Asheville City Paper to hit newstands on Monday
An alternative newspaper started by Cecil Bothwell, the Asheville City Paper, will be on the newsstands Monday, December 17. Be sure to check it out. In the meantime, read the featured story about the arrest of former Buncombe County sheriff Bobby Medford in the online version of the new publication.
Wednesday, December 12th, 2007Cecil Bothwell’s Billy Graham biography due out in November
Local author and investigative reporter Cecil Bothwell has published The Prince of War: Billy Graham’s Crusade for a Wholly Christian Empire. Bothwell’s book, which reveals an unflattering side of Graham not frequently portrayed in the mainstream media, will be released November 16. A number of release events are taking place in the Carolinas, including a reading at Malaprop’s Bookstore and Cafe on November 17 at 7:00 p.m. here in Asheville. For more info about the book and other local events, click here.
To read a review of The Prince of War by William Hughes at Counterpunch, click here.
Monday, October 8th, 2007Bush’s speech on Iraq–Same song, 8th verse
Below is my InstaLetter to the Asheville Citizen-Times regarding last night’s eighth prime time presidential address about the Iraq war. There’s a 50-word limit on InstaLetters, but in just a few minutes I can use this format to send my wakeup call out into the world.
Bush’s speech in brief: (1) Despite ongoing American and Iraqi casualties, a sectarian civil war and a non-functioning government, we must stay in Iraq until I’m out of office. (2) Americans must continue to die in Iraq because thousands of Americans have already died there. (3) Americans will continue to die in Iraq for a long, long time.
And from Tom Shales at the Washington Post:
Chris Matthews (MSNBC) . . . compared Bush to Lucy in the “Peanuts” comic strip as drawn by the late Charles Schulz. Every autumn Lucy swore to Charlie Brown that she wouldn’t pull the football away when he tried to kick it, and every year Charlie Brown fell for it and landed on his posterior. Matthews said Bush had been dealing in “false promises and false arguments again and again and again.”
The line from Bush’s speech that really stunned me: “We thank the 36 nations who have troops on the ground in Iraq and the many others who are helping that young democracy.” Does he really think we’re stupid enough to believe that anyone other than the U.S. and Great Britain have anything other than token forces in Iraq? Does he really think that anyone but his “true believers” are still buying anything he’s peddling?
Bush ended his speech with the requisite “God bless America.” Does a loving creator bless a nation with a sadistic sociopath at the controls, a nation whose citizens sit by while hundreds of thousands are killed and maimed in our name, a nation in which our politicians move us ever closer to authoritarian control? The American people, maybe; the nation as it now exists, I think not.
Finally from Arthur Silber at Once Upon a Time:
Be sure to understand one critical point: to the extent you grant legitimacy to the United States government in its current form, to the degree you confine opposition “within the system” as it now exists, you are aiding and abetting tyrants, torturers and murderers. If you wish to make that choice, you may certainly do so. Do not expect to be forgiven for your choice in the future. This does not mean you must resort to violence, and I do not advocate such a course. But what is absolutely necessary is . . . non-compliance, disassociation, the refusal to obey and the insistence on saying, “No.”
May the god of your choice bless you and all the people of the world!
Friday, September 14th, 2007Movies that inspire, uplift, and awaken us
Since 2004, Bruce (my husband) and I have seen some of the most heart-warming, funny, inspiring, thought-provoking, interesting, unusual, meaningful, and magical movies. The films include features, documentaries and shorts. Some are animated, most are live action. Many films are from foreign countries. All of them are independent and unique.
We’ve seen these amazing films through our membership in the Spiritual Cinema Circle, a DVD club that specializes in uplifting and inspiring films. These are movies for people who want cinema that opens their heart, expands their mind and stirs their soul!
Each month, members pay $21 plus shipping and receive 4 films on DVD. The DVDs are yours to keep so you’ll get to build a library of inspiring films (this is one of my favorite parts of membership because then we can share our favorite films with others). Members of the Circle also get access to members-only teleconferences with amazing people such as Marianne Williamson, Neale Donald Walsch, Deepak Chopra, James Ray, and more!
The Spiritual Cinema Circle (SCC) generally offers a special trial membership deal (you often pay just the shipping for that month), so you can check it out risk-free (you may cancel at any time and for any reason).
“I love movies, but the movies I get from Spiritual Cinema Circle love me.”
~ Gary Zukav
Spiritual Cinema Circle Films for September 2007
Believe In Me (feature film)
A young man dreams of being an important basketball coach until he is forced to take a job as the coach of an all-girls team. Though he fears his short career will come to an end, what actually happens is nothing short of a miracle. The joy, tears and friendships captured in this wonderful film remind us how important it is to put our faith in a higher plan. This is a film for the whole family!
7 Days With 7 Dogs (short film)
Two of SCC’s original filmmakers spend a week taking their furry friends from one beautiful doggy heaven to another. This short documentary reveals the joy that comes from giving something wonderful to others.
5 Wishes; The Conversation (short film)
This insightful film probes the depths of what it takes to find peace and comfort within ourselves and our relationships, while opening a door to new possibility.
