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August 11th, 2009Dear Liberty Activist, The Department of Homeland Security used a kook website to indict the American people in drafting the "rightwing extremism" memo. It's simply unbelievable. Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today condemned the methodology used by the Department of Homeland Security in issuing a controversial "right-wing extremism" threat assessment to law enforcement in April as "complete speculation." "Our worst fears about what went into this memo have been confirmed. The government department that was supposed to be tasked with identifying domestic terrorist threats is apparently using news stories, kooky websites, and conjecture instead of actual hard intelligence reporting and analysis," said Wilson. "This is a disgrace, and calls into question what it is that the so-called 'Extremism and Radicalizaton Branch of the Homeland Environment Threat Analysis Division' actually does," Wilson added. 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. Included 11 times was the website, www.whatdoesitmean.com, a website that once reported that a scientist had destroyed a "radio to God." In a recent edition of the Clews-Todd Report, ALG top researcher Don Todd recently gave his assessment of the memo and DHS' FOIA interim response, "Here you have a bunch of government bureaucrats surfing the web that come up with this crackpot website [http://whatdoesitmean.com], and then they alert all the police agencies in the country to look out for veterans, pro-lifers, and people that believe in states' rights." FOX News today exclusively reported on DHS' response to ALG's freedom of information request. "Not a single study or report was from any government source," said Wilson. "And again, there was no evidence of any actual active recruitment of 'disgruntled veterans' by these groups, no evidence showing that folks who purchase guns or oppose gun-control legislation are necessarily dangerous, and no evidence that the economic downturn or the election of Barack Obama that is fueling any actual 'resurgence' of 'extremism.'" The memo had reported that "rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans". "We already knew that the memo did not illuminate on any actual 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," said Wilson. "And now we know why," Wilson added, explain, "The background DHS used was not based on credible intelligence sources, reporting, and analysis. Instead, what we found is that the Department was apparently surfing the net to see what news stories happened to turn up to support a pre-determined conclusion," Wilson explained. 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." "We now know for a fact that DHS was monitoring political speech and thought, whether on the Internet or via other forms of communications," said Wilson, pointing to websites included in the DHS FOIA response that tracked gun-control legislation. The memo had claimed that "Many rightwing extremists groups perceive recent gun control legislation as a threat to their right to bear arms and in response have increased weapons and ammunition stockpiling, as well as renewed participation in paramilitary training exercises." Previously DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said, "We are on the lookout for criminal and terrorist activity but we do not – nor will we ever – monitor ideology or political beliefs." "DHS' response to our freedom of information request unfortunately confirms in no uncertain terms that their hunt for 'rightwing extremists' was nothing more than a witch hunt," Wilson concluded. Enclosed
Materials: Department of Homeland Security interim response to FOIA request, August 5th, 2009. Summary of web-links cited by Department of Homeland Security that were used in drafting "rightwing extremism" memo. One page summary sheet of ALG analysis of DHS methodology in drafting "rightwing extremism" memo, August 2009. FOX News reporting Freedom of Information response by DHS, August 11th, 2009. Clews-Todd Report, August 11th, 2009. The American people need to be asking tough questions about what exactly the Department of Homeland Security is doing with your tax dollars. Are they looking for real terrorist threats, or analyzing the ravings of crackpot websites? That's the question that really needs to be asking Congress. Give your representatives in the House and in the Senate a call today. Remember, they're in their district work month, so you'll need to call their district offices in order to get them on the phone. In today's Liberty Action Report, Nancy Pelosi reconvenes the House Un-American Activities Committee, Olbermann-Matthews blast the mobs, and a new federalism is emerging. Plus, Bloomberg reports on ALG's calls for protests against Congressman Tom Perriello over ObamaCare. Please send your letters to me at Robert@getliberty.org. We publish all points of view! Today, Linda from Las Vegas, NV: "If we all
looked at things in the eyes of Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer than we
would see things differently. You see these "law makers" have never had
to really campaign to win an election and the only voters they see look
exactly like them. It's like looking in a mirror. There is never any
real question who will win election or re-election in Baltimore or San
Francisco. Democrats! So now when voters actually do object to their
positions we are called un-American. This is simply a position they
cannot understand....there must be something wrong with these people! Thank you, Linda, and of course not! You keep fighting, you hear? For Liberty, Robert Romano P.S. Want to support our fight? Help us out with a small donation today!
