Eight men and one woman from the Hutaree militia have been charged in an Eastern Michigan federal court, according to a recently released indictment. If the charges are to be believed, they apparently planned to kill a lawman and then set up IED's to subsequently kill even more people in the funeral procession. If I am correctly reading between the lines of the indictment, an as yet unnamed person probably provided the information the feds needed to make arrests. In any case, someone is going to have to stand up in open court and testify about this plot. And in order for the feds to get a conviction on counts four and five, "carrying ... a firearm during ... a crime of violence," those witnesses will have to be believable and convincing to the average Michigan juror. The same will hold true for counts two and three, which are also weapons and explosives related charges.
To win the first count, a charge of seditious conspiracy, however, prosecutors will need much more than a good witness. As I describe it in my book, Blood and Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement from the Margins to the Mainstream (pp. 144 - 171), the federal government has never won a sedition case against militia-types, white supremacists, or neo-Nazis. Since World War One, they have won numerous seditious conspiracy cases against Puerto Rican independentistas, communists and others on the left. But no one on the radical right has ever been convicted of plotting to overthrow by force of arms the government of the United State of America.
Not that federal prosecutors haven't tried.
During World War Two, two sets of indictments were brought against as many as thirty people with sympathies for the Axis powers. The first one was dropped shortly after it was made. A second set of charges were thrown out of court in 1943. Finally, in 1944, 28 leaders from the Silvershirts, the German-American Bund, the Defenders of the Christian Faith and other National Socialist types were brought to trial in Washington D.C. on charges of sedition. The trial ended after eight months, however, when the judge died. Neither the Roosevelt nor Truman administration re-tried the case.
A second attempt occurred in 1988, when fourteen members of The Order, Aryan Nations, Posse Comitatus and the Covenant Sword and Arm of the Lord faced a mélange of charges -- including seditious conspiracy. The three month trial in Ft. Smith, Arkansas ended in acquittals all around. Simply put, the federals had unbelievable witnesses, a jury with more sympathy for the white supremacists than the prosecutor, and an inept case from start to end.
More significant for the militia case at hand, in order for the prosecution to prove a case of seditious conspiracy they need something more than wild talk and gun charges. They need to be able to prove that these conspiracy-besotted gun nuts had imminent plans to cross the line from speech to sedition.
Now the federal government had less than that when they won convictions of labor militants after World War One and Communist Party members in the 1950s. And the independentistas simply aimed to get the United States government out of their island nation of Puerto Rico, not overthrow it entirely.
Perhaps the government will win the seditious conspiracy case in Michigan, after all. If so, it will be a first.
Rita Nakashima Brock, Ph. D.: The Question of the Cross in "Good" Friday
Atonement theology says, "Jesus died so we might live." It suggests that the torture and murder lamented this Friday is "good."
Clay Farris Naff: The Dangers of Religious Passion
Those who would manipulate the masses to their own advantage invariably draw on the power of passion. And for most of history, and never more than now, religion is the passion of choice.
folks who talk about conspiracy and believe the government is always out to get you"shoot first ask questions later" leads reasonable citizens to request the assault rifle bans to defend them selves from irresponsible rhetoric that may become real. Hutaree is one of many groups that scare people in to legislation for assault rifle bans. you shouldn't march around shooting things and trying to openly incite uneducated folks to share your delusions. Or preach about who's gotta be wiped off the face of the planet...
If any of these alleged seditionists are stupid to take the stand in their own defense, I hope the prosecutor is skillful enough to draw out their theories and show how stupid and ignorant these people truly are.
Well, actually, they're so stupid I doubt the prosecutor will have to be Perry Mason.
Of course.
"I whaant mah cuntree baaak, an keep yo gummint hands off mah Medicaya."
What is disturbing to me in this case is that this may be just a cynical ploy to play the media card and in that sense the government has completely won the case without a trial. These defendants have been announced and pronounced guilty. The MSM no longer gives any credence to the words...allegedly....it blows right through those warnings and pulls the media t r i g g e r on anyone indicted.
When they are released (lives ruined) the news will be on page 6 or ignored completely.
The informant will have gotten the benefit of having their sentence reduced for some methamphetamine conviction or the infiltrator will have been promoted....and the political effects of the indictment will reverberate throughout the nation...thanks to irresponsible journalism, IMO.
Affronted at the very idea that Americans could be violent........
Ignorance I guess IS bliss......
"Hutaree says on its Web site its name means 'Christian warrior.' The group quotes several Bible passages and declares: 'We believe that one day, as prophecy says, there will be an Anti-Christ. ... Jesus wanted us to be ready to defend ourselves using the sword and stay alive using equipment.'
The Web site does not list specific grievances against law enforcement and the government."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100330/ap_on_re_us/us_fbi_raids
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Here's the real words of Jesus Christ, spoken at the Garden of Gethsemane as Jesus was physically attacked and one of his followers used a weapon to harm an attacker. "Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?" (Matthew 26:52-54 King James Version)
And as for battling the Anti-Christ, bullets and bombs don't work. "And the beast which I saw....opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints." (Revelation 13:2,6-10 King James Version)
Further, "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." (Revelation 12:11)
Perhaps Hutaree should take a lesson from the Holy Bible. "Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:17-21)
I notice you didn't quote Deuteronomy 13:13-19 or Leviticus 24:10-16
Eugene Robinson
Posted: March 30, 2010
'...The arrests of members of a Michigan-based "Christian" militia group should convince doubters that there is good reason to worry about right-wing, anti-government extremism -- and potential violence -- in the Age of Obama.
I put the word Christian in quotes because anyone who plots to assassinate law enforcement officers, as a federal indictment alleges members of the Hutaree militia did, is no follower of Christ. According to federal prosecutors, the Hutaree -- the word's not in my dictionary, but their Web site claims it means "Christian warrior" -- are convinced that their enemies include "state and local law enforcement, who are deemed 'foot soldiers' of the federal government, federal law enforcement agencies and employees, participants in the 'New World Order,' and anyone who does not share in the Hutaree's beliefs..."
http://www.indystar.com/article/20100330/OPINION12/3300306/1002/OPINION/The-far-right-s-hate-element
"Rightwing Extremism:
Current Economic and Political
Climate Fueling Resurgence in
Radicalization and Recruitment"
"DHS/I&A assesses that a number of economic and political factors are driving a resurgence in rightwing extremist recruitment and radicalization activity. Despite similarities to the climate of the 1990s, the threat posed by lone wolves and small terrorist cells is more pronounced than in past years. In addition, the historical election of an African American president and the prospect of policy changes are proving to be a driving force for rightwing extremist recruitment and radicalization."
http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf”