Conservatives say Obama isn't and American, that he is a socialist, that in ten weeks he is responsible for the Bush deficit, that he is planning to put everyone in re-education camps, that he is going to replace the dollar with a world currency, that he is gutting the military, that he is going to take away our guns... And he has only been in office ten weeks.
In fact, conservatives are back to being as crazy and paranoid as they were when Clinton was President. But that paranoid craziness worked; They took over the Presidency, the House and the Senate. Then they started wars. They tortured people. They tapped every phone in America. They appointed corporate lobbyists to run every agency. They filled the courts with Federalist Society judges that rule for the corporations and religious right every time. They stole billions -- in one documented case actually having the Fed ship truckloads of pallets of hundred dollar bills directly to Iraq to be distributed to Bush cronies. They destroyed the economy of the world. And they got away with it -- who is being held accountable for any of that?
So I want to say, please take the right seriously. They may appear to be crazy - and they are - but this doesn't mean it isn't going to work.
Read the rest of the story in the HuffingtonPost
Monday, April 13, 2009
Why Did TeaBaggers Wait Unitl Now To Rage Against Deficit Spending
"It’s a day to get together with fellow patriots all across the state of Texas... Let them know what you think about the bailouts, all this stimulus, all this runaway spending going on in Washington, D.C.," Perry said
in a YouTube video about the rallies posted last week.Many conservative followers plan to "spontaneously" attend tea bagging party all on their own this week - after Republican billionaires funded and heavily staffed conservative groups organized all the logistical and public relations necessary to set up the protests and conservative media like Fox News so heavily promoted the event.
I too am alarmed by the large national debt the U.S. now owes to China, Saudi Arabia and other foreign interests. I have been protesting this fact for the last several years while Pres. Bush and the Republican controlled congress piled up that debt and facilitated a near catastrophic economic collapse.Our Republican representatives in Washington were for deficit spending, when Republicans controlled congress and the White House, before they were against deficit spending, now that a Democrats control congress and the White House.
In 2006, when the Republicans still controlled Congress, they actively rejected any attempts Democrats made to control deficit spending. The New York Times reported on March 14, 2006,
"Senate Republicans on Tuesday narrowly defeated an effort to impose budget rules that would make it harder to increase spending or cut taxes, a move that critics said that showed Republicans were posturing in their calls for greater fiscal restraint. ... Republicans said the push to add the rules to the budget was a back-door effort to make it harder to extend President Bush's tax cuts. 'The practical effect of this is to raise taxes,' said Senator Judd Gregg, Republican of New Hampshire and chairman of the Budget Committee."And, as tax cuts along side hundreds of billions of dollars of war spending in Iraq pushed the nation ever deeper into long term deficits, our Republican representatives never spoke a word of concern about deficit spending.
When Pres. George Bush "tax cut" the nation from an annual budget surplus of $300 billion, as Pres. Clinton left office, to an annual budget deficit of $1 trillion, as Pres. Bush left office, our Republican representatives in Washington fully supported and voted for Pres. Bush's deficit spending policies and legislation without complaint. Now our Republican representatives in Washington and tea bagging conservatives fuss about deficit spending?This smacks more of political expediency and posturing for the 2010 election than principled government philosophy that we can believe in. This is why fewer and fewer Americans are willing to take seriously staged conservative political stunts and why there is increasing disdain for Republican leaders against a backdrop of Republican bickering and poll results showing approval for President Obama's policies.
71% of Americans have confidence in Obama to do the right thing on the economy. Most have little or no confidence in the GOP Congress - Gallup:
Over two-thirds of Americans -- 71% -- have a great deal or a fair amount of confidence in President Obama to do or recommend the right thing for the economy, a much higher level of confidence than is given Republican leaders in Congress.
Barely one-third of the American people have confidence in Congressional Republicans. Of all those tested, only the Republicans had a higher negative rating. When it comes to having confidence in the GOP on the economy, 58% of Americans have "almost a little or none." The Congressional Republicans have earned that lack of confidence. The GOP strategy of saying "NO" and staging the tea bagging event has resulted in NO confidence.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Conservative Media Unleash Violent, Revolutionary Rhetoric
Media Matters
Summary: Numerous conservative media figures have called for a "revolution" or have invoked violent rhetoric while discussing the Obama administration or government in general. In addition to encouraging violence, such violent rhetoric has also included suggesting Obama's policies were doing violence to the American people and depicting Obama as a rapist, spousal abuser, or mobster.
Read the full story at Media Matters
Friday, April 10, 2009
The Conservative 'Spontaneous' Tea Party Uprising
Updated 4/10/09 at 12:58 AM
Think Progress:
Republicans are pushing the idea that there is a "spontaneous" populist uprising against President Obama and his efforts to pull the American economy back from the brink of collapse. As they tell the story, the public is so outraged by Obama's economic Recovery and Reinvestment programs that Americans everywhere are forming a "spontaneous" movement to overthrow the tyrannical king of the federal government by re-enacting the Boston Tea Party.
Everything about this so called spontaneous "Tea Party" movement looks more like a preplanned "marketing program" designed to covertly re-launch the old conservative anti-government "product" in a seemingly new spontaneous populist revolt.
Is it coincidence that CNBC's correspondent Rick Santelli rocketed from being a little-known second-string correspondent to a populist hero of the downtrodden American masses suffering under the onslaught of a 21st century socialist big government?
Within minutes after Santelli’s CNBC on-air “rant” calling for a “Chicago Tea Party” to protest President Obama’s economic plans conservative blogs and websites were online live to echo Santelli’s “rant” and call for protest "Tea Party" rallies in cities from coast to coast. Why were so many slick websites and blogs able to get online and live within minutes or hours after Santelli’s rant, calling for a nationwide populist revolt? (one example: the New American Tea Party website)
What hasn’t been widely reported is evidence linking Santelli’s “tea party” rant with some very familiar names from the right wing machine from PR operatives, who specialize in imitation grassroots “AstroTurf'ing” PR campaigns, to billionaire money men known to fund conservative causes and PR blitzes. In marketing terms, Santelli’s February 19th CNBC network "rant" calling for a “Chicago Tea Party” serves as a prefect "launch event" for what appears to be a carefully organized and sophisticated public relations marketing campaign.
Conservative money men are pouring tens of millions of dollars into their media machines to stop Obama's classically Keynesian approach to stimulate the economy through government spending on public infrastructure, to reduce the massive budget deficits left by the Bush Administration by raising taxes on the ultra wealthy and to restore regulatory safeguards on those who irresponsibly exploit the financial systems of the U.S. and world.
---Click here for REST OF STORY!...---
Think Progress:
Think Progress already reported on Republican lawmakers planning to speak at anti-Obama “tea party” protests taking place nationwide on April 15. Last night, Eric Odom of the DontGo website — one of the organizers of the protests — wrote a blog post stressing that these protests are displays of “regular American[s] in protest of government spending and extreme taxation,” rather than something affiliated with a political party or special interest agenda.Originally posted 3/23/09Today on Fox News — which has actively been promoting the protests — Glenn Beck pushed the tea party talking points, similarly claiming that the protests aren’t “coordinated” and are fully organized by “regular” people. Watch it:
Despite these attempts to make the “movement” appear organic, the principle organizers of the local events are actually the lobbyist-run think tanks Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works.
The two groups are heavily staffed and well funded, and are providing all the logistical and public relations work necessary for planning coast-to-coast protests:– Freedom Works staffers coordinate conference calls among protesters, contacting conservative activists to give them “sign ideas, sample press releases, and a map of events around the country.”
– Freedom Works staffers apparently moved to “take over” the planning of local events in Florida.
– Freedom Works provides how-to guides for delivering a “clear message” to the public and media.
– Freedom Works has several domain addresses — some of them made to look like they were set up by amateurs — to promote the protests.
– Americans for Prosperity is writing press releases and planning the events in New Jersey, Arizona, New Hampshire, Missouri, Kansas, and several other states.
