SPLC's Missouri Moles Get Their Private Parts Caught in Factual Wringer: MIAC Report Withdrawn.

How "Cold Fusion" Takes Place: SPLC Stooges Write a "Militia Intelligence Report." (Sorry, we couldn't show private parts, this is a family-friendly blog.)

As Right Side News reported, the MIAC report is the latest example of the radical polarization of law enforcement through the open sewer of lies and half-truths flowing from the Southern Preposterous Lie Center and the ADL's fact-challenged balloon man, Mark Pitcavage. Only this time they got caught. One wonders just what the Missouri "fusion center" is fusing.

Here's the story.

Highway Patrol chief retracts militia report; will change review process for MIAC reports

JEFFERSON CITY | The Missouri State Highway Patrol on Wednesday retracted a controversial report on militia activity and will change how such reports are reviewed before being distributed to law enforcement agencies.

The announcement followed a press conference in which Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder suggested putting the director of public safety on administrative leave and investigating how the report was produced.

The controversy revolves around a report prepared last month by the Missouri Information Analysis Center, a so-called “fusion center” for local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to collaborate on domestic security issues.

The report concerns militia movements in Missouri and across the United States and describes how they have evolved over the last several years.

It suggests that domestic militias often subscribe to radical ideologies rooted in Christian views and opposition to immigration, abortion or federal taxes. The report also says it is “not uncommon” for militia members to support third-party political candidates and names former presidential candidates Ron Paul, Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin specifically.

The eight-page report is labeled “unclassified” but “law enforcement sensitive” and includes numerous editing and design errors, including a misspelling of President Barack Obama’s name.

On Wednesday afternoon, Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. James F. Keathley released a memo saying the report did not meet the patrol’s standard for quality and would not have been released if it had been seen by top officials.

“For that reason,” Keathley wrote, “I have ordered the MIAC to permanently cease distribution of the militia report.”

The memo says the report was compiled by an employee of the information analysis center and reviewed only by the center director before being sent to law-enforcement agencies across the state.

In the future, Keathley wrote, reports from the center will be reviewed by leaders of the Highway Patrol and the Department of Public Safety. The patrol will also open an investigation into the origin of the militia report.

Conservatives in Missouri and nationally have criticized the report for lumping people with conservative political persuasions in with domestic terrorists and potentially opening them to harassment from law enforcement.

The controversy has been aired on blogs, cable news programs and conservative radio.
In an earlier response, the center had released a statement reaffirming its “regard for the Constitutions of the United States and Missouri” and expressing regret that “any citizens or groups were unintentionally offended by the content of the document.”

And earlier this week, Department of Public Safety Director John M. Britt retracted the portions of the report that noted third party and Republican presidential candidates by name. Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat elected last year, has publicly defended the report as well.

Republicans said the earlier statements did not go far enough, and on Wednesday morning Kinder criticized the report for suggesting that only issues championed by conservatives motivate domestic terrorists.

The report “slanders” opponents of abortion and critics of illegal immigration, he said.

“Under the guidance of the present director, who apparently must think it is Nixon’s secret service, the Department of Public Safety has taken on the new and sinister role of political profiling,” Kinder said.

Also troubling Kinder said, the report makes no mention of Islamic terrorists or those who might subscribe to ideologies associated with liberals, such as environmental radicals.

“Let’s be very clear: There are extremists and ultra extremists in every group mentioned above,” Kinder said, referring to anti-abortion and border security activists. “But not just in these groups.”

Kinder said Britt should be suspended and that the state legislature should investigate how the report was prepared.

To reach Jason Noble, call 573-634-3565 or send e-mail to jnoble@kcstar.com.

To recap, these are Missouri mules:



These are Missouri Moles:

Colonel James F. Keathley, Superintendent, Missouri Department of Public Safety

Democrat Governor Jay Nixon

(Subordinate SPLC moles could not be shown because they are publicity shy.)

More collectivist crap from the Richmond Democrat

Once again, the Richmond squirrel plays with his illogical nuts:

But back to my point about doublespeak or dog whistle politics. Republicans like Michele Bachmann, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and Michael Savage exploit these rhetorical devices to encourage political violence in our country while escaping legal--and at least in conservative circles--moral responsibility for the tragedies they cause. The list of their victims is not short: the Knoxville church shootings, the assassination of the Arkansas State Democratic Chairman Bill Gwatney, and the ongoing pattern of threats against Democratic politicians. Whenever someone is murdered by the "fans" of these Republican "leaders," they are quick to say "I was joking," or "I was just using a metaphor!"

In Mr. Hinkle's world, when Ann Coulter calls for the bombing of the New York Times it's just satire. In my world, when Timothy McVeigh blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City it was mass murder and domestic terrorism. It's no mystery what motivated McVeigh, and right-wing radio hosts use McVeigh's list of grievances as crib notes for their hate speech. Writers like Coulter, radio hosts like Savage, and politicians like Bachmann are well aware of the fact that they are speaking to a mixed audience that consists of people who understand concepts like "metaphor" and people who take their exhortations to violence quite literally. They count on people like Mr. Hinkle to make excuses for them when someone acts on their violent rhetoric.

I've written quite a bit about the growing problem of Republican inspired terrorism against liberals and Democrats. Mr. Hinkle can try and pretend it doesn't exist, but it does.

To which I sent him my farewell message:

I see now that it is a waste of time to engage you in reasoned debate, or even to expect you to move beyond pontificating about that which you know nothing to gather information.

To quote Dorothy Parker, "You can lead a horticulture, but you can't make her think."

You are what you are -- a collectivist political hack, obsessed with a party dialectic that lies in ruins, tilting at straw men of your own device, oblivious of facts. The GOP (I refuse to call them "Republican") and the Democrat parties are two wings of the same bird of prey, as Pat Buchanan said. You act as if any of the inter-party jockeying for power MEANS anything anymore. Events are about engulf it all.

You have no knowledge of those you denounce, imputing wrongly connections and alliances that do not exist, and eliding any differences that are obvious on their face simply to fit your world-view.

I am disappointed but not surprised.

But here's the thing I've always wondered:

When did so-called "liberals" become sychophants of the FBI, and fans of utilizing the power of the state to enforce political compliance in contravention of conscience? This is not liberalism. It is collectivism of the worst sort.

Just because you control the regime now does not mean it cannot turn on you and devour you.

The Founders understood this, especially those who lived long enough to survive the crisis posed by the Alien and Sedition Acts. Never pass a law that you wouldn't be willing to see your own worst political enemy enforce upon you.

You know, from our point of view, Bush was the best Democrat president the Republicans ever elected. We despised him. And somehow, in your party-obsession-beclouded brain, you can impute any sort of connection between the GOP and us? It must be nice to be so haplessly, willfully, clueless.

Brecht wrote, "He who laughs has not yet been told the terrible news." The other day, a friend of mine said, "Brecht was an optimist." I'm afraid he's right.

When your universe collapses under the weight of its own misconceptions, try not to get crushed by the falling reality. And take a moment, when you can, to remember the "violent paranoid right-wing militia nutbag" who tried to warn you of the consequences of your ignorance.

-- Mike Vanderboegh

Shoes for Industry: Oh, to be a Chicago Parking Meter Repairman.

"Shoes for Industry! Shoes for the Dead! Shoes for Industry!

