In 2009 reporters broke the astonishing news that a report from the Missouri Department of Public Safety was distributed to law enforcement across our state that depicted Christians, anti-abortionists, advocates for protecting our borders and supporters of certain political candidates as potential “threats” to public safety.

The report was developed by the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) and was entitled, “The Modern Militia Movement.”

The report which lists support for Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, or Bob Barr for president as a sign of involvement in the militia movement – was written with the help of the Anti-Defamation League. Almost the entire Missouri report is composed of cursorily re-worded documents publicly available on the ADL’s web site.

The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith purports to be a Jewish civil rights organization, in reality the ADL is a left-wing advocacy group which conducts extensive surveillance on individuals and groups across the political spectrum. According to their web site, they specialize in gathering, analyzing and disseminating intelligence on extremism to law enforcement agencies in order for them to combat “serious threats”.

The MIAC report is similar to one created by the Phoenix Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Joint Terrorism Task Force during the Clinton administration. The FBI document explicitly designates “defenders” of the Constitution as “right-wing extremists.”

Numerous training manuals issued by state and federal government bodies identify whole swathes of the population as potential terrorists.

The Department of Justice and the FBI issued a report back in 1999 called “Project Megiddo” that pretty much stated the same nonsense that the MIAC report did.

Alex Jones’ 2001 documentary film 9/11: The Road to Tyranny featured footage from a FEMA symposium given to firefighters and other emergency personnel in Kansas City in which it was stated that the founding fathers, Christians and homeschoolers were terrorists and should be treated with the utmost suspicion and brutality in times of national emergency.

A Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Law Enforcement pamphlet gives the public characteristics to identify terrorists that include buying baby formula, beer, wearing Levi jeans, carrying identifying documents like a drivers license and traveling with women or children. A Virginia training manual used to help state employees recognize terrorists lists anti-government and property rights activists as terrorists and includes binoculars, video cameras, paper pads and notebooks in a compendium of terrorist tools.

Such training documents are manifesting real-life situations where people are being harassed, assaulted and arrested by law enforcement simply for owning material or discussing topics related to the Constitution and the bill of rights.

In 2004, Kelly Rushing was charged with making “terroristic threats” after he handed out Alex Jones videos and recordings of a Congressman Ron Paul speech on C-Span to Lyon County, Kentucky officials and Kentucky State Trooper Lewis Dobbs. A jury later ruled in favor of Rushing but he continues to be harassed by authorities and local law enforcement.

In October 2007, a Michigan man was harassed, handcuffed, assaulted, branded “unpatriotic” and subjected to an unconstitutional search of his vehicle during which drugs were allegedly planted, before being ticketed by a police officer for the apparent crime of freely distributing DVD’s about 9/11 truth.

In Las Vegas a couple was stopped by police, detained and searched as cops demanded to know if there was anything illegal inside the vehicle. When the couple asked why they had been stopped, the police officer pointed at “Infowars” and “Ron Paul” bumper stickers on their car.

In 2001, housewife Abbey Newman was assaulted and arrested by police at a checkpoint for exercising her 4th amendment right. Cops looked through literature which included a copy of a pocket constitution and debated whether or not the material was illegal.