Alrighty then, indeed.

5 years in prison for an attempted act of terrorism?

If this guy was Muslim this story would be all over the news and he'd be sent to Guantanamo Bay for a prison sentence of until-Bush-leaves-office.

This guy's name is McMenemy?

That sort of reminds me of the people who would protest outside the Planned Parenthood in my home town. They'd have all these anti-abortion signs and scream at the women going into the clinic. The PP in question didn't even perform abortions.

I can just imagine it:

The man walks up to a podium overflowing with microphones from every television and radio station within a 300 mile radius. He's wearing bright orange prison coveralls and shackles on his wrists and ankles. His head is bowed in repentance.

As he stands at the podium, flanked on one side by his attorney, and the other side by a police officer, flash bulbs flicker and the whiring of videotape inside of bulky cameras are the only noises in the room. The man takes a breath, exhales, and says:

"My bad."

That's what I was thinking, Jeremy F. Since he was acting on his belief in a CHRISTIAN God then it's really not so bad, is it?

"That's what I was thinking, Jeremy F. Since he was acting on his belief in a CHRISTIAN God then it's really not so bad, is it?"

It's not mentioned that he is affiliated with any extreme right wing or Christian groups, but that doesn't make a difference. Terrorism is still terrorism regardless of what cause it is committed in the name of.

[i]

5 years in prison for an attempted act of terrorism?

If this guy was Muslim this story would be all over the news and he'd be sent to Guantanamo Bay for a prison sentence of until-Bush-leaves-office.[/i]

Or if he were an Animal Rights person. Supposedly, we plant-eaters are like..#2 or 3 on the Homeland Security Threat....though interestingly enough most AR people I have met respect a woman's right to choose and are completely against violent tactics...

You know, I read the story and it seems as if he's got mental problems and/or substance abuse issues. He's geninuely contrite it seems and that this was done in a fit of somekind of mental breakdown.

I want to defend women's clinics as much as the next person but five years does seem appropriate. I'm not going to pile on this guy precisely because it doesn't seem as if it was done as part of an act of terrorims so much as a part of an individual's mental breakdown. He's actually said he wanted to distance himself from the pro-life movement and that "it wouldn't have been right' even if it was an abortion clinic.

Hmmm.

Normally, I would say that five years is a reasonable sentence, since no one was killed and it looks like he didn't intend to kill anyone, since he went at 4:30 in the morning.

BUT we've got that lovely Patriot Act that practically criminalizes unthreatening little things like (as PamelaV notes) belonging to an animal rights group. If throwing paint at rich people (granted, it's wrong) amounts to "terrorism," this is EASILY a much worse form of terrorism -- it's much more destructive and much more dangerous, and clearly designed to send just as much of a message. And -- HELLO -- anyone else notice he did this on SEPTEMBER 11???

If this isn't terrorism then what fucking is? Or can you only commit terrorism if you have a Muslim name? If so, I vote for legally changing this guy's name to Abdul.

Malaika, that was hilarious.

and NewsCat: they ALL say that - AFTER they've torched/bombed/invaded the clinic and they're standing in front of a judge facing prison time. The motherfucker who shot the abortion doctor in his kitchen in front of his wife said the same fucking thing. "Oh I didn't mean to kill him. It was wrong. Ooooooooops?"

Sorry dude. No sympathy. Terrorism is terrorism, and "mental/substance abuse problems" would most definitely not let someone off the hook if they tried to bomb an airport or a post office.

he may be sorry he did it, but he's probably more sorry he got busted. the people he should be apologizing to are the patients of the clinic.

That sort of utter stupidity kind of reminds me of the paediatrician attacked a few years back because people thought paediatrician meant paedophile.
5 years?? Jesus...

LOL, Malaika.

I had a similar mental image, only mine went along the lines of:

"Er...I'm really, really sorry about torching that abortion clinic."

*someone points out they don't perform abortions at that clinic*

[pause] "They don't? Boy, is my face red!"

"Er...I'm really, really sorry about torching that abortion clinic."

*someone points out they don't perform abortions at that clinic*

[pause] "They don't? Boy, is my face red!"

This reminds me of the Michael Jackson episode of Southpark where all the cops are openly spending all their time framing African-American celebrities, and one of them comes home, dejected, and confesses to his wife that he made a mistake: "And the worst of it is: the guy wasn't even black!"

Hey for all their problems, public apologies are still a good thing. It's much worse when people/governments/organisations refuse to acknowledge that they've done something wrong, and here I could rhyme off a long list starting with Internment Camps during WWII, Residential schools (for Canadian First Nations,) the Japanese Government and comfort women…