"i like your christ..."

"i like your christ, i do not like your christians. your christians are so unlike your christ." ~~ghandi

if he was a scripted character in a movie or a tv show he'd be hooted off the screen for being so far over the edge of stereotypical as to be cartoonish. yet, this red state freelander with numerous arrests both for possessing bomb-making materials and flipping the bird to various state and federal laws, and who often loudly pronounced his tenets of justifiable homicide for abortion doctors is the middle-aged white guy in custody for yesterday's shooting of dr. tiller in his wichita church.

morris wilson, commander of the kansas unorganized citizens militia in the mid-90s, said he knew scott roeder fairly well."i'd say he's a good ol' boy except he was just so fanatic about abortion. he was always talking about how awful abortion was. but there's a lot of people who think abortion is awful."

so yeah, just that "one lil murdering doctors who perform a legal, life-saving procedure is right and good and makes jesus smile" stance was a bit much, but, aw shucks, otherwise a great guy with whom to go shooting and drinking and building pipe bombs in the basement.

his connections to operation rescue have clear electronic and physical links, although now they're backing away. "yeah i kinda remember meeting him, but that's it," is a paraphrase from the newish and more cuddly leader of the group, troy newman. roeder posted numerous times to various websites affiliated with the group and attended their rallies in different states. doesn't indicate he was part of the inner sanctum, agreed, and yes, i'm sure there is some possibility another nutter was using this as a screen-name. um, yeah.

"someone" using the name scott roeder posted on 09-03-07 on a site sponsored by operation rescue called chargetiller.com, that tiller needed to be "stopped."

"it seems as though what is happening in kansas could be compared to the 'lawlessness' which is spoken of in the bible," it said. "tiller is the concentration camp 'mengele' of our day and needs to be stopped before he and those who protect him bring judgment upon our nation."

also under the same name in response to an invite from operation rescue to a may rally was this:

"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."

yes, what could possibly be wrong with harassing a man, his family and his neighbors in a house of worship? our baby jihad crushes their privacy, beliefs and the sanctity of their *christian* church.

today, randall terry added this to yesterday's charming quotes: "( he is) now concerned that the obama administration will use tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions." well, hell, we can all agree assassinating somebody is a rock-solid method of cease and desist, so why should that be a problem?

in a public appearance last year, ann coulter had this to say about abortion-clinic doctors and health care personnel who were murdered as either having been shot, "...or, depending on your point of view, had a procedure performed on them with a rifle."

no surprise to find bill o'reilly fanning the flames here, right? most often calling him "tiller the baby killer," the doctor was mentioned at least 28 times since 2005 on the show. both he and his lawyer were ambushed by o'reilly cam-carrying butt-boys, forcing them to call 911.

according to salon.com: tiller, o'reilly likes to say, "destroys fetuses for just about any reason right up until the birth date for $5,000." he's guilty of "Nazi stuff," was on 06-08-05; a moral equivalent to NAMBLA and al-qaida, was on 03-15-06; and "this is the kind of stuff happened in mao's china, hitler's germany, stalin's soviet union," was 11-09-06.

have a look for yourself here and here and more still here.

i am not so specious as to blame coulter or o'reilly, or any of their other oily ilk, for being responsible for this tragedy. i believe they are soul-less fiends of capitalism and opportunism, who found a niche in which to make beaucoup bucks and maintain major media limelight presence. i'd be shocked if either of them have any true foundations, ethics or personal philosophies that guide their behaviors, other than the map to the bank.

where i do find fault is that they are given so many very public platforms for hate speech. countless arenas and millions of dollars to disseminate false information for nothing other than shock value. the fringe right is not shy in advocating violence to achieve their means. not a single "pro-lifer" has been hurt or killed by the other side in this fight, ya know? if people or property are violently attacked, damaged or destroyed, if fear is the weapon of choice to stop actions of those with whom *we* disagree, it's fucking terrorism. it's jihad. in this case of dr. tiller and those killed and wounded before him, it's religious absolutism run amok. randall terry's justification of this bloody deed is no different than some desert imam saying death to the west. NO. DIFFERENT.

dr. tiller's family, including 4 children and 10 grandchildren, issued a statement which read in part: “george dedicated his life to providing women with high-quality health care despite frequent threats and violence. we ask that he be remembered as a good husband, father and grandfather and a dedicated servant on behalf of the rights of women everywhere.”

amen.