Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck Breaks All Of His Own Commandments

Posted by on August 25, 2011 at 8:52 am. 7 Comments :

Pope Glenn BeckGlenn Beck’s Traveling Acute Paranoia Revue concluded today in Israel. For the record, there was no pillar of fire; no gates of Heaven and/or Hell opening; no turning point for the world. He declared that his rally would usher in an era of miracles. He promised us these things and more. Here is a taste of the colorful rhetoric he employed to promote this boondoggle:

  • When I first had this idea, what I saw in my head was a global shockwave. It will ripple across the earth.
  • Possibly for the first time in man’s history, God will remember and make note of what we do there.
  • This is a life-changing, life-altering event.
  • This will be a pinnacle moment in your life. It will define you. In the end it will define you.
  • I want you to know, the very gates of Hell are going to open up against us.
  • It will be expensive to get there. It might be dangerous.
  • Will my event hurt foreign policy of the U.S.? I damn well hope so now.
  • If Israel falls the western way of life falls. That’s not hyperbole.
  • This may be it for our generation or for all mankind.
  • I will stand, I will speak, and in the end, if it be His will, I will die right alongside my brother.

So far as I can tell the world is pretty much the same as before Beck’s Restoring Egomania affair. There wasn’t even a flock of geese flying overhead (which Beck asserted was proof of divine intervention at last year’s Restoring Honor event in Washington, D.C.).

However, there is a new holy relic for Beck’s disciples to worship. Today Beck revealed his Declaration of Rights & Responsibilities as a sort of addendum to the Constitution. Unfortunately, he has already violated every one of them.

  1. Because I have the right to choose, I recognize that I am accountable to God and have the responsibility to keep the 10 commandments in my own life.
    .
    Actually, all Christians break this one because the first commandment requires the acknowledgment of the single God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Simply worshiping Jesus is a violation of this.
  2. Because I have the right to worship as I choose, I have the responsibility to honor the right of others to worship as they see fit.
    .
    Beck, along with most other Fox News/Tea Party conservatives vehemently oppose the construction of a mosque because it was a couple of blocks away from the site of the World Trade Center.
  3. Because I have freedom of speech, I have the responsibility to defend the speech of others, even if I strongly disagree with what they’re saying.
    .
    Beck engages in the defense of the free speech of those with whom he disagrees by demonizing them as Nazis, cancers, etc. On one famous occasion he shouted down a woman who had called his radio program screaming “Get off my phone you little pinhead!”
  4. Because I have the right to pursue happiness, I have the responsibility to show humility and express gratitude for all the blessings I enjoy and the rights I’ve been given.
    .
    Humility? Seriously? The man who says that his silly rallies will alter the course of the planet? The man who says that God has chosen him to save the human race? The man spends half his time on the air praising himself and his imaginary prescience? Very humble indeed.
  5. Because I have the right to honest and good government I will seek out honest and just representatives when possible. If I cannot find one then I accept the responsibility to take that place.
    .
    Beck has repeatedly lamented the absence of honest representatives, especially in his home of the past several years, New York, yet he has never accepted the responsibility to run for office.
  6. Because I have the God given right to liberty, I have the personal responsibility to have the courage to defend others to be secure in their persons, lives and property.
    .
    Some of the people whose liberty Beck does not have the courage to defend include gays and lesbians, undocumented immigrants, and union members.
  7. Because I have the right to equal justice, I will stand for those who are wrongly accused or unjustly blamed.
    .
    Yet Beck unjustly blames others incessantly. He falsely calls Van Jones a convicted felon. He falsely calls George Soros a Nazi collaborator. He blames the President, whom he calls a racist, for turning America into a socialist dictatorship.
  8. Because I have the right to knowledge, I will be accountable for myself and my children’s education…to live our lives in such a way that insures the continuation of truth.
    .
    Beck’s version of truth is a bastardization of the word. His lies occur with such frequency it’s hard to keep up.Plus, he bashes education every chance he gets. He regards it mostly as elitist or indoctrination.
  9. Because I have the right to pursue my dreams and keep the fruits of my labor, I have the responsibility to feed, protect and shelter my family, the less fortunate, the fatherless, the old and infirm.
    .
    Beck’s idea of protecting the less fortunate is to cut taxes for the wealthy and vital, life-saving services for poor. And what does he have against the motherless?
  10. Because I have a right to the truth, I will not bear false witness nor will not stand idly by as others do.
    .
    (See #7). Apparently Beck has no responsibility to refrain from repeating himself.

It would be understandable if Beck had broken one or two of these commandments. No one is perfect. But he has violated every single one of them on numerous occasions. Perhaps he is offering himself as a model of what not to do as a public service.

It is also interesting that Beck and his Tea Party followers, who have beatified the Founders and sanctified the Constitution as a divinely inspired document, are still so insistent on changing it or tacking on silly appendages that they don’t honor themselves.

This Just In: Media coverage of Beck’s planet-altering event was nearly non-existent. Beck is now whining about on his radio show:

“BBC, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, I don’t believe Fox was there. But everybody else under the sun was there. Everyone was there. Yet no one reported on what I said. It’s fascinating to me because they put the world on notice.”

Media Matters reports further that, not only did Fox News fail to report on the event, but it was also absent from FoxNews.com and the Fox Nation web site. Beck is now being ignored by even his most ardent (former) supporters. And perhaps the reason no one reported what he said is that he didn’t say anything worthy of reporting. It was just another load of evangelical snake oil and self aggrandizement. And, of course, an advertisement for his new Internet venture.

Glenn Beck Losing A Million Dollars On Israeli Rally

Posted by on August 22, 2011 at 3:11 am. 7 Comments :

Glenn Beck’s plan to hold a rally in Israel with the theme of “Restoring Courage” was never a particularly good idea. His history of anti-Semitism and Islamaphobia made him an unpopular figure to both sides in the tense regional conflict.

Glenn Beck

Now Beck is whining that his motives have been called into question and that the event may end up costing him a bundle.

The American broadcaster especially objected to the charge that he was doing the events for his own financial gain. He revealed that he was losing “about a million dollars” on the rallies, which he called “wildly expensive,” and said he was open to donations to fray the costs.

As is the case with anything Beck says, there is no way of knowing whether or not it is true. However, it is certainly false to suggest that if the event is actually in the red that that is evidence that he wasn’t in it for the money to begin with. It may still have been a nakedly profit seeking venture that just failed to make a profit. It was previously reported that the event sold out some 1,700 seats. If Beck can’t turn a profit with a sell out, it must have been dreadfully mismanaged.

As the event nears, Beck has attracted more critical attention from both Israelis and Muslims whom he has offended. A boycott has been called to discourage members of the Knesset from participating in the rally. Sen Joe Lieberman backed out of his commitment to attend, as did representatives Eric Cantor and Joe Walsh who were advised that they could not make the trip as official congressional business. But Jon Voight showed up so…..

Last week Beck took to his radio pulpit to lament that his new Internet venture, GBTV, may be “running out of time,” in an appeal for listeners to become subscribers. Today he traveled thousands of miles to beg for donations to help “fray the costs” of this boondoggle. It seems that since Beck lost his Fox News platform he has been reduced to pleading for alms in the fashion of traveling salvation show evangelists. But is that really such a steep fall for a former radio shock-jock whose partner was a chimpanzee?

Help Beck Lose More Money: Here is a list of Beck’s radio affiliates. Find the one nearest you and let them know that you refuse to listen to the station or patronize their advertisers until Beck is off the air.

Israelis Worried That Glenn Beck’s Rally Will Incite Violence

Posted by on August 18, 2011 at 9:12 pm. 5 Comments :

Glenn Beck Stay HomeNext week Glenn Beck will take his hate crusade to Israel, a nation that does not want him there and fears that his presence can only inflame tensions and create division. Beck is a proud enemy of peace with Palestine and rejects negotiated settlements with people he regards as heathens. As the date for Beck’s hatefest nears, more Israelis are speaking out against him:

“There are enough racists in Israel without importing them from the US,” Hadash MK Muhammad Barakei said. […] “There is a danger that the event will lead to people being harmed, and the police should have prevented it,” Barakei added.

MK Ahmed Tibi (UAL-Ta’al) called Beck “a bizarre, conservative, neo-fascist comedian who is motivated by a hatred of Islam.”

The danger that Beck may set off violence in Israel is not anecdotal. He has certainly set off violence in the United States. And the threat of violence was even acknowledged by Beck’s own security team when they advised him to change the original location of the rally due to security concerns. Ironic, isn’t it, that Beck should have to move his “Restoring Courage” rally because he’s afraid of violence.

Since then Beck has continued spewing rhetoric that can only incite more anger. The Christian Science Monitor reports that last week Beck insulted hundreds of thousands of Israelis who were protesting the lack of affordable housing. He implied that they were radical leftists and communists. In fact, polls show 87% of the population agreed with the protesters. This strident disrespect for the people of the nation he is visiting is not being well received. A well known conservative Israeli published an editorial criticizing both Beck and the local rightists who support him:

“[N]ow that Beck has spoken before the Knesset and is given the green light in the staging of his ‘Courage’ rally, he believes he has earned the right to pontificate about all matters Israeli. Specifically, he has called the current ‘tent city’ protests in Tel Aviv and other locations the doing of ‘communists,’ calling into question the financing of these protests and suggesting a sinister connection between the protesters in Israel and world socialism, framing the whole matter in the context of the sort of anarchists who protest G-8 meetings, and squeezing the square peg of what should be an internal Israeli matter into the round hole of his us-and-them, liberal-versus-conservative worldview. Whether he is right or not, let him go on back to where he came from and stick to things he might actually know a thing or two about, and let Jews and Israelis handle Jewish and Israeli matters.”

Finally, Beck’s event may not be getting much traction. Reports from the region suggest that he is being forced to take measures to prevent the whole affair from being a monumental embarrassment. Also from the CSMonitor:

“There are signs that Beck is struggling to promote his event. Writing on the left-leaning 972 blog, Mya Guarnieri notes an online ad seeking foreign citizens to act as ambassadors to ‘stand with Israel’ at the Aug. 24 event. She responded to an e-mail on the ad asking if participants would be paid for acting as ambassadors, and writes that a senior aide to Likud lawmaker Danny Danon responded, ‘depends where you are from.’ Mr. Danon is a Beck fan.”

Glenn Beck Messiah

Beck speaks so often of the risks he undertakes to spread his vile message that it would not be surprising to learn that he is hoping for trouble, and even encouraging it. He has literally alerted his audience to the prospect that he could be assassinated and enlisted them in an effort to make sure he is avenged. He has accused the Obama administration of plotting to kill him, and George Soros as well. His obsession with imagined assassins is pure Messianic delusion. He has had this to say about his Israeli Escapade:

“Will my event hurt foreign policy of the U.S.? I damn well hope so now.”
“If Israel falls the western way of life falls. That’s not hyperbole.”
“This may be it for our generation or for all mankind.”
“I will stand, I will speak, and in the end, if it be His will, I will die right alongside my brother.”

Let’s just hope that he doesn’t try to carry out his demented prophecy in a manner that harms the innocent.

Glenn Beck’s New Internet Venture Is Running Out Of Time

Posted by on August 17, 2011 at 6:16 pm. 5 Comments :

Glenn Beck BrokeThings must be getting pretty bad over at Glenn Beck’s place since he lost his Fox News pulpit. On his radio program today, Beck had to resort to begging his listeners to stave off his demise. It adds a whole new meaning to the title of his recent book: Broke. Beck begins his appeal by declaring that he opposes common free market methods of financing business:

Beck: I do not want outside investors. We have talked about it. We have had outside investors come to us. We have had hedge funds come to us. People want to invest in my business because we are creating jobs and creating wealth. I do not want outside investors because I do not want to have to answer to anyone else.

If he is creating so much wealth, then why is he forced to pass the plate to his radio disciples in order to stay afloat? And is he so inept that he can’t form a business relationship that preserves creative control of his programming? And if outside money is so repugnant to him, why does accept it in the form of advertising on GlennBeck.com and TheBlaze (although there are very few ads on either one)? Has he abandoned his control and principles on those sites by taking outside money. Apparently things are pretty dire, indeed.

Beck: But I will tell you that I believe we are running out of time. The truth has to be told. My model is to go directly to you and ask you for GBTV – if you would sign up for GBTV.com. I’m not asking you for charity. This isn’t PBS. I’m not gonna take it from you. If we have provided $5.00 of information to you a month, Would you please consider supporting us.

Beck’s remarks about not being PBS because his venture is not charity and he isn’t “gonna take it from you,” stretch the bounds of reason. First of all, PBS doesn’t take anything from anyone. It IS a charity and you are free to donate or not. And if you decline to donate you can still watch. GBTV, on the other hand, demands payment from you and prohibits viewing if you fail to comply.

