In the past few weeks, the tea party faction that has taken over the Republican party has booed an American soldier serving in Iraq simply because he was openly gay, cheered Rick Perry’s execution record, and shouted “let him die” about a hypothetical man who got sick without insurance. Similar hate-filled incidents go further back and are more than plentiful. Frankly, as a fellow human, I find this type of behavior repulsive and I am ashamed to share my planet with people who have such hate and disregard for others.

I know it's a joke, but lately it seems all too relevant.

It is time for reasonable Americans on both sides of the aisle to stand up to this small yet offensively loud minority of extreme right-wing nut-jobs and call them what they are: A 21st century hate group, akin to the early and mid 20th century’s KKK. So far they’ve preferred to use speech over violence to spread their message, but let’s face it, it’s just a matter of time before one of them snaps or a group of crazies split off to form a tea party militia.