Anti Judeo-Christian

Anonymous` Cyber War Declared On Israel (and GOP) ~ Nothing More Than A Left-Wing Group

Published by Papa Giorgio

(Click Graphic To See Story About GOP and ORCA)

Breitbart says:

Internet leftist terrorists Anonymous have begun posting personal information on top-ranking Israeli officials online. Using Anonpaste.me to send a message to the Israeli government, Anonymous wrote, “It has come to our attention that the Israeli government has ignored repeated warnings about the abuse of human rights, shutting down the internet in Israel and mistreating its own citizens andt hose of its neighboring countries.” This newest assault follows hot on the heels of Anonymous’ attack on over 700 Israeli websites, including the Foreign Ministry website in which it deleted the Foreign Ministry’s database.

“Israeli Gov. this is/will turn into a cyberwar,” wrote Anonymous. Israel says that it has “deflected 44 million cyber-attacks on government websites.” Many major Israeli websites remain down.

One of my sons (the younger one) has some fantasy about Anonymous being the “Internet police,” so-to-speak. (He even cited a story about Anonymous harassing some kids who bullied a bus driver… and Mussolini got the trains to run on time and Hitler provided universal healthcare.)

He mentioned that this group of cyber-terrorists did this apparently to stop Israel from shutting down the internet in Gaza, saying that they said the internet should be for everyone.  I pointed out that the only place I could find the information that Israel was going to shut down the internet in Gaza was from Anonymous themselves. No reputable news organization themselves — outside of reading from Anonymous’ own statement — confirmed this:

Where did you read that the internet was going to be shut down? (In other words, the only source I can find for this is anonymous themselves… an extremist group of criminals. This is the epitome of an extreme “news” source.) Gaza has always had internet problems… they concentrate on war, not productivity and innovation? Most Gazan’s already rely on dial-up anyways. And if push comes to shove, any reporter can upload from their phone or i-pad type unit.

★ At this time, access to power and Internet connectivity in Gaza is spotty and inconsistent. Gazans have experienced power outages and are accustomed to relying on generators, but a concerted Israeli effort to shut down the Internet in Gaza has not yet materialized. In the meantime, dial-up connections can be a lifeline for residents of Gaza. Telecomix has published a guide to configuring and using a dial-up Internet connection. (EFF)

In other words, propaganda by Anonymous to mask the other statements they made:

…Anonymous, right along with how I have described them, are a political faction that has a skewed view of history. They said in their statement that Israel’s stance is “barbaric, brutal and despicable treatment of the Palestinian people,” not true. Like I said, these guys are young and misinformed… like most UC students, for example.

You see, dial up is already in wide use in Gaza, if there is internet at all, because both service and power has always been spotty since the Palestinians are NOT about bettering the lives of their fellow man but really about war and killing Jews. Not to mention it is a great way for Israel to get intel, and so they would NOT want to sever the connection: “It is important to remember that dial-up connections are not secure” (EFF). Here is more on the topic taken from my FaceBook post:

Anonymous:

They seemed to be upset about the killing of a top Hamas leader (NYT: http://tinyurl.com/cpre5qw) that was the mastermind of many deadly attacks as a response to the increasing rocket attacks. Israel may have to enter Gaza which they chose to leave completely to the Palestinian people to run… as hundreds of Katyusha rockets fly in almost daily (and a newer long-range rocket[s] from Iran and Libya [thanks Obama] that Hamas and other armed groups have smuggled in Iran and Libya). They also intimated their concern for the “children,” but the onus for this should be laid at the feet of the Palestinian people as they teach their children radicalism from birth:

★ “A book that is required reading for Palestinian six graders actually starts off stating, ‘There is no alternative to destroying Israel.’” Here are some photos of kids dressed up as Jihad fighters and wearing faux suicide belts: http://tinyurl.com/2v2qu

At the end of their long rant you get to see the education they received that many in the UC system typically get, when Anonymouse said: “To the oppressors of the innocent Palestinian people, it is too late to EXPECT US“ (http://tinyurl.com/co3trew).

