George H. W. Bush 41, who "strongly believes in the mission" of Sun Myung Moon, will help the conservative movement and Bush family’s sugar daddy promote two major deceptions when the former president is scheduled to give the keynote address at the Washington Times 25th anniversary bash this Thursday, May 17.
Judging by a similar event held 5 years ago, we can expect Bush and other speakers to promote the frame that the Washington Times is somehow "independent" of Moon and his plans to manipulate the political direction of America as part of his long sought goal to subdue the planet. The speakers will also, as Dr. Laura did five years ago when she toasted Moon and his propaganda unit, peddle the idea that somehow, almost miraculously, the paper has survived despite it critics.
Both of these views are misleading and we will show why below the fold. As a bonus we will document that Bush’s own spokesperson has stated that Bush 41, who has repeatedly sold the name, honor and prestige of the Presidency of the United States to Moon, "strongly believes in the mission" of Sun Myung Moon.
Par 1 "independence"
Anyone who has ever read any of Moon’s speeches, looked at his beliefs and goals, knows full well the Washington Times is a major cog in his effort to put he and his organization in control the direction of world events. Beyond giving Moon huge "face" around the world, Moon has used the paper to move our nation towards rightwing governance which just so happens to be a friendly political environment for Moon’s theocratic vision to permeate the Republican Party which we see today. Moon, who says he is not only "the" messiah but "better than God," wants a world run by the religious who he intends to gather under his influence since he speaks for God.
The goal is stated in the findings of a 1970s congressional investigation, known as the "Fraser Report," thusly:
Among the goals of the Moon Organization is the establishment of a worldwide government in which the separation of church and state would be abolished and which would be governed by Moon and his followers.
I know most of you are familiar with what an integral role the WT has played in promoting and molding the new Republican Party. The paper’s small circulation belies the level of influence and guidance it has supplied to the right over the last 25 years. It claims to be one the most quoted papers, not just here by the Limbaughs and Hannities, but all over the world. I am sure you also are aware of the deceptions it has helped the right’s propaganda machine infest our political discourse with.
Such as running front page falsehoods about Dukakis seeing a psychiatrist and smearing Gore as being crazy, deceptions about Al Gore’s 2000 campaign kickoff canoe trip, the so called "cemetery gate" smear which deceived people about Bill Clinton. You also have the more recent examples of deceptions about Pelosi. Then you have the series of articles which smeared environmentalist in what is known as Lynxgate. (That’s the one where when confronted with the facts the WT told the people they smeared to buy an ad to correct their misleading reporting.)
Suffice to say the Republicans have leaned on the WT misleading and false reporting to help them push the nation rightward and bolstering a false reality now prevalent on the right.
In the post found here you will find several examples that show the paper is in no way "independent" of Moon historically.
Let’s list just a few from the link to give you a flavor for the WT’s vaunted "independence" of Moon and his church. We’ll start with how Jack Kneece, a Washington Times reporter who was assigned to Pakistan, found out the "church" sent him there:
Upon arrival in Islamabad, Kneece said, he was picked up at the airport by an official of the Pakistani information ministry. In a meeting the next day, Kneece said the official told him, "We had our meeting with (Unification) church people in Tokyo a few months ago and they told us they would send somebody here to Islamabad."
Kneece said he was "disturbed" about the comment and relayed it to his editors who "pooh-poohed" it. (The Washington Times' Mission by Michael Isikoff and Eleanor Randolph in the Washington Post, May 6, 1987)
Along those lines, this JoongAng Daily article from Korea states that Moon sent a reporter to North Korea to promote "a better image" of North Korea. Moon himself says he did that. Moon’s followers pledge their allegiance to Moon and Korea, which they refer to as the "fatherland."
