Last year the Department of Homeland Security put its foot in a bear trap when it released a report on the dangers of a rise in "rightwing extremism" because of the election of the nation's first African-American chief executive and because of the economic meltdown. Some people were really incensed because it implied that some American military personnel returning from the wars were likely to join militias. The agency quickly followed up that report with numerous TV appearances by director Janet Napolitano trying to extract her foot from that trap.

Where the DHS erred is that military personnel are no more likely to be extremists than anybody else. Also, the report focused only on right-wing domestic terrorists.

It would have been much more intelligent for the agency to release a report on all domestic terrorists because brothers and sisters we got a bunch of 'em on both sides of the political fence. We got neo-Nazis and radical Jews; we got Klansmen and black militants; we got Christian supremacists and Muslim supremacists, and we got ELF and ALF and dozens of other acronyms. And now we have the Hutaree.

If you had asked me who the Hutaree were before Monday, I swear on everything I hold dear that I would have guessed that was the name of the Indians on the old "F Troop" TV show. But that was actually the Hekawi.

And unfortunately the Michigan-based Hutaree are not a laughing matter. They are allegedly vicious SOBs who plotted to murder a bunch of you guys, police officers.

Federal indictments detail a plan so heinous it deserves repeating because you need to be on guard for this kind of stuff. They were reportedly going to lure a local cop into an ambush and kill that officer. Then they were going to wait until other officers gathered from miles around for their victim's funeral and set off IEDs to bomb the procession. Their goal was to start a war between themselves and the U.S. government.

Thankfully, the FBI and local law enforcement spoiled the Hutaree's party last week and the nine conspirators are facing charges of conspiracy to commit sedition and plotting to use weapons of mass destruction. Hopefully the justice system won't fail us this time, and these guys will end up doing life in SuperMax. That's about all we can hope for since we no longer hang traitors in this country.

Alleged Hutaree leader David Stone reportedly told his followers that "Hutaree" means "Christian warrior." I have a couple of comments on this.

First, I am a Christian. And I've never liked saying I know what Jesus would say about any particular current event. I don't feel qualified to put words in the mouth of my Lord. That being said, I'm 100-percent sure he wouldn't approve of these idiots or their insidious plot.

Second, in what language does "Hutaree" mean "Christian warrior?" Is this from the Klingon dictionary? Hint to Mr. Stone: "Crusader" means "Christian warrior." The word comes to us from the same Latin root word that gave us "cross," "crux." That's why the Crusaders put crosses on their tunics. I hate it when people have no grasp of history.

Finally, this is my message to all of the readers of this blog: There's only one type of person who deserves the honor of calling themselves a "Christian warrior" today in modern America and that's a person who helps defend the weak from the strong and the helpless from those who would exploit them. Regardless of their choice of faith or even lack of any faith: America's police officers and troops are "Christian" warriors not because they are forcing others to be Christian or slaughtering unbelievers like the misguided Crusaders but because they sacrifice themselves to save others and maintain peace in the world.

May God bless each and every one of you warriors and keep you safe from domestic terrorists like the Hutaree and from foreign enemies of any stripe.