Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Backlash Against Boycott of Glenn Beck/Supporters Fire back

Backlash Against Boycott of Glenn Beck




Glenn Beck signs copies of one of his best-selling books for a fan. The campaign to oust him began after Beck remarked that President Obama is a "racist" after the president’s chastising of the Cambridge Police Department and Sgt. James Crowley for acting "stupidly" in arresting Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates. (AP Photo)

A left-wing group’s effort to intimidate corporate advertisers on Fox News’ Glenn Beck show appears to be backfiring as it triggers a wave of support from grass-roots fans rushing to defend the popular TV personality from the attacks.

Even before the liberal boycott of Glenn Beck began this summer, the best-selling author and TV host had became a ratings superstar, with his 5 p.m. cable news program pulling mega prime-time viewership numbers. Beck also had become a lightning rod for liberal groups who didn’t like his anti-Obama message and his staggeringly large audience.

But now Beck’s fame seems to be growing even more as a spontaneous, nationwide effort has sprung up among fans to defend their hero, including Web sites, Facebook groups, homegrown e-mail blasts, and individual telephone campaigns.

The reaction in support of Beck comes in the wake of the advertiser-boycott campaign launched by Color of Change, an African-American advocacy organization with close ties to the Obama White House.

Although the group garnered some success initially, it appears that it is making claims that don’t match reality, with several major companies claiming they never joined any boycott of Beck’s show.

Major advertisers such as Wal-Mart, CVS, ConAgra, and Sargento have directed Fox News not to air their ads during the Glenn Beck Program, according to Color of Change.

The group probably would have been dismissed as a gadfly were it not for its high-level connections to the Obama White House. Color of Change co-founder Van Jones now works in the Obama administration as the president's "green jobs czar."

Beck has been a fearless critic of both President Obama and Jones, whose association with Color of Change was said to have ended in December 2007.

Color of Change Executive Director James Rucker tells Newsmax that his organization wants Beck silenced for his July remark on Fox & Friends that Obama -s "racist" — an opinion Beck voiced in the context of the president’s chastising of the Cambridge Police Department and Sgt. James Crowley for acting "stupidly" in arresting Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates.

"It's preposterous and absurd," Rucker tells Newsmax of Beck's utterance. "It's insulting to black Americans, and it corrupts honest debate. Anyone who uses such a platform to spew such vitriol, whether Glenn Beck or anyone else, has no place on the air, and we at Color Of Change would use every resource available to us to remove corporate sponsorship from their platform."

Conservative Backlash

Beck's enemies on the left, however, have awakened a sleeping giant in their campaign to destroy Beck.

Like the town hall protesters, Beck's supporters are rising up to declare they're fed up and not going to take it anymore. And joining in their counterattack are some of the most respected voices in conservative media.

"Glenn Beck is to be congratulated," New York Times best-selling author Peter Schweizer tells Newsmax. "They only go after you when you are being effective — he must really be causing them problems."

And Rich Noyes, research director for the conservative Media Research Council watchdog organization, says, "I think it tells us a lot about the style of politics coming from the organized left and this White House. They want to be so strenuous in going after their adversaries that they have a take-no-prisoners approach. I think it would be unthinkable if conservatives, particularly those affiliated with the Bush White House, had gone after a media figure associated with one of the other networks."

Conservative icon and direct-marketing expert Richard Viguerie tells Newsmax: "That's Chicago politics. We're seeing the Chicago-ization of politics. We hear how dangerous it is for some of these people to come in the vicinity of the president with a weapon. Then we see the chairman of a powerful committee, Henry Waxman, issuing subpoenas to 50 insurance executives for their corporate records. That's how they play the game. They will use any method they can to attain power and then hold onto that power. They tried to do the same with Rush Limbaugh, but Rush Limbaugh is too big for them to handle. This is how Democrats operate."

