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from Hillary's cult 'Family' Saturday, March 22, 2008 - 10:23 (Agree/Disagree?) Published on Thursday, March 20, 2008 by The Nation Hillary's Nasty Pastorate by Barbara Ehrenreich There's a reason Hillary Clinton has remained relatively silent during the flap over intemperate remarks by Barack Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. When it comes to unsavory religious affiliations, she's a lot more vulnerable than Obama. You can find all about it in a widely under-read article in the September 2007 issue of Mother Jones, in which Kathryn Joyce and Jeff Sharlet reported that "through all of her years in Washington, Clinton has been an active participant in conservative Bible study and prayer circles that are part of a secretive Capitol Hill group known as "The "Fellowship," also known as The Family. But it won't be a secret much longer. Jeff Sharlet's shocking exposé The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power will be published in May. Sean Hannity has called Obama's church a "cult," but that term applies far more aptly to Clinton's "Family," which is organized into "cells"–their term–and operates sex-segregated group homes for young people in northern Virginia. In 2002, Sharlet joined The Family's home for young men, forswearing sex, drugs and alcohol, and participating in endless discussions of Jesus and power. He wasn't undercover; he used his own name and admitted to being a writer. But he wasn't completely out of danger either. When he went outdoors one night to make a cell phone call, he was followed. He still gets calls from Family associates asking him to meet them in diners–alone. The Family's most visible activity is its blandly innocuous National Prayer Breakfast, held every February in Washington. But almost all its real work goes on behind the scenes–knitting together international networks of right-wing leaders, most of them ostensibly Christian. In the 1940s, The Family reached out to former and not-so-former Nazis, and its fascination with that exemplary leader, Adolf Hitler, has continued, along with ties to a whole bestiary of murderous thugs. As Sharlet reported in Harper's in 2003: During the 1960s the Family forged relationships between the U.S. government and some of the most anti-Communist (and dictatorial) elements within Africa's postcolonial leadership. The Brazilian dictator General Costa e Silva, with Family support, was overseeing regular fellowship groups for Latin American leaders, while, in Indonesia, General Suharto (whose tally of several hundred thousand "Communists" killed marks him as one of the century's most murderous dictators) was presiding over a group of fifty Indonesian legislators. During the Reagan Administration the Family helped build friendships between the U.S. government and men such as Salvadoran general Carlos Eugenios Vides Casanova, convicted by a Florida jury of the torture of thousands, and Honduran general Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, himself an evangelical minister, who was linked to both the CIA and death squads before his own demise. At the heart of The Family's American branch is a collection of powerful right-wing politicos, who include, or have included, Sam Brownback, Ed Meese, John Ashcroft, James Inhofe and Rick Santorum. They get to use The Family's spacious estate on the Potomac, The Cedars, which is maintained by young men in Family group homes and where meals are served by The Family's young women's group. And, at The Family's frequent prayer gatherings, they get powerful jolts of spiritual refreshment, tailored to the already powerful. Clinton fell in with The Family in 1993, when she joined a Bible study group composed of wives of conservative leaders like Jack Kemp and James Baker. When she ascended to the Senate, she was promoted to what Sharlet calls the Family's "most elite cell," the weekly Senate Prayer Breakfast, which included, until his downfall, Virginia's notoriously racist Senator George Allen. This has not been a casual connection for Clinton. She has written of Doug Coe, The Family's publicity-averse leader, that he is "a unique presence in Washington: a genuinely loving spiritual mentor and guide to anyone, regardless of party or faith, who wants to deepen his or her relationship with God." Furthermore, The Family takes credit for some of Clinton's rightward legislative tendencies, including her support for a law guaranteeing "religious freedom" in the workplace, such as for pharmacists who refuse to fill birth control prescriptions and police officers who refuse to guard abortion clinics. What drew Clinton into the sinister heart of the international right? Maybe it was just a phase in her tormented search for identity, marked by ever-changing hairstyles and names: Hillary Rodham, Mrs. Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton and now Hillary Clinton. She reached out to many potential spiritual mentors during her White House days, including New Age guru Marianne Williamson and the liberal rabbi Michael Lerner. But it was the Family association that stuck. Sharlet generously attributes Clinton's involvement to the under- appreciated depth of her religiosity, but he himself struggles to define The Family's theological underpinnings. The Family avoids the word Christian but worships Jesus, though not the Jesus who promised the earth to the "meek." They believe that, in mass societies, it's only the elites who matter, the political leaders who can build God's "dominion" on earth. Insofar as The Family has a consistent philosophy, it's all about power–cultivating it, building it and networking it together into ever-stronger units, or "cells." "We work with power where we can," Doug Coe has said, and "build new power where we can't." Obama has given a beautiful speech on race and his affiliation with the Trinity United Church of Christ. Now it's up to Clinton to explain–or, better yet, renounce–her long-standing connection with the fascist-leaning Family. Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of Nickel and Dimed (Owl), is the winner of the 2004 Puffin/Nation Prize. (reply to this comment)

