Sunday 28 January 2018

Jordan Peterson being heard round the world for freedom!


Rex Murphy: The prime moment Jordan Peterson's 'gotcha' was heard around the world
Sweet are the uses of adversity, as Shakespeare says. Which is why a previously little-known psychologist is Canada's newest intellectual star.
January 26, 2018


Why it seems like ages ago, when the University of Toronto leaped into the now infamous Pronoun Wars with a couple of minatory letters to Prof. Jordan Peterson that were as ham-fisted and bullying as they were badly written. Peterson had made it very clear that he would not, under any asserted compulsion from legislation or human rights code, use any newly coined pronouns (they had reached a count of 31 at one point) when addressing transgender students. Succinctly stated, he would not be compelled to speak words others insisted he speak.


The University of Toronto, which many insist is a world-class institution, responded that as a result of this (then) little-known clinical psychologist, that some of its students had been the subject of “specific and violent threats, including threats of assault, injury and death.” Then in sly malice it went on to hope that these death and other threats “were not his intention” in making the arguments he was making.


The university held back on the bowl of hemlock traditionally offered to enlightened dissidents. However it grimly “urged him,” because of the “threats” and under the requirements of the Ontario Human Rights Code, to “stop making” (these) remarks.
The university held back on the bowl of hemlock

Sweet are the uses of adversity, as Shakespeare has reminded us. The university’s ludicrous claims and attempts at censorship kindled a fire of publicity. The case of the professor who refused to speak made-up pronouns, and who made YouTube videos calmly explaining why, entered the newsstream. However, the greatest gift to Prof. Peterson and his cause was not these two craven letters.


The gods, in their always inscrutable way, really smiled on him during a free-speech rally, when a mob of social justice hooligans hectored him, set up a white-noise machine to drown him out, and insulted him with the usual volleys of bigotry and transphobia.


There was the gift. There was the germinal moment. The melee of intolerance was filmed, as everything is these days. It entered the broad and infinite reaches of the internet. Prof. Peterson, calm as always in the centre of the manufactured mayhem and malice, was now fully launched, as he never could have been, purely on the strength of reasonable arguments, reasonably advanced.


Hysterical reaction to his principled arguments has been the engine that now supplies him with an audience of millions

That’s the historical context — history comes in short spans these days — of the pronoun wars and the saga of Jordan Peterson. Unfair, overwrought and downright malicious opposition to him has been the primary engine of his rise to international prominence. Hysterical reaction to his principled arguments has been the engine that now supplies him with an audience of millions and book sales of Salinger proportions (he’s now outselling Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury).


To be very particular, I like to believe that of all the torments and obstacles placed in his way in the early days of his campaign, it was the hauling of that white-noise machine — the attempt, literally, to drown out a professor, at a free-speech rally, on a university campus, by people preaching tolerance — that gave him and his cause its wings. That was the moment: Christmas morning for free speech and Jordan Peterson.


There has been much since of course. The core of the Lindsay Shepherd scandal — it was a scandal how Miss Shepherd was treated — was her daring to show a brief clip of Jordan Peterson. The key moment in her interrogation was when the Inquisitor in Chief asked her if “she (horror and shame) had been one of Jordan Peterson’s students.” (She wasn’t.) Wilfrid Laurier’s pathological allergy to Peterson or his thoughts propelled his story further.

A great climax came within the past week. Prof. Peterson, now the most prominent Canadian academic possibly in all the world, on a tour for his new book, entered another lioness’s den. This was a 30-minute interview by a left-wing feminist on Britain’s Channel Four. The interviewer was, by definition and mindset, hostile. But over its 30 achingly painful minutes, the calm professor whittled away at her every presupposition and false ascription, till by interview’s end, the host was a lost voice in a forest of tiny splinters on the studio floor.


At one point in this epic demolition, Peterson allowed himself an unwonted indulgence. He quietly uttered “Ha. Gotcha.”

It was the “Gotcha” heard round the world. That interview on Youtube has claimed millions of views worldwide, and such is its pure entertainment value, it will claim millions more.

Sweet are the uses of adversity. Peterson’s book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, is now at the Alpine peak of Amazon sales the world over.

 He is appearing everywhere from New Zealand to California. Howard Anglin, the perceptive and trenchant lawyer, puzzles on Twitter whether Peterson is more a “Northrop Frye” intellectual than a “Marshall McLuhan.” Canada has a new intellectual star.
It’s all thanks to his opponents. Ha. Gotcha!

Comments on this situation -

Political correctness is anything BUT correct! It is stifling freedom of speech which has always been a fundamental freedom of a democracy!

In regards to anyone being insulted by someone not using certain words, "I am insulted that anyone should feel insulted over my freedom of speech." -Press4Truth - P4T

"Thank God that there are people willing to stand up to the stupidity of our society, political correctness."

Sunday 14 January 2018

ACT! For Canada - January 12, 2018

“The best way to take control over a people or
control them utterly is to take a little of their
freedom at a time, to erode rights by a thousand
tiny and imperceptible reductions.  In this way
people will not see those rights and freedoms
being removed until past the point at which these
changes cannot be reversed.”
Canada
Trudeau's Support for Islamists a Warning to America by Tom Quiggin
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada has a nine-year long record of supporting the Islamist cause while refusing to engage with reformist Muslims. With respect to ISIS fighters returning to Canada, Trudeau has argued that they will be a "powerful voice for de-radicalization" and that those who oppose their return are "Islamophobic." Furthermore, the Government of Canada is not adding the names of returning ISIS fighters to the UN committee responsible for the listing of international jihadists. Many Canadians (and others) are starting to believe that Prime Minister Trudeau's position on reintegrating and de-radicalizing ISIS fighters is unreasonable, if not delusional.

Too many of Trudeau’s errors in judgment have a common thread - radical Islam by Anthony Furey

Remember Trudeau’s famous line from 2015 that “a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian”. If you didn’t know the context, you might take it to be some heartwarming line about diversity and inclusion. It’s not. It was about how Trudeau wanted to change the law so that dual nationals convicted of terrorism could no longer have their citizenship stripped. While hundreds of people have their citizenship revoked yearly for offences such as errors on their applications, Trudeau firmly advocated – amidst strong opposition from the Senate – for Bill C-6, which let convicted terrorists stay Canadian and passed into law last year

Give governments more power over us and they will use it by John Robson
It seems both heavy-handed and petty of the federal Liberals to require everyone seeking a Canada Summer Jobs grant to endorse abortion on demand. But why not? Whoever pays the piper calls the tune. The more power we give government over our livelihood, the more money we permit it to take from the economy in taxes and give back only to favoured groups and individuals, the more it will bolster its own political position. And the more it will pressure people to conform. As an acquaintance recently asked, why should this principle be limited to summer job grants? Why not to your CPP eligibility?
Liberal MP Chris Bittle labels anti-Islamic State protesters “white supremacists”
When one user asked Bittle to “put Canadians first” and refuse entry for returning Islamic State fighters, Bittle said “returning fighters are Canadians who have not been charged with a crime”.  Returning Islamic State fighters have become a major issue in Canada, with many seeing the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau being incredibly weak on the issue. Many slammed Mr Trudeau when he insisted that returning fighters would be deradicalised with podcasts and poetry, and that many of the returnees would be “an extraordinarily powerful voice for preventing radicalization.”
Trudeau's Boyle meeting showed lousy judgment

While the Liberal government is usually eager to promote their celebrity PM, news of the Boyle meeting came via the family’s Twitter  account. The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed it happened, but refused comment citing privacy reasons. This all rightly struck many Canadians as odd. While anyone with a heart was glad to hear the Boyle children were no longer in captivity, Boyle’s explanation that he was merely a “pilgrim” didn’t sit right.
The added fact he’s the ex-husband of Omar Khadr’s sister Zaynab, part of Canada’s most notorious terror family, also disturbed Canadians.

The Many Winding Paths of Joshua  Boyle

A wannabe spy for CSIS, Star Wars gamer, son of a federal court judge, and briefly husband to Zaynab Khadr; the man held hostage in Afghanistan for five years, is now a captive in a Canadian jail facing criminal charges
What a collective exhale of I-told-you-so and I-knew-something-was-wrong. When Joshua Boyle was arrested New Year’s Day on charges of assault, sexual assault, forcible confinement, drugging, uttering death threats and misleading police, the news hit as an alarming coda to the strangest of stories.

Tackling the underlying jihadist ideology is the real battle by Candice Malcolm

Jihadists use terrorism to advance their evil cause: destabilizing the West and spreading a fundamentalist doctrine of Islam. These jihadists are waging a war of civilizations, and ultimately, their goal is to destroy everything about our society in order to impose their version of political Islam. These returned ISIS terrorists are loyal to our enemies and devoted to an evil ideology that is completely at odds with our Western way of life. And yet, thanks to decades of careless immigration and integration policies, some of these foreign agents also happen to be Western citizens.

Ezra Levant: Meet Journalist Fired by Anti-Racism Agency for "Islamophobic" Article

Ezra Levant of TheRebel.media interviews journalist Christine Douglas- Williams who was fired by an anti-racism agency for writing about political Islam.

Some great news – for a change!

Good news about Tarek Fatah this morning from his daughter on twitter.
Natasha Fatah  @NatashaFatah 38 minutes ago

HAPPY BREAKING NEWS EVERYBODY!!!
My dad's cancer is in remission! 
As @TarekFatah told me - he will now begin his training for the Olympics!

Thank you @StMikesHospital for all the amazing work you do!!!

Protest against NCCM
NCCM (CAIR-CAN) requests “National Day of Remembrance and Action on Islamophobia” to commemorate mosque shooting
The Quebec mosque massacre last year was a shocking tragedy, yet motive for the murders has been encased in mystery, with no charges of terrorism laid down, despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau referencing it as “an act of terrorism.” Anti-Muslim bigotry, like all bigotry whenever it is genuinely manifested, needs to be striven against, but the factual considerations involved in declaring a “National Day of Remembrance and Action” by a country’s Prime Minister are crucial, particularly when the proposed action seals the word “Islamophobia” as the subject of particular governmental concern.
Hamas-tied NCCM’s “Open Letter” to Trudeau demands January 29 “National Day of Remembrance and Action on Islamophobia”
NCCM is the former CAIR-Canada. This unsavory Hamas-tied group wants Trudeau to designate January 29 to be a National Day of Remembrance and Action on Islamophobia, because of the January 29, 2017 attack at a Quebec mosque. But that attack has been the subject of a massive coverup. The Quebec mosque shooters were initially identified as Moroccan Muslim Mohamed Khadir and Alexandre Bissonnette (most probably a convert). The shooters in the Quebec mosque attack were Muslim, as is generally the case in these circumstances. The jihadis were shouting “Allahu akbar” as they gunned down men worshiping at a Quebec mosque. But later, the attack was falsely consigned to “white supremacism.”


Quebec opposition parties reject making mosque shooting anniversary “day of action on Islamophobia”
Quebec’s main opposition parties will not support a call by the National Council of Canadian Muslims (formerly CAIR-CAN) “to make the anniversary of Quebec City’s deadly mosque shooting a day of action on Islamophobia.”Jihad Watch covered the CAIR-CAN/NCCM letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, stating that the group was exploiting the tragic mosque attack to continue to foist its “Islamophobia” agenda upon Canada. Also striking was the bold tone of its demands; its presentation of one-sided opinions presented as facts; and its list of stated partnerships. CAIR-CAN/NCCM, like its parent organization, CAIR, makes Muslims out to be the worst victims of hate and “racism”; they are not.
Mother of jihad-terror victim opposes the designation of National Day against Islamophobia in Canada, here’s why
[Translation] Camille Carrier: “It is rare that I express personal feelings on Facebook. But I am emotionally very troubled by this request to designate a National Day in memory of six people who were killed by an Islamophobe. We are told not to forget the killings as if Quebeckers are responsible for this. I belong to a family who has lost six members whom we loved and valued. They were killed by Islamists. I lost my daughter and four other persons who were an integral part of my life; my children have lost their father and their stepmother. This turns a life upside down for a very long time. These people were not praying; they were expressing their love for others by taking part in the construction of a school in Africa. More Quebeckers have also died [at the hands of Islamists]. Nobody has asked to commemorate these events by designating a special day and we are not constantly recalling these events.”
“I am angry. I am not only opposed to the designation of National Day against Islamophobia but also to the commemoration [of the attack at a Quebec City mosque] year after year as if all Quebeckers should feel guilty for this. If the government accepts this proposal, why not designate a special day in remembrance of all the victims of Islamism and all the pain experienced by their families and their friends?”

Free Speech
Islamist-Leftist-Government Alliance Silences Free Speech
This wished-for criminalization -- complete with jail terms, fines or even death sentences -- includes prosecuting those who sound the alarm against the spread of Islamism and jihad terror. This is the essence of M-103, which is a "slap in the face to democracy." Such resolutions pose a grave danger to the freedoms of Canadian citizens and destabilizes the future of the country, not to mention its relations to the United States. Canada's Motion M-103 puts Islam above all other religions in that any other religion can be discussed openly, criticized openly and even be mocked openly without punishment or state penalty.

Why Professing Christ is Becoming a ‘Hate Crime’ in the West

“You can say what you like about the Virgin Birth, the miracles and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, but as soon as you say ‘come on, is Islam really the religion of peace that it claims to be,’ all hell breaks loose.”


Motion M-103
Youtube - Christine Williams and Vlad Tepes

“In this 45-minute interview on Vlad Tepes blog, Christine Douglass-Williams, who was removed from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation by Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly for writing critically about Motion M-103, speaks about Islam, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s efforts to silence criticism of Islam with UN Resolution 16/18, and Canada’s “anti-Islamphobia” Motion M-103.”


United Nations
Most Hated Man at the UN
“I’m the most hated man at the United Nations. I get
looks of death from a vast array of people.”

The U.N. is a political body and many resolutions and elections are decided by vote trading. ‘You vote for me, I vote for you.’ So the Islamic states number 56 and they will go to some island state and say, ‘We will give you 56 votes for your issues and all you have to do is vote for our resolutions against Israel.’ … It’s realpolitik.

United Nations Calls World’s Youngest Leader A ‘Dangerous Terrorist’
The UN official called the coalition a “dangerous development in the political life of Europe,” and said he was particularly concerned with the new hardline migrant policies endorsed by Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. The new coalition sees the populist anti-mass migration FPÖ gain several key ministerial positions including Defence, the Foreign Ministry and the Interior Ministry. FPÖ leader, and new Vice Chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache has previously vowed to lower migration levels to zero and ban radical Islamic extremism from Austria.

The Architect of the EU Immigration Disaster Kicks the Bucket

The achievements of this monster of which he was most proud include the descent of Sweden into third world mediocrity and the rape capital of the world. Likewise his native Ireland, areas of which resemble Lagos or Mogadishu instead of the Emerald Isle we know and love. The mass sexual assaults and mass murder of innocents by Muslim jihadists which is rampant in Europe, including the more advanced countries such as France, Germany and Great Britain, are the result of Peter Sutherland’s fanatical dedication to imposing multi-culturalism using mass immigration from the backward, uncivilized world.


Around the World
Austria
Vienna police charge 3 men for waving Israeli flag at rally
Is it any wonder that Austria was Adolf Hitler’s country of birth? Old (genocidal) habits die hard, and sometimes not at all. Please note, that criticism of Islam, jihad and sharia is verboten, but Muslims calling for the wholesale slaughter of Jews? All clear. These Muslim protesters were chanting “Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning,” which is a warning that Muslims will kill Jews wholesale the way Muhammad massacred the Jews of the Khaybar oasis in Arabia. But that was just fine with Austria authorities. Only the Israeli flag was out of bounds. Nazis and jihadists share common goals and supremacist dreams.

Finland
Finland investigates gay politician for criticizing Islam
Today the truth is stigmatized. It is “controversial.” But ultimately Finnish authorities, like authorities all over the West, are on a fool’s errand. They can’t suppress reality forever. Before too long it will be abundantly clear to everyone. Gay Finnish politician investigated for criticizing Islam. Is critcizing Islam "hate" speech or "political" speech? Is this where #m103 is taking Canada? Is Canada already there?



France
France's War against Firefighters and Police
All French governments since 2015 have denied that Islam is at war with France, but the Ministry of the Interior nevertheless mobilized higher numbers of security personnel than the French army has soldiers, to make sure that this New Year's Eve would be a peaceful event. Suicides are spreading among police officers. In November 2017, in a single week, five police officers committed suicide in different French cities. On December 3, 2017, a police officer committed suicide inside the precinct of Alençon, in southern France. On December 5, 2017, a security officer of the Ministry of Labor committed suicide in the parking lot of a Gendarmerie precinct. Between January 1, 2017 and December 1, 47 police officers and 16 gendarmes took their own lives. It was an all-time high.


Hungary
Orbán: Europe’s Migrants Aren’t Muslim Refugees, They’re ‘Muslim Invaders’
Responding to the suggestion that Hungary was not showing sufficient “solidarity” with the European Union because Germany accepted 2 million migrants but Hungary will not accept 2,000, Prime Minister Orbán told German tabloid BILD on Sunday: “The difference is: They wanted the migrants. And we do not.” Asked why Hungarians are resistant to the bloc’s forced migrant redistribution policy, Mr. Orbán asserted that, “We do not consider these people to be Muslim refugees,” but as “Muslim invaders”. Drawing attention to the fact that migrants had travelled through safe countries before heading to more prosperous parts of Europe, the prime minister added that many are “economic migrants” and not in genuine need of asylum.



