#frank buchman

[whatisonthemoon]

Machine Guns Near the Church of Scientology’s Int Base or Gold Base

Ex-Scientologist Mark Headley confirmed that there are men with machine guns near the Int Base but these aren’t Scientologists, but the U.S. Government. Apparently there is some sort of secret project or base right next to Scientology’s Int Base. 

It is odd how this is seen as coincidental by a lot of them. Miles Copeland Jr. had claimed that the CIA and Scientology had a strong relationship, as well as with the MRA. 

Some, like the late Ed Coffman, believed that the Unification Church inherited the MRA’s mission and CIA support as Frank Buchman passed in 1961. 

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"OXFORD GROUP HERE FOR LIFE-CHANGING," Toronto Star. March 19, 1934. Page 3. ---- This touring team of the Oxford group, many of whom had been here, before, arrived in Toronto yesterday for a week's crusade of "life-changing. The team was headed by Rev. Frank Buchman. The team included members from Great Britain, United States, Germany. Russia and South Africa. Here are some of those present: (1) George Light of Warwick. (2) Elsie Burroughs of Ripen, Yorkshire, (3) LEFT to RIGHT-Basil Yates, Oxford: F. B. Bowdillon, London. and Bremer Hofmeyr. Rhodes scholar, Victoria College, South Africa. (4) Miss Helen de Trey of Zurich, Switzerland. (5) Clive Hicks, New York. (6) H. Ronald Hardy, Sussex, England, brick manufacturer and big game hunter. (7) Eleanore Forde. Montreal, (8) Miss Mary Goddie, Edinburgh, Scotland, and (9) J. Van Mien Walle de Bordes, secretary financial committee, League of Nations

[ultraozzie3000]

Through the Looking Glass

Above, from left: When Teddy Roosevelt announced in 1912 that he would run for president against his former VP, William Howard Taft, Brown Brothers sent photographer Charles Duprez to Oyster Bay to take this famous photo; President Taft and his wife, Helen “Nellie” Taft, in 1909; famed New York Giants pitcher Christy Mathewson warms up before a game, circa 1912.…

[adamwatchesmovies]

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

Only one thing dates Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: the controversy that accompanied its release. Said controversy seems absurdly comical when looked at today. This 1939 film is eerily modern. Brilliantly acted and directed, memorable, emotional, funny and touching, it’s the kind of movie you’ve seen referenced and imitated many times - you just don't know it. This is one of the great ones, the kind of story that awakens something inside you.

Under pressure from the corrupt Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold), Governor Hubert Hopper (Guy Kibbee) must appoint a new U.S. senator to replace the recently deceased Sam Foley. They are looking for a stooge the crooked Senator Joseph Paine (Claude Rains) can keep in check. Taylor chooses Jefferson Smith (James Stewart), a wholesome idealist with no political experience.

If you’re familiar with any moment from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, it’s probably the climactic “filibuster scene”. If this is all you know, you have no idea what the film is really like. You might’ve guessed that it’s inspirational but Smith is more than an everyman, he’s the concept taken to another level. Once in Washington, he immediately walks away from his entourage and goes on a pilgrimage around the city, visiting monuments that take his breath away. As an audience member in the 21st century, you chuckle a little but it doesn’t take too long for you to understand what he’s seeing. Smith is not like us. He’s never seen the Statue of Abraham Lincoln; he’s only heard and read about it. Standing in the shadow of the marble titan, he cannot help but be overwhelmed by hope and inspiration. He knows he’s underqualified for the job given to him. Rather than be discouraged, he's determined to try even harder.

You sympathize and fall in love with the dreamer thanks to James Stewart’s performance. When he comes head-to-head with Taylor and his stooges, you realize the movie is about so much more than politics; it’s about standing up for what’s right no matter the odds. Taylor has all of the power. He can basically do whatever he wants unopposed. Even knowing this cannot prepare you for the overwhelming obstacles Smith faces. And what does our hero have to counterattack with? Little more than the backing of the people he’s won over legitimately - which is still not much compared to what money can buy. It’s a nerve-wracking battle, the kind that makes you sink into a pit of despair. You don’t know whether ultimately, this is a fight he can win. Maybe an unhappy ending is the reason the film was attacked as anti-American and pro-Communist for its portrayal of corruption in the government...

Democrat and Senate Majority Leader Alben W. Barkley called the film “silly and stupid”, “a grotesque distortion” of the Senate, which is a shock to anyone who watches today. Part of what makes Mr. Smith Goes to Washington so good is its authenticity. Though Smith is an idealist, the story knows being in power doesn't mean you're a good person. There are a lot of crooked people in the story. Even the nice ones are passively complicit in the dark deals happening in Washington - but there’s also hope. It’s made clear that ultimately, Frank Capra believes one person CAN make a difference, that individuals ARE important.

All this makes the movie seem so dark and dire. It is, particularly during the last act but it’s also got a lot of humour throughout. Smith is such a fish out of water you can’t help but laugh at him when he arrives on the scene. You'll be in stitches every time he interacts with his appointed secretary, the cynical takes-no-guff-from-anyone Saunders (Jean Arthur, fantastic). The two of them are so good together that you could forget all of the business in the Senate and still have a great film.

