Report comment to moderator

Report comment to moderator

Report comment to moderator

While all murders are gruesome, tragic affairs, shooting a demonstrator on, of all days, the anniversary of 9-11 is especially painful for a nation that cherishes life and liberty . . . The victim, a retired autoworker named James Pouillon, was executed for lawfully exercising his Constitutional Right of Free Speech. He was killed for holding a sign of protest, the chilling implication is clear: wave the ‘wrong’ sign or say the ‘wrong’ thing, and you might be next. That’s terrorism, pure and simple, and this man’s grieving family and friends are every bit as deserving of our nation’s sympathy and condolences as the victims of Oklahoma City or the 911 attacks.

http://www.dailykos.com/

Report comment to moderator

STATEMENT FROM PRESIDENT OBAMA ON THE SHOOTING OF JAMES POUILLON

“The shooting last week in Michigan was deplorable. Whichever side of a public debate you’re on, violence is never the right answer.”

Report comment to moderator

Please tell us why it is a hateful right wing bigot when a pro-life person is killed, but “just another man with a gun” when a pro-abortion is killed.

Report comment to moderator

And speaking of perspective, I’ve been reading the situation in coaching in a high school: what would it be like to have such a figure as Mr Pouillion out front day by day?

This act of “witness” seems different, perhaps less engaging than the witness you were doing at the university. The witness in front of the school seems part of a more complicated argument, along the lines of “public schools teach choice” or “pro-abortion politicians support public schools, so public schools support abortion (and should be witnessed to)” or maybe even, “teacher unions support abortion, and so public schools must support or permit abortion” Like I say, a complicated argument, because it is not clear that the local school, Owosso HS, was the object of his concern. But honestly? This is a sort of hypothesis on my side — there’s a lot that is unknown.

Report comment to moderator

A young woman came up and spent a number of minutes staring at the images and the captions. I engaged her in conversation and found out that she was 9 weeks pregnant and considering an abortion, since she didn’t know how she could be a single mother. I introduced her to a young woman volunteer who was a single mother. They talked for a long time, the volunteer gave her her phone number, offered to pass down baby clothes and connected her with local resources.

I heard that she came back the next day and said she would keep the baby. Praise God!

I don’t think that she would have realized her baby’s humanity – or the real horror of abortion – without those pictures.

By the way, during most of the long conversation, there were pro-abortion protestors circling our exhibit, yelling and swearing at us. Thankfully, GAP plans well and had an outer ring of steel bike racks around the exhibit that we stayed behind for the most part. It prevents violence against the volunteers and the exhibit.

Report comment to moderator

There’s a sensibility in what you wrote: this is the age in which young women begin to take responsibility for their bodies and their decisions. The question of abortion is a live one. So if you want to educate, to guide women, is a large graphic display on the edge of the school property the way to do that? That is, will it affect the women who in fact find themselves wrestling with the consequences of their sexual activity?

That is, can you scare or gross them out enough to prevent an abortion? The concern on my side — why it is eccentric — is that it may serve to harden hearts as much as open them. Certainly Right to Life has been taking a different, softer approach to reach young women (and one that is more effective, I believe).

(Statistically, in 2008 Shiawasee county recorded 101 abortions, with an estimated 19 being under age 19, a rate of approx 0.22 percent, half the rate of next door Genesse county, home of Flint. Owosso HS has about 520 women: statistically, one got an abortion. Numbers like this are what makes this overt demonstration so “eccentric.”)

Report comment to moderator

As are millions of Christians. Who don’t even want graphic images in their own homes.

Of course, if your chief icon is a dead man hanging from a cross, you might be just a bit de-sensitized…

Report comment to moderator