One thing Beck gets right is that his GBTV is certainly not PBS. I have yet to see rodeo clowns telling fart jokes and deliberately lying to viewers on PBS. The PBS NewsHour has never speculated on an Arab Islamic/American Leftist coalition to bring about a global Caliphate. Frontline does not broadcast documentaries comparing the President to Hitler. And Masterpiece Theater hasn’t booked Ted Nugent as an economics analyst.

I don’t know if Beck is running out of time or not. Either he’s telling the truth and his business is floundering, or he’s lying and this is just a scam to fleece his followers. Either way he’s a slime ball. Some things never change.

[Flashback] Whining about protesters who were organizing a successful campaign to persuade advertisers to withhold their ads from Beck’s Fox News program, Beck boasted that no matter what happened he would rise like a phoenix – or the Messiah – or whatever:

“They can take my job and they can take my wealth but that’s okay – even if the powers to be, right now, succeed in making me poor, drum me out, and I’m just a worthless loser – which I’m just about that much above that now – I will only be stronger for it. I will use American ingenuity and my ingenuity to pull myself up, and I will find another way to get my message out on a platform that will be a thousand times more powerful!”

A thousand times? But you still have to beg for money and cry that time is running out?

Glenn Beck’s Tea Party Youth Camp

Posted by on August 2, 2011 at 8:17 pm. 5 Comments :

Glenn Beck's Tea Party Youth Camp

Last week Glenn Beck hit a new low when he compared scores of murdered teenagers at a summer camp in Norway to the Hitler Youth:

Beck: “As the thing started to unfold, and then there was a shooting at a political camp, which sounds a little like the Hitler Youth, or whatever. I mean, who does a camp for kids that’s all about politics?”

As it turns out, Beck does a camp for kids that’s all about politics. It’s part of his 912 Project. Sadly, this isn’t even the first time Beck has sunk to calling kids Nazis, and his bile was not reserved for foreigners either. On February 5, 2009, Beck said this about young Americans learning about the environment:

“Some may believe we’re on the road to the Hitler youth.”

When Beck isn’t calling kids Nazis, he’s calling them terrorists:

“There are a lot of universities that are as dangerous with the indoctrination of the children as terrorists are in Iran or North Korea.”

Higher education is one of Beck’s most frequent targets. That’s consistent with his mission to promote ignorance. He strongly advises his disciples to avoid accredited schooling, and on September 1, 2010, he took another swipe saying “We have been setting up reeducation camps. We call them universities.”

Despite his open hostility to young people, Beck has expressed an interest in exerting his influence on them. In fact, it is a priority that extends far beyond a trip to summer camp. In the waning days of his Fox News program, Beck told viewers that the reason he was leaving was because he wanted to “get to the youth.” He later told a live audience in Albany, New York that he intended to build a way to “deliver news directly to the youth of America.” This targeted focus on youth contrasts sharply with his typical viewer. Beck’s audience (along with the rest of Fox News and the Tea Party crowd) skews to an older demographic (the curmudgeon community) than the average of the nation at large.

What might have triggered this sudden interest in the juvenile set? It’s not as if kids were amongst his favorite people. He has a history of demeaning and insulting them. Earlier this year he ridiculed Girl Scouts who had launched a campaign to protect endangered orangutans. Beck’s response was to mock them saying “Keep killing the orangutans, the cookies are yummy.” He also belittled high school students in Tucson, Arizona for protesting the cancellation of Mexican-American studies classes. He portrayed young environmentalists promoting a rally as thugs. And he vilifies kids in general as “useful idiots” who are being “turned into…slaves.”

As an indication of the disrespect that Beck harbors for young folks, he repeatedly lambastes Al Gore for saying that “There are some things about our world that you know that older people don’t know.” Notwithstanding the manifest truth of that statement, Beck ridiculed the notion as an assault on parental authority, something Beck interprets more like parental tyranny.

Beck simply has no regard for the intelligence or insight of youth. He believes that kids are stupid, susceptible to manipulation, and best suited for staying mum and obeying orders. With such a derogatory attitude, Beck is unlikely to have much success appealing to the young demographic. And that’s a good thing considering that he thinks most of them are Nazis anyway.

Glenn Beck does not belong on the public airwaves. His appalling insult to the memory of the slaughtered kids in Norway should be sufficient to drive him off the air for good. Here is list of his radio stations across the country. Find the one nearest you and let them know that you will not listen to the station or patronize the advertisers until Beck is gone.

Glenn Beck: The Most Frustrated Man On The Planet

Posted by on July 29, 2011 at 3:06 pm. 1 Comments :

Poor Glenn Beck. He simply can’t avoid being victimized by all the forces of evil that surround him. What a burden it must be for him to bear. After all, all he did was liken a few dozen teenagers, who were murdered by an extremist Christian bigot, to the Hitler Youth. And now he is the subject of wrath by a world bent on destroying him.

Glenn Beck

Today Beck took his pity party another step down the path of victimhood:

“I gotta tell ya, I could be the most frustrated man on the planet this week because I have people smearing me in the press likes nobody’s business. The New York Times has a story out today that is such a smear job. Claiming I said things I never said. Never said.”

That’s right. Beck’s frustration runneth over. He’s certainly more frustrated than the parents of those massacred Marxist children. He must be more frustrated than the people of Norway and their law enforcement agencies. Elsewhere on the planet, his frustration probably exceeds that of the Japanese people who live near the Fukushima nuclear power plant, or the Sudanese embroiled in a bloody civil war, or even his fellow Americans who are facing a calamitous default that threatens to throw the world into a financial tailspin and force a credit rating downgrade that is a virtual tax on every American.

The smear job that Beck references is nothing more than people reporting his own words. Notice that he never states specifically what constitutes the smear. He can’t because it would reveal that no smear occurred. Then he wouldn’t be able to whine about what a martyr he is. He wouldn’t be able to whip up his disciples into a feverish mob. He wouldn’t be able to maintain his Messianic charade.

It’s time to take action and really give Beck something to whine about. This page has a list of the radio stations carrying Beck’s program. Please call or write the one nearest you and tell them what Beck said and that you will not listen to the station or patronize their advertisers until Beck is gone. Also, sign this petition from Media Matters.

Beck is also holding an event in Israel next month with the unseemly name of “Restoring Courage.” How can his Israeli hosts permit this to go on as scheduled after he insults the memory of Holocaust victims by throwing around aspersions regarding Hitler’s atrocities aimed at innocent kids? After this, whatever authorization Beck has to produce this event should be rescinded. Feel free to contact the Israeli Embassy and advise them of the sort of person that is heading their way:
Email: info@washington.mfa.gov.il / Phone: 202.364.5500

The Narcissistic Paranoia Of Glenn Beck

Posted by on July 28, 2011 at 10:46 am. 3 Comments :

Glenn BeckA few days ago, Glenn Beck told his radio audience that the murdered kids at a Norwegian summer camp were “like the Hitler Youth.” That repulsive comment, coming before the grieving families could even bury their loved ones, was received with horror by most of the world, but Beck refused to apologize. In fact, he defended it by insisting that if he wasn’t able to draw comparisons between teenaged massacre victims and Nazis that “We are going to be a society of gas chambers.”

For Beck it isn’t bad enough to defend his disgusting Nazi comparisons with more Nazi comparisons, he has now gone further to attempt to turn himself into the victim in all of this. I guess the scores of victims in Norway weren’t sufficiently sympathetic.

Here is an annotated account of Beck’s neurotic paranoia as expressed yesterday on his radio program:

“They’ve been taking something that I said completely out of context and they’re trying to just…they’re trying again to destroy me.”
You can hear for yourself whether anything was taken out of context. And if there’s one thing about which Beck is consistent, is that it is always about him and the forces out to destroy him.

“Give it your best shot gang. You tried to get me out of the mainstream media.”
Um…Remind me again, what show do you have on television now? Oh, that’s right, we got you canceled after getting more than 300 advertisers to rebuke you. Hopefully, that’s just the start.

“Be careful what you wish for. Because now I’ve got a 24 hour, 7 day a week network.”
What you’ve got is a friggin web site, Poindexter. So do I and about a billion other people. But don’t let me interrupt your delusions of grandeur.

“Oh wait, in a year from now you’ll pray for me to be a part of the mainstream media. You’ll pray.”
The only praying most people will be doing for you is for a cure for the brain disease that has turned you into a conspiracy monger with a Messiah complex.

“Bring it on. I am not afraid. If I go down, don’t worry. I’m doing my damnedest to make sure there are 30 million others like me who will never sit down.”
Cool. That means there will be plenty of seating for the rest of us. And trust me, if you go down no one will remember your name in a year.

This page has a list of the radio stations carrying Beck’s program. Please call or write the one nearest you and tell them what Beck said and that you will not listen to the station or patronize their advertisers until Beck is gone. Also, sign this petition from Media Matters.

