Anti-abortion US terrorists

Posted on June 1, 2009 by petrel41

This video from the USA is called Dr. Warren Hern Speaks about the Murder of Colleague and Friend Dr. George Tiller.

By David Edwards and Muriel Kane in the USA:

Doctor: We don’t need to invade countries to find terrorists

Published: June 1, 2009
Updated 2 hours ago

Following the murder of Dr. George Tiller by an anti-abortion extremist, his friend, Dr. Warren Hern of Boulder, CO, may be the only doctor left in the United States who performs late-term abortions.

Hern told MSNBC on Monday, “This was not the act of a lone, deranged gunman. This is a result of thirty-five years of relentless and merciless anti-abortion harassment and violence and intimidation. … This is the absolutely predictable consequence of that kind of mindless harassment and fanaticism. … The anti-abortion people will stop at nothing, including assassination, to impose their will on other people.”

With his voice choking up, Hern said of Tiller, “He was a wonderful person who was very dedicated and this shouldn’t happen. … Dr. Tiller’s crime was that he helped women, and the man who killed him tried to kill an idea. The idea is freedom.”

“We don’t have to invade other countries to find the terrorists,” Hern concluded. “They’re here killing doctors who do abortions. The main difference between the American anti-abortion movement and the Taliban is about 8000 miles.”

Hern’s depiction of Tiller’s murder as domestic terrorism may draw fresh attention to a controversial Department of Homeland Security report (pdf) issued in April. That report offended many conservatives by suggesting that political positions such as opposition to abortion had historically been exploited by white supremacists and militia groups as a mean of recruiting members and promoting violent acts.

…

Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly — who has himself spent the last four years singling Tiller out as a “baby killer” — was similarly indignant.

By Cristina Page, Author of How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America:

For those who would like to think today’s murder in church of Dr. George Tiller, an abortion provider, is an isolated incident, here’s the horrifying news: You are wrong. The pattern is clear and frightening.

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.

From the blog of Shannyn Moore in the USA:

Christian Fundamentalist Terrorism

Christian Fundamentalist Terrorism.

It’s shocking to write. But it’s time to start calling it what it is.

When Jim D. Adkisson walked into the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church with 76 rounds and a shot-gun, he killed 2 people and was charged with murder. His motive was “he hated the liberal movement” and was upset with “liberals in general as well as gays.” He should have been charged with terrorism.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today condemned the “heinous murder” of George Tiller, who was one of only three US doctors carrying out late-term abortions: here.

Slam Bill O’Reilly for His Jihad Against Dr. George Tiller: here.

Beware ‘Lone Nut’ Theory in Tiller’s Murder: here.

The assassination of Dr. George Tiller by a right-wing anti-abortion fanatic is an attack on basic democratic rights that exposes the pathological state of political life in America: here.

Operation Rescue Assisted Roeder In Tracking Tiller’s Court Hearings: here.

Calling Abortion Murder Invites Violence: here.

Following the assassination of Dr. George Tiller, the slain doctor’s family has announced that the Women’s Health Care Services clinic will not be reopened: here.

Anti-Abortion Blogger Admits Hoax: here.

Baby Blog Hoaxer Explains Her ‘Lie’: here.

A recent survey shows that the United States may be becoming both less religious generally and less Christian specifically: here.

Nuthatch and damselflies

Posted on June 1, 2009 by petrel41

Today, to Gooilust.

A rabbit against a fence.

Blue tits.

A robin singing from a branch.

A blackbird singing beautifully from a log on a small hilltop.

Great spotted woodpecker sound.

A buzzard circling in the air. Two grey herons near a ditch.

Large red damselflies. Common blue damselflies.

Green woodpecker sound.

An Egyptian goose on a meadow. A great tit.

A nuthatch up a tree.

On the path, a grey wagtail, and a greenfinch.

Poetry in Haarlem, the Netherlands

Posted on June 1, 2009 by petrel41

This video is about the 2011 poetry festival in Haarlem.

Yesterday, there was a big poetry event in the city center of Haarlem, the Netherlands.

Over 90 poets participated.

Before arriving at the event, I crossed the bridge over the Nieuwegracht. On the bridge, posters of the Socialist Party for the European elections on 4 June.

