View Full Version : CBC Congressman: KKK Bigger Threat than Al-Qaeda
Another reason I like West:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2011/mar/10/audio-cbc-congressman-twt-terror-hearing-your-pape/
Congressman Al Green, Texas Democrat, found himself in a heated debate with Republican members on the Homeland Security Committee on Thursday over whether or not the Ku Klux Klan should be considered a terrorist organization. Rep. Peter King, New York Republican and chairman of the committee said, "There is no equivalency of threat between al Qaeda and Neo-Nazis, environmental extremists, and other isolated madmen." Peter King continued, "Indeed, by the Justice Department’s own record, not one terror-related case in the last two years involved neo-Nazis, environmental extremists, or anti-war groups."
Congressman Dan Lundgren, California Republican, followed up on the issue saying: "I would say to those who criticize us for a singular focus here that I have been on panels that have investigated the continuing presence of Nazi war criminals in the United States," Lungren explained. "I've been there where we've examined the Ku Klux Klan...and skinhead groups and militias."
I caught up with Mr. Green following the close of Thursday's terror hearing and asked him about Attorney General Eric Holder's remarks about 126 terror indictments where the majority of the indictments were jihad related. In a USA Today op-ed piece written by Congressman King, the lawmaker from New York notes:
Attorney General Eric Holder has said that radicalization of Americans is something that keeps him awake at night. As he noted, 126 people have been indicted on terrorist-related charges in the past two years, including 50 U.S. citizens. The great majority of those charged are violent jihadists.
Apparently, the Texas Congressman did not appreciate my question about the terror indictments: (LISTEN HERE)
KP: It's been reported that of all the 126 terror indictments all of have been Muslim. Do you think that should be considered in this particular hearing?
REP. Al GREEN:I think that all criminals should be prosecuted. I think that all terrorists should be investigated which is why I said we ought to investigate all of them and that would include the KKK. Over a hundred years of terrorism why not investigate them too. They are rooted in a religion as well. Check their website out. You’ll see.
KP: Congressman King said they haven’t caused as many problems and...
REP. GREEN:Well ask the men who have been castrated whether they caused a problem. Ask the men who were lynched whether they caused a problem.
KP:When did that happen recently, sir?
REP. GREEN: Does it have to happen recently, and they are still existing for us to investigate them?
If you never had to live with a cross burning, you don’t appreciate what a cross burning can do in terms of terrorizing people. My suspicion is, based on what you’re saying to me, that I should say to you, I hope you won’t defend the KKK.
KP: I don’t have any plans to, sir.
REP. GREEN: I hope you won’t defend the KKK.
KP: But I’m just...
REP. GREEN: I hope you won’t defend the KKK.
REP. GREEN: I hope you won’t defend the KKK.
KP: But I’m just curious...
REP. GREEN: I hope you are not going to defend the KKK.
KP: Of course not, sir.
REP. GREEN: Be as curious as you like, but do not defend the KKK.
KP: Of Course not sir. But are they still causing terror right now?
REP. GREEN: Do not defend the KKK.
REP. GREEN: Do not defend the KKK.
REP. GREEN: You’re newspaper is going to defend the KKK tomorrow, I see.
KP: Um no...but sir...
Congressman Allen West, Florida Republican and fellow Congressional Black Caucus member to Mr. Green, took issue with Rep. Green's remarks about the terror issue and the KKK. (LISTEN HERE)
"You're not defending the KKK," said Mr. West, a retired Army Colonel and Iraq War veteran. "I grew up in Georgia and I remember the days of the Klan--the lighting the cross on Stone Mountain. Those days are done, but what I think a lot of people need to understand is that two weeks ago we had a Saudi gentleman out of Texas Tech--Lubbock, Texas, that was caught planning a terrorist attack to include President Bush's home.
"We just had the bombing threat during Christmas in Portland, Oregon, I believe. We had the underwear bomber. We had Major Nidal Hassan. We had Alawi who is now public enemy number one over in Yemen who was right here in Northern Virgninia. We've got a serious problem here with home grown terrorism that we have to deal with," Mr. West said.
"We have to have this intellectual open debate and anyone not wanting to have it or are being recalcitrant about it, I just ask them to look across the Atlantic Ocean to London and the rest of Europe and see what is happening, because they were not willing to have this open debate and the next thing you know, they have a situation which has become an epidemic."
