Toward the end, Beckster went on about tithing and mentioned his monetary needs, and enjoined his followers to make sure their churches back home did what they want – which in other remarks means reject socially responsible charitable works, a.k.a. christianity.

Would you say these sorts haven’t evolved/or are simply stalled out at the state of lower life form?

…are simply stalled out at the state of lower life form.

That’s my take on them, anyway.

Afraid it’s part of their creed. I think that’s the problem with relating to actual living beings, their comfort zone is with the pre-birth human. Once the minds develops, the right rejects it.

Once the minds develops, the right rejects it.

Of course, that’s their real problem… developing minds.

Thanks for telling me Beck is a Mormon.

I’ve been writing about the Evangelical-Fundamentalist aspects of the Teabaggers from my Wasilla perspective since April 2009, and have taken to polling people who attend their rallies in Alaska. It has been easier to see this tie-in between strange millennialist and eliminationist aspects of the cult from here than it may have been from other vantage points.

Beck jumped the shark years ago. The craziest thing about his ascendancy, as is true with Palin’s, is how the force of their lies and hatred just has not caught up with them. I used to think that their demise was very inevitable. I’m no longer sure.

Here’s a good picture of one of those Palin t-shirts, from the Alaska State Fair yesterday, I believe.

Here’s my impression of Palin’s dreams the night before her 8/28 hate speech.

No God only requires 10% But give onto Caesar what is Caesar’s and thats extra

They may not have had many signs yesterday but they certainly had the T-shirts. rom Gawker

I wonder how Glen Beck is helping Mormons get Hispanic Converts?

When I inadvertently caught a few moments of Beck’s proselytizing yesterday I got a real Jim Jones vibe off of him, he’s rather frightening in his projected sense of purpose. But I hadn’t considered that he’s a Mormon co-opting the evangelical movement, and that they are so enamored of his message that they don’t see he’s an outsider (by their own standards). Wow. Isn’t that what they’re supposed to watch out for, the devil amongst their own?

Sure does Suck for Huck

It’s just notable that Huckabee, who was a Southern Baptist minister, has been left out of this little club.

I guess there could be a schism, but if Beck gets enough of the Talibangelicals to go along with Willard, Huck is toast.

God requires you give all your riches to the poor if you would follow him. For the rich have less chance of entering the kingdom of heaven as a camel has entering the eye of a needle

Not if you’re a Prosperity Gospelite.

Re: the Tea Party faithful and evangelicalism,

As a political philosophy I think it’s silly, but I really do feel bad for the libertarians who hoped the Tea Party movement would lead to at least a partial adoption of libertarian principles, rather than Biblical ones. Of the half-dozen or so self-described libertarians I know, all but one are atheists who take the whole church/state division thing seriously. They’ll be the first ones ejected from within the movement, if it ever develops sufficiently.

One of the fastest growing theisms in the world, especially in places like the U.S. and Nigeria.

It’s a real measure of how far down the toilet our educational system has gone that folks were either never taught, or have forgotten the old “separation of church and state” rubric.

I’m old enough to remember how horrified Americans were to think that “the Pope will be telling Jack Kennedy what to do.” Now it seems like most Americans would welcome that.

There’s no awareness of the history of our country, and how many “forefathers” came here to escape “state religions” in Europe and/or religious persecution.

Frankly I’d like to get “In God We Trust” off the dollar bill!!

Thing is this is a 100% top down “movement” using the same assholes that’s been around forever, as BT points out.

The difference now is how the media has been co-opted into part of this “movement” and that’s what makes these assholes more dangerous than they were previously. Not dangerous from a taking over the government standpoint, they’ve always been and always will be a loud small minority, but dangerous from the standpoint of mainstreaming their hatred so much that acts like what happened to the taxi driver in New York will become commonplace.

Both major political parties have now been co-opted. The entire MSM has been. Most of the old guard journalists even appear to have been.

Damn I weep for this once great nation. I can’t help but imagine the coverage these same assholes would’ve gotten from Walter Krondike. It would’ve been totally different IMO.

Frankly I’d like to get “In God We Trust” off the dollar bill!!

Yes! Agreed!

And get “God” out of the oath of office for President, since it’s not in the oath as written in the Constitution anyway.

One Nation, Under God with liberty and justice for all.

Added by Republicans. also needs to be removed.

Our political institutions, the Democratic and Republican Parties, are incapable of providing leadership. So leaders must emerge from outside the establishment. The right will be talking about God and Country. The left will be talking about justice and solidarity. We have seen Glen Beck and Sara Palin. Where is our Lech Walesa? Our Hugo Chavez?

Yeah, wasn’t that Eisenhower, at the behest of the Knights of Columbus?

Yup, a real racket, alright.

