Kony 2012

[Mitch Cronin]

Has everybody seen this by now?

....If not.... I highly recommend it to all..... but especially to those who, like myself, have a need for anything to renew their faith in mankind. This video does that for me.

What a fabulous change we're seeing in this world with this! I'm going to order 4 "action kits" for my family.

This character, Joseph Kony, is a slime by anybody's measure.... and his days running loose are numbered!

[Boney]

Excellent. Men like that must be brought to justice.

30K of kids. Sad.

Question. What about the 100K++ of kids that are murdered in the name of rights? You know, abortion. What about the rights of the unborn?

Would it be nice that we help the rights of all children. Now that would be a campain worth joining.

Hmmmmm

[mo32a]

^Oh no, a Santorum acolyte.

[Boney]

^Oh no, a Santorum acolyte.

Thank you. At least we are both alive to stand on either side.

The point I'm trying to make: This Kony thug must be brought to justice for the massive killings done. To put money in the hands of an organization that is only for one purpose, raise Kony's image, especially when it's to save the kids, maybe OK for some. But, lets save all the kids that are being murdered for whatever reason.

Here is a letter to the editor I sent some time ago;

---------------------------------------------

To the Pro Choice advocates:

The next time you are contemplating aborting your baby, consider...Steven Paul Jobs, born in San Francisco, California on February 24 1955. His biological parents, unwed college graduates Joanne Simpson and Abdulfattah Jandali, had him adopted by a lower-middle-class couple from south of the Bay Area, Paul and Clara Jobs.

Steve Jobs biological mother, living in today's society, would have a better and safer medical treatment of abortion. But, fortunatly, in the fifties, the risk of dying was so great, as well as adoption so easy, that Joanne Simpson continued with the pregnancy and together with Abdulfattah, gave up Steve to Paul and Clara Jobs.

In today's society, abortion is encouraged, while at the same time, adoption is very difficult, leaving women with very few choices. Today, Paul and Clara Jobs, being a lower-middle-class couple, would not have met the criteria for adopting Steve.

It's easier today to adopt a child from another country, than from here at home. Why? Please, make adopting children easier so that women can allow their unborn children a chance at life.

How many, like Steve Jobs, are being killed today, in the name of "Choice".

Hmmmmm.

--------------------------------------------

I really didn't want to send this thread off course, but your comment allowed me to defend my position.

Next time you look at your kids, ask yourself, did they come from some egg in a nest or from a stork? Of course not. Like you and me, all children started out in the mother's womb. The fact that we choose, with the help of the courts, to call the unborn, not a human being, doesn't change the biology.

Sorry, I digress...Before you send any money to the above organization, check them out first. Today in the news, lots of questions are being ask. In fact, this Kony chap is in another country.

Rant over....Cheers

[Mitch Cronin]

Kony 2012 Director Answers Critics

The director of a video sensation that calls for the arrest of fugitive Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony agrees with sceptics who call the film oversimplified, saying it was deliberately made that way.

The

, which by Saturday had been viewed on YouTube more than 58 million times, aims to wake up the world to atrocities committed by Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, including kidnapping children and forcing them to fight.

Filmmaker Jason Russell's non-profit group, Invisible Children, launched a social media campaign to spread the video earlier in the week.

Since then, the Weinstein Company, owned by powerful producer Harvey Weinstein, has contacted Russell to buy the film.

The video's phenomenal success online has been hailed for inspiring young people to activism, but has suffered some criticism including that it oversimplified a long-standing human rights crisis.

Russell, who narrates the video with a personal story that juxtaposes shots of his young son in San Diego, California with the hopelessness of Ugandan children, says the video was only meant as a kick-starter to awareness of a complicated issue.

"It definitely oversimplifies the issue. This video is not the answer, it's just the gateway into the conversation," he said.

"And we made it quick and oversimplified on purpose. We are proud that it is simple. We like that. And we want you to keep investigating, we want you to read the history."

Mixed reactions in Uganda include criticism that the attention has come too late, that much of the armed conflict in the area has subsided and the film leaves out that the Ugandan military is often accused of committing the same atrocities as Kony's fighters.

In addition, Kony is believed to have long since fled Uganda and now only commands a few hundred followers.

"Kony has been indicted, that's what we are saying. It doesn't matter if he has three fighters, 300 or 3,000. That's not the issue," Russell said.

The group's aim is to get Kony to surrender and be brought to the International Criminal Court in The Hague where Kony is under indictment.

"He needs to face justice and we want to give him the choice to surrender," Russell said.

PHOTO: LRA leader Joseph Kony (pictured) is believed to have fled Uganda.(AFP: Stuart Price, file photo)

Invisible Children also has faced questions about its governance in light of financial statements showing a large proportion of funds were used for travel and film production rather than charity work. The non-profit group published its financial statements this week amid rising scrutiny.

"They hear the word charity and they don't understand why all of our money isn't going to Central Africa," Russell said.

"We have found that putting money towards our media and our movie, changes lives. And in that life change, it has tangible results into a movement ... that movement does galvanize the mission."

Others have said the problem needed to be solved within Uganda rather than a viral campaign watched by viewers who may not understand the situation on the ground.

To that criticism, Russell said: "We don't think Americans should be the world police, that is not what we are advocating. We want to continue to put pressure on the policy makers, on the (US) president to keep really hyper-focused on this issue."

The video begins with the slogan, "Nothing Is More Powerful Than An Idea" and references the strength of social media sites like Facebook that can help spur immediate action.

The campaign has urged supporters of the movement to "blanket every street, every city" on April 20.

The success of the video has shocked the non-profit group even though they prepared for its launch on Tuesday with a five-day lead in campaign beforehand, said Russell.

