And what is going on in the NY Senate race? Quinnipiac has a slew of polls out for the Gildabrand race and it shows her now at 43-45%? Granted, her challengers are in the mid 20′s, but that seems awfully low for an incumbent.

And it looks like Whitman is beginning to pull away in the CA governor’s race as well, now up by 7%. RCP should move this to Lean-R very soon.

As I noted yesterday, a slew of House polls came out that should have pushed RCP to set the GOP seat count at 209 and the Dems at 193. I know they loathe to get too optimistic on one sample, but then again that’s today’s snapshot. I still expect the GOP side to tick up to the magic number for House control before the end of September (depending on how many polls come in).

On the Senate side I watched as the PA polls trended towards Toomey, and then the OH polls trended towards Portman, knowing it was only a matter of time before the older polls fell out of the equation and RCP moved these two states into the Leans-R column. Right now RCP has it 48 Dems – 45 Reps. The next two states to shift will be CO & FL (just waiting for stale poll data to move off), and that will bring the tally to 48 D – 47 R. That should happen in the next two weeks.

Then the fun begins. Which state will domino next? My guess is it will be WA. That would bring the tally to 48-D & 48-R, and all of a sudden the GOP is within striking distance of the Senate.

IL, WI, CA and NV seem to be stuck at ties for now.  I also can see WV and CT heading into the toss up category as the political wave keeps rising in the next few weeks. It could happen faster, but you have to get distance from the summertime polls which still reflected some hope for Dems.

Update: Just finished this post and Charlie Cook comes out to admit the Senate is now in play. It will come down to WI, IL, CA & NV.  If the GOP gets 3 of them they win the prize.

A North Carolina-based US Marine was arrested at Logan Airport yesterday after federal transportation screeners discovered an undeclared semiautomatic weapon, ammunition, and bomb-making materials in his checked baggage, authorities said.

…

TSA screeners in Terminal B at Logan called State Police at 7:10 a.m. after they said they discovered the following items in Reed’s luggage: a locked gun box containing a semiautomatic handgun; a fully loaded gun magazine; several boxes of 9 mm and 7.62 mm ammunition; three model rocket engines containing an explosive mixture; military fuses; electronics kit boxes with various components; and a hand grenade fuse assembly with detonator.

I am hoping this is just a dumb move by someone trying to transport something they should not be transporting. The material was in the checked baggage, so it would appear not to be a potential attack on an airline. The arraignment is tomorrow, so we might learn more then. Hopefully one of my more brutal predictions concerning the DHS kerfuffle is not about to come to pass.

One such reader (trust me, most who comment here are in this category) is SBD. He has discovered something that should put this DHS mess in perspective, and hopefully get the drama queens off the stage. What SBD found was another threat to the country, this time a very, very dangerous one who was ‘linked’ to white supremacists, but also held socialist views (which is not as much of a conflict as it seems). Here is his discovery and it is a truly scary and disturbing threat, one that would rival 9-11 – and it is definitely home grown:

Discovery of Radiological Dispersal Device Components, Literature, and Radioactive Material at the Maine Residence of an Identified Deceased US Person On 9 December 2008, radiological dispersal device components and literature, and radioactive materials, were discovered at the Maine residence of an identified deceased USPER James Cummings. Cummings had possible ties to white supremacist groups.

On 9 December 2008, four one-gallon containers of 35 percent hydrogen peroxide, lithium metal, thermite, aluminum powder, beryllium, boron, black iron oxide, and magnesium ribbon were discovered at the Cummings’ residence. (FBI comments: Literature on constructing ‘dirty bombs’; information referring to cesium-137, strontium-90, and cobalt-60; and possible evidence linking James ((Cummings)) to white supremacist groups were also discovered.)

…

Amber ((Cummings)) indicated James was very upset with Barack Obama being elected President. She indicated James had been in contact with ‘white supremacist group(s)’.

Amber also indicated James mixed chemicals in the kitchen sink at their residence and had mentioned ‘dirty bombs’. (Source comment: State authorities detected radiation emissions in four small jars in the residence labeled ‘uranium metal’, as well as one jar labeled ‘thorium.’ The four jars of uranium carried the label of an identified US company.)

