Rand Paul:
Call me cynical, but I didn’t think his [Obama's] views on marriage could get any gayer.
We won't call Rand cynical. Ignorant, bigoted asshole is more fitting. An adult using ...
Happy Friday.
The best from Political Humor‘s collection of the week’s late night political humor.
"President Obama came out with approval of same-sex marriage. He said that over the years, he has ...
I've never understood Log Cabin Republicans - gay conservatives who give their support to a homophobic political party that derides their sexuality and refuses to grant them equal rights under ...
Finally.
“I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own ...
Election roundup:
Indiana.
As polls forecast, the Tea Party's efforts to cleanse the GOP of any impure conservatives has Dick Lugar out and teabagger Richard Mourdock in. Mourdock is the new Republican ...
There are lies...and then there are lies.
My own view, by the way, was that the auto companies needed to go through bankruptcy before government help. And frankly, that’s finally what ...
From the papers captured last year at Osama bin Laden's Pakistani hideout comes this.
Like any public figures, bin Laden and his advisers were mindful of the media. Adam Gadahn, one ...
The best from Political Humor‘s collection of the week’s late night political humor. Happy Friday.
"Today Mitt Romney visited a firehouse here in New York City. Of course, he was disappointed ...
It happened to Kerry. Can it happen to Obama? Nope says Margaret Carlson.
Obama’s belief system -- in that hopey-changey business and the post-partisanship thing -- has been altered by reality. ...
Sullivan:
What do Republicans call a gay man with neoconservative passion, a committed relationship and personal courage?
A faggot.
Exactly right, but then could one expect anything different from a political party that ...
And they claim that atheists are immoral?
The ugly side of religion shows its face once again. The words below were spoken at a Sunday sermon by Sean Harris, a pastor ...
It's been fun watching conservatives and Romney twist themselves into pretzels trying to undo Mitt's past words on GM and bin Laden.
Romney, April 2007:
It’s not worth moving heaven and earth ...
In an op-ed piece in the Washington Post, a couple of scholars from liberal and conservative think tanks, discuss the state of American politics.
We have been studying Washington politics and ...
Romney's VP-in-waiting, Marco Rubio, is perfecting the conservative sleaze play.
He has proposed his version of the Dream Act in which people who entered the country illegally as children will be ...
Beyond the rhetoric, the political BS, the lies - that is, the concerted effort by the right-wing noise machine to distort and misinform at every opportunity - is the very ...
It was never a matter of 'if'...only of 'when'.
Two constituencies that President Obama is holding onto about as strongly now as he did four years ago are voters under 30 ...
I'm not sure what one does with information of this sort but I thought it important you know. From Alex Pareene's new ebook, The Rude Guide To Mitt.
Every good Romney ...
Guess whose illustration made the May cover of a national magazine? Mine!
I'm quite sure there isn't much Stephen Moore/Newsmax and I share in common as far as politics goes but ...
Jesus (c. 30 CE):
Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's.
Bishop Daniel R. Jenky of the Catholic diocese of Peoria, Illinois (2012 ...
In what resembled more a revival than a political rally, conservative talk show host Glenn Beck urged the large crowds at his “Restoring Honor” event Saturday to “turn back to God” and return America to the values on which it was founded.
“Something beyond imagination is happening,” he told participants who packed the National Mall in Washington. “America today begins to turn back to God. For too long, this country has wandered in darkness.”
“Look forward. Look West. Look to the heavens. Look to God and make your choice,” he said. “Do we no longer believe in the power of the individual? Do we no longer believe in dreams?”
Well I don’t know about anyone else but as Dana Milbank points out, Beck certainly believes in his dream.
There is a telling anecdote in Glenn Beck’s 2003 memoir about how the cable news host was influenced by the great fantasist Orson Welles. To travel between performances in Manhattan, Beck recounts, Welles hired an ambulance, sirens blaring, to ferry him around town — not because Welles was ill but because he wanted to avoid traffic.
Most of us would regard this as dishonest, a ploy by the self-confessed charlatan that Welles was. Beck saw it as a model to be emulated. “Welles,” he writes, “inspired me to believe that I can create anything that I can see or imagine.”
And so he has. Beck has created a fictional world of good versus evil where he, anointed by God no less, plays the pivotal role of savior for the huddled masses who face oppression and tyranny at the hands of an oligarchy controlled by progressives. And if along the way Beck cashes in a few hundred million, so be it. The Beckster will tell you it is all part of God’s master plan.
___
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I think Beck studied Jim Jones’ play book. Preying on people’s fears is a superb way to condition people. Convincing people that a catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions is about to fall upon them is a great way to get them to do whatever you want. Like drink Flavor-Aid.
Crap, I don’t want him to look to the West, that’s where I live..
He’s nothing but a snake oil salesman. Yet another God appointee, I had no idea there were so many God appointees. Do you think God knows? Isn’t God’s work to be done without guile, power grabbing, or lies?
