Sometimes God whispers to our hearts in different ways. Sometimes, like for you, it's the quiet touch. But sometimes, for other's of us, it takes a shout, or a slap in the face before we are ready to listen.
Posted on 12/05/2007 6:33:29 AM PST by Nextrush
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP)-A suburban Atlanta prosecutor has dropped a disorderly conduct charge against an anti-abortion activist who was arrested for driving a truck emblazoned with images of aborted fetuses....
Police had arrested Robert Dean Roethlisberger Jr. 44, of Missouri near the Mall of Georgia the day after Thanksgiving when he refused to remove images on a "Truth Truck," owned by Operation Rescue, an anti-abortion group. Police, who said the images were "obscene and vulgar", also impounded the truck and removed the banners.
In an e-mail Monday to the Gwinnett Daily Post, Szabo (County Solicitor) said, "To ensure no abridgement of constitutional rights, application of this statute must neccessarily be narrow and limited...I have reviewed the evidence and law in this case and concluded the physical display of the images in question-as shocking and offensive as they are-does not constitute 'obscene and vulgar or profane language' as specifically prohibited by this statute."
Operation Rescue President Troy Newman said the decision vindicates Roethlisberger and condemns the police officer "who so aggressively violated our constitutional rights." He said the organization is considering a lawsuit.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
I wouldn't take pre-teen kids to see Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ, and I wouldn't put pictures from Auschwitz, Hiroshima, or Jeffrey Dahamer's basement on the sides of a truck and drive it around town.
I would be deeply concerned about two possibilities: one, that the kids would be shocked and horrified; and two, that eventually they wouldn't be.
I'll try and remember and appreciate your position when the peace crowd starts driving a truck around showing the mutilated bodies of American soldiers. That's constitutionally protected, right? Plus, it might have the added benefit of accomplishing their goal of getting the troops out of Iraq. Hooray!
Constitutionally protected speech not withstanding, Operation Rescue operates that truck in defiance of good decorum. It does more harm than good. I may be pro-life, but that truck makes me anti-Operation Rescue.
Thank you. That was very well said.
Just curious. Was she pissed about the kids seeing this horror, pissed about the butchery, or pissed about the people that have no clue and don't want to know what is happening.
I don't agree with all of their tactics...
Or all of their gruesome displays...
But I will defend their RIGHTS all day and all night long...
I did see the "dropped case" press release...
Their should be some expensive and punitive action in order to preclude the GCPD from doing this again without penalties..
Fear not....
When the federal lawsuit is served...
The county's liability insurance carrier will grab the ball... settle... and tell the commissioners to insure this never happanes again!
Actually, T.
Some of the tax money you have already paid will now be well spent on the insurance premiums that bring this to closure.
Yes....
the peace crowd's [fictitious] truck would also be protected speech.
I might diasgree or even despise their message and images...
But I would never advocate the taking of their rights to have their say...
If the Operation rescue event happened in my little suburban county...
I would be tearing them a new one for being stupid and allowing the LEO's to abridge these rights...
It's all about the preservation of our rights and way of life!
I hope... that you hope....
Heads should roll before this is finished... up yonder...
Have a good one...
That settles it, then; have some business cards printed up and become a consultant of the truly offensive.
Nightmares are appropriate in this case. After all, there but for the grace of God go themselves. How horrible is it for children to learn that they have escaped the butcher block because their mother chose to continue her pregnancy? Should anyone be praised for choosing otherwise?
I guess I should clarify. I support their RIGHTS, but I despise their TACTICS.
Thank you for the discussion. Have a great day!
good reply..
My bumper sticker reads ...” Abortion the ultimate child abuse “ I get some thumbs up and i get some funny looks ..For all Christians in this season of Advent ..the readings say “ Mary was with child” ...this alone should speak volumes.
Do you protest if a teacher shows your kids pictures from the Holocaust of bodies piled up?
Some years back, the local library had a Halloween display on a table, prominently placed near the entrance. There for all ages to see was a realistic rubber hand with a bloody stump. My baby sister, not quite two years old, started to cry and shudder. We didn’t complain or sue anybody over it. (Mom picked it up and told her, a. it’s not real, and b. yes, it’s very ugly.)
Images of abortion are horrific and convey a horrible reality. If it upsets or offends, that’s as it should be. Still, I don’t think they should be on trucks, where they may be seen and left unexplained, contributing only to the incremental deadening of the sensitivities. Rather, one should place them where people can pause, read, and think.
There are some who extend their desire for infanticide to even children who are out of the womb; they want at least a week to decide if they can “euthenize” a child.
If the pro-life protesters cannot hold up pictures of the dead, why should pro-death protesters be able to hold up coat hangers with the implication of a horrific butchery?
They dropped the case. Does that mean that the DEFENDENTS don’t still need to pay their legal bills?
Nifong dropped his “case” too.
Sometimes God whispers to our hearts in different ways. Sometimes, like for you, it's the quiet touch. But sometimes, for other's of us, it takes a shout, or a slap in the face before we are ready to listen.
To ones who have said to me "But I couldn't carry a child for 9 months and then give it away to strangers!" I say "But could you bear to have it ripped, piece by piece from your womb?". I said this to one of my daughters friends whose mom has a "keep abortion legal" bumpersticker. (She was 15 and full of questions about sex and religion..old enough for honest discussion)
You wrote what I needed to hear. :) After all these years I can now remember that one particular graphic image, and that particular child in different light.
A real 'duh' moment for me.
My oldest daughter ane I were talking about the holocaust yesterday. She's had benefit of an awesome history teacher who transferred from the Middle School to High School, so she's in her class again this year. She's ready to watch Shindler's List with me. When I watched it with her older sister I told her she couldn't watch it until she was older. She's met 3 survivors who are in our church and has seen their tatooed numbers.
Sorry to go off topic. Yet it is all man's inhumanity to man.
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