The DFA grassroots and netroots are first!

What about Howard Dean?  It's possible he's first.

We're on the verge of a breakthrough moment in our fight against
global warming. After more than 10 months of hearings, testimony
from hundreds of scientists and experts, and many hours of
debate, the Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee may be
only a few days away from sending the most far-reaching global
warming program in the world to the Senate floor.

America's Climate Security Act, S. 2191, would cut greenhouse
gases below 1990 levels by 2020 -- and cut emissions by nearly
70% by 2050.

This is a critical step in our fight against global warming, but
as EPW Committee Chair, I'm working with only a one vote margin.
We're so close to passing this bill through the Committee and
sending it to the Senate floor, with a vote coming as soon as
Wednesday, but it's going to be difficult. That's why I'm asking
for your help today.

Click here to call members of the Environment and Public Works
Committee now, urging them to pass our global warming bill and
send it on to the full Senate:

http://ga6.org/boxer2010/gw_calls.html?m...

Global warming is only becoming more urgent by the hour. The
world's leading scientists on the International Panel on Climate
Change recently reported that without bold action, 40 percent of
the species in the world would be threatened with extinction.
And global warming does not just threaten the environment:
Economist Jeffrey Sachs warns that climate change may have
depleted many resources in the Darfur region and been a root
cause of the genocide in Sudan. This gives a terrifying look
into the future.

But I approach this issue with hope, and not fear. We can do
this. If our bill passes, it will send an incredible signal to
the world that America, the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases
and the only major industrialized nation that has failed to sign
the Kyoto Protocol, is finally acting. Together, we can save our
air with clean energy sources and stop our dependence on foreign
oil. In short, we can be healthier and stronger, with good green
collar jobs and new technologies to export.

But for this bill to make it to a Senate vote, I need you to
speak out and urge my fellow Committee members to support
America's Climate Security Act today.

Click here to call members of the Environment and Public Works
Committee now, urging them to pass our global warming bill and
send it on to the full Senate:

http://ga6.org/boxer2010/gw_calls.html?m...

We're already seeing the effects of global warming, and it is
past time that we start working against more severe
consequences.

Our bill recognizes that there must be a smooth transition in
our industrial and economic sectors, and we have been very
mindful of helping our consumers and businesses change in a
positive way. America's Climate Security Act takes strong action
on an urgent and dangerous matter without crippling our economy.

We're so close to passing this bill through the Environment and
Public Works Committee -- the same committee that wrote every
major piece of environmental legislation, including the Clean
Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Superfund Act, and
many others. We're poised to make history again, but I need your
help in this last push today.

Click here to call members of the Environment and Public Works
Committee now, urging them to pass our global warming bill and
send it on to the full Senate:

http://ga6.org/boxer2010/gw_calls.html?m...

I am so proud that so many have urged members of the EPW
Committee to vote in favor of this key global warming
legislation, including a broad bi-partisan group of leading
elected officials in California, as well as a long list of
well-respected environmental organizations, leaders of the faith
community, and many others.

I've been Chair of the EPW Committee for less than a year -- and
this week, my dream for the Committee may well come true, with
your help.

The world has waited long enough for America to take action on
this urgent issue. Now is our chance to lead the fight against
global warming.

In Friendship,

Barbara Boxer
U.S. Senator

P.S. The special interests are already running attack ads
against this important bill, and I need your help to counter
them today. Please take just a few seconds, right now, to urge
the Senators on the EPW Committee to support America's Climate
Security Act before Wednesday's expected vote -- and then invite
everyone you know to do the same.

Democrats and DFAers in California will be voting in their primary on the February 5th.

California's Democratic Presidential debate is on January 31st. Hopefully all the Democratic Presidential Candidates will be there. http://www.blogforamerica.com/view/23174...

Boxer blocking former Rep. Rogan nomination to federal judiciary

By ERICA WERNER

Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer is blocking the nomination of former GOP Rep. James E. Rogan to the federal bench, citing his lead role in the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton as one of her concerns.

Her stance is angering Rogan allies who contend that Boxer is reneging on her support for a bipartisan commission set up in California that recommends judicial nominees to the White House. Boxer disputes that.

"U.S. Rep. Rogan was one of the most enthusiastic backers of impeachment - he thought President Clinton had committed high crimes and misdemeanors. The Senate certainly disagreed with that conclusion, as did Sen. Boxer," said Boxer's spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz.

Boxer also believes that Rogan's strongly conservative positions on gun control, abortion and other issues make him "out of step with California," Ravitz said.

Rogan, who's currently a state Superior Court judge in Orange County appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, served in the House from 1997-2001 and was one of the managers of impeachment proceedings against Clinton in 1998. ...full article: http://www.fresnobee.com/552/story/23479...

Why NARAL's PAC Endorsed Al Wynn

Posted November 13, 2007

NARAL Pro-Choice America's PAC endorsed Congressman Al Wynn(MD-04) because of his solid commitment to protecting and defending a woman's right to choose.

We are pleased that Donna Edwards is also pro-choice and thank her for her support of a woman's right to choose and her work on behalf of our Maryland affiliate. However, Congressman Wynn's consistently pro-choice voting record since his election in 1992 gives him the edge in our endorsement in this race -- and is why he's earned our endorsement in previous election cycles, too. ...full post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-keen...

---

Pro-Choice Groups' Out-to-Lunch Endorsements
by Bob Geiger

For many years, people inside the Washington D.C. beltway have called Social Security the third-rail of American politics. For progressives, I sometimes think the same hands-off status can be assigned to saying anything against a pro-choice group, lest one appear unsupportive of one of the central tenets of being a liberal. But, as NARAL Pro-Choice America once again decides to endorse Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and might-as-well-be-Republican Joe Lieberman, it's past time to start questioning the wisdom behind their myopic logic. ...full article: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0714...

---

NARAL considers midterm, 2008 candidates at meeting

By Sam Youngman

January 23, 2007

NARAL Pro-Choice America, the abortion rights group, officials gathered last week, on the eve of the 34th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, to discuss and celebrate a midterm election season they described as a “pivotal year” for women’s rights.

Despite repeated mentions of net gains of 23 pro-choice House members and three pro-choice senators, there was no mention of freshman Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.).

While Casey’s landslide victory over then-third-ranking Republican Sen. Rick Santorum was the highlight of the year for Democrats who viewed Santorum as their No. 1 target, the race was a source of early tension for the Democratic Party, NARAL, and other similar groups.

A number of Democrats who favor abortion rights were dismayed the DSCC would recruit and run the famously anti-abortion Casey.

That dismay was brought into focus when former NARAL president Kate Michelman considered running as an Independent against Casey, though she concedes now that it was more important to defeat Santorum.

“The reality that I faced … I certainly did not want to make it easier for Santorum to win,” Michelman said.

Michelman, now an adviser to former Sen. John Edwards’s (D-N.C.) presidential campaign, said that while she doesn’t expect all Democratic candidates to support abortion rights, she considers it a mistake for the party to recruit “aggressively” candidates that stand firmly against abortion. ...full article: http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/naral-c...

Sen. Biden favored ’03 abortion ban

By Sam Youngman
April 18, 2007

Presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) stood out yesterday as the only Democratic candidate to remain quiet on the Supreme Court’s ruling that the 2003 congressional ban on some late-term abortions is constitutional. ...

...hroughout the day, Edwards’s statement was echoed by most Democratic hopefuls, including Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Chris Dodd (Conn.), who said they were “disappointed” or “troubled” by the court’s decision.

Clinton and Dodd voted against both measures in 2003.

Edwards, who again Wednesday tried to stake his claim to the left in the early campaign jockeying, did not vote on either piece of legislation.

By press time, Edwards’s campaign was unable to explain why the senator did not vote on either piece of legislation. The campaign also failed to answer whether Kate Michelman, an Edwards adviser and longtime president of the pro-abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America, had advised the former senator on his policy or his statement.

Obama was in the Illinois state Senate in 2003, where at times he came under fire from groups that oppose abortion for a series of “present” and “no” votes he cast on a set of legislation collectively known as the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act. ...full article: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/sen....

Please recommend this post.

http://www.blogforamerica.com/view/23183...

Susan, NARAL lost many Liberals and Progressives long ago the way they've been conducting themselves. Giving in to rw, not really fighting the issues and pulling ads. I really lost it when they endorsed Lieberman.

My mother even got disgusted with them. LOL

And if I hear them use more reich wing talking points with using percentages of voting issues one more time, I might turn in to an Anti NARAL.

Just like the Joe Lieberman...."he votes with Dem's 95 percent of the time". Yea well, if out of 100 votes, 95 are for renaming airports, getting a stamp, pay increases, budgets, environment, construction, etc. and 5 percent was War, Civil Rights and Nuclear Weapons....I think that 5 percent REALLY MATTERS.

hugs to you Linda, everyone was picking on you on the last thread

anyone who is a Gore fan is alright by me

I could use a few vibes myself, as my deer gun couldn't quite get a new high velocity round out my old barrel and I have an appointment tomorrow with a neural surgeon who is going to look at a battered thumb that was closest to the exploded barrel. amazingly it is still attached to the wrist

if you talk to me in my left ear, all you get is a "huh?"that sucker was LOUD when it went off

My "stop with all this religious talk already" was in reference to the upcoming speech by Romney, not about you guys/girls/women  LOL

All this religious talk on the airwaves is damn spooky.  It wouldn't faze me if they were Buddhists, but these RW nuts are way out of line.  But then, Buddhists don't run around explaining, justifying and defending Buddhism. 

So now we can invade countries becuz of what they may do.  Today he really condoned thought crime which the next prez will continue if he/she pleases.

The Iranian people must be very frightened.    OK, the NIE and everybody but Cheney know putz has lost whatever brain cell he had.  When will someone step up and stop these two?  How can our critters NOT stop him?  What if putz is telling the truth and he hasn't been clued in becuz cheney didn't want him in the loop?  Is that possible?  Clueless incurious george didn't even ask what the new info was?  Is he that removed from his office or is he bending to the will of darth?  Or is he drugged up now?   I would guess the latter, since he can stand up at the podium and say he's feeling just fine, thank you very much.

He's on drugs, betcha! 

These links are the proof that Congressman Kucinich keeps his words of promise.

Dennis Kucinich on the Issues

HR 676, Conyers-Kucinich bill, establishes Medicare for all. ..... Rated 100% by NARAL, indicating a pro-choice voting record: http://www.ontheissues.org/Dennis_Kucini...

http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Dennis_K...

10 Phil OMG! I'M SO SORRY (I'M TALKING LOUD) :)

seriously....you still have all your digits? Battered thumb means what? Are you going to have your ear looked at? I do hope everthing will be OK.

A BIG HUG TO YOU and I will light a candle for you as well.

and thank you for my hugs, it felt good, I like hugs. Sometimes that's all one could ask for.



{{{{{{{{{PHIL}}}}}}}}}

...Oh, and I've shot off a gun only one time without ear plugs....and that put a ringing in my head that I couldn't believe, so I cannot even imagine.

See you later. I gotta go.

Please recommend this post.

http://www.blogforamerica.com/view/23183...

Linda

I got a tiny piece of shrapnel from the barrel in my thumb near a nerve and abruise like from a Barry Bonds home run swing   and was very very lucky

thanks for shouting, I'll need all my friends to do that for a few days

the old marine Vietnam vet at camp had to tell his story about walking by a 5 inch gun on a carrier just when they test fired it and how the accoustic shock knocked him back a step

good thing that didn't happen as I was 15 feet up a tree in a ladder stand

thank God for pain pills though, I'll be fine

We are pleased that Donna Edwards is also pro-choice and thank her for her support of a woman's right to choose and her work on behalf of our Maryland affiliate. However, Congressman Wynn's consistently pro-choice voting record since his election in 1992 gives him the edge in our endorsement in this race -

That's the inherent weakness of single issue groups. They too often don't see past the nose on their face and gravitate to existing power without regard to its corruption or harmful effect in other areas. And it's one reason endorsements carry such little weight with voters. 

barn time bbl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Iowa caucus timed with the Holidays will make a lower than usual tolerance for negative ads, could get interesting

♥Phil♥

Yikes!

http://eatapyzch.blogspot.com/

Phil, I'll keep the good vibes heading your way. I hope all will be ok. AND very HAPPY YOU HAVE ALL YOU DIGITS STILL IN TACT. :D

Evening all.

Gold funds returned an average of 22.86% this year.

Two big standouts:  Vanguard Precious Metals and Openheimer Gold.

Still not big on investing in precious metals personally.

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

Phil, take care! 

Phil - I hope all goes well with the surgeon. You had an angel on your shoulder. Stats says to hang in there too...

and btw, the post re. gold funds is NOT a recommendation.  No way.

Just information. 

If you guys havent seen it yet, check out "Into The Wild".................odd thing about it, when I was 23 and a new college grad...I basically did the same thing, well except for the ending that is.

Great movie......................

This post is brilliant:

70.

Sitka
Tue, 12/04/07
12:10 pm

Reply to this
Changes made to fit with our time......


I would have quoted the whole thing but the strikethroughs didn't carry over.

============================================

Congrats to Rich Kolker on his new career path.

============================================

There was something on the headlines about the Israelis poohpoohing the NIE.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/midd...


Israel moved quickly yesterday to question the US intelligence report that concluded Iran's nuclear weapons programme was frozen, and called for intensified international pressure on the country.

============================================

I don't know why people criticize Obama for coming back strong about Novak saying Hillary had some scandal on him (then Hill said no she didn't). Why do you criticize Obama for strongly sticking up for himself? He didn't know Novak was just being a d-----bag.

==============================================

I think that's all I have to say :~)

And Phil Get Well Soon -- I'm fuzzy on what happened but I guess you had an accident with your fingers or your gun or both but u r ok.

Damn Phil, that's a perty efed-up gun accident.  Bummer on the thumb and hearing.  I hear the thumb is perty important to a human.  I can just about imagine you lifting a can of beer with two hands. 

barn time bbl

>

Honestly, how many here would, with the injuries, do what this man is doing now? 

Kudos/Howardly.

Becuz of the blog clock, I never saw Phil's post until you all started talking about it.  PHIL, GET WELL!  CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?  :-)

RX & Mike Gravel  Power To The People Vs. Give Peace A Chance       0:23:12 (Real | MP3 | Pop‑up) http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/25452

Now on PBS, the 3 tenors Xmas program.  Sorry, Annilow, you're guy isn't here!  :-)

Annilow

I don't know why people criticize Obama for coming back strong about Novak saying Hillary had some scandal on him (then Hill said no she didn't). Why do you criticize Obama for strongly sticking up for himself? He didn't know Novak was just being a d-----bag.


First it was just making a comment of what he did. And the reason was, because he went on the attack on Hillary of something she didn't do, that a Republican was writing....that he heard...

That's why. And I brought it up as a matter of discussion on attacks that may be...maybe not real.

Then sm came along and said what I said about obama attacking Hillary for something that she didn't do was......WRONG...and PROVE IT....and LINKS......so I did. Simple.

And I was stating a fact that he did that. That's all. SM didn't believe it, apparently.

And...I would think if someone approves of attacking someone else for something she didn't do....that was proven...as many suspected (as suspect) that Novak lied, but Obama jumped on it immediately, again for nothing the Clinton camp did, they should be able to handle when someone goes from that Camp, the Clintons, goes after them for something they did do or say, but no....they lose a cookie and post nonstop.....OK for them to attack HIllary....but that's it.

?

why is any/every not positive remark an attack? somehow this bothers me. i mean this is all about real life and real life choices, right?

rdorgan, will you email me?

f b u t @ earth link. net

US report will help 'defuse' Iran nuclear crisis: IAEA chief Tue Dec 4, 10:36 AM ET

VIENNA (AFP)- ...."This new assessment by the US should help to defuse the current crisis," the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, said in a statement.

-----

This should change the confrontational tone of the Bush administration. It appears we keep on getting it wrong. Iraq and now Iran.

mprov, beats me. But same decide when they like the attack and then complain if I say something and they call that an attack. Then accuse me of attacking a wide variety of candidates. I'm still waiting for that.



I gathered plain and simple, we should accept their candidates attacking said candidate...that's supposed to be OK. And I'm gathering they don't consider that an attack. But if I point out anything...and if that is not painting their preferred candidate A and B glowingly, then that's an attack on their candidate. And that they will berate you on.

Now, if you bring in another candidate, then they can demean them beyond all respect and tell you you're wasting you're time supporting them, they don't count and those candidates should just make way for their A and B candidates to be the anti C (pun) candidate.

Now, these are politicians, and the supporters rustle their feathers if the voters talk about the candidates. But it is ok for these supporters to attack the voters even personally. OK I'm getting there with their logic.

Anything they deem should be accepted as word.

Best, is to go one step further an declare you must truly be the Anti C supporter.

Amazing to me. And they justify away.

Ex-coach claims sex-for-testimony offer

By George Hostetter / The Fresno Bee

12/04/07 13:24:29

1:14 p.m.: Stacy Johnson-Klein said Tuesday morning in her sexual discrimination trial against Fresno State that former assistant women's basketball coach Drew Champagne offered to testify in her behalf if she had sex with him.

Johnson-Klein's allegation came on a day that saw both sides rest their cases after nearly two months of testimony at Fresno County Superior Court.

Johnson-Klein said she has received more than 400 text messages from Champagne in the past year. She didn't say if all or most involved Champagne's provocative quid pro quo offer, but left no doubt what he expected from her.

"Sex," Johnson-Klein said in response to a question from Dan Siegel, one of her lawyers.

"Sex?" Siegel asked.

"Sex," Johnson-Klein said.

Champagne never testified in a trial that began in mid-October. Judge Donald S. Black will read his instructions to the jury at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, then each side will deliver its closing argument. Black said the jury should get the case late Wednesday afternoon.

It was Champagne who was told by sophomore guard Chantella Perera in January 2005 that Johnson-Klein about three months earlier had taken a half-bottle of prescription painkillers from the sophomore guard. Champagne took this information to Adrian Wiggins, Johnson-Klein's top assistant coach, who, in turn, relayed the information further up Fresno State's chain of command.

The Perera pill incident became a central factor in Fresno State's decision to fire Johnson-Klein in March 2005 for allegedly violating university policies, including endangering the health and safety of her players with her irresponsible behavior.

Johnson-Klein sued Fresno State in August 2005, alleging she was sexually harassed by male administrators who felt threatened by her championing of equal rights for women. Her firing was retaliation for her outspokenness, she says. ...photo and full article: http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/photo/s...

I don't know why people criticize Obama for coming back strong about Novak saying Hillary had some scandal on him (then Hill said no she didn't). Why do you criticize Obama for strongly sticking up for himself? He didn't know Novak was just being a d-----bag.

Obama should have known that Novak is a mischief maker and liar and lit into him for printing a falsehood -- since he must have known that it was.

I suspect he saw it as a chance to get in a free shot at Hillary. That's politics, but not the kind I prefer.

I don't see how anyone can say Obama was attacking HRC by sticking up for himself and asking her to either put up or shut up. 

Do I trust Bo Novak?  No.  Do I trust HRC?  No.

I think Obama had every right to do what he did.

I know the Governor has attended Gridiron dinners before, but it just seems so DC for him to be giving a speech.  It is kind of funny, though. 

HOWARD DEAN’S FUNNY?

We mean: Howard Dean’s funny!

At the Gridiron dinner over the weekend — where politicos and journos converge and mock each other — DNC Chairman Howard Dean threw out a few one-liners. On purpose, too — which is unlike the typical Howard Dean funniness.

“Despite what you may think, I harbor no ill will toward the media,” he told the crowd. “After all, it was exactly four years ago that you made me the next president of the United States.”

“Heck, the media and I are a marriage made in heaven — like Rudy Giuliani and Pat Robertson.”

“Sure, we may not always see eye to eye, … like Mitt Romney and himself.”

“But we belong together, … like Fred Thompson and the two-day workweek.”

And, jabbing the RNC for its revolving door of chairmen, Dean told his new RNC counterpart, Mike Duncan, “I look forward to working with you in the minutes ahead.”

http://www.politico.com/blogs/anneschroeder/1207/Shenanigans_Back_to_Work.html

Governor, don't stay in DC so long you become too much a part.   Ok? 

17.

Sitka
Tue, 12/04/07
8:19 pm


Unfortunately, Labor's Leadership organizations have a tendency to use the same type of reasoning. It makes their ranks become disgruntled and divided. Access is very important in business. Everyone has their comfort zones.

http://joyce-brasil.com/

http://www.sitkamusicfestival.org/

http://www.farmerphilsfestival.co.uk/

http://www.tomfest.com/

blog seems broken

Mary Lyon: The Giver of Pain and Delight The original "Star Trek" series had an episode called "Spock's Brain" - that boasts an exquisitely descriptive line that's stuck in my brain for decades. The episode explored one of those male-versus-female societal structures in which the men, savage, near-Troglodyte types, spoke of the dominant opposite sex as "the givers of pain and delight." One of those hapless men, lo these many years later, is Rudy Giuliani.

Kathryn Smith: How Misguided Spirituality is Informing the Religious Right + Fascist Politics (4 comments) By telling you a piece of my story, I hope to shed light on the misguided teachings which inform the politics of the religious right. Based on personal experiences while living next door to the Iron Curtain, I also hope to shed light on how fascism operates. Especially, where some religious misconceptions may be used as a leveraging tool.And the post-911 legislative parallels to authoritarian gov'ts are staggering!

"A people may prefer a free government, but if, from indolence, or carelessness, or cowardice, or want of public spirit, they are unequal to the exertions necessary for preserving it; if they will not fight for it when it is directly attacked; if they can be deluded by the artifices used to cheat them out of it; if by momentary discouragement, or temporary panic, or a fit of enthusiasm for an individual, they can be induced to lay their liberties at the feet even of a great man, or trust him with powers which enable him to subvert their institutions; in all these cases they are more or less unfit for liberty: and though it may be for their good to have had it even for a short time, they are unlikely long to enjoy it." -- John Stuart Mill, Representative Government, 1861

Wow, that last was a monster thread ... and taking today off because we have too much else to do.

***********
{{{Phil}}} wow and were you lucky! Take care!

{{{Linda}}} as a die-hard Gore fan, I also appreciate your posts a lot!

Politics is a give-and-take game. While we don't need to smear other candidates, there is no reason that we cannot state facts about them and we would not be human if we did not have our personal preferences. Or did I mistake this place and it is NOT the blog begun by those who supported Howard Dean?

Rich: good luck! When I took the oral part of the exam, it happened to be with a bunch of graduates from Georgetown's School of Foreign Service. They told me that the secret to preparing for the written exam was to read Time magazine from cover to cover for the six months preceding it. By then, the need had passed, so I was spared that.

Of course, consider the sources; they already knew everything else!

I ended up dropping out during the background check, not because of it but because I had met the love of my life and had a second chance at personal happiness. (It was a good decision!) One requirement for Foreign Service (or it was then, in any event) was worldwide availability. I could not guarantee that in the circumstances. However, State also has civil service employees, and I ultimately ended up going in by that door ... and having to be subjected to the background exam then. I don't believe that there is much, if anything at all, that the USG doesn't know about me.

Which is just one, but certainly not the only reason, that I really hate the patdowns that I get every time that I go through airport security since I always set off the buttons.

I left the Department several years back, with their full support, for the positions from which I eventually retired. In spite of the current Secretary, there are still many very good individuals there, who toil with dedication and full commitment to our country and to the Constitution. But they do need as many non-RW zealots as they can get.

And they really need to get rid of the awful ones that have now been infiltrated as a result of putzCo's tenure.

Impeach! Now!

Excellent long article:  Here's a part of it.

A very dear friend of mine and I went to college together. At that time, a very pretty woman with smarts and humor but nervousness too, she surprised us all and entered the Dominican convent.

She left the convent and got married seven years later, completely transformed. Far from nervous and skittery as before, she was and is still so serene, I almost have never seen anything like it. One can feel the beautifully settled and centered vibe around her, as if one could literally touch peace in her aura.

What was responsible for that dramatic shift? Spiritual guidance.

And here comes the surprise. My very dear friend told me that at this Catholic convent, the spiritual teachings had nothing to do with God, the light, purity, la-la….instead, it had everything to do with making peace with one’s own shadow. IE., one’s dark side.

The irony is that having fully embraced, studied and come to understand her dark side, this skittery but smart sweetheart of a person had transformed into a half-angel, who also happens to be human with realities and darkness of her own. Just like all of us. And it was amazing to see the transformation. That was about twenty years ago, yet the change still remains remarkable to me. And a lesson. A very interesting one!

Contrast this with “religious” teachings which emphasize the light, in God and in people. So-called “morality” ends up being a finger-pointing, head-shaking, consternation-stirring sermon. All because those religious seekers have forgotten one thing: They too have a shadow side, just like all the rest of us. And the mask they wear to hide from the painful reality of who they really are, and who we all are as humans, ends up fueling their own darkness instead of transmuting it. All in the spirit of “goodness” and “light” and “God”, judgment becomes the offshoot.

And judgment, of course, always results in polarizing.

Sound familiar? Sound a bit like what our country is doing right now?

Denial of the shadow also would seem to explain why the religious right vociferously trumpets their adamantly pro-life position, while simultaneously comprising many of the most pro-war individuals in the country. How ironic is that?

And yet, it all makes sense. When we deny our darkness and suppress it from our own awareness, we don’t take responsibility for it. And that does not make us better human beings. Far from it. Denial actually lets the darkness within run rampant. Festering in its dark corners, the darkness breeds like a mold spore, whose only cure is sunshine and the light of truth. It is only when we face the reality of who we are, that we can take responsibility for it.

This starkly contrasts with the “morality” which points fingers at others, all in the name of “goodness“ and “Love“ and all those “Christian“ things. In fact, perhaps it is the over-exposure to the light which itself creates the judgment? “We can be blinded by the light” said a minister friend of mine.

What created the deep peacefulness in my friend’s psyche was not merely “facing” her shadow and taking responsibility for it, but especially studying and practicing compassionate understanding of that dark side. Without indulg