HAUNTING MORAL DILEMMAS * WE'RE AS SICK AS OUR SECRETS

Jane Hamsher: DC Journalists Love GOP Obstructionists, But Americans Don't!

There appears to be a pretty big gap between what DC journalists think Americans think, and what Americans actually think. No better example of this can be found than the "winners" and "losers" that DC media are proclaiming in the wake of the passage of the stimulus bill, and what DailyKos/Research 2000 polling on the subject indicates. Read more at Huffington Post
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We're as sick as our secrets...
THE READER is a film that will not stop haunting me. I often think about moral dilemmas, but this one is a puzzle. Below is my analysis of what I consider the best film of the year. Spoiler Alert: If you haven't seen it yet, please do not read the review. But first a few items:
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"Some of the poorest people in the world will never know the name Barbara Lee, yet owe their lives to her determination in the fight against AIDS. Her sense of justice — and injustice — runs about as deep as it's possible to go." - Bono, lead singer of U2 and cofounder of the anti-poverty organization ONE.

On Monday February 16, 2009, Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee will be the guest on the Basham and Cornell Radio Show at 8 am Pacific Time on AM 1230 KLAV in Las Vegas.

Lee gained national attention in 2001 as the only member of congress to vote "No" on the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists (AUMF), stating that she voted no not because she opposed military action but because she believed the AUMF, as written, granted overly-broad powers to wage war to the president at a time when the facts regarding the situation were not yet clear.

Lee is the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and was the Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Her new book is titled “Renegade for Peace and Justice: Congresswoman Barbara Lee Speaks for Me.”

Ad: From the Las Vegas Review Journal

Basham and Cornell Radio Show at 8 am Pacific Time on AM 1230 KLAV in Las Vegas and simulcast worldwide on the web.

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THE READER ... a review by Lydia Cornell

"There's an often-heard saying in the recovery community: “We're as sick as our secrets.” Over the years, I have met many people in abusive situations who have paid a great price to eventually extricate themselves from the vicious cycle of manipulation and recrimination. Sexual and physical abuse, in particular, scars the victim deeply. Often the victims falsely blame themselves. Recovery from abuse involves breaking the conspiracy of silence and deception perpetrated by abusers. Only the truth, however painful, can really set us free. Secrecy keeps us chained to our abusers.

At the heart of the ‘twelve steps’, in Step Four and Five, is the willingness to break the power of secrecy by admitting to God, yourself, and another person the exact nature of how you have wronged other people. Until we can open up and get such things off our chest, we are still stuck with guilt, recrimination, and self-doubt. We really are as sick as our secrets." The Rev. Ed Hird

If Hanna Schmitz, played by Kate Winslet, hadn't been so ashamed of not being able to read, she wouldn’t have preyed upon weaker people and manipulated them. Of course her pathology would have manifested in other ways — which goes along with my theory that many of us are controlled by our ancient wounds, our "woundedness" — and this perverts itself in devious ways. Our low self-esteem, our feeling "less than" others — results in various kinds of retaliation such as gun-shootings on school campuses.

There is another level of subconscious political jealousy going on here: Hanna was uneducated, and of a lower class than the very Jews in her prison camps, who had learned to read.

Hitler had brainwashed the Hitler Youth into believing that Jews were the ones taking away German’s rights, money and education. But to begin with, the mere fact that "not being able to read” is her deepest shame – deeper than murder – makes her a peculiar brand of sociopath. She blindly follows the party line, like any authoritarian follower. She either believed that Jews were less than human beings — or she didn't even think about it, as her indoctrination would confirm.

Is Hanna a sociopath? A pedophile/rapist? A cold-hearted narcissist? I was considering how I would feel about a loved one who had once been a Nazi prison guard and had allowed women to burn alive in a church. What if Hanna had been one of my relatives, who thought nothing of murdering Muslims and abortion doctors because she was brainwashed listening to Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter or Michael Savage or Mark Levin (or Lou Dobbs) all day on right wing hate radio – and had been convinced that abortion is a sin and crime, and that she was doing the right thing in killing live human doctors in order to save innocent fetuses — and you had no idea of this years earlier?


Hana represents Germany itself. Survivor guilt and all the bad feelings toward Germany are contained in her resigned expression. In other words, Hanna represents all Germans, Christians and death-camp guards who were just there following orders without thinking too deeply. Germany itself is culpable for being so passive as a nation – in not stopping this evil. The boys’ family, everyone was responsible, not just a few guards.

The film reminds us that all the German people knew what was happening, yet they did nothing to stop Hitler. Even the Christian churches were complict. Except for a few courageous souls who hid Jews, protested or fled —  the German people were all guilty. This was their shame.

Again, we are only as sick as our secrets. Here is why "The Reader" is so profound to me:

1. If Hanna hadn’t has such shame about not being able to read, she wouldn’t have preyed on weaker people and manipulated them. Her shame ultimately did her in. If not for her secret, she wouldn’t have taken the boy under her wing. She did everything for self-serving interest of “being read to.” (Side note: Later, it would be one thing if the books he was sending to her in prison were books of the Holocaust or Anne Frank – or books that would make her sympathetic to the Jews whom she had killed, but he was reading her some very bourgeouise books.)
2. This is a striking character flaw of the alcoholic, who is ego-riddled: the tendency to hide a bad motive under a good motive. All for selfish interests.
3. Her shame ultimately did her in. But to begin with , not being able to read, being her deepest shame and longing – the only way she can live with herself and maintain the secret (either secret) is to remain aloof and cold. You must keep your distance from people if you want to keep your secrets.

But again, the author makes a point: everyone was doing it; everyone In Germany, especially the Christians in whose church we were meeting in.

The only way she could live with herelf was to be cold and aloof; to cut hersef off from human emotion. She could only move forward with the bad habits of the past, the survival habits. We don’t change that easily. It takes a while for our mind to match our actions. Old habits die hard. Okay, so let’s say Hanna shut a part of herself off from feeling the horrors of her past. Let’s say she has tried to numb herself, convince herself she was obeying orders, doing the right thing.

Why is she any more guilty than every other German during the war?

The grown-up lover played by Ralph Fiennes, was also guilty of judging Hanna. He did not freely forgive. Instead of redemption, he judged her. He had a chance to do what Christ did, and forgive her, love her, heal her. That’s all anyone ever needs anyway. We are all judging each other, but do we really know what kind of background or childhood the person has been through?

We are all judging each other, but what do we really know?

Ralph Fiennes couldn’t forgive he and wouldn’t hug her. In prison, when she was an old woman, he asked her accusingly , “What did you learn?”

“I learned to read.” She said very coldly after saying it didn’t matter what she said because "the dead were already dead." She showed no heart or feelings after 20 years in prison.

Ralf Fiennes stiffened; he judged her. He got up to leave and she tried to make a gesture to hug him but he withdrew his affection. By pulling away from her, he sealed her fate. The way she reached out with her shoulder in such small subtle moves, was humbling on her part. It was “acquiescence.”

Now, questions:

“I learned to read” she said, very coldly, without any remorse or compassion.
a. Did Hanna actually gain a conscience? Did she read any deep books on this -- or just bourgeiouse fluff?
b. Could she have deliberately said this to test him?

Okay – some choices:
A. His rebuff of her hug shows her that there was no purpose in life for her. She would be worse off in the normal, non-prison world. Everyone would hate her.

*** B. She loved him. Her love for him, their love — and his rebuff — ultimately made her see herself clearly – that she couldn’t live with herself. LOVE HEALED HER HEART. It made her see her crimes clearly because they caused her lover to hate her. She woke up and was able to kill herself as her final gesture of love. This action of killing herself was a gift to her lover. It validated him in the real world too. It made all his actions seem noble. By knowing him, she was changed and awakened.

Killing herself was her first and only selfless act: it was proof that she had learned by his love, that he had served a purpose and had not lived his life in vain. It was also a way to free his soul. And she knew it was the only way she could live anymore — without secrets, totally "seen."

C. Love had made her become whole, but ashamed, perhaps for the first time ever in real life. Perhaps she had never been loved or trusted to do the right thing before this man came into her life and messed up the compartments she had so neatly kept separate.

Perhaps as a Hitler Youth, she had never seen the world through another lens. She had her life kept in separate parts, pushing down feelings and conscience and moral certitude. Pushing down the truth and intuition. (As many neocons do.) That’s how she coped with life: her job as a guard was to protect prisoners from escaping; to prevent chaos at all costs. The German efficiency. Moral choices had no place here. Emotion and morality had no overlap. This was always respected in her youth and at work. She was so honest in the trial because she had nothing to hide. These were the facts and the laws of the time. You do not disobey orders.

Who knows? She may have been on of the Hitler Youth that ratted and turned on their parents.

But here’s the rub: "I think the big question in the book is how is it possible to love your parents, your pastors, your teachers or, indeed in the circumstance used in the book, your lover who has been involved in such a terrible past, whether as a direct perpetrator or as a bystander? How is it possible to love?" Daldry explains. "We were trying to be very clear about the degrees of her moral illiteracy, whether it is the relationship with a minor or what she was engaged in in the [concentration] camps. We tried to keep her ambiguous, not totally understood or understandable; but obviously we were very concerned about how to calibrate the sympathy towards her without ever allowing her to get off the hook."

Winslet believes the film neither condemns nor condones the Hanna Schmitz character, which puts the viewer in the position of deciding.

"We didn't want to give answers," notes Winslet. "We only wanted to ask questions and have an audience walk away questioning everything and possibly questioning their own morals if, even for one split second, they felt any empathy for Hanna Schmitz. I knew it wasn't my job to try to make an audience sympathize with her or humanize her or warm her up. I had to make her a person. I had to make her real."


But it makes one wonder: where was her moral conscience and heart? Why and how could it have been so hardened? How could she have locked those women in the church – and still gone to the church in the country and not be bothered by her conscience? Separate compartments.

On their country bike ride, “Love saves a soul.” Hana admitted she loved him. “Only love can save you.”

* Hitler Youth indoctrination made her cold, unfeeling, robotic, German
* It is possible, this cold aloofness is her way of being the counterpart or opposite to love.
* Because she has never felt love, or been treated with love, she doesn't know love.
* Out at the country church, Hanna sits down to hear the beautiful voices of children singing, never once letting on that she has another separate compartment where she puts "dead church people." She has not allowed her two sides to merge here.


We are all guilty – all of Germany is guilty – Do not judge one another. By Him judging her at the end, he has her fate in his hands. He is being the guard at that point. He has the power to end her life or make her live with his own brand of shame. He has manipulated her with reading gifts, just to try to get her to redeem herself and say she’s sorry. He was manipulative too – she was his first love. He kept hoping to save her, hoping she was redeemable. The moment she disappointed him by not answering the way he wanted, he closed the door on Love and withdrew his love. He judged her, He was not compassionate toward her.

NO MATTER how much Hanna “deserved” her fate and guilt and shame – it is still not the Christ idea - "let he who is without sin cast the first stone." The ultimate loving end to the circle of life would be to forgive your fellow man. He should not have had to force Hanna to take that test. To break the cycle of the Holocaust, he should have simply loved her. His love would have saved her life. But he couldn’t forgive her. He was not God and did not know the depth of her shame. But he demanded her to have the same sense of shame and regret he would have. He demanded her to have learned the lesson on his timetable and in his style. If he had wanted her to realize her sin, I wonder why he recorded so many tapings of frivolous books for her to listen to.

So, were as sick as our secrets. The Ralph Fiennes character breaks the cycle of secrets. With his daughter, he is guilty of being equally secretive, which could be fatal to them both. His secret shame of having been lovers with this Nazi guard has kept him distant and locked off from his daughter. He finally takes her to Hanna's grave and tells her the whole story.

We must not hold ourselves above others and separate from others in the human race -- because we are all ONE. Love is our unifying principle. We all have love as our true source, but we have forgotten. Love created us and we are here to love and accept ourselves and transfer that love and acceptance to others.

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I just have to congratulate ROBERT PLANT (photo below; in his heyday he was beyond gorgeous) ALISON KRAUSS and COLDPLAY for their Grammy wins. I have always loved Robert Plant, and Coldplay is my favorite!! I'm also glad Adele won for her brilliant "Chasing Pavements." Have you seen Adele's heart-wrenching video?

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Photo: Jim Hillis and me

Full Circle: My good friend Jim Hillis was in town last week. Once a male model, he's still stunning — and you can read some of his brilliant pieces on CNN.com. He's a humanitarian and amazing human being, who was in town to help a few homeless women get their benefits and restore their dignity. His partner Tommy is also a total sweetheart!
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THIS IS A GREAT STIMULUS BILL * READ IT !!

TEAR DOWN THIS MYTH!! DON'T LISTEN to unpatriotic Republican/Obstructionists who are trying to destroy our country. Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and Sean Hannity should be indicted for treason — for "hoping our president fails" and for spreading lies and propaganda about this stimulus plan.

This is a very, very good bill. Here are some facts about what the bill really does:

* Creates or saves 3 million to 4 million jobs in the next two years.
* Averts "literally hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs"—and doubles funding for the Department of Education.
* Creates 500,000 green jobs and doubles our clean energy production.
* Immediately helps unemployed folks get affordable health insurance.


If President Obama's economic stimulus plan doesn't pass, we're in deep trouble. Even John McCain's economic adviser estimates that without the stimulus, unemployment would top 11% by 2010, the highest level since the Great Depression. Who had power the past 8 years and drove our economy into the ground with their 3 trillion dollar war and giant bonues for corporate CEOs?

...Read more below, but first, this message:

TEAR DOWN THIS MYTH! On Monday February 9, 2009, Will Bunch will be the guest on theBasham and Cornell Radio Show at 8 am Pacific Time on AM 1230 KLAV in Las Vegas.

Will Bunch is an award-winning political journalist, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, and author of its popular blog, "Attytood." His new book is titled "Tear Down This Myth: How the Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts Our Future."

Ad: From the Las Vegas Review Journal

Basham and Cornell Radio Show at 8 am Pacific Time on AM 1230 KLAV in Las Vegas and simulcast worldwide on the web.

In this provocative new book, Will unravels the story of how a right-wing cabal hijacked the mixed legacy of Ronald Reagan, a personally popular but hugely divisive 1980s president, and turned him into a bronze icon to revive their fading ideology. They succeeded to the point where all the GOP candidates for president in 2008 scurried to claim his mantle, no matter how preposterous the fit.

With clear eyes and an ever-present wit, Bunch reveals the truth about the Ronald Reagan legacy, including the following:

* Despite the idolatry of the last fifteen years, Reagan's average popularity as president was only, well, average, lower than that of a half-dozen modern presidents. More important, while he was in office, a majority of Americans opposed most of his policies and by 1988 felt strongly that the nation was on the wrong track. Reagan's 1981 tax cut, weighted heavily toward the rich, did not cause the economic recovery of the 1980s. It was fueled instead by dropping oil prices, the normal business cycle, and the tight fiscal policies of the chairman of the Federal Reserve appointed by Jimmy Carter. Reagan's tax cut did, however, help usher in the deregulated modern era of CEO and Wall Street greed.

* Most historians agree that Reagan's waste-ridden military buildup didn't actually "win the Cold War." And Reagan mythmakers ignore his real contributions -- his willingness to talk to his Soviet adversaries, his genuine desire to eliminate nuclear weapons, and the surprising role of a "liberal" Hollywood-produced TV movie.

* George H. W. Bush's and Bill Clinton's rolling back of Reaganomics during the 1990s spurred a decade of peace and prosperity as well as the reactionary campaign to pump up the myth of Ronald Reagan and restore right-wing hegemony over Washington. This effort has led to war, bankrupt energy policies, and coming generations of debt.

With masterful insight, Bunch exposes this dangerous effort to reshape America's future by rewriting its past. As the Obama administration charts its course, he argues, it should do so unencumbered by the dead weight of misplaced and unearned reverence.

Wall Street Insiders Whine Over Obama Executive Pay Limits: ‘$500,000 Is Not A Lot Of Money’....

THESE MEN ARE LYING TO YOU:

Who had power the past 8 years and drove our economy into the ground with their 3 trillion dollar war and giant bonues for corporate CEOs? Don't listen to Obstructionist Republicans who are trying to destroy our country. If President Obama's economic stimulus plan doesn't pass, we're in deep trouble. Even John McCain's economic adviser estimates that without the stimulus, unemployment would top 11% by 2010, the highest level since the Great Depression.

RUSH LIMBAUGH IS UNPATRIOTIC AND A DISGRACE TO OUR NATION

** Most Republican governors have broken with their GOP colleagues in Congress and are pushing for passage of President Barack Obama's economic aid plan that would send billions to states for education, public works and health care.

This stimulus plan is the BEST plan for recovery. Conservative talking points are dominating the media's coverage and there's lots of misinformation around. Here are a few things you may not have heard about it:

1) This is a very, very good bill. As The Nation writes, "If enacted, the economic recovery plan will be one of the biggest and boldest pieces of progressive legislation in the past forty years."

This is a very, very good bill. Here are some facts about what the bill really does:

* Creates or saves 3 million to 4 million jobs in the next two years.2
* Averts "literally hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs"—and doubles funding for the Department of Education.3
* Creates 500,000 green jobs and doubles our clean energy production.4
* Immediately helps unemployed folks get affordable health insurance.5

Some folks are arguing that it should be bigger, and they're probably right, but this is the best down payment on economic recovery we have seen, and it needs to be passed.

2) The stuff that's being singled out for criticism amounts to a tiny fraction of the bill—like anti-smoking programs that make up less than one-ten-thousandth of the spending.6 They would have you believe this is the centerpiece of the bill. It is not. This kind of nit-picking is pure politics.

3) If it doesn't pass, we're in deep trouble. Even John McCain's economic adviser estimates that without the stimulus, unemployment would top 11% by 2010, the highest level since the Great Depression.7

"Obama's proposed cap on salaries for top executives of bailed-out corporations is a first step: next, there should be inquiries into who, exactly, caused the financial crisis." Just the Beginning
JOHN NICHOLS, The Nation |

We all urgently need to get these facts out before the public. Can you write a letter to the editor of your local paper about how the stimulus will affect real people? Our tool makes writing a letter really easy. Click here to get started:

Click here!

Last week alone, 100,000 people lost their jobs in this country.8 So we need to make sure the Senate takes action quickly. Nearly 200 economists from across the political spectrum wrote to Congress, agreeing:
"We do not have the luxury of a lengthy debate over the best course of action. This legislation may not be enough to solve all the economy's problems, but it is urgently needed and an important step in the right direction."9

But with so much rhetoric and demagoguery surrounding the bill, it won't pass unless we can get the real facts out to a wide audience.

SEND A LETTER TO YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER NOW. Please....?

Basham and Cornell Radio Show at 8 am Pacific Time on AM 1230 KLAV in Las Vegas and simulcast worldwide on the web.

Coming up: A review of THE READER, my pic as most haunting, complex film...

DEFINITION OF TORTURE

Definition of Torture: Being forced to listen to a house of teenagers playing Rock Band while singing along to ‘Panic at the Disco!” Have you heard this band?!"

Back when I was single, I was really nervous in front of a cute guy at a party. I read in Cosmo magazine that if you want to seduce a guy you should mimic his gestures. When he sips, you sips. He was drinking from a glass beer bottle, and I was holding a glass of ice water. When he chugged a swig from his bottle, I thought I was holding a bottle too, so I lifted my drink and poured it all over my face.

DOG-FIGHTING

My husband shaved our Shihtzu’s face and now he has an ugly pointed chin. Did he do this in retaliation for me not using his dog as a ring-bearer in our wedding? Now Chazzie looks like Leon Trotsky. His chin is triangular like a Pomeranian's. No offense, but I prefer the pudgy full-face of a Shih-tzu, not a triangle. I am so angry I’m thinking of getting a fake beard for the dog, or having hair extensions woven in. Our dog used to be so cute — like in this picture — but now I’m embarrassed to drive with the dog’s head out the window. My husband also cut Chazzie’s whiskers, which I assumed were his antennae. Aren’t a dogs’ whiskers a logistical tracking mechanism, like a catfish whiskers?

By the way, we were going to mate our Shih-tzu with a Bulldog, but then we'd have Bull Shit.

Our dog Chazzie is humping his doggie bed, while our new girl dog Sasha lounges in it flirtatiously. Chazz doesn’t seem to realize there’s a girl in his bed! She is actually stretching and lolling luxuriously looking at him upside down as he gets more and more annoyed with her for being in his way while he tries to make love to the cushion.

Our dogs are like spies for the CIA. They wait outside the door to various bedrooms like investigators. Where do they to act so arrogant like they own the place? I mean one dog looks like a carpet with a face. All you see are the eyeballs and fur.

ON LOOKS-ISM, MATERIALISM AND THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY

Okay, so I made the front page of TMZ recently. The message kids gets from our culture these days is that only important thing in the world is how "hot" you are, how you look — the appearance of things, the impression you make, the mistakes that come out of your mouth — instead of the intent behind the words. There is so much focus on scandal and ugliness — on bad behavior and faux pas — on sales technique and ratings, and so little substance, so little forgiveness.

I'm in withdrawal from cleavage. I'm not spiritually evolved enough to stop dressing like a hooker but I did try a turtleneck on the other day. Just when I finally let go of my fear of potato chips and bad lighting – a show comes on called “Extreme Makeover Body edition” -- so maybe I’ll just keep the cleavage a little longer: the bigger the boobs look, the smaller the butt looks.

Is it my imagination or are women getting younger and thinner and tittier every year? Why are the only valuable women in our society teenage, wombless, buttless mutants?! It’s kind of hard winning a fight with your husband while he’s reading a Victoria’s Secret catalogue that pretends not to be soft porn. I met an actress recently who admits she moonlights for an escort service.

MARRIAGE



I used to badger my husband into mental health. I'd chase him around the house with a psychology book and he'd run and hide whenever I wanted to talk. And my kids made 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'd hide from them in the closet. One time I ducked into the closet and found my husband in there hiding from me!

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.

Now I realize I am deliberately not letting myself leave this relationship because there’s too much comedy material I’m getting out of it. I guess it’s a trade-off: bliss or torture with jokes.

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 a cool shirt. Nice color.” God forbid I say “That’s a pretty colored sweatshirt.” They can’t tolerate even the most subtle feminine words or a less than macho lilt to my voice. Since when did womanly things become passé? Everything has to be slanted toward the male voice. It pisses me off! And furthermore, they 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 ad nauseum!

My philosophy of life can be summed up like this: when cows shit, flowers grow. Or in the words of Stuart Smalley: “It’s better to wear slippers than to carpet the whole world.”

I usesd to hate the word 'edgy' with a hatred reserved for pedophiles that moonlighted as suicide bombers. If I heard one more industry type use the word “EDGY” I was going to blow. For a long time every script in Hollywood had to be “edgy” and every woman had to be 18. I assume edgy meant “scuzzy” as in “scuzz film” starring Christopher Walken and directed by Quentin Tarantino.

And regarding ageism, I swear I actually heard a network executive say that only 18-21 year olds are “brand-changeable” that all important demographic that advertisers covet.

Everyone in Hollywood relates to everyone else from fake hierarchy of wants. There is a desperate “choose me” energy in L.A. — a yearning in the airwaves. Everyone wants something from someone.

Maybe fame is the cure for crime and adultery. Look at Ozzy and Gene Simmons and Snoop Dog. Since they had their own TV shows, they’re are on their best behavior. In the long run, everyone in the public eye seems to gain a conscience and clean up their act. We should have TV shows for all criminals. Every criminal gets his own show.

THE ESSENCE OF WANT

I’m still grieving over a garage sale I had a few years ago. People bought things from me against my will; they bought things I had no intention of selling! They stampeded over my lawn, like barbarians at the gate, taking everything off the walls of my garage -- my childhood possessions. Why did I feel so intimidated? I felt guilty when I said “No, this is not for sale.” One woman, a professional gypsy, bought a mixer, then stole my jewelry. I had to wrestle her to the ground and chase her to her Mercedes, yanking on her purse, while she tried to slam the car door on my arms. Finally I got the bag away and searched inside and found all my jewelry.

Now I’m having a garage sale for all my pens and pencils.
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OpEdNews: Holy Cow! Top Dems Are Serious About Investigating Bush's Criminal Acts

As President Barack Obama reverses some of ex-President George W. Bush's most controversial "war on terror" policies, a consensus seems to be building among Democratic congressional leaders that further investigations are needed into Bush's use of torture and other potential crimes...

Two other key Democrats joined in this growing chorus of lawmakers saying that serious investigations should be conducted...

On Jan. 18, two days before Obama's inauguration, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed support for House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers's plan to create a blue-ribbon panel of outside experts to probe the "broad range" of policies pursued by the Bush administration "under claims of unreviewable war powers."

In an interview with Fox News' Chris Wallace, Pelosi specifically endorsed a probe into the politicization of the Justice Department, but didn't spell out a position on Conyers's plan to examine the Bush administration's torture and rendition policies, which could prove embarrassing to Pelosi and other Democratic leaders who were briefed by the CIA about these tactics.

Still, when Wallace cited Obama's apparent unwillingness to investigate the Bush administration, Pelosi responded: "I think that we have to learn from the past, and we cannot let the politicizing of the--for example, the Justice Department--to go unreviewed. Past is prologue. We learn from it. And my views on the subject--I don't think that Mr. Obama and Mr. Conyers are that far apart."

The emerging consensus among top congressional Democrats for some form of investigation into Bush's controversial policies has surprised some progressives who had written off the leadership long ago for blocking impeachment hearings and other proposals for holding Bush and his subordinates accountable.

In 2006, for instance, Pelosi famously declared that "impeachment is off the table," and prior to Election 2008, the Democratic leadership largely acquiesced to Bush's demands for legislation that supported his "war on terror" policies, including a compromise bill granting legal immunity to telecommunications companies that assisted in Bush's warrantless wiretaps.
Read more at: http://www.opednews.com/articles/Holy-Cow-Top-Dems-Are-Ser-by-Jason-Leopold-090126-269.html
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Photos from Vegas last week and St. Bart's last summer: The Wynn Hotel, the view from our window on 60th floor overlooking Trump Tower, Venetian Palazzo and Treasure Island. The Encore Hotel -- crystal peacock, butterfly mosaic floors.

Other photos at top: Kevin in Malibu last week. He found a starfish but put it back...













Photos: St. Bart's last summer July 2008
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Quote of the Day: Stress is the consequence of resistance to your life. When we resist, argue, are angry, make others wrong.. When you relax into acceptance, that's when you can start reclaiming your peace. Listen to people's stories: they tell why they are unable to be at peace now. Gary Zukav

WORLDWIDE HOPES SOAR * PRESIDENT OBAMA INAUGURATED!!

AWE-INSPIRING INAUGURATION DAY!! A glorious, peaceful transition of power.

Obama has already turned the climate of fear to hope. He has already met expectations by bringing people together in such an optimistic fever. He already has laid the groundwork for change by speaking of change. He spoke the word. It is our job to join him in service and love to our fellow man. We can lift each other up and help each other survive any recession.

So many children and young people are now inspired by the magnificent optimism and the coming together of this diverse, peaceful crowd.

Soundbites: "What you can build, not what you can destroy. Old hatreds will slip away..."

Earlier the Obamas took part in a traditional Inauguration Day service at St. John’s Episcopal Church across the the White House, where evangelist Bishop T.D. Jakes read from Daniel 3:19 – “In times of crisis, good men must stand up. God always sends the best men into the worst times.”

The Obamas – who went to the service without their young daughters – were greeted by the Rev. Luis Leon just before 9 a.m. The service took place under a stained glass window depicting the Last Supper, with an American flag draped nearby.

The church has hosted the prayer service for the president-elect 10 times on inauguration morning, dating back to Franklin Roosevelt in 1933.

Continuing in the same chapter from Daniel, Jakes read, “You cannot change what you will not confront. This is a moment of confrontation in this country. There’s no way around it…This is not a time for politeness or correctness, this is a time for people to confront issues and bring about change.”

TD Jakes read from Daniel 3:19 and used the scripture to offer PEOTUS a series of four lessons for his administration.

1 – “In time of crisis, good men must stand up. God always sends the best men into the worst times.”

2 – “You cannot change what you will not confront. This is a moment of confrontation in this country. There’s no way around it…This is not a time for politeness or correctness, this is a time for people to confront issues and bring about change.”

3 – “You cannot enjoy the light without enduring the heat. The reality is the more brilliant, the more glorious, the more essential the light, the more intense the heat. We cannot separate one from the other.”

4 – “Extraordinary times require extraordinary methods. This is a historical moment for us and our nation and our country, and though we enjoy it and are inspired by it and motivated by it.”

After his four lessons, Jakes turned from the crowd and looked directly at Obama.

“The problems are mighty and the solutions are not simple,” Jakes said, “and everywhere you turn there will be a critic waiting to attack every decision that you make. But you are all fired up, Sir, and you are ready to go. And this nation goes with you. God goes with you.

The inauguration quartet was comprised of cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzahk Perlman, clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Gabriela Montero.

Michelle Obama is looking spectacular, and the precious daughters Sasah and Melea look adorable.



HISTORY IN THE MAKING ON THE MALL

It is the artist's privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart.. Faulkner

The calm order and beauty of the Obama Inaugural Celebration absolutely sent chills down my spine. I feel so excited about the future now. America is back. I am blown away watching this concert and these gifted world-class artists and superstars.

Shakira, Beyonce and Sheryl Crowe looking gorgeous and sounding hot. Tiger Woods honoring the military. Springsteen, Seeger...Tom Hanks giving a tribute to Abraham Lincoln. Jack Black, Laura Linney, Steve Carell, Denzel Washington... Renee Fleming, Josh Groban... Bettye LaVette (the MOST SEXY SOUL VOICE!!) and Jon Bon Jovi teaming up on Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come"; John Legend (LOVE HIS VOICE!) and James Taylor (My old fave)... Herbie Hancock on keyboards, Will.I.Am and Sheryl Crow performed Bob Marley's "One Love." And I never knew how great Garth Brooks is!! "God Bless America, God Bless the world, Love one another!" He had the crowd up on their feet. What a fantastic event.

Washington Post: Some of the world's biggest artistic egos cooperated yesterday to honor both history and Obama, who sat onstage with his wife and daughters, frequently bobbing his head in time with the music and enjoying the almost inconceivable lineup that drew hundreds of thousands to the Mall. Where else could you see the biggest stars in pop music, as well as the likes of Tom Hanks, Queen Latifah, Denzel Washington and Tiger Woods on one stage -- a stage overlooked by the stoic stone gaze of Abraham Lincoln.

"Hello, America," Obama said. "I want to thank all the speakers and performers for reminding us, through song and through words, just what it is that we love about America." The free mega-concert signaled a departure from the Bush administration's frequent efforts to distance itself from Hollywood. Obama seemed to make clear with the event that he was returning to the celebrity-friendly days when Democrats last occupied the White House.

Producers had said beforehand they wanted to stage a thematically coherent as well as entertaining show, and they pulled it off with songs, readings and film clips. Although less than two hours long, it had the excitement and fullness of a LiveAid concert.

Most performers covered other people's hits with backing from the concert's official band. The Rev. Gene Robinson, the openly gay Episcopal bishop, delivered the invocation, calling for unity. Bruce Springsteen opened the show with his own "The Rising," a rousing rendition supported by a 125-voice female chorus in resplendent red gowns. John Mellencamp sang his own signature "Pink Houses," backed by a 60-member Baptist choir. The trio of James Taylor, John Legend and Jennifer Nettles joyously performed Taylor's "Shower the People."

U2 landed the honor of doing two of their own songs -- the anthemic "Pride (In the Name of Love)" and "City of Blinding Lights," which Obama had used at campaign events. Lead singer Bono said Obama had specifically requested the latter. Interviewed afterward, Bono said the president-elect's theme of hope -- and Obama himself -- represented a "melody line that is now contagious. It's a pop song."

Even Bono felt awed to be there. "We don't do humble as much as we should, but we were truly humbled this afternoon," he said.

The afternoon had the feel of a movie matinee, a greatest hits review and a history lesson. Some 14 actors read from dramatic scripts invoking the words and accomplishments of presidents Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, with occasional detours into significant chapters of the civil rights movement. Queen Latifah, for example, introduced the story of contralto Marian Anderson, who was banned by the whites-only Daughters of the American Revolution from performing at DAR Constitution Hall but got to sing at the Lincoln Memorial with an assist from first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Then Josh Groban joined Heather Headley, with backing from the Gay Mens Chorus of Washington, to cover "My Country 'Tis of Thee" -- the very song that Anderson used to open her performance in 1939.

Another historical highlight arrived with Springsteen joining 89-year-old folk singer Pete Seeger to lead the crowd -- the president-elect included -- in a singalong of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." Seeger made sure to include stanzas of the song not often sung at events of this official magnitude, including protest sentiments and references to Depression-era poverty.

Tiger Woods introduced the Naval Academy Glee Club, which performed with soprano Renee Fleming.

Perhaps the only off moment came with the introduction of two American eagles -- named Challenger and Mr. Lincoln -- before Obama spoke. The crowd seemed a bit perplexed watching the tethered birds flap their wings as their handler held them aloft while a military color guard looked on. The show's producers should have heeded the old showbiz adage: Never work with animal acts.

The enthusiastic crowd stretched from the stage to the Washington Monument. Carolyn Bacchus and her father Jim from Davidson, N.C., said they were waiting to clear security when a couple came up to them and handed them two coveted blue tickets, giving them access to the very front of the stage area.

"We don't know why they gave us tickets," Jim Bacchus said. And 18-year-old Carolyn marveled, "I got pictures with Bon Jovi. I gave him my Obama button. He was onstage wearing my Obama button."

At the edge of the crowd, DeAnna Tisdale, a 23-year-old from Jackson, Miss., said she found the experience transcendent. "When I look out here and see all the people supporting not just a man but a movement, it represents a shift in thought, a shift in action. Music always reflects how people feel."

There were many stirring, even tear-inducing moments. Some started crying when Obama spoke. Others welled up at U2's performance of "Pride," connecting to the significance of hearing it at the site of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech 46 years ago and on the day before King's birthday will be celebrated.

As Bono himself put it: "That was amazing. . . . This land isn't my land. But it never looked as beautiful as I looked out on that sea of people and possibility that this guy represents."

But perhaps not as amazing as watching the all-star lineup join in a chorus with Beyoncé as she sent off the crowd with a soulful, emotional version of "America the Beautiful."

SPIRITUAL ARCHITECTURE

Quote of the Day: “If there isn't deep integrity and fundamental character strength, the challenges of life will cause true motives to surface and human relationship failure will replace short-term success." —Stephen R. Covey

One of the most inspiring stories of 2008: 'Good Samaritan' saves crying woman's foreclosed home (from CNN.com)... But first some infuriating things my husband said that weren't so funny while they were happening...


Spiritual architecture

My husband and I went to a sports bar to watch the last Packer game of the season on Sunday. We had so much fun — but we have the goofiest relationship. Paul hates it when I use big words; he always wants me to act like a dumb blonde. So when the waitress came over to take our order I happened to be telling him an idea for a chapter in my book called "Spiritual Architecture" he got really embarrassed and told me to please not use intelligent words like that. "It might make the waitress uncomfortable," he said.

WTF?? Was he implying the waitress was stupid? No. What he meant was that he wanted me to fit into the Neanderthal crowd. Usually I have to use very pornographic language just to get his attention.

When we fight, we are talking to each other's wounds...not to each other. We fight over who’s being nicer. We strangle each other over who is doing the Golden Rule better. This reminds me of my favorite line from Dr. Strangelove: “You can’t fight in here, this is the War Room!”

By the way, when I first met my husband I was shocked at how much TV he watched. And it was always some celebrity tabloid show featuring the flavor of the month. I asked him, “Don’t you think we’re too obsessed with celebrities in this culture? He just stared at the TV and said, “No, it’s educational.”

My big question is, why am I experiencing life with this particular person? Oh yeah, according to Bob Lancer -- the purpose of marriage is to learn compassion!

So I asked him, “Tell me how, how is it educational to learn how many belly-button rings or mansions Britney Spears has? I think this is making us a nation of covetous, jealous, greedy, panicky zombies.”

He wouldn't answer. He was zoned out staring at the TV, and didn't hear me.

Over Christmas, my sister and I were going through all our old record albums, LPs. I have all the original Beatles, Jethro Tull ('Benefit' is the best, especially the song 'Sossity!') Led Zeppelin, Moody Blues, ELP, The Band, Zephyr, Fleetwood Mac ('Mystery to Me' - my favorite before Buckingham-Nicks came along...) We were reminiscing about how much fun it was to put the needle into the groove of the record, even if it would scratch the record. There was something so solid about “playing a record” on an actual turntable.

