Another goofball televangelist just proved how he and his ilk would prefer America to be more like Iran.
Immediately after the Colorado movie theater shootings, I was ready to post my thoughts about the sleazy ways in which the mainstream news media exploit such events. After considering the darkly sarcastic things I had to say, I decided that such a posting would be inappropriate – because it was too soon after the tragedy. I chose to heed the advice from that old song by The English Beat: Save It for Later. Too many people were hurting from this incident. A number of guys died because they threw themselves over their girlfriends in the ultimate act of love.
Nevertheless, those who would like to see the Iranization of America did not find it necessary to restrain themselves from expressing opinions which would inflame the open emotional wounds sustained by innocent people. The Iranizationists saw fit to remind everyone that this happened because God concluded that some Americans deserved this.
Many followers of these deranged televangelists get irate when commentators point out how such religious zealots want to make America into another Iran. The rebuff is always the same: “Iranians are Muslim and we are Christian!” Nevertheless, one need only look at what is being said to see that the Islamist message and the Wackovangelist messages are the same.
Immediately after the tragedy, televangelist Jerry Newcombe phoned into a program produced by the homo-hating, American Family Association. You can watch this clip of that event. Pay close attention to how the show’s host blinks incessantly throughout the call. I would love to get a psychiatrist’s opinion as to what – if anything – that might indicate. Anyway, Newcombe wanted to remind everyone that any individual killed in that theater who was not Christian would be going to hell. In other words: If your murdered friend or loved one was a Jew – that person would be going to hell.
Newcombe’s claim was the same spiteful remark we hear from Islamist terrorists after they kill Jews: Not only did all those people get killed – but they are also going to hell!
How thoughtful of Newcombe to remind the infidels’ next of kin that their loved ones are headed toward eternal damnation!
In Newcombe’s America, Jews go to hell when they die. How does that version of America differ from Iran?
Given that background, it must be particularly painful for President Obama when Pat Roberson is congratulated for speaking out sensibly on an issue which Obama is too timid to address. Beyond that, when Robertson asserts a position which is supported by clear-thinking, prominent members of society, it must be particularly embarrassing for a President who has abdicated the “bully pulpit”.
Pat Robertson turned some heads in March, when he spoke out in favor of marijuana legalization. Jesse McKinley of The New York Timesdiscussed the reaction to a pro-legalization statement made by Robertson during a broadcast of The 700 Club:
Mr. Robertson’s remarks were hailed by pro-legalization groups, who called them a potentially important endorsement in their efforts to roll back marijuana penalties and prohibitions, which residents of Colorado and Washington will vote on this fall.
“I love him, man, I really do,” said Neill Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group of current and former law enforcement officials who oppose the drug war. “He’s singing my song.”
* * *
Mr. Franklin, who is a Christian, said Mr. Robertson’s position was actually in line with the Gospel. “If you follow the teaching of Christ, you know that Christ is a compassionate man,” he said. “And he would not condone the imprisoning of people for nonviolent offenses.”
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And while Mr. Robertson said his earlier hints at support for legalization had led to him being “assailed by those who thought that it was terrible that I had forsaken the straight and narrow,” he added that he was not worried about criticism this time around.
“I just want to be on the right side,” he said. “And I think on this one, I’m on the right side.”
It appears as though Pat Robertson is on the right side of another issue, with his recent comment about the Obama Justice Department’s failure to prosecute those responsible for causing the financial crisis. While reading a great posting on Washington’s Blog about institutional corruption, I encountered a link to a piece by James Crugnale of the Mediaite blog, which focused on Robertson’s praise of Iceland for prosecuting its banksters and setting an example for countries such as the United States:
“Guess what country is getting itself out of a financial problem by some draconian measures?” Robertson asked his co-host Terry Meeuwsen. “Greece?” she asked. “No, not even close. Iceland!” Robertson exclaimed. “They are putting people in jail. Prime ministers are being indicted. They are going after banks. The people said the banks are ripping us off. We don’t like what they did, and they brought our country to ruin. Suddenly, Iceland is turning around and they look like a big success story!”
“Think we could learn something?” Meeuwsen asked.
“We sure could!” Roberson continued. “We could start putting all of those bankers in jail. There was not one banker prosecuted and so many people were lying, and so-called “no-doc loans” and liars’ loans, and none of them have been held accountable. I’m not for putting people in jail. I’m sick of these – we’ve got too many penalties. Too many penalties, too many criminal sanctions, too many people in prison. But here is an opportunity for the people who wanted, you know, to enforce laws, to enforce that one. There must be some laws against lying on documents. I’m sure there are.”
“Lying to banks is a super no-no,” he added. “It has criminal sanctions, but nobody so far has had to pay the price, but Iceland is leading the way and their GDP is growing, and all of a sudden, they were in a terrible mess, terrible mess, and look what is happening!”
With the release of the Department of Labor’s non-farm payrolls report for April, attention is again being focused on the issue of whether President Obama did enough to help the country recover from the financial crisis. As the aforementioned Washington’s Blog essay made clear, the institutional corruption facilitated by the Obama administration’s failure to prosecute the culprits who caused the financial meltdown has brought even more harm to the American economy. Consider this passage from the Washington’s Blog piece:
The legal system is supposed to be the codification of our norms and beliefs, things that we need to make our system work. If the legal system is seen as exploitative, then confidence in our whole system starts eroding. And that’s really the problem that’s going on.
*** I think we ought to go do what we did in the S&L [crisis] and actually put many of these guys in prison. Absolutely. These are not just white-collar crimes or little accidents. There were victims. That’s the point. There were victims all over the world.
***
Economists focus on the whole notion of incentives. People have an incentive sometimes to behave badly, because they can make more money if they can cheat. If our economic system is going to work then we have to make sure that what they gain when they cheat is offset by a system of penalties.
Think about it: Joe Stiglitz and Pat Robertson are on the same page, while President Obama is somewhere else. Yikes!
TheCenterLane.com offers opinion, news and commentary on politics, the economy, finance and other random events that either find their way into the news or are ignored by the news reporting business. As the name suggests, our focus will be on what seems to be happening in The Center Lane of American politics and what the view from the Center reveals about the events in the left and right lanes. Your Host, John T. Burke, Jr., earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Boston College with a double major in Speech Communications and Philosophy. He earned his law degree (Juris Doctor) from the Illinois Institute of Technology / Chicago-Kent College of Law.