HOMELAND INSECURITY

Scathing report: Tea partiers just like Timothy McVeigh
Claims they believe government has secret plans for martial law

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Posted: March 02, 2010
9:23 pm Eastern


By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily


A new attack by the Southern Poverty Law Center charges the tea-party movement is "shot through" with radical ideas and tied with "hate groups," "furious anti-immigrant vigilante groups" and "so-called 'Patriot' groups."

The SPLC report, "Rage on the Right, The Year in Hate and Extremism," assails Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn., for "plugging" anti-government ideas and Gun Owners of America Executive Director Larry Pratt for daring to promote Second Amendment gun rights.

The SPLC's Mark Potok warns "so-called 'Patriot' groups – militias and other organizations that see the federal government as part of a plot to impose 'one-world government' on liberty-loving Americans – came roaring back after years out of the limelight."

The report echoes themes in a U.S. Department of Homeland Security report last year that characterized "right-wing extremists" as opponents of abortion and illegal immigration and supporters of gun rights and third-party political candidates.

The SPLC said the "radical right" "caught fire last year."

"The 'tea parties' and similar groups that have sprung up in recent months cannot fairly be considered extremist groups," Potok wrote, "but they are shot through with rich veins of radical ideas, conspiracy theories and racism."

The report cited an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll that affirmed only one-quarter of the nation thinks government can be trusted and the "anti-tax tea party movement is viewed in much more positive terms than either the Democratic or Republican parties."

"The signs of growing radicalization are everywhere. Armed men have come to Obama speeches bearing signs suggesting that the 'tree of liberty' needs to be 'watered' with 'the blood of tyrants,'" the SPLC report said.

The quote, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants," is from Thomas Jefferson.

The report noted the Conservative Political Action Conference last month was co-sponsored by groups such as the John Birch Society, "which believes President Eisenhower was a Communist agent," and Oath Keepers, "a Patriot outfit formed last year that suggests, in thinly veiled language, that the government has secret plans to declare martial law and intern patriotic Americans in concentration camps."

Stewart Rhodes, founder of Oath Keepers, told WND such accusers try to link activists with terrorists such as Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, because their arguments have no substance.

The SPLC did just that, stating in its report that there are "an astonishing 363 new Patriot groups" that appeared last year.

"That is cause for grave concern. Individuals associated with the Patriot movement during its 1990s heyday produced an enormous amount of violence, most dramatically the Oklahoma City bombing that left 168 people dead," the report said.

Oath Keepers, Rhodes said, "has nothing whatsoever to do with terrorists like Timothy McVeigh."

He said his group doesn't advocate the overthrow of the government, "whether local, state or national."

"We want our government to return to the constitutional republic which the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution defined and instituted," he said.

Oath Keepers are members of law enforcement or the military who have sworn – again – to uphold the U.S. Constitution against any illegal orders that might be given.

"We hope for a return to a constitutional republic free from fear and hatred. We hate only tyranny. We are Oath Sworn Americans who want the Constitution returned to its legal and rightful place, intact, as the ultimate Law of the Land," his website said.

Rhodes said officers naturally presume orders to be lawful and follow them, but they also must be aware that there have been instances of unlawful orders.

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Pa. school official defended in webcam spy case


Feb 20, 3:54 PM (ET)

By RON TODT


PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A suburban Philadelphia school district accused of secretly switching on laptop computer webcams inside students' homes says it never used webcam images to monitor or discipline students and believes one of its administrators has been "unfairly portrayed and unjustly attacked."

The Lower Merion School District, in response to a suit filed by a student, has acknowledged that webcams were remotely activated 42 times in the past 14 months, but only to find missing, lost or stolen laptops - which the district noted would include "a loaner computer that, against regulations, might be taken off campus."

"Despite some reports to the contrary, be assured that the security-tracking software has been completely disabled," Superintendent Christopher W. McGinley said in a statement on the district's Web site late Friday. Officials vowed a comprehensive review that McGinley said should result in stronger privacy policies.

Harriton High School student Blake Robbins and his parents, Michael and Holly Robbins, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Tuesday against the district, its board of directors and McGinley. They accused the school of turning on the webcam in his computer while it was inside their Penn Valley home, which they allege violated wiretap laws and his right to privacy.

The suit, which seeks class-action status, alleges that Harriton vice principal Lindy Matsko on Nov. 11 cited a laptop photo in telling Blake that the school thought he was engaging in improper behavior. He and his family have told reporters that an official mistook a piece of candy for a pill and thought he was selling drugs.

Neither the family nor their attorney, Mark Haltzman, returned calls this week seeking comment. A listed number for Matsko could not be found.

"We believe that the administrator at Harriton has been unfairly portrayed and unjustly attacked in connection with her attempts to be supportive of a student and his family," the statement on the Lower Merion School District site said. "The district never did and never would use such tactics as a basis for disciplinary action."

A district spokesman declined further comment on the statement Saturday.

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'Dead' woman alive and well in Sanford and fighting Social Security

By WFTV
WFTV Staff Writer

Posted: 8:35 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010


SEMINOLE COUNTY — A Seminole County woman called WFTV for help after she couldn't open a bank account or even upgrade her cell phone, because the Social Security Administration had declared her dead.

The mix-up started when her husband died. Karen Paladino lives in Sanford with her two dogs, but according to the Social Security Administration, she is dead.

"I have been deceased since October 2008 and I was verified by a family member supposedly according to this paper," Paladino said.

Paladino discovered the mistake when she went to the Social Security office in Sanford to apply for disability benefits.

"They said I was deceased I said, 'No I am not, I am right here," she explained.

Paladino's spent the last year submitting paper work, her birth certificate and marriage license to try to get the government to bring her back to life.

"Pronouncing me dead has spread like a disease over my whole life. It's making me crazy," she said.

She can't open a bank account, can't buy a new car or upgrade her cellphone because when the businesses enter her Social Security number into their system, she's listed as dead.

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Human error blamed for mud volcano

February 12, 2010 - 11:59AM
AFP

Scientists have unveiled fresh evidence that gas drillers were to blame for unleashing a mud volcano in Indonesia's East Java that claimed 14 lives and displaced tens of thousands of people.

In a paper published by the journal Marine and Petroleum Geology on Friday, a group led by experts from Britain's Durham University said the new clues bolstered suspicions the catastrophe was caused by human error.

The company being fingered for the disaster, drilling firm Lapindo Brantas, replied in the same journal that the "Lusi" mud volcano was unleashed by an earthquake at Yogyakarta, 280 kilometres away.

Lusi's mud has been devouring land and homes in Sidoarjo district since May 2006, imperilling as many as 100,000 people through subsidence and inflicting damage at $US4.9 billion ($A5.5 billion), according to an estimate by an Australian expert.

Durham professor Richard Davies said drillers, looking for gas nearby, had made a series of mistakes.

They had overestimated the pressure the well could tolerate, and had not placed protective casing around a section of open well.

Then, after failing to find any gas, they hauled the drill out while the hole was extremely unstable. By withdrawing the drill, they exposed the well hole to a "kick" from pressurised water and gas from surrounding rock formations.

The result was a volcano-like inflow that the drillers tried in vain to stop, he said.

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