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WHO RULES: THE ISRAEL LOBBY
OR UNCLE SAM?
The answer
at last! Uri Avnery, former Knesset member, assesses the Lobby's
power. "If the Israeli government wanted a law tomorrow
annulling the 10 Commandments, 95 U.S. Senators (at least) would
sign the bill forthwith." But, yes, in the end the dog wags
the tail.Fifty
years ago Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" blew the cobwebs
out of millions of young minds and drove a stake through the
heart of Eisenhower's America. Lenni Brenner remembers Ginsberg
in the East Village.Dr Mengele died in exile, in disguise. Dr Ishii
died rich and recognized, in his own Tokyo home. Christopher
Reed on Japanese WW2 medical tortures and how the U.S. covered
them up.CounterPunch
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Now!
If you've been waiting until the Christian
fascist movement started filling stadiums with young people and
hyping them up to do battle in "God's army" to get
alarmed, wait no longer.
In recent weeks, Battle Cry,
a Christian fundamentalist youth movement, has attracted more
than 25,000 to mega-rally rock concerts in San Francisco and
Detroit and this weekend they plan to fill Wachovia Stadium in
Philadelphia.
They claim their religion and
values are under attack but, amidst spectacular lightshows, hummers,
Navy Seals, and military imagery on stage, it is Battle Cry that
has declared war on everyone else! Their leader, Ron Luce, insists:
"This is war. And Jesus invites us to get into the action,
telling us that the violent--the 'forceful' ones--will lay hold
of the kingdom."
A glimpse at Battle Cry's Honor
Academy, which trains 500 youth each year and preaches that homosexuality
and masturbation are sins, reveals a lot about what kind of society
they are fighting for. Interns are forbidden to listen to secular
music, watch R-rated movies or date. Men can't use the internet
unsupervised and the length of women's skirts is regulated. The
logic behind this, that men must be protected from the sin of
sexual temptation, is what drives Islamic fundamentalists to
shroud women in burkhas!
Behind their multi-million
dollar operation that sends more than 5,000 missionaries to more
than thirty-four countries each year, are some of the most powerful
and extreme religious lunatics in the country. Their partners
include Pat Robertson (who got a call from Karl Rove to discuss
Alito before the nomination was made public), Ted Haggard (who
brags that his concerns will be responded to by the White House
within 24 hours), Jerry Falwell (who blamed September 11th on
homosexuals, feminists, pagans, and abortionists), and others.
Their events have been addressed by Barbara Bush (via video)
as well as former President Gerry Ford. This weekend's event
will include Franklyn Graham who has ministered to George Bush
and publicly proclaimed that Islam is an "evil religion."
What most of these figures
have in common is their insistence that the Bible be read literally
and obeyed as the inerrant word of God. And, as Ron Luce
leads youth to pray, "I will keep my eyes on the battle,
submitting to Your code even when I don't understand.outside
my comfort zone in the battle zone," it would be foolish
to expect that there is any part of the Bible's literal horrors
this movement would be unwilling to enforce. That includes stoning
disobedient children and non-virgin brides (Deuteronomy 21:18-21
and 22:13-21), executing gays (Leviticus 20:13), and keeping
slaves (Peter 2:18).
Already they staged a protest
on the steps of San Francisco's City Hall precisely because they
were "the very city hall steps where several months ago
'gay marriages' were celebrated." Their answer to the scourge
of rape and violence against women is to end divorce, spread
ignorance, insist on virginity--the very things that will more
entrap women in these nightmares. And this Friday, they are planning
rallies at fifty City Halls nation-wide.
Of course, like the President
who gave Ron Luce an appointment to the White House Advisory
Commission on Drug-Free Communities, Battle Cry tells its share
of bald-faced lies. For one, they claim that "a society
fortified by biblical principals and a strong moral code...is
the heritage our forefathers fought and died to secure for us."
But the word "God" never appears in the Constitution.
After three-and-a-half months of debate about what should go
into the document that would govern the land, the framers drafted
a constitution that is secular.
Battle Cry also claims America
has been "set aside for God's purposes--a country established
for good and fruitfully blessed so that we might take God's message
to the ends of the earth." It is revealing that for all
their talk about the value of life and the evils of violent imagery,
Battle Cry never speaks against the real violence and loss of
life being inflicted by U.S. troops in Iraq.
Still, there is one thing that
Battle Cry gets right: this country is in the midst of a deep
moral crisis. We are indeed living through times when business-as-usual
is unconscionable.
As the Bush regime wages unjust
wars and conducts torture in our names, as they leave New Orleans
to rot, and drag us closer each day to a theocracy where abortion
and birth control are banned, science is pulled under, and gays
are persecuted, it is no wonder that young people are searching
for meaning and morality.
The truth is, however, youth
will not find the morality they need in a stadium listening to
Ron Luce preach about religious war and intolerance. And they
won't find it while buying Battle Cry's keepsake dog-tags.
These young people need to
be challenged to look around them and think for themselves.
I am confident that if they
do, many of them may find that the truly moral way to live is
to throw their tremendous energies and dreams of a better world
into stopping this madness and driving out the Bush regime.
This generation--and their
counterparts all around the world--will have to live with the
consequences of this culture war, one way or another.
Sunsara Taylor writes for Revolution newspaper
and sits on the Advisory Board of The World Can't Wait / Drive
Out the Bush Regime. Here's a clip of her debate with Ron
Luce on the O'Reilly Factor. She can be reached at: sunsarasworld@yahoo.com
Now
Available
from CounterPunch Books!
The Case
Against Israel
By Michael Neumann
CounterPunch
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