Humor

Jon Stewart Breaks It Down: Fox News Is NOT News

Posted by on October 30, 2009 at 1:51 am. 22 Comments :

Once again it takes a fake news program to reveal where the real fake news is. Jon Stewart, of the Daily Show, continues to prove that he is a far better informed and a more insightful media analyst than just about any of the so-called professionals with degrees and awards and jobs on “reputable” news networks.

It is apparent to any objective observer that Fox is a journalistic wasteland. Their entire schedule is populated by partisan hacks whose intent is to disinform their audience with reporting that is so slanted as to be little more than press releases and promos for Republican operatives and issues. They even feature a Psycho-Chicken Little (Glenn Beck) who accuses Obama and his staff of worshiping Mao, even as he himself admits that he idolizes Adolf Hitler. But it took Stewart to artfully, and hilariously, point out that Fox has defined themselves into a corner. Stewart, noting that Fox regards their news day as the hours between 9:00am to 4:00pm, and 6:00pm to 8:00pm, rips to shreds the false Fox fiction that there is a distinction between their news content and their editorials.

When you add it all up, the Fox “news” programming, by their own calculation, is just nine hours. But the Fox morning block, plus the afternoon Cavuto/Beck double bill, plus the primetime fare (which is repeated and then leads into Red Eye), is 13 hours. So the majority of their schedule is what they themselves regard as editorial content. Then consider the fact that what they call “news” is heavily infested with opinions straight out of Beckville and Hannityland, and it’s clear why Fox has zero credibility when it comes to authentic journalism.

All of this is just further confirmation that it is pointless, and even harmful, for any Democrat or progressive to appear on Fox. All it does is provide them the opportunity to edit your appearance in a misleading and disparaging way; to leech off of your credibility; to persist in making the false claim that they are fair and balanced; and to pretend that what they do is associated with real news. Add to that the fact that Fox’s audience is not receptive, and is in fact hostile, to our message and messengers, and it leaves the inescapable conclusion that Fox bookings are a total waste of time.

Please join with MoveOn and sign the petition to Stay off of Fox.

Roger Ailes For President?

Posted by on October 23, 2009 at 12:39 pm. 3 Comments :

Mike Allen at Politico is reporting that:

“Friends and associates are encouraging Fox News chief Roger Ailes to jump into the political arena for real by running for president in 2012”

I am at a near loss for words. The only thing I can think of to say (when I stop laughing) is, “How can I help?”

The prospect of an Ailes candidacy would be a dream come true. Just imagining that corpulent hulk on the campaign trail sends shivers of joy through me. This is the man who gave us Richard Nixon. This is the man who produced the Rush Limbaugh show that failed miserably in TV syndication. Ailes is a creature of the media. His entire professional life has been dedicated to propaganda. He may be able to hammer together an effective media campaign from time to time, but he has never had much of a public presence and his appeal on that basis is on a par with Dick Cheney.

The ramifications of Candidate Ailes are numerous and exhilarating. Who would he choose for a running mate? Sarah Palin? Michele Bachmann? Glenn Beck? And what would his cabinet look like? A bunch of aging white men surrounded by anchor babes in short skirts? As Secretary of State, Bill O’Reilly could shout down world leaders and issue directives detailing which foreign diplomats were pinheads. Press Secretary Hannity would make certain that nothing but the right lies and innuendo emanate from the White House.

It’s interesting that this ludicrous notion is being floated just as the press is wallowing in a fabricated war between the White House and Fox News. It seems to me that having the head of Fox drafted as an opponent to the President seals the case that Fox itself is an opponent of the President and, therefore, not a credible news enterprise.

The article in Politico asserts that Ailes “has an aggessive [sic], winning personality….” That appears to be the opinion of the article’s author, Mike Allen, who cites Ailes pal Frank Luntz for confirmation. Allen also says that the talk about Ailes running is “based on more than mere speculation.” However, there is nothing but speculation in the column. There is no quote from Ailes, or anyone close to him, that affirmatively addresses the question of his running or even thinking about it.

