Would I like to appear on the internet radio show of a friend of his, Raunch Foxx, to talk with the wife of the Reverend Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church?  You know, the folks who picket military funerals and are now planning to find Heath Ledger’s funeral and picket his too, because he played a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain.

MW’s suggestion was that we needed to go on Raunch’s show and speak up to Mrs. Phelps.  Reasonable idea, I thought.  But, truly:  when you are trying to serve your community in a POSITIVE way, is it worth your precious time to listen and/or talk with someone who is so far ‘beyond the pale’ you are probably wasting your breath?

Well, the first sign the universe was telling me to ‘beg off’ was when I tried to reach Raunch, to get on his list of speakers.  The numbers MW Savant sent me were reversed and when I called a woman answered and said that I had the wrong number.

That was pretty late that night.  I got up yesterday (the day of the show) and after researching found the right number.  I called Raunch and he let me know he had enough callers for the show, including a lesbian reverend and said, however, if I called in, he’d try to get me on, but I better know the bible or Mrs. Phelps would rip me up.

I had a nice talk with Raunch.  And, found out he and I grew up in the same city!  Go, figure?!?

Well, Raunch’s ‘warning’ didn’t scare me.  But I did feel a bit ambivalent about listening.  After all, it was late and I’d had a long day.  I’ve seen clips of Mrs. Phelps speaking.  I remember her husband Fred from way back in the days of Donahue and Geraldo.  These are not people you ‘dialogue’ with.  They are perfect examples of people who can only talk AT you not WITH you.

Anyway, last night, I guess that ‘neck craning’ or dark side of me (you know the side that gets into reading about the deaths of celebrities and has to look when you pass an accident) got the best of me, so I decided to listen in.  I logged on to the show at 11:59p ET (it started at 9p Arizona time).  The long and short of it is this – I think the universe was again working in the direction of  ‘don’t waste your time listening to this stuff’, because I was able to listen to Raunch’s beginning remarks (which took almost 20 minutes).  Then he said he was going to bring Mrs. Phelps on (he’d had a picture on the live video feed showing the whole time for effect) after a commercial break.

I spent about five minutes listening to commercials or music or whatever, and thought, geesh, what happened to the show.  So, I started clicking on the icons I thought were to ‘refresh’ or whatever (this was at Stickam Radio, which I’d never heard of before and, frankly, I found the show’s site navigation confusing).  I was able to click in for a minute or two and heard Raunch introducing Mrs. Phelps.  Then, for whatever reason, perhaps my rural-slow DSL, I lost audio and video and wasn’t able to regain it.

At this point, sleep was overtaking me anyway, so I shut it all down.

I don’t know how the show went.  Did anyone listen?  I’d like the ‘Cliff’ Notes (or what do the kids use nowadays – ‘Spark Notes’), if anyone has them!  I’m sure I know the bottom line:  Mrs. Phelps spit some venom and was oblivious to any of the callers on the line who tried to dialogue with her.  Raunch, if you are out there and, reading this, tell me if it was any different!

Keepin’ it loving and positive,

Barb Elgin
Hear me live on HRC’s ‘The Agenda’
XM Satellite Radio Channel 120 on
Monday night, January 28th at 6:3opm ET

The Dalai is now speaking to the audience, from a prepared speech.  He started off with much humor (mostly about himself and his English).  He states he insists that he speak today in English, although his command of the language is poor!  He says he started learning English in the 1940′s and, at 72, still doesn’t speak it well.  I disagree.  He is having alot of fun making light of his mistakes while reading.

We should thank him for respecting Americans enough to put his ego aside in this way!  This is no small feat, is it?  Put yourself in his shoes:  if another country was awarding you a medal, could you go there and do a speech in their language?

By the way, there was a hysterically funny (to me at least!) moment.  Dalai was very gracious and thankful to those who gave him the award, but he was able to sneak in, without really offending anyone (too much I hope!) that ‘these people’ (meaning politicians) have a tendency to lie, however most of them have many strengths and need to be appreciated for their contributions.  The Dalai has a courageously funny spirit, doesn’t he!?!

I am impressed that we are awarding the Dalai Lama this medal.  I like that we are acknowledging a very visible, NON-Christian leader/figure!  I am especially happy our republican president is a part of this ceremony.  Yes, there are political reasons – President Bush spoke earlier today and, while I didn’t hear his speech, I did catch him saying something about improving relationships with China and I am hoping he will follow the Dalai’s lead in his message of ‘Prosperity and Peace’ (perhaps diplomacy?) and not up the ante with a threat to go to war.

Again, what I really liked upon hearing about this event, is the honoring of a spiritual leader other than a Christian one.  Christianity is a major faith on the planet and, in America, but it is by far the only one.  There are hundreds of faiths.  In honoring the Dalai in this way, American leaders show their respect for having diverse faiths work together and find their commonalities (instead of their differences), which is the usual order of the day.

I am glad to see American leaders openly associate themselves with the Dalai.  We need this in America.  I’m sure this award rankles some Christian fundamentalist leaders.  Too bad!  We are a nation founded upon religious pluralism and individual freedom and privacy to practice our spiritual faith as each of us desires.

Here are some of the compelling values/principles the Dalai mentioned in his talk that I think bear repeating…

• non-violence
• inter-religious understanding
• spiritual freedom
• liberty
• truth
• justice
• costs of democracy
• respect for human rights

Wahoo!  Here’s a victory for humanity today!  A bright light indeed…Does anyone know if Richard Gere was there!?!

For those of you who wonder where the Dalai Lama stands on the issue of homosexuality, he is affirmative!  He’s spoken openly about his support of the human rights of GLBT’s for years and has often met with the GLBT community.  He is particularly concerned about violence perpetrated against GLBT’s due to people’s prejudices and misunderstanding.