Eat Sushi? You are likely supporting Sun Myung Moon and all he stands for

[Cell Whitman]

A little over five years ago I read that Bush 41 shilled for Moon, helping him with his credibility gap and promoting his front groups on three continents. It was a jaw dropping shock to me. Since then I have read hundreds of his speeches and countless articles on the organization. I have tried to tell anyone who would listen that there is more to this organization than most know or many want to admit. Daily that belief becomes more intense – the world has no clue what this organization is doing – not just in business but in its efforts to manipulate the political structures of America and the planet.

Today if the subject of Moon comes up what do liberals do? They mention the crowning and then someone brings up that Danny Davis a democrat was there and then they go silent. Or you may have someone bring up the "call boy" ring that the Washington Times reported 15 years ago then dropped. I am not saying those are not things to know and investigate but those two things are very minor in the big picture of what Moon is doing - yet that is as far people seem to go. Danny Davis said he would no longer attend any Moon functions and he hasn’t. The minor smudging of liberals by Moon is insignificant compared to his financing and guiding the conservative movement the last 25 years, he has played a major role in the right gaining control of our government. IMO, without him they are not in control of anything – especially not the Republican Party of today – homophobic, theocratic and fascist as it has become under his influence. I have never found any ‘liberal’ cause the Moon organization has ever backed. He has worked on recruiting black ministers but, imo, he is just using them. He has promoted the UN but that is only because he wants to manipulate it. The longer this story stays below the surface the more strength Moon gains worldwide, the more people think he is just another player; it is likely that they can’t be stopped.

It’s also like everyone is sitting back waiting for John Gorenfeld to tell them what happened next. Gorenfeld deserves a Pulitzer for his blog and work he has done to expose Moon yet he has basically retired the blog and frankly the story is much more than any one person can keep track of. I know I can't, the story is too big and has more twists than a Chubby Checker concert. :7

I don’t mean this post to get people to stop eating sushi. We are way, way too late for that kind of stuff. That kind of thing should have been done when he opened his propaganda paper - instead conservatives embraced him. But I am trying to make sure you understand this group is no joke, they are seriously embedded in the world business, political and cultural structures and they are not doing it for laughs or just cash. He is embedded and he won’t be spit out – he can be exposed so people know – many will stand with him – openly. Openly to different degrees, today's right will stand by his paper...it is their root.

People laugh at Moon. Our news is still covering that poor Holloway girl. Biblical sized blindness.


From the Chigaco Tribune: SUSHI AND REV. MOON - How Americans' growing appetite for sushi helps support his controversial church.

In a remarkable story that has gone largely untold, Moon and his followers created an enterprise that reaped millions of dollars by dominating one of America's trendiest indulgences: sushi. …

Adhering to a plan Moon spelled out more than three decades ago in a series of sermons, members of his movement managed to integrate virtually every facet of the highly competitive seafood industry. The Moon followers' seafood operation is driven by a commercial powerhouse, known as True World Group. It builds fleets of boats, runs dozens of distribution centers and, each day, supplies most of the nation's estimated 9,000 sushi restaurants.

Although few seafood lovers may consider they're indirectly supporting Moon's religious movement, they do just that when they eat a buttery slice of tuna or munch on a morsel of eel in many restaurants. True World is so ubiquitous that 14 of 17 prominent Chicago sushi restaurants surveyed by the Tribune said they were supplied by the company. …

People laugh at him. He is getting the last laugh.

Moon predicted in 1974 that the fishing business would "lay a foundation for the future economy of the Unification Church." In fact, while Moon and businesses affiliated with him reportedly have poured millions of dollars into money-losing ventures including The Washington Times newspaper, the seafood ventures have created a profit-making infrastructure that could last-and help support the church-long after the 86-year-old Moon is gone. ...

In June 2001, True World Foods' Kodiak, Alaska, fish processing company pleaded guilty to a federal felony for accepting a load of pollock that exceeded the boat's 300,000-pound trip limit. The firm was fined $150,000 and put on probation for five years under a plea agreement with prosecutors.

The company also has been cited for sanitation lapses by the Food and Drug Administration. Last year, after repeated FDA inspections found "gross unsanitary conditions" at True World's suburban Detroit plant, the facility manager tried to bar inspectors from production areas and refused to provide records, according to an FDA report. The plant manager told the inspectors that his True World supervisor was "a great man, that he was a part of a new religion, and that if we took advantage of him, then `God help you!'."

