April 22 - George W. Bush has raised some eyebrows by nominating a former V.I.P. from the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church to a top government position.
FOR HIS NEW Deputy of U. S. Trade, Bush has selected Josette Shiner, a longtime member of the Unification Church, whose members are sometimes derisively called "The Moonies." Shiner was also the managing editor for Moon's Washington Times newspaper.
In December, Bush gave another longtime Moon follower a plum appointment. He named David Caprara to head AmeriCorps at VISTA, leading some to question whether Bush is paying back the reverend for his generosity to the Bush family.
Shiner joined the Unification Church in 1975, and although she has said that she became a practicing Episcopalian in 1996, she has never publicly repudiated Moon, whose followers believe that he is the true Messiah.
If appointed, Shiner will have tremendous influence over trade in Africa and Asia, including, of course, Moon's homeland of Korea, where he has extensive business interests.
<http://www.msnbc.com/news/902826.asp> *****
***** Moon Shadow
With Help From Congressional Republicans And The Bush 'Faith-Based' Initiative, Controversial Korean Evangelist Sun Myung Moon Is Trying To Expand His Religious-Political Empire
By Rob Boston
...One key to Moon's success is a longtime political operative named David Caprara. Caprara, a Unification Church member and former assistant secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development under Jack Kemp, is well connected in the nation's capital and serves Moon in various overlapping capacities.
Caprara serves as president of the American Family Coalition, a Moon front group, as well as representing The Washington Times Foundation. He recently accepted an appointment to serve on an advisory council that Watts put together in advance of the GOP "faith-based" summit. The Washington Times Foundation then arranged to broadcast the event live via satellite to dozens of communities.
Caprara also runs The Empowerment Network, a public policy organization that promotes "faith-based" and family solutions to societal problems. Two U.S. senators, Santorum and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), serve as caucus chairmen of the organization. Its "Empowerment Leadership Roundtable" lists two men who have gone to work in Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives - Stanley Carlson-Thies and Don Eberly.
Through operatives like Caprara, Moon keeps a steady hand in Washington and thus in national affairs. Moon is able to open other doors through infusions of cold, hard cash when necessary. For example, many of the ministers who attended the "We Will Stand" events were given gold Christian Bernard wristwatches estimated to cost thousands of dollars apiece.
The Rev. Phillip Schanker, a Moon spokesman, told The Washington Post, "The gold watches are a personal expression from Rev. Moon, and the gold represents his unchanging love."
Moon also pays speakers handsomely. After former President George Bush spoke at a Moon event in July of 1996, a London newspaper reported that he received $1 million in British pounds (nearly $1.5 million in U.S. dollars) for the speech. Kemp, who spoke at a series of Moon events between January of 1995 and the summer of 1996, walked away with a total of $68,000.
Other prominent politicians and national figures who have addressed Moon gatherings include former Vice President Dan Quayle and his wife, Marilyn, Sens. Jesse Helms and Orrin Hatch, ex-United Nations Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick, former Education Secretary William Bennett, former Defense Secretary Alexander Haig and the late Robert Casey, former Democratic governor of Pennsylvania....
<http://www.au.org/churchstate/cs6013.htm> *****
Bob Fitrakis, "Dark Side of the Moon," <http://www.columbusalive.com/2000/20000224/bob.html>. -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://solidarity.igc.org/>