Saturday, April 10, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Saving Souls--Losing Freedom
By Chuck Baldwin
April 9, 2010
One would have to be a blind man to not see that America is fast losing the fundamental principles of liberty upon which our once-great country was established. And, without a doubt, the single biggest reason for this decline is the lack of concern and effort on the part of today’s Christians and pastors to resist it.
All over America, when one approaches our pastors and church leaders with the obvious decay and ruination of constitutional government and Declaration principles taking place in our land today, the response flippantly comes back: “God hasn’t called me to do that; I’m supposed to win souls and that’s it.” (Or words to that effect.) As if the call to Gospel preaching, evangelism, and missionary endeavor negates our responsibility as citizens of a free land.
Of course, this call to “win souls” doesn’t interfere with these preachers’ golf games; it doesn’t interfere with their family vacations; it doesn’t interfere with their active membership in whatever local civic organization they happen to belong to; it doesn’t interfere with their hiring of a lawyer if they are falsely accused or defrauded; it doesn’t interfere with their invitations to celebrity politicians for special church recognition on patriotic holidays; it doesn’t interfere with them going to the polls to vote; it only seems to interfere when they are personally asked to take a stand in the gap for our country’s liberties. Then, all of a sudden, they haven’t been “called,” or “God will take care of it,” or “Jesus is coming soon,” or “Religion and politics don’t mix,” ad infinitum, ad nauseam.
As a result of America’s preachers’ indifference (and that of the Christians they influence), our country is on the brink of becoming an oppressive and tyrannical state. No, let me rephrase that. America is already in the process of becoming an oppressive and tyrannical state. And it’s the preachers’ fault!
For some, it is a matter of ignorance (I think “willful ignorance” is more appropriate). For some, it is a matter of convenience. For some, it is comfort. For some, it is ambition. Whatever the reason, America’s preachers are contributing to the collapse of the greatest free country the world has ever known–all in the name of saving souls.
What these preachers seemingly do not comprehend is that when the hammer falls on liberty in this country, it is going to FALL RIGHT ON TOP OF THEM–HARD. There is no mistaking it: when oppression’s hammer strikes, Gospel preachers and Bible believers will be the anvil. And when it happens, it will not matter that a preacher was popular, or was likeable, or was non-controversial, or was compassionate, or was a Moose or Elk club member, or had a big church, or was a friend of the governor, or had “Law Enforcement Appreciation Day” in his church every year, or that he was sought out by political candidates for his endorsement. None of that will matter to a tinker’s dam. The boot of state oppression will squash him like a bug! It will not spare him, his wife, his children, his health, his finances, or his feelings. And, ladies and gentlemen, at this very moment, we are not very far away from the hammer falling.
I have just recently come across an official document from one of our war colleges that is downright frightening. I will expose this document during my Sunday morning address, which is livestreamed on the Internet, this Sunday, April 11, 2010, at 10:30 a.m., Central Daylight Time. To watch this address, go here:
http://crossroadbaptist.net/live.html
As I read over this document (and the chill bumps began rising all over my body), I thought of all those preachers out there who have purposely refused to engage the body politic on behalf of freedom’s principles; those who refused to take a stand for the Constitution and Bill of Rights; those who took the path of least resistance and refused to be controversial; those who put money and success before honor and right; those who meekly looked the other way while George W. Bush (and other neocons) dismantled constitutional government (and had John McCain been elected and was doing much of what Barack Obama is currently doing–which he would have been–they would still be looking the other way); those who claimed to be “too busy” to worry about politics; and those who thought that somehow their Christian duty did not include freedom’s fight. What they do not realize is that they, themselves, are in the crosshairs. While they are making a hundred excuses for not actively helping to defend freedom principles, the enemy–after having eradicated the constitutional protections of our liberties–will jump on Gospel preachers and Bible believers “like a chicken on a June bug,” as my dad used to say. I am personally convinced that the plans for Christian (and patriot) persecution are already in place.
As I read the above-referenced document (which I will expose this Sunday morning), many things–including the now-infamous MIAC report that most readers should already be very familiar with–began to make sense. And so did those reports of FEMA camps that we have all heard so much about, and maybe even the raid on the Hutaree “Christian” militia.
And does anyone really believe that those pastors who will not jeopardize their social standing or retirement programs in order to be faithful to the truth are going to miraculously grow backbones when serious persecution comes? Get real! These timid trumpeters piously extol the ancient example of Daniel’s courage in rebelling against the unlawful command of his king; praise the Three Hebrew Children who would not bow to the image of Nebuchadnezzar; and commend Simon Peter for defiantly telling Jewish authorities, “We ought to obey God rather than men”–while, at the same time, quoting Romans 13 to justify their own cowardice and indifference.
