Jack Kelly Sunday

In this week's column, Jack Kelly loyally continues his support of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (no idea why) and in doing so, he takes a swipe at David Letterman.

Good Lord, doesn't he realize how easy this is going to be?

Jack begins:

President Barack Obama is, by far, the most popular politician in America. And there is little doubt who is No. 2.

The city of Auburn in upstate New York, population 28,574, held its first annual Founder's Day celebration June 6. The most famous of the city's fathers is William Seward, who as secretary of state purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867. To commemorate the event, the city council invited the current governor of Alaska. The parade featuring Sarah Palin drew more than 20,000 people, according to press reports.

Of course he's saying it's Governor Palin. But is that the case? Is she really the second most popular politician in the country? Let's look at some poll numbers. Asking what they describe as an "open ended question," the Gallup folks have an idea:

Asked to name the "main person who speaks for the Republican Party today," Republicans across the country are most likely to name three men: Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, and Dick Cheney.

They give the overall percentage numbers as:

• Limbaugh, 13
  
• Cheney, 10
  
• McCain, 6
  
• Gingrich, 6
• Bush, 3
  
• Steele, 1
  
• Boehner, 1
  
• Romney, 1
  
• Other, 9
  
• No one, 14
  
• Everyone, 1
• No Opinion, 37

Take a look at the numbers for the Republicans/leaners:

• Limbaugh, 10
  
• Cheney, 9
  
• McCain, 6
  
• Gingrich, 10
  
• Bush, *
  
• Steele, 2
  
• Boehner, *
  
• Romney, 2
  
• Other, 14
  
• No one, 17
  
• Everyone, 1
• No Opinion, 29
  

See who isn't on either list? Interesting, isn't it? So not only doesn't Sarah Palin rate nationally on the "who speaks for the Republican party" question, she doesn't even get on the scoreboard among Republicans.

Nor is Governor Palin the most popular governor in the country, as was the case when Jack reported that factoid almost exactly a year ago.

Heck, she's not even the most popular politician in Alaska. From Seattlepi.com:

After Alaska voters gave her positive ratings as high as 86 percent in mid-2008, Gov. Sarah Palin's "positives" are down to 54 percent in the latest Hays Research Group poll of Alaska voters.

The governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee trails far behind the robust 76.3 percent approval figure scored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. Both Palin and Murkowski are up for reelection in 2010.

It's up to Jack to explain how his "second most popular politician in the country" isn't seen by members of her own party as speaking for that party AND how she's not even the most popular politican in her home state. That I'd like to see. In any event it's difficult to see how she's the second most popular politician in the country.

Then there's this part:

The day after that, Ms. Palin took part in a fund-raiser in Washington, D.C., for House and Senate Republicans at which former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was the keynote speaker.

"An attempt to have the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate speak at the dinner ... fell through when organizers feared she might upstage Gingrich," UPI reported.

Of course, Jack leaves out some important stuff. But given how more Republicans (at least according to the poll data above) view Gingrich as "speaking for" the GOP, it does make sense that she would not be the keynote speaker at that fundraiser. Dana Millbank, though, at the Washington Post fills in some of the blanks:

First the Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee was invited to be the keynote speaker at the party's annual congressional fundraising dinner.

Then she was not the keynoter, replaced by former House speaker Newt Gingrich.

Then she was invited to speak, again. Then that invitation was rescinded.

Then she let word slip out that she was unhappy about the whole state of events and was thinking of not attending at all.

Then -- after much public bickering between Palin loyalists and party officials -- she finally agreed to come, speaking slot or no.

But what's with the back and forth on her speech? Seems that things are running not so smooth in the GOP. That should have been the story. But my guess is that with this column, Jack is sending the message that he's plainly in Palin's camp. Everything else should be seen through that frame of reference.

Then there's Letterman. Here's Jack's take on the story:

If Sarah Palin decides she's had her fill of public life, it could be because of the attention her visit drew from the likes of "comedian" David Letterman.

In his monologue Monday, Mr. Letterman "joked" about Ms. Palin's "slutty flight-attendant look," and made two awful jokes about her daughter, one implying she'd had sex with Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez, the other that she'd been a prostitute for former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

"Laughter incited by sexually perverted comments made by a 62-year-old male celebrity aimed at a 14-year-old girl is not only disgusting, but it reminds us some Hollywood/New York entertainers have a long way to go in understanding what the rest of America understands -- that acceptance of inappropriate sexual comments about an underage girl, who could be anyone's daughter, contribute to the atrociously high rate of sexual exploitation of minors by older men who use and abuse others," Ms. Palin responded when asked for comment.

As for the "joke" about Palin's flight-attendant look, Letterman also joked about her laughing "all the crazy looking foreigners entering the U.N." and about how she finally "met one of those Jewish people Mel Gibson's always talking about."

What? No outrage at the jokes pointing to Palin's lack of foreign policy experience or cultural ignorance? The jokes about how she looks get Dave into trouble. A bit sexist, if you ask me.

The Top-Ten list is here, if you want to see it.

But take a look at Jack's dishonesty regarding the "daughter" joke. First off, he's got his facts just a teensy bit off. I'll let the politico fact-check Jack:

Riffing on Palin’s trip to New York last weekend, Letterman joked Monday night that during the seventh inning of the Yankees game “her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.”

Letterman followed up on the line Tuesday night, joking that “the toughest part of her visit was keeping [former New York Gov.] Eliot Spitzer away from her daughter.” [emphasis added.]

It doesn't change the meaning of his argument of course, but it does show that Jack's not on top of his facts (yet again).

Left out is Letterman's explanation:

Despite maintaining his usual tone of playful sarcasm as he discussed his flap with Palin, Letterman did respond seriously to the charge that he had made a rape joke about a 14-year-old girl: "These are not jokes made about her 14-year-old daughter. I would never, never make jokes about raping or having sex of any description with a 14-year-old girl," he said. Letterman insisted the jokes were intended to be about Bristol, who is 18-years-old. "Am I guilty of poor taste? Yes. Did I suggest that it was OK for her 14-year-old daughter to be having promiscuous sex? No."

But a curious thing emerges. Take a look at exactly what Jack says and what he doesn't say in his description of Letterman's jokes. I'll help things along with a question: Does Jack Kelly say that Letterman was joking about Willow Palin, the 14-yr old?

No he doesn't. He leaves that up to the Palins themselves - he just quotes them. So what can we assume from that?

Perhaps that Jack isn't convinced that Letterman wasn't talking about Bristol rather than Willow. If he was convinced, why wasn't he clearer?

In any event, not to mention Letterman's explanation (if only to disagree with it) is, in itself, dishonesty by omission.

Can't wait for a difficult column.

Chuck McCullough's Going To Trial

Both the P-G and the Trib have the details.

We've been been following this for some time now. I've met a few of the players of this particular drama and for the sake of full disclosure let me say that one of my old jobs was at a law firm that also employed McCullough at the same time - we didn't have that much interaction and none of it has anything to do with this story.

What makes this particularly newsworthy is that despite the charges, the arrest and now the trial, attorney Charles P. "Chuck" McCullough is as of this writing STILL on Allegheny County Council.

Did you know he's on the Government Reform committee?

From the County website:

Chuck McCullough was elected to one of the County Council At Large seats in the November, 2007 election, and brings 25 years of government expertise to Council. Chuck was the Homestead Borough Solicitor from 1984-1990 and the Allegheny County Solicitor from 2002-2004. He has been the Township Attorney for the Township of Upper St. Clair since 1998 and also serves as Special Counsel to the Upper St. Clair School District and to South Park Township. Additionally, he has served in different capacities as legal counsel in various state and local government bond issues.

Chuck has developed effective, pragmatic and non-partisan resolutions to many of our regions’ issues. His reputation for success in this regard resulted in his selection by Governor Rendell to be a member of Commonwealth’s negotiating team with U.S. Airways and his selection by his peers, the solicitors for the municipalities in the Alcosan collection system, to be one of the lead attorneys in negotiations with EPA, DEP and the County Health Department for a county-wide administrative consent order to study and assess our regions’ sewerage systems. The resulting consent order is estimated to have saved the municipalities millions of dollars in fines and litigation expense and over a billion dollars in compliance with environmental regulations. Chuck was also selected by County Council in 2005 to be a member of the County’s Government Study Review Commission, which conducted a comprehensive review of the functions and effectiveness of County governmen

Good for him. Now look what's happened. From the P-G:

After 30 witnesses, reams of paperwork and continuances that made the preliminary hearing -- typically a single-day affair -- stretch over nearly two months, Allegheny County Councilman Charles P. McCullough was ordered to stand trial yesterday on all 24 counts against him.

The P-G has the original police criminal complaint. Here are the charges listed on the complaint:

• One count of making unsworn falsification to authorities. McCullough is charged with failing to disclose on a state ethics commission financial statement income from the Jordan trust.
  
• Two counts of making false reports to law enforcement. McCullough is charged with falsely reporting to Upper St. Clair police that P-G reporter Dennis Roddy had harassed Jordan when no harassment occurred
• Nine counts of misapplication of entrusted property. McCullough is charged with making a number of checks out of Jordan's trust without her knowledge.
• Seven counts of theft by taking. More checks from Jordan's trust without her approval.
• Two counts of theft by deception. McCullough is charged with getting paid for stuff he didn't do.
• One count of criminal conspiracy. This has to do with the charges McCullough's sister is facing, as far as I can tell.
  
• One count of tampering with public records. This has to do with his failure to report the Jordan income.
• One count of failing to properly report statement of financial interests.

And that's 24.

From the P-G:

Mr. McCullough, 54, is charged with using his control of Shirley H. Jordan's assets to reward himself, friends, political allies and family members, including his sister Kathleen McCullough, who also was ordered to stand trial on three theft charges yesterday. Ms. McCullough, in addition to receiving money from Mrs. Jordan through her brother, is charged with embezzling more than $1 million from an engineering firm where she worked as an accountant.

We wrote about the embezzling here. Messy biz, that.

In all fairness, we should say that from the Trib we learn that:

McCullough's actions were approved by an Orphans' Court judge, [McCullough's lead attorney Thomas] Farrell argued. Allegations he misused Jordan's money do not amount to criminal charges, and would be more appropriate for a lawyers' disciplinary review board, Farrell added.

Which is all well and good, but I don't think it doesn't address the allegations of making false reports to the police, does it?

One interesting thing about both articles is that both contain the same quotation from Assistant District Attorney Lawrence Claus:

They had a cash cow here, and Mr. McCullough was going to milk it for all it's worth.

Let's just leave it with that.

Congratulations, Pens!

Let me add that as far as any possible G-20 riots go -- as one who lives on the South Side -- I do not fear them; I embrace them.



http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/video/19741992

http://kdka.com/video/?id=58808@kdka.dayport.com

http://kdka.com/video/?id=58807@kdka.dayport.com
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Morning Joe

There's been a curious practice among some members of the news media for some time. In order to look "fair" and "balanced" it seems that the general practice is to say "well, both sides are doing it" and let it go at that.

Case in point.

This morning just as I was waking up, I saw a few moments of Morning Joe. In their discussion of how both sides are politicizing the shooting at the Holocaust Museum, they equated this:


where at about 45 seconds in, Rush Limbaugh says:

Well who did he hate? He hated both Bushes. He hated neocons. He hated John McCain. He hated republicans - he hated jews, as well. He believed in an inside-job conspiracy theory of 9/11. This guy is a leftist, if anything. This guy's beliefs, this guy's hate stems from influence that you find on the left, not on the right.

With this from Paul Krugman:

Back in April, there was a huge fuss over an internal report by the Department of Homeland Security warning that current conditions resemble those in the early 1990s — a time marked by an upsurge of right-wing extremism that culminated in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Conservatives were outraged. The chairman of the Republican National Committee denounced the report as an attempt to “segment out conservatives in this country who have a different philosophy or view from this administration” and label them as terrorists.

But with the murder of Dr. George Tiller by an anti-abortion fanatic, closely followed by a shooting by a white supremacist at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the analysis looks prescient.

There is, however, one important thing that the D.H.S. report didn’t say: Today, as in the early years of the Clinton administration but to an even greater extent, right-wing extremism is being systematically fed by the conservative media and political establishment.

Yea, those are the same. Exactly the same. Both sides are doing exactly the same thing.

And if you don't get the sarcasm, you're reading the wrong blog.

Teh Crazie Responds

Yesterday, the OPJ blogged on Shepard Smith of Fox "News."

Seems he's not so a big fan of teh Crazie out there.

In a piece with a headline that reads:

Shep Smith attacks right-wing 'crazies'
Rips people questioning eligibility as being 'out there in a scary place'

World Net Daily has responded.

First they try to undermine Smith's credibility with a nine-year old traffic altercation. And then they counter with Glenn Beck:

Two hours after Smith's TV remarks about "crazies," his network colleague Glenn Beck said of the shooting in Washington, "This is not the work of right-wing conservatives."

"This guy is a lone gunman nut job," Beck said. "I'm not stirring the pot. I am pointing out that the pot is boiling and there is trouble in America. ... Common sense tells you that there are very hateful people on the right and on the left."

As I am sure many people have pointed out, if the shooter was named Mohammad, Fox "News" would be telling a different story altogether.

Right Wing Terrorism, round two.

NHL Web Site Apologizes for Red Wing "Champs" Gear

An update to this post.

I saw this on WTAE this morning:

A winner-take-all Game 7 will decide this year's Stanley Cup champion on Friday night, but it seems that the NHL is ready for Detroit to win right now.

Red Wings Stanley Cup championship merchandise was already posted on Shop.NHL.com early Wednesday afternoon.

[snip]

But there was no link posted for any Pittsburgh championship merchandise.

[snip]

"We have eliminated the collection of the product item identification numbers related to the mishap," the site's online business manager said. "The products should not have been live and we should not be taking orders on any Pittsburgh or Detroit championship merchandise. The problem is being worked on and will take 6 to 14 regular hours to be completely fixed."

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Shepard Smith: A tiny ray of light on Fox News

First up: Shep on the DHS report and the Holocaust Museum shooting: "It was a warning to us all, and it appears now they were right."



Next: He calls out "more and more frightening" Fox e-mailers.



Maybe, just maybe, Mr. Smith will someday realize that those scary, scary people who email him are Fox's base audience and that they are the base audience because Fox pushes tea-bag revolutions and unrelenting and over-the-top criticisms of President Obama and all things liberal/Democratic.
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White Supremacist Wounds Kills Security Guard at U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

From the April Department of Homeland Security report that assessed the threat of “right wing extremists":

Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.

