Who is Howard Ahmanson? Of Intelligent Design and Voting Machines...

[Angry Girl]

In the '80s, right-wing extremist Christian billionaire Howard Ahmanson financed two brothers, Bob and Todd Urosevich, who founded American Information Systems (AIS), which built voting machines.

Chuck Hagel became chairman of AIS and a few years later became the first Republican to ever win a Nebraska senatorial campaign in 24 years, carrying virtually every demographic group, including African American precincts that had never voted Republican. The only company certified to count votes in Nebraska at the time was AIS.

AIS eventually become ES&S, the LARGEST voting machine company in the United States, with Todd Urosevich as its vice-president.
http://nightweed.com/VoterFraudATaleofTwoBrothers.html

Howard Ahmanson, however, is no ordinary fat-cat. The savings and loan heir has maintained a long-time relationship with Christian Reconstructionism, an extreme faction of the Religious Right that seeks to replace American democracy with a harsh fundamentalist theocracy.

Reconstructionists believe conservative Christians should take "dominion" over American society. Under their version of "biblical law," the death penalty would be required for over a dozen categories of offenders, including adulterers, homosexuals, witches, incorrigible children and those who spread "false" religions. They regard the teaching of evolution as part of a "war against Genesis."

According to Reason magazine, promotional materials from the Seattle-based Discovery Institute acknowledge that the Ahmanson family donated $1.5 million to the Institute's Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture for a research and publicity program to "unseat not just Darwinism but also Darwinism's cultural legacy." In fact, the August 1999 issue of the Discovery Institute's Journal recognizes an Ahmanson outfit for providing the Center's start-up funds.

http://www.dangerouscitizen.com/Articles/1090.aspx

More on Ahmanson here from the good folks at TheocracyWatch.org:
http://www.theocracywatch.org/ahmanson.htm

[Nikki Stone 1]

1. Yikes.

:kick:

[David Zephyr]

2. Howard purchased Ken Starr's position at

Ahmanson created and purchased the position of dean of law school at Pepperdine in Malibu as a reward for Ken Starr's persecution of President Clinton.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Dominionist. Very bad news.

http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/ConservativesPlantoSplitChurches.html

http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/TheocracyInAmerica.html

Theocratic Dominionism Gains Influence Part 2
http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v08n1/chrisre2.html

Theocratic Dominionism Gains Influence Part 3
http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v08n1/chrisre3.html

<snip>

Never far from controversy, Howard Ahmanson funds and sits on the board of the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based organisation committed to proving Darwin's theory of evolution was 'wrong' and the universe was created by the 'intelligent design' of a superior being.

'We've been tracking Howard Ahmanson for many years,' said Rob Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. 'He was one of the main funders of Christian reconstructionism, which calls for the imposition of Old Testament law. He tries to get his stuff into schools which may explain why today 45 per cent of Americans doubt evolution.'

<snip>
http://homepage.mac.com/akitzmil/iblog/C826490882/

[cosmicdot]

4. Council for National Policy (CNP)

the CNP was founded as a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization by Tim LaHaye of the Religious Roundtable -- and, meets in secrecy ... the very existence of the Council for National Policy is denied by high profile Evangelical leaders who publicly clamour for conservative policies in government.
http://watch.pair.com/cnp.html#cnp

the company he keeps
http://watch.pair.com/cnpdbase.html

Howard Ahmanson, Jr.- CNP Board of Governors (1996). Member, Council for National Policy; major financial supporter and board member, Chalcedon; President of Fieldstead and Co.; Fieldstead Foundation. Ahmanson is an Orange County financier who inherited Home Savings of America from his father, has spent millions (over $4 million) promoting far-right candidates, first in California and then nationwide. Ahmanson served for more than 20 years on the board of the Chalcedon Institute in Vallecito, California, a think tank devoted to the teachings of its leader, the Rev. Rousas John Rushdoony (CNP). The 80-year-old Rushdoony is the father of a movement called Christian Reconstructionism, which holds that Christianity should hold dominion over all earthly affairs. Ahmanson helped found The Rutherford Institute and is a major donor to Free Congress Foundation; The Ahmanson Foundation was a contributor to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), according to 1990-1993 Annual Reports.

The Fieldstead Institute helped to fund the book "Restorers of Hope", written by Amy L. Sherman, which is a PR piece for Welfare Reform's Charitable Choice <1996> which allows state/federal funding to flow into churches. In a radio interview Sherman said that Christians were involved in writing that section of the legislation. When asked in a phone interview who they were and she said Family Research Council, the Heritage Foundation and the Center for Public Justice. The book doesn't mention it, but Sherman works part time at the Rockefeller-funded Manhattan Institute for Public Policy which has cross-over people with both Brookings Institute and Hudson Institute . The Manhattan Institute' Center for Civic Innovation CCI is involved in Education Reform, Welfare Reform as well as the Jeremiah Project.

http://watch.pair.com/cnpdbase.html

[Angry Girl]

5. Yes, the CNP is very scary. Frist and Delay belong, as well as other GOP

Secret and Ties
GOP Leaders' Pledge Loyalty to the Religious Right's Agenda at Secret Meetings with the Family Research Council and the Council for National Policy
http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=59

[BrklynLiberal]

6. Findlaw also has info on Ahmanson

http://public.findlaw.com/mboards/webx.html?[e-mail]%5E0@.ef13f13/664

<snip>
The Dominionist movement was founded by the late R.J. Rushdoony, a busy beaver who also co-founded the Council for National Policy. The CNP is the politburo of the American conservative movement, filled with top-rank political and business leaders who set the national agenda for the vast echo chamber of right-wing foundations, publishers, media networks and universities that have schooled a whole generation in obscurantist bile -- just as the extremist Wahabbi religious schools funded by Saudi billionaires have poisoned the Islamic world with hatred and ignorance.

One of the chief moneybags behind the rise of Dominionism was tycoon Harold Ahmanson, Rushdoony's protege and fellow CNP member. In addition to establishing theocracy in America, Ahmanson has another abiding interest: computerized voting machines. As reported here last year, Ahmanson, a fervent Bush backer, was instrumental