Glenn Beck - The Overton Window

35,000 registered lobbyists: Jerry Kammer, “A Steady Flow of Financial Influence,” Copley News Service, August 25, 2006, http:// www.pbs.org/now/shows/234/money-politics.html

Spent almost $3.5 billion last year: Oxford Analytica, “Lobbyists’ Sway in Washington,” April 13, 2010, http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/12/lobby-politics-elections-washington-business -oxford.html

The incredible 67,000 page tax code: “67,204-Page Code Confounds Taxpayers, yet Congress Sits By,” USAToday.com, April 4, 2007, http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/04/post_7.html

IRS involved in the health care legislation: Kim Dixon, “U.S. budget office: 4 million likely to pay health fine,” Washington Post, April 22, 2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/22/AR2010042204286.html

Treasury enforced Prohibition laws: “Narcotic Bill Now Law: Hoover Signs Measure Creating a Bureau in the Treasury,” The New York Times, June 15, 1930, http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30910F73D5C14738DDDAC0994DE405B80 8FF1D3

“The power to tax involves the power to destroy”: “The Supreme Court: The Power to Tax,” Time, March 17, 1958, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,863135,00.html

100,000 federal employees owe back taxes: Devin Dwyer, “Tax Scam Uncle Sam? You Oughta Be Fired! Says Utah Rep. Chaffetz,” ABC News, March 18, 2010, http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Tax/100000-federal-employees-owe-irs-back-taxes/story?id=10125860

Treasury Secretary owes back taxes: Jonathan Weisman, “Geithner’s Tax History Muddles Confirmation,” The Wall Street Journal, January 14, 2009, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123187503629378119.html

John Adams: “A government of laws…”: David McCullough, John Adams (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2001): 378, http://books.google.com/books?id=GHMnz8G0GTcC

“No lie can live forever”: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., edited by James Washington, A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., (New York, NY: Harper-Collins, 1986): 230, http://books.google.com/books?id=k8uPHtrU8BsC

In Chapter 11 we hear from spirited conspiracy theorist Danny Bailey for the first time. Danny is the kind of guy who likes to string together a variety of facts in an attempt to make something crazy sound plausible. His speech is important because it shows how selected facts and truths can be used as the foundation for an overall thesis that is entirely fictional.

Bailey starts by citing some unemployment data that differs significantly from the official government estimates. Those statistics, and a lot more, can be found at a website called Shadow Statistics that is run by economist John Williams.

Real unemployment past 20%: John Williams’ Shadow Government Statistics, Shadowstats.com, http://www.shadowstats.com/ alternate_data/unemployment-charts

The job ad that Danny cites is a great example of how fact can fuel conspiracy thinking. Is there really a job ad posting for an “Internment and Resettlement Specialist”? Yes-and it’s right there on the public goarmy.com website. Why would they list such an incriminating job publicly? Simple… because it’s not incriminating at all. The Army has detention facilities all over the world that need to be staffed. If they posted a job opening for an “Experienced Sniper” would people jump to the conclusion that they want to assassinate Americans on U.S. soil? Of course not, yet that’s what some people immediately think when they read “Internment Specialist.”

Internment and Resettlement Specialist: Job listing posted at goarmy.com, http://www.goarmy.com/JobDetail.do?id=292

25% of world’s prisoners in U.S.: Jim Webb, “Why We Must Fix Our Prisons,” Parade, March 29, 2009, http://www.parade.com/news/2009/03/why-we-must-fix-our-prisons.html

Army Regulation 210-35: Civilian Inmate Labor Program, http:// www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/r210_35.pdf

In 1987, as Oliver North was testifying before a Congressional Committee on the Iran-Contra affair, the Miami Herald ran a series of articles detailing North’s participation in emergency-response contingency planning. In a piece published July 5, 1987, the Herald wrote about a memo outlining emergency plans that apparently bore a resemblance to a college paper written by the then-FEMA director:

“The scenario outlined in the Brinkerhoff memo resembled somewhat a paper Guiffrida had written in 1970 at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., in which he advocated martial law in case of a national uprising by black militants. The paper also advocated the roundup and transfer to ‘assembly centers or relocation camps’ of at least 21 million ‘American Negroes.’”

“A memo from 1970…”: Alfonso Chardy, “Reagan Advisers Ran Secret Government,” Miami Herald, July 5, 1987.

Agitator Index (ADEX): Earl Ofari Hutchinson, “The Dangerous New FBI,” June 4, 2002, http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/06/04/cointelpro/print.html

You may be a terrorist: “Missouri Report on Militias Draws Fire,” The Associated Press, March 14, 2009, http://www.fox4kc.com/wdaf-story-militia-report-031409,0,5591136.story

Last declared war in 1945: “The Declaration of War: One for the History Books?” National War College, 1998, http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA441475 &Location=U2 &doc= GetTRDoc.pdf

The same Miami Herald article that uncovered the FEMA director’s college paper also detailed the drastic continuity-of-government proposals that FEMA was formulating:

“FEMA’s clash with (Attorney General) Smith occurred over a secret contingency plan that called for suspension of the Constitution, turning control of the United States over to FEMA, appointment of military commanders to run state and local governments and declaration of martial law during a national crisis.

“The plan did not define national crisis, but it was understood to be nuclear war, violent and widespread internal dissent or national opposition against a military invasion abroad.”

Orwellian continuity-of-government provisions put in place: Alfonso Chardy, “Reagan Advisers Ran Secret Government,” Miami Herald, July 5, 1987.

Presidential Decision Directive 51: National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, whitehouse.gov, http:// georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/ 05/20070509-12.html

See also: Charlie Savage, “White House Revises Post-Disaster Protocol,” Boston Globe, June 2, 2007, http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/06/02/white_house_revises_post_ disaster_protocol/

Presidential Decision Directive 67: Enduring Constitutional Government and Continuity of Government Operation, October 21, 1998, http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/pdd/pdd-67.htm

See also: Francie Grace, “’Shadow Government’ News to Congress,” CBSNews.com, March 2, 2002, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/03/01/attack/main502530.shtml

Constitution Free Zone: Ellen Nakashima, “Citizens’ U.S. Border Crossings Tracked: Data from Checkpoints to Be Kept for 15 Years,” Washington Post, August 20, 2008, http://www.washington post.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/19/AR2008081902811.html

See also: Ellen Nakashima, “Expanded Powers to Search Travelers at Border Detailed,” Washington Post, September 23, 2008, http:// www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/22/AR2008092202843.html

See also: Fact Sheet on U.S. “Constitution Free Zone,” The American Civil Liberties Union, http://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/fact-sheet-us-constitution-free-zone

Free Speech Zone: Marcella Bombardier, “Boycott Is Planned in Free-Speech Zone,” Boston Globe, July 25, 2004, http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/07/25/ boycott_is_planned_in_free_speech_zone/