Where in Washington, D.C. is Reverend Moon?

"Hierarchies of Misery"

John Gorenfeld — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:35:00 +0000

Hi, everyone. Haven't had time to update the site lately, as I've had my hands full working on edits for the new book, due out in March.

But if you're seized by a desire to return to the exotic carnival chronicled here--in which politicians, neo-Confederate newspaper editors and Religious Right moralists play games with Sun Myung Moon, the Washington Times publisher who describes himself as Lord of the Second Advent--then you could do much worse than to visit Scoobie Davis's great new blog, The Real Sun Myung Moon.

Come to think of it, it might have been Scoobie (the SoCal filmmaker, surfer and party crasher) who first drew my attention to Moon. He is thus indirectly responsible for the fact that I recently found myself at an airy hotel ballroom in Burlingame, Calif., watching a roomful of people drink strange juice, provided by the Unification Church in packets the size of the creamer cups at Denny's.

That tour (though not the stop in Burlingame) was perplexingly attended by Dinesh D'Souza, the conservative scold and author of The Enemy At Home. One man who wants to know why is Rick Perlstein, author of the terrific Barry Goldwater biography Before the Storm.

While you are at it, also take a look at Christopher S. Stewart's new piece in Conde Nast Portfolio on the church and its guns.

Oh, and the Washington Times is hiring, if you want to edit the Reverend Moon's newspaper. It's sort of sad, it doesn't seem as if anyone wants to.

FBI investigates white supremacist death threats from friend of Washington Times editors

John Gorenfeld — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 15:43:00 +0000

Former Washington Times contributing writer Bill White (right) is behind harassment of writer Leonard Pitts, Jr.

Quite a number of African-American community leaders have welcomed the Rev. Sun Myung Moon as a modern-day Martin Luther King, Jr. One commentator has called him a role model for black fatherhood, even hailing his mass weddings as an antidote to "the imagined lure of thug life."

In fact, as Bill Berkowitz reported, such have been the efforts of the Unification Church to identify itself with the black civil rights legacy that it won $80,000 in federal funds to celebrate King's birthday. Moon's son, the charming Hyun Jin, has even said: "It has been my father's work that's really raised Martin Luther King onto the national level, to be respected nationally."

Then there the father's other work--pouring $3 billion since 1982 into the Washington Times, which has become a veritable employment agency for racist loons.

A former Times-man now reports that the man who is whipping up a racial harassment campaign against Leonard Pitts, Jr., syndicated columnist, is a good friend and likely soulmate of Times editors.

His name is Bill White and he enjoys wearing Nazi uniforms. He has written four pieces for the Times and he has been quoted by the paper as an authority on some crackpot alternate money proposal--the stuff of white militiamen who claim the Articles of Confederation were never thrown out, we're technically still under Admiralty Law and so all taxes are illegal if you think about it...

But back to the point. White runs the Web site Overthrow.com, whose members are now facing FBI investigation for having printed Pitts's street address and whipping up hatred.

"Frankly, if some loony took the info and killed him, I wouldn't shed a tear," White told a reporter. "That also goes for your whole newsroom."

In 1999, White befriended Robert Stacy McCain, an editor the Times stood by after it was reported in the New York Press that his were the fingers behind a series of postings to the Web site Free Republic, describing interracial romance as repulsive and defending the murderers of Emmett Till.

Bill White also claims to know the wife of Times editor Francis Coombs through some of the same up-with-white-people conferences they attend. Mrs. Kester's contributions to the Times, comparing Mexican immigrants to filthy orc hordes have drawn the attention of the Southern Poverty Law Center. She has reportedly told White that the paper's management won't let her attack Jews the way she wants.

White has also contributed four pieces to the Times and his ideas have been reprinted in the paper's round-up of thoughtful commentary from other outlets.

Reagan: Sorry, Orrin, no pardon for Moon

John Gorenfeld — Fri, 25 May 2007 18:26:00 +0000

Posing with News World, Moon's pre-Washington Times tabloid

From the Salt Lake Tribune, a discovery in the Reagan diaries that sheds light on Orrin Hatch's surprising recent turn at playing Jim Steinman to the Unification Church's Meat Loaf. (The senator-songwriter co-wrote a tune for the 2004 Crown Of Peace coronation.)

WASHINGTON - President Reagan wrote twice in his personal diary that he was worried about Sen. Orrin Hatch, once because the Utah Republican was "on a thin edge" and another time when Hatch turned the tables on the White House and attacked Reagan's staff.

Then-Nevada Sen. Paul Laxalt "has agreed to call Orin Hatch (sic) who has suddenly gone off the reservation & is throwing rocks at me & the exec. Staff," Reagan wrote in a Nov. 10, 1987 diary entry.