Later, according to that FDA report, an employee wearing a ski mask approached one female inspector, put his thumb and forefinger in the shape of a gun, pointed at her and said: "You're out of uniform. Pow!"

Saying they had been "hindered, intimidated and threatened," the FDA inspectors took the unusual step of securing a court order compelling True World to let them inspect the facility. Yashiro, chief executive of True World Foods, said in a written statement that the "isolated instance ..... arose from a miscommunication." The plant is now closed; Yashiro said its operations were consolidated into the Elk Grove Village plant in January, adding: "We maintain the highest standards of food safety." …

Since he sent his advanceman, Bo Hi Pak, here in the 60s to figure the best way to use and find ways to avert our laws they have been relentless.

He(Moon) even suggested that the church's mass weddings could play a role in the business plan by making American citizens out of Japanese members of the movement. This would help them avoid fishing restrictions applied to foreigners.

"A few years ago the American government set up a 200-mile limit for offshore fishing by foreign boats," Moon said in the 1980 "Way of Tuna" sermon. But by marrying Japanese members to Americans, "we are not foreigners; therefore Japanese brothers, particularly those matched to Americans, are becoming ..... leaders for fishing and distribution" of his movement's businesses. …

I had read where government agencies rent office space from him – I didn’t know he repaired our Navy and Coast Guard vessels. Larry Zilliox who has keeps the most up to date list of Moon front groups, says Moon has more privately owned real estate than anyone on earth – including 4500 square miles of South America and land over the largest supply of fresh drinking water on the planet. If you think he isn’t planning ahead you aren’t paying attention.

The Alabama shrimp business is among the largest in the Gulf of Mexico, and the nearby boat-building plant has not only built more than 300 boats, but also done repairs on the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy ships, according to federal documents. …

Most people in the United Sates think he is dead or of no count. I bet over 90% of people who call themselves conservatives in the nation have no idea he owns the Washington Times and brags about using it to “influence” America.

According to True World Foods, its fleet of 230 refrigerated trucks delivers raw fish to 7,000 sushi and fine-dining restaurants nationwide. Dozens of those trucks leave each day from the Elk Grove Village warehouse, one of 22 distribution facilities around the country. ...

And it is again in an expansionist mood. True World recently opened up shop in England and established offices in Japan and Korea, setting its sights on the world's biggest market for sushi. ...

Zealots for employees who are known to sign their paychecks back over to the organization; he is not a “successful” businessman as we know it.

"It's kind of tough to compete in this industry with a company that is so global, has a major presence in almost every market and that is driven by religious fervor," said Bill Dugan, who has been in the fish business for almost 30 years and owns the Fish Guy Market on Elston Avenue, near the original Rainbow shop. "We should all be so blessed."

info to know:

This is a post on why TV won’t cover his influence on our nation. It has a transcript of a 1990 NBC News broadcast where they say moon owned 1/3 of the U.S. fishing industry. Why that didn’t sedn shockwaves through the nation can called “Biblical sized blindness.”

This is on what Neil Bush was helping Moon promote when he appeared with him last year. NO it wasn’t that damn tunne!

This is an outline of just some of what Moon has done to manipulate our nation. Did you know that U.S. News and World Report stated that by 1989 virtually every conservative organization in DC had ties to Moon?

[derby378]

1. I've seen a True World truck roaming the streets of Dallas

Might be fun to know where its regional distribution hub is and who its customers are.

I understand that True World controls 50% of America's fish market. It's not just sushi, folks.

[blm]

12. Moon controls half this nation's ENTIRE FISHING INDUSTRY. Bush family

ties that go back over 40yrs helped him every step of the way.

We also have Moon to thanks for funding Tim LaHaye for so many years - the whole Left Behind crowd has been co-opted using moonie mind control techniques - always mixing the political in with their dogma.

[underpants]

2. K&R

bookmarking

[jobycom]

3. Thanks for the info, but consider that if you buy anything in America

you are more than likely supporting someone up the chain somewhere with radical views. Most aren't quite as bad as Moon, but some are pretty scary.

