Consider Concert 2009

On Sunday, November 22nd at the legendary Moore Theater in Seattle, plan on joining us as we host the 2nd annual Consider Concert.

Inspired by the vibrant enthusiasm of Kim Evanger Raney, whose life was unexpectedly cut short at the age of 26.  We are reminded of the gift of each day, so Consider Concert is a celebration of life– taking a night to stop, breath deep, and think big.

The evening will include performances from Shawn McDonald, Ruth, and Phillip LaRue, and through the Kim Evanger Raney Foundation, the concert proceeds will go directly to the underprivileged and oppressed youth of the Northwest and around the world.  The foundation partners with organizations such as International Justice Mission, Childhaven, Royal Family Kids Camps, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Special Olympics, and Bicycle Alliance of Washington.  Thank you to all who supported last years event– through your support and attendance you helped to raise over $20,000 for underprivileged youth.

Get YOUR tickets and come join us for this important night of music and reflection at the historic Moore Theatre in downtown Seattle on Sunday, Nov. 22nd.

Unbound Conference

On May 8-9 in Seattle, the Freedom Initiative is hosting the 1st Annual Unbound Conference.  It’s been a privilege to work with this alliance of students who are passionate about seeing justice in the streets of Seattle and an end to human trafficking in our own neighborhood.  Register before April 24th and join us as we bring together artists, musicians, non-profit leaders, and experts on modern-day slavery to raise awareness and empower people to become advocates for the victims of human trafficking.

I’ll be leading a conversation about how the injustices of the 21st century call for innovative, community-based solutions that look more like businesses than bureaucracies. Be a part of the conversation on how social entrepreneurs are collaborating to confront human trafficking through community-driven, technology-based innovations that are providing sustainable solutions across the globe.

The cost of registration is $10. All proceeds go to organizations providing services to victims of human trafficking. The $10 registration fee is not tax deductible.

If you have any questions about the conference, please contact registration@freedominitiative.org

William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Act

Original Article posted HERE by Logan Gage @ the Discovery Institute:

On December 10th, Congress passed the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Act and by unanimous consent. It sounds like an easy achievement, but behind that unanimous consent lies the fact that this bill took two years to hammer out.  Bureaucratic opposition was strong and yet almost mute.

Neither side got all it wanted, but the end result appears to be a commendable bill that offers hope for the hundreds of thousands of enslaved and trafficked human beings (mostly women in sex slavery and men in forced labor).  Senators Joe Biden and Sam Brownback deserve high praise for their willingness to compromise and make sure an effective law was passed. Credit outside Congress the many human rights NGOs and give particular praise for Michael Horowitz of Hudson Institute who has labored on this and other human rights issues. We at Discovery are also proud once again of the role of our Senior Fellow John R. Miller.

Let us hope that the incoming Obama administration puts serious effort into enforcing the strong provisions of the law.

Porn is slavery

It is remarkable to me that our culture would so revile incidences of human trafficking and forced child prostitution, but fail to see the interconnectedness of these socially intolerable crimes with the more accepted forms of exploitation of women and children– namely, pornography.  Particularly during a time when there are so many initiatives brewing that claim to seek the end of the commoditization of people, perhaps the single most effective solution would be for dudes to simply stop downloading porn.

There is an economy at work here, one in which “illegal” child prostitution, pornography, strip clubs, erotic chat rooms and call centers, sex tourism, and adult films are products within the same system– the sex industry.  The interconnectedness lies in the fact that if there were no buyer, there would be no seller, and there would be no victim– the only difference is the social acceptability of each practice within this economy.  Although human trafficking and prostitution are perhaps the most poignant and vilified manifestation of this economy, these crimes are given roots in a culture that is hyper-sexualized, dehumanizing and even accommodating to instances of man’s grotesque lusts– one only has to walk the streets of New York City to see the many “gentlemen’s clubs” that speak of this cultural concession.

We hear often about the audacious claims by abolitionists to end the modern day slave trade which oppresses nearly 27 million people through forced labor, prostitution, and indentured servitude.  But what is the purported abolition of slavery without the restoration of the soil in which this ancient weed has sprouted, for as William Wilberforce so insightfully remarked, “God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners.”  There is no abolition of slavery without the reformation of our society, and it is to this end we must labor.

For a thoroughly Biblical treatment of this topic, you can check out Mark Driscoll’s latest, Porn Again Christian.  Shared Hope International is also leading the effort on decreasing the demand for sexual slavery.

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CALL+RESPONSE Update

Thank you all to those of you who attended the opening screening of CALL+RESPONSE in Seattle last Thursday.  The film has achieved high marks from major media sources around the country including:

MSNBC’s Morning Joe: Dillon and Kristof Talk about C+R to millions!  If you missed this morning’s special segment featuring Justin and Nicholas Kristof, please check out the video HERE.

Washington Post: Call+Response “is a harrowing ‘rockumentary’ built on difficult images interspersed with musical performances that are meant to give voice to the oppressed — as music often has — and spread their cries for freedom.“  Read the Review and be sure to check out the exclusive interview with Justin in the video right next to the article!

The Seattle Times says CALL+RESPONSE is “impassioned . . .eye-opening” and “ignoring this crisis is no longer an option.” Read the Review Here by Jeff Shannon.

Julia Ormond and Justin Dillon were on Dr. Phil today for a full hour-long show on Call+Response.

We still need your help to make this film a success.  On www.CallandResponse.com, we have provided some great event posters, with information for each theater. Simply click on a city and download a poster to hand out or email.  The RESPONSE is growing…

CALL+RESPONSE

It is becoming universally aware that we live in a day where, despite living at the historical zenith of wealth, political freedom, and self-actualization, there are more people living in slavery today than ever before.  The statistics are staggering– with nearly 27 million men, women, and children held as slaves (Kevin Bales, Disposable People), and the total market value of illicit human trafficking is estimated to be in excess of US$32 billion (UN), or more money earned by Google, Nike, and Starbucks combined.

At a time when public intolerance for the continued existence of slavery and human trafficking is at an all-time high, a new film steps onstage to capture the sound, and particularly the anthems, of the modern day abolitionist movement.  The CALL+RESPONSE film project is establishing a new genre in film where the audience isn’t left to mere passive observation, but rather called to respond to the reality of the injustice portrayed in it’s images and depicted in it’s songs.  Not only is C+R unique to documentary film, but it’s popularity is further establishing the growing notion of “open source activism”– where the power and inherent talent of a unified community is the groundswell behind the fight against slavery (and all injustice), and not just the governments, NGOs, and enforcement agencies society overly relies upon to do our dirty work.  This project is the vision of musician Justin Dillon, who has himself demonstrated the impact one man’s life and talent– committed to serving the oppressed– can accomplish.

If you are in Seattle, plan on attending one of the opening screenings with me at Metro Cinemas on October 9th, 13th-16th at 7PM and 9PM each night.  Tickets can be purchased HERE or by calling 888.495.7064.  The film opens nationwide in October; for your city visit HERE.

Obama and Young Evangelicals

What makes Obama so appealing to young Evangelicals in America?

Share your thoughts in the comments below or email me at theresmore@gmail.com and I’ll post your ideas.

I hate you Sarah Palin

As we approach the final bend in what has become one of the longest and most compelling US presidential campaigns in history, there is certainly no lack of political satire volleying between red blogs and blue.  Enjoy below one of the more witty reads I’ve found this week…

Original HERE at National Review.

David Kahane is the nom de cyber of a peaceful and tolerant liberal writer in Hollywood who loves his fellow men, and women, unless they’re closet conservatives or Jon Voigt or David Zucker or Kelsey Grammer or Robert Downey, Jr., or Angelina Jolie, or Bruce Willis or Jay Leno or Pat Boone or Orson Bean or a bunch of other people you used to like. You can cheer him on or tell him how much you hate him at kahanenro@gmail.com.

A couple of months ago, you couldn’t drive anywhere in Los Angeles without seeing giant billboards that proclaimed, “I hate you, Sarah Marshall.” Well, we’ve all since long forgotten Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Judd Apatow’s not-quite-$100-million-comedy, about a nebbish whose hot girlfriend leaves him for a drug-addled rocker and they wind up at the same resort in, of all places, Hawaii, and hilarity ensues. Or, Hawai’i as we now call it, orthographically speaking.  But ever since that wrinkly old white dude with the numberless residences, John “the Senator from the Canal Zone” McCain, rained on Barack Hussein Obama II Barry Soetero Barack Hussein Obama Jr., a.k.a. the “Senator from Hinky Dink Kenna,” aka the Punahou Kid’s, parade with his insane, opportunistic, clueless, out-of-touch and breathtakingly audacious, game-changing pick of Sarah Marshall Palin to be his vice president, there’s another Sarah in town to hate.

Yeah, I’m talking about Sarah Barracuda, aka Hurricane Sarah. Where does she get off thinking she can be vice president of the United States? Up against the one million years in the Senate her opponent, Joe Biden, has logged in between expensive rides at taxpayer expense on the Acela, what can she offer? Mayor of a town of six people and ten caribou [sneer]? Miss Congeniality [sneer, sneer]? Illegitimate-child baby-grandma [sneer, sneer, sneer]? Poster chick for “family values” [sneer, sneer, sneer, sneer]?

Sorry, I’m running out of sneers.

But, seriously, just look at the negatives: she’s a popular first-term governor, she’s a woman, she’s happily married, she has five kids, one of them with Down’s syndrome, she’s a maverick, she’s from way beyond the Beltway, she’s taken on both the Republican Party and Big Oil, she shoots automatic weapons, she can kill a moose with a butter knife and fillet a sea lion with a smile, her husband’s a roustabout Eskimo snowmobile champ, she’s a hockey mom, she was Miss Wasilla, she looks like she should be playing Cecily, the saucy librarian, in Tom Stoppard’s Travesties, and she doesn’t wear pantsuits. Heck, she hasn’t even appeared yet on Meet the Press! I mean, who in his right mind would vote for her?

Sure, if she were one of ours, not only would we have nominated her by acclamation, since she fulfills every trope of feminism except for her unfortunate and inexplicable opposition to murdering unborn children, we would also have made at least two TV movies about her life, celebrating her choice to have her fifth child and the announcement yesterday that her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant and is going to marry the teenage father of her child. That’s the kind of heartwarming, inclusive, empowering story we love — she’s like Juno come to life as Juneau, set in Mystery, Alaska.

But she’s not a Democrat, which despite her va-va-va-voom appearance, means she’s not really a woman, which is one of the reasons we’ve spent the past four days since McCain unveiled her trying to tear her limb from limb. Just because she’s the governor of a state sandwiched between two obscure and unimportant countries, Canada and Russia, and spent more time in her first five minutes visiting American troops in Iraq than Evita Barry did during his entire Rainbow Tour, what could she possibly know about foreign policy? It’s not like she’s John Edwards or something.

So that’s why we’re having our Wellstone Funeral Moment at the moment. We mean well; we promised ourselves we wouldn’t go over the top with our outright loathing of the Neanderthals who preach “Christian” values while practicing Wiccanism and child sacrifice and who hate black people and gay people and want to destroy the environment just because they can, and want to amass more money than even John Kerry or Jon Corzine or Herb Kohl or Jay Rockefeller or Dianne Feinstein — the five richest senators — or Ted Kennedy or John Edwards or Nancy Pelosi have. That, usually, is the Kos Kidz’s job. Along with speculating exactly how Bush got from My Pet Goat to planting the depth charges that blew up the levees in New Orleans.