It is no hyperbole to say that preachers who ignore and avoid the freedom fight do so at their own peril.
At this point, it might be helpful to remember Winston Churchill’s challenge to England’s citizens: “If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”
I invite readers to tune in to my Sunday address this Sunday, April 11, 2010, at approximately 10:30 a.m., Central Daylight Time, as I expose this disturbing document from one of America’s war colleges. Believe me, what I am going to expose has serious implications for every Christian, every freedom lover, and every American citizen who believes in an independent United States.
To watch the broadcast live this Sunday, April 11, at 10:30 a.m. (CDT), go here:
http://crossroadbaptist.net/live.html
P.S. If you would like to vote for me as Ron Paul’s Vice Presidential running mate in 2012, you can do so here:
http://www.ronpaul.com/2010-04-05/poll-ron-pauls-vp-in-2012/
*If you appreciate this column and want to help me distribute these editorial opinions to an ever-growing audience, donations may now be made by credit card, check, or Money Order. Donate using this link.
(c) Chuck Baldwin
http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?p=1373
April 9, 2010
One would have to be a blind man to not see that America is fast losing the fundamental principles of liberty upon which our once-great country was established. And, without a doubt, the single biggest reason for this decline is the lack of concern and effort on the part of today’s Christians and pastors to resist it.
All over America, when one approaches our pastors and church leaders with the obvious decay and ruination of constitutional government and Declaration principles taking place in our land today, the response flippantly comes back: “God hasn’t called me to do that; I’m supposed to win souls and that’s it.” (Or words to that effect.) As if the call to Gospel preaching, evangelism, and missionary endeavor negates our responsibility as citizens of a free land.
Of course, this call to “win souls” doesn’t interfere with these preachers’ golf games; it doesn’t interfere with their family vacations; it doesn’t interfere with their active membership in whatever local civic organization they happen to belong to; it doesn’t interfere with their hiring of a lawyer if they are falsely accused or defrauded; it doesn’t interfere with their invitations to celebrity politicians for special church recognition on patriotic holidays; it doesn’t interfere with them going to the polls to vote; it only seems to interfere when they are personally asked to take a stand in the gap for our country’s liberties. Then, all of a sudden, they haven’t been “called,” or “God will take care of it,” or “Jesus is coming soon,” or “Religion and politics don’t mix,” ad infinitum, ad nauseam.
As a result of America’s preachers’ indifference (and that of the Christians they influence), our country is on the brink of becoming an oppressive and tyrannical state. No, let me rephrase that. America is already in the process of becoming an oppressive and tyrannical state. And it’s the preachers’ fault!
For some, it is a matter of ignorance (I think “willful ignorance” is more appropriate). For some, it is a matter of convenience. For some, it is comfort. For some, it is ambition. Whatever the reason, America’s preachers are contributing to the collapse of the greatest free country the world has ever known–all in the name of saving souls.
What these preachers seemingly do not comprehend is that when the hammer falls on liberty in this country, it is going to FALL RIGHT ON TOP OF THEM–HARD. There is no mistaking it: when oppression’s hammer strikes, Gospel preachers and Bible believers will be the anvil. And when it happens, it will not matter that a preacher was popular, or was likeable, or was non-controversial, or was compassionate, or was a Moose or Elk club member, or had a big church, or was a friend of the governor, or had “Law Enforcement Appreciation Day” in his church every year, or that he was sought out by political candidates for his endorsement. None of that will matter to a tinker’s dam. The boot of state oppression will squash him like a bug! It will not spare him, his wife, his children, his health, his finances, or his feelings. And, ladies and gentlemen, at this very moment, we are not very far away from the hammer falling.
I have just recently come across an official document from one of our war colleges that is downright frightening. I will expose this document during my Sunday morning address, which is livestreamed on the Internet, this Sunday, April 11, 2010, at 10:30 a.m., Central Daylight Time. To watch this address, go here:
http://crossroadbaptist.net/live.html
As I read over this document (and the chill bumps began rising all over my body), I thought of all those preachers out there who have purposely refused to engage the body politic on behalf of freedom’s principles; those who refused to take a stand for the Constitution and Bill of Rights; those who took the path of least resistance and refused to be controversial; those who put money and success before honor and right; those who meekly looked the other way while George W. Bush (and other neocons) dismantled constitutional government (and had John McCain been elected and was doing much of what Barack Obama is currently doing–which he would have been–they would still be looking the other way); those who claimed to be “too busy” to worry about politics; and those who thought that somehow their Christian duty did not include freedom’s fight. What they do not realize is that they, themselves, are in the crosshairs. While they are making a hundred excuses for not actively helping to defend freedom principles, the enemy–after having eradicated the constitutional protections of our liberties–will jump on Gospel preachers and Bible believers “like a chicken on a June bug,” as my dad used to say. I am personally convinced that the plans for Christian (and patriot) persecution are already in place.
As I read the above-referenced document (which I will expose this Sunday morning), many things–including the now-infamous MIAC report that most readers should already be very familiar with–began to make sense. And so did those reports of FEMA camps that we have all heard so much about, and maybe even the raid on the Hutaree “Christian” militia.
And does anyone really believe that those pastors who will not jeopardize their social standing or retirement programs in order to be faithful to the truth are going to miraculously grow backbones when serious persecution comes? Get real! These timid trumpeters piously extol the ancient example of Daniel’s courage in rebelling against the unlawful command of his king; praise the Three Hebrew Children who would not bow to the image of Nebuchadnezzar; and commend Simon Peter for defiantly telling Jewish authorities, “We ought to obey God rather than men”–while, at the same time, quoting Romans 13 to justify their own cowardice and indifference.
It is no hyperbole to say that preachers who ignore and avoid the freedom fight do so at their own peril.
At this point, it might be helpful to remember Winston Churchill’s challenge to England’s citizens: “If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”
I invite readers to tune in to my Sunday address this Sunday, April 11, 2010, at approximately 10:30 a.m., Central Daylight Time, as I expose this disturbing document from one of America’s war colleges. Believe me, what I am going to expose has serious implications for every Christian, every freedom lover, and every American citizen who believes in an independent United States.
To watch the broadcast live this Sunday, April 11, at 10:30 a.m. (CDT), go here:
http://crossroadbaptist.net/live.html
P.S. If you would like to vote for me as Ron Paul’s Vice Presidential running mate in 2012, you can do so here:
http://www.ronpaul.com/2010-04-05/poll-ron-pauls-vp-in-2012/
*If you appreciate this column and want to help me distribute these editorial opinions to an ever-growing audience, donations may now be made by credit card, check, or Money Order. Donate using this link.
(c) Chuck Baldwin
http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?p=1373
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Obama's Birth Certificate
glove3434 — March 04, 2009 — I'm not going to argue that Barack Obama is NOT a US citizen. I really do think he is, but he hasn't actually provided a true copy of his birth certificate. Is it really that hard?
************
President usurper Obama/Soetoro/Obama, regardless of his proud and stubborn refusal to be transparent (as promised - no change there), paying expensive lawyers hush money (at American taxpayers' expense) to keep his revealing documents in the dark, is not a natural born citizen of two American parents and is therefore not eligible to be POTUS according to the Constitution. It's past time the fraud and foreigner is brought to justice! Emperor Obama has got to go! And let him take his illegal alien aunt with him who has stolen from the American people.
http://www.davidbenariel.org/
************
President usurper Obama/Soetoro/Obama, regardless of his proud and stubborn refusal to be transparent (as promised - no change there), paying expensive lawyers hush money (at American taxpayers' expense) to keep his revealing documents in the dark, is not a natural born citizen of two American parents and is therefore not eligible to be POTUS according to the Constitution. It's past time the fraud and foreigner is brought to justice! Emperor Obama has got to go! And let him take his illegal alien aunt with him who has stolen from the American people.
http://www.davidbenariel.org/
Read the Bill or Americans will pay for it!
"Let me get this straight. We're going to pass a health care plan written by a committee whose head says he doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn't read it but whose members exempt themselves from it, signed by a president who also hasn't read it (and who smokes), with funding administered by a Treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that's nearly broke. What possibly could go wrong?"
-email to Ross Mackenzie, published in his November 5, 2009 column
Even though it's too late concerning the "health care" bill, it should serve as a sobering reason why all who vote for any bill must be required to read the bill, educate themselves about it or be thrown out of office, unworthy to occupy the position.
"This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read."
-- Sir Winston Churchill
(1874-1965) Prime Minister of England
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Winston.Churchill.Quote.907C
-email to Ross Mackenzie, published in his November 5, 2009 column
Even though it's too late concerning the "health care" bill, it should serve as a sobering reason why all who vote for any bill must be required to read the bill, educate themselves about it or be thrown out of office, unworthy to occupy the position.
"This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read."
-- Sir Winston Churchill
(1874-1965) Prime Minister of England
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Winston.Churchill.Quote.907C
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Catholic Europe endangers freedom
The Catholic roots of Europe will strangle freedom!
"Jesus cut through all the red tape of entangling human traditions, and kept the Sabbath day as God intended (Mark 7:7). Yet it was prophesied that some would tamper with how and when we're to observe God's Sabbath day, and forcibly attempt to replace it with their own (Dan. 7:25; Rev. 17:5).It appears the bloody issue of Sunday over Sabbath has raised its ugly head again, as Europe's new empire prepares to enforce SUNday! A cleverly coordinated campaign is underway to make Sunday a legal day of rest, under the pretense of promoting better health and family life ("Mum and dad belong to us on Sunday"). "Hundreds of Euro-MPs have signed an appeal to the European Commission to consider "work-free" Sundays" (Brits will be banned from working on Sundays if Brussels gets its way). Precious voices of dissent condemn such interference, as Stephen Booth of Open Europe decries: "There is absolutely no need for the EU to be deciding what days people can work." Of course, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Certainly Emperor Constantine would be impressed with how the Roman wolves cloak themselves in sheep's clothing!
This Sabbath question is destined to become a bloody issue again (Rev. 13:17; 14:13)." - Remember the Sabbath
"On the venerable day of the Sun let the Magistrates and the people residing in the cities rest, and let all workshops be closed." - Edict of Constantine A.D. 321Which day is the Christian Sabbath? The same seventh day Sabbath it has always been and always will be, as honest Roman Catholic and Protestants confess! Yet Protestant prostitutes are shamefully bowing before papal authority and collaborating with Catholic politicians to promote the big lie of Sunday, empowering the Vatican's vice grip on Europe that will again apply undue pressure on all to submit to this folly and other imminent measures or suffer the consequences.
What seductive offers has Rome offered these pawns to consolidate Catholic control of the Continent? Which European royals will join the chorus and fall in line with the danse macabre led by German-Jesuit choreographers? Will any stand strong and resist being swept away by the bewitching sorcerer-pope as he misleads the masses?
“In his first weekly papal audience, on April 27, Ratzinger used the occasion ‘to express what may become a central theme of his papacy: the Christian roots of Europe’ (International Herald Tribune, April 28, 2005).
The bitter roots of Catholic Europe will strangle freedom! Initially covert Catholic decrees imposing Sunday and such will all seem so harmless, but the thumbscrews will continue as suggestions become demands as history testifies:
Ban On Buying and Selling
Not only did Constantine enforce SUNday observance in the Roman empire, Pope Alexander III decreed at the Council of Tours in A.D. 1163: "Whereas a damnable heresy [Sabbath-keeping] has for some time lifted its head...and spread infection...
The Roman Catholic Storm is about to strike! Can't you hear the rumbling thunder? The final revival of the "Holy Roman Empire" prepares to make its mark on mankind! First folks are encouraged to rest on Sunday, later they're threatened to rest on Sunday and those who expose and resist such deathblows to political and religious freedom will be ostracized and their lives endangered! Think it can't happen again? That Europe is too secular and advanced today? Think again. That's what folks were disarmed to believe about Germany prior to WWII. The plain truth is European secular and religious leaders, for their own reasons, have joined dark forces to forge Germany's Fourth Reich - just like Herbert W. Armstrong warned!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
The Hutaree Militia Raid
Once in a while, someone writes a column that leaves me enviously exclaiming, “Darn! I wish I had written that!” Candidly, I do not often find myself saying that, but I sure did when I read William Norman Grigg’s excellent column entitled “Casus Belli” (Latin for “Case for War”) on Monday, March 29, 2010. Read his column (even if you don’t read the rest of mine) at:
http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2010/03/causus-belli.html
I want to try and expound on Grigg’s outstanding analysis of the Hutaree militia raid. In doing so, I am going to also expand upon Grigg’s reference to James Madison’s trenchant treatise in Federalist 46.
Referring to the federal indictment against the Hutaree militia, that alleged members were making preparations for potential armed conflict against law enforcement officers as a “seditious conspiracy,” Grigg astutely noted, “If they were acquiring weapons and developing appropriate skills in anticipation of defending themselves against government aggression, their actions–while possibly conspiratorial in nature–don’t amount to a crime. This is particularly true in light of our cultural history, in which sedition–agitation to change the existing political order–is our proudest civic tradition.”
