A new video of Jeremiah Wright has surfaced, showing Barack Obama’s pastor of 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 Robert W. McChesney, co-founder of Free Press, an organization which has come under scrutiny for its links to the Obama Administration and dedication to the transformation and control of the private media in the U.S.
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.”
He added: “You dispel all the negative images we have been programmed to conjure up with just the mention of that word socialism or Marxism.”
He called America “land of the greed and home of the slave.”
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The McChesney introduction of Wright provides more insight into the political network, based largely in Chicago, that launched Obama’s political career and still influences him.
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Fox News’ Glenn Beck, who has focused critical public attention on McChesney’s influence in the “media reform” movement and on the Obama Administration, has noted that McChesney co-authored another piece for Monthly Review, “A New New Deal Under Obama?,” in which he said, “In the end, there is no real answer but to remove brick by brick the capitalist system itself, rebuilding the entire society on socialist principles.”
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Dropping any pretense of objectivity and non-partisanship, the 2008 “National Conference for Media Reform” turned into a Barack Obama-for-President rally, as left-wing media figure Arianna Huffington denounced John McCain as a “Trojan horse for the right” who had “sold his soul” to become president. Several speakers, including Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps, used the Obama campaign slogan, “Yes, we can,” as they urged the thousands of “progressives” in the audience to bring “change” to Washington, D.C.
The change can now be seen in the main agency, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), with jurisdiction over the media as well as the Internet. A major figure in Free Press conferences, Mark Lloyd, is now the Associate General Counsel and Chief Diversity Officer at the FCC. But he has gotten critical attention from Glenn Beck and others for praising the Marxist revolution in Venezuela, where the regime has attempted to control or even eliminate private media sources. Lloyd also has defended Paul Robeson, the famous singer and actor who tried to conceal his involvement in Communist Party activities from congressional investigators.
A former Free Press official, Jen Howard, is now the press secretary for the Federal Communications Commission.
As for Wright, he received some unwanted attention for saying earlier this year that he blamed “them Jews” for keeping him away from President Obama.
At the Monthly Review celebration, however, he went into more detail about his own personal and political philosophy. He said that “My work with liberation theology, with Latin American theologians, with the Black Theology Project and with the Cuban Council of Churches taught me 30 years ago the importance of Marx and the Marxist analysis of the social realities of the vulnerable and the oppressed who were trying desperately to break free of the political economics undergirded by this country that were choking them and cutting off any hope of a possible future where all of the people would benefit.”
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In a recap of the celebration, the Monthly Review editors declared, “We would like to thank all those who participated in this extraordinary event. Dr. Wright captured the tone of the evening, declaring that: ‘Militarism, capitalism and racism, domestic oppression, foreign military aggression, victims of neo-colonialism, victims of community and national racism, and the Cold War days in its infancy to the needless war in Vietnam in its [MR's] second decade, through wars of greed in Afghanistan and Iraq in [its] sixth decade’ were all incisively covered by the magazine. He spoke of Monthly Review’s indefatigable insistence on the need to put ‘people before profits,’ and its unflinching criticisms of inequality, injustice, and the realities of capitalism.”
It is not clear what kind of personal relationship that McChesney, a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has with Obama. But his influence on the Obama Administration, as reflected in the FCC appointments, seems to be significant.
Rev Jeremiah Wright (introduced by Robert McChesney) speaking at the 60th anniversary celebration of the independent socialist magazine Monthly Review. The event was held on September 17th, 2009, at the New York Society for Ethical Culture in New York City.
Partial transcript:
This magazine unflinchingly has tackled the tough issues from McCarthyism to militarism, from the Chinese revolution through the Canadian revolution to the Cuban revolution, from the lies told by United States presidents to the lies told by the United States media. We celebrate tonight six decades of dedicated service.
You stayed up front. Your starting point is, quote, no nonsense Marxism, unquote. But you dispel all the negative images we have been programmed to conjure up with just the mention of that word “Socialism” or “Marxism.”
Grateful for the opportunity to bring you a word of Thanksgiving from those who don’t ordinarily get a hearing unless they go along with the program, sing in tune with whatever is the popular tune and stay in lockstep with the political pundits who tell us what is politically correct, what is permissible and what will be tolerated from a person of color in this land, the land of the greed and the home of the brave excuse me, the land of the greed and home of the slave. (Applause).
For the people. My work with liberation theology, with Latin American theologians, with the Black Theology Project and what the Cuban Council of Churches taught me 30 years ago the importance of Marx and the Marxist analysis of the sociologies of the vulnerable and the oppressed who were trying desperately to break free of the political economies undergirded by this country that were choking them and cutting off any hope of a possible future where all of the people would benefit. My exposure to the FMLN in El Salvador, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and my presence at the 15th Jamahiriya in Libya taught me what I have read in the pages of the Monthly Review which is as Joshua Stanton says, though we need not always agree with one another, we must do the work necessary to at least understand one another.
Update: A blog post on Robert McChesney’s Monthly Review has been up at Organizing for America at barackobama.com since April 18 2009. Obviously they approve.
The Obama Administration has drawn a line in the sand that is beyond contempt and quite frankly beneath the dignity of the office.
Such tactics may not be frowned upon by brass-knuckle operatives working for the political machine in a one party town. But it’s different when you’re the President of the United States. Most Americans of all political stripes don’t want to see the President using the majesty and power of his office for heavy handed attacks on any organization simply because it has been critical of the President.
In other words, the White House’s strategy may be the Chicago way, but it isn’t the American way.
Obama’s Chicago imports flack David Axelrod and thug Rham Emanuel parrot Anita Dunn’s ‘FOX is not news’.
Embedded videos
STEPHANOPOULOS: Final question. Your colleague, Anita Dunn, told the New York Times this week that Fox News was undertaking a war against the White House and said the White House would treat Fox the way we would an opponent. Here’s what Rupert Murdoch had to say about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUPERT MURDOCH, NEWSCORP: There were some strong remarks coming out of the White House about one or two of the commentators on Fox News. And all I can tell you is it has tremendously increased their ratings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANOPOULOS: That does seem to be true. Are you worried that your strategy is fortifying your enemy?
AXELROD: Well, I don’t — you know, I’m not concerned. Mr. Murdoch has a — has a talent for making money, and I understand that their programming is geared toward making money. All — the only argument Anita was making is that they’re not really a news station, if you watch — even – it’s not just their commentators, but a lot of their news programming, it’s really not news. It’s pushing a point of view.
And the bigger thing is that other news organizations, like yours, ought not to treat them that way, and we’re not going to treat them that way. We’re going to appear on their shows. We’re going to participate, but understanding that they represent a point of view.
It’s not so much a conflict with Fox News. But unlike I suppose the way to look at it, the way the President looks at it and we look at it, it’s not a news organization so much as it has a perspective. And that’s a different take. And more importantly is not have the CNNs and the others in the world, basically be led and following Fox as what they’re trying to do as legitimate news organization in the sense of both sides and a sense of valued opinion.
I suspect this attack against FOX News is likely not only an attempt to suppress dissent but a handy distraction to avert America’s eyes from the agenda behind the agenda.
Lloyd is in fact a Saul Alinsky disciple. In his 2006 book entitled Prologue to a Farce: Communication and Democracy in America, he calls for an all-out “confrontational movement” against private media. He wants leftist activists – through incessant political pressure – and the government – through the creation of a totally untenable operating environment of fees, fines and regulations – to work together to force the commercial broadcasters out, to be replaced by public broadcasters.
And in his tome, Lloyd had this to say about the First Amendment:
“It should be clear by now that my focus here is not freedom of speech or the press. This freedom is all too often an exaggeration. At the very least, blind references to freedom of speech or the press serve as a distraction from the critical examination of other communications policies.
“[T]he purpose of free speech is warped to protect global corporations and block rules that would promote democratic governance.”
…and glorifies Hugo Chavez’ ‘Incredible…Democratic Revolution’…
“In Venezuela, with Chavez, is really an incredible revolution - a democratic revolution. To begin to put in place things that are going to have an impact on the people of Venezuela.
“The property owners and the folks who then controlled the media in Venezuela rebelled – worked, frankly, with folks here in the U.S. government- worked to oust him. But he came back with another revolution, and then Chavez began to take very seriously the media in his country.
Obama has said “Don’t judge me, based on what others say about me, or my words alone, but rather judge me by who I surround myself with”
Fine O have it your way!
Another OCommieCzar? Mark Lloyd (The Obama Admin’s new Associate General Counsel and Chief Diversity Officer of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ) glorifies Hugo Chavez’ marxist revolution in Venezuela and defends a communist. I hate to see what else Lloyd has in his bag of tricks. By the way Van Jones the former Obama Green Jobs Czar has just resigned as reported late last night around midnight. Mark Lloyd should be the next to go. And rightfully so.
Free speech and marxisim-communisim go together like oil and water. Diversity, although divisive and a leftist ideal, has little to do with what Mark Lloyd will try to accomplish while holding down his non-Congressional approval appointment, mark my word. It is but the cloak he will wear to cover his anti-freedom of speech actions. A more appropriate title would be Censorship Czar. If you speak in defense of communists you may as well be one.
