There's a lot of interesting news in this newsletter. Have a read through the table of contents. If there's a specific story that you would like to discuss, please copy and paste that story into a new post under General Discussion.
VCDL Update 4/18/09
1. Reminder: Roanoke Picnic on May 2nd!
2. LTE: Kaine's concealed-carry veto is inconsistent
3. Virginia Governor Tim Kaine insults military members with
dishonest veto message
4. LTE: Concealed carry owners have a right to anonymity
5. Bloomberg, anti-gun lobbyists with links to the VT massacre to
unveil gun law ad
6. Man defends family during home invasion
7. Norton Focuses on Mass Shootings to Lobby Against Gun Rider
8. Fewer Americans support stricter gun control laws
9. LTE: We Must Act Against Gun Violence
10. Los Angeles shop keeper must defend himself repeatedly (video)
11. Why Not Allow Guns in National Parks?
12. If It Works for Golf Balls...
13. Paranoia strikes deep: Homeland Security
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1. Reminder: Roanoke Picnic on May 2nd!
**************************************************
Place LONGWOOD PARK, SALEM, VA;
Date: Saturday, May 2nd
Time: eating starts at 11:00 AM
VCDL will furnish soft drinks, plastic ware; napkins; plates and such.
This is a "POT LUCK" picnic---members are asked to bring a dish with
enough extra to share with our fellow members and guests.
This is a family picnic. Members and guests are all welcome!
Reservations requested so we can get a head count.
Contact: AL STEED JR at 540-890-0970 or email: al@vcdl.org, subject
line: PICNIC
**************************************************
2. LTE: Kaine's concealed-carry veto is inconsistent
**************************************************
Activist Dennis Hannick comes through for gun owners again:
http://tinyurl.com/d7x7hd
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
April 10, 2009
In a hypocritical move that has his anti-rights handlers ecstatic,
Gov. Tim Kaine vetoed most of the legislation that would have restored
some of the right of self-defense to Virginians ["Death penalty, gun
bills get veto," March 28].
Either that, or he enjoys seeing his anti-gun compatriots get the
vapors every time a Virginian openly carries a holstered handgun into
a restaurant.
The governor vetoed a bill to allow concealed-handgun permit holders
to carry concealed in a restaurant that serves alcohol, as long as
they don't imbibe. He says guns and alcohol don't mix. Who can argue
with that? I guess he can.
Last year, he signed legislation that allows commonwealth's attorneys
and their assistants to carry concealed handguns without a background
check, without training, and into restaurants that serve alcohol, and
does not stop them from drinking while carrying there!
He provides no explanation, but I suppose he feels that the people's
servants are above their masters and have more need for self-defense
than the unwashed masses. That, and a cold one to help keep their plea-
bargaining trigger fingers lubed.
Gov. Kaine trusts untrained, unchecked commonwealth's attorneys to
drink and carry concealed, but doesn't trust retired cops to carry
concealed and not drink, so he vetoed the bill. Regular cops can still
carry concealed and drink.
Fortunately, the scheme to register private sales of firearms (the
"gun show loophole"), which has little to do with background checks,
never made it to the governor's desk.
Gov. Kaine sees no need for Virginians to exercise their
constitutionally guaranteed rights, but he has an armed guard to
protect his hypocritical hide.
The real tragedy is that he will carry the same attitudes and beliefs
when he moves over to lead the national Democratic Party.
Dennis Hannick
King George
**************************************************
3. Virginia Governor Tim Kaine insults military members with dishonest
veto message
**************************************************
VCDL EM & DC Gun Rights Examiner Mike Stollenwerk has another article
on emaminer.com:
http://tinyurl.com/c6n6u4
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4. LTE: Concealed carry owners have a right to anonymity
**************************************************
http://tinyurl.com/c48wkt
Collegiate Times at Virginia Tech
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
As a Virginia concealed carry permit holder, I feel compelled to reply
to the editorial "Privatizing concealed carry database threatens
public safety" (CT, Apr. 2).
First of all, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, any person who owns a
handgun can carry it openly, Wild-West style, anywhere they want (with
a few exceptions). Someone I know once openly carried a very tiny
pocket pistol into a Kroger and was asked by his trembling cashier
whether he was going to kill her.
It is not surprising that in this environment, those of us who wish to
carry firearms on our person choose to conceal them in order to avoid
the fearful [PVC - and irrational] reactions like those of the Kroger
cashier. So, instead we go through the thorough and lengthy process of
concealed carry permit application. Many of us do; in fact, you have
probably encountered people like us at the supermarket or at the
theater, or anywhere other than on campus or in a bar.
That should not give you pause because concealed carry holders are the
most law-abiding citizens there are. In the absence of data about
Virginia, I will mention that a study of Texas concealed carry permit
holders indicated that they are 5.7 times less likely than the average
citizen to commit a violent crime. In Florida and Arkansas,
respectively, those with concealed carry permits are 300 and 1,000
times less likely to commit a violent crime. If average people were as
law-abiding as average permit holders, the United States would have
the lowest crime rate in the entire world.
Imagine the consternation we feel when those of us who have so
diligently applied ourselves to obtaining the permit to carry a
handgun hidden in public suddenly have our names published in a major
newspaper for all to see.
Those of us who wish to carry a handgun in public do not wish to deal
with the hysteria of some people if we openly carry - like with the
aforementioned cashier - and also do not wish to be made a spectacle
of by the horrific misuse of the Virginia concealed carry database by
the Roanoke Times. It should be completely obvious why we want our
names to be hidden from the public.
Second of all, I would like to say that the process for obtaining a
Virginia concealed carry permit entails a criminal and mental health
background check as well as passing a class, which demonstrates that
you are adequately capable of using and accurately firing a handgun. I
would like to know where anyone, usually those who loathe and know
nothing about firearms, get off second guessing the Virginia State
Police when it comes to firearms safety and qualification. The whole
point of the Virginia concealed carry criterion is to establish a
clearly defined set of conditions for the issuing of a concealed carry
permit. Part of the reason this exists is to safeguard the right of
responsible gun owners to self-defense from the irrational bias of
those who fear guns.
As my final point, when the authors of the earlier editorial write
"the average citizen can no longer check to see whether the babysitter
to whom they entrust their children is packing heat," not only do they
show themselves to be hopelessly biased by their use of the sophomoric
term "packing heat," but they also show their ignorance of the law. It
states that any person may refuse the right of a concealed carry owner
to carry a firearm on their property. Any person can, for any reason,
demand that their private property should remain gun free.
That should be the end of their problem with the privatization of the
Virginia concealed carry database.
James Dorman
senior, aerospace engineering
**************************************************
5. Bloomberg, anti-gun lobbyists with links to the VT massacre to
unveil gun law ad
**************************************************
This is just another example of a rich New York City Mayor who ignores
his own city's problems to come to Virginia to tell us how we should
govern ourselves. Mayor Bloomberg should stick to fighting crime in
NYC and stop trying to impose his draconian gun control schemes on
states that value the rights of their citizens.
http://tinyurl.com/df34mx
BY Adam Lisberg April 10th 2009
New York DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
Family members of Virginia Tech massacre victims will join Mayor
Bloomberg in Virginia on Monday to unveil a new TV ad telling the
state to tighten its gun laws.
The commercial, paid for by a Bloomberg-funded lobbying group called
Americans United for Safe Streets, will hit the airwaves in time for
the Thursday's second anniversary of the killings.
The ad targets a provision in Virginia law that lets people buy
weapons at gun shows without background checks.
Bloomberg previously set up a coalition of mayors to push for tougher
gun laws, and has run ad campaigns through that coalition in the past.
**************************************************
6. Man defends family during home invasion
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Guns save innocent Lives. The 911 tapes that I heard from this
shooting are chilling. The homeowner pleads with the intruder to
leave. To no avail.
http://tinyurl.com/cbpetu
Roanoke Times April 11, 2009
By Sarah Bruyn Jones
A man was fatally shot in Botetourt County Friday night after
apparently trying to break into a house, authorities said.
According to a release from Botetourt County Sheriff Ronnie Sprinkle,
a family living in the Nace area heard someone yelling, cursing and
pounding on their house at about 10:40 p.m. A man living there called
911 and secured his family members in a locked bedroom, then loaded a
double-barreled, 12-gauge shotgun.
The intruder used a wrought iron patio chair to break a glass sliding
door and come into the house, and the resident shot him, the release
said.
"From what I'm told he showed some restraint," Botetourt County
Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom said Saturday about the shooter.
"But it got to the point where he didn't have much of a choice."
The home is near the intersection of Houston Mines Road and Salt Pond
Road in Troutville, Branscom said.
Deputies arrived as the shots were fired, Sprinkle said. The wounded
man was taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he was
pronounced dead.
Branscom said he believed that two shots were fired and that the
intruder was not carrying a gun.
"So far from what I've been told it appears to be justifiable
homicide," Branscom said. "If nothing changes that's where it is
headed. When you have someone entering a home in the night and in a
threatening manner, it is the kind of thing that rises to the level of
justifiable."
An autopsy is scheduled for Monday morning. Branscom said he would
review the results of the autopsy along with the 911 tape and look
through the statements before making a final determination.
The identity of the dead man has not been clearly established,
Sprinkle said. The sheriff's office is not identifying the resident
because the incident is still being investigated. He said there is no
indication of any connection between the intruder and the man who shot
him.
**************************************************
7. Norton Focuses on Mass Shootings to Lobby Against Gun Rider
**************************************************
Washington, DC completely misses the point of the recent mass
shootings. Where armed people are attacked, there are few dead (4
police was the most armed people killed in one of the recent
shootings). Where citizens are disarmed, then there were 13 dead, as
no one could offer any resistance.
http://tinyurl.com/dmdb77
By Marcia Davis | April 6, 2009
Washington Post
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) isn't missing the opportunity, with
the recent news of a number of mass shootings, to push back against a
gun amendment attached to the D.C. vote legislation.
Norton offered condolences to the families of the victims this
weekend, including three police officers fatally shot Saturday and 13
shot to death Friday.
"In only the 25 days between March 10 and April 5, 53 people have been
killed in mass murders by gunmen," a statement from her office said.
"The bill would eliminate all local gun laws, making the city,
including official Washington, more open to gun violence than any of
the jurisdictions where the mass killings have occurred in March and
April," according to the statement.
Norton [was] scheduled to appear on WUSA TV, channel 9, at 9 a.m. [6
April].
**************************************************
8. Fewer Americans support stricter gun control laws
**************************************************
Member Thomas Crabtree sent us this item.
http://tinyurl.com/ccyb2j
From Bill Schneider April 8, 2009
CNN Senior Political Analyst
(CNN) -- From Oakland, California, to Binghamton, New York, several
mass shootings in recent weeks have killed dozens across the country.
But has there been an effect on public opinion?
Yes, and in a surprising way.
Since 2001, most Americans have favored stricter gun laws, though
support has slightly dropped in recent years: 54 percent favored
stricter laws in 2001, compared with 50 percent in 2007, according to
Gallup polling.
Now, a recent poll reveals a sudden drop -- only 39 percent of
Americans now favor stricter gun laws, according to a new CNN/Opinion
Research Corporation poll.
The gradual, long-term decline in support for gun control from the
early 1990s to 2008 coincided with a decline in the murder rate. But
this year's sudden drop seems to be influenced by politics, namely the
Obama administration.
"If [President Obama] and the people in control of Congress right now
could have what they want, they would heavily restrict or eliminate
guns from this country," said Sean Healy, an attorney who has
advocated on behalf of gun-owner rights.
Or, Americans may have heard the new administration's take on assault
weapons.
"There are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make,
and among them would be to reinstate the ban on the sale of assault
weapons," said Attorney General Eric Holder in February.
In March, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, "I, as a senator,
supported measures to try and reinstate it. Politically, that is a
very big hurdle in our Congress. But there may be some approaches that
could be acceptable, and we are exploring those."
Still, the decline in American favor for stricter gun laws doesn't
mean people want to see restrictions lifted -- 46 percent want no
change in the current law, while only 15 percent want gun laws that
are less strict.
Nearly all the decline in support for stricter gun laws is from people
who don't identify themselves as Democrats. Six in 10 Democrats still
support stricter gun laws, but support has dropped 13 points among
Republicans and 17 points among independents. Half of all independents
supported stricter gun laws in 2007; now only a third of them do.
advertisement
The poll, based on phone interviews with 1,023 U.S. adults from Friday
through Sunday, were conducted after Friday's mass shooting in
Binghamton, New York, where 13 people were killed at an immigrant
services center.
On the issue of whether gun laws should be stricter, the poll contains
a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The breakdown
of opinions on that issue over party lines had a sampling error of
plus or minus 5.5 percentage points.
**************************************************
9. LTE: We Must Act Against Gun Violence
**************************************************
Disarming good people will NOT stop violent criminals from murdering
people, it will only make such events even bloodier. Follow this pied
piper to a world where criminals rule:
http://tinyurl.com/dxdxlq
Washington Post
Thursday, April 9, 2009; Page A16
We Must Act Against Gun Violence
At least 57 people have died in mass killings in a month ["Some Link
Economy With Spate of Killings," news story, April 8], and, of course,
that says nothing about the other people who have died from gun
violence -- murders, accidents, suicides -- in the same period.
Reading about these killings, I feel as if I live in an anarchic Third
World country, not in a country that is supposed to be a beacon for
the rest of the world. Even more saddening is that this is apparently
acceptable to us. Repeatedly, we choose this kind of carnage over
rational gun control laws, a bargain with the Devil if ever there was
one. After the Virginia Tech massacre two years ago, we were appalled
and resolved to prevent further such abominations, but clearly nothing
has changed.
I can't imagine what has to happen before we the people decide that
this is unendurable and do what is required to stop it.
LAIDLER CAMPBELL
Springfield
**************************************************
10. Los Angeles shop keeper must defend himself repeatedly (video)
**************************************************
Lance Thomas says, "I refuse to be a victim of violent crime."
http://tinyurl.com/dlnpfg
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11. Why Not Allow Guns in National Parks?
**************************************************
http://tinyurl.com/c5xl3w
MY TURN | Why Not Allow Guns in National Parks?
POULSBO, WA - Once again Seabury Blair's column is wrong and misleading.
The concealed carry gun law is only to retain rights already given by
state law. Yet he says "it's worth noting that if you have a concealed
weapon permit you can carry in a national forest." But that is not
true of national parks.
Often, national forest surrounds a national park, so why is their
(sic) a difference? Why should there be? Blair claims that there were
NO violent gun deaths in Washington state's national parks, but what
about other killings, or kidnappings, rape, assault and theft that
would have been stopped had those people been armed?
National statistics show that national park rangers are 12 times more
likely to be assaulted then are FBI agents, why? Increasingly the
national parks are havens for drug users, drug cartels, illegal
aliens, theft rings and illegal activity. Blair asks "what are the gun-
toters afraid of" and the answer is the same thing that makes you
unsafe in Tacoma at midnight in a dark alley. The same violence and
pressures that society everywhere is seeing are also found in the
national parks - and in some national parks to a much greater degree.
Blair hypocritically suggests that "if they're concealed, nobody knows
your packing." Great - so it's OK for me to break the law by carrying
a gun, but he won't support a law that would legally give me the right
to do so.
Steve Herron
**************************************************
12. If It Works for Golf Balls...
**************************************************
We're looking forward to the results showing up in the civilian
market. So much incredible news breaks on April 1st:
http://tinyurl.com/cu4dmo
1 April 2009
AccurateShooter.com
U.S. Army Team Tests Radical New Dimpled Bullet
Aberdeen Proving Ground - At the U.S. Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground,
a team of ballistics technicians, supported by some of the U.S. Army's
top sniper instructors, has been quietly developing a radical new
"dimpled" bullet. The exterior of the bullet resembles the dimpled
surface of a golf ball. The function of the special dimpled skin is to
reduce projectile drag, providing a flatter long-range trajectory, and
greater retained energy at the target.
In their pursuit of a lower-drag bullet, the Army tried a variety of
designs, including bullets with circumferential drive bands, dual-
radius ogives, and rebated boat-tails. The dimpled "golf-ball" design
was considered a "long shot" according to the design team, but it has
performed beyond all expectations. The nominal drag coefficient (Cd)
has improved by about +.040, while cartridge muzzle velocity has
increased by nearly 80+ fps because the bullet's dimpled skin reduces
in-barrel friction. What's more - the terminal performance of the
dimpled bullet has been "spectacular". The Aberdeen team set out to
produce a slightly more slippery bullet for U.S. Army snipers. What
they ended up with is a bullet with dramatically enhanced long-range
ballistics and superior killing power on "soft targets".
Lt. Col. Ben Eldrick, Long-Range Projectile Project (LRPP) team
leader, told AccurateShooter.com how the radical bullet was conceived:
"During our initial design work, we wanted the benefits of a high-BC,
pointed bullet, but in a design that could be mass-produced and could
work as a tracer. We consulted some of the top civilian bullet
experts, including ballistician Bryan Litz of Berger Bullets. Mr. Litz
really got the ball rolling. He suggested that the 'next big step' in
bullet design would involve the turbulent boundary layer over the body
of the bullet. Litz told us that 'pointing bullet tips will take you
only so far... think about optimizing the airflow over the entire
bullet'. That made a lot of sense to us. When you design a race car to
be aerodynamic, you sculpt the whole body, not just the front bumper."
Lt. Col. Eldrick continued: "It turns out Litz was right on the money.
By employing a golf-ball type dimpled surface, we were able to
optimize the turbulent boundary layer on the bullet body. This reduced
the low-pressure wake zone behind the bullet significantly, resulting
in reduced base drag. As a result the bullet experiences much less
overall drag, effectively raising the BC." The Army team had
discovered that what works for golf balls also works for bullets.
After testing a series of prototypes, the Aberdeen bullet design team
settled on a copper-jacketed bullet with dimples about 0.5 mm in
diameter. The first-generation bullets were formed in special binary
impact swages that press-form the dimples after the bullets were
pointed up in conventional dies. Future production bullets will be
made with an advanced metal-injection-molding (MIM) process that forms
the dimples directly into the surface of the bullets. Rather than
simply wrap the core material (which is classified), the MIM is
molecularly bonded to the core. The Aberdeen LRPP team calls this "Exo-
Jacket" construction, as in "Exo-Skeleton".
Higher Velocities Achieved
There was a surprise benefit of the dimpled bullet design - higher
muzzle velocities. Given the same powder charge, dimpled bullets exit
the muzzle faster because they produce less in-barrel friction than do
conventional bullets. This is because the recessed dimples effectively
reduce the metal-on-metal bearing surface. Lt. Col. Eldrick revealed:
"the added velocity was an unexpected bonus. With equal-pressure
loads, dimpled .308 bullets will fly about 80 fps faster than normal .
308 bullets. With the large .338-caliber projectiles, the difference
is even greater... we can pick up nearly 150 fps." Given the observed
velocity gains achieved with dimpled bullets, Aberdeen designers are
now working on dimpled shell casings for larger artillery projectiles.
Dimpled Jacket Delivers 'Explosive' Fragmentation
While the internal design and core materials of the new dimpled bullet
remain classified, the design team revealed that the terminal
performance of the new bullet has been "spectacular". The bullet
penetrates like a FMJ but then explosively fragments, resulting in a
devastating energy release in the target. According to Capt. Jack
Sarazen, an Aberdeen engineer, "the enhanced terminal performance of
the dimpled bullet was unanticipated. This was a serendipitous effect
of the slight thinning of the jacket material where the dimples are
pressed." Sarazen explained: "Most FMJ bullets break along the
cannelure and then fragment into two or three large pieces. With the
dimpled bullets, you have multiple fragmentation points so the bullet
literally blows up like a grenade in the target."
**************************************************
13. Paranoia strikes deep: Homeland Security
**************************************************
Homeland Security is hardly a vision of security themselves, or so it
would seem. You and I are potential right wing terrorists if we
believe in the Second Amendment, or if we are veterans, or if we
aren't thrilled with how our government is being run.
You can love your country, but believe it is being run by buffoons. I
don't see that as being dangerous to anyone. But clearly some of
those in the government are not used to dissent and are willing to
threaten those who disagree with them.
Read this and decide for yourself who is going off the deep end:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04 ... alization/
Chorus of Protest Grows Over Report Warning of Right Wing
Radicalization Conservative groups are up in arms following a recent
Department of Homeland Security report that warns of the possible
radicalization of right-wing extremists.
Government considers you a terrorist threat if you oppose abortion,
own a gun or are a returning war veteran. That's what House Judiciary
Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said Wednesday in
response to a Department of Homeland Security report warning of the
rise of right-wing extremist groups.
Smith, who said the report on "right-wing extremism" amounts to
"political profiling," said that DHS is "using people's political
views to assess an individual's susceptibility to terror recruitment."
He joins a growing chorus of protest from irate conservative groups
that are protesting the report's findings.
The report, titled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and
Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and
Recruitment," released last week by DHS' Office of Intelligence and
Analysis, said while there is no specific information that domestic
right-wing terrorists are planning acts of violence, it suggests acts
of violence could come from unnamed "rightwing extremists" concerned
about illegal immigration, abortion, increasing federal power and
restrictions on firearms -- and it singles out returning war veterans
as susceptible to recruitment.
A senior Republican Judiciary Committee aide tells FOX News that the
Obama administration "should immediately retract the report and
apologize," saying that according to the report, pro-lifers, anyone
who lost their jobs or are one of the thousands of military veterans
who have fought to prevent another 9/11 could be suspect.
DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano defended the report Wednesday, saying
it is part of an ongoing series of assessments to provide information
to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies on "violent
radicalization" in the United States.
"Let me be clear: we monitor the risks of violent extremism taking
root here in the United States," Napolitano said in a statement. "We
don't have the luxury of focusing our efforts on one group; we must
protect the country from terrorism whether foreign or homegrown, and
regardless of the ideology that motivates its violence."
The report follows a similar report released in January by DHS that
detailed left-wing threats, focusing on cyberattacks and radical "eco-
terrorist" groups like Earth Liberation Front, accused of firebombing
construction sites, logging companies, car dealerships and food
science labs. The report notes that left-wing extremists prefer
economic damage on businesses to get the message across.
"Their leftwing assessment identifies actual terrorist organizations,
like the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front. The
rightwing report uses broad generalizations about veterans, pro-life
groups, federalists and supporters of gun rights," said Smith. "That's
like saying if you love puppies you might be susceptible to
recruitment by the Animal Liberation Front. It is ridiculous and
deeply offensive to millions of Americans."
U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-FL, told FOX News he was "offended" by the
report's suggestion that returning troops could be potential targets
for extremist groups.
"I am very offended and really disturbed that they would even say our
military veterans, our returning war heroes would be capable of
committing any terrorist acts," he said. "Where do they get off doing
that? I demand an apology from [Napolitano] and even the President of
the United States."
Veterans' groups are also taking issue with the report, which says
disgruntled vets are considered coveted recruits for groups looking
for "combat skills and experience."
"Returning veterans possess combat skills and experience that are
attractive to rightwing extremists," the report reads. "[DHS] is
concerned that rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and
radicalize returning veterans in order to boost their violent
capabilities."
Pete Hegseth, chairman of Vets for Freedom, said the report represents
a "gross misunderstanding and oversimplification" of the country's
service members.
"It's amazing they would single out veterans as a threat to this
country," said Hegseth, an Army veteran who served in Iraq. "It
underscores a pervasive belief that some are trying to spread that
veterans are victims and we're coming home as damaged goods that need
to be coddled instead of celebrated."
The report prompted a harsh and swift reaction for the American Legion
on Tuesday. In a letter to Napolitano, American Legion National
Commander David Rehbein blasted the report as incomplete and
politically-biased.
"The American Legion is well aware and horrified at the pain inflicted
during the Oklahoma City bombing, but Timothy McVeigh was only one of
more than 42 million veterans who have worn this nation's uniform
during wartime," Rehbein wrote. "To continue to use McVeigh as an
example of the stereotypical 'disgruntled military veteran' is as
unfair as using Osama bin Laden as the sole example of Islam."
Napolitano said in her statement on Wednesday that she was aware of
the letter, and plans to meet with Rehbein sometime next week.
"I will tell him face-to-face that we honor veterans at DHS and employ
thousands across the department, up to and including the Deputy
Secretary."
"We are on the lookout for criminal and terrorist activity but we do
not nor will we ever monitor ideology or political beliefs," read
Napolitano's statement. "We take seriously our responsibility to
protect civil rights and liberties of the American people, including
subjecting our activities to rigorous oversight from numerous internal
and external sources."
Herb London, president of the Hudson Institute, a Washington-based
think tank, said DHS' latest report "clearly appears to censor right-
wing opinion," while its earlier assessment of left-wing extremists
does not.
"I must say it's chilling, it worries me a great deal," London said.
"I never have encountered a time in American life when condemnation of
a president is not permitted. This really did strike me as odd, indeed."
London called on President Obama to repudiate the right-wing report.
"What is the message here? That conservative organizations are not
permitted to engage in any language that might be described as
unfavorable to the president," London said. "Keep in mind this is
entirely subjective to begin with."
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VA-ALERT is a project of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
(VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization
dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to
Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.
VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org
VCDL Newsletter 4/18/09
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