Who are the Homegrown Terrorists?

By William L. Garvin

Some time back, Janet Napolitano, head of Homeland Security, alienated a large number of U.S. citizens when she issued a report that listed numerous “homegrown terrorist threats.”   Her list included Christians and pro-life advocates, believers in strict interpretation of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, American exceptionalists, and anyone who believes in enforcing our borders and immigration laws.  In an incredible leap of logic, she also included military veterans because “they are trained in the use of firearms.”  Somehow she failed to include hunters, police and sheriff’s personnel, and members of her own department who are also trained in the use of firearms.

Recently, the Congressional Black Caucus reconstituted this hackneyed old refrain by chanting in Greek chorus fashion that the entire Tea Party amalgamation is terrorists and hostage takers.  They said the Tea Party was the “enemy” and were told to “go straight to hell.  “Rhymin’ Simon,” aka Jesse Jackson, combined his race baiting tactics by saying "The Tea Party is a new name on an old game."  In the same logic-free utterance, he claimed that Martin Luther King “fought the Tea Party.”  No, Jesse, you history-challenged anachronism, MLK was aligned with Republicans against southern Democrats favoring segregation and their terrorist arm, the KKK!  Try reading a history book—you may have lived it but you certainly don’t understand it.

Union leaders, tired of being upstaged, swung into action with Jimmy Hoffa opening a Labor Day introduction of President Obama in the following manner:  “We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: the war on workers.  And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party.  And you know there is only one way to beat and win that war.  The one thing about working people is we like a good fight.  And you know what?  They’ve got a war, they got a war with us and there’s only going to be one winner.  It’s going to be the workers of Michigan, and America.  We’re going to win that war.  President Obama, this is your army.  We are ready to march.  Let’s take those sons of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong.”

 The President has failed to condemn Hoffa for any of this violent and uncivil rhetoric.  In fact, he said he was “proud” of Hoffa and other labor leaders.  Maybe that’s why hundreds of union workers turned thug and stormed a port in Longview, Washington, captured security guards, held them hostage, smashed windows, cut brake lines on railroad cars and dumped the grain at the center of the dispute.  They were also defying a federal restraining order issued the previous week against the union after it was accused of assaults and death threats.

In the meantime, our Department of Justice refuses to prosecute black militants who blatantly attempted to intimidate white voters at a Philadelphia polling place.  However, they quickly aligned with Mexico to prosecute every state attempting to protect its borders.  DOJ also quickly jumped on the SEC coattails to prosecute Standard and Poor’s after they downgraded the U.S. debt.  They suddenly want to know why the “toxic assets” received a triple-A rating.  To date, they are not investigating any other rating agency that gave the toxic assets the same rating.

Maybe it’s just a coincidence.  However, for the SECOND time, DOJ has raided Gibson Guitars and seized guitars, pallets of wood, and computers, effectively shutting down their “Made in USA” factories in Memphis and Nashville.  Why?  Even though Gibson has filed all the necessary forms and complied with all American laws, DOJ thinks there “may” be a violation of a law in India where the ebony and Indian rosewood was obtained.  Curiously, charges have yet to be filed from the first raid back in 2009.  Furthermore, none of the other guitar manufacturers who use the same wood in the same unfinished state from the same importer and the same supplier have been raided.  Maybe it’s just a coincidence that the Gibson owner is a Republican and the other companies are owned by Democrats.

So the question remains, who are the REAL homegrown terrorists?