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Missouri Scraps MIAC Report
By Chuck Baldwin

March 27, 2009

Well, there is still hope for liberty after all! After multiple thousands of
phone calls, emails, faxes, and other communications from outraged citizens,
the State of Missouri has rescinded its controversial "militia" report. This
proves the point I made in this column recently that the most effective way
to fight an ever-encroaching federal leviathan is to focus on our individual
states.

Let me review the events of the last few weeks so as to help readers
familiarize themselves with this historic--and I do mean historic--episode.

On February 20, 2009, the State of Missouri, via its Department of Public
Safety, issued what was called "MIAC Strategic Report: The Modern Militia
Movement." In this report, people who supported Presidential candidates Ron
Paul, Bob Barr, and yours truly were referenced as being connected to
potentially dangerous "militia members." But the inference did not stop
there. People of conservative ideology were also identified in the State
Police report as being potentially dangerous. People who held political
opinions opposing abortion, illegal immigration, the New World Order, the
North American Union, the Income Tax, the U.N., etc., were profiled in the
MIAC report.

Interestingly enough, no left-leaning political ideologies were identified.
No Islamic extremists. No environmental extremists. Only people holding
"conservative" or "right-wing" philosophies were identified in the MIAC
report.

The MIAC report was categorized as "Unclassified/Law Enforcement Sensitive,"
meaning the report was intended for law enforcement personnel only.
Fortunately, an unidentified (for obvious reasons) Missouri law enforcement
officer, who was extremely disturbed by this report, sent a copy to
nationally syndicated radio talk show host Alex Jones. Of course, Jones
immediately "blew the whistle" on the story. This was on March 11.

On March 14, the Columbia (Missouri) Daily Tribune ran a story on the
subject, and on March 17, I wrote my first column about it. From that point,
the story went viral.

Internet sites, radio talk show hosts, and bloggers all over America picked
up the story, and thousands of outraged citizens began bombarding the
appropriate officials in Missouri with protests. Even Fox News Channel talk
show host Glenn Beck ran a feature on the story on Friday, March 20, and
again on Monday, March 23. The Constitution Party issued a "Travel Advisory"
for the State of Missouri, warning tourists and residents about the
possibility of being profiled by State Police for such things as having
bumper stickers with political statements on their vehicles, etc. All of
this commotion was not lost on several Missouri State legislators and
executive officers, either.

Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder called on Governor Jay Nixon (who
had previously stood by and defended the MIAC report) to place Department of
Public Safety Director John Britt on administrative leave pending an
investigation into the report. In addition, several Missouri State
legislators said they would introduce an amendment to the Department of
Public Safety's budget barring the agency from using "state or federal funds
for political profiling."

On March 23, DPS Director John Britt sent an apology letter to Ron Paul, Bob
Barr, and me stating, "I have ordered that the offending report be edited so
as to excise all reference to Ron Paul, Bob Barr or Chuck Baldwin and to any
third-party political organizations."

While Ron, Bob, and I appreciated the apology and retraction from Mr. Britt,
the overriding offense of the report still lingered: namely, the report,
with a very broad brush, linked people holding conservative political
opinions to dangerous and violence-prone "militias," which Missouri law
enforcement personnel were instructed to be on guard against. Therefore,
public outcry against the MIAC report continued, Mr. Britt's apology
notwithstanding.

Then, on Wednesday, March 25, the head of the Missouri State Highway Patrol,
Col. James F. Keathley, ordered the Missouri Information Analysis Center
(MIAC) to "permanently cease distribution" of this abysmal report. Keathley
said that neither he nor Britt had read the report before it was
distributed.

Keathley also noted that the report was filled with numerous spelling and
grammatical errors and did not cite any sources for its broad statements
about "right-wing" militias. He further said that his department would now
review how the MIAC distributes intelligence reports to police officers. He
said the process "needs improvement."

Dear readers, please take a bow! Because of tens of thousands of patriotic,
freedom-loving Americans--including thousands of courageous Missourians--the
long arm of totalitarianism was shortened just a bit.

This sordid story is truly an embarrassment to the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) and the State of Missouri. Governor Nixon, especially, is
left with egg on his face for foolishly and stupidly standing behind the
report, when he had either never read it, or, if he had, was just as guilty
of political profiling as the ones who wrote the report.

Why DHS, you ask? Because the MIAC report is similar to several other
reports currently circulating around various State police agencies courtesy
of DHS-sponsored "Fusion Centers." There is another side of this story that
is even more sinister, however.

If we can continue to probe the details of the MIAC report, I am absolutely
convinced we will find that this report actually originates with Morris Dees
and his ultra-liberal Southern Poverty Law Center. And if my hunch (a very
educated hunch, I might add) is correct, it means that the DHS and various
State police agencies around the country are allowing a left-wing special
interest group to use them to harass, intimidate, and profile people with
conservative political opinions.

I would further proffer that those of us who are outraged by this event
should not stop with the MIAC report being removed. While this is very good
news, the fear and intimidation associated with those referenced in this
report has already taken place. Are people opposed to abortion, illegal
immigration, the Income Tax, the U.N., etc., now afraid to express their
opinions publicly (especially in Missouri)? If so, this seems to me to be
the basis for legal action, based on the abridgment of the First Amendment
freedom of speech by a State (and perhaps federal) law enforcement agency.

There is yet another chilling question that must be answered: by saying
Missouri State Police will "review" how MIAC distributes intelligence
reports to police officers, does Col. Keathley mean that the State of
Missouri's law enforcement agencies will continue to promote similar
reports, but simply make them "Classified"? In other words, will they (and
other State police agencies around the country) simply employ greater
secrecy when issuing such reports, but do nothing to change the content of
future reports? Hopefully not, but we shall see.

With that said, here are the lessons all of us need to take to heart:

*Every police officer, deputy sheriff, and law enforcement officer in
America who believes in constitutional government, individual liberty, and
the Bill of Rights needs to be alert for any report that smacks of the MIAC
report, and be willing to quickly "blow the whistle" on any such report they
see.

*Lovers of freedom should be much encouraged to see what can happen when
they are willing to stand up to their State governing officials as they see
abridgements to their liberties taking place. I say again, the best way to
fight these mushrooming despotic tendencies of government we seem to see
everywhere is to focus on our State governments. Do you now see why I say
that? Even if DHS was behind the MIAC report, it was the State of Missouri
that had to implement it; and it was the State of Missouri that (under
pressure) killed it.

See my column on this important subject at

http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/c2009/cbarchive_20090320.html

*Notice, too, that we did not need the major media to achieve this victory.
We cut off this one branch of the tyranny tree without the help of ABC, CBS,
NBC, CNN, FOX NEWS (with the exception of Glenn Beck), or even the Drudge
Report. Victory was achieved with the weapons of talk radio, syndicated
Internet columns, Internet blogging, local news media, and word of mouth.

You see, folks, we can achieve victory without the major media. But we must
stay focused and actively involved in our respective State governments. "We
the people" are still the power of this country. And don't let anyone
deceive you into believing anything else. Therefore, take heart in knowing
that your diligence convinced the State of Missouri to rescind its atrocious
MIAC report. Now, don't let it stop there. Let's faithfully cut off the
tentacles of tyranny wherever we find them. Amen?

P.S. To see a handy web page with much material relevant to the MIAC fiasco,
go here:

http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/MIACreport.html

P.P.S. Remember, we will be live-streaming my Sunday morning message again
this Sunday, March 29, at approximately 10:30 am (Central Daylight Time).
Use this url:

http://crossroadbaptist.net/live.html

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(c) Chuck Baldwin

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