Monday, October 06, 2008

SUFFERING OPTIONAL

"Pain is inevitable, suffering optional" - Unknown

Right now, America is fighting for its collective soul. We are struggling to come out of a form of mesmerism. We've been deluded, conned, and lied to long enough. We are in a transition time of wrestling with our dark side. Who will win? It could go either way. We could have a rebirth of love and beauty, like the Birth of Venus.

In this beautiful open country of great minds and ingenuity — we are overflowing with an abundance of resources, raw materials, goods, services, ideas and creativity. There is so much good on the horizon, I have no interest in wallowing in fear. And if our nation is stupid enough to vote in two corrupt, dishonest charlatans like Sarah Palin and John McCain, then we have a lot more pain to go through before we reach the new enlightenment. Palin and McCain represent the dark ages: the backward, fearful, superstitious, small-minded, stingy, bigoted, eye-for-an-eye mentality. They are "our shadow side" as Depak Chopra says. Obama and Biden represent the new enlightenment: the progressive, expansive, generous, caring, compassionate, hopeful, transformative and truly Christian mentality. Eventually we'll get there. You can't stop progress.


4.2 Million New Green Jobs Predicted
A major shift to renewable energy and efficiency is expected to produce 4.2 million new environmentally friendly "green" jobs over the next three decades, according to a study commissioned by the nation's mayors. The report makes "a very compelling economic argument for investing in the green economy and that we're going to get a huge return for it." (Associated Press at MSNBC)

Sarah Palin's Almost Creepy Ambition Should Worry McCain
By Frank Rich, The New York Times. Posted October 6, 2008.

Sarah Palin is the only hope for saving a ticket headed by a warrior who is out of juice and out of ideas. It seems she knows this only too well.

Sarah Palin's post-Couric/Fey comeback at last week's vice presidential debate was a turning point in the campaign. But if she "won," as her indulgent partisans and press claque would have it, the loser was not Joe Biden. It was her running mate. With a month to go, the 2008 election is now an Obama-Palin race -- about "the future," as Palin kept saying Thursday night -- and the only person who doesn't seem to know it is Mr. Past, poor old John McCain.

To understand the meaning of Palin's "victory," it must be seen in the context of two ominous developments that directly preceded it. Just hours before the debate began, the McCain campaign pulled out of Michigan. That state is ground zero for the collapsed Main Street economy and for so-called Reagan Democrats, those white working-class voters who keep being told by the right that Barack Obama is a Muslim who hung with bomb-throwing radicals during his childhood in the late 1960s.

McCain surrendered Michigan despite having outspent his opponent on television advertising and despite Obama's twin local handicaps, an unpopular Democratic governor and a felonious, now former, black Democratic Detroit mayor. If McCain can't make it there, can he make it anywhere in the Rust Belt?

Not without an economic message. McCain's most persistent attempt, his self-righteous crusade against earmarks, collapsed with his poll numbers. Next to a $700 billion bailout package, his incessant promise to eliminate all Washington pork -- by comparison, a puny grand total of $16.5 billion in the 2008 federal budget -- doesn't bring home the bacon. Nor can McCain reconcile his I-will-veto-government-waste mantra with his support, however tardy, of the bailout bill. That bill's $150 billion in fresh pork includes a boondoggle inserted by the Congressman Don Young, an Alaskan Republican no less.

The second bit of predebate news, percolating under the radar, involved the still-unanswered questions about McCain's health. Back in May, you will recall, the McCain campaign allowed a select group of 20 reporters to spend a mere three hours examining (but not photocopying) 1,173 pages of the candidate's health records on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. Conspicuously uninvited was Lawrence Altman, a doctor who covers medicine for The New York Times. Altman instead canvassed melanoma experts to evaluate the sketchy data that did emerge. They found the information too "unclear" to determine McCain's cancer prognosis.

There was, however, at least one doctor-journalist among those 20 reporters in May, the CNN correspondent Sanjay Gupta. At the time, Gupta told Katie Couric on CBS that the medical records were "pretty comprehensive" and wrote on his CNN blog that he was "pretty convinced there was no 'smoking gun' about the senator's health." (Physical health, that is; Gupta wrote there was hardly any information on McCain's mental health.)

That was then. Now McCain is looking increasingly shaky, whether he's repeating his "Miss Congeniality" joke twice in the same debate or speaking from notecards even when reciting a line for (literally) the 17th time ("The fundamentals of our economy are strong") or repeatedly confusing proper nouns that begin with S (Sunni, Shia, Sudan, Somalia, Spain). McCain's "dismaying temperament," as George Will labeled it, only thickens the concerns. His kamikaze mission into Washington during the bailout crisis seemed crazed. His seething, hostile debate countenance -- a replay of Al Gore's sarcastic sighing in 2000 -- didn't make the deferential Obama look weak (as many Democrats feared) but elevated him into looking like the sole presidential grown-up.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Free Yourself From Financial Fear and Frenzy!

Free Yourself From the Frenzy of Wall Street Woes! GREAT MENTORS PROGRAM: Join the premiere tele-conference of the 2008-09 series of Great Mentors audio seminars, as we kick it off RIGHT NOW with an important bail-out of your financial frenzy!

Can't join us right now? Below is the phone number to listen to the recorded call at your leisure, anytime after the seminar...

