THE WORLD TURNS! GOOD NEWS! ROAD TO RECOVERY

Two Traveling Angels

Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family.
The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion's guest room.
Instead the angels were given a small space in the cold basement.
As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it.
When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied,
'Things aren't always what they seem.'
The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife.
After sharing what little food they had the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night's rest.
When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears
Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field.
The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel how could you have let this happen?
The first man had everything, yet you helped him, she accused.
The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let the cow die.
Things aren't always what they seem,' the older angel replied.
When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall.
Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the
wall so he wouldn't find it.'
'Then last night as we slept in the farmers bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I gave him the cow instead.

'Things aren't always what they seem.'

Sometimes that is exactly what happens when things don't turn out the way they should. If you have faith, you just need to trust that every outcome is always to your advantage. You just might not know it until some time later..

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it's called the present!

I think this is special....live and savor every moment... This is not a dress rehearsal!

Never take away anyone's hope.
That may be all they have.

Some people
come into our lives
and quickly go..

Some people
become friends
and stay awhile...

leaving beautiful
footprints on our
hearts...

and we are
never
quite the same
because we have
made a good
friend!!

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it's called the present!

I think this is special....live and savor every moment... This is not a dress rehearsal!

(\ /)
( \ / )
( \()/ )
( /\ ) TAKE THIS LITTLE ANGEL
( / \/\ ) AND KEEP HER CLOSE TO YOU
/ \ SHE IS YOUR GUARDIAN ANGEL
( ) SENT TO WATCH OVER YOU
--------
Live at 8:15 AM: I haven't fully set up Twitter yet, but here is my latest Twitter update: "I'm on the radio right now while I"m typing. We have our resident political strategists on the show: Dave Schwartz and Peggy Maze Johnson. I just mentioned the woman who Googled her husband and found his car parked outside his mistress' house! We just had a caller who is in the military set to go to Afghanistan. He voted his Republican his entire life until this last election. He believes even Condi Rice voted for Obama!

New York Times

WORLD LEADERS PLEDGE 1.1 TRILLION FOR CRISIS: GIVES MORE THAN ASKED FOR! Among other steps Mr. Brown detailed were new regulations on hedge funds and rating agencies, as well as a crackdown on tax havens, which will be publicly identified and subjected to sanctions if they do not agree to share tax information with the authorities of other countries. A senior Obama administration official cautioned that the sanctions were “future oriented.” LONDON — Struggling to bridge deep divides over how to revive a paralyzed global economy, the leaders of the world’s largest economies agreed Thursday to bail out developing countries, stimulate world trade and regulate financial firms more stringently.

Stock markets around the world, especially in emerging nations, rose in the hours leading up to the announcement.

*********************

FROM WINDOW OF CHINA

Ottawa, April 2 (Xinhua) -- The meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and U.S. President Barack Obama ahead of the London G20 summit had substantially strengthened relations between the two largest economies in the world, a Canadian scholar said Thursday. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/03/content_11126101.htm

OBAMA'S DIPLOMACY AND FINESSE - The operative word here is HUMILITY, Obama diffused any antagonism among world leaders and was a gracious diplomat using a rare quality called humility. "He's a good listener." The operative word here is "humility, which means a lack of arrogance. Being thoughtful enough to really hear the person and not jump in like a know-it-all, with only self-serving interests. It's the idea that "it's better first to understand others than to be understood." - Lydia

Obama Wins More Praise In London

U.S. News and World Report
Media reports last night and this morning offer glowing reviews of President Obama's early diplomatic moves in Europe and in the process, implicitly or explicitly, are drawing contrasts between Obama and his predecessor, George W. Bush. The ranks of those openly comparing Obama's performance to Bush's include an unnamed "senior White House official." In a story about Obama's meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the CBS Evening News noted "a senior White House official said the US and Russia will now focus on mutual interests not 'a buddy/buddy relationship,' a reference to former President Bush's claim that he'd looked into Russian leader Vladimir Putin's eyes and got a sense of his soul." The Financial Times also notes that "Obama officials made it clear that the US president would 'not be looking into souls.'" Reuters draws a contrast between Obama and Bush, while The Politico says that yesterday, "in strokes of symbolism and on issues of substance," Obama "made one thing clear: The Bush era of foreign policy is over." Adds The Politico, "Gone was diplomacy by towel-snapping."

ABC World News Obama "is forging personal relationships with heads of state some of whom have not recently had warm things to say about the US." On MSNBC's Hardball, Chris Matthews said, "Barack rocks in Britain, bustling through history." The AP refers to "a stunning reversal from policies of the Bush administration," and under the headline "In Britain, Obama Vows To Listen, Not Lecture," the Washington Times reports Obama's "style was a stark change from that of his predecessor."

Obama Says ‘Historic’ G-20 Summit Put World on Path to Recovery

April 3 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama wrapped up his first international summit by declaring the event “historic” and a “turning point” toward recovery from a worldwide recession.

Obama, who used personal diplomacy to help push through an agreement on regulations and emergency aid, said he and his counterparts at the Group of 20 summit are taking “unprecedented steps” to prevent another financial crisis.

Economic risks remain and there are “no guarantees,” he said at a news conference in London yesterday. “I have no doubt, though, that the steps that have been taken are critical to preventing us sliding into a depression.”

The leaders agreed on principles for financial market regulation, including expanded controls on hedge funds and derivatives trading, and tax havens, as well as rules on compensation and bonuses. They also pledged additional financing for the International Monetary Fund and other institutions.

The summit ended amid signs the world economy is stabilizing after months of sliding. Confidence among U.S. consumers climbed in March after reaching the lowest level on record a month earlier, according to the Conference Board. U.K. house prices unexpectedly rose in March for the first time since October 2007, while Chinese manufacturing increased, reports today showed.