Of course, you could buy local only--drive around from store to market finding clothing and food from local sources only. Try not to think about the gasoline, oil, tires and auto parts you are consuming, though. Or, buy a bike--you still might be helping a rich, wacko investor up the line, but at least you won't be buying gas and tires as much. Limit all purchases to what you really need and will consume--and then try not to wonder whether you are putting American workers--retailers, food industry workers, packers, truckers, dock workers, etc--by not spending money...

It ain't easy. Fortunately, I don't eat sushi, anyway. I'm vegetarian, so the VPD (Veggie Police Force) would arrest me if I did! :-) (I wonder who makes Gardenburger BBQ Riblets...)

Note: I'm not trying to criticize the OP, I'm glad to have the information and fully appreciate where it's coming from.

[Cell Whitman]

5. yea he's the Walmart of sushi

funny how things work for him. I bet if he would have had himself crowned in 1975 the news would have been all over it. Or say the day he opened the Washington Times. hah

Things he does today many go, "well there is so and so and they did this which is kind of bad." He worked to make an environment suitable for his group. He didn't 'officially' pronounce himself the messiah until he knew he could get away with it and he did. If you were around in the 70s you know his group played with the whole thing telling the media "he doesn't say he is the messiah, it is up to you declare him so"... there are even black ministers recruited who didn't understand he was serious about being the Lord of the Second Advent until he had it printed in papers all over the country in 2002. Some still think there is wiggle room so they can still call themselves "Christian" and work with him. They ignore John 5:43.

I get a big kick out of Arnaud de Borchgrave in an interview talking about what a numbnuts Bush is, how he hasn't a clue about foreign policy. Yet deBorchgrave/Moon played a huge role in making a political environment for a Bush type person to be elected. The Washington Times has played a huge role in molding our nation politically, this wasn't an accident. They fed a train that is taking us all to hell.

[Lars39]

4. Moon has bankrolled fundy Tim LeHaye of the Left Behind books

There are a lot of people that believe that retched set of books detail exactly the way the "End Times" are going to happen,
and are doing everything in their power to see that it does.

[Gabi Hayes]

11. that's nothing.... he basically owns Falwell's Liberty University

Dark Side of Rev. Moon: Buying the Right
By Robert Parry

On Jan. 28, 1995, a beaming Rev. Jerry Falwell told his Old Time Gospel Hour congregation news that seemed heaven sent. The televangelist hailed two Virginia businessmen as financial saviors of debt-ridden Liberty University, the fundamentalist Christian school that Falwell had made the crown jewel of his Religious Right empire. "They had to borrow money, hock their houses, hock everything," enthused Falwell. "Thank God for friends like Dan Reber and Jimmy Thomas." Falwell's congregation rose as one to applaud. The star of the moment was Daniel Reber, who was standing behind Falwell. Thomas was not present.

Reber and Thomas earned Falwell's public gratitude by excusing the Lynchburg, Va., school of about one-half of its $73 million debt. In the late 1980s, that flood of red ink had forced Falwell to abandon his Moral Majority political organization and nearly drowned Liberty University in bankruptcy. Reber and Thomas came to Falwell's rescue in the nick of time. Their non-profit Christian Heritage Foundation of Forest, Va., snapped up a big chunk of Liberty's debt for $2.5 million, a fraction of its face value. Thousands of small religious investors who had bought church construction bonds through a Texas company were the big losers. But Falwell shed no tears. He told local reporters that the moment was "the greatest single day of financial advantage" in the school's history.

Left unmentioned in the happy sermon was the identity of the bigger guardian angel who had been protecting Falwell's financial interests -- from a distance and without publicity. That secret benefactor was the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the self-proclaimed South Korean messiah who is controversial with many fundamentalist Christians because of his bizarre Biblical interpretations and his brainwashing tactics that have torn thousands of young people from their families. Moon also has grown harshly anti-American in recent years.

Covertly, Moon helped bail out Liberty University through one of his front groups which funnelled $3.5 million to the Reber-Thomas Christian Heritage Foundation, the non-profit that had purchased the school's debt......
http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/moon3.html

a real journalist; not like the ones you see on TV or read in TIME, NYT, Post, etc

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

6. Thank the Non Existent One I'm in Brazil -nt

[derby378]

10. Careful - I think Moon owns half of Uruguay

He might be looking at your side of the border before too long.

