Damn Them

When I attended my first TEA party in February, I went with a mixture of excitement and felt a touch of pride. The excitement was because I had never attended a political protest--the pride came because I felt as though I was truly a patriot in the sense that I was planning to exercise my right to peacefully assemble to protest the government for a very valid reason.

This time though, I am nervous and filled with dread. I am nervous those flaky moonbats will show up and some how suck me into interacting with them. Oh I have a plan, but, Mr. Murphy will show up and bring his stupid law and my plans will become his victim, most likely. I don't want to screw this up for the rest of the movement, of course, I could argue with myself that I am not that important that anything I say tomorrow will screw up the TeaParty movement, but I do tend to blurt things out...So I'm going to avoid the moonbats tomorrow if I possibly can, of course it would be very helpful if the flakes tied a sign around their necks or something.

The dread comes in because I'm going to be attending a rally in a larger city and I read the DHS report, then I listened to this exerpt of an interview with the Under Secretary person at DHS. He couldn't deny that DHS will be at the protests filming or taking pictures. Did you hear me? He couldn't deny that DHS won't be taking pictures of the protestors. They aren't going to make a scrap book with those pictures. Those pictures will NOT be used for any thing good.

SO,the damned moonbats and the damned DHS types have completely freaked me out. I dread going to the TEA party, but I'm going. I won't let them intimidate me into staying home. I WON'T allow my fear of my government force me to become mute. I won't allow my fear of confrontation and bullies keep me from doing what I know to be my duty to try to protect the Constitution and my beloved nation.

So listen up all you damned, flaky statists...I'm not going away. You can scare me. You can bully me. You can threaten me. You can mock me. You can label me an enemy of my beloved nation...but I am not going away. It is a disquieting bit of knowledge to come to the understanding that elements of my nation, in a department that is supposed to protect ME from terrorists---now view ME as a right wing extremist. ME. I am a middle aged, slightly greying suburbanite, grandma who has never been arrested, never been sued, never even had an over due library book, the last speeding ticket I had was in the 80s, I vote regularly, I even have a bird feeder and a goldfish pond in my front yard for crying out loud. I am engaged in my community and church, and I am now labeled by my government as a right wing extremist...the world has indeed gone upside down, nuking futs.

(TEAparty FEB 09)


So, now, maybe I can sleep...maybe.

American Legion Responds to DHS Napolitano

AMERICAN LEGION: An Open Letter to Homeland Security on ‘Rightwing Extremists’
Editor’s note: David K. Rehbein, an Army veteran and national commander of The American Legion, sent the following letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in response to the recent Homeland Security report warning about “Rightwing Extremism.”

Secretary Janet NapolitanoDepartment of Homeland SecurityU.S. Department of Homeland SecurityWashington, DC 20528
April 13, 2009

Dear Secretary Napolitano,

On behalf of the 2.6 million-member American Legion, I am stating my concern about your April 7 report, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence and Recruitment.”First, I want to assure you that The American Legion has long shared your concern about white supremacist and anti-government groups. In 1923, when the Ku Klux Klan still yielded unspeakable influence in this country, The American Legion passed Resolution 407. It resolved, in part, “…we consider any individual, group of individuals or organizations, which creates, or fosters racial, religious or class strife among our people, or which takes into their own hands the enforcement of law, determination of guilt, or infliction of punishment, to be un-American, a menace to our liberties, and destructive to our fundamental law…”The best that I can say about your recent report is that it is incomplete.

The report states, without any statistical evidence, “The possible passage of new restrictions on firearms and the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks.”

The American Legion is well aware and horrified at the pain inflicted during the Oklahoma City bombing, but Timothy McVeigh was only one of more than 42 million veterans who have worn this nation’s uniform during wartime. To continue to use McVeigh as an example of the stereotypical “disgruntled military veteran” is as unfair as using Osama bin Laden as the sole example of Islam.

Your report states that “Rightwing extremists were concerned during the 1990s with the perception that illegal immigrants were taking away American jobs through their willingness to work at significantly lower wages.” Secretary Napolitano, this is more than a perception to those who have lost their job. Would you categorize union members as “Right Wing extremists”?
In spite of this incomplete, and, I fear, politically-biased report, The American Legion and the Department of Homeland Security share many common and crucial interests, such as the Citizen Corps and disaster preparedness. Since you are a graduate of New Mexico Girls State, I trust that you are very familiar with The American Legion. I would be happy to meet with you at a time of mutual convenience to discuss issues such as border security and the war on terrorism. I think it is important for all of us to remember that Americans are not the enemy. The terrorists are.

Sincerely,
David K. RehbeinNational CommanderThe American Legion