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Michele Bachmann's Home Schooled Child Army


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littlegreenfootballs.com/page/253044_Michele_Bachmanns_Home_Schoole

I don't think I have ever heard of Generation Joshua. According to this, they train home schoolers to be political activists for the GOP.

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I think I've heard of it...is this the shady group that Sarah and Todd Palin supposedly have been linked to or am I thinking of another crazy far-right group?

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littlegreenfootballs.com/page/253044_Michele_Bachmanns_Home_Schoole

I don't think I have ever heard of Generation Joshua. According to this, they train home schoolers to be political activists for the GOP.

Oh, there was a whole section on this in God's Harvard. They're not Bachmann's group but were founded by HSLDA. IIRC, the theory behind it (as explained by Farris) is that the parents of the 1970s/80s were the pioneers who took their kids out of heathen public school and began educating them to be the next faithful generation. However, they liken themselves to Moses in that they led the way, but were still outsiders and didn't get to reap the benefits of being in the Promised Land.

The current generation of teens and 20s/30s are considered Generation Joshua in this mode of thinking. They were raised in fundie homeschool culture and are meant to usher in a new Promised Land where the ideals they were raised in will be brought into government and society. The stated goal of the organization is to raise up the next generation of Christian leaders. You're in the actual GenJ group from age 10-19 (or maybe 20) and then you're supposed to go start infiltrating the halls of power. The GenJ kids are little political campaign foot soldiers and Patrick Henry students will sometimes mentor them. I've seen them swarming the DC area before and I suspect that Bachmann is one of the candidates this crowd would support.

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Yet another reason why I may not vote in the 2012 election. In one corner, we have Obama the Incompetent and in the other corner are a bunch of right-wing whackadoodle nutjobs.

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Yet another reason why I may not vote in the 2012 election. In one corner, we have Obama the Incompetent and in the other corner are a bunch of right-wing whackadoodle nutjobs.

Lesser of two evils. There may be a lot I'm not happy with Obama about (though I recognize in most things he's probably doing as best he can with what Bush handed him and the spineless backing of the rest of a Democrats), at least he's not working to get me sent back to the kitchen by force, barefoot, pregnant, and all.

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Lesser of two evils. There may be a lot I'm not happy with Obama about (though I recognize in most things he's probably doing as best he can with what Bush handed him and the spineless backing of the rest of a Democrats), at least he's not working to get me sent back to the kitchen by force, barefoot, pregnant, and all.

I'm more worried about ending up in the soup kitchen, not the regular kitchen.

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Yet another reason why I may not vote in the 2012 election. In one corner, we have Obama the Incompetent and in the other corner are a bunch of right-wing whackadoodle nutjobs.

Obama is not incompetent. He knows what is needed to get this economy, which is to go back to the taxes of the Clinton administration and start investing in things like infrastructure. But he can't do that because the Republicans block everything.

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I think I've heard of it...is this the shady group that Sarah and Todd Palin supposedly have been linked to or am I thinking of another crazy far-right group?

I don't think so because while she supports homeschooling, I don't she has ever home schooled her own kids or gotten as deeply involved in it like Michele.

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Obama is not incompetent. He knows what is needed to get this economy, which is to go back to the taxes of the Clinton administration and start investing in things like infrastructure. But he can't do that because the Republicans block everything.

People seem to have very short memories. Obama was handed two unfunded wars and an economy that was teetering on the edge of a cliff like no other time since the Great Depression. Yes, things are not great for many people still, but I am actually amazed that we are not much worse off. Unemployment rates are at just under 10%, which is not great, but considering that it was 25% during the Great Depression, it could definitely be worse. When Obama took office, the economy was hemorrhaging 750,000 jobs a month. Now we're adding jobs every month - not as many as we need - but at least it's going in a positive direction.

The GOP is deeply invested in blocking anything that will improve the economy in any way. They can't have more Americans working and unemployment dropping in time for the 2012 elections. As a republican most of my life, I never imagined this much cynicism and self-interest playing out in the party. Mitch McConnell was making the news rounds last weekend basically telling anyone who would listen that the republicans had little interest in cooperating with any effective effort to reduce the deficit as they want Obama to look bad. They need him to look bad. He as much as said it, over and over again. No shame whatsoever.

