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There Are Crazies on One SidePosted on Mar 29, 2010The arrests of members of a Michigan-based “Christian” militia group should convince doubters that there is good reason to worry about right-wing, anti-government extremism—and potential violence—in the Age of Obama. I put the word “Christian” in quotes because anyone who plots to assassinate law enforcement officers, as a federal indictment alleges members of the Hutaree militia did, is no follower of Christ. According to federal prosecutors, the Hutaree—the word’s not in my dictionary, but their website claims it means “Christian warrior”—are convinced that their enemies include “state and local law enforcement, who are deemed ‘foot soldiers’ of the federal government, federal law enforcement agencies and employees, participants in the ‘New World Order,’ and anyone who does not share in the Hutaree’s beliefs.” According to the indictment, the group had been plotting for two years to assassinate federal, state or local police officers. “Possible such acts which were discussed,” the indictment says, “included killing a member of law enforcement after a traffic stop, killing a member of law enforcement and his or her family at home, ambushing a member of law enforcement in rural communities, luring a member of law enforcement with a false 911 emergency call and then killing him or her, and killing a member of law enforcement and then attacking the funeral procession motorcade” with homemade bombs. Nine members of the Hutaree were named in the indictment. Eight were arrested during weekend FBI raids in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana; one suspect remains at large. The group’s website shows members in camouflage outfits traipsing through woods in “training” exercises. They could be out for an afternoon of paintball, except for the loony rhetoric about “sword and flame” and the page, labeled “Gear,” that links to several gun dealers. Along with numerous weapons offenses, the Hutaree are charged with sedition. The episode highlights the obvious: For decades now, the most serious threat of domestic terrorism has come from the growing ranks of paranoid, anti-government hate groups that draw their inspiration, vocabulary and anger from the far right. Advertisement There was a time when the far left was a spawning ground for political violence. The first big story I covered was the San Francisco trial of heiress Patricia Hearst, who had been kidnapped and eventually co-opted by the Symbionese Liberation Army—a far-left group whose philosophy was as apocalyptic and incoherent as that of the Hutaree. There are aging radicals in Cuba today who got to Havana by hijacking airplanes in the 1970s. Left-wing radicals caused mayhem and took innocent lives. But for the most part, far-left violence in this country has gone the way of the leisure suit and the AMC Gremlin. An anti-globalization movement, including a few window-smashing anarchists, was gaining traction at one point, but it quickly diminished after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. An environmental group and an animal-rights group have been linked with incidents of arson. Beyond those particulars, it is hard to identify any kind of leftist threat. By contrast, there has been explosive growth among far-right, militia-type groups that identify themselves as white supremacists, “constitutionalists,” tax protesters and religious soldiers determined to kill people to uphold “Christian” values. Most of the groups that posed a real danger, as the Hutaree allegedly did, have been infiltrated and dismantled by authorities before they could do any damage. But we should never forget that the worst act of domestic terrorism ever committed in this country was authored by a member of the government-hating right wing: Timothy McVeigh’s bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. It is dishonest for right-wing commentators to insist on an equivalence that does not exist. The danger of political violence in this country comes overwhelmingly from one direction—the right, not the left. The vitriolic, anti-government hate speech that is spewed on talk radio every day—and, quite regularly, at tea party rallies—is calibrated not to inform but to incite. Demagogues scream at people that their government is illegitimate, that their country has been “taken away,” that their elected officials are “traitors” and that their freedom is at risk. They have a right to free speech, which I will always defend. But they shouldn’t be surprised if some listeners take them literally. Eugene Robinson’s e-mail address is eugenerobinson(at)washpost.com. Previous item: Jeremy Scahill Says 'We're at a Ground Zero Moment to Save Real Journalism' Next item: One Nation, Two Presidents CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig. Add Your Comment |
By Go Right Young Man, April 11, 2010 at 8:04 am Link to this comment
JDmysticDJ,
You are simply far too emotional and spoiling for
an argument. Not interested.
Good luck to you.
Report thisBy JDmysticDJ, April 7, 2010 at 7:40 am Link to this comment
Go Right Young Man
Behavioral scientists recognize that behavior is elicited by Nature and Nurture. Clearly you have been nurtured to believe in a “Worldview” that is very similar to the “Worldview” expressed by fascists.
You may feel that your arguments are profound and indisputable, but to me they are nothing more than contorted distortions, disingenuous exaggerations, convoluted fabrications, false equivalencies, and obfuscations.
You claim humanitarian rationales for your fascist mentality, while using sophomoric intellectual theories in an attempt to defend the indefensible.
Your “Worldview” is antiquated and Neanderthal and you are a defender of less than human behaviors, and animal like actions, and an apologist for inhuman policies.
You are tragically misguided, philosophically retarded, and lacking in intelligence. Your narcissistic arrogance would be laughable, if your “Worldview” weren’t so dangerous.
Report thisBy Inherit The Wind, April 5, 2010 at 3:21 am Link to this comment
Ardee,
Do SOMETHING to control that irrational rage of yours. It’s making you post really, really stupid stuff.
And be sure to have a nice day!
Report thisBy ardee, April 5, 2010 at 2:21 am Link to this comment
Inherit The Wind, April 4 at 7:08 am
None so blind, heh ITW? You have, from my first entry into this forum, consistently insulted those with whom you find ideological differences. Unlike a jerk like you, I do understand my sarcastic nature. You, on the other hand post like a “little” child. Perhaps what you find so objectionable in my style is a reflection of what you find intolerable in yourself but cannot face it….
So sad for you…..
Report thisBy Anarcissie, April 4, 2010 at 7:14 pm Link to this comment
GRYM—I’m already pretty old by most people’s standards.
It might really be more reasonable to say “To hell with it, let them kill each other if they like it so much,” except for one thing: as the powers of technology increase and permeate to the people, the struggles for power will become more and more destructive. There is only one way such a progression can end—and while the last days might be pretty exciting, self-annihilation over the long run is going to be mighty boring.
Somebody once said, “Formerly, man could not do as he desired. Now, he can do as he desires; and he must change his desires, or perish.”
I’m here to help. And though humans do look like pretty hard cases, as Heraclitus said, “Everything flows.” So there is a little hope.
Report thisBy Go Right Young Man, April 4, 2010 at 7:21 am Link to this comment
Anarcissie,
As time goes by, as you become older, you will
know that human nature has not changed in
thousands of years.
Good luck to you in all things.
Report thisBy ofersince72, April 4, 2010 at 6:50 am Link to this comment
Eugene Robinson,
You are nothing but a tool for the war machine.
Report thisNo scruples yourself,
which makes you much
more dangerous
than any
teabagger.
By Anarcissie, April 4, 2010 at 6:05 am Link to this comment
So, GRYM, you don’t really agree with gerard after all. You think some political violence isn’t evil. Far from it; you respect some of its practitioners very highly.
As for changing human nature, human nature changes every day. We live under radically different conditions than those of our ancestors, and have radically different cultures. So the situation isn’t quite hopeless. As long as we worship death machines, though, we’re going to have a very serious and maybe terminal problem.
Report thisBy Go Right Young Man, April 4, 2010 at 4:42 am Link to this comment
Anarcissie,
Change the nature of human beings and you’ll find the peace you seek.
Good intentions and good works, such as your own, is always helpful. The former being the most important and the latter the effect.
History, however, is clear. There are always tyrants who will seek to subjugate others. Deterrence, more times than not, keeps the peace.
-
It was not the Founding Fathers who gave the United States her freedoms. It was not the journalist or the lawyer either. It was not the pacifist who ended British rule, vanquished German Nazism, Japanese militarism or Communism’s spread. It was the solder who accomplished the most for the freedoms much of the world enjoys.
Find us ways to change human nature and the entire globe will live in peace.
Report thisBy Inherit The Wind, April 4, 2010 at 3:08 am Link to this comment
ardee, April 1 at 5:35 am #
dejeanco, March 31 at 12:59 pm
Apparently your body of knowledge fails to include the Constitution out system of Justice, our method of electing our leaders and our foundational majority rules.
You are a sad little creep actually.
*******************************************
So nice to see I’m not the only one you are calling names in lieu of actually presenting arguments. You like to add “little” to your name calling.
The “sad little creep” here is you.
Report thisBy Anarcissie, April 3, 2010 at 6:48 pm Link to this comment
GRYM—I’m not attributing anything to you except what I quoted. (You signed on to gerard’s statement that political violence was evil; that’s it.) From that, I drew various (to me) logical implications which I explicitly stated you had not arrived at (yet).
You see what great difficulties I have in getting across. Most people eventually learn to ignore what I say and thus remain untroubled by it.
Report thisBy Go Right Young Man, April 3, 2010 at 4:54 pm Link to this comment
Anarcissie,
RE: April 3 at 8:35 pm
I have no idea what this is about. Are you attributing everything in your last post toward me? Do you somehow envision all you’ve opined as reflective of my worldview? Are you somehow telling me you are a better and/or smarter human being than I may be?
You engaged me of late for a reason. Could you try and be frank and succinct?
And no. I am not here to be confrontational. I desire no part in it. Want a sharing of ideas? A meeting of the minds with honer and respect? I’m your man.
Report thisBy Anarcissie, April 3, 2010 at 4:35 pm Link to this comment
GRYM—surely I wouldn’t post messages here if I didn’t enjoy confrontation. And neither would you. I’ll confront you with my ideas and you’ll confront me with yours, and sparks will fly! Or maybe not. We’ll just have to see.
I admit I was being a little bit ironical in welcoming you to the anarchist party. I didn’t think you’d really come to the party. But even irony has its square meaning. So when gerard asks, “Why don’t people ever consider the evil results of all violent political action—right, left or center—”, and you answer, “I could not agree more. It’s what I have steadily spoken and written of for a very long time” I decided to suspend disbelief and take up the literal meaning of what you (plural) said: the results of violent political action are evil. That is, war is evil, terror is evil, oppression is evil, invasions and occupations are evil—and, because it is a social machine for performing exactly these actions, the state is evil.
Whoa! I know I went too far—because you haven’t thought it through—yet. But you got your invitation, at least.
As to what to do about it, I really don’t know. Aggression and violence are very popular. Here in New York City, you can go to Food Not Bombs and see half a dozen people handing out food to whoever, doing the works of peace, or you can go to the Intrepid Museum, a disused aircraft carrier gussied up to be a tourist attraction, a gigantic death machine, and see thousands lined up to worship. The conclusion is pretty obvious: we anarcho-commie-pacifist types have our work cut out for us.
I have been trying to figure out a way to undercut the violence stuff for the last fifty years or so. People seem very, very strongly hooked on it. Maybe they could just enjoy it in the movies? But no, they have to elect Great Leaders who have people killed, and then as you know what goes around comes around, usually having gotten a lot worse.
Any suggestions (other than drop dead, you dirty hippie commie anarchist scum, which I’ve heard before) would be most welcome.
Report thisBy Go Right Young Man, April 3, 2010 at 12:19 pm Link to this comment
Anarcissie,
Correction: If confrontation for the sake of it is your agenda or desire I’m -not- interested.
