Author Elizabeth Kilbride said readers who want to help the SEALs should type the word 'SEAL' in the special instruction box at the publisher site online.

Kilbride has deep roots in the military—her father and brother served in two different branches.

Mike Smitley, owner of Father’s Press Publishing, said, “We intend to help these SEALs by providing them with two strategic weapons to help them fight their battle—a book to help educate their fellow Americans and some funds to help in their defense.”

Maritime Tactical Security administers the defense fund The US Report has donated to.

David Lussier, creator of the Facebook group Support the Navy SEALs Who Captured Ahmed Hashim Abed, said, “We are excited that Ms. Kilbride is offering to help this way. She has worked tirelessly on their behalf for several months with maintaining the support page. I know we can help raise a lot of money for the defense fund. Think about it—if all our members bought a book, the fund could have $400,000 in no time.” The Facebook Group has more than 116,000 members.

The book may be purchased directly from the publisher. Purchasers who want to help the SEALs should type the word, ‘SEAL’ in the ‘special instructions’ box on the order form.

Kilbride said, “I am proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with these brave Navy SEALs…I know firsthand the struggles our warriors endure while in a combat zone.”

The US Report has joined Republican members of Congress, the Facebook support group and thousands of others in calling for charges against the Navy SEAL3 to be dropped. Past articles and analysis of the case are archived at TUSR website.

Despite having absolute control of two branches of the federal government, Democrats have not been able to push the federal healthcare takeover through Congress. That may change this week, depending on threats, promises and cajoling by Dem leaders who want something done at any cost. But a poll released on Monday by Independent Women’s Voice found what the activist organization calls “astonishing intensity and sharp opposition to reform.” The poll was conducted by the Polling Company.

The US Report, in the interest of ethics in reporting, does not refer to Democrat plans for healthcare as ‘reform.’ We prefer the accurate term: government takeover.

In an editorial about healthcare at The Wall Street Journal, IWV CEO Heather Higgins and The Polling Company CEO Kellyanne Conway said the national polls Dem leaders cite as showing support for their plans relate to support for “individual provisions of the bill…”

And the two offer a warning to ‘vulnerable politicians’ about political fallout. “Responses to questions about individual benefits, particularly when removed from a cost context, are different from those on the whole bill.”

The poll found 7 in 10 respondents “would vote against a House member who votes for the Senate healthcare bill with its special interest provisions.”

The poll also found respondents had a dim view of the reconciliation process receiving so much media attention. Democrats may believe problems will be fixed if the Senate bill is passed, but voters don’t. The poll found, “Sixty-three percent (50% strongly) think reconciliation is at best a political promise and their congressman shouldn’t vote for the Senate bill if he doesn’t agree with it as written.”

A number of Democrat operatives made the Sunday talk show circuit in hopes of drumming up support with the public for a bill few Democrats have even read.

Many political analysts have questioned the constitutionality of a mandate for health insurance, with  Internal Revenue Service powers broadened so the mandate can be enforced. Hispanic advocacy groups don’t like the prohibition for those in the country illegally, although the same people receive automatic care on demand in US hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

Most lawmakers have not considered the impact of government healthcare on delivery of services, but most Main Streeters realize that a new entitlement program will cost the middle class and erase any so-called benefits the government has promised.

Government intrusion into mortgage lending, car manufacturing and the energy sector has driven consumer costs up and created serious economic challenges for the US. Should the government succeed in taking over healthcare, most of us believe the middle class will pony up to cover the costs and the quality of care will certainly decline for everyone except the truly wealthy.

Our weekly routine can become overwhelming as we try hard to make appointments, meet deadlines and eat three meals a day. Frozen meals at lunch and recipes from Campbell’s soup cans for dinner are our “breaks”, although work is typically the topic of discussion during both. Even the long walk after work is spent restraining two hyper dogs, one of which nearly matches my own weight. This particular pup, of course, was my husband’s choice.

 As hectic as the work week is, the social committee in our condo community in Florida began holding monthly wine tastings the second Monday of each month. At first, I thought of how Mondays are typically spent preparing for the possible inconveniences Tuesday through Friday may bring. The idea of trying to attend a social gathering on a Monday evening seemed laughable. However, this monthly ritual has proven to be quite the opposite, and has also taught us a valuable life lesson.

Hosted by a local wine bar, these wine tastings usually entail four to five different types of wine, all of which come from a common region. A certified sommelier provides a description and history of each pour, and there are snacks such as hummus, cheese and meatballs provided by the bar. We’ve come to expect the same familiar faces each week, and although work may come up in conversation, the discussions tend to focus more on ways to improve the community and other activities that the social committee could plan.

Aside from the convenience of being able to walk back to our house from these tastings, these gatherings are also nice because they remind us that pleasure and relaxation are not just for Saturdays and Sundays. Life just wasn’t meant to be lived that way. Although many of us do not enjoy the luxury of flexible schedules, taking advantage of opportunities to be around people we enjoy, doing things we enjoy doing, are vital to staying happy. As dreaded as Mondays are, the second Monday of each month seems a little more hopeful as we look forward to our quiet evening stroll over to the clubhouse.

So whether it’s a community event or a private gathering of friends, we take time each week to stop and taste life for a little while. As my husband and I listen to our sommelier describe the perfect pairing of an aged cheese with the rich berry flavors of an Australian Merlot, I think of how lucky we are to be together and smiling. With that to chew on, Tuesday just doesn’t seem so bad.

The video shows the care given to folding the flag according to procedure during a funeral for a veteran.On January 6, 2010, the love of my life passed away.  It was a beautiful experience for many reasons.  I could not have asked God for a more perfect scenario for the realization of the vows we took over 21 years earlier, “Until death do we part.”

First and most importantly less than 4 weeks before my husband passed away he accepted Christ as his Savior.  He wrote in a journal I found days before his death, “I do wish I could find religion.  It would make my honey so very, very happy and give her peace of mind.  But, try as I do, it just won’t happen now.  If we are both lucky, some day it is possible.”   How wonderful to find out that he had been seeking God for years.  

We brought my husband home with hospice on New Year’s Day.  I can honestly say before he drifted away in the inevitable way one does with kidney failure, we truly experienced the peace of God that passes all understanding.  He said things like, “Baby, I feel so good…It is so peaceful…I could just purr.” 

In the last conversation he had on this earth he said with a big smile on his face, “Life is good!”  Even in death, his sweet positive nature that touched so many people who knew him was still present.  What a precious gift those beautiful moments were to me.

When I asked my husband how he wanted me to handle the arrangements, he said to do what I wanted, but to get the American flag to which all veterans are entitled.  We had a wonderful celebration of his life at my church, but I never got to tell him that I made the decision to inter his ashes at the Jacksonville National Cemetery.  The funeral home told me what the cemetery offered to veterans. 

Coincidentally, Congressman Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.), whose campaign office I’ve worked in for the last 4 and half years, was primarily responsible for obtaining the cemetery and its funding for North Florida.  I remember how much bringing the cemetery meant to the Congressman.

 I didn’t realize how meaningful it would be to the veterans and their families until I experienced the very moving honor ceremony with the playing of Taps and the presentation of the flag to me with these words, “This flag is presented on behalf of a grateful nation as a token of appreciation for your loved one's honorable and faithful service.” 

To know that beautiful marker among many will be there as a monument to my wonderful husband with his name and the words I chose, “The most excellent of men,” give me great joy and comfort.

In this time of anger and frustration with Washington, it is important for all to understand serving constituents requires fighting for many different issues.  Sometimes it is fighting against things that threaten our country’s future. 

Sometimes it is fighting for things like a National Cemetery so that veterans can be honored on behalf of a grateful nation. 

Spc. Ian Gelig was killed when a suicide bomber drove onto the Tarnak River Bridge. [Photo from US Army 82nd Airborne Div.]For an idea of the complex command structure necessary when different countries form a coalition in wartime, look no further than a post by war correspondent Michael Yon who is currently reporting from Afghanistan. The Bridge, a story posted by Yon on Thursday, discloses challenges in covering a country known for historic British and Russian military blunders. What’s even more intriguing is how much capital rests on a simple bridge in a country where transportation is tricky even on a good day. Yon wrote, “In Afghanistan, there might not be another route for hundreds of miles.”

Ironically the enemy is less affected if a strategic bridge is lost because they rely on less sophisticated weaponry and tactics.

How important is the Tarnak River Bridge? Yon wrote, “Yet this sorry little bridge is important to the United States and NATO, both for the sake of logistics, and, these days, strategy.  If the Tarnak river bridge were to be destroyed before or during the upcoming offensive, that inconvenience would become a genuine impediment to movement of troops and supplies.”

By necessity the defense of an area is broken into components—one fighting force is responsible for the land around the bridge, another is responsible for the bridge itself and so forth and so on.

On Monday, March 1, a suicide car bomb exploded on the Tarnak River Bridge.

And shortly thereafter Yon set out to learn who was actually responsible.

He asked, “Which Coalition partner has final responsibility for this strategic bridge?  Is it the RAF who “own” the ground, or TF-K who mentor the ANP guarding the bridge?  If an officer were to say this vital bridge is solely the responsibility of the ANP, his judgment would be deemed unsound.”

Yon’s article explains all those alphabet groups. If you want real war stories, bookmark Yon’s site. It's set up as an online magazine.

His article is a journey into the story of a bridge that on the face of things is probably not an expensive bridge or a work of architecture worth noticing. Yet the structure is a vital element in a major offensive. Media didn’t ask key questions about what happened and when the story was reported, facts were sorely lacking.

Yon wrote, “Media outlets chose to cite a source that ignored the fact that a strategic bridge was attacked, and instead focused on diversions, such as the timing of the Olympics, versus the damage to a strategic bridge under the very nose of a NATO general.  This diversion might serve to illustrate the ratings-driven focus from ‘news’ outlets seeking manufactured, inconsequential controversy.”

The day the suicide car bomber damaged the bridge, Spc. Ian Gelig was killed. Other soldiers were wounded. Civilians were also killed. The Contra Costa Times (Calif.) said the suicide bomber drove into Gelig’s vehicle on the bridge. Gelig was an Army paratrooper.

One of Gelig’s fellow soldiers told media, “He was always there for you when you needed something."

After reading Gelig's obituary in the paper, I realized he will stay with me as so many others do long after this war is forgotten. The day I became a mother my memory seemed to expand exponentially, and at the same time I began to see a value in human beings from the perspective of a parent. My children created a thread connecting me to others—a sort of universal bond I never envisioned as a young woman determined to focus only on career. I never planned on children until the day I met the man I married and changed many things I never thought possible. That, by the way, was the best day of my life.

A thought arises, pestering like Florida no see ums, the annoying little midges that sometimes bite me at night when I am outside gazing at the stars.

For Spc. Gelig, so much—everything, really—depended on a simple bridge.

[*We give a nod to William Carlos Williams’ iconic poem The Red Wheelbarrow.]

The Coffee Party website features a video with a young female spokesperson explaining the Party's origins as snow falls all around.Having failed to derail the various Tea Party groups around the land, ‘progressives’ have come up with a new tactic—start a Coffee Party as a response to those “obstructionists.” In the video explaining the group’s origins, the narrator said Party members “believe we are in the majority.” As snow falls all around—I have to wonder why it seemed a good idea to film this in the snow because the kid must’ve been freezing—she talks about diversity and being “completely comfortable with the changing demographics of our country.”

Ironically, the speaker also chastises those who would use those changing demographics for “political gain” by using “fear and anxiety.”

Hopefully the day will come when the speaker realizes both major parties have used the issue for political gain—the fact the government is importing 10 times the number of H-2B workers from a single country compared to other countries should be grounds enough for a thinking person to wonder why.

And that same thinking person could then take a look at the large corporations whose pursuit of cheap labor has had a dramatic impact on communities, education, healthcare and crime. The Center for Immigration Studies has an excellent backgrounder on the explosion in H-2B guestworkers, and the backgrounder reflects a federal government catering directly to large corporations at the US taxpayers' expense. The backgrounder isn't written from an advocacy position; the report primarily crunches numbers and data.

One example—a large landscaping company imported 3,872 workers in 2008. Wage range for those workers was $6.65-9.68. Out of that amount, the worker would have to reimburse the employer for housing.

Just for fun ask a Mom and Pop landscape company if they can afford all the legal fees to import what amounts to slave labor.

Or ask an American citizen who's unemployed if he might look for a job in the hotel, machining/welding or ski resort industry. Those industries are at the top of H-2B employers.

Companies seeking increases in H-2B workers have had dramatic impacts on federal policy under both Democrat and Republican administrations.

As our Coffee Party spokesperson shivered in the snow, it was obvious she is genuinely concerned about her country, as many of the rest of us are. On the flip side of her coin, more than 150 years ago, the political Party known as the Locofocos was born in backlash against the national bank, monopolies and federal cronyism. That Party dissolved but the name is so catchy it’s a wonder no one’s resurrected it in these troubled times.

In the US, the Republican and Democrat Parties prevail over the smaller Libertarian, Constitution and Green Party.

Speaking earnestly and looking directly at the camera, the Coffee Party spokesperson, who for some reason looks familiar to me,  talked about how divided Americans are—“Our process has broken down.”

I’d say it’s rather the opposite. For the first time, perhaps, Americans are intensely interested in process despite what some leading Democrats claim. Technology puts information readily available that our forebears didn’t have access to. Washington remains clueless about how informed Main Street really is.

The new Party did inspire a trivial question—will the likes of Keith Olbermann roll their eyes and call these people ‘coffee baggers?’

It remains to be seen whether the Coffee Party will have an impact on Main Street. The group strikes me as an organization of young idealists who sincerely believe ‘progressivism’ is the answer to society’s problems despite the fact progressivism, in the hands of both major Parties in the past, has created some of the biggest problems our country has faced in its short, remarkable history, rendering the US the largest charity in the world and creating a welfare state that may eventually be the largest in world history.

I’m looking to start a Wine Party. We may not get much done but we could surely have fun letting the good times roll. Besides, I like the sound of ‘Wine Baggers’ almost as much as I like the sound of Locofocos.

I'm still trying to figure out where I've seen that young woman.

This antique beauty snapped at a car show in Jacksonville was built at a time when a car was a car. [Photo by Kay B. Day]NUMMI seemed like a good idea. GM was about to close a plant and a partnership with Toyota seemed like a solution. In the 1980s, had Toyota not come along, the Fremont plant would’ve likely ceased to operate. Now Toyota wants out, and American workers will feel the bite.

Protests and petition drives by union members are underway after Toyota announced the closing of New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc., plant in Fremont, Calif. The Japanese car maker’s contract with NUMMI ends April 1.

 In the March/April 2010 issue of ‘Solidarity,’ the magazine for UAW members [The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America], a feature story described protests that included members who “took their message to the Japanese Embassy in Washington on Jan. 28.”

A study by California state officials found 25,000 jobs will be lost when the plant closes. Solidarity puts the figure higher, projecting losses of 4,500 Local 2244 members, and “up to 50,000 supplier and support workers, including hundreds of members of UAW Local 76.

 NUMMI was actually a partnership of sorts between General Motors before GM came under the wings of the US government and Toyota. Solidarity said NUMMI opened 25 years ago.

GM left NUMMI in 2009 as part of a bankruptcy plan.

Solidarity also said the closing would be the “first time in its 75-year history that Toyota has closed a plant.” The magazine points out NUMMI “is the only unionized Toyota assembly plant in the United States…”—this makes the case for a ripple effect on wages and benefits of all automobile plant workers in the country.

Ironically Toyota benefited tremendously from the federal Cash for Clunkers program. UAW vice president Bob King said, “California led the nation in ‘cash for clunkers’ sales in 2009, and Toyota sold more cars under this program than any other automaker.”

But the complete story on NUMMI reaches far past actions by Toyota.

In the 1980s when the US government approved the NUMMI partnership despite strong objections from other manufacturers like Chrysler, the government believed the new plant would bring car prices down and boost US manufacturing jobs. The project was described as “bullet-proof” and proponents assured the collaboration would bring no harm. Originally the agreement provided for building 250,000 cars a year for 12 years.

A Business Week story from Bloomberg noted that Toyota is setting money aside for displaced workers although GM has done nothing of the sort—“Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest carmaker said it’s providing $250 million for workers who will lose their jobs when a former joint-venture auto-assembly plant in California closes next month.”

Criticism and fury are being leveled at the Japanese automaker, with boycotts planned. GM appears to be escaping much of that fury. The Business Week story noted comments from Toyota: “‘The support we are providing to Nummi underscores our commitment to do our part,’ said Jim Wiseman, a group vice president for Toyota’s North American unit. ‘It is unfortunate that neither GM—NUMMI’s other 50 percent shareholder and customer for 25 years –nor Motors Liquidation Company, its current shareholder, has indicated that it will do the same.’”

NUMMI was an experiment of sorts following the first closure of the plant in the 80s when GM operated it alone.

Although Toyota is receiving the brunt of criticism for job losses, history suggests General Motors and the US government also played a significant role in the evolution of the California plant and circumstances that Toyota believes warrant its closing. The NUMMI breakdown is far more complex than setting up a foreign manufacturer as bogeyman, and is perhaps another casualty in an economy increasingly dominated by government rather than by the free market.

Solidarity said NUMMI “is the last vehicle assembly plant in the western United States.” NUMMI was the first time US and Japanese auto companies partnered to build autos in the US.

Criticizing established media brands like The New York Times and The Washington Post, as well as long-time TV networks, is in full swing these days. So turnabout is fair play.  Chuck Todd, head White House correspondent for NBC News, had a few things to say about new media, with particular emphasis on Matt Drudge’s go-to website where many of us pop in throughout the day to see what’s interesting in the world around us.

Matt Drudge has carved a place for himself in media history whether old branded media likes it or not.In an interview with Tommy Christopher at Mediaite, Todd bemoaned ‘Drudge-driven’ journalism. He criticized stories based on “an opinion article allegation, not even a factually based story, that suddenly draws a question because Drudge linked to it.”

Drudge will certainly do the trick when a story runs around frantically looking for legs. For Todd, that is not a good thing. He said, “There’s no worse crime in journalism these days than simply deciding something’s a story because Drudge linked to it.”

In the interest of fairness to the man who is probably our favorite new media success story, Drudge links to content primarily run in old branded media (OBM). He services the reader by letting a story shine a little longer than it would if it sat on the NYT or WaPo site all by itself for a few days (wire services using those papers’ content aside.)

Dodd might ask himself and his colleagues why readers are turning to new media. Here are a few stories old branded media has failed to cover properly although the information is useful to American voters:

• The John Edwards scandal complete with sex, campaign titillations and DNA. The National Enquirer broke that story perhaps because old branded media was busy fawning over then Senator Barack Obama and integrity-promising Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
• The global warming bubble. OBM has yet to conduct any real investigation of the claims that have enriched failed presidential candidate and former VP Al Gore. What OBM is best at is blaming all natural phenomena on global warming. If the birds don’t sing quite as cheerfully, it must be global warming. Let a bunch of fundamentalist Christians cry ‘Armageddon,’ and OBM calls them loons. Let Al Gore and his disciples cry ‘Armageddon’ and the federal government gives them billions in grants.
• The healthcare reform hoax. Based on content in HR 3200, we’re comfortable in our projection Americans will be shell shocked when they see what the final so-called ‘reform’ brings to Main Street. Do what the most of the representatives you pay to do didn’t do: go read the bill.
• The Democrat integrity hoax: That’s an easy one. Spitzer, Paterson, Rangel, Jefferson, Dodd, and Mahoney are just  a few whose stories speak to Pelosi’s promises of change and integrity after her Democrat Party took the house in 2006.
• The Cap and Raid (HR 2454) hoax. Wait ‘til you see what that one will cost us. See ‘global warming bubble’ above.
• The murderer’s always a rightwinger hoax. We direct you to Red State for perspective on why murderers must ALWAYS be rightwingers even if they aren’t: Murder as Politics: An Inconvenient Truth.

Todd’s claims about opinion articles becoming big stories is a summary of news since the industry began. Perhaps he was asleep at the laptop when Alaska governor Sarah Palin was assaulted by all those leftwing blogs whose rumors took on new life in the OBM Todd appears to still believe has integrity. For a final example, check out MSNBC and see what programs are listed as “News.”

Give me a drop of Drudge with my coffee every morning and with my afternoon tea. I can’t remember the last time I tuned into NBC for anything, much less the news. Apparently most of my fellow Main Streeters agree with my views about OBM; a Pew poll found only 29 percent of us believe news organizations get the facts straight.

Rep. Parker Griffith (R-Ala.) switched to the GOP in December, 2009. He is an outspoken critic of fiscal policies current Democrat leaders endorse. [Photo from Rep. Griffith's US House website.]Dr. Parker Griffith represents Alabama’s Fifth Congressional District and the former Democrat legislator is no fan of Obama/Pelosi-care. As a matter of fact, the healthcare boondoggle Democrats are rumored to be so desperate to pass they may use reconciliation is a major reason Griffith crossed Party lines to become a Republican in December. Griffith’s comments as part of the weekly Republican address reflect the impossibility of being a fiscal conservative in today’s Democrat Party.

He said, [T] wo Januarys ago, I was sworn into office as an independent, conservative Democrat.  But like so many Americans, I became increasingly concerned that the policies being pushed by Democrats in Washington were dangerous for our country and out of step with our values… Instead of working across the aisle and focusing on creating jobs, Democratic leaders pressed ahead with their partisan, big-government agenda of taxing, spending, and borrowing from our children and grandchildren.  The trillion-dollar ‘stimulus,’ the ‘cap-and-trade’ national energy tax, I voted against them.”

Griffith believes whatever comes of the bills being touted as a “healthcare reform” platform will do Americans no favors.  “In the next 10 days,” he said,  “Democrats in Washington will try and jam through a massive government takeover of health care.  It would raise taxes, slash Medicare benefits and destroy American jobs.  It would put federal bureaucrats in charge of medical decisions that should be made by patients and doctors.  And it must be stopped.”

Griffith reminded the public Americans “have said loudly and clearly that they do not want this job-killing government takeover of care.” He believes voters want legislators to start anew—“with a clean sheet of paper and a step-by-step approach focused on lowering costs for families and small businesses.”

The Republican congressman realizes the disconnect between those at the top of the government and those on Main Street. He said, “[P]resident Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid refuse to listen to the American people.  For them, health care reform has become less about the best reforms and more about what best fits their ‘Washington knows best’ mentality – less about helping patients and more about scoring political points.”

Driving home his insider status as a former Democrat, Griffith confided, “This is no idle observation. I’ve witnessed it firsthand.”

And like many on Main Street, the doctor-legislator realizes special interests will benefit despite promises made by the president and top legislators.“Even as public opposition continued to rise,” he said, “Democrats refused to let up, stuffing these bills with sweetheart deals for lawmakers and giveaways to Washington special interests.”  

Griffith however does believe there is a route to true reform. He said, “Republicans understand that the right way to fix health care is with a step-by-step approach focused on lowering costs.  Only Republicans have proposed the kind of health care reforms we can afford during this economic downturn, like allowing small businesses to group together to purchase health care plans at reasonable costs just as unions do…The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has confirmed that the Republican bill would lower premiums for families and small businesses by up to 10 percent.”

Details on the plan are posted at HealthCare.GOP.gov.

Griffith spent 30 years practicing medicine in North Alabama.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, by necessity, survives because of the hatred the organization perceives in so called ‘radical right’ groups. Those groups are upset with government policy on taxes and immigration, among other things. SPLC said there are almost 1,000 hate groups in the U.S. What is the criteria for being listed as a hate group?

‘So-called patriot groups’ are one example included in the SPLC rant, defined as “militias and other organizations that see the federal government as part of a plot to impose ‘one-world government’ on liberty-loving Americans…”

Apparently the SPLC hasn’t been following the Al Gore global warming movement, various agreements with the United Nations and and the deliberate interlocking of global economies, in the interest of select hedge funds making themselves richer while enjoying privileged tax status. Considering what George Soros did to Great Britain and what he may want to do to Europe, it would appear the SPLC is clueless as to why Americans might just be a tad concerned.

The spring, 2010, report ‘Rage on the Right’ is filled with inflammatory writing—propaganda would be too kind a word. In the first two paragraphs, both verbs and adjectives carry the hot fire of statist rage: ignited, explosion, furious, anti-immigrant, vigilante, impose, roaring.

Note the use of the term ‘anti-immigrant’ and the omission of the word ‘illegal.’ And ask yourself why SPLC would endorse government policy that deliberately imports uneducated migrant workers and then yawns if they’re here illegally. The government and various advocacy groups are simply creating a vulnerable worker class, largely from one geographic area,  that asks for less and comes to the US to earn and to receive medical care because their home country is a failed state.

The report also quotes a “veteran analyst of the American radical right” who said, “We are in the midst of one of the most significant right-wing populist rebellions in United States history.” I’d probably agree with that. After all, as the report also points out, 61 percent of us believe the country is in decline. And only 25 percent believe the government can be trusted.”

The real cracker-upper comes in an acknowledgment, however: “The anti-tax tea party movement is viewed in much more positive terms than either the Democratic [sic] or Republican parties…”

Of course much of the reason for all this “patriotism” is because there is a black man in The White House as statists like to say. That is factually incorrect as TUSR has repeatedly pointed out. There is a black/white man in The White House. Why do statists zero out Obama’s white mother? Is there a story in that?

Beneath all the hyperbole of the SPLC report there seems to be a visceral fear. The report notes anger about Obama’s election but fails to mention the greatest breach of security in our president’s first term, and that security was breached by his own staff. The White House dinner crashers made for great content in November but few media realized what a remarkable lapse in security the president’s staff allowed. Some blame the Secret Service, and they do share some responsibility. But overall, whoever was in command within the White House staff selected by Obama bears the largest amount of blame, one reason the social secretary finally resigned.

The SPLC did lighten up in one regard. In the last SPLC report, all manner of alleged ‘right wing extremists’ were named, even respectable bloggers and columnists. In the spring report, only Glenn Beck and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) were named.

Another moment of irony manifests as Tenth Amendment resolutions are noted—37 states have either passed or introduced resolutions reminding the federal government there are limitations to its powers and Americans have a copy of the document that establishes those limitations.

In a nutshell, the report makes its own case for anger at the government—well more than half of us believe the US is on a downhill slide and only 1 in 4 of us trust the government. All but 13 states have signed onto the Tenth Amendment resolution cause. And the tea partiers are more respected by Main Street than by elitists who call them all sorts of silly derogatory names and point to select signs from hundreds of thousands of signs to make a case for hate group status.

No one worried much when black Republican appointees were targeted for ridicule and hatred.

The SPLC needs hate groups like Planet Earth needs sunshine. That in itself should give us great cause to question anything that comes forth from that once useful organization, a group now reduced to dinosaur status and identity politics. And money.

Conservative blogger Yid with Lid said the report is, “a progressive political report pretending to be a study on ‘hate.’ The Vigilance Project noted the SPLC must rely on such reports for fundraising.

And there you have it in a nutshell—dogma meets fundraising for purposes of profit. That’s one reason all those inflammatory words meet the reader right up front in the first couple of paragraphs even if the report does implode of its own accord with cherry-picked figures that were meant to prove a position but fail to do so. The report is basic propaganda, as all those adjectives signify.