HI! I'm Joe Beats.

Say, what chance does a deceased returning war veteran have for that good payin' job, more sugar, and that free mule we've all been dreaming of?

Now take off your shoes.

Now you can see how increased spending opportunities, mean harder work for everyone, and more of it, too! So, do yourself a favor, Joe. Join with millions of your friends and neighbors, and, TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES!

"For INDUSTRY!" -- Firesign Theatre, "Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers."

Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, and/or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the concious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is a saboteur. . . It is said that powered looms could be damaged by angry or disgruntled workers throwing their wooden shoes or clogs (known in French as sabots, hence the term Sabotage) into the machinery, effectively clogging the machinery. -- Wikipedia.

As anger at inefficient and predatory government grows, we will see more of this. Unfortunately, when you read the story you will see that even the smashing of meters is no skin off the crooked Chicago aldermens' noses who set up the system. I would imagine it won't take long for someone to figure out how to give them the message personally. A cut-off parking meter through the alderman's windshield or front window perhaps? Shoes for industry!

Mike
III

Mar 24, 2009 10:39 pm US/Central

Parking Meter Revolt: Frustration Over High Costs

Reporting: Jay Levine CHICAGO (CBS) ―

They are taking more of your quarters every day. And Chicagoans are in revolt. While some are saying enough by avoiding them, others are taking out their frustrations on the parking meters - literally! CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports with the anger behind the new meter rate increases.

You think eight is enough? How about 12? That's how many quarters buy an hour of parking time in some places now. And its why some people have had enough.

Near Broadway and Addison, meter after meter are broken.

"I called the company and I said I don't want a ticket," one woman said.

LAZ is a Chicago company which collects the money for the New York owner which paid the city $1.2 billion to lease the city's 36,000 meters for 75 years. They've pasted new stickers on them, doubled the rates to as much as a quarter for five minutes in the Loop. That's $3 an hour to $2 an hour in many other neighborhoods. People are angry.

"People come into this neighborhood for entertainment reasons, and you can't anymore because meters are so expensive," said Joe DiSalvo.

And people are frustrated.

"It's jammed," a woman said.

CBS 2 called the company, too; twice to New York, another to Chicago. They didn't call back. We also called the city. They called back but basically said, 'not our meters anymore, not our problem anymore.'

Enter a guy who calls himself 'Mike The Parking Ticket Geek.' He contacted us via Twitter and showed us his website, theexpiredmeter.com, which he used to give people advice on how to beat parking tickets. The site has become a lightning rod for peoples' complaints about the new rates and operators.

Mike says the people who are writing to him have a sense of "anger, frustration, rage in some cases."

To the point where some, it appears, are vandalizing the meters. Pictures on Mike's website show meters deliberately smashed, taken apart, spray-painted, or deliberately jammed.

"People suggest taking a quarter, putting some super glue on it, and putting it in the coin slot," Mike said.

That jams the meter and everyone parks for free. Or not at all.

All over the city, we saw stretches of meters empty in places where people had been fighting for spots. Having to put in 12 quarters an hour was either too inconvenient or too expensive.

The credit card meters, promised for the entire city within six months, are still rare. And peoples' patience is wearing thin.

"Some people write me and say, 'this is the last straw, my condo is for sale, sales tax, red light cameras.' It's just too much for some people,'" Mike said.

The meter people have said they hope to get things straightened out by April 10th. Some have suggested a moratorium on tickets until they do. But with the city having given up the proceeds from the meters but still getting the revenue for the tickets, the meter revolt may fall on deaf ears.

"Sabot-cat" of the Industrial Workers of the World.

"The real systemic risk we face isn't from a financial seizure. That risk is mild in comparison to the risk of a widespread collapse in legitimacy."

The Collapse of Legitimacy

John Robb makes the following point at Global Guerrillas.


Wednesday, 25 March 2009

JOURNAL: More on Banksters

I mentioned at the time I wrote this brief, that viral violence targeting the barons of global finance was likely incoming (but that it wasn't here yet). Here's a small addition to that trend line (that builds on the thousands of death threats that have been received). In the UK, vandals hit the home of the former CEO of the Royal Bank of Scotland, 'Sir' Fred Goodwin (he and his family have already fled the country). Windows on the ground floor of the home and his Mercedes S600 were smashed. E-mails from a group claiming the attacks said,

We are angry that rich people, like him, are paying themselves a huge amount of money, and living in luxury, while ordinary people are made unemployed, destitute and homeless. This is a crime. Bank bosses should be jailed. This is just the beginning.

The Real Systemic Risk

This leads me to a broader topic. The real systemic risk we face isn't from a financial seizure. That risk is mild in comparison to the risk of a widespread collapse in legitimacy. Due to excesses (too many to name), legitimacy is rapidly draining from the global financial system and the networked groups that give it their primary loyalty (like Fred above). In recognition of this, nation-states should hold this system at arms length to limit damage to their own legitimacy.

Given the constraints on resources faced by nation-states, a plan that would bulk up legitimacy would focus on reorganizing financial institutions (not bailing them out) and repairing the balance sheets of individual citizens (the only group in the chart to the left that is still loyal to nation-states). That isn't happening and the damage incurred from this mistake will be significant.


NOTE: The other thing that the inset chart tells us is that this crisis is due to debt, overreach, and insolvency. Until the US collectively writes/pays off $20 trillion plus in excess debt, not much will change. Transferring debt from financial firms to the government (as in the Paulson/Geithner plan), only accelerates the decline of nation-states relative to an already dominant global financial/economic system.

Posted by John Robb on Wednesday, 25 March 2009 at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

Does the GOP Control the Militias?: The Daily Kos Poll Results:

Does the Republican Party bear any responsibility for these groups and their actions?

No, absolutely not. These groups are independent of the GOP. 76 votes - 26 %

Perhaps the GOP indirectly encourages them a little. 13 votes - 4 %

Somewhat: the GOP intentionally encourages them, but does not control them. 93 votes - 31 %

Yes, the GOP encourages these groups and exercises some control over them. 35 votes - 11 %

Yes, absolutely. These groups are a militant outgrowth of the GOP. 75 votes - 25 %

292 Total Votes

OK, so more than one-third of these collectivist dweebs are convinced that the GOP organizes and controls "the militias" -- however they define that in their own tiny little minds. Another 35% believe that we are "encouraged" by the GOP.

Uh, huh. Will all Three Percent card-carrying members of the GOP please raise a shout?

(Crickets, wind in the grass, a dog barking in the distance.)

No wonder we'll end up fighting these people. They are totally minus the most obvious clue.

Gentlemen and Ladies, I have arrived. I am now being denounced with vitriol on that bastion of collectivism, The Daily Kos.

I know my mom is going to be proud when she hears it.

It all started out here at the Richmond Democrat blog, where J.C. Wilmore was waxing elequent about how some Republican Congresswoman had urged resistance to further taxation and thus had committed sedition. On the theory that he hadn't a clue what sedition really was, I sent him this:

Dutchman6 has left a new comment on your post "Republican member of Congress commits sedition":

We are, we must admit, two different peoples inhabiting the same national boundaries, sharing a common language but little else.

