Leader of the fringe.

Given the general sense of weirdness surrounding the Patriot cadres, perhaps it's not surprising that much of the movement's anti-government spewage has been generated by a frumpy Hoosier computer junkie.

Last year, the American Justice Federation, a Patriot clearinghouse based in Indianapolis, sent each member of Congress a notice (ominously titled "Ultimatum") by certified mail, demanding that they abolish the IRS and the Federal Reserve Board and repeal the Brady Bill. If they failed to do so, they would be "put on trial for treason."

But the same day those letters went out, the American Justice Federation's director, Linda Thompson, apparently decided that the mere threat of putting elected officials on "trial" wasn't enough. So Thompson - who referred to herself as "Acting Adjutant General of the Unorganized Militia of the U.S.A." - took to the Internet and began calling for an armed suicide march on the U.S. Capitol, with the goal of literally stringing up the "traitors" under the dome. Thompson also took to the road to drum up support for her "Ultimatum," at one point outlining her plan to members of the Michigan Militia.

"She said, `Let's take guns to Washington, D.C., take U.S. Senators and Congressmen into custody, hold them for trial, and, if necessary, execute them,'" says Joseph Ditzhazy, a Michigan Militiaman who was at a meeting where Thompson spoke. According to Ditzhazy, Thompson got a favorable reception when she raised the possibility of "trying" figures like Lloyd Bentsen, Janet Reno, and the Clintons. "People were standing up, screaming, `Let's kill them, let's murder them, let's hang them, let's lynch them,'" he told ABC's Prime Time Live.

Following her postings, there was much hand-wringing in militia discussion groups about whether now was the right time to stick it to the Feds. (The John Birch Society emerged as the voice of restraint, telling its members not to participate.) Meanwhile, Thompson took to the airwaves - FM, AM, and shortwave - to promote the "next American war."

"She was on Art Bell's show [based in Nevada], saying we needed an armed uprising and saying stuff like, `We've got to hang these bastards,'" says one journalist who has followed Thompson's activities over the past year. "She went on and on like that for a couple of hours."

But in the end, the "Acting Adjutant General" stood down and called off her coup, drawing a hail of insults from those in the Patriot/Militia nexus. "You are so totally, completely full of shit it's pathetic," one Net user wrote.

Thompson now says she never planned on going through with the march. She says that she was just trying to make the point that "it was a viable option." Besides, she says, the government was going to make her look bad. "We got word," she says, "that if we went and did the march, the CIA was going to use bombs and blame it on the militia."

Such beliefs are articles of faith for Linda Thompson. Best known for her videotapes - "Waco: The Big Lie" and "Waco: The Big Lie Continues" - Thompson contends that the burning of the Branch Davidians was a gigantic government conspiracy/cover-up. Thompson's videos leave no paranoid stone unturned. Not only does she "prove" that flame-throwing tanks were unleashed on the compound, she also says that the initial Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearm (ATF) raid was actually an excuse to eliminate certain ATF agents who had served as bodyguards for Bill Clinton.

Journalist Adam Parfry calls the videos "get-the-bastards motivational tapes." Thompson has done more than any other single person to stoke the fires of rage and paranoia about Waco, and, according to a recently retired ATF official, "It's a safe bet that whoever blew up the building has seen her stuff."

Thompson, however, says she's not really out to start a revolution; she just wants to "tell the people the truth about what their government is doing." Many of her own brethren believe her "heart's in the right place," as one militia member says, "but she's kind of fringe," even by militia standards. Others in the Patriot movement see her as part of a modern-day COINTELPRO plot directed at the right, seriously wondering if she's a government agent whose purpose is to get Constitutionalists riled up so they'll start attacking the government, thus giving the government an excuse to crack down, declare martial law, and fulfill the "New World Order" prophecy.

Still others have a simpler take on Linda Thompson. "I suppose some uncharitable individual might suggest that she does what she does for money and public exposure, and I wouldn't argue with that," says Bob Brown, publisher of Soldier of Fortune magazine. Brown has been highly critical of Thompson since she appeared on the Constitutionalist scene, and published an article showing up deceptive and misleading aspects of her videotapes.

