Friday, February 28, 2014

Tom Hayden and the 'Spiritual Progressives' Defend Murder in Venezuela



Tom Hayden and the 'Spiritual Progressives' Defend Murder in Venezuela

by Joel B. Pollak 28 Feb 2014, 6:14 AM PDT
I received an email yesterday from "The Network of Spiritual Progressives," a group run by the left-wing Rabbi Michael Lerner and devoted to spreading love a peace throughout the world. The Spiritual Progressives can be counted on to join anti-war demonstrations and to criticize almost anything Israel does to protect its citizens from Palestinian terror. This particular email was concerned with the raging political crisis in Venezuela.

The email contained an essay on Venezuela by Tom Hayden, one of the most important activists of the 1960s. Hayden drafted the Port Huron Statement in 1962, which launched the New Left and inspired a generation whose politics were stamped by the civil rights and anti-war movements, and who embraced utopian ideals like "participatory democracy." They are today's Democratic Party leaders and mainstream media gatekeepers.

Hayden, like many of the leaders of Students for a Democratic Society, became more and more radical, visiting North Vietnam and the like. But Hayden never quite left mainstream politics, and became an important leader among California's Democrats, serving in both houses of the state legislature over nearly two decades. He was married to Jane Fonda and remains a progressive icon. His views both reflect and inspire others' on the left.

Rabbi Lerner introduced Hayden's comments on Venezuela as "an important perspective on the current conflict in Venezuela that you won't get from NPR or most of the media." (Evidently taxpayer-and-donor-funded NPR is as bad as the corporate-owned media, you see.) The gist of Hayden's argument was that a shadowy government, beyond the control of President Barack Obama, wants Nicolás Maduro, Hugo Chávez's successor, overthrown.

Hayden shows no concern whatsoever for the erosion of democracy under Chávez and Maduro, no compassion for unarmed demonstrators murdered in the streets, no shock at the Venezuelan's utter destruction of the oil-rich economy. This icon of "participatory democracy" shows no outrage at the arrest of Leopoldo Lopez, the leader of the opposition, no concern about widely-reported torture of demonstrators in Venezuelan prisons.

He is concerned, Hayden writes, that U.S. foreign policy is being run by a "state within a state," dating back to "the CIA's operations against Cuba." He is not concerned in the slightest that Cuba itself is running a "state within a state" in Venezuela, openly assisting the Maduro regime in suppressing opposition and protest as millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil are shipped to Cuba to prop up the brutally tenacious Castro brothers.

Hayden gives Obama the benefit of the doubt: after all, "a friendly Obama shook the hand of Hugo Chavez [in 2009] before Obama's top adviser tried to sabotage the warming of relations," after all. Yet he is worried that Obama's friendship towards Venezuela's government will be undermined by "a secret network that works tirelessly to undermine any Latin American threat to the dominance of American capital and military power."

It is not shocking that a 1960s radical would believe such stuff. It is, however, rather surprising that a group that prides itself on its embrace of non-violence would circulate Hayden's views with approval, shamelessly excusing any and all violence and tyranny by the Venezuelan state. The next time you hear these progressive Democrats complain about the U.S. military or about Israeli occupation, remember their support for murder in Venezuela.

Tom Hayden
Tom Hayden was a co-founder for the Students for a Democratic Society, married to Jane Fonda, and is an editorial board member for The Nation.

