Astroturf

Knowledge is power:

The film singles out free-market 'grassroots' groups FreedomWorks and Americans For Prosperity (AFP), whose million-plus memberships helped create the Tea Party movement and led the uprising against the Democrats reform agenda.

While AFP have been getting a lot of press lately for their ties to billionaire oil man David Koch, (Astro) Turf Wars take this to a whole new level. Of particular note are the revelations that in a previous incarnation both AFP and FreedomWorks were paid by tobacco companies to kill the Clinton healthcare reforms in 1994, mobilizing their grassroots army to fight a 'government takeover' and 'socialized medicine'.

With help from propaganda experts Professor Mark Crispin Miller and James Hoggan Oldham's film lays bare the blatant use of pro-business propaganda driving the Tea Party movement. Oldham's undercover work documents how Tea Party goers are being recruited into this libertarian fight for 'freedom' seemingly without any understanding of who is bankrolling the campaign.

Another notable appearance is by Huffington contributor Wendell Potter, a former head of PR for the health insurance providers Cigna and Humana who blows the whistle on the health insurance industry's use of astroturfing to fool and manipulate citizens.

The 90 minute film, which is available online at astrotufwars.com, comes at opportune moment for President Obama and the Democratic Party who are being drowned in a flood of corporate money to special interest groups like AFP, who according to the Associated Press have already spent $5.5m on attack ads against Democrat candidates -- that's a lot of moolah for a supposedly "grassroots" group.

There are actual independents in this country who would love a legitimate alternative to the Dems and to the GOP. [1]  The so-called "Tea Party" isn't it. Instead, it's just another billionaire-funded effort to soak what's left of the middle class by pandering to base white tribalist prejudices. Thanks, but no thanks. I'll hold out for a real alternative.

[1] I've talked about this at some length over the course of several years. Here's the short version: I wouldn't touch the GOP with a ten foot pole (I am allergic to any party or movement that embraces religious extremism and that is hostile to large swaths of our citizenry due to race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, etc.), but I've never been wild about the significant corporatist leanings of the Dems. I have ideas of what would make an acceptable organized independent movement, which I've mentioned at prior points. Maybe when time permits I'll recycle some of those ideas.

Quotable - it needs to be said:

Yes that’s the Tea Party – a collection of old and angry white tribalists who want to cut government spending except for the trough they feed at.

I wouldn't normally expect such strong wording from a blog called The Moderate Voice. Then again, these are strange times in which reality and rhetoric rarely match:

Scanning the thousands of hopped-up faces in the crowd, I am immediately struck by two things. One is that there isn’t a single black person here. The other is the truly awesome quantity of medical hardware: Seemingly every third person in the place is sucking oxygen from a tank or propping their giant atrophied glutes on motorized wheelchair-scooters. As Palin launches into her Ronald Reagan impression — “Government’s not the solution! Government’s the problem!” — the person sitting next to me leans over and explains.

“The scooters are because of Medicare,” he whispers helpfully. “They have these commercials down here: ‘You won’t even have to pay for your scooter! Medicare will pay!’ Practically everyone in Kentucky has one.”

A hall full of elderly white people in Medicare-paid scooters, railing against government spending and imagining themselves revolutionaries as they cheer on the vice-presidential puppet hand-picked by the GOP establishment. If there exists a better snapshot of everything the Tea Party represents, I can’t imagine it.

The demographic makeup of TP is something that is worth making note of. There has been speculation since the so-called movement's inception. My suspicion was that these were largely the same folks who were freaking out during the final months of the 2008 Presidential election season. The first actual survey data started coming out late last winter, suggesting that the folks identifying with TP were overwhelmingly white, older, and relatively well-off (at least upper middle class). Contrary to TP protestations of independence, it turns out to be overwhelmingly Republican as well, and its financial sources are right-wing billionaires. Angry white tribalists who will support any candidate who panders to their most base inclinations seems like a fairly apt description indeed.