An application for membership in the National Socialist Movement, which had been completed by James Cummings was discovered.

Is a socialist movement far left or far right? Well, if the movement believes in one religion and whites only then it easily could be seen as right or left, as SBD notes:

The official group for the National Socialist Freedom Movement. The National Socialist Freedom Movement was the ORIGINAL National Socialist Movement. OUR RACE IS OUR NATION AND RELIGION!! WE REFUSE TO BE DIVIDED OR CORRUPTED BY RELIGION!! THIS GROUP IS POLITICAL. WE SUPPORT THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE AND ARE LAW ABIDING. The NSLF (Party Main Office) NSM. POB 8226 Tulsa, Ok 74101 White Peoples Message 918- 835 – 3311 Umbrella group for the Uniformed Divisions- National Socialist Movement (www.nsm88.org) Be warned- most of the people in this group are educated and are well aware that ALL of Christ- ianity is JEWISH (THIS ALSO INCLUDES WHAT IS KNOWN AS “CHRISTIAN IDENTITY”) and is a JEWISH TOOL to destroy our Aryan Folk, who were originally PAGAN. Any posts made to this group supporting Christianity will be deleted. FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO BE ACTIVE SUPPORTERS – Visit the FILES section for this E GROUP – pictures, app- lications, documents, booklets, foldouts, materials avai- lable, AUDIO DISKS – PROPAGANDA MATERIALS – REMEMBER, WHETHER IN UNIFORM OR NOT – AGITATE! EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!

Here is more on the incident. But what this tells me is the DHS has every reason to watch extremist groups left and right. A dirty bomb (or worse, bombs) ignited at the President Obama’s massively attended inauguration would have been devastating. And if the casualties included our new young President and other leaders in attendance this would be the worst strategic attack in our nation’s history.

Whether extreme left as infiltrating or simply moving onto common ground with the extreme right is not important. The fevered swamps out there are gray and hazy anyway. These movements are producing some truly sick results. If conservatives are insane enough to claim to be the same as these nuts they deserve to be looked into. Because a declaration to ‘be one’ with these whackos means you have declared yourself a potential risk to the rest of us, or you may know are harbor a risk.

Look, this threat was not detected, it was accidentally exposed when the wife realized her husband was an out of control, wealthy (inheritance) nut job. If not for her we might have had a horrible disaster playing out on the DC Mall last January. Thankfully, fate once more stepped in and saved this nation. But we need to be vigilant, and we need to remember al Qaeda would love to enlist an army of Cummings from the extreme left and right to do their dirty work for them. And there are plenty of possible candidates out there.

Which is why DHS is credible in its concern, and the conservative movement has lost all credibility claiming they are victims of this vigilance. 

Addendum: For all those angry with me on the right, let me remind them once again - I am being fair and consistent, now that the right is doing to DHS what the left did to the NSA. The fact conservatives sunk into this muckraking, faux victim mode is not my fault. And no one should have been foolish enough to think I would not hold everyone to the same standards as I did with the lunatic left. That just shows how bad off the right is, now that they more and more mimic the worst of the left.

 

After Operation Desert Shield/Storm in 1990-1991, some returning military veterans—including Timothy McVeigh—joined or associated with rightwing extremist groups.

Anyone from the mainstream who had their brain engaged should be able to tell the difference between themselves and the focus of the DHS report – people like McVeigh or could potentially be like McVeigh. There was no reason for the drama queens to claim they could be or were being confused with a known problem segment of our population. All the wailing aside from the right, we as a nation need to face up and deal with this cancer. There are established labels for these groups, like rightwing extremists. It is also a fact far left liberals attempt to smear mainstream conservatives with these labels (of course, the far right does the same thing against democrats, like calling them fascists, and centrists, like calling them traitors).

How can anyone seriously think the GOP is a supporter, ally or enabler of the kinds of horror Timothy McVeigh inflicted on this nation?

But to show how truly insane they are, many far right conservatives have been out claiming brotherhood with the rightwing extremists, claiming publicly they are of the same cast, accepting the label and all its conations. 

What has me floored is the inane hypocrisy of all this, as many conservatives rightly questioned Obama’s links to another American terrorist Bill Ayers. The only difference between Ayers and McVeigh was the decade in which they attacked this country and the fact McVeigh has a massively larger body count to his name.

Because conservatives hypocritically accepted the blurring of what were clear lines of distinction between real American traitors and mainstream conservative political movements and groups I had to end any association with this ever shrinking, shrill and marginal group. Instead of simply stating with confidence and pride conservatism is not a violent and extreme ideology, these knuckleheads have embraced the dangerous cancer by stating their acceptance with this cast of ghouls.

Not only is this political suicide, it gave credibility to the lunatic fringe when they claim  the conservative movement is nothing more than an out of control and potentially violent hate group:

Liberal actress and political activist Janeane Garofalo, in all seriousness, said activists who attended tea parties are racists with dysfunctional brains in a recent prime-time television appearance.

“Let’s be very honest about what this is about. This is not about bashing Democrats. It’s not about taxes. They have no idea what the Boston Tea party was about. They don’t know their history at all. It’s about hating a black man in the White House,” she said on MSNBC’s “The Countdown” with Keith Olbermann Thursday evening. “This is racism straight up and is nothing but a bunch of teabagging rednecks. There is no way around that.”

“No way around that”. Especially when Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham and others have stated publicly they are righwing extremists – in clear reference to a DHS report, which was focused on the likes of McVeigh. No longer can conservatives complain about liberal ties to Ayers now that they have stated they are fine with being tied to McVeigh and others like him. Now they have stated allegiance to the extreme rightwing, they have donned their mantle.

This is why people need to engage their brains before emoting in full drama queen mode. The conservatives, especially the far right, are angry they have lost the support of the people. All their current woes are the fault of oppressive democrats and traitorous centrists. I can say with confidence two things: Obama is not nearly as bad as the far right fringe claim (i.e., a fascist modern day nazi), and the far right is not as pure and morally great as they like to pretend.

What this country needs to do is stay out of the fringes. We don’t need the leftwing or rightwing extremists, violent or otherwise. We need the cool head of the center. Obama and the Democrats are making huge mistakes, but the conservative movement, now distilled down to its unruly core, is not offering any sane options. This provides the nation an opportunity to start a ground swell of support in the center, rejecting anyone from either fringe.

For example, Governor Rick Perry has been hinting that the answer to conservative frustration with being tossed from power, rejected and marginalized is for his state of Texas to secede from the nation (that’s a really twisted way to show patriotic support for this country, its democratic process and its elected leaders).  By nearly 3-1 this idea is being rejected, just as the conservative movement is being rejected (75% of Texans oppose this radical idea). The conservatives are all for carving out a little fantasy island from reality, but the voters are not.

When the disaster of the recovery plans regarding unemployment hit over the next few months, there will a desire to find a centrist alternative to the liberals and conservatives. Now is the time to start thinking about what this could mean to getting this nation off the pendulum and on a forward, rational path.

Update: DHS responds, conservatives could care less as they prepare for the lynching:

“Let me be very clear: we monitor the risks of violent extremism taking root here in the United States. We don´t have the luxury of focusing our efforts on one group; we must protect the country from terrorism whether foreign or homegrown, and regardless of the ideology that motivates its violence,” Ms. Napolitano said.

“We are on the lookout for criminal and terrorist activity but we do not — nor will we ever — monitor ideology or political beliefs. We take seriously our responsibility to protect the civil rights and liberties of the American people, including subjecting our activities to rigorous oversight from numerous internal and external sources,” Ms. Napolitano said.

- end update

As I feared this whole DHS mess is getting out of hand. I had to read over at Daily KoS (ugh, that sucked) that Newt Gingrich is calling for the people who wrote this report to be fired. Anyway, for all the drama queens on the right the lynch mob is now forming. Go gather your pitchforks.

The irony here has gone from funny to tragic. The last gasp of rationalization the conservative flame throwers have for their anger is the DHS report was vague (and as we learned was made vague by other Feds asking that certain groups not be named for valid reasons). Through this rational the right is now throwing vague and unsubstantiated charges (in fact, the evidence proves they are completely wrong), claiming DHS vagueness is a license for them to be vague when they smear.

