Monica Goodling, a previously unknown Justice Department official who served as liaison to the White House, has become a key figure in the Attorneygate scandal. When newly released emails revealed the prominent role Goodling played in engineering the firing of seven US Attorneys, Goodling pled the Fifth Amendment, refusing to testify under oath.
Josh Marshall writes that Goodling may be “afraid of indictment for perjury because she has to go up to Congress and testify under oath before the White House has decided what its story is.”
Goodling’s involvement in Attorneygate is not the only aspect of her role in the Bush administration that bears examination. Her membership in a cadre of 150 graduates of Pat Robertson’s Regent University currently serving in the administration is another, equally revealing component of the White House’s political program.
Goodling earned her law degree from Regent, an institution founded by Robertson “to produce Christian leaders who will make a difference, who will change the world.” Helping to purge politically disloyal federal prosecutors is just one way Goodling has helped fulfill Robertson’s revolutionary goals.
yahoo
The idea that poverty breeds terror appears obvious; how could it be otherwise? And people as different as the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Bush, Jacques Chirac and Pakistan’s leader, Pervez Musharraf, have also noted a link between poverty and terrorism.
In fact, there is now robust evidence that there is no such link. That does not mean, however, that economics is irrelevant.
First, to the question of poverty. Of the 50 poorest countries in the world (see list at right) only Afghanistan (and perhaps Bangladesh and Yemen) has much experience in terrorism, global or domestic.
But surely that is the wrong way to look at things. Aren’t the people who commit terrorist acts poor, even if they are from countries that are not? No. Remember, most of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were middle-class sons of Saudi Arabia and many were well-educated. And Osama bin Laden himself is from one of the richest families in the Middle East.
But it goes deeper than that.
cnn
J G Ballard knows about selling. As a young man he briefly peddled children’s encyclopaedias, working the psychological relationship between the middle-class hawker and the punter bent on self-improvement. “Selling is like wooing a girl,” says Ballard. Ballard “believed in” The Waverley because he had read it as a boy. Whenever he was bored his mother had told him, ”’Go and read The Eight Volumes.’ That was her name for them,” he chuckles. “It was the nearest thing to television.”
Ballard’s new novel, Kingdom Come (Fourth Estate, £15.99), puts his usual Cassandra-like spin on the dangers of retail therapy. In Brooklands, a Thames Valley motorway town dominated by its domed shopping mall, the most taxing moral decision is which washing machine to buy. But even the sedated want sensation. At night, the shoppers who flock to the Metro-Centre reincarnate as mobs of sports fans, parading their St George T-shirts and attacking immigrants.
indy uk
The battle by scientists against “irrational” beliefs such as creationism is ultimately futile, a leading experimental psychologist said today.
The work of Bruce Hood, a professor at Bristol University, suggests that magical and supernatural beliefs are hardwired into our brains from birth, and that religions are therefore tapping into a powerful psychological force.
“I think it is pointless to think that we can get people to abandon their belief systems because they are operating at such a fundamental level,” said Prof Hood. “No amount of rational evidence is going to be taken on board to get people to abandon those ideas.”
GuardianUK
Take, for example, the emergence of Judaism as we know it today. Archaeological evidence—and even “reading between the lines” of the Tanakh—reveals that the original form of Judaism was, aside from its progressive social program, a very typical Bronze Age religion. It was a state religion that provided a foundation myth for the state, and relied on a “spirit of the place” form of monolatry. The God of Israel is presented not as the only god, but either as the best or highest god or, more commonly, our god—the only god we pay attention to.
Monolatry is typically quite tolerant of other religions, so it should come as no surprise that another local god, Baal, became competition for early Judaism. The prophets’ message was primarily a social one centered around caring for the poor and other radical, progressive goals. Such goals were rather unique to the Jewish religion, and obviously such priorities were not shared by Baal. In order to more effectively advance their social agenda, the prophets introduced a new memetic variation: monotheism. The prophets no longer referred to the God of Israel as the best or highest god, but as the only God.
Anthropik Network
The ‘Skeptic’ column by Michael Shermer in the November 2005 issue of Scientific American focused on the research of ‘maverick biologist’ Rupert Sheldrake.
Shermer flamed Sheldrake’s Morphic Resonance Field Theory with a five-pronged attack on the credibility of the data published and the research methods used by Sheldrake and those who’ve replicated his experiments on “the sense of being looked at”.
This week Sheldrake responded to Shermer’s article by pointing out flaws in Shermer’s “partisan” argument and suggesting other studies and meta-analyses of these studies which weigh both Sheldrake’s position and his skeptic’s positions.
It’s an interesting debate between Sheldrakes grandiose theory and Shermer’s fundamentalist skepticism.
Pat Robertson has called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, the elected President of Venezuela. The founder and chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, an ordained minister and leader of a Christian church, Robertson claims he spoke out of frustration.
In his apology, Robinson said he was misunderstood, ?misinterpreted.? So he wanted ?to clarify remarks made on the Monday…”
But even in his apology, Robertson repeated his call to assassinate Chavez:
?If you look back just a few years, there was a popular coup that overthrew him[Chavez]; and what did the United States State Department do about it? Virtually nothing; and as a result, within about 48 hours, that coup was broken, Chavez was back in power. But we had a chance to move in. He has destroyed the Venezuelan economy, and he?s going to make that a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent. I don?t know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we?re trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it. It?s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war, and I don?t think any oil shipments will stop. But this man is a terrific danger, and this is in our sphere of influence, so we can?t let this happen.?
Intervention Mag
ABSTRACT: The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) has become the most publicly visible institution engaged in the debate on the paranormal. Initially CSICOP was primarily a scholarly body, but soon after its beginning it adopted a popular approach that fostered a more broadly based social movement. It actively promoted the formation of local societies with similar aims. Both CSICOP and the local groups have some distinguishing features. Prestigious scholars are affiliated with these organizations, a disproportionate number of magicians are involved, the groups are dominated by men, and many members hold religious views that are antagonistic to the paranormal. Despite the name of the organization, actual research is a very low priority of the Committee. In fact, CSICOP instituted a policy against doing research itself. CSICOP?s highest priority has been to influence the media. Its rhetoric and activities are designed to appeal to a broad audience rather than to scientists who investigate unusual or controversial phenomena. Recently, the Committee broadened its focus to include areas outside the paranormal.
Trickster
Spurred on by a biblical injunction evangelicals call “The Great Commission,” and emboldened by George W. Bush’s re-election, which is perceived as a “mandate from God,” the Christian right has launched a series of boycotts and pressure campaigns aimed at corporate America—and at its sponsorship of entertainment, programs and activities they don’t like.
And it’s working. Just three weeks ago, the Rev. Donald Wildmon’s American Family Association (AFA) announced it was ending its boycott of corporate giant Procter & Gamble—maker of household staples like Tide and Crest—for being pro-gay. Why? Because the AFA’s boycott (which the organization says enlisted 400,000 families) had succeeded in getting P&G to pull its millions of dollars in advertising from TV shows like “Will & Grace” and “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.”
Alternet
It’s February, and 900 of America’s staunchest Christian fundamentalists have gathered in Fort Lauderdale to look back on what they accomplished in last year’s election—and to plan what’s next. As they assemble in the vast sanctuary of Coral Ridge Presbyterian, with all fifty state flags dangling from the rafters, three stadium-size video screens flash the name of the conference: RECLAIMING AMERICA FOR CHRIST. These are the evangelical activists behind the nation’s most effective political machine—one that brought more than 4 million new Christian voters to the polls last November, sending George W. Bush back to the White House and thirty-two new pro-lifers to Congress. But despite their unprecedented power, fundamentalists still see themselves as a persecuted minority, waging a holy war against the godless forces of secularism. To rouse themselves, they kick off the festivities with “Soldiers of the Cross, Arise,” the bloodthirstiest tune in all of Christendom: “Seize your armor, gird it on/Now the battle will be won/Soon, your enemies all slain/Crowns of glory you shall gain.”
Rolling Stone
Topeka ? Now that Kansas voters have changed the state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage, what’s next?
The Rev. Terry Fox of Wichita, one of the primary supporters of the same-sex marriage ban, said Christians have been energized by the debate over same-sex marriage and they are eager to flex their political muscles.
“This has awakened the body of Christ,” Fox said.
LJ World
An article in the New York Times reports that clerics of three of the major world’s religions have come together in order to protest a gay festival planned for this August in Jerusalem.
The ten-day World Pride Festival and parade has been organized to promote tolerance and diversity in the holy city. But spiritual leaders claim it will “desecrate the city and convey the impression that homosexuality is acceptable.”
UnknownNews
TOPEKA, Kan., Feb. 24 – Attorney General Phill Kline, a Republican who has made fighting abortion a staple of his two years in the post, is demanding the complete medical files of scores of women and girls who had late-term abortions, saying on Thursday that he needs the information to prosecute criminal cases.
New York Times
In an appearance before Congress in February, when the controversy over Janet Jackson?s Super Bowl moment was at its height, Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell laid some startling statistics on U.S. senators.
The number of indecency complaints had soared dramatically to more than 240,000 in the previous year, Powell said. The figure was up from roughly 14,000 in 2002, and from fewer than 350 in each of the two previous years. There was, Powell said, ?a dramatic rise in public concern and outrage about what is being broadcast into their homes.?
What Powell did not reveal?apparently because he was unaware?was the source of the complaints. According to a new FCC estimate obtained by Mediaweek, nearly all indecency complaints in 2003?99.8 percent?were filed by the Parents Television Council, an activist group.
Media Week
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