I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
Madness.
Hedging his bets against the Rapture?
Fundie XTians: Off yourselves, and let God take care of the rest of us.
What the fuck is up with that?
What does Rangel think he stands to gain?
Sent the link to some friends who live in his congressional district.
I really, really need to get a life, but I should remind you that Moon is not a fundamentalist Christian. He is an anti-Christian cult leader.
Moon - "I didn't spend 7 years at evil seminary school just to be called 'reverend,' thank you very much."
(By "anti-Christian," I don't mean to suggest that I'm endorsing Christianity, but that Moon has campaigned actively to convince black pastors to "tear down the cross" and worship him instead)
I should remind you that Moon is not a fundamentalist Christian. He is an anti-Christian cult leader.
Technically true, but one thing Moon shares in common with fundamentalists (xtian or islamist), is that they're all extremists who take advantage of power imbalances in order to push their agenda on the rest of us.
Oy II. Why did I wake up today?
As a philosophically-oriented Buddhist, I find the Congressman's remarks extremely insensitive; what in the world - or who in the world is trying to influence with those remarks? Oh. Perhaps its some sort of cash/donation issue???
Actually the Moonies are good people. As a Church leader myself I think freedom of religion should be on everybody's list of priorities. Certainly on the liberals.
Hi ho. I feel some poetry coming on. These are all quotes from *that* press conference:
Iraq is a part of the war on terror.
It is not the war on terror,
It is a theater in the war on terror.
I've got a plan to win the war on terror,
Another victory in the war against terror.
One of them can better win the war on terror.
Now's the time to talk about winning this war on terror:
The war on terror is not going to end immediately,
And it's essential we win this battle in the war on terror.
Can you ever win the war on terror?
See, the war on terror had changed the calculations.
Do you think the actual majority of 'Murican's is going to wake up and do something to stop the Raptualizers now? What with everything that's going on, 9/11, Iraq, Israel, etc.
I really hope people wake up SOON (like now) and realize that this administration is a HORRIBLE FAILURE and the only place Bu$h and his cronies are leading us all is World War and Armageddon.
Freedom of religion is great, Ricky -- I assume it's cool if Congress honors the Rev. Fred Phelps now, right? 
(He's the webmaster of "God Hates Fags.com")
You can't spell Ricky without icky.
KS: I agree about the means. I'm just sayin', it's a prime sledgehammer if anyone ever wants to hammer the Christian Right with this hypocrisy. If everyone just lumps them all together as fundamentalists, there's no fun hypocrisy and scandal.
Nikto:
That was beautiful, man.
can you do a haiku?
Ricky:
You're still a big idiot.
Chuck Rangle is a...
Moonie! Moonie! Moonie! Moonie!
Moonie! Moonie! Moonie! Moonie!
Moonie! Moonie! Moonie! Moonie!
MYOB! MYOB! MYOB! MYOB!
MYOB! MYOB! MYOB! MYOB!
MYOB! MYOB! MYOB! MYOB!
MYOB! MYOB! MYOB! MYOB!
.
Ricky,
The freaking dumbass Moon *THINKS* he is the christ!!!
He has stated as much that he is the living CHRIST!
The man is a cultleader, not a religious leader.
If you call yourself a christian then you should be very, very willing to have him arrested and deported for the fascist freak he is!
MYOB'
.
Whoops. I got haloscanned.
retry:
Ricky:
You're still a Big Idiot
Be nice to Ricky, I dig the Church of Fandel.
Atrios: This CAN'T be - not Charlie Rangel, one of my (usually)favorite congressmen. Oh ye gads. Pulp and political porn on TV and Charlie likes the moonies? I'm going to bed.
KS - the same KS who we're supposed to say "finish your friggin papers!" too whenever he/she posts?
Yes, Well once again religion is at the root of all evil. Each person following some deity to the death of the ( those who oppose ) With stats like 75 persent of Americans believe in some form of God . Good luck changing this one. But do call him and ask WTFITS
KS - the same KS who we're supposed to say "finish your friggin papers!" too whenever he/she posts?
erin
Yeah, thats me.... 
I'll go back to work now. Just till monday though.
I keep repeating it here and wherever anyone will listen:
The greatest danger to this republic is the fact that as long as it carries some sort of "God" tag (except currently the label "Allah") it gets a free pass, no matter how loony or Moonie. What am I saying "free pass." Anything with even a whiff of some putative deity about it is applauded as profoundly Murican. And religious reactionary forces know it, and they are moving to take over control. What am I saying, they have taken over control.
Randi Rhodes is trying to get wrangle on Air America. Fill her in and she'll tear him a new one.
Zepper - yeah, true, but could you imagine if Congressmen started hanging out with Lousi Farrkahan>? Curtains.
Whenever something incomprehensivle like this occurs, you can bet your sweet bippy it's all about money......
Rhodes should put one of us Moonie experts on, if she really wants to attack the Republican Party. But they get enough people like Rangel, it's protection from Dem criticism.
It's a huge mystery to me, as I know it is to you John, why Moon and people who associate with him get a pass.
Mebbe he has pictures of all of them with goats.
As someone coming from a pretty hardcore fundamentalist upbringing, taught that the Moonies were a cult and, as Gorenfeld rightly notes, explicitly anti-Christian, I am amazed by this. I cannot believe that there are not conservative Christian leaders who are FLIPPING OUT about politicians sucking up to Moon, and about the standing he is apparently accorded by this administration.
There is something about that for me, belies their hypocrisy more than anything else could -- it is so antithetical to their core beliefs and identity.
Moon is apparently the master of social engineering when it comes to manipulating our politicians. This is a disturbing incident like the dinner a couple weeks ago where some otherwise sane people (like Senator Mark Dayton, D-MN) got pulled into Moon's reality distortion field.
Don't these politicians have anyone on their staffs who have half a clue? Or is it all because of the inside-the-beltway presence of the Washington Times? How can anyone believe Moon is legitimate? Might as well be feting Lyndon LaRouche.
The Moon thing runs pretty deep in the republican party.
Getting THAT on the front page of the WashPo would be sweet.
But would anyone believe it?
I like monica_nyc's WTFIUWT? - just in case Atrios's WTF didn't come through.
-LOL-
Something funny? (Or not?) I almost went to Rangel's lunch-party-shindig-fundraiser-thing here in DC the other day! I like the whole draft-the-rich-white-boyz-too spiel. He must've done something a few months ago - I remember sending compliments through his website - must have gotten me on his list.
How much money is Rangel getting off this whacko?
Just when you think things are starting to go your way...
Shoot - forget about going to see Rangel speak - I want to hear this Moonie dude on the mic. That shiznit would be hilarious!
Yes, oh-masterful-one-bwa-ha-ha!...Pass me another Bud, dog!
Atrios,
Yeah, it's pretty much a mystery to me. No news media will touch it, really. I'm in talks with one major magazine which was skeptical..."We've read so much about Moon, why a new story now?" Arrrrrrggrghhggrhgrgrghrhgrghrghrghrghrghrghrghrh
Gypsum,
They're just figure the Moonies are giving the Apocalypse another little shove - along with all those unrepentant Jews in Israel. Their nasty vengeful deity will see that they all get to join Satan at the bottom of the fiery pit.
OSTENSIBLE core beliefs and identity.
Gypsum "gets it" (to paraphrase Andrew Sullivan)...
I'm just sayin', it's a prime sledgehammer if anyone ever wants to hammer the Christian Right with this hypocrisy. If everyone just lumps them all together as fundamentalists, there's no fun hypocrisy and scandal.
Everyone should listen to what John G is saying.
The war we're in is between Fundamentalists and Everyone Else. Sooner or later even the misguided idiots like our favorite troll RV will figure that out. And by "Fundamentalist", I mean both secular and nonsecular varieties.
Non-fundamentalist Christians are on our side. And, as John G is pointing out, part of the political strategy for countering the religious right involves finding the wedges among the Fundies. Moon is anathema to a true Fundamentalist Christian, and we should be exploiting this fact more than we are.
Oh the pain of the missing end-tag...
I've never trusted Rangel. He's one of the most irrationally enthusiastic cheerleaders for the so-called War on Drugs.
Holy sheeeeeet! First, Andrew Young's donations to Bush are revealed. Now this!
How much more can we take?
A lot of these things are out of intertia in the Congressional Offices. People see "religious leader" and "founder of the Washington Times" and aren't putting them together.
For example, I worked in a prominent Congressional office and on my desk was a request to fill out a birthday greeting for Mr. Moon. I quickly went to one of my superiors and asked him why we wanted to do that. The letter was quickly abandoned.
However, I can see how these things kind of slip past in a busy Congressional Office.
Yet one more piece of evidence that mainstream Democrats are spineless appeasers of the far and radical right.
A lot of these things are out of intertia in the Congressional Offices.
I'm sure that's exactly what happened. But somehow it doesn't comfort me to know the Rangel just signed this appalling piece of propaganda out of cluelessness.
No.
I'm very sorry, but, no. I can't.
No.
Zepper,
Actually, it occurs to me that they might actually be calculating that Moon is the Capital-A Antichrist, and supporting him, or at least looking the other way, hastens the day of the Lord along.
But that is too whacko. Gross hypocrisy in the name of power is at least sort of human. But the very deep disconnect that must exist for them is scary to contemplate.
Dayton fell for this shit, too?!?
He's my Senator, dammit. I'm going to send along the Gorenfeld link to him.
Sung Yung Moon can suck my Long Duc Dong.
why does charlie rangel hate gay people?
Ricky, did you READ the Gorenfeld links? Did you?
I didn't think so. Here's a sample:
...Also, the "ambassadors for peace" group honoring Rangel and other members of Congress has previously endorsed a Neo-Nazi.
...One more thing. If you're new to this subject, "True Parents" is Moon's traditional way of describing himself (and his wife) as the Messiahs of humanity. The idea is that mankind's "lineage" has been soiled, and the only way for people to avoid hell is to unite with "The True Father" via his sex ritual.
[link] posted by John : 4:22 PM
Comments (3)
I tend to agree with Me. Remember the photo of Rosylyn Carter and John Wayne Gacy?
+
Mondo, I wouldn't be so sure as to who signed it.
Yup, Dayton did indeed attend a Moonie event. Especially surprising considering that he came out as perhaps one of the strongest opponents of the Hate Amendment, something Moon would no doubt love to see integrated into the Constitution... that is, if he didn't want the whole thing scrapped.
I'm sure that's exactly what happened. But somehow it doesn't comfort me to know the Rangel just signed this appalling piece of propaganda out of cluelessness.
