http://www.historycommons.org The Center for Grassroots Oversight aims to provide the public with a means to collaborate on investigations at the grassroots level. en-us http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a122311SionAppealRejected#a122311SionAppealRejected http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a122311SionAppealRejected#a122311SionAppealRejected The disciplinary committee of the Swiss Football League rejects another appeal by FC Sion over the result of a recently played game. Sion was unable to field six banned players in the game with FC Zurich on December 10 because of a long-running dispute. The committee, which rejected a similar appeal by Sion a few days previously , says the player bans are appropriate because of a Swiss court ruling . Sion may appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. KJF 2012-02-03T14:13:13-08:00 http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a111611SionRulingOverturned#a111611SionRulingOverturned http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a111611SionRulingOverturned#a111611SionRulingOverturned A Swiss appelate court, the Tribunal Cantonal Valais, overturns lower court rulings favorable to the football club FC Sion in a dispute with FIFA and UEFA. A lower court had twice ruled (see and ) that players FIFA declared ineligible because of a transfer ban on the club could actually play. FIFA welcomes the ruling, stating, "The Cantonal Court has thus indirectly taken the same view as FIFA and the [Swiss Football League] and its ruling has indirectly confirmed the legality of the transfer ban FIFA imposed on [FC Sion]." KJF 2012-02-03T14:12:30-08:00 http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a081611campbellputnam#a081611campbellputnam http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a081611campbellputnam#a081611campbellputnam Researchers David E. Campbell and Robert D. Putnam, the authors of ''American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us'', conducted extensive polling and research on the ideology and beliefs of those who consider themselves affiliated with the "tea party" movement for their book. Campbell and Putnam write that their findings indicate what many have long believed: that by and large, the American "tea party" movement is made up of people who populate the right wing of the Republican Party. Moreover, they note, their and other polling indicates that the "tea party" is fighting an increasing tide of American disapproval. Within the last year, the number of people who label themselves as "opponents" of the "tea party" movement has doubled to around 40 percent, while those considering themselves "supporters" have dwindled to around 20 percent. In the authors' polling, the "tea party" movement ranks lower than Republicans or Democrats in favorability, and even lower than groups such as atheists and Muslims. Their approval numbers are similar to those of the Christian Right. "Tea party" members tend to be overwhelmingly white, and their tolerance and approval of immigrants and minorities are significantly lower than even mainstream Republicans. They embrace many positions taken by so-called "social conservatives"--strong opposition to abortion, for example, and strong support for increasing the role of religion in politics. The authors write, "The tea party's generals may say their overriding concern is a smaller government, but not their rank and file, who are more concerned about putting God in government." "Tea party" members tend to support Republican presidential candidates like Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Rick Perry (R-TX), who proclaim their affinity for religion in politics. However, mainstream Americans tend to frown on increasing the role of religion in politics. According to the authors' research, while the media narrative has portrayed the "tea party" movement as what they term "nonpartisan political neophytes," in fact the early members of the movement were what the authors call "highly partisan Republicans." Today, they observe, "past Republican affiliation is the single strongest predictor of tea party support today." The authors conclude: "On everything but the size of government, tea party supporters are increasingly out of step with most Americans, even many Republicans. Indeed, at the opposite end of the ideological spectrum, today's tea party parallels the anti-Vietnam War movement which rallied behind George S. McGovern (D-SD) in 1972. The McGovernite activists brought energy, but also stridency, to the Democratic Party--repelling moderate voters and damaging the Democratic brand for a generation. By embracing the tea party, Republicans risk repeating history." blackmax 2012-02-03T14:11:08-08:00 http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a072911SionAppealRejected#a072911SionAppealRejected http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a072911SionAppealRejected#a072911SionAppealRejected The appeal tribunal of the Swiss Football League rejects an appeal by FC Sion and six of its players against a decision of the league's qualification committee, which refused to register the six . The appeal tribunal finds that the qualification committee correctly decided to reject the applications to register the players because Sion was under a transfer ban. Sion will apply for a court order allowing the six to play, and will initially be successful . KJF 2012-02-03T14:10:05-08:00 http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a080311CourtSion#a080311CourtSion http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a080311CourtSion#a080311CourtSion The Civil Court of Martigny and St. Maurice orders FIFA, the FIFA subsidiary Transfer Matching System GmbH, and the Swiss Football League to allow six FC Sion players to play with immediate effect. The players were signed during a transfer ban , so FIFA claims they cannot be fielded, and the Swiss Football League had ruled to this effect (see and ). However, the league's rulings are now overturned. Two days later, the Swiss Football League issues a statement saying that the players can be used until a further court ruling. The same judge will later affirm his ruling , but it will be overturned by a higher court . KJF 2012-02-03T14:08:10-08:00 http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a071511SwissLeagueSionDecision#a071511SwissLeagueSionDecision http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a071511SwissLeagueSionDecision#a071511SwissLeagueSionDecision The qualification committee of the Swiss Football League rejects requests by FC Sion for the registration of six newly-signed players: Stefan Glarner, Pascal Feindouno, José Gonçalves, Gabriel Garcia De La Torre (a.k.a. "Gabri"), Billy Ketkeophomphone, and Mario Mutsch . This is due to a transfer ban imposed on Sion for a rule breach by FIFA . KJF 2012-02-03T14:06:36-08:00 http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a021810cjrbarstow#a021810cjrbarstow http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a021810cjrbarstow#a021810cjrbarstow The Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) interviews David Barstow, the New York Times reporter who just published a front-page research article about the "tea party" movement . Barstow says the article was sparked by the raucous, sometimes-violent events of the "town halls" of the summer of 2009 . He joined the Tea Party Express bus tour , and covered over 30 tea party rallies in a little over two weeks. Barstow realized, he says, that the Tea Party Express (TPE) was but one of many distinctive tea party organizations. TPE's goal is to gain seats for Republicans in Congress, and the tour organizers "were not really representative of the tea party movement as a whole, which was very much a grassroots creation that was drawing in lots of newcomers who were extremely concerned about preserving their independence and not being co-opted." Some tea party organizers agonized over whether to host the TPE tour in their towns. But, Barstow goes on to say, the bus tour itself was incidental to the final story. He was far more interested in the stories of ordinary Americans like Pam Stout, an interview subject who went from being completely uninvolved in politics to becoming president of her local tea party chapter. So many Americans' lives have been impacted by the recession, Barstow says, and many of those people have turned to their local tea parties to try to get involved in a movement to express their frustrations and perhaps do something about the government that they blame for allowing the economy to fail. The other driving force behind the tea parties, he says, is the members' overwhelming fear of "impending tyranny." Most tea partiers fear that American democracy will disappear, perhaps during their own lifetimes, to be replaced by some form of dictatorship or "one-world government" . After the TPE bus tour concluded, Barstow stayed in Spokane, Washington, for the month of October 2009, interviewing many tea partiers and affiliated people. He chose the area because of its history of anti-government activism. He says he wanted to cover not just formal tea party organizations, but other groups with connections to the tea parties, including the 9/12 movement , the John Birch Society (JBS--see ), the Campaign for Liberty, and groups with strong ties to white supremacist militia organizations. From time spent in and around Spokane, he learned that the area's tea parties are quite disparate and factionalized, though "you can make too much of that. If you spend enough time talking to people in the movement, eventually you hear enough of the same kinds of ideas, the same kinds of concerns, and you begin to recognize what the ideology is, what the paradigm is that they're operating in. ... There's a fear that both parties have been complicit in this giant charade that has done enormous damage to ordinary Americans. It's very complex, and yet at the same time there is something coherent about it." Barstow says the influence of far-right, white supremacist militia groups on the tea party organizations in the Northwest and other areas is increasing. Even tea partiers who do not belong to or support militias often accept the idea of militias and civilian paramilitary training . To understand the tea parties, Barstow says, one must read the literature that informs the movement. He recommends reading books such as W. Cleon Skousen's ''The 5000-Year Leap'', a radical reinterpretation of the US Constitution; Edward Griffin's ''The Creature from Jekyll Island'', a book purporting to prove the Federal Reserve is a fraudulent institution; and ''Atlas Shrugged'', the novel by Ayn Rand that explicates her "objectivist" social philosophy. Barstow says the tea party movement is informed by "a robust intellectual subculture" that helps shape members' world views. According to Barstow, the tea parties are not, as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has maintained, becoming the activist conservative wing of the Republican Party , but something more. "They are seeking a bigger transformation than just nudging the Republican Party a little bit to the right," Barstow says. "A lot of the coverage is about how these people want smaller government and less taxation. That's true, and yet it doesn't completely get what's going on." blackmax 2012-02-01T08:09:13-08:00 http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a021610palintpgop#a021610palintpgop http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a021610palintpgop#a021610palintpgop Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican candidate for vice president, tells a crowd of Republican activists and tea party members in Little Rock, Arkansas, that the tea party movement must choose between the Republican and Democratic parties if it is to survive as a political force that elects its members to public office. "Now the smart thing will be for independents who are such a part of this tea party movement to, I guess, kind of start picking a party," she says. "Which party reflects how that smaller, smarter government steps to be taken? Which party will best fit you? And then because the tea party movement is not a party, and we have a two-party system, they're going to have to pick a party and run one or the other: 'R' or 'D.'" Palin recommends that tea partiers choose the Republicans, though she notes that her husband Todd Palin is not a registered Republican and the movement should be open to including independents. (Both Palins have been affiliated with the far-right, secessionist Alaskan Independence Party--see and ). Much of her speech is drawn from her 2008 campaign speeches. Much of the 18,000-seat Verizon Arena is empty, with the entire upper level closed off and the bottom level less than half full. In the hours before the event, the Arkansas Republican Party slashed prices on tickets to the speech to $20. The dining tables on the arena's floor are crowded with donors who paid $175 for a ringside seat. Palin's recommendation for the tea partiers to join the GOP draws mixed results from influential bloggers. "Allahpundit" at HotAir says Palin is correct in her statement about embracing the GOP over running Quixotic third-party races that are doomed to fail, and such races will just put more Democrats in office. Joe Gandelman of The Moderate Voice says the tea party is through as an independent movement if it follows Palin's advice; many tea partiers are equally critical of both parties, and joining one to battle the other is just more politics as usual. And John Tomasic of the Colorado Independent says Palin's recommendation is essentially moot, as the tea party has always been "a subsection of the Republican Party." blackmax 2012-02-01T08:07:47-08:00 http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a021510barstowtpe#a021510barstowtpe http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a021510barstowtpe#a021510barstowtpe The New York Times publishes a large front-page story on America's "tea party" movement. The report is written by staff reporter David Barstow, who researched the story for five months, first joining a bus tour by the Tea Party Express and then staying for the month of October in and around Spokane, Washington, to interview tea party members and others, such as white supremacist militia members, who have some affiliation with tea party organizations. The first person he mentions is a retiree named Pam Stout, who once worked for federal housing programs and is now aghast at the government's handling of the economic crisis. She told Barstow that one day "she awoke to see Washington as a threat, a place where crisis is manipulated--even manufactured--by both parties to grab power." She went to a tea party rally, then a meeting of the Sandpoint Tea Party Patriots, where she surprised herself by nominating herself for president. Under her leadership, the Sandpoint group joined a coalition, Friends for Liberty, that includes representatives from Glenn Beck's 9/12 Project , the racist and anti-Communist John Birch Society (JBS--see ), and the Oath Keepers (see and ), a far-right militia organization. Stout told Barstow that her family worries that she has become enmeshed in a group of conspiracy theorists and ad hoc revolutionaries, but she said she has never felt more engaged. Barstow writes that many tea party members are like Stout, with an inclination to conservative anti-government politics, but also with a fear of eventual government tyranny that has driven them to join the movement. "These people are part of a significant undercurrent within the tea party movement that has less in common with the Republican Party than with the Patriot movement," he writes, "a brand of politics historically associated with libertarians, militia groups, anti-immigration advocates, and those who argue for the abolition of the Federal Reserve. Urged on by conservative commentators, waves of newly minted activists are turning to once-obscure books and Web sites and discovering a set of ideas long dismissed as the preserve of conspiracy theorists, interviews conducted across the country over several months show." Many tea partiers hold former President Bush and President Obama in equal contempt, holding them jointly responsible for deliberately undermining the Constitution and the free market system "for the benefit of a shadowy international network of wealthy elites" . Coalition groups