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Wednesday, July 27, 2011 , Updated 2:55 p.m., July 27, 2011
UPDATED: Planned Parenthood clinic in McKinney attacked with Molotov cocktail
Crews quickly extinguished the flames and reported minor damage.
A fire in McKinney appears to have been intentionally started.
At approximately 10:05 p.m. Tuesday, the McKinney Fire Department was dispatched to a reported structure fire at Planned Parenthood, 1720 Eldorado Parkway, in McKinney.
First arriving units found a small fire burning on the exterior of the building in the area of the main entrance. The fire was quickly extinguished with minor damage. Initial investigation reveals an incendiary device containing flammable liquid appears to have been thrown at the building.
The fire is under investigation by the McKinney Fire Marshal and the McKinney Police Department.
UPDATE from Star Local News: Officials with Planned Parenthood confirmed that their McKinney clinic was the target of violence sometime last night.
Holly Morgan, director of media relations and communications for Planned Parenthood in Dallas, said their McKinney health center located on Eldorado Parkway was "attacked" between 10 and 11 p.m. Tuesday with an incendiary device.
The person or persons involved in the attack threw a Molotov cocktail, consisting of diesel fuel in a glass bottle with a lit rag, at the building. Morgan said the device did not penetrate the front of the clinic but did cause some serious damage.
"It didn't penetrate the health center office and none of the staff or patients were there, which is great," Morgan said. "It scorched the outside of the door and I believe there was a little scorching to the retail locations on either side of it."
McKinney police officials have taken some of the remains of the device as evidence and cleaned up the facility, so they could remain open the following morning.
Morgan characterized the attack as unprecedented, not just for the clinic but for their entire North Texas operations.
"We have not had this kind of violence at any of the other locations in the past," she said. "I believe we've had some vandalism in the past but that was a decade or so ago. We have never had any kind of attack to this degree."
UPDATE (1:35 p.m.): McKinney fire officials have confirmed that an incendiary device was used in the attack. Fire crews arrived on the scene at 10:05 p.m. and found a small fire burning the exterior of the building. Crews quickly extinguished the flames and only reported minor damage. An investigation revealed the presence of the device that contained "flammable liquid" that was thrown at the building. The incident is still under investigation by the McKinney Fire Marshal and the McKinney Police Department.
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TBone50, anonymous:
More right-wing domestic terrorism.
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Clay213, anonymous:
"consisting of diesel fuel in a glass bottle with a lit rag"
Diesel? LOL.
Did they include a fuel injector with the bottle?
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lovemetal15, anonymous:
It must have been a muslim extremist!
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blackjaguararts, anonymous:
I hope they catch the [likely domestic right-wing terrorist] responsible and light his nuts on fire. If he tried to cut off our reproductive choice, we should cut off his.
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a6780, anonymous:
Right wing extremism, even Fascism - I am not joking, modern conservatism is bearing an alarming resemblance to the fascist techniques of Nazi Germany. I may be overstepping a line here, but the parallels are there. http://www.thinkersjam.com/fascism-in...
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Jason Rice, verified:
Godwin's Law in 6.
Nice work guys.
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stefobox, anonymous:
It's great to know that my life is threatened when I simply want to get my ovarian cysts examined.
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Clay213, anonymous:
No.. really... DIESEL???
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rhodaozen, anonymous:
So sick and tired of extreme right wing ultra conservative evangelical Christian members of the Grand Obstructionist Party and absolutely the Tea Partying Freshmen. The Federal Government must keep their hands off of us, except if you're a woman that is impoverished and requires an abortion or birth control. In the case of Birth Control, Pap Smears and other[PP does NOT perform abortion]it could be teens and any other woman regardless of financial standing. They just want them gone, why these mostly old white men want this is beyond me except for control issues. I've been protesting since Vietnam, as a Feminist I did everything I could to legalize abortion, open up the job market for women and hope we'd succeed in case I had daughters, which I do, two ages 21 and 34. Now we've got to start all over again. Molotov cocktail! Why do they consistently insist on violent measures. Their hate oozes from every pore. They must be stopped, it's to the point of murder of grown women and Doc's, protecting so called "life" Hahahaha!!!
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Clay213, anonymous:
Sock puppets and false flags burning in the flames of nonflammable molotov cocktails
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DelWisconsin, anonymous:
It might have been a left-wing, pro-abortion supporter of Planned Parenthood, looking to restore some public's sympathy that has been lost in recent months.
Seriously.... they would be smart enough to use diesel fuel in a molotav. Maximum drama, minimum damage.
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Jason Rice, verified:
Generalize much?