Simply as a piece of cinema, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a delight. A particular scene in which the camera focuses on Smith’s hat says so much with so little. You don’t see the performers’ faces at all but you know exactly what’s going on. There are many scenes like this. It’s simply fabulous, the kind of movie that has a little bit of everything: romance, humor, suspense, great performances, camerawork and writing. This is the kind of movie you see once and then never forget. (On Blu-ray, June 26, 2020)

[arianod]

Fun, little known fact: Frank Capra was a staunch conservative. Credit for all the progressive messages in the films he directed is due to his writers: Jo Swerling, Robert Riskin and Sidney Buchman.

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) • JIMMY STEWART as George Bailey and LIONEL BARRYMORE as Mr. Potter

[alittlefrenchtree]

ALFT Cultural Rewind 2022

For the first time this year, I tried to write down everything I've consumed in terms of movies, books and TV Shows during 2022. I live having these lists and I've decided to share in case you're looking for some random recommendations. Feel free to ask for more opinions, thoughts on anything if you want 😊

purple is for things I liked 💜

Movies I’ve watched in 2022

1) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - David Fincher

2) Flickan som lekte med elden — Daniel Alfredson

3) Amadeus - Milos Forman

4) En attendant Bojangles — Régis Roinsard

5) Licorice Pizza — Paul Thomas Anderson

6) Lynx — Laurent Geslin, Laurence Buchman

7) The Chef (Boiling Point) — Philip Baranti ; James Cummings

8) Her — Spike Jonze (Rewatch, one of my favorite movie ever)

9) Arthur Rambo — Laurent Cantet

10) White Snake — Amp Wong : Zhao Ji

11) Death on the Nile — Kenneth Branagh

12) Enquête sur un Scandale d’État - Thierry de Peretti

13) Goliath — Frederic Tellier

14) The Batman — Matt Reeves

15) Notre Dame Brûle — Jean-Jaques Annaud

16) En Corps — Cédric Klapish

17) Les Bad Guys — Pierre Peril

18) À la folie — Audrey Estrougo

19) Fantastic Beasts : The Secrets of Dumbledore — David Yates

20) Downton Abbey : A new era — Simon Curtis

21) Sentinelle Sud — Mathieu Gerault

22) Elvis — Baz Luhrmann

23) Tenor — Claude Zidi Jr.

24) Tron — Steven Lisberg

25) La nuit du 12 — Dominik Moll

26) Sundown— Michel Franco

27) Nope — Jordan Peele

28) Three Thousand Years of Longing — George Miller (my favorite movie of the year)

29) Tout le monde aime Jeanne - Céline Devaux

30) La page blanche — Murielle Magellan

31) Everything, everywhere, all at once — Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert

32) Lord of the ring 1 — Peter Jackson (rewatch)

33) Lord of the ring 2 — Peter Jackson (Rewatch, even if I had forgotten all about it)

34) Lord of the ring 3 — Peter Jackson (Rewatch, even if I had forgotten all about it)

35) Don’t Worry Darling — Olivia Wilde

36) Le visiteur du futur — François Descraques

37) Les secrets de mon père — Véra Belmont

38) Entergalactic — Fletcher Moules

39) Dragon Ball Super — Tetsurô Kodama

40) Maria Rêve — Lauriane Escaffre, Yvonnick Muller

41) Simone : Le Voyage du siècle — Olivier Dahan

42) My Policeman — Michael Grandage

43) Mascarade — Nicolas Bedos

44) Armageddon Time — James Gray

45) Bones and All — Luca Guadagnino

46) Close — Lukas Dhont

47) Les Bonnes Étoiles --(브로커 - Beurokeo) — Hirokazu Kore-Eda

Books I’ve read In 2022

1) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest — Stieg Larsson (the rec is for the whole trilogy)

2) The art and soul of Dune — Tanya Lapointe

3) Un dernier tour de piste — Martin Fourcade

4) The Dark Half — Stephen King

5) Death note — Tsugumi Ōba & Takeshi Obata (Let’s pretend I’ve read all of them and not stop reading before reaching the end for an unknown reason)

6) Le Match de ma vie — Nicolas Mahut

7) Les liaisons dangereuses — Choderlos de Laclos (First re-read since high school. It’s a good things I don’t remember what my literature class sounded like because I think all the toxic/criminal behavior in this book were not called out enough by my teacher.)

8) Midnight Sun — Stephanie Meyer

9) Children of Dune — Frank Herbert

10) Blackwater : The Flood — Michael Mcdowell

11) Les Ravissantes — Romain Puertolas

12) The Royal Game — Stephan Zweig (Re-read, I love this short novel so much)

13) Le plongeur 

14) Le Diner de Babette 

— Karen Blixen

15) Onze Minutes — Paulo Coelho (Re-read, still interesting)

16) Desolation Road — Jerome Noires (Re-read as well, not sure why I felt the need to pick it again but ok book)

17) Double Fault — Lionel Shriver (Re-read as well, didn’t really like it the first time but it’s definitely more interesting/relevant to read when you care about tennis)

TV Shows I’ve (tried to) watch(ed) in 2022

-Mr Robot Season 1 ; Episode 1 to… 4 I think?

-Grey’s Anatomy ; Seasons 1 to 6 (Regular rewatch that stopped by itself at some point)

-Designated Survivor ; Season 1

-House MD ; Season 1, a few episodes (Failed my rewatch, will try again in 2023)

-The Undoing 1 season (✅ completed)

-Severance ; a few episodes ?

-Balthazar ; Season 4 (Only here for Tomer Sisley)

-Veronica Mars ; 4 seasons (✅ completed) (Rewatch except for the last season)

-Outlander ; Season 6

-Heartstopper ; Season 1

-Timeless ; 2 Seasons (✅ completed)

-Moon Night ; 1 Season (✅ completed)

-Quantico ; 1 Season

-Obi-Wan Kenobi ; 1 Season (✅ completed)

-Lost ; Season 1 and 2

-Mind Hunter ; Season 1 and 6 episodes of Season 2

-Shokugeki No Soma ; All 5 seasons (✅ completed) (4 AMAZING seasons. Last one should be forgotten)

-The Walking Dead ; 6 seasons (Rewatch of the first season to try to finish it soon. First time I had stopped around season 8 or 9 I think ?)

-Emily in Paris ; Season 3 (The last source of joy left in the world)

-10 pour 100 (Call my agent) ; 2 seasons and 5 episodes of season 3 (Current watch, very easy to binge watch)

[byneddiedingo]

James Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra, 1939)

Cast: James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, Guy Kibbee, Thomas Mitchell, Eugene Pallette, Beulah Bondi, H.B. Warner, Harry Carey, Astrid Allwyn, Ruth Donnelly, Grant Mitchell, Porter Hall, H.V. Kaltenborn, Charles Lane, William Demarest, Jack Carson. Screenplay: Sidney Buchman, based on a story by Lewis R. Foster. Cinematography: Joseph Walker. Art direction: Lionel Banks. Film editing: Al Clark, Gene Havlick. Music: Dimitri Tiomkin.

Perhaps only James Stewart (or Gary Cooper, who turned down the role of Jefferson Smith) could have made Frank Capra's preposterous, sentimental, flag-wavingly patriotic Mr. Smith Goes to Washington into what many people still regard as a beloved classic. But now that we've spent some time being governed by probably the most corrupt man ever to hold the White House, a president elected on populist promises to "drain the swamp" in Washington but who instead spent his time wallowing in it and stocking it with still more alligators, maybe we can take a harsher look at the Capra film's politics. The people who elected Donald Trump seem to have thought they were voting for Jefferson Smith but instead elected the movie's Jim Taylor (played deliciously by that fattest of character actor fat cats, Edward Arnold). David Thomson, among others, has cogently observed that the film celebrates Jefferson Smith's bull-headed integrity, but that democracy necessarily involves the kind of compromises that Claude Rains's Senator Paine has made, and which have made him a popular and successful politician. True, he's under the thumb of the viciously corrupt Jim Taylor, who is even a manipulator of "fake news," but Thomson questions whether the people of Smith's state wouldn't have benefited more from the dam Taylor wants to put on Willett Creek, presumably one that would supply power and other benefits to the state, than from Smith's piddly boys' camp, which would benefit at best a few hundred boys. (No girls need apply?) Smith's dramatic filibuster also seems to be holding up a bill that would provide funding for some essential services. As it happens, I rewatched Mr. Smith on the night after the Senate reached an impasse on funding the entire federal government, and there could hardly be a better example of political stubbornness undermining the public good. Which is only to say that the merits of Capra's film -- and there are some -- transcend its simple-minded fable. Among its merits, it's beautifully acted, not only by Stewart, Rains, and Arnold, but also by Jean Arthur, that most underrated of 1930s leading ladies, and Thomas Mitchell, who appeared in no fewer than three of the films nominated for the best picture Oscar for 1939 -- this one, Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming), and Stagecoach (John Ford) -- and won the supporting actor award for Stagecoach. And just run down the rest of the cast list, which seems to be a roster of every great character actor in the movies of that day, all of them performing with great energy. Capra's mise-en-scène is sometimes stagy, but Lionel Banks's great re-creation of the Senate chamber gives Capra a fine stage on which to work.

[ulkaralakbarova]

Seen-it-all New York detective Frank Keller is unsettled – he has done twenty years on the force and could retire, and he hasn’t come to terms with his wife leaving him for a colleague. Joining up with an officer from another part of town to investigate a series of murders linked by the lonely hearts columns he finds he is getting seriously and possibly dangerously involved with Helen, one of the main suspects. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Frank Keller: Al Pacino Helen Cruger: Ellen Barkin Sherman: John Goodman Terry: Michael Rooker Frank Keller Sr.: William Hickey Gruber: Richard Jenkins Serafino: Paul Calderon Struk: Gene Canfield Dargan: Larry Joshua Lieutenant: John Spencer Gina Gallagher / Lonelyheart: Christine Estabrook Miss Allen: Barbara Baxley Older Woman: Patricia Barry Murdered Man: Mark Phelan Raymond Brown: Michael O’Neill Doorman: Michael Fischetti Omar Maldonado: Luis Antonio Ramos Efram Maldonado: Rafael Báez Black Guy: Samuel L. Jackson Ernest Lee: Damien Leake Tommy: John Thaddeus Willie: Joshua Nelson Supermarket Manager: Christofer de Oni Supermarket Cashier: Dwayne McClary Helen’s Mother: Jacqueline Brookes Toastmaster: Thom Curley Cable Supervisor: Fred Sanders Clipboard Guy #2: Larry Mullane Clipboard Guy #3: Anthony Catanese Bartender: Thomas Wagner Doorman: Manny Alfaro James Mackey: Brian Paul Tense Woman: Deborah Taylor Sasha: Ferne Downey Raymond Brown’s Wife: Nancy Beatty Clipboard Guy #1: Tony De Santis Yuppie Detective #1: Jackie Laidlaw Yuppie Detective #2: Paul Hubbard Surveillance Team Member: James Kidnie Sherman’s Wife: Bridget O’Sullivan Criminal Type: Franz Fridal Hallway Cop: James O’Regan Hallway Cop: Wayne Best Young Cop: John Bourgeois Young Cop: Hugh Thompson Bride: Miranda de Pencier Groom: Ty Templeton Denice Gruber (scenes deleted): Lorraine Bracco Film Crew: Editor: David Bretherton Director: Harold Becker Director of Photography: Ronnie Taylor Unit Production Manager: Louis A. Stroller Producer: Martin Bregman Costume Design: Betsy Cox Script Supervisor: Blanche McDermaid First Assistant Camera: Yves Drapeau Second Assistant Director: Rocco Gismondi First Assistant Director: Michael E. Steele Second Assistant Director: David Sardi First Assistant Director: Thomas J. Mack Camera Operator: Andy Chmura Casting: Mary Colquhoun Production Design: John Jay Moore Second Assistant Director: Madeleine Henrié Additional Photography: Adam Holender Associate Producer: Michael Bregman Makeup Artist: Irving Buchman Hairstylist: Bryan Charbonneau Hairstylist: Bob Grimaldi Makeup Artist: Irene Kent Key Makeup Artist: Leslie A. Sebert Stunts: Dick Ziker Writer: Richard Price Stunts: Glenn R. Wilder Stunts: Buddy Joe Hooker Production Assistant: Liam Kiernan Stunts: Kenny Bates Stunts: Steve Boyum Stunts: Rick Parker Stunts: Shane Cardwell Production Manager: Barbara Kelly First Assistant Camera: Michael Hall First Assistant Camera: Horace Jordan Location Manager: Debra Beers Production Accountant: Dorothy Precious Production Coordinator: Toni Blay Sound Mixer: Keith A. Wester Boom Operator: Steve Switzer Gaffer: Rae Thurston Best Boy Grip: Howie Balbraith Grip: Randy Tambling Dolly Grip: Robert DaPrato First Assistant Art Direction: Lucinda Zak Set Decoration: Gordon Sim Set Dresser: Raman Majlath Property Master: Vic Rigler Wardrobe Master: Gail Filman Second Assistant Camera: Rick Perotto Assistant Location Manager: Anne Richardson Assistant Accountant: Karen Demontbrun Assistant Set Decoration: Richard Ferbrache Assistant Property Master: Jeff Poulis Wardrobe Assistant: Debi Weldon Production Secretary: Regina Robb Carpenter: Boyd Allen Scenic Artist: Reet Puhm Transportation Coordinator: Neil Montgomerie Unit Publicist: Joan Eisenberg Still Photographer: Rob McEwan Casting: Stuart Aikins Extras Casting: Scott Mansfield Additional Editing: John Wright Assistant Editor: Francine Fleishman Assistant Editor: Irvin Paik Assistant Editor: Charlene Olson Assistant Editor: Haydn Streeter Supervising Sound Editor: Norval D. Crutcher Supervising Sound Editor: Randle ...

[mahi1313]

"There is enough in the world for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed." 🎯🌀👍

Frank Buchman

[ilcovodelbikersgrunf]

Glenn Close: La mia terribile infanzia in una setta

Glenn Close è cresciuta in una setta religiosa: la Moral Re-Armament. Introdotta nell’organizzazione religiosa dal defunto padre William Taliaferro quando aveva appena 7 anni, vi rimase fino ai 22.

Per un periodo ha anche vissuto nei quartieri generali dell’organizzazione in Svizzera, per poi lasciare definitivamente la setta nel 1970.

Ora Close, 74 anni, in una puntata della docuserie sulla salute mentale ‘The Me You Can’t See‘ prodotta da Oprah Winfrey e dal principe Harry ha svelato che quell’esperienza “terribile” l’ha segnata per tutta la vita: “Sono cresciuta in questo gruppo chiamato MRA. Praticamente era una setta in cui tutti dicevano le stesse cose e il controllo era a livelli altissimi”.

Fondato nel 1938 dal pastore luterano statunitense Frank Buchman, il gruppo basava la sua forza su 4 principi: onestà, purezza, altruismo e amore. “Qualsiasi cosa facessimo per noi stessi era considerata negativa ed egoista. Non potevamo mai andare in vacanza e non ci era permesso accumulare ricordi sotto forma di oggetti. Non era permesso fare nulla, mi facevano sentire in colpa per qualsiasi desiderio considerato innaturale. Era terribile“, ha raccontato Close.

L’attrice, pluricandidata agli Oscar, che ha alle spalle 3 matrimoni (con Cabot Wade, James Constantine Marlas e David Show) è convinta che la sua incapacità di costruire un legame duraturo sia legata proprio agli anni vissuti nella setta: “È incredibile come un trauma infantile possa risultare devastante per una vita intera“.

[whatisonthemoon]

Confession in the Unification Church

MUST LISTEN: The "Cult of Confession" episode of Blessed Child podcast

One Twitter user @kijinosu describes this episode and its content: 

"In this podcast, Renee describes a feature of thought reform that I hadn't seen elsewhere in my yet brief studies. Let me label it the Big Brother effect and put it out for discussion. Listen to ‘Cult of Confession with Renee'. I call it the Big Brother effect because, as I understand it, UC's incessant report-contact-consult practice combined with group confession causes the believer to feel that they are always being watched. In response to this feeling of always being watched, the believer creates a god that covers all of the demands of the collective. Because satisfying this god then satisifes all of the collective's demands, the believer focuses just on this god. The end result is self-reinforcing thought reform that is less dependent of the collective for maintenance.”

