Chris Hedges, former Middle East bureau chief for The New York Times, reports on the further inroads of Evangelical Fundamentalism into the military and law enforcement in the United States. We had a previous posting on the story about Pentagon officials taking part in a Christian Embassy film on December 12th. Even more ominous is the creation of Christian mercenaries working for a devout rich right-wing creator of Blackwater, Erik Prince. There are currently 20,000 Christian mercenaries in Iraq. These religious mercenaries are not accountable to any legitimate authority and have been reported to have caused numerous atrocities in Iraq.Read the story linked to in the title to this post. The article is the very definition of the word “SCARY”. As the article points out, “One of the arguments used to assuage our fears that the mass movement being built by the Christian right is fascist at its core is that it has not yet created a Praetorian Guard, referring to the paramilitary force that defied legal constraints, made violence part of the political discourse and eventually plunged ancient Rome into tyranny and despotism.” Thanks to Mr. Prince, this is no longer the case. The Christian right is now armed and experienced in conducting war against heathens.Peter Nuhn
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Why do you think I have been increasing my Canadian contacts?
EVERY SINGLE TIME a President or Dictator has asked for emergency powers to target a small group, he has gone after a larger non related group.
These guys are going to come back and face their true targets. You can guess who they are!!!
That is some of the scariest sh** I have read in a long time.
Where were the news reports of black-clad “warriors” patrolling the streets of New Orleans?
Where are the reports of these people in Iraq?
Does anyone have confirmation of these guys?????
gilraen:
I knew about it “first hand” from some of my brothers in arms that I left behind when I lost my leg in an accident.
It’s worse than you can imagine!!!
And then there’s the large ‘concentration camp’ Blackwater is building for the gummint, I forget where.
The solution? two words…New Zealand.
Or perhaps “Annie get your gun”…
To the best of my knowledge, Erik Prince is no relative of mine.
Just so’s everybody on this blog knows, my last name is PRINCE.
I am a Humanist Celebrant.
I am a strong secular humanist atheist.
People like Erik Prince scare me.
Emkay:
Your gun won’t help much, New Zealand is a very good choice though.
More proof that we have our very own TALIBAN in the United States.
Things are indeed shaping up like something from “A Handmaid’s Tale” or “1984″ but the takeover yesterday and swearing in of the new Deomcratic Congress gives me hope.
Cascadia, You are an amp too? RBK here thanks to Type 1 diabetes…
alexatheist:
Yeah, lost my right leg just below my knee. My parachute collapsed and they couldn’t save it. I still manage to get up and down the hill though.
Type 1 Diabetes… another reason to dump the republinazis and invest in stem cell research!
I certainly make sure my New Zealand passport is kept up to date at all times.
On the eighth day he made the “Firing squad for god”
Christians responsible for atrocities? Not a chance. Besides, I?m sure they were ?Jesus-sanctioned? atrocities anyway.
/end sarcasim
Did these guys patrol New Orleans? Does that mean they are in bed with the govt.?
Hmmm, Maybe I need to DVR that episode of Mac Guiver, where he blows up a humvee with a pine cone.
this is no suprise but look at our response,go to another nation.i say hell no this is our country just as much as theirs.if they want war so be it.they have guns but do they have the guts to fight when someone is shooting back.we need to make it clear we aren’t going anywhere and if they don’t like it they can leave.
the older i get the less patience i have with religious fanatics.i am fast reaching the point when i say to hell their rights.
Sheesh…and some wonder why I call him the “bomb thrower”.
Please tell me where are the facts in this quoted article? No footnotes? No quoted studies? Simply one left wingers radical views…
http://www.alternet.org/authors/5769/
Sheesh…
Hmmm…since roughly 80% of America claims to be christian, what percentage would one expect? I’m wondering what definition the author used claiming one is a “radical Christian”?
Once again the group that claims to only believe in scientific facts…show their hypocricy…
Comment from: alexatheist
Yeah…it should. Seems the new Speaker uses the same history books as AA…
Tell me, aren’t American troops still in Europe?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SjviIOpOfp8
WMD’s? Pelosi thought so…
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xwDJRBOsj78
And these comments are sure to disappoint many…
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QRy11czyBz4
Sleep well Alex…
Reason:
It all starts with a little nut like, say, hummm, David Karesh and his band of wackos and it spreads from there. So the answer to your question is, most likely, “yes.”
“Born again heretic.”
This troubles me sorely…
Erik Prince (what kind of name is that? he asked pensively) is an atheist’s worse nightmare (a 1000 times more so than the banana, hehehehe).
It’s not that he interned at the WH (& proclaimed he saw a lotta legislation he didn’t approve of), or that he actively tries to change things w/in the system (let’s face it, every citizen has that right).
It’s that he’s rich, religious, AND a Navy Seal. And his mercenaries seem to have behavioral carte blanche, due to their epistemology.
All 1 has to do, is profess a belief in jay-sus, & as long as 1 stops on the fringes of wild exploits, they get a free pass.
phreddy:
Okay, smart guy: YOU tell US what qualifies as a ‘radical xtian’, if you’d be so kind.
off-topic bush gives himself more power to open mail.since we are probably on a list somewhere.let me say i am sad for what my country has become.this phoney war on terror is a power grab if it was a real war we would seal the borders like in ww2.funny how it was possible then but not now.it is also scary because there really are terrorists out there
who want to hurt us.only the elite get real protection it seems.
Maddogstu,
Just watched that episode a few days ago on DVD. Way cool!
Reason:
Glad you mentioned the mail issue. I e-mailed the article to Dave but he didn’t post anything on it. First, the right to torture, then habeas corpus taken away, now the right to search thru the mail (plus a million other things in between)…This is scary, man! This country heading straight towards Communism…May…duh, huh, what’s his name again? help us all!!
Jesus says ?dump Bush?
If all the scientists left, this country wouldn’t have a pot to piss in.
Reason:
Here’s how to hypothetically avoid “that list” and totally protect yourself.
1. Get a death certificate for your birth name.
2. Take on multiple assumed names complete with new Social Security numbers. (undocumented employee methods)
3. Pay your taxes on the identity you use for employment.
4. Try not to do anything to raise suspicion from local authorities.
5. Have an emergency kit ready in case you have to flee.
6. Flee to Canada, and purchase a ticket to a non-extradition country.
7. If you have opened an account in Luxembourg, the United States cannot track it. We no financial record sharing with Luxembourg (If you go Swiss or Cayman islands etc… you can lose everything)
8. Request asylum and reenter your occupational field.
Assume the worst:
With the power the executive branch now has. Bush could dissolve the Congress, and anyone objecting to that act will face a “stacked jury” of military officials. The facilities needed to “house” a large number of Americans citizens already exist. It’s a good idea to be prepared… hypothetically.
When the dialectical materialist ATHEISTS took over the old country, the believers went to Gulags, brainwashing camps, and “re-education centers”.
(Love that word “re-education”!)
Ain’t gonna happen again.
Goldstein:
Wanna bet? People have very short memory spans but those of us who have lived thru that and warn others against what is happening here are labeled by the majority as “paranoid,” “crazy” and, yes, oh, yes, that lovely word “UNPATRIOTIC” and told to go back to our countries if things are so bad here…
You look again and see if what is happening here didn’t happen in Russia, China, Germany, Cuba…etc. By time the people of those countries realized what was happening, it was too late! Look again because IT IS happening! Read the news and pay attention. IT IS hapeening every day in front of your eyes and it has been happening since 9/11/01 – the grand blanket excuse for it all!
“One nation under laws.”
why did we have to be dead last in the polls.might as well stamp scapegoat on our foreheads.
The best way for haliburton and blackwater to take over (otherwise known as protecting us) is to get a tax exempt chursh status. At that point the only way to get rid of them would be to amend the constitution. Church and state separation must be re-written in it again for those who do not understand.
On nation under dollars with liberty and justice for corporation and elite.
*off topic* That renminds me of the Dead Kennedys record with the picture of the dollar bill with “In god we trust INC.” on it. Also,I think it was those AdBuster guys, made american corporate flags. Instead of the stars it had little corporate logos.