Economics Nobel Prize Winner Paul Krugman and Others On The Great Transfer of Wealth

Warm greetings

I feel moved to do yet another post about the economy, and especially given the propaganda being circulated about "socialism" and "redistribution of wealth." It is so interesting to be witness to the continuous efforts to misinform, divide and distract Americans, and especially from seeing what is right in front of us and in increasingly plain view... The Krugman article is two years old and yet so relevent to the challenges we find ourselves faced with today. Paul Krugman is among those who saw the economic crisis coming long before those who have held Alan Greenspan's trickle down economics ideology took off their glasses and found a whole different world than the one they had thought existed. For so long poverty in America has been either ignored or blamed on the poor. For so long we have turned away as 30,000 children die EVERY DAY worldwide of preventable poverty-related causes. Now, as poverty has been sucking more and more of the middle class into its grasp here in America, growing numbers of us are being shaken out of our apathy, arrogance, ignorance, and often unknowing complicity in the plight of those caught in poverty's web. We are waking up to see that the redistribution - the theft - of wealth to the wealthiest among us has been happening right under our noses -- for a very long time. Perhaps, finally, and as Thom Hartman has brilliantly and succinctly described, the great shift is upon us from a me-me-me worldview to one that is instead we-we-we. That is my simple prayer. Peace & blessings to all... Molly

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The Great Wealth Transfer

by Paul Krugman

Posted Nov 30, 2006

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12699486/paul_krugman_on_the_great_wealth_transfer

It's the biggest untold economic story of our time:

more of the nation's bounty held in fewer and fewer hands.

Concentrating the Wealth, Pt. 1
By Terrance Heath
October 29th, 2008

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2008104429/concentrating-wealth-pt-1

While the McCain/Palin campaign attempts to whip people into a lather with a liberal use of the "socialism" label, invoking fears of a wealth transfer, it's easy to forget that a huge wealth transfer has been underway for a while and is going on even now. We call it "the bailout."

Concentrating the Wealth, Pt. 2

October 31st, 2008

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2008104431/concentrating-wealth-pt-2
We have reached a point of realization that government by the wealthy, for the wealthy, and of the rest of us doesn't work. And that means we've reached a point of possibly considering that perhaps "government of the people, by the people, and for the people" isn't "government taking care of us." It's us, taking care of our communities, our families and one another.

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Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

First thing in the morning, before you meet or greet anyone, remember to greet all of nature, all visible and invisible creatures. Say to them: "I am grateful for your work, I love you and want to be in harmony with you!" At this very moment, in response to your greeting, all of nature will open to you and send you energy for the entire day. ~ Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov, Prosveta Publishing

Manifest Our Next President!

Heartfelt Greetings

This post is inspired (and others tonight) by my open heart... a heart that yearns so deeply, so very deeply for unity, for joining hands, for coming together, for remembering and experiencing how we are all connected. A little while ago I watched Barack Obama's 30 minute "ad" on TV and then an incredible additional half hour speech he gave in Florida in the midst of 35,000 others along with Bill Clinton. What I felt in this experience is what I have felt before as I absorbed the energy of Obama, an energy that is much bigger than this one human being. He brings in an archetypal energy that I experience is so deeply needed. It is a force that breaks my heart open and connects me profoundly to higher truths, such as that of how we are all connected and how the force of love is so much greater than our fears and that which divides us. Afterwards, I was inspired to come post prayers and now this visualization. As always, please take what you like and leave whatever doesn't fit for you. Please also consider making this visualization your own by tapping into your own words and whatever it is that most touches your heart... I thank my friend Diana for passing the below on to me, and am moved to pass it on with the hope that it may move some to pray, visualize, meditate, or do whatever it is that touches each of us in our hearts and draws us toward this world that I feel yearns for all of us to birth. I feel it happening now. And it moves me to tears. We can learn to love one another. And we can learn to vote for, manifest, visualize, pray into being leaders who we can partner with to create a future that our grandchildren and all children will be grateful for. May our leaders come to mirror that which is most compassionate, caring, courageous, creative, and loving in us all. May we all do our part, whatever that may be... Love & blessings ~ Molly

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Manifest our next president!

"....Stay at the center of the circle and let all things take their course...." -- Lao Tzu

The year is 2016. We glance at the television one morning and see Obama having another of his many press conferences. He has now been in office for almost 8 years.It hasn't been perfect, but things are way better than when he took office in January of 2009. You notice that his hair has whitened and he still has that winning smile and that take charge/positive energy that he had when he was campaigning way back in 2008.You remember back to how concerned you were about whether or not he would win in 2008 and you feel deeply contented that he has been safely in office for such a long time.He and Congress have done much to address global warming, healthcare, development of alternative energy sources and a variety of other important matters to the country and the planet. You feel deep gratitude for the past eight years and how things have unfolded.

See it...Feel it...breathe it....Pass it on. Lets stop fighting against McCain and Palin, and start working 'for' Obama-Biden. Lets stop driving ourselves crazy with all of the outrageous mind-upsetting details about them and start remembering all of the wonderful reasons we want Obama.

THE CHALLENGE: take 30 seconds right now. Close your eyes and imagine exactly what our country will feel like with President Obama. Imagine how good it will feel. Imagine whatever it is about him that you desire. Imagine the pride. Imagine the diplomacy. Imagine the peace. Imagine the wind mills and the clean cars. Imagine the citizen groups. Imagine the earth being healed and revitalized. Imagine being very proud of your country and its leader. Imagine whatever it is that draws you to support Obama. Imagine what your life will look like. 30 seconds. Do it several times a day. We can shift and change the vibration of this country with positive visions just like this. It'sonly 30 seconds a few times a day.

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

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

Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace

Where there is hatred...let me sow love.

Where there is injury...pardon.

Where there is discord....unity.

Where there is doubt...faith.

Where there is error...truth.

Where there is despair...hope.

Where there is sadness...joy.

Where there is darkness...light.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

To be consoled...as to console.

To be understood...as to understand.

To be loved...as to love.

For it is in giving...that we receive.

It is in pardoning, that we are pardoned,

It is in dying...that we are born to eternal life.

A Sufi Shares An Ancient Truth About Love

Pir Vilayat Khan, a Sufi, urges us to consider pain in this way:

"Overcome any bitterness that may have come because you were not up to the magnitude of pain that was entrusted to you. Like the mother of the world who carries the pain of the world in her heart, each one of us is part of her heart, and therefore endowed with a certain measure of cosmic pain. You are sharing in the totality of that pain. You are called upon to meet it in joy instead of self pity. "

"We must remember, what we are forgiving is not the act-not the violence. We are forgiving the actors, the people who could not manage to honor and cherish their own lives in a loving and gentle way. We are forgiving their suffering, their confusion, their desperation, their ignorance, and their humanity. Through forgiveness we are all set free to go our own ways and follow our tradition, dharma and spiritual destiny".

Maha Ghosananda, a respected Cambodian monk went into the refugee camps where thousands of Cambodians had fled the terrible holocaust conducted by Pol Pot. Every family had lost children, spouses, and parents to the ravages of genocide, and their homes and temples had been destroyed. Maha Ghosanada announced to the refugees that there would be a Buddhist ceremony the next day, and all who wished to come would be welcome.

Since Buddhism had been desecrated by Pol Pot, people were curious if anyone would go. The next day, over ten thousand refugees converged at the meeting place to share in the ceremony. It was an enormous gathering. Maha Gosananda sat for some time in silence on a platform in front of the crowd. Then he began chanting the invocations that begin the Buddhist ceremony, and people started weeping. They had been through so much sorrow, so much difficulty, that just to hear the sound of those familiar words again was precious.

Some wondered what Maha Ghosanada would say. What could one possibly say to this group of people? What he did next, in the company of thousands of refugees, was begin to repeat the verse from the Dhammapada, a sacred Buddist scripture.

Hatred never ceases by hatred;

But love alone is healed.

This is an ancient and eternal law.

Over and over again Maha Ghosananda chanted this verse. These were people who has as much cause to hate as anyone on earth. Yet as he sat there, repeating this verse over and over, one by one, thousands of voices joined together in unison: "Hatred never ceases by hatred: but by love alone is healed. This is an ancient and eternal law."Out of the mouths of people who had been wounded, oppressed, made homeless, aggrieved, and crushed by the pain of war, came a prayer proclaiming the ancient truth about love, a truth that was greater than all the sorrows they had seen and felt."

http://healingamongnations.org/prayers_stories.htm

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How did the rose ever open its heart and give to this world all of its beauty? It felt the encouragement of Light against its being; otherwise we all remain too frightened.

~ Hafiz, translated by Daniel Ladinsky

Love Poems from God

McCain Tax Cuts Give $200 Billion To Corporations?

Fact check: McCain tax cuts give $200 billion to corporations, $4 billion to oil companies?

October 28, 2008

The Statement: Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, speaking in Canton, Ohio, on October 27, referred to Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain's tax plans and said, "It's not change when he wants to give $200 billion to the biggest corporations or $4 billion to the oil companies."

Get the facts!
The Facts: Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said the numbers cited by Obama come from two studies analyzing McCain's tax proposals, including cuts in the corporate tax rate. The two studies were done by unrelated organizations. LaBolt also said that Obama's remarks do not refer to two separate tax cuts — the $4 billion in purported cuts to oil companies is part of the larger $200 billion.

Both studies project the effects of McCain's proposal to cut the corporate tax rate from the current maximum of 35 percent to a maximum of 25 percent in a phased reduction over the next seven years.

One analysis, published in March by the liberal Center for American Progress Action Fund, predicted how large oil companies would fare under McCain's proposed corporate tax reductions. Based on taxes that the five largest American oil companies paid in 2007 and calculating what the study called "savings under McCain plan," the study concludes that those five companies would realize a total tax cut of $3.8 billion a year under McCain's plan to cut the corporate rate.

On its Web site, the organization refers to the tax reduction as "nearly $4 billion." LaBolt said the Obama campaign uses the $4 billion figure because the study included only the five largest American oil companies, and the total tax cut to all American oil companies would be bigger. Also, 2008 earnings for oil companies are expected to be higher than earnings in 2007.

The other study — a detailed analysis of both McCain's and Obama's tax plans — was done by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. That study predicted the impact of McCain's tax proposals on revenue in several categories. The Obama campaign arrived at its $200 billion figure by combining various categories in that study. Roberton Williams, principal research associate for the Tax Policy Center, said the Obama campaign's calculation of $200 billion from McCain's proposed reduction in corporate taxes was an accurate conclusion.

