Gun toter at Obama rally tied to Arizona separatist groups
The man who brought a gun to President Barack Obama's town hall meeting on Tuesday is a former Arizona resident with ties to an extreme right-wing group that calls for "resistance...against unconstitutional or illegal behavior by government officials."
William Kostric, 36, formerly of Scottsdale, stood outside the New Hampshire meeting on healthcare with a gun holstered at his thigh and holding a sign proclaiming that "it is time to water the tree of liberty."
The quote, often referenced by militia members and those in separatist movements, refers to Thomas Jefferson's famous call for vigilance: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots."
Records show that Kostric is a "team member" of the Arizona chapter of We the People Foundation, which has a stated goal of "returning America to it's founding principles." [so what's wrong with "returning America to it's founding principles."?]
On its Web site, We the People's founder, Robert Schulz, says: "Our recent initiatives have focused largely on questioning the federal government's abuse of its Constitutional powers to incur debt, tax labor, create currency by fiat, conduct war and police the peace," We the People says on its Web site. [How dare they expect our government rulers to follow the Constitution to the letter!]
While the group maintains that it is not concerned with politics or personalities in office, Schulz is a proud supporter of the birther movement (those folks who believe that Obama wasn't really born in the United States and shouldn't be president) [The webmaster doesn't beleive in this myth. but so what? Some people beleive weird stuff] and We the People joined a lawsuit challenging Obama's presidency based on his citizenship.
Kostric could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But records show he recently moved from Scottsdale to New Hampshire.
Kostric's My Space page is replete with paeans to militia groups.Among his heroes, Kostric lists Randy Weaver, the anti-government separatist and end-time believer whose wife and son died during a shoot out with FBI agents at Ruby Ridge. [Why yes the FBI did murder Randy Weaver's wife in a botched raid on his home! And the FBI murdered about 100 Christians in the botched raid at Waco! And an atheist is saying that!]
Kostric's page is highlighted by a photo of a boy wailing next to a tombstone with the name Santa Claus. In his "about me" page he describes the pain that comes with the realization that things we believed in are untrue:
"You begin to enjoy the path of self realization. Or, you can choose to reject the real world and get plugged back into the Matrix, to go through life with your Eyes Wide Shut."
Although Kostric broke no laws in coming armed to the town hall meeting [if that is true why is the media making a big deal out of it], he is not the first Arizona resident whose ties to militia and separatist groups have made news.
Dennis Mahon, one of the suspects arrested in June for the 2004 letter bombing of the Scottsdale diversity office, is a leader in the White separatist movement. According to the Anti-Defamation League, Mahon has been active in White supremacist groups in several states in the Midwest and in Arizona since the 1980s.
After the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Mahon boasted of knowing Timothy McVeigh, who was convicted in that bombing. McVeigh was executed in 2001 for his role, but Mahon defended him at rallies and vowed to espouse his cause.
McVeigh also had Arizona ties, residing in Kingman while he plotted the bombing that claimed the lives of 168 people.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 at 01:15 PM