Yes, by all means, publish it wherever it will do the most good.

Thanks for the compliment. The digital thing is good, but a hard copy letter carries a lot of weight, so I highly recommend doing both.

I took the liberty of drafting the letter below regarding the disturbing DHS report on "right-wing extremism." Some of the ideas came from a similar letter posted at grassfire.org, but I did a major re-write.

I encourage EVERYONE to send a hard copy of a letter like this via U.S. mail to your elected officials, including the president. I re-read the DHS report today and am more troubled than ever about its content and tone.

Links for contacting various elected officials are provided here: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

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[Recipent Title/Name]
[Address]

Dear ______________,

As a tax-paying American citizen, I am deeply troubled by DHS assessment report number IA-0257-9, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment the Department of Homeland Security,” issued on April 7, 2009 by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Intelligence and Analysis. Without providing facts, statistics, or evidence pointing to any violence or threat thereof, this report uses broad conjecture, false assumptions, and highly subjective claims to unfairly characterize law-abiding, patriotic, tax-paying citizens as “right-wing extremists.”

The Constitution of the United States guarantees freedom of speech and assembly to its citizens. We have a clear right to voice our disagreement with the policies of a presidential administration or Congress (as well as our local bodies of government), and this country has a venerated history of allowing such dissent as long as it remains peaceful. However, with this report, DHS has stepped over the line into the dangerous realm of “thought crime.” In casting as a threat those who disagree with current policy regarding such serious issues as abortion, illegal immigration, same-sex marriage, or profligate fiscal decisions, DHS has infringed on the rights of U.S. citizens to have opinions that differ from their leaders. In fact, according to this report, DHS would have considered the founders of this country and framers of the Constitution “extremist” and “radical.”

Targeting private citizens for their personal beliefs regarding abortion, religion, politics, and many other topics is a violation of the civil rights guaranteed to all U.S. citizens by the Constitution. Have we drifted so far from the principles of freedom and free expression that enabled this country to form and prosper? It would seem so, for, as it stands, this DHS report is little more than an attempt to silence opposition and wrongly stereotype half the population of this country as dangerous fanatics with a destructive agenda.

The DHS report is especially insulting to the brave men and women of the U.S. military returning as veterans from tours of duty in such places as Iraq and Afghanistan. These are courageous people who put their lives on the line to not only defend the Constitution of this country and the freedoms it imparts, but also to help make it possible for other countries that have suffered under repressive regimes of terror and tyranny to explore the possibilities of a democratic form of government. To cast our veterans as a potential terrorist threat to this country is utterly reprehensible.

On April 15, 2009, thousands of people who hold many of the beliefs described in the report as “extreme” gathered peacefully in hundreds of locations across this country to voice their dismay and disagreement with rapidly accelerated federal spending and the massive debt that will result. These peaceful demonstrators very visibly exercised one of the most sacred rights guaranteed by our Constitution – our First Amendment right to freedom of speech and assembly. The fact that virtually no violence, no injuries, and no property damage occurred – there weren’t even any appreciable trash problems – attests to the fundamental fallacy of the DHS report. The fact that someone holds beliefs on the “right” end of the political spectrum does not make him or her a domestic terrorist threat. It makes him or her merely someone with a different point of view.

It is quite disturbing that the White House has remained largely silent on this inflammatory report. President Obama’s virtual silence on this issue can be construed as nothing other than complete affirmation and agreement with the DHS report. If the president allows this type of attack on any Americans, then all of us are at risk of losing the rights and freedoms purchased with the blood of our forebears and our contemporaries in U.S. military service.

I demand that this DHS report be retracted, that an apology be issued to the American people, and that DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano step down or be removed from office. To condone and even defend this report as Secretary Napolitano has done shows a serious lack of responsibility, objectivity, and leadership, making her unfit to lead a Department that was created to protect the American people.

Sincerely,

[Sender name]

I love the 912 Project idea, but this is one of the most difficult-to-navigate Web sites I have ever encountered.