Security stepped up at abortion clinics in US after killing of Dr George Tiller
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Print
Email
PDF Controversy sharpens as man arrested in connection with shooting revealed to have links to rightwing militias
The US ordered increased security for abortion doctors and clinics todayas details emerged of close links between the man held for the murder of one of the country's most prominent abortion ?doctors and rightwing militias with strong anti-government views.
The killing of Dr George Tiller at his ?Kansas church on Sunday, and the arrest of 51 year-old Scott Roeder as he fled the scene, has added fresh impetus to the abortion debate shortly before congressional hearings begin for Sonia Sotomayor, Barack Obama's nominee to the supreme court, at which she is certain to be pressed for her views on the issue.
In Washington the attorney general, Eric Holder, ordered the US marshals service to step up protection of abortion doctors and their clinics, many of which have routine protection after years of being ?targeted by extremists and mainstream anti-abortion groups. Nine abortion ?doctors, clinic workers and others have been murdered in recent years. Tiller was wearing a bulletproof jacket when he was shot in the head, and frequently travelled with bodyguards after he was wounded in an earlier assassination attempt.
Obama denounced the killing. ?"However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence," he said.
But some prominent anti-abortion activists came close to justifying it. ?Randall Terry, founder of the largest anti-abortion group, Operation Rescue, issued a statement that fell short of condemning the murder and tried to shift attention to the political fight by warning that Obama would now use it to pressure organisations which describe themselves as "pro-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," he said."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."
Dave Leach, editor of an anti-abortion newsletter, Prayer and Action News, to which Roeder occasionally contributed told the New York Times he had once met the alleged killer. "To call this a crime is too simplistic," Leach said. "There is Christian scripture that would support this."
Roeder's family said in a statement they were "shocked, horrified and filled with sadness at the death of Dr Tiller". "We know Scott as a kind and loving son, brother and father who suffered from mental illness at various times in his life," the family said. "However, none of us ever saw Scott as a person capable of or willing to take another person's life."
Others painted a picture of a more extreme man. Roeder has been identified as the likely poster of questions about Tiller on Operation Rescue's website. Among other things, a man with his name suggested going to Tiller's church to confront him and other members of the congregation over his work.
"Blaess (sic) everyone for attending and praying in May to bring justice to Tiller and the closing of his death camp," he wrote. "Sometime soon, would it be feasible to organize as many people as possible to attend Tillers church (inside, not just outside) to have much more of a presence and possibly ask questions of the Pastor, Deacons, Elders and members while there?"
In 1996, Roeder was convicted over the discovery of explosives and bomb-making equipment, along with a military rifle, gas mask and ammunition, in his car and sentenced to two years in prison. But his conviction was overturned on appeal on the grounds that the police had illegally searched his car.
The FBI identified Roeder as a member of the anti-government Freemen group, which described itself as made up of Christian patriots, whose leaders were sentenced to prison terms after a three month armed stand-off with law enforcement forces in Montana 13 years ago.
The Kansas City Star newspaper quoted a man identified as commander of the Kansas Unorganized Citizens Militia in the mid-1990s, Morris Wilson, as saying he knew Roeder at the time. "I'd say he's a good ol' boy, except he was just so fanatic about abortion," Wilson said. "He was always talking about how awful abortion was." Operation Rescue denounced the killing as "vigilantism" and cowardly.
It said it instead wanted to see Tiller "brought to justice" for what it regards as the murder of the unborn.
guardian.co.uk ? Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Security stepped up at abortion clinics in US after killing of Dr George Tiller
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Security stepped up at abortion clinics in US after killing of Dr George Tiller
[Source: News Argus Gazette]
Security stepped up at abortion clinics in US after killing of Dr George Tiller
[Source: State News]
Security stepped up at abortion clinics in US after killing of Dr George Tiller
[Source: Online News]
Security stepped up at abortion clinics in US after killing of Dr George Tiller
[Source: Broadcasting News]
Security stepped up at abortion clinics in US after killing of Dr George Tiller
[Source: Chocolate News]
Security stepped up at abortion clinics in US after killing of Dr George Tiller
[Source: Cbs News]
Security stepped up at abortion clinics in US after killing of Dr George Tiller
posted by 88956 @ 10:30 PM,
,
No Surprise Here: Three Strikes Law Creates Opportunity For Encrypted VPN Services In France
PrintEmailPDF Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
No Surprise Here: Three Strikes Law Creates Opportunity For Encrypted VPN Services In France
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
No Surprise Here: Three Strikes Law Creates Opportunity For Encrypted VPN Services In France
[Source: Cnn News]
No Surprise Here: Three Strikes Law Creates Opportunity For Encrypted VPN Services In France
[Source: News Weekly]
No Surprise Here: Three Strikes Law Creates Opportunity For Encrypted VPN Services In France
[Source: News Argus]
No Surprise Here: Three Strikes Law Creates Opportunity For Encrypted VPN Services In France
[Source: Television News]
No Surprise Here: Three Strikes Law Creates Opportunity For Encrypted VPN Services In France
[Source: Television News]
No Surprise Here: Three Strikes Law Creates Opportunity For Encrypted VPN Services In France
No Surprise Here: Three Strikes Law Creates Opportunity For Encrypted VPN Services In France
posted by 88956 @ 9:53 PM,
,
Joshua Glazer: Pirates Gain Seat in EU Parliament
They're not the "yo-ho-ho" kind of pirates, nor the much scarier "taking-ships-hostage-with-rocket-launchers" pirates. But Sweden's Pirate Party won a seat in the European Parliament in yesterday's election, winning 7% of their country's vote. This could mean the start of a meanful debate regarding copyright and it's application to modern web technology.
