Terrorism strikes in America, again...

... domestic terrorism, that is. This article (hat tip to Blaque) reminds us of the fact that Mr. Von Brunn isn't the only one recently, and points out that this is exactly what the Department of Homeland Security warned about:

A month before a suspected white supremacist walked into the Holocaust Memorial Museum in downtown Washington and opened fire, the Department of Homeland Security warned that domestic right-wing extremism was the most pressing domestic terrorist threat that the country faced.

Conservatives were outraged that the DHS analysts had singled out antiabortion and antitax radicals for scrutiny. But the report was part of a series that DHS compiles on domestic dangers from all sides of the political spectrum, an area that's taken a back seat to overseas threats.

A series of recent incidents shows the prescience of those reports and illustrates the worrying reality that terrorism often comes from inside the homeland. Worse still, the reports caution that such attacks are likely to happen again. In the past two weeks, the country has seen the bombing of a Starbucks coffee shop in New York City, the arrest of four men for allegedly plotting to blow up synagogues and shoot down planes, the shooting of two soldiers at an Army recruitment center in Arkansas, the assassination of a doctor inside a Kansas church, and the shooting at the Holocaust Museum. Although these are not all cases of right-wing extremism, each is an example of domestic terrorism. "We still face threats from al Qaeda," FBI chief Robert Mueller warned Congress in May during a briefing on threats facing the nation. "But we must also focus on less well-known terrorist groups, as well as homegrown terrorists."

Incidentally, the suspect in this case is the author of an ebook entitled Kill The Best Gentiles, something that he claims comes from the Talmud. (This claim is discussed here, for those interested). His website has been taken down, but for the morbidly curious, the Google cache of his "masterpiece" still exists -- for the time being. Let's just say it isn't well written even by the standards of far right nutcases; at least something like The Turner Diaries works on the level of a "boy's own adventure" story (not that you'd want your kids reading it). And as a friend of mine pointed out, the fact that he's still alive at 88 would seem to remove him from the category of "best Gentiles", by his own reasoning.

The alleged assualt on his wife by the coward Robert Ford

Toronto city Coun. Rob Ford was arrested Wednesday and charged with assaulting his wife and uttering death threats, his lawyer has confirmed.

Lawyer Dennis Morris told CBCNews.ca that his client was arrested in his Etobicoke home mid-morning after being accused of committing an assault earlier that day. Morris said Ford denies the assault ever took place and will plead not guilty.

From the Ceeb. Well, he's innocent until proven guilty, of course, as the National Post is quick to point out in their wonderfully selective fashion. Nevertheless, I think that most readers of this blog will tend to agree that regardless of the outcome of this, Mr Ford is a jerk. A few examples of his past behaviour can be found here:

In past incidents, Councillor Rob Ford:

• Lied about his drunkenness and profanity while watching a Maple Leafs game at the Air Canada Centre in the spring of 2006. He was making remarks such as, "Green Party f---ing rules" and, "Do you want your little wife to go over to Iran and get raped and shot?"

• Initially, he denied to reporters he was even at the game, claiming he was being "slandered."

• Called Councillor Gloria Lindsay Luby a "low-life" and "waste of skin" and Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti "Gino-boy," an ethnic slur. He later apologized.

• Incensed city money was being used for AIDS prevention programs such as giving prostitutes condoms, said AIDS is "very preventable. If you're not doing needles and you're not gay, you won't get AIDS, probably."

• Opposed bike lanes last year, saying: "Roads are built for buses, cars and trucks. My heart bleeds when someone gets killed, but it's their own fault."

Quite remarkable that someone like this continues to get elected. Perhaps the folks of his ward respond well to his grandstanding about fiscal responsibility, or maybe he just stands for good suburban values like racism, homophobia, poor bashing, drunken idiocy, and (maybe) domestic violence. Doesn't reflect very positively on Etobicoke, that's for sure.

Edited to add: It seems that the charge has been withdrawn. I guess he's not a wifebeater, so my apologies to Mr. Ford (but I stand by all the other mean things I said about him).