It is clearly naive to think that many legislators are in Washington working on behalf of their constituents. I know mine isn't. He is too worried about protecting the tax cuts and loopholes for his rich friends, the so-called "job creators", who are not creating jobs. I think these rich businessmen, the "job creators", should have to prove they are actually creating jobs in order to continue to receive these tax cuts. Tax rates need to go back to what they were under Clinton, and no one can argue that the slightly higher tax rates for the rich under his administration seriously hampered the economy or their ability to create jobs. It had not been better in decades nor since.

The executive branch of government only has so much power. The legislative branch is at least as equally as powerful, and the GOP is bent on breaking Obama's presidency at any cost. Any cost. So considering the amazingly coordinated, vicious opposition against him, Obama has made surprising gains and pushed through important legislation. If I have a major criticism of Obama, it is that he has tacked too far to the right. These republicans won't work with him no matter what he does, so I wish he would stop trying with them and just work on issues that will benefit the American people to the extent that the executive branch can.

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Austin:

Thank you for that post. A lot of people fail to remember the chaos that Bush left him and with more than half the legislative branch hell bent on defeating anything he puts forth (even legislation that they would normally support), it's amazing he's gotten anything done.

I don't agree with everything Obama has done (but then I wouldn't agree with everything any person did), but I like the man and I think he's a decent president.

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Can someone tell me what all this means? This isn't my county but the county I used to work in and I know it's a very depressed area.

Income and Poverty Number Rank in State Percent of State Indiana

Per Capita Personal Income (annual) in 2009 $30,751 50 90.4% 34,022

Median Household Income in 2009 38,629 82 85.0% $45,427

Poverty Rate in 2009 18.1% 8 125.7% 14.4%

Poverty Rate among Children under 18 25.1% 11 126.1% 19.9%

Welfare (TANF) Monthly Average Families in 2010 311 19 1.0% 30,864

Food Stamp Recipients in 2010 11,562 15 1.4% 829,907

Free and Reduced Fee Lunch Recipients in 2011 5,976 20 1.2% 488,964

I can't get it to change format it's all stuck and junk.

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Holy Rollers were going on about this twenty years ago or so. They proclaimed it the "Joshua Generation" because they believed that whatever you want to call the generation just after gen X would go in to "take the land" like Joshua went into Canaan so that the Israelites could take over the Promised Land. This was the whole "late great planet earth - left behind" version of dominionism, but I think was less scary than the authoritarian Doug Phillips types that want to take over and be in charge and reinvent the Massachusetts Bay Colony or Geneva or something.

Everyone in the early '90s who was around young people or was into inspiring young people talked about the Joshua Generation. That would have been the first BIG wave of homeschoolers, from K-12.

I guess that since then, someone picked up and ran with the terminology, and there are now conferences and organizations that bear the name.

Like everything else, you can make a buck and a career out of a well-marketed catch phrase.

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Austin:

Thank you for that post. A lot of people fail to remember the chaos that Bush left him and with more than half the legislative branch hell bent on defeating anything he puts forth (even legislation that they would normally support), it's amazing he's gotten anything done.

I don't agree with everything Obama has done (but then I wouldn't agree with everything any person did), but I like the man and I think he's a decent president.

This. I have honestly felt sorry for Obama ever since he was elected. People expected him to be like political Jesus just because his skin is a different color. There was no possible way he could ever, EVER have lived up to the hype, simply because he is human like the rest of us. Not only that, he was handed a country that was on the brink of falling apart to run. Now he has to contend with the fact that our two major political parties have been reduced to squabbling toddlers who start foaming at the mouth at the sight of each other. Obama is an intelligent man, which is more than can be said of some of our past presidents. He does what he can, which is sadly not a lot. He is not jesus or superman, just a lawyer with a phenomenally good publicist. I sincerely doubt that anyone, of any party, would have been able to do more in the same situation.

