Glenn Beck blasted for Japan quake comments

US celebrities and media have blasted right-wing radio host and television presenter Glenn Beck for calling the quake that rocked Japan last week a message from God.

Actress, author and talk show host Whoopi Goldberg said Beck should "check the mirror" if he thought Friday's 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami were signs of God's anger with mankind.

"If this is because we're misbehaving and God is pissed (angry), I would check the mirror, Glenn," Goldberg said on The View talkshow, which she co-hosts with three other women.

The disaster has claimed nearly 3,400 lives and left more than 10,000 people missing in north-eastern Japan.

In a rambling presentation on his radio show on Monday, Beck said God may have caused the catastrophe in Japan because he was angry with mankind, and warned people to change their ways.

"I'm not saying God is, you know, causing earthquakes. Well - I'm not not saying that either," he said.

"What God does is God's business, I have no idea. But I'll tell you this: whether you call it Gaia or whether you call it Jesus - there's a message being sent. And that is, 'Hey, you know that stuff we're doing? Not really working out real well. Maybe we should stop doing some of it."

He suggested God could be appeased if people followed the biblical Ten Commandments.

Goldberg's co-host on The View, Joy Behar, pointed out that earthquakes have rattled Earth since the planet's creation and asked which commandment God wanted people to follow.

"How about: 'Thou shalt not advance your career on the back of the Japanese people right now?'," she said.

The San Francisco Chronicle called Beck's comments "religious wackery", while the Los Angeles Times said they were the latest in a string of "thoughtless" statements about the disaster in Japan by people in the media spotlight.

US comedian Gilbert Gottfried and hip-hop artist 50 Cent separately posted tasteless jokes about the quake on Twitter.

Both have since apologised, but Gottfried's apology came too late - he was fired from an advertising voice-over job with an insurance company that does business in Japan.

- AFP

Glenn Beck: Japan earthquake ‘message’ from God

By Elizabeth Tenety

In Japan, rescue workers are still pulling survivors out of the rubble of the devastating earthquake. In the United States, political commentator Glenn Beck is already speculating on the disaster’s divine message:

“I’m not saying God is, you know, causing earthquakes,” the conservative pundit said on Monday’s show. But Beck added that he’s “not not saying that, either.”

“Whether you call it Gaia, or whether you call it Jesus, there’s a message being sent and that is, ‘Hey, you know that stuff we’re doing? Not really working out real well.’ Maybe we should stop doing some of it.”

Beck later referenced the Ten Commandments, and sugested that following them is an antidote to global chaos.

“What do you say we start doing those things?” he asked. “Because the things we are doing really suck. And they’re not getting better.”

Beck is hardly the first to suggest that a natural disaster is a form of divine punishment. Tokyo Govenor Shintaro Ishihara told reporters Monday that he, too, sees God’s wrath in the tragedy:

“Japanese politics is tainted with egoism and populism. We need to use tsunami to wipe out egoism, which has rusted onto the mentality of Japanese over a long period of time.”

“I think (the disaster) is tembatsu (divine punishment), although I feel sorry for disaster victims,” he said.

Ishihara later recinded his remarks and apologized.

After Haiti’s devastating earthquake, televanglist Pat Robertson said that the disaster was sent to punish the country for what he believed was its “pact to the devil.” The Christian Broadcasting Network later said that the minister’s comment was supported by the research of “countless scholars and religious figures” who have come “to believe the country is cursed.”

Living in his own world: Beck rehashes old smears to paint Obama as anti-Israel

August 23, 2010 10:28 pm ET by Kate Conway

Just a few days after the announcement that Israel had agreed to U.S.-sponsored peace talks with the Palestinians, Glenn Beck devoted more than nine minutes to a rant suggesting that the president and his administration are anti-Israel. Beck never mentioned the peace talks; rather, he devoted time to building a sense of impending doom, predicting a "bad conflict coming our way soon in the Middle East."

"Who's side are we on?" Beck asked before stating that the kind of thinking that "permeates" the current administration is a type that would "defend Iran instead of Israel if a confrontation happens."

Beck then went on a guilt-by-association spree, using old distortions and falsehoods to attack the president's appointees and advisors over invented anti-Israeli sentiments and purported ties to anti-Israeli organizations.

Beck criticized Obama for having "nothing but kind things to say" about "terrorist sympathizer" Rashid Khalidi -- an old and distorted attack.

Beck also revived the absurd attack against White House Advisor John Brennan for referring to his love of "Al Quds -- Jerusalem." Beck claiming that Brennan "insulted Israel" by referring to Jerusalem as "Al Quds." But "Al Quds" is the Arabic term for Jerusalem and other political figures, including a member of the Reagan administration and a former prime minister of Israel, have referred to "Al Quds."

Beck also attempted to paint Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services head Donald Berwick as anti-Israel because of his position on the board of Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) -- an organization that was a co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize -- for the group's supposed "outspoken" criticism of Israel.

And Beck even brought up William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright yet again to attack Obama over Israel.

Beck also suggested that Obama is inappropriately sympathetic to Muslims. He bemoaned Obama's statement at inauguration that "we are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and non-believers," claiming that "I don't think that's ever been said before by a president of the United States in that order." He then stated that Obama "needlessly th[rew] his hat into the ring" over the Islamic community center in Manhattan. After noting that Obama hosts Ramadan dinners -- which Beck said was not a problem by itself -- Beck presented his most ridiculous piece of "evidence": Michelle Obama's visit to the "Alhambra Palace mosque," which, as Beck himself notes, is a tourist attraction.

"Are they sending messages?" Beck asked. "I don't know. I don't know. I've never had to look for messages before."

The real "messages" that the Obama administration is sending on its position on the Middle East are pretty clear: They're attempting to restart peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians. Really dangerous stuff, huh?

LEWIS BLACK- "GLEN BECK HAS NAZI TOURETTES" LOL

wtf?... Elton John sings at Limbaugh’s fourth wedding

Openly gay singer was reportedly paid $1 million to perform at event

TODAYshow.com
updated 6/7/2010 12:23:28 AM ET

Singer Elton John received a $1 million fee to perform in front of 400 guests celebrating radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh's fourth wedding Saturday night, People Magazine reports.

Limbaugh, 59, wed Kathryn Rogers, 33, at the Breakers hotel in Palm Beach, Florida.

Limbaugh is an outspoken opponent of gay marriage while John is openly gay and in a civil partnership with male partner David Furnish.

Celebrity guests at the wedding reportedly included former Bush adviser Karl Rove, baseball slugger George Brett, former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and golfer Tom Watson.

According to People, the couple met six years ago, while Rogers was running a charity golf tournament and Limbaugh was in the process of divorcing for the third time.

The Palm Beach Post reported that as many as 50 private security guards were hired for the wedding.

Web site Gawker.com hired a plane to fly over the wedding site towing a banner that read "Rush: Congrats on your 4th marriage. XO, Gawker." The saying on the banner was chosen from suggestions made by readers. Rejected suggestions included "This time he really means it," "Wishing you months of bliss," and "Congrats on #4 from those of us who can't have 1."

The magazine reports that the newlyweds took Limbaugh's private Gulfstream jet to a honeymoon in Mexico and Africa, among other locations.

fake tears

Glenn Beck: Total Moron

by Zephyr on Jan.27, 2009,
Glenn Beck is my new Public Enemy #1 (Jake Tapper is old news). Not only is he a jerk, but he’s a fucking ignorant jerk. As many in the Atheist community know, last week Illinois ruled their school’s “Moment of Silence” law unconstitutional because:
The "teacher is required to instruct her pupils, especially in the lower grades, about prayer and its meaning as well as the limitations on their ‘reflection,’" Gettleman ruled.

"The plain language of the statute, therefore, suggests and intent to force the introduction of the concept of prayer into the schools," he said.

Listen above to how Glenn spins this to make “10% of Americans push around the other 90%”. He claims and Dobson claim that the kids didn’t have to pray, they could do whatever they want… except that they weren’t, and that’s why it was dubbed unconstitutional. He also goes on to say that God gave us our rights, and if we take God out of the State, then the State will be the one who gives us our rights.

What country do you live in, Glenn? The State IS what gives us our rights, and the state IS what takes them away. If you break the law, it isn’t God who will put you in jail for it – it’s the state! Common sense, idiot. I’m so sad that you’ve procreated. Maybe your daughter will become an Atheist and torture you for the rest of your life.

But here’s a question for Glenn and anyone who disagrees with this ruling. Is your faith, your belief so fragile that in order for it to exist you have to force it on others? Is it so delicate that you can’t possibly allow your child to go to school for eight hours without having to have some reminder to believe during those eight hours? If your belief really is that fragile, if you have to continually brainwash your kids in order to get them to think the way you want them to, maybe your belief isn’t as strong as you thought it was.

Also, if you’re going to complain about this you have no right whatsoever to state that you should be allowed to raise your children the way that you want to.