What if... and go with me on this... what if it's just an a**hole.
Could happen, right?
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Clay213, anonymous:
Who needs facts when kneejerk reactions make for much better 1 off comments?
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Teresa Gubbins, staff:
Jason Rice, did you take from rhodaozen's comment that she was accusing the extreme right wing ultra conservative evangelical Christian members of the Grand Obstructionist Party and absolutely the Tea Partying Freshmen of doing this? i just got that she was sick of them.
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DelWisconsin, anonymous:
Read rhodaozen's post again.....
rhodaozen is an angry old feminist from the Vietnam era.
She thinks that Planned Parenthood does not perform abortions(!), and that the pro-life movement is mostly old, white men. She thinks that the pro-lifers "consistently insist on violent measures" and "Their hate oozes from every pore."
The reality is quite the opposite. Google "March For Life" and see for yourself -- hundreds of thousands of young, joy-filled, peaceful civil-rights activists marching in Washington in hope of protection for women and children.
The pro-life movement is mostly young people people -- the generation who survived abortion.
The pro-life movement also has many post-abortive women -- who want to spare other women from decades of pain and infertility.
And there are some Christians -- mostly Evangelicals and Catholics and Mormons -- who want to stop the killing and harm to women. Common sense tells us that abortion is wrong; our faith is what causes us to care about helping women and children.
None of these think people that violence and killing is solved by more violence or killing. And none of these practice anger or hatred as a bad habit.
Who threw the silly diesel molotov? We'll find out.
I say it is more likely that a post-abortive woman or her boyfriend did the damage, in pain and frustration over the loss of a child.
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Jason Rice, verified:
TGubb...
Actually, I find rants like rhodaozen hilarious. It's like casting as broad a net as possible and having the opposite effect. You ascribe similarity to so many groups and never realize that "all the blond haired, blue eyed, left hand, counter tenors, with insinkerator disposals and differing sized orthopedic shoes using nonskid carpet tape on their napkin rings".... actually denotes one single radish farmer living on the outskirts of Dubuque instead of the vast spectrum of evils you meant to castigate.
That, and it's pretty ignorant to lump those groups anyway. But then I don't feel like we're dealing with Professors Emeritii anyway when these topics come up.
I mean, think about it. If you "know" that Planned Parenthood is "all about abortions for blacks and poor minorities" and you you happen to hate those groups - like a LOT... um wouldn't you write them a big check instead? So airing your ignorance in asserting theirs is... well... humorous.
And assuming these people "want to tell everyone how to live" ... while lecturing them on how they should live.
You just can't get any funnier.
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Jason Rice, verified:
...and yeah, it's an accusation. You just have to make it all the way through the dissertation.
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Teresa Gubbins, staff:
actually i like rhodaozen a lot, preferring her comment to those from DelWisconsin - but then again, that may be because i'm just another angry old feminist from the Vietnam era
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Jason Rice, verified:
Impossible. I have had civil discussions with you.
But back to the amazing stupidity at hand:
Quick refresher.
1. It's McKinney - a pretty well to do suburb.
2. It's summer - a lot of kids finding unhealthy ways to spend time
3. Ascribing a stupid act of vandalism to a global conspiracy is kinda lame
4. If it wasn't akin to historical hate crimes, we wouldn't even see it in print.
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SitizenKane, anonymous:
So many could be's in this story I think I will go with "angry old feminist bra burning rally that got outta control"
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Jason Rice, verified:
Incendiary comments, Kane?
Let the puns be on your head.
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Clay213, anonymous:
This situation is a bit combustible
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atoomim, anonymous:
It is wishful thinking on the part of the defensive religious self-righteous that think this was anything other than domestic terrorism by fanatical right-wing Texas Taliban. I would place a large bet that the person that did this votes Republican and is a member of the Tea Party. I'm sure the Vegas odds would be heavily in my favor.
I was too young to fight for women's rights during the Vietnam War, but I thank rhodaozen, Sarah Weddington, the late great Gov. Ann Richards and all the other women that fought for women's rights. I refuse to give up those rights that they won for us without a fight.
As to Planned Parenthood and abortions, the clinic in McKinney does not do them. That clinic does cancer screenings, pap smears, STD screenings and provides contraception. They provide family planning education and provide referrals to adoption agencies. They also help with prenatal and postnatal care. They also diagnose and treat diabetes and high blood pressure.
A couple of years ago I was shopping for something pink to wear for Planned Parenthood Lobby Day. The young sales clerk that was helping me told me how Planned Parenthood helped her with pre and postnatal care, helped her get on WIC and get other services available to her. She said that if it had not been for Planned Parenthood, she wouldn't have been able to keep her baby.
I have found that most people that rail against Planned Parenthood are either uninformed or misinformed about what it is that they actually do. There are 27 Planned Parenthood Health Clinics in North Texas but only 2 separately funded affiliated Surgical Centers that perform abortions.
And to rhodaozen point about "old white men", I can't state as to the race but I notice that the anti-choicers commenting on this thread all seemed to be men. Men who want control women's reproductive systems because they don't have one of their own. It is a classic case of uterus envy.
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Jason Rice, verified:
I'm pretty sure the war was about something else.... but you go girl with that vast global conspiracy thing. It really looks good on you.
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Clay213, anonymous:
"the anti-choicers commenting on this thread all seemed to be men."
Uhmmm.... Who?
"Men who want control women's reproductive systems because they don't have one of their own. "
Uhmmmm....What???
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Jason Rice, verified:
psst - Clay,
I think she may mean us since we didn't immediately embrace our personal culpability in the well worn tradition of self immolation in the face of any social grievance. It's what we're supposed to do, I think.
Yeah the lack of a reproduction system threatens me, and I admire the ability that women have to multiply in a complete vacuum, but I try to ignore it and focus on other methods of self fulfillment like crafts, ceramics and estate planning.
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Clay213, anonymous:
Facts or evidence be damned! I clearly must hate women and their reproductive systems.. man I wish I could get one for Christmas.. for not immediately joining the chorus line.
I think commentators like atoomin should apply for jobs in law enforcement-- since they've got it all figured out already and everything.
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Jason Rice, verified:
Well, with that profile description, all that's missing is the perp's mailing address.
...unless that's how she describes everyone "without a reproductive system."
And Clay, for the record, I know that you don't hate women... any more than you hate the rest of us. I often use you as my prime example of an equal-opportunity disparager. You're an inspiration, really.
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Clay213, anonymous:
I'm curious how many of the prior 1 off commentators believe '911 was an inside job?'
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Jason Rice, verified:
... by the Neo-Zionists and Skull and Bones society in conjunction with the Pugh Charitable Trust.... no wait...
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mezzetin_subaquatic, anonymous:
...or the heritage foundation...
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mezzetin_subaquatic, anonymous:
...or the heritage foundation...
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mezzetin_subaquatic, anonymous:
or the Oooops..
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SitizenKane, anonymous:
Bill Clinton made similar false accusations against the right during the rash of black church burnings in the 1990's - turns out it was acutally a black man that was burning em down !
Oooops !
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ailamaccubbin, anonymous:
I disagree that ALL anti-choicers are trying to limit women's reproductive choice as a form of control. I do believe that's the underlying point to the anti-choice movement, but I honestly believe that a lot of the anti-choicers are just random people that got sucked into something without bothering to think it through.
One of the downsides to the US is that people are so tied down to the whole "I'm a republican!" or "I'm a democrat!" and the other party is pure evil, that people are willing to take what either party says as absolute truth with no exceptions or room for discussion -- and it happens on both sides of the fence.
Many of the anti-choicers I run into (and I'll admit it, I antagonize them for my own enjoyment), tend to actually believe that the pro-choice movement is encouraging abortion. It's not about handing out half off abortion coupons to pregnant women, it's about leaving the choice up to the woman herself. I can honestly say from experience that the majority of pro-choicers I know are pretty anti-abortion for themselves. But that's the key point there: for themselves.
You'd never see me willingly set foot in the (specific) Baptist church in my town. I don't have a problem with baptists, perse, but I'm not a baptist. I personally disagree with quite a bit of this pastor's teachings, and I find him to be incredibly stupid. But my inlaws love him and his teachings. I could force my beliefs on them and tell them flat out: "YOU CAN'T GO THERE, THE PASTOR IS A DICK!" and try and petition for legislation banning him from practicing his beliefs, or I could go "well, if you guys want to go to church, you go right ahead, I won't be" thereby letting them make their own choices.
That's freedom there. Long and convoluted, but the key point is, you can choose to do whatever you wish, as long as it doesn't interfere with me and my ability to choose my own way too. And that's the problem with the anti-choice movement, it makes decisions for you.
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sarager17, anonymous:
ailamaccubbin, hear hear.
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mikeguy, anonymous:
Im going to get pregnant just so I can have an abortion. Stupid right wing jerks. It's a womans decistion. Period. Stupid bitter old white men.
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drjdallas, anonymous:
The owners of this place just came into my office so this is the first I've heard of it. It's amazing that people express their hatred is such pathetic ways. Lock them up and throw away the key.
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What do you think?