Oklahoma City Federal Building bomber Timothy McVeigh was linked to a militia. The siege and eventual destruction of David Koresh and the Branch Davidian complex in Waco, Texas, was tied to militia activity.Repeating the Morris Dees fundraising mantra, are we?
Mike Vanderboegh wrote them a letter asking for a retraction, saying in part:
McVeigh was not "linked to a militia." He was NEVER a member of any constitutional militia. The only militia meeting that I'm aware of that he and Nichols attended, they were asked to leave...Michael McNulty then weighed in:
That's bad enough. But what crack pipe hallucination were you in when you wrote that the massacre of innocents at Waco had ANYTHING to do with the constitutional militias that sprang up in its aftermath? Waco was an ATF initiated, FBI concluded federal operation against a loony reclusive Christian sect. The militias, those few that existed then, had no part in that federal atrocity.
My Name is Michael McNulty. I am an award winning Documentary film maker. From 1993 to 2005. I dedicated my time as a film maker and investigator to looking into the tragedy at Waco. In all that time and effort, I found absolutely NO support for the statement that recently appeared in your publication that the Branch Davidians or David Koresh were involved with any kind of militia group.As did Dan Gifford:
More to the point, the FBI, the BATF and the Texas Rangers didn't find any "militia" connection either. So what are you folks talking about? Can you provide indisputable evidence that your allegations are true? Or is this just your poor excuse for attempting to re-write history? An answer, please.
I spoke with the reporter and gave him the real facts. He said that it was his editor, not him, who inserted the militia stuff and that he'll take that matter up with her this morning.I find it curious that while some are (still) expending efforts trying to convince gun blog readers that Vanderboegh is hurting our public image, he's out there leading the constructive effort to work within the system and get the lies and stereotypes corrected and retracted.
I call on these folks--who are always reminding us of the importance of appearances and asking for unity--to join this effort, and tell the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review a retraction is in order. Naturally, I call on WarOnGuns readers to do the same.
You can write the reporter, Richard Gazarik, at : rgazarik@tribweb.com.
Editor Frank L. Craig can be reached at: fcraig@tribweb.com
The funny thing is, those who have studied OK city have a pretty good idea of who McVeigh was really working for, and who helped him carry it out.
ReplyDeleteI guess since the Supreme Court ruling talked about (actually talked AROUND) militias, the news media are dusting off their files and copying and pasting the same old lies. The killer in the church in Knoxville is described by neighbors/friends as not liking blacks, gays, liberals, people who were otherwise different from him, and as someone who FELT THE GOVERNMENT WAS OUT TO GET HIM. An emotionally ill man who refused treatment. Someone who went to his wife's church armed and angry EIGHT YEARS after their divorce with 80 shotgun shells. Critical of illegal immigration and the ACLU. Any of this sound familiar? That's a wide brush. The words "right-wing racist sexist anti-government militia gun nut" don't actually appear, but...
ReplyDeleteThe witch trials return.
McVeigh was part of Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf's personal security detail during Gulf War I. An elite soldier trusted with access to top command. I find that fascinating. A few years later, a despised child-murdering terrorist who "got lost" on the way to an operation planned for months?
ReplyDeleteCol. Oliver North took a big fall for Reagan.
Consider that now, 50 years later, we find out that U.S. military were present when our ally South Korea executed thousands of civilian political prisoners, including families with children. What will our grandchildren learn?
Here's the entire email I sent to the Editor of the Tribune-Review today, including the original email yesterday to the reporter.
ReplyDeleteMr. Craig,
Yesterday I sent the email below to Mssrs. Fryer and Gazarik, to no reply. Thus today, I am again seeking a responsible adult who can address your newspaper's egregious mishandling of, and indeed inventing, the facts regarding militias, Waco and the Oklahoma City bombing as presented in Mr. Gazarik's lamentable presentation. I am copying this to more folks today, including Mike McNulty, who produced two documentaries on Waco. If you are unable to address this, will you kindly direct me to someone who does take responsibility for what you print?
Mike Vanderboegh
(contact info below)
Sir,
You need a better editor, and we need a retraction
Kindly have a competent adult fact-check this outrageous paragraph in your story:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_579637.html
"Oklahoma City Federal Building bomber Timothy McVeigh was linked to a militia. The siege and eventual destruction of David Koresh and the Branch Davidian complex in Waco, Texas, was tied to militia activity."
McVeigh was not "linked to a militia." He was NEVER a member of any constitutional militia. The only militia meeting that I'm aware of that he and Nichols attended, they were asked to leave. McVeigh was linked to a Christian Identity compound in eastern Oklahoma called Elohim City, a place of refuge for neoNazis terrorists such as the Aryan Republican Army bank robbers and the Kehoe brothers racist murderers. McVeigh called Elohim City, if memory serves me correctly, two days before the bombing to talk to a shadowy figure named Andreas Carl Strassmeir, later alleged to be a federal snitch.
If you are serious about your facts, then call Professor Mark Hamm (author of In Bad Company) or email Dr. Robert Churchill (churchill@hartford.edu). Either can provide you with a far more nuanced and informed opinion of militias and the neoNazi terrorists such as typified by McVeigh than the biased cartoonish depictions offered by that fact-challenged fat FBI troll Pitcavage or the liars for money at the Southern Poverty Law Center and ADL. It has always been the habit of these left wing organizations who use the militia boogeyman scarecrow to generate contributions to blur the absolute differences between the Klan, neoNazis and Identity racist terrorists and the constitutional militias. This is perhaps because the militias are far more numerous than the green-teethed sheetheads and neos. Hard to make much of threat from a bunch of the terminally stupid who hold their conventions in phone booths. Far better for the purposes of fundraising for these groups to deny or obscure the differences between the racists and the militias.
That's bad enough. But what crack pipe hallucination were you in when you wrote that the massacre of innocents at Waco had ANYTHING to do with the constitutional militias that sprang up in its aftermath? Waco was an ATF initiated, FBI concluded federal operation against a loony reclusive Christian sect. The militias, those few that existed then, had no part in that federal atrocity.
Look, I realize that reportage standards have slipped badly in the modern era, but don't you think that facts, rather than ignorant smears devoid of facts, are rather more to be preferred in an alleged NEWS story. Let your editors misrepresent the militias on your editorial page, but kindly do your supposed job and GET THE FACTS STRAIGHT.
Mike Vanderboegh
PO Box 926
Pinson, AL 35126
GeorgeMason1776@aol.com
Mike,
ReplyDeleteYou are going to have the dickens of a time finding an adult among the employees of the media. Try writing the maintenance and cleaning crew, you'll probably find an adult among them.
Kind of like pulling hen's teeth.
I'll frame my letter later today. The guy (and his editor) that wrote this trash that passes for an article of news is ignorant.
Here's mine:
ReplyDelete"Dear Mr. Gazarik,
I just finished reading your piece, and am troubled by many of the things published in it. The first was the whole 'militia' sub-text, but I won't address that, as I don't know enough to intelligently discuss that, and I am informed that others will.
My main issue is your (and your Editor's) seeming willingness to pass along, uncritically, information fed to you by various law enforcement entities. You seem to have forgotten what the basic function of certain portions of our society are for.
1) Law Enforcement. Obviously, the title says a lot. But also included in that is the need to show that they're doing something, as they, along with all other publically funded agencies, are worth the tax dollars provided to them each year. A fixed number of dollars that can only be spent once per fiscal year.
2) You, the Press. As you know, you are about the only industry that has its' own Constitutional Amendment, the First. As you've seem to have forgotten, that's not a shield merely to protect your activities, but a sword as well, one that should be used to question and challenge the assertions of Government.
I don't live in the area, never have, so there are any number of nuances that I am ignorant of. But after having read through your piece several times, I cannot escape the thought that the people who were made available to you for comment are trying to influence the potential jury pool in order to secure a conviction under what seems to be shaky grounds. Mr. Jones does indeed seem to be an 'eccentric', but a potentially violent extremist anti-government militia member? Please. That simply doesn't pass the smell test.
You can and should do better."
Hmm... I think Mr. Vanderboegh's letter failed... in that he didn't threaten to write to their advertisers ;P Seriously though, educational for me, if not for them.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the head's up, wrote in to complain, saying that I'm sure Coors Light and the Steelers would like to know they're insulting good Americans. Not sure if it'll do any good...
Idiots.
