Re: What’s going to happen during 3 days of SCOTUS arguments on health care?

No its not. If I don't wanna drive, I don't have to buy car
insurance.

Please show me the same escape in OBambicare.
---
I concede it's not the same ... in that you will forced to buy health
insurance.

the only point I was making is that the state DOES require you to buy
auto insurance ... so they can require you buy health insurance ... if
this OC is ok's by the USSC

On Mar 29, 10:28 am, GregfromBoston <greg.vinc...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> No its not.  If I don't wanna drive, I don't have to buy car insurance.
>
> Please show me the same escape in OBambicare.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thursday, March 29, 2012 9:51:03 AM UTC-4, plainolamerican wrote:
> > but it does force you to buy auto insurance if you do drive.
> > tom's point is valid
> > Some states will allow you to post a bond instead of buying insurance
>
> > On Mar 29, 7:45 am, GregfromBoston <greg.vinc...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > The STATE government cannot force you to buy car insurance if you do not
> > > intend to drive a car.
>
> > > The comparison falls down right there.
>
> > > On Tuesday, March 27, 2012 2:34:05 PM UTC-4, Tommy News wrote:
> > > > If the government can force you to buy car insurance, and it does, why
> > > > can't it ask you to buy health insurance?
>
> > > > On Mar 25, 1:56 pm, THE ANNOINTED ONE <markmka...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > >  "If the
> > > > > government can force you to buy health insurance, why can't it force
> > > > > you to buy broccoli?"
>
> > > > > This is the crux of the matter.....
>
> > > > > On Mar 25, 12:30 pm, Tommy News <tommysn...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/when-the-supreme-court-debates...
>
> > > > > > What's going to happen during 3 days of arguments on health care?
> > > > > > By Jeffrey Rosen,  PROFESSOR OF LAW Published: March 23
>
> > > > > > Starting Monday, the Supreme Court has scheduled six hours of oral
> > > > > > arguments over three days to consider the constitutionality of
> > > > > > health-care reform, the most time given to a case in more than 45
> > > > > > years. We're certainly in for a historic event — but it might be
> > an
> > > > > > entertaining one, too.
>
> > > > > > Oral arguments are always theatrical: The lawyers stand only a few
> > > > > > feet from the justices, who loom above them on a curved bench, and
> > > > > > they are barraged with so many questions that they often have
> > trouble
> > > > > > completing a sentence. The hearings are also an opportunity for
> > the
> > > > > > traditionally secretive Supreme Court to cut loose. In fact, the
> > > > > > Roberts court is known as a "hot bench" — not a reference to the
> > > > > > unusual sexiness of the justices but to the fact that eight of the
> > > > > > nine are unusually chatty during oral arguments (Justice Clarence
> > > > > > Thomas hasn't uttered a word since 2006). Even though the justices
> > > > > > rarely change their minds during oral arguments if they already
> > have
> > > > > > strong views about a case, the hearings can clarify their
> > thinking,
> > > > > > offer some lively give and take, and occasionally lead to humor.
>
> > > > > > So, will the oral arguments over health-care reform produce some
> > > > > > laughs? Here's a preview of what might transpire when the commerce