Iran
American Feminists versus Iranian Women #MeToo? Not so much by Pamela Geller

While women in Iran are ripping off their hijabs, the left elites in America are working furiously to impose this garment of oppression on women as if it were some symbol of empowerment. We have seen Hijab Days in public schools all over the country. Then there was the One Million Hijabs For Shaima Alawadi movement supposedly in defense of Muslim women after Alawadi, a hijab-wearing Muslima, was supposedly murdered by an “Islamophobe.” That movement utterly collapsed when Shaima’s murderer was discovered to be not a hijab-hating Islamophobe, but her devout Muslim husband, who murdered his wife because she was working towards living a freer life. One Million Hijabs For Shaima — a cruel joke, at the expense of women living under the boot of Islamic law.


As Iranian People Rise Up for Liberty, America Must Stand with Them by Clare Lopez

Although severe economic hardship and rampant corruption on the part of Tehran regime officials have driven many ordinary Iranians to desperation, it's the knowledge that those officials have spent billions of dollars -including pallets of cash from President Barack Obama - on a nuclear weapons program, support to terror organizations like Hizballah, and to prop up the Damascus regime of Bashar al-Assad that finally tipped the balance and sent them pouring into the streets. The ability of the U.S. to give heart to the courageous people of Iran cannot be overestimated, especially continued strong open support from President Trump and other senior administration officials. The Iranian people have waited long enough: as they stand yet again for their own liberty, America must stand with them.





United Kingdom
Easy Meat.' Britain's Muslim Rape Gang Cover-Up
Some scandals are so massive that they're simply hard to believe. As many as one million white English children may have been the victims of Muslim rape gangs, better known as grooming gangs, in towns up and down Great Britain. Stephen Lennon (Tommy Robinson) warned that there will be repercussions. He told us, "There's no blood on my hands, but there will be a lot of blood spilled in this country, and it will be on the hands of our leaders. And there will come a time when they will realize what they have done, and the country's people will realize what they've done, as well. They've sold us out. They've destroyed our nation. They've destroyed our culture."


United States
If You Hate America, Why Not Go Back to Your Country?
When I first arrived in America, I would ask every extremist and fundamentalist Muslim I met: "How has your life been since you came to the United States?" Everything in this country, they patiently explained, was kufr: blasphemy, filthy, infidel. They went on harshly to criticize American culture and the Western lifestyle. Their list of complaints was unending: how men and women dress, how people interact, how people work and celebrate life, go to parties, date, marry, dance, drink -- there did not seem one aspect of American life that did not enrage them.


REASON Celebrates “Little Mogadishu”

Minneapolis is now the world's #2 capital of Somali Muslims. (#1 is Mogadishu.) In the Somali community, unemployment and welfare dependency rates are high. The city is a major recruiting center for ISIS. At least a couple of ISIS recruits have used taxpayer-funded student loans to fly to the Middle East to become jihadists; many other local Somalis are suspected of wiring welfare cash to terrorist groups. Violent crime is epidemic.

Other Articles
Saluting Pamela Geller And Robert Spencer

Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer are true heroes. They stand for all that is dear to free people. They are in stark contrast to the masses of the politically correct, the apathetic, and the hired Islamic apologists. Their work not only serves what is right, it also serves the best interests of America and all of humanity. It proves to the world that these two-liberty loving cherish and support freedom and the rights of all people to speak freely. The liberty-loving people of America and the world owe a debt of gratitude to Pamela and Robert, for valiantly exposing the racist and supremacist nature of the barbarity of Islam, for fearlessly braving where others dare not tread, and for passionately defending freedom of speech, rights of the individual and oppressed people of the world.


Calling Out Europe: Where Is the Diplomacy of Truth?
Too many lies have been the basis of international relations. These include "dialogue" between religions to counter Islamist terrorism; the false notion of the "peaceful aspirations" of the Palestinians; the view that Turkey is a "bridge" to the Muslim world; the ridiculous view of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as a "moderate"; the belief in a "united Europe" as the future of the old continent; and faith in the U.N. as a legal arbiter for international affairs. Policies based on these lies are not only fruitless; they are dangerous. The diplomacy of truth, adopted by Trump and his U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, is the only hope for stability and peace.


Hitler & Islam
Islam's Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna, a 22 year old Muslim who admired Hitler's hatred of the Jews and persistently wrote to Hitler to express his admiration for Hitler and his desire for collaboration with Hitler's Nazi Party. When Hitler rose to power, his Nazis supported al-Banna, a school teacher, to grow the Muslim Brotherhood into its ally in the Middle East; by 1938, the membership of Muslim Brotherhood topped 200,000.


Email from a Muslim: “Speaking the truth about Islam is NOT Anti-Muslim”
I received this extraordinary email from a Muslim who has awakened to the threat posed by Islam, only to be shut down by sharia-compliant leftists. What delusion has overtaken these people? Do they not think this woman, who was born a Muslim and grew up in a Muslim environment, knows what she is talking about? Do they really hold to their religion-of-peace nonsense so tenaciously that they will discount and try to silence her firsthand testimony and that of others like her? This is a suicidal course of action for them to take, but they will probably only find that out when it is far too late. I am deeply grateful for this, “You are a friend to all moderate Muslims.”


Demand That Linda Sarsour Apologize to Ayaan Hirsi Ali!
The fake feminist blocked Imam Tawhidi on Twitter for asking her to apologize. Let’s make her block us all! Linda Sarsour is a very busy activist, spending her time calling for Jihad against President Trump, boasting that her skin color changed after she started wearing the hijab, insisting that no one has the right to tell Palestinians that they can’t kill Jews, and telling women who have been sexually violated by Muslims that it couldn’t have happened because, aside from other reasons, they are too ugly to have been sexually harassed. But perhaps Sarsour will make the time to apologize if we pressure her enough. Let’s make it clear to Linda Sarsour and her defenders that WE ARE ALL BRIGITTE GABRIEL AND AYAAN HIRSI ALI!!!!

YouTubes
Ezra Levant and Eric Duhaime
Many Muslims want a "national day against Islamophobia" each January 29, the date of the Quebec mosque shooting. Quebec broadcaster Eric Duhaime comes on to talk about this hot topic.
Runs from minute 17:20 to minute 29.00


Canadian Man Arrested for Islamphobia

Canada continues its descent into an Orwellian nightmare, now jailing people at the mere accusation of thought-crime.

Professional Ignorance with Dr. Bill Warner
This is a talk given to political leaders. It covers how universities, law enforcement, clergy, politicians and military are not protecting our civilization via their professional ignorance. Institutions are failing and not doing their due diligence to learn and explain the true nature of political Islam. The problem is not Islam. We are the problem.


Redefining Freedoms

C3RF founding member David Nitkin participates in this lively discussion on Zoomer, which covers the issues of Islamophobia and Motion M-103, the niqab, free speech and political correctness, including in the use of language. 


Note:  Quote at beginning is from Adolph Hitler


ACT! For Canada

The news items, blogs, educational materials and other information in our emails and on our website are only intended to provide information, news and commentary on events and issues related to the threat of radical Islam. Much of this information is based upon media sources, such as the AP wire services, newspapers, magazines, books, online news blog and news services, and radio and television, which we deem to be reliable. However, we have undertaken no independent investigation to verify the accuracy of the information reported by these media sources. We therefore disclaim all liability for false or inaccurate information from these media sources. We also disclaim all liability for the third-party information that may be accessed through the material referenced in our emails or posted on our website.

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Obama learned his lesson well


"Obama learned his lesson well. I am proud to see that my father's model for organizing is being applied successfully beyond local community organizing to affect the Democratic campaign in 2008. It is a fine tribute to Saul Alinsky as we approach his 100th birthday." --Letter from L. DAVID ALINSKY, son of Neo-Marxist Saul Alinsky


Hillary, Obama and the Cult of Alinsky: "True revolutionaries do not flaunt their radicalism, Alinsky taught. They cut their hair, put on suits and infiltrate the system from within. Alinsky viewed revolution as a slow, patient process. The trick was to penetrate existing institutions such as churches, unions and political parties....

"One Alinsky benefactor was Wall Street investment banker Eugene Meyer, who served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1930 to 1933. Meyer and his wife Agnes co-owned The Washington Post. They used their newspaper to promote Alinsky....Her series, called 'The Orderly Revolution', made Alinsky famous....

"Alinsky’s crowning achievement was his recruitment of a young high school student named Hillary Rodham. She met Alinsky through a radical church group. Hillary wrote an analysis of Alinsky’s methods for her senior thesis at Wellesley College. ...

