Sad + Alarming + Can't put this thought together

I find it it terribly sad. I find it incredibly alarming. As details trickle in about today's horrific shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial, I am struck by another tragedy just a couple weeks ago — the tragic killing of Dr. George Tiller.

Acts of hate. Acts of cowardice. These two murders are very different, from an ideological point of view of course, but they are alarmingly similar in too many ways to list.

At their root, though: These are acts of domestic terrorism, and should be treated as such.

Please understand that I am not one to use the word terrorism without thinking it through. I do not attribute it to just any crime. I do not simply attribute the moniker to crimes of intolerance, crimes based on religious views, hate, or bigotry. Even though these are often the defining characteristics of such acts. I do, however, find that acts of terrorism are rooted in an ideology gone terribly astray. An ideology, at its surface, that may seem to have no malice. But eventually, on it's fringes attracts the most dangerous type of subscriber. An individual or group of individuals who would impress upon us all their agenda through the most savage means possible: By preying on the innocent.

As a last thought:
I am also alarmed that the same DHS report (issued in April) that has been demonized as a useless act of partisan zealotry warned of acts of domestic terrorism by these very fringe elements in this country. Maybe we should start paying attention to rabid ideology within our borders.