Minnesota Evangelicals Remain for Trump

Goya's Against the Common Good, (plate 71 of The Disasters
of War). (Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery).
Today the bible, tweeting and trolling in search of gratification
from white Evangelical Christians floating in hope that somehow,
someway, the liberals, immigrants, Jews and others against
god can suffer the wrath of the righteous.

Lunatics holds sway in Republican politics—They hate and they vote; White Evangelicals are Trump's most solid constituency

Madison, Wisconsin — The coalition electing President* Donald Trump is a rogues gallery of white supremacists, Evangelicals, rightwing billionaires and know-nothings looking for something, anything, to see and hate.

One group, white evangelical Protestants, flew its nihilistic colors high in 2015-16 supporting this imbecile in the White House.

Evangelicals are pro-war, any war, and desire political power above all else.

Sexual assaults, lies, character assassinations, hatred, bigotry, demonetization, infidelity, child molestation, rape? No problem, say the Evangelicals.

Just give them activist, rightwing federal judges and do what you can to stop women from controlling their bodies and those gays from marrying against our rights.

Judy Keen in the Minneapolis Star Tribune has a piece out this morning on these fundies.

The headline in Keen's piece suggests a tension, a struggle, people "torn" between supporting a hateful troll like Trump and any American who is pro-choice and pro-equality.

Little sign of tension in the piece.

These religious nuts do not want to live a classical liberal democracy. They want to be ruled in a society in which only the chosen achieve rights and wealth.

Keen interviewed many people for her piece.

Not one of her sources expressed objection and challenge to Donald Trump's repulsive display of hate and deceit. Not one.

Some of the everyday, Evangelical, Bible-believing, Trump-loving ignoramuses are listed below.

Check out Keen's sources and one thing you will not hear is, 'I've been praying on this and god told me Donald Trump is a racist, lying, fascist, misogynistic, Islamophobic, hateful piece of shit.'

Some Minnesota Evangelicals

Jeff Waldron of the Cities Church in St. Paul

Joe Rigney, pastor at Cities Church

Rev. Fred Hinz, of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod in Minnesota

John Helmberger, CEO of the Minnesota Family Council

Rob Carlson of the Westminster Presbyterian Church

David Walters of Northfield’s First United Church of Christ

Judy Bond, United Church of Christ prayer group participant

Mary Carlson, United Church of Christ prayer group participant

Marian McKone, United Church of Christ prayer group participant

Trump Will Hit Hillary on Nicaraguan Contras, Human Rights Violations, and Wars

Political curve balls will be flying off the lectern at the great debate as the blank slate to many that is Donald Trump offers a human rights-based critique of Hillary Clinton, (Mal Contends).

That Trump is a fascist is not of the moment in the theater.

The political world won't know what to make of human rights from Trump, nor for that matter will the American people.

Human rights are no concern to Trump of course. Nor are American minorities.

Trump will assure us dangers lurk, and he is the guy who will protect our families at home and abroad from the dark-skinned dragons.

Still, Trump will strike out tonight and Hillary will be acclaimed the victor.

No politician ever went broke by overestimating the militaristic fervor of the American people, and militarism has never cost Hillary Clinton and this won't change for the foreseeable future.

"Impotent little mouse of a Jew"

Seems that many self-professed Christians are less than thrilled with the efforts of Mikey Weinstein, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and its allies working to ensure that the U.S. Military functions as a secular force welcoming to all Americans of all faiths.MAL Contendshas often featured the work of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) and its executive director Mikey Weinstein, the constitutional conscience of the American military, to present the danger of the war-all-the-time fundamentalist sects of the Christian religion who would deny First Amendment rights to the wrong kind of Christian, Wiccans, Muslims and various other religions out of favor with Christian Dominionists.

Following is an e-mail from some anti-Semitic nut, followed by a rebuttal by MRFF's Rick Baker and Air Force veteran David Horn.

Subject: RE: MRFF Featured by The Huffington Post - Christian Air Force Officer Vows to Violate Military Regulations if DADT is Repealed

You know, Mickey, I've been rethinking your request for me to keep your family out of this. Because of my ethical standards, I at first acquiesced. However, after reading article after article after article where you are quoted using your son, your wife, your daughter-in-law, you son's estranged father-in-law as pawns and tools in your selfish, paranoid obsession-I have changed my mind. Why should I respect them when you don't? Nope-not gonna comply with your whining and begging. And you know what?- it is because you've already brought them into it- proactively and voluntarily. If you cared so much about them you yourself would have kept them out of it, but no-as long as it helps to enforce your psychotic, self-centered delusions and satiate your evil compulsions you would do ANYTHING, even sacrifice your parents-no, wait...you already have! YOU HAVE NO DECENCY, NO HUMILITY OR REMORSE- NO AWARENESS OF SELF.

Bite me you bald-headed, short, impotent little mouse of a Jew. squeak squeak

BTW-what size shoe do you wear-8, 9...10? let's see if you have enough courage to answer the question honestly. I'll bet you don't.
(name and location withheld)

Response by Rick Baker

If possible please forward this to the gentleman who wrote about your family.

Mr. Name and location withheld,

My name is Rick Baker. I am a former Air Force Officer and a Vietnam Veteran with two tours of duty as a rescue pilot. I am also a regional coordinator for MRFF.

I was a Christian until I read your recent E-mail to Mr. Weinstein. Based on your barbaric treatment of Mr. Weinstein and his family and the growing militancy and Nazification of our beloved Christian principals by those of your ilk, I have decided to rethink my committment to Christianity. It seems Christianity of the sort you espouse has become the death knell of the kind, caring and concerned Christianity with which I grew up.

Your hateful rhetoric has turned a loving Jesus into a sneering, hateful and dangerous wild beast that far more resembles the tyrants of history than the savior He has been made out to be.

Your vile and medieval letter was an insult to all intelligent human beings. The depth of your ignorance is at once disturbing and pitiful.

For a person of your patently dismal character to opine so carelessly on a family that has served our great democracy for generations in the military is a grave misconception and reflects badly on your judgement and humanity.

Your racism is well defined by your statements and your limited intellect is clearly demonstrated by your inability to communicate without the use of vituperation. In short, you are a mindless Christian, racist sycophant with nothing to offer civilization. You are certainly no better than those concentration camp guards who stuffed women and children into gas chambers and burned their trembling bodies during the Holocaust.

You contribute nothing to this world. Therefore you are a non-entity. You need not have mentioned your faith because it was all too clear.

No one will meet you at the gates of Heaven for you will not reach them. There is nothing for you in this world or the next.

I condemn and vilify you sir. And as far as Mikey Weinstein goes, there is impotence of the genitals and impotence of the mind. Mr. Weinstein has sired children, you have not seemed to father any genuine thought.

Beware the Jewish Mouse that roars!

Response by Dave Horn

From the perspective of another former Air Force officer, one who has been working for years with Mikey to undo the bigoted work of Air Force leadership who did not like that I wrote about my non-religious perspective outside work, I, of course agree with Mr. Baker. When I joined the military hoping to serve my country I would never have dreamed that the cowardly and un-American views of Mr. “withheld”, were so common within the Air Force.

With 21 in a row Qual-1 or better evaluations and no disciplinary or other issues of any kind I was grounded, fired from my civil service job and forced to retire from the military as the direct result of my legal expression, outside work that was approved by military legal counsel. My expression in the local paper that airmen should not be forced to pray “in Jesus name” was met with an immediate campaign to remove me from the Air Force by my supervisors. My complaints and evidence that the charges were lies fell on deaf ears as it was easier for all members of the chain to rubber stamp the decisions of those below them. Attending the extremely religious change of command ceremonies of some of these leaders suggested a second reason for their failure to do their duty.

