'Simple. Call them terrorists'

Witness the recent press release from an outfit called "Americans for American Energy," based in Golden, Colo. At issue was the leasing of the Roan Plateau in western Colorado for oil and gas drilling. This is a wonderful place for wildlife, but part of the plateau was originally set aside as a Naval Oil Shale Reserve by President Woodrow Wilson. At that time, and even today, there was no economical way to extract petroleum from oil shale, so control of the land passed from the Navy to the U.S. Department of Energy and then to the federal Bureau of Land Management.

Lots of people including local ranchers and hunters oppose drilling on the Roan Plateau. They worked through the system to protest, writing letters, speaking out at public meetings and lobbying their elected officials. They did nothing violent or destructive. But the press release from Americans for American energy denounced them as "economic terror groups — eco-terrorists" who had "launched an attack against the U.S. Naval Oil Shale Reserve," thereby "weakening American security, right when we are in the middle of a war."

~ more... ~