"Angry man, motivated by hatred of US government policy, launches suicide attack against federal building." But it's not terrorism.

I was glancing through the CNN story about the man who flew his plane into the IRS building in Austin when I noticed this:

Two F-16 fighter jets were sent from Houston as a precaution, but federal authorities said preliminary information did not indicate any terrorist connection.

"We do not yet know the cause of the plane crash," the Department of Homeland Security said in a release. "At this time, we have no reason to believe there is a nexus to terrorist activity. We continue to gather more information, and are aware there is additional information about the pilot's history."

Two things struck me about that quote from Homeland Security. First, if this man's name was Abdul Mohammed, instead of Joseph Stack, there would be no question that every single person in the government-if not the country- would have assumed that this was a terrorist attack. But of course they don't consider it one, even though the vast majority of terrorists attacks in this country have been perpetrated by white American males, and even though this meets virtually any definition of terrorism one could come up with.

I mean, just think about the headline: "Angry man, motivated by hatred of US government policy, launches suicide attack against federal building." Suddenly, that's not a terror attack? Because he's white? If it's not because of that, then what is it?

This leads directly to my next point, which is illustrated by a sentence contained in that quote:

"At this time, we have no reason to believe there is a nexus to terrorist activity."

This is illuminating, because it shows that the Department of Homeland Security believes that, although this was clearly a terrorist act, when they think "terrorism", they think "Islam," and also that, unless some evidence is uncovered that connects Joseph Stack with Al Qaeda, they don't need to get all worked up. And don't expect the fear-mongers at FoxNews to get to call this terrorism either-that doesn't fit their narrative.

They might want to reconsider that, since the US ruling elite** has now moved beyond stoking the hatred of Muslims and begun actively and overtly screwing over the vast majority of its own citizens. They may soon realize that Americans, just like Muslims, can only take so much.***

*Funny thing, though. The government, which doesn't want to glamorize this man's actions, refers to him as a criminal.

As the Department of Homeland Security opened an investigation andPresident Obama received a briefing from his counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, federal officials emphasized the same message, describing the case as a criminal inquiry.

Maybe they should start referring to people like Abdulmutallab as criminals, too, instead of conferring "warrior" status on him as the Chenyites demand.

**I am intentionally not calling this ruling elite the government, because it is much more than that. It is that group of people who rule this country without regard to the wishes of the people-this includes the super-rich, some members of Congress (including the current president to a degree), military leaders, corporate leaders, and the most powerful members of the media who enable them all. The ruling elite is a fairly precise description, but I am currently looking for something more memorable. Please feel free to help out.

***I am in no way advocating violence, and I hope no one else out there is doing that. I'm simply pointing out the danger, human nature being what it is.