Ex-ACLU leader’s child-porn arrest fails to make news
03/04/2007
In the summer of 2003, Operation Predator was launched by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. The investigation has targeted individuals who make and consume child pornography worldwide.
Because much of this stuff is manufactured overseas and shipped to America, ICE agents took the lead in tracking down the bad guys in the U.S.
In case you don’t know, child pornography features children from infants on up being raped in a variety of ways by adults. It is expensive to purchase and, because of the Internet, the distribution of this evil material has become easy. Have a credit card, you can get it.
According to ICE agents, one of those who used a credit card to purchase child porn is attorney Charles Rust-Tierney, the former president of the American Civil Liberties Union in Virginia. Tierney was arrested and charged on Feb. 23.
Tierney apparently told the feds that he paid for the child porn using a PayPal account and then downloaded images of prepubescent girls being violently raped onto CD-ROM disks, which the authorities seized in his home.
One of the images Tierney was in possession of showed a little girl tied up and screaming while being violently raped.
This shocking case received little media attention even though Tierney, 51, is a well-known figure in the Washington, D.C., area and strenuously fought against limits on Internet access in libraries.
On Dec. 1, 1998, Tierney issued this statement: “Recognizing that individuals will continue to behave responsibly and appropriately while in the library, the default should be maximum, unrestricted access to the valuable resources of the Internet.”
And included among those “resources” is child porn. The ACLU in Virginia successfully blocked any filtering of objectionable material in Loudon County libraries.
This is off-the-chart disturbing, and you would think the media would be all over it. When Ted Haggard was scandalized by a male prostitute in Colorado, the media relentlessly hammered the preacher. He deserved much of it, but the coverage was everywhere.
How many of you have heard of Charles Rust-Tierney?
The only major liberal news organization to cover the story was The Washington Post. It ran a small mention of it in the second section of the paper, essentially burying the situation. The New York Times ignored the story entirely. So did NBC News, CBS News and CNN. ABC News mentioned it on its Web site.
There is no question that an ACLU big shot who fought against library filters being busted on federal child porn charges is a big story. So what’s going on?
The truth is the committed left press in America is no longer interested in reporting the news. Anything that hinders a favorable view of the far left will be ignored; anything that advances liberal causes will be celebrated. News reporting today is largely about ideology and shaping the culture, not about informing the public.
This is dangerous. The Constitution gives the news media a wide variety of protections because the Founding Fathers wanted information to get to the folks. So answer me this: Did the media do its job covering the case of Charles Rust-Tierney?
It did not. Another example of the downward spiral of American journalism. The New York Times masthead says “All the News That’s Fit to Print.”
Sure.
By Bill O'Reilly - Veteran TV news anchor and author Bill O’Reilly is a host on Fox News.
Excellent blogsite that has been following this story closely.
We saw this sort of bias in the 2002 campaign when the Star News didn't have the balls to go searching for the truth regarding the Sid Causey/ Tampa drug story.
A political blogsite that shed light on this was quickly dismissed, no one understands the power of the media's bias any better than the media. There is little excuse for a REAL newspaper to turn a blind eye to the truth.
Lately it seems since one of their independent contractors was killed while in the custody and safe keeping of the sheriff, the paper has grown tired of such scandal.
Causey, concerned over his recent attention due to the death of Peyton Strickland, reached out the Board of Commissioners last month to ask for their support, whining about the Star News' editorial attacks upon his character and his ability to administer his duties as sheriff. Of course his butt was promptly smooched upon by Bill Caster and Bobby Greer who for some reason think a history of multimillion dollar lawsuits is evidence of a good job.
I'm tempted to make public the audio tapes made during the investigation into the truthfulness of the Tampa allegations. The tapes, coupled with the police reports, proved how Causey conspired to rob drug money from a major drug trafficker in Tampa.
But then again, why? No one cares about who the Chief law enforcement officer of this county is, if they did the man would be held accountable and dismissed from office years ago when he attempted to cover up the Gary Rummer death.
It is true that governments throughout history have gone too far in restricting civil liberties. But many modern civil libertarians use these examples to scare the public into thinking that laws that target criminals infringe on their civil liberties. I find that it's usually those with something to hide that are the loudest. This story is a perfect example of this.
The Twisted Line
Posted by: Morx | June 15, 2008 at 08:09 AM