Tonight, KIRO-TV reported on the unfortunate predicament of community of retired ministers, missionaries and lay people who Pastor Joe Fuiten is seeking to evict from the Cedar Springs Bible Camp. This is a story I first broke a couple weeks ago, but have reluctantly sat on since… not because I don’t want to stick it to Pastor Fuiten, but because the residents asked me to hold my fire so that they would have the opportunity to work out a mutually acceptable lease. I even had the residents scheduled to come on KIRO radio with me, but cancelled their appearance after Fuiten’s attorney requested a truce.
Twice the residents extended the deadline, and twice Pastor Fuiten refused to negotiate in good faith. And so today the media truce was canceled, leaving me free to post.
Indeed, rather than negotiating a fair lease, Pastor Fuiten spent much of the past few weeks intimidating and disparaging the residents, threatening a local community newspaper with a libel suit, and personally telling one retired minister that his neighbors were conspiring with “Christian-hating Jews and homosexuals.” (I suppose he was referring to me.)
Of course, Pastor Fuiten has a documented history of duplicity and hate speech. As I’ve previously written, Pastor Fuiten was not only one of the most vocal backers of Referendum 65’s failed effort to repeal our state’s gay civil right’s legislation, he knowingly lied about R-65 to his parishioners. So it comes as no surprise that Pastor Fuiten and his spokespeople would lie about the lease dispute at Cedar Springs.
On KIRO-TV, Fuiten representative Ben Waggoner tried to deflect attention from the Pastor’s role in the controversy, claiming that he was “just one board member” out of many. But that’s not how Pastor Fuiten described his takeover of the camp in a sermon delivered at his local mega-church, the Cedar Park Assembly of God:
One of these days I hope to get in some fields on our north property and to develop the ballfields we already have into first-rate, all-weather surfaced fields. That will take a pile of money, but I personally think it is money well spent.
We are going to get a chance to do some of this work up in the Lake Stevens area. We were looking for land up there, and had found some which we pictured for you in the bulletin, when we were approached by Cedar Springs Camp about hooking up with them on their 153 acre campground just a mile down the road from where we wanted to buy. We have come to an agreement with them. Our board will become the official board of the camp. With that change, we will continue to strengthen the camping program while at the same time accommodating the development of day camps, youth sports, a school, our existing church and more.
And one of the ways he’s going to accommodate all that development is apparently by kicking retirees out of their houses.
I’ll have much more on this story as court documents are filed and become public record… unless of course, Pastor Fuiten changes his mind and chooses to do the right thing. I also intend to delve deeply into Pastor Fuiten’s close relationship with Mike McGavick, on whose exploratory committee he served, and for whom he continues to be a close advisor.
Sound like a threat? Damn right. And don’t think I don’t have the goods to carry it out.
My two current concerns:
The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act –
Save Your Right To Protest – Speak Out Against Animal Enterprise
Terrorism Act – Act NOW – Friday Vote The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) is pending in Congress (HR 4239). Industry groups are pushing it through quickly and with little
public scrutiny.
And
I-933 which needs a big NO by everyone.
This is going to be another UGLY campaign season.
Do you know the main difference between G.W. Bush and Jane Fonda?
Commentby headless lucy— [……………………………………Could it be that George Bush has 350 hours in F-106 Delta Darts, and Jane is a Democrat commie traitor bitch?]
E-3 GBS, Over the side and man the paint barge!!!!!!
Semi Annual Eval: “E-3 GBS…………….Not recommended for promotion to E-4″ hehe, LT JCH, Department Head
Kofi, Spike and Blade will be among the pupils arriving at primary schools in four years time, all with Democrat parents. Also popular in Democrat minority communities are “MoFo”, “GuvCheck” and “Marlboro”.
Ahhh for the good old days when chillrens were named LaShonda, Aquavelva, Chlymidia, LaChammonique, Rawanda, and Shaniqua….Yes, These names would take a young Democrat far!!!!
LOS ANGELES — A naturalized U.S. citizen from Iran who was found in Iraq was indicted Friday on charges of providing support to a terrorist organization that seeks to overthrow the Iranian regime, federal prosecutors said. Zeinab Taleb-Jedi, 51, then a resident of Herndon, Va., went to Iraq in 1999 to attend a training camp run by the Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK, the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles said in a statement. [……………”BUSH NO GOOD! BUSH NO GOOD!”]
Hey Doctor JCH Kennedy aka buttnutz who does this remind you of?
14 POINTS OF FASCISM
1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism
From the prominent displays of flags and bunting to the ubiquitous lapel pins, the fervor to show patriotic nationalism, both on the part of the regime itself and of citizens caught up in its frenzy, was always obvious. Catchy slogans, pride in the military, and demands for unity were common themes in expressing this nationalism. It was usually coupled with a suspicion of things foreign that often bordered on xenophobia.
