"JIHAD JANE" Aka Colleen LaRose Receives 10 Yr Sentence For Murder Plot To Defend MUSLIMS (AL QAEDA Is On The Rise)

#JihadJane

A Pennsylvania Woman who coined herself "JIHAD JANE" , was sentenced to 10 yrs in Prison for plotting to KILL a Man she claims offended Muslims.


ARTICLE: "Jihad Jane Gets Reduced Sentence For Cooperation"

A Pennsylvania woman who called herself "Jihad Jane" online and plotted to kill a Swedish artist was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison after telling a judge she was once obsessed with Jihad.

Colleen LaRose had faced a potential life term.

But Judge Petrese Tucker accepted a government request to reduce the sentence, because of her extensive cooperation with investigators.

Prosecutors still asked for decades in prison, fearing she remains dangerous.

LaRose, 50, of Pennsburg, Pa., told the judge she once had thought about jihad from morning to night, saying she was "in a trance."

"I don't want to be into jihad no more," she said.

She was sentenced to 10 years in prison plus five years of supervised release. She could be out in a little over four years, given the more than four years she has already served and the potential for time off for good behavior.

Prosecutors depicted LaRose as a "lonely and isolated" woman who sought excitement by joining the jihadist cause. She was flattered to get an assignment to kill a foe of Islam.

U.S. investigators say she participated in a 2009 conspiracy to target artist Lars Vilks over his series of drawings depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad as a dog. Muslim extremists in Iraq had offered a $100,000 reward for anyone who killed Vilks, who was never attacked.

The Justice Department said Ali Charaf Damache, who was living in Ireland, recruited LaRose and another U.S. woman via jihadist websites.

Damache married the other woman, Jamie Paulin Ramirez, in a Muslim ceremony on the day she arrived in Ireland from Colorado that same month.

LaRose left the terror cell in Ireland after about six weeks not because she thought better of the murder plot, but because she "grew frustrated because her co-conspirators were not ready for action," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams said Monday.

Others need to know, she said, that "if you plot to kill someone, you are going to receive decades behind bars - decades - even if you cooperate," Williams said.

Public defender Mark Wilson, though, said LaRose has come to understand the true, peaceful tenets of Islam and said "there's virtually no chance that she would ever be involved in violent jihad ever again."

Judge Tucker said she had no doubt LaRose, who stalked Vilks online, would have killed him had she had the chance.

"The fact that out of boredom, or out of being housebound, she took to the computer and communicated with the people she communicated with, and hatched this mission, is just unbelievable," Tucker said.

LaRose returned to Philadelphia in 2009 to surrender, becoming one of the few women ever charged in the U.S. with terrorist activities. Her arrest was kept secret and the indictment unsealed only after Paulin-Ramirez and the six others were rounded up in Ireland months later.

Paulin-Ramirez and another co-defendant, Maryland teen Mohammad Hassan Khalid, are scheduled to be sentenced this week in Philadelphia.

The March 2010 indictment charged LaRose with conspiring with jihadist fighters and pledging to commit murder in the name of a Muslim holy war, or jihad. The indictment was announced hours after authorities arrested seven suspected terrorists in Ireland allegedly linked to LaRose.

In e-mails recovered by the FBI over 15 months, LaRose agreed to marry an online contact from South Asia so he could move to Europe. She also agreed to become a martyr, the indictment said.

The man she had agreed to marry told her in a March 2009 e-mail to go to Sweden to find the artist, Lars Vilks, who had depicted the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog, the indictment said.

Vilks has questioned the sophistication of the plotters but said he is glad LaRose never got to him.

LaRose pleaded guilty Tuesday to four counts: conspiracy to support terrorists, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, lying to investigators and attempted identity theft.

LaRose, born in Michigan, moved to Texas as a girl and had married twice by age 24. Her first marriage came at 16, to a man twice her age. Both unions were long over by the time she met Pennsylvanian Kurt Gorman in 2005.

LaRose lived with Gorman and his father, caring for the older man while Gorman worked at his family's small business, Gorman said last year. He called her a "good-hearted person" who mostly stayed around the house.

But her online ties grew to a loose band of allegedly violent co-conspirators from around the world, prosecutors said. They found her after she posted a YouTube video in June 2008 saying she was "desperate to do something somehow to help" ease the suffering of Muslims, the indictment said.

Despite Web images that show LaRose in a Muslim head covering, Gorman said he never picked up on any Muslim leanings. She did not attended religious services of any kind, he said. Gorman said he sensed nothing amiss in their five-year relationship — until LaRose fled days after his father's funeral.

LaRose had removed the hard drive from her computer and set off for Europe, according to the indictment. She had swiped Gorman's passport and planned to give it to the co-conspirator she had agreed to marry, the indictment said.

It's unclear how she was able to travel overseas, given that the FBI, presumably tipped to her online postings, had interviewed her in July 2009. According to the indictment, she then denied soliciting funds for any terrorist causes or making the postings ascribed to "JihadJane."

By Sept. 30, 2009, she wrote online that it would be "an honour & great pleasure to die or kill for" her intended spouse, the indictment said. "Only death will stop me here that I am so close to the target!" she is accused of writing.

She was arrested the following month upon her return to the U.S.


Sources: CBS News, ReutersTV, Youtube

George Zimmerman Demonstrated Predisposition For Aggressive, Violent Behavior: "Jekyll and Hyde"

I want to remind everyone some Witnesses, Legal & Behavior Experts conclude George Zimmerman has a Predisposition for demonstrating Aggressive, Violent Behavior. "Jekyll and Hyde"!







Report: Zimmerman described as "Jekyll and Hyde"

An anonymous former co-worker of George Zimmerman, the man who shot and killed unarmed teen Trayvon Martin five weeks ago, told a newspaper that Zimmerman "loved being in charge ... loved the power" and could become violent.

The New York Daily News reported Friday that Zimmerman was fired in 2005 from his job as a party security guard for being too aggressive, quoting a former co-worker as saying that "usually he was just a cool guy. ... But it was like Jekyll and Hyde. When the dude snapped, he snapped."

As the negative reports start to mount, Zimmerman's family has come to his defense.

Robert Zimmerman, Jr. stuck up for his brother to CNN's Piers Morgan Thursday night.

"He prevented his firearm from being taken from him and used against him, and that's called saving your life," he said.

Zimmerman said his brother shot Martin purely in self-defense, after the teenager attacked him last month. "You return force with force and when someone assaults you," he said. "George was out of breath. He was barely conscious.

The last thing that he remembers doing is moving his head from the concrete to the grass, so that if he was banged one more time, he wouldn't be wearing diapers for the rest of his life and being spoon-fed by his brother."

But critics, including Martin's parents, say recently released police surveillance video is proof Zimmerman's a liar. Seen on the tape, Zimmerman had no obvious face or head injuries.

Zimmerman Jr., Thursday night said his brother still had a broken nose. "His nose, I don't know about his head. I mean his nose is still healing. It's not healed.

Martin was buried in Miami. Richard Kurtz, the funeral director who prepared his body said, "We could see not physical signs like there had been a scuffle for fight."

Kurtz said Martin's chest had a gunshot wound, but his body had no other injuries. No marks on his hands from all the punches Zimmerman claimed had battered him.

A special prosecutor's now reviewing all the evidence, to decide whether Zimmerman can legitimately claim he killed to save his own life.


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Sources: CBS News, CNN, NY Daily News, Google Maps

Obama Negotiated W/ Terrorists (Tea Party); Made Them More Radical!

Tea Party’s War on America

You know what they say: Never negotiate with terrorists. It only encourages them.

These last few months, much of the country has watched in horror as the Tea Party Republicans have waged jihad on the American people. Their intransigent demands for deep spending cuts, coupled with their almost gleeful willingness to destroy one of America’s most invaluable assets, its full faith and credit, were incredibly irresponsible. But they didn’t care. Their goal, they believed, was worth blowing up the country for, if that’s what it took.

Like ideologues everywhere, they scorned compromise. When John Boehner, the House speaker, tried to cut a deal with President Obama that included some modest revenue increases, they humiliated him. After this latest agreement was finally struck on Sunday night — amounting to a near-complete capitulation by Obama — Tea Party members went on Fox News to complain that it only called for $2.4 trillion in cuts, instead of $4 trillion. It was head-spinning.

All day Monday, the blogosphere and the talk shows mused about which party would come out ahead politically. Honestly, who cares? What ought to matter is not how these spending cuts will affect our politicians, but how they’ll affect the country. And I’m not even talking about the terrible toll $2.4 trillion in cuts will take on the poor and the middle class. I am talking about their effect on America’s still-ailing economy.