from conan Thursday, February 28, 2008 - 08:43 (Agree/Disagree?) "Donald Rumsfeld briefed the president this morning. He told Bush that three Brazilian soldiers were killed in Iraq. To everyone's amazement, all of the color ran from Bush's face, then he collapsed onto his desk, head in hands, visibly shaken, almost whimpering. Finally, he composed himself and asked Rumsfeld, 'Just exactly how many is a brazillion?'" (reply to this comment)

From Uh....What?! Thursday, February 28, 2008, 09:20 (Agree/Disagree?) One problem with your little story, conan. Why would Donald Rumsfeld brief the President, when he hasn't served as Secretary of Defense since 2006?(reply to this comment)

From Captain America Thursday, February 28, 2008, 11:00 (Agree/Disagree?) First, this is clearly a joke, not a story (Although considering some of the things Bush has said, I understand your confusion) The quotation marks imply that he is re-telling the joke, not telling it the first time. In this case, the date of the joke should not be drawn from the date of the telling, but rather from clues taken from the joke i.e. the fact that Rumsfeld was secratary of defense. Also, this is not the first telling of the joke. There are several Bush jokes that were originally Quayle jokes, but this one seems to have origninated as a 'dumb blonde' joke: "A blonde was sitting on the train reading the newspaper. The headline blared, "12 Brazilian Soldiers Killed". She shook her head at the sad news, then turned to the stranger sitting next to her and asked,......"Wow that is really sad, how many is a Brazilian?"" http://www.howardforums.com/archive/topic/729883-1.html Hope this helps. Have a nice day. (Yes, I have too much time on my hands. Yes, there are spelling errors above. They took away my google toolbar, and the built-in spellcheck won't work, and I'm too lazy.) (reply to this comment)

from mandela is dead Monday, February 18, 2008 - 11:45 (Agree/Disagree?) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1KGwQ1O88Y&feature=related do you reckon bush is going to go into stand up... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dii3mzMQ3SQ&feature=related (reply to this comment)

From neezy Tuesday, February 19, 2008, 00:08 (Agree/Disagree?) Man-de-la(reply to this comment)

from bye georgie-hello hilary Monday, February 18, 2008 - 10:31 (Agree/Disagree?) Ring of Power http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4675077383139148549&hl=en One Nation Under Seige http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5522575736561316064&q=nation+under+seige&total=142&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0 (reply to this comment)

From neez Tuesday, February 19, 2008, 00:48 (Agree/Disagree?) Oh please. This is a thread to remember the comedic moments of the Bush. Not to post(really really fucking badly made) videos related to 911 etc.(reply to this comment)

From neez Tuesday, February 19, 2008, 00:49 (Agree/Disagree?) *era(reply to this comment)

From "He took our liberties" Monday, February 18, 2008, 10:37 (Agree/Disagree?) http://www.noliberties.com/(reply to this comment)

From neez Tuesday, February 19, 2008, 00:51 (Agree/Disagree?) A comletely non-related website? You recieve an F dude. Try again next time.(reply to this comment)

from endless love Monday, February 18, 2008 - 10:27 (Agree/Disagree?) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5-BUjE8l2k&feature=related (reply to this comment)