Another one in a week.
Simultaneous raids carried out in four Alabama counties Thursday turned up truckloads of explosives and weapons, including 130 grenades, an improvised rocket launcher and 2,500 rounds of ammunition belonging to the small, but mightily armed, Alabama Free Militia.
Six alleged members of the Free Militia also were arrested by federal authorities and are being held without bond.
Investigators said the DeKalb County-based group had not made any specific threats or devised any plots, but was targeted for swift dismantling because of its heavy firepower. The militia, which called itself the Naval Militia at one point, had enough armament to outfit a small army.
“We classify these groups as violent and anti-government,” said Jim Cavanaugh, who supervises the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operations in portions of the South. “They stockpile things and live off a fear, a paranoia they’re going to need weapons and explosives because some event is going to happen when they will need them.”
“Any time you have a self-appointed colonel or a self-appointed major and they’ve got weapons and explosives, it is a recipe for tragedy,” Cavanaugh said.
Wow! I would say that I am suprised but I did live in Alabama. People are pretty hard right in that state, but isn’t Idaho where most of these militias call home? I think the moonshine must warp thier brains because Bin Laden is probably not interested in Dekalb county Alabama.
Only 2500 rounds? Really, in rural America that is not unusual for a single individual, let alone a paranoid milita group. Now, rocket launchers and grenades bespeak serious derangement. I do not doubt that the group was a threat, and I do not second guess the enforcement decision. I just think that there must be a cache of ammunition somewhere else, or the report dropped a decimal point or something.
It wouldn’t be the first time the Feds made a big deal out of nothing.
It won’t slow down Oliver’s “the Right’s got all the violence” train any time soon, now will it, Oliver?
There are still some clowns around who think that Cho’s comparing himself to Jesus lends a religious aura to the Virginia Tech shootings.
I said all along. Right-wing hate mongers are the biggest threat to this country.
America will NEVER be destroyed from the outside but from within. A government so corrupt that it causes justice to appear as insanity, and violent, right-wing groups ready and willing to kill all “enemies”.
THIS is what we need to be on guard for. The right-wing is 1,000,000X more likely to enforce their ideologies through violence.
There are still some clowns around who think that Cho’s comparing himself to Jesus lends a religious aura to the Virginia Tech shootings.
Wheres that in your deranged mind…puhleeze
The only people who brought religion into the picture are the Pat Robertsons/Dobson/Falwell of the world who blamed a secular society for the violence….
Lib4: Several people commenting on this blog brought it up. Go see the atheist related threads.
Isn’t there anybody on this fucking blog that doesn’t think they’re a fucking genius?
The only people who brought religion into the picture are the Pat Robertsons / Dobson / Falwell of the world who blamed a secular society for the violence…
I’d love to see that citation, whiz kid…
I know a guy in Birmingham (family friend) who has over a thousand guns. Pretty sure he doesn’t own any rocket launchers, though. He’s the one who makes fun of me and other assorted liberal Democrats in the family by saying “You know the Democrats just want to take your money and give it to the brothers and the unions and the queers, right?!?!” Ha ha. He’s basically a racist dick, when you come down to it. But that’s the South for you. Give us another 50 years, and maybe we’ll get a little better politically.
I think what the wingers are missing here is that the BATF is currently run by Republicans. So despite all the cries that the Democrats want to take people’s guns away, THE REPUBLICANS ARE ACTUALLY DOING IT.
Who hates the 2nd Amendment now, Frank? That’s right, it’s the Bush regime.
ND: Don’t be offended or anything, but that is the most idiotic statement I’ve heard in a while!
First, It’s the BATF’s job,no matter who the President is, to round up illegal guns, and people who traffic in them.
Second, here is how bureaucracies work (and I don’t blame you for not knowing this): When a highly publicized incident like the Va Tech shooting occurs, “The Memo comes down”. What’s that? It’s the “Is our ass covered?” memo.
It translates into, “Before anyone can say, ‘This might not have happened were it not for the Bush administration being palsie walsie with the NRA’, “Get out there and make some gun arrests pronto!”
But the idea that the Bush administration is confiscating guns because they oppose the 2nd Amendment? Preposterous!
I said all along. Right-wing hate mongers are the biggest threat to this country.
So you’ve been this stupid all along?
Frank: “the idea that the Bush administration is confiscating guns because they oppose the 2nd Amendment? Preposterous!”