He doesn't actually sign stuff himself. I was once repairing a PC in Sen. Roth's office, when I noticed a large, drafting-board-type apparatus with a real pen in a holder. The letter is held in place on the board while the pen signs the good senator's name.
Scary poem Nikto. Gave me chills.
He doesn't actually sign stuff himself.
Oh, well that's OK then. NOT!
When you're a politician, your office staff (and fake signature machinery) is you!
How did Moon get so rich? Is it entirely from getting his followers to cough up dough?
Rangel writes like a girl.
Just sayin'.
Rangel writes like a girl.
Does he put hearts over his i's?
Oh, he actually showed up at the event. I'm uploading a photo to emphaize that he didn't just sign off on this thing.
How did Moon get so rich? Is it entirely from getting his followers to cough up dough?
You should check out the Mooniverse and Introduction links on my site...there's scamming old ladies in Japan, selling cars to North Korea and running companies like Wacom. Dude, Trump could be his Apprentice.
OT: Things are going just peachy the Middle East, aren't they?
"It was Bush."
The verdict was near unanimous amid the tears and rage on Palestinian streets after Israel killed Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi in an air strike Saturday that many Arabs felt President Bush must have approved.
"Bush has Rantissi's blood on his hands," said Khamis Saadi, among tens of thousands who swept into Gaza's shabby streets.
"All doors to hell should be opened against the Israelis and against the Americans," he cried.
. . .
On the streets of Gaza, there were many calls for Hamas to change its longstanding strategy of attacking only Israelis and to start killing Americans too.
In a recent poll of likely central Texas evangelical voters, over 87% of them believed that Gay Marriage was not only an abomination but a clear and present threat to marriage.
Further proof that their cause is the right one.
Developing . . .
"WTF"? This idiot should resign now or be impeached, yes!
Does he put hearts over his i's?
No, but he swirls his lettas.
Petey Wheatstraw...nice.
16 Candles. I needed that laugh. Thank you.
Moon thinks he is the Messiah. Bush thinks he is the Messiah. Mel Gibson thinks he's the messiah (although small m) Even David Koresh thought he was the Messiah. There's more of them out there.
I'm sensing a trend here. What was that warning again about false Christs?
I'm one happy camper tonight. We have back to back chapelle followed by Chris Rock's first HBO special in years at 10. btw Rock has been on a semi-anti chimp bent. He was going along with Stern on Thursday's show. Stern was doing it more, of course since Rock didn't want the heat on him with his special tonight. I personally would LOVE if Rock became an open target of the right-wingers. He'd open a can of whoop ass on those fuckers and make it look easy with the whole country laughing at them all the way.
I guess comedians now are the only way to publicly bring attention to the chimp situation and not be retaliated against. It's come to that really. Comedians are becoming one of the few ways to rail against these repugs and possibly get away with it.
As we see more "comedy" taking on political over-tones more than the standard stand-up stuff, we may start to see some lashing out by the right-wing. It might even bring more on-lookers to see the accident that this nation under another 4 years of bush willl become and how they can stop it.
M-A-R-S Bitches!
(in defference to Renato)
I had read transcripts of that Dave Chapelle anti-bush skit but never saw it until just now. I'm still in tears.
Atrios, how about linking to some avi of it on your home page...
A lot of these things are out of intertia in the Congressional Offices.
I'm sure that's exactly what happened. But somehow it doesn't comfort me to know the Rangel just signed this appalling piece of propaganda out of cluelessness.
mondo dentro
This will be my working theory until something more certain comes out. This is just about as weird as anything that's come out of Washington, ever.
Monkey
"Madness." I assume you're quoting Bridge Over River Kwai.
That's how I feel right now. I'm that guy watching the train go off the bridge...And yet I can NOTHING about it.
I'm going to try to get Barbara Boxer to declare June 30 L. Ron Hubbard Day.
I've never trusted Rangel. He's one of the most irrationally enthusiastic cheerleaders for the so-called War on Drugs.
Not so much anymore. He's sorta found a kinda religion on the issue in the past few years has supported the Drop the Rock effort and introduced or co-signed related legislation.
Speaking of Drop the Rock: Cuomo Threatens Rally At GOP Convention.
Oy II. Why did I wake up today?
Actually, you're just dreaming. You'll wake up in a little while and have a chuckle. "Why do I keep smoking that stuff?" you'll say to yourself while frying those eggs and waiting for the coffee. "I really gotta get myself together before my shit just falls all apart. Self discipline, that's what I need. Yeah.
Ricky, I hear your mother still cries when you try to seduce her.
I thought Rangel was cool. Guess not.
Does Moon give a lot of money to these politicians? Is this part of the explanation?
Conservatives love Moon and his Washington Times and UPI - United Psychospin International -
But Rangel?
He's off his meds.
People should "fax fill" his office Monday -
Fax - (202)225-0816
See, I knew it was one of those days when I was going to wish I had mad cow disease. Or a lobotomy. Yep.
I'll settle for an unlimited supply of blue valium.
A lot of these things are out of intertia in the Congressional Offices.
No, he was there. Didn't you see the picture?
You're all so amazed with Moon's influence with so many people. Did it occur to anyone that maybe Moon really is the messiah?
I'll settle for an unlimited supply of blue valium.
Tena
I rely on pink benadryl. People with allergies become 10% stupider during pollen season.
Snark on that, folks.
