The Real Victim

Kathleen “Sarah Jane Olson” Soliah, convicted Symbionese Liberation Army terrorist and former Highland Park DFL stalwart and cause celebre, has been released on parole:

Kathleen Soliah, a former member of the radical Symbionese Liberation Army, was released on parole this week from a California women’s prison after serving about six years behind bars for her role in a plot to kill Los Angeles police officers by blowing up their patrol cars.

The white-haired convict, who has changed her name to Sara Jane Olson, had been sentenced to 12 years in prison. Like most California inmates, Soliah earned credit against her sentence for working while in prison. She served on a maintenance crew that swept and cleaned the main yard of the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, prison officials said.

The 61-year-old Soliah, who was released Monday, must now serve a three-year parole, although prison officials declined to provide the conditions of her release.

In the Soliah camp, there’s never been any doubt as to who the real victim was. And it’s not Myrna Opsahl:

Soliah’s attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, said, “We’re thrilled she’s out and can return to her family. For someone who was not a danger or a threat to society, it was six years too long.”

Saner heads prevailed, at trial and today:

Los Angeles police see Soliah in far harsher light.

She “attempted to murder LAPD officers by bombing two police cars,” said Tim Sands, president of the Police Protective League, which represents the city’s 9,300 rank-and-file officers. “She needs to serve her full time in prison for these crimes and does not deserve time off for working in prison. Criminals who attempt to murder police officers should not be able to escape justice simply because they have good lawyers.”…Soliah pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing a destructive device with the intent to murder and also struck a deal in a separate case, in which she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for participating in a Sacramento bank robbery where another SLA member killed [customer Myrna Opsahl]. For the murder conviction, she received a one-year sentence. For the botched bombings, Soliah initially was sentenced to five years and four months, but that term was extended to 12 years by a state prison board after the board designated her a serious offender.

I filled in Myrna Opsahl‘s name. The media has troubling tendency to leave here as an anonymous statistic; she was, in fact, a 42 year old mother of four. Indeed, everyone involved, including Soliah’s family, seem to refuse to grant Myrna Opsahl the dignity of having ever existed, much less accept responsibility for her murder.

Last June, Tara McKelvey interviewed Soliah’s husband and daughter, Fred and Emily Peterson. Nary a word of responsibility, of wonder about the life of the woman whose life Soliah helped bring to a gruesome, horrible end, of acknowledgement that Soliah was facing justice (and a fairly benign version of justice at that) for having done something wrong – the evil of destroying one life and family, and actively conniving to destroy more. No – since she’d been a “good person” since her years of bomb-making and bank-robbing and wanton gunfire, they, and their supporters, thought it was all an even trade.
Fred Peterson tried to turn it into a David Lynch screenplay:

“You know, The Fugitive Becomes a Soccer Mom. They’re all stereotypical images of deceit. None of that applies when you’re just living a life and raising kids. People would say to me, ‘How could you accommodate such a depraved criminal mind? How can you live with the knowledge of what happened in the past?’ It captures the American psychodrama. But it was not real.”

I’ll bet the family of Myrna Opsahl begs to differ.

(Via Ed at Hot Air)

194 thoughts on “The Real Victim

  1. false, ugly and unproven allegation

    What?

    Soliah was found guilty!

    What other allegations are germane here?

    Look up “germane” if you need to.

  2. I haven’t for a moment tried to draw attention away from her guilt.. I tried to point out the guilt of others whom you don’t give a crap about.

    Redifining what you are doing doesn’t change the truth, Peev.

    You hijacked the thread with accusations instead of commenting on the subject at hand.

    Your admission that I didn’t defend her was shrouded in a totally unsubstantiated accusation that somehow I wish I had the words.. not so, and not close, and you certainly weren’t behaving well by the admission that I didn’t defend her – I replied to you based on your tone as well as your words. You confer ill intent where there was none, and without proof.

    That wasn’t an admission, you nitwit. That you didn’t was my point. As I have stated several times now.

    I NEVER said you did.

    Get it?

    If you still think I did, I challenge you to show me where I made any such claim.

    I’ll state this again: reading comprehension…look into it.

    Further, go ask Flash or Ed if ‘leftout’ or ‘penigma’ have criticized the left. I pilloried Mark Ritchie – whom I personally confronted last weekend about his dishonesty.. and frankly pissed him off..

    Links?

    I’m asking you. You’re the one making the claim. I’m asking you to back it up.

    So, go suck an egg asshat – I live up to what I say, Mitch doesn’t – he demands conduct from others he won’t live to, but I try.. I fail too, but I do try..

    Since you live up to what you say, proving it shouldn’t be a problem. Right?

    You, otoh, accused me of something you have no proof of – none – and then did it again – if you seriously think I’m going to go back to CQ to look back at a blog I stopped posting on a more than six months ago.. get a freakin life.. jagoff

    You’re the one making claims you haven’t backed up yet. You are the one casully tossing accusations and thread-jacking. Don’t bitch at me for calling “bluff”…jagoff.

  3. and in the end, when in fact you were wrong, you didn’t have the balls or class to admit it.

    Making a claim is not proof, Peev.

    So where your proof?

  4. Here’s a question for you, outside of your rampant duplicity at hijacking this thread about a false, ugly and unproven allegation…

    And what does a that have to do with Soliah getting out of prison?

    Peev, if you wish to discuss all that, there’s this thing called a blog.

    They’re great; you can write about anything you want.

  5. peevish said:

    “Here’s a question for you, outside of your rampant duplicity at hijacking this thread about a false, ugly and unproven allegation”

    Have mercy, peevish. I’m laughing so much my sides hurt. 🙂

  6. “I was at the 3rd CD house/senate caucus for SD 41. Madia won 6 of 9 delegates for a pretty simple reason, he’s just FAR more articulate and engaged than Bonoff came across as.

    It may have come down to one thing he did that Bonoff didn’t. He called EVERY delegate personally, and spent (in my case) 20-25 minutes discussing issues and concerns.

    Terri came across as assuming the nomination was her’s. Too bad for her, but that sort of institutional presumptiveness didn’t serve her well.”

    Badda – this was the first one I could find.. criticizing Terri Bonoff, who, in the past on centrisity I described as vapid. I’ve taken off my pen-name – not for any real good reason other than I chose to.

    Paul – I replied to you, you don’t believe me, I don’t care. I have backed it up both by the comments of others, and above..

    And as far as claims go Paul – your criticism of the right, such as they were, were nothing of the sort..

    I have attacked Hillary for being too tied to corporate interests (here and elsewhere). I have criticized the left for being all too willing to throw good money after bad. To be sure, I’m not as rabid as you – and yes, I’m a Democrat, so clearly, my criticisms are colored from that prism – but Obama’s and worse, Clinton’s votes to back the war, are well-neigh unforgivable.

    And, yer still a jagoff.

  7. But you’re right, none of those were Mitch’s point, and maybe, just maybe, you can see, that’s the point.

    Too bad you didn’t consider that when you posted:

    Where is your screed about the crimes of Eric William Rudolph? Or Timothy McVeigh? Or where are your screeds about the secret bombings of Laos, of our support for Contras, or the Salvadoran (or Chilean) army’s executions of civilians?

    And by the way (had to hit on this again)

    outside of your rampant duplicity at hijacking this thread

    is hilarious considering you were the original thread-hijacker.

  8. btw Paul, the reason your criticism of the right weren’t criticism, is that they were critical of politicians who didn’t take the position you embrace, that means, they weren’t actually criticisms at all, they were complaints that someone wasn’t ‘conservative enough’, not pointing out a failure of a conservative, or of conservatism.

  9. Paul – I replied to you, you don’t believe me, I don’t care. I have backed it up both by the comments of others, and above..

    Where’s the link to the quoted comment?

  10. Paul, I didn’t for a moment claim to NOT have hijacked this thread. You berated me for it, I pointed out your conduct.. tough.

    In fact Paul, if you had the reading comprehension of a sloth, you’d get that I PURPOSEFULLY DID hijack the thread.. my reply to that is .. tough crap, the thread, in the constraint that Mitch wanted to present it – was bullshit, and I said that was why.. asshat.

    Yet, you decided to make the whole damned thing about my credibility, which really hasn’t ever been the question here.. and if you had the brains of a sloth, you’d have already tripped to that.. asshat.

    So, you complained about something you don’t do.. gosh, that’s a consistent theme I’m seeing..

  11. btw Paul, the reason your criticism of the right weren’t criticism, is that they were critical of politicians who didn’t take the position you embrace, that means, they weren’t actually criticisms at all, they were complaints that someone wasn’t ‘conservative enough’, not pointing out a failure of a conservative, or of conservatism.

    You asked for examples of when I have criticized the right. I gave you some. You moved the goalposts.

    That is not my problem.

    That is yours…

    …and you’re still an asshat jagoff.

  12. peevish said:

    “I PURPOSEFULLY DID hijack the thread”

    Then you deserve to be ignored, but this is fun too… 😉

  13. Paul… are you a freakin idiot, or what? If I put a link in, what next, will you claim I fabricated it?

    Or, will you, as you ought, apologize for the 10,000 insults you threw out.?

