I just now got around to the posting about Keith Olbermann's evisceration of Sarah Palin. I saw that show and was a bit taken aback myself, largely because Keith took an obviously mark and waaay overdid it.

That said, however, I do think that Palin's religiosity is, or damn well ought to be, fair game, if not for her religion per se but her patently theocratic leanings.

So, with all that in mind, I had a Maureen Dowd moment the other day, and when I proofed the copy I thought the satire was pretty good. So I'm posting the piece in the Main Body just to see if the TTA community thinks that even something like this is too out there...

A few days ago, I had reported on Palin's linkages to "Bible-based cult" promoter Bill Gothard...and, sadly, followup info proves that this may be far from her only links to religiously motivated abuse.

It turns out that Palin--and Wasilla A/G--are intimately connected with "Joel's Army" promoters directly responsible for not only harassment of critics, but also a little-reported and growing humanitarian crisis in sub-Saharan Africa: namely, the growth of "Joel's Army" "exorcists" and people--including young children--fleeing for their lives from a literal "God Warrior" progrom.

Just like there are violent and non-violent people, there are violent and non-violent religions. In fact, they often go together.

Not surprisingly, violent people who profess violent religious beliefs have frequently been on the receiving end of physical or psychological violence themselves. That's why child abuse and domestic violence are common among violent religious sects and cults.

Members of these violent religious sects who act out their misanthropic beliefs through domestic or political violence sometimes become, much to their chagrin, the target of moral and legal sanction. For those that aren't damaged beyond repair, there is hope they will subsequently modify their behavior if not beliefs; for those who cannot, there is rarely mercy.

http://www.gladwell.com/1997/1997_02_24_a_damaged.htm

A few days ago, I wrote an article detailing several more links between Palin and particularly disturbing elements of the "Joel's Army" movement--namely, apparent links between Palin and Bill Gothard's network of groups, and some very disturbing dog-whistles from some of the "Joel's Army" faithful comparing her to the prophetess Deborah.

Now that I have my power restored...we can get to "the rest of the story", so to speak...and now you get the background as to why the latest revelations are quite disturbing.

Much like the US Postal Service, neither rain nor snow nor 70% of my hometown's power infrastructure being eaten by Ike will stop me from posting the latest on Palin's connections with dominionists.

We've posted before on her initial outing as a dominionist stealth candidate, her links to "Joel's Army" including Alaskan state funds being used for groups promoting apocalyptic theology, and her attempt at a back-door book ban in conjunction with a crusade by one of her home churches.

Today, we find out even more info on the book-ban attempt giving further proof that Palin has not dropped her links with Joel's Army--and if that weren't enough, there's some very telling evidence from the horse's mouth.

Over the past few days, I've been one of those Damned Annoying Palin Diarists--though not on BabyGate or some of the other stuff, but more on the fact she was originally put in as a dominionist "stealth candidate", that she has extensive and ongoing connections with "Joel's Army" neopente dominionists including providing tax dollars to them.  Most disturbingly, more than a few of us have raised serious questions on how Palin's connections with these groups may have literally thermonuclear consequences and how much her dominionist connections would affect her public policy.

We may very well have reason to worry.  Two new recent updates have given call for alarm--one being a disturbing call for war with Russia, and the second being new revelations re the attempted Wasilla book-ban that indicate it may have been a preemptive attempt.

And in both cases, her "Joel's Army" sympathies may be closely linked.

      The following is an excerpt (Appendix XI) from my unpublished book manuscript entitled SEX, SWORDS AND SCRIPTURE: A SERMON OF SORTS.  It examines several biblical stories in terms of their deviation from current moral codes and links them to political issues and personalities of today, all in the context of the three major focuses of human history: sex, war and religion.  The content is presented in a humorous and sometimes caustic manner not unlike that of Mark Twain.

