Voices from the Flats: Bill Sherwonit – Say it Ain’t So, Joe
By Bill Sherwonit
I happened to be up at Denali National Park the week of this year’s primary elections (for those who might be wondering, yes, I voted early), so I didn’t learn the results until later than most. Upon finally hearing the news, I – like most Alaskans, I suspect – was shocked to learn that Joe Miller had upset Lisa Murkowski in the Republican race for the U.S. Senate. Sure, it was theoretically possible that Murkowski might overcome Miller’s lead of 1,600 or so votes, given the remaining absentee and questioned ballots. But highly unlikely. And now even Lisa has conceded the inevitable: Joe Miller vs. Scott McAdams for the U.S. Senate seat that the Murkowski family had owned for three decades. Who? Versus who?
My initial response of “OMYGOD, are you’re kidding me?” was replaced, moments later, by the thought (repeated many times across the years) that I live in what is politically and culturally a very, very strange place indeed, a sort of alternate universe to rational thought and behavior. It’s a place that in two years has given us the Sarah Palin phenomenon and now Joe Miller, a guy who single-handedly (if you believe his spiel) is gonna change how things are done in Alaska and the whole U.S. of A. If Joe gets his way, there will be no more Social Security or Medicare benefits – maybe not even unemployment compensation, which he’s decided is not “constitutionally authorized.” And he’s going to convince the federal government to let go of its lands in Alaska (and around the U.S.) – more on this last point a bit later.
You have to wonder about the people who voted for Joe. What were they thinking? Or, more to the point, were they thinking?
At least some of the people who voted for Miller – and I’d bet most of ‘em – have to be the same folks who worshipped Ted Stevens, in large part for all the many billions of dollars Mr. Pork Barrel funneled to Alaska during his long reign in the Senate.
Don’t these people understand that Joe is determined to end Congress’s largesse toward Alaska? Don’t they realize he expects Alaska to – GULP! – support itself? Sure, it sounds great to say “Do away with Social Security. Do away with Medicare and unemployment benefits.” But it ain’t gonna seem so great if or when the payments and benefits end.
I guess that’s the great thing about voting for a guy like Joe Miller. You can take a strong anti-government stand – even if it’s in your own worst interest – and not have to worry about it, because Joe Miller won’t be able to do a tiny fraction of what he says he wants to accomplish. Even if the Republicans take over the Senate, Joe’s views will be extreme. And he’ll be a newbie, with little or no clout. That’s another reason the vote for him doesn’t make sense. Sure, voting for him made a great statement. But what’s he really going to accomplish? And look at the seniority that Alaska lost, in a place – the U.S. Senate – where seniority matters a whole bunch, like it or not.
To be honest, I’d grown weary of and hugely disappointed in Sen. Lisa, who once upon a time was a moderate in her words and actions. But as she moved up the Senate’s chain of command, she became ever-more conservative and contrarian, while solidifying her position in what has become the Party of No. I take a little guilty pleasure in relishing the fact that Lisa moved way to the right and even that wasn’t good enough to get herself re-elected. For Joe Miller to call Lisa Murkowski a “liberal” is to show how extreme his own views are. If this is where the Republican party has moved, it is dangerously close to making itself irrelevant to the large majority of Americans. Alaskans I’m not so sure about.
I’ll betcha there are lots of bigger-name Democrats who are now kicking themselves that they didn’t run for the Senate this year. What an opportunity they missed. Though McAdams still has to be considered a long shot, at least he now has a shot, something the Democratic party’s national leadership certainly realizes.
This is going to be one heck of a race between two people who until the past week or so were largely unknowns, even in Alaska. In the space of a few days, Miller gained national renown, or at least notoriety. McAdams, meanwhile, remains a largely unfamiliar face, an underdog. But this fact remains: The people who chose Miller over Murkowski constitute a small percentage of Alaska’s voters. You would think that the primary results would be a jolting sort of wake-up call to anyone left of the extreme far right. Still, this being Alaska, who knows?
I think that Joe Miller’s primary victory could ultimately be a good thing, though not for the same reasons his supporters believe. But I also think that it could be a good thing if the Republican party were to choose Sarah Palin as its next presidential candidate. Some friends shudder when I say that, simply for the fact that she might actually win. I can’t imagine that, but I also couldn’t imagine George W. Bush getting re-elected in 2004. So yeah, it’s a strange, strange world we inhabit.
Now, some final words on Joe Miller and Denali National Park. First, it doesn’t at all surprise me that Joe wants Alaska to take over the state’s federally owned lands, including Denali, as reported in the Alaska Dispatch earlier this week. My guess is that a lot of Alaskans would like to see that. What caught my attention is the disconnect in Miller’s thinking. On the one hand, Joe says, “If there’s a significant resource in that park [Denali] that we could get in a responsible way – and the state decides it’s appropriate to extract it – let’s create jobs from it.” On the other hand, he says he doesn’t favor anything that despoils the wilderness.
Say what? How can you not despoil wilderness by extracting resources from it? Answer: there is absolutely no way. Joe can’t have it both ways, but he seems to want just that. I’m reminded of TV shows and movies about the American West from years ago, when Indians accused whites of speaking with a forked tongue. Or I suppose you could say it appears Joe is talking out of both sides of his mouth. It appears he’s adapting to politics very well, thank you.
Later in the Dispatch piece, writer Joshua Saul reports that Miller “believes that Alaska must end federal paternalism and move toward state control of all lands and encourage aggressive resource development.” Again I ask, how does that jive with keeping wilderness intact and unspoiled?
Joe’s stance on Denali and other public lands is bound to win him favor with many Alaskans, particularly those who are staunchly pro-development and state’s rights advocates. But I wonder how many residents would actually want to see Denali become a resource-extraction site. Alaska’s wildlands and wildlife are among our state’s greatest treasures in their condition of wildness, not simply as resources to be tamed, extracted, or otherwise consumed. At some level Joe Miller seems to understand that. But there’s that disconnect, one that seems to be contagious.
Setting aside his personal philosophy and contradictory statements, there is also this to consider: when asked how he might go about moving Alaska’s lands from federal to state control, Joe suggests building a strong Congressional coalition that would move the country toward his so-called “constitutional model,” in which states’ powers would override the federal government in nearly all situations.
Message to Joe and his followers: It ain’t gonna happen. Nor is the federal government suddenly going to bequeath its lands to states because of a bankruptcy crisis.
On one thing I agree with Joe Miller: the federal government needs to get its spending under control. One way it might do this is to truly trim back Congressional pork. If Joe got elected and could help with that, more power to him. Though once the money stopped flowing to Alaska, I think he’d have a revolt on his hands. The other thing the government could do is end – or severely curtail – its corporate subsidies. And it could trim its obscenely large defense and military budget.
As for opening up Denali National Park’s wildlands to resource extraction, if given the chance: say it ain’t so, Joe. You wouldn’t really do that – would you?
Thanks BIll. You said a lot of what I’ve been saying all week. Lisa tried to “out crazy” Joe down the stretch, but it was too little, too late.
I think your belief in Murkowski’s seniority as a senator is a bit overstated. Being placed in the slot by dad and winning one election does not give her a tremendous amount of seniorty in the US Senate when you compare our lameduck senator to others republican.senators now in office.
She is the senior senator from Alaska but she did not hold any extremely important chairmanship role in the senate. Seeing that the democrats are the majority party (they will remain so after Nov. elections) it would be best to have 2 or 3 Democrats in our delegation.
You don’t understand much how the US Senate works.
Well, if she had been re-elected this time, she’d be on her third term, which would be midway up the Republican seniority ladder. And while it’s true that she hasn’t held an “extremely important chairmanship role”, that’s mostly because she’s been in the minority party since 2007.
Let me be clear. I’m a Democrat, and I have no great regard for Lease-A, and even less for Joe the Carpetbagger. But throwing away eight years of Senate seniority is a decision that will have real consequences.
I suspect that some Alaskans were so used to the Eternal and Extremely Senior Uncle Ted that they either have forgotten, or have never experienced, what it’s like to have zero Senators with seniority. Bless their hearts.
Great post – but, Don’t these people understand that Joe is determined to end Congress’s largesse toward Alaska? Don’t they realize he expects Alaska to – GULP! – support itself? .
But perhaps you are being to kind. I think that what you write is true, with the qualification that future support for Alaska, after we disengage from “The Feds” might come from the Pebble Consortium, Red Dog, Usibelli Coal Mine, Inc. (UCM), BP, Exxon Mobil, Conoco Philips, CH2M HILL, Koch Industries, Inc., etc. Seems to me none of them give .02 about the folks that live here unless we might interfere with their bottom lines.
Joe Miller’s plan, probably with aid and support from many of the corporations (who want Alaskans to have jobs on their terms) , will turn our future over to these businesses and corporations. BTW, it’s worth noting that Lisa is no saint – she spent the last 6 years playing kissy face with these folks while all the while telling us she was on our side. I’m not crying any tears for her.
OOPs – forgot to include Halliburton, 6900 Arctic Boulevard. I must be tired.
If Joe Miller were to be elected (shudder!) he would not be the Senator from Alaska, he would be the Senator from Koch Industries. I hope enough Alaskans get the word on who and what the Koch Brothers are to make possible the election of Scott McAdams.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer this is a MUST read on the brothers……
What you describe is the pattern of exploitation for profit by corporations in many many 3rd world nations. Lisa or Joe, either one will sell you out.
If Sarah get the nomination for president, she will win. She will win not because she represents the will of the people, but because electronic voting fraud will be paid, bought and sold by big money interests. To date, there is no way to prevent voter fraud in the United States of America, a sad state of affairs.
Thus, never, ever, say you want Sarah to get the nod. She is far too dangerous and psychotic.
At 3AM this morning, the following came to me. About a week or so, there was a bizarre poll about what was Obama’s religion. Was he Muslim? Christian? Does anybody know?
This was not a mere random event. It was a deliberate part of a bigger right wing media plot/coup.
It was then followed by the Beck/Palin rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The zombie-like public was first set up by the Obama poll, then the rally. All Beck could say when interviewed is that “people of faith” blah, blah blah. (What does that mean?)
Next is the Palin-Beck rally in Anchorage.
Remember that the faux, shady religious group that many right wingers belong to, “The Family,” is deliberately modeled after Nazi Germany but only with God/Jesus/Christianity/Religion thrown into the mix. It is also how their economic policies were formed.
One of Beck’s recent books shows him on the cover in storm trooper dress. Coincidence? I think not.
http://tinyurl.com/27peoth
Beck is also on a campaign that Obama is not the same kind of Christian that the rest of us are. They are throwing around a term “liberation theology” as a belief of Obama.
It just sounds scary. What it really referred to was the Church members who want to see Latin American countries move away from being Banana Republics and become democracies.
The Sino/Saudi propaganda machine is steamrolling ahead.
Somewhere last week I read an explanation that liberation theology is more in line with what Christ was preaching. I doubt they’d like to admit that. But then most of the very vocal right wing “Christians” don’t seem to have taken time to read the fine print in their Bibles – the part about helping the poor, the sick, and the least of society. They dislike the very people he always had time to help.
I actually had an intense argument once with a young Christian friend of mine who firmly believed that Jesus was a capitalist. I had to point out all that “fine print” in the bible to him to get him to shut up.
Isn’t most of that “fine print” in RED?
Well done.
I’d like to take this opportunity to point out the fine article written (and updated) by Cynthia Boaz on this very subject. “What if the Right was Right”.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cynthia-boaz/what-if-the-right-was-rig_b_262723.html
I’ve posted it before, but it is so spot on as to the right wing conservative lie.
Thanks for posting. I missed this somehow, and was glad to read it.
LondonBridges:
Good info; not to be forgotten.
thx.
When Glen Beck is introduced on September 11 in Anchorage at the Denaina Center, we are holding a Stop Spreading Hate across the street at the parkstip under the flag pole. It starts at ll am and goes until 1 pm. Make your own signs. Mine’s gonna read, “PALIN AND BECK; WORST LIARS EVER”
These people need to be stopped. Now get out and vote!!
Seriously? Because I may come up just for that.
Obama’s religion has also been brought up here at work and the general consensus is ‘so what’. So what if he is a muslim (he’s not), so what if he is a christian (he is), hindu, mormon, etc…. The only ‘religion’ I would object to is devil worship (which there are some worshippers). I’ll admit my tolerance doesn’t extend that far.
There is nothing that says our country must be led by a christian and everything pointing towards seperation of church and state. As long as the President upholds the Constitution, the responsibilities of his office and works towards the betterment of our nation, his religion belongs to him.
I know it isn’t that simple but I don’t have time write more. Sigh. The fanatical ‘right’ are idiots.
i couldn’t agree more….what is truly frightening to me is the out right lie the right wingnuts continue to push about this country being “born a christian nation by our founding fathers”….one of two things 1) they know its a lie but know that if they repeat it enough most, if not all, of their followers will believe it or 2) they are that stupid and uneducated enough to believe it….this country was founded partially for religious FREEDOM…meaning for all and ANY religions to be worshiped and followed…NOT any particular one….and btw…the founding fathers were not particularly religious and many outright ridiculed them all…equally….anyone can do minimal research on all of them and discover this fact…if they were so inclined and/or curious….but that makes it so complicated and messy when your main message turns out to be WRONG….DUH…..
Before there was a country, places like the Massachusetts Bay Colony (colony, not country) were indeed founded as religious, and quite intolerant. In the aforementioned colony, one could be jailed for not observing the Sabbath.
This nation, however, was founded for religious freedom and economic opportunity, among other things. My grandparents (of blessed memory) escaped Belarus and Austria to pursue economic opportunity and religious freedom, both of which they found in the early 20th century in New York’s lower east side (mom lived 2 blocks away from me when she was born).
Religious freedom not only includes the right to worship as one sees fit, but also (too) the freedom from religion for nonbelievers. It’s in the constitution, y’all.
Many of these companies that conduct polls have clear political agendas and funding despite their neutral sounding names.
The poll regarding people’s perceptions of President Obama’s nationality/religion was not one of those types of polls. This was a Pew Poll.
“The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press is an independent, non-partisan public opinion research organization that studies attitudes toward politics, the press and public policy issues. In this role it serves as a valuable information resource for political leaders, journalists, scholars and citizens.”
http://people-press.org/about/
Who funds Pew!? The fact that they even decided to conduct a poll which would lead to respondents say Obama was Muslim was a sign of the pollers bias. It’s like asking if Obama pals with terrorists. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Koch philanthropist don’t give pew $$$$$$$$$$$$$. The Kochs give major arts funding and appeared at a gala witj Caroline Kennedy. Michelle Obama was slated to appear, but apparently thought better of it.
Pew is pretty neutral. I’m not saying they couldn’t be secretly compromised, because who could tell? But if you look at the results of their electoral polls (the only ones where a comparison between “poll” and “results” is possible) over the years, they don’t appear to have any significant bias.
Political advertisements need to be worded in such a way that low information voters “get it”. They don’t read in depth or use critical thinking.
Is it possible in AK to go back and get the voter affiliation records? I keep wondering if Miller was ever a card carrying AIP’er like his friend Todd?
Unlike our bodacious Mudflats readers!
this was supposed to be placed as an agreement with Polly and London Bridges…..
Joe is a joke.
I do not believe that Bill S. wants to end Alaska progress..it is my thought..he wants
wants sensible balance as the most part..he knows nature well..nature will win..it always does
regardless of our man made brains..nature is a force..that should be plain to see by now.
With the technology of today ..if? one finds the true experts in a particular needed technology
and has the right needed regulations in..please note right ..needed..and is able to with
reliable people see this right needed is carried out..any area including Alaska should then be
able to have commercial projects that work well ..that are safe and yet also not deplete the unique and
beautiful aspects of the nature provided situations in Alaska. There is no doubt which should
have started many years ago and been resolved..the USA needed reforms is many areas..
the ever rising demand for oil..with the numbers of peple needing adequate and not completely
over prices oil..there has to be alternative situations..the healthcare ever higher and higher costs..insurance ..doctor visits..there has to be a financial reform..A doctor..
look at this ultra exteme on tv..is advising all doctors in the USA..not to take for care any
democrat and post this in their office..boy that is enough to welcome a for real
social medical reform..which the new medical bill is of course simply not. Alaska
is the worst in senior Medicare unless seniors are very well heeled or have had a doctor
for 20 years . Of first importance voters see that the tea party and the ultra right wing Republicans
do not hold any major political offices or majority in today..in this economy that will be the
beginning of the end for middle class Americans.. comment from a long standing independent
voter. Alaskans defeat Joe Miller and any Alaska Republican at this point in time..Miller is
a wack job..look at what he proposes….if you are in a very false type of pride and or do not
understand the issues one might think but better think again..his solutions are so wacko
they are beyond far out.
I like Bob Cesca’s neat little take on that “Spoiled-Brat American Electorate” piece by Eugene Robinson:
“Actually, I think any independent or Democratic voters who kneejerks over to the Republicans in November ought to be ear-tagged like wildlife so we can track who they are after the Republicans shut down the government and impeach the president in the midst of a sluggish economy.”
http://www.bobcesca.com/blog-archives/2010/09/the_spoiledbrat.html
Miller and the Tea Party are more of a challenge than the environment and Alaska revenue. The Tea Party is a loose organization of disaffected whites who see their own status and power slipping away. This is a culture war aimed directly at our core principles of equality and freedom. Our country is profoundly changing, and there is a certain segment of white Americans who cannot handle it.
I do not want Alaska to become a refuge for these disaffected extremists. Our neighborhoods in Anchorage, for example, have become very multicultural. Anchorage is the largest ‘village’ in our state of Alaska Native cultures. Anchorage School District demographics predict that within a few years, white students will be the minority, compared with all other cultures. Out in our neighborhoods, we are developing harmony and cooperation, and our community is better for it. The last thing we need is to be represented by a fundamentally racist and intolerant bunch of extremists like Miller and the Tea Party. We must not go backwards in civil rights to the 19th century.
My heart cringes at Miller’s desire to turn over fed public lands and resources to my state of Alaska. What could be more important, as a nation, than shared responsibility for lands, waters, tidelands. Once ownership starts getting divided, we lose intact watersheds and the interconnectedness of all the animals and plants and soils and, and, and. . .
It’s NOT going to be an easy battle… Joe LOOKS like a sterotype Alaskan, he talks in simple, catchey phrases that are going to appeal to the motivated Evangelicals. He will appeal to their emotional beliefs, and actual facts will not sway them from voting for someone who “believes” and talks like them.. He’ll play the “Christian” card to the hilt, make noise about “Big Goverment” telling them what to do, and the anti abortion line.. Any lies or wrong doing will be overlooked, or defended by the Faithful because it’s “The Christian thing to forgive”… ( amazing how the forgiveness is only given to those they think are like themselves, but not to others) .
McAdams will have to find a way to LOOK like a Senator…( sorry, guys, but he looks like a pudgey shopkeeper) to go with his rational views on what would be good for Alaska… a better haircut and some color would help some..
You’re up against a motivated group of people who are focused on first impressions and simple one liners; Remember they all think Sarah is pretty ( GAACK!) and they want to be just like her.. so unless you’ve got some way to show Miller is a really terrible person, you’re gonna have to come up with a way to EFFECTIVELY counter those simple first impressions.
You said it yourself, the religious right is going to vote the way they are told to vote at their church. Making McAdams look better isn’t going to change that one bit. Believe me, I just attended an evangelical church in the Valley and politics is the first thing on the agenda before the sermon. Then bad science. Then a poorly written & delivered sermon which was very loosely based on violent stories out of the Old Testament. Those folks are lost to us til they find their brains again. They aren’t the ones we need to get McAdams elected, as they won’t budge anyway.
Many of the “motivated ones” you speak of are counting on church votes, and better yet – busing all those voters to the polls while the lazy others go “Huh, what happened?” I’ve experienced this over and over in Alaska, and sometimes the progressives just miss the point of the church network, including organized transport to the polls after telling members how to vote.
Don’t fall hook line and sinker for the assumption that all those that voted for Miller against Murkowski are going to vote for Miller over McAdams. There was a lot of gambling and switcheroos going on by many Alaskan voters and nothing is a sure deal right now.
Why is Joe’s campaign site “Bio” devoid of any mention of his position as Asst. Atty with the Fairbanks North Star Borough?
Why does he have a no re-hire status? I’ll bet it is just another Big Govt. conspiracy…yes?
Will Joe ever answer the question or is he going to pull a “Palin” or better yet the new TeaBagger maneuver & run away like Angle & Brewer.
If I loose my Social Security and Medicare benefits, all hell’s gonna break loose!!!
I’m hearing more and more that we need a charismatic leader to get us motivated like the tea party is motivated so that 300,000…3,000,000 people can come together to talk about what WE believe is important for our nation.
Where is our ‘rational,’ passionate leader to rally the majority of this country who are silently blogging on their computers?
I’m afraid the majority of our country is not on their computers blogging! In normal day to day conversations with my friends and strangers who are progressive, I find most of them don’t read blogs at all. The majority of conservatives aren’t blogging either, they are waiting for someone to tell them what to do in church or in an email written in all caps which distorts every shred of reality.
We have a rational and passionate leader in the White House. Although now he’s tied up in actually doing his job! Also, the press is so often wrong so I don’t really believe much of what they report anymore. Don’t lose faith, or hope – that’s the very first step to being a rational and compassionate voter and resident.
Good idea not to watch the American news…try the European news.
“A vote for Joe Miller is a vote for Sarah Palin”. This needs to be a bumper sticker, pronto!
That’s an EXCELLENT bumper sticker…..
.
.
.
.
.may I suggest adding a sticker that indicates you are NOT a Palin supporter , just to be perfectly clear?
With a second one below it that reads “A vote for Joe Miller is a vote for Koch Industries.”
this was nice, courtesy of wonkette:
“It’s easy to see why, though, as candidates they appeal to voters’ emotions rather than any sort of logic. But not any sort of admirable emotions, just fear, xenophobia, paranoia, anger, and racism. That’s why Republicans are so found of talking points, they don’t have to make sense if you repeat them often enough. Yokels see a bunch of people in suits on the picture box saying the same thing and just believe it.”
Read more at Wonkette: Traumatized Jan Brewer Not Going To Debate Anyone EVER AGAIN
I like this, too, courtesy of Bob Cesca:
“Actually, I think any independent or Democratic voters who kneejerks over to the Republicans in November ought to be ear-tagged like wildlife so we can track who they are after the Republicans shut down the government and impeach the president in the midst of a sluggish economy.”
http://www.bobcesca.com/blog-archives/2010/09/the_spoiledbrat.html
Joe Miller is deluded if he thinks the Federal lands in Alaska belong to the state. They belong to our whole country.
Miller sounds as if he wants his own private Alaskan kingdom, rather than be a senator from one of our states. “It’s all mine. I want MY country back” — an attitude of selfishness typical of today’s extreme conservatives.
“Pork” is so tiny a fraction of the federal budget as to be irrelevant – which is why neither Joe Miller, nor the author of this piece offers any figures. Cut out all the pork tomorrow, and the deficit would still grow. Cutting pork and magically trimming “waste” are standard-issue, meaningless proposals that all politicians embrace, because they sound good, and don’t risk anything whatsoever.
“But I also think that it could be a good thing if the Republican party were to choose Sarah Palin as its next presidential candidate. Some friends shudder when I say that, simply for the fact that she might actually win.”
Are you being serious? Holly batman, I about choked. Heavens, the very fact that Palin is thought of as the political threat of 2012 is beyond silly.
Do you really think that she will be given a free ride after all of her rude digs at people?
Like President Obamo or not, Palin would be a major downgrade. And she would severly cause harm to the Republican party. Talk about lasting divides, they want her energy not her negativity.
And with the issues we will continue to face, give people more credit. I think people are more intelligent than this. And besides, the hard cold reality is that politicians always promise what they can’t deliver. Her act is criticizing the President. What exactly has she learned in two years from the Academy of Twitter? And for those that are tutoring her… yikes.
If you get a chance this weekend watch Nixon. It will make you think of the formerly known as Governor.
I’d bet my bottom dollar that Joe Miller is or was a member of Todd & Sarah’s AIP party. He sounds just like old Joe Vogler. There have and will always be these “nut cases” who pop up every once in awhile.
For those trying to make Obama a Muslim because his father was born a Muslim, he also died as an atheist. Obama’s mother and grandparents were also atheist, which simply means they didn’t choose any organized religion. I say more power to them since 99% of the wars and terrorists in the world are due to cultist religions, which is pretty much all of them.
Leave the Obama’s alone. Religion and spirituality is a very personal thing.and no one’s business.
IT’S FILL THE BOOT DAY!!! GET OUT AND SUPPORT MDA AND THE FIREFIGHTERS!!!
The issue of “states rights” was presumably decided by the Civil War.
If churches are actively supporting Miller by name, get it on tape and notify the IRS.