In addition to forcing all of its members to pray, in many cases to someone else’s god, my unit showed religious videos and even PRODUCED videos that called non-religious people like me “idiots” and “fools”. So after having earned a civilian Gold Seal Flight Instructor license and all civil licenses including the Airline Transport Pilot license; after having flown more than 30 different types of aircraft including fighters such as the F-16, after graduating from Euro-NATO joint Jet Pilot Training and passing every evaluation after becoming mission ready and multiple lauded combat tours, I, a combat tested asset with an outstanding record and the support of my peers and many superiors, was forced out, during wartime, after exposing myself as a non-Christian away from work.

I was raised with traditional Christian values. My father was my Sunday School teacher and I sang in my mother’s choir. I don’t see these values reflected in Mr. “withheld’s” letter. I didn’t see them in the misguided religious leadership in my Wing either. From what I’ve read of Mikey’s struggle, this perverse pseudo-Christianity is being taught at the Academy which explains very well how it polluted my chain with principles not worthy of our United States.

I have nothing but thanks and unending respect for Mikey in his tireless struggle to correct a very real problem within our military that threatens the core values of the United States of America. Mikey is a hero. The words of Mr. “withheld” reflect the thoughts of many who wrap themselves in the American flag while acting like Nazi fools. They are everywhere, even in positions of authority in our military. Their words only inspire men like Mikey and more than 20,000 of us who he is directly helping with his foundation to continue our duty to defend the United States of America from all aggressors, both foreign and domestic.

The Rising

Certain works of art offer a clarity as to why we as a country, as a people, ought not to murder people.

One of my favorites for this Easter Weekend: The end scene of Sophie's Choice.

And of-course: Monty Python.

John Hagee and Joe Lieberman: Friends in War and Hate

Update: Obama Far More Popular Among American Jewry Than Lieberman

One of John McCain’s most enthusiastic cheerleaders and top campaign surrogates, Sen. Joe Lieberman, will address a controversial, militaristic conference sponsored by an organization founded and led by the bigoted Pastor John Hagee tonight, Christians United for Israel (CUFI).

The Christians United for Israel (CUFI) group will hold its Third Annual Washington-Israel Summit in Washington, D.C. beginning today.

McCain had sought out and received Hagee’s endorsement before renouncing him earlier this year. “I’m very proud to have Pastor Hagee’s support," said McCain before repudiating Hagee.

Hagee’s anti-Catholicism and homophobia and whacky statements on blacks and women had caused an uproar on the internet, but it was Hagee’s statement on Judaism that finally saw McCain break with Hagee publicly in May.

A late 1990s sermon by Hagee was made public in which Hagee stated that Hitler was fulfilling God's will.

The group, Activist Dems, launched an internet campaign to Tell Sen. Lieberman to immediately withdraw his commitment to deliver the keynote address at Hagee's Israel Summit on July 22.

Christians United for Israel (CUFI) echos neocon foreign policy prescriptions regarding Iraq, Iran and the Middle East, with an emphasis on stopping "Islamofascism," positions and language repeated by McCain and Lieberman on the campaign trail.

Israel Losing Its Soul

Israel won't let nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu leave Israel or talk to the press, because he is a perceived threat to national security, who would criticize Israel in the world press.

Now, Israel won't let American anti-militarist critic, Norman Finkelstein, into Israel because he is a perceived threat to national security, who would criticize Israel in the Israeli and Palestinian press.

As Israel continues its obscene violence in Gaza that has killed, wounded and starved 10,000s of innocents, the world watches a country relying on militarism and collective punishment lose its soul.

Religious Right Figures Signing Pro-war Statement IDed by ADL as Assaulting Tolerance and Pluralism; Now Courted by McCain

As John McCain moves to gain the halting support of religious right leaders, it's worth noting again who these people are, their neocon foreign policy prescriptions regarding Iraq, Iran and the Middle East, and their emphasis on Islamofascism, echoed by McCain.

