When is a terrorist simply an aged "radical" to the Los Angeles Times? When the terrorist is Kathleen Soliah, who in her glory days was a "fetching high school pep-squad member turned fugitive." Soliah was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a group that plotted to blow up Los Angeles Police Department cruisers in the 1970s.
Here's how Times staff writer Joel Rubin opened his March 21 story on Soliah's recent release from prison:
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.
Story Continues Below Ad ↓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.
Rubin did note that the LAPD see Soliah and the SLA in a "far harsher light."
The only instance where the term "terrorist" was used in the article, however, was in describing the al Qaeda terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and was quickly followed by a flattering, romanticized description of Soliah as a "fetching high school pep-squad member turned fugitive" (emphasis mine):
Soliah's second life came to an abrupt end in 1999 when she was apprehended soon after being featured on TV's "America's Most Wanted." Her case was moving toward trial on Sept. 11, 2001. After the terrorist attacks, Soliah struck a plea deal in the bombing attempt, saying she feared she would not get a fair trial in such an atmosphere.
Prosecutors scoffed at her reasoning, pointing to reams of documents, fingerprints and other evidence they had amassed against her. The deal aborted a trial that had promised high drama -- the saga of a fetching high school pep-squad member turned fugitive -- and a revisiting of the social tumult of the 1970s.
—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters
















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Just Your Average Left Wing Soccer Mom
March 21, 2008 - 12:31 ET by allanfJust your average soccer Mom and second degree murderer. No big deal. The wife and mother depositing Church contributions at the Hibernia National Bank in Sacramento was just a capitalist. Her death pales in comparision to the romance of revolution.
Why Kathleen Soliah (or Sara Jane Olson) is just like "Serial Mom", Kathleen Turner. It is all great fun for the Revolution.
</end sarcasm>
Ladies and Gentleman, I give you the stuff of left wing legends.
These people have no
March 21, 2008 - 12:38 ET by rbosqueThese people have no shame.
What a surprise, the culture of death praising a member of a death cult.
It should be noted:
March 21, 2008 - 12:53 ET by CobraManIt should be noted that she was captured in her hometown, St. Paul, Minnesota. After her arrest and detention on federal charges, several liberal members of our State legislature called for her release on the grounds that she was, and I'm paraphrasing here, just a confused teenage who got caught up in the anti-war movement and didn't know what she was doing.
They even had the gall to say that, since this all happened so long ago, she should be forgiven for her participation in murder and attempted murder and be allowed to live the exemplary life style that she became accustomed to while avoiding arrest and living under an assumed identity.
According to her liberal supporters, it didn't matter what she did in the past. She's a big liberal supporter and member of the liberal community and, therefore, should be forgiven for her past, ahh, indiscretions.
I remember the sickeningly
March 21, 2008 - 13:40 ET by fitzfongI remember the sickeningly favorable treatment this terrorist got from the local media where I was living in California. They employed Madam Pantsuit's tactic of publicly using an innocent young daughter in a cynical attempt to excuse the felonious actions of the mother. They browbeat the daughter of one of the murder victims for piling on, seeking vengeance at any cost...and they "appealed" to the victim's "sense of decency" with the disgusting "two wrongs don't make a right" canard (as if, by seeking justice for the murder of her mother, she was intentionally depriving an innocent young girl of the same rights the girl's mother had inadvertantly deprived her of). That's right, they actually tried to make a villain out of the victim and a victim out of a villain. And what moral equivalency argument on behalf of a fugitive terrorist murderer would be complete without the "she's lived an exemplary life in the years since she fled justice, so shouldn't we take that into account before judging her for her criminal acts...and besides who are we punishing here: the exemplary mother who made a rash judgment oh so long ago in her developmental infancy or the innocent product of the marriage that reined in the spirit of the rebellious idealist" plea? The coverage this fugitive terrorist murderer received was frankly nauseating...not to mention dishonest. She should be spending the rest of her miserable life in jail...but instead she and her family get a second bite at the sympathy apple thanks to the sycophantic media. Pardon me while I vomit.
Oh, and by the way this "fetching idealist" kicked a pregnant bank teller in the stomach...causing her to miscarry. And we're supposed to dwell on the time this monster was forced to spend away from her husband and daughter? Puh-leeze.
I remember that!