This idea is so patently absurd that you have to wonder who’s behind it. What motives would the rest of the “friends and associates” Allen references have? And why would they want to remain anonymous? It’s not as if this is an insult to Ailes. Allen doesn’t bother to reveal his sources, but I have it on good authority that Allen was seen having lunch with Richard Heene, of Balloon Boy fame.

Is Ailes running for president? Is Politico being punked? Is that a balloon over the White House with an old fat guy hanging out of it? I think Glenn Beck is hard at work connecting dots that prove that Obama and ACORN are behind an effort to sink Ailes’ campaign before it has even begun. And the madness goes on…..

[Update] Allen is now reporting that Ailes laughed off the entreaties that he run for president.

“Ailes replied when asked about the possibility, according to the aide: ‘This country needs fair and balanced news more now than ever before, so I’m going to decline a run for the presidency.'”

If Ailes believes that the country needs fair and balanced news more now than ever before, does that mean he’s going to shut down Fox News?

Glenn Beck Idolizes Adolf Hitler

Posted by on October 19, 2009 at 2:28 am. 35 Comments :

Tonight, more truth. More truth that I, quite frankly, am shocked by. I’m going to show you a quote here in just a few minutes, something that will melt your brain. If you’re a regular reader of this web site, you are going to say, “You got to be kidding me!”

There is information that you’re just not going to see anyplace else. I have to first give you a little bit of history, because the context is so important. So, if you just bear with me for a few minutes, I have to tell you a story.

I don’t want to believe that these things are true. I would love to be wrong. I love my country. I think you do, too. I don’t care if you’re Republican or Democrat. It’s not about party. It’s about our country. What I am telling you now is that there are Marxist revolutionaries who have dedicated themselves to principles that will destroy our nation as we know it! Now, that is a heavy charge, granted. That’s why I put the phone there.

That phone is directly to Glenn Beck. He is the one that Rupert Murdoch has put in charge to lead the campaign against Barack Obama and this web site.

Call me, Glenn. Call me! I’m begging you – call me, correct me. Tell me what I post here is not true. It would help me sleep at night. It would.

…..I haven’t received any phone calls…..

There was a controversy because people said, “You’re going to put Adolf Hitler up there?” Yes, Adolf Hitler. That’s a pretty hefty charge that people in America, in our media, listen to Adolf Hitler. Well, this person is in love with Adolf Hitler. These are Glenn Beck’s own words:

“Oh, you know who my favorite political philosopher is? Adolf Hitler.”

This week, I pointed out that Beck was a fan of the socialists and of the Marxists. Ask yourself, America, please ask yourself: If I am wrong, how is it possible he has not called? You’d think being labeled a fan of a guy who killed millions of people would make you pick up the darn phone. Don’t you think?

So, the reason why this phone hasn’t rung all week is because the most important political philosopher, for Beck is Adolf Hitler. The guy responsible for more deaths than almost any other 20th century leader is his favorite philosopher. How can that man be your favorite anything? He killed millions of people! It is insanity! This is his hero’s work! Millions dead. His favorite political philosopher. That was a quote.

America, how many radicals is it going to take? How many radicals surrounding our media will it take before you understand that when Rupert Murdoch says he wants to “shape the agenda” of the news – oh, he wants to shape it, all right.

[Editor: With a very few modifications, the preceding are Glenn Beck’s actual words regarding White House Communications Director Anita Dunn]

Rupert Murdoch Censors Glenn Beck – The China Chronicles

Posted by on October 8, 2009 at 1:57 pm. 6 Comments :

When a courageous speaker of truth emerges from the forest of lies that is modern media, the risk is ever present that censorship, suppression, or worse could occur. Sadly, that is the case today. Glenn Beck produced an episode of his program that continued his valiant search for communists burrowing into the woodwork of America like subversive termites eating away at the foundation of our national home. However, this episode has mysteriously disappeared. Fortunately, I have acquired a transcript (h/t Esquire) of the “Lost Episode” that reveals perhaps the most insidious enemy of freedom yet unveiled by Beck.

