Posted on 08/07/2007 11:23:24 AM PDT by Mobile Vulgus
Once again the Associated Press give us more of its prosaic brand of "unfair and unbalanced" news with a Jesse Jackson anti-gun story that doesn't offer a single word to counter his propaganda, their report doesn't present even a hint that there is any "side" but the anti-gun position. We aren't shocked at this, of course, but it needs to be pointed out for the record nonetheless.
Jackson faces a trial and possible jail time for his absurd June 23rd picketing of a gun shop in Riverdale, a suburb of Chicago. During the effort to disrupt the shop's business Jackson and his cohorts illegally blocked the entrance to the establishment an action that resulted in his arrest for trespassing.
As the AP reports on Jackson's first appearance in court to face these charges, they made all efforts to make Jackson seem the righteous actor, unruffled and heroic. AP even decided he was "relaxed-looking" is his appearance.
MARKHAM, Ill. - It's familiar territory for the Rev. Jesse Jackson: Facing legal trouble for his activist politics. This time it's for protesting gun sales he says provide Chicago gang members and criminals easy access to firearms, with deadly consequences.These first few paragraphs is typical of the smooth advocacy disguised as "reporting" wrought by the AP over and over again.
Jackson, 65, has been arrested about 15 times during his career as a civil rights leader, dating back to the 1960s when he worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr., said spokeswoman Rashida Restaino.
On Monday, a relaxed-looking Jackson stood in a light pinstriped suit and asked a judge for a jury trial on misdemeanor trespassing charges stemming from his June arrest outside a gun shop where he was demonstrating in support of tougher gun laws.
In the first paragraph we get the caring Jackson, facing the hardened gang members and protesting their "deadly" work because of that "easy access to guns." In the second the AP treats us to the heroic Jackson who stood for civil rights with icon Martin Luther King, Jr. In the third we get the "relaxed-looking," imperturbable Jackson stoically standing up against the evil gun shop and standing in "support of tougher gun laws." It's all flavored to read so favorably for the extreme, activist, isn't it?
Smooth advocacy, AP. Smooth indeed.
Then the AP parrots every single point Jackson so constantly and illegitimately makes, disguising it as "reporting".
They say Jackson is "prompted by the shooting deaths of nearly three dozen public school students" and that this is why they are at the gun shop. Conveniently, the AP forgets to mention that not one single gun crime can be traced to a gun purchased legally in the gun shop in question.
Next AP gives Jackson another chance to link his current activity to his civil rights activism in the 1960's as if his past efforts were somehow comparable to this current cause.
Asked by a reporter how it felt to be back in a courtroom, Jackson said: "It's very formal, very serious." He added that his first arrest was in 1960, when he and several other black students were jailed for trying to use a public library in segregated Greenville, S.C.Who doesn't know Jackson's history, anyway? Is it necessary in the context of this story to be reminded so constantly of it?
Then the AP reports the supporting words of "Father" Michael Pfleger, a local, small time Chicago activist who has joined Jackson in his protest of this innocent business establishment. Yet, even as the AP is so interested in reporting Jackson's storied history, they don't have time to report that this so-called Priest threatened the life of the gun shop owner not but a few months ago.
One wonder why this is so? Why isn't the good Father's extreme threats interesting enough to report?
I'll bet you can answer that one!
In any case, they quote this Pfleger character as saying:
"If they somehow think they can stop us by intimidating us, we're not going anywhere. We're going to step up," he said.I see. So, now the law is an "intimidation"? You broke the LAW, Pfleger. No one is trying to "intimidate" you. In fact, all the "intimidation" is coming from Plfeger and Jackson, not the courts and law enforcement officers. After all, is calling for someone's death somehow not an attempt at intimidation, Father Pfleger?
The AP also mentions that these activists want tougher gun laws to protect Chicago's children, but, no where does anyone seem to suggest that the illegal use of guns is the symptom of gang activity, not the cause. They want to put a band-aid on a broken arm instead of seeking to solve the problem. The gang problem is the root cause, not guns.
And in all of this where is the AP's attempt to fully report the other side of this issue?
The owner of Chuck's Gun Shop, John Riggio, attended Monday's hearing but declined comment as he left the courthouse.There you go. That was it. They can claim they gave the gun shop owner his "chance to speak" but he refused. This, of course, does not excuse the AP from advocating for Jackson's issues, nor does it absolve them from trying harder to present both sides.
Where is a "fairness doctrine" when you need one?
The worst quote of the piece, however, is that of an aggrieved and ill informed parent of one of Chicago's children lost to gun violence.
Holt's mother stood with Jackson after Monday's hearing, saying she'd be relentless in protesting gun merchants.Certainly we feel for the woman's grief, but her claim that the gun shop owner had anything to do with her son's death is just an outright lie. The business man "took" nothing away from anyone.
"You took something away from us and we're going to get in your face every day with it," Annette Holt said. "We're here to stay."
But, since when do lies bother the AP?
Read on at Newsbusters.org
“Jackson seem the righteous actor, unruffled and heroic”
He knows full well that he won’t spend any time in jail or suffer any other untoward consequences.
If he’s sentenced to anything by the first judge, he’ll just find another and another until he finds the right leftist in robes.
That is justice in America. Sad but true.
MSM deathwatch.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Does anyone really care what Jackson says any more? I sure as hell don’t.
Funny how he protests the guns and not the gangs.
The MSM is the problem, not JJ.
There will always be "Jesse Jacksons" as long as the MSM is allowed to propagandize and champion causes while disguised as reporting news.
The rev has a lifelong unlimited credit get out of jail free card. Besides even though he holds the Platinum GOOJ card, when was the last time a judge actually let charges stand against any left wing "activist" regardless of how distruptive or destructive they were. See GOP convention protesters for example.
I love black rifles.
And he ain't shooting blanks.
Ah cain't puts on no show fo' jess one little'ol judge-man. I gotsah have me mo' people to play to.
Ya...you're...youre blockin' the camera...
Did I read the article correctly that this gun shop didn’t even sell a gun to the gang members? Why does the shop owner have to suffer? He didn’t do ANYTHING wrong. This is pure harassment of a private citizen and his business.
Where’s my Bud franchise ?
Getting in my face every day could get someone shot.
“You took something away from us and we’re going to get in your face every day with it,” Annette Holt said. “We’re here to stay.”
I’d love to read about Junior. I’m sure he was just an upstanding citizen on his way to work or school when he was shot down in the prime of his life by a renegage gun roaming the streets.
If these idiots protested the crack houses or pimps on the corner as hard as they protest a legal business, they might actually make headway.
“Did I read the article correctly that this gun shop didn’t even sell a gun to the gang members? “
I don’t know if that’s true or not. However, even if he did sell a gun to one of the gang bangers, if he’s 21 or older and has no felony record that would be legal anyways.
My guess is that there was no straw purchase and no one illegally purchasing a firearm at this establishment. Because the ATF would be on them like stink on doo doo and it would also be mentioned in the article.
Anyone else notice that Jesse is 6’4” and 6’5” with the fro? I didn’t know he was that tall..
“The gang problem is the root cause, not guns.”
The gangs are another spin off of the insane War on Drugs.
Re-legalize drugs and the gangs will cease to exist.
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