Suckers for Cox

photo by D Petri from the PC

It was just two years ago when Schaeffer Cox (the dapper gent in the hat pictured between Bob Bird and Tom Wagoner) came to the Kenai to promote his philosophies of unrestricted gun-ownership and sovereign citizen political action.  He was welcomed with open arms by Bob and Tom and given an email endorsement by Dave Carey.  Since then, Cox has been arrested a few times.  Once for beating his wife and then once for not informing a cop that he was packing heat as Cox responded to a Liberty Bell (the Sovereign Citizen phone tree) call when a fellow member was arrested.  Then yesterday, Cox was one of five arrested for plotting to kill five AK state troopers and a judge.  You can read about that incident here.

Those in the Sovereign Citizen movement claim that they are above the law and don't need to follow any rules.  There's been an uptick of SC related incidents since Obama became president including the shooting deaths of two policemen in Arkansas and the shooting of Gabby Giffords and others in Arizona a couple of months ago.

But this blog post isn't about Cox, it's about peninsula politicians.  Obviously, Wagoner and Bird are suckers for Cox's, um,  ideas, but so is Mayor Dave Carey.  Norm Olson and Mike McBride of ACT were among Cox's handlers and Gary Superman was recognized.

While Congressman Don Young isn't from the Kenai, he does represent us down in DC and Don has been a big supporter of the 2nd Amendment Task Force, of which Cox is the president of the Alaska chapter.

And why all of the political support?  Do they all really believe that we all need to be locked and loaded at all times?  Do they really believe that we should disobey the law?  Do they think that we should kill the representatives of the law?

Maybe they were just pandering for votes among from the right wing-nuts here on the peninsula.  Remember, we voted overwhelmingly for Joe Miller this last election.

If peninsula politicians don't really buy that gov't conspiracy black-helicopter stuff,  maybe they shouldn't pal around with those who do.

Praise the Lord, Pass the Ammo...and the Haldol

Here I am thinking I'm SOL in SOLdotna because of the suburban sprawl, strip malls, and the over-crowded chaos on the Kenai River.

But every time I pick up the PC, Norm Olson and Ray Southwell are putting on their Paul Revere tri-corners and spreading warnings about black helicopters, the feds, space aliens and the coming Armageddon. Along with Bob Bird, Schaeffer Cox and the 2nd Amendment Task Force, these two have been promoting the Alaska Citizens' Militia, their club of angry, gun-toting, mostly fat old white guys who don't want to pay taxes, but want their roads plowed.

Well, Bob is not fat and Schaeffer isn't old or fat, but angry he is. He was arrested last week for domestic violence. With their kid in the back seat of his rig, Mr. Cox tried to strangle his wife as they were driving to a show.

At least he wasn't texting.

Where did the militia last meet? In the taxpayer-funded auditorium at KCHS. I wonder why they don't support a capitalist local business? Well, I don't know of too many businesses who would want a crew of over-aged, locked-and-loaded paranoids hanging out on the premises. And besides, that crowd doesn't like to tip. Or pay for anything besides the latest armor-piercing ordinance.

But maybe these guys are on to something. Maybe we should be very afraid. And maybe these are the guys who will save us from the conspiracies that lurk behind every delusional thought they have.

So I did a quick search. The first click brought me to the New World Order's official web site. Yep, they recognize that Norm is their nemesis and Olson has repeatedly thwarted their plans for taking over the planet.

I'd like to direct Olson and Southwell to three more very imminent threats to Alaska and freedom: Canadian World Domination, The Evil League of Evil, and Terrorist Squirrels!

I know I'll feel a lot better knowing that the militia might focus on threats just as whacked as they are.

One reason the Kenai attracts the angry old white guys with guns who don't want to pay taxes is that we encourage them to move here. Yep, once you are 65, you get a $300,000 property tax exemption. Norm has 2 years to go before he gets to really whine about the taxes he is (not) paying, although he currently qualifies for a Nikiski senior tax break. I'm all for cutting slack to seniors who are in need - especially those who put their time in locally to build this community, but the break goes to anyone that qualifies for the PFD and it doesn't matter if one's annual income is $0 or a million bucks. So Norm, Ray and their ilk move up here and we all will subsidize their craziness.

In related breaking news, bigots from around the US are worried that the development of new racial slurs aren't keeping pace with the rise in mixed-race births. Read about it here.

(Numb)Nutz for Guns

The Second Amendment Task Force (T2ATF), a group determined to fight any laws that they perceive would violate the second amendment, met at the SOLdotna Sports Center this past Tuesday (see the PC story). Bob Bird, one of the local organizers, stated, "This is not the National Rifle Association..."

OK, let's stop right there. It IS the NRA - here's the link to the NRA website that promotes T2ATF.

Bob, if you can't be honest, everything you have to say is immediately suspect. But we already knew that about you.

Anyway, they met and in attendance was a who's who of losers and incompetents: Bob B, who was resoundingly defeated twice for US Senate; Wayne A Ross, S. Palin's Attorney General selection who was overwhelming rejected for the job by a bipartisan vote; Schaeffer Cox, the 25 year-old who lost a bid to represent Fairbanks in the state house; Tom Wagoner, the current state senator for the central peninsula who for the 3rd session in a row, sat on the sidelines and did nothing but complain (see the posting on him below); and Davey Carey, the current KPBSD mayor, who is determined to pander to every winger group on the peninsula.

Cox, the main organizer, is worried about all the gun control laws and restrictions that are coming our way. Which ones? Who knows, but the government, especially the Obama administration, is out to get our guns.

While there is a grass-roots feel to the Alaskan group, the T2ATF was founded by U.S. Congressman Dan Boren, (D-OK) and U.S. Congressman Paul Broun, (R-GA), both recipients of considerable NRA funding.

T2ATF seems to gathering strength as a push back to the resounding election of President Obama. They are convinced that the president is out to get their guns. (read KSRM's view).

The Obama administration is proposing re-instating the ban on assault weapons. Um, that's about it.

There is more to the Alaskan T2ATF. Check out their agenda. Here are some of their tenets:

1) If any new gun laws are enacted, they will "alter or abolish them and institute new government."
2) That self defense is a God-given right. (Hmm, what about turn the other cheek, blessed are the peacemakers [not a nod to S. Colt's famous .45 revolver], and thou shalt not kill?)
3)Abolish the Federal Reserve because they print money.
4)To use force against the government if they don't get their way.
5)If selected to be on a jury, not to convict someone on a firearms offense. (I guess they would have freed Harold Pence of Kasilof who was just convicted for assaulting his wife and others during a drunken escapade involving rifle fire last summer)

Does this group bring Timothy McVie to mind?

Of course we Alaskans own guns and hunt and target shoot and no one has ever has proposed restricting that sort of ownership. But what is unreasonable about banning assault weapons? And if we don't draw the line with assault weapons, should we be allowed to own RPGs? Heat seeking missiles? Dirty bombs? IEDs?

I'm concerned that groups like this are all paranoid about the Obama administration, but had nothing to say about Bush and his cronies and their policies of torture, stripping our civil liberties, conducting an illegal war...Oh, that list goes on and on.

It seems it's all good to groups like T2ATF until there is a perception that their weapons of mass destruction might be taken away.