Back in April, there was a huge fuss over an internal report by the Department of Homeland Security warning that current conditions resemble those in the early 1990s — a time marked by an upsurge of right-wing extremism that culminated in the Oklahoma City bombing.
Conservatives were outraged. The chairman of the Republican National Committee denounced the report as an attempt to “segment out conservatives in this country who have a different philosophy or view from this administration” and label them as terrorists.
But with the murder of Dr. George Tiller by an anti-abortion fanatic, closely followed by a shooting by a white supremacist at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the analysis looks prescient.
There is, however, one important thing that the D.H.S. report didn’t say: Today, as in the early years of the Clinton administration but to an even greater extent, right-wing extremism is being systematically fed by the conservative media and political establishment.
Now, for the most part, the likes of Fox News and the R.N.C. haven’t directly incited violence, despite Bill O’Reilly’s declarations that “some” called Dr. Tiller “Tiller the Baby Killer,” that he had “blood on his hands,” and that he was a “guy operating a death mill.” But they have gone out of their way to provide a platform for conspiracy theories and apocalyptic rhetoric, just as they did the last time a Democrat held the White House.
And at this point, whatever dividing line there was between mainstream conservatism and the black-helicopter crowd seems to have been virtually erased.
Exhibit A for the mainstreaming of right-wing extremism is Fox News’s new star, Glenn Beck... a commentator who, among other things, warned viewers that the Federal Emergency Management Agency might be building concentration camps as part of the Obama administration’s “totalitarian” agenda.
...let’s not neglect the print news media. The Washington Times saw fit to run an opinion piece declaring that President Obama “not only identifies with Muslims, but actually may still be one himself,” and that in any case he has “aligned himself” with the radical Muslim Brotherhood.
And then there’s Rush Limbaugh [who] peddles conspiracy theories — suggesting, for example, that fears over swine flu were being hyped “to get people to respond to government orders” — that’s a case of the conservative media establishment joining hands with the lunatic fringe.
The R.N.C. says that “the Democratic Party is dedicated to restructuring American society along socialist ideals.”
The worst terrorist attack in our history was perpetrated by a foreign conspiracy. But the second worst, the Oklahoma City bombing, was perpetrated by an all-American lunatic. Politicians and media organizations wind up such people at their, and our, peril.
--- Click here for REST OF PAUL KRUGMAN'S OP-ED!... ---
Saturday, June 13, 2009
The Big Hate
A Paul Krugman NYTimes OP-ED details the links between the extremists, the right-wing media and GOP leaders:
Friday, June 12, 2009
A Helping Hand For Your Neighbors In Need
 | Saturday June 27th is our Country’s National Day of Service devoted to Health Care! | |||||||||||||||||||||
 | Here is how you can help: If you are among the “insured” and have the extra resources, please reach out on this day and adopt an uninsured neighbor. For $40 you can provide needed healthcare to individuals and families in need in Collin County. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!!!! | ||||||||||||||||||||||
A message from the local chapter of Organizing For America |
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Right-Wing Populists Disavow Responsibility
CrooksAndLiars.com:
Glenn Beck and his fellow wingnuts -- the ones who have been whipping up hysteria among their right-wing populist followers since Obama's election and before -- essentially announced they have no intention of reflecting on their roles in today's horrifying shooting at the Holocaust Museum in D.C.
They did this by doing what they always do whenever these situations arise: First call it all an "isolated incident" committed by a "lone nutcase" who just happens to be acting out beliefs emanating from their own quadrant. Then, when that fails, blame it on the Left.
Beck offered the following rationale on his Fox News show tonight:
Beck: What they're missing is: The pot in America is boiling. And this is just yet another warning to all Americans of things to come.
Actually, Beck has this exactly right. But frankly, it's boiling because of people like Glenn Beck, ranting hysterically every night about impending apocalypses of various forms -- looming "liberal fascism," the "economic meltdown," the "New World Order," violence spilling over the Mexican border, even FEMA concentration camps.
--- Click here for REST OF THIS CROOKSANDLIARS STORY!... ---
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Will Conservative Republicans Continue To Defend Right-Wing Extremists?
FOX reporter admits viewers' extremism scares him (June 10th) FOX Reporter: Maybe we were wrong to attack DHS extremism report The [Republican] right went bonkers over the DHS report. From CNN two months ago |
A wide swath of conservative Republican voices -- from Rush Limbaugh to RNC Chairman Michael Steele -- lashed out at the DHS Secretary over what they deemed an anti-Republican report. [They apparently identify with the right-wing extremists described in the report.]
When the DHS report was initially released, House Minority Leader John Boehner defended the right-wing extremists described in the report. Do Collin County's U.S. House representatives Sam Johnson and Ralph Hall support Boehner's defense of right-wing extremists? When the DHS report was initially released, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell defended the right-wing extremists described in the report. Do Texas' Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison support McConnell's defense of right-wing extremists? Texas Gov. Rick Perry courted right-wing extremists when he "suggested" that Texas might need to succeed from the union over President Obama's oppressive socialist leadership. Will Gov. Perry condemn right-wing extremists who promote hate talk and violence? (Media Matters quotes a number of top Republicans defending the right-wing extremists describe in the DHS report.)
If our elected Republican representatives will not repudiate and condemn not only the many acts of violence committed by right-wing extremists in the last several months, but also the extremist rhetoric from mainstream Republican media figures and congressional leaders that prompted those violent acts, how can the good every day Republicans living in Collin Co. continue to re-elect these people to office?
HuffingtonPost: When the 10-page DHS memorandum was made public its warnings [,about events such as the Holocaust Museum shootings and the the shooting of Dr. Tiller last week,] were widely criticized by main-stream conservatives.So Now They Want a Revolution? from BurntOrangeReport.com a couple of months ago:
It's been several months now since that DHS report was issues and, sadly, the study is proving increasingly prescient. In addition to the Von Brunn shootings, there has been the killing of abortion provider George Tiller, another type of ideologically-driven killing that the DHS report warned against.
"Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly anti-government, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely," the DHS report read. "It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."
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 DailyKos
This 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 (4/03/09) Charles Blow expressed his concern for conservative hate talk. Blow asserts conservative chatter and hate talk is far from harmless.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."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]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.
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