We have a unique but fleeting opportunity to permanently depress demand by locking in higher gasoline prices.

National Public Radio's Fresh Air, host Terry Gross said to Hagee, "You said after Hurricane Katrina that it was an act of God, and you said 'when you violate God's will long enough, the judgment of God comes to you. Katrina is an act of God for a society that is becoming Sodom and Gomorrah reborn.' " She then asked, "Do you still think that Katrina is punishment from God for a society that's becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah?" Hagee responded:

HAGEE: All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are -- were recipients of the judgment of God for that. The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing. I know that there are people who demur from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the day of judgment. And I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.

Earlier in the program, Gross asked if Hagee believed that "all Muslims have a mandate to kill Christians and Jews," to which Hagee replied, "Well, the Quran teaches that. Yes, it teaches that very clearly."

A March 7, 1996, article (accessed via the Nexis database) in the San Antonio Express-News reported that Hagee was going to "meet with black religious leaders privately at an unspecified future date to discuss comments he made in his newsletter about a 'slave sale,' an East Side minister said Wednesday." The Express-News reported:

Hagee, pastor of the 16,000-member Cornerstone Church, last week had announced a "slave sale" to raise funds for high school seniors in his church bulletin, "The Cluster."

The item was introduced with the sentence "Slavery in America is returning to Cornerstone" and ended with "Make plans to come and go home with a slave."

A July 27, 2006, Wall Street Journal article about Hagee noted the incident:

To help students seeking odd jobs, his church newsletter, The Cluster, advertised a "slave" sale. "Slavery in America is returning to Cornerstone," it said. "Make plans to come and go home with a slave." Mr. Hagee apologized but, in a radio interview, protested about pressure to be "politically correct" and joked that perhaps his pet dog should be called a "canine American."

A December 23, 2007, Reuters news article on former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's (R) visit to Hagee's church reported that "some Catholics were angry about the visit." The article noted:

In his recent book "Jerusalem Countdown," Hagee wrote: "Most readers will be shocked by the clear record of history linking Adolf Hitler and the Roman Catholic Church in a conspiracy to exterminate the Jews."

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Posner also noted that in another Hagee text, "Bible Positions on Political Issues," (John Hagee Ministries, 1992) Hagee wrote, "[T]he feminist movement today is throwing off authority in rebellion against God's pattern for the family."

[more] From the September 18, 2006, edition of NPR's Fresh Air:

HAGEE: Well, Islam in general, those who live by the Quran have a scriptural mandate to kill Christians and Jews. Now, I had an Islamic on my television show last week. His name was Walid Shoebat. He was raised as a Palestinian terrorist and at one time was -- placed a bomb and was supposed to walk into a bank. And I said, "Walid, I'm trying to understand the definition of what is a radical Islamic person, because I've read many books, many magazines and I can't come up with a good definition of what constitutes a radical Islamic." And he says these words, and I'll quote them, he said, "Anyone who truly believes the Quran is willing to kill Christians or Jews. That's waging jihad." He said, "Now, those people who are willing to go into another country and start a war will only be about 15 to 20 percent of Islam."

There are 1.3 billion people who follow the Islamic faith, so if you're saying there's only 15 percent that want to come to America or invade Israel to crush it, you're only talking about 200 million people. That's far more than Hitler and Japan and Italy and all of the axis powers in World War II had under arms. That is a massive number of people. So while we may define radical Islam as a minority, because there are so many, it is still an overpowering military potential.

GROSS: But what you said is that all Muslims have a mandate to kill Christians and Jews. Do you believe that?

HAGEE: Well, the Quran teaches that. Yes, it teaches that very clearly.

I looked up the article on Lexis/Nexis. There's more. From an editorial in the same paper, March 5 1996:

"We have nothing to be ashamed of," the church's pastor, the Rev. John Hagee, said in defending the upcoming fund-raiser."

Odd: even though I grew up in a godless household in the Kremlin on the Charles, I was always taught that when I was wrong, I had to apologize and take my medicine; and that to try to wriggle out of it would only add to my shame. Apparently, Hagee thinks differently.

From an article in the same paper on the same day:

"The controversy began when Hagee wrote a brief item for Sunday in Cornerstone Church's weekly bulletin, "The Cluster," promoting a March 31 fund-raiser in which the services of seniors from Cornerstone High School are to be auctioned off to the highest bidders.

"This was never intended as a racial slur. We deeply regret that anyone was offended, and we apologize to anyone who was offended by it," Hagee told the Express-News on Monday, adding:

"There's not a racial bone in my body or in this church. I was trying to help our high school seniors raise money for their senior trip, and that's the whole story."

