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The Mad Corporate World of Glenn Beck
When I picked up a ringing phone Monday morning, the next thing I knew a producer was inviting me to appear on Glenn Beck's TV show.
Beck has become a national phenom with his nightly hour of polemics on CNN Headline News -- urging war on Iran, denouncing "political correctness" at home, trashing immigrants who don't speak English, mocking environmentalists as repressive zealots, and generally trying to denigrate progressive outlooks.
Our segment, the producer said, would focus on a recent NBC news report praising the virtues of energy-efficient LED light bulbs without acknowledging that the network's parent company, General Electric, sells them. I figured it was a safe bet that Beck's enthusiasm for full disclosure from media would be selective.
A few hours later, I was staring into a camera lens at the CNN bureau in San Francisco while Beck launched into his opening. What had occurred on the "NBC Nightly News," he explained, "was at best a major breach of journalistic integrity." And he pointed out: "The problem isn't what NBC is promoting. It's what they're not disclosing."
A minute later, Beck asked his first question: "Norman, you agree with me that they should have disclosed this?" The unedited transcript tells what happened next.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
SOLOMON: "It's a big problem when there's not disclosure. I'm glad you opened this up. And I wouldn't want any viewers of this program to be left with the impression that somehow General Electric is an environmentally conscious company.
"On the contrary, they have a 30-year history of refusing and actually fighting against efforts to make them clean up the Hudson River, which GE fouled with terrible quantities of horrific PCBs, other rivers as well. People told they can't fish in the Hudson River. General Electric still lobbying to not have to clean up.
"General Electric, even today -- and this report is very timely -- General Electric is lobbying to get Congress to pass $18 billion in taxpayer-backed loan guarantees for a huge GE product which is General Electric components for nuclear power plants. So we should not be fooled in any way by efforts to greenwash General Electric or any other company."
BECK: "You know what's amazing to me? GE has a bigger budget for -- special interest budget than all of the oil companies combined, and yet nobody says anything. Let me reverse this.
"Norman, do you think if I got on as somebody who says I don't know what we can do about global warming, I'm not sure man causes it, and I certainly don't want to have laws and regulations on this, if I got on and said that but I was being -- my corporate -- my corporate parent was Exxon Mobil, do you think I'd get away with that for a second without that being on the front page of the New York Times?"
SOLOMON: "Well, other networks, including General Electric's NBC, have been very slow on global warming. And in fact, General Electric has major interest in components and products used by the oil and gas industry.
"I think if you look across the board, all the major networks, even so-called public broadcasting, which has Chevron underwriting its 'Washington Week' program every Friday, there is a problem, as you say. I think your words are very apt, 'promoting' but 'not disclosing.'
"But let's be clear about this, Glenn. I have a list here, for instance, that I jotted down.
"ABC, owned by Disney. ABC doesn't disclose in their relevant news reports about Disney's stake in sweatshops.
"Fox News -- and now as of the last couple of days now, Wall Street Journal owned by the same entity, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp -- they don't disclose that the ownership is entangled with the Chinese government to the detriment of human rights but to the advancement of the profit margin of the parent company."
BECK: "See --"
SOLOMON: "We would be remiss, Glenn, if we left out CNN, because CNN has a huge multi, multibillion-dollar stake in Internet deregulation and the failure of the Congress to safeguard so far what would be called net neutrality. So every time CNN does a news report on the Internet, on efforts to regulate or deregulate or create a two- or three-tier system of the Internet, CNN News should disclose that Time Warner, the parent company, stands to gain or lose billions of dollars in those terms.
"And one more thing."
BECK: "Real quick."
SOLOMON: "A major -- a major advertiser for CNN is the largest military contractor in the United States, Lockheed Martin. So when you and others --"
BECK: "I got news for you, Norman. Norman --"
SOLOMON: "-- promote war -- when you and others promote war on this network --"
BECK: "Norman -- Norman --"
SOLOMON: "-- we have Lockheed Martin paying millions of dollars undisclosed. So I would quote you --"
BECK: "Norman -- Norman --"
SOLOMON: "Promoting but not disclosing is a bad way to go."
BECK: "Norman, let me just tell you this. First of all, Lockheed Martin is not a -- not a corporate overlord of this program."
SOLOMON: "It's a major advertiser on CNN."
BECK: "That's fine. That's fine. Advertisers are different. But let --"
SOLOMON: "Well, it is fine, but it should be disclosed."
BECK: "Norman, let me just tell you something. If you think that it's warmonger central downstairs at CNN, you're out of your mind. But that's a different story."
SOLOMON: "Well, upstairs, when I watch Glenn Beck, in terms of attacking Iran, it certainly is. It's lucrative for the oil companies, as well as for the major advertiser on CNN, Lockheed Martin."
BECK: "But we're not talking about advertisers. We are talking about --"
SOLOMON: "Well, you don't want to talk about it. So let's talk about the Internet stake."
BECK: "No, no, no. Norman --"
SOLOMON: "Let's talk about the Internet stake that the owners of CNN have. Huge profits to be made or lost by the parent company of CNN depending on what happens in Washington in terms of Internet regulation."
BECK: "Norman, let me tell you something."
SOLOMON: "That should be acknowledged, don't you think?"
BECK: "Absolutely. And if it was on this program, it would be acknowledged.
"I thank you very much for your time.
"That just goes to show you, you've got to beware of everybody who you're getting your news from. Wouldn't it be nice if once in a while somebody came on and said, you know, I don't really have an agenda except the truth? It's my truth. If you don't like it, you should go someplace else."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
During the back-and-forth, I'd understated the present-day role of Chevron as a funder of key news programming on PBS. Actually the Chevron Corporation, which signed on as an underwriter of "Washington Week" last year, no longer helps pay the piper there -- but the massive energy firm does currently funnel big bucks to the most influential show on PBS, the nightly "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer."
The corporate funders of the "NewsHour" now include not only Chevron but also AT&T and Pacific Life. There must be dozens of journalistic reports on the program every week -- whether relevant to the business worlds of energy, communications or insurance -- that warrant, and lack, real-time disclosures while the news accounts are on the air. Meanwhile, over at "Washington Week," the corporate cash now flows in from the huge military contractor Boeing and the National Mining Association.
And that's just "public broadcasting." On avowedly commercial networks, awash in corporate ownership interests and advertising revenues, a thorough policy of disclosure in the course of news coverage would require that most of the airtime be devoted to shedding light on the media outlet conflicts-of-interest of the reporting in progress.
And what about Glenn Beck? The guy is another in a long line of demagogues riding a bull market for pseudo-populism. Brought to you by too many corporate interests to name.
Norman Solomon's latest books are "Made Love, Got War: Close Encounters with America's Warfare State" and "War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death." For further information, go to: www.normansolomon.com
Comments
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61 Comments so far
Show AllBeck is an idiot. I've never seen him for more than three minutes at a time, but in those three minutes, I've come away every time with the same conclusion. Beck is an idiot. "nuff said.
Actually, you have to give Glenn Beck some credit for having Norman Solomon on his show.
I agree with Solomon about Beck's right-wing point of view, but in this instance Beck gave a spokesman for the other side a chance speak fairly extensively, and it would have been classy for Solomon to acknowledge it.
I happen to be on the same side of most issues as Solomon, but in this article he comes off as sort of a schmuck.
Who is Glenn Beck? Is he that nefarious guy on tv who daily expresses his love for Ahmadinejad, and has a segment "here is what I know?" Glenn Beck does not know shit!
Sorry, I do not watch much television.
Glenn Beck is a fascistic antisemitic (and I mean the other group of semites)idiot. He is the equivalent of O'Really and Limbaugh. Also an ex-druggie and ex-alcoholic like his moronic hero Bush. Enough said!
Glenn Beck is an expensive media whore. He will pimp himself to get airtime.
Remember from IRON HEEL by Jack London: "You have forgotten the editors. They draw their salaries for the policy they maintain. Their policy is to print nothing that is a vital menace to the established. The press of the United States? It is a parasitic growth that battens on the capitalist class. Its function is to serve the established by moulding public opinion, and right well it serves it."
The "Good" American can soon take his place along side the "Good" German.
Hoa binh
Great job, Norman. Thanks!
Glenn Beck apparently gets ratings against FOX. That is probably why they have him. One smackdown loudmouth to pit against some other smackdown loudmouths. In these forums of "content" between the commercials, it's pretty unlikely that anything worth pondering will actually be said. Not enough time. Smacking, laughing, and one-upping are the priorities.
I've listened to Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity - desperate for talk radio since progressive radio was kicked out of NE Ohio this past spring. Their rants and blatant lies are part of what is destroying America, the country I love. Hannity the other night must have been salivating as he attacked Hillary over and over. And why not? They (the right wing) have nothing left, so they attack and lie and distort.
