Clipmarks | Democracy Clips

NEA recomends Alinsky as teaching aid

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:33:34 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners
clipper's remarks: I love how it isn't 'personal terrorism' if you just deem someone to be a symbol and not a person. Maybe that is why the left is so sympathetic to the Fort Hood shooter. They don't consider those dead as people, but only as symbols of something they can't stand.

Clip Source: gatewaypundit.firstthings.com

The National Education Association (NEA) website recommends Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals” for nation’s teachers as a classroom aide.

Barack Obama was hired by an Alinsky protege back when he worked as a community organizer. He’s already been accused of utilizing Alinsky’s Marxist tactics.

Here is part of the NEA’s review of Saul Alinsky’s radical writings:

Radicals precipitate the social crisis by action – by using power.

The American Radical will fight privilege and power

The Radical recognizes that constant dissension and conflict is and has been the fire under the boiler of democracy

The Radical may resort to the sword but when he does he is not filled with hatred against those individuals whom he attacks. He hates these individuals not as persons but as symbols representing ideas or interests which he believes to be inimical to the welfare of the people.

That is the reason why Radicals, although frequently embarking upon revolutions, have rarely resorted to personal terrorism.

Tags: alinsky, education, liberals, nea, politics, racicals

How Ayn Rand Became an American Icon

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:14:26 GMT

clipped by: RayWatkins
clipper's remarks: The perverse allure of a damaged woman.
By Johann Hari

Posted Monday, Nov. 2, 2009, at 7:01 AM ET

Clip Source: www.slate.com

Ayn Rand is one of America's great mysteries. She was an amphetamine-addicted author of sub-Dan Brown potboilers, who in her spare time wrote lavish torrents of praise for serial killers and the Bernie Madoff-style embezzlers of her day. She opposed democracy on the grounds that "the masses"—her readers—were "lice" and "parasites" who scarcely deserved to live. Yet she remains one of the most popular writers in the United States, still selling 800,000 books a year from beyond the grave. She regularly tops any list of books that Americans say have most influenced them. Since the great crash of 2008, her writing has had another Benzedrine rush, as Rush Limbaugh hails her as a prophetess. With her assertions that government is "evil" and selfishness is "the only virtue," she is the patron saint of the tea-partiers and the death panel doomsters. So how did this little Russian bomb of pure immorality in a black wig become an American icon?

EU citizens' initiative raises political and legal headaches

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:22:47 GMT

clipped by: drummond1999
clipper's remarks: The EU has opened the door to direct democracy to the citizens of member states but are making sure there are enough limits in place not to let them get out of control. Time will tell if this becomes what it should be for the citizens or a tool for interest groups.

Clip Source: euobserver.com

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Hailed as the EU's first real step towards direct democracy, a right contained in the new Lisbon Treaty allowing EU citizens to ask the European Commission to initiate a law is shaping up to be a political and legal minefield.

The wording of the 'citizens initiative' article requires one million signatures from EU citizens for the commission to consider a legislative proposal, but its implementation throws up practical problems.

The commission proposes giving itself wiggle room for repeated petitions on issues it does not want to follow up, noting that "disincentives or time limits" could prevent "successive presentations of the same request."

EU communications commissioner Margot Wallstrom has in the past predicted the tool will be "used immediately" by citizens, noting that it will be "the better if it causes some problems for the commission" as it will bring the institution more into contact with ordinary people and what they are looking for from the EU.

Tags: citizens, citizens initiative, democracy, eu, lisbon treaty

The Huge Mistake

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:26:57 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: Al Gore is gonna be very rich after this swindle is complete. How he has gotten away with it really boggles the mind, as he has been exposed now for the clueless liar he is by a number of sources.

Clip Source: newsrealblog.com

While the Senate is working on its version of the Cap and Trade Bill that passed in the U.S. House of Representatives last June, new criticism of Cap and Trade has emerged from a rather unlikely source: two lawyers for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Laurie Williams and Allen Zabel, the two EPA attorneys, have produced a YouTube video comparing passage of the Cap and Trade Bill to: “the ill-fated launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger.”

[Video]

Al Gore will, quite possibly, become the first “carbon multi-millionaire” with the passage of Cap and Trade, thus making him (to paraphrase Williams and Zabel): “The Big Rip-Off Artist.”

Naturally, the EPA is not thrilled with the idea of two of its attorneys speaking out against Cap and Trade. From Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman comes the following:

The Environmental Protection Agency is being accused of trying to silence two EPA attorneys who have publicly criticized a key component of the climate change legislation being considered by Congress.

Tags: con artists, the great global warming hoax, al gore

OBAMA and the NOBEL PRIZE

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:48:21 GMT

clipped by: mountainpalm
clipper's remarks: Granting the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama provides legitimacy to the illegal practices of war, to the military occupation of foreign lands, to the relentless killings of civilians in the name of "democracy".

Clip Source: www.globalresearch.ca

Obama and the Nobel Prize: When War becomes Peace, When the Lie becomes the Truth

by Michel Chossudovsky

When war becomes peace,

When concepts and realities are turned upside down,

When fiction becomes truth and truth becomes fiction.

When a global military agenda is heralded as a humanitarian endeavor,

When the killing of civilians is upheld as "collateral damage",

When those who resist the US-NATO led invasion of their homeland are categorized as "insurgents" or "terrorists".

When preemptive nuclear war is upheld as self defense.

When advanced torture and "interrogation" techniques are routinely used to "protect peacekeeping operations",

When tactical nuclear weapons are heralded by the Pentagon as "harmless to the surrounding civilian population"

When three quarters of US personal federal income tax revenues are allocated to financing what is euphemistically referred to as "national defense"

When the Lie becomes the Truth.

Unions in Poland were key in setting up fall of Berlin Wall

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:38:46 GMT

clipped by: nedhamson1

Clip Source: www.ipeace.me

A Key Role of Poland Regarding the Wall Fall in Berlin

Posted by Lilac White / Krys / on November 10, 2009 at 11:23am in iPeace Poland

Toppling of dominoes marks fall of Berlin Wall

Former Polish leader Lech Walesa tipped the first of 1,000 plastic foam dominoes set up where the Berlin Wall once stood as part of celebrations Monday marking the 20th anniversary of its fall.

The dominoes were conceived as a metaphor for the collapse of communism in the countries of eastern Europe after the Wall crumbled.

Tags: berlin wall, democracy, poland

Celebrating the Fall of The Berlin Wall

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:29:15 GMT

clipped by: mklosinski
clipper's remarks: Not Obama.

Clip Source: www.foxnews.com

President Obama squeezed in a trip to Copenhagen last month to lobby, unsuccessfully, for Chicago to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. He plans to travel to Oslo next month to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, an award that even Obama has said he does not deserve. And this coming week, he sets out on a weeklong tour of Asia.

But the president does not plan to travel to Germany to attend the 20th anniversary celebration Monday of the fall of the Berlin Wall, drawing heated criticism from those who say he's ignoring a shining triumph of American-inspired democracy.

"John F. Kennedy famously told Berliners, 'Ich bin ein Berliner.' On the 20th anniversary of the last century's most stirring triumph of freedom, Obama is telling them, 'Ich bin beschaftigt' -- i.e., I'm busy," he wrote. "Obama's failure to go to Berlin is the most telling nonevent of his presidency. It's hard to imagine any other American president eschewing the occasion."

Tags: obama, germany, berlin wall

Chomsky Says Obama Continues Bush Policy to Control Middle East Oil

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:28:00 GMT

clipped by: foxyarse
clipper's remarks: “As late as November, 2007, the U.S. was still insisting that the ‘Status of Forces Agreement’ allow for an indefinite U.S. military presence and privileged access to Iraq’s resources by U.S. investors,” Chomsky added. “Well, they didn’t get that on paper at least. They had to back down,” Alabbasi quotes him as saying.

Chomsky said Middle East oil reserves are understood to be “a stupendous source of strategic power” and “one of the greatest material prizes in world history.”