That’s why Gonzales said he supported the assault weapons ban and Bush said he’d sign its renewal, right? Because they’re such vigorous defenders of the 2nd Amendment?
“that is the most idiotic statement I’ve heard in a while!
Never let it be said that I don’t push myself just a little further, every day. Not like some people who maintain the same level of stupid, post after post.
“It translates into, “Before anyone can say, ‘This might not have happened were it not for the Bush administration being palsie walsie with the NRA’, ‘Get out there and make some gun arrests pronto!’”
So, they started an investigation “about seven weeks ago” and then put it on hold until they needed some political gun arrests? I’m not surprised I didn’t know that, either. Bureaucracies sure are funny.
ND: I’m complimented that you’re “Fisking” me, but you’re still an idiot!
I’ll return the favor:
That’s why Gonzales said he supported the assault weapons ban and Bush said he’d sign its renewal, right? Because they’re such vigorous defenders of the 2nd Amendment?
Do you know what an “assault weapon” is? Check the link.
Because they’re such vigorous defenders of the 2nd Amendment?
Defending the 2nd Amendment and “not being opposed to the 2nd Amendment” are two different things. So, yes, you are striving mightily to become more stupid than you were. I have learned also, from you. I have learned that some people flaunt their ignorance, brag about it, are absolutely proud of it.
So, they started an investigation “about seven weeks ago” and then put it on hold until they needed some political gun arrests? I’m not surprised I didn’t know that, either. Bureaucracies sure are funny.
How can I put this? They accelerated the arrest — you know, speeded it up, because of the Va Tech shootings.
And finally, we agree: Bureaucracies sure are funny
Funny peculiar — like you.
Stick to raving about Iraq — where incomprehensibility and doublespeak are signs of genius. Around here, anyway.
Seriously, tho’. How much of a threat is a bunch of guys calling themselves the Naval Militia 150 miles from the ocean?
Bottom line: Big deal over nothing
Fix blockquote
FIX *blockquote*
“Bottom line: Big deal over nothing”
Arabs have been sent to Gitmo for less. There was a Canadian who was sent to Syria to be tortured for less.
They had a rocket launcher, (a home made one, but it is still a rocket launcher). Just cause they didn’t have a target picked out, doesn’t mean they were not a threat.
OK, OK, they were a threat. Relax, will ya?
In the grand scheme of things, they were a bunch of yokels playing soldier.
Of course they were a threat — they were right wingers, weren’t they?
And we’re forever blowing shit up!
“Of course they were a threat — they were right wingers, weren’t they?
And we’re forever blowing shit up!”
You can’t stop defending your team, can you? I think it may be physically impossible for you to admit someone who shares a similar ideology as you could be a dangerous threat.
Who cares if a right winger blows something up? Unlike you and your left wing buddies, I don’t pretend there is an ideology that has a monopoly on violence and destruction.
In the late sixties and early seventies, you couldn’t swing a dead cat on a college campus without hitting a vandal or a bomber from the left wing of the political spectrum.
A guy I knew going back to high school days, once told me in a bar, “If I thought it would accomplish something, I’d blow this bar up when no one was it”. And we knew the owners personally!
That doesn’t lead me to attribute violence exclusively to the left. That’s where we differ. It’s important for guys like Oliver and you to attribute violence to the right. It feeds your delusion that your particular ideology is somehow better than mine, and that’s really, really, important to you guys.
A year or so ago, John Leo made this great observation: “It used to be that liberals thought they were intellectually superior and conservatives thought they were morally superior. Now liberals think they’re both”
Mheh
“Who cares if a right winger blows something up? Unlike you and your left wing buddies, I don’t pretend there is an ideology that has a monopoly on violence and destruction.”
Two points:
1.) Strawman attack.
2.) Really? Cause it seems to me like you are trying to downplay this group of right-wingers as much as possible, going to far as to say they were just wackos without a political ideology.
“That’s where we differ.”
We differ in a lot of ways.
“It’s important for guys like Oliver and you to attribute violence to the right.”
No, it’s important we figure out why these people are violent and try to stop it. If an ideology plays a part, then we have to look at it.
Part of the right-wing today is the Us or Them. You’re either with us, or against us. Asking questions about how the war is being handled is the same as giving aid and confort to our enemies. This kind of thinking leads to violence very easily since you view the people who disagree with you are no better than the people who are trying to kill you.
“A year or so ago, John Leo made this great observation: “It used to be that liberals thought they were intellectually superior and conservatives thought they were morally superior. Now liberals think they’re both”"
After all we’ve seen over the past decade or so, can you really blame liberals for this?
