I have purposefully spent the weekend paying no attention to my colleagues’ coverage of the incompetent terrorist. I knew that the two peters, Hoekstra and King, would be all over doing what they do best — leaking false information and stretching what true information they have beyond recognition.

For the record, those two dicks make shit up. Alla time. Especially if they think they can scare people about Muslims and blame Democrats for something. Voila, the incompetent terrorist.

See. here’s the thing. What is a terrorist? Someone who uses terror — extreme fear — to make his or her points. A terrorist wants us to freak the hell out. So when we do, and start increasing already ridiculous air flight security past the point of absurdity, the terrorists have won.

Say that again — The. Terrorists. Have. Won.

Welcome to America, where the terrorists rule our lives.

And we can largely thank Republicans/conservatives for that. They live to gin up fear. And the Dems, well they just sit back and let them out of fear somebody will call them weak. End result, no matter which party is in charge: More liberties lost, more inconvenience and not a whit more security.

My memory is probably getting a little weak in my old age, but in the Age of Terror, there have been exactly six attempts to take down airliners that got past security — well, four of them launched the Age of Terror by succeeding. But the other two — the shoe bomber, Richard Reid, and this idiot from Nigeria, both of whom were woefully incompetent and unable to sneak anything useful past increased airline security.

Seriously, a pouch attached to one’s leg, into which one must inject a chemical with a syringe that will interact with the chemical inside the pouch to cause a fire? That had “hey, y’all, watch this” written all over it.

But true to form, there’s Hoekstra and King and the rest of the “George W. Bush was the greatest president ever” crowd out there telling us that the Democrats don’t take terrorism seriously.

They either don’t get it, or they don’t give a good goddamn. But you wanna know who’s aiding and abetting the terrorists? They are. Along with pseudo-Democrats like Joe “Hey, let’s attack Yemen” Lieberman and Arlen “Yeah, that’s a pretty good idea” Specter.

So let me make this clear — politicians who are out there stirring the fear pot are helping the terrorists win. What do they call that? Oh yeah, “providing support to terrorists.” I think that’s a felony.

Of course, it wouldn’t work if so many damn Americans weren’t already quaking in their boots about Armageddon.

Wake up, America. When you demand that government further rip our freedoms from us, you, too, are aiding and abetting the terrorists.

But then, that fits right in with the crazy rightwing modus operandi, doesn’t it? Kill a few doctors who do abortions, shoot up a few liberal churches, grab a few hostages because you think the government is gonna take your guns, shoot some cops for the same reason — all that is terrorism too. Actions that attempt to make normal Americans grounded in reality fearful. Like they are. Must be lonely over there, being so goddamned afraid of everything.

Do they even know that your flight is a gazillion times more likely to be struck by lightning than by a terrorist? I’m guessing not.

So we can whine and shiver and shake all we want. The incompetent terrorist’s father tried to warn us. Airline security let him get on board a plane. He was on some kind of list about something somewhere and still got on the plane.

But here’s the facts — airline security already prevents anything that could really take down a plane from getting on board. And, apparently, since 9/11, the passengers take care of the rest.

I’m afraid of flying. But I’ve been afraid of flying for my entire life. To my mind, a huge metal object far heavier than air should not logically be in the air, theories of aerodynamics be damned. I absolutely can’t stand take-offs and landings, although I’m fascinated by the views once we’re in the air and cruising steadily. Hate it when it’s cloudy, although, I must admit, the top side of clouds is definitely a different take on things.

But afraid because of terrorists? Hell no.

Back in the early days of gay pride marches, I — like many others who organized and provided our own security for such events since police were often the perpetrators of violence against us — feared that one day someone from a balcony along our route was gonna start shooting. But every year, I was out there, sans kevlar, which hadn’t been invented, or any other type of protection other than my own conviction that our cause was on the right side of history. And now, our defiant and proud marches for our rights have morphed into crazy, moving street parties. It’s a parade now. And other than a few Fred Phelps copycats, and sometimes Fred himself, there’s not much to be afraid of.

Oh sure, some whacko could still open fire. That would be tragic, and for some, terrifying enough to make them think twice about going to pride next year.

That would be sad, not to mention counterproductive. Terror cannot be allowed to win. For conservatives, it already has.

Let’s not be soft and fearful like Republicans want us to be. Let’s be proud and strong, and show those wannabes who the real patriots are.