do the knights of columbus cause terrorism?

a hidden connection?

Remember when John Walker Lindh was captured, and we heard endless diatribes from the Religous Right about how his parents' Marin County, hot-tub-lovin' (this was before Tom DeLay), liberal upbringing created a terrorist?   Check out teen found guilty of threatening terrorism:

Macomb County jury convicts a teen-ager of plotting a massacre at his high school. The jury yesterday found Andrew Osantowski guilty of threatening terrorism, and of using a computer to threaten terrorism.

And what can we find in his background that turned this young boy into a teen terrorist? A local paper say this about his father, who also faces criminal charges:

He is a member of the Knights of Columbus and a founding member of a local Catholic church.

Disturbing, no?  what about Jeff Wiese, the Native American boy who went on a shooting spree at his high school last year?   

Red Lake Fire Chief Roman Stately identified Weise’s grandfather as policeman Daryl Lussier and said Lussier’s guns may have been used in the shootings.

Jeff lived with his grandfather, a tribal policeman.

And Charles Bishop, the teen who flew a Cessna into a Tampa office building after leaving a note praising Osama bin Laden?  According to his right-wing family, he was a "loyal American."   They added

He was an honor roll student who loved his family and his three dogs, read Tom Clancy novels, played the saxophone and studied German.

Tom Clancy novels, huh?   That explains it.

What's my point - that a conservative upbringing creates terrorists?   No.     Each of these cases -- and Lindh's -- is a profound tragedy for everyone involved.  The factors leading to this behavior are much too complicated to be understood by an outsider.  And I would never - never - exploit a family tragedy to score a cheap political point.

But they sure would.

Comments

[Gordon]

I knew a guy who was such a fanatical Knight of Columbus he wouldn't drink out of a Mason jar! :)