Frances, I’ve had the same thoughts about Jones all day. I just can’t watch Beck – he makes my stomach turn. But when I saw the clip of him talking about the only people we think well of [in government, apparently] is the military…I wondered if he’s calling for a military coup? It just made my heart sink thinking about all the military terms they’ve been using. McChrystal? Petraus? They all think they are gods. This is really, really scaring me. Will someone please talk me down!!!!
I keep thinking that with Beck’s messianic complex, he should realize that messiahs and prophets typically become martyrs. Despite his denials, he is taking on (however much undeserved) the mantle of Martin Luther King, Jr., while forgetting about James Earl Ray.
@Diana, sorry, but I can’t talk you down. This is something to be scared aboout.
@Frances, mega-kudos to you for remembering that it was Flavor-Aid. Kool-Aid ain’t exactly healthy, but it’s had a bad rap since ’78.
IF you would all like the play book for Beck, I can recommend getting your hands on two books from the Mormon Church which map out what he is doing. One is the manual used in all their “Institutes of Religion” which is called “The Teachings of the Living Prophets”. It details how the members view their leadership and how they follow them without question, just like Jim Jones. They have a famous quote, “When the Prophet speaks, the thinking has been done”. The other is a much older work written by Ezra Taft Benson who was the former leader of the Mormon Church who was called a “prophet,seer and revelator” and who was also once the Sec. of Agriculture under Dwight D. Eisenhower. It is called “An Enemy Hath Done This”. Withing this book, Benson says that “the day will come when the Constitution will hang as it were by a thread and when that day comes, the Elders of Israel [read Mormon Church leaders] will rush in to save it.” They really believe that it is their calling to step in and run the country and that when Jesus comes again, the Mormon Church will be the vehicle through which He will rule the earth! Just substitute Middle East and Muslims for the Communists and you have the playbook. I could tell you much more as I once was a Mormon for about 40 years. Rather than doing that, just ask Mario which month my guest blogs were posted where I did a 3 part expose on the Mormon Church and it’s falsity.
They are not a Christian group and they are a world wide cult. Beck is a madman who became that way by listening to all the clap trap teachings about the destiny of “priesthood holders” and the Church as a whole in regards to running the world and then later becoming gods and goddesses having spirit babies to populate their own worlds and to rule over those.
They are to be taken very seriously as they fully mean what they say and they now have billions of dollars and property ownership and control of media and their own closed satellite system to broadcast world wide as well as having members inside the FCC where they can dominate media decisions and they own and run KSL and Bonneville broadcasing , which in the event of an emergency, will be the sole radio broadcast medium for the entire Western U.S.. Please take them very seriously! They made Prop 8 succeed and they can do whatever they want if they remain unopposed and put on this PR image of being “squeaky clean Americans”. They are not. I could go on but please take them seriously! Beck is not alone within the Church in his feelings and goals!
Melody, that is a very interesting perspective. I understand that are some arcane sects of Mormanism. Are the things you have described prevalent in the mainstream Church?
I mean, who wouldn’t be freaked out in general about Christians if they read only the Revelation? Catholics presume that since it was a product of the time of the Roman Emperor Domitian, it was in response to his revival of the Imperial Cult religion, and was meant as a caution to Christians not to join. The Protestant interpretation of the Revelation is…a little different. And scary.
This is a modern day belief, Francis, by the leadership of the Mormon Church and it is being actively promoted behind closed doors. When they know that “outsiders” are around, they have one kind of speak. When it is “insiders” (such as inside the temples), they speak another way. Some of the newest members of the Church see it only as kind of a “social club” and they at first think it is Christian. Over time, however, many come to realize that the Church is in no way Christian and that many have gone right wing fundamental with it.
Keep in mind that they truly believe that they are the “only true church upon the earth today” and that their mission is to prepare the earth for the Second Coming by getting “every knee to bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord”, only they add on that His “Prophets” will clear the way, rule under Him, and “administrate” the affairs of earth! They see this a benevolent act on their part and feel that they are “saving the earth”! They believe that only those who are church members, go through the temple, and are “sealed” as families will be allowed to live in the hereafter as families and only they will be allowed to live with God forever and create worlds and populate them. They believe this wholeheartedly. The rest, they believe, will live separately, singly, alone for eternity in other places or “glories”. This earth, however, must be “cleansed” and “prepared” so this gives them their justification for doing things like Prop 8, anti-Muslim,etc. Beck is simply doing what he feels is “missionary work” on a grander scale! That is why he is bellowing out about “returning to God”! If you know the Mormon playbook, this all comes as no surprise at all. He wants everyone to live within Mormon guidelines including having no gays, abortion, “diversity” (read Islam), etc. Everyone following their One Living Prophet who when he speaks, “the thinking has been done”.! It will only get worse from here with Beck! Stay tuned!
I think Beck studied Jim Jones’ play book. Preying on people’s fears is a superb way to condition people. Convincing people that a catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions is about to fall upon them is a great way to get them to do whatever you want. Like drink Flavor-Aid.
Crap, I don’t want him to look to the West, that’s where I live..
He’s nothing but a snake oil salesman. Yet another God appointee, I had no idea there were so many God appointees. Do you think God knows? Isn’t God’s work to be done without guile, power grabbing, or lies?
