August 12th,
2009
Dear Liberty Activist,
A public uproar has erupted over the
revelation that the Department of Homeland Security used a whacky
website by which to indict the American people in drafting its
"rightwing extremism" memo in April. And rightly so.
Today, Americans for Limited Government
President Bill Wilson calling for Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
chief Janet Napolitano's scalp, demanding she resign her post over the
Department's use of what Wilson called a "crackpot conspiracy website"
in drafting and then issuing
a controversial "right-wing extremism" threat assessment to law
enforcement in April.
Included 11 times in DHS'
response to ALG's freedom of information request as a source for
the report was the website, www.whatdoesitmean.com,
a "news service" that recently reported that a scientist had destroyed
a "radio to God."
"Janet Napolitano must resign immediately from her post at Homeland
Security over this outrage," said Wilson, adding that, "The Department
of Homeland Security used a kook website to indict the American people
in drafting the 'rightwing extremism' memo. Its use in intelligence
gathering was deplorable and highly dubious, not mention insulting to
the tens of millions of Americans who were targeted by the memo."
"Under Napolitano's watch, government officials who were supposed to be
gathering real intelligence on domestic terror threats were instead
surfing the web and reading whacky websites, all to create the public
perception of 'rightwing extremism,'" Wilson said.
Wilson explained, "Homeland Security authorized the release of the
now-discredited 'threat' assessment using whatdoesitmean.com as a
source. It did so without any intelligence sources, crime data, or
actual evidence of planned attacks or any groups known to be planning
attacks, or any groups with histories of perpetrating attacks that are
currently conducting any types of operational recruitment, meeting, or
planning attacks."
Wilson said the assessment was actually a "political document,"
designed to "fuel the public's perception of 'rightwing extremism,'
nothing more. And for taking part in a deliberate intimidation campaign
against the American people under the guise of protecting them, the
only honorable thing for Napolitano to do is to step down," Wilson
declared.
In defining "rightwing extremism," the Department of Homeland Security
memo targets "groups, movements, and adherents… that are mainly
antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local
authority" and "groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single
issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."
Americans for Limited Government filed a Freedom of Information request
in April demanding all documents related to the drafting of the
controversial "right-wing extremism" memo. It has now received an
interim response from the Department related to "All data and all
studies, reports, or other documents regarding data created or reviewed
by the Department in general to draft the Report… [and] on the specific
groups listed in the footnote on page 2 of the Report that were used by
the Department."
Those studies and reports included 217 pages, "releasable in their
entirety, all of which are publicly available," according to the DHS
FOIA response. All of the data used by the Department are available via
the Internet. A
summary of the web-links is included here.
FOX
News has exclusively reported on Special Report with Brett Baier on
DHS' response to ALG's freedom of information request.
"You don't sick every law enforcement officer in the nation on the
American people on the basis of a crackpot conspiracy website,
hard-left political groups, and news stories," Wilson said, concluding,
"That's exactly what happened here."
The American people must continue to demand
to know what, exactly, the Department of Homeland Security was thinking
as they drafted this absurd "threat" assessment. Are they wearing
tin-foil hats at work? Give your representatives in
the House and in
the Senate a call today. You'll want to buzz their district offices
in order to get them on the phone.
In today's Liberty
Action Report, DHS used a whacky website in drafting the
"rightwing extremism" memo, the Barstool Economist returns looking at
the coming health care Titanic, and the Clews-Todd Report takes a tough
look at the DHS memo.
Please send your letters to me at Robert@getliberty.org. We
publish all points of view! Today, Jill Stanek writes:
"Thanks
very much. I saw the Fox News report and am grateful for your press
release and links. Here's my post:
"http://www.jillstanek.com/archives/2009/08/dhss_source_for.html"
Thank you, Jill, for your support!
For Liberty,
Robert Romano
ALG Senior News Editor
www.getliberty.org
P.S. Think DHS should be doing something
more productive with their time? Help
us out with a small donation today!
Open Source
& Copyright Free
The
Obama Role in the DHS Assault on Freedom: When Did He Know, and Why
Didn't He Stop It?
The President needs to come clean and tell the American people
when he learned about this horrifying attack on personal freedom and
why he did not intervene to end the assault.
The
Barstool Economist: The Coming Health Care Titanic
Once the government is done with it, the American health care
system will look more like the Titanic then an unhampered private
system with a healthy price mechanism.
The
Clews-Todd Report Episode 4
The Executive Editor along with the Director of Research give
an important update on the DHS "Right-Wing Extremism" memo.
ALG
in the News: Fox News Interview on Homeland Security "sources" memo.
Nathan Methrens from ALG Research is featured on Fox News on
an update on the "right-wing extremist" memo and what sources were used.
The
Obama Role in the DHS Assault on Freedom: When Did He Know, and Why
Didn't He Stop It?
In April of this year, the Obama
Administration deliberately – and deceptively -- used a frighteningly
kooky website to condemn tens of millions of innocent Americans who
have fought for their country, cherish the sanctity of life, or stand
up for the 10th Amendment.
There is simply no other way to put it.
In its now-discredited "Report
on Rightwing Extremism," Obama's Secretary of the Department of
Homeland Security warned every police department in the country that
veterans, right-to-lifers, and states' rights advocates were potential
terrorists who warranted intense scrutiny. In response to that report, Americans
for Limited Government filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request
demanding to know how DHS had arrived at such a chilling conclusion.
The
response from DHS is stunning.
