George Bush has effectively re-invented Government into a Unitary Government (as King George once offered the colonies), insisting that the powers of the President cannot be affected by any other branch of government.

This radio diary from This American Life on The  Audacity of Government is enough to make me want to move to Canada!

And there's more. Enough to make you cry. Time for a NEW GOVERNMENT!!

see examples below (and tune in to hear the details):

The perverse and often baffling GOP raises new and troubling questions about the future of the party, when they let their loose cannons turn on each other, for sometimes they miss, thus threatening precious liberality. But that is neither here nor there, since the purpose of this waste of words is shoutout to Ira Glass, whose show today was most excellent...as was Peter Sagal's. So if you have yet to hear it, feel free to dial it in. Delightful and instructive.

My girlfriend is a vegetarian and I am not. Frankly I am seriously considering it. Let me tell you why.  She made this choice a  long time ago say back when she was I think she told me around the age of twelve. One of the reasons she remains so is is ethical. No we've been told many times here about the many reasons and virtues of vegetarianism/veganism. Whether you draw you comfort in the scriptures (Yeah there are pro vegetarian/vegan scriptures), or because CAFOs are a major emitter of greenhouse gases, or health reasons. I know that one of her reasons was ethical. She believes firmly that all animals should be treated humanely.  I respect her a great deal for her choice. In addition to acting on this belief in her own dietary choices she has chosen to support an organization called United Poultry Concerns. That is what I'd like to talk about today.

If, like me, you live for your weekly dose of This American Life on NPR (Sundays), you probably already heard the story of Reverend Carlton Pearson of Tulsa, OK, which was originally broadcast in December of last year, and repeated last week.    I finally got around to the podcast of last week's episode, and it brought me to tears (not ideal when one is driving home from work).  

Rev. Pearson was a famous, powerful Pentecostal Bishop and preacher who heard the voice of God speak to him one day, while he was holding his young daughter and watching news coverage of the Rwandan genocide.   The message was:  HELL is something created by humans, not by God.

Read over the fold to find out what happens to an Evangelical, Pentecostal, mega-church-leading preacher when he starts telling people there is no HELL.

This is probably the most unbelievable tale of mistaken identity I have ever heard.  It's about 33 minutes long, and because it streams, you have to sit through a 5-minute "intro" piece about something else (interesting in itself, but not the focus of this diary) before you can get to the story.

Get a snack and a drink, settle into your chair, and prepare to be amazed.

Not What I Meant (click the little blue sound icon on the left)

A bit more on the flip, including some teaser info for those who want to know a bit more before clicking.  No spoilers!

I hope you're an avid listener of This American Life, either via your local public radio station or via podcast. It's an amazing collection of humorous, sad, interesting and sometimes shocking stories.

Regular listeners will know that they choose a single theme for each show, and bring us two, three, or four (or more) stories on that theme, some real, some fiction, some poetry, whatever.

This week, the program will devote a full hour to interviewing two former Guantanamo detainees. More below.

I hope this isn't a redundant diary, but I couldn't find anyone else writing about it in my search.  NPR's This American Life this week was excellent. If you haven't heard it this week, you need to.  Ira Glass laid out the Administration's lies, in general, and Cheney's lies, specifically in the lead up to war, in a straight forward way--just listing the facts.  This sort of behavior should be rewarded--I'm giving money to my local NPR station and I encourage others to as well (if your particular station carries "This american life"

  This afternoon while runing errands, I was listening to This American Life on WAMC. Subject: What's In a Number? It was all about the Iraq war, the war we don't hear much about at home these days. About a year ago, a study was announced that estimated ~100,000 Iraqi civilians had been killed in the war - a majority by coalition forces. The study was largely ignored or dismissed at the time. It shouldn't have been.

   Now that the Libby indictment is starting to get people to ask just why the U.S. got into this war, this is a story that all Americans should take another look at. It's not a straight bash the U.S. story; the tragedy is all the greater because there were good people doing everything they could to minimize civilian casualties. Civilians still died. Women. Children. The Elderly. When a war is fought, they take casualties right along with the combatants. But, how many?

(More below the fold)