This anti-female (oppression), anti-homosexual (Hamas kills them), anti-Semitic (“drive Jews into the sea” [i.e., no two-state solution], Hamas kills them), anti-Christian (kill or force conversions) bed of extremism that these jihadists have foisted on the Palestinians (which they have swallowed in full), makes them ANYTHING BUT innocent. When a suicide bomber can go into a pizzeria, kill women and children, and then a museum is set up of the exact scene as a celebration of death and the “success” of a suicide bomber… well… the Jihadi maxim runs true: “We love death more than you love life!” (http://tinyurl.com/9ahyo48)

There are chapters of Anonymous and here a couple of them (these chapters) had many arrested and some of their activity [attacks] are explained (http://tinyurl.com/7xvsrna), as well as hacking into CIA and other orgs, “British pair admit targeting institutions including CIA, Soca and News International” (http://tinyurl.com/adrmlfy).

They are young, and engage in criminal activity. They have a warped sense of the world BECAUSE they are young, and most “revolutionaries” (anarchists and/or socialists) have a view not that different in what they are taught at major universities. For instance, that the Palestinian people had a country or were a people that historically inhabited the area of Israel. This view is false, and I would recommend these young people read a simple book on the history of this conflict: “History Upside Down: The Roots of Palestinian Fascism and the Myth of Israeli Aggression” (152 pages). Their views of what corporations are and are not are warped as well.

For instance, the “Libertarian heavyweight” Milton Freidman, makes a great point that the only monopolies are that created by the government (http://youtu.be/r6LLQdpY7wU). So, a great recent example. Government is forcing people to buy private insurance… pushing people into a system that is charging outlandish prices for services given, rather than letting the free market do its work (http://youtu.be/0uPdkhMVdMQ). In other words, a monopoly is being created by a political persuasion that says they do not like monopolies. And their view of corporations is skewed (like Democrats of today (post-JFK Democrats):

★ One last point, the most important. Unlike big business when it makes mistakes, big government cannot go out of business. Unlike corrupt government, corrupt business cannot print money and thereby devalue a nation’s currency. Businesses cannot coerce you by force (tax liens, garnishing of wages, or armed IRS officials, etc) into an action. So the “greed” of the corporation pales in comparison to the greed of government. (http://tinyurl.com/bx66syp)

So these anarchists and socialists and misguided youth are nothing but a bunch of cyber bullies who commit felonies in the guise of “helping.” Which leads me to one of my most loved CS Lewis quote that exemplifies a truth:

★ “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” – CS Lewis, God in the Dock.

Reagan said, in perpetuity to Adam Smith through to our day, that “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.'” Similarly, Anonymous can keep their “help” to themselves. And when they do not, the anti-hacker-hackers, The Web Ninjas, are there to hack into their databases and turn over what they find to the proper authorities:

★ One particular anti-hacking group calling itself ‘Team Web Ninjas’ has already posted what they say are the names, addresses, phone numbers and pictures of LulzSec. (http://tinyurl.com/6d2a33s)

Team Web Ninjas… LOVE IT!

Whole Text of Anonymous’ First Press Release:

This couldn’t get more left wing/pro-Palestinian. It looks as if Hamas themselves wrote this… maybe the Turkish chapter? (RedHack is a left wing [Marxist] group of hackers affiliated with Anonymous). I will emphasize this throughout:

Greetings World

For far too long, Anonymous has stood by with the rest of the world and watched in despair the barbaric, brutal and despicable treatment of the Palestinian people in the so called “Occupied Territories” by the Israel Defense Force. Like so many around the globe, we have felt helpless in the face of such implacable evil. And today’s insane attack and threatened invasion of Gaza was more of the same.

