WORLD NEWS FROM RIGHT-WING EXTREMISTS

Let's start at home with our very own radio talk show host, Glenn Beck. On his Monday broadcast, Beck trashed the government of Norway for running the Utoya Island camp for youth interested in careers in politics. The Utoya island camp was the scene of last week's massacre where a right-wing extremist, Anders Breivik, brutally killed scores of youngsters and camp counselors. Beck suggested that the camp was turning out "Hitler Youth" and said, "Who does a camp for kids that's all about politics? Disturbing."

It sounds like Beck was justifying Breivik's mass murder, at least that's how the Norwegians took his comment, and why not? Breivik's so-called "manifesto" contained the same anti-Muslim immigrant ranting that Beck's been spouting since the day after September eleventh.

Here in the United States, Beck has made a name for himself by touting the Second Amendment as in insurance policy for common citizens to overthrow the government if it doesn't cede to their demands. In the next breath, Beck says the U.S. government isn't listening to its citizen's demand to keep out Islamic immigrants. Breivik said the same about the Norwegian government and he used his firearm to get the government's attention. It's no wonder that Beck focused his indignation on the Norwegian government instead of on Breivik. Deep down, Beck and Breivik are two-of-a-kind…except that now Breivik has a higher body count to his credit.

P.S. My daughter is attending church camp this week. Who does a camp for kids that's all about God?

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Heading East to Africa, over 11 million Somalians face starvation as a result of the worst drought in that country over the past 60 years. In some parts of that country, it hasn't rained for over five years. The United Nations and European Union are trying to arrange airlifts of food supplies to the region, but right-wing extremists (of the Islamic variety) are doing their best to thwart outside assistance from reaching the starving masses.

Of course, that's nothing different from what the Tea Party and the Republican Party are attempting to do here in the United States. I guess starvation is one of those tools that the right-wing finds most effective.

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In Syria, right-wing dictator, Bashar al-Assad continues his bloody and torturous crack-down on anti-government demonstrators in an attempt to keep the "Arab Spring" from flowering in Syria and ousting him from power. Syrian tanks routinely bombard anti-government towns with mortar fire and the Army has carried out systematic executions of known political dissidents in a move to quash criticism of the Assad regime. Plus, the neighboring right-wing theocracy in Iran is lending Assad all the support it can muster. Last year's "Green Revolution" in Iran woke the Ayatollahs to the fact that no rulers in the Middle East were safe from overthrow. That's one problem situation the Ayatollahs are trying to prevent.

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A right-wing Taliban suicide bomber killed the mayor of Kandahar earlier today in Afghanistan. The Mayor, Ghulam Haidar Hameedi, was killed when the bomber detonated a pack of explosives hidden in the bomber's turban. It's just another day of senseless right-wing violence!

I'm guessing we'll see a "ban the turban" bill in Congress in the near future.

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Farther west, China continues its right-wing government led crackdown on Internet users who employ that medium to criticize government policies. Apparently, free speech is alive and well in China, as long as you don't exercise that speech to criticize anybody in power. I doubt Glenn Beck would last five minutes in that environment.

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Let's end this tour back in the United States. FOX news (America's right-wing mouthpiece) continues to tout the claim of Texan Republican Congressman John Culbertson that VA officials at the Houston National Cemetery refuse to allow Christian prayers at military funerals. Culbertson claims he conducted his own undercover operation to confirm his accusation. There's no video or audio recording to back-up the charges…just the word of a Congressman – whatever that's worth.

But let's not be hasty here. After all, this is a FOX news story we're talking about. The last thing you'd expect is 'fair and balanced' coverage…and FOX doesn't disappoint.

At issue is the Veteran's Administration's requirement that military honor guard personnel first receive permission from the widow or family of a fallen soldier before using the word God in remarks at a graveyard service. The regulation was put into place to prevent military personnel from offending any grieving relatives who were atheists or agnostics or did not believe in the same God as the majority of our military personnel. The regulation was not instituted to prevent the mention of God at military funerals or to prevent Christian prayers, as Culbertson and FOX news charge. It was instituted to respect the wishes of grieving relatives.

Buried in the print of the FOX news story was Congressman Culbertson's admission that military honor guard members didn't want to have to bother a grieving widow with such a request. To Culbertson, I guess having the honor guard make such a request is a trite and senseless task. However, if I were an atheist (which I'm not) and I had just sacrificed my son or daughter's life for the benefit of this nation, being asked about my wishes at a graveyard service seems like something I'd be entitled to. If that's too much to ask of the military, FOX news or Congressman Culbertson – tough!