As I mentioned a few days ago, AllFaith.com has moved to a new server. This is always a pain as it requires so much clean-up. Most of the site is working properly again (though some problems still remain to be fixed). As I was checking for broken links etc. I came across the following post and thought it might be of interest to some of you here. Hare Krsna, ~Jagannatha dasa adhikari His Divine Grace Abhay Charan Bhaktivedanta Swami (September 1, 1896–November 14, 1977) A Note of Accusation From a "long time friend" I just received an anonymous snail-mail note today that I thought worth commenting on. It was sent to my previous PO box and just arrived in my new box today. As there is no name and no return address I can't reply via snail mail. Assuming the author regularly reads my blog, I'd like to encourage you to contact me direct so we can discuss this. In the event that the views expressed in the note are shared by others, it seems worthwhile bringing this issue up as well. The unedited note: John...you are very disrespectful of Srila Prabhupada...it is obvious that you went astray as your arrogance and huge ego come through in everything you write. Please stop trying to do so much damage on behalf of your self-serving interests. From a long time friend of yours The postmark says San Jose Ca. and is dated June 7, 2007. First, I invite anyone who agrees with this "long time friend" of mine to show a single example of my ever disrespecting our Diksa Guru Maharaja, Srila Prabhupada! In my opinion our Srila Prabhupada was one of the most spiritually potent religious leaders to appear during this age of kali Yuga! I offer my unworthy dandavats to him a billion times over! For those unfamiliar with Srila Prabhupada: His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami is known around the world as Srila Prabhupada, a title of endearment bestowed on him by his early disciples. Srila Prabhupada brought the Hindu sect of Bhakti Yoga known as Gaudiya (ie Bengali) Vaisnavism to the western world. Vaisnavism is one of the major branches of Hinduism. Srila Prabhupada established an international religious society known as ISKCON, the International Society for Krsna Consciousness, better known perhaps as the Hare Krishna Movement although this sect is but one of many branches of the Sanatana Dharma (greater Hinduism) to worship Sri Krsna. I was fortunate to receive first initiation from Srila Prabhupada as I recount in my autobiographical section. Our beloved Guru Maharaja left his body (died) on November 14, 1977 before I was unable to request second initiation. I received second initiation by the mercy of His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Maharaja, acarya and spiritual master of the Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math and appointed successor to Srila Prabhupada's most senior godbrother, His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Pramode Puri Goswami Maharaja. Prior to Srila Prabhupada's passing he issued clear instructions about how his Movement was to continue after his departure. He also stated very clearly what was not to happen. What was NOT to happen was ISKCON employing the same structuring system unsuccessfully tried by the Gaudiya Matha following Srila Bhaktisiddhanta's passing (our Srila Prabhupada's guru's organization). That system lead to the collapse of the Gaudiya Matha into rival factions and Srila Prabhupada felt that this system of many diksa (initiating) gurus weakened the Movement's ability to advance the cause of Lord Caintanya's prophesied Golden Age. Despite Prabhupada's clear rejection of this system, this is precisely the structure used by ISKCON today! Srila Prabhupada specifically rejected this system! Our Srila Prabhupada wanted the Movement to remain one organization under a single acarya. This was his clear instruction to his followers and the ISKCON GBC (Governing Body Committee) If I am at times harsh it is of this violation of Bhaktivedanta Swami's clear instructions in this matter. What Srila Prabhupada instructed the implementation of a temporary structure known as the rikvik system. Srila Prabhupada made it very clear that NONE of his disciples were qualified to lead ISKCON as a diksa guru. NONE of us. History has more than vindicated his opinion! The most senior of his disciples had only been initiated for about 10 years at that time, most not nearly even that long. This was not nearly long enough for any of them develop the skills needed to lead an international spiritual order, let alone to become an uttama adikari (Prabhupada said only such a fully realized master was qualified to lead ISKCON). Srila Prabhupada was a very practical man. Realizing none of us were ready, he instructed the GBC to handle the organizational affairs, as they had been doing for years, and that eleven of his key disciples would continue to do the initiations and teachings ACCORDING to his books, as they had been doing for years. In other words, the same system was to continue. The Eleven, continuing their roles as ritvik gurus, would initiate Srila Prabhupada's disciples in his physical absence. This is why he so often stressed that the Guru never dies and that he would continue to live and teach through his books. Following his departure (a true guru never "dies") these ritvik gurus, these representatives of the Diksa (initiating) Guru (ie Srila Prabhupada) would then be responsible for the decision of who to initiate and when. New disciples would STILL be initiated as disciples of Srila Prabhupada, just as before. Only Srila Prabhupada's physical presence on the earth was changed and most of his disciples never even saw him in the flesh anyway; Srila Prabhupada lived in his books (mainly translations and commentaries of the scriptures). As I say, this plan was to be temporary. Never had the Gaudiya Vaisnavas used this ritvik system and Srila Prabhupada wanted it used as an interim system only. Unlike Christianity that teaches that Jesus is the eternal initiating guru (although of course not in those words), Gaudiya Vaisnavas have always believed a living physically present guru is best. Srila Prabhupada foresaw that at some point in the future the GBC and the majority of devotees would see in one of the eleven ritvik gurus (or perhaps someone else) the necessary qualities of an uttama adhikari and sole ISKCON acarya. AT THAT TIME the GBC (and it was assumed the rank and file devotees) would accept this person as the new ISKCON guru/acarya. As before, ISKCON would be a unified Religious Movement, managed by the GBC, under the parampara (disciplic succession) of a single fully authorized acarya. This was his system but ISKCON's GBC rejected his orders. Until such a fully qualified guru appeared, Srila Prabhupada instructed that ISKCON could ask his Gaudiya Matha godbrothers for advise if needed, however his disciples were to remain within ISKCON and abide by his instructions as found in his books (ie not join the other mathas). Those who argue that Vaisnavism never used the ritvik system (other Hindu groups have and do) and therefore can't miss the point. It was to be temporary, AND more importantly, Srila Prabhupada (both Bhaktivedanta and Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada) did MANY things that Vaisnavas had never done before... including in initiation! Very few of Srila Prabhupada's disciples were personally initiated by him.... that was all but unheard of! This ritvik system was to be a temporary exception to the norm intended to make sure the devotees were properly lead and ISKCON continued to grow under authorized spiritual guidance. However even before Srila Prabhupada left his body the Eleven ritvik gurus fell from their noble positions and began fighting one other for power. After Srila Prabhupada's departure, almost immediately after, these men forged a VERY badly spliced tape supposedly by Prabhupada appointing the Eleven as 'zonal acaryas'. These unworthy disciples divided the world between them and ran their areas as minor fiefdoms. Some, like Hansadutta and Ramasvar, waged literal turf battles! Some went literally insane, some were revealed as chronic, malicious pedophiles, murderers, drug and prostitution runners, confidence men and were jailed and fined... on and on the list goes. Last I heard ISKCON is still paying off millions of dollars in legal fines and fees over these abuses. Perhaps it will be assumed that I am exaggerating here, I am not. There was for a time a most excellent website that listed many of the offenses carried out by the Eleven. That website is now gone for some reason but an off-line friend who claims to have been associated with it sent me the following synopsis. Some of the following links work, some do not. When I have the time I'll try and clean this up more. It is posted here as I received it. The wording and certain of the, in my opinion, prejudices contained within this piece bothers me, however for those who want to understand what happened to the International Society for Krsna Consciousness the information is worth having in my opinion: Much of what follows I can personally attest is accurate: Kirtanananda: (Keit Ham) aka Bhaktipad, a practicing homosexual and pedophile in his self-created Holy Dham, runs prostitution sankritan parties, orders the beating of mother Jadurani, orders the murder of Sulochana das. Kirtanananda, for example, was alleged to have been living on a reputed homosexual "household" in Mott Street in New York City with Umapati and others involved in the 1960s "homosexual liberation" scene. Kirtanananda, finally in Jail, was fined $250,000 and is serving a twenty-year federal prison sentence for racketeering and conspiracy in two murders described in the Book "Monkey on a Stick". Satsvarupa: (Steven Guarrino) Angry at Srila Prabhupada for shaming him in Dallas (when Satsvarupa cut down a holy fig tree) and that Srila Prabhupada stated that he "resigned" as His servant, when Srila Prabhupada had ordered him back to his zone. His attitude toward Srila Prabhupada had become venomously offensive. Cow neglect, destruction of the oral histories collected from Srila Prabhupada's disciples, creating the "false biography" called the LILAMRITA - planting the weed, in which all events are carefully "laundered" to protect the guilty and to misrepresent Srila Prabhupada. (The original tapes were destroyed to prevent corrections by future generations), helped, with his rhetoric, in the murder of Sulochana. Jayapataka: a self-appointed bogus GBC ISKCON "guru" clone (clown), preaching homosexual pedophile philosophy, one of the biggest supporters of child molester Bhavananada. Jayapataka is a militant enforcer of cult ritualistic worship of homosexual pedophile Iskcon Gurus. He kicked out Kala and others who protested the molester regime, he still works closely with folks like child raper Satadhanya. Srila Prabhupada states that, "he will be responsible for the deaths of all the members of the Calcutta temple because he has hired an abominable sweeper to cook for the devotees and Deities, and that the food thus cooked is poisonous. Jayapataka REFUSES TO FIRE THE SWEEPER-COOK TO SRILA PRABHUPADA'S FACE! (I am the witness). Jayapataka co-supervises the PEDOPHILE run Mayapur Gurukula, and supports his BEST FRIEND Bhavananda, who WAS WITNESSED IN HOMOSEXUAL ACTS LONG BEFORE HE WAS APPOINTED TO BE RITVIK! Tamal Krishna: (Thomas Herzig) Refused to accept exile in China, practically