Case of Citizen Terrorist : Sara Jane Olson

Much hubub has been made in the past week concerning a breaking story in which Sara Jane Olson, convicted of 1970s bombings in California, is now being released and will serve her parole in her hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota. So much noise and rattle has been made of this juicy media-op to the point that even Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty wants a piece of the limelight.

Writing to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Pawlenty asked him to consider "the request of the St. Paul Police Federation" for Sara Jane Olson to serve her one year parole term in California according to the Star-Tribune. However, Pawlenty made no mention of the fact that the Minnesota State Department of Corrections has approved Olson's application to serve parole in St. Paul.

Sara Jane Olson was convicted in for her involvement in police car bombings and an aborted bank heist that ending in a murder; both were in California in the mid-1970s. She was a member of a leftist group named the Symbionese Liberation Army. Like the famed campus and government bombing Weatherman, this group advocated revolution even at the means of violence.

Maybe paranoia is rising in the Governor's Residence and even coming full tide in all pockets of political power. After the 2008 Republican National Convention's appearance in St. Paul that unleashed police bruatily and a general suspension of law and due process, issue-driven violence is again becoming a political factor. Like Sara Jane Olson in facing terror charges, 22 year old David McKay of Austin, Texas plead guilty today in Ramsey County Court to throwing molotov cocktails at police vehicles during the Republican National Convention. Citizen terrorism is on the curl of each bureaucrat's tongue and fast pitched as a realistic scenario that will require greater government force and arbitration in the near future.

Meanwhile, Governor Schwarzenegger has not responded to Governor Pawlenty's last minute plea. Sara Jane Olson was released today from the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla after serving seven years in prison. She is planning to travel home to St. Paul.