2. Disdain for the importance of human rights
The regimes themselves viewed human rights as of little value and a hindrance to realizing the objectives of the ruling elite. Through clever use of propaganda, the population was brought to accept these human rights abuses by marginalizing, even demonizing, those being targeted. When abuse was egregious, the tactic was to use secrecy, denial, and disinformation.
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause
The most significant common thread among these regimes was the use of scapegoating as a means to divert the people’s attention from other problems, to shift blame for failures, and to channel frustration in controlled directions. The methods of choice—relentless propaganda and disinformation—were usually effective. Often the regimes would incite “spontaneous” acts against the target scapegoats, usually communists, socialists, liberals, Jews, ethnic and racial minorities, traditional national enemies, members of other religions, secularists, homosexuals, and “terrorists.” Active opponents of these regimes were inevitably labeled as terrorists and dealt with accordingly.
4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism
Ruling elites always identified closely with the military and the industrial infrastructure that supported it. A disproportionate share of national resources was allocated to the military, even when domestic needs were acute. The military was seen as an expression of nationalism, and was used whenever possible to assert national goals, intimidate other nations, and increase the power and prestige of the ruling elite.
5. Rampant sexism
Beyond the simple fact that the political elite and the national culture were male-dominated, these regimes inevitably viewed women as second-class citizens. They were adamantly anti-abortion and also homophobic. These attitudes were usually codified in Draconian laws that enjoyed strong support by the orthodox religion of the country, thus lending the regime cover for its abuses.
6. A controlled mass media
Under some of the regimes, the mass media were under strict direct control and could be relied upon never to stray from the party line. Other regimes exercised more subtle power to ensure media orthodoxy. Methods included the control of licensing and access to resources, economic pressure, appeals to patriotism, and implied threats. The leaders of the mass media were often politically compatible with the power elite. The result was usually success in keeping the general public unaware of the regimes’ excesses.
7. Obsession with national security
Inevitably, a national security apparatus was under direct control of the ruling elite. It was usually an instrument of oppression, operating in secret and beyond any constraints. Its actions were justified under the rubric of protecting “national security,” and questioning its activities was portrayed as unpatriotic or even treasonous.
8. Religion and ruling elite tied together
Unlike communist regimes, the fascist and protofascist regimes were never proclaimed as godless by their opponents. In fact, most of the regimes attached themselves to the predominant religion of the country and chose to portray themselves as militant defenders of that religion. The fact that the ruling elite’s behavior was incompatible with the precepts of the religion was generally swept under the rug. Propaganda kept up the illusion that the ruling elites were defenders of the faith and opponents of the “godless.” A perception was manufactured that opposing the power elite was tantamount to an attack on religion.
9. Power of corporations protected
Although the personal life of ordinary citizens was under strict control, the ability of large corporations to operate in relative freedom was not compromised. The ruling elite saw the corporate structure as a way to not only ensure military production (in developed states), but also as an additional means of social control. Members of the economic elite were often pampered by the political elite to ensure a continued mutuality of interests, especially in the repression of “have-not” citizens.
10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated
Since organized labor was seen as the one power center that could challenge the political hegemony of the ruling elite and its corporate allies, it was inevitably crushed or made powerless. The poor formed an underclass, viewed with suspicion or outright contempt. Under some regimes, being poor was considered akin to a vice.
11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts
Intellectuals and the inherent freedom of ideas and expression associated with them were anathema to these regimes. Intellectual and academic freedom were considered subversive to national security and the patriotic ideal. Universities were tightly controlled; politically unreliable faculty harassed or eliminated. Unorthodox ideas or expressions of dissent were strongly attacked, silenced, or crushed. To these regimes, art and literature should serve the national interest or they had no right to exist.
12. Obsession with crime and punishment
Most of these regimes maintained Draconian systems of criminal justice with huge prison populations. The police were often glorified and had almost unchecked power, leading to rampant abuse. “Normal” and political crime were often merged into trumped-up criminal charges and sometimes used against political opponents of the regime. Fear, and hatred, of criminals or “traitors” was often promoted among the population as an excuse for more police power.
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption
Those in business circles and close to the power elite often used their position to enrich themselves. This corruption worked both ways; the power elite would receive financial gifts and property from the economic elite, who in turn would gain the benefit of government favoritism. Members of the power elite were in a position to obtain vast wealth from other sources as well: for example, by stealing national resources. With the national security apparatus under control and the media muzzled, this corruption was largely unconstrained and not well understood by the general population.
