It is just possible that Tiller was providing a public service by ending late-term pregnancies where the mother's life was in danger or some other medically indicated reason. Ironically, he may actually be entitled to a "pass" from the anti-abortion crowd unless, it is shown that he was aborting on-demand and the medical thing was a cover for his actions. I don't know which is which so I reserve judgement. However, Bill O'Rielly seems to have made up his mind that the guy was murdering viable fetuses for no damn good reason.

I think there is common ground on the need to have a way out for troubled pregnancies that endanger the mother's life. But let's be clear: this makes up 1% of all abortions performed. The other 99% are highly questionable and objectionable.

Hey,

A non-white Muslim guy killed an Army recruiter during the past 2 weeks and you failed to mention that event as part of your domestic terrorism coverage.

Why not?

I suppose the circumstances are such that this killing doesn't advance your cause and could confuse people that only right winger commentators aid and abet murder. And the fact that the lefty MSM has been fanatically anti-war had nothing to do with this dude killing a military recruiter.

You need to straighten this mess out.

I can see from your rant that you are "indifferent" about the killing of the Army recruiter killed for no damn good reason other than he was doing his job 10,000 miles from the nearest battlefield. But why didn't Joan acknowledge this act of terror as she went thru the litany of events of the past 2 weeks? She ignored it because it serves no "liberal" purpose to draw attention to a converted Muslim and US citizen performing an act of terror. This would undercut the notion on the left that Muslims are the "victims" of US aggression and "imperialism". And whatever little damage caused in the past by these Islamo-fascist terrorist is clearly only a "police" matter. Joan's other fear is that it just might make Obama more "conservative" than he was in the previous week and maybe he might just decide to invade Pakistan.

Joan,

Your reaming on O'Reilly got worse by admitting that you are Irish Catholic and that you were raised to believe that abortion is wrong in about 99.99% percent of the time, yet you abandoned your beliefs and moved to a pro-choice position for apparently political reasons. O'Reilly hates your guts for that and so do a lot of other people who believe abortion is THE ONE issue that is non-negotiable. You seem to be in a daze over the whole thing but Irish Catholics don't like other Irish Catholics (who should know better) abandoning a principled position because it is politically expedient to do so.

Since 1973, there have been at least 45M abortions performed in the US, of which maybe 1% were medically indicated (my guess-maybe it's 5% max). The other 95-99% were not medically required and were basically the unjustified termination of a pregnancy. The overwhelming angst in this debate centers around the 95-99% that has colored everything including who runs for political office, who wins political office, who gets confirmed to the SCOTUS, who gets hammered on Bill O'Reilly. I don't think you will find common ground on the 95%-99% but I would expect some common ground on the 1-5%%.

Re: Freakonomics

On the same token, low birth rates in the US and are due partly to the termination of 50% of all pregnancies by abortion. Why is that we have to import most of our unskilled labor from south of the border in order to meet our domestic labor shortage. Maybe unrestricted abortion is bad public policy after all. What does Freakonomics say about that?

Joan,

Bill O. keeps referring to your interview (he did it again tonite) because you failed 3 times to give a plausible answer on whether a foetus has any rights? You bobbed and weaved from what I could tell and you did not seem to have a "snap" answer to what is at the very core of the pro-choice side. As a devout pro-choicer, your answer should have been "No, the foetus has no rights that I can think of and that is the legal justification for Roe v Wade and all the 40,000,000 plus abortions that have occurred legally over the past 35 years. Now Bill, what part of this don't you understand? Foetuses have no rights. That's why we dispose of them like throwing the garbage out".

I suspect that you don't really believe in this position as thoroughly as you may think you do, and it showed for millions to see. Your non-performance has given hope to many that maybe there is more than a kernel of truth in what O'Reilly preaches every night to his growing audience.

Obama is the compassionate conservative that Bush strived to be but failed to become.

This piece gives insight as to why Obama is governing from the center. Salon styled liberals are probably 20% of the population. I have heard figures from 17% to 25% tops, so it is reasonably accurate. Salonistas have to come to terms that their political positions are in a definite minority.

Hitler also pulled Germany out of the Depression by 1935 due partly to public funding of the autobahn, years before the US was able to accomplish the same. I think the differences in the US heavily outweigh the few similarities between the US and Nazi-Germany. You would have to imagine the US govt consisting of only KKK and white supremacists and everybody else looking for a place to hide to reach the same level of control achieved by the Nazis.

Clearly she is opting for free agency and a chance to make millions on the speech circuit.

Notice the timing on this announcement and the Vantity Fair piece that was not flattering.