Comments on: Operation Rescue Number Found In Scott Roeder’s Car

By: John

John — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:27:28 +0000

All those defending this operation, for whatever political reason. You would not say the same thing if this were a muslim action with even the thinnest connection to Al Qaeda. Look, let’s really take a look at the roles. You have an organization that harasses, intimidates, threatens a group of people. They make militant statements to large number of followers, explicitly and implicitly encouraging “action” against another group. Members of this group have resorted to violence in the past. They send members out to commit the deeds for them, with their encouragement. Am I speaking of OR or Al Qaeda? Just because you don’t like the group that they are threatening and harassing doesn’t mean that these people are not domestic terrorists.

By: Agnostick

Agnostick — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:59:54 +0000

From Ellen Goodman's latest column:

I have covered far too many such murders. As a First Amendment absolutist, I donâ€™t believe that words kill. But this week, I canâ€™t help wondering whether rhetoric can justify a crime in the mind of a fanatic. Canâ€™t words provide the sort of perverse moral platform that jihadists stand on and the alternate universe in which a â€œlone nutâ€ can find a home?

By: Simon

Simon — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:34:23 +0000

No, people weren’t “asking for more of a connection,” we were saying that you couldn’t make a connection based on the thin reeds you had, and that it was inflammatory and unwise for you to attempt it. This unseemly rush to connect Roeder to OR – first declare a connection, then find evidence to support it – undercuts theclaim that “all [you] care about are the facts in the case….”

By: Justin Gardner

Justin Gardner — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:46:19 +0000

Exiled, all I care about are the facts in the case, and this is a key piece of evidence. Honestly, I doubt they are responsible for any actual organization of this event. My guess is that Roeder was a lone nut.

However, don’t you find it the least bit odd that OR employs somebody who was convicted of conspiring to bomb an abortion clinic as their senior policy adviser? Of course everybody deserves forgiveness for the sins of the past, but if OR was concerned with the appearance of not condoning ANY violent actions, you’d think they could find somebody else to fill that role.

By: ExiledIndependent

ExiledIndependent — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:12:51 +0000

Wow, JG, you *desperately* want them to be responsible for this.

By: Tully

Tully — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:03:17 +0000

Before she was OR’s “Senior Policy Advisor” she was their “Outreach Coordinator.”

Even as a convicted felon, under Kansas law with her prison sentence having been fully discharged, she can (and does) vote.

And yes, she obviously knows Roeder and has had contact with him. He’s been around OR and their operations. I’m pretty sure that local, state, and federal investigators are carefully checking out the connections. Even using throw-away cell phones it’s tough to hide contacts.