Gambling IQ Forum - Politics and Religion http://www.gamblingiq.com/forum/ en Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:11:14 GMT vBulletin 120 http://www.gamblingiq.com/forum/images/misc/rss.png Gambling IQ Forum - Politics and Religion http://www.gamblingiq.com/forum/ Country Going Bankrupt and Out of Work and Obama Yo Mama Redecorates the Oval Office http://www.gamblingiq.com/forum/politics-religion/45977.htm Tue, 31 Aug 2010 22:40:24 GMT *Oval Office Makeover (http://www.popcrunch.com/oval-office-redecorated/)* 0 (http://www.popcrunch.com/oval-office-redecorated/#respond) August... Oval Office Makeover

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August 31st, 2010 by Castina
Tagged as: Popular Culture



The Oval Office just got an “Extreme Makeover.”
The Presidential Batcave was completely redecorated while The Obamas were on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, The White House said Tuesday.



New sofas have been brought in, the paint has been refreshed and brand new wallpaper has been hung at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., according to White House officials. In addition, workers installed wallpaper, a rug, sofas, lamps, and a coffee table.
Obama will give the second address of his presidency from The Oval Office on Tuesday to mark the shift away from combat in the war in Iraq.
Visit USATODAY.com For a Complete List of the Renovations…. ]]> Politics and Religion Dirty http://www.gamblingiq.com/forum/politics-religion/45977.htm GOP Takes Unprecedented 10-Point Lead on Generic Ballot http://www.gamblingiq.com/forum/politics-religion/45963.htm Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:10:58 GMT *Republicans also maintain wide gap in enthusiasm about voting* by Frank Newport PRINCETON, ... Republicans also maintain wide gap in enthusiasm about voting

by Frank Newport
PRINCETON, NJ -- Republicans lead by 51% to 41% among registered voters in Gallup weekly tracking of 2010 congressional voting preferences. The 10-percentage-point lead is the GOP's largest so far this year and is its largest in Gallup's history of tracking the midterm generic ballot for Congress.
These results are based on aggregated data from registered voters surveyed Aug. 23-29 as part of Gallup Daily tracking. This marks the fifth week in a row in which Republicans have held an advantage over Democrats -- one that has ranged between 3 and 10 points.
The Republican leads of 6, 7, and 10 points this month are all higher than any previous midterm Republican advantage in Gallup's history of tracking the generic ballot, which dates to 1942. Prior to this year, the highest such gap was five points, measured in June 2002 and July 1994. Elections in both of these years resulted in significant Republican gains in House seats.
Large leads on the generic ballot are not unprecedented for Democrats. The widest generic ballot lead in Gallup's history was 32 points in the Democrats' favor, measured in July 1974, just prior to Republican President Richard Nixon's resignation over the Watergate scandal. This large margin illustrates Democrats' historic dominance over Republicans in registered voters' party identification in the decades since World War II. Democrats controlled the House of Representatives continually between 1955 and 1995, and routinely held generic ballot leads in the double digits during that period.
Republicans Have 25-Point Lead on Enthusiasm
Republicans are now twice as likely as Democrats to be "very" enthusiastic about voting, and now hold -- by one point -- the largest such advantage of the year.
Republicans usually turn out in higher numbers in midterm elections than do Democrats, and Gallup's likely voter modeling in the final weeks of an election typically reflects a larger GOP advantage than is evident among registered voters. The wide enthusiasm gaps in the GOP's favor so far this year certainly suggest that this scenario may well play itself out again this November.
Bottom Line
The last Gallup weekly generic ballot average before Labor Day underscores the fast-evolving conventional wisdom that the GOP is poised to make significant gains in this fall's midterm congressional elections. Gallup's generic ballot has historically proven an excellent predictor of the national vote for Congress, and the national vote in turn is an excellent predictor of House seats won and lost. Republicans' presumed turnout advantage, combined with their current 10-point registered-voter lead, suggests the potential for a major "wave" election in which the Republicans gain a large number of seats from the Democrats and in the process take back control of the House. One cautionary note: Democrats moved ahead in Gallup's generic ballot for several weeks earlier this summer, showing that change is possible between now and Election Day.
Explore more Gallup data relating to the upcoming congressional midterm elections, including Gallup's complete generic ballot trend since 1950, in our Election 2010 key indicators interactive.
Survey Methods Results are based on telephone interviews conducted as part of Gallup Daily tracking survey Aug. 23-29, 2010, with a random sample of 1,540 registered voters, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, selected using random-digit-dial sampling.
For results based on the total sample of registered voters, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.
Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and cellular phones, with interviews conducted in Spanish for respondents who are primarily Spanish-speaking. Each daily sample includes a minimum quota of 150 cell phone respondents and 850 landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas among landline respondents for gender within region. Landline respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday.
Samples are weighted by gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, adults in the household, cell phone-only status, cell phone-mostly status, and phone lines. Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2009 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older non-institutionalized population living in U.S. telephone households. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting and sample design.
In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
For more details on Gallup's polling methodology, visit Gallup.Com - Daily News, Polls, Public Opinion on Government, Politics, Economics, Management.


