Matt C. Abbott
Olbermann: Stanek is 'Worst Person in the World'
By Matt C. Abbott
MSNBC personality Keith Olbermann has named pro-life nurse/activist/commentator Jill Stanek as his "Worst Person in the World."
Huh?
Jill writes on her blog:
Meanwhile, I think this will be my last column on the subject of Tiller (although I can't be 100 percent certain), so I'd like to feature two recent commentaries — in their entirety, but with links — that are definitely worth reading.
First, from Mark Crutcher, president of Life Dynamics:
June 6, 2009
MSNBC personality Keith Olbermann has named pro-life nurse/activist/commentator Jill Stanek as his "Worst Person in the World."
Huh?
Jill writes on her blog:
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'My award comes for supposedly making the supposedly last two late-term abortionists in the free world sitting ducks for Tiller copycat killers by posting their addresses and photos of their mills. Never mind that I didn't actually post the addresses of LeRoy Carhart and Warren Hern (see posts here and here); had I done so it would have been akin to posting the address of President Obama and being accused of making him a target for nutcases.
'Libs, get a brain. These guys both advertise on the Web. They want people to know where they operate, pardon the pun. Tomorrow Keith had best make Google the 'Worst Search Engine in the World!' for posting a map and directions to Carhart's Abortion and Contraception Clinic of Nebraska and Hern's Boulder Abortion Clinic....
'Furthermore, Carhart and Hern have enjoyed more positive press in the past four days than they've had over the course of their sick and sorry careers, gleefully taking every call from every news organization. Suddenly they're brain-sucking heroes. They love it.'
Meanwhile, I think this will be my last column on the subject of Tiller (although I can't be 100 percent certain), so I'd like to feature two recent commentaries — in their entirety, but with links — that are definitely worth reading.
First, from Mark Crutcher, president of Life Dynamics:
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'With the killing of America's most notorious abortionist, George Tiller, you can be assured that the abortion lobby and their media flunkeys are, once again, hyperventilating over the opportunity that has fallen into their laps. As they have done in the past, they now get to project this image of poor hapless abortion clinic workers having to dodge a hail of automatic weapon fire every morning just to get from their car to the death camp door.
'As the curtain rises on this little dog and pony show, let's make it our job to see that the audience keeps at least one foot in reality. We need to be pointing out that, when the Department of Justice or the FBI publish studies on workplace violence, the rate of violence at abortion clinics is so statistically insignificant that it doesn't make it onto the final charts. In fact, even if the statistics are limited to only include violence against health care professionals, abortionists do not show up on the radar screen.
'To see how overblown this issue has been, consider just the two years during which the most violence against abortion providers took place. Of the eight total murders that have occurred at America's abortion mills during the past 36 years, five were in 1993 and 1994 alone. But according to government statistics from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, during those same two years there were 2,154 other people killed in work-related homicides in the United States including seven school teachers, four members of the clergy, 10 lawyers, nine newspaper vendors, seven writers, six realtors, 22 waiters or waitresses, four groundskeepers, five architects, 40 garage or service station attendants, 23 auto mechanics, 21 janitors, 10 hairdressers, four carpenters, and six farmers.
'In other words, during the worst period of 'pro-life violence' in American history, more farmers and twice as many hairdressers were murdered on the job than abortion clinic workers and abortionists combined. And remember, the five abortion clinic killings during 1993 and 1994 account for all but three of the killings that have happened in the history of the pro-life struggle.
'Compared to the thousands of taxi drivers, convenience store employees, police officers, firefighters, and other workers who were killed during that time, it is obvious that all of this wailing and hand-wringing about violence against abortion providers is complete nonsense. This is confirmed by the reality that the media is only able to make such a big deal about 'pro-life violence' because it is so rare. If it were even remotely common, they could not give it so much press. Also lost in this discussion is the fact that if abortion clinic shootings, assaults, bombings, arson, and other acts of violence were anywhere near as common as the abortion lobby claims, every abortion mill in the country would have to shut down because there would not be an insurance company on the planet that would sell them coverage.
'Cutting to the chase, any objective analysis of this issue shows that the level of violence committed by people opposed to abortion has been grotesquely exaggerated and that the pro-life movement is, by far, the most peaceful socio-political movement of its size and tenure in American history. To see the truth of that, all you have to do is study the other causes which are most similar: the anti-slavery, civil rights, and labor struggles. It is not opinion but provable fact that, in those movements, there have been many times during which more violence was committed in a single day than has taken place in the entire 36-year history of the pro-life movement.
'Another thing that's interesting to note is that not one of the murders of abortionists or abortion clinic employees occurred prior to the inauguration of Bill Clinton. And the explanation for that is brutally simple.
'Immediately after taking office, Clinton and his Attorney General, Janet Reno, began paying off their campaign debts to the abortion lobby. While Clinton got legislation passed to sweep the streets clean of peaceful non-violent picketers, Reno literally turned the Attorney General's office and the FBI into a private police force for the abortion industry. By the way, that analysis did not originate with me; it was given to me by an FBI agent who told me that he was sick and tired of being sent out to investigate 'pro-life terrorists' only to find some 70-year-old nun in tennis shoes whose act of 'terrorism' was praying the Rosary in front of some godless abortion mill.
'When rumors about Reno's witch-hunts first surfaced, she flatly denied that such a campaign even existed. But documents were eventually uncovered that proved she was lying through her blood-stained teeth. The project even had an official name. It was called, VAAPCON and I know, first-hand, that it led to at least one pro-life organization having its mail illegally opened and its phones illegally tapped. This happened despite the fact that this organization had no ties to even one single act of violence, had never endorsed violence and was not associated with one person who was accused of committing violence. The reason I know this is because the organization I'm talking about is Life Dynamics. And we were certainly not the only targets. In the ensuing years, I have been told by other pro-life leaders that they too had the same experience.
'Given this environment, it is hardly surprising that less than three months after Clinton and Reno began cracking skulls, the first shooting occurred. This is not to suggest that this atmosphere justified the violence. But on the other hand, we cannot pretend that it occurred in a vacuum. If a woman kills her abusive husband, even those who would argue that the abuse did not justify the killing would at least recognize that it may have been a motivating factor. In this case, it would be illogical to ignore the fact that, before the Clinton/Reno inquisition began, not one abortion clinic employee or abortionist had ever been shot.
'Now we fast-forward to 2009 and find the Obama administration, which mainly consists of has-beens and retreads from the Clinton administration, publicly labeling as terrorists anyone who thinks it is wrong to butcher unborn human beings by the millions. Then a short time later, we have the first shooting of an abortionist since Bill and Hillary burglarized the White House on their way out of town.'
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'Along with everyone else at Human Life International and throughout the legitimate pro-life movement, I strongly condemn the murder of abortionist George Tiller in Kansas. The Fifth Commandment does not read 'Thou shalt not kill, except for abortionists.'
- George Tiller is the first abortionist to be killed in eleven years. If you think that's a 'trend,' or an 'epidemic' as some have said, you're just not a serious person.
- All of the posturing going on in the pro-abortion movement over the safety of abortionists is a ruse. There are four times as many hairdressers and 150 times as many convenience store clerks murdered as there are abortionists. Where is the 'pro-choice' grieving over them?
- George Tiller made his money performing late-term abortions, which often involves the killing of a viable human being. According to Kansas state statistics, he killed 395 viable third-trimester babies in one year — 2001 — all for 'mental health' reasons (which, as we know, is the category for all elective abortions). Not one of those abortions was for a mother's physical health or for a medical emergency. Americans overwhelmingly believe this disgusting practice should not be legal. If any objective journalist were to look into his practice they would see that most people, and all sane people, are appalled by what happened in his clinic every day.
- Tiller has been tried on criminal indictments for multiple abuses of his practice, including breaking state laws requiring another medical doctor to verify that certain patients' lives were at risk before performing late-term abortions. This man was no hero or saint, and his being held up as a martyr says more about pro-abortionists than it does about those they are trying to condemn.
- Abortionists are not only widely considered an embarrassment to the medical profession, but they are much more likely to commit violence than to suffer violence. You may be surprised to learn that more than a dozen abortionists have been convicted of murder and manslaughter — of their wives, of their patients, and even of other abortionists. Yet you never hear about these killings in the press (see www.abortionviolence.com for documentation). Abortionists are more likely to kill than to be killed.
- Whenever an abortionist mutilates, kills or molests a woman, the 'pro-choice' movement always rushes to his defense, as they did for Brian Finkel, the Arizona abortionist who was sent to prison for 35 years for 22 counts of sexual abuse. So much for caring for women!
- The pro-life movement is the most peaceful social movement in the history of this country. Most other social movements, including the unionization movement, the pro-abortion movement, the homosexualist movement, the animal rights movement, and the environmental movement have all demonstrated much greater violence. So where is the outcry over the violence committed by these movements?
'Not only is it wrong to respond to people like Tiller with the ultimate anti-life act of murder, it also sets the entire pro-life movement back as good, committed leaders have to scramble to distance themselves from an act that they never called for and which is obviously antithetical to their philosophy and work. Pro-abortion legislators seize on the opportunity to call for laws restricting legitimate pro-life activities such as sidewalk counseling and picketing, knowing the whole time that such legislation will do nothing to hinder a maniac with a gun. And, worst of all, thousands of people who would otherwise have joined the pro-life movement will continue to sit on the sidelines, believing the media lie that we are violent.
'Pro-lifers should indeed condemn the murder of George Tiller. But we should not play permanent defense as the nonsense snowballs and the unfair attacks against the pro-life movement multiply. Here are some facts that should be taken into consideration by all people of good will, especially those whose responsibility it is to report on this story.
'Let's not be bullied or silenced by those who are trying to tar the whole pro-life movement by cynically exploiting the murder of George Tiller. Let's instead reply with facts which add context to the 'abortionists are heroes, pro-lifers are violent' narrative that the 'mainstream' media seem too willing to parrot.
'Not that I expect the media to suddenly start reporting the truth of abortion. If they did that, there would be no legal abortion in the first place. But we can try, and the facts are on our side. Let's pray, too, for the soul of George Tiller, his family, and his murderer, as well as for the conversion of all pro-aborts that they see how destructive abortion is for all human life, not just the child who is killed and the mother who is wounded.
'One thing you can do is forward this information and the address of the abortion violence Web site to your friends so that we can reach those of good will — those who aren't just mindlessly screaming bloody murder but who can actually think and listen to reason — and show them that the story they've been told about supposedly 'violent' pro-life activists is just that — a story.'
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