Note: Jane Fonda A.K.A Hanoi Jane was married to Tom Hayden, and married to Ted Turner.
Jane Fonda A.K.A. Hanoi Jane
Ted Turner was married to Jane Fonda, and is a co-chairman for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) was a funder for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), was a board member for the International Crisis Group, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population control by involving the United States in war)
Moises Naim was a senior associate, International Economics Program minister of trade and industry for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), was a board member for the International Crisis Group, and the minister of trade and industry for Venezuela.
Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and the Center for American Progress.
George Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, a board member for the International Crisis Group, was a supporter for the Center for American Progress, and the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), the Center for American Progress, Media Matters, the New America Foundation, the Roosevelt Institute, and the Climate Reality Project.
Eric Alterman is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a columnist for The Nation, and was a senior fellow at Media Matters.
Christopher Hayes is an editor at large for The Nation, and was a fellow at the New America Foundation.
Katrina vanden Heuvel is an editor & publisher for The Nation, a director at the Roosevelt Institute, and was a governor for the Roosevelt Institute.
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. was a co-chairman for the Roosevelt Institute, and a co-founder for the Americans for Democratic Action.
Richard Parker was the president of the Americans for Democratic Action, a co-founder for Mother Jones, and is an editorial board member for The Nation.
Mother Jones: Study Shows Global Warming May Cause More Rape
by William Bigelow 27 Feb 2014
Laura Delano Roosevelt is a governor for the Roosevelt Institute, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s granddaughter.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was Laura Delano Roosevelt’s grandfather, and Theodore Roosevelt’s fifth cousin.
Theodore Roosevelt was Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s fifth cousin, and his great-grandson is Theodore Roosevelt IV.
Theodore Roosevelt IV is Theodore Roosevelt’s great grandfather, and a director at the Climate Reality Project.
Albert A. Gore Jr. is the chairman for the Climate Reality Project.

Liberal Billionaire Tom Steyer: Green Godfather to Democrats, or Green Pied Piper?



Liberal Billionaire Tom Steyer: Green Godfather to Democrats, or Green Pied Piper?

by James P. Pinkerton 28 Feb 2014, 1:14 AM PDT
Once upon a time, Democrats complained about fatcats funding campaigns. Then they discovered that it was they who had the fatter cats. So that made the situation different: Fatcats—at least liberal fatcats—are okay.

The problem for elected Democrats, though, is that while the money is good, the politics are bad. The new breed of Demo-fatcat demands that candidates embrace a Green ideology that happens to be ballot-box poison.

But Greenism is political poison, of course, only if the voters find out about it. And it’s possible that the money that’s enticing Democratic candidates can also be used, unfortunately, for bamboozling the voters. We’ll know for sure this November.

As recently as late last year, President Obama was asked about the Supreme Court’s Citizens United case, a decision that opened the door wider to big campaign donations. Quoth the President:

There aren’t a lot of functioning democracies around the world that work this way, where you can basically have millionaires and billionaires bankrolling whoever they want, however they want.

Yet interestingly, Obama made no mention of campaign finance reform in his 2014 State of the Union address. This agenda-setting speech is typically encyclopedic in its laundry-listing of everything that’s on a commander-in-chief’s mind—and yet in this particular speech, nearly 7000 words long, POTUS made no mention of money in politics.

So why the silence? What might have chilled the President’s interest? One possible clue can be found in a news article in Sunday’s Washington Post headlined, “Environmental advocates target climate change as Democratic election issue.” Actually, the headline might be translated to read, “Green liberal billionaires plot to elect Democrats who will squeeze down the energy industry.” Indeed, the piece details the efforts of former vice president Al Gore and a coterie of billionaires, mostly clustered in the San Francisco Bay Area, including hedge funder Tom Steyer and Esprit founder Susie Tompkins Buell, to bankroll the Democrats to victory in 2014.

Or maybe we should say, “bankroll Democrats to survival.” As MSNBC’s Chris Matthews asserted on Sunday, “a rosy scenario” for Senate Democrats in 2014 is to lose only five seats, and they could, he added, lose as many as 10. In other words, Democrats need all the help they can get.

And they can get help from Big Green, and lots of it—but at a price. As Washington Post writer Juliet Eilperin wrote, “Wealthy environmentalists are pushing Democrats to take bolder positions on climate change.” Once again, if we might be allowed to translate, “wealthy” means, in fact, “super rich.”