Beck is also holding an event in Israel next month with the unseemly name of “Restoring Courage.” How can his Israeli hosts permit this to go on as scheduled after he insults the memory of Holocaust victims by throwing around aspersions regarding Hitler’s atrocities aimed at innocent kids? After this, whatever authorization Beck has to produce this event should be rescinded. Feel free to contact the Israeli Embassy and advise them of the sort of person that is heading their way:
Email: info@washington.mfa.gov.il / Phone: 202.364.5500

The Right-Wing Response To The Massacre In Norway: Drenched In Ignorance And Insensitivity

Posted by on July 27, 2011 at 4:25 pm. 11 Comments :

Last week’s tragedy in Norway has left the world stunned. The magnitude of the bloodbath is difficult to comprehend. As news of the massacre began to trickle out, speculation was rampant as to the perpetrator and the motive.

Not surprisingly, much of the early accounts falsely alleged an Al Qaeda connection. However, as facts started to infuse the reporting, it became clear that the suspect, Anders Breivik was an extremist, fundamentalist Christian, with harshly bigoted views toward Muslims, immigrants, and leftists. His manifesto resembled the ravings of Glenn Beck with talk of cultural Marxism and Islamic colonization. Yet even after Breivik’s motives were disclosed, the right-wing media has engaged in brazen finger-pointing and insensitivity toward the victims and other innocent parties. For instance…

1) A writer on Andrew Breitbart’s BigPeace website set out to whitewash Breivik’s right-wing Christianity: “This Norwegian terrorist was not a Christian or a conservative. He acted contrary to the teachings of the Bible and conservatives from Burke to Madison. He was instead a jihadist, blinded by an ideology who resorted to violence…”
While Breitbart’s crew is anxious to disassociate mainstream Christians from this atrocity, rightists in America rarely offer that distinction to Muslims who regard terrorists like Bin Laden as apostates and not representative of their faith.

2) On the other hand, CNN’s Erick Erickson unapologetically went after Muslims anyway: “The fact of the matter is violence and Islam may not be very common among American Muslims [sic], but internationally it is extremely common and can fairly well be considered mainstream within much of Islam.”
Remember, this was after Erickson learned that there was no Islamic connection to the massacre. It was also after he had accused Muslim’s of the crime before Breivik was captured.

3) A writer at RedState went off a cognitive cliff to claim that “We live in a world where we are perfectly happy to abort millions of children and then DEMAND to know WHY Anders Behring Breivik became the human sarcoma that he truly is.”
Never mind the fact that we already know that Breivik’s assault was spurred by his hatred for multiculturalism, the RedStaters, like all wingnuts, are determined to find a way to lay blame on any handy tenet of progressivism. Remember Pat Robertson blaming Hurricane Katrina on the gays?

4) Mark Steyn of the National Review is stumped as to why there have been allegations of Islamophobia: “So, if a blonde blue-eyed Aryan Scandinavian kills dozens of other blonde blue-eyed Aryan Scandinavians, that’s now an ‘Islamophobic’ mass murder?”
It is if he knew that Breivik explicitly targeted people associated with Norway’s Labour Party, whom he blamed for promoting multiculturalism.

5) Brian Kilmeade on Fox News queried his guest: “Are you surprised somewhat that western newspapers, in this case The New York Times seem to be jumping on the fact — they’re trying to equate Christian, what they say are Christian extremists, with Muslim extremists?”
Kilmeade utterly failed to grasp the irony that just hours before he and his network were baselessly accusing Muslims of committing the mass murder. Now he’s worried about the reputation of Christians despite the fact that the shooter was a Christian.

6) Professional Islamophobe, Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs found a unique way to blame Muslims even after she knew they were not involved “Anders Behring Breivik is responsible for his actions. If anyone incited him to violence, it was Islamic supremacists. If anything incited him to violence, it was the Euro-Med policy.
So according to Gellar, Muslims are responsible for violence that they cause themselves, as well as for violence caused by others who hate them.

7) After first asserting that the perpetrators were likely to have been Muslim terrorists, John Hinderaker of the PowerLine blog dug in saying “Was that wrong? Not at all. Any time mass murder attacks take place, it is not just likely but highly probable that they are the work of Muslim jihadists..”
This conveniently leaves open the opportunity to blame every future act of terrorism on Muslims, whether they are responsible or not.