He said a friend advised him Monday to "update your vocabulary. You don't say 'black coffee.' You don't say you have a 'black eye' but 'a bruised eye'; you don't have a 'blacklist' but a 'bad list'; and you don't issue a 'white paper' but a 'position paper.'

"I don't think I'm even going to call my dog a dog. I'm going to call him a canine-American," Hagee quipped.

He said churches, schools and cities have raised money through similar events for many years and called them "slave auctions" without drawing any criticism.

No blacks have expressed displeasure to him directly, he said, adding that he believes the controversy was started by the media or by "liberal activists who know how to use the media.""

I can't think of any reason why African Americans would criticize anyone for holding a "slave auction" if liberal activists didn't put them up to it. Can you? I mean: people are just so touchy these days! Maybe I'm going to have to rethink my plans to raise money for my school by holding a "concentration camp" ("Make plans to come home with a brand new lampshade!") And that cute little lynching fundraiser: do you think I should put that on hold until the liberal activists go away?

Seriously: I await John McCain's response to this. I remember back in 2000, when I was painting my room with CSPAN on, and happened to hear the speech in which McCain described parts of the religious right as "agents of intolerance". I thought it was a great speech, not that my opinions did him any good. He should have stuck to his guns on that one. He was right. If I had to guess, I'd say he still believes the things he said in his speech, but decided he had to snuggle up to the Christian right for political purposes.

Oops.

Hagee is the President and CEO of John Hagee Ministries which telecasts his national radio and television ministry carried in America on 160 TV stations, fifty radio stations and eight networks including The Inspiration Network (INSP) and Trinity Broadcasting Network.[citation needed] The ministries can be seen and heard weekly in 99 million homes. John Hagee Ministries is in Canada on the Miracle Channel and CTS and can be seen in Africa, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and is in most third world nations.[citation needed]

He is also the president and CEO of Global Evangelism Television, which telecasts his radio and television ministry.

Obama says that rather than advising him on strategy, Wright helps keep his priorities straight and his moral compass calibrated.

"What I value most about Pastor Wright is not his day-to-day political advice," Obama said. "He's much more of a sounding board for me to make sure that I am speaking as truthfully about what I believe as possible and that I'm not losing myself in some of the hype and hoopla and stress that's involved in national politics."

***

[T]hough Wright now wears three-piece suits on occasion, but he still dons a dashiki most times he preaches. Obama has said he is particularly inspired by Wright's ability to draw followers from all walks of life—celebrities and welfare recipients, PhDs and GEDs. It is a gift the senator aspires to emulate.

Wright again bucked convention by announcing plans to retire in May 2008 and tapping Rev. Otis Moss III as his successor. Many black pastors do not surrender their pulpit even when they become too feeble to serve, said Rev. Dwight Hopkins, a professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School who met Wright in the 1980s.

Wright's willingness to "surrender leadership" demonstrates a humility that sets him apart, Hopkins said.

"The black church is probably the only space in America where black men can have unquestioned authority," he said. "It's hard to give that up for a lot of black male pastors."

Wright said the decision was not hard difficult. "The church is built around the personality of Jesus, not Jeremiah Wright," he said.

***

Wright sought to build on the black theology of liberation introduced in 1968 by Rev. James Cone of New York, by emphasizing Africa's contribution to Christianity rather than that of mainstream white theologians.

"To show there is an independent form of thinking there about religion that stands on its own, that's really more life-giving than what you get from Europe," Cone said. "Black people who come from that approach have a very healthy understanding of who they are."

***

In his 1993 memoir "Dreams from My Father," Obama recounts in vivid detail his first meeting with Wright in 1985. The pastor warned the community activist that getting involved with Trinity might turn off other black clergy because of the church's radical reputation.

When Obama sought his own church community, he felt increasingly at home at Trinity. Before leaving for Harvard Law School in 1988, he responded to one of Wright's altar calls and declared a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Later he would base his 2004 keynote speech to the Democratic National Convention on a Wright sermon called "Audacity to Hope," —also the inspiration for Obama's second memoir, "The Audacity of Hope."

Though Wright and Obama do not often talk one-on-one often, the senator does check with his pastor before making any bold political moves.

Last fall, Obama approached Wright to broach the possibility of running for president. Wright cautioned Obama not to let politics change him, but he also encouraged Obama, win or lose.

Only Jimmy Carter and certain Liberals in Congress today would purpose such a ludicrous idea.