GOP Senate candidate envisions black helicopter coming for his handgun

HOWELL -- Republican candidate for the 22nd State Senate District Joe Hune has drunk so much tea lately that he thinks a black helicopter from the UN is coming for his gun.

Hune and his opponent in the Aug. 3 GOP primary, Howell City Councilman Paul Rogers, squared off in a debate Thursday night sponsored by the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus. It’s tradition to play to the base in a primary election, but Hune has gone off the rails in his mad sprint to the right. He apparently is now subscribing to the philosophy of the Michigan Militia.

The seat is open because of term limits, and the winner of the Aug. 3 primary will face off against Democrat Chuck Fellows of Green Oak Township.

“There are conversations going on today at the U.N. (United Nations) to turn that (2nd Amendment) right over to the U.N,” Hune said.

Basically, Hune tried to go as far to the right as possible, by saying no to any and every possible tax increase and throwing out every single talking point and applause line that gets teabaggers fired up. Hune has been seen at many extremist “tea parties.” He calls taxes that pay for the roads, our police and fire, parks and his salary “stealing.”

“I’m a conservative; both socially and fiscally,” Hune said. “Lansing needs to rein in spending. We need to get government out of the way.”

That’s just ridiculous. The fact is tax cuts are not the solution, and if it were we would not be in the worst recession since the Great Depression. Michigan has cut taxes continuously in both good times and bad times, and taxes have been cut 30 times since 1993. Michigan has less state government employees now than it did in 1973.

Rogers, a businessman and former Howell Mayor, also played to the base, but he also said Lansing has been broken for the last 10 years. The fact is Hune was in Lansing for six years – four of those when his party controlled both the House and Senate – and has nothing to show for it and no solutions.
The debate was an unusual format, and it resembled a newspaper editorial endorsement interview. The paper’s publisher and news editor asked questions and then as many follow ups to get a straight answer. That was difficult with Hune, who stuck to his talking points and teabagger applause lines, like his response to gay marriage.

“Marriage is between a man and a woman. Period," he said. "Period; I don't need to explain further."

He stuck to that talking point even when he was asked what was a bigger threat to his marriage: no fault divorce laws or gay marriage.

Predictably, both candidates were against the historic health care insurance reform bill passed in March that will give 32 million Americans life saving health coverage and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says cuts the deficit by $130 billion in the first 10 years. However, after much discussion they conceded Americans should have access to health care, but they never defied what access meant.

Hune has bashed state workers at every opportunity, and he didn’t disappoint last night. He ignored the fact that state employees took six unpaid days off to help make up the deficit last year and we also have less state employees now than we had in 1973. State employees have made concessions that have saved the state more than $3.7 billion since 2001.

Michigan spends more for prisons than it does for higher education because Michigan’s incarceration rates were the 2nd highest in the 12-state Midwest region, and our rate is the 11th highest in the nation. Instead of addressing why that’s the case and look at reforming sentencing guidelines, Hune wants to privatize Michigan’s prisons.

“No one wants to use the word privatize,” he said.

Both candidates said they would not vote for the film incentive package passed overwhelmingly by the Legislature in March of 2008, but when Hune was asked why he voted for it, he tried to claim he didn’t know or understand the package included a tax rebate. Is he serous? He’s either lying or doesn’t read very well, but it was clear in the testimony in committee that it included a rebate. Howell has been the beneficiary of some film production, and Rogers acknowledged that.

“I don’t think I would have voted for it in its current form, but the film industry is worth having,” he said.

Both candidates tried to out conservative each other, coming out against issues that have a lot of support. But Hune clearly won that dubious honor. Hune came out against a graduated income tax despite the fact that a majority of Michigan residents support it, according to a poll by EPIC/MRA for the Detroit News, WXYZ, WOOD, WILX and WJRT television stations.

Both are against the popular workplace smoking ban passed last December. Both supported the package of bills introduced by Sen. Tom George, R-Kalamazoo, to place restrictions on stem cell research that critics have said places so many restrictions on stem cell research that it will effectively kill it. George was the chief spokesman for the opponents of Ballot Proposal 2 that will allow embryonic stem cell research and was overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2008, and the bills are his way to kill it.

Hune went so far as to say the voters were full of crap, and he is so anti-choice he doesn’t think it should be allowed at all.

New documentary on teabaggers is the new Psycho

AFI lists Psycho, Jaws, The Exorcist and the Silence of the Lams as some of the scariest movies of all time; they have not seen "The Rise of New Right," a documentary with Chris Matthews.

In the documentary aired earlier this month, the MSNBC anchor summed up all the tea bagger nonsense that began almost two years ago with his opening statement.

“A raging hostility toward the elected government of the U.S.,” Matthews said. “Their common enemy, the President of the U.S., Barrack Obama.”

He highlights the extremisms of the teabaggers, including birhters, the Michigan Militia, secessionist groups and white supremacists. Matthews offers a crisp timeline, and a quick moving pace. Teabaggers and my rightwing critics on this blog will dismiss it because Matthews is a host on MSNBC and because of his past political affiliation. The problem is he used the teabaggers own words. How do you deny them?

We have rightwing extremist Alan Keyes, for example. I had the misfortune of hearing him speak when I covered the local anti-choice dinner where he was the guest speaker. The Maryland Republican is one of the early so-called leaders of the birther crowd. Keyes has an obvious hatred of Obama because Obama creamed the carpetbagger in the 2004 Illinois Senate election.

“Obama is a radical communist,” Keyes said. “We’ve got to stop him, or the U.S. will cease to exist.”

That’s a sane man? Funny, he calls Obama a communist, but the co-hosts of my favorite radio show have ignited a debate by calling Obama a corporatist who has tacked to the center on every issue. Even if Keyes’ insane rantings were true, the U.S. is stronger than just one man.

The documentary talks to teabaggers and shows photos of their racist signs, including the Gadsden flag that the first Marines used in 1775; just one of many symbols teabaggers have misused. It is displayed at the fake Astroturf “tea parties,” anti-health care rallies, militia events and even by Republican members of Congress playing to the extremists that control the GOP.

“The flag flew as a warning to the occupying foreign oppressor,” Matthews said. “Now, the enemy is not a foreign king, but the government chosen in an honest election by the American people.”

The documentary also talks to the Michigan Militia; a fringe, anti-government hate group. They are now trying to claim a legitimate role, but this is the same anti-government hate group that wants to overthrow the government by force of arms that went into hiding after the Oklahoma City terrorist attack in 1995. They were always there, but only the diehards stayed when people discovered what they were really all about in 1995.

Now, they are trying to clean up their image, but the mission and beliefs are the same as they were the last time we had a Democrat in the White House. But they have done such a great PR job hiding what they are really all about and the fact that the fringe element has taken over the GOP that their membership has tripled since Obama was elected President.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the documentary was the look back at the last tine the extreme right held away in this country, the McCarthyism of the 1950s and the rightwing John Birch Society. The language and rhetoric are eerily similar. Those people played on the fears of people just like they are now.

When you watch, “The Rise of New Right” make sure the lights are on, and you do not watch it alone.

The Michigan Militia can tries to put perfume on a pig

You can put perfume on a pig, but it’s still a pig. The Michigan Militia can wrap themselves in the Constitution and claim a civil defense role, but they are still a fringe, anti-government hate group.

The Livingston County Press & Argus is running a promo for a militia event on Saturday when it “hosts its Open Carry Family Picnic & Tea Party at Island Lake Recreation Area in Green Oak Township.” The paper is reporting “the slogan for this year's annual Michigan Militia meeting is "Show, shoot, shout, and then sip some tea with us."