like Friends of Liberty are "forming hybrid entities of tea parties and groups rooted in the Patriot ethos. A fear of government tyranny is one of the most common ideological threads running through virtually all tea party organizations." Barstow continues: "These coalitions are not content with simply making the Republican Party more conservative. They have a larger goal--a political reordering that would drastically shrink the federal government and sweep away not just Mr. Obama, but much of the Republican establishment, starting with Senator John McCain" and other Republicans whom they consider part of the "government conspiracy" to destroy democracy. While tea parties routinely target Democrats in elections, they are also targeting more moderate Republicans, especially those who support ideas or legislation that they feel is part of the "conspiracy." Republicans who supported the government bailouts of large corporations are being targeted, as are those who support global warming legislation or who have shown any impetus to work with the White House or with Congressional Democrats . Barstow notes that the tea party movement is anything but homogenous and rigidly organized: "It is an amorphous, factionalized uprising with no clear leadership and no centralized structure." Some groups are "essentially appendages of the local Republican Party," but many are not. However, many of the beliefs espoused by individual tea partiers tend to be reflected in most groups. Not all believe that Obama wants to impose a dictatorship, with or without McCain's help, but many do. The frustration expressed by Stout in the economy and the government's response to it is echoed throughout tea party groups in every state. One of the tea partiers' favorite thinkers is Fox News talk show host Glenn Beck . Beck's often-revisionist, often-inaccurate opinions led many tea partiers to read the Federalist Papers (or, more often, right-wing blogs about the Federalist Papers), conspiracist "exposes" of the Federal Reserve, and the novels of Ayn Rand and George Orwell. Online resources tailored for tea party organizations provide a wealth of what Barstow calls "radical critiques of Washington." Two of the primary sites are ResistNet.com and InfoWars, both of which combine far-right ideology with a plethora of conspiracy theories covering everything from 9/11 and the Federal Reserve to the New World Order . Some tea partiers are joining with militia groups, or forming their own, and making stockpiles of food, gold, and weaponry to prepare for the end of civilization. Many tea party leaders say they believe that a return to a strict adherence to constitutional law would solve most of the nation's problems, but many of them espouse a radical view of the Constitution, such as that delineated by radical Constitutional revisionist W. Cleon Skousen (first popularized among the tea party community by Beck--see ). Many want to completely do away with Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the federal income tax, and most government agencies, all of which they say violate the Constitution. Some go even farther, advocating secession, states "nullfying" federal laws, and the formation of citizen militias. The tea parties in the Pacific Northwest, Barstow writes, have been shaped by influences such as libertarian Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) and by the sometimes-violent anti-government activism of northern Idaho . The 1992 standoff at Ruby Ridge , which occurred in nearby Idaho, is a touchstone for many tea partiers, just as it was for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh . Many, but not all, tea party members and groups embrace the "birther" conspiracy theory that Obama is not a natural American citizen. A favorite news blog, WorldNetDaily, routinely electrifies the movement by warning of new White House plans to build massive internment camps and stuff them with tea party members, or of plans to send waves of United Nations troops throughout the nation to confiscate Americans' guns. ResistNet regularly warns that Obama is trying to convert Interpol, the international police organization, into his own personal police force, and advises tea partiers to "grab their guns." Tea partiers like Mary Johnson of New Mexico points to the Bush-era wiretapping scandal as proof that the government can, and is, preparing to bring democracy to an end. As the groups' fear and contempt for the federal government grows, Barstow writes, they turn more frequently to "fringe" groups such as white supremacist, anti-government militias. In Indiana, a militia coalition called Defenders of Liberty is networking with tea party groups and other "Patriot" organizations throughout the state. Darin Stevens, the leader of the Spokane 9/12 project, told Barstow that before tuning in to Beck's show, he had paid almost no attention to politics. After the recession hit and his personal financial structure started to collapse, he began watching Beck. "I had no clue that my country was being taken from me," he explains. He began the Spokane chapter of Beck's 9/12 project, and was astounded that 110 people attended the first meeting. Stevens now belongs to the Oath Keepers as well as the 9/12 Project. Spokane tea partier Leah Southwell became a convert after stumbling on Paul's speeches on YouTube. Southwell turned from being a successful Mary Kay makeup sales representative to being a self-described member of "the uprising." Southwell, through