Roeder Verdict

I've already said that I've been a bad blogger lately. So, catching up.

The Roeder verdict.

To no one's surprise, he was found guilty. What has been commented on is the speed.

The jury took just 37 minutes to convict born-again Christian Scott Roeder for shooting George Tiller, 67, in the forehead as he attended church last May. Roeder, a 51-year-old airport shuttle driver, faces a mandatory life sentence with the possibility of parole after 25 years.

While there was some alarm when the -- as it turns out, very conscientious -- judge allowed the defendant to offer his 'justification' for the assassination, after Roeder's testimony the judge nixed that.

"It would be hard for a reasonable fact-finder to find anything other than the defendant formulating his belief and then planning on multiple occasions ... to carry out his intention to [kill] Dr Tiller," the judge said. Roeder did not deny it.

One wonders why Roeder didn't go for the mad as a hatter defence.

He told the court that he had made up his mind 17 years ago to kill Tiller, who was one of only three doctors in the US to carry out abortions late in a pregnancy.

Roeder said he considered hiding on a roof looking down on Tiller's clinic in Wichita to shoot him with a sniper rifle, or smashing his car into the abortion doctor's vehicle and chopping Tiller's hands off with a sword. But Roeder said he abandoned the latter idea because Tiller would still be able to teach others how to carry out abortions. In the end, Roeder walked up to Tiller at the doctor's Lutheran church and shot him in the head.

Now, about whether the anti-choice forces should wear this. Interestingly:

Roeder's lawyer told the jury how his client had grown increasingly frustrated over the years by the continued operation of Tiller abortion clinic despite a vigorous campaign against it by anti-abortionists. The clinic was bombed in 1986 and the focus of a mass blockade five years later.

So. The anti-choicers make big (fund-raising) claims about shutting Dr Tiller down. They don't. Some nutbar gets 'frustrated'. And assassination ensues.

This murder is definitely on them. And Bill Fucking O'Reilly too, of course.

And, today, a jury member speaks.

Abortion?

"It was never spoken of," said the 54-year-old, whose first service as a juror came in a trial that drew reporters and activists on both sides of the abortion issue from coast to coast.

He said the jury discussed only the question of whether Roeder was guilty of first-degree murder for shooting Tiller while Tiller served as an usher in his Wichita church, and whether Roeder was guilty of aggravated assault for pointing a handgun at two people who tried to block his escape.

Because of security concerns, the juror asked that his name not be used. He said he didn't want to take any chances that someone might lash out against him.

The guilty verdict was unanimous from the beginning of the deliberations, he said.

"There wasn't much to argue about."

They found the evidence against Roeder "overwhelming."

That's why it took only 37 minutes to decide, he said.

Then there's this rather chilling -- but really not surprising -- news.

For security during the trial, he said, jurors were picked up at an undisclosed location. Officers carefully checked vehicles used to transport them, passing mirrors underneath.

The measures reassured him.

"We never felt like we were in any danger."

He said he wanted to give "a big thank you" to Sedgwick County sheriff's officers and to District Judge Warren Wilbert, who presided over the trial.

"He was very passionate about our safety," the juror said of Wilbert. "He went to great lengths" to protect the jurors' identities.

So, it is mostly over. The anti-abortion terrorists and enablers did not get the circus they hoped for.

Justice was done and swiftly.

Next, the sentencing. In Kansas, first degree murder merits a life sentence, usually with no chance of parole for 25 years. But there is another option -- something called 'Hard 50'. No chance of parole for 50 years. There's much speculation on whether the prosecution is going for it.

I'm hoping so. Roeder is in his 50s. Hard 50 would about do it for me.

The Persecution of Dr. Tiller: Part Umpty-Two

Back at Birth Pangs, we filed several reports on the persecution of Dr George Tiller, one of the only remaining late-term abortion providers in the US, very unfortunately located in Kansas.

This has been going on for years. Tiller is the obsession of arch-fetus-fetishist Phill Kline, former Attorney General of the state and now a county prosecutor, and his successor as AG Paul Morrison, who had a teensy sex scandal problem to boot.

Tiller's lawyers are in court this week arguing that 19 misdemeanor charges should be dropped.

They contend the charges are based on evidence obtained by Kline and his officers through false pretenses and abuses of power.

The hearing is also making public for the first time details of a secret investigation conducted for three years by the state's top prosecutor against Kansas abortion providers.

One of the central charges against Tiller is that he did not report sexual abuse against minors for whom he performed abortions. Kline believes that ALL underage sex is at least abuse if not rape, even if between minors of similar ages.

One case in particular, that of a 10-year-old having a late-term abortion, focused Kline's wrath. Kline claimed that Tiller did not report the case and on that basis demanded all Tiller's patient records so he could root out other cases of Tiller's egregious flouting of the law.

Well, looky here:

As the former Kansas attorney general and, more recently, as Johnson County district attorney, Phill Kline has justified his aggressive prosecutions of abortion providers by noting that judges have found probable cause to proceed with the cases.

If judges look at the evidence and decide there is reason to believe a crime has been commited, the case must be good, right?

Only if the prosecutor presents the evidence in an objective and truthful manner. Testimony in a hearing in Wichita this week raises serious questions about whether Kline did so. . .

Documents produced by [Tiller's] lawyer Dan Monnat showed:

The girl came with her mother from another state, carrying a letter from their local prosecutor's office. The letter said the girl needed "an immediate medical procedure that (could) only be done" at Tiller's Women's Health Care Services clinic.

The relative who raped her had already been charged.

Tiller did in fact report this case to the appropriate authorities in Kansas, though why they needed to know seems to be a case of total busybodiness, but the investigator claimed that that 'wasn't clear' to him.

Wow! Fetus fetishists in positions of enormous power lying?!?!

The hearing continues. We'll be on it.

Dr George Tiller Murdered

We called it here. The insanity that is rightwingnuttery in the US has -- as was inevitable -- manifested in the murder of Dr George Tiller.

Here is the complete story at the moment:

George Tiller shot to death at Wichita church
BY STAN FINGER
The Wichita Eagle
George Tiller, the Wichita doctor who became a national lightning rod in the debate over abortion, was shot to death this morning as he walked into church services
Tiller was shot just after 10 a.m. at Reformation Lutheran Church at 7601 E. 13th, where he was a member of the congregation. An anonymous police source confirmed Tiller was the victim.

A very brave man. A very sick society.

UPDATE: A bit more here. Suspect, white male in his 50s, fled the scene.

UPDATE 2: If you have the stomach for it: Freepers respond.

UPDATE 3: Suspect in custody.

UDATE 4: Sanctimonious statements from the Forced-Pregnancy Gang. I particularly like these two (emphasis mine):

"I am saddened to hear of the killing of George Tiller this morning. At this point, we do not know the motives of this act, or who is behind it, whether an angry post-abortive man or woman, or a misguided activist, or an enemy within the abortion industry, or a political enemy frustrated with the way Tiller has escaped prosecution. We should not jump to conclusions or rush to judgment.

"But whatever the motives, we at Priests for Life continue to insist on a culture in which violence is never seen as the solution to any problem. Every life has to be protected, without regard to their age or views or actions."

--Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life

George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God. I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name; murder.

Those men and women who slaughter the unborn are murderers according to the Law of God. We must continue to expose them in our communities and peacefully protest them at their offices and homes, and yes, even their churches.

Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue

Fetus Fetishists' 'Public Enemy Number One'

Here and back at Birth Pangs, we've blogged about the ongoing persecution of Dr George Tiller in Kansas.

Today the LA Times has an excellent summary of this looong and convoluted tale -- complete with sexual harassment allegations, extramarital affairs, ethics investigations, patient privacy disputes -- titled Kansas eager for abortion provider's case to move forward. It seems everyone just wants it over.

For activists on both sides of the debate over legalized abortion, the criminal trial of Dr. George Tiller, which begins Monday in a Wichita courtroom, is an oddly unfulfilling culmination of a struggle that has wrenched Kansas for years.

Tiller, 67, is one of a handful of doctors in the country who terminate late-term pregnancies and has virtually become public enemy No. 1 to those who oppose abortion. For years, prosecutors and activists have tried to bring him down, and for years, Tiller has survived legal and physical challenges.

In 1986, his clinic was bombed. In 1991, it was blockaded for six weeks. In 1993, he was shot in both arms by an abortion opponent. He has been investigated twice by grand juries that have found no cause to charge him with crimes.

Relentlessly pursued by then-Kansas Atty. Gen. Phill Kline, a Republican, Tiller was charged in 2006 with illegally performing late-term abortions. The charges were dropped because of a technicality about jurisdiction.

But Kline was a lame duck by the time he filed the charges against Tiller. A month earlier, Kansas voters, tired of what they perceived as Kline's intrusiveness -- which included a successful years-long fight to obtain some of Tiller's patient records -- turned him out of office in favor of Democrat Paul Morrison, who supports abortion rights. The campaign against Kline included direct mail attacks characterizing him as "the Snoop Dog."

The following year, to the delight of abortion foes, Morrison charged Tiller with 19 misdemeanor counts of violating a technical aspect of the 1998 Kansas law that regulates late-term abortions.

The fetus fetishists were so revved that Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, moved from his native California to Kansas six years ago with 'the goal of putting Tiller out of business'.

And it has infected other aspects of Kansas life. Kathleen Sebelius, pro-choice governor through much of this farce and now Obama's nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services, is expected to get a rough ride in her confirmation process because of shrieeeking from the zygote zealots.

As we know so well, it will never be over for the fetus fetishists. But this chapter may soon be.

With Friends Like These. . .

Catching up on Roeder now.

First, it is still possible that federal charges will be laid against him.

For a week, a federal investigator sat in a Wichita courtroom and listened to testimony that Scott Roeder murdered abortion provider George Tiller.

Even after the conviction came a week ago, federal investigators are still at work.

They are looking into whether the 51-year-old Kansas City man truly acted alone; at least one Roeder supporter made a striking comment about the crime last week. They might consider federal charges against Roeder as well.

It's happened before: Two other anti-abortion activists who killed abortion providers in the 1990s were charged with violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, signed into law in 1994 to prevent clinic violence. Like Roeder, the activists also were convicted of state murder charges.

Why push for federal charges when prosecutors already are assured of a long sentence?

"Additional penalties that can be assessed," said Richard Levy, a University of Kansas law professor who followed Roeder's trial. "That way, they could avoid any chance of him ever being paroled.

"Another reason for a federal prosecution is that if there might be others involved, a federal case might provide a vehicle for getting that information, whereas the state may not have an interest or the wherewithal to investigate a conspiracy that involves people in several states."

Well, we know good and well others were involved.

Federal authorities last week heard Roeder tell jurors that he began thinking about killing Tiller as far back as 1993, when Rachelle "Shelley" Shannon shot Tiller in both arms as he was leaving his clinic. During cross-examination by Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston, Roeder said he sought out people who shared his belief that killing abortion providers was an act of justifiable homicide.

Roeder testified that he visited Shannon in prison in Topeka and that he admired her for shooting Tiller. He also said he and Shannon applauded others who had been involved in abortion-related violence.

"And these individuals were people you might have counted among your friends?" Foulston asked.

"Yes," Roeder replied.

On February 2, Shannon issued a statement from prison.

In her e-mail, Shannon said the judge had been influenced by media and abortion rights activists who said that if Roeder had been allowed to use that defense more abortion doctors would be killed.

"Abortionists are killed because they are serial murderers of innocent children who must be stopped, and they will continue to be stopped, even though Scott didn't get a fair trial," she wrote. "May God bless Scott for his faithfulness and brave actions and stand."
. . .
FBI spokeswoman Bridget Patton said Shannon's e-mail was not specific enough to require investigation.

We remember nutbar Shelley Shannon, don't we? She was going to contribute her prison cookbook for the aborted (snerk) fundraiser for Roeder's legal costs.

And speaking of legal matters, Roeder's lawyers yesterday signalled their intent to ask for a new trial or order of acquital.

Among other reasons, they cite a decision by the judge at Roeder's trial last month to not allow jurors to consider a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.

Apparently, such moves are routine, but the lawyers might wish they'd checked on what one of their client's good friends was up to yesterday.

Army of God associate and good buddy of Roeder's, Dave Leach, posted a YouTubed interview with Roeder.

As he awaits sentencing for first-degree murder, Scott Roeder said in an interview released Monday that he has little sympathy for Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller’s family.

“The fact that George Tiller was involved in the practice that he was, similar to that of a hit man, if you could have sympathy for a hit man’s family, that is the sympathy I would have,” Roeder told anti-abortion activist Dave Leach in interviews recorded last week from jail. “If they would have talked the man into stopping his practice many years ago, this would not have had to happen.”

Leach intends to post a series of such interviews.

But this may not be such a shit-hot good idea.

Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, said Roeder’s statements could be used against him at his sentencing.

“Typically, in this kind of case, the defendant would want to do everything he or she could do to avoid a stiff sentence,” Tobias said. “So what lawyers tend to advise their clients — and clients usually follow their advice — is to say nothing, just because of the concern about prejudicing the sentencing.”

However, he added: “There hasn’t been very much that’s been normal about this case.”

I ask you -- could Scott Roeder be a more perfect patsy for the fetus fetishists?

Hard 50!

Scott Roeder, confessed assassin of Dr George Tiller, will be 102 years old before he is eligible for parole.

Good.

Kansas is not a death penalty state (surprised? I was), but it does have a mandatory life sentence for first-degree murder, the crime Roeder was convicted of last January (plus two counts of attempted murder of the witnesses, additional year each for those).

The only discretion the judge, Warren Wilbert, had in sentencing was whether to grant eligibility for parole after 25 years or after 50 years, the so-called 'Hard Fifty'.

The judge figured that stalking the doctor for months and choosing to kill him at his church because his clinic was 'like a fortress' -- gee, who's to blame for that? -- merited the extra 25.

At the sentencing hearing, the judge allowed a couple of fellow and sister fetus fetishists to testify -- as long as they stuck to Roeder's character and stayed off the subject of abortion, which they seemed to have done.

Then he let Roeder himself speak.

In his statement before the court Thursday, Roeder said he didn't think he deserved the Hard 50. He claimed his views had been silenced by the court. He described late-term abortion procedures. He claimed he killed Tiller "so he couldn't kill again." The decision was to do so was most agonizing. He called Tiller a "hit man" for the state of Kansas and spoke of judgment day coming and God avenging the deaths of aborted babies. Then he started reading from 'Why shoot an abortionist?' by Paul Hill, who was executed for murdering an abortion provider.

And it went on and on and on. It was as if Roeder were trying to filibuster his way out.

Judge Warren Wilbert grew tired of it all.

It ended thus:

The judge and defendant engaged in a dialogue when Wilbert stopped Roeder from criticizing a sitting district attorney.

"If you were to obey the higher power of God, you would acquit me," Roeder said.

"If you think you were going to convince me with some oratory plea, it's not going to happen," Wilbert said.

There are other accounts of his biblical ravings, complaints about not being allowed to show aborted fetus pr0n to the court, and his likening of himself to jeezuz, which I'll spare you.

All of which prompted a a columnist in the Kansas City Tribune to claim that the sentence was wrong. Roeder is nuts, he says, and should have presented an insanity defense.

If Roeder is mad, it's a virulent and common strain of insanity, particularly in the Excited States. Viz., the Tea-Baggers.

Let's have a look at LifeShite's spin:

Scott Roeder, the former militia activist not affiliated with any pro-life organization, was sentenced to life in prison today for the 2009 murder of late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller.

The rest of the piece makes absolutely no mention of his ranting, his claims to Christianism, or reading of Paul Hill's book. Just a simple murder, justice done, nothing to see here, move along, folks.

What we at DJ! want to know is: are there conspiracy charges in the works for his f.f.friends? And how about federal charges under the FACE Act? Yes, FACE is meant to protect clinics and Dr Tiller was murdered at his church, but couldn't there be a cogent argument made that FACE applies precisely because Dr Tiller and other abortion doctors are forced to turn their clinics into fortresses, a fact FACE's existence recognizes? And therefore determined assassins must stalk their victims to other killing zones?

I'm wondering, though, if the additional 25 years will act as a deterrent to other would-be martyrs. Would someone stop and think: 'OK, I'm prepared to risk throwing away 25 years of my life, but 50? Hell, no!'

I don't think so, either.

Fetus Fetishists' Tricksiness

Here at DJ! we have (intermittently) followed the career of Arch Fetish Fetishist and Chief Persecutor of Dr George Tiller, Phill Kline.

It is with great satisfaction that we report today that Phill has had his legal nads nipped.

The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday suspended the law license of former state Attorney General Phill Kline for misconduct in connection with his prosecution of abortion providers, including the late George Tiller.

The court unanimously found that Kline’s “overzealous advocacy” and “improper motives” led to “significant and numerous” violations of professional conduct, which the court deemed “particularly troubling in light of his service as the chief prosecuting attorney for this state and its most populous county.”

Kline, whom Operation Rescue named “Man of the Year” in 2006, prosecuted cases involving Planned Parenthood and Tiller, who was one of the country’s few remaining late-term abortion providers before he was murdered by an antiabortion activist in 2009.

Shortly after being elected in 2002, Kline began an investigation into Tiller’s clinic, eventually obtaining patients’ personal medical records. Many of these documents were later leaked to Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, though Kline denied he was the source of the leak.

The case against Tiller was eventually thrown out by the Kansas Supreme Court.

Regular readers may remember that we ascribe a great deal of the blame for Dr Tiller's assassination to Bill O'Reilly, armed by Phill Kline.

Disbarred!

In other news of fetus fetishist tricksiness, the loophole the Fetal Gore Porn Gang, who have been plaguing the good citizens of Hamilton, Ontario, for the past month, is revealed.

Officials can't nab them for interfering with city property when they hang their gory banners because:

But protesters aren’t attaching the banner to any city property — instead, they’re tying the banner to their bodies and standing next to the edge of the overpass. That technicality ties the city’s hands, says Ward 7 Coun. Scott Duvall.

“We were hoping to get them on the sign by-law, but they are not hanging these signs on public property, they are attaching the signs to their bodies,” Duvall told CBC Hamilton.

“I have received many phone calls and emails on this. I have contacted our bylaw staff and they have stated to me there is nothing they can do.”

Anti-choicers must lie and cheat because there is no logic or sanity to their 'arguments'.

And today we have two splendid examples of it.

(As if any more were needed.)

No 'Necessity Defence' for Tiller's Killer

Scott Roeder, confessed assassin of Dr George Tiller, will not be allowed to use the 'necessity defence', a judge has ruled today.

WICHITA — A Sedgwick County district judge ruled this morning that Scott Roeder's murder trial will begin next month in Wichita and limited the use of the so-called "necessity defense."

But Judge Warren Wilbert said he would "leave the door open" for Roeder's defense to present other evidence and arguments that he killed Wichita abortion provider George Tiller in belief that he was saving the lives of unborn fetuses.

That leaves open the possibility that Roeder's public defenders could ask jurors to consider crimes less than first-degree premeditated murder. Kansas law, for example, defines voluntary manslaughter as the "unreasonable but honest belief that circumstances existed that justified deadly force."

. . .

Wilbert said that he will not, however, allow Roeder to use what has been called a "necessity defense," where the defendant claims that he or she broke the law to prevent a greater harm. Roeder has said he killed Tiller to save the lives of fetuses who were being aborted.

But Wilbert said the necessity defense is not recognized under Kansas law, and appeals court have ruled it unacceptable in cases of trespassing on abortion clinics. If courts have ruled it not a viable defense in misdemeanor cases, it wouldn't apply to murder, Wilbert ruled.

Earlier in the day, Wilbert ruled that the defense would not be allowed peremptory jury strikes based on a juror's beliefs about abortion.

More information on the 'necessity defence':

The necessity defense has been used with sporadic and very limited success in the area of civil disobedience since the 1970s. The most common circumstances involve public protests against Abortion, Nuclear Power, and Nuclear Weapons. Virtually all abortion protesters who have tried to avail themselves of the defense have lost. The courts have reasoned that because the right to an abortion is constitutionally protected, it cannot simultaneously be a legally recognized harm justifying illegal action.

Indeed, it was used unsuccessfully by Shelley Shannon who was convicted of attempted murder for the crime of shooting Dr Tiller in both arms in 1993.

We'll be following the circus trial in January.

This is why Dr Tiller was murdered.

Abortion criminalizers reserve their most strident shrieeekkking for late-term abortions. As a result of their hateful propaganda, their campaigns of never-ending harassment and their acts of terrorism, the vast majority of obstetricians will refer such heart-wrenching cases to doctors who have the skills and the facilities to provide this medical intervention.

In July last year, in order to counter the loathsome lies that the opponents of contraception and abortion put on their websites, Hot Flash Report posted this at their blogsite.

