Beginning late October, we rallied behind Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn with vigor: we saturated the community with an ad that the Kansas City Star rejected for political reasons. Indeed, we hit virtually every Catholic church, school and lay organization in the area, along with other religious organizations, public and private schools and... [Read more...]
NO TREE TAXOn November 9, we learned that the Obama administration had decided to promote the sale of fresh Christmas trees by imposing a 15-cent tax on them (the tax was being levied to pay for a PR campaign). We immediately put out a sarcastic news release “supporting” the idea. Later that day, the tax plan was revoked. We maintained that President Barack... [Read more...]
LOOKING FOR DIRTWilliam A. Donohue In 1968, David Horowitz became the editor of Ramparts, which at that time was far and away the most influential anti-American, left-wing magazine in the nation. He was well trained for the job: a self-described “Red Diaper Baby,” his secular Jewish parents were both members of the Communist Party. But midway through the 1970s,... [Read more...]
BISHOP FINN DESERVES BETTERWe will have a lot to say about Bishop Finn and his accusers, but for now, we want to make it clear that we stand by him without reservation. Why? Not because he is a bishop, but because nothing he did deserves the kind of reaction against him that is emanating from many quarters. Shortly, we will lay out the details of our support for him. Keep in... [Read more...]
KANSAS CITY STAR vs. CATHOLIC CHURCHWe recently contacted the Kansas City Star about running a full-page ad on October 30. The ad is a critical statement about the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), and their attorney friend, Rebecca Randles. The ad was written because we strongly defend Bishop Finn against the politically motivated attacks on him. Everything looked... [Read more...]
SUICIDE OF THE KANSAS CITY STAROur news release on the decision by the Kansas City Star to reject the ad exposing the phony victims’ group, SNAP, and its attack on Bishop Finn, reached approximately 200 employees of the Star and about 300 media outlets in the Kansas City, Missouri area; another 1500 media outlets around the nation received it. All will continue to receive our releases... [Read more...]
KANSAS CITY STAR AND ANTI-CATHOLICISMThe SNAP-Star alliance against Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn is a natural: both are anti-Catholic. As evidence of SNAP’s bigotry, see our report on its July conference. As for the Star, consider its infamous 1999 “survey” of priests. Twelve years ago, the Star did a survey of priests across the nation. They were asked such things as:... [Read more...]
KANSAS CITY STAR-SNAP ALLIANCERespectable newspapers are expected to be objective, and not become the voice box of activist organizations. This is not true of the Kansas City Star; its relationship with SNAP is incestuous. To take the latest example, on November 1, Judge James Dale Youngs of the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri, dismissed a case brought by SNAP lawyer... [Read more...]
KANSAS CITY STAR IS IMPLODINGThe Star is in free fall: for the first time since before World War II, its daily circulation has fallen below 200,000 (the Sunday circulation is only about 300,000). Circulation numbers are of particular concern to newspaper advertisers—it determines the rates they are charged. Because we believe in transparency, and because the Star purports to... [Read more...]
MEET THE CHURCH-SUING LAWYERSSNAP announces a lawsuit against the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. The diocese, headed by Bishop Finn, knows nothing about it. But attorney Rebecca Randles does: she coordinated the attack with SNAP. Virtually all the cases date back decades, and no one from the Kansas City Star questions any of it. This isn’t an anomaly—it’s the norm. Randles... [Read more...]