I’ve often suspected that a great deal of right-wing support for torture is based on a

I’ve often suspected that a great deal of right-wing support for torture is based on a (perhaps-

unconscious) assurance that its victims will always be people with funny names who look and talk

different from “real Americans”. Even in the case of an undeniably repulsive mass murderer like

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, I suspect much of the enthusiasm for torturing and denying judicial process to

KSM would dissipate if he had a nice American name like “Timothy McVeigh”. Thiessen’s

inconsistencies are just another piece of evidence for this theory.

Over the weekend in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, eight men of the “Hutaree Militia” were arrested (a

ninth turned himself in Monday), and all have been charged with “seditious conspiracy,” “attempting

to use weapons of mass destruction,” and firearms violations. Two of the nine are charged with

“instructing” others how to make bombs. The indictment [.pdf] charges that these member of the so-

called Hutaree Militia had plans to lure cops into various ambushes in furtherance of their plan for

war against the Antichrist.

All the rest of the Michigan militias are telling the press that he had nothing to do with the accused,

having long considered them trouble, and he reportedly even refused some of the Hutarees sanctuary once

the arrests began.