The Militant Libertarian

I'm pissed off and I'm a libertarian. What else you wanna know?

Friday, November 20, 2009

The ADL’s Three “Extremist Conspiracy Theories” In Context And With Evidence

by Steve Watson

The Anti-Defamation League has published a fresh report directly targeting Alex Jones as an “extremist” and “The King of conspiracy”, lumping in the information contained on this website with the actions of racists and white supremacists.

There is, as usual, one major problem with the ADL’s report – it is devoid of any empirical fact and based entirely on the group’s desire to create the impression that huge swathes of politically disgruntled Americans are violent conspiratorial-minded bigots that they must expose and counter.

“With conspiracy talk-show host Alex Jones leading the way, one of the most disturbing trends in 2009 has been the resurrection and proliferation of some of the same anti-government conspiracy theories that so riled up domestic extremists in the 1990s.” the ADL writes.

The organisation defines three major issues as “conspiracy theories” that exist only in the mind of paranoid delusional extremists. They are:

• Imposition of Martial Law. The federal government is plotting to declare martial law in the near future as a way to strip Americans of their freedoms and institute the New World Order. The government may utilize or even manufacture a crisis, such as the swine flu epidemic, in order to have an excuse for imposing martial law.
• Gun Confiscation. The government is plotting to embark upon a massive program of gun confiscation, going door to door to take firearms away from American citizens so that they will be unable to resist the New World Order. Police, the military and even foreign troops may be used in the gun confiscation efforts.
• FEMA Concentration Camps. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has constructed hundreds of concentration camps in the United States, designed to hold “dissidents” and other American citizens following some imminent crackdown such as a declaration of martial law.


Let’s take each one of these topics and provide some much needed context that is sorely missing from the ADL’s slapped together hit piece.

With regards to martial law and the idea that a crisis could be used to impose it, the ADL should consider speaking with Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman of California’s 27th congressional district and Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma.

Sherman has been a member of the House of Representatives since 1997 and also serves on the Committee on Financial Services along with Texas Congressman Ron Paul, whom the ADL ludicrously refer to in their report as “a far right icon”.

In early October 2008, Sherman told the House that he personally knew of several Congressional representatives who have said they were threatened with the prospect of all out martial law should they vote in opposition to the $700 billion bailout that was eventually passed just over one year ago.

“The only way they can pass this bill is by creating and sustaining a panic atmosphere. That atmosphere is not justified.” Sherman stated.

“Many of us were told in private conversations that if we voted against this bill on Monday that the sky would fall, the market would drop two or three thousand points the first day, another couple of thousand the second day, and a few members were even told that there would be martial law in America if we voted no.” The Congressman continued.

A few weeks later, Senator James Inhofe named Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson as the source of the threat of martial law. Inhofe revealed that Paulson made the threat during a conference call on September 19th, around two weeks before the legislation was eventually approved by both the Senate and Congress.

Congressman Brad Sherman and Senator James Inhofe, two extremist conspiracy theorists according to the ADL’s definition.

For years, Congress has operated under “martial law” provisions which force members to vote on legislation without having time to adequately read and review it.

In addition, the U.S. has been in a declared state of national emergency for over 8 years. During that time it has emerged in several officially released reports, FOIA acquired documents and leaked government memos that preparation and planning is in the works for martial law style scenarios.

Most recently Barack Obama declared a second national state of emergency with regards to the swine flu epidemic. A national emergency allows normal legal procedures regarding a certain issue to be sidelined, should the federal government deem it necessary. Yet to even suggest that might be a fact means you could be a mass murderer in the ADL’s eyes.

Perhaps the most well known threat of martial law came in 2003 from General Tommy Franks, the former commander of the military’s Central Command.

Franks outlined the scenario by which martial law would be put in place, saying, “It means the potential of a weapon of mass destruction and a terrorist, massive, casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western world – it may be in the United States of America – that causes our population to question our own Constitution and to begin to militarize our country in order to avoid a repeat of another mass, casualty-producing event. Which in fact, then begins to unravel the fabric of our Constitution. Two steps, very, very important.”

The threat of martial law is real, even if the imposition of martial law is yet to become a reality, yet to the ADL it is “extremist” to point out these straight forward facts.

The second paranoid delusional theory according to the ADL is gun confiscation.

The ADL says it is an extremist’s fantasy that police and military could be used to confiscate guns in the wake of a national emergency. However, this is exactly what happened in New Orleans in the wake of hurricane Katrina in 2005, as the following video comprised of news footage, eyewitness statements and police press conferences outlines:


Read more at this link.

-----
Got comments? Email me, dammit!
Permanent link for this article which can be used on any website:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home