GLENN BECK: THE RUPERT CONNECTION [Transcript]
[Editor: Everything below regarding Murdoch and China is true]

GLENN BECK: My viewers know that I am not the sort of guy who resorts to sensationalism and hyperbole, but today’s show is going to cause blood to shoot out of your eyes. You will totally freak out and very likely wet your pants, as I did when I found this out. In short, there are forces in the media who are directing the course of our nation’s future, and it’s not who you think it is.

If you think this country is great, but ogres are hiding under the bed waiting to defile you while you sleep, then wake up – and come on, follow me.

Hello America. I am going to ask you to pay special attention to today’s program because this is going to get complicated. Keep a pencil and notepad handy. You will want to take notes.

On previous shows I’ve warned you about the extreme radicals and avowed communists that are holding important positions in our government. I’ve warned you about conspiracies like ACORN and the National Endowment for the Arts. I’ve exposed Van Jones and Mark Lloyd and Valerie Jarrett. I know, the liberal elite are going to complain that I only go after black folks. “Oh, he’s a racist. He doesn’t like the darkies.” But that isn’t true. I also exposed the safe schools czar, Kevin Jennings, and he is a white fag…I mean gay. The point is that radicals are taking root at every level of government. People who hate the principles we devout Christians hold dear.

But today’s program is about more than just the government. Oh yes, it touches every part of the government but it has maybe even more power in this country and around the world. It’s the media.

When I talked earlier this year about how we, the patriots and truthtellers, are actually surrounding all of the weasels and the traitors, I meant every word. Barack Hussein Obama’s czars have been dispatched to every corner of Washington’s power grid. But in the case of the media, it really is surrounding us. It’s everywhere. In our homes, our cars, our offices, our fast food restaurants. It is being fed into us intravenously. We are all being indoctrinated 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I don’t want to scare you, but I’m speaking to you right now on the media. Sure, the liberal pansies will cry “But aren’t you a big, rich, media star, with all your TV and radio and books?” And I shout right back at them “Well maybe I am, but you’re forgetting that I rarely make any sense and besides, shut your friggin pie hole!”

I want to tell you all something that I just recently learned from the guy who delivers my pizza. He stumbled on an article in that bastion of progressive propaganda, the New York Times, that was hidden under a pile of Hefty bags in the alley behind his shop. Now how did it get there? Hmmm? A copy of a major American newspaper, rolled up and stuffed in the trash? What are they trying to hide? Quite a lot, as you’ll soon see.

Now, it is not commonly known that the biggest media mogul in the world is a fellow named Rupert Murdoch. He runs more TV and newspaper businesses throughout the world than anyone, but still complains about the bias in the mainstream press. I mean, duh. Who does he think he is, the Pennysaver? He’s Australian by birth, but he went to live in socialist Europe, and later came to the United States. When he wanted to buy an American TV network, he got his socialist friends in the Congress to make him a U.S. citizen, which was a prerequisite for owning a network. After receiving that special treatment, he made sure to bash any other immigrants who aspired to live and work the greatest country in the world.

Then he began to build what is the most frightening corporate empire you can ever imagine. Now, the problem isn’t just that it’s big, because I happen to love big business and free enterprise. The problem is who he is in business with.

This Murdoch is very tightly entwined with one of America’s most vicious enemies. The People’s Republic of China. This association begins in his own family. His third wife, Wendi Deng, is a mainland Chinese who once worked for his Hong Kong-based satellite broadcast company, Star TV. Star TV was run by James Murdoch, Rupert’s son. Um, OK. James is the guy who complained that western reporters in China supported “destabilizing forces” that are “very, very dangerous for the Chinese government.” So let me get this straight. He was defending the communists against reporters from America? OK.