First Dr. Tiller, Poplawski, then Dr. Tiller, now this.

Napolitano should have never apologized.

Lots on the background of the shooter at Talking Points Memo and AMERICAblog.

UPDATE:
From Think Progress: "Brunn has been approvingly cited on Stormfront, a national white supremacist website." If you recall, Poplawski kept an account at Stormfront.

UPDATE II:
Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns, security guard at U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, has died of his injuries.

Can we all agree that shooting up a Holocaust museum is the very definition of evil?
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NHL Store declares Detroit Red Wings Winner of 2009 Stanley Cup

UPDATE: WTAE has the story (see here).

File this under WTF??



There's a ton of "Detroit Red Wings 2009 Stanley Cup Champions" gear at the official NHL store. See here.

Can't seem to find any similar products for the Pittsburgh Penguins . . .

Is the fix in?

(h/t to my sister)
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Domestic Violence In Pittsburgh: When you do everything right and the system still fails you

From Sunday's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

The second time Robert L. Taylor beat Donna Williams, she had to bite off part of his finger to make him stop, according to court filings. By the time she escaped from what she called a weekend as his hostage, she was determined that her former boyfriend of three years wouldn't hurt her a third time.

But Ms. Williams' subsequent visit to Pittsburgh's Zone 2 police station did not bring a swift end to her troubles, much as her 911 call after the first incident of abuse four months earlier brought only a respite. Decisions, errors and communication breakdowns in the courts and police combined to give Mr. Taylor five weeks of freedom and sentenced Ms. Williams to more than a month of fear.

[snip]

Ms. Williams' case is now the subject of a Citizen Police Review Board investigation. It comes two years after the Pittsburgh Police Bureau's sensitivity to domestic violence became an issue, with the promotions of three officers who had faced abuse allegations.

We often see in cases of domestic violence people asking "why didn't she just leave," perhaps not realizing that the very act of leaving can be dangerous (A United States Department of Justice, National Crime Victim Survey revealed that the most dangerous time for a woman who is being abused is when she tries to leave).

However in this case, Ms. Williams did everything "right." She repeatedly reported incidents to the police and utilized the courts. She tried to escape her abuser but the police and the courts failed her time and again.

What's needed now is to find out if policies were violated/if new policies need to be put in place.

Some may notice a familiar name in the P-G article: George Trosky. He was one of the three officers with a history of domestic violence charges who was promoted in 2007 by by Police Chief Nate Harper with the approval of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. According to a P-G article at the time of his promotion, Trosky made an "unusually steep leap from detective to head of the Zone 2 operation" and had "incidents and allegations of violence and drunken driving."

From Sunday's P-G article:

In a typical year, Allegheny County sees upward of 10 domestic violence-related homicides, according to the Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh. For Ms. Williams, the danger level was about to rise, precisely because she had helped police to find Mr. Taylor, only to have them opt not to arrest him.

On May 3, he called her from Mercy Hospital. "He was all crying that they were about to cut his finger off," due to an infection, she said. She called 911 to report his whereabouts. Police served him with the PFA there, but left him.

According to Zone 2 Cmdr. George Trosky, a police supervisor "said to leave the guy there, because he was going to be in for a lengthy stay." Mercy Hospital security agreed to call the station when he was about to be discharged so police could arrest him.

The bureau sometimes arrests a hospitalized person and posts an officer outside the room, paying overtime so an officer does not have to be pulled off the streets. The Citizen Police Review Board began investigating Ms. Williams' case after receiving an anonymous tip, purportedly written by someone in the police bureau, suggesting the zone didn't want to incur overtime costs.

That expense did not factor into the decision not to guard Mr. Taylor, according to Cmdr. Trosky. He said the determination "was my supervisor's decision, and I'm going to stand by his decision," declining to explain how it jibes with bureau policy.

[snip]

In Ms. Williams' case, Cmdr. Trosky said the promised call from hospital security regarding Mr. Taylor's departure "never happened." Mercy spokeswoman Linda Ross, though, said the hospital's security department called Zone 2 at 8:32 p.m. on May 3, after Mr. Taylor left without doctor approval.

Back in 2007, we closely followed the promotion of these officers and the subsequent legislation passed to deal with domestic violence by police officers. Some of you may recall that a coalition of groups was instrumental in setting new policies for the police. That same coalition is looking into the case of Ms. Williams. Here's a statement by them via Heather Arnet of The Women and Girls Foundation:

The coalition of women’s serving agencies and advocacy agencies that coordinated the coalition led effort to develop an improved domestic violence policy for the City of Pittsburgh Police Department (in fall 2008), held a conference call to discuss the recent Domestic Violence case outlined in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article this weekend. The Women and Girls Foundation hosted the conference call and is serving as the convening agent for the coalition. Participants in the coalition include domestic and sexual assault agencies from throughout the region, and advocacy organizations like NOW, NCJW, B-PEP, Women and Girls Foundation, as well as supportive funding partners such as FISA Foundation. The coalition is having a follow up call to review information gathered throughout the case and discuss next steps re: recommendations for systemic improvements which would help prevent the communication breakdowns which occurred in this case and ultimately improve victim’s rights, supports, and services moving forward.

For the record, I am on the list serve for this coalition and participated in the above mentioned conference call.

What you can do:

The Citizen Police Review Board will be reviewing this case at their upcoming meeting. You can attend.

Citizen Police Review Board Meeting
June 23, 2009, 6:00 PM
Freedom Unlimited Building
2201 Wylie Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
(412) 434-0922

Let's not fail Ms. Williams -- or any other survivor of domestic violence -- one more time.
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Salon Debunks Some Myths.

Here.

Here's an example:

Myth: Led by Obama, Democrats are planning to reinstitute the Federal Communications Commission's Fairness Doctrine, eviscerating right-wing talk radio in the process.

Who's spreading it: Rush Limbaugh; Sen. Jim DeMint

What they believe: The government used to require radio and TV broadcasters to devote some of their airtime to public policy discussions, and to provide "contrasting views" on the matters discussed. The FCC abolished the rule in 1987, under President Ronald Reagan. The next year, America was first treated to the dulcet tones of Rush Limbaugh's national radio show, thus ushering in a golden age of broadcast wingnuttery, interspersed with ads for mattresses. So now that a Democrat -- and one as suspicious as Obama is, to boot -- is in the White House, conservatives are certain that a nefarious plot to undo Reagan's handiwork is underway. There's also a more generalized paranoia that sweeping media reforms will be implemented under the guises of "localism," "media diversity," and "community interests," which, in the right-wing imagination, can have but one purpose: to muzzle conservative voices. The terror this appears to be striking in the hearts of the right is almost charming: "As a candidate, Barack Obama was mostly relegated to filing complaints, threatening lawsuits and organizing angry mobs to intimidate dissenters," one piece on NewsBlaze warns. "As President, Obama now has unbridled power to systematically destroy the only source of checks and balances to his radical policies: talk radio."

Obama is allegedly going to clamp down with backdoor policies determining whether or not talk radio stations offer voices that are in the "public interest"; they'll refuse to renew licenses to those that don't fit their standards. World Net Daily has written that it's even possible Obama wants to go further -- by nationalizing the newspaper industry, in order to control it. "It's a program worthy of the old Soviet Union -- where the old joke noted there was no truth in Pravda and no news in Izvestia," WND contributor Joseph Farah wrote, adding a nice communist twist to the myth. (Note to Farah: The joke works only if people know "Pravda" is Russian for "truth," and "Izvestia" is Russian for "news," which you didn't mention.)

