Michele Bachmann’s attack on US History, Constitution, Minorities

June 28, 2011 / Posted in  Adolf Hitler, Bible, Education, Evangelical Christianity, GOP, Labor, Martin Luther, Michele Bachmann, Tea Baggers

Conservatives and religious fundamentalists endorse and financially and vocal unison support Minnesota Congresswoman Michel Bachmann as the “one to beat” in the GOP primaries.  They claim that

Michele Bachmann 2011

“Michele Bachmann’s American values will position her for greatness in this contest, and will bring traditionalists, fiscal conservatives, and defense hawks to her campaign. In addition to being a champion for life, traditional marriage, and Judeo-Christian principles, she affirms support for limited government, fiscal responsibility, and reverence for the Constitution. Moreover, Bachmann affirms support for Israel, along with our nation’s right to defend itself from enemy nations” (read: http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/young-conservative-and-spicy/2011/jun/23/all-american-candidate-2012/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_must-read-stories-today). 

None of Bachmann’s stands reflect any precedent in the history of the USA, does not fit in accordance with law, nor with theology, but for right-wing fundamentalists this is irrelevant as they listen to her distortion and prevarication of US history, claims that the Bible does not make, and statistics that are fraudulent at best.  Her grasp on international matters is an embryonic abortion, and her understanding of “enemy nations” is tantamount to Sarah Palin’s claim that she could see Russia from her kitchen window in Wasilla, Alaska.

Map showing Alaska and Russia, separated by the Bering Strait

According to a Saturday Night Live Sketch on September 13, 2008, Palin claimed that by seeing Russia from her kitchen window she was an expert in international affairs as Bachmann’s attestation that by living in Minnesota she understood Canadian needs; while this made great comedy, it was not true.  Governor Palin’s 11 September 2008 appearance on ABC News, her first major interview after being tapped as the vice-presidential nominee. During that appearance, interviewer Charles Gibson asked her what insight she had gained from living so close to Russia, and she responded: “They’re our next-door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska”:  but you would have to be on one of two islands in the middle of the Bering Strait  without fog.  The best place for such a view would be in the middle of Little Diomede (which is part of the USA), and across from it is Big Diomede (part of Russia) as  Russia and Alaska are divided by the Bering Strait, which is about 55 miles at its narrowest point.  These two islands are a little less than two and a half miles apart, which means that, on a clear day, you can definitely see one from the other.  The Diomede Islands are often blanketed by persistent fog, which makes visibility difficult. On a clear day, though, a person standing at sea level can see a little less than three miles across the ocean. You can see farther if you go higher—at the highest altitude on Little Diomede (919 feet), you can see for about 37 miles.

What is most disturbing is to recall that this congressional representative, intellectually following in the footsteps of Helen P. Chenoweth-Hage of Idaho whom many noted was “the dimmest bulb in the Congressional chandelier” and diligently played the race card as “a white grandmother” (http://www.spokesmanreview.com/tools/story_pf.asp?ID=39727), tell reporters in 2008: “I‘m very concerned that he [Obama] may have anti-American views” without offering any facts or justification for such a claim.  It was a revisitation of the dark days of Joe McCarthy and Richard Nixon. In 2011, shooting from the hip, Bachmann pontificates: “Obamacare is bringing socialism to our doorstep” and “we must protect our traditional values.”  Openly she is noncommittal and regularly refuses to justify her claims with facts (http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201102170015), as with the issue of Obama’s birth because he is black (http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/hannity/transcript/michele-bachmann-obamas-birth-certificate-possible-presidential-run).  Her vile, hate-filled speech is applauded by those who would take the USA back before the nation existed, treading toward the sixteenth century and enshrined ignorance where literalism was more prized than scientific investigation or acceptance of that which was obvious. This is a record of ignorance more dangerous than the Inquisition and more damning of the frailty of mortals than the mincing of Justin Martyr and the transmogrifiers of history in the fourth century.

Michele Bachmann rejects scientific arguments of climate warming (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wX1UnAtynU).  Bachmann has claimed she knows more about climatology than an MIT scientist (http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/bachmann-i-too-know-more-about-climate-change-than-mit-scientist.php). When clean energy and climate change bill that was being moved through Congress in 2009 and part of 2010, Bachmann was claiming that the bill would take over “every aspect” of people’s lives (http://planetsave.com/2011/06/14/michele-bachmann-officially-insane-gop-debate/, cp. http://thinkprogress.org/green/2011/03/25/174958/bachmann-climate-denier/) and would turn the people of the USA into slaves (http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/bachmann-do-we-want-to-be-free-or-do-we-want-to-be-slaves.php).

Michele Bachmann at Republican Leadership Conference 2011

Bachmann introduced the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act [H.R. 5616], requiring a GAO report show that a change to fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) would have “clear economic, health and environmental benefits” prior to enforcement of lighting efficiency regulations that effectively ban conventional light bulbs. Bachman argued, “Each light bulb contains between 3-6 milligrams of mercury. There’s a question about how that mercury will fill up our landfills, and also if you break one in your home, you’ll have mercury that instantaneously vaporizes in your home. That poses a very real threat to children, disabled people, pets, senior citizens. And I just think it’s very important that Americans have the choice to decide, would they like an incandescent or a (CFL)?” (Chelsea Schilling, World Net Daily, Sept 23, 2008 Crisis? No worries. Congress protects you – from light bulbs! at http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=75613).  She ignores the statistics and health studies that CFLs pose less of a threat to health than incandescent bulbs, and their negative impact on the environment and that incandescent bulbs pose a greater threat could result in the emission of more mercury than an equivalent CFL (Collins, Bob (March 27, 2008). “What’s left to say about CFLs? Plenty,” Minnesota Public Radio. http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/news_cut/archive/2008/03/whats_left_to_say_about_cfls_p.shtml). What is forgotten is 

About 50 percent of the electricity produced in the U.S. is generated by coal-fired power plants. When coal burns to produce electricity, mercury naturally contained in the coal releases into the air. In 2006, coal-fired power plants produced 1,971 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, emitting 50.7 tons of mercury into the air–the equivalent amount of mercury contained in more than 9 billion CFLs (the bulbs emit zero mercury when in use or being handled).

 Approximately 0.0234 mg of mercury–plus carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide–releases into the air per 1 kWh of electricity that a coal-fired power plant generates. Over the 7500-hour average range of one CFL, then, a plant will emit 13.16 mg of mercury to sustain a 75-watt incandescent bulb but only 3.51 mg of mercury to sustain a 20-watt CFL (the lightning equivalent of a 75-watt traditional bulb). Even if the mercury contained in a CFL was directly released into the atmosphere, an incandescent would still contribute 4.65 more milligrams of mercury into the environment over its lifetime.

(Read: http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/reviews/news/4217864)

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 was signed into law in December 2007 by GOP President George W. Bush, phasing out the use of traditional, incandescent light bulbs in favor of CFLs beginning in 2012 and culminating in a ban on incandescent bulbs in 2014 (Read more: Congress still protecting you – from lightbulbs! http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=75613#ixzz1QTtKFXgT).  Bachmann’s opposition was based on her decision that “The light bulb ban exposes the Democrat mindset. They want to limit consumer choice and tell American families what products they can and can’t buy.” 

Bachmann, as is her custom, ignores the facts: CFLs last for 8 to 10 times longer than incandescent light bulbs, use approximately 75% less energy, and produce 90% les heat while delivering more light per watt. Furthermore, a 20 Watt CFL (replacing a 75 Watt incandescent bulb) saves $66 dollars over the life of the bulb (based on $.12 KWH). Replace one 100 Watt incandescent bulb with a 25 Watt CFL and the consumer saves $74 dollars over the life of the bulb.  With a change to CFL the USA will save more than $37 billion annually, protect the ozone level and the earth (http://www.greenfeet.net/newsletter/compactfluorescent.shtml).  

Prayer: Bachman Counseling Clinic logo on website

Bachmann’s corporate financial supporters include Koch Industries, Univision Communications Inc., TRT Holdings Inc., of Irving, Texas, Texas home builder Bob Perry, who gave $7 million last year, donated $500,000 (Perry was a top donor in 2004 to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which questioned Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry’s war record), Crossroads founded by Karl Rove, while claiming that she and her family do not need federal funding.  However, public records show that the counseling clinic run by her husband has received nearly $30,000 from the state of Minnesota in the last five years, money that in part came from the federal government. A family farm in Wisconsin, in which the congresswoman is a partner, received nearly $260,000 in federal farm subsidies—all the time while being a fierce critic of earmarks — calling them “part of the root problem with Washington’s spending addiction”.  The congresswoman nonetheless argued recently that transportation projects should not be considered congressional pork (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bachmann-20110626,0,1896024.story).

Bachmann using taxpayer dollars to prepare private video

Michele Bachmann regularly has misused taxpayer money for personal pursuits and pet projects. According to House expense reports, Bachmann and three conservative GOP colleagues — Reps. Tom Price (GA), Steve King (IA, among the most corrupt Congressmen) and Todd Akin (MO) — each paid $3,407.50 that day, a total of $13,630, to a sound and stage company called National Events, apparently for the sound system used at the rally. The money came from the Members’ taxpayer-funded office accounts, despite House rules prohibiting the use of these funds for political activities. Bachmann’s office insists the expense was a proper use of official funds (http://www.care2.com/causes/did-bachmann-misuse-taxpayer-dollars.html). 

