Monday, March 29, 2010

OGNTSA...

The rabid right wing of the blogosphere is abuzz with recent stories out of America's heartland. Stories like this:

Official: Gun charges after FBI raids in Midwest

ADRIAN, Mich. – The FBI said Sunday that agents conducted weekend raids in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio and arrested at least three people, and a militia leader in Michigan said the target of at least one of the raids was a Christian militia group.

Federal warrants were sealed, but a federal law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity said some of those arrested face gun charges and officials are pursuing other suspects.

"Gun charges"? You mean like the manufactured charge against Randy Weaver? The nebulous charges against David Koresh? Hell, more recently, what we've seen with the spurious charges against Gregory Girard in MA or the unlawful seizure of weapons from David Pyles, the OR DOT worker accused of the heinous crime of... lawfully buying guns.

More and more it seems like "gun charges" are a magic talisman for the government, allowing them to detain, arrest, attack, and in some cases kill folks for nothing more than exercising their Second Amendment rights. It's hard to tell, sometimes, which is more frightening: that our Bill of Rights can so easily be trampled in the interest of the government wanting to look like it's doing something, or that no one seems to care.

"Oh, it's another fringe right wing nut job group." "No one needs [insert number greater than or equal to one] evil black rifles." "Why would they have that much ammunition if they weren't planning something." We hear these sentiments or similar in the wake of arrests of our fellow countrymen, and a good number of us simply shrug them off or even agree with the speaker. National groups - even our alleged advocates - are silent on these egregious violations of our civil rights. "All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke.

I stand by my assertion that it's not yet time to be throwing bricks - but I'll be the first to admit that recent events bring that time a helluva lot closer.

That is all.

*Oh G-d, Not This Shit Again

10 comments:

Alan said...

Sounds like this is the preliminary to a new push for more gun control.

Jay G said...

Give that man a gold star...

Just like the "militia" movement - obviously including the OKC bombing - brought us the AWB and the Brady Bill, look for something ugly to come down the pike (and no, I mean besides Nancy Pelosi).

Given that Øbama had no qualms ramming through Health Care Reform against the best wishes of 60+% of the American people, it would not surprise me in the least to see new - and draconian - gun control legislation drafted and rammed through.

Look, we've got a ton of Democrats who have already thrown in the towel and will not be running for re-election. Add in countless others who will not win their primaries, let alone the general, and there's going to be a bunch of folks looking for plum appointments and lobbyist/advisor positions come Jan 2011.

Add in Øbama's desire to out-Clinton Bill Clinton (vis a vis HCR), I'm betting we'll see a NASTY gun control bill - with NO sunset - before November.

I hope I'm wrong. But something about Zero makes me worry...

PISSED said...

I just had a converstion with a family member that thinks the same thing Jay. Rile up the people, then push a little more and when the masses start to push back, OMG the bad right wingers, add national police force, martial law, confiscation......

Its one thing to fight an foreign enemy, its another to fight an internal one. This is not going away and the medias culpability is not helping. They (should) be exposing this!!

bluesun said...

I think I've said this before, but I'll say it again here. I didn't used to put much into conspiracy theories: you know, the "THEY"RE ALL OUT TO GET US!" things. I thought that it was more everyone blundering in the wrong direction, little by little.

The longer I follow the news, the more suspicious I become.

Justin Buist said...

Based on some comments from a commander in the Michigan Militia on a private board I'm on the Michigan Militia has been avoiding these guys for years and absolutely refuses to work with them.

I'm not going to rush to the defense of a group that the MM thinks is a bit off their rocker and involved in illegal activity.

MAYBE the .gov's case is all BS but I kinda doubt it.

Wally said...

The story goes that Hutaree (radically anti-muslim) approached a member of Michigan Militia (either MM or its leaders are sorta anti-jew) about causing harm to some muslims. The member of MM was himself a muslim and dropped a dime to the feds.

A LOT of folks were hyped up yesterday and a few militias were activated. Most have backed off and let Hutaree hang by their own bigotry.

This would have a been different response if Hutaree was picked on for being a militia, or a religious establishment, or an armed religious establishment.

Although, none of the above is official yet. I'm sure MSM will tell you what to believe :)

Jay G said...

[tinfoil hat on]

This is exactly what they did in the early 1990s. They went after the Branch Davidians. They went after the MT Freemen. They went after the survivalist loners and other assorted kooks - and a number of them were, in fact, verifiable lunatics.

They went after the folks that *no one* would stand up for.

And when they got no resistance, they just expanded the groups ever larger and larger, and painted all militia-type groups with the same nutball brush.

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance...

Wally said...

Tinfoil here is for your own safety.

Agreed that the feds went after the fruitiest of the White fruitcakes. Hutaree has long been off the deep end. However, thier beliefs are not reason to condemn.

But they may have painted themselves into a corner on this one. And we are all aware that evidence can be 'enhanced' through whatever means are available. The prosecution could be plausible for the trials, and it may even be true.

But time has shown us that past federal efforts such as Ruby Ridge or Waco were complete bull. I believe those of us with our eyes open are aware of the weak history here. This is no guarantee that the guys from Hutaree will get the fair shake they deserve.

Divide and conquer? Perhaps. But nobody was willing to stand up for *this* organization. Would that get a different response if the target were a nicer, more accepted militia-type organization >


(tinfoil glinting) Lest we forget, the big O needs to make a new bad guy to save us all from...

I'm not losing sleep over a group of armed christians, even if they failed to pay a making tax...

B Smith said...

3 charges (yet to be prosecuted) in 3 whole frickin' STATES? Somethin' smellin' fishy here, cap'n.
My quaint hometown is abuzz because we've had seven HOMICIDES in as many days. Not that I want the Effin' B.I. poking around here so much---local boys'll handle it as well or better, thank ye---but why is this Big News? Are they reaching that deep to counter the actions of SEIU thugs and false-flag, post-healthcare terrorists?
Hopefully, it's just the lame-assed media doing what they do.

Unknown said...

So true, great blog! Keep up the good work.
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