Rev. Billy Graham: A Prince of War Exposed

[Octafish]

Who says religion and politics don't mix?

Rev. Billy Graham: A Prince of War Exposed

The Rev. Billy Graham, a darling of the Evangelical Right, has never seen a U.S. war that he couldn’t bless. He once advocated that President Richard M. Nixon bomb the “dikes” in the north of Vietnam. He also criticized the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. for speaking out against the war. A new book, “The Prince of War: Billy Graham’s Crusade for a Wholly Christian Empire,” by Cecil Bothwell exposes the camera-mugging preacher as a serial warmonger.

By William Hughes
Date Created
27 Sep 2007



“The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same.” - Stendhal

The propaganda machine of the Evangelical Christian Right will soon be in counter attack mode. One of its darling preachers is about to take it on the proverbial chin. The Rev. Billy Graham, who has created a multimillion dollar media empire, that a Rupert Murdock would envy, is the subject of a shocking expose’ due out on Nov. 15, 2007. It’s entitled, “The Prince of War: Billy Graham’s Crusade for a Wholly Christian Empire.” The author is Cecil Bothwell. He hails from Asheville, North Carolina and is an award winning investigative reporter. Bothwell’s unflattering portrait of Rev. Graham shows him as a wily warmonger and a lackey for the Establishment. He describes Rev. Graham as a public figure who: “Undermined the Founders’ skeptical Deism and sought to rebrand the U.S. as a Christian nation, its armies the rightful instruments of Christian crusade and empire.”

Bothwell documents that there wasn’t a war the U.S. was involved in that Rev. Graham couldn’t bless. In fact, he reveals that during the horrific Vietnam conflict, (1959-75), he had urged the then-President, Richard M. Nixon, to bomb North Vietnam! In a 13-page letter, that Rev. Graham had forwarded to the White House in April, 1969, it was stated: “There are tens of thousands of North Vietnamese defectors to bomb and invade the North. Why should all the fighting be in the South?...Especially let them bomb the dikes which could over night destroy the economy of North Vietnam.” Mr. Bothwell underscored that such a military action against the dikes, a huge complex of earthworks, would probably “kill a million people and wipe out an already poor nation’s agricultural system” He added that the advice in Graham’s transmittal “fell on receptive ears. Not longer after, Nixon moved the air war north and west.”

There is more. After the deadly Kent State U. affair, (May 4, 1970), where four students, who were protesting the Nixon-Henry Kissinger-inspired bombing of Cambodia, were killed by Ohio’s National Guard troops, Rev. Graham invited the mostly unbalanced Nixon to address his crusade. It was held in Knoxville, TN. While parents of the students were still grieving and burying their dead, Rev. Graham shamelessly shilled: “All Americans may not agree with the decision a president makes--but he is our president...”

Also, every chance Rev. Graham got he ripped into antiwar protesters in this country, while the Vietnam inferno was raging. After a large pro peace demonstration in late 1969, he railed in a letter to Corry Harpers, that the protesters were “radicals and those seeking to overthrow the American way of life.” When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke out, in 1967 against the war in a sermon at the Riverside Church in NYC, Rev. Graham, jumped right in and tagged his criticism as “an affront to the thousands of loyal Negro troops who are in Vietnam.” When Dr. King marched for Civil Rights in Selma, Alabama, Rev. Graham was no where to be found. And, after Dr. King was gunned down in Memphis, TN, he couldn’t be bothered to attend his funeral either.

CONTINUED...

http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/15882/index.php

Alternate link:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/27220

Gee. No maybe that's where a certain somemonkey got his crazy ideas to "re-write" the Constitution.

[Benhurst]

1. The link needs to be fixed, Octafish. Thanks for posting this.

My first post on DU was flamed for daring to criticize "Man of God" Billy Graham. He is, and always has been, an old devil as far as I am concerned.

[charlie]

2. Huh

I assumed most everybody knew he was a reactionary git. Guess I shouldn't be surprised, seems every religious leader has his/her do-or-die defenders.

[ljm2002]

11. He's been almost canonized...

...over the last several years. Also, compared to many of our present-day evangelicals, he appeared almost sane. So this is really a timely reminder, and I am glad the writer has taken the time to spell it all out, chapter and verse.

[Octafish]

4. Thanks, Benhurst! Don't know why the link's goofed-up...

...the URL on my screen says:

http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/15882/index.php

Same for the link does from the post. When I click from there, zip. I -- "This page cannot be displayed." Now I can't even email the thing, anymore. Wow.

Alternate link:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/27220

[Benhurst]

6. Thanks again, Octafish. The afterdowingstreet link works, and

I'm going to send the article to everyone on my mailing lists.

[xchrom]

3. recommend. the ''good'' rev has been part and parcel

of the evangelical war on the people of this country since the ten commandments were taken out of schools -- it is part and parcel of his reason for being.

[Octafish]

14. The Burning Bush from Texas

Thanks to Rev Graham, the crazy monkey found religion and his base.

The Burning Bush from Texas

The spiritual journey of George W. Bush starts in hardscrabble west Texas. Will the White House be his next stop?

By Tony Carnes | posted 10/02/2000 12:00AM

"Christ, because he changed my heart," George W. Bush, governor of Texas and presidential candidate, declared before an Iowa debate audience late last year. That response answered a reporter's question about which philosopher had most influenced the candidates' lives. But far from being the glib reply of an aspiring politician, Bush's telegraphic disclosure about his relationship with Jesus packed a powerful punch among conservative Christians:

Did they finally have a presidential candidate who shared their faith experience and their conservative values, and—importantly—who could win in November?

"Wow" was Southern Baptist Richard Land's one-word reaction on hearing Bush's comments in Iowa. Land, President of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, is among a broad spectrum of Christian conservatives who support Bush's candidacy, although many are not free to endorse a candidate formally.

Acting out his faith

Despite Bush's certitude about Christ, he has yet to fully describe in public his own spiritual development. During that Iowa debate, Bush was asked a follow-up question about his Christian commitment. But Bush declined to elaborate his views of how Christ changes an individual's heart:

"Well, if they don't know, it's going to be hard to explain."

"I'm getting a little nervous about writers snooping around my heart," he said on another occasion.

The content of candidate Bush's faith is not easily discerned. But close associates of Bush, interviewed by Christianity Today, paint a complex spiritual portrait. That picture reveals a man who not only wrestled with the legacy of his famous father (former president George Bush) but also overcame personal and professional failures. Emerging in midlife as a self-confident leader, Bush seems to be someone more likely to act out his faith than to reflect on it.

SNIP...

Oil and alcohol

As the oil boom faded by the mid-1980s, Bush and his friends were experiencing the grinding fears and tensions of owning businesses on the rocks. Some, including Bush, began drinking heavily.

Bush began an intense time of introspection. He dropped the name of Jesus into a causal conversation with his Bible-study leader, Bruce Robertson. "Man, you have really changed," Robertson recalls thinking at the time. "Here was this fellow, who made everything into a joke, all of a sudden turning serious."

The Bible study itself began as an unlikely substitute for Monday-night football. Bush and his friends were not eager to replace their hallowed football ritual, but their wives encouraged them.

"For the first time, they weren't just spending their time sitting around kicking back with hamburgers and beer," Laura Bush recalls.

For Bush, it was an initial step toward finally overcoming his drinking habit. As it turned out, the mid-1980s were decisive years in his spiritual development. A potent factor was his interaction with evangelist Billy Graham. Graham preached one summer at the small seasonal church, St. Ann's by the Sea, that the Bush clan attends while at the family's retreat house in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Later, at the instigation of the elder Bush, Graham gathered the younger Bushes around the fireplace to answer their spiritual queries. Bush does not remember Graham's words in that setting, but he felt impressed by "the power of his example, his gentle and loving demeanor." Graham later stood with the young Bush on the beach and asked if he was following up his spiritual interests.

"Are you right with God?" Graham asked.

"No," Bush replied, "but I want to be."

CONTINUED...

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/october2/8.62.html

It's easy to be a scoundrel. Ask James R Bath about his relationships as the middle man for the bin Laden, bin Mahfouz and Bush clans.

"Enter in at the narrow gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be who go in that way; because narrow is the gate, and hard is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." -- Matthew 7:13‑14

[Cha]

19. What a lie..bush's "heart" ..assuming he

has one is as black as ever and the evidence is given to us daily by the corporatemediawhores and then when the burning bush has presser he gets up and serves his black heart on a presser platter.

And, people wonder why I don't do religion.

[xchrom]

23. it's been very, very difficult for me as a christian to watch what has happend

since reagan to christianity -- the revising of what been becoming steadily progressive into a retrograde pamphlet for deeply disturbed americans -- who could turn their inner feelings of loathing and guilt into projections of hate, power and control.

this isn't even the good old evil calvinism come to life again -- they wouldn't even recognise these mega churches and their ''evangelicals''.
but they would admire them for their successful schemes.