Free Yourself From the Frenzy of Wall Street Woes

3:30-4:45 PM (EASTERN TIME)
Dial-in Number for LIVE Seminar: (641) 715-3200
Access Code: 920659#
E-mail your questions in advance: Send Questions Here
Projected length: 75 minutes

RECORDED PLAYBACK
Dial-in Number: (641) 715-3413
Access Code: 920659#

Here's hoping you can join us for this special bail-out of your financial woes!

Two experts in the enlightened mind movement help you UNDERSTAND WHERE YOUR FEARS COME FROM. We give you a MENU OF ACTIONS to take for creating positive change immediately
We will MAGNIFY the world of possibility and productivity; BRING RELIEF to your feelings of desperation and doom; and help you MANAGE YOUR THOUGHTS so you can stop the drama

Meet Marlene and I Friday at 3:30 PM (EASTERN TIME), for an hour of de-frenzying and re-wiring. Receive practical advice to your individual question, with the ability to comment and respond to the panel. (If you can't make it on the call, you can still listen to the call later - see phone number below.)

Marlene Chism is our special guest, the founder of www.stopyourdrama.com. She works with people who want less stress and more success, particularly offering down to earth practical tips -- especially to business owners -- for increasing performance, productivity and personal power. To get a free e-lesson go to www.TheDramaStopsHere.com

The Great Mentors series is presented and moderated by me, the Good News Network founder and editor, Geri Weis-Corbley. These tele-seminars deliver personal mentoring in the fields of health, happiness, success, business, and spirituality.

GOOD NEWS NETWORK, PO Box 428, Manassas, Virginia 20108

RESCUE-BAILOUT BILL PASSES BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS. Our hang up is that it doesn't contain provisions to put money back in the pockets of the foreclosed-upon homeowners or people who lost money in their 401-Ks. But we are forgetting that it is only an emergency "stop-the-bleeding" measure. We will pass a new bill to take care of the middle class and taxpayers. We will do it as we go along. This is a living, breathing, elastic bill -- and everything is not contained in it. The "pork" will actually help the American small businesses that have been hurting, and this includes plaintiffs who were owed money from the Exxon Valdez spill.

PALIN: I WANT TO EXPAND THE POWERS OF THE VICE PRESIDENCY!

BIDEN-PALIN DEBATE gaffes and quick takes from HuffPo:

First, my take: This is the best debate of Biden's life and when he got choked up, it was the most honest, pure moment. Everyone went through the roof rating him as the highest score possible on that point. Nothing is more compelling than a strong man who is in touch with his feelings. It was natural and makes me trust him. I do not trust men who cannot be touched and vulnerable. I am so sick of loud-mouth posturing and ego-driven people.

The worst thing Palin did was in NOT expressing empathy for Joe Biden when he mentioned the loss of his wife and daughter. Palin's eye-winks and hickish, corny Joe six-pack dialect in which she dropped all her "gs," was condescending, offensive and dumb-sounding. She has lowered the standard for women. She sounded gimmicky and robotic with her memorized her Republican talking points and didn't show any nuanced judgment. She didn't directly answer the questions either!

You can tell who is the real public servant. Not the one who is ambitious for all the wrong reasons. So having 5 children and running Alaska isn't enough? Does she really think she has anything to offer the world by being Vice President?

Biden hit home hard and really slammed McCain. Biden connected with the American people and was dignified and perfect with his facts.

AND FINALLY SOMEONE MENTIONED - BIDEN MENTIONED- THAT McCAIN VOTED AGAINST LOW INCOME CHILDREN'S HEALTH CARE!! Although he didn't put it in the firm way I put it. If the public heard it said this way, they'd be horrified at McCain.


From HuffPo:

10:35 - Sam Stein: An Obama aide summarizes the night's proceeding as such: Palin did a good job, as expected, but Biden was the star of the evening, hitting the right tones, coming off passionate and informed and not seeming demeaning in the slightest to his combatant.

Moreover, he adds, when you look back at the tape there was little to any substance in Palin's answers.

"She could not articulate one place where her ticket differs from Bush," he writes.

10:25 - Jason Linkins: Interesting Dial Line standard: Focus group approves of Biden defending Obama, but they aren't impressed with Palin talking up McCain. People want to hear Palin be Palin! Not interested in her running a P.R. game for McCain.

10:23 - Sam Stein: Biden gets choked up when talking about the struggles of American families and the trials he himself went through when his wife and young daughter were killed in a car accident.

"The notion that somehow because I am a man I don't know how to raise two kids on my own," he says, "I know what its like to raise a child where you are not sure he's going to make it."

At one point he had to hold back tears, take a breath and compose himself.

On the CNN dials of undecided voters in Ohio, both men and women rate the moment as high as possible.

10:20 - Sam Stein: Not sure if Palin wants to come to Dick Cheney's defense on anything, let alone the carte blanche political powers he has pursued while in office. Asked if she agreed with his interpretation that the VP is part of the legislative branch, she basically says yes.

"I do agree with him that we have a lot of flexibility in there and we will do what we have to do to administer appropriately the plans we have for this nation."

Biden tees off, starting with the blanket statement: "Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous VP we have had in history."

Uncommitted voters in Ohio absolutely love Biden's response.

10:17 - Jason Linkins: Palin seems to think that the Constitution allows the Vice President to "flex" between the Executive and the Legislative Branch! GAFFE.


BIDEN: “Vice-President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice-president we’ve had probably in American history.’’

Hardblogger msnbc Some comments from regular American people:

As a Republican I really worked hard to like Gov. Palin but this debate has convinced me to vote for Obama-Biden. Palin blew the her pseudo-genuine image on national TV by not even acknowedging Biden when he choked up while speaking of the traumatic death of a family member. Little cracks like this will continue to develop.
Rebecca Russell (Sent Friday, October 03, 2008 12:23 AM)

Watched the "debate" with my husband who is a McCain supporter. We agreed to offer no comments while it was on. After about 25 minutes, he muttered, "I can't take it any more," and left. I stayed through it all and all I could think of was, she really IS a post turtle. You drive down a country road and see a turtle on a post; you know it didn't get there by itself; it doesn't belong up there; it doesn't know what to do now that it's there; and you wonder about the guy who put it there.
Jan Lightner, Federal Way, WA (Sent Friday, October 03, 2008 12:23 AM)

I wish I had thought of Sarah Palin's strategy when I was in high school debate class--just cheat--don't answer the questions. If Gwen didn't have any authority to check that sort of gambit, why not just let both participants do a 45 minute stump speech.
Biden won and I'm a registered Republican.
Ann Turner, Oldsmar, FL (Sent Thursday, October 02, 2008 11:53 PM)

I was frightened by Palin's obvious memorization of set answers to questions she was going to answer whether they were asked or not. I was insulted by her "winking" at the camera so much and her "vacant" smile. What in the world would we be saying if Biden had done that. I was stunned by her inability to really hear Biden when he mentioned HIS FAMILY experience. She seems mean to me and actually sneered at a dignified senator. I was mad that she so easily will lie and I was disgusted that she wants to expand Cheney's role as veep. We are in a lot of trouble if this ticket wins.

I think Biden was clear, passionate and gracious to her. She did not deserve his good manners in retrospect. Eleanor Herndon, Greensboro, NC

How did this play out for the average American voter? I found Governor Palin to be condescending, over-prepared and downright obnoxious from start to finish. While I am sure some will go for the wide smile, winks and sarcasm, I just want her and Senator McCain to know that some of us, in fact, many of us Republican and Democrats alike, are looking for answers...real concrete solutions to the situations we are facing. Style over substance won't cut it this time around.

As a Republican and a woman, I deeply offended by the notion that this is the best we have to offer ...at this point, I say this for the whole ticket. McCain's lack of judgment in choosing Palin (clearly for political gain only) shows that he does not care one iota about putting the "country first".
I have been loyal to this party for as long as I can stand. I hung in there with our President despite the direction of the country and our weakening position globally. I am now at a crossroad where I need to decide should I continue to support McCain in his arrogance and apparent lack of integrity OR do I tow the line and cast my vote despite all that's happened since the RNC, the last 2 weeks of gaffes with Mrs. Palin in particular, and now this over-rehearsed dinner theatre performance tonight. And people wonder why there are so many undecideds...
Karen, Charleston, SC (Sent Friday, October 03, 2008 12:05 AM)

Although I am not a fan of Governor Palin, I was starting to feel sorry for her this past week.....BUT tonight got me off that train. It is frightening to think that there is a possibility of her becoming President. I thought she was disrespectful of Joe Biden and of Gwen by stating that she would not answer the questions the way the moderator wanted. She definitely was just reciting what has been pounded in her head in preparation. There is no way some of the words and thoughts that she spoke were her own. I am tired of her "cutesy" ways and the fact that she stated that she would like the VP to have more power really turned me off.
Betty Jo Soldano, Jamestown, NY (Sent Thursday, October 02, 2008 11:34 PM)

Sarah Palin was a frightening presence tonight. She was overbearing, frenetic, and grabbing for a power grab with her chilling remarks about disregarding the moderator and expanding the role of the Vice President. Her contentions about looking back are also frightening because wisdom says that those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.
Worried Voter (Sent Thursday, October 02, 2008 11:50 PM)

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

MONEY MIRACLES * HOW TO GET RICH



Also in this issue:
1. Short-selling ban still on until October 17. Senate voted to pass the revised Bailout Plan... now called Rescue Plan, which will create optimism and stop the bleeding! This is a good thing, BUT we wish the majority party, the Democrats, would have made this bill their own, and really protected the homeowners. I also hope this bill is a living, elastic document that can be changed. Or I hope Obama will bring forth a new bill when he is president - that will help pay back the taxpayer by taxing stock market speculators and punishing CEOs with golden parachutes!

2. For once Bush is right and Liberals are wrong. The Rescue plan is an absolute necessity! And there will be great optimism once the bleeding is stopped. In fact, European and Asian markets are up on the hopes of the Rescue plan passing. We should pass the new plan, on the condition that we will look at other options to pay the American people back and save their homes. We can look at Tom
Hartmann's idea of taxing speculators in the stock market 1.5% across the board.


2. Money Miracle: How to stay calm and be at peace even if you feel you are losing your life savings: Trust a higher power. I did and money came to me. Don't panic, sit still.

3. CBS News! Massive Voter Roll Purges Underway in At Least 19 States!


SPIRITUAL THERAPY COMEDY: LETTING GO

I was talking to my girlfriend, an anal-abusive psychotherapist, the other day. She believes in dissecting your problems, as most therapists do.
I said to her, "I think I'm going to let go. I'm going to stop worrying and stop analyzing my problems — and see what happens."
She snapped at me, "Are you crazy? You have to analyze your problems or they might go away!"
To which I said, "Exactly."