> > > > > > clause becomes a punch line.
>
> > > > > > Justice Antonin Scalia
>
> > > > > > According to a 2010 study in the Communication Law Review, Scalia
> > is
> > > > > > the funniest member of the court, based on how many laughs the
> > various
> > > > > > justices have elicited in the courtroom. But his wit sometimes has
> > a
> > > > > > sharp edge. In 1988, when a lawyer fumbled for the answer to a
> > > > > > question, Scalia exclaimed, "When you find it, say 'Bingo!' "
>
> > > > > > Expect some zingers from Scalia in the health-care argument,
> > perhaps
> > > > > > focused on the not-so-side-splitting subject of whether Congress
> > has
> > > > > > the authority to require people to buy health insurance as part of
> > its
> > > > > > power to regulate interstate commerce. Imagine, for example, the
> > > > > > following exchange:
>
> > > > > > Solicitor General Donald Verrilli: "In 2005, Justice Scalia, you
> > held
> > > > > > that Congress has the power to prevent California from authorizing
> > > > > > people to grow marijuana for their own use. Surely, the decision
> > not
> > > > > > to buy health insurance has a far greater impact on the economy."
>
> > > > > > Justice Scalia: "Depends on what part of California you're from."
>
> > > > > > Justice Stephen Breyer
>
> > > > > > Breyer's jokes often follow a long question identifying the
> > hardest
> > > > > > issue in the case. He cares about legislative history and may
> > focus on
> > > > > > a striking irony in the health-care law briefs: During the debate
> > over
> > > > > > the legislation in Congress, Republicans insisted that the mandate
> > to
> > > > > > buy health insurance should be considered a tax, and Democrats
> > > > > > countered that it shouldn't. The moment President Obama signed the
> > > > > > bill, though, both sides rushed to court to claim the opposite:
> > > > > > Democrats now insist that the mandate is absolutely a tax (and
> > > > > > therefore authorized by the taxing clause of the Constitution),
> > and
> > > > > > Republicans are equally confident that it's not.
>
> > > > > > This debate is also relevant to whether the court has the power to
> > > > > > hear the case in the first place. If the mandate is a tax,
> > according
> > > > > > to a 1867 law, litigants may have to wait until it goes into
> > effect in
> > > > > > 2014 to challenge it. If Breyer can get a laugh out of the "is it
> > a
> > > > > > tax?" debate, he deserves to be promoted to funniest justice.
>
> > > > > > Chief Justice John Roberts
>
> > > > > > All eyes will be on Roberts to see whether he is inclined to
> > interpret
> > > > > > the commerce clause of the Constitution as narrowly as he did in
> > an
> > > > > > opinion that gave rise to one of his most memorable one-liners as
> > an
> > > > > > appellate judge. In 2003, Roberts dissented from a ruling holding
> > that
> > > > > > the federal government could use the Endangered Species Act to
> > prevent
> > > > > > development on the habitat of the arroyo toad. He said the federal
> > law
> > > > > > couldn't be applied to "a hapless toad that, for reasons of its
> > own,
> > > > > > lives its entire life in California." Verrilli will try to
> > convince
> > > > > > Roberts that the interstate economic effects of thousands of
> > uninsured
> > > > > > sick people are far greater than those of the hapless toad, all
> > the
> > > > > > while avoiding the word "toad."