Steyer, for example, retired from investing to devote himself full time to liberal-left activism, mostly, green activism; he seems determined to play the role of Green Godfather. He reportedly spent $11 million to help elect Democrat Terry McAuliffe as governor of Virginia, and he has pledged another $100 million more in the coming the 2014 midterm elections; a look at his website, Next GenClimate.org, shows he is perfectly happy to be the upfront face of all his political efforts.

Some might say, of course, that these liberal Greens are simply trying to keep up with the big spenders on the right. What about, for example, the Koch Brothers? Surely it takes a lot of Steyerses to keep with the Kochs. Yet as The Washington Times recently noted:

The Koch brothers, despite their wealth and interest in politics, are not even in the major league of contributors to political causes. The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics compiled a list of “Heavy Hitters,” top political donors from 1989 to 2014, and the Koch brothers are in 59th place. Thirteen of the top 20 donor groups gave nearly all of their campaign cash to Democrats, with ActBlue leading the list with $97.2 million, all of it contributed to Democrats… Only three of the top 20 donor groups gave predominantly to Republicans.

In other words, the left is beating the right at the big-money game. So once again, we can see why the Democrats don’t seem preoccupied anymore with the goal of “getting money out of politics.”

And yet money talks, of course, loudly. Returning to Sunday’s Washington Post article, we might translate more of the polite reportage into blunter talk, starting with the reference to “bolder positions on climate change.” What does “bolder” mean? What’s a bolder position? Here’s what it means: A big lurch to the Green left.

At the top of the Steyer agenda is opposition to the Keystone Pipeline. And that’s problematic for politicians in most parts of the country, because according to a recent poll, by a 56:41 margin, Americans support the job-creating infrastructure project. In other words, in return for their campaign cash, the Green billionaires expect Democratic politicians to take an unpopular stand on a high-profile controversy.

Yet Keystone is just the beginning. A look at Steyer’s website shows us the full panoply of San Francisco liberalism, including tax increases and the claim that climate change “ranks right up there” with “terrorism, epidemics, poverty, [and] the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”

Climate change more dangerous than terrorism or rogue nations? Yes, such a claim might seem laughable to those who rightly fear Al Qaeda or Iran or North Korea, but the view seems to be widely held in elite circles. On February 16, Secretary of State John Kerry—married to yet another Green billionaire, Theresa Heinz Kerry—went one step further, declaring, “Climate change can now be considered another weapon of mass destruction, perhaps the world's most fearsome weapon of mass destruction [emphasis added]." As they say, ideas have consequences. And so if jet-set liberals all agree that carbon dioxide is at least as great a threat as WMD, well, we shouldn’t be surprised that such views are shaping Obama administration policy.

Of course, Barack Obama, having been re-elected to the White House, is now done with elections; it’s the Democrats in Congress who have to face the voters this November.

So how will these Green ideas play in Peoria? And in the Heartland as a whole? One clue comes from the 2010 midterm elections, when the voters had a chance to judge House members on their 2009 vote for the “cap and trade” legislation. And for Democrats, the results weren’t pretty.

Sample headline in Politico immediately after the ’10 elections: “Democrats’ day of reckoning comes for climate vote.” As the article explained:

Democrats who voted for the controversial House climate bill were slaughtered at the ballot box, including Rep. Rick Boucher, the 14-term Virginian who helped broker some of the key deals instrumental to its June 2009 passage. In the Senate, several reliable green advocates also went down to opponents who derided tough new environmental policies.

With that in mind, what will 2014 be like for Democrats who take money from Steyer & Co. and then face the voters? Donors rich with money and guilt are one thing; voters rich with anxieties about jobs and income are quite another. As even the liberal-friendly Washington Post had to concede in its article on Steyer:

The Democratic Party’s relationship with the environmental movement remains fraught — torn between fervent believers and centrists reluctant to go against traditional energy industry interests that play a major role in their state’s economies. Most of the Democratic candidates facing the toughest Senate races at the moment are in states that traditionally favor the fossil fuel industry, including Alaska, Louisiana, Kentucky and West Virginia.

The problem, of course, is jobs and economic growth. On Steyer’s website, we see a little bit of language about the need to “preserve American prosperity”—although no mention of the need to increase American prosperity. Of course, the case for growth as a result of Green policies is a hard, if not impossible, argument to make these days; in the wake of Solyndra and all the other Green boondoggles, only a few propagandists still claim that a Green Economy will be anything more than a Lean Economy.

In fact, there’s plenty of evidence that that’s exactly what the the Greens want: Less, to them, is more. After all, the roots of today’s Green movement are found in the gloomy maunderings of Thomas Malthus, who worried about too much growth—back in the late in the late 18th century. Ever since then, the same mindset, a back-to-nature combination of pessimism and elitism, has animated the radical wing of the environmental movement.

Indeed, if we’re curious as to what the Greens really think, we need only read what they say to each other in policy discussions. One who monitors the Green Movement closely is Marc Morano of ClimateDepot.com, which points us to such revealing items as a recent press release from the Sierra Club (a group headquartered in, where else? San Francisco). In this release, a Green is approvingly quoted as saying, “There’s no such thing as sustainable growth, not in a country like the US. We have to de-grow our economy.” Yes, that’s right: “de-grow.” The goal is to “de-grow our economy.”

And jobs? Should we “de-grow” them, too? Another Green quoted in the same Sierra Club item declares, “We know that when an economy isn't growing, you tend to get a fallout of higher unemployment. So you have to spread the work around more evenly.” Got that? Higher unemployment is acceptable, maybe even a goal? And we can all try to pay the mortgage on, 30 hours of work a week? Or maybe 25?

These are shocking quotes, to be sure. Yet in view of their history, why shouldn’t we take the Greens at their word—that is, when they say they want everyone to live with less?

Well, okay, maybe not everyone has to live with less: When we compare the lifestyle that Big Green billionaires choose for themselves, compared to the lifestyle that they would choose for us, words such as “double standard” and “hypocrisy” leap to mind. They might have a Prius or a bicycle for show, but when they really need to get around, limousines and private jets are the standard mode of transportation. Here’s looking at you, Al Gore!

In light of these Green Malthusian pronouncements, Steyer’s vague pledge to “preserve” America’s prosperity looks similarly double standard-ish, if not downright deceitful.

By contrast, the Koch Brothers, and their allies on the pro-growth right, are utterly sincere; what you see is what you get. Love them or hate them, they have always been upfront about what they believe in: lower taxes, less regulation, and inexpensive and abundant energy.

So voters who want growth should vote with the Kochs—and no voter who wants “more” should be deceived into voting otherwise. As for those who sincerely oppose growth, they should vote with Steyer.

Obviously such clear-cut calculus poses a big problem for Democrats, because the vast majority of voters do indeed want growth. As shown by what happened to the Democrats in the 2010 midterms, Steyer could prove to be less of a Green Godfather and more of a Green Pied Piper—piping a tune that carries Democrats to their doom.

So here’s where all the Green billionaires and their lavish campaign contributions can potentially make a decisive difference—that is, they might be able to buy some elections for Democrats. As we have seen, Obama and his allies don’t want to do anything to crimp such spending and thus stymie the attempted campaign bamboozlement.

In addition, the mainstream media can come to the aid of the Greens and the Democrats. Just over the weekend, CNN declared, “There are some stories which do not have two sides. The climate change debate is one of them.” In other words, if anyone questions the importance of climate change, well, they’re just not to be taken seriously.

Actually, while CNN might not ever want to admit it, there is a great deal of scientific literature on the other side of the debate. For a look, one might start with the work Steven Goddard, who has tirelessly tracked the oscillations of scientific “consensus”—as it has veered from dire projections of global cooling, then to projections of global warming, and now to the all-purpose catchall projection of “climate change.”

And that’s the key word, “change,” although not in the way the Greens wish to say it. Over the course of billions of years, long before humans came on the scene , the temperature of the earth has varied greatly. Why? One big reason is the sun: When the sun varies, earth varies, too. (Other big variables are volcanic eruptions and meteor strikes, neither of which are subject to human influence.)

