Fear-Mongering

Meet the Preppers... and the Mormons (Part 2)

By Stefan Kamph Wed., May 2 2012 at 10:24 AM
Categories: Fear-Mongering, Religion
preppers-cover-small.jpeg
James Talmage Stevens lives up on a mountain somewhere in Texas, where he has a few years' worth of food, a well he can pump by hand, sturdy walls, and gardens for food. He's prepared for just about anything.

Stevens goes by the moniker "Dr. Prepper" on his weekly preparedness radio show, and he co-owns the Self-Reliance Expo with Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy, two survival-medicine experts featured in last week's New Times cover story about modern preppers. 

When I first spoke with Stevens, he told me that prepping for an unforeseen disaster is always a spiritual act. Not in the sense of preparing for judgment day, but by virtue of the simple act of investing one's energy in an unknowable outcome, based on faith alone.

"It's all about life," says Stevens. "Preparedness is just a means of thinking about it. It's never too late to start, and you never get finished."

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Dr. Prepper, James Talmage Stevens, Mormons, preppers
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Fear-Mongering

Meet the Preppers... and the Mormons (Part 1)

By Stefan Kamph Tue., May 1 2012 at 7:34 AM
Categories: Fear-Mongering, Religion
mormon-prep-6.jpg
Elder Mark Brown and a church volunteer pause in the storehouse.
Check out part two of our exploration of the connection between prepping, spirituality, and the Mormon church.

In this week's cover story about survivalists, I speak with a man who identifies himself only as "Bowreeguard," who hails from hard-granite New Hampshire and says that prepping was a way of life for his family when he was growing up.

The eldest son of his family, Bowreeguard learned to keep supplies on hand, use a gun, and plan ahead. Sometimes this will prove you wrong -- he sadly recalls how he spent years working on an underground bunker for Y2K, only to see nothing happen -- but there's that same good feeling in preparing. 

One day, toward the end of a phone conversation, Bowreeguard mentioned the Mormons. He said that all members of the church are supposed to have at least a year's supply of food on hand -- also the standard for most secular preppers -- and that there's a publication, The LDS Preparedness Manual, that makes the rounds of prepper communities and contains sage advice on all aspects of prepping. It's geared toward members of the Mormon church, but it's not an official church document. 

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Bishop's Storehouse, Elder Mark Brown, food, Mormons, preparedness, preppers, survivalism
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Fear-Mongering

The Highly Coincidental Day That Shaped, and Tarnished, Survivalism in America

By Stefan Kamph Fri., Apr. 27 2012 at 7:08 AM
Categories: Fear-Mongering, Gone Shootin'
preppers-cover-small.jpeg
This week's cover story is about modern survivalists.

August 23, 1992, was an exceptionally shitty day in America. Hurricane Andrew was gathering strength over the Caribbean, and by nightfall, it would plow over South Florida with category-five winds, ripping whole neighborhoods to pieces, knocking out power, and claiming dozens of lives.

Three thousand miles away, at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, the weather was calm, but the anger and tension were unbearable. Hundreds of federal troops at Ruby Ridge were in the fourth day of a siege on the house of conspiracy theorist Randy Weaver. They had already killed his dog, his son (shot in the back), and his wife (shot while holding their baby).

Media reports portrayed Weaver, who had moved to the woods to escape government and society, as a dangerous white supremacist. The feds wanted him on gun-trafficking charges. Down the road from his blood-soaked mountain cabin, hundreds of people gathered to protest the siege. From this, the modern American militia movement was born. More »

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Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy, Jorge Villa, militia, Neal Wiseman, preppers, Randy Weaver, survivalism, the 90s, Timothy McVeigh
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Media

Circumcision and AIDS: Harvard Doctors Respond to Criticism

By Deirdra Funcheon Mon., Feb. 20 2012 at 6:41 AM
Categories: Fear-Mongering, For the Kids, Health, Journalismo, Media, Science
circ.jpg
​Could a whole coalition of highly accomplished, super educated doctors and researchers -- the ones who work at and advise the Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Harvard School of Public Health -- all be wrong?

Or are their critics hindering them from saving lives?

As described in our recent feature story about circumcision, three studies conducted in

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AIDS, circumcision
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Allen West

Swapping Adam Hasner for Allen West Would Replace One Anti-Islam Politician With Another

By Lisa Rab Fri., Feb. 3 2012 at 12:18 PM
Categories: Allen West, Editorial, Fear-Mongering
adam-hasner.jpg
Hasner, the Jewish Allen West.
​U.S. Rep. Allen West's departure from his Broward-Palm Beach district to run for a more Republican-leaning seat up north is undeniably good news for local Muslims. Finally, South Florida will be rid of a congressman who calls Islam "a totalitarian, theocratic, political ideology."

But don't start celebrating yet. Former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner (R-Delray Beach) is seeking to replace West and has already received the congressman's ringing endorsement. Small wonder, because the two men share similar political tactics -- namely, getting ahead by spouting fear-mongering, anti-Islam rhetoric. (To read about how local Muslims are coping with such bigotry, see this week's New Times cover story.)

In 2009, Hasner invited anti-Islam nutbag Geert Wilders, a member of the DutchMore »

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Adam Hasner, Allen West, Boca Raton, Geert Wilders, Islam, Islamophobia
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Health

"Brain-Eating Amoeba" On the Loose, if British Tabloid Is to Be Trusted

By Stefan Kamph Fri., Aug. 19 2011 at 8:40 AM
Categories: Fear-Mongering, Health
courtney-nash.jpg
The Daily Mail
​A little-known killer is making its way through the southern United States, according to the British tabloid The Daily Mail: a "brain-eating amoeba" called Naegleria fowleri. Victims so far include one 16-year-old girl from Florida, Courtney Nash, who reportedly died after swimming in the St. John's river in Brevard County. (The New York Daily News confirms the story.) 

Victims of the amoeba, which is usually found in bodies of fresh water, first experience "changes in taste and smell, headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, and stiff neck," according to a source even less reliable than British tabloids. "Secondary symptoms include confusion, hallucinations, lack of attention, ataxia, and seizures. After the start of symptoms, the disease progresses rapidly over 3 to 7 days, with death occurring from 7 to 14 days after exposure."

Nash reportedly got a fever and
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brain-eating amoeba, disease, parasites, silent killers, tabloids
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Fear-Mongering

Joyce Kaufman-Induced Broward Schools Lockdown Lands Woman Two Years in Prison

By Matthew Hendley Thu., Jul. 14 2011 at 11:23 AM
Categories: Fear-Mongering, Law & Order
elissa-martinez.jpg
BSO
Ellisa Martinez
​The woman who caused an FBI investigation after sending threats to right-wing radio host Joyce Kaufman -- leading to the lockdown of more than 300 Broward County schools -- was sentenced today to two years in prison.

Ellisa Martinez was arrested in November after emailing and calling Kaufman's radio station, WFTL-AM (850), and pleaded guilty to a threatening charge in May.

Martinez had watched MSNBC's coverage of Kaufman speaking during a Tea Party rally last July -- the speech in which Kaufman said "if ballots don't work, bullets will."

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Allen West, Broward County Schools, Ellisa Martinez, Joyce Kaufman, Threats
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FloriDUH

Did Allen West Just Compare Gays to Terrorists?

By Brandon K. Thorp Thu., Apr. 7 2011 at 8:01 AM
Categories: Fear-Mongering, FloriDUH, Politics
col-allen-west-in-uniform.jpg
West: Don't get gay on me.
​It's April in the Year of Our Lord 2011, and most Floridians have reached an accommodation with Allen West. As summer looms and West's congressional career blossoms into maturity, he's almost begun to seem normal. He still hates Muslims, but at least he's polite about it. He probably still thinks you're un-American, but at least he's not telling you so all the time. Mostly, Allen West seems to be focused on the budget, defense spending, and talking up the glories of Israel with Tea Partiers. It's a little weird, but at least it's routine. All around him, Florida dozes.

And then West composes his Weekly Wrapup and writes something like this:

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Allen West, DADT, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Fort Hood, Nadal Hassan
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Fear-Mongering

Fort Lauderdale Police Erect Surveillance Tower in Homeless-Friendly Park. What's Next?

By Stefan Kamph Wed., Feb. 9 2011 at 11:30 AM
Categories: Fear-Mongering, Homelessness
Lots of people who happen to be homeless eat, sleep, and socialize in the shady comfort of downtown's Stranahan Park. But the city is constantly trying to send them elsewhere, spurred by the complaints of business owners. A recent move by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department seems downright sinister:

stranahan-skywatch.jpg
​They've deployed a mobile "Skywatch" unit to monitor (or at least intimidate) homeless loiterers. It doesn't appear to be working. After the jump: we've come up with some suggestions for much better places to deploy the surveillance tower.

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brilliant ideas, Fort Lauderdale Police Department, Stranahan Park, surveillance
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Politics

Allen West Sounds Off on Protests in Egypt

By Lisa Rab Mon., Jan. 31 2011 at 12:45 PM
Categories: Fear-Mongering, Politics, Religion
west on huckabee.jpg
​The Middle East is a complicated place. Any academic expert will tell you that the region's violent, historic conflicts don't lend themselves to convenient soundbites.

But that didn't stop Congressman Allen West from trying. This weekend, Mike Huckabee interviewed him on Fox News about the massive protests in Egypt against President Hosni Mubarak. And in a matter of minutes, West swung from defending civil liberties to advocating crackdowns on "radical elements" of Islam.

First, he began by criticizing Mubarak, who has been accused of jailing political opponents and turning a blind eye to police brutality.

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Allen West, dictators, Egypt, Islam, Mike Huckabee
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