What is to be done: Reflections on the Mother Emanuel shooting

At left: the victims of white supremacist Dylann Roof, all members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (known as "Mother Emanuel") in Charleston, South Carolina.


Left to right, from top: Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Reverend Clementa Pinckney, Tywanza Sanders, Daniel Simmons, Ethel Lance, Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Reverend Depayne Middleton-Doctor, Myra Thompson.









When the shooting in Charleston happened (June 17), I nearly had a nervous breakdown.

All the work we have done towards racial reconciliation here in the South, all the dialogue, all the reaching-out, making alliances, supporting one another and going the final yard... POOF--I felt it all go right up in smoke, the smoke of gunpowder, the permanence of death. Holy God... REVEREND PINCKNEY???? I thought I would faint right there on the spot. No, I thought, panicked, please, NO, not Reverend Pinckney. I had to go on the radio and report this horror, and what possible words could there be? On the air, my voice quavered, and I said as simply as I could, this was exactly like a hard, sharp blow. On the head.

My co-hosts, looking stricken, just nodded silently along with me, encouraging me to go on. I was speaking for them too.

And I asked, how can white activists talk about this and not make it "about us"? Because its not about us.

One of my co-hosts, the amazing Double-A, disagreed. Of course this is about us. A self-identified white supremacist shot these people and we are white. We must always make it clear that this person does not speak for us, that this person is a dangerous renegade. He is the proverbial LONE GUNMAN.

Yes, okay. That is true... but of course, we do not want to claim him as one of us. And we don't have to, that is one of the main privileges of whiteness, isn't it? White sociopaths are... sociopaths first. Black sociopaths are... black first. Black criminals represent their race, while white criminals are just anomalies, outliers, sicko-crackpots safely apart from the rest of us... surely they do not represent the entire white race.

Do they?

Some black children will be afraid of us now. They are already afraid; they do not stop to ask, are all whites dangerous? They already know the answer to that by what they have seen. They act accordingly. They will avoid us, cross to the other side of the street when a group of us approach. They are looking at the record, they see what is right in front of them.

I wept passing the local historic black church close to my home, Reedy River Baptist, when I saw the marquee out front advertising Wednesday night Bible Study. YOU HAVE RUINED THIS FOR US, YOU MISERABLE FUCK DYLANN ROOF... At this point, I would no sooner walk in there for Bible study than I would go to Mars. A white person was welcomed for Bible study, and he drew his gun. On the air, I recalled the warmth and kindness of folks when I first moved South over 28 years ago, didn't know the neighborhoods and ended up at an all-black AA meeting. I was welcomed as one of their own, although they did wryly ask where I was from. Their kindness hit me hard, because I knew in the reverse situation, the black person in an all-white AA meeting would not be welcomed warmly, but probably just ignored or possibly chatted with on a superficial level (and *I* would be the one to do that). I was ashamed of what I knew then, and now.

The next time one of us strays in, or deliberately goes in, what will be the response? If it is suspicious and/or hostile, can we blame them? Maybe the response SHOULD be suspicious and/or hostile.

Even as I wept after the news of the shootings, the arraignment of Dylann Roof nearly drove me under. All that incredible, unbounded forgiveness reminded me of why I flunked out of Christianity so spectacularly. I have a hard time with forgiveness. (Irish Alzheimer's: you forget everything but the grudges.) Their incredible examples of humanity and decency made me sob with recognition, this is what we were taught: SHOW MERCY. I would have had none, and that made me cry even harder. Perhaps my own privilege is the reason I am unable to show mercy? My white arrogance somehow tells me the wrongs committed against me are of paramount importance... I can't let them go.

I decided the next time I needed to forgive, I would remember the words of these family members, forgiving Dylann Roof. I will remember and I will take them as my model, the spiritual heights that mere humans are capable of reaching when they dedicate themselves to the very highest principles, these truths we hold to be self-evident.

They felt sorry for him. He wasn't right, he was tormented and lonely... and they saw this. So did I, but... no sympathy.

I decided I wanted to be like them.

And so, the event changed me. This is why it has been so difficult to write about. As a white resident and political activist of South Carolina, the actions of Dylann Roof pierced my soul, and the forgiveness of the people he wronged set that same soul on fire. DO YOU SEE WHAT YOU MUST DO?--my inner self asked me, the voice I have always attributed to the Blessed Mother, whom I love. DO YOU SEE NOW?

Yes.

~*~

How to write about these things and be respectful? Specifically: How not to excoriate the opportunistic Southern politicians who suddenly came out of the woodwork to claim... I dunno, something. They came fast and furious, babbling and talking about prayer. Finally, Governor Haley decides the confederate flag must be taken down from the South Carolina State House, after defending it nonstop for two terms. Liberals threw spitballs, but she emerged looking good; she was all ready for her close-up, Mr DeMille! It was hard not to get mad all over again, as our very conservative, nonwhite governor decided to be nonwhite for the networks, and make a name for herself at long last. CABINET POSITION, she was whispering to herself... along with THIS IS MY SECOND TERM, THE RACIST LOONIES CAN'T VOTE ME OUT.

And so, Governor Haley signed the order and I waited around for hell to freeze over solid. She also attended every funeral, wearing her pricey, trademark designer duds. She even hugged Al Sharpton forgodsake. Luckily, cameras were around constantly to catch her dabbing at her eyes.

Believe me, this was hard to take.

Senator Lindsey Graham distinguished himself during the proceedings, talking not to the Masses but straight to South Carolina conservatives (his base) when given two minutes on any network: Please you guys, this is not the time to protect the flag... I understand how you feel, BUT THIS IS NOT THE TIME. Etc. He sounded like a kindergarten teacher trying to soothe an ill-behaved child who had locked himself in the utility closet with a rifle. Maybe that IS who he was talking to. The whites who feel wronged, left behind, their folkways and customs made fun of in international media, the southern whites who have felt the mass contempt of the world, sitting in their trailer parks, daily shit on by the rich. Angry, because its one more thing "they" are telling the poor whites they must leave behind, one more thing the liberals on the coasts have decided they can't have. Their resentment percolates, and in some times and in some places it is so pronounced, you can feel it.

And I watched confederate flags unfurl in the week the flag was removed. Many in the rural areas are still waving. One guy in a pickup was driving all over Woodruff Road with a stars-and-bars the size of Saskatchewan. But I looked around, and I saw other drivers pointing at him. Some shaking their heads in open disapproval. Its one thing to wave your flag before the NASCAR race, but another to wave it after someone has shot nine people to death, waving it in selfie after selfie. That wasn't cool, and even conservative SC citizens could clearly see that.

Progress of a sort. I wondered, does blood have to be shed before there is PROGRESS? Must we have martyrs before there is any damn PROGRESS???

More tears, more inability to write.

As you can see, it has taken me months.

~*~

Our Confederate Memorial Day state holiday remains untouched, as I reminded the kids on tumblr. In addition to South Carolina, there are official "Confederate Memorial Days" in Texas, Tennessee, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia and Louisiana. (Virginia and Arkansas appear to have escaped this fate somehow, and good for them.) What are we going to do about that, anything?

Certainly, eradicating Confederate Memorial Day just doesn't have the ready-made media optics of taking down a flag, so maybe nobody cares? Except of course for the state workers insulted by the holiday. Do they count?

I say, lets get rid of it. And all those statues of John C. Calhoun? Calhoun Street, where Mother Emanuel is? Wade Hampton Boulevard, within spitting distance of me, also the name of a local high school? The entire South is named after slave-owners and confederate heroes. We have our work cut out for us.

As an American, I always believed the Germans went way too far, outlawing nazis, naziism and nazi paraphernalia for good. You know, free speech and alla that blahdeblah First Amendment bullshit I was raised with. But see, NOW they don't have to deal with this--they don't have towns, streets, boulevards and schools named after dead nazis, and that is the reason why. I stand humbled, and I officially apologize to the German people. You saw what needed to be done, and in your shame, you did it. Good for you.

Our turn now.

"Dexter"-type murders have upstate SC riveted!

At left: Jeremy Lee and Christine Moody, of Lockhart, SC, charged with two counts of murder each. Photo from THE STATE.






The victim was a registered sex offender and his wife. Apparently, these two had a list of sex offenders they were working from, DEATH WISH/DEXTER style. Clint Eastwood, call your office!

Maybe we shouldn't be celebrating vigilante behavior in films, comics or (as in the recent case of George Zimmerman) real life. Maybe the wrong people are getting the wrong message?

From Go Upstate:

Investigation into Jonesville double homicide 'wide open'

Sheriff says more charges could be filed Friday
By Jenny Arnold

Even though two people are in jail, the investigation into a double homicide in Jonesville is still “wide open,” Sheriff David Taylor said Thursday.

Jeremy Lee Moody, 30, and his wife, Christine Moody, 36, both of 213 S. 1st St., Lockhart, were arrested early Wednesday and charged by the Union County Sheriff's Office with two counts each of murder in the deaths of Charles Marvin Parker, 59, and Gretchen Dawn Parker, 51.

Jeremy Moody has told investigators he targeted Charles Parker because Parker was a registered sex offender. Jeremy Moody had “no beef” with Gretchen Parker, but she was home at the time and was a “casualty of war,” Taylor said.

Authorities think the Parkers were killed inside their home sometime Sunday, with their bodies being discovered after a concerned resident called 911 after he couldn't get the Parkers to the door Monday night. Both Parkers had been shot and stabbed.

The sheriff's office plans to bring additional charges against Jeremy Moody and Christine Moody, likely Friday, Taylor said.

Authorities said Jeremy Moody may have seen himself as a vigilante, and told investigators that he had written down the name of another sex offender he had planned to kill on Wednesday. About 3:45 a.m., he and his wife were arrested at the home of his parents in Lockhart, before he could carry out the third killing, according to the sheriff's office.

Investigators are working to determine whether the Moodys are affiliated with any white supremacy or other hate groups. Jeremy Moody has a prominent “skinhead” tattoo on the front of his neck, along with the words “white power” tattooed on the top of his bald head. He also has an eagle and swastika and “Made in America” tattoos.

Jeremy Moody also has told investigators that he is involved in other crimes, including homicides. Officers are following those leads, although Taylor has said that Moody could be bragging. He wouldn't comment on whether there were any specific cases investigators were checking out.

“We're still going wide open, as much as we were yesterday,” Taylor said. “We're following up on the information he's given us, getting evidence ready to send to SLED and trying to identify her tattoos, what they mean and what groups they may be associated with.”

Taylor said Christine Moody’s Facebook page seems to link the couple to a white supremacy group called Crew 41, based in Nebraska. Jeremy Moody has a Facebook page under the name Jeremy Mengele, but there are few posts. He posted that he keeps getting banned from the social network.

On her Facebook page, Christine also uses the last name Mengele, the last name of German physician Josef Mengele, known for his inhumane medical experiments on twins and other prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. The page also contains code numbers for words and phrases associated with the skinhead subculture. Christine Moody makes posts in which she is trying to recruit new members for Crew 41 and uses racial slurs.

Christine Moody identifies herself as a “skin byrd,” or female skinhead. In one post, she states, “The census bureau for the first time in U.S. History have declared that this year, more White people died than were born. The extinction of the White race is upon us. This is undoubtably one of the saddest posts I have ever made.”

Taylor said Christine Moody appears to be trying to recruit new members for Crew 41.

“This is the first time I’ve seen this group,” Taylor said. “We’re doing more research on it. We’ve been in contact with the FBI about it.”

Also on her Facebook page, Christine Moody claims to have cancer.

“We have been told she has cancer,” Taylor said. “Our medical staff has followed up on that.”

Even scarier: I am fairly certain I have run into these two before, back when I used to work at Greenville Mall. (They are, you know, kinda easy to remember.)

We will be talking about these two colorful characters today on our illustrious radio show, so tune in, live at five. (LIVESTREAM HERE)

In addition, another vigilante wacko, Michael Dunn, has murdered another black teenage male (Jordan Davis) in Florida, and is claiming (wait for it!) STAND YOUR GROUND laws, as his defense. We will be discussing that also.

The word for today is CARTE BLANCHE, boys and girls.

Usage in sentence: Since the Zimmerman verdict, the racists now believe they have CARTE BLANCHE.

Occupy Human Rights - candlelight vigil

Last evening, Occupy Greenville celebrated GLBT pride month with a candlelight vigil commemorating all who have been victims of violence, intolerance and bullying. (In first photo, third from left, is Deb Morrow, 4th District candidate for US congress.) We had about 25-30 participants, including high school students from Eastside High school.

In the last photo, the group is being addressed by organizer Abigail LeCompte.

Not surprisingly, we attracted some spirited hecklers, including one rather obsessed individual who went away to fetch religious tracts and then brought them back, presenting them with a dramatic flourish--all while yelling that he would pray for all of us. (Um, okay.) At one point, the exchange became rather heated, as another person who happened to be passing by told him (not us!) to shut up and stood there and made fun of him at some length. Hey, Greenville is changing!

But of course, not fast enough for me.

Thanks to everyone who showed up. I love you all!

You can click to enlarge. More photos HERE!

South Carolina Green Party Convention

At left: Dr. Morgan Bruce Reeves, South Carolina Green Party candidate for Governor! GO DOCTOR GO!


The South Carolina Green Party Convention was Saturday, May 1, at the Happy China restaurant in West Columbia. Yes, we all fit in one restaurant, with room to spare. (Hey, this is a certifiably RED STATE, so even that much is doing pretty good!) This was my first Green Party convention, and I was excited! I had a terrific time, but have been working at near-breakneck pace since, so I apologize for my obvious delay in coverage.

Indeed, it is something to consider: two of our candidates were working and could not be at the convention, and I ask you, when is the last time that happened at one of the MAJOR party conventions? (ha) We are a party of folks who work for a living, and I submit to you, it would be a far better government if politicians were genuine working people.

~*~

In a decidedly conservative state like this one, it was wonderful to meet so many progressives, working hard in their local areas and sharing their wisdom and experience. There was a lot of discussion about the oil spill off the Gulf, which is so upsetting to me that I can barely talk about it. Much discussion also, about the Green Party platform. (Not every candidate is in full agreement with the platform, which is also true for the major parties.)

In addition, I was thrilled to learn that South Carolina has TWO Green Party folks currently holding office: Eugene Platt (at left, holding sign) of the James Island Public Service Commission, currently running for SC District 115, and Lee Jane Kaufman of Columbia's Tree and Beautification Commission. I find it fascinating that Green Party candidates are routinely trusted (all over the USA) in these kinds of "small" political offices, reflecting the fact that local people really do care about conserving their local green spaces and protecting the environment they actually live in every day.

If this oil spill was in everyone's backyard? The Green Party would be running the joint.

Fact is, it IS in our backyard, but for some reason, the majority of people don't seem to view it that way. It is our task to make them see it the way we do.

As for me, I need to study some more, and have decided not to run for office myself until I am far more versed in the issues. (But yes, at some later date, this will happen.)

And I now present our other candidates:

Nammu Muhammad (who I could listen to all day) is running for US House District 6, in Columbia, where he already ran for mayor. Muhammad has been instrumental in saving the beleaguered Waverly neighborhood in Columbia, where the money-men and other evil gentrifiers have recently come calling.

And his son, Christopher Jones, a student at Midlands Tech, is running for SC District 74. Yes, Green Party political dynasties! If the Kennedys can do it, we can too.

Attorney General: Leslie Minerd, lifelong political activist and Columbia businesswoman... I have been to her store, Hip Wa Zee, and didn't even know it was hers.

Superintendent of Education: Doretha Bull

US Senate: Tom Clements, who will never get elected unless he gets over his hostility to FACEBOOK! :P

US House District 1: Robert Dobbs

US House District 24: D. C. Swinton

At left: fabulous Faye accepts her party's nomination.



Last, but certainly not least, fabulous Faye Walters, running against Bob Inglis for the District 4 congressional seat, where I live. FAYE FAYE ALL THE WAY!!!! FAYE FAYE ALL THE WAY!!!!

I can't remember how many times Faye has run for congress, but it's a bunch. (She is my role-model regarding how I should behave when I finally muster up the nerve to put my name on a ballot!) Faye has that enviable Southern-Lady-ability to get all indignant and angry and yet remain gracious and polite; she never cusses! I must study her closely.

~*~

Also speaking at the convention was Elke Kennedy, whom I have written about here at DEAD AIR. I have also written several times about her son, Sean Kennedy, the victim of local gay-bashers. His murderer, Stephen Moller, served a grand total of 359 days. This is because we have no second-degree murder charge in SC, as well as no hate-crimes law. Stephen Moller was therefore charged with manslaughter. Moller left an incriminating, nasty, bragging phone call on Elke's answering machine (right before the hospital contacted her, telling her that her son was in critical condition), which was inexplicably ruled inadmissible in court. The blood just boils.

A woman of quiet dignity and overflowing with genuine affection, Elke was simply a joy to meet, at long last. She has made the fight for a hate-crimes law in South Carolina, her own personal crusade. (Please visit Sean's Last Wish for information on what you can do!) She speaks of how she has met warm, caring, sympathetic folks from all over the USA, who have reached out to her. I was so honored to be one of them!

~*~

Don't forget: VOTE GREEN!!!! And if you are in SC, vote for our DOCTOR, who will HEAL OUR STATE! (Okay, you knew that was coming...)

All photos by me, from my Flickr page (yes...legally, I have to say that now)... And BTW, any Greens who didn't attend the convention are welcome to friend me on Facebook!

Squeaky's out! Official Manson Family open thread

Wacky Squeaky is out of prison today!

Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme, Manson Follower and Would-Be Assassin Released from Prison

Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, the would-be assasin who took aim at President Gerald Ford 34 years ago and the chief disciple of serial killer Charles Manson, was released from a federal prison in Texas this morning, said a prison spokeswoman.

Fromme, 60, had previously completed her sentence for the assassination attempt in July 2008, but was ordered to serve additional time for a 1987 prison escape.

"Lynette Fromme was released about 8 a.m. today," prison spokeswoman Maria Douglas told ABCNews.com. She had finished her term at from the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.

Fromme took aim at Ford with a semi-automatic .45-caliber pistol Sept. 5, 1975. There were four bullets in the gun's magazine, but none in the chamber and an alert Secret Service agent grabbed the gun from Fromme.

At the time of the assassination attempt, Manson and several of his followers were serving life terms for killing nine people in his grisly Helter Skelter plot to start a race war.

Fromme told her defense attorney that she targeted Ford because she wanted to garner attention for a new trial for Manson.

Since I know everything (really) about the Manson murders, ask me anything. For a lifelong scandalmonger like myself, the loooong, far-reaching tentacles of the Manson Family (The Beach Boys! Angela Lansbury's daughter!) were like freaking Fort Knox. I've read all the major books, and not a few of the minor ones.

I am also familiar with all of the attendant conspiracy theories, such as Roman Polanski being a possible satanist, etc.

Consider this an open Charlie thread! No outright gore, please. Article/post linkage welcome!

EDIT: Wikipedia does not include GARY HINMAN in their list of Manson Family victims. WHY NOT? No way to edit, or I'd include him. :(

Odds and Sods: 2nd Bloggiversary edition

Buddha statue at DIVINE CONNECTION, Black Mountain, NC.

~*~

I totally forgot about my own Bloggiversary--Dead Air is now officially two years old! Here is what I wrote last year, which really hasn't changed too much.

I am still amazed an old broad like me is doing this, and actually keeping it up. Two years? You gotta be kidding! :P


~*~

Required reading for your Thursday--

Kikipotamus the Hobo writes about her Buddhist retreat:

Every thing in the universe is transient. Each of us rises, stands for a while, then passes away. Ajahn Chuen rose, stood in this life for a time, then passed away. The same with thoughts. When you are meditating, a thought will come. Maybe a thought from the past, a memory. Maybe a good memory or a bad memory. Know that you are thinking. Thinking, thinking, thinking. Then back to the breath. Let the thought go. Some thought might come about the future. Know that you are thinking. Thinking, thinking, thinking. And let the thought go. Everything in life is like this. You let it arise, stand, and pass away.

Politico tattles on Senators' pricey airfare, paid for by guess who?:

Sens. John Cornyn and Chuck Schumer each spent more than $140,000 in taxpayer money on travel in the first half of the fiscal year — roughly 10 times as much as some of their thriftier colleagues.

Cornyn, a Republican, racked up the highest travel bill in the Senate by spending more than $38,000 on a St. Michaels, Md., retreat for 59 staffers and by taking expensive, multicity charter flights throughout his home state of Texas.

Schumer, a Democrat, ran up the second-highest bill by routinely flying private charters to cities in New York served by commercial airlines.

[...]

Cornyn spokesman Kevin McLaughlin said his boss’s Texas-size airfare tab stems from the size of Texas itself.

“It has to do with travel around Texas ... the realistic ability to use commercial flights to get him where he needs to be, when he needs to be there,” said McLaughlin. “I’ve driven from Austin to El Paso, which is easily an eight-hour drive. It’s unbelievable how far it is.”

But other big-state senators manage to get around much more cheaply. Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison spent about $88,000 on travel in the first half of the fiscal year; Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski spent about $65,000 on transportation — less than half of what Cornyn spent.

I am happy to report that Dead Air's highest number of hits this year on any one image is my Aum/Om tattoo, which I assume means other people are copying it. I am flattered and very pleased! The color has held up remarkably well.

My advice to anyone getting tattoos is: choose very vivid, bright colors, because the sun washes them out and they fade over time. (They won't always be technicolor!) Mine have faded but remain bright; this is also because I am neon-white and unable to tan, so I guess there is a bright side to pallor, haha.

I love the black-and-white photographs of kitties featured today at Magic Lantern Show, especially the kitties asleep on cars!

I briefly considered introducing Wordle as a fancy new feature here at Dead Air for my Bloggiversary, but I like my tried-and-true tag cloud better. Still, Wordle is cool, so you might want one of your own!

I watched the breaking news-coverage of the Holocaust Museum shooting whilst sitting in the doctor's office yesterday, if you can believe it. (The entire waiting room was stunned.)

Media Matters reports that Fox News is still divided on whether the shooting validates the recent Department of Homeland Security report about an increase in rightwing extremism:

Fox News commentators disagreed about whether the shooting validates a recent Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report alerting law enforcement to an increased threat from "rightwing extremists," including "white supremacists." Fox News strategic analyst Ralph Peters rejected the notion "this tragic incident at the Holocaust museum somehow validates the disgraceful report from the Department of Homeland Security," saying: "It had nothing to do with the Department of Homeland Security report. What it did have to do with is this: We're seeing a very dangerous convergence between the extreme haters on the right and the extreme haters on the left -- those on the extreme right who have always been anti-Semites, and now the anti-Zionism sentiment on the left." Additionally, after referring to the DHS report, Fox News host Glenn Beck said: "This is not the work of right-wing conservatives. This is the work of somebody today who is racist, crazy, or most likely both. Common sense tells you there are very hateful people on the right and the left."

By contrast, after reading a message from a viewer saying, "Shame on you and [Fox News correspondent] Catherine Herridge for perpetrating the obscene Department of Homeland Security report on military extremists," anchor Shepard Smith stated: "[T]his is a former military guy and he's gone extremist. They were warning us for a reason -- not about something political or social or anything else -- except they see signs that this sort of thing is bubbling up. They saw the signs, and now it has begun." Smith later said of the DHS report: "It was a warning to us all. And it appears now that they were right." Later that evening, Herridge said of the DHS report: "[Y]ou have to see those reports or assessments in a somewhat different light. I know from having interviewed every person who's been the secretary of Homeland Security since 2001 and also the FBI director that it's this type of lone wolf attack, which frightens the most, because of course it's a conspiracy of just one."

And speaking of rightwing extremism, Renee reports that a preacher prayed for Obama's death on Fox News.

No wonder they don't notice it, they ARE it.

And even more extremism: What do you think of publishing private information (on a blog) about scientists doing research on animals? (A little too similar to publishing the name of Dr Tiller's church?)

The brawl continues at Feministe, as the person publishing the information defends her rights to do so. The thread is aptly titled Dear animal rights activists, please stop taking your cues from the anti-choice movement. (170 comments as of this writing!)

I recently complained that women delete their blogs, but men don't. (This piece was linked in several places, so I am not the only one who noticed!) And Kim musta heard me, because she's BAAACK! I am so happy to see one of our best bloggers has returned to Blogdonia.

Kimsies, how about you stay here this time, pleeeeease?

PS: The Bitten Apple, a Christian feminist blog I particularly enjoyed, is also gone now. (((frownie))) (While the guy-bloggers just keep nattering on!)

For this reason (sheer stubbornness), I will stick around a bit longer. Certainly it ain't due to my astounding popularity as of late.

And simple addiction of course. I love yall!

*Here's hoping I can manage a whole nother year.*

Will Bill O'Reilly be held accountable for hate speech against Dr Tiller?

As you have probably heard by now, late-term abortion provider Dr George Tiller was shot and murdered yesterday while attending church in Wichita, Kansas.

Church. Shot him in church.

As I commented on the Feministe thread, not even the mafia does hits in church.

If you would like to send condolences, the Feminist Majority will forward them to Dr Tiller's family.

~*~

There is much fascinating and intense commentary in the wake of Dr Tiller's murder, signaling deep moral confusion about the subject of abortion, at least here in the USA. I recommend Jill's Feministe thread about the kinds of late-term abortions Dr Tiller performed; these were usually medical emergencies. Also recommended is Heart's post on the Quiverfull connection. (I knew there had to be one.)

Meanwhile, we have William Saletan at Slate, who asks the loaded (pardon expression) question: Is it wrong to murder an abortionist?

To me, Tiller was brave. His work makes me want to puke. But so does combat, the kind where guts are spilled and people choke on their own blood. I like to think I love my country and would fight for it. But I doubt I have the stomach to pull the trigger, much less put my life on the line.

Several years ago, I went to a conference of abortionists. Some of the late-term providers were there. A row of tables displayed forceps for sale. They started small and got bigger and bigger. Walking along the row, you could ask yourself: Would I use these forceps? How about those? Where would I stop?

The people who do late-term abortions are the ones who don't flinch. They're like the veterans you sometimes see in war documentaries, quietly recounting what they faced and did. You think you're pro-choice. You think marching or phone-banking makes you an activist. You know nothing. There's you, and then there are the people who work in the clinics. And then there are the people who use the forceps. And then there are the people who use the forceps nobody else will use. At the end of the line, there's George Tiller.

Now he's gone. Who will pick up his forceps?