[pretzel4gore]

5. the culture! the culture!

graham though what the vast majority thought. Isolating him (and yeah his christianity should have informed his warhawk opinions better, but graham was a white man, and believe me, that informed his opinions alot lol) is just backseat driving. Gramps and gramma were also warhawks, for the most part; that is, if they were university educated, well off etc. Working people and non minorities were anti-war, but they also politically faceless. In his book 'Lies my teacher told me' Jame Loewen recounts a poll taken in '71 among two demographics- university educate and those who never finished hischool, regards the still ongoing war in Viet Nam (Ohio State took place in '71)...Loewen then polled university students to determine their estimate of the results of the poll itself (the polls were printed in his book) He found that 'the big lie' was at work, and its features easily measurable! The respondents asked what the results of the poll would be, expected the university educated, higher class people to have been antiwar doves, while the less educated the prowar hawks, but the opposite was what was found! It was the better off, the richer and the educated who were for the atrocious murder of Vietnameses while the less educated, the poor were the doves!
Unfortunately, i am the only person on earth who read 'LMTTM' and saw the hawk/dove exercise documented- the big lie goes on merrily (remember the hardhats and the hippies?)...so billy graham can hardly be damned for his common mischief

[Benhurst]

8. If the Reverend Billy has an IQ over 50, then I blame him.

The transfomation of The Prince of Peace into the American God of War was an abomination. How anyone could even skim over the New Testament and continue hold the views that old devil espoused is beyond comprehension.

[pretzel4gore]

9. agreed. graham put bush in office. rev putschist...

though i hear graham has repented, somewhat. his kid franky is a piece of work, a real nazipooh

[scarletwoman]

10. You make good and valid points about the "culture", but I agree with Benhurst.

Billy Graham always was and is a political ideologue with a very particular agenda.

He wasn't just some guy going along with the prevailing public sentiment of the day, he was one of the instigators and shapers of this sentiment. Billy Graham was one of the early authoritarian theocrat generals leading the attack against our secular Constitution. Militant religious nationalism is the name of his game.

sw

[pretzel4gore]

13. so his dishonesty is intrinsic?

christian discipline versus secular constitutional freedom obviously caused the likes of graham to hide the claws, but they were always intent on destroying the legal bssis of gov but under cover of dark? How can they even evoke the name of a good man like Jesus to do so? Jesus despised that very thing more then anything, imo!
the bastard belongs in leavenworth- just for using the Lord's name

[Octafish]

27. America deluded by madmen, like Pat Robertson.

Two things America needs to know about Pat Robertson:

1. Pat Robertson was a coward during the Korean War, abandoning his command on the eve of combat.

2. Pat Robertson sold his Christian Broadcasting Network to Rupert Murdoch, using the proceeds to do big business with some of the world's most despicable despots.

The story of the coward of the Korean War:

THE LIQUOR OFFICER

Or PAT ROBERTSON GOES TO WAR

EXCERPT...

Robertson had sailed for Korea in January, 1951, as a new young Second Lieutenant fresh out of Quantico's 11 week basic platoon leader training course. With him was his friend and classmate from Washington and Lee, Ed Gaines. The First Marine Division had taken fearful casualties at the Chosin Reservoir in December when the Chinese had entered this war with a vengeance; new second lieutenants were needed badly and the rumored life expectancy of platoon leaders in combat was only six minutes. Robertson was one of 71 officers and 1900 enlisted men in the Fifth Replacement Draft aboard the U.S.S. General J. C. Breckenridge. The full draft was needed to bring the Divisions' three rifle regiments up to strength for General MacArthur's planned February counter-attack against the Chinese. On the last day before leaving for Korea, however, Robertson and Gaines had been pulled off the ship in Kobe, Japan, with four others whose names had the misfortune to be listed next to Gaines on the roster of lieutenants assigned to the 7th Regiment. The reason: ostensibly to train young Marines coming out of the hospitals after the Chosin Reservoir battle.

Both the First Marine Division personnel office and those officers aboard the Breckenridge who had had combat duty were offended. Captain Harry Steinmeyer, a decorated veteran of Guadalcanal wrote on February 14, 1951:

"Happy Valentines: Here's one I have to tell you. Lt. Gaines & a Lt. Robinson (Whose Father is Senator from Va) were taken off in Japan. In short there were 80 men and 8 2nd Lts pulled on the pretense of training men who came from Korea to go back there. Gaines slipped 2 days before we got to Japan and said he & the other one were going to be pulled off there. It's really rotten politics. I'd sure like to write Winchell on it. See what Walter & Daddy say about that. At least I can live with my conscience. Well so much for that"

First Lieutenant David Hartstein, the Draft's adjutant, wrote his wife the same day:

"Hi There Valentine: Oh yes, there is one thing I wanted to tell you about. When we were in Kobe yesterday a Col. came aboard to choose several officers to retrain casualties that were getting ready to 90 back to Korea. He chose 6 second Lts. none of whom have ever had any combat. Its interesting to note that two of them had said they wouldn't have to go to Korea. One was the Robertson that General Sheppard wanted to see and I'm sure that his father being the Senator from Virginia had nothing to do with it and the other was a kid named Gaines whose father is president of Washington and Lee university. it is interesting though isn't it. See that's what you get when you choose the wrong parents. Incidentally they are both very nice guys but no more anxious to go than the rest of us."

What had caused this extraordinary salvation? As the trial date of March 8, 1988 approached, Robertson found himself in an increasing dilemma. He had shocked the Republicans by strong second place finishes, in Iowa., South Dakota and Minnesota; he had nearly won Michigan, and expected to win South Carolina on Saturday, March 5. March 8, "Super Tuesday" with its 22 separate primaries, was expected to provide perhaps even a majority of delegates in the bible belt states where from whence came Robertson's strongest support. His lawsuit had suppressed any media comment on his alleged "liquor officer" background.

CONTINUED...

http://www.schlatter.org/liquor_officer.htm

Diamond Pat Robertson incoporated a Gold Mine with a Terrorist:

Pat Robertson and His Business Buddies

By Colbert I. King
Saturday, November 10, 2001; Page A27

Joseph Mathews is Pat Robertson's point man in a Liberian mining venture called Freedom Gold Limited. Mathews doesn't much care for what has appeared in this column about his boss's business dealings in Liberia, so he's trying to put a little distance between the televangelist and that West African nation's strongman, Charles Taylor.

SNIP...

This much is known, however, based primarily on information obtained from Freedom Gold Limited. Pat Robertson did learn about the gold mining investment opportunity from a visiting Liberian delegation. Robertson did subsequently create the for-profit Freedom Gold Limited in the Cayman Islands in December 1998 in which he was listed as the president and the company's sole director. He did conclude a mining agreement signed personally by him, Charles Taylor and key members of Taylor's cabinet on May 18, 1999. And the deal does give the Taylor regime a cut of the action.

Now why is a freedom-loving, God-fearing man such as Pat Robertson signing on the dotted line with Taylor, a U.S. prison escapee, Libyan terrorist training camp graduate, human rights violator, and pillager of his own country and his neighbor, Sierra Leone?

What's there to like about Charles Taylor?

He was once an ally of the equally repulsive Samuel Doe, the semi-literate master sergeant who led a bloody coup in April 1980 against Liberian President William Tolbert. The late Tolbert ended up dead and disemboweled in the executive mansion -- a fate shared 10 years later by election-rigger par excellence Doe who, while wearing the mantle of president, was tortured, mutilated and done in by rebels.

CONTINUED...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A5339-2001Nov9

Pat "Pass The Loot" Robertson is more than just your average TV preacher. Like the enterprising fellow in the parable of the king and the 10 coins, this guy's put his collection basket to good use.

[pretzel4gore]

30. gee a free press sure would be overworked!

the first story in your post i have never even heard a peep about it! and the fightingmen resented the nudge wink special treatment of these rich kids rich kids rich kids rich kids! a free press would have neutered robinson just because of that! That is, if it had time to report on the story, there being so mich crap going on...
i almost hate God now, thanks to these vile pricks

[Vidar]

7. Sacred Cow of the "Christian Soldiers".

[Octafish]

28. Nixon, Billy Graham make derogatory comments about Jews on tapes

Nixon and the Rev had much in common, like anti-semitism.

Nixon, Billy Graham make derogatory comments about Jews on tapes

BY JAMES WARREN

Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO - (KRT) - Rev. Billy Graham openly voiced a belief that Jews control the American media, calling it a "stranglehold" during a 1972 conversation with President Richard Nixon, according to a tape of the Oval Office meeting released Thursday by the National Archives.

"This stranglehold has got to be broken or the country's going down the drain," the nation's best-known preacher declared as he agreed with a stream of bigoted Nixon comments about Jews and their perceived influence in American life.

