia Cornell, please call:



Just a few hours ago, my friend Dan Borchers — a conservative Christian who is writing a book about Ann Coulter's "extermination speak" — was bodily wrestled out of CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) by four of Ann Coulter's bodyguards. More below.... but first this:

Basham and Cornell Progressive Talk

This Saturday morning, March 3, we will interview Paul Waldman of Media Matters on his amazing new book "BEING RIGHT IS NOT ENOUGH: What Progressives Must Learn From Conservative Success." Our show, Basham And Cornell Progressive Talk is broadcast LIVE at 9 am PST Saturday mornings on 1230 AM KLAV in Las Vegas, simulcast on the internet. Last Saturday February 24, we had the pleasure of interviewing former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega, author of the new bestseller "U.S. vs BUSH" The Case for Impeachment. It was a fascinating interview.

Doug Basham was on Lou Dobbs last week as one of America's "top talkers." Check out Doug's site for a list of all the incredible guests he has interviewed and see what Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, Pat Buchanan, Joe Conason, Daniel Ellsberg, Catherine Crier, Helen Thomas, Caspar Weinberger, Lou Dobbs, Congress people and best-selling authors say about Doug Basham: Basham Radio

ANN COULTER'S CRIMINAL INTENT AT CPAC continued...
Two of these goons claimed they were CPAC security, but Borchers recognized the most hostile one as Coulter's longtime bodyguard. It appeared that they staged the whole thing, for they were following him with a camera. During the altercation, they cut Borcher's hand, tried to pry his name tag and credentials off his neck, physically WRESTLED him out of the hotel, and shoved him. Why? Borchers couldn't get a straight answer out of the four guards, except "you are not permitted to be here."

Borcher's crime: asking a question of another author (Mark Smith) about Ann Coulter's involvement in the Paula Jones case. Borchers spent money, bought expensive tickets, took time off work and traveled from Maryland as he does every year, to be at CPAC. Lisa DePasquale, the head of CPAC and Human Events, sent Borchers his tickets and wrote him a nice letter welcoming him to the conference. He is a lifelong Republican, a conservative military veteran, whose only crime is being morally offended at the way conservatism has been ruined by people like Coulter, who claims to be a Christian, but indulges in hate-speak and amoral, felonious behavior. He believes it is his moral obligation to bring attention to this, and that "evil triumphs when good men do nothing."

Borchers is the most mild-mannered, humble Christian. He is critical of the way Ann Coulter has "mainstreamed extremism" and has written articles about her. He accused her of plagiarizing her early books, and at the CPAC conference two years ago, he tried to distribute press kits calling for Coulter to stop her hate speak.

The news needs to know about this. More to come.

ILENE PROCTOR
INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC RELATIONS
For Immediate Release
Press Contact, Ilene Proctor

310 271 5857 -
email: proctor@artnet.net

http://www.LydiaCornell.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydia_Cornell
www.CoulterWatch.com
http://www.principledconservative.org/
Basham and Cornell Progressive Talk



Also check out our new radio blog at

Basham and Cornell Progressive Talk

PROGRESSIVE TALK RADIO - U.S. vs BUSH et al

THIS SATURDAY: VetStage Symposium to benefit troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq who have lived to tell their own stories on stage and in film. VetStage hosts an acting & writing workshop with Academy Award© winning writer/producer, Bobby Moresco (Crash, Million Dollar Baby), casting director Sarah Finn (Iron Man, Mission Impossible II, Crash), former agent and current producer Larry Becsey (In the Valley of Elah, Against All Enemies) and award winning producer, Mark R. Harris (Crash, Gods and Monsters). Benefit Symposium for Vet Stage (all proceeds benefit vetstage.org Visit http://vetstage.com/index_files/moresco.htm to sign up.

Upcoming: This Saturday morning, March 3, we will interview Paul Waldman of Media Matters on his amazing new book "BEING RIGHT IS NOT ENOUGH: What Progressives Must Learn From Conservative Success." Upcoming on Basham And Cornell Progressive Talk 9 am PST Saturday mornings on 1230 AM KLAV in Las Vegas, simulcast on the internet at

Basham and Cornell Progressive Talk

This past Saturday February 24, We had the pleasure of interviewing former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega, author of the new bestseller "U.S. vs BUSH" The Case for Impeachment. It was a fascinating interview.

Doug Basham was on Lou Dobbs last week as one of America's "top talkers." Check out Doug's site for a list of all the incredible guests he has interviewed and see what Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, Pat Buchanan, Joe Conason, Daniel Ellsberg, Catherine Crier, Helen Thomas, Caspar Weinberger, Lou Dobbs, Congress people and best-selling authors say about Doug Basham: Basham Radio

**************
In the sidebar is a YouTube clip of a recent interview with my co-stars from Too Close for Comfort. The editor cut the clip in the wrong place, just after I say, "I had a crush on Jim Bullock and dreamed of him every night." I was the only person on the set who had no inkling he was gay; I was madly in love with him, and held out hope we would be together one day! Guess I was barking up the wrong tree. We still laugh about this, and the Youtube clip starts in a weird place, without this background information. By the way, he still makes me laugh harder than anyone.

BASHAM and CORNELL PROGRESSIVE TALK... Last Saturday, Basham and I taped our first show together (I've been on his show twice before, as a guest.) Please go to our website and click on the link to hear the entire show. Every Saturday we are on live on KLAV or simulcast on the internet at Basham and Cornell Progressive Talk


Join us each Saturday morning live for progressive talk, interviews with Senators, politicians, candidates and best-selling authors. It might be rough, but it’ll be real. Be there.

From Wikipedia & Basham Radio Press release: "Cornell went to Beirut, Lebanon, to a war zone, to visit American troops in the Multinational Peacekeeping Force Christmas Eve 1982. She visited the Marines in underground bunkers as well as sailors and naval officers on several aircraft carriers. Shortly after their departure from Beirut, over 250 Marines of the 24th MAU were killed in one of the first suicide bombings. A truck entered the barracks as the troops slept, killing them all.

Cornell's blog, a double Koufax nominee for best writing, is "a consistently thought-provoking firecracker of pointed socio-political commentary and observant, caustic wit." (Shotgun Reviews) John Conley, a Marine combat vet even sent her his Purple Heart for her courage in speaking out about the war in Iraq and against Ann Coulter's extremism in her Brad Blog article "Death is Sexier than Sex, to Ann Coulter (see sidebar.) Although still active in Hollywood - HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, writing, producing and garnering indie acting nominations - Cornell spends most of her time, creatively speaking, in front of her keyboard. She has several books awaiting publication including the literary thriller The Sylvia Plan, about Stalin's plot to kill Trotsky; a comedy for women, plus several spiritual and political books.

Basham and Cornell
The progressive community’s
weekend wakeup call
Saturday mornings at 9 am Pacific
on AM 1230 KLAV in Las Vegas

All shows simulcast on the Internet
http://www.BashamAndCornell.com

EVERYONE TAKE A MOMENT TO WATCH THIS CLIP OF CRAIG FERGUSON. He has more class than any other talk show host. Here's what humility looks like:

HELP OUR VETERANS!!

Is this how the president "supports the troops?" Our veteran outpatients, our wounded soldiers are shoved off into rat-infested, mold-ridden tenements?!! And they are afraid to speak out? This is a moral imperative. If we can't help our wounded valiant soldiers, home from the battlefield — who have lost legs, arms and brain matter all for Bush's evil war, then how on earth can we call ourselves a civilized nation?

The good news is this: because of two brave journalists, the veterans are being moved immediately, and changes are happening fast.

Dana Priest On Walter Reed Army Medical Center: An ‘Unbelievable’ Story of ‘Neglect’ and ‘Indifference’

Dana Priest and Anne Hull of the Washington Post revealed over the weekend that Walter Reed hospital, once perceived as the “crown jewel of military medicine,” has become “something else entirely — a holding ground for physically and psychologically damaged outpatients.” Priest and Hull snuck in and out of the Walter Reed facilities over the course of four months without the knowledge or permission of hospital officials. They said they wanted to bypass the hospital’s “very well-oiled public relations machine.” Some examples of what they saw:

– The “legions” of injured soldiers housed at the facility “take up every available bed on post and spill into dozens of nearby hotels and apartments leased by the Army.”

– Building 18 “has been plagued with mold, leaky plumbing and a broken elevator.”

– “The wounded manage other wounded. Soldiers dealing with psychological disorders of their own have been put in charge of others at risk of suicide.”