...

Hatch made another appearance in Reagan's diary over the senator's efforts to get a pardon for the Rev. Sun Yung[sic] Moon, the founder of the Unification Church who was convicted of filing false income tax returns and conspiracy. Hatch objected to the jailing of Moon on grounds that it came close to violating his freedom of religion rights.

"Senator Hatch is after me to grant clemency to the Rev. Moon," Reagan wrote in a Dec. 24, 1984 entry. "I've explored this & find I just can't. I have, however taken action to see if I can grant him a furlough over New Years. It seems that day is the holiest in that religion."

Sure enough, the True Father was furloughed for God's Day. Eight days after the Reagan diary entry, the pontiff took the occasion to vituperate against the seventies fad of "streaking," which had been inspired by Satan.

American culture today is centered upon sensational and physical experiences such as drugs and promiscuity. Furthermore, there is a growing subculture promoting the perverted sexual behavior of homosexuality and lesbianism...

We have seen many evil things coming and going here on the earth. For example, when I first came to the United States, I heard a great deal about "streaking," or naked men and women running around in public places...

That wasn't all.

Some people may say, "I have a special route to go," but when they go to God, He will say, "Did you get Reverend Moon's signature?" Even Satan himself will have to submit his certificate with Reverend Moon's signature...

You have been waiting for my furlough very eagerly but the men in prison are thinking, "When is that Reverend Moon coming back? I miss him already."

Thanks to Cell Whitman for the catch.

BBC Moon documentary: "Emperor Of The Universe"

John — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 20:24:00 +0000

Which deep pockets are right for you? A consumer's guide

John — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:19:00 +0000

Click on check boxes for more information.


	George Soros	Reverend Moon
Claim to fame	Investor	Cult leader (Unification Church), businessman, owns The Washington Times and UPI

Agenda	Liberal stuff	Moon-centered theocracy
Net worth	$5-7 billion	$10 billion in assets
Big gifts	$35 million to the liberal groups MoveOn.org, Americans Coming Together, and the Center for American Progress	His Times loses $100 million every year promoting the Republican cause. Pays lavish speaking fees to George H.W. Bush, William Bennett, and others. Has spotted Jerry Falwell and other hard-up Christian evangelicals for millions of dollars. Grassroots promotion of the Faith-Based Initiative, more. Cut a check for the "Contra" part of Iran-Contra. Maze of crypto-Moonist conservative foundations (like the American Family Coalition)
Controversial idea	Wants to legalize drugs. Has been called a "left-wing crank" by Moon employee Tony Blankley	Claims to be the Messiah and True Father of humanity. Has urged deacons to "tear down the cross." ("My enemies are America and Christianity. How am I going to win over those enemies?" he mused in 1993.)
Shocking quote	Compares War on Terror talk to Nazi slogans heard in his boyhood: "When I hear Bush say, 'You're either with us or against us,' it reminds me of the Germans."	Calls the Holocaust payback for killing Christ: "Jewish people, you have to repent. Jesus was the King of Israel. Through the principle of indemnity Hitler killed six million Jews. That is why."
Pet causes	Anti-Communism in the old East Bloc (i.e. Polish Solidarity). Fostering "open societies" throughout the world. Funding study of the root causes of crime. Campaign finance reform	Anti-Communism in Asia, South America. Reconciliation of Korean "Fatherland." Amending the U.S. Constitution to enforce sexual purity. Abstinence. Ensuring that newlyweds make love in white robes, with his photo nearby
Thoughts	"I propose replacing the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive military action with preventive action of a constructive and affirmative nature. Increased foreign aid or better and fairer trade rules, for example..."	"Individualism is what God hates most"..."The separation between religion and politics is what Satan likes most."
Deprogrammers hired to rescue teenagers from his remote compound?	No
Does business with North Korea?	No
Buying influence	Vowed to buy a Bush defeat. Blew it.	"I influenced America through the Washington Times and so many different activities," he says. Claim: "Republicans' only hope is to unite with Father."
Trouble in court	Convicted of insider trading in France, fined $2 million	Landed in federal prison in the early '80s for tax crimes and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Also, a group of lawyers in Japan attacked his "spiritual sales": aggressive missionaries scamming widows out of $622 million, by telling them their husbands would burn in hell unless they bought certain objects.
Coronated the Messiah in a bizarre Congressional ceremony at the Dirksen Senate Office building?	No
Claims to be endorsed by former president William Howard Taft (1909-1913)?	Unknown

(Click check boxes for more information.)

Moon's Bridgeport U makes "worst colleges in America" list

John — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 23:33:00 +0000

From Radar:

School Pride: One anonymous first-year student posted this critique on Students Review: "Scared for my life. UB run by Moonies. GHETTO TYPE ATMOSPHERE."

Fun Fact: At orientation, all incoming students are given a "personal alarm locator" that will send swarms of campus policemen racing to their rescue whenever they press a panic button.

No, the likely new U.N. secretary is not a Moon follower.

John — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 03:45:00 +0000

Please read Bene Diction.

...Damian Anderson, proprietor of a church listserv, writes to subscribers that he, too, doubts there is a link, but adds: "If there is, perhaps I would not want to make it public until after the election of the UN Secretary General anyway."

Ki-Moon Ban is to Sun Myung Moon as Elton John is to John Wayne.

$1 million from Moon to Neil Bush project

John — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 01:18:00 +0000

Says Businessweek.

Slate

John — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 00:57:00 +0000

...says Moon has "had almost no detectable national influence." Ooh-kay.

Hatch's song for the Rev. Moon

John — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 17:43:00 +0000

Orrin Hatch (not pictured) contributed a song for the peace tour that included the burial of a cross, above.

(Cross-posted at Talk2Action.)

On the early Sunday morning of May 18, 2003, the high priests of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, owner of the Washington Times and Religious Right enigma, gathered over a grave near Jerusalem to hold a funeral for the Christian cross. They had been touring the Middle East in the name of peace. They proposed Moon's teachings as the glue for Jews and Muslims, bewildering locals, and they held briefings on Mideast policy for the State Department, or so they claimed. They networked with politicians. And steam gathered for a big, big finale.

They buried the cross because it was Satan's icon, Moon said, cleaving Jew from gentile, Christian from Muslim. Moon demanded a new symbol that everyone could agree on: the Crown of Glory. In February and March, 2004, on Capitol Hill, U.S. politicians would attend two ceremonies celebrating this gospel, the last climaxing with the selfsame Crown Of Glory lowered onto the Times owner's head. (Video here, Washington Post link for those of you new to this story -- and a big welcome for Farkers.)

A surprising figure wrote a song especially for the crown tour, according to the Reverend's flock. That's U.S. senator, Christian recording artist and longtime Moon friend Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).

With Moon in the front row, Hatch introduces Mrs. Moon 13 years ago on Capitol Hill. Click for video.

Hatch's tune appears on an album issued in 2004 to commemorate the Reverend's roadshow. It had to be rushed out to be ready in time for Moon's March 23, 2004 crowning on Capitol Hill, according to this cult newsletter:

"They asked me to put together a compilation CD (in about two weeks!) in order that it could be available for the Ambassadors for Peace/Coronation banquet that took place in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C. on March 23."

Sen. Hatch shared songwriting duties with a Utah state politician and two other men. As advertised, a track on the album, "Jerusalem Peace Song," bears the following songwriting credits:

9) Jerusalem Peace Song (3:50)
(Orrin Hatch / Howard Stephenson / Dan Whitley / Stan Seale)

Was it an unwitting mistake -- writing a song for a group campaigning to dump the cross, a symbol of which many of Hatch's constituents are still rather fond? Perhaps. But Hatch and Moon, it turns out, go back years together. And their unlikely friendship offers a handy way to light a lantern along the convoluted corridors of the Reverend's maze of influence on Capitol Hill, touching a number of liberal Democrats but most enormous in its gifts to the conservative side of the aisle, including the $2 billion+ subsidy for the Times.

* * *

On February 4, 2004, over a month before the controversial "Crown of Peace" awards on Capitol Hill in which Moon named himself the Messiah, an earlier ritual was held at the Ronald Reagan Federal Building. I blogged about that here. The press has never reported on the earlier spectacle, in which Preston Moon, the likely heir to the church, drops by to pick up a crown on behalf of his father.

A Moon pastor exulted after the Preston Moon event:

"One unique dimension was the debuting of a special song called the "Jerusalem Peace Song", inspired by our Middle East Peace Initiative and authored by US Senator Orrin Hatch, Utah Senator Howard Stephenson and others. The performers of the song were quite inspired to reflect the spirit of reconciliation among the children of Abraham."

Those are the words of Jim Flynn, said by Moon's group to be "giving very important briefings to key American decisionmakers in the state department, Capitol Hill and beyond. The briefings are going well." (The Middle East is not.)

Crowning the Washington Times owner King of Peace in 2004: An accident? wondered observers. Or did the pols know what they were doing?

Some yes -- some no.

And Orrin Hatch's songwriting cameo? As Beatles fans know, those Lennon/McCartney credits don't tell you everything.

But consider Hatch's previous antics in Moon's world of plausible (and implausible) deniability -- a seemingly endless parade of surreal award shows in which Hatch and Moon have exchanged trophies.

In 1992, Moon presented Hatch with an award.

