--- Begin Message ---
haven't read this yet, have you ever seen it?
The weather is backwards here in florida, cold
fronts coming from a southerly direction
many people noticing
if the use nukes in s america to get their catholics
up here en masse the fgallout will get a bunch of
their enemies as they have situated the weather
patterns
hold onto your hat, be glad you are there not here
also:
www.luxefaire.com/clouds/PDRM7534.JPG
photo taken 1/13/02 By Bill Gallagher St
Petersburg Florida
www.luxefaire.com/melbourne.jpg
Melbourne, FL, November 12, 2000 / Photo by Matt
Bragaw, Peter Blottman
For a good look at what is going on see:
http://home1.gte.net/quakker/Documents/Chemtra
ils_Over_America.htm
____________________________________
-----Original Message-----
From: "Taoss" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 06:02:05 -0500
To: "PATRICK LIST"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Operation Potomac
You know, there's also a script in the bible that
says the day will come
when the Christians will be persecuted. Never
thought it would be
"so-called" christians persecuting them.
Sherry
----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2002 2:19 AM
Thought you'd shake your heads over this one.
Phillipa
"Therefore be merciful, just as your Father in
Heaven is merciful." - Lk
6:36
Feb. 2
USA:
Operation Potomac
Taking Advantage Of The 'Faith-Based'
Atmosphere In Washington, Christian
Reconstructionists -- The Most Radical Fringe Of
The Religious Right -- Are
Marching Into The U.S. Capitol And The White
House
The Rev. William Einwechter has a novel solution
to the problem of
incorrigible juvenile delinquents -- stone them to
death.
Einwechter says the stoning penalty is clearly
called for in the Bible
(Deuteronomy 21:18-21), and he's not ashamed
to say that the punishment
should still apply today.
"Properly understood," the Pennsylvania pastor
argued in a January 1999
article, "it displays the wisdom and mercy of God
in restraining wickedness
so that the righteous might flourish in peace. It is
those who reject this
case law that should be embarrassed, for they
have cast reproach on God and
his law, cast aside the testimony of Christ and
substituted their own
imaginations for the blessed word of God."
Einwechter's piece appeared in Chalcedon
Report, a magazine published by
Christian Reconstructionists, the most
aggressive and extreme wing of the
Religious Right. Currently serving as vice
president of an organization
called the National Reform Association (NRA),
Einwechter's writings
frequently appear on the group's website
(www.natreformassn.org).
Reconstructionists -- also called "theonomists" or
advocates of "dominion
theology" -- want to impose "biblical law" (or, more
accurately, their
interpretation of biblical law) on the United States.
Under their view,
democracy should be scrapped and replaced with
a theocratic state based on
a literal reading of the Old Testament's legal
code.
In a "reconstructed" society, government would be
dramatically scaled back.
Most government institutions, including public
schools and various
welfare/social service programs, would be
abolished and replaced with
church-run efforts. Political leaders would look to
the Bible, not the
Constitution, as the nation's governing document.
As if this were not controversial enough, Christian
Reconstructionists also
advocate an extreme vision of social policy. Citing
passages from the Old
Testament Books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus,
many Reconstructionists would
institute the death penalty for a number of
offenses, among them striking
or cursing a parent, adultery, homosexuality,
"unchastity," rape of a
betrothed virgin, witchcraft, "incorrigible" juvenile
delinquency,
blasphemy and propagation of "false" religious
doctrines. Some favor
stoning as the biblically preferred means of
execution.
Reconstructionists also argue that the Bible
sanctions some forms of
slavery and accords women a second-class
status. One Reconstructionist
writer, Steve Schlissel, has asserted that the
"God-ordained order" places
"God above all, man joyfully under God, woman
lovingly under man, and the
animals at bottom."
Reconstructionists have little use for separation of
church and state.
Einwechter recently asserted that the separation
concept be thrown aside in
favor of something he calls "national
confessionalism."
