Scott Roeder's sentence

Thank goodness.

Scott Roeder's sentencing today:here's hoping

Let's hope he gets all the years they can pile on him, for assassinating Dr. George Tiller, in Dr. Tiller's church as he was volunteering on an otherwise quiet and peaceful Sunday morning, completely, totally and utterly premeditatedly.

God, guts and guns

In the news today , it seems "three young men walked into the New Gethsemane Church of God in Christ and opened fire, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday."

It used to be we were safe in America, without getting too hyperbolic about this.

Then you used to be safe--mostly--in your neighborhoods.

Then you were safe in your home.

Now you aren't even safe in your church.

Maybe these shooters learned this from the nutcase who went on shooting spree 5 years ago in suburban Milwaukee when the church member left the service, only to return with his 9mm handgun and unload 22 shots, killing the pastor, the pastor's son and five other members and then himself. "Neighbors said he was quiet and devout...", the story said.

Maybe they learned this tactic from this shooting from last year in March when "An Illinois pastor was shot and killed, and two parishioners injured after an unknown gunman opened fire during Sunday services at the First Baptist Church in Maryville, Ill."

Or maybe they learned the technique from "pro-lifer" Scott Roeder who assassinated Dr. George Tiller, gun to his temple, in Dr. Tiller's own church in downtown Wichita, Kansas last May 31 on what was otherwise, no doubt, a beautiful Sunday morning when Dr. Tiller was volunteering, as he repeatedly did, at his own church.

Could be.

And besides the insanity of shooting someone in their own church, there is the additional craziness of the 2 victims in this most recent shooting, yesterday, of not assisting the police in their search for the shooters.

So much for law and order.

Bring on the anarchy.

So let's have it, folks, bring it on. It really has become "God, guts and guns!" in America, hasn't it?

And in our own churches.

But that's what we need--more and more guns.

Can I get an "Amen!"?

The next line of thinking?

"That's why we need to make it okay to bring our guns to church ..."

"Thank you, Ms. Davis. Now, sit down and shut up."

Thankfully, Roeder just won't shut up

Scott Roeder is back, this time on radio , rambling with his thoughts on his situation. Fortunately for us all, he keeps admitting he cold bloodedly shot and killed Dr. George Tiller in Tiller's church on a Sunday morning, while the Doctor was volunteering for the church. ("Tell me, Mr. Roeder, who would Jesus kill, anyway?").

Since the question about Roeder is whether or not he killed Dr. Tiller and nothing else, he keeps assuring his own life sentence.

Good on ya', Scott. Thanks.

Roeder's attorneys have petitioned for a retrial, of course.

Nope. No, I don't think so but thanks for trying anyway, boys.

Notes on a Sunday newspaper

Specifically, today's Kansas City Star:

1) Karen Pletz and the KC Univ. of Medicine: It's great to see the Star report on the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences and former President Karen Pletz's firing, frankly. She was let go in December but neither anyone from the University or Ms. Pletz herself will say why she was forced out. This situation brings up the following important questions: Since tax money was involved, we have a right to know why the University let Ms. Pletz go. Why was she, in fact, fired? Was there any impropriety--or illegality--or was it merely a disagreement on the path she was taking the University? If it was merely a disagreement, someone from the University should say so, publicly, and as soon as possible;

2) Missions to moon cancelled: Good. I'm no druid but this was a dumb idea to begin. As the article states, "The moon program, called Constellation, already was behind schedule, over budget and deemed too low-tech." And you know what else? It doesn't make sense, cost-wise, to send people into space. Machines can be sent far less
expensively and get a great deal of data. I'd be against this even if it weren't originally George W. Bush's idea but that fact just makes it that much easier;

3) Stupid criminals: I always love reading the short articles from virtually any source, telling of some new knucklehead and their stupid way to end up getting arrested. One of my favorite ones today is the guy who stuck about 75 bottles of lotion in his pants at a Bath and Body Works store back East. (How could stealing 75 8 ounce bottles of lotion benefit you?);

4) Irrelevant Chiefs history: As a city, we need to stop trying to be interested in the history of Kansas City Chiefs on big game days like the Super Bowl. It's pathetic and has nothing to do with anything;

5) Toyota and their recall: In spite of our media's and government's opinions that Toyota has been acting slowly and irresponsibly to its recall of cars to repair the gas pedals, I beg to differ. From what I understand, 19 people were killed over a 6 year period. When it was finally declared a problem, Toyota immediately did big things--they
instituted the recall of millions of cars for repairs to address the problems, they cancelled the sales of 8 of their models, which hurt them badly, financially, the President of the company made a public apology and finally, this morning, I saw a commercial from the company, explaining and addressing the problems and asking for logic to prevail.

If an American car company had these problems, we'd still be waiting for a recall, I'd wager, they wouldn't have cancelled the sales of ANY cars and there would never be a public apology from anyone in the company, let alone the president of the company, for fear of further, ugly reprisals and lawsuits;

6) Possible federal charges for the murderer: It's great to see that there will likely be additional, federal charges against the murderer Scott Roeder and possibly even charges against others who may have helped or worked with him. Yay. Good on ya', Federal Justice Department. Let's make sure he stays in prison for the rest of
his miserable, psychotic, self-righteous life;

7) Casino taxes and revenue: It's disgusting to see casinos asking that the State of Kansas take less revenue from them, and that they should reduce the State's take from 40% to 22%. When casinos first came to the area, they knew they would promise anything and everything to get in the area. The State to take 40% of revenue? Sure, fine. Loss limits for customers? No problem. But after the fact, once
they're in the area and entrenched in the economy, then they start backing out of those agreements. They did away with the loss limits some time ago and now this.

And the casinos will keep asking/pushing for more, with time, too. Like all corporations in America, they're insatiable when it comes to profits and they'll take them from wherever they can get them. If Kansas representatives and their citizens allow this, they're foolish, at least;

8) Aim4Peace coverage: The Star's small article on Aim4Peace (on page C2) was tiny and pathetic. KCTV 5's coverage, online, was far larger and more informative. This is too important a story in town, considering they're trying to reduce or stop the shootings and killings in town, to relegate to such a small, less-informative mention as they gave. I recognize that online "space" is unlimited while extremely limited for an actual paper medium but still, this is an important story that deserves coverage;

9) T. McClanahan and DADT: I can't believe Thomas McClanahan and I agree on ANYTHING but here we are, in today's column, he agrees that we need to, as a nation, discard the military's "Don't ask, don't policy" on gays in the military. How refreshing. He's finally on the right side of an issue;

10) When did the cost of the newspaper on Sunday go to $2.00? More and more money for less and less paper;

11) Aaron Barnhart and news reporting: That said, I hope these notes prove that we need "newspapers" (or whatever we'll call them if/when they go online) and their reporters and badly. As citizens of our cities, states and nation, We are
greatly weakened against our government and corporations as a whole and our government representatives more individually, without them.

Aaron Barnhart's article on budget cutbacks and firings at CBS and other media networks in their news departments is not only true but speaks for McClatchy Newspapers, virtually all other news organizations and The Kansas City Star, too, of course. It's an important article. If you haven't seen it, you ought to maybe take a few minutes and see it.

To repeat (and I will keep covering this here, on this blog, in different ways) we, as citizens of our cities, states and nation, are greatly weakened when our media outlets report important, hard news on our governments and corporations. That includes television as well as newspapers.

(Side note on The Star: their online search engine for their own paper is still miserable and too frequently not helpful).

12) Non Sequitur: The comic is particularly funny but poignant today.

Enjoy your Super Sunday, y'all and GO SAINTS!

Roeder found guilty

"A Wichita jury found confessed killer Scott Roeder guilty of first-degree murder for killing Wichita abortion provider George Tiller."

"The jury also found Roeder guilty of two counts of aggravated assault against two witnesses."

"The state will be seeking a 'hard 50' sentence."

"Jurors deliberated for less than an hour Friday morning."

I'm glad that's over.



Link here:

http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/2010/01/scott_roeder_guilty_of_first-d.php

The Roeder trial should be over

The Scott Roeder trial about whether or not he shot and killed (murdered) Dr. George Tiller should be, in effect, over as of yesterday .

Roeder (I refuse to refer to him as "Mr. Roeder. I cannot/will not give him that respect) confessed, under oath, on the witness stand in court.

To repeat for emphasis: Roeder is on trial to decide if he killed Dr. Tiller.

He confessed to it yesterday, under oath, on the witness stand, in court.

And get this--not only did Roeder admit to killing him but he also offered up that " he had been thinking about doing so since 1993."

The Judge made two very simple but wise and true statements regarding the case yesterday, too because, as the article in The Star pointed out "at the end of the day he ruled that he would not give jurors the option of considering a voluntary manslaughter conviction."

"Such a defense requires that a person must be stopping the imminent use of unlawful force," he said.

"There’s no imminence of danger on a Sunday morning in the back of a church,” Wilbert said, “let alone unlawful conduct." (This is as Sevesteen pointed out here, a couple days ago, in comments on this blog).

“In the state of Kansas, abortions are legal.”

It's over.

Roeder has declared himself guilty.

Fortunately, Judge Wilbert seemed to have had a change of mind on the case, too, when he announced, finally and fortunately, that the murder charge is the only option the jurors can decide after all, thank goodness.

I'm glad we've conclusively gotten that out of the way.

Sentencing should precede.

The only question now is whether the jury will return its verdict today or Monday, I believe.

Side note: I love the picture of Roeder on the front page of The Kansas City Star today. He looks as though he had a lobotomy and is trying to understand whatever someone is saying to him.

On the Scott Roeder murder trial

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what a newspaper does best.

The coverage, in Wichita, of this murder trial--that of Scott Roeder having premeditatively shot and killed Dr. Tiller with a gun and bullet to the head while Dr. Tiller volunteered for and in his church one Sunday morning--is what The Wichita Eagle-Beacon and The Kansas City Star--and all other newspapers--do best.

They are covering a local story and they are covering it completely and thoroughly with terrific detail and moment to moment coverage and keep this in mind--BLOGGERS CAN'T DO WHAT THE NEWSPAPERS ARE DOING.

It takes a reporter, it takes a seasoned reporter and it takes someone with the wherewithal (read: income from a revenue source--in this case, advertising and subscriptions) to cover a story like this completely and with this kind of dedication.

This trial is going to take at least a couple of weeks.

There is a strong chance, too, that this trial, already, will be called for a mistrial (see earlier post here) and that will take still more weeks of coverage, along with the depth of knowing about this history of all involved--the Judge, the District Attorney, the defense attorney, the victim, the victim's family and the accused murderer.

So complain all you want about newspapers and how they "don't work anymore", especially you bloggers out there, should you have any complaints.

But this proves, better than most anything, how important newspapers, their resources and their reporters are and the value they give to society.

Further proof of premeditated first-degree murder

From The New York Times:

"In her opening statement, Ms. Foulston made clear that she intended to head off suggestions that Mr. Roeder’s acts were anything short of meticulously planned. Among the evidence she promised to show jurors: a brochure from Dr. Tiller’s Wichita church, dated nearly a year before the killing, and found at Mr. Roeder’s Kansas City home; a receipt for an ammunition purchase 11 days before the shooting; a Wichita motel registration bearing Mr. Roeder’s name from one week before the killing, a weekend when Dr. Tiller happened to miss church; and Mr. Roeder’s calendar — with the day of the shooting, May 31, marked with highlight."

So from this we can gather the following:

1) Roeder had been tracking Dr. Tiller for at least one year (brochure in his pocket)

2) purchase of ammunition 11 days before (I referred to this yesterday)

3) there is a good possibility the murderer was going to commit this same murder one week earlier but for Dr. Tiller missing church

4) the 1st degree murderer had clearly planned and dated when he wanted to commit his execution-style murder of Dr. Tiller in Dr. Tiller's church, by marking the date on his calendar.


My point in covering this?

There are some things--like unlimited corporate finance of political campaigns--that are so eggregious that I want to make sure they're explained, covered and communicated, so hopefully people know what's happening and so the right thing comes out of it.

As to the Supreme Court ruling last week on corporations and campaign financing, the wrong thing happened.

Hopefully the right and true, correct outcome will arise from Wichita and this Roeder, murder case and he will get a full life sentence, with no possibility of parole.

Oh, yeah. It was premeditated, 1st degree murder all right

More information on Scott Roeder's murder trial in the death of Dr. George Tiller, shot and killed at and in his church, of all places, on a Sunday morning, while the Dr. Tiller was volunteering:

"The man accused of killing Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller bought a gun two weeks before the slaying and practiced shooting it near Topeka the day before Tiller’s death, prosecutors said Friday."

There's more: "Paul Ryding, an equine veterinarian and member of Tiller’s church, testified that... he had seen Roeder in church about six months before the shooting, sitting in a back pew."

Oh, yeah.

Besides being guilty of shooting and killing Dr. Tiller, which he confessed to, he's clearly guilty of planning (premeditating) his killing of Dr. Tiller.

Here's some more insanity from this trial:

"Security was tight. A bomb-sniffing dog was in the courtroom before jurors arrived and in the hallways outside during breaks."

I have to conclude that security has to be tight on this trial, too, because, unfortunately, more self-righteous, right-wing, sanctimonious, religious fundamentalists with beliefs about "protecting life"--those of the unborn, anyway--might well try again, like the illustrious Scott Roeder, to take matters into their own hands and possibly blow someone up down there in Wichita, what with this trial, so they can have the kind of justice they think there should be.

And that's from the religious ones.

The wackos, anyway.

Want proof?

"Cathy Ramey, a longtime anti-abortion activist from Oregon, said she came to Wichita to observe the trial."

“'I’m here because I believe that God has a consistent standard of justice and whatever force is necessary to protect an innocent born person ought to be applied to an innocent unborn person as well,' Ramey said."

But wait, there's more:

"Regina Dinwiddie, a friend of Roeder’s from Kansas City, showed reporters a petition that she had been taking around Wichita. It declares Roeder’s actions as 'morally justified if they were necessary for the purpose of defending innocent human life. Under these conditions, Scott Roeder should be acquitted of all charges.'”

"Dinwiddie said she had gathered about 100 signatures on her petition."

That is some sad, sick thinking from these people, but it is the way they think, as shown by Roeder's actions and these women's own words and actions.

When you "know" God is on your side, you can do whatever you wish.

Laws, sanity and decency be damned.

Question to Scott Roede, Ms. Ramey, Ms. Dinwiddie and their ilk: Who would Jesus kill?

Fantastic, bizarre, freakish coincidence

Personally, I think it is absolutely a fantastic coincidence that the murderer Scott Roeder's trial for cold-bloodedly killing Dr. George Tiller--at the doctor's church on a Sunday morning, as Tiller was volunteering for the church and its worship service--is starting on the same day as the Roe v. Wade decision's 37th anniversary.

There's some terrific cosmic symbiosis going on there, somehow.

Judge Wilbert needs to recuse himself

"The judge overseeing the trial of the man accused of gunning down a Kansas abortion doctor is a practicing Roman Catholic who once courted the endorsement of an anti-abortion group..." according to a report from KCTV from the Associated Press.

This is, of course, the Judge overseeing the trial of Scott Roeder who drove himself the three hours down to Wichita from Overland Park, Kansas, so he could walk into Dr. George Tiller's church and shoot him because the doctor performed abortions. They're legal in the US, of course, but Roeder was and is vehemently against them.

But wait--there's more:

"Finance records show that Wilbert paid the group $75 in September 2008 to have his name listed in an ad in its quarterly newsletter, a 6-by-11-inch booklet of 24 pages that included articles such as "Update on Tiller charges" and 'Planned Parenthood -- a Snake in the Grass!' The judge also spent more than $16,000 on radio spots on seven stations."

"The ad in the newsletter took up most of the bottom of page 16. It said: 'The Kansans for Life PAC urges you to vote for, work for and pray for the following pro-life candidates.'"

With all this, Judge Wilbert needs to recuse himself from this case.

He clearly holds a position on this issue for and against the two sides.

He should dismiss himself from the case or be dismissed and replaced by another, truly impartial judge.

Manslaughter?

Oh, hell no.

Scott Roeder, the conservative, right-wing, anti-abortion freak who took the law into his own hands, decided Dr. George Tiller should be murdered and then drove 3 hours down I-35 to Wichita to do just that--murder Dr. Tiller--may only get a manslaughter charge for this gross, unjustifiable, psychotic act.

I say psychotic because you have to have lost a touch with reality when you select to murder someone, for starters, and then decide you'll drive 3 hours down the turnpike to do it.

It's disappointing and surprising to me that the Judge in the case, Judge Warren Wilbert, is going to allow the defense the opportunity to consider letting the dirtbag Roeder off with a mere manslaughter charge.

Mind you, the jury may well find this guy guilty of first degree murder, as they ought, but the judge should have thrown this option out, right off, and for two reasons.

First, abortion is legal in the US, like it or not, and has been for decades. (Does precedent mean anything here?).

Second, there is virtually no question that Roeder killed Dr. Tiller and that he drove 3 hours, from Overland Park to do it.

If that's not premeditated, there is no such thing as premeditated murder.

And the fact that this coward Roeder shot Dr. Tiller in Tiller's church, as he was helping at the service is so gross, absurd, ironic and hypocritical it's off the charts.

Hopefully, even the religious zealouts have to see that.