>
> > > > > > As the crucial swing vote, Kennedy is most frequently flattered in
> > > > > > Supreme Court briefs. Some libertarians hope that he will strike
> > down
> > > > > > the health-care mandate by invoking the same right to privacy that
> > he
> > > > > > recognized when he reaffirmed Roe v. Wade in 1992. "At the heart
> > of
> > > > > > liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of
> > > > > > meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life,"
> > Kennedy
> > > > > > wrote; Scalia later ridiculed this as the "sweet mystery of life"
> > > > > > passage. For Scalia and the other conservatives, Roe v. Wade is
> > the
> > > > > > root of all constitutional evil. So if Paul Clement — who will
> > argue
> > > > > > before the court for the health-care law's challengers — wants to
> > > > > > appeal to Kennedy without alienating the other conservatives, he
> > may
> > > > > > try to murmur "sweet mystery" so quietly that only Kennedy can
> > hear
> > > > > > it.
>
> > > > > > Justices Elena Kagan
> > > > > > and Sonia Sotomayor
> > > > > > These justices weren't yet on the court during the period covered
> > by
> > > > > > the 2010 laughter study, but Kagan may have her eye on Scalia's
> > > > > > "funniest justice" title. She delivered the best one-liner of the
> > > > > > current Supreme Court term. Noting that the Federal Communications
> > > > > > Commission had interpreted its TV indecency policy to allow the
> > > > > > cursing in "Saving Private Ryan" and the nudity in "Schindler's
> > List,"
> > > > > > she said: "It's like nobody can use dirty words or nudity except
> > for
> > > > > > Steven Spielberg."
>
> > > > > > It will be hard to top the "Spielberg exception," but perhaps
> > Kagan
> > > > > > can make something of the "Romney exception" — namely, the fact
> > that
> > > > > > the same arguments about the economic effects of self-insurance
> > that
> > > > > > Mitt Romney used to justify health-care reform in Massachusetts
> > are
> > > > > > the ones that lawyers challenging the Affordable Care Act are
> > > > > > rejecting before the Supreme Court.
>
> > > > > > Sotomayor has made her mark in oral arguments and in recent
> > separate
> > > > > > opinions by wondering aloud whether long-established Supreme Court
> > > > > > doctrines should be reexamined. During arguments in the Citizens
> > > > > > United case in 2009, she suggested looking again at the idea that
> > > > > > corporations are people. "There could be an argument made that
> > that
> > > > > > was the court's error to start with," she said. In the health-care
> > > > > > argument, perhaps Sotomayor will press the government to explain
> > why,
> > > > > > if corporations are people, they can't be forced to buy health
> > > > > > insurance, too.
>
> > > > > > Justices Ruth Bader
> > > > > > Ginsburg and Samuel Alito
>
> > > > > > Though not prone to punch lines, both are respected by lawyers for
> > > > > > asking the most technically difficult questions about a case.
> > > > > > Ginsburg, who once taught civil procedure, may be especially
> > > > > > interested in the complicated question of whether, if the court
> > > > > > strikes down the individual mandate, it should grant the
> > government's
> > > > > > request to wait for future cases to decide whether other
> > provisions
> > > > > > should be struck down as well.
>
> > > > > > Alito may be interested in the
>
> ...
>
> read more »

