by Paul Rosenberg [courtesy of Open Left - Front Page]

by DarkSyde [courtesy of Daily Kos]

Finally, a traditional media outlet reports on some of the nefarious activities of Mr. Sun Myung-moon and his association with political sidekick and shadow, George H. W. Bush. Kudos to Rick Casey at the Houston Chronicle:

This isn't the first time Bush has appeared with Moon. He gave a series of speeches in Japan in 1995 at Moon's behest and appeared with him in 1996 in Argentina and later in Paraguay. Last year he spoke at a Moon event in Washington. And as reported here two years ago, the Washington Times Foundation (Moon is founder and owner of the Times) covertly donated at least $1 million to the Bush Library.

Shadowy Moonie fronts cleverly disguised as mainstream groups are well versed in deceiving lawmakers and celebrities into attending cult functions. Their goal of course is to use those appearances as tacit endorsements, and as a bipartisan veneer in the event they are exposed. But George Herbert Walker Bush knows exactly what this guy is all about and Bush can't plead he was deceived by a front group. Hell, he's been appearing right beside Moon, sharing a stage with the guy!

One thing that's important to understand about Bush's acquiescence to the "True Father" is that Moon uses these appearances to establish and maintain credibility. Because of Bush's cooperation, Moon is able to recruit new cult members into a lifetime of servitude. There are consequences, there are victims:

by DarkSyde [courtesy of Daily Kos]

Up until last week, it would be no surprise if few Americans were familiar with the name Charlie Black: before joining the McCain campaign as chief adviser, Black amassed a fortune working not for middle class Americans, but as a serial lobbyist working closely with conservative powerbrokers in plush backrooms on behalf of powerful CEO’s and creepy foreign gazillionaires:

by Paul Rosenberg [courtesy of Open Left - Front Page]

by Cliff Schecter [courtesy of Firedoglake]

Progressive author John Gorenfeld recently released a book exposing the unsavory ties between the GOP and billionaire, Washington Times Publisher (and convicted tax cheat) Reverend Sun Myung Moon. In his book, Bad Moon Rising, Gorenfeld shows the relationship between many in the Republican hierarchy, including the Bush clan, and a man who has often been charged with being a leader of a cult. What is beyond question, however, is that a high-ranking McCain Campaign official, Charlie Black, has planned ceremonies for Moon to be crowned "King Of America," and Moon has had damning things to say about the Christian faith.

by DarkSyde [courtesy of Daily Kos]

Chris Mooney reviews the anti-evolution movie Expelled. After the obligatory and accurate recognition the film is a steaming pile of crap, he points out what most reviewers avoid:

From Michael Crichton’s State of Fear to Stein’s Expelled, there is nothing to prevent the most awful, misleading drivel from reaching and influencing mass audiences. There are no standards. There is no filter. And the truth is not just automatically going to win in the competition of ideas when the playing field tilts against it.

Regardless if the movie is a money maker, thousands of people will see it. Hopefully, most won’t walk out of the theater blaming evolutionary biologists for the Holocaust despite the intent of the producers to do exactly that and more. But I bet plenty of viewers will buy into the slickly packaged premise that evolutionary biology is built on a tottering foundation of lies propped up by a vicious cabal of modern day Lysenkoists eagerly persecuting those brave martyrs presenting the revolutionary evidence for creationism, or intelligent design, or whatever opinion poll tested pseudonym is chosen next. That same spurious public relations methodology will continue to win hearts and minds, on everything from stem cell research to climate change, until such time as we invest in and develop counter measures that can match the efforts of our highly motivated and often well paid anticognates.

by DarkSyde [courtesy of Daily Kos]

Being a science writer, I can't help but gravitate toward scientific metaphors. So imagine for a second if two famous primate experts were interviewed for a nature program while an 800 pound gorilla tore the studio apart in the background. And in the midst of that chaos, the scientists avoided any mention of gorillas, while Calmly and Seriously discussing the theoretical danger posed by bunny rabbits.

Something like that happened last weekend: NBC News "chief" Tim Russert interviewed two leading 'conservative intellectuals,' Andrew Sullivan author of The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It, How to Get It Back, and Christopher Hitchens who wrote God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Both guests have been incessantly congratulated for, as the title of their books indicate, their admirable courage in transcending previously defined conservative boundaries and confronting the pernicious influence fringe ideologues and religious fundamentalists exert on the conservative movement.

by DarkSyde [courtesy of Daily Kos]

The traditional media gets a lot of knocks in the blogosphere these days. But they bring much of it on themselves with their endless complicity in serving a far right-wing agenda. Glenn Greenwald has a new book coming out soon which takes this on directly:

Glenn Greenwald -- The central paradox of our political life is that the right-wing faction that continues to dominate our political institutions and win elections embraces fringe beliefs which have little popular support. That's why their overarching objective is to remove substantive considerations from our political debates ... An aggressive campaign to demonstrate how absurd and destructive are these right-wing leaders, how deceitful is the media's personality-based glorification of them, is absolutely necessary.

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by DarkSyde [courtesy of Daily Kos]

Bad Moon Rising: How Reverend Moon Created the Washington Times, Seduced the Religious Right, and Built an American Kingdom. By John Gorenfeld (Order here)

I had a chance to ask John a few questions and post his newest video report (King of America -- Broken in parts 1 and 2 below) on Daily Kos. John is available in comments, West Coast time permitting, to chat with you about the cult of Moon and its seemingly unending influence on the conservative movement and the Republican Party.

DarkSyde (DS): Given recent media interest in religious/political  connections, or even before, how does the right-wing expect to get away with being so closely tied into someone as controversial as Moon without greater coverage or exposure to the public?

John Gorenfeld: You know, I would bet you that fewer than five percent of Americans know that the Washington Times, this newspaper that is constantly quoted in the conservative media sphere, is published by Sun Myung Moon. When I tell regular people—the ones old enough to remember Moon—they're horrified.

Washington journalists, though, are another story. They have a tin ear for hypocrisy, and working in D.C., they get so out of touch with reality they don't blink when Moon shows up at Washington Times dinner parties and raves about replacing Jesus Christ with himself. And they don't bother to inform the heartland.