THAT is what Journalism Really Looks Like!

I take a certain sense of pride as I watch the brou-ha-ha developing in the States this week.

ACORN, that bastion of hope and righteousness, rescuers of the downtrodden and forlorn, is now in the media cross-hairs.

Is it the voter fraud indictments in Miami-Dade? Nope.

How about this reason (Wall Street Journal):

In Ohio in 2004, a worker for one affiliate was given crack cocaine in exchange for fraudulent registrations that included underage voters, dead voters and pillars of the community named Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy and Jive Turkey. During a Congressional hearing in Ohio in the aftermath of the 2004 election, officials from several counties in the state explained Acorn's practice of dumping thousands of registration forms in their lap on the submission deadline, even though the forms had been collected months earlier.

Nope.

Could it be this episode after Katrina:

In the following weeks, I was made aware of the fact that ACORN had reopened its New Orleans office (several months after the storm). Various groups from around the city informed me that Acorn was upset with us because we were in “their” community and had not sought approval from ACORN to operate there. I was told that ACORN said that we were “privileged white people who had come to a Black community as saviors and we refused to work with local Black leadership.”

It has to do with a series of videos made by Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe.

(BTW: if you're a knuckle-dragging lout looking for those Giles Bikini Pics, you'd best be prepared to see what the family does for sport, first.)

You may have seen their work by now...

They visited Baltimore, and D.C. and New York...

Black community organizers counseling a white "pimp and prostitute" how to defraud the government. To do what? They counseled these journalists on the "correct" way to marginalize, and sexually exploit 13-16 year-old girls (of ethnic minority) for personal gain.

Buckle up: we're told that the most provocative footage is yet to come.

There was a time when this was journalism. Where the reporter went undercover, asked questions, sought answers, and made even powerful people squirm.

That was the power of the press, from Colonial times, and (before that) the Reformation.

Mainstream Media: I hope you're taking notes. Stories don't come to you, you go find them.

I really hope they get a Pulitzer.
I really hope they shut down Acorn.
I'm really very proud to have once known her.

God Bless you Hannah... enjoy the fruits of your labour.

Abortionist Slain in Church

The grisly murder of an usher (while his wife /widow looks on from the choir) is the last thing most people expect to see in a Church service.

But that's what happened in Wichita this week-end. BBC's full-length report here.

So, what happened?

It's too soon to know the whole story, but here's what we know from early reports.

1) Tiller (the deceased) has been shot at before.

2) He operated a facility in which "late-term" abortions were conducted.

3) A suspect (age 51) is being questioned by authorities.

I tried to learn about the Church itself, to get a sense of whether it is holds a conservative or liberal (theologically, not politically) view of the Bible, and to determine whether the career path of Dr Tiller would be at odds with the overall direction of the Church. There was no doctrinal statement published on their website to help sort this out. It seems they have attended there for years, have been active in different Church events, and contributed sufficiently with their finances to be listed among other contributors in a memorial on the property.

I did learn that there have been ongoing protests involving abortion, this church, and this Doctor. Sites like this one vent their grievances and actively protested, but do not endorse violence. It had the decency to denounce the cowardly murder, and provides links to the local newspaper.

What we do NOT know (yet) is whether the killer was a member of the church, or an outsider with a plan to kill him. We do NOT know whether he claims to be a Christian (or member of any religious group at all). We do NOT know what motivated the killer to pull the trigger, whether it was convictions about the nature of abortion, or personal experiences relating to them, or some other reason beyond the victim's profession.

There is a tendency in media to sensationalize such events and to claim that these are somehow the natural outcome of Christian belief.

I want to stress that, historically, both in the example of Jesus Christ, and in the sum and total of the Christian life as laid out in the Scripture actions like this are thoroughly condemned. That is, appointing oneself to execute another person is universally indefensible. God gives us governments and legal systems,vigilante-ism is forbidden. ( Romans 12:18-21)

If it turns out that the attacker claims to be acting in the name of Christianity, it will be worth noting the force and speed with which the Church (locally and generally) denounces both this man and his actions. His actions alone will be regarded as sufficient proof that he is not truly Christian.

As a parting note, I consider this man's murder brutal and barbaric, but the reason I do so is because I see all people as to be made in the image of God. The reaction I have to his murder is precisely this same reaction that this man's employment provokes in me: revulsion.

Why revulsion? Because I see in it the calculated, brutal and barbaric killing - for profit! - of possibly thousands of lives every bit as valuable as his own. Not because of what they can or cannot do, but because of whose Image they bear.

Trade Policy Proposal...

Canada announces end of economic relationship with US, & a bold new strategy to 2020

Ottawa, May 14, 2009

The country of Canada today announced the end of its centuries long relationship with the United States, and a bold new seven-point "Canada Transformed!" strategy that will re-orient its economic, cultural, societal values and innovation engine towards the world economy of 2020.

"It has come to the point that we can no longer rely on the United States as an honest and reliable economic partner," stated Canada at a news conference. "It is time that we adopt a bold new strategy that will align our economy away from the US, and towards the growth economies of the 21st century in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. As well, we will immediately begin working to enhance our long standing relationships with reliable partner nations in Europe."

The massive scope of the plan was not lost on Canada in the emotional conference. "We aim to reduce our role of being the largest trading partner with the United States, to becoming a marginal partner at best. We believe that this is the only right way forward."

This article was written by a futurist, "Jim Carroll", whose blog I linked to from Bourque.

It is well worth the read, and makes some interesting points about the relationship between Canada and USA, especially as it relates to trade, and their dependence on our continued participation in the present trade arrangements.

Blood for Oil... RUSSIA? To declare war on Arctic neighbours?

Russian Official Military strategy -- whole story here:

In a competition for resources it cannot be ruled out that military force could be used to resolve emerging problems that would destroy the balance of forces near the borders of Russia and her allies.

Russia is therefore anticipating armed conflict over oil and gas reserves in the Arctic.


Image of the Arctic Circle, and the nations involved, with the disputed areas colored, here.

Thank Bourque for the tip.

Distilling the difference between right and left...

Earth Days and Unicorns

It began on today's date in 1970...

No, not the 100th anniversary of Vladimir Lenin's birthday -- surely that's a mere coincidence -- but rather, the very first Earth day commemoration. (Official history by Earth Day founders here for those interested.)

Philadelphia was one of the cities that had festivities on that special inaugural day. The Bulletin, a Philly paper, has an article on it.

Ira Einhorn (called "Unicorn" because the German last name translates into "one-horn") is said to have played a significant role in the original Earth Day Festivities in Philadelphia. Unicorn. It has a nice eco-friendly ring to it, don't you think?

[To be fair, this detail is contested by some who insist that he only claimed to have played a part in it -- but with what comes next, it could also been seen why people would want to distance themselves from him, whether they had dealings or no.]

He was a prominent protester (some say Hippie) of his day, and lived the life so often associated with the "Summer of Love".

Then his girlfriend went missing...

Then his neighbors complained about a rotting stench coming from his apartment...

Original Earth Day participant keeps rotting corpse of girlfriend in trunk of apartment??? Packed in (no kidding!) plastic bags and styrofoam.

There is an article detailing the entire story of the arrest (with some editing errors, but interesting reading nevertheless).

A teaser:

"Ira had a dark side at odds with the values he professed," Newsweek asserted. "It ranged from his overpowering ego to his domineering and sometimes violent relationships with women. Yet he never paid a price for this. During the live-and-let-live 1960s, Ira was almost never called on to answer for his behavior. (Before he met Holly) there were episodes in which he attacked women who had rejected him. He strangled one of them until she fell unconscious. Several years later after hitting a second woman over the head with a Coke bottle, he wrote in his journal, 'Violence always marks the end of a relationship.'"

Despite being caught red-handed with an ex-girlfriend decomposing in his closet, he managed to get enormous support from the expected defenders of such people, and a few of the unexpected defenders... but you'll have to read that, and which currently-sitting senator got him off with only $4000 bail (the Unicorn naturally fled the country for Europe once free) in the story link.

Seen In the News...

Proud of my nation again today...
--no, not b/c of the catch-and-release Pirate hunting... (we really need to update our rules of engagement there, maybe sink them and turn survivors over to Egypt for a trial?)
--nor is it because my city is inundated with thousands of Tamil protesters complaining to MY country to "do something" about THEIR country, while sticking us with the security bill for policing same...
Help me understand this: if Their country has a problem, why don't they GO to THEIR country to effect the solution there (whether humanitarian or military)? If THIS isn't THEIR country, why are they HERE making demands of MINE?)
-- I AM proud because we boycotted an asinine meeting in the UN which gave the Iranian head-case of State unnecessary credibility at (really, I'm not making this up) an Anti-Racism Conference and provided a platform to spew his usual sewage against Israelis.

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

In 1934, the Chicago Tribune printed a political cartoon that could just as easily have been printed this month. Check it out! (h/t Glenn Beck)

Who asked for your help, anyway?

One American Blogger is tired of self-appointed white activists telling the world what is in the best interests of Black people. He also mentions some uncomfortable facets of American History that such self-appointed Activists would rather you didn't think about... he's got some good satire and photoshop stuff that is worth the look, too.

Dog Bites Man...

Global warming fear-mongers recycle story about ice shelf melting. Again. Used archived photo. Satellite photo year-by-year exposes the dishonest claim. (hat tip: SDA) In-depth Expose here.

No surprise if they're ok with lying to support the so-called 'settled science'.