Domestic terrorists...us?

DHSS (not a misspelling - you can't spell Schutzstaffel without the double 'S') has determined that there is a grave threat of internal terrorism in this country. This threat isn't from active, organized groups like ALF (Animal Liberation Front) or ELF (Environmental Liberation Front), groups who have an actual history of terroristic acts. No, this threat is from Right-Wing Extremists. You know, like....well, apparently, anyone to the right of Mao Tse Tung.

The Department of Homeland Security is warning law enforcement officials about a rise in "rightwing extremist activity," saying the economic recession, the election of America's first black president and the return of a few disgruntled war veterans could swell the ranks of white-power militias.

A footnote attached to the report by the Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis defines "rightwing extremism in the United States" as including not just racist or hate groups, but also groups that reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority.

Yep, that's right. As someone who 'reject[s] government authority in favor of state or local authority', yours truly is, according to der Staat, a domestic terrorist. Never mind that this Vulture has neither engaged in nor advocated any act of violence against the US government (or, for that matter, acts of violence against anything at all with the exception of computer keyboards). Never mind that this Vulture is a hard-working taxpayer living what's left of the American dream and whose only 'crime' is a wish to return to the founding principles of Life, Liberty, and Freedom. I oppose collectivism; I am, therefore, a thought criminal.

And it isn't just me! If you're ex-military, you're a likely terrorist! Why is that? Why, Tim McVeigh was ex-military. Ergo, all ex-miltary are suspect, according to chief DHSS asshat Janet Napolitano.

"I was briefed on the general topic, which is one that struck a nerve as someone personally involved in the Timothy McVeigh prosecution," Ms. Napolitano said.

Quod erat demonstrandum. NOT!

The White House has distanced itself from this inflamatory report (WHY does that seem to be a running theme with the Obey-me administration? One of the organs of der Staat issues a controversial 'ruling', and the White House runs for cover).

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi, a Democrat, was extremely unhappy with the report and wants answers - now!

"This report appears to raise significant issues involving the privacy and civil liberties of many Americans -- including war veterans," Mr. Thompson said in the letter sent Tuesday.

"As I am certain you agree, freedom of association and freedom of speech are guaranteed to all Americans -- whether a person's beliefs, whatever their political orientation, are 'extremist' or not," Mr. Thompson said.

The report "blurred the line," and Mr. Thompson said he is "disappointed and surprised that the department would allow this report to be disseminated" to law enforcement officials nationwide.

The American Legion has slammed the report as well.

American Legion chief David Rehbein on Tuesday blasted the report as "incomplete, and, I fear, politically-biased" and took special aim at its warning that returning veterans having difficulties reintegrating society could be recruited by right-wing groups for possible terrorist attacks.

In a letter to Napolitano, Rehbein underlined the document's mention of Oklahoma City bombing author Timothy McVeigh's US Army background and called it "as unfair as using Osama bin Laden as the sole example of Islam."

"The American Legion is well aware and horrified at the pain inflicted during the Oklahoma City bombing, but Timothy McVeigh was only one of more than 42 million veterans who have worn this nation's uniform during wartime," said Rehbein, who group comprises some 2.6 million members.

So what's my take on it? It's simple, really. When King Obey-me took office, he appointed former Clinton administration cronies to head key federal agencies and cabinet positions. Hearken back with me to those halcyon days of yesteryear, when Clinton administration paranoia about Right-Wing Extremists ran amok. For the nostalgic among you, this is just like going back to 1993 all over again...except without the dreadful Mariah Carey soundtrack.

This is DoublePlusGoodHopeChange. Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

Update: William Norman Grigg hits it out of the park. Seriously, if you haven't checked him out, do so! He's positively brilliant.

Caput Penitus Culus - the final word

An open letter to Caput Penitus Culus.

I spent the better part of yesterday trying to reason with you about how the actions against the FLDS represent a further erosion of the 4th Amendment and, as such, a threat to all of us. You, for your part, couldn't let go of your precious case law. Rather than address my questions, you evaded, disparaged me, and kept floating back to your original justification: case law says it's okay, so it's okay.

Well, Mr. Lawyer. Let me ask you this. What about Dred Scott? THAT was case law. Was it right? Was it good? Did it appropriately protect the rights of Americans as directed by the Constitution? Would you cite it today if it were still case law?

Just because some cross-dresser with a wooden mallet says so doesn't make it so.

Likewise, the erosion of the 4th Amendment continues unabated because the cross-dressers continue heaping more bad case law on previously established bad case law until the 4th Amendment is nothing more than hollow words, signifying nothing.

You're awfully adept at gratuitous personal attacks when you can't make your point. But I'm adept at personal attacks that BOLSTER my point.

You, sir, are an intellectual lightweight hiding behind a law degree. The next original thought you have will be your first. You are no better than Adolph Eichmann. "There's no case law prohibiting the gassing of Jews...", I can hear you saying, were you around in the 1930's and 1940's.

It is people like you -- useful idiots -- who are contributing to the enslavement of the citizens of the United States of America.

May you have the pleasure of experiencing first-hand the horror of being unjustly arrested because "case law says it's okay".

Coram Non Judice - an update

The proprietor of Coram Non Judice and I have been going round-and-round all day today (click here to see the exchange; it starts a little more than half way down the page (search on 'Vulture' to see where it starts).

Mr. Non Judice is a real piece of work. Every time I make a point, he veers in a different direction. First it was "the FLDS act more like Nazis than the Texas Police supporting the raid" in answer to my point about the government slowly getting us used to paramilitary raids on weirdos so that they can branch out in suppression of any group deemed to be outside the mainstream.

Then he objected to my use of the word 'blitzkrieg' as a description of the raid when I was pointing out how grossly over-the-top the militarized police presence, in full combat regalia, was.

Then, when I pointed out the legal fallacy of a warrant naming one person being used as justification for the search of the ENTIRE COMMUNITY he fell back on "no one was deprived of their rights...there was a warrant".

Then, to counter my next volley, where I asserted that nowhere in the Constitution does the armed invasion of an entire community even BEGIN to be authorized by a mere warrant, he accused me of being a supporter of PPSG (Pedophile Polygamist Support Group)! To further add insult to insult, he called my thinking "muddled and unclear". My response:

Which part of "I don't support the FLDS, their beliefs, or their alleged pedophilia" don't you understand? Doing wrong in an attempt to "do right" is STILL WRONG. Yes, there may be child abuse and pedophilia going in at El Dorado. But does that make illegal search and seizure okay?

Think through the consequences. The Law of Unintended Consequences is a bitch.

I have no idea what is "muddled" and "unclear" about not wanting the Constitutional protections of the 4th Amendment to be violated notwithstanding the righteous cause being paraded about as the justification for doing so.

This earned me this rebuke.

It is clear that you don't understand the Constitution nor the law.

And your opinion still doesn't matter...

Now it was time for that winning Vulture charm to show through.

Okay, Mr. Constitutional Expert - show me where it says that ONE (or two - if you insist) F'ING WARRANT is sufficient to justify setting up a military-style perimeter around a village for purposes of searching ALL RESIDENCES IN THE VILLAGE w/o respect to whether the individuals dwelling therein ARE EVEN NAMED IN THE F'ING WARRANT, and then I'll shut up.

My opinions may not matter to you, Mr. High-and-Mighty-Legal-Expert, but my 'couldn't care less' quotient remains unaffected.

You and your chums here are nothing but bombastic authoritarians who think that any generic warrant is sufficient justification for any little thing der Staat wishes to do to its citizens.

Enjoy Amerika. It seems to fit you.

So...do I think Mr. Caput Penitus Culus (that's Latin for 'Head Inside Ass') will ever come around to my way of thinking? Not a chance in hell! This assclown is so steeped in his self-perceived superiority because......wait for it.....HE'S A LAWYER...that he'll never accept the error of his thinking, particularly when his foil is a computer programmer who doesn't even have a college degree (*GASP!!!!*)

I'm probably done arguing with old Culus. He's WAAAAAAAAAY too smart for me. Probably better looking, too. And more popular.

Tool.

Wiener of the Week - Updated

Normally the WotW is simply the Vulture poking at some governmental asshat through the bars of their bureaucratic cage with the pointed and barbed stick of vitriolic language. But today, it's personal.

This assclown seems to think that people like Toes and me who are appalled at the actions of Texas CPS and the militarized goon squad that supported it in the raid on the FLDS are, at best, stupid, at worst, supporters of pedophilia.

Let me set the stage for you. Sore Toes and a Broken Heart is an excellent blog that serves to document the invasion of the FLDS "compound" by Texas Stoßtruppen and the subsequent legal machinations engineered by Judge Barbara Walther, who, rather than sitting on a judicial bench, should be in jail for her contributions to this abortion of justice.

Mr. Coram Non Judice (ooooooooh! He MUST be smart! He knows Latin! I'm so effing impressed!) took umbrage to a recent post by Toes in which she called into question the legality the both the search warrant used to justify the invasion as well as the legality of expanding the scope of that warrant from a single individual to the ENTIRE community.

Mr. I'm-smart-'cause-I-know-Latin savaged Toes, accusing her of being a "lawyer wannabee" and implying that she's pro-pedophilia.

When Toes brought this up on her blog, I made a comment in her defense that Mr. Self-Important found offense with. But rather than blast me, the commenter, he blasted Toes, for not censoring me!

Her argument would be stronger if one of her last commentators didn't use the term "strumtruppen," which she then moderated and approved.

I followed up at his blog with the following comment (entered verbatim)

SOOOOOOOOOO....you have a problem with my characterization of the amassed SWAT forces that invaded the FLDS "compound" as sturmtruppen. Boo-fricken hoo! Do you have a better word for militarized troops in body armor armed with automatic weapons and backed by armored vehicles?

Don't be disingenuous! Pull your head out of your dogma and look a little deeper at what has been a decades-long trend. Right now they only persecute "oddball" religious groups like the Branch Davidians and the FLDS. But, mark my words, they're working their way up to the point where ANY group of citizens whose views are outside the mainstream can be targets. People like you are "useful idiots" -- putting forth the government line ("this case says 'blah blah blah' so it's okay") and making future atrocities more likely.

Yeah, let's round up the weirdos who MIGHT be engaging in pedophilia! Let's round up all the weirdos, period! One day you'll be saying, "Hey, wait! I'm not a weirdo - I'm mainstream! Get away from me!" as you're led away for being a Mormon, or a blogger, or simply for belonging to DAR. Then maybe you'll understand the viewpoint of people like Toes and me.

Note: this comment still hasn't appeared on Mr. Genius' site yet. Maybe he'll censor me, since Toes wouldn't.

Congratulations, self-important assclown! You're the Wiener of the Week!

UPDATE: My comment finally did get posted 13 hours after I originally posted it. Now let's see what kind of response I get. I'm not nice like Toes, so it should be interesting.

Happy ending

The Navy Seals proved once again why they are among the most elite fighting units ever assembled.

Navy snipers on the fantail of a destroyer cut down three Somali pirates in a lifeboat and rescued an American sea captain in a surprise nighttime assault in choppy seas Easter Sunday, ending a five-day standoff between a team of rogue gunmen and the world's most powerful military.

Naturally, King Obama, Savior of Big Media (the BM for short) took full credit for the decision to take out the scumbags. I suppose it comes with the job; you try to deflect blame when things go wrong and you take full credit when things go right.

Of course the US action was met with threats from the Somalis.

Abdullahi Lami, one of the pirates holding the Greek ship anchored in the Somali town of Gaan, said: "Every country will be treated the way it treats us. In the future, America will be the one mourning and crying," he told The Associated Press. "We will retaliate (for) the killings of our men."

Jamac Habeb, a 30-year-old self-proclaimed pirate, told the AP from one of Somalia's piracy hubs, Eyl, that: "From now on, if we capture foreign ships and their respective countries try to attack us, we will kill them (the hostages)."

"Now they became our number one enemy," Habeb said of U.S. forces.

Oooh. We're quaking in our boots. What is it with people in that part of the world? These so-called pirates are just like the current Al Queda leadership -- all threats, no action.

It's nice to have something positive to say on a Monday for a change. Go Navy!

He is risen!

He Who on the cross a ransom
For the world’s salvation bled,
Jesus Christ the King of glory
Now is risen from the dead.
-- Christ­o­pher Words­worth

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

May each of you have a glorious Easter Sunday as we remember He who is our hope and our salvation: the Way, the Truth, and the Life!