Or does Brazil share a border with Uruguay? I'm too lazy to call up a map.

[Cell Whitman]

19. Uruguay - yep you are right...

this is one of those artciles that if you haven't read you are not pulling your share of Moon duty. :7

http://www.globalpolicy.org/ngos/analysis/1101moon.htm

In the 1980s, during the time of the military dictatorship in Uruguay, the Moon organization took control of that country’s third-largest bank, Banco de Credito, benefiting from generous government subsidies. In 1996, bank workers reported that Moon staff and followers deposited at least $50 million in cash in the bank, leading to suspicions of money laundering. (66) Two years later, after the Moon deposits had been withdrawn, Moon officers are accused of having stripped the bank of its assets through unsecured loans totaling at least $125 million to Moon companies. The Central Bank stepped in on September 18, 1998. (67) In spite of this scandal, the Moon organization continues to own the bank and other large properties in Uruguay, including the Victoria Plaza, a five-star hotel and casino located on the capital’s main square, opposite the presidential palace, (68) and it is said to be building another casino in a tourist resort near the Argentine border. Its large Uruguayan holdings also include the Corporation Rioplatense de Hoteles and Hotel Horacio Quiroga, as well as a newspaper and a shipyard.

[Cell Whitman]

20. Brazil - Moon's "Heaven on Earth" is in Jardim

Brazil has shown signs of standing up to him. If you are down there PLEASE try and find out what is going on. I haven't heard much in a while from there. Moon intended to use his 4500 square miles of South America to make a sovereign nation but since things are going so good in Korea he is sticking to plan "A" on that.

Scroll down here for whole section of articles on Moon in Brazil

http://www.rickross.com/groups/moonie.html

You know how Morales the socialist was just elected in Bolivia? Well in iirc, 2002 the election was practically a dead heat between three candidates. The winner only like 2% ahead of his two opponents. Bush sent Otto Riech down to strong arm them and tell them the Child King wouldn't put up with Morales. The winner now gone - called "Goni" formed a government with the guy who finshed third by a few hundred votes - Reyes Villa ...Villa was backed by??? You guessed it... Moon. The Moon candidate got a bunch of seats in their congress.


translated article excerpt:
http://www.sectas.org.ar/MoonBolivia.html

Bolivia's La Prensa, 6/21/02

"The premier Spanish page on sects and cults"

The Moon sect openly interferes with Bolivian elections. They prop up the rightist candidate with the strongest possibility of winning.

The main leader of Bolivia's Moon sect, Seiichiro Sagawa, recently revealed that his religious organization has established ties to presidential candidate Manfred Reyes Villa of the New Republican Force party. La Presna obtained this information from a team of journalists who infiltrated the political structure of this association, in La Paz and Cochabamba.

"We want to give our blessing to the work of Reyes Villa and for that we will present him as an Ambassador of Peace ", affirmed Sagawa, intent on convincing the sect to fall in line behind him(Reyes Villa). The founder of the sect is the polemical Korean reverend, Sun Myung Moon. ....

It was the right moment to begin my line of questioning. "Which politicians have you had contact with?" I asked immediately. Sagawa smiled and looked nervously at Motoko's eyes. "Many, many" he answered, without elaborating. Later he explained that former President Hugo Banzer was a primary "friend" to the Church. On 13 July 1978, Banzer gave official recognition to Moon's sect, through Supreme Resolution 188103.

"And now?" I asked. "A Korean missionary from our Church contacted Manfred Reyes Villa", he answered. I confessed my surprise. Sagawa spared no adjective to show his satisfaction with the challenger. "He's one of the more innovative political leaders in Bolivia." Yes, of course, I agreed. Then: "His father was an amti-communist fighter", referring to Armando Reyes Villa, Minister Of Defense during the reign of narcotraffickers Luis García Meza and Luis Arce Gómez, starting July 1980. Under this regimen, Moon's second in command, General Bo Hi Pak, came to La Paz - to give his "blessing" to the de facto dictatorship. Moon sent 4 million dollars to support the regime. Men conscripted for the military in this time tell stories about how they were ordered to read the Bible of Moon's church, "The Divine Principles" The fall of Garcia Meza aborted Moon's plans to expand his church to Bolivia. 20 years later, the sect has returned. And their plans are more ambitious.

