HotFlashReport.com - Rants by Ann Rose & Susan Hill

Slashing Tires in Milwaukee: Dems Arrested / Anti-Abortionists Ignored

2005-01-25T06:30:00.000-05:00

According to a current AP story, 5 Democratic officials in Milwaukee were arrested for "flattening the tires on 25 vehicles rented by the state Republican Party to get out the vote and deliver poll watchers November 2".

They are Sowande Omokunde, son of Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., and Michael Pratt, the son of former Milwaukee acting mayor Marvin Pratt. Also charged by "Democratic" Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann are Lewis Caldwell and Lavelle Mohammad, both from Milwaukee, and Justin Howell of Racine. According to the AP article (http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/01/24/tires.slashed.ap/index.html ) they are charged with criminal damage to property, a felony that carries a maximum punishment of 3 1/2 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The FBI was apparently involved in their apprehension.

The irony with all of this is that one of the abortion clinics in town, Summit Women's Health Organization" (http://www.gynpages.com/swho) has regularly been the victim of anti-abortion violence that not only includes tire-slashings, but also includes arson, vandalism, glue lockings, an anthrax threat, stalking of staff members and doctors, etc.

You see, "Democratic" Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann is also anti-abortion, and despite repeated instances of violence at the clinic, he has steadfastly refused to pursue any criminal punishment against the perpetrators of crimes against the abortion clinic. As far as we know, the FBI has not been heavily involved in any of these anti-abortion crimes. Over the years, the Milwaukee police have made many arrests, but McCann has refused to prosecute these anti-abortion criminals. The police therefore hardly pay any attention to the clinic violence any more. The clinic just has to deal with it.

It is reported that years ago, McCann even made a public statement saying that he would never prosecute anti-abortion protesters.

Examples of his massive indifference to anti-abortion violence include the following:

1. According to the Missionaries for the Preborn (http://www.missionariestopreborn.com/default.asp?fuseaction=newsletter8), they regularly picket the Summit Women's Health Organization 5 days a week and "continue to conduct pickets and leaflet campaigns in the neighborhoods of the clinic workers. Two of them have quit in the last month due to their efforts!"
NOBODY HAS BEEN ARRESTED & CHARGED FOR THIS!

2. Summit Women's Health Organization was one of the clinic plaintiffs in the NOW v. Scheidler RICO case against Joe Scheidler and anti-abortionists. During the Bush Administration, the Supreme Court sent back to lower courts the Fedreral court victory which awarded the clinic damages for years of repeated violence. Testimony in the Federal trial included evidence that a lab employee had stolen fetuses from the clinic meant for medical disposal and given them to anti-abortionists who took them around the country conducting "fetus funerals" and claiming that the fetuses were found in garbage cans outside local abortion clinics.
NOBODY HAS BEEN ARRESTED & CHARGED FOR THIS!

3. I was personally there one day and parked my rental car 2 blocks away from the clinic. I was cautious walking to the clinic to ensure that I wasn't followed or observed. In spite of that, when I went to get in my car at the end of the day, all 4 tires were slashed.
NOBODY HAS BEEN ARRESTED & CHARGED FOR THIS!

4. Doctors from other states who flew into town were regularly stalked and harassed by anti-abortionists when they'd fly into town. They had to come to town to perform abortions because no local doctors would perform abortions at the time.
NOBODY HAS BEEN ARRESTED & CHARGED FOR THIS!

5. Harassment of physicians and clinics is detailed in this Harper’s article (http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1111/is_n1736_v289/ai_16003361/pg_1) from 1995.
NOBODY HAS BEEN ARRESTED OR CONVICTED FOR THIS

6. Other incidents reported to police where nobody was ever charged and convicted include: keying cars in the parking lot, videotaping patients, throwing red paint balloons on the building (and city sidewalk), toxic Butyric Acid attacks, locks glued shut with super glue, and a bogus anthrax attack,.

This pattern of intimidation and harassment has not only financially impacted the individual clinics who have to hire additional security and take extra precautions, but they also cost local police forces in additional staffing for security, etc.

Daunting to any business would be this historical review from 1977-1996 of activities against abortion clinics:

* 6 Murders
* 12 Attempted murders
* 41 Bombings
* 108 Arsons
* 69 Attempted bombing/arsons
* 351 Invasions
* 616 Vandalism
* 97 Assault & Battery
* 268 Death Threats
* 2 Kidnappings
* 37 Burglary
* 277 Stalking
* 3,020 Hate Mail & Phone Calls
* 354 Bomb Threats
* 9,366 Picketing
* 641 Blockades

On the other hand in 1998, the wife of an abortion doctor mooned the anti-abortionists who were picketing her house in a private Milwaukee neighborhood. She was cited and convicted for indecent exposure.

And now the Democratic activists go down for slashing tires.

Sure looks like selective prosecution in Milwaukee to me.

Milwaukee is just a microcosm of the anti-abortion harassment and violence that still continues to this day all around the country.

Ashcroft, of course, didn’t help on national level, especially with the post-911 clinic anthrax hoaxes that hit Milwaukee and many other cities.
Pro-Choice Targets Of Anthrax Hoaxes Get Little Help From Ashcroft
http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/12438/index.php

In the wake of 911, these anthrax attacks were finally taken seriously by Federal authorities and Clayton Wagner was arrested and convicted.

This situation is similar to conditions around the country. Abortion clinics have been historically been subjected to harassment, intimidation, stalking, arson, anthrax, butyric acid attacks, glue lockings, and even murder. These incidents are generally given little attention are are considered “business as usual” by many clinics who are just trying to get through the day and provide services to their clients.

If this kind of concerted, choreographed effort had been perpetrated against any other business type...say all fast food restaurants...I guarantee there would have been vigorous investigations and many prosecutions over the years and the illegal activities would have stopped by now. But, they continue. The Milwaukee clinic is regularly harassed to this day. The staff is numb to this activity and just tries to provide services in the best possible way.

Summaries of these incidents can be found at:
Feminist Majority Foundation Annual Clinic Survey (http://www.feminist.org/rrights/clinicsurvey.html)
National Abortion Federation Clinic Violence (http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/violence/index.html)

What's New in My Reproductive Area

2004-11-30T08:32:00.000-05:00

AN OPEN LETTER TO OFFICIALS OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT REGARDING WHAT'S NEW IN MY REPRODUCTIVE AREA.

BY EMILY WEINSTEIN

Dear Officials of the United States Government,

I thought I would just get in touch and let you know what is going on in my reproductive system and general private area lately. You seem really interested, and I wouldn't want to put you to the trouble of subpoenaing my medical records just to find out what's happening in my uterus.

It's summer, so I'm getting my bikini line waxed more frequently. (Ouch!) I had a little urinary-tract infection a while ago, but that seems to have cleared up. Cranberry juice is really something, especially when you're uninsured and can'' see the doctor to check out every little searing, stabbing pain. And did you know that yogurt cures yeast infections? If only it cured AIDS, we could patent it and then withhold it from Third World nations.

My last period started on the 8th and ended on the 13th. I think right now I'm ovulating. You know those little midcycle twinges you can get around ovulation? I felt one yesterday. President Bush, Attorney General Ashcroft, I am very pleased to be writing to you at my monthly pinnacle of fertility. The lining of my uterus is thickening, and a mature ovum expectantly awaits fertilization in my fallopian tube. It is a very beautiful time, and this month it is concurrent with the new moon. As
the moon waxes, it will gently pull the tide of my menses from me, culminating in my next menstrual period, which I expect to begin on the 6th of next month.

I know it might be hard to believe, but some guys think a woman's natural cycles and secretions are "yucky." Some guys are too squeamish to pick up a box of tampons at the drugstore if you ask them to. The first lady is lucky to have a partner like you, Mr. President, a person who wishes to be intimately involved not only in his wife's reproductive system, but in those of all the other women in America as well.

This is why if I ever get accidentally pregnant, you guys will be the first people I call. We'll all figure it out together, just me, my government, and that man in the polo shirt who hangs out outside my
gynecologist's office holding the sign with the fake bloody fetus on it.

May God continue to bless America, and my uterus.

Yours,
Emily Weinstein
http://www.superlefty.com

Dear President Bush

2004-11-27T10:52:00.000-05:00

Dear President Bush:

Congratulations on your election victory and for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law! I have learned a great deal from you and understand why you would propose and support a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. As you said, "in the eyes of God marriage is based between a man a woman." I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18.22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate.

However, I do need some advice from you regarding some other elements of God's Laws and how best to follow them.

1. Leviticus 25.44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans but not to Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21.7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanness (Leviticus15.19-24). The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord. (Leviticus 1.9) The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35.2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?

6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination (Leviticus11.10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there degrees of abomination?

7. Leviticus.21.20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?

8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Leviticus19.27. How should they die?

9. I know from Leviticus 11.6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean. May I still play football if I wear gloves?

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Leviticus 19.19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? (Leviticus 24.10-16) Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, as we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Leviticus 20.14)

11. My pro-life neighbors tell me it's the same as murder for a woman to have an abortion because David said to God, "You knitted me together in my mother's womb" (Psalm 139:13; see also Psalm 51:5; 139:13; Luke 1:44), and that it's against God's law to harm an unborn child (Exod. 21:22-23). The verses in Psalms and Luke just say that babies are formed in the womb and born in sin. And Exodus only says: "When men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no harm follows, the one who hurt her shall be fined, according as the woman's husband shall lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye," etc. God's own word is good enough for me. If you kill a woman, that's murder and is punishable by death, but if you cause a miscarriage (abortion in medical terminology), that only calls for a fine. And if the woman and her husband have no objection (as of course they wouldn't in the case of a voluntary abortion), then the Bible says there's no reason for punishment at all. So am I obligated to stone these "pro-life" sinners to death myself, for breaking the commandment against bearing false witness by perverting the very word of God Almighty? Should I stone these heretics? I really hate to make such a mess, unless you think some activist judge might let these infidels off light with only death by lethal injection.

I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Yours truly,
An Inquiring Supporter

P.S. I look forward to your answers because there are a number of other issues that I'd like to get settled as soon as you've enlightened me on these ... Thanks again.