Bachmann using tax money to speak to Tea Party

Bachmann has an extensive history of blurring the line between office expenses and campaign expenses.  She regularly uses tax dollars when hiring consultants and speech writers, and asking for reimbursements for numerous television appearances meant more to raise her name recognition and campaign funds than anything else. Bachmann’s defense of the taxpayer must only extend to when she’s not championing her own causes, while at the same time declaring that the USA Tax Code is a “Weapon of Mass Destruction” as long as it does not benefit Bachmann herself (http://www.rollcall.com/issues/56_141/bachmann-plays-with-house-money-206599-1.html?pos=hftxt).

Bachmann is adamantly against any science that does not agree with her interpretations of the Bible.  She rejects evolution and demands that all (public and private) teach creationism (Intelligent Design) in their science curriculum (http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/17/bachmann-schools-should-teach-intelligent-design/) and “point out errors in the theory of evolution”, while ridiculing the greatest names in the scientific community (http://www.examiner.com/humanist-in-national/bachmann-doubts-evolution-wants-intelligent-design-schools).  Bachmann’s outlandish statements in defense of creationism/Intelligent Design has not been greeted with enthusiasm by most students and none within the scientific community—especially opposed by high school student from Baton Rouge, Louisiana student, Zack Kopplin.  Kopplin worked feverishly to undo the damage Bachmann put on science.  His repeal effort were endorsed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (http://www.repealcreationism.com/446/the-clergy-letter-project-endorses-sb-70/), the largest general science organization in the world with over 10 million members; the National Association of Biology Teachers (http://www.repealcreationism.com/446/the-clergy-letter-project-endorses-sb-70/), the country’s main organization for biological educators; The Clergy Letter Project (http://www.repealcreationism.com/446/the-clergy-letter-project-endorses-sb-70/), an organization of more than 14,000 clergy and scientists recognizing that religion and science need not be in conflict; as well as a host of other scientific groups including the American Institute for Biological Sciences (http://lasciencecoalition.org/docs/AIBS_LSEA_Letter_42711.pdf), The American Society for Cell Biology (http://lasciencecoalition.org/docs/ASCB_letter_repeal_creationism_law.pdf), the Society for the Study of Evolution (https://www.vertpaleo.info/LAScienceEduAct.htm), The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (https://www.vertpaleo.info/LAScienceEduAct.htm) and The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (http://lasciencecoalition.org/docs/ASBMB_Repeal_Letter.pdf). Additionally, the New Orleans City Council voted unanimously to support the repeal, along with 65,000 other supporters (http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-louisiana-to-teach-real-science-in-public-schools-not-creationism-and-climate-change-denial?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&alert_id=VTexFHIDkU_ZVMjFnoLox).  In April 2011, 17-year-old Kopplin collected the endorsement of 43 individuals who won a Nobel Prize in science. 

Zachary Kopplin exposes fraud of creationism and Bachmann

Facing-off Bachmann’s pseudo-science, Kopplin Zack wrote:  “Congresswoman Bachmann, I see your ‘hundreds’ of scientists, and raise you millions of scientists.”  In his letter, he continued: “For the next hand, I raise you 43 Nobel Laureate scientists. That’s right: 43 Nobel Laureate scientists have endorsed our effort to repeal Louisiana’s creationism law. … Congresswoman Bachmann, you claim that Nobel Laureates support creationism. Show me your hand. If you want to be taken seriously by voters while you run for President, back up your claims with facts. Can you match 43 Nobel Laureates, or do you fold?” The full letter is at http://www.repealcreationism.com/508/17-year-old-to-michelle-bachmann-show-me-your-nobel-laureate-scientists/.  Shrinking back, Bachmann has shown herself too spineless to reply to the challenge.

In an interview with Politico, a Republican Governor Pawlenty aide bluntly declared Bachmann to be: “… a real pain in the ass” (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56080_Page2.html).  Former state senator Dean Johnson, who was the Republican minority leader during Bachmann’s stint in St. Paul, has said, “I don’t think I ever served with anybody who I mistrusted more, from either side of the aisle” (http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/05/michele-bachmanns-school-banned-aladdin/37486/). 

Bachmann has consistently attempted to push the evangelical Christian religion in public schools (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2011-05-09/bachmann-rocks-ruling-class-with-amens-from-tea-party-presidential-talk.html).   This was seen pungently in Bachmann’s attempt to get creationism introduced into the science classes in Minnesota in 2005.  A Stillwater Lutheran state representative, Bachmann sidestepped her earlier proposals by claiming, “I have no problem with the teaching of various theories … of origins of life… But I think there[‘]s one … philosophy … that says only one could be taught and that one would be evolution.  And [sic] because the scientific community has found that there are flaws [sic] in by that dogma, I think it[‘]s important to teach that controversy.  … In some ways, to believe in evolution is almost like a following; a cult following if you don[‘]t believe in evolution, you[‘]re considered completely backward. …[Because] eminent, reasonable minds” [in the scientific community disagree with the theory of evolution [sic], “I would expect that teachers would disagree, and students would disagree, and the public would [disagree], certainly.”  On this Bachmann was challenged by seventh-grade life

Rebecca Otto debated Michele Bachmann (now is MN State Auditor)

and environmental science teacher Rebecca Otto (she later became State Auditor), who offered, that creation studies “has to happen at home. … Because systems like creationism can be also taught in a religion class in schools if they offer one in church, and at home, just as science is taught in a science class.” Otto cautioned against “confusing” creationism with evolution as it “is just an example of not understanding how science works…. it erodes the ability of our students to attain the intellectual tools they need to compete with the rest of the world.  Scientists, too, come from all religious walks of life.”  Bachmann said nothing, and refused to debate Otto’s later observation (http://www.stillwatergazette.com/articles/2003/10/02/export160.txt).  Instead, Bachman opined, “[other] scientific authors [have begun to] “question the dogma surrounding evolution; because evolution has never been proven.” 

Michael Behe at Lehigh University 2011

At that point she cited as one example, Michael Beehy [actually: Behe], author of Darwin’s Black Box, whom she claimed was “not a religious-oriented person in any way. He[‘s] a scientist.”  {Behe is a biochemist who is a strongly religious Roman Catholic professor at Lehigh University where his have been met not only with scorn, but where the university published an official statement opposing his fiews and intelligent design, read: http://www.lehigh.edu/~inbios/news/evolution.htm} and a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, and leading proponent of

Religion plays a deciding role in Bachmann's politics, and evangelical churches dare the IRS to cancel their tax-exempt status

Intelligent Design, with his writings leading to the celebrated court case  Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District that resulted in a ruling that intelligent design was religious in nature. To this Otto acknowledged that evolution remains a theory but said, “it’s important to understand just what a scientific theory is:  an explanation that is developed to explain all known scientifically verifiable evidence … [that] is subject to the most harshly demanding tests we can devise, and it must hold up. … it is fails a significant enough tests [it is] discarded.”  Bachmann, furthermore, has a tendency to stretch the truth, or simply sidestep it altogether.  Her pat answer is that she leaves “all things in the hands of God.”  Her supporters applaud her “standing up for God”, but do not fully accept Behe since he is Roman Catholic (for the moment).  At the end of the School Board meeting, Bachmann did say one thing that is undeniable: ” I see myself as being very limited and very flawed, and lacking in knowledge, and wisdom and understanding. “So, I just take the Bible for what it is, I guess, and recognize that I am not a scientist, not trained to be a scientist. … Im not a deep thinker on all of this.”

Bachmann supporter 2011

Bachmann believes neither in human rights nor civil rights. In 2005, Republican Michele Bachmann — an extremely anti-gay politician made her name in state politics by opposing same-sex marriage and trying to pass a constitutional amendment in Minnesota banning marriage equality.  She called the police when two lesbians ried to talk to her in a women’s restroom as she was washing her hands. Then-State Senator Bachmann told police she was “absolutely terrified and has never been that terrorized before as she had no idea what those two women were going to do to her.”

According to one report, Bachmann technically accused the two lesbians of kidnapping (charges that were both slanderous and libelous), and, again, according to another report, Bachmann technically may have falsely reported a crime(http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/bachmann-called-cops-when-terrorized-by-lesbians-trying-to-talk-to-her/politics/2011/06/15/22234) ; unfortunately the authorities in Minnesota never followed up on the allegation, as many were and are supporters of the hate-filled representative.  What is public record is this commentary by Michelle Goldberg at The Daily Beast (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/06/14/michele-bachmanns-unrivaled-extremism-gay-rights-to-religion.html?cid=hp:mainpromo2):  “In April, 2005, a few dozen people showed up at the town hall for the April 9 event, and Bachmann greeted them warmly, but when, during the question and answer session, the topic turned to same-sex marriage, Bachmann ended the meeting 20 minutes early and rushed to the bathroom. Hoping to speak to her, [Pamela] Arnold and another middle-aged woman, a former nun, followed her. As Bachmann washed her hands and Arnold looked on, the ex-nun tried to talk to her about theology. Suddenly, after less than a minute, Bachmann let out a shriek. “Help!” she screamed. “Help! I’m being held against my will!” 

Bachmann did not offer the petitioners any reason for her abrupt exit nor for her uncharitable actions until later when she, like most radical right fundamentalists expose their own ignorance of their Bible, by claiming that homosexuality is condemned in her Bible.  No where does the Bible condemn homosexuality. 

Richard von Krafft-Ebing

The word “homosexual does not appear anywhere in the Bible, as it does not even appear in the lexicon of English until the late nineteenth century (in 1892), and then as an invented word C.G. Chaddock’s translation of R[ichard] Krafft-Ebing’s Psychopathia sexualis : mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der conträren Sexualempfindung: eine klinisch-forensische Studie, 2. verm. und verb. Aufl. Stuttgart: Ferdinand Enke, 1887 (Psychopathia sexualis : with especial reference to contrary sexual instinct : a medico-legal study / by R[ichard]. von Krafft-Ebing ; authorized translation of the seventh enl. and rev. German ed. by Charles Gilbert Chaddock. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis, 1893; the seventh edition was copyrighted in 1892, and was published both in London and Philadelphia by F.A. Davis).  Those who cite the story of Lot in Sodom (Genesis 19) ignore that the story is about a drunken father having incest with his two daughters (Genesis  19:33-37:   וַתַּשְׁקֶיןָ אֶת־אֲבִיהֶן יַיִן בַּלַּיְלָה הוּא וַתָּבֹא הַבְּכִירָה וַתִּשְׁכַּב אֶת־אָבִיהָ וְלֹא־יָדַע בְּשִׁכְבָהּ וּבְקוּמָהּ׃  וַיְהִי מִמָּחֳרָת וַתֹּאמֶר הַבְּכִירָה אֶל־הַצְּעִירָה הֵן־שָׁכַבְתִּי אֶמֶשׁ אֶת־אָבִי נַשְׁקֶנּוּ יַיִן גַּם־הַלַּיְלָה וּבֹאִי שִׁכְבִי עִמֹּו וּנְחַיֶּה מֵאָבִינוּ זָרַע׃  וַתַּשְׁקֶיןָ גַּם בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא אֶת־אֲבִיהֶן יָיִן וַתָּקָם הַצְּעִירָה וַתִּשְׁכַּב עִמֹּו וְלֹא־יָדַע בְּשִׁכְבָהּ וּבְקֻמָהּ׃  וַתַּהֲרֶיןָ שְׁתֵּי בְנֹות־לֹוט מֵאֲבִיהֶן׃  וַתֵּלֶד הַבְּכִירָה בֵּן וַתִּקְרָא שְׁמֹו מֹואָב הוּא אֲבִי־מֹואָב עַד־הַיֹּום׃ ).  Ezekiel 16:49 states clearly that the “sin of Sodom” was “pride…” and an unwillingness to help the poor: הִנֵּה־זֶה הָיָה עֲוֹן סְדֹם אֲחֹותֵךְ גָּאֹון שִׂבְעַת־לֶחֶם וְשַׁלְוַת הַשְׁקֵט הָיָה לָהּ וְלִבְנֹותֶיהָ וְיַד־עָנִי וְאֶבְיֹון לֹא הֶחֱזִיקָה׃. 

Havelock Ellis

The word “homosexual” does not appear in French until 1907, and which ” H. Havelock Ellis, in “Studies in Psychology,” (1897) declared that the word ‘Homosexual’ is a barbarously hybrid word, and I claim no responsibility for it” ([Henry] Havelock Ellis, Studies in the psychology of sex, by Havelock Ellis.  New York: Random House, c1936  (4 vols), New York, Random house [1940], (2 vols) reflecting his Handbuch der sexualwissenschaften, mit besonderer berücksichtigung der kulturgeschichtlichen beziehungen, unter mitwirkung von … Leipzig, F.C.W. Vogel, 1912 (1029 pp, 2 cols).  “Homosexuality” was commonly known as “sexual inversion” (I am quoting from my personal copy: Sexual inversion, by Havelock Ellis. Philadelphia, F.A.Davis Co. [c1901] and compared with the 3d. ed., rev. and enl. Philadelphia, F. A. Davis company, 1915.  It was generated from Sexual inversion: a critical edition by Havelock Ellis and John Addington Symonds (1897); edited by Ivan Crozier. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hamphire ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2008 (the original work, which I am using and is in my personal library was published London: Wilson and Macmillan, 16, John Street, Bedford Row, W.C., 1897), with bibliography pp. 329-344 (for an understanding of this work, consult the table of contents, which is at http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0829/2008013617-t.html; I do not know if the book itself is online.  The issue of whether or not homosexuality is normal [occurs among all species] and natural [happens casually] is the topic of http://www.news-medical.net/news/2006/10/23/20718.aspx).   

US Senator Prescott Bush (R-CT) and Adolf Hitler

Ellis was a eugenicist (see [Henry] Havelock Ellis, Eugenics made plain. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Co., [1921?]), and it was eugenics, especially that pushed by US Senator Prescott Bush (R-CT), father of George H.W. Bush and grandfather of George W. Bush, who contributed heavily to the Nazi government of Adolf Hitler and praised the German Lutherans as being ready to root out the evil of Jewry [Jews].  The Bush family believed strongly in eugenics and urged all governments to initiate a forced sterilization program to stop the production of “deficients” (http://www.iahf.com/20040703.html)–as would become the hallmark of the Alberto Fujimori dictatorship in Perú when he sent his goon-squad of Colinas into the mountains to “fix” the poor without their consent and usually under pretext of dental work, following the pattern of Adolf Hitler. Prescott Bush’s funding of eugenics research and sterilization practices (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3255.htm) gave foundation to Hitler’s racial purity crusade (http://watch.pair.com/reich.html) that Bachmann has adopted (cp. [Henry] Havelock Ellis, Rassenhygiene und Volksgesundheit. Würzburg : C. Kabitzsch, 1912) she exposed her own biblical illiteracy in an effort to blanket her own hysteria.  Her inanity indicates her own psychopathic fear of latent lesbian tendency.

The Minnesota Independent notes: “Arnold, who is just over 5 feet tall, was stunned, and hurried to open the door. Bachmann bolted out and fled, crying, to an SUV outside. Only after she fled what she thought were the forces of darkness, an aberration that most people would have shrugged off, did Bachmann call the police, intoning, according to the police report (http://minnesotaindependent.com/13678/michele-bachmanns-hardball-blowup-minnesotans-knew-it-was-only-a-matter-of-time), that she was “absolutely terrified and has never been that terrorized before as she had no idea what those two women were going to do to her.” Bachmann’s repetitive use of the word “terror” is a mark of more than mere homophobia but an estrangement from reality and xenophobia (ξένοςφόβος).  It is representative of a mental disorder that puts anyone who has it (such as Adolf Hitler and

On the Jews and Their Lies (1543) Martin Luther

Martin Luther who displayed it regularly in their attacks on the Jews; cp. Martin Luther’s Von den Jüden und jren Lügen, 1543, in which he called the Jews “base, whoring people, that is, no people of God, and their boast of lineage, circumcision, and law must be accounted as filth” who are “full of the devil’s feces … which they wallow in like swine,” and their synagogues an “incorrigible whore and an evil slut”. Cf. Luther Werk (hereafter cited as LW). Erlangen 1854, 32:282, 298, etc. Ref. Michael, Robert. Holy Hatred: Christianity, Antisemitism, and the Holocaust. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006; see chapter 4 “The Germanies [sic] from Luther to Hitler,” pp. 105-151; it was used by the Nazis at Nuremberg in their defense: see Nuremberg Trial Proceedings, Vol. 12, p. 318, Avalon Project, Yale Law School, April 19, 1946 which is online at http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/04-29-46.asp) in a position that endangers those whom the individual fears.

Bachmann’s xenophobia, identical to that of Martin Luther and his spiritual son Adolf Hitler, can elicit or facilitate hostile and violent reactions, such as mass expulsion of immigrants, or in the worst case, genocide [see: The American Psychiatric Association‘s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (“DSM-IV”) prepared by Michael B. First, Laurie E. McQueen, Harold Alan Pincus; Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association, c1996.].  The Washington County attorney, however, declined to press charges, writing in a memo, “It seems clear from the statements given by both women that they simply wanted to discuss certain issues further with Ms. Bachmann.” 

What the case shows is that Michele Bachmann is mentally unbalanced and a danger to herself and to others.  In most cases, the one who suffers this psychosis not only are in a perpetual state of denial of their mental illness but the individual tends to be externally extroversively evangelical and rabidly religious as was Martin Luther in the sixteenth century.  Bachmann and her mentors are Lutherans, using, as did Adolf Hitler, religion as a cover for odious opportunism as well as ultimate aggression against imaginary foes. 

Downtown Waterloo, Iowa (where I grew up)

Bachmann’s claims that her earliest Lutheran training was at First Lutheran Church in Waterloo, Iowa, has stuck to her mind like any plague will erupt in sores on the body (http://okhenderson.com/2011/06/26/bachmann-people/).  The problem with Bachmann’s claim is that First Lutheran Church of Waterloo, Iowa, located at 118 High St, Waterloo, IA is a “private company” that was not established nor incorporated until 1995 (http://www.manta.com/c/mmdwspt/first-lutheran-church).  The church is evangelical, so Bachmann’s claim that she became an evangelical in Minnesota is proven false: http://www.zetify.com/churches/First-Lutheran-Church-Waterloo and http://www.kare11.com/rss/article/928306/391/Bachmann-reminisces-about-Waterloo-childhood-days; cf. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-pn-bachmann-iowa-20110626,0,6362808.story).

Helen LaFave, Michele's gay step-sister

The Minnesota Independent noted: “Lots of politicians talk about a sinister homosexual agenda. Bachmann, who has made opposition to gay rights a cornerstone of her career as a cover for her own political aspirations, seems genuinely to believe in one. Her conviction trumps even her once close relationship with her lesbian stepsister Helen LaFave and her family who were aghast at her rabid, radical, raw religiosity that ranked with the maniacal minister Martin Luther who had little to say that was kind or charitable(http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/06/14/michele-bachmanns-unrivaled-extremism-gay-rights-to-religion.html).  “What an amazing imagination,” marvels Arnold. “Her ideology is so powerful that she can construct a reality just on a moment’s notice.”

Coburn School of Law (Oral Roberts University in OK)

The Daily Beast article delves into Bachmann’s past, and finds that she studied at “Coburn Law School at Oral Roberts University, an ‘interdenominational, Bible-based, and Holy Spirit-led’ school in Oklahoma,” which was later transferred “unconditionally” to Pat Robertson’s Regents University Law School (Savage, Charlie (April 8, 2007). “Scandal puts spotlight on Christian law school”. Boston Globe. Online at  http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/08/scandal_puts_spotlight_on_christian_law_school/?page=full.).  The university and school were “charismatic Christian centers” where excellence in teaching was secondary to excellence in prayer. Regent’s University School of Law (its biggest donor is the Coors Beer Foundation) was worse, as like Oral Roberts University, courses entitled “Constitutional Law” were really courses about sin.   For its 20 year history, its graduates could not pass the bar exam–until George W. Bush became president and began to hire its graduates. 

Monica Goodling hired by Alberto Gonzales DOJ under George W. Bush

More than 150 Regent University alumni hired to federal government positions since President Bush took office in 2001, according to a university website.  One of those graduates is Monica Goodling, the former top aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales who was at the center of the storm over the firing of US attorneys, and Goodling was one of his most trusted associates directly involved in the firings since the attorneys were not considered sufficiently Christian and frequently not Republican. Goodling’s grades are not available, yet, but 60 percent of the class of 1999 — Goodling’s class — failed the bar exam on the first attempt.  Pat Robertson’s Law School proved itself worthless.

“It used to be that high-level DOJ jobs were generally reserved for the best of the legal profession,” wrote a contributor to The New Republic website . “. . . That a recent graduate of one of the very worst (and sketchiest) law schools with virtually no relevant experience could ascend to this position is a sure sign that there is something seriously wrong at the DOJ.”

In this estranged evangelical environment, Bachmann studied for her degree in law with unqualified teachers, emphasis fore-square on Bible “truths”, and rigorous adherence to Pat Robertson’s interpretation of the End of Times (He predicted that Russia would invade Israel in 1982, projected a worldwide economic collapse in 1985 and said Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) would be elected president in 1996.  In 2007 Robertson predicted a terrorist attack, possibly involving a nuclear weapon, but it did not come about. “All I can think is that somehow the people of God prayed, and God in his mercy spared us,” Robertson said in January 2008. http://www.palibandaily.com/2010/01/08/pat-robertsons-2010-predictions-wrath-wrath-more-wrath/ and http://www.abpnews.com/content/view/4690/53/; cf.  http://dailycaller.com/2011/01/04/pat-robertson-shares-his-predictions-for-2011/ in which Robertson predicts that the president in 2012 will be a man). 

Jeffrey Brauch

The dean of a lower-ranked law school that benefited from the Bush administration’s hiring practices, Jeffrey Brauch of Regents University made no apologies in an interview for training students to understand what the law is today, and also to understand how legal rules should be changed to better reflect “eternal principles of justice,” from divorce laws to abortion rights.  The Bible became the cornerstone for law studies and those who excelled were fervent Christians.

Michele Bachmann began to believe that the USA was the reborn state of Israel, citing Genesis 12:3 ( וַאֲבָרֲכָה מְבָרְכֶיךָ וּמְקַלֶּלְךָ אָאֹר וְנִבְרְכוּ בְךָ כֹּל מִשְׁפְּחֹת הָאֲדָמָה׃ which does not recognize the USA: http://mondoweiss.net/2011/06/bachmann-takes-it-to-the-mat-us-and-israel-are-two-sides-of-the-same-coin.html).  This fantasy she learned at CBN/Regents University, and

John Eidsmoe (Lutheran pastor / white supremacist)

came full-circle with her involvement with John Eidsmoe. “At Coburn, Bachmann studied with John Eidsmoe, who she recently described as ‘one of the professors who had a great influence on me.’ Eidsmoe is typical of most German Lutherans both in the days of Martin Luther who believed that they were divinely chosen to create a state totally subject to god (Lutheranism) and be the advisors (lawyers) to those who were to rule; Eidsmoe, more that most Lutheran pastors today openly opts for the literal teachings of Martin Luther and reflects the influence that the leader of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler, has had on his mind and career.  Eidsmoe is an acute and opinionatd racist with a long  history of addressing white supremacist groups in favor of racial purity and eugenics(http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/06/14/michele-bachmanns-unrivaled-extremism-gay-rights-to-religion.html). 

Michele Bachmann, who claimed  the Lutheran church as her religion, adored Eidsmoe and quoted him often, serving as Eidsmoe’s research assistant on the 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution.  Christianity and the Constitution has been repudiated by all reputable scholars.  The book, like its author whose knowledge of US history is as weak as that of Bachmann, Palin, and the Tea Party, argues that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy, and that it should become one again. ‘The church and the state have separate spheres of authority, but both derive authority from God,’ Eidsmoe wrote. ‘In that sense America, like [Old Testament] Israel, is a theocracy’.” (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/38745_Must_Read-_Michele_Bachmanns_Unrivaled_Extremism and cp. http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/9/13/11834/9878)  John Eisdmoe, a strict Lutheran, is a right-wing home-schooling advocate who wants public schools to explicitly give children a Christain-centered and Christian based education, especially if the student is not Christian.  Home-schooling activist Gary Gunn, a partner with Eisdmoe, proclaims the education system can only be fixed if “every subject taught in school is designed to give glory to God” (a trailer of his video is at http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/individuals/john-eidsmoe).

Bachmann, like Palin, puts on a charade when it comes to being “bible-based.” By holding any type of political office Sarah and Michele are literally short-changing America. If they really love America and believe the Bible to be the word of God, they would never even think of running for any political office. This is because what they believe to be the word of God says at Leviticus 27:3-7 says, “And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary. And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels. And if it be from five years old even unto twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver. And if it be from sixty years old and above; if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels.” The writers of this nonsense have God putting a monetary value on human beings and valuing girls and women much less than boys and men. Even more so, as “true Christians ( וְהִקְרִיב מִזֶּבַח הַשְּׁלָמִים אִשֶּׁה לַיהוָה אֶת־הַחֵלֶב הַמְכַסֶּה אֶת־הַקֶּרֶב וְאֵת כָּל־הַחֵלֶב אֲשֶׁר עַל־הַקֶּרֶב׃ וְאֵת שְׁתֵּי הַכְּלָיֹת וְאֶת־הַחֵלֶב אֲשֶׁר עֲלֵהֶן אֲשֶׁר עַל־הַכְּסָלִים וְאֶת־הַיֹּתֶרֶת עַל־הַכָּבֵד עַל־הַכְּלָיֹות יְסִירֶנָּה׃ וְהִקְטִירוּ אֹתֹו בְנֵי־אַהֲרֹן הַמִּזְבֵּחָה עַל־הָעֹלָה אֲשֶׁר עַל־הָעֵצִים אֲשֶׁר עַל־הָאֵשׁ אִשֵּׁה רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ לַיהוָה׃ ף וְאִם־מִן־הַצֹּאן קָרְבָּנֹו לְזֶבַח שְׁלָמִים לַיהוָה זָכָר אֹו נְקֵבָה תָּמִים יַקְרִיבֶנּוּ׃ אִם־כֶּשֶׂב הוּא־מַקְרִיב אֶת־קָרְבָּנֹו וְהִקְרִיב אֹתֹו לִפְנֵי יְהוָה׃)” which Bachmann and Palin ignore either in ignorance or deliberately to defy, neither would run for public office if either would have read 1 Timothy 2:11-15 which teaches, ” Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection . But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety” (γυνὴ ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ μανθανέτω ἐν πάσῃ ὑποταγῇ· διδάσκειν δὲ γυναικὶ οὐκ ἐπιτρέπω οὐδὲ αὐθεντεῖν ἀνδρός, ἀλλ’ εἶναι ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ. Ἀδὰμ γὰρ πρῶτος ἐπλάσθη, εἴτα Ἕυα. καὶ Ἀδὰμ οὐκ ἠπατήθη, ἡ δὲ γυνὴ ἐξαπατηθεῖσα ἐν παραβάσει γέγονεν· σωθήσεται δὲ διὰ τῆς τεκνογονίας, ἐὰν μείνωσιν ἐν πίστει καὶ ἀγάπῃ καὶ ἁγιασμῷ μετὰ σωφροσύνης).   As Martin Luther and Adolf Hitler rules, women are only good for having babies, giving sex to their husbands when the man demands it, and keeping a clean house.  Concerning marriage, Luther wrote: “Marriage,” he says, “is an external bodily thing, like any other manipulation.” “Know that marriage is an outward material thing like any other secular business.” “The body has nothing to do with God. In this respect one can never sin against God, but only against one’s neighbor”(LW, W12, 131); “In spite of all the good I say of married life, I will not grant so much to nature as to admit that there is no sin in it . . no conjugal due is ever rendered without sin.” “The matrimonial duty is never performed without sin.” The matrimonial act is, according to Luther, “a sin differing in nothing from adultery and fornication” (LW, W8, 654). Luther further noted that there was nothing sacred in marriage: “The word and work of God is quite clear, viz. That women were made either to be wives or prostitutes” (LW, W12, 94).  Marriage was for sex, as it was for the birds and animals: “God does not take from man and woman their special fashioning, sexual organs, seed and its fruit; a Christian body must generate, multiply, and behave like those of birds and all animals; he was created by God for that, thus where God performs no miracle, man must unite with woman and woman with man.” What happens to the woman is of no consequence to Luther. “Even though they grow weary and wear themselves out with child-bearing, it does not matter; let them go on bearing children till they die, that is what they are there for”(LW, E20, 84). Luther even permitted concubinage, harlotry, and bigamy if the wife was not ready for sex at the instance of a husband: Luther’s permitting his followers “to satisfy their desires outside marriage, when they were not married, in order to give relief to natural feelings which they could not resist.” He says quite plainly: “It is not forbidden that a man should have more than one wife” (LW, E33, 327).  Luther only married to defy the Devil is once more the main explanation of this unholy marriage. “I too am married, and to a nun. I could have refrained had I not special reasons to decide me. But I did it to defy the “Devil and his host, the objectors, the princes and bishops, since they were all foolish enough to forbid the clergy to marry. And I would with willing heart create an even greater scandal, if I knew of anything else better calculated to please God and to put them in a rage.”

