Today in anti-gov't conspiracy theories...

Officials See Rise In Militia Groups Across US
(Huff Post)
Militia groups with gripes against the government are regrouping across the country and could grow rapidly, according to an organization that tracks such trends.

The stress of a poor economy and a liberal administration led by a black president are among the causes for the recent rise, the report from the Southern Poverty Law Center says. Conspiracy theories about a secret Mexican plan to reclaim the Southwest are also growing amid the public debate about illegal immigration.

Bart McEntire, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told SPLC researchers that this is the most growth he's seen in more than a decade.

"All it's lacking is a spark," McEntire said in the report.

Last October, someone from the Ohio Militia posted a recruiting video on YouTube, billed as a "wake-up call" for America. It's been viewed more than 60,000 times.

"Things are bad, things are real bad, and it's going to be a lot worse," said the man on the video, who did not give his name. "Our country is in peril."

The man is holding an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, and he encourages viewers to buy one.

Alaska Senator: Don't tell lies about the health-care reform bill
References Palin's "Death Panels"
(Anchorage Daily News)
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski on Tuesday told an Anchorage crowd that critics of health care reform, the summer's hottest political topic, aren't helping the debate by throwing out highly charged assertions not based in fact.

"It does us no good to incite fear in people by saying that there's these end-of-life provisions, these death panels," Murkowski, a Republican, said. "Quite honestly, I'm so offended at that terminology because it absolutely isn't (in the bill). There is no reason to gin up fear in the American public by saying things that are not included in the bill."

Murkowski's analysis of the health-care reform measures was delivered to a Commonwealth North crowd of about 130 at the Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center. The nonpartisan group focuses on public policy issues.

Former Gov. Sarah Palin stirred up controversy last week by suggesting on her Facebook page that people like her parents and Down syndrome son might have to appear before "Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."

Experts who have reviewed the various pieces of legislation, which run for hundreds of pages, say there's no such provision.

Chris Matthews Quizzes Gun-Toting Town Hall Protester
(Huff Post)
Tuesday's Hardball with Chris Matthews, Matthews' guest was William Kostric, the man who brought a gun earlier in the day to protest President Obama's health care town hall meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Kostric was wearing a (legal) handgun strapped to his leg and holding a sign referencing this Jefferson quote: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

The segment grew more and more heated as Matthews repeatedly asked Kostric why he came to the meeting wearing a gun. "Well, why did you bring a gun to a Presidential event today?"

"That's not even a relevant question," Kostric said, shrugging. "The question is, why don't people bear arms these days."

"Okay, you bought a sign that said 'The tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants' and you're carrying a god damn gun at a Presidential event. I think those things make people wonder what you're about."

Kostric for his part, was unrepentant, and maintained that he was there in a totally non-violent capacity. "No one from New Hampshire was alarmed. Maybe some of the people they bussed in from Massachusets were alarmed. But we're not really concerned about them."

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What's frightening is that people like Mr. Kostric believe what they're saying. And in Kostric's case, he's relatively well-spoken. Perhaps it's a cultural divide, but to my mind anyone bringing a weapon to a public forum has an ulterior motive. That gun is not a defensive weapon. That gun is a show of force.

Looking at the background and make-up of the Tea Party/wingnut/healther crowd, I think the point Carlos Watson made on MSNBC today is correct: "socialism" is becoming a code word. It's a code word for anti-Obama sentiment that was ginned up during the campaign. Before any of his policies were enacted. I believe that in many cases socialism is code word for the n-word.

So why don't people like Mr. Kostric just call Obama a nigger and get it over with? Why don't these people who "want their America back admit that what they want is a return to a simpler time when you didn't have a black man as president? It's what they want to say. It would at least be intellectually honest to just say it.