Where in Washington, D.C. is Reverend Moon?: Your tax dollars at work

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4/07/2004

Your tax dollars at work

"Instead of paying me back," the Washington Times owner once said in an open suggestion to Republicans, "take care of my missionaries." And so they did. In 2002, a man once known as "Reverend Moon's Man in Canada" quietly received almost $500,000 in Abstinence-Only grant money from the U.S. Department of Health. I've already chronicled some of the bizarre ways it's been spent. ("Drink out of this Dixie cup of spit, children. What? Too gross? Well, is it so different from sharing your other precious bodily fluids with a stranger?")

Now, the federally-funded group -- Richard Panzer's "Free Teens USA" -- has launched a spinoff site, "CultureMachine.com," which is registered to Panzer's nonprofit. The idea is to counter the evil tide of booty-slapping depravity we hear on the radio, by promoting positive teen pop music recorded at the "Culture Machine Studios." Sample lyrics, from a young singer-songwriter in Sun Myung Moon's movement:

They keep saying you won’t get nowhere
If you follow that sun
If you follow that moon

That's what they're saying, huh? Clearly, Laurel is a babe on track to be the break-away star of Gorenfeld.net, easily beating out Kathleen Parker and Chung Hwan Kwak. I think we'll be hearing a lot more from this young lady.

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Welcome to the Gilded Age

"John Gorenfeld: The first man on the Moon"
-- Ana Marie Cox ("Wonkette," Time.com Washington editor)

"Thanks to the superb reporting of John Gorenfeld on Salon.com and his indispensable Web page, Moon's shenanigans are routinely scrutinized. Maybe some of Gorenfeld's discernment will rub off on preachers and politicians."
-- Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist

"The scene summoned the moment in Robert Graves's "I, Claudius" when Emperor Caligula declares himself a god in the Roman Senate; a fawning solon instantly offers a prayer."
-- New York Times editorial on the Crown of Peace scandal

"I am happy that our work is being challenged and improved in consistency, openness and coordination, by the accountability your spotlight demands. I am not talking about simply removing stuff from websites..."
-- Moon spokesman the Rev. Phil Schanker

"Instead of welcoming Reverend Moon, this government put me into prison. History will reveal the truth in the future and the American government and people will realize what an evil thing they did. What will they do then? They will bow down. Again, that is the way of natural subjugation." -- Moon in 1987

"A political movement basing its appeal on old fashioned patriotism and family values simply cannot justify an alliance with a cult that preys on the disintegration of the American family and advocates allegiance to an international social order operating with cell-like secrecy."
-- Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA)