Hold on just a minute....from your post you are making it sound like conservatives and the right condone molestation of children. If that is what you were implying you are absolutely wrong. Please, please, please do not categorize all Christians and conservatives with the wacko extreme cults that dare do these things to children. I believe a few weeks ago there was a long thread on the C-board about child molestation. Personally, I think anyone who hurts a child should die...period. If it's sexual molestation the very least that should happen to a male offender is castration...I'd prefer the death penalty...
Again, this implied generalization that all conservatives are racists, homophobes, and child molesters is absolutely wrong.
Complete Discussion Below: marks the location of current message within thread
Abuse in Iraq as bad or worse than in Saddam's day: Allawi
LONDON (AFP) - Human rights abuses in Iraq now are as bad, or worse, than they when Saddam Hussein was in power, the nation's first post-Saddam prime minister was quoted as saying.
In an interview with the Observer newspaper in London, Iyad Allawi pointed an accusing finger at the interior ministry, and alleged that a lot of Iraqis are being tortured or killed during interrogation.
People are doing the same as (in) Saddam Hussein's time and worse, said Allawi, an prominent opponent of Saddam who steered the US-backed interim government in Baghdad until April this year.
It is an appropriate comparison. People are remembering the days of Saddam. These were the precise reasons that we fought Saddam Hussein and now we are seeing the same things.
Allawi's remarks came two weeks after US troops raided a secret prison in Iraq and found about 170 detainees in need of water, food and medical attention.
Graphic pictures released by the Committee of Muslim Scholars, the main Sunni religious organisation in Iraq, showed prisoners with severe burns, massive bruising and welts on their bodies.
US military commanders and diplomats called the abuse intolerable, pressuring elected prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari into ordering a joint Iraqi-US inquiry.
Interior Minister Bayan Baqer Solagh has denied claims that he commands death squads targeting the Sunni minority, adding that only a few detainees were punched and hit in the prison and that US forces knew of its existence.
Allawi told The Observer that the interior ministry, though not Solagh, was at the heart of the matter.
I am not blaming the minister himself, but the rank and file are behind the secret dungeons and some of the executions that are taking place, he was quoted as saying.
He also said: We are hearing about secret police, secret bunkers where people are being interrogated.
A lot of Iraqis are being tortured or killed in the course of interrogations. We are even witnessing Sharia courts based on Islamic law that are trying people and executing them.
He said that if immediate action is not taken, the disease infecting (the interior ministry) will become contagious and spread to all ministries and structures of Iraq's government.
More broadly, Allawi warned of the danger of Iraq disintegrating in chaos, saying: Iraq is the centrepiece of this region. If things go wrong, neither Europe nor the United States will be safe.
Abuse of power/hypocrisy seems to be
What is clear is that, slimy or not, she still used her office in an inappropriate manner to influence the outcome of a family dispute. What's ethical about that? The slimy trooper and the disposition of his divorce/custody case is supposed to be left up to the family courts and it not typically resolved by manipulation and interference by the Governor's office, now is it? Ethically challenged ethics clean-up maiden. Not my idea of a great pick.
Do you have any concept of what abuse of power is?
if you can turn off the hate machine long enough to remember how to do it. It was not Governor Palin's role to interfere in divorce/custody proceedings. Sister Palin could not have done what Governor Palin tried to do. She abuse the power of her office. We have already had 8 years of that kind of malarky. Most of us are not up for another 4. Got it?
Abuse of power is SP's middle name.
megalomaniac behaviors. I am particularly impressed by the "woman scorned" tantrum she had against her opponents that ensued within moments after she took office. Looks like Alaska's busy little ethics maid overlooked her own glass house.
Yes, there are people who abuse the system, but...
you can't apply that to everyone on welfare. There are a lot of good people who don't abuse the system who have to be on welfare.
Agreed. It's abuse of power AND a crime
nm
because slander is the 1st stage of violence and abuse...sm
the next step is physical abuse, the next is murder.
I'm sure the usual suspects from the Conservative board also agree with the conclusions of THIS Pennsylvania nut case and will be ready to blame Kennedy for starting trouble. LMAO!
Conservatives are getting weirder by the hour.
Kennedy slams Santorum for church sex abuse remarks
By Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press Writer | July 13, 2005
WASHINGTON --In a rare personal attack on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy called Pennsylvania Republican Rick Santorum self-righteous and insensitive for his remarks linking Boston's liberal reputation to the clergy sex abuse scandal.
In recent days, Santorum has refused to back down from comments he made in a 2002 column, in which he said promoting alternative lifestyles spawns aberrant behavior, such as priests molesting children. He went on to say that it was not surprising that liberal Boston was at the center of the scandal.
"The people of Boston are to blame for the clergy sexual abuse? That is an irresponsible, insensitive and inexcusable thing to say," said Kennedy, D-Mass., in a speech from the Senate chamber.
Kennedy called for Santorum to apologize to the people of Boston and across the nation, noting that the clergy abuse happened all across the country, in "red states and blue states, in the north and in the south, in big cities and small."
On Wednesday, Santorum spokesman Robert Traynham said the Pennsylvania conservative recognizes that the church abuse scandal was not just in Boston.
He said Santorum "was speaking to a broader cultural argument about the need for everyone to take these issues very, very seriously."
Santorum's initial observations were in a July 2002 column for Catholic Online, and came back to public light last month and earlier this week in newspaper accounts.
"Priests, like all of us, are affected by culture," Santorum wrote in the Catholic Online column. "When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm."
Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., accused Santorum of abject ignorance, and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., called the senator's rationale bizarre.
"As a prosecutor in Massachusetts, I saw some of the worst criminals who had abused children and not once did I hear them hide behind Sen. Santorum's bizarre claim that the state was responsible for their acts," Kerry said.
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said Santorum's column tries to minimize the abuse scandal, and imply that "some vague, larger societal defects" somehow caused clergy to assault children.
"In 2002, we gave Sen. Santorum the benefit of the doubt, assuming he was not aware of the scope of the abuse crisis," said Clohessy. "In 2005, it's hard to understand how he could repeat and stand by such misguided and harmful comments."
The scandal began in Boston in early 2002 when internal church files released under court order revealed abusive priests were transferred from parish to parish rather than removed from ministry. Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as archbishop later that year amid criticism over his handling of the crisis.
A 2003 investigation by Attorney General Thomas Reilly found that at least 1,000 children were abused by more than 235 priests and church workers between 1940 and 2000. And the archdiocese has paid out more than $120 million to settle abuse claims since 1950.
Reilly, a Democratic candidate for governor, also criticized Santorum on Wednesday. "For him to equate liberalism with child abuse is disgraceful," he said. "It's embarrassing for him and embarrassing to his party and his party should disown him."
Friday, Nov. 10, 2006 Exclusive: Charges Sought Against Rumsfeld Over Prison Abuse A lawsuit in Germany will seek a criminal prosecution of the outgoing Defense Secretary and other U.S. officials for their alleged role in abuses at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo ByADAM ZAGORIN
Just days after his resignation, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is about to face more repercussions for his involvement in the troubled wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. New legal documents, to be filed next week with Germany's top prosecutor, will seek a criminal investigation and prosecution of Rumsfeld, along with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former CIA director George Tenet and other senior U.S. civilian and military officers, for their alleged roles in abuses committed at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The plaintiffs in the case include 11 Iraqis who were prisoners at Abu Ghraib, as well as Mohammad al-Qahtani, a Saudi held at Guantanamo, whom the U.S. has identified as the so-called 20th hijacker and a would-be participant in the 9/11 hijackings. As TIME first reported in June 2005, Qahtani underwent a special interrogation plan, personally approved by Rumsfeld, which the U.S. says produced valuable intelligence. But to obtain it, according to the log of his interrogation and government reports, Qahtani was subjected to forced nudity, sexual humiliation, religious humiliation, prolonged stress positions, sleep deprivation and other controversial interrogation techniques.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs say that one of the witnesses who will testify on their behalf is former Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, the one-time commander of all U.S. military prisons in Iraq. Karpinski — who the lawyers say will be in Germany next week to publicly address her accusations in the case — has issued a written statement to accompany the legal filing, which says, in part: It was clear the knowledge and responsibility [for what happened at Abu Ghraib] goes all the way to the top of the chain of command to the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld .
A spokesperson for the Pentagon told TIME there would be no comment since the case has not yet been filed.
Along with Rumsfeld, Gonzales and Tenet, the other defendants in the case are Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone; former assistant attorney general Jay Bybee; former deputy assisant attorney general John Yoo; General Counsel for the Department of Defense William James Haynes II; and David S. Addington, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff. Senior military officers named in the filing are General Ricardo Sanchez, the former top Army official in Iraq; Gen. Geoffrey Miller, the former commander of Guantanamo; senior Iraq commander, Major General Walter Wojdakowski; and Col. Thomas Pappas, the one-time head of military intelligence at Abu Ghraib.
Germany was chosen for the court filing because German law provides universal jurisdiction allowing for the prosecution of war crimes and related offenses that take place anywhere in the world. Indeed, a similar, but narrower, legal action was brought in Germany in 2004, which also sought the prosecution of Rumsfeld. The case provoked an angry response from Pentagon, and Rumsfeld himself was reportedly upset. Rumsfeld's spokesman at the time, Lawrence DiRita, called the case a a big, big problem. U.S. officials made clear the case could adversely impact U.S.-Germany relations, and Rumsfeld indicated he would not attend a major security conference in Munich, where he was scheduled to be the keynote speaker, unless Germany disposed of the case. The day before the conference, a German prosecutor announced he would not pursue the matter, saying there was no indication that U.S. authorities and courts would not deal with allegations in the complaint.
In bringing the new case, however, the plaintiffs argue that circumstances have changed in two important ways. Rumsfeld's resignation, they say, means that the former Defense Secretary will lose the legal immunity usually accorded high government officials. Moreover, the plaintiffs argue that the German prosecutor's reasoning for rejecting the previous case — that U.S. authorities were dealing with the issue — has been proven wrong.
The utter and complete failure of U.S. authorities to take any action to investigate high-level involvement in the torture program could not be clearer, says Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a U.S.-based non-profit helping to bring the legal action in Germany. He also notes that the Military Commissions Act, a law passed by Congress earlier this year, effectively blocks prosecution in the U.S. of those involved in detention and interrogation abuses of foreigners held abroad in American custody going to back to Sept. 11, 2001. As a result, Ratner contends, the legal arguments underlying the German prosecutor's previous inaction no longer hold up.
Whatever the legal merits of the case, it is the latest example of efforts in Western Europe by critics of U.S. tactics in the war on terror to call those involved to account in court. In Germany, investigations are under way in parliament concerning cooperation between the CIA and German intelligence on rendition — the kidnapping of suspected terrorists and their removal to third countries for interrogation. Other legal inquiries involving rendition are under way in both Italy and Spain.
U.S. officials have long feared that legal proceedings against war criminals could be used to settle political scores. In 1998, for example, former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet — whose military coup was supported by the Nixon administration — was arrested in the U.K. and held for 16 months in an extradition battle led by a Spanish magistrate seeking to charge him with war crimes. He was ultimately released and returned to Chile. More recently, a Belgian court tried to bring charges against then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for alleged crimes against Palestinians.
For its part, the Bush Administration has rejected adherence to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on grounds that it could be used to unjustly prosecute U.S. officials. The ICC is the first permanent tribunal established to prosecute war crimes, genocide and other crimes against humanity.
So, what goes around comes around. After a hard week out on that campaign trail attacking Obama right, left and center, seems Sarah has a character issue of her own now to deal with. Oops!
If these are *family values* then the right is RIGHT. I'm proud to say I don't have 'em!
These people get scarier and scarier every day, and I'm keeping my children away from them!
Christian Coalition head to withdraw from political life
10/10/2005, 5:50 p.m. PT
By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The longtime head of the Christian Coalition of Oregon said Monday that he is withdrawing from public life, a day after news reports detailed accusations of sexual abuse against him by three female relatives.
I am thankful for a family that loves and supports me, and intend to withdraw from public life until this is resolved, Lou Beres wrote in a statement posted on the organization's web site, at http://www.coalition.org
Beres has denied any criminal misconduct and wrote that he will pursue the Biblical response and do all within my power to reconcile with that person.
Multnomah County District Attorney Michael Schrunk told The Oregonian newspaper that officials are investigating the complaints against Beres.
The three women — now adults — allege they were abused by Beres as preteens. Their families called the child abuse hot line last month, after the three openly discussed the alleged abuse for the first time.
I was molested, one of the women, now in her 50s, told The Oregonian. I was victimized and I've suffered all my life for it. I'm still afraid to be in the same room with him.
Beres, 70, has blamed personal and political enemies for the complaint.
Only one of the three cases appears to fall under Oregon's statute of limitations on sex abuse, which expires after six years. Authorities said that case involves a young woman who was allegedly abused by Beres when she was in elementary school.
A nephew of Beres' is standing up for the three women.
My family has gone through hell, said Richard Galat, 41, of Oakland, Calif., who told detectives that his uncle had molested several female relatives over the years.
Lives have been ruined. Those of us who have come forward have been ostracized, verbally abused and the victims of character assassination...It must stop, he said.
In response to Galat's statements, Beres said on the Christian Coalition web site Monday, I am grieved by the false allegations of my nephew, Richard Galat. I am attempting to determine the source of each claim.
Beres, who did not immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press, is the former head of the Republican Party in Multnomah County, the Democratic stronghold that includes Portland.
Jim Moore, who teaches political science at Pacific University in Forest Grove, said Monday that Beres has not been particularly influential in Oregon politics.
In fact, under his leadership, the Christian Coalition in Oregon has gone downhill.
In state legislative races in 2004, for example, Moore said that, we found that Christian Coalition candidates basically did not do as well as they did in the past.
Oregon Republican Chairman Vance Day said Beres hasn't been much of a factor in state GOP politics since he stepped down as Multnomah County chairman about 10 years ago.
I don't view this as having any major impact on politics here in Oregon; I don't think the Christian Coalition has a big footprint here at all, he said.
The group did support a constitutional amendment against gay marriage that passed handily with voters in November of 2004, but support for that cause was rallied by another conservative-leaning group, the Defense of Marriage Coalition.
Tim Nashif, the political director of that group, said he has few details about the allegations, and added that his group is not associated with the Christian Coalition.
Anytime any family goes through anything like this it's a pretty grievous situation and our hearts go out to them, he said. The truth has a tendency to come out.
We are all God's children. nm
.
My children.
My children are grown now, well into their 40s. I have four wonderful grandchildren, whom I adore, the oldest just turned 18. Our nuclear family puts God first and we follow his teachings. Abortion would never be something any one of us would contemplate for even the slightest bit of time. My children and grandchildren do not do this out of fear of reaction from the family but out of love for God and his creations. We consider abortion murder. It isn't something we would ever do. I know that the left spins this daily as being fear of retribution. It's too bad that they have lost the ability to see that there are those of us who grieve for the loss of human life, no matter what stage it is in when it ends.
i certainly would. I f you do that to children then you s/m
should have NO rights at all.
do you have children?
christians are not perfect. I don't know of one who claims to be. Yes, things do start at home but that does not mean that adults and children don't make poor choices. I've not heard anyone in the McCain campaign say they are "very religious." Besides, being "religious" doesn't necessarily mean Christian and being a Christian does not mean perfect.
Also, I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth, far from it actually, but I have worked for what I have. I don't expect someone to provide my health insurance or pay my mortgage. I'm supporting McCain.
Tell me what do YOU consider a WONDERFUL FAMILY?
so how do you think that children
have abortions without the parents ever finding out, if they receive a bill in the mail? It has to be paid for by someone other than the parents, or else they would know about it. perhaps not your particular clinic, but it happens.
Wow, children, get over it already...
it's a cartoon, plain and simple. You are the ones making something out of nothing. Find something else to rant and rave over.
Most had their children taken...
away from them and were shot when they tried to escape......it was a horrific event without a doubt. Some couldn't bear to watch their children die so the opted to die to. BUT, I refuse to have someone tell me what I can say and what I can't say because it offends them.
May I ask how many children do you have?..nm
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Neither can little children, and look how many have
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I actually have 2 children....
And I happen to believe that there is alot more to a relationship than sex.
What about the children
who have been killed by homosexuals and they get very little press? You feel this way because of your son. As a Christian we are to speak out against this, even if it is our children doing it. My children understood when they were young that this was wrong and it was their choice if they did do it. I would NEVER support that choice. This has nothing to do with my head in the sand. It has to do with reality and doing the right thing. Most people who have family members who commit this sin choose to have their head in the sand and ignore what Christ tells us. I won't be one of them.
So you are actually saying that children are not autonomous. sm
That's absurd. And of course, we hear so many cries for Johnson's daughters to join when we were in Vietnam. Not. Because Republicans don't do things like that. Liberals do. That entire thread is one big joke.
