by Andy Kopsa
Palm Sunday brought a close to Pro-Life Wisconsin’s “40 Days For Life” protests at women’s health clinics throughout the state. And it culminated with the bombing of an Appleton Wisconsin Planned Parenthood. 40 Days For Life staged a “Stations of the Cross” rally in Appleton that day at a Planned Parenthood clinic, just not the one that was bombed.
It happened Sunday night. No one was at the clinic when a homemade explosive device was detonated at the facility. Local authorities responded to the call and have brought in the FBI. This move says the FACE Act (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) may come into play once the bomber is found.
Wisconsin has been in the forefront of our national conversation about politics, showing us all first hand what Small Government means to the GOP right wingery.
Whether it’s Wisconsin’s powerful Fitzgerald brothers or Rep. Robin Vos gathering marching orders from ALEC conferences, Scott Walker’s recall election – and pending John Doe case - the deep ties between Wisconsin Right To Life and the Koch Brother’s Club for Growth or the zealot(s) that bomb clinics in Appleton all support the theory that at least for now, in this moment, all politics are Wisconsin.
by Robin Marty
A small bomb exploded at Planned Parenthood’s Appleton North Health Center in Wisconsin, according to numerous news reports. The Green Bay Press Gazette reports that a “small, homemade explosive device” was placed on a windowsill of the clinic at around 7:30 p.m. Sunday night, causing damage as well as small fire.
The clinic, one of very few in the the state that provides abortions, has been a constant target of anti-choice activists, from Lila Rose attempted “undercover video ‘stings’” to Pro-Life Wisconsin’s “Empty Manger Christmas carols” and other stunts. With the amount of attention being put on the clinic, and the escalating frenzy to try and block a woman’s right to abortion, it was likely only a matter of time before a violent act happened there.
The incident also points to a disturbing and increasing trend of clinic violence. This would be the fourth case of incendiary devices being used as a weapon against clinics and supporters in the last eight months. Last August, a suspect firebombed a clinic in McKinney, Texas. On New Year’s Day, a clinic in Florida was firebombed in the early morning hours by a homeless man believed to be sympathetic to the anti-choice protesters who frequented the health center. And just last month, a Texas state senatorknown for her Planned Parenthood advocacy had her office in Fort Worth firebombed during working hours while the office was full.
And clinic violence just in the state of Wisconsin itself has become a major issue. Ralph Lang has been in jail since May, still awaiting trial for his alleged attempt to kill a Madison abortion doctor.
Bombing clinics is obviously becoming the favorite activity for anti-choice extremists, and for every thwarted plot like North Carolina’s Justin Moose in 2010, we’re now seeing multiple successes.
by Michael Hayne
“You can get it. Go online, type it in. It’s easy to get.”
Ron Johnson is on Twitter. And Facebook. And here’s his email.
by Jodi Jacobson
At the link is the text of an email written by a woman (she gave us permission to reprint here but we have removed her name) who read our article on Wisconsin Representative Pridemore’s suggestion that women who are beaten by their husbands should just deal with it and remember the good things about why they married their husbands in the first place.
Pridemore’s comments, combined with his attacks on single mothers as the root of all evil, gave us pause as to whether Representative Pridemore really understood that women are individual human beings with basic human rights, or if he takes that whole Adam’s rib thing literally.
Unfortunately, the response from Pridemore’s staffer to our friend’s email—he calls it the “dunbest (sic) email ever,” suggests that, indeed, some training on gender sensitivity and equity might be in order for Mr. Pridemore’s entire office.
