Another Magical Mystery Cure

I enjoy hearing from visitors to my blog, so when Yale Landsberg, Executive Director of the GreenTyme Project sent me an email message after reading my Oughtism Blog, suggesting I comment on the possible role of circadian rhythm abnormalities in autism, I was pleased. 

After further thought and carefully reading his websites, I concluded it was worth writing about this idea because it’s bound to find its way onto the various parent autism listserves, with all kinds of people rushing out to try Chrono-Cognitive Therapy with their kids with autism. 

Yale Landsberg’s GreenTyme website says, “here is what the largest funder of Autism research in the world says about Autistic time & timing: Time perception problems may explain autism symptoms. (Dr. Martine Delfos' book has more details!)”  The implication is that autism is caused by problems with autism time perception, or circadian rhythm.  The website is referring to a comment made by someone from the Simon Foundation, not NIH, which is actually the largest funder of autism research in the world.  What Dr. Delfos writes in her book is that placing a clock alongside the bed of a child with autism can be helpful…that’s all.  Nothing about circadian rhythm synchronization, chronobiology or anything else pertaining to Chrono-Cognitive Therapy.

Now lets be clear, the notion that there could be a link between autism and circadian rhythms is not without merit. We need to take a look at the evidence. I’ll get to the GreenTyme Project later, but first, what are circadian rhythms, and is there any evidence biorhythms are related to autism?

Circadian rhythms are internally driven roughly 24-hour cycles in biochemical, physiological, or behavioral processes. Circadian rhythms have been widely observed in plants, animals, fungi and even bacteria. The term circadian meaning "around" in Latin, and diem or dies, meaning "day".  The scientific study of biological temporal rhythms such as daily, tidal, weekly, seasonal, and annual rhythms is called chronobiology. Although circadian rhythms are built-in to the body, they are adjusted by external cues, the primary one of which is daylight.

I was an undergraduate student in 1956 at the University of Minnesota when Professor Franz Halberg, in the Biophysics program of the Physics Department, introduced the term circadian rhythm, so this isn’t entirely new to me. At that time Halberg was viewed as a visionary by some, but somewhat outlandish by many scientists. There is a great deal of scientific evidence that circadian rhythms exist and have profound effects on the human body including, physiological and biochemical functioning.  Anyone who has problems with jet lag when flying across several time zones, as I do, can attest to the fact that our circadian rhythms are formidable drivers of our internal world and can greatly influence how we function if they are out of whack. If you have ever awakened in the middle of the night and felt chilly, you might taken your temperature. You may be surprised to find that your body temperature is well below its normal daytime temperature.  An article in the British Medical Journal a few years ago summarized a good deal of this literature and is a good starting place.

The scientific world is divided into those who see chronobiology, and circadian rhythms in particular, as the root cause of virtually every disorder, disability or ailment under the sun, those who are highly skeptical that circadian rhythms actually cause any disorders, illnesses or disabilities, and the rest of us who are convinced they are important for some things, but their role in the causes of disorders has been greatly exaggerated and have to be considered carefully on a case by case basis.

  At Yale Landsberg’s suggestion I re-reviewed recent research on the possible link between autism and circadian rhythms.  The short answer is that there may be some link, but it isn’t clear there is, or whether it is part and parcel of autism or epiphenomenal.

Circadian Rhythms in Autism

There are two distinct autism problems that may be related to circadian rhythm dysfunction: sleep difficulties and problems with discrimination of elapsed time.  Most of the evidence available is about sleep problems.

Sleep, Melatonin and Autism

The most consistent finding across studies that may be related to circadian rhythms is of sleep problems in ASD [Cortesi et.al.(2010) Sleep Med 7: 659-64]. For example it has been reported that there is commonly an irregular sleep-wake cycle appeared in early infantile autism in early childhood. This might occur as a result of complex interactions between biological, psychological, social/environmental, and family factors, including child-rearing practices that are not conducive to good sleep.  It has been suggested that circadian abnormalities in autism might be the result of genetic abnormalities related to melatonin synthesis and melatonin's role in modulating synaptic transmission, which appear to associated with androgen sensitivity [Hu et.al (2009) Autism Res. 2: 78-97].  Several studies have reported that a gene required to synthesize melatonin, which plays an important role in sleep wake cycle is often deficient in autism. In one recent study it was found that these results indicate that a low melatonin level may be caused by a primary deficit in the gene required for melatonin synthesis [Melke et.al (2008) Mol Psychiatry 13: 90-98].  One study included 14 children with classical infantile autism, who were investigated for the whole 24-hour circadian rhythm by collecting venous blood samples at 4-hour intervals. Serum levels of melatonin synthesis hormone were measured. The control group consisted of 20 age-matched children without known disabilities.  No autistic patient showed a normal melatonin synthesis circadian rhythm. However, autistic children showed significantly lower average concentrations of MLT, mainly during the dark phase of the day, with respect to the values observed in the controls [Kulman et.al (2000) Neuro Endocrinol Lett 21:31-34].

A study with adults with Asperger syndrome showed lower-amplitude circadian rhythms that were less strongly linked to environmental synchronizers, like light dark cycle, but no evidence of significant desynchronization of circadian rhythm, though their overall sleep pattern was inefficient [Hare et.al (2006) Autism. 10: 565-75].  Another study by the same group reported what appear to be conflicting results [Hare et.al (2006) J. Intellec Diabil. Res. 50: (Pt. 10)701-10]. Data were collected from 31 participants with intellectual disabilities living in supported community-based residential provision aged between 20 and 58 years, of whom 14 had an ASD. Analysis indicated that there were no significant differences in sleep patterns and circadian rhythm function between those participants with an ASD and those without. The mean scores of the participants as a whole indicated abnormalities in the two key circadian rhythm parameters of inter-daily stability and intra-daily variability, but no differences related to autism.

Supporting the notion that endogenous melatonin abnormalities in autism are related to sleep problems are several studies that demonstrate oral melatonin is often helpful in regularizing sleep in autism, however a recent critical review of this literature concluded “As a whole, we found that the literature supports the existence of a beneficial effect of melatonin on sleep in individuals with ASD, with only few and minor side effects. However, considering the small number of studies and their methodological limits, these conclusions cannot yet be regarded as evidence-based. Randomized controlled trials and long-term follow-up data are still lacking to better assess efficacy and safety of exogenous melatonin for disordered sleep in individuals with ASD.” [Guenole et.al. Sleep Med Rev. 2011 Mar 8. [Epub ahead of print].  One very recent study not included in this review used a double blind, randomized, controlled crossover trial involving 3 months of placebo versus 3 months of melatonin to a maximum dose of 10 mg. 17 children completed the study. There were no significant differences between sleep measures at baseline. Melatonin significantly improved sleep latency (by an average of 47 min) and total sleep (by an average of 52 min) compared to placebo, but not number of night wakenings [Wright et.al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2011 Feb;41(2):175-84].

Sleep and Melatonin Summary:  There is some evidence of lower than normal levels of melatonin in individuals with autism and inefficient or fragmented sleep, which seems to be improved by oral treatment with melatonin.  There is no evidence melatonin is related to the cause of autism, though it has been speculated that it may be related to sensitivity to male sex hormones and sex ratio differences in autism.

Time Perception in Autism

Many parents, teachers and therapists who work with individuals with autism are aware that problems with estimating the time, and elapsed time, or the length of time until a future event is often impaired in autism.  There has been very limited scientific investigation of this phenomenon.

Allman, De Leon and Wearden [2011, Am. J. Intellect Dev Disabil. 116:165-78]  ) studied time perception of time, in the seconds to minutes range, as it was related to communication, social reciprocity, and other cognitive and behavioral functions. They used two versions of a temporal bisection procedure to study the perception of duration in individuals with autism and observed quantifiable differences and characteristic patterns in participants' timing functions.  Measures of timing performance were correlated with certain autism diagnostic and intelligence scores, and parents described individuals with autism as having a poor sense of time.  Martin, Poirier and Bowler [2010, J. Autism Dev Disord 40: 640-6]  tested a group of 20 high-functioning adults with ASD and 20 matched comparison participants on a temporal reproduction task. The ASD group reproduced time intervals that were significantly further from the base durations than did the comparison group. They were also more variable in their responses. Furthermore the ASD group showed particular difficulties as the base durations grew longer, tending to underestimate to a much greater degree than the comparison group. Janeslaat, Grandlund and Kottorp (2009) Disabil Health J. 2:15-19} investigated the hypothesized relation between children's time processing ability, daily time management, and self-rated independence. Participants were children aged 6 to 11 years with dysfunctions such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism, or physical or intellectual disabilities (N = 118). Time Processing Ability was measured with the instrument Kit for Multiprocessing Ability. They found a moderate significant relation between the parents' ratings of daily time management and time processing ability of the children, and between the self-rating of independence and time processing ability.  

Time Perception Summary: These studies lack proper controls matched for intellectual ability and chronological age as well as degree of disability, and other key variables that might effect time perception, so it is difficult to interpret the findings. The notion that children with ASDs have time processing problems is certainly credible in principle, but solid data are lacking.

Overall Scientific Evidence: 

1.     1. Children with autism often sleep poorly. You probably aleady knew that.  Some children with autism appear to have lower melatonin levels than comparison kids, and giving them oral melatonin increases the length of sleep and shortens the time to fall asleep. That’s great. Is there any objective evidence that it is possible to some how “synchronize” a child’s sleep so these sleep problems go away and their autism symptoms diminish or disappear by using a special clock? None, absolutely none, nada, ninguno, aucune, geen!

2. Children with autism seem to have problems estimating the length of time intervals and understanding when future events will happen. It isn’t entirely clear this is unique to kids with autism because the same thing occurs with most younger children and kids with various intellectual disabilities and ADHD.  Is there evidence that exposing them to a special clock that shows sun and moon phases will improve this ability to process time information?  None, absolutely none, keiner, nessuno, ingen!

Now About GreenTyme

The "GreenTyme" organization has made available free, they say, an online Circadian Meditation Optimizer, basically it’s an attractive clock fashioned after very old astrological clocks indicating sun and moon time. Their website describes the clock as providing “Chrono-Cognitive Therapy.” The clock is accompanied by ethereal singing by "God's Cricket Chorus" [no kidding] which some people may find relaxing or possibly vaguely annoying. The website urges visitors to contact Dr. Oz to encourage him to include HourTyme in his television show [again, no kidding].  An article cited on the website in Newsweek by writer Christopher Dickey is titled, “Turning to ‘God’s’ Time,” which gives you a sense of how these devices are being promoted.  Whether any of this has anything to do with autism remains to be seen when an appropriate clinical trial of its use with matched groups of children with autism of known severity and another comparison group are tested with the Circa-Med clock.

Yale Landsberg says he got the idea for the clock when he was recovering, or actually not recovering in an ICU from quadruple by-pass heart surgery, which is bound to get anyone’s attention.  He says he experienced an  “ICU Psychosis.”  There seems to be a “New Age” quality to Yale Landsberg’s HourTyme websites, with references to Buckminster Fuller, and other visionaries intermixed with testimonials about the marvelous things his clocks are alleged to do.  I was unable to find anything about legitimate controlled clinical evidence.

Here’s a list of conditions that Yale Landsberg implies on his website that may profit from his Synclecron on his website: Arthritis, Asthma, Autism, AIDS/HIV, Bipolar Depression, Breast Cancer, Cardiovascular/High Blood Pressure, Cluster and Migraine Headaches, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Drug Addiction, Diabetes, Epilepsy, Fibromyalgia, Huntington's, Insomnia, Multiple Sclerosis, Obesity, Parkinson's, Prostate Cancer, Schizophrenia, Sundown Syndrome in Alzheimer's patients, Tourette's Syndrome, and many other diseases -- and even "Senior Moments." He doesn't promise they definitely WILL profit, but he suggests they probably will. 

Oh, one other thing.  Everything you read on most of the website states that the “therapy” clocks are free, that is until you reach the page that mentions donations and buying the clocks… for money, using your credit card, which it appears, in the last analysis, is what it may be all about.

Rick Perry: Candidate of the New Apostolic Reformation Dominion Movement

When John F. Kennedy ran for President in 1960, concerns were raised that the Pope would have undue influence over the affairs of the United States Government, since Kennedy was Catholic.  When Joe Lieberman ran as Al Gore’s Vice Presidential running mate in 2000, some questioned whether the country was ready for a Jew as potential president, should Gore die in office. Now we have, not a hypothetical concern about religious influence on the Presidency, we have a candidate currently running for office, Rick Perry, as a candidate explicitly representing the New Apostolic Reformation Dominion evangelical movement.  

Perry’s first official action as he was about to announce his candidacy for the presidency, was to organize, lend his support to, and address a New Apostolic Reformation religious rally on August 6^th titled, The Response at the Reliant Stadium in Houston Texas, which was actually organized and run by several New Apostolic Reformation clergymen, i.e. “prophets”.  Among the participants at Rick Perry’s Response Rally whom he apparently hold in very high esteem were:

— John Hagee, a San Antonio evangelist whose endorsement was rejected by John
McCain in 2008 because of Hagee’s anti-Catholic statements.

— Mike Bickle, a founder of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City,
Mo., who has called Oprah Winfrey a “pastor of the harlot of Babylon.”

— Alice Patterson, founder of Justice at the Gate, in San Antonio, who has
written that there is “a demonic structure behind the Democratic Party.”

— John Benefiel, head of the Oklahoma-based Heartland
Apostolic Prayer Network, who once said about the Statue of Liberty: “You
know where we got it from? French Freemasons. Listen, folks, that is an idol, a
demonic idol right there in the middle of New York Harbor.”

The NAR Movement is a radical Evangelical Christian sect that seeks to take dominion (i.e. control) over politics, business and culture in preparation for the end times and the return of Jesus, seeking to play a major role in selecting the next President of the United States.  We need not speculate about what their motives are, because they have explicitly stated that their goal is to direct the affairs of the United States of America in seven major spheres of life, regardless of the U.S. Constitution.  

The leaders who are considered apostles and prophets, claim to be gifted by God for this role. They take themselves very seriously.  Peter Wagner, one of the founding NAR prophets, writes that "the majority of the new apostolic churches", such as his, observe "active ministries of... spiritual warfare".  As an example of members' "supernatural" abilities (as he calls them) he claims that God acted through him to end Mad Cow Disease in Germany.  One of their leading prophets, Cindy Jacobs, claims to have prophesied the Japan Tsunami and said that it happened because the Japanese hadn’t sufficiently come to Christianity.

Rachel Tabachnick, who is an independent researcher specializing in Christian Zionism and its impact on Israel, Jews, and interfaith relations has tracked The New Apostolic Reformation’s influence and connections in the political world in all 50 states.  "They teach quite literally that these seven 'mountains' (arts and entertainment; business; family; government; media; religion; and education) have fallen under the control of demonic influences in society," says Tabachnick. "And therefore, they must reclaim them for God in order to bring about the kingdom of God on Earth. ... The apostles teach what's called 'strategic level spiritual warfare' [because they believe that the] reason why there is sin and corruption and poverty on the Earth is because the Earth is controlled by a hierarchy of demons under the authority of Satan.

So they teach not just evangelizing souls one by one, as we're accustomed to hearing about. They teach that they will go into a geographic region or a people group and conduct spiritual-warfare activities in order to remove the demons from the entire population. This is what they're doing that's quite fundamentally different than other evangelical groups." [See Wilder, Forrest (2 August 2011). "Rick Perry's Army of God". Texas Observer. Retrieved 15 August 2011].

You might wonder who these New Apostolic Prophets are, and whether, perhaps, you could become one.  I think the answer is, “yes,” as long as you were willing to sign a deal with a bunch of fanatical whakos and attend one of their workshops for a sizable fee.


"In an editorial in the last issue of The Quarterly Journal, by G. Richard Fisher explored the world of tabloid prognosticators and how an undiscerning world is all too quick to “run after psychics and psychic predictions.”  He also pointed out that an attraction for prophecy and future-telling, a longtime staple within Charismatic camps, has made inroads into Evangelical circles as well. Self-appointed prophets are cropping up everywhere. There is even a “National School of the Prophets Conference,” where for $175 you can be trained in the art of “propheteering.” C. Peter Wagner, Dutch Sheets, Rick Joyner, Cindy Jacobs, Mike Bickle, Ted Haggard and others can train us to be “prophets” (Charisma magazine, Dec. 1998).” [Personal Freedom Outreach is a Christian organization that opposes religious cults and publishes The Quarterly Journal]

So the long and short of it is that Rick Perry is running for President representing a highly unorthodox religious group that not only rejects the US Constitution Amendment I “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’’ but actively seeks to assert religious control over all aspects of the government of the United States of America, as well as control over all aspects of civil society, including education, health, human services, the business world and personal family life. Their aim, explained the Forrest Wilder in The Texas Observer, is "to infiltrate government, and Rick Perry might be their man." 

You might suspect Perry had grown up in a family of Pentacostals or Holy Ghost People, but not at all. He grew up conventional Methodist family, belonging to the mainline tradition that counts both George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton among its members. For years, starting in the 1990s, Perry and his family attended the same affluent Austin-area United Methodist church that Bush 43 did. He has spoken fondly of the denomination, of which he’s still a member, with its liturgy, and its “comfort in tradition and stability.”  Yet, in recent years, Perry has chosen to spend most Sundays attending services at an evangelical mega-church where worship is decidedly flashier—featuring rock music and stadium-style seating.  Maybe it reminds him of his Aggies days, but it also smacks a bit of political opportunism.

I wouldn’t ordinarily devote so much space to a political candidate’s religious beliefs, which are his/her own business, but in Perry’s case, these beliefs seem to be the explicit basis for his planned political actions should he become President of the United States, and they are very alarming beliefs and portend disturbing plans.  As a result, they become all of our business.

On the other hand Perry isn’t very bright. He attended Texas A&M University where he was one of A&M's five male cheerleaders (on the right, pictured below).  Perry graduated in 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in animal science. According to Perry's university transcript, he rarely earned anything above a C in his courses -- earning a C in U.S. History, a D in the principles of economics and D and F in organic chemistry, no surprise he’s no fan of science. In total he earned 20 B's, 27 C's, and 9 D's and a few A's and F's. Perry was placed on academic probation for his poor performance in school. Not much basis for government service, except maybe in the Texas Department of Agriculture, though he didn’t do so well in Animal breeding either.

Perry related in a 1989 interview: “I was probably a bit of a free spirit, not particularly structured real well for life outside of a military regime, I would have not lasted at Texas Tech or the University of Texas. I would have hit the fraternity scene and lasted about one semester.”  Perry likes to boast about serving in the Armed Forces and often has political photos shot in a leather flight jacket, while giving Barrack Obama the back of his hand. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Upon cadet graduation, he was commissioned in the Air Force, completed pilot training, and flew C-130 tactical airlift cargo planes in the United States, the Middle East, and Europe until 1977, which involved airborne transportation of supplies and equipment. The C-130 is widely used for hauling civilian freight, weather and fire fighting reconnaissance, so Rick Perry was hauling freight for the Air Force. Not exactly daredevil stuff, but he did do his time nonetheless.  After his time in the air force Perry returned to Texas, and went into business farming cotton with his father.

Perry began his career as a (Democratic) member of the Texas House of Representatives (1985-1991).  He then went on to become Texas’s commissioner of agriculture (1991-1999) and lieutenant governor (1999-2000) before succeeding George W. Bush as Republican governor, a role he’s held for more than 10 years.  Now that you know a bit about the man, we’ll consider Perry’s political accomplishments (or lack thereof) next time. 

Important Reunion in the Hague

We reel from daily news about unemployment and absurdly ignorant and embarrassing comments by Republican presidential candidates, and forget that truly important things are happening in the world around us. 

The first week of August Anneke and I spent in the Hague, Amsterdam and Hilversum in the Netherlands revisiting her past and celebrating the people who made her survival possible during the Holocaust.  At an event in the Hague, the Ambassador of Israeli to the Netherlands Henry Kney Tal honored Cora Greenaway de Jong and posthumously, Johannis Blacquiére and Jacoba Henriëtta Tissot van Patot, the Dutch Christian couple who kept her in hiding from the Nazis during the war, by presenting them with Yad Vashem medals of Righteous Among Nations reserved for non-Jews who saved Jewish people during the Holocaust.  There names will appear on the wall in Jerusalem honoring those who saved Jews during the War.

Cora and Jan and Co Blacquiére risked their own lives and those of other family members to save one small Jewish girl from the certain death, along with her mother Leni and father Erich Kohnke suffered in Auschwitz.  Cora was a 26 year old art student who was a courier for the Dutch Resistance, who retrieved 18-month old Anneke from her parents apartment in Amsterdam, and took her on a series of harrowing tram and train rides under the noses of the Nazi SS and the Dutch NSB fascist collaborators, to Voorburg, a small village outside of the Hague where she left her on a dark train platform with a man whose name she did not know, nor whose face she would ever see. She trusted that the man would care for her precious baby, who she only knew as “the baby”.  For over three years, the Blacquiére family included little Anneke among their own children as though she was one of their own, receiving nothing other than a child’s love for their efforts.  Together they survived the famine of the Hongerwinter.  After the War she lived with Otto Frank for a time before obtaining a Visa to the US where she arrived July 16, 1946. Anneke's mother Leni and Edith Hollander Frank had been good friends before the War and Anne Frank had baby sat for Anneke when she was an infant.

Anneke (right), Fred (middle) and Ron Blacquiére 1944

Cora searched for ‘her baby” until four years ago when, via the internet with friend Niek Versteeg's help, she tracked Anneke down and contacted her.  Before she died, Co Blaquiére made her son Fred promise he would find Anneke and tell her about his life with them, which he did, after many years of searching.  Today Cora is 96 years old and Co and Jan Blacquiére’s son Fred, Anneke’s childhood playmate and brother is 69 years old, and received their long-overdue recognition. 

Cora and Anneke at the Yad Vashem Ceremony
in The Hague Aug 4, 2011

Fred Blacquiére, son of Co and Jan Blacquiér,e
receiving Yad Vashem medal posthumously
from Isreali Ambassador on behalf of his parents

During our trip we visited the house where Anneke was born in Hilversum, the apartment in Amsterdam from which Cora took her to the safety of the Blacquiéres, and the home where she lived with them from 1942-45 along the Vliet canal in Voorburg, not all that different to day from what they were 66 years ago.

Two Dutch film-makers, Deborah van Dam and Martine van Poeteren who are making a documentary film about Anneke, Cora and the Blacquiére's, story recently spent a week with us in Minnesota, and then accompanied us on the plane to Amsterdam to document the reunion. Their project will be complete by sometime Spring 2012. 

It is reassuring that sometimes we recognize that some things are truly important while others are hardly worth spending time thinking about.

Michele Bachmann: Republicans Reap What they Sow

As the Republican Party’s presidential contender field begins to narrow, the leading candidates provide a snapshot of what the future could hold should one of them be elected president of the United States.  Apparently many Republicans have their heads in the sand and are pretending the leading candidates are really not that radical.  Think again. In this post and then following two, I’ll discuss what appear to be the top three Republican candidates for President.

Michele Bachmann, Congresswoman from Minnesota’s 6^th Congressional District and Chair of the Tea Party Caucus in the US House of Representatives won the Iowa Straw Poll by 152 votes over Ron Paul, who will never actually run for President, but he is often a refreshing gadfly.  Friends around the US and even some from Europe have been asking me how Minnesota could have given rise to such an extremist candidate as Bachmann, who some think of as a weird fringe candidate.  She is from Waterloo, Iowa, which had a population around 60,000 when Bachmann lived there, but that's not an excuse.  Eastern Iowa is strongly Democratic while western Iowa is strongly Republican.  Waterloo is in East Central Iowa, and Bachmann says her parents were Democrats.  After her parents divorced her mother moved the family to Anoka, Minnesota where her mother worked in a bank. Michele graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent time working on a kibbutz in Israel.  In 1978 she graduated from Winona State University in southern Minnesota with a B.A. in political science and English. The mid-range of SAT scores of Winona State graduates is from 440-600 (compare that with Barrack Obama’s alma matter, Harvard 700-790).  Nearly all Harvard undergraduates complete their BA or BS (97%) while 25% of Winona State undergraduates finish their bachelor’s degree in four years.

In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of the O.W. Coburn School of Law in Oklahoma, then a part of Oral Roberts University (ORU). Later Coburn was placed on probation for discriminatory practices.  While there, Bachmann studied with John Eidsmoe whom she described in 2011 as "one of the professors who had a great influence on me". Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's book Christianity and the Constitution, which argues that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy, and should become one again. Eidsmoe addressed an event commemorating Alabama’s Secession Day where he told an interviewer that it was Alabama's “constitutional right to secede,” and that “ Jefferson Davis and John C. Calhoun understood the Constitution better than did Abraham Lincoln and Daniel Webster.”   April, 2010, Eidsmoe was disinvited from a Tea Party rally in Wausau, Wisconsin, because of these statements.  In 1986 Bachmann received a J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University. She was a member of the final graduating class of the law school at ORU. Since Coburn lost its accreditation, it unclear whether Bachmann retained her J.D. status, though she includes it on her resume’. The ORU law school was ranked 136^th in the country, where 60 percent of graduates failed the bar exam (Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone, June 22, 2011), not stellar background for a would-be president. 

While still a Democrat, Michelle and her then-fiancé Marcus Bachmann were inspired to join the pro-life movement by Francis Schaeffer’s 1976 Christian documentary film.  They prayed outside of clinics and engaged in “sidewalk counseling,” a form of harassment in which antiabortion activists harried women entering abortion clinics in an attempt to dissuade women from obtaining abortions.

In 1988, Bachmann received a Master’s degree in tax law from the William & Mary School of Law.  She recently said that she was strongly urged to study tax law by her husband Marcus Bachmann to whom she felt she must submit according to her evangelical beliefs.  From 1988 to 1993, she was an attorney working for the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, a federal agency that she later said she strongly opposed.  She left her position with the IRS to become a full-time mother when her fourth child was born.

Bachmann and her husband provided foster care for 23 teenage girls. The Bachmanns were licensed from 1992 to 2000 to provide for to three foster children at a time; the last child arrived in 1998. The Bachmann’s began by providing short-term care for girls with eating disorders. The Bachmann home was legally defined as a treatment home, with a daily reimbursement rate per child from the state of Minnesota with federal Medicaid money.

The Bachmanns were longtime members of Salem Lutheran Church in Stillwater, MN east of Minneapolis on the Wisconsin border. She and her husband withdrew their membership on June 21, 2011, just before she officially began her presidential campaign.  Salem Lutheran Church is a member of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod that believes that the Pope is the antichrist. Bachmann has cited theologian Francis Schaeffer as a "profound influence" on her life and her husband's, specifically referring to his film series, How Should We Then Live?  Among Schaefer’s more controversial statements are: “Christianity provides a unified answer for the whole of life,” “Christianity is the greatest intellectual system the mind of man has ever touched” and “I believe that pluralistic secularism, in the long run, is a more deadly poison than straightforward persecution.”  

Bachmann and her husband own a Christian Counseling practice named Bachmann & Associates, in Lake Elmo and Burnsville south of Minneapolis, which is run by her husband, who says he has a Master’s Degree in Counseling from Regent’s University in Virginia and PhD in clinical psychology from Union Graduate School in Ohio.  The MA Counseling Program at Regents’ University requires students be on campus for a total of 3 weeks, the remainder is completed on-line.  In 2007 the Psychology and Counseling program at Regent’s University (Pat Robertson University) was rocked by accusations of improper conduct by faculty including racist comments and coercion.  Nearly half of the faculty quit.  “One of the professors who quit, Jacqueline Gatewood, a nationally recognized expert on ethics issues, described a “climate of fear and intimidation” within the school. The controversy has also raised questions about whether a culture of academic insensitivity has been fostered at the university under Regent’s founder and president, Pat Robertson….” (Bill Burke, The Virginian-Pilot December 11, 2007).  It isn’t clear whether Marcus Bachmann was involved in this controversy but it reflects on the quality of the counseling training program.

Union Institute and University is a largely on-line institution that formed a graduate school called "The Union Graduate School", which offered a Ph.D. in Arts and Sciences. Though Marcus Bachmann claims his degree is a PhD in psychology, it is actually a certificate in interdisciplinary studies “with an emphasis on clinical psychology”. The Union Graduate School filed for bankruptcy in 1978. Emerging from its bankruptcy, it eventually renamed itself "The Union Institute" (1986).  Ohio Board of Regents scrutinized the program and noted in particular that " ... expectations for student scholarship at the doctoral level were not as rigorous as is common for doctoral work ... " (OBR 2002 Reauthorization Report, page 13) and was put on probation. Later, the Union Graduate School was dissolved and the Ph.D. program was restructured. The program currently offers a PsyD in clinical psychology directed by a person with a doctorate in educational psychology. 

Most psychologists who practice in Minnesota are licensed by the State Board of Psychology, though Marcus Bachmann is not a licensed psychologist in Minnesota. Marcus Bachmann has never attempted to register his “degree” with the boards of psychology and counseling in Minnesota. Trisha Stark, of the Minnesota Psychological Association, said that the title “clinical therapist” which Bachmann uses, is not widely used in professional circles and that Bachmann is able to operate his clinic because of state rules regarding mental health practice. “Minnesota is one of the only states in which you can practice mental health without a license,” Stark said.

Both Bachmann’s publicly eschew reliance on taxpayer funding.  Their clinic received nearly $30,000 from Minnesota government agencies between 2006 and 2010 in addition to at least $137,000 in federal payments and $24,000 in government grants for counselor training. Marcus Bachmann has denied allegations that Bachmann & Associates provides Conversion Therapy, an allegedly psychological treatment repudiated by the American Psychological Association, which attempts to transform homosexuals into heterosexuals. Hidden camera interview suggested that the Bachmann organization did indeed offer such services.  In personal financial disclosure reports for 2006 through 2009, Bachmann reported earning $32,500 to $105,000 from a farm that was owned at the time by her ailing father-in-law, Paul Bachmann. The farm received $260,000 in federal crop and disaster subsidies between 1995 and 2008.

In 1993, Michele Bachman and other parents started the K-12 New Heights Charter School in Stillwater. The publicly funded school's charter mandated that it be non-sectarian in all programs and practices, but the school soon developed a strong Christian orientation. Among courses offered as part of the approved curriculum were, “The Bible’s Truth versus the Lies of Science”, “Geology: Our Six Thousand Year Old Earth”, “Why Do the Jews Continue To Reject Him?”, "12 Christian principles", “The Biology of Fetus Murdering” and “Beginning, intermediate, and advanced Creationism.” [http://wikiality.wikia.com/Michele_Bachmann].  Parents of students at the school complained and the superintendent of schools warned Bachmann that the school was in violation of state law. Six months after the school's founding Bachmann resigned and the Christian orientation was removed from the curriculum, allowing the school to keep its charter.

On November 20, 2003, when serving in the Minnesota Senate, Bachmann proposed a constitutional amendment that would bar the state from legally recognizing same sex marriage.  Bachmann’s effort to place a marriage amendment on a referendum ballot in 2004 ultimately failed. She resurrected her proposal in March 2005, but it stalled indefinitely in a senate committee that April. In November 2004, Republicans appointed Bachmann as Assistant Minority Leader in charge of Policy for the Senate Republican Caucus, but in July 2005, the Republican Caucus removed her from her leadership position. Bachmann said that disagreements with Day over her anti-tax stance were the reason for her ouster.

So how did she ever get elected?  The 6^th Minnesota Congressional District in which Bachmann ran was clearly a gerrymandered district, about 60% largely north and northwest of Minneapolis in rural areas, which are mainly conservative Christian communities with the exception of St. Cloud.  Inexplicably, the District wrapping around the east side of St. Paul in a largely a blue collar suburban white community that is very concerned about immigration, and where racism is a problem.  The southeastern part of her district is a very affluent upper class business community make up largely of conservative Republicans. 

 While Minneapolis is among the 25 most liberal voting cities in the US, Bachman’s district voted Republican.  Areas surrounding nearly every city or town on Bachman’s district voted Republican, though most of the residents of towns and cities themselves within her district, voted Democratic.  By gerrymandering the 6^th district to include the conservative areas east and southeast of Minneapolis and St.Paul that virtually assured Bachman’s re-election.  The 6^th district extends over 90 miles west of Minneapolis more than half way to the South Dakota border, and to 20 miles to the Wisconsin border and about 100 miles diagonally from the northwest town of Royalton to the southeast corner of St. Paul. In 2010, Bachman spent $8.5 million dollars on her House campaign, more than any other House candidate in the country, much of the money coming from wealthy individuals and PACS outside Minnesota.  Of her top ten corporate donors five were financial investment firms, and three were oil (e.g. Koch) or ethanol companies and two health care companies.  Bachman’s re-election was one of four (of 8 Minnesota House seats) elected by Republicans.  Bachman won by 13% of the votes.

Outside of brief trips to Israel and Latin America, Bachmann has no foreign affairs experience. Most of her knowledge of international affairs comes from serving on the House Intelligence Committee since 2006, and of course she cannot be asked anything about that during presidential debates, leaving the public with little way to know whether she actually knows anything.

Let’s close is discussion of Michele Bachmann with some of her more memorable statements recently summarized in the Vancouver Observer [Michele Bachmann's weirdest quotes Posted: Aug 13th, 2011]

1.              "There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design." (Oct. 2006)

2.  "If we took away the minimum wage -- if conceivably it was gone -- we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level." (Jan. 2005) 

3. "Carbon dioxide is portrayed as harmful. But there isn't even one study that can be produced that shows that carbon dioxide is a harmful gas." (Apr. 2009)

4. "What I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That's the kind of spirit that I have, too." (*note: Movie star John Wayne was born in Winterset, Iowa. The John Wayne to whom Bachmann mistakenly referred was a serial killer. June 2011.)

5. "I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out: Are they pro-America or anti-America?" -(Oct. 2008)

6. "Many teenagers that come in (to work) should be paying the employer because of broken dishes or whatever occurs during that period of time...after six months, that teenager is going to be a fabulous employee." (Jan. 2005) 

7. "Does that mean that someone's 13-year-old daughter could walk into a sex clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back and go home on the school bus? That night, mom and dad are never the wiser." (October 2009)  

8. "Gay marriage is probably the biggest issue that will impact our state and our nation in the last, at least, thirty years. I am not understating that.” (March 2005)

9. "And what a bizarre time we’re in, Jan, when a judge will say to little children that you can’t say the pledge of allegiance, but you must learn that homosexuality is normal and you should try it.” (March 2004)

10. "This really is the number one issue for our country right now, how are we going to deal with this threat of radical Islam.” (Sept.2006) 

It’s worth giving some careful thought to the primary issues the next President of the United States will face, and how those challenges match up with the educational background and experience, expertise and intellectual leadership style of the Republican candidates, beginning first with Michele Bachmann.

1.              The most immediate pressing issue the US economy. Whether it is through tax cuts as the Tea Party wants, tax increases for the wealthiest Americans and corporations that most of the rest of America wants, something has to be done to stimulate employment and stabilize the U.S. economy and address long term debt.  In all likelihood, the US will have to embark upon a massive infrastructure development initiative that will be opposed by the Tea Party, but hopefully a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans may make it possible.  It is essential for the nation’s recovery.  Bachmann would almost certain oppose such an effort. 

2.              Globalization. Intertwined with the American economy and employment is the growth of jobs in emerging nations. We need to mitigate negative aspects, the growing gap between the rich and poor and provide incentives for American companies to invest in the US instead of exporting more and more jobs to low wage and low tax countries.

3.              Health Care: Again, this is intertwined with the economy.  Everyone should have health care, affordable health care. The US is the only developed nation that does not have universal health care.  About 47 million Americans (including 9 million kids) don't have health insurance to pay for doctor visits or medicine. The cost of health care is directly related to the private insurance companies siphoning off huge portions of the health care dollar for profits.  It can’t be continued.  Bachmann would oppose any expansion of the federal health care program which is essential for economic recovery. 

4.              The wars Iraq and Afghanistan and the undeclared wars must be stopped and our troops brought home, and we need to address more openly the undeclared wars in Pakistan and Somalia. The fiscal cost is unsustainable in the face of other budget demands. 

5.              China. How would the candidates handle relations with a rising China? How to develop a more realistic economic relationship between the US and China should be near the top of the President’s agenda.  How would the candidates persuade Beijing to help dismantle North Korea’s nuclear program and contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

6.              Iran. Iran continues to be accused of harboring terrorists, funding terrorism throughout the Middle East, and their nuclear goals must be reigned in. The possibility Israel may make a pre-emptive nuclear strike against Iran hangs ominously in the background.  Maybe Bachmann would think that's a swell idea, who knows. 

7.              Nonproliferation. How to deal with the fact that non-proliferation regime is broken. Bush tore up arms control treaties, offered to sell civilian nuclear technology to India, then wondered why so many countries weren’t more outraged by Iran’s nuclear misbehavior. Do the candidates have practical plans to halt the spread of nuclear weapons? Would they commit to deep cuts in the United States’ nuclear arsenal, forswear the development of new nuclear weapons and persuade the Russians to do the same? I'm concerned that Bachmann would oppose nonproliferation because she would confuse it with contraception. 

8.              Terrorism. How does the US oppose terrorism without making more terrorists. How would the candidates improve U.S. intelligence capabilities and elicit more cooperation around the world? What would they do to oust al-Qaeda from Pakistan? How would they ensure Pakistan’s cooperation while also pressing for democratic reforms that are essential for its long-term stability.  Bachmann would likely begin by trying to ban all Muslims from owning property and deporting as many as possible, a great step toward establishing positive relationships with the Muslim world. 

9.              Finally, climate change and energy are critical issues facing the next president.  Any talk of opposing energy reform or asserting that climate change is a myth, should be a red flag that the candidate(s) is not ready for prime time.  A major investment in the growth of a green economy could not only spur the US economic recovery but would help solve long-term energy problems. Bachmann would oppose any regulation of oil, natural gas or coal emissions and would promote more tax breaks for those corporations and provide no support for alternative energy. 

As you read down this list of IMMEDIATE problems facing the next president, ask yourself what experience, skills, temperament and wisdom does she have to address these problems.  Sarah Palin thought she could see Russia from her back porch.  We haven’t heard yet what kind of bizarre ideas Michele Bachmann might have about foreign policy.  We already know that her religious beliefs would inform her domestic political decisions.