Seeing is Not Believing

Everyone knows that the politically correct police have been slowly changing our language to fit their liberal perspective. What you may not realize is that they are also manipulating images to show only what they want us to see. The goal is to make people identify specific images of their choosing with specific topics. As I look for images for my blog I have noticed this disturbing trend as I see more and more biased and politically correct images.

Take for instance last week’s blog about Easter where I googled “Christian images” to find pictures for my blog. Google image results will provide eighteen images, including photographs, cartoons, symbols and there will be multiple pages. The first page of Christian images had four pictures of a cross, one picture of doves and one had hands in prayer. So one-third of the first page of pictures included standard Christian images. Yet there was not one picture of Jesus or even a Bible. There were two pictures of what was supposedly the largest church in America but it looked rather sterile and isolated. The rest of the pictures included various sayings and a couple of images were for something called the Christian café.

Finally on the second page I saw a picture with Jesus in it along with more pictures of crosses, and sayings and pictures about peace and doves. But then there were two cartoons - one about “Christian Taliban” and another entitled “Free Christians”. The worst, though, was the picture titled “Porn Again Christians”. It went downhill as the the third page had a image a naked man being arrested, two more of shirtless muscled men, one of a decapitated man on an exam table and a pie chart titled “Christian Oppression”.

OK you get the point. The 54 pictures shown for Christianity had one, maybe two, pictures of Jesus, none of the bible, one angel and none of any of the other people or stories from the bible. Yet there were multiple pictures of nude or semi nude men, one about porn and many discussing the “oppression” and problems about Christianity. You can’t help but notice how terribly slanted the choices were for Christianity images. But what about Muslims? How would Google treat these images?

A search of Muslim images first resulted in a lot of pictures of women in burkas although in contrast there were a few pictures of Muslim beauty pageant winners. There were also pictures of Muslim symbols and a couple of shots of men in prayer. In the first few pages there were a number of pictures of protesters holding various banners. Were they protesting the strict sharia laws or perhaps all the terrorist attacks on innocent citizens? Of course not. Under the title of “Muslim Outrage” were protester holding banners which read things like “Behead those who insult Islam”. Unlike the search for Christianity which showed multiple negative attacks on the religion I found only one in the first few pages of the Muslim images search. This result was a form with the title of “”Hate Muslims? So do we!” But this turned out to be a joke and not a serious attack on the religion such as the ones on Christianity. In the first few pages I didn’t see any negative cartoons or banners or pictures against Muslims or the religion. I wonder if people are afraid to ridicule or denigrate Islam whereas there is no such restraint against Christianity. Or is it simply politically correct to defend Muslims and Islam while it is equally politically correct to abuse Christianity?

Most of my blogs, however, are about Republicans and Democrats, and I need appropriate pictures to go with these articles. So what images does Google provide for these topics? About a third of the first page for both Republican and Democrat searches showed elephants and donkeys, respectively. But the third picture for Republican is a takeoff of the progress of man from monkey to human called “Some Noted Republican Presidents”. I next saw a picture of a typical American family in which all of them are holding rifles or guns. There was an images included a picture of a Jesus holding a gun with the question “What would Jesus do?” and another of a militant Jesus. Oddly enough, the Democrat first page also contained a picture of Jesus, this one looking sad and was a pitch for a song called “Jesus was a Democrat”.

The stunning difference of the two Google searches became clear with the second page of images. The Democrat page continued with more pictures of donkeys, a number of uplifting pictures of patriotic symbols such as the White House and the flag plus serious pictures of famous Democrats. The first picture on the second page of the Republican search shows a strange cartoon of a man in drag, complete with fishnet stockings and heels and for some unknown reason there was a cat up his ass and he was telling a pollster that he was a Republican. Was that supposed to be funny? The second picture is a real snapshot of a man holding a banner which read “I’m a Republican and Ashamed of the GOP”. The rest of the pictures on this page continued to have derogatory and/or obscene pictures about Republicans with a few scattered pictures of elephants, including a cover of Time magazine showing the rear end of an elephant.

Nice, huh? Can you imagine some twelve year old writing a paper for school on Democrats and Republicans and coming across these images? Are Democrats and liberals so insecure, so fearful of Republicans and conservatives that they have to rig the world to tilt it in their favor? Political correctness and the liberal view of the world has taken over not just the words we say (or can not say) but they are also taking over the images associated with these words. Yet has anyone noticed? Has anyone objected to the unfairness found in these images?

"Seeing is believing" we use to say. But now you can't even trust the images you see. I fear for the day that these politically correct words and images become so commonplace that we can no longer recognize that they are even biased.

Undercover at ACORN

“Unless you watch FOX news you probably are unaware of what is happening with ACORN.” I had heard this statement but didn’t really believe it until I talked to a friend who only watches Main Stream Media (MSM) and he was completely unaware of the latest scandals with ACORN. So now I am not sure which is worse, the scandal or that the MSM is sweeping it under the floor. But if you are like my friend, and only get your news from the MSM then let me inform you as to what you are missing…

Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now or ACORN is supposed to help minority communities with housing, voter registration and other issues. Although they have recieved millions of dollars of tax payer funds and are eligible for additional millions in stimulus money they have frequently been found to be corrupt, illegal, and misusing our money. To find out just how far they could go, two conservative activists went undercover and visited ACORN offices with an outrageous request....

James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles, both young white twenty somethings, posed as a pimp and prostitute wanting to buy a house with ACORN's help to use as a brothel for 10-13 under aged El Salvadorian girls and to raise enough money for the “pimp’s” future congressional campaign. Really! They even dressed their parts in over the top outrageous outfits that were parodies of the movie version pimp and whore. He went so far as to wear a fur coat while she wore next to nothing with huge heels and earings. Dressed like this they entered ACORN’s offices where they taped what happened next. And you wouldn’t believe it if it wasn’t on video. (To see for yourself, all of the videos can be found at: http://biggovernment.com/ )

After hearing the couples outrageous request for a house, did ACORN employees throw them out? Did they even try to dissuade Hannah from her life of prostitution? Did anyone mention any of the legalities or rather illegalities of their intentions? Did anyone speak up for the young girls who were supposedly being imported for prostitution? No, No, No and No. In fact, just the opposite. At each office, the ACORN employees went out of their way to assist Hannah in not only applying for a house but also in doing her income taxes and even hiding what she does and her money so that it wouldn’t hurt the pimp’s future congressional run. And the Baltimore office gave out hugs to their prostitute client at the end of their meeting.

But first, the Baltimore ACORN employee helped the couple to find a legitimate line of business or “code” since prostitution is illegal. They suggested she say she was a performing artist. This same employee then brings in their “tax expert” who later determines that the prostitute could claim upwards of $7,000 of her supposedly $9,000 monthly income as expenses and that she could claim some of the girls as dependents.

In Washington DC, the ACORN employee also councils how to get around being a prostitute by telling them to “create false company name to disguise ‘Lady of the Night Thing’” and encourages her to not put prostitute down as business but to set herself as a Sole Proprietor of her own business such as Marketeer or Consultant. When asked by the pimp if he could be the one to put up the money for her and she can do the tricks in the new house, the ACORN employee agrees with a “Yep”. They then tell him that he needs to be just the landlord and shouldn’t have any knowledge of what is going on in the house and he should stay away from that house if he wants to go into politics. The Washington DC ACORN employees go so far as to tell the “pimp” to lie to the police if he is ever asked about what happens in that house.

After these two films were released late last week even though the MSM ignored them, others are finally starting to take some action. Personally, I was thrilled to hear that the Census Bureau will not use ACORN to help with the upcoming Census. Yes! Then yesterday, Congress passed a law which stops million dollar funding to ACORN.

To try to limit any more damage, ACORN has fired most of the employees involved in the sting. The Chief Organizer of ACORN, Bertha Lewis then spoke out saying “This recent scam, which was attempted in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia to name a few places, had failed for months before the results we’ve all recently seen.” And so with obvious glee, O’Keefe released yet a third video, this time from Brooklyn, New York.

The New York ACORN office reacted the same way that the Baltimore and Washington DC ACORN office’s reacted. Although this office suggested that the prostitute put her earnings in a tin and buries it in the backyard of her new house! This office also suggests that the prostitute buy the house then transfer it to a third party who then sells it to the pimp so that there is no direct link between the pimp and the prostitute. As for Hanna’s profession, the ACORN employee tells her “If you are going to do it then do it well, and start thinking for yourself.” Enough. You get the drift.

To repeat myself, as outrageous as this story is, the bigger outrage is the fact that NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post and almost every other MSM has yet to provide a detailed story on this even though it has all the elements of a great scandal: sex, brothels, under age prostitution, corruption, etc. I also wouldn't be surprised if there are more videos to follow. And yet, could you imagine what they would do if this was a conservative group and not ACORN with its close ties to the President?

Freedom's Continuous Downward Spiral

The Senate passed a bill yesterday, voting 90-5, to regulate Credit Card companies from sudden interest rate hikes or hidden fees. This is one more major mistake by our government and another step toward socialism. Most of you will disagree with me. You will point to the ridiculously high rates charged by Credit Cards, by their unfair tactics of raising rates if you are just one day late in your payment and by charging you fees for things you still don’t understand. And you are right. Some Credit Cards are unethical and will try to fleece you. But whatever happened to buyer beware?

Instead of you being responsible for your decisions, government is making those decisions for you by regulating yet another industry; all in the name of “protecting consumers”. At the same time Congress is dictating what Credit Card companies can do, the President was issuing orders regarding what car companies, those that are still left, can produce in the future. This order seems almost insane as the car industry in America is barely keeping alive manufacturing existing models. But now they are required to make major changes, which will mean massive revamping of designs and manufacturing of the new models, with extremely high costs which could surely swamp the existing American car companies. But again, this change is to protect you, the consumer, from real and imagined green house effects.