I began to think about the way we are becoming less material and more digital. Doing away with cumbersome record players, cassettes, and even CDs. We are becoming "thought" -- one mind. We are able to communicate and almost think directly to each other over computer signals and “text” messages – which is like grabbing words out of thin air.

Think of the invisible notes of music or the invisible numbers of mathematics. There is a divine harmony underlying everything. Everything is beauty and harmony. The physical picture is not the real story. Kind of like the inner software in a computer — the substance, the meat. Everything else is just temporary packaging. What's real is what's inside. The invisible.

Speaking of music, our kids blew our minds on New Years Eve. We took them to a party and they sat down at the piano and played the entire night. Each separately - Kevin, 13 played Cold Play and Muse. Jack, who is 14, played songs from the new Jack's Mannequin album (his favorite band) plus The Pink Panther, Sting and lots of other stuff. Jack wants guitar lessons too. A couple of years ago, I couldn't get them to even consider piano lessons. Now they each have a Yamaha in their rooms and they compose music everyday! You can plug in your laptop and compose as it creates sheet music.

My father was a violinist, my sister is a composer who wrote a new theme song for Extreme Home Makeover (and a major Gospel Choir is singing her composition!!) and my younger brother, who died a few years ago, was a prodigy with perfect pitch.
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New Year's Resolutions
In 2009 I am going to try to be less sensitive. I am so sensitive I feel sorry for that little depressed egg bobbing around in the “Depression” commercial…

I am so sensitive, I cried at the violence in the James Bond movie and then jumped out of the car when my husband said I had “too much compassion." My son Kevin was upset that I reminded him to have a conscience after the movie – that I made him less numb to violence. In other words, I ruined his high... and therefore it’s a bad thing! …???
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Jim Bullock put his face on my body when we were signing autographs. Fans actually bought this one: (Jimmy: Sorry you missed our Christmas party and we couldn't make it to your play in KC!)
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Epiphany: I woke up on December 1, 2008 out of the ether and realized I was depressed. Usually I light a candle on this sad day, but I had even forgotten to call my mother — as it is the anniversary of my brother's death. I picked up Eckhardt Tolle's bestseller "A New Earth: Awakening to your Life's Purpose" and randomly turned to a page at the back, which said that the only times we are unhappy are when we are looking backward or forward — in other words, when we are not living in the present moment: RIGHT NOW. Right now, nothing bad is happening. It is only when we live in the past and future that we feel pain.

The book said that we must wake up and fully enjoy the present moment - be fully conscious and look at the joy we can create by being grateful for the tiniest thing. We must also see what we can do for others, for "Only a life lived for others is worth living." I realized I had two kids in the house who needed me -- and one in particular was in a lot of pain, hobbling around after his bone surgery, with his foot bent in a crooked position. He needed me to be in good spirits, to really care about him (which I always do, but sometimes I am focused on my own deadlines and projects and fear -- that I forget to "feel his pain." So I got up and made his breakfast with so much love. Then I made his lunch and put a note in it. Then I got his shoes and rubbed his feet with Tiger Balm. Then I offered to drive him to school. He was so grateful that I lifted his burdens for the morning. My whole world changed from this simple committtment to "stay in the present moment" and stay out of my head (it's a bad neighborhood.) Stay out of worry and fear -- for they are not real and do not exist. Only the GOOD is real.

God Bless sweet Jett. As everyone knows by now, John Travolta's 16-year-old son Jett passed on Friday. Please hold the Travolta family in your prayers. Personally I am devasted by Jett's death. 
Having fledgling teenage boys myself (13 and 14) — I've been crying intermittently and praying every time I think of Kelly and John and Ella Blue.

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Back from vacation! HAPPY 2009!! May you have a year filled with LOVE, joy, peace, health, wealth, happiness and success! And remember to be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

Here is the first pic taken with my "new" iPhone (Remember the iPhone I stood in line for 5 hours to buy for my son, the very first iPhone ever made? My son finally gave it to me for Christmas, since he got a new one. Photo: Hubby and me at our kid's friend Leo's Barmitzvah, Saturday January 3, 2009


This month we will be celebrating 2009 and posting our favorite pics from 2008. I will also post "Ways to Be Happy No Matter What your Circumstances... whether in poverty or riches; whether feeling depressed, drinking too much or feeling hopeless. There are concrete ways to turn your entire life around and to be really happy. It starts with simply not thinking about yesterday or tomorrow. Right now, close off all thoughts of regret or future fear. Look around at what you have. See what you can do to make someone else happy right now. If no one is around you, make yourself happy. You can choose to feel good right now. The Buddhists say "Chop wood, carry water." Whatever you are doing, make it an art form, even if it is "chopping the wood to light the fire to make tea." Every moment is a holy moment. You are alive. This is a gift. Happy New Year!!
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We are scheduling some great guests this month, in time for Obama's inauguration! Richard Belzer, Larry Charles, Dr. Linda Durre, possibly Hillary and Bill Clinton(!) David Sedaris, Anne Lamott... If you live in Vegas you can tune in Live or go to our website and listen in the audio archives.

The Basham and Cornell Show broadcasts weekday mornings at 8 am Pacific (11 a.m. Eastern) on KLAV 1230 AM Radio live in Las Vegas. Again, all shows are simulcast worldwide on the Internet (and archived) and can be listened to at Basham and Cornell Radio

If you've missed our show, check out the audio archives for MP3 podcasts. Recent guests include: Senator Tom Daschle (Obama's Secretary of Health); CNN's Paul Begala (Former Senior Clinton advisor), Pat Buchanan (Former Reagan Advisor), John Edwards, Elizabeth Edwards, Pulitzer Prize winner Charlie Savage,CNN Crossfire's Bill Press, John Dean, Valerie Plame, NBC Bureau Chief in Tel Aviv Martin Fletcher, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Elizabeth Kucinich; Rep. Robert Wexler, Rep. Charlie Rangel, Salon's Max Blumenthal, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Rep. Patrick Murphy, Senator Byron Dorgan, Mike Gravel; Elizabeth Kucinich, Christine Pelosi, Bestselling authors Valerie Bertinelli, Naomi Klein, Paul Krugman, Christopher Cerf, Stefan Forbes,Vincent Bugliosi, etc.
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"I’m going to stop analyzing and worrying about my problems and see what happens," Lexy said to her abusive therapist Zoe.
"Are you crazy? You have to analyze your problems or they might go away!” said Zoe.
“Exactly!!" exclaimed Lexy.
- Dialogue from my film "Venus Conspiracy

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I am so proud of my sister! Her "EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION" aired last night on ABC-TV. The episode featured a gospel song my sister Kathryn wrote especially for this episode, performed by the Mt. Ararat Gospel Choir of Pittsburgh as the home was being demolished to be rebuilt. The song is called "LET THESE WALLS COME TUMBLING DOWN".

