The Noble Lie

Adbusters is running a piece on the "Tarnac 9" in France, the leader of which is under preventative arrest as the pre-terrorist leader of an "anarcho-automonist cell". Police want to know if he authored the anonymous tract, "The Coming Insurrection."

The Tarnac 9 were once just nine individuals who had withdrawn from the capitalist paradigm to live a quiet, communal life in an isolated French mountain village. They grew their own food, opened a small grocery store and started a movie club where they screened films for their rural neighbors. The group, nearly all of whom hailed from affluent Paris suburbs, were highly educated and, by all accounts, friendly, helpful and generous. It was an idyllic existence, far from the consumer spectacle of modern urban existence.

But then someone – it has yet to be determined who – sabotaged railways in the surrounding countryside, injuring no one but delaying thousands of passengers for several hours.

Suddenly the commune became a cell. The isolated farmhouse became a base, the store became a front and the absence of mobile phones became evidence of an effort to avoid detection. Tarnac’s native population became unwitting accomplices to terrorism. Nine became 9.

In a terrifying show of force, French authorities raided the farmhouse in the predawn hours of November 11, 2008 and tore its sleeping inhabitants from their beds. The balaclava-clad police handled their wards not as alleged vandals or even saboteurs but as high-level enemies of the state: terrorists.

Is "pre-terrorism" an actual offense in France?

Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center adds his always-eager voice to the chorus warning the American public that they are at risk from domestic terrorists. The specific risk mentioned is the "rebirth" of the militia movement.

The Pittsburgh shooter is again linked to "hate web sites and their belief that the United States is evil, they're gonna take away our rights, they're gonna take away our guns." Nice timing on your reports dovetailing with each other there, which just happened to be finished around the same time some neo-nazi blasts on a bunch of cops. Good choreography is a beautiful thing to behold.

I recommend people dust off and refresh themselves on Clinton/Reno-era atrocities to remember the left-wing flavor of jack-booted thuggery. Events such as Waco and Ruby Ridge need to be burned into our memory, just as much as the right-wing jack-booted thuggery which has ruined us over the past 8 years.

The American Civil Liberties Union covers the issue of intelligence reports and police departments targeting ideologies and "radicalization" instead of real crimes and information. Groups on the right and left have been targeted by these blanket warnings, which as the ACLU points out, are of no practical use in helping to catch criminals.

I did not realize how much of a hand the New York Police Department has had in crafting what they call "radicalization theory," the idea that speaking out against government policy is sort of a "gateway drug" to terrorism, and that participation in social activism is a warning sign of a future terrorist.

I expressed some concerns when I first heard about one of these "domestic terrorism" reports. The more I read, the more founded my concerns turn out to be.

Keith Olbermann catches Fox in a big fib, finds the most incoherent speaker in the most ridiculous costume to be the sole spokesman for the movement, has some fun with "teabagging" cities, then brings on Howard Fineman to educate us on which of our concerns are legitimate and which ones aren't.

"These are people who are localists, not globalists, and they feel like they have no control over things." (8 minutes in)

Did they even have teabags in the 18th century?

EDIT: No, I didn't go teabagging yesterday. Yes, the bit about the cities was funny as hell.

"The Rachel Maddow Show is brought to you tonight by Preparation H Medicated Wipes."

That's good, because I needed them by the end of the show last night. First she mocks last year's "End the Fed" protests, teasing Federal Reserve critics by suggesting we want to "go back to paying for stuff with doubloons," because of the "secret subtext" of the Wizard of OZ. She's hip to the "bimetalism" interpretation of the Wizard of OZ.

The major complaint on liberal media about the tax protests today are the participation of "fringe groups" - secessionists, militia types, conspiracy theorists, the "marganalia of the radical right." My major complaint is that party Republicans (the same ones who marginalized and eventually removed Ron Paul from the presidental primary debates) are trying to hi-jack, infiltrate, take credit for, and steer the course of a very genuine patriotic uprising. Texas Governor Rick Perry, the same one who was actively pushing for the Trans-Texas Corridor, whipped a loyal crowd into chants of "Secede! Secede!" What a joke.

During another interview on this same show, one of Rachel Maddow's guests (or maybe it was Olbermann) stated very bluntly that the "fringe" people are anti-globalists and they are whining because they have been shut out of the political process. I'll include more details and post this video as soon as I either find it or upload it myself.

As an aside, the most fascinating interpretations of Theosophist Frank Baum's Wizard of OZ (which has less to do with economics than with finding the "god within") can be heard by Greg (with Vyzygoth of The Grassy Knoll) and Synkronos23 on the Occult of Personality website.

Recession fueling right-wing extremism, U.S. says

According to this article, Homeland Security is concerned that the economic crisis and the fact that we have a black president is spurring  "recruitment and radicalization activity," lumping together "white supremacist groups, anti-government extremists, and militia movements" without naming any specific groups.

"Right-wing extremism" is probably very high at the moment, but this alert is a little too ambiguous for my tastes. While it's already irresponsible to lump these groups together, I think the net will be cast much further than what could be called "right-wing extremism." I'm concerned this is a net for all anti-globalists and anti-free traders, many of whom have some very valid gripes to say the least. The drumbeat is rising to connect domestic terrorism to patriot radio, alternative media, and the internet.

This is a vulnerable time for globalism because it is going public in a big way. This is also an increasingly tense time for people who speak out against it.

Through the magic of repetition during this Middle East conflict, the word "extremist" has become synonymous with "terrorist," which is a slippery enough term on its own.

This presentation by law professor James Duane is full of a million reasons to never talk to police. Watch, listen, learn, internalize.

Words have been failing me lately, and the Ultraviolet Garden has fortunately been picking up the slack. This is another cross-post from her site, because it is so relevant to the theme of this site that it needs to be linked here.

An army of Santas show up early to Tempe, Arizona to give the town a unique present -- they covered the traffic cameras with gift boxes!

Thank you Santa!

Repeat after me

• "I don't consent to any searches, sir."
• "Am I being detained, or am I free to go?"
• [silence]

Interview with the creators behind the cut.

Interview - Busted Creators - Part 1

Interview - Busted Creators - Part 2

Interview - Busted Creators - Part 3

Interview - Busted Creators - Part 4

http://www.stoprecruitingkids.org/

Among all the other things that happened this election, two towns in Northern California, Arcata and Eureka, took the brave step of passing city ordinances to ban the targeting of children under 18 within city limits by military recruiters. How this will be enforced and how the federal government will respond are still up in the air. Hopefully this will be a model for other towns, especially poor communities, who are tired of seeing their children preyed upon.

It is a well-known but little talked about fact that recruiters target children who are too young to enlist, whom our society considers too young to sign contracts and make legally-binding obligations. We as a society have seen fit to protect impressionable youth from drugs, alcohol, and voting. Is it time to add recruitment campaigns to the list? Will the slack just be picked up by private "security" firms like Blackwater?

The Law

No person who is employed by or an agent of the United States government shall, within the City of Arcata, in the execution of his or her job duties, recruit, initiate contact with for the purpose of recruiting, or promote the future enlistment of any person under the age of eighteen into any branch of the United States Armed Forces.

Nothing in this Ordinance shall prevent any person from voluntarily visiting a military recruitment office or specifically initiating a request to meet with a recruiter.

Nothing in this Ordinance shall prevent individuals who are not employed by or agents of the U.S. government from encouraging people under the age of eighteen to join the military.