Cross-posted from michiganliberal.com
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to
hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think
differently"
-Friedrich Nietzsche: The Dawn: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality, Book 4, #297, 1881
Q: What do a basement full of brawling and bloody college Republicans, a
Lansing-based right-wing indoctrination program for high schoolers, and
male prostitute/fake White House correspondent "Jeff Gannon" have in common?
A:
DeVos/Amway money. (Amway heir Dick DeVos is running for Governor of Michigan) Intrigued? Read on...
(Lots more below the jump...)
"SMASH LEFT-WING SCUM!" That's the banner headline (and the url) of a
certain website made known to me today.
Take a look (you can also view the site
here) - it's a complete
gallery of local college conservatives beating each other up in somebody's
basement, under the ominous subtitle: "Here right wingers learn
personal combat
skills to help them in future conflicts." Conflicts, presumably, with
"left-wing scum"
like you and I.
On the left with the ever-so-slightly bloodstained armpitt is SD31
State Senate Candidate
Zack Nuncio (R-Bay City - running against Sen.
Jim Barcia [D-Bay City]) . Included in the brawling are Michigan State University College
Republicans' chairman
Jeff Wiggins, treasurer
Anna Marie Cooper, and former chairman (and smashleftwingscum.com registrant)
Jason Miller. There's also
Luke Pelicanof the Alpha Omicron chapter of
Pi Sigma Alpha honor society, The
Republican Michigander himself,
Dan Wholihan (also a member of the Livingston Co. GOP exec committee), and
Michigan Conservative Dossier blogmaster, Perry Como aficionado, and former Michlib troll Joe Sylvester (a.k.a.
cheneygun).
All appear to be having a delightful time giving each other bloody
noses and mouths in preparation for the "future conflicts." Yet one picture in particular stands out:
Campusleadership.org? What's that? The sign appears in five of the
other pictures.
Well, here's an excerpt from their
"about us" page:
The Campus Leadership Program, a division of the Leadership
Institute, fosters permanent, effective, conservative student
organizations on college campuses across America.
-snip-
Local conservative campus groups provide experience in leadership
and positive character development for each young conservative who
participates. The creation and maintenance of the campus group develops
the principles of individual responsibility, private initiative and
organizational entrepreneurship in the students.
Positive character development, like drunken and bloody basement
brawls...but hey, who am I to judge? At any rate,
the CLP lists some other fun activities members can participate in
(besides drunken and bloody basement brawls):
- Host speakers and events on campus
- Start a conservative newspaper
- Win student government elections
- Fight the political correctness and the campus left!
The Soviet Union theme seems to be very
prevalent on on the CLP site - a facet closely mimicked by our old
friends at
smashleftwingscum.com. Interesting enough. But what do we
know about the
Leadership Institute - of which the CLP is supposedly "a
division"?
According to Wikipedia...
The Leadership Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Arlington, Virginia that teaches "political technology." [1] The Institute's mission is to "identify, train, recruit and place conservatives in politics, government, and media"
through a variety of programs offered at the Institute's Arlington
headquarters or at its many training seminars held around the United
States, mostly on college campuses. As of January 2006, the Leadership
Institute had trained more than 47,000 students.
In 2001, the New York Times
ran a profile of The Leadership Institute (one can only imagine how they've evolved over the intervening five years). Here's a snip:
"How do I know you are genuine?" shouted the teacher, Mark Montini, at the Leadership Institute.
Without hesitation, Doug Tietz, a University of Michigan junior with a
freshly pressed white shirt, a short haircut and a burning desire to be
a campaign strategist, shouted back, "Because I appear genuine."
Exactly so.
"The words you say are important, but they are much less important than
the visuals and the vocals," Mr. Montini told Mr. Tietz and seven other
eager Republicans in their early 20's. He advised them to elongate
words to show compassion and bite them off to show anger. He said 93
percent of the impression that any politician made on an audience came
from how he looked and how he sounded -- not what he said. (emphasis added)
LI's list of "graduates" is certainly impressive (again, see Wikipedia): Grover "drown
government in a bathtub" Norquist, ex-Christian Coalition head and
rent-a-fundie lobbyist Ralph Reed, Sen. Mitch McConell (R-KY), Jack
Abramoff (no introduction necessary), and a male prostitute/fake White
House correspondent by the made-up name "Jeff Gannon" of the so-called
"Talon News Service". Remember him?
So who pays for all of this? Coors' beer money is a big chunk of it. But take a look at this list of donors
compiled from IRS form 990's by MediaTransparency.org. Any names look
familiar? Yes...you see it, don't you. I'm speaking, of course, of Amway pyramid scheme founder and
"Compassionate Capitalism" author Rich DeVos! That's right - the
sign those "ring girls" are holding up and that appears in five
different pictures on the "SMASH LEFTWING SCUM" "fight
night" website is paid for in part by DeVos/Amway money.
If I sound a little paranoid tonight, it's because I am. My discovery of the SMASH LEFTWING SCUM website came only a day
after reading in the Kalamazoo Gazette about another right-wing
indoctrination outfit on the prowl in Lansing, the "Student
Statesmanship Institute." Unlike the Leadership Institute and its'
subsidiary, the Campus Leadership Project, the SSI gets them even
younger. From the SSI website:
From small beginnings with 14 students, SSI has grown to include: three
separate week-long summer camps, serving more than 300 students each
year; a traveling, two-day, on-site program for Christian, public and
home-school students; and an exciting, discipleship program for SSI
alumni called the Ambassador League.
In 2004, more than
800 young people, aged 14 to 19 years from a variety of denominations
and backgrounds, were touched by the ministry of SSI.
The
result? Today, SSI is Michigan's Premier Biblical Worldview &
Leadership Training Program for high school students.
SSI represents a whole new way of thinking. Young people
come to understand that God has a destiny and purpose for their lives.
They start to realize that faith is not a 'crutch' for weak people, but
rather it has relevance to every area of life. They begin to see
themselves as Christ's Ambassadors, who have been commissioned to
influence the world for His Kingdom. They learn to give themselves as
servant leaders in a bankrupt culture. They are equipped to counter the
narrow-secular worldview that is so pervasive in our society.
How are kids "equipped to counter the narrow-secular worldview"? The Kalamazoo Gazette explains:
Sitting in a legislative committee meeting, taking part in a
mock press conference and listening to political experts
give presentations have helped build a better foundation
from which she can speak about her Christian beliefs,
Lindsey (Follman - a 14-year old home-schooled girl from Texas Township) said.
``They are teaching us how we can argue for our
faith,'' she said after the mock press conference
that addressed the issue of putting filters on computers in
public libraries to block out offensive material.
``You can't defend your faith by opinions. No one will
trust you'' if opinions, and not facts, are all a
person has to offer, she said.
After the mock press conference, Lindsey went off to attend
a simulated committee hearing on legislation regulating
cell-phone use by teenage drivers. In another room, former
Kalamazoo-area legislator Dale Shugars chaired a mock
committee hearing at which young people discussed the issue
of partial-birth abortion.
The Student Statesmanship Institute - according to a diclaimer on
the bottom of their home page - is a "ministry of the Foundation for
Traditional Values." Seeing as I already had the always-useful
Media Transparency database open to find out the dirt on the Leadership
Institute, I figured I'd try plugging in "Foundation for
Traditional Values" and see what happens. Mirror, mirror on the wall...
Well, I'll be!!! Look whose name is one the list! Once again, it's noneother than our favorite Amway pyramid scheme founder, RICH DEVOS!!!
Yes sir, whether it's a good old fashioned teenage conversation
about sexual abstinence or so-called "partial-birth abortion", or a
bloody basement "SMASH LIBERAL SCUM" brawl, DeVos/Amway money is
raising the next generation of Grover Norquists, Ralph Reeds, and "Jeff
Gannons" right here in Lansing!
Not that you'd ever find any of this out in the Kalamazoo Gazette,
which covered the SSI junket to Lansing as just another warm and fuzzy
"aw, look at the cute kiddies" kind of story. The KG should be ashamed
of this. But they're not alone. In 2004, the Lansing State Journal did
the same damn thing. The Amway moneyman is indoctrinating teenagers to
be footsoldiers in their grand theocratic onslaught and it's
supposed to be cute.
I'd like to think my ranting about all of this will prompt other
scribes to take a more careful look at some of the Amway Family-funded brainwashing
activities. Unfortunately, I do not hold high hopes for this. There are far too many stories
to write about this week's poll or Amway Guy's last television ad.
Besides, none of this appears on a press release or fits in a 10-second
soundbyte. Therefore, it does not exist.
Throughout the course of human history, the movie we are now watching has been played out many, many times. Seldom does it have a happy
ending. Will you be an actor or an impotent bystander as the "smashing
of left-wing scum" commences? The choice is yours.