England and the U.S., Greeks and Romans, MSM and bloggers 

I'm watching one of those long interviews with called-in questions on C-SPAN's BookTV with Christopher Hitchens. Not all of it. Who can watch the whole of a 3-hour interview.

A caller asked why Brits are so snarky about Americans, always characterizing us as dumb and fat. Hitchens agreed it's in the English character to be snide, but also attributes it to revenge against the nation that replaced it as the biggest world power. He likened the attitude to the Greeks looking down their noses at the Romans, thinking of them as culturally inferior. It struck me you might draw the same parallel with mainstream journalists who sniff distastefully at bloggers.

Scary movement 

The reasons why some rapture Christians support Israel was completely off my radar until I heard Max Blumenthal talk about it on Worldview on Thursday. He related how the conference-goers he approached at a Christians United for Israel (CUFI) meeting willingly explained that they're eager for the end of days. They believe Jerusalem will be the place Jesus returns after everything blows up, and they want Israel to become provoked to initiate a nuclear attack on Iran to get things going. See Blumenthal's video posted July 26 at Huffington Post. He also writes for The Nation.

Frightening stuff, but creepier in a more insidious way is the reason it may have been off my radar and yours: CUFI leader and pastor John Hagee publically says, nope, it's not about the rapture, it's just Americans supporting Israel. Blumenthal was urged by the event's PR people not to interview people who talked about end-time philosophy, and he ultimately was booted from the conference.

I don't know about you but when the flock is saying one thing and the leader wants the public to believe something else, that gives me the shivers.

Conservative Israelis don't seem to care about motives, they'll take the support however they can get it. Joe Lierberman compares Hagee to Moses.

Tom Delay appears in the video, anxious for the rapture. I wonder if our born-again president is eager too? That's too scary to think about; I'll do a Scarlet O'Hara on that one and think about it another day.

Here's the audio interview mp3. Blumenthal begins with another creep-me-out tale about fundamentalist Christian influence in the military that had escaped my notice. There had been plans to distribute in Iraq soldier care packages a rapture/crusade-themed computer game called Left Behind: Eternal Forces. The Pentagon dropped the idea when ABC News got wind of it. Rick "Purpose Driven Life" Warren was loosely associated with the game until Talk to Action shone light on it last year.

The sun needs to shine on this stuff. Disinfect it. Let's hear what the believers believe -- not just the parts the movements' leaders want out there for general consumption. Let's see what it really is and react to it. Let the Muslim world know that most Americans see new crusades as crazy fringe nonsense.

And bravo Blumenthal. Keep it up.

Later: To be fair, I started to look for references to President Bush and belief in the rapture.

- Village Voice said in 2004 said he hadn't talked about it (though did court its proponents). Reagan did mention in public a half dozen times his belief that the world would end in Armageddon.

- Blogger/author Glenn Greenwald says reporters are reluctant to ask Bush about it. Why? Seems pertinent. I'm all for letting people believe whatever they're moved to believe, but I'd like to know if people in the Pentagon who plan military actions believe in the rapture. I know that might sound like a McCarthy witchhunt, but think about it. Do you like the idea of people who are eager for the world to end to be anywhere near the means to bring it about?

- Truthout speculation from June of this year. It mentions meetings at the White House with a prophecy expert to help them [the White House staff] understand what will happen next in the Middle East. The fallen evangelical Ted Haggard also bragged about advising the president, but I wonder how much stock to put in those boasts. I'm sure it's flattering to be received at the White House and I'm sure those visits result in continued support for Republicans in churches across America; I'm not as convinced that the visits affect national policy, but I worry they might.

OPML Editor today's outline mystery 

Today it's showing yesterday's outline. Maybe something's off with the calendar, error in the number of days in the month of August?