Terrorism in Knoxville

Posted on July 30, 2008 in Liberals & Progressives Terrorism

Jim D. Adkisson wanted to send a message: be a liberal and die. That was the motive behind the Unitarian church shooting this past Sunday. And I am with Huffington Post’s correspondent Joe Lauria when he describes it as an act of terrorism:

An act of terrorism is violence by a civilian or civilians against unarmed civilians for a political motive. Al-Qaeda attacking US servicemen in the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, or in the USS Cole, or in Iraq or even in Fort Dix, New Jersey is not terrorism. It is a guerilla attack. Al-Qaeda attacking civilians in US embassies in Africa or at the World Trade Center is indeed terrorism.

Right on the money there. So what is Bush going to do about the incipient right wing terrorism in this country? Nothing, I bet. So far he has been silent, failing to comfort the victims or their families. Like his father, he allows the terrorist right to stock up their armaments until they are needed to strike fear into the hearts of voters who might be inclined to vote liberal.

Likewise, John MCCain has been spending more time pumping out attack ads (which might well be part of the mileau that influenced Adkisson to kill) than speaking out against Americans killing other Americans because of their political beliefs. You can bet Obama would have spoken up if the killer had been a liberal gunning down fundamentalists.

We need to do three things: vote for the middle and left side of the road. Then press newspapers, radio, and television outlets that feature hate pundits such as Coulter and Limbaugh who regularly suggest that liberals ought to be killed to drop these shows and columns. And insist that our leaders put a stop to homegrown terrorist organizations in part by necessary police actions and part by listening to the economic concerns of those who might be tempted to join their ranks.

[tags]terrorism, right wing terrorists, unitarians, unitarian shooting, Knoxville, Tennessee[/tags]