March 21, 2008 - 13:52 ET by CobraManI remember that and I was disgusted at the way these CRIMINALS were being portrayed as some type of revolutionary hero of the 70's! It seems that as long as someone is commit crimes for the benefit of liberal ideals, no one is allowed to punish them or they will be portrayed as the true criminals.
Fitz, Maybe these liberal
March 21, 2008 - 16:06 ET by Hunter12Fitz, Maybe these liberal clowns praising this woman and her exemplary lifestyle should consider she was just trying to keep her nose clean to avoid capture. It had nothing to do with a change in belief, just a desire to stay out of jail.
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." - Sir Winston Churchill
Should they consider it?
March 21, 2008 - 17:36 ET by fitzfongShould they consider it? Yes. Will they? Hahahahahahahahahah....
So, the Minnesota
March 21, 2008 - 13:30 ET by maggieqpublicSo, the Minnesota legislators chose to overlook that Ms. Soliah voluntarily joined a group that assassinated the Oakland Superintendent of Public Schools, Marcus Foster, with cyanide bullets. (But guess that’s what confused teenagers involved in the anti-war movement tended to do.)
I wasn’t wild about the war either, Kathleen, but the SLA was nothing but a group of Marxist killers.
Che Guevara wannabe's
March 21, 2008 - 13:41 ET by CobraMan"the SLA was nothing but a group of Marxist killers."
It was a lot worse that that. They were a group of upper middle class brats pretending to be Marxist revolutionaries. They want to play at being Che Guevara types as that was chic at the time. They wanted to kill, maim, steal, and disrupt simply for the joy of doing it, not for any real idealism.
High schooler??? Not even close- She was 27!
March 21, 2008 - 14:38 ET by motherbeltFirst of all, she was NO fetching high school pep-squad member, as the article describes her. Nor was she a confused teenage who got caught up in the anti-war movement as some of the local legislators rationalized. When she joined the SLA she was 27 years old.!
I rmemember the circus when she was found: I lived near St. Paul at the time. The local crusade was as you said: it was a long time ago; she's a good mother now, active in the community; etc., her "fans" even created and sold a cookbook to raise money for her ("Serving Time"...hahaha). For the flavor of the local adoration at the time, see this article by local bloggers John Hinderaker and Scott Johnson of Power Line.
The only discrepancy is that in spite of their claiming that the case was weak, etc., she was, in fact, unexpectedly convicted. And you would have thought that Mother Theresa had been framed, to hear the outrage from her supporters.
Moral of their story....if you can hide long enough, you should be allowed to get away with attempted murder.
Back to St. Paul?
March 21, 2008 - 15:44 ET by CaringwhiteguyThink she'll go back to St. Paul to campaign for Al Franken? I'm sure Al would be glad to have her.
Sara Jane Olsen
March 22, 2008 - 15:50 ET by DFLowerShe was involved in several political campaigns her in St paul, abd was freinds with a couple state legislators.
I am using the AP's tactic of never mentioning party affiliation when it doesn't involve (R).
With George Galloway at the
March 22, 2008 - 16:47 ET by fitzfongWith George Galloway at the right hand and Kathleen Soliah at the left, Al Franken now has the complete terrorist mouthpiece set in his collection. He probably thinks it will help him.
SARA JANE OLSON...
March 22, 2008 - 20:19 ET by danybhoyI would bet almost anything that sara Jane Olson will be politically active & will not have a low profile. There are too many people in the TwinCities who will still kiss her @$$. The liberals/progressive up here in my neck of the woods will see her for her "good, kind hearted nature" she had when she was on the lamb. Rather then seeing her as the marxist terrorist extremist she was back in her SLA days. The lefties are very selective about the history they learn & preach, this old bag will be treated like royalty when she returns to St.Paul in many quarters.
BTW, am I the only person who thought she looked kinda like Edgar Winter??
"Some of us are wise, some of us are otherwise" Mark Levin
dany... Thought maybe you
March 22, 2008 - 20:26 ET by bigtimerdany...
Thought maybe you might want to see this...I posted it awhile ago to mb on OT. It is an update on Sarah Jane as of today....RD has another link on the latest after mine on OT too...it is all at the bottom last I saw.
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill
Does this look like a
March 21, 2008 - 13:22 ET by jdhawkDoes this look like a fetching high school pep-squad member to you? She looks more like an old hag.
