Pat Robertson Explains God's Will Again Not that long ago Pat Robertson was using his bully pulpit on The 700 Club to warn a town that dropped "intelligent design" from its school curriculum that God might punish them.

Before that, of course, he was calling for the assassination of Hugo Chavez (in the flap over that, he alleged basically that the Librul Meediya had slandered him by quoting his exact words).

Now he's gone a step further, announcing specifically that Israeli Prime Minister Sharon's stroke was God's retribution against him:

Robertson: Sharon punished for dividing Israel (JTA Breaking News)

The Rev. Pat Robertson said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was punished by God for dividing the Land of Israel.

Speaking on the "700 Club" on Thursday, Robertson suggested that Sharon, who is currently in an induced coma following a massive stroke and cerebral hemorrhage, and former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, assassinated by an Israeli extremist in 1995, were being treated harshly by God for dividing Israel.

“He was dividing God’s land," Robertson said. "And I would say, 'Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the E.U., the United Nations or the United States of America.' God says, 'This land belongs to me. You better leave it alone.' "

Meanwhile, as reported at Media Matters,

"ABC Family has changed the disclaimer at the end of its telecasts of the Christian Broadcasting Network's (CBN) The 700 Club. The disclaimer now reads, 'The preceding CBN telecast does not reflect the views of ABC Family.' On August 26, ABC Family's post-700 Club graphic read 'The proceeding program was brought to you by CBN.' "

The new disclaimer appeared on August 29 following host Pat Robertson's call on August 22 for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez"So they really don't want to be directly associated with Robertson's insanity. Why don't they drop him?

They can't.

Christianity Today (week of August 22, after his calls for asassination of Hugo Chavez) reports:

Many people have complained about the 700 Club to cable channel ABC Family, which airs it. But ABC Family has no choice. It is obligated under contract to air it. (The FCC may not be able to do anything, either)

In 1988, Robertson sold the Family Network to Fox for $1.9 billion. Not bad, when you consider the channel was originally launched in 1977 through the donations of viewers who had been promised a Christian alternative to "secular" television, then taken public in 1992. CBN got $136 million from the sale. Robertson's Regent University got another $148 million. Robertson personally received $19 million, and the rest went to the Robertson Charitable Remainder Trust, which will fund CBN after Robertson and his wife die.

But the money wasn't the biggest part of the deal: Fox Family was required to air The 700 Club three times a day -- and, if Fox sold the network, the obligation to air The 700 Club had to be part of that deal, too.

Cable World reported in 2001 that Robertson turned down hundreds of millions of dollars to renegotiate. Largely due to frustration that the 700 Club had disrupted its programming, Fox sold the network to the Walt Disney Company in 2001 for $3 billion and $2.3 billion in debt. Now ABC Family is obligated to air the program three times a day.

Robertson could go on his program and call for the assassination of [then Disney CEO] Michael Eisner and ABC Family couldn't pull it. He could have zero viewers and ABC Family couldn't pull it. The ABC Family airtime has an estimated value of $46.8 million a year.

But Robertson is definitely a man who cuts his coat to suit his cloth -- for instance, he owns a company called (ironically?) "Freedom Gold Limited", a Liberian gold-mining operation, incorporated in the Cayman Islands -- its Presicent and sole Director being one Pat Robertson.

And, when Charles Taylor, President of Liberia was indicted for war crimes, did Robertson approve of President Bush's call, echoing UN resolutions for Taylor to step down for the good of the world and of Liberia's people, did that great humintarian, Robertson, agree?

Nope. July 11, 2003:

"How dare the president of the United States say to the duly elected president of another country, 'You've got to step down,'" Robertson said Monday on "The 700 Club," broadcast from his Christian Broadcasting Network.

Robertson told the Washington Post that the war crimes indictment "is nonsense and should be quashed."

"Frankly, the president's call for Taylor to step down immediately is not wise, because if Taylor leaves immediately, the country will descend into chaos," he told the paper.

Right. We shoulda just had him taken out.  ¶ 8:45 AM