Grigg then rightly observes, “Government is nothing more than the rationalization and exercise of violence. Everything done by government contains at least the implicit threat of lethal coercion. Thus the indictment’s description of Hutaree as ‘an anti-government extremist organization which advocates violence against local, state and Federal law enforcement’ is a product of rhetorical onanism [from Genesis 38:9--a great analogy, Will].”
As a general rule, government is the most violent force on the planet. If one wants to get a true perspective on the historical record regarding who or what routinely produces the most violence and death, one should pick up a copy of R. J. Rummel’s book, “Death By Government.” Since the end of World War II, Communist China and Red Russia lead the pack when it comes to death and brutality; however, the US government has inflicted its share of carnage as well. For example, in Iraq and Afghanistan alone, the government in Washington, D.C., has killed over 800,000 civilians (and this figure is a conservative estimate noting the most credible resources possible).
See: http://www.unknownnews.net/casualties.html
Also see: http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/images/10/11/human.cost.of.war.pdf
Plus, does anyone remember the violence that our federal government enacted upon the Branch Davidians outside Waco, Texas? Does anyone remember the mother shot in the head while innocently holding her little baby in her own home by a federal sniper near Ruby Ridge, Idaho (after her small son was shot in the back by federal agents)? In fact, the list of civilians who have been killed by federal law enforcement agents over the years is a very long one. Granted, many of these killings were done in lawful self-defense; but others amounted to nothing less than old-fashioned murder (and never was the federal agent who committed the murder ever brought to justice).
If one wants to indict an “organization which advocates violence,” then surely the central government in Washington, D.C., should be indicted!
If Hutaree members were indeed planning AGGRESSIVE violence against anyone–in the government or without–they deserved to be stopped. If, however, they were simply preparing to DEFEND THEMSELVES against government overreach or abuse–and would only resort to violence in an act of lawful self-defense–they committed no crime and are but the most recent victims of federal abuse of power. This is a question that will doubtless be determined in a court of law.
To charge, however (as the indictment does), that Hutaree members (all 9 of them!) planned “to levy war against the United States, [and] to oppose by force the authority of the Government of the United States . . .” will take some doing to make stick. As Grigg points out, “If Hutaree was preparing for armed DEFENSE against criminal actions by government officials, this charge is as pointless as a broken pencil. If their efforts to ‘prevent, hinder, and delay’ various government initiatives were confined to activism, rather than armed conflict, they are–in that particular–not substantially different from hundreds or thousands of other groups.”
The entire case against Hutaree appears to be based upon the testimony of an FBI undercover agent inside the group. Placing agent provocateurs inside groups such as Hutaree is a classic strategy of federal police agencies. This part of the story was broken by the Wall Street Journal.
See the WSJ report at:
http://tinyurl.com/wsj-hutaree
Using agent provocateurs is a long-favored tactic of both the Kremlin and the White House. Joel Skousen’s latest WORLD AFFAIRS BRIEF contains an extremely trenchant and insightful analysis of how Russia and the US have used–and continue to use–this tactic.
Skousen writes, “A related tactic [to false flag operations] is the hiring of agent provocateurs to infiltrate a group targeted for destruction and induce radical elements of that group to perform crimes against innocent civilians that will justify armed retaliation or arrest. With the sudden surge in claimed terrorism in Russia and the arrest of the radical Hutaree group in the US, it is helpful to review the role of false flag terror attacks in Russia and the role of agent provocateurs in the US as we analyze what’s really going on.”
Skousen further states, “As we move on to discuss the arrest of the radical members of the Hutaree cult in Michigan, it is important to note that virtually every prosecution of so-called domestic terrorism in the past decade is owed to the infiltration of FBI informants. While none of us in America dispute the need to gain intelligence on real threats to national security, we have to question the propriety of training and pressuring informants (most of which have been forced to accept the informant assignment in lieu of a prison term for other crimes committed) to provoke and induce angry and unstable dissidents to commit acts of terror.
“All too often, FBI ‘informants’ have been pressured by superiors to go far beyond informing. They have provided weapons, explosives, and even acted as the guiding hand to map out the strategy and tactics for performing the deed. These things only come out reluctantly during trial, and even then I suspect that we are never allowed to know the full extent of these provocations.”
To receive a sample of Joel Skousen’s WORLD AFFAIRS BRIEF or to subscribe to this excellent newsletter (I highly recommend it), write to:
editor@worldaffairsbrief.com
In addition, Will Grigg states that another major component of the indictment that is worrisome is the charge that Hutaree is guilty of “seditious conspiracy.” As Grigg writes, “Whatever is eventually learned about Hutaree, as things presently stand the indictment against it could provide a template for ’seditious conspiracy’ prosecutions involving practically any group that endorses the use of defensive force to protect citizens against government aggression.