On Thursday, DC Examiner editorial page editor Mark Tapscott wrote: "Funny, I don't recall that the First Amendment guarantees freedom of expression to everybody except those whose opinions the four members of ColorofChange.org find ‘repulsive and divisive.’"

Tapscott called on readers to conduct a reverse boycott against the companies bowing to left-wing pressure, who are pulling their ads from Beck's program. Those companies, Tapscott says, "are aiding and abetting a vicious, political campaign to slander him by an outfit apparently created for just such a purpose."

A reverse boycott is precisely what's taking place.

On Aug. 16, Beck supporter John Hill launched a Web site, DefendGlenn.com. Five days later, the site had recorded 1.9 million visits, racked up 1,033 Twitter followers, and garnered 5,800 user comments on its "Support Wall," Hill says.

"Let your voice be heard! Fight back against the lies and the extremist boycott of Glenn Beck," the site declares.

DefendGlenn.com provides contact information for companies that have pulled their advertising. It also lists and encourages the companies who have stuck with the Beck program.

"We launched DefendGlenn basically just to counter a lot of the distortions and lies that were put out by this group Color of Change, which we saw weren't being countered at all," Hill tells Newsmax.

Among the messages fans left on the DefendGlenn "Support Wall" to show their support for Beck:

  • "Freedom of speech applies to all speech, even those from the right," wrote Matt Elmore of Woodbridge, Va.

  • "You are not alone, but like Gen. Washington, out in front of the troops," wrote Michael Lyon of Estero, Fla.

  • "Never give up,” Leonor Godwin of Stephenville, Texas, wrote him. “They are trying to break you. You are our inspiration and our rock."

    Hill also tells Newsmax he has received 5,000 e-mails from people who tell him they are canceling their Geico insurance policy because the company has joined the boycott against Beck, and about 6,500 e-mails from consumers who say they never will buy a Sargento product again.

    "I don't want to do that," Hill tells Newsmax. "I think boycotts are stupid. But if they're going to join the boycott, boycotts work two ways. Earlier in the week, the companies were saying, 'Yeah we're dropping the ads.’ But as soon as people started getting in touch with them, they started denying they were dropping anything.'"

    Other Beck supporters also are getting into the act. They include an upstate New York stay-at-home mom who became alarmed when she saw the orchestrated campaign to make one of the most independent voices in American media a pariah. Already a member of the 912 organization Beck initiated to recapture the nonpartisan spirit of unity the nation experienced after the 9/11 terror attacks, she created SupportGlennBeck.com.

    The site includes a petition that states: “Through his radio and television show, he promotes God, family, and country — which resonates with a majority of Americans.

    “There are some people who have an ideological problem with Glenn Beck. These people will not be satisfied until voices such as Glenn’s are silenced. For the millions of us who share Glenn’s values, there is nothing more frightening than losing our forum,” the petition states.

    The growing pro-Beck movement has also reached social networking sites. One example: Beck supporter Doug Edelman of St. Louis has established a new Facebook group, “Defend Glenn Beck Against Thug Inspired Boycott.” During its first week, more than 790 members joined the group, which includes a statement of support for Beck and lists contact information for companies that are said to be boycotting his show.

    Exaggerated Boycotts

    The anti-Beck activists claim that more than 20 advertisers have dropped the Beck program. Hill and others on the pro-Beck side dispute say Color of Change has greatly exaggerated the effect of its boycott.

    Many of the companies the organization lists now deny they have anything to do with the boycott. Newsmax contacted Procter & Gamble, Progressive Insurance, SC Johnson, and Radio Shack, all of which said they have not directed Fox News to pull their ads from the Glenn Beck Program, as Color of Change has stated.

    In fact, these companies’ representatives tell Newsmax that, as a matter of corporate policy, they never did advertise on the Glenn Beck Program and ask how they could boycott a program they never placed an ad on in the first place.

    Another company, State Farm, tells Newsmax that its ad was never supposed to air on the Glenn Beck Program. State Farm has a longstanding company policy against advertising on any "political or opinion programming," its spokesman says.