8) As Norway mourns, it’s clear that the right-wing media has been boiling over with surreal speculation that is both derisive and bizarre. And you can’t allude to bizarre derision without acknowledging Glenn Beck, whose unconscionable remarks exceed all the other by disparaging the actual teenage victims even before they have been laid to rest.

“As the thing started to unfold, and then there was a shooting at a political camp, which sounds a little like the Hitler Youth, or whatever. I mean, who does a camp for kids that’s all about politics?”

Well, for one there is Glenn Beck’s own 912 Project that sponsors the “Tampa Liberty School,” a Tea Party-themed getaway for schoolchildren ages 8-12. But that doesn’t excuse Beck’s inference that the slaughtered camp-goers were akin to Hitler’s youth brigades.

All of these examples of ignorant bigotry took place AFTER it was known that the gunman was not Muslim, but an extremist Christian and far right activist. Not surprisingly, the conservative press was just as blindly prejudiced in their initial reactions to the breaking news.

CNN’s Erick Erickson Tweeted: “Terrorist bombing in Oslo. I bet you it was not Lutherans who did it.” Another writer at Andrew Breitbart’s BigPeace web site said: “Norway has a big Muslim problem. Before long we should know if Norway’s problem has just blown up in its face.” The author failed to provide a definition of what constitutes a “Muslim problem,” but it sounds disturbingly similar to what was once referred to as the “negro problem” in many of America’s southern states. Apparently he considers any presence of Muslims to be a problem. Filling in for Bill O’Reilly, Laura Ingraham announced “two deadly terror attacks in Norway, in what appears to be the work, once again, of Muslim extremists.” Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post said that “there is a specific jihadist connection here.” Thomas Jocelyn of the Weekly Standard said that “in all likelihood the attack was launched by part of the jihadist hydra.”

The despicably bigoted opinions expressed by the prominent, establishment commentators above reveal a dark and disturbing side of American conservatism. Their views percolate throughout the rightosphere and infect the broader community of conservatives. That endorsement of hate results in even more extreme views, like those expressed by this member of the Maine Tea Party: Man of the YEAR 2011 – Anders Behring Breivik!!!

Maine Tea Party - Breivik

If cooler (saner) minds don’t rise to moderate this overt hostility, the potential for more of this violence will persist, and there is no reason why it would not occur here in the United States. In fact, right-wing extremists have already demonstrated their capacity to do harm, as the survivors of Dr. Tiller, or the targets of Byron Williams will inform you. And lest we not forget Timothy McVeigh’s attack on a government that his militia-bred philosophy viewed as too liberal.

Glenn Beck Says Murdered Norway Kids Were Like Hitler Youth

Posted by on July 26, 2011 at 1:43 am. 3 Comments :

Glenn Beck has said a lot of repulsive things. A LOT!

“When I see a 9/11 victim family on television, or whatever, I’m just like, ‘Oh shut up’ I’m so sick of them because they’re always complaining.”
~ Glenn Beck on his radio show, Sept. 9, 2005

“The only [Katrina victims] we’re seeing on television are the scumbags.”
~ Glenn Beck on his radio show, Sept. 9, 2005

“Reformed rabbis are generally political in nature. It’s almost like Islam – radicalized Islam.”
~ Glenn Beck says Reformed (sic) rabbis are like radical Muslims, February 22, 2011

He’s called President Obama a racist, and fantasized about choking Michael Moore to death, and declared that progressives have to be shot in the head to be stopped. But he may have outdone himself today when talking about the teenage victims of mass murder in Norway:

“As the thing started to unfold, and then there was a shooting at a political camp, which sounds a little like the Hitler Youth, or whatever. I mean, who does a camp for kids that’s all about politics?”

First of all, Glenn Beck’s 912 Project does a camp for even younger kids (8-12) that’s all about Tea Party politics.

More importantly, Beck must not be allowed to get away with these despicable episodes wherein he insults innocent people, in this case dead children while their families are still mourning. When Beck called the President a racist Color of Change initiated an advertiser boycott of Beck’s Fox News program that resulted in over 300 advertisers declining to permit their ads on his show. Now his show is history.

Glenn BeckIf there were ever a time for citizen action it’s now. The radio stations that carry Beck’s program are also dependent of ad revenue. If we have to go after the advertisers then we know that’s a proven path. But we can start by informing his local stations that what they are broadcasting is unacceptable. If Beck can get booted from television for calling the President a racist, he should be similarly punished for associating murdered children with Hitler’s youth brigades. That is simply beyond the pale. Beck is a father himself who presumably would be mortified if his kids were murdered and some shock jock cavalierly dismissed them as Nazis.

This page has a list of the radio stations carrying Beck’s program. Please call or write the one nearest you and tell them what Beck said and that you will not listen to the station or patronize their advertisers until Beck is gone. Also, sign this petition from Media Matters.

Beck is also holding an event in Israel next month with the unseemly name of “Restoring Courage.” How can his Israeli hosts permit this to go on as scheduled after he insults the memory of Holocaust victims by throwing around aspersions regarding Hitler’s atrocities aimed at innocent kids? The event has already been forced to change its location due to security concerns. After this, whatever authorization Beck has to produce this event should be rescinded. Feel free to contact the Israeli Embassy and advise them of the sort of person that is heading their way:
Email: info@washington.mfa.gov.il / Phone: 202.364.5500

[Update] Beck made a veiled reference in defense of his Hitler Youth comments the following day. It was neither an apology, nor an acknowledgement of the insensitivity he displayed. Instead, he argued that if he wasn’t able to draw comparisons between massacre victims and Nazis that “We are going to be a society of gas chambers.” And that, of course, is another reference to Nazis, this time directed toward people who are properly offended by his Hitler Youth Remarks.

A Fearful Glenn Beck Is Moving His Restoring Courage Rally. Really?

Posted by on July 19, 2011 at 3:49 pm. 6 Comments :

OK – Don’t laugh. Glenn Beck has announced that the location of his August 24 “Restoring Courage” rally is being moved because he is afraid that there might be violence. So before the event heralding Beck’s celebration of courage even begins he succumbs to a fear of some unspecified threat.

Glenn Beck - Messiah

This is precisely the reason that the word “irony” was coined by some prescient ancestor. Beck said that his security team was “a little nervous” about a report that 40,000 Muslims would be just up the hill from him (yeah, sure). He talked about the risk due to the volatility of the region and a warning that in the Middle East, “these people play for keeps.”

Did Beck just become aware of the fact that Israel has been the target of terrorism and a hotbed of hostility? Did he really plan his big party without ever considering the notion that bringing his arch-conservative message and disciples to a place that is regarded as holy by feuding religions might pose a bit of a security challenge?

Actually, Beck says that he did consider this and opted to do it anyway. He says his change of heart is partially due to the risk that would be assumed by others in his entourage. That’s very considerate of him except, why wasn’t he worried about them prior to this? Did Israel just get dangerous last week? Why does he say now that potential violence could spark a war, but he never considered that a problem before?

I think Beck is right in a way. He definitely represents a security risk to Israel due to his overt hatred of Muslims and his frequent stereotyping of them as terrorists and conspirators of a grand, global caliphate, in conjunction with European socialists and American progressives. I’m surprised the Israelis even approved of the event. Beck once said, in a moment of inspired idiocy, that 10% of Muslims are terrorists (that would be about 160 million Muslims) and they want to summon the anti-Christ and bring about the Apocalypse. Which is funny, because that’s what Beck seems determined to do.

Glenn Beck - The Finger of God

Beck is certain that he is guided by God. He delivered a delusional speech in April of 2010 wherein he revealed that “God is giving a plan to me.” And with regard to this event in Israel, he implied today that God had a hand in that as well:

“When I picked this location, I didn’t pick it. I truly believe it was selected for me. I don’t think I really had a choice.

But now Beck is changing the location of his Courage-palooza out of fear. Is he defying God’s will? It wouldn’t be the first time. God has made it clear what He thinks of Glenn Beck. God is pissed! He has said so unambiguously. Deuteronomy 28:27-29, describes the punishment from the Lord if you should fail to follow his laws:

27: The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.
28: The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart.
29: And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.

The specificity is uncanny. We hardly need to speak of Egypt and how badly Beck botched that. The emerods (or hemorrhoids) he has already had, and it nearly killed him. The potential blindness he announced tearfully last year. The madness is self evident. Even his prosperity is being plundered as his television program was canceled and numerous radio stations have dropped his show. We are seeing prophecy fulfilled.

Indeed, Glenn Beck is afraid, as well he should be. He running from Muslims. He running from progressives. He is running from America. And he is running from God. The only thing that Beck will be restoring on August 24 will be the universal impression of him as a mad televangelist with a Messiah complex.