With news today that House Repiglians "are calling on Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to step down or be fired", for the DHS report linking some ex-military to right-wing extremist groups, the thought occurs that the Repiglians might want to STFU, and soon.
They should close their flapping and hateful mouths for a moment, and take a look at an article in today's the Ashland, Oregon "Daily Tidings" newspaper. In it, they would find that the DHS report was/is uncannily accurate......
More after the fold....
The Department of Homeland Security issued a report earlier this month warning federal, state and local law enforcement officials that the slumping economy "could create a fertile recruiting environment for right-wing extremists and even result in confrontations between such groups and government authorities similar to those in the past."
Interestingly, this is exactly the scenario that has come into play in Southern Oregon recently, with the (re)emergence of the National Socialist nazi group, led by several ex-military.
They've been busy recruiting new members, leading protests, and handing out thousands of fliers in a three county area containing Holocaust-denying, anti-immigration, anti-Latino, and white-power/neo-nazi messages. "Police across Southern Oregon have been watching the group for several months and have seen an uptick in activity in the past two to three weeks, Medford police Lt. Tim Doney said."
"In times of strain, we see groups like this gain a stronger following," said Stanislav Vysotsky, a sociologist at Willamette University who studies supremacist groups and community responses to them. "We are definitely seeing a resurgence of hate."
Lovely people. Not.
In January 2003 Patterson and two fellow Oregon Army National Guard soldiers attacked two homeless men, calling them a "disgrace to the white race," and an East Indian motel owner in what police called hate crimes. Patterson said the motel owner was targeted because he had thrown one of Patterson's friends out of the hotel, not solely because of his race.
So even in a bucolic place like Southern Oregon, hate can rise and find followers. Janet Napolitano and her DHS report were spot on. Someone needs to wave this story in the faces of the Repiglians, like Texas Rep John Carter (why is it always Texas?), who yesterday organized an hour long group of floor speeches calling for Napolitano's firing and ouster.
This whole "protest" against Napolitano smells like a very organized, and phony attempt to smear yet another of PRESIDENT Obama's appointees. It smells just like something Sen. John Cornyn (TX-Fail) would cook up, in fact, I'd bet money on it. I have something to tell Cornyn and the rest of his squealing little Repiglians...;
STFU you treasonous neanderthals.
The nation no longer wants to hear your unpatriotic whining.
That said, I would like to state that I know many patriotic and wonderful ex-soldiers, some in my own family. They would no more think of involving themselves in right-wing radicalism than jumping off a cliff. A few bad seeds should not be allowed to tarnish the work and devotion to country most of our soldiers have given our nation.