But when the government of Israel publicly threatened to sever all Internet and other telecommunications into and out of Gaza they crossed a line in the sand. As the former dictator of Egypt Mubarack learned the hard way – we are ANONYMOUS and NO ONE shuts down the Internet on our watch. To the IDF and government of Israel we issue you this warning only once. Do NOT shut down the Internet into the “Occupied Territories”, and cease and desist from your terror upon the innocent people of Palestine or you will know the full and unbridled wrath of Anonymous. And like all the other evil governments that have faced our rage, you will NOT survive it unscathed.

To the people of Gaza and the “Occupied Territories”, know that Anonymous stands with you in this fight. We will do everything in our power to hinder the evil forces of the IDF arrayed against you. We will use all our resources to make certain you stay connected to the Internet and remain able to transmit your experiences to the world. As a start, we have put together the Anonymous Gaza Care Package – http://bit.ly/XH87C5 – which contains instructions in Arabic and English that can aid you in the event the Israel government makes good on it’s threat to attempt to sever your Internet connection. It also contains useful information on evading IDF surveillance, and some basic first aid and other useful information. We will continue to expand and improve this document in the coming days, and we will transmit it to you by every means at our disposal. We encourage you to download this package, and to share it with your fellow Palestinians to the best of your ability.

We will be with you. No matter how dark it may seem, no matter how alone and abandoned you may feel – know that tens of thousands of us in Anonymous are with you and working tirelessly around the clock to bring you every aid and assistance that we can.

We Are Anonymous
We Are Everywhere
We Are Legion
We Do Not Forgive
We Do Not Forget

To the oppressors of the innocent Palestinian people, it is too late to EXPECT US

`Freedom`As Understood in Pali-Speak:

`Defend` As Understood in Pali-Speak:

Anti-Catholic, Anti-Semitic, Homophobic Cult Leader is Big Donor to Democrats

Published by Papa Giorgio

Video Description:

Democratic donor J.Z. Knight, the leader of a cult based out of Washington State made vicious remarks about Catholics, Jews, and homosexuals that surfaced this week. Knight gave over $60,000 to both President Obama’s re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Knight has even had her picture taken with President Obama. Despite the controversy, Democrats have refused to give back the donations they received from Knight.

DNC Platform: God Removed, Jerusalem removed as Israel`s Capital, and Wants Tax Payer Funded Abortions (UPDATE!)

Published by Papa Giorgio

UPDATED!!!

Democrats Boo “God” & “Jerusalem” As Platform Chaos Ensues 

Democratic party heads rammed through the revised platform, which includes updated pro-Israel language and the mention of God, against the clear wishes of those voting at the convention in Charlotte. Here’s video of the chaos:

The vote to adopt the new platform requires two-thirds. It’s pretty clear that even after asking for multiple votes, two-thirds of the vote was not received. The revised platform was adopted anyway.

————————————————–

Democrats Hurting Majority In Drive To Egalitarian “Special Rights” Utopia

Published by Papa Giorgio

One Franciscan University employee said:

“But there you have it: thanks to the government’s firm desire to make sure the one or two women left in the country who did not have easy and cheap access to contraceptives, abortofacients [sic], and sterilization procedures, our 2,500 students will no longer have an insurance plan ready and waiting for them.”

[….]

Franciscan’s refusal to comply with the HHS edict shows that this issue will not go away quietly for Obama among Catholics and members of other faiths less inclined to vote Democrat.  As more Catholic institutions opt out, the issue will get more and more acute for Obama as bishops press hard for freedom of religious conscience.

…READ MORE…

Earlier (Feb 6, 2012), the Archdiocese of Boston said it may stop offering insurance:

The Archdiocese of Boston says it may stop offering health insurance for its employees if the Obama administration does not relax a new rule that requires many church-affiliated employers to cover the cost of birth control in employee health plans.

In a sharply worded letter sent to parishioners, Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley called the rule a violation of Catholic consciences. Citing the Church’s longstanding opposition to contraception, O’Malley wrote:

In its ruling, the Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation’s first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty.

