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Open thread 5/30
- By Phillip Brownlee
- Posted May 30, 2008 at 6:04 a.m.
- Filed under Open thread
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76 Comments
When is the eagle going to implement a random number/letter box for logging in, and eliminate the spam? The crap is ridiculous.
Also while we are talking about WE Blog management, how about the idea a blogger proposed sometime ago. That is, put the latest entries to a blog thread AT THE TOP rather than at the bottom. Would this encourage bloggers to continue to add comments?
http://www.ecorazzi.com/2008/05/28/michelle-rodriguez-is-worried-her-prius-will-give-her-cancer/
ECONOMY, STUPID: HIGH ENERGY PRICES SOCK U.S. CLIMATE BILL
It’s shaping up to be a Dickensian summer on the Hill. What seemed just a few months ago like the best of times to pass ambitious climate-change legislation has suddenly turned into the worst of times. Nobel-prize momentum has given way to hand-wringing over the economy.
That makes the difficult balancing act of crafting politically palatable but still effective climate laws even tougher. The big worry now? By trying to sugarcoat the Lieberman-Warner bill enough to garner a fillibuster-proof majority in the Senate, proponents of climate-legislation run the risk of making the new law a paper tiger. That could mean plenty of costs with few environmental benefits-and ensures nobody’s happy. Conservatives fret over the former; environmentalists are livid over the latter.
What’s the problem now? Joe Romm at Climate Progress points up some new analysis of the revised Lieberman-Warner bill, fresh off a massive amendment from California senator Barbara Boxer. Provisions included to allay concerns over the bill’s future cost, some analysts say, could undo much of the bill’s plans to cut emissions of greenhouse gases.
The problem is two-fold. The revised bill would let U.S. companies meet part (15%) of their obligation by using “offsets”-that is, they could “cut” emissions by preserving forests somewhere or helping fund clean-energy development abroad. Bad timing, that: New research suggest offsets used by the rest of the world are a bust, as well.
At the same time, by making the bill as flexible as possible for the companies that will have to clean up their act, the revised version could end up putting off the real heavy lifting for a decade or two. That, says the World Resources Institute, means that over the next dozen years-despite all the cost and complexity of implementing a big program to regulate the whole economy-the net result would be the same as having no new program at all.
Not everybody is quite so pessimistic; Joe Romm himself figures the bill, as designed, would mean U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions in 2020 would be higher than they are now, but lower than they’d be if the country did nothing. But he figures the bill is already dead-on-arrival in Congress anyway.
Conservative commentators, from the American Enterprise Institute to the WSJ editorial page, are grabbing their silver bullets and wooden stakes, just in case. They figure the legislation would achieve the trifecta of raising energy prices, damaging the U.S. economy, and doing little to help the environment. Newt Gingrich told Fox News that Lieberman-Warner should be called the “China and India Full Employment Act” because it will ship American industry overseas (even though most serious studies find little risk of large-scale “carbon leakage,” as that kind of outsourcing is known.)
Congress is just preparing to sink its teeth into America’s first big foray into climate politics. Even if it doesn’t take a whole month, expect plenty of fireworks.
Supply/demand at work:
U.S. oil probes focusing on price manipulation: report Fri May 30, 5:27 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. regulatory probe into potential oil-market trading abuses is focusing on possible short-term manipulation of benchmark crude prices and the use of information related to important oil storage tanks to influence prices, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
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The report comes a day after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, under pressure from U.S. lawmakers to crack down on speculators they blame for pushing energy prices to record highs, said it would step up market surveillance.
The CFTC announced a nationwide investigation into energy trading last December, but is in fact pursuing several oil investigations, many of which relate to one another, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with enforcement priorities of the agency.
It has expanded its probe into alleged short-term manipulation of crude-oil prices via a widely used price-reporting system run by Platts, a unit of McGraw-Hill Cos (MHP.N), the newspaper reported.
The probes appear to focus on gambits well known by traders in the opaque physical oil market, where trading a small volume of cash crude or gasoline during a short period when benchmark prices are set can yield big profits on derivatives positions.
Oil traders say that these kind of leveraged trading plays — which are generally not illegal — were more common prior to the Enron melt-down and the California power trading scandal that triggered increased scrutiny of world energy markets earlier this decade, but rarely had a lasting effect on prices.
However traders and analysts believe that increased investment from pension and other funds into commodities markets is partly responsible for causing prices to quadruple since 2004, with U.S. crude hitting a record high of $135.09 a barrel last week after rising by more than 40 percent this year alone.
The Journal quoted CFTC enforcement chief Gregory Mocek as saying the agency has about 60 manipulation investigations open in various commodity markets.
On Thursday the CFTC said it would expand its oversight of energy trading by tracking index funds, and had reached an agreement with the U.K.’s Financial Services Authority and ICE Futures Europe to share information.
WINDOW TRADE, STORAGE TANKS
One suspicion, the newspaper said, is that energy companies and traders have at times issued a flood of orders during the trading “window” used by Platts to determine its reported prices for physical oil transactions, then used the potentially distorted prices to make profits in other markets.
According to the Journal, Platts has said its system has safeguards to protect against manipulation. Subpoenas on the matter have gone out in several stages, the report cited people familiar with the cases as saying.
A Platts spokesman was not immediately available to comment.
The Journal cited people familiar with the matter as saying the agency has also been questioning traders about similar activity in the jet-fuel market.
Another area of concern for CFTC regulators is whether the owners of crude-oil storage tanks use their knowledge to make bets on oil-futures markets.
In theory, the owner of a tank could issue misleading information about the tanks being full or empty, leaving the wrong impression about whether oil is in plentiful supply. Then they could make trades to profit on the misunderstanding.
Regulators have long been wary of allowing any one company to gain too much control over storage tanks in Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the New York Mercantile Exchange’s light, sweet crude oil contract, the world’s main benchmark.
Government regulators forced BP (BP.L) to sell the Cushing storage assets of ARCO before allowing it to buy the U.S. company in 2001. BP is no longer the biggest tank holder at Cushing.
Your oil companies working hard to keep supply balanced with demand, when high prices cause demand to fall:
Ahead of the Bell: US refiners
Friday May 30, 8:18 am ET
Citi says refiners cope with soft demand, but risks remain; Valero rated ‘Buy’
NEW YORK (AP) — A Citi Investment Research analyst said Friday that refiners have worked to counteract weaker demand for their products resulting from record oil prices.
In a client note, analyst Faisel Khan said U.S. refiners have kept supply and demand balanced by reducing inventories over the last two months. Although demand has fallen as oil prices rose, he said the companies’ inventories are at seasonal norms.
Demand falls because prices rise, just maintain the balance. Good for them that Oil doesn’t Spoil.
Hayden should read this report before he goes trumpeting up the big gains against Al-Quida in Iraq.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N19629188.htm
Here’s the Money line:
“The United States should not confuse gains against al-Qa’ida’s Iraqi franchises as fundamental blows against the organization outside of Iraq. So long as al-Qa’ida is able to attract hundreds of young men to join its ranks, it will remain a serious threat to global security.”
Here’s good news
U.S. Cites Big Gains Against Al-Qaeda
Group Is Facing Setbacks Globally, CIA Chief Says
By Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 30, 2008; A01
Less than a year after his agency warned of new threats from a resurgent al-Qaeda, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden now portrays the terrorist movement as essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and on the defensive throughout much of the rest of the world, including in its presumed haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
In a strikingly upbeat assessment, the CIA chief cited major gains against al-Qaeda’s allies in the Middle East and an increasingly successful campaign to destabilize the group’s core leadership.
While cautioning that al-Qaeda remains a serious threat, Hayden said Osama bin Laden is losing the battle for hearts and minds in the Islamic world and has largely forfeited his ability to exploit the Iraq war to recruit adherents. Two years ago, a CIA study concluded that the U.S.-led war had become a propaganda and marketing bonanza for al-Qaeda, generating cash donations and legions of volunteers.
All that has changed, Hayden said in an interview with The Washington Post this week that coincided with the start of his third year at the helm of the CIA.
“On balance, we are doing pretty well,” he said, ticking down a list of accomplishments: “Near strategic defeat of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Near strategic defeat for al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. Significant setbacks for al-Qaeda globally — and here I’m going to use the word ‘ideologically’ — as a lot of the Islamic world pushes back on their form of Islam,” he said.
Good news? Al-Quida in Iraq were just a tiny fraction of the resistance to begin with. Read post above yours about obfusication.
I do believe Hayden is trying to goad them into showing they are still a force to be reckoned with. Kind of like ‘Bring Em On!”
And the gains against al-qaeda in Iraq are just a tiny fraction of the article!
“On balance, we are doing pretty well,”
Didn’t we hear that in May 2005? Remember that – last throes and all?
I can see where it could result in fewer civilians getting blown up in the market, but I think pretty much irrelevant for the number of troops getting attacked.
Maybe they’re just moving more into their sanctuary Pakistan.
Good NEWS!
Chris is a friend of mine, and I admire and respect him very much. He’s certainly qualified for the job. Not everyone shares my opinion of him, but that’s because he’s not afraid to tell truth to power. In no uncertain terms.
I know him to be very dedicated to getting things done, he’s one HELL of an activist, and he is smart as a whip. Another kansas native who moved away, moved back to care for his parents, and then decided to stay. He’s a real citizen of the world, and a hard worker to boot.
He’d be DAMN good in this job. I hope you will check him out and support him.
http://www.saljournal.com/rdnews/Story/Renner-files-for-state-school-board-5-29-08
Cranes keep collapsing in New York City!
Mayor Bloomberg – you need to take action!
1) Ban all cranes.
It doesn’t matter that you will lose union jobs, and no more buildings will be built. Those cranes are killing people!
2) Fire all city crane inspectors.
Incompetent Big Government doesn’t work, especially when you Regulate people to DEATH!
3) Sue all the Crane Manufacturers.
These Evil Corporations are selling deadly cranes and they are being brought into New York City!
4) Sue all the Crane Dealers.
These Crane Dealers will do anything to make money. They are knowingly selling to licensed contractors, who are then reselling to incompetent and unlicensed Union Contractors! Almost all of these Crane murders are caused by contractors illegal obtaining cranes through straw purchases.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,360443,00.html
Construction Crane Collapses in New York City, at Least One Dead
Friday, May 30, 2008
Firefighters and rescue workers are combing through twisted steel, concrete and rubble in the search for more possible victims of a construction crane collapse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side Friday.
At least one person has been killed, and two are seriously wounded, according to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The crane smashed into a 23-story high-rise apartment building at East 91st Street and First Avenue before tumbling down onto the street below.
Part of the crane is still standing and may not be stable. Firefighters have barred people from the immediate area.
The top floor of a nearby high-rise apartment building was damaged, crushing at least half a dozen terraces, according to MyFOXNY.
“Truth to power”: deconstructing a phrase
It’s a popular phrase on the left, used here by Dan Rather, of all people (courtesy Roger Simon): “speaking truth to power.”
The expression, which has been around for quite a while, is brilliantly parsimonious. In just four simple words (really only three, since one of them is “to”), it succinctly encapsulates the left’s view–both of itself, and of the way the world works.
First, there’s “truth.” One of the hallmarks of much leftist thought is the idea of their own moral (not just doctrinal or analytic) superiority. The left’s definition of “truth” often seems to be that it consists of whatever they believe to be true. Ergo, whenever they “speak” (word three), it’s “truth” by definition; they certainly don’t need no steenking facts cluttering up their truth (as in the pesky Memogate).
Next, there’s “power.” The left is all about power differentials. Third-world countries or those perceived as powerless are always right (i.e. “truthful”); powerful countries are always wrong. It’s not, of course, just about international relations and countries, it’s also about people and economics: poor people=good (powerless), rich people=bad (powerful).
Want to know the origins of the phrase? I did; it turns out it has to do with Quakers and pacifism, (see this), a subject I plan to tackle some time in the not-too-distant future.
http://neo-neocon.blogspot.com/2005/09/truth-to-power-deconstructing-phrase.html
JMWalker
Posted May 30, 2008 at 6:09 am | Permalink
When is the eagle going to implement a random number/letter box for logging in, and eliminate the spam? The crap is ridiculous.
———————–
JM Walker, those are log-ins, they are trackbacks. If you examine them, they are always found at the bottom of the page.
As far as I know, to eliminate trackbacks requires one action, tick the check box.
? So for most people, the phrase “speak truth to power” falls somewhere between a
moral dictum and a platitude. But it’s much more than that for people in the Public
Service, as I will show in a minute.
? I learned something else in my modest researches on the origins of the phrase
‘speak truth to power”. I learned that, while it seems to us closely associated with
government and the duties of public servants, its origins run far deeper than that.
? In fact, a simple internet search shows that members of three of the world’s great
religions each claim the phrase as part of their own contribution to thought:
o For example, the editors of a Quaker on-line journal titled, Speak Truth to
Power, say that the phrase is taken from a charge given to Eighteenth
Century Friends, exhorting them to be fearless in expressing their truth to the
powerful.
o An Islamic source, going back even farther, says “Prophet Muhammad said
that the best form of jihad is to speak truth to power”.
o And a Jewish source says “We are commanded by Torah to speak truth to
power”.
? Now, I can’t tell you exactly who has the trademark on the phrase “speak truth to
power” but, like many concepts taken for granted in our largely secular society, it
clearly goes back a long way in moral and theological history.
http://www.sussexcircle.com/pdf/028-SpeakTruthtoPower.pdf
Truth 2 Power Journal
Someone Tell Hillary… It’s the Math, Stupid
Posted by Vyan in General Discussion: Primaries
Sun May 04th 2008, 09:48 AM
Despite all the huffing and puffing over just when and how Hillary Clinton will finally pull a heroic Rocky-II-like comeback knock this black teenager out of the race – all the real numbers say she’s already lost.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Vyan/273
1. speak truth to power
A vacuous phrase used by some on the political Left, especially the denizens of the Democratic Underground website.
Ostensibly, it means to verbally confront or challenge conservative politicians and conservative ideals using the overwhelmingly logical and moral arguments of liberalism. Doing so would, naturally of course, devastate the target individual, leaving them a stuttering, stammering bowl of defeated jelly.
That or cause them to experience an epiphany that would have such a profound, worldview-changing effect that they would immediately go out and buy a Che t-shirt and start reading Noam Chomsky.
Unfortunately, the individuals who would use this phrase have little or no understanding of either liberalism or conservatism, and the “truth” that they speak consists mainly of epithets and talking points, memorized by rote, which they learned from other, equally vapid liberals. As such “speak truth to power” joins other feel-good but ultimately meaningless gems from Leftist history such as “right on”, “up against the wall”. “question everything” and the ever-popular “f*ck you, pig”.
“Did you see that guy in New Orleans tell Cheney to go f*ck himself?” “Yeah. I saw him speak truth to power!”
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=speak+truth+to+power
My former church, in its ongoing wish to remain in the dark ages, has threatened excommunication regarding women priests:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/05/30/vatican.women.priests/index.html
Whew – I guess I was wrong. I was taught (and my research confirmed this) that only two mega-sins incurred excommunication: 1) abortion and 2) attempting to assassinate the Holy Father.
Only two – nothing else.
Now comes this latest salvo. My, my – the thought of a mere women in a priestly role – or a leadership role – is evidently worse than pedophilia, flying a plane into several large buildings on 9/11, and using one’s authority to cover the rape of children.
Reflecting on this, I was reminded that, so many years ago I loved my church so intensely that gender didn’t matter. What mattered were the sacraments – whether the priest was male or female wasn’t paramount. I didn’t disagree with the idea of women priests – but it wasn’t a deal-breaker.
However, when one loses one’s faith…when one loses one’s confidence in the heirarchy of that church and how it purportedly was founded…..these issues are very important indeed.
Do I still believe that the pope is the “direct successor of Saint Peter?” No. Do I believe this latest edict is indicative of the command to “love one another” and the admonition that “in Christ, there is no male or female….jew or gentile….slave or landowner” (or words to that effect)? I do not. That is the crux – I do not.
This latest threat is, unsurprisingly, being greeted with scorn the world over. Our society is evolving (i.e., hopefully improving). But for the Vatican, the sun still sets in the east.
Say, Can The Eagle Please Get a Obama Pastor F-U Thread?
At Obama’s Church, Chicago Minister Says Clinton Felt ‘White’ Entitlement
by FOXNews.com
Thursday, May 29, 2008
In it, Pfleger, who is white, mocked Clinton for getting choked up on camera before the New Hampshire primary in January.
“When Hillary was crying … I really don’t believe it was put on. I really believe that she just always thought ‘This is mine. I’m Bill’s wife. I’m white. And this is mine’,” he said, shouting at times. “Then out of nowhere came, ‘Hey I’m Barack Obama’. And she said, ‘Oh damn! Where did you come from? I’m white! I’m entitled! There’s a black man stealing my show’!”
After that, he simulated Clinton crying and then said: “She wasn’t the only one crying. There was a whole lot of white people crying … I’m sorry. I don’t wanna get you in any more trouble. The live streaming just went out again.”
He also said at one point, “America has been raping people of color and America has to pay the price for the rape. “
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfWnY5PC0CQ
Neocon blogspot?
hehehehehehehhehhehhehehehheh.
Guess the phrase “truth to power” is a sore spot for max.
What a surprise.
But really, neocon blogspot?
heheheheheheheheheh. HEE HEE HEE HEEEEEEEEEEE!
I KNEW you’d get a kick outta that website Farmie.
Next two links are on your side, just to be fair and balanced.
Oh, and about the author on the neo-con website:
neo-neocon
About Me
I’m a woman in my fifties, lifelong Democrat mugged by reality on 9/11. Born in New York, living in New England, surrounded by liberals on all sides, I’ve found myself slowly but surely leaving the fold and becoming that dread thing: a neocon. My friends and family are becoming sick of what they see as my inexplicable conversion, so I’ve started this blog to give vent to my frustration. I have a background as a therapist, and my politics make me a pariah in my profession, too. Little did I know that I moved in such politically homogeneous circles.
http://www.blogger.com/profile/16177854476469170026
Mr. Hayden is glad to report ” Our strategy to lure Al-Quida from surrounding countries to blow themselves up, has been a booming success!
‘1,700 Scientists and Economists Call For Immediate Action on Greenhouse Gas Reductions‘
http://www.desmogblog.com/1-700-scientists-and-economists-call-for-immediate-action-on-greenhouse-gas-reductions
“More than 1,700 of the nation’s most prominent scientists and economists today released a joint statement calling on policymakers to require immediate, deep reductions in heat-trapping emissions that cause global warming.
“The longer we wait, the harder and more costly it will be to limit climate change,” said the statement, which calls for a reduction in US emissions of 80 percent below 2000 levels by 2050.
“There is a strong consensus that we must do something about reducing the emissions that cause global warming,” said James McCarthy, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and one of the statement’s authors.
Besides McCarthy, the statement authors include Mario Molina, a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry; Peter Frumhoff, director of science and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) lead author; Stephen Schneider, a Stanford University climatologist and a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS); and Geoff Heal, an economist at Columbia University’s Business School. The signatories, compiled by UCS, include six Nobel Prize winners in science or economics, 31 NAS members, and more than 100 IPCC authors and editors, who all shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.
A full copy of the letter and the criteria for those endorsing the letter can be downloaded here (pdf).”
http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/global_warming/Scientist_Economists_Call_to_Action_fnl.pdf
Dunkin’ Donuts pulled an ad, featuring Rachael Ray wearing a scarf. The wingnuts complained the scarf looked like the one Yassir Arafat wore, and though it insulted them. Tell me that ain’t jihad bs, and I’ll sell you some prime property in the middle of the arkansas river . . . cheap!
‘White House report backs climate change warnings‘
After a court order and four years late, Bush administration scientists issue an assessment.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-me-warming30-2008may30,0,4571589.story
“President Bush’s top science advisors issued a comprehensive report Thursday that for the first time endorses what most scientific experts have long asserted: that greenhouse gases from fossil fuel combustion “are very likely the single largest cause” of Earth’s warming.
The 271-page report could undercut opposition to the more aggressive provisions of climate legislation, which is to be debated in the Senate next week.
Sharon Hays, deputy director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said the report did not represent a changed assessment but “a rolling up of a whole bunch of reports on the science, showing that climate change of the past 50 years is primarily caused by human activity.” “
‘White House issues climate report 4 years late‘
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080529/D90VFVD00.html
“White House associate science director Sharon Hays, in a teleconference with reporters, declined to characterize the findings as bad, but said it is an issue the administration takes seriously. She said the report was comprehensive and “communicates what the scientists are telling us.”
That includes:
- Increased heat deaths and deaths from climate-worsened smog. In Los Angeles alone yearly heat fatalities could increase by more than 1,000 by 2080, and the Midwest and Northeast are most vulnerable to increased heat deaths.
- Worsening water shortages for agriculture and urban users. From California to New York, lack of water will be an issue.
- A need for billions of dollars in more power plants (one major cause of global warming gases) to cool a hotter country. The report says summer cooling will mean Seattle’s energy consumption would increase by 146 percent with the warming that could come by the end of the century.
- More death and damage from wildfires, hurricanes and other natural disasters and extreme weather. In the last three decades, wildfire season in the West has increased by 78 days.
- Increased insect infestations and food- and waterborne microbes and diseases. Insect and pathogen outbreaks to the forests are causing $1.5 billion in annual losses.
“Finally, climate change is very likely to accentuate the disparities already evident in the American health care system,” the report said. “Many of the expected health effects are likely to fall disproportionately on the poor, the elderly, the disabled and the uninsured.”
The science report:
http://tinyurl.com/4hojv5 ”
(2.73 MB PDF)
cosmos_originally Posted May 30, 2008 at 11:48 am |
‘1,700 Scientists and Economists Call For Immediate Action on Greenhouse Gas Reductions‘
So what…what are we supposed to do?
YAWN…snooze…zzzzz
Bob Dole takes a whipper-snapper to school at age 163.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0508/Bob_Dole_unloads_on_McClellan.html
“There are miserable creatures like you in every administration who don’t have the guts to speak up or quit if there are disagreements with the boss or colleagues,” Dole wrote in a message sent yesterday morning. “No, your type soaks up the benefits of power, revels in the limelight for years, then quits, and spurred on by greed, cashes in with a scathing critique.”
more from Dole-
Dole assures McClellan that he won’t read the book — “because if all these awful things were happening, and perhaps some may have been, you should have spoken up publicly like a man, or quit your cushy, high profile job”
“That would have taken integrity and courage but then you would have had credibility and your complaints could have been aired objectively,” Dole concludes. “You’re a hot ticket now but don’t you, deep down, feel like a total ingrate?”
Decrease 80% of 2000 levels by 2050?
Out of 1,700 academic knuckleheads that signed this insane statement does any of them have a clue how this can be accomplished?
How about you cosmos, do you have any clue as to how we’ll be able to accomplish this?
I’ve got a little prediction for you and other AGW nitwits, this country and no other country will ever reduce their CO2 emmisions. Ever.
Fulbright Scholars Trapped by Gaza Blockade
“Seven Palestinian scholars may lose their prized Fulbright scholarships to attend American universities because Israel won’t let them out of the Gaza Strip.”
http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=4964329&page=1
Just another indications that the democrats just don’t get it.
—————-
Kerry: On Sept. 11 We Were at Peace
@ 11:21 am by Andy Barr
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) believes that on September 11 “we were basically at peace.”
Asked to clarify his remarks, specifically asking about the attacks on the U.S.S. Cole during Barack Obama campaign conference call, Kerry said, “well, we hadn’t declared war,” The Hill’s Sam Youngman reports.
Asked if al Qaeda was a threat at the time, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee said, “well yes, obviously they were a threat. But, fundamentally we were not at war at that point in time.”
Kerry also called John McCain “out of step with history and facts.”
UPDATE: Responding to Kerry’s claim, RNC spokesman Danny Diaz said: “It’s absolutely critical that the next Commander in Chief understands the challenges America faces. Yet it’s clear that Barack Obama has a thin understanding of history and fails to grasp the threat of terrorism.”
“After a week’s worth of examples demonstrating Obama’s lack of preparedness to serve as president, his campaign is understandably desperate to shift the focus. Considering it’s now been 873 days since Obama visited Iraq, any suggestion that he even understands what’s happening on the ground is laughable.”
Linda you have it! Those crazy Isralies not playing nice with Hamas because they lob bombs at them daily and threathen to knock them off the map on a regular basis. Guess what – maybe they need to appeal to their own government to let up on Israel.
Those 7 Fulbright scholors are just the sort of people we need to get a western US-style education. They could become a nucleus for a modern democratic Palestine. Of course, the US/Israel do not want such an entity; they prefer continues stalemate and continued Israeli rule.
If Palestine were in any way independent these students could leave by air, sea, or through Egypt. It is only due to continuing acts of war (blockade) by the US/Israel that they cannot.
Yeah, the evil U.S. blocking those scholars. Which brings a smile to one’s face because Fulbright scholarships is named after Senator Fulbright and a joint venture of the U.S. and the U.K.
Darn those evil U.S. people! :)
Yes regular, it is ironic that the US is blocking them from participating in a US/UK program that could influence them in our favor.
“knuckleheads”
“AGW nitwits”
Just a typical, name-calling post by Hank Price…
——–
Invest in higher energy efficiency. The payback is about 10 to 1.
See for yourself pictures of the evidence that Planned Parenthood’s second-trimester Overland Park abortion mill committed felonies in falsifying copies of documents required by state law, to cover up their illegal post-viable abortions.
Planned Parenthood, the recipient of over $300 million in taxpayer funding annually, claims they couldn’t afford a copy machine to make the copies required by law in 2003. Or a trip to Kinko for copy services.
Disgraced AG Morrison lied through his teeth claiming in a past written statement that no evidence of Planned Parenthood’s criminal guilt existed.
The Kansas Supreme Court must be made to answer for stalling and preventing witnesses and such criminal evidence from being presented by DA Kline, with no legal basis for their ruling. Redacted medical records cannot be withheld, and no applicable medical records can be withheld in felony prosecutions.
But where will we find lawmakers or federal investigators with enough spine to hold these leftist, activist “judges” appointed by abortionist quacks to account?
See news page
wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=65638
and page
article.nationalreview.com/?q=NzM3MGM4ODEyNTM0MTA2YWJhODNhNzRlYjZiZDgyNjQ=
and page
operationrescue.org/?p=948
“UPDATE: Responding to Kerry’s claim, RNC spokesman…”
The RNC a not a credible source.
Has McCain finally learned about the different religious sects in the M-E?
Can he remember, without Joe Lieberman whispering in his ear?
cosmos is not a credible source. He is not a peer reviewed scientist or peer reviewed hack.
http://www.poschart/graph/cosmosnotpeerreviewed.com
Does cosmo get paid by the cut or by the paste?
At least he is slowly expanding to different topics.
McCain’s Foreign Policy Gaffe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6GBdyws5YU
Come on cosmos,
The tone of your posts to me and others with a sensible opinion about AGW are condescending, dismissive and just plain rude.
Then you come up with:
“Invest in higher energy efficiency. The payback is about 10 to 1.”
You really don’t have a clue do you? China is increasing their annual carbon per capita amounts at an unbelievable rate. They won’t participate in your ‘feel good solutions’ to global warming.
Russia won’t participate in any idiotic solutions either. India is right behind China in carbon emmissions and they won’t screw with their economy for ‘the good of the planet’.
The per capita carbon emmisions in the US are increasing and will continue to increase no matter what insane legislation is passed in the next few years. Why? Because the American people aren’t going to put up with the nitwitery.
