That's all the Southern Poverty Law Center is. An empty shell filled with useful idiots, giving ammo to those who wish to bring this country down. The Left has used this smear tactic against us.
Their latest target is Lou Dobbs at CNN, whose sins are opposing illegal immigration and suggesting that Obama's birth status should be looked into... And now, Dobbs's very life is being threatened. WorldNetDaily reports today:
CNN's Lou Dobbs: Shot fired into my home
'We'd had threatening phone calls ... it's now become a way of life'
Opponents of Dobbs include the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Anti Defamation League, the National Council of La Raza, Internet media watchdog Media Matters and Fox News host Geraldo Rivera.
SPLC has called on CNN to fire Dobbs. We say that SPLC is inciting hate crimes, and should be taken to court.
For more background, see MassResistance's post from March 2009. Excerpt:
It's a common theme of the left, going back to the Saul Alinsky tactics in the 1930s, to demonize your enemies if they become effective. This was adopted by the homosexual movement. In their classic manifesto After the Ball, Marshall Kirk & Hunter Masden advised activists to compare people with traditional values to the Ku Klux Klan (which lynched blacks).
For the second year in a row, the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center(SPLC) has declared MassResistance, along with other pro-family / Christian / traditional values groups around the country, as "hate groups". In most cases, the "crime" is publicly disagreeing with the homosexual agenda. There are no specific reasons given, besides a general label.
Other groups include the Illinois Family Institute (IFI), Traditional Values Coalition (TVC), Scott Lively's Abiding Truth Ministries, the Family Research Institute, and the Chalcedon Foundation. Along with MassResistance, SPLC's reason for declaring them hate groups is that they're "Anti-Gay".
(Actually, SPLC is angry because they're effective. MassResistance, IFI, Traditional Values Coalition, and the Chalcedon Foundation expose the homosexual agenda to a national audience. Family Research Institute does studies on the dangers of homosexual behavior. SPLC particularly despises Scott Lively's book, The Pink Swastika, which documents homosexuality in Nazi Germany.)
A number of other Christian ministries are listed, labeled as "General Hate". Several Catholic groups are labeled "Radical Traditionalist Catholic" and thus declared hate groups.
SPLC is also big in promoting and defending illegal immigration. Thus, illegal immigrant watchdog groups around the country are listed, labeled as "Anti-Immigrant." One of those is Concerned Citizens and Friends of Illegal Immigration Law Enforcement (CCFILE) located in Framingham. It's run by Jim and Joe Rizoli. We know them. They're decent guys, and it's a legitimate community group -- which liberals happen to dislike. For SPLC to do this is the worst type of slander.
Young Americans for Freedom at Michigan State University is listed under "General Hate", apparently because they hosted Rep.Tom Tancredo for a speech on illegal immigration. But as reported on The O'Reilly Factor and Hannity & Colmes, it was the fascist left that disrupted the event and assaulted participants. But none of the attacking groups apparently qualifies as a "hate group"....
What constitutes a "hate group"? We couldn't find it on the SPLC website. But in the MetroWest Daily News article referenced above, the SPLC spokesman told the reporter:
[A] hate group is one that "in its platforms or statements says that a whole other group of people is less by virtue . . . These are people who attack other groups of people based on their group characteristics."
But that's a rather exotic definition of "hate", certainly not found in any dictionary. This absurd use of the word "hate" makes the word essentially meaningless.
Suppose Republicans say that Democrats are "less by virtue" because of their liberal characteristics. Or smoking advocates who demean smokers. Or alcohol safety groups that demean drunk drivers. Does that make them "hate" groups? Don't people have the right to demean others who do bad or destructive things?...