    Having discovered the error, State Farm says, it will not be advertising on any cable talk show. And it is careful to emphasize it is not singling out Beck in this regard.

    As State Farm’s response suggests, the net effect of the anti-Beck crusade probably will be fewer advertisers willing to advertise on the talk shows of any cable network.

    Consider, for example, the corporate response from Clorox. On Thursday, company executives wrote Hill stating: “After a comprehensive review of political talk shows across the spectrum, at this time we have made a decision not to advertise on political talk shows.”

    Assuming the pro-Beck backlash continues, that probably means the activist campaign intended to hurt Beck will, ironically, damage Beck’s progressive competitors more than it hurts him.

    Lost ads will impact smaller networks such as MSNBC far more than it will affect ratings juggernaut Fox News, industry sources say.

    Nearly 2.5 million viewers tuned in to Beck’s show in its 5 p.m. Eastern time slot last week, according to Mediabistro’s TV Newser. Beck’s ratings on Fox exceeded those of CNN, MSNBC, and Headline News combined.

    All of which calls into question whether advertiser boycotts work anyway.

    “It’s funny because I think their calculation is that by going after advertisers they are going to affect his bottom line,” Schweizer says. “But this is a common misperception of liberals. Beck isn’t in this for the money. So even if they could succeed, they won’t silence him.”

    Michael Harrison has seen plenty of media campaigns come and go as publisher of Talkers Magazine. “My guess,” he says, “is he will weather this storm.”

    “Beck expected to get hostile feedback, and a whole bunch of publicity, and he succeeded on both counts,” Harrison says. “People have the right to be offended and businesses have the right to spend their advertising dollars however they choose. Free speech guarantees the right of having an opinion without government censorship. It doesn’t guarantee that people won’t be angry and withhold their support. The free marketplace of ideas is not for the faint hearted!”

    And for ratings giant Fox, Beck’s remarkable connection with viewers has made the free market a profitable one indeed. “The advertisers referenced have all moved their spots from Beck to other programs on the network,” a Fox spokesman recently told Ad Age, “so there is no revenue lost.”

    Below are companies listed on the DefendGlenn site as having joined the Color of Change boycott against Glenn Beck:

    Ally Bank

    President and CEO Mark B. Hales

    (877) 247-2559

    6985 Union Park Center

    Midvale, Utah 84047

    -------------------

    Broadview Security (Brinks)

    Robert B. Allen

    (800) 445-0872

    8880 Esters Blvd,

    Irving, Texas 75063

    -------------------

    CVS Caremark Corp.

    Thomas M. Ryan

    (401) 765-1500

    One CVS Drive

    Woonsocket, R.I. 02895

    ------------------

    Geico

    Chairman and CEO Tony Nicely

    (800) 861-8380

    5260 Western Ave.

    Chevy Chase, Md. 20815

    -------------------

    Healthy Choice Foods

    A subsidiary of

    ConAgra Foods Inc.

    President and CEO Gary M. Rodkin

    (402) 595-4000

    1 ConAgra Drive

    Omaha, Neb. 68102-5001

    -------------------

    Lawyers.com

    A subsidiary of

    LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell

    CEO Andrew Prozes

    (800) 526-4902

    121 Chanlon Road

    New Providence, N.J. 07974

    -------------------

    Men's Wearhouse

    Chairman and CEO George Zimmer

    (281) 776-7200

    6380 Rogerdale Road

    Houston, Texas 77072

    -------------------

    Sanofi-Aventis U.S.

    President and CEO Gregory Irace

    (800) 981-2491

    55 Corporate Drive

    Bridgewater, N.J. 08807

    -------------------

    Sargento Foods Inc.

    Chairman and CEO Louis Gentine

    (800) 243-3737

    One Persnickety Place

    Plymouth, Wis. 53073

  • Has Damascus Stopped Supporting Terrorists?





