First a primer, “Messianic Jews” are usually extreme Fundamentalist Christians, often affiliated with Baptist Churches. These groups claim to have gone back to the “Hebrew Roots” of Christianity. Usually they just introduce some Hebrew words, kill a goat on an altar or practice ridiculous rituals they themselves invented such as “Davidic Dancing”.

Many of these groups are basically cults, created to promote the extreme beliefs of their leaders and sponsored by more mainstream Fundamentalist Christian churches in order to convert Jews.

The most famously violent Messianic Jewish group was the Branch Davidians led by David Koresh, who claimed to be a prophet. Such Messianic cult phenomena are not unusual, as Christian Messianic groups attract leaders who think that cloaking themselves behind Judaism, will legitimize their polygamy. Others are outright con artists who fleece their flocks and then head for the hills.

But Scott Roeder, who murdered Dr. George Tiller, not only self-identified as a “Messianic Jew” but was a member of a similar cult.

As the investigation continues into whether Roeder acted alone in Tiller’s May 31 death, members of the Bible study group have found themselves in the spotlight, showing up on the witness list for the prosecution and being interviewed by the FBI.

Those attending the Bible study describe themselves as Messianic Jews who, unlike mainstream Jews, believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Some people who call themselves Messianic Jews, such as Roeder, are not Jewish.

Messianic Jews differ from most Christian churches by observing many Jewish customs, including dietary laws and holidays.

In a recent interview, Roeder said he “had become a believer” around 1992.

“I converted, born again to Christianity,” he said. “I guess you could say Messianic, or turned to Jesus, Yeshua, as my Savior.” He said Messianic believers such as himself had gone “back to our Hebrew roots.”

So while Scott Roeder’s splinter group proved too extreme even for a Messianic Church, but the Or Ha Olam church falsely claims to be a Jewish synagogue and describes itself as a “theocracy” ruled through the “Rabbi (Christian Minister) and his advisers”. The Or Ha Olam site tries to detach its use of theocracy from that of the Taliban, but there’s an obvious reason why normal houses of worship don’t describe their leadership as theocratic.

The Vision Statement further insists that “An effective leadership is not possible unless loyalty to the leader is more important to the workers than loyalty to the organization.” Creepy much? But it gets better.

The Or Ha Olam church’s leader, a “Rabbi Shmuel Wolkenfeld”, real name unknown, reels off a biography that sounds perfect for a cult leader, claiming to have toyed with “Marxist ideology, Eastern Religious Ideas, philosophical meditation under the influence of psychedelic drugs”.

Of course right now the splinter group is disavowing Scott Roeder’s actions while claiming that it was all probably a government conspiracy. Or HaOlam is disavowing the splinter group. But the rising danger from Messianic Jew fundamentalist cults continues to rise.

David Koresh and Scott Roeder are only two examples of the extremes to which these fundamentalist groups are willing to go. And Israel is now dealing with its own problem from some of these imports like Edwin Beckford, an African-American Christian, self-proclaimed “Messianic Jew”, who has violently assaulted Jews in Israel, and whose adherents post anti-semitic videos to YouTube with titles such as “This is Why Everyone Hates Jews”.

Many people are confused by hearing the term “Messianic Jew”, not realizing that it’s a name used by various extremist Christian cults with dangerous beliefs. There are those Jews who call on Jews to “accept them” and Christians who campaign for their rights in Israel, little realizing that their children as the likeliest to be sucked into such cults.

Trial location an issue in Mich. activist’s death
Tuesday, February 09, 2010 at 4:06 a.m.

(AP) — Prosecutors are asking a judge to move the murder trial of a trucker accused of killing an anti-abortion protester and a business owner in a small Michigan city. Assistant Prosecutor Sara Edwards says people in Shiawassee County have strong opinions about one of the victims, James Pouillon. He was fatally shot while protesting abortion outside Owosso High School in September.

He was well known in Owosso for holding up signs of aborted fetuses.

Harlan Drake is charged with killing Pouillon and Mike Fuoss, a gravel company owner. Drake’s lawyer is pursuing an insanity defense.
Trial is set for Feb. 23. A judge will hold a hearing Tuesday on the request to move the trial to another county.

Below are some thoughts I put to paper following the trial and conviction of Scott Roeder, shooter of abortionist George Tiller. Due to the sensitive nature of the discussion I asked for some advice from Sam Crabtree, a wise friend as well as my pastor. The conversation that ensued is posted below.

______________________________________

From: jamin dick
Sent: Sunday, January 31, 2010 9:15 PM
To: Crabtree, Sam; Piper, John;
Subject: Intellectual Honesty and Pro-life Killers

Dear Pastors,

I wrote the below this week as I followed the trial of abortion-doctor-killer Scott Roeder. As a leader of a small group and member of Bethlehem I ask for your honest opinion and guidance before I post it on my blog or share it with anyone.

Yours,

Jamin Dick

_____________________________

Intellectual Honesty and Pro-life Killers
01/30/2010

Less than a week after the 37th anniversary of Roe vs Wade the question of how to oppose abortion came into sharp relief in the conviction of Scott Roeder who approached abortionist George Tiller last May and shot him point blank in the head in the foyer of his church.

As I’ve followed this story I found it raising some unexpected thoughts for me. My first reflex was to join the many “reasonable” voices on the pro-life side condemning him as a horribly misguided soul who has done more harm than good to the pro-life movement. After all, it’s pretty hard to call yourself “pro-life” if you’re willing to shoot someone in cold blood at their church.

But something about this has been nagging at me. Namely, the logic that drove Roeder to shoot Tiller seems compelling if you take the pro-life view to its logical conclusion. What’s more he hasn’t done anything to avoid facing the legal consequences of his actions.

First, Roeder believes that abortion is the unjustified taking of innocent human life, that is, intentionally and for mere convenience. This is basically the pro-life position and while divisive, is not extreme or controversial by itself.
He testified that “the legal process has been exhausted” presumably referring to the fact that abortion has been the law of the land since 1973 and has withstood countless challenges in every branch of government for 37 years. By comparison, William Wilberforce was able to singlehandedly eradicate slavery in England, which was no less engrained there, in only 19 years. In short, abortion is here to stay in the same way that women’s suffrage and church/state separation is here to stay.

