Sarah Palin used AK tax dollars to fund dominionist churches

[kath]

another well-researched article from dogemperor- the third in a series on Sarah Palins ties to extremist religionist groups. It appears at Daily Kos, but for those wanting to send it to friends who don't like Kos for whatever reason, it is also mirrored at Talk To Action and Newsvine.

These 3 articles need to be disseminated as widely as possible. Let me echo the sentiments of Douglas Carpenter, who posted the first article here at DU last Saturday:
"Sarah Palin seems to be deeply involved with extremist religious groups with a very dangerous political agenda.

I STRONGLY RECOMMEND READING THIS WHOLE ARTICLE AND SENDING IT TO EVERYONE ON YOUR E-MAIL LIST AND POSTING IT EVERYWHERE AND ANYWHERE"

DailyKos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/4/12289/69937/415/586412
Newsvine: http://dogemperor.newsvine.com/_news/2008/09/04/1827368-sarah-palin-used-ak-tax-dollars-to-fund-dominionist-churches

Talk to Action: http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/4/155547/0997

DU threads on the 2 earlier articles in the series:
#1 http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=3883263
#2 http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3922719


Excerpt from latest, titled "Sarah Palin used AK tax dollars to fund dominionist churches"

Today, we find that part of those funding scandals include the tax money of Alaskans used to pay for youth programs at Juneau Christian Center. We also reveal info regarding a particularly disturbing Assemblies frontgroup Palin recently did a talk at, and we go into researching the dominionist connections of her most recent church--Wasilla Bible Church.


Your tax dollars, going to support dominionism for kids

In another example of what appears to be some extensive whitewashing at almost all of Palin's former and present churches, there were some very interesting links removed from JCC's site regarding an interesting bit of largesse by Sarah Palin to the church.

Fortunately, an astute blogger happened to archive the material, which included not only documentation of a $25,000 grant to JCC's "The Hub" from Palin's administration, but also a request for $100,000 total in state and federal funding and pictures of Palin actually being at the opening of "The Hub" (which have since been scrubbed from her website).

And all is definitely not as it seems with "The Hub".

"The Hub" is essentially a frontgroup run by JCC for recruitment of future members--much of its activities focus on recruiting kids. The page itself begins with the phrase "Destiny Has Begun!"--a codephrase commonly used in "Joel's Army" circles to denote the "generation of destiny" (the new rebranding of "Joel's Army" borrowed from an Assemblies-linked church in New Zealand, now that the press is starting to catch onto the "Joel's Army" branding). "Destiny" in and of itself is a favourite codephrase in these circles--in "Joel's Army" theology, people are "destined" to inherit all manner of wealth and take over the planet and whatnot. The original blogger has also noted he's received some info to suggest that ongoing prosyletisation may be going on at "The Hub":

More evidence of Palin's dallyances with Joel's Army

Possibly some of the more damning info yet on Palin's membership in "Joel's Army" comes from the recent revelations of Palin's speech to a group called "Master's Commission". The full transcript of her speech has now come out, and it's actually worse than the initial reports of her claiming that Gulf War II was a holy crusade.

Some of the badness is from specific codewords she uses (at the beginning, she literally describes the members as being under the "umbrella of the church"--a codephrase used in orgs that use abusive "cell churches" to denote the cell-church relationship). And she gives some real zingers, too, including one which notes pretty much why I get alarm bells when I hear neopentecostal dominionist churches ranting about "destiny":
........
(Yes, you're reading this right--Palin is stating, flat out, that the whole reason that Alaska is rick in natural resources and why people are moving there is so that neopentes can hold the Great-Grandmother Of All Revivals.)

MUCH more at link - these articles are VERY well researched. They're lengthy, but well worth your time.

[sakabatou]

1. Another illegal move made by Republicans

[AzDar]

2. Ugh. Yanno, this skeezer might, MIGHT, just be worse than Cheney.

:wow:

[kath]

3. I fear she is.

Especially whan you consider that some fundies are praying for God to smite McSame, so that Palin will be Pres.

This is some scary shit.

[Disturbed]

5. This documentation needs to be sent to the Alaska DOJ!!!

documentation of a $25,000 grant to JCC's "The Hub" from Palin's administration, but also a request for $100,000 total in state and federal funding and pictures of Palin actually being at the opening of "The Hub" (which have since been scrubbed from her website).

[Delphinus]

27. Hard to believe,

but you may be right. :(

[tularetom]

4. "Joel's Army" WTF?

I know Arnold Palmer had an army, but Billy Joel?

[kath]

7. See this thread from yesterday:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3922702

Also, I'm sure that story is linked to in one or more of dogemperor's 3 articles on Palin.

[valerief]

6. keek

:kick:

:scared:

[Breeze54]

8. Did anyone check Bush's Community Organizing Faith Based Initiatives are involved?

Bookmarking!! Thanks and unfuckingbelievable!! :grr:

[MadrasT]

9. I've been following dogemperor's articles and

this woman scares the SHIT out of me. :hide: Thanks (I think) for the link to this 3rd one in the series.

:kick: and R, everyone needs to be aware of this.

[Disturbed]

12. I bet Rachel Maddow will follow this closely.

If this is "Official" I don't doubt that she will make this a topic on her TV show.

[BrklynLiberal]

10. Just a little taste of what will happen if McSame and Barracuda make it to the White House..

Just imagine what would happen if a Supreme Court Justice has to be appointed during their reign of terror?

[grasswire]

29. her reign, you mean...

...you really don't think that people who kill doctors will let him stand in the way of their army, do you?

[Winterblues]

11. Alaskans don't pay any tax so what money are you talking about?

Alaskans pay no state income tax nor state sales tax. What "state" tax dollars are you talking about?

[Breeze54]

13. AK businesses pay taxes and some property and small business owners. n/t

[Winterblues]

17. Maybe you could be a bit more specific since I happen to be a small business owner.

I don't know what taxes you could be referring too.

[Breeze54]

19. SOME pay taxes.... I'm just going by this-->

Alaska Tax Facts

http://www.commerce.state.ak.us/dca/osa/taxfacts.htm


* Alaska is the largest state in the United States, however, for all its vastness, only a small
portion of the land mass is subject to a property tax.

* There are approximately 391 communities in Alaska, many of which still remain unincorporated.
There are 162 incorporated municipalities (Local Governments). Of those 162, 17 are incorporated
into Boroughs (Boroughs are a rough equivalent to counties) and the remainder are incorporated
as cities.

* Of the 17 Boroughs, only 13 levy a property tax.

* Only 12 Cities located outside of Boroughs levy a property tax. Therefore, only 25
municipalities in Alaska (either cities or boroughs) levy a property tax.

* 108 municipalities (reporting) levy a general sales tax. Sales tax rates range from
a low of 1% to a high of 7%.

* The "typical" sales tax rates are from 3%-5%.

* Other types of local taxes levied are raw fish taxes, hotel/motel "bed" taxes, severance
taxes, liquor and tobacco taxes, gaming (pull tabs) taxes and fuel transfer taxes.

* In 2007, local governments generated approximately $1.21 billion in revenues from property,
sales and severance taxes. Of that amount $957.6 million was from property taxes.

* Prudhoe Bay and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline (TAPs) contribute a little over $236 million
in property taxes to local government.

* Alaska exempts from property taxes, the first $150,000 of assessed value for all senior citizens
(65 years of age and over) and disabled veterans (50% or more service connected disability).

* The average assessed value exempted from taxes for senior citizens and disabled veterans
is $134,434 which equated to a tax exemption of $1,784 for 2007.

* In 2007, the total full value for all municipalities (over 750 in population) was $84.3 billion
(including TAPS). With a statewide population of 670,053 the per capita full value was $125,741.

* The average per capita property tax paid in all municipalities, excluding oil and gas properties, was $1,228.

* There is no statewide sales tax levied.

* There is no personal state income tax.

[Disturbed]

14. Property Taxes?

:shrug:

[Winterblues]

16. Property taxes are municiple not state

I don't know what "state" taxes they are talking about.

[Ikonoklast]

18. Oil and gas revenue taxes

The money paid belongs to the citizens of Alaska.

[Odin2005]

15. This woman is REALLY terrifying me. n/t.

[starroute]

20. There's probably a lot to be found on Alaska and the faith-based initiative

It doesn't start with Sarah Palin, however -- for exaample, here's something from 2005:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/19/AR2005101902122.html

Critics of the faith-based initiative got a boost last week when the U.S. Department of Education suspended a $435,000 grant for Alaska Christian College, an unaccredited, one-year school run by the Evangelical Covenant Church.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based group, had filed a lawsuit contending that the grant amounted to an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. After sending an inspector to visit the Alaskan school in July, the Education Department agreed. The inspector's report said the curriculum was "almost entirely religious."

Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said that over the past two years, Congress earmarked nearly $1 million for the bible school, about $20,000 per student. She called the money "religious pork" brought home by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), who took credit for this year's $435,000 grant in a November press release.

However, there's also this indication of continuity in policies:

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6660

The election of 2006 brought to about a dozen state capitals the arrival of new governors, most of whom kept the state offices for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives they inherited from their predecessors with few major changes.

In some cases, the offices were maintained because the new governor was a successor of the same political party. In Alaska, Gov. Sarah Palin ( R ) easily adopted the Alaska Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives set up by the former Republican governor. And, with help from the legislature, Palin has advanced its role and authority.

I also found a FY2008 Alaska faith-based initiative budget at http://gov.state.ak.us/omb/08_OMB/budget/HSS/comp2849.pdf. There's not a lot of detail in it, but I do notice a few interesting things -- starting with the fact that it's the budget for the "Office of Faith Based & Community Initiatives." That wouldn't be some of those dreaded community organizers, would it? It even boasts further down that "The Office and Council, in partnership with the Alaska State Community Service Commission, sponsored a conference, '2006 Volunteerism & FBCI Summit' which was well attended."

[starroute]

21. Oh, this is amusing

http://gov.state.ak.us/archive-13554.html

Governor to Honor Outstanding Volunteers in Alaska

February 13, 2007, Juneau, Alaska - Governor Sarah Palin invites all Alaskans to help recognize their fellow citizens who have shown extraordinary volunteer service, by nominating them for her Outstanding Volunteer of the Year Awards. The nomination forms, due by March 23, 2007, are available on the Governor’s website (www.gov.state.ak.us), at the capitol in Juneau, or at the Governor’s regional offices in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Kenai, and Wasilla.

The awards committee, chaired by the Governor’s mother, Sally Heath, will award those volunteers who engage in unpaid volunteer activities within the State of Alaska, demonstrate personal commitment to long-term volunteer service, and have made a significant impact benefiting Alaska.

The winners will be honored at a luncheon which will be held at the Sheraton Hotel, April 23, 2007, at 11:30 a.m., in conjunction with the Alaska Statewide Community Service & Faith-Based Summit, April 23-24, 2007.

The summit is presented by the Alaska State Community Service Commission and the Alaska Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Nominations must be hand-delivered or postmarked no later than March 23, 2007, at 5:00 p.m.

[Beaverhausen]

23. that needs a thread all it's own

lots of things that make you go hmmmmm in there

[jazzjunkysue]

22. Blatant and provable violation of the establishment clause. Indict.

The law says you can have religion in schools but you can't have government funding of churches.

When a group of students want to start an after school bible club, it's OK. As long as it's run by kids, not teachers. The authority of the school cannot be used to push religion.

But there is absolutely no gray area about public funding: It can't go to a school. Period.

This is actionable.

The DNC should be all over this, if it's in fact a democratic group.

[kath]

24. Another article on Palin's churches and their ties to Joel's Army and other

extremist theocratic groups:

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/5/03830/11602

Be sure to also read part One of the article, which serves as a primer on the history of pentecostalism and the Assemblies of God.

Thanks to ensho for posting this article in another thread.

[earth mom]

25. This is some scary shit folks!

:scared:

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

26. This should be sent to Bill Maher

Religion in politics is probably his biggest bête noire.

[kath]

28. kickity

[kath]

30. Since more is making into the media about Palin's churches, this needs a kick.