Animals that asked humans for help (video)

"The Purpose Driven Life Secret" (cartoon)

Author of Wish It, Want It, Do It with Bill Maher and Arianna Huffington ("Family Guy").

(Wisdom Quarterly) Stewie Griffin's best friend Brian -- canine author and drunk, once referred to as "Cirrhosis the Wonder Dog" -- has written a bestselling self-help book, pumped out in record time to prove that what passes for "spirituality" is ruining the American public. The Secret, The Purpose Driven Life, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Left Behind, Think and Grow Rich, comic books by Deepak Chopra, Passion to Profits, and so on are hurting more than helping.

EPISODE: "Brian Writes a Bestseller" (Rated R)

I was at the airport last week and couldn't believe that the bestsellers were fluffy derivatives of the same The Secret idea or the even easier scheme of getting people to send in their stories then compiling them as true-life parables and adding "Chicken Soup" to the title: Chicken Soup for the Teen Soul, Chicken Soup for Single Moms...Chicken Soup for People Waiting at the Airport.

The title that caught my eye was No Guts, No Story. It's really a matter of a clever title selling books at the airport. Grab and go and leave the junk in the kangaroo pouch behind the seat. What is it about? Overcoming adversity. That's what they're all about! That's what "get rich quick" schemes are always about: "I was broke, now look at me. Send me $19.95, and I'll tell you how you can do it, too!"

Spiritual Consumerism
So "Family Guy" has a go at the "feelgood, all you have to do is really want it" book phenomenon. This can include pop-Buddhist titles too: [ghost-]written by the Dalai Lama and as merch for Thich Nhat Hanh, or (Trungpa Rinpoche star) Pema Chodron selling stories about fear and Lama Surya Das saying zilch.

Then there are the real money makers: Abraham-Hicks saying "Just Ask and It Is Already Given" (when what they really mean is already "set aside in escrow" for you to never take possession of if you don't learn how), Eckhart Tolle saying "Just accept whatever is and you'll have the power of NOW," Byron Katie giving "The Work" of asking yourself four questions then turning the thought around. Thank you Hay House and The Oprah Corporation.

It's a publishing cash cow, the message of which is partly very good. But as "Family Guy" is pointing out, it's just been turned into the business of selling pseudo-spirituality, selling simple answers and pricey "workshops" (lectures with a lunch break), selling the promise of material riches, uh, we mean "abundance." Don't call it getting rich, and never promise it'll be quick. But call it what it is, selling.

• VIDEO: Bill Maher, Seth MacFarlane, Christine O'Donnell
• VIDEO: "Family Guy" panel with Bill Maher

Charity when it counts most (Lotus)

Thank you for your generous support. This is a message from the chairman and founder of Lotus Outreach, Khyentse Norbu:

“Times are hard right now. Economically, everyone in this world of ours is suffering in one way or another. As always, though, it’s the most vulnerable who suffer the most, and far too often find themselves facing privations so extreme that a simple act of kindness can mean the difference between life and death. When the stakes are so high, the kindness and generosity of others have a deeper significance than when life is relatively easy, and are both more appreciated and have a greater effect. So please, continue to support Lotus Outreach as much as you can in 2010.”

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UN urges "drastic" action to help banks and poor

John Heiprin (AP)

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. chief warned Friday of global recession and a serious hit to emerging economies, calling for "drastic" measures to shore up banks and extend lines of credit to the world's poorest states.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the era of self-regulation among the biggest banks and other money-lending institutions had ended and pledged to support European and American efforts to rethink the global financial architecture.

He also called for all U.N. agency heads to cut 2 percent across-the-board from their budgets, saying it could not be business as usual. More>>

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon seen at the U.N. headquarters in New York in this 9/24/08 file photo (Reuters/Eric Thayer).