ESSENTIAL TRUTH * THE SHARKS OF WALL STREET

BEST FLEETWOOD MAC SONG EVER!!! Pre-Buckingham Nicks

SHOCKING REVELATIONS: And if you're wondering why the GM boss was fired but the giant, gluttonous bankers aren't being fired too -- read below Ellen Brown's "Web of Deceit." There is no Federal Reserve. The bankers are the "THEY" behind everything from the beginning, not the MIC. You will be shocked. It took her six years across several continents to investigate and write this book.

Had a BLAST at Leap Back 2009 on Friday. Above is a collage of the pilot Genesis, filmed at Edwards Airforce Base. I'm the brunette -- played a pregnant pilot's wife, Sally. That is the same house they filmed The Right Stuff in. The Blue Angels were flying overhead on cue for the backyard barbeque scene.

We were on two giant video screens in front of 300 people. I had a blast with guest stars and will post their photos later.

Fans came from all over the world: UK, Germany, Australia, Canada, Burbank...
______________

DESIDERATA

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;

many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
- Max Ehrmann in the 1920s

__________________


WEB OF DEBT

On Monday March 30, 2009, Ellen Brown will be the guest on the Basham and Cornell Radio Show at 8 am Pacific Time on AM 1230 KLAV in Las Vegas and simulcast worldwide on the web at: Basham and Cornell Radio

Ellen Brown, J.D., is a financial expert who has plunged in where others feared to tread, daring to swim against the sharks of Wall Street. She developed her research skills in other shark-infested waters, practicing civil litigation in Los Angeles.

Ellen has authored 11 books, and in her latest, “The Web of Debt”, she turns those skills to an analysis of the Federal Reserve and "the money trust."

She shows how this private cartel has usurped the power to create money from the people themselves, and how we the people can get it back.

A prodigious blogger, Brown maintains a respected website that is heavily frequented by readers
eager to learn what is happening and what we can do about it.

Web of Debt unravels the deceptions in our money scheme and presents a crystal clear picture of the financial abyss towards which we are heading. Then it explores a workable alternative, one that was tested in colonial America and is grounded in the best of American economic thought, including the writings of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.

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. We have interviewed Helen Thomas, legendary White House correspondent; Tom Daschle, former Senate Majority Leader; Presidential candidates, Pulitzer Prize winner Charlie Savage; MSNBC's Pat Buchanan, former Reagan advisor; CNN's Paul Begala, former Clinton advisor; Bill Press, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Rep. Robert Wexler, Sen. John Edwards, Elizabeth Edwards, Dennis & Elizabeth Kucinich, John Dean, NBC Bureau Chief in Tel Aviv Martin Fletcher, Congressman Charlie Rangel,Valerie Plame, Vincent Bugliosi, Christine Pelosi, Dahr Jamail, Senator Mike Gravel; Senator Byron Dorgan; bestselling authors Naomi Klein, Paul Krugman.... and many more.

QUANTUM LEAP * 11:11 * LEAP BACK 2009 BENEFITS STARLIGHT FOUNDATION

I'll be signing autographs at Leap Back 9009 * The Quantum Leap Convention tomorrow. Please stop by! ALL PROCEEDS GO TO STARLIGHT FOUNDATION for seriously ill children StarLight.org


Tomorrow, Friday March 26th I will be signing autographs and talking about the wild experiences filming the pilot of the hit Univseral series QUANTUM LEAP starring Dean Stockwell and Scott Bakula.

I will be at the Beverly Garland Hotel for "Leap Back 2009" 20th Anniversary of Quantum Leap - the series. All proceeds benefit the STARLIGHT FOUNDATION StarLight.org

If you haven't seen GENESIS 1 & 2 you can buy it on Amazon.com. The Blue Angels flew overhead for one of our pivotal scenes and we filmed the 2-hour movie at Edwards Airforce Base in California.

I have some very great stories of this 3-week shoot in the middle of winter. I had short dark hair in this episode.

You can still get tickets at the door. It's a three day convention. I will be there from 1:30 until 4:30 tomorrow, Friday March 27 and I'll drop by sometime on Sunday to visit with Scott Bakula, Series creator Don Bellisario and James Whitmore, jr. who directed my Hunter episode.

Starlight Children's Foundation™

The Leap Back 2009 proudly supports the Starlight Children's Foundation! Proceeds made from the convention after all expenses are paid will be donated to this fantastic organization. We're also holding a special charity auction featuring rare memorabilia of which 100% of the proceeds will be given to the foundation!

In "Quantum Leap", Dr. Sam Beckett leaped from life to life, putting things right that once went wrong. In real life, we can't change history, but we can make things a little more right for many of these children that the foundation assists! We believe every person can make a difference in a child's life. By purchasing your admission to this convention, you are helping make a difference in a child's life. If you are unable to attend, we hope you'll make a contribution to the Starlight Children's Foundation through their website or by calling (310) 479-1212.

Here is an introduction taken from the Starlight Children Foundation's website:

Starlight Children's Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to making a world of difference for seriously ill children and their families.

We touch the lives of a sick child and family all along their journey through a serious illness, from the time of diagnosis all the way through, in the hospital and at home. Families become part of our community and we work hard to meet their needs in a wide variety of ways. We build playrooms and teen lounges in hospitals and provide PC Pals and Fun Centers so kids can play games, e-mail, chat with friends, and even do their homework from their hospital bed. We bring in entertainers and sponsor parties for kids who are stuck in the hospital. When the kids get to go home, we keep them connected them through online chat rooms and special outings for the entire family. We provide them with information about specific illnesses and treatments on our websites and through videos and games we create. We distribute hundreds of thousands of books and toys every year. We are there for them at the time they need it most.