I’m always amazed at how dumb college educated people I know turn out to be. When I met my wife’s family and the sisters found out I had been in a war one of her older sisters asked me which one. This was in 1988 and I was 38. No clue about history absolutely none.

Start talking about anything that happened before 1990 and you can hear a hair drop and look into blank eyes all around. Frightening. Even worse when you go to school and talk with the history teachers. When I help with homework in social studies my kids look at me like I’m a freak. “How do you know all this stuff?” Scary.

I believe you are correct. Eisenhower and KFC.

Eisenhower, the Republican who warned us about the further consolidation of power of the MIC (Fascism) (but did so on his way out the door and did nothing to stop it, of course.)

Well, I’m just hoping that some pastors gave some of the sheep a shearing this morning in church. We have been warned against false prophets, ya know. I’m hoping that Beck went too far for a few who take their faith seriously. Maybe, and then the word can spread.

I guess I’m technically an atheist, and I have no problem living in a Christian nation. Moreover, I’ve known a lot of Mormons, and politics/policy aside, they are some of the best folks I’ve met.

We can and should actively, aggressively oppose them on some issues, and challenge some of the narratives that they believe in.

But let’s not fall into a trap of simplistic demonizing…of broad characterizations of the “other”. Over the past few decades, we’ve fallen into a rut we can’t seem to pop out of, reflexively trying to force every issue through the prism of identity politics, and glibly labeling an opponent as racist or sexist. This usually leads to circular thinking: “those people’s views are racist/sexist…why? Because they’re racists/sexists!”

In the last election, the Democrats had the ingredients to build a movement that would push the country in a broadly progressive-populist direction. They had a sweeping electoral mandate, new infrastructure at the DNC, an OFA with a massive mailing list, and progressives not only “owned” the blogosphere, but had a real presence on MSNBC. Obama and the Democratic leadership chose not to leverage that, presumably because this movement would have been at odds with the donors, lobbyists, think tank and consulting crowd of the DC set.

So the right went out and created its own movement, well-funded with constant visibility from Fox and radioland. And its now a real force in politics. Are these people being misled? Yes. Are they woefully uneducated about how the economy works, broad themes in history, etc? Yes. Do some of them have various levels of prejudice, or have bought into that after being conditioned into it on a daily basis? Yes. Are there some legitimate concerns and does the base provide a missing voice in American politics? Yes. Are their leaders-bolstered by the power of this mass of humanity-a real threat to any broad list of objectives that progressive-populists want to achieve? Yes.

We’re going to have to have a dialogue with the base of this movement, and I’m not sure this thread gets us there. If both sides retreat into reflexively demonizing caricatures of the other, then nobody wins but the people already in power.

Which is exactly how we got to this point in the first place.

I agree and applaud your courage to speak what you feel.

How can we get these people to understand that anyone who claims that they’re going to ‘bring God back into Americans’ lives’ means that they’re going to bring THEIR take on God into people’s lives, and that the more power they’re given and the greater the degree to which this is the entirety of their agenda, the more difficult they’re going to make life for anyone whose theological outlook differs from theirs? Many of the most infamous chapters in history were written in the blood of those who were considered ‘infidels’ by those in power.

To paraphrase comments from the conservatives: How’s that religious freedom thingie working out for you?

Beck doesn’t drink the kool-ade. He is a con artist–pure and simple. His only interest in the Tea Party is that it has become a political force. He has an eye for the possible. He doesn’t yet realize he is riding the tiger.

He hit religion hard in his speech because he knows that is the way to unlock the ears of the true believers to his message of the moment.

Today, it is Obama. Tomorrow, it will be Beck.

Don’t underestimate him.

The only thing more dangerous than a zealot is a megalomaniac.

“He is a con artist illusionist–pure and simple.”

Excuse me! That was a typo.

“The only thing more dangerous than a zealot is a megalomaniac journalist.

That too.

dead space.

Beck does not speak for Tea Party Patriots.

And never will.

Here is an interesting video perspective on the rally yesterday…..

http://www.newslook.com/videos/245599-conservatives-rally-in-washington

Huck has a history of being too populist in economic matters and too enamored of social justice for these folk. How much is too much being populist in economics or enamored of social justice for these folk? Well by any other standards it’s hardly enough at all, but to these folks it’s way too much.

Book Salon up with Nona Willis Aronowitz’s Girldrive: Criss-Crossing America, Redefining Feminism hosted by Snarkassandra

Some intellectual honesty by @glacierpeak – kudos

As for @BlueTexan what a pathetic comment “a dangerous Satanic cult”

You made good points and then went off on some tangent? Why? What’s the agenda?

Consider that, Yes Romney and Beck (maybe) Belong to “The Mormon Church” but to be clear, The Church Does NOT Belong to them.