"Many leftists view Hillary as a sell-out because she claims to hold moderate views on some issues. However, Hillary is simply following Alinsky’s counsel to do and say whatever it takes to gain power.

"Barack Obama is also an Alinskyite.... Obama spent years teaching workshops on the Alinsky method. In 1985 he began a four-year stint as a community organizer in Chicago, working for an Alinskyite group called the Developing Communities Project.... Camouflage is key to Alinsky-style organizing. While trying to build coalitions of black churches in Chicago, Obama caught flak for not attending church himself. He became an instant churchgoer." [by Richard Poe, 11-27-07] See also Community Oriented Policing


Quote from Saul Alinsky's Book "Rules for Radicals"

In this book we are concerned with how to create mass organizations to seize power and give it to the people; to realize the democratic dream of equality, justice, peace.... "Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.' This means revolution." p.3

"Radicals must be resilient, adaptable to shifting political circumstances, and sensitive enough to the process of action and reaction to avoid being trapped by their own tactics and forced to travel a road not of their choosing." p.6

"A Marxist begins with his prime truth that all evils are caused by the exploitation of the proletariat by the capitalists. From this he logically proceeds to the revolution to end capitalism, then into the third stage of reorganization into a new social order of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and finally the last stage -- the political paradise of communism." p.10

The one thing he did not learn is the passion of FREE people to be free! - Press4TRuth

Saul Alinsky - Mentor of Obama

WorldNetDaily

What Obama DOES NOT Know Can Hurt Us


The Financial Post today carried the following article by Alex Epstein that pretty well sums up the problem with a president with NO economic or business experience.

Obama doesn’t get roots of crisis
Posted: April 07, 2009, 7:04 PM by NP Editor
By Alex Epstein

Barack Obama rightly stresses that we first must understand how today’s problems emerged. It is “only by understanding how we arrived at this moment that we’ll be able to lift ourselves out of this predicament.”
Unfortunately, Obama (along with most of the Washington establishment) has created only misunderstanding. In calling for a massive increase in government control over the economy, he has evaded the mountain of evidence implicating the government. For example, Obama’s core explanation of all the destructive behaviour leading up to today’s crisis is that the market was too free. But the market that led to today’s crisis was systematically manipulated by government.
Fact This decade saw drastic attempts by the government to control the housing and financial markets — via a Federal Reserve that cut interest rates to all-time lows and via a gigantic increase in Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s size and influence.
Fact Through these entities, the government sought to “stimulate the economy” and promote home ownership (sound familiar?) by artificially extending cheap credit to home-buyers.
Fact Most of the (very few) economists who actually predicted the financial crisis blame Fed policy or housing policy for inflating a bubble that was bound to collapse.
How does all this evidence factor into Obama’s understanding of “how we arrived at this moment”? It doesn’t. Not once, during the solemn 52 minutes and 5,902 words of his speech to Congress did he mention the Fed, Fannie or Freddie. Not once did he suggest that government manipulation of markets could have any possible role in the present crisis. He just went full steam ahead and called for more spending, more intervention and more government housing programs as the solution.
A genuine explanation of the financial crisis must take into account all the facts. What role did the Fed play? What about Fannie and Freddie? To be sure, some companies and CEOs seem to have made irrational business decisions. Was the primary cause “greed,” as so many claim — and what does this even mean? Or was the primary cause government intervention — like artificially low interest rates, which distorted economic decision-making and encouraged less competent and more reckless companies and CEOs while marginalizing and paralyzing the more competent ones?
Entertaining such questions would also mean considering the idea that the fundamental solution to our problems is to disentangle the government from the markets to prevent future manipulation. It would mean considering pro-free-market remedies such as letting banks foreclose, letting prices reach market levels, letting bad banks fail, dismantling Fannie and Freddie, ending bailout promises and getting rid of the Fed’s power to manipulate interest rates.
But it is not genuine understanding the administration seeks. For it, the wisdom and necessity of previous government intervention is self-evident; no matter the contrary evidence, the crisis can only have been caused by insufficient government intervention. Besides, the administration is too busy following Obama’s chief of staff’s dictum, “Never let a serious crisis go to waste,” by proposing a virtual takeover of not only financial markets but also the problem-riddled energy and health-care markets — which, they conveniently ignore, are also already among the most government-controlled in the economy.
While Obama has not sought a real explanation of today’s economic problems, the public should. Otherwise, we will simply swallow “solutions” that dogmatically assume the free market got us here — namely, Obama’s plans to swamp this country in an ocean of government debt, government controls and government make-work projects.
Alternative, free-market explanations for the crisis do exist — ones that consider the inconvenient facts Washington ignores — and everyone should seek to understand them. Those who do will likely end up telling our leaders to stop saying “Yes, we can” to each new proposal for expanding government power, and start saying “Yes, you can” to those who seek to exercise their right to produce and trade on a free market.
Financial Post
Alex Epstein is an analyst at the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights.

Deciphering Obama in Cairo


Deciphering Obama in Cairo

Center for Security Policy | Jun 05, 2009
By Frank Gaffney, Jr.

By and large, President Obama's address yesterday in Cairo has been well received in both the so-called "Muslim world" and by other audiences. Nobody may be happier with it, though, than the Muslim Brotherhood - the global organization that seeks to impose authoritative Islam's theo-political-legal program known as "Shariah" through stealthy means where violence ones are not practicable. Egyptian Muslim Brothers were prominent among the guests in the audience at Cairo University and Brotherhood-associated organizations in America, like the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), have rapturously endorsed the speech.

The Brotherhood has ample reason for its delight. Accordingly, Americans who love freedom - whether or not they recognize the threat Shariah represents to it - have abundant cause for concern about "The Speech," and what it portends for U.S. policy and interests.

Right out of the box, Mr. Obama mischaracterized what is causing a "time of tension between the United States and Muslims around the world." He attributed the problem first and foremost to "violent extremists [who] have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims." The President never mentioned - not even once - a central reality: The minority in question, including the Muslim Brotherhood, subscribes to the authoritative writings, teachings, traditions and institutions of their faith, namely Shariah. It is the fact that their practice is thus grounded that makes them, whatever their numbers (the exact percentage is a matter of considerable debate), to use Mr. Obama euphemistic term, "potent."

Instead, the President's address characterized the problem as a "cycle of suspicion and discord," a turn of phrase redolent of the moral equivalence so evident in the Mideast peace process with it "cycle of violence." There was not one reference to terrorism, let alone Islamic terrorism. Indeed, any connection between the two is treated as evidence of some popular delusion. "The attacks of September 11, 2001 and the continued efforts of these extremists to engage in violence against civilians has led some in my country to view Islam as inevitably hostile not only to America and Western countries, but also to human rights. This has bred more fear and mistrust."

Then there was this uplifting, but ultimately meaningless, blather: "So long as our relationship is defined by our differences, we will empower those who sow hatred rather than peace, and who promote conflict rather than the cooperation that can help all of our people achieve justice and prosperity."

More often than not, the President portrayed Muslims as the Brotherhood always does: as victims of crimes perpetrated by the West against them - from colonialism to manipulation by Cold War superpowers to the menace of "modernity and globalization that led many Muslims to view the West as hostile to the traditions of Islam." Again, no mention of the hostility towards the infidel West ingrained in "the traditions of Islam." This fits with the meme of the Shariah-adherent, but not the facts.

Here's the irony: Even as President Obama professed his determination to "speak the truth," he perpetrated a fraud. He falsely portrayed what amounts to authoritative Islam, namely Shariah Islam, as something that is "not exclusive," that "overlaps" and "need not be in competition" with "America. Actually, Shariah is, by its very nature, a program that obliges its adherents to demand submission of all others, Muslims (especially secular and apostate ones) and non-Muslims, alike.

This exclusiveness (read, Islamic supremacism) applies most especially with respect to democratic nations like America, nations founded in the alternative and highly competitive belief that men, not God, should make laws. Ditto nations that stand in the way of the establishment of the Caliphate, the global theocracy that Shariah dictates must impose its medieval agenda worldwide. In practice, Shariah is the very antithesis of Mr. Obama's stated goal of "progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings." Its "justice" can only be considered by civilized societies to be a kind of codified barbarism.

At least as troubling are what amount to instances of presidential dawa, the Arabic term for Islamic proselytization. For example, Mr. Obama referred four times in his speech to "the Holy Koran." It seems unimaginable that he ever would ever use the adjective to describe the Bible or the Book of Mormon.