Starlight softens the hard edges of what a family experiences when a child has a serious illness. We create a sense of community between families who are having similar experiences by providing opportunities for them to escape the hospital, doctors, nurses, needles and treatments and doing something fun where they get to join others and just feel "normal" again--perhaps even forgetting that anyone is sick for a short while.

For more information or to make a donation, please visit StarLight.org to learn more about what this great organization does worldwide for children with serious illnesses! Please watch this short video telling you a little more about Starlight Children's Foundation.

____________________

Last night I was reading Steve Pavlina's blog, which I discovered two years ago by accident. I saw the "11:11" in the bottom right-hand corner of his post. I couldn't believe it. I never knew he was also one of us. I checked to see if it was just a time stamp but it was on another post too. Then I discovered an article he had written quite recently called "11:11." When I read the first sentence -- that he started seeing this in 1994 chills went down my spine. 1994 was when I began to see the 11:11, after the most uncanny Twilight-Zonish coincidence of my life. I saw it many times a day on so many things you can imagine (not just digital clocks) and I began to manifest every thing I really thought about... For years I've been hesitant to write or speak about this except to close friends who are like-minded. I've written about it in my journals and have owned an email address for 15 years with a version of this name. But I just wanted to finally put this out there.

ALAN SHRUGGED: GREENSPAN, AYN RAND and THEIR GOD THAT FAILED

Below, read fascinating articles on Ayn Rand's "Virtue of Selfishness" philosophy, her drug habit, and a personal story from one of her followers.

Alan Shrugged: Greenspan, Ayn Rand and Their God That Failed

In a historic moment, former Fed chair Alan Greenspan acknowledged he had been wrong for years to assume that government regulation was bad for markets. Whoops—there goes decades of Ayn Rand down the drain.

by David Corn
In a congressional hearing room on Thursday, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, one of the most influential civil servants of the past century, saw his stock plummet—and his entire career lose its moorings. More important, the ideological battle over economic theory and the role of government in markets—a fight that has played out in the current presidential campaign—took a historic turn.

With members of the House oversight and government reform committee blasting Greenspan for his past decisions that helped pave the way for the current financial crisis, he acknowledged that his libertarian view of markets and the financial world had not worked out so well. "You know," he told the legislators, "that's precisely the reason I was shocked, because I have been going for 40 years or more with very considerable evidence that it was working exceptionally well." While Greenspan did defend his various decisions, he admitted that his faith in the ability of free and loosely-regulated markets to produce the best outcomes had been shaken: "I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms."

In other words, whoops—there goes decades of Ayn Rand down the drain.

Democrats on the committee made Greenspan eat ideological crow. And after the hearing, Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California released letters Greenspan had written to legislators in 2002 and 2003 that now cast the former chief banker as out of touch with financial reality.

Back then, Feinstein was pushing for regulating financial instruments known as derivatives—particularly those called swaps. In 2000, Republican Senator Phil Gramm, then the chairman of the Senate banking committee, had used a sly legislative maneuver to pass a bill keeping swaps free from federal regulation. (Lobbyists for financial firms had helped to write the bill.) The swaps market subsequently exploded, as financial firms bought and sold swaps as insurance to cover their trading in subprime securities and other freewheeling financial products. In a nutshell: the rise of unregulated swaps enabled the growth of the shaky subprime securities at the heart of the current financial crisis. Greenspan was an ardent supporter of keeping swaps virtually unregulated.

In 2001, Enron, having gone crazy with energy derivatives, collapsed—after the firm had manipulated the California electricity market, costing residents of Feinstein's states billions of dollars. Following that fiasco, Feinstein decided the derivatives market needed to be reined in. As The Wall Street Journal reported in 2004, "When she telephoned Mr. Greenspan for support, he declined, telling her the proposal threatened the multitrillion dollar derivatives industry, which he considers an important stabilizing force that diffuses financial risk."

In September 2002, Greenspan, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Harvey Pitt, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission chairman James Newsome wrote a letter to members of Congress to note their opposition to legislation that would regulate derivatives. They wrote:

We believe that the [over-the-counter] derivatives markets in question have been a major contributor to our economy's ability to respond to the stresses and challenges of the last two years. This proposal would limit this contribution, thereby increasing the vulnerability of our economy to potential future stresses....
We do not believe a public policy case exists to justify this governmental intervention. The OTC markets trade a wide variety of instruments. Many of these are idiosyncratic in nature....
While the derivatives markets may seem far removed from the interests and concerns of consumers, the efficiency gains that these markets have fostered are enormously important to consumers and to our economy.
Greenspan and the others urged Congress "to be aware of the potential unintended consequences" of legislation to regulate derivatives.

They got it exactly wrong. Swaps and derivatives ended up undermining, not bolstering, the economy.

Feinstein was not convinced by Greenspan's argument, and she continued to press for legislation to regulate swaps. And Greenspan continued to resist. In a June 11, 2003 letter—also signed by the new Treasury secretary. John Snow, the new SEC chairman, William Donaldson, and CFTC chairman Newsome—Greenspan praised derivatives and called them an essential part of the economy:

Businesss, financial institutions, and investors throughout the economy rely upon derivatives to protect themselves from market volatility triggered by unexpected economic events. This ability to manage risks makes the economy more resilient and its importance cannot be underestimated. In our judgment, the ability of private counterparty surveillance to effectively regulate these markets can be undermined by inappropriate extensions of government regulations.
They were asserting that government regulation undercuts market-driven self-regulation. But as events have demonstrated, unregulated swaps did not protect Big Finance firms; they weakened the entire financial industry in the United States and overseas.

