April 7, 2006
D ear
Readers,
CounterPunch
co-editor Jeffrey St. Clair this morning brought to my attention a screed
by a disturbed individual named George M. Weinert V of Chicago, Illinois,
whose blog, American Jihad, features a March 24, 2006 article (to
put it charitably) that reads clearly as an incitement to violence . . .
a call to "hunt down the treasonous operators" of Dissident Voice,
CounterPunch, Uruknet, and other "radical left wing hippy
commie Muslim sucking" (wow, what a mouthful) web sites.
Particularly singled out for targeting in
Weinert’s deranged ramblings are Dissident Voice contributing
writers Mike Whitney, Ken Sanders, as well as our friend and past
contributing writer Kurt Nimmo. Weinert is hardly subtle in issuing what
is clearly a
death threat against us. Here is a snippet:
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HUNT DOWN THE TREASONOUS OPERATORS
of
http://www.counterpunch.org/ and
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/ As well as other radical left
wing queer Muslim sucker web sites who are GIVING AID AND COMFORT TO
THE ENEMY LIKE THE DIRTY DOGS THEY ARE AND LET THEM MEET A CITIZEN
FIRING SQUAD or the END OR [sic] A NOOSE!!!
WE MUST HUNT DOWN AND ELIMINATE
THESE TERRORIST SUCKING SWINE NOW!!!
* KURT NIMO [sic] AND MIKE WHITNEY
ARE THE LEADERS – TRAITORS WHO HATE AMERICA!!!
* KURT NIMO AND MIKE WHITNEY ARE
MURDERING AMERICAN SOLDIERS EVERY DAY!!!
* KURT NIMO AND MIKE WHITNEY MUST
PAY THE PRICE!!
THESE DIRTY BASTARDS ARE ENEMIES OF
THE USA AND MUST FACE THE FIRING SQUAD!
CLEAN AND LOAD YOUR GUNS BOYS AND
BUY PLENTY OF HEAVY ROPE!!!
WE MUST BRING AMERICAN JUSTICE TO
THESE AMERICAN TERRORISTS NOW!
THEY MUST BE FORCED TO FACE AMERICAN
JUSTICE NOW!!!
The US Government is not listening
and allowing this treason to continue unabated so citizen militias
must lead the charge to eliminate this threat to America now:
TO ARMS!
TO ARMS!!
TO ARMS!!!
* WE NEED TO LYNCH THESE HOMOSEXUAL
MUSLIM SUCKING PIGS!
* WE NEED CITIZEN FIRING SQUADS AND
IMMEDIATE ACTION NOW TO SAVE THE USA!!!
* WE MUST BRING AMERICAN JUSTICE TO
THESE TRAITOROUS BASTARDS NOW!!!
The Islamofascist enemy is not only
at the gates –
* HE IS THE ARAB AT THE LOCAL DOLLAR
STORE
* HE IS THE PALESTINIAN AT THE LOCAL
COLLEGE
* HE IS KURT NIMO and MIKE WHITNEY .
. . . ."
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Since launching Dissident Voice
back in 2001, I’ve received a few e-mail threats of violence and death as
well as some nasty messages on my home answering machine. For the most
part, I’ve dismissed them as not being worth much thought, and usually try
to deny these pathetic individuals the attention they crave. However, when
such a vile incitement appears publicly on multiple websites, I
take the threat more seriously. Not because this wretched figure may
himself pose a serious threat, but because there are a lot of whackos out
there, especially in the lunatic political climate in which we currently
find ourselves here in the US, that may feel up to the task of
"eliminating" the "commie bastards" if Weinert isn’t up to it himself. Mr.
Weinert has been issuing a fatwa -- or "farwa" as he calls it (clearly a
first-rate scholar of Islam, this fellow) -- against DV, CP,
Uruknet and the aforementioned writers for some time now. Here’s a
piece Kurt Nimmo wrote last September about Weinert that I had neglected
to read at the time:
http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=14. More insight into his troubled mind can also be
found here,
and also here.
Needless to say that if any of our ilk wrote
and posted such a threatening piece against our political opponents, we’d
be sporting orange jumpsuits at Guantanamo and figuring out for ourselves
firsthand whether sharp objects up the anus constitute mere "abuse" or
torture faster than you can say "Farwa". But when it’s right-wing nutcases
and so-called "patriots" making the threats . . . no problem, threaten
away!
People
are, of course, free to criticize Dissident Voice all they want;
call us dope-smoking, queer, commie, Muslim sucking traitors (is this
supposed to be an insult?) or worse to their heart’s content. However,
clear threats of violence and death crosses the line of acceptable free
speech, and will be treated as a legal issue.
Blogger.com,
which hosts American Jihad, was contacted this morning about Mr.
Weinert’s death threat, which clearly violates the company’s stated
Terms
of Agreement.
Thus far, all we have received in response is an automated letter that
reads in its entirety:
I’m asking our readers and supporters to also contact
Blogger.com and politely --
emphasis on politely -- query them as to why Mr. Weinert’s
out-and-out death threat against the editors of Dissident Voice,
CounterPunch, Uruknet and our contributing writers remains
publicly accessible on their Web space, and whether "American Jihad,"
whose content clearly violates Blogger’s terms of agreement, will be
rebuked and prohibited from continuing to occupy Blogger space.
I will be contacting the Chicago police to
inform them of Mr. Weinert’s ongoing harassment (as well as local law
enforcement here in Northern CA), and to consider pressing charges against him.
This e-mail will also serve as public
notice that lack of appropriate action on Blogger’s part may well result
in their inclusion in a legal action.
Threats of violence and death against
individuals because of their political persuasion -- whatever that
persuasion may be -- must not be tolerated. Your help and support is, as
always, very much appreciated.
Sunil K. Sharma
is the Editor and Publisher of
Dissident Voice, based in
Santa Rosa, California. He can be reached at:
editor@dissidentvoice.org.
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