This type of corporate ‘astroturfing‘ is nothing new to either organization. While working to promote Social Security privatization, Freedom Works was caught planting one of its operatives as a “single mom” to ask questions to President Bush in a town hall on the subject. Last year, the Wall Street Journal exposed Freedom Works for similarly building “amateur-looking” websites to promote the lobbying interests of Dick Armey, the former Republican Majority Leader who now leads Freedom Works and is a lobbyist for the firm DLA Piper.
Americans for Prosperity is run by Tim Phillips, who was Ralph Reed’s former partner in the lobbying firm Century Strategies. The group is funded by Koch family foundations — a family whose wealth is derived from the oil industry. Indeed Americans for Prosperity has coordinated pro-drilling ‘grassroots‘ events around the country.
Republicans are pushing the idea that there is a "spontaneous" populist uprising against President Obama and his efforts to pull the American economy back from the brink of collapse. As they tell the story, the public is so outraged by Obama's economic Recovery and Reinvestment programs that Americans everywhere are forming a "spontaneous" movement to overthrow the tyrannical king of the federal government by re-enacting the Boston Tea Party.
Everything about this so called spontaneous "Tea Party" movement looks more like a preplanned "marketing program" designed to covertly re-launch the old conservative anti-government "product" in a seemingly new spontaneous populist revolt.
Is it coincidence that CNBC's correspondent Rick Santelli rocketed from being a little-known second-string correspondent to a populist hero of the downtrodden American masses suffering under the onslaught of a 21st century socialist big government?
Within minutes after Santelli’s CNBC on-air “rant” calling for a “Chicago Tea Party” to protest President Obama’s economic plans conservative blogs and websites were online live to echo Santelli’s “rant” and call for protest "Tea Party" rallies in cities from coast to coast. Why were so many slick websites and blogs able to get online and live within minutes or hours after Santelli’s rant, calling for a nationwide populist revolt? (one example: the New American Tea Party website)
What hasn’t been widely reported is evidence linking Santelli’s “tea party” rant with some very familiar names from the right wing machine from PR operatives, who specialize in imitation grassroots “AstroTurf'ing” PR campaigns, to billionaire money men known to fund conservative causes and PR blitzes. In marketing terms, Santelli’s February 19th CNBC network "rant" calling for a “Chicago Tea Party” serves as a prefect "launch event" for what appears to be a carefully organized and sophisticated public relations marketing campaign.
Conservative money men are pouring tens of millions of dollars into their media machines to stop Obama's classically Keynesian approach to stimulate the economy through government spending on public infrastructure, to reduce the massive budget deficits left by the Bush Administration by raising taxes on the ultra wealthy and to restore regulatory safeguards on those who irresponsibly exploit the financial systems of the U.S. and world.
---Click here for REST OF STORY!...---
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Communist Witch Hunt 2.0
Republican U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy Congressman Spencer Bachus says, "The State Department House is infested with communists socialists. I have here in my hand a list of 205 17 names known as members of the Communist Socialist Party."
Voter Photo ID Legislation Is Not About Fair Elections
Think Progress.Org -- Texas lawmaker: Asians should change their names to make them ‘easier for American [election workers] to deal with.’
During the Texas House Elections Committee debate in the voter photo ID law on Monday and Tuesday Republican proponents of the law admitted there is no evidence of voter impersonation "fraud" in Texas. "We can't prove there is voter ID fraud. . . We may have a big voter impersonation problem we don't know about. I think we do," said Skipper Wallace, the Republican Party chairman of Lampasas County. [So, the bottom line Republican argument is they just have faith that Democrats are perpetrating voter ID fraud in Texas?]
Republicans are making photo Voter ID the highest priority even as they admit there is no evidence of voter id fraud in Texas and after Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott's $1.4 million two year investigation attempting to locate voter fraud failed to identify anything more than 26 cases where people forgot to sign and address the absentee ballot envelope.
"This is a racial issue, make no mistake about it," said Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, who is not on the committee but sat with it and was allowed to comment during the house committee hearing. "This is about skimming enough minority votes so some people can't get elected."
The success of Texas Democratic voter registration drives among minority, elderly and low income groups in 2008 threatens to tip the balance of power away from Republican candidates in future elections. As the tide of Democratic voters continues to grow across Texas, voter ID legislation would be an effective way for Republicans to hold back the tide.
