"Fundraiser to be held tomorrow for oath-keeping Florida sheriff" and a response to a criticism of Oath Keepers.

"A coalition of citizens and liberty-minded peace officers will gather tomorrow in Panama City, Fla., to raise money in support of Liberty County Sheriff Nick Finch, removed from office by Gov. Rick Scott, and now under investigation by the state for alleged destruction of documents in a case where he dismissed charges against a man arrested with a gun in a traffic stop. . ."

Although Finch has never been a member, both CPSOA and Oath Keepers, the national association of active duty and retired military, police, and first responders, are coming to the defense of a kindred spirit, and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes will be joining Sheriff Mack and other speakers at tomorrow’s fundraiser.

The event will be held between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the Palms Conference Center, 9201 Front Beach Road, Panama City Beach, Fla. Those who can attend are urged to, as well as to spread the word, and those who cannot are urged to donate to the Finch defense fund via the “Donate” button on the CPSOA site.

This post of David's, linked here at War On Guns, prompted this reaction from "militialaw":

I donated but must point out Sheriff Finch is not an Rhodes "Oath Keeper"...which might explain why he actually did something.

I stand behind my frequent criticism of Oath Keepers as a bunch of do-nothing talkers that wouldn't stand up to tyranny if tyranny sat down.

They have the weapons, training, and potential to end the present police state, but instead, to a man, they choose to collect their $ and enforce laws that plainly contradict the Constitution.

Rhodes should be embarrassed to show his face tomorrow.

Which in turn prompted this rejoinder from David:

militialaw, thank you for showing leadership in this. As for your critique, I know Stewart, he is a close personal friend and I can tell you from personal interactions that the general public has no idea the passion and integrity of the man and the personal sacrifices he has made and continues to make. It's late and I don't have time tonight to go into a detailed exposition of the value of the groundwork he and his team have laid and the potential it can reap when the S truly does HTF. For now, my trust, and I do not give it casually or without cause, is that the phase we are now in makes the timely educating of a critical mass, particularly in the military, but also in the LEO community, the invaluable priority, and this is borne out in part by the reaction of the PTB discourage to the education message OK brings (I came across a military training PDF that takes its cues from SPLC that I believe is directly aimed at squelching such influence under the allegation of extremism--can't find the link at the moment)

If you are looking for overt examples, not all of the interpositions that have been made on an individual basis are--or can be--known at this time, and may never be known--to do so would remove valuable allies from being able to do so and to influence their peers. Also bear in mind that not all forces and units have OKs, and individual members are probably not on scene to alter most of the outrages we hear about.

I wold ask anyone critical or impatient to see more concrete examples to look at what we see with Finch, to see how the establishment will demonize and hang such people, and then to ask themselves exactly what it is that they have done overtly and risked, to note how mounting a defense depends on obscure bloggers like me begging people who, by and large, don't even share links or send emails, let alone contribute, as you have done. And ditto for "complainers" and whistleblowers, as anyone who has followed F&F and other govt. obscenities can see for themselves. Getting canned and/or prosecuted will do no one any good, and sometimes, embedded resources just need to keep their heads down as a matter of living to fight another day.

I guess I'll need to find time to address this soon, but I also guess if this does not give you pause, I don't really have much more to throw at it except my personal belief, which if you know anything about me and my work, you'd know does not come from a place of blind faith.

I second David's appreciation of Oath Keepers and Stewart Rhodes. There are hundreds of examples I could cite from the past few years, but let me just point out a few from my most recent collaboration with Stewart during the trip to Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York in April. First, I couldn't have made the trip on my own resources and given my health status at the time without Stewart's help and support. Thus, I wouldn't have been able to give those speeches in Massachusetts and Connecticut, so I wouldn't have been able to kick off the smuggling campaign.

In addition, I came to meet with Oathkeepers in those states (and from others in New England) and got a whole new appreciation for the OK campaigns and the inroads they are making in places you'd never expect.

Finally, our domestic enemies of the Constitution have made Rhodes and OK their particular targets, from Bill Clinton's denunciation of both Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters in the same breath back in April 2010 to SPLC to the FBI and Army CID. If that isn't an indication that they're doing something right, I don't know what is.