Weekly Update Volume 3 Issue 9 May 16-23, 1996 DEMONIZING THE MILITIA On Sunday, May 19 1996, millions of Americans had their breakfast and morning coffee while reading the "Parade," a nationally distributed newspaper insert magazine. Departing from the usual fill of feelgood stories of triumph in the face of adversity and/or people making a positive difference in others lives, the cover story "WILL THIS AGENCY SURVIVE?" promised a look at the controversy surrounding the BATF, "reported" by Peter Maas. What I read made me want to lose my breakfast. Right after reading Wayne LaPierre of the NRA quoted "If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't have done it" regarding his characterization of the BATF as "jack-booted government thugs" in a fund- raising letter, and a list of the NRA's attempts to restore 2nd amendment rights which have been infringed upon (which of course, instead of assailing the unconstitutional gun laws that congress has passed, the paragraph reads more like the BATF is trying to do something underhanded.) comes this gem; "On other fronts the emergence of self-styled 'militias' has resulted in more than 100 ATF agents receiving death threats in the last year. Members of the so-called 'Michigan militia' reportedly gathered not only the home addresses of ATF agents but also where their children attend school." Notice that the article doesn't say anything about the death threats coming from anyone in the Michigan Militia, it SIMPLY LINKS TWO SEPARATE EVENTS IN PRINT, CREATING A GUILTY-BY-ASSOCIATION IN THE READER'S MIND, in an obvious attempt to demonize the Michigan Militia. This underhanded media technique has been used repeatedly in government statements, so-called 'think-tank' reports and especially by The Associated Press to discredit and attempt to divide the patriots of Michigan. I have noticed that this is an especially favorite tool of the Anti-Defamation League, whose Detroit attorney made several such inferences in a recent Press Q&A column. The ADL regularly publishes erroneous information as they pretend to know what goes on in the Michigan and other militias. They are the anti-thesis of anti-defamation. In the May 10 FBI alert article on the Militia 'war warning' the Spokane Spokesman-Review says that the southern Poverty Law center "estimates that there are more than 800 anti-government 'patriot' groups nationwide, including 'white supremacists, neo-Nazis, common law freemen and paramilitary militia.'" somehow. I had never really thought of the neo-Nazis as a patriot group before the all-knowing SPLC put it in print. And, when did PRO- CONSTITUTION become ANTI-GOVERNMENT? Even before the Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed, The Associated Press was dis-informing and deceiving in its articles on the militia, and even when they know that an article has outright lies in it, The Grand Rapids press still prints it. (Most recently it's been printing articles involving the Freemen where the AP has repeatedly stated that Norm Olson is the leader of the Michigan Militia, when the Press knows full well that he was voted out of his command and replaced by Lynn Van Huizen last year). When I called the Press over a year ago and asked them about the bogus Mark Koernke/blow-up-the-guard-camp story, which made it sound like he was the leader of the Michigan Militia, I was told that they can't check out the validity of every Associated Press article that they print, and referred me to the AP office, who said they would check into it. They still haven't explained it. The shark-like media feeding frenzy continues, seizing every opportunity to link the words "Michigan Militia" with the Oklahoma City bombing, white supremacists, white separatists, Aryan nation, neo-nazi, angry white males, and the media favorite word - "extremists" etc., by making a statement about one group and then the other. Very clever. These media sharks, by not outrightly accusing the militias of anything, thereby protecting themselves from libel. The media successfully demonizes the militias and other true patriot groups by simply associating hate groups in the same paragraph. Another media favorite is to call a group a 'militia' that has absolutely nothing to do with the real militia, such as in the 05/10/96 AP article titled "LORDS OF CHAOS - Good teens caught up in arson, robbery and murder," about a group of five rampaging teens who murdered a Fort Meyers, FL band director with a 12-gauge shotgun blast to the face. The article says "it was the work of a self-described teen militia." There is no such thing! The Queen of media puppets though, has to be syndicated columnist Molly Ivans, whose moronic 'militia hate group' drivel is regularly injected into her ignorant ramblings - apparently based on all the Associated Press articles that she has read. What really amazes me about these people preaching so adamantly against "fostering hate" is that they seem to foster so much of it themselves. While there may or may not be some people in the militia groups that have extreme views, that does not change the intent, purpose or ideals of the good majority of militia members, anymore than a church congregation member with extreme views indicates that the whole church shares the same views. Arlynn Afton Wyoming, MI (submitted to the Grand Rapids Press) HARD LABOR FOR REFUSING DNA SAMPLE SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, ILL - An Air Force sergeant was demoted and sentenced to 14 days of hard labor for refusing to give a blood and saliva sample for a DNA registry designed to help identify servicemen's remains. Tech-Sgt. Warren Sinclair, 33, of Hampton, VA, became the third serviceman this year to be convicted with a court-martial for disobeying an order to provide such samples. Sinclair had claimed that the requirement violated his Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure. He also declared. "It is our God-given right to maintain possession of our genes." He contended that the Pentagon did not have adequate safeguards to prevent the DNA from being used for other purposes than the identification of remains. Prosecutors disputed that. Some experts have warned that genetic information that can indicate whether someone is susceptible to certain diseases could be used to deny people insurance or employment. Sinclair was demoted two ranks and sentenced to hard labor without confinement by the military Judge who found him guilty. He could have received a bad-conduct discharge, six months confinement at hard labor and forfeiture of two-thirds of his pay. In closing, prosecutors warned Sinclair was a threat to military discipline. The Pentagon began ordering genetic samples in 1993. It now has more than 1 million samples. Dr. Paul Thillings of Stanford University's medical school testified that the program could not guarantee a serviceman's DNA would not be used for other purposes. But he acknowledged under cross-examination that he knew of no instances of misuse by the Pentagon. Casper (WY) Star-Tribune May 11, 1996 TEXAS SESSIONISTS CHARTER BANKS AUSTIN, TX - A Texas secessionist group said it has chartered its own banks, the latest step in a campaign to declare the Lone Star state's independence from the United States. The Republic of Texas, in an advertisement in the Wall Street Journal, said it is setting up treasuries across the states and will convert deposits into "specie," its form of legal currency. The group said it established the treasury and notified foreign governments of the state's status as a free standing nation to claim sovereignty for fellow Texans. The Republic of Texas scheduled a common law court hearing this Saturday on its $93 trillion claim against the U.S. government, the International Monetary Fund and the Vatican which the group claims illegally hold property in the state. The common law court also is expected to consider its next step after the Internal Revenue Service ignored an order to leave Texas by April 19, 1996. Members of the secessionist group have printed their own driver's licenses and license plates, and several wear military style dog tags. Texas law enforcement officials warned the group is seeking a violent confrontation and should be considered extremely dangerous. State prosecutor Ann Diamond, assistant district attorney in Fort Worth, Texas, said "common law courts" set up by the group are a trademark of militia claiming sovereignty from federal and state governments. "They simply do not recognize the government of Texas as legitimate. They want to take back the land, the statehouse, and state offices for the republic" she said. Reuters April 25, 1996 PROSECUTOR MIGHT USE CONFESSION TO PRIEST PORTLAND, ORE - When a Catholic priest, the Rev Tim Mockaitis, heard confession last month in a county prison in Eugene from a 20-year-old suspect linked to three killings he assumed that the session would be private. But it was not. Lane County prison authorities surreptitiously taped every word Mockaitis and the suspect Conan Wayne Hale said they sat on opposite sides of a plastic partition on April 22, speaking over telephones. The county's district attorney, Doug Harcieroad, has acquired the tape via court order and may decide to use it in the prosecution of Hale. He faces burglary, and theft charges related to the shooting deaths of three teen- agers in the woods in Springfield near Eugene in December. Harcieroad insists that the taping was justified because Hale is accused of playing a role in the slayings. But Catholics and civil libertarians nationwide are vehemently opposing the effort to use the tape in court. The Catholic League for Religious and Civil rights has called for a federal investigation of the taping. The Rutherford Institute is getting ready to fight a legal battle to keep the tape from being used in court against Hale. Dave Fidanque, executive director of the Oregon chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has also spoken out. Eugene's daily paper, The Register-Guard, quoted him as saying. "Is there no zone of privacy that we as citizens have from the government?" Confidentiality is integral to the ritual of confession, which is called the Sacrament of Reconciliation. William A Donohue, president of the Catholic League, said that this is "unprecedented in American history" and described the taping as "a Nazi tactic." An Oregon law supports the use of the tape by stating that all jail conversations, except those between lawyers and their clients, can be recorded, even surreptitiously. The New York Times Company