Congressman West, no stranger to easily fending off accusations of bigotry towards Muslims believes that encompassing the KKK into the terrorism debate "is terrible."
"I think bringing the KKK into all of this is terrible. It's horrible, and that shows an unwillingness to really deal with this situation. It's once again this comparative means by which people try to make the moral relativist argument instead of dealing with the issue," he explained. "I even heard in that hearing someone was talking about, 'Why don't we bring Christians up as well?' This is not what it's about."
Check your six o'clock, Christians. We're next.
The KKK as serious threat as AQ or Radical Islam.....not even close.
The KKK as serious threat as AQ or Radical Islam.....not even close.
IMO they are as serious a threat as anybody is who commits an act of terror, past or present, and do need to be monitored.
My bitch is not only that the Klan's potential is basically nil these days and doesn't warrant the scrutiny the Islamic factions do, but with the obvious tie-in to Christianity; that also seems to be West's problem as well.
REP. Al GREEN:I think that all criminals should be prosecuted. I think that all terrorists should be investigated which is why I said we ought to investigate all of them and that would include the KKK. Over a hundred years of terrorism why not investigate them too. They are rooted in a religion as well. Check their website out. You’ll see.
Decidedly complex issue for us all.
Richard :munchin
When Government Hits On One Group
Christian Science Monitor, 11 Mar 2011
When government makes assumptions about a whole group of people, it's not the same as a private group doing the same. With the power of the state comes a need to avoid stereotypes that might lead to an official denial of freedom and rights.
That simple lesson seems to have been lost in the hearings that opened Thursday by the House Homeland Security Committee.
The focus of the hearings, as framed by the chairman, Rep. Peter King (R) of New York, is solely on the American Muslim community and its response to Al Qaeda’s attempt to radicalize individual members.
For sure, Al Qaeda has shifted to recruiting agents in US mosques or online. And Muslims in America could do more to identify extremists in their communities and to cooperate with counterterrorism law enforcement.
But the same could also be said of other groups that sometimes spawn terrorists, such as white supremacists, anti-abortionists, radical environmentalists, right-wing antigovernment militias, or even street gangs. In fact, since 2008, there have been twice as many terror plots by nonMuslim groups as by extremist Muslims.
Those other groups were not included in the focus of these hearings. And if they were, then the issue would correctly be on how to thwart individual extremists who justify killing out of a distortion of a theology or ideology.
The danger lies when official bodies, whether Congress or the FBI, treat entire religious communities as the source of a problem or hang a cloud of suspicion over them. President Bush set the right tone after 9/11 by saying Islam was not the issue in defeating Al Qaeda. And as Denis McDonough, the White House deputy national security adviser, told a Muslim group Sunday: “When it comes to preventing violent extremism and terrorism in the United States, Muslim Americans are not part of the problem, you’re part of the solution.”
When government does intrude on individual liberties, it must be without profiling by religion, ethnicity, or race. Everyone is subject to searches in airport screening, for example. And when police set up a sobriety checkpoint on highways, everyone is surveyed for drunkenness.
Sometimes such broad powers can be taken too far. The new US health care law, for instance, falsely assumes anyone without health insurance will someday seek medical care in an emergency room. That’s a false assumption, given the wide range of Americans who rely solely on alternative ways for healing and wellness. And yet the law requires everyone to buy health insurance. (The Supreme Court will like rule on this very issue of liberty soon.)
In similar vein, making false assumptions about Muslim Americans can only hurt the attempt to weed out radicals in their community. The fact is that in a third of terrorist attacks in the US since 9/11, the Muslim American community provided information that helped prevent an attack. And the level of recruitment into radical groups among US Muslims remains low.
Law enforcement officials have wisely invited the cooperation of Muslims – not insisting upon it – thus avoiding the use of official threats. They engage these communities on a wide range of issues and largely avoid questions of faith. In many parts of the country, officials are more worried about other groups, such as neo-Nazis or drug gangs.
This ability to balance a nation’s security and its liberties is not always easy. Fears remain high about terrorism by misguided Muslims. Thursday’s hearing was also full of fear about government intrusion on all types of minority groups.