After all we’ve seen over the past decade or so, can you really blame liberals for this?
I certainly can. Your disappointment with the way the country is run seems to begin and end with conservative Republicans, unless by decade you truly mean ten years, as in back to 1997. I know you don’t mean that.
I also know that for anyone in the United States to think they are superior to anyone else in the United States is not how the game was played when I was growing up.
“We all put our pants on one leg at a time”. “It rains on the rich and poor alike”. Those are the adages I grew up with. Not, “I sure wish the President had better elocution”, or “Our President is an idiot”.
I never thought that when I looked up hubris in a dictionary, I’d find a picture of a liberal staring back at me.
Frank, I gotta say that I’m a little disappointed. It’s sad to see these unwarranted personal attacks coming from someone who is so vociferously opposed to being personally attacked.
Let’s see, I’m…
“still an idiot!”
“more stupid than you were.”
“peculiar”
I’m also raving, incomprehensible and doublespeaking.
Such hurtful words, Frank.
To sum up, the BATF made some political arrests (as you said, they were covering their asses) of some guys who were “a bunch of yokels playing soldier.” And you’re defending this… Why, exactly?
Oh yeah, you’re a Bush apologist. Or, more accurately, a Conservative apologist.
“Defending the 2nd Amendment and “not being opposed to the 2nd Amendment” are two different things.”
So you’re saying that the assault weapons ban was a good thing and that it was compatible with our 2nd Amendment rights? I just want to clarify because most right-wingers were opposed to the ban.
So you’re saying that the assault weapons ban was a good thing and that it was compatible with our 2nd Amendment rights?
I’ll play: No, I’m not saying that…
Your move, maestro
Frank,
Logically, if “if A then B” and “if B then C”, then “if A then C.” Transitive Property of Equality. (I know you know that.)
So, IF the AWB is at odds with the 2nd Amendment, AND IF Bush supported the AWB, THEN Bush is at odds with the 2nd Amendment.
That’s all I’m saying.
“Your disappointment with the way the country is run seems to begin and end with conservative Republicans, unless by decade you truly mean ten years, as in back to 1997. I know you don’t mean that.”
Actually, I mean since about 1995, which is close enough to be a decade. From the rise of the NeoCons till now it is clear that liberals are better than these people. Also, I would have to include the times that liberals were in charge as you can’t compare and contrast two groups by only looking at one.
“I also know that for anyone in the United States to think they are superior to anyone else in the United States is not how the game was played when I was growing up.”
You have got to be kidding me.
“‘We all put our pants on one leg at a time’. ‘It rains on the rich and poor alike’. Those are the adages I grew up with.”
So you grew up with a bunch of insipid platitudes. That explains a lot. (And yes, I know that, “insipid platitudes” is redundant.)
“Not, ‘I sure wish the President had better elocution’, or ‘Our President is an idiot’.”
That’s cause when you grew up the president wasn’t an idiot. Even the latter years of Reagan when his mind started to go he was never as bad as Bush Jr.
“I never thought that when I looked up hubris in a dictionary, I’d find a picture of a liberal staring back at me.”
Hubris is thinking you are a dictator for four years in-between elections. It is not hubris to look at the mess the NeoCons have created and saying, “We could do a better job than this.”
My understanding is that you’re not even an American citizen… So I’ll thank you to stick your criticisms of my American values where the sun refuses to shine.
Go back to your Albert Brooks forum, where there are people at your intellectual level.
“My understanding is that you’re not even an American citizen… So I’ll thank you to stick your criticisms of my American values where the sun refuses to shine.
Go back to your Albert Brooks forum, where there are people at your intellectual level.”
You can’t counter my argument so you go after my nationality? Jesus frank, that was even more pathetic than usual.
CSS: I was ignoring your “babbling – passing – for – an – argument”
Although, it is quite true that you have never given any indication here that you’re familiar with the way most Americans live their lives. But you’re certainly not alone in that.
Why don’t you stop with your silly make – believe arguments?
If you have something to say, i.e., if YOU have something to say, then say it.
Otherwise, stop being a pest. You’re counting angels on the head of a pin, playing word games, how many ways can I say that you’re so – called arguments are unintelligent time – wasters?
Was that good enough for you?
I’m saddened by this… I want to find these people when our government tries to take all of our guns from us.. we need heavily armed militias.. it’s what keeps the peace.. look at Switzerland