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    Monday, August 24, 2009

    The Republicans and the Democrats are the same club , People have had it and won't take it anymore Gerald Celente

    Gerald Celente on Financial Newshour Aug 21 2009


    the people have had it and won't take it anymore ,people are losing everything , they are losing their homes , they have lost their jobs , they have lost their pension,they can see and smell a crook when they can see and smell them , and the crooks are in Washington and Wall street , people are not that stupid when we bailout banks and give them hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars and then they scheme of the top and gave themselves bonuses after losing billions, this is about The People have had it and won't take it anymore....this is going to last and continue to build in momentum ...the second American revolution has begun and the media is missing it the first three shot have been fired , The Greatest depression is on hold for now , the democrats and republicans are the same club ,

    Has the Church Become Irrelevant?~(BPT)

    Has the Church Become Irrelevant?

    Chuck BaldwinBy Chuck Baldwin

    America's Christian heritage is both rich and deep. What most historians and educators refuse to acknowledge, our forebears understood clearly: it was mostly Christians and churches that formed and shaped the new land that became known as the United States of America.

    For example, when discussing the brave exploits of the passengers on board the Mayflower, people seem to have forgotten that the voyage was mostly the endeavor of a single church congregation. And don't forget that it was Pastor Jonas Clark's male congregants who withstood British troops at Lexington and fired the very first of the shots heard 'round the world. The famous French historian, Alexis De Tocqueville, credited the pulpits and churches of Colonial America with inspiring America's successful War for Independence and subsequent prosperity much more than its institutions of learning, halls of Congress, or industries of invention. From the very beginning, America's Christians and pastors were intricately involved in the establishment and building of this republic.

    It is no hyperbole to say that without the influence, sacrifice, dedication, blood, sweat, and tears of America's early Christians, this country would not exist.

    But what do we see today? We see pastors and church congregations who are, for the most part, totally ignorant of their own heritage and history. They have little or no understanding of the principles of Natural Law - something America's founders knew almost by second nature (no pun intended). They seem to know next to nothing of the Biblical principles of liberty and government. All they seem to be able to do is regurgitate some mindless interpretation of Romans 13 - an interpretation that could have been written by King George III or even Adolf Hitler (Read my column regarding Romans 13).

    Ignoring the great examples and exhortations of both Testaments, today's Christians seem to have lazily latched onto a modern-day "divine right of kings" philosophy, through which they have become the pathetic slaves of arrogant and pompous political wolves dressed (barely) in the sheepskins of legitimacy.

    Where are America's watchmen on the wall? Where are the great stories of courage and commitment demonstrated by America's founders that once emanated from church pulpits? How is it that today's Christians know more about sports celebrities than they do America's heroes? How is it that these lying, conniving, con artists called politicians can sucker church members as easily as they do the un-churched? How is it that Christians do not seem to recognize the devilish doctrines of socialism, fascism, elitism, or globalism for what they are? How can they be so easily manipulated? How is it that these corrupt politicians - who vote to kill unborn babies, merge America into internationalist and global entities, strip Americans of their God-given natural right of self defense, promote homosexual marriage, or allow America to lose its identity, culture, and heritage through unbridled illegal immigration - remain in "good standing" with any number of supposed "Christian" churches?

    Even though there are more churches in America than anywhere else in the world, the pastors and Christians of this country have, for the most part, become completely irrelevant to preserving "the blessings of liberty" - or even fundamental Biblical principles, for that matter.

    Churches used to be respected as lighthouses in communities: places free from the jaundiced juxtaposition of political correctness and avarice. Today's churches are filled with both. Where once churches stood as guardians of truth, they have now become progenitors of error. Where once preachers stood in the similitude of Elijah and John the Baptist, they now grovel in the image of Joel Osteen and Rick Warren. Sunday Schools were once bastions of Bible teaching; today they are glorified coffee shops and playgrounds. The modern Christian home cannot even disciple its own children: how can it then be expected to "make disciples of all nations"?