Open Source & Copyright Free Nancy
Pelosi Reconvenes House Un-American Activities Committee Now,
To A Troubling Story… "When
in the course of human events…" ALG
in the News: Euthanasia Scare Shows a Tough Sell on Health Care Nancy Pelosi Reconvenes House Un-American Activities CommitteeBy Robert Romano It is nothing short of a complete political meltdown. Congressional reaction to their own constituents' opposition to ObamaCare has transformed into a theater of the absurd. And there will be a stiff political price to be paid. For years, it has become increasingly clear that Congress largely ignores the people they serve. But now it is apparent they actually disdain them, as well. And would like very much if they simply went away. Only, they won't. So the elected elite is now resorting to ugly threats and name-calling To put the icing on the cake, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer yesterday leveled the charge that those protesting ObamaCare at town halls nationwide are somehow "simply un-American". That's right, the position of the ruling class is that they—and they alone—have the right to debate public policy. In the pages of USA Today, Pelosi and Hoyer wrote, "These disruptions are occurring because opponents are afraid not just of differing views — but of the facts themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American. Drowning out the facts is how we failed at this task for decades." This is quite simply disgraceful. So much for the patriotic duty to dissent. So much for "open covenants openly arrived at." Instead, Congress is attempting to intimidate and silence dissent by the American people. That the American people have dared to challenge the single-most radical changes ever proposed to the American health care system is wholly unsurprising. What is surprising is that Pelosi and her ilk have so little respect for those who believe it is their voices that have been drowned out by a political elite and their media handmaidens. What, exactly, were the members of Congress expecting? That constituents would be throwing rose petals at their feet when they returned home for August recess touting a $1.5 trillion monstrosity that threatens to ration health care into scarcity? And yet, Congressman Steve Kagen (WI-CD8) said residents attending a Green Bay town hall meeting were "uncivilized." Congressman Baron Hill (IN-CD9) said he wants to "control" his town halls: "What I don't want to do is create an opportunity for the people who are political terrorists to blow up the meeting and not try to answer thoughtful questions." Actually, it is Congressman Hill—and all Congressmen for that matter—who should be answering questions. "Political terrorists"? "Un-American"? These are American citizens—folks who in many cases fought for their right to boldly state their opposition to Congress' plans to run their lives from afar. The very flawed argument being leveled by Congress is that by passionately expressing displeasure with their government—a constitutionally-guaranteed right—that ObamaCare opponents are somehow infringing on the prerogatives of Washington's high-handed and mighty There are 535 elected members of Congress. Over 500 thousand elected officials in the entire country at the national, state, county, and local level. 2 major political parties. And dozens of minor political parties. And they have instant access to over 1,300 television stations, over 12,000 radio stations, over 1,400 newspapers, and millions upon millions of web pages. In short, nobody's voices are being "drowned out," except for those of the American people's—who overwhelmingly oppose the radical nationalization of health care. According to Rasmussen Reports, just thirty-two percent of voters nationwide favor a single-payer health care system where the federal government provides coverage for everyone. Fifty-seven percent are opposed to a single-payer plan. The fact is, Congress has rightly been given an earful by their constituents, who do not want government bureaucrats rationing health care and making medical decisions for them. Voicing dissent to an unaccountable government Hell-bent on taking over the nation's entire health care system is not "un-American." It is the very essence of what America is all about. And Pelosi, Hoyer, Kagen, Hill, et. al., owe the American people an abject apology. Robert Romano is the ALG Senior News Editor. http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1457 Now, To A Troubling Story…
ALG Editor's Note: William Warren's award-winning cartoons published at GetLiberty.org are a free service of ALG News Bureau. They may be reused and redistributed free of charge. http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1456 "When in the course of human events…"By Justin Williams Many historians agree, the United States of American was founded with federalism at its core. This meant that each state would have it's own jurisdiction to govern its citizens on all accounts that were not granted to the federal government or banned to the states. A "state" is defined by Merriam-Webster as "a politically organized body of people usually occupying a definite territory; especially: one that is sovereign" [emphasis theirs]. But it is clear that the states that were once near-independent bodies are now nowhere near sovereign. And increasingly, as the Obama Administration turns the screws on states rights, the sovereign citizens are fighting back. They understand, as did the founders, that the centralization of power was a bad idea. As Thomas Jefferson put it "The way to have good and safe government, is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among the many, distributing to every one exactly the functions he is competent to." Federalism, through the competition between states for taxpayers, gave citizens of the United States another mechanism to check their governments -- and that was with their feet. But, like other well-intended programs, it didn't take long for the federal government to encroach upon this vital principle. One example of this is the legislation called the No Child Left Behind Act, which brought blankets of red tape into a sector of the government that had historically been reserved for the states. And the usurpacious Interstate Commerce Act has imposed myriad restriction upon the individual states tying funding to meeting dictates. But, millions of Americans now decided that enough is enough, and Obama's health care and economic "reforms" have finally triggered a states right revolt. Thirty-seven states have proposed a resolution to exert their state as sovereign. And more are expected to follow. The Governor of Texas, Rick Perry (R), has been one of the staunchest supporters of reinstitutionalizing state rights ever since legislation was proposed by the federal government to socialize health care. He stated, "that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state..." and suggested the possibility of secession. In short, the current growth of government under the past two administrations has put the states in a situation where they must threaten to leave the union -- all because the federalism ideal has been forgotten. While the founders argued that the states needed a central authority to defend themselves against a common enemy, they did not make the argument that the states should give up their sovereignty to achieve that. And, they never even remotely imagined that the "common enemy" would become the federal government itself. But that is exactly what has happened. Of course, the Obama Administration and Congress are showing no signs of stopping the fleecing of the American people. So, the states and the people have decided to stand up and take back their state sovereignty before their state citizenship, like private health insurance becomes, a thing of the past. Soon, the "feds" may be faced with a dire choice: either return to the tenets of federalism or be prepared for today's "ragtag army" of rebels to echo the actions of the founders and "dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another." Mr. Obama, meet Mr. Jefferson. Justin Williams is the Senior Commentary Editor of ALG News Bureau. http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1455
ALG Editor's Note: In the following featured commentary, Bloomberg quotes Americans for Limited Government's President Bill Wilson on the protests against Perriello.
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