Then, the man now happy to call himself Barack Hussein Obama (in contrast to his attitude during the campaign) boasts of having "known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed." An interesting choice of words that, "first revealed." Not "established," "founded" or "invented." The President is, after all, a careful writer, so he must have deliberately eschewed verbs that reflect man's role, in favor of the theological version of events promoted by Islam. Thus, Mr. Obama has gone beyond the kind of "respectful language" he has pledged to use towards Islam. He is employing what amounts to code - bespeaking the kind of submissive attitude Islam demands of all, believers and non-believers alike.

Elsewhere in the speech, Mr. Obama actually declared that "I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear." Note that, although he referred in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian-Arab conflict to "vile stereotypes" of Jews, he did not describe it as "part of his responsibility as President" to counter anti-Semitic representations.

Unremarked was the fact that such incitement is daily fare served up by the state media controlled by his host in Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak, by the Palestinian Authority's Mahmoud Abbas and by every other despot in the region with whom Mr. Obama seeks to "engage." Worse yet, no mention was made of the fact that some of those "vile stereotypes" - notably, that Jews are "descendants of apes and pigs" - are to be found in "the Holy Koran," itself.

Perhaps the most stunning bit of dawa of all was a phrase the President employed that, on its face, denies the divinity of Jesus - something surprising from a self-described committed Christian. In connection with his discussion of the "situation between Israelis, Palestinians and Arabs," Mr. Obama said, "...When Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed (peace be upon them) joined in prayer."

Muslims use the term "peace be upon them" to ask for blessings on deceased holy men. In other words, its use construes all three in the way Islam does - as dead prophets - a treatment wholly at odds with the teachings of Christianity which, of course, holds Jesus as the immortal Son of God.

If Mr. Obama were genuinely ignorant about Islam, such a statement might be ascribed to nothing more than a sop to "interfaith dialogue." For a man who now pridefully boasts of his intimate familiarity with Muslims and their faith, it raises troubling questions about his own religious beliefs. At the very least, it conveys a strongly discordant message to "the Muslim world" about a fundamental tenet of the faith he professes.

Finally, what are we to make of Mr. Obama statements about America and Islam? Since he took office, the President has engaged repeatedly in the sort of hyping of Muslims and their role in the United States that is standard Muslim Brotherhood fare. In his inaugural address, he described our nation as one of "Christians, Muslims and Jews." Shortly thereafter, he further reversed the demographic ordering of these populations by size in his first broadcast interview (with the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya network), calling America a country of "Muslims, Christians and Jews."

Yesterday in Cairo, the President declared that "Islam has always been a part of America's story." Now, to be sure, Muslims, like peoples of other faiths, have made contributions to U.S. history. But they have generally done so in the same way others have, namely as Americans - not as some separate community, but as part of the "E pluribus unum" (out of many, one) that Mr. Obama properly extolled in The Speech.

Unfortunately, a pattern is being established whereby President Obama routinely exaggerates the Muslim character of America. For example, at Cairo University, he claimed there are nearly seven million Muslims in this country - a falsehood promoted by the Muslim Brotherhood and its friends - when the actual number is well-less than half that. Shortly before The Speech, in an interview with a French network, Mr. Obama said, "If you actually took the number of Muslims Americans, we'd be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world."

Incredible as these statements may seem, even more astounding is their implication for those who adhere to Shariah. The President's remarks about America as a Muslim nation would give rise to its treatment by them as part of dar al-Islam, the world of Islam, as opposed to dar al-harb (i.e., the non-Muslim world).

Were the former to be the case, Shariah requires faithful Muslims to rid the United States of infidel control or occupation. And we know from last year's successful prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation - a so-called "charity" engaged in money-laundering for one of the Muslim Brotherhood's terrorist operations, Hamas - that such an agenda tracks precisely with the Brothers' mission here: "To destroy Western civilization from within America, by its own miserable hand."

This reality makes one of Mr. Obama's promises in Cairo especially chilling. Near the end of his address, the President expressed concern that religious freedom in the United States was being impinged by "rules on charitable giving [that] have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligation." He went on to pledge: "That is why I am committed to working with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat."

Let us be clear: Muslim charities have run into difficulty with "the rules" because they have been convicted in federal court of using the Muslim obligation to perform zakat (tithing to charity) to funnel money to terrorists. At this writing, it is unclear precisely what Mr. Obama has in mind with respect to this commitment to "ensure [Muslims] can fulfill zakat." But you can bet that the Brotherhood will try to translate it into the release of their imprisoned operatives and new latitude to raise money for their Shariah-promoting, and therefore seditious, activities in America.

I could go on, but you get the point. The Speech contained a number of statements about the laudable qualities of America, the need for freedom in the Muslim world, about women's rights and the desirability of peace. But its preponderant and much more important message was one that could have been crafted by the Muslim Brotherhood: America has a president who is, wittingly or not, advancing the Brotherhood's agenda of masking the true nature of Shariah and encouraging the West's submission to it.

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. is President of the Center for Security Policy in Washington. An abbreviated version of this article appeared in Newsmax, June 5, 2009.

OBAMA for CHANGE ??? A Stimulating Thought !!!

[As you will see below, even Jackie Mason doesn't think this is funny!] Rahm Emanuel's statement in November, "Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do before."

Well now we have the proof. I said it before Mr. Obama was elected. The ONLY change that Obama expects to bring to Washington is him in the white house!

Now we have the proof. This "STIMULUS" bill is anything BUT stimulating! Apparently hundreds of phone calls against the bill are coming into government offices. But the government of the people, by the people and for the people has now become the government OVER the people, right by the people and FOR the democratic party in government!

Didn't Mr. Obama say that he wanted to CHANGE the way Washington worked? Ha, well now we know how.

So Mr. Obama has brought CHANGE TO AMERICA... yes CHANGE AS TO WHO GETS THE PORK. - His soundbytes about there being NO PORK in the bill are absolute blatant lies.

The letters and calls to the congress were 100:1 AGAINST this package but that did not thwart the courageous congress from paying back all their supporters AGAINST the will of the people!

However it was that unofficial third party in the U.S. called the left-wing socialist media combined with the fairy-tale elite in Hollywood. who actually elected Mr. Obama.

The so-called "stimulus" bill just passed in the U.S. will stimulate that famous employer, the National Association for the Endowment for the Arts, build Milwaukee schools when 15 are empty with declining enrolment and so on.

It is complete PORK. There may be a few million of the billions here and there which might actually do a little but the stock market tells all as they have been in freefall as the "package" made it's way through the congress.

Yes is it payback time as the hog trough package goes out to all the supporters which the Democrats did not have the power to reward previously.

What Mr. Obama came to the Whitehouse to change was ONE THING ... WHO GET'S THE PORK?

The bill is full of nothing but spending to reward those who elected Mr. Obama and his "Democratic" presidential guards and very little to help the average worker at all.

It is a sad time when telling blatant lies and rewarding those who support you are more important than actually helping people cope with this deep recession.

So much for the country of Abraham Lincoln and a country which was "of the people, by the people, for the people". Unless of course those people are Democratic suckies.

If even comedian Jackie Mason sees this, there perhaps is hope for the American people somewhere.

Research Suggests That GOVERNMENT STIMULUS SPENDING May Worsen Situation

Terence Corcoran reports in the National Post on Friday, January 16, 2009 that the STIMULUS everyone is yelling for may only work over a short period and may actually MAKE THE ECONOMY WORSE over longer periods.

See original article here.


WHO SAYS A STIMULUS ACTUALLY STIMULATES?

or is it simply temporary VIAGRA for the ECONOMY?

POINTS from article above ...

-"Except for one problem: What if it's not true? What if, as a wide and growing school of economists now suspect, the government spending and stimulus theory is a crock that is shovel-ready to be heaved out into the barnyard of economic waste?

- "What if, as a wide and growing school of economists now suspect, the government spending and stimulus theory is a crock that is shovel-ready to be heaved out into the barnyard of economic waste?"

- Even disciples of Keynes, such as Harvard's Greg Mankiw, recently highlighted economic studies that show government spending binges -- shocks, they are sometimes called -- don't seem to help the economy grow. They might even make it worse.

-One of the studies cited by Mr. Mankiw was by two European economists (Andrew Mountford and Harald Uhlig), titled "What are the Effects of Fiscal Shocks?" It looked at big deficit-financed spending increases and found that they stimulate the economy for the first year, but "only weakly" compared with a deficit financed tax cut. The overriding problem is that the deficits crowd out private investment and, over the long run, may make the economy worse. "The resulting higher debt burdens may have long-term consequences which are far worse than the short-term increase in GDP."

-A paper by two economists, including the current chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, Olivier Blanchard, concluded that increased taxes and "increases in government spending have a strong negative effect on private investment spending."

-Roberto Perotti, an Italian economist with links to Columbia University, in "Estimating the Effects of Fiscal Policy in OECD Countries," found nothing but bad news for Keynesians. Economic growth is little changed after big increases in government spending, but there are signs of weakening private investment.

- What we all might logically intuit to be true -- spend government money, especially borrowed money, and you stimulate growth -- has long been thought to be a fallacy by some economists. That thought is now spreading. British economist William Buiter said the massive Obama fiscal stimulus proposals "are afflicted by the Keynesian fallacy on steroids."

Except for one problem: What if it's not true? What if, as a wide and growing school of economists now suspect, the government spending and stimulus theory is a crock that is shovel-ready to be heaved out into the barnyard of economic waste?

The Prime Minister, in his comments on Friday, seemed to be riding right into the barnyard. He said the government would be simply "borrowing money that is not being used" and "that business is afraid to invest." By borrowing that money, and turning it over to all the groups and interests looking for part of the stimulus spending, he would be jump-starting activity while the private sector got its legs back.

Even disciples of Keynes, such as Harvard's Greg Mankiw, recently highlighted economic studies that show government spending binges -- shocks, they are sometimes called -- don't seem to help the economy grow. They might even make it worse.

One of the studies cited by Mr. Mankiw was by two European economists (Andrew Mountford and Harald Uhlig), titled "What are the Effects of Fiscal Shocks?" It looked at big deficit-financed spending increases and found that they stimulate the economy for the first year, but "only weakly" compared with a deficit financed tax cut. The overriding problem is that the deficits crowd out private investment and, over the long run, may make the economy worse. "The resulting higher debt burdens may have long-term consequences which are far worse than the short-term increase in GDP."

Two other studies point in the same direction. A paper by two economists, including the current chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, Olivier Blanchard, concluded that increased taxes and "increases in government spending have a strong negative effect on private investment spending."

Roberto Perotti, an Italian economist with links to Columbia University, in "Estimating the Effects of Fiscal Policy in OECD Countries," found nothing but bad news for Keynesians. Economic growth is little changed after big increases in government spending, but there are signs of weakening private investment.

What we all might logically intuit to be true -- spend government money, especially borrowed money, and you stimulate growth -- has long been thought to be a fallacy by some economists. That thought is now spreading. British economist William Buiter said the massive Obama fiscal stimulus proposals "are afflicted by the Keynesian fallacy on steroids."

Over at Stimulus Canada, Mr. Harper's plan looks somewhat more modest and Canada is not in the same fiscal fix as the United States. But Ottawa and the provinces are clearly ready to borrow big wads of money from the future to stimulate the economy today. It's money that is supposedly sitting out there in the timid hands of investors who will be repaid with tax dollars later.

But if that stimulus spending does not generate much fresh economic growth, and the borrowing chews up money that private investors could invest in the future, the shovel-ready brigades who get the cash today will produce only short term gains at the expense of the long term health of the economy.

[Doesn't it make you wonder when nobody seems to know what to do but some of the advice of the best researchers suggests that a STIMULUS may actually HARM the economy? Some economic researchers point to FDR and the Great Depression and suggest that FDR actually INCREASED the length of the depression. He was obviously and encourager and inspired hope which is an important factor as we see when the markets fall like bricks. But did his fiscal policy actually make it longer?]

FDR POLICIES Prolonged Depression

FDR's policies prolonged Depression by 7 years, UCLA economists calculate

Two UCLA economists say they have figured out why the Great Depression dragged on for almost 15 years, and they blame a suspect previously thought to be beyond reproach: President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

After scrutinizing Roosevelt's record for four years, Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian conclude in a new study that New Deal policies signed into law 71 years ago thwarted economic recovery for seven long years.

"Why the Great Depression lasted so long has always been a great mystery, and because we never really knew the reason, we have always worried whether we would have another 10- to 15-year economic slump," said Ohanian, vice chair of UCLA's Department of Economics. "We found that a relapse isn't likely unless lawmakers gum up a recovery with ill-conceived stimulus policies."

In an article in the August issue of the Journal of Political Economy, Ohanian and Cole blame specific anti-competition and pro-labor measures that Roosevelt promoted and signed into law June 16, 1933.

"President Roosevelt believed that excessive competition was responsible for the Depression by reducing prices and wages, and by extension reducing employment and demand for goods and services," said Cole, also a UCLA professor of economics. "So he came up with a recovery package that would be unimaginable today, allowing businesses in every industry to collude without the threat of antitrust prosecution and workers to demand salaries about 25 percent above where they ought to have been, given market forces. The economy was poised for a beautiful recovery, but that recovery was stalled by these misguided policies."

Using data collected in 1929 by the Conference Board and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Cole and Ohanian were able to establish average wages and prices across a range of industries just prior to the Depression. By adjusting for annual increases in productivity, they were able to use the 1929 benchmark to figure out what prices and wages would have been during every year of the Depression had Roosevelt's policies not gone into effect. They then compared those figures with actual prices and wages as reflected in the Conference Board data.

In the three years following the implementation of Roosevelt's policies, wages in 11 key industries averaged 25 percent higher than they otherwise would have done, the economists calculate. But unemployment was also 25 percent higher than it should have been, given gains in productivity.

Meanwhile, prices across 19 industries averaged 23 percent above where they should have been, given the state of the economy. With goods and services that much harder for consumers to afford, demand stalled and the gross national product floundered at 27 percent below where it otherwise might have been.

"High wages and high prices in an economic slump run contrary to everything we know about market forces in economic downturns," Ohanian said. "As we've seen in the past several years, salaries and prices fall when unemployment is high. By artificially inflating both, the New Deal policies short-circuited the market's self-correcting forces."

The policies were contained in the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), which exempted industries from antitrust prosecution if they agreed to enter into collective bargaining agreements that significantly raised wages. Because protection from antitrust prosecution all but ensured higher prices for goods and services, a wide range of industries took the bait, Cole and Ohanian found. By 1934 more than 500 industries, which accounted for nearly 80 percent of private, non-agricultural employment, had entered into the collective bargaining agreements called for under NIRA.

Cole and Ohanian calculate that NIRA and its aftermath account for 60 percent of the weak recovery. Without the policies, they contend that the Depression would have ended in 1936 instead of the year when they believe the slump actually ended: 1943.

Roosevelt's role in lifting the nation out of the Great Depression has been so revered that Time magazine readers cited it in 1999 when naming him the 20th century's second-most influential figure.

"This is exciting and valuable research," said Robert E. Lucas Jr., the 1995 Nobel Laureate in economics, and the John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago. "The prevention and cure of depressions is a central mission of macroeconomics, and if we can't understand what happened in the 1930s, how can we be sure it won't happen again?"

NIRA's role in prolonging the Depression has not been more closely scrutinized because the Supreme Court declared the act unconstitutional within two years of its passage.

"Historians have assumed that the policies didn't have an impact because they were too short-lived, but the proof is in the pudding," Ohanian said. "We show that they really did artificially inflate wages and prices."

Even after being deemed unconstitutional, Roosevelt's anti-competition policies persisted — albeit under a different guise, the scholars found. Ohanian and Cole painstakingly documented the extent to which the Roosevelt administration looked the other way as industries once protected by NIRA continued to engage in price-fixing practices for four more years.

The number of antitrust cases brought by the Department of Justice fell from an average of 12.5 cases per year during the 1920s to an average of 6.5 cases per year from 1935 to 1938, the scholars found. Collusion had become so widespread that one Department of Interior official complained of receiving identical bids from a protected industry (steel) on 257 different occasions between mid-1935 and mid-1936. The bids were not only identical but also 50 percent higher than foreign steel prices. Without competition, wholesale prices remained inflated, averaging 14 percent higher than they would have been without the troublesome practices, the UCLA economists calculate.

NIRA's labor provisions, meanwhile, were strengthened in the National Relations Act, signed into law in 1935. As union membership doubled, so did labor's bargaining power, rising from 14 million strike days in 1936 to about 28 million in 1937. By 1939 wages in protected industries remained 24 percent to 33 percent above where they should have been, based on 1929 figures, Cole and Ohanian calculate. Unemployment persisted. By 1939 the U.S. unemployment rate was 17.2 percent, down somewhat from its 1933 peak of 24.9 percent but still remarkably high. By comparison, in May 2003, the unemployment rate of 6.1 percent was the highest in nine years.

Recovery came only after the Department of Justice dramatically stepped enforcement of antitrust cases nearly four-fold and organized labor suffered a string of setbacks, the economists found.

"The fact that the Depression dragged on for years convinced generations of economists and policy-makers that capitalism could not be trusted to recover from depressions and that significant government intervention was required to achieve good outcomes," Cole said. "Ironically, our work shows that the recovery would have been very rapid had the government not intervened."