Consequently, the use of baseless "voter id fraud" allegations to promote voter photo ID legislation has become such an urgent 2010 and 2012 election priority for Republicans in the 2009 Texas legislative session that Republicans in the Texas Senate were compelled to change long standing Senate rules to just to bring the photo ID legislation to a vote.
On Tuesday, State Rep. Betty Brown (R - House District 4, Athens, TX) let slip a glimpse of Republicans' underlying feelings about 'certain' Texas voters during Tx House debate on voter identification legislation when she said that Asian-Americans should change their names because they’re too hard to pronounce:Look in your purse or wallet - other than your Driver's License, what current (unexpired) government-issued photo ID do you find? Do you find a U.S. passport? Maybe; a few people have passports. Some seniors may find a Veterans Identification or Armed Forces Identification Photo ID Card, but they do not have 'issued' and 'expires' dates. In Indiana many older veterans, who had stopped driving and let their Driver's License expire, tried to use their Veterans and Armed Forces Id Cards to vote in 2008. Even those veterans who have served our county were turned away because every government photo ID card they possessed were either expired or not dated.“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?” Brown said.Yesterday, Brown continued to resist calls to apologize as Brown's spokesman said that Democrats “want this to just be about race.”
Brown later told [Organization of Chinese Americans representative Ramey] Ko: “Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with?”
So, if you have an expired Driver's License, or if you are poor and don't own a car, and therefore never bothered to get a Driver's License, you likely do not have a current government-issued photo ID.A Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law study (and many other studies) finds that as many as 11 percent of citizens, mostly the elderly, poor and minority American citizens, do not have a current, government-issued photo ID. Another academic study of the 2004 presidential election conducted for the bipartisan Federal Election Assistance Commission found that states with Voter ID laws had an overall turnout reduction of 3%, a figure that reached 5.7% among African Americans and 10% among Hispanics. Former Texas Republican Party Political Director Royal Masset estimated that a photo ID requirement would reduce Democratic turnout in Texans by 3%. That is a lot Texans who would be denied the right to vote in Texas!
And, if you can't drive a car to the state driver's license bureau, where you must submit your original (or notarized copy) birth certificate, you can't get a government-issued photo ID and you will not be allowed to vote in any election under the new Texas Photo Voter Id law.
During the Texas House Elections Committee debate in the voter photo ID law on Monday and Tuesday Republican proponents of the law admitted there is no evidence of voter impersonation "fraud" in Texas. "We can't prove there is voter ID fraud. . . We may have a big voter impersonation problem we don't know about. I think we do," said Skipper Wallace, the Republican Party chairman of Lampasas County. [So, the bottom line Republican argument is they just have faith that Democrats are perpetrating voter ID fraud in Texas?]
Republicans are making photo Voter ID the highest priority even as they admit there is no evidence of voter id fraud in Texas and after Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott's $1.4 million two year investigation attempting to locate voter fraud failed to identify anything more than 26 cases where people forgot to sign and address the absentee ballot envelope.
"This is a racial issue, make no mistake about it," said Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, who is not on the committee but sat with it and was allowed to comment during the house committee hearing. "This is about skimming enough minority votes so some people can't get elected."
The success of Texas Democratic voter registration drives among minority, elderly and low income groups in 2008 threatens to tip the balance of power away from Republican candidates in future elections. As the tide of Democratic voters continues to grow across Texas, voter ID legislation would be an effective way for Republicans to hold back the tide.
Consequently, the use of baseless "voter id fraud" allegations to promote voter photo ID legislation has become such an urgent 2010 and 2012 election priority for Republicans in the 2009 Texas legislative session that Republicans in the Texas Senate were compelled to change long standing Senate rules to just to bring the photo ID legislation to a vote.
So Far Right They Are Wrong For Texas
On April 3, Governor Perry addressed the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) in San Antonio.According to the Governors press release, he "promoted Texas as the premier state for biomedical research, development and manufacturing because of the state's strong business climate and investments through the Emerging Technology Fund (ETF)." http://governor.state.tx.us/ne...
Gov. Perry failed to mention that in hopes of securing the endorsement of evangelical right-wing Republicans for the 2010 primary election against Kay Bailey Hutchison he opposes the critical cornerstones of biomedical research in Texas. Hutchison has upset evangelical right-wingers with her votes in the U.S. Sentate in favor of stem cell research funding.
Stem cell research was exposed as a central political issue for the 2010 Republican primary for the governor's office when Hutchison called on Governor Perry to put in place a plan to aggressively pursue Texas state taxpayer funding for embryonic stem cell research.
Governor Perry, a leading general in the Republican Party's War On Science, reappointed Don McLeroy as chairman of the Texas State Board of Education to press teachers to openly question established scientific principles and he promises to prevent stem cell related research and business in Texas as he touts his record for passing more restrictions on stem cell research than any previous governor.
Biomedical research requires a well-educated and knowledgeable scientists and technicians. The Chair of the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE), an appointee of Mr. Perry, is on a crusade to drag our children into the 15th Century. The SBOE is currently creating a Science Curriculum that is an echo chamber for conservative talking points that teach the basic principles of science are wrong. If we teach our Children science that has been diluted by religious dogma and littered with junk, then they will lack the skills essential to the Bio-Tech Industry.
In addition, at Gov. Perry's urging the Republican controlled Texas legislature is considering a bill that could effectively end stem cell research within Texas. http://www.chron.com/disp/stor...
Republicans like Perry are so far right they are wrong for Texas.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Right Wing Talking Revolution - As In Armed Insurrection
Read, "What's wrong with the North Texas Fusion Center?" in the Collin County Observer, then read
So Now They Want a Revolution? from the BurntOrangeReport.com:
Lately we have been hearing a lot of squawking and screeching emanating from the conservative right wing about a revolution.And then read Fearmongering at the DailyKosThis is rather perplexing given that we recently had an election in which the elected President won rather substantially. . .
. . .And despite all of the problems we face in these dire and stressful times the President's approval ratings remain in the 60's. Today it is at 67%. Today an ABC/Washington Post poll also reveals 65% trust President Obama to handle relations with Muslim nations.
So, what is the problem? Why is a revolution necessary now?
In an editorial in the The New York Times Charles Blow expressed his concern for conservative hate talk. Blow asserts conservative chatter and hate talk is far from harmless."Lately I've been consuming as much conservative media as possible (interspersed with shots of Pepto-Bismol) to get a better sense of the mind and mood of the right.
My read: They're apocalyptic. They feel isolated, angry, betrayed and besieged. And some of their "leaders" seem to be trying to mold them into militias." [reminiscent of the 1930's era German-American Bundist Movement fostered by Hitler's Nazi Germany]Mr. Blow said he was initially amused by the twisted logic, garbled and veiled hate speech. After spending substantial time listening to conservative media, however, Mr. Blow changed his tune. He realized all is not harmless talk.
But, it's not all just harmless talk. For some, their disaffection has hardened into something more dark and dangerous. They're talking about a revolution.Mr. Blow's article certainly gave me pause because I too had the tendency to dismiss the ravings of the right wing as just that. The events of this past week should certainly make us rethink some of our impressions of right wing hate talk.Read the rest of the story at burntorangereport.com.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Baracknophobia - Obey | ||||
| ||||
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Public Speaks On Voter ID Before TX House Committee
Hunderds gathered to speak out on Voter ID
Originally Posted at KXAN Austin, TX
By Jenny Hoff - KXAN AUSTIN
Tuesday, 07 Apr 2009, 6:44 PM CDT
KXAN AUSTIN - Voter ID day at the Capitol started out with a rally of pro-Voter ID supporters.
Hundreds, dressed in red, gathered on the South steps to push House members to make the same decision as the Senate: Approve SB 362, which would require voters bring a photo ID to the polls.
"I have to provide a valid photo ID and my social security number just to get a fishing license, and I have to provide neither in order to vote," said Voter ID supporter, Liz Tate. "That makes absolutely no sense to me."
Tate is part of SafeTexas , a group that has been at the forefront of pushing Voter ID legislation.
Members of SafeTexas joined opponents of the bill to publicly testify before the House Elections Committee Tuesday afternoon. Every seat in the hearing room was filled, as speakers prepared themselves for a long night.
"I plan to wait 24 hours if I have to in order to testify in favor of this bill," said Rusty Hicks, who waited almost that long to testify during the Senate debate on Voter ID
The first person to testify before the House committee spoke out against the bill. Randall Buck Wood, an attorney, said he has investigated voter fraud and found nothing this bill would solve.
"I've never found a person impersonating another voter," said Wood. "I've never found illegal immigrants trying to vote."
That comment was met with grumblings from some of the pro-Voter ID members of the audience who believe voter fraud is alive and well in Texas.
An All-Night Affair
Rep. Todd Smith, Chair of the Elections Committee, said he will give everyone who wants to testify a chance to do so. Each speakers gets three minutes and then a chance to answer questions posed by committee members. When the Senate Committee of the Whole had its hearing on the issue, the debate and testimony lasted almost 24 hours.
Smith does not expect the committee to vote on the bill this week. However, once it does approve the bill, SB 362 will then move to the House floor for debate.
Stipulations of the Bill
Under current law, to vote a regular ballot, voters are only required to present a voter registration certificate to a poll worker.
SB 362 would require all voters present a valid form of photo identification to the polls. If a person does not have a state ID or driver's license or other form of photo identification, they could be bring in two other forms of approved identification instead (utility bill, cable bill, etc).
The bill mandates the Secretary of State educate the public on the new voting law by posting a notice on the website and on the websites of local polling locations. The bill also mandates the Texas Department of Public Safety not charge people who want to obtain a state issued ID solely for the purpose of voting.
Related Posts:
Originally Posted at KXAN Austin, TX
By Jenny Hoff - KXAN AUSTIN
Tuesday, 07 Apr 2009, 6:44 PM CDT
KXAN AUSTIN - Voter ID day at the Capitol started out with a rally of pro-Voter ID supporters.
"I have to provide a valid photo ID and my social security number just to get a fishing license, and I have to provide neither in order to vote," said Voter ID supporter, Liz Tate. "That makes absolutely no sense to me."
Tate is part of SafeTexas , a group that has been at the forefront of pushing Voter ID legislation.
Members of SafeTexas joined opponents of the bill to publicly testify before the House Elections Committee Tuesday afternoon. Every seat in the hearing room was filled, as speakers prepared themselves for a long night.
"I plan to wait 24 hours if I have to in order to testify in favor of this bill," said Rusty Hicks, who waited almost that long to testify during the Senate debate on Voter ID
The first person to testify before the House committee spoke out against the bill. Randall Buck Wood, an attorney, said he has investigated voter fraud and found nothing this bill would solve.
"I've never found a person impersonating another voter," said Wood. "I've never found illegal immigrants trying to vote."
That comment was met with grumblings from some of the pro-Voter ID members of the audience who believe voter fraud is alive and well in Texas.
An All-Night Affair
Rep. Todd Smith, Chair of the Elections Committee, said he will give everyone who wants to testify a chance to do so. Each speakers gets three minutes and then a chance to answer questions posed by committee members. When the Senate Committee of the Whole had its hearing on the issue, the debate and testimony lasted almost 24 hours.
Smith does not expect the committee to vote on the bill this week. However, once it does approve the bill, SB 362 will then move to the House floor for debate.
Stipulations of the Bill
Under current law, to vote a regular ballot, voters are only required to present a voter registration certificate to a poll worker.
SB 362 would require all voters present a valid form of photo identification to the polls. If a person does not have a state ID or driver's license or other form of photo identification, they could be bring in two other forms of approved identification instead (utility bill, cable bill, etc).
The bill mandates the Secretary of State educate the public on the new voting law by posting a notice on the website and on the websites of local polling locations. The bill also mandates the Texas Department of Public Safety not charge people who want to obtain a state issued ID solely for the purpose of voting.
Related Posts:
- Take Action - Photo Voter ID Bill Up For House Committee
- Voter Photo ID: A Flawed Solution To A Made-Up Problem
Appalling Lack Of Oversight At Homeland Security Fusion Centers
The Texas Observer, The Collin County Observer and this blog has been posting about the Collin County and Department Of Homeland Security funded The North Central Texas Fusion System located in Collin County. The Collin County Observer posted another good story about this domestic intelligence gathering operation in the Texas Observer:
A newly leaked terrorism assessment from a fusion center in Virginia shows that police and feds are targeting "historically black colleges" as "radicalization nodes" for terrorists. RAW STORY has published the entirety of the 215 page report, available here in PDF format, From RAW STORY:
(What is a "fusion center?")
Collin County's fusion center, the NCTFS, is not the only fusion center under fire for distributing such spurious and inflammatory warnings to law enforcement agencies.
Collin County's fusion center, the NCTFS, came under national criticism last month when its newsletter, the Preventive Awareness Bulletin, used ultra-right websites as a basis for declaring that "mainstream Muslim" organizations were gaining success in endeavors such as establishing a sharia law in the US.
The newsletter used inflammatory internet rumors to call for law enforcement to report on legal lobbying and protest activities by Muslin and anti-war groups, prompting a response from the national office of the ACLU.
The controversial PAB was written by Dr. Robert Johnson, the son of U.S. Congressman Sam Johnson and the prime contractor to the fusion center. [Sam Johnson (R) represents the 3rd Congressional District of Texas, which includes the southwestern portion of Collin County and the Northeastern corner of Dallas County.]The PAB, stamped "For Official Use Only", is published weekly and is distributed to several hundred law enforcement and other first responder agencies in the North Texas region.
This week's edition, acknowledges what I've been hearing from several sources - which is that most of the recipients of the newsletter consider it a waste of time and toss it in the trash without reading it.
This latest PAB leads with a statement that, "In prioritizing our resources, we also understand that you must prioritize your limited time. Therefore, we will no longer be sending weekly bulletins. However, we will continue to send periodic updates, resources, information and analysis that we believe to be of value to you."
A newly leaked terrorism assessment from a fusion center in Virginia shows that police and feds are targeting "historically black colleges" as "radicalization nodes" for terrorists. RAW STORY has published the entirety of the 215 page report, available here in PDF format, From RAW STORY:
From page 17 of the report:The Department of Homeland Security has paid out more than $327 million in funding to local authorities during fiscal years 2004 to 2008 to form 70 centers across the country. The federal government also provides start up personnel and technical support along with the funding. The 70 fusion centers around the U.S., including the one in Collin County gather, compile, store, interpret and then distribute to other government agencies huge amounts of information on the "activities" of local citizens.While most of these universities are considered urban, two are designated as a Historically Black Colleges and Universities, while Regent University is a private, evangelical Christian institution. While the majority of individuals associated with educational institutions do not engage in activities of interest to the VFC, it is important to note that University-based students groups are recognized as a radicalization node for almost every type of extremist group.Though the report singles out "historically black colleges" early on, it also contains an extensive list of peaceful American and International activist groups from nearly all cross-sections of political engagement, placing them side-by-side with groups that have long been known for resorting to violence.
. . ."If we are to believe this exaggerated threat assessment, Virginia's learning and religious institutions must be hotbeds of terrorist activity,' said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, in an advisory. "This document and its authors have displayed a fundamental disregard for our constitutional rights of free expression and association. Unfortunately, it's not the first time we've seen such an indifference to these basic rights from local fusion centers. Congress must take the necessary steps to institute real and thorough oversight mechanisms at fusion centers before we reach a point where we are all considered potential suspects."
"There is an appalling lack of oversight at these fusion centers and they are becoming – as the ACLU has repeatedly warned – a breeding ground for overzealous police intelligence activities," said Michael German, ACLU Policy Counsel and former FBI Agent, in a release. "The Virginia threat assessment isn’t just disturbing for encouraging police to treat education and religious practices with suspicion, it's bad law enforcement. Lawmakers from all levels of government need to enact legislation to protect against these spying activities that threaten our democracy while doing nothing to improve security."
Recently, a Department of Homeland Security-funded fusion center in Missouri was accused of blatant disregard for the United States Constitution after one of its memos encouraged the surveillance of third party activists, Christians and supporters of Congressman Ron Paul, for their alleged potential status as illegal militia.
(What is a "fusion center?")
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)