Below is an updated piece on major religious right figures signing an anti-Iraqi withdrawal statement last year, who were identified by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as extremists assaulting tolerance and pluralism in America.

by Michael Leon at MAL Contends

Madison, Wisconsin — Several major American religious right figures signing an anti-Iraqi withdrawal statement were previously identified by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as extremists assaulting tolerance and pluralism in America.

A group of 44 right-wing, extremist American leaders had released a Declaration last fall urging the continuation of American policy in Iraq and warning of catastrophic consequences if America withdrawals from Iraq.

The unique Forgotten American Coalition is composed of both Anti-Semitic and Christians-for-a-militaristic-Israel groups, all of whom lean to the extreme right and expose authoritarian, militarist ideologies.

Several individuals signing the document were blasted in the ADL's 1994 publication, "The Religious Right: An Assault on Tolerance and Pluralism in America," (cover pictured above) warning that "an exclusionist religious movement in this country has attempted to restore what it perceives as the ruins of a Christian nation by more closely seeking to unite its version of Christianity with state power."

Among the individuals who have espoused theologies using state power to attack pluralism in America (identified in the ADL's The Religious Right publication) and who signed the anti-Iraq Withdrawal statement: include: Lou Sheldon (Traditional Values Coalition), Gary Bauer (Chairman, Forgotten American Coalition), Don Wildmon (American Family Association), Pat Robertson (the 700 Club), Beverly LaHaye (Concerned Women for America), and Paul Weyrich (Free Congress Foundation).

The groups form the corp of the religious right in America, and a pillar of the contemporary Republican political coalition.

Their anti-withdrawal statement echos Bush administration talking points on Iraq, with echoes now of warnings of strikes against Iran, and thus far implicit advocacy of the campaign for president of Senator John McCain, as McCain stakes out neocon position on the Middle East.

The Forgotten American Coalition's statement reads in part:

As leaders of the conservative movement and concerned citizens, the undersigned wish to make our fellow Americans aware of the tragic consequences of a precipitous U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. ...

The Iraq War must be seen in the broader context of Islamo-fascism's war on America and Western Civilization. It is one front in a global conflict fought from Europe and the Middle East to Africa, the Balkans, the Indian Subcontinent and, finally, to the streets of our cities. ...

9/11 was in part precipitated by the perception of American weakness and lack of determination. An Iraq withdrawal before our mission is accomplished will convince the terrorists and their state-sponsors that we indeed are the proverbial paper tiger.

Signed,

Gary Bauer (Chairman, Forgotten American Coalition)
Joe Barrek
Chris Carmouche (GrassTopsUSA.com)
Don Feder (Don Feder Associates)
Janet Folger (Faith2Action)
Richard Ford (Heritage Alliance PAC)
Rick Scarborough (Vision America)
Mike Valerio
Paul Weyrich (Free Congress Foundation)
Don Wildmon (American Family Association)
(The foregoing all are members of the Forgotten American Coalition Steering Committee)
Daniel Pipes (Middle East Forum)
Pat Robertson ("700 Club")
Phillip Jauregui (Judicial Action Group)
Phil Burress (Citizens for Community Values)
William J. Federer (AmeriSearch)
Wendy Wright (Concerned Women for America)
Dr. Janice Crouse (Beverly LaHaye Institute)
Dr. Jack Wheeler (Freedom Research Foundation)
Rabbi Daniel Lapin (Toward Tradition)
Frank Gaffney (Center for Security Policy)
Herb Zweibon (Americans for a Safe Israel)
Lou Sheldon (Traditional Values Coalition)
Mona Charen (syndicated columnist)
Morton Blackwell (Conservative Leadership PAC)
Gary Cass (Christian Anti-Defamation Commission)
Pastor John Hagee (Citizens United for Israel)
Larry Cirignano (Catholic activist)
Star Parker (Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education)
Clifford May (Foundation for the Defense of Democracies)
Jim Laffejy (Christian Seniors Association)
Michael Heath (Christian Civic League of Maine)
Ted Baehr (MovieGuide.org)
Mathew Staver (Liberty Counsel)
Colin Hanna (Let Freedom Ring)
Craig Shirley (Shirley And Bannister Public Affairs)
Ron Wexler (Ten Commandments Commission)
Foster Friess (Friess Associates Inc.)
Tim LaHaye (minister and author)
Beverly LaHaye (Concerned Women for America)
Dr. Rod Majin (The Vanguard.Org)
Melanie Morgan (MoveAmericaForward.org)
Elaine Donnelly (Center for Military Readiness)
Ron Robinson (Young America's Foundation)
Flagg Youngblood (Young America's Foundation)