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Re: Trayvon Martin Video Shows No Blood or Bruises on Shooter George Zimmerman

Video Shows No Blood or Bruises
--
he had already received medical treatment
eyewitness testimony will resolve the issue

On Mar 29, 10:43 am, Tommy News <tommysn...@gmail.com> wrote:
> ABC NEWS: Trayvon Martin Video Shows No Blood or Bruises on George Zimmerman
>
> http://abcnews.go.com/US/trayvon-martin-case-exclusive-surveillance-v...
>
> Trayvon Martin Video Shows No Blood or Bruises on George Zimmerman
>
> By MATT GUTMAN (@mattgutmanABC)
>
> March 28, 2012
>
> A police surveillance video taken the night that Trayvon Martin was
> shot dead shows no blood or bruises on George Zimmerman, the
> neighborhood watch captain who says he shot Martin after he was
> punched in the nose, knocked down and had his head slammed into the
> ground.
>
> The surveillance video, which was obtained exclusively by ABC News,
> shows Zimmerman arriving in a police cruiser. As he exits the car, his
> hands are cuffed behind his back. Zimmerman is frisked and then led
> down a series of hallways, still cuffed.
>
> Zimmerman, 28, is wearing a red and black fleece and his face and head
> are cleanly shaven. He appears well built, hardly the portly young man
> depicted in a 2005 mug shot that until a two days ago was the single
> image the media had of Zimmerman.
>
> Police Video Surveillance of George Zimmerman
>
> http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/george-zimmerman-police-surveillance-1...
>
> The initial police report noted that Zimmerman was bleeding from the
> back of the head and nose, and after medical attention it was decided
> that he was in good enough condition to travel in a police cruiser to
> the Sanford, Fla., police station for questioning.
>
> His lawyer later insisted that Zimmerman's nose had been broken in his
> scuffle with 17-year-old Martin.
>
> In the video an officer is seen pausing to look at the back of
> Zimmerman's head, but no abrasions or blood can be seen in the video
> and he did not check into the emergency room following the police
> questioning.
>
> ABC
> Trayvon Martin, 17, was fatally shot by... View Full Size
> Zimmerman Claims Trayvon Martin Attacked Him Watch Video
> Zimmerman's Account of Trayvon Martin Shooting Watch Video
> George Zimmerman's Comments on Trayvon Martin Watch Video
> Zimmerman was not arrested although ABC News has learned that the lead
> homicide investigator filed an affidavit urging Zimmerman be charged
> with manslaughter. The prosecutor, however, told the officer to not
> file the charge because there was not enough evidence for conviction.
>
> Zimmerman said he was heading back to his car when Martin attacked
> him. His lawyer, Craig Sonner, said his client felt "one of them was
> going to die that night," when he pulled the trigger.
>
> Martin's girlfriend, who was on the phone with him in his final
> moments, told ABC News in an exclusive interview that she has not been
> interviewed by police, despite Martin telling her he was being
> followed.
>
> The 16-year-old girl, who is only being identified as DeeDee,
> recounted the final moments of her conversation with Martin before the
> line went dead.
>
> "When he saw the man behind him again he said this man is going to do
> something to him. And then he said this man is still behind him and I
> said run," she said.
>
> Phone records obtained by ABC News show that the girl called Martin at
> 7:12 p.m., five minutes before police arrived, and remained on the
> phone with Martin until moments before he was shot.
>
> DeeDee said Martin turned around and asked Zimmerman why he was following him.
>
> "The man said what are you doing around here?" DeeDee recalled
> Zimmerman saying.
>
> She said she heard someone pushed into the grass before the call was dropped.
>
> Zimmerman, who had called 911, was asked by the dispatcher if he was
> following the teen. When Zimmerman replied that he was, the dispatcher
> said, "We don't need you to do that."
>
> Martin's death has sparked protests across the country and prompted
> President Obama to say that if he had a son, he would look like
> Martin.
>
> Over the past few days, leaks have emerged suggesting Martin was
> dogged by discipline problems.
>
> Martin had been slapped with a 10 day school suspension after a bag
> with suspected marijuana was found in his backpack, Benjamin Crump,
> the family's attorney, said.
>
> Last year the teen was suspended for spraying graffiti on school
> grounds. The Miami Herald reported that the school guard who stopped
> him searched his backpack and found 12 items of women's jewelry and a
> flathead screw driver that the guard believed to be a "burglary
> implement." But Martin was never charged or specifically disciplined
> for the incident.
>
> Crump alleged that the Sanford police had leaked damaging information
> about Martin in order to muddy the case, calling it a "conspiracy."
> Crump called the school disciplinary problems "irrelevant" to the case
> that "an unarmed 17 year kid was killed."
>
> --
> Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
> Have a great day,
> Tommy
>
> --
> Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
> Have a great day,
> Tommy

--
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Re: Trayvon Martin Case Evokes Reaction from Extremists, White and Black

Trayvon Martin Case Evokes Reaction from Extremists, White and Black
---
says the jews

their media outlets not only evokes but also promotes extremism among
everyone except jews

