SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER PUBLISHES PATRIOT HIT LIST



By Chuck Baldwin
April 21, 2010
NewsWithViews.com

In a report on its web site dated April 2010, entitled "Meet The Patriots," the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) profiled "36 individuals at the heart of the resurgent [patriot] movement." (In reading the list, I counted only 35 "patriots" and 5 "enablers" for a total of 40. I'm not really sure how the SPLC came up with "36." Perhaps their ability to count is commensurate with their ability to appreciate patriotism and liberty.) The SPLC (founded by Morris Dees) sees itself as America's guardian against "right wing militias" and loves to label conservatives and libertarians that it doesn't like as "extremists." The SPLC is one of the most ultra-liberal organizations in the country and should be dismissed as a group of paranoid leftists, not worthy of thought or mention.

The sad truth is, however, our federal government has chosen to exalt the SPLC to the position of being its "go to" source for information regarding "potential domestic terrorists" and similar characterizations. As a result, the information and reports disseminated by SPLC wind up in police reports and bulletins all over the United States. As an example, the SPLC had its fingerprints all over the infamous MIAC report. One could even question whether the SPLC is merely a front organization for Big Brother.

Therefore, it is highly likely that the report negatively profiling 40 American patriots will find its way into Department of Homeland Security (DHS) fusion centers and be distributed to police agencies all across the country. So, should the 40 people who find themselves targeted by SPLC expect some kind of government/police attention? Are we really that close to Nazi-style persecution in America? If the SPLC has its way, the answer seems to be a definite yes.

I remind readers that in the book, Nazi Justiz: Law of the Holocaust (page 3), there were five steps to Hitler's plans for the destruction of European Jews.

Step 1: Identification/registration of the targeted group as a public menace.

Step 2: Ostracism of the targeted persons.

Step 3: property confiscation.

Step 4: Concentration of members into geographical locations.

Step 5: Annihilation. In this latest report, SPLC seems quite willing to accomplish steps 1 and 2.

Here are the 40 names that are targeted in the SPLC report (and guess who is listed at the very top? Yours truly):

1. Chuck Baldwin, Pastor, Radio Broadcaster, Syndicated Columnist, 2008 Constitution Party Presidential nominee.
2. Joe Banister, former IRS special agent, tax protester.
3. Martin "Red" Beckman, tax protester
4. Catherine Bleish, head of the Liberty Restoration Project.
5. Chris Broughton, Second Amendment advocate, member of "We The People" group.
6. Bob Campbell, head of American Grand Jury.
7. Robert Crooks, Army veteran, retired commercial fisherman, anti-illegal immigration proponent.
8. Joseph Farah, CEO of World Net Daily
9. Gary Franchi, producer of "Camp FEMA: American Lockdown," national director of RestoreTheRepublic.com.
10. Al Garza, head of the Patriot's Coalition, an anti-illegal immigration group.
11. Ted Gunderson, retired FBI agent.
12. John Hassey, "The public face of Alabama's militia movement in the late 1990s," says SPLC.
13. Alex Jones, Radio Talk Show host.
14. Devvy Kidd, "prolific columnist, blogger, and public speaker."
15. Larry Kilgore, telecommunications consultant, former US Senate candidate from Texas, pro-secession advocate.
16. Cliff Kincaid, syndicated columnist and author, editor of AIM Report (Accuracy in Media's publication), founder and president of America's Survival, Inc., a UN watchdog group.
17. Mark Koernke, associated with the now-defunct Michigan Militia.
18. Richard Mack, former Graham County, Arizona, Sheriff, author, and public speaker.
19. Jack McLamb, former Phoenix, Arizona, police officer, author, and public speaker.
20. John McManus, former member of the US Marine Corps, president of the John Birch Society.
21. Daniel New, father of Michael New (the Army medic who refused to wear a UN uniform), author, public speaker.
22. Norm Olson, founder of the now-defunct Michigan Militia.
23. Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America.
24. Stewart Rhodes, Army veteran and Yale Law School graduate, founder of Oath Keepers.
25. Jon Roland, computer specialist, founder of the Constitution Society.
26. Luke Rudkowski, founder We Are Change.
27. Robert "Bob" Schultz, founder of We The People.
28. Joel Skousen, editor, World Affairs Brief.
29. Jim Stachowiak, Radio Talk Show host, "Longtime militia organizer," claims SPLC.
30. John Stadtmiller, founder, Republic Broadcasting Network.
31. Orly Taitz, California attorney, a leader in the push to make President Obama disclose his US birth certificate.
32. Amanda Teegarden, executive director of Oklahomans for Sovereignty and Free Enterprise.
33. Mike Vanderboegh, anti-Obama health care activist.
34. Paul Venable, former candidate for the Idaho House of Representatives.
35. Edwin Vieira, Jr., attorney, author, proponent of constitutional State militias, lecturer.
36. Michele Bachmann, US Representative from Minnesota.
37. Glenn Beck, Fox News Channel TV host.
38. Paul Broun, medical doctor, US Representative from Georgia.
39. Andrew Napolitano, attorney, former State judge in New Jersey, Fox News Channel legal analyist, lecturer.
40. Ron Paul, former member of the US Air Force, medical doctor, US Representative from Texas, 2008 Republican candidate for President.

See the SPLC report here.

The SPLC, no doubt, sees each person on the above list as being a leader of the "radical right," a "conspiracist," and "antigovernment." But understand, the SPLC makes its living off of big-government, leftist ideology. To say it is a shill for Big Government Liberalism is an understatement. The SPLC is so radical it makes the ACLU look conservative!

Again, this SPLC report would not even merit a mention (much less an entire column) except for the fact that the SPLC has become a source of information fuelling anti-freedom hysteria for countless bureaucrats at the DHS. Add this to the previously exposed MIAC and DHS reports, and the Army major's report blaming "millennialist" Christians for much of the ills of the world, and a disturbing trend is quickly developing: so-called right-wing ANYTHING is being targeted and demonized as a "public menace."

But the lists that you and I are not seeing are even more disturbing.

