There’s a lot of talk in this country, especially among conservatives and the radical religious right, about Islamic terrorists. And yes, there are Islamic terrorists. But there are also terrorists of other faiths. It wasn’t all that long ago that the terrorism in Ireland, between two groups of Christians, was making headlines.  But there is something happening in this country that is rather frightening: ordinary citizens are in training to become or have already become terrorists.

I want you to read each of the five stories I link to hear. Each of them will open in a new window, so you won’t lose your place here. And when you’re done, come on back and let me say a few closing words.

The Big Hate by Paul Krugman of the New York Times

Feeding the Lone Wolves by Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post

The Terrorists Among Us by GriperBlade (a blogger)

The Oath-Keepers by Joshua Holland (an Alternet blogger)

Al Qaeda and U.S. Homegrown Terror Threat by Jason Ryan on ABCNews.com

I have been saying for the last 9+ years that the problem is not Islam. The problem is fundamentalism— I don’t care what kind of fundamentalism. And yes, I include environmentalists, gay rights activists, feminists, animal rights activists and every other kind of fundamentalist out there in this. Fundamentalism, when left to grow unattended, will mature into some form of terrorism because the underlying belief in fundamentalism is that my way is THE best way bar none and everyone who doesn’t see that isn’t worth the time of day and are therefore inferior.

You don’ t think that when a group of AIDS activists comes into a church screaming and throwing condoms around that’s not some form of terrorism? Or when feminists refer to all men as sperm donors that’s not a from of terrorism? Or when animal rights activists break into a business and throw red paint all over the store that’s not terrorism? Or when a radical Christian fire bombs a  women’s health center that’s not terrorism?

We’ve had our own form of terrorism in this country for a long time. The big problem now is that they’re organizing into large groups…not small special interest groups like before. But large groups that claim to be patriotic Americans who believe in God! And that’s the really scary part because when you believe you have God on your side, you are really okay with doing just about anything to further your cause.

Until we recognize our own role in promoting terrorism in this country, nothing is going to be resolved or solved.

I have never been a fan of “professional wrestling” (or boxing for that matter) because it is a barbaric form of “entertainment”. I find the idea of watching two human beings beat the shit out of each other, sometimes to the point of death, to be no different than the Roman gladiator fights or tossing Christians to the lions. It highlights the violent-loving, blood-thirsty side of humanity and I find it repulsive. I feel much the same way about the fights in hockey. But, once again, I digress.

I’m taking paramedic class right now and it never ceases to amaze me how when you do something to one area of the body, it affects all the other areas. Sometimes in ways you don’t want it to.  And the most amazing part of the whole body from my perspective is the brain. It’s just a bunch of tissue, blood vessels, nerves and nerve endings and from that comes every single thing we’ve ever said, felt, done, seen, heard, tasted or thought. The brain is a very delicate organ and therefore the body protects it not only with the skull but with three layers of protection under the skull. We know from both scientific study, horrendous experiments and horrific accidents that when there is damage done to the brain, a whole lot of things can go wrong with what we say, feel, do, see, hear, taste and think.

And so we come to the tragic story of Chris Benoit, who became a “professional wrestler” at the age of 18 until his untimely death at age 40. Twenty two years of getting bashed in the skull by chairs, fists, feet, knees, steel cables, poles, ladders and any other thing his opponent could hit him with. Granted, he was inflicting the same kind of damage. But one thing we have also learned from our scientific study, horrendous experiments and horrific accidents is that no two humans react to something in exactly the same way.

There will never be any definitive answer as to why Benoit bound and strangled his wife, sedated then strangled his son, placed Bibles beside both of them and then hung himself from his weight machine. But there is no doubt in my mind that all the head trauma that man suffered was a contributing factor. I personally feel it was probably a rather large contributing factor because I’ve worked in a nursing home where seemingly sweet little old 85 year old ladies with dementia beat the living shit out of you because you’re trying to help them onto the toilet. While I have no scientific evidence to back it up, I think the biggest factor with dementia is the loss of social inhibitions against certain behaviors. Couple this with someone whose very career was all about inflicting violent harm on others and, IMHO, you have a toxic combination.

No, not every professional wrestler turns into a murderer. But Chris Benoit did. Although truth be told, I would not call him a murderer because murder involves the ability to distinguish right from wrong. In a brain as battered as Chris Benoit’s is reported to have been, I don’t think that was possible.