As it turns out, Janet
Napolitano's DHS did not conduct even the most rudimentary research or
investigation. It did no statistical analysis. It did not even
bother to interview those it accused and allow them the opportunity to
defend themselves.
Instead, in what should send shockwaves
throughout the nation, DHS
functionaries simply cruised the Internet (in tin-foil hats, no doubt)
and relied entirely upon some of the most disreputable sites on the web
to stage its attack upon its "rightwing" targets.
Foremost upon the websites DHS relied upon
to launch its ruthless, reckless assault was a site called whatdoesitmean.com.
In its response to the ALG FOIA request, DHS reported utilizing the
site no less than eleven times – far more than any other site – to
substantiate its accusations against veterans and other "rightwing
extremists."
And what is the thrust of
whatdoesitmean.com – this site the Obama Administration considers a
reliable source for intelligence gathering against the American people?
Whatdoesitmean.com contends that the
government of the United States has been in direct contact with
extra-terrestrial aliens through sophisticated radio waves. Its
masthead contains unicorns, Tarot cards, secret numbers, and
hieroglyphics. And it warns against a "manmade swine flu" and
"fast-approaching global famine."
Based upon these and other similar
observations on whatdoesitmean.com (as well as in the intensely
frenetic Huffingtonpost.com and the far left Southern Poverty Law
Center), the Department of Homeland Security condemned millions of
patriotic Americans – including veterans -- to intense, daily
surveillance by law enforcement officials nationwide.
During the Watergate hearings nearly three
decades ago, Howard Baker said that the pivotal question for Richard
Nixon was, "What did he know, and when did he know it?"
Now, a similar question must be asked of
Barack Obama: When did he know, and why didn't he stop it?
The ALG FOIA response reveals that his
Department of Homeland Security violated the trust of the American
people in ways never even imagined possible by those whose liberty it
has placed in jeopardy. And the President now needs to come clean and
tell the American people when he learned about this horrifying attack
on personal freedom and why he did not intervene to end the assault.
We are waiting.
http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1461
The
Coming Health Care Titanic
By Justin Williams
Trade offs are a part of every economic
decision whether someone is going to the grocery store or deciding on
health care treatments. And in a previous article called "The
'Invisible Hand'… or the Hand of Death?," we looked at how the lack
of a trade-off mechanism in the past caused health care costs to soar.
Now it's time to seriously consider what
will happen when the decision is taken away from patient and put in the
hands of an already heavily debt-burdened, bankrupt government.
In a market, the private ownership of the
medicine, tests, and services is supposed to allow exchange and trade
on the basis of supply and demand. Now, with the current Obama
Administration to eliminate private ownership as the means of
production, the patients will simply have no choice but to be entirely
subservient to a rationing or "control" board that places government
demands above personal needs.
Economically, there is no other way to
organize the system then through rationing when the mechanism of prices
is abolished altogether.
Even leftist Eugene Robinson at the
Washington Post correctly
writes "It is not illogical for skeptics to suspect that if
millions of people are going to be newly covered by health insurances,
either costs are going to skyrocket or services are going to be
curtailed."
In most government programs, the American
taxpayer is unlucky enough to get both. Americans have already seen
with the lack of a price system that costs have skyrocketed in the
medical community, just as they have in the postal service, AMTRAK, the
education system and every other arena where the government hegemony
has wreaked havoc. Now, instead of allowing a fair price system, the
Obama Administration plans on curtailing services.
Barack Obama himself inadvertently revealed
the first signs of curtailing services when
he said, "Right now, doctors a lot of times are forced to make
decisions based on the fee payment schedule that's out there. … The
doctor may look at the reimbursement system and say to himself, 'You
know what? I make a lot more money if I take this kid's tonsils out.'"
The solution to this would be to engage a price system, putting supply
and demand in the patients' hands. Instead, the Obama Administration
has chose to let a government bureaucrat decide whether or not you
should have your tonsils taken out.
So the government is going to have to make
trade offs on limiting critical medical services to the population as a
whole. But somehow Mr. Robinson, along with many other liberals does
not see how this reform could ever possibly create "death panels."
It's simple. The American health care
system will be more like the Titanic than an unhampered private system
with a healthy price mechanism. American patients will have to line up:
women and children first, arranged youngest to oldest; the elderly last
– if at all.
This government is already sinking fast
into debt and running out of ways to raise funds. Health care reform
will only accelerate this further. But, yet, increased government
spending with reduced quality is the government's only "solution" to
today's health care problems.
While the ship sinks and the people line up
in a deadly queue, the one thing that truly distinguishes the Titanic
from the health care debate will become clear: on the Titanic, the
captain went down with the ship. It is doubtful that you will see
Barack Obama standing in the back of any line -- because, after all,
the politicians in Washington have their own non-government health-care
program protecting them from the "public option." So much for all men
being created equal.
Justin Williams is the Senior Commentary
Editor of ALG News Bureau. As always, he accepts comments or questions
about the Barstool Economist at justin@getliberty.org.
http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1460
The Clews-Todd Report Episode 4
ALG Editor's Note: In
the above, the Executive Editor along with the Director of Research
give an update on the "Right-Wing Extremists" and exactly how DHS came
up with it.
http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1459
ALG Editor's Note: In
the following featured video, Nathan Methrens from ALG Research is
featured on Fox News about the current kooky websites that Department
of Homeland Security used to come up with the April memo condemning
"right-wing extremists."
http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1458
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