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The Christian Right Assault on America – Government and the Military

Oh good – I got to read the galleys so have none of the photos, but I thought it was really good. His appearance here and in LA brought some attention to the book, but it’s not going to set the world on fire unless and until reviewers start taking note of it. And they won’t because they don’t “get it”. So enjoy – it’s well written (he had help and owns up to it) and very interesting.

» Posted By choicelady On March 15, 2012 @ 8:03 am

I never thought I’d be happy that it turned out W was more lazy than he was religious. Had he kept the zealotry in his heart, he MIGHT have made sure he stayed in power. But his basic character asserted itself – playboy slacker – and we got rid of him. Who knew a character flaw would save the world?

» Posted By choicelady On March 15, 2012 @ 8:01 am

Great expose, Sue! A couple of points – the forces behind capturing the military really shouldn’t be called “evangelicals” since they actually BASH evangelicals as being “not good enough” Christians. They are, purely and simply, Dominionists. They depart from ALL previous notions of Christianity and thus are not actually Christians at all. The End Times fervor is comparatively new (noting that the Millerites of the 1830s and 40s thought the end was coming, to be sure) and was cranked up only after the 1970s “I Found It” campaign started this new wave.

THE organization fighting Dominionist take over of the military is the Military Religious Freedom Foundation based in Albuquerque, NM. It was started by Mikey Weinstein, a former Air Force Academy grad and Air Force office and JAG (Judge Advocate General) once assigned to Reagan’s White House staff by the US Air Force. It was the bashing of his son, a Jew also at the Air Force Academy, that started it all. I would strongly urge people to go to the web site: http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org to read the list of things they have STOPPED, including the “Bible sights” – those rifle sights with Bible verses on them – and the dominant presence of Franklin Graham and other very extremist Dominionists such as former Gen. Jerry Boykin from being the mandatory attendance features of military events.

Mikey has a new book, “No Snowflake in an Avalance” that is excellent and well worth reading. It’s about this critically-important issue AND the sacrifices he and his family have made to fight for our Constitution and end the “new Crusades”. The book is available online at the MRFF “Store”. Although none of us wishes to go over to the AOLHP often, MRFF researcher, an absolutely brilliant woman, Chris Rodda, does post there. You have to enter her name to find her stuff (Arianna buries the good things deeply)but she posts some of the most in-depth stories pretty regularly.

Sue – this, as you note, is one of the most terrifying aspects of Dominionism. Do we WANT our Air Force personnel with their fingers on the nuclear button being trained that killing for Jesus justifies anything and everything they do? That actually happened – and MRFF stopped it after 22 of the 26 or so “nuke officers” complained they were being indoctrinated to think that nuclear holocaust was a God-driven good thing.

Thank you for this rich detail, Sue. This is one other note – there is reason to be concerned that the Sgt. who massacred the Afghan civilians was, indeed, a Dominionist. Don’t yet know for sure, and it probably will be covered up – for the sake of reducing the Afghani outrage – but it may well be the absolute truth. We may never know for sure, but it is in keeping with the self appointed mission of Dominionists. And if so, this is horrific beyond words. A man who would justify slaughering innocents because “Jesus ” (or his chaplain) said it was OK puts the entire US in peril. And that, BTW, is precisely what he wanted to occur.

Be afraid of these people. Be VERY afraid.

» Posted By choicelady On March 13, 2012 @ 10:18 pm

My date with the GOP

That is an amazing story, funk! I’m so glad you went and had a chance to see “inside” the process.

I imagine in WA that you encountered more moderate GOP members. It’s the Dominionist (not all Evangelicals are Republican – ALL Dominionists are) influence to outright control that tends to bend people so far Right. That strikes me as less present in WA – though a trip around the area just south of the Canadian border showed the new building of LOTS of Dominionist churches in that area. But for the moment, they have less presence in WA.

Isn’t it interesting that the folks came to such moderate conclusions? Wonder how that will play out in the national party and if your new acquaintances will be drummed out by the extremists?

Now you’ve become a Newt supporter, you likely will be bombarded with his “visionary” statements, so please feel free to tell us all how he sees putting a space colony on the moon (or whatever it is) will make us all happy and properous? I’m still trying to figure that out. I figure for Newt “visionary” means paying absolutely no attention to problems here on earth but projecting wildly into the future with plans that would boggle the mind of H.G. Wells. In normal terms, we call that “avoidance”. So we will appreciate YOUR insights into his.

Thank you for this very interesting write up of an equally interesting experience. Please though – don’t go to Tampa.

» Posted By choicelady On March 16, 2012 @ 8:26 am

The End of Right Wing Talk Radio???

Trying to find links for these people is very difficult – but not impossible. We’re working on it.

Did you ever see the video filmed secretly of the training Coe did for the new Family members? He extols the virtues of the Red Guard who (he claims) cut off their parents’ heads to show loyalty to the Guard. He makes other such claims about other tryrannical butchers – and praises it all, including Hitler, for training followers TO BE LOYAL. That’s IT. That’s what matters. When they say their motto is “Jesus plus nothing” they mean “The Family is the ONLY loyalty and don’t you forget it.”

If they are supporting Kony to get access to Ugandan oil, they lost out – he’s back in the Sudan. But it is about POWER over others. It sure ain’t to bring the love of Jesus to anyone, that is for damn sure.

» Posted By choicelady On March 11, 2012 @ 6:21 pm

Absolutism. Anyone wedded to absolutism can defend the most horrific things, secular or religious. As I said below to es’cat, if this comes from his ties to The Family, then all is clear. If not – he’s seriously, dangerously demented.

» Posted By choicelady On March 11, 2012 @ 6:16 pm

Yes, Murph – those were the folks I listened to years ago. And there was hard hitting discussions then, none of which sank to the level of gut-puking vilification of other people.

On the other hand – remember Fr. Caughlin, the conservatives who hosted McCarthy? That was probably the same, we’re just too young to remember it first hand. And there was balance. For every sniveling Fr. Caughlin, there was an Edward R. Murrow – or three or four. THAT is what kept HIM from going totally over the top. Hardly anyone balances out Rush et al. today.

» Posted By choicelady On March 11, 2012 @ 5:54 pm

Murph – it’s rational if and only if he’s supporting Kony on behalf of “The Family” and its interests in Africa. If they are supporting him financially – and clearly someone is – then Rush can be explained as The Family mouthpiece for their pet tryrant of the week. That’s pretty hideous to contemplate.

» Posted By choicelady On March 11, 2012 @ 2:51 pm

I know – as much as I am disgusted by what he did to Sandra Fluke, this, IMHO, is worse. It is like defending Pol Pot! How low have you sunk when you call a mass murderer “christian” simply because he wraps himself in the mantle of insane delusion? Sandra and US women can fight back. Who but Obama is defending those children of the night, violently impressed into Kony’s army to kill their own families? Who defends the women of the Sudan, Congo, Uganda other than Obama? And who in their RIGHT MIND would call Kony a “Christian” as if there were ANY reasonable idea that was remotely true? I don’t even have words for how utterly disgusting this is.

What scares me is that I have the sense that “The Family” funds Kony therefore Rush defends Kony. Not a shred of proof, no, but…it’s totally in keeping with the way “The Family” does business. The faux left says we’re in Uganda because there is oil – well, define “we”. You don’t send a scant 100 troops if you’re goal is taking over Uganda’s oil fields! You do send them to help those incredibly embattled people (actually now all in the Sudan since Kony left Uganda) help defend themselves.

But if you are doing this by stealth, then yes, perhaps the “we” is technical Americans who actually are Dominionists who have their own “nation” of themselves and other true believers. They’re possibly abetting Kony since they are behind the ‘death to gays’ laws in the rest of Uganda? Taking the world’s wealth while waiting for the End Times has been their way of life. It needs to be discovered if Kony is another tyrant for Jesus whom they support. Rush’s ringing endorsement makes me very suspicious.

» Posted By choicelady On March 11, 2012 @ 2:49 pm

It always takes public expression to move advertising dollars. If we don’t speak up, they think we don’t care, so why should they move their money?

We can see now how important our voices are. Wow – what if we’d done this ages ago? We might have had a much cleaner set of national debates on issues and prevented this airwaves descent to the Right.

I don’t fault advertisers for going where they think the consumers are. I fault us for not reminding them that there are more of us than dittoheads.

» Posted By choicelady On March 11, 2012 @ 10:58 am

Rush continues to be utterly irrational. His assault on Sandra Fluke is manifestation of the deepest loathing of women and sets a drumbeat against intelligence, forthrightness, and self-determination for our sex. Cloaking this as a defense of religious freedom, he excoriates President Obama for the policy on contraception – the President’s “war on religion.” Someone wedded to “traditional values” could be comforted by this even as most of us disagree.

However, Rush continues this outrageous behavior to the most dark netherworld by insisting that the President’s order sending 100 Green Berets into northern Uganada and Sudan to help local people FINALLY resist the despicable and brutal Lord’s Resistance Army is another “war on Christianity.” WHAT???? Joseph Kony’s enslaved children of war have unleashed the hounds of hell on innocents: men, women, and especially children, and this is all Rush has to say – it’s Christianity? That Rush would defend LRA and Kony shows him so deep in the mire that he can never extricate himself.

I do not believe in the Devil. With Rush in the world, that role is already taken by a very flesh and blood human being.

» Posted By choicelady On March 11, 2012 @ 9:53 am

Wow – how radical! That used to be what we heard. I grew up on diverse talk, Irv Kupcinet, Dave Garroway, etc. who had people of all views on their programs. Bill Moyers more recently does some of the same, so does Charlie Rose. Ask questions, challenge answers – calmly and with respect – and you elicit deeper and more clear views. THAT helps people understand what the implications of any view might be.

Trust Vermont to do it well. Thanks!

» Posted By choicelady On March 11, 2012 @ 9:39 am

LIVE BLOG – Super Tuesday 2012

Oh honey – I am SO sorry! I wrote offline, so let me know what I can do – grocery shopping, errands, hard liquor? I’m not that far away, and I’ll be glad to help where I can. Love and hugs getting through this. I AM sorry this is happening to you and your family.

» Posted By choicelady On March 7, 2012 @ 9:47 pm

The loss by Kucinich may help make an essential point about the place of progressive politics in America. Dennis used to be the blue collar advocate, the man who championed really good causes. Whatever happened to him, he took a turn that many have taken to supporting wacko ideas that have no bearing on or are inimical to the fortunes of the working families of America.

When I worked with the single payer folks in CA, all was well until President Obama’s health reform. The snarling disagreements went so far as to demand it be abolished and that we wait and get a GOOD program of single payer. Some of this came from physicians who were perfectly happy to let the uninsured STAY uninsured. That was beyond my ability to take it in – you’d let people DIE just to get ideological purity????? Hippocrates is spinning.

When Cynthia McKinney embraced Khaddafi, Kucinich defends Assad, the left calls – without clarity – for bringing down capitalism, when white privileged people disdain blue collar workers and their work, when environmentalists call for shutting rather than greening industrial plants, when white people tell Black people to ‘get over being Black’, when urbaniste yuppies laugh at farmers and sneer at anyone of faith, the put a stake in the heart of the progressive movement.

I believe America is almost always a center-Left country. It moves right if and only if those in the center feel utterly abandoned by their government, by Dems, by liberals and certainly by progressives. The work by progressives is to keep our collective eyes on human impacts of all we do, keep a promise not to sacrifice anyone to our cause but be mindful of consequences and help people through hard change. We need to stop being snobs, snots, elitists, and dumb.

