With Brownback in the race, now is a good time to remind ourselves of Opus Dei's influence

[ftr23532]

With Brownback being an alleged Opus Dei member, we have another chance to highlight the fascists undercurrents in our political environment. So let's get started:
-Here is a nice http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0510.baumann.html">2005 Washington Monthly article on the group.
-Here is a http://www.time.com/time/europe/mediakit/pr/article/0,18181,1185287,00.html">Time Magazine article lists some of the suspected members which Opus Dei denies:
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, almost-Justice Robert Bork, Senators Rick Santorum and Sam Brownback, Columnist Robert Novak and Former FBI Head Louis Freeh. FBI mole http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hanssen">Robert Hanson was also a member, and even http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/16/national/16HANS.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5070&en=04d6f7bf7887a7ae&ex=1169442000">confessed his activities to Robert P. Bucciarelli, http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=347478">an Opus Dei priest (Bucciarelli alleged initially encouraged Hanssen to turn himself in, but then changed him mind and simply encouraged him to donate the money to charity).

Brownback's candidacy is also an excellent opportunity to remind folks about the deep political implications of the P-2/mafia/Vatican banking scandals in the early 80's because it was an Opus Dei-linked bank that bailed Banco Ambrosiano, closely tied to the Vatican Bank.
-Here is a nice http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,922552,00.html">Time magazine article from 1981 on the fascist P-2 Lodge and its infiltration of the http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9901E6DD1538F936A15756C0A967948260">highest levels of the Italian government.
-Here is a lengthy 1982 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9900EEDA1239F93BA15754C0A964948260&sec=health&pagewanted=1">NY times article on the Banco Ambrosiano's implosion.
-Here is a http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_n9_v30/ai_14708056">1993 article in the National Catholic Reporter that gives more details on the Opus Dei bailout of Banco Ambrosiano. On a side note, the Swiss subsidiary of Banco Ambrosiano http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9903E3D8153BF934A25751C0A965948260">was Banca del Gottardo, which itself has close ties to the fascistic Muslim Brotherhood's al-Taqwa financial network. For example, al-Taqwa's lawyer is also the Swiss investment adviser for former P-2 member Silvio Berlusconi (more on that http://fortherecordessays.blogspot.com/2006/11/part-3-down-al-taqwa-rabbit-hole-so_11.html">here)

Be sure to check out this excellent Dave Emory show that delves deeper into Opus Dei's fascist history and its ascendance within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church that took place under the reign of Pope John Paul II:
-http://ftrsummary.blogspot.com/2006/07/ftr-559-opus-dei-code-vatican-rag-pt.html">FTR #559 The Opus Dei Code – The Vatican Rag Pt. III http://www.wfmu.org/listen.ram?show=19597&archive=28564">Audio Here.
-Here is an http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-woopus0415,0,7378258.story?coll=ny-top-headlines">April 2005 Newsday article that discusses the ties between Pope Benedict and Opus Dei.

Interestingly, another right-wing reactionary Catholic group with deep ties around the world, the Knights of Malta, played a powerful role along with Opus Dei in getting Pope John Paul II appointed as Pope.
-Here is an excellent 1983 http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1983/07/willbedone.html">Mother Jones article on that topic. Note the membership of folks Bill Casey and William F. Buckley in that group, along with former DOD IG (and now Blackwater's CFO) http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2894588#2900312">Joseph E. Schmitz.

-Here is an excellent 2005 http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050704/blumenthal">Salon article on Brownback that highlights both his ties to the Koch family and his membership in the creepy "Christian" Fellowship Foundation. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2894588&mesg_id=2894588">Here is more on the Fellowship Foundation. Be sure to note, at the end of that post, the involvement of the Fellowship Foundation with the utilization of ex-Nazis for anti-Communist efforts, as it ties into the GOP's various scandals of utilizing "ex"-Nazis (and some P-2 connected fascists) on their campaigns and in the building of the New Right in the 70's and 80's (More on that http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=3134908#3135898">here and http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=3142435#3150201">here).

