I notice that the protesters congratulated themselves for having stretched a one-week protest for six weeks. They dubbed this time the Summer of Mercy. Huge exaggeration there... Where is it exactly that six weeks equals a whole summer? The North Pole?

Not to mention that the use of the word "mercy" is so wrong, it's ironic.

From the Wikipedia link on "What's the Matter with Kansas?"

Against this backdrop, Frank describes the rise of conservatism and the so-called far right in the social and political landscape of Kansas [when Kansas used to be a hotbed of left populism]. He finds extraordinary irony in working-class Kansans' overwhelming support for Republican politicians, despite his belief that the economic policies of the Republican party are wreaking havoc on their communities and livelihoods for the benefit of the extremely wealthy. Meanwhile, he says, the party fails to deliver on the "moral" issues (such as abortion and gay rights) which brought the support of cultural conservatives in the first place -- deepening a cycle of frustration aimed at cultural liberalism....

"Not long ago, Kansas would have responded to the current situation by making the bastards pay. This would have been a political certainty, as predictable as what happens when you touch a match to a puddle of gasoline. When business screwed the farmers and the workers - when it implemented monopoly strategies invasive beyond the Populists' furthest imaginings -- when it ripped off shareholders and casually tossed thousands out of work -- you could be damned sure about what would follow.

Not these days. Out here the gravity of discontent pulls in only one direction: to the right, to the right, further to the right. Strip today's Kansans of their job security, and they head out to become registered Republicans. Push them off their land, and next thing you know they're protesting in front of abortion clinics. Squander their life savings on manicures for the CEO, and there's a good chance they'll join the John Birch Society. But ask them about the remedies their ancestors proposed (unions, antitrust, public ownership), and you might as well be referring to the days when knighthood was in flower."

The sentence I highlighted above refers directly to something I posted a little while back about the history of controlling women to literally control the means of reproduction--and that controlling women's reproduction is directly related to a desperate attempt to return to some former, tribalistic, warrior glory--cause you can't otherwise compete in modern society:

http://letters.salon.com/mwt/feature/2009/05/16/purity_myth/permalink/9a3b555089acf342b09475d5c7275876.html

I think this is THE kernel of real base motivation that lies at the heart of the anti-abortion debate. On top of that base motivation are several layers of ignorance and gullibility--like seeing that ridiculous, grotesque fake aborted fetus truck driving around and not thinking critically about it for one second. Cause the desperate, shoot-ourselves-in-the-foot kernel of--"we need more white, Christian babies to return to our former glory!" stops people from wanting to think critically.

(squeals with girlish glee!)

Maybe now the country will finally "get" why the culutre war is a bad thing. Especially since Frank isn't nearly as well known or as controversial a figure as Bill Maher.

Why isn't Tiller's assassin being charged with terrorism?

I've taken a prenatal development course at the college level. Open a biology textbook, compare those pictures to the ones the anti-abortion movement uses, and you'll find that the vast majority of the photos match up. Go ahead and argue all day about the role that graphic images should play in the abortion debate, but there's no sense accusing people of doctoring the photos.

I feel ashamed of the human species when I see these twits. Like the old lady shouting, "You'll never get over the fact that you paid money to kill your bay-bee!" That woman is a waste of good biomatter. She needs to be turned into Soylent Green so at least the carbon in her cells will serve a useful purpose.

The methods used to protest were developed by the civil rights and women rights movements. The only thing that was of concern was that some persons, not related to the protests, used violent methods.

Otherwise, civil disobedience and other forms of protest are legit. They do them here in San Francisco all the time.

Dr. Tiller specialized in late term abortions. It is perfectly legitimate to protest it if you think it is an abomination.

I am unconvinced that the majority of late term abortions are performed for any medical reason, other than to terminate the pregnancy. As was admitted by Ron Fitzsimmons, executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, late term abortions is performed far more often on perfectly healthy women with perfectly healthy fetuses.

A nurse who witnessed three IDX procedures found them deeply disturbing, and described one performed on a 26½-week fetus with Down Syndrome in testimony before a Judiciary subcommittee, "[t]he baby’s little fingers were clasping and unclasping, and his little feet were kicking," right before the procedure.

You can go ahead and try to convince reasonable people that fetuses, like this one (http://a3.vox.com/6a0109d0e958d2000f011015f479ab860b-500pi) are not human beings...but the vast majority of Americans don't buy it.

It is only the doctrinaire ideologues who demand "abortion on demand" in any circumstances, who believe there is nothing wrong with late term abortion. For instance, I got this in my email the other day:

"Radical Women (Bay Area), Linci Comi (West Coast Feminist Health Project), Revolution Books, A.N.S.W.E.R.-SF Bay Area, BACORR (Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights)...stand for abortion on demand and without apology..."

Not only should there be an apology, but they should be ashamed of themselves.

RE; stretching the truth, calling a 6 week protest a "summer of mercy"

Is it any more hyperbolic than calling Maybe a few hundred thousand folks strolling a few blocks a "Million Man March"?

I applaud the re-visit to the question of people acting against their own economic and spiritual welfare that was articulated in What's the Matter... I think it's important to stress that this title was an allusion to a then-famous essay written by Wm Allen White, and essentially meant (in the parlance of the 1930s) "What's going down in Kansas," not "What's wrong with Kansas." The state is a barometer, and not some genetic mutation. Tiller was targeted, not solely because he provided abortions (there are other clinics in Kansas as well), but because he provided late term abortions. Thus, he was a national figure, and a lightning rod. "Activists" overran the place in the early 90's, a failed assassin from Oregon a few yrs later, the current head of Operation Rescue moved in from out of state to expressly suppress Tiller's clinic. Operation Rescue and their ilk are a cottage industry in Wichita solely because of where Tiller was situated. If his clinic had been located in Boston, say, or San Diego, do you think he'd have had any less troubles?