Sounds like the beginning of a story about the three little pigs, and in a way it is. Sun Muyng Moon is an eighty-four year old Korean billionaire, also known as the "True Father" of the Unification Church which has a most interesting religious dogma. The Washington Times is an ultra-conservative newspaper in Washington D.C., one which loses money every year. The Dirksen Senate Office Building is where Reverend Moon was crowned as the new Messiah in the presence of several ambassadors, U.S. senators and other politicians.
It's not for me to decide whether Reverend Moon is the new Messiah, but it's interesting that this coronation took place in the premises owned by the American people, and it's also interesting that such coronations are banned by Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution. All this is gleaned from the excellent research of John Gorenfeld whose blog is also listed in my links. John dedicates the whole blog to Reverend Moon which is necessary, considering that the mainstream media spends most of its time studying another billionaire who might also be sticking his nose into U.S. politics, George Soros. The reason why Soros is an important topic for the media and Moon is not has to do with the kind of politics they back: Moon is an extreme conservative whereas Soros is a liberal. Got it? Good.
Moon is the major financial backer of the Washington Times, the most hilarious source of a wingnut news in this country. The Times keeps on losing money, but that is not a problem as Moon has invested one billion dollars in its success. He is also major financier of other right wing causes. This probably means that Moon has friends in high places.
Some of them might find Moon's religious beliefs a little bit embarrassing. Not only does Moon argue that Jesus, Confucius, the Buddha and Muhammad have endorsed him, but he has even converted Hitler and Stalin to his cause. He calls homosexuals 'dung-eating dogs', and finds the salvation of the world to be in the strict enforcement of marriage a la Moon: Couples are paired off by Reverend Moon himself, then married on bulk ceremonies. Male dominance is to be honored within the marriage, and each person who is married is said to receive a holy handkerchief from the Reverend which is to be used to wipe the body before the first three sex acts of the couple.
Moon doesn't like the United States very much as it stands, of course. He's called it "the Satan's harvest", and he wants the separation between the church and the state to be removed so that the current system can be replaced by a sort of Moonland where he rules with his wife, "The True Mother" (the third of these, actually). Not that she'd rule very much of anything, of course, as Reverend Moon has a problem with sex which he assumes only exists in the shape of women.
Women are the cause of the original downfall of humanity in the mythical garden of Eden, according to Moon, who believes that Eve didn't just bite the apple but instead had a bit of hot sex with Satan himself. So now we all come from Satan's lineage. (Interesting. I wonder what he'd say about a goddess with a snake's tail. Not that I ever met someone called Satan in the upper spheres. I suspect that he's a Christian invention.)
Here's a snippet of Moon's thoughts about women. Ironically, they sort of link to some of my recent posts, which makes me very worried:
SUN MYUNG MOON
FOLLOWING THE COSMIC TRUE LOVE WAY
May 5, 1996 Belvedere -- Int. Training Center
Translator -- Peter Kim
"In order to have a relationship with your husband you have to be married. Women who refuse to marry will be condemned to death. If you were to survive, the universe would eliminate you. This is the truth. In that sense, following Father's teaching this morning, can we find a true original woman in the American secular world? (No.) Is there even one single woman who qualifies to meet Father's criteria? Does a woman with small hips have a good chance of bearing many babies? Do you American women prefer large, fully developed hips, or small, nice looking hips. Do you women prefer to have a slim body or a fat, well developed body? This question has something to do with our ability to bear children. Logically speaking, if any woman has small hips she is supposed to have small breasts as well. But usually it is the other way around. Even though women have small hips they have large, fully developed breasts. This means they are unbalanced. Whatever is unbalanced will eventually be eliminated by the universe."
But the conservatives don't seem too worried to have a friend like Reverend Moon funding many of their activities and getting coronated on government property. This is because Moon is an open secret in the media, one that is tacitly agreed to be below the radar of all respectable pundits who are anyway far too busy at studying Soros to check all this stuff out. Lucky for us that John Gorenfeld has taken the time instead.
Original inspiration via Atrios.