know the enemy

On Mar 29, 10:33 am, Tommy News <tommysn...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Trayvon Martin Case Evokes Reaction from Extremists, White and Black
> Posted in Black Separatist, White Nationalism by Ryan Lenz on March 26, 2012
>
> The killing of Trayvon Martin has aroused the passions of extremists
> on both sides of the racial divide, with some blaming civil rights
> leaders and the media for the controversy – and black separatist
> leaders suggesting vigilante justice for the neighborhood watch
> volunteer who shot the unarmed 17-year-old in Florida.
>
> Joseph Farah at WorldNet Daily, the archconservative website that has
> tirelessly attacked President Obama's citizenship, dismissed the
> activism surrounding the African-American teen's killing as bald
> opportunism. "[W]hen the race hustlers like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson
> and race hustler-in-chief Barack Obama started exploiting, I began to
> think we were being conned once again, by (the) vicious, biased,
> America-hating, leftist-controlled press," Farah wrote on Sunday.
>
> Farah went on to cite the case of a white teen set on fire by two
> black teens last month in Kansas City. "This is a real hate crime,"
> Farah said, "the kind you won't likely see reported on the national
> media and the kind you won't likely hear race hustling politicians
> like Sharpton, Jackson and Obama talking about."
>
> White nationalist Kyle Rogers, a board member of the white nationalist
> Council of Conservative Citizens, also attacked the media. "Almost all
> of the news items about George Zimmerman and Trayvon contains [sic] a
> combination of false statements, opinions presented as facts,
> transparent distortions, and a complete absence of some of some of the
> most relevant details," Rogers wrote on Saturday. "Is the media really
> reporting the news, or is this classic agitation/propaganda to advance
> a political agenda?"
>
> Civil rights leaders also were criticized by Jesse Lee Peterson, a
> black, anti-gay preacher who once thanked God for slavery. He said
> their actions are not about justice. "It's about getting even with
> whites and gaining political power," he wrote in a March 22 news
> release. "This is black hatred of white people and a result of more
> than fifty years of brainwashing by racist civil-rights leaders."
>
> Meanwhile, Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam, said in a
> message to his followers on Twitter, "Where there is no justice, there
> will be no peace. Soon the law of retaliation may very well be
> applied."
>
> Even more bluntly, New Black Panther Party leader Mikhail Muhammad
> announced over the weekend he was starting a "Wanted: Dead or Alive"
> campaign to bring justice for Trayvon. He offered a $10,000 bounty for
> the capture of George Zimmerman, the Hispanic man who shot Martin,
> according to the Orlando Sentinel.
>
> When asked whether he was inciting violence," Muhammad replied, "An
> eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
>
> The shooting in Sanford, Fla., occurred on Feb. 26 after Zimmerman
> spotted Martin wearing a hooded sweatshirt returning from a store to
> buy Skittles and iced tea. The Orlando Sentinel reported today that
> authorities say witnesses have corroborated "much of" Zimmerman's
> claim that he was left bloody and battered after Martin punched him
> and slammed his head into the sidewalk.
>
> More:http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2012/03/26/trayvon-martin-case-evokes-r...
> --
> Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
> Have a great day,
> Tommy
>
> --
> Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
> Have a great day,
> Tommy

--
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Trayvon Martin Video Shows No Blood or Bruises on Shooter George Zimmerman

ABC NEWS: Trayvon Martin Video Shows No Blood or Bruises on George Zimmerman

http://abcnews.go.com/US/trayvon-martin-case-exclusive-surveillance-video-george-zimmerman/story?id=16022897#.T3ST3tm2auI

Trayvon Martin Video Shows No Blood or Bruises on George Zimmerman

By MATT GUTMAN (@mattgutmanABC)

March 28, 2012

A police surveillance video taken the night that Trayvon Martin was
shot dead shows no blood or bruises on George Zimmerman, the
neighborhood watch captain who says he shot Martin after he was
punched in the nose, knocked down and had his head slammed into the
ground.

The surveillance video, which was obtained exclusively by ABC News,
shows Zimmerman arriving in a police cruiser. As he exits the car, his
hands are cuffed behind his back. Zimmerman is frisked and then led
down a series of hallways, still cuffed.

Zimmerman, 28, is wearing a red and black fleece and his face and head
are cleanly shaven. He appears well built, hardly the portly young man
depicted in a 2005 mug shot that until a two days ago was the single
image the media had of Zimmerman.

Police Video Surveillance of George Zimmerman

http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/george-zimmerman-police-surveillance-16024475?tab=9482931&section=1206839&playlist=9660543

The initial police report noted that Zimmerman was bleeding from the
back of the head and nose, and after medical attention it was decided
that he was in good enough condition to travel in a police cruiser to
the Sanford, Fla., police station for questioning.

His lawyer later insisted that Zimmerman's nose had been broken in his
scuffle with 17-year-old Martin.