I gave up on monopoly controlled television in favor of the internet. I will return to the television when it converges with the much more democratic internet.
PWNED!
Jacob Freeze - It's because of insufferable schmucks like Beck that there is a 'one side vs. the other' mentality on these shows in the first place. Solomon knew what he was in for, as he stated, and showed up well prepared. Beck's attempts to cut him off when Solomon got a little too close for comfort are right in character with his general m.o. If Solomon didn't act with the aggressiveness he showed, he would not have been given the chance to take his comments as far as he did.
To Jacob Freeze :
"I happen to be on the same side of most issues as Solomon, but in this article he comes off as sort of a schmuck."
Get on Glenn Beck's show and do better. Those who can , do ; those who can't , teach.
Most excellent job, Mr. Solomon. Kudos to Sunny Jim's insights as well.
When will these neo-conmen realize exactly what the phrase, "Be careful what you ask for, you might just get it." means?
While I have been free from the TV albatross for the past 10 years, I didn't need to see this on TV to say BEAUTIFUL, NORMAN!! Glenn Beck and others of his ilk do the damage they do for the huge amounts of money and fame, such as it is. Great job, Norman - thanks for the huge smile I'm wearing!
Right on Norman! If it crawls like a war profiteer, and howls like a war monger, it's probably Herr Beck. The only Beck I ever watch is inside a German beer bottle. Put these fascist pigs in their places whenever possible. The truth will set us free and bankrupt Lockheed Martin.
This article's just demonstrates what we already know.
I think the article on the Sub-Prim mortgage is really informative.
For those who care to read.
For the rest, it is take the money and run.
Beck is a moronic whore, basking is his moment in the lights. His example will be pointed to by future generations as the low point in the decimination of what passes for information by this demented MSM.
He is what happens when people looking for answers fail to think for themselves.
He represents America's failure to live up to our obligation to educate ourselves and throw the money changers from the temple of the fourth estate.
Excellent. But I bet Glenn Beck won the beauty contest.
A great entomological dissection! Glenn Beck---Rush Limbaugh with a college diploma (it's true El Rushmo couldn't get through college). A sneering loudmouth whose great intellectual virtue (as with FOX, Howie Carr, O'Reilly and the rest) is his completely fascist control of the speaking-microphone---the "art" of interruption so as to at least fragment if not dismiss any hint of a different POV. (And if they're not all hacks and slaves behind the scenes who are trading ego-attention for the truth, how in hell could they all be exactly alike on any issue?) Why invite Solomon then? He like all "guests" of the Right are there to be humiliated, overpowered, "taught the error of their ways" for the sheeple to see---it's just that Beck was way beyond his depth with Solomon. How correct old Althusser has proven to be about the crucial role of the ISA (Ideological State Apparatus) especially the ones that pretend to be "free." BTW, did you know that Rush Limbaugh's answer to failing college was to invent the "Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies" (LIACS), which is nothing but him and his open mouth in his radio studio? The original name was "Limbaugh Institute for Advanced CONSERVATIVE Studies" (LIARS), but that didn't work out too well....
The few times I have clicked on by Glenn Beck, I always thought that he seemed to be a toxic little no nothing turd. Why would anyone listen to this guy? I could get just as informed a discourse from any drunk in any bar.
Isn't he a Scientologist or Mormon or some other cult member? what a FLAK
Jack37,
Good point about Limbaugh's "Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies". And, lest we forget, it all comes to us from behind the golden microphone at the "EIB" (Excellence in Broadcasting) Network. It's laughable, except that IT WORKS because of the forum of repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, and, once again, repetition.
Did you know that (according to The Duck) AFLAC "pays you cash for things like rent and groceries"? (As though other forms of short term disability insurance didn't "pay you cash"?). Repetition is king, and Limbaugh has a large national "repeat" button. So does The Duck.
Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, Savage et all, are cancers on the body politic of America. But a cancer has its origins in a disruption of the natural order of things, a reaction to an opposing force that is manifest in the world today. Following that line of thinking (for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction), progressives need to look at what action on the part of human freedom, the nature of creation, a liberals effort to seek, explore, experiment, disgard, and embrace that which serves us vs. that which does not.
As conservatives look at what unrestrained liberalism has wrought, their condemnation is in some ways justified, for whatever strays beyond the bounds of conscience, must in the end pay the price to bring things back into equilibrium.
