Posted on 06/04/2003 9:36:32 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
I don't know if Eric Rudolph did all the terrible things they say he did, but I have my doubts.
Apparently, all those people who wore tee shirts bearing the message "Run, Rudy, Run" have had their doubts as well. Short of a confession by the man, I'll continue to hold on to those doubts.
Like many people, I followed his story closely, from his 1998 disappearance after an abortuary was bombed, to news that a massive manhunt by hundreds of law enforcement officials had failed to turn up one of "America's Most Wanted."
Five years later, they have their man. Or do they?
Rudolph's name was first linked to bombings after a shrapnel and nail device went off at The New Woman All Women abortuary in Birmingham. That blast seriously injured a woman and killed an off-duty cop. Someone said they saw Rudolph's truck nearby and a man fitting his description walking away from the scene. Weeks later his truck was found abandoned near the rugged hills of the Appalachian Trail. Rudy had run and was nowhere to be found, despite the high-tech search that ensued.
Two years, plus a million dollar bounty later, Rudy was like a ghost in those hills. The cops were feeling silly. What happened next doesn't pass the smell test. Not only was Rudolph charged with the Birmingham bombing but with a few other unsolved bombings as well. After all, why not dump all the other cases law enforcement wasn't able to solve on Rudy?
Remember how poor Richard Jewell was demonized and falsely-accused of the 1996 Olympic Park bombing? That quiet, gentle man had his life turned upside down by Keystone Cops desperate to find a culprit. Could it be that what they couldn't pin on Richard they decided to add to Eric Rudolph's list of sins? That list had grown over the years he was presumably hiding out in the mountains of western North Carolina to include additional bombings-another abortuary and a gay nightclub in Atlanta. The evidence against Rudolph? Nails. They say nails in the bombs were like nails found amongst his belongings.(Other than this, prosecutors are mum on the evidence they say they have linking Rudolph to all four bombings.)
Is this just a case of law enforcement feeling like fools because a simple country boy had eluded them all these years?
What should be cause for concern for all Americans is the way they've described this man: "…he studied the Bible, believed the United Nations was usurping U.S. sovereignty, held anti-government sentiment…was an anti-abortion crusader…questioned the Holocaust…was anti-gay, anti-foreigner" to name just a few of the phrases labeling him in the press. Here we go again- paint the man with those colors and he's…guilty! Such tagging is what most Americans accepted to excuse what happened to Randy Weaver and his family when they were the victims of an all-out blitzkrieg by the federal government in Ruby Ridge, Idaho some years back. Anymore, all you have to do is co-opt a willing media to go along with these categorizations and you can garner widespread approval for considering someone a dangerous criminal.
Now, maybe Eric Rudolph really was behind the crimes for which he stands accused. But, as I see it, there are some glaring inconsistencies in the whole thing.
First off, by all accounts, the man was not obsessed by the abortion issue. He didn't talk about it, rail against it or display any sentiment whatsoever about the gruesome practice. Most anti-aborts are well-known for their position. Certainly those who find the wholesale murder of babies abhorrent- talk about it. Rudy didn't. That may or may not be a clue as to whether he'd have a motive to blow up an abortuary.
Secondly, one of Eric Rudolph's brothers is gay. Again, not likely he'd be rearranging the floor plan of a gay nightclub.
Third, what possible vendetta could be behind the bomb left at Centennial Olympic Park?
Attorney General John Ashcroft wasted no time announcing the fine police work that netted this dangerous criminal 5 years after he went missing. Like most mothers whose sons are suspected of committing violent crimes, Patricia Rudolph doesn't think Eric's guilty. The Christian mother of six said "I pray the Holy Spirit will intervene and Eric will be exonerated, but once you're in the hands of the people who have power, it'll take a miracle."
Start praying all you "Bible-studying, anti-government, U.N.-bashing" zealots- those descriptions could mean you're the main suspects in unsolved crimes.
You're the one making a fool of yourself, fool.
Applauding the death of anyone, as you are doing the death of the off-duty cop, is a sign of dementia or a sick mind.
There are a LOT of fire and brimstone kinda folks out there. Your ilk have been culturally sanitized. PC'd if you will. Believe me, if a vote was takin by polygraph, segregation would return, gays would be in jail or dead, the government would be back where it belongs.
Don't brow beat people who loath our new and improved culture. It does not make you any more elevated.
Do you think it's OK to reinstitute segregation and send gays to jail or death?
So Rudolph's brother and sister-in-law are liars? Of course, even if he just wanted white babies to live and wanted black babies to die, that's okay with you because, well, he saved white babies.
And Officer Sanderson's murder means nothing to you? How about Alice Hawthorne's right to life?
Apparently you are not in the group that "has the stones to speak their mind"
I spoke my mind bone head. You're trying to paint me bad. It's not going to happen.
How's that?
I disagree with your opinion, but I'm from another generation. I'm sure my grandkids will think some of my current opinions are obnoxious.
Ummm... I think your grand kids will think your hip...
However, other people theorize that Rudolph was not particularly targeting abortion (or gays or the Olympics). He was targeting cops. To wit: the two bomb set-up at the 1st abortion clinic in Atlanta and the gay bar and the remote control bomb at the Birmingham abortion clinic. He also called in a warning to the Olympics, which would draw cops to the area. In the case of the Birmingham bomb, the bomb was set off, not when an abortion doctor arrived (and he certainly had the capacity to plant the bomb and set it off to kill a doctor or two), but when the police officer leaned down to examine it. However, the bomber probably knew by targeting abortion clinics, he'd be able to mine sympathizers like yourself.
It doesn't explain, however, why Alice Hawthorne, who was murdered at Centennial Park, had to die. Her only crime was to go to the park to enjoy a free concert with her daughter. How DO you explain her murder?
When I was really young, really young, my grandfather owned a steel shop in Detroit. Had a few blacks working for him. Not because of laws, but rather demand...low intellect type work. When the riots started, he insisted the blacks stay put...right there at the shop. He brought them food, and sent one out at certain times to deliver food to the others homes. But he(my grandfather) still lived in the burbs and continually moved outward, as the blacks moved outward. He hired them, helped them, but did not want to live next store to them. Why do you suppose this was? I imagine he was your fathers age...
Why do you suppose there is a constant battle going on between home owner associations and potential black buyers...aptment landlords etc?? Why?
It has changed a little because of the amount of blacks now in the middle and uppr class. But there is still the fobia, fear, or just plain dislike of the fact that a black family is moving into a white neighborhood. Once they do, some whites immediately put the for sale sign on their own property. Call it rascist. That is what todays culturally sanitized individual would call it. The un-sanitized person would call it not wanting to live next to blacks. Even though, 90% work with blacks, help blacks, and even hire blacks...not because they are told to.
As far as the queers go, I say no more about that...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.