Tiller Found Not Guilty: Pro-Life Forces Vow To Continue Fight

A Kansas jury has found notorious abortionist, George Tiller, not guilty on all counts.

Tiller faced 19 misdemeanor charges that accused him of violating state laws involving late-term abortions. Cheryl Sullinger of Operation Rescue tells OneNewsNow they were disappointed with the verdict.

“We have to remember that these were the weakest of the charges that could have been brought by the state,” she notes. “There were 30 charges that had been brought by former Attorney General Phil Kline in 2006 that were dismissed on jurisdictional reasons without having ever been considered on their merit.”

Had Tiller faced those charges, Sullinger is confident he would have been convicted. Operation Rescue was at the forefront of the investigation, so Sullinger was asked if they are finished with Tiller.

“We have a number of other projects, and we believe that there’s [sic] plenty of things that Tiller has done that violated the law that eventually, we’re just going to keep pressing on until we finally get justice and we finally get a conviction,” she concludes.

Kansas law allows abortions after a baby can survive outside the womb only if two independent doctors agree that it is necessary to save a women’s life or prevent “substantial and irreversible” harm to “a major bodily function,” a phrase that has been interpreted to include mental health.

Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus provided second opinions on late-term abortions before Tiller performed them.

According to trial testimony, Tiller’s patients paid Neuhaus $250 to $300 in cash for providing the consultation and the only way patients could see her was to make an appointment with Tiller’s office.

Tiller testified that he used Neuhaus based on advice from his lawyers and from Larry Buening, who was then executive director of the Board of Healing Arts.

Prosecutors tried to show that Tiller ultimately relied on his lawyers’ advice – an important distinction because the judge told attorneys before their opening statements that relying on the advice of an attorney cannot be used as a legal defense to criminal charges. They also questioned Tiller about the conversation with Buening, noting that Tiller had testified that Buening said he couldn’t quote him.

Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, said abortion opponents were never confident that Tiller would be prosecuted aggressively enough by Attorney General Steve Six.

“Even if Tiller had been found guilty, he would have appealed to the Supreme Court,” Culp said, noting that four of the Kansas high court’s seven justices were appointed by Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who supports abortion rights.

Phill Kline, the former attorney general who started the investigation, expressed frustration at the prosecutors who tried the case, noting that their only witness was Neuhaus.

“You do not win cases nor achieve justice by calling one witness and ordering your staff not to initiate any additional effort to gather evidence,” Kline said in a written statement.

Disney said his office had thoroughly investigated the case and “presented all the evidence that there was.”

Tiller said he is one of three doctors in the U.S. who currently perform late-term abortions. The others are in Boulder, Colo., and Los Angeles, he said.

Texas Pastor Knows Grief of Illinois Church

The pastor of a Texas church where seven people died in a 1999 shooting will preach at an Illinois church Sunday, one week after its pastor was killed.Rev. Al Meredith of Fort Worth’s Wedgwood Baptist Church says he will preach a message of recovery to members of First Baptist Church in Maryville, Illinois. Meredith says he will let worshippers know they will never get over it, “but the rest of God’s kingdom around the world is praying for you.”

Meredith says his church received more than 13,000 emails and more than 20,000 cards and letters after the 1999 shootings.

“We wall-papered our hallways with those e-mails and cards and letters, and for six weeks we’d come into church and we would just feel the comfort and hope and encouragement from the church around the world,” he recalls. “And we could stop anytime and read an email — it might be from Australia or South Africa or Alabama — but people just saying they’re praying for us and they care for us. That’s when the body of Christ pulls together.”

A man entered the Illinois church last Sunday and walked toward the pulpit where Rev. Fred Winters spoke to him before the gunman opened fire. Meredith says he will encourage the Illinois congregation to trust in God’s promises.

“That this isn’t the end. And that the lie that they’ll never be happy again is just that — it’s a lie. And that God is in control and God is faithful. God has promised to turn even our worst tragedies together for our good,” he points out. “You get real with each other and with God. And if you’re angry with God, you tell Him. He can handle your anger. And that is just part of the healing process. It’s going to take a long time because it’s ten years down the road for us, and we still got people in counseling.”

Terry Sedlacek has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and aggravated battery. Authorities said they still have not determined a motive for the shooting.

What About Free Speech?

