Michele Bachmann addressing Americans for Prosperity (2011) a part of the Tea Party
In the late 1970s, Michele Bachmann began her emergence as an evangelical extremist who has, in so many ways, copied the menacing messages of Adolf Hitler who took the foundations for his government of Nazis directly from the pages of Martin Luther. Luther wrote, concerning the Jews (from On the Jews and Their Lies):
- Accordingly, it must and dare not be considered a trifling matter but a most serious one to seek counsel against this and to save our souls from the Jews, that is, from the devil and from eternal death. My advice, as I said earlier, is:
- First, that their synagogues be burned down, and that all who are able toss sulphur and pitch; it would be good if someone could also throw in some hellfire…
- Second, that all their books– their prayer books, their Talmudic writings, also the entire Bible– be taken from them, not leaving them one leaf, and that these be preserved for those who may be converted…
- Third, that they be forbidden on pain of death to praise God, to give thanks, to pray, and to teach publicly among us and in our country…
- Fourth, that they be forbidden to utter the name of God within our hearing. For we cannot with a good conscience listen to this or tolerate it.
Only Christians were to be allowed in Hitler’s nation: “We demand the freedom of all religious denominations in the State insofar as they do not endanger its existence or violate the ethical and moral feelings of the Germanic race. The Party as such takes its stand on a positive Christianity but does not tie itself in the matter of confession to any particular denomination. It fights the spirit of Jewish materialism inside and outside ourselves and it is convinced that a lasting recovery of our nation can only come from within and on the basis of the principle that the common good comes before the selfish good.” (Rhum von Oppen, Beate. Religion and Resistance to Nazism. Center of international studies, Princeton University, 1971, p. 25) It differs little from Bachmann’s concept of a Christian USA. In April 1933 the German Christians adopted a constitution, one article of which reads, “Christian faith exacts war against atheistic Marxism and ultramontanism. A religion such as ours conforms to nature in being a message of salvation to all men, though it is given to each folk in a special way.” (Shuster, George N. Like a Mighty Army. New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1935, p. 99)
The movement was initially quite popular. Although the German Christian values were not endorsed by the general Lutheran community, the movement did garner significant support. Of Germany’s 17,000 Protestant pastors, 3000 were fervent enough in the support of Hitler to join the German Christian movement. The Methodists and Baptists in Germany were equally loyal supporters of Nazi ideology. Dr. F. H. Otto Melle, became the first Bishop of the German Methodist Episcopal Church, and collaborated even more actively than Dr. John L. Nuelsen (1867-1946), a German American who moved to Germany in 1912. Each of the pastors in Nazi Germany spoke of a “Christian worldview” (christliche Weltanschauung). Compare the role of Germans in the Third Reich to what Bachmann envisions at http://www.colby.edu/personal/r/rmscheck/GermanyE5.html. For the transcript on religion in the Third Reich as recorded at Nuremberg, read: http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-09/tgmwc-09-81-02.shtml.
Bachmann leading prayer at the certified organized hate group Family Research Council asking Jesus for mercy for the sins of the lawmakers who support the health care reform bill.
Bachmann, today, enunciates a “Christian worldview,” which essentially holds that Christianity, or at least her version of Christianity, is a total ideology: It has all the answers, not just to theological questions, but to historical questions, scientific questions, economic questions and questions not yet asked. Michele takes “polls” on nearly everything, and then lies about the results. This happened when she took the stage to denounce gay rights, even though she has a gay step-sister (Helen LeFavre), and claims that when she asked her family they all agreed with her that gays and lesbians were not entitled to rights. Her own brother came out against Michele and called her a liar and not representative of her family.
Michele Bachmann claims that she has the support of her district in Minnesota. While that is marginally correct, she has never once won her own hometown of Stillwater that consistently votes against her. In 2009, Bachmann moved to a more conservative precinct—but could not win it until 2010.
