The radical leftist group Southern Poverty Law Center has partnered with the Department of Homeland Security in a 'Working Group' called Countering violent Extremism to paint conservatives as hate groups and extremists.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, also known as The Church of Morris Dees has recently labeled the Family Research Council, American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, Coral Ridge Ministries, Family Research Institute, Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, Illinois Family Institute, Liberty Counsel, MassResistance, National Organization for Marriage and the Traditional Values Coalition as 'hate groups'.
Former Attorney General Edwin Meese says it is "despicable" for the Southern Poverty Law Center to classify the Family Research Council and a dozen other top conservative organizations as "hate groups" similar to the Ku Klux Klan.
The SPLC has a history of targeting conservatives and conservative groups as racist, homophobic, or extremist if they disagree with the radical left positions of the SPLC on any number of issues. An article at Discover the Networks.org says "What makes the Southern Poverty Law Center particularly odious is its habit of taking legitimate conservatives and jumbling them with genuine hate groups (the Klan, Aryan Nation, skinheads, etc.), to make it appear that there's a logical relationship between say opposing affirmative action and lynching, or demands for an end to government services for illegal aliens and attacks on dark-skinned immigrants. The late novelist/philosopher Ayn Rand called this "the broad-brush smear.""
The SPLC has made a fortune exploiting the victims of bias crimes. "Together, SPLC's three top executives – all white — took home just shy of three-quarters of a million dollars in 2005." Morris Seligman Dees, the founder and chief trial lawyer of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has contributed money to the campaigns of a number of political candidates, all of them Democrats and Independents. Among the more notable recipients of his funding were John Edwards, John Kerry, Ralph Nader, Bill Clinton, Tom Harkin, Julian Bond, Ted Kennedy, and Jimmy Carter according to his profile at Discover the Networks.org.
The SPLC did a 'report' in the spring of 2010 that claimed right wing extremists were on the rise an basically branded anyone worried about the economy, the debt, illegal immigration or any left wing agenda item as a a hate group or militia comparable to the Branch Dividians. The 'research' for the claim is a rise in web sites dedicated to these issues. Of course during the time they say the rise of right wing groups happened there is a rise in all types of web sites including left wing hate smearers like the SPLC.
The internet is continuing to grow so yes there will probably be even more of these 'right wing extremists' objecting to the liberal agenda as time goes on but there will be a corresponding increase in Soros funded and non Soros funded radical leftist groups also.
But the SPLC 'report' was picked up by media everywhere (even the UK Guardian ) and reported as factual news just as they planned. That is the real purpose of the SPLC, to promote leftist propaganda and attempt to paint anyone who disagrees with their agenda as 'extremists' and 'haters'.
Writing at RenewAmerica, J. Matt Barber explains the corruption at SPLC:
Alas, "power corrupts," as it goes, and the SPLC, having amassed tremendous power and wealth over the years, has regrettably become corrupt to its core. By way of an ever-escalating wave of "us-versus-them" money-grubbing schemes, Today's SPLC has morphed into a far-left political activist outfit, famous for promoting a panoply of extreme liberal causes.
Ken Silverstein, writing for Harper's Magazine, addressed this untoward metamorphosis in 2000: "Today's SPLC spends most of its time — and money — on a relentless fund-raising campaign, peddling memberships in the church of tolerance with all the zeal of a circuit rider passing the collection plate. 'He's the Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker of the civil rights movement,' renowned anti-death-penalty lawyer Millard Farmer says of Dees, his former associate, 'though I don't mean to malign Jim and Tammy Faye.'
"The American Institute of Philanthropy gives the Center one of the worst ratings of any group it monitors," continued Silverstein. "Morris Dees doesn't need your financial support. The SPLC is already the wealthiest civil rights group in America, though [its fundraising literature] quite naturally omits that fact. … 'Morris and I…shared the overriding purpose of making a pile of money,' recalls Dees's business partner, a lawyer named Millard Fuller (not to be confused with Millard Farmer). 'We were not particular about how we did it; we just wanted to be independently rich.'" (You say Fuller. I say Farmer. The two Millards say "call the whole thing off.")
So, what happens when a dragon slayer — paid per dragon head — runs out of real dragons to slay? Well, he invents new ones, of course. Gotta keep those sprinklers-a-sprinklin.' (According to Harper's, "Dees bought a 200-acre estate appointed with tennis courts, a pool, and stables." SPLC's 2008 Form-990 shows net assets of over 219 million at the beginning of that year. Yup, there's a spate to be made in the hate trade.)
The SPLC has joined the Department of Homeland Security in a 'Working Group' called Countering violent Extremism. John Cohen, President and CEO of SPLC is listed as a member and Laurie Wood, Analyst, Southern Poverty Law Center/Instructor, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center is listed as an 'expert in subject matter'. The members of the group also include three from Muslim organizations but we don't see any conservatives. (see the list at the end of the report)
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) which has been determined by the courts to be a terrorist support group proudly points out on their Facebook page that its Michigan members 'participated a Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Working Group meeting with law enforcement officials and community advocates in Dearborn, Mich.'[ibid].
So we have the Southern Poverty Law Center, also known as The Church of Morris Dees, which calls groups and individuals like the Family Research Council, Eagle Forum, the Heritage Foundation, Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Rep. Steve King (R-IA), and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) 'right wing extremists' and the Council on American-Islamic Relations which the FBI has proven to be linked to a terrorist organization teaming up with the US Department of Homeland Security to determine what groups in America should be categorized as 'extremist' and potentially violent.
Now you can see why the DHS came out with its Rightwing Extremism report in April of 2009 that warned of potential violence by people against illegal immigration and gun control, and returning military veterans. Now that's change.
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