    I repeat: the modern American church has, for the most part, become irrelevant.

    It is little wonder that more and more people are losing interest in the organized church. Instead of finding Christian love and kindness, they find the same kind of gossip, slander, petty bickering, favoritism, and selfishness that they might find at any office water cooler. Instead of hearing a prophet of God declare the Word of God, they hear a milquetoast minister meekly musing the latest self-help book.

    The complete irrelevance of today's organized church in America to the preservation of Christian liberty and constitutional government is especially disconcerting to those of us who still have freedom's fire burning in our souls. Where do we go for respite and instruction?

    I tell you the truth: there are hundreds of thousands of patriotic, freedom-minded Christians all over America who have had it "up to here" with these spineless social clubs called churches! They are tired of petrified pastors groveling before corrupt politicians and businessmen. They hunger for truth, and they are not finding it in most organized churches.

    As an example, go to my list of people who have written me to let me know that they are desperately seeking a Black Regiment-type church that they can attend. The list grows by the day (See the list here).

    These people are not looking to be entertained or pampered. They do not care about social standing or making "business contacts." They don't care which church has the "most exciting" youth program, or how many softball teams it has. They want a church where the pastor isn't afraid to speak truth to power and take a stand for liberty. And, unfortunately, such churches are getting harder and harder to find.

    In fact, I submit that the true church is not "emerging"; it is "submerging." As in totalitarian regimes all over the world, where there are basically two types of churches: the organized State-approved church, where people who worship the State go to put on a religious show; and the underground church, where real Christians go to worship God with honest, likeminded believers.

    The "underground" church in America is not totally underground - yet. But the schism is taking place rapidly. Unlike the houses of State Worship, which enjoy large congregations and ornate buildings, underground churches are, for the most part, small and unassuming. Home churches are also mushrooming and must be considered part of the underground church movement. And, of course, Black Regiment churches are springing up all across the country (See the list of Black Regiment churches here).

    I am convinced that it is through these independent, unaffiliated, unorganized, or underground churches that relevancy will return. It is in these churches where Christians can be taught the Biblical principles of Natural Law, where children who are disciplined and know how to behave are not considered oddities, where pastors aren't afraid to proclaim truth, where people are still committed to constitutional government - and understand the difference between a democracy and a republic - and where self-serving neocons are not regarded as heroes.

    Syria, Iraq recall ambassadors in falling-out over Damascus' terror haven

    Syria, Iraq recall ambassadors in falling-out over Damascus' terror haven

    DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

    August 25, 2009, 7:10 PM (GMT+02:00)

    Death, devastation engineered from Syria

    Death, devastation engineered from Syria

    Damascus has turned aside a demand from Baghdad to extradite two Iraqi Baathist leaders (Saddam Hussein's party) believed to have orchestrated from their base in eastern Syria the deadly coordinated bombing attacks which rocked the Iraqi capital on Aug. 19, killing 100 people and leaving more than 1,000 injured. This is reported by DEBKAfile's intelligence and counter-terror sources.

    The Iraqi security authorities named Mohammad Younis al-Ahmed, head of the Baath party's military arm based in Damascus and his operations officer Sattam Farhan.

    The demand followed broadcast confessions by detainees held in Iraq on suspicion of taking part in the atrocity. They named the two Syrian-based chiefs as having ordered the bombing attacks and providing the explosives.

    The Assad regime responded to the Iraqi demand by recalling its ambassador from Baghdad. Iraqi reciprocated by summoning his ambassador home from Damascus.

    DEBKA file reports that this row is highly relevant to the Obama administration's ambition to improve relations with Damascus.

    On Aug. 13, a high-ranking US delegation headed by Fred Hoff, head of the Mitchell group's Syrian desk and Gen. Michael Moeller of the US Central Command arrived in Damascus. They were there to find out if president Bashar Assad was ready to put a stop the flow of terrorists and weapons from his country into Iraq and the smuggling of Iranian arms to the Hizballah in Lebanon? That willingness is perceived in Washington as the litmus test for a possible rapprochement. But almost two weeks have gone by and Assad has still not answer those questions.