The McCain campaign contends that lowering the corporate tax rate will enhance business development and create jobs in the United States. In an interview on CNN's "The Situation Room" on Oct. 22, McCain cited lower tax rates in other countries as being a key reason American companies move business overseas. "We should be cutting corporate tax for every business in America," he said. "To somehow allege that a company or corporation that can be international is not going to go where they pay the lowest taxes and create the most jobs is just foolishness."

The Verdict: True. Obama's statement accurately reflects two studies of McCain's tax proposals.

Filed under: Fact Check

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"A human being is a part of the whole called by us 'Universe,' a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest-a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." -- Albert Einstein

Did Obama Vote 94 Times for Higher Taxes?

I am aware of an amazing amount of misinformation out there which serves to distract and divide us rather than inform, empower, and unite. My perspective is that it is important to continue to research deeply and share with one another the facts as best as we know them -- and to do so with an intention that is rooted in the value of placing principles before personalities. May we join together in growing numbers to promote the well-being of all. Peace ~ Molly

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Fact Check: Did Obama vote 94 times for higher taxes?

September 21, 2008
From CNN's Josh Levs

Did Obama vote to raise taxes more than 90 times?
The statement: "He said he won't raise taxes for most people, but he's voted 94 times in his short Senate career for tax increases and against tax cuts."-Sen. John McCain, at a campaign stop in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Friday Sept. 19, 2008

Check out the facts after the jump!
The facts:The effort to convince voters that Sen. Barack Obama would support higher taxes is a central part of Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign. McCain and the Republican National Committee have repeatedly cited 94 alleged votes by Obama to bolster their argument.

Factcheck.org, a non-partisan project of the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center, pieced through records to determine just what these 94 votes were. Key findings:
-23 were against proposed tax cuts
-7 were "for measures that would have lowered taxes for many, while raising them on a relative few, either corporations or affluent individuals"
-11 were to increase taxes on people making more than $1 million a year, to help fund programs such as Head Start, school nutrition, or veterans' health care
-53 were votes on budget resolutions or amendments that "could not have resulted by themselves in raising taxes," though many "were clear statements of approval for increased taxes"
- The total includes multiple votes on the same measures

Annenberg says a close look at the record reveals that Obama has "voted consistently to restore higher tax rates on upper-income taxpayers but not on middle- or low-income workers."

Verdict: Misleading. McCain's summary ignores the fact that some of the votes were for measures to lower taxes for many Americans, while increasing them for a much smaller number of taxpayers. A nonpartisan examination also finds that the 94 total includes multiple votes on the same measures and budget votes that would not directly lead to higher taxes.

Filed under: Fact Check

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"Peace comes from being able to contribute the best that we have, and all that we are, toward creating a world that supports everyone. But it is also securing the space for others to contribute the best that they have and all that they are." -- Hafsat Abiola

An Election Night Meditation

Thank you to my friend Diana for passing this one on...

Peace & Blessings ~ Molly

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From the Grandmothers: Cast the Net of Light for America

This comes from the Grandmothers in answer to the question:

"How we can help this country move toward light, goodness and right action. How can we call people away from fear?"

As soon as I asked my question there was a great rolling, boiling movement and as I saw and felt the Earth shift, the Grandmothers spoke. "Hold the great Net of Light,"they said, "and magnify its presence over your country, magnify its presence under your country as well, and throughout the land itself. Magnify the presence of the Net of Light in every city, state, body of water, and within the land itself. Magnify the presence of the Net of Light," they repeated. "Call on us, call on the Divine and magnify the Net of Light. Drum and hold, hold, hold the Net of Light," they said."And as you do, ask for all that is not of the light to be revealed. Then ask that the people of this country stand forth and recognize one another. Ask that at this time they recognize their union with one another, their love, and purpose as members of this particular nation on Earth.

"Call them together in union, call them together in oneness. Lifting, lifting," the Grandmothers said, "The Net of Light is lifting now so that the subterranean dregs that have separated you in the past and pulled you down can fall through the Net and drop away. As this happens, the land and people of this country, the plant life, animals, and minerals will be lifted in unity. One," they said. "All for one and one for all," and raised their hands in benediction.

"Cast the Net of Light to the east coast of America, all the way down the eastern seaboard. Through the Appalachian Mountains, the entire ridge of mountains from New England to Georgia," they said. "Then cast to Florida, Puerto Rico and the waters of the Caribbean. Cast the Net of Light to the Gulf States, upholding them in light and lifting, lifting, lifting. Cast the Net of Light throughout the south, through every city and town throughout the land of the south. The river valleys, the rivers themselves. Lifting, lifting all the waterways," they said. "Lifting everywhere. As one," the Grandmothers said. "We work as one.

"Cast the Net of Light throughout the original states of America and also to the Midwest states," they said. "Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee. That entire area now lifting. The farms, the small towns, the countryside lifting. Lifting the lakes, rivers, and ponds and holding the Great Lakes and all the lands about them.

"Cast across the plains, from the Dakotas through to Oklahoma and Texas, holding and lifting everything in between as well. Cast throughout the Rocky Mountains states and the entire mountain area. New Mexico, Montana, Colorado, Utah. All of the mountain states lifted and the desert states as well-- Nevada and Arizona.

"Now to the west coast," they said. "Experience as the Net of Light lifts the entire western seaboard. Lifted, lifted," they said, "from the Mexican to the Canadian border. Lifting also the state of Alaska including all its islands. Now the state of Hawaii, lifting and holding the Hawaiian Islands. The Net of Light is now holding the entire country of the United States of America.

"After you have done this, and as you hold the Net of Light, call forth and salute the founding fathers of America, those who set the template for the United States. Call forth their wisdom now and with it call forth the foundation for the United States of America, its express purpose as a nation. Ask that its express purpose be fulfilled now and that as we hold the United States of America in the Net of Light our union as one people be confirmed. One nation, filled with the presence of the Divine and guided by Divine wisdom. And as one, we salute one another.

And so may this be," the Grandmothers said, "this great union of loving purpose coming forth now as the United States of America fulfills its destiny.

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His Holiness the Dalai Lama was asked why the Tibetan people did not go to war with the Chinese. The Dalai Lama answered, "War is obsolete. One can go to war with the head, but the heart would never understand. Then you would have a conflict deep inside you, then the war would be in you."

How Cries of Voter Fraud Cover Up GOP Elections Theft

Fired US Prosecutor Levels New Charges Against GOP Operatives.

Greg Palast and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Huffington Post

Virtually the entire mainstream electronic media drank ACORN Kool-Aid this month brewed up by the Republican National Committee. Almost no one seriously challenged John McCain's comical assertions that ACORN, a grassroots voter registration group, "is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."

While the Republicans had the distracted media searching for links between Obama and ACORN, RNC operatives were busily completing one of the most massive voter suppression and purging efforts in American history, stealing hundreds of thousands of Democratic votes across the embattled swing states and striving to arrange chaos and endless lines at the voting booths next week.

First the facts about ACORN. Months ago, we obtained, as part of our investigation for Rolling Stone magazine, the Republican's list the GOP alleged were the very worst cases of vote and registration fraud by ACORN and similar groups. We went through the names the GOP asserted were "obviously, undeniably and clearly fraudulent" voter registrations.

First, there was Melissa Tais, a dubious ACORN registrant. Her two voter registration forms show, admittedly, suspiciously different signatures. Republicans suggested Melissa was part of a massive fraud to allow Democrats to vote twice.

They were wrong. Ms. Tais, a Cerrillos, New Mexico, waitress, told us she had signed one form on a table and one form holding the paper in her hand. Hence, a second, wobbly signature.

Then there was Patricia White, who Republicans claimed was a fictitious voter. When we filmed her at home in Albuquerque, she seemed real enough.

And so on, through the entire GOP list -- not one fraud. And these were their best cases out of the five million "illegal voters" who Republican leaders claim have infiltrated America's voting rolls.

The overblown histrionics about ACORN do not surprise those of us who have been watching the RNC's election manipulation antics. For eight years White House operatives have been trying to gin up press stories about voter fraud. David Iglesias of New Mexico was one of seven U.S. Attorneys fired by the White House for their refusal to bring voter fraud prosecutions. "We took over 100 complaints," from the GOP, he told us, "We investigated for almost 2 years, I didn't find one prosecutable voter fraud case in the entire state of New Mexico."

Iglesias, a McCain supporter, has, for the first time, leveled a new and serious charge: Despite finding none of the 200 voters guilty, he says the White House nevertheless ordered him to illegally prosecute baseless cases against innocent citizens, just to gin up voter fraud publicity. His refusal, he says, cost him his job. "They were looking for politicized -- for improperly politicized US attorneys to file bogus voter fraud cases."

Read the rest of the article at HuffingtonPost.com

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Greg Palast and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are authors of an investigation of vote suppression in the current Rolling Stone, and a comic book voter guide, "Steal Back Your Vote," both available for download at StealBackYourVote.org.

Ron Howard's Call To Action

Thanks to Don for passing this one on to me.

Well worth the watch.

Ron Howard's Call To Action
Ron Howard wants to talk about the election.

So does Andy Griffith and Henry Winkler.

Peace,

Molly

Winter Soldier: Dahr Jamail

Dahr Jamail was a speaker at a recent Winter Soldier event I attended. I did not know he would be among the veterans and veteran families on one of the panels, and was thrilled to learn that I would be meeting this incredibly courageous man. Dahr Jamail has been an unembedded journalist who has traveled to Iraq multiple times, and at great personal risk, to bring us the truth about the war and now about the occupation of this country by our country. There is no greater reason for this man to risk his life than simply because he has to. He cannot bear the truth of the suffering of these human beings - our soldiers, their families, and all those affected in Iraq - without doing something about it. I am humbled by his service, his service to our soldiers, to all the victims of this war and occupation, to our nation and the world. May we, in the very least, listen to what he has to share... Peace ~ Molly

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The Cost of Slumber

Monday 27 October 2008

by: Dahr Jamail, t r u t h o u t Perspective

Long before I discovered the mysterious mix of pain and relief that writing from the heart brings, I was pursuing a Masters in English Literature at Central Washington University in the small town of Ellensburg, Washington.