In the video an officer is seen pausing to look at the back of
Zimmerman's head, but no abrasions or blood can be seen in the video
and he did not check into the emergency room following the police
questioning.

ABC
Trayvon Martin, 17, was fatally shot by... View Full Size
Zimmerman Claims Trayvon Martin Attacked Him Watch Video
Zimmerman's Account of Trayvon Martin Shooting Watch Video
George Zimmerman's Comments on Trayvon Martin Watch Video
Zimmerman was not arrested although ABC News has learned that the lead
homicide investigator filed an affidavit urging Zimmerman be charged
with manslaughter. The prosecutor, however, told the officer to not
file the charge because there was not enough evidence for conviction.

Zimmerman said he was heading back to his car when Martin attacked
him. His lawyer, Craig Sonner, said his client felt "one of them was
going to die that night," when he pulled the trigger.

Martin's girlfriend, who was on the phone with him in his final
moments, told ABC News in an exclusive interview that she has not been
interviewed by police, despite Martin telling her he was being
followed.

The 16-year-old girl, who is only being identified as DeeDee,
recounted the final moments of her conversation with Martin before the
line went dead.

"When he saw the man behind him again he said this man is going to do
something to him. And then he said this man is still behind him and I
said run," she said.

Phone records obtained by ABC News show that the girl called Martin at
7:12 p.m., five minutes before police arrived, and remained on the
phone with Martin until moments before he was shot.

DeeDee said Martin turned around and asked Zimmerman why he was following him.

"The man said what are you doing around here?" DeeDee recalled
Zimmerman saying.

She said she heard someone pushed into the grass before the call was dropped.

Zimmerman, who had called 911, was asked by the dispatcher if he was
following the teen. When Zimmerman replied that he was, the dispatcher
said, "We don't need you to do that."

Martin's death has sparked protests across the country and prompted
President Obama to say that if he had a son, he would look like
Martin.

Over the past few days, leaks have emerged suggesting Martin was
dogged by discipline problems.

Martin had been slapped with a 10 day school suspension after a bag
with suspected marijuana was found in his backpack, Benjamin Crump,
the family's attorney, said.

Last year the teen was suspended for spraying graffiti on school
grounds. The Miami Herald reported that the school guard who stopped
him searched his backpack and found 12 items of women's jewelry and a
flathead screw driver that the guard believed to be a "burglary
implement." But Martin was never charged or specifically disciplined
for the incident.

Crump alleged that the Sanford police had leaked damaging information
about Martin in order to muddy the case, calling it a "conspiracy."
Crump called the school disciplinary problems "irrelevant" to the case
that "an unarmed 17 year kid was killed."

--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

--
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* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
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Re: Hate Group Count Tops 1,000 as Radical Right Expansion Continues