In the interest of full disclosure, I consider myself a member of no party, and I don't think Obama is perfect. I did vote for him, though, and will most likely vote for him again, because I'd rather have a decent man with clipped wings as President than a madwoman like Bachmann.

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I'm more worried about ending up in the soup kitchen, not the regular kitchen.

...do you really think that not voting is going to help you? seriously, can you explain your reasoning for this? i don't understand people who don't vote, especially in such a highly polarized political climate. There's got to be one side you lean to.

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On Obama: I'm Australian, and I think the Republican party is batshit insane and evil. Twenty years ago, probably not, but it seems it's only just beginning to extract itself from the courtship and interlinking that went on between evangelical Christianity and the party (which was bad for both of them). The Democrats might be more left out of the two only options Americans have, but that doesn't mean they're left AT ALL. I consider Australia's 'left' party (we don't just have the choice of two, but there are still two main players atm) to be a little to the right, and its 'right' party to be a little more to the right; generally I think the Democrats are right and the Republicans are batshit idiot right. And ALL THAT BEING SAID, I STILL like Obama. I really, really like him. I'm sure he's done awful things, made 'concessions' that weren't really concessions but him pandering to big companies, and let things fall through the gaps - and I still really, really like him. And I know you've all been desperate to hear my opinion on this matter, so it's okay, you can now go on with your lives :roll:

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On Obama: I'm Australian, and I think the Republican party is batshit insane and evil. Twenty years ago, probably not, but it seems it's only just beginning to extract itself from the courtship and interlinking that went on between evangelical Christianity and the party (which was bad for both of them).

I'm Canadian and I agree. The GOP was acceptably good even 20 years ago, but insufferable and bat-shit crazy now that it's the Republican Party of Jesus. Legislating people's private lives - e.g., homosexuality and reproduction - is not exactly conducive to small government, and nor is starting a bunch of wars without any realistic way to pay for them.

I hope the backlash against this fuckery is such that no one will be able to run on a religious ticket in the US for at least another 50 years after the smoke clears.

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Well, I agree with Burris above (haven't figured how to do that quote in a reply thing yet),

I really hope there are major backlashes against the GOP for the direction they are currently going and I am glad others think kind of the same way. I am surrounded by family and friends that are like the toddler comment above, the see democrat they they think satan. No use talking sense or pointing out what's wrong with their line of thinking because the GOP is never wrong and Obama can't do anything right.

Now with Bachmann stuff with home school army is not the first time I have heard that. Really creepy.

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Bookworm89--it's the "quote" button at the top right of the post.

QueenNocturne, thank you for your profile pic. Nathan Fillion shirtless... sigh. Yes, I am twitterpated. (And my husband is fine with it--we watch Castle together so he can drool over Beckett.)

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So considering the amazingly coordinated, vicious opposition against him, Obama has made surprising gains and pushed through important legislation. If I have a major criticism of Obama, it is that he has tacked too far to the right. These republicans won't work with him no matter what he does, so I wish he would stop trying with them and just work on issues that will benefit the American people to the extent that the executive branch can.

This is my major complaint as well. Things like dropping the public option in the health care bill just to appease Republicans, none of whom voted for the bill anyway, piss me off. That and all the promises he's broken to the LGBT crowd.

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I was very disappointed in the dropping of the public option in healthcare. Very.

And please don't bite my head off, but in viewing these sorts of issues through the lens of history helps, because, for instance, Medicare (basically single payer insurance for seniors) didn't just come into existence in one fell swoop. Many baby steps were made along the way, over the course of many years, because, for better or for worse, that's the way progress is made in this country. Truman proposed it in 1945, and only after 20 years of debate and Lyndon Johnson's presidency (with his Great Society) did it become even a nominal reality. It was basically the same debate that we're having now with republicans and those who believe that single payer is teh ebil socialism.

Medicare did not cover disabled people until 1972, with more changes happening such as hospice coverage, SSI as we now know it, widening the scope of who is covered, etc. happening in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1989, 1999, 1992, 1997, 1999, and 2000 (not even counting the prescription drug coverage that came in the 21st century).

The battle has really only just begun with regard to health care in this country. I believe that Obama is very much a pragmatist, and as much as that frustrates me because I think this stuff should be so simple, people should see the justice and rightness in these things, it just can't happen as fast or in the way I want it to. Americans will not tolerate too much change, even when it is in their own best interests. The perfect cannot be allowed to be the enemy of the good, or else nothing would ever, ever get accomplished.

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My problem is- what good did dropping the public option do? Did it convince some Democrats to vote for the bill who otherwise would not have? That's the only justifiable reason I could see for doing it. It was framed as a move to compromise with Republicans but none of them voted for the bill anyway.

To me, dropping the public option is only pragmatic if that was standing in the way of getting the bill passed. Instead, it seems like we did it to throw a bone to Republicans- 1) a bone that we didn't need to throw since we didn't need them to pass the bill and, 2) one they just grabbed and took home without giving anything back anyway.

You are correct that these things happen in little stages. I’m just pissed because I have a feeling that giving up the public option (something much of the public wanted!) is going to hurt people in the long run and gained us absolutely nothing in the short run.

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My problem is- what good did dropping the public option do? Did it convince some Democrats to vote for the bill who otherwise would not have? That's the only justifiable reason I could see for doing it. It was framed as a move to compromise with Republicans but none of them voted for the bill anyway.

To me, dropping the public option is only pragmatic if that was standing in the way of getting the bill passed. Instead, it seems like we did it to throw a bone to Republicans- 1) a bone that we didn't need to throw since we didn't need them to pass the bill and, 2) one they just grabbed and took home without giving anything back anyway.

You are correct that these things happen in little stages. I’m just pissed because I have a feeling that giving up the public option (something much of the public wanted!) is going to hurt people in the long run and gained us absolutely nothing in the short run.

Yes, it did convince some democrats to vote for the bill who would not have otherwise. The public option is perceived by the public as a very scary thing and hugely unpopular in some areas of the country, thanks in part to the incredible influence and major ad spending by insurance companies. Democrats still have to go home and face their constituents, no matter how they may personally feel about an issue, and it was an issue for many. I don't think dropping the public option ultimately had much to do with the republicans at all, actually. Some democrats are more conservative, especially the blue dog ones who represent conservative constituencies, than some republicans.

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Thanks for that Austin. It does actually make me feel better about losing the public option, because I don't mind losing a little to gain a lot. Two steps forward for one step back and all that.

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Thanks for that Austin. It does actually make me feel better about losing the public option, because I don't mind losing a little to gain a lot. Two steps forward for one step back and all that.

Yes, but for some reason it stings a bit more to get smacked in the face by the democrats, I think (speaking as a democrat). I expect it from the other side. . .

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Holy Rollers were going on about this twenty years ago or so. They proclaimed it the "Joshua Generation" because they believed that whatever you want to call the generation just after gen X would go in to "take the land" like Joshua went into Canaan so that the Israelites could take over the Promised Land. This was the whole "late great planet earth - left behind" version of dominionism, but I think was less scary than the authoritarian Doug Phillips types that want to take over and be in charge and reinvent the Massachusetts Bay Colony or Geneva or something.

Everyone in the early '90s who was around young people or was into inspiring young people talked about the Joshua Generation. That would have been the first BIG wave of homeschoolers, from K-12.

I guess that since then, someone picked up and ran with the terminology, and there are now conferences and organizations that bear the name.

Like everything else, you can make a buck and a career out of a well-marketed catch phrase.

That's exactly what Farris at HSLDA has done. He's made a fortune off of tapping in to the "Homeschooler Power" market (or at least, the fundie homeschoolers - I know others who are NOT into his brand of homeschool advocacy). In addition to HSLDA, he heads up Generation Joshua and Patrick Henry College and I'm almost afraid to know what else.

And let me tell you - in just under a decade, Patrick Henry grads and GenJ alumns have a disproportionate share of law/government/defense jobs in DC and Virginia. And most of the ones I encounter are still loyal followers. The dominion vision marches on....

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