 ". . .  cried Alice, ( so much surprised that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English)."  Would that we were in a Lewis Carroll book from which we could step at will and thus return to a sane reality.  No such luck in 2008, however.  With the introduction of a new star into the vaudeville show known as US politics, the incredible has materialized into solid fact.  Sarah Palin is out-Bushing Bush in the degree and fervor of her fanatic religious zeal.  By no means is she the first prominent political figure to flirt with fringe Christianity -- John Ashcroft brought his Assembly of God faith to the Justice Department along with modest drapery -- but the Attorney General wasn't a heartbeat away from the presidency, and he kept his mouth shut about any attempts he may have made to manipulate Divine Providence to his own or the nation's ends.  "God bless America" doesn't count.  It has been reduced to the status of an involuntary "Gesundheit!" when someone sneezes.

For many in America,  hearing about Palin's "nondenominational church" in Alaska may elicit no more than idle curiosity and a vague reference to freedom of religion.  But I've known its kind intimately, and my reaction to the Alaskan bombshell is sheer, unadulterated repugnance and -- I admit it -- fear.  My experience with her ilk is set forth in a kind of "autobioigraphical essay" entitled  A TIME FOR WHITE ROSES (Xlibris Corporation, 2000).  Here is an excerpt from Chapter Six:

         ". . . my most frequent exposure to what passed for religion took place at a hole-in-the-wall ministry called 'The Mission'  The 'man of the cloth' there happened to be a female firecracker with flaming red hair, a characteristic of which she was proud because Jesus was supposedly (according to some Aryan reports) a blue-eyed titian blond himself.  That's about as likely as frostbite in the Sahara.  A sign in the window proclaimed The Mission to be 'nondenominational,' meaning that it defied resemblance to every known sectarian organization and probably went all the way back in recorded history to the day when the Reverence Kitty got the call.

         " . . . when I sang solos a cappella [before I was old enough to read] . . . [I] was a sure bet to draw penitents to the mourners' bench in veritable droves while women wept and 'talked in tongues' or jumped around shouting.  It wasn't lost on me that the Holy Ghost could always be counted upon to descend on the very same people every time and that the choice bore no correlation to the known purity of the beneficiaries' lives the other six days of the week.  All the Christians I have ever known, bar none, practice selective reading of the Good Book; otherwise, some of these zealots would have blundered upon St. Paul's admonition to the Corinthians that they keep quiet when so moved unless another person is present to interpret the message in the common vernacular."

A spokesperson for Palin's church has stated --as if defending against anticipated disapproval from the more conventional religious crowd -- that Sarah herself doesn't "speak in tongues." What a relief!  Imagine the confusion, not to mention consternation, if she suddenly cut loose in the middle of a conference with some weighty head of state.  There's no guarantee, of course, that she won't at some future time be favored by the Holy Spirit with the gift of gibberish, since this is held to be spontaneous and uncontrollable among the elect.  "You pays your money and you takes your chance," ladies and gentlemen.

I suppose some might ask whether a potential President Palin speaking in tongues would be any worse than a President Bush attempting to speak in English, but there's really no comparison.  There's always some ventriloquist in the shadows of this Administration directing his messages, and if they come out garbled in delilvery, they can be explained by their original source or an obliging press secretary.  I seriously doubt that the Holy Ghost will come forward personally to interpret its (his/her?) cryptic lingo, though.  If that were possible, then presumably it would also be possible -- and a great deal less trouble -- just to transmit whatever it had to say in plain English to begin with.

In the meantime, since Barack Obama is a man of faith, I recommend that he fight fire with fire by adopting the following plea of the Psalmist when addressing his petitions to the Almighty: "Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty." (Psalm XXVII:12)

(For more of Ms. Fredman's articles, please visit her blog: http://blog.momsablogger.com.)

Over the past few days I've been writing about Sarah Palin's extensive dominionist connections, including ongoing relationships with and even guest-preaching at and taxpayer support of several Assemblies and "Assemblies family" churches connected with the "Joel's Army" movement.

Now, none other than Chip Berlet has broached the question that those of us watching this particular form of "Christian nationalism" have been asking ourselves:

Could the prospect of Sarah Palin being a heartbeat away from the presidency, and her connections with neopentecostal dominionists, have literal end-of-the-world consequences?

I give my own thoughts on this, based on my own experiences and research...and what I'm finding doesn't look good.

The transcript and MP3 down load of Esther Kaplan and Frederick Clarkson talking with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! can be found here.

In light of John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin
for Vice President, I feel compelled to write this letter.