Paul, is now fully supportive of the Patriot ideology, and holds as evident truth a number of conspiracy theories involving the Bilderberg Group, the Trilateral Commission, and the Council on Foreign Relations. "The more you know, the madder you are," she told Barstow. "I mean when you finally learn what the Federal Reserve is!" Southwell is now a local official with the John Birch Society. She says that the affiliation between organizations like the JBS and the tea parties will continue to grow: "Most of these people [tea partiers] are just waking up." Former car salesman Richard Mack, a longtime militia supporter who co-wrote Ruby Ridge survivor Randy Weaver's memoirs, is a favorite speaker at tea party events. "People just do not trust any of this," Mack told Barstow. "It's not just the fringe people anymore. These are just ordinary people--teachers, bankers, housewives." Local tea party groups often join, in one degree or another, one of several competing national tea party organizations such as ResistNet or the Tea Party Express, most of which are organized, staffed, and funded by conservative lobbying groups such as FreedomWorks or Americans for Prosperity . Some tea party groups have been joined by, or in some cases overrun by, other groups, from "birthers" to militias, supporters of Lyndon LaRouche, pro-gun groups, and the sovereign states movement. Many coalitions such as Friends of Liberty were formed in opposition to what leaders called the endless "hijack attempts" by state and county Republican Parties. Dann Selle of the Official Tea Party of Spokane told Barstow, "We had to stand our ground, I'll be blunt." Rick Perry, the governor of Texas and a possible 2012 Republican candidate for president, has joined with Texas tea parties in supporting the state's secession from the United States. Nevada Republican Joe Heck, who ran for Congress in 2008, attacked both parties for moving the nation towards "socialist tyranny" and solicited tea party support at a rally in Las Vegas. Indiana Republican Richard Behney, running for the US Senate, told tea party supporters that if the 2010 elections did not turn out to his liking: "I'm cleaning my guns and getting ready for the big show. And I'm serious about that, and I bet you are, too." blackmax 2012-02-01T08:04:47-08:00 http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a123195fbimcvserial#a123195fbimcvserial http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a123195fbimcvserial#a123195fbimcvserial A New York Times analysis of indicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh uses an interview with FBI profiler Jack Douglas to paint a picture of McVeigh as a burgeoning serial killer. Douglas, the model for the FBI analyst in the movie ''The Silence of the Lambs'', describes McVeigh as an underachieving loner whose stunted social development, obsessive neatness, inability to deal with his abandonment by his mother, sexual frustration, obsession with guns, and overarching alienation led him to conceive and execute a plot that killed scores of innocent people. "There are the same kind of characteristics" in McVeigh's makeup as serial killers possess, Douglas says. "Asocial, asexual, a loner, withdrawn, from a family with problems, strong feelings of inadequacy from early in life, an underachiever." McVeigh did well in the highly structured environment of the US Army (see and ), Douglas notes, but was unable to function successfully outside of that environment . His lifelong obsession with guns blended with his increasing fascination with far-right militia, white supremacist, and separatist ideologies that led him to believe the government was actively plotting to disarm and repress its citizenry. McVeigh, always fascinated with computers, used the burgeoning network of computerized bulletin boards, email clients, videotape exchanges, shortwave radio broadcasts, and other information resources to fuel his beliefs, all codified in what Times reporter John Kifner calls "a venomous novel called ''The Turner Diaries''" that depicts rebel white supremacists overthrowing the federal government and committing genocide against minority citizens. McVeigh's increasingly apocalyptic world view, Douglas says, led him to carry out the bomb plot, perhaps in an effort to bring about the same supremacist rebellion that ''The Turner Diaries'' depicts. The federal raids on Randy Weaver's cabin in Ruby Ridge, Idaho , and the Branch Davidian compound in Texas , the passage of the Brady gun control bill , and the birth of the paramilitary militia movement all spurred McVeigh forward. Kifner writes: "The paramilitary movement vowed to resist the government and publish manuals on forming underground guerrilla squads. Mr. McVeigh was just a little ahead of the curve." The final straw for McVeigh, Kifner and Douglas theorize, was the passage of the August 1994 crime bill that outlawed 19 types of semiautomatic assault weapons . Shortly thereafter, McVeigh wrote an angry letter to his friend Michael Fortier alerting him that he intended to take some sort of "positive action" against the government . Douglas calls McVeigh's "obsession with weapons" an "overcompensation for deep-rooted feelings of inadequacy. ... They compensate for a while by talking the talk, but after a while they have to go out and do something about it. Typically the time for violence is in the mid-20s. They look in the mirror and see they're going nowhere fast. This is an easily controlled and