Former ACLU Chapter President Arrested for Child Pornography

Feb. 23, 2007 ABC News

Federal agents arrested Charles Rust-Tierney, the former president of the Virginia chapter of the ACLU, Friday in Arlington for allegedly possessing child pornography.

According to a criminal complaint obtained by ABC News, Rust-Tierney allegedly used his e-mail address and credit card to subscribe to and access a child pornography website.

The complaint states that federal investigations into child pornography websites revealed that "Charles Rust-Tierney has subscribed to multiple child pornography website over a period of years."

As recently as last October, the complaint alleges, "Rust-Tierney purchased access to a group of hardcore commercial child pornography websites."

Since the ACLU thinks that child pornography should be legal, it is not surprising to read that it is against making it a felony to advertise, sell, purchase, barter, exchange, give, or receive child pornography. It is particularly distressed about the prohibition on advertisement, arguing that “the law cannot expect every publisher to decode every advertisment for some hidden and sinister meaning,” as if it took a technician-armed with a special decoding device-to ferret out pictures of children ludely exhibiting their genitals. Quote from Twilight Of Liberty

Complaint Alleges Access to Graphic Material

Rust-Tierney admitted to investigators that he had downloaded videos and images from child pornography websites onto CD-ROMs, according to the complaint.

Dan Riehl at Riehl World View, says: "Hmm. Just doing research, no doubt."

The videos described in the complaint depict graphic forcible intercourse with prepubescent females. One if the girls is described in court documents as being "seen and heard crying", another is described as being "bound by rope."

The investigation is being conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and the Arlington County Police as part of the Northern Virginia and District of Columbia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Rust-Tierney made an initial appearance in a federal court in Alexandria, VA, Friday. He is being detained pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 28.

Youth Coach, Argued Against Restricting Public Internet

Rust Tierney coaches various youth sports teams in and around Arlington, Virginia, according to court documents.

In the past, Rust-Tierney had argued against restricting Internet access in public libraries in Virginia, writing, "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."

Hot Air has the O'Reilly Fox News Clip

The Washington Times also has a story on it.

LGF hits this too.


This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay at Jay@stoptheaclu.com or Gribbit at GribbitR@gmail.com. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 200 blogs already on-board.



Crossposted from Stop the ACLU

We Need Conservatives Who are Leaders

February 16, 2007
By: Big Dog

A great deal has been made of the results of the last election and what the root causes for Republican losses really were. The Democrats constantly cite the results as a referendum on the war on terror in Iraq. They falsely believe that Americans are so disgusted with what is going on that they [the Democrats] were put in charge to bring our troops home and end the war. Ann Coulter wrote an interesting piece the day after the election where she pointed out that the change was more in line with following historical voting trends than anything else but that has not kept the Democrats from beating their anti-war drums and using the election as a bellwether for their desire to bring our troops home in defeat. Unfortunately, many Republicans in Congress have bought into the idea that the war caused their losses and they have abandoned conservatism and leadership and are now acting like the cut and run Democrats.

Despite the historical trends the Republicans were directly responsible for their losses. They could have easily bucked history and maintained control had they displayed and lived conservative values and had they demonstrated leadership. Their desire to be reelected led them to abandon conservative principles and, in effect, abandon leadership. As the election results showed, this was not the correct method of winning.

Conservative principles succeed every time they are tried. There is no doubt that conservatism demands higher standards and that people who live conservatively must make tougher choices. It is so much easier to abort a child than take responsibility. It is easier to redistribute wealth than foster an environment where all people can succeed and it is easier for people to sit back and accept handouts than to work for what they need. The aftermath of hurricane Katrina demonstrated the ugly truth about liberal programs and their effect on people. Katrina showed us that people who learn to live off the government are unable to take decisions on their own behalf. How many people stood knee deep in water looking around for someone to come get them rather than exerting the effort to move themselves to the safety of dry land? There is no doubt that people who learn self reliance are better able to handle the dangers of life.

Leadership is the cornerstone of the foundation of government. We the people elect those who we want to represent us. We put them in office to lead this country and to do things that are in the best interest of all its citizens not just the small groups of special interest victims. People have a desire to be led and in the absence of true leaders they will look to anyone who sounds like a leader regardless of that person's abilities. The Germans of the 1930s were so desperate for leadership they put a maniacal person in charge of them. He sounded good to them in the absence of true leaders and the world paid for their mistake.

In order to win and stay in power the Republican Party must find candidates who espouse, through word and deed, the principles of conservatism. They must not only be conservative, they must also be true leaders. There must be no doubt in the minds of the American people that they are leaders and that they will do what is right and that they will provide strong leadership through the best of times as well as the worst. This is no easy task because the American people have seen a Republican Party become energized through Ronald Reagan and the Republican revolution of the 80s and 90s only to watch their capital erode as more and more Republican leaders became like their Democratic counterparts. Republicans became what they evicted in 1994 and the public did not like it.