OK, folks. Go get those traitors at DHS who have worked tirelessly to keep us safe!

One thing my former colleagues in the conservative movement better brace themselves for is the possibility the DHS report may be true, and in fact there are indication rightwing extremism is heating up.

One of the things a lot of us heard while debating this subject is that there is a lot of real concern with these groups right now. It is not “Obama trying to attack his opponents” concern (they are imploding so fast he has no need to worry). There are hints and whispers that there really are disturbing signals starting to show. I won’t go into it any further right now. But things could be going in a direction the conservatives suffering from Obama Derangement Syndrome may just not be aware of – or worse are not willing to admit is happening.

Update: Looks like the Freepers are getting their mental wake up call today:

Heads up: Hedgecock, who broke the DHS story is talking to DHS spokseman. 

…

Bush ADMIN Report? In the works for a year

Why would Bush target right wing?

This my friends is someone trying to wake up from the throws of delusion – let’s see if they can pull it off:

Napolitano never saw it…never signed off.

Oops. What will the right wing conspiracy theorists do now? How can they connect Obama to this report? Stay tuned, I am sure some fictional fantasy will come out, just like it did with Obama’s birth certificate nonsense.

Hedgecock says, why target Vets, broad brush?
Smith says yes, its a broad brush. Things about assessment poorly written.

Well, because Vets weren’t targeted. Seems Hedgecock can’t let go of his alarmist theory which got him all this great traffic.

Why would Bush target right wing?why did he enact the patriot act?

ummm – lemme think

maybe because he was a rino? …because he sure as heck wasnt a conservative 

And there we  have it folks! It was the evil President Bush who was behind targeting those devilish conservatives. He is in cahoots with Obama, probably placed McCain at the head of the GOP ticket to ensure Obama’s win. He also was responsible for losing the Iraq war until to the point he could wipe out conservatives in Congress. It is an evil plot that goes back to 9-11, where Bush plotted with Soros to set up the Democrat landslide of 2008. It’s all so damn clear now!

Ugh, am I glad I am out of that fevered swamp.

Update: Actually, I think people should be let in on a few more details known to conservative bloggers.

Update: The essence of the problem appears to be the conservatives cannot distinguish between leftwing nattering about conservatives and hard working protectors of this nation in DHS trying to stop any more attacks like OKC and the killing of 3 police in PA. Connecting DHS to the far left is the insult that went to far.

As my above link notes, the drama queens on the right have been told that the vagueness of the report (wherein specific groups were mentioned to ensure the focus was clear) was due to a request to remove those names from the report. If anyone was paying attention to the NSA-FISA debate over the last 6 years they would know that in order to monitor such groups requires significant evidence of potential risk. To monitor anyone in the US requires a FIS Court warrant. Get clue people. There are some scary reasons why this report came out the way it did. Bottom line, it was to alert law enforcement and only law enforcement. That has now gone bust with mainstream conservative folks crying its all about them.

When the left exposed our efforts to stop attacks on this nation I was on the forefront of objecting loudly to the smears against those trying to stop the attacks. I have not changed. Conservatives now feel they have the right to do the same thing they lambasted the NY Times and others for. If you believe the right is endowed with certain morale rights to insert themselves like this in stopping attacks, I would suggest you just moved into a fragile glass house.

The right has been notified about how they got this all wrong. The new DHS Director did not see or influence this report. They have been told by respectable sources. They have not admitted this to their readers or listeners. And now they are trying to hunt down names of people in order to pressure them publicly. This needs to end.

To my chagrin two things happened with this story which ended my desire to be associated with ‘conservatives’ (no matter how much sense their policies may make). The first was the unbridled and unsubstantiated attacks on the good people at DHS by folks like Michelle Malkin (who I rightfully called a ‘drama queen’). Malkin made some serious allegations today which crossed the line.

