John Birch Society

It seems some of Richard Burr's strongest supporters are unhappy with him about his recent attempt to extend the debate in the Senate on illegal immigration. Jim Capo of The John Birch Society opened his piece by calling Burr's vote for cloture "traitorous" and followed with a detailed description of activity surrounding a vigil outside Burr's main North Carolina office.

I don't follow the John Birch Society, but this piece popped up in my Google alerts and I just had to see what they were saying about Burr and http://www.ncpolitico.com/node/46 >Robin Hayes. There were points in this piece that made me laugh 'til I cried.

Last fall at the Converge South blogger conference in Greensboro, I found myself sitting with a small group of new acquaintances during lunch break. As we chit-chatted, a new guy pulled up a chair and introduced himself.

"Hi," he said. "I'm Jim Capo. With the John Birch Society."

I don't know about you, but the words "John Birch Society" conjure up all sorts of villainous images in my brain. I can't quite pin them all down, but suffice it to say, they're not all goodness and light. So you can imagine that Mr. Capo's pronouncement stalled the conversation briefly, before we all adjusted and carried on until the next session started. After the meeting, I checked out the JBS website and reviewed some of what Jim Capo has been saying online. He's the John Birch Society's national spokesman on trade policy, and a coordinator for North and South Carolina.

Today I found this article by Capo, which is a searing indictment of Senator Richard Burr and his lame-duck victory in creating the Biomedical Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

BARDA's mission is to use the power of central government cash and facilitation to speed the development and distribution of vaccines and other critical products that supporters of the law claim are required to effectively counter both natural disasters and potential bio-terrorist attacks.