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I usually try not to write posts that do little more than point you to better things that other people have written. But despite my preambles, this is essentially one of those posts.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a report exploring Right-wing extremism in America. Specifically, the report mentioned disgruntled army veterans angry at the current direction (read: rise of an eloquent, African-American President) of the government:

Right-wing extremists have capitalized on the election of the first African American president, and are focusing their efforts to recruit new members, mobilize existing supporters, and broaden their scope and appeal through propaganda, but they have not yet turned to attack planning.

It’s a fascinating report for anyone that spends any time listening and reading — for entertainment purposes or otherwise — to the Neoconservative side of American politics.

They are really, really angry right now. Part of that is their usual persecution complex, but part of it is that they’re right — they have been marginalized to some degree. Their ideology no longer resonates as much with as many people as it used to, and you can thank whatever deity you believe in for that.

And this anger — as it tends to do with people who think owning assault rifles is a right guaranteed by a constitution that was written at a timde it took almost a full minute to load another bullet into the gun — has led to violence:

• Jim David Adkisson has been convicted for killing two in a church in Knoxville, Tenn., on July 27, 2008. He wanted to kill Democrats in Congress, Supreme Court justices, and then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, but instead settled for the “foot soldiers” of liberalism, referring to the members of the church in a letter.
• The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said in October that it has disrupted a skinhead plot to assassinate Obama and kill 102 black people in October.
• A Brockton, Mass., man is charged with killing two people during a rampage across the city in January. He told authorities he wanted to kill as many nonwhites as possible.
• This year, five US police officers – three in Pittsburgh and two in Florida – by individuals with links to right-wing extremism.

(Thanks to the Christian Science Monitor for that partial list. There’s more in that link.)

And in the time since the DHS report was released in April, a doctor who ran an abortion clinic was  murdered while attending church and a crazy person took it upon himself to shoot up the Holocaust Museum. Those are just the crimes with the highest profiles..

Both acts, obviously, drew attention back to the report, which was derided by much of the Right wing upon its release as “Left-wing propaganda”. (The fact that it was the second of two reports, looking at extremism on each side of the political spectrum, commissioned by the Bush Administration, didn’t seem to matter much.)

By the way, if you’d like to read the report, wracked by military-speak as it is, here’s the unclassified version.

Anyway, the report is now firmly back into the talking-head topic mix, on both sides of the dial, and one of the more interesting aspects of it discusses the presence of Neo-Nazism among disgruntled veterans:

“The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today.”

All of which brings me to the must-read of the week for anyone fascinated with political and military culture in the United States and the still-deadly undertow of racism in rural America.

Salon examines Neo-Nazis in the Army. Terrifying, fascinating and well-written as all hell:

Since the launch of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. military has struggled to recruit and reenlist troops. As the conflicts have dragged on, the military has loosened regulations, issuing “moral waivers” in many cases, allowing even those with criminal records to join up. Veterans suffering post-traumatic stress disorder have been ordered back to the Middle East for second and third tours of duty.

The lax regulations have also opened the military’s doors to neo-Nazis, white supremacists and gang members — with drastic consequences. Some neo-Nazis have been charged with crimes inside the military, and others have been linked to recruitment efforts for the white right.

Yikes. The full article is right here. Go read it. For real.