Report thisBy Go Right Young Man, April 3, 2010 at 12:01 pm Link to this comment
Anarcissie, “So, you’ve become an anarchist and a pacifist? Welcome to the club! But this still doesn’t answer gerard’s question, much less solve the problem of what to do about it. - Setting one’s own foot on the path of peace, freedom and equality may be a start, however.”
-
First: I fail to see how you arrived at your conclusions that I subscribe to anarchy.
Second: If confrontation for the sake of it is your agenda or desire I’m interested.
Third: I’m sorry. Did I miss the many solutions you offered to gerard’s observations?
Report thisBy Anarcissie, April 2, 2010 at 5:14 pm Link to this comment
So, you’ve become an anarchist and a pacifist? Welcome to the club! But this still doesn’t answer gerard’s question, much less solve the problem of what to do about it.
Setting one’s own foot on the path of peace, freedom and equality may be a start, however.
Report thisBy room206, April 2, 2010 at 7:01 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Eugene,
Report this“this country has gone the way of the leisure suit and the AMC Gremlin.”??
I liked AMC Gremlins, and I can still fit in one.
By Go Right Young Man, April 2, 2010 at 2:54 am Link to this comment
gerard, “Why don’t people ever consider the evil results of all violent political action—right, left or center—”
-
I could not agree more. It’s what I have steadily spoken and written of for a very long time.
Report thisBy room206, April 1, 2010 at 8:49 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Hutaree search results: An article and a link from the NY times. Also the http://www.Hutaree.com website, containing YouTube videos.
Report thisThe NY Times, a major media for hire, in addition to the usual press conference echolalia, had an intriguing Homeland Security link; http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf. It implied that the bad things which we are getting in America will not get fixed. These are merely the perceptions and opinions of right wing extremist. “Federal efforts to influence domestic public opinion must be conducted…” It also gives profiling keyword guidelines.
The name Hutaree is pronounced “wHAT ARE wE”. It was established by their naming committee, during the founder’s day keg party.
The Hutaree website nets several recruiting videos. And fortunately for the FBI, it’s all in English. No crypto-arabomuslamic scribbling stuff here. Which was a good thing, since they still had no response to their “interpreter wanted” classified running in the Afghanistan Telegram.
It was difficult to gauge the Christianitiness of the Hutaree. They didn’t have the crucifixion tattoos and stuff that typically can be seen on prisoners during an episode of TVs Gangland. But once they get there, a healthy fear of God may be instilled by their boyfriends. Let’s leave it at that.
Oh and by the way; after Guantanamo, Obama is pardoning the entire US prison population. Acorn will then promptly voter register them so the Dems can win the next election.
The Homeland security rightwing keyword profiling program scored the Hutaree video titled “Militia Live Fire Training 1-12-08” the highest. The camo-garbed members were seen practicing their defense of the Michigan Forest Preserve in advance of an imminent governmental antichrist invasion. Automatic weapons were fired at both fauna and wildlife. Not a single insect was safe. Over and over the hot lead was sent flying, and continued for what seemed like eternity, or at least 3 minutes.
When Erick Holder read the profile report, saw the video, he was horrified. Those white supremacist, Christian militant militia extremist, constitutional, new world order free trade, first amendment free speech second amendment radical anti-government anti-immigrant, end times paramilitary right-wingers, had to be stopped. With the Patriot Act reauthorized, and Habeas Corpus suspended, Holder immediately activated the DHS FBI ATF CIA EPA CPI FCC GDP GPS IRS IMF NPS NIH OMB SEC UPS WTO BLT Black Helicopter Special Operation Forces, who bravely without the single loss of leaf or limb, captured all nine Hutaree terrorist minus the informant, as they slept. A press release was issued. All of America could now rest in peace.
Finally of special interest; and what really disturbed and infuriated every paid-off politician in Washington, especially President Obama, was that at the end of the video a photo of Americas Most Wanted appeared. He was smiling with a caption that read; “Vote for Ron Paul”.
By gerard, April 1, 2010 at 2:50 pm Link to this comment
Why don’t people ever consider the evil results of all violent political action—right, left or center—instead of advocating violent political action which one side or another presumes to be righteous and necessary, and believes will bring good results—a belief that is at least as strong as any religious belief?
Report thisEmotions of fear, hate and revenge cloud people’s minds to the point where they cease caring about what results really come from violence. They act because they feel a need for relief from built-up emotional tensions.
They do not realize it’s the tension that drives them, however, and so go forth to battle self-deceived, thinking they are doing the right thing.
Always, every single time, throughout history, both sides of every battle have believed they were doing the right thing. Only after they experience the brutality and see the bleeding corpses do they stop, make a superficial “peace” and try to go back to where they were before the violence began.
Once we admitted, understood, remembered the evil results of all violence, we might invent workable agreements for living non-violently together. The fact that this does happen occasionally, for limited periods of time, indicates it’s a possibility.
The first step, however, would be a major shift: We would have to break age-old habits of believing that fighting is heroic, and we would have to take the financial profits out of organized violence.
By anaman51, April 1, 2010 at 12:29 pm Link to this comment
For some time now, I’ve thought that one of the questions on the form that’s filled out when a gun is purchased ought to reference to what extent the applicant is attracted by tales of biblical violence. The more deeply connected a person is to that nonsense, the more likely it is that they’re able to justify killing them all(god’s enemies) and letting god sort them out. Whenever I hear of one of these loonies doing something “in the name of god,” I shudder, wondering who’s being attacked this time. At least a couple of these armed jeezo-nuts have murdered abortion doctors and voiced that nonesense when being arrested, as if it explains everything. They think that book gives them license. These days there’s only a tiny thin line between holy and crazy, and sometimes it vanishes completely.
Report thisBy felicity, April 1, 2010 at 10:36 am Link to this comment
dejeanco etal: Out of curiosity, have any of you actually fought in a War, not a police action, a War?
Report thisBy ardee, April 1, 2010 at 1:35 am Link to this comment
dejeanco, March 31 at 12:59 pm
Apparently your body of knowledge fails to include the Constitution out system of Justice, our method of electing our leaders and our foundational majority rules.
You are a sad little creep actually.
Report thisBy Anarcissie, March 31, 2010 at 5:48 pm Link to this comment
norman michael harman—Your equation of the Left with state power is so depressing to me I don’t seem to find the energy to answer it. I suppose you think Mussolini (“everything within the state; nothing outside the state; nothing against the state” was a leftist.
As for the “free market”, there is no such thing as a free market, except maybe flea markets. In order to have a market one must at least have property, laws about property, and armies and police to enforce the laws. Usually, as well, there are all sorts of rules about who can trade what, to whom, when, and how much. The regulations of the stock and commodities exchanges are thick books with hundreds of pages. “Free market” is a myth. A useful myth, an ideal, perhaps, to some, but not something that exists in the real world.
Libertarians who think things have been moving their way in the last thirty or forty years must be taking interesting drugs. Federal expenditures, war, imperialism, foreign military aid, domestic surveillance and spying, the virtual abrogation of the Fourth Amendment, tremendous bailouts and takeovers by the government under the last two regimes? Not what I’d call a libertarian’s cup of tea at all. Unless, as I say, it was pretty funny tea.
Report thisBy sophie, March 31, 2010 at 3:21 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
RE-ardee, March 30 at 7:41 am
“That left wing violence is in abeyance these days points more to the disorganised state of that wing of American politics than it does to a greater degree of sanity among said lefties.”
Really, Ardee? I wish you and other ignorant commenters on this site would name an organized plot to murder law enforcemnt officers, etc., by the so called “Christian left,” during Bush’s eight years of unstoppable hell. Somehow, I doubt if that fact has anything to do with the “disorganized left wing.”
Generally, lefties aren’t into blowing people up, except in an alternative universe only wingnuts inhabit.
It’s amazing how many wingnuts cannot get their feeble minds wrapped around the FACT that there has been a significant rise in domestic terrorist groups since Obama was elected. Check out the Southern Poverty Law Center’s website if you think it’s somehow comparable to some sort of aging hippie faux “terrorism,” from back in the day.
Patricia Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army’s antics are laughable compared to the latest anti-government “activities.” And, I guess we’ll just pretend McVeigh doesn’t count as a “domestic terrorist.”
Perhaps when there is actual violence perpetrated by some of these nutjobs, wingnuts will wake the f*** up, and stop pointing fingers at the “left.”
Also, the violent ELIMINATIONIST rhetoric from the likes of Beck, Limbaugh, etc., and “crosshairs,” nonsense from Palin can and DOES have an effect on unstable individuals who happen to dislike liberals or Dems or “lefties.” Michelle Bachman claimed that the racial slurs against Congressman Lewis did not even happen.
Does anyone even bother to notice what some members of the GOP have actually said?
And there is FOX perfectly in sync with Repug talking points and misinformation, shoveling it out day by day like so much manure. The angry right is very, very angry, and that anger is being cultivated.
Yeah, the Dems mostly suck, and the corporatist Obama has sold out progressives, (and America.)
But the violent rhetoric coming from the anti-government extremists is real and could have dire consequences.
Robinson is right.
Report thisBy mike, March 31, 2010 at 10:50 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
You pushed me down
For all the world to see
I guess that’s your price
For my loyalty
So while you’re tasting sin
And swallowing pain
Don’t look at me
To take your blame
When you’re willing to render
To the guilt you concede
When truth is your reason
Then lay that blame on me
When you unveil a conscience
And with peace you agree
When love is your constant
Then lay that blame on me
You lay me out
Report thisIn hopes that I’d wilt away
But strength rained down
And love provided shade
So while the pageant of lies
Still glow from your tongue
Don’t blame me for
Your Kingdom Come
By norman michael harman, March 31, 2010 at 10:02 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
to Anarchissie: You wrote, “Many people construe libertarians as rightists, and
the country certainly hasn’t been moving in their direction.”
You couldn’t be more wrong. First of all, libertarians are so far right they just
barely escape being anarchists - actually they are economic anarchists but still
believe the state is OK for police and military purposes.
And as to not moving in their direction? What do you think the “free market”
philosophy is? What do you think the foundational philosophy of the WTO-
structured globalization process is? Economically speaking, the US embraced
libertarianism nearly 30 years ago and has been progressively (pardon the un-
intentional pun) moving further and further into it ever since.
Until it all fell apart two years ago, that is. And yet the Cato people, the
Republicans, the Tea Party folks, the current president and many of the
“centrist” democrats still swear allegiance to it. Personally, I don’t think they
really understand the implications of the so-called “free market,” and how, on
the most fundamental level, it conflicts with the concept of democratic
government (meaning self-rule, not the Democratic Party).
Libertarianism, free market, WTO-style globalization; all of these processes
bring us to the same place: oligarchy. A place of concentrated wealth in the
hands of the few and we all know that wealth translates into political power so
the end result is concentrated power in the hands of the few.
Add to this two profoundly mistaken rulings by the Supreme Court over the last
15 years - the first being the court’s ruling that money is speech and the more
recent ruling, “Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission,” creating a class
of corporate supercitizens - and you are witnessing the culmination of the
“third worlding” of the United states.
Think about it: our infrastructure is collapsing; we import most of the
manufactured products sold in this country; 1/2 to 2/3 of the produce bought
in the US is imported; the social safety net that once existed here has been
decimated since 1981; average wages have been declining in purchasing power
since the mid-80s; good, high-paying, skilled jobs have all been “outsourced”
to China and other third world countries; public funding for education has
declined; healthcare for ordinary people has been steadily declining and this
new healthcare bill will only make it worse (it should really be called the
Healthcare and Insurance Industry Profit Enhancement Act). About the only
things we still produce in this country are weapons, credit card debt and
private armies. All of this is emblematic of third world societies.
Between 1936 and 1981 the United States built the biggest, best educated, and
most well paid middle class the world has ever seen. This post-depression
surge was a direct result of rules and regulations put into place by democratic
government at the urging of the Progressive Movement. When the economy
began booming in earnest during WWII and in the post-war era those rules
assured Americans that we would all have a stake in the new economy. Banks
were restricted in how they handled people’s money, corporate taxes (along
with middle class tax revenues) helped finance one of the best national
infrastructures on the planet, graduated income taxes compelled those who
benefited the most from that tax-funded infrastructure to pay their fair share.
Industry was regulated, incomes were regulated, yet many people were still
able to get rich, the great fortunes from a previous era were still viable and
growing and the American system, from top to bottom benefited to one degree
or another.
Since 1981 that system has been largely dismantled. Look where we are after
Report this30 years of free market/libertarian rule.
By dejeanco, March 31, 2010 at 8:59 am Link to this comment
Mr. Robinson is right. The right-wingers do have the guns. And we know how to use them. And we are willing to fight for our country. And we do believe in the constitution. And we’re not afraid of war.
The left-wingers might want to keep this in mind when we decided it’s time to take our country back by force.
Report thisBy Can O Whoopass, March 31, 2010 at 6:55 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Wrong! That’s exactly what the “Followeres of Christ” have been doing for a couple of thousand years.
What? we forget about the Crusades? the Spanish
Inquisition, the Church in So. America, Jim Jones and on and on.
Everytime some Christian group acts Christian and kills people, we’re all suprised.
Wake up, this is their history, after all Christianity is a cult of death.
It’s basic tenants are based on torture and murder. Why is it a big surprise when they use that as a basis for their actions.
Report thisBy Go Right Young Man, March 31, 2010 at 5:58 am Link to this comment
Mr. Robinson,
Have you ever spent time reading the excessive vitriolic hatred and deplorable insults from this very Web site? Had you ever seen Bill Maher talk about how Vice President Cheney needs to die? Have you ever seen John Kerry talk of killing someone at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in order to end the Iraq war? Did you see Michael Moore prominently displayed next to President Carter at the Democratic convention?
Was it Right Wing Tea Baggers who wrote, produced and released a movie depicting the assassination of the previous U.S. President? You defended that film as an “expression of free speech” and stated, very clearly, that all those who didn’t agree with the film being made or shown were “puritanical” and attempting to “squelch freedom of speech”. You claimed the movie was simply a sign of the people’s discontent with Washington and the Bush administration. You defended the movie to the hilt.
Was it right wing fanatics who prevented the first President-Elect in American history from walking to the Capital on inauguration day in 2000 due to things being thrown from the crowd?
Was it an “Neo-Con” who shot up the Holocaust Museum last year?
Was it not purple shirted SEIU members who attacked a black vendor at a Tea Party march months ago? Was it not a purple shirted SEIU member who bit the tip of a finger off of an Tea Party protester?
Is the ELF group made up of Right Wing nut-jobs?
Was the professor, an avid supporter and campaign volunteer of the current president, who shot and killed her co-workers last month part of the Tea Party protests?
Was the Virginia Tech shooter coming from Right-of-Center when he wrote and spoke of the Zionist plots, the ills of capitalism and corporate America?
Was it Right Wing protesters who repeatedly talked of how Vice President Cheney needed to shoot himself in the face?
Was it Neo-Con’s who carried the THOUSANDS of placards with bloody bulls-eyes in the middle of of the faces of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld?
-
Each of the actions above are illustrative of a small number of people. Whack-jobs who do deplorable things. Plain and simple.
You dislike and speak against a large group of people you have never, apparently, taken the time to listen to. You label the other side of politics as, plainly, bad and stupid people. And why? Because they think and act differently.
You’re a bigot Mr. Robinson.
Report thisBy Can O Whoopass, March 31, 2010 at 5:43 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Every assassin has been a rightwing loon.
Report thisBy Augiestyles, March 31, 2010 at 4:13 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Its so funny to watch the leftist go apoplectic about the hundreds of thousands of American patriots interrupting their drive to move America to the left which will prove as impossible as moving Mount Rushmore to the left. While its true that there are heavily armed militia ready, willing and able to defend their country from radical forces in the government as instructed by the founders of this great country, the progressives are hand ringing over these constitutionally protected organizations while radical muslims are training their adherents to slit throats and attack school buses in up state New York and other “training centers” all over the country. Where are Eric Holder and his storm troopers? My guess is because they are muslim they are considered a protected minority. One must wonder why that is?
The militias are here to stay and one day even you leftist will be glad they are here to make sure that you are not beheaded in the public square and your wives and daughters forced into burka and even murdered for being raped by them. Holder and his progressive enforcers can raid militia groups for the rest of his limited time and he will only create more and increasingly angry members like kicking a hornets nest so you might as well get over it because we ain’t goin nowhere.
Report thisBy BBFmail, March 31, 2010 at 4:09 am Link to this comment
And did Eugene write any articles complaining when Sarah Palin was hung in effigy? Was it right-wing nuts that threw tomatoes at her at her book signing? Did he complain that so many “progressive” sites found it hysterically funny when Bush, who was then President of the USA had a shoe thrown at him? Was it right-wing nuts that threatened Tavis Smiley and his mother with death because Tavis allowed some CBC, including Congresswoman Tubbs-Jones, at the State of the Black Union conference to speak out against the harassment they were receiving from CBC Obama supporters? Was it right-wing nut jobs that called and threatened CBC members who were Hillary Clinton supporters so frequently that they had their telephone numbers changed? Was it right-wing nuts who made up and distributed lies about the Clintons being racists? Was it right-wing nut jobs who just happened to be wearing ACORN shirts and waving Obama signs who illegally blocked the entrance to the caucus area here in MN to the extent that some elderly voters gave up instead of trying to fight their why past that crowd…..and just went home.
Report thisBy Dave Schwab, March 31, 2010 at 4:00 am Link to this comment
“Remember all the violent and incendiary slogans blazoned on sign asking for Bush to
be impeached or assasinated.”
It’s ludicrous to portray calls for impeachment as equivalent to calls for assassination. A free people must have the ability to impeach their leaders for crimes against the constitution. Hell, the GOP impeached Clinton for lying about oral sex.
I attended several giant anti-war protests and never saw a single sign calling for violence against Bush.
Let’s be honest here: the violent rhetoric and action is overwhelmingly on the right.
Report thisBy Go Right Young Man, March 31, 2010 at 3:17 am Link to this comment
ardee, March 30 at 7:41 am
It pleases me, and may surprise you, to let you know I agree with your post on this subject.
Report thisBy JDmysticDJ, March 31, 2010 at 12:00 am Link to this comment
Events of the last decade have caused chaos in political beliefs. Those who were conditioned to believe that the left were reprobates are confronted by the truth of what happened in the last decade, and they find themselves unable to find their political bearings.
The abuses of Wall Street, and the failed policies of the right, have caused many to believe that there are no solutions to our current problems. One would think that the failed policies of the right would cause a shift to the left, but that has not occurred. Instead, a large portion of the electorate has become what I will call the disillusioned radicalized center.
Further complicating the issue is having a centrist president who has been portrayed as being extreme left by the right. Obama is slightly left of center on domestic issues and right of center on foreign policy, and national security issues, as was Lyndon Johnson. Obama is a corporatist, and a believer in American exceptionalism, which causes many to believe that the left is not a viable solution to current difficulties.
The simple truth is that the left have always been the opponents of capitalist abuses, advocates of social justice, and the opponents of militarism. The right has resisted every improvement in human conditions from child labor laws to health care reform, and the right has always pursued militarist, and corporatist agendas. Corporatists have used every weapon in their arsenal to discredit the left, and they have been extremely successful in doing so, which has lead us to current difficulties.
The Tea Partiers, in their ignorance, have been indoctrinated by fascist demagogues who advance corporatist agendas, and the political chaos has lead to misdirected hatred, and acts of violence. This has happened before, and the chaos and violence will only increase, unless the American people put up a united front to stop it.
Report thisBy Sharock, March 30, 2010 at 5:46 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
These types of groups have been around for awhile - which is why I don’t go camping.
Ever since Reconstruction, white terrorist groups have been lurking around the US. The “new order” that disturbs them is black America’s entry into American society as full members. This is why they they are “lockin’ and loadin” The fact that we now have a black president who managed to get heath reform (however imperfect)is making them choke. But like their heros at the Alamo, they too shall be overcome
Report thisBy gerard, March 30, 2010 at 12:19 pm Link to this comment
Radicals, whether left or right, are sure they know what is best and use their rights of speech and assembly to get together and push their assurances onto others.
Less radical members of the left and right are not sure they know what is best and therefore hesitate to push their beliefs. They are slow to act as a group.
It is reasonable to assume that, modern life being vastly complicated, nobody can be sure he/she know what is best and therefore a certain amount of tolerance for differences is necessary for the sake of living together.
The sad and dangerous thing is when people who are sure what is best start punching each other out, or shooting each other in either/or brawls rather than getting together and trying to work things out for mutual benefits.
Bad government thrives when factions fight each other because it then uses “disorder” as an excuse to bring in “superior” force which in the past has more often led to fascism than to socialism/ communism - though it ain’t necessarily so.
What is pretty sure to happen is that people on both sides lose whatever power they had in the good old days before “disorder broke out” so that government forces are “required” to “preserve order.”
All this makes it more and more necessary to learn to talk together without anger, to create social spaces for discussing and learning, and above all, to listen to each other with sympathy.
Where on earth do you learn to do that? In school? In church? At the grocery store? From TV? And wny not? Because without realizing what we are missing, we scream on, getting separated, left versus right, till “government” is required to come and pull us apart and take the weapons away, under the guise of “national security” or “keeping the peace.”
Why don’t we catch on to the pattern? It is in the interests of everyone to stop being so naive and get beyond the simple-minded Stimulus/Response reaction.
Report thisBy felicity, March 30, 2010 at 10:30 am Link to this comment
Anarcissie - I sometimes wonder if the far right actually has a clear understanding of what they’re for or what they’re against.
Decrying the ‘government’ as they seem to do, they in turn have no problem with Congress trying to override a brain-dead woman’s husband’s decision to have her plug pulled - according to her previous wishes (in fact they applauded it.) Nor do they balk at the ‘government’ being the ultimate decider in cases of pregnant woman wanting to end their pregnancies.
Actually, given the all-over-the-place platforms of either the ‘left’ or the ‘right’ the case seems to be, finally, I’m ‘left’ because I’m not ‘right’ or I’m ‘right’ because I’m not ‘left.’ As a result there are bound to be glaring contradictions among the beliefs on both sides of the political spectra not to mention that neither side has a clear picture of WHAT it believes.
Report thisBy Anarcissie, March 30, 2010 at 9:55 am Link to this comment
That depends on what you mean by “right”. Many people construe libertarians as rightists, and the country certainly hasn’t been moving in their direction. Others considered right-wing are social conservatives (racists, homophobes, etc.) and religious fanatics. They have gotten very little from the Republican Party they adopted in the 1960s. In 2008 they could not prevent McCain from being nominated, nor Obama from being elected. If you look around the media in general and this web site in particular, you will see that the centralization of state power and the diminution of individual rights, which many self-styled rightists claim to oppose, is considered a Good Thing by many who designate themselves as “liberals” or “progressives” or even “leftists”, including the awful Health Care bill. So I don’t think the non-ruling class right-wingers have much to be happy about.
Report thisBy felicity, March 30, 2010 at 8:15 am Link to this comment
Yet again the specious argument, “crazies on both sides” is used to somehow rectify the situation? Everybody does it so it’s okay?
Aside from this, I don’t understand the growing discontent of the far right with the direction the country is going since the country has been moving to the ‘right’ for at least 30 years (at least its political, social and economic policies have been moving right.)
I think it’s more the case that we’ve become an unhappy bunch of citizens and people will overcome their unhappiness either by behaving as aggressively as possible OR by clinging to a fixed moral code (which they make up.) And here we are.
Report thisBy Aaron Ortiz, March 30, 2010 at 7:14 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Just because the media doesn’t villify the crazies on the other side of the political aisle,
it dosn’t mean they don’t exist.
Remember all the violent and incendiary slogans blazoned on sign asking for Bush to
Report thisbe impeached or assasinated. If the FBI would have raided all their homes, what would
they have found. Mostly harmless, but there were likely some freaks who WERE
plotting something. It’s a large country, with many unstable people.
By G.Anderson, March 30, 2010 at 6:55 am Link to this comment
Normally I’m not one for relativism.
However, it all depends on your point of view, and your political preference. This country doesn’t do a very good job of nurturing sanity, anyway.
Do crazy people, share political delusions, yes of course. When they share them, it’s so much harder to treat them psychologically.
Somehow, we always look at the politics instead of the individual behind them.
How many billions of dollars does this country spend each year on psych meds, street drugs, cosmetics - sickness in every shape and form.
And what would our country look like if it wasn’t filled to the brim with movies, and videos, and violent video games, etc. Who would be sane enough to bear the silence? Not to have every waking moment available for some sort of diversion? And we consider this as normal, sane?
This country is fertile ground for those who present extreme political views, whether they are feminist ones or right wing ones.
But don’t for a second think that someone who holds political views opposed to you is stupid, or ignorant. Or that high intelligence, makes one sane. Instead, intelligence often creates a greater capacity for insanity and delusion.
Hitler was a madman, but Germany almost took control of the whole world. And if it’s heavy water experiments weren’t delayed, it would have had the means to deliver thermonuclear weapons to England, winning world war II.
Madmen, without conscience, often are the victors in political contests. History is full of them.
Report thisBy That's so funny, March 30, 2010 at 6:38 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Eugene Robinson works for the Washington Post, the last editor of which was a Bilderburg member until her death. Washington Posters are shills for the international bankers, and so are the neocons. Sarah Palin plasters her ugly mug in front of disgruntled people, and posts something about “reloading” so that Eugene Robinson can write these articles telling us to be VERY AFRAID!!! of those EXTREMIST people.
Its perfect.
Keep us busy, fighting each other, while Bernanke keeps interest rates low to favor his buddies running the Carry Trades, and JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs get ready to pay off the Congress (both parties, dearies) to pass “Cap and Trade” so they can make another bazillion off carbon credits.
Report thisBy balkas, March 30, 2010 at 5:32 am Link to this comment
Allowing people anywhere to acquire and carry any weapons appears the wrong thing to do.
And in a society that is as miseducated as the one in US, miseducated people cannot do much right on political scene.
In some countries a child can be caught in web of lies spewn by ‘relig’ns’, ‘schooling’, holliwood, media, advertising, etc.
Disinformed an miseducated people and arms don’t mix well.
Report thisThe way out is as always an enlightening education that wld give children an useful tool in combatting any deceiving! tnx
By ian, March 30, 2010 at 4:47 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
According to the news reports I’ve read, this is part of a two-year sting operation which would imply that this is not Eric Holder’s baby, except maybe adoptively. What we are seeing is more likely an example of law enforcement grandstanding and agency self-promotion being presented fait accompli to Holder’s office, knowing that the administration wouldn’t look too closely at the indictment, at the sting operation itself or at the conspirators to determine whether, without the agency of federal law enforcement, they would have had the wherewithal to get even this far in the realisation of their violent fantasies. Were this a Republican administration we would see a similar scenario played out with ELF or a group of disgruntled middle-class Muslim youths at the forefront in place of the Hutaree.
Report thisBy ardee, March 30, 2010 at 3:41 am Link to this comment
More empty rhetoric from the main democratic party apologist to publish here. Of course there are nut jobs on both sides, its almost a mathematical certainty in fact.
That left wing violence is in abeyance these days points more to the disorganised state of that wing of American politics than it does to a greater degree of sanity among said lefties. Extremism is what it is, what it isnt is yet another tiresome talking point from one like Robinson who has nothing to say and says it nevertheless.
Report thisBy drdan, March 30, 2010 at 3:06 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
good idea rjg - I think I will.
Bingo Eugene. You hit the nail SQUARE on the head.
Report thisBy photoshock, March 30, 2010 at 2:49 am Link to this comment
The rhetoric from both sides of the aisle is now becoming so incendiary that it is hard to tell who is not crazy.
Report thisMr. Robinson, while the facts remain that there are a growing number of Far Right Wing Nut groups that share a common enemy, namely factual information, the left too has its share of numerous groups that would shutter
government and give rise to anarchy.
Although, given the climate today, this is highly unlikely, as it is the Far Right Wing Nuts, who in the debate leading up to the so-called, Health Care Reform Act, talked about ‘reloading and using their weapons!’
Why does the fact that socialized medicine exists in this country bring out the worst of the worst in those who are Fundamentalist, Right Wing conspiracy nuts? I may have one explanation, it wasn’t in the cards for any health care reform. The insurance companies are the only people who will benefit from the health care debacle and I do mean people as defined by the Supreme Court of the United States, the best judges that money can buy.
We, the American people are now at the mercy of, and economic slaves to the ‘corporatocracy.’ We are the sheeple of the past who funded all the wars, voted in selections that have no meaning and are still without true universal health care, which by the way,
every other civilized country in the world has.
The Congress and President have the best health care in the world, yet the American people, do without the
same benefits. WHY the INEQUITY? Because the corporate power elite structure does not want the people thinking that they are anything but economic slaves to the corporate machinery.
If we, the people, got real health care we might just
get real ideas of freedom and democracy, and have redress to the Constitution and Bill of Rights again.
I am ashamed, not for the first time, to be an American. We cannot even take care of men, women and children, without recourse to the corporate structure
and the powerful elite of this country and the world banking system.
Someday, maybe someday, the sheeple will wake up and start the revolution again, and then, we the people, will arise and again take up the mantle of government that was ours to begin with.
By Inherit The Wind, March 30, 2010 at 2:31 am Link to this comment
Yeah, I don’t remember a serious left-wing terrorist since they caught the Unabomber in 1996—the same year Eric Rudolf bombed the Olympics in Atlanta. And the Unabomber had been the only one for at least a decade.
PETA has been known to throw paint on women in fur coats—doing that to MY wife would incite ME to violence—and breaking into labs to release animals, but that’s about the worst I know of that they’ve done.
That’s always the rationale of apologists “The other side does it too!”
Report thisBy pundaint, March 30, 2010 at 12:23 am Link to this comment
Thanks Eugene, it needed to be said.
A free society is a voluntary thing requiring a population with good will
and information to preserve it. Information has pretty much been
denied the citizenry for 3 decades and been replaced by mind numbing
diversions, and marketing hypnosis. The People on both sides
understand that something very big is amiss. Those responsible, and
those most benefitting from this imbalance preserve their position by
pitting the People against the People. We are being manipulated apart.
Eventually both sides will awaken to this and the problem will be fixed.
I hope it doesn’t take an escalation of the stupidity to bring it about,
and I fear that it will. The very soul of America is ill right now. It is a
tightening circle of military excess, greed, and the dissipation of what
was the Spirit of America. The very soul of America is ill right now.
The shortcut to healing would be to stop our international bad actions,
prosecute our war criminals, and restore an independent free press,
and restore the concept that Government exists to serve those
governed. The candidate Obama might have been able to do this, but
the President Obama does not seem to be up to the task. He has joined
those who spin rather than do.
In the meantime, the informed ones must be vigilant in not getting
Report thisswept up in the hate storm being used to sap the People’s power.
By Mundt, March 29, 2010 at 11:54 pm Link to this comment
Just because “a federal indictment alleges” something does not make it true. Sometimes government agents instigate the “conspiracy” (remember Ruby Ridge?) so they can make highly publicized arrests. But thanks, Mr. Robinson, for not blaming it all on Sarah Palin.
Report thisBy plainsman, March 29, 2010 at 11:23 pm Link to this comment
Of course it doesn’t matter that the previous President of the US of A not only was a self-professed Christian, he also claimed that God talked to him. Yet he sent the official, therefore legal, military to Iraq where more than a million people were killed (not just plotted against). And most of the men and women in the armed forces espouse some sort of Christianity. What does the claim to religion have to do with any of this?
Report thisBy ofersince72, March 29, 2010 at 11:22 pm Link to this comment
I might not be able tooooo watch Beyond Viet Nam
special by Tavis. because I tooooo
had my Sat, antenna, and cable disconnected
Report thisbecause, what is offered ,isn’t worth the money
and give up watching pro sports anyhow.
(which is just what the NCAA tournament is)
By ofersince72, March 29, 2010 at 11:18 pm Link to this comment
Pease, everyone watch Tavis Smiley on PBS
Wednesday night…...
B E Y O N D V I E T N A M
You toooo EUGENE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Report thisBy ofersince72, March 29, 2010 at 11:16 pm Link to this comment
The timing of Holder’s sting operation was
just perfect for you, was it not EUGENE…..?????
Report thisBy ofersince72, March 29, 2010 at 11:10 pm Link to this comment
Thats your job Eugene, from now to election time
keep reporting the fringes….
The Democrats are desperate to keep the minority vote
Report thisaren’t they Eugene.????.
Eric Holder handin you crumbs to keep the racism
flame burning until election time.
There are a bunch of thieves and crooks Holder ought
to be going after, mostly in this Admin and the
last Admin. !!!!!!
By reubendevries, March 29, 2010 at 10:06 pm Link to this comment
Sir,
While I agree the crazies on the Right tend to be more violent or find it easier to get caught up in a violent act, to say that the crazies on the left don’t exist is just absurd, there is a group of left wing radicals that believe that they have the right to say and do whatever they want no matter what pain or affliction is caused to others, thankfully we live in a system where most of those “crazies” as you put it no matter what political agenda they tend to follow are people who are imprisoned to keep us and our communities safe.
Report thisBy rjg1971, March 29, 2010 at 9:45 pm Link to this comment
All I have to say is that this looks like a great
Report thisfund raising opportunity for the Southern Poverty Law
Center. Quick everybody, send your money.