Under the supervision of Rupert and James, Star TV bent its programming to favor the brutal Chinese regime. In 1994 it dropped BBC News, which had frequently angered Chinese officials. One of the reports that angered the Chinese was of the brave soul who famously stood up to a flank of Chinese tanks in Tiananmen Square. The BBC replayed that video too much, so Murdoch had the network banished.

By cooperating with the communist censors in China, Murdoch earned the friendship of some very important people. The article in the Times noted that…

“His courtship has made him the Chinese leadership’s favorite foreign media baron. He has dined with former President Jiang Zemin in the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in Beijing and repeatedly met other members of the ruling Politburo in Beijing, New York and London. Television channels affiliated with Mr. Murdoch beam more programming into China than any other foreign media group.”

Uh oh. So this relationship was a boon to his financial interests. Do you think that the $50 billion ad market in China had anything to do with that? I don’t know, I’m just asking. But Murdoch was awfully cozy with these guys. His book publishing division, HarperCollins, was kind enough to put out a book of fawning propaganda about the former leader, Deng Xiaoping, that was written by his daughter, Deng Rong. He also halted publication of a book by former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten that was critical of the Chinese. Hmmm. Propaganda good – criticism bad.

In 1996, Murdoch entered a joint venture with Liu Changle, a onetime radio host for the People’s Liberation Army. And you know those radio hosts. They aren’t nothin but a bunch of ignorant, egotistical, blowhards trying to spread disinformation. This new partnership led to an even closer association with China’s propaganda machine. Murdoch was now hanging out with Propaganda Department chief, Ding Guangen, and then Prime Minister, Zhu Rongji. Another partner was the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, considered the political power base of China’s new top leader, Hu Jintao. He parlayed these relationships into a new business, building the Internet sites for China Central Television (CCTV) and the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party.

Murdoch later was permitted to launch MySpace China. He agreed to all of China’s regulations on Internet censorship and placed a convenient link on every page for users to report inappropriate information to the authorities. How thoughtful of him. I wonder how many Chinese dissidents disappeared due that little feature?

If you are not already rolled up in the fetal position under a table, I don’t know what to tell you. This is serious stuff, and it is one of the reasons I have never feared more for the future of my country. When the biggest media conglomerate in the world is in bed with the world’s biggest communist nation, how much longer can we expect to remain free? And remember, China has us by the short hairs due to all of the U.S. debt they hold.

America…It is more important now than ever to be vigilant and strong. I don’t know how much longer I will be allowed to say these things in public. I told you before that certain entities were threatening to silence anyone who speaks truthfully. I told you to listen between the sentences where I will be screaming at you. I told you to be suspicious of any reports of my demise. Do you think I want to get on the air every night and tell you this stuff? I don’t want to believe these things, but unfortunately I find them true. It’s not my damn fault. Get off my fucking back. And stop following me around. I mean, come on, follow me. Believe me. Love me. Worship me. I’m doing all of this for you. Can’t you see that?

America is at a crossroads. Which way will we go? Further to the left, where communism, tyranny, aliens, and universal health care torment every citizen? Or back to the right, where unregulated free enterprise allows clowns like me to make millions by peddling fear and phony conspiracies? Do you want to repeat the Age of Enlightenment, when society was burdened with reason and the harshness of reality. Or would you prefer the glorious Dark Ages when people relied on faith and the comforting fear of a just and vengeful God?

I know which road I’m taking. I hope to see you on it. Good night, America.

That’s the end of the transcript. The Murdoch/China connection is pretty well blown wide open now, thanks to Glenn Beck. The question is, will this episode ever see the light of day? And now that the transcript is out, will Beck be punished for his insolence? Is Murdoch already laying the groundwork for Beck’s downfall? What exactly is the connection between Murdoch and Color of Change, who have been orchestrating a surprisingly successful campaign aimed at Beck’s advertisers? About 80 advertisers have already declared that they will not purchase time on Beck’s program Could that have been accomplished without Murdoch’s knowledge and assistance?

I don’t know. I’m just asking?

Glenn Beck / Sarah Palin Book Publishing SNAFU

Posted by on October 3, 2009 at 11:57 am. 13 Comments :

In examining the artwork on the covers of the new books by Glenn Beck (Arguing With Idiots) and Sarah Palin (Going Rogue), I discovered what may be a monumental error on the part of the publishers:

It is obvious that Glenn Beck is the reigning “rogue” in contemporary media. He his so far out of the mainstream of rational thought that even other conservatives are distancing themselves from him. Even worse, they are coming right out and labeling him as extreme, crazy, and harmful to their agenda.

Likewise, who is a bigger “idiot” than Sarah Palin? She crumbled under the withering inquisition of notorious bulldog, Katie Couric. She flunked out as governor of Alaska, leaving the post 18 months before her term expired. Her lack of comprehension of everything from taxes to health care to the Constitution, puts her squarely in the remedial class of American politicians.

The possibility exists that the book covers are correct as they are. After all, Palin is just as aberrant as Beck, and Beck is no smarter than Palin. So in truth, the covers work either way. Maybe, therefore, I’m jumping the gun on this blunder. But the appearance of an inadvertent switch is just too great to ignore.

So let’s leave it at this: I report – you decide.

The Glenn Beck Blackboard Challenge

Posted by on September 23, 2009 at 10:57 am. 20 Comments :

Let’s face it…Glenn Beck is insane. He rattles off loopy conspiracy theories that connect dots that only he can see. He makes wild and unsubstantiated accusations against his perceived enemies. He weeps incessantly over unexplained threats to “his” country. And, best of all, he draws pictures of his hallucinations that he thinks makes everything oh-so-clear.

It occurred to me that he might be able to use a little help (OK, a lot of help). So I drew up a few pictures of my own that convey a bit of the altered reality that infests Beck’s brain. This is my contribution to enhancing the understanding of a profoundly disturbed individual going through a very public psychological collapse.

If you are so inclined, feel free to make your own contributions and leave links to your work in comments.

Have at it.

And just to put some perspective on the impact of Beck, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll reveals that most respondents don’t know who the heck he is:

“According to the poll, 24 percent have a “positive” view of the Fox News host, while 19 percent view him negatively. Interestingly, 15 percent were “neutral” and 42 percent said they didn’t know Beck or weren’t sure.”

That’s comforting. And I wouldn’t worry about the 24% positive. It’s probably the same deadenders that support Bush, Palin, and Joe the Plumber.

Who’s Still Advertising on Glenn Beck?

Posted by on August 19, 2009 at 12:45 pm. 34 Comments :

Gawker took the plunge and watched Glenn Beck yesterday to see what advertisers remain after more than twenty …um… thirty …er… forty have abandoned the program due to Beck’s offensive rhetoric. It is a list that says much about him and his disciples. Here it is with my own comments attached:

  • Extenze penis-enhancing pills – To make sure that blood isn’t flowing into his viewers brains.
  • Inogen One portable oxygen concentrator – To make sure they stay conscious while being disinformed.
  • Brez anti-snoring nose inserts – In the event his viewers pass out, like his guests do.
  • Egg Genie microwave egg cooker – So they have something to suck on.
  • The Jewelry Exchange – Because watching Fox Business Network has left them destitute.
  • SmartForLife diet cookies – Just look at what they’ve done for Rush Limbaugh.
  • The Mesothelioma Hotline – Those right-wingers are all over tort reform.
  • Jupiter Jack phone device – Note to Beck viewers: No, this does not let you call Jupiter.
  • Rosetta Stone language training – To learn to bash immigrants in their native tongue.
  • The Speed Channel – What Beck’s viewers watch when they can’t get the Meth Channel.
  • Oreck vacuum cleaners – Apply to frontal cortex and set to maximum.
  • FreeScore.com credit report service – This is the scam that Ben Stein was peddling.

That’s a nice group of low-rent advertisers. Contrary to the claims by Fox News flacks that they have not lost revenue due to the advertiser boycott, it is plain that the companies above are not paying the same fees that Procter & Gamble or GEICO did. And their consolation that the show has increased its ratings is rather hollow when higher ratings doesn’t mean more revenue.

Keep the pressure on: Color of Change

Fox News: The Pop-Up Kiddie Book of TV News

Posted by on August 10, 2009 at 11:55 am. 1 Comments :

Everyone knows that Fox News is a delivery vehicle for rightist propaganda and disinformation. But did you also know that Fox News provides an object lesson on how to talk to viewers of Fox News (who would know better)? It requires a unique style of communication that has more in common with childrens’ books than with a mature dialogue of substance. Take for example…

Let’s set aside the tragic and senseless loss of a perfectly good cartoon beer. That, while unfortunate, could happen to anyone. I myself had an imaginary Klondike Bar get away from me last week. But there are more profound matters in evidence here.

In this video, Jenna Lee, an anchor on the Fox Business Network, employs a touch screen monitor to illustrate the complexities of the economy. Many television journalists use this technology, but most endeavor to have it enhance their presentation. They will display charts or other graphic objects and, through juxtaposition and visual association, they strive to clarify their reporting and add to their commentary.

Fox News, however, has different needs. They know that they cannot burden their enfeebled fan base with difficult facts and data. The Fox method is not to inform, but to simplify, so that even the most intellectually challenged viewer can grasp at least part of the report.

Notice how Lee takes advantage of the expensive video display she is using. When she gets to the part of her script that discusses the cost of cookies, she pulls a virtual cookie from her virtual shopping cart and enlarges it so that everyone watching at home knows precisely what she is talking about. Look at that, it’s a cookie! She does the same with the uncooperative bottle of beer. Sadly, she fails with the jar of peanut butter, so I wonder what the confounded home viewers must have thought without their visual aid. And when her screen froze I imagined something similar occurring in the brains of the audience.

On other TV news networks they generally presume that their audience knows what a cookie looks like and that explicit visual clues would be superfluous. But on Fox, no such presumptions are employed, and for good reason. Considering the fact that their audience still believes that President Obama is a foreign-born Muslim who advocates euthanasia for the elderly, and that Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber are statesmen, Fox really has to gear their programming to the toddler demographic.

This is another explanation for the fierce loyalty of Fox News viewers. Where else can they get remedial news broadcasts that permit them to feel adequate and capable of (mis)understanding current events all by themselves?

More Glenn Beck Messianic Delusions

Posted by on August 6, 2009 at 10:08 pm. 3 Comments :

It is beginning to look like I may have to start a new blog just to document Glenn Beck’s growing collection of messianic tribulations. If ever a man was obsessed with his own vision of a doomed world that only he can rescue, it’s little Glenny B.

On today’s program he broadcast another plea to his disciples to be wary of any tales of his demise:

“You ever see those movies where they say, ‘I gave a note to my attorney, and if I’m found dead, open the note.’ I kind of feel like you’re my attorney. If I show up, you know, in Thailand, dead from auto-erotic asphyxiation, don’t believe it.”

This comes just weeks after he warned…

“If I’m ever in a weird car accident, or I commit suicide or something, after the media stops celebrating my death, could they check into it? Because I’m not suicidal. And I’m a pretty good driver.”

And it was just last week that he blew his secret dog whistle:

“I fear that there will come a time when I cannot say things that I am currently saying. I fear that it will come to television and to radio, and I will stop saying these things. Understand me clearly. Hear me now. If I ever stop saying these things, you will know why. Because I will have made a choice that I can only say certain things, and I haven’t lost all of the rights. But know that these things are true. And if you hear me stop saying these things, it’s because I can no longer say them to you. But hear them between the sentences. Hear them, please. I will be screaming them to you.”

So in the event that Beck is assassinated by zombie agents from the Gamma Quadrant, we are now all baptized as translators of the scripture that he has been screaming at us. It is an awesome responsibility, but one we undertake for the welfare of mankind.