Sorry, but I showed great restraint in merely calling you a nitwit. I’m in the book. Call me. I’ll tell you what I really think.
Sheesh!
Shouldn’t have passed over the mantel to China, now should we have?
HLP,
Now darn it, you’re being way to hard on cosmos.
I’ve come up with plan I bet cosmos might go along with to reduce greenhouse gases that is simplicity itself, and it will work. We simply ban all fossil fuel mechanized agricultural equipment. Hey, that’s it.
Think of it, we would greatly reduce the release of carbon into the atmosphere, and we would instantly achieve full employment at the same time with everybody desperately tying to grow, harvest, and steal just eat to survive. Plus, many people simply wouldn’t survive, and that in itself would reduce AGW. I know it sounds heartless but too bad, that’s just the price we have to pay to save the planet from AGW.
Or, how about a global thermonuclear war? That would reduce the AGW load by reducing the population significantly. Again so sorry, but we have to do what we have to do. Algore can push that first red button to get the fireworks started. Bring in all the peer review guys cosmos likes so much, they can help too.
See HLP, this ‘little AGW problem’ isn’t so insurmountable after all, you just have to think a little outside the box. Or outside humanity anyway.
You’re right Boxlock, I was probably way too hard on cosmos. At times I actually believe that I’m trying to carry on a discussion with an eleven year old pre-pubescent boy.
He’s been to one of the goracle’s indoctrination programs (probably sponsored by his government school) and now he knows every thing.
Of course if you had him one on one without the benefit of GOOGLE and access to his left wing websites with their daily talking points he would turn into a deaf mute.
I just hope his daddy isn’t big enough to beat me up!
Dear Hank Price,
Your insistence that OISM, Dennis Avery, Senator Inhofe, and similar are credible science sources is not a “sensible opinion”. It’s stupid, and irrational.
And I really don’t care what stupid and/or irrational people think about me.
That’s a big good for you cosmos.
You’ve done nothing when you’ve bested a fool.
The debate is over. The deniers are waking up in droves. The few left don’t even have a Presidential candidate this time.
Ah yes, the radical extremists liberals:
Defenders of NAMBLA.
0
Defenders of Louis Farakan.
Defenders of Rev Jeremiah Wright.
Defenders of the ALCU and Charles Rust-Tierney.
Defenders of unbridled freedom, without personal responsibility.
Defenders of Fr. Michael Pfleger.
Defenders of Evolution.
Defenders of Atheism.
Defenders of Abortion.
Defenders of the UN.
Defenders of Goerge Tiller.
Defenders of AGW.
Phantom,
Actually, China has only caught up to the U.S. re CO2 on an annual basis.
CO2 is a long-lived GHG, and remains in the atmosphere for a century or longer.
The U.S., with about 5% of the worlds population, has emitted much more CO2 than China.
The total present contributions are roughly:
U.S. — 30%
China, AND India, AND Southeast Asia — 12%
Europe — 28% …. and other countries, to total 100%.
If the U.S. cut CO2 emissions sharply, and China continued to rise slowly, it would take decades for China to match the amount of CO2 from the U.S..
American,
My, my when you list the things liberals love like that I don’t feel so bad about feeling so bad toward them anymore.
Thanks,
“Obana’s Communist Mentor
By Cliff Kincaid
Feb. 18, 2008
In his biography of Barack Obama, David Mendell writes about Obama’s life as a “secret smoker” and how he “went to great lengths to conceal the habit.” But what about Obama’s secret political life? It turns out that Obama’s childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, was a communist.
In his books, Obama admits attending “socialist conferences” and coming into contact with Marxist literature. But he ridicules the charge of being a “hard-core academic Marxist,” which was made by his colorful and outspoken 2004 U.S. Senate opponent, Republican Alan Keyes.
However, through Frank Marshall Davis, Obama had an admitted relationship with someone who was publicly identified as a member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). The record shows that Obama was in Hawaii from 1971-1979, where, at some point in time, he developed a close relationship, almost like a son, with Davis, listening to his “poetry” and getting advice on his career path. But Obama, in his book, Dreams From My Father, refers to him repeatedly as just “Frank.”
The reason is apparent: Davis was a known communist who belonged to a party subservient to the Soviet Union. In fact, the 1951 report of the Commission on Subversive Activities to the Legislature of the Territory of Hawaii identified him as a CPUSA member. What’s more, anti-communist congressional committees, including the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), accused Davis of involvement in several communist-front organizations.
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/obamas-communist-mentor/
This is an interesting article that should be read in it’s entirety. Like Cliff Kincaid, when I read Obama’s Dreams from my Father I was wondering why he only mentioned the first name of his friend and mentor “Frank.” Turns out that this was being deceptive, such as when he claimed that his mother had been a Christian.
While Obama is most probably not a communist, there are a lot of Marxist links in his past and present. Malcolm X, an admirer of Lenin and Stalin, was someone Obama says he identified with as a young man. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s Liberation Theology has Marxist overtones. Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga is the son of a communist, named his son after Fidel Castro and was educated in East Germany. Several Central American communist leaders received their political indoctrination in East Germany as well, before returning to their native countries. Obama has written that he gravitated towards Marxist professors in College. At some point you have to wonder if Obama has an underlying socialist mindset, and how that would manifest itself in an Obama administration.
Early on I could smell Marxist overtones in Obama’s statements and in those from his church and circle of friends. A lot of what I’ve presented at Too Hot came initially from simply googling “Obama Marxism.” I got very few hits at first, but they are expanding rapidly. One has to wonder how that will play with voters in the Fall, if he makes it that far. For that reason he might be the easier opponent for Republicans in the Fall, contrary to conventional wisdom.
To be fair, it’s entirely possible that Obama was once attracted to Marxist thought and has since rejected it. His socialist Global Poverty Act might tend to disuade some from that opinion. Having Paul Volker advising him on economic issues is encouraging. “
With Obama, it’s the Communism, Stupid
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/with-obama-its-the-communism-stupid/
AIM Column | By Cliff Kincaid | April 23, 2008
Obama admitted to exchanging ideas with Ayers on an irregular basis but did not say what those ideas were.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama tried to deflect a question about his relationship with terrorist Bill Ayers by saying that he “engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago when I was 8-years-old” and that he was now a professor and a neighbor. The real issue is whether Obama shares Ayers’ communist views. Obama admitted to exchanging ideas with Ayers on an irregular basis but did not say what those ideas were. But we know that Ayers, rather than just being a 1960s “radical,” was a member of a Marxist-Leninist communist group.
The Weather Underground, or Weathermen, wasn’t just home-grown and domestic in nature, although it had evolved from the so-called Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), which laid siege to college campuses and tried to take over administration buildings. Their openly proclaimed goal was world communism and they had links to hostile foreign powers.
“We’re revolutionary communists,” Ayers himself said in 1969.
The FBI said that the Weather Underground had more contacts abroad than the Moscow-controlled Communist Party USA.
Which brings up another so far unmentionable aspect of Obama’s background?the role of his childhood mentor, Communist Party member Frank Marshall Davis. This is the hard-core Soviet apologist who filled Obama’s head full of anti-American thoughts at a tender age.
About Ayers, Obama said that he’s not somebody he exchanges ideas with “on a regular basis.” What ideas? And does that mean he communicates with him on an occasional basis? We need more questions and answers.
But in a posting on the far-left Huffington Post website, Ayers’ brother, Rick Ayers, accused Senator Hillary Clinton of McCarthyism for daring to comment on Obama’s ties to this communist terrorist when the subject came up in the April 16 Democratic presidential debate. Such a charge of “McCarthyism” is designed to intimidate not only Clinton but the media.
Does the phony charge of “McCarthyism” prevent the media from exploring the more critical issue of Frank Marshall Davis’s influence on Obama?
The Davis connection is essential to understanding why Obama would exchange any ideas at all with Ayers. At this point in his life, after he had moved from Hawaii, where he listened to Davis’s Marxist “poetry” and anti-American and pro-Soviet rants, Obama was receptive to the kinds of “ideas” that Ayers would offer to him. The media should demand to know what those ideas were.
The False Veneer
Obama has been clever to appear bipartisan and moderate, despite a very liberal voting record. He let his guard down in a big way when he not only endorsed but sponsored the Global Poverty Act, funneling a massive amount of foreign aid (by one informed estimate $845 billion) to Africa and the rest of the world, perhaps as partial reparations for slavery. It is curious that Obama doesn’t talk about this bill, which is on the verge of Senate passage, and it is strange that the major media don’t mention it, either. It is a potential budget buster that sheds light on Obama’s worldview.
The “exchange” of views with Ayers and others of his ilk may also shed light on what Obama might do in other areas, such as the critical field of education, where the federal government has assumed a larger role. It turns out that Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, another former communist terrorist, are now specializing in the education and the raising of young people. They even have a book coming out on the subject.
Obama himself seems to have some strange ideas on child-rearing, having brought his young children to hear Sunday sermons from a pastor, Jeremiah Wright, who has exhibited anti-American and anti-white tendencies and sentiments.
The Foreign Connection
For his part, Ayers wasn’t just a terrorist; he was a communist terrorist aligned with and manipulated by Moscow’s communist apparatus, operating through Cuba, against the United States. Many members of the group traveled to Cuba, sometimes to meet with the Vietnamese communists, and others went directly to Hanoi, North Vietnam. One of their stated objectives was to prevent the U.S. from stopping a communist takeover of Vietnam. They succeeded, with the acquiescence of a liberal Congress, which cut off U.S. aid to the South Vietnamese government, and more than 58,000 American soldiers died in vain.
Senator John McCain was an American prisoner of war being tortured by the North Vietnamese communists while Ayers and his comrades were giving aid and comfort to McCain’s torturers.
The FBI was desperate to apprehend Ayers and his comrades because they were operating with foreign support and direction and the dozens of bombings they carried out between 1969 and 1975 did an estimated $100 million in damage. A policeman had been killed in San Francisco by a bomb planted by the Weather Underground at a police station. Seven others were injured. Eight were injured in the Weather Underground bombing of the New York City police department. Fifty-nine policemen were injured in a riot the Weather Underground promoted in Chicago.
If anything, ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos was too timid in his questioning of Obama during the April 16 debate. Here’s how Stephanopoulos put it:
A gentleman named William Ayers, he was part of the Weather Underground in the 1970s. They bombed the Pentagon, the Capitol and other buildings. He’s never apologized for that. And in fact, on 9/11, he was quoted in the New York Times, saying, ‘I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough.’ An early organizing meeting for your state senate campaign was held at his house and your campaign has said you were ‘friendly.’ Can you explain that relationship for the voters and explain to Democrats why it won’t be a problem?”
A “gentleman” named Bill Ayers? The only reason he’s not in prison today is because the FBI employed allegedly illegal break-ins as part of their search for members of the group. FBI officials thought the break-ins were justified on national security grounds but terrorist lawyers would have had any charges against them thrown out.
Some of the terrorists, of course, did go to prison. Kathy Boudin went to prison for her involvement in an October 20, 1981, armed terrorist assault that left Nyack, New York Police Sgt. Edward O’Grady, Patrolman Waverly Brown and Brinks guard Peter Paige dead. A website, memorial and scholarship have been created in their honor.
David Gilbert also went to prison for his role in that assault. He co-authored the SDS booklet, “U.S. Imperialism,” whose first page includes a quote from the Communist Manifesto. He wrote the book, No Surrender: Writings from an anti-imperialist political prisoner, which includes an endorsement on the back cover from Ward Churchill, the disgraced college professor who achieved notoriety for comparing 9/11 victims to Nazis.
Other titles from the “SDS lit list” of June of 1969 included, Which Side Are You On? US History in Perspective, Cuba vs U.S Imperialism, and Cultural Revolution in China. SDS literature regularly referred to police as “pigs.”
Hillary Clinton, during the debate in which the subject of Ayers came up, meekly noted that Obama “served on a board with Mr. Ayers for a period of time, the Woods Foundation, which was a paid directorship position.” Notice how Senator Clinton referred to “Mr. Ayers,” after Stephanopoulos had called him a “gentleman.”
In rebuttal, Obama noted that “President Clinton pardoned or commuted the sentences of two members of the Weather Underground, which I think is a slightly more significant act than me serving on a board with somebody for actions that he did 40 years ago.”
So both of them have something to answer for. And so does George Soros.
The Soros Connection
One of the terrorists pardoned by Clinton was Linda Evans, who became a “Soros Justice Fellow,” named after the controversial left-wing billionaire, George Soros, who spent millions of dollars to defeat President Bush in 2004. She was given a Soros grant to “increase civic participation of former prisoners.”
This is the same Linda Evans, according to an FBI report, who said that during a trip to Hanoi in 1969 she was shown an anti-aircraft gun, cradled it in her arms, and “wished an American plane would fly over.”
For her part, Dohrn in 2004 was advertised as a featured speaker at the Baltimore branch of the Open Society Institute, a group funded by Soros. Her topic was discipline in schools.
You can see what they have in mind for America’s youth in how Chesa Boudin turned out. He was raised by Dohrn and Ayers because his real parents, Weather Underground members Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, had gone to prison. Chesa Boudin, who went to Yale, where he was a leader of the Yale Coalition for Peace, was selected as a Rhodes Scholar and is a big fan of “The Venezuelan Revolution,” which just happens to be in the title of a book that he co-authored that is sympathetic to the brand of communism being promoted by Hugo Chavez. He reportedly lived in Venezuela so he could support the Chavez government. “To our fathers and mothers, who brought politics to our lives,” says the acknowledgements. They sure did.
Chesa Boudin is also an editor of “Letters From Young Activists,” a 2005 book about a new “movement” for “progressive social change” that includes a preface from Bernardine Dohrn, who praises the “young militants” for trying to change the world. The book includes an endorsement from convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal and gives thanks to “lifelong activist and educator Bill Ayers.”