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GOP Takes Unprecedented 10-Point Lead on Generic Ballot ]]> Politics and Religion Dirty http://www.gamblingiq.com/forum/politics-religion/45963.htm CLIMATE CHANGE LIES ARE EXPOSED http://www.gamblingiq.com/forum/politics-religion/45962.htm Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:09:25 GMT * CLIMATE CHANGE LIES ARE EXPOSED * Image: http://images.dailyexpress.co.uk/img/dynamic/1/285x214/196642_1.jpg ... CLIMATE CHANGE LIES ARE EXPOSED




A damming report has highlighted questions over the credibility of a leading climate change body


Tuesday August 31,2010

By Donna Bowater


THE world’s leading climate change body has been accused of losing credibility after a damning report into its research practices.


A high-level inquiry into the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found there was “little evidence” for its claims about global warming.
It also said the panel had emphasised the negative impacts of climate change and made “substantive findings” based on little proof.
The review by the InterAcademy Council (IAC) was launched after the IPCC’s hugely embarrassing 2007 benchmark climate change report, which contained exaggerated and false claims that Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035.
The panel was forced to admit its key claim in support of global warming was lifted from a 1999 magazine article. The report was based on an interview with a little-known Indian scientist who has since said his views were “speculation” and not backed by research.
Independent climate scientist Peter Taylor said last night: “The IPCC’s credibility has been deeply dented and something has to be done. It can’t just be a matter of adjusting the practices. They have got to look at what are the consequences of having got it wrong in terms of what the public think is going on. Admitting that it needs to reform means something has gone wrong and they really do need to look at the science.”
Climate change sceptic David Holland, who challenged leading climate change scientists at the University of East Anglia to disclose their research, said: “The panel is definitely not fit for purpose. What the IAC has said is substantial changes need to be made.”
The IAC, which comprises the world’s top science academies including the UK’s Royal Society, made recommendations to the IPCC to “enhance its credibility and independence” after the Himalayan glaciers report, which severely damaged the reputation of climate science.
It condemned the panel – set up by the UN to ensure world leaders had the best scientific advice on climate change – for its “slow and inadequate response” after the damaging errors emerged.




Among the blunders in the 2007 report were claims that 55 per cent of the Netherlands was below sea level when the figure is 26 per cent.
It also claimed that water supplies for between 75 million and 250 million people in Africa will be at risk by 2020 due to climate change, but the real range is between 90 and 220 million.
The claim that glaciers would melt by 2035 was also rejected.
Professor Julian Dowdeswell of Cambridge University said: “The average glacier is 1,000ft thick so to melt one at 15ft a year would take 60 years. That is faster than anything we are seeing now so the idea of losing it all by 2035 is unrealistic.”
In yesterday’s report, the IAC said: “The IPCC needs to reform its management structure and strengthen its procedures to handle ever larger and increasingly complex climate assessments as well as the more intense public scrutiny coming from a world grappling with how to respond to climate change.”
The review also cast doubt on the future of IPCC chairman Dr Rajendra Pachauri.
Earlier this year, the Daily Express reported how he had no climate science qualifications but held a PhD in economics and was a former railway engineer.
Dr Pachauri has been accused of a conflict of interest, which he denies, after it emerged that he has business interests attracting millions of pounds in funding. One, the Energy Research Institute, is set to receive up to £10million in grants from taxpayers over the next five years.
Speaking after the review was released yesterday, Dr Pachauri said: “We have the highest confidence in the science behind our assessments.
“The scientific community agrees that climate change is real. Greenhouse gases have increased as a result of human activities and now far exceed pre-industrial values.”




Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | UK News :: Climate change lies are exposed ]]> Politics and Religion Dirty http://www.gamblingiq.com/forum/politics-religion/45962.htm Democratic Congresswoman Gives Scholarships to Family and Associates -- Count up to 23 http://www.gamblingiq.com/forum/politics-religion/45961.htm Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:04:32 GMT Comments 312 | Recommend 33
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Count of scholarships given to Dallas Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson's family, associates rises to 23

 06:40 PM CDT on Monday, August 30, 2010

 By TODD J. GILLMAN / The Dallas Morning News
tgillman@dallasnews.com WASHINGTON – Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson awarded eight scholarships last year to her grandsons and a top aide’s children -- bringing to 23 the number of scholarships she handed out since 2005 in violation of Congressional Black Caucus Foundation eligibility rules.
A previously undisclosed list, provided Monday afternoon by the foundation, shows that Johnson’s grandsons Kirk and David Johnson, along with the children of her district director in Dallas, Rod Givens, each received two scholarships last year, under two competitions run by the foundation.
Also Online
Johnson steered scholarships to relatives
Blog: Politics
Link: Congressional Black Caucus Foundation


Together, the Johnsons and Givenses accounted for half the 16 scholarships the longtime Dallas Democratic lawmaker handed out in 2009 with foundation funds.
None of the other eight recipients got more than one scholarship.
The Dallas Morning News reported Sunday that over the last five years, Johnson has awarded up to $20,000 in scholarships to two grandsons, two great-nephews, and Givens' children between 2005 and 2008.
The students should have been ineligible under anti-nepotism rules in the scholarship program, foundation officials said. They also would not have qualified because recipients are supposed to live or study in congressional districts represented by members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
The disclosure of the 2009 awards is sure to intensify the focus on Johnson's handling of the scholarship funds. Already, her election opponent is accusing her of "corruption" over the issues.
"Eighteen years in office breeds corruption," Stephen Broden, a Republican pastor who is challenging the nine-term Dallas Democrat, said Monday on WBAP's Mark Davis Show. "We need to really have a change that emphasizes the needs of the district over self-interest and self-aggrandizement."
Johnson has acknowledged violating the scholarship rules but said she did so unknowingly. And the congresswoman plans to repay the funds “by the end of this week,” Johnson spokeswoman Dena Craig said Monday night.
The foundation's general counsel, Amy Goldson, said the group is reviewing its records to determine the precise amount at issue.
As for Broden, he touts tea party credentials and concedes that conventional wisdom makes him a long shot. Johnson has easily defeated Republicans for years in that district, the only one in North Texas dominated by Democrats. Its population is predominantly minority, and Johnson controlled the drawing of its initial contours as a state senator two decades ago.
The incumbent, 74, has raised $450,000 this election cycle and has about $260,000 in the bank. Broden has raised half as much and has about $44,000 on hand.
But he said the scholarship issue could provide a wedge to get more attention.
"There are far too many people inside the district who are in need of that kind of support," he said on WBAP. "When you have that kind of resource available to you as a congressperson you want to make sure that those kids who are in need receive the kind of support that would facility them having access to a quality education."
Johnson couldn't immediately be reached for response to Broden's comments.