MONEY MIRACLE by Lydia Cornell

One time I was so broke they were going to repossess my house and I had no place left to turn. I let it go and took a leap of faith. I acted “as if” there was a benevolent force. I prayed for the willingness to believe in a power greater than myself. I already knew that the same loving force that rescued me from death and despair before would take care of me, and the power of my belief or faith itself was creative. It takes our belief to activate the force of creativity — we have to believe it before we see it. And the minute I did this, the strangest thing happened. The State notified me that I had over twelve thousand dollars in an old bank account that had been collecting interest. I don’t remember having this bank account. It was surreal, but this was the exact amount I needed to bring three months of my lapsed mortage up to date.

I began to wonder, what is this key that unlocks the door and enables someone to ‘let go?’ What is the metaphysics of surrender? I had to know how this spiritual concept worked. I mean it’s not that easy to just let go when you’re in the grip of pain, whether emotional or physical.

Scientists have also discovered that enthusiasm and courage actually change your brain waves. Your brain activity produces waves that are measurable according to your level of serenity or agitation. We radiate energy. Can these waves radiate outward, affecting our outer circumstance?

Are thoughts really things? Absolutely. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "This is a spiritual universe and thoughts rule the world." When you expect the worst, you get the worst. When you expect to be sick you often fulfill the prophesy, but when you're too busy or excited to notice you often forego pain. When you keep seeing the good in someone, they will reflect good back to you. This makes absolute logical sense to me, now that I understand that thought has tangible power. To me, this means you can be attractive even if you’re not “good looking” because if you radiate love you attract people.

As a culture we put so much emphasis on the body: on cellular substance of the fetus, the death and burial of a corpse, the saving of an unconscious sack of flesh that contains no life force or spirit, as in the case of Terry Shiavo, the brain-dead woman in Florida. We are focused so exclusively on the letter, not the spirit; the style, not the substance; the right hat, not the heart — the flesh which can be wiped out in an earthquake or tsunami — that it must make one wonder: is the flesh really man’s most important quality? Doesn’t this begin to seem silly – all this emphasis on the body, when it can be snuffed out so easily? That’s why I think cars should be made of fur. There would be less catastrophic accidents.

At the risk of sounding like a crackpot, I have to say here that I no longer believe in the physical universe as being primary. If you write the number “3” down on piece of paper, then burn the paper, does it destroy the number 3? In other words, the things I know are valuable and real are the things I can’t see with my eyes – the invisible qualities of love, truth, wisdom, soul, harmony, compassion, beauty, strength and character – things that cannot be physically touched or scientifically proven. “As Emerson said, this is a spiritual universe and thoughts rule the world.

When I found my brother’s body, it became so obvious to me that flesh is not life. Spirit is life, and we do not need to keep focusing on an 'afterlife' when we have all the ingredients to create heaven on earth right here, right now. But so many are obsessed with an afterlife, they haven’t yet lived this life.

Look around at this incredible universe. It would take a slug not to see magic everywhere — in the whimsical creatures from polka dots on giraffes to the stripes on a zebra to the velvet scent of a rose with her mysterious petals and folds. I was at a peacock farm chasing peacocks and I tell you, in the design of those feathers, you see God’s artistry. In the wings of a Monarch butterfly you see divine calligraphy. And in a baby’s face — you see a snapshot of heaven.

I have often felt like I’m on a two-lane highway going in opposite directions. The theme of my life has been merging my lower nature with my higher nature . Just as I could no longer cope, I surrendered my will, my worries, and my fears. And a miracle happened.
(I will go into the specific details of how this works next week.)

HOW TO GET RICH
By
Lydia Cornell

Back when I was cheap, I couldn’t bring my Louis Vuitton bag into the beauty shop because then the hairdresser would think I was rich even though the purse was a fake, and then she’d expect a bigger tip. I couldn’t wear my authentic Burberry raincoat that my mother bought me twenty years ago when it only cost $60.00 because today it costs $900 for the exact same raincoat and I don’t want people to feel bad that they can’t afford one, so I never wear it!

And whenever I entered the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes — I was convinced my entry would never be chosen because my return address was in “Beverly Hills.” So I would always write “Apt. A, small, tiny apartment” on the return envelope next to my Beverly Hills address.

I used to be a cheapskate until I realized that abundance is a mental state and the more you give, the more you receive. And the quicker you let go of your fear of losing money, the quicker money comes to you. I mean money actually comes to you, when you stop worrying about it! In “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind" and the author says that if you're jealous of the rich — and you spew anger, venom or gossip toward others, you will never become rich. This is in line with my belief in the law of attraction: you attract to yourself poverty or riches according to the thoughts you think about others and yourself. Or to put it another way, you can be attractive even if you’re not good looking because if you radiate love, you attract people! More about that later. But first let's discuss some things that helped bring about this economic collapse.

One of the things that bothers me about America is that it’s hard to find a good sponge mop. I can never find the right replacement sponge when I need one. It’s like the shell game; the manufacturer is constantly changing the mop design. Not that I usually mop the floor, but when I do, I always have to re-buy the mop — which costs a lot more than just a replacement sponge. Is it just me, or is there a conspiracy of sponge mops? Myabe I just wait too long between moppings.

