In what is becoming more and more frequent, people are being arrested for exercising their free speech rights to protest. This time Pro-Lifers were arrested in Maryland while peacefully demonstrating that abortion is murder. It is becoming clear that our morality has decayed to where truth is now regulated speech and murder of the unborn is accepted and protected.
Eighteen pro-lifers participating in the MD Face the Truth Tour were arrested without warning by Hartford County State Troopers in the city of Bel Air, MD on… August 1…. It was during the last tour stop of the week-long event, sponsored by Defend Life when a State Trooper named Bradley approached the group and told them to move and put away their signs or they would be arrested. In an effort to comply, group leader Jack Ames gathered the group and moved down the road, into the city limits of Bel Air…. The group stood peacefully on public property and did not “march” into the street as one news organization erroneously reported. Without warning, an estimated 20 patrol cars arrived on the scene and began arresting pro-life participants without a word. Those arrested were not told what they were being charged with, nor were they read their rights. One of the women who participated in the tour overheard a police radio conversation where an unknown person told the troopers to make the arrests and that they would “figure out later” what charges would be filed…. Two minors in the group were soon released, but the adults were held overnight…. The last of the pro-lifers were released… August 2, at about 10:45 AM. The group was eventually charged with loitering, failure to obey a lawful order, and disorderly conduct.
Here’s my letter to them back in June.
Dear Sir(s);
This is very, very wrong and until the Hilton Hotels cleans up their act, we are choosing to seek other accommodations when traveling. Not because an action group is against it, but because it happened to us, your long time customer!
I have always sought out finding a Hampton Inn when traveling around the country. I have always had good service and a pleasant stay at your hotels. I have since realized that Hampton Inns are owned by Hilton Hotels, but not before I made two reservations for this month. (I had heard that problems like mine have happened before in Hilton Hotels.) This weekend I stayed for my first reservation in Naperville, IL. If I wasn’t in charge of my elderly Mother in an enjoining room, and that are blocked off for my niece’s wedding, I would cancel my upcoming reservations. Here’s why.
While relaxing in our room after a long conference, we were flipping through channels on TV. With my children watching, I came to a channel that had the full width and length of the screen, a woman’s torso. She was naked. From the glimpse that we got before the TV permanently went off for the rest of our stay, this was not a fuzzy scene or shot from a movie. It was a blatant shot in an X-rated adult show or program. I do not know if it was on HBO or another type of channel like that, though.
I know that you have gotten emails before about this kind of content being shown in your hotels, but this was very personal to me. My wish is for you not to have this programming at all offered in your “family” hotels but I realize that you feel you are providing a service for those who want it. Here is my dilemma, why is the programming tuned into those programs per entering the room? If you KNOW that a channel has a propensity for having these kinds of adult programs, then you should make it available only for those who request it at the desk. I don’t understand how a quest has to get a special code at the desk to have internet access, but they are free to watch pornographic sites on your TVs!
I am still waiting for a response back from them and you can see what the date is.
As I said, I had to stay at a Hampton Inn for a wedding. I asked them to turn off the pornographic channel and they said that they couldn’t. It was HBO and they couldn’t turn off that channel. So we elected to keep it off. We haven’t stayed at one since or any other Hilton affiliate.
Well, I don’t go to Starbucks. I have probably went two times in my life and I got smoothies. The problem? I don’t drink coffee. (Gasp!!!)
Say what you must but I have never liked the taste of that bitter stuff. It isn’t though I haven’t been exposed to it because my Mom drank like, thirty cups a day!!! I really doesn’t matter what I put in it either… I just don’t like it.
But, I will say, I get my jolt from an occasional Dr. Pepper in the morning, so I guess you would say that is my cup of “joe”.
Anyway… my honey saw this article on the internet and wondered if I wanted to write about it.
The problem, in case you don’t want to read it too much, is that Starbucks changed their logo on their coffee cups to this bare breasted woman with a crown on her head, and her fish bottom body with her legs spread open.
I read it and thought, well, I need to call the company and check it out. I mean it looked like an ugly drawing, to say the least, and certainly not impressive enough for a big company like Starbucks! When I reached the person on the other line, I asked him if they had changed their logo to a naked lady. With the ease of knowing all about calls like these, he said yes but that it was temporary. I asked him why they changed their logo. He said that the company owner decided to change it to show people that Starbucks was going to get back to their business roots. That it was the original logo back in 1972. I asked since it is temporary, when does it get changed back? The company didn’t have a specific date but it would be sometime in July. I asked him if he had any other comments about it because I was thinking that I would write about here and he said that I would have to talk to the press department about it. I declined to talk to them because I felt I got enough information.
Okay dokay… I was left with thinking, why would they feel that this was a “good” way to show people that they were getting back to their roots? Why was it only temporary if they wanted to show this? What other reasons did they have for doing this.
This is what I think.
I think that this is a tread in our country now. Have you ever heard of “Bad publicity, is still publicity?” I think that this is precisely why some companies dive into questionable material, advertising, and sponsorships. In my mind, here’s what happens.
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The company wants to have more money or they get an activist in the corporate office.
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They decide that questionable marketing gets a quick, cheap response. After all, the media gets involved and it is free advertising.
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They implement the plan and watch the newspapers, internet, and newscasts.
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They send out a memo to their PR people to make such and such statements.
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They start to get email and phone calls telling them to pull their campaign, advertisement, commercials.
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They have the CEO make a statement to the press.
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They still don’t pull it and now they are getting support and complaints.
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They milk it for as long as possible until they either figure out that it is helping or hindering their sales.
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If they are lucky, they will have groups boycotting their product and get more empathy from groups that vow to shop wit them because they took this stand.
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Things start to turn against them and sales are just starting to decrease.
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They repent. The boycott is called off, their sales pick up and they are the good guys and everyone is encouraged to show them their support for doing the right thing.
Now do you feel used or played?
As I said, this is my theory but I think in a lot of cases right now, I am spot on!
Does this mean that you shouldn’t call, email or boycott? No! By all means, let them have it. In the end, you do what is right before your Lord. Let the Lord take care of them. They will get found out eventually.
What do you think?
Bible verses that fit this.
Proverbs 24:8, Proverbs 24:20, Proverbs 28:10, Matthew 12:35
Do you have more verses that would fit this situation? I bet you do!
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