She claimed that the DHS report PROVES the good people at DHS are not only negligent in their duties to protect Americans, but that these civilian employees are also involved in an illegal activity to use the powers of the this nation’s security apparatus to oppress the political opposition of the sitting President and current Congressional leaders. These are serious charges involving serious crimes.

I have as much respect for the civilians spending their careers and lives attempting to protect this nation as I do for those in uniform doing the same thing. There is no excuse to slander the people of DHS by accusing them of crimes of negligence and abuse of office without solid proof. No matter how well these false charges fit the warped conspiracy theories of the paranoid and deluded

The second aspect of this incident that pushed me to this point was the fact just about every conservative site let these false charges against these good people go by. Instead, I got heat for the “drama queen” comment for supposedly attacking ‘a good person’. Well, that so-called good person slandered the real unsung heros of this war on terror. Her and her enablers are more concerned about getting their feelings hurt than about the mud they are slinging at those who stand guard over this nation.

That’s the end of that for me. I could never fathom the venom spewed by the far left against Reagan, and that is what forced me to leave the Democrat party for life. Now we have a similar problem in the depths of the conservative movement. I just cannot associate myself with people who would slander hard working people at DHS to fulfill some wild conspiracy fantasy  - and not see a damn thing wrong with it! Their only cries of outrage are when someone calls them on their slander.

A line crossed which cannot be uncrossed. Ever. I wash my hands of these slanderers and their supporters who would sell out the people standing watch over all of us without any thought or regret. As someone said to me – see yah! And good riddance.

The report is labeled “Rightwing Extremism”. It should not have been. It should not have been because it is not an accurate statement. 

…

Now, as I mentioned, this is not the first report of this type to come out of DHS. Domestic terrorist assessments were released during the Bush Administration, as well. In fact, the publishing of assessments of this nature is a fairly regualr occurrance. DHS publishes these kind of reports every few months, publishes a regular border security report, publishes assessments of radical Islamist terrorist groups, and publishes alerts on terrorist methods. Most of those are not leaked, and if they are, people don’t care. However, with Obama around, many on the right (including, often, myself) are so horrified by what he’s doing and saying, that we are just looking for a reason to feel under attack. Frankly, Obama had nothing to do with this report. The people who authorized this intelligence assessment are the same people who were authorizing assessments under Bush.

See, no conspiracy. Classic bureaucratic clumsiness, typical leftward lean to the Feds, and possibly a way for the workers to stoke some interest from the new Democrat boss in their work (and funding requests). No Michelle, they are not out to get us! 

BTW LGF linked to this post (thanks man) and there is a helluva good discussion going on there - end update

Final Addendum: I have been watching this brush fire grow and consume nearly everyone on the right side of the political spectrum. It is truly sad, because this is worse than the claims by the left under President Bush that the NSA was spying on Americans for political reasons. Now, the right is accusing the men and women of DHS of not protecting them from violent groups but of being a political Gestapo going after conservatives (because ‘conservative’ and ‘rightwing’ mean the same thing to some!).

In my book one better have irrefutable proof that DHS is (a) ignoring its responsibility to protect this nation and its people from attack and (b) performing political oppression against constitutionally protected political activities. These are serious charges to be throwing around like the folks on the right are doing today. They better have good evidence this is the case given the slander they are slinging at the good people at DHS.

I did not like it when the left did this to the good people at NSA protecting us, and I am not liking it now with the right making wild accusations against DHS.

Addendum: Folks, there is no mention of Tea Parties in the DHS report. Tea Parties are NOT conservative events, they are grass roots broadly supported events. If these turn into GOP only (purity, remember the drive for purity!) events they will die off. But the DHS is not targeting Tea Parties – for heaven’s sake! -end update

 A little reminder of what right wing extremist terrorism brought to this country

Drama Queen Updates At End

There is a lot of hemming and hawing on conservative blogs about a threat assessment out of the Homeland Security Department which discusses the threat of violent extremism from right wing groups. Somehow the bloggers, media heads, etc think this threat assessment is about them! A strange and egotistical conclusion to be sure.

There are groups who use violence against others who do not follow their beliefs. The history of this country is replete with examples (KKK, Skinheads, Weather Underground). These groups rationalize their violent and deadly actions by using good, reasonable causes as cover. They can and have corrupted good causes on the left and right with their poisonous hate. These are historical facts.