America’s real crisis is not a debt crisis. It’s an unemployment crisis. Yet this agreement not only doesn’t address unemployment, it’s guaranteed to make it worse. (Incredibly, the Democrats even abandoned their demand for extended unemployment benefits as part of the deal.) As Mohamed El-Erian, the chief executive of the bond investment firm Pimco, told me, fiscal policy includes both a numerator and a denominator. “The numerator is debt,” he said. “But the denominator is growth.” He added, “What we have done is accelerate forward, in a self-inflicted manner, the numerator. And, in the process, we have undermined the denominator.” Economic growth could have gone a long way toward shrinking the deficit, while helping put people to work. The spending cuts will shrink growth and raise the likelihood of pushing the country back into recession.

Inflicting more pain on their countrymen doesn’t much bother the Tea Party Republicans, as they’ve repeatedly proved. What is astonishing is that both the president and House speaker are claiming that the deal will help the economy. Do they really expect us to buy that? We’ve all heard what happened in 1937 when Franklin Roosevelt, believing the Depression was over, tried to rein in federal spending. Cutting spending spiraled the country right back into the Great Depression, where it stayed until the arrival of the stimulus package known as World War II. That’s the path we’re now on. Our enemies could not have designed a better plan to weaken the American economy than this debt-ceiling deal.

One thing Roosevelt did right during the Depression was legislate into being a social safety net to soften the blows that a free-market economy can mete out in tough times. During this recession, it’s as if the government is going out of its way to make sure the blows are even more severe than they have to be. The debt-ceiling debate reflects a harsher, less empathetic America. It’s sad to see.

My own view is that Obama should have played the 14th Amendment card, using its language about “the validity of the public debt” to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling. Yes, he would have infuriated the Republicans, but so what? They already view him as the Antichrist. Legal scholars believe that Congress would not have been able to sue to overturn his decision. Inexplicably, he chose instead a course of action that maximized the leverage of the Republican extremists.

Assuming the Senate passes the bill on Tuesday, the debt ceiling will be a nonissue until after the next election. But the debilitating deficit battles are by no means over. Thanks to this deal, a newly formed supercommittee of Congress is supposed to target another $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion in cuts by late November. If those cuts don’t become law by Dec. 23, automatic across-the-board cuts will be imposed, including deep reductions in defense spending.

As has been explained ad nauseam, the threat of defense cuts is supposed to give the Republicans an incentive to play fair with the Democrats in the negotiations. But with our soldiers still fighting in Afghanistan, which side is going to blink if the proposed cuts threaten to damage national security? Just as they did with the much-loathed bank bailout, which most Republicans spurned even though financial calamity loomed, the Democrats will do the responsible thing. Apparently, that’s their problem.

For now, the Tea Party Republicans can put aside their suicide vests. But rest assured: They’ll have them on again soon enough. After all, they’ve gotten so much encouragement.


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Sources: Fox News, Move On.org, NY Times, Youtube, Google Maps

Tea Party Movement's Extreme Radical, Racist Agenda Exposed! (Videos)

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Sources: Youtube, Google Maps

GOP Lawmaker Switches Party To Democrat: Cites GOP's Radical Agenda

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State Rep. Boman switches to Democratic Party

State Rep. Daniel Boman, who represents part of Tuscaloosa County, switched to the Democratic party today.

Boman, a 36-year-old lawyer from Sulligent, said Wednesday’s vote on a bill to change the state’s tenure and fair dismissal laws for educators convinced him he was in the wrong party.

Boman, elected as a Republican last November, voted against the tenure and fair dismissal bill that Democrats said removes much of the due process for teachers facing discipline or firing.

His district includes Fayette and Lamar counties and a slice of northwest Tuscaloosa County.

Boman’s switch changes the dynamics of the Tuscaloosa County legislative delegation. The delegation, previously 4-3 Republican, now becomes 4-3 Democrat.

The switch reduces the number of elected Republicans in the House from 66 to 65 and increases the number of Democrats from 39 to 40.


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Sources: Tuscaloosa News, MSNBC, Google Maps

Anthony Weiner Politically Marred For Marrying A Muslim? Peter King? Could Be!

Why Is Congressman Anthony Weiner (D) Suddenly Being Vilified In The Media After Experiencing A 13-Year Political Winning Streak?

Surely Its NOT Just About Some Lewd Twitter Photo!

Instead Its Really About His New Muslim Wife!

That's Right!

Brooklyn Congressman Anthony Weiner Recently Married A Beautiful Muslim Woman By The Name Of Huma Abedin, 34 (Former Aide To Hillary).

Last July Weiner & Huma Said Their Vows In A Ceremony Officiated By Former Pres. Bill Clinton.

Now We Know What's Really Going On!

Is It Possible GOP Long Island Congressman & Muslim Basher Peter King Has Anything To Do With This?

Come On People Let's Be Real!

You Know Peter King Don't You?

The Same Congressman Peter King (R) Who Held A Hearing On Capitol Hill Earlier This Year About "Muslim Radicalization"?

Yes THAT Peter King!

Did You Really Think Peter King Was Going To Allow A Liberal Brooklyn Congressman Who Marries A Muslim Woman, Run For New York City Mayor Without Some Political Backlash?

Please Not A Chance!

Don't Get It Twisted!

Its Highly Possible Peter King Has Absolutely NOTHING To Do With This Scenario.

Than Again Its Highly Possible King Might Just Have A Little To Do With It.

Either Way Its Political Backlash That Did NOT Just Come Out Of Left Field. More Like The Right Field!

This Is Why I Believe Democrats & Independents Should Continue Supporting Congressman Weiner. Especially Those Who Reside In His District.

God Bless Congressman Weiner & His Wife Huma!

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Anthony Weiner Marries Huma Abedin

Rep. Anthony Weiner married his glamorous gal pal Huma Abedin in Long Island Saturday in a lavish ceremony officiated by former President Bill Clinton.

The power couple exchanged their "I do's" inside the secluded Oheka Castle in Huntington.

Clinton jokingly said that marrying a politician can be tough because it's "easy to distrust them, whatever their religion," a source told the Daily News.

The ex-Prez also praised the 45-year-old Weiner's tenacity while courting Abedin, 34, who looked resplendent in a white Oscar de la Renta gown.


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Sources: CNN, C-Span, Huffington Post, Mediaite, MSNBC, NY Daily News, NY Post, NY Times, Google Maps

"Obama Is Most Radical President In American History", "GOP Will Repeal"

Newt Gingrich: We Need A President, Not An Athlete


Newt Gingrich made a rock star's entrance at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference Thursday night, entering to a standing ovation as the song "Eye of the Tiger" blared over the speakers and lights shined out over the crowd.

When Gingrich eventually got to the podium, he delivered a self-assured address peppered with historical allusions. Democrats in Washington, he said, had put together a "perfect unrepresentative left-wing machine dedicated to a secular socialist future."

Mr. Obama is "the most radical president in American history," Gingrich said. "He has said, 'I run a machine, I own Washington, and there is nothing you can do about it.'"

"What we need is a president, not an athlete," Gingrich said during a question and answer period after his speech. He added: "Shooting three point shots may be clever, but it doesn't put anybody to work."

Gingrich discussed passage of the health care bill, saying the "decisive" election of Sen. Scott Brown sent a message that Democrats decided to ignore in order to "ram through" the bill against the wishes of the American people.

"The longer Obama talks the less the American people believe him," Gingrich said, citing the decline in poll numbers for the health care bill as the president kept trying to sell it to the public.

Gingrich said that when Republicans take back the House and Senate in the midterm elections they should "refuse to fund" the administration's proposals, drawing huge applause from the crowd.

Add a Republican president, he said, and the goal should be to "repeal every radical bill" passed by the current administration.

Gingrich, a potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate, stressed his conception of the current administration as part of "secular, socialist machine."

"On every front," he said, "they're increasing government" and trying to "micromanage our lives," raise taxes, increase government power and strip citizens of their power.

"This is a fundamental fight over the core definition of America," Gingrich said. He told the crowd they should be talking about culture, not politics. "The more we make this a choice about the nature of America, the weaker they are," he said.

Gingrich told a story about the Polish people when they were resisting communism, who he said came up with the slogan, "two plus two equals four," taking it from the writings of Albert Camus and George Orwell. He said the slogan grew from the fact that the authorities can't handle the truth, tying it to what he suggested were nonsensical numbers offered by Democrats about the health care bill.

"There are more of us than there are of the government," the former House speaker said, midway through his story about Polish resistance to communism. "So why are we afraid of them?"

Asked if he would run for president, he said he would make a decision in February 2011. He said for the moment it was important for Republicans to "get out and campaign this year to win this year's election."

The left, Gingrich said, wants "to be dishonest about who we are" and cast Republicans as "the party of no."

He said the GOP needs to be the party of yes -- by saying yes to a balanced budget through controlled spending, more jobs through tax cuts, reforming government, stopping people from stealing from Medicaid and Medicare, spending more on getting soldiers better equipment, and "the right kind of health reform" and energy plan.

"My point is, there are many things that we can say yes to, and if we would discipline ourselves to start off every conversation with...'let me tell you what I'm for,'" Gingrich said, Republicans will be on the right track.

Gingrich predicted that "this administration is going to be a catastrophic failure," deeming it the worst since Herbert Hoover from an economic perspective. He pushed for small business tax cuts over government spending,

"Quite frankly, I'm tired of finding new ways to help people who aren't working, I want to find new ways to help people who are working," he said.

Gingrich said Americans will choose Republicans in the coming elections if Republicans can frame the discussion between what they offer and what is offered by Democrats. He said President Obama had helped set the stage for a comeback with his "incompetence."

The debate should be framed, he said, not as "Obama vs. Anti-Obama, but America vs. a secular socialist machine."


Sources: CBS News, Newser, Southern Republican Leadership Conference, Youtube

Bev Perdue Told To Resign By "Restore America" Extremist Group

Bev Perdue Receives Letter From Anti-Government Group


Gov. Bev Perdue's office received a letter from an anti-government group that is calling on sitting governors to resign.

Early in the week, Perdue's office spotted the letter from the Guardians of the free Republics, which seeks to "restore America" by peacefully dismantling parts of the government, the Associated Press reports.

The letters do not include threats of violence, but called on the governors to leave office within three days or be removed.

The FBI warned Perdue's office that it might be getting a letter, Perdue
spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson told Dome. When it arrived, Perdue's constituent services staff notified her security team.

"They take every threat, no matter how small or large, very seriously," Pearson said. "They stepped in immediately."

The FBI has warned that the letters might be used as a justification by others for violence.

And for the record, Pearson confirmed that Perdue is not resigning.


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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Guardians of the Free Republics, Google Maps

"Restore America Plan" Extremist Group Demands 30 Governors Quit

Extremist Group Demands 30 U.S. Governors Resign, FBI Says


A domestic extremist group has sent letters to more than 30 U.S. governors demanding they resign, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI said in an intelligence note.

The note, dated Monday, said the letters told the governors to vacate their posts within three days.

The FBI and DHS said there do not appear to be credible or immediate threats of violence attached to the letters.

The group behind the letters has a "Restore America Plan" that calls for the removal of any governor who fails to comply, the intelligence note said.

While DHS has no information that the removal refers to a specific plan for violence, "law enforcement should be aware that this could be interpreted as a justification for violence or other criminal actions," the note said.

Other steps in the group's plan include "establishing bogus courts, calling of 'de jure' grand juries, and issuing so-called 'legal orders' to gain control of the state," the note said.

States that have acknowledged receiving the letters include Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Utah, Arkansas, Maine, Colorado, Rhode Island, Michigan, Georgia, Virginia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Minnesota, Iowa, Ohio and Nevada.

Officials in Pennsylvania and Illinois did not say whether they had received a letter. Officials in Maryland and Idaho said the governors' offices there did not receive such a letter.

Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons received one letter Monday and three more Wednesday, including one by fax, said his chief of staff, Robin Reedy. The group behind the letters does not believe there should be a federal government, Reedy said.

The letters were not handwritten but did have some handwritten signatures, Reedy said Thursday.

The office had been warned in advance to be on the lookout for the letter, she said.

Gibbons' office stepped up security at the Nevada Capitol in Carson City after receiving the letters.

Everyone had to enter through one entrance, and an X-ray machine and metal detector were brought in.

Boulders were placed in front of the Capitol so vehicles could not drive close to the building.

The governor hadn't seen the letters because he had been in Las Vegas for a few days, Reedy said.


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Sources: CNN, Guardians Of The Free Republics, McClatchy Newspapers, Google Maps

GOP & Tea Party Leaders Denounce Violence, Defends Anger

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Tea Partiers Condemn Harassment & Violence


Tea party organizers across the country are condemning the harassment and threats of violence against House Democrats who voted in favor of the health care overhaul that passed the House Sunday.

Though individual tea partiers – and many Republicans — have distanced themselves from the threats and deemed them unaffiliated with the movement, the condemnations mark a more forceful response and indicate a keen awareness of the damage that being linked to them could do to the tea party brand. There hasn't been any hard evidence that the reported harassment is linked to the tea party movement, but Democrats have tried to draw the link between the harassment and the sometimes-inflammatory rhetoric that tea partiers and Republicans deployed in opposing the health care overhaul.

The organizers of some major Florida tea party groups, for instance, on Thursday morning released an open letter to Congress and President Barack Obama declaring they “stand in stark opposition to any person using derogatory characterizations, threats of violence, or disparaging terms toward members of Congress or the President.”

The letter calls the tea parties “a peaceful movement” and says its leaders denounce “all forms of violence” and “support all efforts to bring [any perpetrators] to justice and have encouraged full cooperation within our movement and have asked for the same from the members of Congress who have laid such claims.”

The letter is signed by leaders of two statewide tea party coalitions, the state chapter of the Washington-based FreedomWorks and local and regional tea party groups in Tampa, Orlando, Miami, Deerfield Beach and Viera, among others.

Brendan Steinhauser, who helps organize local tea parties around the country for FreedomWorks, issued a statement Thursday declaring “Political violence is both immoral and ineffective, and will only set the movement back.” He said he is "reminding all grassroots leaders that it's important to focus our efforts on peaceful, political efforts like protests, office visits, letters, petitions and of course, voting.”

However, he also urged caution in attributing violence or threats of violence to tea party activists.

“We must remember that the folks committing these acts are small in number, extreme in their methods and not yet proven to be members of our movement,” he said. “But we must be diligent in denouncing all acts of political violence and racism, when they occur.”

A coalition of Colorado tea party groups expressed similar sentiments in a Thursday morning press release.

The release said “Tea party and similar groups across Colorado are saddened tonight to hear of threats made upon Democratic lawmakers in response to the passing their recent health insurance reform legislation, specifically … Rep. Betsy Markey,” a Colorado Democrat.

Markey’s office notified police it received a phone call Saturday in which the caller told a staffer "You better hope I don't run into you in a dark alley with a club, a knife or a gun."

The Colorado tea party release emphasizes “it does not appear that these threats stemmed from those within Colorado's tea party movement.” But it adds “organizers and members alike are firmly denouncing any acts of intimidation or threat. Statewide, Tea Party leadership has encouraged disappointed members to get involved in the political process rather than dwell on the passage of the health care bill.”

The release quotes Northern Colorado Tea Party director Lesley Hollywood saying "although many are frustrated by the passage of such controversial legislation, threats are absolutely not acceptable in any form, to any lawmaker, of any party."

Hollywood, a member of a statewide tea party leadership team, added: “I can assure you that myself and my colleagues will take immediate action if any of these allegations are discovered to be connected to our organizations. At this time, our internal investigations have not revealed any correlation between the threats and the Tea Party.”

And Toby Marie Walker, co-founder of the 5,000-member Waco, Texas Tea Party, as well as Mark Skoda, organizer of the Memphis, Tenn., Tea Party and a leader in an umbrella group called the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, said Thursday morning that their respective groups were drafting statement that will condemn the violence.

Walker emphasized “we do not condone” offensive “language, racial slurs or other poor behavior,” adding “we discourage it and will have (perpetrators) removed from our events.”

The tea party movement is a sprawling and decentralized loosely aligned network of local, regional and state groups that is deeply suspicious of authority – including efforts to develop a more cohesive structure for their own movement. That both makes self-policing efforts difficult, and also makes it tricky to determine which threats came from folks associated with the movement. But it’s undeniable that threats of violence and allegations of harassment have hit a fever pitch since the health care overhaul passed the House Sunday.

Rep. Tom Perriello’s (D-Va.) brother’s address was posted online and he later had his gas lines cut, prompting an FBI investigation. Local police are keeping an eye on Perriello's brother's home.

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) has gotten threatening faxes, phone calls and death threats. House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) received a messaged saying that snipers were being deployed to kill those members who voted yes for health care.

Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.) said he has gotten threats, as has Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.).

Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio), whose family was put in a newspaper advertisement last week, had his address posted on the Internet, urging a protest. He has received threats.

Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) Sunday night had a coffin placed on his lawn during a prayer vigil.

Some members are moving their spouses out of their district while they are legislating in Washington, Rep. Phil Hare (D-Ill.) told POLITICO Wednesday. And the FBI and Capitol Police met with Democrats Wednesday afternoon, urging them to report all incidents of harassment. The Capitol Police said they would do security assessments of members' homes and district offices.

Tea party organizers have struggled in recent months to clamp down on fringe elements that have sprung up around – and sometimes within – the movement, including white supremacists and conspiracy theorists who believe that the government played a role in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks (“truthers”) or that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States and is therefore ineligible to be president (“birthers”).

And tea party leaders quickly denounced slurs reportedly directed at House Democrats during Washington rallies before Sunday’s vote, pointing out they were not representative of most tea partiers and urging protesters to stay focused on the movement’s core issues of limited government and taxation. Others pushed back against the reports and suggested either that reporters and lawmakers had fabricated them from whole cloth, or that the epithets were yelled by tea party opponents who had infiltrated the crowds in an effort to taint them. Some even asked for apologies from Democrats who seized on the reports to criticize all the tea party protesters.

But tea party leaders are concerned that the reported slurs and threats – covered aggressively by media they see as biased against them – could dampen efforts to broaden the movement’s appeal among independent and swing voters in the 2010 midterm congressional elections.

And some grumble that the mainstream media seems all too eager to gloss over sometimes violent extremism on the left.

“Our entire movement has been smeared by the Democrats and the leftist media that averted their eyes from leftist violence at anti-globalization rallies, anti-war demonstrations, outside the RNC and at other events,” said FreedomWorks’ Steinhauser. “There is a double standard when it comes to covering how extremist elements on the left and the right behave.”


Sources: MSNBC, Politico

Pelosi Condemns Death Threats Against Fellow Democrats

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Pelosi Condemns Threats Against Congress Members


House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday condemned vandalism and threats against members of Congress who voted for sweeping health care changes, and House Republicans who fought the legislation joined in urging people to calm down.

"I don't want this to be a distraction" to the work of Congress, Pelosi said. But she also asserted that such violence and threats of reprisal have "no place in a civil debate in our country" and must be rejected.

At least four Democratic offices in New York, Arizona and Kansas were struck and at least 10 members of Congress have reported some sort of threats, including obscenity-laced phone messages, congressional leaders have said. No arrests have been reported.

Ohio Rep. John Boccieri, one of eight Democrats who switched to "yes" on the most recent House vote, said he had received threats. "Having flown missions in and out of Afghanistan, I know what it's like to be in harm's way. But I never imagined serving in Congress could feel the same," said Boccieri, a major in the Air Force reserve. He did not elaborate on the threats.

Pelosi spoke to reporters at the Capitol shortly after GOP lawmakers took the House floor, pleading with those who vehemently oppose the Democratic health care move to refraim from acts of violence and threats.

Opposition to the health care bill President Barack Obama signed into law Tuesday is "no excuse for bigotry, threats or acts of vandalism," said Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, the House's third-ranked Republican.

Said Republican Rep. Joseph Pitts of Pennsylvania: "Some of our colleagues have received threatening phone calls. A brick has been thrown, a window has been smashed. This is not the right way to respond."

Rep. Louise Slaughter, a New York Democrat and chairwoman of an influential House committee, said someone had left her a voice mail that used the word "snipers."

Some of the anger spilled over in a flood of threat-filled phone and fax messages to the office of Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich. Stupak vowed to oppose the health care package unless given greater assurance that it would not allow federal funding of elective abortions. He voted in favor after the administration agreed.

Stupak's office released some of the messages, declining further comment.

"I hope you bleed ... (get) cancer and die," one male caller told the congressman between curses.

A fax with the title "Defecating on Stupak" carried a picture of a gallows with "Bart (SS) Stupak" on it and a noose attached. It was captioned, "All Baby Killers come to unseemly ends Either by the hand of man or by the hand of God."

And in Virginia, someone cut a propane line leading to a grill at the Charlottesville home of Rep. Tom Perriello's brother after the address was posted online by activists angry about the health care overhaul. Perriello also said a threatening letter was sent to his brother's house.

Sergeant at Arms Terry Gainer told The Associated Press Thursday that there was "no evidence that annoying, harassing or threatening telephone calls or emails are coordinated. Regrettably though, bloggers and twitters seem to feed off each other, leaving little room for creativity."

At the news conference, Pelosi noted that "our country has had a lively debate." But she also said that it is "important for us to be able to express ourselves freely, not to diminish that in any way, but also to hit a standard that says some of the actions ... must be rejected."

The California Democrat said she didn't mean her criticism to "paint everyone with what has happened here with the same brush." And she said she did not "subscribe to the theory that these acts sprang from the comments of my colleagues."

"I think we have to manage this issue very carefully, recognizing we are a democracy," Pelosi said. "We do not want to stifle debate, or free expression of it."

The FBI is working with lawmakers subjected to menacing obscenity-laced phone messages. In some instances, bricks were hurled through congressional offices, including Rep. Louise Slaughter's district headquarters in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., called it "an effort to kind of hijack the debate by coercive elements. I'm glad the Republican leadership colleagues denounce it. But they were very late to do that."

"It is unacceptable in America," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who exhorted angry citizens to channel their rage into voter registration.