    A few days later, on Aug. 18, prime minister Nouri al-Maliki went to Damascus with the same query. He told the Americans that Iraq was a sovereign state and their intercession on its security problems was unnecessary. This time Assad flatly denied that Syria was permitting Iraqi Baath terrorists to operate from its soil. The following day, Baghdad suffered one of the worst terrorist attacks in his history. Maliki was thus treated to a test of his neighbor's two-faced attitude on terrorists. While promising to fight terrorists, Assad gives them free rein to operate undisturbed from bases in his country.

    Andy Stanley Preaches on 'Losing Your Religion'


    Andy Stanley Preaches on 'Losing Your Religion'

    Pastor Andy Stanley has met many people over the years who said they stopped believing in God, are on the edge of losing their faith, or are just lost.

    It's not that a bad experience or circumstance pushed them away from God or caused them to doubt. And it's not that they're on some campaign against God and religion. But many of them just woke up one day and wondered if they really did believe.

    It's as if they just put their faith away in a box somewhere.

    His short but memorable conversations with such people have prompted Stanley to launch a series on "Losing Your Religion" at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Ga.

    According to the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey, 15 percent of Americans claim no religion and that statistic is apparently still rising. Also, a recent Grand Valley State University survey on the nonreligious found that most nonbelievers had a religious childhood.

    It's common to everybody to question their beliefs at some point in their life, Stanley indicated during the sermon series kickoff on Aug. 16.

    "All of us ... run the risk at some point of losing our religion," he said.

    Most people, Stanley pointed out, don't even care much about religion, the rituals and the traditions. All they want is some assurance that God exists and that God knows their name and cares about them.

    "One of the reasons that religion and faith often slip away has nothing to do with God as much as it does that there is a tendency on our part to look for God in all the wrong places, to look for God in all the wrong people, to look for God in all the wrong sets of circumstances ... and in systems that make big promises," he said.

    And while looking in the wrong places, many have lost what Stanley called "the epicenter of enduring faith," which is the idea that they need forgiveness for sin.

    "If that idea ever slides off front and center or if that idea was never front and center, then I'm telling you whatever religious system you've chosen, whatever religious system you bought into and whatever brand of Christianity that you've brought into eventually you will find unfulfilling because the point that God wanted to make to the world wasn't everything you believed up until this point is wrong. What God wanted ... and introduced in the New Testament is that every single person ... understand what it means to be forgiven of sins."

    "God says I want everyone to experience my forgiveness," Stanley added. "What God wants ... is to restore the relationship."

    The Alpharetta pastor called people back to "the starting point" of a relationship with God because at the end of the day it's not about a ritual, a routine, a church, a speaker or a book.

    In fact, religion, oftentimes, is what gets in the way of the authenticity that people want with God, he noted. And what people need to do is strip all the "junk" – the superstitions, judgmental attitudes, legalism, and hypocrisy – that got loaded up with Christianity and focus on the person of Jesus, Stanley stressed.

    "Religion's always asking 'who's right?' The better question is 'who is Jesus?'" he noted. "Religion asks 'what's true?' The better question is 'what happened?'"

    So on one note, losing your religion can be good, the prominent megachurch pastor said in his most recent sermon.

    Stanley received a letter from a church attendee who is a nonbeliever. The anonymous writer is convinced he'll never become a Christian but he stated that he's starting to doubt his doubts about God.

    Encouraging attendees and listeners, Stanley said, "If you're on the edge ... if you have your doubts ... my challenge to you is to draw back in to the simple story and the teaching of Jesus."

    Jesus, he said, is not religion 2.0 nor is he an option to add to other religious options. Jesus is the answer to the questions that religion had been asking for generations.