Next year, the Department of Veterans Affairs health care system expects to treat 263,000 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, a number three times what the VA initially projected. "The number of veterans coming into the VA health care system has been rising by about five percent a year, as the number of people returning from Iraq with illnesses or injuries keeps rising." President Bush has promised that our nation would "keep its commitments to those who have risked their lives for our freedom." "We owe them all we can give them," Bush said after a visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. "Not only for when they're in harm's way, but when they come home to help them adjust if they have wounds, or help them adjust after their time in service."

The Washington Post reported Saturday that staffers responsible for managing outpatients at Walter Reed have had caseloads of more than 125 patients each. Recovering soldiers face bureaucratic delays, overworked case managers and appalling living conditions, including black mold, cheap mattresses and cockroaches.

"This news is an absolute outrage. And it's shameful. It is absolutely inexcusable that our wounded troops are coming home to such an unprepared and overwhelmed health care system (and please note, Walter Reed is not even a VA facility). Responsibility for this tragedy goes straight to the top. We at IAVA are demanding swift action from the President, Department of Defense and Congress to correct these problems. It is disgraceful that our country has sent troops to war without ensuring adequate care for the wounded."

OPEN THREAD

THE POWER OF WORDS

Guest Blog by Carl

I've been thinking lately about society and how it is composed and how communities are formed. To do this, I've been trying to think like a physicist (admittedly, not my strong suit. I barely got a 90 in high school.)

To understand a complex material, scientists will break it down to the smallest logical component: its atoms. We can do the same for societies, to a degree.

Obviously, the smallest component of a society is the individual. All of us have some things in common: we're born, and we die. It is only by dint of circumstance that you're sitting there reading this, rather than being dead, just as it's only by dint of circumstance (and the good work of teams of doctors) that I'm alive to type this.

Each of us walks around in our own universe, in which we are comfortably in charge. In this universe, things go pretty much as we want them to: we work where we want, we buy what we want, we do what we want, we eat what we want, we hear what we want, we comprehend that which we want to be comprehended. For most of us on this planet, that's more than enough. We call these "Republicans".

Kidding! On the square. For most of us, the sense that there's a bigger world out there simply doesn't exist. Even when we deal with other people, we're still in our own little bubble: these are the people we want to deal with. Our bubbles bump together only when we want them to. These tenuous bumps are what create our communities, however. A shared experience, joint vision, communal values.

So the sense that there are other people out there whom we don't interact with is an abstract concept, and to think about how they live their lives requires the use of our imaginations. In concept, I can imagine life on a farm in Russia: it gets very cold in the winter, it can be very isolated, you have a very short growing season, the ground in the spring requires back-breaking effort to till. Families spend a lot of time indoors. They probably get pretty good at card games, and so on.

But do I really know how these people live? No. Of course not. Anymore than I truly understand what it's like to grow up in Appalachia with a single mom who makes a poverty level wage when she can work and yet manages to feed and clothe me and put a roof over my head. Or Harlem. Or the Dominican Republic. Or Africa.

And yet, like the electrons of an atom, I share values with all of these people too. The difference between me and many people in this country and on this planet is I'm aware and bother to think about these things. Doesn't make me superior to anyone else (because this is where liberals get smeared with the "elitist" charge), it merely makes me someone who has a bit more compassion in his heart than someone else, who probably has some other quality I lack (like humility!).

So how do we communicate this information? How do we get our community to care?

Atoms do this using a quantum concept called action at a distance, one of the creepier concepts of particle physics dealing with the immediate transfer of information at speeds apparently faster than light. Read up on it Fascinating stuff. Einstein even called it "spooky" and he should know from spooky.

Societies, however, apparently don't have this available to them (although one suspects that two teenagers in malls miles away who buy the same T shirt thus starting a fad probably qualifies). So we use words, which, as Sting put it "poets, priests, and politicians" have to thank for their positions.

Which raises another point. It's not just information. We get information from the television all the time: what to buy, who to watch, who died. But you'll note that, for this information to be effective, it not only has to be passed along, it has to be passed along by someone who can create an image with it to influence the receiver. Raw data is insufficient for the masses of folks who sit on the couch and absorb without thinking (cf. Republicans)

Which is why I blog. Which is why Lydia blogs. Which is why we are trying to shape the world, one bubble at a time.

