Month: May 2009

Salon's Gabriel Winant profiles "The Factor"'s four-year campaign to demonize George Tiller:

O'Reilly's language describing Tiller, and accusing the state and its elites of complicity in his actions, could become extremely vivid. On June 12, 2007, he said, "Yes, I think we all know what this is. And if the state of Kansas doesn't stop this man, then anybody who prevents that from happening has blood on their hands as the governor does right now, Governor Sebelius."

Three days later, he added, "No question Dr. Tiller has blood on his hands. But now so does Governor Sebelius. She is not fit to serve. Nor is any Kansas politician who supports Tiller's business of destruction. I wouldn't want to be these people if there is a Judgment Day."

More here. O'Reilly demonized Tiller on 28 episodes of his show. I have no doubt his words wil be played endlessly on cable in some kind of hideous irony. This really could be the end to O'Reilly's dangerous, demonizing game.

The following words are used to describe George Tiller in the Operation Rescue video posted here: "corrupt, alcoholic, drug addict, blasphemer, liar, defiler, butcher, perverse, foul, evil, unethical, murderer, malicious." It concludes: "You may be the difference between life and death for a child."

After the jump is an Operation Rescue video about Tiller. DO NOT WATCH IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH. It provides important context for the assassination. It's truly vile in its demonization. A commenter on an Operation Rescue message board wrote in May 2007:

Bless everyone for attending and praying 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.

That commenter was Scott Roeder, who is now identified as the suspect. He also wrote a post on the website ChargeTiller.com, an Operation Rescue outfit:

Scott Roeder
Mon September 03, 2007, 09:49:40

It seems as though what is happening in Kansas could be compared to the “lawlessness” which is spoken of in the Bible. Tiller is the concentration camp “Mengele” of our day and needs to be stopped before he and those who protect him bring judgement upon our nation.

What we have is an act of far right Christianist domestic terrorism. LGF has more. The video is below. Too gruesome for words.

Reason contributor Glenn Garvin reviews the new cartoon series from Mike Judge:

Life’s not easy if you’re an organic-eating, tree-hugging, SUV-eschewing, carbon-footprintless, gender-identity-indifferent, diversity-celebrating, nonjudgmental (well, except for those damn U.S. flag pins) vegan pacifist. … Welcome to The Goode Family, a scathingly funny report from the front lines of America’s culture wars. [It] will do for PC what 30 Rock does for corporate capitalism or Lost for commercial air travel: Leave it in ruins. Though it will no doubt be labeled right-wing agitprop by some of its trashed targets, The Goode Family is not really conservative, but something closer to the barbed libertarianism of South Park.

Except South Park is actually funny; Chris and Patrick caught the first episode and said it was painfully trite. Gabe of “Gabe and Max” agrees:

Lord knows there is plenty of hay to be made with the left. The best intentions often sound silly and naive when explained or embraced by someone who doesn’t really understand what they’re talking about. And we’ve all made fun of the dude in the peasant blouse playing with devil sticks to an Enya soundtrack on the south quad. … But these jokes fall flat. For one, they’re totally dated. People recycle now, Mike Judge. People also drive hybrid cars. Neither of those things are inherently silly or make a good wink-wink nudge-nudge punchline.
…
Two minutes worth of jokes about political correctness AND a Diddy joke thrown in as a bonus? Was this show written in a cave? In 1992? (UPDATE: was this show ripped off in a cave? In 2005?)
…
In short: bad.

A collection of reminiscences by some of the women who went to the Tiller clinic in Kansas. among them:

Scott Horton interviews Rashid Khalidi about his book, Sowing Crisis. Khalidi discusses Obama's upcoming speech:

It will not be enough for the President to repeat the well-considered (and generally well received) generalities of his interview with al-‘Arabiyya and his speech in Istanbul. These were a good beginning, but what is required now is far more difficult: serious attention to differences people in the Arab and Muslim worlds have with long-standing American policies. This is at the core of the problem. It is not just a matter of mutual respect and an appropriate tone, important though these things are, especially because they were entirely absent from the approach of the Bush Administration. People in this part of the world (indeed people in most parts of the world) have deep disagreements with U.S. policy on Palestine, on Iraq, and on Iran, not to speak of the matter of American support for repressive dictatorships.

There has to be a real, convincing, and visible change in these policies before attitudes to the United States can be expected to improve: solid U.S. support for an end to Israeli occupation and the removal of settlements (not just halting their expansion); a complete end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq; and progress on winding down the American-Iranian cold war that has polarized the entire Middle East. These will be difficult changes. It will be even harder than this to wean American policy-makers from their addiction to dealing with pliable autocrats, military dictators, and absolute monarchs in the Middle East and other parts of the Islamic world. This will be a particularly sensitive issue, since the Obama Administration has chosen to have the President give this speech in a country that has been ruled for 38 years by one man in a style increasingly reminiscent of nothing so much as the pharaohs. This is a much more important issue than some people realize. Although America’s economic model and its cultural and consumer commodities are just as attractive to people in the Islamic world as they are to others elsewhere, the idea that the United States supports the extension of democracy, individual freedoms, and human rights is its strongest asset as a world power. To the extent that the policy of our government betrays these ideals by supporting such regimes, it forfeits a great deal of goodwill, and it stokes resentments that can easily be exploited, especially on top of other hard differences over policy.

He tells the AP:

"George Tiller was a mass murderer and we cannot stop saying that," Terry said. "He was an evil man — his hands were covered with blood."

Terry said he was now concerned that the Obama administration "will use Tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions."

Al Giordano is worth a read.

The latest as Jerusalem digests the possibility that an American administration may actually mean what it says on illegal West Bank settlements:

Israel Today uses stronger rhetoric. If resistance is so strong to even restricting natural growth, can you imagine what will happen if the West Bank settlements are forcibly removed?