    Here’s your link-

    http://www.haloscan.com/comments/anokaflash/3615230184734320520/

    No Paul, I didn’t move the goal posts, you didn’t criticize the right.

    And Paul.. I won’t hold my breath too long. You wanted a thread criticizing the left – there ya go. BTW, i went further at the caucus, the Democratic operatives wanted Bonoff.. I in somewhat more tactful words told them we didn’t need the ‘machinery’ telling us who to support..

    and yer still a poopeyhead.

  14. In fact Paul, if you had the reading comprehension of a sloth, you’d get that I PURPOSEFULLY DID hijack the thread..

    Yes, you deliberately did it.

    Why do you think I thought otherwise?

    Why do you think I berated you for it?

    my reply to that is .. tough crap, the thread, in the constraint that Mitch wanted to present it – was bullshit, and I said that was why.. asshat.

    If you don’t like sticking to the topic at hand, then don’t be surprised when you get called on it and mocked…asshat.

    Yet, you decided to make the whole damned thing about my credibility, which really hasn’t ever been the question here…

    You were ignoring my questions and rambling on about subject not addressed in the original post, so I decided to get your attention. If you had adressed such earlier, and not continued to hijack the thread, maybe I wouldn’t have been forced to resort to such extreme measures…asshat.

    and if you had the brains of a sloth, you’d have already tripped to that..

    Proof, asshat. As in links.

    So, you complained about something you don’t do.. gosh, that’s a consistent theme I’m seeing..

    You’re still an asshat.

  15. peevish said:

    “Hey Mitch, how many times have you posted?”

    This reveals the unfortunate reality that the ability to post to a blog doesn’t necessarily mean a person ‘get’-s the concept of what a blog is. Sad really. 🙁

  16. Soliah represented a childish teenager’s/young adults decision to get ‘involved’ in standing up to ‘the man’ about Vietnam. She got into something she probably didn’t originally intend to, but that’s no defense.

    The bank robbery & Opsahl’s murder took place on April 21st 1975. The US began evacuating American forces and Vietnamese civilians and allies three weeks before the Crocker robbery.
    Paaty Hearst was driving the getaway car & she saw Soliah kick a pregnant teller in the stomach. The teller had a miscarriage.
    Just a crazy, mixed up kid, peev. Soliah probably thought Opsahl and the teller were green berets or something.

  17. Troy,

    The number of times Mitch (and everyone else) has ignored the overall point, and instead focused on utter minutae, is countless..FAR beyond 10,400 posts.

    Bottom line, you want any progress, don’t just focus on your infantesimal (sic undoubtedly) point, look to strike some sort of common ground, and move forward.

  18. And oh yeah, Soliah was 28 at the time. There goes that ‘teenager’s/young adults’ excuse you were pushing for Soliah, peev.

  19. Or, will you, as you ought, apologize for the 10,000 insults you threw out.?

    Thank you for finally providing proof, after 10,000 requests.

    You could have done that hours ago…so don’t call me a sloth after your slow-footedness.

    No Paul, I didn’t move the goal posts, you didn’t criticize the right.

    If you don’t like what I gave, tough sh*t, asshat jagoff.

  20. Terry – for how long was Soliah involved in the SLA? A couple of years if memory serves.. the SLA grew out of Vietnam protests – and yeah, it hung around afterward as some sort of sick protest to ‘the establishment’.

    I have no love for Soliah – I was pointing out an origin – I certainly don’t think she didn’t deserve what she got. I did think 14 years was a bit much.

  21. So, where’s the apology, poopey-head, and guees what, asshat, jagoff, i do actually have other things going on, and your crass, infantile behavior doesn’t make me so very likely to want to actually give a crap what you say..

  22. Terry, honestly, I thought she was substantially younger. On that point, clearly, I was wrong. sorry.

  23. And Paul..

    You CLAIMED I couldn’t provide the proof..

    You CLAIMED, I would have defended her, if I could find a credible one, and instead obfuscated..

    You made a lot of pretty ugly comments.. starting with the asshat comment –

    That I dont’ march to your schedule or read your posts when they are so thoughtlessly constructed, so full of accusations which are then later shown to be nothing more than ugly animous… well Paul, when you lay your little head down in your beddy-bye tonight, pick up a mirror, you’ll see the inner asshat looking back at you, and maybe you’ll be able to lie to it, but I suspect not.

  24. So, where’s the apology, poopey-head, and guees what, asshat, jagoff, i do actually have other things going on, and your crass, infantile behavior doesn’t make me so very likely to want to actually give a crap what you say..

    Yeah, that why you are still posting comments directly to me…because you don’t care, Mr. Poopeyhead Asshat-Jagoff.

    I’m sorry I had to carve your ass like a Easter ham to get you you to provide proof after 10,000 requests.

    There you go.

  25. I PURPOSEFULLY DID hijack the thread

    Hm. Wow.

    Well, that’s just childish, self-centered and obnoxious.

    I’ll await the revealed word on why my not claiming Karl Rove is also childish, self-centered, obnoxious, and the worst thread-hijacker in all of history makes me a bad person.

  26. You CLAIMED I couldn’t provide the proof..

    And look how long it took for you to do so…

    You CLAIMED, I would have defended her, if I could find a credible one, and instead obfuscated…

    Obfuscated what? I’ve been on point the whole time. You’re the SITD Champion of obfuscation, with your thread hijacking, which you started on this thread. For you to complain about obfuscation is laughable.

    If you weren’t going to defend her, why not comment, like Joel did, on whether her time served was enough way back in your first comment?

    You made a lot of pretty ugly comments.. starting with the asshat comment

    Which you eagerly joined in.

    That I dont’ march to your schedule or read your posts when they are so thoughtlessly constructed, so full of accusations which are then later shown to be nothing more than ugly animous…

    This from a guy who writes long-winded unintelligble screeds.

    And I’m not the only one here who has made that observation.

    As for marching to a schedule, Mitch doesn’t march to yours, no matter how much you wish it otherwise, which is why you try to hijack so many threads to bring it to what you want to discuss, no matter the subject matter. Even the Hot Gear ones.

  27. The more I learn about Soliah the more I’m convinced that she’s a psychopath. Hope her new neighbors get along with her!

  28. peevish said:

    “The number of times Mitch (and everyone else) has ignored the overall point, and instead focused on utter minutae”

    In the opinion of one Mr. peevish. Unfortunately for him (and only him), this is not his blog.

    “Bottom line, you want any progress, don’t just focus on your infantesimal (sic undoubtedly) point, look to strike some sort of common ground, and move forward.”

    Progress toward what? Common ground to whom? Forward to where?

    This is a blog, peevish. The rules are not complicated. Here are some I found you to read:

    http://www.goodcomment.com/

    I must admit that I should pay attention to what I found there too.

    Have a great weekend, peevish! 🙂

  29. Hope her new neighbors get along with her!

    Just surround her with the DFers that fundraised for her defense, and they’ll al get aong famously!

  30. The number of times Mitch…has ignored the overall point…

    …is precisely zero.

    On my blog, I determine the “overall point”.   If I write about unicorns, and you decide to talk about Karl Rove – the “main point” is unicorns.

    You can do the same on your own blog, or I may (or may not, at my sole discretion) indulge peoples’ digressions in my comment section. But I do determine “the overall point”, and there is no appeal.

    It’s really just that simple.

  31. It’s really just that simple.

    And yet he fails to grasp that most easy to grasp point again, and again, and again, and again, and AGAIN.

    Man, this has been a banner day for highlighting Peev’s raging OCD.

  32. Lileks said:

    “And I condemn them both! And all the other Emperors, just to be safe.”

    Even Trajan?!?! 😉

  33. Wonder if she’ll start kicking pregnant women in the belly again? Or shooting housewives?,/i>

    Nah, Terry, she’ll be just a DFL flak again.

  34. I absolutely detest Soliah and when I saw that Mitch had posted about her release I was interested to see what we had here…and then my eyes popped out when I saw there were 184 posts! Who knew that so many of them would be hilarious limericks?! And Peev…seriously…words fail.

    And here’s a shocker for ya’ll. I don’t care what Eric Rudolph did. Maybe you should go see trash sacks in dumpsters with little baby bits and pieces to see what I mean. Grown men and women purposefully killed those babies by ripping them apart and throwing them in a trash sacks. Recognizable baby remains. Nope, Eric Rudolph coulda’ ran forever as far as I’m concerned.

  35. So, Colleen, do you think it was okay for Rudolph to have killed random people, as he did in the Olympic Park bombing of ’96?
    Are you Muslim, by any chance?

  36. Ha! Muslim. No, random people are not OK…abortion dcotors (killing for MONEY)…that doesn’t bother me all that much. Sorry.

  37. No, random people are not OK…abortion dcotors (killing for MONEY)…that doesn’t bother me all that much. Sorry.

    And with that precious bit of lawless psychosis, I declare this epic thread a success.

    Have a great weekend everybody!

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