As pertinent today as ever. His comments about what the press could and ought to be break my heart for how far we’ve sunk. They killed him.

Excellent discussion with PBS’s Bill Moyers, Rabbi Michael Lerner, and Dr. Timothy P. Weber about Christian Zionism, Israel, Iran, and dispensationalism, which about 1/3 of Evangelicals believe.

Dr. Weber: “this is one group in a long line of similar groups . . . which combined a firm belief in bible prophecy and a particular political agenda that has gained more and more power as the years have gone by.” He explains their belief if the Jews get to the Holy Land and stay there, the Temple of Solomon will be rebuilt (and Dome of the Rock destroyed), the anti-Christ will rise, Armageddon will occur, and Jesus will return. Rabbi Lerner points out their belief that all unconverted Jews will then burn in hell.

Rabbi Lerner: “I think that movement has three different parts. One part is people whose primary agenda is conservative politics in America and who are using the issue of Israel as another part of their support of conservative politics. if the US moved away from Israel they would move away from it. The second part are people who are dispensationalists, who believe that getting Israel into a huge battle with the Arab states is going to be good for bringing Jesus back onto our planet. . . . It’s a theological concept. And then there are people who genuinely care about Jews, descent good people, in this movement who unfortunately are being manipulated for a political agent that is very very different, and in my view is not at all in the best interest of the Jewish people or of Israel.”

Dr. Weber: “In previous attempts to understand Bible prophecy Iran does not show up . . . they [dispensationalists] adjust the scenario to fit. Dispensationalists know how to change the subject.”

Rabbi Lerner: “Ahmadinejad is really one of the best allies of the Christian Right and the Jewish Right.”

—
Max Blumenthal’s deeply disturbing 10-minute documentary of the recent Christians United for Israel conference shows what seems like a harmless collection of crazy people, until you realize how powerful they are. Senator Joseph Lieberman, former House majority leader Tom DeLay, and former Senator Rick Santorum were in attendance.

Max Blumenthal: “CUFI lobbies Congress for an expansion of Israel and a unilateral attack on Iran.”

Rep. DeLay: “[the second coming] is what I live for. I hope it comes tomorrow . . . we have to be connected to Israel to enjoy the second coming.”

Attendee: “I’m looking forward to Armageddon, and I’m looking forward to the cleansing of the Earth.”

Attendee: “When we disappear you better start to worry, because if you haven’t seen the Left Behind series, it’s scary.”
Max Blumenthal: “The one with Kirk Cameron? Growing Pains?”

Attendee: “The one who forces Israel into a peace treat with Arabs is the Anti-Christ.”

Attendee: “Another reason we support Israel is because we have a common enemy, the Muslims.”

Attendee: “We are fighting what is behind the Muslim people, which is Satan.”

Attendee T-shirt: “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Morals are Worse than Animals.”

The Israeli right-winger Max interviewed seemed happy to overlook these beliefs. Perhaps they regard these dispensationalists the same way Stalin regarded his “useful idoits.”

SEE ALSO:
Pat Robertson says agreement with Palestinians risks “wrath of God.” I think his God supports ethnic cleansing.

Blackwater founder thinks he’s doing God’s work. Major connections to Christian fundamentalists.

Jewish American author on his recent book: Overcoming Zionism.

The essay. The book. The authors. The controversy.

It seems impossible: nuclear reactions at room temperature, electro-chemists succeeding where nuclear physicists have long failed, elements changing — the stuff of alchemy. Yet many scientists can’t ignore it. They keep saying: “excess heat” and “tritium” and “helium” (byproducts of nuclear reactions). Skeptics have come down hard against cold fusion. Who dares to imagine the end of the fossil fuel age? MIT’s chief science journalist resigned over what he deemed a fraudulent rebuttal to cold fusion. Research is rarely funded, but continues. Private companies have formed around the technology.

The possibilities of cold fusion speak to everything that’s best about mankind. It is a rare opportunity to see ourselves as good, beautiful, ingenious and suited to create a better future for all.

Watch the five-part documentary, or skip to part three to be convinced it works.

See also: Patterson Power Cell.

This brief (300-word) letter to the editor appeared in the Daily Iowa, October 16th 2007.

