Back In The Sandpit

This from the Observer on Sunday, a story about sinister goings-on at the LaRouche organisation in Germany. Lyndon, apparently, has a German offshoot, the Schiller Institute, which has, according to the Observer, far right and anti-semitic overtones. But it was opposing the Iraq war, which may have brought this 22-year old Jewish boy, Jeremiah Duggan, to its conference. Jeremiah died after being run over, having strayed out onto the Autobahn.

We have spent a couple of posts exploring the views of LaRouche, who we have dismissed as a harmless, indeed occasionally perceptive, crank. We found it hard to take seriously anyone who dislikes Brits that much. But then we have not heard his outfit during our googling described as a "a shadowy cult led by a convicted fraudster with virulent anti-Semitic views, as the Observer does. But we are prepared to admit that the "conferences", the rambling newsletters, the conspiracy theories might add up to a cult. It's just hard to square the crazies handing out leaflets in Union Square to a group that may have contributed to a young man's death.

But we woud like reiterate a point made by Jack Shafer in Slate a few weeks back: LaRouche apparently provides the speaker of the house of Representatives with his oppo research.

Coming up, Redneck Rock N Roll Review...