I thought the John Birch Society had died. At least I was hoping so. But low and behold here they are again. I guess they figure since the Tea Baggers and all the other right-wing nuts are making such a splash, they'd cut in on some of the action and get a little of that publicity.
Historically, the JBS is an anti-everything kind of group. Anti-totalitarian, anti-socialist and anti-communist. They're even anti-books like "Animal Farm and "Tom Sawyer." They are against desegregration and were against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Interestingly, they now have one or two blacks pictured on their website.
They are anti-one world government, anti-United Nations, anti-NAFTA, anti-CAFTA and anti- any other free trade agreement. But they are pro-immigration reduction, pro-God, pro-motherhood and pro-apple pie.
Unlike the gutless Republican Party of today, there were some who had the courage to criticize the JBS back in the 1960s. In 1962 the Michigan Republican State Central Committee adopted a resolution denouncing the ultra-conservative group. A couple of years later Gov. Nelson Rockefeller of New York and Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton jointly attacked the JBS. As time went by, there were more and more GOP members who had the guts to criticize the extremist group.
In lieu of anyone in the GOP having a spine that doesn't have herniated discs, Rachel Maddow comes to our rescue. Crooks and Liars writes:
It seems the John Birch Society wasn't too happy about Rachel Maddow's December 18th show and some of the things she said about them promoting conspiracy theories. Sadly for the John Birch Society as Rachel notes, there is a public record that contradicts their complaints. I agree with her on their sponsorship of CPAC this year. Given the direction the Republican Party is headed, it just looks like a natural fit.
That's what the Republican party needs today; leaders who speak against the right wing fools of their party today.If they expect to win a popular election, they will have to become more popular, main stream.
ReplyDeleteWon't work Tom. They speak of fiscal responsibility and humble foreign policy. Those were lies. Who other than the idiots that vote republican anyway would believe them? I don't even think they believe them. They're just idiots that have been conditioned to hate anything Limbaugh tells them to hate..
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ReplyDeleteScrewed up that last one. Anyway, I don't think Limbaugh has anything to do with it. I just think they don't want to risk haing their re-election funding cut off.
ReplyDeleteernie: The JBS paper looks interesting and will certainly give it a closer look. I vaguely remember Hoover's investigation - you'd think he would have been hopping into bed with them. I followed the JBS for several years and even wrote a paper about them.
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ReplyDeleteI thought the John Birch Society had died.
ReplyDeleteWell, you know how popular zombies are these days.
Wow, so the Defense Department and the CIA were run by Communists. That explains why the USSR won the Cold War. They couldn't have lost after infiltrating America on such a scale.
The JBS evidently believed that everything they didn't like was part of one vast conspiracy. Others have held similar beliefs, with Jews rather than Communists as the shadowy arch-villains. The mentality is pretty much the same regardless of who they think is behind the conspiracy.
There really needs to be a rock band called "Negro Soviet Republic".
The Republic Party afraid to take on The John Birch Society? No, the reason why The Republic Party is losing ground is because it is afraid to take on its liberal wing. They are too busy saying "me too" to the Democrats.
ReplyDeleteThe John Birch Society supports upholding the U.S. Constitution. This is why the Left-Wing elements or Neo-Cons who control the party hate The JBS.
Rachel Maddow is fortunate that most of her viewers have little knowledge of the history of the U.S.
Most have never heard of Alger Hiss. They have no idea who Henry Wallace was. They never heard of Operation Keelhaul. They never heard of State Depatment Document 7277 or the report issued by State Depatment official Lincoln Blumfield or the findings of the Reese Committee.
They never read books like "Negroes with Guns," or "The Negroes in a Soviet America." They have no idea that a federal judge ordered Martin Luther King's record sealed for 50 years. They have no idea who was behind the riots in U.S. cities. (My famlily narrowly escaped being killed during a riot in Boston.)
Thankfully, hundreds of thousands of Americans are starting to take their citizenship seriously. They are turning off their football games and soap operas and looking beyond the managed media's daily distractions.
The left waged a vicious campaign agaisnt The JBS back in the early 1960's. But it backfired. So keep it up.
Hal Shurtleff
Boston, MA
shurtleffhal@aol.com
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ReplyDeleteThefatsturbate: the reason why The Republic Party is losing ground is because it is afraid to take on its liberal wing.
ReplyDeleteWell, by JBS standards people like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin probably do look like flaming leftists.
Most have never heard of.....They have no idea.....They never read.....
They apparently have no idea of the correct name of the Republican party, either.
You're forgetting the secret documents held by the National Enquirer that prove Hitler's brain is co-ordinating all this from inside its high-tech jar hidden on the planet Neptune.
"Negroes with Guns,"
That definitely needs to be a rock band.
The left waged a vicious campaign agaisnt The JBS back in the early 1960's. But it backfired.
Ah, so that's why the JBS is such a respected and influential organization these days.
Leslie, you get the best trolls. This one narrowly escaped being billed for cleaning a sinus-load of Pepsi off my monitor.
My morning Droll Trolls, Infidel. Love your comments. Interesting that all, but anon - who's about to get the boot - have "private" blogs. I wonder how much money they get for spreading their ignorance and mythology. Some of them might really be liberals posing as wing-nuts just to pay their tuition to some elitist university.
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ReplyDeleteWhy was my post deleted? It is accountable. It was a credible, safe site.
ReplyDeletewww.JBS.com
ReplyDeleteRachel Maddow Recycles Falshoods Aginst The John Birch Society
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ReplyDeleteAnon: Read my Comments Policy. In the meantime, understand that blog owners have the right to set the rules, and just as when visiting another's home, the visitor has an obligation to abide by the rules of the house.
ReplyDeleteIf they don't, the owner has every right to ask them to leave, or in this case, delete them. It's not a case of deleting what I "don't want to hear," I simply don't have any use for people who are too cowardly to reveal who they are. Their words have no weight, so why waste the space? I also don't have any patience for people who make disparaging comments about someone, whether it's me or someone else, and whether or not I agree with the targeted individual.
Bircher: I am very, very familiar with the JBS and have been since way back when. Already went to jbs.com. Found the inclusion of one or two blacks in the photos quite amusing in light of their history of hating people of any color but white.
Yeah, I heard while I was listening with a 3rd ear from another room when the JBS mentioned on the Rachel Maddow show. I thought she was just comparing yesteryear's "communism on the map" with today's "islam on the map." I had no frigging idea....
ReplyDeleteMs. Parsely,
ReplyDeleteReviel who we are??? Seriously??? This is on-line. Anyone could say ANYTHING! You have no way of knowing who anyone is who posts.
I will read your posting rules then make up a name and other stuff and post again.
p.s.
ReplyDeleteMy "disparaging" remark was what Maddows said is NOT true.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteMy name if "Anonymous." I have friends that will verify this. I live in the United States. This is ture so you do not need to delete my post. I am trying and hope I am following the rules that you made.
I would like to comment on this.
What Ms. Rachel Maddow said about the JBS is not the truth. If you want to know the truth, I urge you to read about The John Birch Society from their website: www.JBS.org.
There are two good articles because of this Maddow's piece. One is correcting the misinformation of this Maddow piece. If you bother to read it, you will see the JBS even sometimes agress with Ms. Maddow when she's accurate in reporting.
"Rachel Maddow Recycles Flasehoods Against The John Birch Society"
The other one is a blog by staffer Jim Capo:
"Rachel Maddow Lavishes Christmas Presents on John Birch Society."
This article has history and many sources linked to support the truth.
Thank you,
Mr. Anonymous
For this post ONLY, I won't delete the Anons, depending on ??. Apparently there's more than one chicken in the farmyard.
ReplyDeleteI was alive and well back in those days. A paper I wrote at the time substantiates what Ms Maddow says quite well. Actually, what she says is nothing really new and is quite true.
Please see Ernie's comment and link above.
Oh - one more thing. A lot of commenters who have fake blogs, that is those that are "private" or exist in name only, usually get deleted by many blog owners.
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ReplyDeleteMs. Onymous: What Ms. Rachel Maddow said about the JBS is not the truth.
ReplyDeleteUh, Ms. Rachel Maddow has actual documentation that it is the truth. Did you watch the video?
William F. Buckley, hardly a left-winger, helped to get the JBS drummed out of the conservative movement because it was an embarrassment. Of course, that was back before "conservative" became synonymous with "lunatic".
Maybe you think Buckley was a Communist agent like Eisenhower?
Leslie -- If these trolls are typical, the JBS is just as nuts as it ever was back then -- and since the Republicans are letting it sponsor CPAC, that just shows that the right wing is even further out in orbit than I thought!
Infidel: The JBS is unlike anything we've seen over the past year. Another form of HUAC and very dangerous. I wish I could find that paper I wrote. I'd reprint it. I deleted the last Anon because he/she was beyond vulgar. Like most wing-nuts this individual doesn't understand the rules of the road.
ReplyDeleteI also think it is very telling that with the exception of Maddow, the MSM has been gutless.
I wish I could find that paper I wrote. I'd reprint it.
ReplyDeleteI hope you do.
with the exception of Maddow, the MSM has been gutless.
I don't really think of Maddow as MSM. I think she's a blogger in spirit.
Maybe, but she gets more exposure via TV than regular bloggers, except for the biggies like Crooks and Liars, TPM, etc. Perhaps even the Huf Post, which is beginning to spit junk out like a tree shredder.
ReplyDeleteMaddow also does her homework unlike some.
The Rachel Maddow show was a total hit piece on the John Birch Society...I see no rationale or purpose in being 'liberal' nowadays..Liberal means bigger intrusive federal government, less civil rights, higher taxes, and redistribution of wealth. Government is the problem not the solution.
ReplyDeleteUsing such comments as 'teabaggers' is offensive and a waste of time. 'Teabagging' is a sexually degrading act and a rude term to call Americans who value their Constitution and their Country..
The Tea Partiers initially called themselve Teabaggers. It was the elitist liberal media that informed them of the crude sexual connotation. That's when they made the switch.
ReplyDeleteThe New Oxford American Dictionary recognized the word this year, which has achieved finalist status for the OAD Word of the Year.
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ReplyDeleteOh, if we could all just get along. Then the ruling Establishment would really be scared.
ReplyDeleteYes, by all means. The anti-wars of aggression, anti-torture, anti suspension of habeas corpus, and anti spying on all Americans wing of the conservative movement needs to drummed out of it.
God forbid kooks like that are allowed to buy a soapbox at CPAC.
Oh, one more "anti" I left out. Anti-taxpayer bailouts ($139 billion) to insider corporations like mega military contractor General Electric --- the company that Rachel Maddow works for.
Note to Leslie: Ernie is the troll. He is the only one on the planet pedaling his information.
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ReplyDeleteAlthough I was one of those who voted for Obama, I agree that Obama has alienated the American Public more than any other democratic president. I would argue that he has alienated the Left more than Bush/Cheney/Rove alienated the left and Democrats. While Bush preached from the right, he governed more from the center (with the exception of his foreign policy and a few social issues).
ReplyDeleteHe plays this middle group like a fiddle. They are going to pass all of their unconstitutional, tax-hiking, fiscally irresponsible, socialist, humanist agenda items in this first year. Then they will pretend to be centrists for the next three years in an attempt to get re-elected.
My fear is that a real right-wing candidate could look farther away from the mainstream (the those ill-informed middle-ground voters) than what Obama will portray himself after three years of "more or less centrist" policies.
I am truly afraid of this man.
Look where nominating (socialist leaning candidates ) has gotten us....
unconstitutional, tax-hiking, fiscally irresponsible, socialist, humanist agenda items
ReplyDeleteYep, I sure do believe you're a liberal, all right.
OLV seems to be one of those fake blogs like all the other righties have these days. They don't have the intelligence to post their own thoughts but prefer to go around making complete fools and pests of themselves at other blogs.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the subject at hand is the John Birch Society - not Obama, not Socialism, not taxes, etc.
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ReplyDeleteIn another lifetime I was part of a team that infiltrated the JBS for the purpose of gathering intelligence. After several months we determined that there was a distinct LACK of intelligence in this organization.
ReplyDeleteAs to anonymous posters Leslie I just set my comments template to refuse them.
You were right about disruption on this post! Wow. The JBS, true to form sure brings out the zombies. Good job:-) :-)
That CPAC has embraced the JBS demonstrates the depths of lunacy to which the GOP has plummeted.
ReplyDeletewow Les, and to even have to post the definition of teabagging, hilarious!!
ReplyDeleteYes Mike is right, change your comments setting to not allow anons, but thats when they come at you with the fake blog names. They do everything they can to post their ignorant dirt.
Along with my own, I deleted references to the teabagger definition. Young family members really don't need that level of education just yet.
ReplyDeleteMM, TC & Sue: Thanks for your observations and tips. It's those fake bloggies who are convincing me to monitor.
I found that paper on the JBS I wrote in '66. It's kind of like back to the future. When you can re-read something you wrote over 40 years ago, and the writing still looks good, and it is still timely, it probably supports being re-published - but not before I change some key settings. BTW, it substantiates Maddow.
If Rachael Maddow thinks she is so correct and so bold why is she afraid to confront face to face a Birch spokesman with her charges? I understand they called her office and offered to go on her show. If the Birchers are as she claims, then why not go ahead and go toe to toe with the Birch spokesman and finish them off for good? She may be do the job of destroying the Birch organization that Buckley once said he was going to do and never was able to do it.
ReplyDeleteBuckley, was a member of the CFR and that should tell anyone who understands anything about history-that his his loyalities to internationalism came before American interests, while Welch's loyality was always with America.
To: Ms. Maddow
ReplyDeleteThat Eisenhower bit:
Public education is so bad that I doubt if most people even know who Dwight David Eisenhower was.
Public schools are more interested in teaching kids to "recycle" and to do the "green" thing; filling their heads with eco-nonsense like man is causing the world to overheat than to concern themselves with a American army general who forced millions of anti-communist eastern Europeans into box cars to be butchered and tortured by communist dictator Stalin's red army. Ike, apparently acting on his own, created "Operation Keelhaul" in his way up the political ladder.
Ike's "keelhauling" of millions is important history to know but so is teaching school kids about the Constitution. In it they will learn that only Congress can DECLARE war. The Birch Society,( go to www.jbs.org, is opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan based on constitutional and moral principles; I understand that the Society is opposed to torturing people. Regardless of the year and place, be it in Russia in the 1940's, courtesy of a US army General or in American territory like Guantanamo, courtesy of an American president like G.W. Bush or Obama.
to: Ernie (what number is it this time?)
ReplyDeleteThe John Birch Society is scheduled to be at CPAC next month. They will have a couple of booths manned by experts on the issues of the day and history so you may want to attend and take your files with you.
Well, Leslie, with 45 comments, you don’t need me piping in, LOL. Just wanted to mention that my hometown is Jackson, Mississippi, and in 1962 I was a young woman working in that city’s downtown area. I was very much exposed to the whole civil rights movement of the day. On more than one occasion our bosses sent us home out of fear for our safety. If any readers recall the Woolwoth’s lunch counter incident in Jackson, with photos in Life magazine, that took place right next door to our office. My first husband still has eye problems today from all the tear gas when he was in the Mississippi National Guard and Kennedy federalized it to go to Ole Miss (University of Mississippi, Oxfore) to protect James Meredith, the first black student to enter the school. Those were turbulent time (as you say, like today), and America and the South came through them. The point is: this country has come through many turbulent times, and we will again. BJ
ReplyDeleteRachel Maddow has more facts and knowledge about history than the rest of you from the right side of nowhere have in your whole bodies. She also has access to information that goes way beyond the pablum you're spoon fed by your leaders. Most importantly, she has integrity and she's smart. I think that's why you feel so threatened.
ReplyDeleteBJ: Wow, so good to see you here. Those were heedy days indeed. Now, with the re-emergence of the Birchers, it's back to the future.
The delusions aren't even internally consistent. If the CIA was run by Communists, and the State Department was run by Communists, and the President was a Communist, and most of the conservative leaders in the US were Communists, etc., etc., then the Soviet Union would have won the Cold War and would be running the world today.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, it's all just as obviously delucional as the people who think everything is secretly controlled by aliens.
I notice none of them are trying to justify the racist stuff. A bridge too far even for them, I guess.