Divine History

Those who control the present control the future. –Blair



The Muslim world is aflame. Christian holidays are in full capitalistic swing and everyone is more concerned with eggnog than wartime policy. We wander through teams of shoppers and hope that parking is not a problem. A religion in all its unfettered glory is on display. I move toward the bookstore for solace and pick up the current NewsMax magazine revealing the new fundamentalists leaders of the 21st century. (I am still waiting for the baseball cards, with born-again dates dictating value. I am banking on Kirk Cameron over Bob Coy, Joyce Meyer and Ted Haggard, however his card may be good for the sodomites.)

After reading about a new interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount, I place NewsMax back on the shelf and what do I see below, undoubtedly a proper place for such a liberal rag, Harper’s magazine. It is unabashed in its hatred of all things Christian, moral (is there a difference?) and righteousness in this world. In fact, the cover essay is a provocative account of how history is being rewritten, to suit the Christian agenda. This of course is a tautology, for history is the agenda of Christ, the two are cosmicly linked. History is through Christ and Christ alone. And it is also big business some ½ billion dollars worth of home schooling materials sold to some 2 million righteous followers of the sword. And to my secular devils speak; I must, as Bill Apelian of Bob Jones University explains, “unschool” myself. It would be akin to a mental exorcism, clearing away logic, reason and enlightened thought and leaving in its place just the good and the bad, the black and the white, the Christ and the Satan. Lastly, I must understand that “History is God’s working in man.”

A key component of this history is free enterprise and that this economic model is of divine inspiration. Never mind the empirical proof that capitalism is based on scarcity of goods and built-in inequality, thus creating masses of meek and poor wretches. However, empirical proof is not real it is man made and absent of Christ’s truth. Thus, free markets are in God’s image and any adjustment by man can only be an abomination. Another branch on this holy tree of historical reckoning is the ‘key-man theory’. This is not a theory of course because pious Christians have consulted with Christ and found that his work must be done through ‘unschooled language’ before the heathens can understand. Consequently, the preachers must use terms like, theory and history until we are free from this secular devilsmith. The key-man theory goes like this, in Christ’s History there are men, and I guess women, that are placed into situations, which alter events in Christ’s image. This occurs during wars and other events demanding divine consultation. The key-man is thus ‘the key’ to helping unfold God’s plan. An example, of this key-man is Rousas John Rushdonny, founder of Christian Reconstructionism and firm believer in ‘presuppositionalism’. However, the most important portion of Christ’s History is the fact that we have all turned our collective backs on history and must re-live through Christ a new history, a revision of our true selves absent of logic, cause and effect or terrestrial machinations . In effect, we must change the past to control the present thus dictating the future.

Glen Beck as Heinrich Himmler?

From FAIR's Archives:

Flirting With Fascism on CNN Headline News
Host Glenn Beck threatens Muslims with concentration camps

12/5/06

The New York Times (12/4/06), profiling new CNN Headline News host Glenn Beck, called him "brash" and "opinionated," with an "unfiltered approach." The conservative talk-radio host-turned-cable news announcer, the paper reported, "take[s] credit for saying what others are feeling but are afraid to say."

The Times mentioned one of the things Beck has said recently, to newly elected U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), a Muslim: "Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies." But as press critic Eric Alterman pointed out (Altercation, 12/4/06), as offensive as that question is, it doesn't begin to suggest the poisonousness of Beck's rhetoric about Muslims.

On his August 10 radio show, distributed by Clear Channel's Premiere Radio Networks, Beck told listeners, "The world is on the brink of World War III," then issued this warning:

All you Muslims who have sat on your frickin' hands the whole time and have not been marching in the streets and have not been saying, 'Hey, you know what? There are good Muslims and bad Muslims. We need to be the first ones in the recruitment office lining up to shoot the bad Muslims in the head.' I'm telling you, with God as my witness... human beings are not strong enough, unfortunately, to restrain themselves from putting up razor wire and putting you on one side of it. When things—when people become hungry, when people see that their way of life is on the edge of being over, they will put razor wire up and just based on the way you look or just based on your religion, they will round you up. Is that wrong? Oh my gosh, it is Nazi, World War II wrong, but society has proved it time and time again: It will happen.


On September 5, Beck took the same message to his CNN Headline News audience, declaring, "In 10 years, Muslims and Arabs will be looking through a razor wire fence at the West." He explained:

Since 9/11, Americans have gotten so fed up with the "yes, but" Muslims. The "yes, but" Muslims are the ones who show up on talkshows and in the media and say, "Yes, terrorism is bad, but"—and then they go through a list of reasons on why we should try and sympathize with people who fly planes into buildings.... If, God forbid, there's another attack, we won't have anymore patience for the "yes, buts." The Muslim community better find a spokesman who isn't a "yes, but" Muslim. They shouldn't even understand the word "but," because if they don't, when things heat up, the profiling will only get worse, and the razor wire will be coming.


Beck went on to say:

You want the profiling to stop? Then, here's an idea. Stop murdering innocent people. Stop excusing the people who do. You do that for a while, and I guarantee you won't have any more problems at the airports. Stop blowing stuff up and the world just might be your oyster. Otherwise, it's going to be like that movie, The Siege. You remember that movie? The Muslims will see the West through razor wire if things don't change.


He concluded:

Look, I'm not saying all Arabs and Muslims are anti-American. Far from it. We should get to know these people and embrace the good Muslims, and eliminate the bad ones. Here's what I don't know. I don't know if the Muslim community will ever step to the plate like the Japanese-American community did during World War II. You know, it was absolutely disgraceful how we rounded innocent people up then and, sadly, history has a way of repeating itself no matter how grotesque that history might be. The Muslim community can prevent this if they act now.


When Beck is talking about "razor wire," he's talking about concentration camps—in the original sense of the word, places where masses of people are imprisoned "just based on the way you look or just based on your religion." Despite his (perfectly accurate) observation that such camps are "Nazi, World War II wrong," comparable to the "absolutely disgraceful" wartime internment of Japanese-Americans, Beck is clearly using the threat of such camps to coerce Muslims into behavior he approves of, like volunteering "to shoot the bad Muslims in the head."

Since the overwhelming majority of U.S. Muslims are neither "murdering innocent people" nor "excusing the people who do," there's really nothing that they can do to avert Beck's threat that "the razor wire will be coming." And Beck is explicit that there's nothing non-Muslims can do to avoid locking Muslims up en masse.

The New York Times, in its profile about Beck, refers to his criticism of the animated film Happy Feet, but fails to mention that he uses his Headline News slot to issue threats that he himself compares to Nazi behavior. For the Times, CNN's decision to give Beck a TV show is a "success," because he "has increased the ratings in his 7 p.m. time period 60 percent among all viewers, and 84 percent among viewers aged 25 to 54."

The Times article quoted CNN executive Kenneth Jautz as saying that the network did not take Beck's politics into account when it hired him. "We did not set out to have anyone from any particular view fronting these shows," he said. In fact, CNN hired Beck knowing that the host's repertoire included hateful attacks--the Hurricane Katrina refugees seen on TV and the father of a terrorism victim were both "scumbags" (Mediamatters.org, 5/17/04, 9/9/05)--as well as a disturbing preoccupation with violence: Beck has told his listeners that he was praying for a gruesome death for Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich (3/16/03), and that he was fantasizing about strangling filmmaker Michael Moore to death (5/17/05). As FAIR predicted (FAIR Action Alert, 1/18/06), Beck has not changed his repellent tune simply because he's been hired by a major media outlet.

Contrary to Beck's suggestion, there are things that the people of the U.S. can do to avoid repeating the "grotesque" history of Japanese-American internment. One of these things is to take people seriously when they start threatening people with concentration camps—rather than looking the other way because of their ratings "success."

ACTION: Please contact CNN/U.S. president Jonathan Klein and urge him to condemn Glenn Beck's chilling threats against Muslims.

Isolation is not a policy

The old Cuban/Cold War/Isolationism foreign policy paradigm is not only outdated but bolsters and reinforces totalitarian regimes. The ‘getting tough’ with tyrants by keeping them isolated is incredibly stupid and counterproductive, which is a hallmark for the current administration. For example, Sec. Rice “advocates ‘deepening the isolation of Syria,’ … and in seeking to isolate Iran, … she hopes to capitalize on the fears of nations like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan that Iran seeks to dominate the region with the option of wielding a nuclear weapon,” this according to David E. Sanger. The cornerstone of this ‘do-nothing’ strategy is isolation. However, nations with authoritarian regimes want to be isolated. It is their lifeblood. Isolation gives these regimes safety and more importantly stability. This notion of stability versus openness is not a contest for which any tyrannical regime is looking to play. Iran, North Korea, Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, Zimbabwe and Syria, just to name a few, would rather be closed than open. Openness leads to instability and upheaval, developments for which most autocratic governments do not see as beneficial. So James Baker not only up staged Sec. Rice, with his work on ISG, he also revealed a key to opening up the region (any region): talks. Sec. Rice on the other hand is still stuck in the old mold of isolation.

This process of stability v. openness is clearly described by Ian Bremmer in his new work The J Curve. Bremmer using case studies from North Korea, Cuba, Iraq and China gives a clear and useful message to policy makers: open up the country in what ever fashion we have at our disposal. Anything will help dismantle the regime from the inside out. The use of radio transmission or diplomats can only help produce questions for the masses in these countries, questions for which only free thought can answer. A foreign policy based on massive assaults of international talks and endless influence within the country, J. Nye's Soft Power, is not only proper in this world of transnational terrorists and rouge states it is imperative. Engagement is not a sign of weakness or capitulation; it is a sign of shrewd foreign policy.