Joel Skousen quotes (Radar Magazine's) Christopher Ketcham's The Last Roundup as asking if the federal government is "compiling a secret enemies list of citizens who could face detention?" He goes on to say, "A number of former government employees and intelligence sources with independent knowledge of domestic surveillance operations claim the program that caused the flap between [former assistant attorney general under John Ashcroft, James] Comey and the White House was related to a database of Americans who might be considered potential threats in the event of a national emergency. Sources familiar with the program say that the government's data gathering has been overzealous and probably conducted in violation of federal law and the protection from unreasonable search and seizure guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment.

"A veteran CIA intelligence analyst who maintains active high-level clearances and serves as an advisor to the Department of Defense in the field of emerging technology tells Radar that during the 2004 hospital room drama [between former Chief of Staff Andrew Card and Attorney General Ashcroft, in an attempt by Card to coerce a very ill Ashcroft to authorize President Bush's secretive domestic spying programs as his assistant--and acting--attorney general had refused to do so], James Comey expressed concern over how this secret database was being used 'to accumulate otherwise private data on non-targeted U.S. citizens for use at a future time.'"

The report further states, "According to a senior government official who served with high-level security clearances in five administrations, 'There exists a database of Americans, who, often for the slightest and most trivial reason, are considered unfriendly, and who, in a time of panic, might be incarcerated. The database can identify and locate perceived "enemies of the state" almost instantaneously.'" At this point, Skousen noted, "And that is precisely why the census bureau took a GPS coordinate on every front door in America, secretly linking this to dissidents and their known addresses."

This database of Americans who are perceived to be potential "enemies of the state" goes by the code name "Main Core." And according to the report, "One knowledgeable source claims that 8 million Americans are now listed in Main Core as potentially suspect. In the event of a national emergency, these people could be subject to everything from heightened surveillance and tracking to direct questioning and possibly even detention.

"Officials at the Department of Homeland Security begin actively scrutinizing people who--for a tremendously broad set of reasons--have been flagged in Main Core as potential domestic threats [sound familiar?]. Some of these individuals might receive a letter or a phone call, others a request to register with local authorities. Still others might hear a knock on the door and find police or armed soldiers outside. In some instances, the authorities might just ask a few questions. Other suspects might be arrested and escorted to federal holding facilities, where they could be detained without counsel until the state of emergency is no longer in effect."

The report also noted that former Assistant Attorney General James Comey "had concluded that the use of that 'Main Core' database compromised the legality of the overall NSA domestic surveillance project. 'If Main Core does exist,' says Philip Giraldi, a former CIA counterterrorism officer and an outspoken critic of the agency, 'the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is its likely home. If a master list is being compiled, it would have to be in a place where there are no legal issues--the CIA and FBI would be restricted by oversight and accountability laws--so I suspect it is at DHS, which as far as I know operates with no such restraints.' Giraldi notes that DHS already maintains a central list of suspected terrorists and has been freely adding people who pose no reasonable threat to domestic security."

So, is there a secret list of 8 million "unfriendly" Americans kept by DHS (if there is, dear reader, you are probably on it!)? Does anyone reading this column doubt that our federal government is more than willing and capable of doing such a thing? All of us are quite familiar with the government's "no fly" or "flagged" airline passenger list. I can personally attest to the authenticity of this list, as airport officials in San Antonio, Texas, told me that I'm on it. I also made it to the "list of three" that were named in the MIAC report (the other two were Ron Paul and Bob Barr). And now I am on the SPLC list of "patriots" (not a compliment in the SPLC lexicon). Wow! I never realize how popular I was! (With the exception of Ron Paul, I'm probably on more lists than anyone in America.)

Who would ever have thought that the day would come in America when to speak up for freedom, constitutional government, and the principles expressed by our Founding Fathers would land one on a government watch list? Well, that day is here, my friend! No doubt, the major media and federal government--in order to further ostracize patriotic, God-fearing Americans--will use the SPLC patriot hit list as a vehicle to carry our country further down the road of oppression.

But what the radical left fearmongers at the Southern Poverty Law Center fail to realize is that the more they try to marginalize and ostracize American patriots such as you and me, the more they isolate themselves from America's future, because millions and millions of hard-working, God-fearing, liberty-loving Americans are not going to sit back and let Morris Dees and his cabal of Big Government elitists destroy the principles of freedom in our land.

So, people such as Morris Dees can put us on as many lists as they like; we will never let liberty die! And the more they try to demonize us, the more people will want to join with us. You see, freedom burns deep and strong in the hearts of real Americans. And that's something the SPLC can't extinguish--no matter how many lists it makes!

*If you appreciate this column and want to help me distribute these editorial opinions to an ever-growing audience, donations may now be made by credit card, check, or Money Order. Use this link.

© 2010 Chuck Baldwin - All Rights Reserved

I'm more than a little disappointed I didn't make that list. Guess I'll just have to work harder.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Well I think we can all say this no surprise. This is just someone on the left openly stating what we have all known for sometime now,that we are all in the sights of big brother epsecially those on the liberal left.

so the red list / blue list thing is more than just conspiracy theory after all... figures

I try not to listen to alex jones, but he keeps being vindicated....

They murdered William Cooper to shut him up.

They imprisoned, Mark Koernke and Charlie Puckett to shut them up.

They persecuted and prosecuted Sgt. Dyer to shut him up.

They raided the Hutaree Militia to make a point.

There is a pattern to their madness and you can bet that all those mentioned in this latest report as well as the websites and organizations mentioned in the adl piece; will come under intense pressure to shut up...or else.

CNN and SPLC Attempt to Demonize, Blackball Patriots

By Debbie Morgan, staff writer, www.TakeBackWashington.com

April 20, 2010 – The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and CNN have been busy demonizing “patriots” again. In December, CNN slammed the “patriot movement” and distorted FEMA camp evidence. The SPLC joined in the fun at the first of the year with their Spring 2010 Special Report publication. In March, the SPLC reported that patriot and militia groups are “surging in number” and also took aim at public broadcasting station KBDI for airing the documentary, Camp FEMA, during its Winter fund drive.

