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 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.

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.

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)….

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.

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…

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

..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.

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.

Excellent question. It seems they need only assert their “sovereignty” when it is something they find of intimate importance.

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.

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.

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?

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.