In fact, the amount of heat that humans generate is vastly outnumbered by the amount of radiant energy coming from the star next door. Outnumbered by how much? According to the Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, NM, the solar energy that hits the earth every year is some 300,000 times greater than the world’s annual energy production. In other words, the slightest tick, upward or downward, in solar radiation has vastly more impact on the earth’s temperature than anything that mere humans might do or not do.

Scientific evidence suggests that solar radiation has decreased in the last decade or so, signaling that we might be in for a cooling period, “greenhouse gases” notwithstanding. Indeed, the recent reduction in radiation seems to explain the “pause” in warming that even global-warming alarmists have been forced to acknowledge.

In the meantime, as the science sorts itself out, national policymakers are better advised to focus on immediate issues—that is, not on the sea level in a hundred years, but, rather, on jobs and the economy.

Indeed, the importance of economic growth suggests that the American people will reject Steyer & Co. this November—no matter how much money they are willing to spend.

But we must remember: Win or lose in 2014, Steyer will still be rich, and presumably he’ll be ready to rumble yet again in 2016.

Susie Tompkins Buell
Susie Tompkins Buell was a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, a contributor for the American Bridge 21st Century, a member of the Democracy Alliance, a contributor at Ready for Hillary, a donor for Media Matters, and is a national finance council member at Ready for Hillary.

Note: Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and the Center for American Progress.
George Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, a co-chair, national finance council for the Ready for Hillary, a director at the Brain Trauma Foundation, was a contributor for the American Bridge 21st Century, a member of the Democracy Alliance, and the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for Media Matters, the Center for American Progress, the Center for International Policy, the Climate Reality Project, and the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Darcy Burner is a director at the Center for International Policy, and was a director at ActBlue.
Hassan Nemazee was a director at the Brain Trauma Foundation, is a friend of Terence R. McAuliffe, and a friend of Albert A. Gore Jr.
Terence R. McAuliffe is a friend of Hassan Nemazee, a director at the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and the governor-elect for the Virginia state government.
Albert A. Gore Jr. is a friend of Hassan Nemazee, and the chairman for the Climate Reality Project.
Carol M. Browner was a director at the Climate Reality Project, the energy czar for the Barack Obama administration, and is a senior fellow, director at the Center for American Progress.
John D. Podesta is a counselor for the Barack Obama administration, the chair & counselor for the Center for American Progress, and was the temporary CEO for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Lawrence H. Summers is a distinguished fellow at the Center for American Progress, was a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Laura D'Andrea Tyson is a fellow at the Center for American Progress, was a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Teresa Heinz Kerry is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), married to John F. Kerry, a life trustee at the Carnegie Mellon University, and a trustee at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.
John F. Kerry is married to Teresa Heinz Kerry, and the secretary at the U.S. Department of State for the Barack Obama administration, and his brother is Cameron F. Kerry.
Cameron F. Kerry is John F. Kerry’s brother, a fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and was the general counsel; acting secretary for the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Jessica Tuchman Mathews was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), is the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population control by involving the United States in war)
Andrew Carnegie was the founder of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), the endowed predecessor schools for the Carnegie Mellon University, and the founder of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.
Teresa Heinz Kerry is a life trustee at the Carnegie Mellon University, a trustee at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and married to John F. Kerry.
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) was a funder for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Ted Turner is a co-chairman for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), and the founder for CNN.