Just below the bridge, an Egyptian goose, sitting on a “ducdalf” in the water.

The poets are divided into nine groups of about 10 people each. For each group there is an inner city location to read their poems.

Our group of nine people is in a seventeenth century house along the Spaarne river. It is inhabited, but the inhabitants welcome the poets and the audience today.

First, Wim Groenhart. His subjects this afternoon included ears and a dragon.

As second, Rose Rodriques Pereira, with love poems. Later, also about ecology.

Then, Csaba Cserep, with poems about his native Hungary and other subjects.

After a pause, Ada Mol, a poetess from Zandvoort, with a poem about spring.

Then, Gerrit Venema, about Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

Then, Angela Boogaard, who is not only a poetess, but also a visual artist. Her subjects included visual arts and the situation of women in society.

Then, two poems by yours truly. A short one about a ladybug. And a long one about Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet.

Then, Martin Janse, about parachute jumping. Later, about a moth, a worm, and an ant.

Finally in this first round, Peter van den Berg. With poems about the sea, and about a lottery.

Then, all the poets get two other rounds. Sometimes interrupted by accordeon music by Roelof Ruis.

As I was walking back, and crossing the Nieuwegracht bridge, two Egyptian geese flying low across the water.

Economic crisis

Posted on June 1, 2009 by petrel41

The United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs has forecast world growth this year of negative 2.6 percent. World trade is expected to decline by 11.1 percent—the sharpest annual contraction since the 1930s: here.

The elections to the European parliament next weekend take place in the midst of the deepest crisis of capitalism since the 1930s and an extremely tense social situation: here.

General Motors cartoon

General Motors—once the largest and most profitable corporation in the world—will file for bankruptcy protection this morning. The bankruptcy of what was long the iconic symbol of the power of American industry signifies the failure of not only one company, but of American capitalism as a whole: here. See also here.

G.M.’s Road From Prosperity to Crisis: here.

Workers at car giant Vauxhall voiced fears for the future today as they were warned it could be two months before they know if their jobs are safe: here.

Two reports released last month reveal rising levels of financial stress in Australian households, particularly among those cut off welfare or denied any relief in the Rudd government’s May 12 budget: here.

Attempts by opposition Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull to force the resignation of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan over alleged corrupt ties to a Queensland car dealer backfired yesterday after it was revealed that an email at the heart of the “scandal” was a forgery: here.

US religious rightist murders doctor

Posted on June 1, 2009 by petrel41

This is a video from the USA about the murder of Dr Tiller.

By Patrick Martin in the USA:

Kansas doctor, target of anti-abortion fanatics, gunned down in Wichita

1 June 2009

Dr. George Tiller, an abortion provider who has been the target of repeated attacks by right-wing elements linked to the Kansas Republican Party, was shot to death Sunday morning at his Wichita church.

The gunman, described as a white male, fled the scene in a powder blue Ford Taurus, but was reportedly taken into custody by police later in the day in New Century, Kansas, about 170 miles northeast of Wichita.

Johnson County sheriff’s spokesman Tom Erickson later reported that Scott Roeder was the man whose car was stopped. Wichita police said charges were expected in the murder on Monday.

Dr. Tiller, who was 67 years old, was murdered inside Reformation Lutheran Church, where he was a member of the congregation. Tiller was serving as a church usher while his wife sang in the choir. He is the fourth abortion doctor murdered by right-wing religious fundamentalists since 1993.

One of a handful of doctors willing to provide third-trimester abortions in Kansas, Tiller has been subjected to a series of abusive prosecutions and lawsuits by right-wing politicians, most of them Republicans, and was frequently targeted for death threats from the fascistic wing of the anti-abortion groups. His Wichita clinic was bombed in 1985, and he was shot by an anti-abortion fanatic in 1993, who wounded him in both arms. His clinic was vandalized last month, with tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage.

Refusing to be intimidated by this two-decade-long campaign of threats and provocations, Tiller continued to provide abortion services to women who frequently had no other recourse for hundreds of miles. His Women’s Health Care Services clinic is one of three US facilities that perform abortions after the 21st week of pregnancy.