Epic stupidity

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a story about a woman in Vancouver, WA who was allegedly attacked in a very horrific manner: someone had reportedly splashed acid on her face. Something didn't seem to add up. I don't know - maybe I get a bit suspicious whenever the alleged perpetrator is a random anonymous black guy or gal (Seriously? Folks need to stop watching "Cops"). Well, story seemed to go away with no follow-up. Then the story re-emerged. Turned out, there was a problem with the original story: it was all a hoax. Apparently it was a botched suicide attempt.

So what does this "Pledge to America" really mean?

But as far as I can see, there’s only one specific cut proposed — canceling the rest of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which Republicans claim (implausibly) would save $16 billion. That’s less than half of 1 percent of the budget cost of those tax cuts. As for the rest, everything must be cut, in ways not specified — “except for common-sense exceptions for seniors, veterans, and our troops.” In other words, Social Security, Medicare and the defense budget are off-limits.

So what’s left? Howard Gleckman of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has done the math. As he points out, the only way to balance the budget by 2020, while simultaneously (a) making the Bush tax cuts permanent and (b) protecting all the programs Republicans say they won’t cut, is to completely abolish the rest of the federal government: “No more national parks, no more Small Business Administration loans, no more export subsidies, no more N.I.H. No more Medicaid (one-third of its budget pays for long-term care for our parents and others with disabilities). No more child health or child nutrition programs. No more highway construction. No more homeland security. Oh, and no more Congress.”

No more Congress? I could live with that (or just eliminate the Senate - that body gets almost nothing done and is practically useless). Here's the link to the quote. Krugman makes an interesting point elsewhere in the same column about how atheoretical discussion of fiscal policy has become. One could agree or disagree with the ideas proposed by various leaders (e.g., FDR, Johnson, Reagan), but one at least knew they were basing their ideas on some coherent theoretical framework. It seems we've devolved to simply proposing whatever will bring a party to power without being terribly concerned about whether or not the numbers add up. The end result will be for even more dysfunction in DC at the worst possible time. With the next economic, environmental, or energy crisis just around the corner, it is clear that the next Congress will not be firing on all cylinders (or I should say will be firing on fewer cylinders than was the case during this past Congressional session).

You reap what you sow

Members of a society in which racist and homophobic sentiment has been mainstreamed shouldn't be too surprised when the verbal hatred degenerates into violence. I've said it before and will say it again: the words we write and speak have consequences.

Good luck with that

Robert Parry sez:

Whatever happens on Election Day, the longer-term challenge will be to rebuild an old-fashioned commitment to fact and reason within both American journalism and the broader political system.

Although I wholeheartedly agree with him on this sentiment, let's just say that we really have our work cut out of us in order to make that a reality.

Keep it classy, Dan Riehl

It appears that Lisa Murkowski, who lost her bid for renomination in the Alaska's Republican primary election a few weeks ago, will run as a write-in. I'm not surprised, of course. There had been rumors floating that she'd mount a write-in campaign since she conceded the primary election to Joe Miller. Personally I have no use for Murkowski - she's far too beholden to corporatist interests for my tastes. Tea Party types targeted her for a different reason: she actually had the nerve to work with Democrats on very rare occasion to get legislation passed in the Senate (something considered politically incorrect among TPers). Whether or not Murkowski's write-in campaign will succeed is debatable - some think she has a chance.

All that said, and whatever opinions of Murkowski I might have notwithstanding, it is dismaying to see a blogger who enjoys some national prominence refer to her as a "bitch" (and later a "biatch") for deciding to remain in the game. It's an action that seemed eerily reminiscent of Joe Miller's campaign alluding to her being a prostitute a few weeks ago. The need to use degrading sexist language against a political opponent is not only tasteless but says quite a bit about those who stoop to that level. To the extent that such discourse is encouraged (or not actively discouraged), it says a bit about the state of our society as well. Riehl is a real class act, eh?

Narf!

O'DONNELL: They are -- they are doing that here in the United States. American scientific companies are cross-breeding humans and animals and coming up with mice with fully functioning human brains. So they're already into this experiment. 

 On the Bill O'Reilly Show (11/15/2007), h/t

Yes, would-be-Senator O'Donnell's worldview holds that Pinky and the Brain are real. Narf!

Got bigotry?

Media Matters has a timeline of hate speech and violence (although MM does miss an event or two, such as the stabbing of a cab driver in NYC) by our right-wingers since the story first broke about the Park51 Islamic Center.

What 9-11 means? It's a matter of perspective

This year marks the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center twin towers and Pentagon. In the aftermath of that attack, several narratives emerged. There was of course the official narrative favored by our corporate and governing elites: one that emphasized nationalism and militarism, along with Manichean "clash of civilizations" imagery. Such imagery has been brought to the fore this year with the right-wing freak out occurring over a proposed Islamic cultural center that is to be constructed near the site of the WTC towers. Another narrative held that the proverbial chickens had come home to roost: that the attacks were blowback for decades of oppression and exploitation at the hands of the US corporate and political establishment. This second narrative was perhaps expressed most infamously by Ward Churchill, but can be found in the writings and speeches of others of varying levels of prominence. Still others view this day as a stark reminder of the destructive power of religious and political fanaticism - a point well worth bearing in mind. Finally, for the more conspiracy-minded, there was the "false flag" narrative that likened the attacks to the Reichstag Fire that cemented Hitler's hold on power in early 1930s Germany.

What we shouldn't lose sight of is that in all the memorials this year is that what 9-11 means or "should mean" has a great deal of variability among individuals across the globe. There is no doubt in my mind that terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center twin towers and the Pentagon were a terrible tragedy that would be exploited by our own ruling elites in the US. However, let's not forget that September 11 marks the anniversary for numerous other events: some tragic, some inspirational.

1. Let's remember that 37 years ago, the democratically elected government of Chile and its President Allende were overthrown in a US-backed coup that resulted in Allende's death. Countless thousands of people were executed or "disappeared" during Pinochet's reign of terror that subsequently followed this tragic day in history. Let's remember the victims of the coup and its aftermath.

2. Forty-one years ago today, in 1959, the US Congress authorized food stamps for Americans living in poverty. For those congressional leaders who voted to aid those in need, let's remember them.

3. On this day in 1851, in Christiana, Pennsylvania there was a stand-off between several ex-slave families (led by William Parker) and a posse of several armed white men led by a slave owner (Edward Gorsuch). By the time the stand-off ended, Parker and the remaining ex-slaves prevailed, and Gorsuch paid for his attempt to re-enslave these families with his life. That day was a stark reminder of the struggle that lay ahead for those endeavoring to break the bonds of slavery in the U.S. Let's remember Parker and those brave families who were willing to stand up for their human rights and dignity by any means necessary. The same day that was rife with tragedy at the beginning of our current century marked the sesquicentennial of what was truly a day of triumph for Parker and his crew.

4. On this day in 1945 retiring Secretary of War Henry Stimson sent a letter to then-President Harry Truman urging that the Truman administration follow a cooperative path with the USSR as the Soviet government worked to develop nuclear energy and weapons capability. Said Stimson:

“I believe that the change in attitude toward the individual in Russia will come slowly and gradually and I am satisfied that we should not delay our approach to Russia in the matter of the atomic bomb until that process has been completed.... Furthermore, I believe that this long process of change in Russia is more likely to be expedited by the closer relationship in the matter of the atomic bomb which I suggest and the trust and confidence that I believe would be inspired by the method of approach which I have outlined.”

Stimson reasoned the Russians would at once pursue obtaining such a bomb for themselves. It was not a secret, as Americans were for years led to believe, but an industrial technology being explored before the War, and which the Soviets would obtain in, say, four to twenty, years.

In a reference to the US "having this weapon rather ostentatiously on our hip," Stimson noted, "their suspicions and their distrust of our purposes and motives will increase. It will inspire them to greater efforts in an all out effort to solve the problem."

"The chief lesson I have learned in a long life is that the only way you can make a man trustworthy is to trust him; and the surest way to make him untrustworthy is to distrust him and show your distrust."

Tragically, his advice was ignored by the Truman administration, and what followed was a protracted "Cold War" that served only to inflate our elites' Military-Industrial Complex and sense of paranoia at the expense of much more humanitarian endeavors. Let's remember Stimson's words, as our current White House (p)resident threatens to pursue a belligerent reaction to Iran's efforts to become a nuclear power in its own right.