“Dear Dad,” writes Chesa Boudin in a letter published in the book. He tells his father, convicted and incarcerated terrorist David Gilbert, that “Che Guevara would have described your revolutionary spirit as guided by love.”
It turns out that Bill Ayers’ brother, Rick, who accused Hillary of McCarthyism, is also an “educator.” He was a teacher at Berkeley High School, where he developed a program that sent students to foreign countries like Cuba and Mexico to learn about “social justice.” The author of a book about teenage slang, he has teamed up with his brother and Bernardine Dohrn to edit the forthcoming book, Zero Tolerance, advertised as an argument against using tough discipline in schools.
Apparently, school officials are just supposed to let student troublemakers have the run of the place, like the SDS tried to do on college campuses.
The Obama Youth Movement
An objective observer might conclude that Ayers, Dohrn and their comrades are now dedicated to creating a new student and youth movement, like the one they participated in which eventually developed into a full-blown terrorist organization that killed our fellow citizens and tried to eliminate the “Thin Blue Line” of police separating us from the criminals.
In this new crusade, they not only have an inspiring leader, Barack Obama, who attracts young people with his promise of “change,” but a moneybags named Soros, who has funded causes such as rights for convicted felons and legalization of dope.
“I have very high regard for Hillary Clinton, but I think Obama has the charisma and the vision to radically reorient America in the world,” Soros recently told Judy Woodruff of Bloomberg Television. “I think that he has shown to be a really unusual person.”
On April 8, according to Politico’s Ben Smith, Soros hosted a dinner that spawned a new group, Progressive Media USA, which plans on spending $40 million to defeat McCain’s presidential bid and ensure the election of the Democratic candidate, which Soros hopes will be Obama.
After Hillary’s attack over Ayers backfired and led to charges of McCarthyism, Senator John McCain brought it up, noting on ABC’s “This Week” program that Ayers was an “unrepentant terrorist.” At the same time, McCain said he would not question Obama’s patriotism.
But the patriotism of Frank Marshall Davis can certainly be questioned. And Obama should be asked why he referred to this pro-Soviet communist in his book only as “Frank.”
——————————————————————————–
Cliff Kincaid is the Editor of the AIM Report and can be reached at cliff.kincaid@aim.org
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Obama’s Ties to Communism, Hamas and Terrorism
wordsandwar.com/2008/04/08/obamas-ties-to-communism-hamas-and-terrorism/
Author: Mordecai
Every page of Barack Hussein Obama’s life contains links to militant Muslims, hard core communists, virulent Antisemites, terrorists and their enablers, and good old fashioned political crooks. Liberals may argue that each of these relationships does not reflect Obama’s “real thinking”, but only the incurably insane would hold that as a package they do not mirror his ideology and illuminate his character.
Not counting the communist professors he sought out in college and his Stalinist wife, the people Obama admires and hopes to emulate are his father (posthumously), his pastor, and his friend, the terrorist.
OBAMA HID HIS FATHER’S COMMUNIST ANTI-WESTERN CONVICTIONS
There’s a big mystery at the heart of Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. What was Barack Obama doing seeking out Marxist professors in college? Why did Obama choose a Communist Party USA member as his socio- political counselor in high school? Why was he spending his time studying neocolonialism and the writings of Frantz Fanon, the pro-violence author of “the Communist Manifesto of neocolonialsm”, in college? Why did he take time out from his studies at Columbia to attend socialist conferences at Cooper Union?
And there is more mystery in the book. Why does Obama consider working in a consulting house for international business like being “a spy behind enemy lines?” Why does he repeatedly find it so hard to explain his political views to others? Why was he driven to become a left-aligned political organizer? It’s a question Obama again and again can’t seem to answer to the satisfaction of the interlocutors in his own memoir.
If there is a mystery at the heart of Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father, one thing is not left a mystery, the fact that Barack Obama organized his life on the ideals given to him by his Kenyan father. Obama tells us, “All of my life, I carried a single image of my father, one that I .. tried to take as my own.” (p. 220) And what was that image? It was “the father of my dreams, the man in my mother’s stories, full of high-blown ideals ..” (p. 278) What is more, Obama tells us that, “It was into my father’s image .. that I’d packed all the attributes I sought in myself.” And also that, “I did feel that there was something to prove .. to my father” in his efforts at political organizing. (p. 230)
So we know that his father’s ideals were a driving force in his life, but the one thing that Obama does not give us are the contents of those ideals. The closest he comes is when he tells us that his father lost his position in the government when he came into conflict with Jomo Kenyatte, the President of Kenya sometime in the mid 1960s; when he tells us that his father was imprisoned for his political views by the government just prior to the end of colonial rule; and when he tells us that the attributes of W. E. B. DuBois, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela were the ones he associated with his father and also the ones that he sought to instill in himself. (p. 220) This last group is a hodge podge, perhaps concealing as much as it reveals, in that it contains a socialist black nationalist, a Muslim black nationalist, a civil rights leader, and (at the time indicated in the memoir) an imprisoned armed revolutionary.
A bit of research at the library reveals the answers about Barack Obama’s father and his father’s convictions which Obama withholds from his readers. A first hint comes from authors E. S. Atieno Odhiambo and David William Cohen in their book The Risks of Knowledge (Ohio U. Press, 2004). On page 182 of their book they describe how Barack Obama’s father, a Harvard trained economist, attacked the economic proposals of pro-Western ‘third way” leader Tom Mboya from the socialist left, siding with communist-allied leader Oginga Odinga, in a paper Barack Obama’s father wrote for the East Africa Journal. As Odhiambo and Cohen write, “The debates [over economic policy] pitted .. Mboya against .. Oginga Odinga and radical economists Dharam Ghai and Barrack Obama, who critiqued the document for being neither African nor socialist enough.”
I have a copy of Barack Obama’s paper here in my hand, obtained from the stacks at UCLA (see the picture above). The paper is as describe by Odhiambo and Cohen, a cutting attack from the left on Tom Mboya’s historically important policy paper “African Socialism and Its Applicability to Planning in Kenya.” The author is given as “Barak H. Obama” and his paper is titled “Problems Facing Our Socialism”, published July, 1965 in the East African Journal, pp. 26-33.
