What homeland security: The case of Mark Uhl, the young rightwing insurrectionist caught with a bomb intended for protesters* at the funeral of rightwing political agitator Jerry Falwell, has been transferred from local jurisdictions to the U.S. Attorney’s office for prosecution.

Uhl, 19, a student at Liberty University in Virginia, the college founded by the recently deceased evangelist and professional homophobe, was arrested Monday night. Uhl told authorities the bomb was intended for protesters at Falwell’s funeral on Tuesday.

Investigators say they believe Uhl may not have acted alone — and one member of the terror cell has apparently infiltrated the U.S. military:

Three other suspects are being sought, one of whom is a soldier from Fort Benning, Ga., and another is a high school student. No information was available on the third suspect.

Agencies involved in thwarting the terror attack included the federal ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms), Virginia State Police, the FBI and the Campbell County, Va., Sheriff’s Office. Notably absent from the investigation was the U.S. Dept. Homeland Security.

Similarly, late last month, we pointed out that DHS was absent from the investigation that led to the capture of a homegrown terrorist who attempted to plant a bomb at a Texas women’s health center. And yet, DHS facilitated the capture in Thailand of John Mark Karr, the mentally disturbed man who falsely claimed to have killed JonBenet Ramsey.

Overall, the federal agency tasked with protecting the homeland against terrorism has been AWOL in the pursuit of what appears to be an uptick in rightwing terrorism:

- Late in April, 150 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers carried out simultaneous raids in four Alabama counties in a sweep that yielded 130 grenades, a rocket launcher, and 2,500 rounds of ammunition.. In the town of Trussville, it took a U-haul truck to cart away all the materiel. At the Collinsville camper belonging to militia “major” Taymond Dillard, agents first had to defuse trip-wires rigged to explode hand grenades to kill intruders.

- Right-wing vigilantes arrested in a scuffle at one of the May 1 immigration marches, in Washington D.C., [were] found to have a stash of automatic weapons and explosives in his home.

Not only was the nation’s top anti-terror agency involved in the Uhl case, a search of news stories on the Internet three days after his capture found that no law enforcement spokesperson had referred to him as a “terrorist” — nor had any version of the word “terror” been used to describe the case by any mainstream — and therefore purportedly liberal — news outlet.

Conversely, the federal government has labeled animal rights activist Jonathan Paul a terrorist, and may add “terrorism enhancements” to his sentence. Paul pleaded guilty to burning down a slaughterhouse for horse in Oregon in the 1990s. He and other members of the Animal Liberation Front are facing from three to 14 years in prison.

The surge in rightwing terrorism may be a response to the country’s leftward drift away from the authoritarianism of Pres. Bush and the Republican Party. If the trend away from the GOP continues, as Digby says, terror attacks from rightwing extremists are likely to ramp up:

I predict that we are going to see a remarkable resurgence of rightwing violence if the Democrats take full control of the government. These people are always surprisingly cooperative when the government is run by Republicans and then rediscover their “anti-government” beliefs when Democrats share or dominate the government. I can’t imagine why that would be.

Oh, and here’s the kicker about Mark Uhl: Falwell gave him a scholarship to attend Liberty U.

*UPDATE: The Associated Press has updated the story. The protesters Uhl and his compatriots intended to bomb were not liberals. They were members of the bizarre Fred Phelps “God Hates Fags” cult based at the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas. The Phelps said they were protesting Falwell’s funeral because he was a friend to gays. These folks are seriously off their meds.