In 1993, there occurred a ludicrous episode in which Hatch played a key role. The punchline of the story is this: the U.S. now celebrates a holiday invented by Moon's Unification Church, which successfully lobbied for "Parents Day."

Senior Republicans proposed, on the floor of Congress, a holiday that would seemingly celebrate American moms and dads of the mortal kind. But as the Washington City Paper later unearthed, it turned out to be the brainchild of Reverend Moon himself, who openly said he was putting one over on Americans by convincing Congress to enact a holiday secretly honoring him as a "True Parent." By the time Clinton signed it into law, the "True" had been stripped, and Moon front group the American Family Coalition was disguising its links to the Times owner.

Much of the sordid story is here. If you don't believe me, get a load of the Congressional Record of July 27, 1993, in which Lott actually utters the words:

"...I rise today to offer remarks on `True Parents Day,' which will be celebrated officially on July 28, 1993..."

And there, on our national calendar, the holiday still stands-- here's George W. Bush on the subject. Moon crowed: "Men and women in the American Congress didn't know what they were doing, but as you know Congress passed the resolution of Parents Day."

Hatch played a visible role in the Parent's Day campaign, addressing a number of Moon front groups, including the ones that arranged for George H.W. Bush to tour with the Reverend in the mid-1990s. The evening after Trent Lott's proposal, Hatch hosted a Moon delegation on Capitol Hill.

Click on the Google Video window to watch a longer version of what was posted above. Hatch introduces Moon's wife as "my friend," with Moon in the front row. She then takes the stage, declaring herself and the Reverend the "True Parents." She also tells the audience that the "Completed Testament Age" has begun. In other words, she believes Congress is helping the couple write a third book of the Bible.

This was at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, years before Moon would be crowned within these marble walls.

And Hatch has met privately with the Reverend, according to Truth Is My Sword, a book put out by the church. In the 1980s, Hatch held a special hearing protesting Rev. Moon's imprisonment as a tax cheat. "I would like to underscore that I am not a close friend of Rev. Moon nor do I endorse his theology," he said at the time, declaring Moon -- like Joseph Smith, prophet of the Mormons -- a victim of religious discrimination. According to this Unification Church publication, Hatch calls the Reverend "a great man."

To conclude: the Messiah is something of a regular on Capitol Hill. His church newsletters speak of a "Coronation of God's Kingship" held in 2001 at Congress's Rayburn Building, as well as a speech in 2000 delivered to politicians at the Cannon Building. Around this time, Hatch and Moon shook hands while exchanging honors at something called the Century Awards -- held, natch, in the halls of Congress (pictured):

Moon's own appearances in Washington date as far back as December 18, 1975, when, his visa troubles having been straightened out by the late Strom Thurmond, he appeared in the House Caucus Room to make light of the widespread accusation that he was enslaving young Americans with "brainwashing."

"Are Americans really that foolish? Can they really be brainwashed by Rev. Moon, a Korean? I know your answer is no. My answer is no, too. No American is so foolish. I respect Americans very much, and I am surprised at such accusations."

So if 2004's crowning marked an instance of bad judgement, it's a breed of bad judgement that important members of Congress -- including Orrin Hatch -- have been exhibiting for decades.

* * *

Thanks to Moonboots for multimedia footage.

By the way: I ordered a copy of the CD a few weeks ago, but it never arrived. Has the Reverend considered the Apple Music Store?

Robbing Peter to pay Pruden

John — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 15:04:00 +0000

The latest little old lady of Tokyo pressured into underwriting the Washington Times, from Japan Today:

TOKYO — The Tokyo District Court ordered the Unification Church on Tuesday to pay about 280 million yen [U.S. $2,374,335] in damages to a woman who said she was swindled of a large amount of money under the religious group's fraudulent sales campaign.

Judge Masazumi Hashimoto ruled that the church, founded in South Korea, illegally made the plaintiff feel insecure and frightened her and forced her to donate money and purchase expensive goods. The church threatened the plaintiff by saying her "family line will fail" or she would "fall into hell," the judge said, declaring such acts illegal.

More on the "spiritual sales" under the Japan tag.

Oh dear

John — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 01:52:00 +0000

In happier times: Casseday (right) with NRA president Wayne La Pierre

Dateline -- northeast Washington, cradle of the Washington Times and thus regional epicenter of family values. Randall Casseday, the paper's human resource director, has just been nabbed on the allegation of e-mailing pictures of his "love organ" to a cop he mistook for a bathing beauty aged 13, with whom he planned to meet.

