There is a man, Tim D’Annunazio, who is running in the primaries for the U.S. House. If his story had not been a bit “unusual” the paper might not have even covered it. The unusual part... one exerpt:
"They want to destroy you," he continued. "At what point are you going to realize this is a war to the death. This is a fight that is either the end of US [sic] or the end of them. I say it is the end of them and their evil world."
The "they" he is talking about is liberals, led by their liberal President. This is a candidate that is favored 2 to 1 to win the Republican Primary in his district. Far from being labeled crazy, he is being hailed as a true American.
The coming battle, he wrote, will be against "
The wicked (The Liberal Leftist Socialist Democrats and their beast in the news media)."
Here is where all the anger on both sides has ended up. No nation can take this much negativity.
Far from being one of the lone crazies in a few states, he represents one of the fastest growing movements in the United States.
Now this man is running for the US house and he is being taken seriously. Far from being labeled as extremist he is hailed as a refreshing new voice.
The money helped buy TV ads and billboards across the district that stretches from Charlotte to Fayetteville. Less than eight weeks before early voting for the May 4 primary, his own polls show him with a 2-1 edge over his nearest opponent. He hired a former state party chairman as a top consultant and made headlines with his recent "Machine Gun Social" fundraiser at a Fayetteville gun shop.
There is something we have got to face and face it head on. These groups have origins in the US Congress, military, law enforcement and in fundamentalist churches. While I'm not for denying anyone any way to worship as they please. It is time we started enforcing laws when churches get into politics.
Rural areas used to be places we'd go to buy great produce, and a walk through town was sure to net a conversation about local folk lore. Not anymore. These are hotbeds of hate. What changed? Evangelical churches, backed by Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. And I know exactly what I'm talking about because I have heard it for 24 years from a family member, who belongs to an Assemblies of God church.
And for anyone who wants to defend their right to worship as they please, I totally agree. But don’t try to pretend there is no hate rhetoric. My own niece told me that she was a soldier in God’s army and was ready to head the call to take on anyone who would stop their message.
There could be a man in the House who literally wants to kill all liberals for ruining his country. I don’t even know how the US House would deal with this.
"That's when the war starts," he told a GOP group last week. "What will it consist of? Bringing the government back to constitutional limitations."
-He was more pointed on a personal blog called "Christ's War."
-The coming battle, he wrote, will be against "The wicked (The Liberal Leftist Socialist Democrats and their beast in the news media)."
What chance does this guy have to win? Frankly, very good. They favor him two to one over several more moderate Republicans, and they don't like Democrats. He's running against Kissell, and they won't make the mistake of sending another Democrat. That was a rebuke of worsening economic conditions there, under Bush. D'Annunzio had a website but after the Observer story he hid it from public view but the newspaper had the original and quotes from it:
On his blog, he called President Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan and Kissell "liberal leftist God haters." Strongly anti-abortion, he invoked Hitler in attacking the president's support of abortion rights. "Obama," he wrote, "will be responsible for killing many more people before he is finished."
His next quote sounds like he would like America to be less racist--no, he thinks racist websites should bring back the N word, quit hiding behind their websites and come out in the open, complete with machine gun.
"Just to clear things up," he posted, "not that it will matter to the racist, typical red necked hicks that have now replaced 'N' word with their new bigoted hate ... yes they are real machine guns. Hiding behind these web sites as 'anonymous' is the same as hiding under the white hood, COWARDS."
The really frightening thing is that this man sounds exactly like "Oath Keepers." They recruit local sheriffs, local law enforcement and former soldiers, coast guard and military. If he is not one of them he is perfectly carrying out their agenda. They believe that if they can get 3% of the population signed up, they can turn on the American People and take over the government. This sounds like exactly what D'Annunzio plans, although I don't quite get the logic of how "50 pieces" under state control is Constitutional.
Invoking the Founders and the Federalist Papers, he proposed dismantling programs such as Social Security and Medicare and putting the "50 pieces" under state control. He would abolish agencies such as the Department of Education and the IRS and replace the income tax with a "Fair Tax," or national sales levy.
"He speaks to what I want to hear," said Republican Larry Krieger, 62, a friend who attended the dinner. "The Republican Party of late has basically lost its way."
Club President Jim Messer also was impressed.
"That's a message I'd like to hear," he said, "holding government more accountable to the Constitution."
The Southern Poverty Law Center is worried. They see an alarming growth of people who were hired to protect us, from the local sheriff to the returning soldier coming together to protect a Constitution that they are convinced is in danger. And this quote from the SPLC is indicative of how mainstream they have become. They no longer feel the need to hide.
One big difference from the militia movement of the 1990s is that the face of the federal government — the enemy that almost all parts of the extreme right see as the primary threat to freedom — is now black. And the fact that the president is an African American has injected a strong racial element into even those parts of the radical right, like the militias, that in the past were not primarily motivated by race hate. Contributing to the racial animus have been fears on the far right about the consequences of Latino immigration.
Militia rhetoric is being heard widely once more, often from a second generation of ideologues, and conspiracy theories are being energetically revived or invented anew. "Paper terrorism" — the use of property liens, bogus legal documents and "citizens' grand juries" to attack enemies and, sometimes, reap illegal fortunes — is again proliferating, to the point where the government has set up special efforts to rein in so-called "tax defiers" and to track threats against judges. What's more, Patriot fears about the government are being amplified by a loud new group of ostensibly mainstream media commentators and politicians.
The bottom line, if the mainstream media doesn't quit reporting on useless clips of the day, and starts digging more into the background of these people we could be swarmed by them in the House and Senate and certainly local races across the country.
While we're wondering how the media can convince people, in one year, that everything is President Obama's fault--wonder no more. They need no media of any kind to convince them. The media plays silly tapes of two tricksters/criminals visiting every Acorn office but they can't be bothered with a real threat to the entire nation. What they don't understand is that, to these groups, the media people are liberals. It is time to "out" them and to take on the institutions that encourage them to thrive.
We are in grave danger from a total lack of information about what is really happening in this country. Across America voters will pull the lever for a straight party ticket. I asked people at work this week what they thought of the article. None of them had even read it.
The Southern Poverty Law Center is clearly worried. The internet has made it easy for these groups to mobilize and they are armed and ready and they are targeting what they see as "liberals." They have a map of the number of hate groups in every state.
IRS Long a Target of Antigovernment Extremists
02/18/2010
Since the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, the Southern Poverty Law Center has documented 75 domestic terrorist plots, most of which involved individuals with extreme antigovernment views. One of the plots, if carried out, would have resulted in the deaths of some 30,000 people.
In an eerie reminder of 9/11 a man flies an airplane into an IRS building. But any building holding "liberals" or other groups they don't approve of, could be the next target.
Our only hope against this mainstream madness:
I called the local writer of this piece to see if he would like some background on why a man like this would be the current leader in the primaries for the US House. No interest at all. He didn't care about the background, just the odd story-a man like that, stands to win the primary--odd.
And last night I watched a very cute puppy on the evening news. Meanwhile, all the militia groups need is 3% of the population to take over. And every one of those three percent has had military or law enforcement training. If they reach their goal their plan is to come for us--liberals. It is time we brought about some change of our own.