Oath Keepers and the Age of Treason - Mother Jones

[DearAbby]

Glenn Beck loves them. Tea Partiers court them. Congressmen listen to them. Meet the fast-growing "patriot" group that's recruiting soldiers to resist the Obama administration.

— By Justine Sharrock


THE .50 CALIBER Bushmaster bolt action rifle is a serious weapon. The model that Pvt. 1st Class Lee Pray is saving up for has a 2,500-yard range and comes with a Mark IV scope and an easy-load magazine. When the 25-year-old drove me to a mall in Watertown, New York, near the Fort Drum Army base, he brought me to see it in its glass case—he visits it periodically, like a kid coveting something at the toy store. It'll take plenty of military paychecks to cover the $5,600 price tag, but he considers the Bushmaster essential in his preparations to take on the US government when it declares martial law.

His belief that that day is imminent has led Pray to a group called Oath Keepers, one of the fastest-growing "patriot" organizations on the right. Founded last April by Yale-educated lawyer and ex-Ron Paul aide Stewart Rhodes, the group has established itself as a hub in the sprawling anti-Obama movement that includes Tea Partiers, Birthers, and 912ers. Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs, and Pat Buchanan have all sung its praises, and in December, a grassroots summit it helped organize drew such prominent guests as representatives Phil Gingrey and Paul Broun, both Georgia Republicans.

There are scores of patriot groups, but what makes Oath Keepers unique is that its core membership consists of men and women in uniform, including soldiers, police, and veterans. At regular ceremonies in every state, members reaffirm their official oaths of service, pledging to protect the Constitution—but then they go a step further, vowing to disobey "unconstitutional" orders from what they view as an increasingly tyrannical government.

More:
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/oath-keepers

[SoxFan]

1. Time to go UCMJ on their ass

This is disgusting.

[Uncle Joe]

2. What a subliminal irony on multiple levels, Pray covets a Bushmaster.

Just out of curiosity, I wonder if Stewart Rhodes was a member of Skull & Bones?

Thanks for the thread, DearAbby.

[DearAbby]

4. DU Salute...........Nt

[WhiteTara]

3. I just realized that we need to reinstate the draft

these people want to be patriotic and fight for their country, but are confused and used. We need to make sure they channel their energy properly.

[anigbrowl]

10. You seem to not understand they are already in uniform

The whole point of this particular group is that they recruit people who are in public service right now. What effect you think a draft will have on people who have already enlisted, I don't understand.

[WhiteTara]

11. actually, I didn't realize those were real uniforms

I thought they were wannabes...so much camo clothes on the market these days. I thought they could have something to do.

[WhiteTara]

13. actually, I didn't realize those were real

I thought they were wannabes. So much camo clothes these days.

[kestrel91316]

5. Traitors, monkeywrenchers, saboteurs. Time to use the USA PATRIOT Act on

THEIR sorry asses, too.

[DearAbby]

7. Patriot Act would be worthless if they don't

start using it. What the hell is it for, only Brown Muslim people? Another reason to profile American people? Use it or get rid of it.

[MadMaddie]

6. Two words "Domestic Terrorist"!

When this group and others take out communities of people that they don't like will we be able to identify and treat them as "Domestic Terrorist"?

The violence is coming...not if but when....

[MattBaggins]

15. He has Thor Tattoed across his fist

Hmmmm. So when folks question why his ilk didn't say a word against Bush and folks on the left suggest it might have to do with Obamas race; they get all angry. It is clear what these Oafkeepers are really about.

Reminds me of a guy in my Unit who had a shark tattoo on his hand and never got questioned about it.

[smoogatz]

8. Hey, if Obama starts rounding up citizens and putting them in camps

I'll fight along with them. Right after the green monkeys fly out of my ass. Interesting, how paranoid people get when the white aristocracy ain't running the show, and somehow not surprising that these people were mostly silent when Bush was actually doing what they're convinced Obama's about to do. Mostly, as is usually the case with outfits like this, they're morons and losers who barely have the brainpower to tie their shoes in the morning. One is also reminded of the Business Plot of 1933, in which a conspiracy of business leaders (including Prescott Bush, grandfather of the late, great fuckup-in-chief) plotted to recruit an army 500,000 disaffected WWI veterans to overthrow FDR. History has a way of coming back around, if you wait long enough.

[AnnieBW]

9. Sounds like a group that Timmy McVeigh would have loved

Jeeze.

[AnArmyVeteran]

16. And right wing radio is a hate factory, producing thousands of Tim McVeighs...

Hate-filled language riddled with references to violence spew regularly from right wing radio hosts, Fox News talking heads to conservatives in political office. They are deliberately inciting violence using incendiary words because they are profiting from them, with either massive wealth or political success.

[Are_grits_groceries]

12. There is one weakness in this for them.

I'd rather they not be in existence, but they are. However, that is a group that can be easily infiltrated and their members identified.

I would bet that they are and names have been taken. Butts will be kicked.

[olegramps]

14. Can anyone be very surprised that it is dominated by Military and Police personnel?

While certainly not all the military and police are misfits, they do attract a certain mentality that craves power. My major concern is that some of the nitwits could be driven by their paranoia to commit some reckless destructive act. I think that membership on such an organization by a person in the military or in the police force should be cause for investigation in that they appear to be insurrectionists that are operating without constitutional authority.