I was broke, like most grad students, and supported myself by working for two individuals confined to assisted living situations. One of them, Larry, was completely paralyzed. He was unable to speak, and could only blink his eyes. He had been in prison when the ill effects of an operation he undertook there had gone wrong, and were then compounded by an error by the anesthesiologist. His sustenance came from gulping small spoonfuls of food blended with milk. Never in his life would he ever again "enjoy" a meal. He would never be experiencing the simple actions of walking, singing, dancing, swimming, driving, fishing, wandering ...

He may have been unable to speak, but Larry had a lot to say. He communicated by blinking his eyes. I would sit beside his prone body on the gurney and slowly recite the alphabet until he blinked on a letter... It was laborious to communicate with him and it took patience and stamina. He lacked neither, for he had a book to write. We would spend three hours to produce half a page of text.

Everything was against him, but that was not going to deter him from trying to write his book, to tell his story. He had already arrived at the secret of writing that I, as a slow learner, did not learn until long after I dropped out of graduate school from lack of funds. It took me long to understand that I cannot keep quiet about what I know, and must write.

I had to have my heart ripped open, witnessing the occupation of Iraq before I knew that I must write. And I have written hundreds of articles, some papers, and now, two books. Forgive me if this sounds self-laudatory. but I oftentimes feel it is not enough ... that I should do more. So, here I am writing, yet again. And as far as I know, so is Larry, because we both have a lot that we want people to know about.

Or, perhaps, we want only for people to acknowledge what they know already...

The economy is in shambles. Yet, in the heated exchanges between Obama and McCain about the economy, there appears to be no connection whatsoever between the occupation, now costing a cool $3 billion per week, and the financial dire straights the country is in...

Despite a collapsing economy and complicity in a system that is devouring the embers of a burning planet, the privileged carry on with their lives, "unaware." But everyone knows. Even the most ardent supporter of the powers that be is aware of what the government of the United States has done and is doing to Iraq, to the world, to the planet.

I believe that, like me, most people, deep inside, know that many things have gone terribly wrong, that we must find a better way to exist...

What of my fellow Americans? What is their continual denial doing to them? Are we experiencing a mass psychosis? How long will this sleepwalking continue?...

More... http://www.truthout.org/102708A and http://dahrjamailiraq.com/

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“It was a failure of citizenship of the American people that the Bush cabal was allowed to invade Iraq. Thus, every U.S. citizen who is not doing everything in their power to end this illegal and immoral occupation as quickly as possible is complicit with the war crimes being committed in Iraq on a daily basis.” -- Dahr Jamail, Independent Journalist, War Reporter, 1968–

http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/pgs/portraits/Dahr_Jamail.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahr_Jamail

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

Published on Saturday, October 25, 2008 by Mother Jones

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."

More... http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/10/25-6

McCain and ACORN

For all who are interested in continuing to spread the truth about ACORN. I am so passionate about this subject because I am aware that millions of Americans are being fed propaganda about ACORN to distract from the enormity of the truth about election fraud in this country. Peace ~ Molly

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McCain To ACORN: You Are 'What Makes America Special'
Marc Ambinder digs up a pretty damning video, given McCain's current line of attack on Barack Obama. In 2006, McCain told members of ACORN, UNITE HERE, SEIU, and PAW that they were "what makes America special." As Ambinder says: "McCain had no trouble fraternizing with ACORN in 2006 when their political interests coincided with his. Now, his campaign is writing e-mails in his name bashing ACORN as a tool of the Obama machine."
http://www.jedreport.com/2008/10/mccain-to-acorn-you-are-what-m.html

McCain's ACORN "Exposed"
http://airamerica.com/blog/2008/oct/13/mccains-acorn-exposed

ACORN: ACORN Statement on New York Times Article Oct. 24 http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2008/10/24-6

Peter Dreier/John Atlas The GOP's Blame-ACORN Game http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/10/24-0

The Hope of the Movement Toward Inclusivity

This is just a tiny glimpe that I am finding of growing hope for a more peaceful and loving world. We are all connected...

Prominent Republicans Cross the Aisle to Endorse Obama
Friday 24 October 2008
by: Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian UK

Welcome to Republicans for Obama

http://www.republicansforobama.org/

Namaste,

Molly

"The holiest of all the spots on Earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love." ~ Course in Miracles

Exposing and Facing Bigotry in America -- In the Hopes of Finding Deep and Enduring Solutions

This was a painful post to do. It is also, in my opinion, a necessary one. Among the choices that we have in this election is to choose the candidate who calls out the best in all of us, one who consistently communicates values grounded in integrity, inclusivity, caring, connectedness, compassion, and a refusal to participate in the politics of violence. I view in the below links a great deal of racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural bigotry. And on the continuum of bigotry, it is on the highest end, the kind that spreads hate, ignorance, and a culture of Us versus Them like a cancer, bringing out the darkest of the dark inside of us. This kind of inner shadow which brings out negative human qualities such as bigotry is something, I believe, that we all have potentially inside of ourselves. To consistently tap into that darkness and fuel it - rather than communicate zero tolerance for bigotry - is an act of violence. For a political party, ANY political party, to not just tolerate this violence, but to either deny or minimize, or actively encourage it, is something I have zero tolerance for. Our nation, indeed the world, is in profound need for us all, individually and collectively, to recognize that these are the times in which we must come together. I believe that one part of the healing that needs to happen is to truly look in the face the current - and our history - of violence. My own personal experience has been that as I have looked in my life and in my mirror and found violence there - as I have found the courage to do this "shadow work" - I have been deeply and profoundly changed. May we all be moved to create a more inclusive, peaceful, and loving world. Peace & blessings to all ~ Molly

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If you only watch/read one, don't miss this one:
Bill Moyers: John McCain, Sarah Palin: Inciting Hatred & Death Threats?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGn9F1Jw24U&NR=1
This is a video response to McCain Supporter Yells Out "Traitor!"


