There’s a lot of commentary about how conservatives are hamstrung when talking about race, or issues that touch on race at all — immediately, they’re accused of racism. But I think that militia/right-wing extremism presents a comparable rhetorical problem for the left. Pointing out that militia activity or conspiracy-mongering is on the rise is, as we saw last year, seen a slander on Americans who criticize the government, an attempt by liberals to rule all of that out of bounds.

Andrew Lee Patterson identifies himself as the state leader of the National Socialist Movement, Oregon Unit, and said he has been a “storm trooper, first class” with the movement for about six months. Other unit leaders from around the state selected him as leader based on his active involvement, he said.

The 29-year-old with a shaved head said he and his staff in Phoenix coordinate activity around the state, while a local unit focuses on recruiting and Southern Oregon issues — especially illegal immigration and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

More seriously, reporter Anita Burke mentions in her story that “the Department of Homeland Security issued a report warning that right-wing extremist groups, including white supremacists, have boosted recruiting and mobilizing efforts,” and there’s no mention of the way House Republicans are angrily demanding apologies and firings for the suggestions in the report. That story might not be playing as an “outrage” beyond the Beltway and talk radio.

Partial transcript of narrator “Pale Horse”:

A peaceful demonstration of at least a million — hey, if we can get 10 million, even better — but at least one million armed militia men marching on Washington. A peaceful demonstration. No shooting, no one gets hurt. Just a demonstration. The only difference from any typical demonstration is we will all be armed.

My first instinct is to say “good luck getting a permit for that,” but my second is to point out that if Pale Horse is serious about keeping out felons, he’ll keep out militia leaders like Mark Koernke.

Also note that the pictures in the video are all from President Obama’s inauguration day.

Update: The Ohio Militia has apparently taken the video down from its YouTube page. However, DoubleDoseUS has a videotaped version of the original video up here.

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Here are some excerpts of a flier being sold by Mark Koernke at the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot.

Four armed men were engaged by an air weapons team from Multi-National Division-Baghdad, after they were spotted emplacing an improvised explosive device north of Taji, Iraq the night of April 2—leaving one dead and two wounded.

– and then gets stomach-churning:

The men, alleged Sons of Iraq members, were seen emplacing an object in the road, near a critical road junction. The alleged SOI members had lookouts posted to keep watch several meters away, prior to being fired on by the Coalition forces aircraft.  The largely rural area north of Baghdad has been the scene of several attacks in the past few months.

Over the weekend and continuing somewhat during the week, Sons of Iraq militiamen have been battling Iraqi government forces after the government arrested Adil Mashadani, a Sons of Iraq/Awakening leader. Now the U.S. military is firing from the air on the militiamen it has backed since 2007.

Update: Interestingly, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government has released a different Awakening leader arrested last week.

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