Don’t Be a Marginal Christian

I read an excellent article today in the Christian Science Monitor about the future of the Evangelical Christian. In this article the author, Michael Spencer, lays out the reasons why the Western Church will fall in the next 10 years. Spencer would be labeled as a liberal by many in the evangelical community, yet he hits the nail on the head in this article. His argument is that The Church as focused its attention on numbers rather than The Gospel, on politics instead of Biblical truth, and on feeling good instead of knowing God.

So this is my challenge to you. Don’t be that “marginal Christian”. Don’t be one of the ones that cause the Church to fall in the United States. Seek God and know Him. Don’t base your understanding by what you hear on T.V. or what you read here, but use T.V. and use this lead you to the Word of God. We face trying times ahead, but Psalm 37:25 says, “I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread.” God is faithful when we are faithless.

Carville Wanted Bush To Fail

The news that Democratic strategist James Carville wanted President Bush to fail has been circulating for a couple of days now. According to FOX News, on the morning of September 11, 2001, just minutes before the terrorist attacks, Carville told a group of Washington reporters: “I certainly hope he doesn’t succeed.”

Carville was joined by Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg, who seemed encouraged by a survey he had just completed that revealed public misgivings about the newly minted president.

“We rush into these focus groups with these doubts that people have about him, and I’m wanting them to turn against him,” Greenberg admitted.

Of course, as soon as Carville heard of the terrorist attacks, he announced to all the reporters he was having breakfast with for them to “Disregard everything we just said! This changes everything!” And the press did just that, never reporting anything that Carville had said, for months and years afterward.

Why is this bit of news important? Because the press went crazy when Rush Limbaugh recently said that he wanted President Obama to fail, talking endlessly about it and suggesting that Limbaugh and Republicans were unpatriotic.

Mr. Carville himself said on CNN: “The most influential Republican in the United States today, Mr. Rush Limbaugh, said he did not want President Obama to succeed.” “He is the daddy of this Republican Congress.”

Did Carville forget what he said about Bush in 2001? Of course not, he was just hoping everybody else wouldn’t find out about it – pot, meet kettle. Carville says that focusing on Limbaugh is a deliberate strategy and that Democrats hope it undermines Republicans. This piece of information was confirmed by the New York Times in a profile of David Axelrod, Obama’s closest political advisor:

He [Axelrod] also helps decide which fights to pick and which ones to avoid, making him a leading voice in setting the political tone in Washington. The recent back-and-forth with Rush Limbaugh, for example, was explicitly authorized by Axelrod, who told aides that it was not a moment to sit quietly after Limbaugh said he hoped that Obama would “fail.”

Limbaugh, for his part, said that he is rooting for the failure of Obama’s liberal policies. “The difference between Carville and his ilk and me is that I care about what happens to my country,” said Limbaugh on Wednesday. “I am not saying what I say for political advantage. I oppose actions, such as Obama’s socialist agenda, that hurt my country.”

Student’s Rights Stripped At Public University

A Christian college student and his three friends are asking a federal court to protect their rights to share the gospel on the campus of Southeastern Louisiana University. Attorney Jonathan Scruggs of Alliance Defense Fund is representing Jeremy Sonnier. He tells OneNewsNow Sonnier was stopped by campus officials and informed he must meet certain requirements to engage in free speech. “He had to provide seven days advance notice before he could speak. He had to disclose a variety of personal information, including his social security number [and] the purpose of his speech,” Scruggs notes. “And even once that was over, he could only speak for two hours once a week, and a fee could be imposed on them.” A federal judge this week refused to grant a temporary restraining order against the school pending outcome of the case. “So at this point we are contemplating where to go forward — if we want to go for it at the district court level or even potentially appeal to the Fifth Circuit. Both options are available to us,” Scruggs adds. But the attorney vows the lawsuit will be pursued until Sonnier has his First Amendment rights restored.

Administration Of Constant Embarrassment

The Obama administration can’t seem to stop scolding or apologizing his appointees for one mishap after another.

Wonderful Story …

School Shuts Out Entire Community To Avoid Church

New York’s Broome Community College has answered a local church’s freedom of religion lawsuit.

Prop. 8 Hearings Kick Off Today

The California Supreme Court will hear arguments today in challenges to Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment approved by voters in November that declares marriage to be between one man and one woman.

“This is a very important case in that it’s not only involving whether or not homosexual marriage will be forced upon the people of California, but it’s really a question of whether or not democracy itself will be preserved,” he explains.

In a PJI press release, Dacus says the court will consider an argument from homosexuals that Prop. 8 was not a valid constitutional amendment but merely a revision. If the court rules against the people, he believes California voters will have one choice left: to recall justices that vote for homosexual marriage.