by proldic » Tue Aug 16, 2005 11:21 am 
			
			Nothing's going to change, of course, until we're willing to get into the scrum and sift through the muck.<br><br>Until then it looks to many folks that it's pretty much just the racists calling him out, and look what that does to the cause of truth.<br><br>There is a desperate need for some well-written  analysis dissecting and challenging these sticky issues. One thing that comes right to mind is a rebuttal to the Wayne Madsen "Art School Spy Ring " article, or maybe an essay that helps to, as Ruppert says, draw "a better map", a map that maybe processes the role of groups like the ADL and SPLC in context w/ what we know on a macro-view.<br><br>Ironically, just days ago, a public school teacher friend of mine related to me how he had been at a seminar in NYC, and ended up in a conversation with a lobbyist from People for the American Way (liberal think-tank and activist org) who specialized in educational issues, specifically fighting religious charter schools. This lobbyist's sole focus was on the right-wing push to destroy the concept of a public school system, through Christian fundamentalist schools, funding for religious academies, etc.. Apparently, until the conversation, she'd barely considered the significant support that liberal and alternative-thinking type folks had given to that push. And it turns out she'd been "working with Chip for years", and he was one of her bigger sources of info. Said she'd never heard of his long-standing reputation as a government informant. My friend believed her to be telling the truth, and ended up spending some time with her describing the debate about Chip. He seemed to think it had an impact on her. What impact I don't know.   <br><br>Personally, I know alot more about this issue than I've posted, so if any good writers with free time wanted to take on that role, I could help a bit.<br><br>For what it's worth, I personally saw it happen first-hand how he almost single-handedly was responsible for destroying a very hope-inspiring and economically pragmatic populist alliance between "red staters" and the grass-roots urban left during Volker's "belt tightening" of the wheat and rust belts during Bush/Reagan era, with smears and dirty tricks. I could break down a whole time line about that.<br><br>When I saw it happen I just couldn't believe that anybody who claimed to be progressive would do anything like that. It just seemed so wrong. And that's when I began to pick up bits and pieces about him. <br><br>Since then, I have experienced LITERALLY a dozen first-hand accounts from honest and credible people of this guy's Berlet's exploits. Listen, I'm not bullshitting and I'm no fucking agent -- trust me on this one -- to talk like he has ANY credibility whatsoever flys in the face of the reality I know "on the ground". This guy can't even show his face at rallys or public conferences anymore because he's gone and been so ham-fisted (the Sean McBride scam x 10) about what he does through the years, and exposed himself so many times, pissed so many good people off. Right now he's just counting on the general ignorance that people have about this debate, and anti-conspiracy denial to cover his ass. Hiding in plain sight, you might say. But John Foster "Chip" Berlet's cover is being blown as we speak. <br><br>Doesn't mean there isn't a discussion to be had about the role of a "Chip" AFTER we all come to recognize who he really is. Some people think it's necessary to have a "left-wing" gatekeeper-spook that prevents the left from making alliances with "the patriot movement", "right-wing", "libertarians", etc. From what I've heard, he actually has pretty deep rationalization for the more undercover stuff that he does. Read that interview w/ the computer magazine I posted, to get a feel for it.      <p></p><i></i>