Last Call Plus

One last thing before I turn in for the evening.  Anti-choice zealots are furious that a Kansas jury found Scott Roeder guilty and all, but it's the legal logic they are using for an appeal that should sicken everyone.

Roeder faces a minimum sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 25 years in prison when he's sentenced March 9, although prosecutors will ask the judge to require the 51-year-old Kansas City, Mo., man to serve at least 50 years behind bars before he is eligible for parole. His attorneys plan to appeal, arguing jurors should have been allowed to consider the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, requiring proof that Roeder had an unreasonable but honest belief that deadly force was justified.

The Rev. Donald Spitz, of Chesapeake, Va., who runs the Army of God Web site supporting violence against abortion providers, said the rejection of that argument has upset those who view Roeder as a hero.

"I know there is not a lot of good feeling out there _ everybody is pretty angry," he said.

If as a member of the legal profession you advocate that the killing of abortion providers is not murder but justifiable manslaughter, then you are truly a repugnant human being, and should probably be disbarred to boot.

That's probably the most repugnant thing I've heard in a very long time.