IMHO! Who murdered Pat Tillman and why!

[Joanne98]

Have we asked the "Christians" yet? Let's put them under oath. If you can figure out who they are!

http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/AmericasHolyWarriors.html
America's Holy Warriors

By Chris Hedges, Truthdig

Posted on January 6, 2007

The radical Christian right is coming dangerously close to its goal of co-opting the country’s military and law enforcement.

The drive by the Christian right to take control of military chaplaincies, which now sees radical Christians holding roughly 50 percent of chaplaincy appointments in the armed services and service academies, is part of a much larger effort to politicize the military and law enforcement. This effort signals the final and perhaps most deadly stage in the long campaign by the radical Christian right to dismantle America’s open society and build a theocratic state. A successful politicization of the military would signal the end of our democracy.

During the past two years I traveled across the country to research and write the book "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America." I repeatedly listened to radical preachers attack as corrupt and godless most American institutions, from federal agencies that provide housing and social welfare to public schools and the media. But there were two institutions that never came under attack -- the military and law enforcement. While these preachers had no interest in communicating with local leaders of other faiths, or those in the community who did not subscribe to their call for a radical Christian state, they assiduously courted and flattered the military and police. They held special services and appreciation days for all four branches of the armed services and for various law enforcement agencies. They encouraged their young men and women to enlist or to join the police or state troopers. They sought out sympathetic military and police officials to attend church events where these officials were lauded and feted for their Christian probity and patriotism. They painted the war in Iraq not as an occupation but as an apocalyptic battle by Christians against Islam, a religion they regularly branded as "satanic." All this befits a movement whose final aesthetic is violence. It also befits a movement that, in the end, would need the military and police forces to seize power in American society.

One of the arguments used to assuage our fears that the mass movement being built by the Christian right is fascist at its core is that it has not yet created a Praetorian Guard, referring to the paramilitary force that defied legal constraints, made violence part of the political discourse and eventually plunged ancient Rome into tyranny and despotism. A paramilitary force that operates outside the law, one that sows fear among potential opponents and is capable of physically silencing those branded by their leaders as traitors, is a vital instrument in the hands of despotic movements. Communist and fascist movements during the last century each built paramilitary forces that operated beyond the reach of the law.

And yet we may be further down this road than we care to admit. Erik Prince, the secretive, mega-millionaire, right-wing Christian founder of Blackwater, the private security firm that has built a formidable mercenary force in Iraq, champions his company as a patriotic extension of the U.S. military. His employees, in an act as cynical as it is deceitful, take an oath of loyalty to the Constitution. These mercenary units in Iraq, including Blackwater, contain some 20,000 fighters. They unleash indiscriminate and wanton violence against unarmed Iraqis, have no accountability and are beyond the reach of legitimate authority. The appearance of these paramilitary fighters, heavily armed and wearing their trademark black uniforms, patrolling the streets of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, gave us a grim taste of the future. It was a stark reminder that the tyranny we impose on others we will one day impose on ourselves.

"Contracting out security to groups like Blackwater undermines our constitutional democracy," said Michael Ratner, the president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. "Their actions may not be subject to constitutional limitations that apply to both federal and state officials and employees -- including First Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights to be free from illegal searches and seizures. Unlike police officers they are not trained in protecting constitutional rights and unlike police officers or the military they have no system of accountability whether within their organization or outside it. These kind of paramilitary groups bring to mind Nazi Party brownshirts, functioning as an extrajudicial enforcement mechanism that can and does operate outside the law. The use of these paramilitary groups is an extremely dangerous threat to our rights."

The politicization of the military, the fostering of the belief that violence must be used to further a peculiar ideology rather than defend a democracy, was on display recently when Air Force and Army generals and colonels, filmed in uniform at the Pentagon, appeared in a promotional video distributed by the Christian Embassy, a radical Washington-based organization dedicated to building a "Christian America."

The video , first written about by Jeff Sharlet in the December issue of Harper’s Magazine and filmed shortly after 9/11, has led the Military Religious Freedom Foundation to raise a legal protest against the Christian Embassy’s proselytizing within the Department of Defense. The video was hastily pulled from the Christian Embassy website and was removed from YouTube a few days ago under threats of copyright enforcement.

Dan Cooper, an undersecretary of veterans affairs, says in the video that his weekly prayer sessions are "more important than doing the job." Maj. Gen. Jack Catton says that his being an adviser to the Joint Chiefs of Staff is a "wonderful opportunity" to evangelize men and women setting defense policy. "My first priority is my faith," he says. "I think it’s a huge impact. ... You have many men and women who are seeking God’s counsel and wisdom as they advise the chairman and the secretary of defense."

Col. Ralph Benson, a Pentagon chaplain, says in the video: "Christian Embassy is a blessing to the Washington area, a blessing to our capital; it’s a blessing to our country. They are interceding on behalf of people all over the United States, talking to ambassadors, talking to people in the Congress, in the Senate, talking to people in the Pentagon, and being able to share the message of Jesus Christ in a very, very important time in our world is winning a worldwide war on terrorism. What more do we need than Christian people leading us and guiding us, so, they’re needed in this hour."

The group has burrowed deep inside the Pentagon. It hosts weekly Bible sessions with senior officers, by its own count some 40 generals, and weekly prayer breakfasts each Wednesday from 7 to 7:50 a.m. in the executive dining room as well as numerous outreach events to, in the words of the organization, "share and sharpen one another in their quest to bridge the gap between faith and work."

If the United States falls into a period of instability caused by another catastrophic terrorist attack, an economic meltdown or a series of environmental disasters, these paramilitary forces, protected and assisted by fellow ideologues in the police and military, could swiftly abolish what is left of our eroding democracy. War, with the huge profits it hands to businesses and right-wing interests that often help bankroll the Christian right, could become a permanent condition. And the thugs with automatic weapons, black uniforms and wraparound sunglasses who appeared on street corners in Baghdad and New Orleans could appear on streets across the U.S. Such a presence could paralyze us with fear, leaving us unable to question or protest the closed system and secrecy of an emergent totalitarian state and unable to voice dissent.

"The Bush administration has already come close to painting our current wars as wars against Islam -- many in the Christian right apparently have this belief," Ratner said. "If these wars, bad enough as imperial wars, are fought as religious wars, we are facing a very dark age that could go on for a hundred years and that will be very bloody."
http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/AmericasHolyWarriors.html

Chris Hedges is the former Middle East bureau chief for The New York Times and the author of War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning and his new book: American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America. AND SEE: Directory of Books Reviewed

Christian Embassy Video!
http://alternet.org/blogs/video/45438/
Praetorian Guard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praetorian_Guard


http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/InfiltratingTheUSMilitaryGenBoykinsWarriors.html
Force Ministries and the Chaplains

Recently I found myself searching through the “contacts page” at the Trinity Broadcasting Network’s web site.<60> To my surprise, I found links to Navy Seals and to Lt. General Richard E. Carey of Rockwall, TX and General Richard Shaefer of Nashville, TN as well as to the Adolph Coors Evangelistic Association and Tom Cole at Headquarters of the Republican Party in Oklahoma City.

In following the link to the Navy Seals I came upon one of the blackest ministries on the web—literally—it’s called, “FORCE Ministries.” Their motto: “Equipping military personnel for Christ-centered duty.” It’s a secretive paramilitary organization. One can’t print their material out easily. One can’t print out the photos. But it’s a startling website.

The black pages highlight the stealth of men moving in the night, their eyes fixed on the scopes of their rifles aimed and ready to fire, they are frozen in a photo crossing a creek, covered by the water and by a deadly silence. The viewer has no doubt these men intend to shoot to kill. Suddenly a soldier pops up on the screen, his eyes flint cold against the blackness, his rifle ready for firing. There’s the sound of shots fired: “Mission: Christ Centered Duty” flashes. Another soldier fires: “Purpose: Impart Faith in Christ” flashes. Drums beat and music plays. And then silence again.

Force Ministries takes Matthew 11:12 as their “Defining passage:” It reads in the version quoted: “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.” NIV.

The web site states, “FORCE skydiving is a ministry to the military and through the military. The FORCE Ministry skydiving team is comprised of current and former Navy SEALs whose lives have been touched through FORCE.” In other words, FORCE is composed of men from the military’s “Special Operations” branch.

The website boasts a worldwide military ministry:

“Force Ministries will send and maintain military missionaries in strategic locations throughout the world. Funded through Morning Star Partnership Development, these workers will locate near military bases and campuses throughout the world. This effort will be headed by Lt. Col. Art (Raylee) Smith, USAF (Retired).”

In addition Force states that it will “provide a discipleship environment for Christian chaplains to encourage and support their efforts in the field.” The description continued: “Military Chaplains are integral to the spiritual condition of the troops when at sea or on deployment.” We are told that “Force will provide assistance (speakers, workers) to the base chaplains for services held on military installations.” (Emphasis mine.) I immediately wondered whether there was some lack in chaplains since according to Force, the chaplains need “discipleship” and apparently need outside speakers to help them. (It’s been my observation that pastors don’t like to share their pulpits with anyone—unless of course, they are not fully qualified as pastors.)

FORCE, in an astounding inconsistency, considering the deadly power of its presentation, sums up its role this way: “Our supreme desire is to know Christ and to be conformed into His image by the power of the Holy Spirit.” The FORCE home page is at: http://www.forceministries.com/
http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/InfiltratingTheUSMilitaryGenBoykinsWarriors.html

I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK!

[underpants]

1. Great article. Link here to fantastic series on Fundamentalists vs. the Social Gospel

http://www.mahablog.com/2007/07/18/the-wisdom-of-doubt-part-vii/

[Joanne98]

2. BTW! Pat Tillman was NOT religious. He could have threatened the "coup"

of the military by the "Christians". He was in Special Forces an area they have been concentrating on. This is only my opinion BUT I think they are the obvious suspects for obvious reasons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman#Religious_and_political_beliefs
Religious and political beliefs
According to speakers at his funeral, he was very well-read, having read a number of religious texts including the Bible, Quran and Book of Mormon as well as transcendentalist authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau; his younger brother Rich stated that he "isn't with God... He wasn't religious."<9> Another article quotes him as having told then-general manager of the Seattle Seahawks Bob Ferguson in December 2003 that "you know I'm not religious".<10>

The September 25, 2005 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper reported that Tillman held views which were critical of the Iraq war and did not support President Bush's re-election. According to Tillman's mother, a friend of Tillman had arranged a meeting with Noam Chomsky, to take place after his return from Afghanistan. Chomsky has confirmed this.<11> The article also reported that Tillman urged a soldier in his platoon to vote for John Kerry in the 2004 U.S. Presidential election.<12>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman#Religious_and_political_beliefs

[Joanne98]

3. They're also setting up temporary courts in CHURCHES now!

http://www.usmarshals.gov/safesurrender/news/071207.pdf

They are sooooooooooo SNEAKY!

[Joanne98]

4. The "Left Behind" Paramilitary Force video game!

Who saz they're HARMLESS!

http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/MinisterLinkedToVideoGame.html
Rick Warren: Mega-church Minister Linked to Paramilitary Video Game
(Updated)


by jhutson
Mon May 29, 2006 at 05:33:30 PM PDT


Originally posted on Talk to Action as "The Purpose Driven Life Takers."

Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission - both a religious mission and a military mission -- to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state - especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is "to conduct physical and spiritual warfare"; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice. You have never felt so powerful, so driven by a purpose: you are 13 years old. You are playing a real-time strategy video game whose creators are linked to the empire of mega-church pastor Rick Warren, best selling author of The Purpose Driven Life.



jhutson's diary:


The game, slated for release by October 2006 in advance of the Christmas shopping rush, has been previewed at video game exhibitions, and reviewed by major newspapers and magazines. But until now, no fan or critic has pointed out the controversial game's connection to Mr. Warren or his dominionist agenda.

Time magazine has described Mr. Warren as one of the nation's most influential Evangelical Christian leaders. He describes himself as a "stealth evangelist" and describes his training programs as "a stealth movement, that's flying beneath the radar, that's changing literally hundreds, even thousands of churches around the world." He claims that he has sold tens of millions of copies of The Purpose Driven Life by developing a worldwide network of pastors.

The international director of Mr. Warren's Purpose Driven Church, Mark Carver, is a former investment banker who serves on the Advisory Board of the corporation created in October 2001 to develop and market this game. The creators plan to market their game using the same network marketing techniques that Mr. Warren used to turn The Purpose Driven Life into a commercial success. For example, they plan to distribute their merchandise through pastoral networks, especially mega-churches.

This game immerses children in present-day New York City -- 500 square blocks, stretching from Wall Street to Chinatown, Greenwich Village, the United Nations headquarters, and Harlem. The game rewards children for how effectively they role play the killing of those who resist becoming a born again Christian. The game also offers players the opportunity to switch sides and fight for the army of the AntiChrist, releasing cloven-hoofed demons who feast on conservative Christians and their panicked proselytes (who taste a lot like Christian).



Is this paramilitary mission simulator for children anything other than prejudice and bigotry using religion as an organizing tool to get people in a violent frame of mind? The dialogue includes people saying, "Praise the Lord," as they blow infidels away.

The designers intend this game to become the first dominionist warrior game to break through in the popular culture due to its violent scenarios and realistic graphics, lighting, and sound effects. Its creators expect it to earn a rating of T for Teen. How violent is that? That's the rating shared by Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell - Chaos Theory, a top selling game in which high-tech gadgets and high-powered weapons - frag grenades, shotguns, assault rifles, and submachine guns -- are used to terminate enemies with extreme prejudice.

Could such a violent, dominionist Christian video game really break through to the popular culture? Well, it is based on a series of books that have already set sales records - the blockbuster Left Behind series of 14 novels by writer Jerry B. Jenkins and his visionary collaborator, retired Southern Baptist minister Tim LaHaye. "We hope teenagers like the game," Mr. LaHaye told the Los Angeles Times. "Our real goal is to have no one left behind."



The game, Left Behind: Eternal Forces, is based on scenes from the first four novels in the series. The game was developed by a publicly-traded company called Left Behind Games, according to SEC records. The developers obtained the license from Tyndale House, the Christian publisher of Left Behind.

Tyndale also publishes Bringing Up Boys and The Complete Marriage and Family Home Reference Guide by Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, PhD. Mr. Dobson has advised parents to monitor the amount of time children spend playing video games and "avoid the violent ones altogether." But he has not yet stated his views on whether there should be an exception for video games that role play gunplay in the name of Christ, or of the AntiChrist.

Tyndale's licensing of the project infuriated one of its authors, Jack Thompson, a conservative Christian attorney and outspoken critic of video game violence, who told the Los Angeles Times that he severed ties with his publisher in a dispute over "Left Behind: Eternal Forces."

"It's absurd," said the video critic. "You can be the Christians blowing away the infidels, and if that doesn't hit your hot button, you can be the Antichrist blowing away all the Christians."

The firm's CEO is relying on network marketing through pastoral networks as a key part of his business plan, according to a report in the March 6, 2006, issue of Newsweek Magazine:

Left Behind Games CEO Troy Lyndon, whose company went public in February, says the game's Christian themes will grab the audience that didn't mind gore in "The Passion of the Christ." "We've thought through how the Christian right and the liberal left will slam us," says Lyndon. "But megachurches are very likely to embrace this game." Though it will be marketed directly to congregations, Forces will also have a secular ad campaign in gaming magazines.


As part of its marketing pitch, Left Behind Games hypes the realism with which it portrays the neighborhoods of New York City. There is, for the most part, a remarkable verisimilitude except for one detail - all of the ambulances have 911 painted on their roofs. In the reality-based world, most ambulances have a red cross on top. Yet the game designers make prominent use of these 911 ambulances to evoke the tragic events of September 11, 2001. The historical context of 911 is invoked as if to say, We are living in the End Times, and Muslims are among the kinds of infidels whom you should fear, whom you should be prepared to kill for your cause.


For game enthusiasts, there is also a multi-player mode, in which you can go online and battle to take territory from other players. If you happen to blow away a neutral party - and collateral damage is inevitable in the End of Days - then you will lose "Spirit Points". But you can power back up with merely a brief timeout for prayer, or by converting one of New York's terror-stricken citizens.

In this way, the game resembles a send-up of Christian-themed video games by "The Simpsons." "Billy Graham's Bible Blaster," is a first-person shooter game in which you fire Bibles at club-carrying heathens to convert them into card-carrying Republicans. (Hint: after you finish reading this blog piece - and eating all your vegetables -- visit the Simpson's official web site and open file drawer F-H, then click on the character of Evangelical Christian kid Rod Flanders to play the game.)

Time has dubbed Mr. Warren "America's minister." But Mr. Warren says that his agenda stretches far beyond America, and far beyond traditional ministry. He sees himself as the CEO of a global marketing enterprise, and as the Commander in Chief of a stealth army of one billion Christian foot soldiers.

On the 25th Anniversary of his Saddleback Church on April 17, 2005, Mr. Warren filled the Angels baseball stadium in Anaheim, California, with tens of thousands of his flock. Mr. Warren signaled his belief that we are now approaching the End of Days by opening with a rock band, which played the Jimi Hendrix drug anthem Purple Haze. As the band jammed, Mr. Warren sang the lyrics:

Purple haze all in my eyes

Don't know if it's day or night

You got me blowin', blowin' my mind

Is it tomorrow, or just the end of time?


The Director of the Peace Corps, Gaddi Vasquez, read a message of support from President George W. Bush. Then Mr. Warren called on his flock to support a $40 million capital campaign to expand missionary training facilities at Saddleback's 120-acre campus in Lake Forest, California. He pledged participants to achieve a purpose-driven ministry overseas. His dominionist theology is apparent in this ministry. A key aspect of dominionist thought is a conviction that the Scripture gives the church a mandate to take dominion over this world socially and culturally before the return of Jesus Christ. Mr. Warren's global plan is a strategy to realize a dominionist vision of churches, states, and corporations forming partnerships to bring about a new world order to make way for Christ's return by establishing a literal, physical kingdom of God on earth. In order to build this earthly kingdom, Mr. Warren plans marketplace ministries - business ventures with a veneer of missionary compassion that slip into a country in order to transform it systematically through the governmental, corporate, and social sectors. And that is why Mr. Warren calls himself a "stealth evangelist" - because he wishes to cloak his dominionist agenda, which is the establishment of an earthly kingdom that reflects his skewed vision of Christianity.


According to Mr. Warren, the establishment of this earthly kingdom requires "foot soldiers." As part of his plan, Mr. Warren said he would encourage laypeople to "adopt" needy villages overseas in order to plant churches, expand business opportunities, educate children, influence governments, and overthrow corrupt political leaders, whom he described as "little Saddams." Mr. Warren said his purpose is to enlist "one billion foot soldiers for the Kingdom of God" in the developing world. And the stadium crowd roared its approval.

Celebrants included Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, a tiny east African country that lost hundreds of thousands of people when it suffered genocide in 1994. Catholic and Protestant clergy have been convicted in connection with that genocide. Yet Mr. Kagame announced that he would allow Mr. Warren to turn his country into the first purpose driven nation. The following month, 16 Rwandan religious leaders arrived in Orange County to begin religious training at Saddleback Church. Mr. Warren has said that his global initiative was developed "underground" and in "stealth". Presumably, this was done with the assistance of Mr. Carver, who directs the Purpose Driven Church in all its activities outside North America.

Yet through an unexpected turn of events in Georgia, the spotlight was turned on Mr. Warren's stealthy strategy in March 2005, when Ashley Smith read a passage from The Purpose Driven Life to the Atlanta courthouse killing suspect, Brian Nichols. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Nichols freed his hostage and surrendered to police. The entire world suddenly wanted to hear from Mr. Warren, who was busy planting the seeds of a Christian theocracy with his "foot soldiers" in Rwanda.

On March 22, 2005, CNN's Larry King interviewed Mr. Warren about the Atlanta courthouse shooting and hostage taking. A caller asked, "Can you explain the sudden thirst or craving that people seem to have for religion?

Mr. Warren replied:

"here are really two stories going on in our culture right now. There is the story of things are getting more worse in some ways. We're seeing the increase in violence. We're seeing terrorism. We've seen these recent shootings. We're seeing the coarsening of our society, that has disgusted a lot of people. And there is people -- some people are more materialistic than ever.


But at the same time, there's another story going on in America, that I think is a spiritual awakening that is brewing. And that is a desire and hunger to know God. I don't always think it's always a desire and hunger for church. But there is a desire and hunger to know God.



So according to Mr. Warren, the worst of American culture is reflected in examples of violence, terrorism, shootings, and the coarsening of our society, that turn people away in disgust. And in addition, "some people are more materialistic than ever."


If violence, coarseness, and materialism are serious social problems, then what purpose is served by exploiting a global pastoral network to mass market a game about mass killing, whether in the name of Christ or the AntiChrist?

On the one hand, this video game is anti-American, because it endorses roving death squads engaged in faith-based violence without any regard for Constitutional law. On the other hand, the video game is anti-Christian, because it argues that the Kingdom of God can be advanced by using the methods and tools of the kingdoms of this world, namely guns and bombs.

The Scriptures say, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6) The Scriptures do not say, "Train up a child in the way he should blow away the people of God as well as infidels: and when he is old enough, he will go out and do some killing."

As Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight that I might not be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here" (Gospel According to John 18:36). As Paul said, "Though we walk in flesh, we do not make war in accordance with the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly." (2 Corinthians 10:3-4a).

The dominionist Christians pushing this violent video game are modeling neither Christian charity nor patriotism. Both Christians and patriots should oppose them.



UPDATE

Endorsement by Association

What is going on here is an old fashioned business idea of endorsement by association, in which a corporation gains the implied endorsement of a product by being able to invoke the name brand of a prominent person or celebrity. In this case, this is an alliance of business and ministerial interests invoking the name brand of the Mr. Warren's Purpose Driven Church. Mr. Warren does not have to explicitly endorse or be involved in the product in order to be held accountable for allowing his name brand to be used in the selling of this antisocial product.

Some people have commented that the link between Mr. Warren's purpose driven empire and this product is casual. Let's be clear: Mark Carver is Executive Director of the Purpose Driven Church, and therefore works directly for Mr. Warren in one of the most senior roles in his empire. It would seem unlikely that Mr. Warren, who plans an international stealth evangelism campaign that already includes the president of Rwanda, is unaware of this project, the biggest Christian video game in history. Mr. Carver's role on the Advisory Board of Left Behind Games, the corporation created in October 2001 specifically to develop and market this violent video game, is an association clearly more active than a casual. People are involved on this Advisory Board because of their expertise, and their connections to markets -- in this case, Mr. Warren's. On its corporate web site -- part of its merchandising pitch -- Left Behind Games touts its association with Mr. Carver, and makes clear his prominent role in Mr. Warren's Purpose Driven Church.

In other words, Left Behind Games is invoking its association with Mr. Warren's Purpose Driven Church as part of its product marketing strategy. Do we think that Mr. Warren would allow his name brand and reputation to be casually invoked in a major business venture that involves one of the largest publishers in the Christian marketplace, who published the Left Behind novels, one of the best selling fiction series of all time? Does anyone think that Left Behind Games invoked the name brand of Mr. Warren's Purpose Driven Church without his permission? Since this possibility is farfetched, what we are looking at here is a business/marketing alliance between several evangelical business and ministerial entrepreneurs for whom the Great Commission also means great profits.

Left Behind Games plans to market directly to pastoral networks and mega-churches, using the same network marketing strategies that turned Mr. Warren's book The Purpose Driven Life into a best seller . Mr. Carver has a lot of expertise and connections in this area. Will Mr. Warren's mega-church be offering this game for sale to its members? Will Mr. Warren's global pastoral network be used to distribute the game? On the other hand, if Mr. Warren is unaware and uninvolved, do we think he will fire Mr. Carver for marketing a product that helps children practice killing New Yorkers?
http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/MinisterLinkedToVideoGame.html

[Joanne98]

5. Pat Tillman's last words.....

http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/nationworld/articles/8794477.html
A chaplain who debriefed the entire unit days after Tillman's death later described this exchange to investigators conducting a criminal probe of the incident. But O'Neal strongly disputes portions of the chaplain's testimony, outlined in some 2,300 pages of transcripts released to the AP last week by the Defense Department in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

The chaplain told investigators that O'Neal said Tillman was harsh in his last moments, snapping, `Would you shut your (expletive) mouth? God's not going to help you; you need to do something for yourself, you sniveling ..."

"He never would have called me `sniveling,"' O'Neal said. "I don't remember ever speaking to this chaplain, and I find this characterization of Pat really upsetting. He never once degraded me. He's the only person I ever worked for who didn't degrade anyone. He wasn't that sort of person."

The chaplain's name is blacked out in the documents.
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/nationworld/articles/8794477.html

WHO'S THE CHAPLAIN? Find the Chaplain, solve the murder!

[No Coercion]

6. a ha

I'm glad to hear that from O'Neal. As soon as I read that Chaplain's testimony the other day, I knew it didn't sound right. Sort of contrived--like he had seen it in a movie or something. As a chaplain, he probably would have gotten wind of Tillman's lack of belief and may be trying to paint him in a bad light now. Disgusting.

[EFerrari]

8. Welcome to DU, No Coercion. That lack of "belief" could also be described

as a grounding in reason. :)

[No Coercion]

9. Exactly

There are actually a lot more rational, reason-based folks in the military than many people realize.

[Joanne98]

10. Thank Gawd for that! I hope they're keeping their eyes and ears open.

For any sign of a "Christian" takeover of the military. These people are VERY stealthy!

[Maat]

11. Yep (n/t).

[Celebration]

27. Amen, sister

Can't anyone read through that blackout???

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

7. Who murdered Pat Tillman?

Well, after all, it was you and me.

[Marnieworld]

14. whooo whooo

Thanks. Now that's stuck in my head. :hi:

[SpiralHawk]

21. "Smirk, smirk, smirk. I have my own, um, peculiar religion." - Commander AWOL

"So -- all your loyal republicon Homelanders -- bend over and salute the Almighty Force of my Occult Cabal. Smirk, smirk, smirk." - Commander AWOL

[BeHereNow]

12. I willing to bet that Tillman was a Blackwater hit.

Why else all the cover up by the KKKabal?
BHN

[BeHereNow]

13. Delete- dupe

bhn

[DemoTex]

15. My R/W fundy cousin (a Lt Col chaplain in Iraq) is the epitome of this movement.

A pre-convoy prayer my cousin recently used was reprinted in an Alabama newspaper recently. Without identifying my cousin or the newspaper, here is the prayer (which I got from a family member, not the paper):

Father, when that rocket hit our pad last night, it scared us all. It should remind us that our only place of protection is to be hidden in Christ, and that is truly a safe place to be.

Lord, I pray that during this mission you would give each man here a great sense of awareness of everything that's going on around him. Give each one eyes to see exactly what they need to see and to especially note anything that may cause them harm. Father, I pray you'd give your angels charge to go ahead of them, beside them, behind them and so cover
them with your protection.

Finally, I'd pray that you'd pour your spirit on each one of them so that they might know and love you, the God of all comfort.

It's in Jesus' name and for his sake that I pray, amen.

Hide in Jeebus and not the bunker? Cover the convoy's movement with angels? Armed angels? Angels in armed helicopters?

That's my cuz! Still crazy after all these years.

[Joanne98]

17. Pretty scary huh?

[Joanne98]

16. "The Tillman family can't let it go because they're not Christians"

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=tillmanpart1
In his interview with ESPN.com, Kauzlarich also said he was not driven to identify Tillman's killer.

"You know what? I don't think it really matters," Kauzlarich said. "And the reason I say that — you got to look at the overall situation here that these guys were fighting in. And somebody hit him. So would you hold that guy hit him responsible for hitting him, when everybody was shooting in that direction, given the situation? We'll see how the investigation comes out. But I had no issue on not finding a specific person responsible for doing it."

Kauzlarich said he is confident the current probe will not result in criminal charges against the shooter or shooters. He said investigators would not still be examining the incident at all if it were not for Tillman's NFL celebrity — he walked away from a multimillion-dollar contract with the Arizona Cardinals when he enlisted — and the pressure brought to bear by Tillman's family on a number of Washington politicos.

"His parents continue to ask for it to be looked at," Kauzlarich said. "And that is really their prerogative. And if they have the right backing, the right powerful people in our government to continue to let it happen, then that is the case.

"But there been numerous unfortunate cases of fratricide, and the parents have basically said, 'OK, it was an unfortunate accident.' And they let it go. So this is — I don't know, these people have a hard time letting it go. It may be because of their religious beliefs."

In a transcript of his interview with Brig. Gen. Gary Jones during a November 2004 investigation, Kauzlarich said he'd learned Kevin Tillman, Pat's brother and fellow Army Ranger who was a part of the battle the night Pat Tillman died, objected to the presence of a chaplain and the saying of prayers during a repatriation ceremony in Germany before his brother's body was returned to the United States.

Kauzlarich, now a battalion commanding officer at Fort Riley in Kansas, further suggested the Tillman family's unhappiness with the findings of past investigations might be because of the absence of a Christian faith in their lives.

In an interview with ESPN.com, Kauzlarich said: "When you die, I mean, there is supposedly a better life, right? Well, if you are an atheist and you don't believe in anything, if you die, what is there to go to? Nothing. You are worm dirt. So for their son to die for nothing, and now he is no more — that is pretty hard to get your head around that. So I don't know how an atheist thinks. I can only imagine that that would be pretty tough."

Asked by ESPN.com whether the Tillmans' religious beliefs are a factor in the ongoing investigation, Kauzlarich said, "I think so. There is not a whole lot of trust in the system or faith in the system . So that is my personal opinion, knowing what I know."

Asked what might finally placate the family, Kauzlarich said, "You know what? I don't think anything will make them happy, quite honestly. I don't know. Maybe they want to see somebody's head on a platter. But will that really make them happy? No, because they can't bring their son back."

Kauzlarich, now 40, was the Ranger regiment executive officer in Afghanistan, who played a role in writing the recommendation for Tillman's posthumous Silver Star. And finally, with his fingerprints already all over many of the hot-button issues, including the question of who ordered the platoon to be split as it dragged a disabled Humvee through the mountains, Kauzlarich conducted the first official Army investigation into Tillman's death.

That investigation is among the inquiries that didn't satisfy the Tillman family.

"Well, this guy makes disparaging remarks about the fact that we're not Christians, and the reason that we can't put Pat to rest is because we're not Christians," Mary Tillman, Pat's mother, said in an interview with ESPN.com. Mary Tillman casts the family as spiritual, though she said it does not believe in many of the fundamental aspects of organized religion.

"Oh, it has nothing to do with the fact that this whole thing is shady," she said sarcastically, "But it is because we are not Christians."

After a pause, her voice full with emotion, she added, "Pat may not have been what you call a Christian. He was about the best person I ever knew. I mean, he was just a good guy. He didn't lie. He was very honest. He was very generous. He was very humble. I mean, he had an ego, but it was a healthy ego. It is like, everything those are, he wasn't."
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=tillmanpart1

[Joanne98]

18. KICK

[artemisia1]

19. Kick, for Pat Tillman, American Hero... /nt

[tom_paine]

20. Almost certainly (80% probabitility) that is was a BushChristian

who are, in reality, following a Minion of Satan, Prince of Lies.

Undoubtedly one of those unquestioning Fundamentalist Authoritarians pulled the trigger that put the 3-round burst dead center in Pat's forehead in a very tight grouping.

He was doing the work of The Lord, and his Chosen Emissary on Earth, Busholini.

Further as an atheist, a leftist, and an intellectual, could Tillman have made himself any more of an inhuman unperson who didn't deserve to live in the eyes of a Fundamentalist Right-Wing Authoritarian Follower with a Highly Compatrmentalized Mind and with off-the-scale Self-Righteosuness?

I think not, other perhaps than be gay (which Tillman wasn't).

Oh no, the man who killed Tillman for God and Country likely sleeps very peacefully indeed, although one would hope that if there really is a God, this Fundamentalist Right-Wing Authoritarian Follower with a Highly Compatrmentalized Mind and with off-the-scale Self-Righteosuness, cannot understand why he suffers nightmares every night with Tillman in it.

[glitch]

26. No problem! He suffers the nightmares but doesn't remember thanks to his addiction to Zombien nt

[tom_paine]

30. LOL

:rofl:

[JohnyCanuck]

22. Military Chaplaincies?

Which army would Jesus join (Salvation Army doesn't count)?

[JohnyCanuck]

23. Just a coincidence that Hitler's Nazi armies

marched into battle with "Gott Mit Uns" on their belt buckles.

[burythehatchet]

24. For one year, I have been raising this red flag

for a time I thought that the military would obviously refuse to turn their guns against us. But after Monica Goodling and the army of zealots that have infested Washington came to light, I thought back on the crusade general. Finally it occurred to me, Bush Inc. would never have gone this far without assurance of coopting some elements of the military, and Blackwater is the perfect example.

[Joanne98]

25. You're right. It's time to take the gloves off . These people are evil!

I'm sick to death of them hiding behind their "Christian" costume. If they murdered Tillman, it's a chance for us to shine the light on them. We'll see if they fool the sheeple after that.

[provis99]

28. this whole Pat Tillman episode reminds me of the hit on Emperor Julian

Julian the Apostate tried to restore the ancient pagan gods to the same level of respect that the Christians were enjoying after Constantine legalized them. Not make them superior, mind you, just say that pagan gods were acceptable, too. Well, the bigoted Christians wouldn't have any of that, and contrived to have one of Julian's own Christian soldiers assassinate him during a battle. So we have a military man getting killed simply because he didn't kowtow to Christian nuts. Sound a little like Pat Tillman?

[NAO]

29. Julian's Death from Friendly Fire, and it's Consequences for Western Civilization

In the mid-fourth century, Christians were outraged that after they had finally made Rome into a "Christian Nation", they got an intellectual, neo-platonist, pagan philosopher as Emperor. So they murdered Julian in an alleged "friendly fire" incident and then falsified the account of his death, even attributing to him a ludicrous pro-christian slogan as his last words ("Galilean, thou has conquered").

Well, they re-established the Christian Nation of Rome, turned their political power against learning and education, destroyed libraries, razed temples, closed the schools of Philosophy, and generally rotted society to the core. Their efforts to fully "Christianize" Rome led the collapse of the Empire and the utter ruination of Western Civilization.

After the Christians were done, there was nothing left but huddled masses of superstitious, ignorant peasants praying to priests and popes. The prophesied "Millennium: The Thousand Year Reign of Christ" had began. It lasted from about 500 CE to about 1,500 CE. We know it today as the "Dark Ages". The grip of the Christian Darkness finally began to wane with the dawn of the Light of Reason: The Enlightenment.

Now, the Christians are back at it again: trying to seize power, opposing science, out to destroy everything again "so Jesus can come down out of the clouds like a superhero, wielding his magic powers".

I hope the "Four Horsemen of the Counter-Apocalypse" - Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens -- and the "New Atheist" movement will be influential enough to counter the machinations of the Christians to once again destroy civilization.

[tom_paine]

31. Well said, and a good point.

Yep, that sounds like our BushChristians.

[Joanne98]

32. How interesting!

[sanskritwarrior]

33. Lord

lamest conspiracy theory yet.......

Most military people can understand how this ACCIDENT took place.........but of course we are familiar with firing weapons and how chaotic things get if you THINK you are being attacked......I almost shot my company commander during an ambush in Iraq because the dumb fucker ran right on front of my muzzle.......

[Raster]

34. ...in your opinion

Wake up America!:kick:

[neohippie]

35. seriously now...

I am willing to accept that there is a possibility that Tillman's death was accidental, but when you look at all the facts surrounding the incident, the investigation that followed and the official story that was released, you have to admit, that the whole thing smacks of cover up. The problem here is that the expression "Something is rotten in Denmark" couldn't have found a more representative case.

Why wasn't there other evidence of a firefight? Why was the uniform he was shot in burned along with his journal? What would be the need for all of the secrecy? If this was just an incident of friendly fire, and it's a common event why wouldn't more evidence point toward that end? I recognize that the military is full of great people, but, things with this story have never added up. Even Rummy has stated that Pat Tillman's family deserves to know how their son was killed?

[sanskritwarrior]

36. I'm pretty sure there was no ambush

however once one person starts firing, the pucker factor rises exponentially. If a person thinks they are being attacked, self preservation kicks in and you will shoot at anything that looks remotely like a threat, even a firendly laying on the ground can beome a threat if you are disoriented and if this occured at twilight, then yeah it becomes even easier to shoot friends......

[Usrename]

37. Three shots to the forehead?

That sounds like pretty intimate range to me. Three rounds in a two-inch spread.

Do you think these shots were just sprayed and not aimed? I just can't come up with any realistic accidental sequence here.

[sanskritwarrior]

38. Three shots in a 2 inch spread

gotta do that everytime I go to weapons qualification, at least twice a year we must zero our weapons which requires two groupings of three rounds each in a 2 inch spread before we can proceed to the qualification range.......So twice a year I gotta put 6 rounds in a 2inch spread before I can go and qualify with my M-4........

And if they believed they were being ambushed they would aim at anything perceived as a threat......

[Usrename]

39. So when you are aiming these shots in order to qualify..

So when you are aiming these shots in order to qualify, are you saying that you could accidentally hit one of your friends in the forehead three times.

I don't get it. Are you really that poor with a firearm? That you could shoot a friend in the head three times by accident?

[sanskritwarrior]

40. That if I fired 3 shots in 3 seconds

all three would hit the same 2 inch spread. If I believed I was under attack and perceived a threat near my person I would act instinctively and put lead downrange........The fact that I could put 3 bullets in a 2 inch spread in a few seconds is the sign of good marksmanship, not poor......

I don't understand what your point is? The fact that tilman only had 3 rounds in him leads me to believe it was an accident......If someone was purpsely trying to kill him a lot more than 3 rounds would have hit him.......

[Usrename]

41. So, do you think he stood there for three seconds?

My point is that I'm having difficulty coming up with a scenario where he ends up with three rounds in his forehead, by accident.

If he was down, and someone walked up and fired a burst into his head from a few feet, that would explain it, but I don't see how that would be an accident.

Give me some sort of plausible scenario, besides the fact that you can hit a target three times in a two-inch spread. You wouldn't convince many people that it was an accident if your shots went astray at the target range and hit someone repeatedly in the head.

I don't think it is very likely that he stood there for three seconds, like a paper target, while someone pumped three rounds through his forehead from a distance. Do you think that is what happened?

[jmowreader]

42. What I think

Rangers are strong men. They work out often, they pride themselves on having "max" Army Physical Fitness Test scores, they're just tough motherfuckers. A Ranger could put a hastily-fired three-round burst into a two-inch circle, no problem.

What Rangers DON'T do during training is firefights with live ammunition. At most they use the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System training aid, which is basically laser tag. If your harness goes off, you take the key out of your rifle, stick it in your harness and get razzed by your squadmates for five minutes after the exercise. The enemy doesn't use MILES--they use live rounds that kill people. You get hit in combat, your buddies stick you in a rubber bag and the president doesn't go to your funeral.

So here's what I think: they went out on patrol and made contact. Tillman was over here being a leader, moving around, giving directions and encouraging his men like infantry leaders have always done. Someone in a different area saw him over there, got the idea he was one of the bad guys approaching from their flanks, and started spraying rounds in Tillman's direction. Eventually he got hit.

The real story is all the shit that went on AFTER he died--the uniform/diary burning, the three million different tales, Bush exploiting Tillman's death for political points...

[Usrename]

43. So you think someone spraying fire in his direction hit him in the head.

Three hits in a two-inch pattern. From how far away?

I just can't believe that scenario. I think he had to be hit from very intimate range. Very intimate.

Where do you think the shooter was in relation to Tillman?

[Irreverend IX]

44. The idea that he was hit from a distance is just unbelievable.

You need more than physical strength to put a 3-shot burst into such a small target area. It's certainly possible for a person to make a hit like that against a stationary target at a firing range, but the shooter in this case hit Tillman's head (an unpredictable moving target) in the extremely stressful circumstances of combat. The best M16 marksman in history would be hard-pressed to do that. I think the shooter had to have been a lot closer to Tillman than anyone's willing to admit.

[benEzra]

48. Weapon was an M249 SAW shooting from a vehicle, not an M16.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=299074

[eridani]

46. Stan Goff agrees with you

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/eridani/234

In his opinion, the cover-up was initiated because there were very serious violations of RoE.

[Irreverend IX]

45. This article can't be posted enough.

"Jesus Plus Nothing," a look at America's undercover theocrats. These guys are behind all the "prayer breakfasts" in Washington.

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2003/03/0079525

[benEzra]

47. The M249 gunner, by accident, at 40 yards...

turning the Bush administration spin and coverup of Tillman's death into a murder conspiracy is the best possible outcome for the administration on this story.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=299074