Obama and the witch

Now that I’m out in the open as a “Coast to Coast” fan, let me tell you about some bullshit I heard Friday night.

Art Bell, the pioneer of this late-night-bizarro radio format, was guest-hosting for George Noory. He had on Evelyn Paglini, an occult practitioner and “psychic” whom Art Bell credited with predicting last week’s wildfires in Southern California.

“She has done it again!” Art Bell said. “How many soothsayers over the years, remote viewers, psychics have I had on the program? Have any of them ever come even close to what this woman has done? No. Not even close.”

Then Bell replayed a few clips from Paglini’s appearance on the March 31 broadcast.

Now here’s the thing: You don’t need a damn crystal ball to foresee major wildfires in Southern California. Every few years, some canyon goes up in flames.

(In a 2006 appearance on “Coast to Coast,” Paglini predicted major fires in California and Arizona and parts of the Midwest. She also predicted economic collapse, widespread civil unrest in the U.S., and a new killer virus. Plus two major earthquakes – one in California, one in the Midwest.)

The specific thing about Paglini’s most recent fire prediction was her suggestion that it would be an act of terrorism – a “planned operation,” she called it, targeting multiple states. And if that turns out to be true, I will personally shout from the rooftops that this lady is magickal.

Evelyn Paglini’s hustle is obvious: Predict a bunch of dark, grim shit... and then, if one bad thing happens (as inevitably it will), she takes a bow for her amazing psychic gifts.

All in good fun? Well, you should’ve heard what Evelyn Paglini said Friday night about Barack Obama.

Art Bell asked her if she had any big predictions for the near future. “I’m from the state of Illinois originally,” Paglini began in response, “and I wanna say this because I want anybody in the state of Illinois, and anybody who thinks about this man, to put a shield of protection around him, and that is Barack Obama.”

“Really?” said Art Bell, somber.

“I feel that there are people out there that wish this man harm,” Paglini continued. “And very serious harm.”

“I certainly hope that one doesn’t come true,” said Bell.

“I don’t want it to come true, and that’s why I’m putting it out now,” said Paglini.

Way to go out on a limb, Evelyn. Why not predict that somebody’ll try to assassinate Hillary? Or Huckabee? Those would be bold predictions. In Obama’s case, bloggers were throwing around the A-word as soon as he got into the race.

All Evelyn Paglini did was feed into the fucked-up energy that circulates around Obama as a black man running for president. And if, God forbid, someone does take a shot at him... you know this witch will be back on the radio, taking her bows. “She has done it again!”

The hell with that.

Now here’s a weird thing. Today, for the first time ever, I’m having trouble uploading audio files to my Vox blog. I am unable to stream Paglini’s voice so you can hear her negative vibes for yourself.

Maybe she done put the hex on my ass already.

UPDATE (10/30/07): I’m back in the stream of things with my Vox audio stash. Click here to hear Evelyn Paglini’s psychic warning concerning Barack Obama.