Initially, he aimed for 500,000 YouTube viewers. Now, plans include a global dance party and other fundraising events.

"We were not prepared for this type of response because it has been a whirlwind," he said.

"To us, it is the world waking up ... it is a global revolution."

Reuters

[mo32a]

"To the Pro Choice advocates:

The next time you are contemplating aborting your baby, consider...Steven Paul Jobs, born in San Francisco, California on February 24 1955. His biological parents, unwed college graduates Joanne Simpson and Abdulfattah Jandali, had him adopted by a lower-middle-class couple from south of the Bay Area, Paul and Clara Jobs."

You cherry pick Steve Jobs, how about the thousands of drug addled murderers, serial killers, drug dealers, pimps, pedophiles, thieves, fraudsters etc. that the world would have been much better off if they had been aborted.

[Boney]

Of course I did. All unborn human beings should have a chance at life.

The vast majority turn out to be good people. The fact that some turn out to be mean, like Kony and those in your example, cannot be determined while in the womb, and is a challenge for our world.

This is where all of society must recognize when bad things are happening and stand up and be counted. Speak out when our bleeding heart courts keep letting these scumbags off. Take out men like Kony, etc.

This Kony 2012 vidoe is one example of people speaking out, thus having Kony run and hide until caught. The last sentence in Mitch's post is telling..."To us, it is the world waking up ... it is a global revolution."

Cheers and take care.

[Maverick]

Amazing Mitch, simply amazing.

Boney, Hitler, Stalin and Disney were not aborted...

[Specs]

How come nobody has asking how the situation came to be.

Perhaps I'm wrong as I'm just connecting random recollections here and taking a swing at it but I suspect it's a direct result of pro lifers influence in the US government and their interference in how US AIDS/HIV relief is doled out. It comes with strings. Uganda has a deplorably high maternal mortality rate and and a very low life expectancy. AIDs is a big cause of that. I seem to recall and correct me if I'm wrong but not promoting protected sex or contraception was a condition of US HIV/AIDs relief. So with so many mothers and fathers dying prematurely in part, as a result, what happens to the orphaned kids left behind? Kony, or some other tragic result was inevitable.

[J.O.]

Take out men like Kony, etc.

So it's okay to take a life so long as the act meets your moral barometer of acceptability. Isn't Kony one of God's children too? If you're going to be an advocate for banning the taking of life, that should be "all" life, otherwise you are no better than those you criticize, IMHO.

[Timothy]

Boney has an excellent point. The child in the womb is the picture of innocence and deserves every chance to be born. If this is an inconvenience for the parents, so be it. Kony must be brought to justice, whatever that means. If justice means capital punishment then it will be a fate that he has brought on himself.

[Mitch Cronin]

I feel as though I'm obligated to point out that this Kony business has nothing to do with the subject of abortion... So there; I just did. ....sure does seem an odd rabbit trail to be headed down from this topic....

In any case, since it's there, and I feel like it, I'll offer my own opinion on the subject......

I don't think ANY of us on this planet really MUST have the experience of a full 80 years of life here... In fact, I suspect some souls need the experience of scarcity, misery, pain, etc... early death.... but I don't think an unviable fetus has a soul. I reckon until it's capable of survival on it's own, it's just living tissue.... like a hunk of cut off flesh....

Evidence?

Proof?

No.

Sorry, Like you, I've got none.

So, in the mean time, it seems perfectly reasonable to me to let the judgement lie in the hands of the lady who holds the egg.

I do really hope this thread doesn't get sooooo side-tracked that the 'Kony 2012' message is obliterated, but heck, if there's no room for discussion and/or debate, there can't be much point in saying anything at all.

[ACAV]

The child in the womb has its own heart, brain, and other organs. Blood type and DNA are distinct from the mothers. This DNA identifies him or her as a human being. Therefore if you destroy it you havce destroyed a human being. It is not just another organ like the placenta. It is innocent of any crime and is dependent upon the love of its mother and society just like any baby .It requires love and care to be sustained wether born or not.

"It is a povery to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."- Blessed Mother Teresa

[Azure]

I just don't understand Mitch, how the heck are they supposed to "capture" a man who surrounds himself with a child army? Would not those who attempt to capture him also have to kill children who are protecting him? Also, where was the world 10, 20 years ago? Kony didn't just pop up overnight and if reports are true he has less power today than he did 10 years ago. Why now? I have a sick feeling it has to more to do with recent oil discoveries and natural resources than children. Money and Power. THOSE are the evils that create people like Kony, sometimes though they are nicely dressed and appear as saviours. There is more to this story, and the Chinese probably are playing the game also.

[Specs]

I think he's just a symptom of what really ails that country. He may get removed, and that would please me immensely, but I've no confidence that will be the end of the troubles for those kids.

[Mitch Cronin]

I just don't understand Mitch, how the heck are they supposed to "capture" a man who surrounds himself with a child army? Would not those who attempt to capture him also have to kill children who are protecting him? Also, where was the world 10, 20 years ago? Kony didn't just pop up overnight and if reports are true he has less power today than he did 10 years ago. Why now? I have a sick feeling it has to more to do with recent oil discoveries and natural resources than children. Money and Power. THOSE are the evils that create people like Kony, sometimes though they are nicely dressed and appear as saviours. There is more to this story, and the Chinese probably are playing the game also.

Those are good questions Azure. I can't answer them of course, but I have thoughts... In any case, aside of the obvious, what really got to me was the remarkable worldwide response to the video, and the amazing hope for our collective future that filled me with. The world has changed in a huge, huge way, thanks to this sort of medium, right before our very eyes...