O’Malley’s letter was one of many sent out to parishes across the country at the behest of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

…READ MORE…

What a rotten consequence of Democratic leftism! It — liberal ideology — makes many unintelligent to the real problems and ways to fix them with common sense (like inter-state insurance competition, tort law reform, and the like).

Here is a great example from 2006 of how leftists ideology harms the people they purport to say they help. In this example, children:

(Washington Times, 2006) The recent decision by Catholic Charities of the Boston Archdiocese to stop offering adoption services to avoid placing children with homosexuals is reverberating through child welfare circles and sparking fears that other Catholic Charities agencies may follow suit.

“Everyone’s still reeling from the decision,” Marylou Sudders, executive director of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC), said yesterday.

“Ultimately, the only losers are the kids,” said Maureen Flatley, a Boston adoption consultant and lobbyist. If other Catholic Charities agencies withdraw from public adoption, “you can’t even begin to talk about what the impact of that will be nationwide,” she said.

[….]

A spokeswoman for the state DSS said it was already working to “transition” hundreds of foster children to new agencies. The Boston Catholic Charities’ contract expires June 30.

[….]

Ms. Sudders of MSPCC said that by not renewing its state license, Boston Catholic Charities will be opting out of myriad services, including recruitment of adoptive parents, training, home studies, managing adoption placements and working with special needs adoptions. She said the loss of the state’s biggest and most experienced adoption agency is “a very big deal for Massachusetts and a very big deal for the kids.”

The Democratic Party, enslaving, hurting, and killing the innocent since 1812!

Meaning of Irony: Anti-Bullying Crusader Curses Christian Children and Bashes GOP ~ UPDATED: Conservative Gay Groups Demand Apology!

Published by Papa Giorgio

(*Language Warning*)

Via Gateway Pundit:

*Watch all the kids get up and leave* Bully for Them!

UPDATED!

From Libertarian Republican:

Conservative/libertarian Gay group demands apology from Republican-hating Gay activist Dan Savage

…Here’s a taste of his remarks:

“We can learn to ignore the bullshit in the Bible about gay people — the same way we have learned to ignore the bullshit in the Bible about shellfish, about slavery, about dinner, about farming, about menstruation, about virginity, about masturbation,” Savage said.

“We ignore bullshit in the Bible about all sorts of things.”

He also attacked Newt Gingrich’s wife Callista with an especially caustic comment:

“The Bible says if a woman is not a virgin on her wedding night, she shall be dragged to her father’s doorstep and stoned to death,” Savage told the students. “Callista Gingrich still lives.”

Attacks Christians as prudes; no mention of Islam

As Joe Newby at the Spokane Examiner reminds us, Savage once said on Bill Maher’s HBO show that he wished all Republicans were “fucking dead.”

In reaction, Jimmy LaSalvia, president of GOProud issued this immediate statement:

“Dan Savage should apologize for his comments and should apologize to the high school students in attendance whom he called ‘pansy-asses,’” LaSalvia said.

“It is ironic that someone whose claim to fame is fighting bullying would resort to bullying tactics in attacking high school students who were offended by his outrageous remarks.”

Savage did not mention Islam or the Koran once in his speech.

Ironically though, he implied Christians were stoning those who failed a moral test:

“There is no effort to amend state constitutions to make it legal to stone women to death on their wedding nights if they’re not virgins — at least not yet,” he said. “We don’t know where the GOP is going these days.”

A Few Thoughts from Gay Patriot:

If it gets better, why is Dan Savage so bitter?

As many as 100 high school students walked out of a national journalism conference after an anti-bullying speaker began cursing, attacked the Bible and reportedly called those who refused to listen to his rant “pansy asses.”

The speaker was Dan Savage, founder of the “It Gets Better” project, an anti-bullying campaign that has reached more than 40 million viewers with contributors ranging from President Obama to Hollywood stars. Savage also writes a sex advice column called “Savage Love.”

. . . .