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The Forward's Fein: Huffington Post Is Anti-Semitic for Criticizing Joe Lieberman’s Endorsement of John McCain

Joe Lieberman is a lying, militaristic Neocon who campaigned in 2006 on a pledge to endorse a Democrat for president in 2008.

[See Lieberman: "I want to elect a Democratic president in 2008."]

That kind of talk makes one an anti-Semite in the mind of The Forward's Leonard Fein. Writes Fein:

Trust me on this. Do not, even in idle curiosity, look at the postings on The Huffington Post regarding Joseph Lieberman’s endorsement of John McCain. Or, if you disregard my very sober advice and do have a look, bear in mind that all the antisemitism and anti-Israelism you will see expressed there is all there is. Every raging antisemite in the nation has now had his or her say, all the Israel-bashing has been spent, and we can go on. ...

Fein and Lieberman are whacks, no need to trust or put your faith in anyone or anything on this assessment, just your reason.

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UK Times: US Perfecting Plan for Iran Strike

If we're going kill 1,000s, destabilize the world, and break international law, then let's do it right.

The Sunday Times carries a heartening story about a secret US Air Force team perfecting the plan for an Iran air strike. One can't help but thinking: Are Bush and Cheney really that freaking dumb?

Sarah Baxter reports:

THE United States Air Force has set up a highly confidential strategic planning group tasked with “fighting the next war” as tensions rise with Iran.

Project Checkmate, a successor to the group that planned the 1991 Gulf War’s air campaign, was quietly reestablished at the Pentagon in June.

It reports directly to General Michael Moseley, the US Air Force chief, and consists of 20-30 top air force officers and defence and cyberspace experts with ready access to the White House, the CIA and other intelligence agencies.

Detailed contingency planning for a possible attack on Iran has been carried out for more than two years by Centcom (US central command), according to defence sources.

More at the Sunday Times.

Meanwhile, the commander of U.S. military forces in the Middle East says "No" to war with Iran.

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Teen crushed by Israeli bulldozer in Gaza

By AFP GAZA CITY (AFP) - A 16-year-old Palestinian boy was killed on Thursday after being run over by an Israeli army bulldozer during a military incursion in the Gaza Strip, medics and witnesses said.

Mahmud Kayed was run over by the bulldozer when it lurched towards a group of youths throwing rocks at the vehicle during the army incursion in the Al-Bureij refugee camp, they said.

Four Palestinians, including two militants from the Hamas movement that has ruled Gaza for three months, were wounded by Israeli gunfire during the operation, medics said.

The two militants, one of whom was seriously wounded, were injured by helicopter fire, medics said.

Israeli bulldozers were ripping up farmland in the area, while soldiers were going house to house searching for militants and weapons, they said.

No comment from the Israeli army was immediately available.

The death brings to 5,866 the number of people killed since the start of the second Palestinian uprising in in September 2000, the vast majority of them Palestinians, according to an AFP tally.
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American-Israeli Militarism Hit

As Bush militarism has become more intimately tied to the American religious right with its traditionally implicit (and often explicit) anti-Semitism, the militaristic and anti-civil liberties policies espoused by both the United States and Israel are coming under increasing attack.

Tony Karon has an interesting piece at Tomdispatch.

For American Jews, Dissent Against Israel Has Become Mainstream

Tony Karon, Tomdispatch.com

The exceedingly narrow range of 'correct opinion on Israel for American Jews isn't holding together like it used to. Is a Jewish glasnost coming to America?

It was not surprising to read about this week's pro-war statement (Declaration Against Iraq Withdrawal) signed by such religious whacks as Lou Sheldon, Gary Bauer, Don Wildmon and Pat Robertson along with Pastor John Hagee (Citizens United for Israel) and Herb Zweibon (Americans for a Safe Israel).

And as more Americans speak out against the dangers of militarism promoted by a bigoted, know-nothing strain of professed Christianity at home, all brands of militarism will suffer politically.
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Religious Right Figures Signing Pro-war Statement Identified by ADL as Assaulting Tolerance and Pluralism

Religious right extremists and Republican Party are now fully integrated, assaulting Tolerance and Pluralism and calling for more war

Madison, Wisconsin — Several major American religious right figures signing an anti-Iraqi withdrawal statement were previously identified by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as extremists assaulting tolerance and pluralism in America.

A group of 44 right-wing, extremist American leaders released a Declaration on Monday [2007] urging the continuation of American policy in Iraq and warning of catastrophic consequences if America withdrawals from Iraq.

The unique Forgotten American Coalition is composed of both Anti-Semitic and Christians-for-a-militaristic-Israel groups, all of whom lean to the extreme right and expose authoritarian, militarist ideologies.

Several individuals signing the document were blasted in the ADL's 1994 publication, "The Religious Right: An Assault on Tolerance and Pluralism in America," (cover pictured above) warning that "an exclusionist religious movement in this country has attempted to restore what it perceives as the ruins of a Christian nation by more closely seeking to unite its version of Christianity with state power."

The individuals who have espoused theologies using state power to attack pluralism in America (identified in the ADL's The Religious Right publication) and who signed the anti-Iraq Withdrawal statement: include: Lou Sheldon (Traditional Values Coalition), Gary Bauer (Chairman, Forgotten American Coalition), Don Wildmon (American Family Association), Pat Robertson (the 700 Club), Beverly LaHaye (Concerned Women for America), and Paul Weyrich (Free Congress Foundation).

The groups form the corp of the religious right in America, and the base of the contemporary Republican political coalition.

Their anti-withdrawal statement echos Bush administration talking points on Iraq, with echoes now of warnings of strikes against Iran, and advocacy of the campaign for president of Senator John McCain.

The Forgotten American Coalition's statement reads in part:

As leaders of the conservative movement and concerned citizens, the undersigned wish to make our fellow Americans aware of the tragic consequences of a precipitous U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. ...

The Iraq War must be seen in the broader context of Islamo-fascism's war on America and Western Civilization. It is one front in a global conflict fought from Europe and the Middle East to Africa, the Balkans, the Indian Subcontinent and, finally, to the streets of our cities. ...

9/11 was in part precipitated by the perception of American weakness and lack of determination. An Iraq withdrawal before our mission is accomplished will convince the terrorists and their state-sponsors that we indeed are the proverbial paper tiger.