We’ve all heard of the “wall of separation between church and state”. There are those who argue that this wall does not exist. That the First Amendment was meant to keep government from interfering with religion but was never designed to keep religion from being in government. They pull out quotes by famous politicians about their personal beliefs and how important they feel God is in not only their lives but in the lives of all. And yet what these naysayers to the wall of separation refuse to see is that one can have very strong religious beliefs but recognize the need to keep religion out of government by creating a wall of separation between church and state!

But it’s not my intent to debate whether the wall exists, was meant to exist or should continue to exust. In case anyone is in doubt, it is my belief that the founding fathers intentionally created a wall of separation between church and state that was breached from the earliest days of this nation’s existence and it is extremely important to our continued existence that we rebuild, strengthen and never again allow to be breached this important wall. With that said, here’s are some examples of why we need the wall.

Faith-based initiatives: Originally put in place by George W. Bush by executive order, faith-based initiatives provides government funding to religious organizations who provide social services to the community.  Unfortunately, the vast majority of that money goes to the giant organizations who already get the lion’s share of donations from businesses and individuals, like Pat Robertson’s Operation Blessing. (Pat stopped opposing faith based initiatives after OB got a $1.5 million grant from the office of faith based initiatives.)   There is so much paperwork and so many hoops to jump through that small, local organizations who don’t have full time legal staff skilled in hoop-jumping and paperwork-filing have little chance to get the money they need for their programs. With that said, here are some examples of why we need the wall of separation of church and state.

Faith-based organizations are free to refuse to hire those who violate the dictates of the organization’s creed. For example, a Catholic organization can refuse to hire a lesbian. A religion that preaches the separation of races is free to refuse to hire someone of another race. Put another way, if the KKK runs a social organization that provides assistance to the needy, they can refuse to hire blacks, gays, Jews and any other minority on their radar. And your tax dollars support that.

2010 saw a spate of teen suicides due to anti-gay bullying. One young man was from Minnesota, where his school district has a policy that demands teachers remain “neutral” on topics such as homosexuality and failure to do so could result in the loss of their job. The policy is so broadly written that for a teacher to intervene when a gay student is being bullied for being gay could be seen as a violation of that policy. Yet religious groups in Minnesota want to keep the policy because they claim that allowing the discussion of anti-gay bullying to take place is an attempt to “normalize” homosexuality for kids. In other words, it’s part of the gay agenda. These religious groups and their inordinate fear of homosexuality are costing children their lives and yet they don’t want to do anything about it.

In Oklahoma, heart of the Bible-belt,  a lesbian student was kicked out of  a public high school because she moved in with her girlfriend. She was told she could return to school if she moved back with her parents. And this is apparently not the first time the same principal has kicked out gay students. Granted, religion is never mentioned in the article, but to suggest it has no influence on the principal’s decision is like suggesting that living in the Antarctic has no influence on your choice to wear a parka when you go outside.

The Family Research Council, an organization that on its own website states that it “promotes the Judeo-Christian worldview as the basis for a just, free, and stable society“, was founded by Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, and others.  Dobson’s power in Washington cannot be understated. When Dobson speaks, the Republican party and the Tea Party listen. FRC was recently named a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for the misinformation and fear-mongering and hate-sowing they do on their website and through their “ministry”. We do NOT need people like this influencing legislation in our nation’s or any state’s capitol, especially given that it is recognized by the US Supreme Court that it is NOT the government’s job to legislate morality. (”Our obligation is to define the liberty of all, not to mandate our own moral code.” Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, 850 (1992).)

One of the rallying cries for those opposed to President Obama has been a Bible verse: Psalms 109:8.

8 Let his days be few, and let another take his office

9 Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.

Real nice, huh? Such a Christian attitude! But, because of the wall of separation between church and state, this kind of sick, perverse, twisted use of the Bible is OK. Now, if we didn’t have that wall of separation of church and state, the government would be able to tell you what that verse meant in context.

A 43-foot cross that is also a memorial to veterans and sits on federal land has been ruled to be in violation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution. And that is what should have been ruled. Let’s say you were Jewish or Muslim or atheist or Wiccan and you went to visit the national park and saw this symbol there representing war veterans…except that you’re not Christian. It suggests that the government doesn’t value your sacrifice as much as that of a Christian.

When a court of law can order a young gay man to attend a religiously run program designed to “change” his orientation, there’s something majorly wrong with the American justice system.

