BCT Editorial – 4/23/06

This page was last updated on April 23, 2006.

Filling in the blanks; Editorial; Beaver County Times; April 23, 2006.

As was its predecessor, this editorial is hysterical. In summary, the Times is worried you and I will confuse the wackos disrupting the funerals of fallen soldiers with another group of folks who don’t like the military.

While I find the behavior of anyone disrupts funerals reprehensible, I oppose legislation to outlaw the unforgivable behavior because I believe such restrictions on free speech ultimately are unconstitutional. It’s an old statement, but freedom isn’t free. Sometimes we need to hold our noses when some of us choose to abuse our freedom.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“GOP release and AP report show the difference between news and propaganda

“Mainstream media bashing is all the rage.

“The reason for this is understandable: It’s always easier to tear down someone else’s credibility than it is to build up your own.

“However, a bill working its way through the General Assembly shows the importance of the mainstream media in separating propaganda from news.”

[RWC] As you will read below, the editorial author engages in his own propaganda.

“On Tuesday, the state Senate unanimously approved a bill that limits the scope of protests at funerals, memorial services and memorial processions. The measure now goes to the state House.

“But more is at stake here than the First Amendment rights of freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, and it can been seen in the difference between The Associated Press report on the legislation and the news release put out by the Senate Republican Communications Office.

“The GOP news release said the Senate had to take this action because pickets at military funerals are targeting ‘grieving family members with vulgar language and other harassment to protest social and political issues.’

“Sen. Don White, chairman of the Senate Military and Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee, said the measure would crack down on irresponsible behavior at memorial services.

“‘It is a sad state of affairs when legislation is necessary to ensure common decency, but it is truly reprehensible that a few protestors are actually trying to turn these solemn, dignified memorial services into some kind of a circus,’ White said.

“State Sen. John Pippy, R-37, Moon Township, himself a veteran, echoed White’s sentiments. ‘At a time when compassion is called for, some protesters offer only hatred and bile. It’s all the worse because the family is trying to grieve over the loss of someone who dedicated his or her life to protecting the rights of all citizens,’ he said.

“Fine words, noble sentiments and misleading.”

[RWC] As you will read below, the press release was not misleading. Instead, it is this editorial that attempts to mislead readers.

“That’s because something important was omitted from the GOP news release - the politics of the protesters.”

[RWC] As you will read below, the only “politics of the protesters” we know of are hate.

“Given what was left out, one is left to assume who these dastardly protestors are, a sort of fill-in-the-blanks villain if you will.

“But what was left unsaid was important, as The AP report on the bill shows. The legislation was prompted by the picketing of military funerals by activists from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan. The church maintains that God is killing U.S. soldiers because they fight for a country that tolerates homosexuality.

“The GOP news release didn’t identify the right-wing zealots whose actions prompted this legislation. It used vague generalities. Fortunately, The AP was there to fill the information void.”

[RWC] Stupidly, I let the “right-wing” label go in my critique of the previous editorial. This time I did a little research.

Apparently the AP article didn’t go far enough for the editorial author. You see, the AP report never referred to the Westboro kooks as “right-wing” anything or even implied it. Further, I found no articles in the Post-Gazette, Tribune-Review, CNN, et cetera that referred to these people as “right-wing.” I guess the mainstream media is in cahoots with the PA Senate Republicans. Finally, according to a search of the Times website, the only mention of the Westboro gang during the past 2+ years has been in this and the editorial I noted above.

I did a quick Google search and could find nothing to support the “right wing” label. Indeed, the only positions I could find taken by these kooks are those of hate. You see, these kooks not only hate homosexuals, they hate blacks, Jews, Catholics, Muslims, most protestants, Billy Graham, and just about anyone who is not one of them. They even hated Fred Rogers! You can’t even join this “church” unless you are born into a member family or marry into a member family.

Apparently to the editorial author, anyone who hates must be “right wing.” What must it be like to have to make stuff up in order to promote your agenda?

“The mainstream media isn’t perfect; it makes mistakes on a daily basis. But please remember that government officials, political parties and their fellow travelers in the media would rather not have their propaganda scrutinized by the mainstream media. They’d prefer you got your propaganda straight up.”

[RWC] At least the Times is engaging in a little honesty, or perhaps the editor slipped up. You’ll note the phrase “and their fellow travelers in the media.” Historically, a “fellow traveler” has referred to those persons sympathetic with communism though they themselves were not members of the Communist Party. “Useful idiot,” coined by Lenin, means much the same thing. Now, I’m not claiming the mainstream media is populated by a bunch of closet communists, but even the more forthcoming liberals in the mainstream media concede a liberal bias in the media.

I really get a kick out of it when outlets like the Times accuse others of publishing propaganda.