Klaatu barada nikto!

Glenn Beck: Fox News Evangelist Of The Coming Obama-Pocalypse

Posted by on July 29, 2009 at 9:01 pm. 13 Comments :

Glenn Beck’s unique brand of asylum-spawned demagoguery has drawn comparisons to some notable cranks in history and fiction. Most often he has been likened to either the 1930’s fascist radio priest, Father Coughlin, or to the prototypical, paranoia-crazed tele-pundit, Howard Beale, from the film “Network.”

While both of those models contain poignant resemblances to Beck, neither by themselves comes close enough to capture the full spectrum of his dementia. They don’t even begin to explain his silly costumes and props; his facial tics and nonsense, gurgling noises; his panic-laden admonitions of doom. This is a man who, every day, adds new items to his list of things that cause blood to shoot from his eyes. Were he to be taken literally, he would be severely anemic by now, and his studio would be a quarantined biohazard zone.

However, I think I have just found someone with whom Beck shares a more striking resemblance. I was watching Beck at his white board, attempting to connect everything he hates to everything he fears. It was a ludicrous spectacle that never approached making a sane point:

And it was then that my recollection of another televangelist came to mind:

Dr. Gene Scott broadcast something that he regarded as a study of life’s most pressing dilemmas as they related to Bible teachings. But his show was also intended as entertainment that included rock music and self-produced videos of him riding his award-winning horses.

Is it going too far to compare Beck with a fringe religious cult leader? Not when he seems to invite the comparison. Beck has not been shy about his spiritual rebirth. He often relates the story of his descent into alcohol and drugs, and how his surrender to a higher power saved him from desperation and suicide. His conversion may be less than sincere (he confessed to John Stossel that he only became a Mormon because his then girlfriend, now wife, would not have sex with him unless they were married), but he nevertheless peddles his piety like a used car salesman. At one point during today’s program he beseeched his viewers to get down on their knees and pray. At another he mocked the President as “the all-knowing Messiah.” At the beginning of each and every show he implores his audience to “Come on, follow me.” Plainly religion is at the heart of his crusade.

I would not be the first to observe that the rhetoric of Beck has escalated to dangerous levels. His ravings are so far beyond reasonable discourse that even his bosses at Fox News had to distance themselves from him (albeit in the weakest manner imaginable). What may be more worrisome is that he is also beginning to display the traits of Apocalyptic cult leaders like David Koresh and Jim Jones. It appears that he views himself as an embattled beacon of God’s truth who is besieged by the forces of evil. He frequently prefaces his conspiracy theories with laments like “Is it just me…?” He wonders aloud why no one else can see the doom on the horizon that to him is so evident. And, like any good Apocalyptic cult leader, he imagines that he is a target and that his time on Earth is near an end.

Beck 5/12/09: “If I’m ever in a weird car accident, or I commit suicide or something, after the media stops celebrating my death, could they check into it? Because I’m not suicidal. And I’m a pretty good driver.”

Beck 7/27/09: “I fear that there will come a time when I cannot say things that I am currently saying. I fear that it will come to television and to radio, and I will stop saying these things. Understand me clearly. Hear me now. If I ever stop saying these things, you will know why. Because I will have made a choice that I can only say certain things, and I haven’t lost all of the rights. But know that these things are true. And if you hear me stop saying these things, it’s because I can no longer say them to you. But hear them between the sentences. Hear them, please. I will be screaming them to you.”

Are these words a foreshadowing of another Jonestown? Does Beck really believe that unseen forces are amassing to oppose and silence him? It should be noted that Beck’s family has a record of suicide (his mother and sister). Beck himself has publicly stated that he has been suicidal on at least two occasions. How far off would it be for him to imagine that a step toward eternity was really a bid for martyrdom? He could go out in a blaze of Patriopathic™ glory on behalf of the country he loves so much it brings him to tears.

I hope somebody’s watching him – and monitoring his meds.