Raising new concerns about another controversial Obama Administration official, testimony has surfaced from Mark Lloyd, the new Associate General Counsel and Chief Diversity Officer of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in which he praises Paul Robeson, the communist actor and singer who was an apologist for Soviet dictator and mass murderer Joseph Stalin.
Lloyd, who worked as a broadcast journalist at NBC and CNN, has come under fire from Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck and Seton Motley of the Media Research Center for being openly critical of private media companies in the U.S. and Venezuela, where Lloyd believes that Marxist ruler Hugo Chavez is trying to implement a popular democracy.
At the FCC, Lloyd is in a position to try to influence and control media content by making statements and issuing directives on media “diversity” and fairness.
But 2005 testimony that Lloyd provided to a congressional forum headed by far-left Democratic Rep. John Conyers raises even more questions about his totalitarian mind-set and background.
At a 2008 “media reform” conference sponsored by the George Soros-funded Free Press organization, Lloyd declared that the Marxist revolution in Venezuela under Chavez was “incredible” and “dramatic” but that the “property owners and the folks who were then controlling the media in Venezuela rebelled” against the would-be dictator and supported a coup against him. However, Lloyd said that Chavez wised up and “then started to take the media seriously…”
The implication of these remarks is that Chavez dealt with his opponents in the media by trying to control or silence them, and that Lloyd supports that strategy when dealing with opponents of revolutionary Marxism here in the U.S.
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It is apparent that Chavez is using the government to force private companies out of the media business and restrict and investigate the remaining independent journalists. This is a process that apparently meets with the approval of “progressives” such as Mark Lloyd in the U.S.
Could this be their plan in the U.S. as well?
Go read it all!
Notable quote at the 2:47 mark:
I will also propose that the solution to the problem of bad speech is not censorship but better speech.
Hey Obama why don’t you just admit that you are a far left radical minded individual.
We knew before you were elected, and you have given us plenty of proof after the fact backing up our claims.
I will not only judge you by the company that you keep but on the content of your character. As in shady character.
Take note at this date in time, anyone who still supports Obama I will presume is cut from the same cloth.
Lloyd dismisses outright what he calls the “two primary explanations typically put forth to explain the disparities between [the respective amounts of] conservative and progressive talk radio programming.” Says Lloyd:
“In the first argument, the explosion of conservative talk radio is attributed to the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine by the [FCC] in 1987. The Fairness Doctrine was a regulation … that required broadcasters to devote airtime to important and controversial issues and to provide contrasting views on these issues in some form. From this perspective, the repeal of the doctrine in the late 1980’s allowed station owners to broadcast more opinionated, ideological, and one-sided radio hosts without having to balance them with competing views.”
This development, the theory goes, gave rise to the growth of the talk radio format spearheaded by such conservative personalities as Rush Limbaugh, G. Gordon Liddy, and Sean Hannity. Leftist/liberal radio has not produced anyone of similar stature.
But Lloyd says “the Fairness Doctrine was never, by itself, an effective tool to ensure the fair discussion of important issues.” He explains:
“The Fairness Doctrine was most effective as part of a regulatory structure that limited license terms to three years, subjected broadcasters to license challenges through comparative hearings, required notice to the local community that licenses were going to expire, and empowered the local community through a process of interviewing a variety of local leaders.”
To address each of these issues, Lloyd recommends that the FCC take the following steps “to ensure local needs are being met”:
“Require radio broadcast licensees to regularly show that they are operating on behalf of the public interest and provide public documentation … of how they are meeting these obligations.”
“Provide a license to radio broadcasters for a term no longer than three years.” In other words, every three years radio stations would be evaluated for their compliance with the mandate that they serve “the public interest.” (Section 307 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act extended the length of broadcast-license terms to eight years.)
“Demand that the radio broadcast licensee announce when its license is about to expire and demonstrate how the public can participate in the process to determine whether the license should be extended.” (Such a modus operandi would provide ample opportunity for activist groups like ACORN to stage high-profile, public demonstrations against radio stations whose political content they find objectionable.)
Conservative girl next door. I am a pissed off red head.
Fear my wrath, or come along for the ride. Choose your side.
Free will, truth and the freedom of speech are my weapons of choice.
"...But if a believer demands that I, as a nonbeliever, observe his taboos in the public domain, he is not asking for my respect, but for my submission. And that is incompatible with a secular democracy."
- Flemming Rose
"lan astaslem"
I will not submit.
I will not surrender.
A Refresher Course...For Those In Denial
"Above all, the devil cannot stand to be mocked" - C.S.Lewis
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