When it comes to threatening behavior, mainstream media's cover-up of Governor Palin's violent friends is a much bigger story than her abuse of power. Of particular interest to Native Americans -- according to Dr. Rudolph Ryser at the Center for World Indigenous Studies (the premier indigenous think tank in the world) -- is that her political base is rooted in the Anti-Indian Movement.

With the question of how to effectively oppose the rise of fascism in the United States now in vogue, I thought it apropos to revisit this essay from 2002, The Power of Moral Sanction.

It would seem the objective of action is at hand. Organizing for that step can take multiple forms, but one that is essential to any political success is generating a list of supporters and soliciting their involvement.

A tried and true way of doing this is to gather signatures for a petition to redress grievances by such methods as citizen initiative or community boycott. Secure petitioning can now be done online at no cost.

For instance, Talk to Action could organize a boycott of Cox Publishing Ohio (and others) for their participation in the Clarion Fund anti-Muslim hate campaign. Advertisers could be put on notice. Demands could be made for restitution.

Attacking murderous markets and thieving institutions is a risky business; it helps to have a few friends and some walking around money. Getting individuals, churches and organizations to sign on might be as simple as asking, but first the case has to be made. And Talk to Action has already done that.

So where's the action?

Following the dramatic launch event for Dispatches from the Religious Left: The Future of Faith and Politics in America, held at Middle Collegiate Church in NYC, Laura Flanders invited several of us to appear on her cable and internet talk show, Grit TV:

The religious right has become a dominant force in American politics. And they've done so by organizing and fighting for what they think this country's values are. The religious left on the other hand finds itself playing catch up and when Democrats take up the mantle of religion it often comes at the cost of progressive values--reproductive rights, the separation of church and state, and gay and lesbian rights. After the '04 election, big calls went out for the religious left to catch up. Has it?

Tonight on GRITtv we ask whether the religious left and the left in general are willing to seize power.

We are joined by the Rev. Doctor Jacqui Lewis, Senior Minister of Vision, Worship and the Arts at Middle Collegiate Church, Fred Clarkson the editor of Dispatches From the Religious Left, Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, and Chris Hedges, the author of I Don't Believe in Atheists.

For those too young to have watched the live TV coverage of the Iran-Contra scandal, the notion of murderous felonies being coordinated out of the White House basement might seem fanciful. With the new tools supplied to the police and military by Congress to spy on American citizens actively engaged in opposing government corruption, Homeland Security might be considered the sequel to Iran-Contra.

Anyone who thinks the Young Republicans recruited to the Homeland Security bureaucracy would refrain from violating the constitutional rights of American citizens, or not share information with their private sector mentors and benefactors, is living in Lalaland. 

These warped people are on a mission from God; just ask Oliver North.

Sarah Palin supports the militia movement? Public Good Project's Paul de Armond explains why that's a problem.

I spent eight years of my life as a Pentecostal in the Assembly of God. It's as odd and alien a sect to most people as Mitt Romney's Mormonism.

At least it is now "in stock" over at Amazon.com.

It should also be widely available in independent bookstores and chain stores as well.  I will not clutter this site with too much news about the book -- but I will detail the book's progress closely at FrederickClarkson.com.

Regarding Amazon, there are a few things you can do: If you buy it by clicking through to Amazon from my site, I get a small percentage of the sale.  And if you are an Amazon customer, you can review the book and/or rate the reviews that appear. (This will probably be very helpful when far right ideologues turn up to trash it.)

Transcript of Audio

"Opening the Gate of Heaven on Earth: Receiving the New Prophetic Wind for Increase" Conference, June 12 - 14, Everett, Washington

Description of Conference at:
http://freshpublishing.com/global-harvest-ministries-c-192-p-1-pr-33372.html

Mary Glazier
Alaska Coordinator, United States Strategic Prayer Network (USSPN) now named the United States Global Apostolic Prayer Network (USGAPN), Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders (ACPE), International Coalition of Apostles (ICA)
"Critical Mass for the Harvest"
6/13/08, 4:00 p.m.

In yesterday's post, I went into some of the initial detail on a statement given by Thomas Muthee in the infamous sermon where he "annointed" Sarah Palin and also claimed to literally run a traditional religious practitioner out of his home base.

Muthee's statement referred to a popular concept in Joel's Army circles--the concept of the "seven mountains", that is, seven pillars of society that these groups see as a major priority for takeover "by hook or by crook".  (Of note, Palin was actually used as an example for the takeover of "government".)

Today, we look into how the "Seven Mountains" concept is promoted in Joel's Army circles--including some of the incredibly disturbing code-phrasing used (including literal references to genocide and extirpation of opponents), and how Palin is being used as merely a rook in what amounts to a "50-year plan" for national and societal steeplejacking by a group that can be literally described as calling for holy war with the rest of humanity.  We also look at how the mere candidacy of Palin--and McCain's other overtures towards Joel's Army--are a symptom of a serious systemic problem in the GOP that could have literally apocalyptic consequences if unchecked.

[also see: Brent Bozell's Newbusters Insults Christian Conservatives - editor]

Sarah Palin's propulsion into politics was fueled by religious intolerance, organized through malicious harassment, and targeted at democracy. Her use of the power of the state to deny equal protection under the law and to thwart the civil rights of her ideological opponents is consistent with the bigotry promoted and organized by the churches that made her what she is.

The wedding of her religiously-derived anti-democratic agenda to corporate impunity is what is known as Christian Fascism. Her particular brand of this political phenomenon was responsible for the murder of a quarter of a million indigenous people of Central America during the Reagan Administration.

Christian Fascism in the United States got a foothold in the White House during the last eight years, and with Palin's candidacy is hoping to someday occupy the Oval Office.

Under the Bush Administration, the U.S. judiciary took a decidedly right turn against Native American sovereignty, the U.S. Constitution and international law; under a Palin Vice Presidency, we should expect community-level violence and harassment to increase significantly.

Indeed, with the help of the Clarion Fund and others, that is already happening.

Much as most Americans prefer politics as entertainment, or at most as an informal seminar, the reality is that the politics of thuggery -- especially as practiced by the GOP -- is anything but academic. The racism, xenophobia, and homophobia exhorted by Republican leadership from Reagan to the present, has had homicidal consequences.

Add to that volatile mixture the expressly violent religious milieu of Vice Presidential candidate Palin, and street-level violence is a matter of when, not if.

These right-wing thugs cannot be reasoned with, but they can be defeated. Like their Wise Use compatriots, they seize political power at the local level and leverage themselves up from there. Sometimes they get a helping hand, as when the GOP mainstreamed the white supremacist militias in 1995 and again in 2005, but most of their success is due to persistent organizing and malicious harassment.

Granted, liberals are the last ones willing to confront such a hostile milieu, but the fact of the matter is that political violence, even when violating civil rights or committing assault, is rarely prosecuted by law enforcement. The only way to settle the hash of these hoodlums is to do research on the local ringleaders, educate others, and organize a community action to rein them in.

Anything short of that will fail.