Now You See Me, Now You Don’t (short film)
This intense, award-winning film from Hungary conveys its powerful message through suspense and chilling action. A simple story unfolds to reveal healing in many forms.
See previews of these films by visiting the Spiritual Cinema Circle’s Preview page. Click on the month of September for the films described above, or watch any previews that interest you.
Earn money with the Spiritual Cinema Circle
Another great thing you can do if you find that you are a huge spiritual cinema circle fan, is join their affiliate program. This allows you to earn money for people you refer to become members. You can find out more about the SCC affiliate program using the link below.
All the links above do connect to our affiliate account and potentially earn us money. If you prefer, you can visit the Spiritual Cinema Circle directly at spiritualcinemacircle.com.
“I love from Spiritual Cinema Circle because every month a DVD with entertainment that is right in line with my spiritual approach to life arrives in the mail. I’m always so excited as I know I’ll appreciate what I see.”
~ india.arie
This post is cross-posted at Lavender Log: Thoughts on Living an Inspired Life.
Saturday, September 8th, 2007Between Iraq and a hard place: The use of propaganda during wartime
propaganda: Information, ideas, opinions or images, often only giving one part of an argument, which are broadcast, published or in some other way spread with the intention of influencing people’s opinions
We view what Saddam Hussein has said as propaganda and lies.
To justify a preventive war that the United Nations and global public opinion did not want, a machine for propaganda and mystification, organized by the doctrinaire sect around George Bush, produced state-sponsored lies with a determination characteristic of the worst regimes of the 20th century.
One of the Iraq war’s major casualties is the credibility of the American media. Nobody takes it seriously.
So when Al-Jazeera shows Iraqi children slaughtered as a result of the war in Iraq, it’s propaganda. But when FOX News praises the actions of the U.S. military in Iraq, it’s unbiased reporting. No-spin zone, my ass.
I saw Tom Brokaw live on national TV the other night commenting about “how successful we were” during one of the battles in Iraq. He quickly realized he’d blown his journalistic cover and crawfished. Er, uh, that is, how successful “the United States was.” Too late; Tom’s slip of the tongue revealed his true viewpoint.
Of course, everyone who communicates does so with a built-in bias—individuals and governments alike. The Bush administration and those who support the war in Iraq put a positive spin on the U.S. and British activities there. Iraqi spokespeople make statements designed to make their nation’s accomplishments resonate with their citizens and the Muslim world.
But somehow here in America, we’ve come to believe that what comes out of the mouths of our politicians and journalists is the truth, while the pronouncements of anyone who disagrees with us—the French, the Russians, the Iraqis, ad infinitum—are all lies. (more…)
Saturday, April 5th, 2003What the media’s not telling you can hurt you.
I’m deeply concerned about the merger mania that has swept our industry, diluting standards, dumbing down the news, and making the bottom line sometimes seem like the only line. It isn’t and it shouldn’t be.
The message of the media is the commercial.
If you’ve paid much attention to the news recently, you’ve probably discovered a lot of stories about loss of life, natural disasters, sexual peccadilloes, and celebrity lifestyles. Reports that might really inform us on the critical issues of the day are infrequent if not missing altogether. Thus Robert Blake’s arrest on murder charges gets more coverage than single moms struggling to care for their children. Another exposé of pedophile priests wins out over a real debate about the reasons for the proposed war with Iraq.
Why? The bottom line. First of all, covering fires, auto wrecks, and trials is cheap and easy. It doesn’t take a first-rate journalist to videotape a burning building and interview the distraught owner. More significantly in this era of media mega-mergers, the corporations that own the news outlets don’t want coverage that might interfere with the hawking of their wares or those of their advertisers.
So in 1997 when two reporters at the Tampa, Florida Fox Television affiliate prepared to air their investigative report on the potential dangers of bGH (bovine growth hormone), an artificial hormone that had found its way into the milk supply, the story was scotched. Monsanto, the manufacturer of BGH, blocked the report from the airways by protesting to Fox’s network news division. “We paid three billion dollars for these stations. We’ll decide what the news is,” declared one Fox executive. (more…)
Saturday, May 11th, 2002Taking a break from the news
The First Law is that you can be, do, and have whatever you imagine. The Second Law is that you attract what you fear.
~Neale Donald Walsch
For about a month now peddlers of panic and despair, sometimes known as TV newscasters, have been saturating the airwaves with visions of envelopes of anthrax, vials of smallpox, dirty nuclear weapons, Osama Bin Laden, terrorist cells in the U.S., the Taliban. In the rush to sell a few cars (and, perhaps, a lot of Prozac), the national media is helping to foster a kind of uneasiness, a sense of foreboding, and a loss of self-confidence that those who wish us ill never dreamed of creating themselves.
And some of our national leaders are adding fuel to the fire. One day I’m told that my life has changed forever, the next that I should get back to normal. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson says that the government is in control of any possible bio-terrorism in the U.S. Later, when a few more envelopes of anthrax show up in the mail, it becomes obvious that he’s either in denial or obfuscating. President Bush exhorts me to get on a plane, go to the mall, and buy more stuff. But Vice President Cheney is sequestered in some undisclosed location, and the FBI and CIA warn of imminent major terrorist attacks. (more…)
Saturday, October 27th, 2001