Signed,

Gary Bauer (Chairman, Forgotten American Coalition)
Joe Barrek
Chris Carmouche (GrassTopsUSA.com)
Don Feder (Don Feder Associates)
Janet Folger (Faith2Action)
Richard Ford (Heritage Alliance PAC)
Rick Scarborough (Vision America)
Mike Valerio
Paul Weyrich (Free Congress Foundation)
Don Wildmon (American Family Association)
(The foregoing all are members of the Forgotten American Coalition Steering Committee)
Daniel Pipes (Middle East Forum)
Pat Robertson ("700 Club")
Phillip Jauregui (Judicial Action Group)
Phil Burress (Citizens for Community Values)
William J. Federer (AmeriSearch)
Wendy Wright (Concerned Women for America)
Dr. Janice Crouse (Beverly LaHaye Institute)
Dr. Jack Wheeler (Freedom Research Foundation)
Rabbi Daniel Lapin (Toward Tradition)
Frank Gaffney (Center for Security Policy)
Herb Zweibon (Americans for a Safe Israel)
Lou Sheldon (Traditional Values Coalition)
Mona Charen (syndicated columnist)
Morton Blackwell (Conservative Leadership PAC)
Gary Cass (Christian Anti-Defamation Commission)
Pastor John Hagee (Citizens United for Israel)
Larry Cirignano (Catholic activist)
Star Parker (Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education)
Clifford May (Foundation for the Defense of Democracies)
Jim Laffejy (Christian Seniors Association)
Michael Heath (Christian Civic League of Maine)
Ted Baehr (MovieGuide.org)
Mathew Staver (Liberty Counsel)
Colin Hanna (Let Freedom Ring)
Craig Shirley (Shirley And Bannister Public Affairs)
Ron Wexler (Ten Commandments Commission)
Foster Friess (Friess Associates Inc.)
Tim LaHaye (minister and author)
Beverly LaHaye (Concerned Women for America)
Dr. Rod Majin (The Vanguard.Org)
Melanie Morgan (MoveAmericaForward.org)
Elaine Donnelly (Center for Military Readiness)
Ron Robinson (Young America's Foundation)
Flagg Youngblood (Young America's Foundation)

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Finkelstein Draws Flood of Support in Wake of Tenure Denial

Madison, Wisconsin—In the wake of the rejection of tenure at DePaul University (Chicago) for Norman Finkelstein who teaches political theory, Finkelstein has drawn a flood of support.

Finkelstein, the son of Holocaust survivors, drew praise from his academic department and a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences tenure committee, but his tenure was denied as the result of political pressure, mostly from Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz—a rightwing scholar who infamously supported legalizing torture, is working with Robert Bork on overturning the conviction of Lewis Scooter Libby, and tried unsuccessfully to block publication of Finkelstein’s Beyond Chutzpah (University of California Press, 2005) which exposed substantial plagiarism committed by Dershowitz.

Writes Finkelstein: “An appendix to Beyond Chutzpah irrefutably demonstrates that Dershowitz not only massively lifted information and ideas from another author, Joan Peters, without attribution, but that he did so from a book, Peters' From Time Immemorial, universally dismissed as a fraud.”

The tenure was vetoed by DePaul president, President Dennis Holtschneider, who is facing a vote of no confidence from the DePaul faculty for a nakedly political decision.

Finkelstein has drawn condemnation for his razor-sharp criticism of American and Israeli militarism and what he contends are the misuses by some of the Holocaust that almost killed his parents.

But the sheer political nature of the tenure denial has enraged many. As reported in the Chicago Sun Times:

Clutching blankets, pop bottles and signs saying "Just Grant It,'' two dozen students protesting the tenure denial of a popular but controversial professor were forced to leave a 22nd-floor conference room outside DePaul President Dennis Holtschneider's office Wednesday.

The students were threatened with penalties including expulsion if they didn't leave after they spent nearly three days in the room.

"This is going to be a long battle,'' said student Evan Lorendo, 22. "DePaul will be embarrassed by this activity.''

Finkelstein has drawn praise from Raul Hilberg, considered the dean of Holocaust studies, Noam Chomsky, Amy Goodman and Sara Roy.

Writes Finkelstein in his website:

I am currently being inundated with letters of support. Please be certain that I have read everyone of them. Because it's simply impossible to answer each of them personally, I have decided instead to post the letters because many are so intelligent, witty, incisive and heartfelt. I am deeply in your debt and will do my best to continue to earn the praise and support I have received. To avoid any retaliation, I have taken the liberty of removing the names.

A student studying at DePaul e-mailed that Finkelstein is "all packed up and ready to go... if you call his office, his voicemail says: 'you have reached the office of Norman Finkelstein... I will be leaving DePaul on June 16 ... '"

What a tragedy in the cause for justice and unwavering commitment to truth, and what a loss for DePaul University.
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