14. Fraudulent elections
Elections in the form of plebiscites or public opinion polls were usually bogus. When actual elections with candidates were held, they would usually be perverted by the power elite to get the desired result. Common methods included maintaining control of the election machinery, intimidating and disenfranchising opposition voters, destroying or disallowing legal votes, and, as a last resort, turning to a judiciary beholden to the power elite.
NOTE: The above 14 Points was written in 2004 by Dr. Laurence Britt, a political scientist. Dr. Britt studied the fascist regimes of: Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile).
Does any of this sound familiar? As America sinks deeper and deeper into corporate greed will this country continue to be a democracy by the people and for the people or will it be ruled by the few? Will the trinity of money, power and greed over come one of the greatest countries in the world? Only we, the people, can keep it free. SPEAK OUT AND LET YOUR THOUGHTS BE KNOWN…ONLY BY SILENCE WILL WE BE DEFEATED!
“What no one seemed to notice. . . was the ever widening gap. . .between the government and the people. . . And it became always wider. . . the whole process of its coming into being, was above all diverting, it provided an excuse not to think for people who did not want to think anyway . . . (it) gave us some dreadful, fundamental things to think about . . .and kept us so busy with continuous changes and ‘crises’ and so fascinated . . . by the machinations of the ‘national enemies,’ without and within, that we had no time to think about these dreadful things that were growing, little by little, all around us. . .
Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, ‘regretted,’ that unless one understood what the whole thing was in principle, what all these ‘little measures’. . . must some day lead to, one no more saw it developing from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing. . . .Each act. . . is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join you in resisting somehow.
You don’t want to act, or even talk, alone. . . you don’t want to ‘go out of your way to make trouble.’ . . .But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That’s the difficulty. The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves, when everyone is transformed, no one is transformed. . . .You have accepted things you would not have accepted five years ago, a year ago, things your father. . . could never have imagined.” :
From Milton Mayer, They Thought They Were Free, The Germans, 1938-45 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1955)
with the current batch of neocons doing everything in their power to dismantle the once proud GOP, and at the rate the are being indicted/convicted, the growing liberal majority needs to rethink our stand on the ‘felon vote’. If not we will be allowing millions of convibted wingnuts the opportunity to drag the US down again (in about 18 to 25 years when they get out of prison)
You can see why JCH dicksucker wants to change the subject here. One of his daddys, one of the big shots in the GOP, one of the so-called moral majority is nothing but a fucking nazi bastard. No wonder he doesn’t want us to talk about the good pastor.
Is it too late to ban Christians from breathing the same air as us? Why didn’t those fucking lions do a better job in the old days and rid us of these asswipes?
I don’t know I have come to beleave all of the religun’s of abreham should be done away with. Like the old greek gods were and the old
Norweagun gods thor and all that.
Our world would be a lot more peacfull place.
Basicly there is no difference from the god of abreham and the old gods of greese and rome. There all a bunch of crap and it is high time we grow up and call a spade a spade
this is a really good documentery that proves my point
http://www.channel4.com/cultur.....fevil.html
http://www.crooksandliars.com/.....and-teens/
Hey righties – is this one of your leaders? Is this what you teach your kids you fucking inbred right wing christian conservative hypocrites?
If this fucker had sent this email to my son the LAST thing he’d have to worry about is resigning from Congress. When is America going to rise up and throw out these right wing assholes? Haven’t we had enough? They’re trying to rape our country, our Constitution and our sons!
15
but they got to focuse on the family ..
rofl
I like Goldy’s idea about creating his own actblue page, I made one for myself. I am fundraising for all Washington State Democrats by asking my friends to help me raise money for democrats in this state. Every one of them has given me at least $20. This is hundreds of dollars that would not have ever made it to these candidates.
Just look at how I have done at my own actblue.com page.
You could do the same.
If you don’t have any / much money, and want to help Dacry, Peter, or other Democrats get elected, make your own actblue.com page, just like Goldy, and I have done.
So far I have raised almost $1,000 for Peter, and almost $500 for Dacry, and hundreds more for other candidates I like, just by asking my friends.
They know I am dedicated to taking our country back from the criminals in charge now, and Actblue.com is an easy way for us to all fundraise for Democrats.
Please help people like Goldy and Me by going to our actblue.com pages and help the candidates you like. If you don’t have any $$$ make your own Actblue.com page, and ask your friends. Let them know how important this election is. We need their help offsetting the Republicans corporate welfare, and evil pacs, checks, and attack ads they want to run their campaigns on.
Goldy’s actblue page http://www.actblue.com/page/horsesass
My actblue page http://www.actblue.com/page/timeforchange
Your actblue page =
Do it. Without $$ we don’t have a chance in the 8th, 5th, or anywhere else.