We are seeing the pendulum swing, the sine wave cast itself from valley to crest and to valley again.
As it is, so will it forever be.
Just my thoughts of the moment...
He's a Mormon, which means he can't even drink coffee. Ex-addict, dry-drunk, and no coffee. Ouch. Can't someone at least pop him a no-doze?
Glen Beck, the quintesential weenie!
The swing of liberalism! Bull...t. What liberalism does is keep greed and oppression at bay. However, liberalism has been losing clout ever since Reagan was elected governor of Califonia and President of U.S. What we don't need are more Hannity's, and Limbaughs. These bloodsuckers swamp the radio with their ignorant and stupid rants. But now these neo-cons seem to be raking in the tv as well. What we have is a blight on America beginning with Reagans lassez-faire economics and Reagans ignorant "Christian values". There's a lot of crap that true liberals need to shovel before sanity and humanitarian values once again fill the air with truth and good, honest reporting of the news.
I'd like to say that the problem with America is conservatism, of which these disingenuous mouthpieces represent.
Conservatives believe in: no interconnectedness among people; their way only, they are rigid, uncompromising; hierarchy and thus it is unnecessary to ameliorate human suffering; and, "government is the problem" which negates the notion of government as a force of collective action for the betterment of the whole i.e. - "…for the people…"
Eliminate conservatism, expose its inherent absurdities, its duplicitous nature and its addiction of the use of force as the answer to everything it cannot control through lies and deception, and this world would progress at an incredible pace.
I never watch Glenn Beck, but his ugly mug appears on the screen 24/7 no matter when I might be flipping through the channels, looking for something worth watching.
By coincidence, I landed on that channel when Norman Solomon was beginning his comments and figured it would be worthwhile to stick around. Norman did a superlative job. The usually cocky and self-assured Beck was instantly thrown on the ropes and Norman kept pommeling him with a heavy string of body blows.
Beck instantly launched into an impromptu immitation of Ralph Cramden being caught by Alice in a big lie. It was truly a great moment in television. Excellent work by Norman Solomon. I'm surprised it hasn't shown up on the internet yet.
Let's see if I got this straight: NS was trying to make a point about the evils of corporate media while appearing with one of the worst of the worst neocomrade morons of our generation? And we're supposed to take him seriously?
Progressives need to grow the f**k up and start putting their money where their mouths are: either you REFUSE to support FOX and the Becks and Savages - and by refuse I mean TOTAL BOYCOTT - or stop telling US how to fight for what's left. You appear on their propaganda channels, you help them. Period. Stop helping them. Destroy. Our. Country.
how do they allow such an idiot to have his own talk show?
ONLY IN AMERICA
Beck speaks for the idiots in this country who think calling Obama an Osama, and acting like some 50's era numbskull character when caught lying through is teeth, is clever and cute.
His tenure on CNN speaks volumes about the journalistic integrity at that network, whose justification to have him on is: "The sponsers are signing up left and right, we hit the jackpot!"
Bravo to Norman Solomon. Glen Beck is slug scum.
He actually had Dr. Ron Paul on his show for an hour
yesterday only to bait him into condemning a supposed
death threat video directed at himself by a RP supporter.
Surely it was the producers to come up with that idea.
http://realtruthonline.blogspot.com/2007/12/glenn-beck-fairbut-still-fraud.html
Bravo? Ah, why, O why do people appear on shows like Beck's?
Mr. Solomon cetainly can do nothing to educate Beck, or to convince Beck of anything. Beck's ratings are low, and why would anyone expect his viwers to be any better than Beck?
Mr. Solomon wasted his time and, worse, gave legitimacy to a corrupt televison show that deserves none.
Would it not be better for people of integrity to shun shows such as Beck's, letting them wallow in obsurity? No guest, no matter how articulate, no matter how reasonable, will ever do any good. In fact, does harm, by giving legitimacy to that which deserves none.
Just read what Beck said:
"Norman, do you think if I got on as somebody who says I don't know what we can do about global warming, I'm not sure man causes it, and I certainly don't want to have laws and regulations on this, if I got on and said that but I was being — my corporate — my corporate parent was Exxon Mobil, do you think I'd get away with that for a second without that being on the front page of the New York Times?"
This is incoherent, meaningless crap. Beck obviously does not even read the Times.
And this:
"That just goes to show you, you've got to beware of everybody who you're getting your news from. Wouldn't it be nice if once in a while somebody came on and said, you know, I don't really have an agenda except the truth? It's my truth. If you don't like it, you should go someplace else."
Beck is insane.
Your the man Norman! Keep up the great work!
Frank1569; I strongly agree with you. First of all, Norman Soloman is a gentleman and a scholar. I have listened to him many times over the past eleven years or so on WWW.kpfa.org (radio), on Amy Goodman's DemocracyNow! show many times, and have heard Norman on the Peter B. Collins radio show on KRXA 540 Am, several times. ( So what? You say)
The point is like Frank1569 said, why even go on these shows when there is no real substantial discussion about issues. Just sound bites and she said he said garbage that leaves the listener as dumb as before.
Who cares what Beck, O'Reiley, Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage and the rest of these pieces of scum have to say. These shows are not about news. They're about propaganda, and how to influence the masses.
Go to www.kpfa.org and check out the programs. Scroll down and select ones that interest you and click onto the archives and most of the past shows will be listed. Sit back, relax, and listen, commercial-free. And if you are inspired or impressed or both, send them some money like I do...whatever you can afford...because it's listener funded.
That web site is the the greatest Christmas present I can give you.
Peace and Harmony to Everybody
What is insane is that these mouthpieces all seem to be spewing the same idiotic messages on cue on a day to day basis, leaving me to believe this is all orchestrated bit by bit by our fascist coporate/government. We are fed so much propaganda in this country that I do not even believe what I see anymore.
I agree with frank 1569 about Beck the Jerk. I refuse to ever watch FOX news as I am in a bad enough mood about our country without seeing his dumb mug and others spouting trash. Same with Limburger, Coulter, and the rest of those loudmouth goons. We should boycott all of those kind of characters and forget they exist. It is hard to believe anyone would listen regularly to them, but I have good friends that are hooked on that conservative crap, and otherwise seem to have some sense.
I have only one question. How the hell did you get invited to go on the Beck show and where do I wait in line? I'd love to rip him out another asshole.
The mass media is mirror of the presumed stupidity of the general run of the mill population that still have their bigotry strings pulled by it. I have seen some of the more notorious you-tube segments of Presidential candidate "debates", and segments from Fox news about the Iraq conflict. So this is the great intellectual and cultural achievement of mankind that is such a culmination of modernity, that the rest of the world must sacrifice their resources, freedom and well-being, and the very basis of the natural world. Does the rest of the world have to give up their own ways of life, so that the US of Israel does not have to give up its non-negotiable pretense of achievement, accompanied by its waste and stupidity?
I have to agree with others that Solomon shouldn't appear on a "show" (and that's being generous) like this. They aren't really news or commentary, they're circuses with Beck, Hannity, Savage, O'Reilly, Limbaugh… — (my God, there are so many! we're really screwed) — as ringmaster. Hour after hour they pommel the unthinking masses with more and more and more propaganda, targeting the dolts least capable of evaluating their outrageous claims. At all times they give that wink and nod to the stupid people of America, "shucks I'm just like you" and just look at these loony lefties. The back cover of Beck's new book, some absurd takeoff of Gore's "Inconvenient Truth" has Back surrounded by excoriating liberal quotes giving a shrug and some dopey "look what I have to put up with from these lefties" pose.
Most of all he's and insult to his conservative audience. He knows he's playing them like a violin. He also knows they're helpless to call him on any of it, and so he goes on shoveling shit down their throats day in, day out. I've said it before, wingnut radio is turning half of America into robotic cretins.
How in hell did Glenn Beck get a show-who the f&*k is he anyway?
In his defense, he did have a full hour of Ron Paul the other night, which is more than I can say for most other programs.
That being said, he is mostly a smashmouth idiot.
If he can get a show, why can't I?
Guess I'd have to be a corporate whore too.....
My first reaction was one of glee in hearing of Norman besting one of these idiots, but upon reflection I have decided I am with the total boycott crowd. I do not watch T.V. News shows at all, Though I must admit to enjoying some carefully selected YouTube clips of Olberman on a roll. For the most part I do not watch T.V. Well maybe the occasional foray into Comedy Central to watch John Stewart or Stephen Colbert, but I justify that with view that they are doing strictly entertainment with no pretext otherwise. It is a distraction from life, and I like life. These 24 hour pseudo-news channels are nothing but a distraction and a propaganda tool. The same is true for Radio, as much as I like listening to NPR when driving, I must say that the lurch rightward and corporatization of the "public" broadcasting system, not to mention the "pubic" airwaves, is disgusting and disturbing.