In a November 5, 2003 letter, signed only by Greenspan, the Fed chair again took a shot at Feinstein's proposal to control derivatives. He noted that "enhanced market discipline" would address concerns about the manipulation of markets.

Before the oversight committee, Greenspan said that he had been "partially" wrong to believe that swaps did not need regulation. But he did seek cover by claiming he had not been alone in screwing up: "The Federal Reserve had as good an economic organization as exists. If all those extraordinarily capable people were unable to foresee the development of this critical problem...we have to ask ourselves: Why is that? And the answer is that we're not smart enough as people. We just cannot see events that far in advance."

But not everyone got it wrong. In the late 1990s, regulators at the CFTC wanted to regulate swaps. Gramm, Greenspan and others—including senior members of the Clinton administration—did not. Following the Enron debacle, Feinstein took a run at this. But Greenspan and Bush administration officials said no. And it was not an issue of smarts; it was a matter of ideology.

In fact, it was always a matter of ideology for Greenspan, a libertarian champion. In 1963, writing in Rand's "Objectivist" newsletter, he noted, "It is in the self-interest of every businessman to have a reputation for honest dealings and a quality product." Regulation, he maintained, undermines this "superlatively moral system." Self-governance by choice, he said, would be more effective than governance through government. Regulation, Greenspan maintained, was the enemy of freedom: "At the bottom of the endless pile of paper work which characterizes all regulation lies a gun."

Well, it turns out that at the bottom of the system that Greenspan oversaw for years, there was nothing but a pile of bad paper. And testifying to the House oversight committee, Greenspan, one of the more ideological Washington players of the past few decades, essentially said that Ayn Randism had let him—and the entire world—down. It was truly a God that failed.

David Corn is Mother Jones' Washington bureau chief.

© 2008 Mother Jones

My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute. —Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged 35th anniversary edition

Comment from Lydia:

"As I searched for the words, "compassion" "empathy" or "love" in articles on Ayn Rand, I could not find them. This is what is lacking in Ayn Rand. She has missed the core of everything. She talks in the periphery, all around the substance but never hits home. Her mind is brilliant in its analytical arguments, but it is a small mind. She spins circles and she can justify anything intellectually. But the intellect is limited.

I'm sure that wherever she is in the vast consciousness of the afterlife -- she has found by now that love is all that matters. Losing interest in selfish things is all that really matters. Smashing the ego, not building a shrine to it.

Now I realize why Ayn Rand never spoke of love and seemed to be so disconnected from humanity.

Now I see why Rush Limbaugh is such a fan of Ayn Rand's "virtue of selfishness" principle. Whether or not Rush is still taking pharmaceutical heroin (Oxycontin) he is at least numbing himself with self-righteousness, megalomania, resentment and ego (as a lot of us are!) These are drugs in themselves.

FROM BIOGRAPHY.COM:

FAQ: I heard that Rand was addicted to speed. Is this true?

As with many claims about Rand, this one is rather exaggerated. According to the most reliable information available on the matter, Rand had an ongoing prescription from a doctor for a diet drug that included dextroamphetamine as one of its active ingredients. She took two pills per day until the early 1970s, when another doctor told her to stop taking them. If you refer to any and all amphetamines as "speed," then she did take "speed," although it is probably not accurate to say she was addicted to it. She certainly did not take the street drugs to which the term 'speed' is more commonly applied.

The documentary evidence on this subject is limited. Nathaniel Branden mentions the matter very briefly in his memoirs. All he says is the following:

I did not attach significance to the fact that, since her late twenties, she had been taking amphetamines daily for weight control, on the advice of a physician. I do not think the discovery had yet been made that a protracted use of amphetamines can precipitate paranoid reactions.

In a magazine interview, he expounded only slightly more on the topic:

She was taking a relatively small quantity of a drug called Dexedrine which in those days doctors were prescribing very freely for people who wanted to control their appetite. Today of course Dexedrine has a bad name and it's no longer recommended. But it was recommended to her, I think, when she was only twenty-eight years of age, and she had been taking two pills a day, I believe almost as long as she lived. I don't think she took heavy doses.[*]

Barbara Branden discusses the matter with more detail in The Passion of Ayn Rand. Her discussion in full is as follows:

It was during this period of nonstop work on The Fountainhead that Ayn went to see a doctor. She had heard there was a harmless pill one could take to increase one's energy and lessen one's appetite. The doctor, telling her there would be no negative consequences, prescribed a low dosage of a small green tablet which doctors had begun prescribing rather routinely. Its trade name was Dexamyl. Ayn took two of these pills each day for more than thirty years. They appeared to work: she felt that her physical energy had increased, although it was never high, and her weight stayed under reasonable control. In fact, medical opinion today suggests that they soon ceased to be a source of physical energy; their effect shortly became that of a placebo.

Dexamyl consists of two chemicals: an amphetamine and a barbiturate. It was not until the sixties that researchers investigated the effects of large doses of these chemicals. They found that extremely high doses were harmful, sometimes even resulting in paranoid symptoms; but to this day, there is only the most fragmentary and contradictory scientific evidence to suggest that low doses such as Ayn took could be harmful. As one pharmacological specialist has said: "Perhaps they hurt her, and perhaps they didn't."

WHO IS AYN RAND?
Ayn Rand characterized Objectivism as "a philosophy for living on earth," grounded in reality, and aimed at defining man's nature and the nature of the world in which he lives. Rand initially expressed these ideas in her novels The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, and other works. She further elaborated on them in The Objectivist Newsletter, The Objectivist, The Ayn Rand Letter, Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, and other non-fiction books.[4]

Objectivism holds: ... that the proper moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness or rational self-interest; that the only social system consistent with this morality is full respect for individual rights, embodied in pure laissez-faire capitalism; and that the role of art in human life is to transform man's widest metaphysical ideas, by selective reproduction of reality, into a physical form—a work of art—that he can comprehend and to which he can respond emotionally.
_______________________

An Insider's Look by Lee Stranahan Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lee-stranahan/an-insiders-look-at-how-a_b_174752.html

I know my Ayn Rand. In fact, when it comes to Rand and her philosophy of Objectivism I'll put put my Ayn Cred up against almost anyone.

I attended her funeral in 1982. I was one of two students at experimental Objectivist high school back in 1980s. I did the audio taping on a lecture course taught by her 'intellectual heir', Leonard Peikoff. I've attended Objectivist conferences, owned first edition copies of Atlas Shrugged and I was personally kicked off the lawn of the Canadian power trio Rush's drummer by Neil Peart himself asserting his property rights.

Today, I realize that Rand's philosophy isn't just wrong or misguided - it's actually been destructive and dangerous.

This destructiveness has been true on a personal, human level for years. I'm not just talking about teenagers devouring The Virtue Of Selfishness and turning into belligerent, arrogant pricks - pubescent pontificating Penn Jillettes capable of quoting passages about epistemology and almost immediately killing any social occasion.

There were darker personal tragedies, too; fans of Ayn Rand in 1960s who had the misfortune to be in her circle and gay, something that Ms. Rand did not approve of. There were whispered rumors of an Objectivist therapist who broke with Rand after one of his gay patients committed suicide after being unable to reconcile his sexuality with the Objectivist philosophy.

It's even more than the shameful fact that the Objectivist movement and its purported belief in individual rights stayed completely on the sidelines during the Rand's intellectual heyday of the 1960s while the single biggest advance in individual liberty was going on - namely, the civil rights movement. Well, Rand did knock out a few pages in an article called Racism in 1963 that spent as much time blaming 'the Negro leaders' as it did the 'Southern Racists'.The reality is that Ayn Rand is pretty directly responsible for the economic destruction we see around us today.

It's a Rand-worthy ironic plot twist that people like Michelle Malkin are invoking her name today with their Tea Party and "Going Galt' dramatics. One thing, Malkin doesn't even know how to pronounce Rand's name. It's not 'Ann' Rand - it's Ayn, rhymes with MINE.

The real irony is that Malkin and the other Fauxjectivists don't really understand a lot about the specifics of Rand's ideas at all. A twisted version of Rand's thought is the basis for a lot of NeoCon movement, much of the modern libertarian / Ron Paul movement and much of the right wing economic rhetoric used by the tattered remains of the Republican party.

For decades now, Rand's work has given comfort and ammunition to brazen bozos like Rush Limbaugh and McCain economic advisor Phil "Don't Worry Be Happy" Gramm. Its defense of selfishness and unrestricted capitalism provided an air of intellectualism to bad behavior and horrible policy.

Behind of the ideological tossed salad nature of many of the self professed Ayn Rand fans, I don't think it's fair to criticize Rand's ideas on the basis of the scatterbrain sloganeer like Malkin. And besides, just looking at the work of Rand and her official band of lunatics still leaves one with so much to be critical of.

One direct result of Rand is Alan Greenspan. This will be met with hue and cry from Objectivists who will claim that Greenspan doesn't pass their purity, which means he should have wanted even LESS regulation than he did and should have never have run the Federal Reserve but instead blown it up with dynamite and replaced it with the Gold Standard.

But Greenspan himself has admitted that he was tragically wrong about how people would act in unrestricted, unregulated markets. And this philosophy is part of what trigged the current economic crisis.

The ultimate horrible truth is that most of Rand's 'philosophy of the real world' has worked out very badly in the real world. It's a collection of ideas that haven't been tested or just don't work but its adherents still have a Bush-like unshakable faith in it because...well, it's just RIGHT and reality be damned.

Sadly, it's damned a lot of the rest of us, too.

A BEAUTIFUL WORLD

On Monday March 23, 2009, Michael Lux will be the guest on the Basham and Cornell Radio Show at 8 am Pacific Time on AM 1230 KLAV in Las Vegas.

Lux was a member of the Obama/Biden Transition Team. In that role, he served as an adviser to the Public Liaison on relationships with the progressive community and gave strategic advice on structuring the Office of Public Liaison based on his past experience working on the Clinton/Gore Transition, as well as in the White House.

Mike Lux is the co-founder and President of Progressive Strategies, L.L.C., a political consulting firm founded in 1999, focused on strategic political consulting for non-profits, labor unions, PACs and progressive donors.

His first book is titled “The Progressive Revolution:How the Best in America Came to Be.”

Previously, Mike was Senior Vice President for Political Action at People For the American Way (PFAW), and the PFAW Foundation, and served in the Clinton White House from January 1993 to mid-1995 as a Special Assistant to the President for Public Liaison. He also played a role in five different presidential campaign teams.

In recent years, he co-founded the influential progressive blog OpenLeft.com, and served in a key liaison role to the progressive community upon being named to the transition team for Barack Obama.

Mike serves on the boards of several important organizations, including the Arca Foundation. In addition to serving on the board, Mike was also a co-founder of Americans United for Change, Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, Center for Progressive Leadership, Grassroots Democrats, PoliticsTV, Progressive Majority, and Women's Voices Women Vote.

He also played a role in helping launch the Center for American Progress and Air America.



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 in our audio archives. Basham and Cornell RadioWe have interviewed Tom Daschle, former Senate Majority Leader; Presidential candidates, Pulitzer Prize winner Charlie Savage; MSNBC's Pat Buchanan, former Reagan advisor; CNN's Paul Begala, former Clinton advisor; Bill Press, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Sen. John Edwards, Elizabeth Edwards, Dennis & Elizabeth Kucinich, John Dean, NBC Bureau Chief in Tel Aviv Martin Fletcher, Congressman Charlie Rangel,Valerie Plame, Vincent Bugliosi, Christine Pelosi, Dahr Jamail, Senator Mike Gravel; Senator Byron Dorgan; bestselling authors Naomi Klein, Paul Krugman.... and many more.
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Need a break from politics? The world is going through a cleansing now, and all the ego-driven, archaic ways are ending. There are so many wonderful things on the horizon. I have to tell you about an amazing trip I took to Pompeii with a Shakespearean actor who was starring in an Italian Zombie movie years ago. We travelled up the Amalfi Coast. Someday soon I want to visit Switzerland: St. Moritz where there is sunshine 322 days a year. It would be great to check out the biosphere in Entlebuch - a totally sustainable idyllic village. You can get "Hay Soup" there. Another place I'd love to go is Iceland, to an Ice Hotel!!!To clear the mind, take a look at these gorgeous places in the world:

SOME OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACES IN THE WORLD

1. Norway: Fjords and the Preikestolen cliff

2. France: The Versailles Palace, South-west of Paris

3. Zimbabwe-Zambia: Victoria Waterfalls

4. Vietnam: The Halong Bay, Gulf of Tonkin - East of Hanoi

5. Pakistan: The Badshahi mosque at Lahore, south-east of Islamabad

6. Germany: The Neuschwanstein castle

7. Brazil: Aerial view of Rio of Janeiro

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ANNE RICE: GOOD ALWAYS TRIUMPHS

I just heard an amazing interview with Anne Rice (the author of "Interview with the Vampire", etc.) discussing her latest book "Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana." She reminded me that good always wins, and we have to stop giving the bad guys equal power.

We have to stop acting as if evil has power equal to good. It does not. I am going to stop pretending to be afraid of the "evil doers" like Rush Limbaugh, Cheney, and the mindset of those who will not see their crimes. We have to stop being afraid of the crooks; we're giving them too much power. They are paper dragons.

Obama is our president for a reason now. Enlightenment is here. We are on the way back to a great world, where fair is fair and truth defeats lies. This is America. We don't have a caste system as India has. We are the great hope for mankind; we are the brave new world. As a reminder of the good in life, take a look at some of the most beautiful places in the world.

How can anyone be depressed?

Eckhardt Tolle was suicidal and said to himself, "I can't live with myself anymore." He heard himself say these words and suddenly woke up. "Who am I talking to? Maybe only one of me is real. I have a choice. Maybe only the good is real." He chose life and from that moment on had a revelation: he would live in the moment only. He would not worry about tomorrow. He spent 3 years being homeless but ecstatically happy, living at peace with himself. Of course now he's a multi-millionaire having written two books that sold over 8 million copies.

We have everything we need at every moment. We just have to wake up.

THE MOB VS. THE MOB

"I feel like I'm watching Star Wars and the destruction of the Evil Empire. This banking industry is like the mob and the mob is after them."

GOOD THINGS HAPPENING BENEATH THE SURFACE. Read more below...

SCANDAL UPDATES: CAN YOU BELIEVE THE NERVE?

But PLEASE STOP THE DEATH THREATS against the AIG employees who received bonues. I have received death threats from Ann Coulter fans, and believe me, it is quite scary — especially when you have children. It can ruin your life. This is a media lynching, and since the blame is with the designers of these credit default swaps and complicated financial products, people should behave like civilized human beings.

A.I.G. Sues U.S. for Return of $306 Million in Tax Payments

While the American International Group comes under fire from Congress over executive bonuses, it is quietly fighting the federal government for the return of $306 million in tax payments, some related to deals that were conducted through offshore tax havens.

A.I.G. sued the government last month in a bid to force it to return the payments, which stemmed in large part from its use of aggressive tax deals, some involving entities controlled by the company’s financial products unit in the Cayman Islands, Ireland, the Dutch Antilles and other offshore havens.

A.I.G. is effectively suing its majority owner, the government, which has an 80 percent stake and has poured nearly $200 billion into the insurer in a bid to avert its collapse and avoid troubling the global financial markets. The company is in effect asking for even more money, in the form of tax refunds. The suit also suggests that A.I.G. is spending taxpayer money to pursue its case, something it is legally entitled to do. Its initial claim was denied by the Internal Revenue Service last year.

CNBC HOST: WALL STREET FIRMS CAN'T 'BE RUN WELL' BY THOSE MAKING UNDER $250K

HAINES: Let’s get back to what I regard as a fundamental issue here. I know it’s politically unpopular, politically incorrect. I know it goes against all of the populist indignation that’s out there right now. But you can’t really, it seems to me, expect that these Wall Street companies are going to be run well by a bunch of people who don’t make more than $250,000.

Of course, Wall Street has been run so smoothly under millionaire CEOs. Haines also seems to be criticizing the management ability of America’s small business owners, the vast majority of whom do not earn over $250,000 in gross income per year.

UPDATE The Wonk Room's Pat Garofalo notes that today Haines also compared Wall Street to Nazi Germany in arguing that AIG should keep its bonuses:

"It’s just like when the Allies were victorious over Nazi Germany in World War II, when we occupied the country, we left a lot of Nazis in place because they were the ones who made the trains run on time and the bureaucracy function properly, etc. And it was distasteful, but you needed them." (!!!!???)

SUZE ORMAN TO BUSH: You Owe The American People Every Penny Of Your Fortune And Your Family's Fortune

MIRACLES HAPPEN... THE GOOD NEWS

This AIG bonus scandal is a gift in disguise. It is exposing the ugly underbelly of massive banking fraud and elitism. This is a good thing. The liars can whine all they want, but the truth is that deregulation caused this and pleas to regulate were ignored for the past 8 years on George W. Bush's watch. So -- let's look at the good happening now: Transparency! So much greed occurred in the past 8 years, including mortgage banking fraud, contractor fraud in Iraq, war profiteering and Big Oil tax loopholes. Everything will come out now. This is encouraging.

You attract to yourself riches or poverty, peace of mind or fear — entirely in accordance with the thoughts you think. You make your own conditions, and you can unmake them.

"You know how when you’re in a room with a serial killer – or someone who is extremely angry – you can just feel the tension coming off the person? Well the opposite is true too. It’s been scientifically proven that enthusiasm and courage actually change your brain waves, changing the molecular structure around you. This means you can be attractive even if you’re not good looking — because when you radiate love, you attract people. - Lydia from the comedy "Venus Conspiracy"

Science has now proven that there is no solid matter. What looks like a table is really vibrational energy. Love is a powerful molecular energy, a transformative force. Imagine if joy and love were tangible, physical. What would they look like? A joyous, loving spirit actually has a calming effect on others.

THINGS FALL APART... BUT IT'S ALL GOOD

Chaos theory says that right where there appears to be chaos, from a higher view, a beautiful pattern is developing and emerging. If a business doesn't pay attention to changes going on, it is going to be in trouble. But if this troubled business embraces the change - there will be a period that appears to be "chaos" for a while, but in reality a beautiful solution is developing. This good intention of "embracing change and acting on the side of good" acts as a magnet that brings everything into order. A higher order, the next stage of development.

VIKTOR FRANKL

Viktor Frankl, the Austrian Holocaust survivor who overcame concentration camp torture with the power of his mind, is one of my heroes. He literally transcended hell on earth with his thoughts, and somehow the torturers left him alone. He rose above his grisly fate by dwelling on love. He thought non-stop of his wife's face, the love they shared. He filled his mind with so much love, the prison guards never abused him. He was untouchable and of course, was one of the few who survived.

Even in the degradation and abject misery of a concentration camp, Frankl was able to exercise the most important freedom of all - the freedom to determine one's own attitude and spiritual well-being. No sadistic Nazi SS guard was able to take that away from him or control the inner-life of Frankl's soul. One of the ways he found the strength to fight to stay alive and not lose hope was to think of his wife. Frankl clearly saw that it was those who had nothing to live for who died quickest in the concentration camp.

From "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl: "A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth--that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.

I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world may still know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when a man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way--an honorable way--in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment. For the first time in my life, I was able to understand the words, "The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory."

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MIRACLES HAPPEN ... they are natural laws

A very wise man said that each time he lost a job or client, the door opened to a better one. The minute he put too much importance on a particular job, project or relationship, it mysteriously self-destructed. . .because you cannot get your self-esteem from material things. It’s an inside job. The minute you put all your focus on money, pleasure or material goods you will lose those things – because nothing in the material world is stable. Stock markets drop, banks fail, houses can burn down. But as long as you "wear the world as a loose garment" you can be okay during any crisis.

All you have to do is to take care of one moment at a time and commit 100% to getting your inner life right before anything else.

The man I'm referring to now has a successful career on his own terms, doing work that he loves; but he had to let go of needing that one job to fix him. He had to stop putting his focus on MONEY, PROPERTY OR PRESTIGE.

** If you are very worried and confused, now is the time to “lie down among the poppies” mentally and pray. But prayer is not what you think it is. It is walking surrendering the fight. Stop worrying about your problems, walk away from intellectual manipulation. Try it for one week.

"It is by self-forgetting that we find..." As contrary to your nature and as hard as it sounds, you must completely put your worries aside for one week or so — enjoy the beauty in life, find ways to help others — get your mind off yourself and your worries. You can only fix things so far by human manipulation. When you are deeply confused there is only one way to go: DROP IT ALL TOGETHER and replace your negative obsessions with thoughts of joy, truth, love and beauty. These are all synonyms of "God." This is true prayer: the invisible transfer of love to another, and to yourself.

Emmet Fox writes: "A woman in London, whose affairs seemed to have got into a hopeless tangle that meant utter ruin, was persuaded to drop the whole burden mentally and “let the worst happen,” while he spent two or three days browsing spiritual books, and praying for peace and happiness. He was forbidden to worry or look again at his problems. Everything cleared up like magic within a week without having to take any material action."

If you have a problem or a worry, do not indulge in blaming the past, or dwelling on the problem — whether it’s your job or a tragedy or a difficult person or someone who hurt you. Do not look back and blame yourself either. It’s a complete waste of time. Do not indulge in grumbling, psychoanalyzing, self-pity, recriminations, or how you could have done it better. The past will tyrannize you; the future will terrorize you. All you can do is live this one moment and train your thoughts. TRAIN YOUR THOUGHTS to think only of good things; and if you can’t come up with any good thoughts, don’t think at all, empty your mind out. Stop the chatter, meditate -- take a walk in a forest. If you can't stand the quiet— go to the movies, ride a roller coaster, help at the Mission, eat ice-cream, go dancing, play music, create art, express joy, have fun, clean house.

As Einstein said, "No problem can be solved on the level it was created on."

DON’T THINK, DON’T DWELL ON YOUR WORRIES; DWELL ON GOOD, BEAUTY TRUTH, LIGHT, JOY. If you really do this, your problem will go away because your thoughts create your reality.

If you dwell on your worries they will get bigger. This is what is meant by "don't fight your enemies." You thought your problem into existence, now unthink it. Shakespeare said, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Wash it away by substituting it with a thought of Love, Truth, Beauty Wisdon. You will be amazed at the power of prayer; it completely changes things — even sickness and material conditions. This is a secret few people know until they really want it. Give it a try and see what happens.