And as obsessed as you appear to be with The Mormon Church” @BlueTexan, you know that there has been an official press release distancing from the likes of Beck http://lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/the-mormon-ethic-of-civility

Is or will Beck be running for an office?

Is his momentum and backing strong enough to catapult him into the political light?

Nah, I’m with those above who suggest he and his followers are minority.

A loud and repugnant one, but a minority nevertheless.

The GOP won’t let him or Palin close enough to office, I don’t think.

And in Palin’s case, they won’t let her close, again.

She’s being used, and paid well, as a recruiting tool for voters.

Still, it’s scary, all the hate talk. With or without God being involved.

Nice post, and comments, BT and Pups.

I agree.

And as far as anyone enjoining that we work HARDER to dialogue with the likes of Palin/Beck Bots?

There IS no dialogue with these people, there IS a HUGE chasm of differences between them, their beliefs and what I call proper humans (progs).

A chasm that CAN’T be fixed due to their positions, and fixations with their beliefs, that are NOT INCLUSIVE!

You can’t dialogue with folks who want to destroy you, or what you believe in.

And make no bones about ‘these people’, they do NOT Have The Best Interests For We The People in their hearts any more than the corporate fascist oligarchy does.

You can’t dialogue for change with these people. They won’t change. They don’t WANT we the people to be inclusive, only to represent THEIR singular personal interests that EXCLUDES every one else.

That’s not a setting for dialogue. It’s class war. And We The People Are Losing. Badly.

I guess I’m technically an atheist, and I have no problem living in a Christian nation. Moreover, I’ve known a lot of Mormons, and politics/policy aside, they are some of the best folks I’ve met.

Until they decide that there should be an official (state) religion, and anyone who doesn’t belong to it won’t get full rights and privileges.
That’s what the first amendment is supposed to prevent. It doesn’t have anything to do with how nice people are.

Let’s not forget that there is a massive economic crisis going on, and a lot of people are hurting, angry and looking for answers. The fascists are fishing in those troubled waters, like they did in the 30s. So let’s at least try to distinguish between regular people and the Becks and Kochs and Paul Singers who are trying to vacuum them up into the far right. Some of them are incorrigible, but some are just, as Mao said, “poor and blank” when it comes to politics, with only the prejudices that a crappy education and hardscrabble life have given them. Frankly the left has done a shitty job organizing them, and part of that was the demobilization that happened after November 2008. We’re being out-organized. Wake up. Folks like to talk about class war, but to them it often means writing angry posts or screaming “yes yes yes!” at the TV but never going out to talk to average people who don’t think like them, much less doing so in any organized fashion. If they ever saw a real one they’d crap their pants.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:HE01273:@@@P

This is a link to a list of House sponsors of a “sense of Congress” resolution regarding the National Day of Prayer. The sense is that prayer is a very good thing. This bill has been referred to committee and will die there I expect. The co-sponsors are all Republicans, I believe, with the exception of Boren of OK. I would guess that with a Repub as Speaker, this kind of bill would reach the floor for a vote.

I would also expect, that a Constitutional amendment proposing prohibiting “flag desecration” would make it to the floor for a vote if Repubs take the House (and/or Senate) in November.

Go to thomas, http://thomas.loc.gov and search on the term “flag desecration” in this Congress. You should find 4 entries. The only Dems who co-sponsor David Vitter’s proposed Constitutional amendment are Bayh, Rockefeller, and Stabenow.

Beck’s “Mormon” mentor is at the far fringe of Mormonism.I don’t have time right now to find the links to this guy but he far from mainstream.

Hear, hear!!! god at the point of a gun, concentration camp, witches pyres..whatever

I think there’s barely a Left left and most of it posts here.

This was in 1988 and I was 38.

So, let’s see, that would be War of 1812, wouldn’t it?

Might as well have been for all these dolts learned from it.

I think you are referring to Galatians 6:7. Correct me if I am mistaken.

Tomayto tomato.

I saw Beck’s rally today and I missed the miracle he promised. I was expecting an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause. Did anyone see the miracle or did Glen fail to keep his promise?

If Timothy McVeigh hadn’t been executed for killing all those American citizens in 1995 and were still alive today sitting in a cell on death row, he’d no doubt be sending love letters to Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and all conservative members of the Tea Party cult, egging them on, cheering them on.

And if he was still alive maybe he would tell us who helped him.

Beck’s just like all the other 2 bit sleazy tent-revival show(wo)man preachers out to rip off the masses by as much as possible. Witness Beck hawking his gold dubloons on the tv (and possibly radio). Beck’s out to make money. Period. The end.

I was raised in a rightwing fundie family. At one time, my family used to make fun of the Beck’s (back then it was Oral Roberts), who they rightly saw then as con-artist snake-oil hucksters out to make a buck off of gullible rubes.

