Scott K's Open Salon Blog

Bush: Iraq Must Be Invaded to Thwart Gog and Magog

Fri, 7 Aug 2009 13:08:27 -0400

A French Revelation, or The Burning Bush

JAMES A. HAUGHT

Incredibly, President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac in early 2003 that Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog, the Bible’s satanic agents of the Apocalypse.

Honest. This isn’t a joke. The president of the United States, in a top-secret phone call to a major European ally, asked for French troops to join American soldiers in attacking Iraq as a mission from God.

Now out of office, Chirac recounts that the American leader appealed to their “common faith” (Christianity) and told him: “Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East…. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled…. This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins.”

This bizarre episode occurred while the White House was assembling its “coalition of the willing” to unleash the Iraq invasion. Chirac says he was boggled by Bush’s call and “wondered how someone could be so superficial and fanatical in their beliefs.”

After the 2003 call, the puzzled French leader didn’t comply with Bush’s request. Instead, his staff asked Thomas Romer, a theologian at the University of Lausanne, to analyze the weird appeal. Dr. Romer explained that the Old Testament book of Ezekiel contains two chapters (38 and 39) in which God rages against Gog and Magog, sinister and mysterious forces menacing Israel. Jehovah vows to smite them savagely, to “turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,” and slaughter them ruthlessly. In the New Testament, the mystical book of Revelation envisions Gog and Magog gathering nations for battle, “and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.”

In 2007, Dr. Romer recounted Bush’s strange behavior in Lausanne University’s review, Allez Savoir. A French-language Swiss newspaper, Le Matin Dimanche, printed a sarcastic account titled: “When President George W. Bush Saw the Prophesies of the Bible Coming to Pass.” France’s La Liberte likewise spoofed it under the headline “A Small Scoop on Bush, Chirac, God, Gog and Magog.” But other news media missed the amazing report.

Subsequently, ex-President Chirac confirmed the nutty event in a long interview with French journalist Jean-Claude Maurice, who tells the tale in his new book, Si Vous le Répétez, Je Démentirai (If You Repeat it, I Will Deny), released in March by the publisher Plon.

Oddly, mainstream media are ignoring this alarming revelation that Bush may have been half-cracked when he started his Iraq war. My own paper, The Charleston Gazette in West Virginia, is the only U.S. newspaper to report it so far. Canada’s Toronto Star recounted the story, calling it a “stranger-than-fiction disclosure … which suggests that apocalyptic fervor may have held sway within the walls of the White House.” Fortunately, online commentary sites are spreading the news, filling the press void.

The French revelation jibes with other known aspects of Bush’s renowned evangelical certitude. For example, a few months after his phone call to Chirac, Bush attended a 2003 summit in Egypt. The Palestinian foreign minister later said the American president told him he was “on a mission from God” to defeat Iraq. At that time, the White House called this claim “absurd.”

Recently, GQ magazine revealed that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld attached warlike Bible verses and Iraq battle photos to war reports he hand-delivered to Bush. One declared: “Put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.”

It’s awkward to say openly, but now-departed President Bush is a religious crackpot, an ex-drunk of small intellect who “got saved.” He never should have been entrusted with the power to start wars.

For six years, Americans really haven’t known why he launched the unnecessary Iraq attack. Official pretexts turned out to be baseless. Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction after all, and wasn’t in league with terrorists, as the White House alleged. Collapse of his asserted reasons led to speculation about hidden motives: Was the invasion loosed to gain control of Iraq’s oil—or to protect Israel—or to complete Bush’s father’s vendetta against the late dictator Saddam Hussein? Nobody ever found an answer.

Now, added to the other suspicions, comes the goofy possibility that abstruse, supernatural, idiotic, laughable Bible prophecies were a factor. This casts an ominous pall over the needless war that has killed more than four thousand young Americans and cost U.S. taxpayers perhaps $1 trillion.

James A. Haught is the editor of the Charleston Gazette (West Virginia) and a Free Inquiry senior editor.

