Why Do they Hate Glenn Beck?

They will not find many who support Israel more than the right wing talk show hosts. This is from Pajamas Media Roger L. Simon

Rabbis Spend $100K to Slam Beck for Slamming Soros

Four-hundred lib rabbis — the kind that give sanctimonious sermons about the environment at Westchester synagogues — have banded together to slam Glenn Beck with a $100K ad in the Wall Street Journal. According to the clerics, Beck has been unfairly attacking George Soros for collaborating with the Nazis in WWII when the billionaire was a fourteen-year old — something that Soros himself admits and, incredibly, doesn’t feel guilty about.

Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes interviewed Soros about his “youth.” Given the rabbis’ WSJ ad, it seems worth reprinting a transcript of a significant part of that interview here:

KROFT: (Voiceover) And you watched lots of people get shipped off to the death camps.

Mr. SOROS: Right. I was 14 years old. And I would say that that’s when my character was made.

KROFT: In what way?

Mr. SOROS: That one should think ahead. One should understand and–and anticipate events and when–when one is threatened. It was a tremendous threat of evil. I mean, it was a–a very personal experience of evil.

KROFT: My understanding is that you went out with this protector of yours who swore that you were his adopted godson.

Mr. SOROS: Yes. Yes.

KROFT: Went out, in fact, and helped in the confiscation of property from the Jews.

Mr. SOROS: Yes. That’s right. Yes.

KROFT: I mean, that’s–that sounds like an experience that would send lots of people to the psychiatric couch for many, many years. Was it difficult?

Mr. SOROS: Not–not at all. Not at all. Maybe as a child you don’t–you don’t see the connection. But it was–it created no–no problem at all.

KROFT: No feeling of guilt?

Mr. SOROS: No.

KROFT: For example that, ‘I’m Jewish and here I am, watching these people go. I could just as easily be there. I should be there.’ None of that?

Mr. SOROS: Well, of course I c–I could be on the other side or I could be the one from whom the thing is being taken away. But there was no sense that I shouldn’t be there, because that was–well, actually, in a funny way, it’s just like in markets–that if I weren’t there–of course, I wasn’t doing it, but somebody else would–would–would be taking it away anyhow. And it was the–whether I was there or not, I was only a spectator, the property was being taken away. So the–I had no role in taking away that property. So I had no sense of guilt.

Go read it all.  It is very hard to understand the liberals take on Israel, they are usually for the underdog. They seem to not realize every leader in the Islamist countries has a goal of completely eradicating Israel.

Thank You Glenn Beck, $5.8 Million for SOWF

This is from the military blog, The Thunder Run. I'm posting only portions so you can read it all at the website.

Glenn Beck Rally Raises $5.8 Million for SOWF

Through its partnership with radio/television talk show host Glenn Beck, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation is pleased to announce they have raised $5.8 million, far exceeding the original goal of $3 million, thanks to the extraordinary generosity of Glenn Beck fans.

The public and businesses were moved by a series of radio and television promotions through the Glenn Beck Program which highlighted the foundation's programs to provide support and assistance to the families of wounded and fallen military special operations personnel. The SOWF was recently awarded its fifth consecutive 4-star rating for its financial efficiency. The promotion campaign, which included an online auction featuring collectible items, culminated with the Restoring Honor Rally held at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, on Aug. 28. 

You see, the people who went to Washington, and many of those who could not, definitely support our military and are happy to put their money on the table for those who serve.
Be sure to read it all here.

"To be able to burn the kind of light bulb I want,"

One of the major purposes of the the Glenn Beck Rally.  This quote is from an editorial by Ruth Marcus in the Washington Post.  Here is the whole quote:

But among those in Saturday's throng, the linkage between faith and libertarian-leaning politics seemed obvious. 

"We've lost our morality. The country is headed in the wrong direction by removing God from everything," said Bob Erdt, a retired Ford engineer from Michigan, explaining his participation. Then, Erdt shifted seamlessly to the fiscal side. "We're spending way too much money that we don't have," he said. "Anybody with any common sense or honor or morality knows we can't be spending like this and not bringing the country to ruin."

Asked what had inspired her to fly to the capital from Colorado, Andrea Carrasco started with God and ended with light bulbs.

She came, Carrasco said, to "ask God to restore the country. Our freedom is lost. My freedoms are lost. To be able to preach anywhere we want, to have God in our schools, to drive any kind of car we want and if I want to drive a gas guzzler, I can, if I want to eat a lot of sugar and salt, and I shouldn't be forced to buy medical care."

Carrasco paused, but only briefly. "To be able to burn the kind of light bulb I want," she added. "The list goes on."