Aside from a conspiracy of sponge mops, I think women are being held down by dark nail polish. It chips and cracks, and keeps us prisoner in our homes until we can soak it off or pay to have it soaked off. It slows us down. We are prisoners of fashion, and all these fashion “style shows” are just to keep us hostage to someone else’s ideal of perfection. It's so stressful being cool. 'Cool, hip people' are actually conformists who are too busy following a dictator or copying someone they think is hip. I'm sick of trying to get people to like me, who don't like me, whom I don't like. Anyway, I can’t function or get anywhere on time with this dark chipped nail polish. And it takes a long time to get it off with nail polish remover.

I am also deeply annoyed at commercials during movies, commercials on cable television, and commercials that get louder in the middle of TV shows! Is it my imagination, or wasn’t this against the law a few years ago? When did it all change? I thought that by paying the price of a movie ticket, I wouldn’t have to be subjected to another soft drink commercial or five.

And furthermore, why are there only 3 Haagen Daz ice cream bars per box?! If you have two to four kids, you always have to buy two boxes. You can’t just buy one! How clever of the Haagen Daz company. Message to Campbell’s Soup Company and Top Ramen: you aren’t fooling anyone by hiding the MSG in fine print. After all these years, how can you say Campbells is “good for kids’ when it’s loaded with MSG? I now have to spend more money to buy your “natural” brand.

And I find it unconscionable that every product from Wheat Thins to soft drinks to hot dog buns is loaded with corn syrup sweetener. I always wondered why American junk food is so addictive. I wrote a movie called Venus Conspiracy (the larger movie will be produced in the next year, although I have released a 27-minute version) about a plot to keep women thin and insecure. In the initial version, my lead character was investigating the corn-syrup industry. This was around the time I discovered that Archer-Daniels-Midland had a monopoly on the corn syrup industry and had been fined over $300 million dollars by the Federal government for price-fixing. It suddenly explained why every American food contains this highly unnatural gooey stuff called high fructose corn syrup. It’s in everything: cokes, bread, cereal, ice cream, ketchup and candy. This explains why Americans are becoming obese, and why the diet industry was booming. Maybe they’re all connected? For me this was an eye-opening lesson in the effects of greed, hyper-consumerism and capitalism run amok.

Back when I was a cheapskate I purchased movie tickets for Spiderman online. I wanted to see Spiderman with my kids, but I didn’t want to part with the money. I wanted to keep my money and get everything for free. I admit I was greedy. Sometimes it’s really hard to let go of a dollar, even when the church basket comes around. I’m not always in the mood to give to the poor. Besides, I may need the money for a trip to Vegas. I used to get jealous of rich capitalists, but that’s just because I wanted to be one. I used to be one, but I didn’t share the wealth, so I lost it. There is nothing wrong with money, it’s the obsessive love of money to the point of hoarding it that’s immoral. We have to keep it circulating; we have to share the wealth.

Why is it that we only define success in America by how much money we make? Why can’t success be defined as a person who has conquered self; overcome adversity, overcome depression — or evolved from a selfish, materialistic egomaniac to a public servant who helps the poor? Why can’t success be defined by how much a person has given up materially and how much they do without? Or by how much they give away?

The answer is obvious: because we are a hyper-capitalist society and we never look within. But the new enlightenment is coming, and many are going to be forced to find a new paradigm, a new way to look at the world. I saw a man today, a well-dressed businessman, who stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to watch a squirrel climb a tree. The man was smiling and really taking a moment to be aware of the beauty around him.

I believe the arts will rise and creativity will replace greed. All the driven money-obsessed bankers and employees of Lehman Brothers God, inner peace or a higher power. They are forced to look beyond the dollar or a shiny new toy to fill them up. That hole in the soul looks much larger when you don't have a new suit to cover it up. Or a new car, TV, exotic vacation. You have to eventually find out what you're made of, what is inside you that connects you to others. Maybe the arts are the healing force that will counteract this primitive, faithless money-worship. But for now, we are convinced that money, not love, makes the world go round. That's why it's unpatriotic not to worship Coke, Lays and junk food in America.

________________________________________


CBS News: New Study Details Massive Voter Roll Purges Underway in At Least 19 States

CBS Has Noticed, Why Hasn't Obama or the DNC?

Tuesday's CBS Evening News finally covered what may well be the November Surprise that we've been trying to warn about for months here at The BRAD BLOG: Massive voter roll purges being done in secret, with little or no oversight, and often under federal Justice Department cover, in states and counties around the country.

And the Democrats, who likely have the most to lose via such secret purges, are doing little or nothing about it...

FULL STORY, CBS VIDEO REPORT: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6453

Sunday, September 28, 2008

COMIC RELIEF

On Friday's Basham and Cornell Show, the RNC Communications Director Danny Diaz hung up on me for accidentally using the word "Nazi" when I was asking him a question about the abortion issue. I had said, "I am against abortion, and I don't know any Democrats who are pro-abortion. But if you outlaw abortion, how do you enforce the law? Do you throw young mothers in jail? Do you assign a police officer to stand over each woman, each rape victim for the entire 9 months - like a Nazi state...."

I have to go back and listen to the transcipt, but he hung up on me. He said, "Okay, you used the word "Nazi" so I'm hanging up on you." Now of course I realize the word 'Nazi' is overused and verboten in political discourse, but why couldn't he have answered my question and really heard the question? I didn't use the word in the context he was thinking. I was honestly trying to get an answer to this serious dilemma. The Sarah Palin tribe wants to take away a woman's right to choose, but even if you're a Christian, I think they are wrong. There's a reason the womb is encased in the separate "body" of each individual woman. The choice must be up to her; we are each given free will and this is a decision between the woman and God, if she is religious (at least in the first trimester.) I just don't see how you enforce such a crime without dire consequences.

