Man with firecrackers threatens to blow up mosque.

 

GantDaily.com, a Clearfield, Pennsylvania newspaper web site, carried an informative story about a mentally disturbed Vietnam-war veteran, who suffered from the wartime illness called PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) who was arrested in Dearborn, Michigan after he made threats to blow up a mosque. His weapon of choice was a large quantity of M-80 firecrackers, something much less dangerous than the car bomb found in Times Square, New York that was constructed by a radical Muslim terrorist.

California man charged in threat to blow up Michigan mosque

January 30, 2011 at 4:43 PM by AHN

Dearborn, MI, United States (NewsBahn) – A 63-year-old Vietnam veteran has been charged with threatening to blow up one of America’s largest mosques.

Roger Stockham, of Imperial Beach, CA, was arrested Jan. 24 in the parking lot of the Islamic Center of America. Police found a large quantify of class-C fireworks, including M-80s, in the trunk of his car.

Much to the credit of other mainstream news media, many other stories have correctly identified the contents of Roger Stockham's car as being class-C fireworks which are the favorite but none-the-less illegal 4th of July noise-maker. The classification of class-C fireworks is the outdated category used by the US Dept. of Transportation to describe "common fireworks" available for sale to and use by the general public. The most dangerous consequence for the misuse of M-80s, as shown in this photo from Wikipedia, is premature explosion in the hand of the user causing loss of fingers. Traditionally, M-80s were made from a small red cardboard tube approximately 1½ inches long and 9/16–5/8 inches in diameter, with a Visco fuse coming out of the side, holding approximately 2½–3 grams of pyrotechnic flash powder.

Pretty soon the salient facts of this case will begin to disappear and the only thing we will hear about is another domestic terrorist venting rage against a peaceful religion because of hatred stirred up by racists. Another web site, Gates of Vienna commented on this incident by saying:

So the man is a Vietnam combat vet with PTSD. Normally the MSM would be greatly sympathetic towards the poor fellow. The narrative would describe him as “troubled”, and reporters would examine the negligence of the Veterans’ Administration in allowing one of its charges to deteriorate to this level.

However, to his great misfortune, Roger Stockham messed with the most untouchable special interest group in America: Muslims. This puts him beyond the pale.

Forget “troubled” — enter the “deranged loner”. In the cloud around this news story, expect these additional keywords: militias, Tea Parties, right-wing extremists, Second Amendment, and Sarah Palin.

Wait and see. Tomorrow, when the news bureaus are fully staffed, and all the Homeland Security apparatchiks are behind their desks again, the full-court press will begin.

Gate of Vienna reported that according to the local Dearborn, Michigan newspaper  Press and Guide:

The story was first reported by The Press & Guide Saturday night. Though the incident happened almost a week ago, information wasn’t made public until Saturday when the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Michigan issued a press statement on the incident.

“We thank law enforcement authorities for their quick and professional actions in this troubling incident,” said Dawud Walid, executive director of CAIR’s Michigan chapter. “The increased number of bias incidents targeting American Muslim institutions must be addressed by local, state and national authorities.”

Yeah, wait until the big name commentators start covering this story on the Monday night news.