If this person is for real and is apologizing, then he needs to get a hold of the FBI and start naming names as one way to make up for all the hate he spewed over the years.

Frank Schaeffer, the fellow interviewed by Rachel in the video above, is going to be here for a Book Salon chat on June 21st. The writeup from the Book Salon page is this:

Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back
Author: Frank Schaeffer
Sunday, June 21, 2009 5:00pm

By the time he was nineteen, Frank Schaeffer’s parents, Francis and Edith Schaeffer, had achieved global fame as bestselling evangelical authors and speakers, and Frank had joined his father on the evangelical circuit. He would go on to speak before thousands in arenas around America, publish his own evangelical bestseller, and work with such figures as Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Dr. James Dobson. But all the while Schaeffer felt increasingly alienated, precipitating a crisis of faith that would ultimately lead to his departure—even if it meant losing everything.

With honesty, empathy, and humor, Schaeffer delivers “a brave and important book” (Andre Dubus III, author of House of Sand and Fog)—both a fascinating insider’s look at the American evangelical movement and a deeply affecting personal odyssey of faith.

He’s a very good writer, and pulls no punches in his memoir about his own life.

Frank has had many revelations in the past few years. I have communicated with Frank a bit over the last couple of years. He wrote a book with his son called “Keeping the Faith”. He is from a family and social circle that had zero contact with the military. His son joined the Marines right out of high school and the book is about how it changed them both.

Good point.

Believe in Magic.

Saw PW’s post (I think it was) about the Coleman-Franken oral argument where she said the justices basically asked Coleman’s lawyer why his case was so shitty. I laughed and thought it was a funny oversimplification and watched on c-span last night to see what they really asked. they asked:

Counselor, why is your case so shitty?

Kudos for the guy’s honesty. For reason to prevail, all that is needed is for few more Frank Schaeffers to step forward to denounce the culture of insanity.

According to her twitter account, Sullenger recently went on “Freedom Fighter Radio,” (# Getting ready to do a radio interview on “Freedom Fighter Radio” a conservative talk show. Scheduled to be on 1 hr.6:28 PM May 12th from web”) which cheered the Tiller killing by saying “Freedom Fighter Radio congratulates the person who did this. Let today’s killing serve as a warning to all the other abortion butchers: You are all also vulnerable too.” http://freedomfighterradio.net/?p=7551

Wow, now let’s make him a hero.

Last night, I’m pretty sure I heard Mr. Schaeffer say that he and others knew what they were doing when they made incendiary rants liable to prod crazies into action, I hoped Rachel would delve a little deeper into their frame of mind. I’ve been trying to figure out what motivates Limbaugh, Alan Keyes, and others who have made statements inciting murderous crazies to act. I can’t believe they are true believers in whatever the cause is, but think it’s more related to some sick sense of power.

Ann Telnaes on point
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..nntelnaes/

From reading his book, he doesn’t see himself that way.

And the way bully children like to hurt others with cruelty and ridicule and torture animals, like frogs.

Well, then that’s what qualifies him as the real deal.

Heard him on Fresh Air (NPR) not long ago. He seems to be aware of the damage done and is genuinely remorseful to have been a part .

It’s not that hard to figure out I guess. Why does anyone kill or die for anything? They believe in it.

OT: Been outta the loop for a while so not sure if this has made the rounds, but if you ever needed more reason to spend money at your locally-owned coffeeshop instead of Starbucks, this is it:

He [Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz] called it an opportunity to “align ourselves with, in my view, one of the smartest morning shows that air on TV.”

Mr. Schultz cited connections between the Starbucks brand and the “Morning Joe” viewers, an audience that he called “sophisticated and upscale.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06…..01joe.html

Seriously, WTF?!?! Some site recently edited together a bunch of Joe Scarborough clips just in the last few months, which shows him far surpassing Bill Kristolnacht in being wrong about nearly everything he ever pontificates about. And JoeScar does it with such disdain and rudeness. This charlatan should be getting fired for his outrageous and almost-always-wrong “analysis,” yet the Starbucks Founder and CEO thinks it’s one of the “smartest” show on all of TV?!!?

Please shop locally. The power is within you.

Yeah, I understand that about the crazies themselves. What I don’t understand is the Limbaughs, who have everything they could want, making statements likely to convince some loner loser that they can save civilization. What’s in it for Limbaugh, or for Alan Keyes saying, “Unless someone stops him…”?

Mornin’, BT, pups

Schaeffer was on Terry Gross’ Fresh Air in Dec. Good interview.

It’s not that hard to figure out I guess. Why does anyone kill or die for anything? They believe in it.

I just last weekend saw a screening of the movie Hunger. It sure brought home that point, as we watched Bobby Sands starve himself to death (portrayed by an actor, of course).

Please shop locally. The power is within you.

And contact Starbucks to tell them why you’re no longer a customer!
http://www.starbucks.com/customer/

Good Morning Blue Texan and Firedogs,

you can read Frank Schaeffer’s HuffPo piece from yesterday here

Mornin’, cbl2

Schaeffer’s open letter to HuffPo last August may be read here.

Let today’s killing serve as a warning to all the other abortion butchers

Sara Robinson (Orcinus) points out

The Terrorists Win. Tiller was one of just three doctors in the entire US who performed late-term abortions. Now, there are just two. Which means that 36 years of anti-choice terrorism is now just two assassinations away from completely ending late-term abortion in America. Violence has won out — over the will of the people, over the courts, over the horrific logic of medical necessity. And whenever terrorists win, democracy has lost — and is lost.

wow. thanks.

and thanks Peterr, thought I’d missed that Book Salon

With all due respect to Sara, she’s off by at least a couple of docs:

[Tiller’s] clinic at 5107 E. Kellogg will remain closed the rest of this week so staff members and family can mourn Tiller’s death, said LeRoy Carhart, a Nebraska physician who has come to Tiller’s clinic on a rotating basis for more than 10 years.

“What people need to know is… the women’s services that we provided for 30 years are not going to change,” Carhart said. “The same abortion services will remain available in Wichita.”

[snip]

Patients who had appointments this week have been notified of the clinic’s closing, and other arrangements for their care have been made, Carhart said.

“Starting next Monday we should be back to 100 percent,” he said.

Carhart said he and two other out-of-state doctors have been rotating weekly shifts at the clinic, and that will continue.

The two other doctors are licensed to practice medicine in the state of Kansas and have no complaints against them, said Kristi Pankratz, a spokeswoman for the state Board of Healing Arts.

Week of 15 June is gonna be fun. Finally get to meet Cindy Sheehan on the 17th and Schaeffer will be at the Lake on the 21st. Cool.

There was a glitch and we had to reschedule it.

The thing that hits me is that Schaeffer was regretting his participation in stirring up the evangelical “culture wars” long before Tiller was shot on Sunday. He backed out of that movement in the mid-1980s. The interview with Rachel and his HuffPo piece are not “instant remorse,” but something he’s been saying for quite a while.

He lays it all out in his interview with Terry Gross.

oh and p.s. did everyone see the Randall Terry creepfest yesterday ? – not just his souless justification of Doctor Tiller’s murder, apparently he concluded by asking press corps to buy him Guiness and some wings -

“Thank you for coming, unless there’s any other questions. And I truly am sorry that we had to meet under these circumstances. I like Guinness for those of you who want to have a beer somewhere. I prefer my chicken wings really hot and a little crispy.”

sounds like the kinda sociopathy that could make a guy tweet talking points from the crematoriums at Auschwitz don’t it

Saw him briefly during the Terry Schiavo fiasco. Creeped me out just looking at him.

Wow, at the end he calls out the dog whistling on Obama, warns that it is feeding the deranged with guns.

Thanks for this, BT.

good and reassuring to hear. also sad but reassuring to see AG Holder providing protection for the two other non Kansas docs (Boulder and ?)

Forgive my intrusion into your passionate OT, but Starbucks-bashing makes NO sense to me. NONE AT ALL. Our son is a Starbucks employee. Our son lives around the corner from his workplace. So do his co-workers. So does the manager of the branch. They know their neighbors. Their neighbors know them and enjoy lasting friendships and caring feelings all around.

Many of the Starbucks employees, including our son, are part-timers, BY CHOICE. Starbucks cares enough about their employees to offer excellent health care coverage for employee AND domestic partner, as long as the employee works at least half time. No ifs, ands, or buts. It’s true. I know. This experience is our own, in our own family.

The reasons many Starbucks employees work only half time are varied, but certainly not dictated by the company. Rather, this is the case because MANY of the employees use their Starbucks job to put food on their table and get that guaranteed health coverage option for their family WHILE THE EMPLOYEE WORKS ANOTHER JOB BY CHOICE.

Our son is a good example. He’s a gifted classical musician, holding two principal positions in regional symphony orchestras, subbing often in others, and performing in numerous recitals, educational programs for school children, and the like. He cannot live on the music income at this point in his career, but he CAN afford to live and strive for that dream job in classical music…. THANKS TO THE OPPORTUNITY STARBUCK’s OFFERS with its health care coverage, income, EXTREMELY flexible scheduling of work-hours, etc.

PLEASE. STOP. BASHING. THIS. COMPANY. for reasons you apparently neither understand nor appreciate. Unless you work for FauxNews or some other odious organization with a hidden, vile agenda of mayhem, you may be being duped, “used”, by a totally unfair smear campaign. I can’t believe you would do this if you understood the situation.

Forgive me, msmolly. This is not a personal attack on you. But I’m disgusted by some very nefarious negative forces out there who appear to be trying to hurt a perfectly good company with a deliberate, totally unfair campaign of misinformation.

To readers of this thread: Please accept my sincere apologies for intruding upon a very serious discussion with the OT #33. I realize the subject matter of my comment is only tangentially related to the main, much more serious subject.

My point above: hate and smear campaigns of ALL sorts are not just wrong. They are usually grossly unfair, and can easily become down right dangerous. PLEASE do not indulge in furthering such shameful, hurtful, wrong-headed attacks.

Apologies: #33 was in response to msmolly at #20 and others who have posted similar comments.

The toobz gremlins didn’t seem to catch my “reply to” link.

Thanks for posting the vid, BT. I saw it yesterday and it knocked my socks off. I take this man at his word, he lays it bare and fully acknowledges the wrongdoing, and apologizes and keeps apologizing – sincerely. I don’t know what else he is doing to make atonements, but I am of a mind that he is sincere. Why take on the entire community you’ve grown up with if you weren’t?

This one act of apology from a wingnut movement leader is a sign of hope for me. Truly. After listening to the hatred and vitriol coming out of other folks, how refreshing it is for someone to step up and say, enough, I’m wrong, and I’m sorry.

Good point from Orcinus. For people like Sullenger and Roeder, a democratic loss at the ballot box would not be any more legitimate than a loss in the courts.

Whe does Howie Kurtz apologize?

He’s every bit as culpable as Bill O.

And so’s his wife.