Chicago Tribune: Catherine Vogt, 14, conducted an experiment in political tolerance at her Oak Park middle school and learned some valuable lessons. (Tribune photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo / November 12, 2008)
Catherine Vogt, a 14-year-old Chicago student, tested the reaction of fellow classmates by wearing "McCain Girl" and "Obama Girl" shirts to school. She recorded her results as an extra-credit project for history class. Here she shares them with Chicago Tribune reporter John Kass.
So just before the election, Catherine consulted with her history teacher, then bravely wore a unique T-shirt to school and recorded the comments of teachers and students in her journal. The T-shirt bore the simple yet quite subversive words drawn with a red marker: "McCain Girl."
"I was just really curious how they'd react to something that different, because a lot of people at my school wore Obama shirts and they are big Obama supporters ..."
"People were upset. But they started saying things, calling me very stupid, telling me my shirt was stupid and I shouldn't be wearing it," Catherine said. ... "One person told me to go die. It was a lot of dying. A lot of comments about how I should be killed," Catherine said, of the tolerance in Oak Park. [...]
"In one class, I had one teacher say she will not judge me for my choice, but that she was surprised that I supported McCain," Catherine said. [...]
The next day, in part 2 of The Brave Catherine Vogt Experiment, she wore another T-shirt, this one with "Obama Girl" written in blue. And an amazing thing happened.
Catherine wasn't very stupid anymore. She grew brains.
The new majority: conformists committed to non-conformity — in the name of fitting in.
The wind is blowing only one way at Chicago Tribune.
With now less than two weeks before election day, the liberal media have apparently gotten a little wind up their skirts (or pants, as it were). The ounce of integrity we thought they may have left was carried away on the winds of change. "The One" is breathing it all in—another intoxicating breath of fresh air for the senator, who can seemingly head forward in full sprint at all times while those who drive in for a tackle are effortlessly thwarted. To jump sports analogies, the media are always there to set the pick.
The Chicago Tribune has come out to denounce rumors that Barack Obama is a socialist, citing several sources who seem to find the notion laughable. Certainly Chicagoans know best about the one who has emerged from their midst, so we are expected to disregard all other facts—known truths and blatantly obvious clues—and get in line behind the man with the mouth. But the Chicago Tribune fails to question whether Obama is a communist. And why would they, as they might actually hit the target.
We've seen over and over again on forums liberals arguing "you have no idea what socialism is," "Obama is not a Marxist," "no, he's a neo-Marxist," "he is not a communist" (usually followed by "you're a racist"). Maybe they're right about his not falling into any of these categories, because to say that he is one or another is not accurate—he is all of the above. The ideologies and philosophies are all stepping stones in the Communist manifesto.
We can establish that Obama's views run parallel not only with socialism but with the goals of the Communist Party USA (and likewise the Communist manifesto embraced by Bill Ayers and the Weather Underground). Contrary to all sources cited in the Tribune's article, Obama's roots—from his liberal mother to Kenyan activist father to his early mentor Frank Marshall Davis—can be traced to one singular definition: communism. And whether that goes hand-in-hand with socialism is not a question but merely a distraction.
Obama reveals, in his own words (or as we are to assume are his words, in Dreams from My Father), his closeness to Frank Marshall Davis, who he turns to for counsel. The Canada Free Press notes:
What about Frank Marshall Davis’s role as a mentor to the young Obama? This is one of the assertions that Conybeare’s media council disputes. ... Merriam-Webster defines “mentor” as “a trusted counselor or guide.” Was Frank a “trusted counselor or guide” to Obama? And what “vision” did Davis give to the young Obama? Consider these examples from Obama’s 1995 book, Dreams from My Father:
- Obama’s grandmother (Toot) and Gramps have an argument over whether Gramps should give Toot a ride to work after she had been threatened at a bus stop by a black panhandler. Obama looks to Frank to sort it out in his mind. (p. 89-91) -When Toot is having difficulty convincing the drug-abusing young Obama to apply for college, it is again Frank who is able to convince Obama that college is necessary. (p. 96-98) - Frank delivers to the young Obama the one key lesson which radicals have sought to inculcate in the mind of every black person whether under slavery, segregation or civil rights: “…you may be a well-trained, well-paid nigger, but you’re a nigger just the same.” (p. 97)
Gerald Horne published, in March, the text of a speech delivered at the reception of the Communist Party USA at the Tamiment Library at New York University, which references Obama's close tie to Frank Marshall Davis:
When these sources are explored, I think scholars of the future will be struck by, for example, the response in Honolulu when tens of thousands of workers went on strike when labor and CP leaders were convicted of Smith Act violations in 1953 – a response totally unlike the response on the mainland. Of course 98% of these workers were of Asian-Pacific ancestry, which suggests that scholars have also been derelict in analyzing why these workers were less anti-communist than their Euro-American counterparts. In any case, deploring these convictions in Hawaii was an African-American poet and journalist by the name of Frank Marshall Davis, who was certainly in the orbit of the CP – if not a member – and who was born in Kansas and spent a good deal of his adult life in Chicago, before decamping to Honolulu in 1948 at the suggestion of his good friend Paul Robeson.
Eventually, he befriended another family – a Euro-American family – that had migrated to Honolulu from Kansas and a young woman from this family eventually had a child with a young student from Kenya East Africa who goes by the name of Barack Obama, who retracing the steps of Davis eventually decamped to Chicago. In his best selling memoir ‘Dreams of my Father’, the author speaks warmly of an older black poet, he identifies simply as "Frank" as being a decisive influence in helping him to find his present identity as an African-American, a people who have been the least anticommunist and the most left-leaning of any constituency in this nation – though you would never know it from reading so-called left journals of opinion. At some point in the future, a teacher will add to her syllabus Barack’s memoir and instruct her students to read it alongside Frank Marshall Davis’ equally affecting memoir, "Living the Blues" and when that day comes, I’m sure a future student will not only examine critically the Frankenstein monsters that US imperialism created in order to subdue Communist parties but will also be moved to come to this historic and wonderful archive in order to gain insight on what has befallen this complex and intriguing planet on which we reside.
The only strategy capable of defeating the ultra-right is the widest possible unity of all the class and social forces whose interests run counter to those of the most reactionary section of the transnationals. Such an all-inclusive coalition would need to be led by labor and the working class in close alliance with the nationally and racially oppressed, women, and youth. It should include seniors, family farmers, the LGBT community, professionals and the self-employed, small business owners, and the disabled—everyone except the most reactionary section of transnational capital. This unity will include an ever-growing Left-Center political coalition that includes the Democratic Party, left and progressive independents who recognize the danger the ultra-right poses, and all social movements on the major issues of our day. This all-people’s front should strive to, and be able to, attract many who voted Republican in the past.
The struggle against the ultra-right, against the most reactionary sector of the transnationals, and for achieving a defeat of its political power is of great significance. However, such a defeat alone will not end the ultra-right danger. There will still be the danger that the most extreme reactionaries, militarists, and racists in our country will seek to impose fascism—an open terrorist dictatorship of big capital. Only the replacement of capitalism—which gives birth to these political trends—by socialism can finally do away with the ultra-right threat.
So, get rid of Republicans, conservatives and capitalism, and roll out socialism. Seems pretty clear. Defines the current force in place behind Obama: Destroy Bush and destroy McCain and all Republicans through association to Bush.
How does the Communist Party USA achieve this?
Grassroots organizing around a program for working people’s needs is key to shift the balance of forces to the left. Building a multiracial, multinational movement and expanding union organization and other movements into the South and rural areas are crucial to overcoming the racism and bigotry utilized by the ultra-right.
The labor movement has made significant shifts in its organization and outlook, and now leads many coalitions for progress and change, and leads defensive struggles against the attacks of the corporations and the ultra-right. Labor’s intensified participation in electoral struggles has resulted in the election of thousands of union members to office, the creation and development of labor’s own independent political apparatus, and better communication with, education of, and mobilization of union membership. Increased efforts to organize workers, to build relationships with allies, and to fight in the political arena have made labor the key element of most major progressive coalitions and election campaigns. The struggle for the unity of the labor movement on issues must be the foundation on which the broadest coalition can be built. ... The Communist Party, as part of the developing all-peoples front to defeat the ultra-right, participates fully with the labor movement and its allies in building a strong people’s electoral force.
Further, to defeat "monopolies," the Party lists the following goals:
The building of a mass people’s party capable of contending for governmental power, a party free of domination by any monopoly interests;
Removal from the electoral system of the financial contributions of monopolies, to be replaced by public funding and guarantees of honest elections where each vote counts and all votes are counted;
Replacing the foreign policy of preemptive strikes and dictating to the world in the interests of U.S.-based transnationals with a policy of international cooperation to solve problems of war and aggression, poverty, education, environment, health, and development;
Full restoration and expansion of the Bill of Rights and all democratic rights; the complete separation of church and state;
Full legal protection from hate crimes and racial profiling, and the outlawing of oral and written racist propaganda;
Implementation of affirmative action and compensatory programs to achieve actual equality for the racially and nationally oppressed and women;
Prevention of the “freedom” of monopolies to move assets in ways that harm workers and communities without full compensation; the guaranteed right to a job at living wages or full income through public works and public service jobs; the growth of public ownership of industries;
Elimination of management prerogatives coupled with the expansion of workers and union rights to prevent socially harmful management decisions;
Full funding for education, affordable housing programs, day care, Social Security, a universal health care program, youth job training and recreation programs, and cultural programs;
Creation of a social fund starting at $200 billion to make up for past and continuing wrongs and to help achieve equality in facilities and infrastructure for communities of the racially and nationally oppressed;
No taxes for workers and low and middle income people; progressive taxation of the wealthy and private corporations;
Military budget slashed to a fraction of current spending; and,
All media to be free of monopoly ownership.
Many of these will be checked off the list fairly immediately with an Obama presidency. And, finally, the tie to socialism. It's spelled out clearly as a stepping stone to a ensure a communist government:
Socialism will solve many of the intractable problems of capitalism, and provide the mechanisms for solving others over time. Once human need replaces greed and private profit as the driving force of the economy, once working people can together make decisions about the priorities of society, once serious steps to end exploitation and oppression are being implemented, once the people remove the power of the transnationals from the U.S. political system, then we can begin real, humane problem solving.
The Communist Party seeks to build socialism in the United States based on the revolutionary traditions and struggles of the people of our country. From before the start of the American Revolution up to today, workers, low-income people, and their allies have struggled to create and extend democracy. ... Communists advocate socialism as the first phase of a new stage of society, but we don’t think that social and economic development will end at socialism. We see socialist society eventually leading to a higher phase—communism—where the capitalist class and all classes will have disappeared, replaced by a commonwealth of all working people, and where national and racial enmity and prejudice will be things of the past. In communist society, the essentials of life will be plentiful and readily available to all, and the repressive apparatus of government will wither away leaving purely administrative functions. In the communist phase of society, social production and distribution of wealth would be according to the principals of the motto, “From each according to their ability, to each according to their need.” In the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels wrote, “In place of the old bourgeois [capitalist] society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.”
It's almost as if Obama's entire campaign were based on this same manifesto—oh, wait, a thought occurred, what was it. Oh, let's just get back to the MSM, it's so much easier to believe.
If you need more evidence, the mainstream has finally begun to cover the fact that Obama was a member of the socialist New Party:
Barack Obama's childhood mentor 'Frank' member of socialist party and a pornographer (Part 1):
Barack Obama's childhood mentor 'Frank' member of socialist party and a pornographer (Part 2):
The Chicago Tribune—and, apparently, many socialist leaders—would like us to believe—against all logic—that Obama is not a socialist. You decide.
What are Bill Ayers and Barack Obama teaching children?
While the rest of us were, for the most part, oblivious to Bill Ayers' educational (read: indoctrination) aspirations prior to 2008, those in education—and Chicago, apparently—most certainly were not.
Here's an excerpt from an article published Aug. 8, 2006 by CATO@Liberty:
Take, for example, former Weather Undergroud terrorist Bill Ayers’ attempt to work his communism into the science curriculum through “radical” teacher education:
In 1997, Ayers and his mentor Maxine Greene persuaded Teachers College [Columbia] Press to launch a series of books on social justice teaching, with Ayers as editor and Greene serving on the editorial board (along with Rashid Khalidi, loyal supporter of the Palestinian cause and the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University). Twelve volumes have appeared so far, including one titled Teaching Science for Social Justice.