ReplyDeleteMilitia activity was caused by Waco ... it didn't exist before that outrage.
Mr. Gazarik's comments to Dan Gifford notwithstanding, he wasn't sufficiently bothered by what his editor allegedly did to pull his byline. I mentioned that in my letter to him. I am responsible for what is published under my name, and I expect others to be as well.
ReplyDeleteMine. Sent late, but sent.
ReplyDeleteRE: Clarion County man not a 'terrorist,' wife says
Editor,
I read the story published concerning the arrest of Marvin Jones and the supposed details of his “militia” activity. I must tell you that this story is certainly full of errors and one-sided, biased reporting.
To begin with, there existed virtually no “militia” activity of any sort in the United States until after the events of Ruby Ridge and Waco. Why? Because there was no reason for their existence prior to the egregious events perpetrated by the Federal Government at both locations. In both cases, evidence gathered and examined after the events were concluded, plainly demonstrated that the BATF, FBI and US Marshal Service had a disproportionate response to the actual threat that existed, to the point of being criminal. The rise of “militias” in the United States was in direct response to these two events.
Thus, the “reporting” of this story fails on determining actual historical facts. Even cursory research would have revealed the timeline of the rise of militias to be after the events at the Branch Davidian Compound at Waco. Hence, no “militia connection” could have existed as this story states.
Moreover, you reference a militia website, www.awrm.org, and extensively quote Mark Pitcavage, a self-proclaimed “militia expert,” yet totally neglect to state two essential pieces of information that would have placed things in a more balanced perspective. First, you could have easily pulled 10 USC, Section 311 from the militia website which plainly states that the unorganized militia consists all members of the militia who are not members of the organized militia. Hence, virtually every person who is able, and between the ages of 18 and 45 is, by United States law, automatically a member of the “militia.” Second, you failed to report that Mark Pitcavage has a long history of accepting funds from the U.S. Justice Department, and has been under contract with them from time to time. Hence, Mr. Pitcavage is simply another mouthpiece for Federal law enforcement, and not an independent “militia expert.” The determination of these facts would have consisted of a few minutes researching easily available and reliable sources on the internet.
The very same applies to the “facts and figures” you published that were from the Southern Poverty Law Center, run by Morris Dees. It is plainly apparent from Mr. Dees fund raising letters that Mr. Dees has an agenda of his own, and it has very little to do with poverty, law, or helping right actual wrongs that exist in society. Instead, based upon the SPLC history, it has much to do with keeping Mr. Dees as far from poverty as he can get — at the expense of the gullible. A little bit of research would have revealed this as well.
Finally, I did a search for the 91st Warrior(s) Militia about every way I could, and found only one reference to them that wasn’t about the arrests that this article references. And, although the Federal government claims that the so-called Brookville Tiger Militia has about 200 members that meet, don’t you think it strange that no one locally knew about them? Don’t you think it strange that there exists no internet footprint of any kind prior to the arrests? Don’t you think it strange that the supposed “militia” members are all geriatrics? They are 60 plus crowd. The only individual arrested that was younger than 60 wasn’t even, and didn’t claim to be, a “militia” member. No, instead of questioning any of these inconsistencies, you simply parrot the line of Federal law enforcement.
No, this is not “reporting the news,” this is being a propaganda mouthpiece for the Federal Government. You either need to admit the errors in the “story” and properly correct them, or retract the “story” altogether with an admission of error. Or, you could just admit that your “journalistic standards” are somewhat less than the requirements of a Junior High research paper.
By the way, here are the Feds exploding golf balls: www.explodinggolfballs.com
Well said, Paul! I think these bozos bit off a lot more than they could chew when they parroted "pet cabbage's" line.
ReplyDeleteMike Vanderboegh III
WE ARE changing the Dynamics of the BattleField.
ReplyDeleteLiberty Haters? BEWARE!
If I were Morris Dees?
I sure couldn't hold my head up, walking down the Street, babbling such blatant, LIES!!
Oh that's right?
You'd have to have a conscience first!
Talk about making a keyboard work, Shootem' up Mike!
ReplyDeleteOne thing that Mike said, was to note the Southern Poverty Law Center. One thing that a lot of people don't know about that group is they have two agendas and one is to keep track of tax protesters. Why tax protesters?