Somewhere after the 1960s, my family grew enamored of these hucksters initially in the guise of Pat Robertson’s 700 Club. Now they’re ful-tilt boogie Beckerheads, buying his gold dubloons and burying them (truly) in their backyards. For folks who profess to be really eager for the Apocalypse, they have certainly left atheists like me a little pirate booty should they be raptured away. I don’t get it. My family is well educated, too, not dumb; have a good grasp on history.

However, last week I caught some footage of Beck on KO’s show, and I realized what he was going for with this rally. Yeah: the full monty Xtianity stuff. That’s what really drives these people. Nothing like a good tent revival show to get them to pull out their wallets. If Beck was blabbing about tithing at this shindig, I can assure you that Beck was commanding the flock to tithe to him and him alone.

Beck is still somewhat identified with the Mormons, but he speaks the “talk” of the fundie, evangelists, aka Billy Graham stuff. Beck’s hit on a winner, for sure; he’s got my fundie family eating outta his hand, and my family holds a very dim view of Mormons (satan-worshippers).

This brand of fundie eschews the likes of Huckabee because Huck actually preaches closer to what Jesus taught, along the lines of “as you treat the least among you, so you treat me.” Prosperity Xtians just ain’t into that. This crowd is into being selfish, self-centered, not sharing, feeling constanly victimized and under attack, and wanting great WHITE daddy to come along and tell them what to do, esp how to hate in such a way that their bigotry and racism aren’t “showing.”

Huck’s a little too honest and too truly populist for this crowd, plus his religion actually adheres more to the Gospels. Prosperity Xtians aren’t really interested in hippie Jesus and sharing and stuff; they’d rather read the Old Testament where God is constantly angry and smiting everyone in sight.

I confess to being surprised at the size of the crowd, but I do think it has to do with the economy. People ARE hurting and looking for answers, plus the Koch’s put a lot of money out there to draw the crowds (in order to get them to vote the way the Koch’s want).

There is truly almost no way to “talk” to these people. Believe me, I tried for a long, long time, but I’ve given up. They are not interested in any point of view that does not exactly accord with whatever it is they’re believing today based on which shyster con-artist is holding sway at the moment. Used to be Jim & Tammy Faye. Now it’s Beck. Tomorrow it will be someone else.

But yes, the facism of this little crowd is disturbing. The Koch’s have paid a lot for them to get much more media optics than they used to. That is deliberate, and that is of concern.

Blue, I knew someone here was going to bring up some kind of Nazi reference, but I figured it would not happen until the comment section. Glad to see you;re ahead of the curve.

But, I’m much more surprised to see the comments here and at the post after hearing all the hymm singing about “freedom of religion” and all its wonderful meaning around here for the last week or so.

I guess it was all baloney, as suspected at the time.

In support of a balanced perspective, while “under God” was indeed added during the Eisenhower administration and supported by the Knights of Columbus, Daughters of the American Revolution, et, al. – it was introduced in congress by Representative Louis C. Rabaut (D-Michigan).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_C._Rabaut

It’s easy to get distracted by trash talk in the stands while watching Team Blue play Team Red. The fact is that no group or individual has the market cornered on demagogy.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;…”

The 1st Amendment says 2 distinct things about religion. They are known as the Establishment clause and the Free Exercise clause.

The US has free exercise and no establishment.

The mosque situation is more concerned with Free Exercise. The Free Exercise clause says the Muslims have the right to build. I believe this thread is more concerned with the Establishment clause. The Establishment clause (it’s really a non-establishment clause) is what people are referring to when they say that church and state should be separate, or when they bristle at God being imposed upon them by the government.

The Teapartiers believe that the free market is the answer to every problem, and make a stand for limited government.

The Republicans believe that the free market is the answer to every problem, and make a stand for limited government.

The Democrats believe that the free market is the answer to every problem, and make a stand for limited government.

I photographed both the Glenn Beck rally and the much smaller Al Sharpton march. Religion was integral to both events.

Here are a few of my photos and some impressions:

http://jotman.blogspot.com/2010/08/live-blog-photos-glenn-beck-and.html

Catherina Wojtowicz, 41, is one of those who traveled to Washington to see Beck and Palin. She arrived in the capital yesterday wearing a T-shirt that carried Palin’s name and “Babies, Guns, Jesus.”

I’m not sure what to make of that. Is the implication that babies should use guns to kill Jesus? Or that Jesus would give guns to babies?

Christianity… You’re doing it wrong.

I was surprised to read in the New Yorker magazine how much Tea Party money is coming from the billionaire Koch brothers of Texas.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all

Why aren’t all these nonprofit, right-wing, political groups and think tanks losing their nonprofit status and exemptions? None of this is in the public interest and should lose its nonpartisan status.

Now that the Tea Party financial backers are getting the exposure they deserve, no one should trust anything with “Tea Party” on the label.