Confession in the Unification Church

Moon and Kwak on repentance, October 1989: 

Each one of us needs heavenly wisdom to solve the problem of our own burden. To be able to live a lifestyle in which we can confess and report things to a central figure can only bring us great fortune.

Hyo Nam Kim (Dae Mo Nim) on March 9, 2002:

In the Divine Principle, is there anything written about the removal of Original sin? In the first, original Blessings, to qualify we had to confess all of our sins and repent and accept pardon as part of the condition to receive the Blessing. Yet, from 6000 Couples Blessing on, our sins were forgiven upon easier and easier conditions. Father would say, subsequently, "I will not ask about your past... just repent and recommit..."

Sun Myung Moon on April 26, 1992:

"Even now you sometimes sneak a drink. Father understands this very well, these secret drinks taste the best. Raise your hands if you sneak a drink sometimes. If you do not confess, it will carry over to the Spirit World."

From the Interview and Confession Form for BC Matching/Blessing Applicants:

It is the responsibility of your District Director (or the designated church leader or STF Director), representing the Continental Director and True Parents, to make sure that you understand the value of the Blessing and that you are prepared and qualified to attend. This confidential meeting is also your opportunity to confess any sins and perhaps receive guidance so that you can go into the Blessing with a clean conscience, free from accusation. Sin came into this world through the fall and cut us off from God, therefore it is important to confess your sins. Do not try to hide your mistakes because they will eventually come out and cause even more pain. The confession pages will stay confidentially with a representative of the Blessing Department. All three pages must be submitted to the Blessing Department.

Conference with [Black] Heung Jin Nim - Takeru Kamiyama (1987)

Before he came to New York in November 1987, I had heard many stories about his new existence in the body of a black African young man, traveling around and hearing confessions. I wondered, how can this brother really be [Black] Heung Jin Nim? Members all over the world are claiming that [Black] Heung Jin Nim has spoken through them, but how can we know if he really did?

Black Heung Jin Nim in DC by Damian Anderson

"With my own eyes, I saw this man in the Washington DC church knock people’s heads together, hit them viciously with a baseball bat, smack them around the head, punch them, and handcuff them with golden handcuffs. I had seen enough. Todd Lindsay was the first to leave. His wife was due to have a baby any day. My wife was six months pregnant at the time, and we were next in line for “confession” to the heavy-handed inquisitor."

Heung Jin Nim’s Spiritual Work by Michael Mickler:

These lectures, punctuated by songs and testimonies or sometimes lively jumping and marching, also took hours, and there was no provision for sleep during the three days. Food also was not a problem since most members were placed on fasting conditions following their confessions. Heung Jin Nim showed special concern for infertile couples and called for couples willing to give birth to a child for them to adopt. There were “tears streaming from many eyes” as “the giving and receiving couples embraced with deep emotion.” At the close of each conference, “participants were given a detailed schedule for their…lives of devotion and attendance,” including time for morning and evening prayers and for study and discussion of the Principle. Many members experienced personal liberation. Public confession or confession with one’s spouse was a prominent feature of “Black” Heung Jin Nim’s conferences. They could unburden themselves of deeply held secrets and “separate from Satan.” Within an intensely supportive environment, they could repent, make restitution as needed, and have a “second chance” to become pure. Others achieved levels of spiritual intimacy, which had been lacking.

On the MRA’s use of confession

Encyclopedia.com on Frank Buchman’s use of confession in the Oxford Group Movement:

He organized his followers into small groups where participants could confess their sins and share their religious experiences in an intimate setting; members would then seek to convert others through one-onone evangelism. Buchman's followers listened for God's plans for their lives, and measured their behavior through a moral code centered on absolute honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love (the Four Absolutes). During the 1920s Buchman developed an international network of these small groups that became known as the Oxford Group Movement.

Encyclopedia.com on Frank Buchman’s use of confession in the Moral Re-Armament Movement:

In 1938 he announced the campaign for Moral Rearmament (MRA), offering Christianity as an alternative to both communism and fascism. In the late 1930s MRA sought to prevent war by calling individuals on each side to confess their sins to the other and adhere to the Four Absolutes. During World War II it turned its energies to morale building, especially in industrial relations. MRA saw Christianity and communism as the world's two competing ideologies; during the Cold War it sought to defend the West, primarily by focusing on labor peace, strong families, and moral values. Through the 1950s the movement held international rallies and used the media skillfully; it achieved prominence by publicizing the involvement of world leaders, especially from the United States, the British Commonwealth, and Asia. 

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"PATTULLO WELCOMES OXFORD GROUPERS," Vancouver Sun. May 28, 1934. Page 7. ---- GREAT INTEREST IN MOVEMENT, SAYS PREMIER ---- VICTORIA, May 28. - "This vast audience is evidence of the great interest that is being manifested in the Oxford Group movement. We are probably living in a period of far reaching importance a period of evolution in the history of the world. We are perhaps too close to the situation to grasp all its implications," Premier T. D. Pattullo said, in his opening remarks, when welcoming Dr. Frank N. D. Buchman, founder and leader of the movement, and his Colleagues to Victoria, at a meeting held in the Royal Victoria Theatre, Sunday night.

"It is rather an anomaly that all the nations of the world should be advocating international goodwill and peace, and yet all adopting an opposite course of action," the Premier continued.

