Folks, Our SOS, HRC is a member of an "elite cell" of The Family. THIS NEEDS ADDRESSING!

[mod mom]

I FINALLY RECEIVED MY COPY OF JEFF SHARLET'S "THE FAMILY" AND IT IS SCARIER THAN ANY HORROR NOVEL. I WAS ALSO LUCKY ENOUGH TO CATCH JEFF SHARLET ON FRIDAY IN HIS INTERVIEW W BILL MAHER ( I HOPE BILL WILL MAKE THIS VIDEO AVAILABLE TO ALL TO US!), AS WELL AS NUMEROUS INTERVIEWS W NPR, AND RACHEL. I HOSTED THREADS ON HILLARY'S INVOLVEMENT W THIS GROUP DURING THE PRIMARY BUT IT WAS OFTEN MET W COMMENTS CALLING ME A HILLARY HATER-NOTE NO FACTUAL DENIALS OF HER INVOLVEMENT, JUST RUN OF THE MILL ATTACKS OF THE MESSENGER). I REALLY THINK SOMEONE NEEDS TO CALL HILLARY OUT AND CHECK HER ALLEGIANCES AND WHAT EXACTLY SHE BELIEVES. THESE PEOPLE HAVE "REJECTED THE SOCIAL GOSPEL OF GOOD WORKS FOR THE POOR IN FAVOR OF AN UNHINDERED CHRIST DEFINED BY HIS MUSCLE, A LAISSEZ-FAIRE JESUS" (pg 110, in Jeff Sharlet's "The Family")


Clinton fell in with The Family in 1993, when she joined a Bible study group composed of wives of conservative leaders like Jack Kemp and James Baker. When she ascended to the Senate, she was promoted to what Sharlet calls the Family's "most elite cell," the weekly Senate Prayer Breakfast, which included, until his downfall, Virginia's notoriously racist Senator George Allen. This has not been a casual connection for Clinton. She has written of Doug Coe, The Family's publicity-averse leader, that he is "a unique presence in Washington: a genuinely loving spiritual mentor and guide to anyone, regardless of party or faith, who wants to deepen his or her relationship with God."

-snip

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080331/ehrenreich

From a recent NBC Nightly News broadcast relating to Sharlet's book:

MITCHELL: Jeff Sharlet lived among Coe's followers six years ago and came out troubled by their secrecy and rhetoric.

Mr. JEFF SHARLET: We were being taught the leadership lessons of Hitler, Lenin and Mao. And I'd say, `Aren't--isn't there a problem with that?' And they would even seem perplexed by the question. Hitler's genocide wasn't really an issue for them. It was the strength that he emulated.
. . .
Mr. DOUGLAS COE: (1989) I've seen pictures of the young men in the Red Guard. They would bring in this young man's mother. He would take an ax and cut her head off. They have to put the purposes of the Red Guard ahead of their father, mother, brother, sister and their own life. That was a covenant, a pledge. That's what Jesus said.

MITCHELL: In his preaching, he repeatedly urges a personal commitment to Jesus Christ, a commitment Coe compares to the blind devotion Hitler demanded, a rhetorical technique that draws sharp criticism.

Mr. COE: (1989) Hitler, Goebbels, and Himmler were three men. Think of the immense power these three men had, these nobodies from nowhere.

-snip
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/4/133640/8678/994/490211



I'm hoping the Obama Administration is closely monitoring her and some journalist will confront her and address her role within this cult! I highly recommend all DUers read this book!

[stray cat]

1. not nearly one of my biggest concerns

[mod mom]

4. Have you read the book? heard the interviews?

[Maru Kitteh]

57. Oh FFS, you must NOT have read, or you would know only MEN can be members of "the family"

among other things that make your OP an exercise in primaryesque buffoonery.

[AspenRose]

76. Marsha Blackburn is a member.

[ThomCat]

83. Apprently that's not true.

Mother Jones did an investigative piece on HRC's membership in The Family that was published last year. Maybe it was once all-male, but it has apparently kept up with the times now that women hold leadership positions in DC.

[Virginian]

88. With their mindset, I would think women are only auxillary members

or special dispensation members. After all, they can't have a husband and wife in the same level if the husband is allowed to cheat on the wife.

They are not bound by contracts or etiquette to be honest or civil to a non-member. I hope they are better exposed before the next election.

It does not surprise me that Allen was a member.

[mod mom]

96. I am quoting multiple sources. If you have information showing they are wrong, then please provide.

:eyes:

[robinlynne]

16. Then you haven't read about it....we're talking senators and congressmen.

in our gov't.

[ixion]

2. I want all the religion out of my government

it has no place there, and serves only to foster fascism.

[mod mom]

19. a brief history of cell churches:

Hillary Clinton member of "cell church" run by "The Family"

-snip

A brief history of cell churches and "discipling and shepherding" within neopente dominionist groups

The "discipling and shepherding" tactic known as the "cell church" has a fairly long history within neopentecostal dominionism. According to research I've done informally on the history of "cell churches", the earliest reference to their use has been with the "Watchmen Nee" and "Witness Lee" groups in China (and Chinese emigre communities) in the early to mid-40s (of note, both these leaders were heads of particularly coercive splits from the Church of God), and the tactic seems to have been especially popularised by Campus Crusade (and other "parachurch" quasi-denominations and recruitment fronts run by neopente dominionist orgs and denominations) and the Assemblies of God (starting with Paul Yonggi Cho in the 50's).

There is some preliminary evidence that cell churches may well have been used in the Assemblies prior to Cho's popularising of them; this includes the use of "cell-church"-like tactics to infiltrate and steeplejack Reformed Baptist churches throughout Eastern Europe in the 1910s and 1920s (and essentially planting the seed for what would become the especially violent "Joel's Army" group "Watchmen At The Walls").

If the use of "cell churches" is confirmed from early on in "The Family" (which has a history dating back to the early 30s--and some rather disturbing and persistent rumours of possible collaboration with American Nazi groups in that period which I hope Sharlet's book can either confirm or deny), that would lend credence to the neopente dominionist movement having invented it early on--possibly initially as a tactic for the steeplejacking of church and state alike.

Cell churches and "The Fellowship"

As I noted in an expose I've done in past on coercive tactics in cell-churches, the neopente dominionist model of "discipling and shepherding"--the very model which appears to be in use by "The Fellowship" nee "The Family"--may be one of the most singularly coercive and harmful tactics ever devised by spiritually abusive groups.

-snip

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/4/133640/8678/994/490211

[JohnnyLib2]

36. moved--wrong place.

[and-justice-for-all]

70. I second that...nt

[H2O Man]

3. Interesting

I'll read the book.

[mod mom]

10. Sharlet gives an excellent historical analysis of how this group & it's predessors

rose to power. Worth reading! (and supporting the author!)

[H2O Man]

13. I always appreciate

when DUers recommend books that they believe are important reads. Probably about 50% of the books I've read in the past 4 years are ones that I've read about on DU. And I tend to read a lot of books.

Again, thank you. I was the first to recommend your OP, though someone else unrecommended it seconds later.

[hootinholler]

49. He touches on the material in Harpers

Here. Definitely patient theocrats.

In the process of introducing powerful men to Jesus, the Family has managed to effect a number of behind-the-scenes acts of diplomacy. In 1978 it secretly helped the Carter Administration organize a worldwide call to prayer with Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, and more recently, in 2001, it brought together the warring leaders of Congo and Rwanda for a clandestine meeting, leading to the two sides' eventual peace accord last July. Such benign acts appear to be the exception to the rule. During the 1960s the Family forged relationships between the U.S. government and some of the most anti-Communist (and dictatorial) elements within Africa's postcolonial leadership. The Brazilian dictator General Costa e Silva, with Family support, was overseeing regular fellowship groups for Latin American leaders, while, in Indonesia, General Suharto (whose tally of several hundred thousand “Communists” killed marks him as one of the century's most murderous dictators) was presiding over a group of fifty Indonesian legislators. During the Reagan Administration the Family helped build friendships between the U.S. government and men such as Salvadoran general Carlos Eugenios Vides Casanova, convicted by a Florida jury of the torture of thousands, and Honduran general Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, himself an evangelical minister, who was linked to both the CIA and death squads before his own demise. “We work with power where we can,” the Family's leader, Doug Coe, says, “build new power where we can't.”

