Posted on 11/11/2010 1:05:53 PM PST by USSR Didnt Fall
Geologist: The press did not make the JBS into a radical organization. Statements and innuendos by the JBS did that as even prominent conservatives agreed — including people like Sen. Barry Goldwater and Russell Kirk.
Furthermore, it was senior officials of the FBI’s Domestic Intelligence Division who concluded in FBI memos that the JBS was “extremist”, “irrational”, “irresponsible”, “fanatics” and “lunatic fringe”.
See the following 101 page report for details regarding JBS falsehoods:
http://ernie1241.googlepages.com/jbs-1
Lastly, no organization’s “Statement of Purpose” is particularly enlightening. Their actual behavior is what counts. FYI — after 14 years of litigation, including two jury trials, numerous appeals, and review by the U.S. Supreme Court — the Birch Society paid Chicago lawyer Elmer Gertz $100,000 in compensatory damages and $300,000 in punitive damages for false statements in the Birch Society magazine’s defamatory article about Gertz.
Punitive damages are only permitted in libel lawsuits when “malice” can be shown — which in legalese means “reckless disregard for truth” arising from evil intent and a desire to inflict injury, harm, or suffering. How does THAT fit into their “Statement of Purpose”???
Conservative Tsunami: You could not be more mistaken in your comment that Welch was “right” about Communist influence/control within our society or your comment about Eisenhower doing “nothing” about “Communist infestation of the U.S. government”.
The FBI’s Security Index was designed to capture data about Communists, Communist sympathizers, and persons you would describe as “enablers” of Communists. In fact, the purpose of the Security Index was to enable FBI field offices to quickly identify and apprehend and detain security risks during time of national emergency. One section of the Security Index listed the number of persons who worked for the U.S. government in any capacity. That number never totaled more than the low 2-digits.
If you want to see the statistics, I have posted them in my JBS report which you may see here:
http://ernie1241.googlepages.com/jbs-1
Three comments by J. Edgar Hoover regarding President Eisenhower:
(1)
“My dear Mr. President: Many tributes and accolades are being paid you as you leave the highest office in the land, and although the FBI’s voice in but one of millions, it nevertheless rings with sincerity and respect.”
“Working under your brilliant leadership for two administrations has represented to us the fulfillment of many splendid opportunities to serve the best interests of our great country. Your keen insight and understanding of the crushing responsibilities faced by the Nation’s criminal and subversive fighters have made our task easier.”
“I personally am very grateful for your considerable interest in the FBI and its personnel. The staunchness of the FBI career service is only as strong as the enduring friendships we make throughout life. To borrow a phrase, to us you will never ‘fade away’, but will always remain one of our brighter memories of service to God and country. With all good wishes…Sincerely, Edgar” [FBI HQ file 62-81742, serial #199; 1/18/61 J. Edgar Hoover letter to outgoing President Dwight D. Eisenhower]
(2)
“I have received your letter dated September 25, 1963. Any rumors you have heard indicating the FBI has evidence that former President Dwight D. Eisenhower is a communist are completely false and too absurd to merit consideration.” [FBI HQ file 62-81742, serial #263; 10/2/63 J. Edgar Hoover reply to inquiry about Eisenhower]
(3)
“Anybody who will allege that General Eisenhower was a Communist agent has something wrong with him. A lot of people read such allegations because I get some of the weirdest letters wanting to know whether we have inquired to find out whether that is true. I have known General Eisenhower quite well myself and I have found him to be a sound, level-headed man.” [J. Edgar Hoover testimony before Warren Commission, Volume 5, page 101]
We know and see the MSM day after day give scathing reports on conservatives where ever they are and totally suppress the outrageous happening that go along with their agenda. The Barney Franks, the Maxine Waters, Nancy Pelosi’s actions et al!
Sarah Palin has been lambasted on every level imaginable. She has stood, unafraid of the LIES. It is very hard thing to do. The price is too high for many men whose family said “no” to having it happen to them.
Sarah's great advantage is the fact she has not been mind numbed into the Washington mind set.
What we need is a real true person willing to get rid of the corruption.
There are several problems with your reply which attempts to trivialize what you euphemize as “mistakes” by the JBS.
1. First, the JBS has never in its 50+ years of existence ever acknowledged any “mistake” — not even when they lost that historic and precedent-setting libel lawsuit which I previously mentioned. The JBS has never retracted any derogatory statement it has made about any person, organization, or publication.
2. The JBS had a major opportunity to demonstrate how it intended to apply the principles it pays lip service to during our civil rights movement. When confronted with a real example of government oppression and tyranny, the JBS sided with the very people and institutions that were responsible for creating, defending, and implementing that oppression and tyranny.
3. In instance after instance, the JBS stood for the status quo and white privilege. It was totally indifferent to the depredations inflicted upon minorities in our country -— which is why, of course, so few minorities joined the JBS because they recognized that the JBS was part of the problem—not the solution.
Here are comments made by two JBS members which are particularly relevant to this discussion:
GEORGE SCHUYLER — prominent African-American intellectual, author, columnist:
“The White Citizens Council which has branches or cells everywhere, controls by terror such states as Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and to a lesser extent, Virginia...It has defied and disrupted the operation of the laws of the land. It has used threats and vicious economic reprisals...It has become a legal arm of Mississippi’s Government.” [4/22/61 Schuyler column in Pittsburgh PA Courier]
REV. DELMAR DENNIS — the FBI informant who infiltrated the most violent Klan in our country-—the White Knights of the KKK of Mississippi:
“The Klan in Mississippi has completely infiltrated every phase of the legal, political, social and economic system in Mississippi. The membership in the Klan ranges from common laborers and criminals, to judges, lawyers, doctors and political leaders. While they may not be active members, they are secret members who use their influence to further Klan efforts and aid Klan activities, for example, it is generally known in Klan circles that supervisors who pick juries use their influence to get Klan members on the jury panel.”
So what did the JBS advocate to address this grave situation as described by Schuyler and Dennis?
NOTHING WHATSOEVER!
INSTEAD — the JBS supported the very politicians and organizations which defended the status quo which Schuyler/Dennis described!
AND the JBS adopted the arguments used by racists and segregationists to perpetuate racism and segregation in the south!
The following comment appears on page 1 of the May 2008 issue of the [i]John Birch Society Bulletin [/i] in an article entitled “The New World Order Isn’t New”.
“Just as the John Birch Society showed in the 1960’s that the communists basically ran both the civil rights movement and the KKK, the strategy was nothing new. The former was used to transfer power to Washington DC in the name of civil rights and the latter provided a pretext for transferring power to Washington. You cannot get a really good conflict started unless you control both sides of the argument.”
WHO BELIEVES THAT INTERPRETATION OF OUR CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT-—other than racists, segregationists and assorted other bigots???
Sen. Barry Goldwater did not believe that.
Giants within the conservative intellectual community did not believe that.
For example, as Frank Meyer pointed out:
“It is true that here (as everywhere it profits them) Communist groups are active, seeking to take advantage of the turmoil and are sometimes successful in penetrating sections of the leadership of the movement. But the movement is not a Communist movement, as the John Birch Society implies with every device of rhetoric, with pictures, with innuendo, and often with straight-forward statement. There is, of course, much in the civil rights movement that conservatives should oppose, but when it is attacked in the Birch manner, on the basis of an obsessed insistence on conspiracy (’it’s all a Communist plot’) sober opposition is discredited and great positive harm done the conservative cause.”
The former East Coast PR Director for the JBS (Tom Davis) did not believe that. He stated in answer to a question posed by a TV interviewer about Robert Welch’s views on the civil rights movement:
“I know his thinking on the subject of the civil rights movement. I know that Mr. Welch feels that the Communists were perhaps totally responsible for instigating the trouble which exists in our southern states today, and we might say all over the country; to the degree that he believes that, I disagree with him…I think it was an example of his saying something in a way which was not salable to the American people. It was salable to Birchers because Birchers generally agreed with him anyway.”
The FBI did not believe that.
For example, J. Edgar Hoover stated:
“Let me emphasize that the American civil rights movement is not, and has never been dominated by the communists—because the overwhelming majority of civil rights leaders in this country, both Negro and white, have recognized and rejected communism as a menace to the freedoms of all.”
[J. Edgar Hoover speech, 12/12/64, Our Heritage of Greatness, pg 7 - bold emphasis on “not” and “never” in original document].
So why did the JBS believe that FALSE argument?
FROM WHOM did they get it?
In April 1960, J. Edgar Hoover gave a speech at African Methodist Episcopal Church in Chicago IL. I am quoting some excerpts from it below (along with my comments) because it so perfectly addresses the ultimate problem with the JBS:
HOOVER:
“The two greatest problems confronting the law enforcement profession today are presented by those persons who, through indifference or fear, fail to carry out the responsibilities of good citizenship—and by those who complacently tolerate explosive social conditions in their own back yards. Where moral values are concerned, there can be no compromise. Too many apathetic persons are unwilling to take an active part in the clearance of moral slums. Righteous anger is an inevitable ingredient of a truly noble life. Supine indifference always is a sign of moral deterioration.”
ME:
Birchers WERE supinely “indifferent” to the responsibilities of good citizenship. They tolerated “explosive social conditions in their own back yards” and they defended the persons responsible for creating and maintaining those conditions!
HOOVER:
“In recent months, still another dangerous threat against decency and life has asserted itself with renewed vigor on the American scene. I refer to the hate groups, the rabble rousers and other lawless elements which have dedicated themselves to maligning, intimidating and terrorizing vast segments of our population. Prejudice and intolerance, hate and fear, are a disease as infectious as a virus. The general increase in organized prejudice is most disturbing. It includes anti-Protestant, anti-Catholic and anti-Negro individuals and groups. These merchants of hate, slander and insinuation clutter the mails with their obscenity.” …
ME:
Although the JBS never explicitly endorsed racism nor did it condone or advocate violence against minorities -— it did tacitly accommodate or enable prejudice and intolerance, hate and fear — by aligning itself with the worst elements in our southern states. It praised KKK-supported politicians such as Gov. Ross Barnett and Sen. James Eastland of MS and Gov. George Wallace of AL.
HOOVER:
“The person who would bomb a school, desecrate a house of worship, or spread the doctrine of hate toward his fellow man constitutes a real threat to our American way of life. He lives in a vacuum of moral degeneracy. His crimes are so outrageous it is unthinkable that anyone except the extreme ‘lunatic fringe’ could rationalize or condone them. Invariably, these hate mongers attempt to drape themselves in a cloak of patriotism, but their real objective is to destroy the very American ideals which they claim to uphold. They preach ‘mobocracy’—disrespect for the law, for our Constitution, and disregard for the welfare of others.”
ME:
The JBS did not advocate “mobocracy” or disrespect for law but it validated local customs and laws which resulted in the horrific conditions described by George Schuyler and Rev. Delmar Dennis. In fact, Rev. Dennis was, in part, responsible for those conditions because he enthusiastically embraced and promoted the idea of inferiority of African-Americans — and their supposedly deserved fate as second class citizens.
HOOVER:
“I place the ‘fiery cross’ of the vicious Ku Klux Klan in the same category as the swastika of the Nazis and the godless ‘hammer and sickle’ of atheistic communism. All ignore the rights of everyone to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. All right thinking citizens know that there is no place in America for vigilantes, rabble rousers, the ‘lunatic fringe’ and those who make a profit—political or material—out of merchandising prejudice.”
ME:
The JBS never adopted explicit symbols such as a fiery cross nor did it explicitly endorse subversive groups like the KKK or nazis BUT-—it made common cause with them by disseminating the same general arguments they did and it even employed, as paid speakers, persons who routinely appeared as featured speakers before the KKK and other white supremacist groups.
Numerous prominent Birchers (including JBS National Council members, JBS speakers, and JBS writers) were segregationists and many were associated with the White Citizens Councils movement!
HOOVER:
“We must be ever alert to the evil influences of groups which spread hatred and bigotry. We cannot have full citizenship for some and part citizenship for others. We must all work together to dispel intolerance and promote brotherhood among all men.”
ME:
The JBS certainly disagreed with this sentiment expressed by Hoover. The JBS was perfectly willing to accept “part citizenship” for an entire category of Americans -— which is, obviously, why they embraced outright segregationists.
Even after he surfaced as an FBI informant, Bircher Rev. Delmar Dennis told a newspaper interviewer in 1967:
“I am doing nothing now but am going on a speaking tour with the American Opinion Speakers Bureau. I will be telling Americans everywhere the truth about what goes on inside the klan…I am definitely a segregationist and I also believe in obeying the laws of the land.”
Despite his self-proclaimed belief in segregation and its underlying noxious racist premises, the JBS hired Dennis as a speaker and as a Coordinator. He was just one of many people of similar beliefs and attitudes that the JBS embraced.
"First, the JBS has never in its 50+ years of existence ever acknowledged any “mistake” — not even when they lost that historic and precedent-setting libel lawsuit which I previously mentioned. The JBS has never retracted any derogatory statement it has made about any person,organization,or publication"
I know people like that, don't you? I am not saying the JBS is perfect. Or Republicans, or the government in America since Woodrow Wilson.
I agree, the US should get out of the United Nations, the coming increase of International Law will cause America to loss sovereignty of America. We have laws. They are to be enforced. They were fair. The new laws are increasingly slanted to the left. The right of 'eminent domain' has changed to allow taking the property privately owned, so that it can become a larger tax base. BAD! as has The regulatory POWER of the Environmental Protection Act. Just to mention two. TAXATION.
The road we are on has a bad end. If we do not stop it America will be like Zimbabwe. It was prosperous and thriving. The workers had jobs and food and a descent live. Now, it is all gone and is in a state complete disaster.
This is not limited to one or two or ten organizations that may be attempting to change things in ways that are bad: as are the ones taking America down. The creation of the Welfare class has been such a drag on the economy and MEDICARE/Medicaid, etc. And has reached such levels that it must be curtailed to some degree.. Now.
The current foreclosure on homes sold to people that wanted them, without any checks to see if they could make the payments, and actually did have jobs, is an example of INTENTIONAL STUPIDITY. Yes, Wall street made lots of money bundling the mortgages and selling them. The greater crime was letting people buy what there was no way they could afford.
WE ARE IN BIG TROUBLE.
JBS is not the cause. They do some good, just like about every organization we can name.
The CIA has been tainted by the selling of DRUGS themselves. Etc., Etc.,
God help us in our day, in Jesus name, amen.
Forget the KKK, just like the long term Senator did. Islam is the major danger today, along with the bankrupting by our government. I am Christian. Today saying that has become HATE speech! If we do not stop this run away train it will all become moot. Having food to eat, will likely be as slaves essentially. Personally I choose not to be a rat in a maize.
As Objects for the enjoyment or abuse, or service and support of the few elite,.
This is how I see it. We may disagree.
The FBI’s Security Index was designed to capture data about Communists, Communist sympathizers, and persons you would describe as “enablers” of Communists. In fact, the purpose of the Security Index was to enable FBI field offices to quickly identify and apprehend and detain security risks during time of national emergency.
Will all due respect, "policy" and practical application are often two different things within the government apparatus. It's supposed to look "good" on paper.
In theory, we have an Immigration Policy that is also supposed to identify, apprehend, and deport said offenders.
Actual enforcement of the law has always been discretionary, whether it's been over known communists or illegal aliens. Political expediency trumps policy and law.
What I am claiming is, he looked the other way and played Sgt. Schultz as the State Dept. and other government agencies were further moled. There were just too many communists still skulking around Wash, DC for too long during the 1950s with impunity.
Just what would Hoover gain by challenging a two-term President and WWII hero amidst peacetime, and create instability and scandal of monumental proportions?
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