The rise in right-wing extremism in this country is alarming. Spurred on by the election of the first African-American president and declining economic conditions, militias and right wingers who want to kill the president are showing up all over the place.

The latest group to be discovered is a Christian militia based in rural Michigan. Federal authorities say the group was plotting to attack police officers with the goal sparking an uprising against the government. The alleged plot was to kill a police officer and then bomb the funeral. Nine people in all were arrested, including alleged ring leader 44-year-old David Brian Stone. His son, Joshua Matthew Stone, was arrested after a standoff with police ended with his peaceful surrender.

According to the AP:

FBI agents moved quickly against Hutaree, because its members were planning an attack sometime in April, prosecutors said. Members had been undergoing paramilitary training, including learning how to shoot guns and make bombs, since 2008, according to an indictment. Authorities seized guns in the raids but would not say whether they found explosives.

Prosecutors said the suspected Hutaree ringleader, 44-year-old David Brian Stone of Clayton, identified law enforcement officers as potential targets. He and other members discussed setting off bombs at a police funeral, using a fake 9-1-1 call to lure an officer to his death, killing an officer after a traffic stop or attacking the family of an officer, according to the indictment. The indictment said that after the attacks, the group planned to retreat to "rally points" protected by trip-wired explosives for a violent standoff with law enforcement personnel.


Hutaree means "Christian warrior," and the members felt that Jesus wanted them to be prepared to fight the anti-Christ with violence.

That is the most anti-Christian thing I have ever heard. Family members say the group started out with Christian meetings and then devolved down a violent path.

A recent report from the Homeland Security department warned that President Barack Obama's election, a rise in foreclosures, job loss, anger about illegal immigration and fear of changes in gun laws, could spark potential violence.

I think the carcinogenic rhetoric pouring over the airwaves combined with this country's history of racism and xenophobia has combined to form a lethal combination, which can eventually build up to an event like Tim McVeigh's bombing of the Oklahoma Federal Building or the man who recently flew his plane in to an IRS building, because he was angry with the agency.

The fact that a debate about providing health care can be morphed by talk show hosts and conspiracy theorists into this country becoming a socialist regime is proof that it's time to ramp the rhetoric down. We don't want a police officer or his family to suffer, or God forbid, someone getting more ambitious and going after the President. It's not far-fetched.