Progress comes when we build it together, not when we impose it from a few. Progress means being inclusive and listening to the fears of change people have. It doesn’t make them stupid or conservative. It means they are simply scared of what they do not yet understand. Progressives also have to stop grandstanding. Who in their right mind defends brutal dictators? The Right does it with impunity. The Left better damn well NOT.

So the Progressive Caucus is now down by one member. I’d dispute Dennis was still progressive as opposed to just egocentric and outrageous lately, but still – read voters’ lips, progressives. No more extremism. Progressive should mean we care about one another. If our policies don’t include having progressive value for others, then our position is just a pose, not real, and it deserves to die. The rest of us will carry on even if you think we sold out. Ideological purity never won anything. Hard work and cooperation with diverse others does – every single time.

» Posted By choicelady On March 7, 2012 @ 7:31 am

I know, kes (see Sue and Cher above- we ALL do it!) and was so happy for YOU because you like her so much!

There are anti-abortion zealots who basically hate women, even when they are women, and there are pro-life people who honestly believe in the sanctity of life, womb to tomb. She is the latter. I can live with that because it is also a version of pro-women views. She does NOT believe when you’re born the warranty on your value runs out. Her compassion for all people is real, and her support for revitalizing manufacturing is very important to our future.

GLAD she won, and even more glad you came home to such GOOD news! We live vicariously through you, good friend!

» Posted By choicelady On March 7, 2012 @ 7:09 am

Seriously? Kucinich said THAT? Wow – he’s turned a very dark corner. Huge loss, IMHO – he used to be amazingly wonderful.

Glad he lost.

» Posted By choicelady On March 7, 2012 @ 7:01 am

That’s only because he can see Sarah from his front porch.

» Posted By choicelady On March 6, 2012 @ 9:37 pm

Hope it wasn’t Springfield, Sally. It’s home to lynchings, the Assembly of God, skinheads, meth, and John Ashcroft. I know of it all to well. Underneath that pleasant facade beats the heart of one purely racist, bigoted population! I have a friend who was driven out by Christian Identity and skinheads, corrupt cops, and racism the size of all outdoors.

If you survived all that, good for you!

» Posted By choicelady On March 6, 2012 @ 9:34 pm

Don’t talk down to us Boomers. I know who Lady GaGa is…

Good analysis, funk! Thanks! We codgers even understood it.

» Posted By choicelady On March 6, 2012 @ 9:31 pm

The key issue we need to focus on is not his trogolodyte ideas about religion and reproduction but on his plans for rebuilding manufacturing. They are based entirely on tax cuts and deregulation for corporations. Should he – GOD FORBID – win the nomination, he MUST be called out on his using blue collar working people to promote tax cuts for the rich.

It’s not that we don’t look after his pre-Gallileo mentality on other issues – but the one thing that can resonate with blue collar people would be some kind of message about “putting working people back to work.” The key issue is HOW and it needs to be made crystal clear that unlike Obama who has magnificent tax plans that do NOT reward finance capital but help invest in manufacturing, Santorum’s plans are all giveaways to existing corporations. AND he’s virulently anti-union.

» Posted By choicelady On March 6, 2012 @ 9:27 pm

I saw Kaptur won – and her working family credentials are impeccable. I wish she were more prochoice (she excoriated Rush on contraception NOT just his despicable behavior) but I will live with it. She did vote for health care reform and accepted the reality that the Hyde Amendment removed all doubts about abortion. That aside, she’s extremely solid.

So hats off to kes who wanted Kaptur!!! I hope when she gets home tonight, it will be a GREAT evening of rest and happiness!

I cannot believe Dennis is so petty that he’d not even congratulate Kaptur. I used to like him, met him once at the CA Dem Convention, and I’m sorry he’s turned out to be such a lemon sucker.

» Posted By choicelady On March 6, 2012 @ 9:24 pm

Giving Limbaugh the Bum’s Rush

Patricia Heaton was/is the spokesperson for “Feminists for Life” a militant anti-abortion group, one leader of which used to be a leader of Project Rescue in Buffalo, NY the other leaders of which are powerful Dominionist Christians. Heaton therefore needs to be considered pretty “out there” politically. Apparently Heaton is knee-jerk enough to say the things she says about Fluke, NONE of which are what Fluke discussed. Obviously Heaton bought the whole ball of wax. But she cancelled her Twitter account? Wow. She must have gotten TweetFlamed but good.

» Posted By choicelady On March 5, 2012 @ 10:15 pm

I wrote, got bounced and called – said they have the right and authority to defend their women customers by insisting that their ads on Clear Channel NOT be aired during his show. That seemed to make them a bit more happy.

» Posted By choicelady On March 5, 2012 @ 2:51 pm

Hi SnapShots – I’m in Sacto, too and will follow through. Thanks!

BTW – if you want an anti-Rush, come tonight (MOnday, MArch 5) at 7 pm to Trinity Episcopal Cathedral to hear Mikey Weinstein talk about the Dominionists who have invaded the US military. He is promoting his new book, “No Snowflake in an Avalanch” about his work to end the domination of US military operations and institutions by religious extremists. Trinity is at 2626 Capitol Ave., Sacramento. He will also have his book for sale and signing. Bring like minded friends, too!

» Posted By choicelady On March 5, 2012 @ 2:49 pm

Huffington Post Hacklines – Vol. 1

Welcome indeed! Most of us are refugees from AOLHP, though I never got banned but often censored. VERY unAmerican, IMHO!

She has said she’s considering voting GOP – though why is not clear. She is no progressive though, so her Fifth Columnist tactics are now glaringly exposed.

Although I cannot reconstruct any of the Hacklines that peeved me, the ones that did were those that screamed some massive failure about Obama’s actions over reports that said no such thing. Comments made it clear no one had read the STORY – and you got censored if you mentioned that the story did not reflect the Hacklines.

Good to have you here. We might take some getting used to since we write longer and more thoughtfully than we ever could there, but please feel welcome and write what you like. We do read it!

» Posted By choicelady On March 4, 2012 @ 11:10 am

As with many of us here on the Planet, it’s what drove us away. I found KQ, the very first person I followed over there, had managed to sneak in the link to PPOV (he got dismissed on most attempts) so I followed, and here we all are. KQ had left long before, but I had no idea where. Serendipity led me here, and here I shall stay. We’re so glad you’re here, too.

» Posted By choicelady On March 3, 2012 @ 10:07 am

Breitbart helped Arianna found Huffington Post, so the fix is in. It would be like trying to say something truthful about Murdoch in the Wall Street Journal. Won’t fly.

» Posted By choicelady On March 3, 2012 @ 7:36 am

Hi Annie – welcome to the Planet. Several of us are in AZ, and I have family there, so you’re right at home.

Most all of us are refugees from AOLHP – when you cannot be truthful, then it’s not a blog it’s a propaganda machine. Here we say most anything. It’s true we are often in sync – it’s not at the level of HP – but all one asks of anyone is civility. The few who have been taken off have had that occur for INcivility, not content.

We’re glad you’re here. Keep writing!

» Posted By choicelady On March 3, 2012 @ 7:33 am

And they see themselves as “victims”. Of what is never quite clear and never clearly specified, but they are “oppressed” and “under surveillance” and “deprived of free speech” and on and on and on.

Nobody among them is happy until they invent a reason to portray themselves as martyrs. And then go home to the easy chair with a cold martini.

Oh, the humanity!

» Posted By choicelady On March 2, 2012 @ 7:18 pm

Fearless? That’s IT? So were Hitler and Stalin, Pol Pot and Idi Amin. So was bin Laden and the leaders of God’s Revolutionary Army.

Being fearless just means you are insulated from consequences and dumb enough to think that’s courage.

» Posted By choicelady On March 2, 2012 @ 7:15 pm