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Civil Rights

Abortion clinic violence prosecution cratered under Bush Administration

Scott Roeder, the 51-year-old accused of murdering abortion provider Dr. George Tiller in his Wichita, Kans. church, had a long history of ties to a violent right-wing extremist group, had previously threatened another abortion provider, and had just that week vandalized Tiller’s clinic.
Just as federal law specifically penalizes hate crimes, the law also makes it a federal crime to threaten or commit violence against abortion providers, or to vandalize their clinics. Yet as The Washington Independent revealed last week, the criminal law was not being enforced.

Border crackdown drives up violent immigrant smuggling, kidnapping

Let’s see what Lou Dobbs makes of this one: turns out the crackdown on border crossings by undocumented immigrants has actually led to an increase in the violent smuggling, kidnapping and ransoms demanded for delivering undocumented workers into the United States.

Boulder abortion provider deplores decision to close Tiller’s Kansas clinic

One of the last remaining providers of very late abortions in the country said it was an "outrage" the murder of Dr. George Tiller last week has led to his family's decision to close the clinic he ran in Wichita, Kan.

Pro-gun gay groups take aim at hate crimes bill

One month after successfully tucking an amendment into the credit card reform bill that expanded gun rights, a small number of Senate Republicans are looking at the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act as another chance to score a victory for the Second Amendment. The plan — to add an amendment that would allow gun owners to carry their weapons from one state to another in accordance with concealed carry laws. The possible rationale — to defend gay rights.

Poll: Few voters think Sotomayor is a ‘racist,’ majority say she’s qualified

Only eight percent of Americans agree with Tom Tancredo that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor "is a racist," according to a non-partisan poll released Friday. A majority ranks "empathy" as important for a Supreme Court justice and an even bigger majority says Sotomayor is qualified for the high court.

Musgrave drains campaign fund to train young antiabortion activists

The national antiabortion group, Susan B. Anthony List, is the recipient of a cool 50 grand courtesy of defeated U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave's campaign fund. The Fort Morgan conservative, who now works for the List's Votes Have Consequences outreach effort, will fund the "Young Leaders" training program, an initiative of the group's separate tax-exempt charitable education foundation. That organizational do-si-do may allow Musgrave to effectively skirt a federal campaign finance rule that prohibits candidates from donating unused war chests to their employers.

Radical antiabortion forces may rebuild movement around May 31 day of infamy

The May 31 murder of Wichita physician George Tiller may hold a creepy significance for militant antiabortion protesters in the same manner that Adolph Hitler's birthday has been exploited by white supremacists to wreak racist mayhem.

U.S. Marshals step up security for Boulder late-term abortion doctor

Federal marshals are protecting a Boulder abortion clinic and the doctor who runs it, a Boulder police spokeswoman said Monday afternoon. The increased security was in place a day after Dr. George Tiller, who ran a similar clinic providing late-term abortions, was gunned down at a church Sunday morning in Wichita, Kan. Boulder physician Warren Hern, among a handful of doctor in the country to provide very late-term abortions, said Sunday he has been targeted by the anti-abortion movement for years. His Boulder Abortion Clinic has specialized in late-term abortions since its founding in 1975. "I'm next on the list," Hern said.

Tancredo’s Team America PAC backs staffer who committed hate crime

I just talked to Bay Buchanan, the co-chairman of Team America PAC and president of the American Cause, who is sticking by executive director (of both groups) Marcus Epstein after this weekend’s revelations about his 2007 arrest for karate-chopping a black woman while yelling a racial epithet.

Tancredo staffer pleads guilty to hate crime

For years, conservative writer and activist Marcus Epstein has worked with the mainstream of the immigration restrictionist movement. He wrote speeches for former Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., during his presidential bid, and he’s still working as the executive director of Tancredo’s Team America PAC, alongside Bay Buchanan.
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