Tiller's murder is different from all previous murders of abortion providers. If you kill an ordinary abortionist, somebody else will step in. But if you kill the guy at the end of the line, some of his patients won't be able to find an alternative. You will have directly prevented abortions.

That seems to be what Tiller's alleged assassin, Scott Roeder, had in mind.

Megan McArdle writes in The Atlantic:

Imagine a future in which the moral consensus has changed, and our grandchildren regard abortion the way we regard slavery. Who will the hero of history be: Tiller, or his murderer? At the very least, they'll be conflicted, the way we are about John Brown.

I was waiting for someone to mention John Brown. They always do, on both the right and the left. His moral certainty haunts us.

McArdle continues:

We accept that when the law is powerless, people are entitled to kill in order to prevent other murders--had Tiller whipped out a gun at an elementary school, we would now be applauding his murderer's actions. In this case, the law was powerless because the law supported late-term abortions. Moreover, that law had been ruled outside the normal political process by the Supreme Court. If you think that someone is committing hundreds of gruesome murders a year, and that the law cannot touch him, what is the moral action? To shrug? Is that what you think of ordinary Germans who ignored Nazi crimes? Is it really much of an excuse to say that, well, most of your neighbors didn't seem to mind, so you concluded it must be all right? We are not morally required to obey an unjust law. In fact, when the death of innocents is involved, we are required to defy it.

As I say, I think their moral intuition is incorrect. The fact that conception and birth are the easiest bright lines to draw does not make either of them the correct one. Tiller's killer is a murderer, and whether or not he deserves the lengthy jail sentence he will get, society needs him in jail for its own protection.

Still, I am shocked to see so many liberals today saying that the correct response is, essentially, doubling down. Make the law more friendly to abortion! Show the fundies who's boss! You know what fixes terrorism? Bitch slap those bastards until they understand that we'll never compromise!

Well, it sure worked in Iraq. I think Afghanistan's going pretty well, too, right?

Using the political system to stomp on radicalized fringes does not seem to be very effective in getting them to eschew violence. In fact, it seems to be a very good way of getting more violence. Possibly because those fringes have often turned to violence precisely because they feel that the political process has been closed off to them.

Indeed, I think it is notable that this happened after Obama's election, at a time the rightwing feels beleaguered. According to most statistics I have seen, the actual number of abortions is decreasing. Thus, this terrorist act was not about a situation that is progressively worsening... in pro-life terms, the situation is IMPROVING.

Therefore, we can conclude the real catalyst was a feeling of hopelessness on the part of the anti-abortion movement; the sentiment that they have "lost" the battle for good.

Strategically, this motivation is very different from that of John Brown, who hoped to ignite a full-scale rebellion (and eventually, there was one, called the Civil War). By contast, Scott Roeder appears to have acted because there is NO HOPE of a full-scale rebellion, so he might as well do whatever desperate acts he can manage.

Even if he has to do it in a church.

And finally, Salon correctly points out that Fox News demagogue Bill O'Reilly has been waging a non-stop verbal war on Dr Tiller for years now. After calling everyone from Michael Moore to the DailyKos bloggers "terrorist apologists" and worse--I think it's now Bill's turn to wear the title of TERRORIST APOLOGIST, since his incendiary and inflammatory screeds have everything to do with WHY Dr Tiller was in the right-wing cross-hairs.

There were only three doctors in the entire country (and now only two) who did late-term abortions. Why do we only know the name of Dr Tiller? Largely because Bill O'Reilly was obsessed with him, in particular:

Tiller's name first appeared on "The Factor" on Feb. 25, 2005. Since then, O'Reilly and his guest hosts have brought up the doctor on 28 more episodes, including as recently as April 27 of this year. Almost invariably, Tiller is described as "Tiller the Baby Killer."

Tiller, O'Reilly likes to say, "destroys fetuses for just about any reason right up until the birth date for $5,000." He's guilty of "Nazi stuff," said O'Reilly on June 8, 2005; a moral equivalent to NAMBLA and Al-Qaida, he suggested on March 15, 2006. "This is the kind of stuff happened in Mao's China, Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Soviet Union," said O'Reilly on Nov. 9, 2006.

O'Reilly has also frequently linked Tiller to his longtime obsession, child molestation and rape. Because a young teenager who received an abortion from Tiller could, by definition, have been a victim of statutory rape, O'Reilly frequently suggested that the clinic was covering up for child rapists (rather than teenage boyfriends) by refusing to release records on the abortions performed.

When Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, an O'Reilly favorite who faced harsh criticism for seeking Tiller's records, was facing electoral defeat by challenger Paul Morrison, O'Reilly said, "Now we don't endorse candidates here, but obviously, that would be a colossal mistake. Society must afford some protection for viable babies and children who are raped." (Morrison ultimately unseated Kline.)

This is where O'Reilly's campaign against George Tiller becomes dangerous. While he never advocated anything violent or illegal, the Fox bully repeatedly portrayed the doctor as a murderer on the loose, allowed to do whatever he wanted by corrupt and decadent authorities. "Also, it looks like Dr. Tiller, who some call Tiller the Baby Killer, is spending a large amount of money in order to get Mr. Morrison elected. That opens up all kinds of questions," said O'Reilly on Nov. 6, 2006, in one of many suggestions that Tiller was improperly influencing the election.

Tiller's excuses for performing late-term abortions, O'Reilly suggested, were frou-frou, New Age, false ailments: The woman might have a headache or anxiety, or have been dumped by her boyfriend. She might be "depressed," scoffed O'Reilly, which he dismissed as "feeling a bit blue and carr[ying] a certified check." There was, he proposed on Jan. 5, 2007, a kind of elite conspiracy of silence on Tiller. "Yes, OK, but we know about the press. But it becomes a much more intense problem when you have a judge, confronted with evidence of criminal wrongdoing, who throws it out on some technicality because he wants to be liked at the country club. Then it's intense."

Tiller, said O'Reilly on Jan. 6 of this year, was a major supporter of then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. "I think it's unfairly characterized as just a grip and grin relationship. He was a pretty big supporter of hers." She had cashed her campaign check from Tiller, "doesn't seem to be real upset about this guy operating a death mill, which is exactly what it is in her state, does she?" he asked on July 14 of last year. "Maybe she'll -- maybe she'll pardon him," he scoffed two months ago.

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

Three days later, he added, "No question Dr. Tiller has blood on his hands. But now so does Governor Sebelius. She is not fit to serve. Nor is any Kansas politician who supports Tiller's business of destruction. I wouldn't want to be these people if there is a Judgment Day. I just -- you know ... Kansas is a great state, but this is a disgrace upon everyone who lives in Kansas. Is it not?"

Speaking of DISGRACE, I think we know who the DISGRACE is.

Of course, he will not apologize for inflaming the rabble. But we cannot allow him to forget that he is accountable, too.

It is not Governor Sebelius, but Bill O'Reilly who has blood on his hands.

Dead Air Church: All the children are insane

AP photo of child in Gaza.




All the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain

--The Doors, The End.




~*~


For Dead Air Church this week, we hang our heads in shame. We beg for mercy and forgiveness from almighty God, for any part we have had in this horror.

And we have had done plenty.

We are footing the bill, for one thing.

And in our ignorance and guilt, we have made the whole thing "equal": those rowdy folks just need to behave and learn to get along. They are all at fault.

If I've heard this tired old platitude once in the past few days, I've heard it a dozen times: Those people just can't get along over there. They've always fought, the conversation concludes, sometimes accompanied with a dismissive shrug.

Little Light writes:

That's part of the trouble--I always bought into just enough of the propaganda that I could shake my head and say, well, it's just so sad. It's just a shame. If only the cycle of violence could stop. If only they'd put down those weapons. Hey, you kids, you two, knock it off. The stories I listened to only worked if I put away the numbers, put away the proportions.

Yes, that is exactly the word I have been looking for: proportions.

The sides are not equal.

This isn't two wayward children quarreling, this is one much larger child, stomping all over a tiny one.

From Shiraz Socialist:

Israel’s assault on Gaza is undoubtably ‘disproportionate’ in at least two closely related ways. Firstly, of course, Israel’s massive and sophisticated military machine is in a completely different league to Hamas and its home-made Qassam rockets. Secondly, the casualty figures speak for themselves: 4 Israelis killed so far, compared to 400 Palestinians.

There is simply no denying these self-evident facts, which make a mockery of any attempt to portray the Gaza conflict as an even-handed battle between two evenly matched sides...

Who benefits from continuing to view the conflict this way?

Little Light continues:

But, you keep saying, those Gazans are harboring Hamas, hiding terrorists among them! Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on earth, with a million people who are not allowed to leave and have nowhere to run. And they deserve death if their apartment--if they still have one--is within shrapnel range of some guy who works for Hamas or his office or the school he went to? If their neighborhood mosque has a couple members who own a gun? If they have the audacity to be on the street trying to feed their families? They're not harboring anyone. They're pressed up against them in prison.

But, but, they voted for Hamas. Tell me what you would do! Tell me! Who do you believe, who do you listen to, who do you rely on? You are walled into a prison with guns pointed at you all the time. Food is not allowed in, fuel is not allowed in, medical supplies are not allowed in. You lose count of family members violently dead or maimed. Your schools and hospitals and places of worship are destroyed, your neighborhood is full of rubble with few buildings intact, and you cannot expect to live to thirty. And you don't know any of the people on the other side of that wall.

Who do you listen to as a reliable source? The guys with the guns pointed at you, who took the food away and tell you you deserve to have nothing, but who the outside world tells you are decent folks acting justly? Or the people you're told are evil scumbags, but who provide you food, medicine, a little pride, a little order, and the promise to fight for you? Who among you, looking at your hungry, sick child, is going to listen to the person telling you that you shouldn't be allowed to care for them over the person handing you bread and antibiotics and a little civil infrastructure? Do you listen to the asshole who gives you food, or the asshole who takes it away? When you have nothing, no dignity, no hope, when you've got nothing to lose, who do you listen to? What do you think you would do differently?

I can't imagine what I would do; my home gone, my land destroyed, my very limited hopes and dreams reduced to rubble.

As Neil Clark writes:

...ponder these words of Israeli's Foreign Minister Tzipni Livni, in her address to The Knesset:

The true conflict is between the extremist elements and the moderates in the region.

Well, I don’t know about you, dear reader, but I don’t think 'moderates' bomb a crowded place of worship and kill 12 people at prayer, do you?

No, I don't.

The Political Cat writes:

One — this one, anyway — can't help wondering what the fuck is going on in Gaza this week. Why is Israel bombing, shooting, and sending the sixth largest and best equipped army in the world into Gaza, the refuge of 1.3 million Palestinians, most of whom are unarmed civilians? Some 400,000 of that population lives in refugee camps funded by the UN.

Israel has bombed the power plants, water and sewage treatment facilities, and restricted movement in and out of Gaza which has essentially become the world's largest standing concentration camp. Why? What is this about? And why is Israel getting away with this starkly inhumane treatment?

Why, indeed?

As I wrote a couple of days ago (about To Kill a Mockingbird), during the time I was contemplating writing this piece: When people are powerless, this is what happens. They learn to seize what they have, and use it as a bludgeon, as it has been used against them.

People throughout the world have granted Israel a pass because of what was once done to them.

Palestinians mourn the death of 10-year-old Noran Deeb, who died of a bullet wound Monday at her school in Gaza, photo from MSNBC.


The Vatican has condemned these attacks, but many Christians in the USA, both Catholic and Protestant, have been supportive. My question: Where are the lefty atheists and agnostics who continuously condemn theocracy? Apparently, Israel is the only theocracy they don't question, busy as they are worrying over Mike Huckabee at home.

Why this roaring silence, except for the ongoing news reports of unbridled mayhem, death and destruction.

Greg Mitchell writes:

After more than eight days of Israeli bombing and Hamas rocket launching in Gaza, most notably, The New York Times had produced exactly one editorial, not a single commentary by any of its columnists, and only one op-ed (twice the normal length and favoring Israel's bombing). The editorial, several days ago, did argue against the wisdom of a ground invasion - - but even though that invasion had become ever more likely all week the paper did not return to this subject.

Amazingly, the paper has kept that silence going in Sunday's paper, with no editorial or columnist comment on the Israeli invasion.

The invasion, to no one's surprise, did begin on Saturday -- so any further criticism will now come too late. As in the past, U.S. media coverage and commentary has overwhelmingly backed the Israeli actions (as it did in the Lebanon war in 2006, which turned into a fiasco).

On Friday, Amnesty International condemned the U.S. response to the "disproportionate" Israeli bombing of Gaza -- with largely U.S. weapons. Some of it amounts to U.S.-backed "human rights abuses," it charged.

The group recalled that the U.S. supplied most of the millions of cluster bombs dropped by Israel in the Lebanon war in 2006.

"Amnesty International USA is particularly dismayed at the lopsided response by the U.S. government to the recent violence and its lackadaisical efforts to ameliorate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza," the group told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the letter, which was released to the media.

For me, "particularly dismayed" is putting it lightly. I am totally stunned by this barbarism.

And let us call it WHAT IT IS: BARBARISM. MASSACRE. And as Little Light reminds us:

This is being done in my name, by a state that says that anyone who questions its actions is an anti-Semite--that anyone who finds their state actions unacceptable is threatening me. It's funded with the taxes I pay to my own government, on the other side of the world. This is being done to the families of people I love. When it was my ancestors, fighting back and sometimes doing awful things in the Warsaw Ghetto, at Masada, it wasn't "terrorism," it was self-preservation. I just celebrated a holiday commemorating an outnumbered, outgunned guerrilla war against an overwhelmingly-better-armed occupier who said, hey, look, don't mind our elephants, just put your slingshot down and we'll stop setting everything on fire. We don't call Judah Maccabee a terrorist, either, but what's the difference? Tell me the difference. Because this is genocide. This is genocide in my name, in the name of a people who have always considered ourselves underdogs and who, in this one place and time, suddenly have the overwhelmingly upper hand. How have we not learned better?

(You must go and read it all.)

And on this January 4th, the Feast Day of St Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American-born saint, we earnestly pray that the American people, as well as people all over the world, will see the light and demand an end to this brutal carnage. We pray for peace and for forgiveness.

And we recall Mother Seton's simple prayer:

If I am right Thy grace impart still in the right to stay.
If I am wrong Oh, teach my heart to find the better way.

~*~


EDITED TO ADD:

Links to Israeli and Jewish voices opposing Israel’s attacks on Gaza (Alas, a Blog)

The View From Tel Aviv and Israel in Gaza: Irrationality (The Nation)

Once More, With Feeling (Modern Mitzvot)

Odds and Sods - After the deluge/Stealth antichrist edition

Left: Anti-Walmart art on display at Downtown Books and News, Asheville, NC. (Artist/inventor unknown!)

~*~

Yes, sports fans, the horrible new neighborhood Walmart, the one we could not keep out, the one I complained about so much that I worried I would alienate my dear readers, is ready to open. It's too traumatizing for mere words. Suffice to say, the mess they have made of everything (I hold them accountable for my flood last week, although of course I can't prove their shitty construction is responsible)... is plenty substantial. The toll on my nerves alone, is sufficient to hate them forever!

And so, this edition of Odds and Sods, picks up where the flood left off. I wanted to give it a Biblical tinge.

~*~

For those of you who thought my piece yesterday was mean, I assure you, I am still getting a significant number of hits on IS BARACK OBAMA THE ANTICHRIST?, which probably skews my thinking a bit. And then I wake up this morning and learn that Dr Dobson's outfit is asking people to PRAY FOR RAIN during Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the convention.

I wish I were making this up:

COLORADO SPRINGS – A video producer for Focus on the Family is asking people to pray for rain when Sen. Barack Obama (D-Illinois) makes his speech at the end of the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Obama is giving his acceptance speech outdoor at Invesco Field at Mile High on Thursday, Aug. 28.

Stuart Shepard made the prayer request in his latest Internet video for the evangelical Christian group.

He says he's only partly joking.

"Sure it's boyish humor perhaps to wish for something like that, but at the same time it's something people feel very strongly about. They're concerned about where he would take the nation," said Shepard.

Shepard does a weekly commentary called Stop Light, produced for the Internet by Focus on the Family Action.

Boyish humor!

Do you BELIEVE these people?

It is my opinion that such statements, as well as the recent McCain ad (famously featuring Paris Hilton and Britney Spears), highlighting Obama's popularity and naming him "the biggest celebrity in the world"--are covert, sly, under-the-radar winks to the Black Helicopter Faction of the GOP. This is precisely the faction McCain can't easily win over: the hard-core right wingnuts who are constantly looking for signs of the Rapture. They believe Senator Barack Obama is the antichrist, as evidenced by the fact that I am getting hits from them every day. And these little "boyish" jokes, the praying for rain (suitably Biblical, for those who don't get it), the frequent reminders of his dangerous, alarming "celebrity"--all of this is code. Most of it seems to be going right over the heads of the mainstream media, but it's connecting with the Rapture-freaks (and their many fellow-travelers) in the Heartland. The Obama campaign really should address these ongoing religious rumors HEAD ON, because I think his recent falling-poll numbers have everything to do with what I am hereby naming the Stealth Antichrist Campaign.

Stay on the lookout for more of the same.

~*~

Speaking of fundamentalists, Heart (aka Cheryl Lindsey Seelhoff), our favorite ex-fundie feminist running for president (supposedly, although I have yet to see her on a national forum of any kind), posted a very bizarre, racist comic over a week ago, which I didn't know if I should link here. The comic, by one Elena Steier, I found very disturbing, because it reminded me of something, but I could not put my finger on just what it looked like.

Belledame and SnowdropExplodes have helpfully solved the mystery for me. The comic, particularly the juxtaposition of the sheer blond whiteness of the dancer and the dark, leering, long-nosed appearance of the male audience, look exactly like nazi propaganda cartoons. There are various footnoted comparisons (with linkage) to several of these old comics at Snowdrop's blog.

Heart, please stop embarrassing other feminists with this vicious bullshit of yours, and go back to the bosom of your cozy ex-comrade, Dr Dobson, where you belong. PRETTY PLEASE!?!

~*~

And while we are on the topic of vicious bullshit, Heart has repeatedly claimed transwomyn are not oppressed. And we now have another transwomyn who has been murdered, named Angie Zapata. (PS: that link is a veritable educational gateway; lots of details about the case, which are almost too heartbreaking to read.) Zapata was also a transwomyn of color, and Brownfemipower and Uppity Brown Woman write very well about these various intersections of identity, and how they threaten the mainstream media's hegemony (when they attempt to cover such stories), as well as the status quo in general.

I'm sure Heart has some handy-dandy explanation for why Angie Zapata wasn't really oppressed. She can sell it to Dr Dobson, as they go riding into the sunset together.

----------------
Listening to: The Clash - Hateful
via FoxyTunes

Odds and Sods - soaked hallway and closet edition

Left: Our Lady of Mercy (stained glass) from St Mary's, Greenville, SC. I have begun fervent petitions to the Blessed Mother, and let's hope the rest of our apartment escapes the deluge.

~*~

There is water coming from somewhere into my hallway and bedroom closet. A huge box of books placed against the closet wall tricked me into thinking the closet might escape the creeping-water, but this morning I realized the bottom of the box was soaked. This enormous box was filled to the brim with Mr Daisy's geeky paperbacks, and I haven't told him yet. I just know for sure that Robert Silverberg's The Feast of St. Dionysius has been trashed. Now that we are older, we realize how difficult it is to replace such books, which are usually out of print (like that one). I am afraid to look at the rest of them.

I haven't told him yet.

It doesn't look like a good day. I am home from work, awaiting the maintenance crew, or somebody, O Jesus, Mary and Joseph, to help me. I have used up all my towels in the wet hallway.

(((prays Hail Marys)))


~*~

Please check out A MOTHER'S STORY: Elke Kennedy, Out in Asheville's profile of the mother of Sean Kennedy, victim of a gay-bashing murder here in Greenville.

