Feds disrupt skinhead plot to kill Obama October 27, 2008 at 4:28 PM | Comments (7)
Federal agents have broken up a plot by two neo-Nazi skinheads to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate 102 black people, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives said today.
In court records unsealed today in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Tenn., federal agents said they disrupted plans to rob a gun store and target a predominantly African-American high school in a murder spree that was to begin in Tennessee.
Agents said the skinheads did not identify the school by name.
Jim Cavanaugh, special agent in charge of ATF's Nashville field office, said the two men planned to shoot 88 black people and decapitate another 14. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community.
The men also sought to go on a national killing spree after the Tennessee murders, with Obama as its final target, Cavanaugh told The Associated Press.
"They said that would be their last, final act -- that they would attempt to kill Sen. Obama," Cavanaugh said. "They didn't believe they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying."
An Obama spokeswoman traveling with the senator in Pennsylvania had no immediate comment.
The men, Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tenn., and Paul Schlesselman 18, of West Helena, Ark., are being held without bond. Agents seized a rifle, a sawed-off shotgun and three pistols from the men when they were arrested. Authorities alleged the two men were preparing to break into a gun shop to steal more.
Attorney Joe Byrd, who has been hired to represent Cowart, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday.
Cowart and Schlesselman are charged with possessing an unregistered firearm, conspiring to steal firearms from a federally licensed gun dealer, and threatening a candidate for president.
The investigation is continuing, and more charges are possible, Cavanaugh said. The court records say Cowart and Schlesselman also bought nylon rope and ski masks to use in a robbery or home invasion to fund their spree, during which they allegedly planned to go from state to state and kill people.
For the Obama plot, the legal documents show, Cowart and Schlesselman "planned to drive their vehicle as fast as they could toward Obama shooting at him from the windows."
"Both individuals stated they would dress in all white tuxedos and wear top hats during the assassination attempt," the court complaint states. "Both individuals further stated they knew they would and were willing to die during this attempt." Cavanaugh said there's no evidence -- so far -- that others were willing to assist Cowart and Schlesselman with the plot.
He said authorities took the threats very seriously.
"They seemed determined to do it," Cavanaugh said. "Even if they were just to try it, it would be a trail of tears around the South."
Associated Press
Tags:obama More Breaking News: Alaska Sen. Stevens found guilty in corruption case Obama rally details still to be sorted out 7
Posts: 5454 | From: Holland | Registered: Aug 2008
| IP: Logged |
ejhickey on October 27, 2008 5:11 PM This is what happens when the circus shuts down for the season and the clowns are unemployed.
Larry on October 27, 2008 5:14 PM It all seemed well put together and planned, according to the story, and then you get to the white tuxedo, hat and shooting out the window part, and it's easy to realize these guys are just lunatics. Well, they're skinheads, so I guess lunatic should be a given.
Ann on October 27, 2008 8:03 PM They probably don't even know how to count to 14 let alone 88. And frankly, I don't think any of their plan sounded organized at all but the white tuxes and top hats just goes to show you what idiots they really are.
tiffany on October 27, 2008 8:25 PM WELL I THINK THAT THEY DESERVE WHATEVER THEY GET I MEAN SOME PEOPLE CAN BE SO STUPID TO ACTUALLY THINK THAT THEY WOULD GET AWAY WITH SOMETHING LIKE THAT WHAT GOD HAS FOR US NO MAN CAN TEAR APART SO SKINHEADS DEAL WITH IT LIKE MARTIN LUTHER KING SAID HE SAID HE HAD A DREAM AND THIS IS IT!!!
T-Tom on October 27, 2008 10:49 PM Who is accusing them thin-heads of knowing how to count?
Anonymous on October 27, 2008 11:04 PM These aren't skinheads - these are boneheads. Granted, we have to take threats seriously, but let's be very concerned about real threats.
Tall Tail on October 28, 2008 1:06 AM Why does this plan sound silly and completely fabricated?
Posts: 5454 | From: Holland | Registered: Aug 2008
| IP: Logged |
John McCain ‘has 6pc risk’ of dying from skin cancer (Carlos Barria/Reuters)
The 72-year-old Senator has a history of melanoma Mark Henderson, Science Editor John McCain has a 6 per cent chance of dying of skin cancer every year, according to a medical report that will intensify scrutiny of the Republican presidential nominee’s health.
The 72-year-old Arizona Senator has a history of melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, and a new analysis of his health records has concluded that there is an appreciable chance of a fatal tumour returning.
John Alam, a cancer specialist based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has used details of Senator McCain’s last brush with cancer in 2000 to calculate his prognosis.
Using the Schuchter model, the standard tool for predicting long-term mortality after skin cancer, Dr Alam found that Senator McCain’s annual risk of death would be 12 per cent for each of the next two years, and would remain similar for several years ahead.
The 10 worst presidents to have held office - The Times US presidential rankings 42-33: a panel of experts from The Times has ranked every one of the Commanders-in-Chief - and here are the very worst
Related Links Stricken Wall St stumps up for $5.3bn campaign Hostile media focus on ‘lonely’ Cindy and cancer Experts say McCain has 13.1 years to live The Schuchter model, however, is based on patient data collected before the development of a new test called the sentinel lymph node biopsy, which indicates whether a cancer has spread.
Senator McCain has taken this test, and it showed that his cancer had not spread. This gives him a better prognosis than would otherwise be the case, roughly halving his annual risk of death from skin cancer.
“If we assume that this trend is maintained long-term, McCain’s mortality risk due to melanoma is better but not eliminated, remaining at 6 per cent per year,” Dr Alam said. The background risk of dying from melanoma is 3.1 per 100,000 people in the UK for men.
The analysis, which is published in a letter to The Lancet medical journal, will raise fresh concern about the health of Senator McCain and his judgment in selecting Sarah Palin as his running-mate.
At 72, he would be the oldest non-incumbent US president to be elected, and as well as war wounds suffered in Vietnam he has had several health scares. He has had four melanomas removed, the most serious in August 2000.
In May he released 1,173 pages of medical records in an attempt to prove that he is sufficiently fit to be president. Experts have used these to reach different conclusions about his current health: a previous analysis by The Washington Post put his annual risk of death from melanoma in low single digits.
Dr Alam’s letter to The Lancet is based on his analysis of the 2000 melanoma. “McCain’s physicians provided a brief summary of his health status in May, 2008,” he wrote. “As a result, using the prognostic model, his predicted 10-year survival at the time of diagnosis was only 24 per cent.”
Dr Alam, an independent consultant to the biotechnology industry and a former research fellow at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, declared that he was a registered Democrat who had made financial contributions to Barack Obama’s campaign.
Have your say
Even Republican Colin Powell sees that Palin would be a disaster. Given McCain's age and poor health, I don't see how even a Republican would risk voting for him.
Sarah, Ithaca, New York, USA
I've been hit by lightening twice, and survived cancer twice. What are the percentage odds on that? This is all simply profound sounding odds making designed to frighten voters. Totally meaningless fluff.
Nona, New York City, USA
It's better to have a 22% chance of Sarah Palin running the country than a certainty of a spineless demagogue Obama doing it for 4 years.
Alex, NYC, USA
Posts: 5454 | From: Holland | Registered: Aug 2008
| IP: Logged |
Feds disrupt skinhead plot to kill Obama October 27, 2008 at 4:28 PM | Comments (7)
Federal agents have broken up a plot by two neo-Nazi skinheads to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate 102 black people, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives said today.
In court records unsealed today in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Tenn., federal agents said they disrupted plans to rob a gun store and target a predominantly African-American high school in a murder spree that was to begin in Tennessee.
Agents said the skinheads did not identify the school by name.
Jim Cavanaugh, special agent in charge of ATF's Nashville field office, said the two men planned to shoot 88 black people and decapitate another 14. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community.
The men also sought to go on a national killing spree after the Tennessee murders, with Obama as its final target, Cavanaugh told The Associated Press.
"They said that would be their last, final act -- that they would attempt to kill Sen. Obama," Cavanaugh said. "They didn't believe they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying."
An Obama spokeswoman traveling with the senator in Pennsylvania had no immediate comment.
The men, Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tenn., and Paul Schlesselman 18, of West Helena, Ark., are being held without bond. Agents seized a rifle, a sawed-off shotgun and three pistols from the men when they were arrested. Authorities alleged the two men were preparing to break into a gun shop to steal more.
Attorney Joe Byrd, who has been hired to represent Cowart, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday.
Cowart and Schlesselman are charged with possessing an unregistered firearm, conspiring to steal firearms from a federally licensed gun dealer, and threatening a candidate for president.
The investigation is continuing, and more charges are possible, Cavanaugh said. The court records say Cowart and Schlesselman also bought nylon rope and ski masks to use in a robbery or home invasion to fund their spree, during which they allegedly planned to go from state to state and kill people.
For the Obama plot, the legal documents show, Cowart and Schlesselman "planned to drive their vehicle as fast as they could toward Obama shooting at him from the windows."
"Both individuals stated they would dress in all white tuxedos and wear top hats during the assassination attempt," the court complaint states. "Both individuals further stated they knew they would and were willing to die during this attempt." Cavanaugh said there's no evidence -- so far -- that others were willing to assist Cowart and Schlesselman with the plot.
He said authorities took the threats very seriously.
"They seemed determined to do it," Cavanaugh said. "Even if they were just to try it, it would be a trail of tears around the South."
And sadly they will not stop until completing thier mission.
Posts: 1106 | From: Puerto Rico | Registered: Aug 2007
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic