Weekly Featured Profile – David Orr

NewZeal

KeyWiki

David Orr has been Cook County Clerk since 1991. He is the chief election authority for suburban Cook County, Illinois, the third largest election jurisdiction in the United States.

As president of the National Association of County Recorders, Election Officials and Clerks, and a member of the Board of Advisors to the Election Assistance Commission – he has played pivotal roles in helping to shape federal and state election reforms.

In 1996, Orr successfully spearheaded the legal fight to fully implement the National Voter Registration Act, commonly known as the motor voter law. Overcoming “stiff partisan opposition,” Orr argued that prohibiting voters who registered under NVRA from participating in state and local elections violated constitutional rights and threatened to disenfranchise voters. Just prior to the November 1996 presidential election, a federal appellate court judge agreed with Orr and refused to overturn a lower-court’s decision.

The motor-voter legislation combined with Orr’s ambitious and creative efforts to register new voters at grocery stores, sporting events, schools and summer fairs, has resulted in a record number of voters in Illinois. Since taking office in 1990, more than 1 million new voters have been added to the county voting rolls.

Also, Orr led the fight for the new early voting legislation, which will allow people to vote over a 20-day period prior to an election without having to provide a reason or excuse.

Orr has been honored by the Communist Party USA led Chicago Peace Council and he has long term ties to Chicago’s largest Marxist group, Democratic Socialists of America.

He has been a regular at the annual Chicago Democratic Socialists of America organized Eugene V. Debs – Norman Thomas – Michael Harrington Dinner since the 1980s.

The Chicago Democratic Socialists of America PAC endorsed four candidates in the 1990 Democratic primary election, two of whom won: Miguel del Valle won reelection as the Democratic candidate to the State Senate from the 4th Senate District (he is now Chicago City Clerk) and David Orr won the Democratic nomination for County Clerk.

Democratic Socialists of America member Monty Tarbox, also served on Orr’s staff during the 1980s.

In the early 1990s, Orr was a leader of Progressive Chicago, a sister group to the radical New Party, alongside several DSAers, two ACORN leaders and a young radical lawyer named Barack Obama.

In the 1990s, Orr was an early supporter of Soviet front activist Alice Palmer in her bid for U.S. Congress.

In the mid-1990s, David Orr was listed as a member of Friends of Alice Palmer, alongside future Congressman and DSA member Danny Davis, later convicted fraudster Tony Rezko and Barack Obama.

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Hagel endorsed by Communist Party USA

WND.com

After reportedly receiving support from Iran, Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s defense secretary nominee, has yet another endorsement to add to his resume, this one coming from the Communist Party USA.

People’s World, the Communist Party USA’s official magazine, touted Hagel as “represent[ing] the more sober elements who have called in our national discourse for rejection of the old cold war tactics, the unilateralism and the continual push for wars all over the world.”

The magazine’s labor editor, John Wojcik, slammed the ”neocon” U.S. Senate for trying to “force Hagel to disavow his opposition to what they call the ‘successful’ surges in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

A People’s World blast email further lamented Hagel “is still the subject of controversy due to some mild criticism he made of the State of Israel.”

Wojcik contended “it was the U.S. Senate, not President Obama’s nominee, Chuck Hagel, that fell down on the job at the hearings.”

“It was allowed to become a place for right-wing grandstanding and unacceptable efforts to rewrite history,” he continued.

Wojcik conceded that Hagel “does not have the kind of record that progressives conclude will make him a Secretary of Defense who would chart the entirely new foreign policy direction the times require.”

Last week Hagel took heat from Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Oka., who asked during the Senate hearings why Iran supports Hagel’s nomination as defense secretary.

As a senator, Hagel opposed sanctions on Iran, instead calling for “direct, unconditional talks.” He was one of only 12 senators who refused to sign a letter asking the European Union to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

WND reported Hagel went on the Middle East satellite network Al Jazeera in 2009 to argue that before dealing with the nuclear arsenals of rogue nations such as Iran and North Korea, the U.S. and Russia must first lead the effort by phasing out their own nuclear weapons.

WND also reported Hagel serves on the board of the Ploughshares Fund, a George Soros-funded group that advocates a nuclear-free world.

The Ploughshares Fund has a long history of anti-war advocacy and is a partner of the Marxist-oriented Institute for Policy Studies, which has urged the defunding of the Pentagon and massive decreases in U.S. defense capabilities, including slashing the American nuclear arsenal to 292 deployed weapons.

Hagel’s thesis on minimizing the U.S. nuclear arsenal was reiterated in a 2012 report he co-authored titled “Global Zero: U.S. Nuclear Policy Commission.”

The report called for an 80-percent reduction in U.S. nuclear weapons to about 900, with only half of those being deployed. It further called for the eventual phasing out of short-range nuclear weapons and the elimination of ICBMs and B-52 bombers.

The report was the initiative of the Global Zero advocacy group, which works for a nuclear-free world.

Hagel co-authored the commission report with former U.S. diplomat Thomas Pickering, who reportedly previously held clandestine meetings with Hamas aiming to open U.S. dialogue with the terrorist group.

Iran is arguably the largest state sponsor of terrorism.

Regarding his views on jihad, WND exposed that in unreported remarks during a 2007 Senate hearing, Hagel posited that terrorism does not arise from religious beliefs but instead is a response to despair and a lack of hope.

The Communist Party USA may ideologically support some of Hagel’s ties.

WND reported Hagel sits on the board of a fund that serves as the main financial backer of a group urging the U.S. to join the U.N.’s International Criminal Court, which could prosecute American citizens and soldiers for “war crimes” and other offenses.

Opposes U.S. missile defense

Ploughshares, meanwhile, opposes America’s development of a missile defense system and contributes to scores of anti-war groups highly critical of U.S. foreign policy and military expansion.

Ploughshares is directed by Joseph Cirincione, who served as an adviser on nuclear issues to Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. Cirincione also was director of nuclear policy at the Center for American Progress.

Among the groups to which Ploughshares donates are the anti-Israel Americans for Peace Now, the Arms Control Association, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Center for Policy Alternatives, the Soros-funded Center for Public Integrity, the radical Citizen Action, Citizens for Environmental Justice, the Coalition for New Priorities and the radical Institute for Policy Studies.

More grantees include the New America Foundation, the Nonviolent Peaceforce, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, the Nuclear Freeze Foundation, the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign, Peace Action, the Peace Studies Association, Physicians for Human Rights and Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Ploughshares has also funded the Soros-financed Connect US Fund, which urges more U.N. helmets on U.S. troops, as well as the Center for American Progress, which has strong influence on White House policy.

Also on the list of Ploughshares grantees is The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which has long petitioned for the U.S. to reduce its nuclear stockpiles. According to Pavel Sudoplatov, a former major-general in Soviet intelligence, the work by the magazine editors was for the benefit of the Soviet Union.

Two of the magazine’s founding sponsors, Leo Szilard and Robert Oppenheimer, were accused of passing information from the Manhattan Project to the Soviets. Both were also key initiators of the Manhattan Project.

Ploughshares funds the International Crisis Group, a small organization that boasts Soros on its board and is a key promoter of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine used to justify the NATO airstrikes in Libya last year.

Massive defense slashes

Another Ploughshares grantee is the Institute for Policy Studies.

Ploughshares is listed on the institute’s website as a partner organization.

The institute works with the Center for American Progress to release an annual “Unified Security Budget,” which reportedly has influenced White House military policy. Previous recommendations from the two groups’ yearly Unified Security Budgets have been adapted by the Obama administration.

The 2012 budget, reviewed in full by WND, called on Obama to use the U.S. Armed Forces in part to combat “global warming,” fight global poverty, remedy “injustice,” bolster the United Nations and increase “peacekeeping” forces worldwide.

The budget called for massive, second-term slashes to the military budget. The savings are to be used to invest in “sustainable energy” and in fighting worldwide climate change.

The report makes clear the stated objective of transforming the U.S. Armed Forces to stress conflict resolution and diplomacy.

The report takes issue with the use of forces on the ground in various countries to secure or influence the longer-term strategic position of other nations.

It recommends scaling back all U.S. ground forces by 20 percent and reducing the Navy’s surface fleet by 20 percent, including two carriers and carrier combat air wings. It also calls for reducing the Air Force by two combat air wings while cutting standing peacetime overseas deployments in Europe and East Asia by up to 50,000 troops at a time.

The budget’s authors strongly argue for the reduction of the U.S. nuclear arsenal to no more than 292 deployed nuclear weapons and the complete elimination of the Trident II nuclear missile. It’s a process Obama already initiated in April 2010 when he signed a deal with Russia reducing stocks of weapons-grade plutonium.

The accord with Russia was signed at a nuclear summit in Washington arranged by Obama at which leaders of 47 nations committed to reducing the world’s nuclear stockpiles. One week earlier, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and Obama signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, committing both countries to reducing their deployed nuclear arsenals.

Obama had broadly proclaimed his disarmament intentions during a 2007 campaign speech.

“Here’s what I’ll say as president: America seeks a world in which there are no nuclear weapons,” Obama said.

By 2010, as president, he was arguing: “We need to change our nuclear policy and our posture, which is still focused on deterring the Soviet Union – a country that doesn’t exist.”

Obama’s declaration came just as Russia signed a major arms deal with Syria and began to revive its Cold War-era naval bases in the Middle East, including in the Syrian ports of Tartus and Latakia on the Mediterranean.

The joint CAP and IPS report, meanwhile, recommends the U.S. cease all further development of missile defenses.

The report pushes for all current missile defense programs to be cut, including Ground-based Midcourse Defense, Airborne Laser and Kinetic Energy Interceptors.

“It is unwise to fund more advanced systems for missile defense while current ones have yet to be proven effective against their targeted threats,” complains the report.

The military’s vital Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation program is to be cut by $10 billion across the board.

Next on the chopping block: the complete cancellation of the second SSN-744 Virginia Class submarine. While the Unified Security Budget describes the new model as “unnecessary to address any of the threats facing the United States today” and “a weapon looking for an enemy,” the SSN-774 is designed for covert collection of intelligence, transportation of special operations teams and launching of tactical Tomahawk missiles – flexible capabilities tailored to rapid responses required by the 21st-century’s conflicts with irregular combatants.

Similarly targeted for cancellation are the V-22 Osprey helicopter and the Navy and Marine Corps versions of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Combating ‘global warming’

The 2012 Unified report sets the tone of its lofty agenda by demanding immediate reductions in the military’s already heavily slashed budget. But there is one exception requiring massive increases in funding – any spending that funds “alternative energy” or focuses Defense Department resources on combating “climate change as a security threat.”

The report authors recommend investing “the lion’s share” of the few allotted military increases in addressing the so-called “threat” of climate change.

The report wants Obama to take billions of dollars from the U.S. military and instead use them for a “green stimulus.”

These groups also envision the military as a tool to fight so-called global warming. In 2011, IPS released a 40-page CAP-endorsed report titled “The Green Dividend,” a term IPS defines as “a major shift of resources from the military budget to sustainable energy.”

The IPS research paper identifies the Pentagon as the “largest institutional energy user – and greenhouse gas emitter – on the planet,” arguing that if it undertook a “crash program” to convert to renewable energy sources and clean vehicles, it could make a significant impact on global emissions.

IPS calls on the Pentagon to contribute to a green world “by simply getting out of the way, by handing over unneeded military installations to be converted into green job incubators.”

The report lauds Obama’s first-ever U.S. Global Development Policy, which was issued in September 2010 and declares that the primary purpose of development aid is to pursue broad-based economic growth as the means to fight global poverty.

The report goes on to recommend that massive funds be sent to combat global woes, including an increase of $3.5 billion to “Global Health” investment and $2.14 billion to support United Nations peacekeeping and ensure that the United States does not fall behind in U.N. payments.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/02/hagel-endorsed-by-communist-party-usa/#PzLGytvKLQc7GpBb.99

Obama and the Communists: How They Censored Their Own Website to Protect the President

New Zeal Blog

The Communist Party USA is very protective of its long time friend and ally Barack Obama.
There is no doubt that Obama’s relationship with the Party is long and deep. In fact it goes back before Obama was even born.
As a boy, Obama was mentored for many years by Hawaiian based communist Frank Marshall Davis. When he was active with the Chicago Communist Party in the 1940s, Frank Marshall Davis had worked closely with Vernon Jarrett, late father-in-law to Valerie Jarrett – now Obama’s closest friend and most trusted White House adviser.
Davis also worked with Chicago communist David S. Canter, who later went on to mentor David Axelrod – Obama’s close friend and long time campaign adviser.
The late Marxist academic and activist Manning Marable, wrote in the December 2008 issue of British Trotskyist journal Socialist Review, that Obama worked in Chicago with socialists with backgrounds in the Communist Party.

What makes Obama different is that he has also been a community organiser. He has read left literature, including my works, and he understands what socialism is. A lot of the people working with him are, indeed, socialists with backgrounds in the Communist Party or as independent Marxists. There are a lot of people like that in Chicago who have worked with him for years…

The Communist Party knows they are on to a good thing with Obama. His policies are, in most areas, in lockstep with their own.
However, they don’t want to embarrass their “friend” by making the relationship too public.
Sensitive to criticisms of Obama’s Marxist past and socialist policies, the communists have even gone to the length of censoring their own website to protect the President.
Below is a screen shot of an article entitled “Special District Meeting on African American Equality,” taken as it appeared on the Communist Party USA website as of December 30, 2007. Note the reference to Communist Party support for Obama in the 2004 U.S. Senate primaries.

Next is a screen shot of the same article taken on Nov. 10, 2010, retrieved through wayback. Note that the statement, “Our Party actively supported Obama during the primary election,” has been edited out.

Just like Comrade Stalin, the Communist Party USA is quite willing to airbrush history, to serve the “cause.”
Truth is whatever best serves the revolution.
Trevor Loudon is the author of Barack Obama, and the Enemies Within“, and is currently completing an upcoming book “The Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists, and Progressives in the US Congress”.

El yin-yang de Xi Jinping

elpais/ Georgina Higueras

Desde tiempos ancestrales, el pensamiento chino se ha desarrollado en torno al principio de dos fuerzas, yin y yang, opuestas y complementarias, que representan la interacción dinámica y de cuyo equilibrio depende la armonía. Los nuevos dirigentes del gobernante Partido Comunista Chino (PCCh), encabezados por su secretario general, Xi Jinping, han iniciado la andadura dando carrete a ambas fuerzas en su búsqueda de lo que llaman la “sociedad armoniosa”.

La espita del yin (negativo) la abrió la semana pasada el Departamento de Propaganda de Guangdong —la provincia más rica de China, con 100 millones de habitantes y la más liberal del país, en parte porque siempre fue la más abierta y en parte por su proximidad a la excolonia británica de Hong Kong que desde 1997 es región administrativa especial de China—. De la manera más burda y sin tener en cuenta las ansias de libertad de expresión de una sociedad cada día más conectada y en la que las redes sociales juegan un activo papel, los censores de ese departamento cambiaron una carta a los lectores del influyente Semanario del Sur (Nanfang Zhoumo), en la que se pedía que el nuevo año trajese un “Gobierno constitucional”, por una sarta de alabanzas al PCCh. Como era de esperar, los periodistas del semanario —que sabían lo que se jugaban cuando escribieron su carta y asumieron el riesgo— se sintieron humillados y se declararon en huelga.

La fuerza del yin no les tomó en consideración y continuó expandiéndose por los órganos centrales del PCCh que, en consonancia, actuaron de forma represora contra los huelguistas, los manifestantes y los internautas que acudieron en su apoyo. “No importa si esta gente está contenta o no... los medios de comunicación libre con los que sueñan son imposibles”, editorializaba el lunes, con una total falta de sensibilidad, Tiempos Globales —periódico ligado al órgano de difusión del PCCh, Diario del Pueblo—.

Sumido en su propia oscuridad, el yin ha revelado su falta de capacidad para valorar las demandas y las necesidades de una sociedad compleja, que integran 1.350 millones de personas y que en 2012, por primera vez en su historia, pasó de tener una mayoría rural a una mayoría urbana. El yin parece no asimilar que la brutal mejora en el nivel de vida que han experimentado sobre todo los urbanistas en las tres últimas décadas ha generado una clase media, que como todas las clases medias del mundo actual, está globalizada, viaja, conoce otras realidades y quiere participar, de una manera u otra, en el desarrollo de su propia realidad. De momento, esta clase media china no contesta el liderazgo único del PCCh, pero le exige libertad de información y de expresión con la que poder dejar en evidencia y luchar contra los desmanes que cometen muchos funcionarios y autoridades locales que se cobijan bajo el paraguas de secretismo e impunidad del PCCh.

Pero frente al yin, se ha abierto la puerta al yang (el principio positivo). El Gobierno ha anunciado que se está elaborando un plan para la reforma de los campos de reeducación por el trabajo, uno de los castigos más odiados por los chinos y una de las demandas más enraizadas en la sociedad, que considera estos centros de internamiento injustos y foráneos, ya que se crearon tras la fundación de la República Popular en 1949 y bajo la influencia del régimen de terror impuesto por Josif Stalin en la desaparecida Unión Soviética. Nacieron para reeducar a los contrarrevolucionarios, pero se convirtieron en las mazmorras de las comisarías policiales, donde agentes soberbios e incultos enviaban a cualquiera que contestaba su autoridad o lo que interpretaban como la autoridad del Gobierno y el Estado.

El fin de los campos de reeducación es una de las mayores reivindicaciones de las organizaciones de derechos humanos tanto chinas como extranjeras y se convirtió en objetivo prioritario tras el caso Tang Hui. Esta mujer de Hunan (una provincia del centro de China) fue sentenciada a 18 meses en un campo de reeducación por desatar en 2011 una campaña para exigir a los tribunales y a las autoridades del Gobierno local que impusieran penas más severas a los siete responsables del secuestro, la violación y la prostitución forzosa de su hija de 11 años. Tang fue liberada después de una semana de internamiento por las protestas de académicos, medios de comunicación y millones de ciudadanos en las redes sociales.

Uno de los primeros compromisos asumidos por Xi Jinping tras ascender en noviembre pasado a la Secretaría General del PCCh fue hacer de China un país gobernado por el imperio de la ley. El cierre de los laogai, donde los represaliados pueden ser internados sin juicio hasta cuatro años, es primordial para emprender la reforma de la justicia en China y acabar con una de las mayores frustraciones de sus ciudadanos, que se sienten indefensos ante la injusticia de su sistema judicial. De llevarse a cabo, la fuerza del yang sería arrolladora y frenaría de forma considerable el descontento de la sociedad.

Todo apunta a que Xi Jinping, que en marzo se convertirá en jefe del Estado, permanecerá al frente del destino de China durante la próxima década, pero para hacerlo sin sobresaltos no tendrá más remedio que escuchar las voces de sus ciudadanos. La libertad de expresión y el imperio de la ley son las dos principales demandas de la población y no le servirá contraponerlas como el yin y el yang, si pretende establecer una “sociedad armoniosa”, sino que de habrá de hacer de ambas sus caballos de batalla.

Lo más curioso de lo sucedido estos días en Cantón es que la carta que ha sido censurada por el celo del Departamento de Propaganda pedía precisamente un “Gobierno constitucional”, es decir, la reforma que el Ministerio de Justicia comienza a pergeñar, ya que según los expertos legales, los campos de reeducación violan la Constitución china.

China’s communists pick country’s new leader

Feng Li / Getty Images

China's new leadership seen Thursday -- from left to right: Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli -- greet the media at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Thursday.

By Ed Flanagan, NBC News

BEIJING – China’s ruling Communist Party on Thursday selected a new seven-person leadership group fronted by Xi Jinping that will lead the world’s second largest economy for at least the next five years.

Xi, the newly selected party secretary, and his deputy, Li Keqiang -- the new members of the all-important Politburo Standing Committee -- take over a nation whose economy has quadrupled under the leadership of outgoing leader, Hu Jintao, but now faces serious environmental, political and social questions in the near future.

For Xi though, this Standing Committee appears better poised to bring about much-needed reforms than that of his predecessor, Hu.

China’s Communist Party of today governs by consensus. Long gone are the days of “Strong Man” politics where one man – a Mao Zedong or Deng Xiaoping – dictates policy for the country.

This political evolution helped produce the stability that has ushered in unprecedented economic growth.

Remarkably this week saw only the second peaceful leadership transition since the communists took power in 1949.

David Gray / Reuters

A customer stands with restaurant workers underneath a painting of Chinese characters that read "Long-lasting Prosperity", as they watch television showing the new leadership of China's ruling Communist Party.

The new leadership committee announced Thursday represents a rare balance of differing political agendas and alliances.

Men like Li Keqiang – probably the party’s best educated leader – and Wang Qishan – a strong voice for the opening up of China’s economy – are likely to be liberal voices for reform.

Meanwhile Zhang Dejiang – the faithful party stalwart who took over for the deposed Bo Xilai – and Liu Yunshan – the long-time czar of the Communist Party’s Propaganda Department – represent strong conservative voices.

The other two members, Zhang Gaoli and Yu Zhengsheng, both come from postings in Tianjin and Shanghai respectfully and have shown signs of being centrists on issues.

Ironically, it is the new Party Secretary and soon-to-be President, Xi Jinping, who is the greatest mystery – a veritable political cipher.

But that now seems to be the path to the top position in China: The less known about you politically, the greater the chance of promotion.

There are some questions raised the various appointments that have come out Thursday.

Outgoing President Hu Jintao’s decision to give up his seat on the important Central Military Commission was either a magnanimous demonstration of statesmanship on the part of Hu -- who had to wait two years until his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, gave up the post -- or a resounding defeat as Hu's important political allies did not appear to have made the final seven of the standing committee.

Another intriguing development was the appointment of Wang Qishan to the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Wang has garnered a reputation as an effective “fireman” on sensitive issues affecting the party and in recent years has served as a capable counterpart to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

But, at a time when serious economic concerns regarding the stalling of market reforms and the rise again of centrally planned, state-owned enterprises in China have plagued Beijing, it is a curious move to shift Wang, the strongest voice for economic reform in the party.

His shift to the top disciplinary position in the party means Wang will be able to bring about positive economic development by attacking a larger issue plaguing both party and country: corruption.

As China’s economy continues to develop in size and sophistication, the need for better standards of practice economically and politically have slowly started to manifest itself.

There is some optimism now that with a reformer like Wang in place, there will eventually be the political will at the highest levels to bring about a serious reckoning on systemic corruption at both national and local levels across the country.

Chinese people behind the Communist Party Congress

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Xi Jinping y Li Keqiang elegidos miembros nuevo comité central del PCCh

Pueblo en Linea

Xi Jinping y Li Keqiang elegidos miembros nuevo comité central del PCCh

Xi Jinping emite su voto durante la sesión de clausura del XVIII Congreso Nacional del Partido Comunista de China (PCCh), en el Gran Palacio del Pueblo, en Beijing, capital de China, el 14 de noviembre de 2012.

El congreso inició su sesión de clausura el miércoles por la mañana, durante la cual se elegirán un nuevo Comité Central del PCCh y una nueva Comisión Central de Control Disciplinario.

BEIJING, 14 nov (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping y Li Keqiang fueron elegidos miembros del XVIII Comité Central del Partido Comunista de China (PCCh) en la sesión de clausura del XVIII Congreso Nacional del PCCh hoy miércoles por la mañana.

Xi, de 59 años, es miembro del Comité Permanente del Buró Político del XVII Comité Central del PCCh, vicepresidente del país y vicepresidente de la Comisión Militar Central del PCCh.

Li Keqiang emite su voto durante la sesión de clausura del XVIII Congreso Nacional del Partido Comunista de China (PCCh), en el Gran Palacio del Pueblo, en Beijing, capital de China, el 14 de noviembre de 2012.

Li, de 57 años, también es miembro del Comité Permanente del Buró Político del XVII Comité Central del PCCh y vicepremier.

Discusiones en comisiones en el XVIII Congreso Nacional del PCCh

Pueblo en Linea

Los delegados que están participando en Beijing en el decimoctavo Congreso Nacional del Partido Comunista de China han continuado este domingo con las discusiones de grupo sobre el Informe de Trabajo presentado por Hu Jintao, secretario general del partido en la sesión inaugural, en nombre del décimo séptimo Comité Central del partido.

Los delegados han destacado que mejorar el nivel de vida de la población, tanto material como culturalmente, es el propósito principal del proceso de reforma y apertura y del impulso de modernización. Asimismo, se ha hecho hincapié en que la Concepción Científica del Desarrollo debe ponerse en práctica mediante todo el proceso de modernización de China, intentando que la gente tenga una vida mejor. Por otra parte, los delegados han señalado que para cumplir este objetivo es nececario centrarse en garantizar y mejorar el sustento de la población, aportar beneficios al pueblo y solucionar sus problemas. También se deberían satisfacer las necesidades de los niveles básicos y servir al pueblo, continuar promoviendo proyectos culturales que beneficien a la gente, asegurar un empleo de alta calidad y mejorar la calidad de la formación científica. Los delegados han subrayado que sólo fomentando un crecimiento de la economía continuo y sólido y adhiriéndose al desarrollo científico se puede construir una base material para la prosperidad nacional, el bienestar del pueblo, la armonía social y la estabilidad.

What Will New Leadership Mean for China

TheRealNews

Minqi Li: New leadership committed to capitalism in China but will they be able to deal with coming global crisis?

China's ex-president overshadows party congress, transition

Side-by-side: President Hu Jintao (left) and former President Jiang Zemin

By James Pomfret and Benjamin Kang Lim | Reuters

HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) - As China's Communist Party opened its 18th Congress in Beijing, outgoing President and party chief Hu Jintao was the first senior leader to enter the Great Hall of the People, greeted by thunderous applause from over 2,000 delegates as he walked to his front-row seat.

Hu was followed closely by a man who hasn't held a formal position of power in China for a decade.

Former president Jiang Zemin, 86, his hair dyed walnut brown, shook hands with other comrades and smiled as he entered ahead of the rest of China's core leadership, including Xi Jinping, the anointed next party general secretary and president.

The procession unambiguously validated Jiang's position at the pinnacle of China's politics, and he has worked assiduously to make sure his influence will be felt throughout the next leadership, which will be unveiled publicly on Thursday.

"He's still very much the power behind the throne," said Hong Kong-based China expert Willy Lam, who has written a book on Jiang.

As China undergoes its current leadership transition, Jiang has emerged as a critical power broker whose behind-the-scenes influence brings fresh uncertainty, and could hobble the new ruling elite's attempts to pursue reforms.

Part of the motivation for his deep involvement in China's imminent leadership transition, party insiders said, is personal. He wants to make sure his two sons, both of whom are successful businessmen, are protected at a time of enhanced scrutiny of the wealth accumulated by the families of the country's top leadership.

Details of Jiang's backroom dealings also reveal, sources said, his complicated relationship with Hu. They are not all-out rivals, but neither are they firm political allies.

Earlier this year, Jiang was instrumental in the demotion of Ling Jihua, one of Hu's closest allies, after reports that Ling's son was killed in a car crash involving a luxury sports car in March, sources said.

"Jiang asked Hu whether Ling Jihua was still fit to be director of the (party Central Committee's) General Office after the accident," one source told Reuters, referring to the key role overseeing logistics and liaising with senior leaders.

"Ling Jihua was demoted after that."

Jiang has immersed himself in high level politics with renewed and surprising vigour this year after several relatively quiet years since the previous party congress in 2007.

Last year, rumours swirled that he was seriously ill, and a Hong Kong television station reported that he had died.

In recent months his public appearances have been select but poignant, including a Johann Strauss musical performance at Beijing's National theatre in September. Overall, in the past year, there have been more public Jiang sightings than at any point since his retirement.

CLOUT

The elevated public profile, party insiders say, mirrors the clout Jiang wields, or wants to be perceived as wielding, behind the scenes. The clout became apparent when Beijing was in upheaval over the scandal surrounding party heavyweight Bo Xilai.

Jiang was consulted on how to deal with the scandal, which culminated in Bo being expelled from the party and facing possible charges of corruption and abuse of power. Bo's wife has been convicted for the murder of a British businessman.

"Jiang is an adviser (to Hu), a (still) very influential adviser," a second source with ties to the leadership said.

"Jiang was consulted on how to handle the Bo Xilai case."

He has also been deeply involved in selecting the next Politburo Standing Committee, the country's supreme decision-making authority, that will be unveiled after the congress.

Jiang, along with Hu and anointed leader Xi, helped draw up a seven-member "preferred list" ahead of the once-in-a-decade leadership transition, three sources with ties to senior party leaders told Reuters.

"Jiang and other party elders have veto power over standing committee nominees," one source told Reuters. Two high profile allies of President Hu -- reformist Guangdong party boss Wang Yang and Li Yuanchao -- may be passed over.

But sources with leadership ties said Hu and Xi are pushing for landmark multi-candidate elections for at least the Politburo -- and possibly the standing committee -- throwing the "preferred list" into uncertainty.

The outgoing president is often depicted by foreign media as a rival of Jiang's, pitting Hu's so-called Youth League faction against Jiang's Shanghai faction. Party insiders told Reuters that their relationship is more complex than that. One source likened them to the board chairman and president of a corporation.

While Jiang does not meddle in the day-to-day running of the country, Hu has had to consult him on major political and policy decisions, sources with leadership ties said.

That arrangement will almost certainly continue under Xi once, as expected, he takes over as the party's new general secretary. Xi owes his political rise to Jiang, who marked him early on as a potential leader. But sources said Xi is also acceptable to Hu given his ties to Hu's one-time mentor, Hu Yaobang, and Xi's stature as a "princeling", one of the privileged offspring of incumbent, retired or late leaders.   More on Reuters >>

Communist Party Leader: Obama Victory “Dawn of a New Era”

Sam Webb

Trevor Loudon

Communist Party USA leader Sam Webb, has hailed the election of Party “friend” Barack Obama, as the “dawn of a new era.”

The Party is cock-a-hoop over Obama’s victory, seeing it as both a repudiation of the conservative agenda and an opportunity to move the United States further towards socialism.

From the People’s World:

After a long and bitterly contested battle, the forces of inclusive democracy came out on top yesterday…
An African-American president was re-elected to the office of the Presidency, the Democrats unexpectedly strengthened their hand in the Senate and House, and victories, including big ones for marriage equality, were registered at the state level.
Moreover, the balance of forces – that is, the ground on which people fight going forward – has shifted in a progressive direction. And thanks in large measure goes to what might be the most notable development in this election - the emergence of a multi-racial, male-female, working-class-based electoral coalition that has the potential to transform America in the years and decades ahead.
The Communist Party said a year ago that the 2012 elections would be the main front of the class and democratic struggle, and subsequent events have confirmed that fact.
Indeed, we argued  that defeating right wing extremism was the key to moving the whole chain of democratic struggle forward in the coming period.
Conversely, we said that a victory by right-wing extremism would set into motion a far-reaching assault on the people’s living standards, rights, and organizational capacities, the likes that we’ve never seen.
Had Romney won the Presidency and the Republicans the Congress, it would have accelerated to warp drive a capitalist class counterrevolution – a reversal of seventy years of social progress. In a matter of three months time, the entire body of social legislation dating back to the New Deal could have been expunged…
Above all, what was decisive was the unmistakable election imprint of a rainbow working-class based electoral coalition, which has the potential to effect a process of long-term political renewal and realignment the likes of which we haven’t seen since the New Deal coalition of the 1930s…
This was not a vote for savaging social programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; or rolling back domestic spending; or resolving the budget crisis on the people’s backs.
It was instead a vote for jobs, housing relief, withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan, an end to U.S.-led wars in the Middle East, the preservation of the package of benefits and rights that the American people now enjoy, equal pay for women, health, and reproductive rights, infrastructure renewal – marriage equality, a larger commitment to public education, a tax system in which the wealthiest families and corporations pay a much larger share, reform of our punitive and anti-democratic immigration laws, a reduction in the unconscionable inequality that sets us apart from other advanced capitalist countries, and, not least, an America that stands for fairness, tolerance, and decency…
Without catching its breath, the AFL-CIO and its allies are organizing actions against a bipartisan resolution that falls on working people. But organized labor can’t do it alone.
The coalition that mined the country for votes over the past several months and the rainbow electorate that elected the president and defended democracy yesterday must spring back into action. Tens of millions must be mobilized. Diverse forms of struggle must be employed. Not everyone has to be an Obama voter. The fight to get the anti-austerity message heard above the din of the major media is a real challenge. But it can be done.
Whatever the outcome of this immediate battle, the struggle to put the people’s needs and nature before corporate profits and war spending will be a long one. This still- emerging multi-racial, working-class based coalition will experience victories, like we did on Election Day. But it will also encounter defeats. The main thing is that it never lose sight of the necessity of deepening and extending its reach, unity, and multi-racial, class-based character.
The task isn’t to replicate the movements of the 1930s and 1960s, but today’s activists would do well to draw the lessons from those movements and adapt them to current conditions.
Both have much to teach, but given the concentrated corporate economic and political power that the American people are up against, today’s movement has to eclipse them in terms of scope, depth, and class and anti-racist understanding and unity. We are at the dawn of a new era.

Until the Republicans realize that they are in a war for their country, and treat it as such, they will be outmaneuvered by the Communist/Labor/Democrat alliance.

The Republicans thought they had this election in the bag. It appears they didn’t understand the power of the forces arrayed against them.

Mitt Romney tried to win America by being a nice guy… and he did an excellent job of it. But that wasn’t enough. If America has any chance of survival now it needs bare knuckle, knock em out fighters.

Winston Churchill didn’t compromise with the Nazis. Maggie Thatcher didn’t compromise with the British communist led unions. Ronald Reagan won by fighting hard and negotiating from a position of strength.

If the Republicans really want to save this country, they must take a hard line against the Democrats and their communist/union driven agenda. Reaching across the aisle to the Democrats is a recipe for defeat and disaster.

China launches once-a-decade changing of the guard

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Read >>

China: Not The Time For Political Experimentation

Eurasia review/  B. Raman

economist.com

The 18th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is all set to meet at Beijing from November 8, 2012. Hu Jintao will be handing over as the General Secretary of the Party to Xi Jinping at the Congress and a new Standing Committee of the Politbureau, a new Politbureau and a new Central Committee will be elected at the Congress. They will be in office till the 19th Congress in 2017. Normally, a new Central Military Commission (CMC) of the Party should also be elected at the Congress.

Normally, the members of the new party organs are chosen through consensus by the outgoing Central Committee and formally elected by the new Congress. The outgoing party organs, which assumed office at the 17th Congress in 2007, are presently meeting in Beijing to reach a consensus on the composition of the new party organs to be formally elected next week and to approve the report on the work done by the outgoing organs for submission to the 18th Congress.

Hu Jintao as the outgoing General Secretary and Xi Jinping as his successor should be playing the leading role in finalising the composition of the new party organs. Speculation from Beijing indicates that Jiang Zemin, a strong personality from Shanghai, who was the predecessor of Hu as the Party Secretary and as the Chairman of the Party CMC and who still wields considerable influence in the party circles in Shanghai, has been playing an important role in the finalisation of the composition of the new party organs and that under his influence, a neo conservative political leadership, which wants to go slow on political reforms, seems to be well-poised to occupy key positions under Xi.

The importance of political reforms to sustain the economic reforms, which was the keynote of the policies advocated by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, has been given less importance in the deliberations preceding the new Party Congress. Improving people’s livelihood, incremental political reforms and innovative democracy are the keynotes of the new policy being advocated.

Any idea of a multi-party democracy is firmly rejected. The firm leadership of the Communist party, the modernisation of the functioning of the party and the improvement of inner party democracy to provide for greater transparency in its functioning, better choice for the party cadres in the election of the party functionaries and greater accountability of the functionaries to the cadres and the people are now stressed as the new features of innovative democracy.  More >>

Beijing activist sentenced to 8 yeas in prison

By NBC News staff and wire reports/

Cao Haibo

Updated at 6:30 a.m. ET: BEIJING -- A court in China has sentenced a man to eight years in prison for trying to form an opposition party and for online messages criticizing the ruling Chinese Communist Party, a week ahead of a congress which will usher in a new generation of leaders.

Cao Haibo, 27, had called for democracy and had tried to form a party called the "China Republican Party," his lawyer, Ma Xiaopeng, said.

The court in the southwestern city of Kunming sentenced Haibo on Wednesday for "subversion of state power," Ma said. 

Ma said that Cao's party had only existed for one day online.

The sentence signals the party's resolve to crack down hard on dissent, especially as it readies for a power handover at the congress which opens in Beijing on Nov. 8.

President Hu Jintao is due to hand over his party chief position to anointed successor Xi Jinping.

Dissident author Liu Xiaobo, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, was sentenced to 11 years of imprisonment over his pro-democracy campaigns for the technically less serious charge of "incitement to subversion," prominent human rights lawyer Mo Shaoping told NBC News.

Cao Haibo’s wife Zhang Nian and their 3-month-old baby outside the court building in May, 2012.

"In order to be liable for subversion, the accused must have actually engaged in forming a political party to overthrow the state, with a party program, constitution and party membership, but if these facts are absent in the case of Cao Haibo, then the sentencing is wrong," he said.

"The freedom of assembly is a constitutional right, and there is important distinction between subversion and incitement to subversion, all these must be recognized," he added.

'An immature child'Ma told Reuters by telephone that he thought the sentence was too harsh.

"Cao Haibo does not understand politics in China," Ma said. "We think he's an immature child; he really did not know that the party would take it this seriously."

Cao, who was running an Internet cafe, is not a prominent dissident. Police cited Cao's text messages that he sent to friends using a popular messaging service, Ma said. More >>

China's Communist Party prepares for power handover

SpaceWar

by Staff Writers Beijing (AFP) Nov 1, 2012

Top members of China's Communist Party are expected to debate leadership changes and oust disgraced figure Bo Xilai as they hold their last meeting starting Thursday ahead of a power transition next week.

Xi Jinping

The plenum of the 17th Communist Party Central Committee, held behind closed doors, could last up to four days and will be closely watched for clues about next week's pivotal congress.

The once-in-a-decade congress is set to name leaders for the next 10 years with Vice President Xi Jinping expected to succeed President Hu Jintao, while Vice Premier Li Keqiang will likely replace outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao.

Little else is known on who will fill a supporting cast to run the world's second-largest economy, with Chinese politics remaining shrouded in secrecy and intrigue.

The plenum will see leaders jostling for positions and is also expected to conclude with a formal decision to oust Bo, who is at the centre of a scandal that has plagued the sensitive leadership transition.

Bo was stripped of his parliament seat and lost legal immunity last week, paving the way for him to face charges of abuse of power, taking bribes and improper sexual relations.

Ending his association with the party is a final piece of house-keeping the leaders were expected to conclude before the November 8 start of the congress, analysts say.

Before his wife was convicted of murdering a British businessman in August, Bo, the son of a revolutionary hero, had been tipped to enter the upper echelons of power.

The scandal split the top leadership, with reformers seeking to use the case to advance their push for the rule of law and democratic reform, while conservatives scrambled to shore up the image of a ruling party mired in corruption allegations.

Further complicating the political landscape was a New York Times report last week claiming that Wen's family had accumulated assets worth $2.7 billion, in a blow to his self-styled image as a common man leading the fight against graft.

For the plenum and ahead of the congress, the ruling party has further tightened already strict censorship of the media and Internet, while cities have been flooded with police and security personnel.

Over 1.4 million people have volunteered to help police "maintain stability" in Beijing in the run up to the congress, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

1963 Communist Goals [US Congressional Record]

From The Blaze
Congressional Record--Appendix, pp. A34-A35 January 10, 1963
Current Communist Goals
EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. A. S. HERLONG, JR. OF FLORIDA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, January 10, 1963

facta-non-verba.blogspot.com

Mr. HERLONG. Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Nordman of De Land, Fla., is an ardent and articulate opponent of communism, and until recently published the De Land Courier, which she dedicated to the purpose of alerting the public to the dangers of communism in America.

At Mrs. Nordman's request, I include in the RECORD, under unanimous consent, the following "Current Communist Goals," which she identifies as an excerpt from "The Naked Communist," by Cleon Skousen:

[From "The Naked Communist," by Cleon Skousen]

CURRENT COMMUNIST GOALS

1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use ["]united force["] to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction [over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction] over nations and individuals alike.

More:  http://www.uhuh.com/nwo/communism/comgoals.htm

China's Bo Xilai expelled from Communist Party

The Washington Post/

BEIJING — Disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai was expelled from the ruling Communist Party on Friday and will face corruption and other criminal charges, the latest step in a scandal that has overshadowed a political transition now set to take place in early November.

The party’s Politburo said that Bo, who had been a candidate for top office until caught up in a scandal that included a murder, will face charges for abuse of power, bribe taking and improper relations with a number of women.

More >>

‘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: