Hatewatch Tweets
Hatewatch is managed by the staff of the Intelligence Report, an investigative magazine published by the Alabama-based civil rights group Southern Poverty Law Center.
Responses to Militia Report: A Sampling
The SPLC’s report, “The Second Wave: Return of the Militias,” released Aug. 12, has drawn a spirited response. Here’s a representative sampling of E-mails and comments. Names have been removed from all messages except the one from Mr. LUCIFER. A few of the longer ones have been edited for length, but otherwise they’re reproduced just as they came in.
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LUCIFER L LUCIFER
999 HELL STREET
HELL
GA
24652
United States
1-999-999-9999
U/R DIRTY SHIT EATING COMMIE SLIME MAGGOTS, HATCHED FROM A KARL MARX TURD.
I’M WAITING FOR U DOWN HERE, GET READY, MAGGOTS.
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What a load of crap! I think I will list the Southern Poverty Law Center on my list of hate groups.
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Sorry I am not a hillbilly racist nazi, just a legal non-violent gun owner that knows your demonizing gun owners is completely evil propaganda… We know who the fall guys are…and as a American who believes in Liberty and Freedom for all can see the same old game the SPLC plays…and I am one of millions waking up to the evil lies that are written by .org’s as this one. You should cringe because your game is so transparent.
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I understand that you have an appearance of teaching tolerance and trying to end racism. Reality tells a different story, however. You are actually promoting racism and falsely accusing others of racism simply because you either refuse to understand their positions on issues or you are purposely
distorting facts to promote a racist agenda. … I am not a member of a militia, nor has anyone in my family. I do, however, know members of militias. I have yet to meet a racist one. Militias are not forming because Obama is black.
Many militia members are black. Many militia members voted for Obama, with his false promises and double talk. People are buying guns and forming militias because they are watching Obama and his administration systematically destroy our Constitution and strip us of our rights. … Obama, and previous administrations are taking us down a road toward a socialist society thoroughtly under the national governmental thumb. People are paying attention and seeing with their own eyes that things are quickly getting worse. They are arming themselves for protection of their persons, their families, and their freedoms.
It has nothing to do with the color of anyones skin and by trying to associate patriotism with racism shows just how much of a hack you truly are. We were the greatest and most free nation in the world and most people would like to go back to that. People can see the writing on the wall, they know what is going on in this country, and they are preparing to do whatever they have to do to save this great land and return it to the republic it once was. That is what militias are about. That is why they are growing.
Stop spreading hate and start spreading truth. Get a conscience.
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I heard your representative Mr. Potok, what a friggin duetch-bag. He voted for Obama. …
You group is a fraud and chasing Americans and calling them terrorists is the reason why they are going to shoot you in the ass, you fraud….
Your screwing up the country. …
You make me sick. I hope they get you and close you down you fraud.
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not sure what you folks are doing except to deminish free speach by saying these folks are extreamistrs.
let me ask you a question, when is it legal to fight against a government? were our forefathers terrorests? in your opinion they would be. i guess it depends on who wins
i do not wish violence on anyone yet ther may come a time when this government needs to be taught that it is not its place to run our lives only to do what the consitution allows. this insurenace plane is wrong and is only a crack in the door of freedom and may rise to the level requiring good men/women to rebel aganst a government that no longer represents the people
i dont expect an anaswer from you just retoric. that is why the people are so upset.
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Mark Potok’s editorial contains the lies & half truths that so typifies leftist nonsense. Your claim of encouraging ‘tolerance’ is laughable.
Defaming patriots, like Beck, demonstrates quite clearly the hypocrital and intolerant nature of organizations like yours.
I pray you people will wake up.
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You really, really need to come up with a better — perhaps more “nuanced” — explanation for things.
I have scanned through your article on the re-emergence of “right-wing militias.” I am not a member of any such group, and the only firearm I own is a .410 shotgun used to kill poisonous snakes on my rural place, and I am not a conspiracy theorist of any sort. As a result, I find much that you have reported both correct and worrying.
But if the only explanation you can find for those events is RACISM, you’re going to get blindsided by the result. It is quite true that there are a lot of racists and nativists in the groups; such people exist, we have a sort of Republic with privileges of free speech, and if you think stifling them is a cure, the disease is likely to be highly preferable.
We have a President who wants to bring a minimum of one-sixth of the entire US economy under direct Federal control; it is perfectly possible to believe, and say, that this is a bad idea, without considering whether the said President is black, white, or purple with green stripes. We have goons
sponsored by ACORN and the SEIU beating people up at “town meetings”; it is perfectly possible to object to that without considering the race, sex, or even species of the goons.
You and many others seem to be trying to define “racist” as “opposes an initiative sponsored by a Democrat”. It cheapens the accusation to the point of no longer having any utility. The “right wing militias” object to many things. It is quite true that racist impulses make their recruiting easier, but if you don’t realize that there are many, many different motivations that contribute to their resurgence you will never be able to do anything effective against them.
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Dear SPLC,
Perhaps there are hate groups all over this country of ours. I live in Tn. and know, no one, that belongs to any hate group. If you think Militias are mostly filled with people of hate, you are as wrong as you can possibly be.
The citizens of this country are not going to allow the Progressives to turn this Free Country into a Socialist State and that is all Tennesseans stand for, PERIOD….
So get off of the Hate Group witch hunt and tell the truth about HOW CITIZENS are over this President Obamas policies, hence the town hall meetings uproars. This will only escalate as The President and Congress continue not to listen to the American People. This is a representative government and people elected are not listening.
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I’ve read a lot of the health care package Mr.Obama is so adamately shoving down our throats…have you? It’s beyond socialistic, beyond communistic.
I voted for Allen Keyes….a black man, dont’ try to make this a racial thing, it isn’t, (Condaleeza Rice would’ve been my first pick…a black woman) it’s about our freedoms, rights, and the preservation of our country.
The vast majority of these malitias are concerned about where this country is headed…at light speed I might add. Your propoganda makes me and a multitude of other true Americans sick, but you do fit into this current regimes plans nicely.
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I guess by contacting you, you will probably put me on the Govt’s new Watch List, but oh well. I can’t believe you would send your report to the AP and list a ‘black president’ as a reason for the rise in militias!!! And to say there is a rise in people, but a decrease in violence? Aren’t you MORE
worried about the ASTRONOMICAL rise in Mexican Gang Violence in America and the use of our Federal Lands for growing pot by the Mexican Drug Cartels???
Check out the gang murders in Salinas, California alone!! Look at the Mexican/American border—-100% dangerous. Do you love your country? Then quit trying to bring American citizens against one another with your report that I find hard to believe—instead, why don’t you try to convince our Government to make America safe for it’s own citizens—-by using whatever
force is necessary to get rid of these horrid, deadly Mexican gangs taking over the United States?!
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After reading some of your work regarding militia’s I have to say that while some of your information is accurate, there is also information that is colored and manipulated to paint a picture that you endorse and that you want the reader to endorse. Frankly, I’m worried if some of our leaders in
Washington are paying heed to your work.
In your work you mention that some militia are growing due to a fear of a “secret” plan of Mexican immigrants taking over the South Western United States. You treat it as though it’s trivial, and part of a paranoid delusion, yet I have met a number of Mexican immigrants that have blatantly come right out and said they were going to take back the South West.
I would be willing to take your work seriously if you made more of a distinction between the wide spectrum of militia’s out there. Yes, as in everything there are fanatics on the right and the left, but most of the men and women joining militias are just people that love their country, have fought and protected the country from socialistic/communistic threats for the last 60 years, and want to ensure there is some manner of counter balance to keep the Federal and State governments in check.
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Gun Owners and Militias are not the terrorist threat in America today, the Federal Gov’t is:
It was an FBI sniper that killed Randy Weaver’s son and also his wife as she
was holding their 10-month-old baby while running for cover during the Ruby Ridge standoff in 1992.
It was the BATF that burned the Branch Davidian ranch to the ground, killing seventy-six people including more than 20 children and two pregnant women, during the Waco massacre in 1993.
And it was high level FBI officials that groomed Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in the run up to the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in 1995.
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The rise of the militias is a heathly sign that the spark of liberty is still left in American’s hearts. No one of us wnats revolution, sedition, and treason. We form to defend against armed attacks against our God Given, Constitution based liberties.
It’s sad that you make it out as a racist movement. Sure there are bigots in every movement including yours….
At present there are 10+ million gun owners commited with their life if necssary to defend against any (1) true domestic terrorits attacks from the fascists controlling our National Government, true foreign terrorists attacks, attempts at any confiscation of guns and ammunition, any attempts to force the very dangerous swine flu vaccine upon God’s choice little ones, and attempts at rounding up “potential domestic terrorist” as defined by DHS announcment and placing us in “holding camps.”
I invite you to renounce the dark side and join the light of Jesus Christ in fighting the battle against the coming fascist dictatorship. IMO, you’re part of the dark side at present, willingly or unknowinly: I hope the latter.
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Why is it that when real americans disagree with the goverments communist, socialist agenda to dismantle america you left wing lap dog groups always try to label us as militia groups? Also, it has nothing to do with Obama being black (nice try), it has to do with he has no clue on how to run america,,he is a socialist, get it, and that cancer will kill america.
But,then again you people are socialists also so you can’t see that typical propaganda from the communist media..
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First off, I realize you won’t print a word of this responce to your political agenda..I’m no fool. I also know you’ll try to trace this e-mail..I’m at a park with a rebuilt lap-top, picking up a wireless internet connection so I can safely exclaim what you truely are, you traitorous basturds. …
I know you desperately want us to believe the majority of suckers listening to your B.S. believe the Obamanation is well loved and, runs all but, we know better..don’t we!? The people in this country won’t be your taged cattle treading the ramps of your chooseing because, people have something you binder’s, torturers thieves, and murderers don’t – spirit, courage and faith. …
Soon you Basturds and your puny world will fall apart before your eyes..I’ll be there..I’ll do my part..I’ll watch you bastards die. … Forget your socialist world order. You traitors are going down. Do you think you have a proplem with the Arabs? we’re your end..the nightmare you alway’s dreaded.
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Mr. Potok,
I just watched you on TV for the first time. You spoke about and ridiculed the conspiracy theorists such as they who believe in the FEMA concentration camps.
You are either dangerously ignorant, dangerously naive or a liar and you’re in someone’s pocket.
Conspiracies abound. Only those with their head in the sand don’t see them or don’t want to see them. The North American Union, the NAFTA Superhighway, the New World Order, the Cover-up concerning the OK City bombing of the Murrah Bldg are just a few real conspiracies.
You’re obviously suffering from the “Cry Wolf syndrome”. You’ve been put to sleep by false conspiracy claims, and now that there are real conspiracies, you respond the wrong way or don’t respond at all.
The North American Union, which you also probably mock, has been mentioned and acknowledged by Rep. Ron Paul, Rep. Marcy Kaptur and Lou Dobbs to start.
There are photos of the FEMA concentration camps.
Obama is a traitor and a liar just like Bush and most of the presidents who preceded them were. I don’t care what color he is. If he were obeying the Constitution I wouldn’t care if he came from another planet.
If you want to keep your head in the sand concerning these real conspiracies you have that right, but shut up and keep your ignorance to yourself.
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Death to all Marxists!
Foreign and Domestic!
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You are low life sicko’s. You are the TERRORISTS in this country. We will run you out, to some Soviet Socialist country. You need to pray to GOD and get on your knee’s and repent of your sins.
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To Whom it may concern,
Just so happens that I am in possesion of a commision signed by the Govenor. I have the duty to inform you that Militia does include every color and creed of citizen. The only qualifier is that of an able body.
You method of stigmatizing the citizen/soldier is recognized as propaganda tactics known to be in use by left wing entities. If you continue to attempt this I will find where it exists in code that the lines of propaganda and treason intersect.You are in my jurisdiction and I will arrest all parties.
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I was wondering if you oculd tell me where I could buy a gun and join a
militia – You guys just gave them SO much free press I fugured they MUST be important and something I should look into. If they were not a legitimate way to show our opposition to liberal policies why would you have promoted them so highly and put them on the cover of your web site – UNLESS it was all just a fund raising gimick!!!
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Kiss my white male ass.
on August 13th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
I have found that generally there is one thing that will provoke more ire than anything else.
And that thing is the truth.
Nice job SPLC, your message clearly struck a nerve.
on August 13th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
I have found that generally there is one thing that will provoke more ire than anything else.
And that thing is the truth.
Remember when a couple of years ago the Nobel-prize winning biologist James D. Watson made some off-the-cuff remarks about the lower intelligence of Africans, as indicated by tons of psychometric data? This caused a huge public outrage, and Watson was forced to resign from his job as director of the Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory. Do you think this was because Watson was telling the inconvenient truth? Personally, I think it was, but I surmise you might disagree.
However, it is much more common for people to get angry when someone airs outrageous lies and slanders, and generally acts like an a-hole, than when someone tells the truth.
on August 13th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
“Nothing can settle our affairs so expeditiously as an open and determined DECLARATION FOR INDEPENDANCE”
-Thomas Paine
“Common Sense”
on August 13th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
I have to keep reminding myself that there are always people on the left side of the intelligence bell curve, and in a way they really can’t help being such idiots. I just wish they didn’t have to be so vitrolic and feel they are justified in threatening violence against others only because they don’t agree with them. I have, however, accepted that they will never recognize their own illogic and hypocricy, and they will not change their minds when confronted with facts and reason.
I do find hilarious their fear that the government wants complete power over their lives (to take all their money? I’m not clear on this), yet they want the government to have the power to deny pregnant women elective abortions.
on August 13th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
JL
Look back to Morganthau. Therein lies your answer.
Beholder
on August 13th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
CK
Nice. I like your observation.
Of course to carry on the thought, the same people who say “pro-illegal” regarding people who see amnesty as a best solution to immigration are the same people who perversely call themselves “pro-life”.
There is no “pro-life”. There is simply “pro-choice” or “anti-choice”. Pro-choice is pro-life.
on August 13th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
The SPLC has done a fantastic job with this report, but is it possible for it to be timely and too late simultaneously? The crazed response from the militia nutters is nothing short of amazing and I think validates your concern.
on August 13th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
This militia business is crazy! It is attracting every racist neocon nutjob in the country. This just proves that “what we fear, we hate.” The way these guys are behaving makes me ashamed to be a white female.
Keep telling the truth, SPLC. Many people in this country seem to need to be reminded of the truth about their racism and intolerance.
The people in the militia are nothing more than Neo-Nazi and KKK terrorists who are now hiding behind “patriotism.”
on August 13th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
“HATCHED FROM A KARL MARX TURD.”
Oh my, I really needed that laugh!
Oddly enough, on the day I was looking up information on immigrating to Ireland (if, and only if some nut job kills our President), I received an anonymous letter in the mail. The letter contained an article from Parade Magazine about how great America is. I don’t know who sent it to me, though it must be someone I know since our address is not listed, nor do I know why. I have my suspicions, though. Anyway, my point is, these people are nothing more than cowards standing behind the bodyguard of unknowing. In a country that guarantees a free education, this is disgraceful.
As always, the SPLC has done a tremendous job.
on August 13th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
SPLC is the hate group. Our president is the one that belongs to a hate group called “Black Nationalists” which is a group that hates white people whom they believe are the devil and that includes the jews at SPLC. Our government are the terrorists which I suspect we will see very soon as they plan to make an attack on the entire population of our country in the name of protecting us from the flu they developed in a plan to exterminate us. Our government is run by the Bilderberg Group, why don’t you check these guys out and report your findings.
on August 13th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
I have lived around racism all my life, so it’s still there. No one can deny that, and anyone that claims otherwise, is either a racist or a fool.
Keep up the great work SPLC. You have many supporters.
on August 13th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
This is likely nothing more than a whole lot of leftist garbage and scare tactics. The intent down the road being a call to take away free speech and other rights “for our own good.”
Part of me would like to believe it, though. To believe that the white man is finally stirring from his sleep and saying he is no longer willing to allow the country he built and made into what it is, to be taken from him.
on August 14th, 2009 at 10:13 am
In a November 1964 article in Harper’s, Richard Hofstadter (1916-1970), then DeWitt Clinton Professor of American History at Columbia University, wrote “The Paranoid Style in American Politics.” This should remind us that the primary change for those lunatics who rave of vast conspiracies is the quick dissemination of their monstrous tirades.
Some quotes from this article:
“But the modern right wing, as Daniel Bell has put it, feels dispossessed: America has been largely taken away from them and their kind, though they are determined to try to repossess it and to prevent the final destructive act of subversion.”
“Events since 1939 have given the contemporary right-wing paranoid a vast theatre for his imagination, full of rich and proliferating detail, replete with realistic cues and undeniable proofs of the validity of his suspicions.”
“The paranoid spokesman sees the fate of conspiracy in apocalyptic terms—he traffics in the birth and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, whole systems of human values. He is always manning the barricades of civilization. He constantly lives at a turning point. Like religious millenialists he expresses the anxiety of those who are living through the last days and he is sometimes disposed to set a date for the apocalypse.”
on August 14th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Looks like the “great white males” are paranoid for sure. Obama IS popular and they can’t stand it. I’m white and worked for his campaign making phone calls to get out the vote.
I have the best possible healthcare and I love it. However, I also know people who are sick and cannot afford to go to a doctor or hospital for treatment. Obama’s health plan won’t raise taxes and, even if it did, I would be willing to pay a few dollars more in taxes if it means everyone could have healthcare. This is the only country (other than the 3rd world countries) where we have citizens dying for lack of health care. It is a national shame.
I just can’t wrap my mind around the paranoia and fear that is being created because we have a black president. There is only one race: HUMAN.
Keep up the good work, SPLC!!!
on August 14th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Wow, those responses are off the hook! Half of them can’t spell to save their lives and the others are just old fashioned crazy (I love the one where the guy says he’s emailing from a rebuilt laptop in a park, using wireless internet, to keep you guys from tracking him). Like Dave Chappelle once said “if you got hate in your heart, let it out!” And those people are really letting it out!
The fact remains – there is a large part of this nation that is seething mad at the fact that we have a black man as president. And they will do anything to drag him down, even if that means resorting to violence. They will try to veil their hatred in as many “mainstream” ways as they can (i.e speaking out against health care reform), but their motivations are clear to the well informed and smart Americans on both sides of the political fence.
on August 14th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
We are DOOMED. The inmates are going to take over the asylum. With guns. If these emails don’t scare the living crap outta you, I don’t know what will.
I moved to the country a year ago and I fear for my safety because of this stuff. These guys are my neighbors.
on August 14th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
I am disgusted by your website. I have a few points I’d like to make to you.
1. I’m sure there are racists our there that are annoyed that we have a “black” (half-black to be exact) President, but that is not what fuels the right-wing fire. Whether the President is White, Black, Asian, Hispanic or whatever, the fact remains the same that he is trying to SOCIALIZE THIS NATION and people will not let that happen. If it was George Bush doing this, all you liberals be crying your eyes out.
2. Unlike Sandi, I am NOT willing to pay more taxes so that low-lives can get free healthcare from me when I work hard every day and struggle just to make ends meet. It’s also not fair to punish the people who have worked hard their entire lives by raising their taxes just because they make more. They worked for their money – they got an education and perservered to get in the positions they are today.
3. Most of you who have commented on this board are no better than the right-wing conservatives you make fun of. The “Neo-Nazi” and “KKK” crap is ridiculous. I am 24 years old, I’m not racist, I’m AMERICAN. I like the Constitution and I would love for it to stay the way our forefathers had intended it to. Those of you who are against the Constitution should leave this country and move to a socialized nation where you can get your free healthcare.
4. A side note on healthcare – Did you know that RIGHT NOW in Canada there is an American citizen being denied treatment? Did you know that in Britain a 24 year old DIED because he had an alcohol problem and they told him he didn’t deserve a new liver or second chance? They just let him die. Now if it was your child, boyfriend, husband, or friend, how would you feel?
5. The SPLC is just as extreme as Michael Savage with their lies and exaggerations. You ARE a hate group that promotes superiority of blacks and other minority groups while trying to make white people feel bad for being white. We call this RACIST. Right back at ya.
By the way, I don’t plan on backing down anytime soon either. If the healthcare bill passes as-is (which it won’t anyway), I’m sure you will hear the roar of Conservatives and Libertarians louder than ever.
on August 14th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
“Fox News host Glenn Beck, who has called Obama a fascist, a Nazi and a Marxist”
Well, which is it? Commie or Nazi?
Unless Beck is talking about the fictional “Commie Nazis” who Ranier Wolfcastle fought in a Simpsons episode.
Beck has always been a slimy little Repuke weasel, and now he’s gone off the deep end. Why do these whackos keep getting microphones? Somebody should pull the plug on them.
on August 14th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Obama isn’t a socialist. He’s a lawyer who likes the finer things in life and put his kids in a ritzy private school.
Obama voted for the Bush Bailout, a $700 Billion giveaway to crooked rich fat cats on Wall Street, with no strings attached. Giving money with no strings attached to Wall Street fat cats is NOT socialism. Obama followed this up with his own bailout bill. Obama is NOT a socialist.
The funny thing about the right wing is they are wearing blinders. They do not see all the nasty stuff that Bush did.
If Obama ever does declare martial law, it will be easier for him to do than any previous President. And the reason for that is Bush signed executive orders and got laws passed that made it much easier to declare martial law.
Bush got the Patriot Act and its followups railroaded through Congress. Bush set up Gitmo and a worldwide torture gulag. Bush lied to start a war of choice in Iraq.
And those reports about the Feds secretly building a nationwide network of concentration camps? Those rumors began under BUSH. The initial rumor said Bush hired Halliburton to build those detention camps.
And the rumors about using vaccines to murder Americans? Started during the Bush reign of error. The rumors about a police state takeover with martial law? Started during Bush. Same rumors, only with Bush as the bad guy.
If we ever DO have martial law in the US, you can blame Dubya Bush. He set this whole mess in motion.
on August 14th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
These article is a load of dung! How do you think this country was founded??? As far s I’m concerned, I think the militia movement is too weak. We have power elites playing the american people and the right/left paradigm to advance their unamerican global socialistic utopia society in which the government contain ALL power and the citizens are ALL absolutely worthless and controlled by the hierarchy we fought against at the founding of this country. DISSENT against BIG government power is the MOST American thing you can ever do!! Big GOVERNMENT can only push us so far into a corner before the citizens kick sum butt. Read your history and stop listening to main stream media, which is THE biggest disinformation source in the world! The race card is pathetic, garbage, and has not one shred of credibility!
on August 14th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Question: What happens to the “low lives” (sic) if they do not get healthcare? They die on the street? Who would clean that up? And what about people who work as hard or harder than you, Kerri, but still can’t afford healthcare? What about the disabled? Most people who parrot your talking points don’t have answers to those questions, so I’m looking forward to your answers.
on August 14th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
SPLC,
I have been reading your publications and press releases for some time now, after having been introduced it through a teacher of mine during my high school years. I appreciate the amount of effort and scrutiny that your organization brings to the table to address the issues surrounding what few hate groups truly remain in this country, and I enjoy discussing with your members their works, and the possible solutions to the problems that hate cause.
I have to say that I am rather disappointed with this latest Special Report on so-called right-wing militia groups. Although plenty of effort was put into generalizing all private militia groups, tax-protesters, so-called sovereign citizens and racial supremacy groups into one “conglomeration of hate” as it were, the fact is that such a blanketing stereotype is very inaccurate in this case. Plenty of circumstantial facts and events were shown in these articles, however, without any attempt to give a balanced view to both sides of this issue. The premise that this report suggests is that these groups (and therefore like-minded individuals) are all racists, paranoid, are all violent, are all anti-government, and believe in very improbable conspiracy theories. This thesis is dubious at best, considering many of the following notes:
USC title 10311:
“The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b) The classes of the militia are—
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.”
Legally, most of the people in this conversation are the militia. This means that we are not only eligible for the draft, should Congress decide to reinstate it, but it also means that in event of invasion, domestic insurrection, or breach of the Laws of the Union, we, the Militia (once again, you and I) have the responsibility and legal obligation to be prepared to defend ourselves and each other from ANY and ALL of the formerly stated. This includes when the federal government is unable or unwilling to do anything directly or indirectly about a threat to the Constitution of the United States.
A situation may develop where you as the Militia may have to defend the People of the United States from your next-store neighbor who has just lost his job and has run out onto the street with a gun and is shooting at people, be it Mexican drug cartels, the Chinese hordes invading from the Pacific, the US Federal government (or State or Municipal governments), or Red Lectoids from Planet Ten. Whatever constitutes “Repelling invasion, suppressing insurrection, and executing the laws of the Union” is something that WE THE PEOPLE are required to be ready to do.
Owning camouflage fatigues, body armor, night-vision goggles and a so-called “semiautomatic assault weapon” are not requirements to be in the Militia. If all you have is your left shoe, than you must be prepared to use it to its full potential as a member of the United States Militia. The immature epidemic sweeping this country known commonly as “gun-phobia” is not only silly, considering that we are perfectly okay driving cars and cutting things with knives, or swimming in pools, or using ladders (and even then, some people are just afraid of everything), but is also counter-productive to one of the pillars of our Constitutional Republic: an ever-armed and ever-aware citizenry.
For the argument to be made that militias are anti-government, one would have to discount not only Federal and State laws and the history of American independence and military history, but would also have to discount the fact that a majority of self-proclaimed militia members either currently do, or once served our country in either a military or law-enforcement fashion. The number of militia members that vote in local, state, and federal elections is much higher, proportionally, than the national voting average. By the same measure, the number of militia members that contact or talk to on a regular basis with their elected Representatives in the Federal and State Legislatures is much higher, the number of such people that voluntarily apply for concealed-carry permits is much higher, and statistically, this means that such people are not only less violent, but also less likely to commit non-serious offenses. These are not made up facts. These can be found on many government-mandated websites and concealed carry manuals. The book sitting in my library next to me comes to mind. According to the Minnesota concealed carry companion guide, such permit holders are on average 31 times less likely to get a DWI, 20 times less likely to commit assault, and 22 times less likely to commit drug-related crimes.
In terms of paranoia and conspiracy theories the people that buy into them are not thinking along the same lines as you and I, but are considering the following:
-The value of our currency is being debased, leaving our savings worth almost nothing.
-Our national debt is at a point where our country will be unable to make payments on it if it is not reduced dramatically in size within the next 10 years.
-All this money that is being printed is going to fund the “wars against terrorism” overseas, where our sons and daughters are being maimed and killed.
-All this money that is being printed is being taken and given away to corporations and interest groups, without any Constitutional authority, against the wishes of the People, and there’s nothing they can do about it.
-Our politicians cannot agree to do anything together, unless it is take more rights and freedoms away, or spend several billion here, or split more legal hairs there.
-This year, the average working American is now only “working for himself” as of yesterday, due to the number and amount of income lost through taxes.
-This nation has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, most people imprisoned on drug charges, of which there is no Constitutional authority to criminalize.
-Our industrial and economic base is being sent overseas due to over-taxation and anti-business labor laws and regulation, causing gradual job loss and a mounting trade deficit, of which our government thinks is somehow a good thing.
-Foreign drug cartels are shooting up our streets and kidnapping OUR citizens, and the government does nothing about it.
-For a nation of immigrants, it’s almost impossible for the “cold and starving refuse” of other countries to come here and find legal work, due to such draconian immigration laws, and mis-prioritized policy enforcement.
-Americans in the Southwest are watching as the Stars and Stripes are slowly being replaced with Mexican flags. This is legally either Invasion, or Insurrection, possibly both. The federal government is doing nothing to secure the borders; instead they go and deport not the rebels, but the Mexicans that are here only to work to send their paychecks home to their families, who they intend on returning to Mexico to live with.
-The teacher’s unions have joined with the Department of Education to guarantee that our children are not only dumber than the rest of the world’s children, but that they aren’t taught even their own history, like for example, the history of how the Militia was instrumental in the founding of this country.
-The Federal Government, for the hundred fifty or so years, has gradually and steadily stopped honoring the Constitutional contract that it agreed to with the People of the United States. It now fails to properly do the two things that the United States government was originally formed to do: defend the Nation’s borders, and talk to other countries. It also has decided to forcibly do everything that the government is not allowed to do. Everything from Social Security and Medicare, to Drug Laws, forced Environmental and Mineral Conservation, Education, Domestic Surveillance, etc etc.
-The Cap and Trade laws stifle American’s rights to conduct free business and trade, while it does absolutely nothing to slow or stop the pillaging and raping of our ecosystems, or the polluting of our water and skies. Yet, they sell us the factually-baseless theory of Man-Caused Global Climate Change, and use it as an excuse to invest in themselves all sort of supreme and completely illegal powers over the common man that would make all of the Founding Fathers and Framers of the Constitution scream from their graves.
-Waco and Ruby Ridge. I don’t need to say anything about these horrible events. I am not here to debate whether or not David Koresch had sex with little girls. I personally believe that the man was in the least, very mistaken about who he was, more likely he suffering from some sort of mental problems. I don’t care if Randy Weaver is a Neo-Nazi. It is irrelevant to this discussion. What the Federal Government did to harm these people and their families was not only illegal, but completely avoidable and absolutely inexcusable. Dozens of ATF and FBI agents should have been sent to prison after that, as their conduct would have been illegal for any other body of citizens to do. The fact that they have a brass or nickel badge with a coat of arms on it means absolutely nothing. Every single one of the Bill of Rights were violated in both those events, and NOBODY paid the price, except the victims.
Now, none of these are conspiracies. This has all happened, or is currently happening. This is all FAILURE OF GOVERNMENT TO DO ITS JOB. Militia members and non-militia members like myself can see this easily enough. The only people that can be content in such times with such events are either the pathetically complacent, or the pathetically stupid. The difference in opinion between us and them is essentially that the average angry citizen believes that the government’s failure to rectify or even atone for such failure comes from absolute inept and corruptible human nature, that these events are not directly linked to each other or “designed to happen” by “Uncle Sam,” and that We the People must stop this before it gets even MORE out of hand. Militia groups, after having lived as servants in this system, or after having been wronged by a government official who thought he/she was doing their job ( or merely by a clerical or bureaucratic error of some sort), feel that after countless appeals and voices of dissent are being genuinely ignored, because they believe that the United States Government, who has arguably never lost a war, and has been leading (or dominating) the world for so many years, could possibly screw so many things up so often so quickly, with such horrific results. They conclude that therefore, this must all be by design. To them, the average American is a “Sheep,” and they are the logical people. There is no way to logically counter this line of thought, because it literally extends from personal moral beliefs about the nature of people, and of human sociology.
There are plenty of militia groups that have very little or nothing whatsoever to do with conspiracy theories and such gobbledygook. The Minutemen, mentioned in one article, are one such group. There may be individuals within the group that believe in the former, but the organization itself is there to watch the border, something that our overworked and beleaguered Border Patrol agents are failing to do by themselves, without Congressional help. And clearly, when the National Guard is soon to be deployed to the border, you know there is a legitimate problem. Many neighborhood watch groups call themselves militias, and vice-versa, because that is literally what they are. These are people that are training and prepared to defend their homes and families. The odd, and rare I might add, nut is building bombs in his basement using household items and methods. These people are just as extreme when they are radical Muslims, or Radical Marxists, and all three of which are acting out of pure hatred. I commend SPLC on bringing to light such things, but to suggest that this is a common-place event is absolutely absurd. Even more absurd is the notion that our President’s race is any sort of major factor. The same people that believe the government is out to get them are the exact same people that believe Obama is a pawn in a bigger game of roundhouse groups and “shadow governments.” The Bilderberg Group or the Freemasons come to mind (of which I want to state that I do not believe they seek any sort of global domination). These people don’t think that Obama is going to do anything but smile and look pretty in front of the cameras, while the real decisions are made by more sinister groups in the shadows. And they will be the first to admit that he does have a nice smile and look pretty in front of the camera. Research into what militia groups actually think of Mr. Obama should have been done more carefully on the SPLC’s part.
Please do not think that I am blind to the fact that there is no shortage of racist supremacy groups existent within the United States, nor do I ignore the fact that many style themselves as militias, and use the same jargon and slogans as their less radical and numerically superior counterparts. There are some very terrible groups out there full of terrible people. If you look into these groups and their interactions with other Militias, you will see that they are just as condemned by non-racist groups as we in the public condemn them. Many militia groups work in tandem with local law enforcement for search and rescue, and actively train with Sheriffs’ Offices in many counties across the United States on civil preparedness measures, and emergency operations (natural disasters, war, etc).
I have never claimed to be in or part of any militia group, nor have I ever claimed to know any militia members personally. The extent to which I have talked to individuals allegedly in private militia groups is through the Internet, on various websites for Constitutional discussion. Militias are fascinating subject for me, because I am an avid historian and scholar of Constitutional Law. The Constitution is something that every American should know about. If one is too lazy to know the Constitution, one should at least know what powers the government actually has, and what they cannot do. At the very minimum, one should know the Bill of Rights. America did not gain the wealth and global hegemony it has because of anything other than the fact that liberty spawns innovation. The freedom to succeed is the freedom to fail, and those of us that would limit freedom for their own securities will soon find that they cannot exist independently of each other. Throughout all of history, they never have. Freedom means the freedom to defend one’s self. The natural (and common-sense) conclusion to this is that in order for people to be in charge of their own destinies, they must have access to weapons to defend themselves and others with. Believe me, I know this. My ancestors were forced to walk on the Trail of Tears, and it wasn’t by the KKK, or the Aryan Nations either. For all of you who never cared to read the true history of your own nation, you had better get your head out of the sand and read up on it quickly. The government will not always be there to protect you. The People will not always stand up for other people’s rights. In fact, the opposite is often the case. Government is force. If the People are not there to defend their neighbors from tyranny, which includes our own government, then government will do what ever it wants. And many people will suffer and die because of this. They have for eons. Thousands of Cherokee and many others died, like animals, under a government that was given free reign by the People.
Do I hate the United States for what it did? Not at all! I am a proud citizen of the United States, and I will always be proud to be American. But I will not trust the United States government with my life. How can they be expected to protect us from violence and oppression when so much of it exists in their deeds, both here and abroad? The American People can always be counted on to do the right thing. . . after they have tried everything else. One can hardly find fault in people that have decided to not take their chances, but to be prepared for the worst, despite hoping for the best. It’s not only a smart thing to do, but it may be a necessary one in the upcoming years.
This is not a Right vs. Left issue. The right/left paradigm is rather silly. There is liberty and there is tyranny. If one thinks that calling somebody a racist or a redneck or a commie or any such thing is going to magically going to win whatever argument you are in, you are sorely mistaken. While we sit here, name-calling, the federal debt is piling up, we continue to let our children die overseas, the Constitution is being eroded by government encroachment on both the left AND right; Americans are losing their voices and their freedoms. Notice that Obama did not usher in the Messianic Age when we voted him in by a landslide. Shame on you for actually thinking that he would try to change things. He may have meant well, but its pretty obvious who has the power now. The same Elite that have been around forever. The same senators and representatives, and they will continue to call the shots as long as they can. You know that when a bill like HR1207 has 283 sponsors, almost a veto-proof majority, and the same people that always command policy decisions and votes are conspicuously absent from the list, and those same people are holding up voting on this bill, then you know that these people must go. I highly doubt that Senator McCain would have been much better. Every minute We the People sit and quarrel is a minute that we lose to repair this problem before its too late for anything to be done.
I commend SPLC for trying to shed some light on exactly what is going on, but the rise in the militia numbers is not due to racism, and it is not necessarily a bad thing either. For every skinhead that gets a new tattoo, there are a hundred Americans that are waking up and preparing to defend Liberty this Country from its enemies. It’s showing that Americans are finally returning to their roots. These roots aren’t roots of hatred, in fact, they are the opposite. The entire concept of the New World was that people could be over here, and instead of being persecuted for who they were or what they believed, they would be free to be and do what they wanted, as long as they stood alongside the rest of We the People, and stood ready to defend each other from all forms of tyranny, be it foreign or domestic. I believe that everyone here would have stopped McVeigh from doing what he did, if we were there to do so. Every member of the Militia, if they truly were one of We the People, would have done the same.
I should hope that SPLC would not try to marginalize potentially one of it’s greatest allies in the future. The so-called “Patriot Movement” has always been a very racially diverse and accepting group of people, linked by the common belief that Americans must prepare to fight for their freedoms in any way that they must. It would do the SPLC good to either write an article containing the rest of the omitted facts about all the groups that it painted broadly over, or to issue an apology to all the tolerant Americans that you clearly offended deeply by writing this Report. That these people are tolerating a report bordering slander shows the faith they have in the values of free speech and the rule of law. SPLC is advised in the future to keep its commentary independent, and limited to hate-issues and their solutions, as opposed to serving the current administration’s status quo, and as such, losing any credibility it once had as anything more than statist propaganda. I look forward to the next report.
on August 15th, 2009 at 6:04 am
Use guys are gonna keep doin this stuff until the country gets fed up with your lies, until they understand what is happening to the Constitution, and what the democrat party truely represents, which is hate, neo-nazism, deceit and racists. Just like the SPLC they spread into the fabric of the country like a cancer, destroying all the good and turning it into a puss filled cesspool.
Why don’t you stop being so hate filled ? We the people of the United States of America see through you and will demand an end to your deceit.
on August 15th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Kerri is telling anecdotal scare stories about healthcare in Canada and Britain.
Big freaking deal. Anyone can google plenty of horror stories about our broken US healthcare system too, where insurance clerks can overrule your doctor and get you killed.
Kerri thinks socialized medicine is evil. I say it is Capitalist medicine, pain for profit, that is inherently evil. HMOs get rich by denying treatment to patients.
Our system is much worse than Canada or Britain. People are dying here for lack of care. Patients are literally being dumped into the street. Here. In the USA. On the news.
We need a better healthcare system. Ours is broken. And Reiich Wingnuts like Kerri are too ignorant to see that it is broken.
on August 15th, 2009 at 9:30 am
I am a sovereign citizen. I have my own reasons for not consenting to the powers of this government. I examined the historical record and discovered that our government has established itself a new world order beginning with the end of WWII. Germany had been conquered, and the Japanese forces had been beaten out of the South Pacific. America became the first nation to send a military force to attack Japan that actually set foot upon that Island in Iwo Jima. The US Government decided that a demonstration of its newly developed weapon of mass destruction was in order, and they dropped nuclear bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The attacks upon the civilian populations living in these Japanese cities was not necessary to bring the war to an end, and they served their intended purpose as acts of terrorism.
The US Government began mass producing atom bombs while engaging the world in what can only be described as nuclear diplomacy. We set atom bombs in Europe and Asia in positions from which we could readily deploy our arsenal against our political adversaries on the other side of the planet. The Soviets knew they could not win a nuclear war against America, because their nuclear weapons had to be deployed from positions thousands of miles away from our country. This is the key factor which allowed America to prevail against the Soviet Union in the Cold War.
George Bush deployed American forces to invade Iraq for only one reason: to secure access to the sweet crude oil on the Arabian Peninsula until those oil reserves are completely depleted. In his inaugural address, he stated that he intended to finish the work his father started by removing Saddam Hussein from power. His father had responded to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait by initiating operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in order to secure access to the Arabian oil reserves. Bush saw that it would be expedient for him to remove Hussein from power and to establish an American military presence in Iraq whose only purpose is to secure access to the oil reserves on the peninsula. He has succeeded in his purpose, and our forces will remain deployed in Iraq until the oil reserves in the Arabian Peninsula have been completely depleted.
This is the New World Order that America is establishing. The government pursues a purpose which is hid from us, and they will force us to conform with their purposes. We are the only people capable of stopping our government from pursuing their objective, because the US Government cannot destroy America with nuclear weapons. There is no need to fight about it at this time, because the government will not lose a battle. We must recognize that our government is exercising power in order to establish a political and economic domination over the world. We instituted a government amongst ourselves in order to secure our rights, and we agreed to empower the government for that purpose. The government has exercised its power in foreign affairs pursuing another purpose, and, bearing witness to that fact, we should recognize the perversion in our government.
on August 15th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Snorlax said,
on August 14th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
“Fox News host Glenn Beck, who has called Obama a fascist, a Nazi and a Marxist”
Well, which is it? Commie or Nazi?
Snorlax, does it really matter ? Communism and Nazism are both a form of socialism.
on August 15th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Where in Fargo, ND are neo-nazis. Please explain that to me. They have no address. They have no organization. Where did you get your information from? Just currious why you would lie about something so important.
on August 15th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Bob: You are right on the money.Nobody started talking about Militias until People came to these Town Hall meetings to have their voices heard, they are outraged and they have every right to be there but what do we see on the news? That these people, law abiding,tax paying concerned citizens are part of this rise in Militias.
What a load of crap. That Stephen Rhodes, founder of Oathkeepers.org is a threat? Some of you here need a big wake up call to what is going on RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU. Why arent they talking about ACORN? Were’nt they the ones who beat up a BLACK MAN.? I suppose the Million Man march was militia, and Martin Luther Kings I Have a Dream March was militia, or when our Founding Fathers said enough is enough and fought against the tyranny of a country overtaxing us to pay for their war with France and Spain, were militia? And when we all march onto the White House lawn on September 12 to say NO to this Healthcare “Bill” we will be militia too. When the sh!t hits the fan you that don’t see whats coming will be grateful for those of us that do. There will always be idiots shaving their heads and ranting “white power” and running around like little Nazis, but there are alot of MILITIAS out there for peace, freedom, the CONSTITUTION OF THIS UNTIED STATES, and for the future of our children.
on August 15th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Great report.
on August 15th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Well, Liesl !! If you have read Henry Kissinger’s papers along with his political elite side kicks that are running this government, they don’t care if millions die in the street! They can shovel all those numbers under a rug such as “swine flu” or some new man-made out break. Our government for decades have been debating POPULATION CONTROL. We are coming to a time in history were are so called government is gonna watch everything we do, put overwhelming regulations on all energy, and eventually kill off the weak. There attempts of birth control, HIV, cancer, etc is taking too long and our medicines are keeping us alive longer! So the global elite must come up with a way to speed up population control! Socialized health care is just a baby step in this process! You think politicians and the elite REALLY care about you….haha…so naive!!
on August 15th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Looks to me like SPLC struck a nerve. The racists are all coming out and, since they can spew their hate straight from their chair, they don’t even have to put on their hoods.
I’m white, I worked for the Obama campaign and I have the most wonderful health insurance you can imagine. I also have friends of all colors who have lost their jobs and cannot afford to go to a doctor. I want them to have health coverage.
I’m sure the militia contain people who are not racist. I am also sure that they are attracting every racist kook out there. The neo-Nazis, KKK and every white supremacist group is rallying around the militia and using it as an excuse to spew their hate speech.
What puzzles me is, what, exactly are you people so afraid Obama will do! Let’s see…first he was not a citizen, then he was a terrorist, then he hung out with terrorists, then he was a commie and socialist and now he is back to being a commie socialist. You people need to get a life and quit seeing the boogieman behind every bush.
Go to some of the militia sites and you will see the posts of plenty of low-life trash with loaded guns and lots of 6-packs, with bellies hanging out over their pants and plumber’s cracks showing. They are all ranting about the superiority of the great white male!
I suspect they are terrified by a black man in power…especially one who is smarter and more successful than they could ever hope to be.
on August 15th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Did you ever wonder where Hitler got his ideas? You would do well to look up the term Eugenics to get an idea where the original Nazi came from. Obma science czar coauthored a book called Ecoscience, which is only Eugenics with a green coat of paint, so the question is, who is the real Nazi? Only a lunatic would believe in Eugenics or Nazism or for that matter the modern form of Eugenics.
on August 15th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
I have to agree with Snorlax. This economic and war catastrophe started with George W. Bush. Had McCain been elected, we would still be on the same destructive path. The militias see what an end the Bush administration has left them at, and they hope and pray that they can shoot themselves back up to the top of the social pecking order. Militia members are grabbing at the health care debate as another “reason” to cause more death and destruction. Thank God for organizations like the SPLC. This country has such a long history of racism. Your work is much needed and appreciated!
on August 16th, 2009 at 6:58 am
Are we cattle or are we Americans?
Through our ignorance, thanks in a large part to our poor education system, and our blind trust in the media, the majority of United States citizens have become like cattle on the American landscape. The government Ranchers, many of them our elected officials, the puppets of the “elite” cattle barons, have many Americans believing that “we the cattle” belong to the Democrat or Republican herd. We plod along, easily manipulated, on seemingly separate trails, mooing and snorting, and kicking dirt and dung at each other. Meanwhile, both herds are being milked dry by taxes and the “elite” owned FED, and grazing on the FDA approved fields of drugs and the CIA distributed illegal grasses. The “eminent domain” Supreme Court land thieves, the “Sustainable Development” population reducers and controllers, and the “Homeland Security” hired guns are harnessing much of our property rights and our individual rights”. “We the cattle” can’t see that both political trails are winding toward the same slaughterhouse of freedom.
Do cattle know when they are about to be slaughtered? Do American citizens understand how close they are to losing their freedom? The propaganda dust on the American trail is so thick that our vision of America is blurred and distorted. Like insects heading into the bright light, we are disillusioned into believing that our television sets, radios, and newspapers hold the truth about our government, the environment, and our morality. Many citizens are fixated on their sports channels, reality shows, movie and television stars, and video games. Their understanding of patriotism and the functions of government appear limited to our National Anthem. Most American citizens can’t see how the “elite” control the policies of this country through our socially engineered ignorance, the fear conveyed by our media, the manufactured division of the people, and the resulting preconceived freedom-suppressing compromises and laws.
When the government ranchers and media cowhands shout about global warming or some other over-exaggerated environmental issue, or start shouting terrorist threats, healthcare’s demise, or some other frightening scenario, like lightening in the sky, “we the cattle” stampede toward whatever freedom-suppressing programs the “elite” cattle barons have intended for us. Because of our well-educated ignorance and tolerance, “we the cattle” only know to continue down the trail of least responsibility and thought.
Americans, the minority that understand the importance of our freedom, are being trampled or forced along into the freedom-suppressing programs that the majority cattle blindly accept. I don’t know if it’s possible for “we the cattle” to cut through the political theory rhetoric that clouds our minds, and understand that a thief is a thief, a murderer is a murderer, an elitist is an elitist, no matter if they call themselves a socialist, capitalist, communist, Republican, Democrat, rightwing, leftwing, whatever.
Are we cattle or are we Americans?
on August 16th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Thank you for all the work that you are doing. You are the REAL patriots! Please keep it up!
on August 16th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
@ Bob,
Our country was also founed by first killing-off, stealing from, and starving as many natives as we could get to and then stealing and beating natives from another continent to farm and build for us.
Of course, we later on had an insurgency against an imposing foreign government. I think I remember hearing that “insurgency” word, or something like that, before.
Times have changed and what was okay then are not okay now.
You’re prbably going to say , “Those were savages” or “no taxation without representation”.
2 things:
1. What would anyone call someone who shoots up or blows up a government building full of inoccents (the SPECIFIC kind of militia the SPLC is reffering to, like McVeigh and possibly the Unabomber)?
2. Unless you live in ther Puerto Rico or DC, you have representation.
on August 16th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Once you outsmart neo-nazis and right winged haters. Tey resort to calling you a liberal and say they’ll kill you.
Funny, if the white race is superior then the rest, then how do minorities, like jews and mexicans, pose a threat to the whites? That’s like me saying that I’m Superman, but that a five year old poses a threat to me. Makes no sense.
on August 17th, 2009 at 9:23 am
I was troubled by your report, but even more troubled by the responses. I am a gun owner who owns a couple of hunting guns. I am terrified of the NRA and their focus on “defending our rights”. I am a member of The Liberal Gun Club and the American Hunting and Shooting Association which believe in our right to own firearms within reason. We don’t allow ownership of hand grenades or machineguns, so why do we allow huge-capacity, assault-type weapons? Any militia that thinks it can go up against the USMC is deluded. As in Latin America and elsewhere, it’ll be the common person caught in the middle of these “wars of liberation”. I’ve found it useless to try to point out that we as a people have willfully given up many of our rights during our so-called war on terror. Where were the militias when the Patriot Act was enacted??
on August 17th, 2009 at 10:58 am
“Communism and Nazism are both a form of socialism.”
Um, no. Just because the Nazi’s chose the name “socialist” for their party does not mean they were practicing anything remotely similar to socialism. That’s a very shallow mistake.
on August 17th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Bob: Critical thinking is your friend. In order for conspiracies to work they must have the cooperation of vast numbers of people. Is that likely? No.
on August 17th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
“Where were the militias when the Patriot Act was enacted??”
Excellent question. It seems they need only assert their “sovereignty” when it is something they find of intimate importance.
on August 17th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
The truth will come out through the passage of time, and we will look back at what we have done and repent in dust and asshes. ‘The Lord says, “The man that trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord is cursed.”‘ He created the heavens and the earth. He knows what he is doing. There is no need to be violent, and we will become aware of what is going on in due time.
on August 18th, 2009 at 8:06 am
“Where were the militias when the Patriot Act was enacted??”
Good question.
Where were they when Bush made it much easier for him or any succeeding Preznit to declare martial law and seize dictatorial power?
Where were they when Bush okayed warrantless wiretaps of our domestic phone calls and emails?
Where were they when Bush built a torture gulag?
Where were they when Bush sent the murderous mercenaries of Blackwater to New Orleans?
I’ll tell you where. They were all at Bush rallies holding up Bush signs.
Hypocrites.
on August 18th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Matt,
I think You pretty much nailed it. Also, The notion that Disagreeing with Obama is racist. If that is the case, I guess I am the biggest racist in this fair land. Ridiculous.
on August 18th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
“Communism and Nazism are both a form of socialism.”
..oh …lord. If this debate proves anything is that American education is rapidly sinking into the mire. Please, for God sake’s go enroll in a Community College. In fact Obama just dropped you a way to do it affordable-like.
on August 19th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Militia Groups? Are you serious? Who are you experts that “say” that there is a rising of numbers or training? Are these the same experts that said the same thing under Clinton, when he was getting his pee-pee spanked over healthcare? Seems to me that the only time these “groups” come to light is when socialist/liberal agendas come under debate by regular citizens of this country. This country has always leaned right and when uber-liberals get close to passing socialist programs the people come out in force, as is the case now, and then liberals like you get “concerned” because of a rise in militia groups. You all get mad at repubs for “scaring” the public when it comes to healthcare, and then you go and do something like this! Come on just get over it. The country is mostly conservative. So go and move to your all’s utopian society like Canada or France, and leave us alone.
on August 19th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
I don’t know ANYBODY who says that disagreeing with Obama is racist.
The Democratic Party isn’t saying it. The NAACP isn’t saying it. I don’t even think Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton are saying it.
Only you Reich Wingnuts seem to be saying it.
I’m a lifelong union Democrat and I didn’t even VOTE for Obama. I disagreed with his vote for the Bush Bailout. Of course, McLame also voted for the Bush Bailout.
Someone who disagrees with Obama every single day of the week is the chairman of the Republican party.
He’s a black man. I’d hardly call him racist for disagreeing with Obama.
Once again. you Reich Wingnuts are spreading lies and BS
on August 19th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
WOW!!!—-the right wing scum bags(I just gotta wollow arouind with’em) are crawling out of sewers—time to turn on the lights and send them scurring for cover like the roaches they beg for me to call them—ten years ago I thought these milita nutzos were paranoid little men-children with swastikas dancing in there heads—wannabe
tin soldiers—whose fashion sense ran way too much towards camoflauge for my liking—but now I here they’re being populated more and more by cops and ex-soldiers—
great—dellusional cops and more Timothy McVeighs—SPLC is right—be afraid—very afraid—we need to stand up
and be real patriots—speak out against these goose-stepping hate mongers—turn on the lights and expose these roaches for what they really are—childish, hate-mongering cowards—-thank you—leftist nutzo
on August 20th, 2009 at 7:49 am
I saw on one of the 24/7 cable news channels a news story about how, if one called the administrations agends “socialist,” that it was code for the “N” word…
criticizing obama’s pseudo-socialism was the new racism…that was the gist of this news story, seen and heard by millions.(?)..
…its interesting, because when its broken down, Obama has stolen so much from the people, and transferred it to wealthy bankers ( a ratio of about 30-1…bankers get 30 dollars, and the people get back about 1 dollar)…Obama is Robin Hood in reverse, He’s a reverse -socialist of sorts, even if the Feds are grabbing more control…
on August 20th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
militias DID protest the Patriot Act..
on August 20th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Well, having read all that hysterical and uninformed blather, I am even more depressed than before about the state of reason in this nation.
Can’t anyone think for himself now? Is it too difficult to read a reputable newspaper? How is it that anyone can watch hateful and self-aggrandizing oafs like Limbaugh, et al, without getting furious at the outright lies and smears he tells to honest Americans.
If anyone is interested in the healthcare bill, it is available on the net by clicking google and typing in HR3200. Nothing that the right wing has said about this bill is true, except that insurance companies will be audited, as they always should have been.
If ordinary Americans can still observe and think, they can look around them at the state of our government buildings, hospitals, schools, public health clinics, etc. and compare what has been built for the people to the number of wonderful shiny buildings related to insurance companies, both large and small.
Nothing more needs to be said.
on August 20th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
hey Lies!…conspiracies are common, they happen all the time…just ask any prosecuting attorney…
a criminal conspiracy is when two or more people plan to commit a crime, and do something to help make this plan move forward (furtherance)….
on August 20th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Ah, but there is proof in those cases. Where is the proof in the grander conspiracies?
on August 21st, 2009 at 1:22 pm
what grand conspiracy are you referring to?
on August 21st, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Any of the ones you’ve proposed.
on August 23rd, 2009 at 1:32 am
There really isn’t a huge difference between Bush and Obama. Both support the Patriot Act
Both support the costly “War On Terror”(Obama expanding the war on terror into Pakistan, something which even John McCain was against),
Both supported the Bankers Bailouts (TARP, and the latest in total bailout money to the banks is an estimated 24.6 trillion).
I agree with a previous poster who had said that Obama is not a socialist. Obama is more accurately a fascist. He’s not helping the poor or the common man; he’s helping the monopoly capitalists, Wall Street, and the military industrial complex. Obama is Bush on steriods.
on August 25th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
“Sandi said,
on August 14th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Looks like the “great white males” are paranoid for sure. Obama IS popular and they can’t stand it. I’m white and worked for his campaign making phone calls to get out the vote.
I have the best possible healthcare and I love it. However, I also know people who are sick and cannot afford to go to a doctor or hospital for treatment. Obama’s health plan won’t raise taxes and, even if it did, I would be willing to pay a few dollars more in taxes if it means everyone could have healthcare. This is the only country (other than the 3rd world countries) where we have citizens dying for lack of health care. It is a national shame.
I just can’t wrap my mind around the paranoia and fear that is being created because we have a black president. There is only one race: HUMAN.
Keep up the good work, SPLC!!!”
Thank you Sandi! Your message was really inspiring. On election night last year, I was so mesmerized by the exuberant display of hope and a genuine desire for real change (for the betterment of the country) displayed by the large, diverse group of Americans who supported and helped elect President Obama (you and I included). I support a healthcare reform measure 100% because we see people suffering everyday from illness and disease and the first goal in any progressive movement for change would be to adopt a healthcare plan that would help everyone, especially those who cannot afford healthcare. The current administration is trying to deliever this measure, and while the media tends to focus on right-wing anti-reform protesters who attack the president with racially offensive, logically incoherent, and often mispelled hate signs, I believe a great majority of Americans actually do support healthcare reform.
And as you’ve said, the SPLC is doing an excellent job keeping us informed of the dangerous rise of right wing extremism.
on August 25th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
I am a self-described, independent, moderate with a libertarian streak who tends to move to the left when I sense danger for the simple reason that the Left in this country has never scared me like the Right does.
Admittedly, some on the Left tend to make too many laws, at times, which infringe on the rights of individuals. This I can do without. Nevertheless, the Right is just as guilty of infringing on individual rights while refusing to regulate corporate misbehavior which can and does harm far more people than an ordinary individual citizen could possibly do.
Those who have commented that they know militia members and none of them are racists apparently don’t know the ones from whom I hear. I can’t and won’t say that all militia members are racists. Nevertheless, there are groups out there who are anti-Semitic, hate blacks, Mexicans and anyone else who doesn’t look like them or think like them.
Those who see fit to take guns to political rallies and presidential speeches are not doing any favors for responsible gun owners or their second amendment rights.
I remember well that people with peace tee shirts were denied entry to Bush/Cheney events. I watched a man wearing an “Impeach Bush” tee shirt bumped from his flight at JAX airport. Now that IS a smack-down of the first amendment.
I fail to understand how taking a gun to a presidential event is anything but insane and certainly not a matter of free speech.
Those of us in my generation, who watched three political leaders gunned down and murdered during the 60s and a president shot in a failed assassination attempt in the 80s have no respect for anyone who would attempt to intimidate a president or any elected official by taking a weapon to a political event.
I may lean left but I do own a gun. I would never consider taking it to a political event.
The Southern Poverty Law Firm does us all a favor by keeping us informed about groups that may be dangerous to us all. I’ve heard the hate speech of the past and of the present. It’s disturbing and when combined with people carrying guns to political events it is terrifying. All one has to do is read some of the comments on this blog by people who, apparently, cannot spell or write without the most vile speech.
on August 25th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
A favorite trick of a tyrant is to demonize all opposition, Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Mao all did this to crush anybody who would dare question them. So when somebody comes along and says that this group or groups are terrorist or racist or haters I would wonder about the person or group who are the accusers. Who were the real terrorist Hitler, Lenin, Stalin and Mao or the people who spoke up against them?