The Errington Thompson Show 7-11-09 with Special Guest Mark Karlin (Buzzflash)

Posted on July 18th, 2009 by ecthompson md

The Errington Thompson Show. My guest is Mark Karlin. We discuss the latest news: the good, the bad… and the ugly!

Life, specifically my job, has been beating me up as of late. After having been up for more than 36 hours, I foolishly thought I could take a two-hour “nap.” That didn’t work out so well for me. I was seriously late for the show. Thanks to Aaron for calling me. I’m eternally grateful to Mark Karlin of Buzzflash.com for being patient enough to wait for me to show up at the studio. Mark — thank you.

We start by talking about Mark Sanford. The embattled governor of South Carolina is part of this shadowy religious organization called The Family. Their headquarters is located in Washington DC in a building called “C Street.” Now this probably wouldn’t be a big deal, except it turns out that several congressmen live in this building while they are in Washington. First of all, I don’t understand a bunch of grown men living like they’re college students again. I’m sorry, I just don’t understand that. Secondly, Senator John Ensign happens to be an active member of this group. So when you put all this extra information together you get — grown men living like college kids, infidelity and a bizarre secretive religious organization. The whole thing just doesn’t seem to add up. Mark Karlin adds a lot of excellent information to this bizarre incident. The Family believes that these leaders were preordained by God to lead Americans.

We discussed the fact that Barack Obama went to Ghana as his first African country to visit. Clearly, Barack Obama made a good choice.

We then segue into talking about the Central Honesty Agency. I think anybody who was thinking at the time that Nancy Pelosi stated that the CIA lied to her and other members of Congress would have thought that this was a no-brainer. As usual, the Republicans jumped on this using their familiar playbook. They pulled out the play named Patriotism and tried to label Nancy Pelosi as unpatriotic and un-American. As this week has unfolded, though, it turns out that the CIA probably did lie to Congress and withheld vital information on domestic spying. The new inspector general’s report clearly states that Congress was not informed about some domestic spying. It appears that Vice President Dick Cheney led the effort to keep Congress in the dark.

I still have to wonder where Congress is. Where are the hard-hitting investigations?

We also learned recently that the force behind Alberto Gonzales and Andrew Card going to the bedside of John Ashcroft, who had recently undergone surgery, was not Dick Cheney but instead was George W. Bush. I was kind of surprised by this information. Mark Karlin points out that he and others said Buzzflash.com were following the story carefully several years ago. They reported that the available information at the time suggested it was in fact Bush who ordered these two pawns to Aschcroft’s bedside.

Finally, we end with that story about the Washington Post. The Washington Post seem to be selling access to their writers and op-ed columnists. Mark Karlin mentions that this is why Buzzflash takes donations and donations only. You can donate to Buzzflash here.

This is a fun interview. I hope you enjoy it.

The Errington Thompson Show 07-11-09 [ 21:31 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Bush Administration, Civil Liberty, Domestic Spying, Podcasts, Religion // 4 Comments »

  • http://NotionsCapital.com Mike Licht

    There’s nothing sinister about the C Street Fellowship. The group just believes that “love thy neighbor” trumps the Ten Commandments if you’re rich, white, male and Republican.

    See:

    http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/07/18/c-street-sex-scandal

  • http://www.whereistheoutrage.net ecthompson

    as I mentioned before on this blog –

    During the interview with Gross, Sharlet noted The Family’s emphasis on the biblical King David story that Sanford referenced. In that tale, David sees the beautiful Bathsheba, decides he must have her, gets her pregnant, arranges to have her husband killed in battle, and then marries her. Asked by Gross whether he had a better understanding of the Sanford affair because he studied The Family, Sharlet pointed to the governor’s King David reference:

    That’s actually one of the sort of core parables of The Family that I encountered, and describe this experience with David Coe, the son of Doug Coe, the leader, came around and gave us this long lesson. He says, ‘What made King David great?’ And the men I was with are all trying to say, ‘Well, he loved God,’ all this. He [says], ‘No, No, that’s not it. King David was a terrible man. You know, he was an adulterer and a murderer. So why is he a hero of the Bible?’ And the answer is because God chose him. King David is beyond morality, in their limited understanding of scripture. … I could almost hear Doug Coe’s voice when Gov. Sanford was saying, ‘I need to keep governing, because I’m like King David.’

    This is the problem with The Family. They believe that God has chosen them to lead normal humans. They are the chosen. I have a problem when anyone believes that God has chosen them over the rest of humanity. I hope that you share this same concern.

    Thanks for your comment

  • J.Hill

    Congrats on such a great website, Mr. Thompson! The first thing that came to my mind on hearing about “C Street” dogma was the Neitzshean concept of the Ubermensch. Obviously these nutcases at “C Street” have decided that they should not–and are not–bound by the same ethical strictures that apply to mere mortals.

    This mode of thinking caught on quickly among all the “unindicted co-conspirators” whom Mr. Bush invited into his administration. “Laws are only there to control the ‘little people’.”

    I’m sorry to say that a whole lot of “our” Congressmembers (on both sides of the aisle!) suffer from the same ‘bug’. This accounts for their reluctance to prosecute the criminals among their fellow politicos inside the Beltway. They’re too busy scratching each others’ backs than to hold each other accountable for the kinds of ethical/moral “mistakes” that “everybody commits”….and which they would just as soon not be exposed to those constituents outside the Beltway–constituents who don’t “understand” how politics works.

    Those few among them who actually believe that they are in Washington to serve the people are quickly identified–and soon marginalized–by Party “leaders” for the sake of ‘damage control’. I’m thinking particularly about folks like Kucinich, McKinney, Woolsey…and maybe 100 others who have become pariahs to be mocked or ignored by members of “The Club” which operates more as a sort of Cosa Nostra than anything resembling a representative government.

    WE NEED A 3RD PARTY….AND WE NEED MORE CITIZENS WHO REFUSE TO VOTE FOR A “LESSER EVIL”!!!!!

  • http://www.whereistheoutrage.net ecthompson

    J Hill –

    Well stated. I don’t have anything to add.

    Thanks for your thoughtful comments.

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