Sources at the paper are telling reporter Max Blumenthal that Casseday's role at the Times was that of human broom for sexual harassment complaints. Among the most sensational were claims directed at editor Fran Coombs, who is also quoted in Max's Nation story as the newsroom's outspoken commentator on race, his sensibilities wounded by the "niggerfication of America." Coombs is still on the payroll of Reverend Moon, who is compared to Martin Luther King by his followers.

Previously, Casseday worked at the Messiah's pistol company, Kahr Arms.

Pat Boone, Bush, Ralph Reed and...

John — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 01:57:00 +0000

Here's a rough collection of video footage highlighting Moon's 1996 roadshow with George H.W. Bush. The occasion: celebrating the rebirth of Moon's Unification Church under a new name -- the the "Family Federation for World Peace and Unification." (Cross-posted at Talk2action.) Some is from the BBC documentary "Sun Myung Moon, Emperor of the Universe"; some is gathered from Moon's Web sites.

What I left out is that the distinguished paid speakers seen here -- from Ralph Reed to Gary Bauer -- apparently sat through Moon's too-hot-for-TV sex sermon "In Search Of The Origins Of The Universe" -- full text available here.

When we are born as a man or woman, who is the owner of our sexual organ? Actually the owner of a husband's sexual organ is his wife, and the owner of a wife's sexual organ is her husband. We did not know that the sexual organ is owned by the opposite sex. This is a simple truth. We cannot deny this truth. Even after history progresses for thousands of years, this truth will not change.

Every man thinks his sexual organ belongs to himself, and each woman thinks her sexual organ is her own. That is why the world is perishing. Everyone is mistaken concerning ownership of the sexual organs. We all think that love is absolute, eternal, and dream-like, but when we come to clearly understand that the ownership of eternal love lies with the opposite sex, the world will not remain in its present condition. There are numerous scholars and Ph.D.s, but none of them have thought about this.

A big welcome to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

John — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 00:20:00 +0000

Japan's new prime minister

From the Japanese Asahi Shinbun, June 21 this year:

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe has drawn criticism over a "congratulatory" telegram sent in his name [video here] to an affiliate of the Unification Church, whose members are known as "Moonies."

A group of lawyers fighting fraudulent sales by religious entities says the telegram could be used by the Unification Church for promotional purposes both in Japan and overseas.

The National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales says the Unification Church conducts coercive sales and membership campaigns.

The "Moonies" are named after their leader, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. The church is notorious for organizing mass marriages.

The lawyers group sent an open inquiry Monday to Abe calling on him to explain why the message was sent. The same inquiry was sent to Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Okiharu Yasuoka, a former justice minister.

The two were among seven Diet members who reportedly sent telegrams to a convention of the Universal Peace Federation, which was founded in 2005 and is represented by Moon and his wife, Hak Ja Han Moon.

It held the event in Fukuoka on May 13.

"Sending a congratulatory telegram could be advertised as supporting and recommending the church's activities," the lawyers' group said.

Between 1987 and 2005, the lawyers group received 26,000 complaints about fraud and strong-arm tactics for signing up new members, it says.

It's not a lot sweat when our own, Stateside politicians dally with the Moonster, though.

Moon backs Married Priests Now group against Vatican?

John — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 16:36:00 +0000

Right: A match made in space -- Moon chose wife for priest Milingo, who said in 2002 he might have been "brainwashed" by cult.

Item:

SADDLE BROOK, N.J. - An African archbishop whose marriage to a woman chosen by [Washington Times publisher] Rev. Sun Myung Moon scandalized the Roman Catholic Church says the Vatican is demanding that he end his new campaign for optional celibacy or lose his authority in the church [...]

Milingo’s advocacy group, Married Priests Now!, has gathered about 120 couples for a strategy meeting north of New York City that will run through Tuesday. Before the opening dinner, he celebrated Mass for the men and their wives. Milingo’s wife, wearing a nametag that read “Mrs. Maria Milingo,” helped him clear the makeshift altar afterward [...]

Milingo, 76, has had a troubled relationship with the Vatican for years. Before his marriage, Catholic officials accused him of promoting African indigenous beliefs by performing mass exorcisms and healing ceremonies. Then in 2001, the archbishop married Maria Sung, a South Korean acupuncturist Moon chose for him, at a mass wedding in New York [...]

But in a packet of statements the archbishop distributed to the conference participants, he said that he traveled to Korea this year “to join the many Catholics and Catholic married priests who are in the Unification movement.” [...]

Married Priests Now! paid for the hotel rooms and meals of the couples, who came from the United States, Italy, Brazil, Mexico and elsewhere. Asked if Moon covered the costs, Milingo said, “This we do not talk about.”

