• The GOP's Anti-Obama Propaganda
  by: Robert Parry, Consortium News

• ... The official history of what happened during Bill Clinton's difficult first two years - which ended in a sweeping Republican congressional victory in 1994 - focuses on the GOP's united resistance to his economic plan and Hillary Clinton's failed health care reform. But there was a darker side to the political damage inflicted on the early Clinton administration.

  Republicans and their right-wing allies disseminated what - in a covert operation - would be called "black propaganda." Some exaggerated minor scandals, like the Travel Office firings and Clinton's Whitewater real-estate deal, while other key figures on the Right, such as the Rev. Jerry Falwell, spread ugly conspiracy rumors linking Clinton to "mysterious deaths" and cocaine smuggling...

Patrick: There is certainly room for "principled opposition" to some of President Obama's policies and positions, and I welcome that, as long as it's expressed in a civil manner. However, the above article deals with the kind of uncivil, paranoid propaganda that we saw during the Clinton years, and we've seen some of the same kind of stuff used against Obama.

I confess, I was caught up in the demonizing of Bill and Hillary Clinton. A lot of it was probably inaccurate, and definitely unChristian. Bill had enough real faults, in terms of some of his policies and moral problems. Right wingers didn't need to make up even uglier stuff. But, some did. It would be refreshing if we didn't have to see a replay of that politics of destruction propaganda.

A lesson for preachers from a recent speech

Howard Fine: What Caused Bobby Jindal's Speech to Be a Disaster? I would like to examine from my perspective as an acting coach,...

Patrick: I'm posting this because I think the author's critique of Jindal's style of delivery in his recent response to the president's address to congress has some important lessons for Christian communicators. Many commentators thought that Jindal didn't seem to come across in as genuine a manner as we often does in interviews. I believe the author of the article understands why.

Not many speakers (including preachers) can come across in a genuine, persuasive way unless they're "gripped by the truth" of what they're saying and carried along by it, speaking from their hearts. It doesn't work when they're thinking about how their presentation will affect their hearers. But, it's awfully tempting for me to get distracted by the latter consideration.
Now and then, I have the experience of being carried along by the power of God's truth when I'm speaking. I stop thinking about how I'm coming across, and that is very freeing.

I'm not posting this article because I claim to know much about the current economic crisis or how to help resolve it. The debate between Obama and Democrats vs. Republicans and Jindal is absolutely over my head; and I'm not too hopeful that anyone's ideas about how to fix the economy will work very well.

I tend to think our country is only beginning to reap a tragic harvest of consequences from decades of greed and a "gambling" approach to investing. And I'm not so sure God will help us out of this right away. Maybe Americans need to be humbled. And maybe God plans for churches to make inroads into people's lives by focusing on helping people in their communities who are most affected by the economic crisis. God often uses suffering to plow up the ground of hard hearts. Our compassion and concern for people out of work can
be used by the Holy Spirit to gain a hearing for the gospel.

McCain Backs Obama's Iraq War Plan

Patrick: Wouldn't it be nice to see more Republicans work with the President on non- partisan issues? I don't expect to see much of that. McCain will likely be the "maverick" for the next four years if he keeps this up -- unless the nation really "hits the skids" more than it has already. It seems to take a national tragedy to shock most politicians out of their sectarian mindset. It is like a mental illness for many of them.

Update: Maybe McCain won't be too supportive after all.
Angry McCain slams Obama
Politico

Romney Wins CPAC Poll, Palin Tied For Third With Ron Paul

Patrick: I'm somewhat comforted that most of the folks at the Conservative Political Action Conference had enough sense not to pin their hopes on Sarah Palin as a presidential candidate. Not that I'm opposed to a woman getting the nomination. I'm only opposed to an unqualified person getting it. Sarah Palin's embarrassing lack of knowledge about foreign policy issues was obvious in her interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric. Ironically, she tied with Ron Paul who may be the only Republican candidate in the last election that understood the problems in the Middle East. Remember his debate comments about the 9/11 attacks being "blowback"? His fellow candidates had canipshun fits over that. But Ron Paul was right. Read how the CIA helped to overthrow a democratically elected leader in Iran:

