And if that one had worked .... (with update)

It has been reported that a SUV, rigged with a home-made explosive device was discovered in Manhattan's Times Square.

The area was evacuated and the vehicle was observed by the police who eventually unrigged the set-up and prevented it from detonating.

I'm making a wild guess that it was a home-skooled, rootin' tootin' maverick member of the Teabagger Hatriots who executed this. He picked the wrong target. The thousands of people walking around Times Square on a Saturday evening are rarely Manhattan residents. They're tourists, residents of some little sun-baked town in the US Bible Belt, walking around and gawking at the sights their preachers tell them is the contemporary version of Sodom and Gomorrah. Had his little stunt worked, he would have taken out hundreds of people who might very well sympathize with the ideology of the Tea Party "Patriots". No doubt flushed with pride about his 'achievement' (and yes, I'm using that word as Sandy Crux does, to fawn over Harper and his Cons) he would have set another one off in LA or perhaps San Francisco.

By the way, I like the delicious irony that it was a Vietnam vet working at his regular Tshirt vending gig who alerted authorities to the presence of the unoccupied SUV, its engine still running.

And do go read CC's And if you don't like their principles, they've got others. for some knee-slapping hilarity about rightwing ideologues.

Update: A few rightwing bloggers have seized upon the declaration of an obscure Pakistani sect, going as far as describing their leader Qari Hussain Mehsud as a "top bomb maker" a claim that the NYPD and other law enforcement officials dismiss as bogus, given the group "has a reputation for making far-fetched attempts to take credit for attacks".

We imagine that if a western media organization were to contact Mr Mehsud and ask him if this was connected to South Park, he would happily offer to take credit for blowing up Central Park too.

New York Gets Tough on Anti-Abortion Violence

Here's a direct result of the assassination of Dr George Tiller -- a tough new law in New York intended to protect abortion clinic workers, patients, and volunteers.

Lynne Slepian picks her public appearances carefully — and sparingly — since she was thrown into the public eye after the slaying of her husband, Dr. Barnett A. Slepian, by an anti-abortion activist with a rifle in October 1998.

But she did not hesitate to attend Thursday’s news conference trumpeting the enactment of a law toughening state penalties for violence committed against reproductive health care workers.

“It’s extremely important,” she said of the new law after the news conference. “This is the crux of the whole issue. It’s going to set a precedent for the whole country, we hope. The issue [of clinic violence] is not going to go away. The issue will never go away. Hopefully, strong penalties will decrease the violence.”

The law was championed by Buffalo Assemblyman Sam Hoyt and was passed quickly with support from both parties in the Assembly and the State Senate.

The main provisions of the new law include:

• Causing physical injury to someone at a reproductive health clinic rises from a misdemeanor to a new Class E felony that can lead to a sentence of up to seven years in prison.

• Causing serious physical injury becomes a Class C felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

• Repeat offenders can face more serious charges and longer sentences than they now do.

• Volunteers are explicitly covered under the new law, in addition to people providing or obtaining reproductive health care.

And police are taking it seriously.

More than 80 law enforcement officials, reproductive health care providers and advocates from across New York last Wednesday held a conference at state police headquarters to discuss how to better protect reproductive health care workers from anti-abortion terrorism.
. . .

Reproductive service providers such as Planned Parenthood find themselves targeted by anti-abortionists, even if they do not provide abortions, said [deputy secretary for public safety Denise E.] O'Donnell.

"The employees and volunteers who provide reproductive health services face violent rhetoric and threats far too often," Hoyt said. "[The bill's] purpose is to penalize criminal, violent conduct that causes injury to these health care providers and patients."

Some reproductive health care workers shared their stories with police at the conference.

"We had a long history of dealing with harassment," said Paul Drisgula, co-president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood Mohawk Hudson in Schenectady County. "We know what works and what doesn't work.

"Over the years, we have developed an incredible communications network," he added. "We wouldn't be able to have the communications that we have without the state police intervening for us."

Maybe the cops in Kansas will get the message.

A week before Dr Tiller's murder, accused assassin Scott Roeder was recognized as a 'regular' and chased away after trying to glue the locks shut at an abortion clinic in Kansas City. The clinic worker properly informed the FBI because damage or destruction at clinics is covered by the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE). But there was no follow-up.

Remember that Roeder was well-known to the Kansas City FBI. In 2000, he was strongly suspected of glueing locks at the same clinic several times. The vandalism stopped then after the FBI had a word with him.

Lynne Slepian is probably right -- anti-abortion violence will never go away. But cooperation and vigilance from police plus stronger penalties would go a long way to help reduce the potential for it.

We *heart* New York

Unless the little acts of harassment, threatening, and vandalism are shown to have consequences, the pro-lie people will feel vindicated and some will progress to bigger acts.

This is a good start.

But 36 years after Roe v. Wade, the abortion war goes on, even in a small way in New York, where next month, a new city law will take effect that could make it easier for anti-abortion demonstrators to be arrested if they restrict access to a clinic or harass people attempting to enter.

The law currently allows the police to make arrests only if the person directly affected — usually a woman entering a clinic for an abortion — is willing to press charges. The new law allows third parties, such as clinic workers, to press charges if they witness the activity.

The sidewalk counselors, as Ms. Beyel and her fellow demonstrators call themselves, say they are afraid they will be unfairly prosecuted.

Good. Be afraid. STF.