Leadership is the ability to influence people to willingly follow. True leaders inspire those led and foster excitement for the leader's views. In our military true leaders have followers who will walk with them through the gates of hell without question and without hesitation. Unfortunately, there are few if any leaders in the Republican Party who inspire that kind of devotion. It is time for those who fit these qualifications to rise to the top. It is time for those who realize that pandering is not leadership to step up to the plate. It is time for the Republican Party to field a team of leaders that will not succumb to the evil of money and influence and who will not sell their values for votes. It is time for us to rid ourselves of those who are not conservative and who can not lead.

The inability to do this has a one word result:

Hillary.

Big Dog is guest posting today and runs Big Dog's Weblog. Big Dog's Weblog is a conservative blog run by a veteran with 24 years of service. Big Dog addresses politics and our military (along with an occasional dash of humor).

Lifted from: Big Dog's Weblog

and crossposted at: Tom DeLay.com

Check them out to see what others have to say.

Crossposted from Stop the ACLU

Gideons handing out Bibles on public sidewalk arrested after school officials complain

© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Two men who are members of Gideons International, the Christian organization that is famous for, among other ministries, placing Bibles in motels and giving them to children, have been arrested after trying to hand out Bibles on a public sidewalk in Florida, according to a law firm.

Officials with the Alliance Defense Fund have confirmed they will be representing Anthony Mirto and Ernest Simpson, who were arrested, booked into jail and charged with trespassing.

Jeremy Tedesco, one of the ADF's lawyers on the case, confirmed to WND that the organization's clients were on a public sidewalk when they were handing out Bibles and school officials summoned police.

Yes, it reads public sidewalk and yes, it reads school officials. I hope you'll also notice that it doesn't say anything about sex offenders, child molesters or military funerals.

"The First Amendment protects the right to engage in religious speech on a public sidewalk," ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman said. "Members of the Gideons have been highly respected for decades as peaceful providers of free Bibles to those who want them."

The arrest happened Jan. 19, when Mirto and Simpson were on the sidewalk outside of Key Largo School in Key Largo, Fla., and were distributing copies of the Bible to those interested.


"Neither man entered school grounds," the law firm said. "After the school's principal called police, a Monroe County sheriff's officer asked the men to leave immediately or face trespassing charges. As the men prepared to leave, the officer decided to arrest both individuals."

A hearing is scheduled March 5 in Monroe County Court in the cases, and ADF attorneys are preparing motions to dismiss the charges.

"Officials cannot use fear of arrest as a means of bullying law-abiding Christians into silence," Cortman said. "These men broke no laws when they decided to communicate their message on a public sidewalk."

Tedesco noted that sometimes school officials have a misconception about whether they can control activities on school grounds and adjacent public sidewalks. But the First Amendment does provide a protection for speech on those parcels of ground that are public, he said.

Lets see... public schools, public grounds, public sidewalks, public officials and public law enforcement.

"There's no reason why they should be put in jail," he said.

The ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the truth, through strategy, training, funding and litigation.

The Gideons, a group founded in the late 1800s, has as its "sole purpose" the goal "to win men, women, boys and girls to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ through association for service, personal testimony, and distributing the Bible in the human traffic lanes and streams of everyday life."

Members of the Gideons, who pay their own expenses so 100 percent of the donations to the group go toward Bible purchases and distributions, have placed the Bible in 181 nations in 82 different languages over the years.

The organization focuses on hotels and motels, hospitals and nursing homes, schools, colleges and universities, the military and law enforcement and prisons and jails.

"The demand for Scriptures in these areas far exceeds our supplies that we are able to purchase through our donations. Much more could be done – if funds were available. However, we are placing and distributing more than 1 million copies of the Word of God, at no cost, every seven days in these areas" the group said.

The organization only gives away the Bibles with the Gideon logo on the covers, but plain Bibles are available for consumers to purchase at its distribution center at P.O. Box 140800, Nashville, Tenn., 37214-0800. Information about the products is available on the group's website.

The Gideons serve as an extended missionary arm of the Christian church and are the oldest Christian business and professional men's association in the United States.

Great! Get those laws keeping sex offenders away from our school kids and daycares overturned. Get those laws that permit our loved ones to grieve and honor our dead in peace, overturned.

But get them Christians, handing out Bibles, in jail. Got to protect the kids and...

Did they legalize drugs in Florida or are they putting something in the water? The Dixie County Ten Commandments issue, immigration raids in Miami, and now this.



This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay at Jay@stoptheaclu.com or Gribbit at GribbitR@gmail.com. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 200 blogs already on-board.

Crossposted at Stop the ACLU