"You believe that?" says Nixon after the "stranglehold" comment.

"Yes, sir," says Graham.

"Oh, boy," replies Nixon. "So do I. I can't ever say that but I believe it."

"No, but if you get elected a second time, then we might be able to do something," replies Graham.

Later, Graham mentions that he has friends in the media who are Jewish, saying they "swarm around me and are friendly to me." But, he confides to Nixon, "They don't know how I really feel about what they're doing to this country."

CONTINUED...

http://www.fpp.co.uk/online/02/02/Graham_Nixon.html

Perhaps Rev Billy pardoned Nixon. Personally, I don't understand how anyone Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, agnostic, atheistic, etc. can. Same goes for anyone's support of the GOP.

[scarletwoman]

12. k & r -- You are a treasure, Octafish! Another important & informative post! (nt)

[Cha]

21. Second!

:)

[Octafish]

33. Thanks, you two!

You mean the world to me.

[Cha]

34. Likewise,

I'm sure!

[lonestarnot]

15. I remember my Grandma watching him every time he came on the TV.

My Grandma is long gone, but I wonder how many people became inculcated with the wardeath ideology as a result of this man's orator abilities?

[Octafish]

36. George Bush and the Rise of Christian Fascism

Even though time has passed, I'm sorry about your loss, lonestarnot. I miss my grandparents, every day.

They are the reason I give a damn about the BFEE and all their tentacles. I don't want my grandkids to live in a fascist America.

Speaking of which...

George Bush and the Rise of Christian Fascism

Rev. Rich Lang
Trinity United Methodist Church Seattle. <[e-mail]>

02/14/04: (ICH) The men who wrote the Constitution of the United States knew that we human beings have a tendency to 'not get along with each other'. They knew that if power accrued into the hands of an elite the experiment of democracy (power spread out into the realm of the people) would be over. So they created a system of checks and balances which blocked access to any one person, or any one special interest or elite gaining too much power over others. Thus our executive, legislative and judicial branches of government "checked" each other. The media was yet another "check" on the accrual of too much power as was the Bill of Rights which was written into the Constitution. The system wasn't perfect but it kept alive the possibility of true democracy. It kept alive the dream that one day "we the people" could live in a peaceful commonwealth where every person has what they need to survive and thrive.

That dream died in December 2000 when the checks and balances of our Constitution collapsed and George Bush was inserted into the Presidency of the nited States. September 11, 2001 furthered the atrophying of democracy handing the country into the hands of an emerging Corporate (and I say Christian) Fascism.

Since that time we have witnessed and have been unable to prevent the emergence of an Imperial Presidency that has the unrestricted power to declare war against any country he chooses. The Imperial Presidency has brought to an end the Constitutional mandate that 'ONLY CONGRESS' has the authority to declare war. It has furthered weakened international law and has undermined the potential of the United Nations to spread democracy throughout the earth.

The President has also gained unrestricted power to round up unlimited numbers of American citizens and incarcerate them in military brigs or concentration camps for the rest of their lives. He can keep them from ever again communicating with friends, families, and attorneys, simply on the president's certification that the incarcerated are "terrorists," as he has done with Jose

Padilla and Yaser Esam Hamdi. The President may also now kill American citizens abroad solely on the basis of his certification that the one killed is a "terrorist". Just ask the family and friends of Ahmed Hijazi, anAmerican killed with a U.S.-fired missile in Yemen. Therefore suspending the Constitutional right: "no person shall be denied life, liberty or property without due process of law."

CONTINUED...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5648.htm

Thanks to them -- because they taught our parents right from wrong -- it stops with us.

[bear425]

16. It should get very interesting in the Asheville Citizen Times

Opinion section come mid November. BG has been quite ill recently, since his wife died. His followers here will certainly be outraged with Bothwell. Perhaps, some will learn a thing or two?

[Octafish]

39. Jerry Falwell’s Deal with the Devil

As a human being, I can't help but feel sorry for Billy Graham. On the other hand, I must add these right-wing religious guys make very shady alliances. Take Rev Moon and Jerry Falwell:

Jerry Falwell’s Deal with the Devil

By Robert Parry
Consortiumnews.com May 16, 2007

The Rev. Jerry Falwell’s death will elicit scores of eulogies on the good the televangelist did, even while acknowledging some hurtful actions, such as blaming gays and civil libertarians for 9/11. But there is another little-known chapter of Falwell’s career: his collaboration with a Korean cult leader bent on transforming the United States into a theocracy.

Like other prominent Republican figures, Falwell entered into a behind-the-scenes alliance with the Rev. Sun Myung Moon even as the self-proclaimed Messiah was denouncing America as “Satan’s harvest” and vowing to incorporate the United States into a worldwide theocratic empire that would eradicate all individuality.

Falwell sought to conceal his relationship with Moon, sometimes denying (falsely) that he had benefited from Moon’s financial help or that he had been photographed with the cult leader. Other times, Falwell sought to justify his acceptance of Moon’s largesse.

“If the American Atheists Society or Saddam Hussein himself ever sent an unrestricted gift to any of my ministries,” Falwell said in response to a question about Moon’s financial assistance, “be assured I will operate on Billy Sunday’s philosophy. The Devil’s had it long enough, and quickly cash the check.”

Falwell’s acceptance of Moon’s mysterious money was first disclosed at Consortiumnews.com in fall 1997. In a pattern common to Moon’s financial operations, the Korean cult leader stepped in when a leading American conservative, in this case Falwell, was facing potential financial ruin.

CONTINUED...

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/051607.html

WWJD when fighting communism?

[Cha]

17. I'm kinda surprised because

I thought I read awhile ago that Billy Graham was the Dem and Franklin was the zealot in the family.

I guess that was wishful thinking..this article sounds like he's a self-deluded monster. Too bad..what a tragic showboat.

"Holey" Christian Empire.

[Octafish]

40. Franklin Graham’s Christian Empire

That was my impression, as well. Perhaps, at heart, Billy's a Dixiecrat, a place where property rights trump human rights.

The son certainly thinks about the ultimate in property rights, Empire*:

Franklin Graham’s Christian Empire

In Jesus's Name

By JOHN CHUCKMAN
CounterPunch
April 26, 2003

My subject is Franklin Graham, one of President Bush's very-public religious confidants. Franklin's father, Billy, served President Nixon in a similar capacity. Billy's efforts were crowned with a kind of earthly immortality: he's on those White House tapes in the National Archives sharing anti-Semitic remarks with Nixon and never flinching or clearing his throat over the idea of using atomic bombs in Vietnam.

Franklin has pretty well replaced his ailing father in leading the huge Billy Graham organization. You may wonder about religious ministries being handed down like fifteenth-century dukedoms, but the practice is fairly common in America, and several of the nation's big ministries - the type of outfits that might be characterized as Las Vegas Showstoppers for Jesus - have been handed down in this fashion. This happens in American politics, too. After all, a hand-me-down evangelist serves a hand-me-down President who ran against (and lost the popular vote to) a hand-me-down politician from Tennessee.

It's not that Americans accept aristocracy, but in a nation of insanely-frenzied consumers, an established brand name always still has some juice worth squeezing.

The youthful Franklin seems to have been a bit of a trial for his mom and dad, reportedly exhibiting more interest in sowing oats than saving souls. He had an obsession with guns one could interpret as slightly at odds with the message of the Prince of Peace. He may just have been reflecting the quaint traditions of America's Appalachian subculture - his home is the mountains of North Carolina - when he once cut down a tree by blasting away at it with an automatic weapon (I did not make this up). Apparently, he used to be fond of giving automatic pistols as gifts.

Well, at some point, I guess the lad realized he was burning out and going nowhere, and automatic weapons are expensive when you like to give the very best, so Franklin had something like the President's road-to-Damascus experience. I doubt he recalled Henry the Fourth's saying Paris was worth a mass (Henry of Navarre became King of France by adopting Catholicism). It would have weighed heavily that dad's ready-made, super-slick organization offered a handsome, steady income, all expenses paid, especially if Franklin had come to recognize that his next-best career option might be itinerant bingo caller.

Redemption is one of America's great ongoing themes. It's the spiritual extension of all the plastic surgery, injections, drugs, youth-inducing potions, diets, and tales of lives changed by lotteries or get-rich-quick schemes, but it does have to be the right kind of redemption. None of your consolations of philosophy, peace of the Buddha, wisdom of the Great Spirit, or following the Prophet will do. Lives lived decently and peacefully from beginning to end are not admired because they don't make juicy entertainment.

The approved American redemption-story template includes years of inflicting hell on others, often by abusing whisky or drugs, finally being overcome by frightful (drug-induced or otherwise) visions of going to hell yourself, and then spending the rest of your life annoying every person who crosses your path with the opinion that he or she does not know the truth. About 85% of the nation's country-and Western singers and about 95% of its evangelists spend their declining years sharing such tales in magazines, tapes, interviews, and sermons. It's a major industry.

