Posted on 07/17/2005 2:36:55 PM PDT by Crackingham
Emily Lyons, critically injured in a 1998 blast outside a Birmingham abortion clinic, has a message for confessed bomber Eric Rudolph: His crimes only made her stronger.
"You did not shut the clinic down. You did not shut me down," said Lyons, who planned to testify Monday at Rudolph's sentencing to the first of four life terms for deadly bombings in Birmingham and Atlanta.
Rudolph, who remained defiant when he admitted setting the bombs and has only discussed his reasons for the blasts in written statements, will have his own chance to speak at Monday's sentencing. Defense lawyers didn't return calls seeking comment on whether Rudolph did plan to speak. He also faces sentencing later in Atlanta.
Rudolph, 38, pleaded guilty in April to setting off a remote-controlled bomb that maimed Lyons, a nurse, and killed police officer Robert "Sande" Sanderson outside the New Woman All Women clinic on the morning of Jan. 29, 1998. Sanderson's wife and son also could make statements at the hearing Monday.
Under a plea agreement that let Rudolph avoid a possible death penalty, Rudolph confessed to the Alabama bombing and to the bombing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics that killed one woman and injured more than 100. He also admitted setting off bombs at an abortion clinic and gay bar in Atlanta in 1997. He was captured in May 2003 after more than five years as a fugitive in the mountains of western North Carolina.
Under the agreement, federal judges in Birmingham and Atlanta will sentence him to four life terms without parole. Rudolph's sentencing in Georgia is set for Aug. 22, and victims of the Atlanta bombings will have a chance to speak then.
In a statement distributed after his guilty pleas, Rudolph portrayed himself as a devout Christian and said the bombings were motivated by his hatred of abortion and a federal government that lets it continue.
"The fact that I have entered an agreement with the government is purely a tactical choice on my part and in no way legitimates the moral authority of the government to judge this matter or to impute guilt," Rudolph said in the statement.
She seems very proud of her part in the taking of numerous young lives. Somehow I don't expect her boasting will cause Rudolph any remorse.
I'm not excusing Rudolph, but there are thousands of killers who are worse than he is. He did not intend to injure anyone at the clinic.
I agree that there's something sick about a woman who boasts that Rudolph failed to stop her from going back and killing more babies.
If I recall right, the bomb that injured her and killed the policeman was the second of two at the clinic - the one aimed at responders.
Mrs VS
The man's nothing but a two-bit terrorist who conveniently claims political causes to somehow legitimize his murderous impulses.
May God have mercy on his immortal soul.
When will the Victims of the Clinic ever get to confront their killers?
No cheers, unfortunately.
Does she realize she is challenging the sympathies of many, by going 'there'?
She should keep the pain at a personal level.
In any event, Rudolph is not likely to be swayed by any personal grief, of any of his victims,. . .no matter who or what. . .
A pox on all their houses.
Its tough to figure out who is more immoral in this story. Both kill other human beings. Both think that in the killing they are doing the noble thing. Both think that their killing will save lives. Neither has any remorse.
I agree. There is absolutely no excuse for the carnage that Rudolph created, but that does not minimize the 40 million+ deaths at the hands of the abortionists.
The neutron bomb was a nuclear device that allegedly would kill people, while causing relatively minor damage to property. Are you suggesting that Rudolph used some sort of anti-neutron bomb that he thought was people-safe?
Here's from one Internet source:
Rudolph denied being a supporter of that movement [Christian Identity], claiming that his involvement amounted to a brief association with the daughter of a Christian Identity adherent.
Though his mother and at least one brother did associate, it appears.
Even one of the most lucrative money-making enterprises in the anti-Christian industry, the SPLC, could not get Rudolph's sister-in-law to tie Eric to Christianity. Excerpts from an interview published on SPLC's "intelligence" Report site:
"And Eric would get High Times magazine [specializing in marijuana and marijuana cultivation] and Soldier of Fortune. They couldn't pick up much TV.
"Eric loved philosophy, especially Nietzsche. The whole family was into philosophy. . .
"You know, I don't think he's a follower. I don't think he wanted to be at a mass with a lot of people. I really don't think that Christian Identity was the whole thing for him. . .
"Eric stayed in my home [in Nashville, where Eric frequently visited in the early 1990s] a lot. He would sleep all day, then stay up all night and eat pizza and smoke pot and watch movies by Cheech and Chong. . .
"[H]e was outspoken about political issues, religious issues, racial issues, he was pretty quiet about himself. . .
[After an early discharge from the Army for smoking pot and at the time of his brother's divorce from the lady giving this interview the two and another brother shared a place]
"Dan and Joel were more the workers. But Joel said it got to where all Eric wanted to do was sit around and smoke pot and philosophize all day."
[The interview discusses how Mr. Rudolph earned money selling and growing pot.]
". . .When he found out his brother [another one living in NYC] was gay, I think that had a whole lot to do with why he focused on a gay nightclub [Eric is charged with bombing a lesbian club in Atlanta].
"And you know why he bombed the abortion clinic? He believes that the white people are eventually going to be a minority instead of a majority. He believes that you should reproduce and be true to your race. He thought white women should marry white men and black people should marry black people.
[End of excerpts]
Don't buy the MSM employees' B.S. that Eric Rudolph was a devout, fundamentalist Christian.
BTW, Tim McVeigh was no Christian either. He was at best agnostic.
Emily Lyons is a ghoul. I have no sympathy for her.
Since when do we let killers off the hook just because "there are worse ones out there"?
BTW, did he mean to kill the people at the Atlanta Olympics? Or, are you proposing, that he didn't think anyone was going to be there either?
I didn't say he shouldn't be punished, if you read my comment again. I just find it odd that they dedicated several hundred FBI agents to finding him, and give him numerous headlines, when there are many much more dangerous criminals out there.
They did so, obviously, because clinton and Reno and the press wanted to demonize pro-lifers, and saw him as a handy symbol to do it with.
The Olympic bombing mystifies me, because it doesn't seem to fit his profile, even as a madman. I have read numerous articles saying that he did it, and perhaps he did, but I've never seen any details given beyond the bare statement.
Sure, violent people should be chased down and punished. But why did clinton misuse the FBI to such an extent, while letting known Muslim terrorists go free?
No, as I understand it he bombed the clinic during off hours, not expecting anyone to be there.
If so, I missed that piece of news. That would put a different light on it.
But his supporters are more like the "moderate" Moslems. The don't approve of his methods, but they endorse his goals.
Rudolph's crimes were politically incorrect.
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