Roeder’s lawyer argued for a lesser manslaughter charge which depended on proving that he held “an unreasonable but honest belief that circumstances existed that justified deadly force.” The judge rejected the argument. While one can understand the judge’s desire to not let him off easy it’s hard to understand the logic. Does he doubt that Roeder held his beliefs honestly? If so, why did he make no attempt to hide his premeditation but instead said his belief that “abortion is murder” drove him to plan the killing for years in advance? Or did the judge doubt that Tiller would return to his clinic on Monday morning and continue performing abortions as he has for the past two decades?

Actually, it seems certain that Roeder’s views were very honest and that he simply took them to their logical end. And it seems equally certain that many more abortions would be performed on Monday morning and every day following as long as George Tiller was alive.

So now I ask a difficult question. On what basis do pro-lifers condemn this killing? I don’t say this was the only right response but how do we distinguish this action from say Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s attempt to kill Adolf Hitler without being intellectually dishonest?

I can only conclude that it has more to do with the fear of the public outrage that would fall upon pro-lifers as a group and upon any individuals who were to admit that this is the logical conclusion when you believe abortion is murder, the legal process is exhausted and that it will continue tomorrow if no one intervenes.

Is there a pro-life movement today with the courage to bear this scorn or will we continue to be the “reasonable” opposition for another 40 years?

_______________________________________

On Feb 2, 2010, at 1:51 PM, “Crabtree, Sam” wrote:

Thanks for thinking hard, Jamin, for advocating for important things, and for pausing to run your arguments past others.

Allow me to bring one factor into your considerations that I have found to be a helpful one in trying to be biblically wise.

To illustrate: a few years ago I was walking about a half block behind a man when a car sped up to him, screeched to a halt, some men jumped out, bound the man, shoved him into their car, and drove off. I did not think it kidnapping and therefore I did not call the police. Why did I not think it to be kidnapping? Because it was the police. It was not kidnapping, but an arrest.

A parent may legitimately spank a child in a way that his sibling may not.

The key biblical principle to which I refer is jurisdiction. The police have jurisdiction to apprehend in ways you and I don’t (although there is explicit room in the law for citizens arrest, under limitations, including no deadly force – which is germane to your inquiry). A parent has jurisdiction that siblings don’t.

Similarly, the courts may execute Jeffrey Dahmer; I may not.

God has given the sword to the state, to civil authorities, in a way that he has not given it to ordinary citizens on the street (see Romans 13:4).

Though the issues are admittedly messy and complex, if through due process the state finds Tiller guilty of a capital offense and consequently puts him to death, it is a lawful execution. If an ordinary citizen takes matters into his own hands, it is unlawful murder.

I hope this is a hopeful and relevant piece of the discussion, and not a derailing or sidestepping of obedience to God rather than man.

Sam
_______________________________________

From: Jamin Dick
Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2010 9:15 PM
To: Crabtree, Sam
Cc: Piper, John
Subject: Re: Intellectual Honesty and Pro-life Killers

Sam,

Thanks for the thoughtful response. I think jurisdiction is the strongest biblical argument against what Scott Roeder did and I can accept it. But it leaves me wondering if there’s ever a place for “private” deadly force then. Should I intervene in a robbery or protect my family from an intruder? And if that’s ok why are those threats more imminent than abortion?

Also I think Bonhoeffer’s plot to kill Hitler violates the jurisdiction principle even more than what this man did.

Anyway, I don’t see a middle way here but maybe I’m too black and white. I guess I’ll trust that “the judge of all the earth shall do what is just” when it comes to abortion.

Thanks for the guidance.

Jamin
________________________________________________

From: Crabtree, Sam
Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 7:52 AM
To: Jamin Dick
Subject: RE: Intellectual Honesty and Pro-life Killers
Dear Jamin,

How I admire the courage of your conviction, and the intentionality of your thought processes.

I admit that these matters are messy and sticky. You are helping me think, and that is good. Thank you. Allow me to add a couple more thoughts.

First, I for one do not take for granted that Bonhoeffer was justified in plotting death any more than Jesus’ sidekick was justified in raising his sword against the Roman soldiers who arrested Jesus.

Second, resistance to wicked and unjust laws can be carried out as it was by Daniel, by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Namely, they would not do evil, though it was not their jurisdiction to use force to stop others from doing evil. Let me attempt this modern day silly example: If the government enacted a law that we must smoke cigarettes, I believe Christians of conscience could disobey that law and take the consequences of civil disobedience (lion’s dens or whatever). However, I do not think we have biblical warrant to go around and snatch cigarettes from the mouths of everyone on the street, even though they are killing someone. There is a difference between doing a crime and stopping everyone else who is doing a crime, even a deadly one. If that were permissible, individuals with various consciences would be justified in blowing up nuclear power plants, derailing coal trains, and setting fire to your automobile because they believe all of them are producing death.

Third, we already have laws (put in place by the civil authorities) called Good Samaritan laws, permitting us to tackle burglars in convenience stores, and shoot intruders in our domiciles (though usually not with deadly force – we must try to injure and arrest without killing). Unfortunately, in our context, the courts have specifically excluded abortion clinics from these laws. When the government is mistaken, we do not take matters into our own hands, but we appeal to the government as Esther did, as Nathan did. Moses responded to wicked government action a wrong way (murder) and a right way (making repeated appeals to the Pharaoh).

Toward clear consciences before God, and helpful responses toward man,

Sam

Two Christians Murdered for Witnessing in Boynton Beach

Why the National Media Blackout?
VISTA, Calif., Feb. 5 /Christian Newswire/ — “Anti-Christian hostility is getting increasingly deadly as this week’s tragic events demonstrate,” said Dr. Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission. “The increasing demonization of Christians in our culture makes some feel its open season on Christians.”

According to the Boynton Beach police, simply sharing the word of God on the street is what brought two ministers to the man who killed them. Tite Sufra, 24, and Stephen Ocean, 23, were shot and killed Saturday night after meeting Stephen Ocean, 18. They witnessed to Woody for fifteen minutes when he got a phone call and told the preachers he ‘had to go.’ As they walked away, Woody suddenly started walking back toward them. Sufra walked up to greet him and was killed with a shot gun blast at point blank range. When Ocean ran, he was shot in the back. After he fell, Woody shot him in the head execution style. Woody was arrested Wednesday and is charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

“As of today, there are no national news organizations reporting this vicious murder of two innocent Christian men. Why?” Cass said, “I’ll ask this: If two Muslims, or two feminists or two homosexuals were murdered, wouldn’t the media be all over it? These were two fine young black Christian men shot by another black man for their Christian faith, yet the media does not seem to care.”

Cass continued: “It is an ominous sign of our times that Christians are being shot on the streets and in our churches. Last year Jim Pullion was killed while holding pro-life signs in front of his granddaughter’s Owasso Michigan high school. Rev. Fred Winters was murdered while preaching in his pulpit in Maryville, Illinois. Increasingly we see Christian ministers threatened and churches terrorized and vandalized for their stand on marriage. Now when Christians gather for worship they must have armed security. Anti- Christian defamation and bigotry has helped to create this violent climate and it must stop.”

About the Christian Anti- Defamation Commission – The Christian Anti- Defamation Commission (CADC) is a national, not-for- profit 501(c) (3) Education Corporation whose purpose it is to champion Christian religious liberty, domestically and internationally, by standing against anti-Christian defamation, bigotry, and discrimination.

Here

It is unfortunate that Sedgwick County District Judge Warren Wilbert decided to deny Scott Roeder his right to a trial by a jury that was independent of government control.

Roeder had admitted to the crime of Voluntary Manslaughter [the "honest but unreasonable belief" that the use of force was necessary in defense of another] in the killing of Dr. George Tiller, but the prosecution decided it wanted him convicted instead of the much broader crime of 1st Degree Murder.

Instead of giving the jury the choice between the two different crimes, Judge Wilbert sided with the prosecution and told the jury that it could only find Roeder guilty of 1st degree murder or not guilty of any crime. Jurors went into the jury room, did what the judge told them to do and found Roeder guilty of 1st degree murder 37 minutes later.

The framers of the Constitution knew that the British court system had been used in the past to punish those who opposed the crown. They made the judiciary independent to keep the executive from coercing the courts into serving the government’s needs. Juries selected from the citizenry provided a means of dealing with a situation in which judges might become to close to the executive branch.

A jury cannot perform its constitutional function if a judge denies it the opportunity to decide the major controversies in a trial. Juries under U.S. law have broad authority to make their own decisions and in precedents that predate the establishment of the Constitution may choose to ignore laws like judges sometimes do.

The first example of jury nullification occurred in the case of journalist John Peter Zenger who was acquitted by a jury for publishing defamatory comments about New York Governor William Cosby in 1735 because the statements were true. At the time the law allowed prosecution for negative comments about government officials even it the comments were true. Jury nullification provides an added check on the legislative power by allowing citizens to in effect invalidate what citizens believe are unreasonable restrictions on their freedom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_nullification

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Peter_Zenger

In the Roeder trial the controversy wasn’t whether Roeder committed a crime when he killed Dr. Tiller, but the nature of that crime.

Judge Wilbert decided that he was some type of infallible god instead of a human being who is capable of making mistakes in spite of the fact he had been reprimanded by the state in 2006 in response to a sexual harassment complaint by a court employee.

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/may/25/judge_resigns_leadership_post_after_ethics_panels_/

Wilbert is educated in the law, but so are the defense attorneys who had a different opinion about the meaning of the law defining voluntary manslaughter.

It is not the judge’s role in a jury trial to side either with the opinion of the prosecution or the opinion of the defense about how to interpret the law or the facts of the case. A judge usually knows more about the law than jury members, but then so do the attorneys for the prosecution and the defense.

In modern society, judges may have more power to decide legal cases, but the most knowledgeable attorneys are usually not judges.

As far as I know Roeder’s defense attorneys Mark Rudy and Steve Osburn sincerely believed that Roeder was only guilty of voluntary manslaughter. Also as far as I know Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston sincerely believed that Murder One was the appropriate charge. As far as I know she did not choose the more severe charge to punish Roeder for being an opponent of abortion.

American courts are supposed to be biased in favor of the defendant rather than the government. The defendant doesn’t have to prove his innocence. If a defendant says he didn’t take the action for which he is accused the government must prove him guilty of the action beyond a reasonable doubt.

Scott Roeder admitted in court that he had killed Wichita abortion provider Dr. George Tiller to prevent Tiller from performing any more late term abortions and thus he was guilty of the crime of voluntary manslaughter. Judge Wilbert should have instructed the jury it should find Roeder guilty of voluntary manslaughter unless it felt that the prosecution had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the crime was not voluntary manslaughter, but 1st degree murder. The jury should not have considered a verdict of “not guilty”.

The claim that abortion is legal is a spurious argument in considering whether or not Roeder’s action could be considered voluntary manslaughter. Late term abortions are only legal in Kansas under certain circumstances and Tiller had been accused of performing abortions that didn’t comply with Kansas law.

Shortly before the killing, Tiller had been on trial for illegally performing late term abortions. There was sufficient evidence against him for an Attorney General who supported abortion to charge Tiller with violating the law, but not enough to convince a jury of his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/28/nation/na-abortion-trial28

Roeder might easily have been convinced himself that Tiller was getting away with murder and decided to impose the type of vigilante justice shown in old westerns and occasional cop shows. To Scott Roeder, George Tiller was a serial killer who had escaped punishment because he had a more effective attorney than the state had.

Obviously Scott Roeder violated the law when he killed Dr. George Tiller. The question is which law he should have been convicted under. An independent jury should have been allowed to choose which law to convict Roeder under. The right to a jury trial should always allow a jury to choose a lesser charge than that desired by the prosecution regardless of the wishes of judges who want to limit the right to trial by jury by controlling what the jury can do.

Two wrongs do not make a right and neither do three. Even if Dr. Tiller was wrong to perform abortions, Roeder’s murder of him was still wrong because Roeder appointed himself judge, jury and executioner. Denying Roeder his jury trial rights cannot be made right by the fact that Roeder did wrong by taking it upon himself to kill Tiller.

…the Bleacherman has entered the stadium…

Scott Roeder woke up one morning and anointed himself as God for the Day.  As his public relations team tried to suggest, Roeder believed that Dr. George Tiller was a murderer because he was a physician who performed late term abortions) and he had to be stopped.  On May 31, 2009, as Roeder drove to the Church where Dr. Tiller was worshipping, Roeder transformed himself into judge, jury and executioner.  When he arrived, in the name of the unborn children that Dr. Tiller would eventually kill, Roeder became the hand of God and killed Roeder.

Now if he were the true martyr that he tried to make us believe he was, and if he was the man he said he was, Roeder would have put down his gun, folded his arms and waited for the police to come and arrest him. 

But in the end he was nothing more than a murdering coward.  When two of Dr. Tiller’s fellow parishioners tried to apprehend Roeder, he pointed a gun at them and ran off to hide.  Some hero!  Some martyr!

At his trial, he sought to nullify the jury and tried to make the issue at hand not his murder of Dr, Tiller, but the wrong doings done by all those who participated in providing abortions.  People who said they were people of God congregated before the courthouse demanding Roeder’s release.  He was a hero.  He was their John of Arc. 

But in the end, thankfully, the good, no, the very good people of Wichita saw past the carnival and charade and saw the case for what it really was.  It was all about cold blooded, pre-meditated murder.  No extenuating circumstances, no exoneration, no absolution, and no nullification of their sworn duty was considered.  It took just thirty-seven minutes for these good, God-fearing people to uphold their responsibilities.  As children of God and citizens of the Great State of Kansas they found Roeder guilty as he charged.

The Bleacherman stands up and applauds all of you.   Thank God the will of reason can still prevail in a country gone nuts.

…the Bleacherman has left the stadium…

If the United States of America is so damned big and bad, then why are we so fucking obsessed with the threat (real or imagined) of terrorism?

When were we ever 100 percent safe? Why don’t we fear our cars, since we’re much more likely to die in an automobile accident than we are to die in a terrorist attack? 

Today The Associated Press has not one, but at least two, news items on security for the Super Bowl: “Protecting Against a ‘Lone Wolf’ at the Super Bowl” and “X-mas Bomb Attempt Prods Super Bowl Security Change.”

You know what I’m hoping for?

I’m hoping that members of Code Pink crash the Super Bowl.

They’re good at getting into events — here is a photo of Code Pink members crashing the lie fest — er, testimony — of former Secretary of State Condoleezza “You Know She’s Lying When Her Lips Are Moving” Rice:

– and they never actually harm anyone.

The Code Pink activists are hated because they stand up to The Man, an act that the brainwashed masses deem to be “crazy.” In a democracy, you see, you’re just supposed to just shut the fuck up and let the stupid white men run the show. They know better than you do. I mean, the current state of the nation after the eight years of the Bush-Cheney administration is proof of that. And dissent is uber-unpatriotic, you terrorist-lovin’ pinko. Real patriots march in lockstep with their all-white-male leaders. Every true patriot knows that.

—

I recently wrote:

What the fuck is with the widespread belief that others’ beliefs, no matter how insane and potentially oppressive or even dangerous to others, should be held by all of us as sacrofuckingsanct?

We are allowed to believe whatever we want to believe, but when we believe that others should be oppressed or subjugated, that’s a fucking problem, because our beliefs that others should be oppressed or subjugated often end up in actual oppression or subjugation. Actions often follow beliefs. Hate speech, for instance, often leads to hate crimes. And it’s the hateful beliefs that precede the hate speech.

So just now I read a piece on the murder conviction on Friday of wingnut warrior Scott Roeder, who in May 2009 shot to death — in a church – Dr. George Tiller, who had provided abortions in Kansas.

Here is the money shot of the piece:

During closing arguments Friday, [defense attorney Mark] Rudy urged the jury to reject the murder charge. “No one,” he said, “should be convicted based on his convictions.”

Rudy mentioned leaders who stood up for their beliefs, including Martin Luther King Jr. They were “celebrated individuals (who) stood up and made the world a better place.”

So Scott Roeder was just another Martin Luther King Jr., you see. Except that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was gunned down in cold blood, just like Dr. George Tiller was. And Scott Roeder gunned down George Tiller. (Don’t try to understand the “logic”; it will just give you a sick headache.)

Tell you what: After Scott Roeder is gunned down like the dog that he is, then maybe, just maybe, we can start comparing him to someone else who was assassinated. Until then, he isn’t a martyr. He’s an assassin, a murderer. And he was convicted of murder, not convicted of having believed something.

You gotta love his “defense,” though.

I suppose that I could have assassinated “President” George W. Bush and been compared to Martin Luther King Jr. for having done so. After all, if Tiller was responsible for taking innocent lives and therefore his killer was a hero like MLK, well, mass murderer George W. Bush is responsible for having taken many more innocent lives, including the lives of more than 4,300 U.S. troops who have died as a result of his bogus Vietraq War for the war profits of Dick Cheney’s war-profiteering Halliburton and the other war-profiteering subsidiaries of BushCheneyCorp – and the lives of thousands upon thousands of innocent Iraqis, whom he permanently “liberated.”

You know, wingnuts, you really don’t want to go down that path, that one’s beliefs justify killing others. You lost the Civil War to us blue-staters, remember.

—

Speaking of abortion, The Associated Press reports today that New Repugnican Hero Scott Brown is pro-choice:

Republican Sen.-elect Scott Brown of Massachusetts says he opposes federal funding for abortions, but thinks women should have the right to choose whether to have one.

Brown tells ABC’s “This Week” that he disagrees with his party’s position that the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion [Roe v. Wade] should be overturned.

Brown says the abortion question is one that’s best handled by a woman, her family and her doctor. He also says more effort needs to go into reducing the number of abortions in the U.S.

Brown has said the GOP shouldn’t take his vote for granted on every issue. He says he’s fiscally conservative but more moderate on social issues….

I’m not sure how much of Brown’s stance is out of political necessity, given that he’s in the blue state of Massachusetts, and how much of it is out of any actual sanity, but I think it’s funny that the wingnuts — who would prefer Brown to say, like wingnut football hero Tim Tebow has said, that he’s happy that his mama didn’t abort him — don’t have Brown on board with them on the issue of women’s right to have control over their own fucking uteri.

Speaking of fiscal conservatives, I’m totally down with fiscal conservatism — the taxpayers’ dollars should be spent judiciously and responsibly – but I have a real fucking problem with the Repugnicans’ philosophy of spending hundreds and hundreds of billions of the taxpayers’ dollars on the war profiteers via bogus wars but refusing to spend the taxpayers’ dollars on the taxpayers. 

Where in the fuck were the cries of “fiscal conservatism!” when the unelected BushCheneyCorp created a record federal budget deficit, with most of that money funneled to the traitors who comprise the military-industrial complex?

Um, yeah.

—

A little more on John Edwards, and then hopefully I’ll never feel compelled to write about the loser again.

While I have no plan to buy former Edwards aide Andrew Young’s tell-all book The Politician, I found this recent reportage from Salon.com’s War Room to be interesting:

Young’s book also elaborates on the now-dominant theme of Edwards as a narcissist on an epic scale. If half of what the book says is true, the candidate’s obsession with his appearance was, if anything, underestimated during the campaign.

Preoccupied with the appearance of his hair and his weight, he scorned state fairgoers as “rednecks” who would try to force feed him. According to Young, Edwards delivered one line that seems a bit too perfect: “I know I’m the people’s senator, but do I have to hang out with them?”

I never bought Edwards’ supposed populism, which is why I never supported him for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Do I blame Edwards for not being thrilled to be hanging out with rednecks? No. I’m not thrilled to hang out with rednecks, either. They tend to be not very bright, not very curious, and they tend to fear — and to oppress and even to aggress upon – those who don’t look, act and believe just like they do.

But the difference between Edwards and me is that I don’t lie about my feelings about rednecks.

—

Finally, I like this line in an AlterNet piece about why the U.S. Supreme Court fucked up when the five wingnuts on it ruled that corporations have the First Amendment right to spend an unlimited amount of money on political ads: “Simply put: money is not speech [and] corporations are not people.”

Yup. I especially believe the latter part: corporations are not people.

One certainly could argue that money is needed to disseminate one’s message, but the First Amendment reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Nothing in there about corporations having the same rights as do individual people — nothing about corporations in there at all — and the courts have ruled consistently that what appear (correctly or incorrectly) to be restraints on free speech are constitutional if they are content neutral.

Restraining corporate influence on the national political dialogue is not about suppressing individuals’ free speech; to the contrary, it’s about ensuring that the individual’s voice is not completely drowned out in the national dialogue by Big Money.

To allow that to happen would be to hasten the conversion of our democracy into a complete corporatocracy, which has been going on for some decades now.

No one who understands and cares about our democracy would be OK with its hostile takeover by the corporations, which represent the largest threat to our democracy, by far.

Scott Roeder was found guilty for the murder of Dr. George Tiller. This is big news in the abortion world, mainly because of the defense strategy that Roeder used. He claimed that his murder was a “justified act of defense for the unborn children of the world”.  Perhaps the more shocking part of the story isn’t that he wasn’t remorseful for murdering a man in his church, but that he felt fustified and that there are many who are with him and are out raged by his sentence.

RISING TEMPERATURES.

Abortion has always been a very hot topic, or at least it has since Roe v. Wade because you have very passionate emotions on both sides of the fence. What is scary though is that we now have a rising violent climate and language in the conservative “christian” anti-abortion side of the debate, resulting in murders. Dr. Tiller was not the fist abortion doctor to be shot down by a radical christian,  Dr. David Gunn, Dr. George Patterson, Dr. John Britton and James Britton a clinic escort, Shannon Lowney and Lee Ann Nichols (receptionists at a clinic), Robert Sanderson (an off duty cop/ security guard), and Dr. Barnett Slepian all were killed by anti-abortion extremist’s.  Everything cooled a bit in the mid 90’s when Paul Hill was executed for the killing of Dr. John Britton, but with Dr. Tillers resent murder apparently the climate has changed once again. On REVEREND Donald Spiz web site “army for god” he praises Roeder’s work and actually says “Thank you Scott Roeder for stopping baby killing abortionist George Tiller”

I wrote earlier on killing abortion doctors, just war and enemy love.

Here’s a quote from Scott Roeder as he was allowed (under poor legal reasoning) to defend his murder of George Tiller in terms of self defense:

“From conception on, it is murder,” Roeder argued. “It is not man’s job to take life. It is our Heavenly Father’s.”

The jury made the right decision. And apparently the defendant would agree.

My faith in Americans and their ability to have a clue has been restored thanks to the decision of a Wichita, KS jury to convict Scott Roeder of first-degree murder in the death of abortion doctor George Tiller, who was killed at point blank range while attending church on May 31,2009.  It took the jury only 37 minutes to see through Roeder’s arrogance and bullshit and put him away for life.  He deserves to go where he’s going and it is extremely uplifting to see a jury have no doubts about putting him there.  Roeder had no problem admitting to the crime and defending himself by essentially saying he was doing society a service.  That he was inspired by Pat Robertson and “The 700 Club.”  Well, guess what?  Society doesn’t need his help or that of any of these other right wing fanatics.  That is the central message to take from this swift verdict.  Short of self-defense, murder is murder.  Roeder’s actions cannot be justified or explained in any way that makes sense to a reasonable person.  Tiller was a provider of late term abortions since the 1970’s and that is a hair trigger to the anti-abortion nuts.  Late-term abortions are not something I, myself, would consider along with the idea of abortion itself.  I just wouldn’t go that route.  But it is not my place to tell other people what to do with their lives.  It’s none of my business.  The point here is not what services Tiller was providing (which are legal) but rather that Roeder decided to take justice into his own hands.  Now he will, thankfully, pay for that decision.  Anti-abortion activists are hateful people who have no business dictating the course of others lives.  They cannot accept the idea of Roe v Wade and so they have committed their lives to making life miserable for those who choose to exercise their right to be pro-choice.  They do not understand that pregnant women have a right to their own privacy and can make the choices that best suit them.  Roeder is obviously one of those people who believes he is judge, jury and executioner on the decisions other people make.  For that, he is spending the rest of his life in jail.  I applaud this jury and hope other juries around America follow this lead and put other abortion doctor murderers, like Roeder, away despite the justifications these fanatics seek to pass on about their actions.

Good Morning Conflucians!!!! It is 3 degrees here in the Boston western suburbs!!

Nevertheless, we are better off than you guys in the southern states where there is a winter storm going on. Yesterday, Texas and Oklahoma got about a foot of snow, and today the storm will move east into the Carolinas and Virgina and then out to sea.

California Conflucians are getting a break from the storms, but the state still needs more to end the long-term drought.

Our economics-challenged President is threatening to veto spending bills (except money for wars, banks, and insurance companies), because he thinks cutting the deficit is as important as creating jobs. I wonder when he’s going to figure out that the U.S. economy is dependent on consumer spending; and if people don’t have jobs, it’s kind of hard for them to buy things. Since he never held a full-time job before getting elected President and all his friends are rich corporate types, he doesn’t quite get what us ordinary people are so worried about.

“Like any cash-strapped family, we will work within a budget to invest in what we need and sacrifice what we don’t,” Obama said. “And if I have to enforce this discipline by veto, I will.”

In an effort to make a dent in the growing federal deficit, White House officials announced earlier this week that their budget proposal would keep non-military discretionary programs at fiscal 2010 levels (Greenwire, Jan. 26). The proposal would exempt some of the largest parts of the federal budget including defense and entitlement programs, such as Social Security and Medicare.

It will be up to Congress to decide whether to comply with this request in its spending bills, and Obama pled with them last night to toe the line — addressing critics from his own party and calling the effort vital to keep markets in line and avoid increases in the cost of borrowing.