At the 1990 National Prayer Breakfast, George H.W. Bush praised Doug Coe for what he described as “quiet diplomacy, I wouldn't say secret diplomacy,” as an “ambassador of faith.” Coe has visited nearly every world capital, often with congressmen at his side, “making friends” and inviting them back to the Family's unofficial headquarters, a mansion (just down the road from Ivanwald) that the Family bought in 1978 with $1.5 million donated by, among others, Tom Phillips, then the C.E.O. of arms manufacturer Raytheon, and Ken Olsen, the founder and president of Digital Equipment Corporation. A waterfall has been carved into the mansion's broad lawn, from which a bronze bald eagle watches over the Potomac River. The mansion is white and pillared and surrounded by magnolias, and by red trees that do not so much tower above it as whisper. The mansion is named for these trees; it is called The Cedars, and Family members speak of it as a person. “The Cedars has a heart for the poor,” they like to say. By “poor” they mean not the thousands of literal poor living barely a mile away but rather the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom: the senators, generals, and prime ministers who coast to the end of Twenty-fourth Street in Arlington in black limousines and town cars and hulking S.U.V.'s to meet one another, to meet Jesus, to pay homage to the god of The Cedars.

There they forge “relationships” beyond the din of vox populi (the Family's leaders consider democracy a manifestation of ungodly pride) and “throw away religion” in favor of the truths of the Family. Declaring God's covenant with the Jews broken, the group's core members call themselves “the new chosen.”

They go back to like 1935, which puts me in mind of Smedley.

-Hoot

edit posted instead of preview.

[grasswire]

5. Coe is also spiritual advisor to Chuck Colson

It was Coe who brought Colson to "salvation" after Watergate. That's when Colson made his limited hangout and pled guilty to a small crime in order to avoid the spotlight on larger issues.

[grasswire]

6. Coe is also spiritual advisor to Chuck Colson

It was Coe who brought Colson to "salvation" after Watergate. That's when Colson made his limited hangout and pled guilty to a small crime in order to avoid the spotlight on larger issues.

[Flying Dream Blues]

7. Very interesting, and I think everyone should read this book. nt

[AllentownJake]

8. Our President was once a Moonie

:shrug:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/04/bush-sr-celebrate-rev-sun-myung-moon-again

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

14. Better stated that an ex-President was once a Moonie, and there is no proof that he

still isn't.

[AllentownJake]

25. It all depends on how you read it

The Bushes are moonies. Is probably the best statement.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

26. Ok.. when I read it, it made me think that you were referring to Obama.

[Political Tiger]

40. You mean EX-President. n/t

[AllentownJake]

63. Yes ex-President

However, once a man becomes President they keep the title.

[lamp_shade]

9. Oh oh

[patrice]

17. Thanks for the cool gif!!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

11. I was surprised when Bill Maher asked Sharlet about Dems in "The Family", he didn't mention Hillary.

[patrice]

12. My relationship to HRC was already absolutely re-defined by her vote on the IWR.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

18. Mine too and I didn't vote for her when she ran again for Senator.

[RB TexLa]

15. I was laughing my ass off until I read the last line and realized you were serious

Of course then after head shaking, I did have another good laugh this time at you.

[mod mom]

22. and I assume you are well informed about this group?

:eyes: anyway...thanks for commenting as it kicks this material for more to read. I don't care if folks question his thread, but at least I hope they will research this important matter before dismissing it.

[texastoast]

23. I assume you've read the OP's sources?

I haven't and I intend to.

[mod mom]

30. Why don't you watch this video interview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3npWdChcGo

Thanks to Joanne for finding it!

[kestrel91316]

20. I trust NO ONE in this group to be my president. Makes me glad

she didn't win (yes, I just said that).

Keep your bible out of my laws, fundies.

[mmonk]

21. I've known that for awhile.

It's one of the reasons I didn't support her among other reasons (it was not a main reason). Turns out the joke was on me. Not only is she back in a major role in this government, but the whole Clinton gang was brought back.

[mod mom]

24. Sharlet recounting Coe: "Suppose I hear you rape three little girls. What would I think?"

The "Christian" fundamentalists who run C Street refer to themselves as "The Family" in the same way the Mafia refers to itself as "The Family." This is not a coincidence. According to Sharlet, they see themselves as similar to the Mafia, in so far as "the more invisible you can make your organization, the more influence your organization can have." Doug Coe, the leader of this cabal, sees his group as the leaders of something called "Jesus Plus Nothing" or "The Totalitarianism for Christ", which models the way it wields power on the same way the Mafia, Hitler, Pol Pot, Osama Bin Laden, and Lenin wield power. They also call themselves "The New Chosen" because they believe that if you have reached a certain pinnacle of success, whether financially or in terms of power (in their minds Hitler, Pol Pot, and Lenin are considered successful), your success derives from the fact that God has chosen you to be successful. The founder of this group claims he had a revelation from God that said that Christianity had gotten it wrong during its first 2,000 years. Christians are not meant to concern themselves with the poor and downtrodden. Instead, God wants people to serve the powerful, which they refer to as "The Up and Out."

Sharlet recounts one conversation he overheard between Doug Coe and another man. Coe asked the man, "Suppose I hear you rape three little girls. What would I think?" The man said he thought Coe would consider him awful and a monster. Coe said, "No. No I wouldn't because you're Chosen. As a member of The Family, you're Chosen and, when you're Chosen, the normal rules don't apply. Morality is for the little people."


-snip

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/8/1/10141/44525?detail=f

WATCH THE MAHER INTERVIEW IF YOU CAN LOCATE IT!

[Fire1]

53. I believe it and I plan to read it. I've heard about such cults

but with different names. I've also heard that such power is not exclusive to politics but extends to real estate, wall street and the entertainment industry.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

71. just crazy isn't it? They've rewritten any version of the bible to entitle themselves

The Chosen. Started reading it last night. When will all this insanity end?

[MindPilot]

27. This is the result when it is considered impolitic to question religion.

When we are unable to criticize religion, no matter how nutty and woo-woo those beliefs may be, and the people who hold those nutty and woo-woo beliefs demand respect, this is where we end up.

You now have a good part of your government and most of your military under the control of people who think some of the worlds most despotic leaders are literally godsends.

Happy?

[mod mom]

28. It's amazing to me that some here quickly dismiss this w/o wanting to examine

just what is behind this cult. they are dangerous to the founding principles of this country and need full exposure!

[dana_b]

31. I'm reading this book soon

some of us do want to check it out. ;)

[arthritisR_US]

33. I'm about half way through it and there serioulsy needs to be a separation of church and state! n/t

[JuniperLea]

82. What is it you want?

You cannot rail against religion and people's woo woo beliefs, as the poster to whom you respond is saying. Until that changes, any action against this group will be meaningless. It would be shot down before it took flight.

We need to get strong on the separation between church and state.

[hootinholler]

51. It also tends to enforce a defacto christian litmus test. n/t

[Joanne98]

29. If you can find connections between HRC and Honduras "family" elites..

She's screwed!

[nadinbrzezinski]

32. Ah welcome to the club, been readying the book myself

and it is scarier than the best piece of fiction I have seen, or scarier since... the rise of the Nazis, who also used religion.

[arthritisR_US]

34. the correlation between the Nazis and this group is sickeningly scary! n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. Yeah, I have to continue readying this, and taking notes

but if and when the US breaks apart with the fall of Empire, you can bet the Family will have a prominent role in at least one successor state... they are that well connected. And they are VERY scary. People don't take them even half way seriously in this country, and people only will when it is way too late.

They are also more insidious than the Nazis, the number of connections between these guys and foreign right wing guv'ments is also down right HOLLEEEE SHITTT!

[mod mom]

41. pg 142-the real dismantling of the New Deal began as early as 1943 w S Conservative Dems

teamed up w Republicans to pass the anti-union Smith Conally Act, the first step in what would eventually repeal most of labor's New Deal gains......"The "teachings of the Nazarene" for such politicians amounted to deregulation, the removal of government intervention from matter they thought firmly taken in hand by Jesus an HIS CHOSEN representative. They were not libertarians; they were authoritarians"

IF THE US BREAKS W THE FALL-THE SOUTH WILL BE FASCIST-imho. :scared:

[nadinbrzezinski]

42. I have been doing some serious thinking on this

the south will be a "christian state" in the guise of the Taliban, I am not kidding, with no rights to the people, especially those who are not part of the chosen faith.

Fascist no, theocratic, absolutely... on the surface they share way too many elements though.

[arthritisR_US]

87. I haven't got that far yet, still reading about Abram Vereide and his

"awakening" from "god" to arrange the spiritual lives of the wealthy...a much more cushy ride and more lucrative venture, unfreakingbelievable! :grr:

[mod mom]

94. especially during the depression-pretty convenient.

[arthritisR_US]

98. good point! the context of the time certainly puts the "depth" of these people

in to view. I thought the precepts of Christ had been forgotten by some of the right wingers but I don't think they've ever had them.

[hootinholler]

52. I'm sorry, but I have to ask

Are freeperisming with readying?

-Hoot

[JohnnyLib2]

37. I'll read the book but with some skepticism.

There have been various articles on this group since at least 2003, along with expose type presentations in the past several years.
Added to that is the high probability that intensive "opposition research" was conducted during the primaries in regard to Clinton's association. Some smoke, no fire, as best I can tell.

Another, more down to earth, angle is the highly public list of obvious failures of the Fellowship to influence the REAL behavior of some members--Ensign, Sanford, etc. Surface attendance is not a very good indicator of true values, IMO.

JohnnyLib2

[mod mom]

38. Their members where told they were above the law as they were "the new chosen"

With that type of reinforcement it explains to me why they broke commonly held mores.

[Political Tiger]

39. Is there any evidence that she is STILL a member of "the family?"

She may have been part of this group in 1993, but that's 16 years ago. I haven't seen any evidence she is still associated with this group, and besides that, I've never got the impression Hillary is a religious zealot.

[Uncle Joe]

43. I will check out this book.

Thanks for the reference, mod mom.

[rhett o rick]

44. They probably have her wire-tapped. nm

[earth mom]

45. Obama just put a fundie at the helm of the National Institutes of Health-is Obama part of the Family

too?

I agree with you that this religious crap is alarming and also a violation of the Constitution!!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=8562062

[Beacool]

46. Oh please, such drama!!!

Hillary is a devoted Methodist who even taught Sunday school in Arkansas.

EVERY new member of the senate is invited to attend the weekly prayer breakfast (if I recall correctly it's held on Wednesdays). Hillary started to appear regularly to the surprise of some of its members (mostly Conservatives). During one of these breakfasts Sen. Brownback publicly apologized for having said so many harsh things about her and her husband. Politics is not discussed at these prayer meetings. The conversation centers on their personal struggles and events that may have happened to them during the week.

The nonsense that people believe in, just as nutty as the Birthers.......

:crazy:

[mod mom]

47. So...The Nation, Mother Jones, TNR, Huff Po, The Atlantic, Harpers as well the the author

of "The Family" are all crackpots? Joining in 1993, meant she joined in DC not while living in Arkansas, btw there is documentation that she is a member of an "elite cell" of this cult. But then I would expect someone of your curiosity to dismiss without facts.

[Beacool]

48. What documentation other that she attended the Senate Prayer Breakfasts?

They are not secret meetings of a sect, any senator can choose to attend.

:eyes:

[mod mom]

50. Here's some sources to start with if you care to take your blinders off:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080331/ehrenreich
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15157545/
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/09/hillarys-prayer-hillary-clintons-religion-and-politics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dknc4G4LW90
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106115324

A lot more is only a google away! or better yet read the book "The Family".

[Beacool]

54. Actually, the MSNBC article is quite nice.

She reached out through the prayer meetings to Conservative senators and was able to team with them to cosponsor bills. The article said that she, and not Bush, proved to be the uniter.

"But few in the Senate today would deny that, whatever her motives, Clinton is diligent about her work there, and successful in ways that have moderated her image. Her deft touch with conservative colleagues has thus far neutralized the Republican National Committee’s strategy of getting people to put her in the same mental category as bumbling liberals like Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean. She’s no easy target. Her partnerships were deemed so successful in moderating her image that Karl Rove, according to a source close to him, sent word last year to halt Republican cooperation with her—an edict that has been ignored. As the atmosphere in Washington has deteriorated, Clinton has emerged within the Senate as the unlikeliest of figures: she, not George W. Bush, has turned out to be a uniter, not a divider."

Nothing wrong with reaching out to the opposition to attain consensus on legislation. I'll read the other articles later.

;-)

[boppers]

55. The Nation, Mother Jones, TNR, Huff Po, The Atlantic, Harpers...all have published odd theories.

That doesn't mean that those publications are inherently bad, just that sometimes wild-eyed speculation makes it into the light, and needs some other perspectives to balance out, and understand, the issues.

I've been loosely following this one, it likes like there's a lot of fear about closed-door dealings at small religious meetings. A person who feared such things would see cause for great alarm.

I don't really share such fears, but I can see why both perspectives can be rational, and why polarized belief in one perspective or another would lead to a belief that the opposing perspective is out of touch with reality.

So, kicking for discussion.

[mod mom]

56. May I suggest you read "The Family" Jeff Sharlet gives an excellent historic perspective

of the fundamentals of this group. these people (including Hillary) joining are intelligent people who have chosen to affiliate with group and their leader Douglas Coe. If I had knowledge of this type of background I would be forefront in denouncing their beliefs. My hope in posting this, is not that others will blindly respond to this but that they will be compelled to further their knowledge of what this group's beliefs are and just who they benefit.

[boppers]

65. Having read a bunch about them:

They understand power, organization, and social influence.

On a fairly deep level.

This makes them capable, and powerful.

I still don't fear them... but I am amused by them.

[whistler162]

58. Okay here you go

http://www.healthgrades.com/local-doctors-directory/by-specialty/psychiatry/ohio-oh/columbus-psychiatrists

[waiting]

59. I was a part of this group from 1976 to 1982

My mom became involved with them after a wealthy couple that my grandmother went to church with, took her (my mom) into their home to try and help her overcome her addictions and the problems that she was having at the time. I eventually became a part of it because I was with living with her in D.C. at a place called Agape House, a Christian house for recovering addicts or alcoholics, that was also a soup kitchen on Tuesday nights. She worked for the Prison fellowship ministries, under Chuck Colson, among other things the Fellowship had going on. You see, the rich people and the powerful people don't do any hands on charitable works, they foster at risk people to do it for them. This rich couple never helped my mother to become self sufficient or responsible. They "took care" of us, while she did what they wanted. I was exploited as a child by the Fellowship, by actually working in different charitable functions, like emceeing events at the prison, or the fixing up of a dilapidated inner city nursing home, where at age 8, I cleaned maggots out of a women's bedsores.

To make a very long story short, my mother couldn't stay clean, and the rich couple dumped her, after "caring" for her and I for over ten years. She overdosed when I was 16 and died. Her funeral was paid for and presided over by the Reverend Richard Halverson, the Chaplain of the Untied States Senate, and a prominent figure in the Fellowship Foundation at the time. He also was the Reverend who married my mother and step father 4 years prior to her death. I went to live with my paternal grandparents, and never herd form the rich couple again, or from Reverend Halverson. These people were like family to me, so I thought. But once our usefulness was gone, we didn't matter at all. Since my mother never received a paycheck for her work, I was not able to collect social security after she dies, and I lived with a totally disabled grandfather, and a grandmother who didn't have any marketable skills. I was an innocent child that believed in the Christian idea of doing unto others as I would have them do to me and to help anyone that needed it if I was able to. These people taught me that only those with money and power count, and the little people are expendable and can be kicked aside when they aren't giving enough of their time to the Fellowship. I feel like they stole my childhood from me and very possibly my mother, because her life might have turned out much differently if she was helped by those who cared about her, not how helping a lesser human inflated people's egos. I wish everyone would learn about these people, and warn everyone else that they know, to stay far away from them if they are in recovery or in prison for sure. Because those are the people that they exploit to do their charitable works, while they make business and political connections to further their own selfish agendas.

And Hillary is not really a member of this group and hasn't had much contact with them, except for the people in government who are members that surround her, both at home and abroad. She has obviously seen something that caused her to back away. And they have such power that she wouldn't speak out against them, because they would destroy her. They were the vast right wing conspiracy that she spoke of, maybe she figured that out, I don't know. And they are a bit misogynistic as well.

[Octafish]

60. MUST-READ waiting's REPLY.

Thank you for telling us what happened to you and your mom.
My deepest sympathies on your irreplaceable loss.

[JohnnyLib2]

61. Thank you and welcome to DU.

This is a very down to earth account. :thumbsup:

I'm very sorry about your loss; it's a tragedy all the way around.

[waiting]

62. Thank you

Thank you for the welcome, and for the remarks. I feel very strongly about this and I have spent 25 years waiting for what Jeff Sharlet just did with his book and what Rachel Maddow is doing by refusing to let it slide into the background of the news. Keep the word going, this group exists because it's members are so secretive and loyal. They hate the attention.

One thing made me happy though, Obama did not go to the national Prayer Breakfast. Let's hope he stays away. I wouldn't count on it though. It's hard to be in power in Washington and get too far without there being a member nearby or involved. When Bush the second went missing from the Natinal Guard, it was his low point. he got caught with cocaine and a DWI, but his daddy felw in to save his record, and he was sent to live in a Family owned house in San Diego, where he was rehabbed and indoctrinated into their fold. That is how we ended up with Bush's Faith Based Initiative. He has been involved since the Nat'l Guard days, and his father and grandfather were involved before him. It is a sick and scary reality that no one knows about.

[livetohike]

64. Welcome to DU waiting

and thank you for sharing your story :hug:.

[Karenina]

68. +1

[nadinbrzezinski]

66. Hugs and welcome to DU

by the way, a lot of people still discount these people and their danger

:hug:

[mod mom]

74. Thank you for sharing your story. So sorry to hear of your family's exploitation.

I am glad to hear that Hillary is not an active member but if they are dangerous that she fears them, isn't it her duty as a leader, to jump in now and expose how dangerous they are? People like Jeff Sharlet, Rachel Maddow, and others speaking out on this group are taking many risks. If Hillary wants to be seen as a leader, then isn't it her duty? All we have on record is her endorsement of Douglas Coe.

I think back to Bill Clinton's sweeping BCCI and Iran Contra under the rug. Had he not worried how the GOP would react but instead exposed their criminal activity, then we might not have been in the mess we are now. Instead of exposing it, he worked at gaining their respect by backing such legislation as Telecom Act of '96, the repeal of Glass Steagall (banking regulation) and other disastrous policies.

Welcome to DU waiting, your story offers insight to how these people see themselves above everyone else. :mad:

[AntiFascist]

95. I understand Oliver North is a Family member...

I wonder if Iran-Contra explains the connections:

http://www.idfiles.com/menacoverup.htm

[Joanne98]

77. Child labor is big in these froups.

[leftstreet]

67. Is this 'family' more dangerous than the Bush Crime Syndicate?

:shrug:

[PuraVidaDreamin]

72. They are likely intertwined.

At all levels.

[arthritisR_US]

92. that's my thinking too. n/t

[JVS]

69. Oh boy

:popcorn:

[BlooInBloo]

73. (cough) Rev. Wright (cough).

[mod mom]

75. Rev Wright preaches the "social gospel" Helping those less fortunate rise up

and better themselves against injustices of society. This group has denounced this and instead preaches that the powerful are immune to scrutiny, above the common law because they are the "chosen". "The Family" supports policies that are meant to benefit those on the top with little "trickle down" to help the rest. The founder, Abram Vereide helped titans of industry to union bust against struggling workers during the great depression. Now the Family is under the guidance of Douglas Coe, a man who told followers if they raped 3 girls it wouldn't matter, as they were the "chosen". Seems like a distorted adaptation of Christ's teachings to me. Sounds more like justification of exploiting the system.

I'm not religious, but I'd take Rev Wright's type of preaching any day over those of The Family

[La Lioness Priyanka]

78. no it really does not. nt

[waiting]

79. The Fellowship comes across as truly Christian

They are able to fool people because they know exactly what people are looking for and what they need. And then they exploit them. It is actually a cult at the higher levels. They have so many names that they are rarely seen as the one major influential group infiltrating the government. There is the Family, the Fellowship, the Foundation, the Moral re-armament movement, Youth with a Mission, the ICL, the ICCL, and on and on. They don't keep membership rolls as that prevents people from seeing the truth about them and keeps them from too much scrutiny. It is all about using "religion" to network for their Biblical Capitlaism. Anything good that happens from their works is only because the people at the lower levels really believe that they are doing Christian works of charity. And they do, don't get me wrong. But it should not be the Fellowship that gets the recognition for those works. Because the leadership couldn't care less about the needy or the disenfranchised. It uses the little people for the hands on work, and tosses them aside when their usefulness is done. I am one of those that was tossed aside, when I need real Christian charity. I hope that this group is exposed for the fascist cult that they are, the people need to be aware of what influence and power they have over our leaders.

[Karenina]

80. I am aware of what you speak, waiting.

:hug:

[waiting]

81. I'm glad that you are aware of this

I just hope others who aren't can be made to see what has been going on with this group. I want to see them exposed for what they really are.

[mod mom]

84. You might want to contact the author of "The Family" with your story:

I found an email for him at his site:

[e-mail]

Best wishes to you. Thank you again for sharing. Closing our eyes and ignoring this won't make it go away.

The IRS needs to audit the money flowing through this organization!

[waiting]

85. I actually already have.

He emailed me back. I don't want to say anything else about it though, until we have spoken.

[mod mom]

97. Please continue to provide information on this cult to us at DU. The more exposure

the more likely someone will act on it. What a racket. They exploit the poor and are self-serving to the powerful under the guise of a religion, then fail to pay tax on it. :mad:

[waiting]

99. Kicking

[mod mom]

100. Waiting-Ever hear/see of Erik Prince involvement w this group?

[waiting]

86. IRS

If they did audit them, where would they even begin? It would be an undertaking that would go on for years and they would probably not be able to come up with much, the Family has plenty of people in government under their influence, I'm sure that the IRS isn't excluded.

[waiting]

90. They will use women

for all that they can. But no, they aren't going to allow a woman to run anything in their organization or to make the rules. They'll take their donations and allow them to network with all their crony's though.

[librechik]

89. If you think a woman can become a member of a cell, I believe you are mistaken

However, she did attend the weekly prayer meetings. I think it was the equivalent of trying to play golf. As an executive woman, you want to get a whiff of being on the inside,m and you try. But no, they do not let you in. Ha ha.

[ima_sinnic]

91. I distinctly remember a DU post about her and The Family during the primaries

Links were provided at the time with all kinds of info about it.
I added it to my list of reasons not to support her then, along with her IWR vote and lame "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" response to the question whether Bill's cordial dealings with the chainsaw murderer Uribe should be a concern.

[waiting]

93. There are separate prayer meeting for the women's group, the wives of the ealthy and the power guys.

My mother and I used to go to the weekly prayer meetings (Tuesday morning) at the Fellowship house, and then go to the Bible study at the prison. There were both men and women at those prayer meetings, and at the bible study. But that wasn't the elite solely. Sometimes elite powerfu people were at the ones I attended, but I think that there are weekly meetings where no "little" people are allowed.