I remember the time, must have been back in the 90's, when Operation Rescue, the fetus-worshippers, would converge on Wichita every summer. George Gardner, the empath who then ran College Hill United Methodist Church, made national news by warning his congregation that the nasties were hijacking the name of Jesus Christ. Sure enough.

The sainted Martha Genevieve, my mother, who may well have been the kindest human being to live in the 20th Century, and who had devoted the end of her life to College Hill, asked me why Wichita could not just call out the fire department and flush those rude strangers down the gutters.

Wichita had its dose of the BTK serial killer, church deacon and cub scout leader. Now that sweet little Kansas town has another lunatic to apologize for.

The fact that Randall Terry and those who take him seriously has not choked on his tongue is proof that God has a sense of irony that I cannot penetrate.

This crime needs to be prosecuted as a hate crime.

Hate crimes are different, because hate is contagious.

for all the difficulties obtaining a legal abortion in most of the country, it might as well be illegal now.

the antiabortion movement has won. they have made leaders, as feldt says, afraid to speak out unequivocally. at most, they wring their hands and give lip service to "agonizing decisions." the current cult of sentimentalized baby-bearing has driven the truth about the prevalence of abortion (35% of US women 45 years old and under) underground. the gulf between what the anti-women's rights folks preach and what they practice could not be wider. it's a gulf of deep denial.

until people feel that the right to a legalized abortion is in their own best interest, and not just a concession for someone else, the tide will not turn. (it took fears about second-hand smoke to reduce public smoking, and fears about risks to sober drivers to increase efforts against dui.)

how can absolutists be made to see shades of gray?

Lets be clear here. Tiller was not just an abortion provider. He was a man who traveled the world to perform late term abortions. Late term means that a viable baby is offed as it enters this world. The baby has it's upper neck punctured with an instrument that is then pushed into it's brain so the Dr. can scramble it. Want to bet they do this while the baby is still in the canal so it helps smother it's screams of pain? Tiller performed more than any one else in the world, and used this as an advertisement. Why revere someone who kills babies that in another circumstance, down the hall in neonatal intensive care, is treasured beyond price?

As much as I believe that women have the right to choose, Tiller is a sorry individual for the pro abortion folk to rally around. Most rational people can see a vast difference in ending a pregnancy in the very early weeks and ending it when a baby has been kicking and growing to almost born. He flaunted his sorry trade...and another murderer got him.

Abortion is legal and it should stay that way. But must there be no discussion of something that borderlines on barbarism?

DAnnara, perhaps you might want to read these

http://www.aheartbreakingchoice.com/kansasstories.html

and this

http://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=103002&mid=728458#M728458

and try again.

Send him to jail for 40 to life? Or am I hearing a liberal call for extra judicial killing?

"Boo hoo?" Really?

First, an abortion is the removal of a fetus, not a child. Just because that fetal tissue is shaped like a human being and can easily become one doesn't mean it is an actual person. It is not, thus, "murder." Second, late-term abortions are overwhelmingly cases involving severe medical conditions, which threaten the health of the mother. So, Tiller was providing much-needed medical assistance to these women. My own mother needed a late-term abortion because the fetus tissue had died and it would have resulted in her being permanently sterile if she did not remove it immediately (She would go on to have other children, thanks to the procedure).

Lastly, what about the basic human rights of the woman or girl? The most basic right of all is personal sovereignty over your own being. If you don't have that, you have no rights. Anything other than allowing women and girls full abortion rights will result in forced pregnancy, a denial of their personhood. What next? Forcing people to donate organs so that others may live? And that's talking about actual people. Would you embrace that decision?

What next? Forcing people to donate organs so that others may live? And that's talking about actual people. Would you embrace that decision?

I've seen commentary to this effect in the past year. Organ donation politics has spilled over into the DMV, just to point out the power that this particular lobby has. There is also a huge amount of social pressure to 'do the right thing' and become an organ donor.

So yeah, people are already embracing that decision.

Since you like to post links, try this one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th6Njr-qkq0

It shows a couple of people you must really dislike...

...those who purposely chose NOT to visit Tiller the Baby Killer

You really don't know anything about Tiller, do you?

BTW, thanks for clearing up an issue that is debated by wiser folks than you.

Yes, it's domestic terrorism too, but this murderous hatred is religiously motivated.

It's anti-constitutional in philosophy (see the 1st Amendment, establishment clause) and un-American.

Now we know, even more clearly than before: Fox News is un-American as well.

The first amendment is limited in its application to the airwaves. That, I understand, is true because one uses the airwaves by license and that use is a privilege not a right.

People who incite others through hate-speech, people like Rush Limbaugh and the Fox News Corporation that puts him on the air, must be prevented by a hate-speech incitements ruling by the FCC.

It's time to act as Ms Feldt asserts.