Muslims worldwide would be better persuaded to oppose terrorism if they perceived the US government as not stereotyping them. Such a method against radicals only breeds more radicals.
“We have a choice,” Mr. McDonough said. “We can choose to send a message to certain Americans that they are somehow ‘less American’ because of their faith or how they look.”
“If we make that choice,” he added, “we risk feeding the very feelings of disenchantment that may push some members of that community to violent extremism.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/368901
Peregrino
03-11-2011, 14:33
When will the government, leftists, progressives, muslim appologists, etc., (sorry - starting to get redundant there) quit lying to everybody, including themselves, and admit that Islam really is the problem. Somebody please tell me what other "ideology" influencing 1.something BILLION people has - as a core tenet of its belief system - "convert, enslave, or kill" everybody else. Personally, I have a serious problem with that. I don't think it's a complex issue at all.
greenberetTFS
03-11-2011, 14:50
The KKK as serious threat as AQ or Radical Islam.....not even close.
Absolutely concur.............;)
Big Teddy :munchin
longrange1947
03-11-2011, 17:03
Attorney General Eric Holder has said that radicalization of Americans is something that keeps him awake at night. As he noted, 126 people have been indicted on terrorist-related charges in the past two years, including 50 U.S. citizens. The great majority of those charged are violent jihadists.
I am confused as this is in Richard's article:
But the same could also be said of other groups that sometimes spawn terrorists, such as white supremacists, anti-abortionists, radical environmentalists, right-wing antigovernment militias, or even street gangs. In fact, since 2008, there have been twice as many terror plots by nonMuslim groups as by extremist Muslims.
Those other groups were not included in the focus of these hearings. And if they were, then the issue would correctly be on how to thwart individual extremists who justify killing out of a distortion of a theology or ideology
Seems there is a disconnect somewhere. :munchin
Absolutely concur.............;)
Big Teddy :munchin
To be exact....I might put the KKK a notch or two above the Hutaree, and that is heavy on the maybe.
I am confused as this is in Richard's article:
But the same could also be said of other groups that sometimes spawn terrorists, such as white supremacists, anti-abortionists, radical environmentalists, right-wing antigovernment militias, or even street gangs. In fact, since 2008, there have been twice as many terror plots by nonMuslim groups as by extremist Muslims.
Those other groups were not included in the focus of these hearings. And if they were, then the issue would correctly be on how to thwart individual extremists who justify killing out of a distortion of a theology or ideology
Seems there is a disconnect somewhere. :munchin
The perpetrators of over 7,000 attacks, or over 60 percent, in 2008 could not be determined from open source information. Of the remaining incidents, as many as 150 various subnational groups—a third of them well-known foreign terrorist organizations4—or clandestine agents were connected to an attack in various ways, including as a claimant, as the accused, and as the confirmed perpetrator. In most instances, open source reporting contains little confirmed or corroborating information that identifies the organizations or individuals responsible for a terrorist attack. In many reports, attackers are alleged to be tied to local or well-known terrorist groups but there is little subsequent reporting that verifies these connections. Moreover, pinpointing attackers becomes even more difficult as extremist groups splinter or merge with others, make false claims, or deny allegations.
2008 Report on Terrorism
National Counterterrorism Center
http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/terror_08.pdf
Reading the report helps understand their point-of-view.
Richard :munchin
http://www.mpac.org/assets/docs/publications/MPAC-Post-911-Terrorism-Data.pdf
My opinion is that the KKK should be watched but not as closely as the other groups mentioned above, but I would put the drug cartels in Mexico above them as far as terror is concerned.
I think the point being lost in the national discussion is that we need to not only keep an eye on what seems to be the most dangerous terrorist threat at the moment, but to not lose focus on all the rest of the threats out there.
The FBI describes the Sovereign Citizen Movement as a domestic terrorism group.
Members of the movement do not believe U.S. laws apply to them and sometimes make their own license plates or create their own legal trials, according to the FBI. A group of Fairbanks residents recently conducted their own trial of Cox at Denny’s Restaurant.
Richard :munchin
Five Arrested In Alleged Plot To Kidnap, Kill Alaska State Troopers, Judge
Fairbanks News Miner, 11 Mar 2011
Five people, including militia activist Schaeffer Cox, were arrested Thursday in the Fairbanks area for allegedly conspiring to kill multiple Alaska State Troopers and a federal judge.
The group had stockpiled weapons and conducted surveillance on the homes of two troopers, according to Alaska State Troopers. Some of the weapons known to be in the cache are prohibited by state or federal law, according to troopers.
In addition to Cox, those taken into custody are Lonnie and Karen Vernon of Salcha, Coleman Barney of North Pole and Michael Anderson, whose hometown was unclear. All were taken into custody without incident.
The arrests were made by the Alaska State Troopers’ Special Emergency Reaction Team, along with Fairbanks troopers, the FBI, U.S. Marshal’s Service and the Fairbanks Police Department.
U.S. District Court Judge Ralph Beistline was the judge targeted, U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler said. Lonnie Vernon was recently indicted on the charge of threatening to kill Beistline, the chief judge for the U.S. District Court in Alaska, “in the fulfillment of his duties” and is the only member of the group facing federal charges, Loeffler said.
Beistline is presiding over a tax-evasion case involving the Vernons.
The five arrested Thursday face several state charges, including conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, conspiracy to commit arson, and tampering with evidence, according to troopers.
Trooper and federal law enforcement activity associated with the arrests was seen in both Fairbanks and North Pole on Thursday.
In Fairbanks, multiple law enforcement agencies were seen at Cox’s house on Scenic Loop, off of Farmers Loop, and at Barney’s house on Silver Street in North Pole.
Fairbanks Police Chief Laren Zager said earlier Thursday that the actions involved the Sovereign Citizen Movement and multiple police actions. He said he was not authorized to give details because other law enforcement agencies were in charge of the operation.
“To properly enforce the law, multiple events had to happen at once,” Zager said.
A trooper carrying a rifle blocked the intersection of Farmers Loop and Scenic Loop, near Cox’s listed Fairbanks address, about 3:30 p.m. The trooper told a Daily News-Miner photographer and reporter to leave the area.
U.S. Marshals and the FBI agents also were seen in North Pole along with troopers near Lyle Avenue on Silver Street about 5 p.m. A group of SUVs was seen beyond a trooper patrol vehicle that blocked traffic, and a U.S. Marshal K-9 unit was seen entering the area.
Loeffler said Thursday night the operation had concluded and more information will be available today in the federal indictment against Lonnie Vernon.
Other troubles
Vernon and his wife, Karen, are the subject of a federal civil case brought because they reportedly owe $166,000 in unpaid income taxes, interest and penalties for 1996 and the years 2000 through 2003. The case was filed in July 2009, and the government was seeking to foreclose a tax lien filed on the couple’s house, located on Old Valdez Trail, and sell the house. Beistline, in an order filed last month, appeared to grow exasperated with the Vernons and was close to granting a motion for summary judgment in favor of the federal government.
“To date, the defendants have given the court no reason to believe that the government’s figures are wrong, nor have they apparently attempted to discuss these matters with the government in good faith,” Beistline wrote. “It has come to the point where defendants must set forth their position in plain English so that the court can understand whether or not they have any legitimate defenses to the government’s claims.”
Cox, 26, has had run-ins with the state legal system.
A Fairbanks judge issued a warrant for the arrest of Cox, who has claimed to be the leader of a militia, after he failed to attend his own Feb. 14 trial for a misdemeanor weapons misconduct charge last month.
Cox had been charged with failing to disclose his possession of a concealed handgun in the presence of a police officer. He faces an additional charge for failing to appear at his trial.
Sovereign Citizens
Cox has used his case to challenge the authority of the Alaska Court System, calling himself a sovereign citizen and claiming the court is a for-profit corporation with no authority over him.
In a lengthy courtroom speech last year, Cox said he does not intend to cooperate with the court system, but he sees himself as a peacemaker between his supporters and the government.
The FBI describes the Sovereign Citizen Movement as a domestic terrorism group.
Members of the movement do not believe U.S. laws apply to them and sometimes make their own license plates or create their own legal trials, according to the FBI. A group of Fairbanks residents recently conducted their own trial of Cox at Denny’s Restaurant.
Cox has previously appeared as a public figure as gun rights activist and a legislative candidate. He unsuccessfully challenged Republican Rep. Mike Kelly in 2008.
He is a leader of the Alaska Peacemakers Militia and the Second Amendment Task Force. He has helped organize multiple gun-rights and personal freedoms rallies, including the 2009 “Freedom Fest” at the Carlson Center. Cox is a member of a “Liberty Bell network,” which sends out mass notifications to assemble a crowd of witnesses when a member believes his or her rights are being violated.
Cox was arrested on the weapons charge while supervising a search warrant as part of a Liberty Bell call.
http://newsminer.com/bookmark/12286233
cszakolczai
03-12-2011, 10:19
Has the FBI and other government organizations really lost focus of domestic terrorist threats? Or has the media just been focusing on foreign terrorism and made it seem this way?
Just because the media now focuses on al-qaeda and "Islamic Terrorism" and fails to report on anything homegrown, does not mean the FBI is doing the same thing. Also to add, there are many other agencies that aren't written about often that do investigations on homegrown terrorism and drug cartels.
Just because the media now focuses on al-qaeda and "Islamic Terrorism" and fails to report on anything homegrown
:confused:
Please explain...
Buffalobob
03-12-2011, 11:00
If we go back to the purpose of the hearings then I think we can see various road signs and mile posts that indicate this road has been traveled before.
From June through September of 1692, nineteen men and women, all having been convicted of witchcraft, were carted to Gallows Hill, a barren slope near Salem Village, for hanging. Another man of over eighty years was pressed to death under heavy stones for refusing to submit to a trial on witchcraft charges. Hundreds of others faced accusations of witchcraft; dozens languished in jail for months without trials until the hysteria that swept through Puritan Massachusetts subsided
Politics of such hearings are well documented
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition (Spanish: Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition (Inquisición española), was a tribunal established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms, and to replace the Medieval Inquisition which was under Papal control. The Inquisition was originally intended in large part to ensure the orthodoxy of those who converted from Judaism and Islam. This regulation of the faith of the newly converted was intensified after the royal decrees issued in 1492 and 1501 ordering Jews and Muslims to convert or leave.
Various motives have been proposed for the monarchs' decision to fund the Inquisition such as increasing political authority, weakening opposition, suppressing conversos, profiting from confiscation of the property of convicted heretics, reducing social tensions and protecting the kingdom from the danger of a fifth column.
On February 19th 1942 Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. Under the terms of the Order, some 120,000 people of Japanese descent living in the US were removed from their homes and placed in internment camps. The US justified their action by claiming that there was a danger of those of Japanese descent spying for the Japanese. However more than two thirds of those interned were American citizens and half of them were children. None had ever shown disloyalty to the nation. In some cases family members were separated and put in different camps. During the entire war only ten people were convicted of spying for Japan and these were all Caucasian.
Has the FBI and other government organizations really lost focus of domestic terrorist threats? Or has the media just been focusing on foreign terrorism and made it seem this way?
Just because the media now focuses on al-qaeda and "Islamic Terrorism" and fails to report on anything homegrown, does not mean the FBI is doing the same thing. Also to add, there are many other agencies that aren't written about often that do investigations on homegrown terrorism and drug cartels.
Maybe the focus has been shifted to man-caused” disasters
Here are some nice listings that reference 'man caused' disasters:
http://professionalsoldiers.com/forums/search.php?searchid=2153392
But to your question, I would not say they have lost sight of 'Domestic Terrorists' they are just selective in what and who they pursue...
2009 the Administration and the Law Enforcement Agencies with the help of the SPLC conjured the domestic evilest of evils on a document called the MIAC Report. It included such notable terrorists as Ron Paul and the Tea Party.
October 2009 the Obama signed the Hate Crimes Bill into law.
2009 - The same Peter King sponsored an interesting bill regarding terrorists and gun rights: http://professionalsoldiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23209&highlight=miac
January 2010 Charles Dyer Oath Keeper/Tea Partier was arrested by the BATFE for having an unlicensed M203.....months later a Jury found him Not Guilty and a Judge admonished the BATFE for their handling of the matter.
March 2010 the Agencies put the hammer down on (9) idiots named the Hutaree in Michigan....they along with their charges have apparently disappeared into the mist.