destroyed Vrindavan, destroyed relationship with George Harrision and John Lennon, Used Radha Damodar bus party to destroy as many temples as possible, destroyed many small, independent temples such as St. Louis temple, Tried to destroy the Bombay project by selling back the land to Mr. Nair (NNd: Srila Prabhupada (Mahaprabhu's "senapati bhakta", who declared "war against maya") called Bombay his "OFFICE"), Tamal is a key suspect in the MURDER OF SRILA PRABHUPADA. Four years before Srila Prabhupada's MURDER, he states that, "Srila Prabhupada is senile, old, and attached". Not exactly a qualification for a successor guru! Tamal Krishna said that his best friend was the homosexual pedophile and child molester Bhavananada. TKG is well known, all along in the 1970s, to have tried to undermine the "varnasrama" (householder society) effort that Srila Prabhupada envisioned. At one point TKG wanted to send all of the householders to Australia. He was also misbalancing the temples by draining manpower out, and discouraging and discrediting the "housholders" who were in charge of many of these temples, so much so that Srila Prabhupada tried to send TKG to China. Simultaneously, TKG would brag that he had to go and rescue Bhavananda from his (homosexual) jet set lifestyle. In other words, there was a tendency to discredit bona fide housholder life and support deviants in positions of authority. TKG was also sued successfully by Guruvastakam dasi for his role in protecting pedophiles in the gurukula of Texas. TKG is the prime creator of the bogus "appointed guru successor scheme", a hoax whereby he and a few other deviants declared they were "Srila Prabhupada's successors." This is related to the Srila Prabhupada poison conspiracy in that: a butler might poison his master to --declare that he is "the heir successor" to the master, in order to illegally take-over the estate of the master. Hridayananda: (Howard Resnick) a self-appointed false GBC ISKCON "guru," wrote in his Eleventh Canto of his bogus "Srimad Bhagavatam" that the two worst pedophile Iskcon gurus are his examples of acharyas. Srila Prabhupad appointed Pradyumna Prabhu to finish translating Cantos 10, 11 and 12 of Srimad Bhagavatam but Hridayananda's unscrupulous usurpation of Pradyumna's sacred service marked only the start of his 20 year treachery GBC-teamwork trend of perverting Srila Prabhupada's books. Bhavananda: (Charles Bacis) a practicing homosexual in the Holy Dham molesting Iskcon's Children in the name of God and Guru. Bhavananda was alleged to have been associated with Andy Warhol's homosexual, and apparently pedophile, entourage. Andy Warhol was a prominent leader in the "homosexual revolution." He was seen associating with young men, that is: he appeared to be a potential pedophile. Andy Warhol also applied to the city of New York for a permit to serve (aborted) human fetuses at his restaurant. It was said in ISKCON in the 1970s that Bhavananda was associated with this "jet set" crowd. Andy Warhol also made a very degraded movie about this time, called "Chelsea Girls," where the "girls" are actually homosexual men engaged in abominable activities. Some GBC knew that Bhavananda had a tendency to engage in anal sex with males by at least 1976. Hansadutta: (Hans Kary) had been involved with substance abuse, guns, black market, smuggling, counterfeiting, inherits "prostitution sankirtan" from Rameshwara, kills cow, sex with disciples, drunkard, drug addiction, gun-shooting. Rameshwara: (Robert Grant) soon to gift "leather miniskirts" to 15 year old statutory rape girlfriend, Sankritan "prostitution parties", is co-partner in Laguna Beach Drug dealing, helping in the murder of Sulochana Hariksesha: (Robert Campagnola) Million dollar blackmailer, three-regulations, condom-pada, with meat-eating "Reincarnation of Srila Prabhupada" stepson (did we mention UFO's and psychotropic drugs and Tantra? ghostly possession, hypnotises disciples, using voodoo-doodoo shit on other devotees. Harikesha has been one of the greatest woman hater and is famous for his ruthless purge tactics. Bhagavan: (William Ehrlichman) soon to run off with another man's wife and to REJECT KRISHNA CONSCIOUS PHILOSOPHY. One of the worst one's, using machiavellian tactics to control, cheat, and exploit Devotees on a large scale. Most vicious crooked calculating criminal. Jayatirtha: (James Immel) Soon to preach that cannabis and LSD are Lord Chaitanya's "TRUE" sacrament. Loses head after stealing "disciples" wife. Jayatirtha, who was taking drugs and engaging in illicit sex with his followers, was later murdered (decapitated) by a disgruntled follower for his proclivity to engage in illicit sex with the wive's of followers. Was Srila Prabhupada correct that none of these men were ready to be the spiritual master of ISKCON? I think that's fair to say, yes! And yet the GBC backed them until the court cases started to threaten ISKCON's very survival: John...you are very disrespectful of Srila Prabhupada...it is obvious that you went astray as your arrogance and huge ego come through in everything you write. Please stop trying to do so much damage on behalf of your self-serving interests. Who is disrespecting Srila Prabhupada here? Those of us who point out the truth of this betrayal or those who would cover it up? While there were already wrongs afoot before Srila Prabhupada left his body, after these men conspired to take over Prabhupada's Movement and disobey his direct instructions, many of them literally went mad. This madness is known as Vaishnava aparadha. I have NOT committed this sin. This disobedience and dishonoring of the Guru Maharaja got so bad that there are even accusations that Srila Prabhupada was murdered by these men! Personally, I'm not convinced he was murdered (nor that he wasn't), but it would answer certain nagging questions! For more on this allegation click here. Those devotees who believe this certainly do make a strong case for their views! A friend of mine, Solocana dasa, who tried to point out these abuses was murdered for speaking out. His story is the subject of the book Monkey on a Stick (click here). You can read Solocana's book, The Guru Business on-line for free HERE Due to these countless abuses the vast majority of Srila Prabhupada's disciples left ISKCON. Some went to other Gaudiya Math groups, many joined other branches of Hinduism, many adopted Buddhism or other religions, while most merely merged back into the dominant culture. In my case, the eclectic nature of my beliefs lead me to many diverse places, including the Gopinath Gaudiya Math. My interest in spirituality and religion was even more enlivened by my ISKCON experiences and I expanded my spiritual experiences outward into many different Hindu forms. I was initiated by various yogis such as Swami Brahmananda (Dr, Mishra), Swami Muktananda, Sri Ramana Rai and others. I also received second initiation from His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Maharaja as mentioned above. I went into many non-Hindu religions as well. Despite this, part of me was jaded by what happened with ISKCON. Since that time I am more skeptical of those claiming spiritual authority, but perhaps this is a good thing. Just to be clear, my beliefs and practices remain very eclectic, or what I call "AllFaith Spirituality" and should NOT be taken as those of Srila Bodhayan Maharaja or the Gopinath Gaudiya Matha or any other group. My beliefs and teachings are my own, inspired from many sources. Nonetheless, I do have tremendous respect for Srila Bodhayan Maharaja and were I to devote myself to Gaudiya Vaisnavism again it would absolutely be through his matha. Srila Narayana Maharaja probably has more of Srila Prabhupada's disciples than ISKCON does today. To my knowledge, the ISKCON GBC has never apologized, explained or even admitted any their many abuses (out of court) and yet because of them Srila Prabhupada's Movement was severely harmed and the faith of countless thousands of devotees was crushed or wounded. Of course just to be clear there are ALSO MANY solid and righteous devotees within ISKCON today and I offer them my sincere dandavats (bows of respect). There are also several diksa and siksa gurus within ISKCON who are becoming true masters, some few of them may even have attained enlightenment by now, I don't know. I acknowledge this, even as I wish they would come clean about the past and the unauthorized system of organization ISKCON continues to employ to this day. ISKCON needs to do a major and public historical confession before its too late to matter. Until they do, their hands will remain soiled by Vaishnava aparadha in my humble opinion. Because I was there (and often on the 'fringes') during much of the abuses that took place within ISKCON and do not shy away from sharing what I saw and know of them, I do have certain ISKCON devotees who do not like me. I can understand this, the truth hurts. Most of Srila Prabhupada's disciples have given up on ISKCON. Frankly, this includes me. HOWEVER it is NOT accurate to accuse me of Vaishnava aparadha with regards to Srila Prabhupada! It is the GBC and the gurus of ISKCON who dishonor him by not following his clear demands and by attempting to hide ISKCON's true history of Guru betrayal. To show the type of person our Guru Maharaja was, there is a story I've heard often enough from diverse devotees to believe it true: Srila Prabhupada, a very deeply honored and elderly teacher in poor health had been driven to Chicago's O'Hare airport to fly out to his next engagement. It was late and night, there was little traffic and it was snowing and raining hard with sever winds. The devotee driver pulled the car into a red zone before the airport entrance for Srila Prabhupada to get out. Another devotee hurried around to open his door and assist him. As the car door opened Srila Prabhupada looked down at the curb and saw that they were in a red zone. He stayed in the car and demanded the driver find a legal space to park! When the devotee tried to explain that it was OK to stop for a just a moment under such conditions, it is said that Srila Prabhupada replied, "If we will not obey man's law how shall we obey God's?" ISKCON failed to obey God's law by directly and intentionally disregarding Guru Maharaja's instructions and from there proceeded to violate man's laws as well in countless cases. Srila Prabhupada refused to accept this course of action, ISKCON should do the same. As for the second point in the note, that 'my huge ego comes through in everything I write,' my readers must decide that for themselves. False modesty can be just as egotistic as an inflated ego. I speak the truth as I see it in honesty and frankness. I do have certain beliefs that I have developed over the years, conclusions I have drawn, however I don't consider myself arrogant... perhaps that is true arrogance... And for the final point, that I have some self-serving interests, you will need to explain to me what those are. I have nothing to sell or gain from anything I do on line. I am pushing forward no set agenda or movement. My point in everything I do teaching-wise is as follows: THINK FOR YOURSELF As always, I am ready to discuss this issue. You can contact me. The Glorious Lord Sri Krsna and Srimati Radharani Ki JAI! Om Sanatana Dharma AllFaith.com Sanatana Dharma AllFaith.com: Sikhism AllFaith.com: Buddhism AllFaith Spirituality Interfaith Prayer Group AllFaith.com

Vaisnavism is an ancient Hindu Sect that worships Lord Visnu as the Supreme God or Bhagavan.

Like most Hindu sub-religions, Vaisnavism is a very diverse spiritual and religious movement. In the west the most well known Vaisnava sect is the Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Vaisnava Sampradaya. This is to say the disciplic succession of mythic and historic Vaisnava masters (acaryas) that began with Lord Visnu and passed through Lord Brahma (the Creator),  Srila Madvacarya (1238-1317) and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu (1486-1534). I am honored to be a member of this lineage.

It is my honor to manage the Yahoo E-Group of one of the Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Vaisnava Sampradaya maths (or sects) for my Guru Maharaj, His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Maharaja, acarya and spiritual master of the Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math. Just to be clear, I'm not a typical Vaisnava and my beliefs should be considered indicative of this (or any other) group.

Among Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada's disciples was my first Guru Maharaj:

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (founder/acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, ISKCON). After Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami left his body  (Click Here for questions surrounding his death) ISKCON was rocked by scandals and today has myriad initiating gurus leading it despite the clear instructions of Srila Prabhupada to the contrary. The vast majority of Srila Prabhupada's devotees left ISKCON).

Visit the Official Gopinath Gaudiya Math Web Domain

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupada's senior disciple was His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Pramode Puri Goswami Maharaj, founder/acarya and spiritual master of the Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math.

Srila Bhakti Pramode Puri Goswami appointed His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Maharaja as his successor and acarya of the Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math.  

As I say, Hinduism, Vaisnavism and the Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Vaisnava Sampradaya is a diverse movement. To facilatate open discussions among all Vaisnavas and others who are interested in this movement, I have just created a new group. So, if you are interested in discussing Vaisnava topics, regardless of your math or views, you are welcome to join us:

For information on this new discussion Group Click Here

Yom Ha-Atzmaut

Israeli Independence Day

To all of my Jewish and Israeli friends, and to all who love Eretz Israel and who keep this great nation and its people in your hearts and prayers, have a most glorious Yom Ha-Atzmaut!

HaShem is with His people still!

Eretz Israel remains the heart of the earth and the hope that one day there will be true peace:

Zechariah 8:20 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities:
21 And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts: I will go also.
22 Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD.
23 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.


Genesis 12: 1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.


Genesis 17:20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

A decision must be made. Was the promise made with Abraham through Isaac and thence the Jewish people as the Torah and the New Testament says, or through Ishmael and the Islamic Ummah as the Qu'ran and Al Hadith assert? This is the central issue. In my opinion, the far older biblical versions of both Testaments are the authentic source of HaShem's covenant with the planet earth, and it is through the Jews that the Blessing will come and Paradise will be restored to the earth through a fully restored Eretz Israel and the Jewish Moshiach. God will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse them.

My Christian and Noahide friends might want to recall that Israel was destroyed as a nation in 606 BCE. The first century land of Israel (when Rebe Y'shua, Jesus, was on earth) was a Roman province not a country, and yet the Hebrew prophets, including Issiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Rebe Y'shua, Paul and John the Revelator and others, make it clear that the Promise will not be fulfilled until Israel again becomes a state. From 606 BCE until 1948 CE there was no country of Israel. Now there is.

We often hear people say, "But every generation has believed theirs will be the Last! How can know?" While it is true that most if not all generations have dreamed and hoped to witness the Restoration of All Things, the prophecies are 100% clear that Israel must again be a state, and that onces that happens, the "end of the age" will come. When this happened, in 1948, it was a truly divine act! There is no way, short of Divine intervention, that Israel could have survived the wars that followed their UN authorized establishment as a reborn nation. And yet they survived! Of this time period, Rebe Y'shua, Jesus, said:

Matt. 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

The clock is ticking...

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Yom Ha-AtzmautIsraeli Independence Day
[Source]

Yom Ha-Atzmaut in Israel is always preceded by Yom Hazikaron — Memorial Day for the Fallen Soldiers. The message of linking these two days is clear: Israelis owe their independence--the very existence of the state — to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for it.

The official "switch" from Yom Hazikaron to Yom Ha-Atzmaut takes place a few minutes after sundown, with a ceremony on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem in which the flag is raised from half staff (due to Memorial Day) to the top of the pole. The president of Israel delivers a speech of congratulations, and soldiers representing the army, navy, and air force parade with their flags. In recent decades this small-scale parade has replaced the large-scale daytime parade, which was the main event during the 1950s and '60s. The evening parade is followed by a torch lighting (hadlakat masuot) ceremony, which marks the country's achievements in all spheres of life.

Other than the official ceremonies, Israelis celebrate Yom Ha-Atzmaut in a variety of ways. In the cities, the nighttime festivities may be found on the main streets. Crowds will gather to watch public shows offered for free by the municipalities and the government. Many spend the night dancing Israeli folk dances or singing Israeli songs. During the daytime thousands of Israeli families go out on hikes and picnics. Army camps are open for civilians to visit and to display the recent technological achievements of the Israeli Defense Forces. Yom Ha-Atzmaut is concluded with the ceremony of granting the "Israel Prize" recognizing individual Israelis for their unique contribution to the country's culture, science, arts, and the humanities.

The religious character of Yom Ha-Atzmaut is still in the process of formation, and is still subject to debate. The Chief Rabbinate of the State (which consists of Orthodox rabbis) has decided that this day should be marked with the recital of Hallel (psalms of praise), similar to other joyous holidays, and with the reading of a special haftarah (prophetic portion). Most ultra-Orthodox Jews, in Israel and abroad, have not accepted this ruling, and some Orthodox Jews chant the Hallel psalms without the blessing which precedes it.

On the other hand, HaKibbutz HaDati (Modern Orthodox Kibbutz Movement) initiated a version of the prayer Al HaNissim ("Concerning the Miracles") to be added to the Amidah (the central prayer recited while standing) on Yom Ha-Atzmaut, as it is on Hanukkah and Purim. This special addition to the liturgy of the day was not approved by the Chief Rabbinate but was adopted by the Masorti (Conservative) and the Progressive (Reform) congregations in Israel. Some rabbis argue that Yom Ha-Atzmaut should be viewed in conjunction with Hanukkah and Purim, since all three commemorate a "miraculous" victory of the Jews over an enemy of superior military might. It should be noted that most Israelis do not consider Yom Ha-Atzmaut a religious holiday at all.

For American Jews, celebrating Yom Ha-Atzmaut has been a way to express solidarity with the state of Israel and to strengthen their alliance with it. In many communities, it is one of few occasions in which Jewish organizations and synagogues of different ideologies and denominations cooperate in forming a common celebration. In many North American congregations, the joint public celebration often is augmented by a religious service. In some cases, this would occur on the Shabbat closest to Yom Ha-Atzmaut and would consist of additional readings added to the service and, usually, the singing of Hatikvah (the Israeli national anthem).

The standard Reform prayerbook, Gates of Prayer (Shaarei Tefillah) includes a service for Yom Ha-Atzmaut, while the Conservative prayerbook, Sim Shalom includes Hallel and Al Hanissim to be recited on this occasion.

There is not yet an accepted "tradition" of how to celebrate this holiday, and only time will tell whether certain customs, foods, prayers, and melodies will be linked in the Jewish mind with this holiday, as with holidays that emerged many centuries before Yom Ha-Atzmaut. For Jews around the world, joining with Israelis celebrating Yom Ha-Atzmaut has become a concrete link in the Jewish connection to the land of Israel.

---

[source]

Israel faces great challenges, internal and external, on the occasion of its 59th Independence Day. Still, there is much to celebrate and not to be taken for granted. The remarkable economic growth of the nation, led by its world-class high-tech industry, its absorption and integration of immigrants from all over the world, the creation of a strong democracy in a sea of authoritarian and totalitarian states, the close and warm relations with the United States - these are just some of the things to celebrate this day.

Even when one thinks of the difficulties facing Israel, the important story is that there is a Jewish state which is in a position to make real choices. Holocaust remembrance day came only one week ago. How very stark is the contrast of the powerlessness of the Jews of Europe when faced with the monstrous Nazi onslaught to an Israel - because of its economy, its military, its moral fiber and its friendship with the U.S. - which is in a position to protect itself even in the face of new murderous enemies such as Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah.

This is not to underestimate the problems facing the country, whether the loss of confidence in leadership, corruption, the social gap, or threats from without. It is, rather, on this Yom Ha'Atzmaut, to give perspective and to be thankful for all that Israel is.

Let us not forget how fundamentally different the condition of the Jewish people is today from 60 years ago, not because the world has become a better place, but because there is a sovereign state by the name of Israel.

Frankly, I'm not sure what this video is saying!
I'd love to read your comments on it!
The video is short, only 3:17 long.
I found this video posted on a friend's blog (click here)

For instance, it says Bush stole the God of the Israelites and the Muslims... but this is not true. Bush is a Right Wing Christian, and the God of Israel and the Islamic Ummah is the Christian God as well (which I'm sure makes God proud as a peacock!). One could argue that through Irenaeus and Constantine (and others) the God of the Christians is a different God (for instance Sol Invictus or Mithras), but that's reading too much into this. Bush then, didn't 'steal the God of the Jews and Muslims'. All three camps worship the same One God.

Personally, I am convinced that Bush is basically sincere in his Christian beliefs (which makes this whole thing that much scarier), and that he believes God has selected him to do battle with evil. This view is shared by many Christian leaders, including we now know, Blackwater (click here, here and here).

Many Islamic leaders also believe these are the End Times and are working hard in preparation. For info check out this link).

Many Jewish people also believe the End of Days has arrived (visit Moshiach.com). They are making ceremonial items for the Temple (which Shiloh will build when he comes according to the Jews).

So, its not just certain segments of Christianity that believes this.

Likewise, although the video shows Bush as it says John the Revelator should be ashamed (and surely Bush would be ashamed if the demon had a conscious), there is no reason John the Revalator should feel guilty for his prophecies. His predictions, thus far at least, are right on the money (and I suspect they will continue to be so). John is giving a warning to the world that we are, to our own shame and destruction, ignoring. Don't shoot the messenger!

I'd also point out there is no way Bush (whom the video shows riding the Anti-Christ's horse), evil though he is, is the Antichrist (or the Dijal as Islam calls the coming ruler), he is little more than a pawn in a demonic game.

Any thoughts?

AMY GOODMAN: Twenty years ago this week, 250 AIDS activists traveled to Wall Street to protest the high price of antiviral drugs and the Reagan administration's failure to address the AIDS crisis. The date: March 24, 1987. Activists lay down in the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway, blocking traffic. Some held cardboard tombstones. Seventeen of them were arrested. It was the first of many actions led by a newly formed group called the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, or ACT UP. The group's motto was “Silence equals death.”

ACT UP would go on to invade the offices of drug companies and scientific labs, storm St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, cover the home of Jesse Helms in a giant condom, and conduct die-ins at the FDA.

In October 1992, members of ACT UP headed to Washington, where the AIDS quilt was on display. They decided to throw the ashes of loved ones who died of AIDS onto the grass of the White House. The event was captured in the documentary, The Ashes Action.

ACT UP ACTIVIST: I think the quilt itself does good stuff and is moving. Still, it's like making something beautiful out of the epidemic, and I felt like doing something like is a way of showing there is nothing beautiful about it. You know, this is what I’m left with. I’ve got a box full of ashes and bone chips. You know, there's no beauty in that. And I felt like a statement like this, throwing these on the White House lawn, is like saying this is what George Bush has done. You know, this is what him and Ronald Reagan before him have done.

DEMONSTRATORS: Bringing the dead to your door! We won't take it anymore! Bringing the dead to your door! We won't take it anymore! Bringing the dead to your door! We won't take it anymore! Bringing the dead to your door! We won't take it anymore! Bringing the dead to your door! We won't take it anymore!

AMY GOODMAN: An excerpt of the documentary, The Ashes Action. Well, this month, ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, is marking its twentieth anniversary. Today, hundreds of members of ACT Up are heading back to Wall Street, this time to demand a single-payer healthcare system and drug price controls.

Among those who will be walking will be the activist and writer Larry Kramer. In 1983, he helped found the Gay Men's Health Crisis, the country's first AIDS organization. Four years later, he helped form ACT UP. He is a legendary and controversial figure in the gay rights movement. In the early 1980s, Larry Kramer wrote some of the first articles warning about the AIDS epidemic. One article was called "1,112 and Counting." At the time, there were just over a thousand known cases of AIDS. He wrote, "Unless we fight for our lives we shall die... every gay man who is unable to come forward now and fight to save his own life is truly helping to kill the rest of us." Larry Kramer has also written many plays, including The Normal Heart and The Destiny of Me.

Larry was diagnosed with HIV in the mid-1980s. He nearly died in 2001 from Hepatitis B in the liver. He is now over seventy years old. Larry Kramer joins us today in our firehouse studio. Welcome to Democracy Now!

LARRY KRAMER: Thank you for having me here.

AMY GOODMAN: It\u2019s great to have you with us.

LARRY KRAMER: Thank you. It moves me to see the footage of the ashes. I never saw that film, and so many of those faces are dead. And it\u2019s still hard to look at that.

AMY GOODMAN: Larry, let's go back twenty years. Well, let's go back to when you wrote that very controversial piece, that wake-up call to this country: \u201c1,112 and Counting.\u201d What were the circumstances at the time?

LARRY KRAMER: Whatever was happening happened in my group of friends in 1981, when the first article appeared in the New York Times saying forty-one cases. And I immediately went to the doctor had made the announcement, and he said, \u201cI think this is just the tip of the iceberg\u201d -- Dr. Friedman-Kien at New York University. And I just knew he was right. And as I say --

AMY GOODMAN: What did you understand it was at the time?

LARRY KRAMER: Well, I mean, he said he thought it was a virus. He said the same thing that the government refused to say: I think it\u2019s a virus, and I think you should stop having sex, and I think you should cool it, certainly. And no one wanted to hear any of that. And, of course, the virus wasn't discovered officially until 1984. So people didn't want to believe that terrible news.

I just knew it. We had had so many illnesses in our population before, a lot of syphilis, a lot of gonorrhea, a lot of amoebas, a lot of hepatitis. And it was like everything was being escalated. And I said, \u201cThat's the next thing that\u2019s happening to us.\u201d It just made so much sense to me. I don\u2019t know why. Everyone says, \u201cOh, you were so prescient.\u201d I don\u2019t think it was prescience. I thought it was as clear as the nose on everybody's face, if they cared to look.

And, as I say, my friends first died; in my population, the kids on Fire Island, all the houses around us at Fire Island Pines, were the first people who died. So I called a meeting in my apartment and invited everybody I knew and said, \u201cWe've got to do something.\u201d Dr. Friedman-Kien spoke to us. A lot of people didn't want to believe. Most people didn\u2019t want to believe. And there were just a handful of us who started meeting regularly, as regularly as you could get a bunch of people together in those days.

And then, in February of \u201982, I said, \u201cWe've got to formalize this,\u201d and I invited six people to my apartment. And I said, \u201cWe have to make a formal organization or something.\u201d And somebody said, \u201cGay men certainly have a health crisis.\u201d And I said, \u201cThat's our title. That's what we'll call ourselves.\u201d And I got my brother's law firm to -- not easily -- to do the pro bono work for us, and we established ourselves.

And, unfortunately, Gay Men\u2019s Health Crisis became a pastoral organization, rather than an activist organization. That was a major disappointment to me. They would not take a stand. The president was in the closet, and all they wanted to do was pass out information about what might be happening -- no recommendations, no political pressure of any sort.

I was not a political person in 1981. I had been a film producer. I had been assistant to the president of United Artists and then Columbia Pictures, never participated in gay politics, never marched in a gay parade -- basically a shy person. And I learned my lesson slowly, what you had to do to fight. And it\u2019s a long lesson, and one is still learning it, and one is still sad to see that so few other people have learned it.

AMY GOODMAN: What do you mean the president was in the closet?

LARRY KRAMER: The president of Gay Men\u2019s Health Crisis, whose name was Paul Popham, now dead. He was an executive with what was then called Irving Trust Company. And he was in the closet at work, so he would not appear in public. He was a very handsome man, and I would say -- this is all dramatized in my play, The Normal Heart -- I would say, \u201cLook at you. You\u2019re so handsome! Go out there and be our spokesperson.\u201d You know, I\u2019m too live a wire. I scare people. And he couldn't do it. He wouldn\u2019t do it. So there were a lot of fights about visibility. And one realized then, in those days, you didn't bring people out of the closet. Now, you do. I mean, now, when a public official is gay, we bring him out of the closet fast, if we can, because they are basically helping to murder us, if we don't.

AMY GOODMAN: Why? How do you see that?

LARRY KRAMER: Well, you know, I\u2019m telling everybody not -- I\u2019m telling the gay world not to vote for any of these candidates now, right now, that are up for election, because they\u2019re all against us. They all -- there isn\u2019t a public official out there, there isn\u2019t anybody running for public office now who would not sell gay people down the river given half a chance. And so, I brought a piece in the LA Times recently saying this is hate. You know, this is hate, that we're so treated this way. And if you're voting for these people, then you're basically saying you hate us, too. It's been never-ending.

AMY GOODMAN: If you could talk about the actions, to say the least, they were creative over the years, quite astonishing actions.

LARRY KRAMER: That's gay people for you.

AMY GOODMAN: Among them, the ACT UP action on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

LARRY KRAMER: That was our very first -- no, it wasn\u2019t. It was a further demo -- bunch of guys who worked in Wall Street, who were ACT UP members, put on their suits and ties and managed to make fake IDs, and they, for the first time in history, infiltrated the floor of the Stock Exchange, and they showered the floor with fliers saying \u201cSell Wellcome.\u201d That was Burroughs Wellcome, the maker of AZT, who said -- antivirals. That was the only one then, and it was very expensive, and it wasn't very good. And we were basically making the statement: it's not good enough, and it\u2019s too expensive. And they did lower the price because of that. However, they raised the price of another drug, but we made a point.

We had success from the very beginning, I must say. The very first demo that you talked of, that night a bunch of guys infiltrated the Evening News on CBS with Dan Rather, and he's making his news -- you know, he's reading the news, and suddenly there are all these ACT UP kids in the back with signs.

AMY GOODMAN: We're going to break, but we\u2019re going to come back to that action against the news media, against -- it was CBS, it was the PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and they had made their way onto the sets of the Evening News. Larry Kramer is our guest. We'll be back in a minute.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: Our guest is the legendary activist and author and playwright Larry Kramer, as we talk about this twentieth anniversary of the activist organization ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, which he helped found in 1987. We are showing video images of various protests through this broadcast, and for those who are listening on the radio, they are available at our website at democracynow.org to view. Larry, as we were watching, you were commenting.

LARRY KRAMER: I was just saying, most of the faces you'll be seeing are dead, are guys who died. It is very moving to watch.

AMY GOODMAN: In your first article on the subject of AIDS, that was before \u201c1,112 and Counting,\u201d you said, \u201cIf I had written this a month ago, I would have used the figure forty. If I had written this last week, I would have needed eighty. Today, I must tell you 120 gay men in the United States.\u201d

LARRY KRAMER: Yes. Well, now there's 70 million people with HIV, who have died or have it. An awful lot of people helped that happen. It takes a lot of government inaction to allow 70 million people to get infected. My particular -- I have a letter in the New York Review of Books. I have never appeared in the New York Review of Books before. They actually published a letter of mine about Ronald Reagan being a monster and that he was responsible for more deaths than Adolf Hitler, because his entire seven-eight years in office, next to nothing was done on HIV, on AIDS. They didn't even put out a public health warning to say \u201cBe careful,\u201d allowing people to think everything was OK. So during those seven years, just about every gay man who had sex anywhere in the world had been exposed to the virus. If somebody at the NIH, just someone had just said, \u201cJust cool it for a while, guys. Just, please -- we think it's a virus,\u201d whatever -- hateful, hateful man, and that he should have a legacy that's somehow being lauded as a great one is very painful to me.

AMY GOODMAN: He mentioned the word \u201cAIDS\u201d somewhere around year six or seven of his term?

LARRY KRAMER: Seven. It was in an AmFAR benefit in Washington, D.C. I was there. He said it in a very derogatory way. Everybody that was gay in the audience booed him. Dr. Krim, Mathilde Krim, of the AmFAR had said, \u201cIf you boo him, I\u2019m going to leave and walk out,\u201d which she did not do. And he was really upset that somebody actually booed him. I remember it as if it were yesterday.

AMY GOODMAN: What do you feel stopped him from saying this for the vast majority of his term?

LARRY KRAMER: Well, Gary Bauer, who was his domestic policy advisor, in a meeting with me in 1983 in the White House office said these words, that the President is unalterably and irrevocably opposed to anything having to do with homosexuality. So nothing was done. It's not dissimilar to the tactics that Hitler used, that he passed on the word that he was not interested in a certain thing, and the whole administration wasn't interested, basically. It happens. It's happening now with the terrible president we have now.

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to jump forward from Reagan to the Gulf War. That's when this protest took place in the CBS Evening News studios, as well as at the McNeil-Lehrer NewsHour where in the case of CBS, people who were pretending to be on a tour of CBS, broke away, got into the studio as Dan Rather was beginning his cast, popped their heads up and said, in the cast, \u201cFight AIDS, not Arabs! Fight AIDS, not Arabs!\u201d I think in the case of the McNeil-Lehrer NewsHour, activists got onto the set, as the broadcast was happening, and chained themselves to the desk, the news desk.

LARRY KRAMER: Gay people have a wonderful amount of imagination. We like to joke. We\u2019re like Mickey and Judy putting on a show, for those of you who remember Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney and all those musicals, where they -- \u201cLet\u2019s put on a show!\u201d Well, that was how we dealt with our street actions.

AMY GOODMAN: In talking about the history of ACT UP, let's go to 1989. I\u2019d like to play an excerpt of a program called Stop the Church, about ACT UP\u2019s protest against the Catholic Church at St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral in New York.

ACT UP ACTIVIST: Children are dying of AIDS, and the Church has no business telling our children not to use condoms!

ACT UP ACTIVIST: How many more have to die?

NARRATOR: All eyes were not on the pulpit at St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral today, as dozens of members of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power turned morning mass into a holy mess.

ACT UP ACTIVIST: Prayers won\u2019t save the 1.0 to 1.5 million people infected by human immunodeficiency virus!

AMY GOODMAN: That's an excerpt of Stop the Church by Robert Hilferty.

LARRY KRAMER: Unfortunately, you don't have this incredible shot of Cardinal O\u2019Connor just sitting up there, like, \u201cOh, my god, what is going on here?\u201d

AMY GOODMAN: What about your focus on the Catholic Church and the protests even within the Church that were so controversial?

LARRY KRAMER: It was an amazing demonstration. There were a lot of Catholic kids in ACT UP, and they were very angry, not only because of the Church refusing to acknowledge what was happening to us, but for their attitude about homosexuality, declaring these kids sick. And so, there was a lot of anger. And the demonstration was wonderful. I think that's the demonstration that made ACT UP, quite frankly, because there was a lot of -- an enormous amount of media criticizing us, in editorials, everywhere. \u201cHow dare we interrupt the church service and people's right to worship?\u201d and all that. And suddenly, we were not longer limp-wristed fairies. We were men in black boots and black jeans and tough, and that became our image. And it made us, I think. And people were suddenly afraid of us.

I can remember, not shortly thereafter, going to a meeting with one of the drug companies that I was sitting -- Hoffmann-La Roche -- and sitting next to a doctor who was shaking. And I asked somebody else during a break, why is doctor so-and-so shaking? And they said, \u201cHe's afraid of you.\u201d And I thought, \u201cHoly mackerel! That\u2019s what we need.\u201d That\u2019s a good feeling. You\u2019ve got to realize, I was a shy person. You probably -- people don\u2019t believe that, but I was.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, ACT UP, the organization that you helped found, certainly gave tremendous power and attention to the issue of AIDS all over. Talk about the founding of ACT UP. Now, in that year, 1987, twenty years ago, was that when you were diagnosed HIV-positive?

LARRY KRAMER: Yeah, you raise the similarity of times. I don\u2019t remember that. I had my test in \u201987, and ACT UP was started in \u201987, but I don't know that there was a connection, quite frankly, because it was all one continuous day. What motivates me about all of this is how wrong everything was and is. It's wrong that people with HIV have been treated so terribly. It's wrong that gay people are treated so terribly. It's wrong that there's this hate. The straight world, for the most part, does not like gay people. And we have tried every tactic known to man to somehow change this. You know, there is 65% of this country, according to the Gill Foundation, basically hates us. And I don\u2019t know how you deal with that, short of slamming as many pies in their faces as we can.

And the state of activism in this country for any movement, as you well know -- women, blacks, gays -- is in terrible shape. Nobody wants to go out there and be an activist anymore. So this attempt today to revive ACT UP and have this demonstration for universal healthcare is an attempt to relight the flame.

AMY GOODMAN: You recently published an open letter in the Los Angeles Times. It was titled, \u201cWhy Do Straights Hate Gays?\u201d You begin by mentioning recent comments by Ann Coulter and General Peter Pace, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I want to play excerpts of what they both said and then talk to you about the article. This is Ann Coulter.

ANN COULTER: I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, but it turns out that you have to go into rehab if you use the word \u201cfaggot.\u201d So, I\u2019m kind of at an impasse, can\u2019t really talk about Edwards, so I think I\u2019ll conclude here and take your questions.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Ann Coulter speaking at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in early March. A few weeks later, General Peter Pace, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said this in an interview with the Chicago Tribune.

GEN. PETER PACE: My upbringing is such that I believe that there are certain things, certain types of conduct, that are immoral. I believe that military members who sleep with other military members\u2019 wives are immoral in their conduct and that we should not tolerate that. I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts. So the \u201cDon\u2019t Ask, Don\u2019t Tell\u201d allows an individual to serve the country, not -- [inaudible] stop there -- that allows individuals to serve their country. If we know about immoral acts, regardless of committed by who or -- then we have a responsibility. I do not believe that the Armed Forces of the United States are well served by saying through our policies that it\u2019s OK to be immoral in any way, not just with regards to homosexuality. So from that standpoint, saying that gays should serve openly in the military, to me, says that we, by policy, would be condoning what I believe is immoral activity. And therefore, as an individual, I would not want that to be our policy, just like I would not want it to be our policy that, if were to find out that so-and-so was sleeping with someone else\u2019s wife, that we would just look the other way, which we do not. We prosecute that kind of immoral behavior between members of the Armed Forces.

AMY GOODMAN: General Peter Pace, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. Before that, Ann Coulter. Larry Kramer, you have got your hand on your forehead.

LARRY KRAMER: I wish people could recognize this for the hate it is. All those people laughing with Ann Coulter, supporting her as she says these terrible things about gay people. You cannot talk publicly anymore about Jews that way. You cannot talk publicly anymore about people of color that way. Why are gays allowed to be still and forever endlessly the whipping boy? How can the general, who has 65,000 gay men and women under his command, talk about his soldiers that way? It really makes them feel good as they're going into battle. I mean, that\u2019s unconscionable, what he says. There are 20 million gay people in this world -- in this country. And I wish I had my army of 20 million people out there, instead of the few hundred that we do.

AMY GOODMAN: You wrote a book called Faggots.

LARRY KRAMER: I wrote a book called The Tragedy of Today's Gays last year, about just what we\u2019re talking about, how gays simply will not go out there and fight for their own lives.

AMY GOODMAN: But that use of the term, \u201cfaggots,\u201d talk about Coulter and talk about your use of it.

LARRY KRAMER: Well, I wrote the book in 1975. It was published in 1978. Things were a little different then. And it was a book that was -- it was critical of the gay world. And I think that the title references that in the book. It's still a best-selling novel, I\u2019m happy to say.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, talking about the Conservative Political Action Committee, the conference that took place, where Ann Coulter referred to Edwards in that way, in 1985 at a fundraiser in Washington, you flung a glass of water in the face of Terry Dolan, the founder of the National Conservative Political Action Committee.

LARRY KRAMER: Oh, really? Same organization? Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: Why?

LARRY KRAMER: Because I knew he was gay. He was in the closet, and he was doing all these terrible things against his own people. And it was a gay party. It was a gay cocktail party in Washington. And he showed up at it. And I said, \u201cHow dare you\u201d -- I had been to a discotheque with him, a gay discotheque with him a few months before. I said, \u201cHow dare you show up at a gay party after all the things you're doing against us with your conservative action thing?\u201d Very strange man, who died from AIDS, I might add.

AMY GOODMAN: And the action of putting a condom on the house of the former Senator Jesse Helms?

LARRY KRAMER: Yes. What about it?

AMY GOODMAN: How was this done?

LARRY KRAMER: Well, we had a very large condom made, and we snuck in in the dead of night and threw it over his house. He wasn't in it at the time. And, unfortunately, for various problems with the media, it didn't get as much publicity as it should have done. You're always at the mercy of whatever the big story is that day, and there was a fire or something else that was more important.

AMY GOODMAN: Talk about taking on the drug companies. I mean, we, today -- in the world, there are 40 million people around the world, according to the United Nations, who have HIV. An estimated 25 million have died. How could this --

LARRY KRAMER: It should total 70. I don't know if that is. I don\u2019t trust the United Nations figures as far as I can throw them.

AMY GOODMAN: It\u2019s close. How do you think, from the beginning, this could have been dealt with differently, and how do you think it has to be dealt with today?

LARRY KRAMER: You know, when you have a health emergency, public officials have a responsibility. The mayor of New York, who refused to say boo about this to his own city, which was hardest hit of any cities. The President certainly didn't do anything. His government certainly didn't do anything. Why ACT UP came along, which was -- you know \u201987 was already six years after this had already started -- was kids were just terrified of dying, all around us. People have no idea what it was like. Everybody walked down the street, and you would hear about five more guys who died. It just went on and on and on.

And so, finally, the kids were just terrified and were prepared to become very brave activists, and how do you -- we taught ourselves everything we could possibly teach ourselves about the science of it, about the research of it, about the chemistry of it, about the bureaucracy of it, about how you get through the governmental system. And soon, we knew more than the NIH did, and we proved it to them. And we are the ones that were instrumental in going to the drug companies and making them research it and making them get these drugs out there faster. We, in one instance, in the case of Bristol-Myers, we actually stole a drug from their Canadian laboratories, which was very promising, and we said, \u201cIf you don't release this now, we are going to duplicate it ourselves and put it out.\u201d Got that drug out there very fast. That's what you got to do.

AMY GOODMAN: You had Dr. Fauci in your sites for a long time.

LARRY KRAMER: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: His position was head of the Centers for Disease Control --

LARRY KRAMER: No, no. He's head of NIAID, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. He still is. He's the government's chief person on HIV, has been all along. He was terrible for many years. He then became a true hero. I called him a murderer early on, and I now call him a hero. That\u2019s his development, and it was moving to watch as it happened.

AMY GOODMAN: The New Yorker magazine credited you with helping to revolutionize the American practice of medicine. The magazine quoted Dr. Anthony Fauci, saying, \u201cIn American medicine, there are two eras: before Larry and after Larry.\u201d

LARRY KRAMER: That made me feel very good. This whole drama over these years has been a zillion life lessons every single day.

AMY GOODMAN: We have to go to another break, but when we come back, I want to ask how you have dealt with being HIV-positive and your own liver -- your liver was removed?

LARRY KRAMER: I have a transplant.

AMY GOODMAN: You have a liver transplant, highly unusual. And we want to talk about that.

LARRY KRAMER: Fine.

AMY GOODMAN: Stay with us. We're talking to Larry Kramer.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: We're spending the hour with Larry Kramer. He is the legendary AIDS activist, provocative activist -- some say \u201cprovocateur\u201d -- author, playwright, wrote The Normal Heart, wrote The Destiny of Me, the plays. His most recent book is called The Tragedy of Today's Gays.

You are wearing a t-shirt that says, "Where is the outrage?\u201d Larry, and people may be hearing your bracelets hitting against the table. Describe them and why you wear them.

LARRY KRAMER: I wear turquoise, and I never take it off, because in 19-- when I came down from Yale in 1958 or something, I went to a fortune teller, and she said to me, \u201cYou must always wear something with turquoise. It will look after you.\u201d And I never paid much attention to it. And then, when I learned that I was HIV-positive, I started paying attention. And then, when I started getting sick, which was over the years in the late \u201990s, I just loaded myself with more and more turquoise, because the American Indians believed that turquoise does take care of you and look after your health. And why not? It's as good a superstition as any. I\u2019m still here, and I never take it off.

AMY GOODMAN: \u201dWhere is the outrage?\u201d the t-shirt.

LARRY KRAMER: \u201dWhere is the outrage?\u201d is by the gay fashion designer Marc Jacobs, and I saw a picture of it somewhere, and I rushed over, and I bought six of them, and you can buy them from him on Bleecker Street.

AMY GOODMAN: Talk about your own health struggles over the years. Right around \u201987, you're diagnosed HIV-positive.

LARRY KRAMER: I have been extraordinarily lucky. I have no idea why I\u2019m here. I have never been sick with anything having to do with HIV. When I didn't need any drugs -- and I never had any drugs until my liver caved in -- and every time, there was always a new drug to take. You know, so many people died because of timing, because they couldn't hold on until the next treatment came along. For whatever reason, I held on. Who knows? I\u2019ve got good genes or whatever, my turquoise.

In about 2000, my liver started caving in from the Hepatitis B. And there\u2019s this incredible picture that was in Newsweek. I looked like Demi Moore, you know, with triplets inside of me. I was all blown up like a balloon, and I was told I only had six months to live, because there was no way I was eligible for a liver transplant. They simply were not giving HIV or Hep B people organ transplants. And I accepted that, and I was ready to die. So many of my friends already had. So I figured I had had a good run for my money.

And then, lo and behold, there was a clinical trial out of the NIH. They were looking for people like me to see if transplanting people with HIV or Hepatitis B or C actually worked. \u201cHere I am! Here I am!\u201d I said. A lot of people were unwilling to go into the trial, because the results that far had not been good. But I got my liver in 2001. Dr. John Fung, then at the University of Pittsburgh, now at Cleveland Clinic, did it. And I\u2019m now his poster boy. It\u2019s an amazing experience to be -- I only had a couple weeks left by the time they replaced the liver. He said, \u201cYou have no idea how close you came before I was able to plop in the new one.\u201d And then to wake up and -- I told my lover, David Webster --

AMY GOODMAN: You've been with David for ten years?

LARRY KRAMER: Now, fifteen.

AMY GOODMAN: Fifteen years.

LARRY KRAMER: Yeah. And I said, \u201cI want your face to be the first one I see when I come out, so I know that I\u2019ll have lived.\u201d Amazing experience. And I\u2019m in perfect health now, perfect health, and it\u2019s an incredible experience.

AMY GOODMAN: The average life expectancy now in the United States after being diagnosed HIV-positive is something like thirty-five years.

LARRY KRAMER: That\u2019s what they tell us, yes.

AMY GOODMAN: Depending on the population. I mean, the fastest-growing rate of AIDS now, isn't it in African American women?

LARRY KRAMER: Yeah. They're not going to live thirty-five years. It is evil, what is happening, that there are treatments that can save these people that are not going to these people, because of the greed -- in huge capital letters, underlined -- of the pharmaceutical companies. It's just evil. There are treatments that can be made for a pittance that can be given to these people to save their lives. And that they\u2019re not, as I say, is evil.

The same in this country, there are a lot of people that aren't getting medicines in this country. And, of course, in this country, the drugs cost a fortune. A fortune. You know, because of programs like the Ryan White CARE Act, some people are getting them reasonably priced. But most people aren't. I cannot tell you how evil I believe the greed of drug companies is, across the boards. And don't give me this nonsense about it finances new research. Please.

AMY GOODMAN: So how do you change them, and what about the future of AIDS activism? You\u2019ve called for the formation of a gay army.

LARRY KRAMER: Yes, would that it would come to pass. Unfortunately, I learned, we learned, through ACT UP, because of getting the drugs, that the only way to do anything is major in-your-face activism, and I think that's the only way you can change things. Why isn't this country up in arms about this unbelievably hateful president who has put us into this police station?

AMY GOODMAN: Police station?

LARRY KRAMER: Police state, I\u2019m sorry. Police -- we\u2019re in a police station -- we\u2019re in a firehouse. I don't know. You know, why aren't there more protests against this evil man who's our president. Everybody is so passive in this country. What is that all about? I just simply -- where is the outrage? People live under the most terrible circumstances. We do live in a police state. How would you like to be the lover of somebody and not be allowed to live with that person if you don't have a passport, whatever?

AMY GOODMAN: What about the whole issue of gay marriage? How do you see it, and also going to presidential politics, the questions of, for example, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama?

LARRY KRAMER: I don't like anybody right now, I\u2019m afraid. They all say terrible things behind our backs.

AMY GOODMAN: Like what?

LARRY KRAMER: Oh, who knows like what? They're not supporting us. We are not equal. It\u2019s not about marriage. It's about equality. You know? In New Zealand or Australia, two people -- gay, straight, whatever, from different countries, whatever -- can live in a relationship that is recognized by the government, and are taxed like straight people. Why can't we have that here, you know? It doesn't even have to have a marriage, doesn't even have to have a civil union, just a recognition by government that people who love each other and who are committed to each other are entitled to the same rights as straight married people.

My lover, who made the house that we live in in the country, and all the help and money we have put into that house, when I die, he will get a pittance of my estate. He won\u2019t be able to afford to keep that house. That's not fair. If we were a straight married couple, he would get the whole thing tax-free. That is not right. It is wrong. And it\u2019s that, which motivates me, that all of this is wrong, that I cannot walk down the street holding this man's hand, if I want to, or kiss him goodbye without worrying that somebody's going to throw a brick at me, legally, and not be punished. That is wrong.

AMY GOODMAN: Recently, there was a protest, right around the anniversary of the invasion, when General Pace made his comments, at the Army recruiting situation in Times Square, and among those who came -- well, you were there, I believe -- and the former New Jersey governor, McGreevey, was there, who announced he was gay, having an affair, and resigned his office. What do you think of the former governor being there?

LARRY KRAMER: Sorry about my voice. Well, he made a big fool of himself the first time, and he\u2019s making a concerted effort to start a new life, and I -- as much as I disapproved of him before, let's give him a chance. He wants to be an activist with us, fine.

AMY GOODMAN: Your brother has been a key person in your life. In the play, The Destiny of Me, he is a key figure. The person -- one of the people in the play is based on him. Talk about that relationship in your family.

LARRY KRAMER: I am here today, because my brother. He brought me up, more or less, because we bonded, because of a mutual dislike of both of our parents, who were not very good parents and were both working people who weren't around. And he was eight and a half years older, and he always looked after me, and still in a way does. And it's been the most moving experience of my life, that and my relationship with my lover, David Webster.

AMY GOODMAN: Your brother's name is Arthur?

LARRY KRAMER: Arthur Kramer, yes.

AMY GOODMAN: Does he live here in New York?

LARRY KRAMER: They live in Stanford and in Rancho Santa Fe. He's the rich one in the family. And he was the first person I told I was gay, and he got me into therapy when I tried to kill myself at Yale in my freshman year. And he's always been very caring. He's not been critical of my homosexuality.

AMY GOODMAN: Yet, you\u2019ve written all straights hate gays.

LARRY KRAMER: I sort of am a little angry with you that you\u2019re making that statement, because obviously the article is written with a certain perspective in mind, that if straight people don't hate gays, they're also -- they\u2019re voting for people who hate gays, so what's the difference, basically? You know, until Hillary or Obama or somebody says, \u201dYes, I am for gay equality and will fight to change the laws for gay equality,\u201d then she\u2019s a person who I think hates us, quite frankly. End of statement. And you can say that about every presidential candidate. Nobody has come out for gay equality. They\u2019re terrified of doing it, because they lack the courage and because of this 65% of the country, which basically does hate us: the right wing, the religious right, whatever they\u2019re called these days.

AMY GOODMAN: So what do you think needs to be done right now?

LARRY KRAMER: Well, we need a very strong ACT UP again. We need every gay person to get out there and fight, and unfortunately that's not going to happen. This is not a population that knows how to fight to save its own life. But I could say that about just every population, I\u2019m afraid.

AMY GOODMAN: What do you have to say to young people? Didn\u2019t you recently at some point go back to visit your high school?

LARRY KRAMER: Very depressing. Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, the place like a third world school now. I go around to colleges a lot. I get invited to colleges a lot. And it's very moving. The kids are very passive, and they know it, and they don't know what to do, and they don't know how to get out of it. And one attempts to instill in them a sense of pride for who they are. I happen to think that gay people are better than straight people. I think we're more courageous and more loving, and we're better friends, and all of these things. If I can just instill the kids with that and that they have to fight their place in the sun, and a day at a time.

AMY GOODMAN: When you wanted to kill yourself, what were the thoughts, the feelings, that brought you out of it? How did you save yourself?

LARRY KRAMER: I was at Yale. It was my freshman year, and I just knew I was the only gay person in that entire university, which, of course, was not true, but that's how I felt, and I was not doing well, unfortunately, and my parents had spent so much money for my education there, and I felt terribly guilty that I was flunking out, and so I ate 200 aspirin. And I don't know. I called the campus cops finally. I went into my bed, and I thought that I would fall asleep, and I didn't. And so, finally, I guess something took over, and I called the campus cops, and they came and they pumped my stomach. And my brother was the first person I saw when I did wake up. He had just come back from his honeymoon. Some present! And he got me to a shrink fast.

AMY GOODMAN: Larry Kramer, you're extremely critical of the establishment --

LARRY KRAMER: Who could not be?

AMY GOODMAN: -- gay organizations.

LARRY KRAMER: Oh, gay organizations. Well, I am. We are a very wealthy community. I don't want to call it a community. We\u2019re not a community. I try to -- there is not a gay community. It's a gay population. We are much bigger than a community. But there\u2019s a lot of -- there are billionaires -- David Geffen, people like that. And he\u2019s just one of many and we have simply not used our money to organize ourselves to fight back, you know? The Jews learned how to do that after the Second World War. They got their organizations to protect their people, to get laws passed by the government, that Jews are protected. I make a lot of comparisons between the Jews and the gays. And we're still just much too invisible.

Just last election was the first time that major rich gays got together through a man called Tim Gill at the Gill Foundation, who's a billionaire, and my friend Rodger McFarlane, who runs the Gill Foundation, to actually organize with people like George Soros and Norman Lear, election by election. The last election we defeated a number of hateful candidates, like Santorum in Pennsylvania and a number of local. That's the first time we have done that, we have used -- we have raised millions to fight back. And now that we have learned how to do that and the rich gays are forming their own foundations, I hope there will be more of that. It's a long process.

AMY GOODMAN: We are going to have to leave it there, Larry Kramer, I want to thank you very much for spending the hour with us. Larry Kramer, longtime AIDS activist, author and playwright, one of the founders of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power.

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RE: Ann Coulter calling John Edwards a faggot:

News Radio 850 KOA's Steve Douglas comments about this. What's the homo-cop gotta say about it?

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The religion of Islam is currently divided between rival factions. The primary divisions are between the Shia and Sunni, but there are many others as well. These divisions are keeping Islam from becoming the global power it otherwise could be. The West would fall like so many toy soldiers before the behemoth of a united Islamic Ummah (or nation). Again, this will be discussed in depth in "The Wisdom of Abba Luchi" at the appropriate part of that study.

For many years I have been predicting the reunification of Islam and my experiences as Wahabi Muslim at the turn of this century confirmed this eventuality, at least in my mind. What I was not certain of is how this might take place. It seemed inconceivable. The earth shaking consequences of such a reunion seems obvious enough, especially when considered in a prophetic context, but how, realistically, could it ever happen? The idea of the Shia and Sunni reuniting seems no more likely than the Christian Protestants, Orthodox and Roman Catholics doing so.

Of late I have been engaging in conversations with a member of Haniff Islam and these have led to some rather interesting possibilities that I may at some point discuss here or on my other blog. For now, I hoping to get more information, especially about the political implications of this group, their possible (I think probable) ties with certain other groups.

Essentially Hanif Islam, at least traditionally, it is argued, is the original religion of Father Abraham (father of Jews, Muslims and Christians). This religion was lost on Isaac's side of the Abrahamic family (i.e. among the Jews and hence the Christians), but survived among the descendants of Ishmael until the time of Prophet Muhammad. According to the Wikipedia, "The term is from the Arabic root ḥ-n-f meaning to "to incline, to decline" (so Lane 1893). The ḥanīfiyyah is the law of Abraham; the verb taḥannafa means "to turn away from idolatry", "to become circumcised". In the verse 3:27 of the Quran it has also been translated as "upright person" and outside the Quran as "to incline towards a right state or tendency". It appears to have been used earlier by Jews and Christians in reference to 'pagans' and applied to followers of an old Hellenized Syro-Arabian religion and used to taunt early Muslims."

According to this Hanif Islamic view, 220 years after Muhammad, this true Islam was all but destroyed when 'Jews' managed to divide the one true faith into two false sects, Shia and Sunni. It seems the Jews are responsibility for everything according to these people! They even wrote the Al Hadith according them!

Anyway, it appears to be the goal of these "Khaneef" to reunify the Islamic Ummah under what it is being billed as "Protestant Islam." The Shia being seen as the "Orthodox" and the Sunni as "Catholic" by contrast with the pure "Protestant" or restored teachings of Hanif... (their terms not mine). I know, its hard to swallow... (you should read excerpts of what they believe!), but they do seem to be sincere. They believe that following this restoration of "true khaniffated Islam," Messiah Jesus and the Madhi (or "the Mighty") will come. At that time, everyone will either embrace Islam or be slain. My contact often makes the point that, "your grandsons when will be haniff after 300 years."

They do seem to have substantial backing from unlikely quarters, more than most would imagine possible given their radical views, and this gives them clout, especially in the West. While I am not predicting the following will necessarily be how things work out, I think it is worth considering...

Imagine if the Sunni and Shia woke up and decided to work together to defeat "the Great Satan" USA. Given their fundamental differences, how could they do it? The answer may well be Hanif Islam. Both the Shia and Sunni could maintain their own structures and beliefs and yet work together as Hanif 'for the common good'. This, I think, is a very realistic scenario. At this point, I invite those with information about this group, their backers and so on to share with me, either in the comments section and through e-mail or IM.