Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" - October 31, 2012

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Oct. 31

4:00 – Getting the Marriage Conversation Right: A Guide for Effective Dialogue
Getting the Marriage Conversation Right: A Guide for Effective Dialogue teaches you how to promote and defend traditional marriage in non-religious terms. It’s a great how-to guide to answer those tough questions you've struggled with. Author William May shows you how to navigate the pitfalls and avoid making this a gay vs. Christian issue. May brings into the legal definition of marriage the rights of children, and provides sensible guidelines on how to avoid common traps that hinder communications for advocating public policy about marriage. Marriage is the only institution that unites kids with their moms and dads, and that has been recognized by every culture, society, and religion, each according to their own competencies. Bill joins us to look at how to get that interest recognized in laws, societal institutions, and individuals, and begin to rebuild a marriage culture.

5:00 – Angels All Around Us: A Sightseeing Guide to the Invisible World
In Angels All Around Us Anthony DeStefano explains the awesome and mysterious reality of the spiritual dimension that surrounds and permeates our very existence. All aspects of the spiritual realm are discussed, including the existence of angels and demons, the whereabouts of loved ones who have passed, the gift of grace, heaven, hell, and even the presence and activity of God in our lives. Anthony is here to help readers embrace a certitude that makes it easier to act according to their moral beliefs, give them a greater sense of the richness of life, and show them that no amount of suffering-physical, mental, or emotional-will ever be able to destroy the profound sense of inner peace that they can experience on a daily basis.

2 comments:

  1. Al, I called you a while back and you BS-ed me regarding Catholic moral theology and America's on-going unjust wars, which I find abominable for someone in your position. You specifically said Osama bin Laden was never a CIA asset which is PURE BS as well as COMMON KNOWLEDGE. Tell the ugly truth Al, as you should:

    From Wikipedia:

    Originally, blowback was CIA internal coinage denoting the unintended, harmful consequences—to friendly populations and military forces—when a given weapon is carelessly used. Examples include anti-Western religious fanatics (see Osama bin Laden) who, in due course, attack foe and sponsor; right-wing counter-revolutionaries who sell drugs to their sponsor’s civil populace (see CIA and Contras cocaine trafficking in the US); and banana republic juntas (see Salvadoran Civil War) who kill American reporters or nuns (see Dorothy Kazel).

    In formal, print usage, the term blowback first appeared in the Clandestine Service History—Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran—November 1952–August 1953, the CIA internal history of the US’s 1953 Iranian coup d'état, published in March 1954.[2][3]

    [edit]Examples of Blowback

    [edit]Afghanistan and Al Qaeda

    Examples of blowback include the CIA’s financing and support for Afghan insurgents to fight an anti-Communist proxy guerilla war against the USSR in Afghanistan; some of the beneficiaries of this CIA support joined al-Qaeda's terrorist campaign against the United States.[4]

    Ignorance of the CIA's having run al Qaeda and bin Laden is no excuse.

    See: Scholar and one-time CIA analyst Chalmers Johnson on the dangers of blowback and empire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2CCs-x9q9U

    ReplyDelete
  2. A J,

    I think I remember your call. I believe you said that bin Laden was on the CIA payroll.

    Al, whose first instinct is to defend U.S. imperial foreign policy (because he believes in American exceptionalism), jumped on the narrow definition of your assertion. That is, if you are on the CIA's payroll, then you are a formal employee of the CIA who receives a regular paycheck.

    If the CIA funneled money to bin Laden via Saudi Arabia or Pakistan (or through some other channel), then Al will quibble with you simply on your wording. That's just the way he is.

    ReplyDelete