“Indeed, the definition of ‘conspiracy’ used in the Hutaree indictment could make a criminal out of anyone who reads Federalist Paper 46 in public, thereby sharing James Madison’s commendably seditious admonition that the people preserve ‘the advantage of being armed’ in the event that insurrection against the central government proves necessary in order to preserve liberty.”
Let’s look a little closer at Federalist 46, written by Founding Father, author of the US Constitution, and America’s fourth President, James Madison. In dispelling the fears of colonists toward a standing federal army, Madison said in Federalist 46, “Let a regular army, fully equal to the resources of the country, be formed; and let it be entirely at the devotion of the federal government; still it would not be going too far to say, that the State governments, with the people on their side, would be able to repel the danger. The highest number to which, according to the best computation, a standing army can be carried in any country, does not exceed one hundredth part of the whole number of souls; or one twenty-fifth part of the number able to bear arms. This proportion would not yield, in the United States, an army of more than twenty-five or thirty thousand men. To these would be opposed a militia amounting to near half a million of citizens with arms in their hands, officered by men chosen from among themselves, fighting for their common liberties, and united and conducted by governments possessing their affections and confidence. It may well be doubted, whether a militia thus circumstanced could ever be conquered by such a proportion of regular troops.”
Madison went on to say, “Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of. Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”
Could Madison be any clearer? He (and the rest of America’s founders) emphatically expected the militia of the “several States” to be universally armed against the potential encroachment on liberty by the central government, meaning: the citizenry must at all times be prepared to use their arms against any aggressive nature of the federal government to trample their freedoms.
This, of course, reinforces the founders’ intent, that the 2nd Amendment protected the right of the people to keep and bear arms for the express purpose of providing the citizenry with the capability to repel (with violence) any assault against their liberties by their own federal government.
So, pray tell, would today’s FBI categorize James Madison’s statements in Federalist 46 as “seditious conspiracy”? If so, perhaps we are closer to tyranny than any of us wants to admit!
Furthermore, it is not lost to millions of Americans that this is the same federal government (through Department of Homeland Security fusion centers) that just recently characterized pro-lifers; people who support the 2nd Amendment; people who oppose the United Nations and illegal immigration; people who voted for Ron Paul or Chuck Baldwin; and Iraq War veterans as “extremists” and potential “dangerous militia members.”
But, once again, the federal government–along with their propagandists in the major news media, including its artificial authority on militias, the ultra-liberal Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in Montgomery, Alabama–is able to use the Hutaree militia to demonize militias in general, and even more damaging, to try and destroy the concept of constitutional State militias in the minds of the American public.
Did members of the Hutaree intend to carry out aggressive violence against law enforcement personnel? I have no idea. Until this story broke in the national media, I had never heard of this group. I will wait for the facts to come out–if indeed the federal government and national media even allow the facts to come out.
I do know this: I do not trust the federal government to tell the truth about anything! They did not tell the truth about the Branch Davidians at Waco; they did not tell the truth about Randy Weaver; they did not tell the truth about Gordon Kahl; and, if their track record is any indicator, it is doubtful that they are telling the truth about the Hutaree militia. But we shall see.
In the meantime, as William Norman Grigg opines, “There’s reason to believe that the Feds have expanded and escalated this ongoing enterprise to exploit, and exacerbate, growing public hostility toward an increasingly invasive and esurient government.
“Whether it is ever demonstrated that Hutaree intended to ‘levy war’ against the U.S. government, this much is beyond serious dispute: The Homeland Security state is unambiguously preparing for war with the public–in fact, it has been doing so for a long time.”
*If you appreciate this column and want to help me distribute these editorial opinions to an ever-growing audience, donations may now be made by credit card, check, or Money Order. Donate using this link.
(c) Chuck Baldwin
http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?p=1289
http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2010/03/causus-belli.html
I want to try and expound on Grigg’s outstanding analysis of the Hutaree militia raid. In doing so, I am going to also expand upon Grigg’s reference to James Madison’s trenchant treatise in Federalist 46.
Referring to the federal indictment against the Hutaree militia, that alleged members were making preparations for potential armed conflict against law enforcement officers as a “seditious conspiracy,” Grigg astutely noted, “If they were acquiring weapons and developing appropriate skills in anticipation of defending themselves against government aggression, their actions–while possibly conspiratorial in nature–don’t amount to a crime. This is particularly true in light of our cultural history, in which sedition–agitation to change the existing political order–is our proudest civic tradition.”
