By FITSNews || Because it’s not possible these days to object to the federal government’s insane fiscal policies and steady erosion of our civil liberties without being branded a teabagger – or worse, a racist and a domestic terrorist – we bring you the latest “intelligence report” from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
Entitled “Rage on the Right,” the report claims that there was a 244 percent increase in anti-government “Patriot” groups in 2009. This uptick in “hate” was allegedly “fueled by anger over the changing demographics of the country, the soaring public debt, the troubled economy and an array of initiatives by President Obama that have been branded ‘socialist’ or even ‘fascist’ by his political opponents.”
From the SPLC release accompanying the SPLC report:
The number of extremist groups in the United States exploded in 2009 as militias and other groups steeped in wild, antigovernment conspiracy theories exploited populist anger across the country and infiltrated the mainstream …
… antigovernment “Patriot” groups – militias and other extremist organizations that see the federal government as their enemy – came roaring back to life over the past year after more than a decade out of the limelight.
And no, it didn’t take long for the author of the report to invoke the domestic terrorists who blew up the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995.
“This extraordinary growth is a cause for grave concern,” said Intelligence Report editor Mark Potok. “The people associated with the Patriot movement during its 1990s heyday produced an enormous amount of violence, most dramatically the Oklahoma City bombing that left 168 people dead.”
Oh, and apparently these anti-government “Patriots” are drawing their support from the Tea Party movement.
“The ‘tea parties’ and similar groups that have sprung up in recent months cannot fairly be considered extremist groups, but they are shot through with rich veins of radical ideas, conspiracy theories and racism,” the report notes.
Amazing, isn’t it? According to these SPLC loons, millions of Americans who simply want the federal government to leave them alone and stop wasting so much of their money are one step removed from baby-killers like Timothy McVeigh.
Nice …
In other words, feel free to protest the ongoing generational theft that’s taking place in Washington D.C. – just don’t be surprised when somebody calls you a racist murderer for doing so.
Wait … somebody just did …
WEB EXTRA
Southern Poverty Law Center Release
Southern Poverty Law Center “Rage on the Right” Report
By Rick March 16, 2010 at 10:27 am
And we pay attention to these clowns why? They like the ACLU long ago became a pus pocket on the ass on mankind. Just another fringe group trying to be relevent in an age of increasing irrelevence.
By CNChapin March 16, 2010 at 10:42 am
Yeah, if you hate big government, you’re obviously a terrorist. By these peoples’ standards our founding fathers were extreme terrorists!
This is what happens when you live in the new Weimar republic.
Where are the official reports calling groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center “Nazis who want to eat the children of everyone who doesn’t work for the government?” It would be true. These people are disgusting and evil in the foulest sense of the word.
By WorkingTommyC March 16, 2010 at 11:04 am
Rick:
We pay attention because the MSM and politicians in both parties regularly use their stats and statements to impugn political enemies with.
I get your point, though.
In fact, the SPLC is really the red-headed stepchild of the ACLU.
As Dr. Evil might have put it: “They’re quasi-ACLU. They’re semi-ACLU. They’re the margarine of ACLU. The SPLC is the Diet Coke of ACLU. Just one calorie, not ACLU enough.”
By Dum Spiro March 16, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Get your facts straight, Sic, before you pull the trigger…
The “patriot” groups the SPLC refers to have nothing to do with the “tea party” outbreak. They’re referring to the resurgence of racist militia movements that owe their heritage to the “Christian Patriot” and “Posse Comitatus” movements of the 1980s both of which were loosely affiliated group of armed anti-Semitic, anti-tax and anti-federal government vigilantes and survivalists who were convinced that the federal government was controlled by their “enemies” (usually Jews). Hence, they resisted paying taxes and performing other duties of law-abiding citizens in protest of the ZOG (Zionist Occupation Government). The economic downturn and other events of the last few years have provided the groups new fodder for their activities.
The resurgence of militias in the 1990s, after the bombing of the Murrah Building, and currently, has been tied to their ongoing concern over the federal government’s efforts to infringe the rights of citizens to arm themselves (remember the Brady Bill, Waco and Ruby Ridge?) and their view that this country is being overrun by a wave of illegal immigrants. The “patriot” groups to which the SPLC, and, for that matter, the ADL and other anti-prejudice organizations, refer are virtually all aligned with the Christian Identity Movement, which is anything but Christian, unless you believe an organization like the Westboro Baptist Church is a model of Christian compassion and inclusion. Most of the patriot groups also have had affiliations with the KKK and other White Supremacist organizations in their pasts and many have expanded their hatred repertoire to include not only Blacks and Jews but, as well, GLBT and immigrants, legal or otherwise.
So, if you still think that the “SPLC loons” are the least bit interested in the activities of a bunch of Ron Paul inspired fiscal conservatives, your own lack of due diligence is painfully obvious. Invest in a little “journalistic” background checking before you shoot or simply call any cop who knows about the work of the SPLC.
By fitsnews March 16, 2010 at 12:15 pm
Dum(bass),
We did not make the leap from patriot militia to the tea party crowd, the report did.
We simply quoted the report, (faithfully, we might add).
-FITS
By dirtbogger March 16, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Ron Paul quoted some one as to say “you have revolution when an Idea’s time has come”. The msm has tried their hardest to spin this into a racist movement but those within the movement are seeing it grow by leeps and bounds despite the MSM’s efforts. Personally I dont give a shit, I am just along for the ride.
By beetrave March 16, 2010 at 1:46 pm
The word “terrorist” was added long ago to the list of other meaningless slurs: fascist, reactionary, revisionist, socialist, communist, capitalist roader, etc. Get over it and move on. The niche brand of name-calling described in this article has been all over the place since, oh, gosh, I don’t know, September 2001, if not sooner.
Any time I hear a politico or blogger trot out one of these words, I ask: “Hmm. ‘Terrorist’? Is he a non-state actor calling for violent action? ‘Socialist’? Does she really want the state to seize and own the means of production?” If the answer is “no,” then I know the person using those words isn’t worth listening to.
By Richard Keefe March 16, 2010 at 1:55 pm
There is no legal definition for “hate group”. It is a meaningless smear the SPLC uses in its ongoing fear campaign, which has successfully separated untold thousands of mostly elderly donors from hundreds of millions of donor dollars.
Potok is a Public Relations man. He has no legal or law enforcement background, yet this “law center” compensates him with more than $143,000 donor dollars a year to cook up this kind of spurious fund-raising propaganda. (http://wp.me/pCLYZ-C)
Considering that the SPLC now has nearly $190 MILLION donor dollars in cash on hand, maybe Potok should start asking for a raise.
If “hate groups” really did exist in law, the SPLC would be unqualified experts on the subject as the organization was founded by self-avowed Klan lawyer, Morris Dees. (http://wp.me/pCLYZ-F)
This may account for the fact that NOT ONE of the SPLC’s top ten, highest paid executives is a minority. (http://wp.me/pCLYZ-3r)
The last remaining “Whites Only” sign in Montgomery hangs in the boardroom of the SPLC. Some “experts.”
By Mike at the beach March 16, 2010 at 2:02 pm
I’m a cop who is very familiar with the SPLC and their work, and I agree with Will (how ’bout that?) on this one. I’ve read the report, and it is indeed the fear mongers at SPLC who first created the tenuous nexus between the tea parties and the real right-wing kooks of the Patriot movement, Christian Identity, etc., not Folks. SPLC does a limited amount of good research, and back in my intel days we actually used some of their open-source stuff regarding the KKK, Constitutionalist groups, and the other marginalized right wing nutjobs. These days, their left wing ideology has them busily making irrational connections. Keep in mind they still list any group which identifies with the Confederacy (also not my bag) as a “hate group.” This would include even the harmless folks in the Sons-of-Daughters-of-type groups. The SPLC’s best days are well behind them, and probably ended when they shifted from serving as a civil rights law firm to the big media/propaganda operation they are today. I still use some of their stuff in the college courses I teach, but I ensure that the students are able to properly evaluate the source.
By vicupstate March 16, 2010 at 3:46 pm
“The ‘tea parties’ and similar groups that have sprung up in recent months cannot fairly be considered extremist groups, but they are shot through with rich veins of radical ideas, conspiracy theories and racism,” the report notes.
Ok, SIC, where exactly is the “the leap from patriot militia to the tea party crowd”? Did you not read the words “CANNOT BE fairly CONSIDERED extremist groups”
While the majority of Tea party activists are neither radical, nor racist, nor conspiracy theorists, some of them would fit that description. Birthers and other conspiracy theorists give fodder to those groups that legitimately should be classified as hate groups or terrorists.
You are twisting this report, at least the parts you are quoting.
By Crooner March 16, 2010 at 4:00 pm
I think America is for white people.
By Richard Keefe March 16, 2010 at 4:18 pm
“Most of the patriot groups also have had affiliations with the KKK and other White Supremacist organization…”
Dum Spiro, that’s a pretty broad accusation. Please cite your sources, and no, SPLC fund-raising propaganda does not count.
Come up with some official law enforcement data or retract your erroneous claims.
I’ve cited all of my sources, you need to as well.
By sid March 16, 2010 at 4:37 pm
SPLC’s “report” is obviously intended to try to link the tea party movement with true extremists. Read the actual “report.” It’s quite short, but makes up for brevity with an abundance of vitriol.
It offers no true research, and is predominantly anecdotal. This is a group that labels anyone who speaks out aginst the government as an anti-government radical. It uses undefined, inflammatory terms like “hate groups,” “furious anti-immigration vigilante groups,” “militias,” and “Patriot movement” to describe anyone or any group that dares to support things like an end to affirmative action, stronger laws regulating illegal aliens, or, heaven forbid, the beliefs of our Founding Fathers. There’s apparently a Second Amendment March coming up in DC, and that has SPLC’s panties twisted to high heaven. Apparently, all of those involved are reacist revolutionaries, according to SPLC. After all, one of the logos for the march is a colonial militiaman. My god! Arrest them all before they do something crazy, like exercise their right to free speech!
This is nothing but a fear-mongering, hate-filled organization. Ironic, considering what it claims to be “reporting.”
By vicupstate March 16, 2010 at 5:03 pm
Mr. Keefe, the only sources you have quoted, are YOUR own entries in YOUR blog. You are quoting yourself and not independent sources.
By thirdworldrathole March 16, 2010 at 6:43 pm
Team Obama wasted no time in following Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals” which calls for “polarizing your enemy…”
Within weeks of Obama’s inauguration, Obama’s Home Land Security Head sent memos to all law enforcement agencies outrageously profiling retired military veterans as possible “terrorists”.
Oddly enough, it took Obama about six months to label the Fort Hood murders as an act of terrorism and at least 3 months to associate the underwear bomber with the word terrorist…
To my knowledge, the only violence at Tea Party rallies have been anti-tea party leftists assaulting unarmed septogenarians–one of whom lost an appendage after a cannibalistic attack…
Expect the Saul Alinsky tactics against Tea Party participants to escalate as Obama’s satist policies continue to meet rejection from law-abiding, middle class Americans.
By Richard Keefe March 16, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Vicupstate, if you actually READ my blog you’ll see that every last link goes back to the SPLC’s own website and/or Klan lawyer Morris Dees own autobiography.
I’ve cited every last claim. If you have proof that the SPLC’s own sources are wrong, you have a duty to present your evidence here.
I’m sorry if it offends you that your heroes are racists, I truly am, but like the Ghost says to Scrooge:
“I told you these were shadows of the things that have been,’ said the Ghost. ‘That they are what they are, do not blame me!”
And here’s the link to THAT quote: (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/DicChri.html)
By vicupstate March 16, 2010 at 8:57 pm
You have not provided a link to the book, so I cannot verify your story. I will see if the library has the book. I found no reference on the SLPC website mentioning this either. The Life article does not mention Dees as the incident had just occurred, whcih wa prior to any trial.
Your blog seems devoted to one topic, that being the SLPC. Do you have a problem with an organization that single-handedly bankrupted the KKK, and integrated the YMCA and similiar organizations?
If indeed Dees, with less than two years practicing law, got Hanley off, it no doubt had more to do with a racist jury than Dees’ legal acumen. Perhaps Dees felt everyone is entitled to a lawyer. Many respectable lawyers and citizens would agree.
Regardless of his motives, he has redeemed himself via the the Klansmen and other scum he has put behind bars. A hero indeed.
By sid March 16, 2010 at 10:32 pm
Who did Dees put behind bars, vic? For what jurisdiction was he a prosecutor?
Also, his efforts helped integrate the Montgomery YMCA, not the entire YMCA. I know you’ve got a boner for him, but let’s not get carried away.
The SPLC (or SLPC, if you prefer) lost its focus a while back. It no longer performs the function for which it was started, much like unions. Like I said before, read the “report,” then tell me it isn’t fear-mongering hatred from radical leftists.
By R March 17, 2010 at 4:03 am
This is an age-old practice amongst left-wing groups. They label ANYONE who opposes them, their opinions, as racist groups. I mean how dare anyone refer to Obama as a Socialist since he’s surrounded himself with such individuals? How dare anyone stand up for the Constitution and object to a $14 trillion debt? Why you’re all racist radical groups. The SPLC is a joke. Dees has amassed a fortune and built a massive headquarters off of labeling everyone as radical hate-mongers. They’re just like the NAACP just another “klan with a tan” racist group themselves.
By Richard Keefe March 17, 2010 at 7:17 am
Vicupstate, Dees’ 1991 autobiography, “A Season For Justice,” is still under copyright, so there is no link to it. It is still in print, however, or your local library can get you a copy through Interlibrary Loan. You can find the closest copy here (http://www.worldcat.org/)
My blog is VERY much dedicated to exposing the public relations fund-raising tactics of the SPLC, and its minor offshoot, Brian Levin’s one-man “Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism” at Cal State/San Bernardino. For the record, however, unlike his mentors at the SPLC, Levin has never used his letterhead “center” for financial gain, to my knowledge. (http://wp.me/pCLYZ-J)
As for “bankrupting the KKK,” Dees did bring a CIVIL suit against an Alabama Klan chapter on behalf of Beulah Mae Donald, whose son was brutally murdered by two of their members.
Dees sent out thousands of fund-raising letters with a gruesome photo of Michael Donald’s bloated corpse, which brought in more than $9 million donor dollars to the SPLC. Dees won a $7 million dollar judgment against the Klan chapter, which had to sell its only asset, an old warehouse worth $52,000 dollars.
Mrs. Donald got the measly fifty-two grand, the Klan had to find another place to put its stuff, (not ONE additional Klan member went to prison for the crime), and the SPLC pocketed the $9 million. Mrs. Donald never saw one red cent of that money. (http://wp.me/pCLYZ-14)
Dees has repeated this glorified ambulance chasing gimmick several times since:
1. Klan thugs break the law. Go to prison.
2. Dees steps in after the fact, brings hyped-up civil suit, sends out continuous fund-raising materials.
3. Judge awards huge settlement, which cannot possibly be collected.
4. Plaintiffs receive minuscule, token settlement, SPLC rakes in MILLIONS of donor dollars.
5. No additional Klansmen are sentenced due to Dees’ suit.
Morris Dees has gotten more Klansmen OUT of prison than he’s ever sent there. As Sid says above, name ONE SINGLE “hater” that Dees or the SPLC ever put in jail. Just one.
And as for the “racist jury” theory, Claude Henley was appearing in Bobby Kennedy’s federal court, not before some backwoods magistrate. You may be right, however, but I think that even in Alabama, the Feds did things a little differently.
By Maria March 17, 2010 at 10:06 pm
The SPLC is itself a hate group. The SPLC is a much discredited organization with a very shady fundraising record. Morris Dees, the co-founder of Southern Poverty Law Center, is a master of hate-mongering and utilizing scare tactics in order to pressure mostly minorities and elderly contributors into donating money to the SPLC.
The tax-exempt SPLC flunked an audit by the Arlington-based Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance, which requires that “a reasonable percentage, at least 50 percent of total income from all sources, should be applied to programs and activities directly related to the purposes for which the organization exists.” The SPLC spent only 11 percent of its total income on programs and activities directly related to the purposes for which the organization exists. The other 89 percent of the SPLC’s total income was spent on fund-raising and administrative costs, including high salaries for its top officials.
The SPLC is comprised of a group of slick, parasitic hucksters who live high on the hog by raising money on behalf of needy people who see very little of it.
SPLC’s sole function in the immigration debate is to try to discredit any group or organization that supports a reduction in the level of legal immigration and/or the enforcement of immigration laws against illegal aliens. Any group or organization that dares to speak out against illegal immigration takes on the risk of being added to the SPLC’s infamous “hate groups” list as punishment.
By Danny Mathews March 24, 2010 at 1:38 am
Dum Spiro, thanks for telling me I’m a “racist”, and a “armed anti-Semitic”, I’d have never known, if you hadn’t told me, although, then again, the SPLC has been telling me that for years, although, all sarcasm aside, I’m sorry to disappoint you, and to inform you that you’re both as wrong as each other,
It’s rather ironic that a comment beginning “Get your facts straight, Sic, before you pull the trigger…”, should be so devoid of any facts itself.
I’m afraid, as others have said, the SPLC is, itself, a hate group these days, that exists by stirring up racial tensions, and then profiting on the back of it, which is why so many groups are targeted in their hate list, despite being nothing more than groups of concerned, and patriotic citizens.
If you, or anyone else, truly wants to get a clue, rather than perusing malicious gossip sites, like the SPLC’s, you’re more than welcome to visit our next get together, which will be in Idaho, and rest assured, you have nothing to fear, as the only “armed” folk you’re likely to encounter are the children, running around with water pistols, and super-soakers.
By SnakeMD March 31, 2010 at 4:26 pm
If I get a rush out of exploding milk jugs at 1,000 yards with with my .50 cal target rifle does that make me a kook? Seeing how close you can get to the pin with a 3 iron is the same thing. I spend a couple of bucks on a few cartridges and I get a lot of smoke and noise for my money. We can’t drink beer at the range, so I spend way less money than if I had played 18. We are just a few moments away from the government saying that people who enjoy firearms are dangerous and are a threat to society. Go figure…
By SnakeMD March 31, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Dum Spiro, your reply is very well written and appears convincing if you know nothing about the SPLC. However, it just so happens that Mark Kelly, a conservative intellectual radio talk show host, on his national show today, devoted the entire afternoon to this very topic. (if you are liberal I’m sure you are going to say that you can’t be an intellectual and a conservative at the same time) I’ve been following the SPLC since the late 1970′s and I can assure you that their agenda depicts most conservative pro-second amendment advocates as nut jobs. You are entitled to your opinion as I am to mine. There are fringe groups on the left as well as the right. Sorry, I do not care for the SPLC and/or their southern mule population charts.