Petula Dvorak must not report to Fred Hiatt, otherwise I have no way to explain this excellent Washington Post piece on the ways that anti-choice protesters targeted the children and neighbors of an reproductive health clinic’s landlord:
The tactical decision to focus on a clinic’s landlord was a clever move, although Stave could handle it. He’s pretty tough after all the years in this fight.
But his tormentors crossed the line last fall when a big group showed up at his daughter’s middle school on the first day of classes and again at back-to-school night. They had signs displaying his name and contact information as well as those gory images of the fetuses.
Stave started a group called Voice of Choice that responded to phone calls to his home by having thousands of people call back with a thank you for the prayers.
geg6
Bwahahahahahaha. I love this guy.
Linda Featheringill
I read that article. I think the message, “Thank you for your prayers” is downright cute.
El Cid
Well, no matter how distasteful the tactics of the anti-choice protesters might have seemed, it was the right thing to do, because God told them so.
bemused
They are the direct opposite of being Christians, they are cultists. There should be an easily identifiable name for them like “Moonies” is for Rev. Moon Unification Church zombies.
dr. bloor
Excellent. At last, something for me to do instead of watching infomercials for Midnight Special DVDs when I can’t get to sleep. At 2:30 AM.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@bemused: I believe the term is Baptist.
Elizabelle
McClatchey article today: Conservatives have lost faith in science
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/03/29/143519/conservatives-have-lost-faith.html?storylink=MI_emailed#storylink=cpy
Seems conservatives were fine with science when it was fixated on rockets and weapons and catching up with or beating the Russkies. When it turned to the environment, like that pesky EPA? Not so much.
Liquid
Bah, the only “Dvorak” I am familiar with is from Splinter Cell 3. No, wait…
Elizabelle
Good catch, mistermix.
I wish we had the home phone numbers and cells of that nice Phelps family.
Mr Stagger Lee
@Elizabelle: Talk Show host Norman Goldman, has a term for them. HOMO IGNORAMUS
beergoggles
Umm Rachel Maddow covered this ages ago. This is a prime example of why bullies need to be bullied back.
Punchy
@Elizabelle: Can you really call them “educated” if they dont believe in GCC, carbon dating, and the like? I mean, a degree from Liberty University in Godbothering means you have a college degree, but there’s no way I’d call them educated.
revpaperboy
@bemused: there is a name for the fetus fetishists. They are called “arseholes”
mardam
I love this. I’m volunteering.
rjv
I recall a scruffy looking hippie sorta dude once attended church donning a dont taze me bro hoodie. Both sides do it.
Culture of Truth
Because the Beltway values “civility”
Satanicpanic
Good for him, I want to join this too.
Culture of Truth
Seinfeld to telemarketer:
“Give me your number and I’ll call you back. Oh, you don’t like people calling you at home? Well now you know how I feel.”
amk
first amendment + second amendment + lifetime sc judges = decline of america
Schlemizel
@Elizabelle:
I’ve mentioned it here before but it fits. A religiously insane co-worker of mine told me that “This country started going down hill when we put science above God and the only way we are going to get it back is if we put God above science!”
Yeah, we’re screwed as long as thats the official position of one of the two major political parties.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@amk: So, we’ve been in decline since the constitution was written?
Culture of Truth
Didn’t god create science?
amk
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): Since the twisted combination of the three. You think everything is hunky-dory now ?
Jerzy Russian
@Schlemizel:
__Jesus, Maria, & Jose. That is depressing. I assume she means it is the Christian god whom I should place above my profession? The only semi useful thing religion has given us is more creative ways to swear. If we have to replace science with it then I am leaving for the Moon.
JoyfulA
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): Or Southern Baptists? “American Baptists” are northern Baptists who are primarily pro-choice, and there are “National Baptists.” But then you leave out all the Catholics, whose clergy typically spearhead these activities, and the lesser known nuts.
We need a more generic name.
Culture of Truth
America should be above god unless you’re some kinda america-hater
Democratic Nihilist, Keeper Of Party Purity
@Schlemizel: It was the official position of both major parties until the 1950s.
There’s no reason that couldn’t be the case again. There are as many crazy “woo” believers on the left as there are on the right, the ones on the left just don’t feel quite as confident letting their freak flags fly.
rlrr
@Punchy:
I’ve encountered two Liberty alumni; you will not find two more pig headed ignoramuses (and total assholes, too).
Satanicpanic
@Culture of Truth: But America isn’t going to guarantee me an eternity of relaxing cloud-sitting and harp lessons. Or punish me in a burning lake of fire FOREVER.
Lancelot Link
I think we can all learn a lesson from what Jesus Christ said about abortion;
NOTHING.
rlrr
@Lancelot Link:
Oddly enough, the same as what he said about homosexuality…
Brian
This is why this is a hard fight to win. The opponent have no moral and there are no lines they are not willing to cross. It is like struggling to get a B in a class… you can only get so good of a grade to bring it up, but you sure as hell can get a 0 to drag it down.
bemused
@Schlemizel:
So science and God are incompatible. Funny, I’ve always thought if there is a God, the all knowing is waiting for foolish humans to get edjumacated on all this sciency stuff.
Smedley the uncertain
@Schlemizel: god created religion to explain the unexplainable and it was good for the priests for a few thousand years. Then the masses began to figure things out on the own; a consequential result of the tree of knowledge debacle. And soon logical and empirical explanations appeared and science arose…
It’s been down hill ever since for religion.
bemused
@JoyfulA:
And more attention catchy.
Jay in Oregon
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
@bemused:
If you want to go old school, “Pharisees” also works.
gene108
The hardest people, I’ve ever had to deal with regarding Global Warming/Climate Change skeptics are engineers. It has little to do with their politics, but the fact they know enough about math and science to feel they are entitled to an expert opinion on the subject, even though they don’t know much about geology or meteorology per se, they feel they know enough about statistics to argue about the assumptions made in graphs, charts, etc.
Cheryl from Maryland
WaPo is on a roll this week — check out their picture gallery of a Smithsonian Exhibition which features the ‘E” word – evolution: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/x-ray-vision/2012/03/28/gIQAQf6pgS_gallery.html
Disclosure — I am a member of the team which organized the exhibition, so this is also a commercial. The exhibition text uses the “e” word as well. No complaints after a month on display.
Svensker
@JoyfulA:
And I just met with a guy from the Canadian Baptists — totally lefty antiwar church.
The Southern creeps get a lot of attention.
mikeyes
It’s good to know that someone is reading Saul Alinsky.
lou
Yep, Petula doesn’t work for Fred. Works for the Metro section.
Unfortunately, usually her columns are often drecky. This is the best one I’ve seen.
liberal
@gene108:
There’s a name for this, I can’t recall—something like “The So-and-so Effect.” Can’t recall the name. Engineers are overrepresented among creationists, too, IIRC. Maybe even among Al Qaeda members at the top at least.
(Yes, I know—there are plenty of non-crackpot engineers out there.)
liberal
@Punchy:
They don’t believe in the Gnu Compiler Collection? What a bunch of asshats.
:-)
liberal
Too bad he doesn’t live in FL. Could just shoot them dead. Problem solved.
Mobile Grumpy Code Monkey
@liberal:
Salem Hypothesis
liberal
@Mobile Grumpy Code Monkey:
Yeah, that’s it. Thanks.
JoyfulA
@Svensker: I’ll make a note for any further defenses of non-Southern Baptists that may be required. The American Baptists I have known have been very lefty and simultaneously very devout, but they have a congregational structure, where different congregations may differ in their opinions and no bishop issues orders—like the Southern Baptists used to be before the takeover.
JoyfulA
@bemused: Homunculi?
Ruckus
@Culture of Truth:
I’ve used the Sienfield technique and it works.
Mike S
@liberal: You might bethinking of the Dunning-Kruger Effect. The tendency of unskilled people (in a given subject) to over estimate their expertise.
humbert dinglepencker
Foetusists
Uncle Cosmo
@Jerzy Russian:
Just FTR in da parta Joy-Z where la mia famiglia lives, that’s Gesummariagiusep’! Get wit’ da pogrom, ya Red! ;)
Uncle Cosmo
@gene108: Overrepresented in the glibertarian ranks as well. Same cause as doctors who specialize in “diseases of the rich”:
At best, antisocial idiots savants. At worst, overeducated imbecile sociopaths.