If you're new to this subject, "True Parents" is Moon's traditional way of describing himself (and his wife) as the Messiahs of humanity.
Phoenix Woman
---Oh then Moon is wrong. I think Bush is the Messiah. I wrote an article about it on my blog today. Weird how these things come together.
We were among the optimists when a few months ago some people were spotted kowtowing to Moonie cultists. But fuck Rangel (double fuck the mofo, he was actually supporting a draft!).
The Israeli lobby thing is a straightforward case of religious incursion on politics, especially with the anti-Semites who are only wildly pro-Likud because they think it will immantize the eschaton. There are similar examples of Muslim influence, by way of Our Trustworthy Saudi Friends Who Would Never Think of Hurting Us (Harper's had some scary stories about unquestioningly pro-Sharia "classroom packages" taught to kids in the guise of tolerance).
The answer, in a country with a real government or a real media or a real political discourse, would be obvious: either bring down the hammer on church taking over state, or maybe run a campaign on proud secularism attacking the religiousity as well as the standard attacks on the "Warshingtonization" of the already embedded.
Of course what will happen here is more sleeping with the Jeezus.
You're all so amazed with Moon's influence with so many people. Did it occur to anyone that maybe Moon really is the messiah?
Riesz Fischer
Manchurian Candidate? Just an idea.
I think Bush is the Messiah. I wrote an article about it on my blog today. Weird how these things come together.
Ricky Vandal
Funny he does too. Yet no Republicans have repudiated him yet.
If Moon really is the Messiah, I'll continue to make fun of him. I've been fairly abstinent and should not have any trouble with his penalty for "free sex."
EPT: Pink Benadryl I find doesn't work for me. For some reason the white one-a-day Benadryl sold in the UK which DO work haven't been FDA approved. Or something.
TheaLogie, I tried the white stuff my sister-in-law's friend smuggled in from Canada a few years back but it didn't work for me. I understand it's finally available over-the-counter here but haven't tried it again. Thanks for the reminder.
I just sent Rangel an email. You can do this on his site by putting "10027" into the zipcode field of the "find your representative" screen. Then you can put your actual address on the email form.
The Rangel draft bills are still in Congress, waiting. According to Rangel, 18 to 35, boys and girls, 1 semester college deferrment only, civilian service option (for the girls, presumably).
Obviously kissing grandmothers has estranged his True Mind from his True Mouth.
sigh. it has to be the water in DC.
why are there mormons? why are there scientologists?
humans suck.
---Oh then Moon is wrong. I think Bush is the Messiah. I wrote an article about it on my blog today. Weird how these things come together.
Ricky Vandal | Email | Homepage | 04.17.04 - 9:57 pm | #
Like I said, what's that passage that warns about the many false Messiahs?
I cannot believe that there are not conservative Christian leaders who are FLIPPING OUT about politicians sucking up to Moon
It is the conservative christian leaders who have DONE THE SELLING OUT. Their 'leaders' won't speak out because THEY ARE THE ONES SELLING THEIR SOULS for power. Do you understand?
Rangel has probably had dozens of overtures from smiling moonies and uninformed preachers who have urged him to get involved in this. This is about 'peace' right? haha
If they know Moon is involoved they think he is just a figurehead for the 'good' work being done. Like they think that TWT wasn't a Moon tool. hahahaha
Look into it, you will find it is the so called religious leaders, Falwell, LaHaye, Bauer, and that Bunch who have mainstreamed Moon. Robert Shuller was quoted as saying that "it's about time we gave the Unification Church a SECOND look." (that was at Bush's inaugural prayer luncheon, which Moon sponsored, spoke at, and recived an award for his "family values".)
This has to do with getting people to not use the term 'moonies'...Moon flashes cash and front groups with nice sounding names, no one knows.
Maybe I should let you all in on something.
The largest sinblge group of epople informed on who Moon is, the people who have any REAL fucking idea what Moon is about now READ THIS BLOG and JG's work. That's it. Maybe a bit lately, but in the last couple yaers where else have you read about Moon? You don't. Maybe a blurb here or there but NO discussion. People have no idea and unless the people who read this blog tell them, email them, they will never know. You don't have to think you are an expert to send people to JG's site. Please do it.
You think I am kidding?
John G: "I've been fairly abstinent..."
Oh, you poor honey. The picture on your main page is absolutely adorable. Why are you on the internet on a Sat. night? Come to think of it, why am I...
Thanks, Erin. Yeah, get out there!
It's not "in the water", it's not illogical at all. Moon is "powerful" and the cowardly do not want to offend (or positively want to benefit from) his silly influence. Like so many miracles his influence would probably cease to threaten as soon as we stop imagining it exists. It is the logical result of leaders getting separated from their constituency by hierophant lobbyists.
InDeed. Moon is a reliable meter of just how much other corruption is going on out there. I mean, God knows what.
I have my ideas about Moon, but as a fellow religious leader, there is an unwritten rule that we stay out of each other's way. Anybody know Sai Baba?
I keep saying this...the world DOES NOT HAVE A CLUE. NONE, NADA. When his group had 5,000 for the rally in Israel an Israeli paper said "'Moonies', do they still do those weddings?" The world has no idea. To the best of my knowledge neither the author nor the publication HERE are Moon controlled. See how easyb this will be for him? The world has no idea.
The world looks to America for a lead on things iof this nature. What dio the republicans do with Moon? They worked with him, they honored him, they kiss his propaganda tool papers ass. Bush 41 traveled thw orld honotring him. Do you undertand what messsage it sent to millions around the world when Reagan drools over TWT every morning for his helping of theofascism? Believe me Reagan and Bush 41 were frobt and center in the moonie propaganda world wide.
This is a done deal.
I keep saying this will gett easier and easier for him. It will.
Someone posted a while back that he was gonna keep his gun handy and Moon won't "get me"...haha..
Moon doesn't give a shit about you or me, he is taking society from the top down. He's got our leaders by the balls.
The American people are for subjugating NOT converting.
The republican party used Moon's organization to push Bush's Faith Based Initiative. THEY helped Moon gain a deeper foothold in the black community. The FBI is all about shaiving off black vites in case you didn't know. Try to get the preachers not to push for turnout. The Gov. of Alabama flew Black miniters o'plenty to DC to show them all the loot they will get if Bush is in power and gets his way to drive us further to Moon theocracy.
These preachers are convinced he got a raw deal when he was convicted of tax fraud, he made some mistakes in the past but is 'doing good' now so what is the problem? Mon spent 75 million in the 80's rehabilitating his image. Thousands of minsters got propaganda videos about how Moon is misunderstaood.
BTW: On his tax conviction he was warned not to mingle his funds and he did it anyway. The feds proved the dates on his accounting work were older than the manufacturing date of the paper they were written on. Reagan tried to stop the prosecution for of the conservatives savior, their messiah, their sugar daddy. No Moon No Bush.
Understand, NOBODY KNOWS SHIT ABOUT HIM. He's everywhere, yet invisible because TV doesn't talk about him. Do you think Rangle would have been there had the news done a report the day before that Moon made BILLIONS ripping off little old ladies in Japan and that he claims his religion says he is suppose to ripp them off, that it is Japan who should pay for "fathers" work? I've read hundreds of articles about him and I would have to sit down and talk for two days before someone might get it. imo.
I have been trying to say, we are on the downhill
Rangel is getting up there, he still has some fire left, but do you think an aide talked him into it and he didnt read the fine print?
I find it odd that most of the democratic congressmen that Moon seems to associate with are black. Whats the story with this?
Anybody not seen this? (Warning, obscene)
I have been trying to say, we are on the downhill side of Moon and where he is shoving us. He could sell TWT tomorrow, wouldn't matter. We are on auto pilot to an americanized version of a theocratic fascist state and Moon had as much to do with that as anyone and NO ONE will say it.
Electing Kerry will only slow the process.
Moon has a BIG effort to line up democrats, you can see it ion their writing. I don't doubt they have been asked to this for reason and that is to cover twenty five years of the conservative movemnet and the republican party working with him, honring him, and helping him reach his goals.
Republican leadeship are soul selling anti-american bunch of uniformed trained fools.
Fundies spend every waking hour looking under every rock for the anti-christ. At the same time their leaders work with and honor the man who says Christ didn't get the jopb done and the HE is here as messiah to do what 'their' messiah couldn't accomplish.
my oh my...it stupifying in Biblical proportions.
I honestly thing Rangels gone off the rails.
On another note, is there a polite way to ask WTF?
Alex @ 9:42 pm asked the right question. Follow the money.
Does anyone have any info on Moonie contributions to Rangel?
In a moral country with real law the exemption of the church from taxation or government regulation would be leveraged with a similar ban the other way: God has no business donating money to any of our politicians.
I live in NYC. Imma tell a whooooole lotta people about this. I've already got my whole office all weirded out about this. he he
Imagine.
I am the Messiah
No, I am the Messiah!
Will the real Messiah please stand up?
Kei, do you realize how much that would hurt our side? How many African American groups are centered around their local churches? There's a reason why they call him Reverend Martin Luther King you know.
And what about the Catholic Church's stands against the Iraq War, against the Death Penalty, or for Third World Debt Relief. Should we forget what Fr. Romero did in Central America or the myriads of organizations like those of Dorothea Day that help with migrant workers and the poor.
The Church has often been a leader on progressive issues and mobilizing people for progressive causes. You should keep that in mind before you rush to "Ecrasez L'infame."
fuck
jesus.
Is it not obvious that we were talking about Moonies/AIPAC/Saudi? We respond to moonies and your defense (of Moonies) is to bring up people who managed to be moral despite their religiosity? Do you need to be reminded of the actual positions of Established Religion in all of those cases? Berrigan, Romero, King and Spong are not heroes of organized religion-they were all much-hated bitter enemies of it. Until you learn some history we reccommend you not try to grok our standing with Rigault and Carlin in recognizing Yahweh the Destroyer and his filthy disgusting spokesmen as criminal menaces.
and also to ignore me now weeping INCONSOLABLY
"Actually the Moonies are good people. As a Church leader myself I think freedom of religion should be on everybody's list of priorities. Certainly on the liberals."
Ricky Vandal
Ricky's just hoping to be hitched up in one of those mass Moonie weddings - it's the only chance he'll ever have to get laid.
I'll put up a checklist ... Moon seems especially interested in buying out the Congressional Black Caucus.