If we cannot agree on something as basic as the sanctity of life, the inalienable rights to property and liberty (see in starkest relief in the gun control debate) and the basic right to be left alone by a nanny-state government turned predatory, does ANYTHING else we agree on matter?

There are two fundamentally different visions at work here and throughout history such divisions have rarely been settled except by civil war.

Indeed, the one thing which almost guarantees conflict is the refusal on both sides, but especially the liberal side, to admit that open violence is possible.

This perception is not merely a "right wing paranoid fantasy." An Obamanoid OFA volunteer in Birmingham AL was recently quoted as saying:

"We're looking for supporters," said DeHaven of Hoover, one of the event's organizers. "We're not looking for a fight. That will come later, when we have an army."

Here's the thing though. We already ARE an army, complete with weapons and ammunition. We are the armed citizenry of the united States of America. And while you have been busy enveloping yourselves in the cult of personality of "The Lightworker," we have been busy supporting the firearms and ammunition industry by purchasing more weapons and ammo than has EVER been sold in this country.

There is a reason for that. Be careful what you wish for, you may get it.
Mike Vanderboegh
Pinson AL
sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com

Now this frightened J.C. considerably, for he hustled on over to the Daily Kos to write this:

A letter from a militia man (with poll)

by JCWilmore
Tue Mar 24, 2009 at 10:25:51 AM PDT

Today I received a disturbing comment on my home blog, The Richmond Democrat, and I'd like to share it with you. The comment was a response to my diary "Republican member of Congress commits sedition" which was also cross posted to Daily Kos here. My diary was about Republican Representative Michele Bachmann's call for right-wingers to be "armed and dangerous." It is a note from a right-wing (Republican?) militia man justifying their preparations to wage war against their fellow Americans.

(MBV: Insert my post here. Then he continues -- )


I am struck by just how matter of fact he is about his intentions and the fact that he is willing to give his name and contact information. At his website he claims to be under surveillance by the federal government.

Another key theme that is coming through is the "other-ness" of Democrats and Liberals. These people no longer acknowledge that we are all Americans. They regard themselves as a separate nation occupying the same territory. Establishing a mindset that labels a target group as an "other" is a key step in justifying violence towards that group. Recall Sarah Palin's use of words like "real Americans" and "real America." Members of the Republican Party and the right wing seem to be mentally preparing themselves for the use of violence and we ignore this development at our peril.

What if anything should be done about right-wing militia groups organizing in the open with a clear intention to wage war against their fellow American citizens? What responsibility, if any, does the Republican Party bear for the existence of these groups? Are the Republicans encouraging the formation of these armed groups in order to use them as a bargaining chip in political negotiations?

He also posted this poll:

Does the Republican Party bear any responsibility for these groups and their actions?

___ No, absolutely not. These groups are independent of the GOP.

___ Perhaps the GOP indirectly encourages them a little.

___ Somewhat: the GOP intentionally encourages them, but does not control them.

___ Yes, the GOP encourages these groups and exercises some control over them.

___ Yes, absolutely. These groups are a militant outgrowth of the GOP.

These silly people always frame their opposition as being from the GOP. They truly haven't a clue. I am proud to say that I have been on the enemies list of three consecutive White Houses now and I haven't been a supporter of the so-called Republican Party for more than a decade. It is most amusing for him to ascribe to me the adoption of seeing the enemies of the Founders' Republic as "the Other," when that is what collectivists of all stripes have been doing to us for decades.

But ole J.C. represents the but the tip of the Daily Kos' spleen. The comments are as hysterical as they are reflexive and stereotypical. Go and read. I haven't the space to do it justice.

LATER: I wrote the silly man back and thanked him for the publicity as follows --

My thanks for your posting my reply on that bastion of collectivism, The Daily Kos.

I always like to toss a skunk under the beds of those who harbor cherished collectivist misconceptions just to watch them go nuts.

If you do an honest search of my work, you will discover that I am a life-long anti-Nazi and anti-racist, having fought them at street level. My militia friends and me embarrassed the FBI into arresting Michael Brescia, a member of the Aryan Republican Army bank robbery gang, who the Fibbies were allowing to walk the streets of Philadelphia armed and unmolested. If you obtain the book by Dr. Robert Churchill, To Shake Their Guns in the Tyrants' Face, you will find that the militias carried out their own little anti-terror campaign with the neoNazis after OKC.

Your obsession with the GOP is ludicrous on its face as is your silly attempt to link the constitutional militias to them.

You have swept away the GOP politically. My sin is in pointing out how little that truly avails you. You have us surrounded now, you poor bastards. You'll have to deal with real people now, not corrupt politicians. Try to adjust your thinking to the new reality.

Mike Vanderboegh

PS Your buddies on the Krotch make the mistake of thinking that the Army will do your bidding, no matter how unconstitutional the order. You DO know that soldiers take an oath to the Constitution? It is not a Fuehrer Oath. See the blog Oath Keepers if you don't believe me.

Learn, or die. -- “Here, the people are defending the town.”

Hilario: Even if we had the guns, we know how to plant and grow, we don't know how to kill.

Old Man: Then learn, or die!

-- The Magnificent Seven


At Global Guerrillas, John Robb brings our attention to this story from the Houston Chronicle under the header "Tribal Raids and Medieval Defenses."

Here is the salient point:

“We aren’t able to confront this sort of thing,” Solis said. “We have a few shotguns, some .22 rifles, a few pistols — nothing compared to what they have.”

Right. Once again we see how Mexican laws play into the hands of bandidos. Mexicans are forbidden to own weapons of military caliber. Here we see how that works in practice.

Mike
III





Rural Mexican villages dig moats to repel gangsters

Ditches don’t always deter raids, but federal troops can’t be spared

By DUDLEY ALTHAUS
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
March 22, 2009, 3:43PM

CUAUHTEMOC, Mexico — Little town, big hell.

That proverb about turmoil in small communities has never seemed truer than in this gangster-besieged village and a neighboring one in the bean fields and desert scrub a long day’s drive south of the Rio Grande.

Since right before Christmas, armed raiders repeatedly have swept into both villages to carry away local men. Government help arrived too late, or not at all.

Terrified villagers — at the urging of army officers who couldn’t be there around the clock — have clawed moats across every access road but one into their communities, hoping to repel the raids.

“This was a means of preservation,” said Ruben Solis, 47, a farmers’ leader in Cuauhtemoc, a collection of adobe and concrete houses called home by 3,700 people. “It’s better to struggle this way than to face the consequences.”

But shortly after midnight last Sunday, villagers said, as many as 15 SUVs loaded with pistoleros attacked nearby San Angel, population 250, and kidnapped five people. Four victims were returned unharmed a few days later. The fifth hostage, a teenage boy, was held to exchange for the intended target the raiders missed, villagers said.

“We have support of the federal forces,” said an official of the dirt-street village. “Security is what we’re lacking.”

After the earthworks were dug in both villages, volunteers manned checkpoints at the remaining open entrances. Those sentinels, however, were removed when it was decided they couldn’t stop a serious attack, anyhow.

“We aren’t able to confront this sort of thing,” Solis said. “We have a few shotguns, some .22 rifles, a few pistols — nothing compared to what they have.” (Emphasis supplied, MBV)

President Felipe Calderon’s war on Mexico’s drug gangsters has met with mixed success since he began deploying about 45,000 soldiers and federal police after assuming office in December 2006. The federal forces have been able to defeat the gunmen in open combat but unable, so far, to extinguish the bloodshed or the crime.

Narcotics-related violence killed at least 6,000 people last year and looks likely to match that toll again by Christmas. Kidnappings, extortions and bank robberies are on the rise in many cities and even in rural flyspecks like Cuauhtemoc and San Angel.

The streets of Guadalupe Victoria empty before 6 p.m. these days. A fear of gang violence, particularly from the Zetas, borders on hysteria around the state, residents and officials said.

Though still far less serious, the troubles faintly echo those of a century ago when Cuencame township, which includes Cuauhtemoc and San Angel, suffered massacres and guerrilla attacks in the lead-up to the Mexican Revolution.

Most of Mexico’s violence these days isn’t politically inspired, but the gangsters’ hit-and-run tactics often mirror those of an insurgency. Government forces frequently find themselves without adequate manpower to be everywhere at once.

“This is really the job of the federal government,” Solis said of his town’s efforts at self-defense. “But they don’t have enough men to keep up. There is delinquency wherever you go.”

Fear of the Zetas

Like others across central and western Mexico, many in and around these villages assume their tormentors are the Zetas, gunmen aligned with the Gulf Cartel, based in Matamoros and other cities bordering South Texas.

Government officials blame much of Mexico’s violence on wars between gangs like the Zetas, whose founders were army deserters, for control of smuggling corridors, local drug sales and other rackets.

Solis said he and other townspeople suspect those who raided Cuauhtémoc in early February, kidnapping the 23-year-old son of a bean-and-grain trader, are simply “bad characters from the area who have just taken the Zeta name.”

Fear of the Zetas borders on hysteria in this corner of Durango state, residents and officials agreed. Village boys playing with toy trucks have taken to shouting “here come the Zetas” when staging chases, Solis said.

When a rumor started March 10 in a town nearby that scores of Zetas were planning to attack, stores in the area closed, classes were canceled and people fled.

“A psychosis prevails across the whole region,” said Isidro Aguilar, the police chief of Guadalupe Victoria, a market town 25 miles from Cuauhtemoc, who otherwise denied that the area faces a crime plague. “There are people who are taking advantage of it.”

Still, people’s paranoia doesn’t mean someone’s not out to get them.

Gangsters have staged platoon-strength raids on towns in Chihuahua and other nearby states. Kidnappings have increased, as well as cold-call extortion attempts to even poor residents of the area.

A number of merchants, as well as two members of the city council, have been kidnapped in Guadalupe Victoria since late December, residents said. Ransoms, they said, have reached several hundred thousand dollars.

“No one knows who took them. No one knows anything,” said Gilberto Cabello, the head of the town’s merchants association. “Everyone is left wondering who is next.”

Defense left to the town

Not surprisingly, villagers in Cuauhtemoc and San Angel remain on edge, sharply eyeing strangers, careful not to say too much to outsiders.

“The less said about this, the better,” said a city hall official in Cuencame, the township seat. “It can be dangerous to say too much.”

Soldiers and federal police took up the defense of Cuauhtemoc and San Angel last week after the towns’ plight played on the front page of a Mexico City newspaper. But the patrols evaporated after a few days, leaving nothing but the ditches in the villagers’ defense.

“That’s the way it is,” said a sun-weathered Roberto Fuentes, who was helping build a sidewalk a block from one of Cuauhtemoc’s earthworks. “If the government doesn’t do it, we have to.

“Here, the people are defending the town.”

dudley.althaus@chron.com

"Give me liberty or give me death!" -- Patrick Henry's St. John's Church Speech

I am ashamed to say that it took an email from WD to remind me of this:

As it is the 23rd of March, in this, the two-thousandth and ninth Year of Grace - If I had a blog..., I would post Patrick Henry’s St. John’s Church Speech.

So, here it is:

Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775

No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House.

But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.

Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet.

Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them?

Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free — if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending — if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained — we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!

They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength but irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable — and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

"We're not looking for a fight. That will come later, when we have an army."

You know, I got some flak the other day about my new yard sign above, with comments from folks made nervous by the "Shot on sight" threat. "They just want to knock on your door and talk to you."

No, they don't. Read this story and I'll have some comment at the end.

Obama volunteers hunt budget support in Birmingham, Alabama grassroots campaign

Birmingham News
Sunday, March 22, 2009

ANNA VELASCO, News staff writer

Volunteers fanned out across the Birmingham area and Alabama Saturday to pump up enthusiasm for President Barack Obama's budget proposal in much the same way they did to win over voters during the presidential campaign.

About 30 volunteers in Birmingham canvassed shopping areas and other high-traffic locations to talk about the need for health care reform, an education overhaul and environmentally friendly energy development.

"If we don't change these three things in the next 10 to 15 years, America is over as we know it," Chris DeHaven, told the group of volunteers before they went their separate ways.

Obama's plan faces criticism from Republicans and others who say it's too expensive. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a report Friday saying Obama's agenda would cause huge budget deficits, forcing the country to borrow $9.3 trillion in the next decade.

Those who gathered at Kelly Ingram Park in downtown Birmingham were urged to enlist others who share Obama's vision and to stay away from trying to convert naysayers.
"We're looking for supporters," said DeHaven of Hoover, one of the event's organizers. "We're not looking for a fight. That will come later, when we have an army."

The volunteers are part of Organizing for America, the same grassroots, national network credited in large part with Obama's quick rise from obscurity to president. Birmingham and 11 other sites statewide were part of a national push this weekend by Organizing for America to trumpet Obama's spending proposal.

Across the metro area, volunteers gave their opinions about why Obama's plan is good for the country's future. Then they asked those willing to sign a pledge of support for the budget. Supporters' e-mail addresses and other contact information were collected, to keep people engaged and to recruit more volunteers.

Leanne Townsend of Hoover also helped organize Saturday's event. She has been a member of the Obama grassroots network since March 2007.

"Our group in Birmingham has been very involved," Townsend said. "We're still very energetic. We all worked so hard during the campaign. We can't just stop."

OK, do we have the important facts?

Townsend says: "We can't just stop."

DeHaven says: "We're not looking for a fight. That will come later, when we have an army."

Anybody here still think my sign is out of line?


LATER NOTE: Courtesy of The Huffington Post, we have this address for Birmingham Blockleiter Chris Dehaven, who donated $943 to Barack Obama $943. He resides at 3072 Whispering Pines Circle, in Hoover, Alabama, 35226. Source: http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=name&lname=Dehaven&fname=Chris

Drop him a friendly note, if you like, telling him just how much fun you will have with his fellow little collectivist stooges when they come to your door. No threats, now. These are poor, impressionable "useful idiots." Heck, they probably don't even own a firearm. They might shoot themselves, don't ya know?

These kids grew up to be Blockleiters too. And Gestapomen. And concentration camp guards. And, eventually, most of them, dead and buried in shallow graves amidst the ruins of their country. THAT is the wages of collectivism, Mr. DeHaven.

Praxis: A Patch Question

Guys and gals,

I just received this technical question:

Hey Mike,

I know that you're busy writing your book, but I have a question that you may be able to answer. I want to put the hook side of velcro on the back of the patches so they can be moved around. Do you know of a product that does not have to be sewn directly to the patch? Thanks in advance.

