As I believe I have mentioned, I am in the process of reading Jeff Sharlet's book, "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power." In many ways, it is a frightening read since Sharlet was inside The Family himself and got a taste of how it operates. One positive thing that is flowing out of the "kill the gays" legislation pending in Uganda is that just maybe, if we are lucky, "The Family," insidious tentacles throughout the U. S. government and its activities overseas will finally be spotlight and - hopefully - derailed and killed. Sharlet has been on Rachel Maddow's show - including this past week - and he continues to expose the untruths being put out by a few visible members of The Family as they try to hide the organization's sinister activities. Personally, I have very serious problems with U. S. Senators and other elected officials who are abusing their power and positions as elected CIVIL officials to further religious goals not shared by many, many citizens. Indeed, it is arguable that they have violated their oaths to uphold and defend the U. S. Constitution by placing sectarian goals above the nation's laws - violation which if fully examined might require their removal from office. I am also deeply disturbed at some of the financial self-dealing that also seems to be so pervasive. The Family makes the Mafia look bush league in comparison and some of its activities are likewise just as illegal in my opinion. Jim Burroway at Box Turtle Bulletin has a good review of Sharlet's latest appearance on Rachel's show this past Thursday. Here are some highlights:*
Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, appeared on Rachel Maddow’s show tonight to counter some of the claims made by “The Family” member Bob Hunter on Tuesday’s show. Hunter had claimed that Sharlet disavowed much of his own book, that The Family was not involved in politics, and that Uganda’s Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo, one of the prime supporters of Uganda’s draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill, was not a member of the Family.
*
Sharlet revealed that just this week he had obtained a budget for The Family’s work in Africa “identifying (Sen.) Jim Inhofe (R-OK) as the designated point man selected to work with eleven African leaders, most of them Presidents including the President of Uganda Museveni, President of Rwanda Kagame and to work with them to help set their nations on a sort of a Jesus footing. … There’s a budget, there’s money, there is a support staff, it’s a very formal effort that he’s undertaking.” Sharlet also said that the Senators use their status as U.S. Senators to open doors for the Family in Africa.
*
Sharlet said of Hunter: He explained to me that those senators who were traveling with The Family… I had made the mistake of saying that Mr. Hunter travels at the behest of the U.S. government. He corrected me. He said ‘No, Senators travel at the behest of me. I use them as bait; I use them as tools to reach those in power, and then we can go about trying to get them on this Jesus footing. Rachel clarified that it is not the Family that is at the beck and call of the U.S. government, but that the U.S. government is at the beck and call of the Family.
*
Hunter had denied knowing Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo, implying that Buturo was not a member of The Family. Sharlet said he was puzzled by that, saying that Hunter had told him that establishing the Ministry of Ethics and Integrity had been created for The Family, and that Buturo “inherited” that position, along with his position in the Family. Buturo has since traveled overseas representing Uganda at Family events.
*
Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, appeared on Rachel Maddow’s show tonight to counter some of the claims made by “The Family” member Bob Hunter on Tuesday’s show. Hunter had claimed that Sharlet disavowed much of his own book, that The Family was not involved in politics, and that Uganda’s Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo, one of the prime supporters of Uganda’s draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill, was not a member of the Family.
*
Sharlet revealed that just this week he had obtained a budget for The Family’s work in Africa “identifying (Sen.) Jim Inhofe (R-OK) as the designated point man selected to work with eleven African leaders, most of them Presidents including the President of Uganda Museveni, President of Rwanda Kagame and to work with them to help set their nations on a sort of a Jesus footing. … There’s a budget, there’s money, there is a support staff, it’s a very formal effort that he’s undertaking.” Sharlet also said that the Senators use their status as U.S. Senators to open doors for the Family in Africa.
*
Sharlet said of Hunter: He explained to me that those senators who were traveling with The Family… I had made the mistake of saying that Mr. Hunter travels at the behest of the U.S. government. He corrected me. He said ‘No, Senators travel at the behest of me. I use them as bait; I use them as tools to reach those in power, and then we can go about trying to get them on this Jesus footing. Rachel clarified that it is not the Family that is at the beck and call of the U.S. government, but that the U.S. government is at the beck and call of the Family.
*
Hunter had denied knowing Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo, implying that Buturo was not a member of The Family. Sharlet said he was puzzled by that, saying that Hunter had told him that establishing the Ministry of Ethics and Integrity had been created for The Family, and that Buturo “inherited” that position, along with his position in the Family. Buturo has since traveled overseas representing Uganda at Family events.
*
Inhofe needs to be investigated and, if abusing his power and/or supporting religious organizations over the government, ought to resign. This nation has not sunk to the depths of Islamic states that blur the line between the government and religion. At least not yet.