1953 Iranian coup d'état - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, the main exposé of the 1953 coup d'état, .... US-Iranian Relations, the 1953 CIA Coup in Iran and the Roots of Middle East ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d'état - 122k -

Update: Unfortunately, a CNN poll of Republicans shows that Palin has more support than other candidates. Palin Leads, Not by Much, in Early Test of '12 GOP Presidential Support
Poll Tracker

Stress reduction

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How You Can Train Your Brain to Help Reduce Stress By Blaine Greteman, Ode Neurofeedback is an emerging method that relaxes, enhances creativity and improves mental health. Read more »

Two versions of a great old song

Gipsy Kings - Volare

Domenico Modugno - Nel blu di pinto di blu (Volare)

The 1958 Italian Eurovision entry. despite its age the quality if fairly good. ...

Good song

YouTube - Ian and Sylvia Tyson w Emmylou etc Four Strong ...
	4 min 21 sec - Aug 26, 2007 - Ian and Sylvia Tyson are joined by Emmylou Harris, Judy Collins, Gordon Lightfoot and Murray McLaughlin for a version of their hit "Four Strong Winds".. . www.youtube.com/watch?v=op-BEg5728A -

Pray that Obama won't be lured into this:

February 27, 2009 Return of the War Party By Patrick J. Buchanan

"Real men go to Tehran!" brayed the neoconservatives, after the success of their propaganda campaign to have America march on Baghdad and into an unnecessary war that has forfeited all the fruits of our Cold War victory.

Now they are back, in pursuit of what has always been their great goal: an American war on Iran. It would be a mistake to believe they and their collaborators cannot succeed a second time. Consider:

On being chosen by Israel's President Shimon Peres to form the new regime, Likud's "Bibi" Netanyahu declared, "Iran is seeking to obtain a nuclear weapon and constitutes the gravest threat to our existence since the war of independence."

Echoing Netanyahu, headlines last week screamed of a startling new nuclear breakthrough by the mullahs. "Iran ready to build nuclear weapon, analysts say," said CNN. "Iran has enough uranium to make a bomb," said the Los Angeles Times. Armageddon appeared imminent.

Asked about Iran's nukes in his confirmation testimony, CIA Director Leon Panetta blurted, "From all the information I've seen, I think there is no question that they are seeking that capability."

Tuesday, Dennis Ross of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a front spawned by the Israeli lobby AIPAC, was given the Iranian portfolio. AIPAC's top agenda item? A U.S. collision with Iran.

Click here to continue reading Pat Buchanan's column

On Capitol Hill, Money Is the Root of All Hypocrisy

Robert Allan Stanford, accused of stealing $9 million from investors,
gave substantial campaign contributions to many members of Congress.

http://www.truthout.org/022109Y

Great video and song

George Harrison-Got my mind set on you

Courageous Man Refuses To Believe He Has Cancer

Patrick: I don't want to make light of cancer, only to
highlight the ability of human beings to go into denial.
Sometimes it's just about this bad!

Bush Shoe Thrower: I Wanted To Restore The Pride Of Iraqis

Who's Keeping Burger King Workers Below the Poverty Line? By Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films Goldman Sachs has been having it their way with Burger King workers for too long. Read more »

TCW Cause of the Year: Domestic Violence

Around the globe, approximately one in four women has been physically abused by an intimate male partner. In the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Justice, a woman is battered every 15 seconds, and approximately 1.3 million women are physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually. Click to continue.

Simplistic Slogans or Serious Reflection?

"We are committed to Serious Reflection on the issues before the Christian world today. Too often Christians get caught up in movements and begin to think in simplistic slogans. This is dangerous because God is too complex, human beings are too complex, and this world is too complex. Ideological thinking, sloganizing, and excessive rhetoric need to be replaced by sober, Biblical perspectives that deal with people as people. This is particularly important in the area of cultural critique and social transformation. Serious reflection makes some people uncomfortable because all they want is a slogan they can put on a banner and march under. But the Kingdom of God is not advanced through politics and ideology, but through proclamation and charity."
James Jordan, Biblical Horizons http://www.biblicalhorizons.com/about/biblicalhorizons/

The Hungry Spirit: Tackling the Unspeakable
by Rose Marie Berger

Patrick: The above article suggests that President Obama may stir up some very powerful opposition from hyper-military-minded types in our country, if he pursues a less-aggressive foreign policy than the previous Administration. It should be read in connection with Rose's interview that I posted earlier (Why Was JFK Killed?).

I believe countries have a moral right to defend their population when they are attacked. (Whether Christians ought to serve in the military is a different question, and intelligent believers have debated that.) But it seems to me that the U.S. has been run into the ground by those who think military might is the answer to all kinds of problems. Decades ago, President (and former General) Eisenhower warned of the military-industrial complex having too much influence in our nation. Jim Douglass and Rose Marie Berger may have a greater appreciation than most Americans of how right he was.

A Protestant View of the Papacy

Patrick: I admired John Paul II in many ways. His support for Polish workers who stood up to their Communist overlords very likely played an important part in the beginning of the breakup of the USSR's monopoly of power over Poland and other countries. However... Karol Jozef Woytya (JPII's birth name) occupied a position of authority that is controversial, to say the least. As a Catholic I was taught that Jesus founded his Church on Peter and all of Peter's successors. As a Protestant, I believe that Peter's role as a leader among the Twelve was not something transferred to every Bishop of Rome. Here's some of the reasons why I no longer believe in the Papacy, even though I acknowledge that some popes have been good guys in certain ways.

Did Jesus Christ appoint an earthly Head to His Church?

What is the claim of Rome in regard to the Head of the Church on earth?

What is the official teaching of Rome on the Pope?

What in Matthew's Gospel does the Roman Church use to support claims for Peter being the first Pope?

Were the Fathers unanimous in their interpretation of the Scripture?

Gnostic Gospels are bad news

GNOSTIC GOSPELS -- The Bible "is the book whose whole narative is about new creation, that is, about resurrection, so that when each of the gospels ends with the raising of Jesus from the dead, and when Revelation ends with new heavens and new earth populated by God's people risen from the dead, this should come ... as the ultimate fulfillment of what the story had been about all along. (This, by the way, is the deep-level reason why the other gospels were not included in the canon. It isn't that they were the really exciting or subversive bits that the early church excluded in the interests of power and control. They were the books that had stopped talking about new creation and were offering a private, detached spirituality instead. The sudden enthusiasm for these other gospels in cetain quarters of the Western world in our own day is a token not of the rediscovery of genuine Christianity but of the desperate attempts to avoid it. New creation is far more demanding -- though ultimately, of course, far more exhilarating -- than Gnostic escapism." -- N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope (HarperCollins, 2008), 282-283.

Scripture and Science

I heard a theistic evolutionist recently at a nearby college. I quizzed him privately after a public Q&A session, and got the distinct impression that he had given up way too much of biblical faith, trying to bend Scripture to conform to his evolutionary worldview. I don't mean to say that evolution is entirely false. Micro-evolution happens, obviously. And maybe God used it in more than small ways. But I find it very difficult to buy the idea that the biblical account of humans being made in God's image can somehow be reconciled with full-blown theistic evolution.

