The spring “intelligence” report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has been released and as usual it has little to do with intelligence and more to do with fear mongering and misdirection. As an intelligence analyst I know what an intelligence report is and this is not that.
They start off with identifying what they call “Patriot” groups in the United States in 2011. Now in my 56 years in this country I always thought of myself as a Patriot. I have served in the military, went to war, was awarded the Purple Heart, swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, and always thought being a Patriot was a good thing.
Not these, ahem, intelligence analyst of the SPLC – they classify these groups as anti-government. Now don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of anti-government groups around but just because citizens are wishing to hold government accountable, which is their duty, is admirable and does not make them “anti-government.” Maybe anti-unlawful government.
So how does a group get on this prestigious list? Evidently not hard at all; I personally know of a number of these “groups” that have only just started and have done nothing so far, and I mean absolutely nothing. In fact one group, and I’ll get to them later, has a total of 3 people involved, have only had a handful of meetings and have set up a rudimentary web page – that’s it. They must be very dangerous and scary to the “intelligence” folks at the SPLC.
They say they derive their list from “field reports, Patriot publications, the Internet, law enforcement sources and news reports.” Wow, the internet – really? Hmmm. So they search the internet for any group that may identify themselves as patriots and question government. First of all who are we to question government? They would not do anything wrong, would they? I mean they wouldn’t do things like waste public funds on expensive junkets to Hawaii, and Las Vegas (GSA) on the taxpayers dime, or tell the American people lies to get us into wars (Gulf of Tonkin, etc), cause massive economic ruin (Fannie & Freddie), or pass laws that affect us and exempt themselves, etc, etc, etc. But I digress.
So let’s take a look at some of what the SPLC passes off as “intelligence” these days.
More @ News With Views
A few facts about the SPLC's scrupulous "intelligence reports":
ReplyDeleteThis year the SPLC announced that it had designated 1,018 "hate groups" in the US in 2011.
There is no legal definition for "hate group," which is why even the FBI does not, cannot, designate "hate groups," but somehow the SPLC is qualified to do so.
Basically, a "hate group" is anything the SPLC says it is and the numbers always go up every year in the fundraising propaganda.
The technique must be working as the SPLC now has cash assets in excess $223 million tax-free dollars.
Ironically, of the 1,018 "hate groups" designated by the SPLC's $150,000 donor-dollar-a-year public relations guru, Mark Potok, 247 of them are not affiliated with any known city or town.
These homeless "hate groups" simply float about in limbo, padding the numbers on Potok's "Hate Map" fundraising tool. That's 25% right off the top.
http://wp.me/pCLYZ-ce
For North and South Carolina, 33% of their alleged "hate groups" are phantoms, 29% for Virginia and over 50% for West Virginia, (one "group" in flyspeck Hillsboro, WV gets counted 3 times, just to pad the numbers).
In several states the numbers reach an incredible (literally...) 100% of the total!
If the SPLC's "hate group" numbers are entirely fabricated and seriously out of whack, why would anyone give credence to their "patriot" numbers?
Here's a classic example, last year Mark Potok added 20 chapters of something he calls "the Georgia Militia" to that state's hate map, but Mr. Potok can't seem to locate 18 of them.
Really. You cannot make this stuff up. See it for yourselves:
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/hate-map#s=GA
In the past, Mark Potok has made some interesting public comments about the veracity and accuracy of his "hate group" reports:
“Potok acknowledged that some of the groups may be small and said it is impossible for outsiders to gauge the membership of most of the groups.” (David Crary, Associated Press Online, March 10, 2008)
“Potok says inclusion on the list might come from a minor presence, such as a post office box.” (www.sanluisobispo.com, March 25, 2009)
On the impeccably high level of research that goes into each and every “report” churned out by Mr. Potok’s public relations minions:
“Mark Potok, who has directed the SLPC’s Intelligence Project for 12 years, said the report relies on media, citizen and law enforcement reports, and does not include original reporting by SPLC staff.” (www.postcrescent.com, July 6, 2009)
Last October, we got Potok to admit that his numbers were worthless, on camera. The best defense Potok could work up for his spurious "hate group" reports were that they were "anecdotal," "a very rough estimate," and "an imperfect process."
http://wp.me/pCLYZ-bc
Fortunately for Mr. Potok, it really doesn't matter what incredible numbers he pulls out of his imagination. Not one mainstream news outlet has ever vetted his claims and its doubtful that the ever will
Unfortunately, the SPLC has now infiltrated the D HS, which regularly regurgitates Potok's fairy tales as fact and is shaping public policy accordingly.
This is the greatest threat of such "non-profits" with multimillion dollar propaganda departments and decidedly anti-Constitutional agendas.
Thanks and I'm a long time, confirmed hater of the @PLC.
ReplyDeleteThe Despicable $outhern Poverty Law Center
http://www.namsouth.com/viewtopic.php?t=294&highlight=splc
You've got an excellent list of sources there, including I few I had not seen before.
DeleteIf any of my data is useful to you, you're welcome to it. I cite all of my sources, most of which come directly from the SPLC's own documents.
The Internet will prove to be the SPLC's undoing.
The Internet will prove to be the SPLC's undoing.
ReplyDeleteThanks and hopefully. Some of those items go back many years and I have stopped updating the link as there are a huge number these days.