Please post any other Brownback-related naughtiness and spread these links far and wide! :bounce:

[illinoisprogressive]

1. Opis Dei or not, he's still a religious nut

[bobthedrummer]

6. That is a fact . And Brownback loves the Pentagon's Holy Warriors.

Brownback was the former Chair of the Science, Technology and Space Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee when he endorsed Simon P. Worden (Office of Strategic Influence, Holy Space warrior) to be head of NASA in 2004. Worden is head of NASA's Ames Research Center.

http://brownback.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=230179

Related articles
"The Pentagon Unleashes a Holy Warrior" by William M. Arkin March 2003
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/101703B.shtml

"Ten Things I Learned From The Pentagon's Prayer Team" by Jeff Sharlet Jan. 2007
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/46262/

"America's Holy Warriors" by Chris Hedges Jan. 2007
http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/views06/0103-59.htm

[ftr23532]

8. excellent links!

Keep 'em coming! :-)

[bobthedrummer]

16. Maybe you could use your research skillsets to go on from what is known?

Here is what concerns many of US-take some time with this datadump. Worden has NASA's most powerful supercomputer, communications satellites and military systems as head of Ames (remember the Office of Strategic Influence-that was Worden)
DARPA Awards Novel Satellite Communications Contract To BAE Systems 1-16-07
http://www.comspacewatch.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=21683
Saudi Arabia Arms deal probe stopped over Saudi threat to cease terror help 12-18-06
http://www.warprofiteers.com/article.php?id=14259
BAE System's Dirty Dealings
http://www.warprofiteers.com/article.php?id=9008
Holy Space Warriors projects
Air Force 2025
http://www.fas.org/spp/military/docops/usaf/2025/index.html
The Need For Technical Warriors by Col. J. Douglas Beason (note that he cites much of Worden, and neo-cons Kenneth L. Adelman, Genevieve J. Knezo etc)
http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj00/spr00/beason.htm
Raptors, Robots, and Rods from God: The Nightmare Weapons of Our Future by Frida Berrigan
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0110-22.htm
Baghdad 2025: The Pentagon Solution to a Planet of Slums by Nick Turse
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0108-29.htm
Influencing Human Cognition: US Electromagnetic Weapons and Human Rights by Peter Phillips, Lew Brown & Bridget Thornton (Project Censored)
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=PHI20070109&articleId=4396

This is some of what a President Brownback "future" could represent-but we may not ever see that due to the present world crisis of BFEE's war on terror.

fair use cited for all links.

[bobthedrummer]

22. The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party

The Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy at Cornell University has this excellent public resource site-in the case of Senator Brownback, General Boykin, Simon P. Worden, James Dobson, Jerry Falwell etc I'd suggest taking a look at several of the subgroupings at this site, particularly Christian Zionism.

Another important historical fact, and an overarching one imo, are the NAZIS that were clandestinely "recruited" and given jobs and identities as Americans involved in national security shortly after WWII ostensibly to battle "godless communism".

The nexus of advanced weapons, aerospace, racism, eugenics, and many of the fundamentalist extreme beliefs of the RW of the Republican Party welcomed these NAZIS to their political home in the United States and has profoundly influenced most of the RW.

The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party
http://4religious-right.info/

[ftr23532]

24. Here's something kind of interesting related to the Future Combat Systems

I decided to go ahead and just make it http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x3173602">a separate post. The gist of it is that one of the companies making the embedded operating systems used by the technology at a critical layer of these advanced military networks, LynuxWorks, has Ptech founder/director Yacub Mirza sitting on its board. Also, Sterling Mangement Group, which is an investment company closely afilliated with the Muslim Brotherhood's Virginia-based SAAR network, was an investor in LynuxWorks.

And here's a tangential fun-fact sort of related this all back to the original Opus Dei post: It has been http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/012705_ptech_pt2.shtml">asserted that Ptech's risk assessment software was based on the ever-spooky http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.01/inslaw.html">PROMIS software. It was also alleged that Robert Hanssen http://www.boingboing.net/2001/10/17/remember_promis_it_w.html">leaked PROMIS to the Soviets. I have no idea if any of it is true, but I figured I'd throw that out there. :-)

[bobthedrummer]

25. Welcome to DU. Here's a few more archived threads to glean.

Know your BFEE: War Profiteers 4-17-2005
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3493251

Know your BFEE: Merchants of Death 5-28-2005
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3743890

CIA Accused of Bank Heist 12-29-2006
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2995319