And of course since 2009 the POTUS has been pimping that the United States Terror Apparatus has been aiding and abetting (without the Governments knowledge) thousands of weapons to aid Mexican Drug Cartels.
And more: http://professionalsoldiers.com/forums/search.php?searchid=2153397
I would mention that the New Black Panther Party and it's members, Maj. Hasan and several others appear to have received a Terrorist Exemption Status from the DOJ and AG Eric Holder.
I would mention that the New Black Panther Party and it's members, Maj. Hasan and several others appear to have received a Terrorist Exemption Status from the DOJ and AG Eric Holder.
Terrorism or...:confused:
And so it goes...
Richard :munchin
The New Black Panther Party Is the New ACORN
Newsweek, 14 Jul 2010
As voter-intimidation exercises go, it wasn’t much. In 2008, a lone white voter reported he had encountered two black men dressed all in black, one carrying a nightstick, at his Philadelphia polling place in a predominantly black neighborhood. The armed man was escorted away by police, and no one reported the incident to the local district attorney. But the incident was caught on camera, making it great fodder for cable news because political campaigns were actively scouting for voter-intimidation cases they could use against opponents. Still, it seemed like the sort of incident that happens at dozens of polling places every Election Day, then quietly recedes.
Twenty-one months later, though, right-wing bloggers can't get enough of the story, and it's starting to make it into the mainstream press. Even Sarah Palin has joined the act, tweeting: "Watch FOX's Megyn Kelly on Black Panther voter intimidation case; she knows the case; she's speaking truth; her revelations leave Left steaming."
So how did the incident become a replay of the ACORN scandal? There's some resemblance between the two: an organization with unacceptable practices and a vague connection to the Obama administration (through voter registration drives in the ACORN case and Justice Department litigation in the Panther case) becomes a tool for critics of the White House to attack it as corrupt and illegitimate. But as in the ACORN case, the scandal is minimal (much of the ACORN hit has been discredited)—and the allegations against Obama flimsy.
Let's start with the cast of characters. The two reportedly imposing men at the Philadelphia polling station were members of a fringe group that calls itself the New Black Panther Party—much to the chagrin of the "old" Black Panther Party, which strenuously rejects the NBPP. Its leaders go by peculiar pseudo-African names (like chairman Malik Zulu Shabazz), and it is designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League. Its ideology tends to skew toward the black supremacist and anti-Semitic.
The group typically gets attention every few years when it successfully manages to bait the national media with some nutty stand. In 2006, for example, the NBPP announced it was going to Durham, N.C., to investigate the Duke lacrosse case. Fox News, in particular, loves it: after the Duke charges were dropped in 2007, Bill O'Reilly had Shabazz on the program, where he called syndicated conservative columnist Michelle Malkin a "whore."
Several months after the 2008 Election Day incident (and 13 days before President Obama was sworn in) the Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit against the NBPP under the Voting Rights Act, alleging voter intimidation. In May 2009, Justice—now led by Attorney General Eric Holder, Obama's appointee—successfully obtained an injunction against King Samir Shabazz, the man who carried the nightstick, then dropped the suit, Fox News reported. A spokeswoman at Justice says a career attorney made the call, which was then affirmed by an appointee, because "the facts and the law did not support pursuing claims against the other defendants in the case. A federal judge determined that the relief requested by the Department was appropriate."
That's where things get messy. Starting last summer, some conservative media outlets—notably The Washington Times—began digging into the case, suggesting that because a top Obama appointee had signed off on the decision to drop charges, a move allegedly opposed by career lawyers, it provided proof that Holder's Justice Department was a bastion of political favoritism (and, by implication, racism, given that both Holder and Obama are black).
Although that story didn't go mainstream, it did cause the Commission on Civil Rights, an independent body, to take up the case. As Dave Weigel reported, there was more to that decision than met the eye: after eight years of George W. Bush appointments, the commission tilted definitively right. In addition, the star witness in the case against the NBPP, Bartle Bull, wasn't exactly impartial. The white former Robert F. Kennedy aide, who called the incident "the most blatant form of voter intimidation I have encountered in my political campaigns in many states, even going back to the work I did in Mississippi in the 1960s," had been an outspoken critic of Obama for some time.
The commission has met several times to examine the case, but things really blew open on July 6, when Bush Justice official J. Christian Adams, who is white, suggested that Justice's voting division avoided bringing cases where defendants were black and plaintiffs were white. Adams's testimony is questionable; there are doubts about whether he was actually present for the incidents he described, and he's refused to offer details on key questions. Critics see other credibility problems for Adams: he was, for instance, hired when Bush's Justice Department was systematically weakening the civil-rights division by forcing out career lawyers and replacing them with attorneys who had strong conservative credentials but little in the way of civil-rights experience.
This week's resolution by the NAACP blasting "racism" in the Tea Party has further fanned the flame. At its 101st annual convention in St. Louis, the nation's oldest civil-rights organization condemned the party's "continued tolerance for bigotry." Tea Party leaders heatedly rejected the criticism, and Palin dismissed it as "a diversionary tactic." To some commentators on the right, the NAACP action is rank hypocrisy, given that the group hasn't condemned the racism they see festering over at Justice.
With some help from Fox News's Kelly, the New Black Panthers story is now gaining steam. While there's little doubt that the NBPP is a fringe group, critics of the decision to drop the suit have a tough case to make. The problem is that although it may look like voter intimidation, there aren't actually any voters who filed an official complaint claiming to have been intimidated. As Adam Serwer writes, a polling station in a predominantly black neighborhood isn't the best place to go if you're trying to scare white voters off: "I imagine that the New Black Panthers thought they were protecting black voters from some phantom white-supremacist conspiracy (their public statements say as much)." And Weigel, who's followed the case, has suggested there's not much to it either—plus, "there's no evidence the NBPP's clownish Philadelphia stunt suppressed any votes, or that they'll try such a stunt again."
Of course, even if the case against the NBPP is thin as onion paper, it's still a problem if the Justice Department is systematically screening its cases by race. So is there evidence of that beyond Adams's testimony? The department denies the charge. Spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler says in part: "The Department makes enforcement decisions based on the merits, not the race, gender or ethnicity of any party involved."
Cord Jefferson of the The Root, a black-issues Web site, says the case is spurious, but that Justice must explain itself further. But Abigail Thernstrom, a white conservative member of the Commission on Civil Rights, complains that it's all light and no heat:
Get a grip, folks. The New Black Panther Party is a lunatic fringe group that is clearly into racial theater of minor importance ... This case is a one-off. There are plenty of grounds on which to sharply criticize the attorney general—his handling of terrorism questions, just for starters—but this particular overblown attack threatens to undermine the credibility of his conservative critics.
Thernstrom may be right, but she misses the point. Like the ACORN case, it's not about a real investigation; it's about staging an effective piece of political theater that hurts the Obama administration.
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/14/the-new-black-panther-party-is-the-new-acorn0.html#
Thernstrom may be right, but she misses the point. Like the ACORN case, it's not about a real investigation; it's about staging an effective piece of political theater that hurts the Obama administration.
I consider this case like many, truth/lies mixed in with political theater from both sides to get their point across. The difference I see, in the past the knife used was kind of one sided, but in the past few years the knife has become double edged and evenly sharp on both sides.
Theater or not, my white, cracker ass still can't get away with hanging out at a voting station in or with shaved head, in a leather jacket, Nazi Armband, with water soluble tattoos reading KKK and White Pride holding a ball bat or baton.....nor would I get away with similar rants of King Samir Shabazz.
Theater or not, my white, cracker ass still can't get away with hanging out at a voting station in or with shaved head, in a leather jacket, Nazi Armband, with water soluble tattoos reading KKK and White Pride holding a ball bat or baton.....nor would I get away with similar rants of King Samir Shabazz.
Neither has he - the DOJ's dismissal, after further investigation, was in the case against the NBPP in aggregate - the DOJ did not dismiss its case against the actions of King Samir Shabazz.
http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/052909_noticeofdismissal.pdf
And so it goes...
Richard :munchin
Neither has he - the DOJ's dismissal, after further investigation, was in the case against the NBPP in aggregate - the DOJ did not dismiss its case against the actions of King Samir Shabazz.
http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/052909_noticeofdismissal.pdf
And so it goes...
Richard :munchin
Good find, Richard.
Seems to me this whole thing needs to be aired out...
Dozer523
03-13-2011, 10:42
my white, cracker ass . Ease up on those racial slurs. There are nice, law-abiding, church-going, contributing-to-society European-Americans visiting this site who certainly do not deserve to be lumped in with a few haters. I have friends who are "white".
Ease up on those racial slurs. There are nice, law-abiding, church-going, contributing-to-society European-Americans visiting this site who certainly do not deserve to be lumped in with a few haters. I have friends who are "white".
Yeah. My favorite coach was white.
Neither has he - the DOJ's dismissal, after further investigation, was in the case against the NBPP in aggregate - the DOJ did not dismiss its case against the actions of King Samir Shabazz.
http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/052909_noticeofdismissal.pdf
And so it goes...
Richard :munchin
All 3 of the defendants ignored the charges. Despite that the DOJ dismissed the charges against two of the individuals in the case. And if I am not mistaken, KSS is merely is prohibited appearing at the polls with a weapon only in the city of Philadelphia and only for a couple more years.
Considering a would be warrant issued if I so much as forget a parking fine, seems like they got special treatment.......reminds me of paying a traffic fine of $350 and the illegals with a Nickel Bag, cooking bowls at Hyvee got off at $75 a pop and no incarceration.
It just ain't right! :D
Good find, Richard.
Seems to me this whole thing needs to be aired out...
Damn straight.
Ease up on those racial slurs. There are nice, law-abiding, church-going, contributing-to-society European-Americans visiting this site who certainly do not deserve to be lumped in with a few haters. I have friends who are "white".
:p
[M]y white, cracker ass still can't get away with hanging out at a voting station in or with shaved head, in a leather jacket, Nazi Armband, with water soluble tattoos reading KKK and White Pride holding a ball bat or baton.....nor would I get away with similar rants of King Samir Shabazz.An interesting--if not also revealing--choice of words.
An interesting--if not also revealing--choice of words.
It's a slip. He's obviously a white hillbilly who manufactures un-taxed spirits.
Buffalobob
03-13-2011, 11:32
My daughter walked up to the Safeway this morning to buy some tortillas being as she likes them with pepperjack cheese melted on top. They had two brands: Guerrero and Mission. The Mission costs $1.00 more per pack so she got to checking the ingredients and found them to be exactly the same and then she noticed that they were both made in Dallas Texas by the same company - Gruma. So she began to try to decide what the difference was and all she could find was one had a lot of Spanish writing on it and the other had all English writing.
So, if you insist on your tortillas bag having all English on it, you can pay a dollar more. :D Everybody is just giving the good ole white boys a bad time.
My daughter walked up to the Safeway this morning to buy some tortillas being as she likes them with pepperjack cheese melted on top. They had two brands: Guerrero and Mission. The Mission costs $1.00 more per pack so she got to checking the ingredients and found them to be exactly the same and then she noticed that they were both made in Dallas Texas by the same company - Gruma. So she began to try to decide what the difference was and all she could find was one had a lot of Spanish writing on it and the other had all English writing.
So, if you insist on your tortillas bag having all English on it, you can pay a dollar more. :D Everybody is just giving the good ole white boys a bad time.
http://www.allbusiness.com/sales/240285-1.html
From article:
Mission Foods covers two main brands, Mission and Guerrero. The Mission brand caters more to the non-Hispanic consumers throughout the United States, and is the focus of expansion of the company into the Northeast and Midwest regions. The Guerrero brand is geared toward the rapidly expanding Mexican Hispanic market and is more developed in the West and Southwest regions of the country, but is expanding to .... emerging Mexican areas like the Southeast.
An interesting--if not also revealing--choice of words.
;)
ZonieDiver
03-13-2011, 12:23
Thank God I live in Phoenix! I buy my tortillas down the street by the dozen. They pre-package them in 2 and 3 dozen amounts, so 1 dozen gets 'freshly made'!
So, I guess there is at least ONE advantage to illegal immigration for me. (Well, two, if you count the fact that 40%+ of the kids in my class are 'sin papeles'!)
I live in Dallas and shop at either the Carnival, Fiesta, or El Rancho supermercados when shopping for items like tortillas and such - it's all in Spanish in those stores and cheaper than at any of the Tom Thumb, Kroger, and Albertsons stores around here.
Richard :munchin