Hate Speech (great video) and The US

I hope you will watch this great video from Bill Moyers.

On The Murder of Dr. Tiller

Standing in the foyer of his Reformed Lutheran Church, Dr. Tiller was murdered today (as his wife sang in the choir) with a gun by an alleged 51yo man who has been apprehended.

Dr. Tiller has been a target of pro-fetus groups around the nation for thirty-plus years, and was shot in both arms by a member of the Army of God (and be sure to check the associated people AND groups) some years back. His clinic has been repeatedly vandalized over the years and for three years he was surrounded by federal Marshalls for personal protection.

Army of God's statement on the murder today (and no, I will not link to their hate site):

A great day for the unborn children scheduled to be murdered by Babykilling Abortionist George Tiller.

George Tiller reaped what he sowed and now has been cast alive into everlasting torment and fire for the innocent blood he has shed.

Psalm 55:15 Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.

I pray the person who performed this deed is never known or apprehended.

Right wing anti-choice groups have repeatedly targeted Dr. Tiller over the years, and he has been the topic on O'Reilly and other non-news shows (30 sec vid of Dr. Tiller reciting the history of violence against him and his legal clinic):

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Now, regardless of how one feels about abortion, it is legal in this country and will likely remain so.

In 1969, when I was sixteen years old by a month and ten days, I was FORCED to have my child as abortion was illegal. Regardless of whether my child was the result of rape, incest or the stupid action of an ill-informed, unprepared teenager, I was still forced to have my child like thousands of other females my age, older and younger.

So, what did the pro-fetus folks have to say about Tiller's murder today? Well here is one outstanding comment from Roman Catholic Randall Terry:

"George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God. I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name; murder.

Those men and women who slaughter the unborn are murderers according to the Law of God. We must continue to expose them in our communities and peacefully protest them at their offices and homes, and yes, even their churches."

A pretty horrid statement, but hardly as horrid as this statement from Randall Terry:

.."You better believe that I want to build a Christian nation," Terry said, "because the only option is a pagan nation. Not that the government can make someone a Cristian by decree. A Christian nation would be defined as 'We acknowledge God in our body politic, in our communities, that the God of the Bible is our God, and, we acknowledge that His law is supreme." snip "When I, or people like me, are running the country, you'd better flee, because we will find you, we will try you, and we'll execute you. I mean every word of it." He added, "I will make it part of my mission to see to it that they are tried and executed."

Or perhaps this will strike your fancy:

"I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you... I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good... Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a biblical duty, we are called by God, to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism."

That's right, boys and girls, hate is the new right just like the old right.

Now, I don't want to cull Randall Terry for no reason as I do not want to target Roman Catholics at all. Roman Catholics, according to Gallup polling, support abortion rights at 40% while their non-Catholic counterparts support it at 41%. Likewise, Roman Catholics support stem cell research at 63% while their non-Catholic counterparts support it at 62%.

I am perfectly fine with Roman Catholics and everyone else believing what they will and acting that way as long as it does not amount to taking their beliefs and creating law that prohibits non-Catholics or non-believers from exercising their individual rights.

I even give Terry the right to his vitriolic hate speech, given the First Amendment, and I would support the ACLU in protecting his rights to speak hatefully. Much of the western world, obviously, does not protect this kind of speech and it is understandable why especially if and when it incites violence.

Randall Terry pushes his right to the very edge in threatening people. Nonetheless, he does not cross the line into advocating direct violence in these words, nor does he incite riots or violent civil disobedience.

UPDATE: Here is Randall Terry today, and listen to his words carefully... they are important (vid, 3 minutes):

Personally, I detest hate speech and everything that goes with it and I cannot tolerate Randall Terry for even a moment. I also hate guns. Nonetheless, Terry's speech is protected by the law of the land JUST like abortion is legal AND THE LAW OF THE LAND as are guns.

We cannot pick and choose our freedoms. They are broad and there for everyone. This is not only what the religious right and abortion opponents don't get, but often what liberals and progressives don't get as well.

Was Dr. Tiller's murderer a domestic terrorist? I don't know. I have no idea what motivated this man, what group or groups he belong(s)(ed) to, or what caused him to enter a church today, brutally gun down a doctor in cold blood and (allegedly) threaten a bystander then speed away in his sedan.

But I can say these things under the First Amendment:

1. ANYONE that supports Randall Terry is a loon and probably just as vicious as he is.
2. ANYONE that thinks we don't need better gun laws isn't paying attention.
3. ANYONE that believes the US should be a theocracy is off their rocker.
4. ANYONE that supports violence against another person or group is amoral.

The Why of What Palin is Doing in Attacking Obama

Much has been said in the last week about the hateful invective continually delivered by Sarah Palin in her campaign stops across the country. She delivers it so cunningly, and so deliberately. Her convention speech reference to "community organizers" gave us a clear picture of her capability to use a scalpel to excise and lay before the public her version of worthy and not, and now we see this applies to evil and terrorism. Palin can elicit strong hate responses, and one can only do that if one can personally connect to the issue themselves.

I have contended--and still hold--that Sarah Palin was chosen as VP to solidify the evangelical vote within the GOP. It was not about attracting the women's vote, though handy she was female. And she has certainly solidified that base. Recent Pew polling (September 9-14, 2008) shows a 10 percent rise in support of McCain by Evangelicals from June 2008 to September 9, 2008.

But Palin has also done something else, as well, and hardly by accident: She is playing on fear, pointing to Obama and saying terrorist in the same sentence. Why? Well consider this Pew chart from 2004:

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Now, let's switch gears slightly for a moment to discuss a September 9, 2008 talk given by Jonathan Cohen, Director of Polling, Washington Post. (You tube video in entirety, below.)

According to Cohen (about 16:00), in 2004 terrorism reigned as the issue with voters according to exit polling data. 49% of voters polled indicated this in 2004 election exit polling saying they trusted only George Bush to handle terrorism. 97% of these 49% voted for George Bush. Do the math. That is 48% of the electorate. Bush won against Kerry with 51%, needing only 3% of additional voters (voting on other issues) who did not believe terrorism was the issue to win the election, which he did.

But here is the clincher:

What Cohen says, after this (see point about 17:26), is that "(...) It remains a core GOP belief that they can win on terrorism, and I will get to later McCain's advantage on the issue over Barack Obama..."

Cohen then goes on to cite that as of September 2008, fear of terrorism (domestic) has dropped to almost 1997 levels, levels extent well before 9/11 (19:00), though noting that 2/3 of those polled remain apprehensive about the possibility of another major attack.

Cohen then goes on to show there has been more decoupling between the war on Iraq and the war on terrorism (19:43), noting, nonetheless, that McCain holds a polling advantage on the war on Iraq and on terrorism (21:00), which he says has been a consistent lead... and is a 20 point lead over Obama (this would be part of the post convention polling, which, he suggests, is similar to other polling of late August).

September 9, 2008 Berkeley, CA talk, Jonathan Cohen, Director of Polling, Washington Post.
13:20 about the next 45 days from 9/9/08.

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While no one can say for sure what is going on behind the doors of the McCain campaign aside developing scenarios to knock Obama off his game, what people do know is that the McCain campaign, like Obama's, poll constantly. This gives the campaigns information on where they are falling down, where they have a leg up, and can serve as the basis for the tone and issue preference the campaign will set in the immediate and/or long term future. We are talking immediate future now, with 24 days to go.

McCain has nose-dived, is doing poorly in many battleground states, and Palin's favorability ratings have plummeted as well. Obama, depending on the polling, shows a 6 to 11 point national lead, with a commanding number of electoral votes in hand as of today if polling is anywhere near correct.

So, does McCain believe he can harvest votes through Palin's invective about Barrack, using in the same sentence, over and over, Obama and the word terrorist? Of course. Was this just a personal attack? No.

The one area where McCain leads Obama in the polls--and has consistently--is on his credibility and trust on the Iraq war and on terrorism. This is precisely WHY Palin is bringing it up, and why McCain isn't apologizing. It could make or break his presidential bid.

Palin never had to say Obama was of Arab descent. Terrorist and Arab, in the post 9/11 world, go hand in hand and a recent spate of hate crimes against Islamics underlines this, as well as its seeming connection to Palin's rhetoric.

John McCain did correct that notion at one campaign stop--with an audience member accusing Barack of being of Arab descent--but barely. And don't look for other corrections or for Palin to change direction. If it isn't terrorism, it will be another polling vulnerability.

McCain's campaign has rightly come under considerable heat from both the public and media for the oft hate spewing crowd Palin seems to be whipping up for him while he stands doe-eyed behind. And no doubt his campaign is playing from the internet nut playbook which has accused Obama of everything short of being a space alien.

This is nasty politics, but it is politics.

McCain knows he has to pull every single string to hope to unweave the web Obama and his supporters have carefully woven and he, and only he, can make the decision whether a principled loss or an unprincipled stab at winning are more important.

I think we all see what he has concluded.

For Matthew Shepard and Those Before and After

This beautiful human being died at the hands of hate on October 12, 1998. Matthew, an Episcopalian, was 21 years old.

I write this today as Chicagoans hold a tenth demonstration since Matthew's murder.

Watch these two beautiful tributes to Matthew.




Hate was not born with Matthew. Sadly, it did not die with him either:



After Matthew's murder, his mother, Judy, and friends began a foundation called the Matthew Shepard Foundation which fought for comprehensive hate crimes legislation in Wyoming, Matthew's home state, to include lgbt people and all others. Please go and buy a 'stop hate' tee shirt if you don't have one. Stop hate means... stop hate, no matter who.

Here is his mother, Judy, when hate crime legislation was passed in her state, Wyoming:


Today, for the tenth straight year, a march was held in Chicago, Illinois to demand equal rights for lgbt persons. For everyone that reads this site, you know it means equal rights for everyone... everyone. Every single one. This march began as a huge protest in response to Matthew's death.

And today, a bench was dedicated to the University of Wyoming in his memory.

You all know from reading this site how important equal rights are to me. And if you are reading here, I know you also support them.

Please say a prayer for Matthew, and light a candle.

The Peace of the Lord Be With You.