Before, I get into the story, let’s get you up to speed:

On August 28, Glenn Beck is planning a rally in Washington DC.  According to Mr. Beck, he intends on picking up Martin Luther King’s mantle and plans to “restore honor” to America.  How does Glenn Beck intend to restore honor? Well, by being as exploitative and dishonorable as possible.

Notably, Glenn Beck has chosen to hold the rally at the Lincoln Memorial on the anniversary of MLK’s “I I have a dream” speech.  Mr. Beck’s feeble and pathetic attempt to coopt MLK’s legacy has drawn the ire of civil rights leaders and organizations.  Mr. Beck rebuffed this criticism, asserting: “Blacks don’t own Martin Luther King.”

But, wait…

You see, the rally isn’t really a rally at all.  It’s actually a giant stealth book launching event for Glenn Beck’s upcoming book, which is currently titled “The Plan.”

It gets worse…

Glenn Beck is raising money for this rally…err…book launching event tax-free! He’s doing that by using a charity called the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.  He’s soliciting tax-free donations for the event under the guise that the donations will go to “help the troops.”

But, if you read the fine print, you’ll notice that all donations go to pay for the event first; any leftovers will then be given to the charity. Oh, and it’s unlikely that they’ll be any leftovers.  Glenn Beck has previously estimated the cost of the event at $2 million and so far they’re not anywhere close to raising that amount [Update: the charity advises that they've raised $2 million amount. I've been following closely and don't see how they're at that figure yet, but we'll take their word for it].  As an aside, I wonder if Sarah Palin will be charging her usual speaking fee for this event? Or, if she’ll forgo it in order to “help the troops.”

Ugh, but there is one last kick in the gut…

The Special Operations Warrior Foundation is a charity that benefits wounded veterans and their families.  Sure, it’s contemptible that Glenn Beck would exploit the idea of helping wounded veterans in order to raise money tax-free for a political rally…err….book launching event.  But, here’s the kicker…

Glenn Beck suggested that the purple heart is dishonorable and has trashed the purple heart as a progressive plot.  Accordingly, he plans to begin the event by doing away with purple hearts and awarding his own version of it (emphasis added):

Glenn Beck: Today, we announced the first 15 minutes of the 8-28 event and the people that will join me on stage. We announced that we are going to start — restart the badge of merit that George Washington gave his troops. It’s what the Purple Heart is based on, except the progressives — what a surprise — in 1933 introduced the Purple Heart.

The Purple Heart was based on the badge of merit by George Washington. It had nothing to do with being wounded in action. It had everything to do with doing something of honor and integrity, something to — something that — where you really put your neck out and you did something of real merit, not just getting shot — not that that’s –

But he was trying to build people that understood honor and merit and integrity and God.

That’s right, Glenn Beck plans to “restore honor” by trashing purple heart recipients as lacking honor and integrity.

So, the 828 event is a giant scheme to further enrich Glenn Beck by exploiting tax-free donations to help wounded veterans, who he plans on trashing anyway.

One of the ways that Glenn Beck is raising money is with an auction.  He’s auctioning off all kinds of stuff, like a scholarship to Liberty University, dinner at the Glenn Beck mansion or a lunch date with Karl Rove.

But, there’s one recent addition to the auction that stands out. Tom Benson, the owner of the New Orleans Saints, donated “4 Plaza Level Tickets & Exclusive Pre-Game Field Passes to a New Orleans Saints NFC South Home Game of Your Choice”

Based on how disgraceful Glenn Beck’s 828 event really is, any reputable business person or organization should not be helping Glenn Beck raise money for a book launching event.  Moreover, given that Glenn Beck called Hurricane Katrina victims “scumbags,” the use of The Saints to raise money for Glenn Beck is even stranger.

Oy.

Take a moment to contact The Saints and urge them to not to help Glenn Beck raise money for Glenn Beck’s book launch event.