dr george tiller Archives - Where Is The Outrage?

Domestic Terrorism – Getting a handle on our own

Did you hear about the bomb that was found in Spokane? This was serious.

From TPM:

A bomb found along the route of a Martin Luther King Day parade in Spokane, Wash., on Monday was a sophisticated device with the potential to devastate, an official on the case tells the AP.

“They haven’t seen anything like this in this country,” the official said. “This was the worst device, and most intentional device, I’ve ever seen.”

The official also said the device was rigged to a remote detonator.

Officially, the FBI has not released many details about the bomb, other than that it was viable and could have caused multiple casualties.

An FBI official yesterday told TPM the bomb was an act of “domestic terrorism.”

It was found Monday morning in a parking lot along the parade route, just half an hour before the parade was to begin. Three city workers who found the backpack it was stuffed in called the police, who sealed off several blocks and rerouted the parade. The FBI dismantled the bomb and is handling the investigation. (more…)

This isn’t the first bomb threat or terrorist attempt in the last couple of years. There is a trend. There is an uptick in this kind of terrorism. All of these acts are targeting Liberals or the Government. This a growing problem.

From C&L:

— July 2008: A gunman named Jim David Adkisson, agitated at how “liberals” are “destroying America,” walks into a Unitarian Church and opens fire, killing two churchgoers and wounding four others.

— October 2008: Two neo-Nazis are arrested in Tennessee in a plot to murder dozens of African-Americans, culminating in the assassination of President Obama.

— December 2008: A pair of “Patriot” movement radicals — the father-son team of Bruce and Joshua Turnidge, who wanted “to attack the political infrastructure” — threaten a bank in Woodburn, Oregon, with a bomb in the hopes of extorting money that would end their financial difficulties, for which they blamed the government. Instead, the bomb goes off and kills two police officers. The men eventually are convicted and sentenced to death for the crime.

— December 2008: In Belfast, Maine, police discover the makings of a nuclear “dirty bomb” in the basement of a white supremacist shot dead by his wife. The man, who was independently wealthy, reportedly was agitated about the election of President Obama and was crafting a plan to set off the bomb.

— January 2009: A white supremacist named Keith Luke embarks on a killing rampage in Brockton, Mass., raping and wounding a black woman and killing her sister, then killing a homeless man before being captured by police as he is en route to a Jewish community center.

— February 2009: A Marine named Kody Brittingham is arrested and charged with plotting to assassinate President Obama. Brittingham also collected white-supremacist material.

— April 2009: A white supremacist named Richard Poplawski opens fire on three Pittsburgh police officers who come to his house on a domestic-violence call and kills all three, because he believed President Obama intended to take away the guns of white citizens like himself. Poplawski is currently awaiting trial.

— April 2009: Another gunman in Okaloosa County, Florida, similarly fearful of Obama’s purported gun-grabbing plans, kills two deputies when they come to arrest him in a domestic-violence matter, then is killed himself in a shootout with police.

— May 2009: A “sovereign citizen” named Scott Roeder walks into a church in Wichita, Kansas, and assassinates abortion provider Dr. George Tiller.

— June 2009: A Holocaust denier and right-wing tax protester named James Von Brunn opens fire at the Holocaust Museum, killing a security guard.

— February 2010: An angry tax protester named Joseph Ray Stack flies an airplane into the building housing IRS offices in Austin, Texas. (Media are reluctant to label this one “domestic terrorism” too.)

— March 2010: Seven militiamen from the Hutaree Militia in Michigan and Ohio are arrested and charged with plotting to assassinate local police officers with the intent of sparking a new civil war.

— March 2010: An anti-government extremist named John Patrick Bedell walks into the Pentagon and opens fire, wounding two officers before he is himself shot dead.

— May 2010: A “sovereign citizen” from Georgia is arrested in Tennessee and charged with plotting the violent takeover of a local county courthouse.

— May 2010: A still-unidentified white man walks into a Jacksonville, Fla., mosque and sets it afire, simultaneously setting off a pipe bomb.

— May 2010: Two “sovereign citizens” named Jerry and Joe Kane gun down two police officers who pull them over for a traffic violation, and then wound two more officers in a shootout in which both of them are eventually killed.

— July 2010: An agitated right-winger and convict named Byron Williams loads up on weapons and drives to the Bay Area intent on attacking the offices of the Tides Foundation and the ACLU, but is intercepted by state patrolmen and engages them in a shootout and armed standoff in which two officers and Williams are wounded.

— September 2010: A Concord, N.C., man is arrested and charged with plotting to blow up a North Carolina abortion clinic. The man, 26-year–old Justin Carl Moose, referred to himself as the “Christian counterpart to (Osama) bin Laden” in a taped undercover meeting with a federal informant.

— January 2011: A 22-year-old gunman named Jared Lee Loughner with a long grudge against Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and a paranoid hatred of the government walks into a public Giffords event and shoots her in the head, then keeps firing, killing six people and wounding 14 more. Gifford miraculously survives.

— January 2011: A backpack bomb with the potential of killing or injuring dozens of people is found along the route of a Martin Luther King Day “unity march” in downtown Spokane.

By ecthompsonmd|2011-01-21T18:45:29-04:00January 21st, 2011|Party Politics, Terrorism|Comments Off

I was unable to watch the State of the Union address last night. (I was on call and somewhat busy.) I did watch it at about 3 AM. (I do love the Internet.) I’ve been watching State of the Union addresses for over 20 years and I can honestly say that I don’t like them. Any event that turns what are supposed to be dignified congressman into cheerleaders is a problem in my book. Whether it was Reagan, Clinton, Bush the Lesser or Obama, it seems like the purpose of the speeches are to tell us how great we are and gloss over our problems. Don’t we have FOX News for that?
Now, don’t misunderstand me. I think the President Barack Obama did a fabulous job. There was that one section that made me somewhat nauseated. “Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years. Spending related to our national security, Medicare Medicaid and Social Security will not be affected. But all other discretionary government programs will.” I won’t even get into the problem with discretionary versus “indiscretionary” spending. When 20% of our budget goes to national defense and 22% of our budget goes to Social Security and 12% goes to Medicare, there is a whole lot left over. We spend 7% of our budget just on interest. That’s over 60% of our budget. So, we’re going to hold spending on Head Start? Do we need to increase spending in order to increase demand until we are out of this recession?
Dr. George Tiller was gunned down while he was at church back in May of last year. His alleged killer is on trial now. Closing arguments begin tomorrow. In my mind, it doesn’t matter what Scott Roeder said on the stand. He’s never denied gunning down this man in cold blood. They should put him away and only let him out when the steel bars rust from age.
Nerves are raw everywhere in our country. Many liberals were calling for the replacement of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. After all, he did preside over the worst housing collapse in the history of our country. He ignored the warning signs. On the other hand, think about the backlash he would’ve received for standing up and crying wolf. Banks and financial institutions would have wanted to tar and feather him for calling an end to their party. I personally think he was a no lose – lose situation. In spite of the opposition, he won a second term.
Newly elected Virginia Republican Governor Bob McDonnell gave the Republican response to the State of the Union. Two things stand out in his rebuttal. “The circumstances of our times demand that we reconsider and restore the proper, limited role of government at every level.” So who decides what the proper and limited role of government is? The new governor? The president? Congress? How do we pay unemployment benefits to millions while we are dismantling government? Personally, I want government to be large enough to be effective while still small enough to be effective. Whatever that size is. That’s what I want. The governor earlier quoted Thomas Jefferson as saying, “a wise and frugal government which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry… and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned…” It sounds as if Thomas Jefferson was supporting the Republican cause for limited government. Unfortunately, the governor got the quote wrong. The full quote seems to support the government’s role in our society as a balance against big business. “Still one thing more, fellow-citizens — a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.” Did Governor Bob think that no one would look it up?
John and Elizabeth Edwards have split up. Just think, he was really close to becoming president. Doesn’t that send chills down your spine?
Housing foreclosures continue to rise.
JD Salinger, the author of the Catcher in the Rye, has died.
Finally, we’re preparing for our second snowstorm of the winter season. If you love snow, this is great. If you’re like me, snow is better when seen on a postcard. (Pssst… I was told before I moved here that it doesn’t snow that much. WRONG!!)

By ecthompsonmd|2010-01-28T23:24:36-04:00January 28th, 2010|Congress, Economy, Legal, Party Politics|Comments Off

What's Going On — Late Friday Night Roundup (Update)

Paul Krugman had an outstanding column which posted on Thursday. He discussed the engine that may be driving all of this violent extremism which has resulted in the shooting at the Holocaust Museum and the cold-blooded murder of Dr. George Tiller. Krugman said, “Conservatives were outraged (at the Department of Homeland security report). The chairman of the Republican national committee denounced the report as an attempt to ‘segment out conservatives in this country who have a different philosophy or view from this administration’ and label them as terrorists.” He went on to say, “Today, as in the early days of the Clinton administration but to an even greater extent, right wing extremism is being systematically fed by the conservative media and political establishment.” Krugman hit the nail on the head.

One of the tactics that the conservatives use is what I’ll call the Diana Ross Doctrine — Upside Down. Hopefully, some you are old enough to remember Diana Ross’ hit single Upside Down. It is a nice tune in which she describes being disoriented by her lover. She is in fact turned — upside down. Conservatives have taken what is obviously a right wing extremist and applied the Diana Ross doctrine. Now, magically we’re supposed to believe that a white supremacist who hated Jews and Blacks was a left-wing extremist. I thought left-wing extremists were like ecoterrorists?

What the hell is going on in Iran? Both sides have claimed victory. Extremely confusing.

Great Healthcare summary here. BTW, the Swine Flu is still here and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. There are now over 17,000 cases and 45 deaths. The World Health Organization has declared a pandemic and the MSM yawned.

EmptyWheel has an excellent post on the Senate Select Committee On Intelligence. Both she and I shared a skepticism over Senator Dianne Feinstein‘s ability to truly investigate torture. She seemed to be somewhat of a Bush administration cheerleader. Yet, it appears that she is slowly but surely performing a thorough investigation. In a separate post Marcy, who loves lists, sets out the chronology that led up to the May 10, 2005 memos on torture. Marcy is incredibly detail oriented. She compiles information that can’t be found almost anywhere else. (By the way, why is Senator Dianne Feinstein chairman of the Senate select committee on intelligence? Why isn’t Senator Rockefeller? What happened? I’m just asking.)

I saw a snippet of the report that President Obama had fired the Inspector General of the Corporation for National and Community Service (whatever that is). Well, Talking Points Memo has the background story. It appears that the Inspector General, Gerald Walpin, was doggedly pursuing Kevin Johnson, a big Obama supporter, who is also the mayor of Sacramento, for misappropriation of funds through a charity that he runs called St. Hope Academy. The whole story is rather intricate, but it appears that the US Attorney General thought there was no case, yet Gerald Walpin continued to pursue Johnson.

Glenn Greenwald has had a series of posts which relate to one of the basic tenants of conservatism, at least conservatism as it is practiced in the United States. Conservatives like to say that their ideals are being prosecuted. They like to protect themselves as a persecuted minority instead of the most prosperous and privileged among us. Glenn has more.

Finally, there’s some good criticism about President Obama’s economic plans. As in any democracy, there is supposed to be and give-and-take. At the beginning of the economic stimulus discussion there seem to be a lot of excellent ideas on spending. These would have been long-term investments into our infrastructure. Many of these great ideas, including high-speed rail, which in my opinion would have paid dividends down the line, were tossed out in the sake of fiscal responsibility, party unity or whatever. Von of Obsidian Wings has a great post on how we are missing our economic targets. I fear that we may be looking at another jobless recovery. The jobless rate for new graduates is ridiculously high. We have to figure out a way to produce jobs or Obama will be a one-term president.

Oh, by the way, a new painting by Leonardo da Vinci has been discovered… sort of. The painting appears to be a copy of the long-lost original which many have been based on a nude Mona Lisa.

Updates: I forgot that the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup yesterday. I’m sorry. I grew up in Dallas. I still don’t get hockey and I have this problem with Pittsburgh. Still.

The shuttle was scheduled to takeoff today (Saturday), but there appears to be a hydrogen leak. This is a problem.