Nobody has to throw newspapers for the monied people: they are born with one in their hip pocket.
ironically enough none of these guys have any ratings (viewers). Limpdick, Calamity, Pecker, the same 5 people that actually voted for Bush are their only viewers.
Jack, you wrote: "The original name was "Limbaugh Institute for Advanced CONSERVATIVE Studies" (LIARS), but that didn't work out too well…."
I think you meant to say the "Limbaugh Institute for Advanced REPUBLICAN Studies." Rushbo may not have graduated college, but there are many rumors that the homophobic Rush had gay affairs in that era, which seems to be SOP for bloviating anti-gay Republicans these days.
Limbaugh succeeded in radio by saying what -- at the time -- were shocking things on AM radio, which was in decline, but available in most cars. For years, he had no opposition and he was a break from the dull formatted-music AM and FM stations of the day. Now, in many markets, liberal talkers get higher ratings than Rush, O'Reilly or Hannity -- a station in Minnesota dropped Limbaugh's show due to his low ratings against Air America Radio.
The time's are changing and in the Midwest where the neocon blabbers used to be so popular, the serfdom is noticing that, with a Republican government in power, all was not coming up roses for them. Populism is roaring back as neoconservatism destroys lives, jobs and towns. Americans are beginning to learn again what the word 'commonwealth' means.
O'Reilly has lost a million TV viewers since the 2004 election, and continues to slide; meanwhile Keith Olbermann is the fastest-rising thing in cable TV news, and he has a lock on the advertiser-coveted 18-34 age group. Glenn Beck, in the same time slot, is barely a blip on the radar.
Here's this, from The Dish:
"If you read Atrios with any regularity, or the website TV Newser, you've no doubt seen the awful ratings grid indicating the viewership numbers—or lack thereof for Carlson (Not to mention his buddy at the peacock, Chris Matthews, and Headline News' brush-haired waterhead, Glenn Beck)."
http://www.groupnewsblog.net/2007/12/dish.html
Neocon media is fading along with the political philosophy it supports; as usual, the last to know will be the MSM punditrocracy and Washington politicians.
BTW, I think it was great of Norman Solomon to go on Beck's show and give him a well-deserved drubbing -- maybe he even woke up a few sleeping minds at the same time.
You can find worthwhile television on Dish Network channel 9415 Free Speech TV. It is like a TV version of Pacifica Radio.
You can also check it out on-line at freespeechtv.org
I have never seen this man, Glen Beck, other than a few moments when I happened to scroll past his channel and he was snarling in an odd way, sort of like the people at the State Hospital I would see when I walked by the fenced play yard on my way to visit a friend of mine whose father was an administrator there when I was a kid.
no advertisers, no fund-raising, no funding, no strings:
http://www.freepublictransit.org
.
From Beck's bio in wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Beck
An alcholic and a druggie....And he gets a show to spout his nonsense...
""""
Beck is a self-described reformed alcoholic and drug addict. In the aftermath of those three family tragedies, Beck said he used "Dr. Jack Daniels" and heavy drugs to cope. He and his first wife divorced amid his struggle with substance abuse. Beck cites the help of Alcoholics Anonymous in his sobriety, and he eventually converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which teaches against the consumption of alcohol.
""""""
I consider Norman to be one of the most important voices in America today. He knows what he knows and in my view, embodies the wit of KING Soloman. I would venture to say that he decided to enter "enemy lines" with the hope of planting some seeds, little cognitive living bits of intelligence that might grow in the minds that have been so closed off to even hearing these ideas, this data, the possibilities such material raises.
Most people in the "Beck world" want to see THEIR worldview validated. It is a view orchestrated by authoritarians for people who want to think there is a discernible line one can draw between good and evil, in the way boundaries are imagined between nations. Just as one wants to know in advance how much money is in their bank account, or dine at a popular place where all the meals taste quite predictably... these people want to believe if they follow the minuets of protocol offered them by their bosses or religious daddios, they will do IT right, and all will be well. It's a great addiction, this idea that one can follow recipes for life and know neither pain nor "sin," nor future life consequences. But Madison Ave, our new church, has learned much in the art and diversity of selling indulgences, then and now.
great that norman solomon went on glen beck, all too often the left can only preach to the choir. of course he won't convince beck. beck's neocon shtick is his bread and butter. but solomon may have reached one or two dittoheads, or at least put a question in their minds. surely some of them are educable.