[Swiftwater Gazette] Brownshirts

[Brad Haslett]

Remember when some of us posted the video during the campaign where
The One (TM) casually threw out the idea of a civilian "service"
branch as large as the military?  We were derided as being overly
paranoid.  Still funny?

Brad

--------------

Are You an "Extremist"?
Thomas Sowell
Tuesday, April 21, 2009

While the rest of us may be worried about violent Mexican drug gangs
on our border, or about terrorists who are going to be released from
Guantanamo, the Director of Homeland Security is worried about
"right-wing extremists."

Just who are these right-wing extremists?

According to an official document of the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security, right-wing extremists include "groups and individuals that
are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or
immigration." It also includes those "rejecting federal authority in
favor of state or local authority."

If you fit into any of these categories, you may not have realized
that you are considered a threat to national security. But apparently
the Obama administration has its eye on you.

According to the same official document, the Department of Homeland
Security "has no specific information that domestic rightwing
terrorists are currently planning acts of violence." But somehow they
just know that you right-wingers are itching to unleash terror
somewhere, somehow.

So-called "honor killings" by Muslims in the United States, including
a recent beheading of his wife by a leader of one of the American
Muslim organizations, does not seem to arouse any concern by the
Department of Homeland Security.

When it comes to the thuggery of ACORN -- its members harassing the
homes of bankers and even the home of Senator Phil Gramm when he
opposed things that ACORN favored -- the Department of Homeland
Security apparently sees no evil, hears no evil and speaks no evil.

Maybe they are too busy worrying about right-wing "extremists" who
don't like abortions or illegal immigration, or who favor the division
of power between the state and federal governments established by the
Constitution.

In one sense, the Department of Homeland Security paper is silly. In
another sense, it can be sinister as a revealing and disturbing sign
of the preoccupations and priorities of this administration -- and
their willingness to witch hunt and demonize those who dare to
disagree with them.

Reportedly, the FBI and the Defense Department are cooperating with
the Department of Homeland Security in investigations of returning
veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. That people who have put their
lives on the line for this country are made the target of what is
called the Vigilant Eagle program suggests that this administration
might be more of a threat than the people they are investigating.

All this activity takes on a more sinister aspect against the
background of one of the statements of Barack Obama during last year's
election campaign that got remarkably little attention in the media.
He suggested the creation of a federal police force, comparable in
size to the military.

Why such an organization? For what purpose?

Since there are state and local police forces all across the country,
an FBI to investigate federal crimes and a Department of Justice to
prosecute those who commit them, as well as a Defense Department with
military forces, just what role would a federal police force play?

Maybe it was just one of those bright ideas that gets floated during
an election campaign. Yet there was no grassroots demand for any such
federal police nor any media clamor for it, so there was not even any
political reason to suggest such a thing.

What would be different about a new federal police force, as compared
to existing law enforcement and military forces? It would be a
creation of the Obama administration, run by people appointed from top
to bottom by that administration -- and without the conflicting
loyalties of those steeped in existing military traditions and law
enforcement traditions.

In short, a federal police force could become President Obama's
personal domestic political army, his own storm troopers.

Perhaps there will never be such a federal police force. But the
targeting of individuals and groups who believe in some of the
fundamental values on which this country was founded, and people who
have demonstrated their patriotism by volunteering for military
service, suggests that this potential for political abuse is worth
watching, as Obama tries to remake America to fit his vision.