The current approach is not working

Paul Simon’s ‘Boy in a Bubble’ must have been the anthem for The Iraq Study group:


It was a slow day
And the sun was beating
On the soldiers by the side of the road
There was a bright light
A shattering of shop windows
The bomb in the baby carriage
Was wired to the radio
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
Thats dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And dont cry baby, dont cry
Dont cry

The boy in the bubble is Bush. And the only question now, is the ability of this report to pierce his bubble. The report itself is damning and clear of the absolute need for change. Wow! What a revelation. You mean staying the course is not the best plan for a multi-faction, deeply sectarian civil war encompassing the heart of the Middle East. I don’t mean to sound supercilious but this report exposes Bush’s pure ineptitude. He is the proverbial boy in the bubble, unable and unwilling to see the truth before his eyes. The plastic bubble blurs his vision and coupled with his ideology of self-righteousness crippling his decision-making skills. What is most amazing about the Baker-Hamilton commission is the fact that Bush wasn’t the one to commission the group. Veteran GOP congressmen had to intervene. Bush never saw the need to ask for outside help. This is the most striking point. If the Baker-Hamilton Commission never existed then Bush would be plugging along with the same strategy as before. A losing strategy, doomed from the on-set by misinformation, lauded goals without any firm commitment, shifting rhetoric and abysmal planning. Bush as commander-in-chief has been a complete failure.

This is not an opinion it is a matter of current-historical record, bolstered by the facts on the ground and the 79 recommendations from the Baker-Hamilton group. Sen. Harry Reid, after the public disclosure of the report, rhetorically stated that the ‘ball is in President Bush’s court.’ It must pain everyone in Washington and around the country to hear a Senator give a civic lesson in the middle of a war. The ball has always been in the president’s court, he is the commander-in- chief, there is no other court. In fact, this commission should have been formed during the cherry picking of intelligence, before the war began. This would, at least, give an appearance of thoughtfulness and clear judgment on the president’s part. However, and most importantly, the true effect of this report will be placed squarely on the troops in harms way, my sister-in-law and my cousin and countless friends and their extended families. The report is the first sign that this administration is not just going to smokem’ out, it is a brief sign that this country is trying to make things right, not only for the Middle East but also for America. My cynical nature, at times, gets the best of me, however dissent, questioning, knowledge of the facts and personal fortitude do find their way into the halls of congress and sometimes into a bipartisan report which has the potential for real change.

How the ACLU saved Christmas

According to Katie Zezima of the NY Times, Santa’s ass is on the line in Maine. Santa’s rump is just too risqué for the Maine Bureau of Liquor Enforcement. The bureau rejected the label seen above because “the label violated a regulation stating that alcohol advisements cannot contain ‘undignified or improper illustrations’. Now I don’t know much about undignified or improper illustrations, however Santa’s COVERED butt is far from those two ambiguous categories. So as all good ACLU lawyers do, they have come to the rescue of not only Santa’s ass but also all of Christendom. “The Maine Civil Liberties Union sued the bureau on Thursday in US District Court in Portland on behalf of Shelton Brothers, claiming that its right to free speech was being violated.” Santa and Christmas are once again safe from the evils of censorship and all those who oppose a good pint of porter.

Bye Bye Bolton…Happy Trails and enjoy your time at the Heritage Foundation

BBC Dec. 4th:

The US ambassador to the United Nations is to leave his post when his temporary appointment runs out. John Bolton looked unable to win the necessary Senate support for him to continue in the job.
Democrats in the chamber, who objected to his combative approach at the UN, were due to reject his nomination.
He is the second high-profile member of President George W Bush's team to leave after the Republicans fared badly in last month's mid-term elections.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld left shortly after the 7 November polls.
Mr Bolton took up the UN posting last year during a Congressional holiday after his nomination stalled in the Senate.
It was a procedural maneuver that avoided the need for him to be confirmed until the end of this year.
That procedure cannot be repeated, and the new climate in Congress would make it all but impossible for him to win a two-thirds majority of senators.
The incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democratic Senator Joe Biden, had already said he saw "no point in considering Mr Bolton's nomination again". Mr Bolton's critics said a man who once declared there was "no such thing" as the UN was hardly a suitable choice to join the body. His nomination incensed many former US ambassadors - 102 of whom signed a letter urging senators to reject his nomination.
But his admirers said he was a bright, hard-working realist - whose skepticism about the UN's role made him an ideal envoy, particularly when the organization was in need of deep reform.
A White House spokeswoman said that among Mr Bolton's accomplishments, he assembled coalitions addressing North Korea's nuclear activity, Iran's uranium enrichment and reprocessing work and the horrific violence in Darfur.
He personified Washington's view of the UN, says the BBC's diplomatic correspondent, an institution that was viewed as being wasteful and ineffective at best and, at worst, as inimical to America's wider global interests