Thanks for signing my guestbook, and for your comments vis a vis Gordon Durnil. He is a very astute man.

Shannon: As much as I hate coming down on a fellow pro-lifer, I've got to warn you that you're making a big mistake going after X about her baby. I'm not saying I agree with her particular course of action, and I'm definitely not saying I'm less than 100% right-to-life. I am saying that some actions taken are less than wise and only serve to cause harm for her and for yourself.

• For starters, all the condemnation in the world is not going to bring her baby back. It's pretty useless work to condemn someone for a past action, because it can never be undone even if she did regret it.
• Second, however anyone may feel about her actions, she does say she loves and misses the baby, and she still hurts over it. Not many women really want to have abortions in the first place. Many women are pressured into it, others really do feel like it is their only choice, some don't get counsel to do anything else but abort. In any event, this wasn't the way she wanted her pregnancy to end. So much for my long-winded background... where I'm going is that you don't know all the circumstances and this wasn't some easy thing to do. Far from it.
• Third, I think one of the worst things anyone can do is to use a child's circumstances as a weapon against his or her mother. Don't bring the child into the disagreements you have with her mother. The child didn't ask to be used as a weapon, so don't do it.
• Fourth, condemnation sometimes only serves to cement convictions. I trust I don't have to dive into that one any further if you just think about how you felt when you left her guestbook.
• Finally, flaming her won't encourage word one of dialogue between the opposing sides of the abortion debate. Let's face it... we've got to talk. We've got to know if we do have common concerns on which we can work together. If we make it so the only words exchanged are insults, we'll never know if we can bridge the gap and work toward positive, life-affirming change.

Reno May Create Anti-Abortion Violence Task Force

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new task force may soon be set up to investigate anti-abortion violence after last month's killing of a New York doctor who performed abortions, Justice Department officials said Thursday.

They said U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno may announce early next week the creation of a special unit modeled after an earlier task force that investigated whether a nationwide conspiracy was behind abortion-clinic violence.

The move toward the task force was spurred by the Oct. 23 killing of Dr. Barnett Slepian, who was shot by a sniper as he stood in the kitchen of his home in Amherst, N.Y. The attack on Slepian, an obstetrician-gynecologist who delivered babies and performed abortions, was similar to four others on abortion providers in western New York and Canada since 1994. Those assaults were not fatal.

In addition, hoax letters claiming to contain anthrax spores were sent last week to abortion clinics in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Kansas.

"We are now heavily engaged in developing a new plan, which would build on what we have done already," Associate Attorney General Raymond Fisher told reporters at the weekly Justice Department news briefing.

"We are in the process of developing a game plan and should be able to announce it very soon," Fisher said, adding that any new task force would build on what already had been learned in the earlier investigation.

The Justice Department investigation from 1994 through 1996 found no direct evidence of a nationwide conspiracy.

In the United States, there have been years of abortion-related protests at clinics, and four previous attacks in Massachusetts, Florida and Alabama on clinics or doctors providing abortions have claimed six lives since 1994.

"If there is further evidence... of a conspiracy, we will pursue that, obviously," Fisher said.

The Justice Department has been under pressure from abortion rights groups and the association representing doctors to take action. The American Medical Association (AMA) earlier this week pressed top Justice Department officials to protect doctors from anti-abortion violence.

The Justice Department is concerned about protecting the rights of abortion-seeking women and of doctors who perform abortions, Fisher said. "We are doing all that we can to address this issue."

One step has been that the U.S. Marshals Service will assess security at individual abortion clinics, he said.

Fisher said the AMA also expressed concern about an anti-abortion Web site that publishes detailed information about doctors who perform abortions and their families.

"We will look at that," he said. Fisher said the Justice Department will take into account free-speech rights, but noted the law protecting abortion access bars threats of violence.

Just making my semi-daily visit to your site, and thought this would be an excellent chance to thank you for bending to the will of white male supression. We thought you'd be two of the more difficult people to control - but no, you dropped into line as soon as you realized how good it would be for you, and frankly womynkind.