Hate Group Count Tops 1,000
---
say the jews ... and only the jews

most Americans consider the SPLC a hate group

On Mar 29, 10:36 am, Tommy News <tommysn...@gmail.com> wrote:
> SPLC Hate Group Count Tops 1,000 as Radical Right Expansion Continues
> Posted in 'Patriot' Groups, Editor's Pick, Hate Groups, Nativist
> Extremist by Mark Potok on February 23, 2011
>
>  Print This Post
> Editor's Note: The Southern Poverty Law Center is today releasing its
> annual count of groups on the American radical right and analysis.
> What follows is the main essay from the new issue of the Intelligence
> Report, the SPLC's investigative magazine. In the story, you'll find
> links to our new hate group map and additional lists of antigovernment
> "Patriot" groups and nativist vigilante organizations. The issue also
> contains my editorial and stories on Cliff Kincaid, a homophobic
> propagandist at the far-right Accuracy in Media group; the adoption of
> an Oklahoma law forbidding the use of Shariah law; a racist group's
> funding of two Mississippi private academies; a white supremacist's
> new novel targeting the SPLC; the National Center for Constitutional
> Studies and its extremist version of American history; candidates with
> extreme-right ideas who ran in last year's elections; an interview
> with a former "esoteric Nazi," and more. The new issue's table of
> contents is here.
>
> For the second year in a row, the radical right in America expanded
> explosively in 2010, driven by resentment over the changing racial
> demographics of the country, frustration over the government's
> handling of the economy, and the mainstreaming of conspiracy theories
> and other demonizing propaganda aimed at various minorities. For many
> on the radical right, anger is focusing on President Obama, who is
> seen as embodying everything that's wrong with the country.
>
> Hate groups topped 1,000 for the first time since the Southern Poverty
> Law Center began counting such groups in the 1980s. Anti-immigrant
> vigilante groups, despite having some of the political wind taken out
> of their sails by the adoption of hard-line anti-immigration laws
> around the country, continued to rise slowly. But by far the most
> dramatic growth came in the antigovernment "Patriot" movement ­—
> conspiracy-minded organizations that see the federal government as
> their primary enemy — which gained more than 300 new groups, a jump of
> over 60%.
>
> Taken together, these three strands of the radical right — the
> hatemongers, the nativists and the antigovernment zealots — increased
> from 1,753 groups in 2009 to 2,145 in 2010, a 22% rise. That followed
> a 2008-2009 increase of 40%.
>
> What may be most remarkable is that this growth of right-wing
> extremism came even as politicians around the country, blown by gusts
> from the Tea Parties and other conservative formations, tacked hard to
> the right, co-opting many of the issues important to extremists. Last
> April, for instance, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed S.B. 1070, the
> harshest anti-immigrant law in memory, setting off a tsunami of
> proposals for similar laws across the country. Continuing growth of
> the radical right could be curtailed as a result of this shift,
> especially since Republicans, many of them highly conservative,
> recaptured the U.S. House last fall.
>
> But despite those historic Republican gains, the early signs suggest
> that even as the more mainstream political right strengthens, the
> radical right has remained highly energized. In an 11-day period this
> January, a neo-Nazi was arrested headed for the Arizona border with a
> dozen homemade grenades; a terrorist bomb attack on a Martin Luther
> King Jr. Day parade in Spokane, Wash., was averted after police
> dismantled a sophisticated anti-personnel weapon; and a man who
> officials said had a long history of antigovernment activities was
> arrested outside a packed mosque in Dearborn, Mich., and charged with
> possessing explosives with unlawful intent. That's in addition, the
> same month, to the shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in
> Arizona, an attack that left six dead and may have had a political
> dimension.
>
> It's also clear that other kinds of radical activity are on the rise.
> Since the murder last May 20 of two West Memphis, Ark., police
> officers by two members of the so-called "sovereign citizens"
> movement, police from around the country have contacted the Southern
> Poverty Law Center (SPLC) to report what one detective in Kentucky
> described as a "dramatic increase" in sovereign activity. Sovereign
> citizens, who, like militias, are part of the larger Patriot movement,
> believe that the federal government has no right to tax or regulate
> them and, as a result, often come into conflict with police and tax
> authorities. Another sign of their increased activity came early this
> year, when the Treasury Department, in a report assessing what the IRS
> faces in 2011, said its biggest challenge will be the "attacks and
> threats against IRS employees and facilities [that] have risen
> steadily in recent years."
>
> Extremist ideas have not been limited to the radical right; already
> this year, state legislators have offered up a raft of proposals
> influenced by such ideas. In Arizona, the author of the S.B. 1070 law
> — a man who just became Senate president on the basis of his harshly
