I’m Anti-Illegal Immigration, Pro 2nd Amendment, My Parents Are Participating In The Mobile, Alabama “Tea Party” Tomorrow, I’m A Disabled Operation Iraqi Freedom Combat Veteran And I’m A Liberal, Yet I Qualify As A Potential “Right Wing Extremist” -Slash- “Domestic Terrorist”?
Okay, what in the HELL is going on in the Obama Administration today? If you’ll recall, Department of Homeland Security Secretary and former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano was one of only TWO United States Governors (the other one being Governor Bill “Lopez” Richardson of New Mexico) — both Democrats, for crying out loud — to take decisive action on their Southern borders against illegal aliens sneaking into their states from Mexico. Remember that?
Yes, that’s correct — both Bill Richardson AND Janet Napolitano are anti-illegal immigration ACTIVISTS. I applauded them both at the time for being concerned with law and order and our Sovereignty as a nation. And now, the former is claiming this is one of the “key behaviors” (The Washington Times) for local and federal law enforcement agencies to watch out for. This is a sign you might be looking into the eyes of a “Right Wing Terrorist Extremist” now, according to Madame Secretary. Hypocritical? To say the least. Hold on, this gets better…
Recent military combat veterans — more potential “Right Wing Extreme Terrorist” prospects — “Timothy McVeigh’s”, all of ‘em. Oops — I meant all of US, despite the fact our military represents a cross-section of America, politically speaking. I’m not talking about all of the polls of “likely military voters” with landlines, I’m just talking about the military in general, where the majority of troops are UNLIKELY to vote, youthful, cellphone users (not pollable) and, of course — LIBERAL just like any other group of young adults. Strike TWO for me. Yet, I am a Liberal and so is Ms. Napolitano, correct? Somehow, I’m beginning to sound more and more like a “likely right-wing extremist terrorist” though. Oops, I almost forgot another one of my “fits the profile to a ‘T’ traits” — I’m pretty damned PRO-2A — strike THREE, I suppose. Something wrong with that picture, isn’t there?
Oh, and let us not forget the FACT that the majority of Democratic voters polled both support our 2nd Amendment Civil Liberty Right To Keep And Bear Arms (“RTKBA”) AND oppose wide-open, deadly U.S.-Mexican borders. With this in mind, one must wonder just what IS this Nanny-State agenda of the Democratically-controlled Capitol Hill? To outdo the Bush Police-State, USA Patriot Act, RealID, TIPS, Wiretapping And Datamining “PROGRAM” brand of intrusive “gub’mint”? If so, they’re doing a damned fine job of it if these people really mean what they are saying today. It’s creepy as hell and it’s clearly unconstitutional and unamerican.
Good ole’, right-wing “mom and dad” are attending one of these “tea parties” tomorrow. Guilt by association — strike FOUR now (Yes, I am entitled to four strikes — I’m a Liberal after all). I guess that makes me a clear risk for “right wing extremist terrorism” even though my points of view on all of the above issues associations seem to mirror those of most of my fellow Liberal brethren down here in my Great (“Red”) State of Alabama. “Blue Dog”, “Yellow Dog”, “Dixie-Crats”, I suppose, and that’s apparently enough to get us all tossed onto the Nancy Pelosi -slash- Harry Reid “No Fly List” as potential “radical right-wing hate groupers” (and no, not talking about the fish here).
These people need to stop before they hurt themselves. Take that anyway you wish. And welcome to the Obama Administration No Fly List, GTL™. And I’m honored to be on it if that’s the way we’re playing “the game” these days.
***
See also (“Must Reads” — ALL of ‘em): Drudge Retort (Yellow Dog Left); Andrew Sullivan (Centrist); Stop The ACLU! (Right); QandO (Libertarian Right); Michelle Malkin (Right); Balloon Juice (Left); Liberal Values (Classical Liberal Libertarian-ish); Comments From Left Field (Left); Hot Air (Right); The Moderate Voice (Centrist)
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9:37 am on April 15th, 2009 1
Hey, it’s just more change you can believe in, Guns. O-BOW-ma promised lots of change didn’t He (majiscule H on purpose)?Damn, this guy really takes Lincolns methods to heart, doesn’t he? Can’t wait for him to allow the use of POWs to clear land mines or as human shields against mortar attacks or IEDs.
11:00 am on April 15th, 2009 2
GTL
I’m proud of ya son. Not that I had any real doubt where you’d come down on this stinker. Every President has underlings that do stoopid stuff. We’ll get to see what President Obama’s made of on this faux pas.I hope someone will be looking for a private sector job.
12:49 pm on April 15th, 2009 3
Calm down a tad, sport. I think Dr. Taylor explained it well, here:
http://www.poliblogger.com/?p=15539
From Page 2:
“Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.”
None of that really describes you. First off, you aren’t an anarchist. Second, there’s a huge difference between immigration and illegal immigration. I’ve never seen you speak out against immigration. What this is referring to is a cross-section of anarchists and movements opposed to different ethnic groups/races, religions, sexual orientation, or beliefs. Any other interpretation of that would be what I’d consider to be a twisting of words.
Their definition of “antigovernment” is far too broad and open to interpretation (moreso than I believe they intended it to be), and that’s just stupidity on their part. It could have been better written and avoided the controversy altogether, or at least made it seem like less of an issue. Of course, as Dr. Taylor points out, a favor of state or local authority (or none at all) in various situations (or all) is far from a “rejection” of federal authority.
Agree or not, I think Dr. Taylor’s take on the matter is a good read with a differing viewpoint.
1:25 pm on April 15th, 2009 4
Whats wrong with this entire report is the use of “Right wing” over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.
Right wing is bad. Left wing is good.
Thats what will be read by the non political junkies on the street. Left is good. Right is bad.
I am still curious as to how a drug dealer is not a left wing activist while someone who is opposed to immigration is a right wing activist. Why are those who are in favor of immigration and amnesty not called left wing activists. Yet those opposed to amnesty are RIGHT WING activisits.
This report was written by Michael Moore and sent to moveon.org before it was released.
1:48 pm on April 15th, 2009 5
I can’t resist doing this. Taking Alabama Mods post:
“Leftwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups – chrisians, males, straights, southerners, gun owners), and those that are mainly anti-civil rights, rejecting local and state authority in favor of all-powerful Federal authority, and rejecting personal responsibility altogether. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration or supression of all religion (except for their own shamanist or animist beliefs).”
1:53 pm on April 15th, 2009 6
This is just the beginning of what the U.S. will become under Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and the rest of the Party of Hate.
Just look at the numbers of liberals who are defending this trash.
When you look at the steps being taken by the Obama administration as part of the broader picture, things become more clear. For example, as Obama opens relations with Cuba and the torturing, murderous thug Fidel Castro, he is closing relations with the conservatives in this country, including all the service men and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The reason is simple – he is opening up Cuba because HE AGREES WITH THEIR FORM OF GOVERNMENT, INCLUDING THE WAY THEY TREAT THEIR OWN CITIZENS, e.g. imprisonment, torture (real torture – not just loud music and water-boarding), murder, etc.
What will be Obama’s next step, the imprisonment of political dissidents??? Maybe not next, but it’s coming.
That’s what they do in Cuba, whose political system is apparently admired greatly by Obama.
4:48 pm on April 15th, 2009 7
This administration learned well from Bush. Push the fear factor button and you can do all the illegal things you want.
Bush used the Arab terrorists and Obama is using the domestic terrorist to do as they please.
5:46 pm on April 15th, 2009 8
We’ve been imprisoning political dissidents for atleast the last 8 years, that I know of. That would be nothing new.
I was just writing about what I see as the
truth in politics today. Just the first part in a series. In my opinion it is not now the Liberal versus the Conservative but the Uber-Rich versus all the rest of us.
6:21 pm on April 15th, 2009 9
FandB – O-BOW-ma is just following in the footsteps of his hero “Honest” Abe. YOu know, the pres who imprisoned thousands for daring to voice their disagreement with his policies and tactics. Shut down hundreds of newspapers. Intercepted mail and telegrams without court order. Held people incommunicado. Held people without trial or charge. Locked up a state legislature so it couldn’t conduct the business of that state. Threw a guy into prison (again without trial) for voicing his opposition to an illegal war on the floor of the House of Representatives – a clear violation of the spearation of powers. Yeah, O-BOW-ma has learned from the ‘best.’ Old Abe makes Pres. Bush look like a choir boy.
10:14 pm on April 15th, 2009 10
Bush was far from a choir boy.
10:28 pm on April 15th, 2009 11
C/H: “imprisoning political dissidents for atleast the last 8 years” – Name one. Name one person that was imprisoned by the Bush Administration for his or her political beliefs.
10:57 pm on April 15th, 2009 12
Browsin, I didn’t say he was. I said that the predations of that hero of O-BOW-ma and the left, “Honest” Abe, make him look like one. Look up Roswell, GA for a good example of some of the things Honest Abe supported.
11:09 pm on April 15th, 2009 13
J. Edger Hoover not only had an enemy’s list, he kept files on everyone he considered an enemy or who he thought might be an enemy. There were a lot of nervous nellies in Washington D. C. the day Hoover died. But the secret files never did surface. Nixon wasn’t so lucky, his enemy list did surface.
I’ve read several reports that the right-wing memo was started a year ago but I’m not giving any reference because I haven’t seen a solid one. There have been the same type of left-wing memos in the past but they weren’t as vague and evidently named names.
But Guns, I’m proud of you, making the hit list in so many different ways. And hell, you’re a liberal.
As far as I know, no one was jailed today and only one Tea Party was closed down when some fool threw a box over the White House Fence. And that Tea Party was allowed to restart once the box was deemed safe. (It was full of tea bags).
But I’m proud of my righty friends getting out there and demostrating. It’s the first time I can remember that the right-wing started the demonstrations and weren’t just counter demonstrating. And no one was fire hosed.
I’m with Bama on this. I just can’t see anything in the memo to get that exicited about.
11:46 pm on April 15th, 2009 14
Joe, that wasn’t my quote. I was quoting the report.
Actually, I believe the use of “left wing” extremism has been used. As a matter of fact, I heard the term used frequently throughout the campaign. But like it or not, you have two sides to an issue to use as reference, left and right, unless you have a third arm that I don’t know about. There’s no such thing as a moderate extremist. And yes, I’m a critic of left wing extremism. It does exist. The key word is “EXTREMISM,” and not “right-wing” or “left-wing.” That’s what you’re not getting. Voicing your opinion does not make you an extremist. It’s the difference between being an anti-war protestor and bombing a building because you don’t think the government shoulg go to war. (Sound like anyone brought up during the last campaign?)
In fact, another DHS report also warns of left-wing extremism, if you’ll read in this Fox News report, which for once, is actually balanced:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/14/homeland-security-warns-rise-right-wing-extremism/
Sorry, but your precious right wing isn’t so special, after all.
So what do you call a person who bombs an abortion clinic? Would you consider that they are an extremist on the left or right of the abortion issue? How about someone who is a member of a white supremacy organization plotting to kill the president? The WBC group? The Skinheads? I wonder how the KKK feels about immigration. Are you saying these people don’t exist, or are you just opposed to the terminology?
Maybe we’ll call them “angry kittens.” Would that make you feel better?
Now we know that during times of economic hardship that people go a little nuts. Are you suggesting that we just cross our fingers and hope that there isn’t another Tim McVeigh out there because the paperwork says “right-wing”? Do you feel that we shouldn’t keep an eye on those left-wing whackjobs at ALF and ELF?
F&B, as Christian pointed out, we’ve been imprisoning political dissidents for the last 8 years. Where was your outrage there? How about McCarthyism? Were you outraged over that one?
And yes, F&B, neocons did suggest that it was okay to imprison political dissidents who were U.S. citizens. Apparently it was okay to lock up the folks who opposed the Iraq War.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo57.html
The one thing that I AM upset about is that veterans are a group that they consider in need of watching. At the same time, I do have to admit that there is a certain profile that is very desirable to these extremist groups. There have been over 200 incidents of veterans involved in violent, criminal activity. McVeigh wasn’t the only one. While this is a very small cross-section, the fact remains that it does exist. There is an entire segment of the population that return from battle with PTSD or some other medical issue and may suffer from drug addiction and/or poverty. They have extensive combat experience and weapons training. And yes, they’ll have some strong political opinions. If you think that some of these groups don’t target them, you’re insane. Why would we NOT want the DHS to keep an eye on these groups and make sure that they aren’t?!
11:49 pm on April 15th, 2009 15
Just on a lighter note, here… Can you imagine what a moderate extremist might be like? It’s kind of an entertaining concept if you ask me… I’m reminded of a Jon Stewart joke about how you aren’t going to see someone protesting and holding up a sign that says “Be reasonable!” What exactly DOES a moderate extremist do?
11:52 pm on April 15th, 2009 16
Sorry… I forgot to include the following link to the LEFT WING EXTREMIST report from the DHS.
http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/Leftwing_Extremist_Threat.pdf
Again, right, you’re not so special. Sorry.
12:07 am on April 16th, 2009 17
What a moderate extremist does:
Yells, but softly
Doesn’t throw any trash in the gutter
All signs start out with, “We’re sorry to have to
say this..but”
If marching, stops at all yellow and red lights
Helps the ground crews clean up afterward
Wear pins thanking their local police
Avoids all cameras and mikes
And really, really doesn’t want to associate with the crazies on either side.
Damn it Bama. I was going to go to bed early tonight.
12:42 am on April 16th, 2009 18
Gaia — thanks for the HUGE compliment, and I do indeed take it as such, Ma’am
12:45 am on April 16th, 2009 19
OMFG, Al-Mod — LFMAO @ “BE REASONABLE” moderate protesters!!!
1:39 am on April 16th, 2009 20
GIVE ME A FREAKIN’ BREAK!! I get so sick and tired of that crap throw way line “well what about the people who bomb abortion mills?” How many of those in the last 10 years?
And how many riots has the left thrown in that time? Hell, here in CA they throw them just to keep in practice. And cars get burned, windows broken, stores looted, people battered with the rioters signs.
And then they scream when the cops try to stop the riot. WEll boo-freakin’-hoo. If they don’t want cops stopping their riots, then maybe they sholdn’t throw them and stick to the constitutions “peaceable assembly” clause.
2:03 am on April 16th, 2009 21
Finally the right wingers get a dose and don’t like it.
10:42 am on April 16th, 2009 22
OK, now that I have calmed down, finally, Yes, I agree, the problem is extremists on all side. Or part of the problem is. The other part, the largest part, is the willingnes to let the capons ignore the Constitution. I feel that the feds need to be held to the exact letter of it. And the 10 amendment needs to get a lot more attention.
I see the progressives much more willing to legislate away the individual rights that the BoR tells the gov. to keep its grubby mits off of. I don’t often see right wingers pushing the ideas of hate crimes, or setting up special classes of citizens that get special treatment, telling me with whom I assoicate, where or how of if to pray. It isn’t the conservatives who with almost clock like regularity – at least here in CA- throw riots under the aegis of the peaceable assembly clause.
About even on RKBA, even though the most stringent laws there seem to be be the porduct of the likes of DiFi, who is hardly right wing, and I would be hard pressed to call her a moderate.
(oh, and for the past 6 or 7 years, there have been about two clicinc per year, nationwide, that have been subject to some sort of attack, all were closed at that time, and may have been part of a random arson spree rather than an attack on abortion mills per se as there were other fires set in roughly the same time frame. So, the nubmer of clinics that were damaged is less than the number of churches that were attacked here in CA during the Prop. 8 campaign. Seems like the left has a lot of trouble not throwing a riot or causing damage to get its point across)
2:15 pm on April 16th, 2009 23
Gaia, omfg! That was a freaking awesome list!
Joe, again, there have been reports for the left AND right wing extremists, and the one for the left came out FIRST and with this current administration. Where’s the outrage? I could look at that report and easily interpret it to mean that anyone handy with a computer is a left wing extremist.
How many acts of violence have been committed against people of color or varying sexual orientation in the last year alone? Are you honestly suggesting that abortion clinic bombings are the only form of violence that right wing extremists engage in? As the daughter of a former cop and a member of a family where just about every male member has been in the military, I can also tell you that the reports on the news (after something has happened) isn’t all that goes on. I’d say that at least 70% of all planned violent attacks are prevented by local police alone. That doesn’t mean that the attacks aren’t planned and that we shouldn’t keep an eye out for it.
That being said, I NEVER condoned the use of any illegal action by the U.S. government (and never will) in monitoring these groups. I firmly believe that the letter of the law should be followed, and warrents should be had. The groups they’re referencing (and even some individuals) have been on their watch lists for years and actually have a history of violence. ELF and ALF were specifically named on the left. Don’t get me started on the Weathermen. The right has groups like the WBC (though not known for acts of violence, only suggestion), KKK, and Skinheads.
Now, if the real issue is the terminology, then I’m more than willing to hear what you’d recommend calling it. You do have to find some way to define both sides, as they do have differing ways to cause harm. The left, for example, has a tendency toward cyber attacks. Riots do happen, but by definition, they are not necessarily premeditated or organized and can start on either end of the belief spectrum. Therefore, they do necessarily not fall into this category for either group.
“I don’t often see right wingers pushing the ideas of hate crimes, or setting up special classes of citizens that get special treatment, telling me with whom I assoicate, where or how of if to pray.”
Again, the people you describe are right wingers– not right wing extremists. There’s a HUGE difference. But there is one issue I take with the above. They do primarily favor setting up special classes of citizens that get special treament. Otherwise, gay marriage wouldn’t be such an issue; however, I do not see that as a definition of extremism.
3:43 pm on April 16th, 2009 24
A/M and Christian: Still waiting… Name one. Name one person that was imprisoned by the Bush Administration for his or her political beliefs.
(Sorry, McCarthyism was a little before my time.)