You could have gone the route of the pseudo-individualist, who whines and complains about being given a "label", and who spends twenty hours a week at a part-time job at a "unique" clothing store that pays minumum wage (because it's the only place that will hire someone who wears black lipstick and nailpolish, too much liner and not enough deodorant, a punctured brow and army boots, sporting a long flowing black dress with matching underarm hair, and who looks pretty much like every other Goth wannabe on earth, but simply can't see how damned similar they all look and act) - but instead you chose to create a unique and daring site, inviting others to ridicule you and send you scads of angry hate mail, and write snotty, brainless crap in your guestbook.

SALOON Magazine is up and running!

Endorsements:
Barney Frank: "Thish ish the besht newsh shoursh on the innernet!" Ok, we only have ONE endorsement!

Check it out.... its still brand new and needs alot of work. BTW: If you wish to contribute articles (gratis) just send 'em via the email. Main point is humor with a touch of relevent sarcasm.... maybe a BIG touch... well have fun reading it, hope you enjoy it.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone - on both sides of every issue - who has filled this GUESTBOOK with screeds. The fact that it now takes 5 minutes for this page to download - despite being almost entirely composed of TEXT - makes visiting here just that much more fun.

There was a time when this page was filled with kudos and kicks for Stephanie and Carolyn - the ones who put so much effort into this site - but now it's comprised of caustic remarks directed NOT at the content of this site, but the content of the guestbook itself.

I'll wager most of you bookmark this page, and not the main index for this site.

Would you cut Hillary the same slack you're cutting Bill if she had cheated on him, or would you have laid the blame on her there as well? After all, he was also busy with his career. If you'd blame her either way, why the double standard?

While it is true that the site has little gay information, Stephanie made very clear that gay conservatives are welcome on this site. One of the Christian Coalition conservative regulars had a fit over that one line. So on the one hand, someone is upset that there is not much gay activity here, another has fits that any would be allowed at all. Clear case of "can't win for losing". In any event, lesbigay conservatives *are* wlecome here.

Guns vs. drugs: I seriously doubt anyone on this site would oppose a drug shown to have a clear therapeutic purpose (yes, I do support properly monitored research about _legal_ _medical_ uses of currently illegal drugs). The problem, strictly IMO and not ncessarily anyone else's, is not in the guns or drugs themselves, but in the illegal and harmful uses of both. Using a gun to hunt food and medical use of marijuana to treat glaucoma aren't a problem. Using a gun in a crime or getting some preteen strung out on dope... different story.

As for our President - I am very disappointed in the reaction of my feminist sisters. I do not care for hypocrisy in any of its forms and I will say that had Clinton been a Republican, many of the major feminist organization would have in fact ran him out of town long ago. I am not so willing to close my eyes at this abuse of power just because I strongly believe in a woman's right to choose. One cannot be made less than the other.

As it was, there was already one well-known abortionist named Restell operating during the last century. If abortion were such the cornerstone of women's rights that people seem to think it is today, Anthony and company would have seen buddy-buddy with Madame Restell. Even the most lazy reading of "The Revolution" and other feminist magazines showed our foremothers condemning "Restellism" and speaking for the lives of women *and* their unborn children. (Will someone find a way to get Laura Cuppy Smith's a rticle about her daughter's pregnancy online? That'd work great right now.)

And since you're all so enamoured of the RightGrrls, why not spread the word? Take an icon or large graphic, invite people to read what's here, and to discuss the same - in a MESSAGE area. Drag them to this page with Powwow, or ICQ, or simply E-MAIL the URL. Do more than fill this page by preaching to the converted - get OTHERS here.

Is it my imagination? I don't recall seeing another site, almost identical in content to yours, claming to be the "*Real* Original RightGrrl" ... note the asterix - somehow that would make it even more official than,say, a virtually identical webring.

BTW - I'd also like to thank you for being brave enough to post any mail I've sent you. Sure, I'm not always on your side, but you've never shied away from posting something from me.