The church, which owns Pyonghwa and such companies as the Tongil Group, the Washington Times, and UPI news service, among others, has had close ties with the North. ...[quoting Hwang Sun-jo now head of the UC in Korea] "Mr. Moon then worked to improve the image of the North. He, for example, sent a Washington Times reporter to the North and made the country known to the West with a better image. Since then, the North has confided in the church." (Min Seong-jae, "Pyonghwa Motors, Unification Church Do a Deal." JoongAng Daily, Aug. 31, 2003
More from the WP Isikoff/Randolph piece which describes how editors challenged the Washington Times' "independence." William Cheshire, former Washington Times editorial page editor, and his deputy editor Michael J. Bonafield spoke out after leaving the Times in 1987:
Cheshire and Bonafield also have charged that de Borchgrave ordered or sanctioned the "tampering" of wire copy to reflect the church positions. ...
One of the more serious incidents, Cheshire and Bonafield said, occurred on March 26, when former treasury secretary Robert Anderson was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of tax evasion relating to his failure to disclose income he had received from the Unification Church. The church was not charged with wrongdoing.
The story of Anderson’s indictment ran on the front page of the New York Times and the Washington Post. In the Washington Times it was handled as a brief item in a news roundup on page 4 - with references to the Unification Church deleted. ...
... according to several former employees, de Borchgrave has issued directives that they believe are designed to placate the paper’s Korean owners, if not actually ordered by them. Michael Bonafield, one of the editorial writers who quit with Cheshire, said that after Moon revealed in a meeting with the Times editors last year that he was engaged in business talks with China, de Borchgrave "issued an edict that we were no longer to attack" the Chinese government. When one of his colleagues wrote an "innocuous" editorial praising economic progress in the "Republic of China" on Taiwan, "Arnaud went ballistic," said Bonafield. "He said we were not to refer to the Republic of China-ever, that it doesn’t exist." (The Washington Times' Mission by Michael Isikoff and Eleanor Randolph in the Washington Post, May 6, 1987.)
further...
William Cheshire, former Washington Times editorial page editor, and his staff, quit the Washington Times over the issue of editorial independence. Arnaud de Borchgrave, who replaced James Whelan, was editor in chief at the paper at the time. Upon leaving, Cheshire said, "It is no longer possible, in my judgment, for the Times to maintain independence from the Unification Church under the editorship of Mr. de Borchgrave, if it is indeed at all." (Washington Post 4/15/87.)
James Whelan was heavily recruited by Moon’s longtime aid Bo Hi Pak to be the first editor of the times. Pak said he looked at Whelan as a "God sent man." Whelan quit the WT calling it a "moonie newspaper" and saying he had "blood on his hands" for helping Moon gain credibility.
Whelan said that when he ran the paper there was to never be any "church" functions on the WT’s grounds but that after he left that changed immediately. Today, Moon is housing an office of the Universal Peace Federation(UPF) in the Washington Times building. The UPF is the organization he intends to bring his life’s plot to fruition with. The UPF is the organization Moon is putting all his fronts under including the "church." The UPF is Moon’s personal UN which he created when the real United Nations turned down his proposal, made through the Philippines, to have the UN add a theocratic body to the UN structure.
Whelan, in this 1991 "must view" panel discussion about Moon’s media, said this – something which ALL of the people who have or intend to help Moon should read very closely. It may be the most cogent statement about the Moon organization I have ever read.
Cults and the Media
"They (the Moonies) are subverting our political system. They're doing it through front organizations--most of them disguised--and through their funding of independent organizations--through the placement of volunteers in the inner sanctums of hard-pressed organizations. In every instance--in every instance--those who attend their conferences, those who accept their money or their volunteers, delude themselves that there is no loss of virtue because the Moonies have not proselytized. That misses the central, crucial point: the Moonies are a political movement in religious clothing. Moon seeks power, not the salvation of souls. To achieve that, he needs religious fanatics as his palace guard and shock troops. But more importantly, he needs secular conscripts--seduced by money, free trips, free services, seemingly endless bounty and booty--in order to give him respectability and, with it, that image of influence which translates as power."
One thing everyone should understand in all this - Moon’s followers are fully aware of the purpose of Moon fronts, which they refer to as "Father’s projects." They often talk about the various fronts in the same breath. One of their preachers talks about their "media power" in a sermon in DC. They know they are all tied together to push Moon’s vision, but the American public is not allowed to be in the ruse.
Here Moon tells his followers why he created the WT and other media outlets – the members know:
So please take spiritual dominion in your states. You can proclaim spiritually to the government leaders, "I am the elder brother, you are the younger brother." Teach them what you have learned. I invited many congressmen and senators to come to conferences to be educated. Though they may not proclaim openly, many of them support me. Through the Washington Times, Insight magazine, and the world and I, I have been preparing the foundation for you to influence America.
[Leaders' Conference - November 23, 1989 - Sun Myung Moon
November 23, 1989]
We could go on much longer with examples of things found at this link such as: Moon bragging about using the paper to "influence America along with [his] other activities" and how through the paper his organization is "gaining important confidential information not only from America but also from other governments all over the world."
You will also find at that link, Yoshikazu Soejima, the former head of Moon’s Japanese media telling the WP: "The Washington Times was the top priority of the entire Unification Church worldwide." Soejima quotes Moon as saying "With journalism, we have now reached success by establishing The Washington Times...We now have a direct influence on Reagan through The Washington Times."
From past practice, FRONTLINE interviewed Michael Warder who in the 70’s ran Moon’s first USA paper in NY, called News World. Warder described how Moon ordered him to dig up dirt on Congressman Fraser, who was heading the investigation into Moon’s influence.
To close this section of our report I would like to direct your attention to a quote from a former member, Craig Maxim. Craig used to debate Moon followers on the UC forum and as a singer, Maxim traveled to Moon’s mansions around the world entertaining. He is a very reliable source of information.
This is what Maxim said to a Moon follower:
I have, on several occasions, been allowed to sit in on Korean Regional Leaders meetings, and other such high level meetings Moon has lead. I watched him direct activities these companies would go in. I watched the Korean leaders ask Moon about certain purchases, etc.. and what Moon told them to do, is done. I have watched Josette Shiner come and give a full report about things the Washington Times was doing, and make sure he knew everything that was going on. And similarly, Moon would respond to her comments and make decisions based on what she told him.
Moon was supposed to have NOTHING to do with the AFC and the Times beyond being the "founder" of these organizations. I personally witnessed that this was not true. I saw the reality myself. You on the other hand, are a nobody in the UC, and so all you have is the party line, which you believe without question. Craig Maxim
Ann Louise Bardach in her 1992 article "Moonstruck: The Reverend and his Newspaper" which was scrubbed by Vanity Fair because she said "reservations were expressed about the litigious Moonies." The article was finally published in 2004 in David Wallis's Killed, Great Journalism Too Hot To Print says this about Shiner:
Directly under Pruden is deputy managing editor, Josette Shiner, perhaps the most enigmatic member of the Time's Family. Shiner, an attractive woman of thirty seven, is frequently described as the "number one moonie" at the paper. Some, in fact, regard her as the 'defacto power,' and one recently departed staffer says that "Josette runs the paper more than Wes." Following Whelan's departure in 1984, Shiner and another church member, Ted Agres, were made assistant managing editors. ...
She was one of the principle forces behind the Washington Times, and some staffers believe that the idea of starting the paper was hers. The Church, however attributes the paper's founding "to a vision of heavenly father," meaning Moon.
After a stint as a higher up in the State Department, Shiner, who says she left the "Unification Church" in the mid 90s, the same time Moon changed the name of the UC, was last seen here.
Ultimately, the debate over "independence" at the WT is misdirection, in my opinion. For one, the paper is designed to prod America right politically, and by doing so, it makes for a political environment in which the theocrats can flourish. Moon says he is "restoring" or "saving" Christianity as one of his chores as "messiah." In Mooneeze he is saying he is raising them up to become a political force.
The president of Moon’s once very powerful, American Freedom Coalition(AFC), Robert Grant, a man Moon has called one of his "three musketeers," was quoted in the Feb. 5, 1988 issue of Christianity Today saying the "AFC is a political coalition formed because of the "inability of the 'Christian Right' to achieve its agenda "
Moon completely meshes his "religion" and his politics. They are one. When you are critical of him or his organization it is no different than being critical of the Republican Party or something like the Larouche organization.
People who say, "Well, I have read the WT for years and I haven’t seen it promoting Moon’s religion" miss the point. That is not how Moon operates. The paper is never going to run a headline saying "become a moonie today." Moon is moving the big picture and what you or I do does not matter. He will never appear on a throne and bark out orders. You will never vote for him. He was quoted in the March 1989 U.S. News and World Report as saying his goal was "the natural subjugation of the American government and population." "Natural" means we will do it to ourselves and we are. It’s an influence game played out over decades. I think that today’s theocratic conservatism is his creation; he molded it, promoted it and funded it.
His media is his tool.
FRONTLINE quoted Michael Warder as saying: "Moon looked on the media as almost the nervous system for a global empire."
Here's how Moon’s son put the role of Moon’s media:
A few people are controlling the mentality of the masses. In the same but opposite manner, once we have these media to offer to Father, Father can control. You don’t like that word control, but if you look at it through the eyes of love, you want to be controlled, don’t you? When you truly love your woman, you want to be controlled by that woman, don’t you? Because you don’t understand the nature of love, you deny it, but inherently you long for control. So we can control things and Father can have absolute say so. Everyone can understand this.(Restoration Through Indemnity
Hyo Jin Moon - August 18, 1991 Belvedere, New York)
Part 2 – The Washington Times "made it" despite its critics.
We must admit when we watched the WT 20th on C-span in 2002, even though this all quite serious, this one really got me to belly laughing. You had people like Wes Pruden and Dr. Laura yammering on about how this poor little upstart paper, almost in some miraculous fashion, had weathered the storm of its critics and survived.
We have news for Pruden and Laura; Our goldfish could keep a newspaper running 20 years if you gave her $3 billion dollars to play with. Yes, $3 billion is the latest best estimate of how much Moon has pumped into the WT according to George Archibald, a 20 year reporter for the paper. Moon for his part admitted a billion in subsidies as of 1991, also saying once that he had to raise 7 million a month to fund his political influencing machine.
That’s the dirty little secret conservatives don’t mention when they are pontificating about how if there is no market for liberal views, then that is their tough luck, so goes the "free market" of ideas. At one time, Moon followers who were employees of Moon’s media would sign their paychecks back over to Moon.
The Washington Times has nothing to do with the "free market" of ideas and never has. It is a multi billion dollar cash drainer and a massive subsidy to the conservative movement. Robert Parry described its Reagan era role as "a billboard for its conservative strategies or as a weapon to attack administration critics." Columbia Journalism Review points out that it is a "journalistic farm system," obviously for the conservative movement.
The aforementioned Louise Bardach wrote:
Notably among the [Washington Time's] first staffers were the children of conservative luminaries, a group dubbed the "mini-neocons." They included John Podhoretz, whose parents Norman Podhoretz and Midge Dexter are veritable conservative institutions, Liz Kristol, Irving's daughter, Danny Wattenberg, son of Times columnist Ben, and Dawn Weyrich, daughter of conservative icon, Paul Weyrich.
Bardach went on to report something that exemplifies how many journalists on the right during the 80s and 90s weren't part of any "free market of ideas" - they were heavily subsidized by organizations like Moon's.
Charlotte Hayes, who wrote a hilarious and snarky memoir in The New Republic entitled "I was a Moonie Gossip Columnist," still laments the loss of the generous expense account she had at the paper. "This is on the Rev.," Hayes, a thoroughbred conservative, would tell sources as she lunged for meal checks. "The Times," she added drolly, "is a place for free market conservatives to escape the free market."
When Wes Pruden was asked by Brian Lamb about the finances of the Washington Times he claimed he didn’t get into that. I suspect for good reason, because although the complete details of the origins of non-citizen Moon’s ever flowing overseas cash may not be fully revealed, we do know a good deal about them.