manipulated personality. They are looking for something to hang their hat on, some ideology. They have difficulty fitting into groups, but they are more mission-oriented, more focused." Seattle forensic psychiatrist Kenneth Muscatel has called this type of personality disorder "Smerdyakov syndrome," after the scorned half-brother in Dostoyevsky's novel ''The Brothers Karamazov'', who listens to the other brothers inveigh against their father until, finally, he murders the father. Douglas notes the devoted friendship between McVeigh and indicted co-conspirator Terry Nichols, another underachieving loner who did well in the Army. "These two are birds of a feather," Douglas says. "Each feeds off the other's inadequacies." Of McVeigh, Douglas says: "These people are comfortable in a structured environment, they do very well. But outside of a structured environment, without that rigidity, he just can't survive. On the other hand, he's probably doing fine now in jail. I bet they would say he's a model prisoner." McVeigh's favorite movie is, by all accounts, a 1984 film called ''Red Dawn'' that depicts a group of Texas high school football players banding together to defeat an invasion of Soviet paratroopers. The "Wolverines," as the footballers term themselves, transform themselves into a polished, lethal guerrilla force. The film contains a number of tropes that resonate with McVeigh and other militia sympathizers: the use of gun-registration forms to enable the Soviet invasion, political leaders eager to betray the American citizenry they represent, and others. The film is a cult classic among militia members. Along with another extraordinarily popular series of movies, the ''Rambo'' films, ''Red Dawn'' expresses what sociologist James William Gibson has noted is a new perspective on military veterans and popular culture; whereas traditional war movies show raw recruits uniting to battle an evil enemy on behalf of a just national cause, post-Vietnam movies such as ''Red Dawn'' and the ''Rambo'' films popularize the archetype of an alienated loner or small band of outlaws, betrayed by their own government and fighting for their view of the American ideal as renegades. Another favorite film of McVeigh's is a very different offering, the 1985 black comedy ''Brazil'', which depicts an Orwellian future dominated by an all-powerful bureaucracy. Actor Robert DeNiro plays a commando-like "outlaw repairman"; his character's name is "Tuttle," one of the aliases used by McVeigh . The last movie McVeigh rented before the Oklahoma City bombing was ''Blown Away'', the tale of a mad bomber. Kifner notes that much has been made of McVeigh's fascination with William Pierce's novel ''The Turner Diaries''. McVeigh was an avid reader, paging through mercenary and gun magazines, white supremacist and anti-Semitic newsletters and fliers, and an array of apocalyptic and war novels. One of the more unusual works found in McVeigh's possessions is a document titled "Operation Vampire Killer 2000," written by militia leader Jack McLamb and predicting a "globalist," "New World Order" takeover of the US by "the year 2000." The document names the plotters against American democracy as, among others, the Order of the Illuminati, international bankers, the United Nations, the "Rothschild Dynasty," the Internal Revenue Service, CBS News, Communists, the Yale secret society Skull and Bones, "humanist wackos," and, possibly, aliens from outer space in Unidentified Flying Objects. McLamb writes: "For the World Elite to truly enjoy their 'utopian' Socialist Society, the subject masses must not have the means to protect themselves against more 'voluntary compliance.' When one grasps this logical position, there is no longer any question about it: THE GUNS WILL HAVE TO GO." But ''The Turner Diaries'' was, according to one person involved in the investigation, McVeigh's "Bible" . As with so much of McVeigh's reading material, ''Turner'' posited the forcible confiscation of citizen-owned guns by the US government as the presage to tyranny. In a book on the paramilitary movement, Kenneth Stern wrote: "Those who would regulate guns were cast as tyrants who were coming for people's guns first. The government had to disarm citizens in order to subjugate them. The United Nations could march in and take over America; loyal Americans could be sent to concentration camps." Both McVeigh and the paramilitary movement were "developing in the same time line," Stern tells Kifner. "I would date the first functioning militia as February of 1994 in Montana, and then spreading to Michigan and other places" . McVeigh and Nichols were apparently influenced by the writings of former Ku Klux Klan leader Louis Beam, who advocated a "leaderless resistance" of tiny, independent cells that "state tyranny" would find more difficult to control . "No one need issue an order to anyone," Beam wrotes. "These idealists truly committed to the cause of freedom will act when they feel the time is ripe, or will take their cues from others who proceed them." In Pierce's novel, a bombing almost exactly like the Oklahoma City blast is carried out by the novel's hero Earl Turner; the novel's bombing destroys the FBI headquarters in Washington and inspires a nationwide revolt by white supremacists against the "tyrannical" government. It is conceivable, Kifner concludes, that McVeigh's bomb was intended to strike the same sort of blow, and perhaps evoke the same results. blackmax 2012-02-01T08:03:34-08:00