Love by Emmet Fox

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

It makes no difference how deeply seated the trouble, how hopeless the outlook, how muddled the tangle, how great the mistake; a sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all.”

Forget mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you’re going to do now and do it now. Today is your lucky day!

HEARTBREAKING AIG SCANDAL UPDATES

Fed failed to tell Obama about AIG bonuses!

"This is like the captain and the crew of the ship reserving the lifeboats, saying to hell with the passengers, we're going to take the lifeboats for ourselves, for the crew and the captain. That's what happened here." Massachusetts Democrat Stephen Lynch

This is heartbreaking: yesterday I was listening to the Ron Reagan show on Air America, and a woman called in named "Nadia" who lost her 19-year-old son in an industrial accident. Even though he was covered by AIG in an insurance policy with his company, AIG would not pay out. The grieving family was given the run-around and forced to go to court to sue AIG. The insurance giant still has not paid anything on the claim. They "claim" they have no money, or some such nonsense. I am not exactly sure of all the details, but you could hear the heartache in her voice. To have lost a son, and then to hear that AIG is paying out bonuses to buddies, swindlers and fellow partners in crime, is simply criminal.

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The Real AIG Scandal: It's not the bonuses. It's that AIG's counterparties are getting paid back in full. By Eliot Spitzer

Everybody is rushing to condemn AIG's bonuses, but this simple scandal is obscuring the real disgrace at the insurance giant: Why are AIG's counterparties getting paid back in full, to the tune of tens of billions of taxpayer dollars?

...The appearance that this was all an inside job is overwhelming. AIG was nothing more than a conduit for huge capital flows to the same old suspects, with no reason or explanation.

It all appears, once again, to be the same insiders protecting themselves against sharing the pain and risk of their own bad adventure.

The payments to AIG's counterparties are justified with an appeal to the sanctity of contract. If AIG's contracts turned out to be shaky, the theory goes, then the whole edifice of the financial system would collapse.

What is the deeper relationship between Goldman and AIG? Didn't they almost merge a few years ago but did not because Goldman couldn't get its arms around the black box that is AIG? If that is true, why should Goldman get bailed out? After all, they should have known as well as anybody that a big part of AIG's business model was not to pay on insurance it had issued.
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Arianna Huffington: A Disturbing D.C. Whodunit [Updated]

The mystery over who killed a provision in the stimulus package that would have curtailed bonuses at bailed out companies is a disturbing D.C. whodunit. But even more disturbing is what it reveals about how our government is run. "It is the ultimate indictment of what Washington has become," Sen. Ron Wyden, co-sponsor of the eliminated provision told me. "It's a place where, again and again, the public interest is deep-sixed without any fingerprints." Wyden has no idea who killed the provision. And, so far, no one in the administration of a president who promised that transparency would be a "touchstone" of his presidency has demanded that whoever is responsible own up to it. We deserve better.
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Michael Hudson of Counterpunch says: Let’s go after the REAL money given to AIG – the $183 billion! I realize that this has already been paid out, and we can’t get it back from the counterparties who knew that Alan Greenspan and George Bush and Hank Paulson were steering the U.S. economy off a real estate cliff, a derivatives cliff and a balance-of-payments cliff all wrapped up into one by betting against collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and insuring these casino bets with AIG. That money has been siphoned off from the Treasury fair and square, by putting their own proxies in the key government slots, the better to serve them.

So let’s go after them altogether. Sen. Schumer said to the AIG bonus recipients that the I.R.S. can go after them and get the money back one way or another. And it can indeed go after the $183-billion bailout recipients. All it has to do is re-instate the estate tax and raise the marginal income and wealth-tax rates to the (already reduced) Clinton-era levels.


HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!

You are SO lucky!

AIG OUTRAGE UPDATE!

NY Attorney General Cuomo Reveals 73 Individuals Got Multi-Million-Dollar Bonuses... Top Recipient Got $6.4 Million....

Undercuts AIG Claim On Retention Payments: Numerous Bonus Recipients No Longer Work At The Firm ...

MORE AIG FALLOUT: CNBC's Santelli Downplays AIG Outrage, Asks Public To Show Some Perspective: "$165 Million Is Like Worrying About 16.5 Cents While $165 Maybe Necessitates A Little More Outrage"... Sen. Reid: Congress Intends To Retrieve Stimulus Money From AIG... Geithner Under Fire Over AIG Scandal: Sen. Shelby Charges Treasury Secretary Is "Out Of The Loop"... Security Ramped Up After Death Threats: Armed Guards Posted Outside AIG Offices... Some Senior Managers Submit Resignations... AIG BIG NEWS PAGE at Huffington Post

Who is Saint Patrick?

Saint Patrick was a missionary who lived in Ireland. He died around March 17, 493.
When he was 16 years old, Saint Patrick was captured and made a slave.
He was a slave for six years.
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Arianna Huffington: What If Jon Stewart, Instead of John King, Interviewed Dick Cheney

As I watched John King interview Dick Cheney on Sunday, Jon Stewart kept popping into my head. Each time King let Cheney get away with revisionist history, I kept thinking how different things would have been had Stewart been asking the questions. A low point came when King brought out some data to refute Cheney's spin, then undercut the impact of the hard, cold facts that he was quoting by using mealy-mouthed qualifiers like "There are people who would say..." and "and they have some numbers to back up their case." Facts are not some numbers that belong to some people being trotted to make their case. They are empirical evidence. I can imagine King asking a flat-earther: "Some people say the earth is round. And they have some pictures taken from outer space to back up their case. What would you say to them?" More at Huffington Post