5. On this day 104 years ago Mohandas Gandhi began his famous Satyagraha in opposition to British imperial rule. Although requiring decades, Gandhi's efforts at nonviolent resistance begun on 9-11-1906 would prove successful. Let's remember Gandhi and those he's inspired to follow a different, nonviolent path in the struggle for freedom and dignity.

6. On this day seven years ago, the world lost one of the truly great slapstick comedians, John Ritter, who died of a heart attack. Ritter is likely best known for his role as Jack Tripper in the late 1970s and early 1980s sitcom Three's Company (based on the British sitcom Man About the House). Let's remember Ritter and others like him who've shared the gift of humor in these troubled times.

7. Two years ago on this day, indigenous campesinos were massacred by right-wing forces in what turned out to be a failed attempt to overthrow Bolivia's democratically elected President, Evo Morales. As several people observed as the events unfolded, the coup attempt was eerily reminiscent of the one in Chile that led to the installation of Pinochet. Let's remember those in Bolivia who died that day, and those whose hard work prevented the coup from succeeding.

Clearly, This day marks the anniversary of numerous events - some tragic, some uplifting. But bear in mind that ultimately today is merely another day on the calendar. We need not be straight-jacketed by the events of the past, nor need we forget them. There are many lessons to be learned from the events mentioned above with regards to human freedom and dignity. Let's spend some time today pondering those lessons.

Let's end by going back to September 11, 2001 for a moment. For me, it will be remembered as a day when we saw the schizophrenic character of American society in sharp relief. The acts of courage and helpfulness by countless individuals, and their willingness to reach out to others was truly inspiring. On the other hand, the American tendency to engage in belligerent jingoism and to immediately blame and attack people, nations, and cultures for the bombings reared its ugly head that day and in the aftermath, which to me was truly sickening. Sadly, the latter won out in the aftermath leading to an America that has since been on the warpath, with little regard for the consequences - either at home or abroad. Although our hope of the tide turning may be faint, that hope is the one candle we do possess in these dark times. To take a line from the late Bob Marley: "light up the darkness."

Peace

Something to make wingnuts' heads explode

There was a mosque on the 17th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Contrary to the Aryan mythology propounded by our nation's right-wing extremists (i.e., the victims of the WTC bombings were white Christians), the make-up of those who worked in the WTC was quite diverse and included a substantial number of Muslims of numerous races and ethnicities. To give you an idea about the article:

Given the vitriolic opposition now to the proposal to build a Muslim community center two blocks from ground zero, one might say something else has been destroyed: the realization that Muslim people and the Muslim religion were part of the life of the World Trade Center.

Opponents of the Park51 project say the presence of a Muslim center dishonors the victims of the Islamic extremists who flew two jets into the towers. Yet not only were Muslims peacefully worshiping in the twin towers long before the attacks, but even after the 1993 bombing of one tower by a Muslim radical, Ramzi Yousef, their religious observance generated no opposition.

On September 11, 2001 as I watched the coverage of the unfolding disaster as I prepared to go to work, I had a sinking feeling that ultimately it provide cover for those spoiling for a Holy War. It didn't take long before our former President would start using terms like "evil-doers" and "axis of evil" and speaking of "the war on terra" in a manner that felt akin to a religious crusade, draconian laws such as the Patriot Act were foisted upon us, and in some circles hate speech, physical assaults, and property destruction of those deemed "unacceptable" became more commonplace (and increasingly part of our mainstream discourse).

 Not only did those who died that day not deserve what happened to them, but they do not deserve to be dishonored by hatemongers who try to justify their actions on their behalf.

Christian counterparts to Osama bin Laden

Consider this part of an on-going series on our own homegrown terrorists and terrorist wannabes. I've said before that the profile of our own terrorists is predominantly white, male, and "Christian". I use the last term in quotes because the types of movements that produce their own bin Laden counterparts are typically of the Christian Identity and Dominionist variety, which I consider an abomination. I've noticed that numerous commentators use the term Christianist to characterize these folks in much the same manner that Muslim extremists have been labeled as Islamists. To the extent that there is something positive to the narrative, it is simply that our own home-grown extremists are small in number relative to the population at large (a statement that I could make about practically any group of extremists anywhere else). Unfortunately, in a climate marked by a combination of economic turmoil due to what I see as decades of mismanagement, and a rise in the shrillness of ethnic and religious hate speech by right-wing demagogues (fueled in large part by shoddy journalism practices) that has effectively given extreme views mainstream cover, such terrorists (and those who would be) are increasingly emboldened.