Their spokesman said "This event primarily tries to take the stigma out of the word 'militia,' and provide information on what we are and who we are.” Nice try, but a zebra can’t change its stripes. After a raid on a militia group called Hutaree in a rural township outside of Adrian in Lenawee County last month, the militia is high gear trying to distance themselves from their brothers in arms. But make no mistake, their basic philosophy is the same.

These anti-government groups seem to pop out of the woodwork when a Democrat is in the White House, and the fake Astroturf “tea parties” has brought out the white supremacists, militia groups and secessionist groups. It has been the worst I have ever seen, and like when the militia went underground after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, it will take another loss of life to send them scurrying back into their rat holes.

The paper is also reporting “the picnic and tea party will also stress preparedness for disasters and Michigan's uncertain future.” “Uncertain future?” What the hell does that mean? Not only do we have the Homeland Security Department, and the real militia - the Michigan National Guard - here in Livingston County we also have the Emergency Management Department, and there are also legitimate groups that can be called on in a disaster, like the Civil Air Patrol or the Red Cross.

But the most laughable part of their mission is to push the so-called “open carry” where you can strap a six gun to your side like the days of the lawless, Wild West instead of having a concealed weapons (CCW) permit.

I have no idea why they are pushing this. It can only be to intimidate people, so it makes me wonder what they are compensating for. Most gun owners never use a handgun for self defense. But more than 30,000 people are killed in this country every year, and 70,000 more people are shot and injured by guns.

According to a study called “Comparing the Incidence of Self-Defense Gun Use and Criminal Gun Use" by the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, 2009,”
“The opportunity for a law-abiding gun owner to use a gun in a socially desirable manner--against a criminal during the commission of a crime--will occur, for the average gun owner, perhaps once or never in a lifetime. It is a rare event.

I never thought I would agree with Livingston County Undersheriff and chair of the Livingston County Republican Party Mike Murphy, who does not support the open carrying of handguns, but I do.

"I don't understand some of the logic,” Murphy told the paper. “If you want to carry a weapon, why not just get a concealed pistol license and be protected?"

Good question.

Despite attempt at spin Michigan Militia is a hate group

You would have to be living under a rock not to have heard about the raid on a militia group called Hutaree in a rural township outside of Adrian in Lenawee County.

The ultra-right wing religious group planned to kill police officers, “who they view as the enemy of their militia-style group,” according to a story in the Adrian Daily Telegram. When I heard the news I was not at all surprised. I worked as a reporter in Lenawee County for about three years in the mid-1990s. I can tell you it was ground zero for anti-government militia groups, and there was a government conspiracy behind every single corner.

I visited the church of alleged Adrian minister Rick Strawcutter, and I’m not at all surprised that there is a religious hate group in the Adrian area. What has been most interesting has been the reaction of the Michigan Militia on the TV news programs. They may not be involved in this particular plot, but make no mistake about it: the Michigan Militia is an anti-government hate group with the same general mission as the group that just got busted.

The Militia has tried to be a mainstream group in the past, but they are really trying harder now after the Oklahoma City bombing sent them scurrying underground. In fact, my first face-to-face meeting with them came in an attempt to mainstream themselves.

I covered a meeting on Gulf War Syndrome for the Telegram, and it turned out to be another militia government conspiracy, according to them. It was disgusting how they used real veterans groups that actually care about vets to push their agenda and try to mainstream their conspiracy theories.

The latest attempt at trying to mainstream a hate group occurred earlier this month. Bridgewater Township Supervisor Jolea Mull sought help from militia members this year to search for missing township residents. What was this woman thinking?

Once a hate group always a hate group, and no attempt to mainstream them will change that. Why didn’t Ms. Mull ask the Civil Air Patrol, the Boy Scouts or the National Guard,the real militia, for help in searching for a missing person. They are trained to do that. I have been a member of two of those groups, and they are well equipped to look for a missing person.

The Civil Air Patrol is the all-volunteer, official civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force with both senior members and cadets from age 12-21, and CAP flies 95 percent of the nation’s search and rescue missions. They are also very familiar with ground searches,and they have chaptes all over, including a very good aquadron in Livingston County.

Hate ginned up by GOP incites violence

No one who has witnessed one of the misnamed, Astroturf “tea parties” over the last year can be surprised at the death threats and attacks we are seeing on the offices of Democratic lawmakers who voted for the historic health insurance reform bill last week.

Hell, you just needed to see how they disrupted the townhall meetings on health insurance reform last summer to see what was coming.

I said way back in April of last year that the anti-government rhetoric going on now is eerily similar to what I saw in the mid-1990s with the Michigan Militia that only died down with the indictment of Timothy McVeigh for the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, and like the cockroaches they are, the rightwing extremists dove for cover like somebody turned out the lights when McVeigh’s association with the Militia came out. Now, some of these same people are back, and they have been joined by other extremist groups, fired up by Republican leaders. Those so-called GOP leaders that have not tried to fire them up for political gain, have been silent on speaking out against it and condemning it.

A propane gas line at the Virginia home of the brother of Rep. Thomas Perriello, D-VA, was cut; whose address was targeted by teabagger group angry at the congressman’s vote for the health insurance bill, the address was mistaken for the Congressman’s home. An envelope containing white powder and a threatening letter was delivered to the office of Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York, who has been an outspoken proponent of health care insurance reform efforts.

Here in Michigan where eight of Michigan’s 15 members of Congress voted for the historic bill, some have been the object of threats and intimidation. According to the AP, the Michigan State Police have increased patrols around the home of U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, who has received obscene and threatening phone calls and faxes.

Now, Reps. Mark Schauer, D-Battle Creek, and Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, are the targets of repeated threats. State Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, spoke out about the threats and intimidation on the Senate floor on Thursday.

“And now there are reports of death threats, cutting gas lines, delivering a coffin to the front yard of one lawmaker, and even threats to kill the children of Democratic lawmakers who supported the bill,” she said. “I think we can all agree; Gosh, I hope we can all agree that this has gotten way out of hand, as the rhetoric and rancor is turning into violent action.”

She was especially upset over the silence of so-called Republican leaders who ginned up the rhetoric, and then denied they had.

“In my view, perhaps the worst offense is that people in leadership positions are silent, and astonishingly, in some cases, it appears that they are actually encouraging this horrifying behavior,” Whitmer said. “None of us should take lightly this dangerous trend. We, as leaders, as legislators should condemn behavior like this—Democrats and Republicans alike. If we don’t quell this now, it will surely foment, and as a society, we will all pay as the election tensions rise.”

She plans on introducing a resolution condemning the behavior as soon as the Legislature comes back from it’s two-week Easter break. It will be interesting to see who supports it, if the Senate Republicans even allow a vote in it.

“Please join me in condemning this activity,” she said. “I have a resolution condemning that behavior, and I hope you will consider adding your name to it. “

Teabaggers trying to make a hero out of domestic terrorist

When I heard the news that domestic terrorist and murderer Joseph Stack crashed his small plane into an IRS office building in Austin, Texas last week I knew that teabaggers and the anti-government militia - really the same people - would make him out to be some kind of hero. They didn’t disappoint.

Already, fan Facebook fan and tribute groups are popping up in his honor. Facebook management is shutting down these groups trying to glorify a murderous terrorist, but they keep popping up like the cockroaches they are.

CBS news is reporting some of the comments posted in the Facebook pages, like this idiot:
"Finally an American man took a stand against our tyrannical government that no longer follows the Constitution," wrote Emily Walters of Louisville, Ky.

This is not much different that the 9/11 terrorists, and even more like the Oklahoma City domestic terrorist. The only difference is that the super-heated, anti-government crap in the mid-1990s led Timothy McVeigh to blow up a federal building in Oklahoma, and the loss of innocent life sent the anti-government cockroaches running for cover only to re-emerge with the election of President Barack Obama.

