I'm not surprised FOX would paint these vigilantes as Minuteman heroes.

Remember how they originally depicted the welfare cowboy Bundy and his hillbilly militia as freedom fighters? And to this day, they lionize the Waco wackos and the Ruby Ridge rednecks as patriots, crushed under the bootheel of liberal tyranny.

Right wing media aren't just biased, they are Nazi propagandists. But unlike the original Nazis, who promoted their twisted ideology out of a misguided but sincere belief in their own racial superiority and historical inevitability, the Right wing media fans the flames of hatred and discord simply because it is profitable. There's an infinite market for hate in this country, and capitalism is ready and eager to meet the demand.

When my 16 year old cousin came from Cuba under the Pedro Pan program, escaping Castro's tyranny, he stayed with my family and he attended high school with me. After his first homeroom recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, he said to me, "My parents sent me here to
save me from just this kind of political brainwashing."

But his most perceptive remark came during his first high school football game, when the bleachers erupted into a wildly enthusiastic rendition of "Dixie" prior to the game. The song routinely followed a more sedate "Star Spangled Banner" just prior to kickoff. I explained to him the context.

"I thought you guys fought your Civil War a hundred years ago."

Yeah, I'm paranoid all right. I'm scared shitless.