We want to bless the work of Reyes Villa", he assured me. The Unification Church bestows a special honor on leaders who work for peace. "We will nominate him for Ambassador of Peace." Those chosen for this award receive a medal from Moon's hands in a yearly celebration in Washington DC, where they meet "illustrious" people from the world of international politics. Reyes Villa travelled to Washington some months back, to contact with representatives from the government of George W. Bush. The Washington Times, Moon's periodical in America, put him on the front page, enhancing his visibility as a public figure. The Bush family has a long "friendship" with Reverend Moon, who donates millions to the Republican Party.

A source from the Chancellor's Office alerted La Prensa to how Moon's sect offers help to governments and political candidates that go far beyond the norm for religious establishments. "They may constitute a threat to national security."

"If the organization is well-established in the country, the government will only follow their activities minimally. The Moon sect carries on its shoulders a wide range of activities, including money laundering, arms trafficking and other businesses."

[Cell Whitman]

22. Photos of Moon's plan B heaven on earth in Jardim Brazil

scroll down to the bottom here for a couple of photos of Moon SA "paradise" in "New Hope" in Jardim.

http://tinyurl.com/nu2lg

I read once that the compound would hold 30,000 - probably the number of actual die hard members world wide. As I said up thread, things are going so well in Korea he sticking to plan "A" for Korea to become his sovereign nation. He has said that if nuclear war breaks out that it will be the big coastal cities which will get hit. People have no idea how deep they go...

[yorkiemommie1]

7. the only sushi i eat is the kind w/ no seafood on it

it's always homemade, too.


saw a tv trailer for some sort of sick reality show featuring the offspring of the super rich and Moon's daughter was on it along w/ some others. All of them had obnoxious attitudes and I couldn't turn the channel fast enough.

[Cell Whitman]

9. that was his daughter "kat"

they let the show go on advertising the rich kids total wealth at 3 billion and saying she was heir to 950 million. This had to have created a stir in the org because they are always told Moon has no wealth and all the slaving the members are doing is for taking over the world. It is, but Moon controls the org, no matter what they say, what he says goes. So then, when she was kicked off the first week the organization's mouthpiece had to quickly get out a statement from the lawyers saying that she wasn't an heir to the money. So she or the org lied when they let her on the show. Of course she was telling the truth - she and her spoiled briothers and sisters are made for life - with members zilching for them.

Moon, who is a massive homophobe, must have freaked when he saw the only person to hug her when she left the show, the only one to befriend her was the openly gay guy. The guy said she was freaking during the show because her dad was threatening to cut her off.

Moon only cares about ONE thing himself all else is puff...

[readmoreoften]

8. I think of all the liberal NYers he's duping with these health fronts

All of the fish distribution, pseudo-peace organizations, holistic health centers, martial arts centers, natural foods establishments, anti-racism groups...

How many liberal NYers are funding their own destruction by patronizing these places? The sick thing is, you feel good about yourself because you're not shopping at Walmart and you're eating natural foods, but in actuality you are contributing to a massively powerful extremist hate group.

Whoa.

[Neil Lisst]

13. Be safe. If you want to eat raw fish, eat Ceviche, amigo.

hmmmmmmmmmm. so good.

[smoogatz]

14. Deplorable. And yet

when I go to LA, am I going to boycott Sasabune? No, I am not. Tha tsaid, I do avoid eating raw fish here in the midwest. Obvious call, if you ask me.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

15. How many of you know that our own government is giving Moonie millions of

dollars a year to teach abstinence to prevent AIDS in Africa?

[nicknameless]

17. That's worthy of its own thread.

:grr:

[Cell Whitman]

18. what ya got?

I know that a member of Moon's group was given 475 grand to teach abstinence here. The moonites say they are not directly involved of course the members don't teach anything not Moon approved.

I also understand that at one time the government was about to give grants to Moon's main org to teach abstinence in Africa but they later stopped the deal - the gov. 'claimed' that because they thought only Moon's front could handle it. When Gorenfeld exposed it they then announced that Moon's group wouldn't do it. The whole thing disappeared to my knowledge.

It was a major deal if it is still going on because though Moon doesn't give a damn about small money like 475 gs. - other than it gives his fronts credibility - he wants that always. However, iirc, Bush's aids help for Africa was to be 15 billion and 1/3 of that was to be earmarked for prevention programs like abstinence. Moon would come out and play for 5 billion I am sure.

What else do you know about this? I can't keep up, what else do you know?

Here's Gorenfeld's thread on it but the links are dead.

http://www.iapprovethismessiah.com/2004/02/us-government-to-unification-church.html

this is the story on the USA "Free Teens" program where they told kida to swap spit in a cup to show them how bad sex can be...trading fluids is like swapping spit ya know...

http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2003/09/24/moon/index.html

[Scout]

16. I don't eat sushi n/t

[dcfirefighter]

21. Most of what he owns is government privilege

A title is only so much paper, fishing rights, too.

Start taxing the crap out of occupying natural resources (including fishing rights) and you'll hit the likes of moon pretty hard, reduce our footprint on the world, make housing cheap, wages strong, and a whole list of wonderful things.

[Cell Whitman]

23. He's made billions swindling the Japanese

lots of theories on his money and he has lots of sources. Daniel Junas theorized from his study that his money came form Mitsubishi.

Right now there are 20,000 claims which total 800 million USD against the UC for swindling the Japanese - literally targeting widows. The UC has been found guilty of conning the Japanese in court. The group fighting them says that figure represents only a fraction of what has been conned from the citizens of Japan. That would put the figure in the billions.

By my research, that is where the money came from to move our nation right and theocratic. The Moon org itself admits its funding comes from overseas - mostly Japan. Which makes it even more insane that NO democrat mentions that when people talk about a few million from U.S. citizen Soros spent on liberal causes. Moon outspent Scaife bringing HIS brand of conservatism to power in America. He has been quite successful.

[blm]

29. You think fishermen would be happy if they knew Moon's ownership and

control of half this nation's fishing industry and it's thanks to his associations with the Bush family powerstructure that he gained that unpublicized control?

[LiberalEsto]

24. Doesn't Moon also own an arms manufacturing company

in S. Korea?

I had a few run-ins with the Moonies when they duped a good friend into joining. They are absolutely nutzoid.

[Cell Whitman]

25. Tongil Heavy Industries

He owns/ed Tongil Industries which manufactured everything from cannons to chassis for cars. It isn't included in his online version but Parry reported that Moon's front supplied small arms to latin American groups years ago...

Some say he has sold Tongil as his empire has been rocked in recent years. However he has so many front groups that is hard to say.

There was quite a bit a finagling and his org was involved in manufacturing the M-16. Read some of that in the Fraser report. Check this out for more…

http://tinyurl.com/fraeq

His son manufactures the finest small - yet powerful - handgun in the world from what I understand.

They discussed Kahr Arms when debating the recent bill which gave gun makers a free ride against negligence claims.

BRAC -- (Senate - July 26, 2005)
Mr. REED. (Jack Reed D-RI) Yes. Mr. President, we have had a long discussion today about the legislation. I think some of the points the Senator from Illinois made are very pertinent.
First, there is the erroneous presumption that people who would be sued would be sued because of the actions of others, when in fact the negligent suits lie in showing that first an individual had a duty to someone else--a victim--and that duty was not fulfilled. Essentially, that is the essence of negligence. If you cannot show that, you cannot get into court. This is not about somebody being punished or imposed upon for the actions of others. It goes right to the actions of the individuals--the seller, manufacturer or, in this case, trade associations. …

There are other suits that are pending today. There is a case in Massachusetts, where a young man, Danny Guzman, an innocent bystander, was shot and killed in front of a nightclub in Worcester. Six days later, police recovered a 9 mm Kahr Arms handgun without a serial number behind an apartment building, near where Mr. Guzman was shot. In fact, I am told a 4-year-old child discovered the weapon first. Ballistic tests determined that the gun was the one used to kill Danny Guzman.

This gun was one of about 50 guns that disappeared from Kahr Arms' manufacturing plant. Some of the guns were removed from the plant by employees that Kahr Arms hired despite criminal records and histories of drug addiction. The case is being pursued now. The issue is not what Mr. Guzman did. It is what this company failed to do. They failed to have background checks on employees who handled weapons. They failed to have security devices that would monitor if these weapons would be taken out of Kahr Arms. I am told, interestingly enough, Kahr Arms is owned by a holding company for the benefit of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church. So one of the beneficiaries of this bill, if it passes, will be Reverend Moon's financial enterprises because they will be protected from allegations of recklessness, not just negligence. …

The next exception is negligent entrustment. This applies where a gun dealer knows, or should know, that a purchaser will shoot someone with the gun, and that individual shoots a person. This exception only applies to a gun ``seller.'' Once again, Kahr Arms was not, in this situation, a seller. Moreover, Kahr Arms did not entrust its guns to its employees. Rather, Kahr's employees removed the guns from the plant because of Kahr's negligent security, inventory tracking, and hiring of employees with histories of criminal conduct and drug addiction. So that exception doesn't apply. ...

Knowing violation of the law exception: This exception applies where a gun seller or manufacturer knowingly violates a State or Federal statute when it makes a sale that leads to an injury. Here, Kahr Arms did not violate statutes related to the sale or manufacturing of a gun. Rather, Kahr's employees surreptitiously took the guns out. …
Rather than being legislation that allows the good suits through and the frivolous ones out, this legislation effectively denies people, such as the family of Danny Guzman, their day in court, and many others.

[starroute]

26. Moon connections come up in so many places

It's probably a stretch to say that everyone who was ever connected with Moon is pushing his agenda -- but on the other hand, it often seems as though almost every story I look into has one or more Moon-related figures involved.

Take Crazy Curt Weldon, for example -- the guy who's been promoting Able Danger and who was also tangled up in 2003 with the successful attempt to sabotage improved relations between the US and Iran. He was there at Moon's "coronation."

Weldon isn't the only Moon-related figure tangled up in Middle Eastern affairs. Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor at large of Moon's Washington Times, is a client of Benador Associates, a PR firm whose membership is stacked with Neocons and prominent advocates of regime change in both Iraq and Iran.

Or consider Representative Dan Burton,whose name comes up in Sibel Edmonds-related investigations as someone who's long been in the pocket of the Turkish lobby. Back about a dozen years ago, Burton was the person most responsible for pushing through a Federally-endorsed "Parents' Day." That was another Moon project.

Both Parents' Day and the coronation were stage-managed by Gary Jarmin -- a long-time Moon operative with close ties to Bush Sr. Jarmin was discussed extensively here at DU in the fall of 2004 because of scam letters one of his groups was sending out through a direct-mail fundraising firm called Response Dynamics. At the same time, Response Dynamics was sending out very similar letters to the vulnerable elderly for both the College Republicans and the National Center for Public Policy Research, run by Jack Abramoff's old friend Amy Ridenour. (For the latest on Jack and Amy, see http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Former_DeLay_aide_paid_thinktank_that_0412.html.)

Response Dynamics has also done fundraising for a group called Empower America, whose president and CEO until 2000 was a former high-ranking Unification Church Member and Washington Times editor named Josette Shiner. Shiner became a deputy US trade tepresentative in 2003 (see http://www.cultnews.com/archives/000500.html) under Robert Zoellick. When Zoellick became a deputy secretary of state in 2005, Shiner became undersecretary of state for economic, business and agricultural affairs.

Another member of Empower America is Vin Weber, who is currently a lobbyist for the United Arab Emirates -- the area where Neil Bush peddles his educational software when he's not globe-trotting with Reverend Moon. Back in the 80's, Weber belonged to a pro-Contra group called the Council for Inter-American Security, which was full of Moon followers like Lynn Francis Bouchey and Roger Fontaine. Fontaine was the original publisher of a whitewash of Moon by Carlton Sherwood, who in 2004 was the producer of "Stolen Honor."

Carlton Sherwood is currently a vice-president of wvc3 (from which he took a leave of absence to work on "Stolen Honor"), whose CEO is Bill Cowan, a member of the Iran Policy Committee, one of the groups pushing hardest for war with Iran. Another IPC member, Paul Vallely, is a client of Benador Associates, along with Arnaud de Borchgrave.

Vin Weber is also on the Board of Directors of Citizens Against Government Waste. And the Pennsylvania chairman of Citizens Against Government Waste is Charlie Gerow, the spokesman for "Stolen Honor." In 2000, when Gerow ran unsuccessfully in a Republican Congressional primary, he received a donation from Jack Abramoff.

Still another member of Empower America is William S. Cohen, former Secretary of Defense under Clinton and recently a major lobbyist for Turkey.