I guess Obama thinks he can solve our economic problems by creating jobs in the military and defense industries. Maybe he is hoping a lot of us will go to work for Blackwater? I don’t know what he’s thinking, but I like Joseph Cannon’s idea of replacing Geithner with our own Dakinikat.

Eric Holder has been taking a lot of criticism from the right for locating the 9/11 conspiracy trial in New York City, and now he will be getting critiques from not non-Obots on the left. The Justice department review has cleared the Bush torture memo writers of professional misconduct.

Previously, the report concluded that two key authors—Jay Bybee, now a federal appellate court judge, and John Yoo, now a law professor—violated their professional obligations as lawyers when they crafted a crucial 2002 memo approving the use of harsh tactics, say two Justice sources who asked for anonymity discussing an internal matter. But the reviewer, career veteran David Margolis, downgraded that assessment to say they showed “poor judgment,” say the sources. (Under department rules, poor judgment does not constitute professional misconduct.)

By this time everyone should be aware that the Obama administration is not going to hold anyone accountable for planning or participating in torture.

Meanwhile the Mayor Bloomberg flip flopped on his support for holding the terror trial in NYC–because of unsubstantiated claims about the costs involved–so Holder is going to have to find another location:

A letter and a speech may have doomed plans to bring the Sept. 11 terror trial to New York.

The letter written by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to Washington earlier this month set a whopping $200-million-a-year price tag to secure the city during the trial – more than double the original estimate. The speech by Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly detailed a planned lockdown of lower Manhattan certain to set new standards for gridlock.

The resulting political and public outcry has forced the Obama administration to consider looking for a friendlier home for the high-profile trial, even as the legitimacy of the New York Police Department’s security plan and its estimated cost goes unchallenged.

For some reason the wingnuts are claiming that Obama is “soft on terror.” I guess that means we’ll spend even more on the military and less on jobs. Far be it from Obama to actually ignore these ridiculous charges and just do the right thing.

The GOP has leapt on Obama’s handling of the Christmas Day bombing plot, saying he was slow to speak to the public about the initial attack and criticizing the Justice Department’s decision to try the suspect in a civilian court, not a military one. Republicans also are criticizing the Justice Department for an FBI decision to end questioning of the suspect, Umar Abdulmutallab, after less than an hour and read him his Miranda rights.

That came on top of the congressional uproar over Obama’s plan to close Guantanamo Bay prison by moving the detainees to U.S. prisons. Obama missed a self-imposed one-year deadline to close the facility. Republicans also criticized the Justice Department’s decision to send five alleged 9/11 plotters to trial in Manhattan, just blocks from the World Trade Center site — a decision the administration abruptly abandoned Friday after powerful Democrats came out against the New York venue.

Time to grow up and man up, Mr. President–if you’re capable of it.

Supposedly, Osama bin Laden is worried about global warming.

Osama bin Laden blamed the United States and other industrialised countries for causing global warming in an extraordinary message issued yesterday.

In a departure from his usual religious rants, the Al Qaeda leader lectured on the dangers of climate change, claiming the only solution was to ‘bring the wheels of the American economy’ to a halt.
Rather than vows to inflict death and destruction on the U.S. and its allies, the man behind the September 11 atrocity in New York discussed the environmental future of the planet and monetary policy.

Whatever. Osama bin Laden is dead, folks. And even if he isn’t, we should just pretend he is. Why the media insists on printing all these supposed bin Laden “rants,” I will never understand.

Scott Roeder was convicted yesterday of murdering George Tiller

It took only 37 minutes Friday for a jury to convict Scott Roeder of first-degree murder for killing Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller.

But the fallout of the high-profile, emotionally charged case will linger for some time.

A federal investigation into whether Roeder acted alone in Tiller’s murder is continuing.

Tiller’s clinic — which drew patients from around the world because he was one of a handful of doctors in the country who performed late-term abortions — has closed for good.

Roeder plans to appeal the verdict.

Also yesterday, NPR’s All Things Considered allowed right wing crazy David Horowitz to dance on Howard Zinn’s grave. From the transcript:

Mr. DAVID HOROWITZ (Author): There is absolutely nothing in Howard Zinn’s intellectual output that is worthy of any kind of respect.

KEYES: Conservative pundit and author David Horowitz is among critics who fiercely disagree with Zinn’s politics. Horowitz calls “A People’s History of the United States” a travesty.

Mr. HOROWITZ: Zinn represents a fringe mentality which has unfortunately seduced millions of people at this point in time. So he did certainly alter the consciousness of millions of younger people for the worse.

For shame, NPR!! No money for you.

Here’s a sick story about a cruel and stupid man: Dad Sells Girl, Calls Cops to Complain He Wasn’t Paid

A 36-year-old California man was arrested and booked in the Monterey County jail after allegedly selling his daughter for marriage and then calling police to complain that her buyer had not paid off his debt.

Greenfield, Calif., police said Marcelino de Jesus Martinez, 36, tried to arrange for his 14-year-old daughter to marry Margarito de Jesus Galindo, 18, for $16,000 and 100 cases of beer, along with several cases of meat and other items.

After the girl moved in with Galindo, Martinez called police to complain that he hadn’t been paid. Police said he asked for their help getting his daughter back.

The prospective groom aka rapist was arrested too. Now for God’s sake, someone get someone to help that poor girl!

And now for a change of pace, why not join me in looking at some cute baby animals? Yes, I’m sick and tired of depressing news.

See more cute baby animals here:

Animal Planet baby animals guide–choose your own

Cutest in the animal kingdom

Image galleries at babyanimalz.com

Please post your own news and baby animal links in the comments.

HAVE A STUPENDOUS SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!

A jury took just 37 minutes Friday to convict an anti-abortion activist of murder for putting a gun to the head of abortion doctor George Tiller and pulling the trigger in the foyer of a church. Read more…

Today Scott Roeder was convicted of first-degree murder of Dr. George Tiller, a late-term abortion provider in Wichita, KS. I am incredibly relieved that the judge did not give the jury the instruction for voluntary manslaughter. (Roeder wanted to argue that his motive for killing Dr. Tiller was to save the life of unborn babies, therefore reducing the charge to voluntary  manslaughter). However, not even a sentence to life in prison can lessen the incredible sadness and tragedy surrounding Dr. Tiller’s death. I fear that there are others in this country like Scott Roeder who feel that they are justified in taking the life of someone working to help women and promote female agency, in order to save the life of a fetus.  I fear that these people will not be deterred by Roeder’s conviction.  I fear that some judge in some state will be willing to give a jury a voluntary manslaughter instruction.