CONTINUED...

http://www.counterpunch.org/chuckman04262003.html

* "Chimpire."

[GreenPartyVoter]

18. Good post. Very informative

[Octafish]

44. Here's the fountainhead...

...courtesy of Yuricareport.com...

Articles on the rise of Dominionism in America

A few examples of which (links above)...

EXCERPT...

NEW: Homeland Security Enlists
Clergy to Quell Public Unrest if Martial
Law Ever Declared
KSLA News 12 has discovered that the clergy
would help the government with potentially their
biggest problem: Us. For the clergy team, one of
the biggest tools that they will have in helping calm
the public down or to obey the law is the bible itself,
specifically Romans 13. Dr. Tuberville elaborated,
"because the government's established by the Lord,
you know. And, that's what we believe in the Christian
faith. That's what's stated in the scripture."


SNIP...

American Fascists:
The Christian Right and the War On
America (Hardcover)
By Chris Hedges
"Dr. James Luther Adams, my ethics professor
at Harvard Divinity School, told us that when we
were his age, he was then close to 80, we would
all be fighting the 'Christian fascists.'

SNIP...

Evangelicals Want to Strip Courts' Funds
Taped at a private conference, the leaders outline
ways to punish jurists they oppose.
By Peter Wallsten
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — Evangelical Christian leaders, who
have been working closely with senior Republican
lawmakers to place conservative judges in the federal
courts, have also been exploring ways to punish sitting
jurists and even entire courts viewed as hostile to

SNIP...

Bush White House checked with rapture
Christians before latest move. The Jesus
Landing Pad by Rick Perlstein. Members of the
United Pentecostal Church have direct access to the
Bush White House. Read this Village Voice
reakthrough article. Click on the box.

Al Gore gave a speech that
will resound in the halls of
American courage for as
long as men will be here to
read it. "An American policy of
dominance is as repugnant to the rest of
the world as the ugly dominance of the
helpless, naked Iraqi prisoners has been
to the American people. Dominance is
as dominance does."

CONTINUED...

http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/DirectoryRiseOfDominionismInAmerica.html

Thank you, GreenPartyVoter. Knowledge Is Power. That's why the Reich wants it controlled.

[Breeze54]

20. I can't stand him!

Ugh! And I wish they'd stop televising his f**king "crusades" on the public networks.
It should be on Pay-TV, if anywhere and I don't and wouldn't!

[Octafish]

48. Prey TV! The Fellowship ''Preys'' for America

Good one, Breeze54! These turds "prey" on America, all Reich.

Know your BFEE: The Fellowship ‘Preys’ for America

"Stop judging, and you will never be judged. Stop condemning, and you will never be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven." -- Luke 6:37

[EFerrari]

22. He reminds me of all those guys made Archbishop of Canterbury

so they would bless Henry 8's atrocities. Not to mention Mary's and even Elizabeth's.

[Octafish]

49. Who would Jesus vote for? Meet Sam Brownback.

Same idea. Some people are better than others -- at least that's what they, as in Republicans and royalty, think.

Didn't we have a revolution or something back in 1776 about that? Not too sure, haven't heard much about it since 7th grade civics.

God's Senator

Who would Jesus vote for? Meet Sam Brownback

JEFF SHARLET

EXCERPT...

One of the little-known strengths of the Christian right lies in its adoption of the "cell" -- the building block historically used by small but determined groups to impose their will on the majority. Seventy years ago, an evangelist named Abraham Vereide founded a network of "God-led" cells comprising senators and generals, corporate executives and preachers. Vereide believed that the cells -- God's chosen, appointed to power -- could construct a Kingdom of God on earth with Washington as its capital. They would do so "behind the scenes," lest they be accused of pride or a hunger for power, and "beyond the din of vox populi," which is to say, outside the bounds of democracy. To insiders, the cells were known as the Family, or the Fellowship. To most outsiders, they were not known at all.

"Communists use cells as their basic structure," declares a confidential Fellowship document titled "Thoughts on a Core Group." "The mafia operates like this, and the basic unit of the Marine Corps is the four-man squad. Hitler, Lenin and many others understood the power of a small group of people." Under Reagan, Fellowship cells quietly arranged meetings between administration officials and leaders of Salvadoran death squads, and helped funnel military support to Siad Barre, the brutal dictator of Somalia, who belonged to a prayer cell of American senators and generals.

Brownback got involved in the Fellowship in 1979, as a summer intern for Bob Dole, when he lived in a residence the group had organized in a sorority house at the University of Maryland. Four years later, fresh out of law school and looking for a political role model, Brownback sought out Frank Carlson, a former Republican senator from Kansas. It was Carlson who, at a 1955 meeting of the Fellowship, had declared the group's mission to be "Worldwide Spiritual Offensive," a vision of manly Christianity dedicated to the expansion of American power as a means of spreading the gospel.

Over the years, Brownback became increasingly active in the Fellowship. But he wasn't invited to join a cell until 1994, when he went to Washington. "I had been working with them for a number of years, so when I went into Congress I knew I wanted to get back into that," he says. "Washington -- power -- is very difficult to handle. I knew I needed people to keep me accountable in that system."

Brownback was placed in a weekly prayer cell by "the shadow Billy Graham" -- Doug Coe, Vereide's successor as head of the Fellowship. The group was all male and all Republican. It was a "safe relationship," Brownback says. Conversation tended toward the personal. Brownback and the other men revealed the most intimate details of their desires, failings, ambitions. They talked about lust, anger and infidelities, the more shameful the better -- since the goal was to break one's own will. The abolition of self; to become nothing but a vessel so that one could be used by God.

CONTINUED...

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/9178374/gods_senator

According to MotherJones, this guy Brownback's real good friends with Hill.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/hillarys-prayer.html

[bobthedrummer]

24. Cornell University's Center for Religion, Ethics, and Social Policy

is a great resource about the political agendas of some RW religious groups, cults, and leaders that are highly influential in the Republican Party

Center for Religion, Ethics, and Social Policy link
http://www.theocracywatch.org/

When it comes to the influence of these groups on the officer corps of US military the works of Chris Hedges and Jeff Sharlet are worth investigating.

That "super secret" group that Richard B. Cheney met with in Utah on Friday is called the Council for National Policy. It was founded in 1981 by Tim LaHaye. Past and present supporters include Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Ollie North, Grover Norquist, Sun Myung Moon, Richard DeVos, Tommy Thompson and many others of the BFEE.

Council for National Policy page from Source Watch
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Council_for_National_Policy

Thanks for starting this thread, it's always good to shine the Light of Truth on the many evil shepherds of these fascists.

IMPEACH CHENEY FIRST

[Karenina]

45. 1000 points of lightning...

[Octafish]

54. Der Führer’s Engel

Remembering the First Fight Against Fascism

Vielen dank, schöne Fraulein.

[Octafish]

52. CNP thinks CFR is ''Left Wing.''

Gee. That IS Reich Wing.

Group Watch:
Council for National Policy

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GroupWatch: Profiles of U.S. Private Organizations and Churches, was compiled by the Interhemispheric Resource Center, Box 2178, Silver City, NM 88062. Check when each article was last updated as much material is no longer current. This material is provided as a source for historic research.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Council for National Policy

Acronym/Code: CNP

Updated: 9/89



Categories:

Political



Background:

According to one source, the CNP was formed in 1981 by Texas millionaires Nelson Bunker Hunt, Herbert Hunt, and T. Cullen Davis. (5) A second source reports that it was formed by Richard Viguerie to rival the Council on Foreign Relations. (8,26) The council is composed of politically powerful, wealthy individuals. It intentionally maintains a very low profile. (3,5) One of the conditions of membership is not to reveal the names of other members or the substance of the group's meetings. (9)

The CNP bills itself as being the Council on Foreign Policy for the Right. (9) But, its importance does not lie in producing and promoting an ultra-conservative foreign policy agenda, many of its affiliates already do that. It is considered by its members as a network that encompasses the entire spectrum of right-wing politics. (3) It provides a "safe" place for representatives of a wide range of ultra-conservative, anticommunist, pro-military organizations--including the executive branch of the White House--to discuss and promote their programs. (3)

Funding:

Each member of the board of governors must pay a $5,000 entry fee. (3) It is unclear whether this is a one-time entry fee or an annual fee.

The CNP is non-taxable under the IRS 501(c)(3) code. (6) In 1986, it claimed to operate on a budget of $450,000, used for operational and educational purposes. (6)



Activities:

The CNP's only activity is to have meetings. (9)

At the meetings, talks are given by government officials or key figures in current U.S. foreign policy endeavors. (2) Adolfo Calero attended several meetings and spoke to the group about the Nicaraguan contra situation in 1984. (2,3) Col. Oliver North, adviser to the National Security Council and key figure in the Iran-Contra affair, spoke to the group several times before joining it as a member. (2,3)

Those who spoke at the meetings became de facto principal sources of what is known as "inside information." An example of this was the influence of Oliver North on the CNP. Sidney Blumenthal in an article in the Washington Post National Weekly Edition wrote,"The conservatives' perceptions of the worldwide struggle with communism in general and the Sandinistas in particular were heavily influenced by North who was a favorite speaker..."(3)

The meetings are closed and attendees rarely speak publicly about the proceedings. The agenda of a meeting at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs in 1982 was filled with CNP members talking to the "already committed" about their favorite topics--Phyllis Schlafly on traditional values, Maj. Gen. John Singlaub on special operations in El Salvador, Gen. Albion Knight on national defense, and so on. (35) The list of speakers includes most of the major figures of the Right including: Philip Truluck of the Heritage Fdn; Howard Phillips of the Conservative Caucus; beer baron Joseph Coors; conservative columnist Patrick Buchanan; Frank Shakespeare, chairman of Heritage Fdn; direct mail wizard Richard Viguerie; Jerry Falwell of the Moral Majority; the president of Amway Corp, Richard DeVos; Neal Blair, president of Free the Eagle; John (Terry) Dolan, chairman of the National Conservative Political Action Committee, Jeane Kirkpatrick, U.S. delegate to the United Nations; and from the Christian Broadcasting Network, evangelist Pat Robertson. (35)



Government Connections:

Lt. Col. Oliver North was the key figure of the Iran-Contra affair. He was found guilty on three of eight counts brought against him by special prosecuter Lawrence Walsh. His case is now on appeal.

Lewis Tambs has been a consultant to the Natl Security Council. (10) He was first ambassador to Colombia and then Costa Rica in the Reagan administration. (5,10)

In the Kennedy administration, J. Peter Grace was head of the Commerce Department Committee on the Alliance for Progress.

He chaired the Private Sector Survey on Cost Control (the Grace Commission) for the Reagan administration. (5)

John Sununu was the governor of New Hampshire and currently serves as chief adviser to President Bush.

Maj. Gen. John K. Singlaub served with the office of Strategic Services in World War II, oversaw the CIA operations in Korea during the Korean War, and in Viet Nam commanded the Joint Unconventional Warfare Task Force. (30,33) He was heavily involved in the Iran-Contra affair and in 1984 was selected by the White House to be the chief private fundraiser for the contras. Singlaub's testimony in the Iran-Contra hearings reveals that he had numerous contacts with Col. Oliver North. (34)

Robert J. Billings was religious adviser to President Reagan. (39)

Margo Carlisle was President Reagan's Asst. Secretary of Defense for legislative affairs. (42)

Frank Shakespeare was a U.S. Information Agency director and a director of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. (13) During the Reagan administration he served as ambassador to Portugal from 1985 to 1987, and then as ambassador to the Vatican. (13)



Private Connections:

Due to space limitations, the list of private connections is abbreviated. The Resource Center has information available on many of the individuals involved with the CNP. Please contact us if you want further information.

J. Peter Grace is a powerful and wealthy international businessman. He heads the W. R. Grace conglomerate. He was a cofounder of the American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), an affiliate group of the AFL-CIO. (12) AIFLD operates overseas and is funded by the U.S. government. It is considered by many to be a "government operative," and has been linked with the CIA. (5,12) Grace was the chair of AmeriCares, a private organization that works in third world countries, often coordinating its efforts with the Knights of Malta, another group which Grace has chaired. (5,13) The Knights of Malta is an elite, conservative, lay-Catholic organization active in carring out U.S. policy in third world countries. (13) Grace was also on the board of directors of the Friends of the Democratic Center in Central America (PRODEMCA). (14) PRODEMCA was formed to support incipient democratic processes in Central America. It has a controversial history because of its advocacy of the Nicaraguan contras and its involvement in the Iran-Contra affair. (15,16)

Lewis Lehrman was the founder and chairman of the Citizens for America, a lobby group supporting anticommunist resistance groups around the world. (17,36) Lehrman was also a trustee of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that developed foreign and domestic policy strategies that were influential in the early years of the Reagan administration. (37) Lehrman is also a member of the Knights of Malta. (13)

"Joseph Coors," wrote Al Weinrub in the Labor Report on Central America,"has used the power of the Coors financial dynasty not only to provide support to the contras, but to set a right-wing political agenda in the U.S..."(18) Coors was the chair of the Rocky Mountain region Reagan/Bush campaign in 1984. (19) He provided financial backing for Accuracy in Media, a right-wing media watchdog group. (19) He also supported various groups organized by New Right tactician Paul Weyrich including the Catholic Center, a religious group that sent conservative "truth squads" to counteract the activites of liberal bishops, and the Free Congress Fdn, a group dedicated to electing conservatives to Congress. (20,5) Coors and Weyrich combined efforts again in founding the Heritage Fdn. (5) Coors money has supported right-wing religious groups including the Church League of America, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Moral Majority, and the Campus Crusade for Christ. (5) Coors supported Lt. Gen. John Singlaub's U.S. Council for World Freedom (USCWF), the U.S. chapter of the World Anti-Communist League (WACL). USCWF and the Nicaraguan Refugee Fund (another Coor's cause) played major roles in funding the Nicaraguan contras. (5) Coors is on the board of trustees of the Heritage Fdn. (22) He was on the advisory council of the National Strategy Information Center, a right-wing think tank for military strategy. (23)

Evangelist Jerry Falwell is the cofounder and head of the recently dissolved Moral Majority. (39) The Moral Majority was a lobbying organization for the right. (39)

Tim LaHaye was head of the American Coalition for Traditional Values and is active in another conservative Christian group, the Christian Voice. LeHaye was also active in the Moral Majority. (21)

Margo Carlisle, when she was an aide to Sen. James McClure (R-ID), was involved in WACL activities and attended the 1980 conference. (29) She is currently a vice pres at the Heritage Fdn. (42)

Howard Phillips is the founder and chair of the Conservative Caucus, a leading right-wing lobby group. (24) He began his political career as an aide to Richard Nixon. (39) He served on the 1988 board of directors of the Citizens for America. (11) Phillips was on the board of the U.S. Council for World Freedom, and on the WACL advisory board. (28,38) Phillips helped Paul Weyrich and Jerry Falwell establish the religious right organization, the Moral Majority, and was involved in organizing the Religious Roundtable, a coalition of important figures in the religious Right. (39) Phillips is a member of the RAMBO (Restore a More Benevolent Order) coalition, a prointervention, anticommunist coalition whose members include Young Americans for Freedom, College Republicans, Students for America, Freedom's Friends, The Conservative Caucus, Alpha 66, the American Coalition for Traditional Values, Alive and Free, the Natl Young Vietnamese for Freedom, and Nemesis. (43)

Jack Abramoff was chairman of the College Republican National Committee (CRNC) in 1985. (38) He went on to chair the USA Fdn, the CRNC's tax-exempt group which had offices at the Heritage Fdn. Abramoff was the executive director of Citizens for America and a close collaborator of Col. Oliver North in the Iran-Contra network. (38) He was the founder and chair of the International Freedom Fdn and currently serves on its board of directors. (38)

Richard Viguerie was the "money-by-mail" king of the New Right. He ran the direct mail campaigns of the Conservative Caucus, the Committee for the Survival of a Free Congress, and the National Conservative Political Action Committee. (25) He was on the board of Citizens for America and handled their direct mail campaigns. (27) Viguerie fell into debt and was bailed out by the $10 million sale of his building to the Unification Church of Rev. Sun Myung Moon. (27) Viguerie has joined the board of the American Freedom Coalition (AFC), a Moon-affiliated group that works against anything that threatens "traditional" values. (27) He does the mailings for the AFC as well the UCowned Washington Times newspaper. (42)

Nelson Bunker Hunt is a billionaire patron of the right. He was a member of the John Birch Society Council and part owner of two of their magazines. He was a financial backer of the campaigns of such conservative stalwarts as George Wallace, Gen. Curtis LeMay, Strom Thurmond, and Pat Robertson. Hunt has participated in a number of groups seeking to have the agenda of the Right become the policy of the U.S. , among them the Religious Roundtable, the National Conservative Political Action Committee, the National Conservative Policy Advisory Council, and the Institute of American Relations. (40) Hunt was a major funder of Lew Lehrman's Citizens for America. (41)

Frank Shakespeare is chairman of the Heritage Fdn. (13) He was a director of the National Strategy Information Center, a military strategy think tank. (23) He was a member of the SimonNovak commission of the American Catholic Committee that tried to undercut the U.S. bishops' pastoral on the economy. (13)

L. Francis Bouchey is exec vice pres of the Council for Inter-American Security (CIS). (5) CIS is the policymaking group that produced the influential Santa Fe Document, a report used by the Reagan administration in the development of its Central American policies in the early 1980s. (5) Bouchey and CNP members Lewis Tambs and Roger Fontaine were involved in the development of the Santa Fe Document. (5) Bouchey has organized conferences in Latin America for the Unification Church's political arm, CAUSA. (10) He was also commissioned by Moon's World Media Conference in 1981 to prepare and present a "content analysis" of the media coverage of U.S. policy in El Salvador. (10)

Lt. Gen. Daniel O. Graham was vice chair of the U.S. Council for World Freedom. The USCWF was a major private fundraiser for the Nicaraguan contras. (28,29) Graham is the founder and chairman of the pro-SDI group High Frontier and is a member of the American Freedom Coalition. (29) He also has been heavily involved with the Unification Church's, CAUSA USA. (29) Graham was a member of Team B, a group organized by then-CIA chief, George Bush to develop an independent judgment of Soviet military capabilities and intentions. (30) Graham also headed the ad hoc Emergency Coalition Against Unilateral Disarmament, a promilitary lobby group. (30)

Maj. Gen. John K. Singlaub was the founder and chairman of the USCWF. He has served on the boards of Refugee Relief Intl, a subsidiary of Soldier of Fortune; Western Goals, a private information gathering service working to uncover communist sympathizers; the Committee for a Free Afghanistan, and Western Goals in the United Kingdom, a group with the specific task of undermining the radical left. (30,31,32) Singlaub is a member of RAMBO. (43)



Misc:

Although Bunker Hunt in his deposition at the Iran-Contra hearing claimed that the CNP did not ask for donations, Gen. John Singlaub reported that he received commitments for $100,000 from fellow members of the CNP for his funding network for the Nicaraguan contras. (44)



Comments:

The right wing rode the crest of glory and power in the early years of the Reagan administration. The Iran-Contra scandal, coupled with the moral fall of the religious right, have had a devastating effect on its wellbeing. According to investigative reporter, Sidney Blumenthal, the right is bankrupt. (9)

U.S. Address:



Principals:

The 1982-1983 officers of the Council for National Policy (CNP) were: Thomas F. Ellis, pres; Nelson Bunker Hunt, vice pres, Bob J. Perry sec-tres; Rep. Louis (Woody) Jenkins, exec dir; and Dr. Tim LaHaye, immediate past pres. (1) According to Nelson Bunker Hunt in his deposition in the Iran-Contra hearings, the presidency of the CNP rotates. He has been president, Pat Robertson has been president, and the president at the time of the hearings was Richard DeVos. (2) Hunt also noted that right-wing stalwarts Joseph Coors, Paul Weyrich, and Howard Phillips had served on the executive committee. (2)

Woody Jenkins was the original executive director who resigned when the CNP moved from Louisiana to Washington DC. (2) According to the Hunt deposition, Jenkins was succeeded by Margo Carlisle and then Jack Nelson. (2)

The CNP has no members who are not principals. It is a gathering of millionaires that covers a full spectrum of the political right: the New Right, neoconservatives, members of former President Reagan's "kitchen cabinet," and fundamentalist preachers and televangelists. (3) Following is a list of key members of the 1984 board of governors of the NSC along with their principal identifications.

Representing state and national government were: William L. Armstrong, U.S. Senate; Rep. William G. Batchelder III, Ohio House of Representatives; Hon. Bob Billings, White House Liaison Office; Margo Carlisle, staff director of the Senate Republican Conference; Hon. David Copeland, TN House of Representatives; Hon. Braswell D. Deen, Jr. , presiding judge--Court of Appeals of Georgia; Hon. Jeremiah A. Denton, former U.S. Senator; Richard A. Derham, acting asst administrator of the Agency for Intl Development; Hon. Robert K. Dornan, former U.S. Representative; Ambassador H. Eugene Douglas, U.S. Coordinator for Refugee Affairs; Hon. John P. East, U.S. Senate (deceased); Hon. Jesse Helms, U.S. Senate; Rep. Louis (Woody) Jenkins, former U.S. Congressman; Hon. Hal Jones, Hawaii House of Representatives; Hon. Jack Kemp, former Senator, current director of Housing and Urban Development; Hon. James A. McClure, U.S. Senate; Hon. Don Nickles, U.S. Senate; Col. Oliver North, deputy director for Political-Military Affairs--Natl Security Council; Hon. B. F. O'Neal, Louisiana House of Representatives; Hon. Paul Pressler, justice of the Texas Court of Appeals; Hon. H. L. Richardson, California Senate; Gary Richardson, U.S. Attorney, Eastern District of Oklahoma; Hon. Don Sebastiani, California Assembly; Hon. Arthur W. Sour, Jr. , Louisiana House of Representatives; Hon. Charles Stenholm, U.S. Congress; Hon. John H. Sununu, former Governor of New Hampshire and current chief adviser to President Bush; Hon. Lewis Arthur Tambs, former ambassador to Costa Rica; and last, but not least in this category, Hon. James G. Watt, former Sec. of the Interior. (4)

From the religious arena the CNP had: Howard Ball, founder and pres of Churches Alive Intl!; William Billings, pres of the Natl Christian Action Coalition; Dr. William R. Bright, founder and chancellor of the Intl Christian Graduate University; Dr. James Dobson, Focus on the Family; Robert P. Dugan, Natl Assoc. of Evangelicals; Dr. Jerry Falwell, pres of the Moral Majority; Fr. Charles C. Fiore, chairman of the Natl Pro-Life PAC; Peter B. Gemma, Jr. , exec dir of the Natl Pro-Life PAC; Dr. Ronald S. Godwin, exec vice pres of the Moral Majority; Dr. Robert Grant, Christian Voice; Mr. E. Peb Jackson, vice pres of Focus on the Family; Mr. Gary Jarmin, legis dir of the Christian Voice;

Russell Dawmmerling, editor of the Southern Baptist Advocate; Ed McAteer, pres of the Religious Roundtable; Dr."Pat" Robertson, pres of the Christian Broadcasting Network; James Robison, the James Robison Evangelistic Assoc; and Robert T. Weiner, pres of the Maranatha Campus Ministries. (4)

Representing the New Right and neoconservatives are: Hon. Ben Blackburn, pres of the Southeastern Legal Fdn; Hon. Morton Blackwell, Leadership Insitute; Neal B. Blair, pres of Free the Eagle; L. Francis Bouchey, pres of the Council for InterAmerican Security; Bill Ceverha, natl chair of the American Legislative Exchange Council; Dr. Joseph Churba, pres of the Center for Intl Security; Mrs. Holly Coors, chair of the Colorado State Reagan-Bush Campaign '84; Cullen Davis, vice pres of Kendavis Industries Intl; Richard DeVos, pres of Amway Corp; John T. (Terry) Dolan (deceased), natl chairman of the Natl Conservative Political Action Committee; Dr. Edwin J. Feulner, Jr. , pres of the Heritage Fdn; Ellen Garwood; Alan Gottlieb, chair of Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms; Edith D. Hakola, vice pres and gen counsel for the Natl Right to Work Legal Defense Fdn; Smith Hempston, exec editor of The Washington Times; Robert P. Holding III, natl media dir for the Coalition for Freedom Fdn; Herbert Hunt, pres of Hunt Energy Corp; Nelson Bunker Hunt, chair of the Hunt Energy Corp; Charles L. Irby, vice pres of Irby Construction Co; Reed Irvine, chair of Accuracy in Media; Dr. Mildred Faye Jefferson, pres of Right to Life Crusade; Michael Joyce, exec dir of the John M. Olin Fdn; Dr. Ernest Lefever, pres of the Ethics and Public Policy Center; Lewis E. Lehrman, chair of Citizens for America; Connie Marchner, chair of the Natl Pro-Family Coalition; Mrs. Larry McDonald, Western Goals; F. Andy Messing, exec dir of The Natl Defense Council; E. A. Morris; Phil Nicolaides, asst natl editor of The Washington Times; Edward E. Noble, chair of the U.S. Synthetic Fuels Corp; John Norton III, pres of J. R. Norton Co; Ted Pantaleo, exec dir of The Freedom Council; J. A. Parker, pres of The Lincoln Institute for Research and Education; Howard Phillips, chair of The Conservative Caucus; Burton Yale Pines, vice pres of The Heritage Fdn; Lawrence Pratt, exec dir of Gun Owners of America; Raymond V. Raehn, U.S. Global Strategy Council; Carlyle Reed, assoc publisher of The Washington Times Natl Edition; Thomas F. Roeser, vice pres, The Quaker Oats Co; Howard Ruff, publisher of Ruff Times; William A. Rusher, publisher of the National Review; Wiliam E. Saracino, exec dir of Gun Owners of America; Phyllis Schlafly, pres of Eagle Forum; Prof. Hans Sennholz; Frank Shakespeare, vice chair of RKO General, Inc; Mark Skousen, editor of Forecasts & Strategies; Jeffrey St. John, editor of the United States Times; Robert Stoddard; Kathleen Teague, exec dir of the American Legislative Exchange Council; Richard A. Viguerie, pres of The Viguerie Company; Henry (Huck) Walther, exec vice pres of the United States Defense Committee; Paul Weyrich, pres of the Free Congress Fdn; Carter Wrenn, tres of The Natl Congressional Club; and Ronald A. Zumbrun, pres of the Pacific Legal Fdn. (4) J. Peter Grace of W. R. Grace Co was on the board of governors as of 1986. (7)

Finally, representing the retired military on the CNP are the well-known figures of Lt. Gen. Daniel O. Graham (ret. ); Brig. Gen. Albion W. Knight (ret); Maj. Gen. George S. Patton (ret. ); and Maj. Gen. John K. Singlaub (ret. ). (4)




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Sources:

1. List of the board of CNP, 1982-1983.

2. Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, Apprendix B, Vol 14, 1987.