But sometimes the mask slips and you can see — whoops! — how much we hate you. Normally we’re against hate in all its forms, and embrace tolerance as one of our defining moral attributes. But when it comes to you conservatives, well, with the best will in the world, we just can’t tolerate you. You’re elitist, you’re judgmental, you’re hypocritical, and we know that deep down you hate us even more than we hate you. Therefore, by any means necessary, we will defeat you this fall. Voter fraud, “walking around” money, legions of lawyers, as many recounts as it takes — bring it on!

Because we need to take back our country. We need to take it back from fascists like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, and give it back to its rightful proprietors, patriots like Henry Wallace, Sidney Hillman, Norman Thomas, Gus Hall, Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin, Saul Alinsky, William Kunstler, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Bobby Seale, and, yes, my guy, the Talking Parrot, you know who.

And Sarah Marshall Palin stands in the way of all that. After we sent Bill n’ Hill packing with their twin gold watches in Denver, we thought we had a clear playing field. The sunshine of the uplands was ours. Mother Gaia had opened wide her arms to embrace us, shunning the Orcs and the Uruk-hai of the Anti-Slavery, Anti-Segregation, Anti-Secularism, Anti-Sedition and Anti-Surrender Party. We were going up against Bob Dole and Jack Kemp, Herbert Hoover and Whoever, Daddy Bush and Dan Quayle, Gerald R. Ford and, well, Bob Dole.

Piece of cake, walk on the beach, a Renaissance Weekend in a non-denominational heaven for atheists. Until Sarah Marshall Palin showed up, bringing with her 10 million bucks for the bad guys in three days, a level of enthusiasm not seen since Ronnie was a pup, and a clear shot to Republican dominance with her and Bobby Jindal and whatever seduced and corrupted minority group is coming next for eons to come.

So that’s why we hate you, Sarah Marshall Palin. We hate you because you remind the other side of their wives, their girlfriends, their daughters, and make them want to fight for you against our sneers and our smears. We hate you because you’re smart and accomplished and didn’t make your bones on the back of Monica Lewinsky. We hate you because you’ve made us forget that our last two candidates for vice president were Joe Lieberman and John Edwards, whoever they were.

We hate you because you’re smart and beautiful and we wish we had women like you on our side.

We hate you.

Learning about life in the streets…

New Horizons Ministries (www.nhmin.org) was formed in 1978 in response to the growing problems of youth involved in street activity in downtown Seattle. As a multi-cultural organization, their mission is to be in relationship with young people who are homeless and living on the streets, serving, loving, and equipping them to leave street life. Their work has taken them to the darkest corners of Seattle, where literally hundreds of teens have been lured into lives of prostitution.

Come be a part of New Horizon’s training– designed to equip those who want to work with New Horizons or simply know more about the lives of youth living on the street. The training program is open to the public, and is also used by other service agencies throughout the city to train their volunteers and staff. The two all-day training sessions are:

Saturday, September 20th from 8:30am – 4:00pm
Saturday, September 27th from 8:30am – 5:30pm

Visit www.nhmin.org/news/training.asp for more details and come learn how to serve and impact the lives of young people in Seattle.

Obama ventured forth to bring light to the world

Political satire at its finest!  Please enjoy Gerard Baker’s latest commentary on the recent Obama global tour…  original is HERE.

Jae C. Hong / Associated Press

The anointed one’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action – and a blessing to all his faithful followers

By Gerard Baker

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness. The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”

In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.

And so it was, in the fullness of time, before the harvest month of the appointed year, the Child ventured forth – for the first time – to bring the light unto all the world.

He travelled fleet of foot and light of camel, with a small retinue that consisted only of his loyal disciples from the tribe of the Media. He ventured first to the land of the Hindu Kush, where the

Taleban had harboured the viper of al-Qaeda in their bosom, raining terror on all the world.

And the Child spake and the tribes of Nato immediately loosed the Caveats that had previously bound them. And in the great battle that ensued the forces of the light were triumphant. For as long as the Child stood with his arms raised aloft, the enemy suffered great blows and the threat of terror was no more.

From there he went forth to Mesopotamia where he was received by the great ruler al-Maliki, and al-Maliki spake unto him and blessed his Sixteen Month Troop Withdrawal Plan even as the imperial warrior Petraeus tried to destroy it.

