Tuesday, March 30, 2010

LA Times story on Hutaree quotes yours truly.

Here.

Militia members indicted on conspiracy, weapons charges

The anti-government Hutaree group, which described itself as a 'Christian warrior' group, allegedly planned to kill a police officer, then attack others during the funeral.


By David G. Savage and Richard Fausset

March 30, 2010


Reporting from Washington and Atlanta - Nine members of a Michigan-based anti-government militia that posted its military exercises on the Internet and allegedly plotted to kill police officers were indicted in Detroit on Monday on conspiracy and weapons charges.

The indictment said the Hutaree, which describes itself as a "Christian warrior" group, viewed all law enforcement as the enemy. It said members planned a violent act to get the attention of the police, possibly by killing an officer at a traffic stop, then attacking the funeral procession with explosives.

Federal agents said the small group of extremists had hoped to trigger a military clash with the government, but did not suggest they were part of any larger movement.

In recent months, Hutaree members had conducted military exercises with live ammunition and allegedly tried to obtain materials for bombs that could be used as "weapons of mass destruction." The group also had discussed carrying out an attack in April, authorities said.

The arrests of the Hutaree members comes amid what the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama nonprofit that tracks extremism, has called "an explosion of new extremist groups and activism across the nation." The organization has cited the economic downturn as a major reason for the change, and contends that the far right has been particularly animated by the election of the nation's first black president.

Those groups "came roaring back after years out of the limelight," Mark Potok, director of the SPLC Intelligence Project, wrote in the group’s latest report.

The group's activities were hardly a secret. It maintained a website with videos of its men slogging through the woods and playing war games in military attire. Prosecutors also said David Brian Stone, the group's leader, used the Internet to obtain information on explosives.

Detroit U.S. Atty. Barbara McQuade said agents moved to arrest the nine over the weekend rather than wait for them to attack.

The indictment accuses them of conspiring "to levy war against the United States." Charges include seditious conspiracy, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence.

"The safety of the public and of the law enforcement community demanded intervention at this time," McQuade said.

"This is an example of racial and extremist fringe groups which can be found throughout our society," said Andrew Arena, the FBI special agent in charge of the Detroit office. "The FBI takes such extremist groups seriously, especially those who would target innocent citizens and the law enforcement officers who protect the citizens of the United States."

Among those indicted along with Stone, 45, were his wife, Tina, 44 -- both of Clayton, Mich. -- and two sons, Joshua, 21, and David Jr., 19, of Adrian, Mich.

The Hutaree wore uniforms with the letters CCR, which stood for Colonial Christian Republic. Their members stood out as extremists even among other militia activists in eastern Michigan.

The group's website, hutaree.com, describes its philosophy.

"We believe that one day, as prophecy says, there will be an Antichrist," the site says. "All Christians must know this and prepare, just as Christ commanded. . . . Jesus wanted us to be ready to defend ourselves using the sword and stay alive using equipment."

The site features video clips of camouflage-clad people firing weapons and running around in the woods. But unlike some militias, which emphasize the 2nd Amendment's right to bear arms and other constitutional rights, the Hutaree peppers its site with a mix of biblical references and conspiratorial language.

One blog post on the site argues that government unemployment checks are "critical for the government to starve off revolution." A section called "Beast Watch" warns against the "10 Horns of the European Super State."

The Southern Poverty Law Center first became aware of the group last year, when researchers discovered its MySpace page. In February, the SPLC included two chapters of the Hutaree, in Utah and Michigan, on a list of militia groups.

The SPLC, in its recent report, noted an "explosion of new extremist groups and activism" fueled by "broad-based populist anger at political, demographic and economic changes in America." The group identified 512 "patriot" groups that were active in 2009. The group defines such groups as those that "engage in groundless conspiracy theorizing, or advocate or adhere to extreme anti-government doctrines."

Some other members of the militia movement distanced themselves from Hutaree on Monday.

"They talk about fighting the Antichrist and things like that," said Michael Vanderboegh, a former militia member and leading voice of the constitutionalist militia movement in a phone interview. "I'm a Christian, OK? But that's so far around the bend I can't see that bend from here."

Vanderboegh, 57, of Pinson, Ala., has played a part in the debate over the anger and frustration that is sweeping the American right. To protest the new healthcare law, he called "for the breaking of local city and county Democrat headquarters windows," and documented such vandalism as it made headlines around the nation on his blog.

Vanderboegh denounced the Hutaree militia group's "nuttery" on his site, but also wrote that the federal government was wading into sensitive territory with their arrests. "If, God forbid, shots had been exchanged, people killed, or buildings burned down a la Waco, we would be looking at a nationwide mobilization and civil war," he wrote.

david.savage@latimes.com

richard.fausset@ latimes.com

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wonder if there will be a massive media blitz on this subject...

Mark in Wyoming said...

Mike , it might be a good time to repost your "No Ft Sumpters" for the new people here and for those just"Visiting"

jon said...

"We believe that one day, as prophecy says, there will be an Antichrist," the site says. "All Christians must know this and prepare, just as Christ commanded. . . . Jesus wanted us to be ready to defend ourselves using the sword and stay alive using equipment."

oh really? well, if the bible is the word of God, and i believe it is, then why isn't 1 thessalonians 13-18 of equal or greater importance than the verses of revelation from whence your exegesis comes?

13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

if you believe truthfully and honestly and fervently as i do, then you believe you aren't even around when the ball opens. you're either dead in christ or "caught up in the air," delivered by the rapture.

so.

militias are not for the end times. militias are the state governor's auxiliaries.

jon said...

"We believe that one day, as prophecy says, there will be an Antichrist," the site says. "All Christians must know this and prepare, just as Christ commanded. . . . Jesus wanted us to be ready to defend ourselves using the sword and stay alive using equipment."

oh really? well, if the bible is the word of God, and i believe it is, then why isn't 1 thessalonians 13-18 of equal or greater importance than the verses of revelation from whence your exegesis comes?

13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

if you believe truthfully and honestly and fervently as i do, then you believe you aren't even around when the ball opens. you're either dead in christ or "caught up in the air," delivered by the rapture.

so.

militias are not for the end times. militias are the state governor's auxiliaries.

"We believe that one day, as prophecy says, there will be an Antichrist," the site says. "All Christians must know this and prepare, just as Christ commanded. . . . Jesus wanted us to be ready to defend ourselves using the sword and stay alive using equipment."

oh really? well, if the bible is the word of God, and i believe it is, then why isn't 1 thessalonians 13-18 of equal or greater importance than the verses of revelation from whence your exegesis comes?

13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

if you believe truthfully and honestly and fervently as i do, then you believe you aren't even around when the ball opens. you're either dead in christ or "caught up in the air," delivered by the rapture.

so.

Anonymous said...

One blog post on the site argues that government unemployment checks are "critical for the government to starve off revolution."

Well one of their beliefs is on the mark.Are people supposed to cry for their heads because of that statement?
Without those checks we would
witness the wholesale rolling up
of the FF franchise based nation called USALAND.

illspirit said...

Mr V., I was just googling around for related stories, and found this..

http://blog.nj.com/njv_publicblog/2010/03/who_is_mike_vanderboegh_in_the.html

..which claims you're some sort of British super secret agent here to destabilize the US so they can take over again. Or, err, something. There's not enough tinfoil in my entire neighborhood to make any sense of it.

Anonymous said...

Amen, jon. A thousand times, Amen.

See, the Anti-Christ I could deal with. I know that I cannot kill him or defeat him and don't need to try. Just resist. I know what happens to him. I know what happens to me.

It's all these Anti-Christ posers and wannabes these days that concern me. I suppose though that I can take a little comfort. When the Anti-Christ comes, he'll probably squash all these posers himself. Won't they be surprised?

Eric
III