A MARINE'S SUICIDE

** Sometime in the next few days, this website and blog will be offline for maintenance while we change servers. This will just be for a few hours. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE! xo. Lydia



Suicide is a serious U.S. public health problem (both within and out of the military) that results in about 30,000 deaths per year. In fact, more people die from suicide each year than from homicide. For the past 10 years, suicide has been the 2nd or 3rd leading cause of death among active duty Navy and Marine personnel. (Learn about suicide prevention from U.S. Navy website: U.S. MILITARY SUICIDE PREVENTION

TOLD TO WAIT, A MARINE DIES
By Charles M. Sennott,
The Boston Globe, Sunday 11 February 2007

VA care in spotlight after Iraq war veteran's suicide.
Stewart, Minnesota - It took two years of hell to convince him, but finally Jonathan Schulze was ready.

On the morning of Jan. 11, Jonathan, an Iraq war veteran with two Purple Hearts, neatly packed his US Marine Corps duffel bag with his sharply creased clothes, a framed photo of his new baby girl, and a leather-bound Bible and headed out from the family farm for a 75-mile drive to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in St. Cloud, Minn.

Family and friends had convinced him at last that the devastating mental wounds he brought home from war, wounds that triggered severe depression, violent outbursts, and eventually an uncontrollable desire to kill himself, could not be drowned in alcohol or treated with the array of antianxiety drugs he'd been prescribed.

And so, with his father and stepmother at his side, he confessed to an intake counselor that he was suicidal. He wanted to be admitted to a psychiatric ward.

But, instead, he was told that the clinician who prescreened cases like his was unavailable. Go home and wait for a phone call tomorrow, the counselor said, as Marianne Schulze, his stepmother, describes it.

When a clinical social worker called the next day, Jonathan, 25, told again of his suicidal thoughts and other symptoms. And then, with his stepmother listening in, he learned that he was 26th on the waiting list for one of the 12 beds in the center's ward for post-traumatic stress disorder sufferers.

Four days later, on Jan. 16, he wrapped a household extension cord around his neck, tied it to a beam in the basement, and hanged himself.

In life, Jonathan Schulze didn't get nearly what he needed. But in death, this tough and troubled Marine may help get something critical done.

The apparent failure of the Department of Veterans Affairs to offer him timely and necessary care has electrified the debate on the blogs and websites that connect an increasingly networked and angry veterans community. It has triggered an internal investigation by the VA into how a serviceman with such obvious symptoms faced a wait for hospital care.

And it is being cited by veterans' advocates and their allies in Congress as a searing symbol of a system that they say is vastly unprepared and under funded to handle the onslaught of 1.5 million veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who are returning home, an estimated one in five of them with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. One in three Iraq war veterans is seeking mental health services, according to a report by an Army panel of experts last year.
For full story: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021207P.shtml

THE FORCE OF PEACE IS ON THE WAY ... More coming, stay tuned.

Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace. - Buddha (560-483 B.C.)

Peace, to have meaning for many who have only known suffering in both peace and war, must be translated into bread or rice, shelter, health and education, as well as freedom and human dignity. - Ralph Johnson Bunche (1904-1971)

Peace is the only battle worth waging. - Albert Camus (1913-1960)

Do you know what astonished me most in the world? The inability of force to create anything. In the long run the sword is always beaten by the spirit. Soldiers usually win battles and generals get the credit for them. You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war. If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots. - Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

OPEN THREAD
You can discuss suicide prevention, spiritual principles, The Secret, Putin's remarks, Scooter Libby trial, celebrity-media fixations... it's up to you.

I am looking for profiles of U.S. soldiers killed Iraq for a special I'm doing on our troops. Please send them to: webmaster@lydiacornell.com
Thank you.
Luv xo
Lyd

GOD BLESS ANNA and DANIEL

My husband said that he had a very beautiful vision of Anna and her son dancing in heaven together, overjoyed. There is no death just eternity to work it out. Anna Nicole died of a broken heart. Every mother knows this.

Rest in peace and Love's Blessings to you Anna and Daniel. I have been crying all night, and can't say why this afffects me so deeply, except that once you have a child you are never the same. A part of your soul goes to that precious child. Children are not meant to die before their parents, and for someone as fragile as Anna, the heartbreak was unbearable.