Then you have the Tea Party in Tennessee who wants to re-write history so there is no criticism of the founding fathers. I realize there is no real mention of religion in this article either, but the vast majority of the Tea Party membership are conservative Christians, many of these  who believe that the US was meant to be a Christian nation.

These are just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many reasons we need an absolutely impenetrable wall of separation between church and state and this only lightly brushed those issues. We need to keep fighting to rebuild the wall, even as the new Congress is once again trying to tear it down….

This little quiz is taken from the PBS series “Assault on Gay America”. It is a reproduction of a quiz created in 1996 to measure the attitudes of 64 white male college students. The mean score for that group was 30.48. How does your score measure up? (My score was 4…)

Clean drinking water is a luxury in many parts of the world, and if the big corporate farms keep buying up water rights in the US (which is a whole other post) it might become the next “oil” we find ourselves having to ration so we don’t run out. Or so that we can afford it. And yet in America, about half the water we use is used outdoors on just three activities: washing the car, watering the lawn and filling up swimming pools. Just think about that for a minute! Half of all the water we use in the US is used on activities that are totally unnecessary and are, truthfully, luxuries.

So when I read about Diane Faulkner’s decision to do away with her lawn and use plants that grow well without any additional water usage, I was reminded of this little gem that came through my email many years ago. I don’t know who started it or where it came from, but I think it’s funny as hell and illustrates the absurd logic that some humans used in their pursuit of “the perfect lawn.” This is how it came to me in my email.

One day God and St. Francis were gazing down from heaven onto the earth below.

God turns to St. Francis and says, “Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there? What happened to all the dandelions and violets and thistles and stuff I started eons ago? I created a perfect, no-maintenance garden! Those plants grow in any type of soil, can survive through a drought and multiply faster than rabbits! The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a huge garden of colors by now but all I see are these funny green rectangles around the houses. And some of them aren’t all that green!”

St. Francis looks up sadly to God and says, “It’s a shame, isn’t it, Lord? It’s the tribes that settled there: the Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers ‘weeds’ and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with large patches of grass they call a lawn.”

God looks at St. Francis with disbelief. “Grass?…Grass?!?! But that’s so boring! It’s not colorful. It doesn’t attract anything but grubs and sodworms. It’s overly sensitive to termperature and you have to give it extra water just to keep it green! Do these Surburbanites really want all that grass growing there?”

“Apparently so, Lord,” replied St. Francis. “They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing the grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.”

God shrugs his shoulders. “Well, at least the spring rains and warm weather will make the grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites really happy.”

St. Francis smiles wanly. “You’d think so, Lord. But apparently not. As soon as it grows, they cut it! Sometimes twice a week!”

“They cut it?! I suppose they bail it like hay then to use later?”

“Would that they did, Lord,” St. Francis replies sadly. “Unfortunately, most of them rake it up and put it in large plastic bags.”

“Plastic bags? Whatever for? Do they sell it then?” God asks.

St. Francis smiles wryly. “No, Lord. They actually pay to have someone come to their house, pick up the bags, throw them in the back of a big truck and take them to what the Suburbanites call a landfill, where they’re dumped out— still in the bags— and covered over with earth.”

God’s brow furrows. “Let me get this straight. They fertilize the grass so it grows. But when it grows, they cut it off, and pay someone to bury it back in the earth?”

“You got it, Lord.”

God shakes his head. “Then the Surburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. It must save them hours upon hours of work and lots of money when they don’t have to cut the grass so often.”

St. Francis grimaces. “Actually, Lord, you’re not going to believe this, but when the grass stops growing so fast, they get out their hoses, and pay more money to water their lawns so that the grass keeps growing so they can keep cutting it and paying to get rid of it!”

“That makes no sense!” exclaims God. “Well, at least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer and a place for birds to build their nests. In the autumn, the leaves fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes from the cold temperatures. And as an added bonus, as the leaves rot, they put nutrients back in the soil to help the trees and bushes grow next spring! It’s the natural circle of life!”

“I agree 100%, Lord. That was a flawless design. But— you may want to sit down for this, Lord— the Suburbanites have created a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great big piles, put them in plastic bags and pay to have them buried in the ground like the grass.”

“You gotta be kidding me!” God says incredulously. “What do they do to protect the shrubs and trees in the winter and to keep the soil moist?”

“Well,” St. Francis says, “after they throw away the leaves, they pay to have someone deliver something called mulch, which they spread around the trees and bushes in place of the leaves.”

“And where do they get the mulch?” God inquires. “Or maybe I shouldn’t ask…”

“Since you did ask, they cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch,” St. Francis explains.

God shakes his head sadly. “Enough! I don’t want to think about this anymore! St. Catherine! Come here a minute! You’re in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?”

St. Catherine looks at God’s sad face and says, “‘Dumb and Dumber’, Lord. I think it’s a rather stupid movie, but the humans seem to find it humorous. It’s about…”

God puts up his hand to stop her. “Never mind. St. Francis just told me the whole story…”

You know the old saying…”If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck and looks like a duck…”

Well, Rev. Walter Fauntroy, one of the chief organizers of Martin Luther King’s 1963 March on Washington where he delivered his “I have a dream” speech, has equated the Tea Party with the Ku Klux Klan because of TP mouthpiece Glenn Beck’s plans to hold a “Restoring Honor” rally on the anniversary of MLK’s speech.

Now, Glenn Beck, a self-described American history buff, claims that the rally was originally planned for Sept. 12 and that he switched it because Sept. 12 was a Sunday and he didn’t want people to have to work on the Sabbath. Does he really think we’re that stupid? Or does he want us to believe that HE is that stupid? You are not going to convince me that Beck did not know the August 28 was the anniversary of King’s speech. Even if he did not know, are you telling me that every single person who was in on the planning of this event just “forgot” or didn’t know the significance of that day? Yeah, and Frosty the Snowman really does run through town yelling “Catch me if you can!”

Then Beck says that his rally is not going to be political in any way…but then says that Sarah Palin is going to be one of the event’s key speakers. But it’s not going to be political in any way!  And again, he either thinks we’re that stupid or wants us to believe that he is!

About the only good thing is that the rally, according to CBS News analysis of pictures taken of crowd at noon, drew about 78,000-96,000 people, far less than the 300,000 the event planners had a permit for. Of course, they estimated that 500,000 people had shown up for the event. Once again, he either thinks we’re that stupid or he’s a liar…

Guess which one’s got my vote? The duck…

Yeah, this is an old story, but it’s been in my “to blog on” bookmarks since I started paramedic class. I’m going through them in the order I bookmarked them or grouping them in related articles.

Unfortunately, it’s not anyone but the US smearing the US in this article that reveals the existence of recordings of interrogation sessions of suspected (or even admitted) terrorists who helped plan 9/11.

First, the very existence of the tapes proves the government to be lying because they twice denied, before a federal judge, that such tapes exist. (Of course, the other 92 recordings no longer exist because the government destroyed them, perhaps illegally.)

Second, they demonstrate the willingness of the US government to work with the leadership of countries whose policies we denounce if it serves our purposes. Like the government of Morocco, which to this day has never acknowledged the existence of the prison seen on tape and, as late as last year, was cited by the State Department with human rights violations that include torture, forced disappearances, sexual violence, and abominable prison conditions.

And third, and perhaps most importantly, it shows that the US is not even following its own laws with respect to those detained at the various secret prisons around the world and Guantanamo: the prisoner’s have yet to be formally charged, there is no “speedy trial”, many of them have not even had contact with a lawyer and yet they are still being detained in abysmal conditions and subjected to who knows what kind of human rights violations.

I know I’m going to get blasted by those who say “They had no regard for the human rights of those they killed!”

Since when has two wrongs made a right?

Since when have we rewritten the US Constitution that says “All men are created equal”, not “All US citizens are created equal”?

Since when have we decided it’s okay to take the low road?

Since when have we chosen to shrug our collective shoulders at injustice in the name of revenge?

That’s not what happens in the America I believe in…

“Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell” is a policy set up by the Clinton administration in an effort to fulfill his campaign promise of allowing gays to serve openly in the military. Since the beginning of US history, being gay has been a reason to be discharged from the military.  It was incorrectly thought that if a soldier new that his fellow soldier was gay, the integrity of the unit and their ability to function as a cohesive unit would be threatened. This ban on gays in the military was one of the reasons that gays were often denied top secret clearances: they were prone to blackmail because if it were found out they were gay, they could be blackmailed so they wouldn’t lose their jobs.

Of course, this is the military creating its own problem: gays couldn’t be blackmailed if they were allowed to openly serve, so get rid of the ban! Such a ban doesn’t even make logical sense! If a homophobic soldier doesn’t know which of his fellow soldiers is gay, he’s got to suspect ALL of them of being gay. Now that is going to affect unit integrity more than knowing that one or two soldiers in your unit are gay.  If gays were allowed to openly serve, he would only have to avoid those one or two. But I digress.

