Michael Moore and Obama Smear the Greatest Generation

FrontPageMag.com

Mark Tapson

Just when hateful documentary propagandist Michael Moore was becoming a distant, bad memory, he returns with a deeply disrespectful political ad that he produced in conjunction with the radical left MoveOn.org. It is one of the saddest and most revolting spots yet associated with the Obama campaign, which has turned this election into a carnival of vulgarity.

The virulently radical Moore, who is vastly wealthy but affects solidarity with the working-class, is not only responsible for a corpus of film work that is bloated with anti-American lies and distortions, including Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11, he is also a friend to every enemy America and capitalism have, from Hezbollah to the Muslim Public Affairs Council to Occupy Wall Street to Code Pink to Fidel Castro and more, all the while proclaiming, “I love this country!”

MoveOn.org is a grassroots political network that organizes online activists, raises money for Democrat candidates through pop culture events, generates political ads, and wins young recruits through its appeal to the MTV subculture. The ad they co-produced with Moore steers viewers to VotersRising.org, where they can donate or sign up to volunteer with MoveOn. The site asserts that Romney and Ryan “want to destroy Medicare, cut taxes for the rich, and take us back into a recession.” Blah blah blah. More >>

How Did Obama Get Into Occidental College?

The Blaze.com
Charles C. Johnson

Of the many enduring questions about Barack Obama’s past, perhaps none figures more than that of his still-unreleased academic records. But a series of articles written in Occidental College’s student newspaper, The Occidental, in 1978-1979 sheds new light on how Obama may have been admitted through the liberal arts college’s renewed, “hard nosed” and “rigorous” commitment to increasing the numbers of black and Chicano students and faculty on campus.

Federal privacy laws prohibit anyone, save Obama, from releasing material from his academic years, but contemporaneous documentation from the time gives strong indication of how he might have been admitted to the Southern California liberal arts college, despite an admitted lackluster academic performance at Punahou School, an elite Hawaiian prep school.

Fortunately for Obama, he applied to Occidental during a time of declining enrollment of blacks and Latinos and an invigorated commitment to increase the racial diversity of the faculty, student body, and “diversify” the curriculum. The year that Obama applied to Occidental College the numbers of black and Hispanic students was at an eight-year low. Indeed, only eighteen blacks matriculated at Occidental in the fall of 1978, down seven from 1977.

“In recent years, a marked decrease in the number of minority students attending college has provoked complaints from black and Chicano leaders as well as concerned college administrators,” wrote The Occidental’s Bill Davis and Tom Hammitt in “Minority enrollment plummets” on January 19, 1979. “The number of students of minority background at Occidental has declined sharply over the past two years. Fewer blacks and Chicanos attend the college than at any time during the past eight years. Current admissions reports show a 10% decline in the number of minority applicants compared to this date last year.”

The student union on the campus of Occidental College. (Photo: Occidental College website)

The decline in admissions came as Occidental was increasing its standard for admission. “Efforts to upgrade the academic standards for minority students accepted by Occidental are another cause of the decline in representation of minority students on campus,” the same article reported. “It used to be that we’d take (minority applicants) if there was any chance of them succeeding. Now we’re being more selective,” Dean Benjamin Culley said.  To help attract a higher quality minority student, Culley awarded financial aid differently based upon race. “Black and Chicano students, who comprise 10.2% of the student body, will receive approximately 33% of the funds available through his office,” Culley told the student newspaper.

Associate Dean of Students Yolanda Garcia suggested that the college had been race-norming, or adjusting scores on standardized test to have separate curves for different racial groups. Davis and Hammitt wrote that “some ethnic distinctions are made in the admissions process, particularly with regard to SAT scores” in regards to their interview with Garcia. It still wasn’t enough. As part of the consequences of a phenomenon that would later be known as the “mismatch effect,” Occidental was having difficulty attracting a quality minority student body, in large measure because the students eligible for admission to Occidental were going to higher ranked schools, like Stanford, instead. Fewer blacks and Latinos were completing their academic careers at Occidental than whites.

Hiring Based on Race

Meanwhile, a controversy over how diverse Occidental would be in the future was reaching a boiling point, and how Occidental could diversify its professorial pool. John C. Drew, the Marxist-turned-conservative, wrote on October 13, 1978 that some activists for affirmative action wanted the college to pay a premium for minority professors.

“Students at the [affirmative action] retreat also argued that minority professors were a scarce commodity and that having an ethnic background or being a woman should be considered as part of the qualities that Occidental College wants in a professor. If economics professors had to have higher salaries to attract them to Oxy, minority professors should be treated in a similar manner,” he wrote.

After the retreat and the year before Obama arrived on campus, a faculty meeting took place that decided the future of affirmative action. Norman Cohen, a Marxist who headed the Affirmative Action Committee, concluded that there was “no progress” on racial diversity on campus — the lack of which prompted black art professor, Mary Jane Hewitt, to resign in protest.

Hewitt’s departure, however, had profound consequences for Occidental’s approach to racial matters in hiring and student enrollment. Hewitt’s resignation ultimately made “people more willing (to diversify). It’s amazing how this dominates the campus. There’s interest. There’s concern. There’s willingness to work,” said Jane Jaquette, who became the co-chair of the Affirmative Action Committee with Anne Howells after Cohen left for a sabbatical in England. (Howells would go on to teach Obama Introduction to Literary Theory and to write his letter of recommendation for transfer to Columbia, because Obama, in her words, “wanted a wider urban experience.”)

The new chairs brought new attention to affirmative action on campus. “The Affirmative Action Committee promises more minority profs,” ran the headline in The Occidental on February 9, 1979. (Bill Davis and Tom Hammitt, “Affirmative Action Committee promises minority profs,” The Occidental, February 9, 1979.)

While neither Howells, nor Jaquette used the word “quotas,” there was little doubt that quotas were what was being considered. The Occidental laid out the numbers:

In American Studies, all four candidates being considered in the final selection are black. Religious Studies reports two black males among the five final candidates for the appointment. Economics includes one black PhD in its short list. Language and Linguistics two blacks and one Chicano candidate, and Art one Chicano applicant…”

Sometimes blacks made it into the final consideration simply because they were black. In the same article, the papers says the college ws searching for a “‘radical,’ non-Keynesian economist,” and economics Chairman Woody Studenmund admitted that sometimes racial considerations were preeminent. “In all honesty, [a black candidate] wouldn’t be in the top twelve [for a position] if he were not a minority,” he told the paper.

Thorne Hall, the college’s main auditorium. (Photo: Occidental College website)

The committee even proposed paying minority professors more money to attract them to the campus as part of an “agreement…to go outside of the normal bounds on salaries,” the February 9 article makes clear.

“(Black and Chicano professors) are bringing a quality to the campus that we want to have. You pay for that quality, based on what the job market is,” Jaquette explained.

“In six academic departments currently hiring new professors, nine black and two Chicano candidates have progressed to the semi-final selection rounds,” wrote Davis and Hammitt. “Estimates from the department sources guarantee the hiring of at least one minority candidate and possibly more this year…The increased number of black and Chicano candidates in faculty applicant pools can be attributed to growing faculty commitment, the coordinating efforts made by the Affirmative Action Committee and the Dean of Faculty[.]”

Recruiting more black and Chicano professors was necessary to attract more black and Chicano students, explained Howells.

“A ‘critical mass’ of minority instructors is necessary to establish a multi-cultural base to the college,” she told the article’s authors.  A “nucleus of minority faculty members here makes it easier to attract more [minority faculty] after that. It’s the same thing as with minority students.” How many blacks and Hispanics would be enough for a critical mass? “We’d like to have as many as we can,” said Howells. “I’m sure we’ll see an increase over the next five years,” Howells said. “People are really going on this direction.”

Unsurprisingly, the numbers of blacks and Latinos in the 1979-1980 school year grew to 25 black and 29 Chicano freshmen, according to The Occidental College Magazine. Of the total number of black freshmen, 19 were granted a total of $51,878 ($184,000 in today’s money) in scholarships; of the Chicano freshmen, 22 were granted a total of $39,100 (138,000 in today’s money). State assistance and funds from the institutions themselves make up more than 50 percent of all financial aid and more than 70 percent of grant aid to minorities, noted an admissions officer at the time.

“Occidental Couldn’t Give a Damn if It Returned to All [Anglo]”

More black and Chicano students and professors also meant more black and Chicano courses. “I think the curriculum is changing with respect to openness to so-called minority courses,” Jaquette told the paper on February 9. “If we can get minority people on campus, the curriculum will change. The departments have shown themselves willing, and these people will come here with an interest in diversifying.”

To help that process along, Occidental created an official “Minority Recruitment Day” on March 28, 1979, where it brought approximately 400 black, Chicano, and Asian high school students from 12 Los Angeles inner-city schools to present them with a “very down to earth view on why to go to college, and why to come to Occidental,” according to administrator Jim Reskin. (Tom Hammitt, “ASOC schedules Minority Recruitment Day,” The Occidental, February 16, 2012)

Unlike other school recruitments, this one was led by two activist organizations on campus, MeCha for Latinos and UJIMA, for blacks. “We want it to be student run because this is something which nobody else is doing,” Reskin told the paper. “The visiting students will not be badgered by people wearing suits and ties.”

Ironically, UJIMA’s executive coordinator, Michael Harris, and administrative coordinator, Sara-Etta Harris, may not have encouraged many blacks to attend. “Racism in an institutional arrangement definitely exists here,” Michael Harris told The Occidental. “For many black students, the Occidental experience is a very alienating experience. It really detaches you from your community. It really drains you. I’ve known students who left Occidental and refused ever to come back.” Sata-Etta Harris agreed. “From what I’ve seen in my three years here, Occidental couldn’t give a damn if it returned to all [Anglo].”

Both Harrises encouraged the college to go out of its way to recruit more black and minority faculty. According to the same Occidental article, “Recruiting such a faculty, said Michal Harris, demands a different approach to departmental hiring than is generally used—qualified blacks and Chicano instructors often suffered roadblocks in their careers that make them appear on their resumes to be less qualified and talented than their white competitors.”

Occidental’s Racial History and the Black Student Caucus

The decision to admit more blacks came as part of the tumult of the ‘60s. Occidental began concerted efforts at minority recruitment in the spring of 1964, with the aid of $275,000 granted by the Rockefeller Foundation,” wrote Hammitt in the second installment on minority students at Occidental called, “Turbulent past of minority student radicalism reviewed.” The grant was to be “seed money” to recruit more blacks and Latino students and similar amounts were given to other liberal arts colleges throughout America. The numbers of blacks on campus increased in 1967, growing to 44 black and 33 Chicano students, but that was not satisfactory for the Black Student Caucus.

“There is a growing desire for identity in the Negro community. We are telling ourselves that we are going to develop as Negroes,” a BSC spokesman told The Occidental in November 1967. “We intend to accumulate as much information as we can, in any form, concerning ourselves and that which affects us particularly as blacks.”

On January 27, 1968, the BSC held a forum titled, “Black-White Confrontation,” which drew over three hundred members of the Occidental community and where a BSC leader upbraided the school for not offering jazz, African art, Negro history, or courses on black politics, like Malcolm X. “The forum also revealed a growing cultural awareness and unity among black Occidental students,” the paper reported at the time.

The Black Student Caucus was a forerunner of UJIMA, a black radical group whose meetings Barack Obama would later attend. He would also later attend meetings long into the night at Columbia’s Malcolm X Lounge, a place intended for blacks and christened by Eric Holder Jr., his future attorney General.

Obama at the dinner. The New Yorker’s caption reads: “Obama with his friend and roommate Hasan Chandoo at the Ujima dinner.”

Dissatisfied with the numbers of blacks on campus, the Black Student Caucus led forty students and a few faculty members into the president’s office on May 28, 1968. Though the students and faculty were thrown out of the president’s office, many of their demands carried the day. “The demands included requests for more intense minority student recruitment, a more ethnically diverse faculty, and the expansion of the academic curriculum to include courses more sensitive to black students’ needs and interests,” wrote Tom Hammitt in the “Turbulent” article.

Obama as a Student

Perhaps Barack Obama was actually brilliant around the time of his college years, but his own words about his schooling at Punahou and Occidental give us reason to doubt that. In his first book, “Dreams from My Father,” Obama describes himself as a lackluster high school student whose mother criticized him for being a “loafer” (142). He describes his attitude toward schoolwork as “indifferent” (146), calling himself a “bum” who abused drugs (138) and who partied all weekend (165).  He “settled on Occidental College mainly because I’d met a girl from Brentwood while she was vacationing in Hawaii with her family.” (146) That girl has never turned up.

There are reasons to doubt his testimony, however. He had fibbed about a “transfer program” between Occidental College and Columbia University, which he described and which has never existed. In fact, Obama was recruited to Occidental by Kraig King, Class of ’77, who ran recruitment for Occidental College in Hawaii at the time.

Obama, King explained, came from Punahou, a school that King described on the phone as “the best high school in Hawaii.” King, now an executive in Minnesota, recalled in a phone conversation with TheBlaze meeting “Barry Obama” in Hawaii. And though Obama was interested in basketball, King said he knew that Obama wasn’t going to be interested in playing for the team. Though King didn’t say so, it seems obvious Obama’s status as a black student from a top prep school would have helped his chances of admittance at Occidental even if he were a terrible student at Punahou.

 Obama’s Role in Affirmative Action Protest on Campus

If Obama did benefit from affirmative action, it might certainly explain his interested in the policy while at Occidental. I wrote earlier this year about how the first political speech Barack Obama ever gave was at a rally against apartheid and in favor of affirmative action.  Recently released photographs taken by Obama’s friend, Tom Grauman and published by Margot Mifflin, another Obama friend now at the New Yorker, confirm that the rally was about racial preferences.

Student newspaper records which I uncovered from Occidental (excerpted below) reveal that the protest wasn’t just about South Africa: it was also about increasing racial preferences for black and Latino students and faculty at Occidental–a history that has been utterly missing from Obama’s political record.

From top to bottom, the rally was planned, promoted, and performed by Obama and his friends, including Professor of English Eric Newhall, who served as the co-chair of the faculty committee on multicultural education, and who supported the campus’s affirmative action program with especial gusto. Newhall was a veteran of campus activism of the ‘60s and he, like many Occidental professors, continued his activism on campus as a professor. He was also a draft-dodger who had spent ten months in prison for draft evasion in 1968-1969 — a fact that gave him a certain gravitas that the more politically active of his students appreciated. While Newhall never taught Obama during his two years at Occidental, the two were close socially and played basketball together.

In an article written on February 20, 1981 in The Occidental, Professor Newhall worried that Occidental College would become especially white given that several minority administrators were leaving the college at the end of 1981, and that that would, he said, have a deleterious effect on student education. These departures included administrators Romelle Rowe and the aforementioned Yolanda Garcia, who had been tasked with recruiting more blacks and Hispanics to Occidental’s campus, respectively.

Obama himself was planning to join that exodus of minorities from the campus and likely filed out a transfer application to Columbia in January 1981.

Many of the campus’s student activist leaders graduated in 1981, but Obama still had two more years to go before he, too, would graduate. Could he have been motivated by the alleged lack of diversity on Occidental’s campus? He writes in “Dreams” of his desire to find his “community,” and later moved to Morningside Heights and Harlem. The diminishing numbers of minority faculty and the graduation of many of his minority friends at Occidental provided the final push, especially given Obama’s interest in racial issues.

Obama at the rally, according to pictures published by the New Yorker. That outlet’s caption reads: “Closeup: Organizers and speakers at the rally. Wahid Hamid and Barack Obama are seated at left. Hasan Chandoo is seated and Caroline Boss is standing at center. Sara-Etta Harris is standing at right. Laurent Delanney is in the white T-shirt, lower right.”

At the rally, Professor Newhall argued that the decision of minorities to leave Occidental, as well as the number of minority students dropping out, was indicative of persistent bias on the part of Occidental students and administrators. From a February 1981 Occidental article:

“I’ve recently become aware that there is presently developing on this campus, an attitude of suspicion and intolerance towards certain groups,” [Eric Newhall, professor of English] announced, “mainly against blacks, Chicanos, Jews, and gays.” These prejudices he said, result from the frustration that many are feeling such problems as a spiraling inflation rate, high unemployment, and a high crime rate. Such conditions lead people to “search for scapegoats.” But he added “if we can’t stop harassment on this campus, we really don’t stand much of a chance of stopping it anywhere else.”

Newhall also said he realized that the school’s affirmative action program was in trouble and fretted that there might not be a single Chicano on the faculty or administration and made an explicit call for racial quotas:

[Newhall] admitted that “we all say we want affirmative action but we don’t want to pay what it apparantly [sic] will cost. Minorities with PhDs are in scarce supply, and thus will cost more to hire.” He said that he doesn’t like the idea of “someone else being paid more than I am for doing the same work I’m doing,” but that he liked even less having a “virtually all white faculty.”
Newhall then presented a plan designed to help increase minority enrollment. This spring, the Multicultural Education Committee, along with the admissions office, is planning to invite all accepted minority applicants to campus for a reception, in hopes that they can be convinced into choosing Occidental. I’m specifically asking the student body and the SCC to support our efforts, both emotionally and financially,” he said.

The rally continued with remarks about race from Latina freshman Becky Rivera [pictured here], who described Occidental as a “picture perfect campus. It’s quiet and beautiful, and no one has to worry about the students getting upset. Well, we’re upset.” She then accused the administration of “playing off one (minority) group against another,” and its plan is to “divide and conquer.” She warned that “a few of us ignorant minorities have got us some education,” and are “demanding answers and demanding action.” She added that “students are responsible for revolutions. Students have power. It starts on the campuses.”

(Obama was likely referring to Rivera when he mentioned his fictionalized “Regina” in his autobiography. There were only two women that spoke during that rally—Becky Rivera, a Latina girl, and Caroline Boss, a white member of the Democratic Socialist Alliance—and Obama seems to have compressed them both into one black student—Regina.)

The last to speak was Earl Chew, president of UJIMA, a black activist group on campus, and friend to Barack Obama. Chew called Occidental’s idea of a multicultural liberal arts institution “a farce,” and saw investment as “taking our tuition and investing it in the oppression of our ancestral people.”

Neither Chew nor Newhall were alone in linking the divestment issue with affirmative action efforts on campus. Shortly before the protests in February, “Members of the Student Coalition Against Apartheid” (which Obama had joined) and the “Third World Coalition,” among others, signed a letter (which I have reviewed) calling Occidental’s “commitment” to affirmative action “questionable”:

1. It was overlooked to ask for any minority representation on the Dean of Faculty Search Committee. We find the position of the Dean of Faculty a viable one for the encouragement of Affirmative Action.
2. Taking into consideration the geographic location of Occidental College, we would expect that Occidental would be more conducive to an ethnic and cultural atmosphere. Yet, we have only two full time Hispanic and only two full time Black faculty members.
3. Over the past couple years, minority enrollment has increased, yet the attrition rate of minority students has also increased. The entering classes of 1970 and 1980 have had a decreasing enrollment of Black students.

It’s possible that this unsigned letter may very well have been written by Obama. As part of the campus protest movement, he describes himself as “drafting letters to the faculty” as part of his “larger role.” (“Dreams,” p. 160). The official history of Occidental mentioned the affirmative action protests as having taken place on February 18, 1981, writing:

Increased attention to minority rights, begun in the 1960s, also continued to command attention. Seeking greater minority representation, students and faculty members on February 18, 1981 held a rally in front of Coons Hall during a meeting of the trustees. A “Minority Caucus” sought more multicultural courses, to be taught by minority members. The faculty and administration, however, decided against tokenism that would admit students of marginal abilities to enlarge minority representation. Although aptitude tests would henceforth be weighted more lightly in the case of minority applicants, the college, as a small institution, did not possess the resources to service deeply-disadvantaged students.

The activists were ultimately effective in getting what they wanted passed:

A faculty committee on multicultural education, in 1982, became the committee on minority issues, consisting of faculty members, students, administrators, staff members, and alumni. This group sought to identify problems faced by campus ethnic minorities. An outgrowth of meetings of minority administrators and of a faculty caucus, the committee advised expansion of the minority presence on campus, although the college had already expanded its commitment to “Affirmative Action.” In 1984 President Gilman said about the effort:
The College has been engaged for 20 years in an effort to increase diversity among the student body and faculty. In the ‘60s we received three quarters of a million dollars to provide assistance to minority students. And we have been actively seeking more minorities since ’64. Because of this, the College has been strengthened and enriched. (See Andrew F. Rolle, “Occidental College: A Centennial History,” 1887-1987)

 “I Got Into Politics at Occidental”

So what does this all mean? It’s clear Occidental had been in favor of affirmative action ever since the 1960s, and that could explain how it was that Obama, an admittedly poor student in high school, had been admitted to Occidental.

In addition, Obama shared Prof. Newhall’s politics and fought for those very racial preferences. And could it be that part of the reason he fought so hard for them was because he was a beneficiary?

“I got into politics at Occidental,” Obama told Occidental in a 2004 interview with Occidental magazine. “I made a conscious decision to go into public policy.” Now, it seems, we know that racial preferencing was one such policy that played a roll in his life And maybe that explains why, in Dreams, Obama describes the divestment issue itself as a “subconscious end run around issues closer to home.”

​Editor’s note: You can see more pictures of Obama’s time at Occidental here.

Top periodista canadiense se muda a Cuba

if he likes kaxtroz brother's dictatorship then living as a Cuban on foot ["cubano de a pie"] but not as a foreigner. maybe what he likes are teenage prostitutes and/or big and strong blacks guys. who knows?

-----------------------------

by Ezra Levant

Stephen Wicary

Until this summer, Stephen Wicary was The Globe and Mail’s online editor.

He would choose what would and wouldn’t go on the website. He would write headlines. He would choose photos. These are all political decisions.

Sometimes he would move from the behind the scenes and come out publicly with his own editorials denouncing Stephen Harper — accusing Harper of being anti-democratic, and heavy-handed, and even censorious.

So he was a left-winger, who claimed to care about freedom.

But then he moved to Cuba. Not a vacation. He’s moving there for two years.

Someone who had for years condemned Harper as being too authoritarian was moving to the country that the human rights NGO, Reporters Without Borders, calls the most repressive country in the western hemisphere.

I asked Wicary a dozen questions about this — and he refused to answer.

The Media Party all knew Wicary was going to Cuba, a land without press freedom. The Ottawa press gallery even threw a goodbye party for him and none seemed conflicted with a reporter going to an island of censorship.

A lot of other journalists answered my questions to Wicary for him. They were acting as his lawyers. They said he didn’t really believe in Communism. They said he was just there to support his wife, who got a promotion to work there for an NGO. The suggestion was that Wicary didn’t really love Cuba, he just loved his wife, so it was an act of marital solidarity, not political solidarity.

Wicary has been in Cuba for a few weeks. Miraculously, he has been able to get an Internet connection. No ordinary Cuban has that privilege — but Wicary somehow got Castro’s permission.

It was weird right away. There he is in Cuba — a controversial, newsworthy place, with scandals and corruption and violence and repression, with a cholera outbreak right now, with a Spanish human rights activist held hostage — but all he kept writing about on Twitter was Canadian politics, publicizing left-wing political commentaries.

But then Wicary wrote this from Cuba last week: “Have been reading up on Canada-Cuba relations and it seems Sun papers have a long tradition of asshattery with regard to the island … During the 1999 Pan-Am Games in Winnipeg, they published a how-to guide for athletes seeking to defect.”

Wicary has never criticized Cuba or, aside from a couple retweets, even reported on its scandalous news.

But he just comes right out and engages in Communist propaganda, denouncing Canada’s Sun newspaper — we’re asshats, he says — because in 1999 we wanted to help Cuban athletes come to Canada? Who would possibly object to that? Other than someone who is working under the restrictions of the Communist Party? Is he also working under its direction?  Read More >>

 

'Useful' Canadians to Host “People’s Tribunal” on the Cuban 5

by Chris Simmons

Breaking the Silence | Peoples' Tribunal & Assembly | Justice for the Five
Toronto City Hall, September 21^st — 23^rd, 2012

Several pro-Castro groups and allied trade unions from across Canada have announced “a Peoples' Tribunal & Assembly” from September 21-23 in Toronto.  The self-professed goals of the tribunal are too highlight the case of the Cuban 5 and attempt to build support for their release.

According to their website (http://canadiannetworkoncuba.ca/tribunal/), the Peoples' Tribunal & Assembly aims to:

• “to act as a forum for education and for launching an appeal to get justice for the Cuban Five;
• to break the silence of the mainstream media about this case; and
• to map out the next steps of a broad and united campaign on the Cuban Five in Québec and across the rest of Canada.”

Composed of prominent Canadian and regime-supported witnesses, the Assembly will hear from “expert witnesses” before rendering a ruling.   No witnesses will testify on behalf of Americans killed by the Castro regime.  Instead, testimony is limited to “the suffering caused to the Cuban people and to others as a result of all the terrorist attacks against Cuba and Cuban interests.”  The Tribunal has no legal authority, but hopes its’ inherently-biased message inspires and resonates with like-minded supporters.

Attending:
• Family members of the "Cuban Five" • Livio Di Celmo, Victim of Terror, Montréal, Québec • Danny Glover, Actor U.S.A. • Gloria La Riva, Free The Five, National Committee - U.S.A. • Cindy Sheehan, Anti –War activist- U.S.A. • Libby Davies, NDP-MP, Vancouver East • Tony Woodley, UNITE the UNION, UK • José Pertierra, Lawyer, Washington, D.C. • Denis Lemelin, National President, Canadian Union of Postal Workers • Marie Clarke Walker, Canadian Labour Congress • Isaac Saney, Professor, Dalhousie University, Halifax • Arnold August, Writer, Montréal, Québec • Raymundo Navarro, Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC) • Bernie Dwyer, Documentary Film Producer, Ireland • Dra. Digna Castañeda, Cuba • Julian Rivas, Journalist, Venezuela • Wes Elliott, Grand River Territory • Keith Bolender, Freelance Journalist and Author Based in Toronto • Richard Klugh, Lawyer for the Cuban Five, USA • Ken Neumann, National Director for Canada, United Steelworkers • Stephen Kimber, Professor of Journalism, University of Kings College, Halifax • Alicia Jrapko, International Committee to Free the Cuban Five, U.S.A. • William Sloan, Civil Rights Lawyer, Montréal, Québec •

Sponsors:

• United Food and Commercial Workers • United Steelworkers, Canada • Canadian Union of Postal Workers • Canadian Network on Cuba • International Council of Latin American and Caribbean Women - LATIN@S • The Worker to Worker, Canada-Cuba Labour Solidarity Network • Carranza LLP • Canadian Cuban Friendship Association - Toronto • Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network • Canadian Union of Public Employees •

Endorsers:

• International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five, USA • National Network on Cuba, U.S.A. • Toronto Forum on Cuba • Communist League/Ligue communiste • International Festival of Poetry of Resistance •

Cuando Pete Seeger aprendio a cantar 'Guantanamera'

Emily Achtenberg encontro en los archivos de University at Albany una grabacion original de la presentacion de Pete Seeger en el 22 Festival de musica folk en Woodland camp, donde aparece  Héctor Angulo  ensenandole a Seeger como cantar la 'Guantanamera'.

El articulo de Achtenberg  Aqui >>

La grabacion de  Angulo con Seeger  Aqui >> (minuto 35).

'La izquierda se mueve' contra el Exilio

Espinaxiones/

Mira la zona derecha fijamente y veras que la izquierda se mueve/ iep-balaguer.blogspot.com

"La izquierda se mueve", parafraseando a Inmundicia Garcia.
Todo eso y mucho mas de lo que se plantea con el "Ana Cecilia"
Lo unico que quedaba defendiendo a capa y espada los intereses de los cubanos contrarios a la tirania y con amplia difusion y alcance era Radio Mambi que pertenecia a Armando Perez Roura.
Perez Roura, Ninoska Perez Castellon y otros que en esa emisora enarbolaban todas las causas contra el kaxtrizmo.
En estos dias hubo un enroque con esa y otras emisoras. Oscar Haza que salia en un programa de 2 horas por otra señal que ahora no recuerdo exactamente, de 7 a 9 am ahora sale por Radio Mambi. Perez Roura sigue alli.
Ellos no han sido explicitos o al menos yo no he podido leerlo o escucharlo. Al parecer Roura vendio la emisora o la parte que era de su propiedad y le daba poder absoluto.
Tambien tengo entendido que muchas de las emisiones que antes eran locales y no importaba cuan grande su alcance ahora salen a nivel nacional, quiza para que sean escuchadas en California, Arizona y otros estados con gran poblacion hispana.
Bernadette Pardo ahora sale a nivel nacional, no se su horario pero era de 9 a 10. Ella dedicaba algun tiempo a cosas de Miami pero si ahora es nacional tendra que cambiar su perfil.
La compra y el enroque ha sido promovido por la poderosa empresa de telecomunicaciones mexicana televisa o algo parecido asi que a Perez Roura y a Ninoska les otorgaran una jugosa jubilacion, les cortaran la lengua, para que desaparezcan y los programas cada vez mas promuevan los tacos y el tequila y menos se preocupen de lo que al parecer ya no tiene remedio en el archipielago cercano. Kaxtrizmo o no ya la Cuba que fue Perla del Caribe continuara emulando con Haiti en esa republica inviable sin ganaderia, sin agricultura, sin industria, con muchos cayos paradisiacos y las mas educadas y sanas, como dijo el inolvidable cama-andante, damas de compañia, y sin olvidar los "damos" que tanto disfrutan los Inmundos, los Aruca y los Lesnik.
Las agencias de viajes de mejor en mejor, mas dependientes de la metropoli que los recluta y utiliza como a ellos les gusta. Ya veremos cuando esos que hace mucho que dejaron de ser cubanos por decreto fascista se cansan y le cierran la llave de los dolares a la tirania.

El dueno de Univision y sus ataques contra el exilio cubano

Los Intransigentes del Exilio/

Haim Saban con Obama/ directorblue.blogspot.com

¿QUIEN ES EL DUEÑO DE UNIVISION Y EL PORQUE DE SUS ATAQUES CONTRA EL DESTIERRO CUBANO?

*Si usted no ha entendido la conducta nada profesional de Jorge Ramos en su agresiva e irrespetuosa entrevista al senador cubanoamericano Marco Rubio, ni los arbitrarios cambios realizados en "Radio Mambi" de Miami, ni los indiscriminados ataques contra el exilio cubano en ese medio noticioso, aqui tienen la respuesta y la foto del siniestro personaje.

La gran mayoría de personas cree que la cadena de TV mas grande de habla castellano en EEUU es de capitalistas originarios de países latinoamericanos. Quien asi piense esta totalmente equivocado. Fue asi en un tiempo, hoy ya no lo es.

El verdadero dueño y dictador de la politica editorial y noticiosa de esa empresa es Haim Saban, un egipcio de origen judio, que nació en 1944 y emigró con su familia a Israel a los 12 años, exactamente en 1956.

Expulsado de un colegio israelí por ser considerado “problemático”, vino a EU en la década de los 80s y se hizo ciudadano americano.

Músico profesional, pronto se inmiscuyó en el ambiente del mundo del entretenimiento de California y eventualmente se convirtió en productor de música y videos. El mismo se ha descrito como un “verdadero izquierdista” y sus políticas lo demuestran ampliamente.

Entre 2001 y 2002, Saban donó en exceso de $10 millones de dólares al partido demócrata, lo cual lo convirtió en el donante principal en todo el país.

Desde entonces, ha contribuido muchos millones adicionales. Su fortuna se calcula por Forbes Magazine en $3.5 billones ($3500 millones en español) y se le considera el 115 hombre más rico del mundo.

Compró Univisión en 2006 por $13.5 billones. Desde ese momento dejó Univision de ser “HISPANA,” También tiene varias fundaciones caritativas que contribuyen millones a causas ultra izquierdistas, principalmente el Center for Middle East Policy, afiliado con el notorio Think Tank izquierdista Brookings Institución.

Pero el peligro que presenta Saban es su involucramiento con entidades extremistas colectivistas radicales como La Raza en California y UNO en Illinois, ambas grandes contribuyentes a la agenda de la Izquierda Eterna de dominar el poder en EU mediante el registro de inmigrantes ilegales y legales como “clientes” y dependientes del partido demócrata... lo que han logrado en California y Illinois, y ahora quieren hacerlo en la Florida.

Esa es la nueva Agenda Secreta De Univisión. Lograr ese “sueño” de los colectivistas de la Izquierda Eterna. Socializar de una vez y para siempre este gran país y convertirlo en la Nueva Utopía de la Izquierda Eterna. (son los seguidores de Lenin... que dijo: Los Capitalistas nos van a vender la soga con la que los vamos a ahorcar”, y del Nikita Khrushchev... que en la ONU hizo la apocalíptica predicción que: “Vamos a enterrar el capitalismo y le entro a zapatazos al buro cuando vio que nadie le prestaba atencion...”

Hagamos un recuento de la Historia de Univision:

Para poder juzgar hay que conocer. Univisión comenzó como subsidiaria del Grupo Televisa, fundado en México por el multimillonario Emilio Azcárraga hace casi medio siglo. La Cadena primero tuvo una presencia importante en California , pero con los años, se ha convertido en la quinta cadena noticiosa más importante de EU, con acceso al 95% de la audiencia hispana en el país.

Sus oficinas generales están en New York , pero en realidad funcionan desde sus estudios Miami Dade , Florida en la ciudad del Doral. Lo que no se conoce mucho es que Univisión ya no está controlada por millonarios mejicanos. Para los millonarios, en resumidas cuentas, lo principal son sus utilidades, no importa que el grupo original de Televisa estaba muy influenciado por las ideas izquierdistas de los inmigrantes españoles que llegaron al país después de la Guerra Civil en España, muchos de ellos comunistas.

Pero los dueños de Televisa (y de Univisión) también eran “socios” del PRI, de manera que mientras eran dueños, no les interesaba mucho la ideología, sino las utilidades.

Eso cambió en la década de los 1990s en California . Un siniestro personaje, egipcio de nacimiento, pero judío emigrante de Israel , Haim Saban, comenzó su involucramiento en la política estatal entonces. Durante la reelección de Bill Clinton en 1996 se registraron más de un millón de ilegales mejicanos y centroamericanos en California, lo cual cambió desde entonces la política del estado y le proporcionó un control permanente al partido demócrata en California, (Esa es la verdadera razon... del motivo que el partido demócrata se opone a que se exija identificación con fotografía para votar)

Haim Saban contribuyó millones de dólares al partido y al registro de los ilegales. En 2006, fue más lejos. Compró la mayoría de las acciones de Univisión, y en 2008, aunque al principio apoyó a Hillary Clinton, luego contribuyó muchos millones más a la campaña de Obama, actual presidente.

Esta vez ha ordenado que Univision apoye a Obama y esperan registrar millones de nuevos votantes hispanos a los que intentan engañar y manipular para que voten a favor de las políticas ruinosas de estado socialista.
Haim Saban ordenó que combatieran la candidatura “de los cubanos”

Pero hay un gran problema. Nunca en 47 años observando la política americana, he encontrado con un caso de torpeza tal como los esfuerzos de Univisión, primero de derrotar a Marco Rubio en la elección senatorial de 2010, y ahora con los ridiculos y maliciosos intentos de extorsionar y desprestigiar a Rubio.

¿No entienden los ejecutivos de Univisión que Marco Rubio es, el politico mas poderoso de La Florida ? ¿No entienden que pase lo que pase, lo tienen que tolerar y lidiar con él por cinco años más?

Esa torpeza solo se puede explicar por el extremismo ideologico de Haim Saban, para quien con sus multi billones, es más importante perseguir una agenda política radical como él siempre ha sido, que los millones que deje de ganar.

Pero... aqui en La Florida no es solo cuestión de dinero. La influencia de grupos ultra radicales de la Izquierda Eterna en este estado ya están siendo fuertemente combatidos. (No están tratando con pobres y analfabetos camisas mojadas)

Aquí hay un electorado bien informado, donde estos grupos no pueden lograr sus nefastos propósitos. Con Marco Rubio y su grupo de colaboradores como los representantes estatales López Cantero y Fresen, y la nueva estrella en Washington , el Congresista David Rivera (a quien Univisión y su socio el Herald en los dos idiomas también han atacado injustificada, pero fútilmente), parece que los cubanos estamos bien protegidos...

Después de la elección de 2012, casi seguro lo estaremos más. Mientras tanto, es necesario hacer lo posible por minimizar la influencia local de Univisión. En esta causa, la victoria de la justicia y la libertad, está asegurada, por lo menos aquí en la Florida .

¿Quiénes Haim Saban? Este es su perfil:

Haim Saban nació en Alejandría en el año 1944 en el seno de una familia sefardita, y pasó su infancia enEgipto. Cuando estalló la Guerra de Suez en 1956 , que enfrentó a Egipto con Israel , su familia, así como parte de la comunidad judía establecida allí, abandonó el país africano para instalarse en Israel .

En ese país comenzó su carrera en los medios como productor musical, aunque ese proyecto terminaría en bancarrota. Saban terminó desplazándose en 1975 a París, donde realizó cometidos similares como productor en series infantiles, junto a Jean Chalopin, y donde fundó la compañía Saban International Paris. En 1983 se desplazó a Los Ángeles, donde estableció su residencia.

En Estados Unidos fundó junto con Shuki Levy la compañía Saban Entertainment, que se dedicaba entonces a la distribución, doblaje y producción de bandas sonoras para series de animación.

A partir de la década de 1990, su compañía pasa a la producción. Saban logró hacer fortuna y darse a conocer mundialmente gracias, además de a la distribución de programas infantiles, a la adaptación de series tokusatsu japonesas a los gustos del público norteamericano, siendo su producción más famosa Power Rangers. La compañía también produjo VR Troopers, Masked Rider y Big Bad Beetleborgs entre otras adaptaciones.

En la década de 2000, Saban comenzó a realizar inversiones en otros medios de comunicación. En 1999 formó una sociedad con News Corporation para crear Fox Kids. En 2001 el empresario llegó a un acuerdo con Walt Disney Company para comprar Fox Family (actual ABC Family) en 2001, que a su vez supuso la venta y desaparición de Saban Entertainment a Disney, así como la venta de Fox Kids.

‘The Communist’ Part I: Obama’s Mentor Frank Marshall Davis Exposed

NoisyRoom
Tiffany Gabbay

Imagine an American man so devout in his Communist beliefs, that during the Cold War the FBI placed him on its security index – meaning that if an armed conflict were to have erupted between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, Federal authorities would have looked to him as a prime suspect for treason.
Now imagine that man mentored the leader of the free world.
(Related: Exclusive: See This Clip About Obama‘s Relationship With Communist Frank Marshall Davis From Dinesh D’Souza‘s ’2016′ Film)

On July 17^th, Mercury Ink and author Paul Kengor, PhD, will introduce the world to the real Frank Marshall Davis – the card-carrying member of the Communist Party U.S.A, and who all accounts indicate was Barack Obama’s closest role model and mentor. Devoid of outrageous conspiracy theories or sensational claims, Kengor painstakingly documents the historical facts of this dynamic, at times even sympathetic character, who walked the path from Republican roots clear through to the radical fringe of unfettered Marxism.

Presently, certain news and commentary outlets are focusing on the more outrageous aspects of Frank Marshall Davis’ life, such as his self-admitted penchant for perverse sexual escapades as well as for taking photos of naked women (including of Stanley Ann Dunham, Obama’s mother). In fact, the recently released documentary, “Dreams From My Real Father,” even posits that Davis is the president’s true biological father.  While much of Davis’ bizarre fetishes and sexual peccadilloes provide subject matter worthy of consideration, Kengor believes that his book, “The Communist,” focuses on the substantive ideological, rather than sensational aspects of Davis’ past.

At the end of the day, according to Kengor, mentors matter – and in no small amount.  The book opens by explaining how Ronald Reagan and Hillary Clinton’s role models were extremely influential in each of their lives, respectively. In fact, typically the first task of any biographer is to examine the mentors of the subject he or she is writing about.  Oddly, when it comes to our current president, left-wing biographers have somehow avoided this topic altogether.

Presidential mentors

During Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign, the media and members of the far left ignored discussing his influences and role models, leaving conservatives in shock over how lax the vetting process turned out to be for the man who would come to hold the highest office in the land. As The Communist reveals that the “transformative change” Obama promised to deliver (and did) eerily find their origin in the words and deeds of his closest mentor.

And therein lies the rub. Examining the mentor is perhaps one of the most significant aspects of the presidential vetting process. Those who came before Obama all acknowledged the profound impact their mentors had on them, both growing up, and into adulthood. Of course the reason is clear – exploring who a presidential nominee’s influences are provides key insight into that candidate’s world-view.

Kengor notes that although both Ronald Reagan and Hillary Clinton’s role models were indeed of great import to each of them, their names were rarely mentioned in each of their biographies. Ironically, however, Obama mentioned “Frank” by name no less than 22 times in his memoir, “Dreams From My Father.”

“We’ve had 44 presidents and they’ve all had mentors,” Kengor told me during an exclusive Blaze interview. “Yet never before in the entire 200-plus year [presidential] history of this country, have we had a president with a mentor who was a card carrying member of the Communist Party.

Kengor takes issue with the fact that no liberal biographer acknowledges that Frank Marshall Davis was Obama’s mentor, yet those same biographers have never denied that Don Jones mentored Ronald Reagan, just as Ben Cleaver guided an impressionable, young Hillary Clinton until her departure to university. Perhaps the reason no one cares, according to Kengor, is because both Cleaver and Jones “loved America” and were not “pro-soviet members of the Communist Party.” He believes journalists, biographers, and the media in general are guilty of “scandalous neglect” when discussing Barack Obama.

“The problem with Obama,” said Kengor, “is that he was never vetted, so you have skeletons in the closet.” He explained that while there has been no shortage of coverage from the right in exposing Obama’s ties to Reverend Jeremiah Wright or the Weather Underground’s Bill Ayers, “no one talks about Davis, and Davis was far more radical [than either Ayers or Wright].”

In fact, Kengor maintains that Ayer’s most radical university lecture, or Wright’s most flagrant sermon pales in comparison to any of the volumes Frank Marshall Davis espoused in his columns for various Communist newspapers across the country.

“When you read his columns it’s very clear you are dealing with a Communist Party U.S.A. member 

 from the ‘Daily Worker’ crowd — a loyal Soviet patriot.

“To think he had an influence on the president.”

“Imagine if there was a GOP nominee with a mentor this extreme to the right. They would never have escaped the media scrutiny.”

Historically, Kengor observed a pattern among the left in which its adherents are never vigilant when it comes to Communism. Even American Civil Liberties Union founder, Roger Nash Baldwin, wrote a book entitled, “Liberty Under the Soviets” demonstrating progressives’ sympathy for all things Communist.

As we near the July 17^th release date of “The Communist” The Blaze will be releasing two more “sneak preview” articles detailing some of the shocking revelations Kengor discovered along the way.

For instance, you will learn that Frank Marshall Davis actually started out as a member of the GOP, reviled Democrats (in particular Harry Truman and Franklin Delano Roosevelt) and only turned to Communism after being fully duped by a Soviet propaganda campaign that convinced him the USSR had abolished racism of all kinds.

You will also see laid out in black and white, the stark parallels between Frank Marshall Davis’ words and deeds and those of the Obama administration — from universal health care to the catch phrases, “hope and change” and “forward!” (all of which find origin in Obama’s Communist mentor).

If it sounds too unbelievable to be true, just remember the adage: “Truth is stranger than fiction.” The book can be found online here and here.

Kengor was also interviewed about Frank Marshall Davis’ past, as well as his connection to the president in Dinesh D‘Souza’s upcoming documentary on Obama. An exclusive preview is featured below:

The Pelican Brief with a twist

Canada Free Press/ Doug Hagmann

I’m about to take you on a brief but uncomfortable journey into the land of tin foil hat wearing conspiracies. I’m not going to ask you to believe it, just consider it. Think about it. Think outside the box, and as you do, consider all that has taken place over the last few decades, with particular emphasis on the last five years.

Listeners to The Hagmann & Hagmann Report and my appearances on other radio programs might recall my source within the Department of Homeland Security making vague references on at least two occasions to the fictional novel written by John Grisham titled The Pelican Brief. The book came out in 1992 and was made into a movie in 1993 starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington. There was no clarification and no clarity offered by my source in terms of the reference he made. I was just told to keep that book/movie in mind in the coming weeks and months.

Given the passage of the Affordable Care Act with Supreme Court Justice John Roberts as the deciding vote, the reference to The Pelican Brief might be making more sense now. Did Roberts appear comfortable in his public pronouncement with regard to “Obamacare?” Did you look into his eyes, the window of one’s soul when he made his announcement? To those with discernment, what did you see?

Remember, this is the same Supreme Court Justice who “flubbed” the swearing-in of Barack Hussein Obama, requiring a do-over behind the scenes. No video, no audio, no exposure of the “legitimate” oath given to Obama by Roberts. Does anyone outside of that room know what was really said at that private, unprecedented swearing-in ceremony? Like I said, folks, it’s full blown tin-foil hat territory in which we are now treading. But just hang in there with me for a bit longer, and maintain your ability to think outside of the box.

Communist & Islamic goals

It is the stated goal of both the communists and the Islamic terrorists to destroy the free, representative republic known as the United States of America. Perhaps more appropriate, to turn the nation into a communist country or see the flag of Islam flying over the White House and all of America, a step toward the oppression of global governance. Read the Communist goals that were read into the Congressional Record in 1963, and look how many of those objectives have already been accomplished and implemented. Is that a conspiracy theory? I contend that anyone with reasonable sensibilities would agree that the objectives and their implementation is based in fact.

With regard to Islam, look at the charter of the Muslim Brotherhood, and note that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the U.S. State Department much like the Communists in the McCarthy era. Ten years after 9/11, we now have Islamic representatives influencing and dictating security to the Department of Homeland Security. Could this be purely oversight? I don’t think so.

Note that the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) is fully backing a second term of Barack Obama, further calling it “imperative” that he is reelected. During Obama’s first term, we’ve seen some of the most overt Marxist and Communist leaning initiatives launched by Obama, with nary a peep from our elected officials on either side of the aisle. How is that possible?    More >>

Toronto school board pulls controversial Che Guevara lesson plan

James Armstrong, Global News/

TORONTO – A page dedicated to the teaching of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara as a hero of Latin American literacy has been taken down by the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) after complaints.

Guevara, an infamous revolutionary figure who helped institute regime change in Cuba along with Fidel Castro, was being used as part of a resource to teach young Toronto students about the importance of literacy – though making no mention of his alleged crimes.

According to the resource guide, posted publicly on the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) website until Thursday, Che Guevara was “a leader in Latin America,” who was “saddened by how poor people were wherever he visited,” and “decided that he would give all his time and energy to work to change that.”

The resource continues: “He is called a ‘revolutionary’ because he wanted to change the way people worked and viewed the world. He travelled to do political work in many countries until he helped to win a battle in Cuba, called the Cuban Revolution. He worked in the government there for a few years and then travelled to other countries to do similar work.”

While the lesson plan for primary students focuses on the importance of literacy, it also leaves out much detail about Guevara – including his involvement in a number of executions.

“This webpage was created as a resource should they choose to use it as a resource for them to teach their kids about literacy in Cuba,” said Ryan Bird, a spokesperson for the TDSB.

“Che Guevara was integral in raising the literacy rate in Cuba and this was a resource for them to use… It was by no means a mandated piece of curriculum.”

But were Guevara’s accomplishments in literacy noteworthy enough to be included in a primary education resource plan celebrating Latin American history?

While literacy rates in Cuba did grow post-revolution, David Parker, a Queen’s University professor who teaches Latin American history argues that the growth in literacy rates came at a cost for Cuba. Before the revolution, Parker suggests, illiteracy rates hovered around 25 per cent, "which at the time put Cuba's literacy rate well into the top half of Latin America," rather than the 50 per cent claimed by the TDSB report.

Currently, Cuba has among the highest literacy rates in the world, at 99.8 per cent.

But at what cost did Cuba achieve the significant growth in literacy rates? Parker claims that while post-revolution life may have been better for many people in rural areas, there was a significant economic sacrifice to the entire country.

"Cuba sacrificed a huge amount of economic potential in the name of a radical equality and an impressive education and healthcare safety net for all. The rural poor in Cuba live far better than before the revolution in countless ways. But the average Havana dweller can't necessarily say the same thing. It all depends what you use as your "before" and "after" comparisons," Parker said.

The Toronto District School Board now says that after concerns from the public, the page was taken down and may not have been the best example of Latin American history to use in promoting literacy.

“We’ve heard people’s concerns about this webpage and we have taken it down from our website. We understand that perhaps this example was not the best way to explain the situation in Cuba,” Bird said. “We all know historical figures can be controversial in themselves, but we have heard people’s concerns and we’ve taken it down off the website.”

The TDSB also made a concerted effort not to include the so-called “darker parts” of Guevara’s past, including his alleged responsibility for hundreds of executions.

“This was just for elementary students. There were certain elements of Che Guevara’s ‘darker past’ were not necessarily appropriate for this context, as we were truly focusing on the literacy rate in Cuba,” Bird said.

“This is not a mandated part of the curriculum. If older students, or high school students were learning about Che Guevara, of course his more complete history would be told.”

An expert in Latin American politics doesn’t think Guevara’s so-called “darker” actions are anything to shy away from, saying any executions ordered by Che Guevara were merely a part of the guerrilla war in which he was involved.

“The government was trying hard to infiltrate the revolutionary cells,” Dr. Judith Teichman from the University of Toronto said. “There were some allegations that he had some people executed. Not many.”

He was not a mass murderer according to Teichman, but rather a person forced into a situation where violence was the only option. She suggests that his situation can be compared to other violent struggles across the world.

“War always produces moral dilemmas and behaviour that you would rather not have to engage in, and injustices,” Teichman said. “But you have to understand that was in the context that people are living in… why do we go to war? Why did we go to war in the First and Second World War?... In most people’s schemas, there are justifications for war under certain circumstances.”

Around the world, Guevara is known by many as an inspiring figure, having led a revolution in Cuba which overthrew the Batista government, a regime that killed thousands of people - though he is clearly not perfect.

“He is an individual who single-handedly changed history, and millions around the world came to the conclusion that they could transform their own countries if they could only "be like Che" and emulate his sacrifice,” Parker said. "It's also true that his vision of worldwide revolution failed almost everywhere, and arguably caused great suffering."  

Read it on Global News: Global Toronto | Toronto school board pulls controversial Che Guevara lesson plan

Brett Kimberlin and the Left-Wing Money-Machine

Brett Kimberlin

PJMedia/ 

Until just a few years ago, Brett Kimberlin was a convicted drug dealer and terrorist doing 51 years in federal prison for planting eight roadside bombs in the town of Speedwell, Indiana. The last of those bombs left a man so severely disfigured that he committed suicide a few years later. An inveterate liar and con artist, Kimerblin managed to gain fame from prison in 1988 by falsely claiming to have sold drugs to then-presidential candidate Dan Quayle.

Kimberlin’s story doesn’t end there, however. Since his early release from prison in 2000, the convicted terrorist has found a second act: as the darling of America’s leading, tax-free progressive foundations. Kimberlin’s seamless transition from prison inmate to the beneficiary of left-wing philanthropy offers a stark illustration of the radical course that progressive foundations have adopted. As we document in our newly released book The New Leviathan, these foundations have fallen under the sway of hard-left ideologues who have channeled the foundations’ tremendous resources to bankroll groups and individuals far outside the political mainstream, thereby shifting public policy on crucial issues dramatically to the left.

Kimberlin is a case in point. It was enough for the ex-terrorist to become involved in left-wing political causes for these nominally apolitical institutions to open up their wallets and avert their eyes from his troubling past. Today, Kimberlin serves as the director of Justice Through Music Project (JTMP), a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that uses “famous musicians and bands” to support a host of left-wing causes, from the anti-capitalist protests of Occupy Wall Street to environmental agendas. When he’s not overseeing the group, Kimberlin uses frivolous lawsuits to censor discussion about his criminal past by bloggers and journalists.

One might assume that prominent philanthropies would shun an association with a convicted terrorist, but Kimberlin’s political allegiances seemingly trump his criminal rap sheet. Since 2005, JTMP has received a generous $1.8 million in donations from major funders like the Tides Foundation, the Heinz Foundation, and many others.

JTMP has received at least $70,000 in grants from the Tides Foundation since 2006 for “general operations,” which means JTMP can use the funds without restriction. JTMP has also received at least $20,000 since 2006 from the Heinz Family Foundation, which is headed by Tereza Heinz Kerry, the wife of Mass. Senator and former presidential candidate John Kerry. Happy days are also here again for Kimberlin thanks to Barbara Streisand. JTMP has received at least $10,000 from the singer’s Streisand Foundation. The fact that these foundations see nothing amiss with funding a group headed by a former terrorist is a telling commentary on their political priorities.    More >>

Communist Defector Speaks Out on America’s Marxist Future

TrevorLoudon: New Zeal Blog/ Cliff Kincaid

[Former] Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa

A top communist defector is warning of an unprecedented “alliance” between the Democratic Party and the Communist Party, reflected in the CPUSA’s endorsement of Barack Obama for president in 2008 and the party’s continued support for Democratic Party policies. But is this warning going to be too hot to handle for the media? And the Republicans?

Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, the highest-ranking official ever to have defected from the former Soviet bloc, says in an article for PJMedia that any doubt that the Democratic and the Communist parties had secretly joined forces was erased in 2009, “when Van Jones, part of a left fringe of declared communists, became the White House’s green jobs czar.”

Obama aide Valerie Jarrett had disclosed at a left-wing bloggers convention that “we,” apparently referring to herself and President Obama, had hired Jones for the job. However, Jones was fired when an outcry developed over his communist background, and the media quickly dropped any probes into Jones’ White House contacts.

Pacepa, who served as a top aide in the Romanian communist regime, tells Accuracy in Media, “The Democratic Party has become dangerously infected with the Marxism virus. I recognize the symptoms because I once lived through them, and I believe it is my obligation as an American citizen to help the conservative movement to prevent any further spread of Marxism in my adopted country.”

He adds that he is personally convinced that Obama is a Marxist.

His 1987 book, Red Horizons, exposed the nature of the Romanian Nicolae Ceausescu regime as well as “communist influence operations” directed against the U.S. and other Western nations. The contents of his book were broadcast into Romania on Radio Free Europe and credited with inspiring the counterrevolution that brought down the regime and the execution of Ceausescu.

Although he has written over the years for such publications as The Wall Street Journal, the American Spectator and National Review, his column in PJMedia represents the first time he has warned publicly that international Marxism has assumed a major influence over the Democratic Party. His second column for PJMedia examines appeasement policies by various Democratic administrations.

The issue of communist influence in the Democratic Party has already been on display this year, as blogger Jeremy Segal filmed Democratic Rep. Danny K. Davis, an old ally of Barack Obama in the socialist New Party, accepting an award in Chicago from the CPUSA. I brought this to the attention of Steve Chapman, a “conservative” columnist for the Chicago Tribune, who had attacked Rep. Allen West as crazy for discussing communist infiltration of the Democratic Party. I provided Segal’s video of the awards ceremony to him directly and yet Chapman remains silent.

Columnist Wes Vernon commented, “Since Chicago is the neighborhood of Chapman’s newspaper, one would think he could easily access (right under his nose) the goings-on of a local congressman’s award possibly just a stroll down the street from the Tribune Building.”

Instead, Chapman has now written a column for the conservative website Townhall mocking conservatives who resist the encroachment of Islamic law, also known as Sharia, in the U.S. legal system. Chapman’s column ran under the headline, “The Bogus Threat from Shariah Law.”

When alleged “conservatives” like Chapman refuse to take the problems of communism and radical Islam seriously, you know the liberal media will resist covering these matters. And that is why Ion Mihai Pacepa’s warning, based on decades of experience in analyzing communist influence operations and infiltration of the West, will be deliberately ignored.

Some conservatives are so desperate for any coverage critical of Obama that they jumped on his gaffe that the private sector is “doing fine,” as if this will enlighten the American people about the real agenda of the President. Mitt Romney’s campaign was quick to produce a TV ad based on the gaffe, generating some media attention, but don’t count on the Republicans to exploit the comments of Ion Mihai Pacepa. The cries of “McCarthyism” would fill the air. All of this means that the GOP presidential campaign will avoid addressing his key charge that the U.S. has a Marxist president and that he is pursuing a socialist agenda.

The Republicans, some of whom were also behind John McCain’s lackluster 2008 campaign, recoil even when they are handed a campaign issue on a silver platter—such as Obama’s lying about his past association with and membership in the Marxist-led New Party in Chicago. They want to stay above the fray, even as the Obama campaign demonizes the word “capitalist” and insists nonsensically that creating government jobs is the proper way to help the private economy.

But Pacepa speaks out, saying that, in addition to the White House hiring Van Jones, he saw the Marxist agenda at work in the agenda of the White House and the Democrat-controlled Congress during Obama’s first two years, when they “began dutifully following in Marx’s footsteps by redistributing our country’s wealth and putting under government control a part of its health care, banking system, and automobile industry.” His observation is this regard is not unique, but Pacepa goes further, citing evidence of how planks in the Communist Manifesto parallel the Obama legislative agenda. Yet, Romney doesn’t want to call Obama a socialist because of what the liberal media will say about the charge.

“Marxism is a malignant tumor on the body of any country,” Pacepa writes, highlighting the stakes involved in the presidential campaign. “This is another thing I learned during my years at the top of Marxist Romania. Marxism, like any cancer, works silently—you can feel it only after it has spread throughout the whole body, and then it is usually too late.”

Internationally, the warning signs also get ignored. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which includes Russia and China, just completed a major conference in Beijing and issued a statement denouncing plans for a U.S. missile defense and proposed military action against the regimes in Damascus and Tehran. Obama seems prepared to accommodate our adversaries on all fronts, although he has told the Russians that he can’t go all-out on their behalf until after he is re-elected.

The final statement from the SCO conference honors the United Nations Charter “as well as the basic norms governing international relations”—remarks that could have come from Obama’s State Department or Obama himself.

The SCO campaign to block Western attempts to undermine the Iranian and Syrian regimes represents what the Global Europe Anticipation Bulletin calls a “world geopolitical swing,” as the United States fades in influence under Obama. Yet, the media talk about an Obama “gaffe” and conservatives wonder if Romney can reduce the gender gap.

The issues are big and stark, and Pacepa knows it. He cites evidence for his charges about an alliance between the Democratic Party and the Communist Party USA in the statements of Joelle Fishman, a political operative in the CPUSA based in Connecticut. This writer interviewed Fishman, who runs the CPUSA Political Action Commission, at last year’s Take Back the American Dream Conference in Washington D.C., featuring Van Jones. She is a strong supporter of Barack Obama and personally campaigned for him.

On Monday, June 18, in Washington, D.C., Van Jones will be speaking at the next Campaign for America’s Future conference on a panel that includes MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry. The topic: “Winning in November—So We Can Win in December and Beyond.” No surprise here. MSNBC is at the service of the Obama Administration and doesn’t hold back at all, even making its TV stars available for partisan conferences.

What is interesting about Fishman, the communist daughter-in-law of Soviet spy Victor Perlo, is that she works with “progressive” Democrats and has a very close personal relationship with high ranking Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who serves in the Democratic leadership as co-chair of the Steering and Policy Committee. A photo dubbed “The Kiss” shows DeLauro embracing Fishman.

Fishman and DeLauro appeared together on the host committee letterhead for a birthday celebration in honor of long-time CPUSA official Alfred L. Marder. DeLauro used the Congressional Record on March 20, 2012, to praise Marder, whose “New Haven Peoples Center” recently tried to obtain $300,000 in state money. Zachary Janowski, an investigative reporter for the Yankee Institute, covered this controversy in detail on his “Raising Hale” blog and was instrumental in creating public pressure against the grant.

DeLauro described Marder as “an institution in our community” and “perhaps best known for his work to promote peace, social justice, worker’s rights and equality.” DeLauro added, “His commitment to these issues is unwavering—regardless of controversy, he always stands firm in his fight to protect human rights.”

“During the McCarthy era,” DeLauro went on to say, “Al was one of those singled out for proudly sharing his thoughts and ideas. Standing firm in his support of civil liberties and the right of every American to freely express themselves, Al discovered his passion for civil and workers rights—two issues to which he has dedicated a lifetime of advocacy.”

In addition to being active for decades in the CPUSA, Marder was president of the U.S. Peace Council and a member and official of the World Peace Council, both of them international communist front organizations. DeLauro, of course, didn’t mention that.

The good news is that citizens of Connecticut are waking up. Veterans and local political leaders protested against the proposed state grant money for the communist headquarters. They got the money withdrawn. But the communists will be back. They never give up.

But while the state money has been withdrawn, at least temporarily, Zachary Janowski reports that the Board of Aldermen of New Haven, Connecticut, voted to allocate $25,000 in federal funds to the facility. The $25,000 in federal funds is from a Community Development Block Grant, a program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is apparently part of the Obama “jobs” program.
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Cliff Kincaid is the Director of the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism and can be contacted at cliff.kincaid@aim.org.