By Scott Tibbs, February 20, 2012
The following post in the comments for my letter to the editor was written by Monroe County Economic Development Commission member Greg Travis. His wife, Sophia Travis, is running for an at-large seat on the Monroe County Council in the Democratic primary on May 8. She previously served on the council from 2005-2008, after being elected in 2004. In 2008, she ran for County Commissioner and lost.
A screenshot is below the quoted text.
It is clear that Tibbs doesn't believe his own inflammatory rhetoric that babies are being killed regularly at Planned Parenthood. After all, who among us would sit by and do nothing while children were being murdered in front of our very eyes?
When Scott steps up to save these children, with deadly force if necessary, I'll believe his concern is sincere. Until then he's just a moralizng fraud. |
The flaw in the reasoning is obvious. Travis is setting up a fantasy world where no one who believes abortion is murder can ever be moral. In this fantasy world, simply believing that abortion is murder makes you morally depraved no matter what you do. Travis pretends to believe that I am immoral because I oppose violent means to stop abortion. But if I were to ever act violently against an abortion clinic or the people who work there, Travis would be the first one to damn me for being a terrorist.
In Travis' fantasy world, moral standards morph and change based on what is politically convenient at the moment. If someone believes abortion is murder yet does not engage in terrorism to stop it, that person is morally depraved for allowing murder to take place. If that person engages in terrorism, that person is morally depraved for being a terrorist. This way, Travis always occupies the moral high ground while his opponents are automatically immoral no matter what they do.
Of course, this is silly. Moral standards do not morph and change based on who can gain a partisan advantage.
Here is why this is important. GRT (Greg Travis) is not just another Internet crank. As I mentioned above, he is a member of the Monroe County Economic Development Commission, appointed by the Monroe County Council. (The website has not been updated recently, but The Herald-Times reports that Travis is the president of the commission.) GRT's wife (Sophia Travis) is running for Monroe County Council in the Democratic primary. These two are major players in local politics and local government.
This is a major political scandal, folks. The husband of a candidate seeking countywide elective office is arguing that abortion opponents must commit murder in order to prove they are "sincere" in their opposition to abortion. The Herald-Times has repeatedly and enthusiastically deleted any post in HTO comments that reveals GRT's real name. The H-T is engaged in a cover-up of extreme statements that would damage Travis' standing on the EDC as well as his wife's chances of being elected to the Monroe County Council.
It is long past time for the H-T to end this charade and stop covering for Greg Travis and his wife. The people of Monroe County deserve to know this information as they step into the voting booth, first in the Democratic primary on May 8 and (if Sophia Travis wins the primary) in the general election on November 6.
