General Schatten wrote:This is simply an illogical reaction based on fear. Given the proximity to four major US bases (Ft Sill, Ft Bliss, Ft Riley, and Ft Worth), countless airbases, and numerous armories along the way, there's no way this is getting beyond the city-wide problem stage IF it gets that far.
I doubt it will go as far as ShadowDragon has it. What I'd expect would probably happen is that the group with the highest concentration of crazy will decide some issue is important to take arms against like, say, abortion and they'll go and find a Planned Parenthood in OKC to have an armed incident in. The police will deal with them, it will be a scandal as all the politicians above SCURRY to disavow any connection whatsoever with any sort of militia even as they are on tape supporting its formation, and the people who joined the militia so they could get together for a group gun clutch but weren't on board to actually do anything (most of them) will leave.
Of course, it won't even get this far, because the politicians above are just trying to score teabagger cred and don't actually plan to do any of this. It's like that stupid Texas governor who was talking about seceding from the Union. They are all talk. I think it would be appropriate though if someone would get one of the above douchebags to either sign a charter supporting a militias foundation or admit they don't really mean it. Make sure their names are on it and they acknowledge responsibility for its actions. Then anything the militia does is automatically tied to them.
"Show me an angel and I will paint you one." - Gustav Courbet
"Quetzalcoatl, plumed serpent of the Aztecs... you are a pussy." - Stephen Colbert
"Really, I'm jealous of how much smarter than me he is. I'm not an expert on anything and he's an expert on things he knows nothing about." - Me, concerning a bullshitter
While it would be nice to believe that this won't go very far, its a further sign of a worrying trend towards violent radicalism and separatist sentiment. We're not anywhere near a civil war yet, but if this sort of thing keeps increasing for another ten or twenty years, we could be.
And frankly, I don't see tensions lessening any time soon. The far Right is hard at work purging their ranks of any moderation, and the rhetoric and lies about Obama continue pretty much unabated. Each new piece of legislation he tries to pass in this climate will stir things up further. And if the Right doesn't have the huge victory they expect in November, I think things could potentially get a lot uglier. I honestly think part of why we haven't seen more violence is because they still think they're going to have a huge electoral comeback. If they don't get it, I'm concerned that more of them will be inclined to give up on pushing their ideology through legitimate political means and turn to violence instead. I hope not, but it concerns me. Of course, if they do take Congress we're screwed as a country anyway.
Ultimately, I'm not particularly worried about these assholes toppling the Federal Government or actually pulling off a separate country. What I'm more worried about is how much damage they could do because they think they can.
Coyote wrote:We're going to see a sharp rise in this (I am guessing, of course) as we get closer to Tax Day in the US. Then, once people look at their tax forms and realize that they're not that bad off or they are not being tattoo'd with bar codes for UN concentration camps, it'll melt.
You mean Tax Day as in this coming Thursday? That's not a lot of time to ramp up the crazies!
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
Well, if anyone thought just because the Democrats won an amazing victory last year, all the conservatives would just melt away, were silly. These are the demographic group that has 'been in charge' for the last 20-30 years. The same group that was told they are a silent majority, the norm, the real Americans who out numbered the uppity, louder minority groups.
That illusion crumbled last year and they all stood around for a few months trying to figure out what happened. Now this minority is just being a loud minority pretending they are still a majority, still thinking all the things they were told about themselves 20 years ago, still apply. Now, they might win this off election, not a certainty though, and they'll gain some energy to keep bitching; however, they might lose again and further lose their grip on power and get noisier for a while. But they're just not going to disappear over night, nor in the next few years.
They say, "the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots." I suppose it never occurred to them that they are the tyrants, not the patriots. Those weapons are not being used to fight some kind of tyranny; they are bringing them to an event where people are getting together to talk. -Mike Wong
But as far as board culture in general, I do think that young male overaggression is a contributing factor to the general atmosphere of hostility. It's not SOS and the Mess throwing hand grenades all over the forum- Red
TPMMuckraker wrote:'Operation Exodus': Louisiana Sheriff Taps Locals For Emergency Security Plan
Zachary Roth | March 3, 2010, 5:55PM
A Louisiana sheriff plans to arm volunteers with shotguns, riot shields, batons, and a .50-caliber machine gun mounted on a "war wagon," as part of "Operation Exodus," a program to provide security in the event of a terrorist attack or civic unrest. "It's a calling," he says.
The office of Sheriff Larry Deen of Bossier Parish, near Shreveport in the northwest part of the state, last month selected for the program 200 local residents -- mostly ex-law-enforcement personnel -- and began training them in "defensive techniques in the event of a struggle," reports the Shreveport Times. The plan calls for the new recruits to be sent to protect food from grocery stores, gas from gas stations, and other crucial local resources, should the situation demand it.
A press release from Deen's office announcing the program declared that "recent terror threats" had made clear that "homegrown terrorists are in our midst." It continued: "With the easy accessibility of the internet, it is quite possible that these local and international terrorists can form a national or multiple location attack on our nation at any given moment."
"The buck stops with Larry Deen," the sheriff, who didn't immediately respond to our interview request, told the Times. "I am the chief law enforcement officer in this parish, and it is incumbent upon me protect all of the people in it."
The press release added that Operation Exodus got its name in part "because of its Biblical relevance," explaining that "n the book of Exodus, the Israelites were totally on their own, learning to be self-sufficient and handle everything alone, just as the plan provides."
In a video of the first training session, posted on the sheriff's office's website, the recruits -- almost all white and male, and many appearing to be past middle-age -- gamely practice their hand-to-hand combat techniques:
Doyle Dempsey, a sheriff's deputy, explains in the video that the training session is designed to "set up a prevention mode to implement during Operation Exodus." The idea, says Dempsey, is to "show an overwhelming show of force prior to any incident taking place."
The video also shows a sign, apparently posted at the training session, which reads: "Hard In Drill Easy In Battle. Somewhere Right Now Your Enemy Is Training So That When He Meets You He Defeats You."
Deen said that the program will cost just $4,500, in part because weapons, such as a .50-caliber machine gun mounted on what the sheriff's office calls "the war wagon," have previously been bought.
Deen added he'd been mulling such a plan since the 9/11 attacks -- but he denied to the Times that he was creating a militia. "We run from that word," he said. "We're just the opposite [of] that word."
Mr. Harley: Your impatience is quite understandable.
Klaatu: I'm impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it.
Mr. Harley: I'm afraid my people haven't. I'm very sorry... I wish it were otherwise.
"I do know that for the sympathy of one living being, I would make peace with all. I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe.
If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other." – Frankenstein's Creature on the glacier[/size]
What the fuck do these idiots think they're even going to do? Who is their defined enemy and how will they fight them? And of course, like typical libertarian dickheads, the militia will be "private."
If this gets passed and these guys plan anything serious against the government, just arrest them like those Hutaree assholes and charge them for treason.
"They're not triangular, but they are more or less blade-shaped"- Thrawn McEwok on the shape of Bakura destroyers
"Lovely. It's known as impugning character regarding statement of professional qualifications' in the legal world"- Karen Traviss, crying libel because I said that no soldier she interviewed would claim that he can take on billion-to-one odds
"I've already laid out rules for this thread that we're not going to make these evidential demands"- Dark Moose on supporting your claims
One thing that may push them to wacky action may also be the recent finding that the US will be only "half white" within a few years. Some of the more radical groups, the race-motivated ones, may be more inclined to tempt fate. I still feel that the majority of them are grumblers who, at heart, don't intend to do much more than posture.
Something about Libertarianism always bothered me. Then one day, I realized what it was:
Libertarian philosophy can be boiled down to the phrase, "Work Will Make You Free."
In Libertarianism, there is no Government, so the Bosses are free to exploit the Workers.
In Communism, there is no Government, so the Workers are free to exploit the Bosses.
So in Libertarianism, man exploits man, but in Communism, its the other way around! If all you want to do is have some harmless, mindless fun, go H3RE INST3ADZ0RZ!! Grrr! Fight my Brute, you pansy!
We are Anti-Socialist / Anti-Communist / Anti-Globalist. The patriot movement is not a bunch of whacko extremists trying to overthrow the government, we are freedom-lovers trying to keep rogues in the government from overthrowing the Constitution!
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. - Benjamin Franklin
Knife wrote:
Now, they might win this off election, not a certainty though, and they'll gain some energy to keep bitching; however, they might lose again and further lose their grip on power and get noisier for a while. But they're just not going to disappear over night, nor in the next few years.
The Republicans will almost certainly gain seats this election. Rare is the first midterm where the President's party doesn't lose seats.
"The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles."
Knife wrote:
Now, they might win this off election, not a certainty though, and they'll gain some energy to keep bitching; however, they might lose again and further lose their grip on power and get noisier for a while. But they're just not going to disappear over night, nor in the next few years.
The Republicans will almost certainly gain seats this election. Rare is the first midterm where the President's party doesn't lose seats.
True, though with a 'spoiler' party actively working against the main stream GOPers, I'm at a loss how some of these elections will go.
They say, "the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots." I suppose it never occurred to them that they are the tyrants, not the patriots. Those weapons are not being used to fight some kind of tyranny; they are bringing them to an event where people are getting together to talk. -Mike Wong
But as far as board culture in general, I do think that young male overaggression is a contributing factor to the general atmosphere of hostility. It's not SOS and the Mess throwing hand grenades all over the forum- Red
We are Anti-Socialist / Anti-Communist / Anti-Globalist. The patriot movement is not a bunch of whacko extremists trying to overthrow the government, we are freedom-lovers trying to keep rogues in the government from overthrowing the Constitution!
Kid shit, our militia in West Virginia attempted to carry out a bombing of the FBI CiC in '96.
We are Anti-Socialist / Anti-Communist / Anti-Globalist. The patriot movement is not a bunch of whacko extremists trying to overthrow the government, we are freedom-lovers trying to keep rogues in the government from overthrowing the Constitution!
The exclamation points add a sense of urgency!
In Brazil they say that Pele was the best, but Garrincha was better
By all means, let the violent ones group together in some official capacity. I'm certain it makes them easier to track and will make a mass roundup easier if they decide to try something.