Robert Parry wrote an excellent summary of what we do know in his piece, Bush-Moon Ongoing Crime Enterprise. Parry includes information on everything from the "cocaine coup" Moon funded, to ties to underworld figures in Japan to how Moon manages to get the cash into the USA, such as by "cash-smuggling" which Moon’s x-daughter in law has openly admitted doing at the direction of Moon's wife and co-Messiah, Hak Ja Han Moon. There is also an eye witness account of shopping bags full of cash showing up at Moon facilities.
Here’s the lead to Parry’s piece:
From petty local scams to international money-laundering, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s political-media-business-religious empire has all the looks of a global "ongoing criminal enterprise," albeit one with enough powerful friends in Washington to protect it from serious consequences.
Parry also mentions the Moon pastor, Kevin Thompson, who pleaded guilty to poaching protected baby leopard sharks and was sentenced this year. Not huge money by Moon’s standards, but in audio of Thompson’s sermon found here, the poaching preacher acknowledges that the money raised was used to fund "church activities" and that he told Sun Myung Moon about his shark activities and that Moon wanted to expand the operation.
One source of hundreds of millions of dollars of Moon spending cash, that Pruden could know about by doing just a tad of googling, is the money the Unification Church has been found guilty of swindling from the citizens of Japan, targeting widows. This may not be the main source of funds, but it is substantial money. The WP reported that 70% of Moon’s money comes from Japan.
Read here about what Mr. Pruden doesn’t seem too interested in finding out about, the money the high courts in Japan have ruled the Unification Church has swindled from the Japanese.
Though the Moon organization has been making money off the Japanese since at least the 70s, the lawsuits began in 1987 and the association which is fighting the UC in court reported a few years ago that: "Over the 14 years since 1987, more than 20,000 people have claimed sums totaling 800 million dollars." The attorneys say this represents only a fraction of the damages to the citizens of Japan, a nation not known for frivolous lawsuits. The WP also reported that by 1996, the UC had paid $150 millions to settle some of these suits. The claims continue to be filed. We are not simply talking about selling some overpriced pagodas; one lady was awarded 2.4 million USD last in 2006. One wonders if the Bush family, the conservative movement or the ministers Moon flies around the world even care.
Part 3 Bush 41 believes in Moon’s "mission."
Ok, now we know you all think that Bush 41 traveling the world for Moon couldn’t possibly be construed as 41 supporting Moon’s goals. :) But, we promised to show you documentation to back up our statement at the beginning, that George Bush 41 "strongly believes in the mission" of Sun Myung Moon so let's do that now.
First of all, I am sure you are all aware of the fact that Bush has shilled for Moon on at least three continents. If some Kossak sent you this and you are new to the subject, you can find some that:
Here and here and here and here and here (heads up David Brooks) and here and this one which documents over 3 million dollars funneled by Moon to Bush family interests just since G. W. Bush 43 took office.
Ok, let’s start with the quote from the WP discussing Bush’s speaking tour for Moon which was paid for by Moon’s Women’s Federation for World Peace:
The federation sponsored a series of speeches by George and Barbara Bush in Asia and the United States, with total fees estimated at about $1 million. ... Bush (George H.W. Bush) spokesman Jim McGrath said the ex-president "strongly believes in the mission" of Moon's federations but "has no relationship with Moon." .... ("A Church in Flux Is Flush With Cash" By Marc Fisher and Jeff Leen Washington Post Staff Writers Sunday, November 23, 1997; Page A01)
First - Moon’s Federations? The Unification Church is one of Moon’s "Federations." That quote from the WP was from November of 1997. The UC changed its name to the "Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU)" in 1996. There is a lot of documentation to this.
Here we quote the narrator of a Moon promotional video:
Rev. and Mrs. Moon changed the group's name from the Unification Church to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) in 1996, and worked to promote the "Blessing" and "True Family" movement worldwide.