My sister is a brilliant composer and has 4 albums out. She was a founding member of the cult band "Two Nice Girls" (there were three girls in the group -- guess only 2 of them were nice!) on Rough Trade Records (Lucinda Williams' label) and was discovered at Austin's South by Southwest Conference. She also played on an album called "Guitarrorists." She also wrote the music to FOX Morning Show. She is "extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity to write for Extreme Home Makeover!" Thank you, Jen Lane (series director)!"
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'Good Samaritan' saves crying woman's foreclosed home
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Stranger buys foreclosed home for woman on hard times
"If it was you, you'd want somebody to stop and help you," says Marilyn Mock
Mock bought home for $30,000; says she'll work out payment deal with Tracy Orr
Orr says Mock's generosity has "given me back faith and hope to keep going"

(CNN) -- Tracy Orr sat in the back of the room and prepared to watch her foreclosed home go up for auction this past Saturday. That's when a pesky stranger sat down beside her and struck up a conversation.

Tracy Orr faced losing her home to foreclosure when Marilyn Mock, a stranger, stepped in to buy it.

"Are you here to buy a house?" Marilyn Mock said.

Orr couldn't hold it in. The tears flowed. She pointed to the auction brochure at a home that didn't have a picture. "That's my house," she said.

Within moments, the four-bedroom, two-bath home in Pottsboro, Texas, went up for sale. People up front began casting their bids. The home that Orr purchased in September 2004 was slipping away.

She stood and moved toward the crowd. Behind her, Mock got into the action.

"She didn't know I was doing it," Mock says. "I just kept asking her if [her home] was worth it, and she just kept crying. She probably thought I was crazy, 'Why does this woman keep asking me that?

Mock says she bought the home for about $30,000. That's when Mock did what most bidders at a foreclosure auction never do. "When it was all done, I was just in shock."

"All this happened within like 5 minutes. She never even asked me my name. She didn't ask me my financial situation. She had no idea what [the house] looked like. She just did it out of the graciousness of her heart, just a 'Good Samaritan,' " Orr says. "It's amazing."

Why be so generous? "She was just so sad. You put yourself in their situation and you realize you just got to do something," says Mock, who says she has trouble walking by homeless people on the street and not helping them out.

"If it was you, you'd want somebody to stop and help you."

Orr, who nearly lost her home, says her newfound friend has "given me back faith and hope to keep going and hold my head up. Things happen for a reason," Orr says.
(Read more at CNN.com)
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Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” Dr. Seuss

HAPPY NEW YEAR * PEACE ON EARTH and in GAZA

May you have a year filled with LOVE, joy, peace, health, wealth, happiness and success!

'Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.'

There's a lot of news to report. Hope you are tuning in to the Basham and Cornell show. This week we are replaying some of our best broadcasts - with MSNBC's Pat Buchanan, PBS Emmy Award Winner, Christopher Cerf and CNN's Paul Begala.

Obama Should Engage Now for Middle East Peace
Please read this article below by John Nichols at The Nation

An Israeli air assault on Palestinian targets in Gaza has taken an estimated 300 lives over the course of the past several days, and the death toll is mounting rapidly. Dozens of children have been killed, confirming that there is nothing "surgical" about these strikes.

Most U.S. media coverage portrays a simple struggle between Israelis on the one side and Gaza's Hamas militants on the other. This is the line that is being advanced aggressively by the Bush administration and that has effectively been accepted by President-elect Barack Obama's transition team, which is maintaining its "Bush speaks for the U.S. until January 20" line even as the crisis mounts. Following Bush's lead, Obama has refused to call for a more nuanced and effective U.S. response to an escalation of the Middle East conflict that Palestinian parliamentarian Mustafa Barghouti on Sunday described as the worst since the 1967 war in the region.

Obama and his aides should be openly counseling the Bush administration to use every diplomatic avenue to promote a ceasefire and, above all, to urge against an Israeli invasion and occupation of Gaza.
Read more at TheNation.com

TOYS FOR TOTS * CANDY CANE LANE

Hi Jolly Roger, MCH, trolls, Volt and JP!!

My husband and I are sitting in Barney's Beanery right now watching the Packers game. Steeler fans are stomping on the floor above me. We have 39 TV screens surrounding us.

Will -- I have not posted an opinion on Rick Warren but my sister (who is gay) filled me in on how truly homophobic he is. I thought he was one of the more enlightened preachers, but I hear he won't allow gays in his church. If this is true and I have yet to investigate this-- then it is HORRIBLE and he is not fit to be Obama's inauguration-giver.

Why didn't Obama pick Jim Wallis? Sojourners???

We had a houseload of kids over every day since Christmas and a party before Christmas. Mom sent us a Costco Card for tons of food and we had 90 people.

I have been baking, scrubbing and cleaning forever!! Then on Christmas eve, stayed up with hubby and wrapped gifts until 3 AM for the kids, stuffed stockings.. and put out cookies for Santa.






Okay I admit it, I'm actually Chevy Chase in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I really wanted a lighted sleigh on our roof with some reindeer, but even the kids thought it would be too gawdy for our neighborhood.

Here is a photo of Candy Cane Lane in Woodland Hills. I force the family to drive through it every year so I can ooh! and aah over the holiday lights.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy Channukah, Happy Kwanza and Happy New Year! I love Christmas more than any other time of year. I love seeing the kids' faces when they wake up (in 2 hours!)




God Bless you!
Love,
Lydia and Family
We couldn't get Chazzie to sit still for the camera and you can see he threw off his reindeer antlers.