Based on the vote, it doesn’t appear that the Senate is concerned about voters disagreeing with the bill to regulate Credit Cards. I can only guess that this is because voters refuse to act responsibly. That’s the problem with real freedom. In a free society you don’t hand over your decision making process to the government; instead you take control over your decisions and ultimately your life. If you are unhappy with the rates charged by your Visa company there are enough competitors that you could find a Credit Card company offering better rates. But that means you need to do a bit of research or make some calls and then take action on your own to move your debt elsewhere. Of course the alternative is to not build up large Credit Card debt but that is probably asking too much of a person today. But people are too lazy or too irresponsible and are happy that Congress is taking care of the problem for them.

In a free capitalistic society, people would take action and leave a specific Credit Card company due to its high rates and fees or others wouldn't buy a specific car model because of its low MPH which would ultimately result in those companies changing its rates and updating its car models. But that isn’t being allowed to happen once government steps in to dictate what those rates and models must be. As soon as government makes those decisions for you then you have given up one more claim to freedom.

What you need to ask yourself today is "what industry will be next?". Now that people have willingly given government the right to take over and/or regulate entire industries, for the supposed sake of protecting the consumer, you know this is just the beginning. And it won't stop with big business. For just as the sun rises each morning, government, in its quest to "take care" of its citizens, will want to expand its control over all aspects of life.

Our freedoms are already under attack. There is free speech which has been severely limited due to political correctness and the ever despised 2nd Amendment which Washington has tried for years to suppress. The government will surely want to "protect" us from hate speech and gun violence so let's further restrict those rights, too. And who knows? Maybe religion is next on the list for doesn't differing religions create stress and violence? Therefore in order to take care of and protect the citizens why not take religion away, too? Imagine, that... So when will you wake up and say "Stop!" And on the day you realize what you have lost, will it be too late to change the bleak world that will be America without the freedoms we are so casually giving away.

Treating Flood Victims Equally

Last week all up and down the Mississippi entire towns were immersed under water as levees were breached or destroyed. Throughout the sporadic news coverage you couldn't help but noticed the unacknowledged elephant in the room. Although none of the reporters mentioned it, the public whispered among themselves what the politically correct news organizations were afraid to discuss. Of course I speak of New Orleans.

I was going to say that it was impossible to watch the horrible results of the century breaking floods without comparing it to the floods in New Orleans except that the mainstream media did just that – ignored any comparison to Katrina. The sad truth is that if someone did do the comparison they would risk being called racist because any comparison of Katrina vs. today's flood victims would not be favorable to the residents of New Orleans, who just happen to be African American. And God help the journalist who gives a nonfavorable report about blacks, even though it is true.

During the floods tens of thousands of people in the Midwest were homeless as their houses were literally washed away or engulfed to the roof tops in water. And yet there was no outrage at being jammed into relief areas, nor was there any talk of gunshots or rapes or even looting as there was with Katrina. There was some concern about FEMA but there were also a lot of discussions about simply helping out their neighbors and themselves. These displaced citizens talked about rebuilding their towns and communities whereas after Katrina it seemed as if the cry to rebuild primarily came from outsiders, actors, musicians and the like, and not from the residents. Multiple fundraising events were held for the New Orleans residents but you haven’t heard of too many celebrities coming to the aid of Iowans. Nor have you heard of these Midwesterns looking for cash handouts such as initially occurred after Katrina.

Yes, some of the difference is due to local politics, with New Orleans government being known as corrupt and inefficient. I honestly don’t know much about the local politics of the affected towns last week but I doubt if they are as scandal ridden as New Orleans and Louisiana. But the major difference is the people themselves. And that is what no one dares to mention because you would immediately be labeled as racist. Next thing you know you have to apologize to everyone, take diversity training and be reprogrammed to be politically correct in the future.

The sad thing is that the way the politically correct ran to aid New Orleans is the racist action, whereas comparing them to those in the Midwest is an act of equality. Comparing the two groups is saying that both are equal to each other regardless of color. You are granting each the same respect as the other and treating them as equals. Shouldn’t we make a judgment based on character and the actions of a person or group of people with no regard to race? And isn’t that the goal – to treat everyone equally?

On the other hand, those who pleaded and sobbed and lectured the country to assist the residents of New Orleans did a major disservice to them. Yes they needed assistance but these politically correct activists treated the New Orleans citizens as helpless victims who needed to be taken care of. That kind of “help” strips away self esteem and any initiative to help themselves. Think about it. Apparently the politically correct assume that the flood victims in Iowa and elsewhere can take care of themselves but those affected by Katrina couldn’t. How insulting and racist is that?