From former member Craig Maxim's site:
Moon informally dissolved The Unification Church in a speech to members, several years ago, stating that the activities of The Unification Church would now fall under a New organization called The Family Federation For World Peace And Unification. There is nothing substantially different about this new organization, and in fact, most moonies understand clearly that all of Moon's projects are inseparable from one another. They are all considered "Father's projects" by most members. Yet, they will happily parade the new organization as if there is something really different about it.
Now, you might be asking, "Well, sure I see that Bush is obviously promoting Moon’s world efforts, but how do we know when his spokesperson made the statement that 41 "strongly believes in the mission" of Moon’s federations, that 41 knew that included the Unification Church? After all, they did change the name and before, "federation" wasn’t in the original name?"
Well, Bush should have known because he spoke in 1996 at the Inauguration of the FFWPU! Yes, he did. He helped Moon celebrate the name change. You can see video of him there here.
Keep in mind, Moon fronts work toward his goals and when Moon was being prosecuted for diddling with his taxes, part of their defense went like this:
Counsel asserts that Moon's worldwide followers believe him to be 'potentially the new Messiah.' From this theological premise the argument is made that Moon personifies the church movement and is indistinguishable from it. -- United States v. Sun Myung Moon, 718 F.2d at 1227. Another reference
Myung Moon, 718 F.2d 1210, 1234 (2d Cir. 1983)
So, if one believes in Moon’s "federations" one most certainly believes in Sun Myung Moon and his goals for they are "indistinguishable".
As for Bush having "no relationship" with Moon. Hah!
What do you call passing notes to Moon via Bo Hi Pak, Moon's former aid, travelling the world promoting Moon's "federations" interests and taking buckets of Moon cash? Or dropping what you are doing and helping Moon open a paper while calling him "the man with vision"? That whole subject we will cover in another post. As we pointed out, Moon is the Unification Church and Bush's main "relationship" is promoting the UC, which is one of Moon's "federations," interests.
Epilogue
To close, I would like to show some examples of how Bush’s shilling for Moon is more than just a political problem. With a former president to dangle in front of the world, Moon is able to use that credibility to not only recruit more followers but maintain the ones he has. Yes, Bush helps Moon recruit and maintain a hold on the members he has now.
Let’s look at some examples of how Bush helps Moon impress:
In 1996, when Bush helped Moon open the Washington Times south in Argentina, the press was giving Moon’s venture a lot of flack, but after Bush’s appearance that changed. It also pumped up the members.
Here's Robert Parry quoting Moon Unification News regarding Bush's trip to Argentina for Moon:
Bush’s speech was so effusive that it surprised even Moon’s followers. "Once again, heaven turned a disappointment into a victory," the Unification News exulted. "Everyone was delighted to hear his compliments. We knew he would give an appropriate and ‘nice’ speech, but praise in Father’s presence was more than we expected. ... It was vindication. We could just hear a sigh of relief from Heaven."Robert parry
Bush helps Moon recruit followers:
"All these people should know better," said Cynthia Lilley, founder of Mothers Opposed to Moon, a group of parents whose children have been recruited into the Unification Church. "My daughter would tell me over and over how in their recruiting films, they would show Moon with Bush to impress young people. They use the films of Moon and Bush and other celebrities to reassure parents that it's okay that their children are on the streets selling flowers 18 hours a day." [Washington Post - July 30, 1996]
And from MacLeans'
"By putting himself in front of this organization, Bush is legitimizing a group that lives off the blood of our children," she says. "He can say to the skies that it has nothing to do with the Unification Church, but it has everything to do with it, because it's legitimizing what this so-called religious organization does." She added that she supports the principle of freedom of worship, "but what I mind very much is that young adults are caught up in this through deceptive recruitment, horribly exploited and turned away from their own families.MacLeans'
Remember how we showed that the UC was making hundreds of millions fleecing the Japanese? Those lawsuits were reaching their peak in 1996. The Moonies would tell you Japan was "persecuting" them. I think in this case, that is moneeze for "Hey, they caught us swindling people out of cash."