Now if I were truly enamored of conspiracy theory :eyes: I could construct a doozy of a theory in which Reverend Moon is behind the invasion of Iraq, the threatened invasion of Iran, the drugs / arms / money-laundering / nuclear proliferation / terror-funding networks in Turkey of which Sibel Edmonds direly hints, and the Dubai Ports World flap. Not to mention Jack Abramoff and his buddies at NCPPR and the College Republicans. And "Stolen Honor."

Instead, I try to keep my head about these things and not suspect conspiracy unless the potential participants actually have visible connections to one another. Moon has had a finger in almost everything and everyone on the right at one time or another, and they aren't all necessarily connected with each other.

But still, I do wonder just a bit.

[Cell Whitman]

27. He moves the "big" picture - he is taking the world from the top down.

late night rambling here...

I think it is kind of a mixed bag. I don’t think Moon calls Bush and tells him what to do. Although there may be many, I don’t think these politicians are “moonies” - at least not in the sense that they screw under a picture of Moon, like members. They are moonies in that help his organization in whatever way. Some more than others…look at how the right has drooled over the Washington Times.

They claim that Moon opposed the Iraq war, however there is no doubt he thrives on chaos. He wnats to be the savior and he needs chaos for that. He is helped by what he helped create. I have read some comments on other forums which are shocking in that people know so little about him and many just think he is a run of the mill “religion” and since we have freedom of religion, who cares? Most think he is of no count and crazy so why care?

If people knew what we know today about him 25 years ago they would have screamed bloody murder. Now the right has to find a way to defend if not him, his fronts. He knows that. He knows Rush will stand by his propaganda organ. Think about it, what would your mother have said if you told her in 1978 that in 2006 former presidents would be shilling for him and that he owned and bragged about using a paper to “influence” the nation, a paper that is the voice of the Republican Party? Top that with the paper going by “America’s newspaper”? I think my Momma would have jumped out the window on the spot had she been told that alone 30 years ago.

I think he is a political organization first. He moves the big picture; the small stuff just comes when needed. I think he played a major role in molding the Republican Party we see today by his effective use of his money and fronts. He said that the Korean government learned from his ways, you have to wonder considering how cult-like the right is today, how much they learned “from his ways.”

Like he funded Falwell - and LaHaye has worked with his fronts and taken his cash. Moon is there with a boost up for the people he wants to be empowered. He selects and knows what will happen in the long run. The Washington Times was huge in forming the politics of our nation. You will have people tell you they don’t read it but they don’t know Rush quoted from it time and again, molding tgheir views - it gave backbone to hard right politics. The paper he molded as he wished, editors who were very conservative quit over editorial independence. Does he have to come into the office and tell Pruden what to write today? No, he knew what kind of right winger he had in Pruden and financed having Pruden’s views pumped into the body politic. The Washington Times served as journalistic farm system for the right. All funded with billions from overseas, much of it swindled from the Japanese. Pruden is the product of the free market of ideas, Moon paid to have him pushed on the nation.

He has smudged just enough dems and combined with this BS of calling his organization a “religion” and his media punch, people are afraid to touch him. I have seen one of his preachers brag that the WT protects him. As far as a religion, it has some trappings but in reality it is just their to honor Moon - that is all he is interested in.

Fact is, I’ll repeat, he has done nothing for any liberal cause. He has done the exact opposite which makes you wonder why some dems treat him like anything other than the scoundrel he is. 1/3 of congress’s names were on the “host” committee for the WT 20th B’day. Including many dems. Why on God’s green earth would they help honor a publication and a nut that has been kicking them in the nuts for twenty years?

Gotta go. Thanks for the excellent post.

[Cell Whitman]

30. Moon supplied the backbone to the new right

and he was and is everywhere...from Parry's latest...

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/041206.html

This political/media strategy gained momentum in the 1980s when President Ronald Reagan’s image-savvy team worked closely with the emerging conservative media, such as Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Washington Times which Reagan called his “favorite” newspaper. Meanwhile, a host of conservative attack groups, such as Accuracy in Media, went after journalists who exposed embarrassing facts about Reagan’s secret operations, such as the Iran-Contra scandal and drug-trafficking by the Nicaraguan contras, Reagan's beloved “freedom fighters.”

[Peter Frank]

28. K & R...