Neither do I believe in young earth creationism, i.e., that the earth is only a few thousand years old. I think that a high view of Scripture can be reconciled with an old earth view. Here are some links to articles, an audio presentation, and a video debate about that view:

• What do major Christian leaders/organizations think about the age of the earth issue?
  • Notable Christian Leaders Open to an Old-Earth Interpretation
  • Dr. J. P. Moreland
  • Dr. Jack Hayford (Real Audio, 10 minutes)
  • Presbyterian Church of America
  • Westminster Theological Seminary
  • Gleason Archer, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
  • Norman Geisler, President at Southern Evangelical Seminary
  • Vern Poythress, Theologian at Westminster Theological Seminary
  • Walt Kaiser, President at Gordon-Conwell Seminary
  • John Jefferson Davis, Theologian at Gordon-Conwell Seminary
  • Robert Newman, Physicist and Theologian at Biblical Theological Seminary
  • Greg Koukl, President of Stand To Reason
• Doesn't a literal interpretation of Genesis 1 mean that God created everything in six consecutive 24-hour days?
  • Does Old-Earth Creationism Contradict Genesis 1?
  • Word Studies in Genesis One
  • PCA Report on Creation
  • Creedal Controversy: The Orthodoxy of "Days"
  • Westminster Theological Seminary and the Days of Creation (linked 06-25-2001)
  • Reading Between the Fossil Lines
  • Four Views of the Biblical Creation Account
  • Ten Major Similarities Between Calendar-Day and Day-Age Creationists
  • Ten Major Differences Between Calendar-Day and Day-Age Creationists
  • Scriptures Related to Creation

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Creationists Hugh Ross vs Kent Hovind debate the age of the earth. ... Tags: Kent Hovind and Hugh Ross debate old young earth universe creationism intelligent ...
www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=DFC57C633601B691 - 23k

The Israel Lobby (AIPAC): Does it Have Too Much Influence on US Foreign Policy?
The debate took place at Cooper Union in New York City and was captured by ScribeMedia on behalf of the London Review of Books. Last March, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt published an article in the London Review of Books. Entitled “The Israel Lobby: Does it Have too Much Influence on US Foreign Policy,” (you can read about it at: www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html) it drew swift charges of anti-Semitism in the editorial pages of American newspapers...

Do you disagree with this article?

I'm not sure that I understand enough about government and economics to be a good judge of the following article which is critical of Ronald Reagan's policies. If you have an opinion about it, please let me know. patrickmulhaney@yahoo.com

Happy Birthday Ronald Reagan (Thanks for Ruining America) By William Kleinknecht, AlterNet

Jon Bon Jovi, Seal, Robert Palmer -
Like A Rolling Stone

Why Was JFK Killed?

In this video interview, Associate Editor Rose Marie Berger talks with Catholic theologian and nonviolence leader Jim Douglass about his groundbreaking 2008 book, JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters, which probes the role of the principalities and powers in the assassination of John Kennedy, the first Catholic President.

+ Click here to watch the two-part video interview

Jimmy Carter Interview:

'We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land'
by Cathleen Falsani
Former President Jimmy Carter just published a new book about the ongoing violent unrest in the Middle East titled, We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land: A Plan That Will Work. In the book, Carter, 85, revisits the contributions of past U.S. presidents toward peace in Israel and Palestine, as well as his hopes that President Obama might be able to complete the task. Late last week, I had the opportunity to speak to the Nobel Peace Prize winner about the spiritual, as well as political, issues surrounding the quest for peace in the Holy Lands.
+ Click to continue

Of Special Note...
Watch the new video from Evangelicals for Human Rights and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. If you missed the National Torture Summit, held last September at Mercer University in Atlanta, you can still watch speaker and panel sessions on demand here.

Roy Orbison: white man with soul

Roy Orbison - Crying with kd lang

Roy Orbison - Only The Lonely

Here's a great 50's song by Ricky Nelson

Rick Nelson "It's Up To You"

Ricky Nelson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eric Hilliard "Ricky" Nelson, later known as Rick Nelson (May 8, 1940 –December 31, 1985), was an American singer, musician and actor. With more than 50 Hot 100 hits, Nelson was second only to Elvis Presley as the most popular rock and roll artist of the late 1950s and early 1960s