Check this out:
The Great Schlep!

America has become a battleground of opposing forces: the optimist, the atheist, the fundamentalist and of course, the idiot – that person inside all of us (or just that guy in the White House) who chooses to remain unconscious. - Lydia

More comedy bits below, but first this BREAKING NEWS ITEM!

Historic $700 billion bailout deal reached
Questions remain as Congress votes on legislation this week

By Mark Silva | Chicago Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - In the short run, congressional leaders have achieved their goal of producing an agreement Sunday on a federal bailout of banks and other financial institutions holding bad mortgage debts before the world's stock markets reopened.

But in the long run, the scope and still-unknown effects of the greatest government intervention in the financial markets since the Great Depression – and the remaining underlying instability of the nation's economy -- will impose a new political challenge for the next president and Congress elected in November. The situation already has reshaped the election campaign debate.

Congressional leaders face another immediate and uncertain challenge this week – with the House expected to vote on the plan as soon as Monday, and the Senate as soon as Wednesday – in corralling enough votes to both pass it and present the controversial two-stage bailout as a bipartisan response to a national crisis.

While resistant House Republican leaders have agreed to it, many rank and file members still are balking at the unprecedented bailout of the nation's financial institutions, piling as much as $700 billion of new federal debt on the nation's taxpayers.


Bailout Deal Reached

__________________________
COMIC RELIEF by Lydia Cornell (some bits I've been working on for a new show called "Pain is Inevitable, Sex Optional

We had a neighborhood poker game going on the other night and this obnoxious loudmouth kept spitting and shoving and winning and bragging about it. He had no humility. I have to admit, he was pretty good for an six-year-old.

When my son was five, he went through a modesty phase. He wouldn’t change his clothes even in front of me. He asked me one day, “I hope the doctor didn’t see me naked when I was born!”

Why do I have to adapt my language to suit the men in my life? I have to speak in a masculine way to my sons like this: “That’s sweatshirt's a nice color. Cool.” I am forbidden to say, “That’s a pretty color..." They can’t tolerate even the most subtle feminine words or a less than macho lilt to my voice. When did it happen — when did being a woman become so uncool, so passé? Everything has to be slanted toward the male voice. It p---s me off! And my sons won’t go to a single movie with a female protagonist, while I have to suffer through raunchy, sophomoric, loud, explosive testosterone-fueled "guy" movies until I want to scream! Why are the deep thoughts of low-lifes, the only movies they make anymore?
(Photo of the boys when they were 7 and 8)

Frankly I’d be happy if he just pretended to listen to me; if he would just nod his head and say “Uh-huh, uh-huh” that would be fine – because a woman’s primary need is to be heard.

Is it wrong to dream about other men when you’re married? I had a dream the other night that I was up in a mountain cabin having cocktails with Errol Flynn when suddenly the door blew open and Sean Connery came riding in on a yak. I think it was a yak, but you know how in dreams it could have been a mule or an elk? I had a baby on my lap and I kept thinking, “he’s a cute baby, but I wish he’d lose that phony Italian accent. I looked at his face and it was Johnny Depp, trying to sell me a hot dog. Is this a sexual dream? I can’t figure it out.

I went to a kosher butcher whose cuts of meat were so symmetrical it made me wonder if he cuts hair too. “Give me a pound of briscuit and take a couple of inches off the top.” It’s obvious that Jane Wyman and Mo of the Three Stooges got their hair cut at the butcher.

My husband is still angry that we didn’t use his dog as the ring-bearer in our wedding. And now that Sammi has died, he is taking it out on me.

Maybe my husband’s good for me; he dulls my mind. Maybe the blankness, the lack of engaged conversation is healthy. We speak to each other in one-syllables. I do wish he’d take that class in pretending to listen.

Why aren’t cars made out of fur? There’d be fewer fatal car crashes.

I wish I could figure out a way to make money out of just piddling around the house.

I decided not to surround myself with critical people. Now I have no friends.

I do have to badger my husband into mental health. I’m always chasing him around the house with a psychology book and he’s always running away and hiding when I want to talk. And my kids make me play Harry Potter – I have to wear a long black robe and ride a broomstick around the house. To get out of it, I hide from them in the closet. One time I ducked into the closet and found my husband in there hiding from me!

Now I realize I am deliberately not letting myself be more evolved in this relationship because there’s too much comedy material I’m getting out of it.

My husband is a Republican who thinks all Democrats are vegetarians, but that’s perfect because I think you’re supposed to be married to the person who annoys you the most! That’s why the Arabs and Israelis are next door to each other, they just don’t get it yet. The most spiritual growth happens with your enemies. So I’m in a really good position. Although I have never finished a sentence in this marriage. I am always being interrupted!

NOW THIS IS REALLY FUNNY...

FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS

Friday, September 26, 2008

OBAMA WINS THE DEBATE * GOD BLESS PAUL NEWMAN

I have been doing some soul-searching and I think I'm going to reach out and explain why we are so frustrated with the current administration, why we don't trust McCain, and why we think Sarah Palin is a frightening, backward choice for America. I also want to explain to fundamentalist Christians what a true "Red-letter" or Sermon on the Mount Christian thinks, and why liberals (such as Paul Newman) act more in in line with the values of the Great Peacemaker — whether they know it or not. Fundamentalist Christians are focused on the "letter not the spirit (love) of Christ's law." The pharisees did the same thing.

