Is there a group that it's still socially acceptable to attack, stigmatize, and stereotype?
Apparently it's people with psychiatric diagnoses.
You can't turn on a crime drama on TV without seeing the guilty, or scary, mental patient. YOu can barely go to the movies without finding a psychotic killer, or a heartwarming story of a mental patient overcoming adversity. Either way, the underlying thread is that those people are not like us.
What? You say this is nothing more than another desperate try for the SVR to grasp at relevance? Of course, if you said that you'd be right, but don't tell them--it would be like telling a little kid there's no tooth fairy.
I know, I know, most of you could probably care less about Glenn Beck's new best friend, Thomas Naylor, the leader of the now-discredited seccesionist group, Second Vermont Republic. But like the teabaggers, there's that "gotta-stare-at-a-car-wreck" thing that unhinged lunatics just make me get.
It was a big story on here a few years ago when we publicized his organization's ties to racist groups like the League of the South. This got the anti-hate organization, the Southern Poverty Law Center interested, and they did a big report about them a while ago, which Naylor dismissed, but soon after, he supposedly broke ties with the LoS, decrying their racism.
The divorce didn't last long, however. Naylor and a close ally, prominent New York leftist writer and editor Kirkpatrick Sale, are now scheduled to speak at a conference on secession being organized by the Abbeville Institute. They will share the stage at the Charleston, S.C., conference in February with neo-Confederate scholars such as Thomas DiLorenzo, Clyde Wilson and Livingston, the Abbeville Institute founder. All three have current or past links with the League of the South. (Go here for profiles of DiLorenzo, Livingston and Wilson.)
Defiant as ever, Naylor, echoing the same sentiments about the SPLC that one would usually read on white supremacist sites such as Stormfront and VNN (no links, if you want it, look for it), had this to say:
Reached by telephone at his home in Vermont, Naylor declined to discuss the state of his relations with the neo-Confederates. "This has nothing to do with race," he said. "It's the SPLC that's the hate group. Why don't you go fuck yourself?"
Class act, that Naylor. No word yet from his cohort at VT Commons, Rob Williams. He'd probably say he doesn't care, as he's said in the past, all in support of the lost cause.
and that would be... Glenn Beck. Yeah, that Glenn Beck, he of the hysterics, teabagging, hatemongering, and America's most high-profile purveyor of right-wing bullshit conspiracy theories. And of course, you know the other guy, Thomas "Obviously a Good Confederate" Naylor, of the punchline known as Second Vermont Republic, the Vermont seccessionist group that GMD brought to your attention two years ago of having lots of friends in the Neo-Confederate movement.
So, anyways, fact-checking (oh, who am I kidding, reality) has never been one of Beck's strong suits, so of course he has Naylor on his show for an interview. Given that Naylor's completely lost the support of the left in Vermont due to his love of the Stars n' Bars and all it stands for, he must figure, what the hell, why not shoot for the paranoid right? Beck heaps tons of praise on him, of course, and unquestionably accepts Naylor's ridiculous claim that a whopping 60,000 registered Vermont voters support secession (yet SVR, oddly enough, has about 1,000 supporters), and I've yet to meet anyone who takes Naylor seriously at this point. Well, I can think of one person... I'll get to him in a minute.
You can read the very cordial interview between Beck and Naylor here. Naylor starts off by thanking Beck for "stirring the pot" (would that be those rabidly succesful tea parties, perhaps?) , and then imparts such wisdom as:
The movement rolls on, in spite of the fact that Vermont is probably the most left-wing state in the country and voted very strongly for Barack Obama. This poses a challenge for us. But people are beginning to see that, really, there's not much difference between his policies and those of George W. Bush....People were more angry at George W. Bush, but now, under Obama with the economic meltdown, there's genuine fear.
Yes, Unreconstrcted Confederates such as Naylor have a lot to fear from Obama, at least in their warped world view. As for this "movement rolling on", well, Dr. Naylor, that train left the station two years ago.
Beck, like Naylor's organization, also has the attention of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the exemplary hate-watch group which released a report last year on SVR, with this beautiful quote from Naylor himself that really shows what the man is all about:
In the face of these criticisms, Naylor remains defiant. “I don’t give a shit what you write,” he told the Report. “If someone tells me that I shouldn’t associate with the League of the South, it guarantees that I will associate with the League of the South.”
Beck is on record as saying how the far-right, racist John Birchers are "starting to make more and more sense to him."
Tommy Reb doesn't have too many friends left in these parts, but he can always count on Rob "Is he a racist? I dont know. And frankly, it is none of my damn business, at a personal level," Williams of Vermont Commons, whose integrity lies flapping in the wind like a noose from a magnolia tree, posted in a blog post at that site that I'm not going to link to, the Beck video, with this brief commentary:
And Mr. Beck seems surprisingly lucid and thoughtful this evening.
Indeed. These people never seem to learn, PhD's notwithstanding.
It's BAAACK... Almost two years after the Vermont secession group Second Vermont Republic's cozy ties to racist neo-Confederate groups were publicized here, VT Secession, and Five Before Chaos, the premier organization for tracking hate groups, the Southern Poverty Law Center, has finally released its much-anticipated report about the group and its "sister organization," the Vermont Commons newspaper.
Now, those of you who have been reading GMD for a while don't need a rehash of this fiasco, in which it got to the point where SVR's crazy guru Thomas Naylor engaged in a smear campaign which almost cost GMD founder John Odum his job. For the initial post, go here. There's also a ton of info at VT Secession, the blog that broke the story. To make a long story short, they dug in their heels, people involved with a conscience were either dismissed or left (that would not include VT Commons' Rob Williams, who up until then seemed like a genuine progressive), and SVR's pretty much a one man show now, where when not talking to his Neo-Confederate buddies about the good 'ol days, Thomas Naylor probably wanders his hallways at night in his fuzzy slippers and bathrobe speaking to the ghost of Ethan Allen about the coming revolution. Right.
The SPLC report is quite well-documented, from the nefarious ties, the relationships and trust that were broken, and most importantly, Thomas Naylor's crazy-man, unrepentant demeanor. It's really amazing how a person who repeated ad nauseum how he has fought and opposed racism his whole life (which of course, does not preclude going on a white-supremacist radio show recently, where he was called "obviously a good Confederate") can compartmentalize his mind so masterfully:
"Naylor also is down on desegregation. In a 2007 essay, "Minority States NOT Minority Rights," Naylor criticizes segregation but also "forced racial integration," complaining that the federal government was in the 1950s and 1960s "ordering me to associate with minorities whether I like it or not." Overall, Naylor can't abide by the idea that since civil rights legislation was passed in the 1960s, "minority rights always trump states' rights." "
That's a pretty bold anti-segregationist statement, eh? And VT Commons (whose editor is Naylor's buddy Rob "I-don't know-if-they're-racist-and-frankly-don't-care'" Williams) as recently as Feb. 5th had this quote about freedom and unity from fringe-bat Carol Moore:
"Those “identity groups” of whatever identity who desire separation to preserve their culture or live out a vision or lifestyle should not have to waste time and resources in defending or fighting discrimination lawsuits and onerous zoning laws and can focus it on building community."
But Naylor, in all his zany glory, is a unreconstructed rebel to the end:
In the face of these criticisms, Naylor remains defiant. "I don't give a shit what you write," he told the Report. "If someone tells me that I shouldn't associate with the League of the South, it guarantees that I will associate with the League of the South."
That really says it all, doesn't it? A rebel to the bitter end in the truest sense. Heh.
UPDATE: VT Commons editor Rob Willams bobs and weaves around the issue in an interview with the SPLC here, including his "don't know, don't care" comment. Just to let me refresh your memory, here is the exact quote we allegedly took out of context:
“some of our secession scholars - Don Livingston, for example - happen to be southerners. Anyone who has met and talked with Don knows the man is thoughtful and well-studied. Is he a racist? I don’t know. And frankly, it is none of my damn business, at a personal level.”
We've talked about this a lot here, and to get a lot of the back story you can also hop over to Vermont Secession.
I didn't know this was happening, but apparently the neo-confederates and assorted shallow thinkers who've been dreaming about secession have been trying to get the idea on the ballot across the state for Town Meeting Day. You know, the organ of democracy, where the Bush/Cheney impeachment movement was advanced a couple of hears ago?
Yup, I didn't know about it and probably neither did you, even if, like me, you live in one of the sixteen towns they tried to get the issue on the ballot.
I guess this isn't surprising, since they could barely attract twenty people to their banquet last month.
If they do the right thing, and just fade away like any number of fringe movements, I can't say I'll miss them.
If you're tired of this, my apologies, but I know some of our readers are still following it, for it involves GMD. Cathy Resmer has a great article in the new Seven Days about the downfall of the Second Vermont Republic:
The mood was more somber last Sunday, when seven SVR supporters - including founder Thomas Naylor, his son, and Jim Hogue, dressed in period garb as Ethan Allen - huddled in the snow around Allen's gravesite in Burlington for a second mock funeral. Naylor opened the short ceremony by playing a recording of Chopin's death march.
Turns out the deceased may as well have been SVR itself. The drop in attendance and change in tone is the result of a recent controversy; as reported here last week, in early February, Vermont bloggers began questioning SVR's ties to white supremacist groups such as the League of the South. The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies LOS as a hate group.
R.I.P.
[UPDATE -- by Vermonter] And don't forget to attend this fun event at UVM tonight:
Wednesday, March 7, Campus Center Theatre, Billings, 7 p.m. - Vermont Humanities Council
Who: Frank Bryan, professor of political science, and Paul Gillies, former deputy secretary of state, moderated by Mark Johnson, WDEV radio host
The lecture: "The Great Debate: Is it Time for a Second Vermont Republic?"
I feel a need to weigh in on the issue of whether Naylor and others associated with the Second Vermont Republic movement are tied to racists, racist movements and racism in general.
In his book, The Vermont Manifesto, Naylor quotes one H. Newcomb Morse of Pepperdine Law School on why the confederate secession was legal. For those unfamiliar with Pepperdine, the school is fundamentalist and the Dean of the Law School is Kenneth Starr -- yes that Ken Starr.
"…Morse argues that the proper way for a state to leave the Union is through a state convention elected by the PEOPLE (emphasis ew) of the state to decide one and only one issue, namely the right of self-determination. According to…Morse every Confederate State properly used the convention process."
There it is folks - racism to the very core. The clear and simple meaning of the above is that blacks and women are not people. Only white men (and not all of them) could vote.
In Morse's list of reasons why secession was legal, he fails to mention the need to good faith negotiate assets and liabilities and also fails to provide for a period of time during which those who find themselves on the wrong side of the divide can change location. As well, he fails to discuss the issue of secession from the seceding entities.
There are separatist movement in many countries. I find it interesting that Naylor doesn't discuss the separatist movement in Quebec. Separatist movements are all over the political map. The only justification for separatism is that liberty and participation are not protected and respected in the current regime. The notion of separation to protect tyranny, slavery, and oppression should be anathema. And that's what the Confederate States of America were all about.
(In light of odum's departure, I found it important to front page this, if only to shed some light and let the folks at SVR know that this isn't going away. - promoted by JDRyan)
Note from JD - I put this on my blog, five before chaos last night, when it was first brought to my attention. Considering they've now put the letter in question on their website (with revisions), I feel it is important to have this post here. )
UPDATE: In an incredibly stupid move, SVR has posted their attack piece on John Odum on their website. Before reading my post here, go have a look, then come back here. And let me know if you don't agree if it sounds more like the insane rantings of a paranoid demagogue than a well-respected (until recently) academic.
You know, when observing how the Second Vermont Republic is dealing with this ever-increasing scrutiny over their ties to Neo-Confederate organizations, the best comparison I can possibly make is to the tactics of the Bush Administration (ironic, considering how much the SVR rallies against the Bush-led imperialism). Straw man arguments, attacking the messenger, disingenuous innuendo, and bald-faced lies. Did Karl Rove lend them his playbook?
The latest outrage is a letter sent out by Second Vermont Republic's guru/leader, Thomas Naylor, to its members, which is basically a hit piece on John Odum, the Green Mountain Daily blogger who first drew attention to the story broken on the Vermont Secession blog. For an organization that likes to continuously attribute the motivations of its critics as coming from 'fear of the success of SVR (while completely ignoring that to many, SVR is merely a novelty or punchline), they're sure acting like they're the ones with something to be afraid of.
I've promised myself I won't talk about the Second Vermont Republic issue anymore - I'm gonna leave that to Rowley and JD Ryan - but I want to restate something I did say to minimize collateral damage. I've been swapping email with an angry Jason Sorens of the Free State Project, and I'm afraid after the Guardian article, that people may be making incorrect inferrences from my brief reference to him/them. I have no factual correction to make, but given Sorens' understandable reaction I want to make sure I'm 100% clear, so I'm going to restate with a bit more force:
I've heard on more than one occassion, people suggest or charge that the Free Staters may be xenophobic or have racist undertones - in large part due to their involvement in an event last year that had originally been flagged by the Anti-Defamation League as such. But in my web surfing, it looked to me like these charges were unsupportable - even the ADL backed off from them to large extent. And you can bet that if I'd caught a whiff of racism or xenophobia, I'd have said so in that diary. I specifically didn't, and I sure wasn't inclined to hold back (for that matter, I had nothing on Bassani either - those specific charges have come from the Green Mountain Collective).
While I find Sorens' politics WAY off, he seems like a well-meaning sort. In fact, he went so far as to agree on the racism of the League of the South and scoffed at their hiding behind the banner of heritage.
As far as this stuff goes, I've even tried approaching the FSP online community a bit, to maybe a little avail (I owe them a link to a student group complaint that I had also, but of course, I cant find it now - I think it was mutterings in response to the same NH event anyway...). A lot of ranters and ravers over there sure, but also a lot of decent folks. It's a good site, believe it or not.
(As this issue is still getting more attention, please note that I re-promoted the original thread to near the top of the page. It appears right below this diary)
A lot has been "not happening" and a lot has been happening regarding the now publicized link between the Second Vermont Republic organization and radical anti-union white supremacists and "Christian" neo-fascists. The traditional media has been rumbling, but we;ve seen nothing yet. Yet that may change as, even though the initial story is waning, the bigger story - that is, the reaction to the news - is just beginning.
(Re-Bumped to the top, as the issue seems to be gaining steam again - promoted by odum)
A few weeks back, I received email from an anonymous blogger asking if I'd ever looked closely at Vermont's small but high profile secession movement, the Second Vermont Republic (and its companion publication, VT Commons). Despite the fact that many high-profile Vermont activists have associated themselves with the organization, I had dismissed them largely over sentiments I thought brushed into anti-immigrant territory. This particular blogger, however, had a deeper concern.
He (or she) had just heard SVR spokesperson Rob Williams on Switchboard passing on a revisionist historical portrait of Abraham Lincoln which the blogger (who follows hate groups) recognized as part and parcel of what the Southern Poverty Law Center (the premier anti-hate group advocacy and tracking organization in the country) refers to as the Neo-Confederate Movement. The blogger considered the possibility of a connection and looked into the SVR and VC websites.
What he found was shocking for two reasons; one, that there seem to be no degrees of seperation between SVR and leading neo-confederate thinkers and activists specifically discussed on the Southern Poverty Law Center website. These people are serving on SVR's advisory board.
And two; that there seems to be no effort to hide the fact, given that groups such as the flagship neo-confederate organization The League of the South are linked to prominently, and the work of LOS activists cited and praised repeatedly.
The anonymous blogger has posted the first of his findings at vermontsecession.blogspot.com, and the work he's done is prodigious. It is as well cited and linked as any research document, and as such virtually impossible to refute. From the anonymous blogger who is using the psuedonym Thomas Rowley after one of Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys:
As I've read and learned more about the group at Second Vermont Republic and its publication, Vermont Commons, I've become concerned about some of what they say and even more so about things that they aren't saying. My purpose in this blog won't be to gevaltize about the various people and their connections to organizations that promote ideas (or as they would have it, "Truths") that are inimical to generally accepted Vermont values of inclusion and respect for others. I'd simply like for my neighbors to have additional facts not being presented by those who are proposing secession.
I strongly suggest a visit to vermontsecession to review what is only the beginnings of his case (there is much more coming). In the meantime, I'll try to provide some highlights below the fold, including the results of some of my own digging.
250-1
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