My take on the tri-state raids and a message to the Feds, plus more on the Hutaree. "Allegedly selling pipe bombs."

No more free Wacos.

0852CDT. Here's my take on these raids so far, and I hope to Hell the Three Letters get this message before they do something stupid.

As near as I can determine, no shots have been fired, no one has been killed and no houses or churches have burned down. I know that muster alerts have gone out to units all over the country, and people are getting ready and awaiting further word.

But here's the deal, Feds. If you kill anyone or burn somebody's house or church down with them inside, you will have started a civil war, no matter how despicable the Hutaree are, or how crazy, or how provocative. If that happens, there will be NOTHING responsible leaders of the constitutional militia movement will be able to do from our side to stop it. You will have crossed the Rubicon.

The Hutaree have indicated in the past that, much like John Brown, they WANTED to start a civil war, which is why no responsible militia group in Michigan was willing to ally with them.

But if you give them what they want, there will be nothing anybody else can do to stop it, you stupid blundering bastards.

May God have mercy on our country, its arrogant government and uncomprehending people but in any case, may God save the Republic.

Mike Vanderboegh

LATER: This from AnnArbor.com

FBI raids in Washtenaw, Lenawee counties tied to Michigan militia group

Posted: Today, 2 minutes ago

The FBI conducted raids Saturday night in Washtenaw County and Lenawee County in an investigation involving members of Hutaree, a Christian-oriented militia group based in Lenawee County, AnnArbor.com has learned.

The nature of those raids has not been made public. FBI Special Agent Jason Pack, who is based in Washington, D.C., said he did not know how many people were taken into custody. Gina Balaya, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit, could not be reached for comment today.


Michigan Militia member James Schiel, second from left, told AnnArbor.com today that five people were arrested in the raids. He is pictured with Hutaree member Wendy Lineweaver, a member who goes by the name Chainsaw, a member named Kevin, and Will Bachman. In the photo, they were helping local law enforcement officials search for a Bridgewater Township man who was missing in February.

"I can confirm that there is ongoing law enforcement activity in the Ann Arbor general area," Pack said in a written statement. "Since the federal warrants are under court ordered seal, legally we cannot provide further comment at this time."

Local Michigan militia member Jimmy Schiel said he was told five people were arrested - including one known member of Hutaree. Schiel said the five were reportedly arrested during a raid at a service in the Ann Arbor area for a Hutaree member who died recently. Schiel was told about eight Hutaree members were present. Schiel, who said he was invited but did not attend, spoke to a Hutaree member who was at the service, he said.

Hutaree members couldn't be reached for comment today. As AnnArbor.com reported last week, several Hutaree members were recently involved in searches in Bridgewater Township after two residents went missing in separate incidents. Schiel worked closely with Hutaree members during those searches.

The Southeast Michigan Volunteer Militia has not been targeted in any raids, spokesman Mike Lackomar said. The group posted a message on its website today saying, "Neither michiganmilitia.com nor the SMVM have been 'raided' by the FBI. We do nothing illegal."

The FBI set up a command post at the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department late last week. Sheriff's spokesman Derrick Jackson could not be reached this morning.

Several other raids took place around the same time in Ohio and Indiana, although it's unclear whether they were related. The Ohio raids took place in Sandusky and Huron, and the Indiana raid occurred in Hammond.

UPDATE: 1307CDT. It is about pipe bombs according to FOX News.

Arrests Made in Alleged Militia Activity in Midwest

FOXNews.com

Seven people have been arrested for allegedly selling pipe bombs in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, Fox News has learned.

Seven people have been arrested for allegedly selling pipe bombs in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, Fox News has learned.

The arrests and raids in Michigan and Indianapolis are related to alleged militia activity in the region, but are not related to international terrorism. There is not a current threat to the public, according to a law enforcement source.

An official for the FBI's Michigan bureau said initial court appearances are expected in Michigan on Monday.

"Violence is not the answer." (?)

Sarah Palin, Glen Beck and others have been bleating, "violence is not the answer."

Perhaps not.

But it DOES help frame the essential question, doesn't it?

Hey, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, FOX, PBS and NPR: Are you going to denounce this?

Windows broken at Albemarle County GOP headquarters

I ain't holdin' my breath.

Well, like my friend Billy Beck said, "all politics now is merely dress rehearsal for civil war."

Raids in Washtenaw County MI & a call for adult supervision of the Three Letters.

0310 CDT: I was awakened and briefed on this report.

FBI Conducts Raids

Last Update: 2:12 am

(WXYZ) - The FBI was conducting raids Saturday night at multiple locations in southeast Michigan.

Action News has learned Homeland Security and the Joint Anti-terrorism Task Force is also involved in a major operation.

Federal officials would not say who they were targeting or where, but the FBI has set up a command center at the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department in Ann Arbor, where they have brought in two satellite trucks and a radio tower.

Agents have also obtained search warrants and multiple arrests have been made.

There are some very good people I know who are near and dear to me who live in this area.

Very good people.

I am unable at the moment to contact them.

If the FBI has targeted them on some set-up bullshit (which they would never participate in), they have just handed us Fort Sumter and kicked off the next American civil war.

No more free Wacos.

If any Irregular has any more information on this, drop me an email immediately.

As for the rest of you, look to your AOs and keep your powder dry.

Mike Vanderboegh

LATER: 0330 CDT. Sketchy information by phone from news sources indicates that this is "militia related." If it is who I fear it is, the ball has just opened. Wait for confirmation.

LATER: 0345 CDT. Finally made contact with the folks who are "near and dear" and these raids are not, repeat not, apparently targeted at them.

I am awaiting further briefing from the Wolverine state, but this brings up an important point. Back in the 90s (which with the perspective of history seems bucolic and benign compared to today) at a certain point the FBI became very solicitous of what the constitutional militia folks thought and we would get contacted whenever a situation seemed about to boil over (the Montana Freemen, the "Republic of Texas," etc.)

It would be very smart on the part of someone at Main Justice to adopt this policy once more. If we are to avoid civil war -- assuming Holder & Co. view that as a desirable thing -- we do not need a dropped beer bottle hitting the floor leading to a reflexive gunfight in the saloon at seven yards range. We do not need a spasm.

We need, once more, adult supervision of the Three Letters and a little communication.

LATER: 0520CDT. Found that there are also raids in Ohio.

0527CDT: Raids in Indiana as well.

0530CDT: Rumor it is related to "anarchist militia."

0535CDT: Then we have this overheated horseshit from Mark Koernke:

SITREP LISTEN NOW

[04:13] I just left a shouting match about 20 minutes ago with a little over a hundred militiamen who are on the move right now. The arguement was over not if but rather where to hit them. Trying to calm them down was useless and they are not going to let this lie. They will identify the straglers or pickets first and wipe them out. By what the radiio crew said the recon teams have all of the hiddy holes

[04:14] …IDed for those they moved in and the group is infiltrating to site as we speak. I hope the locals are smart enough to step out of the way.

[04:16] this is interesting for we may have live vids from the epicanter as it developes.

[04:16] …epicenter…

LATER: 0625CDT. It seems that the Hutaree may be the target of these raids. Here is their website. Be interesting to check out their "Evil Jew Forum," but it is members only.

0635CDT. More melodrama from Disinformation Specialist Mark Koernke:

[04:34] mark_Koernke_ sorry about that , just got off one of our back up phones with another militia unit commander. His first comment was “Well Mark, I guess that we aren’t going to chirch this morning.”

[04:35] mark_Koernke_ He then told me that as he was packing up his LBE and weapons into the armored truck he has that he asked his wife to bring the congregation together to say a prayer for the militia that may be going to war this sunday.”

[04:37] mark_Koernke_ His wife was crying in the background(I could hear her) and he said he had kissed his children good by and was now going out the door. He is a two war vet and young. He has killed many times before and she knows his moods

[04:39] mark_Koernke_ she is a good woman with two young sons. they are all supportive of the militia.

[04:40] mark_Koernke_ By what I understand the unit commander on the ground and the coordinator is the 4th RCT CMM second company commander. Good man and level headed.

[04:41] mark_Koernke_ He put out a notice that if they decide to attack they will not talk to the other side before hand or try to “talk things down” He is a good warrior and a BULL HEAD. I do not think that he will take ANY prisoners either

[04:42] mark_Koernke_ He was there in 1972 for the second tet offensive

[04:51] mark_Koernke_ We are starting to pick up some of the MIloitia Battle Chatter on the marine/CB and other freqs

[04:51] mark_Koernke_ …Militia..

[04:52] mark_Koernke_ by the meter readings I’d say they are fairly close to the area of interest

LATER: 0655CDT. In a possibly related development, we have this recent story about previous militia work with township officials in Washtenaw County.

0710CDT. Sandusky OH raids apparently related. Ohio Defense Corps is ally of Michigan Hutaree. ODC members at Sandusky.

0727CDT. Some of you may remember a previous run-in I had with the Hutaree.

Here.

Here.

And here.

0820CDT. Email from a responsible militia leader in Michigan:

Some of my boys are night owls, too. They had the original story....stayed vigilant...didn't call out the troops or anything like that. A couple might have wiped down their rifles and checked their packs, though. :-)

All is well here at 0855EDT.

UPDATE: 0824CDT. As near as I can determine, there have been no shots fired as yet in this incident.

0852CDT. Here's my take on these raids so far, and I hope to Hell the Three Letters get this message before they do something stupid. I am going to repost this above.

As near as I can determine, no shots have been fired, no one has been killed and no houses or churches have burned down. I know that muster alerts have gone out to units all over the country, and people are getting ready and awaiting further word.

But here's the deal, Feds. If you kill anyone or burn somebody's house or church down with them inside, you will have started a civil war, no matter how despicable the Hutaree are, or how crazy, or how provocative. If that happens, there will be NOTHING responsible leaders of the constitutional militia movement will be able to do from our side to stop it. You will have crossed the Rubicon.

The Hutaree have indicated in the past that, much like John Brown, they WANTED to start a civil war, which is why no responsible militia group in Michigan was willing to ally with them.

But if you give them what they want, there will be nothing anybody else can do to stop it, you stupid blundering bastards.

May God have mercy on our country, its arrogant government and uncomprehending people but in any case, may God save the Republic.

Mike Vanderboegh

Praxis: Arm Thy Neighbor.

Go here.

The Window War Update: We passed another milestone today.

Well, folks, we passed another milestone today. I received via US Postal Service at my home address my first snail mail death threat. It mentioned the legal description of my property and its precise location, my wife and shooting me at 500 yards. It was postmarked Arizona and was anonymous, of course. Brave, brave collectivists.

My daughter is the one who brought it from the mailbox, and it reminded me that we will have to go back to the SOP that I used during the 90s. Only I will be picking up the mail from now on. I have forbidden the rest of the family to do it.

There is discussion locally about providing me with a militia security detail. I have resisted this up until now. There is also talk of a legal defense fund, as I lack the funds to retain a lawyer. This too I have resisted. If you want to send money to somebody, send it to David Olofson or Wayne Fincher. They are the "men behind the wire" already.

There is further discussion of lining up competent Alabama legal counsel for me. We are awaiting suggestions from folks more knowledgeable and competent than me. I expect a decision on that no later than Monday afternoon.

I have yet to inform the Jefferson County Sheriff of the various threats -- freelance and federal -- as I understand them. I will remedy that Monday morning.

Anyone who reads this with felonious intent may see in it an opportunity for the weekend. If so, they have not studied my thoughts on the tactic of gambit.

There have been no more confirmed reports of broken windows since the Hamilton County, Ohio, incident. I have almost two dozen other reports, none confirmed to my standard of proof, some of these undoubtedly false. I have received reports from two different sources, at least one of whom I know and consider highly trustworthy, that the Democrat party is now telling its affiliates not to file police reports on broken windows, but to have them fixed as soon as possible, as quietly as possible.

There are also a number of verified reports that in some localities, especially those controlled by Dem politicians, there are stepped up police patrols and surveillance of Dem offices -- often to the irritation of street cops who believe they have better things to do.

So, in sum, we have four incidents that might be laid at the doorstep of my blog at Sipsey Street, and much anguished howling by the Dems and attempts to tie me to the Tea Party movement (which they cannot factually do) and the GOP (an even more ridiculous allegation given my record during Dubya's reign and my frequent and loud denunciations of the stupid party as not "republican" at all).

Of course facts have nothing to do with it when Dem propaganda is cranked up.

Here's an interesting thing: I have been denounced as an Orwellian "Enemy of the People" by NBC, MSNBC, CNN, PBS, NPR and even FOX (Glen Beck). In addition, late in the week I was further denounced as a threat to the Republic by so-called "conservative" radio talk show hosts like Medved, Prager and Hugh Hewitt. But here's the common thread.

NONE OF THESE MEDIA WORTHIES IS WILLING TO TAKE THE RISK TO INTERVIEW ME DIRECTLY. NONE. AS IN, NOT ONE.

You have to ask yourself, as I did, why is this so? Are they that afraid of what I have to say? Are they that frightened that they might not be able to discredit me, to defeat me in debate? Are they that nervous about the prospect that I might be able to win other converts to the notion that tyranny is here and must be resisted by any means necessary, including those used by the Founders?

If in fact what I say is that evil, why have none of them taken the challenge of someone they believe can be so easily discredited?

Good questions all.

Still, there is one thing that I can say, even at this early day, just a little over a week into the Window War.

This piddling vandalism, these four incidents of broken windows, has scared them to the core. They denounce it because they want to see no more of it.

Whether the windows continue breaking is not up to me. But I think I can safely say we got their attention. And that makes the risk of the exercise worth it to me. Certainly it was a success. We merely pinged them and they screamed bloody murder.

That being the case, I would like to thank those who threw the bricks and wielded the slingshots. I do not know who you are, but please accept my most humble thanks for the risks you took.

In the end, they may not have prevented a civil war as I intended, but they certainly alerted the opposition that there are unintended, perhaps personal, consequences, to pushing tyranny any further down our throats.

Midnight Irregulars of the Republic -- Window Warriors -- I salute you!

Mike
III

Sergeant C, USMC: Oath Breaker

United States Army cavalry and tanks mass to disperse the Bonus Army.

In the summer of 1932, at the height of the Depression, some forty-five thousand veterans of World War I descended on Washington, D.C., from all over the country to demand the bonus promised them eight years earlier for their wartime service. They lived in shantytowns, white and black together, and for two months they protested and rallied for their cause—an action that would have a profound effect on American history.

President Herbert Hoover, Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur, and others feared the protesters would turn violent after the Senate defeated the "bonus bill" that the House had passed. On July 28, 1932, tanks rolled through the streets as MacArthur's troops evicted the bonus marchers: Newspapers and newsreels showed graphic images of American soldiers driving out their former comrades in arms. Democratic candidate, Franklin Roosevelt, in a critical contest with Hoover, upon reading newspaper accounts of the eviction said to an adviser, “This will elect me,” though bonus armies would plague him in each of his first three years. -- The Bonus Army: An American Epic.

The innermost thoughts of an oath breaker.

Meet Sergeant C, USMC.

An article I wish I would never have to write - To those calling for a civil war, this Marine wants you to stop, and think...

Fri Mar 26, 2010 12:13 PM EDT

By Sgt C USMC

It's been said that the military is always preparing for war. That is true. We prepare for combat every day. We ran 5 miles today to the rifle range and shot nearly 200 rounds a piece at targets and then ran back. However, we also pray for peace. I would love one day to be completely unnecessary. But alas, I am a realist, and I know that day will never come.

The headlines of the last week have reminded me more of glimpsing at the S2 Daily Briefing Sheets while in theater or the Al-Jazeera than the NY Times or the Washington Post. Think about that for a moment, let it sink in.

Before I get into the main premise of this article - I need to make two statements here.

First and foremost , when it comes to the back and forth of who did what to whom and why - I don't give a @!$%#. It doesn't change the action. In life we're judged by our actions, nothing more, nothing less. One of the greatest things of the military is when it comes to an enemy, the politics behind the situation - don't matter in accomplishing that mission. For the military , life is simple in that regard.

Secondly, Regardless of your political ideology, you've earned the right as US Citizens to say your piece - no matter how wrong it may be. That is your right, and I will give my life to protect it.

But this government of ours is a democracy. We vote for our representatives, and they vote in our interests. Sometimes, the votes don't go our way. That's life, better luck next time. Exhaust your legislative options, and then focus on gaining the required votes and/or seats to achieve your desired legislative vote next election time. That's the way things work.

But the SECOND you start committing acts of violence and vandalism, then you've usurped that Constitution. You in a way have assaulted it. And then you and I (I being every servicemember who has sworn to defend said Constitution) will have a MAJOR PROBLEM.

For those of you calling for a civil war, I implore you to stop and think about what you're saying. Look around your neighborhood and your city. Now imagine using that terrain to survive. Imagine dodging semi-automatic rifle fire as you scramble from cover to cover, dragging your wounded child behind you. Imagine the deafening report of a mortar as it strikes the ground a 150 feet in front of you, the overpressure enough to shatter your teeth and perforate an ear drum. Try and envision a Stryker rolling through neighbor's front lawn or a F/A-18 making lazy loops over your head in Close Air Support for the troops in the distance.

Now with that vision in mind, stop by your local Marine Corps base, being they will be the first military units you'd face in an all out 'civil war' . Look at them for a moment, examine their 'work environment' . They're running the track, they're climbing ropes, they're grappelling with each other in mock hand-to-hand combat, and shooting targets while moving in raid lines on a daily basis. Nearly everyone on that base, down to our 'secretaries' has a combat award of one type or another, they've faced some of the most stressful situations on Earth where succumbing to the stress can get you killed, and they flourished.

Now ask yourselves and be honest - when is the last time you've run anything other than late to work, climbed anything other than a flight of stairs, grappelled with anything other than a paper jam, and shot off anything other than your mouth? When's the last time you were in any situation more stressful than a traffic jam?

Now I'm not blaming you for your career choice, not in the least. I can't think of a single job that's not useful in some way or another. I just want you to simply compare and contrast your work environment with ours and ask yourselves "Who is better suited to win this battle ?" We both know the answer here, and if you doubt that answer, look at the results from Fallujah in 2004. Over 1200 of them 'lost' and we 'lost only 28. That's a 'win-ratio' of almost 60-1, and they've been fighting their whole lives.

Put this in another scenario. You and your officemates think your local pro football team sucks , so you put together your own team of the best your company has and challenge them to a game. Even if your team might be good, they're professionals. This is their job. Your job is to answer phones and type on a keyboard. In short, they've forgotten more than you will ever know about football. The result, will be a slaughter for you, and a practice for them. But at least you'll get a chance to sit at home, ice your wounds and say 'whew I never should've done that!'

Not so with combat. The results of combat are far...FAR..more permanent. There are no second chances, no time for regrets, and no do-overs. This is not Call of Duty.

Now I 'd like to disperse a myth here - many of you think that US military would not fight civilians. I can't speak for all, but in my case - the moment you declare civil war, you're no longer civilians. The moment you attack the constitution, you're now enemies of that constitution. And I swore to defend and support and if necessary give my life for that Constitution and utilize every tool, technique, and weapon at my disposal to do so. And trust me, I'm not alone.

I hope some of you heed my words and cool the rhetoric and focus on achieving your goals diplomatically instead of physically. It would never want to receive a frag order to Maryland, or North Dakota, or Texas, but it is an order I will follow no matter how much it pains me to do so.

And now for something completely different. . .

Words fail.

However, this is a song I taught my son and daughters when they were quite young:

Dead Skunk
by Loudon Wainright III

Crossin' the highway late last night
He shoulda looked left and he shoulda looked right
He didn't see the station wagon car
The skunk got squashed and there you are!

You got yer
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
You got yer dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinkin' to high Heaven!

Take a whiff on me, that ain't no rose!
Roll up yer window and hold yer nose
You don't have to look and you don't have to see
'Cause you can feel it in your olfactory

You got yer
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
You got yer dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinkin' to high Heaven!

Yeah you got yer dead cat and you got yer dead dog
On a moonlight night you got yer dead toad frog
Got yer dead rabbit and yer dead raccoon
The blood and the guts they're gonna make you swoon!
You got yer
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
You got yer dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinkin' to high Heaven!

C'mon stink!

You got it!
It's dead, it's in the middle
Dead skunk in the middle!
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinkin' to high heaven!
All over the road, technicolor man!
Oh, you got pollution
It's dead, it's in the middle
And it's stinkin' to high, high Heaven

Obamanoids want to put us all on bicycles. Good luck with that.

Rush hour in Beijing.

Can these collectivist idiots manage to piss off everybody but the deaf and blind serfs? Keep doubling down, boys. Keep doubling down.

Can you hear us now?

My thanks to libertarian Larry Warrick for forwarding this.

And now, for something completely hysterical: A collectivist rant about me and a kitten who was once, briefly, almost named "Toilet."

Go here.

I like the Casablanca poster behind him -- my favorite movie -- but why do they always end up fixated on anal sex imagery?

By the way, I deal with the Kristallnacht fallacy here.

Mike
III

On becoming Emmanuel Goldstein: 1984, the Two Minutes Hate, the collectivist rat and "conservative" commentators screaming "Do it to Julia!"

It was nearly eleven hundred, and in the Records Department, they were dragging the chairs out of the cubicles and grouping them in the centre of the hall opposite the big telescreen, in preparation for the Two Minutes Hate....

The next moment a hideous, grinding speech, as of some monstrous machine running without oil, burst from the big telescreen at the end of the room. It was a noise that set one's teeth on edge and bristled the hair at the back of one's neck. The Hate had started.

As usual, the face of Emmanuel Goldstein, the Enemy of the People, had flashed on to the screen. There were hisses here and there among the audience. Goldstein was the renegade and backslider who once, long ago (how long ago nobody quite remembered), had been one of the leading figures of the Party, almost on a level with Big Brother himself, and then had engaged in counter-revolutionary activities, had been condemned to death and had mysteriously escaped and disappeared.

The programmes of the Two Minutes Hate varied from day to day, but there was none in which Goldstein was not the principal figure. He was the primal traitor, the earliest defiler of the Party's purity. All subsequent crimes against the Party, all treacheries, acts of sabotage, heresies, deviations, sprang directly out of his teaching. Somewhere or other he was still alive and hatching his conspiracies: perhaps somewhere beyond the sea, under the protection of his foreign paymasters, perhaps even - so it was occasionally rumoured - in some hiding-place in Oceania itself.

Winston's diaphragm was constricted. He could never see the face of Goldstein without a painful mixture of emotions. It was a lean Jewish face, with a great fuzzy aureole of white hair and a small goatee beard - a clever face, and yet somehow inherently despicable, with a kind of senile silliness in the long thin nose, near the end of which a pair of spectacles was perched. It resembled the face of a sheep, and the voice, too, had a sheep-like quality. Goldstein was delivering his usual venemous attack upon the doctrines of the Party - an attack so exaggerated and perverse that a child should have been able to see through it, and yet just plausible enough to fill one with an alarmed feeling that other people, less level-headed than oneself, might be taken in by it. He was abusing Big Brother, he was denouncing the dictatorship of the Party, he was demanding the immediate conclusion of peace with Eurasia, he was advocating freedom of speech, freedom of the Press, freedom of assembly, freedom of thought, he was crying hysterically that the Revolution has been betrayed - and all this in rapid polysyllabic speech which was a sort of parody of the habitual style of the orators of the Party, and even contained Newspeak words: more Newspeak words, indeed, than any Party member would normally use in real life. And all the while, lest one should be in any doubt as to the reality which Goldstein's specious clap trap covered, behind his head on the telescreen there marched the endless columns of the Eurasian army - row after row of solid-looking men with expressionless Asiatic faces, who swam up to the surface of the screen and vanished, to be replaced by others exactly similar. The dull rhythmic tramp of the soldiers' boots formed the background to Goldstein's bleating voice.

Before the Hate had proceeded for thirty seconds, uncontrollable exclamations of rage were breaking out from half the people in the room. The self-satisfied sheep-like face on the screen, and the terrifying power of the Eurasian army behind it, were too much to be borne: besides the sight or even the thought of Goldstein produced fear and anger automatically. He was an object of hatred more constant than either Eurasia or Eastasia, since when Oceania was at war with one of these Powers it was generally at peace with the other. But what was strange was that although Goldstein was hated and despised by everybody, although every day and a thousand times a day, on platforms, on the telescreen, in newspapers, in books, his theories were refuted, smashed, ridiculed, held up to the general gaze for the pitiful rubbish that they were - in spite of all this, his influence never seemed to grow less. Always there were fresh dupes waiting to be seduced by him. A day never passed when spies and saboteurs acting under his directions were not unmasked by the Thought Police. He was the commander of a vast shadowy army, an underground network of conspirators dedicated to the overthrow of the State....

In its second minute the Hate rose to a frenzy. People were leaping up and down in their places and shouting at the tops of their voices in an effort to drown the maddening bleating voice that came from the screen....In a lucid moment Winston found that he was shouting with the others and kicking his heel violently against the rung of his chair. The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but, on the contrary, that it was impossible to avoid joining in. A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledge-hammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one even against one's will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic...

The Hate rose to its climax. The voice of Goldstein had become an actual sheep's bleat, and for an instant the face changed into that of a sheep. Then the sheep-face melted into the figure of a Eurasian soldier who seemed to be advancing, huge and terrible, his sub-machine gun roaring, and seeming to spring out of the surface of the screen. But in the same moment, drawing a deep sigh of relief from everybody, the hostile figure melted into the face of Big Brother...

Winston had heard the whispered story of a terrible book, a compendium of all the heresies, of which Goldstein was the author and which circulated clandestinely here and there. It was a book without title. People referred to it, if at all, simply as the book. But one knew of such things only through vague rumours. Neither the Brotherhood nor the book was a subject that any ordinary Party member would mention if there was a way of avoiding it. -- 1984 by George Orwell.

Folks,

I take the phone off the hook at night so we can get some sleep, but during the day I answer my home phone, "Thank you for calling the family residence of Mike Emmanuel Goldstein Vanderboegh. Press One for felonious death threats. Press Two for misdemeanor harassing communications. You do not need to press Three if you wish to report us to the Department of Homeland Security because this line is already under federal court-ordered wiretap so both your phone number and your voiceprint will be a matter of record. If you wish to talk to a rational human being, please stay on the line."

Then I wait. Most often they just hang up.

Funny, but perhaps not so funny. In any case, thus do I refute the Two Minutes Hate by maintaining my own sense of humor.

It is a somewhat daunting thing, this business of becoming Emmanuel Goldstein -- the focus of the intense hatred and invective of a huge number of people who have bought into the collectivist lie.

More disappointing, however, is the denunciation of people who claim to be liberty-loving conservatives. I have been roundly attacked by commentators such as Hugh Hewitt, Dennis Prager and Michael Medved. To each I have sent emails such as this one to Dennis Prager:

From: georgemason1776@aol.com
To: dennis@pragerradio.com
Sent: Sat, Mar 27, 2010 11:41 am
Subject: Since you have already denounced me without first talking to me, would you like to know why I did what I did?

Seems only polite, don't you think?

Mike Vanderboegh
The alleged leader of a merry band of Three Percenters
Pinson, AL
GeorgeMason1776@aol.com
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com

It will be interesting to see if they even have the stones to respond by Monday afternoon.

They remind me of nothing so much as that other scene in 1984, when Winston is finally faced with the rat --

At each stage of his imprisonment he had known, or seemed to know, whereabouts he was in the windowless building. Possibly there were slight differences in the air pressure. The cells where the guards had beaten him were below ground level. The room where he had been interrogated by O'Brien was high up near the roof. This place was many metres underground, as deep down as it was possible to go.

It was bigger than most of the cells he had been in. But he hardly noticed his surroundings. All he noticed was that there were two small tables straight in front of him, each covered with green baize. One was only a metre or two from him, the other was further away, near the door. He was strapped upright in a chair, so tightly that he could move nothing, not even his head. A sort of pad gripped his head from behind, forcing him to look straight in front of him.

For a moment he was alone, then the door opened and O'Brien came in.

" You asked me once ", said O'Brien, " what was in Room 101. I told you that you knew the answer already. Everyone knows it. The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world."

The door opened again. A guard came in, carrying something made of wire, a box or basket of some kind. He set it down on the further table. Because of the position in which O'Brien was standing. Winston could not see what the thing was.

" The worst thing in the world ", said O'Brien, " varies from individual to individual. It may be burial alive, or death by fire, or by drowning, or by impalement, or fifty other deaths. There are cases where it is some quite trivial thing, not even fatal."

He had moved a little to one side, so that Winston had a better view of the thing on the table. It was an oblong wire cage with a handle on top for carrying it by. Fixed to the front of it was something that looked like a fencing mask, with the concave side outwards. Although it was three or four metres away from him, he could see that the cage was divided lengthways into two compartments, and that there was some kind of creature in each. They were rats.

" In your case ", said O'Brien, " the worst thing in the world happens to be rats."

A sort of premonitory tremor, a fear of he was not certain what, had passed through Winston as soon as he caught his first glimpse of the cage. But at this moment the meaning of the mask-like attachment in front of it suddenly sank into him. His bowels seemed to turn to water.

" You can't do that ! " he cried out in a high cracked voice. " You couldn't, you couldn't ! It's impossible."

" Do you remember ", said O'Brien, " the moment of panic that used to occur in your dreams ? There was a wall of blackness in front of you, and a roaring sound in your ears. There was something terrible on the other side of the wall. You knew that you knew what it was, but you dared not drag it into the open. It was the rats that were on the other side of the wall."

" O'Brien ! " said Winston, making an effort to control his voice. " You know this is not necessary. What is it that you want me to do ? "

O'Brien made no direct answer. When he spoke it was in the schoolmasterish manner that he sometimes affected. He looked thoughtfully into the distance, as though he were addressing an audience somewhere behind Winston's back.

" By itself ", he said, " pain is not always enough. There are occasions when a human being will stand out against pain, even to the point of death. But for everyone there is something unendurable - something that cannot be contemplated. Courage and cowardice are not involved. If you are falling from a height it is not cowardly to clutch at a rope. If you have come up from deep water it is not cowardly to fill your lungs with air. It is merely an instinct which cannot be destroyed. It is the same with the rats. For you, they are unendurable. They are a form of pressure that you cannot withstand. even if you wished to. You will do what is required of you.

" But what is it, what is it ? How can I do it if I don't know what it is ?"

O'Brien picked up the cage and brought it across to the nearer table. He set it down carefully on the baize cloth. Winston could hear the blood singing in his ears. He had the feeling of sitting in utter loneliness. He was in the middle of a great empty plain, a flat desert drenched with sunlight, across which all sounds came to him out of immense distances. Yet the cage with the rats was not two metres away from him. They were enormous rats. They were at the age when a rat's muzzle grows blunt and fierce and his fur brown instead of grey.

" The rat ", said O'Brien, still addressing his invisible audience, " although a rodent, is carnivorous. You are aware of that. You will have heard of the things that happen in the poor quarters of this town. In some streets a woman dare not leave her baby alone in the house, even for five minutes. The rats are certain to attack it. Within quite a small time they will strip it to the bones. They also attack sick or dying people. They show astonishing intelligence in knowing when a human being is helpless."

There was an outburst of squeals from the cage. It seemed to reach Winston from far away. The rats were fighting ; they were trying to get at each other through the partition. He heard also a deep groan of despair. That, too, seemed to come from outside himself.

O'Brien picked up the cage, and, as he did so, pressed something in it. There was a sharp click. Winston made a frantic effort to tear himself loose from the chair. It was hopeless; every part of him, even his head, was held immovably. O'Brien moved the cage nearer. It was less than a metre from Winston's face.

" I have pressed the first lever ", said O'Brien. " You understand the construction of this cage. The mask will fit over your head, leaving no exit. When I press this other lever, the door of the cage will slide up. These starving brutes will shoot out of it like bullets. Have you ever seen a rat leap through the air ? They will leap on to your face and bore straight into it. Sometimes they attack the eyes first. Sometimes they burrow through the cheeks and devour the tongue."

The cage was nearer ; it was closing in. Winston heard a succession of shrill cries which appeared to be occurring in the air above his head. But he fought furiously against his panic. To think, to think, even with a split second left - to think was the only hope. Suddenly the foul musty odour of the brutes struck his nostrils. There was a violent convulsion of nausea inside him, and he almost lost consciousness. Everything had gone black. For an instant he was insane, a screaming animal. Yet he came out of the blackness clutching an idea. There was one and only one way to save himself. He must interpose another human being, the body of another human being, between himself and the rats.

The circle of the mask was large enough now to shut out the vision of anything else. The wire door was a couple of hand-spans from his face. The rats knew what was coming now. One of them was leaping up and down, the other, an old scaly grandfather of the sewers, stood up, with his pink hands against the bars, and fiercely sniffed the air. Winston could see the whiskers and the yellow teeth. Again the black panic took hold of him. He was blind, helpless, mindless.

" It was a common punishment in Imperial China ", said O'Brien as didactically as ever.

The mask was closing on his face. The wire brushed his cheek. And then - no, it was not relief, only hope, a tiny fragment of hope. Too late, perhaps too late. But he had suddenly understood that in the whole world there was just one person to whom he could transfer his punishment - one body that he could thrust between himself and the rats. And he was shouting frantically, over and over.

" Do it to Julia ! Do it to Julia ! Not me ! Julia ! I don't care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me ! Julia ! Not me ! "

He was falling backwards, into enormous depths, away from the rats. He was still strapped in the chair, but he had fallen through the floor, through the walls of the building, through the earth, through the oceans, through the atmosphere, into outer space, into the gulfs between the stars - always away, away, away from the rats. He was light years distant, but O'Brien was still standing at his side. There was still the cold touch of wire against his cheek. But through the darkness that enveloped him he heard another metallic click, and knew that the cage door had clicked shut and not open. -- 1984 by George Orwell, Chapter 23

On Friday I did an interview with one of the lesser lights of what passes for California "conservative" talk radio. His name and station are unimportant. The interview was confrontational from the get go. Chris Matthews-like, he would ask one question and then override my answer with denunciation, never letting me fully develop it. It was plain that the breaking of even a few windows scared the bejeezus out of him.

He admitted that the collectivists in control of the government were not moved by contrary opinions, the Constitution, the courts, etc. He even admitted that he believed the next Intolerable Act would be amnesty for illegals which he expected would render the federal election process moot. Yet he insisted that those of us who love liberty should continue to use the political process -- and ONLY the political process -- to attempt to sustain our God-given rights from attack, even in the face of defeat and destruction. "WE," he proclaimed, "should not act like THEM."

"The Founders did," I rebutted. He responded that this was not 1776, it was the 21st Century and further, that like it or not, Obama and his collectivist party had been elected "by a majority" and that we had to merely be nice and "play by the rules" until the next election even if we knew that election would be rigged.

Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result is not only insanity, it is a guarantee of defeat and death at the hands of those who HAVE NEVER PLAYED BY SUCH RULES.

Believe me, I know, I was a collectivist myself. The only thing that matters to them in the end is defeating and enslaving their opponents.

So when I am the subject of Two Minutes Hate by obscenity-spittled collectivists, I understand it. You cannot blame a rattlesnake for biting. It is what it is. But self-proclaimed "advocates of liberty" such as Hewitt, Medved and Prager? What is their excuse?

It can only be that they are afraid, subconsciously or knowingly -- even BEFORE they are presented with it -- of Winston's rat.

Paragons of courage and discernment, certainly. Let them join in the Two Minutes Hate.

As for me, the collectivist rat can chew its way into my brainstem before I surrender my God-given, natural rights and the existential fight to restore the Founders' Republic for all regardless of race, creed, color or religion.

Yes, they can kill us. They can even eat us. They will in any case surely despise and denigrate us. But they can't in the end beat us. THE ONLY BATTLE THAT MATTERS IS THE LAST ONE.

Mike
III

Winston's rat.

Way cool! I am denounced by a talking head! WaPo collectivist columnist Eugene Robinson pimps my novel Absolved. Thanks a bunch, Eugene!

Here's the link.

Stopping the health-care madness

By Eugene Robinson

Friday, March 26, 2010

Let's not pretend anymore that the tea party movement is harmless. The right to protest is one of our cherished American freedoms. But there is no right to vandalism, no right to threaten our elected officials' lives. Someone is going to get hurt unless those who lead the movement -- and those who exploit it -- start acting like responsible adults.

What are the chances of that?

It was Sarah Palin, the Eva Peron of the tea party crowd, who used Facebook to target 20 Democrats who voted for health-care reform, indicating their districts' locations on a map with the cross hairs of a rifle scope. It was Palin who wrote on Twitter: "Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America: 'Don't Retreat, Instead -- RELOAD!' Pls see my Facebook page."

That anyone still listens to this person is one of the most unfortunate unintended consequences of social networking.

At least 10 House Democrats have had to request additional security since Sunday's health-care vote. Someone left a coffin on the lawn of Rep. Russ Carnahan's home in Missouri. Glass doors and windows were broken at the district offices of Reps. Louise Slaughter of New York and Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona. Vandals have damaged Democratic Party offices in Wichita, Cincinnati and Rochester, N.Y.
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And Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan, whose last-minute compromise on abortion funding guaranteed final passage of the reform act, has received a flood of abusive phone calls at his office and home. Someone faxed him a drawing of a noose. One voice mail, subsequently posted on the Internet, was left by a woman who wanted Stupak to know that "there are millions of people across the country who wish you ill." Another caller was more direct: "You're dead. We know where you live. We'll get you."

One would expect responsible Republican leaders to do everything in their power to lower the temperature. House Minority Leader John Boehner said on Fox News that "violence and threats are unacceptable." Minority Whip Eric Cantor disclosed that he has received numerous threats in the past and that a bullet was fired through the window of his Richmond campaign office last week. Given all this, one would think these two might have intervened Sunday when fellow House Republicans were whipping up the angry tea party crowd at the Capitol.

Some of the vandalism appears to have been inspired by an Alabama blogger, Mike Vanderboegh, who trumpeted the bright idea that opponents of health-care reform should throw bricks at Democratic headquarters across the country. After someone did just that in Rochester, a reporter from the Democrat and Chronicle called Vanderboegh for comment. "I guess that guy's one of ours," Vanderboegh said. "Glad to know people read my blog."

If authorities tried to file any charges against him, Vanderboegh said, a trial "would certainly give me an opportunity to make my case to a larger public." The nature of his "case" may be illuminated by a short story, titled "Absolved," that he published on a right-wing Web site. His fictional protagonist fights to the death against unnamed, uniform-wearing "thugs" -- apparently police -- who have come to his house to confiscate his huge arsenal of guns and explosives.

On Thursday, tea party leaders around the country issued statements strongly denouncing threats or violence against members of Congress or anyone else. A number of the leaders said there was no proof that the perpetrators were members of tea party organizations.

But this strikes me, and probably will strike others, as disingenuous. The tea party movement is fueled by rhetoric that echoes the paranoid ravings of the most extreme right-wing nutcases. When tea party leaders talk about the threat of "socialism" and call for "a new revolution" and vow to "take our country back," they can say they are simply using vivid metaphors. But they cannot plausibly claim to be unaware that there are people -- perhaps on the fringe of the movement, but close enough -- who give every sign of taking these incendiary words literally.

And does anyone doubt that the movement attracts the kind of people who take these words literally?

Organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center have documented the troubling rise of right-wing militia and "patriot" groups. Political leaders who appropriate and reinforce the extremists' language -- who urge angry people to "reload" -- are being reckless. They must stop this madness before someone gets hurt.

eugenerobinson@washpost.com

The flood of collectivist invective ebbs, but look around at all the new friends we have.

For those like-minded who find themselves on Sipsey Street for the first time after the flood, welcome. The struggle is long and we have much to do. We must thank the domestic enemies of the Founders' Republic for introducing us.

Many of you new Irregulars may benefit from visiting the many Praxis posts we have posted over the course of Sipsey Street. Also, take some time to go down the right side and find the Absolved chapter links for those portions of my novel posted on the Internet.

There are many, many lurkers on Sipsey Street who do not comment. This is not a "badness thing" as John Ringo would say. One common tactic of folks who seek a low profile is to designate someone in your circle of like-minded friends to monitor this blog (and others like David Codrea's War on Guns and Examiner column (and follow that link to all the other gun rights examiner's columns), Pete's Western Rifle Shooters Association, etc.), download articles you find useful and distribute them by CD, DVD or hard-copy to others. I once was approached at a gun show by a fellow who had a dog-eared and stained ten-year old copy of "What Good Can a Handgun Do Against an Army?" that had been passed among friends and neighbors of a 90s militiaman from south Georgia. That militiaman had since passed away, but the fellow who was reading it when the original owner/organizer died hung onto to it and asked me to autograph it.

I was instantly both humbled and proud to do so.

So, spread the word, however you may be able to. Time is short and the storm is almost upon us.

But in any case, welcome fellow oath keepers, fellow Irregulars. Extend the line to either flank, make sure your bandoleers, ammunition pouches, haversacks, and canteens are full and dig in.

Once you have done that, fix bayonets. This is going to get up close and personal.

Long live the Republic.

Mike
III

Madness. Sheer bloody madness.

"What have I done?"

The inmates are running the asylum.

The Window War: "For better or worse, this is clearly protected speech" -- Well, nice to have that on the record.

"If this is the way Mike Vanderboegh believes democracy should work, then God help us all." -- Mark "The Montgomery Castrato" Potok of the Southern Preposterous Lie Center

Folks,

Well Potok is right about that. I do believe that this is what should happen to "democracy" unrestrained by constitutional limits and he's going to need God helping him and all his collectivist friends if they push this any further toward our doorsteps.

The article below appeared in the Birmingham News this morning. Strangely, there is no link for it on the Birmingham News or AL.com websites. Thus I am having to transcribe it. Appearing on Page 1B, it is headlined:

Pinson Man says his blog inspired political vandals.

by Kent Faulk
News staff writer

A Birmingham-area man believes his call for breaking the windows of Democratic offices in response to the party's push for health care overhaul led to at least three readers doing just that around the nation.

Mike Vanderboegh of Pinson posted the call on his blog March 19. Sons of Liberty, this is your time. Break their windows. Break them NOW," he wrote.

Vanderboegh said he believes windows broken in Democratic offices in Monroe County, N.Y., Wichita, Kan., and Hamilton County, Ohio, were in response to his blog remarks.

"I think it was the politest way I could find to send the message," Vanderboegh said.

The broken windows are part of a rash of nationwide incidents and threats leveled against Democrats before and since Sunday's congressional vote to approve health care legislation.

Sean Hart, director of communications for the Monroe County Democratic Committee, said local authorities, the FBI and the District of Columbia Capitol police are looking into the brick-throwing incident there. A window was also broken in the office of U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter, at the Monroe County committee office.

"This action was done in anger, whether related to health care or another issue," Hart said.

Everyone has the fundamental right to free speech, Hart said, "But that right does not extend to criminal activity or vandalism . . . We just don't believe this is the proper way to voice your disagreement."

The committee has not yet pressed charges against anyone with the broken windows, Hart said.

Vanderboegh said Thursday he had not been contacted by law enforcement about the incidents or about his blog.

It may be tough to press charges against Vanderboegh, said an official with one group that monitors extremist groups.

"For better or worse, this is clearly protected speech," said Mark Potok, of the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center.

While he doesn't believe Vanderboegh could be arrested for his blog comments, Potok said it is important to put a spotlight on him.

"Mike Vanderboegh is already encouraging others to commit criminal acts, and he also suggests a civil war is around the corner if these acts don't work. That's enough to merit attention," Potok said.

Vanderboegh is among the people the Southern Poverty Law Center has monitored for extremist activities, Potok said. Vanderboegh has been involved in militia activity and with the Minutemen who try to prevent people from illegally crossing U.S. borders.

"If this is the way Mike Vanderboegh believes democracy should work, then God help us all," Potok said of the call to break windows.

Vanderboegh said he made it clear he was only talking about Democratic offices and did not advocate attacks on congressmen and their families. Vanderboegh said he has received death threats. "You want to talk about irony," he said.

Hypocrisy: Collectivists object to being censored.

The new policy I adopted by request of the regular folks here of refusing to let the massive avalanche of vile and obscene collectivist comments flood Sipsey Street is sending them absolutely bonkers. They call me a coward and much worse -- this from stoutheart anonymouses who post my phone number and address with solicitations for harassment -- a tactic that is so effective I'm going to have my phone number changed to a non-public one on Monday so that I can get some sleep without taking the phone off the hook and my family being subject to vile obscenities and death threats. Oh, yeah, brave, brave collectivists. Real Che Guevara types, in their own fevered imaginings.

At least I allow some of the ones that are not obscene and seem to have at least a modicum of contact with Spell-check.

However, were they under attack as I am at the moment, with my address and phone number posted on lefty blogs with solicitations for harassment, I rather suspect that they would act worse. Scratch a liberal, get a fascist, I always say.

There is no law that says I must post obscenities or insults just because the commenter insists that I do. I wish I had a dime for every time I have been blocked from commenting on a liberal blog. I might not have to take that $1300 per month of my own money back from the government in order to get by. That is another topic that drives them batshit with cries of "hypocisy."

You know what's really hypocritical? Their demands that I be prosecuted under the PATRIOT Act, sent to Guantanamo and subjected to rape and torture in prison. You know, all those things they denounced during the Bush administration.

I'll match my tiny hypocrisies to theirs any day.

Mike
III

Praxis: "Ping!" -- The latest from our Federal Imperium's surveillance state.

Here.

Well, now.

Here's a big surprise.

Praxis: The Bayonet -- “Closing with the enemy is a massively psychological act."

Folks,

Some of you may remember this Praxis post from late January on the subject of the U,S, Army dropping the school of the bayonet from training.

You may also remember that LTG Hertling weighed in on the subject in these electronic pages and an 82nd Airborne veteran also provided this analysis.

Here, thanks to Irregular TypeAy is the latest British take on the subject.

Mike
III

March 18, 2010

In defence of the bayonet: cold steel always has the psychological edge

Tom Coghlan: Analysis

"They don’t like it up ’em . . .”

It is the rallying cry of Corporal Jones in Dad’s Army — and it is still relevant today, according to the Ministry of Defence.

“Our Service personnel are trained to use a bayonet as part of their mandatory basic training. This is an essential part of close-combat training which prepares them for eventualities they may face in theatre,” says a spokesman for the ministry.

The trend in the recent history of warfare has been towards picking the opponent off long before “cold steel” might become necessary, but British troops have been forced to resort to the use of bayonets in the not-too-distant past.

Bayonets were fixed and used in the Falklands and the Army conducted its most recent bayonet charge in Iraq in 2004, when 20 soldiers of the 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales Royal Regiment attacked 100 insurgents in the Battle of Danny Boy, a fierce fight at a British checkpoint of the same name. Last year Lieutenant James Adamson was awarded a Military Cross for taking on two Taleban fighters in Afghanistan with the bayonet attached to his SA80 rifle.

British Forces now carry a greater variety of weapons, such as light support machineguns, heavy machineguns, snipers’ rifles and SA80s with underslung grenade launchers that cannot be fitted with a bayonet. However, serving soldiers still assert that a bayonet has a powerful psychological effect on the user and the potential foe, and in certain circumstances the bayonet can save a soldier’s life.

“Closing with the enemy is a massively psychological act,” says Colonel Stuart Tootal, who commanded a parachute battalion in Helmand province.

“Fixing bayonets bolsters the will to close with and kill an enemy and seeing soldiers with bayonets fixed has a psychological effect.

“I don’t criticise the US Army for choosing to focus on other weapons but, personally, while I recognise that the bayonet will be used less often, I wouldn’t give it up.”

CPT Lew Millet leads his soldiers in a bayonet charge that won him the Medal of Honor, Korea, 1951.