I am not concerned about Homeland Security generating a threat analysis on these people, and I do not take it personally because some of the causes the radicals use to rationalize their violent actions happen to be causes I believe in. I know I am not them and I know their use of violence cannot make a good cause a bad cause. Killing young humans is wrong, and killing people tied to abortion clinics does not change that basic moral value.

But some on the right are acting as if the Obama administration is putting out some PR hit on conservatives! Too many are fantasizing that there are dark, secret forces in the government working to keep liberals in power by arresting and harassing conservative people (who just happen to be violent). It is the strangest and silliest crock I have ever seen. Now I understand how all those conspiracy driven liberals assumed Bush and Cheney were behind 9-11 and were using the NSA to listening in on their mad hatter ranting!

Seems some on the right are now seeing black helicopters on their tin hat mind expanding devices.

First, lets look at some of the ‘offending’ passages. The title itself seems to set the stage for martyrs on the right.

Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment

This is one reason I don’t like the terms ‘rightwinger’ and ‘leftwinger’, though I have occasionally used them. We need terms to separate fringe ideology (e.g., ‘far right’ and ‘far left’) from extreme and radical ideology. I am at a loss for better words, but the way the internet slings around right and left winger I can see how some could have a fleeting initial reaction this is aimed at them. But that initial effect should disappear really quick once you read on and realize this is not aimed at Rush Limbaugh or John McCain, but at truly sick people.

The DHS/Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) has no specific information that domestic rightwing* terrorists are currently planning acts of violence, but rightwing extremists may be gaining new recruits by playing on their fears about several emergent issues. The economic downturn and the election of the first African American president present unique drivers for rightwing radicalization and recruitment.

— (U//LES) Threats from white supremacist and violent antigovernment groups during 2009 have been largely rhetorical and have not indicated plans to carry out violent acts. Nevertheless, the consequences of a prolonged economic downturn—including real estate foreclosures, unemployment, and an inability to obtain credit—could create a fertile recruiting environment for rightwing extremists and even result in confrontations between such groups and government authorities similar to those in the past.

— (U//LES) Rightwing extremists have capitalized on the election of the first African American president, and are focusing their efforts to recruit new members, mobilize existing supporters, and broaden their scope and appeal through propaganda, but they have not yet turned to attack planning.

This clearly indicates this is not about your conservative PAC or GOP neighborhood planning team. To claim otherwise is to actually support the threat this report is assessing. We cannot make these radical extremists part of normal society. We cannot defend them by pretending they are us. We cannot allow people like the Weather Underground (Bill Ayers, et al) to be an example of how to solve differences in our country. There is plenty of blood on the hands of the right and left in this country from times when we did not stop violence because it was done in the name of a cause we believed in. There are those who did not turn in the neighbor, friend or family member who went off the deep end and decided they would play God and decide who should live or die. We cannot allow this to happen again.

These radicals are preying on the anger and frustration of ‘true conservatives’ – and they are doing it by pretending to believe in their heart felt causes. That is why we see this in the report:

(U//FOUO) Rightwing extremists were concerned during the 1990s with the perception that illegal immigrants were taking away American jobs through their willingness to work at significantly lower wages. They also opposed free trade agreements, arguing that these arrangements resulted in Americans losing jobs to countries such as Mexico. 

(U//FOUO) Over the past five years, various rightwing extremists, including militias and white supremacists, have adopted the immigration issue as a call to action, rallying point, and recruiting tool.

The report is clearly stating that heated anti-immigrant rhetoric is making people so angry it CAN drive them into the hands of violent radicals. It DOES NOT say that anyone opposed to immigration or illegal immigration is a rightwing extremists. To say otherwise is an outright lie.

(U//FOUO) DHS/I&A assesses that rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat. These skills and knowledge have the potential to boost the capabilities of extremists—including lone wolves or small terrorist cells—to carry out violence. The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today.

(U) After Operation Desert Shield/Storm in 1990-1991, some returning military veterans—including Timothy McVeigh—joined or associated with rightwing extremist groups.

