wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comments

• [1] Laura from NYC June 03, 2008 - 10:31AM

  Please ask Mr. Sharlet about "The Family"'s tax status. Are they really a religious organization or a political organization? And what sort of financial auditing and reporting are they subject to?

  
  
• [2] j from nyc June 03, 2008 - 10:40AM

  this is why i love REAL math and science.

  Anyone who has an MBA ought to have heard of Edwards Deming, the former head of MIT's Sloan school of business and Quality Control, which eventually became Six Sigma. http://deming.ces.clemson.edu/pub/den/

  deming_info.htm

  He started out helping to develop statistical accountability methods for the Marshall Plan after WWII so that Europe wouldn't fall prey to dictators/authoritarianism again, and eventually his 14 principles of management -including #8. Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company- also became realized as a way to economically account for the contribution of everyone who works for any organization, not just the bigwigs. READ THIS MAN'S WORK. And yes, on the back of the biography of him written by his secretary, there's a picture of Bush 41 shaking his hand after presenting him with an honorary degree from Yale, so yes, Bush senior met the man, and still raised Bush 43...

  
  
• [3] j from nyc June 03, 2008 - 10:54AM

  and yes, i do know that some of Deming's 14 Points language sounds somewhat similar, but Demings' could actually do the math/statistics to back up his own Quality Control work/priorities, and if you need to see that proof, go to the website http://www.asq.org/ to learn the background history of how this work developed [I can think of some buildings and cranes in NYC that could use a little QC, come to think of it..].

  if you want to see which companies are using what is now called Six Sigma check out the career center.

  And last, probability is the math used in science and the stock market, so Intelligent Design and fundamentalist theories of thought not based on actual evidence/facts, such as the Theory of Evolution is, should not have any real standing when it comes to fiscal conservatism.

  
  
• [4] hjs from 11211 June 03, 2008 - 12:16PM

  what of the end of days?

  
  
• [5] hjs from 11211 June 03, 2008 - 12:23PM

  Wikipedia also talks about nazi connects in the 1940's

  
  
• [6] m from manhattan June 03, 2008 - 12:25PM

  reminds me of skull and bones, illuminati and their ilk

  
  
• [7] Paulo from Paterson, New Jersey June 03, 2008 - 12:29PM

  I guess I'll be sleeping with the lights on from now on...

  
  
• [8] Michael from Brooklyn June 03, 2008 - 12:33PM

  Leaving aside The Families tendency to leave aside minor quibbles like mass murder and military aggression, the Third Reich was a model of inefficiency. The German economy was managed very chaotically during the entire war. It had neither the flexibility of a free market nor the focus of an intelligently planned command economy. Hitler was a terribly inefficient and meddlesome manager and leader.

  
  
• [9] chestinee from NY NY June 03, 2008 - 12:34PM

  Isn't Indonesia very Muslim right now?

  
  
• [10] Eric from B'klyn June 03, 2008 - 12:34PM

  John McCain?

  
  
• [11] Carolyn from Manhattan June 03, 2008 - 12:37PM

  Please ask Mr. Sharlet about Hillary Clinton's involvement with The Family.

  
  
• [12] Virginia from Rockland Co. June 03, 2008 - 12:38PM

  Isn't this the old Tri Latteral Commission? They were a secret orgnaization heard about in the sixties that went underground.

  
  
• [13] hjs from 11211 June 03, 2008 - 12:39PM

  Carolyn

  he talked about that

  
  
• [14] hjs from 11211 June 03, 2008 - 12:45PM

  the Trilateral Commission is a private organization, established to foster closer cooperation between America, Europe and Japan. It was founded in July 1973

  
  
• [15] rg from nyc June 03, 2008 - 01:04PM

  could be reaction against Marx, whose writings were so influential in the '30's when this "Family" began. Marx took a dim view of both religion and the nuclear family, I believe I recall. This fundamentalist elitist "Family" does seem diametrically opposed to Marx's view (if I have it right) that real power is or should be with ordinary people.

  
  
• [16] Thosspot from ny June 03, 2008 - 04:22PM

  Was hoping for a little more balance, although I guess that would be asking too much from an editor from Harper's. Once again religion is evil! Big deal. Remember, members of both parties have been involved. I also think he overstates things in saying how much influence this "Family" has on US foreign policy. "Implied" maybe, but that's about it. Totally ginning things up to sell his book. And Gerald Ford a milquetoast? C'mon. He may have had a minimal impact as a prez (and most of what people know about him owes more to Chevy Chase/SNL than anything) but hardly a milquetoast. This book is much ado about nothing.