2 comments:
Michael, todo lo que dices no me sorprende en absoluto, es más, desde hace tiempo te vengo contando y advirtiendo de que uno de los tantos motivos por los que hay tanta anti-americanismo en el mundo ("Everybody hates America") es porque mucha gente en el mundo conoce (y teme) el extremismo religioso de la "Religious right" de tu país y de la total falta de respeto a la soberanía nacional de cada país que tienen los neocon, fundamentalistas cristianos.
No se si eres capáz de entenderme, tampoco se si realmente entiendes el Español o utilizas el "google traslator", pero te voy a decir porque hay tanta gente que el mundo que, no digamos que odia a tu país (yo no lo odio, simplemente tengo mucha desconfianza en tu gobierno):
*La mayoría de los países del mundo son pobres y pequeños comparados con el tuyo, tienen democracias muy débiles, o para utilizar la terminología Americana, son simples "repúblicas bananeras" fáciles de controlar.
*Europa es intocable para USA, tu país no puede o tiene ninguna capacidad de influenciar en las leyes Europeas respecto a temas como el aborto o los derechos de los gays, y eso lo se porque llevo casi un año leyendo todos los sitios webs anti-gays Americanos, y me doy cuenta de que la religious right american no tiene ninguna posibilidad de entrar en Europa, y lo saben.
*Pero lo que realmente me disgusta y ya se que esto puede sonar muy anti-americano, es que USA (el gobierno y también una buena parte de su población) se crea que tiene el derecho de dirigir e influenciar el destino de cientos de millones de personas en el mundo. Esto suena a pataleta de comunista, pero yo no soy comunista, soy realista y veo que una parte de los Americanos se creen una raza elegida (Im talking about the religious right) por "God" para dominar el mundo por derecho divino.
Tu te preguntarás ¿de dónde habrá sacada este chico todo esto?
Continúa en el próximo comentario..
Pues bien, no lo he sacado de Noam Chomsky o Michael Moore, mis conclusiones las he obtenido leyendo casi todos los días "the American media", blogs, youtube, y tu propio blog.
Pero lo peor o lo que más me tiene impresionado es el extremo poder de los denominados "thinks tanks" en tu país, ¡ y casi todos son neocons o pertenecen a la orbita de la "religious right"!
Y me ha frustrado saber que los senadores y congresistas americanos obtienen la información y actúan respecto al mundo, gracias al consejo de expertos de estos think tanks, y son los mismos de siempre. ¿a tí te parece democrático que la política exterior de tu país esté en manos de gente sin escrupulos pagada por quién sabe quién (no voy a dentrar en detalles en ese aspecto)?
*Yo creo Michael que la denominada "culture wars" ha ido demasiado lejos en los USA y ahora ha traspasado fronteras y no me parece justo que la gente pobre del tercer mundo tengan que pagar las consecuencias de las brutales batallas ideológicas en USA. Y esto no es broma o alguna exageración, sino, mira la lucha contra el SIDA (AIDS) como se está haciendo de mal, gracias a que los republicanos no les gustaban los condones, lo que está pasando en Uganda, la prohibicion del matrimonio gay en algunos países de América Latina, el crecimiento de la "religious right" en Brasil y en África y toda latinoamérica.
Y he leido tu artículo cuatro veces porque me sorprende que te sorprenda que existan cosas como "the family", lo cual me preocupa, pues ello demuestra que los Americanos no están bien informados de las actividades de la "religious right" en el resto del mundo, cuando en el resto del mundo se toma por hecho de que cada paso que da un republicano respecto del mundo, la gente inmediatamente lo relaciona con el sur racista y fundamentalista cristiano o con la siniestra pareja Bush-Cheney. Se que suena a paranoia, pero viendo lo que ocurre en allí, se justifica el término.
Michael, es esto homofobia no?, lo he encontrado en aftah.com
"“radical sex-advice columnist faggot,” Dan (“Three-Way”) Savage, in ridiculing Hume’s heartfelt Christian outreach to Woods."
Es "faggot" un insulto duro muy anti-gay? http://americansfortruth.com/
NOTA: si te llega este comentario repetido varias veces no es porque yo quiera hacer spam (no quiero hacer spam), sino que mi firefox tiene un "bug".
NOTA: el tono de mi comentario puede sonar a que yo odio a los Americanos, pero no es así, lo que pasa es que no estoy de acuerdo en la intromisión en los asuntos de otros países por muy pobres, pequeños o repúblicas bananeras sean. Creo que en tu país hay gente mala y buena como en todas partes, pero veo que no exactamente los mejores seres humanos han estados gobernando los últimos años.
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