More Double Standards and Hypocrisy from the AP

What is the difference between a terrorist and a murderer? How about a freedom fighter and a terrorist? These questions are often debated in classrooms and lecture halls throughout America...but when it comes to Judith Clark there should be no doubt.

To those who remember the infamous 1981 Brinks heist in Nyack, Judith Clark is a self-indulgent '60s radical serving a well-deserved 75-year prison term for her role in the violent deaths of three heroic law-enforcement officers.

But to the Associated Press, which supplies news to the world, Judith Clark is a "former freedom fighter."

That's right. A "freedom fighter."

Now, maybe "convicted cop-killer" is too graphic for the AP, even though it's wholly accurate.

But "freedom fighter"?

Who's writing for the AP these days - Michael Moore?

Nevertheless, for several hours Monday night, that was precisely the unquestioned description of Clark that appeared in the lead sentence of a story that the AP sent out about her efforts to win a new trial.

Presently that description was altered to "a former black separatist"- with a note to editors saying the change was being made in the interest of "fairness."

Fairness? What about accuracy?

For one thing, though the leaders of the group belonged to the Black Liberation Army, Clark happens to be white.

The AP justified the change by noting that Clark had said the goal of the Brinks heist "was to finance a Republic of New Afrika consisting of former slave states."

(That's what they claimed, all right. But as Susan Braudy disclosed in her 2003 book about the case, "Family Circle," the real motive for the robbery was that BLA leader Doc Shakur needed money to pay his mortgage and buy cocaine.)

Still later, AP changed the story again. This time, Clark was referred to as "a former radical activist" - closer to the mark, but still rather a grand description for an accomplice to murder.

Clark was in the news in the first place because she's trying to get a new trial based on some hoaked-up technicalities. That's unlikely, but you never can tell.

Ask OJ...

So take a moment to think kindly of Sgt. Edward O'Grady and Officer Waverly "Chipper" Brown of the Nyack police and Brinks guard Peter Paige - dead before their time at the hands of Judith Clark and her accomplices.

"Freedom fighter," indeed. How long before someone decides to name a street after her?