I'd give Rangel a chance. Once I worked in a non political department of an international organization of the sort that can confer prestige by association. The industry and wiles applied to obtaining pieces of paper like this by certain distasteful groups was breathtakingly shameless. Such a group would commonly have a hat full of ingeniusly misleading but legally registered names so as to apply for inclusion as Y, and when accepted, revert to X. They'd press junior staff to route some a request past a checkpoint, or pencil them into a calander while the minders were on vacation. I got dressed down big time by a usually lovable supervisor because I expressed the opinion that the whole thing was too petty to give energy to. The greed for endorsements, associations, and participation in marginal events seemed to me to be pathetic and harmless, after all who really was going to do anything but laugh at an organization that derived its prestige from membership in the refreshment committee of a pingpong ball club of the steno pool serving .say, the Security Council?
Later: "among those present in the Security Council Building at the outbreak of the dispute, only X cult org and the representative of Belgium had the courage and foresight to endorse the proposals of the President" Factually true and completely misleading. The veteran press corps knew how to recognize such crap but if a group was truely relentless, one day the right planets would align and they'd hit the jackpot .
Its possible to envision any number of ways this group might have infected Rangel's itinerary and brought the kleig lights too. Who profits from the publicity,? Who then might be suspected of putting the events in motion.
Religion is and has always been about societal control. All the pretty talk about spirituality is just another way of saying weren't those SS guards snappy dressers.
Front page of the WaPo doesn't even try to sugar coat it now. Iraq is a FUCKING mess.
"Uprisings Force U.S. to Rethink Strategy in Iraq"
It's almost as if Chalabi was working FOR Saddam this whole time, feeding these theocratic right-wing neo-cons, giving them anti-Saddam propaganda all this time on how easy it would be to invade and "liberate" Iraq, expect flowers and open up Starbucks.
Yea, it's kinda like that.
I don't like her but EVERYONE MUST READ Dowd's column in todays (4/1
Times.
After seeing clips of that horrifying press conference last week (Oh. My. Fucking. God.), I've come to the conclusion that Bush is the most dangerously stupid human being to ever hold a position of power. He beats that nutty emporer who used to walk through the streets of Rome backwards by a longshot (and under his rule, Rome fell shortly thereafter).
How can anyone who has done their research on this man be surprised that Iraq is a total fucking mess? America is fallen.
Ricky, read this. I know, pretty good huh? *laugh*
The finest writer in the English (meaning English) language today is Belle de Jour.
Today she posted this, which was so adorable we had to share it or our large eyes would explode, in a list of various places the Londoner might move to:
North America. Pros: charming accent might attract general goodwill, free drinks. Cons: am frightened by the concept of Texas.
MoDo has probably the best column she has written in recent memory up at the NYT's - Sorry if somebody already linked.
I must've missed the MoDo link because I didn't see one. Can someone throw me a line ?
Sorry for the copyright...Yes, this is her best column in a while. I still don't like her much...
House of Broken Toys
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: April 18, 2004
WASHINGTON
When Colin Powell decided that Dick Cheney's crazy "fever," as he called the vice president's obsession with linking 9/11 and Saddam, was leading the country into a war it did not need to fight, he should have bared his heart to the president and made his case using the Powell doctrine — with overwhelming force.
Mr. Bush probably wouldn't have listened. He was in Mr. Cheney's gloomy sway, and Rummy's bellicose sway. And W. felt competitive with his more popular top diplomat.
But Mr. Powell should have tried. And if the president didn't listen, the secretary should have quit — not let himself be used by the vice president and his "Gestapo office" of Pentagon neocons, as Mr. Powell referred to them, to put a diplomatic fig leaf on a predetermined war plan and to present bogus intelligence to the U.N.
He knew his word held enormous weight around the world. And he knew he was the only one, out of all the officials in on the clandestine rush to war, who had fought in a war. He should have spoken up for all those soldiers who would fight and die and be maimed for Dick Cheney's nutty utopian dream of bombing the world into freedom, and W.'s dream of being so forceful with Saddam, the slime bag who survived his father's war, that he would forever banish his family's bęte noire — the wimp factor.
It would have been much more honorable than playing Achilles sulking in his Foggy Bottom tent, privately pouting to Bob Woodward that he had warned the president about the Pottery Barn effect — break Iraq and "you know you're going to be owning this place" — and tattling that his colleagues were engaged in "lunacy."
"At times, with his closest friends, Powell was semidespondent," his pal Mr. Woodward writes in "Plan of Attack." "His president and his country were headed for a war that he thought might just be avoided, though he himself would not walk away."
Mr. Woodward, who is clearly channeling Mr. Powell, as he has done to present Mr. Powell's side of the story in past books, recreates his innermost thoughts: "He saw in Cheney a sad transformation. The cool operator from the first gulf war just would not let go. Cheney now had an unhealthy fixation. Nearly every conversation or reference came back to Al Qaeda and trying to nail the connection with Iraq. He would often have an obscure piece of intelligence. Powell thought that Cheney took intelligence and converted uncertainty and ambiguity into fact. It was about the worst charge that Powell could make about the vice president. But there it was."
Everyone in Washington has been puzzling over how Mr. Cheney, a reasonable, cautious, popular man in the first Bush administration, turned into Pluto, king of the underworld and proponent of worst-case scenarios and pre-emption.
But Mr.
But Mr. Powell shared his dread, Cassandra-like, with Mr. Woodward: "The more Powell dug, the more he realized that the human sources were few and far between on Iraq's W.M.D. It was not a pretty picture."
George Tenet comes across in the book as another profile in cravenness. On Dec. 21, 2002, the C.I.A. chief went to the Oval Office with an aide to present "The Case" on W.M.D. Even Mr. Bush, already deeply enmeshed in war plans, was taken aback at the paucity of it. "Nice try," Mr. Bush said. "I don't think this is quite — it's not something that Joe Public would understand or would gain a lot of confidence from." Turning to Mr. Tenet, he added: "I've been told all this intelligence about having W.M.D. and this is the best we've got?"
When the president asked how confident he was, Mr. Tenet, premier apple polisher, gave Mr. Bush the answer he wanted to hear: "Don't worry, it's a slam dunk!"
Just as the Democratic president ducked behind the parsed line, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman," so the Republican president ducked behind the parsed line, "I have no war plans on my desk."
The plans for invading "The House of Broken Toys," as the C.I.A. referred to Iraq, may not have been sitting on his desk, but he secretly started planning with Rummy for war with Iraq in November 2001, and with Tommy Franks starting the next month. Once they were thick into the planning, the president couldn't turn back, of course. That would make him like the loathed Bill.
what is needed is freedom from religion....
I must've missed the MoDo link because I didn't see one. Can someone throw me a line ?
...Yes, this is her best column in a while. I still don't like her much...
Jack - I'll take what I can get from the mass media, and she does command a wide readership particularly among women swing voters.
She recounted how her daughter was shown recruiting films with Moon and Bush together, which impressed her. Lilley said, "They use the films…to reassure parents that it's okay that their children are on the streets selling flowers 18 hours a day," a common fund-raising method used by the group. -- Washington Post
xaxx:what is needed is freedom from religion....
Especially freedom from OTHER PEOPLE'S religions.
OT: Anyone still here?
Check this at http://www.sadlyno.com/
Fashionistas react to The Chimperor's Latest Outfit
too, too, amazingly funny...
...my daddy sez' that religions is like pig farms, everybody else's stinks but your own.
Paper Moon
Why is TV news ignoring the relationship between Moon and the Bush family?
Pak cultivated the friendship of an airline pilot, Robert Roland, and his wife, but did not tell them of his association with Moon. Boettcher learned that when Roland asked about Pak's duties as assistant military attache, Pak said he "was responsible for liaison between South Koreans and American intelligence agencies, which often required his visiting the super-secret National Security Agency (NSA) located at Fort Meade, Maryland."
Roland said that after dinner one evening, Pak revealed "step by step how the destiny of mankind was in the hands of a Korean named Moon." When Roland asked what his aim was in Washington, Pak said, "I must lay a firm foundation for Master by making influential political and social contacts."
.....
Moon's decades of courting influential American leaders in order to gain political power in this country have been fruitful. Reporter Joe Conason said that at a Washington gathering celebrating the George W. Bush inauguration, at a "prayer luncheon" held in the Hyatt hotel ballroom on Capitol Hill on 1/19/01, Moon received an award for his "work in support of traditional family values." The featured speaker was John Ashcroft. (Conason, The New York Observer, February 12, 2001.)
Your next door neighbors don't know any of this.
This is from a transcript of a January 21, 1992 PBS broadcast, FRONTLINE: The Resurrection Of Reverend Moon." Eric Nadler, reporter. Written and produced by Rory O'Connor. Copyright (c)1991 WGBH Educational Foundation.
Whelan: "All we know is they are spending a great, great deal in this country."
Narrator: James Whelan was the editor and publisher of a Moon-financed newspaper, the Washington Times.
Whelan: "Probably more on influence and the obtaining of influence, of power, than of any organization I know of in this country, and that includes the AFL-CIO, that includes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, that includes General Motors, that includes anybody."
John, keep up the thankless but necessary work. You are an army of one.
I'm in talks with one major magazine which was skeptical..."We've read so much about Moon, why a new story now?"
Unfuckinbelievable. They've read a lot about Moon but it doesn't bother them that this deeply, deeply strange and awful man is a kingmaker?
And I second (or third) the question about where the money is coming and going here. I wish I could think that Rangel (and Harold Ford Jr., etc.) had any kind of excuse.
Are you getting on Air America at any point, John? Atrios, you need to tell them to put him on ...
One of the top two conservative organizations in the 80s when the 'new right' was formed was a Moon front.
Do you understand?
Rev. Effing Moon supplied the leadership - vision and 60 rabid 'workers' at those deluxe moonie wages to the main political force of the current - in power - conservative movement.
NO MOON NO BUSH
more from FRONTLINE
http://tinyurl.com/2kzcd
Narrator: Michael Hershman was the Fraser Committee's chief investigator.
Hershman: "We determined that their primary interest, at least in the United States at that time, was not religious at all, but was political. It was an attempt to gain power and influence and authority."
...
Narrator: Moon has also consistently promoted a conservative political agenda in the United States. His efforts have not gone unnoticed at the White House. Douglas Wead was a Special Assistant to President Bush responsible for liaison with conservative groups.
Wead: "I'd say right now there are probably two groups among conservative organizations that really have an infrastructure, that have grassroots clout — Concerned Women of America would and the American Freedom Coalition would."
...
Narrator: Is the American Freedom Coalition a foreign agent? In 1989, Robert Grant wrote in the Washington Post that more than $5 million — one third of the AFC's money — came from "business interests of the Unification Church." Church officials say that their money comes from overseas — primarily from Japan.
...
