Arianna continues using a dead 9-year-old girl as political prop

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Previously: We documented in extreme detail in this report, and this follow-up, how Arianna and her minions apparently decided, minutes after the Tucson shooting, to:

(a) Construct a narrative that falsely, subtly implied that Sarah Palin, the Tea Party and conservatives were responsible for inciting the shooter
(b) Systematically ignore the deluge of evidence that pointed in exactly the opposite direction
(c) Exploit Rep. Giffords, Christina Green and all the other victims and their loved ones, in order to attempt to score cheap, momentary political points

Just when one might have thought Arianna Huffington's ghoulish misrepresentation and exploitation of the Tucson shootings might finally be over, along comes her latest screed --- which shamelessly exhumes 9-year-old Christina Green as a political prop, again. And as you can see below, your tax dollars* are helping to pay to enable Arianna's latest cruel exploitation:

(*Note the PBS ad, in the most expensive ad space, at right; also note that four months earlier, we advised its Ombudsman of the reality of what Arianna and HuffPost are, and do --- all of which they apparently ignored.)

From the article:
The President, Christina-Taylor Green, and the Real State of the Union

There was a theme woven through [Obama's] Tucson speech -- the theme, as the president defined it, of "what, beyond prayers and expressions of concern, is required of us going forward." It was at its most powerful when the president focused on the youngest victim, nine-year-old Christina-Taylor Green.

He painted a vivid picture of her: dancer, gymnast, swimmer, "A" student, member of her school's student council, volunteer for a charity that helps less-privileged kids, and the only girl on her Little League team.

Obama's challenge to the country was to "live up to her expectations," declaring that he wants an America "as good as she imagined it."

In that spirit, wouldn't the way to honor Christina and her "gentle, happy spirit" be to care enough for all the nine-year-old little girls -- for all the children -- that are still alive but trapped in lives of quiet desperation, homeless, hungry, enrolled in dysfunctional schools, living in inner cities where random violence is a daily occurrence?

The statistics tell a depressing tale:

According to the Casey Foundation, over 20 percent of children in America -- that's more than 14.5 million kids -- are living in poverty. It's 23 percent in Christina's home state of Arizona -- 398,000 children living in conditions that undermine their health, their school performance, and their chances for the future.

On the surface, and to a casual observer who knew little of HuffPost or Arianna, this would seem to be a noble appeal.

But just for a moment, separate yourself from the emotional aspect of this article, what does its content have to do with Christina? Was she suffering? No. By all accounts, she was a part of a loving, comfortable family, and a vibrant, curious, intelligent-beyond-her-years child, who was at Rep. Giffords' event because of her civic interest.

Further, and in direct contrast to HuffPost routinely coming out against private ownership of guns, Christina's father said very clearly that she would not want anyone's gun rights taken away because of this tragedy: “We know she wouldn’t want things changed. She would not want restrictions.”

In order to write these words, Arianna had to engage in even more depraved denial:

• Denial of the fact that she has been exploiting Christina's corpse for ten days for political gain, based on false allegations --- and that the first thing she owes Christina, and the entire Green family, is a profound apology. Instead, she chose to once again exploit Christina, as a prop to advance her radical leftist ideology.
  

• Denial of the fact that as a former arch conservative, she knows (or should know) that "poverty" statistics are often egregiously misleading, misunderstood, and exploited to further expand the welfare state. For example, as the Heritage Foundation thoroughly documented in 2004, using the Census Bureau's own data:
  

  "If poverty means lacking nutritious food, adequate warm housing, and clothing for a family, relatively few of the 35 million people identified as being "in poverty" by the Census Bureau could be characterized as poor. While material hardship does exist in the United States, it is quite restricted in scope and severity... [T]he average "poor" person, as defined by the government, has a living standard far higher than the public imagines." For example:

  - 46% of all "poor" households actually own their own homes.
  - The average home owned by persons classified as "poor" is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.
  - 76% of "poor" households have air conditioning (by contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning).
  - Only 6% of "poor" households are overcrowded. More than 2/3 have more than two rooms per person.
  - The typical "poor" American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe.

  Of course, this does not mean that poverty isn't a problem, or that children aren't suffering, particularly in our current recession. But those who are familiar with the matter know full well how activist groups and NGOs with a vested interest in the matter manipulate the numbers --- and that nowhere near 20% of American children are living in actual poverty.
  

• Denial of the fact that more than anything else, it is the radical leftist policies that Arianna (now) advocates that are responsible for bringing America to its economic knees, and is forestalling our recovery --- and thus, are causing the little girls to whom she refers to be living in such suffering.

Is there no depth to which Arianna will not sink in order to manipulate and deny reality, and exploit murder victims --- even children --- to advance her radical leftist agenda, and wage a jihad against political enemies? While hiding behind her status as Editor-In-Chief of what she has repeatedly claimed is a "nonpartisan" newspaper, whose highest mission is "to ferret out the truth, consequences be damned”?

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Action Items: Your voice matters

There are only two things that enable Arianna to engage in this activity: the silence of "journalists," and HuffPost's roster of big-dollar advertisers.

You can help to hold her and HuffPost to account for their acts and omissions via the following Action Steps:

(1) Make your voice known to HuffPost's senior management and investors here.

(2) Write or call one or more of HuffPost's top advertisers, to let them know your thoughts on what their ad dollars are enabling. In particular, you might let Michael Getler, Ombudsman of PBS know your thoughts on what his network is paying to support. Email or call him at 703-739-5290. (You might also remind him that we provided him with a deluge of documentation, four months ago, that PBS had completely mischaracterized Arianna as a centrist. We got no response.)

(3) Forward the link to this article to others that you think should be aware of it.

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