Polito's Take: You're welcome, Tamerlan

BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) -- How would you show your gratitude to people who rescued you from a war torn region and gave you a taxpayer funded education and welfare? If you're Tamerlan Tsarnaev, you would develop hatred for your saviors and try to kill as many of them as possible. This punk may have used our tax dollars to terrorize the people who provided him with a stable homeland and endless opportunity in the world's greatest nation. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you or looking a gift horse in the mouth. Is this the opposite of Stockholm syndrome? Instead of loving your captors, you hate your benefactors.

Isn't it ironic that we gave refuge to a man whose family wanted to escape war and then he brought that war to us? Why would we put ourselves in such a foolish and dangerous situation? The answer is simple and it comes from a great woman. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore." These are the words of Emma Lazarus, taken from her sonnet, The New Colossus. They are most associated with another great woman, The Statue of Liberty, because they are bronzed into her base. Millions of people passed her light in search of a free nation. The vast majority of those refugees showed their gratitude through contributions that made us the greatest nation in the world.

Sadly, Tamerlan Tsarnaev decided to squander that good will. His uncle provided the most eloquent description of him: loser. When Tamerlan adopted radical Islamist views he was actually seeking an excuse for his own personal failures. He could not accept the fact that he alone is responsible. Instead of standing on the shoulders of giants to build a better future, he chose to nip at their heels with a senseless act of violent bravado.

Cox Media Group