Teaching science for social justice? Let Teachers College professor Angela Calabrese Barton, the volume’s principal author, try to explain: “The marriages between capitalism and education and capitalism and science have created a foundation for science education that emphasizes corporate values at the expense of social justice and human dignity.” The alternative? “Science pedagogy framed around social justice concerns can become a medium to transform individuals, schools, communities, the environment, and science itself, in ways that promote equity and social justice. Creating a science education that is transformative implies not only how science is a political activity but also the ways in which students might see and use science and science education in ways transformative of the institutional and interpersonal power structures that play a role in their lives.” If you still can’t appreciate why it’s necessary for your child’s chemistry teacher to teach for social justice, you are probably hopelessly wedded to reason, empiricism, individual merit, and other capitalist and post-colonialist deformities. ... Columbia’s Teacher’s College, it is worth emphasizing, is one of the most prestigious and influential schools of education in the U.S. As you’ll see reading Sol Stern’s eye-opening article, Bill Ayres is a man who looks with admiration to the example of tryannical murders like Che Guevara and Ho Chi Minh, and he would like to get teachers to push their ideology into the science curriculum. Stern goes on to discuss Eric Gutstein, a public school math teacher, who incorporates socialist politics into his math lectures. (emphasis added)
What Barack Obama fails to make clear to Americans is that his platform is socialism—true socialism—and his leadership is steering America straight toward communism. How Barack Obama aligns with Bill Ayers should be very apparent. The goal of the Weather Underground was to transform the U.S. into a communist country. Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn never lost site of that goal, and in his mentor, Maxine Greene, Ayers found a new outlet for continuing his war on America.
Ayers is not teaching just a handful of children, he's gotten deeper to the root of education, cultivating teachers—before they've entered a classroom. Children are now soldiers in of the underground war on America and capitalism.
(Updated 10/14/2008)
Even more disturbing than Ayers' socialism and communist agendas is his support and design of sexual education and "gay" education for children. Linda Harvey writes this about the Bill Ayers "gay agenda" for schools:
In 2007, a group from the American Educational Research Association, or AERA, including Ayers, demanded major accrediting organization for schools, colleges, and departments of education include categories of "social justice, sexual orientation and gender identity" in its standards. Ayers and colleagues called their effort "Call to Action: A RED Campaign for Social Justice and Queer Lives." Ayers, formerly vice president for curriculum of the AERA, was the spokesman on behalf of the effort, calling on the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, or NCATE, to include these categories.
What would an Obama administration do? The record shows that Obama supported Illinois Senate Bill 99 in 2003, which, despite denials by Obama and false claims by the mainstream media, was not a bill to protect children from sexual predators. It was a sweeping, comprehensive sex-education bill that lowered the age of instruction from sixth grade to kindergarten, gutted an abstinence emphasis and prohibited "bias" based on "sexual orientation." The term "sexual predator" is nowhere in the bill, with inappropriate touching by peers included in a laundry list of the many aspects of explicit sex ed.
This post does not even begin to describe the myriad details available on these topics. Please visit the supporting links and follow up with your own research. The bottom line: Bill Ayers and Barack Obama are bad for America, but they are even worse for America's children.
Who is Alexi Giannoulias? Could there really be yet another shady connection that will finally grow legs in the media.
Obama helped Alexi Giannoulias (D) win a run for Illinois State Treasurer. Giannoulias has helped fund Barack Obama. They met on a basketball court, and it appears the two scratch each others' backs. Giannoulias spoke at the DNC: "Barack Obama has been my basketball buddy, my friend, my mentor and my inspiration."
From Giannoulias' website: "Prior to taking office, Giannoulias served as vice president and senior loan officer at Broadway Bank in Chicago’s Edgewater community. Crain’s Chicago Business rated Broadway the No. 1 Bank in Illinois for five years based on return on assets. Giannoulias grew up in Chicago, graduated cum laude from Boston University and earned a law degree from Tulane University’s School of Law in New Orleans." Obama says about Giannoulias, "... he's one of the most outstanding young men that I could ever hope to meet ..."
But of course this beautiful marriage of money and politics is more than meets the eye. Giannoulias is rumored to have financed Chicago figures with ties to the mob. It is also rumored that Broadway Bank is about to come out as being politically connect with Tony Rezko. The Chicago Sun-Times reported on Oct. 11 that Tony Rezko has been "spilling the beans." And some are speculating that Obama could be looking at jail. (No Quarter has a different take on this story.)
This post won't go into detail, but suffice it to say, maybe America will pay close attention to this one, hitting a nerve overexposed by the economic crisis—shady bank dealings are not going to play out as well for Obama as, say, relationships with '60s bombers, radical reverends and Islamic financers (wait, why is it again that America doesn't care about those things?). It certainly sounds like a Hollywood plot, and the slick-as-oil Obama gets a starring role. Hopefully the next twist is which President in American history pardons Obama for his crimes—or doesn't.