And lo, in Mesopotamia, a miracle occurred. Even though the Great Surge of Armour that the evil Bush had ordered had been a terrible mistake, a waste of vital military resources and doomed to end in disaster, the Child’s very presence suddenly brought forth a great victory for the forces of the light.

And the Persians, who saw all this and were greatly fearful, longed to speak with the Child and saw that the Child was the bringer of peace. At the mention of his name they quickly laid aside their intrigues and beat their uranium swords into civil nuclear energy ploughshares.

From there the Child went up to the city of Jerusalem, and entered through the gate seated on an ass. The crowds of network anchors who had followed him from afar cheered “Hosanna” and waved great palm fronds and strewed them at his feet.

In Jerusalem and in surrounding Palestine, the Child spake to the Hebrews and the Arabs, as the Scripture had foretold. And in an instant, the lion lay down with the lamb, and the Israelites and Ishmaelites ended their long enmity and lived for ever after in peace.

As word spread throughout the land about the Child’s wondrous works, peoples from all over flocked to hear him; Hittites and Abbasids; Obamacons and McCainiacs; Cameroonians and Blairites.

And they told of strange and wondrous things that greeted the news of the Child’s journey. Around the world, global temperatures began to decline, and the ocean levels fell and the great warming was over.

The Great Prophet Algore of Nobel and Oscar, who many had believed was the anointed one, smiled and told his followers that the Child was the one generations had been waiting for.

And there were other wonderful signs. In the city of the Street at the Wall, spreads on interbank interest rates dropped like manna from Heaven and rates on credit default swaps fell to the ground as dead birds from the almond tree, and the people who had lived in foreclosure were able to borrow again.

Black gold gushed from the ground at prices well below $140 per barrel. In hospitals across the land the sick were cured even though they were uninsured. And all because the Child had pronounced it.

And this is the testimony of one who speaks the truth and bears witness to the truth so that you might believe. And he knows it is the truth for he saw it all on CNN and the BBC and in the pages of The New York Times.

Then the Child ventured forth from Israel and Palestine and stepped onto the shores of the Old Continent. In the land of Queen Angela of Merkel, vast multitudes gathered to hear his voice, and he preached to them at length.

But when he had finished speaking his disciples told him the crowd was hungry, for they had had nothing to eat all the hours they had waited for him.

And so the Child told his disciples to fetch some food but all they had was five loaves and a couple of frankfurters. So he took the bread and the frankfurters and blessed them and told his disciples to feed the multitudes. And when all had eaten their fill, the scraps filled twelve baskets.

Thence he travelled west to Mount Sarkozy. Even the beauteous Princess Carla of the tribe of the Bruni was struck by awe and she was great in love with the Child, but he was tempted not.

On the Seventh Day he walked across the Channel of the Angles to the ancient land of the hooligans. There he was welcomed with open arms by the once great prophet Blair and his successor, Gordon the Leper, and his successor, David the Golden One.

And suddenly, with the men appeared the archangel Gabriel and the whole host of the heavenly choir, ranks of cherubim and seraphim, all praising God and singing: “Yes, We Can.”

To the summit

The Climb For Captives Team @ Camp Schurman

I can’t thank you all enough for your support and contributions that have made the 1st Annual Climb For Captives a complete success.  On Sunday, our team summited Mt. Rainier at around 8:30AM, after climbing for close to nine hours from base camp.  It was a beautiful, sunny morning in the Northwest, and little did we know that, over the weekend, we surpassed our goal of raising $14,410 to fight human trafficking through the Home Foundation.

I want to personally all of you who partnered with us in this initiative– from your words of encouragement to your generosity in giving– in two weeks time, our actions have impacted the lives of dozens of women and children who would have otherwise continued living in the darkest of situations.  For this I send you my deepest gratitude.

At the summit

More updates, video footage, and photos will be posted on www.climbforcaptives.com.

Greater things are yet to come–