There's this article by the AP that Officials See a Rise in Militia Groups Across the US. The cause:
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.The thing is, though, that putatively these groups are organizing militarily because they love America. Both the radical left- and right-wing believe you have to destroy America in order to rebuild it. But one loves the country while as the other one hates it.
What's ironic about all of this is that Jefferson would (at least in some abstract historical projection) support the militia-organizing of Americans. There's a million quotes and variations on what Jefferson said, but it's along the lines of, "What country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms." Rather, I think it was more along the lines of, "The best defense against tyranny is the perpetual threat of revolution."
When Bush visited Portland, Ore., for a fundraiser, protesters stalked his motorcade, assailed his limousine and stoned a car containing his advisers. Chanting "Bush is a terrorist!", the demonstrators bullied passers-by, including gay softball players and a wheelchair-bound grandfather with multiple sclerosis.One protester even brandished a sign that seemed to advocate Bush's assassination. The man held a large photo of Bush that had been doctored to show a gun barrel pressed against his temple.(from FOXNews)
I get a link in my RSS Feed almost everyday from Media Matters about distortions and flat-out misinformation in FOXNews. And that's just from Media Matters' Healthcare watch page.
When it comes to thinking about which ideology to support (because we all have a default ideology whether we want to or not), I always return back to the idea that conservatives are the ones always lacking in facts. If the right-wing was so spot-on, how come there aren't a handful of media watchdog organizations dismantling the supposed vast, left-wing conspiracy of the media.
I did a quick Googling to double-check I wasn't making this up. And the two big ones are Media Matters and FAIR, both of which counter conservative misinformation. The conservative response to this is Accuracy in Media which I never hear about, and if you visit, on the home page, has some dumbass "feature" about Bill Ayers. Not one thing about healthcare!
It's like not only is all news liberal, but the conservative news is muddied by these fact-checkers. Fortunately for the conservatives, Limbag and the other right-wing pundits have succeeded in taking America's trust of the news from 85% to 55%. Even if that means we will distrust news from conservative sources, the net effect is positive for the conservatives, because now they can just put out the opinion spinners, the pundits, to counter the media and their annoying little "facts."
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