Feds: Right-wing terrorists were preparing machine-gun attack on Mexicans

Associated Press:

Five members of a self-styled Alabama militia were denied bond Tuesday after a federal agent testified they planned a machine-gun attack on Mexicans. A sixth man accused of having weapons and explosives components in his home was approved for release.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Armstrong said he could not grant bond because of the agent's testimony and the large number of weapons ... that were seized in raids last Friday.

Fox News described it as "a small arsenal ... that included a rocket launcher, 130 hand grenades and 70 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) similiar to the kind used by insurgents against American GIs in Iraq," along with "enough live ammo to fill a U-Haul trailer." And David Broder thinks lefty bloggers aren't civil.

"I'm going to be worried if I let these individuals go at this time," the judge said.

The five are charged with conspiring to make a firearm. [...]

Adam Nesmith, an agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, testified that the five men planned an attack on Mexicans in a small town just north of Birmingham, and went there on a reconnaissance mission April 20.

Nesmith said one of the men told an informant that the group, which calls itself the Alabama Free Militia, saw government agents as "the enemy" and had a standing order to open fire if anyone saw government agents approaching.

It's not that the "anti-illegal-immigrant" set are mostly violent wackos like these guys -- fortunately, most aren't. But at the same time, it's fair to hold public figures acccountible for the predictable consequences of the arguments they choose to make, and this is one of those instances.