Concerning Iran, Chomsky said the U.S. acted to overthrow its parliamentary democracy in 1953 “to retain control of Iranian resources” and when the Iranians reasserted themselves in 1979, the U.S. acted “to support Saddam Hussein’s merciless invasion” of that country.

“The torture of Iran continued without a break and still does, with sanctions and other means,” Chomsky said. According to Alabbasi, Chomsky “mocked the idea” presented by mainstream media that a nuclear-armed Iran might attack nuclear-armed

Clip Source: www.laprogressive.com

Chomsky Says Obama Continues Bush Policy to Control Middle East Oil

Political activist Noam Chomsky says that although President Obama views the Iraq invasion merely as “a mistake” or “strategic blunder,” it is, in fact, a “major crime” designed to enable America to control the Middle East oil reserves.

“It’s (“strategic blunder”) probably what the German general staff was telling Hitler after Stalingrad,” Chomsky quipped, referring to the big Nazi defeat by the Soviet army in 1943.

“There is basically no significant change in the fundamental traditional conception that if we can control Middle East energy resources, then we can control the world,” he said.

“As Obama came into office, (former Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice predicted he would follow the policies of Bush’s second term, and that is pretty much what happened, apart from a different rhetorical style,” Chomsky said.

Tags: chomsky says obama continues bush policy to contro

Former UK Ambassador: CIA Sent People to be ‘Raped with Broken Bottles’

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:49:42 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: Murray alleged that in the late 1990s the Uzbek ambassador to the US met with then-Texas Governor George W. Bush to discuss a pipeline for the region, and out of that meeting came agreements that would see Texas-based Enron gain the rights to Uzbekistan's natural gas deposits, while oil company Unocal worked on developing the Trans-Afghanistan pipeline.

"The consultant who was organizing this for Unocal was a certain Mr. Karzai, who is now president of Afghanistan," Murray noted.

"There are designs of this pipeline, and if you look at the deployment of US forces in Afghanistan, as against other NATO country forces in Afghanistan, you'll see that undoubtedly the US forces are positioned to guard the pipeline route. It's what it's about. It's about money, it's about oil, it's not about democracy."

Clip Source: www.informationclearinghouse.info

The CIA relied on intelligence based on torture in prisons in Uzbekistan, a place where widespread torture practices include raping suspects with broken bottles and boiling them alive

, says a former British ambassador to the central Asian country.

Craig Murray

said the CIA not only relied on confessions gleaned through extreme torture, it sent terror war suspects to Uzbekistan as part of its extraordinary rendition program.

"I'm talking of people being raped with broken bottles," he said at a lecture late last month that was re-broadcast by the Real News Network. "I'm talking of people having their children tortured in front of them until they sign a confession. I'm talking of people being boiled alive. And the intelligence from these torture sessions was being received by the CIA, and was being passed on."

Murray asserts that the primary motivation for US and British military involvement in central Asia has to do with large natural gas deposits

a natural gas pipeline through Afghanistan

[Video]

Pro-Democracy Iranians to Obama: ‘You’re with Them or You’re with Us’

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:51:48 GMT

clipped by: Normn8or
clipper's remarks: Full Article Here... http://tinyurl.com/yc9mznv

Clip Source: www.outloudopinion.com

Pro-Democracy Iranians to Obama: ‘You’re with Them or You’re with Us’

After President George W. Bush employed the words, "You’re either with us, or you’re with the terrorists," addressing a joint session of Congress in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks – as the President prepared for the impending war in Afghanistan – liberals eventually treated those words with consternation as if the blunt declaration reflected poorly on America. But pro-democracy activists in Iran seem to like a similar message, as a group of protesters in Iran called on President Barack Obama to support their cause, chanting, "Obama, Obama, either you’re with them or you’re with us!"

Uniquely among the broadcast network evening newscasts, NBC Nightly News correspondent Ali Arouzi – stationed in Tehran – showed a clip of anti-government demonstrators chanting their message to President Obama, as he translated their words into English. During a report that focused mainly on

Tags: news & politics, news, politics, terrorism, iran

Communism's Enablers and Excusers

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:37:14 GMT

clipped by: Jacob173

Clip Source: townhall.com

Communism's Enablers and Excusers

On Nov. 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall was pulled down to the consternation of leftists, who still had faith socialism could work with the right leaders, and to the delight of conservatives, who believed that socialism and communism guaranteed mutually-shared poverty.

In 1987, before the wall collapsed, CBS anchor Dan Rather said, "Despite what many Americans think, most Soviets do not yearn for capitalism or Western-style democracy."

In fact, Soviet communism spread misery through its own 12 time zones and in many parts of the world, though NBC's John Chancellor refused to see it. In 1991, as the Soviet coup unraveled, Chancellor said, "the problem isn't communism; nobody even talked about communism this week. The problem is shortages."

After the liberation of Eastern Europe, according to the MRC, some journalists attacked capitalism for "exploiting" the newly freed workers

Reading these quotes, in light of history, resembles a "Saturday Night Live" comedy skit.

Unaccountable Elite!

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:36:41 GMT

clipped by: mountainpalm
clipper's remarks: Perhaps the “I Didn’t Do It” philosophy is the American Way.

Clip Source: www.inteldaily.com

Social Decay in America: The “I Didn’t Do It” Culture

(The Intelligence Daily) -- “The gap between our citizens and our Government has never been so wide. The people are looking for honest answers, not easy answers; clear leadership, not false claims and evasiveness and politics as usual..What you see too often in Washington and elsewhere around the country is a system of government that seems incapable of action. You see a Congress twisted and pulled in every direction by hundreds of well financed and powerful special interests. You see every extreme position defended to the last vote, almost to the last breath by one unyielding group or another. You often see a balanced and a fair approach that demands sacrifice, a little sacrifice from everyone, abandoned like an orphan without support and without friends…Our people are losing…the ability as citizens to serve as the ultimate rulers and shapers of our democracy. ” Jimmy Carter, July 15, 1979

Controversial New Video of Obama's Pastor

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:57:46 GMT

clipped by: WhatAreWeDoing

Clip Source: www.worldviewtimes.com

Controversial New Video of Obama's Pastor

By Cliff Kincaid

A new video of Jeremiah Wright has surfaced, showing Barack Obama's pastor for 20 years praising Marxism and discussing his ties to communists in El Salvador and Nicaragua and the Libyan government. Equally important, Wright is being introduced in the video by

In an article in the socialist Monthly Review, "Journalism, Democracy, and Class Struggle," McChesney declared, "Our job is to make media reform part of our broader struggle for democracy, social justice, and, dare we say it, socialism."

In the video, which captures Wright's appearance at a September 17, 2009, anniversary celebration of Monthly Review, Wright said that while the "corporate media" provide a "binary lens" of the world, in such terms as "communist versus Christian," Monthly Review offers what it calls "no-nonsense Marxism."

Posted: 11/02/09

Winston Churchill quotes

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:30:57 GMT

clipped by: mklosinski

Clip Source: refspace.com

The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative.

To improve is to change. To be perfect is to change often.

The biggest argument against democracy is a five minute discussion with the average voter.

Tags: churchill

Congress Funds Study on How To Avoid Constituents, Stay in Office

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:50:31 GMT

clipped by: billpar
clipper's remarks: Congress is actually using your tax dollars to pay social scientists to find ways they can avoid actually talking to their constituents while improving their chances of reelection.

Clip Source: blog.heritage.org

Congress Funds Study on How To Avoid Constituents, Stay in Office

Online Town Hall Meetings: Exploring Democracy in the 21st Century. The CMF study consisted of 21 townhall meetings where Members of Congress and CMF provided a moderator: “spoke via voice over IP, and constituents asked questions and made comments by typing them. Only off-topic, redundant, unintelligible, or offensive questions were screened

CMF does not say what qualifies as offensive, but if this summer is any indication that definition would include anything that the Congressman did not want to talk about

this report urges Congressmen not to actually interact with their constituents, but to avoid them altogether by holding safe townhalls they can completely control

The lesson: avoid your constituents’ inconvenient questions and your approval ratings will rise. And this is a taxpayer funded study. Here is the grant from the National Science Foundation.

Tags: politics