They are his children, grown or not. sm
It is their choice and I don't think they should sign up because of the security reasons, just my opinion. And, yes I think he would talk them out of it.
actually what you name your children speaks
What about the lady that named her daughter Emer Gency because that's the sign she saw going into the hospital? Sure this may be folklore but if you are an MT you know like I do people make really poor choices when it comes to naming thier kids and I would never elect one of those braniacs VP!!!
Duh yourself. Every time I have seen her, her children ...
are standing behind her. WHen Michelle Obama is at work, she ain't with her children. Duh. You think if Obama is elected she is going to knit sweaters and raise her kids? The White House has a huge staff. I don;t think she will be firing them and cooking for her kids like Palin did in Alaska.
All that being said, you are being really petty and bringing up stuff that has nothing to do with her ability to be VP, or President should that happen. You are insinuating a woman is not capabale. I believe she is.
And also...you should be very careful about being so judgmental about teenage pregnancies and family values and responsibility and judgment attached to it...You are alienating, demeaning, and slandering a huge portion of your candidate's base. Do you think they would be happy to hear your assessment of their families having no values or judgment?
well educating children
about S-E-X at an appropriate age level IS the right thing to do. Unless your body is d-i-r-t-y. Unless you have dirty pillows under your blouse. Da doop.
health care plans. My husband pays a portion just like everyone else. We hardly use the health coverage, only for minor sinus infections, and I did have a hysterectomy last year.
There are others walking around that have had multiple surgeries including bypass, and they pay the same amount towards the plan.
How is that fair? I feel the contribution should be paid on the usage, per se, and not so much (everyone is equal) because we are not. I had a friend that had a lap band (fully covered), thyroid surgery, neck surgery, and goes the doctor every other week for something or other. So, when we worked together, we both paid the same; yet, I did not go to the doctor or have any surgeries.
Is that fair? Why not look at something like that for cost effectiveness? Would this turn people away from receiving the healthcare they need (not likely)?
were energized by the election. Even if they had political views different from mine and my live-in BF, they would not be afraid to tell me. I allow them to think for themselves.
my children are citizens
they were born in Germany yet they are US citizens and German citizens. They have dual citizenship. they are US citizens and they have a born abroad certificate which is the proof of their US citizenship which is exactly the same as a b/c. you guys crack me up. and no i am not an O fan, but i think that this would have been the FIRST thing that McCain and Palin would have pointed out had all this crap been true.
I have children and I can understand
women who give birth to a child conceived in rape. I certainly could understand their wanting to give the child up for adoption and then again, I could understand why they would find the love in their hearts to keep the child.
.......Then there was the recent move to end a long-established practice in the Defense Department of selling fired brass ammunition casings to companies that remanufacture them into ammo for sale to law enforcement and private gun owners. The new policy required the military cartridge brass to be destroyed.
The Defense Logistics Agency, the Pentagon’s largest combat support agency and the organization that helps dispose of materiel and equipment no longer needed by the military, classified small-arms cartridge cases as "sensitive munitions" as part of an overall effort to make sure national security is not jeopardized by the sale of any Defense property.
Given that this administration is all abuzz with going green, crushing a perfectly recyclable product runs afoul of the "reduce, reuse, recycle" mantra of environmentalists. It’s difficult not to assume that someone new in Defense wanted to reduce the national supply of ammunition by removing the ability to reuse fired brass.
Gun owners across the country have been hard-pressed to find ammo — and that’s not just survivalists who are into hoarding (although some of that is undoubtedly going on). Texas hunters and ranchers, for example, who use .223 and .308 ammo to rid their property of destructive feral hogs — trust me, you don’t want to go after one of these with a .22 — were scrambling to find it and then, when they could locate some, the price was outrageous
Hilter's children
s/l this volunteerism is like Hilter's children. He did the same thing. Put children in camps to be better ayrans. How do I know this? Every bit of it is on the History channel! Not a new plan by any means by Obama. Just rewired.
going to "protect" them and how are you going to handle when they tell you they are gay? Don't think it will happen to you? Are you in their classrooms listening and approving of what they are taught, which is that homosexual "love" is normal? How are you going to "protect" them when they made their choice when they tell you they have AIDS?
