A Bit About Domestic Terrorism

Ever since 9/12, I have been very, very leery of the "terrorist" label.

I know that labels get applied to different people, well, differently--- according to where one sits in relation to the status quo. As many a great political cartoon has illustrated - spotting the difference between a "Freedom Fighter" and a "Terrorist" is entirely dependent upon your view.

All that said, I want to share my experience as someone who worked in a non-profit health center that provided clinical abortions. It was my job to check for bombs daily, when I unlocked the clinic for just above minimum wage. I got trained to open doors in a certain way, check several key points methodically, and to really check, double check and triple check all incoming mail before opening it.

This wasn't idle paranoia on the behalf of the health center. A couple of months before I started work with them, they received a letter bomb that was suspected by the receptionist, and the bomb squad was called out. The police verified that it was, indeed, a very live explosive, that was capable of leveling the building had it been opened. After it was reported, postal officials found three more in the mail addressed to other providers and the Planned Parenthood office. I have had people who spent their days protesting outside the clinic try to run me over a few blocks from work after hours, follow me on foot as I tried to walk home with friends, chase me in cars (at rather high speeds down Foster Rd), finally leaving me alone when I drove into the parking lot of the dike bar (couldn't thnk of a better place to take them). These people effectively terrorized me and my co-workers, daily. The fear that they created was palpable. How would it effect your day to know that you started by checking for bombs (for a reason), and that you were more likely than not to get some sort of death threat hurled at you by phone, mail or in person. I can vouch for this sort of thing really fucking with your morale.

So to get to the crux of this biscuit, enter Sarah Palin-- and her hyping of Bill Ayers as a domestic terrorist to paint Obama as a dangerous man since they have known each other in a vague progressive circle kind of Chicagoan way. Is tenured professor William Ayers a terrorist for his involvement in The Weathermen, 30+ years ago? Sarah says "There is no question...." But someone who has bombed a clinic that provides abortions? If the gods of embedding video are with me, just play this for Sarah's answer.

Let's face it, saving the unborn is thinking ahead for this crowd--- they need them for cannon fodder later.