Strongest and best Obama ever!!

From CrooksandLiars.com:
While declining to land any personal blows on John McCain, Barack Obama remained cool, confident and dare I say it? Presidential in tonight’s debate to John McCain’s Grampy McCrankypants routine. It appears that the pundits and flash polls agree, as the majority of those polls scored it for Obama, including Frank “The Hair” Luntz’s dial polls on *gasp* FOX News (maybe that’s why they don’t have them up on the website).

But there was one moment where Obama was direct and on the offense, without the petulance of McCain, as he confronted McCain’s rote recitation of being smart but unpopular by supporting the surge. From the flash polls I’ve seen, this moment resonated deeply with those undecided voters, especially since McCain would not even look Obama in the eye.

OBAMA: But understand, that was a tactic designed to contain the damage of the previous four years of mismanagment of this war. And so John likes…John, you like to pretend like the war started in 2007. You talk about the surge, the war started in 2003. And at the time, when the war started, you said it was going to be quick and easy. You said we knew where the weapons of mass destruction were, you were wrong. You said that we would be greeted as liberators, you were wrong. You said that there was no history of violence between Shia and Sunni and you were wrong. And so the question is the judgment of whether or not…

MCCAIN: Senator Obama…Senator Obama…Senator Obama doesn’t….

OBAMA: …whether or not the question is who is best equipped as the next president to make good decisions about how we use our military, how we make sure that we are prepared and ready for the next conflict and I think we can take a look at our judgment.

Live-Blogging Ole Miss (from Andrew Sullivan's blog:)

27 Sep 2008 12:14 am

Fallows:
Unless it happened when I glanced away, up until this moment, 77 minutes into the 90-minute debates, John McCain has not once looked at Obama -- while listening to him, while addressing him, while disagreeing with him, while finding moments of accord.
This is distinctly strange -- if anyone else notices. Obama is acting as if this is a conversation; McCain, as if he cannot acknowledge the other party in the discussion.

Rod Dreher from BeliefNet:
I think Obama has to be judged the winner. Nobody's mind will be changed by this debate, but Obama seemed loose and confident and not intimidate by McCain. McCain seemed growly and tense, though more focused than usual. Because McCain didn't beat Obama, and because Obama is ahead right now, Obama wins a narrow victory.

Ambinder:
No memorable moments. Fascinating body language. No major gaffes by either candidates. No major surprises...A good debate for both men...Thresholds are artificial, but both candidates seemed to meet them - although Obama's threshold was arguably higher. The press will probably conclude that McCain did not fundamentally change impressions tonight. And that Obama held his own.

9:12 Obama just put McCain in his place by saying "Even Henry Kissinger says we should sit down with Iran without pre-conditions. Then Obama hit McCain hard and said, "Senator McCain won't even sit down with Spain! And Spain is a NATO ally." - Lydia

10.02 pm. Obama just pwned McCain on using the troops as an emotional weapon. And then he has kept intense focus on Afghanistan. All McCain can do is suggest that Petraeus opposes Obama which is untrue, and to say how far he's traveled around the world.

9.53 pm. McCain concedes the failure in Afghanistan. Obama seems very authoritative. He seems to be passing the presidential. His exchange on Pakistan seemed to me to be a real turning point. He basically outed McCains distortion of his position and yet managed to seem more aggressive in foreign policy than the Republican. He's no Dukakis. He's no Kerry. He's winning on the issue of national defense. That's new. And McCain keeps gong back to claims that he knows more. And goes back to the Reagan era. This is the first exchange on national security in a presidential debate where the Democrat out-hawked, in a responsible way, the Republican.

9:37 pm. Finally Obama manages to pin the massive spending increases in spending on the Republicans. About time!

"John characterizes me as "wildly liberal" -- mostly that's just me opposing George Bush's policies."


9.28 pm. What strikes me is McCain's insistence on pork. What strikes me about Obama is his forcefulness. He doesn't sound academic or pointy-headed. He seems decisive and executive. McCain seems more of a debater.

26 Sep 2008 09:10 pm
9.15 pm. Does McCain really believe that earmarks are the only problem with government spending? They're bad, but they are not anything like the real problem.

9.11 pm. McCain is still defending his silly proposal to fire Chris Cox. Obama keeps bringing it back to ordinary Americans and the recent past. He keeps trying to return to the theme of the Republican responsibility.

9.08 pm. McCain seemed a little less engaged and forceful. And the reference to the Republicans in Congress seemed a little insidery to me.

9.06 pm. Obama's opening statement struck me as more forceful and energetic, and less academic than usual.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

"PRESIDENTS HAVE TO DEAL WITH MORE THAN ONE THING AT A TIME"

President Barack Obama says he sees no need to cancel the debate. "Presidents have to deal with more than one thing at a time. " Good Point. I think Obama is wonderfully soothing, calm and presidential. And he can multi-task! He makes me feel safe.

John McCain, panicked, wants to cancel the debate. But I think this is a political ploy to show he is "a uniter, not a divider!" But going forward with the debate would be a much better idea. I wish the debate was about the economy instead of foreign affairs. This way, Obama could hit home the fact that this financial crisis is a Republican-made catastrophe. McCain resembles a nervous ninny. He does not make me feel safe.

_________________________________________________

Did everyone see this email? I don't know who wrote it, but it is priceless:

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.'

Grow up in Alaska shooting and eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.

If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.

If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress — as McCain did — and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.

If you're husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now.
______________________________

And anyway, who said killing defenseless animals is cool?

Sep 8, 2008 ... With a disdain for science that alarms wildlife experts, Sarah Palin continues to promote Alaska's policy to gun down wolves from planes.
www.salon.com/env/feature/2008/09/08/sarah_palin_wolves/ - Similar pages

Thought of the Day

Tell everyone you know: "My happiness depends on me, so you're off
the hook." And then demonstrate it. Be happy, no matter what they're
doing.

Practice feeling good, no matter what. And before you know it, you
will not give anyone else responsibility for the way you feel—and
then, you'll love them all.

Because the only reason you don't love them, is because you're using
them as your excuse to not feel good.

Excerpted from a workshop in Asheville, NC
All Is Well

Monday, September 22, 2008

THE BAILOUT

I really feel we are in good hands with Paulson. I know this sounds like an about-face from yesterday, when I was outraged about the Section 8 clause in the bailout bill, but now I've researched everything there is to know about Paulson and I absolutely believe that he has our best interests at heart. He is a Rockefeller Republican, not a neocon and there are other reasons I feel he will be a good steward of our money. I also believe he will not leave foreclosed upon homeowners out in the cold. Before this crisis, he helped to create the Hope Now Alliance to help struggling homeowners during the subprime mortgage financial crisis.*

Notable among the members of Bush's cabinet, Paulson has said he is a strong believer in the effect of human activity on global warming and advocates immediate action to decrease this effect.*

As an environmental leader and philanthropist, Paulson while at Goldman Sachs, oversaw the corporate donation of 680,000 forested acres on the Chilean side of Tierra del Fuego, which led to criticisms from Goldman shareholder groups. He further donated US$100 million of assets from his wealth to conservancy causes. He pledged his entire fortune for the same purpose at death. He has also been considered someone who can influence world and business leaders to think beyond the bottom line. * From Wikipedia

Democrats Work With Paulson on Rescue; Some Republicans Object
By James Rowley and Alison Vekshin

Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Members of President George W. Bush's own party are voicing their opposition to his financial rescue plan even as Democratic leaders narrow their differences with the administration.

Congressional leaders said the $700 billion measure is needed to calm market turmoil and they hope to complete talks and pass the measure as soon as this week. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson agreed with Democratic demands that Congress can create an oversight structure, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said.

__________________________________
"Let us insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace. Money will come if we seek first the kingdom of God (which is within us)" - Mother Teresa

"We are talking very aggressively with other countries" … the US Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, on the American ABC's This Week program. Photo: AFP

GOP takes brunt of blame on economy, poll says
By nearly a two-to-one ratio, Americans blame Republicans over Democrats for the financial crisis that has swept across the country the past few weeks, a new national poll suggests.

Here is Section 8 of the new "700 billion dollar Republican bailout bill," which virtually rewards the crooks for taking our money, and takes money away from the American whose home was foreclosed on — with no room to negotiate! This should stop your heart:
Sec. 8. Review.
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

READ SECTION 8 AGAIN. Why is this bill non-reviewable? Certain people are saying that whoever wrote this clause should have his citizenship revoked. This is positively un-American. Think about it and post your answers here in the comment section.
_____________________

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson


GOOD NEWS: Compostable, Biodegradable PLASTIC CUPS MADE OF CORN!
I invite readers to please leave comments on any silver linings you see in our money crisis, the 700 billion dollar bailout being proposed by Paulson, and how we can fix our economy.I see it already happening. Yesterday my son bought a strawberry smoothie from Urth Cafe. It came in a cup that was made entirely from a natural renewable material derived from corn! And it looks and feels just like plastic. It is 100% compostable. I have long thought we should invent "plastic" bottles made of celery fiber. I think innovation and spiritual progressive thought is going to triumph over the dark forces of greed, fossil fuel drilling and regressive thought. This election should be a landslide...

MORE GOOD NEWS: CONYERS DEMANDS 'IMMEDIATE HALT TO GOP SUPPRESSION EFFORTS'
U.S. House Judiciary Chair Announces Hearings, Requests DoJ Investigation Into Recent Reports of GOP 'Vote Caging' Schemes...

The U.S. House Judiciary chairman has sent a letter to John McCain demanding he immediately cease recent voter suppression efforts such as the reported GOP scheme to use home foreclosure lists to challenge voters in Michigan, and apparent "caging" letters akin to those sent to Democratic voters in Florida. He has also called on AG Mukasey to begin an investigation into these activities and has announced hearings on the matters in a statement released today... bradblog.com

“Enthusiasm is that secret and harmonious spirit which hovers over the production of genius.”
Isaac Disraeli
______________________________
EVEN MORE GOOD NEWS: Greener, Cleaner Crude Oil From Algae

A New Zealand company says it has produced the first samples of green crude oil at a commercially competitive price, made from wild algae grown on human sewage. The biodiesel is extracted from the algae's natural oils and produces 90 percent less emissions than regular diesel.

Focus on the good, and the good will be your reality. The more you fill your heart with love, the more love surrounds you, as a coat of armor. You will become invincible.