What's love got to do with it? Do you have any understanding how many relationships a "gay" person will have over a lifetime? Is that what you call love? How do you protect your child when you approve of perversion?
I don't know if the law changed, but the mother is also in Mexico. Don't know if she went voluntarily or if she was deported, too. If she went voluntarily, then I feel she really didn't put her children first.
Like I said in my earlier post, I think the children should have gone with them even though they are American citizens. Why let the eldest take care of the younger ones, I think ages 15 and 11.
I actually agree with you, I don't think the president's children should
sign up, or fight in Iraq, this would be a terrorist dream to have the president's daughters as a hostage...BUT the truth is there are usually few if any, on the left or right, who are willing to sacrifice their children for the things that they think are soooo noble enough for our children to sacrifice themselves for. I think this is the whole point. My thing is don't ask your countrymen to do anything that you wouldn't do yourself, left or right.
They are not children. They are grown women.
It's their choice. Can you say with certainty that if one of them or both of them came to George Bush and said I am joining the Marines he would talk them out of it? I just don't see it that way. At any rate, again, they have a mind of their own.
Careful what you say, God's children might be listening!
The religious right's version of freedom of speech. Scary, huh?
LAWRENCE, Kansas, Dec. 6, 2005 (AP) A Kansas professor whose planned course on creationism and intelligent design was canceled after he sent e-mails deriding Christian conservatives was taken to the hospital Monday following what he said was a beating.
University of Kansas religious studies professor Paul Mirecki told the Lawrence Journal-World that two men who beat him were making references to the class that was to be offered for the first time this coming spring. Originally called Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies, the course was canceled last week at Mirecki's request.
The class was added after the Kansas Board of Education decided to include more criticism of evolution in science standards for elementary and secondary students.
I didn't know them, Mirecki said of his alleged assailants, but I'm sure they knew me.
One recent e-mail from Mirecki to members of a student organization referred to religious conservatives as fundies, and said a course describing intelligent design as mythology would be a nice slap in their big fat face. Mirecki has apologized for those comments.
Lt. Kari Wempe, a spokeswoman for the Douglas County Sheriff's Department, said a deputy was dispatched to Lawrence Memorial Hospital after receiving a call around 7 a.m. regarding a battery.
She said Mirecki reported he was attacked around 6:40 a.m. in rural Douglas County south of Lawrence. Mirecki told the Journal-World he was driving to breakfast when he noticed the men tailgating him in a pickup truck.
I just pulled over hoping they would pass, and then they pulled up real close behind, he said. They got out, and I made the mistake of getting out.
He said the men beat him on the head, shoulders and back with their fists, and possibly a metal object.
Wempe said Mirecki drove himself to the hospital.
Mirecki told the student newspaper, The University Daily Kansan, that he spent between three and four hours at the hospital. He said his injuries included a broken tooth.
I'm mostly shaken up, and I got some bruises and sore spots, he told the Journal-World.
Wempe said Mirecki described the suspects as two white men between 30 and 40 years of age. One of the men was described as wearing a red visor-like ball cap and wool gloves. Mirecki said the men left in a large pickup truck.
Wempe said the department will investigate every aspect, but couldn't discuss specifics.
Andrew Stangl, president of the Society for Open Minded Atheists and Agnostics at the university, described the attack as bizarre and terrifying. He said Mirecki, who is the group's faculty adviser, is adamant that the alleged beating is related to the recently canceled course.
That absolutely shocked me, he said, because people don't do that in a civilized society.
Sen. Kay O'Connor, a Mirecki critic, said there is no excuse for someone physically assaulting the professor - regardless of their politics.
I have zero tolerance for thugs, she said. There is never an excuse to behave in such a manner. This was just thugs. They used a flimsy excuse, if they had one, to behave as thugs. They can talk about the ID (intelligent design) course if they want to, but that's not an excuse.
I don't know whether you are a Republican or Democrat (or neither), but I have found that many Republicans are against this bill. The ironic thing to me is that many Republicans are pro-life. Many care so much about saviing the babies in the womb, but where is the concern for little children who are suffering? I think it's hypocritical for one to say that they care so much about bringing this life into the world and giving it a chance to live, and yet if that same child gets leukemia it's on it's own because God forbid our taxes might get raised or something.
Sometimes you just have to DO THE RIGHT THING. I believe the right thing is health insurance for all American children. What would Jesus do?
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