In a 2002 book, issued during a temporary spell of buyer's remorse in which he'd left his Moon-assigned wife, Milingo claimed he'd been "brainwashed" by the Times publisher:

At one point, he says, Moon officials persuaded him to undergo a 40-day program of “catechesis,” in which he was not allowed to ask questions until the very end. In another part of the book, Zanzucchi asks Milingo if he had been drugged or hypnotized, and he responds: “I can’t say, even if I can’t rule it out with certainty. … Maybe they manipulated me psychologically. Maybe I was the object of a sort of brainwashing.”

Big giveaway: The Web site of Married Priests Now (www.marriedpriestsnow.org) is under construction. But the domain is registered to one David Payer, the Rev. Moon's Web master -- and a GOP candidate for the legislature in Iowa!

Domain ID:D126014808-LROR
Domain Name:MARRIEDPRIESTSNOW.ORG
Created On:17-Jul-2006 14:06:51 UTC
Last Updated On:16-Sep-2006 03:48:58 UTC
Expiration Date:17-Jul-2007 14:06:51 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Wild West Domains, Inc. (R120-LROR)
Registrant Name:David Payer
Registrant Organization:OMNI
Registrant Street1:PO Box 12088
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Des Moines
Registrant State/Province:Iowa
Registrant Postal Code:50312
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.5152446664
Registrant Email:david.payer@iowalink.com

Payer's campaign site is here, and I've chronicled his adventures here.

Update: The registration has been changed to obscure candidate Payer's identity. Right now the registration info and phone number are the same as before -- they're the contact info for his IowaLink business.

Should an Adventist congressman bow to the Rev. Moon?

John — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 00:32:00 +0000

One Adventist says no. Any Adventists out there disagree?

Meanwhile, yonder on Talk2Action.org: The Moon and Bush family album.

Chin-scratcher

John — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 12:20:00 +0000

A reader sends this puzzle along:

"Samuel Francis, a white nationalist writer who grew into one of the most important voices of America's racist right..."
--Southern Poverty Law Center

"Sam Francis was the voice of the Founding Fathers speaking down through the ages..."
—- Fran Coombs, Managing Editor, The Washington Times

If Warren Jeffs had billions...

John — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 18:07:00 +0000

Nansook Hong (right) was wed at 15 to Sun Myung Moon's violent, cocaine-addled son.

Scoobie Davis contrasts the treatment of two men who arranged marriages to underaged girls. One of them owns a newspaper and contributes heavily to conservative causes; the other was arrested last week on Interstate 15 north of Las Vegas.

Running and gunning

John — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 17:49:00 +0000

Blogger Len has more on GOP candidate David Payer, the businessman, cybersquatter and Moon activist under whose name most of the Moon church's Web domains are registered, who is now running in Iowa's District 61.

Early in his Washington adventures, the Reverend encouraged his members to run for office if they couldn't convince those men already in office to enact his platform, the Divine Principle. They've been most successful running at the state level. Witness the church's Mark Anderson, a state senator in Arizona, and Mark Boitano, who is serving in New Mexico's senate despite having fired a rifle at a car full of cult deprogrammers, as reported in the Washington Post, August 22, 1979.

The Virginia and Norfolk area directors of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church were arrested in Norfolk Monday on charges of shooting at the car of two former church members.

Scott Powell, 28, Virginia director, and Mark Boitano, 26, Norfolk director, were charged with shooting into an occupied auto and unauthorized use of an auto.

The incident began when two former members of the sect, Robert Straw, 19, and Brett B----, 20, both of Pasadena, Calif., returned to their former Unification Church homes to retrieve belongings left behind. They were accompanied by four members of the West Virginia chapter of the International Foundation for Individual Freedom, an educational and counseling group that aids persons who want to leave religious cults.

[...] The two groups exchanged words over the custody of B----'s van. Powell ordered Boitano to shoot at the car occupied by the ex-Moonies, according to police, who said six rifle shots were fired and three hit the vehicle. One bullet pierced a front tire[...] Another bullet pierced a passenger side door.

[...]Betty Lancaster, of the Richmond Unification Church group home, called the entire incident "outrageous." She said the six men were "criminals" who took items from the homes other than their own, including a film on anti-communism featuring Ronald Reagan. "The church does not condone" the incident, she said, but added that Powell was trying to flatten the tires so the "criminals could not get away."

What made 700 Moonists smash up a newsroom?

John — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 06:33:00 +0000

Above: Cult rioters smashed their way into a South Korean news office

The last time I visited the Washington Times building, the people upstairs handed me a pamphlet for a mysterious Rev. Moon event to be held at the paper's ballroom. Headlined "Needed: A New Paradigm For News," it suggested a new world in which journalists should de-emphasize "facts" and become "guide dogs, not watch dogs." (Rory O'Connor promptly got on the case.)