Post-Election Sour Grapes

2004-11-22T10:47:00.000-05:00

OK....I admit it. Since the election, I've put my rantings on hold. On hold because I just can't believe that so many Americans believed the lies of Bush and the Republicans. There's 6 things I'm sure of about this election:

1. There was massive voter fraud which resulted in the disenfrancisement of Democratic voters
2. The Republicans lie with impunity, while Democrats try to tell the truth
3. The American public can't handle the truth and would rather live in a world of lies
4. The Republicans are more ruthless than the Democrats
5. The Republicans are better at running campaigns, but the Democrats are better at running the country
6. John Kerry won the election

So, in the face of another stolen election, I don't see how Republicans can hold up their heads. Their "mandate" could have been erased with a swing of 100,000 votes in Ohio, so I don't see how they can claim the moral highground. Especially when their moral highground consists of immediately raising the debt ceiling (more mortgating of America under their watch), chipping away at women's rights, giving tax breaks to the upper 2%, ignoring the ethics of their members, and strongarming their moderate wing into acting right. That's a dubious legacy.

Sour grapes? I don't think so. Fermented grapes? OK. That's wine...not whine.

Since when does dissention amount to "sour grapes", "anti-Americanism", and "truthseeking"?

Since the Republicans define America and try to bring Democracy to Iraq and dismantle it in the US of A. Quite a fix we're in here.

One note of optimism. I do think ole Georgie is going to step on his proverbial dick. The last three second lame-duck terms for Presidents has resulted in:

1. Richard Nixon's Watergate
2. Ronald Reagan's Iran-Contra
3. Bill Clinton's Monicagate

It seems that absolute power inflicted by second terms with no accountability corrupts absolutely. I can't wait to see what ole Bush and his loyal neocons come up with. It's just a matter of time.

Zell Miller: Hypocrit Heal Thyself!!

2004-11-09T09:44:00.000-05:00

"You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother's eye"...Matthew 7:5

Zell Miller was on Imus this morning once again moralizing to the rest of us. He was talking about how the Democrats can't ignore the "moral fiber" of the Red states and can't mock Christianity and the morals of the Christians.

He referred to Maureen Dowd as "Maureen Loud" and satanized her by saying that he could see horns coming out of her red hair. Ironic, since he's rumored to have liked redheads in the past, and horns have never been a problem for Zell.

Rumors have swirled in Georgia for many years now about Zell's extra-curricular activities. For some reason, there's a zone of silence around him, and nobody will talk on the record. But in private, he's the butt of numerous jokes for his Zig-Zagging on moral values, especially when it comes to women.

Why is it that the biggest partiers end up in their grumpy old age as the ones who want to punish others with their newly discovered moral beliefs?

Isn't it too bad that Viagra doesn't have an anti-depressant in it to chill out the old geezers?

In the past, I've attended some of Zell's kick-ass birthday parties at the latest trendy cowboy bar, and I assure you there was never preaching and moralizing going on. I do know that political insiders in Georgia have been guffawing for months now about his new-found moral outrage in light of his colorful past.

I don't mind his "colorful past", but I do think it's hypocritical and disingenuous that he's now trying to moralize to the rest of us.

To quote an old politician:
"Be not too hasty to trust or to admire the teachers of morality: they discourse like angels, but they live like men"
... Samuel Johnson, Rasselas (1759), 18.

And read my Diary yesterday regarding an "Online Petition to Enact a Morality Oath for Public Officials"
http://www.dailykos.com/diary_edit/2004/11/8/174839/348

Zell's supporters need to get answers to some of those questions before he elevates himself to sainthood.

One thing I know is that if Zell is a pure man now, he's a recovering horndog.

He can challenge those of us who've known about him in the past to a duel, but that won't get us outta his face; especially if he's going to continue to be in our face.

Cross-Posted at: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/11/9/94041/4224

9/9/04 - Zell Miller: Republican Road-Kill
http://hotflashreport.blogspot.com/2004/09/zell-miller-republican-road-kill.html

2/26/04 - Zig Zag Zell
http://hotflashreport.blogspot.com/2004_02_01_hotflashreport_archive.html

Online Petition to Enact a Morality Oath for Public Officials

2004-11-08T05:40:00.000-05:00

OK. Uncle. We give up. Make our day. Bring 'em on.

This country's Republican leaders think that morality is an important issue. Some would claim that it was THE issue in last Tuesday's election. Knock yourself out.

But, there's a catch.

If you're a politician, influential media expert or "talking head" or "pundit", or if you're a religious leader, we think you should declare your morality before trying to legislate the morality of this country.

We've fell back on our religious upbringing and broken it down into 8 major issues. Anybody in the above groups that wants to run on or vote or write about or preach about these issues needs to dig deep into his or her soul and come clean. If you want to be a moral arbiter, then you should declare your values.

We propose an online petition drive demanding that all public figures who now believe moral values are the number one issue in political campaigns need to put their money where their mouth is.

The petition would require that political figures first take a public oath that not only do they believe in moral values, but they practice them. The petition will demand that Congress adopt a bill that finally covers all of them, and it will be "The Morality Oath".

Remember, we're on a "morality" wave here and we citizens have a right to expect that our public figures are as moral as the exit polls indicate we want them to be. We believe it starts at the top with the newly elected President of the Moral 22% of the USA that apparently has taken us by storm.

By God, we have a right to expect that if we vote for something that our public officials meet those standards. The criteria is not complicated and in the words of W, they are things simple people can understand. Of course, as always, the moral test revolves around the 2 items we're all familiar with: Sex and Money. And we say clean up the Congress and the politicians. Make them answer these questions before taking office in January so that our "mandate" is safe.

Remember, personal privacy is no longer a defense.

The Moral Mighty 8 are:

1. The GAY Issue.
Have you ever had a GAY encounter or fantasized about one? Have you ever visited a GAY bar or GAY website. Do you know any GAY people that you have helped keep their secret? Are you GAY?

2. The ABORTION Issue.
Have you ever participated directly or indirectly in obtaining or paying for or suggesting an ABORTION for anyone that you know? Have you ever inquired into ABORTION information when you were afraid of being involved in the need for one? Have your ever asked a provider in this country to help you obtain an ABORTION in secret? Have you ever impregnated someone other than your wife? Can you honestly swear that nobody in your family has ever had an ABORTION? Have you ever personally had an ABORTION?

3. The SEX Issue.
Have you ever had SEX outside of marriage? Are you having SEX outside of marriage now? Have you ever lied to your wife or husband about having SEX with someone else? Have you ever had SEX with a staff member? Have you ever had SEX with a prostitute? Have you ever visited a strip club? Have you ever given money to a topless dancer? Have you ever had kinky SEX (i.e. other than the favorite Christian "missionary position")? Have you ever read pornography, watched porn movies, or visited porn sites? Have you ever fantasized about any of the above? Have you ever coveted your neighbor's wife? Have you ever felt lust in your heart?

4. The ABUSE Issue
Have you ever ABUSED a partner physically? Have you ever hit a partner or family member? Have you ever wanted to hit a partner or family member? Have you ever ABUSED a staff member or employee, either verbally or physically? Have you ever been accused of any kind of emotional, verbal or physical ABUSE? Have you ever sexually harassed anyone you work with?

5. The DRUG Issue
Have you ever smoked pot or done cocaine? Have you ever taken any amphetamines? Have you ever misused prescription DRUGS? Are you taking any kind of DRUGS now? If so, what?

6. The ALCOHOL Issue
Have you ever been drunk? Have you ever abused ALCOHOL? Have you driven drunk? Have you ever been stopped for a DUI? Have you ever been convicted of a DUI? Do you drink ALCOHOL now? If so, how many drinks per day? Do you have a drinking problem, or have you ever had a drinking problem?

7. The LYING Issue
Have you ever LIED to a family member about something material? Have you ever LIED to the public about anything? Have you ever LIED to your Minister, Priest, Rabbi or Iman about anything? Did you ever LIE to your parents about anything? Have you ever LIED under oath about anything? Did you ever cheat in school?

8. The MONEY Issue
Have you ever lied about MONEY? Have you ever taken MONEY, or anything of value, for something you shouldn't have? Have you ever cheated on your taxes? Have you ever manipulated the tax system for a better financial result? Have you ever run a company that has manipulated the tax system? Have you ever been audited and found to have underpaid? Has your family ever received jobs or things of value from someone you could help? Have you ever voted in a way to help a contributor when there was no other basis for that vote?

If you can answer "Yes" to any of the above, even in your youth, you must admit to it in order to cleanse yourself. The American public demands this and our officials must deliver.

Remember, as George W. Bush said: "You can run but you can't hide."

Productive Ways to Deal with the 2004 Election Results

2004-11-07T10:55:00.000-05:00

Productive Ways to Deal with the 2004 Election Results

By the Rev. C. Joshua Villines

1. Go ahead and get it out of your system. In the long run, using words like "jack-booted", "buffoon", "addle-brained", "lack-wit", "illiterate", "tsarist", "brain-dead", "moronic", "incontinent", and "village idiot" won't facilitate dialogue and they certainly won't convince anyone. If the fifty-nine million Americans who voted for the unrepentant prat haven't already figured it out this won't help them. In the short term, however, it really does blow off a little steam. You can even string a bunch of them together to make your own private nickname for the Chief Executive. I'm leaning toward, "Semi-literate, lack-witted, imperialist buffoon". At some point you have to realize that there may actually be a kind and caring person underneath the earth-despoiling, empire-building facade; but it's what he represents we're talking about here. If he didn't want to be called names, he shouldn't be working for the forces of darkness! Get it out of your system, then stop.

2. Go to a national park with people you care about and take lots of pictures so that your grandchildren will know what the place looked like before the loggers and the oil wildcatters came through. Bonus points if you‚re a same-sex couple and you have a wedding ceremony in a national park. You may also want to pitch in to help keep your national park looking nice. There's no guarantee that our government is going to, so someone should.

3. Start making your retirement plans now. If you're older than 4, it might be too late; but it never hurts to try. Look for socially conscious mutual funds that aren't going to contribute to the pockets of the wealthy exploiters (whose pockets are already lined by the tax cuts which will require you to update your retirement plans in the first place).

4. Buy and read at least one book on foreign policy, the economy, the environment, health care, or some other area where the President's policies are weak. The field is wide open here. In fact, any book on any topic will probably meet the criteria. Remember that this book might put you on a "bad" list with the current Attorney General, but that's OK. Pretty soon being able to read might do the same.

5. Make a choice, about anything. You'll probably have fewer of them in the future; so enjoy them now.

6. If you're a Christian, enjoy getting to be the top of the heap for the time being. If you adhere to some other religion, don't worry. Now that the precedent for government-by-religion has been firmly established your turn may very well come. (Quakers can give up on this though. Religion that requires you to actually do things sacrificially for people will never catch on.) Just think, if you get enough bigots together, you can even write your religion's peculiar prejudices into a state constitution!

7. Wait! Don't go to Canada yet! Now El Presidente has to clean up the mess he created. He can't and won't, and we may see a Democratic Golden Age in response. Hang in there.

8. While you're hanging, talk to some people who voted for the addle-brained nincompoop and find out why they did it. Not only does this help you reduce the list of people whom you'll need to invite to your next Michael Moore screening party; it will help you understand why this travesty happened. Maybe they thought invading Iraq in response to an attack by a bunch of Saudis made sense. Maybe they only watch Fox news. Maybe they don't really understand the threat a rogue Justice Department is to their civil liberties. Maybe every time they saw the words "Dick" and "Bush" on a TV screen their minds wandered. Whatever kept them from realizing that they were voting for possibly the worst President in the history of the office, we need to find out what it is if we're going to keep it from happening again.

9. Shop Democratic! Spend a little extra and buy locally-produced items from locally owned stores. Buy generic drugs and organic food. Find companies which impose the kinds of regulations and obligations on themselves that our morality-challenged Businessman-in-Chief won't impose on his cronies.

10. Set aside 8 hours a month to do some kind of work that makes your community a better place. Volunteer at a school or a literacy program. Build a Habitat house. Clean up a river bank. Take your elderly neighbor shopping (he or she probably won't be able to afford a cab if they are relying on Medicare and Social Security). You don't need to find an organization to work with. Just set aside a little bit of time to put energy into the place where you live. When people ask you why you're so dedicated to making the world a better place and to taking care of those around you, tell them, "Because I'm a Democrat. It's what we do."

The Right Wing's 20-Year Plan

2004-11-04T09:54:00.000-05:00

Military wars are not fought between the Generals. They're fought on the ground. The Christian Right Wing initiated a battle plan over 20 years ago to attain the victory that occurred on Tuesday. This war bubbled up from the small towns of America to Washington and vice-versa.

The surprise of a second term for George W. Bush that many liberals and the elite media are expressing today is disingenuous because they were warned 20 years ago.

20 years ago, the social issue battle was being fought in front of abortion clinics in every city in this country. From 1984 to the present, the battle front was sidewalks in front of abortion clinics. These were the first skirmishes., The Catholic Church and Evangelical movement had decided to draft their soldiers for this cultural war locally and to train them on the abortion issue.

The plan that we saw in these small towns involved not only protests that would become violent and involve killings, but also a methodical and secret plan to start at the bottom of the political ladder with school boards, city councils, etc. in the quest to take over the Congress and the White House

The National media and liberals watched this occurring and came in for the skirmishes but never dug deeper, nor did the Democrats. Just as the protests and attacks against clinics were well organized like a military campaign, so was the ultimate goal. These people were not only militarily brilliant, they were very very patient. They knew it would not happen over night and they recruited young people to carry them through the campaign.

One example of a good soldier is Ralph Reed, who amazingly enough, is now a spokesperson and campaign manager for President Bush. While at school in North Carolina in the early 80's, he was arrested for anti-abortion activity in front of an abortion clinic in Raleigh. That was his first assignment. We have continually tried to tell the press about the beginnings of his political activity to no avail. Even with mug shot evidence, the national media was never interested in his roots. The plan was succeeding. As the anti-abortion activity ratcheted up, the leaders of it began to be promoted to higher positions.

Bryan Brown, an infamous protester in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, was appointed 2 years ago as assistant to the Governor in Kansas. He had been sued successfully by a clinic in Ft. Wayne 14 years ago and is Federally injoined from coming near that clinic, but yet the media was never interested in his background and subsequent rise. After his successes in protests in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and Wichita, Kansas, he was "promoted" or "rewarded" by going to Pat Robertson's law school to hone his skills. These things were not coincidental.

The two twin Schenk brothers are former Buffalo Pentacostol Born Again Jews for Jesus that were run out of Buffalo after 1992 anti-abortion activities. They were brought up on charges often, and Paul Schenk was sentenced to Federal Prison for lying under oath about their activities and identities. His twin brother Robert moved to Washington DC and is currently the Pentecostol chaplain on Capitol Hill for Attorney General John Ashcroft.

This kind of anti-abortion activity in Buffalo also incited James Kopp to come to Buffalo to eventually murder abortion physician Bart Slepian on October 3, 1998.

Jordan Laurence first appeared on the scene in the mid-80's in a North Dakota abortion clinic case as a young attorney for right wing interests. He went on from that case to reappear 15 years later as one of the lead attorneys for a right wing group defending anti-gay marriage legislation. In between, he was a young attorney working on the anti-sodomy case in Georgia.

In the mid-90's, Michael Farris, another attorney who had worked with Mr. Laurence in the North Dakota case appeared on the ballot in Virginia as a candidate for Lt. Governor.

All of these people had been part of the right wing army on the battle front years ago. The pattern continued to prove that the training ground was anti-abortion zealotry. The committment made by these people then would never change, and the way to become a General was to win your stars in every right wing skirmish in middle America.

They've done it brilliantly. They knew it was gorilla warfare that would take years, and they've succeeded.

We must reiterate. We watched the troops years ago with walkie-talkies and camouflage outfits taking over abortion clinics. At the time, Susan Hill described it in a Federal Court hearing as "looking like young boys playing war". They were young men at the time, but they were not playing. It was for real.

The question of connecting the dots never occurred to Democrats and was "poo-pooed" by the media. It was as if abortion providers were yelling fire but the theater was empty. This is a well constructed campaign that goes on, and unless the left and moderate left recognizes the campaign it's in, it can't win.

People need to be exposed. Their roots have to be investigated. They have to be taken seriously. And just as this country never connected the dots between the international terrorists that relentlessly attack us, they have refused to connect the dots on this systematic, well-planned campaign to take over America and to do it secretly.

There are hundreds of thousands of others that have been involved in these battles over the past 25 years. Abortion providers were in essence the special forces of the left in America. We saw what the enemy was planning. We lived through it and were killed for it. But there were no Generals to report to.

Paramilitary campaigns are never fought in the open. The secret to their success is always secrecy. You must believe us. The end game is danger for this democracy.

Ann Rose and Susan Hill.

View from the Left Bank

2004-10-28T09:51:00.000-05:00

So, last week I got bummed about the Braves losing in the Playoffs and got sick and tired of hearing about Bush's 1 point lead in the polls and sick and tired of Bush's lies.

What did I do? Went to Paris, of course.

Some friends and I took off on the spur of the moment and went to one of our favorite places in the world. Paree.

Heading over there, I kept hearing Bush's snide comments about Kerry being "out on the far left bank", an obvious reference to Paris. Considering that W had never been overseas before he got elected President, let me give him an idea about the "Left Bank".

We stayed on the Right Bank, not because we prefer it but because we got a great deal on accommodations. We actually prefer the Left Bank.

The Right Bank is where the Ritz Hotel is...remember Diana sashaying through the doors on her way to an accident? The Right Bank is where all the fancy designer shops are located. The Right Bank is the home of the mammoth Louvre (i.e. Mona Lisa), the Arc de Triomphe, la Bastille (prison), L'Opera. The Right Bank is Bush elitism territory. It's where he and his family of inbred monarchs would feel most at home.

On the other hand, the Left Bank is home to the University, libraries, book stores and other intellectual pursuits. Things that W has no use for. The Left Bank is home to the Rodin Museum, an understated homely museum whose most famous guest is "The Thinker". Again, thinking... something Bush has no use for. The Left Bank is home to La Musee D'Orsy, a converted train station housing priceless works of art, that actually has a FREE day. It's home to government offices alongside classic French bistros. It's home to a couple of our favorite Bars, and our favorite restaurant. It's a more relaxed, friendly, less pretentious area than the Right Bank.

So, you can see why W wouldn't feel comfortable on the Left Bank and would deride John Kerry for being more like that area.

I got confirmation about the French view of Bush while we were there. To a person, they all love Americans, but dislike Bush. They're glad they're not in Iraq and think it was a mistake. One guy even got thrown out of a bar because he got so worked up over Bush, he became incoherent.

The French are passionate people. Passionate about their city, their country, their wine, and their music. And as we strolled through the streets humming "La Vie en Rose", I momentarily left the nasty discourse of American politics behind. I had hope that Americans wouldn't be so stupid as to re-elect Bush. And I had hope that John Kerry would win by a landslide next Tuesday.

That hope was restored last night when the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 4 straight (actually 8 straight)... a feat that should portend the good vibes awaiting another Bostonian.

The Penis as a Weapon of Self-Destruction

2004-10-14T13:42:00.000-05:00

Poor Bill O'Reilly. Didn't he know that his penis was a Weapon of Self-Destruction (WSD). If he was the student of current events and history that he purports to be he would have known that more powerful men have been destroyed by their penises than by any other enemies.

Mr. O'Reilly, your penis is not your friend. Ask Bill Clinton if his Weapon of Self -Destruction was a good investment. Given a rational state of mind, President Clinton should have been too smart to have allowed his "weapon" or his WSD to destroy an otherwise brilliant Presidency.

Ask Newt Gingrich. He is certainly an historian who should have understood that his wandering WSD had already caused him trouble in his life and if let loose was sure to destroy a brilliant arrival to the leadership scene in DC.

Ask Gary Hart. To watch him now be as well versed as he is on foreign relations, you have to wonder if he resents the WSD he's still carrying around.

Ask Jack Welch. The number one corporate executive in this country looked like a silly little boy when his WSD misbehaved.

Ask Rudy Guiliani. A magnificent politician, classic New Yorker, and apparently willing to engage in WSD overload in the same house as his wife. Certainly a tacky use of a WSD.

The list goes on. There's no shortage of WSDs.

Boys...here are the rules for living with a WSD:
1. You must respect it as a weapon at all times
2. You should register it with the UN weapons inspectors after one misfiring
3. You must notify all neighbors and co-workers if you're carrying a concealed WSD
4. You must remember that the WSD is like a loaded grenade. If it goes off at the wrong place at the wrong time, it can maim you, your career, and your life

The penis knows no political party. Both political parties in this country apparently have carried around their weapons for years.

Larry Flynt knew the power of the WSD. Thousands of women working for powerful men know the power of the WSD. Someone needs to educate the powerful men of the dangers of their WSDs.

Let this be their first lesson. Treat it kindly.

Battle of the Bulge

2004-10-13T14:18:00.000-05:00

So, I'll be watching for Bush's bulge tonight. And that doesn't mean one of my favorite pasttimes...crotch-watching. That's why I like baseball so much. ..the tight white pants.

To quote the Queen of Soul: "Do you be a vision in white? How'd you get those pants so tight?"

I'll be watching for confirmation that Bush really is the idiot I know he is. This is Bulge-Gate. Speculation on the internet and in the national media that Bush was wired for the first 2 debates is reaching a silly frenzy. That's because it's so easy to believe that he was cheating in some way, and that's he's a puppet that needs Rove or Cheney to feed him his lines.

There is photo documentation of a square bulge on his back under his suit coat during the debates. I'm sure his handlers told him to stand up straight so it wouldn't be apparent, but he can't help but slouch on the podium. The Repugs have said it was a wrinkle...and a square one at that. That has been debunked because $2000 suits don't usually wrinkle at all.

David Letterman even had a segment last night to "Guess the Bulge" on Rupert Gee's back at the Hello Deli. A lovely young thing from the audience fondled the bulge on his back, and correctly guessed that it was a T-Bone steak. The double-entendre was apparent.

Then, on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, John Edwards quipped that it must be Bush's battery pack, drawing howls of laughter.

If a story has hit the late night comedy shows, then it'll be around for a while.

People are always fascinated by bulges. Remember the two wild and crazy guys on SLN in the 70's wanting women to see their huge "bulges"? Even they were fascinated by their own manhood.

Let's not forget Bush's other bulge. That codpiece thingy in his crotch when he wore the flightsuit and declared: "Mission Accomplished".

All I'm thinking is that John Kerry has bigger hands and bigger feet than GW Bush.

I do know for sure that Kerry has a bigger brain in his head, and that usurps any body part bulge.

For more on this, go to:

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/10/13/transmitter/index_np.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/10-12-2004/news/politics/story/241307p-206981c.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/10/10/13846/246

Nuisance Terrorists: My kind of terrorist

2004-10-12T07:47:00.000-05:00

"Can we win the war on terrorism? Yes, I think we can, in the sense that we can win the war on organized crime. There is going to be no peace treaty on the battleship Missouri in the war on terrorism, but we can break its back so that it is only a horrible nuisance and not a paralyzing influence on our societies."

-- General Brent Scowcroft
Bush 41 National Security Advisor
Bush 43 appointee to the Forum for International Security
"9/11 a Year On" conference, Sept. 2002
http://www.usip.org/events/2002/america/scowcroft.html

The above is a quote by Bushy confidante Gen. Brent Scowcrroft. Speculation at http://www.dailykos.com is that Kerry's current "Nuisance-Gate" quote that GW is ranting about was a set-up by the Kerry camp. They knew about the Scowcroft quote and they knew that GW would pounce on the same Kerry quote and act the fool and thus paint himself into a corner after the Scowcroft quote was made public.

"Nuisance" terrorists are good terrorists because they don't hit you directly, they're just a bug on the windshield of life.

Being in the abortion business, I've lived with domestic terrorism for over 20 years. The only way we won was when we got on with our lives and those picketers became nothing more than pesky fools. When we were able to laugh at them for being outside in the cold on a Saturday morning instead of home snug in bed, that's when we felt empowered.

Bottom line: 911 brought to the rest of the USA the same constraints we'd been conducting our business with for years. We've been checking bags, putting in expensive security systems, watching our backs, etc. for years. Now, it's just a nuisance that we've gotten used to but anti-abortion terrorists don't control our lives or the way we deliver medical care.

If we'd succumbed to the terrorists, then people would be afraid, really afraid, and there would be no abortion clinics. Of course that was the terrorists' goal.

So, Kerry was right (and hopefully he was aware of the Scowcroft quote)...I want my terrorists of the "nuisance" variety.

Win One for Superman!

2004-10-11T09:23:00.000-05:00

Superman is dead. No matter what he tried. No matter what courage he showed. Chris Reeve could not pull off the supernatural against a tragic injury. He and millions of people suffer from devastating medical problems and they've all needed help and hope.

Chris Reeve was so heroic in his quest that not only did he believe that he'd walk again, but we believed it. That is not just the American way. It is the beauty of being a human.

George & Laura Bush have lectured us in the past 6 weeks against hoping that stem cell research would cure our ills. They have said that it was unfair for John Kerry to tantalize afflicted people with hope. This is their problem. We want to hope. We want to believe things will be better tomorrow than today. We want to believe that different cultures can get along. We want to believe that Superman can walk again.

The right wing has for the last 20 years demonized anyone with hope. They have portrayed anyone who believes that different people can get along as naive, that anyone who would rather negotiate in engaged diplomacy than bomb the hell out of a country is unpatriotic. They on one hand preach Christianity and freedom and on the other hand judge other people (not a Christian value) and preach that any other form of government is evil.

This appeals to the xenophobic and the intellectually challenged for simple answers to complex questions is always more comfortable for simple minded people.

Superman believed differently. He believed that in your darkest hour, you could not only find hope yourself but also give it to millions of other people by your example. He understood that living is complex and living with others is complex.

George & Laura Bush believe that if they say it is so, it is. They do not believe in negotiation or in debating the issue, but rather than closing it off with simple statements.

John Kerry is intellectually curious and appears to want to (1) engage all sides (2) be willing to change his mind. He believes that persuasion and negotiation are human skills of value. So did Superman.

Superman dragged himself up to Capitol Hill in order to persuade and negotiate. He understood that by being persuasive in his example as well as his words, he was a compelling force to the world for his cause. Superman could have complained, as did George W. Bush, that it was "hard work" to be paralized. He did not. He lifted his soul and others in hope as can John Kerry.

We have a clear choice in 3 weeks between a man who only sees black and white, cannot believe that anyone else is righter than he is and continues to see doom in every direction and John Kerry. Kerry continues to believe that Americans believe in freedom, but believe in hope that we can always do better than we have done and that our example of a freedom loving country can persuade the world on the issues that face us.

Is there any doubt who Superman would have voted for?

Bush is an Idiot for Limiting Stem Cell Research

2004-10-11T06:41:00.000-05:00

The news of Christopher Reeve's death today has sent me into a funk. In spite of the fact that my Braves pulled through yesterday and have a crucial game with Houston tonight. The baseball game seems insignificant when it comes to the courage and fortitude of Christopher in fighting to improve his own condition and to influence the lives of others. Bush and the Republicans should be so "compassionate". My mom and her two sisters died ot Alzheimer's, a devastating condition that stem cell research could have possibly cured if the right wing had more compassion for living human beings than they do for cells of tissue. Christopher Reeve fought for stem cell research and the election of John Kerry through his last days.

Ironically, this all started with Ronald Reagan. Reagan voted against stem cell research during his term in office.

See: http://www.plannedparenthood.org/library/facts/fetaltis_010600.html

You'll notice that the bans on stem cell research actually started during the Reagan Administration, so he did have a say in his future after all...and I quote from the above referenced well researched article from Planned Parenthood:

"Medical research with embryonic and fetal tissue progressed steadily from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, until 1987, when the New England Journal of Medicine reported the successful transplantation of fetal neural tissue into the brains of two young patients with Parkinson's disease. The successful procedure led to requests for government funding of similar procedures. It also led to a heated outcry from anti-abortion activists. Their inflammatory and alarmist misinformation campaign soon led to a Reagan administration moratorium in 1988 on all federally funded research involving the transplantation of tissue from induced abortions into humans (Coutts, 1993). "

So, ironically, Reagan helped put a nail in his own coffin by halting this much needed funding at a time when by now some progress could have been made.

This is symptomatic of Republicans pandering to extreme anti-abortion elements and ignoring real science. This group is so intellectually corrupt that they create junk science to fit their crazed right wing agenda.

An old saying is that these Reputlican anti-abortion absolutists believe in life before birth and after death but not in between.

I'm interested in the "in between."

The Bush Hillbillies

2004-10-09T18:34:00.000-05:00

Sing to the tune of the Beverly Hillbillies:

Sing the following to the tune of "The Beverly Hillbillies"

Come and listen to my story 'bout a boy name Bush.
His IQ was zero and his head was up his tush.
He drank like a fish while he was drivin' all about.
But that didn't matter 'cuz his daddy bailed him out.
DUI, that is. Criminal record. Cover-up.

Well, the first thing you know little Georgie goes to Yale.
He can't spell his name but they never let him fail.
He spends all his time hangin' out with student folk.
And that's when he learns how to snort a line of coke.
Blow, that is. White gold. Nose candy.

The next thing you know there's a war in Vietnam.
Kin folks say, "George, stay at home with Mom."
Let the common people get maimed and scarred.
We'll buy you a spot in the Texas Air Guard.
Cushy, that is. Country clubs. Nose candy.
Twenty years later George gets a little bored.

He trades in the booze, says that Jesus is his Lord.
He said, "Now the White House is the place I wanna be."
So he called his daddy's friends and they called the GOP.
Gun owners, that is. Falwell. Jesse Helms.

Come November 7, the election ran late.
Kin folks said "Jeb, give the boy your state!"
"Don't let those colored folks get into the polls."
So they put up barricades so they couldn't punch their holes.
Chads, that is. Duval County. Miami-Dade.

Before the votes were counted five Supremes stepped in.
Told all the voters "Hey, we want George to win."
"Stop counting votes!" was their solemn invocation.
And that's how George finally got his coronation.
Rigged, that is. Illegitimate. No moral authority.
Y'all go vote now. Ya hear?

Bush Doesn't Know Dick About Wood in His Internets

2004-10-09T07:56:00.000-05:00

Proving he doesn't know Dick about his own life and the lives of Americans, Bushy totally pummelled his way through the debates.

Bush didn't know that he owned part of a lumber company, as proven by his tax statements from 2002 and 2003. The good prosecutor Kerry threw him a zinger and Bush again responded like a 12-year-old: "Need some wood?" The guy's truly a juvenile.

Then to prove that he doesn't know Dick about a medium that the majority of the country uses at least sometimes, he said when asked a question about reinstating the draft: "I hear there's rumors on the Internets (sic) that we're going to have a draft."

Mr. Bush listen closely: There's only ONE Internet.

He's obviously heard about this new fangled "internet thang" and being the entrepreneur that he is, he thinks there are many "Internets". What a BOOB!!

Then to prove that he really doesnt know Dick about how to handle himself, he pisses off most of the women watching by interrupting and bullying Charlie Gibson. To his credit, Charlie kept his cool and let Bush ramble on about the "Grand Coalition" which is a actually a grand failure.

This was a perfect example of a seasoned prosecutor picking his battles and letting his opponent sink himself. Kerry was the guy that I'd want negotiating with a foreign government to get us out of a jam. Kerry is the class act and Bush is truly the Boob.

Post Debate Spin: Wanna Buy Some Wood?

2004-10-08T21:50:00.000-05:00

Yankees 8 - Twins 1

OK. Now I'm exhausted. I meant to blog and watch at the same time, but was too mesmerized by the spin. Bush seemed to only be able to recite his memorized stump speeches. He teased us with an almost smirk several times. I'm sure he's been practicing all week NOT smirking. He blew a gasket several times when he wanted to jump on Kerry for something, then forgot what he was jumping on him for.

I'm really embarrased that this guy is our President. Kerry explained his positions, but I think the general public likes soundbites ("You can run but you can't hide") better than the thoughtful answers Kerry gave that allow for a little grey in life. The President is a simpleton and sees his world in black and white. There is no grey to him.

Partial abortion was discussed as "grey" for Kerry and clearly black and white for Bush. I've actually talked with women who had these abortions at a clinic in Los Angeles several years ago. To a person, they ALL had deformed fetuses that were wanted pregnancies and the abortion was a tragic but necessary decision for them. This mean President would punish those women. Kerry had a heart and understood.

And the audience! What was Cal Thomas doing sitting in the front row? He's not an "undecided" voter. And where were the minorities, specifically blacks and hispanics? Oh yea, they're in the Midwest and there are very few minorities. It's lilly white there.

Can't wait for the fact checkers to find out about Bush's lumber company. "Wanna buy some wood?"

Letter to Martha

2004-10-08T18:37:00.000-05:00

Dear Martha:

I'm so sad about your ordeal. Let me tell you honestly that I didn't care much for you until this happened. But, I think you were railroaded and unfairly charged. I admire your fortitude and resolve. It's ridiculous that jerks like Ken Lay and Bernie Ebbers who actually stole from their
stockholders and caused them to lose pensions are walking around free while you are jailed.

I can only wish you strength to make lemonade out of lemons...a Martha trademark.

1. You can focus on eating right and exercise. Like you, I've got a bit of middle age spread and flabby arms. This is the perfect opportunity for you to diet and lift weights. It's so hard to do that sometimes I think I may have to be "jailed" to get myself back in shape.

2. There are truly some needy women in jail. You can be a role model to them. You can mentor them so that when they get out of jail they can make something of their lives. Most women are in jail because they had no self-esteem and followed a man into crime. Many crimes are victimless. But I heard a former inmate of your prison say today that the most heartbreaking part of jail there was watching the children visit their incarcerated Moms. The children would cry pathetically when they had to leave their Moms. Maybe you can help.

3. You can be the eyes and ears of all of us. I've always had a fear of being framed for something I didn't do and ending up in jail. Remember those old Joan Crawford movies? You can analyze the conditions. You can look at it from a human and business perspective to make recommendations when you get out to help other women in need.

4. You can truly become an advocate for change when you get out. Change to help women on all levels better their lives.

Hopefully, when you get out John Kerry will be President and this country will be on a more sane and progressive path.

Sincerely,

Ann Rose
PO Box 500788
Atlanta, Georgia
http://www.annrose.com
http://www.abortionclinic.com
http://www.hotflashreport.com
http://www.ultimatebirthcontrol.com

Childish Political Strategy: Stealing Campaign Signs & Bumper Stickers

2004-10-08T07:36:00.000-05:00

Susan and I have had it. In the past few weeks, both of us have had Kerry bumper stickers ripped off our car and signs stolen from our yards. This is political chicanery worthy of the 12-year-old mentality of Bush supporters.

Last month, I had Kerry signs stolen from my yard after a Kerry event during the Democratic Convention. I subsequently found one sign hidden under my bushes. No pun intended. Then, a couple of weeks ago, my "Re-Defeat Bush" bumper sticker was ripped off of my car at Perimeter Mall here in Atlanta, one of the more upscale areas of town. Then, the replacement sticker was partially ripped off of my car this week while parked at Turner Field during a Braves playoff game. Can you imagine someone stopping at a car parked in a parking lot and ripping a bumper sticker off? I know someone saw this and probably laughed and participated in it...thinking it was cute.

And this week, Susan's Kerry yard signs were stolen from her yard. Yes, her yard at home. And signs were stolen from the Raleigh clinic last night. Both from busy streets in upscale neighborhoods.

This is political dirty tricks at its most basic. Forget about discussing the issues. Forget about talking about your opponent's record. Forget about working to make America better. Oh no...let's go steal some yard signs and rip off Kerry bumper stickers from cars in parking lots.

So, in political campaigns, nobody in the Bush camp cares about free speech. It seems like they've got a midnight team going around the country stealing signs and ripping of Kerry bumper stickers.

So now we know the heart of the Bush Campaign. They've resorted to childish 12-year-old thievery to try to win a national political election. This is certainly the dumbing down of America.

Ann & Susan

Bush's BOO-BOO

2004-10-07T10:44:00.000-05:00

The most insulting part of the Bush doctrine is that when confronted with overwhelming evidence that he was wrong, he becomes petulant, smirks, and acts like it was just a "Boo-boo".

This was no "Boo-boo". It's a tragedy for 10,000 families in this country and hundreds of thousands in Iraq. The problem is we have a President who appears to have never matured past a 12-year-old mentality...that is, he likes to play with war toys, airplanes, and cowboy stuff as long as he doesn't get caught in the crossfire.

This is not a 12-year-old's game. The war against terror is for mature, able-minded men and women who understand that weapons are real and that deaths are devastating to loved ones.

The fact the Bush does not seem to understand the consequences of his actions validates the 12-year-old mentality. The fact that Cheney appeared more in command of their war position than Bush is because he has the maturity at least that appears to match his physical age, which is that he looks and thinks older than he realy is (but that's for another day).

We cannot afford to trust a man who thinks like a teenager who's never at fault for anything or shrugs it off by saying: "It's hard work but I tried my best" to make life and death decisions for this country. That is why the American public was uneasy with the Bush performance because the leader of the free world appeared to them to react exactly like their teenage son. That's disconcerting for anyone who is looking for a Commander in Chief who can do the job.

Kerry is the only alternative because he has the maturity and experience to think on his feet, change and adapt to the situations at hand, and to respond to crisis and stress in a well thought out way. Better yet...he won't whine about it being hard work.

Junior needs to be sent back to Crawford where his family connections have always allowed his undeveloped mind to succeed anyway. The most stress he should have to deal with in the future is clearing brush.

Leave the world stage to mature thinkers.

Susan Hill

Pro-Choice Republicans: Oxymoron for Sure!!

2004-10-07T10:05:00.000-05:00

Some are going to say that I'm being ungrateful that there are Republicans out there who profess to be pro-choice but still fervently defend President Bush. So, let me say "Thank you" in advance and warn you that I think you're being hoodwinked if you think this President won't do whatever he can to make abortion illegal if he's reelected. He's controlled by a gang of right wing nuts who will make sure the next Supreme Court Justice is committed to overturning Roe v. Wade.

According to "What if Roe Fell", a study by the Center for Reproductive Rights at
http://www.crlp.org/pr_04_1005roerelease.html
if Roe v. Wade is overturned, over 70,000,000 women in more than half the country would lose their abortion rights within a year, many immediately. This is chilling considering the absolutism of this current administration.

Pro-Choice Republican: Oxymorons with an emphasis on the "moron".

Therefore, you CAN'T be pro-choice and support this President. I hear people all the time say stuff like: "I'm pro-choice, but I want my tax cut". Well honey, if abortion becomes illegal, then the unwanted child population will skyrocket, welfare costs will skyrocket, indigent health care will skyrocket, and overpopulation will create more people competing for fewer jobs. This kind of caos will also result in more homelessness, more crime, and more internal hostilities. And that results in MORE, not less taxes.

But, throughout history (how do you spell NAZIS), war-mongering governments tend to outlaw abortion so that more poor people can be born to go into the military. Sound familiar?

And let me make this crystal clear. These right wing crazies in government aren't just interested in overturning abortion rights. They also have contraception on their radar screen. They want every act of copulation that results in a pregnancy to result in a child.

So, if you're pro-choice and that's important for you, being a Republican is an exercise in futility with this dogmatic administration.

AnnRose

The Veep and the Trial Lawyer

2004-10-06T07:36:00.000-05:00

Well, all the talking heads are spinning like crazy and all we can visualize is that the VP Debate last night reminded us of a crusty old principal trying to dress down the BMOC. Cheney with his bald pate and wringing hands and vulture-like sneer trying to one-up the polished young whipper snapper. Imus just commented that he thought Cheney looked like he wanted to eat Edwards for lunch.

Another vision we got was of the grizzled prosecutor up against the young good looking defense attorney. All the more grizzled court watchers were sure the prosecutor had cleaned his clock, but the jury was swayed by the calm, down home demeanor of the young attorney and his client gets off.

These visuals can't be down played. Cheney is only 7 or so years older than Edwards, but he looks and acts like an old geezer up against the young polished Edwards.

We've always thought that hair had alot to do with political credibility and electability. Bill Clinton had great hair. Kerry and Edwards both have great hair. Bush and Cheney are folically deprived.

Women seem to like the boyish good looks of Edwards, but men don't know what to do with him. For some creepy reason, men feel threatened by Edwards. We think they might be afraid that he's getting more than they are and therefore will give Bush the benefit of the doubt. Then, you see that Edwards has a real woman as a wife, and women love that. Women love that the good looking Edwards hasn't succumbed to a young, overly thin blondette.

Now, lets get to some substance over the visuals.

Cheney lied and said that he'd never met Edwards, implying that Edwards was never in the Senate. Well, it's come out that they met at least twice. Elizabeth Edwards was seen reminding the VP of that afterwards. Like the good attorney he is, Edwards didn't mention it in the debate because he wanted Cheney to be on record as a LIAR again so that the truth could come out without giving him the chance to again say he "misspoke". So, what is Cheney's attendance record in the Senate? As the President of the Senate, isn't he supposed to be there daily banging the gavel and resoring order? When buzzing C-Span, we've never seen him at the podium. Someone needs to dig up his attendance record. We'll bet it's pathetic.

Cheney the ultimate Chicken-Hawk tried to downplay his pathetic record when he was in Congress, but the young attorney zapped him again by reminding him and the nation that Cheney voted AGAINST the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and against the Nelson Mandella resolutions. Certainly a grim reminder to the black community that the Bush-Cheney ticket is no friend of African Americans.

"A long resume does not equal good judgment" said Edwards of Cheney. Good point. Every time the Bush-Cheney team had to make a good decision, they've chosen wrong.

And Cheney defended Haliburton more vigorously than his own daughter. What a disgusting example of family values.

Hopefully, Edwards will be around for the next four years messing with the pundits.

AnnRose & Susan Hill

BTW. John Edwards lives in Susan Hill's neighborhood in Raleigh. She was one of his first supporters when he ran for Senate without the support of the Democratic establishment in North Carolina. Jesse Helms also lives in that neighborhood, but he's out of touch these days.

A Passion for the Possible

2004-09-27T18:53:00.000-05:00

Freethought Today April 1996
------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Passion For The Possible

By Susan Hill

This is excerpted from an address delivered to the New York Planned Parenthood on October 2, 1995 by Susan Hill, executive director of the National Women's Health Organization.

In the course of 23 years, our organization has been a plaintiff in 28 federal or state lawsuits. We have been the targets of arson or firebombs 14 times. We have been vandalized hundreds of times. We have been the targets of thousands of "rescuers." We have had more than 1,000 arrests in front of our clinics. We have had our homes picketed. Our doctors and staff members have been stalked. One of our doctors, David Gunn, was murdered. We, like you, have endured more opposition and harassment than most Americans can imagine or believe.

And yet, we have come back to work every day. Sometimes with a heavy heart. Sometimes with fear. But always with a determination to see through what we began, to accomplish our goals. Because we must.

We in reproductive health care are at a crossroads. We have been on a journey that has been far too long, and far too dangerous, a journey that has been necessary. Because we were given the task of unshackling the most basic of all chains that had imprisoned women for centuries: the right to control our own lives and our bodies.

The women we celebrate this year on the 75th anniversary of the right to vote left us a legacy that we were destined to fulfill. For without the ability to control our own reproductive lives, we could never reach true equality. Who could have imagined the twists and turns of this journey? Could the women who marched for our rights early in this century have foreseen the struggle that would occur at the end of this century?

I believe we can only know where we are going by first looking back at where we have been. People who travel a curving road often soon learn its twists and turns. They respect the road and they learn from it. People who do not travel a road frequently are in constant danger because they react. They do not see ahead--they may not stay on the road--or they may run off.

All roads in the women's movement lead to the same point--equality and respect.

I started out in North Carolina as the daughter of a Hall of Fame football player. I went to a Southern Baptist Women's College. I was subjected to daily TV commentaries by Jesse Helms, as he spewed hate throughout our state. I married, at 21, a professional baseball player. I wonder how a feminist heart and soul survived those tests? But I did. Something burned inside me, as a small child. And it burns even today.

There was always, for me, the question why? I wondered aloud why African Americans were forced to sit at the rear of the bus, or drink from a different water fountain? In the south, in the fifties, we were not supposed to ask why?

As I matured, I understood better the true strength and power of the question why? You can strip a person to their essence by that simple question. You can make people tthink and you can learn.

On a sunny day in Florida in December 1972, I received a telephone call from a friend and fellow social worker. She told me excitedly that she had just met an Ob-Gyn who told her he believed that the Supreme Court was going to legalize abortion soon, and that when they did, he was planning to open a clinic. I was amazed and startled. I had never even considered the possibility!

I had watched in my teen years as Sherri Finkbine, an Arizona housewife who had taken Thalidomide, was refused an abortion in this country. She had flown to Sweden to obtain the abortion. I had wondered, why?

I had heard my family whispering about my 16-year-old cousin, who was flown to London in 1964 to obtain an abortion she could not get in this country, and I had wondered why? I had watched a Florida woman in 1970 be sentenced to prison for obtaining an illegal abortion. She was charged when she would not divulge the name of the person who performed the abortion. And I had wondered, why?

The world changed for me four weeks after that phone call when I heard a radio broadcast announcing the Roe v. Wade decision. I knew it would never be the same again. I knew that women in this country had just begun a new journey. I knew it was going to be exciting, challenging, controversial, and turbulent. I wanted to be part of it. I was 23, and I wanted to go on this trip. I called the doctor.

The next week, we began the clinic that was the first between Washington and Miami to provide abortions. To describe the next 23 years as a roller-coaster ride is an understatement. The highs have been incredible and the lows have been painful but instructive.

It has been a revolution, a civil war, a mission, a pilgrimage, and a street fight, all rolled into one. I believe that those of us who have fought this battle have saved thousands of women's lives, both literally and figuratively. We have unchained the shackles of control, and shown women that they have the strength and intelligence to make their own decisions, and control their own lives. They have made those decisions seriously, lovingly, and against all odds.

They have a million faces: white, African-American, Asian, Hispanic; rich, poor, urban, rural, educated, illiterate. And yet each of them, given the right to make their own choices, has done so with courage and dignity.

My journey through the 70's, 80's, and 90's has been breathtaking. I chose to provide abortion services where others would not. I believed that women needed health services in their hometown, their neighborhoods, not three states away with total strangers. We opened a clinic in Columbus, Georgia, the first clinic outside Atlanta, in 1974. We opened a clinic in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1977, the first clinic outside Indianapolis. We opened the first clinic to provide abortion services in the state of Delaware, and the only clinic for ten years. In 1980, we opened the first clinic in North Dakota. It is still the only clinic. And this year, one week after the Salvi shootings, we opened a new clinic in Jackson, Mississippi, where the number of providers had dwindled to one, and was precariously close to none, due to threats, violence and harassment.

What were the turns we took on that journey in the past 25 years and how do we learn from them?

The first road we took in 1973 was the road of vision. We had just come off the roads of the civil rights movement, and the antiwar movement. We truly believed that we could accomplish anything. The Sangers, the Friedans, the Steinems, the Smeals . . . they all shared and traveled the road of vision. They and we believed that we would open great doors to health care for all women, with education and communication.

We knew where we wanted to go. We believed that by 1995, women would have better contraceptives and that they would have abortions in their physicians' private offices, in the truly private relationship Roe v. Wade spoke of--between a woman and her doctor. We were wrong.

I dream of affordable health care for rich and poor, better treatments for all cancers, especially breast cancer. I lost my twin sister four years ago to breast cancer. I promised her that I would fight for the same compassion and care in treatment of that disease that we had fought for in abortion rights. Many times I have wondered what we in reproductive health care could have accomplished in the past 25 years if we had not been diverted by the right wing of this country.

Can you imagine what we could have accomplished if we had been able to go forward instead of fighting to hold onto what we had?

We are on a mission to provide to women in our country health care that treats them with respect, educates them, and makes their lives and their families' lives better. Women need and deserve access to health care that is attuned to their needs, their wants, and their dreams. They have a right to the best choices in health care, and to a system that not only provides them the services, but makes them a participant, not just a recipient.

This mission has taken us to RU-486, methotrexate, Depo-Provera, low-dose OCs, better research--but the road is very, very long and we have only just begun.

We have attained more power, economic and political, than we have ever had. It is not enough, but we must learn to use it. We have more women lawyers, doctors, bankers and professionals. They must speak up now for the women left behind. We must remind young women of their duty to the women that follow them.

They must understand that the benefits they enjoy were not easily won; they cannot become complacent. They must learn to exert their power. Power is never given up easily by the ones who have it. It takes strength, perseverance, sheer will to use it wisely.

I have learned courage from the people I worked with every day. As the pressure from the Right increased, I looked at the faces of colleagues and I saw courage. I saw doctors who worked with us in North Dakota, Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi, and I saw their strength, their willingness to go through hell to do something they believed in.

I have slept in houses with sheriffs outside them and shotguns propped against the door so that we inside could get rest between workdays. I have watched our administrator in Fargo, Jane Bovard, endure picketing of her home and family for five years on a weekly basis, and she has never wavered. I have seen her clinic burned twice, vandalized, attacked, and become the home of the Lambs of Christ, and still she has walked into her clinic proudly each day.

I have seen Fargo doctors, George Miks and Sue Wicklund, terrorized more than most Americans would believe is legally allowable, and yet they have approached each patient with a smile and a genuine concern, as if there was not a Civil War being fought on their doorstep.

I have watched our doctors put on bulletproof vests without a word and walk through a vicious and threatening group of protesters, with their heads held high, and their courage apparent to everyone but them.

I have watched staff members in Indiana work for days in gloves and winter parkas in February after the back walls of the clinic had been burned way--because their patients needed them.

I have seen and talked to David Gunn in our clinic two weeks before his murder, and listened to him tell me how much he wanted to tell his story, how much he yearned for America to understand the terrorism we were all enduring.

And most recently, I have watched women and men in Mississippi who would never think of themselves as feminists, but are as much as anyone in the Movement. On the morning of the Salvi shootings, we were interviewing for staff in Jackson, Mississippi. To say that these interviews were the hardest we've ever conducted is not to describe it well enough. My heart sank as I was forced to explain to young women the senselessness of this act.

One week later, I wondered aloud if any of our newly hired staff members would appear for training and orientation in Mississippi. A Nightline crew had wondered enough to come to Jackson to tape what would happen.

And then, slowly, miraculously, one by one, while federal marshals sat in vans at every corner, and police sat in front of our clinic, each and every new staff member appeared, with a smile and questions deep in their eyes.

One young African-American nurse, 23, and totally apolitical, spoke first. She told us that she was scared the night of the shootings, and that she was still scared. She told us that she and her husband, a truck driver, had talked for hours that night about her safety, about their baby daughter. She said that early in the morning hours she had realized what she had to do. She decided that people had to take a stand. She said she could not give a speech or write a letter, but she could make her stand against violence and hatred by walking into the clinic and working as a nurse.

On the morning of the Gunn shootings, my friend Ellie Smeal was in a feminist coalition meeting in Washington, DC. Word came to the coalition that Dr. Gunn had been shot. Ellie was emotional, outraged, and forceful in her statements. Others were quiet. Finally, one leader said to Ellie: "How can you be so passionate after all these years?" And Ellie said simply: "How can you not?" That is passion and we must constantly find the fire that drives us to do better things.

I believe that we in reproductive health services provide the most dignified of all health services, because we give control of a person's life back to them. We give them the choices to make their lives better. They are not sick patients. They are well women. We have the power to affect a well person's life--to make a well person's life a meaningful one, one that can thrive.

We must understand that every day we make a difference in someone's life. When I search, on bad days, for why I continue to do this work, I reach back to a letter from a patient in North Dakota. She wrote on a post-op letter twelve simple words--"I left with dignity I didn't have when I came in." And that is why I do this.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks to Charles French for suggesting this speech be reprinted in Freethought Today. Charles is a longtime Foundation member from Minnesota whose daughter, Jane Bovard, is the brave administrator of a Fargo clinic mentioned in Susan Hill's speech.

RICO Testimony Before U.S.House Judiciary Committee

2004-09-27T18:48:00.000-05:00

TESTIMONY BY
SUSAN HILL, CEO AND PRESIDENT,
NATIONAL WOMEN'S HEALTH ORGANIZATION
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME OF THE
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
ON THE RACKETEER INFLUENCED CORRUPT ORGANIZATION ACT

JULY 17, 1998

My name is Susan Hill. I am the President and CEO of the National Women's Health Organization, which owns nine clinics throughout the United States. My organization is the co-plaintiff in NOW v. Scheidler and represents the class of 900 clinics in this country that provide abortions and have been terrorized for over a decade by illegal activities intended to close them down.

My thanks to the House Crime Committee for giving me the honor of speaking to you for a third time. My first visit came in 1994, one week after the murder of Dr. David Gunn, a colleague and longtime friend. My second visit came one month after the murders of Dr. Bayard Britton and James Barrett. Each time I felt no shame in asking the Committee members to throw away their biases and understand that we, as abortion providers, were under siege. We provide health services that are difficult, necessary, and controversial. In the past ten years, they also have become dangerous to provide. Congressional wisdom has previously allowed you to understand that even if you disagree with our views, you believe that we as abortion providers do not deserve to be stalked threatened or extorted. I have been providing abortion services every day of my life since February 1973. I am proud to be a provider of abortion services and believe that women should be allowed to obtain abortion services in a dignified manner. I believe that doctors should be able to practice medicine safely and with dignity. All health care workers are noble caregivers. No health care worker should fear violence at their workplace. As Americans, we have a tradition of believing that citizens have the right to work in a safe environment.

Our company, the National Women's Health Organization, specializes in providing abortion services in places where others will not provide them. This mission has been extremely difficult, but extremely rewarding. In the past ten years, it also has been deadly. We have the same dedication to our work as other health care professionals and public servants; therefore, we have quietly put on bullet proof vests, hired personal bodyguards, and continued to walk into clinics every day to provide care to our patients. In this country, 1.5 million American women each year received dignified services from abortion providers, and every day, in the back of our minds, we have known we are in danger. Not only have we been threatened, stalked, bombed, burned, and shot at, we also have been continuously and systematically extorted. I have compared this history of extortionate acts against our businesses as similar to the corner grocery store owner who is visited by a man who tells him: if he will pay up every Friday, he will not be hurt; his store will not be burned; his family will not be threatened; and he will not be killed. As providers of abortion services, we have been visited each week for years by people associated with an enterprise, and have been told in different ways that we would not be harmed, our families would not be threatened our clinics would not be burned, if we would pay the price. In our case, the price was our profession and our business. If we would cease providing abortion services, we would not be bothered. Dr. Gunn was told this. Dr. Britton was told this. Dr. Tiller was told this. Dr. Gunn and Dr. Britton paid the ultimate price. Dr. Tiller survived to tell his story. All were extorted.

I looked to Webster's dictionary before the RICO trial to understand in common terms the word extortion. The definition read, "to extort -- to exact something from someone; to exact by compulsion." In our case to exact from us the right to do business and provide legal health care.

We began NOW v. Scheidler in 1986 because we saw an escalation of violence against us, and we feared that someone would die as a result of it. Six people died providing services before we came to trial 12 years later. Others have been severely wounded such as Dr. Tiller and Emily Lyons of Birmingham, who survived the latest bombing and with great dignity is here today to remind all of us that we are not engaged in a war of words but in a tragic life and death situation. Every nurse who works in a women's clinic saw Ms. Lyons' scars and her pain. They also saw in her face and spirit true courage. Nurse and doctors should never work in fear for their lives, not in America.

Our RICO case involved more than blockades, more than harassment. We were systematically extorted through threats to us and threats to our business contractors. Let me read you a short list of suppliers of ours who were threatened if they continued to do business with us:

· banks
· medical supply companies
· laboratories
· linen supply companies
· cleaning companies
· printing companies
· painters
· plumbers
· carpenters
· contractors
· delivery services
· garbage companies
· hazardous waste companies
· Federal Express
· Airborne Express
· UPS
· utility workers
· security officers
· health inspectors
· landlords
· mortgage companies
· lawyers
· florists
· moving companies
· mortgage brokers
· hospitals

Every one of these businesses has been threatened -- not just in one city, but in every city in which we have clinics. Our clinics are in diverse places such as Fargo, North Dakota, Ft. Wayne, Indiana, Raleigh, North Carolina, Orlando, Florida, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Columbus, Georgia, and Jackson, Mississippi. Most of these cities have nothing in common except for the same extortionate acts against clinics. In Jackson, Mississippi, our hazardous waste driver refused to come to the property after he was threatened. We imported a whole construction crew to Mississippi after local workers were threatened. In Mississippi, the state would not allow licensure inspectors to do final inspections until we could prove we had security guards. During the RICO trial, we had an attempted arson at our North Dakota facility, which is still unsolved at this time. Three weeks after the RICO verdict, our Orlando, Florida clinic was the victim of a butyric acid attack, along with ten other clinics in Florida. All of these attacks as well as subsequent butyric acid attacks in New Orleans and Houston are unsolved. What also is extremely frightening is that we now see wanted posters and other threatening materials proliferating on the internet. I would like to submit copies of these extortionate and threatening internet sites to the Committee.

Our opponents are exacting something from us -- the right to do business. Joseph Scheidler and Randall Terry, two of the defendants in our RICO case, taught these tactics to their followers in books and workshops. Mr. Scheidler proclaimed a "year of fear and pain" and said that abortion providers would feel the pain of "a thorn twisting in our sides." Mr. Terry proclaimed the "no place to hide campaign" instructing followers to seek us out, find out all of our business relationships, put pressure on our contractors, and make it impossible for us to conduct business. Shortly after that proclamation, "wanted" posters with our doctors pictures appeared and we knew we were being hunted.

There is nothing prayerful or peaceful about the attacks which we have lived through. It is blasphemy to couch extortion in religious terms or to liken these leaders to Martin Luther King. Reverend King's work was done in a loving peaceful way. He died trying to give people their constitutional rights. Our doctors and workers have died protecting a constitutional right.

All Americans are proud of our legal system. A jury of our peers in Chicago listened for seven and a half weeks to the evidence in our RICO case and they believed that an enterprise had systematically carried out 121 acts of extortion or threats against abortion providers in this country. The jury rejected the defense of peaceful protest wholeheartedly. There were not acts of free speech but extortion. Extortion is not a protected right, even when it is done for political reasons. There is room in our great country for debate and dissent about abortion. There is no room for violence against others with differing beliefs. My forebearers and yours believed in this principle strongly enough to build a country and a sound legal system. This verdict was the right verdict and a lesson for all that even protesters have boundaries and may not cross the line. Please allow us to safeguard the lives of the noble people who have the courage to work in our clinics.

By weakening RICO in any way, Congress would be creating a class of criminals who are above the law and effectively sanctioning a new wave of anti-abortion terrorism.
Judiciary Homepage

Zell Miller: Republican Road-Kill

2004-09-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

Republican Road-Kill

Senator Zell Miller is nothing but Republican Road-Kill.

For the past few years he's been dead in the middle of the road between Democrats and Republicans. But when in need, the Republicans swooped up the road-kill, brought him to their side, put words in his mouth, and resuscitated him for one last vitrolic attack. Now, they have thrown him to the side of the road to be put in the ditch as dried up lame duck road-kill.

The audacity of this one man to say that a party that is made up of millions of well meaning people have "left him" goes to the point that Zell has no clue any more. His new found far right "family values" is certainly perplexing to anyone who has known him and watched his career over the years.

While he may have believed that he was the center of the Democratic universe in Georgia, he was never the heart of the national Democratic party.

The thought that the party is only as big as one man is ludicrous. A party compromises and comes to positions over years of debate and social action. If it doesnt come to grips with women, blacks, and other social movements, then it either dies or it becomes old and mean like the current Republican party leadership.

The party that Zell Miller is nostalgic for appears to be the good ole Democratic party of the early days of Lester Mattox and George Wallace. Both of whom were politely ushered out of the evolving Democratic party in the 60's and 70's. Did Zell Miller hide himself and his true beliefs for the next 40 years while he climbed the political ladder pretending to have evolved with the Democratic party? Or did he evolve then recently flip-flop...I mean zig-zag? Now, he whines that that party left him.

Another explanation for this epiphany is that he is old and can't contain his true being any more. He has stepped over into the early stages of senility where child-like honesty brutally resurfaces. Or, that he was always a mean-spirited rabid hounddog who can't be contained any more.

I would be ashamed to be a part of the old Democratic party Zell seems to long for. I'm proud to be a part of the modern Democratic party that doesn't tolerate Zell's brand of meanness. Those of us who are proud to be Georgia Democrats have one thing to say to Zell: Good riddance to the last ghost of pre-civil rights Democrats.

The legacy you've left after 50 years in the public eye is now a new verb: to be "Zelled". You're "Zelled" if an old angry white guy with possum eyes gets in your face, shakes his finger at you, and meanly tells you off about something. It's kinda like "go cheney yourself".

The Republican Party deserves Zell and congratulations...he's your road-kill now.

Ann Rose

Cast a Vote for Stem Cell Research

2004-07-28T20:00:00.000-05:00

My Mom, Ann P. Rose, and my dear Aunts, Tootsie and Jeanne, died of Alzheimer's over 2 years ago.

Please join Ron Reagan and me in voting to expand Stem Cell Research on November 2nd, as it could led to a cure for Alzheimer's and other debilitating diseases such as Diabetes or Parkinson's. If you or anyone in your family has these diseases, or has the genetic disposition for any of them, you should be aware that cures are on the horizon but research is being held up by the current Republican administration.

