Conservatives and the Delusions of the Left
As I read the words of these unreconstructed leftwing extremists, I see a group of delusional people living in the dream world of their defunct ideology. The team that Obama has chosen are anything but people of the Left, even though at one time or another in their past, some of them may have been.
What is surprising is that Melanie Phillips actually seems to think that they are correct- that Obama is a stealth Marxist whose appointments are sham fronts meant to allow him to impose a secret left-wing agenda. She writes: “Just like me they believe Obama is practicing stealth politics with a degree of sophistication and success with which ‘even Lenin would be impressed.’…Obama knows that he must be subtle and reassure even the most conservative of his opponents if he is to achieve his radical goals.”
I have a simple retort to this: If you have radical goals, why appoint all your key people from the center and center/right? As David Horowitz has written on his own blog on www.frontpagemag.com (you will find his blog on the left of the website under his photo) “conservatives need to get a grip.” He continues: “Now, as president-elect he has just formed the most conservative foreign policy team since John F. Kennedy, one well to the right of Bill Clinton. ..What is more relevant in his Hillary Clinton pick — her prickly past or the fact that except for Joe Lieberman, she is the Democrat most identified with support for the Iraq War?” And he goes on to note that Obama has appointed a conservative former Marine as his National Security Advisor, and kept Robert Gates on as Secretary of Defense.
But Melanie Phillips is not buying any of this. She argues that people like me and Horowitz have joined the ignorant public and the media and have “fallen for Obama’s stealth politics hook, line and sinker” and hence our “guard is now totally lowered.” But I have one question for Melanie: why, in making your estimate of Barack Obama, do you defer to the delusionary intellectual admonishments of the, far Left—who are and have been so out of touch with America for decades? For anyone of a centrist or conservative bent, the most foolish thing to do is to take your cues from people like these. Rudd and Jones are not “the horse’s mouth.” They are simply ideological thinkers who were proven to be fools a long time ago. We join them at our own folly.
Ron: speaking as an immigrant( educated in the US ) who probably values our national experiment more sincerely than the host of native-born who are so very sloppy and louche in their approach to “thinking”( whenever they actually DO ) about our precepts and thinning values …remember where Melanie is writing/living from/in. If you have not been in England (lovely land of my birth& home of my family)or Eurabia , recently- I “go back” at least twice/annum….well, you would be stunned at the denial and equivocation.Anti-Americanism is simply self-recognition of their rising impotence, btw. The tribes of Europe and GB are terrified of overt expressions of their culture and values-golly, they might have to stand up for something or other-when they have convinced themselves that they don’t really believe in anything other than coupon clipping and working ’til 50 to retire to a warm place (akin to a Russian peasant sleeping over his stove)…to wit: Yob culture in England ; as such they are having their countries hijacked by not just Arab Islamofascists , but Russian mafiosi and black African post-colonial grievance mongers…”look I am a visible minority , you owe me you white devil/rascist” – the whole scenario is disgrace-full and strangely shot- through with schadenfreund(aimed@ each other)- they are actually grotesquely divided and yet, united by their self-absorbtion and base material greed. The dearth of genuine pride and the understanding that ALL great cultures rise and fall like tectonic plates , has escaped them…what worries me intensely for my children , and now grandchildren is this…this will create a vacuum and I believe we may witness the resurrection of the Far firebreathing Right and with that will come blowback. Weimar , anyone?Read your history boys & girls and stay armed Anglosphere.
Ron: I respectivefully disagree with much of what you have written. What Trevor Loudon wrote, and Phillips reported on, what how the marxist Left that did so much to support the political rise of, and then the presidential campaign of Sen. Obama, see all this as the result of their influence, and they comment on the “stealth” component of Obama’s strategies.
Now whether Obama had a “stealth” campaign strategy is known only to himself and a handful of insiders, but he has managed to hide almost all of his past from the American public, using a few slimey mouthpieces to say what is (that there is a birth certificate, the Frank Marshall Davis (CPUSA) had no influence on him, that he hardly knew Bill Ayers (WUO), etc)) and refused to provide what is missing (his birth certificate, his legal writings, his school records, etc).
This is called “a coverup” and one has to ask “why”? He won the election, not quarrel with it and I don’t care about the foreign-birth issue, but let’s face it, “Obama, we hardly know you” and from what I have seen of those who guided you through life, I’m scared for our country.
Obama was raised and operated in a marxist-rich environment, which also included liberals, socialists, and some pretty psychopathic individuals.
Ron, I believe you were either a “red-diaper” or “pink diaper” baby, and know what that concept includes. Obama was at least a “pink diaper” baby and those around him ranged from liberal to hardcore Communist, and that included many in his presidential campaign.
While Obama’s choices so far for his cabinet have been rational, it is due to the fact that none of his top people had any real world experience in the military or even in government. He had to get people with experience from somewhere and he went to the Clinton Administration for them, plus a few Bush leftovers. (Bush kept Clinton appointees, esp. at the CIA and State, and paid a heavy price for it).
It is the second tier leftists that worry me and many othe people. Malley is one. His father was a Soviet operative and it had to color his view of the Middle East. Rice has some very anti-Israel views that are not those of a moderate.
Anything with Daschle spells trouble, as well as conflict of interest due to his wife’s position with Boeing (past and possibly, present).
Podesta – his ties to George Soros put him way over on the far-left.
The influence of the heavily marxist AFL-CIO on labor issues and the Secretary of Labor is one of the untold stories of this election. More on this topic will be published in the future.
Eric Holder at Justice. One of the biggest mistakes that Obama could make regarding the security of America and the sanctity of the Dept. of Justice. After watching the Clintons and Reno destroy anti-mafia work re LIUNA, we are now offered another “weak sister” re the Marc Rich pardon and those of convicted terrorists from the WUO/M19thCO and FALN, not to mention the Elian Gonzalez debacle, etc.
Events have forced Obama to turn towards what many mistakeningly call “the center”. While some appointments are centrists or even slightly conservative, Obama’s policy statements about defense and terror will set up a very violent clash over just what these policies entail, and how dangerous some of them will be for America.
However, we must remember that “center” is relative. Anyone to the right of Joe Stalin was “towards the center.” That would include Brezhnev (and his Doctrine), Andropov, Putin/Medvedev, Castro, Ortega and Hugo Chavez.
Thanks, but no thanks. We must look behind the cover of the book to see just what is written there besides the book reviewer’s comments. So far, the Obama appointments don’t look like a “best seller.” I hope for America that it is not a “remainder”. A “book” without content is just that, a “book” without content, no matter what is on the cover.
Hope I’m wrong, but the security of America is at stake and I don’t want a bunch of leftists, especially anti-US anti-free enterprise people, and/or weak-on defense people, running the country from behind the curtain of darkness that Obama has wrapped around himself for years.
I am cautiously optimistic regarding Barack Obama. There is no way that I can deny that most of his appointments meet with my approval. Eric Holder, however, is a major exception—and a very important one! Obama’s past infatuation (commitment?) with radical politics also cannot be easily dismissed. Let’s see what happens in the future. In the meantime, I promise not to join the crowd who believes Obama is not an American citizen. This nonsense is sucking out all the oxygen in the room. We all have better things to worry about.
i think the admonishment is well-taken. as bush fascism was always a hallucination or a political weapon, obama’s leninism should be denied until proven. i would like to see what happens during the international crisis biden predicted “and it’s not going to be obvious that we’re right.” why? because their response will resemble something bush might do, or that khruschev might like? i’m guessing the former. but we live in strange and interesting times, suddenly; it wouldn’t be completely impossible for overt centrism to hide a hollowing out, or worse. after all it’s not just his associations or birth certificate, it’s his voting record and rhetoric, especially his anti-war start and his recent “failed economic philosophy” comments. you must admit, i think, that simply taking obama as he is renders the center-right cabinet appointments a little… i don’t know… incongruent, don’t you think? but just a little. perhaps his unity stuff is true. if so, we’re in better hands than i’d expected, which is gladdening. i remain wary, though.
PAY ATTENTION BARACK: MISSILE DEFENSE IS DO OR DIE
There are no second chances if we get this one wrong:
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2008/12/missle-defense-do-or-die.html
Mr. Radosh: As a student at QCC many years ago I registered for a history course that you were teaching. I lasted about a week and a half. One reason was the amount of work you demanded from each student. It was daunting. I was trying to maintain a full course load while holding a fulltime four-to-midnight job.
Another reason was your… uh… point of view at the time.
What caused the turnaround?
Sorry. Mis-typed the URL
A) Hawaiian law, at the time of Obama’s birth, allowed for FOREIGN born baby’s to be registered in Hawaii via a ‘Certificate of Live Birth’:
“[§338-17.8] Certificates for children born out of State…”
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol06_Ch0321-0344/HRS0338/HRS_0338-0017_0008.htm
B) The Hawaiian govt’ officials NEVER stated that Obama was born in Hawaii. They only stated that they have seen his birth certificate on file. But a B.C. from where?? (see #1 above).
On October 31, 2008, Dr Chiyome Fukino, Department of Health:
“Therefore, I as Director of Health for the State of Hawai‘i, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawai‘i State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures.”
http://hawaii.gov/health/about/pr/2008/08-93.pdf
For the Hawaiian ‘Policies and Procedures’ she refereed to…see item #1 above which, again, affords foreign born babies to obtain a Hawaiian COLB.
Legally, the Hawaiian Govenor & the Dpt of Health official mearly stated fact based on their own laws. One can obviously see that a Kenyan B.C. from 1961 would be legal and valid per Hawaiian law. This would also allow Obama to obtain a U.S. Passport.
C) Examples of Hawaiian Long Form COLB’s:
1963 Hawaiian Long Form COLB:
http://a5.vox.com/6a00c2252293c4604a0100a80270e5000e-pi
1962 Hawaiian Long Form COLB:
http://passportsusa.com/wp-content/gallery/passportusa/edith_front.jpg
Take a close look at box 7C for baby’s place of birth. The title is: “County and State or Foreign Country” Proof that back in the 1960′s, Hawaii allowed for Foreign born baby’s to register and obtain a Hawaiian COLB…even a LONG form.
D) If proven Obama is indeed foreign born (Kenya), He would NOT have received U.S. citizenship based, only, on his mother’s citizenship status. Per U.S. law at the time of his birth (December 24, 1952 to November 13, 1986).
“If only one parent was a U.S. citizen at the time of your birth, that parent must have resided in the United States for at least ten years, at least five of which had to be after the age of 16.”
http://immigration.findlaw.com/immigration/immigration-citizenship-naturalization/immigration-citizenship-naturalization-did-you-know(1).html
Obama’s mother didn’t give birth to him at 21 (16 + 5). Therefore, Obama could not obtain U.S. citizenship based only by virtue his mother’s citizenship.
E) And then there is the dual citizenship issue. Factcheck themselves state that Obama was indeed a British subject and did in fact hold dual citizenship AT Birth.
http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/does_barack_obama_have_kenyan_citizenship.html
“In other words, at the time of his birth, Barack Obama Jr. was both a U.S. citizen … and a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies (or the UKC)”
So even IF he was indeed born in Hawaii (would be easy for him to prove but hasn’t so far), Obama could therefore not be a Natural Born citizen because Natural Born citizens can not hold dual citizenship at birth. It has to do with the potential for divided loyalties and the very reason the
writers of the Constituion allowed for their acception (grandfather in) because all of them were British Subjects at birth.
He might be a “Naturalized” Citizen, but there is nothing (to date) in the public sector to suggest he is a ‘Natural Born” Citizen, the Constitution clearly requires for one to become POTUS.
F) Without question, the Secretary of State of New Jersey (& possibly other SoS’s) did NOT do their job in making sure the presidential candidates (including Obama) were qualified and eligible to be on their states’ ballot. [This is, in part, the subject of Leo Donofrio's lawsuit.]
Why?
How would the SoS from NJ explain that Roger Calero was on their ballet as a candidate?
Socialist Workers Party candidate Roger Calero isn’t even a U.S. citizen (Naturalized OR Natural Born), yet appeared on NJ’s presidential ballot.
Calero was also allowed on the state ballot in: Delaware, Minnesota, New York and Vermont.
Calero is a permanent resident alien (holding a green card).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B3ger_Calero
I have much respect for Radosh but I would be willing to bet the ranch that Melanie proves right and that he is wrong in three years.
Mr. Radosh has clearly forgotten the primary operating procedure of an Alinsky cohort of which Obama is most definitely a disciple.
After Obama grants 13 year old taxpayer paid abortions without knowledge of their parents, deficit spending as a new religion of the State, citizenship status and full benefit “rights” to tens of millions of illegal aliens and their “families” destroying the cultural and political fabric of this nation will Mr. Radosh stil be proclaiming the centrist Obama?
I think not.
And surely the legitimization of open homosexuality in the military and equivalence among nations between Cuba, Venezuela, Iran with the UK and France will not be far behind.
What makes Obama so appealing is his ability to give people hope that he represents their desires. He doesn’t. He represents a leftist’s desires for first and foremost power. And implementing a leftist agenda.
Talk to me after January 20th. Until then, it’s merely wishful thinking.
Yeah think its a little early for this… he can easily replace these ppl are anytime…
Lets wait and see what his does both publicly and privates in terms of laws and actions.
The last time I checked, Barack doesn’t take the oath until January 20th. So why is everyone trying to jump to the 7th inning? Good grief. Get your hotdog and coke and sit down. The first inning pitch will come at the end of January.
After listening carefully to President-elect Obama for two years, as a former lifelong Republican, I can say I am comfortable that he will lead competently from the center. I am disappointed that he had to make a backroom deal with the Clintons for Sec State and I think Holder is a weak choice but I am happy with everything else I have seen and heard about him and his plans.It is time to drop partisan politics and get behind Obama and pray for his success and the survival of the United states.
The Hudson Institute is a far rightwing conservative think tank. As with any opinion piece, consider the source.
I’d just like to comment on a couple of people’s comments here.
Craig- Love the analogy
David Thompson – wholeheartedly agree with you
Max Friedman – You say “we don’t know who Barack Obama is.” How do you not know this?! He’s been in the media spotlight for the past two years, made inummerable speaches and talked in 20 something debates! And if that didn’t tell you enough, you couild read his biography and memoir, if your that worried about Obama, instead of looking at sites like the Drudge report, who will most likley never say a decent thing about him, try seeing it from Obama’s point of view. Or if you don’t like that, look from the liberal prespective and then from the consevative prespective. You’ll learn a lot that way.
Based on what Obama has written in his two books and what he has said, I along with most of those who voted for him expected he would be a center left president. His picks so far seem to confirm that judgment. It of course depends on your definition of center, right and left
I agree with you, Ron. I was also disappointed with Melanie’s column. These ex-Weathermen are simply projecting their own radical fantasies onto Obama.
As the great Fouad Adjami has noted, Obama is a child of the universities, the churches and the non-profit organisations. This is not the real world, at least the real world that Obama is going to be living in from now on.
I think we can be pretty confident that over the past several weeks Obama has been having a series of conversations with the real professionals – in the military, the intelligence services, and so on. And they will have been telling him, in the politest possible way, “Look, Mr Obama, you’re going to have to forget everything you think you know. This is the way the world really works, and guess what, you’re going to be the most important person in it. So listen up.”
Obama is far too intelligent not to listen, IMHO.
OH PLEASE! OH PLEASE! England for centuries have sh–t on other countries that they have conquered. Destroying the Eco System, the values of a people, and not replacing the values with something of value, and their mores.
The only delusional people living in a dream of their defunct idealogy is THE FAR RIGHT WING, and THE NEOCONS; from Reagan to Bush. Reagan and Bush max out the American credit card, and Bush has bankrupt this country. WHY? Reagan and Bush and their cohorts were disciples of a defunct idealogy. They beleived in THE RUPTURE, JESUS IS COMING, AND THE END OF THE WORLD IS NEAR. I have no doubt that Blair beleived in that defunct idealogy, too. The American Suckers fell for it line and sinker.
BRING IT ON FAR LEFT!!!! AMEN!
BRING IT ON! A NEW DAY IS DAWNING!!!
I HAVE A NEWS FLASH! LISTEN UP! REAGANITES, BUSH, FAR RIGHT WINGERS and NECONS: THE RUPTURE IS NOT IN THE CARDS, AND JESUS IS NOT COMING, AND THE END OF THE WORLD IS NOT NEAR; HOWEVER, OBAMA IS NEAR! A NEW DAY IS DAWNING! THE FORCE WILL BE WITH OBAMA AND THE FAR RIGHT! SO BE IT!
There will be an election in 2 yrs, and another in 4. I just don’t see how BO can impose something draconian on the country. Heck, the Dems can’t even dole out $25 Bil. to their buddies in Detroit, and they control the whole government. Sure Bush might veto it, but in 6 wks it would be signed with a flourish by the empty suit.
During BO’s candidacy it became clear to me that he is a socialist/marxist. Many of the last century’s “change” mongers-such as Fidel Castro, and Daniel Ortega, started their rule by surrounding themselves with non-leftist of impeccable credentials. They didn’t last long. I’ll be thrilled if Melanie Phillips is proved wrong, but I am not holding my breath-I agree with Hugh’s, Max’s, and RW’s comments; I suspect “history will absolve” our cynicism.
Well, he had a very progressive Campaign, promises, ideas, plans and such. The young voters and the left of center Americans won him the election. Before it was soccer moms or nascar dads. Its obvious what direction America wants to move. We had a very right-winged president (way more than his dad), and his approval right is, well, being tied to him can lose you an election nowadays, and why not? The American people spoke in vast numbers, 52%, this hasn’t been done in decades, a lot of people were behind him, and I think he will be pragmatic. When someone says right or left, right or left opposed to what? What circumstance? Congress, in both, houses, have become more liberal, bigger majority, big turnaround. One time it was a Republican controlled House, Senate, White House, and how quickly it will become a Democratic House, Senate, and White House.
We should all hope for the best, not so we could be “right in our predictions or personal and selfish hopes.” I’m to the far left, but having a Republican in his Cabinet which to some might seem odd, but if he is best qualified at the moment, let’s see the results.
has there been a harder working president elect? obama has made history,i think he has made alot of people nervous,and a lot of people set back and pay attention seems to me hes more interested in trying to get our country back on track then making history.when was the last time a individual with his kind of energy and assertavness has taken the ball and owned it.americas way is”i told you so” shame,shame.why cant we all stand behind our leader and show the world”united we stand”i hope he makes mistakes ,that way the reps and the dems can continue with the on going tugg of war,you all seem to want to derail him give him his time.hes only has to do one good possitive thing for the american people and there self esteem and hes up one to nothing,and for the dems thank alot of reps that opened there heart and minds to see a change .obviously im a simple man,i try to do right things make right decisions,the intellegence of the people in this country is unmatched,our country can run like a fine tuned american sports car,our offence is in place,lets beef up our defence,and get back into the game.from a ARIZONAN thats probably been in the sun to long.all we have is our country and our people,every one else freeloads and hates us.
I’m not sure how in the world anyone can look at the sum total of Obama’s picks and say “it’s a centrist group.” Yes, he’s keeping Gates. Other than continuing Rumsfield’s decimation of conventional capability (big wars with major opponents), we really don’t know a whole lot about where Gates stands on anything. And if he truely believes that China and Russia pose little or no threat to the US in the near-mid term, he is either myopic or infected with the extreme liberal virus of “they’re really pretty nice guys when you get to know them.” Mrs Clinton, despite her early support for the war effort, isn’t moderate at all. At best, she is just like her pragmatic former President husband, at worst she is a true believer (in left wing idiocy). Justice–another Clintonite, hardly centrist. As for his National Security Advisor, just because he is a Marine General doesn’t mean he’s conservative. Think Gen (ret) Wesley Clark and Gen(ret) Tony McPeak. After retirement Generals begin to say what they really believe and often it’s not in line with the stereotype of a “conservative” military viewpoint. If you don’t believe that, go find the retired CinC SAC who decided, after retirement, that nukes were immoral and ought to be uniltarerally abandoned. Anyway, time will tell. If the radical left hope, and my fear, is correct, we’ll all suffer and my saying “I told you so” will offer small comfort. If you are correct, and I hope you are, I’ll gladly admit I was wrong.
Neither side is right and yet both are correct. What you are seeing is a careful plan of action that recognizes a few realities. The one event beyond Obama’s control that can cripple him (aka Jimmy Carter)and result in his defeat in 2012 is a major terrorist strike in the US. Like it or not, the reality is Bush has been very successful in preventing terror attacks on Americans. There has not been one successful attack on a major american target since 9-11, except in the iraqi or Afghani war zones. Not one. If another 9-11 occurs, Obama will be held accountable. A tough security team is therefore a meaningless indicator of where he wants to go. Similarly, his economic team is also a choice that reflects little of his true plans. If the economy is in the tank, he is heavily restricted. If the economy turns around and he can claim credit, it strengthens him and puts him in a position to force his real agenda through. What is that agenda? It is the $10 trillion dollar question. The truth is we do not know, but reality tends to drive the agenda more than the office holder. Few have been able to actually drive events to support their preferences. The only ones in living memory were LBJ (not much success) and Reagan (huge success). Prior to him, there was Teddy Rossevelt, Andrew Jackson, and George Washington. Lincoln and FDR spent their time responding more than driving.
Well… he hasn’t actually DONE anything yet, and in fact he has never really lead in any executive way in the past, so of course we’re all guessing about the future.
For circumstantial evidence, we have his appointments, and those seem centrist enough.
For other circumstantial evidence, we have his mind-numbingly radical associations of the past.
Could be that he’s intent on going down in history as a success, in which case he may very well rule from the center.
But to deny that he might be a radical leftist, to deny that his decades of sitting in Wright’s “church” and yukking it up with Bill Ayers, etc, just because he has picked Clinton for SoS…
That is just a wee bit naive.
The Dems are in power as a result of the biggest voter turnout in history. There was a tremendous increase in minority voting and there is no guarantee that the various minorities will continue to vote in those numbers. The Democrats realize that to stay in power they must rely on continued high turnout of minority voters. To assure this we can expect legalization of millions of illegados and giving voting rights to convicted felons. It should come as no surprise.
USA: A NATION IN DANGER: SAVE USA FROM CAPITALISM !!
CAPITALISM IS POVERTY, DEATH, IGNORANCE AND SLAVERY !!
http://nation-in-danger.blogspot.com/2008/08/captalism-slavery-ignorance_12.html
Capitalism is based on the concept that economics is that which examines man’s needs, which are unlimited and how to satisfy these unlimited needs. The system depends upon the separation of church and state or in other words, the separation of the Creator from life’s affairs. The concept of freedom plays a major role in the Capitalist ideology. Freedom is guaranteed by the state, therefore, man is totally free to satisfy his needs in any manner possible as long as he does not legally infringe on the freedom of others. One needs only to look onto the streets around us to see the devastating results of this form of system. It is because of the freedom of satisfying needs that the pornography and alcohol/drug industry are two of the biggest profit making businesses in the Capitalist system. Is this the type of society in which we want to live and raise our children?
Capitalism is also based on the theory of relative scarcity. This means that there always has to be a real or as in the majority of cases, a forces insufficiency of commodities to meet the needs of the people. This is not in keeping with the reality life. Today, there are more than enough goods and commodities to satisfy the needs of everyone, but because this in fact, contradicts the principle of relative scarcity, some people are left without the fulfillment of their basic needs of food, shelter, and clothing while others seem to have too much of one or more. This theory divides the society such that a small percentage of people hoard almost all the wealth while the rest of society struggles to have a home and food.
Capitalism Increases Poverty
We all know that world hunger and world poverty are paramount problems for our young generation to address. What could be more problematic than the systematic denial of basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing and clean drinking water? What’s irking is that these basic needs could be provided for all, yet still there are billions of people in this world who continue to suffer from poverty and malnutrition. In my talk this evening I hope to convey to you, number one, the seriousness of these problems; two, to explain from a class conscious perspective explain why these problems exist, and three, what can be done, since yes, there is a solution.
First, I’d like to elaborate on the seriousness of poverty today. Right now there are more than 3.1 billion people in the world living on less than $2 a day. Another telling fact is that the net worth of the 358 richest billionaires is equal to the combined income of the poorest 45% of the world’s population. 45% translates into 2.3 billion people! Nearly a billion people in just the Third World are landless or have too little land available to them to feed their households. In the advanced countries, 100 million people live below the poverty line, 5 million of them without homes.
Closer to home, here in the United States, the income disparity is now the widest it has been since the 1929 stock market crash and it is continuing to grow. These previous examples illustrate the unequal distribution of wealth, an irreversible symptom of the ailing capitalist system. Capitalism is characterized by perpetuated poverty that results from, among other attacks on the working class, workers’ wage cuts, an increase in the cost of living without an increase in minimum wage and layoffs, all motivated by capitalism’s drive for profit profit. Remember, the income disparity continues to grow, so it’s true that, as the old saying goes, the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.
But, one may ask, doesn’t the government provide poor and hungry people with social programs such as welfare and health care? Yes and no. Programs exist, but they were never adequate and the capitalists cutting federal funding for these benefits and this makes many people feel hopeless and angry. Yet, their sentiment is quickly pacified when a somber and seemingly sincere politician is quoted, “that there isn’t enough in the budget to cover these benefits for the poor.”
This is entirely false. Did you know that “wealthfare” for the rich costs us about 3.5 times as much as the $130 billion we spend each year on welfare for the poor? And since the publication of that figure, the 1996 welfare “reform” bill has cut that amount of money given out for welfare dramatically. We weren’t able to end poverty before the welfare reform bill, so how does one expect the poor to feed themselves and get out of poverty when there is even less money and less social programs spent than before?
So where are the priorities of the United States, the wealthiest, and supposedly, the most benevolent and free of nations? Taking a look at where the majority of U.S. subsidies end up we can see a telling reflection of those priorities. A total of $327 billion a year is spent on the military for example. Of course the argument goes that the military provides semi-decent jobs, but let’s look at what $1 billion can do when spent on the military compared to more socially beneficial purposes. $1 billion to the military created 25,000 jobs. If that same figure were spent on social programs it could create 30,000 jobs in mass transit, 36,000 jobs in housing, 41,000 jobs in education or 47,000 jobs in health care.
U.S. military spending is far from the best solution for the Third World as well. And while countries that are made are made subordinate to the U.S. by having their cities and coutnrysides bombed and destroyed end up needing their infrastructure rebuilt, this is a very double edged sword in terms of creating jobs to say the least. But the U.S. doesn’t just utilize the weapons they make; they sell them and are in fact the largest seller of weapons in the world. These weapons are used by U.S. puppet governments in other countries to ensure the poor are kept poor, subordinate, landless and hungry.
Let me give you a good example of what I mean. During the 1950s in Nicaragua there was a cotton bonanza. Campesinos who worked the land to grow crops and feed their families were forced off their land. When they resisted, the Somoza dictatorship’s National Guard burned their homes and crops. None other than the U.S. Marines set up the Nicaraguan National Guard. Why? In order to secure a highly profitable market at the expense of land that provided Campesinos both with life giving food and some money from the corps they grew to sell. This, once again, is the nature of capitalism, folks. They compromise the meeting of basic human needs to ensure an increased profit.
Another product of capitalism that sinks countries further into poverty is the policies of the IMF and World Bank. These institutions are intended to smooth world commerce by reducing foreign exchange restrictions and tariffs, among other things. By using its funds to bail out governments that are confronting problems these bastions of capitalism ensure that trade can continue with minimum interruption. Basically, money is lent to these bankrupt countries, which are already deeply in debt, and place as conditions for these loans economic restructuring that involves cutting or eliminating food and social programs for the poor and hungry.
I hope I’ve shown that the system of capitalism is exploitative and oppressive. That only the rich benefit from this system while the poor are further trampled under its heel. From all of this we can surely deduce that it is, above all, not a democratic system. It does not represent the interests of the majority, because the majority are the poor and hungry. This is just is. According to Joseph Collins of Food First, the root cause of hunger isn’t scarcity of food or land; rather, it’s a scarcity of democracy! Democracy has everything to do with hunger because democracy carries with it the principle of accountability. Democratic structures are those in which people have a say in decisions that affect their well being. Leadership can be kept accountable to the needs of the majority. The U.S., the world’s self-appointed policeman, has lacked the fundamentals of democracy from the beginning. Alexander Hamilton, one of our founding fathers, went so far as to say “the mass of people seldom judge or determine right,” and therefore “a permanent body composed of the rich and well-born should check the imprudent of democracy.”
There are examples, though of how this unfair and unjust state of affairs has been overcome to benefit the poor and huddled masses of hungry and homeless. Here is how a revolution overcame poverty and hunger. In 1959, the Cubans defeated the U.S. backed Batista dictatorship. And afterward, they threw off the chains of capitalism with a socialist revolution. After the revolution, Cuba is still considerably less wealthy than its neighbor 90 miles north, but through a planned socialist economy, according to a Food First report, all citizens are guaranteed enough rice, pulses, oil, sugar, meat and other food to provide them with 1,900 calories a day. And this is the face of the ongoing U.S. embargo against Cuba.
As 25. Anti-Israel: points out CAPITALISM=freedom…. communism=slavery….
He likes to be liked. Seeks father figures from Marshall to Wright and Ayers to Daschle and Lugar. Risk-averse. steely only when it comes to political expediency. Wants a positive legacy. Hard as I try, I don’t see ideological passion as much as the influence of early immersion in Javanese culture where everything gets discussed endlessly (the Javanese language has nine levels of formality) – a culture that means the overseas Chinese run the businesses because they can actually make decisions and act.
Better to ask who will be the ones to force him to make a timely decision when one is actually needed.
I worry more about Congress: Waxman. Dodd.
To all the comments above, most are interesting reads with valid points, I’ll take the wait and see atitude on the President elect and hope like heck we can contain and/or survive when he is tested by our foreign adversaries.
to 17 above..well for starters it’s “RAPTURE” and my only consolation is that if a revolution does come, people like you will be the first ones offered a brief smoke and a blindfold while you lean agaisnt the wall.
As for 25 above… lets ponder some of this for a minute, Hmm shift the Defense Budget to feed the poor….How long do you suppose this country would exist after that happened? Contrary to popular belief, the world is not full of “Nice People”. If you think it is then you really need to look around, or take a look at any history book and see what happens to any country with percieved wealth when it can no longer defend itself.
Also I seem to recall a time in american history when groups of people were “cared for” and given food, clothing and all of their basic needs were met. Except I dont think the Black people were very happy with that but I will admit I might be wrong since so many people seem to want to go back to it. Hmm how many people died to put an end to that happy little practice? Also I would suggest you go ask an american indian if they were particularly pleased to be “cared for” by the government.
I’m a service-connected paralyzed [quadraplegic] veteran.
All I want is my monthly check to be quadrupled so that I can live like an approximation of an human being.
If Obama gives me that, he’s great.
If he doesn’t, he sucks.
End of story.
If one learns only one thing in life, opinions arfe like ass*****, everybody has one. ant that is the only reality. the guess-tamations about the future, the bugeyman under your bed are all a bunch of crap. the sane and civilized approach would be to wait and see. Stop projecting your fears and paranoia. The man you should have been afraid of, is leaving us in a pile of ****. As for Bushes keeping us safe, duh, 911 happen under his watch. that’s not hard to remember. So it’s not a historical fact that needs researching.
Who is Obama? Who are you? I beleive he’s submitted his resume and his past has been shown all over the world. what exactly would you like to know? It’s time todispense with the coded phrases and embelish a brighter future if you dare. Maybe we can help!!
relative scarcity of some things that are luxuries. So they can be more profitable, makes sense. I have no idea why capitalism would require some people to starve though. That part doesn’t make sense. The reason the military has to go into these areas is to settle disputes, peacekeeping missions, etc. “There is no profit from a protracted war.”
The Art Of War
translated by Tzun Zao
rosieposie:
Oh, there you are. We wondered where you were off to. Did you forget to take your meds again?
Let’s just go back to your room now and have some pudding. After that you can watch some telly.
That’s a girl.
There is no doubt that Obama is a Marxists, one has only to read his “autobiography” to understand where he stands. Cabinet posts are nothing more than window dressing, they do not affect the direction of the Administration, anymore than Ambassadors. It is the next layer of management and bureaucracy that runs things. Obama has already set the machinery in motion to create a Socialist one party state and all the nay sayers will be silenced in time for the next election.
Either side could have excellent points the fact is every one of us will have to take the wait and see approach since we have no other option. Even though those who say we know his past, we have seen his history, etc. cannot answer the questions put forth. I hope that we as a country will survive this better than we did the Carter years(The occurrence beyond his control was his complete lack of competence). May God bless us all in the days to come.
Haha, Barack Obama, a “liberal”… Now I’ve heard everything. Of course, only Americans are stupid enough to believe Obama is a “liberal” (and yes, I’m an American, just not a stupid one [I hope]).
“Liberal” ideals are gay marrige (civil unions are not enough), legal prostitution, legal drugs, no censorship, salary caps (100% taxes past a certain point), abolishment of the death penalty, manditory universal single payer health care. Barack Obama is a mild conservative, falling about 30% right of center economically, and 30% authoritarian of center.
http://www.politicalcompass.org/ – Political Compass dot org, the finest political assesment group there is, places candidates where they truly stand, on a Nolan chart, with center as a static point between two extremes.
Barack Obama, “liberal” hahaha! Who writes this crap?
Wow! Pajamas Media really has been guzzling down the Kool-aid recently.
BHO is an expert in the tactics outlined by Saul Ailinsky in Rules for Radicals, he even gave seminars to ACORN on the subject. I suggest you read it but know you won’t. You’d be risking your carefully constructed parochial little comfort zone.
Melanie Phillips’ intellect is worth that of all PJM’s contributors (with the possible exception of VDH) put together…and then some.
What a bunch of absolute losers you are about to be. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
Wonder if this post will pass the notoriously nervous and prudish censors on this site? Having been censored/silenced several times here, frankly, I couldn’t care less.
Okay very interesting reading ladies and gentleman. It is important to realize that it is your opinions. Alot of facts that have been touted is scewded considerably. One fact is BO is a politician. Politicians tell you what you want to here so they can get a job. Once they are in they do what they need to do to stay in. One thing that I noticed was within 20 minutes of his accetance speach he pretty much said that he couldn’t do what he promised to do. So there is no accountability for his word. Again, that makes him a politician. Maybe he will or maybe he won’t be center or left, right.
You see it doesn’t really matter. It is not the government that maxed out our credit cards, forced us to sign mortgages that we could not pay for. Nor was it the government that lost our Jobs to foreign companies because we were inefficient. We did it to our selves. Take ownership buc up and do it for youself.
Rosie Posie:
is crying to be heard but for all the wrong reasons. Regardless, nothing would convice her of the truth in politics or the truth contained in the Bible.
In any event, the answer for today’s problems does not lie with a person elected (republican or democratic). However, I will remind anyone who cares to consider the nation Israel and their demise circa 600 to 400 BC when they collectively ignored God and did what was right in their own eyes.
They were hauled off into Babylonian captivity for 70 years.
Yes you can thumb your nose at God for years and years and you may even get away with it. He is a patient and loving God and he will overlook rejection of Him and His son Jesus but eventually every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.
The question is whether you do it now or at Judgment Day.
Having proclaimed the truth about God it does matter who we elect as our leaders in politics. Our chosen leaders reflect our beliefs and our moral state.
Election of Obama is a barometer of our collective moral state-just about like the nation Israel before being carried off in shame to Babylonian captivity.
It seems that the ‘let’s wait and see’ Obama defender crowd is essentially admitting their cluelessness about who or what they voted for. Given his Obama’s lack of accomplishments, experience, or any other evidence of competence beyond reading his speechwriters words off a teleprompter, the election of Obama is a colossal act of recklessness. Given that it is so much easier to destroy than it is to create, people are quite right to be skeptical – and rather foolish not to be.
It is amusing to see people learn the definition of ‘platitude’ the hard way as they writhe and contort themselves to spin their willful ignorance as some sort of profound wisdom. What will not be amusing are the consequences of this adolescent irresponsibility, false pride, and vanity.
Does Ron have any common sense? I can’t see it.
The real Obama exposed by the unbelievably brilliant and brave Ali Sina:
http://www.faithfreedom.org/Articles/obama/future.html
Read it and act America. It’s already almost too late.
My friends and family often comment that I’m a good judge of character. Obama would not be someone I would associate with. There’s just something about him that doesn’t seem right. I hope I’m wrong!
I am truly amazed by all the teeth gnashing going on over Obama’s possible “Marxism” (that term in itself is sort of a joke because so few of you really understand what it means). We are coming out of the most far-right administration in the history of this country. The policies of the Bush administration have wreaked havoc on the economy and on democracy, and all you can do is freak out about whether or not Obama is going to be too far left. Why don’t you worry about whether or not he is going to return the USA to her pre-Bush glory? Why don’t you discuss just what happened during the Bush years, and why? Why don’t you parse how you yourselves went wrong in supporting this horrific regime, and finally, why don’t you try to support the new administration, and hope that together we can get this country back on track? You sound like a bunch of paranoid high-schoolers.
Ron, listen to Melanie and Mark Rudd. Rudd is one Obama’s fellow travelers (Marshall/Ayers/Alinsky/et al)Every speech, interview, or debate Obama made is chock full of both overt and hidden clues or references to Alinsky’s teachings. Even Obama’s employment application mirrors the Khmer Rouge. Obama’s ability to disarm even the devil is precisely why fellow travelers propelled him to the top. If Rudd is right, the Obama/Emanuel civilian defence force ought to scare the hell out of everyone. How that shapes-up shall determine how radical Obama is. But, like the one commentor said, grab your popcorn and wait for the first inning. What else can you do, for now.
I am supposed to believe that someone with this history is some Centrist Pro-American. How stupid do you take me for?
A lot of work went into grooming Mr Obama… do you think these people did all of it for nothing?
Obama Timeline
I’m picking and choosing certain items , there is much more at the link. I’m focusing on his connection with Ayers
1971-1979
While a teenager in Hawaii, Obama spends considerable time with Frank Marshall Davis (whose identity Obama hides by describing him only as “Frank” in his book, “Dreams From My Father”). [19] Davis is a dope-smoking drinking buddy of Obama’s grandfather, Stanley Dunham. [21] (Obama had met Davis shortly after arriving in Hawaii, at age 10, [21] but was most influenced by him during his high school years.) In place of his absent father and stepfather, Davis becomes Obama’s mentor.
It is believed that Davis was a close friend of Thomas Ayers (father of William Ayers) in Chicago, and that it was Davis who encouraged Obama to attend Columbia College in New York and hook up with William Ayers. [259]
1979-1981
While at Occidental, Obama joins the Students for Economic Democracy (SED), which is a branch of the Campaign for Economic Democracy (CED), a group that was founded by radical, anti-American, Marxist activist Tom Hayden (former husband of actress Jane Fonda), who was also active with the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). [259] (William Ayers’ subsequent radical group, the Weather Underground, was comprised of many former SDS members; in 1969 the Weather Underground – then called simply “Weatherman” – declared “war on Amerikka.”) Obama’s first known public speech takes place at an Occidental College event sponsored by the SED. [259,332]
1981-1984
Obama moves to New York City and enrolls at Columbia University. He attends socialist conferences “for inspiration.” His roommate is Pakistani Muslim Sohale Siddiqi. [26,27] Siddiqi is a drug user; Obama allegedly stops using drugs while at Columbia. Living a few blocks away from Obama and Columbia is William Ayers (at 520 West 123rd Street). [206,297]
Like his Occidental College papers, Obama’s academic files from Columbia have been kept secret. [259] While attending Columbia, Obama lived off campus, near William Ayers. It is possible Obama first met Ayers during those years, 1981-1983. Looking for evidence of Obama’s past, Fox News contacted 400 Columbia students from that time period; none remembered Obama. [259] There is speculation that Frank Marshall Davis arranged for Obama to meet William Ayers in New York, and their being neighbors was not a coincidence; Ayers then possibly suggested that Obama return to Chicago with him. (Was Ayers the reason Obama moved to Chicago?) [259] (Years later, Obama and Ayers are neighbors in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood.)
Obama and Ayers share a mutual friend, Edward Wadie Said, a Palestinian-American, political activist, anti-Israel professor at Columbia; Said was called toe “professor of terror” by the American magazine, “Commentary.” [332,334] In 1998, Obama and his wife attend a banquet at which Said is the keynote speaker; in fact, Obama is seated next to Said at dinner. [335]
1985-1988
Obama also works with the Alinsky group “Developing Communities Project” (DCP), and “ACORN” (the “Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now”) and Project Vote, both Alinsky-network creations. Obama’s duties include organizing residents of the Altgeld Gardens housing project on Chicago’s south side. [45,324] ACORN is an off-shoot of what had been the National Welfare Rights League (NWRL), a militant 1960s group that staged protests in welfare offices and, often successfully, demanded increased benefits with threats of violence. ACORN was founded by William Ayers’ SDS associate, Wade Rathke, and is currently the largest and most powerful leftist organization in the United States. [227,322]
Obama has probably already met William Ayers by this time, and likely still remains in contact with him. [259]
Obama is hired with $25,000 Kellman receives from the Woods Fund. [33] Obama will later serve on the Woods Fund board, along with former Weather Underground domestic terrorist, Pentagon bomber, radical, leftist, communist, and fugitive from justice William Ayers. [33,204]
Note that the Woods Fund was founded by the Woods family, which owned a coal business that was a major supplier of coal to Commonwealth Edison; the CEO of Commonwealth Edison was Thomas Ayers, father of William Ayers. [346]
1988 – 1991
It has been suggested that it was William Ayers who persuaded Khalid al-Mansour to raise funds for Obama’s Harvard tuition. [259]
In 1989, Obama works briefly at the Sidley Austin LLP Law Firm, [55] as a summer associate from Harvard law School, where he meets future wife Michelle LaVaughan Robinson; she is his mentor at the law firm. [324] Also working at the firm is Bernadine Dohrn (1984-1988), former Weather Underground radical, terrorist bomber, fugitive from the FBI, and wife of fellow radical William Ayers. (Although Dohrn works for the law firm, her criminal record prevents her from being admitted to the Illinois bar.) [50]
Obama’s summer job at Sidley Austin is likely arranged by William Ayers and Ayers’ father, Tom Ayers, (CEO of Commonwealth Edison, 1975-1986). [259]
In 1990, Obama serves as a summer associate at the law firm Hopkins and Sutter in Chicago. [357]
In 1990, Obama turns down a job offer from Antoin “Tony” Rezko’s low-income housing development company; this may have been Obama’s first contact with Tony “the fixer” Rezko. [48] Rezko, born in Aleppo, Syria, maintains varied contacts with Obama until he is convicted and jailed in 2008. It is not known how Obama first met Rezko. [245] (Ayers, Obama, and Rezko have all dealt with the Broadway Bank in Chicago, run by the mob-tied Giannoulias family, and it may have been Ayers or a Giannoulias family member who brought Obama’s name to the attention of Rezko.)
1991-1992
Obama plans his first book, “Dreams From My Father.” He receives a $125,000 advance from publisher Simon and Shuster, but fails to write the book. Obama travels with his wife to Bali to gain the “peace and quite” to write, but still produces no manuscript. The contract is canceled, and Obama is asked to return part of the advance payment he receives. Obama returns to Chicago, signs a new contract (with Times Book, a Random House Division) for $40,000, and subsequently delivers a completed manuscript. It is believed that “Dreams From My Father” was ghost-written by Obama’s friend, William Ayers, based on the startling similarities of Ayers’ writings and the Obama book, the fact that Obama’s only previous public writings were atrocious poetry he had written in college, and Obama’s inability to speak well when not reading from a script or off a teleprompter. The book is a critical and financial dud – until Obama becomes famous and it is re-printed. [57,58,224,250]
1993 – 1996
In 1993, Obama is placed on the board of the Woods Fund by William Ayers. (The period Obama serves on the Woods Fund board may be 1997 to 2002; conflicting dates have been presented in the media.) [259,297]
About 1993 (possibly later), Obama buys a townhouse in Chicago, with a loan provided by the city’s Broadway Bank. His down payment is $110,000. The bank, owned by the politically-connected Giannoulias family, is alleged to have long-standing mob ties, as well as connections with Tony Rezko and William Ayers. Allegedly Obama gets a “sweetheart” deal on the townhouse, ostensibly in exchange for future favors. (Obama later endorses Alexi Giannoulias when he runs for Illinois State Treasurer.) [281,291,329]
William Ayers (who may have met Obama as early as 1981) selects Obama as chairman (1995-2000) of the “Chicago Annenberg Challenge on Excellence in Education” (CAC) [59,60], an educational reform program that proves to be remarkably unsuccessful [60,204]; Ayers and Obama approve grants of $175,000 and $482,662 to groups founded by Ayers and run by former communist party leader Mike Klonsky. [61,155,156,201] Obama may have worked with the CAC as early as 1993.
Obama approves enough grants with CAC money that the “Chicago Reader” refers to Obama as a “philanthropist.” Obama’s time with the CAC is his only “executive experience.” While with the CAC, Obama and Ayers distribute an amount in the neighborhood of $100 million, and achieve essentially none of the group’s stated goals. [297]
It should be noted that the selection of Obama, a 33 year-old junior lawyer at a small law firm, as chairman of the educational reform group CAC is strange, inasmuch as the board also includes several older and experienced university presidents – one of whom, Stanley O. Ikenberry of the University of Illinois, later remarks, “It was unusual, here you had a person trained in the law chairing a board on school reform.” [65]
In 1995, Obama’s political career starts with a fundraiser at the home of Ayers and his wife Bernadine Dohrn [60,66]. Ayers and Dohrn are former 1960s radicals and former Weather Underground militants, who disappeared in 1970 after their bomb, designed to kill army officers in New Jersey, accidentally destroys a Greenwich Village townhouse; they eventually turn themselves in to authorities in 1980; but because of improper FBI surveillance Ayers and Dohrn are never prosecuted for their involvement in 25 bombings; [67,71]
Ayers and Dohrn (who has met with communists in Cuba and Viet Cong representatives in Budapest) [68,69] are alleged to have been occasional baby-sitters for the Obama children. [70,71] Obama falsely claims that this 1995 fundraiser is the first time he met William Ayers. [259]
The North Vietnamese have presented both Ayers and Dohrn with rings made with metal from an American plane shot down in North Viet Nam. [69]
An interesting side note: Ayers and Dohrn are the adoptive parents of Chesa Boudin, whose parents, David Gilbert and Kathy Boudin, are serving three consecutive 25 year prison terms for felony murder, having killed three Brinks guards in a 1981 robbery to get cash to fund their Weather Underground, SDS, Black Liberation Army, and Black Panther Party activities. Chesa Boudin was named a Rhodes Scholar, through the help of Dennis Hutchinson, a professor at the University of Chicago, where Ayers and Obama taught. [205]
In 1997, Obama and Ayers appear together as speakers on several occasions; at the University of Chicago, their topic is, “Should a child ever be called a ‘super predator?’” [71,83] The announcement of their November, 1997 appearance together states, “Ayers will be joined by Sen. Barack Obama, Senior Lecturer in the Law School, who is working to combat legislation that would put more juvenile offenders into the adult system.” [237]
In 1997, Obama endorses William Ayers’ book on juvenile justice, with an article praising it in the Chicago Tribune in which Obama calls the Ayers book a “searing and timely account of the juvenile court system.” Michelle Obama (who at this time is the University of Chicago’s dean of student services and director of the school’s Community Service Center), hosts a panel discussion of the book, in which both Obama and Ayers participate. In 2008, seeking to distance to Obama from Ayers, the campaign claims Obama did not “write a blurb for his book.” [77,84,279,333]
Ayers mentions Obama in his book, where he writes, “Our neighbors include Muhammad Ali, former mayor Eugene Sawyer, poets Gwendolyn Brooks and Elizabeth Alexander, and writer Barack Obama. Minister Louis Farrakhan lives a block from our home and adds, we think, a unique dimension to the idea of ‘safe neighborhood watch’: the Fruit of Islam, his security force, has an eye on things twenty-four-hours a day.” [78,297,333] In April of 2008, when Obama’s relationship with Ayers is brought up in a primary debate, Obama lies, saying he doesn’t know him well and that he is only “a guy who lives in my neighborhood.” [78,279]
1998-1999
Until 2002, Obama serves, with William Ayers, on the board of the Woods Fund, a liberal Chicago non-profit organization. [81] Grants from the fund are given out to Reverend James T. Meeks (a fiery, anti-white and anti-Semitic Chicago preacher, in the style of Obama’s reverend Jeremiah Wright), and Father Michael Pfleger (perhaps best known encouraging his parishioners to buy time from prostitutes as a way of inviting the women to counseling and job training).
2000-2001
In 2000, Obama enters the primary for U.S. Congress. In a television interview he gives during the campaign, he cites as a qualification his experience with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, the educational reform project on which he worked with William Ayers. (The project ends up wasting over $100 million, without accomplishing any of its stated goals.) [60,204]
In August of 2001, William Ayers is photographed trampling on the American Flag, for a cover article in the “Chicago Magazine” titled “No Regrets.” [279] (Note: the magazine is very popular in Chicago and is prominently displayed on newsstands throughout the city; Obama would have had a difficult time not seeing the magazine cover.) [279]
In a September 11, 2001 article in the New York Times, William Ayers is quoted as saying, “I don’t regret setting bombs… I feel we didn’t do enough.” At the time Ayers makes that statement, he and Obama are serving together on the Board of the Woods Fund. [279]
2002-2003
In 2002, Ayers and Obama appear together at the University of Illinois for a discussion called, “Intellectuals: Who Needs Them?” [94]
2005
Living within a few blocks of Obama’s mansion are Louis Farrakhan, William Ayers, and Toni Preckwinkle. Preckwinkle in Chicago’s 4th Ward Alderwoman [329]
2008
Obama defends his association with William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn with the statement, “The notion that…me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago… somehow reflects on me and my values doesn’t make much sense.” [141] Dohrn once publicly praised Charles Manson and his followers for killing actress Sharon Tate. Dohrn’s words were, “Dig it. First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them. They even shoved a fork into a victim’s stomach! Wild!” [142] In 2007, Ayers describes the United States as an “…incipient fascist country,” and talks about overthrowing capitalism, [143] while Dohrn, at a reunion of the radical group Students for a Democratic Society, says that “…living in America constitutes living in the belly of the beast” and “the heart of the monster.” [143]
When further criticized for his friendship with William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, the Obama campaign issues a lengthy document trivializing their actions as 1960s radicals and defending them as “respectable fixtures of the mainstream in Chicago.” [143] In a September 11, 2001 New York Times interview, Ayers says of the bombings history, “I don’t regret setting bombs; I feel we didn’t do enough.” [144] In a memoir published by Ayers after 9/11, he wrote that America is “not a just and fair and decent place… it makes me want to puke.” [144] The cover of Ayers’ book is a photograph of him trampling on an American flag.
Obama’s lawyers file a complaint with the Justice Department, in an effort to stop the broadcasting of an “American Leadership Project” campaign ad linking Obama to William Ayers. [157]
Among the groups supporting Obama is “Progressives for Obama,” founded by Mark Rudd (who had been trained by the KGB in Cuba); former Weather Underground member and close ally of William Ayers; Tom Hayden, former husband of actress Jane Fonda and principle founder of the radical Students for a Democratic Society, who traveled to North Vietnam to give support to the Viet Cong; Bill Fletcher, founder of the Marxist Black Radical Congress; Barbara Ehenreich, honorary chairman of the Democratic Socialists of America; and actor Danny Glover, recipient of $20 million from Venezuela’s dictator Hugo Chavez to make a movie about a Haitian communist revolutionary. Ayers is on the board of a Venezuelan government think tank tasked to bring Cuban-style education to Venezuela. [218,262]
Reporter Stanley Kurtz asks to view the historical public records of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC), an education reform program led by Obama and William Ayers; there is an initial refusal to release the records, orchestrated by Ken Rolling, former executive director of the CAC and an associate of Obama and Ayers, but the records are later released – after being “cleansed” of sensitive documents by Rolling and others. Rolling, like Obama and Ayers, is a former board member of the Woods Fund. [176,177]
It is noted that Obama’s public relations staffer, Marilyn Katz, was the “security chief” for the Students for a Democratic Society; involved in the 1968 Democrat Party Convention riots, Katz advocated throwing studded nails in front of approaching police car tires, and throwing plastic bags of human excrement, cans of urine, and golf balls with nails at the police. As PR person for Obama, one of Katz’ jobs is to downplay the candidate’s past relationship with William Ayers; Katz herself, as a prominent SDS leader, was likely an associate of Ayers in the 1960s. [320]
I have a simple retort to this: If you have radical goals, why appoint all your key people from the center and center/right?
Interesting point, Ron.
But first, I suppose…we would have to define center and center/right.
Let’s pick an issue:
1)Health care
2)Israel
3)Abortion rights
4)Interrogation of terrorists
5)Distribution of wealth
6)Second amendment rights
7)The UN
8)Fannie and Freddie
9)Campaign finance
10) Global warming
Ron, I look at the days ahead and I don’t see a clear picture emerging. I don’t know what Malley, Brzezinski, Bonior, McPeak, Power, Lake, Susan Rice, …have done, are doing or will do in the future administration. I only know that I am terribly uncomfortable with most of these folks.
I’m a bit nonplussed about the Holder appointment. Less filled with dread than uncertainty.
And…what to make of the lifelong open ear to the likes of Rashid Khalidi, the late Edward Said, and perhaps Don Warden/Khalid al Mansour.
Moreover, it is nearly impossible to tell what impact or influence Michael Klonsky, Ayers/Dohrn, Sam Graham Felsen, George Soros, Frank Marshall Davis and numerous radical professors had on the worldview of President-elect Obama. How much of it took hold? Any? Some? None?
And how will those influences (if any) manifest themselves. Are we to believe…in NO way, whatsoever?
Clearly we are flying blind here, because the entrenched media saw fit to hold a sit down strike during the vetting process. Let me restate that. They actively retarded and aborted the process, while simultaneously shilling for one candidate while demonizing his opposing party.
How can we gauge what these appointments mean in the long term? By taking it all at face value? I certainly would like the comfort it would provide to do so.
Simply explain away Malley’s magic act of appearance, disappearance, reappearance…and tell me what he’s been up to and what his role is, has been and will be.
Tell me what this whole Walt and Mearsheimer crowd is doing within the administration, has been advising and what they intend to do going forward.
Tell me what influence Soros had, has now and will have in the future of shaping things to come.
And let me know what influence the Noam Chomsky’s have and his disciples.
How will Susan Rice approach the UN and their mental midgetry vis a vis Israel?
I’m a centrist, I’ve been a centrist most of my life…Ron…some of these people are no centrists.
And why act if “center” is the guide stone to aim for? “Center” keeps shifting like an unanchored boat in a meandering stream. It’s not tied to stated, sound principles…it’s loosely tied to persons who were maybe not as far left as Obama’s past associates.
Since “center” does not seem to be tied to real principles – it is a joke…And (overall) “center” keeps shifting away from valuing human life (in all its stages–not just for criminals but for unborn children, the disabled, the elderly). Thus, one great irony is that we have CHOSEN to shift farther away fomvaluing human life, and the group most subject to be aborted (black babies) may suffer even more deaths under a far left black president.
Maybe “center” will become – just barely right of the most extreme 1960′s radical Bill Ayers (Alinsky) politics…Not bomb building, but that more dangerous substance – destructive ideas.
Could Barak Obama be one of Nassim Taleb’s Black Swans?
Maybe, I dont know yet. It is one thing to pick a dream team cabinet. It is another to govern when the unexpected comes down and hits when you least expect it. Character and core values matter then. Humans by nature are poor judges of that in ourselves and others.
Yet anyone who has experienced getting up after a precious few hours sleep to make yet one more critical, maybe life or death decision, more times than you can remember, could understand. You are not qualified in your own mind. You are suboptimal now. Yet nobody else can make this call.
Show time – lets go.
As a (l)ibertarian who has nearly always voted Republican I have a wait and see attitude at this point.
I want Republicans to succeed. Reeling from a resounding defeat there is an opportunity to re-evaluate, but not on the media issues of the day. Time now to think about what we stand for.
That said, I am impressed so far. You cant convince me that the appointments to this point are some sort of stealth move conspiracy. Try that line and you will keep loosing. Can he make this team work and keep control? That remains to be decided.
I would suggest a starting point. Our job market and economy are on a tipping point and near total collapse. Rebublicans can reposition themselves as the champions of working Americans everywhere and of any type.
The American dream is real. Like it or not the GOP has been seen by too many people as an exclusive club. Yet the Republicans have sometimes come through as the real champions of liberty, tolerace, and freedom when the push came to shove.
Time to do that now.
‘Za Rabotu’ as my Russian-born grandfather used to say when I got up for school in the morning with my orange juice. Time to get up for work.
Spindok
Vince P.:
“I am supposed to believe that someone with this history is some Centrist Pro-American.”
Where have you been the last two years? Of course you are! Now accept it and move on.
In case this troublesome “sense of doubt” returns, be sure to have an official Obama commemorative plate on a nearby shelf to quell such thoughts.
The Bible endorses capitalism, with a few rules attached: 1. We are to reach into our own pockets and give a minimum of one-tenth of our income for the purposes of caring for the poor, widows, orphans, disabled people and clergy. 2. People must conduct commerce and trade honestly, giving a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work, and giving the correct, usable goods and services for the agreed upon price. 3. Families are expected to help each other out. If a family member is in need, and you have extra, you are expected to aid your relative. 4. People cannot be harassed about debts forever. While we no longer practice the jubilee system for forgiveness of debts, we at least require that all debts be settled in probate. You can seize the estate of a dead man for the payment of his debts, but you may not pursue his heirs to pay the balance- they have no legal or moral obligation to pay it. 4. In all our affairs, give glory to God, who has blessed us with reward for our labors and a body capable of working.
As the author of the original blog post that Melanie’s article draws from, I’d like to add my two cents worth.
The real issue here is Rudd and Jones’s credibility. Are they simply washed up, wishful thinking radical dreamers commenting from the far left field, or are they actually privy to the truth.
I suspect the latter.
Rudd and Jones have associated with Ayers, Dohrn and ex SDS leader Carl Davidson for decades.
Ayers Dohrn and davidson all know Obama personally and have all worked with him for many years.
Now they all work together in an organisation called Movement for a Democratic Society-an umbrella group of ex SDSers and Weathermen, plus the Communist party and Democratic Socialists of America.
MDS is the parent body of Progressives for Obama.
Rudd, Jones, Dorn and Davidson are all MDS board members.
Davidson is Progs for Obama webmaster and co-founder, while Ruddand Jones are both PFO supporters.
Rudd and Jones are at most one degree seperate from obama. They are close friends of three of Obama’s long term colleagues (possibly four as Bill Ayers friend Mike Klonsky who has also worked in proximity to Obama is also an MDS board member.
Rudd and Jones are in a position to possibly know obama’s true agenda.
Maybe we should give their views a little credit, even though the implications are far from pleasant.
Trevor Loudon
newzeal.blogspot.com
To Ian : #14
I do not read the Drudge Report. Have heard Obama’s speeches and cannot remember him giving one concrete example of what his policy is.
“Change” – I get change when I go to the store. “Hope” – is that Bob or hope that I survive traffic everyday? “Hope for change?” Is that a policy or a “wish?”
Re Obama’s books. Tried to read “Dreams from my Father” and decided that he could not have written it by himself, or even mostly by himself. No one’s memory is that complete and accurate, especially for events from a young age. Also, the studies of the writings of Bill Ayers (who I testified about 40 years ago), closely parallel the structure and contents of Obama’s books. And when did O have time to write two books while being a politician?
Re:
“He’s been in the media’s spotlight for two years” – so what? If they don’t report anything substantial, who cares how many years they have not been honestly reporting on him.
Where’s his birth certificate? Why didn’t the media discover and report on Obama’s “mentor” Frank Marshall Davis, a Communist Party propagandist, an admitted sexual predator and possibly child pedophile, on the role of the Chicago Communist Party in getting Obama’s political career off the ground (old reds like Canter, Rose (not publicly identified as a party member yet), Cohen, Young, etc); Obama’s links to Odinga (whose father was a Soviet-trained communist asset), etc. etc. etc?
Rezko? Auchi? Warden? Ogletree? Carruthers? If you haven’t heard of them, or know much about them, then so much for two years of media coverage.
I could go on, but I think you either get my point by now, or never will, in which case further communication would be an effort in futility.
You are never too old to learn.
You Republicans are crazy people. You’re still going on and on, and the election is over, it’s over, get it. Obama won. It doesn’t matter where he was born, who he used to hang out with, what he said or did not say in his books, whether the officials in Hawaii are lying or not, non of that matters. He’s now the President. Get used to it. If you guys want to win it back, try again 2012, and please convince Palin to run again.
Why do I “defer to the delusionary intellectual admonishments of the[] far Left”? It isn’t deference: it’s experience.
It’s the experience of witnessing these people make good and make tenure and make mincemeat of the economic Left while making heroes of cop killers and bomb-setters. it is the experience of learning that you cannot play by the rules with people who equate breaking the rules with rebelling against daddy.
Witness that obscene picture of Obama’s “inspirational young speechwriter” molesting an image of Hillary Clinton. Not a peep from Ms. Gandy over at the N.O.W.; not a word from Joe Biden, patron saint of VAWA.
Tell me there’s no orchestration among these people. You’re the one giving them too much credit.
“You Republicans are crazy people. You’re still going on and on, and the election is over, it’s over, get it. Obama won. It doesn’t matter where he was born, who he used to hang out with, what he said or did not say in his books, whether the officials in Hawaii are lying or not, non of that matters. He’s now the President. Get used to it.”
What a childish, idiotic, pointless comment. We just spent 8 years listening to BDS every single day, but we’re not even supposed to be concerned about how Obama will run this country? Go away and let the grownups talk.
Dyed in the wool spots are not washed out easily and folly or not, the wariness is justified! Being ever vigilant to his Marxist/socialist ideology which can operate easily behind the facade of a centralist cabinet is prudent.
Obama has made it clear “he will decide” regardless of the advise he is given from all sides.
He has only to slowly and surely turn the ship slowly to the left before gradual,unnoticeable ,in “baby steps” increase the velocity once the heading has been achieved and set.
Unstoppable momentum of big and always permanent government will take care of the rest. We will look up and ask how did we get here?
I’m with the lady on this one!
Clearly, the Radosh is not familiar with a book that Obama loves, “Rules for Radicals.”
What happens if he changes his mind in January and doesn’t hire any of those centrist people? They’re gone and defanged. Hillary, his most potent adversary, is left without a cabinet post and is out of the senate too. What a way to disarm your enemies.
“You Republicans are crazy people. You’re still going on and on, and the election is over, it’s over, get it. Obama won. It doesn’t matter where he was born, who he used to hang out with, what he said or did not say in his books, whether the officials in Hawaii are lying or not, non of that matters. He’s now the President.”
Yes, he’s now the President. That’s why all of that stuff matters a lot.
The first poster on this thread specifically indicates that as an immigrant he “probably values our national experiment more than the host of native-born..”
I’m really getting sick and tired of that pre-qualifier that is tossed in to the mix by people who were not born in this country. My very best friend who was born in Russia and escaped at the age of 5 under the darkness of night in 1929 across the Amur River in a horse-drawn sleigh constantly does the same thing.
I’ve got a request for all the immigrants: would you please stop assuming that you know the level of our (1) knowledge of what we have, (2) gratitude for what we have and (3)how well we are thinking things through????
Whether it’s the illegal immigrants, the legal immigrants, the libs or the hate-America-first crowd–you don’t KNOW how grateful I am, how much I know, how much I think, how many taxes I’ve paid to cover your butt.
I think maybe I’ll start setting up my own comments with, “Well, as a native born American, I probably value what I have more than the immigrants do, because I’ve HAD my liberty since I was born and wouldn’t know any other life, so I WILL fight tooth and nail to protect the only life I know. And since the immigrants came from crappy, downtrodden, backwards, poverty-stricken countries and are used to living like dogs, it won’t matter as much to them if they lose the liberty we have. They can get used to living like crap again because they’ve done it before.”
Does that work for you, you smart and more-grateful-than-me-immigrant? No? Didn’t think so.
“Obama is a stealth Marxist”
Like hell. He’s so blatant about his “spread the wealth” ideology, he should have a hammer and sickle tatooed on his forehead.
I am with RW AND Melanie Phillips…
“In the name of stopping the economy’s free-fall, through a traditionally-liberal massive infusion of jobs, President-Elect Obama is also adroitly side-stepping Congress’s time-honored system of passing legislation. By the simple ruse of imposing a tight schedule for Congress, Obama will — in effect — put virtually all of the government’s power into his own hands. This is an end-run around Congress’s deliberative process — one that makes FDR’s vaunted and unprecedented “100 days” strategy look like a leisurely process. This is also an end-run around the American people, ensuring that citizen-opponents have no voice, and no role, in shaping this legislation.”
Read the whole thing:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/12/obamas_end_run_around_congress.html
Ann, That’s funny. I AM an immigrant and when we say stuff like that it’s because we’ve lived it and fear that a lot of Americans haven’t. Unfortunately, experience does teach. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard “That would NEVER happen here”…well, it could. That’s the thing. And, it’s those of us who HAVE lived it just trying to save OUR country for all of us. So bear with us, we mean well. We do not mean to imply that you’re stupid, we just want to share our experiences, which are different than yours. So, breathe in, breathe out and know we all want the same thing. The best for this great country of OURS.
Natalie: Have you read anything at all about Marxism? Marxism and like-ideologies are responsible for 100+ MILLION deaths worldwide. That doesn’t include suffering/torture or jailed individuals. Those are only the DEAD ones. See, Ann? That’s why we have to teach STUPID people like Natalie!!!
OBAMA TAX PLAN KEEPS POOR IN POVERTY
Raising tax rates on those in a position to invest will further impoverish the poor:
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2008/12/obama-on-taxes-doctrine-vs-fact.html
Socialism is his goal.
You will not find him making statements counter to it.
Cap-n-trade,global poverty act,community reinvestment act,national healthcare all are redistribution programs.
His strength is in his message that this is preferable to what we have now. We need to listen carefully at all his proposals to give away our country.
Conceding our power to world courts, the UN and placing us in an economically weakened position through restrictive trade practices, and unilateral disarmament.
Remember this too, to appease ones enemies is to empower fascism.
Listen to his message as he will have many doing his bidding to push what he wants.
http://thenma.org/blogs//index.php?blog=25
The message is the key with him, he knows little else about affecting change. Attack his message and exposing what it really means is the way to keep his power in check.
If not he will abuse it and this country will can say as his buddy Bill Ayers gleefully wrote in a poem recently about Americas demise…
“The end of an empire is messy at best
And this empire is ending
Like all the rest
Like the Spanish Armada adrift on the sea
We’re adrift in the land of the brave
And the home of the free
Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye”
HEY ROSIEPOSIE….you dolt..it is RAPTURE, not Rupture..
The only RUPTURE is the one that has torn Americans away from the traditional values that made America great. Now comes the times of trial: a time of empowerment for the abortionists,homosexuals, Marxists, pederasts, oppressed minorities and every other deviate and non-producer. Obama recently told us not to rush to buy guns…too late, Mr Prez.
I opt for None of the Above.
Obama is giving every indication that he is still a progressive, pragmatic or not. He is still talking about universal (i.e. socialized) health care, support for cap and trade (i.e. radical economic controls in the name of an always weak and now fading scientific hypothesis), a huge stimulus package (i.e. still more interference in the economy and waste of taxpayer money), along with public works programs, etc., etc.
A few allegedly centrist appointments mean very little. (Hillary Clinton is also a leftist/statist. Paul Volcker does not advocate capitalism. etc. etc)
What would the man have to do to convince conservatives that he is what he says he is, announce that he’ll nationalize the oil companies Jan 21, 2009? He hardly needs to do that to continue to push for an end to the “ideology that has failed,” (in his view).
There’s nothing under the radar about his stances or preferred outcomes. How much he’ll actually get done is, of course, always an open question until after the fact.
Winston Churchill wrote that one who is not a liberal in youth has no heart and that one who is mature and is not a conservative has no brain. I can only hope Obama is approaching maturity.
‘From each. According to his ability. To each. According to his need.’ A Karl Marx quote eerily similiar to Obama. Hmmm.
Martini-Henry, THANK YOU for commenting on rosieposie’s atrocious spelling, idiotic diatribe. I believe I’d lost a few brain cells attempting to fathom her piece.
I love how pro-Obama folks comment to know the guy is to, ‘Read his books’.
I tell you what, show me a man who’d written themselves in a negative light in an AUTObiography and I’ll sell you some real estate on the moon!
As for his other book, look at the timeline of hs OWN life. There are dozens of errors, lies, call it what you will.
Check out Jerome Corsi’s, ‘Obama Nation’ to ‘get to know Obama’ or Robert Fredosso’s, ‘The Case Against Barack Obama:..The Cult of Personality’ where he goes into detail of Obama’s shady friends, criminal campaign backers and despicable fellow colleagues.
As the ad from the 80′s commercial surmises, ‘Read the Book’.. indeed.
Ron, I refer you to Charles Krauthammer’s December 12 column “Unsure About ‘Obama The Centrist.’” Krauthammer analyzes very cogently how Obama’s centrist appointments are effective covers for Obama’s leftist political ambitions. I think Krauthammer has it right.
I tend to believe that while Obama has chosen some “moderate” people for highly visible cabinet posts, the real work of the government goes on in the less visible shadow government positions at EPA, Energy, State, Education, and other departments. Many of these appointments are lifetime and their influence goes on for decades. It was this permanent underbelly of liberal holdovers at State and CIA who worked to undermine Bush for eight years.
Obama has already signaled the wholesale adoption of Al Gore’s global warming scam and he has promised sympathetic judges whose main criteria is understanding what it’s like to be poor, unwed, etc.
In appointing Rham(bo) and Daschle he tapped two of the most partisan Democrats ever while praising them as men who could work with the opposition. Sure…
Unfortunately, Bush started the big government avalanche giving Obama the perfect cover to go even further with government overwhelming the private sector.
Obama will likely pay back all of his radical friends for years to come while posing as a moderate guy. In fact, in a somewhat center right country, this subterfuge is the only way he can succeed with his liberal agenda. To win reelection, he has to promote his goals incrementally. Then over a period of eight years–surprise!, the country will have moved radically to the left.
The press, determined to see their candidate be successful, will cover for him. The liberal press has fallen all over themselves to say that Obama is innocent of ANY wrongdoing in the Chicago Governor’s scandal. Oh yeah? He endorsed Blagojevich twice, even while the Gov. was under investigation.
Obama cut his teeth on Chicago corruption and even if he wasn’t actively corrupt, he never spoke out against any of the Chicago corruption and benefitted from it. Obama’s deals with convicted felon and Obama money man Rezko seem pretty corrupt except to the press.
So while I hope for the best, I fear the worst. Higher taxes, cap and trade on carbon emissions, increased energy costs, massive amounts of guilt money to the UN for our supposed “sins” as a greedy country, more interference into our personal life choices from light bulbs to plastic bags-the list is endless. No, I fear the cabinet appointments are just for show, a means to achieve a greater end.
Hey, maybe he just is an opportunist who hit it big, out of his league, and now just wants to play it safe? Maybe he really does care about this country and wants to do the right thing and wants some unity? Maybe some of you really are paranoid reactionaries who got it all figured out cause you really don’t know anything but hte trash like minded fools fed you?
martini-henry, you are as out of touch as the rifle you named yourself after is obsolete.
I do not believe for one nanosecond that someone so steeped in Marxist ideology would only mouth the platitudes without doing his best to follow through. I also don’t believe that someone who literally grew up with terrorist radicals like William Ayers, attended a mosque in Indonesia, and eventually adopted ‘Black Liberation Theology’, would suddenly switch to being an American patriot.
We have the next four years to find out.
Hello very nice site! sitemap
You have described it very well. I really appreciate you for this great effort.