Speaking of PROMIS and other data-mining related things like MATRIX here is a disturbing fact filled thread about people like Hank Asher
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Board of Directors
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2280827

Again, welcome to DU.
:hi:

[ftr23532]

27. here's something related to the CIA bank heist

So it sounds like that alleged bank heist was supposed to be targeting the billions that Saddam stole from the UN oil-for-food program. Saddam was also apparently utilizing the al-Taqwa network and Banca del Gottardo for a lot of his money laundering. Here's http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/08/16/MN297299.DTL">an article on it. A lot of people opposed to the war shy away from that article because it was used by folks on the right to say "See, Saddam had ties with terrorists!". But that's neglecting the al-Taqwa networks additional ties to the GOP, powerful people across the Middle East, intelligence communities around the world, far-Rightists, fascists, neo-Nazis, the P-2 lodge, and all sort of other naughty folks. I view it as a reflection in the immense overlap of assholery in our world.
Here's an interesting interview of money-laundering expoert Lucy Komisar on Saddam's network:http://www.spitfirelist.com/f463.html">FTR#463—Interview with Lucy Komisar about Saddam’s Money Network http://www.wfmu.org/listen.ram?show=11770">Audio Here

And thanks for the welcome! :-)

[iamjoy]

2. Clinton Vs. Brownback

Talk about a polarizing election!

[ftr23532]

10. if Brownback gets the nomination...

I think we're going to have to move the Doomsday Clock forward a few minutes.

[Cheap_Trick]

3. brownback is whack

fundie nut fuck is NOT going to be the next president.

[MonkeyFunk]

5. He may be a whack,

but he's not a fundamentalist. Catholics aren't fundamentalist.

[Hardrada]

9. We have a couple of RC right wing nutcases around here

who are also, they claim, fundamentalist.

[MonkeyFunk]

12. Then

they don't know what the word means, OR what the RC church teaches.

[Hardrada]

20. Do you expect any of those people to be logical?

They have perfectly compartmented minds in which all manner of contradictory beliefs are stored. Like Louis Carroll's Dutchess!!

[Lochloosa]

18. Fundamentalist....no...there are a few other tems I would use.

[midnight]

19. That's what some said about Bush.

[porphyrian]

4. I'll kick that. - n/t

[Neecy]

7. I saw a funny interview w/him last evening...

The local news (Kansas City) featured a profile on Brownback and they had a guy from UMKC who's followed Brownback's political career. The guy mentioned the 'shadowy groups' Brownback belongs to in Washington (if he named any, they were edited out of the interview).

The reporter than asked Brownback about these 'shadowy groups' and Brownback quickly looked panicked, as though these groups were going to be named, and when they weren't he puffed himself up and sneered that the Family Research Council wasn't a 'shadowy group', Focus on Family wasn't a 'shadowy group'...you get the drift. Of course, since the news doesn't inform any longer they didn't explain this odd 'shadowy group' focus and let Brownback get away with that crap.

This is clearly going to be an issue in his campaign - if any media type will actually *talk* about it.

[nam78_two]

11. K&R

Great read....:thumbsup:

[Disturbed]

14. It would be great if he was nominated by the Rethugs.

He won't be. I think Hagel will be the nominee and he won't be so easy to beat.

[haymark]

13. Brown back has little chance of getting nomination

Brownback has little $$, backing or name recognition. He has no buzz. All this Opus Dei talk is for the tin foil hat crowd. Get serious about McCain or Guilani.

[ftr23532]

17. Brownback is definitely a dark horse...

but he's got a lot of ties to some very real dark and influential groups, so I figure we might as well highlight those ties and those groups as much as possible until he drops out. :-) But yeah, he's got a minimal shot. He's probably just going play the "I'm totally on God's side and not going to give up!" role for the Dobson/Conservative Catholic crowd and then encourage his supporters to back the party's chosen ones (McCain and/or Giuliani) a little while after the first primary.

[progressoid]

15. Hanssen's relationship with Opus Dei was profiled on Fresh Air five years ago.

spooky shit.

Lisen here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1135036

[bonito]

21. Brownback

Search and I get this http://www.irc-online.org/search/

[Morgana LaFey]

23. There are Catholics in Kansas??

Just kidding. But I really did think he was fundamentalist protestant of some stripe. :shrug:

[bobthedrummer]

26. kick