I think you’re right Frances. I wonder if there’s any chance of the ending to Beck’s story being similar to the one Jones’ had.
The horrible, unthinkable thing about Jonestown was that children and babies suffered the fate of their parents – at the hand of their parents.
I’m exaggerating about Beck, but the doomsday thing he has going with his followers is chilling.
Frances, I’ve had the same thoughts about Jones all day. I just can’t watch Beck – he makes my stomach turn. But when I saw the clip of him talking about the only people we think well of [in government, apparently] is the military…I wondered if he’s calling for a military coup? It just made my heart sink thinking about all the military terms they’ve been using. McChrystal? Petraus? They all think they are gods. This is really, really scaring me. Will someone please talk me down!!!!
I keep thinking that with Beck’s messianic complex, he should realize that messiahs and prophets typically become martyrs. Despite his denials, he is taking on (however much undeserved) the mantle of Martin Luther King, Jr., while forgetting about James Earl Ray.
@Diana, sorry, but I can’t talk you down. This is something to be scared aboout.
@Frances, mega-kudos to you for remembering that it was Flavor-Aid. Kool-Aid ain’t exactly healthy, but it’s had a bad rap since ’78.
IF you would all like the play book for Beck, I can recommend getting your hands on two books from the Mormon Church which map out what he is doing. One is the manual used in all their “Institutes of Religion” which is called “The Teachings of the Living Prophets”. It details how the members view their leadership and how they follow them without question, just like Jim Jones. They have a famous quote, “When the Prophet speaks, the thinking has been done”. The other is a much older work written by Ezra Taft Benson who was the former leader of the Mormon Church who was called a “prophet,seer and revelator” and who was also once the Sec. of Agriculture under Dwight D. Eisenhower. It is called “An Enemy Hath Done This”. Withing this book, Benson says that “the day will come when the Constitution will hang as it were by a thread and when that day comes, the Elders of Israel [read Mormon Church leaders] will rush in to save it.” They really believe that it is their calling to step in and run the country and that when Jesus comes again, the Mormon Church will be the vehicle through which He will rule the earth! Just substitute Middle East and Muslims for the Communists and you have the playbook. I could tell you much more as I once was a Mormon for about 40 years. Rather than doing that, just ask Mario which month my guest blogs were posted where I did a 3 part expose on the Mormon Church and it’s falsity.
They are not a Christian group and they are a world wide cult. Beck is a madman who became that way by listening to all the clap trap teachings about the destiny of “priesthood holders” and the Church as a whole in regards to running the world and then later becoming gods and goddesses having spirit babies to populate their own worlds and to rule over those.
They are to be taken very seriously as they fully mean what they say and they now have billions of dollars and property ownership and control of media and their own closed satellite system to broadcast world wide as well as having members inside the FCC where they can dominate media decisions and they own and run KSL and Bonneville broadcasing , which in the event of an emergency, will be the sole radio broadcast medium for the entire Western U.S.. Please take them very seriously! They made Prop 8 succeed and they can do whatever they want if they remain unopposed and put on this PR image of being “squeaky clean Americans”. They are not. I could go on but please take them seriously! Beck is not alone within the Church in his feelings and goals!
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing . . . .”
comes to mind.
Melody, that is a very interesting perspective. I understand that are some arcane sects of Mormanism. Are the things you have described prevalent in the mainstream Church?
I mean, who wouldn’t be freaked out in general about Christians if they read only the Revelation? Catholics presume that since it was a product of the time of the Roman Emperor Domitian, it was in response to his revival of the Imperial Cult religion, and was meant as a caution to Christians not to join. The Protestant interpretation of the Revelation is…a little different. And scary.
This is a modern day belief, Francis, by the leadership of the Mormon Church and it is being actively promoted behind closed doors. When they know that “outsiders” are around, they have one kind of speak. When it is “insiders” (such as inside the temples), they speak another way. Some of the newest members of the Church see it only as kind of a “social club” and they at first think it is Christian. Over time, however, many come to realize that the Church is in no way Christian and that many have gone right wing fundamental with it.
Keep in mind that they truly believe that they are the “only true church upon the earth today” and that their mission is to prepare the earth for the Second Coming by getting “every knee to bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord”, only they add on that His “Prophets” will clear the way, rule under Him, and “administrate” the affairs of earth! They see this a benevolent act on their part and feel that they are “saving the earth”! They believe that only those who are church members, go through the temple, and are “sealed” as families will be allowed to live in the hereafter as families and only they will be allowed to live with God forever and create worlds and populate them. They believe this wholeheartedly. The rest, they believe, will live separately, singly, alone for eternity in other places or “glories”. This earth, however, must be “cleansed” and “prepared” so this gives them their justification for doing things like Prop 8, anti-Muslim,etc. Beck is simply doing what he feels is “missionary work” on a grander scale! That is why he is bellowing out about “returning to God”! If you know the Mormon playbook, this all comes as no surprise at all. He wants everyone to live within Mormon guidelines including having no gays, abortion, “diversity” (read Islam), etc. Everyone following their One Living Prophet who when he speaks, “the thinking has been done”.! It will only get worse from here with Beck! Stay tuned!