Even with that Ruth Marcus still doesn't get it.  She begins the article with this:

I left the Glenn Beck rally worried that I didn't have much of a story.

It was all revival meeting, no political fireworks. The news reports accurately likened the atmosphere to that of a church picnic -- and no reporter wants to write about a church picnic.

But then I realized: The abundance of religiosity was the news. Beck is offering -- and whatever the precise crowd count on Saturday, a whole lot of people seemed to be buying -- a new form of fusion politics, melding the anti-government, anti-spending, anti-tax fervor of the Tea Party with the faith-based agenda of the religious right.

And ends with this:

It's too early to know whether Beck's bridge between social and fiscal conservatism is sturdy enough to withstand the conflicting pulls. Already there is edginess among traditional leaders of the religious right about Beck's bona fides.
Another question is whether the linkage between the two wings risks limiting the Tea Party's appeal to independent voters worried about the deficit but at risk of being turned off by overt religiosity or hard-line social conservatism.

Beck's brand of messianic politics feels creepy to me -- but it is clearly compelling to thousands. Make that hundreds of thousands. This was one church picnic worth covering.

The religiosty was news to her, but she missed the biggest message of how many would turn out because they are so dissatisfied at the direction of the country over the past 60 years.  Read it all  here. 

Is Glenn Beck the one carrying the Message to Garcia?

This old essay "A Message to Garcia" by Earl Hubbard in 1899 was mentioned on another matter in an email I recieved today.  I wondered if it is still taught in schools or college. So I did a Google search and read it for the first time in many years.  The last lines really struck me, and I thought maybe serendipity was at work.  Here's the quote:

 And the man who, when given a letter for Garcia, quietly takes the missive, without asking any idiotic questions, and with no lurking intention of chucking it into the nearest sewer, or of doing aught else but deliver it, never gets "laid off" nor has to go on a strike for higher wages.

Civilization is one long anxious search for just such individuals.

Anything such a man asks shall be granted. He is wanted in every city, town and village - in every office, shop, store and factory. The world cries out for such: he is needed and needed badly - the man who can "Carry a Message to Garcia."

So who will send a letter to Garcia?  

Did Glenn Beck just carry that message?  What do you think?  Read the story behind "A Message to Garcia" and the essay here.

Restoring America's Honor

If you did not watch on C-span you missed a great revival meeting.  And if you didn't watch it on C-span you missed it.  None of the cable or networks carried it. It was remarkable.  Apparently the folks at media matters claimed one remark must have been political, that was all they could find to say against it.  Even the Washington Post is admitting that probably 300,000 to 5,00,000 people attended.  You know what that means don't you? Over 5,000,000 people attended.  There were no signs, there were flags, most of them the Stars and Stripes, a few people held the Gadsden Flag and some had it on their tee shirts.  The only political type thing anyone could factually find.

If you want to watch it C-Span should replay it but they also have a link to watch a video on their site.  When I went to the site it is temporarily unavailable, probably too many people trying to view it. It is well worth the time to watch.

Glenn Beck at CPAC

"Hello, my name is the Republican Party and I have a problem. I'm addicted to spending and big government."

Read this in a post about the event at the Townhall blog.

Responses to Glenn Beck

There are a lot of stories in the news and on the networks about the Van Jones statement. This is all in response to the Glenn Beck show. Many bloggers worked on getting this information out but the Glenn Beck show reaches people who do not read blogs. The Gateway Pundit covers it pretty well this morning.
Here are some links to the stories, the statement and responses to that:
Gateway Pundit
The American Spectator
Jake Tapper - ABC news
The Politico

If you read all these you will pretty well have it covered.

The Five Pledges

I received this in an email from a friend. Before I post emails I like to trace their origins, if I can. This is from the Glenn Beck show of August 28th. He has a pretty version of it posted on his site.

To Congress, The 5 Pledges

1. I believe in a balanced budget and therefore will vote for a freeze in government spending until that goal is realized.

2. I believe government should not increase the financial burden on its citizenry during a difficult economic times, therefore I will oppose all tax increases until our economy has
rebounded.

3. I believe more than four decades of US dependence on foreign oil is a travesty, therefore I will support an energy plan that calls for immediately increasing usage of all domestic resources including nuclear energy, natural gas and coal as necessary.

4. I believe in the sovereignty and security of our country and therefore will support measures to close our borders except for designated immigration points so we will know who is entering and why. I will vehemently oppose any measure giving another country, the United Nations, or any other entity power over US citizens.

5. I believe the United States of America is the greatest country on earth and therefore will not apologize for policies or actions which have served to free more and feed more people around the world than any other nation on the planet.