Ron Reagan and I know also that we personally are at risk for getting Alzheimer's in the future. This is also true for the children of parents with Diabetes and Parkinson's.

Watching these 3 wonderful women die as I did should not be allowed to happen to other families if there is a possible cure in the wings. Thank you, and remember to vote Democratic in November so that other families can possibly be spared a cruel death at the hands of diseases such as Alzheimer's.

If you want to be reminded at how beautiful my Mom and her sisters were in life, please visit the memorial website at: http://www.annrose.com/mom. If you knew and loved my Mom and her sisters like I do, I’m respectfully asking you to consider this when you vote in November.

Ann W. Rose
Atlanta GA
800-455-8130

Ron Reagan asks Democrats to 'cast a vote' for stem cell research

By BETH FOUHY
Associated Press
Jul. 27, 2004 07:10 PM

BOSTON - Delivering a slap to his late father's political party, Ron
Reagan told Democratic delegates Tuesday that voters in November face a
choice between "the future and the past, between reason and ignorance,
between true compassion and mere ideology," on the matter of embryonic
stem cell research.

"I am here tonight to talk about the issue of research into what may be
the greatest medical breakthroughs in our or in any lifetime - the use
of embryonic stem cells, cells created using the material of our own
bodies - to cure a wide range of fatal and debilitating diseases,"
Reagan said in an address to the Democratic National Convention.

Reagan, 46, became an active supporter of stem cell research after his
father, President Reagan, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The
elder Reagan died of complications of the disease last month at age 93.
Nancy Reagan also is a strong advocate of stem cell research.

Scientists believe stem cells, the body's building blocks, can be used
to repair organs or treat diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson's and
Alzheimer's.

But because stem cells are typically removed from days-old human
embryos that are later destroyed when the cells are extracted, many
anti-abortion activists oppose such research.

President Bush has ordered sharp restrictions on federal funding of
embryonic stem cell research, allowing it only for stem cells created
before Aug. 9, 2001.

Reagan, a television journalist and longtime liberal activist, insisted
that his speech was not intended to be political and that the issue of
stem cell research should never be partisan. But his criticism of Bush
and other stem cell research opponents was clear.

"It does not follow that the theology of a few should be allowed to
forestall the health and well-being of the many," Reagan said. "And how
can we affirm life if we abandon those whose own lives are so
desperately at risk?"

And while acknowledging some opponents of the research truly believe
that an embryo at its earliest stages is an actual fetus, "a few of
those folks ... are just grinding a political ax and should be ashamed of
themselves."

Reagan devoted much of his speech to describing a 13-year old friend
who suffers from juvenile diabetes, saying she faces an uncertain
future.

"What excuse will we offer this young woman should we fail her now?"
Reagan asked. "That facing political opposition, we did nothing? That
Even though we knew better, we did nothing?"

Nancy Reagan and Fetal Tissue Research

2004-07-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

Nancy Reagan and Fetal Tissue Research

It's a bit too late for Ronnie and my Mom and Aunts, but Nancy Reagan has finally come out in favor of fetal tissue research. Ronald Reagan first cut it from national funding in the early 80's.

Ironic, isn't it? If he had fully funded fetal tissue research, there might be a cure for Alzheimer's by now that could have saved him from the living hell he's experiencing, and also saved my Mom and her 2 sisters who died of Alzheimer's several years ago. Ironic for Ronnie. Tragic for my Mom and many other Americans who could have possibly been cured of the ravages of Alzheimer's, Diabetes, Parkinson's, and other debilitating diseases.

Yes, these diseases are bad for the person afflicted with them, but they also devastate families and friends, and put an unnecessary burden on our already overly burdened health care system. The "thinking" that forced Ronnie and others to be against fetal tissue funding was right-wing anti-abortion absolutism that defied the facts of science. This is much like the current right-wing Administration's refusal to allow Plan B (the morning after birth control pill) to be allowed over the counter. This refusal also defies the facts of science.

It's amazing how easy it is for people to be against controversial things such as "fetal tissue research", "Plan B", "abortion" (particularly "partial birth abortion"), "gun control", etc. until these things directly affect their lives. Eveyone out there needs to dig deep in their hearts because, mark my words, one of these days you and your family might need to be helped by fetal tissue research, over the counter access to the morning after treatment, legal abortion, or gun control.

We hear it all the time: "I was against abortion until it happened to me". There for the grace of God...

Ann Rose

Zig Zag Zell

2004-02-26T09:00:00.000-05:00

AJC Article - Feb. 26, 2004

On Super Tuesday, I plan to vote for a team to beat Bush in November. The Bush gang's illegal Presidency was not mandated by the American people and is a total disaster. The ill-advised Iraq war, the economy, the deficit, education, healthcare, jobs...enough reasons to fire Bush. He's given over $87 billion to Iraq, while ignoring poor children in this country. He promised to be an open President, but we've had to sue his administration to find out with whom they're secretly meeting. He promised to be financially responsible, yet he's run up the biggest deficit in American history.

The team I'm voting for is Kerry-Edwards or Edwards-Kerry, along with all the other Democratic contenders and others to be in the Cabinet: Max Cleland for Secretary of Defense, Wesley Clark for Secretary of State, Dr. Howard Dean for Health & Human Services, Bill Clinton for Attorney General, Ralph Nader for Interior, etc. Announce in advance who is in this Cabinet, so we don't get surprised by another Ashcroft.

Unfortunately, the Bush team includes Georgia's turncoat Senator Zell Miller. As a lifelong Democrat, Zell Miller is currently zig-zagging on every principle he stood for by supporting Bush's reelection and policies. He’s not the Zell Miller I voted for. Anyone who ever attended his parties or socialized with him during his tenure in Georgia laughs at his hypocrasiy expressing moral outrage toward the Democrats. This is a man who lives in a glass house. He falsely represented himself and raised money from Democrats to be a Democrat, and now we find we supported and voted for a "Republican".

It makes me sad that Georgia had a heroic Democratic Senator in Max Cleland, but is now left with a pathetic Senator Zell Miller.

I'm voting for a real Democratic team.

AnnRose

Anti-Abortion and Centennial Olympic Park. Is there a Connection?

1999-07-27T08:01:00.000-05:00

SPECIAL July 27, 1996

Anti-Abortion and Centennial Olympic Park.
Is there a Connection?

After enjoying Centennial Olympic Park until about 9:30 pm last night, I was rudely awakened at 1:30 this morning with the news of the bombing. I was saddened and sickened. As a 25-year "native", I love Atlanta and the Olympics. But, the old cliche of "Give them an inch, they'll take a mile" seems to be at work here.

Now, the entire world knows how it feels to work in an abortion clinic.

For years, the abortion clinics in this country have been living under the mandated daily routines of: be wary of strange packages, interrogate suspicious people. investigate your mail, install metal detectors, wear bullet-proof vests, evacuate due to bomb threats, carry guns, and worry about death threats. We saw short- haired white guys in camouflage near the clinics years ago and nobody cared to investigate. Medical professionals had to become "security experts" along with performing their routine medical duties. My last death threat was over the internet last week and said: "I think anyone that promots (sic) the destruction and death of human life does not deserve their own life. get your crap off of the web."

Under the command of anti-abortion hypocrites, I've personally seen anti-abortion terrorism escalate. Picketing in the 70's was largely peaceful groups of nuns and quiet religious types. Except, that is, for a kidnapping of an abortion doctor and his wife. In the 80's, we saw "Operation Rescue" type events, the same events that crippled Atlanta for 6 weeks during and after the 1986 Democratic Convention. It also brought us bombings, burnings, acid attacks, invasions, and other domestic terrorism. Then, the 90's brought us murder. Murders in Pensacola and Brookline. And shootings of abortion doctors in Kansas and Canada. See the pattern? You give them an inch, they'll finally take a life.

Finally, the abortion clinic community fought back. A RICO case filed in the 80's and still pending has stifled some anti-abortion activity. The FACE bill enacted by pro-choice President Clinton and Congress protected abortion clinics as well as churches and anti-abortion agencies. So far, only anti-abortionists have been convicted under this law. And a series of monetary damage verdicts against anti-abortion groups has continued to chip away at their recruitment base. We now behold in disgust the Centennial Olympic Park bombing and burnings of largely black churches. Do I see a connection? You bet I do.

The majority of the perpetrators of the hundreds of abortion clinic burnings were never caught or convicted. It was a crime that garnered little publicity or public sympathy. Then, last year the monumental bombing of them all ...Oklahoma City. When the first information about the bombing was trickling out of Oklahoma City that morning, the first thing I did was go to my computer data base and see if there was an abortion clinic located in that area. I anticipated that another clinic had been blown up. I was not shocked when two white right-wing militia types were arrested. Now, the bombing of innocent revelers and the world at the Centennial Olympic Park.

So, the perception of successful escalated domestic terrorism grew over the years. Get away with an abortion clinic acid attack. Get away with an abortion clinic bombing. Bomb a Federal Building. Get away with burning black churches. Now, get away with bombing the Olympics. The message sent by the lack of success in catching abortion clinic bombers was that Federal Buildings and churches and now even the Olympics could easily be next. We should have stopped this terrorism in its infancy at the abortion clinic level.

But, even though abortion clinics don't get much public support, we are supported whenever a pregnancy is unwanted, unplanned, untimely, or dangerous. And then, we're forgotten afterwards.

I believe that if previous administrations had aggressively gone after the abortion clinic bombers instead of funding futuristic and costly sweetheart weapons projects, then maybe the Centennial Olympic Park bomber(s) would have been strangled out of business before the fact. Michael Griffin, Paul Hill, John Salvi: convicted abortion murderers. Timothy McVeigh and Terry McNichols suspected Oklahoma City bombers. Another right-wing militaristic Christian wingnut at work here? You bet I think so. They are allowed to cloak their sick rhetoric and actions under the guise of "Christianity". I think that over the years abortion clinics were used by them as safe target practice for culmination in this world-wide act of domestic terrorism. So, I'm headed downtown to face the Olympics with the same trepidations as when I walk into an abortion clinic. Welcome to our world.
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Ann Rose is a Women's Health Consultant in Atlanta Georgia who has worked with many local and national abortion facilities. She has also presented educational inservices for over half of the 1000 abortion clinics nationwide. She maintains an internet site, Abortion Clinics OnLine at: http://www.gynpages.com, where she creates and hosts HomePages for over 300 abortion facilities in 40 states.

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