As covered here previously, his murderer, Stephen Andrew Moller, will only serve 10 months:

While many of us in the LGBTQ community were hoping for justice, the judge in this case proved that justice for Sean Kennedy's murder would never be had. Moller received a three year sentence. But, it is very clear that Moller is likely to spend only 10 months in prison, after which he is entitled to parole. If granted parole, he will be on probation for three years. He was also sentenced to 30 days community service and ordered to take anger management classes and enter alcohol and drug counseling. In a sad message to the LGBTQ community, and parents of LGBTQ youth, South Carolina has once again made it clear that even those born in its bosom are not afforded justice or protection.

Where do such mothers find the strength to go on, without being eaten up with fury? I can't imagine such a thing. Kennedy had duly prepared herself for the trial's probable outcome, and knew there would not be justice for Sean, she says, "because I knew what the laws were and I knew that [Moller] had not been charged correctly in the grand jury hearing. The laws are not good laws. When you can charge a violent murderer and you can make it involuntary manslaughter and the maximum the judge can give him is five years, there is a serious problem."

Yes, there certainly is.

Left: Sean Kennedy, age 20, murdered May 2007 here in Greenville County, SC.


On a somewhat happier note, Elke Kennedy has received condolences from wonderful people all over the state and the nation, some of whom just pick up the phone to call her and check on her:

Elke will continue to grieve and work towards equality as a mother who lost a gay son because he was gay. Calling herself a mother on a mission, Elke said, “I am determined to help all the other Seans out there. Not just murder victims, but victims of beatings, people who commit suicide – the people no one talks about. It’s for all those people who have a mother who can’t do what I do, or won’t do what I do. It’s for those unspoken deaths, beatings, assaults and suicides that never get told.”

Elke chooses to focus on South Carolina, not only because it was the site of Sean’s murder, but because it is somewhere she moved because she thought she could safely and happily raise a child there. She wants to change South Carolina because “South Carolina has a long way to go before they can say that they are embracing people.”

~*~

I first saw Dr. Michael J. Rosner on ABC's 20/20 TV show back in March 2000. Even so, I remember the show well (can't locate a transcript; my apologies). I was extremely skeptical concerning various medical claims to be able to "help" Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and fibromyalgia by shaving off some skeletal bones near the skull. You say what!?!?

My first question: How can you "help" something we don't even know the causes of? (Are the two conditions possibly the same thing, simply assigned different diagnoses, as I often suspect?)

No way I would let this guy near my spine or my brain, I thought. But what if I was desperate and had not left my house for years? I'd probably do anything.

Rosner had already performed about 50 of the procedures at the time of the 20/20 show, and with the free half-hour prime-time commercial, went on to do a parcel more. However, in 2002, his license was suspended. His frequent diagnosis in such cases, Chiari Malformation, has allegedly been overused/abused. Mountain Xpress reports:

Rosner wasn’t allowed to reapply for his license for six months, and when he did, his application was denied. Rosner appealed. Following a June 2004 hearing, the medical board did reinstate his license—but with certain conditions.

As for Rosner’s patients, some have reported improvement that’s little short of miraculous; others say the treatment made only a minor difference, and still others report worsening conditions. But Rosner has also been sued at least 48 times in the past six years by people alleging unnecessary surgery. Fifteen of those suits have been dismissed, he says, and eight more have been withdrawn. According to Henderson County [NC] court records, however, 32 lawsuits against Rosner remain unresolved.

Rosner maintains that over his entire career, only one malpractice claim has been paid on his behalf: a $50,000 settlement in 1987 for operating on the wrong level of a patient’s back. Rosner also contends that the medical board’s actions may actually have encouraged some suits. Four months after the suspension of his license, he notes, a single law firm filed eight cases.

A confident man with a salt-and-pepper goatee, Rosner seems unbowed by the controversy that continues to dog him. He’s still seeing patients, most of whom are referred to him either by other doctors who believe in his work, or by passionate supporters who network via the Internet.

In Rosner’s eyes, the real question is how long it will take to change what he believes is faulty science.

Faulty science? Well, okay, but why not come out and make some concrete medical claims for your surgery, in that case?

Left: Dr. Michael Rosner, photo from Mountain Xpress.


See, I am profoundly uncomfortable with the way the good doctor hedges his bets, claiming as a legal dodge (which I immediately noticed when I saw the 20/20 show in 2000), that his surgery doesn't claim to "cure" CFS or fibromyalgia, but merely "treats the malformation"--which may or may not cure these conditions. Hmmm.

Indignant herbalist note: When the alternative medicine companies try something like this, say, about supplements such as Coenzyme-Q10 ("may lower cholesterol and blood pressure")--they are literally nailed to the wall by the powers-that-be. I could name a dozen companies off the top of my head that have been forced to change their labeling for HEDGING... so why are mainstream doctors allowed to hedge their bets and tell patients something MIGHT work, but we aren't? Harumph.

Rosner, as the article claims, isn't worried:

Rosner and other proponents of the surgery believe that many of the patients they see suffer from one of two conditions: a skull that’s too small for the brain, or a compressed spinal column. Sometimes they have both.

In medical terminology, “hypoplastic posterior fossa,” also known as a “Chiari I malformation,” essentially means that the back of the skull and upper spinal column are too small to contain the lower part of the brain and the upper spinal cord. This condition has long been known to cause some neurological difficulties—such as tremors, sleep apnea, headaches and poor coordination—in some sufferers.

Rosner wants to be clear: He’s not operating to treat fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue. Rather, he’s using surgery to correct what he calls a “neurological deficit” in his patients. He also emphasizes some fundamental differences in the way he examines patients and determines a course of treatment.

In his small office next to Park Ridge Hospital in Fletcher [North Carolina], Rosner says he sees two to four new patients a week and generally performs surgery at the hospital one day a week. Patients come to him from across the country, often after wrestling with their medical problems for years.

Uh-huh. Italics mine. Read the whole thing, courtesy of Mountain Xpress. The comments, in particular, are illuminating. Many are diehard supporters of Dr Rosner and claim that he helped them.

~*~

Left: attempting to salvage Mr Daisy's paperbacks, and in so doing, saved a first edition! I feel like I'm doing something important for Western Civ, saving all of this antique paper verbiage. The wife of an obsessive book-collector: a difficult gig.

The fix-it guys are currently working on the problem, as I survey the damage and debate whether this deserves a claim with State Farm.

~*~

New to my blogroll:

A Choice of Weapons, featuring the fun Mista Jaycee.

Quaker Pagan Reflections, in particular, the series titled CAT'S SPIRITUAL JOURNEY, which I stayed up all night reading last weekend.

Faking It, by Jennifer and Womanist Musings, by Renee. Both great reading!

Check em out!

----------------
Listening to: Howlin' Wolf - Smokestack Lightnin'
via FoxyTunes