     In last week’s Republican presidential debate, all the candidates except for Ron Paul went on ad nauseam about the Islamo-fascist regime bent on destroying all of Western civilization.
     This would be quite an accomplishment for a nation whose national GDP is comparable to the state of Alabama’s.
     The sentiments are echoed by many prominent figures in the press who have propagated an inexcusable misquotation with frightening efficiency. Ahmadinejad never threatened to “wipe Israel off the map.”
     The war cheerleading smacks of the same duplicity that led to the invasion of Iraq. Even the supposedly liberal New York Times subsequently apologized for deliberately suppressing stories that questioned the invasion of Iraq.
     The Iranian threat is not nearly as dire as depicted. We have faced a nuclear Soviet Union and a nuclear North Korea. I agree with former CENTCOM commander General Abizaid: we can live with a nuclear Iran. Their regime is not suicidal.
     Military action against Iran, no matter how precise and limited, would certainly escalate, erase our modest gains in Iraq and Afghanistan, instantly jeopardize our soldiers overseas, destabilize Pakistan (who already has nukes), and cause terrorism against us to skyrocket.
     I doubt the sincerity of those making a hysterical case for war. James Madison warned us “the means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.”
     If we are supposed to be so scared of terrorists that we start a third war in six years, that we accept concessions already made to our constitutional liberties, it seems like a no-brainer to do something about our completely porous borders.
     The fear-mongering is completely hypocritical so long as our borders are ignored. It’s analogous to a child on a playground, sticking out his chin. “Hit me, so I can have my war.”
     Enough is enough.

See it in the Daily Iowan. (I didn’t choose their title.)
250-word version published in Fayetteville Observer, Nov 5th, 2007.

Not even Israeli journalists are allowed in Gaza where electric plants and sewage treatment facilities have been bombed in the name of self defense.

Geneva Convention: Article 33. No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.

Related News:

Israeli human rights groups work to get students out of Gaza.

Condoleeza Rice: “Frankly it is time for the establishment of a Palestinian state.” Does she know that 60% of the West Bank’s land and 70% of its water is controlled by Israel?

Strange story about weapons smuggling into Gaza. Egypt says Israel allows it. Israel says Egypt must do more to stop it.

FOLLOW UP: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon: Israeli fuel sanctions against the Hamas-run Gaza Strip punish an entire population and are unacceptable.

How Comcast, who has an internet monopoly in parts of the country, and Symantec CENSORED www.afterdowningstreet.org .

Bush has laid legal groundwork for dictatorial powers which he might assume in the event of a very loosely defined “national emergency.”
(Video Here)

If we had a free press, we’d know more about this.

  Believe!

4 month trial
9 defendants
161 charges of federal tax crime
1 (and only 1) mention in the press
0 convictions

(read more)

What’s happening to my country?

Good News
-European nations delay action on Iran.
-The Aussies will not play.
-Great video of Press Secretary Tony Snow evading question on Iran earlier this year. Expect those reporters to be replaced by the pro-war media.

Bad News
-John Bolton: Attack Iran, ‘remove’ its leader.
-Strange comments from the strange Council on Foreign Relations.

Other members include: Hillary and Bill Clinton, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Obama, George W Bush, George HW Bush, Alan Greenspan, Condoleezza Rice, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, John McCain, Newt Gingrich, John Edwards. I don’t know what, precisely, the CFR stands for, but I’ve encountered much speculation, and I’m paying attention.

More News
-Longtime investigative journalist, Pulitzer prize winner, and American hero, Seymour Hersh, says Israel unhappy with US bombing plan for Iran. (no nuclear sites)
-Seymour Hersh reports administration gave up on “Iran wants to kill your children with nucuelar weapons,” because nobody bought it, so now they’re trying “we need to stop them from killing our troops.” (watch interview)

My News
I had emailed all my Congressional representatives about the Lieberman-Kyl Iran amendment, which is another rhetorical step rushed to the floor by Joe “Fear” Lieberman toward all-out war with Iran.

It passed. Only the following senators voted against it:
Biden(D-DE) Bingaman(D-NM) Boxer(D-CA) Brown(D-OH) Byrd(D-WV) Cantwell(D-WA) Dodd(D-CT) Feingold(D-WI) Hagel(R-NE) Harkin(D-IA) Inouye(D-HI) Kennedy(D-MA) Kerry(D-MA) Klobuchar(D-MN) Leahy(D-VT) Lincoln(D-AR) Lugar(R-IN) McCaskill(D-MO) Sanders(I-VT) Tester(D-MT) Webb(D-VA) Wyden(D-OR) Are you paying attention!?

Well, I got this completely non sequitur response for Senator Tom Harkin. My anger led me to call his office (202 224-3254) and demand to speak with him. I got as far as his secretary, who assured me an appropriate response will arrive by mail.

There is good news. It seems all the pressure (including mine!) forced them to change the harshest parts of the amendment.

Iran is not a threat to America, not a threat to me. The politicians and media cheer-leading these wars, however . . .

PREDICTION: Beware the time immediately after the primary elections. You heard it here first!

UPDATE: Senator Harkin sent me an appropriate reply. He emphasized the fact that he voted against Lieberman-Kyl .