-UCLA-

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/FDR-s-Policies-Prolonged-Depression-5409.aspx?RelNum=5409

LSMS368


Mr Obama: Please Prove You ARE Non-Partisan

Mr. Obama will now have to prove he is non-partisan.

Editor: If he makes the mistake of believing that he is only the President of the 52% of the population that elected him and of the far-left liberal democrats, and tries to enact laws which the 46% who voted for McCain vehementally oppose, he will create more partisanship than has ever occurred before.

Now is his test. Will he leave failed socialistic policies like the War on Poverty and the Great Society behind, or will he make the same mistakes as his liberal precessors?

So now is the time for Mr. Obama to shine, but shine on the right as well as the left. Shine on the almost half the United States which are part of red states and red counties in blue states. He will become president of both and to be inclusive as an agent of change, he must govern in the best interests of middle America.

This article from the NP reflects some of that concern:

Sharing wealth will drain it

Obamanomics a drag on growth

Jacqueline Thorpe, National Post Published: Thursday, November 06, 2008

As the fervour fades, the world will have to get used to a new word: Obamanomics.

It means tax hikes for the rich, tax cuts for the poor and middle class, a promise to renegotiate NAFTA, greater union power, windfall taxes on oil and gas profits, higher taxes on capital gains and corporate dividends and more comprehensive health care coverage.

Barack Obama's economic plan may deliver the greater income equality Americans have apparently been craving, but also slower growth. Despite the vast tax hikes, it will cost a vast sum and U. S. federal finances, already ravaged by bailouts and recession, will slide deeper into the red.

The plan is not market-friendly but that does not mean the markets will not like an Obama presidency. If he can give the U. S. back its confidence, restore its reputation and sense of optimism, markets will take the bait as they have done with Democratic presidents so often in the past.

If he can become a Clintonstyle pragmatist, resist caving to every whim of a deeply left Congress, and not meddle with the bailouts that seem to be gingerly gaining traction, markets might even run with his presidency. The year from hell for investors could then be nearing an end.

Obamanomics is essentially about taking more money from the rich and giving it to the poor, plain old-fashioned "neighbourliness" as Mr. Obama has described it.

-

Or, as others have remarked, taking money from those who earn it and giving it to those who don't.

Under his income tax plan, Mr. Obama says he will provide tax cuts for 95% of Americans. He will do this by repealing Bush tax cuts -- set to expire in 2010 -- and bumping the top rates back to 36% from 33% and to 39.6% from 35%. Individuals earning over US$200,000 and families over US$250,000 will see sizable tax increases. This includes sole proprietors of businesses such as lawyers, accountants or plumbers called Joe.

Since 38% of Americans currently do not pay federal income taxes, Mr. Obama will provide them with refundable tax credits. Under his plan, 48% of Americans will pay no income tax.

"For the people that don't pay taxes, he is simply going to write them a cheque," says Andy Busch, global foreign exchange strategist at BMO Capital Markets. "That is income redistribution at its worst and produces very little value."

Other plans include raising taxes on capital gains and dividends to 20% from 15% for families earning more than US$250,000. He plans to leave the corporate tax rate at 35%, which in a world of rapidly falling rates, looks positively anti-business. He will introduce windfall taxes on oil and gas companies but offer US$4-billion in credits to U. S. auto-makers to retool to greener cars.

Much has been made of Mr. Obama's plan to renegotiate NAFTA to make it more labour-friendly, though no one seems to believe he will actually make it more protectionist.

The bottom line is this: Obama's economic plan is likely to be a drag on growth and it will cost money. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates Obama's program would add US$3.5-trillion to U. S. debt over the next 10 years, including interest. His plans for health care-- which may be delayed by financial necessity -- would tack on another US$1.6-trillion.

Read more here.

OBAMA Comment by AltMuslim.com

This is an interesting comment by the website AltMuslim.com.
[Editor:Just because his middle name is Hussain does NOT mean he's a Muslim. Just because his church gave Lewis Farakhan last year a Lifetime Achievement award does

NOT mean he is a Muslim. Just because he wore traditional Muslim dress when visiting in Sudan does NOT mean he is a Muslim. So what does it mean? Read what they say for yourself.]
=================================

Friday, April 18, 2008

Obama's Problem with the Truth [David Freddoso]

First the "hundred years" controversy, and now this. Is the man a liar, or are his speechwriters and advisors just that willing to leave him vulnerable to attack?

Obama's Problem
February 07, 2008 01:00 PM EST

The Peculiar Theology of Black Liberation

Spengler, Asia Times (Hong Kong), March 18, 2008

Senator Barack Obama is not a Muslim, contrary to invidious rumors. But he belongs to a Christian church whose doctrine casts Jesus Christ as a “black messiah” and blacks as “the chosen people”. At best, this is a radically different kind of Christianity than most Americans acknowledge; at worst it is an ethnocentric heresy.

What played out last week on America’s television screens was a clash of two irreconcilable cultures, the posture of “black liberation theology” and the mainstream American understanding of Christianity. Obama, who presented himself as a unifying figure, now seems rather the living embodiment of the clash.

One of the strangest dialogues in American political history ensued on March 15 when Fox News interviewed Obama’s pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, of Chicago’s Trinity Church. Wright asserted the authority of the “black liberation” theologians James Cone and Dwight Hopkins:

Wright: How many of Cone’s books have you read? How many of Cone’s book have you read?

Sean Hannity: Reverend, Reverend?

(crosstalk)

Wright: How many books of Cone’s have you head?

Hannity: I’m going to ask you this question . . .

Wright: How many books of Dwight Hopkins have you read?

Hannity: You’re very angry and defensive. I’m just trying to ask a question here.

Wright: You haven’t answered—you haven’t answered my question.

Hopkins is a full professor at the University of Chicago’s Divinity School; Cone is now distinguished professor at New York’s Union Theological Seminary. They promote a “black power” reading of Christianity, to which liberal academic establishment condescends.

Obama referred to this when he asserted in a March 14 statement, “I knew Reverend Wright as someone who served this nation with honor as a United States Marine, as a respected biblical scholar, and as someone who taught or lectured at seminaries across the country, from Union Theological Seminary to the University of Chicago.” But the fact the liberal academy condescends to sponsor black liberation theology does not make it less peculiar to mainstream American Christians. Obama wants to talk about what Wright is, rather than what he says. But that way lies apolitical quicksand.

Since Christianity taught the concept of divine election to the Gentiles, every recalcitrant tribe in Christendom has rebelled against Christian universalism, insisting that it is the “Chosen People” of God—French, English, Russian, Germans and even (through the peculiar doctrine of Mormonism) certain Americans. America remains the only really Christian country in the industrial world, precisely because it transcends ethnicity. One finds ethnocentricity only in odd corners of its religious life; one of these is African-American.

During the black-power heyday of the late 1960s, after the murder of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr, the mentors of Wright decided that blacks were the Chosen People. James Cone, the most prominent theologian in the “black liberation” school, teaches that Jesus Christ himself is black. As he explains:

Christ is black therefore not because of some cultural or psychological need of black people, but because and only because Christ really enters into our world where the poor were despised and the black are, disclosing that he is with them enduring humiliation and pain and transforming oppressed slaves into liberating servants.

Theologically, Cone’s argument is as silly as the “Aryan Christianity” popular in Nazi Germany, which claimed that Jesus was not a Jew at all but an Aryan Galilean, and that the Aryan race was the “chosen people”. Cone, Hopkins and Wright do not propose, of course, to put non-blacks in concentration camps or to conquer the world, but racially-based theology nonetheless is a greased chute to the nether regions.

Biblical theology teaches that even the most terrible events to befall Israel, such as the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE, embody the workings of divine justice, even if humankind cannot see God’s purpose. James Cone sees the matter very differently. Either God must do what we want him to do, or we must reject him, Cone maintains:

Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community. . . . Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love. [1]

In the black liberation theology taught by Wright, Cone and Hopkins, Jesus Christ is not for all men, but only for the oppressed:

In the New Testament, Jesus is not for all, but for the oppressed, the poor and unwanted of society, and against oppressors. . . . Either God is for black people in their fight for liberation and against the white oppressors, or he is not [Cone].

In this respect black liberation theology is identical in content to all the ethnocentric heresies that preceded it. Christianity has no use for the nations, a “drop of the bucket” and “dust on the scales”, in the words of Isaiah. It requires that individuals turn their back on their ethnicity to be reborn into Israel in the spirit. That is much easier for Americans than for the citizens of other nations, for Americans have no ethnicity. But the tribes of the world do not want to abandon their Gentile nature and as individuals join the New Israel. Instead they demand eternal life in their own Gentile flesh, that is, to be the “Chosen People”.