Under this principle, Einwechter writes, "First, the
church must be planted
in a particular nation. Then as the church grows
and faithfully disciples
the converts, Christian citizens and rulers will see
their duty to
establish a Christian civil government. When the
nation comes to a place of
explicitly recognizing the authority of Christ over
the state, it will
become a Christian nation with both church and
state, in their own proper
spheres, confessing Christ as Lord."
Einwechter dismisses America's traditional
model of a secular government
that protects the rights of believers and
nonbelievers alike. "Secularism
is so patently false," he writes, "that it is amazing
that this is the view
of church and state that is supported by so many
Christians."
Although Reconstructionism may seem so far out
as to be easily dismissed,
the philosophy has in fact provided the intellectual
basis for much of the
Religious Right's thinking and political activism.
Stripped of its more
extreme features, watered-down versions of
Reconstructionism are the
driving force behind groups like the Christian
Coalition, whose leaders,
during the group's early years, talked openly of the
need for far-right
Christians to take control of government from
local school boards all the
way to the White House.
Not content to be assigned to the lunatic fringe of
American politics,
Reconstructionists are now making a serious
play for the big time. Through
their "Operation Potomac" project, Einwechter,
NRA president Jeffrey A.
Ziegler and other group leaders have made 3
forays into Washington, D.C.,
since July 2000, meeting with members of
Congress and their staffs. With
the help of powerful House Whip Tom DeLay
(R-Texas), they hope next year to
host a "biblical worldview" conference for
congressional staff on Capitol
Hill.
The future promises even more political activism.
In January Ziegler, a
Presbyterian minister, announced plans for a
dramatic expansion into the
political realm. "NRA Board Member and author
John Fielding III has been
tasked with gathering all information needed to
expand NRA operations
beyond its current educational efforts," he wrote,
"creating an official
lobbying arm through the concurrent formation of
a Political Action
Committee and a separate 501 (c4) organization."
"My goal is to get [the National Reform
Association] back to its original
avocation and have a political arm," the
41-year-old Ziegler said in an
interview with Church & State. "In that context, we
have had "Operation
Potomac" missions. We meet with congressman
and senators. We go there to
disciple, not to lobby on issues."
Continued Ziegler, "There will be a separate
overtly political arm. It will
develop campaigns, the candidacies and actually
run those campaigns...We
want to see an overtly political arm of the NRA
develop so that we have
that 2-track agenda. One, we have the think tank,
and 2, we're actually
doing the business of politics."
The National Reform Association, a Pittsburgh,
Pa.-based group, represents
a new wave of Reconstructionist thinking.
Christian Reconstructionists
trace their roots to 16th-century French church
reformer John Calvin, but
their modern spiritual grandfather was Cornelius
Van Til (1895-1987), an
American theologian and author whose ideas laid
the philosophical
foundations of Reconstructionism -- but did not
necessarily call for
full-blown political activism.
In 1959, ex-missionary Rousas John Rushdoony
began popularizing Van Til's
ideas when he published a seminal work of
Reconstructionism titled By What
Standard? An Analysis of the Philosophy of
Cornelius Van Til. Rushdoony
subsequently coined the term "Christian
Reconstructionism" and in 1966
founded the Chalcedon Foundation, the first
Reconstructionist think tank.
According to Reconstructionist theology, believers
of their stripe have to
take control sooner or later -- the Bible mandates
it. Unlike many modern
fundamentalists, Reconstructionists believe that
Jesus Christ will not
return until society has been rebuilt to their liking.
Their "purification"
of an ungodly America, they assert, will pave the
way for the Second
Coming. (This view, called "post-millennialism,"
was common among
19th-century Christians. It conflicts with the more
widespread evangelical
belief that Jesus will return only after a period of
chaos and then impose
a reign of peace and order, a view known as
"premillennialism.")
>From the Foundation's headquarters in Vallecito,
Calif., a small town west
of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in northern
California, Rushdoony spent
nearly 4 decades issuing books, reports and
white papers that attracted a
small but enthusiastic group of followers, most of
them ultra-conservative
Presbyterians or others in the Reformed camp.
But Rushdoony, tucked away in an overlooked
corner of rural California,
never had much of a direct impact on national
politics. Nor did he seem to
want to. Rushdoony, who died last year at the age
of 84, was content to
issue dense tomes arguing about the proper
"biblical" way to order a
reconstructed society, literally obsessing over
every jot and tittle in the
law.
By contrast, the new breed of Christian
Reconstructionists are eager to
jump head first into politics, and increasingly they
are finding the doors
of Congress and the White House wide open to
them.
NRA activists made their 1st venture to
Washington on March 1, 2000, where
they met with a number of Republican lawmakers.
Ziegler, Einwechter and two
others "reestablished the lobbying arm of the
National Reform Association
in the nation's capital" during the visit, Ziegler
reported.
The 4 met personally with Reps. Asa Hutchison
(R-Ark.), John Hostettler
(R-Ind.), J.D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.), Ron Paul
(R-Texas) and Steve LaTourette
(R-Ohio) and met with staffers of other House and
Senate members, including
Ohio senators George Voinovich and Mike
DeWine and Don Nickels of Oklahoma,
all Republicans.
5 months later, Ziegler, Einwechter and other
group leaders returned to
Capitol Hill. Reporting on the July 13, 2000, visit,
Einwechter and Ziegler
proudly noted that they had met with staffers from
the offices of
then-Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Sens.
James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.),
John Ashcroft (R-Mo.), Rick Santorum (R-Pa.),
Ben Campbell (R-Colo.), Strom
Thurmond (R-S.C.), Tim Hutchison (R-Ark.), Bob
Smith (R-N.H.), Chuck Hagel
(R-Neb.), Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.), Phil
Gramm (R-Texas) and Jesse Helms
(R-N.C.).
During the second meeting, NRA representatives
met personally with several
House members, including Reps. James
Traficant (D-Ohio), Steve Chabot
(R-Ohio) and Steve Buyer (R-Ind.). They met with
staffers from other
offices, including House Majority Leader Dick
Armey (R-Texas) and Reps.
Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), Steve Largent (R-Okla.) and
Chris Smith (R-N.J.)
Following the November elections, with the
landscape in Washington greatly
changed, the Reconstructionists came back. On
April 25, 2001, the group
again met with several House members,
including Majority Whip DeLay, House
Republican Conference Chair J.C. Watts (R-Okla.)
and Reps. Mark Souder
(R-Ind.), Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio) and LaTourette.
During the last visit, the Christian
Reconstructionist delegation also
stopped at the White House, where it was warmly
received by an official in
the Office of Public Policy and Liaison; they also
stopped in to visit with
the staff of Ashcroft, now serving as attorney
general.
While meeting with DeLay, Ziegler reported, the
NRA officials made plans to
sponsor a "biblical worldview seminar to be
conducted at the Capitol" for
congressional staffers. Although a date for the
event has yet to be
announced, Ziegler says it will occur next year. He
also hopes to meet with
President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney
later this year or next.
This type of access and influence is nothing short
of remarkable,
considering the extreme views taken by some
Reconstructionists. Some
activists in the movement, including Rushdoony
and Atlanta-area leader Gary
DeMar, who runs a group called American Vision
(www.americanvision.org),
have asserted that the Bible mandates the death
penalty for homosexuals and
doctors who provide abortions. Asked about the
matter on Atlanta radio
station WSB in 1991, DeMar offered cold comfort
by saying that gays would
be executed only if 2 witnesses had observed
them engaging in homosexual
acts.
Ziegler denies that he goes that far. He told
Church & State that the NRA
advocates a type of political libertarianism with a
small federal
government and power based in the states.
Under this model, he insisted,
local control would prevail.
"If you're asking me if a homosexual should be
executed just for being a
homosexual, I would say no," Ziegler said. "But if
he is harming
individuals through actions like rape, then there
should be some penalty."
Zielger conceded that under "national
confessionalism," states could
legally apply the death penalty for certain
offenses, such as homosexuality
or providing abortions. But other states, he said,
would retain the right
to go in the opposite direction.
Will this more moderate form of
Reconstructionism provide a suitable
platform for political activism? Ziegler thinks so. In
an article titled
"Take Me Out to the Ball Game: How to Build a
Christian Political Farm
Team," Ziegler outlined his vision -- a political
plan that relies more on
old-fashioned grassroots organizing than divine
intervention.
Swiping a page from the Christian Coalition's
political handbook, Ziegler
recommends that Reconstructionists infiltrate
local party units and take
them over. "Concentration is on trained Christians
who look to control the
executive committees and various other
committees (finance, public
relations, candidate recruitment, etc) with an
eventual Christian party
chairman," he wrote. He goes on to say that once
"sufficient control is
established in one local county party" the goal
should be "branching out
into the contiguous counties within the same
congressional district."
Ziegler, who serves as a staff minister at Shiloh
Christian Church in Leroy
Township, Ohio, has little patience for pessimists
who say the task is too
daunting. "A dominion attitude," he writes, "rejects
defeatist notions, and
embraces long term biblical strategies which
ensure a "little by little"
conversion, or defeat, of entrenched political
adversaries."
In duplicating a model that worked so well for the
Christian Coalition for
many years, Ziegler unintentionally underscores
just how much influence the
Reconstructionists have had on the nation's
leading Religious Right groups.
Indeed, it seems unlikely that the Religious Right
would have become as
powerful as it did without the intellectual platform
built for it by
Reconstructionists.
In the late 1970s and '80s, a large number of
conservative evangelicals
entered politics and sought a biblical basis for
their actions.
Reconstructionists had already provided that
justification.
Robert Billings, an early Religious Right strategist
and one of the
founders of the Moral Majority, said it best in 1980
when he stated
bluntly, "If it weren't for [Rushdoony's] books, none
of us would be here."
More recently, Reconstructionist writer Gary North,
Rushdoony's son-in-law,
commenting on Rushdoony's death, told the Los
Angeles Times, "Rushdoony's
writings are the source of many of the core ideas
of the New Christian
Right's political activism."
Television preacher Pat Robertson also owes a
debt to the
Reconstructionists. Although Robertson has
always denied being a
Reconstructionist, Rushdoony once made an
appearance on Robertsons show and
much of the televangelist's rhetoric about
Christians taking control echoes
theonomist rhetoric. In 1999 Robertson told his
"700 Club" audience that he
reads a newsletter produced by North.
(Although North, a prolific writer and founder of the
Institute for
Christian Economics, married Rushdoonys
daughter, the two men became
estranged. North spent much of 1999 predicting
the collapse of American
society over the "Y2K" problem and relocated to
an isolated compound in
rural Arkansas to ride out the expected civil unrest.
Despite the failed
prediction, he still publishes investment
newsletters and pontificates on
other matters. The Dallas Morning News on Feb 3
published a North opinion
piece criticizing the film version of Tim LaHaye's
"Left Behind" novel.)
D. James Kennedy, the TV preacher who runs
Coral Ridge Ministries in Fort
Lauderdale, Fla., also has Reconstructionist ties.
In May of 1996, Kennedy
addressed a banquet sponsored by DeMar's
American Vision. The group's
newsletter noted that "American Vision has
enjoyed a wonderful friendship
and working relationship with Dr. Kennedy and
others at Coral Ridge for
many years."
In addition, George Grant, one of the most
vociferous and anti-gay of the
Reconstructionists, is a former vice president at
Kennedy's Coral Ridge
Ministries and still lectures at Kennedy's Knox
Theological Seminary. Both
Kennedy's ministry and the Christian Coalition
have sold copies of a Grant
book, Legislating Immorality, which laments the
fact that legal codes
calling for the death penalty for gay people have
been abandoned.
Grant also speaks regularly at events sponsored
by the Alliance Defense=20
Fund, an umbrella legal group created by
prominent Religious Right leaders
(Kennedy, James Dobson and Donald Wildmon
among them). Grant addresses law
students every summer as part of the Alliance's
"Blackstone Fellowship"
program.
Dobson's Focus on the Family currently sells
Grant's Grand Illusions: The
Legacy of Planned Parenthood, a book that
attacks reproductive rights and
calls the separation of church and state "a myth."
FOF also sells a taped
interview with Grant. (Dobson has stated that in
1996 he voted for Howard
Phillips, the presidential candidate of the
Reconstructionist-oriented U.S.
Taxpayers Party.)
Reconstructionists have also influenced various
ultra-conservative forces
that oppose public education. Several high profile
attacks against public
schools and teachers unions, especially the
National Education Association,
have come from the pen of Reconstructionist
Samuel L. Blumenfeld. His
books, including N.E.A.: Trojan Horse in American
Education, which labels
the NEA an "educational Mafia," are frequently
sold on right-wing websites.
Even allegedly intellectual conservative writers
have lauded the movement.
Following Rushdoony's death, Peter J. Leithart, a
professor of theology and
literature at New St. Andrews College in Moscow,
Idaho, wrote a fawning
piece in The Weekly Standard saluting
Rushdoony and asserting that he had
"as great an impact on American life as other,
better known American
theologians of the past century."
It's not surprising that far-right publications and
television evangelists
like Robertson and Kennedy, who take extreme
views on many social issues,
would not hesitate to laud the Reconstructionists.
What's more alarming is
that some influential politicians are starting to do
the same.
Although it's not well known, President George W.
Bush's former welfare
guru, Marvin Olasky, has clearly been influenced
by Reconstructionists.
Olasky, who coined the term "compassionate
conservatism," has written
several books over the years studded with
references to Reconstructionist
writers like Rushdoony, North, DeMar and Grant.
(Grant, is a former
columnist for Olasky's World magazine.)
Olasky has never publicly admitted that he is a
Reconstructionist. But his
books and articles often parrot Reconstructionist
views, including his
belief that churches, not the government, should
provide for the poor.
Olasky also agrees with the Reconstructionists
on some social issues. In
one tome, Fighting for Liberty and Virtue (1995),
he goes so far as to
adopt the Reconstructionist view defending
slavery, noting that Scripture
"does not simply ban all of its modes."
Ironically, Olasky's influence in Washington may
be waning at the same time
more overt Reconstructionists are winning new
entr=E9e. He has become
disenchanted with the 1st major religious thrust of
the Bush administration
-- the so-called "faith-based initiative." Olasky
believes that the Bush
approach would foster too much government
interference in church affairs
and lead to state control.
In Washington, the Reconstructionists' outreach
has been almost exclusively
focused on the Republican Party. This is
especially noteworthy, considering
that the movement has in the past tried to form a
political unit -- the
Constitution Party (formerly the U.S. Taxpayers
Party), headed by Howard
Phillips, a Jewish convert to Reconstructionism
and former Nixon
administration official. (Grant was also
instrumental in the formation of
the party.)
Although Phillips sits on the National Reform
Association's advisory board,
Ziegler bluntly admits that his party is not a viable
vehicle for political
action. (The party has run Phillips for president 3
times since 1992, in
2000 garnering only 98,020 votes nationwide,
less then 1/10 of 1 % .)
"My mantra is, there are 2 trains going to
Washington -- it's the
Republican and Democratic parties, and we have
to look at them," said
Ziegler. "They are the vehicles....I support Howard
and what he does, but I
look at his party as kind of a lobbying operation. At
the end of the day,
if you really want to be effective in electing people
you've got to be
dealing with the major parties."
Ziegler clearly puts more emphasis on the GOP.
In late 1999 he threatened
to run for Congress against LaTourette in the
Republican primary, charging
that the congressman was too moderate. He later
dropped the idea after a
county GOP official convinced him that a hard-right
candidate could not
carry the district. Ziegler now says the move was
just an attempt to get
LaTourette to take his movement seriously, and
notes that he has since met
with the congressman.
A Ziegler run would not have been
unprecedented. Reconstructionists have
had some success in state politics. In California
and Texas, well-heeled
far-right activists Howard F. Ahmanson Jr. and
Steven Hotze, both of whom
have ties to Reconstructionist groups, have
successfully assisted
candidates seeking state and local offices.
Ahmanson, a muti-millionaire, served for many
years on the board of the
Chalcedon Foundation and was a major funder of
that organization. He left
the board in 1996, and now claims he does not
agree with all of Rushdoony's
teachings. Hotze has served on the board of
American Vision and was active
in the Coalition on Revival, another
Reconstructionist- oriented outfit.
(Hotze denies being a Reconstructionist, calling
himself a
"restorationist," but he has called on both church
and state to conform to
"God's Law-Word.") Reconstructionists have also
been politically active in
Zieglers home base of Ohio. In 1996 they helped
elect Ron Young to the Ohio
House of Representatives, and Zielger boasts
that his activists knocked off
an entrenched Republican in the primary to do it.
Young had previously run
for Congress on the U.S. Taxpayers Party ticket
and, during that race,
brought Atlanta Reconstructionist DeMar to speak
on his behalf at local
appearances. James W. Watkins, a United
Church of Christ minister in
northeastern Ohio who has opposed the
Reconstructionists' political
efforts, notes that movement backers have
learned to downplay the more
controversial aspects of their platform and focus
instead on more palatable
pocketbook positions that may resonate with
many voters.
For example, Watkins recalls that during Young's
campaign, the
Reconstructionists steered clear of controversial
religious issues.
Instead, they highlighted Young's opposition to a
highly unpopular vehicle
emissions test.
They actually ran a very good, carefully organized
telephone campaign
through the entire district," said Watkins. "Every
registered voter was
called; I even got a call....They know what it takes
to win, at least to
people around here on a local legislative level.
They put in the resources
and the time and effort to do that."
Watkins said he encountered difficulty convincing
people that the
Reconstructionists are extreme. "If you read the
books and the stuff they
have written, when they talk about freedom or
other American concepts they
are talking about it inside their theocratic
framework," said Watkins.
"They don't really believe that true democracy
exists outside their
theocratic framework. It's like talking to the
communists. They could talk
about elections and democracy, but they had their
own definition for that
kind of thing. You had to be careful because you
would think they were
talking about the same kind of things you were.
You always have to bear
that in mind when you're talking to
Reconstructionists. "
Watkins urged people to not sell the
Reconstructionists short in the
political arena. "On the one hand, they are an
insignificant little group,"
he said. "On the other hand, from the standpoint
of laying an intellectual
framework, they are a very important group. When
they choose to use their
resources in a state legislative or even
congressional race they are
formidable."
What lies ahead for the Reconstructionists?
Ziegler says the National
Reform Association has five state chapters and
aims to create more. He
notes that the plans to form a separate 501(c)(4)
organization and a PAC
are proceeding apace and told Church & State
that an activist in northern
Virginia has agreed to be the group's full-time
lobbyist.
Ziegler insists Americans should not be alarmed
by this activity and says
people have nothing to fear from his brand of
"reconstructed" politics. He
admits favoring theocracy but asserts that an
officially "Christian"
government is the best vehicle to protect
everyones rights. In addition, he
says, all Americans will benefit from a smaller
federal government.
"I am very suspicious of government," asserts
Ziegler. "I'm very suspicious
of a monarchial, oligarchical state. That goes for a
theocratic state as
well. I'm for theocracy with a small "t," from the
bottom up."
(source: Americans United For Separation of
Church and State)
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I spend the currency of the federal reserve banking system without prejudice, under
duress, in extremis. This includes all credit transactions whether falling under the
auspices of the federal reserve or not. No implied consent is given and in no way
shall be contrived by any agency as such.
I have exercised the remedy provided for me in the Uniform Commercial Code, Article 1,
section 207, whereby I may reserve my constitutional rights (And it is illegal for any
agency to demand usurpation of those rights as a qualification for doing business) not
to be bound by, nor compelled to perform under any contract, commercial agreement or
bankruptcy that I had not entered into knowingly, voluntarily, or intentionally;
furthermore, that reservation upon all administrative agencies of government;
national, state and local. That I do not and will not accept the liability associated
with a compelled benefit of any unrevealed contract, commercial agreement, or
bankruptcy.Bill Gallagher
--- End Message ---
