from the excerpts I’ve read, it appears to be focusing on actual radicals

What dictionary are you using? This report clearly says that rightwing extremism includes adherents that are mainly antigovernment, which it defines as “rejecting federal authority in favor of state and local authority”. It also says it may include “individuals dedicated to a single issue such as opposition to abortion or immigration.”

By that measure, your leftists friends are free to claim anyone who objects to an overreaching central government as an extremist, at a time and place of their choosing. It is nothing less than an open threat of government persecution. But of course, you say it can’t happen. It’s not like the left ever makes ridiculous claims that conservatives are racists, or want to poison the air and water, or want to make grandma eat dog food…oh wait…that does happen, doesn’t it?

And ST, or the Pope, or a little old lady who has a moral revulsion to abortion? Extremists!!

This report has – what’s the term you used to use whenever the Bush administration tossed a captured terrorist into Gitmo – a “chilling effect” on open dissent. The difference is that this time the left is all for it. Clamping down on islamofascist bombers is bad, but watch out for those returning veterans, they’re scary. Got it.

By the way, did everyone notice that this report twists opposition to illegal immigration into opposition to all immigration?

Rumor is that there is a January report sighting increases in Left-wing terrorism… also still looking.

That report is here. And it’s soaked in the same kind of left-wing bias as the other report. For example, while law enforcement is supposed to be on the alert for “domestic rightwing terrorists” who may carry out “violent attacks” (especially those returning military veterans), the leftwing extremists are said to be planning “cyber attacks” that are in line with their “no-harm” philosophy of ensuring “the safety of humans, animals, and the environment even as they attack”.

So according to the DHS:

Rightwing extremists: violent, hateful, paranoid, and a clear danger to life and limb. SCARY!!!

Leftwing extremists: non-threating pranksters who wouldn’t hurt a fly.

So I guess Bill Ayers and his ilk, and the anarchists who riot at every economic conference, are now officially no longer “extremists”.

Which bring me to more evidence of the political bias in the reports. Search for “terrorist” or “terrorism” in the report on the rightwing extremists. You find fourteen references. Do the same search on the leftwing report and you find two. And those are both in the common boilerplate section outlining the agency’s mission. While the reports toss around the terrorist label freely about the right, there is not a single reference to any left-wingers as terrorists. NOT ONE.

if the federal government starts to bug/legally harrass legitimate (ie nonviolent) political opponents…I will protest that

Pardon my skepticism, but based on your unblemished record here of rationalizing everything done, said, or thought by anyone on the left or connected with this administration, I find that statement completely unconvincing.

And if the report did mean people like Edward and Elaine Brown, why didn’t it say so? Instead, it makes a bunch of vague allegations. If you mirror image it and substitute “Muslim” or “left-wing radical,” your side would be going nuts too.

Overthrow the guvmint? Only under the conditions set forth in the Declaration of Independence. If DHS is concerned about me for that, I, you and every other citizen of this land has bigger problems than we realize.

By “state rights” people, I’m sure it means people like this, who believed the federal government had no right to take taxes, and had an armed standoff to prevent this. (I could see this escalating as budgets tighten)

I don’t think they’re going to take away your website (or that they would be successful trying)

2) I hear that the report was being prepared before the election… can’t source that yet though. Rumor is that there is a January report sighting increases in Left-wing terrorism… also still looking.

3) If you can find evidence that the Federal government is specifically using federal powers (like the Patriot act) to illegally spy on non-lethal political groups (say NRA, Rush Limbaugh, Minute Men etc), I will protest this. I don’t take any delight in federal abuse (if it is occurring).

And Actually, so will the ACLU. (although I’d talk to them first… they have much better lawyers than I do).

She wasn’t always that way. Remember the “vast right-wing conspiracy” speech?

No, leftards are only concerned about patriotic dissent when there is a Republican/conservative to complain about. Any dissent now is racist and, obviously (according to DHS) from violence-prone, radical extremists who must be stopped at any cost, even at the cost of shredding the Constitution.

They really do seem to love vague. When has Obama ever said anything specific?