McCain-Palin Rally Attendees: "Obama Is A Terrorist"


McCain/Palin supporters let their racist roots show


McCain-Palin Rallies: The Worst Hits (VIDEO)


McCain Volunteer Sends Out "Obama is an Arab" letters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOU9xZ4zcss&feature=related


Fans Want McCain Meaner and Angrier; McCain also spreads ACORN lie
http://www.texaskaos.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=5467


Tell McCain to End the Politics of Hate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5mdIPNB8t8


OTB Writers Respond to Anti-Muslim, Anti-Arab Slurs
"It's more convenient and less controversial for someone to call Obama a Muslim then it would be to call him the n-word.' That's how the coding works." ... Obama "is not Muslim neither Arab. Also, being black does not mean he will oppress whites ... So there you have it, the most powerful nation in the world is still full of hatred, injustice, and racism. It was hidden, but now it slowly is coming out. Scary.' "

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"The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human." --Aldous Huxley

Election Resources

More election fraud films:

American Blackout

Award winning documentary that is the best film about vote fraud. If you watch only one movie about this issue, see American Blackout. Courageous Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is the star of the show, featuring her efforts to expose vote fraud, her challenging of Donald Rumsfeld in a Congressional hearing, and the various efforts to retaliate against her.

Stealing America: Vote by Vote
30-minute introduction to the scandal: www.votergate.tvThis is a preliminary version of a full length movie that is in production. Votergate's crew was with Bev Harris of blackboxvoting.org in Florida in mid November when they caught Volusia County officials throwing out voting records into the trash.(39 megabytes for low resolution version)

www.votergate.tv

One minute movie asks "Can Voting Systems be Monkeyed With?": www.blackboxvoting.org/baxter/baxterVPR.mov

Invisible Ballots: www.invisibleballots.com

Uncounted: the New Math of American Elections"Trailer: www.uncountedthemovie.com/trailer.html

Unprecedented: the 2000 Election: www.unprecedented.org

http://www.oilempire.us/election-resources.html

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"If you don't know what your government is doing, you don't live in a democracy." --Jane Anne Morris

Documentary Films & Links About Election Fraud

Forewarned is forearmed. Here comes November

Posted by mike hersh

Mimi Kennedy, PDA National Advisory Board Chair, Election Integrity Activist

Forewarned is forearmed. Here comes November. Check your registration, work for your candidates and sit down with one of the four great election protection movies out on DVD. They’re all documentaries with the same plot – but that plot is scarier than anything Hollywood’s horror/suspense fiction screenwriters have produced in this distraction-heavy, angst-ridden, politically-censored Bush era.

And we’re the ones in peril. Watch with half-covered eyes, if you must. Scream, “Don’t go in that basement!” Then get up and change the real-life ending. A landslide under citizen scrutiny in ’08 – that’s what we’re going for. But it can’t be done without knowing how, so educate and entertain yourself simultaneously with one of these. The movies’ websites are for ordering DVDs, seeing trailers, and obtaining information on public screenings near you.

More... http://blog.pdamerica.org/?p=2143

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"Capitalism has defeated communism. It is now well on its way to defeating democracy." -- David Korten

Documentary Film: Murder, Lies, and Voting Lies

Clint Curtis was an everyday computer programmer until he was asked by a powerful Republican legislator in Florida to create vote-rigging software for electronic voting machines.

For the first time, Patty Sharaf's new, terrifying documentary, Murder, Spies & Voting Lies: The Clint Curtis Story, recounts the full, remarkable tale of what happened when, in the year 2000, one man found himself on the wrong end of a smoking gun.

Join journalist/blogger Brad Friedman, as he investigates Curtis's hair-raising story. Friedman uncovers the seamy side of American democracy that mainstream media fails to report.

http://www.votinglies.com/

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"The time is always right to do what is right." --Martin Luther King Jr.

Voter Fraud, Voter Protection, and Protecting Democracy

Warm & Passionate Greetings

Given what's happened in the last two presidential elections, I found this interview especially important. I am engaged in so much research and doing so many posts on election fraud because I understand how at risk our democracy is. If we fail yet again to ensure access to voting for all Americans entitled to vote, and if we fail to ensure an accurate and true vote for yet a third presidential election in a row - not to speak of the other elections! - what does that say of the health of our democracy?! That this has gone under the radar for so many elections and for so many years is so profoundly disturbing and just one more reason why media reform is also absolutely essential to preserving our country. I hope that the day comes when those who have plundered our laws will find their way to Nuremberg type trials in an Obama administration. And this is not a partisan issue - obviously all of us who care about our democracy want to ensure the American vote and American (human) values. It is my belief that we all need to wake up and regardless of political party. It is way beyond one administration who have brought America and the planet to this point. My own values keep bringing me back to remembering that principles must come before personalities and before political party. I hope you will consider passing this and other posts and/or links onto others. Thank you. Peace ~ Molly

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Mark Crispin Miller on Voter Protection

Bill Moyers sits down with Mark Crispin Miller, professor of Media, Culture and Communication at NYU, who has been following voter fraud allegations in his blog News from the Underground. An expert on propaganda and media, Miller's book LOSER TAKES ALL is an anthology of writings covering election fraud.
Watch Video Transcript

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10172008/profile.html

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"The best way to control a people is to convince them that they are not being controlled." ~ Brian Murray (my eldest son)

Colbert Video on ACORN

Colbert Video: GOP's ACORN 'Voter Fraud' Hoax Now Officially a National Joke...

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6545

Definitely worth the watch. It is amazing how so much of the truth these days is finding its way to the surface through satire. I bow to those like Stephen Colbert and John Stewart.

Peace,

Molly

"The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion." -- Thomas Paine

Exposing the Lie Behind ACORN'S "Voter Fraud"

SPECIAL COVERAGE: The GOP's ACORN 'Voter Fraud' Lie

The GOP's ACORN 'Voter Fraud' Hoax (2006 Version)

by Brad Friedman

The seeds for this scam had been planted long ago. But by the GOP, not by ACORN. See our Special Coverage page of the GOP's "American Center for Voting Rights" front group, formed in early 2005 (just three days before they were called to testify to Congress on the '04 election) to begin the propaganda front for the 2008 election.

Also, see the Rosetta Stone for the modern day GOP "voter fraud" scam --- meant only to keep legal voters from being able to cast a vote at all --- in "Conservative Founding Father" Paul Weyrich's 1980 speech to 15,000 Baptist preachers in Dallas. The :40 second video is here, featuring Weyrich instructing his fellow rightwingers (including Ronald Reagan and Jerry Falwell, who were also there): "I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down."

And then, right on schedule, in the days prior to the 2008 election, the GOP again hauled out their bogus ACORN "voter fraud" scam, as the latest battle in the ongoing "Republican War on Democracy".

Here are the most notable stories from that recently reignited scam...
10/7/08: 'Stunt' Raid at NV ACORN Office & the GOP ACORN Lie Revealed

10/8/08: RNC Issues Fox 'News' Transcript on ACORN 'Voter Fraud' as Press Release

10/9/08: GOP Election Official Claims ACORN 'Voter Fraud' in MO

10/9/08: GOP Sheriff Claims 'Voter Fraud' in Dem County in OH

10/12/08: FL's 'Voting-Rigging' Congressman Cries 'Voter Fraud' on Fox

10/12/08: 1.3 Million Reasons for the GOP 'Dixie-Chicking' of ACORN...

...And the FACTS to Counter It...

10/13/08: Brad at UK's Guardian - "The Republican Voter Fraud Hoax"

10/13/08: McCain Was ACORN's Keynote Speaker in 2006!

10/14/08: So Where's the ACORN 'Voter Fraud'? (Hint: It doesn't exist)

10/16/08: John McCain: 'One of the Greatest Frauds in Voter History'

He Should Know, As Even Some Republicans Begin to Back off the Lie

10/19/08: CA GOP Vote Registration Contractor Arrested for Registration Fraud, Perjury

10/21/08: GOP Charges of ACORN 'Voter Fraud' in NM Fall Apart

10/22/08: Colbert Video: GOP ACORN 'Voter Fraud' Hoax Now a National Joke

Getting the picture? Please click the links above to learn what you aren't being told about this story by the clueless corporate media.

More... http://www.bradblog.com/?page_id=6500

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"Brad Friedman is one of the Paul Reveres of [the Election Integrity] movement."

-- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,

The Fight To Deny Americans Their Legal Right to Vote

My Column at UK's Guardian This Week: 'The Republican War on Democracy'

Blogged by Brad Friedman on 8/21/2008

With a hat-tip for the title-variation on my pal, Art Levine's landmark piece on "The Republican War on Voting" in The Prospect, my column this week at the UK's Guardian focuses on the latest in the Republican "voter fraud" scam, intended only to keep Democratic-leaning voters from being able to cast a legal vote this year.

The launching point for the column: conservative "founding father" Paul Weyrich's remarkable comments to 15,000 preachers in Dallas in 1980, as seen in the video at right, featuring this Rosetta Stone phrase:

"Now many of our Christians have what I call the goo-goo syndrome - good government. They want everybody to vote. I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down."

Yes, that's what he actually said. Out loud. And the GOP has been working to make Weyrich's anti-democracy dreams a reality, at no small cost, ever since. My complete Guardian column is here...

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http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6302

"The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human." --Aldous Huxley

On "Anti-Americanism" and Standing Up to the Forces That Would Divide Us

This post is dedicated to all Americans.

May we resist all that justifies and pushes us to passively or actively turn against one another. May we remember the value and power of caring, that we are all in this together, and that we are all connected.

Peace & Blessings ~ Molly

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Come September

Transcription of Arundhati Roy reading

and Ms. Roy and Howard Zinn in conversation

Lensic Performing Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico

18 September 2002

Photo: Arundhati Roy, David Barsamian, Howard Zinn

This is an excerpt from Arundhati Roy's famous speech, Come September.

