Just Who Hates Us for Our Freedoms?

The point about Ms. "Pitbull" Palin has been made for now. Time once again to step back for the larger view. Do you really think John McCain and her righteous Christian Dominionist warriors are going to protect us from these terrorists? Heck, they would sell their souls to be these folks.

Wait, they already have.

Blue Ibis
*******************************************************************

9/11 Bailout: They hate us for our freedoms!

OpEdNews
Sun, 12 Oct 2008 09:07 UTC

Allen Heart

Shocked by 9-11, Americans wondered who could perpetrate such a horrible crime against people. Over two thousand Americans jumped to their death, were burned, crushed, or murdered in a spectacular collapse of the Twin Towers. In a joint session of Congress a few days later, President George W. Bush gave us the first clue who "they" were. "They" hated us for our freedoms.

It seemed incomprehensible at the time but we now have an opportunity to recognize who actually hates us for our freedoms. We can identify the culprits by this simple description: They hate us for our freedoms. We need only judge them by their actions. Do you know who has destroyed most of our treasured American freedoms? When you can answer that question you will know the identity of the criminals who conceived and orchestrated the 9-11 Attack on America. They hate us for our freedoms.

Less than a week after he spoke those words, President George W. Bush presented legislation for Congress to pass into law. The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 revoked much of the Bill of Rights to the US Constitution. Arabs and Muslims of al Qaeda didn't do it. George did it. Congress was given only hours to read the extensive volume and no opportunity to debate. A quick vote was required.

Does that sound familiar to you? Remember the Bailout of the Banks that was rammed through Congress with little debate or deliberation? Do you recognize the similarities with the USA PATRIOT Act? Those who stood in its way received a letter contaminated with fatal weapons grade anthrax, later identified as the Ames strain which was kept under guard at Fort Detrick, Maryland. Arabs and Muslims of al Qaeda had no access to it. It was done by those who "hate us for our freedoms." Only one senator voted against the ironically named USA PATRIOT Act. The vote in the House of Representatives was 357-66. Only a few dozen Democrats voted against the Patriot Act. Al Qaeda did not have a vote. Only those who hate us for our freedoms voted to demolish American freedoms.

Phones were tapped, emails were read, letters were opened. We saw a rapid increase in warrantless searches, secret courts, massive spying on citizens, especially those involved in political dissent. We've seen taser attacks by police on children, elderly, and innocent citizens. We've seen the creation of watch-lists, no-fly lists and similar exclusionary documents, increasing government control over private behavior. Al Qaeda did not do this. The fascist regime of George Bush, neocon Republicans, and the neoliberal Democrats did this. Are you beginning to see who hates us for our freedoms?

Torture was re-instituted and blessed in secret as America turned from human rights advocate to human rights terrorist. US Christian leaders supported Bush's use of torture. Al Qaeda did not do this. This crime against humanity was perpetrated by those who hate us for our freedoms.

Creation of a mercenary military force such as Blackwater for foreign and domestic purposes has led the oppression and murder in Iraq and in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Al Qaeda didn't hire them. These killers and thugs are the private militia of those who hate us for our freedoms.

Dissent is now characterized as disloyalty by government and its supporting media, protestors are herded into pens called "free speech zones," the media supports and condones the government's police state activities. Al Qaeda media? No, mainstream American media. Those in charge hate us for our freedoms.

People are now beaten and arrested for demanding their rights under the Bill of Rights and their President dismisses the Constitution as just a piece of paper. The President asserts the right to ignore part or all of laws passed by the national legislature and the courts increasingly support presidential use of unconstitutional powers. The President and other officials regularly lie to you, the newspapers and media lie to you, the President claims the right to make war whenever he wants and keep soldiers past their tour of duty indefinitely. Government agencies and officials declare themselves exempt from portions of the law or Constitution. Citizens lack any legal recourse to stop illegal government actions and now under the Military Commissions Act you can be imprisoned without trial, arrested and held without charges. Al Qaeda didn't do this. It was done by those who hate you for your freedoms.

The long history of habeas corpus has disappeared after centuries of due process. Al Qaeda didn't make these changes. These changes were made by people who hate us for our freedoms. Are you beginning to recognize who was responsible for 9-11? It was done by those who hate us for our freedoms.

You read their words in the newspapers and see them on the nightly news. Some of them hold a strong loyalty to another country.

There are those who still think they are holding the pass against a revolution that may be coming up the road. But they are gazing in the wrong direction. The revolution is behind them. It went by in the Night of Depression, singing songs to freedom. - Garet Garrett

By means of Presidential National Security Directive 51 signed by George W. Bush in 2007, the President can assume dictatorial powers without the consent of Congress. Because of the Domestic Terrorism Law what you think and what they think you think can be a sufficient cause for investigation, arrest, and imprisonment if the President determines it fits his interpretation of the definition of domestic terrorism. The Department of Homeland Security can place your name on a no-fly no-go list if Director Michael Chertoff thinks that you are a "security risk." This can also mean that in the future you can't get on a bus or train to go visit your grandma if someone puts your name on the list. Al Qaeda didn't do this. This is being done by those who hate us for our freedoms.

The Washington Post has reported (April 24, 2008) that the U.S. government will order commercial airlines and cruise lines to prepare to collect digital fingerprints of all foreigners before they depart the country under a security initiative that the industry has condemned as costly and burdensome. Chertoff says fingerprints aren't 'personal data'. He's not al Qaeda. He's a dual-citizen of the US and Israel. Chertoff is a member of the Federalist Society; a cabal of radical lawyers devoted to the systematic dismantling of the Bill of Rights. He's hired former Stasi chief Markus Wolfe and former head of the KGB General Yevgeni Primakov to oversee the American Gestapo. He was in charge of criminal investigation at the Department of Justice and responsible for the release of the Israelis seen celebrating the fall of the Twin Towers.

FEMA, an agency under his direction, has had over 600 concentration camps built by Halliburton and one out of every 100 Americans is in prison, highest in the First World nations. Surveillance cameras are everywhere. Al Qaeda didn't put them there. People are arrested for taking photographs of buildings in the city. The FBI swoops down on private money enterprises and confiscates (steals) millions of dollars worth of gold, silver, and platinum without leaving so much as a receipt and with a warrant that lacks specific cause. Then they steal gold, silver and platinum from the people's private mint without cause. Al Qaeda didn't do this. Another type of terrorist did this. This other terrorist hates us for our freedoms, too.

With the dollar dropping precipitously in the world markets, President Bush negotiates with Canadian and Mexican leaders for a Security and Protection Pact that will create the North American Union with its own currency, the Amero. An unwanted war rages on in Iraq while US leaders press for another war in the Middle East, this time against Iran for seeking nuclear power for electricity, their right under international treaty. Violating Iran's rights is a violation of US law as well as international law but no one can arrest the US leaders who have taken this position. The rule of law has become a quaint artifact of another time. Al Qaeda didn't create the thuggery and treason around us. That's the doing of those who hate us for our freedoms.

We have entered the period of chaos which precedes martial law but Al Qaeda isn't responsible. Arabs and Muslims didn't do this. It was done by those who hate us for our freedoms. These people who hate us for our freedoms are the ones who told us that 9-11 was done by those who hate us for our freedoms. In telling us their lies we can see through their propaganda and illusion to the truth.

Garet Garrett wrote:

There are those who have never ceased to say very earnestly, "Something is going to happen to the American form of government if we don't watch out." These were the innocent disarmers. Their trust was in words. They had forgotten their Aristotle. More than 2,000 years ago he wrote of what can happen within the form, when "one thing takes the place of another, so that the ancient laws will remain, while the power will be in the hands of those who have brought about revolution in the state."

Franklin Delano Rosenfeld brought over 4,000 communists and socialists into US Government during his regime and declared a national emergency that made him a de facto dictator. That national emergency was never ended. We think that we have a Constitution and Bill of Rights that limit the power of government. We think that our Declaration of Independence declares our independence. We think that the American Revolution and the American dream are our heritage and our destiny. We think that we have a democratic republic and that our votes count, our voices are heard. Such mirages should have evaporated in the Presidential Election of 2000 when the US Supreme Court stopped a legal recount of votes in Florida to give the win to George W. Bush, son of the man who had appointed them.

Such illusions should have disappeared when the Twin Towers dropped at the rate of free fall into their own footprints. The immutable laws of physics should have helped us discern the truth from the propaganda. But a century ago the Tavistock Institute discovered that only 13% of the population can think for themselves. The remaining 87% depend upon "authorities" whose pieces of paper on their walls tout their academic superiority.

So we are left with the power of practical observation and a bit of logic to help us discover the truth from the fiction. The horrible atrocity that was 9-11 was truly done by those who hate us for our freedoms. It might be the only way that most people can see through the lies and propaganda. In his address to a joint session of Congress following 9-11, President George W. Bush told the truth in such a way that we were supposed to think that he meant al Qaeda. He had twisted the truth into a lie.

What George told us was true! They hate us for our freedoms! Now you can see who planned and orchestrated 9-11. Perhaps now you can also understand the Bailout of the Banks. The answer lies in the simple clue: It was planned and orchestrated by those who hate us for our freedoms. The old biblical truism, "By their fruits ye shall know them."

Bush freedoms John McCain Sarah Palin pitbull Patriot Act bank bailout Al Qaeda warrentless wiretaps Blackwater Tavistock Twin Towers free fall speed

Would Sarah Palin be Proud If This Were Her Son?

The Iraq war is physically and psychologically damaging the young men and women of this generation even more severely than Vietnam did to its generation. The Military-Industrial complex has turned slaughter into the science of "killology".

And the short, scary answer to the question posed above is probably, "Yes". What else would a fanatical mother of a 'christian warrior' long for her son to be, but merciless to the 'heathen'?

Blue Ibis
**************************************************************

How the U.S. Military Turned Me into a Terrorist -- Story of An Iraq Veteran

Aaron Glantz
Haymarket Books
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:55 UTC

Corporal Michael Prysner, Aerial Intelligence Specialist, U.S. Army Reserve

In March of this year, a courageous group of veterans brought the war home, at a historic event held in Silver Spring, Md., inspired by Vietnam veterans a generation before. "Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan" convened more than 200 soldiers who have served in the so-called "War on Terror;" like their fellow soldiers before them, who shared stories that laid bare the nightmare of Vietnam, these veterans bore witness to the crimes that have been committed in Americans' names during the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. The hearings lasted four days; in their testimony, soldiers described how the discarding of the military's rules of engagement and its systematic dehumanization of Iraqi and Afghan civilians has led to horrible acts of violence against innocent men, women and children. "These are not isolated incidents," was a common refrain, even as the episodes they described seemed exceptionally brutal. For many of the veterans, it was the first time they had told their stories.

Now, the searing testimony has been compiled in an important new book: Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan: Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupation, edited by Aaron Glantz and published by Haymarket Books. I strongly encourage you to buy the book, preferably though the Web site of Iraq Veterans Against the War, which organized the Winter Soldier hearings and continues to hold similar events in cities across the country. All proceeds of books purchased through IVAW will go to support its crucial work.

The following excerpt comes from Michael Prysner, a corporal in the Army Reserve who came home in February 2004.

-- Liliana Segura, Editor, War on Iraq Special Coverage

* * * * * *

When I first joined the army, I was told that racism no longer existed in the military. A legacy of inequality and discrimination was suddenly washed away by something called the Equal Opportunity Program. We would sit through mandatory classes, and every unit had an EO representative to ensure that no elements of racism could resurface. The army seemed firmly dedicated to smashing any hint of racism.

Then September 11 happened, and I began to hear new words like "towel-head," and "camel jockey," and the most disturbing, "sand nigger." These words did not initially come from my fellow lower-enlisted soldiers, but from my superiors: my platoon sergeant, my first sergeant, my battalion commander. All the way up the chain of command, these viciously racist terms were suddenly acceptable.

When I got to Iraq in 2003, I learned a new word, "haji." Haji was the enemy. Haji was every Iraqi. He was not a person, a father, a teacher, or a worker. It's important to understand where this word came from. To Muslims, the most important thing is to take a pilgrimage to Mecca, the Hajj. Someone who has taken this pilgrimage is a haji. It's something that, in traditional Islam, is the highest calling in the religion. We took the best thing from Islam and made it into the worst thing.

Since the creation of this country, racism has been used to justify expansion and oppression. Native Americans were called "savages," the Africans were called all sorts of things to excuse slavery, and Vietnam veterans know the multitude of words used to justify that imperialist war.

So haji was the word we used. It was the word we used on this particular mission I'm going to talk about. We've heard a lot about raids and kicking down the doors of people's houses and ransacking their houses, but this was a different kind of raid.

We never got any explanation for our orders. We were only told that a group of five or six houses was now property of the U.S. military, and we had to go in and make those families leave their houses.

We went to these houses and informed the families that their homes were no longer theirs. We provided them no alternative, nowhere to go, no compensation. They were very confused and very scared. They did not know what to do and would not leave, so we had to remove them.

One family in particular, a woman with two small girls, a very elderly man, and two middle-aged men; we dragged them from their house and threw them onto the street. We arrested the men because they refused to leave, and we sent them off to prison.

A few months later I found out, as we were short interrogators and I was given that assignment. I oversaw and participated in hundreds of interrogations. I remember one in particular that I'm going to share with you. It was the moment that really showed me the nature of this occupation.

This particular detainee was already stripped down to his underwear, hands behind his back and a sandbag on his head. I never saw this man's face. My job was to take a metal folding chair and smash it against the wall next to his head -- he was faced against the wall with his nose touching it -- while a fellow soldier screamed the same question over and over again. No matter what his answer, my job was to slam the chair against the wall. We did this until we got tired.

I was told to make sure he kept standing up, but something was wrong with his leg. He was injured, and he kept falling to the ground. The sergeant in charge would come and tell me to get him up on his feet, so I'd have to pick him up and put him against the wall. He kept going down. I kept pulling him up and putting him against the wall. My sergeant was upset with me for not making him continue to stand. He picked him up and slammed him against the wall several times. Then he left. When the man went down on the ground again, I noticed blood pouring down from under the sandbag. I let him sit, and when I noticed my sergeant coming again, I would tell him quickly to stand up. Instead of guarding my unit from this detainee, I realized I was guarding the detainee from my unit.

I tried hard to be proud of my service, but all I could feel was shame. Racism could no longer mask the reality of the occupation. These are human beings. I've since been plagued by guilt. I feel guilt any time I see an elderly man, like the one who couldn't walk who we rolled onto a stretcher and told the Iraqi police to take him away. I feel guilt any time I see a mother with her children, like the one who cried hysterically and screamed that we were worse than Saddam as we forced her from her home. I feel guilt any time I see a young girl, like the one I grabbed by the arm and dragged into the street.

We were told we were fighting terrorists; the real terrorist was me, and the real terrorism is this occupation. Racism within the military has long been an important tool to justify the destruction and occupation of another country. Without racism, soldiers would realize that they have more in common with the Iraqi people than they do with the billionaires who send us to war.

I threw families onto the street in Iraq, only to come home and find families thrown onto the street in this country, in this tragic and unnecessary foreclosure crisis. Our enemies are not five thousand miles away, they are right here at home, and if we organize and fight, we can stop this war, we can stop this government, and we can create a better world.

Sarah Palin Iraq veterans Torture Winter Soldier Haji Christian Fundamentalism Joel's Army

Resignation letter from the McCain/Palin Campaign

Oh happy day! Let me enjoy this illusion for a few minutes . . . . .

Blue Ibis
****************************************************************

Resignation letter from the McCain/Palin Campaign

OpEdNews
Mon, 13 Oct 2008 08:39 UTC

Robyn Crane

YES WE CAN'T! WE ARE PUTTING OUR COUNTRY FIRST AND SUSPENDING OUR CAMPAIGN FOR GOOD!

My Friends,

Over the past few days I have come to realize that my campaign for President has devolved into a national disgrace. The negative campaign tactics I have unleashed are dangerously dividing our country while fueling religious and racial hatred along socio-economic lines. In my ruthless attempt to win the Presidency at any cost I have abandoned any principles of decency I once had and am now only a shadow of my former self to everyone who knows me or thought they knew me, or once respected me. Also I have come to realize that my unfair and disgustingly false attacks on Senator Obama's character, which were thinly disguised attempts to link him and his wife Michelle to Muslim terrorists, have been the last thing anyone who claims to be putting "Country First" would do. And worse, I may have even placed him and his family in danger from the radical and dangerous extremists who now inhabit and infect the base of my party - a group I once denounced but decided I needed to vigorously cultivate by turning myself into a "flip-flopper" in order to win this election. I encourage my fellow Senators to file ethics charges against me for having done something so disgraceful like this.

Basically the energized base of the Republican party - a bunch of religious extremists - only care about preventing abortion even in cases of rape or incest. My friends, they are even against stem cell research to cure diseases! The bumpersticker of my base reads: God, Guns, and Guts! These people will mindlessly chant: USA!! USA!! USA!! at my rallies versus even attempting to understand the many serious issues facing our country in these troubling times. In other words the base of the GOP that I need to get myself elected President consists of too many mindless nitwits and/or dangerous religious extremists and racists. That's why I thought I could stoke their fear and anger against Senator Obama to try and win this election. It was a grave mistake and a very bad gamble on my part. My friends, the country has turned against this kind of politics and my polling numbers have plummeted. I realize I no longer have any chance of winning this election. Also I can no longer associate myself with "extremists" and fringe people like this and those who rally these kinds of nasty and ignorant people to support my campaign. Wealthy people like Cindy and myself would never have anything to do with people like this if I weren't running for office. We really detest these clueless ignorant crackpots and most everything they stand for.

As an example of what I have unleashed: At recent rallies, supporters of mine have yelled out: "Treason!", "Terrorist!", "Kill him!", "Bomb Obama!", and "Off with his head!" against Sen. Obama. I have also heard these unhinged people yell out racial epithets. And now I regret not taking any stand against these kinds of outbursts at the moment they were uttered. My friends, I can no longer be a party to inciting my supporters to acts of vigilantism against Sen. Obama in order to try and win an election. With our racially motivated slurs against Sen. Obama, Sarah and I helped to stoke these monsters and now we must do everything we can to distance ourselves from them in an attempt to tamp down their anger and rage. That is why I am suspending my campaign for good. YES, WE CAN'T!

My friends, I have made many other mistakes in this campaign as well. The media, whom I have falsely and repeatedly accused of liberal bias to incite my base, correctly reported I wanted to pick my dear friend, Sen. Joe Lieberman, as my running mate. Senator Lieberman and I both share the same imperialistic neocon views about using our military FIRST anywhere in the world to protect Israel's interests regardless of what it does to our own country when we act this way unilaterally based upon lies and fear. But I realized that Sen. Lieberman's views on abortion would have cost me the base of my party and without that base I could not win. So instead of doing the right thing and picking a well-respected and highly qualified person as my Vice President even if not Sen. Lieberman, I chose Sarah Palin. I therefore did not put "Country First". I picked Sarah Palin because I hoped to steal some votes from disaffected women supporters of Hillary Clinton. I should have known better. Clinton supporters and most women have nothing in common with someone like Sarah Palin or her views. I also picked Sarah Palin because I was impulsive and thought I needed to do something dramatic to energize my stale campaign. I knew my base was naive and gullible enough to fall for Sarah Palin and they did! To be fair, Sarah Palin only did what she was told. The campaign knew we couldn't allow her or any of her family to speak to the media unscripted. We were quite fortunate the media never demanded much from Sarah Palin nor her family. Instead they quickly found a way to turn the Palins into "C-grade celebrities" to boost their ratings. This helped our campaign for a short time. But even that effort failed once Sarah's lack of curiosity and knowledge of issues was exposed. Now she and her family are of little use to this campaign.

So now it's time for the Palins to head home to Alaska. Sarah needs to spend her time taking care of her Down's baby instead of using him as our campaign's right-to-life prop. Her younger children and teenage daughter also need to be back in school where they have belonged for over a month. Sarah needs to make sure her unwed teenage daughter Bristol receives better sex education counseling. The family needs to make sure both older children get immediate drug counseling including their eldest son, Track who's in Iraq because he couldn't get into college. The Palin family have many serious family issues they should be dealing with instead of spending their time running for office. Sarah will have all she can handle in Alaska to avoid being impeached for serious violations of state ethics laws. Obviously my campaign didn't vet Sarah Palin very well and this is yet another serious mistake my campaign has made. So the Palin family will be heading back to Alaska soon and I wish them well. You will just have to find another redneck dysfunctional family to satisfy your own weird entertainment needs.

During my campaign I also thought I could win with cheap sloganeering. I figured all I needed to do was repeat the label "Maverick" enough times and people would think I was a different kind of politician and candidate than George Bush. I was even foolish enough to believe I could steal Sen. Obama's message of "Change" and use it for myself. I actually thought that despite my long career in the House and Senate while supporting Bush almost 95% of the time, Americans would be dumb enough to believe I stood for change. How crazy was that? I owe the American people my sincerest apologies.

Also during my campaign I actually thought everyone understood why I had to associate with lowlifes, misfits, racists, homophobes, misogynists, and religious zealots in order to win the election. Did anyone really think Cindy and I would ever invite a Sturgis, South Dakota motorcycle type crowd over to our Sedona estate for a BBQ? You've got to be kidding!

My friends, I was way too old and decrepit and in unstable health to run for President. That's why I couldn't release all of my medical records and had troubling remembering things on the campaign. This too reflected bad judgment on my part.

I have attempted to describe some of the more serious blunders I have made in this campaign and the reasons for them. No candidate for President can make this many disastrous mistakes in a campaign and expect to win. Why? Because it's a reflection of one's poor judgment. No sane American should consider me qualified nor capable of holding high office and becoming your next President. The country cannot afford to have a President who doesn't demonstrate much better judgment than I have demonstrated during my entire life and more specifically this campaign. Nor should my reckless and careless decision-making during the campaign be rewarded by your vote for me.

So I wish to apologize to every American for what I have done to you and what I have subjected our country to during this campaign. I also wish to apologize to the Obama family for the viciousness of my attacks and lies. Cindy and I will try and reimburse all of our supporters for any monies of yours we collected and spent post convention on this misguided campaign. This is the only honorable thing to do even if we have to sell a few of our 8-11 houses and a most of our 13 cars or sell the stock in Cindy's beer distributorship worth well over $100 million or sell the company's plane we fly around in on Ebay . Effectively and immediately I am suspending my campaign because I realize this is THE ONLY way I can really put my COUNTRY FIRST.

Respectfully,

John McCain

[Sarah Palin has agreed with this decision because I told her to.]
************************************************************************

Sigh. Ok, back to reality. He won't leave and if history is any indictor, the collective "GET LOST!" of the ballot box won't make it happen either. Diebold, or their infernal descendents will see to that, if illegal purging of voter rolls doesn't.

Hunker down folks. McPalin's fascist machine is just reving up.

Sarah Palin Diebold voting machines voter fraud McCain Flip-flop Vietnam POW Neocons Lieberman Right-wing Evangelica Christian Extremist Christian Fundies

Sarah Palin: Christian Extremist Manchurian Candidate

From Signs of the Times' Best of the Web series, more information on Sarah Palin's true intentions for seeking the highest office she can manage. Make no mistake, the "who, lil' ole me?" schtick is just that. She's been politically ambitious since her twenties, all in service to that Old Testament psychopathic nut-job "Yahweh".

If you aren't a believer in this death cult, you'd better be pretty frightened. You are the new Jews.

Blue Ibis
*****************************************************************************************

Sarah Palin is a Manchurian Candidate for One Extremist Splinter Group of the End-Times Crowd

Mark Karlin
BuzzFlash.com
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:39 UTC

If a group of people conspires to seize control of the American Government in order to accomplish an agenda to force an extremist theology on U.S. citizens, a religious belief that views the presidency as a necessary step in advancing "end times," isn't this treason?

We think so.

While the mainstream media has been preoccupied with regurgitating - for the third time this year - discredited assertions about a '60s radical turned esteemed educational professor and Barack Obama, it hasn't given any notice to the extreme branch of Dominionism that Sarah Palin adheres to.

Perhaps the "you betcha'" and "pit bull with lipstick" folksiness veneer makes it hard to accept that Palin is part of a rebel cult aimed at taking control of the U.S. government in the name of advancing Armageddon. It is kind of hard to think of the VP candidate that Republicans touted at the GOP convention with buttons as "The Hottest VP from the Coolest State" as a Manchurian candidate, but who are you going to believe, Palin or the evidence?

If you think BuzzFlash is going off the deep end of conspiracy theories, then watch this smoking gun video. It was put together by the diligent people at talk2action.org who expose the extremist, anti-democracy, anti-Constitutional tyrannical theocracy of the religious far right.

In the video, you will hear about how Palin was recruited at the age of 24 to be a political "warrior" to gain governmental power to assert an authoritarian end-times theocratic state that would rid the land of "non-believers." The credibility of the tape comes from its narrator, Mary Glazier, who is a key sponsor and mentor to Palin, as the Governor has been groomed to seize power as part of a plan of "spiritual warfare." Glazier details the recruitment of Palin in chilling terms and makes pronouncements, such as "There is a tipping point, at which time, because of the sin of the land, the people then have to be displaced."

Again, don't dismiss this as some sort of loony theory, listen and watch the tape. And you might also read some of the great research on Palin's religious background and beliefs at Talk2Action.org.

We've also posted several alarming articles on BuzzFlash, including: "The Irony of Sarah Palin: Her 'Third Wave' Radical Christian Theology"; "By Any Measure, Sarah Palin is a Radical Political and Religious Extremist"; and a must-read interview with Bruce Wilson of Talk2Action.com, "Sarah Palin's Extremist Religious Beliefs: The Republic is At Risk."

It is important to recognize that the "spiritual warriors" know that they have to use deceptive tactics, including concealing their extremist religious agenda to seize the control of government at every level - and that Sarah Palin is their most charismatic "populist" vehicle for literally taking over the U.S. government and establishing an extremist theocratic, pre-Armageddon state. We are not exaggerating.

In fact, some extreme right-wing religious fanatics have been openly talking of John McCain's death, should McCain and Palin win, which would then allow Palin to implement a "Third Wave" theocracy in the U.S. And, trust us, if you aren't a "believer," things are going to get very ugly.

If you notice, Palin is very careful not to renounce any of the religious extremism that she adheres to. Instead, she gives vague answers that distract from the issue, while not really rejecting the assertions - but she doesn't really have to worry because Sean Hannity is not going to pressure her on the subject.

Palin has mastered the art of appearing like an everyday person in order to appeal to the working class population. The "spiritual warriors" are well aware that they can't attain power by being honest about their goals, so deception is glorified in the name of their "divine" objective of making the U.S. a nation adhering to their fanatical beliefs. (Although Palin did wage her first campaign for mayor on abortion and religious "values" issues, going so far as to demand that her opponent produce a marriage license to prove that he and his wife weren't living in sin because she chose to keep her own name. We're not making this up.)

It's hard to look at Palin and believe that anyone who is so confidently scary stupid could be the chosen one for the practitioners of Biblical Apocalypse.

But the mounting evidence shows that is exactly what she is.

SOTT Manchurian Candidate McCain Christian Extremist Spiritual Warriors Apocalypse Third Wave TheocracyOld Testament Yahweh Psychopath

Katrina--> Blackwater--> Martial Law --> Asteroid/Comet Impacts?

Stepping back to connect the recent dots. Congratulations to the excellent SOTT editors.

Blue Ibis
**********************************************************

Update: Clear and Present Danger

SoTT Editors
Signs of the Times
Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:43 UTC

© Cassiopaea.org

The one thing that's been proven is the absolute fear-mongering that's being used to drive us is false. I've seen members turn to each other and say if we don't pass this bill, we're going to have martial law in the United States. -- Rep. Brad Sherman, October 1, 2008

We've had a bad feeling these past several years, as those of you who have read these pages may know, that the Iraq disaster wasn't so much a resource grab or to encircle Iran and Russia, nor just to protect Israel, but something more sinister: training soldiers to be mindless killers so that when they're brought back home they would have no problem killing their fellow citizens when martial law is declared and the cow pies really hit the fan.

In fact, a Blackwater mercenary said as much at the time:

Post-Katrina New Orleans: American police state is here

Corroborating and adding to mounting evidence of the militarization of New Orleans, investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill noted the following in a September 12 KPFA radio interview:

1. New Orleans is teeming with heavily-armed mercenaries, troops from the US military and national guard, and police from cities around the country.

2. Mercenaries, including Blackwater USA were deputized by Governor Kathleen Blanco. [Blanco's actions throughout this crisis, noted in a number of previous reports, appear increasingly suspicious and demand investigation.-LC] They are also working for Homeland Security, even though Homeland Security denies it.

3. Blackwater mercenaries were seen looting bars in the French Quarter. Blackwater has also taken over another bar in the French Quarter as their de facto headquarters.

4. Arrogant Blackwater mercenaries that were queried by Scahill boasted about their deputization, and their combat experience in Iraq, which included work for L. Paul Bremer.

5. Mercenaries, troops and New Orleans police are engaged in a terror campaign, intimidating remaining "holdouts," while continuing to withhold food, medicine and aid.

6. A Blackwater mercenary warned Scahill that the rest of the country will experience the same kind of hell in the future.

So when we read that an army combat unit, the first to storm Baghdad, has been deployed within U.S. and that they will be training with "beanbag bullets, Tasers, spike strips and roadblocks" and to use what they learned in crowd control to subdue angry Iraqis, well, we could see the writing on the wall. What is the point of having an army unit, supposedly deployed in the event of a "terrorist event" or "natural disaster" when perfectly good national guard troops are at hand by the governors of each state? Well, that's it exactly. The national guard answers to the governor and not the president. If you aren't scared at this point, you should be. Naomi Wolf reiterates the key points in this short interview:

Was Katrina a dry run?

Cynthia McKinney, the one time Congresswoman and presidential candidate has recently let the cat out of the bag on what really happened with Blackwater mercenaries in the days after hurricane Katrina struck:

In the wake of hurricane Katrina ... I had a mother to call me because her son had a very gruesome task. Her son's charge by the Department of Defense was to process 5,000 bodies that had received a single bullet wound to the head and these were mostly males and her son was afraid to talk because he had signed a silence agreement...He only complained to his mother but data about these individuals was entered into a Pentagon computer and then reportedly the bodies were dumped in the swamp of Louisiana. ... and I have verification from insiders who wish to remain anonymous at the Red Cross.

Wayne Madsen did a report from back then, but we don't have a direct link to it (he just put everything on his front page at the time). Here is an excerpt:

Under obvious pressure from FEMA, the state of Louisiana contracted with a Texas firm, Kenyon International (a subsidiary of Services Corporation International), to collect and properly arrange for the burial of the bodies of victims of Hurricane Katrina. Kenyon, a firm charged with illegal body dumping and which was tied politically to both George W. Bush and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (Bush was Governor and Gonzales was his counsel), now stands to receive similar contracts to improperly dump the bodies of victims (we earnestly hope there will not be any) from Hurricane Rita. From an informed source in St. Tammany Parish and the city of Slidell comes this revelation: A week after Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, small planes from around the country began delivering food, water, and medical supplies to outlying parishes in Louisiana and counties in Mississippi. However, according to the source, St. Tammany Parish made a startling request to one of the pilots: the parish needed well over 5000 body bags.

Then there were the doctors and nurses who killed hospital patients rather than leave them behind alive. Now, in a state of lawlessness who's to say if these patients were near death or not? Perhaps they were, if that makes you feel better:

'With gangs of rapists and looters rampaging through wards in the flooded city, senior doctors took the harrowing decision to give massive overdoses of morphine to those they believed could not make it out alive.'

In an extraordinary interview with The Mail on Sunday, one New Orleans doctor told how she 'prayed for God to have mercy on her soul' after she ignored every tenet of medical ethics and ended the lives of patients she had earlier fought to save.

Her heart-rending account has been corroborated by a hospital orderly and by local government officials. One emergency official, William 'Forest' McQueen, said: "Those who had no chance of making it were given a lot of morphine and lain down in a dark place to die."

McKinney's testimony also gives more credibility to Farrakhan's claim that the levees were blown up:

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan on Thursday fuelled a rumour that explosives, not Hurricane Katrina, broke New Orleans's dykes and flooded poor African-American neighbourhoods.

"A member of the army corps of engineers saw burn marks on the concrete," Farrakhan told reporters, describing an e-mail he had received.

"They found two types of explosives used by the military," he said, without naming the source, adding that an 8m crater had been blown in the dyke.

Farrakhan said locals had reported sounds of explosions, among other things, leading him to believe the rumours should be investigated.

"Wickedness exists in high places," he said.

Then there's this disturbing article which, if true, portends even more sinister developments. The US House of Representatives held a secret meeting back in March while discussing the passage of the surveillance bill which would give retroactive immunity to the telecom companies who participated in the illegal program.

Last week's session was only the fourth time in 176 years that Congress has closed it's doors to the public.

Word has begun leaking from last weeks special, closed-door session of the United States House of Representatives.

Theorists wrote "Not only did members discuss new surveillance provisions as was the publicly stated reason for the closed door session, they also discussed: The imminent collapse of the U.S. economy to occur by September 2008, the imminent collapse of US federal government finances by February 2009, the possibility of Civil War inside the USA as a result of the collapse and advance round-ups of "insurgent U.S. citizens" likely to move against the government.

Note that the author uses the word "theorists" when perhaps he's really referring to insiders who were there at the meeting, too afraid to leak the information to a US reporter perhaps.

And while the house was recently debating the passage of the $700 billion bankers bailout bill they passed the little debated, $634 billion spending measure:

The Department of Homeland Security will proceed with the first phase of a controversial satellite-surveillance program, even though an independent review found the department hasn't yet ensured the program will comply with privacy laws.

Congress provided partial funding for the program in a little-debated $634 billion spending measure that will fund the government until early March. For the past year, the Bush administration had been fighting Democratic lawmakers over the spy program, known as the National Applications Office.

The program is designed to provide federal, state and local officials with extensive access to spy-satellite imagery -- but no eavesdropping -- to assist with emergency response and other domestic-security needs, such as identifying where ports or border areas are vulnerable to terrorism.

Since the department proposed the program a year ago, several Democratic lawmakers have said that turning the spy lens on America could violate Americans' privacy and civil liberties unless adequate safeguards were required.

A new 60-page Government Accountability Office report said the department "lacks assurance that NAO operations will comply with applicable laws and privacy and civil liberties standards," according to a person familiar with the document. The report, which is unclassified but considered sensitive, hasn't been publicly released, but was described and quoted by several people who have read it.

The report cites gaps in privacy safeguards. The department, it found, lacks controls to prevent improper use of domestic-intelligence data by other agencies and provided insufficient assurance that requests for classified information will be fully reviewed to ensure it can be legally provided.

No eavesdropping? Who are we kidding? They've been doing it for decades.

As Nick Juliano from Raw Story writes,

Essentially, the bill only requires the Homeland Security Secretary to assure lawmakers that NAO programs comply with exisiting laws. Congress also has required the DHS Inspector General to provide quarterly classified reports on how much information has been collected by the domestic satellite surveillance, although the bill required those reports be made to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, not the Homeland Security Committees that are traditionally in charge of DHS oversight.

...

There are further concerns about whether the surveillance program would violate Posse Comitatus, which prohibits the military from participating in domestic law enforcement activities. It's "ridiculous" to think that's not what would be happening under this program, [Tim Sparapani, an American Civil Liberties Union lobbyist]1 says.

So we have an army brigade deployed on US soil answerable only to the president of the United States and a domestic surveillance system aimed at US citizens with an upcoming presidential election. Who's to say this army brigade won't be deployed at voting booths or inside Congress itself? And it's not just US citizens that should be concerned:

Germany's governing coalition partners want to change the constitution to allow for military deployment within the country if needed to combat terrorism, officials said Monday.

The proposal would allow use of the military only if police are overwhelmed and cannot properly respond to a situation themselves.

Government will spy on every call and e-mail

Ministers are considering spending up to £12 billion on a database to monitor and store the internet browsing habits, e-mail and telephone records of everyone in Britain.

GCHQ, the government's eavesdropping centre, has already been given up to £1 billion to finance the first stage of the project.

Hundreds of clandestine probes will be installed to monitor customers live on two of the country's biggest internet and mobile phone providers - thought to be BT and Vodafone. BT has nearly 5m internet customers.

Ministers are braced for a backlash similar to the one caused by their ID cards programme. Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, said: "Any suggestion of the government using existing powers to intercept communications data without public discussion is going to sound extremely sinister."

But will be done anyway...

There's been a lot of the "October 7" event going around from the halfpasthuman.com people over at Urbansurvival.com. Supposedly it's bigger than 9/11 and it doesn't necessarily involve the current financial crisis. Well, if you lump the "October 14" contact people, specifically Blossom Goodchild's prediction that ETs will arrive in a very substantial "spacecraft", and will spend at least three days 'parked' over the "south of our hemisphere", Barry Warmkessel's High impact threat level, the Ulysess' galactic dust, an incoming newly discovered, but 'totally harmless' asteroid on an earth collision course, the noctilucent clouds and perhaps the lowest sunspot activity of the space age, and the not so subtle bilking of the US treasury similar to the put options just before 9/11 but on a far grander scale we can only speculate what it all means. A continental disaster and finally the troops would have to return home, only the entire US would get the Katrina treatment? Even if it's just a financial collapse and the troops are needed to return home to "restore order". Perhaps it's nothing. Perhaps It could all just be mass internet hysteria. Go back to sleep:

A small, newly-discovered asteroid named 2008 TC3 is approaching Earth and chances are good that it will hit. Steve Chesley of JPL estimates that atmospheric entry will occur on Oct 7th at 0246 UTC over northern Sudan [ref]. Measuring only a few meters across, the space rock poses NO THREAT to people or structures on the ground, but it should create a spectacular fireball, releasing about a kiloton of TNT in energy as it disintegrates and explodes in the atmosphere. Odds are between 99.8 and 100 percent that the object will encounter Earth, according to calculations provided by Andrea Milani of the University of Pisa.

Update:

The universe is full of synchronicities. Apparently, a confirming report comes from aviation meteorologist, Jacob Kuiper:

The following potentially confirming report comes from Jacob Kuiper, General Aviation meteorologist at the National Weather Service in the Netherlands: "Half an hour before the predicted impact of asteroid 2008 TC3, I informed an official of Air-France-KLM at Amsterdam airport about the possibility that crews of their airliners in the vicinity of impact would have a chance to see a fireball. And it was a success! I have received confirmation that a KLM airliner, roughly 750 nautical miles southwest of the predicted atmospheric impact position, has observed a short flash just before the expected impact time 0246 UTC. Because of the distance it was not a very large phenomenon, but still a confirmation that some bright meteor has been seen in the predicted direction. Projected on an infrared satellite-image of Meteosat-7 of 0300 UTC, I have indicated the position of the plane (+) and the predicted impact area in Sudan (0)."

Blackwater Cometary Bombardment FEMA Homeland Security Hurricane Katrina martial law Posse Comitatus Act Sunspots

AMERIKA: It's Nearly Over Except the Crying

If you are a thinking person in the US, start reviewing your pre-WWII German history. You will be a target. The intelligensia; the doctors, lawyers, teachers, professors, scientists, anyone who has the capability of comprehending the political situation is now fair game in the minds of the pathocrats.

Be careful,

Blue Ibis
************************************************************************

Thousands of Troops Are Deployed on U.S. Streets Ready to Carry Out "Crowd Control"

Alertnet
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:36 UTC

Naomi Wolf

© BenFrank.net

Background: the First Brigade of the Third Infantry Division, three to four thousand soldiers, has been deployed in the United States as of October 1. Their stated mission is the form of crowd control they practiced in Iraq, subduing "unruly individuals," and the management of a national emergency. I am in Seattle and heard from the brother of one of the soldiers that they are engaged in exercises now. Amy Goodman reported that an Army spokesperson confirmed that they will have access to lethal and non lethal crowd control technologies and tanks.

George Bush struck down Posse Comitatus, thus making it legal for military to patrol the U.S. He has also legally established that in the "War on Terror," the U.S. is at war around the globe and thus the whole world is a battlefield. Thus the U.S. is also a battlefield.

He also led change to the 1807 Insurrection Act to give him far broader powers in the event of a loosely defined "insurrection" or many other "conditions" he has the power to identify. The Constitution allows the suspension of habeas corpus -- habeas corpus prevents us from being seized by the state and held without trial -- in the event of an "insurrection." With his own army force now, his power to call a group of protesters or angry voters "insurgents" staging an "insurrection" is strengthened.

U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman of California said to Congress, captured on C-Span and viewable on YouTube, that individual members of the House were threatened with martial law within a week if they did not pass the bailout bill:

"The only way they can pass this bill is by creating and sustaining a panic atmosphere. ... Many of us were told in private conversations that if we voted against this bill on Monday that the sky would fall, the market would drop two or three thousand points the first day and a couple of thousand on the second day, and a few members were even told that there would be martial law in America if we voted no."

If this is true and Rep. Sherman is not delusional, I ask you to consider that if they are willing to threaten martial law now, it is foolish to assume they will never use that threat again. It is also foolish to trust in an orderly election process to resolve this threat. And why deploy the First Brigade? One thing the deployment accomplishes is to put teeth into such a threat.

I interviewed Vietnam veteran, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and patriot David Antoon for clarification:

"If the President directed the First Brigade to arrest Congress, what could stop him?"

"Nothing. Their only recourse is to cut off funding. The Congress would be at the mercy of military leaders to go to them and ask them not to obey illegal orders."

"But these orders are now legal?'"

"Correct."

"If the President directs the First Brigade to arrest a bunch of voters, what would stop him?"

"Nothing. It would end up in courts but the action would have been taken."

"If the President directs the First Brigade to kill civilians, what would stop him?"

"Nothing."

"What would prevent him from sending the First Brigade to arrest the editor of the Washington Post?"

"Nothing. He could do what he did in Iraq -- send a tank down a street in Washington and fire a shell into the Washington Post as they did into Al Jazeera, and claim they were firing at something else."

"What happens to members of the First Brigade who refuse to take up arms against U.S. citizens?"

"They'd probably be treated as deserters as in Iraq: arrested, detained and facing five years in prison. In Iraq a study by Ann Wright shows that deserters -- reservists who refused to go back to Iraq -- got longer sentences than war criminals."

"Does Congress have any military of their own?"

"No. Congress has no direct control of any military units. The Governors have the National Guard but they report to the President in an emergency that he declares."

"Who can arrest the President?"

"The Attorney General can arrest the President after he leaves or after impeachment."

[Note: Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi has asserted it is possible for District Attorneys around the country to charge President Bush with murder if they represent districts where one or more military members who have been killed in Iraq formerly resided.]

"Given the danger do you advocate impeachment?"

"Yes. President Bush struck down Posse Comitatus -- which has prevented, with a penalty of two years in prison, U.S. leaders since after the Civil War from sending military forces into our streets -- with a 'signing statement.' He should be impeached immediately in a bipartisan process to prevent the use of military forces and mercenary forces against U.S. citizens"

"Should Americans call on senior leaders in the Military to break publicly with this action and call on their own men and women to disobey these orders?"

"Every senior military officer's loyalty should ultimately be to the Constitution. Every officer should publicly break with any illegal order, even from the President."

"But if these are now legal. If they say, 'Don't obey the Commander in Chief,' what happens to the military?"

"Perhaps they would be arrested and prosecuted as those who refuse to participate in the current illegal war. That's what would be considered a coup."

"But it's a coup already."

"Yes."

Sarah Palin and the Christian Rapture Cult

Important background material on the VP-wannabe. Is this the woman you would want to have access to the largest nuclear arsenal in the world??

Blue Ibis
*********************************************************************

Sarah Palin and the Christian Rapture Cult

Raymond J. Lawrence
Counterpunch
Sun, 21 Sep 2008 08:02 EDT

Is this country ready for a president who is excited about and eagerly looking forward to the Rapture?

The Rapture, as it is called, is the imaginary day when Jesus will come down from the sky and lift up into heaven all those who are saved, leaving behind all unbelievers to destruction and death?

Anyone who believes in the Rapture scenario will likely interpret a catastrophic nuclear exchange as the opening scene of the Rapture. Thus an American president who believes in the Rapture would arguably have at least some ambivalence toward a nuclear holocaust. A believer in the Rapture with his or her fingers on the nuclear trigger might even be tempted to bring on the Rapture. The Rapture, for those who believe in it, is hardly a negative event. Rather it is culmination of everything they hope for, deliverance into the heavenly arms of Jesus.

Presumably Sarah Palin believes in the Rapture. It is one of the doctrines of her religion, and she has nowhere disavowed it. Are Americans ready to sleep at night with a President who longs for the Rapture?

The doctrine of the Rapture is a very recent invention within some of the radical fringe churches of Christianity. The Rapture doctrine is first cousin to millennialism, the belief promoted by various groups who have predicted that "the end is near." Millennialist groups have popped up and burnt out from time to time throughout Christian history.

The Rapture doctrine has no support in the historic Christianity of any of the main traditions - Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Protestant. The doctrine of the Rapture is cobbled together from several obscure, unrelated comments drawn from the epistles of Paul the Apostle. No credible biblical scholar in two thousand years of Christian history has taken seriously the Rapture doctrine, millennialism, or anything similar to it.

The American people ought to be concerned about the religious beliefs of its political leaders as those beliefs may determine the life of the nation as a whole. It would be foolish of the American people not to be deeply concerned about the religious beliefs of Sara Palin, who may be elected Vice President for the oldest President ever inaugurated into the office.

When John F. Kennedy campaigned for the presidency in 1960, many Americans were concerned about his commitment to the Roman Catholic Chruch. The fear was that he might be subject to directions from Catholic priests, or from the Pope, since he was a practicing Catholic, and Catholic leaders are typically quite directive and authoritarian. Kennedy answered that concern in speaking to the Houston Ministerial Association during the campaign. He declared boldly and correctly that no political leader should take directives from religious authorities whatsoever. He claimed a commitment to the strict separation of church and state. Kennedy's assurances were widely accepted by the public.

The Sarah Palin problem is somewhat different. The concern is not whether she would take orders from her pastor. That is unlikely. Her church does not typically exercise that sort of authority. The problem is both more simple and more worrisome. The public must presume that Palin believes in the Rapture, since it is one of the central doctrines of her church. Furthermore, the American people should assume that Palin's personal religious beliefs will have consequences in her decision-making as a President. Both Palin and McCain have already made clear that their religious views about abortion will determine presidential appointments to the courts.

The press and much of the public seem reluctant to engage Palin on her religious views, considering them to be a personal matter. In certain respects that is admirable restraint. We do not want candidates for office grilled on their private religious views as long as those views do not impinge upon the public welfare. Whether an individual believes in the bodily assumption of the Virgin Mary, predestination, or other such religious views should not be subject to political scrutiny. Such beliefs have no inherent impact on public policy.

However, a belief in the Rapture as an historic event toward which history is rapidly moving, is a belief with potentially catastrophic political implications. Do the American people want a believer in such a fantasy to hold in her hands the nuclear power to destroy civilization?

Raymond J. Lawrence is an Episcopal cleric, recently retired Director of Pastoral Care, New York Presbyterian Hospital, and author of numerous opinion pieces in newspapers in the U.S., and author of the recently published, Sexual Liberation: The Scandal of Christendom (Praeger). He can be reached at: raymondlawrence@mac.com

Sarah Palin - Just a 'Hockey Mom'? Try Embezzler . . .

Sarah Palin shows her true colours once again, in this case appropriating the Alaskan taxpayers' money to fund a local "Jesus Camp", the Juneau Christian Center. If you really want a good scare, check out the articles here and here on 'Joel's Army'. The brownshirts are back.

Blue Ibis
******************************************************************************

Sarah Palin used AK tax dollars to fund dominionist churches

Dogemperor
Daily Kos
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:59 EDT

©Illustrator Zina Saunders

"Sarah Palin Bags a Big One."

Over the past few days, I've done reporting on Sarah Palin's extensive dominionist connections--including the attempt to run her as a "stealth" dominionist candidate and her connections to some scary dominionist groups including not just "Joel's Army" folks but a far-right Christian Reconstructionist political party linked to domestic terrorism.

As bad as all this, and the scandals regarding her misrule in both Wasilla and as state governor, are, there's apparently still more.

Today, we find that part of those funding scandals include the tax money of Alaskans used to pay for youth programs at Juneau Christian Center. We also reveal info regarding a particularly disturbing Assemblies frontgroup Palin recently did a talk at, and we go into researching the dominionist connections of her most recent church--Wasilla Bible Church.

Your tax dollars, going to support Dominionism for kids

In another example of what appears to be some extensive whitewashing at almost all of Palin's former and present churches, there were some very interesting links removed from JCC's site regarding an interesting bit of largesse by Sarah Palin to the church.

Fortunately, an astute blogger happened to archive the material, which included not only documentation of a $25,000 grant to JCC's "The Hub" from Palin's administration, but also a request for $100,000 total in state and federal funding and pictures of Palin actually being at the opening of "The Hub" (which have since been scrubbed from her website).

And all is definitely not as it seems with "The Hub".

"The Hub" is essentially a frontgroup run by JCC for recruitment of future members--much of its activities focus on recruiting kids. The page itself begins with the phrase "Destiny Has Begun!"--a codephrase commonly used in "Joel's Army" circles to denote the "generation of destiny" (the new rebranding of "Joel's Army" borrowed from an Assemblies-linked church in New Zealand, now that the press is starting to catch onto the "Joel's Army" branding). "Destiny" in and of itself is a favourite codephrase in these circles--in "Joel's Army" theology, people are "destined" to inherit all manner of wealth and take over the planet and whatnot.

The original blogger has also noted he's received some info to suggest that ongoing prosyletisation may be going on at "The Hub":

I also found some publicly available videos about JCC's "Ground//Zero" youth program through a rather circuitous route that I won't post here to protect the privacy of people in the videos that lead me to believe that more goes on here than what is described in the application.

The "Ground//Zero" program, too, is worth noting--and even based on its rather scrubbed page, the intent is to essentially set up an army of teen "God Warriors":

ground//zero - the center of rapid or intense development or change.

Our name speaks our purpose. At ground//zero we have a vision to develop youth that are marked by purity, passion, and the presence of God. This vision exists to create young people that will carry ground//zero as a movement, not just a meeting.

ground//zero is not a place, it's not a time, but it is a movement transported by people that will impact this generation with a message that instils hope and a purpose. The movement meets Wednesday nights.

Doors open at 6:00PM and service begins at 6:30PM for Middle and High School service.

Doors open at 8:30PM and service begins at 9:00PM for University service (ages 18-26).

(Last I checked, "ground zero" was the central blast point of explosions. And also a name that at least the New York community would probably find in extremely poor taste.)

Seeing as it's actually been established through some quite official sources that Juneau Christian Center is an Assemblies church, that means that at least $25,000 of Alaskan taxpayers' money may have gone for active efforts to convert Alaskan teenagers to "Joel's Army" theology.

More evidence of Palin's dallyances with Joel's Army

Possibly some of the more damning info yet on Palin's membership in "Joel's Army" comes from the recent revelations of Palin's speech to a group called "Master's Commission". The full transcript of her speech has now come out, and it's actually worse than the initial reports of her claiming that Gulf War II was a holy crusade.

Some of the badness is from specific codewords she uses (at the beginning, she literally describes the members as being under the "umbrella of the church"--a codephrase used in orgs that use abusive "cell churches" to denote the cell-church relationship). And she gives some real zingers, too, including one which notes pretty much why I get alarm bells when I hear neopentecostal dominionist churches ranting about "destiny":

But, um, so, having grown up here, and having little kids growing up here also, this is such a special, special place. The Assembly of God here has been a real center point in the Valley for all these years, and the Valley has been a center point for the state of Alaska. So what comes from this church I think has great destiny. And I say this to the Master's Commission students who have been here under this umbrella, who are going to be sent out now and bringing people in.
. . .
I just want to bless you, and oh, because I didn't know if I was going to get here tonight, I flew in from Juneau last night and I fly again to Juneau tomorrow. So I didn't prepare anything, thinking my schedule wouldn't allow me to be here. But I have a word, but really I'm cheating 'cause it's a, I think it was given to me today but I'm going to give it to the Master's Commission students because I think it's so applicable to they are headed. And this word was given to me, bless his heart, by Pastor Ed Kalnins this morning at our big Valley-wide church service.

It was called Ephesians 1:17, and this is what I want to pray over you guys too: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give to you a spirit wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, and that spirit of revelation also including a spirit of prophecy, that God's going to tell you what is going on and what is going to go on, and you guys are going to have that within you, and it's just going to bubble up and bubble over and, and it's going to pour out over the state of Alaska. Again, good good things in store for the state of Alaska. Let us pray for God's will to be done here, for all of your destinies to be met in this state.

(Yes, you're reading this right--Palin is stating, flat out, that the whole reason that Alaska is rick in natural resources and why people are moving there is so that neopentes can hold the Great-Grandmother Of All Revivals.)

However, this isn't all of why this is disturbing. For the rest of it, you have to do a little bit of digging into Master's Commission itself.

The efforts at whitewashing haven't been so successful with Master's Commission, as a fellow blogger has recorded, but even more enlightenment is found via some Google-massaging.

There are a number of groups using this name (and a surprising number of them are Joel's Army connected, indicating this may be one of the "rebrandings" we need to keep an eye on), but in this particular case, the "Master's Commission" we're concerned about is a post of an Assemblies frontgroup at Wasilla A/G that is connected to Phoenix A/G (Ted Haggard's present church). Whilst the main headquarters are now in Texas, the group did have its origins in the largest Assemblies church in the US (and one of the largest megachurches in the country).

The group promotes itself as a "discipling and shepherding" group (which is bad enough), but the info on Wasilla A/G's site--amazingly, not yet redacted--is even worse.

A preview of just how far we're going to be going into the rabbit hole becomes obvious on the website for Master's Commission North Pole (the state org--which, incidentially, has one of the most annoying Flash-based websites known). Aside from all the "sword" imagery and spouting off "destiny" every five seconds, it's let out that participants engage in "marathon fasting" of the type popularly promoted in Assemblies circles (which is to say, 21- and 40-day fasts with nothing but water, no food); in comparison, Lent just drops certain food groups, and Ramadhan only has daytime fasting. Such extreme fasts are considered quite unhealthy by medical personnel, and are seen as one major "warning sign" of a potentially abusive religious group.

Have I also mentioned the fun of the group targeting Native Alaskan and Inuit communities for conversion? And this is just baby steps, really, compared to what we're about to dive into.

The truth is, the group exists primarily as an ordination mill for the Assemblies of God:

Q: What sort of materials will I be taught?

A:
-Berean School of the Bible (work towards being credentialed with Assemblies of God)
-Scripture Memory (hidding God's word in our hearts)
-John Bevere Curriculum (Under Cover and Bait of Satan)
-Francis Frangipane (In Christ's Image Training)
-Steve Thompson (developing and operating in prophetic ministry)

Of note, that "Berean School of the Bible" is the Assemblies of God's mail-order correspondence school--and the Assemblies tends to have particularly lax standards for ordination (you can get by with two good words from other Assemblies preachers, a multiple choice "Bible quiz", and two years of "ministerial experience" without setting foot in a seminary hall).

Another sign that Something Is Not Right is the fact that a big part of the work of "Master's Commission" is working with another Assemblies front--namely, the "Dream Center" chain of "faith based rehabs":

Here at Masters Commission Wasilla Alaska you will be involved in many different ministries. Here are just some of them:

. . .

Dream Center: You will be serving Rob and Cherise Hyslip who are taking on the vision of a dream center here in Wasilla. Like the one Pastors Matthew and Tommy Barnett have started in L.A., it is a shelter and resource for those facing homelessness, poverty, drug addiction, and hopelessness.

Ah, yes, Dream Center. :P Dream Center is one of several chains of "Faith Based Rehabs" that the Assemblies of God operates; in Dream Center's case, it is largely the Western District of the Assemblies promoting it, but it has spread to areas outside the Western District (such as Alaska). Past readers may remember Dream Center Phoenix as the site of Ted Haggard's so-far-unsuccessful degaying (he was ultimately dismissed from the program, as expected).

And--much like other Assemblies-operated "faith based rehab" chains such as Teen Challenge and Mercy Ministries, there have been reports of abuse...some egregious.

One of the more disturbing reports of abuse at Dream Center facilities involves profiteering off Katrina evacuees and holding them in conditions identical to people in rehab (complete with random pee tests). Much like similar cases at Teen Challenge, at least one facility had a registered sex offender working with youth in Dream Center St. Louis in violation of Missouri law, and there are similarly coercive practices at Dream Center as exist at Mercy Ministries and Teen Challenge (including forced conversions as a condition of receiving aid--including Katrina evacuees who were targeted quite aggressively.

