I'd worry about some of these nutjobs more than Mel's movie 
Gimme That Right-Wing Religion
What do the accused would-be anthrax terrorist of Las Vegas and the fugitive alleged to have bombed a Birmingham abortion clinic have in common? Allegedly...?
Why, they both got that ol' time religion! You know, the religion that claims white Anglo-Saxon Protestants are the "real Jews," the people popularly known as Jews are progeny of Satan and most everyone else comes under the heading of "mud people." It's called "Christian Identity" and it's all the rage among far right nutjobs.
Supposedly, both Larry Wayne Harris -- the anthrax arrestee -- and Eric Rudolph -- accused Atlanta bomber on the lam -- had some involvement with this wonderfully humanitarian faith and, one presumes, its belief that Adam and Eve were the original white folks and all ethnic minorities belong to a whole different species. Observers of extremism note that the so-called Identity movement grew out of something called "British Israelism," a belief system that hold the British, of all people, to be the genuine descendants of the ancient Israelite tribes.
(What the recent tragicomic travails of the British royals would say about this "real Israelite" doctrine is a question perhaps best left open. On the other hand, the Windsor royals are actually transplanted Germans -- but that's another story entirely.)
Rudolph, incidentally, is also considered a strong suspect in the Atlanta Olympic bombing as well as another explosive attack on a gay nightclub in Atlanta.
Identity isn't a unified "church." Rather, it's a belief system that manifests in a multitude of congregations and little communities across the racist-survivalist fringe. While it has no central authority, the Identity "movement" composes the theological glue that gives the nationwide network of far-scattered ultraright groups a scary semblance of cohesiveness.
One of the best-known Identity communities is the notorious "Elohim City" in Oklahoma. Essentially just a trailer park out in the woods, Elohim City was started by kilt-sporting, 71-year-old Identity theologist Robert Millar, known to his followers as "Grandpa." And the "city" has been at least a temporary home base for a variety of ideologically motivated criminals. Not only did four white supremacists charged in a bank-robbery conspiracy live there for a time, but Timothy McVeigh -- America's Public Demon No. 1 (domestic version) -- phoned Elohim briefly a couple of weeks before the Oklahoma City bombing of which he was convicted. McVeigh's lawyer had hoped to make an alleged Elohim-centered far-right conspiracy the core of his defense, but it didn't happen.
Of course the Anthrax case sputtered and the bombing case is far from playing itself out. But their apparent ideological links are a conspiracy theorist's dream. We can't help but hearken back to a Winter, 1989 article in Covert Action Information Bulletin (now called Covert Action Quarterly) which surveyed right-wing extremist groups and explored their connections to the U.S. government.
"In some cases in the 1960s and 1970s," the now-archival article noted," the United States government sponsored fascist terrorist organizations without even the pretense of being opposed to violence, but actually financing them, arming them and directing their activities."
None of which is meant to imply any government connection to the Identity movement, which itself is highly splintered. But you have to wonder, especially in light of the weirdly handled anthrax bust that sent Harris to the klink on parole violations.
As we noted in our previous Conspiracy Current, the timing of Harris arrest and wild allegations that he and a collaborator were planning to infect the New York subway system with anthrax were mighty fortuitous. They came just as the Clinton administration was trying to whip the U.S. populace into an anthrax-paranoia frenzy, to justify a raid on Iraq (a notion that has also sputtered, as of this writing).
Harris himself had previously claimed, publicly (under oath for that matter) that he'd had a longtime "personal involvement" with the Central Intelligence Agency. Now, it's more than possible that Harris may one of those above-noted nutjobs. The CIA, predictably, denied any connection to Harris and given that "the Company" (as Harris knowingly referred to the spy agency) will pretty much always deny any connection to anyone, it's a pretty safe bet to claim that you work for the CIA anytime you get into trouble for some minor offense like, say, trying to acquire bubonic plague bacteria under false pretenses (Harris's earlier escapade).
But for the sake of argument, let's say that Harris claim of CIA connectedness is indeed on the level. What a nostalgia trip that would be! Let's travel back intime, shall we, to June 8, 1966. On that day the CIA conducted a little experiment and released a large quantity of an infectious bacteria called Bacillus subtilis variant Niger into -- you got it! -- the New York subway system.
"People were inhaling almost one million organisms per minute between the fifth and 10th minute following release of the bacteria," noted a CIA report on the attack. Fortunately, the bacteria turned out to be relatively benign.
And here's another weird CIA "coincidence." Remember Gary Webb, teh reporter who authored the massive San Jose Mercury News expose of the CIA-Contra-Crack connection. He ended up forced out of his job. Well, in a note to our pal Robert Sterling, Webb noted that the Assistant. U.S. attorney who prosecuted Harris (albeit abortively) was the same one who got an alleged contra-cocaine dealer named Danilo Blandon, a prominent character in Webb's story, out of jail. This same prosecutor subpoenaed records from Webb's agent, too.
From anthrax to crack, abortion clinic bombing to the CIA -- now this is what we call an Identity crisis.
Gimme That Right-Wing Religion
What do the accused would-be anthrax terrorist of Las Vegas and the fugitive alleged to have bombed a Birmingham abortion clinic have in common? Allegedly...?
Why, they both got that ol' time religion! You know, the religion that claims white Anglo-Saxon Protestants are the "real Jews," the people popularly known as Jews are progeny of Satan and most everyone else comes under the heading of "mud people." It's called "Christian Identity" and it's all the rage among far right nutjobs.
Supposedly, both Larry Wayne Harris -- the anthrax arrestee -- and Eric Rudolph -- accused Atlanta bomber on the lam -- had some involvement with this wonderfully humanitarian faith and, one presumes, its belief that Adam and Eve were the original white folks and all ethnic minorities belong to a whole different species. Observers of extremism note that the so-called Identity movement grew out of something called "British Israelism," a belief system that hold the British, of all people, to be the genuine descendants of the ancient Israelite tribes.
(What the recent tragicomic travails of the British royals would say about this "real Israelite" doctrine is a question perhaps best left open. On the other hand, the Windsor royals are actually transplanted Germans -- but that's another story entirely.)
Rudolph, incidentally, is also considered a strong suspect in the Atlanta Olympic bombing as well as another explosive attack on a gay nightclub in Atlanta.
Identity isn't a unified "church." Rather, it's a belief system that manifests in a multitude of congregations and little communities across the racist-survivalist fringe. While it has no central authority, the Identity "movement" composes the theological glue that gives the nationwide network of far-scattered ultraright groups a scary semblance of cohesiveness.
One of the best-known Identity communities is the notorious "Elohim City" in Oklahoma. Essentially just a trailer park out in the woods, Elohim City was started by kilt-sporting, 71-year-old Identity theologist Robert Millar, known to his followers as "Grandpa." And the "city" has been at least a temporary home base for a variety of ideologically motivated criminals. Not only did four white supremacists charged in a bank-robbery conspiracy live there for a time, but Timothy McVeigh -- America's Public Demon No. 1 (domestic version) -- phoned Elohim briefly a couple of weeks before the Oklahoma City bombing of which he was convicted. McVeigh's lawyer had hoped to make an alleged Elohim-centered far-right conspiracy the core of his defense, but it didn't happen.
Of course the Anthrax case sputtered and the bombing case is far from playing itself out. But their apparent ideological links are a conspiracy theorist's dream. We can't help but hearken back to a Winter, 1989 article in Covert Action Information Bulletin (now called Covert Action Quarterly) which surveyed right-wing extremist groups and explored their connections to the U.S. government.
"In some cases in the 1960s and 1970s," the now-archival article noted," the United States government sponsored fascist terrorist organizations without even the pretense of being opposed to violence, but actually financing them, arming them and directing their activities."
None of which is meant to imply any government connection to the Identity movement, which itself is highly splintered. But you have to wonder, especially in light of the weirdly handled anthrax bust that sent Harris to the klink on parole violations.
As we noted in our previous Conspiracy Current, the timing of Harris arrest and wild allegations that he and a collaborator were planning to infect the New York subway system with anthrax were mighty fortuitous. They came just as the Clinton administration was trying to whip the U.S. populace into an anthrax-paranoia frenzy, to justify a raid on Iraq (a notion that has also sputtered, as of this writing).
Harris himself had previously claimed, publicly (under oath for that matter) that he'd had a longtime "personal involvement" with the Central Intelligence Agency. Now, it's more than possible that Harris may one of those above-noted nutjobs. The CIA, predictably, denied any connection to Harris and given that "the Company" (as Harris knowingly referred to the spy agency) will pretty much always deny any connection to anyone, it's a pretty safe bet to claim that you work for the CIA anytime you get into trouble for some minor offense like, say, trying to acquire bubonic plague bacteria under false pretenses (Harris's earlier escapade).
But for the sake of argument, let's say that Harris claim of CIA connectedness is indeed on the level. What a nostalgia trip that would be! Let's travel back intime, shall we, to June 8, 1966. On that day the CIA conducted a little experiment and released a large quantity of an infectious bacteria called Bacillus subtilis variant Niger into -- you got it! -- the New York subway system.
"People were inhaling almost one million organisms per minute between the fifth and 10th minute following release of the bacteria," noted a CIA report on the attack. Fortunately, the bacteria turned out to be relatively benign.
And here's another weird CIA "coincidence." Remember Gary Webb, teh reporter who authored the massive San Jose Mercury News expose of the CIA-Contra-Crack connection. He ended up forced out of his job. Well, in a note to our pal Robert Sterling, Webb noted that the Assistant. U.S. attorney who prosecuted Harris (albeit abortively) was the same one who got an alleged contra-cocaine dealer named Danilo Blandon, a prominent character in Webb's story, out of jail. This same prosecutor subpoenaed records from Webb's agent, too.
From anthrax to crack, abortion clinic bombing to the CIA -- now this is what we call an Identity crisis.