But Stack’s terrorist attack is just firing up the anti-government teabaggers and their militia allies instead of sending it back underground.

This guy may just be a mentally disturbed guy who hates the IRS and no other government agency, but whatever he is, he’s no hero.

Like I said back in the mid-1990’s when I worked in Lenawee County where the militia was very active, the government you hate is simply your neighbor, the man or woman who coaches your Little League team or is a deacon at your church.

The real hero is Vernon Hunter, a 61-year-old IRS collection agent and a Vietnam veteran who was murdered by Stack.

Teabagger convention launches a thousand conspiracy theories

The media was focused on Sarah Palin at the big, expensive tea party convention in Nashville last weekend, but apparently, her ridiculous attacks on President Obama and the Democrats were mild compared to some other disgusting attacks from tea baggers.

Supposedly, the teabagger movement is all about bipartisan anger at big government and out of control spending, but that’s simply not the case. As I have said before, this is all too familiar to the anti-government rhetoric I saw in the mid-1990s when I went to work as a reporter in Lenawee County after being out of Michigan for a number of years serving in the military.

This militia movement is back, and we are seeing the same old anti-government, “New World Order” rhetoric and government conspiracies around every corner. The only thing these two eras have in common is that there is a Democratic President. This has always been a fringe group, but as the Republican Party veers ever farther to the right, the Militia, white supremacists and other, anti-government, rightwing hate groups are becoming mainstream.

Jonathan Kay, a conservative columnist, attended the convention as a participant, and even he was shocked at the anti-government rhetoric and conspiracy theories he saw.

“It has become clear to me that the movement is dominated by people whose vision of the government is conspiratorial and dangerously detached from reality,” Kay wrote. “It's more John Birch than John Adams.”

“Steve Malloy, author of Green Hell: How Environmentalists Plan to Ruin Your Life, kicked off the first full day of conference proceedings by warning that Obama and his minions are conspiring to control every aspect of Americans' lives—the colors of their cars, the kind of toilet paper they use, how much time they spend in the shower, the temperature of their homes—all under the guise of U.N. greenhouse-gas-reduction schemes. "Obama isn't a U.S. socialist," Malloy thundered. "He's an international socialist. He envisions a one-world government."

There was “Texas radio host Alex Jones, whose documentary, The Obama Deception, claims Obama's candidacy was a plot by the leaders of the New World Order to "con the American people into accepting global slavery.” There’s that New World Order BS again.

There’s “Judge” Roy Moore, who is a darling of the right for, as an Alabama Supreme Court Justice, refused the orders of a Federal judge to take down a display of the Ten Commandments, in violation of the Constitution. In Nashville, “Moore warned, among other things, of "a U.N. guard stationed in every house.”

Then we have the most disgusting and racist remarks by former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colorado, who wants to go back to the deep south of the 1960s when African-Americans were barred from voting by a number of ways, including a literacy test. He called President Barack Obama a "committed Socialist idealogue" who was elected because "we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote."

The most disturbing thing is people actually cheered those remarks. So much for the alleged progress in race relations.

Right-wing, anti-government fringe group holding anti-UN rally on government property

I thought this crap blew up with the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City 14 years ago, but apparently it’s making a comeback with the election of President Barack Obama.

The Michigan Militia is holding an anti-United Nations rally on Saturday afternoon on the steps of the Capitol in Lansing. It seems ironic that they are holding an anti-government rally on a government facility, but nothing about this right-wing group makes sense. Saturday is also UN Day, and it marks the anniversary of the adoption of the UN charter on 24 October 1945. It has traditionally been marked throughout the world by meetings, discussions and exhibits on the achievements and goals of the organization dedicated to international peace and security.

It’s obscene that a group dedicated to chaos and hate is marring that day. It’s also no coincidence that the Capitol rally is being advertised on the white supremacists web site. We saw this crap on display at the Astroturf “tea parties,” and this is basically just one more tea bagger episode.