The vandalism and threats surprised a researcher at a think tank that monitors extremist groups.

"I think it is astounding that we are seeing this wave of vigilantism," said Mark Potok of the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center.

Gun imagery was used in a posting on the Facebook page of Sarah Palin urging people to organize against 20 House Democrats who voted for the health care bill and whose districts went for the John McCain-Palin ticket two years ago. Palin's post featured a U.S. map with circles and cross hairs over the 20 districts.

McCain defended Palin, saying it was commonplace practice and "part of the lexicon" to refer to "targeted" congressional districts.


Sources: CBS News, Yahoo News, Politico, Youtube

Democrats Receive Death Threats Following House Health Care Vote

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Democrats Fear For Their Families



The threats against members of Congress who voted for health care reform have turned from a nuisance to a serious law enforcement issue, increasing security concerns as lawmakers prepare to head home for spring recess.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Capitol Police and the House sergeant at arms on Wednesday were brought into a closed-door Democratic Caucus meeting, during which lawmakers expressed fear for their safety and the safety of their families.

The Capitol Police, according to several in the caucus meeting, encouraged members to report any incidents to the department. They also offered security assessments of district offices and even members’ homes.

One Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Phil Hare of Illinois, said he knows several Democrats who have told their spouses to move out of the home districts while the lawmakers are in Washington.

“If this doesn’t get under control in short time, heaven forbid, someone will get hurt,” Hare said.

And House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland told reporters after a caucus meeting that members who feel in danger would “get attention from the proper authorities.”

Hare is holding eight town hall meetings in his district over the recess and requested that the Capitol Police coordinate with his local police department to provide security. His wife has pleaded with him to cancel the events.

“My wife is home alone, and I’m worried for her,” he said. “I am about to have my first grandchild. I don’t want to have to be worried.”

Incidents are sprouting up all over the country.

The gas lines were cut at the house of Virginia Democratic Rep. Thomas Perriello’s brother, near Charlottesville, Va., prompting an FBI investigation. Local police are making routine checks of the home. A tea party activist from southern Virginia posted online the address of Perriello’s brother, thinking it was the lawmaker’s.

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Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio) had his address posted on the Internet, with a message from a right-wing blogger asking people to show up at Driehaus’s Cincinnati “mansion” to protest his health care vote. A photo of Driehaus’s family appeared in a Cincinnati newspaper ad urging the lawmaker to vote against the health care bill last week.

A brick was thrown through the window of the Democratic Party’s Cincinnati office.

And Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who negotiated the breakthrough on abortion language in the health care bill, has received numerous death threats and faxes with violent images at his office.

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Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) suggested to Democrats in the closed-door meeting that they should coordinate an internal security plan — as he did in August.

Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.) told the caucus, according to a member present, that he feared what was going on in the districts.

Democrats have been quick to blame Republicans for not tamping down the atmosphere. But on Tuesday at the National Republican Congressional Committee dinner, House Minority Leader John Boehner decried the violence.

Boehner met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday but declined to discuss what they spoke about.

“I know many Americans are angry over this health care bill and that Washington Democrats just aren’t listening,” Boehner wrote in an e-mailed statement. “But, as I’ve said, violence and threats are unacceptable. That’s not the American way. We need to take that anger and channel it into positive change. Call your congressman, go out and register people to vote, go volunteer on a political campaign, make your voice heard — but let’s do it the right way.”

Hare said Boehner needs to come to the floor and decry the violence and apologize to Driehaus for calling the Democratic lawmaker a “dead man.” Hare said he thinks Republicans’ riling up of protesters from the Capitol balcony is not helpful.

“If he can’t control his members, they have to find someone who can,” Hare said.

Some members have directly confronted protesters.

Rep. Jim Moran, a fiery Virginia Democrat, got a visit from tea party activists at his office earlier this week. Aides got between the burly lawmaker and the activists. The activists, according to the congressman, asked whether he needed “bodyguards” to protect him.

“We’re not protecting him from you,” the aides said, according to Moran. “We’re protecting you from him.”

It was long known that the health care overhaul vote would be brutal for members of Congress. August brought raucous town halls, folks with guns and heated exchanges to towns across the nation.

Now that the legislation has passed with just Democratic votes, anger is bubbling nationwide.

Hoyer, in response to a question from a reporter, said he thinks members are in danger.

“Yes,” he said, standing next to House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina. “I think that we have very serious incidents that have occurred over the last 48, 72 hours.”


Sources: MSNBC, Politico