I recently got a couple of Fund Raising emails from http://www.kentuckyvotes.com/. The emails came from Kelly L. Smith [postmaster@bipps.org]. Now I subscribe to this site, along with a number of other sites and I know its run by the same folks that run the Bluegrass Institute. Kentucky Votes is a pretty good service if you ignore most of the comments on the site.
The subject of the email was KentuckyVotes.org_A Testimonial from Norman Davis and contained this line.
Our friend and colleague, Norman Davis of Clarkson, Kentucky, is a regular user of Kentucky Votes. No big deal, I’m a regular user of Kentucky Votes. But to think that Norman Davis endorsing something will get me to pony up some bucks, well that’s not going to happen.
For those of you who don’t know who Norman Davis is let me introduce you. Davis is the leader of a coalition of groups called Take Back Kentucky.
A 2004 Kentucky Department of Justice Report - Hate Crime and Hate Incidents in the Commonwealth of Kentucky lists Take Back Kentucky as a Patriot Group.
Patriot groups define themselves as opposed to the “New World Order” or advocate or adhere to extreme anti-government or conspiratorial doctrines.
Now Take Back Kentucky has its’ supporters in the Legislature like Perry Clark.
“You are important; you have valid concerns; you make a difference,” Mr. Clark said inside a large tent with a Confederate flag next to it. “You'll disagree (with legislators) on some things, but they need to know your opinion.”
I was always told that you are known by who your friends are so I don’t think I’ll be giving any money to Kentucky Votes or the Bluegrass Institute. Maybe Perry Clark will empty his pockets.
If they go out of business it just means I do my research without their input, not that great a loss.
1 comment:
Mr. Long, why are you not opposed to what is collectively called the "New World Order?" If you were, then you too would be semi-allied with the beliefs of the so-called "patriot-movement".
As for the Commonwealth's report, a good portion of it is just copycat information from the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. Both of these organizations have long histories of extreme bias and anti-objectiveness. I do not condone racists, but the SPLC and ADL blur the distinction between racist and those with extreme political views. Actually, today's so-called extremists are really the country's founding mainstream. They didn't move to the polar extremes in belief, it was the masses who were tricked into moving to the edges of sanity.
It is obvious to me that some of the information is indeed hate-motivated, such as the actions of the KKK. However, I think a lot of what most would consider "extremist-minded" activity is purposely included with hate crimes to cast a bias towards groups we all may not totally agree with. This in turn draws those bad apples to clog the machinery of useful organizations, which I belief is mostly intentional.
For instance, the report lists a meeting of Baptist churches in Paducah, whose beliefs were that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or the free exercise thereof" and thus they believed in being unincorporated and untaxed by the Internal Revenue Service. Maybe to some that is an extreme view, but hardly a hate motivated action.
-a Cadiz lurker.
Post a Comment