Fred Clarkson on Electoral Lessons from the Right, p. 2

TheA PUBLICATION OF POLITICAL RESEARCH PublicEye ASSOCIATES FALL 2008 • Volume XXIII, No.3 $5.25 Leaderless Counterterrorism Strategy The “War onTerror,” CivilLiberties,andFlawed Scholarship

By Chip Berlet he effectiveness of counterterrorism Tefforts by the Bush Administration is compromised by flawed analyses based on sloppy scholarship by Marc Sageman and Bruce Hoffman—two leading experts heavily relied on by policymakers. The resulting programs of government sur- veillance and computerized data-collec- tion are unnecessarily undermining the civil liberties of millions of Muslims and Arabs living in this country, as well as the rights of all Americans. Accurate descriptions of targeted ter- rorist formations and potential terrorists, especially their ideology and methods, are crucial for effective government efforts to understand, predict, and prevent acts of domestic terrorism while abiding by Constitutional safeguards.This is because Jeff Fusco/Getty Images Nate Baker was among 250 demonstrators at a 2004 rally in Philadelphia who protested police and intelligence agencies embrace President George W. Bush’s plan to expand abstinence-only education in the fight against Counterterrorism Strategy continues on page 6 sexually transmitted diseases. IN THIS ISSUE

Abstaining From the Truth Electoral Lessons from the Right ...2 Sex Education as Ideology American Life’s Pill Kills Day Links Birth Control and Abortion ...... 3 By Pam Chamberlain percent. But for the past ten years, it has run Right-wing Ballot Initiatives ...... 16 he Osseo Public School District is in a dual-track curriculum in sexuality educa- Profile: Regnery Publishing ...... 19 Tmost ways a typical Minnesota subur- tion. Students can choose between an absti- ban system: three high schools, scores of ath- nence-only health class and a comprehensive Book Reviews ...... 28 letic teams, and a graduation rate of 94 sexuality education class—the result of a pro- Reports in Review ...... 29 Eyes Right ...... 30 Abstaining From the Truth continues on page 21

THE PUBLIC EYE1 FALL 2008 The Public Eye

GUEST COMMENTARY ThePublicEye Becoming a Christian Citizen: Electoral Lessons from the Publisher Religious Right for the Religious Left The Rev. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, M. Div., D. Min. By Frederick Clarkson Editor The main reason why the Religious Right became powerful is not what most people Abby Scher, Ph.D may think. Some would undoubtedly point to the powerful communications media. Oth- Design/layout Hird Graphic Design ers might identify charismatic leaders, the development of “wedge issues,” or even changes Printing in evangelical theology in the latter part of the twentieth century that supported, and Red Sun Press even demanded, political action. All of these and more, especially taken together, were Editorial Board important factors. But the main reason for the Religious Right’s rise to power has been Chip Berlet • Pam Chamberlain its capacity for political action, particularly electoral politics. Frederick Clarkson • David Cunningham Surina Khan • Jean Hardisty • Roberto Lovato Meanwhile, over on the Religious Left, many of the ingredients are present for a more The Rev. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale dynamic movement. But the ingredient that is most remarkably lacking on the Religious Tarso Luís Ramos • Abby Scher Left is the one that made the Religious Right powerful: a capacity for electoral politics. Holly Sklar Indeed, there has never been anything on the Religious Left on the scale of say, Jerry Fal- PRAPRA Political Research Associates well’s Moral Majority or Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition—or even any of dozens of POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES significant Religious Right groups—including the 35 state political affiliates of Focus Founder and President Emerita Jean V. Hardisty, Ph.D on the Family—that have had any significant national or regional electoral muscle. Conservative evangelicals have figured out what it means to be a Christian and a cit- Staff The Rev. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, izen.This new identity easily integrates Christian nationalist ideology and notions of Chris- President tian citizens’ place in history,which in turn helps to inform and to animate their politics. Alen Abdula, Data/Web Master It is in this sense that the ideology of Christian nationalism—America as a Christian Chip Berlet, Senior Analyst Nation—mixes with theology. It appeals to those invested in the idea that they are liv- Pam Chamberlain, Senior Researcher Kapya Kaoma, Project Director ing in the end times (á là writerTim LaHaye and Pastor John Hagee) and nonapocalyptic, Amy Lessler, Business Manager long term theocratic political activists. Tarso Luís Ramos, Research Director While many fine organizations on the Religious Left, broadly defined, register vot- Abby Scher, Editorial Director ers and even mobilize them when elections roll around, I know of none for whom build- Interns Commentary continues on page 14 Alex Brower Adam Coulter Zoe Crowley Alex DiBranco Ashley Pandya

Board of Directors Richard Gross Vivien Labaton Supriya Pillai Emelia Rallapalli Wendy Volkmann

ThePublicEyeis published by Political Research Associates. Annual subscriptions are $21.00 for individuals and non-profit organizations, $10.00 for students and low-income individuals, and $36.00 for libraries and institutions. Single issues, $5.25. Outside U.S., Canada, and Mexico, add $9.00 for surface delivery or $14.00 for air mail. Please make checks payable to Political Research Associates, 1310 Broadway, Suite 201, Somerville, Massachusetts 02144-1837. 617.666.5300 fax: 617.666.6622 PRA is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. All donations are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. © Political Research Associates, 2008. Website: www.publiceye.org All rights reserved. ISSN 0275-9322 ISSUE 61 Jimmy Marguilies/politicalcartoons.com

THE PUBLIC EYE2 FALL 2008 The Public Eye American Life League’s Pill Kills Day Links Birth Control and Abortion By Eleanor J. Bader hirty-seven-year-old Erik TMartin says he got involved in the American Life League shortly after his eight and 10-year-old children came home from their Blacksburg, Virginia, public school several years ago with an illustrated comic book entitled, It’s Perfectly Normal. Martin, a big, affable guy with a big smile, blasts the book—on The American Library Associa- tion’s list of frequently challenged books—as “Planned Parenthood pornography” and gets increas- ingly agitated as he talks. “The comic had cartoons of people mas- turbating,” he says, “and others saying that it’s perfectly normal to have sex as a minor. This angered Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images me because I wanted to be the These American Life League activists walked from Maine to Washington, DC three years ago protesting at one to teach my kids about sex and pro-choice health clinics along the way. reproduction and they handed this out without my permission. You send your kids to school to learn demonstration outside of Planned Par- Since its founding by Roman Catholic reading, writing and arithmetic, not mas- enthood of Metropolitan Washington, activists in 1979, the American Life League turbation.” D.C. on June 7th, the 43rd anniversary of has sought to link opposition to birth con- While a quick check with the school Griswold v. Connecticut. The 1965 case trol—including condoms, barrier methods, health coordinator and local papers shows involved Estelle Griswold, head of the the Pill, and Emergency Contraception no sign that Blacksburg actually distributed Planned Parenthood League of Connecti- (EC), the so-called Morning After Pill— the controversial book to elementary school cut, and Dr. Lee Buxton, a professor of to opposition to abortion. Judie Brown, a students, this fact may be less important medicine at Yale, who were arrested in disgruntled former staffer of the National than the very existence of the publication 1961 for dispensing contraceptives.Their Right to Life Committee (NRLC), created in the Commonwealth. Incensed, Martin conviction was upheld by several Con- the group with her husband, Paul Brown, says, “When I found out what Planned Par- necticut courts and eventually wound up because she felt that organizations like enthood really is, a group that poisons the before the Supreme Court of the United NRLC were insufficiently hard-line on minds of the young, I got involved in the States; four years later, the Court found that family planning. prolife movement.” Connecticut’s law violated the right to An extremely conservative Roman That involvement brought Martin to a privacy. In short order, state laws that pro- Catholic, Judie Brown told the New York hibited the distribution of birth control to Times in May 2006 that “we see a direct married couples were overturned. This connection between the practice of con- Eleanor J. Bader is a teacher and writer right to privacy was extended to single traception and the practice of abortion.The whose reporting frequently appears in The adults in 1972 and to those seeking abor- mindset that invites a couple to use con- Brooklyn Rail, Library Journal and The tions in 1973. traception is an anti-child mindset.” New York Law Journal.

THE PUBLIC EYE3 FALL 2008 The Public Eye

At the heart of Brown’s claim—and at Despite the Life League’s wholly God- gin on oral contraceptives. the heart of League doctrine—is the belief focused webpage, there was no mention of Other speakers at the press conference that life begins at fertilization, not implan- God or God’s plan in the group’s public- included Jim Sedlak, an American Life tation. For League activists, this means that ity for the June 7th protests against the League Vice President and longtime staffer the fertilized egg is a person—they describe court case that legalized access to contra- at Stop Planned Parenthood, the League- it as already having eye color, hair color, ception for married couples. Perhaps its sponsored group that initially drew Erik and a personality. If the egg fails to implant, leaders were trying to reach beyond the Martin into activism, and Dr. Marie they argue, a life has been terminated. most doctrinaire strands of the anti-choice Anderson, an ob-gyn at the nonprofit, They promote a faulty understanding community. In fact, the Life League sim- Christian,TepeyacFamily Center in Fair- of the science of the pill that suggests it ply announced that protests in eight states fax, Virginia. Together, they laid out an works in part by transforming the lining and District of Columbia would coincide anticontraceptive agenda that zeroed in on of the uterus to prevent the egg from with the Griswold anniversary. Along with the Pill as the most menacing birth con- implanting after it is fertilized. Even pro- Pro-Life Wisconsin and Pharmacists for trol product. life ob/gyns have said this claim has no sci- Life International, they dubbed June 7th “Planned Parenthood tells women that entific basis.1 Synthetic hormones in birth “The Pill Kills Day”—no doubt because they won’t get pregnant if they take the Pill,” control pills are so effective because they it rhymed—but were upfront about their Sedlak began. “They don’t tell them that prevent ovulation and thicken cervical a human being is being created that will die mucus creating a barrier for sperm. “With five to seven days later when it can’t implant. no egg there can be no pregnancy,” says Sex They don’t tell them that the Pill is a deadly Etc., a reputable sexuality information poison.” Sedlak calls what happens a website directed at youth. The American Life “chemical abortion.” Life League activists target emergency “The pill thins the uterine lining and contraception, which can disrupt the egg League links opposition depletes it of essential nutrients so that it dropping, sperm movement, fertilization, cannot nourish a new baby,” Anderson or implantation, for similar reasons. to birth control— adds. “This hurts mothers and babies But in their wholehearted embrace of alike. It breaks hearts.” The only fertility conservative Roman Catholic doctrine that including condoms—to control that Anderson endorses, she said, links sex to procreation, not pleasure, Life is the type supported by the Roman League members reject interventions that opposition to abortion. Catholic Church: natural family plan- prevent fertilization not just implantation. ning. This requires the continuous mon- What’s more, the Browns say this is itoring of cervical mucus and body exactly what God wants for heterosexual temperature and charting other cyclical couples. According to their website, “Mar- opposition to all birth control and abortion physical changes to predict ovulation; it is ried couples should be open to God’s amaz- methods. a notoriously unreliable as a means of ing gift of life. By contracepting you are Peggy Hamill of Pro-Life Wisconsin, a preventing unplanned pregnancies. saying ‘No’ to God’s plan and selfishly group whose website includes such titles as Neither Anderson nor Sedlak mind taking part in sexual relations without ful- Abortaholic Barrie Hussein, Osama Obama, that this position puts them up against such filling the entire act or purpose of the act. and Klanned Parenthood, spoke at a sparsely foes as the American College of Obstetri- The reason God designed sex was for a mar- attended press conference on June 6th. cians and Gynecologists, The American ried man and woman to become one and According to Hamill, “The right to privacy Medical Association, and the National procreate.” is a court-ordered right. It is a pure inven- Family Planning and Reproductive Health Equally disturbing, the website claims tion and has less to do with protecting pri- Association, (NFPRHA), all of which sup- that contraception makes infidelity easier. vacy than it has to do with setting a political port the notion that pregnancy begins As for abortion, well, you get the picture. agenda.” She labels that agenda as an attack when the egg implants, not when it is fer- on the family. tilized. Nor are they bothered about being Jodi Wagner, a speaker from Pharmacists marginal within the larger pro-life move- for Life International, is a Life League ment: a 2005 NFPRHA report found that Visit Right Web for profiles of the individuals heroine because she has refused to fill pre- 80 percent of those who consider them- and organizations promoting a militarist U.S. scriptions for contraceptives in her home selves “prolife” want to control their fertility. foreign policy, especially in the Middle East. state of Washington. In addition to label- “Almost all of the 11 million women who http://rightweb.irc-online.org ing the Pill as abortion-inducing, she told use the Pill in the U.S. are unaware of its the press that she is furious at the profit mar- mechanism of action,” Anderson says. “If

THE PUBLIC EYE4 FALL 2008 The Public Eye they knew what it did and how it worked offer abortions or refer women to abortion Martin, who says he is not religious, stood they would stop using it. We have to edu- services. in front of the clinic with a Pill Kills sign, cate them.” The junk science woven around the many of his comrades were on their knees, Jon O’Brien, President of Catholics for methods is also woven in the HHS state- with eyes closed, praying the rosary. For Choice, couldn’t disagree more. O’Brien ment, as Cristina Page of RH Reality them, the truth is that contraception under- sees the Life League as out of touch and Check showed. It quotes a diversity of mines God’s plan for our lives. An oft- believes that it will never win the hearts and medical authorities about when a preg- repeated Psalm underscores their position: minds of Americans. “Catholics, whether nancy begins to highlight the need to allow “Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord and they be in Poland or Portland, use contra- conscience-plagued medical personnel to the fruit of the womb is His reward. Happy ceptives, even if they have a problem with refuse to prescribe hormone-based birth is the man [sic] that hath his quiver full of abortion,” he says. “Furthermore, League control.3 them.” members are extremists.They are so far out For Erik Martin and his American Life Given the virtual universality of their that even mainstream prolifers stay away League colleagues, Planned Parenthood, birth control use, it seems women’s from them.” the nation’s largest purveyor of birth con- happiness rests in a more mindful The numbers bear him out. The trol, is public enemy number one. While procreation. ■ League’s June 7th protest in D.C. drew about 15 anti-choicers and a dozen pro- choice counter demonstrators. It might End Notes have been the weather—it was 97 degrees 1 Cristina Page, “HHS Moves to Define Contraceptionas American Life League Abortion,” RH Reality Check, July 15, 2008 with a heat index of 110. Or it might http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2008/07/ have been the slim support for the League’s 15/hhs-moves-define-contraception-abortion; activists pull the broader “Prolife Ob/gyn statement,” January, 1998, accessed at cause. According to the National Center http://web.archive.org/web/20070814095925/ for Health Statistics, 98 percent of het- http://www.epm.org/articles/doctors.html. erosexually active women between the prolife movement 2 RH Reality Check posted the leaked document: ages of 15 and 44 rely on birth control to http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/emailphotos/pdf/HHS- to the right, and make 45-CFR.pdf avoid unwanted pregnancies. What’s more, 3 See http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2008/07/15/hhs- Catholics for Choice estimates that 96 moves-define-contraception-abortion percent of Roman Catholic women use contraception-friendly parts contraception at some point in their lives. This, despite constant Papal and priestly of the movement seem denunciations of the practice. Still by promoting such wildly unpop- downright moderate. ular positions, the activists pull the broader prolife movement to the right, and make contraception-friendly parts of the move- ment seem downright moderate. By repeat- ing over and over the fake science about the Pill inducing abortions, they also win con- verts within the larger movement against Defending Immigrant Rights: AN ACTIVIST RESOURCE KIT the most popular birth control method in the country. Now Free Online! And they win victories in an adminis- Sections available in Spanish for the first time! tration eager to show easy bona fides to its For five years, activists have relied on this collection in Religious Right supporters. In the dead heat their organizing. Now www.publiceye.org makes it even of July,the U.S. Department of Health and more accessible, including: Human Services proposed allowing health § An analysis of the anti-immigrant Right’s goals, clinics to refuse dispensing the pill and tactics, and factions emergency contraception to women on § Examples of anti-immigrant ads and literature moral grounds by redefining these meth- § Description of common anti-immigrant arguments ods as possibly abortion inducing.2 Since and suggested responses the 1970s, Congress has allowed staff in Visit www.publiceye.org clinics receiving federal grants to refuse to

THE PUBLIC EYE5 FALL 2008 The Public Eye LEADERLESS COUNTERTERRORISM cont’d from page 1 different investigative techniques with dif- Homeland Security and Governmental the United States, and an underground ferent levels of government intrusiveness Affairs, chaired by Joe Lieberman, the cell structure called “Leaderless Resistance.” depending on how they perceive the con- Connecticut Independent. Lieberman is a Yet their research into this area is woefully figurations of potential terrorist cells and supporter of Republican Presidential-hope- inadequate and at times simply not accu- movements. ful John McCain and has launched a cam- rate.They also fail to adequately distinguish Sageman and Hoffman are currently paign to pressure the federal government between radical ideas and violent methods, embroiled in a well publicized dispute to adopt a more hard-line policy toward the which raises serious First Amendment over whether future acts of domestic ter- threat of domestic terrorism. Not coinci- issues. In fairness to Hoffman, the flaws in rorism by Islamic militants, such as those dently, this helps McCain and applies pres- his book are confined to one area of analy- carried out on September 11th, will be gen- sure on Democratic Presidential hopeful sis, while Sageman’s Leaderless Jihad lacks erated by the international Qaeda net- Barack Obama to move to the political right the citations generally considered appro- work (Hoffman) or homegrown priate in scholarly work, and in two terrorism planned by Muslims living in instances constitute intellectual pla- the United States (Sageman). giarism. The dispute gained public attention Critical praise for Sageman’s A growing environment of flawed when Hoffman negatively reviewed and superficial research has created a Sageman’s recent book, Leaderless Leaderless Jihad as groundbreaking series of problems for public policy ana- Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty- lysts studying terrorism, including: First Century, in the prestigious jour- and innovative seems to be nal Foreign Policy. Hoffman’s book • Pointless polarization of debate Inside Terrorism was published in 1998 inversely proportional to the into two camps when there are and revised and expanded in 2006. numerous other valid analytical Hoffman complained that Sageman’s reviewer’s knowledge of social interpretations book was a “brusque dismissal of much • Failure to adequately distinguish of the existing academic literature on movement theories developed radical ideologies from violent terrorism in general and terrorist net- methods works in particular,” and “employs over the past thirty years. • Flawed and sometimes woefully historically groundless parallels.” Sage- inaccurate information about man responded in a following issue. right-wing violence in the United The debate then was covered in the States New York Times and other publications. on this and related issues such as U.S. pol- • Misreading of the concept of “Lead- Both Sageman’s and Hoffman’s books icy in the Mideast. It also feeds a wave of erless Resistance” examine how social movements are built, Islamophobia sweeping the country. • Misapplication of contemporary how terrorism is justified within small A central aspect of the analyses by Sage- social movement theories, and groups, and how people in activist under- man and Hoffman involves examining the superficial analysis of the role of ground cells can reinforce a decision that vio- intersection of religiously motivated vio- religion in political struggles and lence or terrorism is justified and necessary. lence, insurgent right-wing movements in violence. Behind the scenes, Hoffman’s analysis is favored by many analysts inside the Department of Homeland Security and The Public Eye asked the University of Pennsylvania Press and Marc Sageman to respond other federal agencies, while the work of to the issue of text lifted from Richard Hofstadter and Simson Garfinkel. This is the Sageman and other researchers affiliated response from Sageman we received by press time: with the New York Police Department is favored by the Senate Committee on I did read Garfinkel’s online article. It was good, but had some flaws. One of them was the quote he referred to. Garfinkel refers to an idea. Ideas do not have any power by themselves. Chip Berlet is Senior Analyst at Political Ideas did not fly into the twin towers, people did. I refer to behavior, and use the Skinnerian Research Associates and a member of the idea that reinforced behavior is likely to flourish, while lack of reward will extinguish it. To Public Eye editorial board. He is author with continue a behavior forever, one needs a random reinforcement schedule. If this is plagiarism, Matthew N. Lyons of Right-Wing Populism so is Garfinkel‘s claim. This is one of the basic ideas of behaviorism, and people are free to use in America:TooClose for Comfort and a them at will. Each time we see the sun move in the sky, we do not refer to either Ptolemy or frequent contributor to Talk2Action and Copernicus. –MARC SAGEMAN Huffington Post.

THE PUBLIC EYE6 FALL 2008 The Public Eye

Marc Sageman arc Sageman’s first book, Under- MstandingTerror Networks, published in 2004, was full of accurate and nuanced analyses of the role of social movement dynamics in the creation of terror cells, espe- cially among Muslim émigrés. Sageman is a sociologist and psychiatrist who in 1984 joined the Central Intelligence Agency, working on the AfghanTask Force for a year before spending 1987 to 1989 in Islamabad coordinating support for the Afghan Muja- hedin. Sageman left the CIA in 1991. Sageman currently is a senior fellow at the Center on Terrorism, Counter-Ter- rorism, and Homeland Security of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and a sen- ior associate of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Sageman has guided the anti-terrorism policies of the NYPD for several years, and in July 2008 was named Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images the Police Department’s “Scholar-in-Res- A Code Pink activist flashes the V sign behind Marc Sageman, counterterrorism expert, as he appeared idence.” before the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in The Foreign Policy Research Institute Washington, D.C. in June 2007. (FPRI) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) are centers of RAND, his colleagues John Arquilla and “phantom cells” refer to spontaneous, right-wing militarist analysis, with FPRI David Ronfeldt originated and developed autonomous, unconnected underground representing old hardline conservative mil- an analysis of what they called “Netwar,” cells organized by insurgents seeking to itarists and CSIS allied with the militarists which overlaps with and complements the carry out acts of violence, sabotage, or ter- of the neoconservative movement. Both concept of Leaderless Resistance. rorism against a government or occupying sectors of the Right are in a coalition back- Hoffman is currently a professor at military force. As scholar Simson L. ing aggressive U.S. foreign policy in the Georgetown University in Washington, Garfinkel points out, the term is sometimes Mideast by the Bush Administration—a D.C., affiliated with the Security Studies used too loosely “to refer to networked coalition that is sometimes at odds with Program at the Edmund A. Walsh School organizations with hub-and-spoke archi- 1 more pragmatic and diplomacy-oriented of Foreign Service. tecture. Such terminology is incorrect.” forces in the State Department, Central Garfinkel, author of Database Nation, Intelligence Agency, and Department of Terrorism, Religion, &Violence wrote one of the first major studies of Homeland Security. iven the role of religious and secular ide- Leaderless Resistance in 2003, and is now Gological beliefs in acts of violence and an associate professor at the Naval Post- Bruce Hoffman terrorism during the past twenty years, a thor- graduate School. Garfinkel argues that ruce Hoffman has more mainstream cre- ough public debate over scholarly theories Leaderless Resistance “applies specifically dentials. Between 2004 and 2006 Hoff- and public policy assessments is needed to to groups that employ cells and that lack B ensure public safety while protecting civil lib- bidirectional vertical command links— man was the Scholar-in-Residence for 2 Counterterrorism at the Central Intelli- erties. A centralquestion in this regard is the that is, groups without leaders.” gence Agency. Hoffman has held the Cor- role of the concept of Leaderless Resistance Leaderless resistance is widely discussed porate Chair in Counterterrorism and in assisting right-wing insurgency,violence, among U.S. right-wing insurgents, many Counterinsurgency at the RAND Corpo- and terrorism, such as the rightist bombing with ties to militant religious ideologies, ration, and served in 2004 as Acting Direc- of the federal building in Oklahoma City in and this form of underground cell struc- tor of RAND’s Center for Middle East 1995. Does Leaderless Resistance lead to ture is frequently discussed among gov- Public Policy. Leaderless Jihad? ernment analysts and policymakers During the period Hoffman was at The terms “Leaderless Resistance” and investigating ways to combat domestic terrorism. Like many other scholars and

THE PUBLIC EYE7 FALL 2008 The Public Eye journalists, neither Sageman nor Hoffman supremacist adventure novel Hunter, United States are in the ecological group conveys an accurate picture of the history William Pierce’s sequel to The Turner Earth First! and several Animal Libera- of Leaderless Resistance. Diaries—before weaving it into claims tion movements—movements that gen- The concept of Leaderless Resistance as about the terrorist threat posed by White erally avoid harming people with their a series of unconnected autonomous under- supremacist insurgents in the United acts of vandalism. Small splinter groups ground cells was developed by anticom- States.4 have recently engaged in intimidation munist theoretician Ulius Louis Amoss Sageman claims that Louis Beam devel- against people, but while this is evidence in 1953 to encourage resistance to Soviet oped the theory of Leaderless Resistance “to of criminal acts, it does not fit traditional repression in Eastern Europe. “Pete” Amoss continue the right-wing militias fight definitions of terrorism. worked for the Office of Strategic Services against the U.S. government.” Beam played Almost all incidents reported as examples (OSS) during World War II, which later a role in the development of the militia of Leaderless Resistance byWhite suprema- was reorganized in the postwar period as movement in the early 1990s, but cer- cists in the United States actually appear to the Central Intelligence Agency. Amoss, tainly did not develop the concept of Lead- have involved small groups of persons with who had established a private group called erless Resistance for the militias when he previous ties to other groups promoting International Services of Information armed resistance or violent methodology. (INFORM), warned that traditional hier- This is not Leaderless Resistance. archical underground cells organized by the There have been examples of “lone CIA in Eastern Europe were being pene- Accurate descriptions wolf” terrorism, where individuals act on trated and liquidated by Soviet and East- their own, but these incidents mostly ern Bloc counterintelligence operations. of target terrorist appear to involve persons who were at In 1961, anti-Castro Cuban exiles and least briefly involved with existing groups their allies with close ties to the CIA air- formations and potential advocating armed resistance or violence. dropped leaflets over Cuba. The leaflets This is not Leaderless Resistance. used the concept of Leaderless Resistance terrorist cells are crucial There are a handful of incidents where and called for the creation of “phantom a debatable argument can be made for cells” (celulas fantasmas).There is no appar- for stopping actual acts Leaderless Resistance cell structure being ent connection between Amoss and the used by the White supremacist movement, leaflets, according to Michael Paulding, of terrorism. but even these offer dubious lessons for U.S. who is writing a book on an early OSS fig- counterterrorism policy relating to iso- ure and has studied Amoss and his work. lated Muslims and Arabs living in the Amoss died in November 1961, a few wrote the essay in 1983.The militias over- United States. months after the failed CIA-orchestrated lapped with the organized White suprema- For example, Timothy McVeigh, who Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. Amoss’s cist movement, but according to most blew up the Oklahoma City federal build- Leaderless Resistance essay was repub- scholars, was distinct and independent ing in 1995, was thoroughly embedded in lished posthumously in 1962 in Amoss’s from it.5 the Armed Citizens Militia movement for INFORM newsletter, having been rewrit- Hoffman offers no credible evidence years, but had adopted a neonazi ideology ten from the 1953 original by a freelancer, that the idea’s “impact on the militia move- before turning to the methodology of ter- according to Paulding. ment has been profound.” Hoffman is rorism assisted by a small group of cohorts. The term was repopularized in 1983 by wrong when he asserts Beam’s version of The most plausible explanation for motive racist organizer Louis Beam in a very dif- Leaderless Resistance (1983) was based was McVeigh’s anger at the federal gov- ferent essay that borrowed the title and con- on the novel Hunter, which was published ernment for domestic policies involving cept of “Leaderless Resistance.”This essay in 1989. Furthermore, Hunter is primarily what he saw as tyranny and government was reprinted by Beam in 1992.3 In both about a lone wolf terrorist, although small political repression. Antiterrorism “experts” versions, Beam credits the original idea to cells are also mentioned. originally wrongly blamed the blast on Amoss. Beam is a White supremacist and This is not just semantics. Are acts of vio- Middle Eastern terrorists angry at U.S. former Ku Klux Klan leader tied to neon- lence and terrorism in the United States foreign policies. azi and race hate organizing in the United being carried out by right-wing insurgents For counterterrorism, the distinction States. engaged in “Leaderless Resistance?”There between connected cells, unconnected Sageman and Hoffman both mistakenly is little evidence to support this wide- cells, and a lone wolf activist unconnected suggest that White supremacists origi- spread fear. to previous group participation is impor- nated the idea—Sageman blames Beam, According to Garfinkel, the clearest tant because different investigative tech- and Hoffman traces it to the White examples of Leaderless Resistance in the niques with different levels of government

THE PUBLIC EYE8 FALL 2008 The Public Eye intrusiveness are required depending on the erless social movements, the vast majority individuals fight an entrenched power type of target.Therefore accurate descrip- of which have not engaged in violence of through independent acts of violence and tions of target terrorist formations and any kind, much less terrorism. mayhem.”This accurately refers to Beam’s potential terrorist cells are crucial for stop- Actually, Sageman has borrowed this thesis, not generally to all social movements ping actual acts of terrorism. idea and plagiarized some specific wording that are “leaderless” but not engaged in acts Sageman writes that: from Garfinkel, who wrote in 2003: of “resistance” in Sageman’s overbroad der- The leaderless social movement has Causes that employ Leaderless Resist- ivation. other limitations. To survive, it ance do not have these links because If we understand domestic terrorist ten- requires a constant stream of new they are not organizations:They are dencies as more properly modeled as an violent actions to hold the interest ideologies. Tosurvive, these ideolo- outside contagion, rather than as something of potential newcomers to the move- gies require a constant stream of new spontaneously generated, then it would be ment, create the impression of vis- violent actions to hold the interest of more proper to monitor known terrorists, ible progress toward a goal, and give the adherents, create the impression rather than conducting sweeps of all poten- potential recruits a vicarious expe- of visible progress towards a goal, and tial terrorists. Ironically, these techniques rience before they take the initiative allow individuals to take part in are similar to those advocated by Marc to engage in their own terrorist actions vicariously before they have Sageman in his first book. Yetgovernment activities. the initiative to engage in their own agencies are reportedly analyzing secret direct actions. intelligence data scanning for networks, If this is true, I should be able to locate patterns of interaction, etc. in a search for a list of terrorist bombings of U.S. steak- Garfinkel, however, is defining Lead- different kinds of underground terrorist houses by vegetarians. The Internet has erless Resistance as specifically referring to cells.Tracking an actual “Leaderless Resist- helped create and extend numerous lead- “a strategy in which small groups (cells) and ance” cell that is truly spontaneous, Monte Wolverton/politicalcartoons.com

THE PUBLIC EYE9 FALL 2008 The Public Eye autonomous, and unconnected requires an because the terrorists he studied are in his and Mark Juergensmeyer (Terror in the intrusive penetration of a larger commu- appraisal not religious scholars nor devout.6 Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious nity in which these cells achieve some level But neither factor is needed for religious Violence). Sageman’s claims are a refutation of anonymity. Everyone in the community belief to be a powerful motivator for a of these works without a detailed discus- would be suspect until their innocence social movement activist to turn to violence sion of them. had been proven. in the name of religion. Among the schol- In other words, how police believe ars who have discussed the role of religion Not so Sage Scholarship terrorists are organizing affects their coun- in terrorism are Jessica Stern (Terror in the ageman cites few scholars, which could terterrorism tactics. Name of God:Why Religious Militants Kill) Slead the reader to believe he is a kind of Garfinkel in 2003 observed that: The U.S. appears to be fighting Lead- erless Resistance networks… with HOFFMAN’S SLIPS an eradication strategy based on Given Hoffman’s harsh criticism of Sageman, one would hope that Hoffman’s own work crime-fighting: the goal is to create would stand up to careful scrutiny. It most areas it does, but not in terms of Hoffman’s very high penalties for individuals research into the concept of Leaderless Resistance, the history of right-wing insurgent vio- lence in the United States, or Christian apocalyptic beliefs. It is this last area where Hoffman who participate in direct action.The seems most confused. danger of this approach is that the eradication effort itself may inad- According to Hoffman: vertently serve to attract new recruits Beliefs involving the inevitability of Armageddon are actively encouraged by to a violent ideology, by making the proselytizers of Dominion theology, the most recent reinterpretation of Christian Identity doctrine circulating among the Christian Patriots. cause appear a just response to an unjust enemy. This statement is just plain wrong. 1. Beliefs about the “inevitability of Armageddon” are spread across Christian evangelical- ism and are embraced by tens of millions of Americans, most of whom have never been Religious Motivations for part of the Christian Patriot movement. Violence 2. Christian Identity, a White racist antisemitic theology, predates Dominion Theology, a eligiously justified violence is at the term used to refer to either: core of much terrorism carried out in R • the doctrinaire form of Christian theocracy promoted by the Christian the name of Islam, but neither Hoffman nor Reconstructionist movement, or Sageman have a firm grasp on the intricacies • a tendency among conservative Christian political activists to dominate and nuances of current social science that the electoral system (usually dubbed Dominionism). studies the phenomenon among the Chris- In neither case is Dominion Theology a “recent reinterpretation of Christian Identity doctrine.” tian Right in the United States (see sidebar The rest of the paragraph is a similar mélange of ahistorical data and misused terminology. on Hoffman). Hoffman’s inability to detect the factors While Christian Identity and Reconstructionist Dominion Theology are both apocalyptic making the militia movement distinct in the sense of contemplating the arrival of the prophetic millennial End Times, Identity is premillennial (which has Christ returning prior to a 1000-year millennial reign by believers) from neonazi terrorists is especially trou- while Reconstructionism is postmillennial (which has Christ returning at the end of a mil- bling in terms of civil liberties because lennium of rule by the Godly). These are important distinctions in Christian theology— Hoffman exaggerates the role of terrorism and also in predicting how violence or terrorism might emerge from these different in the militias. Militias are a subset of the theological beliefs. broader Patriot Movement, as are the Premillennial apocalyptic expectation is the core of the White supremacist theology of Christian Patriots, which overlap with Christian Identity, but it is also central to the religious beliefs of millions of Protestant evan- both the militias and the White suprema- gelicals who would be horrified by Christian Identity claims that Blacks are subhuman and cist movement. The White supremacist Jews are either agents of Satan or his direct descendants. movement has more of a history of violence Hoffman writes that “in addition to anti-Semitism and racism, Dominionists believe that it and terrorism, but with the exception of is incumbent upon each individual to hasten redemption by actively working to ensure the those eras when the Ku Klux Klan had a return of the Messiah,” Here Hoffman is lumping together millions of politically active mass following, the violence has been car- evangelicals with racists and antisemites. In addition, most premillennialist evangelicals are ried out by a tiny armed underground not accurately characterized as Dominionists. linked to the larger social movement. Although Hoffman’s section on U.S. right-wing terrorism and the role of Christian theology Sageman tends to dismiss the role of reli- is weak and confused, the other material in Hoffman’s chapter on “Religion and Terrorism” gion in motivating political violence on Islam and other belief systems and cults is more persuasive and well cited, as is the rest of his book.

THE PUBLIC EYE10 FALL 2008 The Public Eye

“leaderless scholar” whose work in uncon- “the reader is told that ‘until recently, a large in Leaderless Jihad’s citations.”12 Hoffman nected to that of other social scientists. As part of the literature on terrorism concen- puts it bluntly: “Sageman’shistorical igno- with Sageman’s exaggeration of Leaderless trated on definitions of terrorism’—with rance is surpassed only by his cursory treat- Resistance as a mode of terrorist organiza- the citation justifying this fatuous assertion ment of social networking theory.” tion, the truth is much less spectacular. referencing a book published in 1984.” Sageman describes social movements as Much of Leaderless Jihad draws from Sageman’s explanation of how individ- not being affiliated with institutions, but sociologists and anthropologists and other uals are recruited into dissident social net- there are numerous different types of social scholars who study collective behavior, works and social movements is movements, many of which interact with social movements, organized supremacist well-rounded, yet fails to cite the stan- institutions or create their own. Sageman groups, religious theology, millenarian- dard sociological works in which those contradicts much social movement schol- ism, apocalypticism, and political vio- concepts were developed.8 arship when he claims that social move- lence. Almost none of this work over the Sageman discusses “heroic sacrifice,” ments “do not have a formal past twenty years is cited by Sageman. Yet “martyrdom,” “absolute evil,” and the cre- structure...[and] do not have members Sageman was recently featured in a major ation of a “personified villain.”9 Yet read- but participants.”13 Most sociologists rec- profile in the newsletter of the American ers might be interested in knowing the ognize that some social movements have no Sociological Association…which he wrote underlying scholarly studies that look at membership requirements, but many have himself. formal members who often pay dues or Sageman’s lack of citations is more than agree to at least “principles of unity.” a problem of attribution because it does not Understanding the ideology, frames, allow other researchers to trace the docu- narratives, and recruitment methods of a mentation for his numerous uncited claims Is this just scholarly social movement is important for law nor make his readers confident that he is enforcement officers concerned about engaging with whole swatches of recent semantic duels and potentially illegal acts yet attempting to social science research. This is a serious work within the legal boundaries set by the problem for someone whose work is influ- pointless academic First Amendment. By blurring the distinc- encing government policies. Critical praise tion between ordinary social movements, for Sageman’s Leaderless Jihad as ground- nitpicking? gangs, and violent terrorist cells, Sageman breaking and innovative seems to be provides a justification for federal policy- inversely proportional to the reviewer’s makers who want to loosen restrictions of knowledge of social movement theories the surveillance of political dissidents. developed over the past thirty years. dualism, scapegoating, demonization, For instance, Sageman’s discussion of apocalypticism, millenarianism, and the Policy and Civil Liberties conspiracism is underdeveloped.7 He pro- sacralization of politics.* ageman’s views have been popularized vides no cites to the standard works in the Sageman dismisses scholarship on total- Sand distorted, most recently by the Sen- field, which in recent years has explored the itarianism and totalist groups as the “myth” ate Committee on Homeland Security and role of conspiracy theories in generating of “brainwashing,” ignoring the scholarly Governmental Affairs. It has been holding narrative stories that can justify the use of work of Robert J. Lifton, Charles Strozier, hearings on Islamic Terrorism for the past scapegoating and violence. Most egregious and others on the role of totalist systems in year. In Sageman’s June 2007 testimony, he is the following: shaping a belief justifying violence and declared: terrorism.10 Since the 1990s there has been A global conspiracy theory is differ- “…we must analyze the process a resurgence of scholarly interest in total- ent. It is comprehensive in nature and transforming normal young Mus- itarian groups, and there is even a scholarly points to the existence of a vast, lims into people willing to use vio- journal of Totalitarian Movements and insidious, and effective international lence for political ends. The Political Religions with articles detailing the network designed to perpetrate acts understanding of this process of ‘rad- relationship to terrorism.11 of the most evil sort. icalization’ is critical to assessing the In his scathing review of Sageman’s Lead- threat facing the West and should be This seems quite perceptive, as it should, erless Jihad, Hoffman offers a list of authors the basis guiding our interventions since the sentence is lifted virtually intact who have done significant work in com- to counter it…. [T]hese new groups from an early passage and central thesis of puterized analysis of terrorist groups, and are physically isolated but connected Richard Hofstadter’s classic work, The then notes that “No references to any of through Internet forums, inspired by Paranoid Style in American Politics. these authors of standard studies are found Hoffman notes that in Sageman’s book the extremist ideology and hoping *I’ve posted a remedial bibliography online at http//www.publiceye.org/jump/leaderless.html. that they will be accepted as members

THE PUBLIC EYE11 FALL 2008 The Public Eye

of al Qaeda through their terrorist claimed that typical “signatures” of terrorism.15 operations. radicalization include wearing tra- Ironically, while the Senate committee OnMay8,2008areportemergedfrom ditional clothing, growing a beard, or channeled a distorted version of Sageman’s the Committee’s office. Titled Violent giving up cigarettes, drinking, and work on the Internet in its report, it over- Islamist Extremism, the Internet, and the gambling.The advocacy groups also looked some worthwhile recommenda- HomegrownTerrorismThreat, the report did expressed dismay with the fact that tions at the end of his recent book. They not represent the views of the entire com- the Committee, while citing the include: mittee, many of whom were not even value of increasing outreach to Amer- • The United States should reduce aware of the report until after it was issued. ican Muslim and Arab-American the sense of “moral outrage” among It was primarily prepared by Lieberman’s communities, heard testimony from Muslims by “withdrawing from staff, and published under his name and only one witness from the American Iraq,” and on the local level show- 14 that of Republican Susan Collins of Maine, Muslim community. ing “restraint in the aftermath of ter- the ranking minority member of the com- A letter signed by over 20 groups warned rorism operations.” mittee. The Lieberman/Collins report that: • Western countries “should regain picked up on Sageman’s concerns about the Focusing the discussion of home- the moral high ground and con- Internet, but amplified them into a set of grown terrorism on Muslims may demn any atrocity or persecution hyperbolic warnings that stereotyped Mus- actually increase the potential for committed by any government, lims and fed Islamophobia. violent radicalization in the United including some of our staunchest According to the Muslim Advocates, States. Many witnesses before the allies in the Middle East, often in Muslim Public Affairs Council, Council Committee spoke of the growth of the name of the ‘war on terror.’” on American Islamic Relations, and the Islamophobia and the polarization of • Individuals arrested on suspicion of American-Arab Anti-Discrimination the Muslim community as risk fac- being terrorists “are entitled to due Committee: tors that raise the potential for process and the impartial applica- The report heavily relied upon a extremist violence. Unfairly focusing tion of justice in order to win over widely criticized and deeply flawed suspicion on a community tends to the worldwide Muslim commu- New York Police Department study create the very alienation these wit- nity and refute claims that Muslims on domestic radicalization that nesses said could lead to homegrown are treated unfairly.”

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Our Activist Resource Kits Books by PRA Associates Defending Justice (2005): $10 Right-Wing Populism in America by Chip Berlet and Defending Immigrant Rights (2002): $5 Matthew N. Lyons: $17 Defending Public Education (1999): $5 Mobilizing Resentment: Conservative Resurgence from the Defending Reproductive Rights (2000): $3 John Birch Society to the Promise Keepers by Jean Hardisty: $10 Defending Democracy (2001): $3 Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy by Frederick Clarkson: $10 Special Reports: $3 ______Deliberate Differences: Progressive and Conservative Campus Activism in the United States (2004) To order, call PRA at 617.666.5300 Privatizing the Common Wealth: The Pioneer Institute (2002) Or send your check with $3.50 postage for first item plus $1.50 for each additional item to: Calculated Compassion: How the Ex-Gay Movement PRA, 1310 Broadway, #201, Somerville, MA 02144 Serves the Right’s Attack on Democracy (1998 ) www.publiceye.org (1998) Challenging the Ex-Gay Movement: A resource packet Visa and Mastercard accepted

THE PUBLIC EYE12 FALL 2008 The Public Eye

Conclusions ence research, policymakers are doomed to 9 Sageman, Leaderless Jihad, 82. ublic attention to the dispute between commit analytical or conceptual errors. An 10 Sageman, Leaderless Jihad,50-51. Hoffman and Sageman has focused on accurate understanding of social move- 11 I am on the editorial advisory board of the journal. P 12 who is right or whether they’re both partially ment boundaries helps predict potential Hoffman mentions “the pathbreaking work of Stephen Borgatti, Kathleen Carley, David Krackhardt, and Jeffrey right—but this is the wrong lesson to take violence within some social movements, Reminga on covert social networks; Aparna Basu, Valdis from the debate.The problem is that they’re while accurately assessing others as simply Krebs, Ami Pedahzur, and Arie Perliger on the structural and sociological characteristics of terrorist social networks; both substantially wrong in ways that jeop- exercising First Amendment rights. The and David Jones, Shaul Mishal, and Michael Smith on ardize our safety and our civil liberties. level of surveillance and infiltration by how terrorist networks operate.” Flaws and errors in both Sageman’s and government agencies is supposed to be 13 Sageman, Leaderless Jihad, 31. Hoffman’s analyses are making suspects out regulated by these considerations. Draw- 14 “American Muslim & Arab Organizations Issue State- ing distinctions between radical ideology ment on Homeland Security Committee Report,” of millions of U.S. citizens and noncitizen The American Muslim, May 14, 2008, residents, and justifying increased domes- and violent methodology is at the heart of http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/ the First Amendment. In the United States, features/articles/american_muslim_arab_organizations_issue tic surveillance on a scale that could dwarf _statement_on_homeland_security_com/0016232. stopping ideological radicalization is not the now million-name-long “watch list” for 15 “Memorandum to Members of the Senate Committee airline passengers. Furthermore, in some a job for government agencies. on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs,” cases there are other antiterrorism policy Anti-terrorism policy and civil liberties Defending Dissent Foundation, May 30, 2008, http://www.defendingdissent.org/alerts.html#memo. advisors who are using a superficial read- deeply affects us all—we deserve better. ■ Archival documents obtained through the Wisconsin ing of Leaderless Resistance, while ignoring Historical Society periodicals archive, Burlington (MA) some of Sageman’s more sensible recom- A collection of supporting text, documents, Public Library, interlibrary loan, Michael Paulding, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. mendations in his final chapter.This is what images, and bibliographic citations is online is feeding Senator Lieberman’s recent over- at http://www.publiceye.org/jump/leaderless. wrought efforts. html. The public dispute between Hoffman and Sageman needs to be widened to include a broader discussion of the U.S. End Notes “War on Terror.” While public policy 1 Garfinkel and I discussed Leaderless Resistance in 2003. attention over the past few years has focused 2 Simson L. Garfinkel, “Leaderless Resistance Today”, on the polarized positions of Sageman and First Monday, online journal, 2003. INTERNS WANTED! Hoffman, a broad range of differing (and 3 Louis Beam, “Leaderless Resistance,” Inter-Klan Newslet- The Public Eye often more complex and nuanced) analy- ter & Survival Alert, undated, circa May 1983, pages not numbered. On file at Political Research Associates; Louis The Public Eye welcomes interns ses from a number of scholars is being Beam, “Leaderless Resistance,” The Seditionist, 12 (Feb- overlooked by the White House and Con- ruary 1992); at http://www.louisbeam.com/leaderless.htm, to join us in producing the only gress. Here I’m thinking of Jessica Stern, 12-13. magazine dedicated to exposing 4 Marc Sageman, Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the the U.S. Right. and Fawaz A. Gerges, author of The Far Twenty-first Century, (Philadelphia: University of Penn- Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global, to name sylvania Press, 2007), 143; Bruce Hoffman, InsideTerrorism Political Research Associates only two. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), 114, 115. 5 Political Research Associates, The work of Hoffman and Sageman also This differentiation has been covered in detail by Mark S. Hamm, Joel Dyer, Martin Durham, Steven M. Cher- the parent think tank of The must be closely analyzed and critiqued by mak, Lane Crothers, Carolyn Gallaher, Lorna L. Mason, Public Eye, offers a research social scientists who study religion, vio- Matthew N. Lyons, and me. 6 internship, and a communica- lence, state repression, social movements, Sageman, Leaderless Jihad, 59-60, 80. 7 tion and development internship. and collective behavior. And Sageman Sageman, Leaderless Jihad, 81-82. needs to be held accountable for his lack 8 For instance, John D. McCarthy and Mayer N. Zald., “Resource Mobilization and Social Movements: A Partial To apply, just email a letter and of citations. Theory,” American Journal of Sociology, vol. 82, no. 6, May resume identifying the internship Is this just scholarly semantic duels and 1977: 1212–1241; Doug McAdam, Political Process and that interests you to the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930–1970, (Chicago: pointless academic nitpicking? No. By University of Chicago Press, 1985). [email protected]. failing to fully explore a range of social sci-

THE PUBLIC EYE13 FALL 2008 The Public Eye GUEST COMMENTARY continued from page 2 ing electoral power and changing elec- election cycles to build their capacity to political relationships, and leadership train- tions is a central activity.Even worse, some affect electoral outcomes—recruiting, ing, all aimed at expanding the pool of pro- see electoral politics as a waste of time and training and organizing support for can- gressive voters and activists. This method even a tacit endorsement of the excesses of didates—particularly in party primaries for builds on the cumulative experiences and the power structure. I do not agree with offices at all levels. They also systematically best practices of social justice organizing such dour assessments, nor do I think that register like minded-voters and developed from the labor, women’s, and civil rights electoral politics is a panacea. the capacity to turn them out on Election movements, among many others. Here is what I do think: Day.And they keep good databases instead I describe some useful models taken I think that anyone who is serious about of having to start from scratch from exist- from the liberal/left in my essay in Dis- the distribution of power in this constitu- ing voter lists in the run up to each elec- patches from the Religious Left: the Future of tional democracy, and who wants to accom- tion. In other words, they mastered the Faith and Politics in America (from which plish anything much, needs a broad contemporary tools and mechanics of elec- this commentary is partly adapted).These electoral strategy that is central, not periph- toral democracy. organizations recognize that building for eral to their activities. This also means power takes time, patience and hard work developing the capacity to carry it out in — regardless of town or constituency. practice and not just on paper. That is why People’s personal and group political behav- I think that the Religious Left, in order to ior changes only slowly, as a general rule. create a more just society, is going to need Getting a few religious But it can, and it does. One of them is the to take electoral politics more seriously— Boston-based Neighbor-to-Neighbor, and not just as a happy religious auxiliary leaders to stand up and which focuses on the long term political of the Democratic or any other party. empowerment of low income communi- Getting a few religious leaders to stand say, “We are Christians ties of color. up and say, “We are Christians, too,” as a counter to the Religious Right in the media too” as a counter to the Neighbor-to-Neighbor is fine, as far as it goes. But electoral poli- eighbor-to-Neighbor began in 1996 tics is a defining activity of constitutional Religious Right in the Nafter an analysis showed that 47 House democracy in America. With unions on the districts ought to have more progressive wane, it is the principal avenue for gaining media is fine, as far representatives than they had. Using grass- sufficient popular power to improve the roots organizing, leadership development, lives of the poor and the marginalized via as it goes. electoral campaigns, legislative lobbying, government and public policy—as well as and voter registration and education, the to address the entire constellation of pro- group “built power” in low-income and gressive concerns. And by electoral politics, working-class communities. I do not mean merely voting or encourag- People can write letters, and organize Neighbor-to-Neighbor has a remarkable ing others to do so. I mean actually mas- phone banks, lobby days, protest marches, record of turning around the problem of tering the mechanics of electoral politics and prayer vigils—but what if those who low levels of voter participation in lower- and sustaining a permanent activist pres- hold elected office are not interested in lis- income urban communities. For example, ence in our communities, unconnected to tening? Obviously, it is far better to have in 2002 the group dramatically increased the fortunes of one or another candidate. people in office with whom we agree (or voter turnout in low-income precincts of And not just a shell group (or group of mostly agree) than people who don’t. So the several cities. These included increases of shells) to be revved-up only in the run-up answer is to elect better public officials. 185 percent in Salem, 900 percent in to an election. But how would a more politically Lynn, 210 percent in Leominster, 589 Part of the genius of the Religious Right, dynamic Religious Left go about this? percent in Fitchburg, and 131 percent in particularly the once-formidable Chris- Many contemporary progressive electoral Worcester.This contributed to the election tian Coalition, is the way they work across efforts have adopted the organizing meth- of progressive candidates in several cities as ods popularized by Marshall Ganz, a for- well as two progressive Democratic mem- Frederick Clarkson is the editor of Dispatches mer organizer for the United Farm Workers bers of Congress, James McGovern of from the Religious Left: The Future of who now teaches organizing at Harvard’s Worcester and JohnTierney of Gloucester. Faith and Politics in America (Ig Publish- Kennedy School of Government. Sustained organizing in Worcester, Salem, ing), from which this commentary is adapted. Ganz found that successful organizers and Holyoke was a deciding factor in the He is a member of the editorial board of The and organizations focus on one-on-one 2003 election of progressive, Latino city Public Eye. recruiting, the development of personal councilors in those cities.

THE PUBLIC EYE14 FALL 2008 The Public Eye

The group’s success is based on “targeted als and low-to-no-cost training to help political party is partisanship. Naturally, organizing” around what it calls “The nonprofits register and educate people to applied citizenship inevitably means mak- Working Family Agenda.” This agenda vote, and to mobilize others, as well as to ing choices of whom to vote or advocate for comprises “good jobs, education and train- eliminate barriers to participation to a or what party to join. Or whether to exer- ing, affordable child care, health care and variety of disadvantaged groups. cise those options at all. housing, and a welfare safety net.” Their A critical distinction helpful for anyone The Religious Right was able to advance methods include year-round intensive trying to navigate all this is between citi- as far and as fast as they did because other voter contact and issue mobilization across zenship and partisanship. Learning about constituencies did not keep up, or never the election cycle, followed by personal, and practicing voter registration and elec- really engaged on the playing field of elec- telephone, and mail contact during elec- toral mobilization are functions of citi- toral politics altogether. All that has hap- toral campaigns. “With year-round voter pened over the past few decades in the wake engagement,” its director Harris Gruman of the rise of the Religious Right is one of said, “you change the equation dramatically. the consequences of the series of choices Most people don’t pay much attention to The Religious Right that were made not to keep up or to seri- politics until the presidential campaign ously engage. comes around.” was able to advance There is no reason why religious pro- gressives cannot band together within Navigating the Non-Profit as far and as fast as broader progressive coalitions, to fully Tax C ode engage as citizens, allowing them to live up ven with such hopeful models, many on they did because other to the promise of their most prophetic Ethe Religious Left still fear the stumbling and pragmatic leaders. This is the stuff of block of the federal tax-code. It is also con- constituencies never basic empowerment in electoral democracy, troversial, not least because the Religious as the much-honored but too often for- Right consciously bends and breaks the really engaged on the gotten African-American civil rights move- rules to advance their political and electoral ment taught us. interests (and they largely get away with it). playing field of We can learn and master the tools While the Internal Revenue Service, aided handed to us by the generations that by several watchdog organizations, has been electoral politics. have brought our constitutional democ- better enforcing the laws in recent years, the racy this far. If we do, a vibrant and polit- question of abuse of the tax code and fear of ically dynamic Religious Left can be a the tax man has many progressive organi- powerful part of the coalition necessary zations understandably wary. to bend the arc of history towards what Fortunately, there is also a lot of expe- zenship, not unlike obtaining a drivers Martin Luther King Jr. called justice. ■ rience in integrating citizen education and license or filing tax returns. Applying that engagement that are well within the per- knowledge to a particular candidate or fectly reasonable and understandable IRS rules governing tax-exempt organizations such as churches and service providers. An excellent example was pioneered by Boston Vote, a nonprofit, tax-exempt Read the best analysis of the Christian Right on organization founded in 1999 to encour- Talk2Action.org! age social service and other nonprofit agen- cies in low-income urban areas to register Talk2Action is a group blog led by Public Eye writer and their clients to vote, and help to turn them out on Election Day. Boston Vote offers editorial board member Frederick Clarkson. Read weekly a model that allows progressive social serv- contributions from Fred, Political Research Associates ice agencies and religious organizations to integrate nonpartisan voter registration researcher Chip Berlet, and the rest of the best thinkers and mobilization into their existing pro- about the Christian Right. grams. Boston Vote has since gone statewide and is called Mass Vote. The Visit Talk2Action.org. organization has developed basic materi-

THE PUBLIC EYE15 FALL 2008 The Public Eye Right-wing Ballot Initiatives Target Unions, Women, Immigrants, and Gays This Fall By Kristina Wilfore • Voters are ready to respond to big Ban Equal Opportunity n 2008, ballot initiatives could impact races challenges in their lives. Ward Connerly, a right-wing race Iup and down the ballot, including the • They know there are problems and activist from California, proposes to rewrite Presidential campaign, by elevating an issue want to address them. state constitutions with a ban on equal and shaping the debate. Dissatisfied voters Matthew Dowd, who was chief strate- opportunity programs. Connerly refuses to in particular may see ballot initiatives as a gist for President Bush’s campaign in 2004, disclose out-of-state donors and has hired means to fill the leadership vacuum by warned when speaking about the Califor- political operatives and companies with a allowing citizens to take issues into their own nia marriage discrimination initiative that long history of facing election fraud and hands. the Right’s approach might backfire this ethics accusations.1 In Colorado, his efforts On the Right this year, initiatives would year: “At best, it doesn’t move voters, and face a legal challenge to half the signatures ban equal opportunity programs for at worst for Republicans, it moves them he turned in to the state. In Arizona, he faces women and minorities, challenge a against them. Not so much on the issue, but charges by a local coalition of opponents woman’s right to choose her own health it becomes, ‘Why are we having a discus- to the measure, including the Arizona care, discriminate against gays and lesbians sion on this issue when we should be talk- Chamber of Commerce, that those hired on marriage and adoption, and cut vital ing about things that matter, like the to gather signatures have misled voters by services like education and health care for economy, or health care, or the war?’” not informing them that the initiative those that need it most. If people are looking for solutions that would eliminate equal opportunity pro- Is this the sort of change dissatisfied vot- advance the common good, rather than grams.2 In Nebraska, opponents of the ers are looking for? more division, then progressives should feel initiative have claimed petition collectors We here at the Ballot Initiative Strategy good about some of the other ballot ini- are getting signatures illegally—filling out Center conducted public opinion research tiatives around the country—clean energy information for people signing petitions, with independent, “swing” voters who and home health care in Missouri; paid sick misleading voters by not reading a required may be swayed by the initiatives, and here leave in Ohio and Milwaukee; children’s statement, and leaving signature sheets is what we have learned: health care in Montana; and stem cell unattended.3 In Missouri, similar tactics research in Michigan, among others. failed to get his initiative on the ballot. And • Voters head into this election sea- These initiatives tend to be driven locally in Oklahoma, after the Secretary of State son with serious concerns about at the grassroots level, while the Right tra- raised questions of fraud, duplicate signa- the country and a strong feeling that ditionally takes a two-pronged approach, tures, and other irregularities on the peti- the country is a rudderless boat, with national organizations driving the tions, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme lacking leadership and drifting process working in alliance with paid sig- Court began looking into the issue, without direction. nature mills, state-based front groups, and Connerly requested to have his initiative • Votersfeel America is falling behind other local organizations. withdrawn. and that it is no longer likely that Unlike in previous years, where there we will pass on a better future to the were large, multistate efforts pushing a Threatening Women’s next generation. particular issue with ballot initiatives at the Health Choices state level (marriage discrimination in This is an issue that continues to be at 2004, so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights the forefront of the right-wing agenda As Executive Director of the Ballot Initiative (TABOR) and minimum wage increase in despite years of losses at the ballot box on Strategy Center (BISC), Kristina Wilfore 2006), this year there is more of a grab bag antichoice ballot measures. In fact, advo- works with state and national progressive of ballot initiatives attempting to advance cates of reproductive justice have beaten organizations, providing guidance on strat- individual issues. back nearly 90 percent of all antichoice ini- egy and message to key initiative cam- Here is a look at a handful of conserva- tiatives over the past two decades, capital- paigns, coordinating ballot language research tive initiatives that will likely face voters on izing on the fact that most Americans are and drafting efforts, polling, training the ballot this year. (For more on progres- pro-choice in some form, and the initiatives activists and placing them on targeted ini- sive initiatives, I invite you to check out Bal- have tended to be quite radical intrusions tiatives nationwide, and directing funders lot Initiative Strategy Center’s website at on women’s reproductive decision making. to critical campaigns. www.ballot.org.) This year we see antichoice ballot ini-

THE PUBLIC EYE16 FALL 2008 The Public Eye tiatives in three states: California, Col- investigated to see what they might have approved by the Arizona legislature and orado, and South Dakota. California’s done to cause their miscarriages. referred to the ballot. In Arkansas, an ini- parental notification initiative has failed in tiative to take away adoption rights from two previous attempts. South Dakotans can Marriage and Adoption “all unmarried couples” failed to collect once again vote on whether to ban abor- Discrimination enough qualified signatures in its first tion, although they resoundingly rejected The marriage discrimination strategies attempt and is now in the process of col- a similar ban in 2006. In Colorado, right- of 2004 lost their base-rallying potential lecting more in order to get on the ballot. wing activists would redefine personhood when they reappeared in 2006, as voters in the state constitution as the moment of began to see them as gimmicks. Anti-Immigrant fertilization, an initiative that has divided Nevertheless, a California marriage dis- In Arizona, four ballot initiatives were conservatives even though it seeks to over- crimination initiative has qualified for bal- circulated but only one achieved enough turn Roe v Wade. lot, and if passed would likely overturn a viable signatures to make it on the ballot The Colorado initiative could lead to a recent California Supreme Court decision – a crack down on businesses which hire ban on several of the most medically safe that ruled that gay marriage was protected illegal immigrants. In Oregon, an “English forms of birth control and could also ban or by the state constitution. Florida will vote only” initiative is on the ballot. This com- restrict common fertility treatments, such on a marriage discrimination measure that prehensive initiative would prohibit teach- as in vitro fertilization. A supporter of a sim- would outlaw recognition of all same-sex ing public school students in a language ilar measure in Montana, where it failed to partnerships. And in Arizona, a constitu- other than English for more than two make the ballot, warned women could be tional ban on same-sex marriage has been years, regardless of their English profi-

THE PUBLIC EYE17 FALL 2008 The Public Eye ciency. It does not allow for parents to nate 40 percent of the state’s budget and wing associations unaffected. In Colorado, choose programs for their children and it lead to teacher layoffs, school closings, signatures have been submitted to place an requires learning within specific timetables and cuts to higher education and worker initiative on the ballot. without providing tools for achieving goals. training programs. It would also delay and In South Dakota, “Paycheck Deception” eliminate road and bridge repairs, force cuts has been combined with a ballot measure Cutting Education and Health Care to health care services for those that need called “Open and Clean Government.” In One might imagine that antitax ideo- it most, and threaten neighborhood safety. Montana, an “Open and Clean Govern- logues would have learned an expensive les- Maine’s step towards a public/private ment” initiative failed to make the ballot, son after the defeat of the Taxpayer Bill of partnership to provide universal access to but signatures have been submitted in Rights (TABOR) in all of the states where health insurance, known as Dirigo Health, Colorado. The initiative would prohibit it was attempted in 2006. They didn’t. A had its funding mechanism revamped in political contributions by persons and property tax revenue limit initiative that the recently concluded legislative session. organizations with certain state or local gov- could threaten vital services like education, The state approved new funding sources, ernment contracts. It also prohibits polit- health care, and police and fire protection including a tax on beer, wine, and the ical contributions by labor unions that is on the ballot in Florida. syrup used in soft drinks. Maine has a have collective bargaining agreements with Florida voters will also weigh in on provision in statute that allows anyone state or local governments. The initiative two stealth amendments whose central who disagrees with action taken by the leg- attempts to silence the voice of working purpose is to authorize state funding for families in legislation and in politics by ban- vouchers to religious schools. Yet the word ning the use of union dues for legislative “vouchers” does not appear in either and political advocacy. amendment. One amendment, 7, would Colorado voters will also vote on a repeal a 140-year-old state constitutional Don’t underestimate the “right to work” ballot initiative in Novem- prohibition against spending public funds ber. “Right to work” actually has nothing on religious institutions. The other, 9, Right’s power to divide to do with a right to a job or employment. would overturn a Florida Supreme Court The initiative would allow nonmember ruling that declared unconstitutional a and distract voters. workers to get all the benefits of union voucher program approved while Jeb Bush membership and pay nothing, while forc- was governor. ing unions and their members to foot the Tofool voters even more, commission- bill for those not willing to pay their share. ers added to Amendment 9 a politically islature to initiate a “People’sVeto.” In this appealing, but practically meaningless, case, special interests from the big bever- Conclusion provision “Requiring 65 percent of school age industry have submitted petitions to allot initiatives that are out of touch with funding for classroom instruction.” The place on the ballot an initiative that would Bmainstream values like fairness, oppor- implication is that more school funds will strip the funding for the health care reform tunity and freedom will be a tough sell, but be directly targeted at teachers and class- plan and derail universal health care. don’t underestimate the Right’s power to room activities. But that’s a ruse to sell an In New Hampshire, voters in eight divide and distract voters. amendment that is otherwise intended to municipalities are deliberating on a revenue clear the way for more state spending on cap requiring local officials to restrict End Notes private, not public, schools. spending on vital services like snow 1 http://www.stopballotfraud.org/merchant/national_ballot_ In Oregon, an income tax cut is on the removal, and police and fire protection.The access ballot that would cut state revenues by $3.4 initiative doesn’t take into account the ris- 2 Howard Fischer, “Foes say petition circulators use illegal billion. The average tax cut for the richest ing health care costs and skyrocketing gas means,” East Valley Tribune, June 10, 2008, one percent would be $15,048, while the and energy costs that are burdening com- http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/118254 3 Scott Lea, “Group Claims Illegal Petitioning,” KPTM- average tax cut for the middle 20 percent munity budgets. News, http://www.kptm.com/Global/story.asp?S=8554960 would be $1. &nav=menu606_2 In North Dakota, signatures have been Attacking Working Families submitted for an initiative that would cut On the ballot in Oregon is a “Paycheck the income tax rate by 50 percent and cut Deception” initiative that would deprive the corporate income tax by 15 percent. workers of their voice in the political In Massachusetts, an initiative that process. Banning the use of payroll deduc- would repeal the income tax altogether is tions for political purposes unfairly singles on the ballot. The initiative would elimi- out unions, leaving corporations and right-

THE PUBLIC EYE18 FALL 2008 The Public Eye

PROFILE FROM PRA’S RIGHT WEB Regnery Publishing: Home of Books Fanning Fear of Islam

Regnery argues that “a bloodthirsty foe” like and “President Bush’s quest for Israeli- radical Islam cannot be “confined to par- Palestinian peace is misguided.”10 ticular nations—and thus cannot be Earlier, in 2005, Regnery published defeated solely through conventional war- The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and fare against enemy states”7; and Iran-Con- the Crusades) by Robert Spencer, who outing itself as the “the nation’sleading tra veteran Oliver North’s War Stories: directs JihadWatch.org. According to the Tconservative publisher,1 Regnery Pub- Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003), which publisher, Spencer argues that “Muham- lishing was founded by Henry Regnery in defends the Bush administration’s decision mad did not teach ‘peace and tolerance’— 1947 in Chicago. Initially affiliated with the to invade Iraq.8 he led armies and ordered the assassination University of Chicago’s “Great Books” In 2008 Regnery published two books of his enemies”; “the Crusades were not acts series, Regnery eventually became a lead- that fanned fears of Islam and justified the of unprovoked aggression by Europe ing publisher of old-guard, conservative U.S. invasion of Iraq and war on terror against the Islamic world, but a delayed writers such as Russell Kirk, James Burn- using the clash of civilizations language of response to centuries of Muslim aggres- ham, and William F.Buckley, Jr. Bernard Lewis and Samuel Huntington: sion”; and “jihad continues today: Europe In 1993, conservative Eagle Publishing Mark Steyn’s America Alone:The End of the could be Islamic by the end of the twenty- bought Regnery, which now specializes in WorldasWeKnowIt,and Mark Sieff’s The first century.”11 mass-market, right-wing attack journalism, Politically Incorrect Guide In 2004 Regnery pub- with its books frequently targeting Dem- to the Middle East. Accord- lished Unfit for Command: ocratic Party figures like the Clintons2 and ingtoRegnery,inAmerica Swift BoatVeterans Speak Out lambasting the influence of liberals on Alone, Steyn, a writer for against John Kerry, by John American culture and politics—and fre- the right-wing Washing- O’Neill and Jerome Corsi, quently becoming bestsellers.3 Its authors tonTimes and the National both members of Swift Boat include Newt Gingrich, William Bennett, Review, “proclaims the Veterans for Truth, a group Ann Coulter, Dinesh D’Souza, David unspeakable, yet undeni- set up to attack Democratic Horowitz, Laura Ingraham, Dennis able truth: the Western presidential candidate Hastert, Dore Gold, and Mitt Romney. world is falling prey to the Kerry’sVietnam Warrecord. Journalist Nicholas Confessore character- unrelenting tide of radical The book took aim not only ized Regnery as the “lifestyle press for con- Islam, demographically at Kerry’s military service servatives, preferred printer of presidential and ideologically. And if (despite lacking access to his hopefuls, and venerable publisher of books we don’t do something service records), but also at for the culture wars.”4 soon, one day we’ll wake his antiwar activism after Regnery has been an important pub- up to the end of the world returning from his tours of lisher of books promoting the George W. as we know it: the end of duty. Despite being heavily Bush administration’s “war on terror” poli- church bells, replaced by the muezzin’s criticized for distorting Kerry’s military cies, publishing everything from apologias call to prayer. The end of free speech, service, Unfit for Command became a New for Donald Rumsfeld to fear-mongering replaced by strict, religious-based censor- York Times bestseller and helped derail about the activities of “jihadi warriors” in ship.The end of liberty and justice for all, Kerry’s campaign.12 the United States.5 Titles have included replaced by Sharia law.”9 In mid-2008, Regnery announced that Michelle Malkin’s In Defense of Intern- In The Politically Incorrect Guide to the it intended to publish The Case against ment (2004), which argues that criticism Middle East, according to Regnery, Sieff Barack Obama, by National Review writer of the Bush administration’s detention of “navigates every politically correct roadway, David Freddoso, in August 2008.13 Regn- terror suspects is based in part on flawed busting myth after myth as he leads us on ery president Marjory Ross told Politico arguments that the internment of Japan- a journey through one of the world’s rough- reporter Jonathan Martin, “I think it’s ese during World War II was racist6; est neighborhoods.” Sieff argues that “Bush critically important that the country gets Endgame: The Blueprint for Victory in the Sr.—not Bush Jr.—should have invaded a clear and honest view of who is running War OnTerror byThomas McInerney and Iraq”; “Islamic fundamentalism isn’t and what they stand for—warts and all.… Paul Vallely (2004), which according to ancient—which is why it’s so dangerous”; With Unfit for Command, like The Case

THE PUBLIC EYE19 FALL 2008 The Public Eye against Barack Obama, we believe the ship Program, and is a member of the End Notes media has whitewashed the candidate.”14 Republican National Committee’s Regents 1 Marji Ross, “About Regnery,” Regnery Publishing Inc, http://www.regnery.com/about.html. Regnery announced in February 2008 Program.20 2 See Chip Berlet, “What is Past is Prologue: Regnery Pub- that it had signed a contract with Erik Eagle Publishing board members lishing and Clinton,” Political Research Associates, Sep- Prince, CEO of the controversial military include Alfred Regnery,son of the founder tember 30, 1999, http://www.publiceye.org/conspire/ contractor Blackwater Worldwide, to pub- of Regnery Publishing and a board mem- clinton/Clintonculwar8-38.html#P714_189875. 3 “Regnery Publishing—Hot Releases,” Regnery Pub- lish a book tentatively titled WeAre Black- ber of the American Foreign Policy Coun- lishing, http://www.regnery.com/new/new.html; Brian water in late 2008.15 A news release about cil; Thomas Fuentes, a director of the C. Anderson, “Culture Clash,” Los AngelesTimes, Novem- the contract stated that the book is to be Claremont Institute and chairman of the ber 23, 2003. 4 Nicholas Confessore, “Hillary Was Right,” American “the only insider’s account of the contro- Republican Party of Orange County, Prospect, November 30, 2002. versial company that has supplied body- California; and Pat Sajak, host of the TV 5 See, for example, Rumsfeld’sWar (2004) by Rowan Scar- guards and support-and-rescue personnel show Wheel of Fortune.21 borough and Onward Muslim Soldiers: How Jihad Still to hot spots around the world, including In late 2007, several Regnery authors Threatens America and theWest (2003) by Robert Spencer. 6 “Book Details: In Defense of Internment,” Regnery Pub- the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq. sued Eagle Publishing, charging that the lishing, http://www.regnery.com/regnery/040802_ Prince, a former Navy SEAL, will reveal company’s business practices, including defense.html. how he created Blackwater, refute criticisms selling discounted books to clubs, depleted 7 “Book Details: Endgame,” Regnery Publishing, of the company, and take the reader on the authors’ royalties. In their lawsuit, the http://www.regnery.com/regnery/040412_endgame.html. 8 “Book Details: War Stories,” Regnery Publishing, thrilling Blackwater missions into hostile authors—Jerome R. Corsi, Bill Gertz, Lt. http://www.regnery.com/regnery/031210_warstories.html. territory, from rescuing teenage mission- Col. Robert (Buzz) Patterson, Joel Mow- 9 “Book Details: America Alone,” Regnery Publishing, aries in Africa, to helicoptering wounded bray, and Richard Miniter—claimed that http://www.regnery.com/books/americaalonepb.html. Marines to safety, to inventing, testing, and by selling discounted books and giving titles 10 “Book Details: The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Middle East,” Regnery Publishing, http://www.regnery. manufacturing armored vehicles to better away to book clubs, Eagle was attempting com/books/pigmiddleeast.html. 16 protect our troops in the field.” “to avoid or substantially reduce royalty 11 “Book Details: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam,” Other high-profile Regnery authors payments to authors.”22 Regnery Publishing, http://www.regnery.com/books/ include businessman and former presi- Although the lawsuit was eventually pigislam.html. 12 23 “Will Conservative Media Swift Boat Apologists Now dential candidate Steve Forbes, and Ken- dismissed, it shed light on what some Apologize?” Media Matters, August 20, 2004, nethTimmerman, executive director of the observers claim has been a technique by http://mediamatters.org/items/200408200008. Foundation for Democracy in Iran.17 In right-wing publishing houses to artificially 13 Jonathan Martin, “First Obama Attack Book in the 2002 Regnery published Timmerman’s boost their sales figures and thereby get Works,” The Politico, June 23, 2008. 14 Jonathan Martin, “First Obama Attack Book in the Shakedown: Exposing the Real Jesse Jackson, books placed on best-seller lists. In an Works,” The Politico, June 23, 2008. which was well received by many on the interview with the NewYork Observer, for- 15 “Regnery Signs Book Deal with Blackwater’s Reclusive Right and panned on the Left. In a review mer Bill Clinton aide Sydney Blumenthal CEO,” Human Events, February 4, 2008. 6 of the book for the Nation, Patricia said, “What I think the key question is for 16 “Regnery Signs Book Deal with Blackwater’s Reclusive Williams wrote: “In Timmerman’s rendi- Ann Coulter and all these other right- CEO,” Human Events, February 4, 2008. 17 Ronald Brownstein, “Forbes, McCain Writing Show tion, [Jackson] is a bloated monster of evil wing writers is, why is there a dagger in the How They Want to Measure Up in 2000,” Los Angeles impulses and global appetites, a ‘danger- NewYorkTimes best-seller list next to their Times, September 6, 1999. ous fool,’ ‘a David Duke in black skin’ who books?”That symbol, which appears next 18 Patricia Williams, “The Enemy Within,” Nation,June ‘drifts off into mumbo-jumbo’ ‘like a Hal- to some books on the list, means “that some 27, 2002. 19 loween ghoul’ while ‘mau-mauing’ cor- bookstores report receiving bulk orders.” “Eagle Publishing, Corporate Information,” Regnery Publishing, http://www.regnery.com/eagle_ porations that ‘think it is cheaper to buy In other words, explained Blumenthal, manage.html. protection’ from the ‘race industry’ he has “someone is buying their books in bulk to 20 “About the Claremont Institute,” Claremont Institute purportedly milked dry.”18 put them on the best-seller list. These are (Web Archive), http://web.archive.org/web/20070524 054535/www.claremont.org/about/pageID.286/default. Regnery’s parent company, Eagle Pub- bogus best-sellers.… I want to know why asp; xxi “Eagle Publishing, Corporate Information,” Reg- lishing, says it is “dedicated to conservative [Ms. Coulter] won’t come clean and explain nery Publishing, http://www.regnery.com/eagle_ manage.html. and pro-American ideals.”19 Eagle was which rich right-wing sugar daddies are 21 “Eagle Publishing, Corporate Information,” Regnery 24 founded in 1993 (the same year it bought putting her on the best-seller list.” Publishing, http://www.regnery.com/eagle_ Regnery) by Thomas L. Phillips, the manage.html. founder and president of the multimedia Website: http://www.regnery.com 22 Motoko Rich, “Conservative Authors Sue Publisher,” firm Phillips International. Phillips has For more profiles from Political Research New York Times, November 7, 2007. 23 “Author Ordered to Repay Advance After Breach of Con- served on the board of advisors of the con- Associate’s Right Web project, visit tract,” Human Events, March 12, 2008. servative Claremont Institute, has been a http://rightweb.irc-online.org/ 24 Gabriel Sherman, “Sid’s Bid,” The Transom, New York sponsor for the Ronald Reagan Leader- Observer, August 3, 2003.

THE PUBLIC EYE20 FALL 2008 The Public Eye ABSTAINING FROM TRUTH continued from page 1 longed, and expensive, debate among com- concerns about teen pregnancy, and sexu- strategy.3 This sum supports three annual munity members of the district’s human sex- ally transmitted infections (STIs), health multi-million-dollar federal grant pro- uality curriculum advisory committee. and family life education classes have been grams, grantees, and a lobbying infra- While ending in a “compromise” of scrutinized by forces wanting to insert structure that works hard on Capitol Hill. maintaining two separate classes that cost their perspectives into the curriculum. Although a majority of states refuse to over $100,000 for abstinence textbooks and The battle over sexuality education has set- accept what has come to be called “absti- curriculum planning, the debate resulted tled into two polarized camps, much like nence-only money” and have opted out of in a school board decision that defined sex Osseo’s classes. Sexuality education is just the state-based grant program, this devel- as something that happens between a hus- one link in a long line of power struggles opment has apparently only served to stir band and wife.1 The split in Osseo is over who determines what is taught; the the resolve of abstinence-only supporters emblematic of the national stand-off on opposing frames in this case are public and their backlash campaigns.4 how the subject should be taught. health and conservative values. Responding to the demands of absti- Sexuality education has become a skir- nence-only lobbyists, the federal govern- mish in the culture wars, and the minefield ment enacted its own eight-point is public education. It is no coincidence definition of abstinence education which that the struggle happens in schools. Pub- Sexuality education has mandates the design for all federally funded lic education has long been recognized as abstinence-only programs. One point a major tool in imparting more or less uni- become a skirmish in defines abstinence as a program that versally accepted societal values such as hard “teaches abstinence from sexual activity work and civic engagement, but it also the culture wars, and the outside marriage as the expected standard sparks debates over the value of competi- for all school age children.”5 Yetinanera tion, individualism, and unquestioned minefield is public education. when 95 percent of Americans engage in patriotism. Because schools define what pre-marital sex,6 promoting abstinence as knowledge is useful for the populace, the an educational goal seems unrealistic. Fur- arena of schools is the locale for “ideolog- ther, abstinence-only ideology ignores the ical management,” according to educa- There is widespread agreement that reality of LGBT sexuality, including the tional philosopher Joel Spring.2 teaching adolescents, especially younger estimated three-to-five percent of high Struggles over what should be taught teens, to postpone sexual intercourse is a schools students who identify as lesbian, and who gets to learn it are as old as pub- good idea, but what that teaching entails gay, or bisexual.7 Materials advance gender lic schools.Teachingthe German language is controversial. Abstinence-only education stereotypes of men’s rampant, uncontrol- was prohibited in schools during World advises students to abstain from all pre- or lable sex drive, which purportedly must be War I. Conservative activists Mel and extra-marital sex and deliberately omits fac- kept in check by women’s adherence to their Norma Gabler were famous for five decades tual information on such topics as con- natural chastity and purity.8 A disturbing beginning in the 1960s as their home- traception, abortion, and homosexuality. amount of “blame the victim” mentality grown Education Research Analysts group A favorite theme is the unreliability, and appears in abstinence-only curricula, which deeply influenced the content of Texas resulting danger, of condoms. Compre- relieves men of the responsibility for act- textbooks. Controversy over the constitu- hensive sexuality education, on the other ing upon their “natural urges,” even vio- tionality of school prayer was heightened hand, includes education on abstinence lently, and puts the onus on women and in the 1950s and early ’60s as proponents but emphasizes that if a person is sexually girls to “wear modest clothing that does- sought to protect the country from godless active, they need knowledge and skills n’t invite lustful thoughts.” communism. Recent debates over evolu- about a wide range of topics, including Nevertheless, abstinence education sup- tion, bilingual education, the celebration contraception and abortion, to make porters are on a mission to reduce sexual of multiculturalism, the teaching of Ara- informed decisions and stay healthy. Many activity not only for school-aged students bic, and LGBT rights all reflect contro- abstinence-only education supporters but for unmarried adults as well. In 2006, versies about appropriate topics, activities, occasionally call their approach “absti- they successfully lobbied to extend the and services in public schools. nence-until-marriage” education and brand target age range of funded programs beyond With the emergence of HIV/AIDS, comprehensive sexuality education as “con- adolescents to age 29. In hearing the news dom-based” or “pro-sex.” of the revised guidelines, James Wagoner, Although there is scant evidence show- president of Advocates for Youth,a Wash- Pam Chamberlain is senior researcher at ing the effectiveness of abstinence-only ington, D.C.-based nonprofit that supports Political Research Associates and a member education over time, the federal govern- comprehensive sexuality education, said, of the Public Eye editorial board. ment has spent over $1.5 billion on the

THE PUBLIC EYE21 FALL 2008 The Public Eye

They’ve stepped over the line of com- have extended the appeal of their message public education is the largest program mon sense….Tobe preaching absti- far beyond their core. financed mainly by local taxation. They nence when 90 percent of people are Abstinence-only framers talk in coded may be disappointed with reports about the having sex is in essence to lose touch language that appeals to their conservative state of public schools and the lackluster with reality. It’s an ideological cam- base plus resonates with a wider swath of results of the latest federal push for edu- paign. It has nothing to do with evangelical Christians. When churches cational reform, the No Child Left Behind public health.9 sponsor an alternative to the school prom Act. And they would be persuaded by sec- called the “Purity Ball,” they can trigger a ular arguments based on reason and sci- Why DoTheyThinkThat Way? reaction to how American culture has sex- entific evidence of the need to intervene in ualized the rituals of adolescence. Social a public health crisis such as high rates of he spokespeople for abstinence-only conservatives who are uncomfortable with teen pregnancy or sexually transmitted education represent a core constituency T the fast pace of modern life can be attracted infections. Abstinence-only education that sees sexuality through a very conserva- to the concept. A spokesperson recom- advocates have deployed this scientific tive religious lens. Reacting against what they mending True Love Waits, the Southern sounding approach for over twenty years. see as the degradation of culture by modern Baptist Convention’s abstinence educa- values, conservative Protestant evangelicals tion program, reminds parents, “The world Borrowing a Public Health Frame seek the codification of strictly traditional val- is coming after our middle schoolers like ues as they read them in scripture. To espite the fact that abstinence- these fundamentalists, a literal reading Donly education is rooted in con- of the Bible is sufficient to learn how to servative religious principles, many of act responsibly in all areas of life. the arguments abstinence-only educa- They are joined by conservative Although there is scant evidence of tors usewith the general public are sec- Roman Catholics in the belief that sex- ular ones that appear to use logic and ual behavior is defined as fidelity in the effectiveness of abstinence-only scientific principles. Mary Beth Bonacci, heterosexual marriage, and any veer- chastity educator and founder of an ing from that path is considered sin- education over time, the federal abstinence promotion website Real ful. Such sin results in the ultimate Love Incorporated, refers to a flawed punishment, separating the believer government has spent over $1.5 study by Dr. Susan Weller rejected by from God, or damnation. So for fun- the Department of Health and Human damentalist Protestants, it is not only billion on the strategy. Services in 1993 when she states, necessary to avoid such a fate oneself; The AMA Journal did a study using preventing others, especially children, condoms—30 percent failure rate from committing sexual sins is an act of in preventing AIDS transmission. never before. As parents we must equip compassion and responsibility that will You’d say, “70 percent were safe, them to become lights in a dark world.”10 save them, too, from eternal hell.This is for that’s not bad.” But is it safe when A real coup is getting the President to use them the essence of evangelizing the Good death is the option? Would you fly an coded words like “culture of life” and ref- News. Hence the belief that it is not only airline that had only a 30 percent fail- erences to abstinence in the same sen- acceptable, but necessary, to set standards ure rate?12 tence, as Bush did in 2007, speaking before in public education that conform to these the Southern Baptist Convention: Choosing the Best is a set of abstinence beliefs. Add to this the idea that parents education curricula for grades seven I believe building a culture of life in have a special obligation to protect their through twelve that meets federal guidelines our country also means promoting own children from eternal harm, and you for abstinence-only funding. Choosing the adoption and teaching teen absti- have a style that is recognizable in its stri- Best PATH, for grade seven, also focuses on nence, funding crisis pregnancy pro- dency and self-righteousness. alleged condom unreliability: These fundamentalists and others who grams and supporting the work of are mobilized to political action, the Chris- faith-based groups.11 Couples who use condoms for birth control experience a first-year failure tian Right, are about 15 percent of voting This approach to sexuality education can rate of about 15 percent in prevent- public. This group of Christians wields have appeal among an even larger group of ing pregnancies. This means that greater power than its size might suggest. people, those who may base their political over a period of five years, there It can make or break elections in certain key opinions on nonreligious principles.They could be a 50 percent chance or districts by getting out the vote. But in the might harbor a mild distrust of how gov- case of abstinence-only education, strate- higher of getting pregnant with con- ernment spends their money. After all, 13 gists have made certain key choices that doms used as birth control.

THE PUBLIC EYE22 FALL 2008 The Public Eye Jimmy Margulies/politicalcartoons.com

Of course the “failure” rate is due to approach, which defines a health problem, sage in a medical framework. This organ- inconsistent condom use, a common result identifies risk, and designs interventions ization was founded in 1992 by Joe McIl- of inadequate training, rather than to the based on the science of epidemiology. haney, a gynecologist and social average two percent condom breakage Since abstinence-only education often conservative who jumped on the early rate. In addition, the statement calculates attempts to hide its ideological perspective, (and since disproven16) test results that probability incorrectly,resulting in a highly abstinence-only spokespeople will co-opt condoms do not protect against HPV, misleading—but scientific sounding— public health vocabulary in their rebuttals human papillomavirus. A section of its message. in order to sound “scientific.” In answer- website on HPV includes minimally accu- Some programs use fear to motivate ing the question, “Is Choosing the Best rate medical information but adds an absti- students to promote abstinence. A middle medically accurate?” its promotional mate- nence message: school student handbook from the FACTS rials state, Am I safe if I always use a condom? program reads: Choosing the Best curricula contain If you always use condoms for vagi- There are always risks associated facts gathered from the most reliable nal sex, you can cut your chance of with it [premarital sex], even dan- and current sources of information getting HPV by about half. [Actually, gerous, life-threatening risks such as available, such as peer-reviewed, pub- it’s about a 70 percent reduction in HIV/AIDS. Using contraceptives lished journals and government risk compared to non-condom users. does not change this for teenagers.14 agency publications.15 (author)]Todate, there is no evidence Comprehensive sexuality education has The Medical Institute for Sexual Health that condoms reduce your chance of successfully used the public health tries to legitimize the abstinence-only mes- getting HPV during oral or anal sex.

THE PUBLIC EYE23 FALL 2008 The Public Eye

What can I do to avoid getting have already debunked his studies: izations to house them. infected? Stan Weed…interviewed more than The federally funded infrastructure Avoid sexual activity if you are single. 500,000 teens, and studied more includes parachurch ministries like Focus Be faithful to one uninfected partner than 100 abstinence-only programs. on the Family, crisis pregnancy centers, for the rest of your life [emphasis Okay, it sounds impressive…until advocacy organizations like the Abstinence added].Already had sex? See a doctor you learn that Weed has just one Clearinghouse, technical assistance centers and get checked out.17 peer reviewed and published study in for dealing with federal grants, and even a trade organization with a lobbying presence As with other Christian Right cam- a refereed journal showing absti- in Washington, the National Abstinence paigns, abstinence-only educators repeat nence-only-until-marriage programs Education Association. While the level of unsubstantiated or misleading claims until can have a modest impact among sev- 18 federal funding for abstinence education they not only become a substitute for real- enth graders in delaying sex. has not reached that of another school- ity for the speakers but are accepted as facts Contradicting Weed’s findings, a fed- based prevention program, Drug Abuse by their audience. For instance, the con- erally sponsored multiyear evaluation by Resistance Education or DARE, which dom industry and the government use Mathematica Policy Research demon- hit the $1 billion per year mark in 2001,21 scientific testing such as inflating and strated that abstinence-only programs did it has come a long way toward being insti- stretching condoms until they break.Those not have an effect on sexual abstinence of tutionalized. who oppose condom use on the grounds Federal funding for abstinence pro- it would encourage sexual activity and act grams began with the passage of the Amer- as a contraceptive argue that condoms are ican Family Life Act (AFLA) in 1981 not reliable, using these tests or altered sta- granting a modest $4 million for “chastity” tistics as evidence. For over twenty years, Abstinence education programs for teens, a response to family abstinence-only educators have repeated planning efforts to prevent teen pregnan- the misleading claims that condoms are is a tool of ideological cies. With annual increases since 1997 undependable, refining the basic message and the establishment of two other grants to respond to counterarguments from sci- management that is programs, including sizable sums for com- entists and proponents of condom use. If munity-based programs ($113 million in sex can’t be “safe,” it must be dangerous, now well established in 2007), federal funding has totaled over $1.5 goes the argument. American culture and billion, financing a well-heeled abstinence 22 The Measure of Success education industry. Without this support, social policy. abstinence-only programs would not be as roponents of abstinence-only educa- commonly used as they are today (in about Ption would like to tout their success 25 percent of schools, according to their using the same methods that other public supporters). health prevention programs do, and they 19 have tried their best to do so by promoting youth. Comprehensive sexuality educa- A Small Circle of Friends their own studies. But public health tion advocates see this report, released in he use of abstinence education has researchers have disputed the claims made April 2007, as a vindication of their efforts. indeed increased over the past 25 years, in support of abstinence-only programs. The scientific studies have not stopped T not only as a direct consequence of federal Those claims of success have been generated the wave. Abstinence education is a tool of funding but due also to friends in high mostly by a single evaluation company,The ideological management that is now well places.When GeorgeW.Bush was running Institute for Research and Evaluation, run established in American culture and social for President in 1999, he stated, “My admin- by StanWeed, a Mormon researcher, out of policy. We can identify those elements istration will elevate abstinence education his home.Weedhas over 20 years experience that have helped to institutionalize the from an afterthought to an urgent goal.”23 working with faith-based interventions and campaign. What began as isolated projects He and others in Congress and in federal abstinence education and has evaluated over by individuals in the 1980s has grown government positions have made good on 100 abstinence-only programs in thirty into an elaborate network of people, places, that promise. states. He is the major scholarly defender of and paraphernalia. Over 900 federally In 2007, The Nation rananexposéofa abstinence-only education, so it is important funded programs now exist,20 generating small circle of friends and their sizable to note that critics such asWilliam Smith of new and revised curricula, videos, and harvest of federal dollars through the absti- the Sexuality Information and Education training materials, as well as supporting nence-only funding streams at the federal Council of the United States (SIECUS) instructors, administrators and the organ- level.24 In it, author Michael Reynolds

THE PUBLIC EYE24 FALL 2008 The Public Eye

Christian Right Pushes Abstinence- Christian Right groups only Education Internationally which provide litera- ture on abstinence tied In 2003, the Christian Right shifted the for- to their religious views, eign aid policy of the United States so that it and support biased promotes abstinence-only education abroad radio and TV programs through HIV/AIDS relief grants channeled that say that condoms to the Christian Right base of the George W. are unsafe in the fight Bush Administration. An Institute of Medi- against AIDS.3 School cine report confirms that these programs are programs funded by one of the biggest obstacles to challenging the grants push sexually the global HIV/AIDs epidemic, which sees active young people to five million new cases of HIV each year.1 “return to abstinence” Even so, in July both Houses of Congress and are banned from 4 renewed the legislation, called President’s providing condoms. Sergio Dionisio/Getty Images Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). This poses immense Australians send a message about the value of condoms during a visit by Rather than reversing its mandate that one- danger to the 19 mil- the Pope in July. third of prevention spending go to absti- lion adolescents already nence only (before marriage) education, engaging in sex in even those with skills sets deemed “nonsuit- the new law signed by President Bush in countries under PEPFAR’s purview. James able,” motivating Democratic Congressman July, instead requires groups to explain in Wagoner, president of the HIV peer-educa- Henry Waxman of California to say it “raises writing why they are not spending half of tion organization Advocates for Youth, told questions of political cronyism.” Kristin their grants on abstinence or faithfulness a Boston Globe reporter, “It is a public Kalla, who manages the AIDS contract for programs. health disgrace when we are creating a cli- CARE, an organization that has worked mate of fear around the most effective pre- with the U.S. government to aid the poor for The rest of prevention funding follows the vention tool for sexually active young people.”5 decades, was compelled to fund religious aid “ABC” format: abstinence, be faithful, and groups in order to secure its government use condoms, with emphasis on the first In somewhat milder terms, the Institute of contact. Kalla then was told that they had to two—even in populations of sex workers or Medicine found that the focus on abstinence be the “right types” of faith-based organiza- drug users who contract the disease through education should be rethought as insufficient tions – not the Jewish and Muslim ones she shared needles.2 due to the “early average age of sexual debut had offered grants, but Christian groups (and sometimes marriage) in many coun- such as Samaritan’s Purse, whose CEO and 6 While David Bryden of the Global AIDS tries.” Women also suffer disproportionately president, Rev. Franklin Graham, is a close Alliance is optimistic that the new legislation from the restrictions on condom education friend of Bush.8 will be less restrictive than the original, par- and distribution, since even getting married –Alex DiBranco ticularly if a Democratic Congress and presi- does not protect them from their husband’s dent view the reporting requirement as a mere extramarital affairs, which they are not End Notes formality, other groups are more upset. empowered to stop, nor can they to choose 1 Donald G. McNeil, “Bush’s Global AIDS Efforts whether or not to have sex.7 “There was a lack of political will among the Limited by Restrictions,” The New York Times, March 31, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/31/ Democratic leadership to actually fight the “Generally, African societies are conservative washington/31aids.html?_r=2&sq=Macklin&st=nyt&adx Bush administration, and its supporters in on issues of sex,” says Kapya Kaoma, a Polit- nnl=1&oref=slogin&scp=10&adxnnlx=1213700552- Congress, to get rid of the inappropriate and ical Research Associates researcher and c5Kk6Sx/gw5h4PlCujzOpw&oref=slogin. dysfunctional emphasis on abstinence and Anglican priest who saw the programs in 2 Julie F. Kay with Ashley Jackson, “Sex, Lies & Stereo- marriage prevention,” says William Smith, types: How Abstinence-Only Programs Hurt Women action while promoting condom use in and Girls,” (New York: Legal Momentum, 2008), 30- vice president for public policy at the Sexual- Africa. “Sex education was not something 31. ity Education and Information Council that was discussed in public. By avoiding 3 Planned Parenthood http://www.ppacca.org/site/ of the U.S. discussing sex, ‘abstinence-only’ enforces pp.asp?c=kuJYJeO4F&b=139536. male dominated African cultural norms.” 4 Ellen Marshall, International Women’s McNeil. 5 Health Coalition consultant on U.S. foreign While some groups have refused to adhere to Michael Kranish, “Religious Right Wield Clout: Secu- lar Groups Losing Funding Amid Pressure,” The Boston policy issues, says the conscience clause PEPFAR restrictions and thus lost funding, Globe, October 9, 2006, http://www.boston.com/news/ allows organizations to “pick and choose others have been refused contracts simply nation/articles/2006/10/09/religious_right_ who they serve based on any type of moral due to their secular nature or inclusion of wields_clout/. judgment they might have…we’re stuck accurate condom information in their ABC- 6 McNeil. with that for five years; we’ve written into education. Instead, a Boston Globe exposé 7 Kay, 34-37. law discrimination.” two years ago showed money is funneled to 8 Kranish predominantly Christian organizations, The original law created an industry of

THE PUBLIC EYE25 FALL 2008 The Public Eye chronicles how a single abstinence advo- of reasons why conservative strategists tor of the Abstinence and Marriage Part- cate, Raymond Ruddy, has spent millions might want to do so. nership, Scott Phelps, founded a D.C. of dollars supporting his favorite absti- Supporters tend to be more than single- lobbying group and trade association, the nence-only programs, crisis pregnancy issue voters, and clusters of followers are also National Abstinence Education Association centers, and other parachurch ministries, anti-abortion, pro-marriage, or anti-gay, in 2006 with Valerie Huber as its Execu- while simultaneously lobbying making them potentially responsive to tive Director. This group has become the Washington to increase its flow of federal one or more of these culture war issues. centralized voice of abstinence-only edu- dollars to these same groups. His col- Socially conservative organizing is alive cation: state-level coalitions of community- leagues include Wade Horn, the influen- and well around these issues, with groups based groups, most of which are crisis tial marriage promotion advocate with the like the Family Research Council, the pregnancy centers with abstinence-only National Fatherhood Initiative and the American Family Association, and other programs, feed into the national organi- Department of Health and Human Serv- energetic faith-based organizations main- zation and depend upon it for marketing ices. Their appointments in both the fed- taining their influence and energizing their the message of abstinence. eral government and organizations close to base. On the other side, groups like the 140- Ruddy help keep what Reynolds calls the In a recent move, The National Absti- member National Coalition to Support “faith-based feeding trough.” nence Education Association launched a Sexuality Education and its leadership at A recipient of AFLA funds has been the new “parents” initiative, Parents ForTruth, SIECUS have worked hard for years to Best Friends Foundation, a character and with a $1 million campaign in June 2008. counter the misleading claims of absti- abstinence education program founded It is the trade association’s public service nence-only spokespeople, and their level- in 1987 by Elayne Bennett, wife of William headed influence must be acknowledged. Bennett, who was Secretary of Education And in opposition to pro-abstinence at the time. Ms. Bennett’s success in education lobbyists, Rep. Barbara Lee (D- fundraising in both the private and pub- CA), Christopher Shays (R-CT), and Sen. lic domains is evidenced by Best Friends’ Keeping a conservative Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) have sponsored ability to continue to raise over $1 million the Responsible Education for Life Act a year in government grants and private campaign on the defensive (REAL), which is intended to counter the help from individuals and the conservative Bush administration’s success in estab- Richard DeVos, William Simon, and is not the same as a decisive lishing abstinence-only education as the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundations.25 only federally sanctioned sexuality edu- The founder of the Medical Institute for victory over it. cation. This would reflect the results of a Sexual Health, Joe McIlhaney, Jr., an evan- 2004 poll that showed parents supporting gelical gynecologist and board member of comprehensive sexuality education, includ- Best Friends, was appointed to key posts ing 94 percent supporting teaching about with the Centers for Disease Control and announcement and signature-gathering contraception and pregnancy prevention.27 Prevention as advisor to the Director and campaign to discredit comprehensive sex- Hopes for passage of this bill remain high, a member of the President’s Advisory uality education. Misusing information although the current legislation has gone Council on HIV/AIDS. The Institute from an HIV/AIDS prevention curriculum nowhere since March of 2007. received $250,000 as a special federal about the relative risk of various behaviors Other members of Congress, like the earmark grant in 2004 for its abstinence for HIV transmission, designed for African- California Democrat Henry Waxman, education research. American males 12-16, the group’s first have been leaders in criticizing federal sup- video depicts a suburban mother of what port for abstinence-only education,28 and What Next? looks to be a ten-year-old girl horrified at the first Congressional hearing on federal bstinence-only education will remain the content of her daughter’s health class.26 funding for such programs took place in Aa cultural force, no matter what level of Finally, the policymaking infrastruc- April 2008. Abstinence advocate Stan funding its programs receive because there ture is in place. Members of the Pro-Life Weed was the only witness identified by the are enough anxious parents, monied Caucus in Congress remain powerful Republican minority to defend the science investors, and conservative evangelicals to enough to influence their Democratic col- of abstinence-only education. His testi- continue to make grassroots demands on the leagues on key legislative votes, even to mony focused not on the success of absti- schools. But support for abstinence-only influence liberals to support programs nence-only programs but on the programs will continue to be a viable polit- they disagree with. Abstinence-only’s infra- methodological limitations of evaluations ical campaign only if its followers con- structure was further strengthened when of comprehensive sexuality education tinue to be mobilized, and there are plenty curriculum designer and executive direc- curricula. When he was accompanied by

THE PUBLIC EYE26 FALL 2008 The Public Eye a lobbyist, ValerieHuber from the National far been met with corresponding counter- 16 King K. Holmes, et al. “Effectiveness of Condoms in Pre- venting Sexually Transmitted Diseases,” Bulletin of the Abstinence Education Association, rather tactics. Winning a battle in the culture wars World Health Organization, (82) 6, June 2004. than another researcher, he looked espe- takes more energy and resources than 17 “Fact Sheets for Teens: Human Papilloma Virus,” cially vulnerable.29 merely being in the right. ■ Medical Institute for Sexual Health, Along with a counteroffensive from a http://www.medinstitute.org/content.php?name=hpv 18 William Smith, “Hearing Highlights Ab-Only Industry Democratic Congress, the campaign faces in Peril,” RH Reality Check Blog [Internet], April 30, a loss of its federal leaders. Wade Horn, End Notes 2008, at http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/node/7225 . 1 former assistant secretary at the federal Sharon Lerner, “The Sex Ed Divide,” American Prospect, 19 Christopher Trenholm et al, “Impacts of Four Title September 23, 2001. Department of Health and Human Serv- V,Section 510 Abstinence Education Programs,” Math- 2 Joel Spring, The American School: 1642-2004 (6th ed.) ematica Policy Research, April 2007, ices, best known as the Bush administra- (New York: McGraw Hill, 2005). http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/ publications/PDFs/impactabstinence.pdf . tion’s architect of marriage promotion as 3 “Abstinence Education: Efforts to Assess the Accuracy and a solution to poverty, was the administra- Effectiveness of Federally Funded Programs,” Report to 20 This is a claim on an abstinence-only website for Congressional Requesters (Washington, D.C.: Govern- Project Reality: http://wwwprojectreality.org/news/ tion’s chief supporter of abstinence-only ment Accountability Office) October 2006; Christopher index.php?newsid=53. education. He now works in the private sec- Trenholm, Barbara Devaney, Ken Forston, Lisa Quay, 21 Edward M. Shepard III, “The Economic Costs of tor for Deloitte. Justin Wheeler, and Melissa Clark, Impacts of Four Title D.A.R.E.,” Institute of Industrial Relations, Research V,Section 510 Abstinence Education Programs ( Princeton, paper #22, at http://www.reconsider.org/issues/ In 2005, Karl Rove brought to HHS a N.J.: Mathematica Policy Research) April 2007; see education/economic_costs_of_d.htm. National Abstinence Education Association at fierce welfare reformer and anti-abortion 22 htpp//:www.abstineneceassociation.org. Marcela Howell and Marilyn Keefe, “The History of Abstinence-Only Funding,” (Washington, D.C.: and pro-abstinence official, Claude Allen, 4 Kevin Freking, “States Turn Down U.S. Abstinence Advocates for Youth, 2007) http://www.advocatesfor who targeted comprehensive sexuality edu- Education Grants,” Boston Globe, June 24, 2008. youth.org/publications/factsheet/fshistoryabonly.pdf. 5 cation groups and arranged for Advocates Social Security Act §510 (b)(2) (codified at 42 U.S.C. 23 George W.Bush. TheTrue Goal of Education. [Speech at for Youth, a premier progressive sexuality §710 (b)(2). Gorham, NH, Tuesday, November 2, 1999]. education organization, to be audited mul- 6 Lawrence B. Finer, “Trends in Premarital Sex in the http://www.georgebush.com/news/speeches/1102.99_ed United States, 1954-2003,” Public Health Reports, 55 (Jan- ucation.html. tiple times.30 Allen lasted just over a year, uary-February 2007), 73-78. 24 Michael Reynolds, “The Abstinence Gluttons,” The before being arrested for theft related to a 7 Most states do not keep records on adolescent sexual iden- Nation, June 18, 2007. petty fake refund scam of retailers.31 tity, but the CDC’s biennial YouthRisk Behavior Survey 25 Best Friends Foundation 990 form, 2006; MediaTrans- Leslee Unruh, head of the Abstinence (YRBS) is a reliable source of information.The pre-pub- parency, “William E. Simon Foundation,” lished results for the 2007 Massachusetts YRBS provides http://www.mediatransparency.org/ Clearinghouse, was a teen mother herself us with this estimate. recipientsoffunder.php?funderID=30; Jeff Sklansky, and the founder of Alpha crisis pregnancy 8 Julie Kay,with Ashley Jackson, Sex, Lies & Stereotypes: How “D.C. Students Learn To Say ‘No’ to Sex; 75 Girls Abstinence-Only Programs HarmWomen and Girls (New Graduate From Pilot Program,” the Washington Post, center in South Dakota. She spearheaded York: Legal Momentum), January 2008 June 4, 1988, G3. the 2006 campaign to ban all abortions 9 Sharon Jayson, “Abstinence Message Goes BeyondTeens,” 26 http://www.parentsfortruth.org/video/index.php? in that state. However, according to USA Today, October 31, 2006, at http://www.usatoday. code=OHENL William Smith, her shrill TV presence com/news/washington/2006-10-30-abstinence-mes- 27 Kaiser Family Foundation, National Public Radio, and sage_x.htm . may have made her a liability for the Harvard University. Sex Education in America: General 10 Rachel Lovingood, “Something toTalkAbout,” True Love Public/Parents Survey. Menlo Park, CA:The Foundation, 32 abstinence-only cause. Waits, Southern Baptist Convention, 2004. Despite these promising changes at the http://www.lifeway.com/tlw/parents/lwt.asp . 28 “The Content of Federally-Funded Abstinence-Only national level, abstinence-only education 11 Tim Ellsworth, “Bush Thanks Southern Baptists,” Educational Programs,” report prepared for Rep. Henry Baptist Press, June 13, 2007. Waxman and the United States House of represeneta- continues to be powered through strong tives, Committee on Government Reform, December 12 Mary Beth Bonacci, “Exerpts from Vital Sign Min- support at the state level from state and local 2004, http://www.oversight.house.gov/documents/ istries Chastity Events”: http://www.vitalsigns 20041201102153-50247.pdf; politicians, and abstinence-only coalitions ministries.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&i d=1.The CDC has stated, “Latex condoms, when used 29 William Smith, “Hearing Highlights Ab-Only Industry marketing their perspective to parents and consistently and correctly, are highly effective in pre- in Peril,” RH Reality Check, April 30, 2008, school personnel. Liberal strategies pro- venting transmission of HIV, the virus that causes http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/node/7225 . moting state versions of the REAL Act, sup- AIDS.” http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/od/condoms.pdf . 30 Doug Ireland, “The Bush Theocracy,” LA Weekly, 13 Choosing the Best PATH Leader Guide, p. 18, as quoted January 13, 2005, http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/ porting well-informed, responsible teens in “Abstinence-Only_until_Marriage Programs in Ala- the-bush-theocracy/1059/ . through comprehensive sexuality educa- bama,” (SIECUS: New York, 2008) 10. 31 Ernesto Londoño and Michael A. Fletcher, “FormerTop tion, are thus as vital as vigilance in the 14 Family Accountability CommunicatingTeenSexuality Bush Aide Accused of Md. Thefts,” Washington Post, nation’s Capitol. (FACTS), Middle School Handbook (Portland, OR: March 11, 2006, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- Northwest Family Services, 2000) 50. dyn/content/article/2006/03/10/AR2006031002328_pf Keeping a conservative campaign on the .html . 15 “Setting the Record Straight: About Abstinence defensive is not the same as a decisive vic- Education and Choosing the Best,” 32 Telephoneconversation with the author, May 22, 2008. tory over it. Every tactic used to support http://www.choosingthebest.org/why_abstinence/ index.html comprehensive sexuality education has so

THE PUBLIC EYE27 FALL 2008 The Public Eye Book Review Racist Fundamentals on the Right sought to hold onto racist practices required a dis- From the New Deal to the New Right: Race and the course they believed to be about fundamental Southern Origins of Modern Conservatism American principles.” (p. 41) And that was, accord- By Joseph Lowndes ing to Collins, the power of individual states to stop Yale University Press, 2008, 224pp, $35 cloth police state action of the federal government in Reviewed by Abby Scher defense of liberty. The modern Right was built on the “founda- Lowndes moves on to show how President Eisen- tional violence” of racism, argues Joseph Lowndes hower’s support of Black students in Little Rock in this exciting new book. A University of Oregon cramped the rising power of Southern Republicans, political science professor, Lowndes takes on the and how the new magazine National Review pro- popular “backlash thesis” which suggests the “GOP moted them. William F.Buckley, Jr.’s notorious 1957 reclaimed the political field by asserting basic editorial “Why the South Must Prevail” supported American values of patriotism, family, hard work, White supremacy and elitism explicitly against fiscal responsibility against the excesses of the 1960s.” (p. 3) democracy: “because for the time being it is the advanced “White voters were pushed too far,” this thesis suggests, but race…The claims of civilization supersede those of universal suf- Lowndes in turn asks “why should white voters have seen black frage.” (p. 52) equality claims as detrimental to their interests?” He documents Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign in 1964 became the the decade by decade shifts that marginalized the moderates in institutional expression of the new alliance between free market the party of Lincoln who tended to accommodate to the New conservatives and the White anti-civil rights movement. Gold- Deal and avoid racist appeals, even as the Democrats struggled water had condemned federal troops in Oxford, Mississippi in over the racist policies built into the New Deal and the coali- 1962 in the name of state’s rights. While sidestepping explicit tion holding their party together. racism, he spoke a language that southerners (White and Black) From the Dixiecrat revolt of the 1940s through President understood. Richard Nixon’s embrace of a coded racist populism designed His landslide loss did not defeat the new White Southern to win working class Whites to his party, Lowndes tracks the way Republicans, as people’s partisan commitments were shaking up the Right convinced some White Americans to abandon the New nationwide. The presidential campaign of Alabama governor Deal in order to defend their White privilege.“The racial poli- George Wallacecontributed the vital piece of anti-elite populism tics that animated the Southern system were translated into a to the new configuration that Richard Nixon later embraced and national political idiom,” he argues. “As opposed to the Repub- which defines the modern Right. “Squeezed between ghetto and lican capture of the white South, we may better speak of the south- elites, the Right no longer was the defender of privilege but rather ern capture of the Republican Party.” (p. 5) as representative of the whole American people (p. 79). His law Building on the work of such scholars as DanT.Carter (From and order campaign derided the parasitic Blacks and welfare recip- George Wallace to Newt Gingrich: Race in the Conservative Coun- ients, and decadent liberals and hippie protestors. Wallace pre- terrevolution), Mary Dudziak (ColdWar Civil Rights: Race and the sented the south as the most “American” region of the country, Image of American Democracy), and Rick Perlstein (Before the Storm: marginalizing everyone but racist Whites as un-American. And Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of an American Consensus), his view took hold beyond the White south. Lowndes’ contribution is to analyze the entire post-war era. Lowndes ends his book with an interesting analysis of this new He starts with Charles Wallace Collins, author of the 1947 rightwing populist configuration in the Clint Eastwood film The book Whither Solid South? A Study in Politics and Race Relations. Outlaw JoseyWales. The film was based on a book written by Asa Collins was the spokesman for a small group of elite White South- Carter, the Klansman and ex-Wallace speechwriter, under a erners who opposed the New Deal and linked the “struggle for new identity. It is a bit odd reading a pop cultural analysis in a black rights to a tyrannical nation state.” World War II gave power work of political science, but it reflects Lowndes’ awareness that to the fight for black rights, and Collins correctly predicted the mass media was a vital place for working out and popularizing political divisions would shake up the parties. Yet his vision bring- the new racial codes and anti-government sentiment playing on ing together racism, “states rights,” and free market conservatism New Left and right-wing politics alike. His love of discourse and was not widely popular, even as he guided South Carolina Demo- reading the elite conservative players overlooks, however, the role crat StromThurmond during the Dixiecrat rebellion of the 1948 of the era’s social movements in creating these new configurations. election. But no one can argue with his conclusion that “The political Right came to dominate the political center by defining common “Given that American national identity was being recast in ■ the postwar era as racially democratic, white Southerners who sense—the very horizon of credible politics.” (p. 155)

THE PUBLIC EYE28 FALL 2008 The Public Eye ……Reports in Review…… REPORT OF THE MONTH Corporations’ Hometown News Journalists Give Workers the Business By David Madland, Center for American Progress, Washington, D.C., Across four target areas of economic news coverage—coverage of June 20, 2008. employment, minimum wage, trade, and credit debt—workers and http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/pdf/world_without_wo business were cited in a one-to-one ratio only in reports on credit debt. rkers.pdf While alternative news sources are growing, the mainstream media Debate about media bias has mainly centered on the left-right polit- still has the power to shape people’s perspectives on issues and influ- ical divide, characterized by heated, point/counterpoint about the sup- ence their voting.Therefore, quoting corporate perspectives in excess posedly liberal media. This report shows the real prejudice of leads audiences to have more favorable views of business, Madland mainstream media is its preference for business sources over workers argues.The report neglects to discuss the mainstream media’s general or unions. failure to run stories on labor organizing and conflict, which creates In a study that examines economic news in the five largest national an even stronger bias in favor of business. newspapers (Los AngelesTimes, NewYorkTimes, USAToday,WallStreet He says the cause of the bias lies in journalism’s evolution into an Journal, and WashingtonPost), and the majorTV broadcast and cable “elite profession,” with privileged reporters more likely to be conser- news networks (ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, CNN, FOX vative, pro-business, and associate with elite sources rather than News, and CNBC), David Madland found that journalists quoted busi- working class ones.The solution is for journalists to admit to their bias, ness sources over twice as often as either unions or workers themselves. and then change their ways. – Alex DiBranco Other Reports in Review Women’s Greater Economic still suffered more in comparison to men of http://people-press.org/reports/pdf/417.pdf Hardship the same education bracket. Republicans are growing increasingly skep- Women at Greater Risk of Economic Inse- In addition, women are twice as likely to tical that global warming is actually happen- curity: A Gender Analysis of the Rockefeller be single parents, putting an additional strain ing, even as Americans as a whole are more Foundation’s American Worker Survey on their already limited resources. Mother- likely to accept the idea. Six percent more Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Washing- hood is a precarious economic situation: Americans in 2008 believe evidence points ton D.C., May 2008. Mothers have far less job security than men toward the existence of global warming com- http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/D482AWSReport.pdf or single women, but have more mouths pared to last year, bringing the total to 77 per- dependant on their paycheck. Women were Using data compiled by the Rockefeller cent; 13 percent fewer Republicans believe in twice as likely as men to have passed up tak- Foundation’s American Worker Survey, this global warming since 2007. ing their child to the doctor because they did report presents the unsurprising news that This survey report provides a useful not have enough money or insurance. women, and in particular women of color, are overview of the demographics of global warm- Women of color are hit hardest. Almost half struck hardest by economic downturns. ing believers and dissenters without analyzing of African-American women and 40 percent Much of the report reads as a psychologi- why the trends are happening. For instance, of Hispanics have been unable to pay a bill on cal study: women worry more about their eco- college-educated Democrats are more likely time, as compared to 26 percent of White nomic security, they’re “jittery” about the to accept human causes for global warming, women. Asked about their employment sta- impact of inflation, and they’re anxious about but Republicans with college degrees are less tus over the past year, almost twice as many lacking health insurance and pensions. But likely to agree that global warming has human women of color reported having been invol- with reason: “Women’s unease about their causes—an intriguing finding that leaves fur- untarily unemployed. – Alex DiBranco finances is not simply a greater propensity to ther questions about the grounds for their worry; it reflects their experiences of material beliefs. Republicans Less Likely to hardship.” Women are twice as likely as men The report also notes a generation gap BelieveinGlobalWarming to make less than $19,000, and almost twice regarding perspectives on global warming, as likely to have found themselves unable to A Deeper Partisan Divide over Global with young people under thirty much more pay for food or prescription medication. Warming likely to believe it is caused by human activity While more educated women fared better than The Pew Research Center for People and the (54 percent versus 37 percent). their less fortunate female counterparts, they Press, Washington D.C., May 8, 2008. – Alex DiBranco

THE PUBLIC EYE29 FALL 2008 The Public Eye

Immigration as a Global Agenda And while Dobbs, O’Reilly, and Beck She also suggests reframing the issue so that it becomes a natural extension of African- Border Crossings: Links between bemoan the impact of immigrants “leeches,” Americans’ struggle for civil rights and against Immigration, Debt and Trade undocumented immigrants, while not con- tributing as much on the state and local level, discrimination. – Alex DiBranco By Sarah Anderson, Institute for Policy Studies, pay into federal programs (like social security) Washington D.C., June 20, 2008. Spying Matters http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/#515 from which they are ineligible to receive bene- fits. Overall, they’re paying more into the sys- As long as people are suffering from an Fusion Center Update tem than they’re getting back. abysmal quality of life in their home countries, By Mike German and Jay Stanley, American Civil The report also takes on Dobbs’ & Co.’s migrants without documents will continue to Liberties Union, Washington, D.C., July 2008. conspiracism, most notably the fabricated come to the United States. From this simple News is breaking fast and furious about the elite plan to merge the U.S., Mexico, and insight, Sarah Anderson argues policymaking threat of government “fusion centers,” which Canada into one “North American Union.” on immigration must take a global perspective. collect and distribute “intelligence” from Depending on their mood, they might also Taking Haiti, Honduras, El Salvador, and both private data companies and police sources warn that illegal immigrants are committing Mexico as case studies, Anderson argues that on the local, state and federal levels. So much voter fraud in droves. – Alex DiBranco debt cancellation by the World Bank and so that the ACLU published this update to its IMF,protections of workers rights, reparations November 2007 report on the subject, warn- African-American and ing the network could lead to a “total sur- for “odious” debts contracted under U.S.-sup- LGBT Rights ported dictators, and waivers of NAFTA veillance society.” requirements for these countries would go a At the Crossroads: African-American Among the recent news: in March 2008 long way toward improving economic con- Attitudes, Perceptions, and Beliefs toward the Los Angeles Police Department issued ditions there.This, in turn, would reduce the Marriage Equality LAPD Special Order #11, which charges its root cause of desperate immigration to the C. Nichole Mason, Ph.D, National Black Jus- officers to create “suspicious activity reports” United States. – Alex DiBranco tice Coalition, Washington D.C. and Freedom (SARs) compiling “information of a criminal to Marry, New York City, May 2008. or non-criminal nature.” An SAR promotes Immigration Myths http://www.nbjcoalition.org/news/marriage_ racial profiling and violation of protected report.pdf first amendment activity by encouraging beat Fear and Loathing in Prime Time: Immi- A large proportion of the Black commu- cops to track those using binoculars, taking gration Myths and Cable News nity is annoyed by efforts to equate the LGBT pictures or video footage “with no apparent Media Matters Action Network, Washington, rights movement with the civil rights move- esthetic value,” and those taking notes. While D.C., May 21, 2008. ment, says author C. Nichole Mason. Nearly nominally anonymous under federal stan- http://mediamattersaction.org/reports/fearand 75 percent of African Americans believe that dards, such SARs contain enough information loathing/ homosexuality is always wrong; 65 percent that individuals can be identified once chan- Not only are undocumented immigrants oppose marriage equality and, in contrast to neled to fusion centers with access to private criminals who act as a massive drain upon the the trend toward LGBT-sympathy over the data bases. And they violate federal law ban- United States’ economy,they also are causing past 10 years, these numbers have been climb- ning police from collecting information on an outbreak of leprosy. Well, at least accord- ing. There is significantly more support for someone unless there is “reasonable suspicion” ing to cable commentators like Lou Dobbs, LGBT rights among White and Latino com- of criminal conduct. who uses his prime time show Lou Dobbs munities, and the report asks why, especially Far from being an isolated development, Tonight to launch anti-immigration screeds since prominent religious leaders such as the in June the departments of Justice and Home- and to propagate myths. Dobbs and other Rev. Al Sharpton and civil rights leaders such land Security, and the Major City Chiefs cable hosts, most notably Bill O’Reilly and as CorettaScottKing advocate marriage equal- Association, recommended that other U.S. Glenn Beck, devote an astonishing proportion ity. cities take up the LAPD practice. of their air time (70 percent, in Dobbs’ case, Mason suggests the political leaders are less Commercial databases accessed by fusion according to a new report) to championing the influential than the numerous Black churches center staff allow them to make an end run cause against undocumented immigrants. that embrace homophobic teachings and around privacy laws preventing police from Dobbs and his ilk will air coverage of one view same-sex marriage as unholy. She adds maintaining individual dossiers on people not engaged in wrongdoing.Those prohibited crime perpetrated by an undocumented immi- that some Black men harbor concerns that sup- by state law from buying credit reports can sim- grant over and over and over again, to give the port for LGBT rights will call into question ply ask a fusion center in another state to pro- illusion of rampant crime. Dobbs fabricated their own sexuality,which they feel has already vide the desired information. the statistic that “just about a third of the prison been degraded by racism. Despite their threat to civil liberties, the feds population in this country is estimated to be However, she points out the limitations of her own sources for understanding the prob- seem to be working to exempt the centers from illegal aliens”; in fact, noncitizens comprise state Freedom of Information laws as hap- barely six percent of the overall prison popu- lem, since she drew on a mish-mash of state- wide surveys in her analysis. pened in Virginia in April 2008 by action of lation. the state legislature. –Ashley Pandya

THE PUBLIC EYE30 FALL 2008 The Public Eye Eyes RIGHT

CHRISTIAN LEADERS Source: “Arizona Gov. Cuts Immigration Enforcement before it’s too late.The website is perfect for Funds,” Middle American News, June 2008 those who are so confident of their own sal- WANT OPRAH TO PUT GOD http://www.manews.org/0608arizona.html BACK INTHE BOX vation that they expect to be whisked away Despite her strict Baptist upbringing, Oprah to heaven while the rest of humanity burns Winfrey frequently features New Age spiri- THROUGHTHE LOOKING on earth below. tuality on her popular daytime talk show, GLASS ON GUN SAFETY Source: Noreen Herzfeld, “Left Behind or Left in Cyberspace?” Sightings, http://marty-cen- explaining that she “took God out of the box.” Larry Pratt posits that those critical of private ter.uchicago.edu/sightings/archive_2008/0717.shtml But Christian leaders, such as Cynthia Hale, gun ownership are getting their facts wrong: founder of Ray of Hope Christian Church, more guns means less crime, not the other and James Robison, cohost of the Christian way around. Finding research to support talk show LifeToday, voice concerns that she his theories, he claims that firearms are used is leading Christians astray. While Hale is a about 2.5 million times a year in self fan of Oprah’s, she wishes she’dreturn to the defense—almost always without having to be rules she grew up with: “If we cannot [admit discharged. He urges victims to resist their we sin], how do people recognize the fact that attackers, warning that otherwise they are over in and of ourselves we are depraved and twice as likely to get seriously injured or killed. doomed, except we give our life to Christ and In addition, Pratt supports children bring- Eye be saved?” ing guns to school since they only use them LASHES Source: Ken Walker, “Oprah’s Strange New Gospel,” to “kill a squirrel or rabbit on the way home.” Charisma, July 2008. According to him, the real risk at stake is not http://charismamag.com/articles/index.php?id=17369 danger to children, but rather a gun ban pro- International Bankers posal that amounts to a subversive plot by the Victimize Women POLITICAL ELITES PICK ON government to create dependence, and to Feminism was not a SHERIFF ARPAIO; SLASHING expunge personal responsibility from the IMMIGRATIONTASK FORCE debate. “spontaneous grass roots FUNDS Source: “Making Our Neighborhoods Safe: A Fearful social phenomena. It was In May, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano Policy of Zero Tolerance for Firearms Does Not Provide Safety or Security; Only an Emphasis on Personal top-down elite social signed an executive order cutting $1.6 mil- Responsibility Can Do That,” The New American, lion out of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s human smug- April 14, 2008 engineering…wholly gling task force budget. “To the extent that http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JZS/is_8_24/ai_n sponsored by the central 25399776/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1 the sheriff is using state money to fund bankers in order to make sweeps that were causing trepidation in the AMIDST THE BURNING women have careers immigrant community, that state money ASH OF THE RAPTURE, will no longer be available,” she told reporters. A MESSAGE DELIVERED instead of families. A film Middle American News says Napolitano cut producer, the late Aaron off the program “because it made illegal For those awaiting the Rapture, a new web- aliens fearful of arrest.” site, Youvebeenleftbehind.com, allows you Russo, was told this by In good populist fashion, the News further to store a message (for forty dollars a year) that the Rockefellers. warns the move only “helps Arizona’s big will be sent to up to 62 loved ones six days ” commercial operations maintain a steady after you are taken from the Earth.The mes- –Henry Makow, “It’s OK to be aWoman,” The Nationalist Times, May 2008, flow of cheap immigrant labor and promises sage can contain anything from bank account numbers and passwords to a final letter beg- http://www.henrymakow.com/its_ok_t to help swell the membership of radical His- o_be_a_woman.html panic organizations after political power.” ging family and friends to accept Christ

THE PUBLIC EYE31 FALL 2008 The Public Eye

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