The future of our country is at stake.
Nothing I have ever done (except going to Crawford to help Cindy Sheehan) has made me feel better than helping raise money for this election. You can do it too!!!
Hey Jaybo! Fuiten is anti-semitic.
Where’s the LGF’ers when you need them?
Mr. Fuiten is certainly trying to reach for a measure of political influence but it is not clear he actually has any – even though Mike McGavick and the state Senate GOP appear to be so afraid of him they need to coy up.
What is the guy’s track record? On R 65 he failed miserably. Ditto for his work on the Supreme Court campaign.
Seems like what ever the guy is for the vast majority of the people in this state are against.
I saw that KIRO report. Ben Waggoner comes off looking like a bully who can barely contain his seething rage. Oh, and he’s got crazy bulgy eyes too. Not the spokesman I would choose.
Oh goody, goody!
More wingnutz crapping all over themselves.
What a bunch of fucking losers.
George “Makakstein” Allen: “We have met the enemy and he is us!”
Welcome, George, to the REAL real America!
Even a racist loser like George Allen has minority bona fides. Your free cheese and purple Cadillac await!
“Is it too late to ban Christians from breathing the same air as us? Why didn’t those fucking lions do a better job in the old days and rid us of these asswipes?
Commentby LauraBushKilledAGuy— 9/30/06@ 5:18 am
Ah, once again we see that there are some liberals who are just as bad as the NeoCons. I think the last time you spoke, it was bemoaning the fact that you couldn’t just kill Christians, now you’re using this incident to bemoan the fact that more Christians were not tortured to death.
I’m sure that all the Christian ministers you’re defending here really appreciate that attitude.
You should be thrilled with the actions of Pastor Fuiten. He’s throwing a bunch of elderly Christians out on the streets. Maybe they’ll die! Pastor Fuiten is your kind of guy.
Of course, if he does manage to toss them out, some other batch of Christians will just screw it up by taking them in and offering them safe, warm places to live.
Folks like you give the NeoCons extra ammunition. Are you sure you’re not a Republican?
I don’t know I have come to beleave all of the religun’s of abreham should be done away with. Like the old greek gods were and the old
Norweagun gods thor and all that.
Our world would be a lot more peacfull place.
Basicly there is no difference from the god of abreham and the old gods of greese and rome. There all a bunch of crap and it is high time we grow up and call a spade a spade
Commentby The Socialist [……Over 2 trillion taxpayer’s dollars spent on public education…….Money well spent?]
Every person in this country is entitled to their core beliefs. Everyone should respect those rights. Liberals must be tolerant otherwise they’re not liberals.
I have no quarrel with Shrub’s Christian beliefs. I have a lot of problems with how he uses his faith to corral voters and demagogue the issues.
And his disastrous decisions are at complete variance with his faith IMHO.
I was loooking over at (U)SP and found this excellent post from Ivan. as usual the response over there was to attack the messenger. Without Ivans permission, I am going to copy the whoile thing here. Just to avoid anything that might be construed as Traffic at the snarkcage.
This new law has some good looking advantages.
Ivans Post;
Here’s what all you right-wingers have let yourself in for:
The Hidden Upside to the End of Constitutional Protections: Jailing James Dobson, Forever
by Hunter
We have been dismayed by the parlor game going on in the halls of power, true enough. An anti-torture bill designed to codify torture; the acceptance and legalization of domestic espionage without court order or demonstrable cause; the removal of habeas corpus, one of those petty legal terms that the entire arc of American law relies upon. The Republican Party decided that their election-year strategy, this September, would be to take boxcutters to the Constitution, and they found just enough accomplices to do it.
But there are upsides, here. And the primary upside is that, after being a movement dominated by the terror of government ready to go amok, people who carried the Bill of Rights on cards in their wallets and stockpiled guns with the belief that only guns would save them, the conservative and far-right movements have finally given us the precise legal tools to remove the far-right from the national landscape. Forever.
Before Osama bin Laden, there was the American citizen and terrorist Timothy McVeigh, who drove a truck full of explosives to the front of a government building and detonated it, as an act of terrorism against the United States. Before the Cole bombing, there was an organized series of mail bombings against judges, bombings of abortion clinics, assassinations of abortion doctors, conducted by those affiliated with Operation Rescue and an assortment of domestic terrorist organizations. Weaponized anthrax, sent to news outlets and liberal politicians. The Atlanta Olympics were attacked by terrorists as well, a shrapnel-laced explosive detonated in the crowded Olympic village in order to cause as many deaths as possible. Even if al Qaeda had not existed, the unholy wraith of terrorism against Americans, on American soil, still would be a compounding and urgent problem. And all of those acts were perpetrated by Americans, and specifically by the American far-right.
These acts of conservative terrorism have been all but forgotten, after bin Laden’s crimes. But they are domestic terrorism, and were explicitly intended as such, and of the sort that these new Republican, conservative laws are precisely aimed at taking on.
The advantage of these new laws in these new times is, bluntly, that normal rules of evidence no longer apply, and that those charged with aiding terrorism need not be granted a trial; no actual crime need be alleged; no evidence need be presented against them; nobody else is required to be even informed of their imprisonment; there is no appeal. If the President of the United States determines them to be affiliated with terrorism — and it does not matter if that President is Republican or Democrat — the judgment is final. All that is required to strip an American citizen of their Constitutional rights, strip them of their citizenship itself, and declare them an enemy combatant in the fight against terrorism is the say-so of the President. That’s it.
So if we are dejected, today, that Americans no longer are protected by the Constitution, cheer up just a bit. Because from now on, American terrorists and their conservative supporters aren’t protected by the Constitution either. It has been changed, in this time of war, according to their own new laws — and that means that at the first point in which the Republicans lose power, these same new laws can be used to imprison those that all reasonable men agree are terrorists, and their supporters, and those giving them assistance and comfort.
The entire far-right conservative movement is tied, in no more than two or three degrees of separation, to U.S. terrorist Timothy McVeigh. His roots and his support were based in the conservative militia movement, a collection of far-right groups and organizations, many of them white supremacist in nature or affiliated with the even more noxious Christian Identity movement. Many of these groups stockpile guns and ammunition in the direct belief that those guns will be required against the U.S. government, and in places like Ruby Ridge and Waco, have brought those weapons to bear. They are proven terrorists; this much is indisputable. Under the new laws, future Attorneys General will be able to mark these individuals as enemy combatants, and no further Constitutional protections will apply. Janet Reno will be marked as the last Attorney General to have had to deal with terrorism unequipped with the new laws designed to strip such figures of their citizenship and trial rights.
A mere presidential finding, now, is now sufficient to determine which men among these conservative militia groups are the terrorist leaders, and which are the followers, and which are supporters. The acts of Timothy McVeigh were praised by many, on the right. Those men are themselves terrorists; arrest them. The men supporting the militia movements through word and deed; they, too are terrorists. Arrest them as well. Then there are merely the abettors. The Timothy McVeighs of the movement are supported by figures such as right-wing radio hosts Hal Turner; Turner himself is a right-wing racist figure who rose to fame because of the support and endorsement of his “good friend”, Sean Hannity. The links between Sean Hannity and the dozens of militia members who have shaken his hand, repeatedly, are more than enough to prove complicity.
After the Oklahoma City act of terrorism, Rush Limbaugh was in full-on public snit not that the event happened, but that the act of terrorism was being linked to him, and his unique brand of militia-supporting “hate radio” — he even made the assertion that Clinton himself was making the accusation of him. Under the new rules of engagement of American-based terrorists, however, such an accusation by the President is indeed sufficient, and Limbaugh can and will simply be jailed if it is determined by a future Democratic president that his words or rhetoric gave comfort or assistance or resulted in secondary monetary gain to militia members with ties to past terrorism or possible future terrorist acts. That should not be a difficult thing to prove; nonetheless, proof is unnecessary. The accusation will suffice to place Limbaugh in a secret jail, and there will be no trial, and we will be rid of him.
Whatever the case against Limbaugh, the case against Michelle Malkin is open and shut. Malkin directly promotes and associates with the hate group VDare, which in turn shares its membership directly with some of the very militia groups in question. Of all the figures of the “popular” far-right, Malkin is one with the most direct ties to American terrorist organizations. A presidential finding on the subject would take little more than a paragraph.
Thanks to the new laws, domestic wiretapping may be used to solidify the links between Malkin and those in the far-right, white supremacy movements she frequents. More to the point, however, all that it takes to concretely tie Malkin to the Timothy McVeigh-supporting terrorists directly is the confession of one individual. I am quite certain that, if we tortured enough people, we would find at least one willing to name Michelle Malkin as a terrorist ringleader, in exchange for their own freedom. I am certain we would find five, or twenty, if the torture was sufficiently encouraging, within the first ten hours.
From there, we move on to Ann Coulter, who makes oblique but uncannily specific threats against Supreme Court justices, lawmakers, the press, and all other Americans she defines as against her. It is hard to imagine, in a time of war, that a Democratic president should allow speech that seems explicitly designed to evoke images of assassination, poisonings, attacks by plane, bombings, or other chosen methods of death against fellow Americans. All that is required is that one person be found, in the far-right network of terrorism, who listened to her words and found inspiration from them to possibly think about attacks of the sort she endorses; that is reason enough to detain Ms. Coulter while investigating whether or not she, too, is an enemy combatant. Tortured confessions would be useful here, too, to determine how much influence Ann Coulter had within the terrorist ranks of the McVeighs and the even worse far-right Christian terrorists, the Rudolphs.
The links between Oklahoma City and the white supremacist movements of the militias, and their “light” versions for public face — the KKK, Stormfront, VDare, the Minutemen — are incontrovertable. They share the same memberships, and receive funding via the same methods and same individuals. Their “front” organizations are popular and powerful in conservative circles, fixtures at hosts of prominent GOP events, and have been supported not only by Trent Lott and George Allen, but by figures like Vice President Richard Cheney.
But as horrific as Oklahoma City was, as an act of terrorism, a man detonating, among other things, the children of a preschool, in his one horrific terrorist act, the terrorist acts of the far-right “Christian” movement are worse. Throughout the 1990s, and before, and since, far-right domestic terrorist groups such as Operation Rescue and their affiliated groups have conducted organized campaigns of intimidation, bombings, and assassinations. The “lone wolf” terrorism of a Timothy McVeigh — which, as I pointed out, is far from “lone wolf”, but was supported and encouraged by a network of thousands of like-minded militia members, many of whom have been arrested in the course of planning or collecting weapons for similar terrorist attacks — is one thing, but anti-abortion terrorism is quite organized, and extensive in reach.
Christian terrorist Eric Robert Rudolph currently sits in prison under five consecutive life sentences for a series of anti-abortion bombings that injured over one hundred and fifty people, and killed at least three. He was supported in ongoing acts of terrorism by churches, communities, and individuals who sheltered him and aided his efforts.
His acts, though, were not the acts of a lone wolf. Further assassinations and bombings have been carried out by Operation Rescue, a far-right terrorist organization which targets clinics, doctors, and judges in an attempt to force the American government to ban abortion under all circumstances. Other figures in the movement have placed “hit lists” of doctors online, crossing them out as each was attacked or killed.
These acts are acts of religious-based terrorism; attempts at subverting the laws of America itself through violence. These acts, more than any others, are the acts which the new Republican-codified exceptions to the Constitution can be used to finally break the back of. We have been given the tools to jail not just the individuals responsible for these acts, but those that have provided them monetary support through a myriad of conservative fronts and advocacy groups.
First among the ringleaders must be James Dobson and Ralph Reed, radical extremists who have spoken in support of the most extreme of the extreme, and who join a series of right-wing figures such as Hugh Hewitt and others whose support for Christian terrorism and terrorist acts have been ongoing. They and any others connected to Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry are part and parcel of American terrorist acts, and each should be treated as the others — as enemy combatents, supporters of past terrorist acts directly undertaken against America.
Evidence is not needed. A presidential assertion will suffice. To hold trials of these men, public trials in which the evidence of their affiliation with the group is detailed, would only serve to inform the entire rest of the terrorist movement which names the government currently knew, and which were not.
Randall Terry, however, is a special exception. Alongside Dobson and a few of the others, it may be the case that when dealing with a high-value target, someone with possibly direct knowledge of terrorist acts and how they were executed, that more extreme means rather than mere secret imprisonment will be necessary to find the individuals actually responsible for those acts of terrorism.
Torture may be required, in service to America. The president shall have to make the determination as to whether it will be productive, but I expect it will be. I expect Randall Terry will be able to tell us the names of many, many terrorists affiliated with his group. And if he cannot, the president will be able to authorize further encouragement.
You may think I am overstating the case, here. I am not. The links — one, two, and three degrees of separation — between those far-right figures that have conducted actual acts of violent terrorism on American soil and those that have offered them financial support or other aid are quite real.
If there is one man who can in fact be tied directly with international terrorism, in fact, it is terrorist figure Pat Robertson. Through ownership in the blood diamond trade of Africa, Robertson can count himself as one of the few figures in America with finances directly linked to al Qaeda supporters. Robertson has refused to be forthcoming about how much money he made, in these al Qaeda links. That answer is not sufficient.
The list can go on, if we are merely talking about those complicit in actions against America, now that the rule of law has been stripped of its fineries in determining how these men should be charged. Is there any man on this planet who has done more damage to the Constitution of the United States than John Yoo, for that matter? If there was ever an enemy of the State, would it not be him, for justifying via his own enlightened words what two hundred years of law before him could not? For encouraging these abominations of law, would not the ultimate in justice be to use them against him, himself — using the maggot-riddled remnants of what he proposed as fair law to investigate, via a prison cell, whether his own crimes against the Constitution were malicious, or merely stupidity?
I am merely pointing out the upside, here. I am merely pointing out that, in their fear of terrorism, the far-right has given America, finally, the exact tools needed to destroy them forever. It may have been wiser for the militia movements to carry the Bill of Rights in their back pocket, to distrust government authority, to distrust the notion of President-as-King, capable of nullifying law, seizing without trial, canceling the citizenship of Americans, and rendering to secret prisons, but now that the law has been changed, we liberals must seize the opportunity, and use their very laws against them. We have been spineless in the face of terrorism too long: it is time to confront it where it lives, and where it breeds.
All it takes is one Democratic president, and the force of will to declare the obvious — that the supporters of far-right abortion bombers are terrorists themselves, every bit as much as those that pulled the triggers or lit the fuses. That the militia movements are terrorists. Not just terrorists — no longer Americans, no longer with the rights of trial, by presidential decision. Not negotiable. Terrorists, and any that support them, also terrorists. Look at Oklahoma City, at Ruby Ridge, at Waco, and tell me flatly that those men are not terrorists. Look at the bombings of judges who interfered in the violent anti-abortion crusade. Count the victims of the pipe bombs, and you tell me, if you dare, that this is not terrorism. It is. You know it, I know it, and James Dobson himself knows it.
The far-right has degraded America. Now it is time to end them, using the tools they themselves proposed. We are one president away.
Now, you may be thinking that this is all an elaborate joke, of the sort I pull from time to time. A bit of satire notable for being not the slightest, least, tiniest bit funny. That I am not proposing that all those that met and spoke with Timothy McVeigh should be branded themselves as enemy combatants and disposed of as supporters of terrorists, under the laws we have now explicitly crafted to allow the government to do just that. That I am not really proposing that we merely trace the financial links between the very GOP infrastructure itself, Scaife on down, and the actual terrorists who have committed actual acts of politically inspired murder, and using those links to shut down those front organizations and jail their leaders.
But the new law is the new law, and the new law is now quite clear, and we would be foolish, foolish people indeed to let them, the actual supporters of terrorism, use it against their fellow Americans, and have us leave it unused. In defending against terrorism, Constitutional protections must waver. These are unique times, when a single man can drive a truck up to a single building and murder hundreds of men, women and children in a single instant — and the odds are nearly 100% that, whether foreign or domestic, that terrorist will be a far-right religious fanatic. When a single lone man with a gun can wait outside a doctor’s office, and assassinate the man, and then through a collection of like-minded men do it again, and again, this is terrorism. This is what we are fighting, and whether the terrorism comes from Osama bin Laden or the hundreds of willing Eric Rudolphs in America makes no difference, to those that are dead. Is America worth that fight? Do you love it enough to violate it, just a little, in order to save it, and be rid of the violent forever, finally in secret jails where only they know whether we got the right men, or the wrong men?
So — is this satire, then? Am I pulling your legs?
Well, that is the interesting thing about the conservative movement. Ann Coulter can write with viciousness, can write even about assassinations and murders, and upon the slightest objection, the conservative movement merely claims she is an entertainer, and nobody should take her seriously. I am merely proposing we use the new Republican laws to jail Republicans known to support Republican terrorists; that hardly seems extremist at all, compared to the glib support of murders.
And Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Hewitt, and every militia member on the planet are infamous for that one conservative trait that outshines all the others — the inability to recognize satire in the slightest. The complete inability to determine when someone is making fun of them, and when someone is deadly earnest.
So is it a joke, or do we really intend to do these things, when the next Democratic president takes office — one not directly tied to the far-right terrorist groups themselves, as George W. Bush has been, but one willing to use the new American tools of terrorism against all terrorists, not just brown ones?
I propose we don’t tell them. I propose we leave them in the dark, and let them wonder. If this were indeed merely a bout of deeply unfunny satire, not telling them so might be the cruelest joke of all.
Posted by ivan at September 30, 2006 04:45 AM
danw…….Yawn. Too long, and too boring.
“I don’t know I have come to beleave all of the religun’s of abreham should be done away with. Like the old greek gods were and the old
Norweagun gods thor and all that.
Our world would be a lot more peacfull place.
Basicly there is no difference from the god of abreham and the old gods of greese and rome. There all a bunch of crap and it is high time we grow up and call a spade a spade
Commentby (someone masqurading as) The Socialist— 9/30/06@ 5:46 am
Judging simply from the phrasing and spelling, compared to other posts by “The Socialist” this one looks like a fraud. Probably YO from the looks of it.
The Socialist and I have certainly locked horns once or twice, but this just isn’t up to The Socialist’s standards.
Goldy said: “Fuiten representative Ben Waggoner tried to deflect attention from the Pastor’s role in the controversy, claiming that he was “just one board member†out of many” and went on to show proof that wasn’t true.
But don’t stop there… Waggoner claimed — on camera — that no one has been evicted. But in the Sept. 13th edition of the LS Journal, the following was written:
After receiving news of the tenants’ court proceedings, and discovering that West and one other family had reached out to media outlets, Lana Floyd, an attorney representing Fuiten and Cedar Park fired off a threatening and accusatory letter on August 30. Because they attempted to protect their rights through the legal system, Cedar Park summarily evicted West and one other family, giving them until September 15 to clear off the property.
“It is evident that (the two families) have spearheaded this misguided effort of litigation. Accordingly, they are no longer welcome at Cedar Springs. This letter serves as notice that the tenancies are terminated and will not be renewed. They and their families should begin making arrangements to relocate as soon as possible,†wrote Floyd.
Fuiten and Cedar Park must have assumed they had enough authority to evict them, or did wouldn’t have sent that letter?
And what about the lying? It is pure hypocrisy. It gives a black eye to him, his church, his staff, his denomination, and Christianity in general. A sad state for any religion. Maybe he better quit religion and go into politics. On the other hand, I’ll bet they don’t want him either.
The Socialist and I have certainly locked horns once or twice, but this just isn’t up to The Socialist’s standards.
Commentby John Barelli [??????? The Socialist is a poster boy for school vouchers to private education.]
liberals must be tolerant otherwise they’re not liberals.
I have no quarrel with Shrub’s Christian beliefs. I have a lot of problems with how he uses his faith to corral voters and demagogue the issues.
And his disastrous decisions are at complete variance with his faith IMHO.
Commentby For the Clueless— 9/30/06@ 10:21 am
Did the Holocaust and Nazi Germany teach you nothing?
Awesome video, but when you watch, be sure to look for Mark, AssDoc, Rufuck, Proud2bStupid, Jim King, even Smeg . . . if you look, you’ll see their faces in the crowd. They are really there! You’ll love it! (This is redstate blog if you’re curious.)
BTW, Al Gore flew in on a private G-4 [Gulfstream], took a V8 limo [10 MPG] to an air conditioned suite big enough to house 3 welfare families, and gave a speech in Sundance, Utah in a ballroom that required enough electricity to power a small town. The theme was “Energy Conservation”. Of course Al is “carbon neutral”. hehe, JCH
HEY LAURA@13 WHY DONT YOU SEND YOUR KID TO LIVE WITH BARRY FRANK OR GARY STUDDS THAT WOULD BE CALLED A THREE SUM FUCK YOU.
JOHN ARE YOU SURE YOU WERE A REAL CHIEF I THINK YOU WERE AN E-7.
Join “Democrats For Voter ID!” Oh, wait…….There is no such organization? Never mind!!!!!!
I don’t remember the place in the Bible where it states:
“Thou must have a ballfield with an all-weather surface.”
Come on, rather than spend your night cutting and pasting stupid insults, be a man and just say “You know, what Pastor Fuiten is doing is wrong. Those people have given their lives and much of their retirement producing for that camp. What can we do that might change his mind?”
Amazingly, it won’t change your politics and you can go back to cutting and pasting insults to Democrats afterwards.
Christian child rapists populate the right wing republican party. Nuff said.
One more thing to be said:
These are the people of Christian and family values . . . We could put cameras in their houses – what mini series those would make.
Posted by ivan at September 30, 2006 04:45 AM Commentby danw— 9/30/06@ 10:21 am
Didn’t read it. Now if you created a snippet and a link, maybe…
Nope you dope! I am impelementing the For Thoroughly Clueless methodology. If it’s a moonbattic link, skip it!
JOHN ARE YOU SURE YOU WERE A REAL CHIEF I THINK YOU WERE AN E-7.
Commentby YO— 9/30/06@ 10:58 pm
And I think you were a draft dodger who now has a roaring guilty conscience.
Hey WOS (Wingnut Obsessions Suck) – If you hover the mouse pointer over the link, you can see where it goes in the status bar at the bottom of the active browser window (at least in Firefox).
If the link goes wingnut, I ignore it. If it goes MSM (or even wingnut MSM like Moonie Times or NY Post), I give it a chance.
It’s what the adults do.
Yo: do you mean Barney Frank?
You’re an idiot
LOOK OVER THERE!
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LOOK OVER THERE!
CHANGE THE SUBJECT!
LOOK OVER THERE!
CHANGE THE SUBJECT!
LOOK OVER THERE!
CHANGE THE SUBJECT!
LOOK OVER THERE!
CHANGE THE SUBJECT!
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