"If we are to produce good will among nations, then we have to have good will in the hearts of the individuals. I find myself in great sympathy with all endeavors inculcated with the spirit of goodwill."

More than one hundred members of the group from London arrived in Victoria Saturday. They are on tour of Canada and the United States and held meetings here at various churches throughout the day.

Their final meeting was held at the Empress Hotel Sunday evening and the groupers left at midnight for Vancouver.

Leader HALLEN VINEY, M.A. Once a chaplain in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves, Hallen Viney, one of the best known members of the Oxford Group's International Team, is an M.A. from Downing College, Cambridge University. A leader in the organization work of the group, he made a wide circle of acquaintances during his first visit to Vancouver with the Oxford Group team a year ago.

[oldshowbiz]

Sidney Buchman, the screenwriter of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, recalled a discussion he had with director Frank Capra while writing the film: 

“One day he came to see me in my room and we talked about Smith. I tried to show him what I meant to say, that it is necessary to maintain a vigilant attitude even when you think you are living in a democracy … He looked at me and said, ‘Go get fucked with your theme!’”

[genevieveetguy]

You see, boys forget what their country means by just reading The Land of the Free in history books. Then they get to be men they forget even more. Liberty's too precious a thing to be buried in books, Miss Saunders. Men should hold it up in front of them every single day of their lives and say: I'm free to think and to speak. My ancestors couldn't, I can, and my children will. Boys ought to grow up remembering that.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Frank Capra (1939)

[girlactionfigure]

Righteous Dutchman

Protected his workers.

Frits Philips was a Dutch businessman who saved thousands of Jewish employees during the Nazi occupation of Holland.

Frits was born to a prosperous family in the Netherlands in 1905. His father and uncle owned the Philips electronics company, founded as one of the earliest successful lightbulb manufacturers in 1891and over the next few decades branching out into other products, such as vacuum tubes and radio technology. 

A friendly, intelligent boy with a deep Christian faith, Frits attended Delft University of Technology, where he received a degree in mechanical engineering in 1929. That same year, he married Sylvia van Lennep, with whom he would have seven children.

Frits and Sylvia were introduced to the Oxford Group, a Christian organization founded by Frank Buchman, an American Lutheran minister. Buchman believed that all human problems stem from fear and selfishness, and the only way to overcome these destructive influences is to “surrender one’s life to God’s plan.” Buchman’s teachings were a strong influence on Alcoholics Anonymous and the twelve-step method for achieving freedom from addiction. 

In 1935, Frits was appointed to the board of Philips and began serving as vice-director. Meanwhile, in nearby Germany the Nazi party rose to power. Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, and by early 1940 it became apparent that he would soon invade the Netherlands. At this point, most of the Philips family left the Netherlands and moved to the United States. Frits was unwilling to abandon the Philips company and workers, and he alone stayed behind to “mind the store,” successfully leading the company through the turbulent war years. 

As the boss of Philips, Frits was both liked and respected by his thousands of employees. He truly cared for them and made sure they were well paid and enjoyed good working conditions. As the Nazi occupiers began arresting, deporting, and murdering Jews, Frits immediately pledged to do whatever necessary to support his many Jewish employees. 

He separated the Jews from the rest of the workers, making sure they worked in a protected location. He gave them food rations, which became known as “Philips-prak” named after a popular Dutch meal of soup, mashed potatoes, carrots and meat. The Philips company was forced by the Nazi occupiers to contribute to the war effort, and Frits used this to protect the Jewish workers. He convinced the Germans that the Jewish workers at Philips were absolutely indispensable, and that factory productivity would plummet without them at the company. For this reason, 382 Jews were saved from deportation and continued working for Frits until the occupation ended.

In 1943, Philips factory employees went on strike to protest the Nazi occupation, and as their boss, Frits bore the brunt of the punishment: he was incarcerated in Camp Vught, the only SS concentration camp outside of Germany. After spending three months in brutal conditions at Vught, Frits was released. Now that he and his workers were being watched, Frits worried that he wouldn’t be able to protect his Jewish employees from deportation. At this point, he opened a Philips lightbulb factory in Norrkoeping, Sweden, and began transferring the Jews there, knowing they’d be safe in Sweden, a neutral country. After the war ended, Frits kept the factory open to employ Jews who’d been liberated from the camps and had nowhere to go.

Frits’ heroic activities extended far beyond Holland. In their book “Blood from a Stone” (2003), Richard Hammer and Yaron Svoray described how the Philips company, under Frits’ leadership, helped Jews throughout Europe. “Philips… did not buy into the Nazi philosophy regarding Jews. The safety, and rescue, of Philips’ Jewish employees became a major concern as the Nazi tide rolled over Europe. At its Austrian subsidiary, all the Jewish workers were sheltered, declared essential to the war effort, and all survived under Philips’ protection. At its subsidiary in Lithuania, Philips’ executives provided visas to Curacao for Polish and Baltic Jews in its employ. This despite regulations promulgated by the Nazi regime in Holland forbidding Dutch-based companies from aiding Jews in any manner, Philips managed to rescue nearly five thousand.”

As CEO of one of the Netherlands’ most successful companies, Frits received many awards and honors, including “Dutch entrepreneur of the century,” and “Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion.” However the most meaningful award this heroic businessman received was “Righteous Among the Nations” by Israeli Holocaust Museum Yad Vashem in 1996.

Frits Philips died in 2005, a few years after his beloved wife Sylvia. He was survived by his seven children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

For using his position and resources to save thousands of Jews from Nazi death camps, we honor Frits Philips as this week’s Thursday Hero.

Accidental Talmudist

[milkboydotnet]

Kwame Nkrumah on the methods of neo-colonialism (from Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of Imperialism):

Some of these methods used by neo-colonialists to slip past our guard must now be examined. The first is retention by the departing colonialists of various kinds of privileges which infringe on our sovereignty: that of setting up military bases or stationing troops in former colonies and the supplying of ‘advisers’ of one sort or another. Sometimes a number of ‘rights’ are demanded: land concessions, prospecting rights for minerals and/or oil; the ‘right’ to collect customs, to carry out administration, to issue paper money; to be exempt from customs duties and/or taxes for expatriate enterprises; and, above all, the ‘right’ to provide ‘aid’. Also demanded and granted are privileges in the cultural field; that Western information services be exclusive; and that those from socialist countries be excluded.

Even the cinema stories of fabulous Hollywood are loaded. One has only to listen to the cheers of an African audience as Hollywood’s heroes slaughter red Indians or Asiatics to understand the effectiveness of this weapon. For, in the developing continents, where the colonialist heritage has left a vast majority still illiterate, even the smallest child gets the message contained in the blood and thunder stories emanating from California. And along with murder and the Wild West goes an incessant barrage of anti-socialist propaganda, in which the trade union man, the revolutionary, or the man of dark skin is generally cast as the villain, while the policeman, the gum-shoe, the Federal agent — in a word, the CIA — type spy is ever the hero. Here, truly, is the ideological under-belly of those political murders which so often use local people as their instruments.

While Hollywood takes care of fiction, the enormous monopoly press, together with the outflow of slick, clever, expensive magazines, attends to what it chooses to call ‘news. Within separate countries, one or two news agencies control the news handouts, so that a deadly uniformity is achieved, regardless of the number of separate newspapers or magazines; while internationally, the financial preponderance of the United States is felt more and more through its foreign correspondents and offices abroad, as well as through its influence over inter-national capitalist journalism. Under this guise, a flood of anti-liberation propaganda emanates from the capital cities of the West, directed against China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Algeria, Ghana and all countries which hack out their own independent path to freedom. Prejudice is rife. For example, wherever there is armed struggle against the forces of reaction, the nationalists are referred to as rebels, terrorists, or frequently ‘communist terrorists'!

Perhaps one of the most insidious methods of the neo-colonialists is evangelism. Following the liberation movement there has been a veritable riptide of religious sects, the overwhelming majority of them American. Typical of these are Jehovah’s Witnesses who recently created trouble in certain developing countries by busily teaching their citizens not to salute the new national flags. ‘Religion’ was too thin to smother the outcry that arose against this activity, and a temporary lull followed. But the number of evangelists continues to grow.

Yet even evangelism and the cinema are only two twigs on a much bigger tree. Dating from the end of 1961, the U.S. has actively developed a huge ideological plan for invading the so-called Third World, utilising all its facilities from press and radio to Peace Corps.

During 1962 and 1963 a number of international conferences to this end were held in several places, such as Nicosia in Cyprus, San Jose in Costa Rica, and Lagos in Nigeria. Participants included the CIA, the U.S. Information Agency (USIA), the Pentagon, the International Development Agency, the Peace Corps and others. Programmes were drawn up which included the systematic use of U.S. citizens abroad in virtual intelligence activities and propaganda work. Methods of recruiting political agents and of forcing ‘alliances’ with the U.S.A. were worked out. At the centre of its programmes lay the demand for an absolute U.S. monopoly in the field of propaganda, as well as for counteracting any independent efforts by developing states in the realm of information.

The United States sought, and still seeks, with considerable success, to co-ordinate on the basis of its own strategy the propaganda activities of all Western countries. In October 1961, a conference of NATO countries was held in Rome to discuss problems of psychological warfare. It appealed for the organisation of combined ideological operations in Afro-Asian countries by all participants.

In May and June 1962 a seminar was convened by the U.S. in Vienna on ideological warfare. It adopted a secret decision to engage in a propaganda offensive against the developing countries along lines laid down by the U.S.A. It was agreed that NATO propaganda agencies would, in practice if not in the public eye, keep in close contact with U.S. Embassies in their respective countries.

Among instruments of such Western psychological warfare are numbered the intelligence agencies of Western countries headed by those of the United States ‘Invisible Government’. But most significant among them all are Moral Re-Armament QARA), the Peace Corps and the United States Information Agency (USIA).

Moral Re-Armament is an organisation founded in 1938 by the American, Frank Buchman. In the last days before the second world war, it advocated the appeasement of Hitler, often extolling Himmler, the Gestapo chief. In Africa, MRA incursions began at the end of World War II. Against the big anti-colonial upsurge that followed victory in 1945, MRA spent millions advocating collaboration between the forces oppressing the African peoples and those same peoples. It is not without significance that Moise Tshombe and Joseph Kasavubu of Congo (Leopoldville) are both MRA supporters. George Seldes, in his book One Thousand Americans, characterised MRA as a fascist organisation ‘subsidised by . . . Fascists, and with a long record of collaboration with Fascists the world over. . . .’ This description is supported by the active participation in MRA of people like General Carpentier, former commander of NATO land forces, and General Ho Ying-chin, one of Chiang Kai-shek’s top generals. To cap this, several newspapers, some of them in the Western ;vorld, have claimed that MRA is actually subsidised by the CIA.

When MRA’s influence began to fail, some new instrument to cover the ideological arena was desired. It came in the establishment of the American Peace Corps in 1961 by President John Kennedy, with Sargent Shriver, Jr., his brother-in-law, in charge. Shriver, a millionaire who made his pile in land speculation in Chicago, was also known as the friend, confidant and co-worker of the former head of the Central Intelligence Agency, Allen Dulles. These two had worked together in both the Office of Strategic Services, U.S. war-time intelligence agency, and in the CIA.

Shriver’s record makes a mockery of President Kennedy’s alleged instruction to Shriver to ‘keep the CIA out of the Peace Corps’. So does the fact that, although the Peace Corps is advertised as a voluntary organisation, all its members are carefully screened by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Since its creation in 1961, members of the Peace Corps have been exposed and expelled from many African, Middle Eastern and Asian countries for acts of subversion or prejudice. Indonesia, Tanzania, the Philippines, and even pro-West countries like Turkey and Iran, have complained of its activities.

However, perhaps the chief executor of U.S. psychological warfare is the United States Information Agency (USIA). Even for the wealthiest nation on earth, the U.S. lavishes an unusual amount of men, materials and money on this vehicle for its neo-colonial aims.

The USIA is staffed by some 12,000 persons to the tune of more than $130 million a year. It has more than seventy editorial staffs working on publications abroad. Of its network comprising 110 radio stations, 60 are outside the U.S. Programmes are broadcast for Africa by American stations in Morocco, Eritrea, Liberia, Crete, and Barcelona, Spain, as well as from off-shore stations on American ships. In Africa alone, the USIA transmits about thirty territorial and national radio programmes whose content glorifies the U.S. while attempting to discredit countries with an independent foreign policy.

The USIA boasts more than 120 branches in about 100 countries, 50 of which are in Africa alone. It has 250 centres in foreign countries, each of which is usually associated with a library. It employs about 200 cinemas and 8,000 projectors which draw upon its nearly 300 film libraries.

This agency is directed by a central body which operates in the name of the U.S. President, planning and coordinating its activities in close touch with the Pentagon, CIA and other Cold War agencies, including even armed forces intelligence centres.

In developing countries, the USIA actively tries to prevent expansion of national media of information so as itself to capture the market-place of ideas. It spends huge sums for publication and distribution of about sixty newspapers and magazines in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The American government backs the USIA through direct pressures on developing nations. To ensure its agency a complete monopoly in propaganda, for instance, many agreements for economic co-operation offered by the U.S. include a demand that Americans be granted preferential rights to disseminate information. At the same time, in trying to close the new nations to other sources of information, it employs other pressures. For instance, after agreeing to set up USIA information centres in their countries, both Togo and Congo (Leopoldville) originally hoped to follow a non-aligned path and permit Russian information centres as a balance. But Washington threatened to stop all aid, thereby forcing these two countries to renounce their plan.

Unbiased studies of the USIA by such authorities as Dr R. Holt of Princeton University, Retired Colonel R. Van de Velde, former intelligence agents Murril Dayer, Wilson Dizard and others, have all called attention to the close ties between this agency and U.S. Intelligence. For example, Deputy Director Donald M. Wilson was a political intelligence agent in the U.S. Army. Assistant Director for Europe, Joseph Philips, was a successful espionage agent in several Eastern European countries.

Some USIA duties further expose its nature as a top intelligence arm of the U.S. imperialists. In the first place, it is expected to analyse the situation in each country, making recommendations to its Embassy, thereby to its Government, about changes that can tip the local balance in U.S. favour. Secondly, it organises networks of monitors for radio broadcasts and telephone conversations, while recruiting informers from government offices. It also hires people to distribute U.S. propaganda. Thirdly, it collects secret information with special reference to defence and economy, as a means of eliminating its international military and economic competitors. Fourthly, it buys its way into local publications to influence their policies, of which Latin America furnishes numerous examples. It has been active in bribing public figures, for example in Kenya and Tunisia. Finally, it finances, directs and often supplies with arms all anti-neutralist forces in the developing countries, witness Tshombe in Congo (Leopoldville) and Pak Hung Ji in South Korea. In a word, with virtually unlimited finances, there seems no bounds to its inventiveness in subversion.

One of the most recent developments in neo-colonialist strategy is the suggested establishment of a Businessmen Corps which will, like the Peace Corps, act in developing countries. In an article on ‘U.S. Intelligence and the Monopolies’ in International Affairs (Moscow, January 1965), V. Chernyavsky writes: ‘There can hardly be any doubt that this Corps is a new U.S. intelligence organisation created on the initiative of the American monopolies to use Big Business for espionage. It is by no means unusual for U.S. Intelligence to set up its own business firms which are merely thinly disguised espionage centres. For example, according to Chernyavsky, the C.I.A. has set up a firm in Taiwan known as Western Enterprises Inc. Under this cover it sends spies and saboteurs to South China. The New Asia Trading Company, a CIA firm in India, has also helped to camouflage U.S. intelligence agents operating in South-east Asia.

Such is the catalogue of neo-colonialism’s activities and methods in our time. Upon reading it, the faint-hearted might come to feel that they must give up in despair before such an array of apparent power and seemingly inexhaustible resources.

Fortunately, however, history furnishes innumerable proofs of one of its own major laws; that the budding future is always stronger than the withering past. This has been amply demonstrated during every major revolution throughout history.