I can’t tell from news stories exactly why the feds raided a Midwestern “Christian militia” group called “Hutaree” and arrested seven members. There is vague information about unspecific threats against Muslims, but I would think a big, splashy raid and several arrests would require something more substantive.
However, it’s fun to watch the bold freedom fighters of other Midwestern militia groups trip all over themselves running away from Hutaree.
Mike Lackomar, of Michiganmilitia.com, said both The Southeast Michigan Volunteer Militia and the Michiganmilitia.com were not a part of the raid.
Lackomar said he heard from other militia members that the FBI targeted the Hutaree after its members made threats of violence against Islamic organizations.
“Last night and into today the FBI conducted a raid against homes belonging to the Hutaree. They are a religious cult. They are not part of our militia community,” he said.
And via Steve M, Mike Vanderboegh (who recently made a splash by suggesting that people who don’t like Democrats should break their office windows) wrote,
The Hutaree have indicated in the past that, much like John Brown, they WANTED to start a civil war, which is why no responsible militia group in Michigan was willing to ally with them.
However, Vanderboegh also said,
But here’s the deal, Feds. If you kill anyone or burn somebody’s house or church down with them inside, you will have started a civil war, no matter how despicable the Hutaree are, or how crazy, or how provocative. If that happens, there will be NOTHING responsible leaders of the constitutional militia movement will be able to do from our side to stop it. You will have crossed the Rubicon.
In other words, if the federal government takes action against a group about to engage in armed insurrection against the government (assuming that’s what Hutaree was doing), then the government, not the insurrectionists, will have started the civil war.
Again, there doesn’t seem to be much information out there about why an arrest warrant was issued for Hutaree members. It had better be a good reason. But somehow I’m not too concerned that there will be an armed uprising in support of Hutaree. Posturing, bombast, probably some midnight vandalism, yes. But no armed uprising.
Update: Yes, I’d say these charges are worthy of arrest warrants and big, splashy raids. They planned a mass killing of police. Nine people have been indicted. Keep in mind this is a Christian militia.
Update: Today the feds also indicted a man who threatened to kill Republican Senator Eric Cantor. This indictment also seems to me to be justified. I’m not even going to guess at the number of rightie bloggers who think this indictment is good but the indictments against the Hutaree militia members are bad.
With all of these arrests, the only one I can think of right now is poor, poor, poor Glenn Beck:
His ratings are about to go down, and there’ll be all that many of his books left unsold in the remainder bin until they get out in 15 to 20 years.
I hope you’re right about the “no armed uprising,” but I really think the ‘angry’ among us have slipped a cog.
Painful as it was, I watched/listened to the tea party rallies this weekend. “Nancy Pelosi steals wallets – as do ‘liberals.’ “Down with National Healthcare,” End National Healthcare…” So can we assume that tea partiers are perfectly in accord with, comfortable with denying millions of Americans access to health care? Either they’re selfish, callous, cruel people OR they’ve slipped a cog.
All jokes aside, apparently 9 members of this militia, or “church”, are being charged with, among other things, “seditious conspiracy .”
They were going to kill some police, and then use IED’s to kill still more of them in the funeral procession. These are some very, very sick puppies.
And I’m glad they’re being charged with sedition. We need to remind the Cheeto Patriots that what they are talking about is sedition. You are not talking about some romantic, electronic, patriot game version of “Atlas Shrugged,” and going Galt. You are theatening “seditious conspiracy.”
Of course, to Rush, Sean, Glenn, Ann, Sarah, the two Michelle’s, etc., these are patriots who are the vanguard of the coming battle. They are the first victims of Obama using his tyrannical powers to put down the coming revolution against the Godless/Fascist/Socialist/Communist Federal Government.
No worries! You can keep laughing at the suckers who give you ratings and buy your books, and who allow you to live in the gated-communities with the best armed security in this country.
So, keep yapping, and writing. Make sure you don’t run out of money. Because there’s nothing worse than a sucker who decides to get even with the grifter who took advantage of him. And you’d hate to hear, “Sorry, Mr. Beck, but we can’t protect you today. You haven’t made the security payments to our firm for months. You’ll just have to defend you and your family on your own. Oh, and the electrified gate stopped working. You forgot to pay the power company.”
And what should be a telling sign for all of the milita-nuts out there. – when these guys turned to their brethren for help, their brethren turned and ran away.
“WOLVERINE’S!!!”
“Wolverine’s?”
@ felicity
One must remember – for the G(NO)P it’s party first. They are rabidly furious at losing the White House. Their strategy is to make as much of what the Obama administration would like to accomplish fail as they can. Many Republicans receive their news from Fox News or other right wing propaganda outlets. The outright misinformation out there doesn’t get called out by the MSM which is corporate controlled. Add to this the pharma/health insurance lobbyists out there that have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo and it isn’t hard to see why health care reform has been a long tough slog.
This Vanderblurgh loon sounds like he’s hoping for the fire deaths that didn’t happen. And I’ll bet he was really, really upset by the MOVE tragedy in Philly in 1985. Not.
We have a number of different idealogical groups operating under the right wing umbrella:
1. The frightened, low information authoratarian followers, who truly believe that non-whites are taking over their country with the intent to destroy it = tea partiers, Fox News fans, Birthers, conspiracy theorists.
2. The religious fundamentalists, who believe liberals are the evil enemies of Christianity = Focus on the Family, Right to lifers, anti-gays, et al.
3. The anti-government, privatize everything and eliminate taxes folks, who equate any government action with “talking away our freedoms” = warrior-wannabee militias, extreme libertarians, prison-grown hate groups, and those who think government is out to get them (often for good cause).
4. The two-legged sacks of rage, impotence and lunacy wandering the landscape looking for a cause — any cause — to justify violent behavior.
The Republican Party has thrown red meat into that collective cauldron and stoked the fires of hate and rage until the witches’ brew is now beginning to bubble over. They did it. They continue to do it. They own it. And they’ve done it for power, profit and greed. The bastards.
muldoon,
Good description of the 4 groups.
Didn’t we used to keep them up in the attic, or, if they needed sunshine, let them go to the park?
Now we give them TV and radio shows. And, of course, they have blogs, too.
@ cundgulag
Don’t forget YouTube
http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/man-threatened-to-kill-cantor-in-youtube-video.php?ref=fpa
It’s fair to ask whether this was something these guys came up with on their own, in which case I say good police work, or whether this was set up by an FBI provocateur, in which case we should condenn it as entrapment.
In a very real sense, we need some serious stirrings by right wing terrorists right now. Nothing quite like a few right wing terrorists out there to convince the right wing in general of the need to protect civil liberties. (For Americans only, of course, not Scary Brown People. But by all accounts there have been enough abuses of surveillance and wiretapping powers that even limiting the concern to decent, all-American Klansmen would be worth something).
Of course, righties will not see the need to protect civil liberties if they can convince themselves the people who did this were left wingers. Just like Hitler, the guy who flew the plane into the IRS, the Pentagon shooter, etc etc.
It’s worth realizing that, though they all seem to merge together out there on the fringe when we view them from here, there can be huge differences between all these armed groups of crazies. Just because they don’t agree with the mainstream, doesn’t mean they automatically agree with each other, either. I expect there is considerable difference between them about who the ultimate enemy is, for example: the gubmint, the dark people, or the Anti-Christ. (Of course, that doesn’t count the groups that think we now have all three in Obama.)
Hang on folks, it’s likely to get bumpy.
Haven’t heard too much about these people recently.
On March 16, Minuteman president Carmen Mercer sent out an email to members, urging them to come to the border “locked, loaded and ready,” reports the Arizona Daily Star. She added: “You are strongly encouraged to exercise your rights and duty as an American citizen to carry a long arm and if challenged use it to defend the United States of America.”
Mercer said she received a more feverish response than she expected and decided the group couldn’t shoulder the responsibility and liability of what could occur, she said.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/minuteman_leader_when_i_said_to_come_to_the_border.php?ref=fpb
Bob K – There probably is nothing that infuriates me more than when the MSM doesn’t “call out” people when they spew outright, downright lies. We, the people, ‘allow’ those media to use our airwaves in the assumption that they will perform the duty of dispensing correct, valid news/information. Seems to me that failing to do so, their licenses should be revoked.
I’m an American Indian. None of these clowns have a clue about what it means to have your country taken away–not a clue!
@Muldoon: good analysis/grouping.
In general: This comes as no surprise. There has been incitement ever since Obama was elected, and I think talk radio/tv has arrived at the point where “it’s just entertainment” can no longer be accepted. It is not entertainment. It is incitement.
When the wackos say “You’ll never take me alive, G-Men”, it’s the G-Men’s response that is crossing the Rubicon.
Last week, the Beckster attempted to dissuade his followers from violence by arguing “that [violence] is what the liberal bureaucrats want you to do” !
These militia groups seem to be some macho boyhood fantasy and outlet for those who seem themselves impotent to effect change in their lives or anyone else’s.
If every 10-10,000 people began acting out these fantasies we’d have a different militia on every block. We’d even have to have militia groups to take care of the ostensibly disavowed factions within militia groups. If one militia group predominated to the point that it was more powerful than the rest we’d need more militia groups because of that. When does it all end?
I thought the National Guard was available to those who care to serve locally. So what’s the big deal with joining a militia? Is it just to keep one’s weekends free?
The next thing you know it will be politically incorrect not to thank militia members for “their service”.
…and yes, BiggerBox they function as a well oiled machine about as well as the Tea Partiers…the keystone cops x 1000.
OT – Is the Health Insurance Industry going to make the case FOR the public option?
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/29/ron-williams-premiums/#comments
..er I’m using up my allotment for the day but @cundgulag:
These brave souls including the Republican leadership who actively fan the flames by verbal show of sympathy with unspecified grievances while leaving wriggle room for plausible deniability all lead from the rear. When push comes to shove those cowards will be nowhere to be seen. They’re cut from the same cloth as the chickenhawks in the Bush administration who were chomping at the bit for other poor, ignorant souls to go fight the war.
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I am going to lavel this speculation up front. The administration recognized early LAST year the threat of domestic terrorismfrom disgruntled right-wing groups. What we don’t know – and the paranoids of those groups are wondering – have they been infiltrated? These groups want to be big enough to start a military revolution against the government. They are recruiting and it seems likely that some of those recruits are sending reports to DHS.
If these groups plan to do womething violent, it looks like the decision is to make arrests before – not after – an Oklahoma City type event. Let two or three moregrooups get relocated to the federal penal system and the remainder will react – either retreat or attack. I can’t figure if this is going to play out before or after the 2010 elections. My gut says it won’t wait to 2012.
These militia groups seem to be some macho boyhood fantasy
What do you mean “seem to be”? It is! It’s just a bunch of guys who never grew up and are still playing Army like an 8 year old. You can be sure that the root of that fantasy is nourished by a severe insecurity in maleness. These are the type of guys who send away for the inflatable dolls and the penis extender creams, or kits, or whatever it is that will give them that additional 3 inches.
Doug – I should hope that infiltration is s.o.p. for the Feds in dealing with these groups. What I’m (fearfully) looking for are signs of coordination between these groups, that they’re using the internet and other technologies to band together and coordinate activities. That’s the next step after acting, or watching other groups act in isolation.
A big anniversary date for the crazies is coming up – April 19th is the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing and Waco. I don’t know if anyone is crazy enough to act this year – but its only 3 weeks away!
Every time anything happens in Michigan, my wife asks me what’s in the water there. I grew up in the thumb – I escaped over 30 years ago and hope that it’s out of my system now.
Tim McVey was operating about 20 miles north of my home town, which is straight north of Detroit. Adrian is south-west of Detroit. Gotta be fumes from the Rouge River…?
One complicating factor, here, is the very, very high unemployment rate in that area. I remember seeing unemployment rates heading for 30% in southeastern Michigan. They’re scared, their life styles are going down hill, they need somebody to blame, and they have a lot of idle time on their hands. That’s not a good mix.
Bonnie, you are so right when you say:” None of these clowns have a clue about what it means to have your country taken away–not a clue!”
Last night I had dinner with an elderly Native American friend, who, as a young girl, was taken from her grandmother and placed in foster care to be “Americanized.” The Salish language was forbidden to be spoken in that household; no “heathen” practices were allowed and Christian church attenance was mandatory.
“I no longer know how to speak my native language,” my friend said. “I cannot remember how to make the service berry/ black moss pudding or how to turn gamey venison into delicious meat; I can’t remember which are the healing herbs and which plants are deadly. I’ve forgotten my life — I have lost so much… ”
I believe it is worth noting that this woman’s son comitted suicide two weeks ago. Two years ago, her other son comitted suicide — as many Native American young men often do.
That some people believe this nation belongs exclusively to them as Christians or self-proclaimed patriots or as members of any other group that believes as they do, makes me a just a tad peckish.
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/north_of_center/27673/the_present_ammunition_shortage_an_observation
Moonbat – “Live Fire crosstraining with Hutaree, Ohio Militia, and Colonial Marines”
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=357_1202059745
I am on Hubpages forums and the wingnuts are full of vinegar – bragging that they are stocked up on ammo – you jear Palin’s ‘reload” and open talk of war (in the context of revolution against Obama). Are any of these clowns serious? Who knows? But I have never seen it like this. Swami is right in that none of these groups stand a chance against trained police or soldiers. If any politically conservative cops wondered which side they are on, the Hutaree made it clear today.
The danger of these groups is the strategy described in the indictment – which we have never seen in the US. An Iraq-style insurgency with terrorism and IEDs. It could be effective if the movement is not under observation (Hutaree was) except that a cowardly insurgency will not create popular sympathy for the insurgents.
It’s lose-lose for the militias whether they go soldier or terrorst. But look who wins. If the governement is hampered and the country in chaos, things like fair taxes and banking reform and cap and trade are likely left undone. It’s hard to think any group would sponsor a pointless civil war to protect their financial empires but….
Hey, is it just me, or does anybody see a bit of a contradiction in the term “Christian Militia”? WWJU ? What would Jesus use.. a panzerfaust or a BAR?. It doesn’t make any sense to me…why don’t they just call down from heaven a plague of frogs, like Moses did, if they want to bring the government to its knees.
Swami,
…whatever it is that will give them that additional 3 inches…
Or maybe at least 3 inches?
…why don’t they just call down from heaven a plague of frogs, like Moses did…
Because George Soros is just too dang powerful! Witness the POWER of the dark side!
If these clowns actually had any cojones they’d be mercenaries in Afghanistan begging to have a go in Kandahar. But no. It’s: “Uh… I have bursitis.” “But I’m a very important acolyte at my church!” “Who’d feed Leonard, my pet goldfish?”
As for the guy who threatened Cantor, he’s also publicly threatened Obama, our military, and… “Babe,” the pig from the kids’ movie. Seriously. He’s an untreated, mentally-ill person who’s made and uploaded hundreds of rants to YouTube. It wasn’t until Cantor’s name came up, and Cantor’s people complained, that the guy was hauled in for questioning. I guess that makes Cantor the fainting canary in the coalmine.