Gays have always known that changing the policy won’t endanger military preparedness because we know that one’s orientation has nothing to do with one’s ability to serve in the military.

For GLBT’s serving in the military, the past 15 months has been a roller coaster of emotions.  In July, 2010, the Pentagon sent out a survey to more than 400,000 members of the military asking their reaction to gays openly serving. The survey was condemned by both opponents and supports of the repeal of DADT. Opponents seem to believe that the repeal of DADT is already something that’s going to happen and that the survey is just a way to justify that decision.  GLBT groups didn’t like the wording or the fact that their right to serve depended on popular opinion.

But Log Cabin Republicans didn’t want to wait until the survey results and the Pentagon’s report on those results came back. They sued the government in federal court saying that the law was unconstitutional. And on September 9, 2010, Judge Virginia Phillips agreed and, in an 86 page decision, ruled DADT in violation of the first and fifth amendments.

The euphoria in the gay community was quickly dampened, however, by the Justice Department’’s attempts to stop implementation of the judge’s order to immediately stop discharging GLBT soldiers. In early October, however, Judge Phillips refused to issue a stay on her injuction against the prohibition of discharging gays. Her written ruling stated that government’s concerns about military readiness and troop morale were not as important as protecting basic constitutional rights.

What should have been a wonderful time for the GLBT community was soon interrupted again by the government’s attempts to stop the progress of equality. And to add to their disappointment, an appeals court ruled that DADT could remain in effect until the Obama administration, which still insisted it wanted DADT repealed, could appeal Judge Phillips’ ruling.

Then came the long-awaited Pentagon report, which essentially said what gays have said all along: that allowing them to serve openly was not really a problem! On the heels of that report, the US House, followed days later by the US Senate, did what it should have done 17 years ago: they voted to repeal DADT. Less than a week later, President Obama signed the repeal into law. The repeal was too late for the more than 13,000 service members who have already been discharged from the military simply for being gay.

But before the President even signed the repeal, the radical religious right (rrr) was already up in arms and preparing their counterattack.

Should be a great time for gays, right? Lots of celebrating and coming out of the closet, especially when, in this bleak economy, a new report showed that DADT has cost the government more than $193 million over just five years (’04-’09). Just one more reason to push on and erase the last vestiges of the ban, right?  But not so fast…. Despite the fact that the law was signed more than two months ago, DADT is still in effect. And the government is still defending it in court because DADT will not truly be done until after a 60 day period of Congressional review that occurs only after the president, secretary of defense and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify that the repeal of DADT won’t cause the military to disintegrate into a chaotic mass of men, women and machinery.

While it seems to be a bit like splitting hairs, the Congress that repealed DADT and the Congress now seated are two different monsters. The White House is asking the Ninth Appellate Court to delay consideration of  the Log Cabin Republican’s appeal of its ruling that DADT could remain in effect until policy changes were made so they can implement those policies, thereby making the need for an appeal a moot point. But the danger in this course of action is that the new Congress will enact new legislation putting another version of DADT back on the books while the Obama administration works to erase DADT policy out of the military.

The first progress report for implementing policy changes that eliminate DADT was due March 1. So far, the Defense Department’s website that’s dedicated to the repeal process has not posted any information about that progress report nor said when DADT will officially be legally dead.  So while there’s room for optimism with respect to DADT’s overdue death, there’s also reason to keep up our guard and continue to press forth with legal challenges to DADT in the event that this new Congress decides to take its focus of women’s reproductive rights and turn them back onto the GLBT community.

OK, so maybe it’s not big news, but I have now put one part of my life behind me. I am no longer working as a CNA and for that I am eternally grateful. I am in  between jobs right now. I will be starting to work as an EMT before the end of the month and I’m still taking my paramedic classes and precepting, so being back may only be for a short time until my classes/precepting are over. However, I think that now that I’m not so damn stressed out over the CNA job, I’ll be able to post more here and get back to my original goal of trying to post something every day.

So without further ado, I’m going to end this post and start my next blog entry….

This is actually just another Alternet blog post, but I think it bears reading and watching. It’s so indicative of the double-speak used by so many on the rrr. And yes, I know double-speak goes on all over the political spectrum. It goes on all through life in all walks of life. But the Republicans and the rrr have taken this to new heights.