Narrator: But Moon's influence over the AFC is underscored by this 1988 letter FRONTLINE obtained from a source who once worked within the Moon Organization. AFC President Robert Grant, writing to Reverend Moon, thanks him for investing heavily and "helping to bring the AFC into being." Grant concludes by telling Moon, "Without your leadership, vision and the support of your devoted followers, the AFC would not exist."
This is an excerpt I transcrobed from from U.S News and World Report March 27, 1989
___
....the church has established a network of affiliated organizations and connections in almost every conservative organization in Washington, including the Heritage Foundation, the largest of the conservative think tanks and an important source of government personnel during the Reagan administration.
The Unification Church's newfound influence has occasioned intense debate among conservatives. One group of worried young conservatives meets regularly in private to compare notes about the problem. But little of the debate has surfaced in public forums. "Most people are afraid to address the issue because they don't want to publicize the extent of the church's involvement," says Amy Moritz of the Conservative National Center for Public Policy Research.
Because almost all conservative organizations in Washington have some ties to the church, conservatives also fear repercussions if they expose the church's role.
--
end quote
I think editors who say they are aware of him have no idea. They haven't connected the dots. Most people look at him for one thing at a time and go "Oh, well"....you have to look back. I mean he said they needed to open a 'newspaper plant"...control a college...all things he has done. He owns a Good Life TV cable channel.
Do you think that the new right would have taken over the repub party without him? hahaha I don't. He did not help them with bake sales.
___
"With journalism, we have now reached success by establishing The Washington Times," Moon said, according to Soejima. "We now have a direct influence on Reagan through The Washington Times." (WP 9/16/84)
--
I influenced America through the Washington Times and so many different activities. Do you want Father in America. (YES !! The ministers responded).......
The Last Days are coming to America. Be careful. Those that oppose Rev. Moon will perish. Since I came here, I didn’t get anything from America. (Moon 9/13/2002)
From from the Fraser Report
Moon's strategy is designed to influence a wide range of institutions. "We must approach from every angle of life; otherwise, we cannot absorb the whole population of the world. We must besiege them."
...
Alan Tate Wood, a former UC member who had been president of the FLF, described to the subcommittee some of Moon's political ambitions and activities. He said that Moon, through the UC and its numerous front organizations, wanted to acquire enough influence in America to be able to "dictate policy on major issues, to influence legislation, and move into electoral politics."In the United States, the political goals of the UC and those of the KCIA "overlap so thoroughly as to display no difference at all."
I'm tired of these Moonie snippets. I want a big long article! Or maybe a book.
"But Mr. Powell should have tried. And if the president didn't listen, the secretary should have quit."
That's what an honorable person would have done, especially since one who doesn't need the money.
Powell isn't a man of honor, though. He's a self-interested careerist who, unfortunately, also has a son who he has managed to foist on the nation. Powell is worse than incompetent. He knows better but just doesn't care enough to go against his patrons while they blow up the world. Just about everyone I've ever known has more integrity than Crawlin' Powell. Including some who are known to cut corners. They'd stop way short of people getting killed to promote themselves.
What's the world coming to? I can agree with MoDo on something.
Argh! If the Democratic Party hasn't been able to fashion a cudgel out of this Moonie stuff to beat Republicans with already, what the hell good are they?! Why why why do we suck so bad at this stuff?
And now the Moonies are trying to infect Democrats. Thanks Rangel!
Holy sheeeeeet! First, Andrew Young's donations to Bush are revealed. Now this! How much more can we take? Plenty
Say WHAT?
Can't one of you guys take Ricky out for a beer and, you know, get him laid or something? He's almost off the deep end there.
"There is something about that for me, belies their hypocrisy more than anything else could -- it is so antithetical to their core beliefs and identity."
Look - I know you were raised funda-MENTAL; but all religions are cults.
Some more freakish than others.
Oooohhh Charlie, you used to be one of the good guys!
Is there no one we can rely on?
woe is us.
Charlie Rangell is not a bad guy, but he needs money to run like everybody else. If you run for office,you're compromised. Charlie's a whore. He has to be to keep up, so leave him alone or make up the contributions to him yourself. The weird language, obviously negotiated so Rangell would get the money, is inexplicable except as key points in Sun Myung Moon's delusions about himself. So, Charlie said the chant and cashed the check and moved on. Charlie needs turkee, too.
CHARLEE NEED TURKEE TOO
next i teach my self how to do bold type so i can say JOHN KERRY KICKS ASS!!! hope every one saw the russert interview.
is tony blankley(sp) a moonie? if he is, is he a kingie? i'm asking seriously. i remember when the wash. times was not considered worth reading. and moonies were just some jim jones type of cultists preying on kids.
Moon, bitch?
That had to slip through the cracks somehow. I'm not a huge fan of Rangel, but I doubt he is so mentally deranged as to knowingly endorse any part of Moon. But, I could be, and have been, wrong.
Oh fucking hell. Great. Just great.
As of five months ago, Rangel is my representative.
I'll be giving whoever answers his phones an earful on monday morning.
It's important that people understand the need for money... so Rangel needs to hear that if he revokes this and repudiates Moon publicly, he'll get money. We should push this angle: rebuke the evil bastards, and get replacement funds from the good guys.
Ricky, if you are a religious leader, as you claim, WHO ARE YOU LEADING?
Ricky is an influential leading cleric with the Fulla Shiites sect...you get me?
I doubt that Charley needs money from the Moonies. Who is going to challenge him?
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