That is the “biblical scholarship” to which Obama referred in his March 14 defense of Wright and his academic prominence. In his response to Hannity, Wright genuinely seemed to believe that the authority of Cone and Hopkins, who now hold important posts at liberal theological seminaries, was sufficient to make the issue go away. His faith in the white establishment is touching; he honestly cannot understand why the white reporters at Fox News are bothering him when the University of Chicago and the Union Theological Seminary have put their stamp of approval on black liberation theology.

Many things that the liberal academy has adopted, though, will horrify most Americans, and not only “black liberation theology” (Queer Studies comes to mind, among other things). It cannot be in Obama’s best interests to appeal to the authority of Cone, whose unapologetic racism must be repugnant to the great majority of Americans, including the majority of black Americans, who for the most part belong to Christian churches that preach mainstream Christian doctrine. Christianity teaches unconditional love for a God whose love for humankind is absolute; it does not teach the repudiation of a God who does not destroy our enemies on the spot.

Whether Obama takes seriously the doctrines that Wright preaches is another matter. It is possible that Obama does not believe a word of what Wright, Cone and Hopkins teach. Perhaps he merely used the Trinity United Church of Christ as a political stepping-stone. African-American political life is centered around churches, and his election to the Illinois State Senate with the support of Chicago’s black political machine required church membership. Trinity United happens to be Chicago’s largest and most politically active black church.

Obama views Wright rather at arm’s length: as the New York Times reported on April 30, 2007:

Reverend Wright is a child of the 60s, and he often expresses himself in that language of concern with institutional racism and the struggles the African-American community has gone through,” Mr Obama said. “He analyzes public events in the context of race. I tend to look at them through the context of social justice and inequality.

Obama holds his own views close. But it seems unlikely that he would identify with the ideological fits of the black-power movement of the 1960s. Obama does not come to the matter with the perspective of an American black, but of the child of a left-wing anthropologist raised in the Third World, as I wrote elsewhere (Obama’s women reveal his secret , Asia Times Online, February 26, 2008). It is possible that because of the Wright affair Obama will suffer for what he pretended to be, rather than for what he really is.

Note

1. See William R Jones, “Divine Racism: The Unacknowledged Threshold Issue for Black Theology”, in African-American Religious Thought: An Anthology, ed Cornel West and Eddie Glaube (Westminster John Knox Press).

Original article

(Posted on March 17, 2008)


Comments

I have mixed feelings about the whole Jeremiah Wright ordeal. On one hand, I understand his feelings. As a white man, I choose to stand with my race just as he chooses to stand with his. Thus, I can’t fault him for his views. On the other hand, I also recognize that Rev. Wright would never attempt to understand my feelings or concerns so why should I try to understand his? The fact is, people like Wright are not intellectually consistent with their beliefs; they preach ethno-centrism and border-line hatred of other races yet would accuse a white man of being “racist” for the slightest perceived insult.

Posted by Conrad R. at 6:03 PM on March 17


Jeremiah Wright, Obama's Former Pastor - Christian in Name but what???

March 26, 2008

How the Leftist Churches Set a Time Bomb for the Democrats

By James Lewis
Until the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Senator Obama's spiritual mentor in Black Liberation Theology, popped out of the woodwork, I didn't even know about BLT -- Black Liberation Theology. But the doctrines of Black Liberation have been preached since 1966 in black churches, with the enthusiastic support of white churches of the Left, notably the United Church of Christ. The Rev. Wright runs an official UCC church.

Though I am not a professional theologian, I daresay that Jesus would not, repeat not, approve of BLT. Because Black Liberation Theology seems to go straight against every single word in the Sermon on the Mount. Odd that the UCC has never noticed that over the last fifty years.

In fact, the liberal churches have bestowed great influence and prestige on the inventor of Black Liberation Theology, a Dr. James Hal Cone. Writes Dr. Cone, among other things,


* "Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him."

* "All white men are responsible for white oppression."

* "While it is true that blacks do hate whites, black hatred is not racism."

* "Theologically, Malcolm X was not far wrong when he called the white man "the devil.""

* "The black theologian must reject any conception of God which stifles black self-determination by picturing God as a God of all peoples."

* "We have had too much of white love, the love that tells blacks to turn the other cheek and go the second mile. What we need is the divine love as expressed in black power, which is the power of blacks to destroy their oppressors, here and now, by any means at their disposal."

Apparently liberal religious authorities like those at the United Church of Christ love this preaching so much that they have made Dr. Cone a professor at the Union Theological Seminary, the "Charles Augustus Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology." It is a stamp of official approval for a peddler of race hatred.

What would Jesus say? Well, we may never know that, but in a month we'll know what Pennsylvania Democrats will say. And if they turn thumbs down on that grandchild of Black Liberation Theology, Senator Barack Obama, the Democrats will have no one to blame but themselves. Including the Churches of the Left, which have reveled in rage-mongering radical chic since the Sixties.

If you've ever wondered why black people in America have had such a hard time rising in society, even after slavery ended in 1865, even after the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s, even after affirmative action tilted the playing field in their favor, the answer has to be found in the doctrines that have been preached to blacks by their most powerful leaders. If Black Liberation Theology is to be believed, blacks can never make it on their own. They have to rely on a separatist, rage-filled ideology, supported whole-heartedly by white Leftist churches.

The Left has a long, long habit of shafting the very people is purports to love. Instead, the Left only empowers Leftist elites. Look at the history of the Soviet Union, of Maoist China, of Fidel Castro. Who profited from those regimes except the elites, dining on caviar while ordinary people starved? Today Hugo Chavez is squandering Venezuela's oil wealth on his personal ego trips. It is the poor who suffer from Chavez' caudillismo.

What the Church of the Left have done to poor blacks is just like that. Instead of supporting messages of hope and strength, they celebrated the rage demagogues who keep people in thrall. "Black Liberation" is an enslavement of the mind. If you keep black people popping with anger at whites, half a century after the end of Jim Crow, you are not helping them. You are hurting them.

For the Democrats, who have knowingly supported this corruption of the poor for decades, the churches of Left have set a time bomb. Next month we'll see if it explodes.

Maybe it's Divine justice.

James Lewis blogs at dangeroustimes.wordpress.com/

Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/03/how_the_leftist_churches_set_a.html at March 30, 2008 - 11:06:16 PM EDT

Why is Obama Ducking the Questions? Only One Possible Reason!

[excerpted from http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=11541]

March 21, 2008
Dems 2008: McClatchy discovers Black Liberation Theology [Karl]

Given the chain’s general leftward slant, it is all the more notable that McClatchy is perhaps the first establishment media outlet to report some of the specifics of the Black Liberation Theology that is the vision of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Barack Obama’s church — and to note (as already noted here) that Obama dodged the larger issue:

Obama’s speech Tuesday on race in America was hailed as a masterful handling of the controversy over divisive sermons by the longtime pastor of Trinity United, the recently retired Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.

But in repudiating and putting in context Wright’s inflammatory lines about whites and U.S. foreign policy, the Democratic presidential front-runner didn’t address other potentially controversial facts about his church and its ties.

McClatchy’s Margaret Talev went so far as to interview Dr. James H. Cone, who first presented Black Liberation Theology as a system of thought in the late 1960s. Dr. Cone reaffirmed his prior view that Trinity most embodies his message and opined that he thought the Rev. Wright’s successor, the Rev. Otis Moss III, would continue the tradition. (It does seem likely so far.)

Unfortunately, the piece quotes only Dr. Cone and Dwight Hopkins, a Trinity member and liberation theology professor at the University of Chicago’s divinity school. Apparently, McClatchy could not be bothered to contact neutral theologians or critics of Black Liberation Theology. As a result, Cone and Hopkins get away with softening the harder edges of their theology.

Nevertheless, McClatchy has now done more than most of the establishment media (and certainly more than TIME magazine’s new puff piece or the ignorant and inane ramblings of E.J. Dionne, Jr.) on the underlying issue, even as it hypothesizes Obama’s church membership is one of political convenience rather than reading Obama’s writings on the subject, which are consistent with the theology.

Most important, McClatchy sought answers from the Obama campaign on the issue:

It isn’t clear where Obama’s beliefs and the church’s diverge. Through aides, Obama declined requests for an interview or to respond to written questions about his thoughts on Jesus, Cone or liberation theology.

That is the standard response of the Obama campaign to any controversy, as anyone trying to report on Obama’s relationship with Tony Rezko will tell you. Obama will not answer press inquiries until the establishment media turns up the heat to the point where he feels compelled to do so. That pattern should trouble people far beyond those concerned about the degree to which Obama susbscribes to Black Liberation Theology.

(h/t Gateway Pundit.)

Update: Allah-lanche!

Truth?

Press4Truth contains opinions of various authors and does not necessarily represent the views of Press 4 Truth. They are presented often to challenge the accepted thinking which very often is obtained from soundbytes rather than study of the issues.