3. Sidney Blumenthal,"Oliver North: Mr. Inside for the Contras--and Conservatives," Washington Post National Weekly Edition, Dec 29, 1986.

4. Mailing list for board of governors of CNP, used until Jan 1, 1985.

5. New Right Humanitarians (Albuquerque, NM: The Resource Center, 1986).

6. Alfonso Chardy,"Contras Get Increasing Private Aid," Miami Herald, Jan 21, 1985.

7. Letter from Paul M. Weyrich, tres of the CNP, Jan 28, 1986.

8. Letter from Karen Branan, Mar 4, 1986.

9. Phone interview with Sidney Blumenthal, author and investigative reporter for the Washington Post, Sep 1989.

10. Fred Clarkson,"`Privatizing' the War," Covert Action Information Bulletin, No. 22, Fall 1984.

11. Letterhead from Citizens for America, 1988.

12. Colleen Lowe Morna,"Alleged U.S. Labor Link with CIA and State Dept. Worries Southern Africa's Trade Unions," The City Sun, May 1-7, 1985.

13. Penny Lernoux,"Who Knows? The Knights of Malta Know," The National Catholic Reporter, May 5, 1989.

14. Friends of the Democratic Center in Central America, Annual Report, 1986.

15. Michael Massing,"Contra Aides," Mother Jones, Oct 1987.

16. Common Cause Magazine, Mar/Apr 1988.

17. Washington Post, Dec 29, 1986.

18. Al Weinrub,"Coors Brews More Than Beer," Labor Report on Central America, Sep/Oct 1985.

19. Michael Massing,"The Rise and Decline of Accuracy," The Nation, Sep 13, 1986.

20. Penny Lernoux,"A Reverence for Fundamentalism," The Nation, Apr 17, 1989.

21. Group Research Report, Vol 26, No 10, Dec 1987.

22. Heritage Foundation, Annual Report 1988.

23. Special Operations in U.S. Strategy, National Strategy Information Center, 1984.

24."Ten Years of Progress, The History of the Conservative Caucus," The Conservative Caucus, 1984.

25. Nick Kotz,"King Midas of 'The New Right'," The Atlantic, Vol 242, No 5, 1978.

26. Washington Report on the Hemisphere, COHA, Dec 24, 1986.

27. Walter Hatch,"Jail Time Was Start of Try for Legitimacy," Seattle Times, Feb 13, 1989.

28. Listing of officers and board members of the U.S. Council for World Freedom, received Feb 1987.

29. Scott Anderson and Jon Lee Anderson, Inside the League: The Shocking Expose of How Terrorists, Nazis, and Latin American Death Squads Have Infiltrated The World Anti-Communist League (New York, NY: Dodd, Mead & Co, 1986).

30. Jerry Sanders, Peddlers of Crisis: The Committee on the Present Danger and the Politics of Containment (Boston, MA: South End Press, 1983).

31. Fred Clarkson,"Behind the Supply Lines," Covert Action Information Bulletin, Winter 1986.

32. Derrick Knight,"Profile of Western Goals--UK ," British Council of Churches, Christian Aid, Nov 1988.

33. Village Voice, Oct 22, 1985.

34. Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, Appendix B, Vol 25, 1988.

35. Meeting Agenda, CNP, Colorado Springs, Oct 10-11, 1982.

36."All the President's Men," Washington Report on the Hemisphere, Dec 10, 1986.

37. Jim Luther,"Heritage Foundation Has New U.S. Economic Plan," Washington Post, Feb 14, 1985.

38. David Ivons,"International Freedom Foundation," Covert Action Information Bulletin, Winter 1989.

39. Dr. Peggy Shriver,"The Religious Right: Its Agenda, Influence and Relations with the New Right," CALC Report, Dec 1986.

40. Group Research Report, Vol 25, No 7, July/Aug 1986.

41. Konrad Ege,"The Anticomunist International," The Guardian June 2, 1985.

42. Group Research Report, Vol 28, No 2, Summer 1989.

43. Sara Diamond,"Shepherding," Covert Action Information Bulletin, Spring 1987.

44. Peter Stone,"Private Groups Step Up Aid," Washington Post, May 3, 1985.

The underlying cites for this profile are now kept at Political Research Associates, [phone]. www.publiceye.org.

SOURCE: http://rightweb.irc-online.org/groupwatch/cnp.php

Those bastards with money sure know how to play the game: "You got to spend money to keep money."

[kitty1]

25. BG's grandson is an Army Ranger, He graduated frm West Pointe

and was injured while serving in Iraq. I guess all those Presidents thru the decades impressed on him the divine mandate to save the world from non-Christian heathens or vice versa.

[Octafish]

55. A brave man. Capt. Edward Graham was wounded in action.

Thank Goodness he wasn’t killed, like the others…

YOUNGEST SON OF FRANKLIN GRAHAM INJURED IN IRAQ

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) The Reverend Franklin Graham says his youngest son, an Army Ranger, has been injured in Iraq.

The evangelist recently told an audience in Toronto about Captain Edward Graham's injuries.

Franklin Graham's spokesman, Jeremy Blume, told The Charlotte Observer that the 27-year-old West Point graduate got shrapnel in his arms, legs, and back. Blume said the injuries were not life-threatening and that Edward Graham was recovering at a hospital.

SOURCE:

http://www.kxmc.com/t/army/103566.asp

I am thankful he wasn't killed, as so many, many other innocent people have been -- due to George Walker Bush's illegal and immoral war.

[opihimoimoi]

26. I never did like the dude....what was he ...? a WASP?

[Octafish]

56. Southern Baptist WASP. Speaking of Affirmative Action...

I understand he started out as a Presbyterian, but converted. The First Baptist Church of Dallas, I believe, is now Rev. Franklin's home. Either way, he is a "WASP."

And WASP is the nation's original Affirmative Action. So, like his religion, perhaps Rev Graham is the source of where the crazy monkey Gov George W Bush got his ideas about "Affirmative Access."

Bush Hits 'Legacy' College Admissions

President Addresses Minority Journalists

By Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 7, 2004; Page A08

President Bush said yesterday that U.S. colleges and universities should abandon a long-standing, if disputed, practice of giving preference in admissions to students with family connections.

"I think colleges ought to use merit in order for people to get in," Bush said. His remarks, before 7,000 minority journalists, were the first time the White House has addressed the issue of "legacy" admissions, the practice of giving an edge to the children of alumni.

Critics say such admissions, used particularly by the nation's most competitive private institutions, can freeze out qualified applicants in favor of ones who are affluent and -- often -- white. Defenders say legacies can solidify loyalty among alumni and benefit minority students as well.

Bush drew attention, as he has in the past, to the fact that he followed his father into Yale University, even though he was a mediocre student. When he returned to Yale to deliver a commencement address in 2001, a few months after taking office, Bush was self-deprecating about his academic performance during his college days. "And to the C students, I say, 'You, too, can be president of the United States,' " he said then.

Yesterday, Bush again noted his family's ties to Yale, where his grandfather, who became a U.S. senator, went to college and his daughter Barbara received a degree this year. "Yeah, yeah. I thought you were referring to my legacy," he said when a journalist pressed him for his views on the admissions practice. Later in the day, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the president had been referring to "how hard he had to work to follow his father into the White House."

Appearing at the Unity: Journalists of Color convention before leaving for a campaign rally in New Hampshire, Bush also asserted that the administration acted correctly last weekend in raising the terrorism threat level near specific buildings in Washington, New York and New Jersey. The intelligence on which that decision rested largely predated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. "When we find out intelligence that is real, that threatens people, I believe we have an obligation, as government, to share that with people," Bush told the journalists. "And imagine what would happen if we didn't share that information with the people in those buildings and something were to happen. Then what would you write?"