Well, unhappy with the watchdogs at the Seoul newspaper Dong-A Ilbo, proponents of a new paradigm for news descended on the Ilbo newsroom yesterday, according to reports from Korea that say the Peace King's Moonie media critics stormed the building, broke windows, roughed up a CBS reporter and Ilbo photographer, smashed newsroom PCs and underscored, in 200 text messages to reporter Cho Seong-sik, that they intended to "kill" him.

The paper reports:

The incident where 700 worshippers of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) broke into the office building of this newspaper company in Chungjeong-ro the day before yesterday and damaged the property is a serious threat to the freedom of press and the right of the nation to know. It is very difficult to understand that the eight hours of violence and the production disturbance by the worshippers of FFWPU, who were discontent with the report in the September issue of Shindonga, a monthly publication of this company, with the title “Grand Dissection of FFWP Kingdom,” was a conduct by the worshippers of a religion which stress peace in the world.

The FFWPU worshippers destroyed the computers and office fixtures of the Shindonga journalists and stole the coverage documents of journalist Cho Seong-sik, the one who wrote the report concerned. They threatened to “throw sand on the rotary press of Dong-A Ilbo” and even sent more than 200 text messages to Cho’s cell phone, saying, “We’ll kill you.” Also, a photojournalist of this newspaper company Gang Byeong-gi and a CBS reporter Kim Jae-pyeong were attacked with violence and threats by the worshippers.

[...] It is almost impossible to understand that the FFWPU, which manages a number of press organizations both at home and abroad [i.e. the Washington Times and UPI -- ed.], should attempt to oppress a press report by resorting to violence.

King Moon's disciples want to punish journalists

John — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 16:36:00 +0000

From JoongAng Daily:

About 700 Unification Church members sat in at the Dong-A Ilbo building in central Seoul yesterday to complain about Shindonga magazine's coverage of their religion. The Dong-A Ilbo's monthly magazine featured the religion in its September issue in articles the church members said was malicious [...]

Two hundred and fifty protesters broke glass panels at the building's front gate and entered the building; the rest sat in outside the newspaper's office. Most left about 5 p.m.; five remained to meet with Dong-A management.

The protesters said the September issue of Shindonga, the newspaper company's monthly magazine, treated their religion with malice. They demanded an apology, a recall of the issue and punishment for the journalists involved. Police dispatched 1,500 riot police to the building to keep the protesters and newspaper staff apart.

World Domination Surf Challenge!

John — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 05:22:00 +0000

The Moon organization just sponsored its third annual Cheon Il Guk Surf Challenge in San Diego. "Cheon Il Guk" is Moon's term for the Kingdom of Heaven, the theocratic state he declared at his 2004 Capitol Hill crowning. It's a world in which, as the Times publisher has explained in various sermons, democracy will be abolished, gays, nation-states and the Christian cross will be eradicated, and everything will be swell.

From the site:

Our HDK [study session] on the beach in the mornings taught how True Father has a vision for the ocean and wants us to take true ownership of it. We also taught that Father has emphasized the need for recreational activities centered upon the ocean. We instilled the idea that we have to be different in our action, thought, and life style even though surfing has been around for some time.

The Chicago Tribune recently reported on the "Ocean King"'s true ownership of the ocean.

The Washington Times's illegal alien fund (c. 1985)

John — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 22:28:00 +0000

"...I have brought many young people from all over the world. I have read that the immigration officials say I'm violating immigration laws. Americans don't realize that God has declared war against the satanic power, and that it is not I who have called the youth from all over the world to the United States to fight, but God."

-- Sun Myung Moon, February 16, 1975, quoted in Master Speaks

So steady has been the anti-immigration drumbeat kept up by the Washington Times, published by resident alien Reverend Moon, that it's it's been credited by the ACLU and Southern Poverty Law Center with wildly inflating the numbers of the Minutemen, giving them a major boost in the national media.

Time and space forbid a detailed discussion of the liberties taken with immigration law by the True Father as he's shipped cult members and truckloads of foreign cash across U.S. borders. And besides, as the editors of the newspaper love to remind us, the paper enjoys some editorial independence from its owners.

But then there's the newsroom alien fund described in a 1988 issue of the magazine Regardie's: The Business of Washington. Former Timesman Edmond Jacoby writes of a colleague, metro reporter Mike Davis, who conducted a private investigation after stumbling upon mysterious pay stubs left around the office by staffers at the Times's National Press Building office.

Every stub was for a "large direct deposit" made to a savings account. The savings account numbers were all the same.

His curiosity piqued by the mystery, Jacoby got in touch with Kate Tsubata, editor of Times sister publication The World & I. "Oh, that's for the illegals," she reportedly told him. "We used to do that in New York, also."

It was a savings account, Jacoby discovered, "from which cash was withdrawn to cover the living expenses of illegal aliens."

That was in the mid-'80s. Have God's plans changed since then?

More: Researcher Cell Whitman sends this testimony along from a churchman who recounts related shenanigans at the early Times:

Once the founding members of the Washington Times were settled in DC (first in the basement of the church, later in several group homes on Capitol Hill), the real work of creating a newspaper from scratch began in earnest...

A diabolical plan was hatched to save our souls from being corrupted by the filthy lucre that the satanic DC government said must be paid to us. We would get the legal minimum wage (roughly $15,000/yr. if I recall the amount correctly) -- AND THEN WE WERE TO SIGN OUR PAYCHECKS BACK TO THE CHURCH IMMEDIATELY! They even tried to make it as easy as possible for us by letting us endorse the checks just as we received them; in return we'd get some allowance. I think it was $20 a week.

Right away the DC government said, "Oh no you don't. That ain't legal." So a letter was drafted that each members was supposed to sign saying something to the effect that as missionaries the Unification Church provides all our room and board and therefore WE DON'T WANT TO BE PAID and "voluntarily" choose to "donate" our paychecks back to the Unification Church. Col. Pak launched a major effort to get every Unification Church member at the Washington Times to sign this letter. It was Code Red.

Col. Pak pulled out all the stops to make us all feel extremely guilty about getting a paycheck. "Father has no money..." Taking the money would be a bad condition. Brothers and sisters in Japan were fund- raising day and night, EVEN DYING, to pay for the Washington Times. Etc. It was some of Col. Pak's finest work.

The subtext, of course, was the terrible precedent this would set for the rest of the movement. A paycheck virus could infect the rank-and- file, and anyone manning a flower stand or mall kiosk might suddenly start looking at the Washington Times members getting paid and say, "Hey, wadda about me?" It was a legitimate concern. Slavery was the norm, even if we deluded ourselves by calling a moneymaking business, "missionary work."

Well, the Washington Times was threatening to abolish the Moonie slave trade, so the leaders lobbied us hard to sign that letter and give up our paychecks. Oh how I remember that! The guilt trips! The threats! The deep, deep scowl on Col. Pak's face if we didn't sign! "Father not happy! Father very angry this situation!" We were reminded that we were not really journalists or newspaper people, that Father had given us this privilege only to fulfill a providential condition and that in reality WE DID NOT DESERVE TO GET PAID BECAUSE WE WEREN'T QUALIFIED FOR OUR JOBS. How's that for a confidence builder? Talk about sabotaging your own enterprise.

And from Bob Parry:

Maria Madelene Pretorious, a former Unification Church member who worked at Moon's Manhattan Center, a New York City music venue and recording studio, testified at a court hearing in Massachusetts that in December of 1993 or January of 1994, one of Moon's sons, Hyo Jin Moon, returned from a trip to Korea "with $600,000 in cash which he had received from his father. ... Myself along with three or four other members that worked at Manhattan Center saw the cash in bags, shopping bags."

In an interview with me in the mid-1990s, Pretorious said Asian church members would bring cash into the United States where it would be circulated through Moon's business empire as a way to launder it. At the center of this financial operation, Pretorious said, was One-Up Corp., a Delaware-registered holding company that owned many Moon enterprises including the Manhattan Center and New World Communications, the parent company of the Washington Times.

"Once that cash is at the Manhattan Center, it has to be accounted for," Pretorious said. "The way that's done is to launder the cash. Manhattan Center gives cash to a business called Happy World which owns restaurants. ... Happy World needs to pay illegal aliens. ... Happy World pays some back to the Manhattan Center for 'services rendered.' The rest goes to One-Up and then comes back to Manhattan Center as an investment."

Moon's paper and the Minutemen

John — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 02:43:00 +0000

Wonkette:

if the Border Patrol is short handed, why not call out the Minutemen? You know, the more-bark-than-bite nationalist “movement” that, according to the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center, Jerry Seper and the Washington Times largely invented out of the ether? Mind you, we’re not complaining. We’re big fans of making mountains out of molehills...

Video: Moon says he's poured millions into U.S. to shape destiny

John — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 13:00:00 +0000

Several hundred million dollars have been poured into America because this nation will decide the destiny of the world. These contributions are primarily coming from overseas.

Washington Times owner and conservative benefactor Rev. Sun Myung Moon has dumped a fortune in foreign mystery money into the Capitol. Here he is speaking on CSPAN in 1984 about what he describes as a vast project to influence the direction of the United States. That was years ago, of course; Moon has now injected as much as $3 billion into the paper alone.

(Thanks to researcher Cell Whitman for the link. He's written a lot more in this entry on the influence of the Times publisher.)