Glenn Beck - The Eye of Moloch

In Chapter 30the bedtime story that Noah tells Virginia is not fictitious. Lee Atwater really did spread a rumor that Thomas Foley was gay, and Barney Frank threatened to out six homosexual Republican senators on the floor of the House.

“Clinton’s Sexual Scorched-Earth Plan,” Jonathan Broder and Harry Jaffe, Salon, August 5, 1998, http://bit.ly/XVrLvM.

In Chapter 33Noah walks into an argument between Ira and Lana regarding U.S. immigration policy. While the media seems to want to make people believe that the U.S. excludes far more people than it allows in, the fact is that the United States accepts more legal immigrants than the rest of the world combined.

“300 Million and Counting,” Joel Garreau, Smithsonian magazine, October 2006, http://bit.ly/92IGo6.

In Chapter 36the portion of a speech that Noah hears through his radio is from Ronald Reagan’s 1964 speech “A Time for Choosing.” Some credit this speech as the one that put Reagan on the map and resulted in his election as president sixteen years later. Here’s another snippet from it, but it would be worth your time to read the whole thing.

You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right, but I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down—up to a man’s age-old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order—or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism, and regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.

“A Time for Choosing,” Ronald Reagan, October 27, 1964, http://bit.ly/3XTwG9.

In Chapter 37Virginia finds the same tattoo on many of the male victims that she examines. The markings point to the House of Percy, from which George Pierce is descendant. Thomas Percy was, in fact, of this line and was a co-conspirator in the Gunpowder Plot that attempted to kill King James I and blow up the House of Parliament. Fortunately, the plot was uncovered before any harm was done and the conspirators, including Thomas Percy, were executed.

Today the symbol of Guy Fawkes, the man who was discovered actually guarding the gunpowder, has been turned upside down to become one of resistance against a tyrannical government. His symbol has been adopted by different movements, including “Anonymous” and “Occupy Wall Street.”

“Thomas Percy,” History Learning Site, http://bit.ly/11LLiNp.

“The Gunpowder Plot: A Detailed Account,” David Herber, Britannia History, http://bit.ly/12t1HHH.

“How Did Guy Fawkes Become a Symbol of Occupy Wall Street?” Edward Lovett, ABC News, November 5, 2011, http://abcn.ws/sWBXJC.

In Chapter 38George Pierce fantasizes about the new United States that will come after the revolution. He also recognizes that there will initially be a tough period when those Americans (about 25 million) who cannot assimilate must be eliminated. In the late sixties and early seventies, an FBI agent infiltrated a radical group known as the Weather Underground. They too were preparing for a new United States and believed their top priority after the revolution would be to reeducate all Americans and eliminate those who would not accept the indoctrination. According to their estimates, that would be about 25 million people. Check out this clip from the 1982 documentary “No Place to Hide” for more.

“FBI Agent Larry Grathwohl–Bill Ayers’ Weather Underground Plan to Kill 25 Million Americans,” http://bit.ly/11sap51.

In Chapter 40the quotes recited by Esther come from well-known sources. “We walk by faith, not by sight” is from 2 Corinthians 5:7 and “Hell is empty and all the devils are here” is from Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

2 Corinthians 5:7, King James Version, http://bg4.me/117WrX4.

William Shakespeare. The Tempest. Act 1 Scene 2. http://shakespeare.mit.edu/tempest/full.xhtml.

In Chapter 44Noah arrives at the Ordo Seclorum, where his father’s funeral is being held. This place was inspired by the Bohemian Grove, a club north of San Francisco in the Redwood Forest, where the world’s richest and most powerful men meet for two weeks every summer. The club’s real motto is “Weaving Spiders Come Not Here,” a slogan alluding to the idea that business discussions are to be left outside the gates. Unfortunately for members, that has not always been the case. The Manhattan Project was reportedly planned here, as were several other world-changing events.

The Grove also really does have a giant forty-foot stone statue of an owl on which one of their main rituals is centered: the Cremation of Care. In this ceremony, the men, dressed in robes, sacrifice the effigy of a child known as Care, who symbolizes the worldly cares of the men.

“Bohemian Grove: Where the Rich and Powerful Go to Misbehave,” Elizabeth Frock, The Washington Post, June 15, 2011, http://wapo.st/jjvBHF.

“Masters of the Universe Go to Camp: Inside the Bohemian Grove,” Phillip Weiss, Spy Magazine, November 1989, 59–76, http://bit.ly/L7XZK0.

In Chapter 51we see Warren Landers in the Talion Corporation showcase facility. While Talion is not based on any single military contractor, the United States government has outsourced many combat and support functions to various powerful private companies, with Blackwater (now renamed Academi) being the most well known.

“The Blackwater Plot Deepens,” Jeremy Scahill, The Guardian, November 11, 2009, http://bit.ly/11BHdv.

More from Chapter 51:

After collecting all the computers from the remains of the Merrick ranch, Warren Landers is able to get a clear understanding of who Lawrence Cole, the owner of the home improvement stores who aids Molly and Hollis, really is by sifting through his online records. This is not an exaggeration. The National Security Agency (NSA) gathers as much data every six hours as has ever been stored in the entire Library of Congress. And now the NSA is building a top-secret $2 billion facility in Utah to store and analyze the data it is collecting. This facility will reportedly be five times the size of the U.S. Capitol and, according to some published reports, it could hold 5 zettabytes of data—that’s as much data as contained in 310 billion iPhones.

“Every Six Hours, the NSA Gathers as Much Data as Is Stored in the Entire Library of Congress,” Dan Nosowitz, Popsci.com, May 10, 2011, http://bit.ly/lmRSwd.

“The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say),” James Bamford, Wired, March 15, 2012, http://bit.ly/FOPeok.

“NSA data center front and center in debate over liberty, security and privacy,” Catherine Herridge, FoxNews.com, April 12, 2013, http://fxn.ws/11vmERo.

In Chapter 55Noah alerts Ellen to how easily their movements can be monitored by government surveillance. While some liberties were taken for the sake of the story, there is a very real push for these kinds of capabilities in future law enforcement. In March 2013, the FBI’s general counsel said it was a “top priority” to modernize surveillance laws so that it can keep up with the expanding technological communication abilities of Americans. The FBI has also proposed a law that would require Internet companies to make their customers’ social networks and email providers more “wiretap-friendly.”

“FBI’s Lawyer Says Modernizing Surveillance Law for Real-Time Online Snooping Is a ‘Top Priority’ in 2013,” Gerry Smith, The Huffington Post, March 28, 2013, http://huff.to/YLLMQg.