It’s April and, lest a month go by without some mention of the nasty “patriots, the SPLC has issued a new publication, “Meet The Patriots.” The newest fare from the SPLC is a list of active patriots, most of whom this writer knows at least something about. The list is nearly a complete Who’s Who in the patriot community. CNN has chimed in with its recent “Radical Right or Anger Against the Government” piece during Anderson Cooper’s 360°, speaking about a few members on “the list,” as well as taking yet another opportunity to disparage Camp FEMA.

Mark Potok from the Southern Poverty Law Center
Alternative Radio and Television hosts Alex Jones, Gary Franchi, John Stadtmiller, Jim Stachowiak made the list. Former law officials and government employees Joe Banister, Ted Gunderson, Richard Mack and Jack McLamb made it. Independent writers Dr. Edwin Vieira, Devvy Kidd, and Joseph Farah made the cut. Activists with organizations challenging the tyrannical government including Catherine Bleish, Paul Venable, Larry Pratt, Stewart Rhodes, Luke Rudkowski and Bob Schultz were not left out and politicians Michelle Bachmann and Ron Paul along with Presidential hopeful Chuck Baldwin were included, and the list goes on. In fact, the list is so broad that, unless you have been living under a rock for the past few years, you are bound to know someone on it!

In an open and honest call to action, I would like to know if the SPLC or CNN has given any thought to the actual concerns of these people? I dare say they have not. It is unfortunate, too, because many of these people are simply pointing out the blatant discrepancy between our out-of-control federal government with its well-defined Constitutional role.

In the CNN piece, writer John Avlon makes the comment, “People are afraid…willing to believe the worst about their government…believe that there are people trying to undermine this Constitutional Republic.” Has Mr. Avlon bothered to read either Patriot Act? The John Warner Defense Act? The Military Commissions Act? Or, maybe he read the appropriations bill to which the Real ID Rider, after the Act itself did not pass, was attached? What about the massive health care bill? May I also take a moment to point out that our own Chief Justice John Roberts has been caught, many times, referring to our country as a Constitutional Democracy?

Avlon may have missed the proposed Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007, which never became law, but the very fact that a legislator that represents the people could propose it is frightening. CNN’s Drew Griffin makes reference to the “now stalled HR 645,” yet another piece of egregious legislation that, even though stalled, should never be proposed by legislators who represent you and me.

Many of the poetic, yet decisive, words our forefathers penned in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution rang through my ears as I read through the “list” (emphasis mine):

“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” The Declaration of Independence…

“The Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added…” The Bill of Rights

Our forefathers clearly knew of the very dangers most of these freedom fighters are concerned about as they were debating and writing our founding documents!

When asked about his thoughts of the new SPLC’s “list” and his inclusion on it and CNN’s latest criticism of Camp FEMA, producer Gary Franchi had this to say, “My hat’s off to the Southern Poverty Law Center for making it easier for me to find new patriots and build a bigger and better coalition to continue the fight for freedom in America. Unfortunately, they are doing the same thing for the Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazis, too.” Not deterred by the blatant moves of the SPLC and CNN to include anyone who has the audacity to question the federal government’s motives, Franchi, of Restore the Republic, is about to release his newest project with director William Lewis, Don’t Tread On Me.

If the SPLC and CNN thought Camp FEMA was conspiracy-minded, the newest Lewis/Franchi film will surely grab their attention! Many of the very same “patriots” who made the SPLC list are guests in the film discussing State’s rights, sovereignty, what the states can do about the encroachment of the federal government and, yes, even the Constitutionality of the militia! Unfortunately for the SPLC and CNN, viewers of the new film will not get baseless rhetoric but a clear education about what our country, founded on the principles of a Constitutional Republic, is all about.

This leaves one to wonder why the SPLC, a group founded to battle “hate and bigotry” and fight for injustice, would make such broad “lists” without regard to the message of the actual people on the list. It also begs to ask why CNN would seem to be so biased in its journalism. In earlier articles responding to claims made by the SPLC and CNN, many “points” they find “conspiratorial” within the “patriot community” were expounded on, and actually, with research, proven to be of real concern.

The SPLC does give a brief description of each person on their list, although painting a less than accurate picture of most. Former IRS agent, Joe Banister, was, indeed acquitted, in his trial on tax fraud charges. What the SPLC (and CNN, too as they railed against Bob Schultz) conveniently left out is that during the trial, Banister’s IRS supervisor “was unable to cite any U.S. law that required Banister to pay income taxes.” Are the SPLC and CNN just conveniently ignoring that fact?

In fact, the only thing most of the people on the list are guilty of is asking questions and seeking answers. Some of those people, Jones, Franchi, Stadtmiller, Baldwin, Bleish, Stachowiak, Kidd, Farah, Rhodes, and others, have huge followings and those people are concerned for the state of our nation, but they aren’t anti-government, as the SPLC, CNN and Avlon would have you believe. They are merely interested in a Constitutional government. Maybe, one day, this salient point will sink in!

In her quest for answers, Bleish has been arrested twice for no reason, yet is the SPLC defending her rights? No, they are adding her to a “list” of people who are “antigovernment” and of the “radical right.” She isn’t even “right,” she’s an independent!

Chris Broughton attended an Obama rally carrying his AR-15. The news painted an interesting picture. The SPLC even makes mention of the fact that Broughton “claims that some news broadcasters edited video footage of the scene to hide his race (he’s black) when reporting on the racist backlash to Obama’s election.” This is actually not a claim, it was true. Photos of the back of a man (no full pictures) with an AR-15 strapped to it surfaced all over the place while the news took the opportunity to paint protesters as racist and dangerous. The news had to later admit to the race of the protester, only after the alternative media brought it to the attention of the nation.

This brings me to the question, where was the SPLC (or CNN) when Kenneth Gladney was attacked in St. Louis as he attended a one of the many Town Hall meetings surrounding the Obama health care bill. Gladney’s attackers, at least four, were members of the pro-Obama SEIU (Service Employees International Union) in attendance that night and “used a racial slur against him before the attack started.” Gladney had to go to the hospital. Where is Gladney’s protection against hate, bigotry and injustice? By the way, Gladney is a black man, also.


Writer Anthony Martin calls the SPLC on a “flat-out lie” with regards to their “report” of Michael Vanderboegh. Martin writes, “The ‘Southern Poverty Law Center’ is misnamed. Rather than focusing on providing legal aid to those who live in poverty the organization is actually an extremist Leftwing group that pushes an anti-Constitutional, pro-Socialist philosophy and ‘monitors rightwing hate groups.’”

These are just a few examples of less than truthful information being spread by the SPLC and CNN. These two have seized the utter disappointment in the Obama administration as a reason to claim that right wing extremism is on the rise, conveniently leaving out the fact that most of these people found fault with the Bush administration, as well AND the majority of these individuals are not right wing extremists, at all, but fiercely independent.

Once again, the SPLC proves they are, indeed, not the organization they claim to be. And what does it say for the truth in journalism of CNN? What these two seem to be good at is lumping all people questioning our government together and pointing fingers at many with only speculative evidence. When will people realize that the SPLC and CNN are just as guilty of dividing our country and spreading hatred and “conspiracies” as those they claim to be exposing?

Endnotes:

For more information, please visit www.TakeBackWashington.com and www.RestoreTheRepublic.com

SPLC’s new “Meet the Patriots”

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/publications/the-patriots

CNN Radical Right or Anger Against the Government

http://restoretherepublic.com/top-stories/cnn-radical-or-right-anger-against-the-government.html

CNN Slams “Patriot Movement,” Misrepresents FEMA Camp Evidence

http://www.policestate21.com/CNN-Slams-Patriot-Movement.html

Chief Justice, Do you really not know what kind of government we have?

http://www.spingola.com/chief_justice.htm

Leftwing extremist ‘Southern Poverty Law Center’ smears conservatives, patriots
http://www.examiner.com/x-37620-Conservative-Examiner~y2010m4d18-Leftwing-extremist-Southern-Poverty-Law-Center-smears-conservatives-patriots

Former IRS CID Special Agent Joseph Banister Acquitted of Tax Fraud And Conspiracy

http://www.couldyoubenext.com/062405_newsbreak.htm

Exposing the Southern Poverty Law Center…Now It’s Personal!

http://www.takebackwashington.com/articles/Exposing-the-Southern-Poverty-Law-Center.html

Catherine Bleish detained in Maplewood MO Please Help.

http://www.libertyrestorationprojec...sh-detained-in-maplewood-mo-please-help/

Catherine Bleish Arrested at a Pot Rally for Filming Arrest!

http://theaustinfreepress.com/CatherineBleishArrestedforFilmingArrest.aspx

Six people, including P-D reporter, arrested at Carnahan meeting
(Original link to the St Louis Post-Dispatch has been removed)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132×8573422

SEIU Thugs Attack a Black Conservative Kenneth Gladney Outside Russ Carnahan Townhall

http://www.fireandreamitchell.com/2...-gladney-outside-russ-carnahan-townhall/

"Number Thirty Three." The Roll of Honor

Rick: "Nothing can stop them now. Wednesday, Thursday at the latest, they'll be in Paris."

Ilsa: "Richard, they'll find out your record. It won't be safe for you here."

Rick: "I'm on their blacklist already -- their Roll of Honor."


All tyrannies have lists -- lists of enemies to watch, to harass, to arrest, to kill, if necessary.

Here is a list. Now the folks at SPLC are not a tyranny in and of themselves. They ARE potentially the lying handmaidens of tyranny. However, when and if they get what they want, they may find that what they have been doing has unintended consequences for themselves all their own. Well, they chose their collectivist master's side and doubtless will share that master's fate.

The Gestapo listmakers fled to Argentina and Syria after the collapse of their tyranny. I wonder where the listmakers of the Southern Preposterous Lie Center will flee? Zimbabwe? Cuba?

Here are the names they have on their list. These are divided into "patriots" and "enablers." I was upset to hear that I was only Number Thirty Three until I found out it was an alphabetical list. Can't do anything about my last name. Wouldn't want to anyway.

The scholarship, or lack thereof, on this "list" is shocking. The meek, mild and inoffensive Edwin Viera is on this list, but the fiery, courageous New Mexico militia leader and Minuteman Bob Wright is not. Why? Because this list is about conflation and lying, not about fact. It is about -- as all SPLC garbage is about -- fundraising.

Here is a copy of the list emailed to me that comes from Chuck Baldwin, who is happy that he is at the top. As I said, He can thank his daddy for that. If my name was Aardvark, I'd be at the top of the list.


1. Chuck Baldwin, Pastor, Radio Broadcaster, Syndicated Columnist, 2008 Constitution Party Presidential nominee.

2. Joe Banister, former IRS special agent, tax protester.

3. Martin “Red” Beckman, tax protester

4. Catherine Bleish, head of the Liberty Restoration Project.

5. Chris Broughton, Second Amendment advocate, member of “We The People” group.

6. Bob Campbell, head of American Grand Jury.

7. Robert Crooks, Army veteran, retired commercial fisherman, anti-illegal immigration proponent.

8. Joseph Farah, CEO of World Net Daily

9. Gary Franchi, producer of “Camp FEMA: American Lockdown,” national director of RestoreTheRepublic.com.

10. Al Garza, head of the Patriot’s Coalition, an anti-illegal immigration group.

11. Ted Gunderson, retired FBI agent.

12. John Hassey, “The public face of Alabama’s militia movement in the late 1990s,” says SPLC.

13. Alex Jones, Radio Talk Show host.

14. Devvy Kidd, “prolific columnist, blogger, and public speaker.”

15. Larry Kilgore, telecommunications consultant, former US Senate candidate from Texas, pro-secession advocate.

16. Cliff Kincaid, syndicated columnist and author, editor of AIM Report (Accuracy in Media’s publication), founder and president of America’s Survival, Inc., a UN watchdog group.

17. Mark Koernke, associated with the now-defunct Michigan Militia.

18. Richard Mack, former Graham County, Arizona, Sheriff, author, and public speaker.

19. Jack McLamb, former Phoenix, Arizona, police officer, author, and public speaker.

20. John McManus, former member of the US Marine Corps, president of the John Birch Society.

21. Daniel New, father of Michael New (the Army medic who refused to wear a UN uniform), author, public speaker.

22. Norm Olson, founder of the now-defunct Michigan Militia.

23. Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America.

24. Stewart Rhodes, Army veteran and Yale Law School graduate, founder of Oath Keepers.

25. Jon Roland, computer specialist, founder of the Constitution Society.

26. Luke Rudkowski, founder We Are Change.

27. Robert “Bob” Schultz, founder of We The People.

28. Joel Skousen, editor, World Affairs Brief.

29. Jim Stachowiak, Radio Talk Show host, “Longtime militia organizer,” claims SPLC.

30. John Stadtmiller, founder, Republic Broadcasting Network.

31. Orly Taitz, California attorney, a leader in the push to make President Obama disclose his US birth certificate.

32. Amanda Teegarden, executive director of Oklahomans for Sovereignty and Free Enterprise.

33. Mike Vanderboegh, anti-Obama health care activist.

34. Paul Venable, former candidate for the Idaho House of Representatives.

35. Edwin Vieira, Jr., attorney, author, proponent of constitutional State militias, lecturer.

36. Michele Bachmann, US Representative from Minnesota.

37. Glenn Beck, Fox News Channel TV host.

38. Paul Broun, medical doctor, US Representative from Georgia.

39. Andrew Napolitano, attorney, former State judge in New Jersey, Fox News Channel legal analyist, lecturer.

40. Ron Paul, former member of the US Air Force, medical doctor, US Representative from Texas, 2008 Republican candidate for President.


Now I'm not sure where the description of me as "anti-Obama health care activist" came from. A reporter the other day referred to me as the "Eminence Grise" -- the "Gray Eminence" of the Constitutional Militia Movement. I kinda like that. It covers a lot more ground and is more truly descriptive than "anti-Obama health care activist."

This is what my SPLC bio-snippet says:

Gunning for the Government
Mike Vanderboegh, 56

Back in the 1990s, Mike Vanderboegh used to go to some lengths to portray himself as a moderate in the world of antigovernment militias, even though he once wrote about the utility of snipers and using "violence carefully targeted and clearly defensive." In 1996, for instance, he joined many militia leaders in signing a document distancing the movement from racists and neo-Nazis.

That was then. This spring, he started to sound a little different.

On March 19, Vanderboegh, enraged at the imminent passage of health care reform, furiously called on Americans to break the windows of local Democratic Party headquarters offices around the country. "[I]f you wish to send a message that [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and her party cannot fail to hear, break their windows," the Pinson, Ala., blogger wrote. "Break them NOW. Break them and run to break again. Break them under cover of night. Break them in broad daylight."

Over the next few days, party office windows and those of several members of Congress were indeed smashed with bricks in several states, criminal attacks followed with glee by Vanderboegh in his blog's "Window War" feature.

After his time as a militia enthusiast, Vanderboegh in the mid-2000s took to patrolling the Mexican border with his own tiny Alabama Minuteman Support Team. More recently, he has been described as the co-founder of the Three Percenters, a loose alliance of gun owners who vow not to surrender their rights and disarm. The name refers to the 3% of American colonists believed to have been the portion of the population who actively opposed England. Three Percenters also claim to represent the hardest-line 3% of U.S. gun owners.

Vanderboegh's website, Sipsey Street Irregulars, warns that "the collectivists who now control the government" should leave gun owners alone "if they wish to continue unfettered oxygen consumption." He claims the website has garnered more than 1 million visits.

Vanderboegh declined an interview for this article in a lengthy E-mail attacking the Southern Poverty Law Center as "lying, conflationist bastards." Nevertheless, Vanderboegh, who used his website to promote his interview with a television station, ended his E-mail by writing, "Thank you in advance for all the free publicity."


Now this is, as all SPLC publicly-flung excrement is, remarkable more for what they leave out.

I first came to the attention of these liars for money when I began a fact-checking newsletter on the early Internet called "Deeswatch," calling them on their serial lies.

It also leaves out my authorship of "The Alabama Declaration," the campaign of the constitutional militias against the FBI-shielded neoNazi and Identity terrorists in Operation White Rose, my embarrassment of the FBI into finally arresting Michael Brescia and the rest of his hitherto un-indicted comrades of the Aryan Republican Army terrorist gang.

It leaves out my denunciation of them at the time of the Good O' Boys Roundup ATF scandal, when Morris Dees gave the agency desperately-needed political cover by lying about the authenticity of the Gadsden Minutemen's video tape of the event, where ATF agents sold "Nigger Hunting Licenses" and entertained themselves with skits such as "The Birth of the Black Race," illustrated by pulling a black baby doll out of a watermelon. The tape, as FBI evidence expert Frederick Whitehurst later demonstrated, was genuine. It was the ATF and Morris Dees of SPLC who were the liars.

These and other salient facts are left out of the biography because they don't fit with the SPLC-ATF party line.

Lying bastards.

But to be included on SPLC's "Roll of Honor," like being denounced by the serial perjuror and rapist Billy Jeff Clinton, is, well, an honor.

It means I have arrived.

For it is better to be despised by the despicable than admired by the admirable.

Mike
III

Should we make a list of those responsible for the sorry state America finds herself in?

I was thinking the same thing! Perhaps a topic for a new thread?

Bowling For Patriots

Keith Johnson
Revolt Of The Plebs
Friday, April 23, 2010

Set em’ up and knock em’ down!

I have really got to ask the Southern Poverty Law Center something? Who is this list supposed to scare, anyway?


The SPLC lists Catherine Bleish as a dangerous patriot.


Ya’ll know what I’m talking about, right? Your scathing six page report entitled: ‘Meet the Patriots’—I mean, come on, even the title of this thing is a joke. You know that all of those geriatric grandmothers, whom you hit up for donations each year, are going to confuse this with the sequel to that Ben Stiller movie, don’t you?

Forgive my sarcasm, but I just can’t help but rub your nose in it. You have seriously gone off the deep end with this one. Even you must have had a hard time keeping a straight face when you put this thing together.

Here’s a tip: If you’re going to compile a compendium of frightening, right-wing extremists who pose a serious threat to national security, you’d better have some frightening, right-wing extremists to use as examples. Wheres the evidence of this terrifying militia movement that you say is spreading like wildfire across America? Do you mean to tell me that you couldn’t come up with even one real life ‘Patriot’ posing the kinds of exaggerated threats that you’ve been propagating to your semi-captive audience of police professionals? I would have at least expected to find someone like this among your cast of villains:

‘The Terror From Tucson’

Klauss Bruenner, 29

Klauss is an Iraq War Veteran who served in the Special Forces. There, he became sympathetic with Al-Qaeda and actually played chess with Osama Bin Laden. Upon returning from duty, he and several hundred of his ‘Patriots’ migrated to the Arizona Desert and built an impenetrable underground fortress. From there, he and his army launched a killing spree, slaughtering dozens of illegal aliens with flamethrowers and grenade launchers. He and his gang have also murdered four police officers during a robbery at a Burger King in Tempe. He’s still at large, but sources say he’s on his way to Atlanta to attend a Tea Party function hosted by Sarah Palin.

Couldn’t find anyone like that, huh? Right! That’s because they don’t exist. No one like that exists. And if they did, they wouldn’t be accepted into the “real” Patriot movement—and you know it!

So instead of radical domestic terrorists, we find people like this among your cast of villains:

‘Needle of Estrogen’

Catherine Bleish, 26

Catherine Bleish, one of the few female leaders in the resurgent Patriot movement, runs the Liberty Restoration Project and has become a popular speaker on the Patriot circuit. “It’s quite frightening the amount of power and authority that our government has assumed for themselves,” Bleish told the Intelligence Report. “They say, ‘We are the Supreme Being, we have the guns, we are going to do it our way.’” Bleish, of St. Louis, Mo., speaks passionately about the anger that’s fueling the movement. “It’s so hard to start a small business, and once you start one, it’s hard to keep it open. My parents are being audited for the past six years, while [Treasury Secretary] Tim Geithner, who doesn’t pay his taxes, now gets to oversee the IRS,” she said. “People are losing their homes. People are losing their jobs. People are frustrated and looking for answers.”

My, God! Lock this woman up! Or how about this evildoer:

‘Bulldozer vs. Bulldozer’

Martin “Red” Beckman, 80

In 1984, when Martin J. “Red” Beckman ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in New Hampshire’s famously wide-open primary, he billed himself as “Montana’s fighting redhead.” By that time, he had been battling the IRS for 10 years. Sometimes called the “Father of the Patriot Movement,” Beckman gained a measure of fame within the anti-tax militia movement for refusing to pay more than $100,000 in income taxes and $34,000 in property taxes, contending that U.S. tax laws are illegal.

I guess the moniker of ‘Bulldozer’ is supposed to strike fear in the minds of police as they keep on the look out for this Wiley, 80 year old madman.

Over half of the ‘Patriots’ you list in your report are senior citizens, some with serious health problems. The others are bloggers, columnists, filmmakers and radio talk show hosts. Not quite the ensemble of violent, radical, militarized miscreants we were expecting. That tells me one thing: You don’t consider any of these people on your list as a physical threat. However, you do consider them to be an intellectual threat. All of these people are engaged in the process of disseminating information that you don’t want the American people to know. That’s the threat…and that’s the only threat.

Let’s get serious, folks. It’s a sad day in America when the word ‘Patriot’ is used as a derogatory slur. The last time this happened was during the American Revolution when the British Crown considered Patriots to be seditious, rebellious criminals. Today that same connotation has made its resurgence among certain leftist organizations, the media and even among elements within the United States government. One might argue that the Patriots of old had it easy compared to their modern day counterparts. In addition to being characterized as seditious, rebellious criminals, today’s Patriots find themselves defending against accusations of racism, xenophobia, links to international terrorist organizations and other rhetoric designed to demonize them in the minds of the American people.

A recent Southern Poverty Law Center publication entitled ‘Meet the Patriots’ as well as documents like the now notorious MIAC report have all been used to propagate these myths. Those of us who know better could easily dismiss such blather. Unfortunately, these fictions are being disseminated to law enforcement agencies disguised as fact. This shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Today’s law enforcement is being indoctrinated to carry out political missions on behalf of powerful and wealthy special interests. This is dangerous, not only for the peaceful activist who is being unjustly stereotyped, but also for the nation as a whole. Misleading our police, and sending them on wild goose chases, not only exhausts their resources but also diverts their attention away from real, tangible threats.

In its November, 2000 issue, Harper’s Magazine ran an article by Ken Silverstein entitled ‘The Church of Morris Dees.’ In that article he writes “The Ku Klux Klan, the SPLC’s most lucrative nemesis, has shrunk from 4 million members in the 1920s to an estimated 2,000 today, as many as 10 percent of whom are thought to be FBI informants.

But news of a declining Klan does not make for inclining donations to Morris Dees and Co., which is why the SPLC honors nearly every nationally covered “hate crime” with direct-mail alarums full of nightmarish invocations of “armed Klan paramilitary forces” and “violent neo-Nazi extremists,” and why Dees does legal battle almost exclusively with mediagenic villains-like Idaho’s arch-Aryan Richard Butler-eager to show off their swastikas for the news cameras.”

Later in the article, Silverstein writes “The SPLC’s “other important work justice” consists mainly in spying on private citizens who belong to “hate groups,” sharing its files with law-enforcement agencies, and suing the most prominent of these groups for crimes committed independently by their members-a practice that, however seemingly justified, should give civil libertarians pause.”

It should come as no surprise then why the SPLC has chosen to target the Patriot movement. The Patriot movement is seen as a big, fat milk cow ready to take the place of the dwindling, increasingly irrelevant white supremacist organizations that they have nearly sued out of existence. As the article above relates, the SPLC sues groups for crimes committed independently by their members. Now you’ll understand why we constantly find groups being infiltrated by provocateurs. Just one rogue individual led astray and coaxed into illegal activity by one of these moles could be enough to destroy and bankrupt an entire group and all of it’s members. Does the name Hutaree come to mind? Hal Turner, anyone?

Characterizing, or lumping Patriots in with violent white supremacists has a duel effect in the SPLC’s fund raising campaigns. Even a Liberal journalist like Alexander Cockburn has accused the SPLC of “frightening elderly liberals that the heirs of Adolf Hitler are about to march down Main Street.”

They may be able to fool little old ladies, but I’m confident (perhaps wishful thinking) that our police will see through this latest rouse by the SPLC. Skinheads, white supremacists and neo-Nazis are one thing, but when police are told to be on the look out for constitutionalists, Christians, 2nd amendment advocates and returning veterans, they’re pretty much describing most police officers—and that doesn’t fly. I know this from personal experience. But if you want a window into the mind of most police, I would invite you to visit some of the more prominent police forums. There you will find an overwhelming majority of officers who are opposed to Barrack Obama, Janet Napolitano, health care legislation, Wall Street bail-outs and other issues that the SPLC would have you believe are indicative of right wing radicalism. Hell, I even saw a few avatars sporting the Obama-Joker motif.

But of course there are those (mostly young recruits) who are eager to follow any order no matter how ridiculous, and are too naïve to realize that they are being used to enforce a political agenda. These are the boys (and girls) you see with their trembling hand clutched to their 9mm as they cautiously approach the passenger’s side window of an elderly woman’s Buick simply because she had a ‘Chuck Baldwin’ sticker on her bumper.

And there are still other examples of police who ought to know better or who may have simply lost their moral compass.

In 2001, months prior to the attacks on the World Trade Center, a FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Administration) representative addressed a group of local Oklahoma police officers in a classroom setting and asked them “Who was the first terrorist organization in the United States?”

Several of those in the room responded with “The Founding Fathers.”

“The Founding Fathers? You mean, Thomas Jefferson? You mean, George Washington? You mean, Paul Revere?”

“Oh, yes!…Oh, yes!…Oh, yes!” was the reply from the officers as each name was called out.

The FEMA representative went on to characterize the founders as violent extremists, terrorists and assassins and went on to say “The guys we call our Founding Fathers—George Washington, Mr. Honest who cut down the cherry tree—is the same guy who signed death warrants of the British government, of the British Crown, who they wanted to eliminate because they had influence in certain pockets of the United States (at that time the 13 colonies) and they wanted to divide and conquer.”

Yeah, well, when you read things like that you start to wonder if maybe it is wishful thinking to assume that our police are going to come around and do the right thing. But we have to think that way, because the alternative is just too frightening to imagine. Let’s all just hope that George Orwell was wrong when he said:

“If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.”

Southern Poverty Law Center’s ‘Enemies List’ a Fantasy

The Southern Poverty Law Center's new list of scary "Patriots" connects people as various as Alex Jones, Ron Paul, and Glenn Beck into a vast conspiracy. Robert Stacy "the Other" McCain tries — and fails — to make sense of it all.

April 26, 2010 - by Robert Stacy McCain

Catherine Bleish is a 26-year-old libertarian who was a Ron Paul delegate to the 2008 Republican National Convention. She is a leader of the Liberty Restoration Project which, among other things, opposes the federal “War on Drugs” and denounces the Patriot Act as “an assault against the civil liberties of Americans.”

Perhaps you disagree with those views, but is Bleish dangerous?

The Southern Poverty Law Center seems to think so. In a special report called “Meet the ‘Patriots’” issued last week, the SPLC named Bleish as one of 35 people “at the heart of the resurgent movement.” The report — which also names WorldNetDaily publisher Joseph Farah and Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media — describes the movement thus:

“In the last year and a half, militias and the larger antigovernment ‘Patriot’ movement have exploded, accompanied by the rapid expansion of other sectors of the radical right. … [T]he so-called Patriots [are] people who generally believe that the federal government is an evil entity that is engaged in a secret conspiracy to impose martial law, herd those who resist into concentration camps, and force the United States into a socialistic ‘New World Order.’”

The SPLC’s scary references to militias and conspiracies and a “resurgent movement” very much echo Bill Clinton’s recent conflation of the tea party with Timothy McVeigh and, like Clinton, the Montgomery, Ala.-based organization singled out Rep. Michelle Bachmann, calling her an “enabler” of the Patriot movement. Also labeled “enablers” by the SPLC were Glenn Beck and Andrew Napolitano of Fox News, as well as Ron Paul, the Texas congressman whose quixotic 2008 presidential campaign helped turn Bleish into a full-time political activist.

A graduate of the University of Missouri who majored in communications, Bleish says she has postponed her graduate studies — she aims to get a master’s degree in political science — to become involved in a variety of libertarian projects. She participated in the July 2008 “Revolution March” of Paul supporters in Washington, D.C., and attended a May 2009 conference in Jekyll Island, Ga., that also included several others named in the SPLC “Patriot” report. The SPLC says that “seminal” meeting — organized by libertarian activist Bob Schulz — “helped lay the groundwork for the resurgence of the [Patriot] movement.”

Bleish says she’s not sure why the SPLC — which typically monitors hate groups like the KKK and the Aryan Nations — is now targeting libertarians like herself.

“They’re indirectly associating people who aren’t violent and aren’t racist with violence and racism, and that’s unfortunate,” Bleish said in a telephone interview.

If Bleish is considered a “conspiracy theorist,” that’s probably because of her group “Operation: De-Fuse,” which depicts the Department of Homeland Security as part of a “police/surveillance state” that is “militarizing and federalizing our police forces.”

Bleish and others say that this isn’t conspiracy theory, but conspiracy reality. The name of Operation: De-Fuse is a reference the DHS “fusion centers” such as the Missouri Information Analysis Center, which issued a controversial 2009 report identifying Ron Paul supporters and pro-life activists (as well as fans of Rambo movies and Tom Clancy novels) as potential terrorists.

“Militia members most commonly associate with 3rd party political groups,” the MIAC report said. “It is not uncommon for militia members to display Constitutional Party, Campaign for Liberty or Libertarian material.”
If DHS is identifying third-party political movements as threats, is it irrational for supporters of those movements to consider the DHS a threat?

Regardless of the legitimacy of Bleish’s concerns about DHS, however, the SPLC report is at least correct in portraying Bleish as part of a “movement.” Looking over the “Patriot” report, Bleish identified about a dozen names on the list — including Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party — as people she’s communicated with or met at various events. But some of the names on the SPLC’s list call to mind the lyrics of an old Sesame Street song: “One of these things is not like the others.”

Why, for example, does the SPLC list that includes 9/11 “Truther” Alex Jones also name Kincaid, whose Accuracy in Media is a well-established conservative organization devoted to identifying media bias? In fact, Kincaid denounced the 9/11 “inside job” conspiracy theory as “absurd” in a recent column warning that Jones is “playing a destructive role” that could discredit the tea party movement.

Jones and Kincaid are clearly not part of the same “movement,” and there is no connection between Kincaid and libertarians like Bleish, except for their all being named in the same SPLC report. The same is true for Farah, a veteran conservative journalist whom the SPLC report called “a leading fomenter of the baseless claim that President Obama was not born in Hawaii, but in Africa” — an accusation Farah flatly denies.

“[T]hough I have spoken and written hundreds of thousands of words about Barack Obama’s failure to prove his eligibility, I have never said or written that he ‘was not born in Hawaii, but in Africa,’” Farah wrote in his column last week. “What I have said is ever so simple: Obama has not proven he was born in the United States and is a natural born citizen.”

Critics may dispute Farah’s argument, but that argument doesn’t make him a member of the same “movement” as Bleish, Jones and others named in the SPLC report, such as militia activist Mark Koernke and anti-tax radical Red Beckman. However, Farah proudly endorsed those whom the SPLC labeled Patriot “enablers.”

“I’m joined by some good company [on the SPLC list] — my buddy Rep. Michele Bachmann, whom I would support for president tomorrow, Glenn Beck, Judge Andrew Napolitano, Rep. Paul Broun and Rep. Ron Paul,” Farah wrote in his column.

How do these “enablers” fit into the movement that the SPLC is concerned about?

“One reason the resurgent antigovernment ‘Patriot’ movement is taking off so quickly is the support for many of its central ideas that comes from ostensibly mainstream figures in politics and the media,” the report says. “These men and women have helped to put key Patriot themes — the idea that President Obama is a Marxist, that he and other elites in the government are pushing a socialist takeover, that the United States plans secret concentration camps and so on — before millions of Americans, many of whom actually believe these completely false allegations.”

The federal government took over General Motors, “invested” billions of taxpayer dollars in Wall Street financial firms, and recently passed legislation to expand government control over the nation’s health-care system, but concerns about a “socialist takeover” are “completely false allegations”?

If you’re tempted to ask a question like that, you must be a dangerous kook, too. Don’t worry, though — as Farah says, you’re in good company. Over the years, the SPLC has steadily expanded its list of “far-right” menaces to include mainstream conservatives — the American Enterprise Institute, David Horowitz, the Bradley Foundation and Dinesh D’Souza, among others — and as National Review’s Mark Krikorian recently noted, the SPLC accused his Center for Immigration Studies of “spreading bigotry.”

So what about this grab-bag of names on the SPLC’s “Patriot” list? Is it really possible that a single “movement” could include Joseph Farah, Michelle Bachmann, Cliff Kincaid and Alex Jones? Andrew Napolitano, Glenn Beck, Ron Paul and Red Beckman? I put that question to SPLC director of research Heidi Beirich.

“I think our definition of what a ‘Patriot’ group is is very clear. And all these folks, to my mind, fall within that definition,” said Beirich, a Ph.D. in political science from Purdue University who has been with the SPLC since 1999. “It may not seem that way to you, but from my perspective and given our definition, I’m actually surprised that you would ask me this question. The connections are crystal clear.”

Connections between people who’ve never met — some of whom vehemently disagree with each other — are “crystal clear”? Sounds kind of like a “secret conspiracy.” But only dangerous kooks believe in that stuff.

Robert Stacy McCain is co-author (with Lynn Vincent) of Donkey Cons: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Democratic Party . A frequent contributor to the American Spectator, he blogs at The Other McCain.

Humpfff! I see I didn't make that Patriot's list again this year... I suppose I'll have to finally do something like publically listing my address and phone number and publically thanking the Governor of AZ for finally doing something to help protect the American Soveriegnty that our very own federal government and the splc seem to "Hate" so much!

*sigh*

Michael

HOW COME I DIDN'T MAKE THIS LIST?!!!

Shit, I mean, what do I have to do spread gay rumors about Mark Potok or something?

But would you be sure they would be just rumors?

Why can the SPLC publish a HIT LIST while we can't say a damn thing? DOUBLE STANDARD. That's right SPLC, you are nothing more than a bunch of pansy's and gay wimps that can't do anything.

You can quote me on that.

SPLC=Socialist Propaganda and Lie Center

Is that the best you can do? Hummm... maybe if you said something racist, like calling them... "Illegal Aliens" or something.

it's an idea anyway...



Michael

Mark and his ilk were obviously "those" kids in school who were smart ass's and continually found themselves stuffed in a locker shortly after saying "if you do anything about it I will tell."

Who says?

Since Ron Paul started the TEA Party Movement back in 2007, the people have been speaking loud and clear. The people have assembled, protested, and petitioned their government.

At first they ignored us...so we pumped up the volume.

Then they ridiculed us...

Now they demonize us.

Why? Because they fear us...

Because...

We are everywhere.

We will not be intimidated.

We will not be silent.

We will not stand idly by.

We will not disarm.

And...We will resist!

Amen,SEMPER FI

Tell it CSC +1 brother

Damn right.
"Resistance to Tyranny is obedience to God."

We would run out of trees for newsprint long before we were done. This would make a fine opportunity for the fledgling hemp industry (in the USA that is). Hemp is a plant we could turn to 100% for fuel, paper, clothing, food, medicines, plastics and building products. Yield per acre is 4 times what it is for trees. Hemp was the cash crop of American farmers since the Colonial Era. Hemp was grown for the war effort in WWII. Henry Ford built a car with plastic made from Hemp and ran it on Hemp gasoline. The Hemp plastic he made was 10 times STRONGER THAN STEEL!!! (I wonder how that might work for BODY ARMOR?)

Hemp is grown as an industrial CASH CROP in the UK, Canada and Austrailia. Only in ass backwards America. . .

When I read the first part of that I thought we were on the same page. You seem to forget about all of the bridges, and light posts that are available.

Can't we just mount them on sharpened stakes?