Did 9/11 Happen Only to Christians?

Where Will The Glenn Beck Rally Money Go?

A footnote on Glenn Beck's Aug. 28th, 2010 Rally Web page explains that donations will go first toward the cost of the event. Anything left over will then be kept by the foundation which provides scholarships to children of Special Operations veterans.

What Will Maggie Gallagher Say To St. Peter?

What Do American Teenagers Know About Islam?

According to this NY Times report, a group of teenagers have repeatedly gathered outside a mosque in Carlton, New York where they've harassed worshipers by yelling obscenities and insults during evening prayers for Ramadan. The teenagers also are accused of sideswiping a worshiper with their vehicle on Monday Aug. 30th and, on Friday Aug. 27th, 2010, firing a shotgun outside the mosque. No one was hit when the 17 year-old fired the shotgun, but he has been charged with criminal possession of a weapon and faces up to four years in prison if convicted. The others have been charged with disrupting a religious service, a misdemeanor.

Is President Obama a Racist?

Why Did You Attend Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" Rally?

Are Glenn Beck and President Obama Christians?

Fox News has made the President's religion a topic:



And Glenn Beck (on the morning after his Aug. 28th, 2010 rally) went on Fox News to question the President's faith, saying that "people aren't recognizing [President Obama's] version of Christianity."



To add to the confusion, on Aug. 30th, 2010 NPR's Robert Siegel talked to Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission about religion and Glenn Beck. On NPR Reverend Land asserted that President Obama is not a mainstream Christian (because of his advocacy for "liberation theology") but that Glenn Beck's Mormonism is even farther afield and "not a Christian faith."

What's Bothering Glenn Beck?

Why Not Glenn Beck?

Victim In Fatal Car Accident Tragically Not Glenn Beck

While his supporters may find the clip above (from the comedy site, The Onion) offensive, is it any more offensive than the "poisoning of Nancy Pelosi" in the following clip from Glenn Beck's show on August 9th, 2009?

Who Is Paying For This Attack on FL Politicians?

The ad may look amateurish... but the money comes from Americans For Prosperity Foundation, a group started by David Koch and lavishly funded by the Koch brothers whose oil businesses generate an estimated hundred billion dollars a year in revenue. According to senior Obama adviser, David Axelrod, Americans For Prosperity "is a grassroots citizens’ movement brought to you by a bunch of oil billionaires.”

What Was That?

From the podium, Glenn Beck announced that his Aug. 28th, 2010 rally had raised $5.5 million for the veterans' charity, Special Operations Warrior Foundation (it remains to be seen how much will go to the charity, after defraying event costs). What else was accomplished by the event remains unclear. According to NY Magazine: "[E]ven those in attendance didn't really have any idea what the point of it all was, or why they came." According to Ross Douthat writing on August 29th, 2010 in The New York Times, the rally "blessed a particular way of life without burdening that blessing with the compromises of a campaign, or the disillusioning work of governance."

Glenn Beck v. Martin Luther King Jr.?

Why Are Only 1.38 percent of Fox News’ Primetime Viewers African-American?

There is evidence that Fox News coverage of obscure and misleading stories about black activists may have helped to turn Fox News into an all-white ghetto. On July 26th, 2010 New York Times reporter Brian Stelter tweeted that, according to Nielsen Media Research, Fox News has averaged just 29,000 black viewers in primetime so far this television season (Sept. 2009 - July 2010). That represents just 1.38% of its 2.102 million total viewer audience.

What About the Rabbi Who Appeared with Glenn Beck on Aug. 28, 2010?

At his Aug. 28th, 2010 rally Glenn Beck introduced right-wing Rabbi Daniel Lapin -- presumably as part of his effort to "restore honor."

Rabbi Lapin didn't speak. He wasn't wearing a microphone (it was Shabbat). Nonetheless, there are a lot of interesting things about Rabbi Lapin, whose "specialty" -- according to a June 25, 2005 Washington Post profile -- is "finding support in the Torah for what turns out to be the current Republican platform: lower taxes, decreased regulation, pro-traditional family policies."

The Rabbi is nothing if not an expert in corruption and lost honor. Take for example, Rabbi Lapin's dealings with Republican-lobbyist-turned-convicted-felon Jack Abramoff and disgraced Congressman Tom DeLay.

During the Bush administration, Rabbi Lapin moved money from Abramoff clients through a conservative Jewish foundation called Toward Tradition. Rabbi Lapin also hired Lisa Rudy, wife of former DeLay aide Tony Rudy, to organize a Washington, D.C., conference for Toward Tradition. Rabbi Lapin's activities with Abramoff and DeLay may have not earned him jail time, but they were certainly not honorable.

Here's what we know about Rabbi Lapin and the Abramoff corruption case: In the early days of the Bush Administration, Rabbi Lapin helped Jack Abramoff by channeling millions of dollars from Abramoff clients through his charitable foundation, Toward Tradition. Several Abramoff clients "donated" millions of dollars to Rabbi Lapin's charity. Toward Tradition would then make generous "donations" to Christian anti-gambling groups. Why did Jack Abramoff need Rabbi Lapin? What purpose was served when the money passed through Toward Tradition before going to the Christian charitable groups?

Jack Abramoff needed to obscure the real source of his "anti-gambling" funding. It wouldn't have looked right if the money that was being used to defeat state lotteries and casinos could be identified as coming from its actual source - Indian casinos and online gambling sites. Abramoff needed someone to launder the money and Rabbi Lapin provided cover - hiding the real purpose. The money passing through Toward Tradition wasn't really anti-gambling money, in fact the money was flowing from Indian Casinos and online gambling sites. Abramoff's clients were willing to pay millions to eliminate any competition. But Abramoff needed to hide that fact. So, for a generous cut, Rabbi Lapin took money from gambling - and let Jack Abramoff use his tax-exempt group to launder the money.

As this relationship proved very profitable for both men, Lapin and Abramoff grew even closer - as did their connections to corrupt politicans. A 2005 Washington Post profile of Lapin reported, among other things, that Abramoff "credits Lapin with introducing him to" Tom DeLay. While Tom DeLay was the Majority Whip, Rabbi Lapin found a reason to fly east from his home in Mercer Island, Wash. every few weeks to spend a few days in Washington. Usually on these trips Lapin stayed with Jack Abramoff.

Eventually the scheme blew up. In 2006 Jack Abramoff plead guilty to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials in a deal that required him to provide evidence about members of Congress. That helped to bring down Tom DeLay and others. But it didn't result in jail time for Rabbi Lapin, even though, in the report issued by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee pursuant to their Abramoff investigations, Daniel Lapin and his younger brother David made frequent cameos.

After the scandals broke, here is what Daniel Lapin had to say about his Washington pal (even though Abramoff defrauded his Indian casino-owning clients and broke lobbying laws): "Abramoff created an extremely effective ideological machine, and I think that bothered many people on the moderate side. Nobody claims Abramoff did anything different than anyone else. He's a friend of mine and I've seen him do many, many wonderful and decent things. My argument is that a human being is a very complicated amalgam. We've all done things we're not proud of. I think the world of him. He's not a choirboy. But I wouldn't want to have beer with a choirboy."