Irrational anti-government groups like the so-called militia were at their peak until the 1995 terrorist bombing in Oklahoma City by militia sympathizer Timothy McVeigh. They had crawled back into their status as a fringe group after his views were exposed, but earlier this year the Department of Homeland Security issued a report warning that violent, anti-government rightwing fringe groups like the so-called militia are on the rise.

Irrational hatred of the President leads to violence

I thought I had seen the height of hatred and the quest to get someone at any cost with the election of President Bill Clinton in 1992, but the election of President Obama has unleashed unprecedented levels of insane hatred.

The irrational hated is even more then the blatant racism that we are getting from the birthers, the deathers, the 10thers and the tea baggers. Recently I read the book “The Brothers Reuther and the Story of the UAW” by Victor G. Reuther. Both he and his brother Walter experienced a little of that hatred.

Both survived assassination attempts, and the assassins was never brought to justice. However, in the book I came across an excerpt from a 1961 speech by President John F. Kennedy where he talked about hatemongers. He experienced his share of death threats and hatred, and we know what it led to.

In critical periods there have always been those on the fringe of our society who have sought to escape their own responsibility by finding a simple solution, an appealing solution or a convenient scapegoat…They look suspiciously at their neighbors and their leader. They call for a “man on horseback” because they do not trust the people. They find treason in our churches, in our highest court…They equate the Democratic Party with the welfare state, the welfare state with socialism, socialism with communism. Let our patriotism be reflected in the creation of confidence in one another, rather than in crusades of suspicion - above all, let us remember, however serious the outlook, however harsh the task, the one great irreversible trend in history of world is on the side of liberty.

I have not seen this level of hatred and anti-government rhetoric since the mid-1990’s, but that ended with the indictment of Timothy McVeigh for the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building back in 1995. How many people have to be killed and injured because of the hatred whipped up by the likes of limbaugh, beck, malkin and coulter?

The Michigan Militia is back.

The tea baggers are even going after children. You will recall the New Jersey elementary school kids who sang a song during Black History Month celebrating the election of the first black U.S. President. The school received death threats, and even a school that had a similar sounding name received death threats.

Imagine, celebrating a U.S. President. Talk about indoctrination. Don’t we have a holiday in February celebrating Presidents? If you want to see indoctrination, check out this worship of George Bush.

Let’s hope this irrational hatred ends before it’s ended with an event like the Oklahoma City bombing.

Protest planned against rightwing whacko Beck

Rightwing whacko Glenn Beck will be the keynote speaker at the Michigan Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday Sept. 15 at the Kellogg Center on the campus at Michigan State University, 55 South Harrison in East Lansing, and the MSU College Democrats are sponsoring a protest of his appearance.

Faux “news” host Beck is becoming more and more unhinged, and he made the ridiculous claim that President Obama has “a deep-seated hatred for white people.” That means he hates his mother and his maternal grandparents who helped raise him. The good news is people are starting to see through him, and to date some 50 advertisers have chosen not to advertise on Beck’s show.

But that didn’t stop the chamber from paying Beck $25,000 to spew his hatred.

Beck is cut out of the same cloth as hatemonger Ann Coulter, but only worse. He has been one of the prime promoters of the fake, Astroturf “tea parties.” His heated anti-government rhetoric has already led to violence, and it reminds of the mid-1990s when the same anti-government rhetoric led to the worst case of domestic terrorism.

It’s not by accident that the Michigan Militia has made a resurgence, and all you need to do is exchange Obama for Clinton and it‘s 1995. But it’s even uglier, and we have white supremacists groups in the mix now. The Michigan Militia went underground after August 10, 1995 with the indictment of Timothy McVeigh for the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building. But they are back, and Beck is a major reason.

If you choose not to attend the protest or are unable to make it, remember this when the chamber endorses Republicans candidates next year, Is this is the kind of racist, rhetoric the chamber supports?

Tell Beck to get off of your phone.

After more than a decade long silence the Michigan Militia is back

“This is like deja vu all over again."

Those famous words by hall of fame New York Yankee catcher Yogi Berra can describe the political situation today. We saw fringe, extremist hate groups promote and show up in full force at last week’s anti-Obama, pro-Republican misnamed “tea parties.”

White supremacists groups, militia groups and secessionist groups pushed the Astroturf “tea party” hard. Just a few weeks before the “tea party,” the Department of Homeland Security issued a report warning that violent, anti-government rightwing fringe groups are on the rise. The election of the nation's first black president and the current economic recession are contributing to a resurgence of right-wing extremist groups, which had been on the wane since the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.

Republicans and conservatives are disputing the report, but last week’s ugly protests just confirmed the report. All this stuff sounds all too familiar to me.

I was in the heartland of the Michigan Militia movement in the mid-1990s. I returned to Michigan after a 20 year absence in 1994, with just an annual visit to see family, after a career in the military. I took my first civilian job as a reporter for a mom and pop weekly newspaper in Lenawee County’s Blissfield. I was immediately stuck by ugly, anti-government rhetoric.

After technically working for the government for so long the rhetoric came as a shock to me. I would on occasion pick up the pirate radio broadcasts from alleged Adrian minister Rick Strawcutter. This stuff was unbelievable. Government conspiracies were around every corner, and the government was guilty of everything from climate control to cameras on stop lights to control and enslave people.

I’m sure much of it was tied up in Republican’s blind hatred of President Clinton and the tax-payer financed witch-hunt to bring him down. After a couple of years at that newspaper, I moved on to the daily in Adrian. One night I decided to cover a seminar on Gulf War syndrome. Almost every where I have worked I have been the only veteran, and as a Gulf War veterans I felt it was my duty to get the word out on this important issue that I really did not know much about.

What I found shocked and angered me, and it was just another anti-government conspiracy pushed by the militia.

But much of that anti-government rhetoric stopped not long after August 10, 1995 with the indictement of Timothy McVeigh for the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building. It was the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil until 9/11, and right-wingers don’t believe rightwing extremists groups should be monitored? Give me a break.

This is taken from a letter McVeigh wrote to a newspaper in the letters to the editor section: “Taxes are a joke. Regardless of what a political candidate "promises," they will increase. More taxes are always the answer to government mismanagement. They mess up. We suffer. Taxes are reaching cataclysmic levels, with no slowdown in sight ... Is a Civil War Imminent? Do we have to shed blood to reform the current system? I hope it doesn't come to that. But it might.”

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? I heard some of that same rhetoric last week.

After blogging about the extremists like the Michigan Militia helping organize “tea parties” I received a comment from Genoa Township resident Michael W. Lackomark, of the Southeast Michigan Volunteer Militia, Livingston County, MI.

He told me the Michigan Militia was not a hate group, and the protest was really about “…every year the "Rich" will have less and less, and more of us are going to have to pick up the slack to keep paying on all these government "Promises" .” Man, that sounds familiar.

But the Livingston County connection brought me back to an incident involving a friend of mine and one of my best sources when I worked as a reporter in Livingston County, former Fowlerville Police Chief Gary Krause.

In late 1993 Fowlerville police stopped a car after midnight and found three young men with blackened faces wearing camouflage uniforms. One officer noticed a clip of bullets on the floor of the car. The car was searched, and the police recovered several loaded semi-automatic rifles, 700 rounds of ammunition and various military equipment, including night vision goggles. Also discovered were notes in the car indicating the men had been conducting night surveillance of police department communications. The men skipped bail, and instead 50 militia members showed up for the arraignment, they called cops 'punks in badges,' and they said the next time one of them was stopped they'd shoot the cop.

To take a quote from the 1992 movie “Poltergeist:” “They’re back.”