Grigg then rightly observes, “Government is nothing more than the rationalization and exercise of violence. Everything done by government contains at least the implicit threat of lethal coercion. Thus the indictment’s description of Hutaree as ‘an anti-government extremist organization which advocates violence against local, state and Federal law enforcement’ is a product of rhetorical onanism [from Genesis 38:9--a great analogy, Will].”
As a general rule, government is the most violent force on the planet. If one wants to get a true perspective on the historical record regarding who or what routinely produces the most violence and death, one should pick up a copy of R. J. Rummel’s book, “Death By Government.” Since the end of World War II, Communist China and Red Russia lead the pack when it comes to death and brutality; however, the US government has inflicted its share of carnage as well. For example, in Iraq and Afghanistan alone, the government in Washington, D.C., has killed over 800,000 civilians (and this figure is a conservative estimate noting the most credible resources possible).
See: http://www.unknownnews.net/casualties.html
Also see: http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/images/10/11/human.cost.of.war.pdf
Plus, does anyone remember the violence that our federal government enacted upon the Branch Davidians outside Waco, Texas? Does anyone remember the mother shot in the head while innocently holding her little baby in her own home by a federal sniper near Ruby Ridge, Idaho (after her small son was shot in the back by federal agents)? In fact, the list of civilians who have been killed by federal law enforcement agents over the years is a very long one. Granted, many of these killings were done in lawful self-defense; but others amounted to nothing less than old-fashioned murder (and never was the federal agent who committed the murder ever brought to justice).
If one wants to indict an “organization which advocates violence,” then surely the central government in Washington, D.C., should be indicted!
If Hutaree members were indeed planning AGGRESSIVE violence against anyone–in the government or without–they deserved to be stopped. If, however, they were simply preparing to DEFEND THEMSELVES against government overreach or abuse–and would only resort to violence in an act of lawful self-defense–they committed no crime and are but the most recent victims of federal abuse of power. This is a question that will doubtless be determined in a court of law.
To charge, however (as the indictment does), that Hutaree members (all 9 of them!) planned “to levy war against the United States, [and] to oppose by force the authority of the Government of the United States . . .” will take some doing to make stick. As Grigg points out, “If Hutaree was preparing for armed DEFENSE against criminal actions by government officials, this charge is as pointless as a broken pencil. If their efforts to ‘prevent, hinder, and delay’ various government initiatives were confined to activism, rather than armed conflict, they are–in that particular–not substantially different from hundreds or thousands of other groups.”
The entire case against Hutaree appears to be based upon the testimony of an FBI undercover agent inside the group. Placing agent provocateurs inside groups such as Hutaree is a classic strategy of federal police agencies. This part of the story was broken by the Wall Street Journal.
See the WSJ report at:
http://tinyurl.com/wsj-hutaree
Using agent provocateurs is a long-favored tactic of both the Kremlin and the White House. Joel Skousen’s latest WORLD AFFAIRS BRIEF contains an extremely trenchant and insightful analysis of how Russia and the US have used–and continue to use–this tactic.
Skousen writes, “A related tactic [to false flag operations] is the hiring of agent provocateurs to infiltrate a group targeted for destruction and induce radical elements of that group to perform crimes against innocent civilians that will justify armed retaliation or arrest. With the sudden surge in claimed terrorism in Russia and the arrest of the radical Hutaree group in the US, it is helpful to review the role of false flag terror attacks in Russia and the role of agent provocateurs in the US as we analyze what’s really going on.”
Skousen further states, “As we move on to discuss the arrest of the radical members of the Hutaree cult in Michigan, it is important to note that virtually every prosecution of so-called domestic terrorism in the past decade is owed to the infiltration of FBI informants. While none of us in America dispute the need to gain intelligence on real threats to national security, we have to question the propriety of training and pressuring informants (most of which have been forced to accept the informant assignment in lieu of a prison term for other crimes committed) to provoke and induce angry and unstable dissidents to commit acts of terror.
“All too often, FBI ‘informants’ have been pressured by superiors to go far beyond informing. They have provided weapons, explosives, and even acted as the guiding hand to map out the strategy and tactics for performing the deed. These things only come out reluctantly during trial, and even then I suspect that we are never allowed to know the full extent of these provocations.”
To receive a sample of Joel Skousen’s WORLD AFFAIRS BRIEF or to subscribe to this excellent newsletter (I highly recommend it), write to:
editor@worldaffairsbrief.com
In addition, Will Grigg states that another major component of the indictment that is worrisome is the charge that Hutaree is guilty of “seditious conspiracy.” As Grigg writes, “Whatever is eventually learned about Hutaree, as things presently stand the indictment against it could provide a template for ’seditious conspiracy’ prosecutions involving practically any group that endorses the use of defensive force to protect citizens against government aggression.
“Indeed, the definition of ‘conspiracy’ used in the Hutaree indictment could make a criminal out of anyone who reads Federalist Paper 46 in public, thereby sharing James Madison’s commendably seditious admonition that the people preserve ‘the advantage of being armed’ in the event that insurrection against the central government proves necessary in order to preserve liberty.”
Let’s look a little closer at Federalist 46, written by Founding Father, author of the US Constitution, and America’s fourth President, James Madison. In dispelling the fears of colonists toward a standing federal army, Madison said in Federalist 46, “Let a regular army, fully equal to the resources of the country, be formed; and let it be entirely at the devotion of the federal government; still it would not be going too far to say, that the State governments, with the people on their side, would be able to repel the danger. The highest number to which, according to the best computation, a standing army can be carried in any country, does not exceed one hundredth part of the whole number of souls; or one twenty-fifth part of the number able to bear arms. This proportion would not yield, in the United States, an army of more than twenty-five or thirty thousand men. To these would be opposed a militia amounting to near half a million of citizens with arms in their hands, officered by men chosen from among themselves, fighting for their common liberties, and united and conducted by governments possessing their affections and confidence. It may well be doubted, whether a militia thus circumstanced could ever be conquered by such a proportion of regular troops.”
Madison went on to say, “Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of. Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”
Could Madison be any clearer? He (and the rest of America’s founders) emphatically expected the militia of the “several States” to be universally armed against the potential encroachment on liberty by the central government, meaning: the citizenry must at all times be prepared to use their arms against any aggressive nature of the federal government to trample their freedoms.
This, of course, reinforces the founders’ intent, that the 2nd Amendment protected the right of the people to keep and bear arms for the express purpose of providing the citizenry with the capability to repel (with violence) any assault against their liberties by their own federal government.
So, pray tell, would today’s FBI categorize James Madison’s statements in Federalist 46 as “seditious conspiracy”? If so, perhaps we are closer to tyranny than any of us wants to admit!
Furthermore, it is not lost to millions of Americans that this is the same federal government (through Department of Homeland Security fusion centers) that just recently characterized pro-lifers; people who support the 2nd Amendment; people who oppose the United Nations and illegal immigration; people who voted for Ron Paul or Chuck Baldwin; and Iraq War veterans as “extremists” and potential “dangerous militia members.”
But, once again, the federal government–along with their propagandists in the major news media, including its artificial authority on militias, the ultra-liberal Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in Montgomery, Alabama–is able to use the Hutaree militia to demonize militias in general, and even more damaging, to try and destroy the concept of constitutional State militias in the minds of the American public.
Did members of the Hutaree intend to carry out aggressive violence against law enforcement personnel? I have no idea. Until this story broke in the national media, I had never heard of this group. I will wait for the facts to come out–if indeed the federal government and national media even allow the facts to come out.
I do know this: I do not trust the federal government to tell the truth about anything! They did not tell the truth about the Branch Davidians at Waco; they did not tell the truth about Randy Weaver; they did not tell the truth about Gordon Kahl; and, if their track record is any indicator, it is doubtful that they are telling the truth about the Hutaree militia. But we shall see.
In the meantime, as William Norman Grigg opines, “There’s reason to believe that the Feds have expanded and escalated this ongoing enterprise to exploit, and exacerbate, growing public hostility toward an increasingly invasive and esurient government.
“Whether it is ever demonstrated that Hutaree intended to ‘levy war’ against the U.S. government, this much is beyond serious dispute: The Homeland Security state is unambiguously preparing for war with the public–in fact, it has been doing so for a long time.”
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(c) Chuck Baldwin
http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?p=1289
Michelle confesses Kenya is Obama's home country?
President usurper Obama/Soetoro/Obama, regardless of his proud and stubborn refusal to be transparent (as promised - no change there), paying expensive lawyers hush money (at American taxpayers' expense) to keep his revealing documents in the dark, is not a natural born citizen of two American parents and is therefore not eligible to be POTUS according to the Constitution. It's past time the fraud and foreigner is brought to justice! Emperor Obama has got to go! And let him take his illegal alien aunt with him who has stolen from the American people.
http://www.davidbenariel.org/
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