For the full transcript, please go here: http://nmazca.com/verba/roy.htm

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Arundhati Roy Speaks About "Anti-Americanism"

Recently, those who have criticized the actions of the U.S. government (myself included) have been called "anti-American." Anti-Americanism is in the process of being consecrated into an ideology.

The term "anti-American" is usually used by the American establishment to discredit and, not falsely - but shall we say inaccurately - define its critics. Once someone is branded anti-American, the chances are that he or she will be judged before they are heard, and the argument will be lost in the welter of bruised national pride.

But what does the term "anti-American" mean? Does it mean you are anti-jazz? Or that you're opposed to freedom of speech? That you don't delight in Toni Morrison or John Updike? That you have a quarrel with giant sequoias? Does it mean that you don't admire the hundreds of thousands of American citizens who marched against nuclear weapons, or the thousands of war resisters who forced their government to withdraw from Vietnam? Does it mean that you hate all Americans?

This sly conflation of America's culture, music, literature, the breathtaking physical beauty of the land, the ordinary pleasures of ordinary people with criticism of the U.S. government's foreign policy (about which, thanks to America's "free press", sadly most Americans know very little) is a deliberate and extremely effective strategy. It's like a retreating army taking cover in a heavily populated city, hoping that the prospect of hitting civilian targets will deter enemy fire.

But there are many Americans who would be mortified to be associated with their government's policies. The most scholarly, scathing, incisive, hilarious critiques of the hypocrisy and the contradictions in U.S. government policy come from American citizens. When the rest of the world wants to know what the U.S. government is up to, we turn to Noam Chomsky, Edward Said, Howard Zinn, Ed Herman, Amy Goodman, Michael Albert, Chalmers Johnson, William Blum and Anthony Amove to tell us what's really going on.

Similarly, in India, not hundreds, but millions of us would be ashamed and offended if we were in any way implicated with the present Indian government's fascist policies which, apart from the perpetration of State terrorism in the valley of Kashmir (in the name of fighting terrorism), have also turned a blind eye to the recent state-supervised progrom against Muslims in Gujarat. It would be absurd to think that those who criticize the Indian government are "anti-Indian" - although the government itself never hesitates to take that line. It is dangerous to cede to the Indian government or the American government or anyone for that matter, the right to define what "India" or "America" are or ought to be.

To call someone "anti-American", indeed to be anti-American, (or for that matter, anti-Indian or anti-Timbuktuan) is not just racist, it's a failure of the imagination. An inability to see the world in terms other than those the establishment has set out for you. If you're not a Bushie you're a Taliban. If you don't love us, you hate us. If you're not Good, you're Evil. If you're not with us, you're with the terrorists.

Last year, like many others, I too made the mistake of scoffing at this post- September 11th rhetoric, dismissing it as foolish and arrogant. But I've realized it's not foolish at all. It's actually a canny recruitment drive for a misconceived, dangerous war. Everyday I'm taken aback at how many people believe that opposing the war in Afghanistan amounts to supporting terrorism, of voting for the Taliban. Now that the initial aim of the war - capturing Osama bin Laden (dead or alive) - seems to have run into bad weather, the goalposts have been moved. It's being made out that the whole point of the war was to topple the Taliban regime and liberate Afghan women from their burqas, we are being asked to believe that the U.S. marines are actually on a feminist mission. (If so, will their next stop be America's military ally Saudi Arabia?) Think of it this way: in India there are some pretty reprehensible social practices against "untouchables", against Christians and Muslims, against women. Pakistan and Bangladesh have even worse ways of dealing with minority communities and women. Should they be bombed? Should Delhi, Islamabad and Dhaka be destroyed? Is it possible to bomb bigotry out of India? Can we bomb our way to a feminist paradise? Is that how women won the vote in the U.S? Or how slavery was abolished? Can we win redress for the genocide of the millions of Native Americans upon whose corpses the United States was founded by bombing Santa Fe?

None of us need anniversaries to remind us of what we cannot forget. So it's no more than co-incidence that I happen to be here, on American soil, in September - this month of dreadful anniversaries. Uppermost on everybody's mind of course, particularly here in America, is the horror of what has come to be known as 9/11. Nearly three thousand civilians lost their lives in that lethal terrorist strike. The grief is still deep. The rage still sharp. The tears have not dried. And a strange, deadly war is raging around the world. Yet, each person who has lost a loved one surely knows secretly, deeply, that no war, no act of revenge, no daisy-cutters dropped on someone else's loved ones or someone else's children, will blunt the edges of their pain or bring their own loved ones back. War cannot avenge those who have died. War is only a brutal desecration of their memory.

To fuel yet another war - this time against Iraq - by cynically manipulating people's grief, by packaging it for TV specials sponsored by corporations selling detergent and running shoes, is to cheapen and devalue grief, to drain it of meaning. What we are seeing now is a vulgar display of the business of grief, the commerce of grief, the pillaging of even the most private human feelings for political purpose. It is a terrible, violent thing for a State to do to its people...

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Video of Come September: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=945405493000735497

Video of Arundhati Roy and Howard Zinn: http://video.yahoo.com/watch/69210/947697

Arundhati Roy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundhati_Roy

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"While you are proclaiming peace with your lips,

be careful to have it even more fully in your heart."
St. Francis of Assisi