G.

Suggestions?

"Biet Ðong Quân":The impossibility of coincidence.

The Vietnamese Rangers, called in Vietnamese the "Biet Ðong Quân," but more commonly known as the ARVN Rangers, were the most effective units of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Trained and assisted by American Special Forces and Ranger advisers, the Rangers infiltrated beyond enemy lines in daring search and destroy missions. Initially trained as a counter-insurgency light infantry force by removing the fourth company each of the existing infantry battalions, they later expanded into a swing force capable of conventional as well as counter-insurgency operations. . .

In the closing days of the war in 1975 most Ranger units were totally destroyed. Many fought back independently, refusing to surrender. In Saigon, Rangers fought until the morning of 30 April when they were ordered to lay down their arms, as their nation- The Republic of Viet Nam - capitulated to the communist force. Most of the Ranger officers were considered too dangerous by the communist government and sentenced to long periods of incarceration in the “reeducation” camps. -- Wikipedia.

There are mystic synergies and fateful intersections in life that cannot be the work of coincidence. When they occur, they pierce the soul with an illuminating flash of understanding. At such times, it is impossible not to see the hand of God in them, for blind chance cannot explain otherwise. The odds of random causality are simply too great.

I had one such event today.

As I told you earlier, yesterday I chanced to buy (at least I thought it was chance at the time), a uniform shirt and pants of CAPT Kenneth Ingram, an American advisor to the Rangers of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). The shirt is similar to this one pictured over at Militaria.com:



Ingram's shirt is missing the ranger tab on the right shoulder and the Combat Infantryman's Badge. It also lacks the zippers running beside the pockets. But it has the crossed swords, wreath and star of the B-D-Q Qualification Badge and the Black Tiger patch is as the one pictured at the top.

I took the uniform back to the gun show today, not to sell it, but rather to display it with the purpose of attracting further comment from Viet Nam War collectors in an effort to learn more.

I got far more than I bargained for, although few words were spoken.

I hung the pants and shirt on a simple wire hanger from the side of a book display box on the corner table, so the shirt fronted prominently on the side of our table which faced the back row. For most of the day it hung there, unnoticed and unremarked.

Sometime after noon, I glanced up from dealing with a customer to see two people staring at it. One was a young man -- I'd guess he was about twelve or thirteen. The other was an older man, with a pinched careworn face and iron grey hair. They were gazing at the shirt and speaking in low tones. The older man may have been the boy's father, or perhaps, his grandfather. There was a family resemblance, although the boy was beefier than the old man, the result no doubt of an American corn-fed diet rather than traditional rice.

That they were Vietnamese I knew without asking, but I asked anyway, and the boy confirmed it. The old man spoke little and halting English. I told the boy the story of CAPT Ingram, the shirt and the American advisors to the ARVN Rangers and how together the advisors and the Rangers had stopped the NVA tanks cold at An Loc during the Easter Offensive.

The boy nodded, and said something in Vietnamese to the old man who seemed entranced by the shirt. The old man looked up at me and smiled this infinitely sad, proud half-smile. He reached out and gently, reverently, touched the Black Tiger patch. Then, drawing his hand back, he tapped himself on the chest, nodding.

He had been an ARVN Ranger.

And it came to me in flash that there was a reason he didn't speak much English and that his face was so evocative of hard-used humanity. He had been taken, then, in 1975, when everything finally, irrevocably came apart after the Democrats in Congress refused to support the people that we had promised we'd never let down.

He had been taken, and he had suffered in the camps, and it had taken him a long, long time to finally make it to this country.

I asked the boy if this was true, and he nodded in the affirmative and began to explain. But the show was crowded at that moment and someone yelled, "Hey, Mike, how much is this?" from the other end of our tables. I answered the question, and then another one following the first and when I looked up afterward, they were gone. Disappeared. It took only a minute but I couldn't see them anywhere.

Don't get me wrong. They were real. I'd just missed my chance.

And yet, I didn't bitterly regret it. I'd gotten the message God was trying to send me with these two improbable messengers, even if I hadn't had the chance to truly make their acquaintance.

You see, I've been struggling to finish Absolved. Partly because of intervening events of life, partly the result of writer's block and partly because of ill health, I have not yet done what I promised myself and my readers I would do. It didn't help that I lost a thumb drive with two weeks' worth of work on it.

And finishing takes absolute concentration. It takes motivation and single-minded determination. I'd lost that for a while.

The old ARVN ranger gave me that back today. I am back on the hard road to completion, and the words are pouring forth.

And THAT was no coincidence.

ARVN Rangers.

Oh, and one other tiny little detail. Back in 1995, we needed an identification patch for the 1st Alabama Cavalry, Constitutional Militia. We chose the patch of the World War II tank destroyer force because it was obsolete and yet it contained an important element of Alabama history, the black panther. Many of my guys still use it today. The patch looks like this:



Remind you of anything?

Gun Show Report: And the band plays on . . .

Yes, I was at the Alabama Gun Collectors Association show in Birmingham yesterday, and no, I wasn't hiding.

I didn't have the "Sipsey Street" sign up because I inadvertently left the pole for it at home. I was working a friend's tables (display and sales) at the big Iraqi battlefield trophy flag in the back. Unexpectedly we were not on the far back row this time, so I also didn't have any electrical power to run the Waco DVD player. My fault. Will be there again today.

Purchases, not so much -- on account of lack of what I was looking for (reloading supplies) and otherwise slender resources for items not critical. Did pick up the following Field and Technical Manuals (9 for ten bucks):

FM 23-41 Submachineguns, Caliber .45, M3 and M3A1 June 1974

TM 9-1005-206-14 & P Operator's, Organizational, Direct Support and General Support Maintenance Manual for Revolver, Caliber .38 special, Smith & Wesson, Military and Police, M10 & Revolver, Caliber .38 Special, Ruger Service Six, 4 inch barrel, M108 August 1985

TM 9-1005-208-12 & P Operator's and Organizational Maintenance Manual for Rifle, Caliber .30, Automatic, Browning, M1918A2 August 1969

TM 1005-224-24 Organizational, Direct Support and General Support Maintenance Manual for Machine Guns, 7.62mm,M60, M60D and M122 July 1987

TM 9-1005-226-14 Operation and Unit Maintenance Caliber .22 High Standard Automatic Pistol; Caliber .22 Ruger Mark I Automatic Pistol; Caliber .38 Special Smith & Wesson Revolver (Masterpiece); Caliber .30-06 Winchester Rifle Model 70; Caliber .22 Winchester Rifle Model 52; Caliber .22 Remington Rifle Model 40 SX-S1 (Natunal match); and front and rear sights. July 1959

TM 9-1005-229-12 Organizational Maintenance Manual, Submachineguns, Caliber .45, M3 and M3A1 October 1969

TM 9-1005-229-35 DS, GS & Depot Maintenance Manual, Submachineguns, Caliber .45, M3 and M3A1 October 1969

TM 1005-233-24 Organizational, Direct Support and General Support Maintenance Manual for Machine Guns, 7.62mm, M73, M73A1 & M219 February 1972

TM 9-1005-237-23 & P Organizational and Direct Support Maintenance Manual for Bayonet Knives, M6 and M7 November 1986

Not bad for $1.12 each.

Also bought, on impulse, from an itinerant trader working the aisles, the South Vietnamese battle fatigues of ARVN Ranger advisor CAPT, later MAJ, Kenneth Ingram, complete with B-D-Q flashes, patches, etc. Research last night on the 'Net reveals that MAJ Ingram was at the battle of An Loc during the Easter Offensive in 1972. It was widely recognized after the battle that the American advisors made the difference between success and failure at An Loc. The NVA offensive was broken at An Loc. Cost of shirt and pants, $25.00. Am trying to find MAJ Ingram (or his family) now to get the whole story.

Wounded American advisors on medevac chopper, Easter Offensive, 1972.



A lot of ammo went out yesterday. Reloading components at a premium or non-existent (large and small rifle primers). What was there as far as primers was being rationed to two boxes per customer.

Good news on political front (reversal of ammo crushing, DoD investigating deployment in Samson, Alabama, and 45 Dems telling "hell-no" on AWB2 to Holder) was overshadowed by the Bernanke decision to print 1.2T more and the rampant inflation it heralds. Societal breakdown now seems to be the greatest fear. And the band plays on . . .

Lies, damn lies and the ATF: A funny thing happened on the way to the foregone conclusion.

Yesterday, a column by George Will appeared in my local paper. It began like this:

Mexico's drug war has Arizona in cross hairs

By George Will

PHOENIX — X-Caliber, a gun store in a nondescript neighborhood in this city's northern section, has become embroiled in Mexico's turmoil. The chaos in Mexico is the result of its government's decision to wage war against rampant drug cartels that are fighting mostly against each other but also against the portions of Mexican law enforcement they have not corrupted. Operating in that nation's north, they are serving this nation's appetite for illegal narcotics and illegal immigrants.

The gun shop's proprietor, the name of whose shop might indicate familiarity with Arthurian legend, is on trial here, accused of selling at least 650 weapons, including AK-47 rifles, in small lots to "straw buyers" — persons who illegally pass on the weapons to the cartels, thereby fueling the violence that killed more than 6,000 Mexicans last year. That was more than 2,000 above the 2007 toll and fewer than will die if the rate of killing so far this year continues. (U.S. military fatalities in Iraq in six years number 4,249.) Fortunately, most of the dead are members of the warring cartels.

The prosecution of the proprietor is part of the U.S. attempt to stop the southward flow of weapons and bulk currency while Mexico combats the northward flow of drugs and of human beings brought by "coyotes." Although almost all the cartels' weapons come from the United States, the cartels are generating upward of $15 billion annually from drugs, human trafficking and extortion. So they will find ways to get guns — and grenades and other military weapons — for their internecine disputes about control over routes for smuggling drugs and people.

Ah, yes, the "American gun dealers/gun shows/nefarious private gun owners of ill repute are arming the Mexican cartels" meme. This has been trumpeted as the reason for all manner of new restrictions on honest folks such as you and me.

The principal advocate of this theme is Eric Holder, our new Attorney General whose appointment the NRA found it inconvenient to resist. That a nominal conservative like George Will bought into the lie is disconcerting but not startling.

One problem, though. (And I wonder if George will be issuing a retraction.) Something happened on the way to foregone conclusion. X-Caliber's owner was just set free by the federal judge in the case.

Reuters reports it this way.

Arizona judge dismisses charges in gunrunning case

By Tim Gaynor

PHOENIX (Reuters) - An Arizona judge threw out criminal charges Wednesday against a gun dealer accused of knowingly selling weapons to smugglers shopping for Mexican drug cartels, after he ruled the prosecutor's evidence was flawed.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Robert Gottsfield issued a directed verdict of not guilty in the trial of George Iknadosian, 47, the owner of X-Caliber guns in Phoenix.

Prosecutors alleged Iknadosian sold hundreds of AK-47 assault rifles and other guns to third-party buyers for the cartels in Mexico, where 6,000 people were killed in drug violence last year.

Curbing spiraling drug cartel violence is a top concern for authorities in the United States and Mexico, where nine out of 10 guns recovered from crime scenes are traced back to U.S. gun dealers.

The case was the most significant to date brought by U.S. prosecutors seeking to curb the illegal flow of arms south of the border.

Gottsfield dismissed the case on the grounds that the prosecutors had not proven the third-party buyers, or "straw purchasers," had misrepresented their identities when buying the guns.

"There is no proof whatsoever that any prohibited possessor ended up with the firearms," he said in a ruling.

Since 2006, Mexico has sent tens of thousands of troops to fight powerful cocaine cartels locked in a bloody war for control of lucrative cross-border smuggling routes to the United States.

U.S. Senate lawmakers are to hold hearings in coming weeks to assess the ability of U.S. security forces to handle the rise in crime on the U.S. side of the border related to Mexican traffickers.

Mexican authorities have ordered thousands of additional troops to restore order in Ciudad Juarez -- just south of El Paso, Texas -- where more than 2,000 people have been killed since the start of last year.

And here is David Hardy's take on it:

Charges against X-Caliber Guns dismissed

Posted by David Hardy · 19 March 2009 09:13 AM

This is a strange case. The Arizona Attorney General (not ATF) brought State charges against a Phoenix-area gun dealer, claiming he'd supplied over 700 guns to Mexican drug cartels.

And the AG loses on a directed verdict -- meaning the judge finds that the evidence is nonexistent: no rational juror could find for the prosecution.

And then the AG's office says it will appeal. ???? Ever hear of double jeopardy? He was on trial, jeopardy clearly attached by any standard (I forget the AZ rule, but jeopardy usually attaches when the jury is empanelled or when the first witness begins testimony, and a motion for DV is made when the prosecution finishes its case, much later), and he can't be retried.

UPDATE: here's the ruling, in pdf. The State charges were under the "scheme or artifice" statute, and the court says that materiality is a requirement there (in the typical case, that it was something where if the person knew the truth they'd not buy, or otherwise would act differently), and the court notes that the prosecution was unable to prove a single gun wound up in the hands of someone who couldn't legally possess it. Sounds like a pretty big gap between press reports and the evidence.

"Strange case" indeed. But maybe not so strange. Agencies need headlines, so members of an agency provide them. I suppose we should be grateful that they didn't burn down his house, church and family while they were about it.

This has been the principal case anti-gunners use as proof their narrative about Mexican drug violence is correct. Except now it is not.

So, when can we expect the retraction, Mr. Holder? George? Brady Bunch? VPC? Any of you blood dancers want to weigh in here?

Praxis: Will loaded USGI magazine springs "take a set"?

Over at the M14 side of what used to be Battlerifles.com, John Wagner asks a question. It is one that I have been pestered unto death to answer by many newbies, so I present it here.

I know you can safely store AR15 mags full without ruining the springs. Is this also true of M14 USGI mags? I'd like to keep a couple of them full for unexpected SHTF needs, but not if it's going to destroy the springs.

Thanks.

"Different", who has his own M14 website here, answered as follows.

The government Springfield Armory did a study on long term storage of magazines: Springfield Armory. SA-TR11-2643 Evaluation of Pretreatment Processes And Long-Term Storage On Magazine Spring For The M14, 7.62MM, Rifle. Springfield, MA: February 01, 1966.


From M14 Rifle History and Development Third Edition:

"The question often arises as to whether or not a compression spring will take a permanent set if compressed to the minimum length and held over time, e.g., a fully loaded magazine or the bolt is held open. Coil springs can be designed to compress to solid height or length without taking a permanent set. The solid height of a compression spring is the length of the spring when fully compressed. If a permanent set is not desired, the spring material and diameter is chosen so that the torsional stress when compressed solid does not exceed approximately 40 % of the material minimum tensile strength. The minimum tensile strength, or yield strength, will vary with the diameter of the wire, e.g., 231,000 to 399,000 psi for ASTM A228 music wire. A permanent set occurs when the compression spring is compressed beyond its elastic limit and does not return to the original length. This results in a shorter free length but more significantly, lower spring force.

M14 magazine springs were tested and inspected to ensure they would not take a permanent set. Magazine springs selected for inspection were compressed to a height of 11/16 ", essentially compressed solid height, three times then examined for compliance with USGI drawing C7267078. This included meeting the free length requirement of 13 " – 2 ". A permanent set in a USGI M14 rifle compression spring is not formed when compressed to the minimum length and left indefinitely."

and

"Springfield Armory performed an evaluation of M14 magazine springs in the 1960s. The effects of long-term storage and repeated cycling of magazine spring were studied. The specified load (spring force) for the USGI M14 magazine spring is 5.5 pounds + 0.75 pounds at a compressed length of 5.5 " (unloaded magazine). However, the Springfield Armory tests found that the M14 magazine spring will perform satisfactorily at a load as low as 4.5 pounds force at 5.5 " length.

In the Springfield Armory study, three USGI M14 magazine springs were placed into a vertical shaper for a gymnastication test. Each spring was cycled at a rate of 116 strokes per minute. The spring force was measured after so many cycles, 5, 55, 655, 1,655, etc. After 6,655 cycles, the spring force at 5.5 " long were 6.1, 6.1 and 5.75 pounds each. The load, or force, of each spring was checked again after 10,000 cycles. The results were 5.1, 5.75 and 3.9 pounds at 5.5 " length. One spring measured 5.25 pounds at 5.5 " length even after 12,000 cycles. The springs were found badly distorted at 10,000, 12,000 and 14,751 cycles, respectively.

In another part of the spring evaluation, ten magazines were stored loaded for five years. After the first week in storage, the magazine spring force was found to range from 5.1 to 5.6 pounds at 5.5 " length. After five years of loaded storage, the same ten magazines were test fired with six loadings (120 rounds per magazine). The magazines were then disassembled and the spring force measured. The results were 4.6 to 4.75 pounds for length of 5.5 ". There was no malfunction of any magazine.

Unloaded magazines were tested as well for the effects of long-term storage. Ten magazines were stored unloaded for five years. After the first week in storage, the force for each spring ranged from 8.3 to 8.8 pounds at 5.5 ". After five years, the same ten magazines were loaded and fired six times each (120 rounds per magazine). The force for each spring was then measured. The results ranged from 5.0 to 5.25 pounds at 5.5 " length. There was no malfunction of any magazine."
_________________
Different's M1A Site
Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto

OK, are we clear? The short answer is "NO!"

My new yard sign.

A great big H/t to Ryan for the crafting.

Obama's Blockleiters: "The Knock on the Door"

A Blockleiter (block leader) was the lowest official of the NSDAP, responsible for the political supervision of a neighbourhood or city block and formed the link between the NSDAP and the general population. Also colloquially known as a Blockwart (block attendant or warden), he was charged with planning, spreading propaganda and developing an acceptance to the policies of the NSDAP among the households (typically 40 to 60) in his area. It was also the duty of the Blockleiter to spy on the population and report any anti-Nazi activities to the local office. This was helped by keeping files on each household (Haushaltskarten). Due to such activities, Blockwarts were particularly disliked by the general population. Other duties included allocating beds in homes for visiting NSDAP demonstrators, the collection of subscriptions and charitable donations especially for Winterhilfe and organising the clearing of rubble after air-raids. It is thought that there were nearly half a million Blockleiter. Today, Blockwart is a colloquial German insult word for an informer. -- Wikipedia.

“Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed.” -- Michelle Obama


Well, here we are again. There is nothing truly new in history and Obama now gives us the Nazi Blockleiter, the Cuban "block warden", and the volunteer people's commissar a reprise. You notice that this is a common organizational form among collectivists. Their odious systems spring from the same evil root -- the collective. Anyone who tries to tell you that there's a dime's worth of difference between them is selling tyranny.

If you go here, you will find the Obama pledge project for the new collectivist vermin who will be knocking on your door. Here is their symbol:



Here is an article describing the Lightworker's minion project.

Can someone photoshop me one of these "O" Signs of Progress with a universal ban symbol superimposed and the sentiment above and below the symbol:

WARNING!

Nazi Blockleiters and Soviet People's Commissars

SHOT ON SIGHT.


I want to post a sign in my yard.

Mike
III

March 18, 2009

The Knock on the Door

By Lona Manning

A sitting President of the United States is "organizing a political organization loyal to him, bound by a pledge, outside the government and existing party apparatus. The historical precedents are ominous."

What is so ominous about an organization? Americans, Alexis de Tocqueville famously observed, "constantly form associations.... If it is proposed to inculcate some truth or to foster some feeling by the encouragement of a great example, they form a society."

Certainly, thousands of organizations seek to influence the political debate. There's Newt Gingrich's American Solutions or the left-wing People for the American Way, for instance.

Political parties are another example of an association, of course. Before, during and after political campaigns, the Democrats and Republicans promote their agendas. As legal entities, they have their own constitutions, their rules of business, their chairmen and officers. They have to be accountable to both the government and their members.

But there is a new organization on the political scene -- "Organizing for America," announced by President Barack Obama in late January but officially unfurled last weekend.

Obama describes OFA as a "grass-roots movement" but OFA is a "project" of the Democratic Natrional Committee.

As Politico reported, OFA will take the 10 million person database built up by the Obama campaign "to mobilize support for the president's legislative agenda."
A visit to the OFA website reveals that supporters are not simply asked to sign up, they are asked to take a pledge. A pledge to support -- not the flag, not the constitution, not the country, not even the Democratic Party, but Obama and his "bold plan." OFA does not use the Democratic Party logo but the "O"-shaped logo of the Obama campaign in which the red white and blue of the flag are abstracted to soft pastel colors.

(Celebrities like Ashton Kuchner and Demi Moore did not wait until the official launch to "pledge to be of service" to Barack Obama, of course.)

You will not find any mention of OFA`s governing structure, their budget, their bylaws, or their officers at the OFA website. Donations to the website go to the DNC, but OFA is managed out of the White House. If you click on the comments button, you are taken to a link to the White House email.

Those who take the pledge are asked to "talk with people about the President's plan" and to "ask them to sign their names to the pledge" in support of Obama's policies.
So we have a Movement -- this is their term, not mine -- organized by, and loyal to, a sitting President. Pledge canvassers, armed with your name, will ask you to pledge loyalty to the President too. A president whose term has already become a permanent campaign, is signing up ground forces in a mass organization pledged to personal loyalty to their Leader.

Does anyone know of any historical precedents for this in the United States?

Did Mitch Stewart, youthful director of OFA, who asks Obama's acolytes to organize "neighborhood by neighborhood" study anything at school about Mao's "Red Guards?

How about Fidel Castro's "widespread system of neighborhood informers"?

Or Hugo Chavez's use of "neighborhood committees"?

Did Stewart learn anything about democracy at all?

Do any of Obama's pledged servants understand why a sitting president has no business creating and deploying his own supporters to help organize their neighbors?

Keep in mind that these acolytes have renounced any thought of questioning the actual policies of the maximum leader. Whatever he says, they are for it. They have given their word.

And they are coming to have a talk with you.

As Thomas Lifson wrote, "This is not the way a democracy is supposed to operate."



I very much disagree with this last quote. This is PRECISELY how a "democracy" operates. It is NOT how a republic is supposed to operate. -- MBV

(My thanks to "cyber-c" for bringing this to my attention.)

The Silent Rise of the Threeper Sleeper.

This is a mole:



This is a sleeping agent:



This is what a Threeper Sleeper looks like:



I am often asked this question:

"I am too (insert 'old,' 'out-of-shape,' 'disabled') to resist tyranny by force of arms, so what can I do to help the Restoration cause?" There are many support roles that such folks can fill, but among them one of the most important is that of a sleeper.

In another post today, I will report on the rise of the Obamanoids' Cuban-style block commissar thought police program called "Organizing for America." We need people to join this. We need people to be on the inside of all of these "domestic enemies" groups so that we can know what they're up to before they strike.

OFA, the Brady Bunch, heck, even the three letter agencies, all are fair game. With the Internet, it is not even necessary to have a message reporting system. Just find another friend who is a known "enemy of the people," scan the document or report into pdf format, and have them post it on the web as raw intel data. Cockroaches hate the light. Turn the switch by becoming a Threeper Sleeper.

Not everyone can do this kind of work. Not everyone can sublimate their own principles and reactions to make the enemy think that the Threeper Sleeper is one of them. And not just one of them. A sleeper is often apparently the most vocal, the most active, the most committed of the penetrated group's members. Many folks cannot do it.

But for those who can, the payoffs can be rewarding. Just the public knowledge that someone of the "anointed elite" of a group is a sleeper can be hugely destructive to group morale and solidarity. The commissar leadership begins looking under every skirt, every rock, even their own. Factions develop where there were none. Infighting and jealousies, mutterings of "disloyalty", can smash a group faster than an attack from the outside.

Collectivists and federal LEOs have done this for years. (Can you say "COINTELPRO"?) Why can't we return the compliment?

So join the ranks of the silent Threeper Sleepers today. It is both sweet and fitting that we use their own documents and their own back-stabbing tactics to accomplish their defeat. And not a shot need be fired.

NRA admits they're Fudds!

Found this on the NRA website. They misspelled Fudd though.

Hard to believe, but we have another piece of good news.

U.S. Army soldiers from Ft. Rucker patrol the downtown area of Samson, Alabama after a shooting spree March 10, 2009. At least 10 people including the suspected gunman and his mother were killed in the shooting spree and car chase in southern Alabama on Tuesday, authorities said. REUTERS/Mark Wallheiser

Thanks to Dr. Enigma for the tip, here's the good news.

Army Investigating How and Why Troops Were Sent Into Alabama Town After Murder Spree

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By Pete Winn, Senior Writer/Editor
(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Army has launched an inquiry into how and why active duty troops from Fort Rucker, Ala., came to be placed on the streets of Samson, Ala., during last week's murder spree in that tiny South Alabama community. The use of the troops was a possible violation of federal law.

“On March 10, after a report of an apparent mass murder in Samson, Ala., 22 military police soldiers from Fort Rucker, Ala., along with the provost marshal, were sent to the city of Samson,” Harvey Perritt, spokesman for the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) at Fort Monroe, Va., told CNSNews.com on Monday.

“The purpose for sending the military police, the authority for doing so, and what duties they performed is the subject of an ongoing commander’s inquiry--directed by the commanding general of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Gen. Martin Dempsey.”

TRADOC is the headquarters command for Ft. Rucker.

“In addition to determining the facts, this inquiry will also determine whether law, regulation and policy were followed,” Perritt added. “Until those facts are determined, it would be inappropriate to speculate or comment further.”

Jim Stromenger, a dispatcher at the Samson Police Department, confirmed the MP’s presence in the town, telling CNSNews.com that the troops “came in to help with traffic control and to secure the crime scene”--and the department was glad for the help.

“We’ve been getting a lot of calls,” Stromenger said. “They weren’t here to police, let me make that clear. They were here to help with traffic and to control the crime scene--so people wouldn’t trample all over (it).”

Stromenger said the town needed help--calls had gone out to all police departments in the area.

“We only have a five-man police department,” he told CNSNews.com. “We had officers from all surrounding areas helping out. There were a lot of streets to be blocked off and there had to be someone physically there to block them off. That’s what these MPs were doing. I don’t think they were even armed. The troops helped keep nosy people away.”

But Stromenger said it wasn’t the Samson Police Department that called for the troops.

“I don’t know who called Fort Rucker. But someone did. They wouldn’t have been able to come if someone hadn’t,” he added.

Under Whose Authority?

The troops were apparently not deployed by the request of Alabama Gov. Bob Riley -- or by the request of President Obama, as required by law.

When contacted by CNSNews.com, the governor’s office could not confirm that the governor had requested help from the Army, and Gov. Riley's spokesman, Todd Stacy, expressed surprise when he was told that troops had been sent to the town.

No request from President Obama, meanwhile, was issued by the White House--or the Defense Department.

Wrongful use of federal troops inside U.S. borders is a violation of several federal laws, including one known as the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, Title 18, Section 1385 of the U.S. Code.

“Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both,” the law states.

David Rittgers, legal policy analyst at the Cato Institute, said there are other laws barring use of federal troops outside of federal property, as well.

“Title 18, Section 375 of the U.S. Code is a direct restriction on military personnel, and it basically precludes any member of the army in participating in a ‘search, seizure, arrest or other similar activity, unless participation is otherwise authorized by law,’ “ Rittgers told CNSNews.com.

“The security of a crime scene is something I think that would roll up in the category of a ‘search, seizure or other activity,’” Rittgers added.

In addition, there is the Insurrection Act of 1808, as amended in 2007, (Title 10, Section 331 of the U.S. Code) under which the president can authorize troops “to restore order and enforce the laws of the United States” in an insurrection.

“Whenever there is an insurrection in any State against its government, the President may, upon the request of its legislature or of its governor if the legislature cannot be convened, call into federal service such of the militia of the other States, in the number requested by that State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to suppress the insurrection,” the law states.

In 2007, Congress expanded the list to include “natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition” as situations for which the president can authorize troops, provided that “domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted authorities of the state or possession are incapable of maintaining public order.”

Congress has been clear that the use of U.S. troops for civilian police purposes is forbidden.

“One of the statutes explicitly says that military brigs can’t even be used to detain domestic criminals,” Rittgers said. “It really is supposed to be a black and white line.”

The U.S. Department of Justice, meanwhile, would have prosecuting authority, if any violation is deemed to have occurred. The Justice Department did not comment for this story.

Ft. Rucker, located in Southern Alabama, is the home of Army Aviation.