What is real: Yes, many Democrats like to grumble about talk radio, and yes, some have said they'd like to bring back the Fairness Doctrine. But even Fox News has reported that the White House has no plans to do that. Obama "does not believe the Fairness Doctrine should be reinstated," a spokesman told the network less than a month into his term. Going the belt-and-suspenders route, the Senate has also passed a bill by South Carolina Republican Jim DeMint, which would ban the return of the doctrine. (Lawmakers also approved a proposal by Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat, to affirm existing FCC policy that encourages diversity in media ownership, though, which has made conservatives antsy.)

Still, the Republican agitation about the alleged return of the policy is way overblown; they're so busy opposing it that they've skipped right past the fact that no one is really trying to do it. As Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, told the Washington Times in January, "We have enough real problems facing this country that we don't need to invent ones that don't exist." That may be true if you're trying to govern. But it's not true if you're trying to scare the right-wing masses.

In case you hadn't noticed teh crazies also believe that Obama's a "Nazi-styled eugenicist" who is in league with Planned Parenthood's evil plot:

Planned Parenthood has diabolically perpetrated their murderous plot to surgically eliminate those they deem undesirable. In other words, kill the babies of unsuspecting minority women by aborting their children. Then, tell them this is a “good thing” for you and your people.

No other ethnic group in the United States has been decimated more by abortion than the Afro-American community. The war being waged upon innocent captives in the womb is led by Planned Parenthood.

Then there's "Obama is a fascist" for bailing out some car companies. To which Salon retorts:

Bush-era torture, surveillance and aggressive warfare do not meet the standard for fascism, but bailing out a bankrupt car company apparently does.

But my favorite is "Obama is the Antichrist." The reasons?

Why, Nostradamus predicted his coming. Obama bears traits resembling the Antichrist, according to former "Saturday Night Live" cast member and current Christian wactress Victoria Jackson. He sends subliminal messages to his minions and to his master, Satan. Also, Jesus' biblical prediction of the coming of the Antichrist describes him as coming as "lightning from heaven"; that translates to "baraq o bama" in Hebrew. And if Obama were not the Beast foretold in Revelation, why would the nickname for his presidential limo be -- the Beast? And, why, on the day after his election, was the winning number in the Illinois lottery 6-6-6?

It turns out that the lottery number for that day WAS 666. So, you know, uh-oh.

Teh Crazie's here to stay.

Terrorism works

The clinic of Dr. Tiller who was assassinated by a domestic terrorist will be permanently closed.

Terrorism works -- especially when the FBI seemingly doesn't take it seriously.
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Specter hearts Sestak

Sen. Arlen Specter (?-PA) ♥ed possible primary challenger Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) on Twitter, or rather he <3ed>him, or rather he didn't...

Think Progress captured this tweet from Specter on Tuesday:


The tweet was deleted moments after it appeared. Specter's campaign is chalking it up as a typo.

We say: Twitter is no country for old men.
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Rally For Single-payer Healthcare in Harrisburg Tomorrow

UPDATE: Ed from the comments section here emailed me about a conference this Sunday hosted by the Western PA Coalition for Single-Payer Healthcare from 1:00 to 5:00 PM at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, 616 N. Highland Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15206. More details (and RSVP) here.



WHAT: Rally For Single-payer Healthcare
WHEN: June 11, 2009, 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
WHERE: The Capitol Steps, 100 North Third Street, Harrisburg PA
WHY: Fill the Capitol Steps to let Legislators know that you favor passage of single-payer legislation (HB 1660 and SB 400).
RSVP: https://www.thedatabank.com/dpg/309/personalopt1.asp?formid=meet&c=568285

Entertainment (begins at 11 AM):
Anne Feeney (Unionmaid, hellraiser, and labor singer)
Mike Stout (The World’s Grievance Man)

Confirmed Speakers (11:30 AM - 12:30 PM):
Lorenzo Canizares (Board Member, Keystone Progress)
Patty Eakin (President, Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and
Allied Professionals/PASNAP)
David Fillman (Executive Director, AFSCME Council 13 – the largest
union local in Pennsylvania)
Jeff Garis (Penn Action)
Bill George (President, Pennsylvania AFL-CIO)
Janice Horn (Healthcare Specialist, Pennsylvania League of Women Voters)
Tom P. Murt (Republican member of the Pa. House, Montgomery and
Philadelphia Counties)
Chuck Pennacchio (Executive Director, HealthcareforALLPA.org; former
candidate for U.S. Senate)
Donna Smith (“SiCKO”; California Nurses Association; American Patients United)
Sandra Strauss (Director of Public Advocacy, Pennsylvania Council of Churches)
Walter Tsou (Consultant on public healthcare reform; former
Philadelphia Health Commissioner)

Co-sponsors:
American Medical Students Association (AMSA)
California Nurses Association
HealthCare for ALLPA
HCAP
Healthcare Not Warfare Campaign (Progressive Democrats of America)
Keystone Progress
National Union of Hospital and Health Employees/District 1199C
(Philadelphia), AFSCME, AFL-CIO; Pa. AFL-CIO
Pa. Council of Churches
Pa. League of Women Voters
Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP)
Pa. National Organization of Women (NOW)
Ni-Ta-Nee NOW, Centre County
Pennsylvanians United for Singlepayer Healthcare (PUSH)
Philadelphia Physicians for Social Responsibility
Physicians for a National Health Program(PNHP) – Pa. Chapter

If you can’t come, you can still make your support for this event known. Write or e-mail Legislators and tell them why you could not be there, but that you were there in spirit and you want them to pass this legislation.

If you don’t know who your Legislators are go here:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/find.cfm

You can download a flier, get driving directions, find out what your parking options are, and get rail/bus options at http://www.healthcare4allpa.org/

If you need a ride or can offer a ride: action@healthcare4allpa.org

For updates, directions, parking info, train/bus info: http://www.healthcare4allpa.org/ or call: Jerry Policoff (717-295-0237) or Pedro Rodriguez (215-300-5902)

www.progressives4pennsylvania.com
www.healthcare4ALLPA.org
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Funny...

And TRUE!


From MediaMatters.org

Scott Roeder, Domestic Terrorist

From the Huffington Post:

The man charged with murdering a high-profile abortion doctor claimed from his jail cell Sunday that similar violence was planned around the nation for as long as the procedure remained legal, a threat that comes days after a federal investigation launched into his possible accomplices.

Hmm. Let's see. Threats of physical violence in order to change a pre-existing legal/political structure. Sounds like terrorism to me.

Pittsburgh Pride Week 2009

Details and schedule of events here.
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Keeping on Arlen's @ss

There are a few:

Labor

On Saturday, PA's newly Democratic Senator, Arlen Specter, was in town to address the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee but first he had to face Labor.

SEIU, PA AFL-CIO, the Allegheny County Labor Council, the Communication Workers of America, Local 13000 and others rallied for the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) before the committee meeting and Specter spoke to the union members. There's video of his speech below courtesy of a Daily Kos diary.

Specter said that he is "'committed to finding an answer' on legislation making it easier to organize unions" and "If you want to become elected in this state, you have to come to labor, and I know that."

