Feds Charge Hate Crimes Against White NOLA residents who Shot Blacks

Many people aren't familiar with this story, but I am, and it's frankly horrific.

Five Years ago during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina White residents of the Algiers are decided to defend themselves by going hunting for Negros. Unfortunately the people they shot, wounding many and killing a few, weren't looters, they were their neighbors.



And they say there's no "Racism" in America any more. That Lynchings - the specific crime that gave birth to the NAACP - are the thing of the past? Apparently not.

From The Nation (via Crooks and Liars)

Some of the gunmen prowling Algiers Point were out to wage a race war, says one woman whose uncle and two cousins joined the cause. A former New Orleanian, this source spoke to me anonymously because she fears her relatives could be prosecuted for their crimes. "My uncle was very excited that it was a free-for-all--white against black--that he could participate in," says the woman. "For him, the opportunity to hunt black people was a joy."

"They didn't want any of the 'ghetto niggers' coming over" from the east side of the river, she says, adding that her relatives viewed African-Americans who wandered into Algiers Point as "fair game." One of her cousins, a young man in his 20s, sent an e-mail to her and several other family members describing his adventures with the militia. He had attached a photo in which he posed next to an African-American man who'd been fatally shot. The tone of the e-mail, she says, was "gleeful"--her cousin was happy that "they were shooting niggers."

Gleeful? Yes, gleeful. Giddy even, at the idea of "Open Nigger Season". For years, the Bush years, this story has just languished, not addressed and not responded to - but now all of that has changed.

A former New Orleans resident was charged Thursday with federal hate crimes for his alleged role in a racially motivated shooting of three black men in the days after Hurricane Katrina.

Roland J. Bourgeois Jr., 47, is accused of plotting to defend his Algiers Point neighborhood "from outsiders" including African-Americans, constructing barricades on public streets and using racial epithets to describe black people, according to the five-count indictment.

At one point, Bourgeois allegedly said, "Anything coming up this street darker than a paper bag is getting shot."

The indictment charges Bourgeois with doing just that when three black males walked through the neighborhood toward a makeshift Coast Guard evacuation center on Sept. 1. Bourgeois fired a shotgun at the trio, felling Donnell Herrington and wounding Herrington's two companions near the corner of Pelican Avenue and Vallette Street, according to the indictment.

Later, Bourgeois plucked Herrington's bloodied baseball cap from the ground and proudly displayed it to others, boasting that he "got one" and had shot a "looter, " according to a witness.

Justice delayed still will not bring those who lost their lives during this dark time back to their loved ones, but it may give others some pause.


At least it may until Faux News channel and Megyn Kelly get ahold of this and attempt, a usual, to try and spin it into "Obama favoring Black's against White's defending themselves from invasion..."

And I'm sure the Tea Party will be backing this move by the Justice Department the very second they pull their head out of Andrew Breitbart and Kenneth Gladney's Butt Crack.

Just like this fellow who went out of his way to express his "Appreciation" to the NAACP for pointing out that some, a few, in the Tea Party just might be a tad bigotted (Warning: Not even close to Safe For Work)

Caller: You want to kill our babies? Fuck you Niggers! The street will run red with your blood!

One guess what News Station this guys probably listens too? Think they've bothered to mention that Black people have Guns too?

Vyan

Christian Hate Group Terrorizes Amarillo Texas

Calling themselves "Repent Amarillo" a group of self-identified "Christians" connected with Raven Ministries has organized a Militia Group which has been going around town stalking and harassing "Sinners" (i.e. Gays, Muslims, Swingers, Liberals) as shown in the following video.



Please note, no one in this club even if you may find it a bit skeevy is breaking any laws ("consenting adults") yet they've been stalked and outed - some have even lost their jobs due to "Repent Amarillo".

Bet if they made this Club an ABC Reality Show, these guy would eat it up!

The most disturbing thing about this group is their self-proclaimed "Army of God" moniker, besides the fact their already is a group called Army of God who are directly connected to various bombings of gay clubs (including the Atlanta Olympic Park bombing) and shootings of OB/GYN's (like Dr. George Tiller), the term actually translate into - wait for it - Hezbollah.

In addition to their stalking of the Swingers Club, "Repent Amarillo" has also gone to lengths to have a play about Gay people during Nazi Germany completely shutdown. Via Thinkprogress

Repent has struck with some success at many of its enemies within the town. A community theater attempted to open “Bent,” a play about the persecution of homosexuals during Nazi Germany. But the day before opening night, Repent members helped shut down the play by calling in fire marshals to complain about the theater’s permit. Staffers at a nature preserve were featured on local news defending themselves against Repent accusations that their site represents something related to witchcraft.

Witchcraft? Witchcraft?! Seriously, Witchcraft?

Do these guys even know that Harry Potter is just a Movie? (Clearly these guys don't READ!)

If they did read it's obvious these guys don't seem to be reading from the same bible the rest of us have been reading. Seems to me, if you're going to call yourself "Christian" - you should be paying attention to the teaching of Jesus The Christ.

If you believe Levitican law as laid down by Moses, then Adultery and Homosexuality are sins. They are Abominations:

Leviticus 18:29
For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.

Leviticus 20:13
If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

Leviticus 18:20
Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour's wife, to defile thyself with her.

Leviticus 20:10
And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

You know what else is an abomination? Eating Shellfish and "Creepy" things.

Leviticus 11:10
And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:

Leviticus 11:20
All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you.

Leviticus 11:42
Whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and whatsoever goeth upon all four, or whatsoever hath more feet among all creeping things that creep upon the earth, them ye shall not eat; for they are an abomination.

Fortunately we have something called Refrigeration now, but what does that mean for Football Players who are constantly touching a "Pigskin"?

What else is an abomination>? Doing it with a woman, when she's got the Curse

Leviticus 20:13
And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people.

Y'know Jesus was actually asked about these things, and most of us know what he ultimately said about Adultery. Then again may be don't.

But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

Get that, Divorced People getting remarried to someone else are Adulterers. Gee I hope nobody in "Repent Amarillo" has ever been divorced the way that Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove have been several times.

And what did Jesus do with Adulterers? From John 8:

3And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,

4They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

5Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

6This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

7So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

8And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

9And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

10When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

11She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Ok, Ok, but what about Teh Ghey? Doesn't Jesus Hate Teh Ghey? Well, Maybe not according to Matthew 19

3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?

4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,

5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?

8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.

9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

10 His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.

11 But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.

12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.

Here Jesus argues that Moses was WRONG to allow for divorce, and as I stated above states that anyone who marries a second time - is an adulterer. He also says people are "born eunuchs: from their mother's womb". I may be going a stretch, but that seems to suggest that some men are BORN WITHOUT AN ATTRACTION TO WOMEN.

Also I see nothing in here that condemns women who are attracted to other women. Inconsistent much? Either way, the one consistent thing in Jesus teachings was the power and value of forgiveness, not condemnation.

Luke 7:37 - And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner." 40 And Jesus answering said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he answered, "What is it, Teacher?"

41 "A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he forgave them both. Now which of them will love him more?" 43 Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, to whom he forgave more." And he said to him, "You have judged rightly."

The bottom line is that these people aren't "Christians" at all, they don't understand the first THING about Jesus' teachings - they're merely a bunch of Thugs trying to push people around and dictate how they think other people should behave against their will.

It's despicable.

What's next tossing acid into the faces of school girls for failing to "Honour their Mother and Father?" with sassy back talk?

And it's not just in Texas where teh crazy is spreading.

A Louisiana sheriff plans to arm volunteers with shotguns, riot shields, batons, and a .50-caliber machine gun mounted on a "war wagon," as part of "Operation Exodus," a program to provide security in the event of a terrorist attack or civic unrest. "It's a calling," he says.

The office of Sheriff Larry Deen of Bossier Parish, near Shreveport in the northwest part of the state, last month selected for the program 200 local residents -- mostly ex-law-enforcement personnel -- and began training them in "defensive techniques in the event of a struggle," reports the Shreveport Times. The plan calls for the new recruits to be sent to protect food from grocery stores, gas from gas stations, and other crucial local resources, should the situation demand it.

Gee, where have I seen a bunch of armed white militant people in the middle of a Louisiana Crisis before - oh yeah, on the Streets of New Orleans during Katrina.



Just like the Anti-Government Truther Conspiracy Theorist Right-Wing Nutbag who Shot up the Pentagon Yesterday - The Militant American Taliban is real, and it is Dangerous.

Vyan

More from a Previous Diary on this.

On What Planet is the NOT a Hate Crime?

In the Murder of Census Worker Bill Sparkman we now know several key facts - he was naked, bound hand-and-foot with Duct-Tape, Gagged, Blindfolded, Hung (Lynch style) and the word "FED" written on his chest with Felt Tip Pen.



What I want to know is - where is the "America First Gang" who are always so all fired up to protect so many of our other Federal Employees and Government Workers - such as the Soldiers who committed Rape and Murder at Haditha or Moumudiya or the Cop who Arrested Prof Skip Gates for Breaking into his own House?

Where's their Holy Hell-Fire Outrage for the Murder of this man?

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Anyone?

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Anyone???

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Bueller???

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Are those Crickets I Hear?

I have a variety of thoughts on this subject so pardon my meandering a bit.

It's clear the distrust and hatred for the Federal Government in area such as Rural Kentucky is nothing new, going back through prohibition and all the way to the confederation - but there's a reason you don't hear a peep from those who love to stand in front of the flag and Pimp it for their own ends.

Those people have spent just as much time screaming "America Love it or Leave It" as they have saying things like this...

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann told the Washington Times that she and her family will not be fully filling out the 2010 census forms. Bachmann, a Republican, said her family will only be indicating the number of people in the household, because "the Constitution doesn't require any information beyond that."

Bachmann believes the upcoming census to be "very intricate" and "very personal" and expresses concerns about ACORN's involvement in the data collection. The community organizing program came under scrunity after charges of voter registration fraud during the 2008 presidential elections.

"I think what the threat of ACORN would be deluding the ballot box and the effectiveness of our vote," she said. "They will be in charge of going door to door and collecting data from the American public, this is very concerning."

It should be easy to blow this off as just so much Wing-Nutbaggery if it wasn't for the fact that two Neo-Cons with a Punk'd Fetish just managed to get Congress to Completely Defund Acorn! - although such a move may in fact be completely Unconstitutional if they don't similarly defund Criminal Contractors such as Blackwater/XE, KBR and WackenHut.

Be that as it may, it still isn't the worst of it - on HuffPo right now you can actually VOTE on which is the Craziest Census Conspiracy Theory of All.

For the Record we have so far...

. ACORN! (Bachmann)
. Internment Camps (Bachmann)
. Taking Away Property (Neal Boortz)
. Indoctrinating Our Children (Michelle Malkin)
. GPS Low-jack for Massive UN Roundup (AmericanDailyReview.com)
. Predator Drone Missile Targeting of U.S. Citizens (Infowars.com)
. Obama Power Grab (Washington Post)
. Takeover via Illegal Immigrants (Malkin)

Certainly it's premature to speculate presume than one, more or any of these particular theories may have been a motivation for this crime - but it's not unreasonable to ask the question, particularly since this is far from the first violent incident of this type.

We've had the Holocaust Museum Shooter who believed similar Conspiracy Theories involving Neo-Nazi Rhetoric, we had a Pittsburgh Cop Killer who allegedly believed "Obama is coming for my guns" and we have five people (two fatally) shot in Knoxville Tennessee by a man who wanted to Kill All The Liberals that Bernie Goldberg Told Him too.

Then of course you have Glenn Beck and his incessant Hate Speech against the President, Govenment and of course - Democrats.



Is there a firm connection in this case between all this Hate Speech and this obvious HATE CRIME?

No.

But I do think that rather than back slowly away from sounding such alarms we should be thinking hard, long and seriously about them as Nancy Pelosi did just a few days ago. We do have to wonder if the overall tone and intensity of this type of rhetoric doesn't pave the way for the greater "acceptability" of the most wild and outlandish ideas - isn't it a bit like shouting "GUN!!" in an already burning theater?

To be fair, it could be argued that Dkos has itself thrown more fire than water on this subject with photoshop cartoons of Joe Lieberman and Antonin Scalia that made Bill O'Reilly loudly proclaim "They're a HATE SITE, the worst of the worst..."

But I'm thinking even the most viotriolic poster Dkos has ever had hasn't got anything on Stormfront or ArmyofGod.com.

Nobody on this side of the argument ever advocated Lynching a sitting U.S. Senator or Supreme Court Justice simply because we disagreed with him. No one on this side ever did a Mock Poisoning of the Speaker of the House! No one on This Side of the argument every actually Killed Anyone, meanwhile on the other side - the pile of bodies is simply rising higher and higher...

It's not a matter of "when" it all will erupt into violence - it already has the only question is when will it go from lone actors as the cases in Washington, Pittsburgh and Knoxville have been to becoming the pre-meditated organized actions of like-minded violent group?

Then again, maybe we've passed that Rubicon already as well.

How many people does it take to truss up a grown man in duct tape and hang him from a tree?

Just wondering...

Vyan

Update: 9-26-09 2:37 pm Michele Bachman was confronted by Dave Weigel of the Washington Independent for her response on the killing of Bill Sparkman - being true to form and as outspoken as usual she Ducked and Covered!

After the speech, Bachmann had only a few minutes to sign autographs and collect a stack of CDs and books from fans who’d followed her into the lobby. I caught up to her as she headed outside and asked if she had any response to the murder of a Kentucky census worker, having noticed that the Census, a constant target for Bachmann, did not figure into her speech. Bachmann recoiled a little at the question and turned to enter her limo.

“Thank you so much!” she said.

Way to stand up for responsible free speech and against Hate there Michele.

Vyan

Inside the Anti-Obama Nation

Max Blumenthal provides this peek inside the Gun Trade Shows and exposes it's hateful paranoid rhetoric of "FEMA Camps", "Gun Round-ups" and overt Nazi worship.

Limbaugh: Obama operatives in the Congress have introduced over ten bills that would end the 2nd Amendment as we know it.

Person1: If Obama tries to get rid of our guns it's just a step to try and get rid of everything else.

Person2: A lot of people are not happy with what's going on in our government at the moment, and they're preparing for the worst - just in case.

Max: We didn't manage to buy any guns, yet but we did manage to buy a few pictures that people were selling. Nazi pictures. Lots of these were being sold inside along with lots of Nazi memoribilia.

Person3: I was listening to this lady this morning saying we didn't understand the Tea Parties. What the boston tea party was all about. Therefor we are a bunch of anti-Democrat, Racist, Tea-baggers.

Person4: We as a nation, as normal citizens - we can be rounded up and put into these FEMA Camps. The fencing around them, the barbed wire, is designed to keep those in. They're just preparing for the future where they anticipate civil riots.

Person5: Well they have the FEMA Camps, and they have these things all set in place - when they start imprisoning people, and people start seeing the we are the "enemy", that will make it hot.

Person4: In fact, Obama's own campaign promise was that he would build up a 20,000 man civil army to patrol the streets of America that will be stronger than our own military.

Let me just state up front that I happen to be very strongly pro 2nd Amendment. I also happen to like the 1st, 4th, 5th and 8th Amendments quite a bit too. I believe that if we properly work to protect and strengthen all of these principles, the need to exercise the 2nd Amendment - the Amendment of last desperate resort against a truly tyrannical government - becomes essentially moot.

But these people don't seem to understand that. It's probably unfair to paint with a broadbrush and Garafalo everyone shown here, but it's also true that every bunch is likely to have more than a couple bad apples.

Bad Apples like Josh Cartwright.

On Sunday, lawmen still were investigating why Joshua Cartwright, a 28-year-old U.S. Army Reserve soldier with a history of violence, killed Okaloosa County sheriff's deputies Burt Lopez and Warren "Skip" York at a gun range in Crestview.

A few minutes after he killed the deputies, Cartwright was himself killed in a shootout with lawmen in DeFuniak Springs [...]

An offense report filed against Cartwright the day he died outlines an angry husband who threatened his wife, kept guns and knives on hand, was "severely disturbed" that Barack Obama had been elected president, and believed the U.S. government was conspiring against him.

Far from being a blanket "attack on conservatives" it seems that in the immediate wake of Cartwright and other Right-Wing Domestic Terrorists such as James Adkisson (Shot 5, killed 2 "Liberals" in Knoxville, TN), Richard Poplawski (Killed 2 Cops in Pittsburgh) and James Cummings (Attempted Maine "Dirty Bomber") - the Homeland Security Report on "Right-Wing Extremists" may have been right on the money.

There's nothing wrong with owning a gun and using it responsibly.

But when you subscribe to full-on nutbag conspiracy theories about the duly elected President, combined with extreme personal stress - the results can become a danger to us all.

Just remember that many of the people shown by Blumenthal are the same people interviewed here by Alexandra Pelosi in "Right America: Feeling Wronged".



We ignore them, at all of our peril.

Vyan

Another Crazed Cop-Killer with Baracknophobia

Sad to see this happening no matter the circumstances, but you can't ignore the fact WE TOLD YOU SO!

Following the murderous gun-sprees of James Adkisson, and Richard Poplowski, plus that would-be Dirty-Bomber James Cummings - we now have murderer Josh Cartwright from Florida.

On Sunday, lawmen still were investigating why Joshua Cartwright, a 28-year-old U.S. Army Reserve soldier with a history of violence, killed Okaloosa County sheriff's deputies Burt Lopez and Warren "Skip" York at a gun range in Crestview.

A few minutes after he killed the deputies, Cartwright was himself killed in a shootout with lawmen in DeFuniak Springs [...]

An offense report filed against Cartwright the day he died outlines an angry husband who threatened his wife, kept guns and knives on hand, was "severely disturbed" that Barack Obama had been elected president, and believed the U.S. government was conspiring against him.

The only positive thing about this tragedy, as was predicted by the Homeland Security Report that Republicans still want Janet Napolitano to Resign over, is the fact that this guy was working alone and not part of any larger group that could have done far more damage than one lone, well-trained, well-armed and emotionally distraught and clearly disturbed Army Reservist could do.

Thank heaven for small favors, because fitting this description certainly aren't difficult to locate these days.

Vyan

Rightwing Sues Homeland Security for Political Profiling

The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, announced today that it has filed a federal lawsuit against Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. The lawsuit claims that her Department’s “Rightwing Extremism Policy,” as reflected in the recently publicized Intelligence Assessment, “ Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,” violates the civil liberties of combat veterans as well as American citizens by targeting them for disfavored treatment on account of the political beliefs.

So let me get this straight, the Rightwing really thinks that Homeland Security is targeting Conservatives, just for the fun of it?

Where were all this outrage when Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, two show producers and other journalists including an AP photographer were being arrested at the Republican National Convention for no reason?



Apparently MIA. Instead of realizing that Left-Wing groups have frankly been illegally surveilled, harassed, watch-listed and treated far worse than simply having a "mean report" written about them they say this.

Thompson added, “Janet Napolitano is lying to the American people when she says the Report is not based on ideology or political beliefs. In fact, her report would have the admiration of any current or past dictator in the way it targets political opponents.”

The Report specifically mentions the following political beliefs that law enforcement should use to determine whether someone is a “rightwing extremist”:

• Opposes restrictions on firearms
• Opposes lax immigration
• Opposes the policies of President Obama regarding immigration, citizenship and the expansion of social programs
• Opposes continuation of free trade agreements
• Opposes same-sex marriage
• Has paranoia of foreign regimes
• Fear of Communist regimes
• Opposes one world government
• Bemoans the decline of U.S. stature in the world.
• Upset with loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs to China and India
• . . . and the list goes on

The Law Center is asking the court to declare that the DHS policy violates the First and Fifth Amendments, to permanently enjoin the Policy and its application to the plaintiffs’ speech and other activities, and to award the plaintiffs their reasonable attorney’s fees and costs for having to bring the lawsuit.

Ok, the report in plain english does not simply attack people with right-wing beliefs.

It says this.

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.

Let me repeat, they aren't addressing your average church group here, they are talking about Right Wing TERRORISTS groups. Extremist Groups. They aren't saying Pro-Lifers have been recruiting, they're saying that VIOLENT groups like Operation Rescue which featured a "Wanted for Murder" list of Doctors, who were later shot to death by James Kopp, have been recruiting.

They are talking about Neo-Nazi White Supremacist/Anti-Government Hate Groups.

Threats from white supremacist and violent antigovernment groups during 2009 have been largely rhetorical and have not indicated plans to carry out violent acts. Nevertheless, the consequences of a prolonged economic downturn—including real estate foreclosures, unemployment, and an inability to obtain credit—could create a fertile recruiting environment for rightwing extremists and even result in confrontations between such groups and government authorities similar to those in the past.

The report warns that we need to be vigilant against a return of the worst of the worst, people like Kopp, people like Timothy McVeigh and Eric Robert Rudolph who injured 110 people and killed two with his multiple bombings including one at the Atlanta Olympics.

Paralleling the current national climate, rightwing extremists during the 1990s exploited a variety of social issues and political themes to increase group visibility and recruit new members. Prominent among these themes were the militia movement’s opposition to gun control efforts, criticism of free trade agreements (particularly those with Mexico), and highlighting perceived government infringement on civil liberties as well as white supremacists’ longstanding exploitation of social issues such as abortion, inter-racial crimes, and same-sex marriage. During the 1990s, these issues contributed to the growth in the number of domestic rightwing terrorist and extremist groups and an increase in violent acts targeting government facilities, law enforcement officers, banks, and infrastructure sectors.

In 1995 a White-Power group of soldiers stationed at Fort Bragg Murdered James Burmeister and Malcolm Wright just to earn the right to wear a skin-head tattoo. In 2007, 12 years later, things at Fort Bragg show signs of going backward as yet another pair of White Supremacists were arrested.

Two soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division were arrested on June 4, 2007, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and charged with selling stolen government property, including body armor and drugs, to an undercover FBI agent in Concord, North Carolina, on May 24.

One of the soldiers, Joffre "Trey Cross, 21, of Texas, is a white supremacist who has posted messages on white supremacist Internet forums graphically describing ways to kill Jews, such as positioning oneself outside a synagogue with a machine gun. On several different white supremacist forums, Cross used "jagervonjuden" (or "fighter of Jews") as a screen name and offered to give other white supremacists paramilitary training.

On his profiles on a social networking Web site, Cross cited Nazis as heroes, including Nazi commando leader Otto Skorzeny as well as Reinhard Heydrich, chief architect of the Holocaust. He gave his occupation as SS-Obersturmführer and prominently displayed an English translation of the motto of the Waffen SS.

The point is that the concerns brought up in this report in the wake of the James Adkisson and Richard Poplawski shootings, and the discovery of a right-wing would-be Dirty Bomber in Main are legitimate. They aren't simply "imagining things" or unfairly targeting innocent conservatives, simply for being conservatives.

What I'd like to know is why Mainstream Conservatives, including John Boenher who just took a question today of "Whether Janet Napolitano should be Fired or Resign?" without flinching can't seem to recognize the difference between rank and file conservatives with honest legitimate principles and murderous terrorists like McVeigh, Adkisson, Kopp, Rudolph, Cummings and Poplawski?

When did the Extremists become their Constituency? When did they join the Neo-Nazi Party?

Vyan

Homeland Security Report: Right-Wing Terrorist Threat Growing

Confirming previous reports from the Southern Poverty Law Center on the Rise of Right-Wing Hate Groups, Today Homeland security released a new report (pdf) that indicates that Extremist Right-Wing and Hate Groups have been dramaticaly recruiting since we've entered the "Age of Obama".

[R]ightwing 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.

Now it should be noted that this political shift in focus by Homeland Security could simply be the result of the change in administration. Let's recall that during the Bush Administation Peace Activists were targeted, surveilled and flagged as potential terrorists.

Three peace activists were detained at gunpoint in St. Paul yesterday by police who told them their car was on a federal "stop-and-search list." All three are prominent activists who've recently spoken out against Bush, McCain or the war in Iraq. They were held for 30 minutes then released without charge.

Similar targeting of anti-Bush peace groups took place in Maryland, where 53 Non-Violent Activists were added to the terrorist watch list, and in Milwaukee were 37 members of the Peace Action Milwaukee Group - including a priest and nun - were turned away at the gates because there names were included on the "No Fly List".

The path for this was laid out in 2001 an Energy Dept Report : “Left-Wing Extremism: The Current Threat.”

In 2005 DHS issues another similar report that listed various left-wing groups as "dangerous" - yet miraculously failed to include ANY anti-government, supramacist or radical right-wings groups.

So while peace activists and non-violent protesters have been harrased under Bush without reasonable cause or justification - Right-Wing Rhetoric has grown more and more vitriolic, paranoid and dangerous as shown by these highlights from the new report.

Anti-immgration: “Rightwing extremist groups’ frustration over a perceived lack of government action on illegal immigration has the potential to incite individuals or small groups toward violence. If such violence were to occur, it likely would be isolated, small-scale, and directed at specific immigration-related targets.”

Recruiting returning vets: “Rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat.”

Gun-related violence: “Heightened interest in legislation for tighter firearms … may be invigorating rightwing extremist activity, specifically the white supremacist and militia movements.”

Let's also recall that we don't actually need a "REPORT" to see the danger of the Radical Right-Wing. This is not theoretically - it's already begun to build a bodycount starting with the Anthrax Letters which were mailed to Congress, the FAKE Anthrax attack on progressive TV hosts such as Keith Olbermann and Jon Stewart, the shooter in Knoxville Tennesee - James Adkisson.

"Know this if nothing else: This was a hate crime. I hate the damn left-wing liberals. There is a vast left-wing conspiracy in this country & these liberals are working together to attack every decent & honorable institution in the nation, trying to turn this country into a communist state. Shame on them....

Not to mention the attempted Dirty-Bomber from Maine, and Richard Poplawski the Pittsburgh Cop-Killer who was in terror of an Obama Gun "Round Up".

Ignoring fact and reality, wingnuts who seem determined to play the self-described "Victim" card like Michelle Malkin are already calling this new report a political HIT JOB on Conservatives via Obama's DHS.

Malkin: By contrast, the piece of crap report issued on April 7 is a sweeping indictment of conservatives. And the intent is clear. As the two spokespeople I talked with on the phone today made clear: They both pinpointed the recent "economic downturn" and the "general state of the economy" for stoking "rightwing extremism." One of the spokespeople said he was told that the report has been in the works for a year. My b.s. detector went off the chart, and yours will, too, if you read through the entire report — which asserts with no evidence that an unquantified "resurgence in rightwing extremist recruitment and radicalizations activity" is due to home foreclosures, job losses, and...the historical presidential election.

No evidence? "Oklahoma City" Much? How about the Olympic Park Bombing? And the recent hightening reports of threats coming to the FBI? Typical.
This is what the reports says.

DHS/I&A assesses that lone wolves and small terrorist cells embracing violent rightwing extremist ideology are the most dangerous domestic terrorism threat in the United States. Information from law enforcement and nongovernmental organizations indicates lone wolves and small terrorist cells have shown intent—and, in some cases, the capability—to commit violent acts.

— (U//LES) DHS/I&A has concluded that white supremacist lone wolves pose the most significant domestic terrorist threat because of their low profile and autonomy—separate from any formalized group—which hampers warning efforts.

— (U//FOUO) Similarly, recent state and municipal law enforcement reporting has warned of the dangers of rightwing extremists embracing the tactics of "leaderless resistance" and of lone wolves carrying out acts of violence.

— (U//FOUO) Arrests in the past several years of radical militia members in Alabama, Arkansas, and Pennsylvania on firearms, explosives, and other related violations indicates the emergence of small, well-armed extremist groups in some rural areas.

Hey Michelle - how many people has The Sierra Club and Earth First killed? I mean really?

Just imagine how loud these guys will squawk, whine and cry if say - Glenn Beck winds up on the "No Fly List" (Like Al Gore, Nelson Mandela and Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam were), was being "Profiled", stopped and repeatedly SEARCHED simply because of his advocating the overthrow of the U.S. Government and organizing a set of nationwide protests of RABID TAX OUTRAGE against the duly elected President of the United States??

To this criticism DHS officials have responded by pointing out that an report "Left-wing" extremists was released in January.

See that, EQUAL TIME Paranoia. What a change of pace.

Vyan

The Impending Perfect Wingnut Hate Storm

Crossposted from Dkos

We've all seen the warning signs and heard the angry cries from Wingnuttia - but it's time to stop laughing and recognize a very real threat that faces this nation.



The Southern Poverty Law Center headed by Morris Dees is the countries premier anti-hate resource, and in it's current yearly "Intelligence Report" on the activities of various domestic Hate Groups, there are more than a few familiar faces.

This week a report detailing at least 60 Post-9/11 plots of violence by Militant Right-Wing Militia and Birther groups was spiked in Missouri under the argument that sharing the information with Officers in the field would have been Political Profiling!

In Knoxville Tennessee it was shown that a mass-murderer, James Adkinson, - inspired directly by writings of Fox News Contributor Bernard Goldberg, as well as the rantings of Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter - perpetrated a deliberate Hate-Crime (i.e. Terrorism) against Liberals.

"Know this if nothing else: This was a hate crime. I hate the damn left-wing liberals. There is a vast left-wing conspiracy in this country & these liberals are working together to attack every decent & honorable institution in the nation, trying to turn this country into a communist state. Shame on them....

Yet, the mainstream media ignores the report of an attempted Right-Wing Dirty Bomber in Maine.

“Amber (Cummings) indicated James was very upset with Barack Obama being elected President,” reported the Washington Regional Threat and Analysis Center (PDF link). “She indicated James had been in contact with ‘white supremacist group(s).’ Amber also indicated James mixed chemicals in the kitchen sink at their residence and had mentioned ‘dirty bombs.’”

“Also found was literature on how to build ‘dirty bombs’ and information about cesium-137, strontium-90 and cobalt-60, radioactive materials,” said theBangor Daily. “The FBI report also stated there was evidence linking James Cummings to white supremacist groups. This would seem to confirm observations by local tradesmen who worked at the Cummings home that he was an ardent admirer of Adolf Hitler and had a collection of Nazi memorabilia around the house, including a prominently displayed flag with swastika. Cummings claimed to have pieces of Hitler’s personal silverware and place settings, painter Mike Robbins said a few days after the shooting.”

Before he was inaugurated there were at least two distinct supramacists plots to assassinate Obama.



It's time we stopped sweeping this under the rug.

Since the year 2000 the number of U.S. hate groups has risen 54% to a current estimate of 926 active groups in 2008.

As in recent years, hate groups were animated by fears of Latino immigration. This rise in hate groups has coincided with a 40 percent growth in hate crimes against Latinos between 2003 and 2007, according to FBI statistics.

Two new factors were introduced to the volatile hate movement in 2008: the faltering economy and the Obama campaign.

"Barack Obama's election has inflamed racist extremists who see it as another sign that their country is under siege by non-whites," said Mark Potok, editor of the Intelligence Report, a quarterly investigative journal that monitors the radical right. "The idea of a black man in the White House, combined with the deepening economic crisis and continuing high levels of Latino immigration, has given white supremacists a real platform on which to recruit."

Moving far behind the usual skin-head, supremacist and neo-nazi's we would expect to spout this kind of rhetoric we're now hearing plenty of panicked and frightened fear-mongering from many many "mainstream" sources.

Even members of Congress.

Such as Michele (I'm Not a Kook) Bachmann on staging an Orderly Revolution" against Obama.

Bachmann: At this point the American people - it's like Thomas Jefferson said, a revolution every now and then is a good thing. We are at the point, Sean, of revolution. And by that, what I mean, an orderly revolution -- where the people of this country wake up get up and make a decision that this is not going to happen on their watch. It won't be our children and grandchildren that are in debt. It is we who are in debt, we who will be bankrupting this country, inside of ten years, if we don't get a grip. And we can't let the Democrats achieve their ends any longer.

If Tim Geithner is successful under President Obama, and they move us to an international currency. Then we have no hope of standing on our own as a sovereign nation with our own economic system. It's over. We can't do that.

Bachmann: Right now I'm a member of Congress. And I believe that my job here is to be a foreign correspondent, reporting from enemy lines. And people need to understand, this isn't a game. this isn't just a political talk show that's happening right now. This is our very freedom, and we have 230 years, a continuous link of freedom that every generation has ceded to the next generation. This may be the time when that link breaks. And I'm going to do everything I can, I know you are, to make sure that we keep that link secure. We cannot allow that link to break, because as Reagan said, America is the last great hope of mankind.

We've been hearing this kind of "marxist, socialist, new world currency, we're losing america to the immigrants (and the Gays)" stuff for some time - and we've typically laughed it off - but it's time we stopped laughing.

The guys at Southern Poverty Law - aren't.

The histrionics over the supposed 5 million bad mortgages is a prime example. On Oct. 9, the conservative online news site Drudge Report included a link to a story on the website of conservative talk radio KFYI-AM in Phoenix that said HUD had reported that 5 million illegal immigrants held bad mortgages. That same day, the Phoenix Business Journal posted an article stating that a HUD spokesman said there was "no basis" for the 5 million figure, and that the agency had no data reflecting the number of bad mortgages held by illegal immigrants.

But a few hours later on CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" — a primary venue for the airing of false allegations about undocumented immigrants — San Diego radio show host Roger Hedgecock cited the bogus HUD statistic as a hard fact. By the following day, others were engaging in the journalistic equivalent of fabricating a "big fish" tale, embellishing the falsehood with their own extravagant claims. Rush Limbaugh stated on his radio program that HUD was "admitting 5 million illegal aliens were given mortgages ... with fake Social Security numbers and so forth to go out and purchase homes that they didn't have to pay back." Over at Clear Channel's "The War Room with Quinn & Rose," Jim Quinn claimed that while there were some excesses on Wall Street, the bigger problem was the issuance of "5 million mortgages to illegal aliens who didn't even have to come up with an ID."

So the Bush Bailout isn't the result of mismanagement, greed and deregulation - it's all because of those damn dirty illegals, not to mention the rest of those shiftless minorities - and ACORN too!

As the mortgage crisis worsened in 2008, more diatribes followed regarding what syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin called "the massive illegal alien mortgage racket." In September, she wrote that it was "no coincidence" that the areas hardest hit by the wave of foreclosures "also happen to be some of the nation's largest illegal alien sanctuaries." Rick Oltman, a former top official of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) now with the anti-immigrant Californians for Population Stabilization, wrote on that group's website that foreclosures are highest in border states and cities "swollen with illegal aliens." Still, he added charitably, "illegal immigration didn't cause this, it just made it worse.

Conservative commentators also didn't let facts stop them from continually repeating the fallacy that the Community Reinvestment Act had forced lenders to make high-risk mortgage loans to illegal immigrants and other minorities.

The CRA regulations were tightened in 1995 when Bill Clinton was president. Critics contend that left-wing activists — especially at the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), which became embroiled in controversy during the presidential campaign when it was investigated for voter registration fraud — began to use data showing how CRA banks performed to petition regulators to deny lenders' plans to expand or merge with other institutions. This, they say, coerced banks into making risky, poorly documented loans — including to illegal immigrants — resulting in large numbers of defaults, which in turn caused the mortgage morass.

Jinned up by all of this misplaced fear and outrage, a brand new Xenophobic Militia Movement as been steadily growing. Unlike the lone-wolf acts of people like Adkinson or Cummings, what we truly need to worry about is what Bachmann and to some extend Glenn Beck with his "We Surround Them" bruhaha are clearly attempting to foment. A committed, directed, networked and focused Resistance Movement of batshit-wingnuts who see any and all Liberals (or their Gay, Black, Brown and poor allies) as their enemy and the enemies of America.

People who seriously believe - like Alan Keyes - that America has been hijacked by an illegitimate usurper.



What is likely to happen if and when radical anti-abortionists like Keyes (or Eric Rudolph the Olympic Park Bomber), join their ideology with that of the Birthers, the Sovereigns who are trying to make their own-currency and secede (Palin-style) from America, the anti-immigrant Minute-Men who've begun to be infiltrated by Nativist Extremist, with the 2nd Amendment-ers, and perhaps the most deluded of all - the End-Timers?

How long before all this "Revolution" talk goes from inspiring single persons, to organized groups?

How long before someone taps into all this pent up fear and anger and sends it careening in the wrong deadly direction?

HBO: Right America Feeling Wronged!


All these Palinite-Americans have not gone away - they're still with us and now they've been rendered powerless in Congress - making them more dangerous than they've ever been.

Here are IMO four potential catalyst events which could spark this kind of coalescence -

1) The Firing of BlackWater/Xe by the State Dept in Iraq, putting thousands of heavily trained and right-out of the war/post-stress impacted merceneries OUT Of A JOB.

Blackwater has been fired by the State Department from its job protecting U.S. diplomats in Iraq.

Executives of the controversial U.S. security company were notified today by the State Department that its five-year, $1.2 billion contract for services in Iraq will not be renewed in May, U.S. officials tell ABC News. The contract provides yearly options for cancellations.

After working for noted Right-winger (and End-Times/Christian Supamacist) Erik Prince, these guys are ripe for Militia Recruitment. Just multiply Tim McVeigh by 1,000 and add seething hatred. What do you do when you're a former paid killer, go back to parking cars?

2) Re-instatment of the Assault Weapons Ban which originally fostered the Gingrich Revolt on '94.

3) Allowing for Government to "Take-Over" and fix Pseudo-Banks like AIG - something Newt Gingrich has already called something akin to a "Dictatorship".

And the coup de grace?

4) Repealing "Don't Ask - Don't Tell". (Which at the moment seem to be on the back-burner)

These are the wingnuts worst nightmares, and rest assured the selfish self-aggrandizing power-whores among them (Beck, Gingrich, O'Reilly, Malkin, Ingraham, Bachmann, Cantor, Boehner, Cornyn and McConnell) will NOT stop their fear and hate-mongering once the blood start flowing.

More than likely - they'll AMP IT UP.

I'm certain that innocent Americans will suffer for it, we just have to make sure those who incite political violence, as well as those who perpetrate it aren't allowed to get away with it.

Vyan

Secret Service Blames Palin for Death Threats Against Obama

Yes, I know the election is over and we're supposed to be lovey-dovey now. But the fact is - we're not, and we shouldn't be. Particularly when this report has come from the Daily Telegraph indicating that the Secret Service found a direct link between Sarah Palin little Nuremberg-KKK Rallies and death threats against President-Elect Obama.

Sarah Palin's attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks of the campaign.

The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of "palling around with terrorists", citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers.

The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling "terrorist" and "kill him" until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric.

But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further.

The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks.

Michelle Obama, the future First Lady, was so upset that she turned to her friend and campaign adviser Valerie Jarrett and said: "Why would they try to make people hate us?"

Why? Some people would do and say anything to win an election. Particularly Sarah Palin, who tirades about William Ayers - were not approved or authorized by the McCain campaign. There were her just "going Rogue!". Gettin' all Mavericky.

And it's not like more than a few people took this crap seriously.

Details of the spike in threats to Mr Obama come as a report last week by security and intelligence analysts Stratfor, warned that he is a high risk target for racist gunmen. It concluded: "Two plots to assassinate Obama were broken up during the campaign season, and several more remain under investigation. We would expect federal authorities to uncover many more plots to attack the president that have been hatched by white supremacist ideologues."

Irate John McCain aides, who blame Mrs Palin for losing the election, claim Mrs Palin took it upon herself to question Mr Obama's patriotism, before the line of attack had been cleared by Mr McCain.

Let me just repeat that there was not just one , but TWO PLOTS to kill Obama prior to the election, that were both foiled - and those were the only ones. out there. Not only was Obama and his family put directly at risk by Palin's comments - so was William Ayers, who is now a 60-years-old professor at the University of Chicago.

My voicemail filled up with hate messages. They were mostly from men, all venting and sweating and breathing heavily. A few threats: "Watch out!" and "You deserve to be shot." And some e-mails, like this one I got from satan@hell.com: "I’m coming to get you and when I do, I’ll water-board you."

The police lieutenant who came to copy down those threats deadpanned that he hoped the guy who was going to shoot me got there before the guy who was going to water-board me, since it would be most foul to be tortured and then shot. (We have been pals ever since he was first assigned to investigate threats made against me in 1987, after I was hired as an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.)

Just remember that Sarah Palin remains the favored person to lead the GOP in the future by 64% That she is still Governor of Alaska, and might very likely find herself in the U.S. Senate, meanwhile Michele Bachmann who wanted an investigation of congress for "anti-Americanism" was re-elected.

The Palin-MCcain campaign was filled with vicious lies, lies which have spread throu-out the nation and just like Sarah herself who didn't know which countries were in NAFTA, or that South Africa is a Country - not a "state" like South Carolina, many of these people still don't know that Barack Obama is NOT a Muslim. (But you can't tell that to 25% of Texas) Those lies were then repeated and amplified by Limbaugh, Hannity and O'Reilly to their millions listeners. They think the country is now in the hands of some kind of Black Radical Terrorist. After the Clinton Chronicles, put out by Jerry Falwell, made people believe the Bill Clinton was a drug dealer and murderer, a belief that contributed to Waco, Oklahoma City and the Bombing at the to Atlanta Olympics we can't afford to take this stuff lightly - despite what Palin says now, that is was "Just a rough and tumble campaign" - the fact remains and that's this was not "just politics."

It was HATE SPEECH!

And none of us can afford to pretend otherwise. Chances are that Obama and his family will be just fine and none of these Palinized Wack-Jobs out there will get off a realistic shot at him, but he's not the one I'm worried about - it's many of the rest of us who may wind being of collateral damage to this misguided rage and terror.

May God have mercy on us all.

Vyan

Hannity *Hearts* Hate Crimes, Hates Civil Rights

In response to the recent March on the Justice Department pointing out that prosecutions of Hate Crimes have dropped 71% to it's lowest point in the last 10 years - Hannity decided to show his true colors, again.

This coverage was provided by CNN.


But naturally this doesn't much matter to Sean Hannity who ignores each and every one of the incredible abuses in cases like The Jena 6, because he'd rather justify the initial charge of attempted murder for what was essentially a schoolyard brawl and whine about those Poor Victimized Duke Boys. Nice.

From USA Today.

Last year, the department charged 22 people with hate crimes. That was down 71% from 76 in 1997.

Meanwhile, the department has charged more people with police misconduct and human trafficking. For example, since 2001, the department has prosecuted 360 people on charges of human trafficking, compared with 89 in the six years before that.

FBI figures show that hate crime reports fell 11% from 1997 to 2005, the most recent year available.

Ablin says the Justice Department is committed to investigating and prosecuting civil rights cases. It charged a record 201 people with civil rights violations last year.

The number of reports doesn't necessarily reflect the number of hate crimes, says Steve Wessler, executive director for the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence. Victims are often scared to report the crimes, and police agencies report inconsistently, he says.

"Racial violence is not decreasing," Wessler says. "Either the resources are not going in to prosecute these cases or there isn't a willingness to bring these cases."

Ten-year Justice Department figures show a 60% drop in annual referrals of hate crime investigations to prosecutors.

More from the Seattle-PI on the downward trend of cases brought by the FBI.

The FBI touts civil rights enforcement as a top priority, but the number of investigations into such cases -- from hate crimes to the actions of rogue police officers -- has fallen sharply, raising concerns that victims are left with nowhere else to turn.

Pressed by the Bush administration to beef up counterterrorism ranks, the FBI has pulled agents off civil rights and slashed the number of criminal investigations conducted nationwide.

The bureau has tacitly adopted more-stringent standards governing which cases to open. That move has contributed to two-thirds fewer investigations targeting abusive police officers, cross-burners and other purveyors of hate from 2001 to 2005, according to a Seattle P-I analysis of Justice Department data.

The downward trend began in 1999 and accelerated after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the analysis found.

Civil rights experts -- and even one of the Justice Department's top civil rights lawyers -- are troubled by the trend. They say hate-crime enforcement is too important to ignore, and there is a deterrent effect to federal review of police misconduct that is being muted.

"You're going to have officers getting away with, in some cases, literally, murder," said Jesselyn McCurdy of the American Civil Liberties Union's legislative office in Washington, D.C.

But in truth it's far worse than just what these numbers show. Under Brad Schlozman and Hans Von Spakovsky the Bush Civil Rights Division of the DOJ has been pushed radically to the right and have...

- Implemented Grossly Partisan Highering Practices, shoving out the other people (Blacks, Women) in favor of "Good Americans" (Republicans), prompting the inclusion Black Attorney's in the Division to reach the same level it had in 1978. (2 attorneys out of 50)

- Blocked an investigation into Voter Suppression of Native Americans

- Implemented a New Poll Tax and other restrictions on Minority Voters.

- Appointed as interim U.S. Attorney a former RNC staffer (Tim Griffin) who participated in Voter Caging (Suppression) of African-American Soldiers Fighting in Iraq!

- Implemented extensive investigations into alleged minority "Voter Fraud" when there wasn't any!

From H&C



Threatening someone with a Noose and a Shotgun? No problem. How could a noose or a shotgun hurt anybody? Pfft But hitting someone with a tennis shoe? Attempted Murder!!!

And Hannity is fine with that.

Hannity: This kid that was beaten - who was white - by these kids in the Jena 6 case. He was beaten brutally. And then stomped on after he was cold-cocked from behind. Let me ask you (Reverend), if that was your son - what should the penalty be?

Like anyone taking the Liberal position on Fox, the guest of course stammered and hemmed and hawed barely able to generate a reasonable answer. Then Hannity changed tactics...

Hannity: There have been cases where young African-American men have been accused of crimes and they have been exonerated. What should happen in the case, when that happens - should there be a severe penalty?

Reverend: Sure the people should be held accountable.

Ok, that make sense right? Perfectly reasonable. Then Hannity lowers the Big, Bang - BOOM!

Hannity: You mean Reverend [Jessie] Jackson who offered, on this program, a Scholarship to the woman who was the accuser in the Duke Case? Or Reverend Sharpton who falsely accused Steven Pegonas, who was held liable, in the Tawana Brawley case?

You see what he did there? The little tit-for-tat you bring up some anti-black injustice and I'll raise you some anti-White injustice?

Why don't you care when Injustices Rain down on poor beset-upon white kids (who happen also to Rich and easily able to afford legal representation)?

Why do you Hate Whites?

Don't you care about the children you hypocrit!?

Slick isn't he?

The problem with trying to "level the playing field" between black and white injustice is that in both the Brawley and Duke case, those wrongly accused never served any jail time. It may have been painful, embarrassing and expensive - but the justice system ultimately worked in their favor in both these cases. Sharpton was even required (according to some admittedly pro-Imus sources) to pay $65,000 in restitution to Steve Pagonas for defamation in that case.
(Wouldn't it be great if Hannity has to pay for every time he shot off his damn fool mouth? Ok, ok, I'm dreaming I know...)

But is that also true that Justice is ultimately served in most cases of anti-black bias and false accusations?

Let's not even get into the petty stuff like Michael Richard's 19th Nervous Breakdown of N-Words, Don Imus and his Nappy-H0-ness, Bill O'Reilly having a conniption over Sylvia's lack of MF-ing Ice T or Senator George "Macaca-Man" Allen with the Noose and Confederate flag He Kept in his Office. It's not like any of that just might be signs of like - a trend, or something.

Naw... let not get into all that "He Said, He Said and HE Said" stuff.

If we're talking about Crimes Against the Innocent and we just stick purely with New York - just to keep this diary under 10,000 words - we can find the case of Abner Louima who was tortured and sexually abused by NYPD officers who - get this - mistook him for someone else. You want to make people feel the pain and outrage of the victim Sean? Try describing in graphic detail what happened to Louima. Then there's the shooting murder of Amadour Diallo - for brandishing a cell phone. As well as the shooting death of Patrick Dorismond after he grew upset with an undercover office who was trying to solicit marajuana from him when he didn't have any.

You wanna talk about the wrongly accused Sean?

You wanna talk about restitution and being held accountable?

What do you think should be done to the guy that shoved a broomstick up Louima's rectum?

According to The Innocence Project over 200 wrongly convicted people have been exonerated and released using DNA Evidence over the last decade and a half. Indications are that this is only a fraction of the number of those wrongly accused and convicted. Their data shows that 50% (37 of their first 75 exonerations) were the result of Police Misconduct.



Note to Sean, one of the primary goals of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department is to Implement Accountability for exactly these wrong accusations and prosecutions.

The Racial Breakdown of those Exonerated? Read and Weep Sean.

Of the 208 exonerees:

125 African Americans
58 Caucasians
19 Latinos
1 Asian American
5 whose race is unknown

By the way the average amount of time spent behind bars for these exonerees has been 12 Years.

An average of 12 Long Years Each.

How much jail time did the Duke Boys do again? What's that? None? Do tell...

According to the Sentencing Project the above type of misconduct, combined with racial profiling, manditory minimum sentences and gross disparities in sentencing for drug crimes has lead to dire consequences for minorities in America.

More than 60% of the people in prison are now racial and ethnic minorities. For Black males in their twenties, 1 in every 8 is in prison or jail on any given day. These trends have been intensified by the disproportionate impact of the "war on drugs," in which three-fourths of all persons in prison for drug offenses are people of color.

According to the FBI Uniform Crime Statistics (not that they seem to be investigating these crimes anymore) the vast majority of victims in the cases of racially biased crimes - are not a group of Rich Telegenic White Kids from Duke University.

Among the single-bias hate crime incidents in 2005, there were 4,895 victims of racially motivated hate crime.

* 67.9 percent were victims of an anti-black bias.
* 19.9 percent were victims of an anti-white bias.
* 5.3 percent were victims of a bias against a group of individuals in which more than one race was represented (anti-multiple races, group).
* 4.9 percent were victims of an anti-Asian/Pacific Islander bias.
* 2.0 percent were victims of an anti-American Indian/Alaskan Native bias.
(Based on Table 1.)

Although the Brawley and Duke cases were unfortunately for those who were mistakenly accused - let me repeat, no one went to Prison as a result. No one was Raped. No one Died. The idea that their is any sort of parity between these cases and those of Louima, Dorismond, Dualla, the Jena 6, the Liberty City Seven or any number of literally hundreds of cases which are both more severe and more frequent is just plain ridiculous.

Yes, there are clearly incidents of anti-white and anti-Hispanic and anti-Asian bias. And it's absolutely true and crystal clear these should be persued, but it's also true that the DOJ has not being meeting any of it's responsibilities in this area not just for Blacks, but also Whites to the level that we all should expect and demand.

Oh, and it's also clear that Sean Hannity is an AssClown.

Vyan

Larry Craig and the GOP's 19th Nervous Breakdown

They've been through a lot these Republicans. Not that I really care, I'm just saying...

It's been really rough for them, from failing to prevent 9-11, starting then losing the Iraq War, to Jack Abramov, Tom Delay, Brownie, Dubai, Jeff Gannon/Guckert, David Kuo, David Safavian, Claude Allen, Mark Foley, Ted Haggart, James Comey, Carol Lam, Monica Goodling, Tim Griffin, David Iglesias, David Vitter, Donald Rumfeld, Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzale's resignation and now... Larry Craig.

Although I myself have been so overjoyed by some of these developments I could have been found doing a drunken table dance in a Britney Spears schmatta (i.e. bottomless - even though I'm male) watching the GOP bus do donuts on the body Craig's flailing political career strikes me somewhat differently.

The problem I have is the odd familiarity of this particular sad and sordid story from Roll Call.

"At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. I moved my foot up and down slowly. While this was occurring, the male in the stall to my right was still present. I could hear several unknown persons in the restroom that appeared to use the restroom for its intended use. The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot which was within my stall area," the report states.

Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times, and Karsnia noted in his report that "I could ... see Craig had a gold ring on his ring finger as his hand was on my side of the stall divider."

Karsnia then held his police identification down by the floor so that Craig could see it.

Fortunately I happen to remember where I've heard this story before.

Over a decade ago I read "On the Trail of Assassins" the book written by Judge Jim Garrison, which was eventually adapted by Oliver Stone into "JFK." Putting aside the issues brought up by the shooting of Kennedy himself, or the case which Garrison brought in a New Orleans court room against Clay Shaw as a co-conspirator in that shooting, the Craig scene struck me as oddly similar to an event which nearly entrapped Garrison some years after the case had concluded.

Because the Shaw trial had frankly, pissed off a ton of people, including those in the FBI and CIA where Shaw apparently had some connections, Garrison would normally keep his traveling plans confidential. On one of occasion one of his staff warned him that there was a plot against him and insisted on accompanying him to the airport and ensuring he got onto his flight safely, which he did. In the process that assistant was able to discover his flight number, destination and arrival time.

At his destination Garrison went to the bathroom and while he was sitting in his own stall someone else - in a room full of empty stalls - sat down right next to him. Garrison, who during these days was on high alert and who had previously been an FBI agent, decided this was more than a little fishy and decided to leave immediately. Outside the restroom he found a near army of law enforcement waiting to pounce. The entire thing had been a setup to damage him in his next run for New Orleans District Attorney based on a tip-off from his (soon to be former) assistant.

Narrowly, he had escaped it.

(These events were actually filmed for "JFK" and are included on the extended Director's Cut - but the event has been time-shifted forward so that it takes place during the Shaw Trial. I also want to note that this was the only incident in Garrison's book that even broached the subject of Homosexuality - while the Stone film was practically drowning in it, claiming that it was the key link between most of the suspects and Shaw - on this point the book and film are very, very different!)

Compare these event almost 40 years ago to the George Michael arrest in a Beverly Hills Bathroom ten years ago.

George Michael: "Well, I was followed into the restroom, and then, this cop – well, I didn't know he was a cop at the time, obviously – he started playing this game. I think it's called ‘I'll show you mine, you show me yours, and then when you show me yours, I'm gonna nick you!'"

What has been consistent in Michael's story, is that the "officer" flashed him first, and he responded in kind.

Now, I don't know whether Craig is genuinely guilty of these accusations or not, I don't know if he's gay or not -- but I would say that what he's accused here is certainly fairly minor. Exactly what was his crime here - Footsie? Improper hand signals? Clipping?

Rather than fight the charges, or contact a lawyer he choose to do what a lot of people faced with a nuisance ticket tend to do (particularly when they have something to hide and to risk) - settle. He paid about $500 in fines and all jail time was suspended - but that doesn't mean he's literally guilty and even if he is - so what?

If this had been a heterosexual event, say in the back corner of a bar or a nightclub - would it be a matter for the police?

Why is it that David Vitter's phone number showing up in the black book of the DC madam warranted a thunderous ovation for him, but Craig get this response from the GOP before he finally resigned...

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN): "Senator Craig pled guilty to a crime involving conduct unbecoming a senator. He should resign."

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ): "I believe that he — that he pled guilty and he had the opportunity to plead innocent. So I think he should resign."

Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI): "However, he also represents the Republican Party, and I believe that he should step down as his conduct throughout this matter has been inappropriate for a U.S. senator."

Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN): "While additional concerns are being raised, Senator Craig already demonstrated that he is unfit to serve in the U.S. Congress when he pled guilty. I believe that he needs to step down."

Reps. Jeff Miller (R-FL), Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL), Bobby Jindal (R-LA), and Ron Lewis (R-KY): [A handful of Republicans] urged Craig to step down...including Jeff Miller and Ginny Brown-Waite of Florida, Mark Souder of Indiana, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Ron Lewis of Kentucky.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has also stripped Craig of his committee leadership positions and called for a Senate ethics investigation into the affair.

It may be that the vehemence of this reaction by the GOP leaders is simply the result of scandal fatigue. A desire to simply get this one off the table as fast and quickly as possible and not let it linger into next November the way that the Foley scan hung like a black crusty cloud over the Repubs last year.

But then again maybe something else is going on...

Why do we have male cops in bathrooms enticing people like this anyway? Do we have a mad outbreak of Gay PDA's going on?

Would anyone take seriously the idea of a female cop in a female bathroom arresting girls for trying to "hook up"?

Frankly, We all know it's far more likely that surveillance footage of this would wind up on the next edition of "Girls Gone Wild", not the local court house.

And this is why, even as a devout partisan democrat, I can't be proud or happy about the loss of Senator Craig. I'm not suggesting that this was a "set-up" to trap Craig in the way that Garrison alluded to in his book, it's rather that the rank and vile hypocrisy of this process of targeting male gays in this way really should be addressed.

Look at how both Dan Abrams and Joe Scarborough laugh, while Tfucker Carlson describes being "bothered" in a bathroom and then coming back with a friend to "slam the guys head into the stall."

Video

Tucker commits a HATE CRIME and then tries to portray himself as the victim.

Let me be clear about an incident I referred to on MSNBC last night: In the mid-1980s, while I was a high school student, a man physically grabbed me in a men’s room in Washington, DC. I yelled, pulled away from him and ran out of the room. Twenty-five minutes later, a friend of mine and I returned to the men’s room. The man was still there, presumably waiting to do to someone else what he had done to me. My friend and I seized the man and held him until a security guard arrived.

Several bloggers have characterized this is a sort of gay bashing. That’s absurd, and an insult to anybody who has fought back against an unsolicited sexual attack. I wasn’t angry with the man because he was gay. I was angry because he assaulted me.

So at one point the guy was "bothering" Tucker and now that he's been called on it - it's a sexual attack? Yeah, right.

Is that what Larry Craig did, commit a sexual attack by wiping his hand on the bottom of the stall too many times? Did George Michael commit a sexual attack when an undercover cop flashed him? How about Jim Garrison?

This is a big load of BULL AND CRAP.

Yes, there are indeed genuine sexual predators out there who take advantage of the naive and the young. Case in point: MARK FOLEY! But what many, particularly those on the right seem to forget is that what was wrong with Foley wasn't that he was gay, it's that he was/is a predator.

To the right, this distinction is lost. Listen to Gen Peter Pace as he compares homosexuality to adultery.

The right-wing's atavistic terror of the gay, has not been diminished by the passage of time. I've long argued that this is largely because these people are misogynists to the core, and what the truly fear is the idea that another man just might treat them - the same way they treat women.

Shock and Awe!

What this incident shows is that this dread is as strong and virulent now as was during the late 60's, yet at the same time so many of those in the GOP are so extremely GAY. Just look at Gannon/Gucker, Andrew Sullivan, former GOP shill David Brock (now the repentant head of Media Matters) and for that matter the guy who tried to pick Brock up in a West Hollywood nightclub Matt Drudge.

I do not blame Craig for denying being gay, many gay people remain in the closet simply because they can't afford to be out due to the consequences (like Drudge or Melhman), such as those exampled by General Pace, and also the fact that many people have to come to grips with the reality of their own sexuality on their own terms and in their own due time as George Michael eventually did only after his own arrest.

Although another GOPer has bitten the dust and generally that's a good thing for Democrats, in this case it is not. With Idaho Govenor C. L. "Butch" Otter more than likely to appoint a fresh new rubber stamp to Craig's seat - we gain nothing, they lose nothing.

But if we stand up and cheer this, if we revel in taking of this scalp - just what is it that we're really cheering for, the continued hunting, vilification and criminalization of male gays?

Sorry guys, although I'm straight, I'm simply not down with this kind of naked bigotry being something that Democrats should applaud or stand for.

Vyan