Savage was supposed to be delivering a speech about anti-bullying at the National High School Journalism Conference sponsored by the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press Association. But it turned into an episode of Christian-bashing.

(Via Instapundit*)

Why does Dan Savage harbor so much hatred?  Gay organizations, especially GLAAD, should condemn Mr. Savage for his mean-spirited rhetoric and make clear that he does not speak for gay people. He certainly doesn’t speak for me — and I would dare say most of this blog’s readers, including some of our liberal ones. We should expect gay speakers at such fora to show the same respect for Christianity as we would like Christians to show for gays.

[….]

Released in the last hour… GOPROUD condemns Dan Savage.

Jimmy LaSalvia, GOProud Executive Director – “Dan Savage’s outrageous anti-Christian tirade hurts – not helps – the fight for gay rights in this country.”

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, GOProud – a national organization of gay and straight Americans seeking to promote freedom by supporting free markets, limited government, and a respect for individual rights, condemned a speech given by left wing gay activist Dan Savage. “Dan Savage’s outrageous anti-Christian tirade hurts – not helps – the fight for gay rights in this country,” said Jimmy LaSalvia, GOProud Executive Director. “There is nothing incompatible between being a Christian and believing that all people should be treated equally, and Dan Savage’s attacks on Christianity only fuel those on the extremist fringe who oppose gay rights.”

“Dan Savage should apologize for his comments and should apologize to the high school students in attendance who he called ‘pansy-asses,’” continued LaSalvia. “It is ironic that someone whose claim to fame is fighting bullying would resort to bullying tactics in attacking high school students who were offended by his outrageous remarks.”

“GOProud works with people of faith every single day – gay and straight. We believe strongly that people of faith should be treated with respect,” concluded LaSalvia.

Bravo ~ Bruce (GayPatriot)

 

The White house supports and fundraisers for this anti-bullying, bully — Via Breitbart.com:

The Obama Administration has placed significant support behind the so-called It Gets Better Project. The White House has devoted a specific section of the WhiteHouse.gov website to the Project. President Obama, Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and many other administration officials have cut videos on behalf of the Project.

Now, the message of the Project is worthwhile. The organization is designed to protect children from bullying; its suggested pledge states:

Everyone deserves to be respected for who they are. I pledge to spread this message to my friends, family and neighbors. I’ll speak up against hate and intolerance whenever I see it, at school and at work. I’ll provide hope for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and other bullied teens by letting them know that “It Gets Better.

There’s only one problem: the organization is headed by one Dan Savage.

This is the same Dan Savage who spoke at the National High School Journalism Conference last week, where he ripped into the Bible and called religious students “pansy-assed” for walking out on him.

But there’s much more to Dan Savage than just anti-religious bullying. He’s one of the biggest bullies on the planet. And he’s the point person the White House specifically chose – and fundraised for – in order to push their anti-bullying agenda.

Now, it’s not as though the White House was ignorant of the fact that the It Gets Better Project is run by Savage.

…read more…

Charles Krauthammer Article About Leftists Taking Over Religion and Medicine

Published by Papa Giorgio

Via HUMAN EVENTS:

Give him points for cleverness. President Obama’s birth control “accommodation” was as politically successful as it was morally meaningless. It was nothing but an accounting trick that still forces Catholic (and other religious) institutions to provide medical insurance that guarantees free birth control, tubal ligation and morning-after abortifacients — all of which violate church doctrine on the sanctity of life.

The trick is that these birth control/abortion services will supposedly be provided independently and free of charge by the religious institution’s insurance company. But this changes none of the moral calculus. Holy Cross Hospital, for example, is still required by law to engage an insurance company that is required by law to provide these doctrinally proscribed services to all Holy Cross employees.

Nonetheless, the accounting device worked politically. It took only a handful of compliant Catholic groups — ObamaCare cheerleaders dying to return to the fold — to hail the alleged compromise, and hand Obama a major political victory.

Before, Obama’s coalition had been split. His birth control mandate was fiercely opposed by such stalwart friends as former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and pastor Rick Warren (Obama’s choice to give the invocation at his inauguration), who declared he would go to jail rather than abide by the regulation. After the “accommodation,” it was the (mostly) Catholic opposition that fractured. The mainstream media then bought the compromise as substantive, and the issue was defused.

A brilliant sleight of hand. But let’s for a moment accept the president on his own terms. Let’s accept his contention that this “accommodation” is a real shift of responsibility to the insurer. Has anyone considered the import of this new mandate? The president of the United States has just ordered private companies to give away for free a service that his own health and human services secretary has repeatedly called a major financial burden.

On what authority? Where does it say that the president can unilaterally order a private company to provide an allegedly free-standing service at no cost to certain select beneficiaries?

This is government by presidential fiat. In Venezuela, that’s done all the time. Perhaps we should we call Obama’s “accommodation” Presidential Decree No. 1.

Consider the constitutional wreckage left by ObamaCare:

First, its assault on the free exercise of religion. Only churches themselves are left alone. Beyond the churchyard gate, religious autonomy disappears. Every other religious institution must bow to the state because, by this administration’s regulatory definition, church schools, hospitals and charities are not “religious,” and thus have no right to the free exercise of religion — no protection from being forced into doctrinal violations commanded by the state.

Second, its assault on free enterprise. To solve his own political problem, the president presumes to order a private company to enter into a contract for the provision of certain services — all of which are free. And yet, this breathtaking arrogation of power is simply the logical extension of Washington’s takeover of the private system of medical care — a system Obama farcically pretends to be maintaining.

Under ObamaCare, the state treats private insurers the way it does government-regulated monopolies and utilities. It determines everything of importance. Insurers, by definition, set premiums according to risk. Not anymore. The risk ratios (for age, gender, smoking, etc.) are decreed by Washington. This is nationalization in all but name. The insurer is turned into a middleman, subject to state control — and presidential whim.

Third, the assault on individual autonomy. Every citizen without insurance is ordered to buy it, again under penalty of law. This so-called individual mandate is now before the Supreme Court — because never before has the already inflated Commerce Clause been used to compel a citizen to enter into a private contract with a private company by mere fact of his existence.

This constitutional trifecta — the state invading the autonomy of religious institutions, private companies and the individual citizen — should not surprise. It is what happens when the state takes over one-sixth of the economy.

In 2010, when all this lay hazily in the future, the sheer arrogance of ObamaCare energized a popular resistance powerful enough to deliver an electoral shellacking to Obama. Yet two years later, as the consequences of that overreach materialize before our eyes, the issue is fading. This constitutes a huge failing of the opposition party whose responsibility it is to make the opposition argument.

Every presidential challenger says he will repeal ObamaCare on Day One. Well, yes. But is any of them making the case for why?

Hugh Hewitt & Mark Steyn Comment on New Yorker Magazine’s Blatant Anti-Catholicism

Published by Papa Giorgio

Hugh Hewitt and later Mark Steyn comment on the New Yorker Magazine’s anti-Catholic stance found in John Cassidy’s article that if said of the homosexual community or against feminist proclivities, heads would surely roll. However, as is pointed out, bashing with the most vitriolic bigotry the Catholic Church or the Christian faith is of the highest progressive elite order. (Posted by Religio-Political Talk.)

For more clear thinking like this from Hugh Hewitt… I invite you to visit: http://www.hughniverse.com/

The LEFT Legislating Progressive Mores on Christian Organizations ~ Obama-Care and the HHS Mandate

Published by Papa Giorgio

How the Left legislates Their Morality, via The Blaze:

The Church’s vocal arguments against the Obama administration are centered upon a Health and Human Services Department requirement that employers must include contraception and abortion-inducing drugs in health-care coverage. While this requirement doesn’t apply to houses of worship, it will force Catholic colleges, hospitals and other Christian groups to provide these drugs despite their faith-based opposition to them.