Well look what Bo Hi Pak, Moon longtime aid, says a little shilling by a former president did for Moon in Japan. In 1995 Bush 41 and wife Barbara made several stops in Japan for Moon and on one stop, the former president’s presence made them bow to Moon.
This is what people who work with Moon don't seem to want admit to themselves. When you stand with Moon, you stand with him when he recruits and maintains a hold on his followers.
Quoting Pak:
On the day after the 29th True God's Day, Dr. Pak speaks at an International Leadership Conference. Following Father's instructions, he recounts a detailed report of his year in Japan as a missionary, including his Day of Hope tour and the historical five-city tour of True Mother and President and Mrs. Bush. ....
Mother Was Number One
Last fall Father organized Mother's tour of Japan accompanied by Barbara and George Bush. Can you imagine a U.S. president, whether an incumbent or a former president, doing anything in a secondary position? They are always number one. A U.S. president is always number one. But this time who was number one? Mother was number one. Their respect for Mother and Father was incredible. ...
The Japanese people are proud of their accomplishments. They are afraid of nothing. They are not going to bow down to anybody, except one country, the United States, because for 50 years Japan has come under the U.S. defense program, the nuclear umbrella. The United States has protected Japan for 50 years, during which time they built up their economy. Japan knows that the United States is the one country they have to watch out for. This is why Japan respects the United States.
The Japanese also respect anybody with a big nose and blue eyes who speaks perfect English. ... The U.S. president, therefore, is like the king of the world. The king of the world comes with Mrs. Moon? Impossible, they thought. This must be some kind of trick. ...
Then George and Barbara Bush spoke, supporting Mother's idea for true family and world peace. The audience could not deny that they were George and Barbara Bush. ...
Never in history has a U.S. president traveled to more than two cities in Japan. This time George and Barbara Bush traveled to five cities. No U.S. president has ever set foot on the island of Hokkaido. George and Barbara Bush went to Hokkaido. The citizens of Hokkaido bowed down to Father and Mother, because Father and Mother brought an American president to Hokkaido, the northern island. No president of the United States ever went to Kyushu, the southern island. Then George and Barbara Bush went to Fukuoka, the capital of Kyushu. The people of Kyushu were flabbergasted at Father and Mother's power to tell a U.S. president what to do and plan his schedule. Incredible. This completely changed the attitude of the Japanese government and media toward the Unification community. ....
The Japanese church has experienced incredible persecution. During 1996 we will completely chop off the old persecution, double the membership, and double it once again. (Truth is My Sword, Volume II - by Bo Hi Pak - Chapter 60 Give and Take of Love - New York, New York - January 2, 1996)
Final note...the Bush’s son, Neil, traveled with Moon on at least two stops of Moon’s world tour promoting his Universal Peace Federation, in the Philippines and Taipei. Recently it was revealed that Moon "donated" one million dollars to Neil Bush's business. Neil told Businessweek when they reported this, that, "Not one of our investors has ever asked for any kind of special access -- a visa, a trip to the Lincoln Bedroom, an autographed picture, or anything."
Neil Bush is either not very bright or naïve beyond repair. Moon got his picture and he didn’t have to "ask" for it. See the picture here.
And maybe, while Neil was attending the morning reading of Moon’s words, known as Hoon Dok Hae(HDH), he didn’t catch what Moon’s "Family Times" in the Philippines reported about his appearance with Moon.
Neil Bush, the younger brother of the US incumbent President Bush Jr. was part of our True Parents entourage. Neil Bush is not a politician but more involved in service community projects. He supported many of our SFP projects in America. During his stay with TPs he was even attending the HDH session also and jotting down notes from TPs words.
His presence was recognized by JDv [Jose Devencia – Speaker of the House of the Philippines] during the event that made Manila Bulletin to feature him, - Neil Bush, brother of US Pres. George Bush in the Phils, to attend UPF inaugural convention. His mere presence drew a lot of attention from our local politicians.