There is little doubt that the current system of copyright protection is broken. It has criminalized an entire generation in the similar way to the War on Drugs (although the resource expenditures and incarceration rates are incomparable). In this country, it has been most prominently seen in the RIAA's lawsuits against the downloaders of illegal music--from college students to mothers and grandfathers. In Sweden, a case against bittorrent site The Pirate Bay found its four co-founders convicted of copyright infringement with potential punishment up to a year in prison and $3.8 million in fines. The case, which was Twittered from the courtroom by one of the defendants, is actually being credited as a catalyst in yesterday's victory.
As a music media professional, I am torn by the debate on illegal downloading. On the one hand, I have watched the magazine industry decimated by the effects of downloading, aggregating and other online practices that the most conservative would deem 'infringement." At the same time, the record labels which once supported my particular strand of coverage have had it even worse, with sales plummeting and, along with it, ad dollars to support music media. I have little doubt that my professional career would have been on much stronger footing in the '90s, before the web's widespread usage.
At the same time, I am a long time music downloader who has used pirated media for both my personal pleasure as well as achieving some professional tasks, i.e. -- sending MP3s to reviewers rather going through the time consuming process of requesting promotional CDs (technically breaking the letter of copyright law in the process.) I am also a DJ who must actively use online music blogs to stay competitive by acquiring the newest songs long before they are available for commercial release. I've not yet graduated to film downloading, but my DVD player just died and the pricing on cables to connect my computer to my HDTV are very cheap indeed.
I don't have the solution to striking a balance between content consumers and producers. But I pray someone figures it out before I lose my job and I can't pay my broadband bill. Having proponents of open access such as the Pirate Party in seats of power might at least change the tone of the current discussion. Here's hoping that change turns out for the better.
More on Pirates
Joshua Glazer: Pirates Gain Seat in EU Parliament
[Source: Good Times Society]
Joshua Glazer: Pirates Gain Seat in EU Parliament
[Source: Broadcasting News]
Joshua Glazer: Pirates Gain Seat in EU Parliament
Joshua Glazer: Pirates Gain Seat in EU Parliament
posted by 88956 @ 9:00 PM,
,
Dick Cheney comes out again for gay marriage: "I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish."
PrintEmailPDF Last week, Ted Olson. Today, Dick Cheney:
Dick Cheney rarely takes a position that places him at a more progressive tilt than President Obama. But on Monday, the former vice president did just that, saying that he supports gay marriage as long as it is deemed legal by state and not federal government.
Speaking at the National Press Club for the Gerald R. Ford Foundation journalism awards, Cheney was asked about recent rulings and legislative action in Iowa and elsewhere that allowed for gay couples to legally wed.
"I think that freedom means freedom for everyone," replied the former V.P. "As many of you know, one of my daughters is gay and it is something we have lived with for a long time in our family. I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. Any kind of arrangement they wish. The question of whether or not there ought to be a federal statute to protect this, I don't support. I do believe that the historically the way marriage has been regulated is at the state level. It has always been a state issue and I think that is the way it ought to be handled, on a state-by-state basis. ... But I don't have any problem with that. People ought to get a shot at that."
We hate Dick Cheney here at AMERICAblog.com. Hate him. But, even a broken clock is right twice a day. And, as Sam Stein, who wrote the article above, notes, this statement make Cheney more progressive than Obama on marriage equality. If Cheney can support marriage equality, there's really no excuse for Obama and other leading Congressional Democrats.
Cheney has been using similar language since 2004, when he broke with his boss, George Bush, over the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage:
At a campaign rally in this Mississippi River town, Cheney spoke supportively about gay relationships, saying ?Sfreedom means freedom for everyone,? when asked about his stand on gay marriage.
?SLynne and I have a gay daughter, so it?"s an issue our family is very familiar with,? Cheney told an audience that included his daughter. ?SWith the respect to the question of relationships, my general view is freedom means freedom for everyone. ... People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to.
?SThe question that comes up with the issue of marriage is what kind of official sanction or approval is going to be granted by government? Historically, that?"s been a relationship that has been handled by the states. The states have made that fundamental decision of what constitutes a marriage,? he said.
And, Congress should stay out of it. But, in 1996, President Clinton signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which put the federal government in a position to regulate marriages at the state level. DOMA needs to go.
And, this further confirms all the polling that shows when people know someone gay, it makes them more likely to be supportive of issues like marriage equality. Frankly, I don't think Dick with be with us absent that. But, he is -- and here's the video. Cheney almost sounds human:
Dick Cheney comes out again for gay marriage: "I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish."
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Dick Cheney comes out again for gay marriage: "I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish."
[Source: Newspaper]
Dick Cheney comes out again for gay marriage: "I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish."
[Source: News]
Dick Cheney comes out again for gay marriage: "I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish."
[Source: 11 Alive News]
Dick Cheney comes out again for gay marriage: "I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish."
posted by 88956 @ 7:40 PM,
,
Multimedia
Top Stories
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links