In The Name Of God
by digby
Here’s the latest story on extremist, fundamentalist terrorism. No not that kind:
Federal authorities identified Moose as the person who made the Facebook page. On it, he writes: “Whatever you may think about me, you’re probably right. Extremist, Radical, Fundamentalist…? Yep! Terrorist…? Well…. I prefer the term ‘freedom Fighter’. ‘End abortion by any means necessary and at any cost’. ‘Save a life, Shoot an abortionist’
The affadavit says that starting Jan. 19, Moose made numerous statements “advocating the use of violence in order to affect his ideological and political beliefs. The majority of these postings relate the issue of abortion and the murder of abortion providers.”
One posting on Aug. 22 was “List of death camps with address’ Do with it what you wish.” The affadavit says that post referred to a list of abortion clinics throughout the nation.
[…]
The affadavit says the Facebook page also contained four videos, including one called “Hey Man Nice Shot,”which the affadavit calls “a tribute to individuals who had murdered abortion clinic doctors.”
After obtaining a search warrant, the FBI got access to private messages on Moose’s Facebook account, the affadavit says. In one, Moose wrote, “If there’s any good that I do, I give the glory to my father God. And if there’s any bad I do, well I guess I can take credit for that 🙂 As far as I’m concerned nothing is off limits to stop abortion. Anything and everything goes.”
[…]
Moose told the informant that he is a member of the group the Army of God, which he called a “phantom cell organization. I have set up groups. I train people and this is not my first rodeo.”
During the meeting with the FBI informant, the affadavit says, Moose referred to himself and other anti-abortion extremists as “judges,” told the informant that the murder of a doctor who provided abortions in the Midwest decreased their number there and said the “ends justify the means.”
Moose also called himself “the Christian counterpart of Usama bin Laden” during that conversation, the affadavit says.
It’s tempting to dismiss this fellow as a lone nut and he might be. But the Army of God and other militant anti-abortion groups have been killing people for decades in this country. Check out the Army of God web site if you want to get a sense of what these people are about. The Olympics bomber, Eric Rudolph, was a follower of the Army of God and here’s what he wrote when he made his settlement with the government:
Abortion is murder. And when the regime in Washington legalized, sanctioned and legitimized this practice, they forfeited their legitimacy and modal authority to govern. At various times in history men and women of good conscience have had to decide when the lawfully constituted authorities have overstepped their moral bounds and forfeited their right to rule. This took place in July of 1776 when Our Forefathers decided that the British Crown had violated the essential rights of Englishmen, and therefor lost its authority to govern. And, in January of 1973 the government in Washington decided to descend into barbarism by sanctioning the ancient practice of infanticide by that act consigned 50 million unborn children to their graves. There is no more legitimate reason to my knowledge, for renouncing allegiance to and if necessary using force to drag this monstrosity of a government down to the dust where it belongs.
I am not an anarchist. I have nothing against goverment for law enforcement in general. It is solely for the reason that this govt has legalized the Murder of children that I have no allegiance to nor do I recognize the legitimacy of this particular government in Washington.
Because I believe that abortion is murder, I also believe that force is justified and in an attempt to stop it.
Rudolph, you’ll recall, was helped while he was on the run by many people in the small towns where he was hiding out. They wrote songs about him. He’s considered a folk hero, not a terrorist. And he’s not the first. There have been many who came before him:
Extreme Violence The following are incidents that were reported to or obtained by NAF. Extreme violence has the potential to destroy clinics and harm the lives of clinic staff. More
Murders and Shootings Anti-abortion extremists perpetrated an unprecedented level of violence in 1993 with the first murder of an abortion provider, Dr. David Gunn. Since that time, anti-abortion extremists have murdered or attempted to murder others involved in reproductive health care. More
These are extremists to be sure. And there are violent nuts of all political persuasions. But this systematic reign of terror sponsored mostly by fundamentalist religious zealots, has been going on for decades now. Nobody has ever cared much about it. It’s abortion. It’s icky. Let’s get it off the table.
But anyone who cares about this country probably should care that the mainstream anti-choice adherents have become increasingly more radical as well and just as Rudolph did, they couch their far-out views in American revolutionary rhetoric and fold it into standard far right anti-government extremism. For instance:
In at least two separate radio interviews during her campaign for Nevada U.S. Senate, Republican Sharron Angle appeared to suggest the possibility of an armed insurrection against the U.S. government. Saying that the purpose of the 2nd Amendment “was for the people to protect themselves against a tyrannical government,” Angle added, “if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies.”
Angle is an anti-abortion extremist who believes in Christian Reconstructionism:
Christian Reconstructionism is a political-religious movement formed in the 1960s and ’70s that seeks to return American society to the rule of biblical law. Any attempt to expand government beyond the dictates in the Old Testament — for example, by establishing Social Security benefits, education policy or property taxes — turns government into a false idol, reconstructionists believe.
This woman may very well unseat the Majority Leader of the Senate and become one of the most powerful people in the world. She’s not alone in her quest — the other Tea party candidates are just as extreme in various ways. The movement that backs them has the blessing and support of some of the richest people in the world. And they are on the cusp of becoming a powerful faction in one of the two major American political parties. I think that’s cause for just a little concern. Maybe even some shrillness.
More on this latest arrest, here. He didn’t like Obama, health reform or the “Ground Zero mosque” either.
H/t to bernardpliers
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