The Inquisitions Bush`s Fault? Almost ~ The Tale of Two Books

Published by Papa Giorgio

NPR has a left leaning bias, we all know that and I have proven it in the past. So reviews of a book they laud connecting the fanciful imaginations of the progressive in regards to history and Bush is a dream come true. In two reviews of the book/topic with the author of the book, God’s Jury, you can see a creeping bias, much like the pre-war Germany propaganda, has on the cover a “hooked nosed” Pope designating (implicitly or explicitly) the secular leftist hatred for anything Christian.

Cullen Murphey’s Cover:

WWII Propaganda:

Modern Islamo-Nazi Depiction:

Some NPR stories on the book/author:

1) The Inquisition: Alive And Well After 800 Years
2) The Inquisition: A Model For Modern Interrogators

NewsBusters has this in what they call a Liberal Two-Fer:

…NPR promoted it this way:

Murphy’s new book God’s Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World  traces the history of the Inquisitions — there were several — and draws parallels between some of the interrogation techniques used in previous centuries with the ones used today.

“A few years ago, the intelligence agencies had some transcripts released … of interrogations that were done at Guantanamo, and the interrogations done by the Inquisition were surprisingly similar and just as detailed,” he tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross. “[They were] virtually verbatim.”

“Many people in the Bush administration were insisting [it] was not torture at all. The Inquisition was actually very clear on the matter. It obviously was torture. That’s why they were using it.”

Murphy’s own website summarizes the book this way:

The Inquisition pioneered surveillance and censorship and “scientific” interrogation. As time went on, its methods and mindset spread far beyond the Church to become tools of secular persecution. Traveling from freshly opened Vatican archives to the detention camps of Guantánamo to the filing cabinets of the Third Reich, Murphy traces the Inquisition and its legacy.

Surprise, surprise! Murphy sought out a blurb by leftist New Yorker writer Jane Mayer, one of the most prominent Bush-trashing journalists (and a favorite of Terry Gross):

“From Torquemada to Guantanamo and beyond, Cullen Murphy finds the ‘inquisitorial impulse’ alive, and only too well, in our world. His engaging romp through the secret Vatican archives shows that the distance between the Dark Ages and Modernity is shockingly short.”
—Jane Mayer, author of The Dark Side.

…read more…

This book is at odds with the most renown scholar and author of the book, The Spanish Inquisition, Henry Kamen. Take note of the difference in tone and most probably scholarship — as this interview shows… his [Cullen Murphey] connections are so general that any religion or government can be connected to this event. These generalities are not to connect a historical event to a modern one but in progressive fashion the goal of stoking emotions rather than basing something in fact/history is the prime mover.

From an Amazon book reviewer and author of Author of “Mission,” an African novel set in Kenya:

Henry Kamen’s The Spanish Inquisition is an amazing experience. It is a highly detailed, supremely scholarly and ultimately enlightening account of an historical phenomenon whose identity and reputation have become iconic. So much has been written about it, so many words have been spoken that one might think that there is not too much new to be learned. But this is precisely where Kamen’s book really comes into its own, for it reveals the popular understanding of the Inquisition as little more than myth.

He explodes the notion that the busy-bodies of inquisitors had their nose in everyone’s business. It was actually quite a rare event for someone to be called before it. And in addition, if you lived away from a small number of population centres, the chances were that that you would hardly even have known of its existence.

Also exploded is the myth of large numbers of heretics being burned at the stake. Yes, it happened, but in nowhere near the numbers that popular misconceptions might claim. Indeed, the more common practice was to burn the convicted in effigy, since the accused had fled sometimes years before the judgment, or they might have died in prison while waiting for the case to reach its conclusion. The intention is not to suggest that the inquisition’s methods were anything but brutal, but merely to point out that perceptions of how commonly they were applied are often false.