Luther would not tolerate a woman to rule or sit in judgment over men. Women, according to Luther, were “inferior beings” and “Scripture speaking figuratively”, wrote Luther in 1526, “calls rulers drovers, taskmasters, and scourgers. Like the drivers of donkeys, who have to belabor the donkeys incessantly with rods and whips, or they will not obey, so must the ruler do with the people; they must drive, beat, throttle, hang, burn, behead and torture, so as to make themselves feared and to keep the people in check” (LW, E15, 276).  If the laborers try to organize (unionize) or raise up against their lords, Luther declared “’Why treat the peasants so cruelly?’ I am asked,” and Luther wrote in May, 1525; “let them all be killed. In such circumstances is it not God Himself who by our hands, hangs, breaks on the wheel, blows to bits and decapitates.” When the German lords or states struck out at those trying to organize for a more just wage and better life, the lords fought back, and Martin Luther congratulated himself: “It was I, Martin Luther, who slew all the peasants in the insurrection, for I commanded them to be slaughtered. All their blood is upon my shoulders. But I cast it on our Lord God who commanded me to speak in this way” (LW, E59, 284).

Obedience included accepting even unjust wars and carnage if the ruler demanded war even on the pretext of a lie or with false information about the strength of the enemy or the cache of weapons that the enemy had: “If the authorities order war, then the people have to fight and obey, not as Christians but as members and obedient people of the secular power” (LW, W19, 629). “It is the duty of the people to follow their leaders in war; to sacrifice body and belongings.” “The general duty of obedience towards the State includes the special duty to do military service.” “The authorities can force the people—as long as they are physically fit—to give their military service.” Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, and George W. Bush would have been favored by Luther and applauded by Adolf Hitler.

“Bachmann often says she has “raised” 23 foster children. That may be a bit of a stretch. According to the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Bachmann’s license, which she had for 7 1/2 years, allowed her to care for up to three children at a time. According to Kris Harvieux, a former senior social worker in the foster-care system in Bachmann’s county, some placements were almost certainly short-term. “Some of them you have for a week. Some of them you have for three years, some you have for six months,” says Harvieux, who also served as a foster parent herself. “She makes it sound like she got them at birth and raised them to adulthood, but that’s not true” (http://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/groups/licensing/documents/pub/dhs16_146217.pdf)

Marcus Bachmann by Bremer

The Daily Beast Bachmann profile adds, “Michele Bachmann says certain things that sound crazy to the general public,” says Frank Schaeffer. “But to anybody raised in the environment of the evangelical right-wing, what she says makes perfect sense.”  Both she and her husband, by all accounts her most trusted political adviser, believe that homosexuality can be cured. Marcus Bachmann’s credentials are at best suspect.    Bachmann claims that he has a PhD in psychology–from a mail-order school (Union) most likely “taken” before 2004, as in 2004 Union received an email by the President of Union Institute and University, Roger Sublett, that stated that UI&U had been censured by the United States Department of Education. All of the doctoral students received that email stating that the degree was worthless. Marcus Bachman does not  have a doctorate in psychology; the degree, now spurious, was a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies.  Since neither Marcus nor Michele ever lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, where Union is located, the only way Marcus could have “obtained” the degree is over the internet–equal to the worthless degrees bought from University of Phoenix (“Student-recruitment Tactics at University of Phoenix Blasted by Feds Univ. of Phoenix Audit Leads to $9.8 mil Fine ,” The Arizona Republic, September 14, 2004, by Dawn Gilbertson at http://www.azcentral.com/specials/special42/articles/0914apollo14.html?&wired; and http://kroplaw.com/uop/Second.Amended.Complaint.pdf, and Gilbertson, Dawn (October 4, 2009). “University of Phoenix case may get closure” Arizona Republic. http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2009/10/04/20091004biz-universityofphoenix1004.html). However, Marcus continues to use the discredited PhD in “Psychology” and billed the government of the USA–and received–$137,000 in Medicaid payments (which he publicly claims he abhores) for “psychological help” [prayers], as he also received more than $260,000 in farm subsidies despite his cries against government programs. Rather than practicing sound psychology, Bachmann practices “religion” [Wisconsin Synod Evangelical Lutheran that has nothing in common with solid and accredited psychological thought or training].  As the Minnesota Independent noted: “The religious point of view represented at Bachmann and Associates is very conservative, if the clinic’s affiliation with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) is any indication. Dr. Bachmann’s clinic is listed among the WELS/ELS Christian Counselors and Life Coaches, a groups of counselors “intent on serving our Lord” (http://minnesotaindependent.com/59781/bachmanns-christian-counseling-clinic-receives-state-funds).  WELS is a splinter-group within the Lutheran church in the USA and a denomination that described the Pope as the Antichrist, rejects all abortions even if the fetus is dead within the womb, rejects divorce even if the life of a spouse is in danger, and argues that masturbation is deliberate murder of unborn children.  Michele Bachmann has openly identified herself with this cult, and see any deviation from its Lutheran heritage to be satanical. 

Speaking to KMSS Christian radio station about gay teenagers last year, Marcus, who wrote his master thesis on the harmful effects of day care has on children: “[T]he best interests of the public would be served if one parent did not work outside of the home unless it was absolutely essential” (http://minnesotaindependent.com/59781/bachmanns-christian-counseling-clinic-receives-state-funds).   Untrained and unlicensed to work with homosexuals, Marcus treats gay people in his self-styled counseling practice, having made the spurious claim that: “Barbarians need to be educated. They need to be disciplined, and just because someone feels this or thinks this, doesn’t mean that we’re supposed to go down that road.” (Marcus hatred, and his unusual use of his hands traditionally associated with gay males, can be seen and listened to at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jrn8y_tX3no).   This is directly out of the writings of Martin Luther who required parents and community leaders to punish anyone who deviated from the acceptable (leader decided) norms (see LW 54:234-235; cp. Patrick F. O’Hare, The Facts about Luther.  New York, Cincinnati, F. Pustet & co. [c1916], p. 28).

Michele and Marcus Bachmann

Marcus Bachmann received his Masters degree in education/counseling from Regent [Pat Robertson’s 700 Club] University located in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He claims he received his Doctorate degree in clinical psychology from Union Graduate Institute (an online university that is composed of various other schools with “alternative learning philosophies” that went through bankruptcy).  The Union Institute’s Ph.D. program came under scrutiny by the Ohio Board of Regents in the late 1990s early 2000s, which scrutiny culminated in its 2002 Reauthorization Report. The report was critical of the Union Institute’s Ph.D. program, noting in particular that “… expectations for student scholarship at the doctoral level were not as rigorous as is common for doctoral work …” (OBR 2002 Reauthorization Report, page 13) The Union was put on probation.  It is located in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Marcus Bachmann does not have a doctorate in psychology or counseling but a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies (in 2011, the PhD is offered only in Ethical & Creative Leadership, Public Policy & Social Change, and Humanities & Culture; http://www.myunion.edu/academics/doctoral-programs.html).  The degree is suspect and rejected by reputable universities.  The doctorate in psychology is a Psy.D.; interestingly the university’s program “include issues related to poverty, violence, substance abuse, racism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression,” none that Marcus studied (http://www.myunion.edu/academics/psyd/index.html) and that the university acknowledges on their website: “The program’s development was guided by the American Psychological Association (APA) accreditation standards (Guidelines and Principles for Accreditation of Programs in Professional Psychology), but it is not APA-accredited. [Emphasis is mine.] APA accreditation policies require programs to have “sufficient students at each level of matriculation, including candidacy status during the year of its initial application.”  Marcus Bachmann (http://www.bachmanncounseling.com/), who openly claims to be his wife’s “strategist” (http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/118305399.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue that is in keeping with Martin Luther’s command that a husband must dominate a wife:

Here you should be guided by the words of St. Paul, I Corinthians 7:4–5, “The husband does not rule over his own body, but the wife does; likewise the wife does not rule over her own body, but the husband does. Do not deprive each other, except by agreement,” etc. (note especially verse 4:  ἡ γυνὴ τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος οὐκ ἐξουσιάζει ἀλλὰ ὁ ἀνήρ, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ὁ ἀνὴρ τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος οὐκ ἐξουσιάζει ἀλλὰ ἡ γυνή.) Notice that St. Paul forbids either party to deprive the other, for by the marriage vow each submits his body to the other in conjugal duty. When one resists the other and refuses the conjugal duty she is robbing the other of the body she had bestowed upon him. This is really contrary to marriage, and dissolves the marriage. For this reason the civil government must compel the wife, or put her to death. If the government fails to act, the husband must reason that his wife has been stolen away and slain by robbers; he must seek another. We would certainly have to accept it if someone’s life were taken from him. Why then should we not also accept it if a wife steals herself away from her husband, or is stolen away by others? [The Estate of Marriage, 1522, translated by Walther I. Brandt, from LW, Vol. 45, pp. 32-34 [from Christian in Society III] that matches the pedophile and adulterer Huldrych Zwingli [Huldreich Zwinglis Samtliche Werke, vol. 7, ed. E. Egli, G. Finsler, and W. Kohler, Corpus Reformation 94, (Leipzig: M. Heinsius Nachfolger, 1911), pp. 110-13]) delivered, in 2005, an address on the “homosexual agenda” complete with distortions of fact and scientific/psychological and psychiatric evidence to the contrary (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/06/16/michele-bachmann-s-first-dude-husband-marcus-bachmann.html); his presentation ended with three individuals who claimed to have been cured of homosexuality.

Bradlee Dean praying in the Minnesota House of Representatives May 20, 2011

“[I]t’s not about the Baptists and it’s not about the Catholics alone or the Lutherans or the Wesleyans, or the Presbyterians the evangelicals or any other denomination,” he said. The only head of the denomination—i.e., of the government —“is Jesus, as every president up until 2008 has acknowledged.”  This offense was met with outrage among the representatives.  Rep. Terry Morrow was so angry that he was shaking. “Mr. Speaker, I do trust and I do hope that every member of this chamber understands the gravity and the severity of the offense that had been given to many people within this chamber and out,” he said. “It has been my understanding that part of the justification, part of the explanation for starting our sessions with a prayer was that those prayers would never exclude, never marginalize a Minnesotan on the basis of their faith, on the basis of their beliefs, on the basis of who they are, and those expectations have been crushed today” (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/05/20/bradlee-deans-obama-slur-on-minnesota-house-floor-sparks-uproar.html)  Zeller ultimately issued an apology–but one that was hurriedly deleted from the internet by Bachmann supporters.

Iran hangs gay teens

While Dean next to never had a kind thing to say about Muslims, he did so in 2010, commenting that “Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America,” he said on his radio show, The Sons of Liberty . “It shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination”  (http://minnesotaindependent.com/58393/gop-linked-punk-rock-ministry-says-executing-gays-is-moral).  In one day Iran hanged 173 gay teenagers ages 13-17 for the crime of homosexuality–a hanging that Dean applauded.  It has been the same attitude that Bachmann has always taken, even speaking out against her own family and her lesbian stepsister.

Strongly influenced by Bradlee Dean (a drummer in a band called Junkyard Prophets (http://www.bradleedean.com/who), the Minnesota GOP has become

Tom Emmer with YCR;s Jake McMillan (r) at GOP convention (taken from Facebook)

a pawn in the hands of Dean and Bachmann.  Dean’s virulent anti-gay pogrom You Can Run But You Can’t Hide (YCRNYCH) was invited to set up  a booth at the Republican Party of Minnesota State Convention in late April — using space donated by the party, Dean says — where it greeted the party’s endorsed candidate for governor, Rep. Tom Emmer.  Minnesota’s potential governor, Emmer, attended the You Can Run fundraiser in late 2009, and with Bachmann has appeared at several fundraisers for the neo-Nazi group with the blessing of the Minnesota GOP chair.  Emmer, in fact, has admitted that he has been to Dean’s house and contributed $250 to  YCR adversary group.

Dean acknowledged his close ties with the Minnesota GOP, Bachmann, and former GOP Governor Pawlentysays Minnesota GOP chair Tony Sutton invited the ministry to attend.  His hatred for LGBT people and Muslims is legendary, while he calls for greater emphasis on religion in public schools.  Sutton has established a political public relations firm (Winning Strategies), basically to keep himself out of danger with the law after he came under investigation by the Minnesota Republican Party that requested in May 2011, that he explain how GOP activisit began to received e-mails from CAGE (Citizens Against Gambling Expansion), a group funded in part by American Indian casino operators opposed to gambling expansion.  Sutton was a board member of CAGE before the probe, and some say he still serves but without official recognition by the group, although he does draw “friendly offerings” for his advice.

Tony Sutton, Minnesota GOP chair under investigation

Dean plays rap/metal music–similar to that produced for the Department of Defense to “gear up” USA troops when they entered Iraq to kill everyone in sight, with the stanza “kill, kill, kill”).  Bachmann has been instrumental in getting him to offer the opening prayer in the Minnesota House of Representatives, where he declared that Obama was not a Christian, and following by his set pattern, declared that Obama is a greater danger to the USA than was Osama bin Laden.

Dean has become quite wealthy by charging thousands of dollars to speak at public school assemblies and evangelize young people based on a “shocking and offensive anti-gay program” while advocating imprisonment and death for homosexuals in an identical

Amack prisoners (gays wore pink triangles)

manner as Adolf Hitler demanded when the Nazis stormed Germany and those nations it conquered: “the campaign against homosexuality was escalated by the introduction of the “Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour.” Until 1935, the only punishable offence had been anal intercourse; under the new Paragraph 175a, ten possible “acts” were punishable, including a kiss, an embrace, even homosexual fantasies! One man, for instance, was successfully prosecuted on the grounds that he had observed a couple making love in a park and watched only the man” (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Homosexuals_and_the_Third_Reich.html  and http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2010/06/bradlee_dean_plays_pretend.php; cf. Jonathan H. Ebel, “Jesus Freak and the Junkyard Prophet: The School

Keith Ellison (D-MN) Muslim targeted by Bradlee Dean and Michele Bachmann

Assembly as Evangelical Revival,” Journal of American Academy of Religion (2009) vol. 77, no. 1: 34, where it is noted that Dean demands that educators and teachers treat ADD and ADHD as diabolical fictions.  Disease, according to Dean, is a mark of the Devil for all things evil (such as illness, and even old age) are Satanic marks setting the sinner aside from the saved. 

Dean and Bachmann emphasize the importance of setting and adhering to rules and holding children accountable for their mistakes–regardless of their age, for quoting Luther, a child is a sinful being who must be corrected as his mother corrected him; Luther believed firmly in Proverbs 22:15: אִוֶּלֶת קְשׁוּרָה בְלֶב־נָעַר שֵׁבֶט מוּסָר יַרְחִיקֶנָּה מִמֶּנּוּ׃—which Bachmann supports—in an effort to cover his own homosexual past, and has come out against Minnesota’s Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison, gay rights, and the separation of state and church, among numerous other neo-Nazi causes http://minnesotaindependent.com/tag/bradlee-dean, even telling the Minnesota legislature that it was their duty to listen to him as he spoke for god.  For a while Dean and his brand of hate was funded by Wal-Mart and other businesses.  Wal-Mart ended its support in May 2011.

From the beginning of her political career, Bachmann has attacked First Amendment rights and especially LGBT people.  No one mattered, as she was mentored to see the mote in the eye of those near her, not to find the beam in her own eye: (Matthew 7:3-5: τί δὲ βλέπεις τὸ κάρφος τὸ ἐν τῷ ὀφθαλμῷ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου, τὴν δὲ ἐν τῷ σῷ ὀφθαλμῷ δοκὸν οὐ κατανοεῖς; ἢ πῶς ἐρεῖς τῷ ἀδελφῷ σου· ἄφες ἔκβαλω τὸ κάρφος ἐκ τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ σου, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἡ δοκὸς ἐν τῷ ὀφθαλμῷ σοῦ; ὑποκριτά ἔκβαλε πρῶτον ἐκ τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ σοῦ τὴν δοκόν, καὶ τότε διαβλέψεις ἐκβαλεῖν τὸ κάρφος ἐκ τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου.).  To this end Bachmann even attacked her own family: not just her sister Helen, but even her own children.

The preoccupation concerning and about homosexuality expressed by Dean and Bachmann strongly suggests that both individuals either are, were, or considered homosexual and homosexuality in a positive light, but then regretting their true feelings came out as opponents of homosexuals and homosexuality (Galanti, C.B. (1992), “Homosexual preoccupation in a gero-psychiatric client: a case for psychoanalytically oriented therapy,” Perspectives in Psychiatric Care (April-June 28(2):21-24 a pdf is available online at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1744-6163.1992.tb00366.x/pdf; for paranoid psychotics, read Lester, D (1975) “The relationship between paranoid delusions and homosexuality,” in Archive of Sexual Behavior May 4(3):285-294; cp. http://www.westword.com/1996-10-03/news/slay-it-with-a-smile/3/; both Dean and Bachmann reflect border-line personality disorders: cf. Neelerman, AJ (2007) [“The relevance of sexuality in the treatment of borderline personality disorder” {in Dutch}] Tijdschrift voor Psychiatrie [Meppel : Boom] 49(4):233-240).  In 2004, Bachmann gave a speech warning that gay marriage would lead to schoolchildren being indoctrinated into homosexuality. She wanted everyone to know, though, that she doesn’t hate gay people. “Any of you who have members of your family in the lifestyle, we have a member of our family that is,” she said. “This is not funny. It’s a very sad life. It’s part of Satan, I think, to say that this is gay.”

Regular readers of The New Civil Rights Movement know what Bachmann says very well. Here are some Michele Bachmann love quotes:

• “It’s part of Satan I think to say that this is “gay.” It’s anything but gay.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, speaking at EdWatch National Education Conference, November 6, 2004. EdWatch is a far-right organization that includes Phyllis Schlafly and the Eagle Forum and members of recognized hate groups; it is online.
• “If you’re involved in the gay and lesbian lifestyle, it’s bondage. It is personal bondage, personal despair and personal enslavement.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, speaking at EdWatch National Education Conference, November 6, 2004.
• “You have a teacher talking about his gayness. (The elementary school student) goes home then and says “Mom! What’s gayness? We had a teacher talking about this today.” The mother says “Well, that’s when a man likes other men, and they don’t like girls.” The boy’s eight. He’s thinking, “Hmm. I don’t like girls. I like boys. Maybe I’m gay.” And you think, “Oh, that’s, that’s way out there. The kid isn’t gonna [sic] think that.” Are you kidding? That happens all the time. You don’t think that this is intentional, the message that’s being given to these kids? That’s child abuse.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, speaking at EdWatch National Education Conference, November 6, 2004.
• “Don’t misunderstand. I am not here bashing people who are homosexuals, who are lesbians, who are bisexual, who are transgender. We need to have profound compassion for people who are dealing with the very real issue of sexual dysfunction in their life and sexual identity disorders.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, on homosexuality as a mental disorder, speaking at EdWatch National Education Conference, November 6, 2004.
• “It isn’t that some gay will get some rights. It’s that everyone else in our state will lose rights. For instance, parents will lose the right to protect and direct the upbringing of their children. Because our K-​12 public school system, of which ninety per cent of all youth are in the public school system, they will be required to learn that homosexuality is normal, equal and perhaps you should try it. And that will occur immediately, that all schools will begin teaching homosexuality.” – Senator Michele Bachmann, on what will happen if her same-​sex marriage ban amendment fails to pass in 2004, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News,” hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-​AM, March 6, 2004 KKMS is a Christian radio station that is funded, in part, by the KKK and far-right hate organizations. Its official website is http://www.kkms.com/ and includes “Reflect on and include Biblical principles in your life” and other fundamentalist material.
• “This is a very serious matter, because it is our children who are the prize for this community, they are specifically targeting our children.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, on the gay community and same-​sex marriage, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-​AM, March 20, 2004.
• “The sex curriculum will be essentially by taught by the local gay community.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, if her same-​sex marriage ban amendment does not pass in 2004, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-​AM, March 20, 2004.
• “And what a bizarre time we’re in, Jan, when a judge will say to little children that you can’t say the pledge of allegiance, but you must learn that homosexuality is normal and you should try it.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-​AM, March 6, 2004.
• “Our children will be forced to learn that homosexuality is normal and natural and that perhaps they should try it, and that’ll be very soon in our public schools all across the state, beginning in kindergarten.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-​AM, March 6, 2004.
• “We are wide open and vulnerable and in all likelihood an activist judge will strike down our Defense of Marriage Act, our state law against gay marriage, this year. And in all likelihood, we will have gay marriage in 2004 in Minnesota, if we don’t get this amendment on the ballot for November.” — Senator Michele Bachmann, appearing as guest on radio program “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-​AM, March 20, 2004.

Bachmann (neither Michele nor Marcus) have any theological background nor religious studies based on original sources. Michele Bachmann uses Biblical quotes, without attribution, to signal extreme Christian Dominion views, such as references to Deuteronomy 28:13: ‘The Lord will make you the head and not the tail’ ( וּנְתָנְךָ יְהוָה לְרֹאשׁ וְלֹא לְזָנָב וְהָיִיתָ רַק לְמַעְלָה וְלֹא תִהְיֶה לְמָטָּה כִּי־תִשְׁמַע אֶל־מִצְוֹת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיֹּום לִשְׁמֹר וְלַעֲשֹׂות׃). As Rachel Tabachnick has reported (http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/9/13/11834/9878), it’s often used in theocratic circles to explain why Christians have an obligation to rule, and Bachmann has proclaimed that her god has called on her to rule the USA as a captive (to god) nation.

Bachmann’s knowledge of history, especially USA history, is as warped and twisted as that of Bradlee Dean.  In the case of Dean, Independent scholars have determined that “much of the history that [YCRBYCH] present is, in fact, either highly sanitized, inaccurate, or demonstrably false” (Ebel, loc. cit.) with Dean intertwining and incorrectly stating what is in the Declaration of Independence and in the US Constitution. During an assembly at Pequot Lakes High School in Minnesota in 2007, students were shown graphic images of purported aborted fetuses and girls were made to chant about being submissive to their husbands. Many left in tears, and numerous parents complained about the brainwashing, a charge Bachmann rejected in the name of free speech. She is not the only supporter, for she has brought to Dean the Tea Party, Gun Owners of America, the American Family Association and other recognized and labeled American hate groups (cp. http://www.minnpost.com/dailyglean/2009/11/17/13509/anti-immigrant_rally_pranked_but_organizers_say_no) who are more interested in preserving the motto “In God We Trust” than in protecting individual freedoms and safeguarding the US Constitution (see the pdf where Bachmann counter-sues to throw out a challenge to right-wing fringe groups at: http://minnesotaindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/ACLJ_AmicusBrief_CapVisitorCenter.pdf in which Bachmann and co-plaintiffs claim those who are not believers have no special rights; the lawsuit was initiated by [Marion Gordon] Pat Robertson’s Regents University lawyers known as the American Center for Law and Justice for Christian and Jewish believers, but not Muslims: http://aclj.org/ see the lawsuit against Delta for aligning with Saudi Arabia at http://aclj.org/delta-airlines/delta-s-discriminatory-partner). Robertson has a penchant for transmogrifying the truth, as when he claimed he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa (the fraternity has no record of him being on their roster: Phi Beta Kappa Membership Directory, Vol 1. 2000).  Robertson also claimed he served in combat in Korea.  Former Republican Congressman Paul “Pete” McCloskey, Jr., who served with Robertson in Korea, wrote a public letter which said that Robertson was actually spared combat duty when his powerful father, a U.S. Senator, intervened on his behalf, and that Robertson spent most of his time in an office in Japan as the “liquor officer” responsible for keeping the officers’ clubs supplied with liquor. Robertson filed a $35 million libel suit against McCloskey in 1986, but dropped the case in 1988, before it came to trial and paid McCloskey’s court costs (“Evangelist sues over combat story”. The Globe and Mail. (Toronto, Ontario, Canada): p. A.16. October 23, 1986, and “Robertson’s libel suit by judge[:] ex-congressman ruled the legal victor,” Philadelphia Daily News: March 7, 1988, p. 14).

While Michele Bachmann writes, vocally trumpets, and displays here ignorance of religion and history, arguing for a National Day of Prayer and similar absurdities, the Baptists who began the quest for a wall separating state and church have come out against the concept.  Despite a recent court ruling that a law establishing a National Day of Prayer cannot be challenged in court, officials at the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty said such official religious declarations are misguided and unnecessary. “The government shouldn’t be in the business of telling the American people what, where or when to pray or even if they should pray,” said J. Brent Walker, executive director of the 75-year-old religious liberty organization (http://www.baptiststandard.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12480&Itemid=53).  In fact, The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty filed legal papers July 6 arguing that inviting religious leaders to invoke sectarian prayers a North Carolina county’s board of commissioners meetings is unconstitutional.  The BJC filed a brief of amicus curiae urging the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold Jan. 28 ruling by a U.S. district judge (http://www.au.org/media/press-releases/archives/2010/01/joyner-v-forsyth-co-opinion.pdf) that prayers used to open or solemnize meetings of the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment (http://www.baptiststandard.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11370&Itemid=53).  

The BJC came out against cultural warriors, like Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee (a Baptist minister) who contend that the United States is a “Christian nation”.  Mercer University President Bill Underwood warned supporters of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty June 25, 2010, that such claims gravely endanger freedoms sacred to both Christianity and the nation (http://www.baptiststandard.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11307&Itemid=53).  Underwood’s warning came during the BJC’s annual Religious Liberty Council luncheon at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly meeting in Charlotte, N.C. The group — the BJC’s individual-donor wing — also elected new officers and honored legendary African-American Baptist pastor Gardner Taylor.

Bachmann’s knowledge of history is not even marginal—it is substandard to abysmal and yet she has been allowed to indoctrinate her children.  For example: as a Research assistant for the book Christianity and the Constitution: the Faith of our Founding Fathers by John Eidsmoe (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, c1987), Bachmann argued that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy, and that it should become one again.   “The church and the state have separate spheres of authority, but both derive authority from God,” Eidsmoe wrote. “In that sense America, like [Old Testament] Israel, is a theocracy.”  The Jewish community in the USA disagrees with this assumption, noting that Israel has little in common with a theocracy and does not have a spokesperson such as Eidsmoe (http://www.jewishchronicle.org/article.php?article_id=3059).

History rebukes Bachmann multifold, as no leader in the USA argued for the union of church and state, nor argued that it received its authority from God and none claimed the USA to be a Christian nation.  For example:

George Washington (First President of the United States of America) declared: “Every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshiping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience.”May 1789

Benjamin Franklin (Statesman, Inventor, Author) detailed in the eighteenth century: “When religion is good, it will take care of itself. When it is not able to take care of itself, and God does not see fit to take care of it, so that it has to appeal to the civil power for support, it is evidence to my mind that its cause is a bad one.”

John Adams (Second President of the United States of America commenting on blasphemy laws): “I think such laws a great embarrassment, great obstructions to the improvement of the human mind. Books that cannot bear examination, certainly ought not to be established as divine inspiration by penal laws.” (Letter to Thomas Jefferson, Jan. 23, 1825)

Thomas Jefferson (Third President of the United States of America) wrote:
“Almighty God hath created the mind free; all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments of burdens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in His almighty power to do” (Acts for Establishing Religious Freedom in Virginia, 1785). “I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, disciplines or exercises” (Words of Thomas Jefferson, Vol 5, pg 236).

Andrew Jackson (Seventh President of the United States of America explaining why he declined to call for official days of prayer and fasting): “I could not do otherwise without transcending the limits prescribed by the Constitution for the President and without feeling that I might in some degree disturb the security which religion nowadays enjoys in this country in its complete separation from the political concerns of the General Government.” (Letter to the Synod of the Reformed Church of North America, June 12, 1832)

James K. Polk (Eleventh President of the United States of America)  “Thank God, under our Constitution there was no connection between Church and State.” (Diary entry, Oct. 14, 1846)

Millard Fillmore (Thirteenth President of the United States of America) “I am tolerant of all creeds. Yet if any sect suffered itself to be used for political objects I would meet it by political opposition. In my view church and state should be separate, not only in form, but fact. Religion and politics should not be mingled.” (Address during 1856 presidential election)

Abraham Lincoln (Sixteenth President of the United States of America) said: “Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in us. Our defense is in the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism at your own doors. Familiarize yourself with the chains of bondage, and you prepare your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of others, you have lost the genius of your own independence and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises among you.” Speech at Edwardsville, IL, 1858

Ulysses S. Grant (Eighteenth President of the United States of America) intoned in his address to Congress: “Declare church and state forever separate and distinct; but each free within their proper spheres” (Seventh annual message, Congress December 7, 1875). In a speech given in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1875, Grant waxed: “Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private school supported entirely by private contribution. Keep church and state forever separate“.  Furthermore, Grant voiced strongly:  “Encourage free schools, and resolve that not one dollar of money shall be appropriated to the support of any sectarian school. Resolve that neither the state nor nation shall support institutions of learning other than those sufficient to afford every child growing up in the land the opportunity of a good common school education, unmixed with sectarian, pagan, or atheistical dogmas. Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private schools, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate.” (Speech to veterans of the Army of Tennessee, Sept. 30, 1875.)

James A. Garfield (Twentieth President of the United States of America) wrote: “Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither justice nor freedom can be permanently maintained. Its interests are intrusted [sic] to the States and the voluntary action of the people. Whatever help the nation can justly afford should be generously given to aid the States in supporting common schools; but it would be unjust to our people and dangerous to our institutions to apply any portion of the revenues of the nation or of the States to the support of sectarian schools. The separation of Church and State in everything relating to taxation should be absolute.” Letter of Acceptance of Nomination for the Presidency July 12, 1880

Theodore Roosevelt (Twenty-sixth President of the United States of America) pronounced in New York, on October 12, 1915: “I hold that in this country there must be complete severance of Church and State; that public moneys shall not be used for the purpose of advancing any particular creed; and therefore that the public schools shall be non-sectarian and no public moneys appropriated for sectarian schools.”

John F. Kennedy (Thirty-fifth President of the United States of America) in an address to the Greater Houston [Texas] Ministerial Association on September 12, 1960, opined: “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute–where no Catholic prelate would tell the President (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote–where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference–and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the President who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.”  One-time US Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) and 2011 presidential contender for the Tea Party/GOP nomination told about 50 members of the group Catholic Citizenship that he was “frankly appalled” that America’s first Catholic president, John F. Kennedy, once said “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.” “That was a radical statement,” Santorum said, and did “great damage.” (http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2011/03/santorum_possib.html)   Furthermore, Santorum who has little knowledge of US history proclaimed that “Jefferson was spinning in his grave” (http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2011/03/santorum_possib.html) not knowing that it was Jefferson who wrote the phrase “separation of church and state”, which led to the Establishment Clause in the US Constitution (Amendment 1 at http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_Am1.html), when addressing the Danbury Baptists in a letter written in 1802 (http://www.usconstitution.net/jeffwall.html; the Danbury Baptist letter requesting the clarification is at http://candst.tripod.com/tnppage/baptist.htm). 

Lyndon B. Johnson (Thirty-sixth President of the United States of America) responded in an interview with the Baptist Standard: “I believe in the American tradition of separation of church and state which is expressed in the First Amendment to the Constitution. By my office – and by personal conviction – I am sworn to uphold that tradition.” (Interview with Baptist Standard, October 1964)

Jimmy Carter (Thirty-ninth President of the United States of America) the most maligned and misquoted of all presidents, wrote: “I believe in the separation of church and state and would not use my authority to violate this principle in any way.” (Letter to Jack V. Harwell, August 11, 1977)

While Bachmann attempts to prove she is educated, she has tirelessly worked at ending quality in education in the USA.  Like US Senator Joe McCarthy (R-WI) she saw the specter of communism everywhere.

In 2001, Bachmann co-wrote for the Minnesota-based Maple River Education Coalition, warning the group that President Bush’s education policies were leading the nation down the path to communism: “Government is implementing policies that will lead to poverty, not prosperity, by adopting the failed ideas of a state-planned and managed economy similar to that of the former Soviet Union.”  In 2003 State-Senator Bachmann, attempted to justify her rejection of evolution, wrote: “Where do we say that a cell became a blade of grass, which became a starfish, which became a cat, which became a donkey, which became a human being? There’s a real lack of evidence from change from actual species to a different type of species. That’s where it’s difficult to prove.” By 2009, Bachmann explained her opposition to a bill that would expand the scope of AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps’ domestic equivalent, Bachmann warned Minnesota’s KTLK that it could be the gateway to a mandatory brainwashing program: “I believe that there is a very strong chance that we will see that young people will be put into mandatory service. And the real concerns is that there are provisions for what I would call re-education camps for young people, where young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward and then they have to go to work in some of these politically correct forums [rather than learn evangelical Christian fundamentalism]” (http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/bachmann-warns-of-re-education-camps-for-young-people.php). At approximately the same time, Bachmann betrayed the US Constitution by calling on Minnesotans to prepare for Civil War against the US federal government that was calling for a free market to create carbon exchanges: “I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back. Thomas Jefferson told us ‘having a revolution every now and then is a good thing,’ and the people—we the people—are going to have to fight back hard if we’re not going to lose our country. And I think this has the potential of changing the dynamic of freedom forever in the United States” (http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/06/michele-bachmann-greatest-hits?page=2).

The Minnesota Congresswoman argued that George Washington a “career military man”, but Washington served the British for four years (1754-1758) then spent 17 years as a full-time planter and businessman and sometime legislator before returning to the armed forces for 7 years. That means he spent 11 years of his life as active duty military, not even enough to qualify for a livable pension. Bachmann declared John Adams a “dirt poor farmer” but he owned land, rented property, worked as a lawyer, etc. Michele declared that John Quincy Adams signed the US Declaration of Independence—which would have been unique as he was eight years old at the time. Bachmann claimed that the Founding Fathers ended slavery—but all had slaves, and slavery was not ended until after the death of Abraham Lincoln, although he did sign the Proclamation of Emancipation that gave them freedom, but to enforce it the United States of America fought a bloody Civil War.  A litany of history “gaffs” (or ignorance about the USA) is overwhelming and too long to put in this single article.  What is not surprising in researching this paper is that I cannot find one truth in any of her arguments citing USA history that is correct.  In this ignorance she does match Sarah Palin and all other Tea Bag Party candidates from Rick Perry of Texas to Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.

The issue of law is yet another quirk in the political career of Michele Bachmann.  When the Republican Congresswoman learned that her most generous campaign contributor, Frank Vennes Jr, was involved in the miltibillion-dollar Tom Petters financial fraud, she showed no compassion. A year later, the situation changed when she heard he would contribute greater amounts of money to her political future, despite the fact he was a convicted money-launderer and cocaine-and-gun trafficker.  To pardon Vennes required a presidential pardon.  In a letter to the Office of Pardon Attorney dated Dec. 10, 2007, Bachmann declared that “granting a pardon to Mr. Vennes is good for society. Mr. Vennes is truly a unique man in that he is not asking for a pardon that he may achieve personal success. By the grace of God, that has been done.”

Despite the invocation of God, Petters did little.  According to a federal search warrant affidavit used to search Vennes’ Minnetonka home on September 24, Vennes hauled in more than $28 million in commissions for his alleged role in luring five investors to pony up $1.2 billion in Petters’ alleged giant Ponzi scheme. Vennes was convicted money laundering and cocaine/gun running despite being a close personal friend and major campaign contributor of Minnesota presidential candidates Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty, for his role in the $3.5 billion Tom Petters Ponzi scheme.  Petters was sentenced to the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth Federal Prison for 50 years, and Bachmann did not want that to happen to her wealthy friend.  Bachmann and Pawlenty—along with former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman and former Minnesota GOP Chair Ron Ebensteiner—unsuccessfully sought a presidential pardon from President George W. Bush for Vennes’ federal crimes from the 1980s, and the pardon was not granted (for a full discussion on this travesty, read: http://www.rippleinstillwater.com/2011/04/frank-vennes-jr-friend-and-fat-cat.html, Bachmann’s letter requesting the pardon is below, reprinted from the link previously given).

Bachmann's request for ponzi schemer Vennes

Today there is not one Tea Party/GOP candidate who has the slightest inkling of knowledge of USA history or its presidents, but lies openly like Bachmann, distorting and destroying the heritage of the USA. Bachmann, for example, claimed that GI’s raised the USA flag on Iwo Jima.  That was wrong; it was the USA marines and sailors who raised the colors over Mt. Suribachi (http://www.marines.com/main/index/winning_battles/history/missions/iwo_jima).   

Actual photo of raising the US flat at Suribachi