Obama stakes out the following positions in his attacks on the white paper produced by Mboya’s Ministry of Economic Planning and Development:
1. Obama advocated the communal ownership of land and the forced confiscation of privately controlled land, as part of a forced “development plan”, an important element of his attack on the government’s advocacy of private ownership, land titles, and property registration. (p. 29)
2. Obama advocated the nationalization of “European” and “Asian” owned enterprises, including hotels, with the control of these operations handed over to the “indigenous” black population. (pp. 32 -33)
3. Obama advocated dramatically increasing taxation on “the rich” even up to the 100% level, arguing that, “there is no limit to taxation if the benefits derived from public services by society measure up to the cost in taxation which they have to pay” (p. 30) and that, “Theoretically, there is nothing that can stop the government from taxing 100% of income so long as the people get benefits from the government commensurate with their income which is taxed.” (p. 31)
4. Obama contrasts the ill-defined and weak-tea notion of “African Socialism” negatively with the well-defined ideology of “scientific socialism”, i.e. communism. Obama views “African Socialism” pioneers like Nkrumah, Nyerere, and Toure as having diverted only “a little” from the capitalist system. (p. 26)
5. Obama advocates an “active” rather than a “passive” program to achieve a classless society through the removal of economic disparities between black Africans and Asian and Europeans. (p. 28) “While we welcome the idea of a prevention [of class problems], we should try to cure what has slipped in .. we .. need to eliminate power structures that have been built through excessive accumulation so that not only a few individuals shall control a vast magnitude of resources as is the case now .. so long as we maintain free enterprise one cannot deny that some will accumulate more than others .. “ (pp. 29-30)
6. Obama advocates price controls on hotels and the tourist industry, so that the middle class and not only the rich can afford to come to Kenya as tourists. (p. 33)
7. Obama advocates government owned and operated “model farms” as a means of teaching modern farming techniques to farmers. (p. 33)
8. Obama strongly supports the governments assertion of a “non-aligned” status in the contest between Western nations and communist nations aligned with the Soviet Union and China. (p. 26)
So what does all this tell us about Barack Obama, the father, and how does it help us fill in the gaps and decipher Barack Obama’s Dreams For My Father?
American, posting these long copy and paste jobs just guarantees that no one will read them – try posting a link and copying a paragraph that highlights the point.
Or, just cut it out – your choice.
“American”(sic),
Your posts are the reason computer mouses have scroll wheels.
Re aim.org,
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Accuracy_in_Media
Hank Price posted May 30, 2008 at 6:00 pm
“You’re right Boxlock, I was probably way too hard on cosmos. At times I actually believe that I’m trying to carry on a discussion with an eleven year old pre-pubescent boy.
…
I just hope his daddy isn’t big enough to beat me up!”
——–
Dear Hank Price,
You seem to be preoccupied with violence. Why is that?
Just to set your mind at ease, you don’t have to worry about my father (or me) beating you up.
He died recently. And he was not a violent man.
He was a scientist, and had many very respected accomplishments during his long lifetime.
He was a person that Hank Price does not respect, and calls an “academic knucklehead”.
American (ha) is example number 1 of why Republicans are such pathetic creatures. Fascist Nazi wannabes. Just can’t admit when their policies have gone so awry, that they have to try delusional character assassination and fear once again to get elected. And we wonder where their tie is to the religious right? Right there. Same tactics.
The communists are coming to get us! Oh no!!!!!!!
American, Fonzi called. He wants you to stop stepping on his shark.
cosmos_originally posted;
“He died recently. And he was not a violent man.
He was a scientist, and had many very respected accomplishments during his long lifetime.”
I am very sorry about the loss of your father cosmos. Even though you say he lived a ‘long lifetime’ no one who loves a parent is ever ready to lose them to death. I was amazed at how profoundly effected I was at the loss of my parents.
From your comments it is obvious you greatly respected him and that is a real blessing for both of you. You can be thankful for that and that memory.
I would not call either of you an ‘academic knucklehead’, though you may not accept that with as much crap as I’ve put on you. I do so not out of a complete rejection of what you say, though I don’t buy into it completely either, but I do so as there are very few real solutions offered that wouldn’t negatively effect the economy and peoples lives. All I hear is ‘doom & gloom’, but few suggestions of, ‘if we do this…this is what will improve, and this is how we will be better off’. I want comparative alternatives with probabilities before I do anything.
Again, and most important…sorry about your Dad, and you keep on the AGW thing. As for me, I’ve lived long enough to know we always seem to worry about one ‘crisis’ or another and things always work out, so I’m not wasting what time I have left behaving like ‘Chicken Little’, but I’m glad someone, like you, is paying attention.
“ksagnostic
Posted May 30, 2008 at 11:56 pm | Permalink
The communists are coming to get us! Oh no!!!!!!!”
Well gee, do you believe in communism or don’t you?
Let’s see, you don’t deny the existence of communism, but………. at the same time you won’t acknowledge their marxist/leninist existence either.
Is that because you are a ksagnosticaboutcommnuism and you can’t say one way or the other.
Don’t let the facts confuse you.
“WSClark
Posted May 30, 2008 at 9:22 pm | Permalink
American, posting these long copy and paste jobs just guarantees that no one will read them – try posting a link and copying a paragraph that highlights the point.
Or, just cut it out – your choice.”
My choice is for freedom of speech and for reading.
Got reading?
Too hard on your eyeballs, or do you prefer to watch video which is lazy?
“ksagnostic
Posted May 30, 2008 at 11:57 pm | Permalink
American, Fonzi called. He wants you to stop stepping on his shark.”
I am quite sure the Fonz would agree with my posts as he has become much more conservative as he has aged and matured.
“Political_mama
Posted May 30, 2008 at 11:47 pm | Permalink
American (ha) is example number 1 of why Republicans are such pathetic creatures. Fascist Nazi wannabes. Just can’t admit when their policies have gone so awry, that they have to try delusional character assassination and fear once again to get elected. And we wonder where their tie is to the religious right? Right there. Same tactics.”
P_ Mom,
I am dissapointed in you!
Surely, by now, you would know, that if you had actually read my posts, you would understand that I have not liked alot of what Bush 2 has done, AND McCain is not my first choice.
As I told JM yesterday,
“American
Posted May 30, 2008 at 10:41 pm | Permalink
I agree JM.
We should be ashamed!
But neither Obama, Clinton nor McCain is the answer.
Of the three, I will choose McCain.
We need to start from the ground up and rebuild what this nation to what it was.
It will start with the hearts of each individual person to do it!
We need leaders, not politicians!”
“Well gee, do you believe in communism or don’t you?”
This is a non sequitur. Of course there is the philosophy of communism and people who call themselves communists. There are also those see communists everywhere, in any advocation of any government spending (particularly social spending), or who confuse communism with everything that they oppose. Linking uncritically to the sources of such people is the absurd behavior I was lampooning. “Obama’s a communist”, except when he is a stealth Muslim or a member of a fanatical anti-white church. We’ll see what happens, but right now the fanatical right is lampooning themselves as they fall all over themselves to resurrect all of their boogeymen to identify with Barack Obama.
“Let’s see, you don’t deny the existence of communism, but……….”
Rhetorical statement that assumes an argument that I am not making.
” at the same time you won’t acknowledge their marxist/leninist existence either.”
Not exactly, but I am not thinking that they are hiding under my bed either.
“Is that because you are a ksagnosticaboutcommnuism and you can’t say one way or the other.”
I think that was meant to be a rhetorical question, but I am not sure, because this sentence is incoherent.
“Don’t let the facts confuse you.”
At least I pay attention to facts. You seem to confuse facts with innuendo and the imaginings of right wing paranoia. Exactly like the sort of people Steven Colbert lampoons.
“I am quite sure the Fonz would agree with my posts as he has become much more conservative as he has aged and matured.”
“Don’t let the facts confuse you.”
http://wonkette.com/386100