While I knew Bush was a nutjob, this still surprises me and frightens me deeply. Why, oh why, is this not on the front page and top story of every news organization in America???

When foreign policy, particularly war policy, is being made based on fundamentalist religion (regardless whether it’s Christianity, Islam, or even Mormonism), every person in America should be very, very concerned.

Strike that- I meant every rational, thinking person in America.

Why They Won't Abandon the Birther Conspiracy Theory

Thu, 6 Aug 2009 14:08:45 -0400

This excerpt below tends to explain why so many right-wingers still cling to the "birther" conspiracy theory despite it being debunked time after time:

The problem not only with fundamentalist Christians but with Republicans in general is not that they act on blind faith, without thinking. The problem is that they are incorrigible doubters with an insatiable appetite for Evidence. What they get off on is not Believing, but in having their beliefs tested. That's why their conversations and their media are so completely dominated by implacable bogeymen: marrying gays, liberals, the ACLU, Sean Penn, Europeans and so on. Their faith both in God and in their political convictions is too weak to survive without an unceasing string of real and imaginary confrontations with those people — and for those confrontations, they are constantly assembling evidence and facts to make their case.

But here's the twist. They are not looking for facts with which to defeat opponents. They are looking for facts that ensure them an ever-expanding roster of opponents. They can be correct facts, incorrect facts, irrelevant facts, it doesn't matter. The point is not to win the argument, the point is to make sure the argument never stops. Permanent war isn't a policy imposed from above; it's an emotional imperative that rises from the bottom. In a way, it actually helps if the fact is dubious or untrue (like the Swift-boat business), because that guarantees an argument. You're arguing the particulars, where you're right, while they're arguing the underlying generalities, where they are.

Once you grasp this fact, you're a long way to understanding what the Hannitys and Limbaughs figured out long ago: These people will swallow anything you feed them, so long as it leaves them with a demon to wrestle with in their dreams.

-Matt Taibbi, "Bush Like Me", Rolling Stone, October 2004

How They've Ruined 'So You Think You Can Dance'

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:07:17 -0400

WARNING: This blog post contains spoilers about the most recent episodes of So You Think You Can Dance. Don't read it unless you're caught up on the results standings.

One of the things I love about the show So You Think You Can Dance is watching true talent in action. For example, check out the versatility of my favorite couple Janette and Brandon. Despite being completely different types of dances and neither of the dancer's specialties, I thought they nailed the two numbers they were asked to perform this past week.

First there was an Argentine Tango:

Then later they followed it up by playing a pair of cat burglars in a really fun jazz routine by choreographer Wade Robson:

What I don't like about this season of the show is the obvious attempt at manipulating voters the producers are doing, not for artistic reasons, but because they want certain dancers to make it to the Final 10. For those of you that don't know, the Final 10 go on tour, and obviously the producers want dancers who have big fan bases to make it so that the tour will sell more tickets. I know that the judges have done this in years past, but it has never seemed so blatant as this year primarily because of one certain dancer.

Phillip Chbeeb is a hip-hop dancer and has no formal training. He is amazing to watch when he performs in his own style, but let's be honest: he has sucked at the other styles of dance he's performed. In a deliberate move to help him, Phillip and his partner have seemed to perform hip-hop more than they should have if they were "randomly" drawing the styles of dance. In fact, at least one of the times he and his partner Jeanine performed hip-hop, the show made no mention of the couple randomly drawing the style of dance like they usually do. On those occasions where Phillip had to perform other dance genres, the judges overlooked an incredible amount of clumsy footwork and poor technique that they normally tear other dancers apart for. This was extremely evident to me in their critique of his jive dance this week. Compared to jive routines we've see in the past on the show, he was absolutely horrendous.

Interestingly enough, I tried to find the video of this jive routine online to include in this post but wasn't able to. It seems that Fox issued take-down notices to the few copies that existed. Isn't it strange that they would demand that dance be taken down whereas they seem to have no problem allowing Phillip's much better hip-hop routines to stay on YouTube?

Did you also notice how upset judge Nigel Lythgoe got at the choreographers for giving Phillip and Jeanine such a horrible Russian folk routine? I am willing to bet that it was because after watching this disaster, he knew that there was no way the couple would stay out of the bottom three. I mean, come on, who's going to pick up the phone and vote for this?

When Phillip did end up in the bottom three and judges had little choice but to eliminate him, Nigel and the other producers made special arrangements for Phillip (and Caitlin, the other dance eliminated and another favorite of Nigel's) to go the tour with Final 10. Yay! Everybody's happy, right? Not really. How is this fair to those dancers who earned their spots in the Final 10? This just reinforced my theory that the producers were giving special treatment to Phillip to get him into the Final 10 so he'd be on tour. When that didn't happen, they took him anyway.

I know that So You Think You Can Dance (like American Idol and the other talent shows of this ilk) is first and foremost a TV show designed to make the producers lot of money. I'm not naive about the idea that certain performers are chosen over others not because of their talent, but because they make for better television. What I'm pissed off about is that they still try to pretend this is strictly a talent competition and the judges' critiques are based strictly on dancing ability. As a member of the television audience, I'm insulted. This season the producer's manipulation actually got in the way of the competition itself and ruined a show I used to love.

Here's Why

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:06:12 -0400

I know, I know.

We're all getting sick of the 24/7 every channel plus the Internet coverage of Michael Jackson's death. I'm right there with you. I've heard some of you question why they are making such a big deal of it, but although I'm tired of hearing about it myself (and wish they cover a little other news too), I understand why it's such a big story. Not since Princess Diana has a death been as truly significant to the world-at-large.

The undeniable truth of the matter is this: Michael Jackson, for all his talent, weirdness, and flaws, made a huge impact on pop culture. That can not be understated. His music spanned decades and successfully crossed racial barriers that opened the door for many rappers and other artists. His moonwalk on the Motown 25th Anniversary Special inspired leagues of young dancers (as evidenced by a recent So You Think You Can Dance bio of one of the contestants). He helped turn music videos into an art form, and he spearheaded some notable humanitarian efforts such as "We Are the World."

I read recently that Michael Jackson (in particular the Thriller video) was the reason for MTV's success, and it would have never made it without him. In turn, MTV was the reason for cable television's success. As someone who remembers gathering with brother, sister, and visiting cousins to watch Thriller every hour on the hour when it debuted (much to the consternation of my grandparents), I can attest to how this is true. Keep in mind that this was made possible only after us kids lobbied the heck out of my notoriously-frugal parents to get cable so we wouldn't miss the Thriller premier.

Yes, I know, Michael had those pedophile charges against him. Though we may never know for certain due to the way they were settled out of court, my personal belief is that the charges were probably in some way true. I think that Michael was in many ways robbed of his own childhood, and that his pedophiliac obsession with young boys was a disturbed attempt to recapture it. Unfortunately, too many people around Michael were interested in him more as a product than as a human and didn't encourage him to get the help he needed. While we shouldn't just shrug off any crimes against children he may have committed, they don't change the influence Michael Jackson's life had on the world.

So am I personally devastated by Michael Jackson's death? No. I had to adjust to the shock of losing such an iconic figure, but unlike Princess Diana's death, I haven't shed a single tear. Michael Jackson's life was incredibly tragic in so many ways, but the sudden, doleful method of his death was somehow appropriate. It will be remembered in much the same way the deaths of Princess Diana, Elvis, and John Lennon are, and I think that would have pleased him very much.

The Wisdom (ahem) of Celine Dion

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:06:53 -0400

"It feels like when Kennedy died."

-Celine Dion, who was born in 1968, speaking to CNN’s Larry King about Michael Jackson's death

Maybe she meant JFK, Jr since John F. Kennedy died in 1961 long before her birth (although I really, really doubt it).