Phyllis Schlafly, a lawyer, argued against the Equal Rights Amendment, stating that women did not need equal right with men
Bachmann does not get enough funding in her own Congressional district to win a race. Most of the money comes from outside interests, especially from the Tea Party. In 2006, over $50,000 came from members of an organization called the Alliance for the Separation of School and State (an organization that calls for the abolition of all public education, not just eliminate the Secretary of Education, but all public schools). The Alliance for the Separation of School and State is an on-line political action group, with the largest donors coming out of Georgia, where Barry Conner, a housing developer, donated thousands of dollars to Bachmann. Much of the rest of her money came from Phyllis Schlafly’s group, the Eagle Forum, and Americans for Prosperity, with the final windfall coming from the financial services sector in the USA economy as Bachmann sits on the Financial Services Committee in Congress, and openly solicits “contributions”.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Tom Petters (before Petters received 50 year prison term)
The next biggest “group” that contributes to Michele Bachmann’s campaigns for public office is organized crime. Frank Vennes, Jr., was one of her largest contributors in 2006. Vennes and his family and his personal lawyer have given Bachmann tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions. Vennes also contributed heavily to another Minnesota presidential candidate, Tim Pawlenty, and the state Republican Party.
Frank Vennes Jr, Tom Petters, Gov. Tim Pawlenty in Ponzi Scheme gala
Vennes is a convicted money launderer. He did time in federal prison in Sandstone Prison in northern Minnesota, before aligning with the Petters Ponzi scheme, which netted about a $3.5 billion and operated in Minnesota, with Vennes steering, primarily, evangelical Christian groups to invest with Tom Petters. While in prison, Vennes claimed to have found Jesus when he was imprisoned for cocaine possession, distribution, and sale, and for money laundering. Having found Jesus, and made himself a kind of stalwart of Minnesota’s evangelical community, cozied up with Michele and her husband and Bradlee Dean (the Heavy Metal drummer in the band Junkyard Prophecy, who claims to be a “Bible-based believer” and sports a tattoo although tattoos are forbidden in the Bible: Leviticus 19:28; on the extremism of conspiracy theorist Bradlee Dean, read: http://www.dumpbachmann.com/2009/10/michele-bachmanns-fellow-traveller.html who is an advisor to Michele Bachmann) and cultivated these powerful allies, especially Bachmann and former Minnesota Governor Pawlenty, both of whom are running to be President of the USA. Bachmann and future-Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) petitioned for Vennes to be pardoned (for copies of their letters, see: http://vennesinfo.blogspot.com/2011/04/letters-from-michele-bachmann-and-norm.html).
Bachmann addressing issue of "dirty" money
After it became public knowledge that Michele Bachmann took “dirty” money from Vennes, numerous charitable groups and rehabilitation centers returned the money to the Minnesota Congresswoman, as occurred when the faith-based drug treatment program Minnesota Teen Challenge returned $9,200 that Bachmann gave them. Rep. Bachmann failed to report the money being returned to her campaign until her first quarter 2009 (http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00410118/412738/sa/ALL) campaign filing, a possible violation of Federal Election Commission rules (http://www.fec.gov/law/feca/feca.pdf).
The $9,200 — the same amount Vennes and his wife had contributed to Bachmann’s campaign in 2008 — did not show up on Bachmann’s pre-election, post-election or year-end quarterly FEC filings (http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?C00410118). According to federal rules, the returned contribution should have shown up on one of these reports if it was returned to Bachmann’s campaign in October, as Scherber claims. Bachmann’s first quarter report shows that the Minnesota Teen Challenge donation was returned to the campaign on Jan. 1, 2009.
To understand the reason for this support, it is important to understand the political contributions of Frank Vennes Jr and his wife Kimberly Vennes:
- MN House Rep Campaign Comm $85,750
- Michele Bachmann $27,600
- Mark Kennedy $11,300
- Republican Party of Minnesota $10,000
- John Kline $8,000
- Tim Pawlenty (Governor) $7,500
- Norm Coleman $6,000
- Minnesotans for a Republican Cong $5,000
- Erik Paulsen $4,600
- Patrice Bataglia $4,000
- Amy Klobuchar $2,000
- George W. Bush $2,000
- Ted Mondale (Governor) $2,000
- Tim Tinglestad (District Cty Judge) $2,000
- Republican National Committee $200
(Source: http://vennesinfo.blogspot.com/2011/05/article-mentions-vennes-family.html)
Vennes federal arrest warrant
In April, 2011, Vennes was indicted in the Petters scandal. One reason most people have not heard of this Ponzi scheme is that it broke about the same time as Bernie Madoff’s scheme against fellow Jews. Vennes is scheduled to go to trial later this year, which could make for an uncomfortable time for Michele Bachmann, because in her letter of support for a pardon, she indicated she had a very close personal relationship with Frank Vennes and was quite familiar with his personal finances—which any court would read that Michele Bachmann was fully aware of his money laundering activity and his Ponzi schemes (on the Michele Bachmann and Frank Vennes tie, read: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/18/michele-bachmann-tea-party-us?CMP=twt_fd).
One of the greatest lies told by Michele Bachmann is her claim that she receives nothing in the way of federal funds for her farm in Buffalo County, Independence, Wisconsin, about 70 miles or so from Stillwater, Minnesota. In truth, she has been receiving federal government subsidies of $260,000 from 1995 to 2006 (she raked in another $27,896 in federal farm subsidies in 2005: see: http://www.dumpbachmann.com/2007/06/michele-bachmanns-family-farm-still.html and http://www.ewg.org/news/michele-bachmann-s-family-farm-still-milking-federal-farm-subsidies-0 but prior to 2007, Bachmann listed “zero” as income, see the actual affidavit at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/congress/fin_dis/2006/b001256.pdf; and http://www.ewg.org/news/bachmann-reaps-subsidy-benefit; cp. http://farm.ewg.org/persondetail.php?custnumber=003729514). Furthermore she has making profits from $2,500 to $150,000 according to her public financial disclosure forms required of all members of Congress.
US tax rates among lowest in world on corporations and declining rapidly
Congresswoman Bachmann is dangerous when it comes to economics and financial understanding. While she denies that her part of the family farm in Wisconsin is not only receiving federal subsidies, but actually is showing an increasing profit, she has no respect for Congressional economists. Instead of going to the experts hired by the US Congress, Bachmann states that the people should turn to Fox News’ former employee Glenn Beck. In 2009, Bachmann told reporters: “People vote with their feet. And they love Bill O’Reilly; they love Glenn Beck. They love the shows that are on Fox. That’s what matters. Because people want to go where they can find truth. They obviously aren’t finding truth over on some of these other channels. [Emphasis in the original.]” (http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2009/09/22/61039/bachmann-hearts-fox/). Bachmann has gone on Fox News to claim health care reform is unconstitutional (http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2009/08/19/56907/bachmann-unconstitutional/), that the Census is dangerous because it was used to intern the Japanese (http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2009/06/25/47650/bachmann-fox-census/), and that Alaskan caribou favor oil drilling because they like the warmth of the pipeline (http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2008/06/20/25018/bachmann-caribou-coffee/), where, according to Bachmann the pipeline “become[s] a meeting ground and ‘coffee klatch’ for caribou” (http://politicalblogs.startribune.com/bigquestionblog/?p=1077).
Drilling in Refuge (AK) SF Chronicle graphic by Gus D'Angelo 8/28/2005
Contrary to Bachmann’s concepts in science, the exact opposite is true: Studies have also found that pipeline construction near caribou calving and summering areas can lead to “greater calf mortality” and the “reduction of the population” (http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2008/06/20/25018/bachmann-caribou-coffee/ despite Rush Limbaugh’s claims that mating is increasing with enhanced reproduction {http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/product.biblio.jsp?osti_id=6065358} as increased drilling is forcing the native caribou out of the area: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/28/MNGR4EDJGT1.DTL). Michele Bachmann has a grotesque appetite to blame everything bad on the Democrats. For example, she has claimed: “I find it interesting that… in the 1970s… swine flu broke out under another… Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. I’m not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it’s an interesting coincidence.” The president at that time was Republican Gerald Ford.
In the area of politics, there is no negotiating, no recognition of differences of opinions. In the thinking of Michele Bachmann, all things are black or white: “I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out: Are they pro-America or anti-America?”
Organized labor is a better deal than before for companies as productivity is high and costs low
Opposed to any pro-labor laws or rights for workers, Michele wishes to return to the nineteenth century when labor was a commodity businesses bought at their price without regard for the workers’ safety or health. She is opposed to an eight-hour work day, a five-day work week, and even minimum wage. Michele Bachmann went on record saying: If we took away the minimum wage – if conceivably it was gone – we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level.”
Inflation will remain very low in the USA according to the Bureau of Labor
Bachmann has argued that organized labor had led to run-away inflation. That is a lie. Inflation in the USA is lower than in any other industrialized nation–because of organized labor.
Where tax cuts exist and why the USA is the world's largest debtor nation
Not once did Bachmann suggest that she and the Tea Party in the Congress return to the salaries for Congressional Representatives and Senators as Congressional pay and benefits that were statutory at the turn of the twentieth century, nor did she volunteer to give up her taxpayer paid health care or retirement benefits program. Michele Bachmann wants to be President of the USA.
Tea Party Racism in the USA
Arthur Frederick Ide's Blog 