Henry Kamen skilfully describes how the focus of interest changed over the years. Initially the main targets were conversos, converts to Christianity, families that were once Jewish or Muslim who converted to Christianity during the decades that preceded the completion in 1492 of Ferdinand and Isabella’s reconquest. Protestants were targeted occasionally in the following centuries, but it was the families of former Jews that remained the prime target, sometimes being subjected to enquiry several generations after their adoption of their new faith. A focus on converts to Christianity gave rise to a distinction between Old and New Christianity, an adherent of the former being able to demonstrate no evidence of there having been other faiths in the family history.

What consistently runs through arguments surrounding Old and New Christianity, a distinction that was also described as pure blood versus impure blood, is that at its heart this apparent assertion of religious conformity was no more than raw xenophobia and racism. Henry Kamen makes a lot of the contradiction here, since Spain at the time was the most “international” of nations, having already secured an extensive empire and sent educated and wealthy Spaniards overseas to administer it. In addition, of course, Spain was emerging from a long period when Muslims, Jews and Christians lived competitively, perhaps, but also peacefully under Moorish rule. It is worth reminding oneself regularly that the desire and requirement for religious conformity during the reconquest was imposed from above.

Completing Henry Kamen’s The Spanish Inquisition prompts the reader to reflect on which other major historical reputations might be based on reconstructed myth. One is also prompted to speculate on the future of an increasingly integrated Europe, a continent forcibly divided for half a century where xenophobia and religious intolerance might be closer to the surface than most of us would want to admit.

One of my favorite quotes comes from a debate between Dinesh D’Souza and the late atheist Christopher Hitchens:

  ✦ Atheists regimes killed more people in a week than the inquisition could kill in three-centuries

 

And another reviewer:

The Spanish Inquisition by Henry Kamen is a balanced overview of this sad part of Spanish History. At 300 plus pages the author shows the motivation behind the Spanish Inquisition and that this inquisition was just that, “Spanish.” By sourcing Inquisition, Spanish, and other documentation author Kamen traces the roots and history of the Spanish Inquisition. He shows how this was a tool of the unified Spanish Crown that resulted in its own fear of it past and inability, at times, to deal with contemporary Spain, which came to be at the end of the Muslim domination of Spain and rise of the Protestant Reformation in the rest of Europe. The author does not gloss over the suffering it caused to both Jewish and Muslim converts to Christianity, but shows that overall people were better treated by “The Holy Office” aka the Spanish Inquisition than the secular courts. Remember, heresy was a secular crime, punishable only by the secular authorities. And while those Jews and Muslims who did not convert might be considered heathens they could not be heretics. So, those who suffered at its hands were Catholics. The author also shows that, for its time, the Spanish Inquisition acted rationally. For example, when the great witchcraft scare was dominating Europe and its colonies (lets not forget the Salem Witch Trials) for its part the Spanish Inquisition so this phenomena as mental illness or an overactive imagination. In other words Witch hunting stopped dead in its tracks when it got to Spain. Henry Kamen does not gloss over the torture or burnings of the inquisition’s victims, but does show that for all of Europe, Catholic and Protestant, this was not uncommon for most crimes. And, many of the victims of the Spanish Inquisition were burnt and punished in effigy. Kamen shows how the Spanish Crown used the Inquisition to deal with its fear of an Andulus (former Muslim rulers of Spain) Fifth column and the rise of Protestantism in Western Europe. Remember Spain controlled a good part of the present day Netherlands and Belgium as well as Parts of Germany. So some Lutheran ideas did make their way to Spain. But, Kamen also shows that much of Spain, mainly the rural areas, was never even touched by the Inquisition. And that the Inquisition never had whole hearted support from the crown, those in positions of power, and the common folk. It was not the Gestapo like machine painted by many of its critics. But, criticized it should be and author Kamen shows the sad effects of the Inquisition not only on its victims, but on Spain itself. The author concludes by showing that people’s view of the Spanish Inquisition is not based on the historical data available but on the imaginations of those who have not reviewed or studied this data. Overall a great work of history is this book.

A great video by a fellow arm-chair apologists is a good introduction to the topic: