Compare & Contrast (Again)

We're beginning to think that we should transform this "web log" into a review of the L. A. Times, as we no longer have 16 hrs./day to wander the web looking for outrages, but instead are limited to dead trees & radio waves for our input & inspiration. Example: Just yesterday we referred to a Times op-ed about the probable return of RW militias. Yes, we understand the difference between an op-ed (not written by a Times staffer) & a news article written & edited by Times employees. Still, the one day separation between the op-ed,

Home-grown terrorism Current political conditions are conducive to violent domestic extremism.

& today's

Domestic terror groups in disarray after Sept. 11 After the violent mayhem of the '90s, right-wing extremist groups are less active. Some believe the 2001 attacks diverted rage away from the U.S. government and toward foreigners.

is somewhat amusing. And in no way, shape or form does today's story indicate there won't be a revival of domestic non-governmental terror. Nor, indeed, does today's piece make any note of the facts from the op-ed, that is, this sort of mania flourishes under (relatively) liberal administrations. It does refer to those dangerous "eco-terrorists" that the FBI wastes so much time on. Let's see how the FBI will respond to RW hate groups screaming that "the Democrats surrendered to Al-Qaida" by pulling troops out of Iraq (assuming such actually happens, & we're not holding our breath) therefore any action against the current "Jew-dominated" gov't. is legitimate & necessary. Funny part (there's always something w/ these people):

Three years after foreign terrorists killed nearly 3,000 Americans in the Sept. 11 attacks, Steve Holten left the San Francisco Bay Area, drove east through the Tahoe National Forest, skirted the Truckee River and settled himself in Reno. Here he proclaimed himself a lieutenant colonel of the local chapter of Aryan Nations. He sent an e-mail to area newspapers declaring war on the federal government, the media and the Jews. But no war came. Holten's career as a domestic terrorist was short and uneventful. FBI agents promptly arrested him, and a federal grand jury indicted him for transmitting a threatening e-mail. He pleaded guilty and served four months in prison. After getting out he contracted the AIDS virus, and he was rearrested, this time for soliciting a man for sex in a nearby city park. With shaved head and Nazi lightning-bolt tattoos on his neck, Holten is emblematic of how far the anti-government terrorism movement has sunk in the years since the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center.

Don't worry, The South (or its mentality, if you can call it that) will rise again.