I just caught New York Times best selling author Ronald Kessler on MSNBC news. Of course because I watch MSNBC there are those good patriotic Americans who will automatically dismiss anything that I have to say, but here goes any way.
Mr. Kessler's book "In the President's Secret Service" puts forth some pretty frightening points.
Did you know, for instance, that according to Kessler's research, Presidential death threats are up 400 per cent from what they were when George Bush was in office?
Militias are growing every day. And their rhetoric more virulent. Racism more blatant. Consider the recent town hall meeting at which a black woman is carrying a poster of Rosa Parks and a white woman crosses from the aisle and pulls it from her hands and then rips it up and throws it on the floor while the crowd cheers.
If you have watched any of the coverage on the town hall meetings on health care so far, it is more than obvious that the Republican fear machine that was in power for eight years with Bush is alive and well with the help of Republican mouth piece Rush Limbaugh as well as the likes of Chuck Grassley, who has joined Sarah Palin's chorus of lies about death panels.
I guess I had better remove my "Bush is a war criminal" sticker from my car or as the guy from the New Hampshire town hall suggests, start carrying my loaded automatic pistol with me.
I, for one, cannot get my head around this! How can an issue like health care - HEALTH CARE! - an issue which should ring as a positive step to each and every American, get so many people's undies in a bundle.
It all comes down to this -- somebody want to get us "off message" as Congressman Scott of Georgia eloquently put it today.
If you think for a minute that this country is past racism, you had better forget that.
As the great patriot Rush Limbaugh states it: "I want Obama to fail!" And as some other great Republicans have proclaimed: "We want health care to be Obama's Waterloo."
This is all so insane! And it is about damn time that our Congress looks back to the eight years under Bush and how a good man was duly elected by America - and not listen to the wingnuts who are trying to get us off message.
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No sooner had I finished my above blog than I got an e mail from The Southern Poverty Law Center:
August 12, 2009
Dear Friend,
As you may have seen in the news today, we've just released a new report about the resurgence of the right-wing militia movement — a movement steeped in paranoia and infused with a boiling rage against President Obama.
Back in 1994, we detected similar stirrings among those in the radical right, and we warned the federal government that the "mixture of armed groups and those who hate is a recipe for disaster." Six months later, 168 people were murdered in the Oklahoma City bombing.
Today, we're facing a similar situation. One federal agent told us that "all it's lacking is a spark."
Anti-government militias are just one part of an explosion of extremist rage in America — a backlash to Obama's election and to the progress we're making toward social justice and tolerance. These groups and their allies traffic in bizarre conspiracy theories — like the claim that Obama is not really a U.S. citizen and that he wants to euthanize senior citizens.
The Department of Homeland Security has recently warned that right-wing extremists such as these militias currently pose the No. 1 threat of domestic terrorism.
The fact is, we're already seeing acts of terror. Six law enforcement officers have been murdered by extremists in recent months, and Obama has received more threats than any other president.
We're working hard to keep law enforcement agencies at every level up to date with the latest and most accurate intelligence about these extremists and their activities.
Please read our new report and pass it along to your friends and family. We all need to stay informed so that we can fight back against this rising tide of extremism.
Thank you for supporting our work — and remember to speak out against hate and intolerance in your community.
Sincerely,
Morris Dees
Founder
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