This paragraph DOES NOT say our war hero veterans are rightwing radicals. It says the emotional stress on our war hero veterans makes them vulnerable to being preyed upon by rightwing radicals. The concern is these heros are being manipulated and used to give the radicals training and weapons to attack this country. To say otherwise is an outright lie.

The fact is things happened during the Clinton years which were horrible and which stained the conservative movement just as Bill Ayers is a stain on the Vietnam anti-war movement. John Kerry may have invented lies about others to make his fame as an anti-war protestor, but he did not build bombs which killed people. While what Kerry did was despicable, it wasn’t extreme and radical like Ayers. We need to understand when lines are crossed, especially among our own ranks.

During the Clinton years there were murders and attempted murders of Americans in the name of “Pro-Life”:

In the U.S., violence directed toward abortion providers has killed at least 7 people, including 3 doctors, 2 clinic employees, a security guard, and a clinic escort.^[4]

• March 10, 1993: Dr. David Gunn of Pensacola, Florida was fatally shot during a protest. He had been the subject of wanted-style posters distributed by Operation Rescue in the summer of the year before. Michael F. Griffin was found guilty of Dr. Gunn’s murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
• June 29, 1994: Dr. John Britton and James Barrett, a clinic escort, were both shot to death outside of another facility in Pensacola. Rev. Paul Jennings Hill was charged with the killings, received a death sentence, and was executed September 3, 2003.
• December 30, 1994: Two receptionists, Shannon Lowney and Lee Ann Nichols, were killed in two clinic attacks in Brookline, Massachusetts. John Salvi, who prior to his arrest was distributing pamphlets from Human Life International,^[5] was arrested and confessed to the killings. He committed suicide in prison and guards found his body under his bed with a plastic garbage bag tied around his head. Salvi had also confessed to a non-lethal attack in Norfolk, Virginia days before the Brookline killings.
• January 29, 1998: Robert Sanderson, an off-duty police officer who worked as a security guard at an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, was killed when his workplace was bombed. Eric Robert Rudolph, who was also responsible for the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing, was charged with the crime and received two life sentences as a result.
• October 23, 1998: Dr. Barnett Slepian was shot to death at his home in Amherst, New York. His was the last in a series of similar shootings against providers inCanada and northern New York state which were all likely committed by James Kopp. Kopp was convicted of Dr. Slepian’s murder after finally being apprehended inFrance in 2001.

It is stunning how these incidents start with President Clinton’s election and end around the time of his impeachment. As noted in the report this was the period when Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people, many children going into day care, in Oklahoma City. 

The Homeland Security report rightfully and accurately notes this horrible period in our history as an example of what is possible today. Recall, much of this violence and killing was while the GOP held Congress. It was not the GOP who called for this to happen, but it shows how these radicals can exploit someone’s frustration with American political policy (with some emotional issues thrown in I am sure) to create havoc, and leave good causes tainted and crippled. The fear of Clinton drove a lot of people into violence.

Anyone who is simply a conservative who believes liberal policies suck eggs and Reagan and Bush were on the right path do not have pretend the focus of this report is about them. I don’t. I cannot fathom why anyone else would. And if some liberal shows up who cannot tell the difference between Timothy McVeigh and President George Bush, that is a problem with their world view. Not mine, or the intent of this report. This report is meant to identify possible threats and stop the killing of innocent Americans. 

Conservatives, the government is not out to get you, just as the NSA was not listening in on the left but was seriously tracking down terrorists. Get a grip people, this is getting embarrassing.

Update: Speaking of embarrassing, it seems Michelle Malkin has decided she resembles rightwing extremists who bomb buildings and murder Americans:

Confirmed: The Obama DHS hit job on conservatives is real

…

By contrast, the piece of crap report issued on April 7 is a sweeping indictment of conservatives. 

What a frigging drama queen! She even notes that DHS has done reports like this on extreme left wing groups, but she cannot help seeing herself as the victim here! This is beyond embarrassing. Is she planning to recruit our war hero veterans and manipulate them into attacking America? Damn, the need for attention with that one is strong.