The loss of Dr. Tiller also means the loss of another doctor who is willing to perform late-term abortions (and abortions in general). This means that more women will lack access to safe abortions. More women will be forced into making certain decisions about their bodies, in which they really had no choice. More women will turn to unsafe methods to ending their pregnancies. Dr. Tiller’s death represents another loss of women’s rights in this country. It is another way in which women’s control over their own bodies is being stripped away.

I hope that Scott Roeder is sentenced to life in prison without parole, because it frightens me to think of what he would do if released on parole. It is at times like this that I wish I had gone to medical school and could lend a hand in providing women with safe, comprehensive reproductive health care. As a lawyer I will be able to contribute to legislative changes and protecting women’s legal rights, but it is hard to sit back and not be able to directly provide women with the medical services they desire.  I only hope that there are others like Dr. Tiller who will not be afraid to continue fighting for women’s access to abortion.

I’ve already called for impeaching Obama. Looks like we can now add Holder to the mix: A draft report from the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility that originally found that Bush officials Jay Bybee (now a federal judge) and John Yoo (now a “law” “professor” at Berkeley) committed professional misconduct (which would constitute grounds for impeaching Bybee), the final version was cleaned up to say they showed “poor judgment” only. Granted, fabricating a legal justification for torture out of whole cloth does show “poor judgment,” but it shows criminal intent as well.

Well, OK, it’s a first step: Pravda, of all places, reports that Francis A. Boyle, a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law in Champlain, Ill., has requested arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court in The Hague for the arrests of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Tenet, Rice and Gonzalez for “crimes against humanity” under the Rome Statute, which established the court. For all I know this is an Eastern Hemisphere version of an Onion article, but, hey, a citizen can dream.

Well, this bites: More than 30% of Triad mortgages will be under water by 1Q2011, Deutsche Bank estimates.

Historians finally weigh in Jonah Goldberg’s “Liberal Fascism.” Only two years after the fat, lying putz laughed his way to the bank. Thanks a ton, guys.

Banksters organize protest of their treatment … indoors, because it was too cold to go outside. Power to the people!

Bloomberg’s David Reilly asks a good question about this week’s bankster-related developments: Where’s the anger? (Besides Chez Blog on the Run, of course.)

Major-league media?: The Los Angeles Times’ Andrew Malcolm keeps using the phrase “discretionary spending.” I do not think that phrase means what he thinks it means.

Every little bit helps: Somali “pirates” pledge aid to Haiti. (Somali pirates’ est. 2008 income: $150MM+).

Possibly the most entertaining appeals court ruling of the year, and it’s still only January: Gender discrimination in the workplace as manifested by rude language (Oh, so NSFW, by the ruling’s own standards).

What’s stopping the Senate from ramming through a public option in reconciliation? I’m just askin’, on account of 51 breathing senators are on records as supporting one. Seriously, Joe Lieberman can go to hell.

Party of fiscal responsibility, my butt: Every single Republican senator voted Thursday against a new pay-as-you-go rule. Every single Democratic senator voted for it. Remind me again, please, who the grownups are. Quoth commenter Chad N. Freude at Balloon Juice: “They are opposed to pay-as-you-go because they are opposed to go.”

Whoux Dat?; or, There’s a reason they call it the No Fun League: Because you can’t abbreviate No Brains League as NFL. No Frontal Lobe, maybe. (h/t: DivaGeek)

The U.S. economy shrank 2.4% in 2009, the worst calendar-year performance since 1946.

California Senate approves single-payer health-care system; the Governator vetoes it on the laughable grounds that the state “can’t afford it.” Dude, you pay either way, and with single payer, there’s an excellent chance you’d pay less.

Terrorist convicted: The jury deliberated only 37 minutes before finding Scott Roeder guilty of first-degree murder for shooting abortion provider Dr. George Tiller in the head at point-blank range. Roeder admitted the shooting and also testified that he considered only chopping off Tiller’s hands instead of killing him. What a great humanitarian. Memo to New York: If Wichita can try a terrorist, so can you. Memo to the Republicans: Americans are beyond tired of government by incontinence.

I’m probably the last person to find this out, but the free audio-editing program Audacity can record streaming audio from, apparently, any Web site. This makes me insanely happy.

So Obama got together with some Congressional Republicans today. And it’s John Cole of Balloon Juice, who, despite humerus- and-clavicle- and scapula-scraping surgery a couple of days ago, is flying without painkillers, For The Win: “If Mike Pence really is regarded as one of the deep thinkers for the GOP, I’m beginning to understand why they refused to admit Terri Schiavo was brain-dead.” Although the prez himself does nicely with the runner-up: “I would have implemented those ideas had I found a credible economist who agreed with them …”

Scott Roeder was convicted of the cold-blooded and heartless murder of prominent abortion doctor, George Tiller,in Wichita, Kansas.The official charges he was convicted of are first degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault.

Convicted Cowardly "BACK-SHOOTER" Scott Roeder

…On May 31, 2009, George Tiller, a physician from Wichita, Kansas who was nationally known for being one of the few doctors in the United States to perform late-term abortions, was shot and killed by Scott Roeder, an anti-abortion activist. Tiller was killed during a Sunday morning service at his church, where he was serving as an usher.

Multiple action groups and media figures have labeled Tiller’s killing an act of domestic terrorism…

(Source-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_George_Tiller)

The jury deliberated for only 37 minutes before they came back with the guilty verdict for Scott Roeder, 51, of Kansas City, Mo.,who put a gun to the forehead of the unarmed man, Dr. Tiller, and pulling the trigger.

Dr. Tiller was ushering at his church, passing out programs, when he was viciously, and mercilessly attacked by the coward Scott Roeder.

What is most surprising is that Roeder is only facing a mandatory sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years when he is sentenced March 9. Prosecutor Nola Foulston said she would pursue a so-called “Hard 50″ sentence, which would require Roeder to serve at least 50 years before he can be considered for parole.

His murderous act should have gotten him a shot at the death penalty,or at least life without the possibility of parole!

He showed poor Dr. Tiller no mercy, so he deserve none as well.

The bottom line here is that there is absolutely no justification for illegal murder….none at all.

In our society, we are governed by laws that are passed by the people, collectively.We are not a dictatorship, or a fascist country, so chances are good, that there are some laws that not all of us are going to support, but we all are required to follow them.

Scott Roeder’s rationalization for murder,is on par with Charles Manson’s rationalization for murder, except Manson had others do the killing for him!…Scott Roeder is much worst than Charles Manson in the murder category.

Here is a statement from Vicki Saporta, President and CEO of the National Abortion Federation, following today’s verdict….

Today in just 37 minutes, the jury in Wichita found Scott Roeder guilty of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault.

While this verdict won’t bring back Dr. Tiller, it is important that justice was served. Important for the safety and security of other

abortion providers and important for women’s continued ability to access quality abortion care.

In a civilized society, we cannot allow anti-abortion extremists to murder abortion providers in order to advance their own religious and

political beliefs.

There is no justification for murdering doctors who provide abortion care.

We hope this verdict will be a deterrent to those who may be considering following in Roeder’s footsteps, and send a clear signal that violence against abortion providers will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law….

(Source-http://www.prochoice.org/news/releases/20100129.html)

This murder had absolutely nothing to do with abortion….but had everything to do with cowardice.

The Cowardly Killer Scott Roeder

Read the full story here….

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/29/scott-roeder-guilty-kille_n_442037.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35145293/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Scott Roeder, the pro-lifer who assassinated Doctor George Tiller on 31st May 2009, has today been convicted of premeditated, first-degree murder.

Roeder will be sentenced on 9th March 2010 – the day after International Women’s Day, which seems fitting, given his role in the US’s homegrown terrorist campaign against family planning and healthcare for women.

George Tiller’s willingness to save women’s lives by aborting late-term pregnancies had made him a target for the pro-lifer terrorists for decades before his death. His clinic was bombed in 1986: in 1993 he had been shot in both arms. But, with literally unimaginable courage and dedication, he had carried on working

Roeder was inspired to commit his murder by American TV-style Christian evangelism: he had knelt down and accepted Christ as his saviour in 1992 after watching the 700 club. According to his own testimony, as early as 1993 he planned to kill Tiller, and had fantasised about many different methods, including mutilating Tiller by chopping off both his hands: he thought of shooting George Tiller at his clinic, using a sniper rifle from a nearby church… but in the end what this Christian pro-lifer did was very simple: he walked into the church where Tiller welcoming the incoming congregation, put a gun to his victim’s head, and shot dead a man who had saved thousands of women’s lives.

What can we say? Except be relieved that the US courts can in fact convict terrorists of their crimes. Except acknowledge, publicly, what happened: Doctor George Tiller was a hero. Scott Roeder, his murderer, is a Christian pro-lifer who drew inspiration for his crime from the misogynistic brand of Christianity that fuels America’s most active homegrown terrorist movement.

Anyone who identifies themselves as a pro-lifer in America is identifying themselves with Scott Roeder and the other terrorists and murderers who attack women, healthcare for women, and women’s human rights, as well as the doctors, nurses, and other clinic staff who live in fear of the ironically-named pro-life movement in America.

The basics: why pro-choice is the only moral option

Scott Roeder, an evil murderer, has been found guilty of committing… well, evil murder. He did it with the best of intentions, he claims, gunning down Doctor George Tiller, an abortion provider, while Tiller was in church acting as an usher.

Roeder is going away for a long time, as often happens with someone convicted of first-degree premeditated murder. True, he did it to save baby lives, so he claimed (and went out to pizza after the killing), but that’s not an excuse and he’s going away now (though for the record I don’t want him to get the death penalty and I’m leery of life imprisonment).

Naturally I’m assuming that Fox News and all the other conservative media outlets will be totally in favor of this, and will say that the man should be taken out and shot himself. After all, he committed murder, right, and we don’t want to be soft on crime. Why, what would they say had an atheist walked up to someone in church and killed them? Heck, they’d probably want said atheist treated as a terrorist and sent to Gitmo.

So I assume their reaction in this case will be the same. Otherwise they’d just be a bunch of hypocritical jerks, right?

Scott Roeder was found guilty of first degree murder for gunning down Dr. George Tiller last May. Not that we expected any other verdict, but it’s still a relief.

See news items here and here.

Posted by Irresponsibility

The Christian Right, to paraphrase an old aphorism about Republicans, believes in the right to life “until you’re born” — after that, you’re in God’s hands. Unfortunately, church proved no sanctuary to Dr George Tiller, who Scott Roeder shot in the head at point blank range one Sunday morning as the doctor was going about his duties as an usher.

During his trial, Roeder told a Kansas jury: “It is not man’s job to take life – it’s our Heavenly Father’s”. Amazing, not an expression of remorse, but of justification. He was talking about Doctor Tiller “taking life” by performing abortions — not his own egregious violation of the Commandment. Whatever God’s plans for Dr Tiller, they weren’t moving fast enough to suit Roeder, who had fantasised for years about murdering the doctor. Roeder testified he’d considered merely chopping his hands off with a sword but, worried Dr Tiller might teach others to perform abortions, decided cold-blooded murder was the thing. The only explanation Roeder deigned to offer was that he believed abortion was always wrong, even in the case of rape or incest, because “two wrongs don’t make a right.” Shame he didn’t apply the same thought process before trying to right a “wrong” by murdering Doctor Tiller.

Scott Roeder is guilty:

A Kansas jury deliberated just 37 minutes before convicting an anti-abortion activist of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of an abortion provider.

The jury found Scott Roeder, 51, guilty of gunning down Dr. George Tiller, who operated a clinic in Wichita where late-term abortions were performed. Roeder, 51, faces life in prison when he is sentenced on March 9.

Tiller’s family said the jury reached a “just” verdict.

“At this time we hope that George can be remembered for his legacy of service to women, the help he provided for those who needed it and the love and happiness he provided us as a husband, father and grandfather,” the family said in a written statement.

A day earlier, Roeder told jurors he had shot Tiller in the foyer of Reformation Lutheran Church as Sunday services began. Testifying as his only defense witness, he said he believed he had to kill Tiller to save lives. He said he had no regrets.

I think there’s a fair case to be made that George Tiller’s killing was an act of terrorism; it was a calculated use of violence in service of a political goal, namely, to keep doctors from offering legitimate medical services to women in need. With that in mind, I think liberals should trot out Scott Roeder whenever conservatives rail against trying terrorism suspects in civilian courts — if we can successfully put a domestic terrorist away for life, why not a foreign-born one?

Photo credit: Jeff Tuttle/Associated Press

Good. Looks like the defence’s scheme didn’t work out. (via Feministing)