From pipe bombs to feeding tubes...

Is it just me, or is anyone else even the least bit annoyed that Randall Terry, founder and former leader of the militant anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, has thrown himself into the controversy surrounding Terri Schiavo? Yuck.

First off, let me say that I feel a great deal of sympathy for the family members on both sides of her case. I won't state an opinion either way, because quite frankly, it's none of my damned business. It's no one's business but the family, and the government, especially our unremarkable President, should not have gotten involved in this private family matter. OK, off my mini-soap box, and on to Randall Terry.

He certainly knows where to be when the cameras are rolling, I'll give him that. Randall Terry is one of those men who makes me physically ill. He spent years terrorizing and threatening abortion doctors and clinic workers. He is a master of intimidation, but always played the Christian card. He was a Christian man doing 'God's work'. I didn't realize that God's work included cheating on your wife and leaving your family. I guess that's why I'm not religious. (He says he didn't cheat on his wife, and that may very well be true - but he still traded her in for a younger one.)

During my 5 years at a women's health organization , I saw a huge file accumulated on this man. Arrests, protests, threats; a man who encourgaged others to go out and shoot doctors, all in the name of God. I saw them win a lawsuit against him and his organization, only to see him immediately file bankruptcy in order to avoid paying that judgment.

If I were Mrs. Schiavo's family, I would have selected someone else to help in the fight to keep her alive. Randall Terry is the last person I would want on my side. A man who thinks it's ok to kill people at clinics is no mouthpiece for the 'culture of life'.