CONTINUED...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46572-2004Aug6.html

These fellahs may not know how to spell "hypocrisy."
They sure don't know what it means.

[GreenInNC]

29. Author is a friend

Cecil is a friend of mine - buy his book

[spanone]

31. war....in the name of God, now that's some shit

:puke:

[Kurovski]

32. K&R.

Onward Christian (fill-in-the-blank.)

[seemslikeadream]

35. The C.I.A. & The Muslim BrotherhoodHow the CIA set the stage for Sept11

The C.I.A. & The Muslim BrotherhoodHow the CIA set the stage for Sept11
Reverend Franklin Graham, the pugnacious preacher who delivered the prayer at President George W. Bush's 2001 inauguration, might have a bone to pick with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). When Franklin branded Islam "a very evil and wicked religion" after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he had no idea that American spies were once eager to promote a Muslim leader in the Middle East modeled after his own father, the famous evangelist Billy Graham.

The CIA often works in mysterious ways - and so it was with this little-known cloak-and-dagger caper that set the stage for extensive collaboration between US intelligence and Islamic extremists. The genesis of this ill-starred alliance dates back to Egypt in the mid-1950s, when the CIA made discrete overtures to the Muslim Brotherhood, the influential Sunni fundamentalist movement that fostered Islamic militancy throughout the Middle East. What started as a quiet American flirtation with political Islam became a Cold War love affair on the sly - an affair that would turn out disastrously for the United States. Nearly all of today's radical Islamic groups, including al-Qaeda, trace their lineage to the Brotherhood.

.............

To understand what happened on that fateful day when terrorist strikes leveled the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon, one must revisit the turbulent changes that took place a half century earlier in the land of the sphinx. After seizing power in a 1952 military coup Egyptian Col. Gamal Abdul Nasser quickly threw prominent Communists in jail. This raised eyebrows among US cloak-and-dagger operatives who were eager to oblige when Nasser requested help in upgrading Egypt's ineffectual secret service. But the US government "found it highly impolitic to help him directly," the late CIA agent Miles Copeland acknowledged in his memoirs, The Game of Nations , so the CIA subcontracted more than a hundred German Third Reich vets, who specialized in Nazi security and interrogation techniques, to do the job.

..............

Copeland was off and running. He visited several Egyptian mosques in search of an Islamic preacher who could sway the Arab masses in a manner most congenial to US interests. Although Copeland never found the CIA's messiah, his furtive machinations were not without impact. While on the prowl for a Muslim Billy Graham, Copeland reached out to leaders of the religious revival movement known as the Ikhwan, or Muslim Brotherhood, which sought to build an Islamic society from the bottom up. The seeds of a clandestine relationship between the CIA and the Ikhwan were planted by Copeland, who surmised that the Muslim Brothers, by virtue of their strong antipathy to Arab nationalism as well as Communism, might be a viable counterweight to Nasser in the years ahead, US intelligence would become a defacto partner of the Brotherhood as it evolved from a mass-based social reform organization into the wellspring of Islamic terrorism.
more
http://www.razormagazine.com/feature0804c.php

[Karenina]

46. . .

[mitchum]

37. But...but...but...he's not quite as bad as the other grifters!

[Mythsaje]

38. I despise everything about him and those like him...

I had something nice to say about Tammy Faye, but she wasn't cut from the same cloth as the likes of Graham.

"Man of God" my ass.

[Festivito]

41. Would be interesting to know how he invested his large holdings.

Did he make money from war, and bless war?

[cecilbothwell]

57. Graham's backers and investments

Graham's largest financial backers have been oil company executives and arms manufacturers. There is extensive documentation of this in my book.

Also, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association's retirement investments include major arms manufacturers and oil as well as financial institutions -- not an unusual portfolio for big money in America.

Under Reagan, Graham lobbied the U.S. Senate to permit arms sales to Saudi Arabia and when the Clinton administration attempted to impose trade sanctions on countries with abysmal human rights records, Graham joined with numerous multinational corporations to oppose the sanctions. Again, fully documented in The Prince of War.

[seemslikeadream]

42. WITH THE CROSS AS ALIBI

Silent Warrior

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R9ulGK5nU8



Long ago, for many years
White men came in the name of God
They took their land, they took their lives
A new age has just begun

They lost their gods, they lost their smile
They cried for help for the last time.
Liberty was turning into chains
But all the white men said
That's the cross of changes

In the name of God - the fight for gold
These were the changes.
Tell me - is it right - in the name of God
These kind of changes?

They tried to fight for liberty
Without a chance in hell, they gave up.
White men won in the name of God
With the cross as alibi

There's no God who ever tried
To change the world in this way.
For the ones who abuse his name
There'll be no chance to escape
On judgement day

In the name of God - the fight for gold
These were the changes.
Tell me - is it right - in the name of God
These kind of changes ?

Tell me why, tell me why, tell why
The white men said:
That's the cross of changes?

Tell me why, tell me why, tell why,
In the name of God
These kind of changes

[ikojo]

43. I doubt Billy Graham has any relatives who have

fought in a US war in several decades. This is true of most Americans. The majority of Americans do not personally know someone CURRENTLY serving the military. It's real easy to be pro war when you don't know anyone currently serving.

How old is Franklin Graham? Is he too old to enlist?

http://www.poli.duke.edu/civmil/

Project on the Gap Between the Military And Civilian Society


The purpose of this project was to investigate the gap between the military and American society: its extent, whether it is growing or narrowing, and the implications for military effectiveness and civil-military cooperation. The project produced the most systematic and comprehensive data ever collected analyzing civil-military attitudes, perspectives, and opinions. The studies analyzing those data and integrating them with other sociological, interpretive, and historical data are being published in prominent academic and policy outlets, thus offering a research agenda for the coming years not only on a gap between military and civilian, but on civil-military relations more generally. The project results stimulated extensive discussion in the national and international media and received concentrated attention from civilian and military policymakers at the highest levels of the United States government. Numerous follow-on projects have been launched assessing the TISS findings, amplifying them, and putting them into comparative perspective, thus ensuring that the project will have continuing impact for many years to come.

snip

"I appreciate that the all-volunteer force has been very successful, but we are raising a generation of not only leaders but middle-income Americans who have never served their country . . . I worry about a greater estrangement, a greater distancing between the Congress, traditional protectors of the military, and the military itself. And I worry about a lack of appreciation for the rigors of military life."
From Thomas W. Lippman. "Socially and Politically, Nation Feels the Absence of a Draft" The Washington Post, 8 September 1998: A13.

[Karenina]

47. . .

[undeterred]

50. I think Billy Graham may have been a decent man

who had something to offer our leaders on a personal level. But he should have left it at that.

[MikeH]

51. Billy Graham has always preached a God with a character like that of Adolf Hitler

Billy Graham has always preached a God who sends people to hell for all eternity if they happen to miss out on accepting Jesus Christ in this lifetime (for whatever reason), or if they happen to guess wrong by adhering to a religion other than Christianity. (This would include Jews who don't convert to Christianity.)

He has always accepted the Bible as God's absolute truth, which dare not be questioned.

That being the case it is not at all surprising that he would be a supporter of war, supposedly an instrument of God's judgment that we, as a "Christian nation", were delivering to "heathen" nations.

And unquestioningly accepting the Bible as "God's Word", and unquestioningly accepting it as God's privilege to condemn people to hell for all eternity, it is not surprising that he would also suck up to the "Establishment" and to Nixon or to whoever else is in a position of power. (He would give lip service to the idea that leaders and those in positions of power and authority were sinners and under the judgment of God just like the rest of us, but when the chips were down he would suck up to them and not challenge or question them or what they were doing.)

I remember as a teenager in the 1960's I had always thought of him as a respected figure in American society. In fact I at one time had admired him for running/jogging and being an advocate of running/jogging, right at the time that I had started doing that when I was in college.

However in the fall of 1970 I heard him give a sermon on hell on his weekly Sunday night radio program, Hour of Decision. I was starting to seriously consider the idea of God during that time, and was very upset at the thought of considering hell to be something that might be real.

Even if I had accepted Christ for myself, I always had problems with the idea of worrying about others going to hell if they were not "saved", and with the duty of telling others about Christ motivated by that concern (which Billy Graham preached).

I particularly came to be bothered by the idea of an "unsaved" murder victim going to hell, while the murderer would be let into heaven if the murderer were simply to "repent" and accept Christ (which chance the victim was denied).

I am no longer a Christian; I never had the sense that my supposedly having had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ had been of any help to me personally.

I have absolutely no admiration and no respect for Billy Graham or anybody like him, even if he might otherwise be a decent man and completely above board in his dealings.

[H2O Man]

53. Years ago,

Gandhi spoke about the power of Jesus's teachings, and how they were diluted when Christianity went west, and became the religion of kings. Billy Graham is not the only example of a minister who prostituted the Master's teachings, but he stands out as the most influential.