Ignoring the Home Grown Hate Groups

I was browsing over at Orcinus, and I came across an incident that we missed back in June--the arrest of several members of a home grown terrorist hate group outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:

If there is a President Obama come next Jan. 20, normal folks better brace for what the right-wing crazies have in mind. Because it's becoming clear that they are winding themselves up now for a fresh spate of violence if Obama wins.

You can find the signs in the things they're saying now, both on Internet forums and in the things they say when they think no one is listening. For instance, read some of the details emerging from that militia bust in Pennsylvania that the media have been studiously ignoring.

And he's right--what I've seen so far is enough to give me pause:

A fourth person is under arrest in what KDKA has learned was an undercover investigation into a ring of domestic terrorists.

Bradley Kahle, of Troutville, Clearfield County, is charged with firearms violations and possession of illegal explosives.

Kahle joins Marvin Hall of Rimersburg, Perry Landis of the Clarion area, Morgan Jones of Lucinda, who were arrested and charged with federal firearm and explosives violations. Until now, their intent has been a mystery.

But Kahle's indictment papers may have shed some light. In them, Kahle tells federal undercover agents of making so-called bean can grenades - empty cans hollowed out and filled with explosives and nails which he said could be used to kill police if they raided his home.

"Hey, eight or 10 good bean bombs, five or 600 rounds of ammo and some good equipment, I could be a tough take," he said according to documents.

On another occasion, Kahle tells the operatives, "If Hillary Clinton or Barrack Obama get elected, hopefully they will get assassinated. If not they will disarm the country and we will have a civil war."

And yet on another occasion, Kahle tells the agents that the shooting of judges, magistrates and chiefs of police will start the doomsday process or "words to that effect."

Whether this was just a boast or part of a real plan is unclear. But a neighbor of one of the suspects say he's harmless.

You know, no one with bombs and an AK47 is harmless, no matter what some idiot neighbor has to say.

A guy with circus balloons, Spiderman jammies, and a collection of Rick Astley records is still pretty fucking weird, but only mildly harmless. But don't worry--the Department of Homeland Security has been on the case for a while now:

Homeland Security focuses on "possible terror threats from radical environmental and animal rights activists" but omits threats posed by right-wing extremists" according to a DHS report "first disclosed" the last week in March 2005 on the website of the Congressional Quarterly.

The report states that between 2005 and 2011 DHS "expects to contend primarily with adversaries such as al Qaeda and other foreign entities affiliated with the Islamic Jihad movement, as well as domestic radical Islamist groups."

The report "does not mention domestic extremist groups" or white supremacist groups like Aryan Nations and Army of God or anti-abortion activists, "which have previously been identified by federal officials as threats."

The report lists "left-wing domestic groups, such as the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), as terrorist threats.

Experts on domestic terrorism were "surprised the department did not include right-wing groups on their list of adversaries. ... James O. Ellis III, a senior terror researcher for the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT), said ... that whereas left-wing groups, which have been more active recently, have focused mainly on the destruction of property, right-wing groups have a much deadlier and more violent record and should be on the list. 'The nature of the history of terrorism is that you will see acts in the name of [right-wing] causes in the future.'"

And these are the people to whom we're going to hand over the right to conduct warrantless wiretaps?

It looks like "the Michigan militia" craze is making a comeback. Invest wisely in generators, firearms, and flannel shirt manufacturers. Oh, and you'd better pray we get a Justice Department and a DHS that can actually pay attention to the real hate groups in this country who organize themselves, arm themselves, and kill people when they have the chance.