Back to "Master's Commission", though. Probably some of the most damning material as to what and whom that speech Palin made was meant for is revealed on the "About Alaska" page, including textbook use of the term "Destiny" as a neopente dominionist codeword--and noting some very frequent offenders here:

Alaska has a divine destiny that has been spoken about by many church leaders and prophetic leaders from all over the world such as Dutch Sheets, Todd Bently, Steve Thompson, Woody Woodson, and Dr. Cho just to name a few.

You will have an awesome opportunity here in Master's Commission Wasilla Alaska to partner with God as he is getting ready to pour out His Spirit like never seen before and cause a great awakening that will see millions all across our world come to know the Lord in a radical and intimate way.

If this isn't a veritable "who's who" of modern Joel's Army promoters, I don't know what is.

Listed prominently is Todd Bentley, who recently became the primary focus on a new Southern Poverty Law Center article on "Joel's Army" groups; also listed prominently is Paul Yonggi Cho (nee David Yonggi Cho), head of the largest megachurch in the world in Seoul and pretty much the "founding father" of Joel's Army stuff in the Assemblies--oh, yes, and there's always Cho's lovely connections to the party responsible for a particularly genocidal attempt to establish the Republic of Gilead in Guatemala. Steve Thompson is connected with Rick Joyner's Morningstar Ministries (and Rick Joyner is one of the names most consistently connected with "Joel's Army") and tends to show up frequently in reference material re "Joel's Army"; Dutch Sheets is a real piece of work and a major, major promoter of this stuff as well (in fact, he's also engaging in rebranding of "Joel's Army" as "Gideon's Army" on his end) with connections to "Joel's Army" promoter C. Peter Wagner. Woody Woodson is probably the most obscure of the lot--he's heavily promoted on the Assemblies "travelling pastor" circuit along with a number of "word-faith" promoters.

And this is still not the full extent of the "Joel's Army" linkage; one group they're connected with is the International House Of Prayer along with Morningstar Ministries. (The International House Of Prayer has been mentioned in the SPLC report om "Joel's Army" groups; I am, to this day, surprised that the proprietors have not had the living you-know-what sued out of them by the proprietors of the International House of Pancakes.)

If that's not enough to curl your nosehairs, apparently the intent--as I noted above--is to essentially hold the Great-Grandmother of Revivals, for the express purpose of turning the Great White North into Jesusland:

In 1967 during the Alaska Purchase Centennial, Richard Peter wrote our Alaska State Motto. The motto is meant to represent Alaska as a land of promise. "North to The Future", we believe this is Prophetic; Alaska will be in the middle of a great outpouring.

Yes, you read that right...apparently the state motto is seen as a prophecy of a giant tent meeting. I can't make this up if I tried.

Again, I hope this puts to rest any doubt on the whole "Joel's Army" thing. :3

And her present congregation aren't exactly angels, either

Compared to this, Palin's present congregation--Wasilla Bible Church--seems rather harmless.

Unfortunately, appearances can be deceiving...especially with all the whitewashing of info critical of Palin going on. Wasilla Bible Church may not be Assemblies-scary, but it is definitely in the "SBC-level of dominionism, post-steeplejack" levels of "worrisome".

Finding out any solid info in regards to Wasilla Bible Church has been difficult, because there's very little info on the church's website; it claims to be non-denominational, but some things like the Statement of Faith point to similarities to so-called "Independent Christian Churches" (which, in the case of the megachurch variety, trend dominionist).

And an early, non-purged Internet Archive version of Wasilla Bible Church's page already turns up, as early as 2003, links to Focus on the Family--and both WBC and its parent church, as we'll see, are closely connected to FotF.

The linkage continues to the present day--in the most recent church flyer I've been able to find online, a Focus on the Family frontgroup called "Love Won Out"--which promotes the "degaying" bogosity--is actively promoted.

We actually tend to find more revealing info at the parent church of Wasilla Bible Church--a Palmer, Alaska church by the name of Lazy Mountain Bible Church. Again, there's an almost-deliberate attempt to hide where the origin was (all that is noted is that people apparently came to Alaska to found the church at some unidentified date, no bios on the pastors, no nothing)...but there are some indications of a potential neopente bent, and a definite dominionist bent.

One of the first warning signs is actually from a want-ad for an assistant pastor--specifically someone into "discipling and shepherding". (I mentioned earlier how this could be a Bad Thing in regards to Wasilla A/G.)

One surprising thing that I did find in research was apparent promotion of a popular women's writer in SBC circles within Lazy Mountain's church newsletter; in the same newsletter, though, we also find more promotion for that FotF frontgroup conference.

Another thing that pinged my radar--and may give a clue to the true denominational affiliation of WBC and its parent--was the discovery of a "Potter's Group" course. This raised my alert, in part, because some highly abusive "Assemblies daughters" tend to use this imagery (including the "Potter's House" group).

The application also gives hints of a potentially neopente group--it is in fact very similar to the form Matt Taibbi filled out to attend weekend at John Hagee's "Jesus Camp for Grownups" that turned into a literal vomitorium. (One of the give-aways we may be dealing with neopentes: one of the questions asked re abuse is a history of "Satanic Ritual Abuse", something that is pretty much only taken seriously in neopentecostal circles and which has been pretty well thoroughly debunked elsewhere.) Interestingly, it is one of the few applications for joining a cell-church group that I've seen that includes an indemnity form.

And yes, this too has links to Focus on the Family:

An Adult Sunday School Class featuring Focus on the Family's The Truth Project meets at 9:15 a.m. on Sunday mornings in room #11. The class is facilitated by Jonathon Peters, Doug Prins and Ed White.

A Truth Project Discussion Group will meet on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. in the home of Ed White. This is open to men and women.

(Again, the "Truth Project" is a little FotF project--only this time going for explicit dominionist indoctrination, in a surprisingly blatant attempt (via cell-churches)...and when I mean blatant, I mean flat out Christian Nationalism 101.)

And it wouldn't just be these two pet projects the "Bible Churches" in question are associated with. Another group that LWBC likes to promote is the Alliance Defense Fund--a dominionist legal group that effectively operates as the de facto legal battering-ram of FotF. (Yes, it's little known, but the Alliance Defense Fund is actually a Focus on the Family "daughter".)

The particular speaker that LWBC had from ADF is also particularly damning--and disturbingly in-line with Palin's past history. Chuck Lane, in addition to being a regional ADF head, also has connections with Campus Crusade for Christ (yes, the same Campus Crusade now linked to attempts at military steeplejacking and coercive tactics aimed at college students, among other fun things--yes, the same Campus Crusade that runs the "Fellowship of Christian Athletes" that Palin held membership in, the same one that is practically joined at the hip with the Assemblies) and Promise Keepers (the infamous dominionist "men's org" that came into controversy because of its use of abusive "cell church" tactics; to this day, Promise Keepers is still listed as a coercive religious group by some exit counsellors).

Of note...this is on top of the documented promotion of conversion of Jewish people to "Messianic Jews"; in fact, the speaker in question literally blamed terrorist attacks against the Israeli community on Jewish people failing to convert and God giving a smiting as a result:

"Judgement is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. It's very real. When [Brickner's son] was in Jerusalem he was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment - you can't miss it."

And yes, this is the same "Jews for Jesus" that is almost universally considered a coercive religious group because of deceptive recruitment tactics--as documented by many independent researchers and exit counsellors (in fact, the last exit counsellor noted got into exit counselling due to attempts by Jews for Jesus to recruit his grandmother when she was in a nursing home).

And this is still not all. Apparently, WBC's pastor has pulled his own version of a John Hagee foot-bullet--claiming in a sermon that America is due for a smitin' due to "rampant immorality".

So...yeah, Wasilla Bible Church are definitely not angels here.

And it's not entirely accurate to say that WBC is her sole congregation, either. Some media reports have indicated she may be attending both WBC and Juneau Christian Center--though there's definitely some ongoing spin on that.

And in fact, it looks like Wasilla Bible Church itself has been recruited into whitewashing the muck covering Palin:

On Monday, the church had another cause for notoriety. Kroons told NEWSWEEK that Palin's campaign staff had contacted him that morning to ask for his discretion when discussing the pregnancy of Palin's teenage daughter Bristol. "All I'll say is that Bristol is a young lady. We care about her and want to support her and the family," Kroons said. Ashley Brown, another pastor at the church, said he'd also been contacted by the campaign with the same request.

All the more reason, methinks, to keep shining that million-candlepower light in Palin's direction.