Some in the crowd were less than impressed. From pa2010:

But that wasn’t good enough for many rank-and-file union members in the crowd—some groaned in displeasure, some booed, and at least one hurled an epithet at Specter.

“You want my vote? I want yours!” John Heinlein, 20 a retired ironworker, shouted repeatedly until Specter was forced to acknowledge him.

Attempting to calm the crowd, Specter said: “I understand your job’s on the line and I understand that my job’s on the line. I understand that, and I believe that you’ll be satisfied with my vote on this issue. And if you’re not, I recognize your right in a free society to cast your vote as you choose.”

Later, after Specter left the makeshift stage to chants of “Free Choice Act,” Heinlein told pa2010.com that Specter was on thin ice.

“I voted for him in the past,” Heinlein said. “But he can’t fence-ride on this. If he wants our support, he has to vote for this. If he votes against this, he’ll never get my vote again.

You can see Heinlein make his point at around 4:52 in the second video (you can also see Rob Frank who recently ran for City Council standing in front of him).

Specter Scorecard

Keystone Progress (http://www.keystoneprogress.org/), Penn Action (http://www.pennaction.org/), ProgressNow (http://www.progressnow.org/) and True Majority (http://www.truemajority.org/) have joined forces to create the Specter Scorecard web site (http://www.specterscorecard.org/ ). The sponsors of the site say:

“We'll keep you informed about key upcoming votes where Sen. Specter's vote will be vital to the success of the progressive position. We'll give you accurate information about the issue and we'll provide you with the opportunity to take action to help persuade Arlen to do the right thing.”

And “We'll let you know how Sen. Specter has voted on important progressive issues since he made the switch. We'll display his ‘progressive batting average’ and keep it updated when he takes votes on those issues.”

Joe Hoeffel

Joe Hoeffel, Montgomery County Commissioner, who ran against Specter in 2004 sent out the following in his newsletter under the title "Darlin' Arlen or Snarlin' Arlen?":

We have a long way to go before the Senate primary in 2010. Give our new Democratic Senator a chance to prove that he will support the President's agenda on the floor of the Senate, both on the merits and on procedural votes.

Congressman Joe Sestak is indicating he is likely to run for the Senate next year. Joe Sestak would be a great candidate and would pose a terrific primary challenge to Arlen Specter.

Let's make sure we nominate a candidate for the Senate in 2010 from the Democratic wing of the Democratic party.

(NOTE: At about 3:45 in the 2nd video Arlen puts on the charm. While talking about the chemotherapy he had, he notes that you lose all your hair but "Of course you can become a sex symbol like Joe Hoeffel.")

Joe Sestak

From pa2010:

Short of divine intervention, Congressman Joe Sestak (D-7) is running for Senate.

“It would take an act of God for me to not get in now,” Sestak told a Democratic State Committeeman Saturday morning within earshot of reporters.

Hearing his quote read back to him, Sestak cringed.

“That sounds blasphemous,” he said, not denying that he said it—and has said it before.

But he reiterated to pa2010.com that the final decision rests with his family—not the Lord Almighty.

“I want us to be in this together,” he said.

C'mon, Joe, take the plunge!

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Jack Kelly Sunday

Short late blog entry - I was up most of the night working on this.

In this week's column, Jack Kelly proves yet again that it's what he leaves out that's at least as important to a fuller understanding of his topic as what he actually says.

This time it's the DNI/CIA "turf wars." Jack begins with the story of President Obama at Five Guys:

While waiting for his burgers, the president chatted up a fellow named Walter, with whom Mr. Obama had this exchange:

Mr. Obama: "What do you do, Walter?"

Walter: "I work at NGA, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency."

Mr. Obama: "Outstanding. How long you been doing that?"

Walter: "About six years."

Mr. Obama: "You like it?"

Walter: "I do, keeps me ..."

Mr. Obama: "So explain to me what this National Geospatial ... uh ..."

Walter: "We, uh, work with satellite imagery."

The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency is, after the National Security Agency and the CIA, America's most important intelligence agency. It's hard to imagine a daily presidential intelligence briefing that doesn't include at least some slides from the NGA.

When Ben Smith reported the conversation in his column at Politico.com, it set off a firestorm of comments.

"I teach an undergrad course on National Security," wrote Frederick somebody. "Any student who has passed my course knows exactly what the NGA is and what they do. It is frightening that our president apparently has no clue."

If Mr. Obama is as ignorant of the intelligence community as this anecdote suggests, he'll be a poor referee of the turf war that has broken out between his director of national intelligence and the CIA.

And that sets up the remainder of the piece.

I did want to point out the comment posted at Ben Smith's blog. You can find it here. In fact it looks like this:

Notice anything about this screen capture? If you look really really carefully you'll see that the "Frederik Something" Jack quotes didn't actually post what Jack says he posted. He got it wrong.

Teeny tiny point, I realize, but if you're fact-checking the President of the United States doncha think you should have ALL YOUR OWN facts straight? Kinda helps with the credibility issues, doesn't it?

My best guess is that Jack Kelly doesn't think so.

And since when are anonymous comments (even mis-attributed ones) valid sources of information at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette? If they are shouldn't this one from the same blog posting be just as valid? Here's what "Chris Something" posted (and Jack omitted):

Actually, they're probably called DOD in the daily briefing. Probally not NGA.

By the way, there are sixteen agencies that make up the US Intelligence Community. Exactly half of them found in the Department of Defense. The NGA is only one of those eight. My guess is that President Obama does have a clue about the NGA. Considering this from the White House last February:

President Obama will visit the construction site of Fairfax County Parkway connector, serving the new east campus of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). NGA is consolidating its eastern facilities with Fort Belvoir Engineer Proving Ground, and it is also under construction.

Why he asked about the NGA at the Five Guys is anybody's guess.

By the way Five Guys has great burgers. Not Red Robin great, but great nonetheless.

But all this is besides the point. What is at point is what Jack omits regarding the current DNI/DCI turf wars. Here's what he says:

A turf war was inevitable once Congress created the post of DNI -- who is supposed to coordinate the activities of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies -- in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Before the reorganization, that was the responsibility of the CIA director.

The two DNIs who served during the Bush administration assumed control over joint intelligence analysis centers, such as the National Counterterrorism Center, where data from various agencies are analyzed.

The Bush DNIs also took from the CIA director responsibility for liaison with friendly foreign intelligence services. As a result, the Central Intelligence Agency is no longer "central." Most technical intelligence is gathered by NSA and NGA, and is analyzed in the joint centers. That leaves the CIA responsible, chiefly, for the gathering of human intelligence.

Now, according to a report May 23 by Pamela Hess of the Associated Press, Mr. Obama's DNI, retired Adm. Dennis Blair, wants to impinge upon that remaining CIA niche.

Adm. Blair, Ms. Hess wrote, wants "to choose his own representatives at U.S. embassies instead of relying only on CIA station chiefs."

Here is Hess' reporting.

As always, Jack leaves something out. At issue, according to Jack, is that the DNI wants "to choose his own representatives" and so on. But look a few paragraphs down from what Jack quotes. Here it is:

From the DNI's perspective, the proposal would allow Blair to tap the most relevant intelligence officer in an embassy or foreign country to serve as his eyes and ears.

In most cases that would be the CIA station chief. The station chief system has existed for 50 years, allowing the CIA to call the shots on pursuing and managing relationships with foreign intelligence and security services, and coordinating _ and sometimes constraining _ the work of other U.S. intelligence agencies and military forces abroad.

But in some countries the United States has few if any spies on the ground, and relies instead mostly on electronic eavesdropping to collect intelligence. A former senior intelligence official said that in those cases, Blair might want to have the senior National Security Agency officer instead of the station chief at the embassy serve as his personal representative.

The CIA last year successfully derailed a similar effort by the national intelligence director's office, then headed by former Adm. Mike McConnell. [emphasis added.]

So then there's...huh? So this isn't a NEW turfwar? This isn't a NEW intelligence issue threatening the Homeland? No my children, it isn't. Take a look at what it says here at Homeland Security Today:

The latest dispute between DCI Leon Panetta and DNI Dennis Blair has its roots in inaugural DNI John Negroponte having designated an intelligence officer that answers directly to the DNI be installed at embassies, military commands and overseas posts – a position that ruffled the feathers of the traditional turf authority of the CIA’s Chiefs of Station (COS), the IC’s principal representatives abroad since 1947.

But despite Negroponte’s IC CEO authority, his plan was never fully achieved and the Bush administration eventually had to issue a presidential directive - the first executive-level overhaul of the IC’s powers in more than 25 years - to cement in place the authorities of the DNI that apparently were left much too unstable by Congress’s reform of the IC that established the office of DNI to begin with.

Like his predecessor, McConnell also tried to establish his own eyes and ears abroad answerable only to the DNI. Objections by the DCI left the matter still unresolved by the time Barrack Obama was elected President.

And now the issue has erupted all over again as Blair also is trying to install his own representatives at embassies instead of relying only on CIA station chiefs.

Huh. So Jack Kelly omits the part about how the Bush Administration could have/should have resolved this but didn't.

Go figure.

Yet another Bush Administration mess for the Obama Administration to clean up.

Potter's Post-Mortem on District 6 Election

Read it here.

The core of his article:

So ... how did Tonya Payne, a one-term incumbent, lose to Daniel Lavelle? How could Payne, who beat Sala Udin in 2005, lose to Udin's former assistant just four years later?

On paper, these races were very similar. In both, Payne was running against either Udin or his ally. And in both, the same dark-horse candidate -- school board member Mark Brentley -- was also in the running. So how did Lavelle find the means to defeat her this time around?

The answer is simple: He didn't. Payne beat herself.

There's lots of really interesting numbers to support his conclusion. Payne was too cocky leading up to the primary and lost important support in Ward 5.

The conclusion:

Maybe it doesn't really matter, since Lavelle won in any case. But Lavelle should make sure he doesn't get cocky. He won with just 44.5 percent of the vote -- almost exactly the same percentage Payne earned in 2005. And while a lot of folks outside the district are excited by his victory, the numbers show little evidence that people inside the district were swept up in the enthusiasm.

Other than a modest improvement in precincts near the arena site, Lavelle did nothing to expand on the base that Udin bequeathed him. In fact, Lavelle actually lost ground in the district's North Side wards (where perhaps other voters shared Sue Kerr's doubts about his commitment to the North Side).

This election was about voters turning on Payne ... just as 2005 seems to have been about voters turning on Udin. If he's smart, Lavelle will be mindful of the trend here.

Go read Potter.

President Obama in Cairo

Highlights from his address:


The standing ovation he received:


More eye candy:




Video of the entire speech and more photos here.
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America's Best Christian Explains Traditional Marriage to Everyone Else

Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian, takes time to explain to less informed Christians the curious details of the Lord's concept of marriage.


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The Trib Omits

From one of today's editorials at Richard Mellon Scaife's editorial board we read:

More junk science from the same United Nations crowd that promises global warming will kill us all. Former U.N. boss Kofi Annan now leads the Global Humanitarian Forum. And a new report makes the outrageous claim that global warming is responsible for 300,000 deaths a year and $125 billion in economic losses. But a leading scholar calls the study "a methodological embarrassment." Need we say more?

Actually yes they do need to say more.

But since they won't, I will.

Once you see where the phrase comes from you'll see that the Trib has a "methodological embarrassment" of its own. The New York Times writes:

Roger A. Pielke Jr., a political scientist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who studies disaster trends, said the forum’s report was “a methodological embarrassment” because there was no way to distinguish deaths or economic losses related to human-driven global warming amid the much larger losses resulting from the growth in populations and economic development in vulnerable regions. Dr. Pielke said that “climate change is an important problem requiring our utmost attention.” But the report, he said, “will harm the cause for action on both climate change and disasters because it is so deeply flawed.”

Note the last sentence. Pielke asserts that climate change is a problem and yet the Trib's using his assessment of the report as part of a denial of something Pielke supports.

Indeed, Pielke explains himself here. In an e-mail to the Times regarding the initial article, Pielke writes:

Let me say first that human-caused climate change is an important problem requiring our utmost attention. Second, the effects of disasters, particularly in poorer countries, is also an important problem that to some degree has been overlooked, as I have argued for many years.

However, I cannot express how strongly I feel that this report has done a disservice to both issues. It is a methodological embarrassment and poster child for how to lie with statistics. The report will harm the cause for action on both climate change and disasters because it is so deeply flawed.

It will give ammunition to those opposed to action and divert attention away from the people who actually need help in the face of disasters, yet through this report have been reduced to a bloodless statistic for use in the promotional battle over climate policies. The report is worse than fiction, it is a lie. These are strong words I know.[emphasis added.]

And yet to the Trib, it's all "junk science."

How's that for a methodological embarrassment?

Santorum gives Obama advice on dating and how to be a role model to African-Americans

[So sorry if you were drinking something when you read that title and did a spit take all over your monitor.]

Think Progress quotes former Senator Man-On-Dog (R-VA):

And you have an African-American community, particularly in the poor inner city areas, we’re looking at out of wedlock birthrates in three quarters to 75 percent (sic) of children being born out of wedlock. Marriage is an institution that’s a bridge too far for too many African-American woman and is not desirable among African-American males.

Here we have a president of the United States who says that marriage is cool. You have respect for your wife, and you treat her with the respect and dignity that she deserves. And she is part of this team. And it’s not just part of professional team, but it’s also part of a personal, romantic team. I think that’s all great. So I think it’s important that he keeps having his date night. [...]

I think he has to realize that flying to New York is…self-indulgent. Go down to the corner bar and have a drink, a shot and a beer. It does not matter where you go with your wife, is that it’s with your wife.

Think Progress also quotes Washington Monthly's Steve Benen:

I'm not sure which part of this is the most ridiculous -- Santorum's condescending attitude, his errors about African-American families, his apparent belief that he's qualified to give dating advice to the president, or the fact that this discredited former senator continues to be a fixture at major news outlets.

We at 2 Political Junkies want to know who the hell would take dating advice from Forrest Gump with an attitude" / someone Separated at Birth from Gomer Pyle?

Also, what's up with the faux populism from a man who was more often seen at Starbucks than the corner bar?

And, regarding the "self-indulgent" part, we'd like to remind Lil Ricky that Bushy made 77 trips to Crawford TX at about $226,072.00 a pop and that:

By March 2008, Bush had spent all or part of 879 days at his Crawford, Texas ranch or at Camp David, surpassing Reagan's mark of 866. By the time he left office, George W. Bush had made 149 trips to and spent 487 days at Camp David, with another 77 getaways to (and 490 days at) Crawford. Toss in 11 visits and 43 days at his folks' compound in Kennebunkport, Maine and President Bush spent 1020 days - 35% of his presidency - getting away from the White House.

Oh, Ricky!
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There are no coincidences when it comes to anti choice violence

In 1986 I witnessed the bombing of a women's clinic which performed abortions.

I was working at a company in midtown Manhattan at the time. It was 1:30 in the morning and most of the employees had already left so there were only a handful of people in the office. New York, New York may be the city that never sleeps but it was still pretty quiet and empty at that time of night in that neighborhood.

I was sitting at my desk when I heard a loud explosion that shook the building that I was in and made my ears ring. After an initial moment of shock, I rushed to the windows that overlooked 30th Street and saw smoke pouring out of a building halfway up the block and could see broken glass on the street. I called 911 to report the incident and later saw the first responders arrive. It wasn't until the next day that I learned that there was a women's clinic in that building and that two people had been injured from the blast.

Flash forward six years later. It's one month before New York City would play host to the Democratic National Convention and everyone is gearing up for the event. I'm back working at the aforementioned company after a three-year stint at another. The late Cardinal O'Connor announces that he will conduct a series of prayer vigils in NYC. They are mostly to take place in front of places like homeless shelters and soup kitchens. One stop stands out: it's right outside the clinic that was bombed. Defying all belief, O'Connor claimed that the decision to stage a vigil there had nothing to do with the abortion clinic -- it was just a coincidence -- nothing political at all and no need to read anything into the choice of venue.

Let's look at another "coincidence":

In March 1993, three months into the administration of our first pro-choice president, Bill Clinton, abortion provider Dr. David Gunn was murdered in Pensacola, Florida. That was the beginning of what would become a five-fold increase in violence against abortion providers throughout the Clinton years.

Today's assassination of Dr. George Tiller comes five months into the term of our second pro-choice president. For anyone who would like to believe that this is a statistical anomaly, a coincidence that doesn't portend anything, again, you are wrong.

During the entire Bush administration, from 2000-2008 there were no murders.

During the Clinton era, between 1994-2000 there were six abortion providers and clinic staff murdered, and 17 attempted murders of abortion providers (one of these attempts was on Dr. Tiller who was shot in both arms.) There were 12 bombings or arsons during the Clinton years.

During the Bush administration, not only were there no murders, there were no attempted murders. There was one clinic bombing during the Bush years.

One can only conclude that like terrorist sleeper cells, these extremists have now been set in motion. Indeed the evidence is already there. The chatter, the threats, the hate-filled rhetoric are abundant.

In the last year of the Bush administration there were 396 harassing calls to abortion clinics. In just the first four months of the Obama administration that number has jumped to 1401.

Make no mistake that the assassination of Dr. George Tiller was a political act and an act of terrorism.

To think otherwise, you'd need to believe that people can somehow only control insane murderous impulses during the years where there's an R beside the name of resident of the White House (you know, kind of like the way teabaggers "spontaneously" found a need to talk about a revolution over government spending only after Obama was in office and not while W was actually destroying the economy).

This isn't to say that clinics and doctors did not face violent intimidation during the Bush years, just none that rose to a final solution:

According to the National Abortion Federation, since 2000 abortion providers have reported 14 arsons, 78 death threats, 66 incidents of assault and battery, 117 anthrax threats, 128 bomb threats, 109 incidents of stalking, 541 acts of vandalism, one bombing, and one attempted murder.

And, of course there were the "mainstream" groups who egged them on over the years:

Some pro-life groups are issuing statements of condemnation and attempting to paint this murder as the work of an extremist. But this latest act of terrorism is, sadly, not an anomaly. It is part of a clearly-established pattern of harassment, intimidation and violence against abortion providers and pro-choice individuals. And mainstream pro-life groups shoulder much of the blame.

Pro-life organisations routinely refer to abortion as “murder”, a “genocide” and a “holocaust”. They post the full names abortion providers on their websites, along with their addresses, their license plate numbers, their photos, the names of children and the schools those children attend (sometimes with helpful Wild-West-style “Wanted” posters offering $5,000 rewards).

When you convince your followers that abortion providers are the equivalent of SS officers slaughtering innocents by the millions, tell them that “it’s all-out WAR” against pro-choicers and then provide the home addresses and personal information of the “monster” “late-term baby-killer” abortion providers you’re supposedly at war against, you can’t act surprised when those followers conclude that it’s morally justified to use the information to kill doctors.

Add to that the bomb-throwers in the media who are quick to proclaim their innocence -- that calling Tiller a baby killer over and over and over again (repeat 29 times) has no effect or consequence.

[These are the same type of folks who would paint Obama as a terrorist lover during the election or who are SHOCKED! SCHOCKED! when their rejection of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court based on arguments that she practices identity politics or is less than smart results in underestimating "the degree to which a few conservatives would say a few extreme things, and that would be characterized as what all conservatives think."]

So what's to be done now?

I agree with Ezra Klein:

This was, in other words, a political act. Tiller was murdered so that those in his line of work would be intimidated. In conversations with folks yesterday, I heard well-meaning variants on the idea that it would be unseemly to push legislation in the emotional aftermath of Tiller's execution. I disagree. Roeder was acting in direct competition with the United States Congress. And it's quite likely that he changed the status quo. Legislative language and judicial rulings had made abortive procedures legal and thus accessible. Yesterday's killing was meant to render abortive procedures unsafe for doctors to conduct and thus inaccessible.

If a woman cannot get an abortion because no nearby providers are willing to assume the risk of performing it, the actual outcome is precisely the same as if the procedure were illegal. Roeder has, in all likelihood, made abortion less accessible. It would be, in my view, a perfectly appropriate response for the Congress to decisively prove his action not only ineffectual, but, in a broad sense, counterproductive.

That's not to suggest fast-tracking legislation that radically transforms the county's uneasy consensus. But there are plenty of remedies that speak to the question of access alone: Bills that make abortion centers safer and help poor women afford treatment, for instance. We can't stop Scott Roeder from killing George Tiller. But we can stop him from having his intended effect on a woman's ability to choose.

And, there's this from Feministe:

The Feminist Majority Foundation has a form on their website that you can use to send your condolences to Dr. Tiller’s family — which includes a wife, four children and ten grandchildren — and his staff. I hope that you’ll all take the time to write a personalized letter expressing your sorrow at his death, and deep respect and gratitude for the work he did while alive, even if it’s short. This is the most important item in this post.

Jill yesterday put up a post encouraging you to make a pro-choice donation in Dr. Tiller’s honor and memory. Please check that out and give if you can, if you haven’t already.

NOTES:

RE: The Cardinal O'Connor Pray-in. The block which housed the clinic was nearly filled-in with prayer vigil members -- and the surrounding corners and blocks in nearly all directions were full of thousands of pro choice counter protesters. The abortion clinic protesters -- that is what they were -- also had to contend with hundreds and hundreds of flyers which said "Keep your rosaries off my ovaries" or which pointed out the non reality of O'Connor's claim that the vigil was not abortion-related which floated down on them over the course of their protest from an office which witnessed the bombing of that clinic six years earlier. New York's Finest could be observed picking up flyers, laughing at what they said, looking up briefly at our windows and choosing not to stop their, um, distribution.

Yesterday, Chris Moore's Pittsburgh Now TV show covered the subject of the high rate of abortion among African American women. As there was no mention of the assassination of Dr. Tiller, I hope I'm not going out on a limb to think that the program was a repeat (but maybe another "coincidence"). Day Gardner of the National Black Pro-Life Union, which is anti choice, was a guest on the program. This was not the first time that Moore featured a guest who thought that there was a racist conspiracy to kill black babies with abortion as the main weapon of choice or that words like genocide or eugenics were floated.

It is true that that African American women have a much higher rate of abortions than white women (about 3 to 1). What was never mentioned on the show was a very simple explanation for that high rate: they also have a three times greater rate of unintended pregnancies. And, if you couldn't guess that Ms. Gardner is also against all forms of birth control (including condoms), then you haven't been paying attention.

If you believe that abortion politics have no local consequences, remember that Lil Mayor Luke voted against the "bubble zone" which protects clinic patrons and staff back when he was a member of council.
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Kevin Acklin Officially Kicks-off Indie Mayoral Bid Tomorrow

WHAT: Kevin Acklin to Officially Kick-Off His Independent Mayoral Campaign
WHEN: Wednesday, June 3, 2009, Doors open at 5:30 p.m., Program begins at 6:45 p.m.
WHERE: Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, (Corner of Fifth and Shady Avenues), 6300 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15232

"Acklin will address supporters and lay out his vision for reforming city government and unleashing Pittsburgh’s potential."
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Teh Crazie

Think Progress points out that "some pro-life groups have been quick to denounce the murder" of Dr Tiller.

40 Days For Life:

As a nationwide organization dedicated to peaceful and prayerful solutions to the crisis of abortion, 40 Days for Life is shocked and dismayed by the shooting death of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller. Such violence against a fellow human being is never justified, and 40 Days for Life condemns this senseless act. We encourage people of faith to join in prayer for all those affected by this unconscionable action.

Stand True:

Stand True denounces the murder of abortionist George Tiller this morning in Wichita, KS. "We cannot kill people in the name of pro-life." said Bryan Kemper, President of Stand True. "Answering the violence of abortion with more violence will not serve the babies or help the pro-life movement in any way."

HOWEVER, while Operation Rescue denounces:

We are shocked at this morning’s disturbing news that Mr. Tiller was gunned down. Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice. We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning. We pray for Mr. Tiller’s family that they will find comfort and healing that can only be found in Jesus Christ.

Randall Terry, its founder, in effect blames Tiller for his own murder:

The point that must be emphasized over, and over, and over again: pro-life leaders and the pro-life movement are not responsible for George Tiller's death. George Tiller was a mass-murder and, horrifically, he reaped what he sowed.

And then there's the Army of God. As of today, this was found at the top of their website:

The lives of innocent babies scheduled to be murdered by George Tiller are spared by the action of American hero Scott Roeder.
George Tiller the Babykiller reaped what he sowed and is now in eternal hell.

When you feed teh crazie, don't be surprised when the fringe erupts in violence.

Scenes From The Tiller Vigil

My friend Sue is at the Tiller vigil. Some photos:










Sue's updates:

7:30 - I am at Penn and Highland for Dr. Tiller's vigil. Somber mood. About 30 people. KDKA is here

7:43 - Now up to 60 people. Speakers beginning. KDKA and WPXI are here.

7:45 - Probably close to 80. Location not ideal because noisy street. Solemnity is palpable. Very diverse crowd including many men.

8:05 - Sue Frietsche. This is political terror. Want to extinguish pro-choice movement. This instills fear in all clinic staff n volunteers.

8:10 - Really diverse crowd around many lines. Speakers n crowd choked up over the real threat this poses to women seeking abortion and supporters

8:12 - Probably 100 people now. News still here. I am trying to stay in the moment but hard without hearing speakers.

8:14 - I see nearly a dozen children here all born well after Roe v Wade.

8:38 - Jon robison leading song "we are a gently angry people singing for our lives"

8:39 - Breaking up. Very moving. People embracing. Still needing the moment of togetherness

What Krugman Says

While the day's news will swirl around the murder in Wichita, there's something else in the Times that should not go unnoticed.

Nobel prize winner in economics (so he's presumably an expert in these matters) had this to say about the roots of our current economic crisis:

For the more one looks into the origins of the current disaster, the clearer it becomes that the key wrong turn — the turn that made crisis inevitable — took place in the early 1980s, during the Reagan years.

Specifically, the Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act signed into law by Reagan in 1982:

The immediate effect of Garn-St. Germain, as I said, was to turn the thrifts from a problem into a catastrophe. The S.& L. crisis has been written out of the Reagan hagiography, but the fact is that deregulation in effect gave the industry — whose deposits were federally insured — a license to gamble with taxpayers’ money, at best, or simply to loot it, at worst. By the time the government closed the books on the affair, taxpayers had lost $130 billion, back when that was a lot of money.

But there was also a longer-term effect. Reagan-era legislative changes essentially ended New Deal restrictions on mortgage lending — restrictions that, in particular, limited the ability of families to buy homes without putting a significant amount of money down.

These restrictions were put in place in the 1930s by political leaders who had just experienced a terrible financial crisis, and were trying to prevent another. But by 1980 the memory of the Depression had faded. Government, declared Reagan, is the problem, not the solution; the magic of the marketplace must be set free. And so the precautionary rules were scrapped.

And finally:

Now, the proximate causes of today’s economic crisis lie in events that took place long after Reagan left office — in the global savings glut created by surpluses in China and elsewhere, and in the giant housing bubble that savings glut helped inflate.

But it was the explosion of debt over the previous quarter-century that made the U.S. economy so vulnerable. Overstretched borrowers were bound to start defaulting in large numbers once the housing bubble burst and unemployment began to rise.

These defaults in turn wreaked havoc with a financial system that — also mainly thanks to Reagan-era deregulation — took on too much risk with too little capital.

There’s plenty of blame to go around these days. But the prime villains behind the mess we’re in were Reagan and his circle of advisers — men who forgot the lessons of America’s last great financial crisis, and condemned the rest of us to repeat it.

Thus Spake Krugman.

Tiller's Killer

There's been some initial googling here.

KWCH reports:

According to the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office website, 51-year-old Scott Roeder has been booked into to the Sedgwick County Jail shortly after 11:00 Sunday night.

Scott Roeder was also linked to Operation Rescue and was sentenced to jail for breaking his parole 10 years or so ago (the initial conviction involved his being found with bomb components in his car).

Hunter, our Dailykos diarist, sumarizes:

So a bombmaker, tax protester, member of the "sovereignity" movement, anti-abortion zealot and Operation Rescue member: the arrested suspect manages to fit every stereotype of right-wing militia teabagger.

But why now? An inkling of an idea can perhaps be found at talkingpointsmemo. An astute reader writes in to Josh Marshall:

I've read alot about Dr. Tiller having been the focus of the Operation Rescue terror operations in the '90s. However, I'd bet good money that the proximate trigger for this asassination was the right-wing publicity over Tiller as a benefactor of HHS Head Kathleen Sebelius when she was Governor of Kansas. That was the "hot button" that the right wing anti-choice crowd pressed. And this is the result.

Domestic Terrorism - wingnut style.