Enter our latest contestant: Justin Carl Moose. We're fortunate he was caught in a sting operation before he could really do any damage. Just what is this guy about? Take a look for yourself:

Moose is charged with providing information related to the manufacture of an explosive, destruction device or weapon of mass destruction to the informant, who he believed was plotting to bomb an abortion clinic.

In an undercover operation, federal officials state they had the informant provide Moose with a name and address of a clinic he was supposedly targeting.

Officials are not saying what city the clinic is in, other than it was in North Carolina.

A message left seeking comment from a federal public defender assigned to Moose’s case was not returned Thursday. A call to a phone number listed at the man’s residence went unanswered.

According to federal court documents, FBI agents based in Greensboro began investigating Moose in early August after being notified by the Planned Parenthood Association about a man advocating violence against women’s health care clinics on his personal Facebook page.

Agents verified Moose’s ownership of the web page and noted it contained numerous anti-abortion postings, videos and images that support others convicted of murder or attempted murder at abortion clinics, along with links about building explosives.

On the Facebook page cited in the complaint, which was still online Thursday, Moose describes himself as:

“Whatever you may think about me, you’re probably right. Extremist, Radical, Fundamentalist...? Terrorist...? Well... I prefer the term “freedom Fighter.”

“End abortion by any means necessary and at any cost”. “Save a life, Shoot an abortionist.”

The FBI analyzed the links regarding explosives and found they provided credible information for building functioning devices.

In one post, Moose allegedly taunted federal authorities by acknowledging he was likely being monitored, writing:
“To all the feds watching me: You can’t stop what is in motion. Even if you bring me in, my men will continue their mission. Furthermore, I will not go peacefully. Do you really want another Waco?”

In the complaint, agents state they obtained search warrant for Moose’s online accounts and that he was actively communicating with other known anti-abortion extremists.

In the messages, Moose allegedly made comments such as:
“As far as I’m concerned nothing is off limits to stop abortion. Anything and everything goes. I have learned alot from the muslim terrorists and have no problem using their tactics.”

On Sept. 3, the complaint states the FBI utilized a confidential informant who had a recorded phone call with Moose, who explained “his best friend’s wife was planning to do something he strongly opposed.”

Before the informant could say the woman was planning an abortion, Moose allegedly said “say no more” and when the informant said he wanted to stop the procedure, Moose allegedly replied “I understand, and I can help.”

The next day the complaint states the informant, who was wearing an undercover recording device, met with Moose at a Concord restaurant.

There, the informant stated he planned to “destroy the building where his best friend’s wife is having an abortion” and Moose allegedly went into fine detail about building three explosive devices and instructed the informant on how to deploy the devices to create the most damage at the clinic.

The complaint states at one point, Moose stated he is a member of the extreme anti-abortion group “Army of God,” stating: “If they put me away right now, if I never make it home, it doesn’t matter because I have told you everything you need to know.”

The FBI said the two men had another recorded phone call on Sept. 5 and Moose provided more information about building the explosive devices.

Similar local coverage can be found here. Think Progress has its own coverage, placing Moose's behavior in a somewhat broader context.

Things not to say

Whenever I read a sentence that begins along the lines of "I'm not a racist, but..." I can pretty well figure how that sentence will end. Case in point, thanks to the miracle of Openbook (using the search term "mosk" - yes people actually spell mosque that way):

In a semi-literate rant against the proposed Park51 project (an Islamic center in Manhattan), Bianca Morris spews,

i aint racists

She should have stopped there before she started digging a hole from which she could never leave. But NO! She had to go on...

but them smelly bastards killed thousands of white ppl on that spot now they wana get on there knees n prey on that spot

Where to begin. Where to begin. Do we start with the factual inaccuracies or the outright racism? I'll leave that one up to you, the reader.




At least the next guy was up-front about his racism:



He might as well have used the n-word. He all but says it right there on Facebook for the world to see.

So it goes. In the meantime, I'm left to ponder the following question: where are we going, and what's with the hand basket?

How did "9/11 victim" become sloppy shorthand for "white Christian"?

This quote comes from Alyssa Torres, whose husband was killed on September 11, 2001 during the WTC bombings. She has some very understandably pointed criticisms of the mass media, which seems to be fueling hysteria rather than actually inform.

Quoting HST

From September 12, 2001:

The towers are gone now, reduced to bloody rubble, along with all hopes for Peace in Our Time, in the United States or any other country. Make no mistake about it: We are At War now -- with somebody -- and we will stay At War with that mysterious Enemy for the rest of our lives.

It will be a Religious War, a sort of Christian Jihad, fueled by religious hatred and led by merciless fanatics on both sides.

My emphasis added, in large part as a means of framing the sort of extremism we've seen in recent weeks and months as anti-Muslim extremism has come to a boil, and as some of these same goons are going out and bombing not only mosques but Planned Parenthood offices as well. No doubt some arcane reference to Biblical scripture will justify such acts of terrorism in the eyes of its perps.

Nasty earthquake in New Zealand

The epicenter of the 7.1 magnitude earthquake was just outside the city of Christchurch - a city perhaps known to some alternative rock buffs as the center for some great pop records on the old Flying Nun label. So far it appears no lives were lost - a good thing - but there has been tons of structural damage. And since it is still late winter there, it will be a cold night for the survivors while electricity remains out through much of the area. As someone who remembers the Whittier-Narrows and Northridge quakes from my stint in Southern California many moons ago, I can empathize a bit with the residents in Christchurch. May everyone stay safe there.

While you're at it

Read White America's Inconvenience Tantrum, Part V: We Start the Pogrom at Ground Zero (h/t Crooks and Liars). The essay also links to a site called Openbook. Go to Openbook and type "mosk" and you will find a treasure trove of the very speech that I have been talking about. Mr. Destructo goes so far as to document a bunch of it for our own entertainment/edification.

"History may not repeat itself, but it rhymes a lot." -- Mark Twain

Ben Kiernan on some parallels in the Nazi, Khmer Rouge, and Hutu led genocides:

Common features of genocidal thinking can be identified even in cases that lacked the destructive power of the Holocaust. Indeed their perpetrators’ ideological preoccupations can often be discerned from early stages of their careers, before they come to power or amass the military or organizational apparatus required to carry out genocide. Description of these features common to many cases may help in the prediction and prevention of future genocides.

I will juxtapose Nazi ideology with that of two other genocide perpetrators: the Khmer Rouge rulers of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, and Rwanda’s Hutu Power regime of 1994. Leaders of all three regimes held visions of the future partly inspired by ancient pasts – mythical and pristine – in which they imagined members of their original, pure, agrarian race, farming once larger territories that contained no Jews, no Vietnamese, and no Tutsis. The perpetrators of genocide against those victim groups shared preoccupations not only with ethnic purity but also with antiquity, agriculture, and expansionism. Genocidal thinking is usually racialist, reactionary, rural, and irredentist.

By all means please read the rest of the paper. It's a nice capsule summary of a topic which could occupy a lifetime's research. One reason for sharing this paper with you is that I would offer that we see some similar red flags as we watch the evolution of our own right-wing political/religious faction in the US. And before someone gets their draws in a bunch: no, I am not saying that the Tea Party is the next Nazi Party or that Glenn Beck is Pol Pot. But what I am saying is that if you look at the rhetoric of our current right-wing organizations and figureheads, you can see some parallels between their eliminationist rhetoric and that of previous political organizations that did indeed become genocidal. At bare minimum, we are at a point in our own history where it is hardly a leap to imagine pogroms against the scapegoated ethnic minorities of the day (e.g., those of African or South/Central Asian descent who practice Islam, and those who are Hispanic). As I'm fond of saying, our words have consequences.


As an aside, I've noticed in some commentary I've run into on Facebook that a some of the most virulent anti-Muslim individuals are also Holocaust deniers (i.e., consider the mass slaughter of Jews, Slavs, Roma, GLB, and disabled during the Nazi regime to be a hoax). I don't know if this is a common pattern. Still, the extent that I am even seeing it surface is a bit startling.

Take the skinheads bowling

Charles of LGF:

Pamela “Shrieking Harpy” Geller thinks Newsweek is out to get her, of course, and she doubles down on her support for the far right thugs of the English Defense League — and announces that she’s bringing them to the US to participate in her anti-Muslim protest on September 11.

Thought you might like to see this piece Mark Hosenball did on the EDL. Clearly the left is attempting to split the counter jihad movement. They want me to distance myself from brave souls fighting Islamic supremacism. N-O-T   G-O-I-N-G   T-O  H-A-P-P-E-N.
If I lived in England, I would surely be active in the EDL Jewish division. Members of the EDL will be attending our rally to stop the Ground Zero Islamic supremacist mosque on September 11th (be there).

People I know in Britain have told me that over there, there’s absolutely no doubt that the EDL is a violent, hardcore group of extremists and racists, with neo-Nazi and BNP roots. Geller is relying on Americans’ lack of knowledge about British politics to try to portray the EDL as peace-loving patriots, when the truth is exactly the opposite.

Here’s a documentary produced by the Guardian showing the actual people who belong to the EDL, doing what they actually do. The video, shot last May, includes undercover footage of the EDL goons planning to “hit” Bradford — which they just did.

The documentary in question:





Like it or not, we're judged at least in part by the company we keep. You roll with known hate groups, and let's just say that raises some red flags. I mentioned pogroms the other day for a reason: it is precisely hatemongers like Geller and these organizations such as the EDL who foster an environment in which pogroms become a distinct risk. Watching the videos should make all too clear to anyone with the capacity to critically think that these EDL goons are spoiling for just such an opportunity. If you've followed me for a while, you'll know that although I have some very strong beliefs, strongest of those is a general disrespect for extremism and extremists of all stripes. You're also aware that I'll gladly put aside my ideological differences to stand with those who oppose extremist hate. Simply stated, history is littered with the consequences of allowing extremism to go relatively unopposed. Hence, the time has come for those of us with clear heads and clear consciences to say, enough is enough - as loudly and as forcefully as necessary.

Close to the eruption of pogroms against Muslims?

I hope not, but then again, there is little doubt that there has been a major ramp-up in not only violent rhetoric but also violent behavior targeting people who either are Muslim or who are mistaken for Muslim. The term pogrom is worth visiting here, due to the fact that our current climate of violence, fear, and loathing is either condoned by or in some cases actually encouraged by leading authority figures among our political right-wing. The climate is now sufficiently volatile that such concerns of potential pogroms is regrettably warranted. It would be akin to throwing a lit cigarette on spilled gasoline.

What is a pogrom? Let's take a brief definition from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum:

Pogrom is a Russian word meaning “to wreak havoc, to demolish violently.” Historically, the term refers to violent attacks by local non-Jewish populations on Jews in the Russian Empire and in other countries. The first such incident to be labeled a pogrom is believed to be anti-Jewish rioting in Odessa in 1821. As a descriptive term, “pogrom” came into common usage with extensive anti-Jewish riots that swept Ukraine and southern Russia in 1881-1884, following the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. In Germany and eastern Europe during the era of the Holocaust, as in Tsarist Russia, economic, social, and political resentment of Jews reinforced traditional religious antisemitism. This served as a pretext for pogroms.

The perpetrators of pogroms organized locally, sometimes with government and police encouragement.

Basically, pogroms were a real problem for a scapegoated ethnic minority in much of Europe through most of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century (although the phenomenon predates the origination of the term all the way back to ancient times). I seriously doubt that they sort of emerged in a vacuum, but rather after ages of hateful rhetoric amidst plenty of economic and political turmoil. Fast-forward to the early years of our own sorry century, and we see a pattern emerging here in the US. that seems eerily familiar. History doesn't repeat exactly, but there are consistent patterns worth examining and exposing in order to prevent future atrocities.