I'm going to discuss Fetal anomalies in detail because this is the number one reason women get abortions past 24 weeks. That's why I call them Mercy Abortions. One of the largest providers of late abortions, Dr. George Tiller in Wichita KS, has been the object of harassing investigations by Kansas authorities, culminating in an unprecedented Grand Jury trial prompted by anti-abortionists. He was just recently vindicated and the Grand Jury refused to bring charges.

But, his detractors won't stop, and more harassment is anticipated. ... These doctors are extremely compassionate and committed medical professionals. I've been to both clinics and have known them personally and can attest to their credibility as both doctors and humane individuals.

Without a doubt, the number one reason for abortions past 24 weeks is the late discovery of a fetal anomaly incompatible with life. I've talked with many women who find themselves in this situation and it is always an extremely difficult and heart wrenching situation. Many women even underwent infertility treatments to become pregnant. ...

You're 28 weeks along and the OB/GYN that's been caring for you can't help you out. You see, the hospital where he practices will gladly take your money and let you give birth there, but they won't let your OB/GYN perform a Mercy Abortion on you so that you can maintain your fertility for future pregnancies and lessen the devastation on you and your family by ending the pregnancy now.

Oh no. The powers that be want you to carry that anencephalic baby for 10 more weeks, then give birth, then slowly watch it die right in front of your eyes. Now, if that's how you want to handle the situation, fine. But, if you'd like a more merciful ending to this tragic situation, a trip to Dr. Tiller or Dr. Hern might be in order. For now, that is.

You say. "This is just an isolated instance." Oh no ... this scenario is played out every day. And many of the families that this happens to are anti-abortion. But, at that moment where they are told that the pregnancy is flawed, many choose the Mercy Abortion to alleviate their suffering and the suffering of their child. Mercy Abortions are also extremely necessary in maintaining the woman's fertility so that a successful pregnancy can be possible in the future.

So, as Democrats committed to pro-choice values, let's not jump into the Rovian trap that the anti-abortion framing has given us on late abortions. They have demonized a procedure that mercifully saves women and promotes healthy families. It may be you or someone in your family that needs a Mercy Abortion in the future.

Fox News is reporting that Dr George Tiller was a Christian and a good man. Too late - sanctimonious back-pedaling will not "right" the years of biased reporting fed by the undiluted rantings of organizations like Operation Rescue, which posted home addresses, personal details and photographs of the staff who worked at the Wichita maternal health clinic on their public website.

Update: JJ at unrepentant old hippie reports that the alleged murderer of Dr Tiller is a fundamentalist religious anti-choice nut who posted at Operation Rescue.

Anti-Abortion Terrorism FAIL

I disagree with my esteemed sister bloggers JJ and pale.

The pro-lie terrorists/Nazis have won nothing with the announcement by Dr George Tiller's family that the clinic will not reopen.

Yes, the evil ghouls will celebrate, albeit mutedly. (They've begun. I won't link. You know where to look.)

And yes, a chill will run through the community of reproductive healthcare providers.

And yes, more dough will be spent on security and guards and cameras and walls and bullet-proof vests -- dough that is badly needed elsewhere.

And yes, in the short-term, desperately distressed women and their families will travel further and spend more and suffer more.

But more important than all that is the fact that the pious, prayerful, sanctimonious mask has been FOREVER ripped off the lying liars who would oppress women.

The terrorists have not won. They have been exposed.

Even the damn msm has recognized them for what they are.

Good people have been galvanized. Many are donating to the George Tiller Memorial Abortion Fund.

Reproductive healthcare workers have set up I am Dr Tiller in defiance and in commitment to the cause.

Women who have faced the awful situations that Dr Tiller and doctors like him helped them through created A Heartbreaking Choice to tell the truth.

Commitment will win. Truth will win. Human rights will win.

What kind of derangement syndrome is this?

Hate must give one a terrific high. The anti-abortionists can't help themselves from sucking on it. The man is dead, assassinated by one of their own domestic terrorists, fueled by the very demonizing stuff they are still cranking out. But still they can't leave him alone.

I'm going to keep track.

From LifeShite: Abortion Activists Forget George Tiller Killed, Injured Women in Botched Abortions.

From SUZY: Late-term abortionist criticizes George Tiller. (Oooh, that one is particularly juicy. One baybee-murderer criticizing an even worser, more evuler baybee-murderer.)

Their new target can't come soon enough, I guess.

But keep it up, fetus fetishists. Your true stinking colours are showing.

UPDATE: The other LifeShite: Let's get our facts straight about Tiller and anti-abortion violence.

The first 'fact' asserted is that Dr Tiller (though of course they do not give him his title) is the first 'abortionist' to be killed in seven years, so no big whoop, eh? The second is that four times more hairdressers are murdered than abortion providers.

Keep comin' with facts like these, fetus fetishists. I'm sure you're winning hearts and minds. . .

Get your anti-abortion terrorism fetishes here!

There's one word for this: surreal.

An Army of God manual. A prison cookbook compiled by a woman doing time for abortion clinic bombings and arsons. An autographed bullhorn.

These are among the items that abortion foes plan to auction on eBay and other Web sites in a fundraiser for Scott Roeder, the Kansas City man charged with killing Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller.

“This is unique,” said Regina Dinwiddie, a Kansas City anti-abortion activist who will sign the bullhorn. “Nobody’s ever done this before. The goal is that everybody makes money for Scott Roeder’s defense.”

One abortion-rights leader called the auction deplorable and said it could lead to more violence.

“The network of extremists promoting and defending the murder of doctors is contributing to escalating threats against clinics and doctors across the country,” said Kathy Spillar, executive vice president of the Feminist Majority Foundation.

These twisted fetishes represent a veritable Who's Who of the anti-abortion terrorists who enabled the assassination of Dr George Tiller.

The Army of God manual is a handbook on tactics to shut women's clinics down, including bomb recipes, donated by Dave Leach, who reprinted the 'underground' manual in 1996.

The prison cookbook's author is Shelly Shannon, in prison until at least 2018, for shooting Dr. Tiller in both arms in 1993.

And there will be other items associated with other 'heros' of the anti-abortion terrorism gang.

Dinwiddie is a friend of Roeder. She also was a friend of Paul Hill, who shot an abortion doctor and his escort to death in Pensacola, Fla., in 1994. Hill received a death sentence for the killings and was executed in 2003.

“Regina is digging out her old VHS tapes of Paul Hill in her home praying before Shelley’s trial,” Leach said. “She wants to start that one off at $500.”

The bullhorn autographed by Dinwiddie is similar to those she used when protesting outside abortion clinics.

The money raised will go to Roeder's defense. Roeder is pretty thrilled about it, having been thrown under the bus by another prominent gang of terrorists, Operation Scumbag Rescue.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “I appreciate all of the efforts going into that. I’m all for anything that might bring some donations in.”

I have some thoughts about other items that might fetch a few dineros from the demented.

How about some fake anthrax letters identified by the FBI as coming from Army of God members?

Maybe some good old-timey 'Wanted' posters featuring abortion-providers?

And, to go with that bullhorn, a blood-stained autographed copy of this:



written by the cheerleader-in-chief for Dr Tiller's assassination.

What the F****** F*** …

are the furious fundamentalists, fetus fetishists and/or far-right fanatics doing nowadays in the Excited States of America?

The latest tactic in Operation Rescue’s never-ending and ever-escalating campaign of legalistic and illegal harassment is to target individual people staffing Dr Tiller’s clinic for violence prayer by publishing their photos and personal information. From ChristianNewsWire:

Operation Rescue has released the most up-to-date list of abortion clinic workers employed by George R. Tiller at his late-term abortion mill, Women’s Health Care Services, in Wichita, Kansas. The list includes twenty-two people, including three out-of-state abortionists who travel to Kansas to do abortions, including late-term procedures that are illegal in their home states. “We are releasing this list of abortion workers in order to expose them to the community, and to elicit prayers for their repentance,” said Operation Rescue Senior Policy Advisor Cheryl Sullenger.

“As Christians, we are concerned about them as people, and understand that sometimes it takes ‘tough love’ to help someone see the destructive path they are taking, so that they can make the
changes necessary to have a better life,” Sullenger said. “Most people who quit the abortion industry tell us that they are relieved to be out of that business, and say that leaving improved their lives.” …

Today’s abortion worker list is in the form of a photo gallery with captions telling the public a little
about each worker.

It appears Operation Rescue is expanding its murderous stranglehold urging its followers to reach out and touch pray for the staff of Dr Tiller’s clinic. Birth Pangs has blogged about Dr Tiller here, here, here and here.

Here’s one well-informed perspective on his medical practice. Read more.

First posted at Birth Pangs.

Yeah, Totally Alike. . .

They're unbelievable, aren't they? JJ at Unrepentant Old Hippie comments on the fetus fetishists' pathetic attempt to equate the assassination of Dr Tiller with the death of a woman undergoing a medical procedure. (Hint: guess what kind of medical procedure.)

Now the pro-lie crowd are shrieeeeeking about threatening emails.

In the aftermath of the shooting of late-term abortionist, Dr. George Tiller, American pro-life leaders have been receiving death threats prompting round-the-clock protection from authorities.

Death threats! Aieeeee! Who's getting death threats?

Well, Jill Stanek for one. She has been

receiving credible threats from a "troubled man involved in the abortion industry." Jill said that this individual is the child of a pro-choice advocate/writer and his mother had aborted several of his siblings. Following the Tiller shooting, the stalker emailed Stanek again. Federal agents are currently monitoring his movements.

'Involved in the abortion industry'? Because he's the child of a pro-choice advocate who -- shrieeeek! -- aborted several of his siblings? Sheesh.

Pro-life leaders have uniformly been forced to increase security measures to address threats of violence. In recent days Stanek has been placed under continuous police and federal protection following email threats to kill her at church or as she left her home.

So the authorities are taking this seriously, when they did not do the same just before Dr Tiller's murder?

So, who else? Ah, it looks like the usual suspects are lining up.

Frank Pavone, founder of Priests for Life, said that he needs armed escorts at speaking engagements to guard him against disruptive pro-abortion demonstrators. Individuals from groups such as NARAL, Planned Parenthood, and Catholics for Choice are often bussed in to derail these presentations. Even peaceful prayer vigils, so common to the pro-life movement, can be dangerous. Fr. Pavone was leading a prayer service in Bellingham, WA when someone confronted him and spit in his face.

Oooo. Disruptive demonstrators! Confronted and spat at!

There's more!

Lila Rose, the young woman who pretends to be under-age and then covertly films Planned Parenthood counsellors as she lies to them. What about her?

She's getting 'menacing emails'! Oooo!

How about Jenn Giroux (so prominent a pro-liar that we at Dammit Janet! have never heard of her)? How has her life been changed?

Following the shooting, she suspended her website, ChargeTiller.com, due to a barrage of profane and violent posts.

(Shrieeeking is tiring. I need a :shrieeeeek:)

OK, how about Judie Brown, leader of the nutters who hallucinated pro-abortion doughnuts? Well, somehow the evul pro-choicers must have forgotten about her.

In response to our questions the league issued a statement. It calls to mind the hostility pro-lifers face at every level as they, "stand in beautiful and striking contrast to both the violence inherent to the abortion mill and the street-side violence and drive-by intimidation of abortion supporters."

Hostility? Hostility? How's this on the hostility scale?

In the U.S., violence directed toward abortion providers has killed at least nine people, including five doctors, two clinic employees, a security guard, and a clinic escort.
. . . According to statistics gathered by the National Abortion Federation (NAF), an organization of abortion providers, since 1977 in the United States and Canada, there have been 17 attempted murders, 383 death threats, 153 incidents of assault or battery, and 3 kidnappings committed against abortion providers.

And for further 'hostility', we have the anthrax threats, arson, bombings, vandalism, and on and on and on.

Keep trying to equate the law-abiding pro-choice way with the terrorism enabling and enacting of your side. It's really working for you.

deBeauxOs adds- :shrieekkky: icons are difficult to find.  All I got for you is this, fern hill.

Tiller Investigation: FBI on the Case

At last, a report on the FBI investigation into Dr Tiller's assassination.

The list of those visiting and communicating with the man accused of killing Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller reads like a who’s who of anti-abortion militants.

Two convicted clinic bombers. The man behind the Army of God Web site. Several activists who once signed a declaration that defended the killing of abortion doctors.

And federal agents have now talked to many of them.

As Scott Roeder sits in the Sedgwick County Jail awaiting trial on murder charges, a federal investigation is under way to determine whether there was a conspiracy involved in Tiller’s death.

Abortion-rights advocates say Roeder’s contacts since the shooting raise questions.

“This is definitely a concern,” said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation. “This guy has been in the hard-core anti-abortion circle for a long time, and there has been a pattern of communication and encouragement among these people.”

Conspiracy? You betcha!

'Justifiable Assassination'

Well, you knew this was coming.

The suspect in the killing of abortion provider George Tiller is in talks with a prominent attorney who represents anti-abortion protesters and has long advocated justifiable homicide as a legal defense in such cases.

Scott Roeder, 51, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated assault charges in the May 31 shooting death of Tiller in the foyer of his Wichita church. The Kansas City, Mo., man has refused to discuss his case, but he has told The Associated Press that Tiller's killing was justified to save "the lives of unborn children."

Roeder has court-appointed defense attorneys, but he apparently has now turned to Michael Hirsh, the lawyer who represented Paul Hill on appeal for killing a Florida abortion provider and his bodyguard in 1994. Hill was executed in 2003 after the Florida Supreme Court rejected Hirsh's argument that the judge should have allowed Hill to present to jurors his claim that the killings were justified to prevent abortions.

I just hope Mr Hirsh is as successful defending Roeder as he was with Hill.

Hirsh has a blog, by the way, for the masochistically inclined.

O'Reilly smack-down.

Earlier this week I offered the opinion that O'Reilly would turn down the volume on the inflammatory words he expressed towards Dr Tiller, before his public assassination.

I was wrong. This is what happened:

O'Reilly had the opportunity to apologize for his words, and he didn't. He had the opportunity to say that this tragic outcome was something about which he felt sorry. He didn't. When restraint and perspective were called for, he fanned the flames higher. In fact, on his June 1 "Talking Points," he played the martyr, saying his critics were seeking to stifle any criticism of "people like Tiller -- that and hating Fox News is the real agenda here." On his show the next day ... he again called a murdered man "Dr. Killer."

Those are the observations of Mary Alice Carr, vice president of communications for NARAL Pro-Choice New York. She was invited by the producers to appear on O'Reilly's show; she said she would not and explained:

" ...when an O'Reilly producer called and asked me to come on the show to 'discuss the reasons why women have late-term abortions,' I held fast to my pledge. I told his producer what I thought: that I had had that conversation on air with O'Reilly five years earlier and that he agreed with me at the time that the decision was between a woman and her doctor. That O'Reilly then went on to pretend we had never talked about it and continued condemning women and doctors.

That the nation and those of us in the pro-choice community are reeling from the murder of a doctor who helped women. That we hold O'Reilly responsible for helping to create a climate in which hate was allowed to fester. That I refused to dignify his irresponsible behavior, not to mention his deplorable reaction to Tiller's shooting."

Although Carr had second thoughts, eventually she came to this conclusion:

"What an opportunity, I thought, to sit across from O'Reilly and call him out for what he has done and where his responsibility lies. To speak for everyone in America who is hurt and scared and angry. I have never been a Fox News hater; clearly, I've used the show for the benefit of my movement and my organization, and I've answered his questions on some of the toughest issues around. Didn't I have the right to also call him out for his speech?

But then I realized I just couldn't. Because if the murder of a man in a house of worship wasn't enough to make Bill O'Reilly repent, what hope did I have?"

Yeah, Right

First para of LifeShite's report of today's preliminary hearing for Dr Tiller's alleged assassin:

Scott Roeder, the former militia member who has no ties to the pro-life movement, will face a September trial on charges of killing late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller. Roeder plead not guilty after a day-long hearing where witnesses talked about how he shot and killed Tiller at his church.

Yeah, no ties except for this:

In a phone interview Friday, Roeder said he was upset at the president of Operation Rescue, Troy Newman, who had condemned the killing and said his organization had nothing to do with Roeder.

“He said that I never was a member and I never contributed any money,” Roeder said. “Well, my gosh, I’ve got probably a thousand dollars worth of receipts, at least, from the money I’ve donated to him.”

Roeder said he wrote Newman a letter from jail.

“I told him, ‘You better get your story straight because my lawyer said it’d be good for me to show that I was supporting a pro-life organization.’ ”

It's NOT their fault. Abortion makes them do it.

From the You-Can't-Make-This-Shit-Up file: Fetus fetishists want to shut down Dr Tiller's recently reopened clinic because. . . .

it attracts noisy, violent, disruptive nutbars.

Now, anti-abortion groups in the state have come up with a new argument for closing South Wind Women’s Center: They’re claiming it’s a disruption to the community because it attracts too much noise. On Tuesday, several anti-choice groups submitted a petition asking city officials to rezone the area as “non business” so South Wind isn’t allowed to perform abortions anymore.

According to the Wichita Eagle, abortion opponents are citing several reasons that the clinic shouldn’t be allowed to operate in the community: several gun incidents that occurred when Tiller practiced there, the lack of communication between the clinic’s security staff and the anti-abortion activists to “defuse violence” before it occurs, the level of “antagonism” between the the clinic’s escorts and the anti-choice protesters, and the fact that it may be “inappropriate” for school children to see graphic signs and protests affiliated with the clinic.

Or, as Wonkette puts it:

Gun-Toting ‘Pro-life’ Thugs Want Abortion Clinic Shut Down To Keep Away Gun-Toting ‘Pro-life’ Thugs

ADDED: Wait. It gets better (or worse, depending on your insanity level).

Mark Gietzen, chairman of the Kansas Coalition for Life, said in a recent news release that the threat of shootings at South Wind Women's Center in Wichita was enhanced by the Republican-led Legislature's adoption of conceal-and-carry law expanding ways for people to take concealed handguns into public, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported (http://bit.ly/19k28Xs ).

Gietzen said an influx of advocates with concealed guns around the new Wichita clinic meant homes would "continuously be in the line of fire." Both Kansans for Life and Operation Rescue decried the remarks.

So, is he's threatening 'continuous fire'?

Seems so. But just like 'provocatively' dressed rape victims, clinic escorts are PROVOKING violence.

"With the new conceal-carry laws enacted since the closure of the Tiller abortion facility, the number of armed people present on site will likely be higher — not lower," Gietzen said. "South Wind escorts antagonize and provocatively taunt the pro-life volunteers on the site in ways that make serious violence more likely."

O'Reilly has blood on his hands

... and so does everyone who incited and helped the alleged shooter Scott Roeder commit domestic terrorism?

In the comments following Antonia's blogpost at TheStar.com, Big_Willie_Styles said:

"This article is disingenuous. He provided ILLEGAL abortions because late-term abortions are illegal in Kansas. He got off on a technicality, which many think had something to do with the governor at the time of his arrest."

Would it surprise you to find out that Big Willie is a Big Liar? Late term abortions are not illegal in the state of Kansas. But, but, but, Bill O'Reilly said it on TV!!! Shrieeekkk!!! Though it was all about spin, innuendo and obfuscation this side of libel and calumny, someone took the abortion criminalizers' lying lies for truth and crossed the line, committing an act of domestic terrorism. Vigilante violence.

Gabriel Winant at Salon wrote:

"Tiller", O'Reilly likes to say, "destroys fetuses for just about any reason right up until the birth date for $5,000. He's guilty of "Nazi stuff," said O'Reilly on June 8, 2005; a moral equivalent to NAMBLA and al-Qaida, he suggested on March 15, 2006. "This is the kind of stuff happened in Mao's China, Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Soviet Union," said O'Reilly on Nov. 9, 2006. O'Reilly has also frequently linked Tiller to his longtime obsession, child molestation and rape.

That was before Dr Tiller was murdered in the foyer of his church during Sunday worship, so you can be sure that Fox News lawyers will have coached O'Reilly on what to say - and what NOT to say - on TV today.

Roy Edroso at The Village Voice reviewed rightwing fundamentalist religious websites and found the following nuggets:

"There is no evidence yet that a Christian is responsible for this crime, but the fever swamp is not letting facts get in the way of opinions right now," says Wizbang, as if there were some reasonable hope that the murderer would turn out to be an Islamic jihadist or Bill Ayers. ...

"Lefists will use any and all of the most unhinged tactics to defend a political program of postmodern nihilism," improvises American Power. Protein Wisdom's Dan Collins goes in for conundrums: "Let's ask ourselves whether there's been a hate crime committed here. Has there? If so, aren't Islamists guilty of hate crimes?"

The message seems to be that, since liberals are soft on terrorists, conservatives are owed a gimme on abortion doctor killers.

Using the same standards that US neocons have used to define "terrism" when non-Christians are involved, it appears that some of their own have been slip-sliding that way for awhile now, doesn't it?

Check out these comments: from "Anonymous" regurgitating malignant homophobia and from Debra J. M. Smith oozing her own special brand of cloying religious malevolence.