Posted on 04/15/2009 4:30:18 AM PDT by jmc813
Here we go again.
The latest cause for hyperventilation in the right-wing blogosphere is a report from the Department of Homeland Security on the need for vigilance against extreme right-wing groups like Posse Comitatus, militias, “Patriot” groups, and neo-Nazis like the Christian Identity weirdos. Some bloggers, prompted by World Net Daily, are reading this as an attempt to “smear half of the country or more as kooks for criticizing the government’s handling of the economy.”
That’s ludicrous. First, this DHS assessment was begun more than a year ago, before Barack Obama was even nominated. It has absolutely nothing to do with “tea parties,” and it was not done at the behest of the Obama administration.
Second, I’m seeing it brought up repeatedly that the report contains a reference to veterans, mentioning that some of these groups are seeking to recruit them. This is nothing more than a fact, and the report even says that only a tiny number of veterans would join such groups — but that their talents could bring a great deal of capability to the extremists. Has everyone simply forgotten that Timothy McVeigh was a veteran?
The DHS report is not intended to target anyone but the most extreme elements of the far right, and it’s depressing to see so many bloggers jumping to totally unwarranted conclusions.
AJ Strata has a good take on this: The Threat Of Far Right Extremism - Updated!
UPDATE at 4/14/09 1:10:03 pm:
Here’s a link to download the PDF file, from Wikileaks. Read it for yourself, instead of trusting the distorted claims being made.
I’m surprised Charles was able to break away from preaching the gospel of Darwin. This dude is losing readers daily.
Our nation must be protected from people who might vote against beloved leader! [/End Sarcasm]
"...Any weapons we resort to must be "real" weapons not pistols. i.e. Rifles and shotguns. Due to concerns of re-supply (you have to plan for a long battle) such weapons should be limited to very small number of different rounds."
"if it is decided to fight, be prepared to fight, bring a backpack, entrenching tool, tent, and other equipment of an Infantrymen. You will need it for Bush and his supporters decides it is better to fight than to accept the will of the people, the fight to overthrow them will be a long fight."
“This dude is losing readers daily.”
This is factually correct.
Wish he'd do us a favor and just come out of the liberal closet again.
I want to know who wrote this report and I want them to defend and show the research that preceded it. If this had happened 4 years ago and it pointed out that Bill Ayers was a threat to the country the left would be demanding somebody’s head!
ping
Whatever happened to LGF? Did he end up in a reeducation camp?
Sheesh, I need to check myself more often.
Did the writer of this LFG piece actually READ the report before writing his diatribe?
If he did, then his reading comprehension skills are quite lacking.
Maybe I'm behind the game, but I only discovered this blog recently. The impression I get from this "Charles" dude is that he's just about the single biggest douche on the Internet.
Used to enjoy going to LGF, but it lost me when Charles started to go to war against Jihadwatch, another site I like.
Deleting LGF from my bookmarks. I rarely read it anymore, with all his, to use Charles Johnson’s terminology, hyperventilating about evolution/creationism nonsense. He used to run a pretty good blog about the War on Terror and the Palestinians, but lately all I ever see is “all Creationists are CRAZY.”
Yeah, LGF has been weird since about the election. I used to be a pretty much daily reader since about ‘04, now I pop in once a week only to be reminded of why I hardly visit anymore.
I keep hearing this. If so, then why does the very first paragraph of the 9 page report begin with the following:
The DHS/Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) has no specific information that domestic rightwing* terrorists are currently planning acts of violence, but rightwing extremists may be gaining new recruits by playing on their fears about several emergent issues. The economic downturn and the election of the first African American president present unique drivers for rightwing radicalization and recruitment.
These "unique drivers for rightwing radicalization and recruitment" weren't even a factor a year ago.
Apparently Charles neglected to read the report.
Seriously- what’s happened to him?
Here’s something I learned from An Old Man:
Right-click the document and select proerties. You’ll see the creation date (2007) and the “revised” date, which was just before it was “leaked” accidentally, just in time for Tea Parties.
Someone saw this report, put in 2009 references, and leaked it big time.
IMO neither the revision nor the “leak” were accidental, nor was the timing. I think it was intended to stir people up, and it did.
So the linked article says the report was “prepared over a year ago, before 0 was even nominated”, yes, that’s true, but it was edited and modified less than a week ago.
Great point.
It was DHS itself who put out that this report had been in the works for over a year, to defuse the controversy.
This means that LGF took DHS at its word WITHOUT reading the source document. If he had done so, if he had shown a modicum of skepticism and intellectual curiosity, he would have found the contradictions between the official line and the text itself.
I, too, used to read LGF. It’s not the specific issues he has addressed that bother me; rather, and especially over the last couple of years, LGF has consistently shown that he doesn’t actually research what he writes about before jumping into the mix head-first. THAT’S why I stopped reading that blog: if I want to read opinion pieces from people who are woefully ignorant of the topics on which they write, I’ll pick the NYT.
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