Count of scholarships given to Dallas Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson's family, associates rises to 23 | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News ]]> Politics and Religion Dirty http://www.gamblingiq.com/forum/politics-religion/45961.htm <![CDATA[Ron Paul questions whether there's gold at Fort Knox, NY Fed]]> http://www.gamblingiq.com/forum/politics-religion/45954.htm Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:22:29 GMT By Michael O'Brien - 08/30/10 10:21 AM ET
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) said he plans to introduce legislation next year to force an audit of U.S. holdings of gold.
Paul, a longtime critic of the Federal Reserve and U.S. monetary policy, said he believes it's "a possibility" that there might not actually be any gold in the vaults of Fort Knox or the New York Federal Reserve bank.

The libertarian lawmaker told Kitco News, a website tracking news about precious metals, that an audit was necessary to determine how much the U.S. maintains in gold reserves in case the government were to use gold to back the dollar.

“If there was no question about the gold being there, you think they would be anxious to prove gold is there,” he said.
“Our Federal Reserve admits to nothing, and they should prove all the gold is there. There is a reason to be suspicious and even if you are not suspicious why wouldn’t you have an audit?

“I think it is a possibility," Paul said when asked if there was truth to rumors that there was actually no gold at Ft. Knox or the New York Fed.

Paul had been one of the Republicans to spearhead a broader audit of the Fed as part of the Wall Street reform bill passed through Congress this year. The provision, which was weakened somewhat in the final version, found Paul joining with a number of Democrats to require the Fed to open its books and outline its assets and liabilities.

The gold reserves, which Paul's new bill would audit, are generally seen as a guarantee on a nation's currency, but the U.S. moved the dollar away from being tied to the price of gold in 1972.

Paul stopped short of calling for the reinstitution of the gold standard and instead called for the government to allow the use of hard currency — gold and silver tender — alongside the use of the dollar.

"If people get tired of using the paper standard they can deal in gold or silver,” he said.


Ron Paul questions whether there's gold at Fort Knox, NY Fed - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room ]]> Politics and Religion Dirty http://www.gamblingiq.com/forum/politics-religion/45954.htm Republican Precinct Chair endorses Libertarian John Jay Myers for Congress http://www.gamblingiq.com/forum/politics-religion/45773.htm Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:17:34 GMT *Republican Precinct Chair endorses Libertarian John Jay Myers for Congress* *posted by *Staff (http://www.lp.org/blogs/staff)* on *Aug 20,... Republican Precinct Chair endorses Libertarian John Jay Myers for Congress

posted by Staff on Aug 20, 2010


Texas Libertarian John Jay Myers is running for U.S. Representative in the 32nd District. A local Republican Party precinct chair endorsed Myers recently, writing this:
As a Republican Precinct Chair, people have asked me why I am not supporting the party’s nominee and incumbent, Pete Sessions.
Here are just a few reasons why:
1. Sessions voted for the 2008 Wall Street Bailout – twice.
2. Sessions voted for the Patriot Act – twice.
3. Sessions voted for foreign aid – numerous times.
4. Sessions voted for the second largest expansion of government healthcare.




Republican Precinct Chair endorses Libertarian John Jay Myers for Congress | Libertarian Party
]]> Politics and Religion Dirty http://www.gamblingiq.com/forum/politics-religion/45773.htm <![CDATA[The truth behind America's 'civilian militias']]> http://www.gamblingiq.com/forum/politics-religion/45690.htm Fri, 20 Aug 2010 03:02:01 GMT * Armed and extremely... patriotic. Why a growing number of Americans are preparing for a war against their government. * ... Armed and extremely... patriotic. Why a growing number of Americans are preparing for a war against their government.


By Alex Hannaford
Published: 12:08PM BST 19 Aug 2010
54 Comments


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Militia leader Johnny Cochran. Photo: MATTHEW RAINWATERS

Johnny Cochran in his 'Disgruntled Combat Vet' T-shirt. Photo: MATTHEW RAINWATERS

Johnny Cochran trains fellow militia men to kill the enemy by stabbing them in the back. Photo: MATTHEW RAINWATERS


In heavy camouflage gear, Johnny Cochran squats down and shuffles noiselessly along the ground. His target is a large man who, like Cochran, is in military fatigues. Seconds later, Cochran leaps up and stabs the man once, hard, in the neck. The movement is swift, and would almost certainly be lethal, were it not for the fact that the ‘weapon’ Cochran is wielding is a pen.

The scenario I have just witnessed may be simulated, but its protagonists are deadly serious. This is a ‘close combat training’ session given by ‘Fireteam Diamondback’ – an armed militia group, or civilian ‘army’, based in west Texas, in the United States. Cochran, a chain-smoking 39 year-old with a handlebar moustache and goatee whose T-shirt reads: ‘Disgruntled Combat Vet – Right Wing Extremist’, is their leader. Biro-wielding or not, he’s not someone you would wish to encounter in combat.

‘Straight into the base of his skull,’ he says, after pretending to plunge the pen into the neck of Steven Page, a member of another militia group who has joined the training. ‘That’s the nerve centre. Then you push forward. If you’re dealing with someone short, that works like a charm, but if you’re dealing with someone tall, grab his face, insert the knife and when you shove that knife forwards, pull him towards you.’
Cochran smiles. ‘You’re going to make a hell of a mess, but human flesh tears easily. Bone is a pain in the a--.’ He knows what he’s talking about, having served four years as a combat medic with the US Marines during Operation Desert Storm. His ‘handle’, or nickname, in the militia is ‘Doc’. And yet, as he freely admits, the hypothetical enemy – the target he’s teaching the people gathered here today to kill – is a US soldier.
Why? Cochran says he is simply exercising his constitutional right to assemble an armed civilian force that is prepared to fight any enemy, be they domestic or foreign. There are 27 men in Cochran’s squad including, apparently, both former and serving soldiers, policemen and members of the sheriff’s department.
This didn’t surprise me. I’d already read about Richard Mack, a former sheriff of Graham County, Arizona, who now travels the country ‘crusading for freedom and individual rights’ and insists ‘the greatest threat we face today is not terrorists; it is our own federal government’.
The militias, which are dotted throughout the US and, according to recent figures, are growing rapidly in numbers, claim they are bulwarks against tyranny. The US Department of Homeland Security takes a dimmer view, warning of a ‘rise in Right-wing anti-government extremist activity’ as far back as April 2009 and a ‘phenomenon of violent radicalisation’.
Indeed, according to the Southern Poverty Law Centre (SPLC), which tracks extremist groups, the US has seen a dramatic spike in attempted domestic terrorism ever since Barack Obama started his campaign for office, including: two skinhead plots to assassinate him; a plan to set off a dirty bomb packed with radioactive materials during the inauguration; and a lone assassin, Keith Luke, who began murdering black people in Massachusetts.
Of course, militia activity is hardly new to the US. The very first article of the Constitution granted Congress the power to call on ‘the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions’ and the subsequent Militia Act of 1792 defined the militia as every able-bodied male citizen over 18 and under 45.
It’s an act that has been embraced by a fair number of American citizens ever since, whether loners or disparate groups of armed, disgruntled civilians. In 1992, Randy Weaver, a former US Army Green Beret, moved himself and his family to an isolated cabin in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, to escape what they saw as a corrupt world. Rather than a peaceful nature-lover, officials claimed Weaver was a member of a race-hate group and he was charged with weapons violations. When he failed to appear in court, they stormed the cabin, resulting in the fatal shooting of Weaver’s wife, Vicki, and 14-year-old son, Sammy.
The deadly ambush only added to militias’ grievances against what they saw as an unlawful and despotic federal government. But it was the siege at Waco, Texas, a year later, that really ignited the movement. Following the deaths of 80 people in the fire, Waco became a rallying point for conspiracy theorists, members of the patriot movement and a rabid end-of-days philosophy.
Timothy McVeigh was one of those unhinged people who visited Mount Carmel during the weeks following the battle between cult members and officers of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Two years later, he would use plastic explosives to blow up the Federal Murrah building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.
