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CounterPunch
November
18, 2002
Secular Crusades
by ANTHONY GANCARSKI
"To tell people the truth is not
hatred."
-- Jimmy Swaggart, 11/15/2002
You won't have Ronald Springel to kick around
anymore, apparently. Spokane's SPOKESMAN-REVIEW, in its 11/15
edition, followed up its marginally researched "Militia
Pamphlets Spur Review" with a piece entitled "Militia
Defends Leaflet Distribution." This writer hopes that his
"Defending MOM", which appeared Wednesday on the Counterpunch
website, wasn't the sole catalyst for his local paper allowing
Militia of Montana head John Trochmann the luxury of speaking
on behalf of his beleaguered organization, via quotes from a
letter Trochmann sent to Spokane County Commissioners in his
defense.
SPOKESMAN-REVIEW readers who might have
expected a screed that was "anti-everything", to borrow
a Springel-ism, were likely disappointed by the quotes on offer.
Trochmann claimed in the missive that his Militia's "Taking
Aim" newsletter addresses "atrocities committed by
Israel against the Palestinians", "UN edicts and how
far Israel is violating them and how Israel has bought off much
of the US Congress", and Israeli "genocide on a massive
scale via the use of our military equipment and supplies."
The SPOKESMAN-REVIEW leaves it to the imagination exactly why
Springel (or staff writer Bill Morlin) confused a rational argument
against the US propping up Israel with anti-Semitism.
And you would expect the Spokane daily
paper to leave that to the imagination. To analyze Springel's
knee-jerk reaction to being handed objectionable reading material
would force that paper to analyze how mainstream US media forces
the thinnest line of consent imaginable in a culture that produced
Lenny Bruce, John Coltrane, and William Faulkner. The Springel
line is the same old garbage given to us by soulless bastards
who wrap themselves in banners of religion or government and
advocate massacres on behalf of their sold-out creeds. It is
impossible to reflect on the biographies of Arik and BiBi and
think positive things about Judaism; at times it almost seems
as if that image is projected intentionally. Billions around
the world have their opinions of Jewish people daily shaped by
horrific images; tanks spraying fire at children, or "settlers"
gunning down Palestinians picking olives with the sanction of
the Sharon government.
Of course, it's not just the Israeli
government that has a keen interest in having one part of society
hold another at gunpoint. Consider the "Our Lady of Peace"
Act [S. 2826], introduced in the US Senate on July 30th by a
"bipartisan coalition. . . Including Senators Charles Schumer
and Larry Craig". Supported by the NRA, notably, this legislation
provides three-quarters of a billion dollars over three years
to states seeking to "improve database records of those
not qualified to purchase guns," to quote a letter from
the office of Senator Maria Cantwell [D-WA].
Tyranny so often creeps in on cats' paws,
and this bill is a prime example thereof. Cantwell asserts that
it is "appropriate to limit the ability of individuals who
have been through a process that has judged them a potential
danger to purchase guns." Friendly fascism; 23 words, give
or take, and not one truly active verb. Acceptable Democrats
like Cantwell mask the true meaning of these initiatives with
passive voice, as if intending to suggest that they believe people
exist to serve the government and should actually be thankful
for their impending opportunities to grovel at the boots of National
Guard members rifling their cars at checkpoints throughout the
nation.
But back to "Our Lady of Peace".
Our Lady of Peace affords states the opportunity to "compile
lists of people judged to be 'mentally defective'," as Phil
Jordan of the Washington Protection & Advocacy System put
it in a recent email. As the recently murdered military wives
in Fort Bragg might assert, there is a fine line between exhibiting
mental defectiveness and bringing democracy to a failed state.
However, Our Lady of Peace allows us to avoid such quandaries
and simply establishes various categories of "mental defectives".
The cognitively disabled are "not qualified". Neither
are folks with mental illnesses who actually bought into the
propaganda and "applied for services" because of their
disabilities. Anyone who has even been "determined by any
governmental agency to be a danger to themselves or others"
would not be allowed to purchase guns. Likewise, those of "subnormal
intelligence" are barred from purchasing them, though one
supposes they'll just get mall security gigs and hope for the
best.
Anthony Gancarski, a regular contributor to CounterPunch, recently
had his work recognized in Utne Reader's "Web Watch".
Email him at Anthony.Gancarski@attbi.com.
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2002
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