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Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Are you a "Rightwing Extremist"?

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a report earlier this month titled Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment. (What a mouthful! I used to work for the government. After I resigned it took me years before I could write a regular sentence!)

The report labels normal people extemists. Why? Because they hold traditional views - the same views most Americans held in the 1950s. But now, in the politically correct world of left-wing extremism, those views are suspect and a cause for labeling Americans like me potentially dangerous. "Rightwing extremeism," says the report, "may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue such as opposition to abortion." In another place the report specifically mentions the potential danger of those concerned about "abortion...and same-sex marriage."

I guess I have to plead guilty on both counts. I oppose them as immoral and unconstitutional and, while I'm not stockpiling weapons in the basement, I'm stockpiling plenty of ideas for articles in my computer files. And since the pen (or the keyboard) is mightier than the sword, I guess that makes me reeeeeeeally dangerous.

The DHS report admits in the very first line that there's no evidence that "domestic rightwing terrorists are currently planning acts of violence." Reread that line. People like me haven't done anything violent and there's no evidence we plan any violence, but we are already labeled "domestic rightwing terrorists." This hearkens back to Janet Reno, Clinton's Attorney General, who even labeled the Conference of Bishops potential terrorists. (I laughed when I read that. Except for a few real shepherds, most of the bishops haven't got the guts to stand up to an angry member of their flocks.) Reno committed some of the worst acts of terrorism ever perpetrated against Americans and got away scot free: the Randy Weaver debacle where a twelve-year-old was shot in the back running toward the house and the murder of the Branch Davidians where they killed the children to save the children. But government terrorism never counts because the government writes the rules.

But I digress.

Consider the ramifications of the DHS report. Muslim terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center, bombed U.S. embassies all over the world, bombed the U.S. Marine Headquarters in Lebanon, bombed airliners, bombed the U.S.S. Cole - they aren't the real terrorist threat and can't be "profiled." (For a list of acts of terrorism by Muslim extremists go here.) It's not even bombers like Bernadine Dohrn and William Ayers who regret not causing more mayhem during their Weather Underground days. (But they are now friends and contributors to the president so their murder and maiming of police officers doesn't count.) No, the real terrorists are mothers and grandmothers who defend the unborn and the constitution; they qualify as domestic terrorists according to DHS.

If this report isn't an example of fascism/communism and a warning about what this administration has in mind for law-abiding citizens, I don't know what is. So if you're a serious Roman Catholic standing up for the faith outside an abortion mill with a rosary in your hands...well...just watch your back.

N.B. DHS head Janet Napolitano stands by the report which also calls veterans terrorists. One question, when recruits sign up for the military are they told they will be labeled terrorists when (and if) they return home? One more question: can you imagine the outcry if a Republican administration labeled gays and pro-aborts domestic terrorists?

3 comments:

  1. Though the 'responsibility' Janet Reno pretended to take over the slaughter of the children in Waco alas fell short of seeing her executed for the crime, the murder of Randy Weaver's wife took place, not under Reno, but during the Administration of George HW.
    As to the growing totalitarian mood, you may remember from your rescue days, this not uncommon refrain: you either stop killing them or you start killing us.
    Getting nearer, that demand, it would seem. - Antigon

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  2. Clearly the first step in suppressing opposition is to label your opposition extremists. Then you can elevate the rhetoric and take advantage of any crisis to further the strategy. After all, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.

    I've been watching this emphasis on news management and spin growing all through the television adoption for political purposes. Perceptions are increasingly trumping reality. If you can smear your opponent it doesn't matter if what you say is true. You can even apologize and say you regret the error. It won't matter because the slime sticks and even if implausible creates doubt.

    We live in an increasingly immoral, manipulative, and self-centered world where the dogs are tearing each other and everyone else to bits.

    Somehow it all reminds me of Titus Andronicus.

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  3. Here is an appropriate political cartoon on the subject:

    http://www.tobydials.com/td/node/334

    ReplyDelete