> nativist rhetoric — proposed a law this January that would allow his
> state to refuse to obey any federal law or regulation it cared to. In
> Virginia, a state legislator wants to pass a law aimed at creating an
> alternative currency "in the event of the destruction of the Federal
> Reserve System's currency" — a longstanding fear of right-wing
> extremists. And in Montana, a state senator is working to pass a
> statute called the "Sheriffs First Act" that would require federal law
> enforcement to ask local sheriffs' permission to act in their counties
> or face jail. All three laws are almost certainly unconstitutional,
> legal experts say, and they all originate in ideas that first came
> from ideologues of the radical right.
>
> There also are new attempts by nativist forces to roll back birthright
> citizenship, which makes all children born in the U.S. citizens. Such
> laws have been introduced this year in Congress, and a coalition of
> state legislators is promising to do the same in their states. And
> then there's Oklahoma, where 70% of voters last November approved a
> measure to forbid judges to consider Islamic law in the state's
> courtrooms (see related story) — a completely groundless fear, but one
> pushed nonetheless by Islamophobes. Since then, lawmakers have
> promised to pass similar laws in Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, South
> Carolina, Tennessee and Utah.
>
> After the Giffords assassination attempt, a kind of national dialogue
> began about the political vitriol that increasingly passes for
> "mainstream" political debate. But it didn't seem to get very far.
> Four days after the shooting, a campaign called the Civility Project —
> a two-year effort led by an evangelical conservative tied to top
> Republicans — said it was shutting down because of a lack of interest
> and furious opposition. "The worst E-mails I received about the
> Civility Project were from conservatives with just unbelievable
> language about communists and some words I wouldn't use in this phone
> call," director Mark DeMoss told The New York Times. "This political
> divide has become so sharp that everything is black and white, and too
> many conservatives can see no redeeming value in any" opponent.
>
> A Washington Post/ABC News poll this January captured the atmosphere
> well. It found that 82% of Americans saw their country's political
> discourse as "negative." Even more remarkably, the poll determined
> that 49% thought that negative tone could or already had encouraged
> political violence.
>
> Last year's rise in hate groups (see map) was the latest in a trend
> stretching all the way back to the year 2000, when the SPLC counted
> 602 such groups. Since then, they have risen steadily, mainly on the
> basis of exploiting the issue of undocumented immigration from Mexico
> and Central America. Last year, the number of hate groups rose to
> 1,002 from 932, a 7.5% increase over the previous year and a 66% rise
> since 2000.
>
> At the same time, what the SPLC defines as "nativist extremist" groups
> — organizations that go beyond mere advocacy of restrictive
> immigration policy to actually confront or harass suspected immigrants
> or their employers — rose slightly, despite the fact that most of
> their key issues had been taken up by mainstream politicians (see
> story and list). There were 319 such groups in 2010, up 3% from 309 in
> 2009.
>
> But like the year before, it was the antigovernment Patriot groups
> that grew most dramatically (see list), at least partly on the basis
> of furious rhetoric from the right aimed at the nation's first black
> president — a man who has come to represent to at least some Americans
> ongoing changes in the racial makeup of the country. The Patriot
> groups, which had risen and fallen once before during the militia
> movement of the 1990s, first came roaring back in 2009, when they rose
> 244% to 512 from 149 a year earlier. In 2010, they rose again sharply,
> adding 312 new groups to reach 824, a 61% increase. The highest prior
> count of Patriot groups came in 1996, when the SPLC found 858.
>
> It's hard to predict where this volatile situation will lead.
> Conservatives last November made great gains and some of them are
> championing a surprising number of the issues pushed by the radical
> right — a fact that could help deflate some of the even more extreme
> political forces. But those GOP electoral advances also left the
> Congress divided and increasingly lined up against the Democratic
> president, which is likely to paralyze the country on such key issues
> as immigration reform.
>
> What seems certain is that President Obama will continue to serve as a
> lightning rod for many on the political right, a man who represents
> both the federal government and the fact that the racial make-up of
> the United States is changing, something that upsets a significant
> number of white Americans. And that suggests that the polarized
> politics of this country could get worse before they get better.
>
> More:http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2011/02/23/new-report-splc-hate-group-c...
> --
> Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
> Have a great day,
> Tommy
>
> --
> Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
> Have a great day,
> Tommy

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