"She's part of what I characterize as the `black-helicopter syndrome,"' says Brown. "It's this paranoid view that there is a New World Order plot to have U.N. troops take over the United States, that large numbers of U.N. troops are conducting operations in the United States, with swarms of black helicopters swooping through the skies. What these people do is take certain pieces of information, selectively interpret them, put them together, and the whole becomes much greater than the sum."

In fairness, Thompson does raise some valid questions about the disturbing trend toward military involvement in domestic law enforcement and lack of government accountability. But she goes on to conjure up wild scenarios including, in her latest video, America Under Siege, that the Amtrak repair depot near her home in sedate Beech Grove, Indiana, is a front for a New World Order concentration camp now under construction. (Republican Senator Dick Lugar has a hand in it, she says.) Furthermore, armored tank divisions being transferred from one base to another are not, Thompson tells us, routine U.S. Army troop movements. The tanks are actually part of something called "Operation Garden Plot," she posits, "to be used to round us up for the slave labor camps, along with the black helicopters."

We are a network of doers, not whiners or fakers," Thompson's computer bulletin board admonishes. "If you belong, then a hearty welcome to you." In order to log on, one must answer questions like, "Are you ready, willing, and able to provide at least one of the following for Patriots defending the Constitution: a safe house; a training area; equipment or supplies such as food, medicine, ammunition, clothing, money. . . ." Another question asks the user to list any useful personal talents, "If you have medical, special forces, police, military training, or other skills, please list them." You might think questions like this would appeal to Patriots, but many are leery, because Thompson's bulletin board also asks for detailed personal information.

"This is the type of information that could potentially damn someone and get them thrown in jail. Mention that to her and she calls you a `dickless coward,'" says Parfry, who co-wrote a story on Thompson for The Village Voice last year. "Her tactics are confrontational with people who question her ways."

Thompson has strongly condemned the Oklahoma City bombing, saying she was "outraged" by its "coldheartedness" and noting that it "flies in the face" of what most militias believe - that force should only be used defensively. She did say, however, that she was familiar with Timothy McVeigh and the Nichols brothers.

"They've worked with this guy in Michigan who puts out videotapes and propaganda full of ridiculous stuff. Basically, he mixes good information about the stuff the government is doing with hysterical nonsense," she says, without a trace of irony. "We've done background investigations of him. He's got a dozen or so people who work for him. At times, he's tried to associate himself with us and has made us look stupid. He's also said he's been an organizer with the Michigan Militia, which isn't true either."

The individual Thompson refers to is Mark Koernke, an Augusta, Michigan, janitor who produces tapes and newsletters quite similar to Thompson's. They could, in fact, be called competitors. Like Thompson, Koernke has established a lucrative cottage industry, traveling around the country talking to groups and selling his tapes. Like Thompson, Koernke contends that foreign troops are already occupying America in preparation for the establishment of One World Government. According to Thompson, Koernke - along with Patriot leaders Bo Gritz, Jack McLamb, and Gary Hunt - is a government agent provocateur. McVeigh appears to have had some contact with Koernke, whose house was recently searched by federal agents.

Figures like Thompson and Koernke may seem marginal, even to each other. But the margins of radical rightwing politics are wide enough to include thousands of people - including members of state government.

The camera angle is jerky and the picture grainy black and white, but the figure at the lectern is undeniably Indiana State Representative Irene Hadley. She's talking to a small room full of men wearing berets and fatigues. She is being recorded by an Indianapolis Channel 13 hidden camera. The camera eye flashes to Mark Stevens, commander of the Sovereign Patriots, an Indiana militia that is extremely hostile to the federal government. The camera also takes inventory of the items on the table Stevens is standing next to: books and pamphlets with titles like What Famous Men Said About Jews and The International Zionist Conspiracy.

"My ideas aren't any different from your ideas," Hadley tells the group.

At least in Indiana, the extremists aren't always easy to separate from the mainstream.

Jason Vest, a writer in Indiana, wrote "The Federal Execution Rush" in the May issue of The Progressive.