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Local News & Opinion
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05.19 How the Conservative Worldview Quashes Critical Thinking -- and What That Means For Our Kids' Future 05.19 As Schools Crumble: Quiet Call for Revolution in Philly Letters
Ref. : Letters to the editor Health Care & Environment
05.21 Rapid Climate Changes Turn North Woods into Moose Graveyard 05.20 Collateral Damage in the Marcellus Shale 05.18 Apple to Use Only Green Power for Main Data Center 05.18 New law makes Vermont the first state to ban fracking 05.18 Department of Energy Pretends that Low Levels of Radiation Are Safe 05.17 Only biofuels will cut plane emissions 05.17 Australasia has hottest 60 years in a millennium, scientists find 05.15 Horrific Injuries Linked to BP Dispersant Corexit 05.15 'Last Call at the Oasis': Why Time Is Running Out to Save Our Drinking Water 05.14 German Government to Oppose Fracking 05.11 Petition calls on Brazilian president to veto 'catastrophic' forest code 05.11 Bans on School Junk Food Pay Off in California 05.11 When half a million Americans died and nobody noticed 05.10 Game Over for the Climate 05.10 Pollution: the great leveller 05.10 New study: Amish prove raw milk promotes health in children 05.10 Big Agriculture's Big Secrets: 9 Things You Need to Know About the Food You Eat Ref. High health-care costs: It’s all in the pricing - graphic Ref. Dollars for Doctors - How Industry Money Reaches Physicians Ref. 2010 Comparative Price Report Medical and Hospital Fees by Country - Graphics Ref. Health at a Glance 2011 - OECD Indicators Ref. : Why is Healthcare Absurdly Expensive in USA (Part 2) [Graphics] (Part 1 is here) Video Health Care Systems in Less Corrupt Countries “News” Media
05.20 Corporate Media: Dan Rather on Real Time with Bill Maher [video] Daily The Daily Howler Justice Matters
05.17 Federal court enjoins NDAA 05.16 Is the filibuster unconstitutional? 05.15 MONEY UNLIMITED 05.11 How the Corporate Right Hijacked America's Courts to Enrich the Top 1 Percent US Politics, Policy & Culture
05.21 The Rise of the New Economy Movement 05.21 Psychiatrist who championed 'gay cure' admits he was wrong 05.16 5 Ways Conservatives are Destroying the Institution of Marriage 05.16 Congress: The TSA Is Wasting Hundreds Of Millions In Taxpayer Dollars 05.16 The Economic Case for Same-Sex Marriage 05.16 If Information Is Power, What Is Lack Of Information? [video] 05.15 IMAGE: It doesn't have to be true, just credible... 05.15 WEDDING BELLS 05.15 Memo to Mitt: Time to Fess Up on Bullying 05.14 “The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off.” 05.14 Hedges: How Our Demented Capitalist System Made America Insane 05.11 Why Atheists Have Become a Kick-Ass Movement You Want on Your Side 05.11 Fixable Error, New Insight, and Social Security 05.10 Ballot Access 05.10 Christian Conservatives vs. Sex: The Long War Over Reproductive Freedom High Crimes?
Economics, Crony Capitalism
05.21 Obama pledges tough enforcement of Wall Street reforms 05.18 Barack Obama tells EU: boost growth now or face a global crisis 05.18 Bank runs intensifying in the Euro zone 05.18 The Dog That Didn’t Bark: Obama on JPMorgan 05.17 Inside Job, Narrated by Matt Damon (Full Length HD Documentary) 05.17 Nurses vs. High-Speed Traders 05.17 Paul Krugman’s Economic Blinders 05.16 “What Scares Me Isn’t $2 Billion Loss JP Morgan Made, What Scares Me is the Record $19 Billion in Profits” [video] 05.16 Republican Party suckles at the breast of Big Business 05.16 Weisbrot and Krugman are Wrong: Greece cannot pull off an Argentina 05.15 Greek deadlock heightens fears of full European economic crisis 05.14 Why We Regulate 05.11 Indentured Servitude for Seniors: Social Security Garnished for Student Debts 05.11 Breaking Up Four Big Banks 05.11 Wall Street’s immunity 05.11 How Wall Street Killed Financial Reform 05.10 Real Estate 4 Ransom -- locking up the Great American Dream 05.10 Quelle Surprise! Fed Defends Incompetent Bank Management Against Investors 05.10 Europe’s Problems Multiply Ref. Nurses vs. High-Speed Traders Ref. Inside Job, Narrated by Matt Damon (Full Length HD Documentary) Ref. We’re More Unequal Than You Think – Graphic: Unequal rise in income International
05.17 South Sudan slides towards destitution amid border conflict with Sudan 05.15 IDF closes Palestinian school to make way for West Bank training zone 05.14 Noam Chomsky on: 05.14 INFOGRAPHIC: Gas Spending Around The World 05.14 Graphic: Products of Slavery 05.14 Israel warned of volatile situation as Palestinian hunger strikers near death 05.14 How Right-Wing Extremists and Islamists Are the Same 05.14 Guatemala's land grab and massacre 05.11 U.S. Military Taught Officers: Use ‘Hiroshima’ Tactics for ‘Total War’ on Islam 05.11 Thousands of British police join anti-austerity protest 05.10 China Investment Corp. Stops Buying Europe Government Debt on Crisis Concern We are a non-profit Internet-only newspaper publication founded in 1973. Your donation is essential to our survival.
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POLITICAL ANALYSIS:What Does Mike Huckabee Have to do With the Apocalypse?
Many evangelicals believe that two-thirds of the Earth's population will perish in an apocalyptic battle of good and evil while the "saved" are "raptured up" to heaven.
Recent polls show the previously little-known Mike Huckabee now running a close race with contenders Mitt Romney and John McCain. Huckabee, who won the key Iowa race, owes his rising star to a surge of support from evangelicals. Comprising about 25% of Americans, evangelicals have formed the core Republican voting bloc since the 1970s. While most Americans are aware of the "family values" domestic concerns of this group, fewer understand its foreign policy agenda, which is tied to the powerful yet little-understood phenomenon of Christian Zionism. Rooted in a literal interpretation of biblical "End Times" prophecy, this ideology carries profound implications for our role in the Middle East, and it is a crucial factor in the 2008 Republican race.
Christian Zionism has implications for the U.S. role in Israeli-Palestinian relations, a potential confrontation with Iran, and relations with the Muslim world.
While those outside of evangelical circles may dismiss such beliefs, they have played a critical role in influencing U.S. foreign policy, and they will continue to affect policy as long as the United States remains under Republican leadership that relies upon evangelical support. Christian Zionism has implications for the U.S. role in Israeli-Palestinian relations, a potential confrontation with Iran, and relations with the Muslim world.For Christian Zionists, belief in biblical prophecy means support for right-wing Israeli policies such as settlement expansion and opposition to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Against the opinion of most Israelis, Christian Zionists view relinquishing any part of biblical Israel--including what is now the West Bank--as an affront to Israel's prophetic destiny. Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor who once declared "I got into politics because I knew government didn't have the real answers...the real answers lie in accepting Jesus Christ," vowing in another speech to "take this nation back for Christ," shares this view. He has written that "the Jews have the God-given right to reclaim land given to their ancestors and taken away from them." Regarding a future Palestinian state, Huckabee has stated that he supports a Palestinian state--and it should be formed far away from Israel, perhaps in Saudi Arabia. This view is a step away from advocating ethnic cleansing, as it is unlikely that the Palestinians would voluntarily leave.
Huckabee, who has said that Congressional approval is not necessary in going to war, argues that the U.S. must do "whatever it takes" to confront Iran.
Evangelical foreign policy extends far beyond Israel. Inspired by the "Iranian threat," evangelical pastor John Hagee formed Christians United for Israel, which promotes Christian Zionism and advocates a militant policy toward Iran. In his book Jerusalem Countown, Hagee predicts a nuclear showdown with Iran that could be "the beginning of the end." Huckabee, who has said that Congressional approval is not necessary in going to war, argues that the U.S. must do "whatever it takes" to confront Iran, including a military option. If elected, it is likely that his evangelical backers will pressure Huckabee to pursue this option.Like other evangelicals, Huckabee tends to view the "War on Terror" as a cataclysmic battle with apocalyptic connotations. "We need to understand that this is, in fact, World War III," he has said. "Unlike any other war we've ever fought, this one is one we cannot afford to lose." Whether or not Christian Zionists can predict the future, the human potential to create self-fulfilling prophesies is undeniable, and this is why Americans should pay attention to this ideology. Valerie Saturen received an M.A. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Arizona. Her thesis addressed Christian Zionism and U.S. foreign policy. Contact her at saturnv82@yahoo.com.
Copyright © 2008 The Baltimore News Network. All rights reserved.
Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent. Baltimore News Network, Inc., sponsor of this web site, is a nonprofit organization and does not make political endorsements. The opinions expressed in stories posted on this web site are the authors' own. This story was published on January 23, 2008. |
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