It was 1995 before Theodore Kaczynski, the ‘Unabomber’, was arrested, after a domestic mail bombing campaign spanning almost 20 years. Having honed his survival skills from his isolated cabin outside Lincoln, Montana, the by-then 68 year-old had succeeded in killing three people and injuring 23 others with bombs that often included bits of treebark and wood, a symbolic protest against what he saw as the destruction of the wilderness around his home.
With this sort of history, it’s perhaps unsurprising that so many militias were loath to let me in. My quest began in February this year, after a report by the SPLC claimed that the number of Right-wing extremist groups had risen by 250 per cent since Obama’s election. I had approached groups from all over the country in the hope that one of them would let me watch them train. Then, in April, members of a radical Christian militia in Michigan known as the Hutaree were arrested for allegedly plotting to kill police officers. Suddenly, the movement had become even more fearful of media interest – not to mention the heat of the law.
I still wanted to find out first-hand why there were a growing number of people wanting to arm themselves – and against what exactly? And this was how, one spring evening, I eventually found myself face-to-face with Johnny Cochran, the head of Fireteam Diamondback (named after the rattlesnake abundant in this part of Texas), in his local Italian in the oil-rich city of Odessa.
I was due to watch Cochran and his men train the next day. But first, I wanted to find out more about him and his members. Why had he left the military? Cochran told me that he had been shot in the leg by friendly fire in Iraq and in the finger by an Iraqi, and had left the navy ‘just before Comrade Clinton took office in 1992’.
So how could he ever envisage taking up arms against the US military? ‘If they take our guns away,’ he told me. ‘They already did it after Hurricane Katrina. They declared a national emergency then went through neighbourhoods disarming civilians. The National Guard units went house-to-house, physically body slamming an elderly woman to the ground, taking a .38 revolver from her even though she was telling them she needed it to protect her family.’
That was a Republican administration, I pointed out. ‘The Democrats are running towards socialism at 100 miles an hour and Republicans are only running 60,’ he said. ‘They’ll all get to the same damn place eventually. Our job as militia is to re-establish the government in a way George [Washington] and the boys intended. And to do that we can’t go and hide in the bushes; we have to take active participation in the overthrow that Thomas Jefferson point-blank told us was our duty as Americans.’
Cochran certainly sounded ready for some ‘active participation’, reeling off a list of items he always carries in his car ‘in case of emergencies’: an AR15 assault rifle, a minimum 300 rounds of ammunition, a knife, first aid kit, food for three days, combat boots, a Cold Steel curved knife (‘I can remove a human limb with that and the head of a white tail buck with one swat’), a Kimber 45 pistol and six spare magazines, a shotgun and military-issue MREs (meals ready to eat).
I asked when he thought this revolution might happen. ‘We’re anticipating something happening prior to the November elections because the Democrats know they’re on the way out.’
This may sound like some crackpot fantasy, but it’s one that’s undeniably gaining currency. According to the SPLC report, there were 147 ‘patriot groups’ in 2006; by 2009 there were 512. ‘There has been a stunning expansion in these groups,’ Mark Potok, a spokesman for the SPLC, tells me. ‘In addition, there was an 80 per cent rise in hardline anti-immigration groups and hate groups like the Klan and neo-Nazis.’
Cochran, who runs a small oilfield company, told me emphatically that his group was not racist and that, like a lot of militias, he resents being grouped together with race-hate groups by organisations such as the SPLC.
‘They say we’re Nazis but it’s ironic because we’re faith-based and the Nazis deplored religion,’ he said. ‘We’re pro-rights, and the Nazis removed as many rights as possible. All this has done is strengthen the core support.’
Certainly, the militias I spoke to all seemed to share the same preoccupations. One man recruiting for a new militia in Oklahoma told me he wanted to be ‘prepared to put down a tyrannical government’. A member of a group in Mississippi said that if the government ‘did something crazy’, like take away their guns, he couldn’t predict what people would do: ‘This could get real ugly, real quick.’
Their opposition to federal government is what distinguishes them from the militias of old, which were designed to aid the government, rather than fight them, in the event of a national emergency. Indeed, according to civil rights organisation the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the militia movement claims to be the ‘militia’ enshrined in the Constitution but is not. The ADL says that they are simply private, unregulated paramilitary groups but that there is no federal law against their existence.
Cochran, who grew up within 20 minutes of the city of Midland, George W Bush’s hometown, was introduced to the movement by his father ‘as soon as I was big enough to carry a rifle’, at the age of 10. He joined the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps in high school, after which he signed up to the military. Cochran’s wife (he won’t reveal her name) was born in ‘liberal Kansas’ – apparently a running joke in their family – and has degrees in Spanish, mathematics and chemistry. She is also an expert marksman.
Cochran told me that some of the close-quarters training would be ‘off-limits’ the next day – although he would evidently relent when it came to demonstrating knifing someone in the throat. ‘We do simulation but we don’t condone anything that is illegal,’ he tells me. ‘If someone is to show up at one of our exercises with an illegal weapon they’ll be turned away.’
The next morning I am waiting with Cochran at a restaurant five miles out of town. Inside the next door petrol station, you can buy cowboy hats, model buffalo heads, and John Wayne mugs and alarm clocks. A truck pulls up and two men get out wearing camouflage gear.
One is Steven Page, who will later help Cochran with his ‘knife’ demonstration. The other is ‘Shepherd’, a 48-year-old computer store owner. Both are from another group, the Southwest Texas Desert Militia, but occasionally train with Cochran. The sticker on the back of Shepherd’s truck reads: ‘I love my AR15’.
Cochran leads us to a ranch 10 miles up the road, owned by a friend in the oil business. The land here is flat and peppered with nodding donkeys. Black rubber piping snakes its way along the paths, carrying water to the wells: once the oil is extracted they are filled with water to prevent sink holes occurring.
We pull up by the edge of a large quarry. Grey clouds loom overhead and although it was 91F (33C) here the day before, today it’s a chilly 52F (11C). Cochran grabs his AR15 and starts walking in a straight line through the quarry, intermittently raising the gun to his eye and firing.
The ground is littered with hundreds of corroded steel and brass bullet cartridges. ‘Any damn fool can stand still to shoot a gun,’ he says. ‘You gotta be moving – and always keep your gun loaded; an empty rifle is a baseball bat.’ Shepherd walks forwards. ‘Safety off, mine is hot,’ he says, before taking eight shots at an old piece of wooden board 500 yards away on a bank. He walks another five paces and shoots again, this time blasting a large rock apart. ‘Rock o’clock,’ Cochran cackles.
Shepherd likes to quote the following to justify his involvement in the militia: ‘When seconds count, the police are always minutes away.’
‘Look at the Los Angeles riots – people were dying, man,’ Page adds.
A lot of their fears – and those of many militias like them – are of a kind of post-apocalyptic future in which the infrastructure of civilisation collapses. They say this could come about as a result of natural disaster or if the government imposes what they see as unconstitutional laws: enforced health care, increased gun control. And they want to be ready.
Cochran has even got a ‘safe zone’ – a ranch outside Odessa that has its own water source and solar panels to generate electricity, and where he stores food, guns and ammunition. ‘Jefferson himself anticipated a violent revolution every 75 to 100 years. We’re running a little behind schedule,’ he says. ‘The last thing I want to do is look down the sights of my rifle at another American – that would be the most sickening prospect I could dream of – however, I’m a realist. I can pray all day long that this won’t take place but I’m not stupid enough to think it never will.’
‘They’ll fine me for refusing to buy health care first,’ Shepherd says. ‘Then I won’t pay the fine, I won’t show up to court, they’ll come to try to take me to jail and at that point they’re on my land illegally. So someone’s going to be met at the door looking down the barrel. And it’ll only take one person to refuse to be taken away to start the whole thing off. I’m ready to put this into practice, I’m ready to lay down my life for what I believe.’ I don’t doubt him.
At the same time, Shepherd appears quiet and fairly gentle – not the sort of person you’d associate with a militia. I ask what his wife thinks of his involvement. ‘All she knows is what the mainstream media say about the militia – bad, bad, bad,’ he says. ‘She’s worried I’m going to get arrested but there are key things I never want to be a part of or that I will never talk about.’
Cochran tells me the militia has what are termed ‘standing orders’ in place, in the event they capture anyone attempting to impose martial law or take away their constitutional rights on the ‘battlefield’. American officers will be executed by bullet. Foreign fighters, mercenaries or civilians employed by the US government to carry out its work will be ‘hoisted and hung’.
Cochran walks to the back of his Hummer and begins to change into his ghillie suit – military clothing designed to blend in with the surrounding vegetation that is covered in strands of green and tan cotton fibres that hang off like matted fur. ‘Man, they are great colours, we wouldn’t see you 20 yards away in the mesquite,’ Shepherd says. Page adds: ‘Let us know if we pee on you.’
By the end of the day, Cochran has demonstrated how to stab someone wearing combat body armour, how to break the finger of someone pointing a gun at your head, and explained how to use a piece of PVC and some hand grenades (‘the most wonderful toys in the world’) to make a trip wire.
I ask Cochran who taught him all this. ‘Uncle Sam,’ he says, fixing me with a stare and then erupting in a throaty cackle before lighting another Marlboro. ‘And he spent a lot of money teaching me how to do this s---.’
We drive in convoy to a nearby café, where Shepherd prays over our chilli hot dogs. Cochran had told me his militia was a ‘faith-based organisation’ and after a chorus of ‘Amens’ I ask how they can reconcile practising killing people with their Christian beliefs. Wasn’t Jesus supposed to have been a pacifist?
Cochran is quick on the draw. ‘Jesus Christ said: “He who does not have a sword should sell his robe and buy one”, because a man who will not defend his family and friends is worse than a fool. Now, when Christ said that, a fool was absolutely the worst thing you could call someone.
Jesus said if a man is to strike you on the cheek, turn to him the other cheek. But if he strikes you on the other cheek, God leaves that up to you. You can either turn and walk away or you can fight.’ But he didn’t say that, I say. ‘No. But the catch is, after he strikes you on the other cheek, God doesn’t tell you what to do. It depends on how you’re struck,’ Cochran states.
The following day I call Mark Potok at the SPLC in Washington DC. He says the growth of these radical Right groups is related to three factors: the changing racial demographic of the country (by 2050 it’s estimated the US will lose its white majority); the election of Obama – who many of these groups feel does not represent the country their white Christian forefathers built; and a depressed economy.
Potok admits that not every group is racially motivated but says there is a ‘great deal of profound unease out there’. ‘It’s based on completely baseless fears of a new round of gun control, yet Obama has made it clear he’s not going to do that. He even signed a bill to allow guns to be carried in national parks,’ he says.
‘They say Obama has run roughshod over the Constitution by passing a health care bill, but so often these people argue something is unconstitutional when what they really mean is they don’t like it. If you don’t like it, vote out your congressman.’
So is Johnny Cochran’s outfit actually dangerous? ‘Some small percentage of members of these groups will act on their fears,’ Potok says. ‘I think when you get to the point of teaching people how to sever other human beings’ necks and carotid arteries, the law does get interested.’
He also says it’s entirely possible the US could see another ‘Oklahoma’, but when, and how, is impossible to predict. For the moment, that same ‘spark’ hasn’t happened. But it could – any day. And America needs to be ready.





The truth behind America's 'civilian militias' - Telegraph ]]> Politics and Religion Dirty http://www.gamblingiq.com/forum/politics-religion/45690.htm <![CDATA[John Boehners opponent's campaign ad]]> http://www.gamblingiq.com/forum/politics-religion/45576.htm Wed, 11 Aug 2010 08:09:44 GMT One of the better ones I have seen LOL




 ]]> Politics and Religion Reno Paul http://www.gamblingiq.com/forum/politics-religion/45576.htm