Here is a recent photo: http://www.enews20.com/news_Ex_SLA_Member_Sara_Jane_Olson_Released_from_Prison_06640.html
Besides the ghastly picture,
March 21, 2008 - 13:31 ET by fitzfongBesides the ghastly picture, did you notice that she is demanding the right to skirt the conditions of her parole by being able to leave LA County to move closer to her husband in Minnesota? Just goes to show that if you give these terrorists an inch...they'll take half the country.
I'm all for her being allowed to move!
March 21, 2008 - 23:55 ET by lbcdawnYowza, lcb
March 22, 2008 - 00:00 ET by BlondeI hardly recognized that comment without the valchickspeak.
Great to see you back here, my friend!
David Gregory, do you know which damn network you lie for? ~ Uncle Jimbo, @Blackfive
HA! Like I for sure don't
March 22, 2008 - 00:23 ET by lbcdawnDudette,
March 22, 2008 - 00:29 ET by BlondeGot it.
But, like, you know...you have to post the next time we have Global Warming!
Or auto-warming....whichever comes first!
SOD (that would be "s*** oh dear" for the reading deficient trolls here)....it's great to have you posting again...even if it's infrequent.
David Gregory, do you know which damn network you lie for? ~ Uncle Jimbo, @Blackfive
auto warming???
March 22, 2008 - 00:35 ET by lbcdawnoi! Deja Vu, lbc
March 22, 2008 - 00:39 ET by BlondeNow we're back to where we started.
And I meant warming of the automobile....too hot to put one's butt in....like that. LOL.
Great seeing you here, tonite. I'm out.
Cheers, old friend!
David Gregory, do you know which damn network you lie for? ~ Uncle Jimbo, @Blackfive
When she joined the SLA, she
March 21, 2008 - 14:10 ET by motherbeltWhen she joined the SLA, she was no naive 16-year-old, nor was she an idealistic college student.....she was 27.
27
March 21, 2008 - 14:18 ET by CobraManSo much for the "young, confused woman" defense!
She will
March 21, 2008 - 13:44 ET by okiehawk44This radical will kill again if she feels the need. She is an unrepentent radical killer. Nothing less. Many were against the Vietnam War. They did not blow up things or kill women with children. She did and will again because she can -- no change here! I knew people like her back in the '60s & '70s hiding from the law in New Mexico -- they were radical right to the marrow of their bones. These were no "let's go picket" or "let's write some letters to the editor" types -- they hated this country; they loved radical thought and action; they felt no empathy for their victims.
Captured via the Star and Tribune!
March 21, 2008 - 14:21 ET by CobraManI don't know if people are aware of this, but she was capture thanks to someone who recognized a photo of her that was featured in the Variety section of the Minneapolis Star and Tribune!
The unnamed person saw that issue a day or two after the America's Most wanted episode and called the authorities and alerted them as to her real identity. She was being profiled in the Star and Tribune for, get this, her work with local Community Theater! I actually saw that picture!
Ha Ha Ha! Now THAT'S poetic justice!
(on edit: That's Variety and no Varity)
May the rest of her life suck
March 21, 2008 - 14:07 ET by greenfairieThe fawning media coverage of this murderous shrew disgusted me to no end. The popular culture romanticizes people like her. Is it any wonder their younger counterparts are burning houses and SUVs and attacking researchers? They're just groovy, man!! For people who make a big show about caring for "the regular guy," they couldn't care crap about them. Cops? Church ladies? You? Me? Just capitalist pigs, maaaan.
This POS copped a plea only when Patty Hearst was ready to rat on her and giant piles of documents proved her involvement. I don't think the prosecution should've taken it, to be quite honest, but oh well. She's not the least bit sorry about what she's done. She hasn't shown an iota of remorse. She's only sorry she got caught and her suburban lifestyle in a fancy home and dinner theater got inconveniently interrupted.
Just another poor misunderstood terrorist
March 22, 2008 - 00:13 ET by Army BratAll terrorists get a break from the MSM. She's just the latest.
Happy Trails...
Sara Jane Olsen
March 23, 2008 - 08:42 ET by DontFeedTheTrollsOops, she's back in her cell.
D
Keep the ILLEGALS out, join NumbersUSA to send free faxes to your reps.
In the immortal words of
March 23, 2008 - 15:33 ET by fitzfongIn the immortal words of Nelson Muntz...HA! HA!