Randall Terry Targeting Obama’s Children’s School

Classless scum. Via Alan Colmes thru Oliver.

Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry has decided to conduct a protest outside the Sidwell Friends school in DC, where the Obama daughters attend (via Right Wing Watch) The press release says:

On Thursday, 9/17 and Friday 9/18, Various Pro-Life Groups Will Stage Protests at High Schools From Noon to 1:00 P.M., Showing Pictures of Aborted and Healthy Babies — the Same Pictures Jim Pouillon Was Showing When He Was Gunned Down

[...]

MEDIA ADVISORY, Sept. 15 /Christian Newswire/ — The following is submitted by Randall Terry, Director, Operation Rescue Insurrecta Nex:

One protest will occur at Sidwell Friends School in Washington DC, where many high powered politicos send their children.

“We will not be intimidated into silence. We will continue to show images of aborted babies at high schools, no matter what the cost.

Anti-abortion group Operation Rescue is 'completely out of money'

Hard to imagine that your funding would dry up after a member is arrested for cold blooded murder.

TOPEKA — The anti-abortion group Operation Rescue may need a little rescuing itself.

The Wichita-based organization, which dogged abortion provider George Tiller for years before his murder last spring, is "completely out of money," according to a letter President Troy Newman sent to potential donors this week.

(snip)

"We ate right through our savings and we laid several people off and cut back on a lot of projects," Newman said. "We're one month away from closing our doors."

The group lost its main opponent when Tiller was gunned down in Wichita on May 31. The group had focused its anti-abortion campaigns on Tiller for years, even relocating from California to Wichita in 2002 because it was home to Tiller's late-term abortion clinic.

The terrorism of Operation Rescue

By GottaLaff

Let's take a closer look at good ol' Operation Rescue, that funsy life-lovin' group of caring, deeply respectful religious angels that cherishes all that is good and worthy:

Here's an article on the kinds of things other than assassination attempts, vandalism, and break-ins that Dr. Tiller and his staff have had to endure for years. It's about Troy Newman, the head of Operation Rescue (once Operation Rescue West; the group split), who moved to Wichita in order to shut George Tiller's clinic down:

"There's only one problem: Tiller is a hard man to find, let alone intimidate. After more than a decade as one of the anti-abortion movement's favorite targets, he keeps a low profile, drives an armored car and lives in a gated community in a house with a state-of-the-art security system. More pointedly, he has made it clear that he's not susceptible to scare tactics. In 1993, Tiller was shot in both arms by an anti-abortion protester. He returned to work the next day.

Newman is well aware of Tiller's resilience. That's why Operation Rescue is going after clinic workers like [clinic's administrative assistant] Sara Phares. The employees have no guards posted at their homes, no cameras monitoring their yards. If Newman can provoke enough of them to quit, his job will be done. He'll effectively shut Tiller down."

See how special these people are? Don't you want to be their friend? Wouldn't they be the bestest role models ever for your children?

"A week later, hundreds of Phares' neighbors received an anonymous postcard of a mangled fetus. This is abortion! read the big block letters. "Your neighbor Sara Phares participates in killing babies like these." The postcard implored them to call Phares, whose phone number and address were provided, and voice their opposition to her work at the clinic. Another card soon followed. It referred to Phares as "Miss I Help to Kill Little Babies" [...]

Before long, protesters from Operation Rescue showed up at her house. They parked a tractor-trailer across the street, plastered with twenty-foot-long images of dismembered fetuses. From its speakers came the kind of sweet, tinkling music that lures children from their back yards in pursuit of Dreamsicles. [...] Since 1994, there have been five assassination attempts on abortion providers at their homes. A few days after the protest, Phares' husband got out his revolver, loaded it and taught Sara how to use it. [...]

The protesters display their signs for passing cars. "Phares' Choice," one proclaims, over a picture of tiny, bloody body parts. Another reads, "Sarah Phares, Abortion Profiteer," misspelling her name and giving her address. The image on Jeff Herzog's sign is particularly disturbing: a fetus being grabbed by forceps, its mouth open in a Munchian scream."

And:

"Newman and his small staff of zealous pro-lifers are buzzing with the news that the clinic's office manager has quit -- a result, they believe, of their name-and-shame campaign. The manager had been accosted by a neighbor in a grocery store who recognized her from an Operation Rescue flier that featured her photo. "You're that baby killer!" the neighbor screamed at her. Then Newman, through investigative methods he'd rather not reveal, discovered where the woman's husband works. "We think that's what clinched it," he says. "He probably realized we were going to picket his workplace. I imagine he's the major breadwinner in the family, and he didn't want to risk his job."" [...]

They also go through employees' trash, and offer rewards for incriminating information. They stop children on sidewalks and tell them their neighbors kill little babies.

Much more here.

See how peaceful and legal all of that was? Did someone forget to tell the upstanding, child-loving god-fearers that they're supposed to be moral, too? How's that terrorism working for you, OpResc? I wonder how many nightmares and indelible psychological imprints they gave those neighborhood kids.

Randi Rhodes just now announced that a doctor, who was supposed to be a guest on her radio show to discuss this very subject, had to abruptly cancel. He had to meet with his "security detail".

VIDEO: Randall Terry says Tiller reaped what he sowed, then talks about beer, chicken wings

By GottaLaff



Methinks Operation Rescue needs to rescue one of its own:

At the presser, Terry railed that Tiller had “reaped what he sowed,” and attacked Tiller’s “child killing.” But then, according to audio of him off camera that the group caught, he effortlessly segued from the fire-and-brimstone talk about child-killing into a chipper discussion of lunch, saying he liked Guinness and chicken wings, “really hot and a little crispy.”

His sensitivity just fills the screen, doesn't it? Extra crispy empathy! What a guy.

Operation Rescue Tries To Distance Itself From Roeder’s Activities

By GottaLaff

I'm not seeing a whole lot of distance between Operation Rescue and Roeder, but who am I to question such peace-loving, "pro-lifers" who say they are praying for the comfort and healing of the assassinated OB-GYN that they so lovingly referred to as "Tiller the Killer" and "mass murderer"? Think Progress:

Shortly after news broke of the killing, Troy Newman, President of the anti-choice group Operation Rescue, issued a statement condemning Roeder’s actions: “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.”

Here comes that wacky, zany ol' BUT again, craftily disguising itself as a "however":

However, veteran anti-abortion activist Randall Terry — who founded Operation Rescue — issued a statement calling Tiller a “mass murderer,” adding that he was an “evil man” whose “hands were covered with blood.” “We must continue to expose them in our communities and peacefully protest them at their offices and homes, and yes, even their churches,” he said.

How outreachy and inclusive of him. By the way, Operation Rescue, abortion is legal. Murder is not (to quote not only Commenter Texas Lou, but many others including myself).

Tiller had to be protected by federal marshals and his clinic was fortified by bulletproof glass and security guards. Operation Rescue’s 1991 protests drew “thousands of anti-abortion activists to this city for demonstrations marked by civil disobedience and mass arrests.”

Roeder, in fact, had been an active member of the Operation Rescue community and used the group as a platform for his vigilantism. (Authorities found a Post-It note with the group’s phone number in his car after the shooting.)

Yeah so, about that Department of Homeland Security report on right wing extremists that got such harrrrumphs from the Rushpublics... But I digress.

Operation Rescue President Troy Newman is now trying like the dickens to distance his group from Roeder’s actions:

Scott Roeder has never been a member, contributor, or volunteer with Operation Rescue. Mr. Roeder may have posted to our open blog web site, as have thousands of members of the public, including those with pro-abortion views, but he is not affiliated with this organization. [...]

In spite of these horrific events, we remain dedicated to working through all peaceful and legal means available to bring an end to the killing of innocent children through abortion.

Gee, using the word "killing" isn't inflammatory at all.

In May 2007, Operation Rescue organized a “77-hour round the clock prayer vigil” in Wichita, KS, Tiller’s hometown. “Let’s keep the pressure on George Tiller and the authorities until they are willing to bring him to justice!” read the announcement for the event. On May 19, Roeder commented on the thread, chillingly urging Operation Rescue members to take the fight inside Tiller’s church:

Bleass [sic] everyone for attending and praying in May to bring justice to Tiller and the closing of his death camp. 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? Doesn’t seem like it would hurt anything but bring more attention to Tiller.

Hunter at DailyKos also caught a “Scott Roeder” commenting on another Operation Rescue site, Charge Tiller, which has since been taken down. On Sept. 3, 2007, Roeder stepped up the violence in his rhetoric, writing:

It seems as though what is happening in Kansas could be compared to the “lawlessness” which is spoken of in the Bible. Tiller is the concentration camp “Mengele” of our day and needs to be stopped before he and those who protect him bring judgement [sic] upon our nation.

Try as they might, OpResc is about as distanced from the assassin as the Nation of Dick is from torture.

This is who killed Dr. George Tiller

By GottaLaff

To all those who scoffed and belittled the DHS report about right wing extremists, here's a little something about the alleged killer (51-year-old Scott Roeder of Merriam, Kansas):

Via diarist FreeStateDem, Militia Watchdog previously reported of Roeder:

July 7, [1997], Kansas: Scott Roeder is sentenced to sixteen months in state prison for parole violations following a 1996 conviction for having bomb components in his car trunk. Roeder, a sovereign citizen and tax protester, violated his parole by not filing tax returns or providing his social security number to his employer.

He was also an active member of Operation Rescue; in 2007 a "Scott Roeder" posted this on the Operation Rescue website (which has been down throughout the day, probably more as a result of increased traffic than any sense of collective shame):

[May 19th, 2007 at 4:34 pm] Bless everyone for attending and praying in May to bring justice to Tiller and the closing of his death camp. 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? Doesn’t seem like it would hurt anything but bring more attention to Tiller.

The Lawrence Journal-World and News relays that Kansas City station KMBC reported a post-it note with a phone number for Operation Rescue in his car at the time of his arrest.

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

Just your average guy who "values life" above all else, so much so that he (allegedly) felt compelled to take one.

Once he's convicted, finding a place to imprison him will be a real challenge, since our super-max facilities apparently aren't secure enough to hold, you know, terrorists.

Tony Perkins: HHS nominee Sebelius "extremely pro-abortion"; other religious leaders out to thwart nomination

By GottaLaff

A few religious groups are out to get HHS nominee Kathleen Sebelius, and also hope to hurt President Obama with Catholic voters. That Obama. He's such an abortion-loving party-pooper. Why... why... he's so darned anti-life that he's trying to... end a war! Why did we ever vote for him?

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), President Obama's choice to head the Department of Health and Human Services, has touched off criticism over her association with a Kansas abortion provider.

Sebelius vetoed a late-term aborition law in 2008, and in 2007 she held a reception at the Kansas governor's mansion that included Dr. George Tiller, a Wichita doctor whose clinic provided late-term abortions. Tiller was under investigation for violating that state's restrictions on some forms of abortion.

The reception, which Sebelius office said Tiller won at an auction, has nonetheless ignited a furor among anti-abortion groups and activists.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins called Sebelius an "extremely pro-abortion" pick to head HHS.

Sebelius is a cavalier baby-killer! What a bad, bad woman! She's nothing like Perkins, who simply palled around with KKK Grand Wizard David Duke. Why can't more people be like Tony?

Patrick Mahoney, executive director of the Christian Defense Coalition, said within an hour of the news of Sebelius' nomination on Saturday night, he had been in touch with many social conservatives about formulating a strategy to oppose the nomination. One facet of that strategy will be to hold a news conference this week, he said.

Mahoney acknowledged it will be extremely difficult to thwart the Sebelius nomination in a Democratic-controlled Senate, but claimed that Obama's selection will hurt him with Catholic voters.

Along those lines, Mahoney said, the Sebelius confirmation process could be hampered if Catholic leaders speak out against Sebelius. Mahoney said he will be in touch with such leaders in the coming days.

Speaking ill of others: That's not very Christian of him.

Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, said his group will make sure that senators are provided information about the connection between Sebelius and Tiller.

The pick of Sebelius shows the "radical nature of Obama," Newman said. [...]

In 2006, Joseph Neumann, the archbishop of Kansas City, said Sebelius should refrain from receiving communion until she changed her views.

Sebelius has won backing from several pro-choice organizations who point out several steps Sebelius has taken they say have reduced abortions in the state. Catholics United even launched a website -- CatholicsForSebelius.org -- backing her nomination.

But no worries. Sebelius will be just fine:

Barring complications that have plagued other Obama administration nominees, though, Sebelius is expected to sail through the Senate. Top Republicans in Washington expect Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) to take the lead in opposing Sebelius.

Let's hope she paid her taxes.