Welfare Payout Statistics That Will Make You Really Angry

According to the Cato Institute, welfare benefits payout more than a minimum wage job in at least 35 states! According to Cato, in thirteen states the payout is more than $15 an hour! And even more shocking, is that if someone were to draw all of the welfare benefits that they are “entitled” to, their pay would be more than that of a newly college educated teacher (burdened with student loan debt, no doubt) in eleven states, and it would add up to more than the salary of a computer programmer in three states!
The highest welfare payout states pay more than $20 an hour, and they include: Hawaii, with payments equaling $29.13 per hour, DC at $24.43 per hour, Massachusetts at $24.30 , Connecticut at $21.33, New York at $21.01 per hour, New Jersey at $20.89 per hour, Rhode Island at $20.83 per hour and Vermont at $20.36 per hour.
The Cato study was authored by Michael Tanner and Charles Hughes and it was titled “The Work Versus Welfare Tradeoff, 2013.”
Let’s have one more look at that chart, so you can see where your state stacks up. Are your neighbors in your area getting more money in welfare benefits than you are earning breaking your back day in and day out down at your job?
all-states-welfare

Housing and Urban Development Officials Called to Testify Before Congress over Scandal



Housing and Urban Development Officials Called to Testify Before Congress over Scandal

by Matthew Boyle 27 Feb 2014, 3:54 PM PDT
The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation Chairman Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) is calling on the Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide key current and former officials for testimony at an upcoming hearing on the scandal at their agency.

Earlier this month, HUD’s Inspector General uncovered improper lobbying activity undertaken by now-former HUD Deputy Secretary Maurice Jones and a whole host of other HUD figures. Jones is now newly elected Virginia Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s Commerce Secretary.

One official, Elliot Mincberg, attempted to withhold information from Congress and the IG and claimed he was doing so at the direction of and in “coordination” with top lawyers from President Obama’s White House.

McHenry, whose request for the IG investigation prompted these discoveries, wrote Thursday to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan that he wants Jones, Mincberg, and the other HUD officials to testify at a forthcoming hearing. McHenry noted that HUD IG David Montoya testified about these abuses by HUD staff on Wednesday and that a thus-far-unscheduled hearing seeks the testimony of HUD’s Jones, Mincberg, Peter Constantine, Jennifer Szubrowski, Francey Youngberg, and Jonathan Harwi.

“In particular, the HUD-IG testified that certain HUD officials failed to comply with Federal law and HUD policies prohibiting lobbying, as well as efforts by certain HUD officials to obstruct the investigation of those matters,” McHenry wrote. “The HUD-IG’s testimony raises troubling questions concerning HUD's operations. Accordingly, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations intends to hold a hearing to receive the testimony of the individuals whose conduct was described by the HUD-IG at the hearing.”

McHenry gave Donovan until March 5 “to provide dates within the month of March when the above-named individuals are available to testify.”

The alleged White House involvement in obstructing this investigation was buried on page 19 of the report and was first written about by Breitbart News this week.

While criminal charges have not been filed against these Obama administration officials, Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told Breitbart News that police may need to get involved here. “Like all administration employees, HUD employees need to follow the rules on interacting with Congress and the agency inspector general,” Grassley said in an emailed statement. “If an employee is trying to withhold information from or obstruct an investigation of the inspector general or member of Congress, that’s alarming. The appropriate entities, including law enforcement as necessary, need to get to the bottom of it.”

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Maurice A. Jones was the deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and is the secretary of commerce nominee for the Virginia state government.

Note: Terence R. McAuliffe is the governor-elect for the Virginia state government, a friend of Hassan Nemazee, and a director at the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Hassan Nemazee is a friend of Terence R. McAuliffe, and was a director at the Brain Trauma Foundation.
Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
George Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, a director at the Brain Trauma Foundation, a board member for the International Crisis Group, and a supporter for the Center for American Progress, was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Center for American Progress, the Urban Institute (think tank), and the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Carla A. Hills was a board member for the International Crisis Group, was the secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and is a life trustee at the Urban Institute (think tank).
Sarah Rosen Wartell was the EVP for the Center for American Progress, the deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and is the president for the Urban Institute (think tank).
Henry G. Cisneros is a trustee at the Urban Institute (think tank), and was the secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
James T. Lynn was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and the secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).


Thursday, February 27, 2014

Eric Holder Hospitalized as Precaution for Faintness



Eric Holder Hospitalized as Precaution for Faintness

by Breitbart News 27 Feb 2014, 9:58 AM PDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department says Attorney General Eric Holder has been taken to the hospital as a precaution after experiencing faintness and shortness of breath at work.

A statement from the department says Holder is "resting comfortably and in good condition" at a Washington hospital after feeling the symptoms during a Thursday morning meeting with senior staff.

The department says the 63-year-old attorney general is alert, talking with his doctors and undergoing further evaluation.

No additional information was immediately provided.

The White House says President Barack Obama has been notified and wishes Holder a "speedy recovery."

Eric Holder
Eric H. Holder Jr. is the attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice for the Barack Obama administration, a trustee at the Morehouse School of Medicine, was an intern at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, and a board member for the American Constitution Society.

Note: Louis W. Sullivan was the president for the Morehouse School of Medicine, and is an Oak Bluffs (MA) homeowner.
Spike Lee Slams Gentrification in Profanity-Laced Rant (Past Research for Oak Bluffs (MA)
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund.
George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations.
Open Society Foundations was a funder for the American Constitution Society.










MENSA Scholarship Fund - I just Met a Girl Named Maria

 The Heart Warming Story of The First Southwest Florida MENSA Scholarship Winner 

Scholarship Fund
Samuel Sewell, Gifted Youth Coordinator
Contact: 239/591-4565 or sams@bestselfusa.com

I Just Met a Girl Named Maria
It was a long hard road just to graduate from Immokalee High School. Until she was 15 years old, she was on that road following the harvest across America, from sea to shining sea. There were artichokes in California, cherries in Michigan, and tomatoes in Florida.

Maria's mother found a way to give roots to her family. She worked part-time, lived with relatives, and attended adult education classes while the rest of the family continued to harvest crops for a living. Maria's mother became a licensed cosmetologist. She found a job at a beauty shop in Immokalee. With financial help from the family, they finally had a home.

The rest of the family members found jobs, and for the first time in her life, Maria became a student who could actually stay in one school for an entire school year. Her grades began to improve. By the time Maria was a senior, her teachers began to notice that this was no ordinary girl named Maria.

One of her teachers encouraged Maria to apply for the Mensa Scholarship which is awarded at the end of each school year. Mensa is the high IQ society and the local chapter members evaluate student essays to determine the winners. Some Mensa members see themselves as holy guardians of the English language. Things like spelling, grammar, syntax, and parts of speech are treated with reverence. Maria's essay was written in English. Maria won!

In addition to correct English usage, the Mensa essays are judged on the goals the student has for the future. Maria had a very simple goal. Maria’s goal was attending college, majoring in education, with a goal toward a Ph.D. in education. Her dream is to establish a standard curriculum in all the school districts in the great harvest regions of our country. She knows, first hand, that if migrant children can get high quality, consistent education, they will be able to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty that was so much a way of life for her family.

My wife and I were invited to act as masters of ceremony for the Mensa Scholarship Awards Dinner. Mensa feels like the parents should at least be treated to a good dinner at a respectable restaurant, so we get together and treat the whole family. We were fortunate to be seated at the same table with Maria and her mother.

Maria's mother seemed to tolerate the fuss over her daughter with a benevolent amusement. Maria bubbled. She was irrepressibly charming. She confided to my wife that she was afraid that her makeup had smeared or run before the ceremony had even begun. She explained that they don't have air-conditioning at home, and the A/C in their old pickup hasn't worked since last year. Maria and my wife left to do the things that women do in front of mirrors. Maria's mother, who had seemed so composed earlier, leaned forward with an intense look on her face, "Maria is going to do something with her life. Thank you for helping." she said. A slight quiver of the lower lip was the only hint of the feelings behind her matriarchal dignity. Several of the people at our table were struck with compassion for what we were witnessing. We were also inspired by such a pure example of the "American Dream."

When Maria returned, some of us began to offer sympathy for all her hardships. Maria wanted none of it. "Things aren't so bad now. It has been a long time since we haven't had enough food", she said cheerfully. We know people who have a bad day if their hot tub springs a leak. Maria thinks things are OK if she has eaten that day.

Our dinner with Maria caused us to volunteer to head up the Mensa Scholarship Fund Drive. There are many other bright, deserving young people who need the help a Mensa Scholarship can give. Please help us make our contributions worthy of the spirit of young heroes like Maria.

Contributions can be mailed to:
Rev. Samuel Sewell
10202 Vanderbilt Drive
Naples, FL 34108

Or on line donations can be contributed HERE

Spike Lee Slams Gentrification in Profanity-Laced Rant






Oak Bluffs Stirring the Race Pot Again


Spike Lee Slams Gentrification in Profanity-Laced Rant

by Breitbart News 26 Feb 2014
Spike Lee isn't happy with the current wave of gentrification in his beloved Big Apple and neighboring communities.

The vocal director implied that racism is behind some of the perks from gentrification, from better police protection in neighborhoods with an influx of white citizens to improved amenities for newer city dwellers.

So, why did it take this great influx of white people to get the schools better? Why’s there more police protection in Bed Stuy and Harlem now? Why’s the garbage getting picked up more regularly? We been here!

Lee made the comments during a Black History Month event at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. The director's outrage wasn't limited to the contrast in attitudes by local officials. He also said new residents should pay their proper respects to the existing populace and not expect the local culture to do their bidding.

Then comes the motherfuckin’ Christopher Columbus Syndrome. You can’t discover this! We been here. You just can’t come and bogart. There were brothers playing motherfuckin’ African drums in Mount Morris Park for 40 years and now they can’t do it anymore because the new inhabitants said the drums are loud. My father’s a great jazz musician. He bought a house in nineteen-motherfuckin’-sixty-eight, and the motherfuckin’ people moved in last year and called the cops on my father. He’s not — he doesn’t even play electric bass! It’s acoustic! We bought the motherfuckin’ house in nineteen-sixty-motherfuckin’-eight and now you call the cops? In 2013? Get the fuck outta here!

Lee then compared the wave of gentrification to efforts, in his view, to wipe out the Native Americans already living in the U.S. during America's formative years.

Nah. You can’t do that. You can’t just come in the neighborhood and start bogarting and say, like you’re motherfuckin’ Columbus and kill off the Native Americans. Or what they do in Brazil, what they did to the indigenous people. You have to come with respect. There’s a code. There’s people.

Spike Lee
Spike Lee is an Oak Bluffs (MA) homeowner, and married to Tonya Lewis Lee.

Note: Town of Oak Bluffs Massachusetts (Spike Lee’s neighborhood)

Welcome
The Town of Oak Bluffs is a resort town on the northeast shore of the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Originally incorporated in 1880 as Cottage City, in 1907 the town's name was changed because of the growth in the year round population and the changing face of the resort required an acknowledgement the town was not just "Cottage City" any more.
Oak Bluffs operates the largest marina on Martha's Vineyard, which not only has the most slips, but is situated in the midst of the historic gingerbread campgrounds, and offers easy access to the rest of the Island. "OB", as it is sometimes referred to, also is home to several beautiful public beaches, a teaming shore of wildlife, fish and shellfish, fabulous public parks, a golf course and even a microbrewery.
Tonya Lewis Lee is married to Spike Lee, and a director at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund.
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, and the Brookings Institution (think tank).
George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Charles J. Ogletree Jr. is a director at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, an Oak Bluffs (MA) homeowner, a Harvard Law School professor, and was Barack Obama’s college mentor.
Harvard Professor Jailed; Officer Is Accused of Bias
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
Published: July 20, 2009
Professor Gates, who has taught at Harvard for nearly two decades, arrived home on Thursday from a trip to China to find his front door jammed, said Charles J. Ogletree, a law professor at Harvard who is representing him.  
Henry Louis Gates Jr. is a director at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, an Oak Bluffs (MA) homeowner, a Harvard University professor, and was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Jon M. Huntsman Jr. is a fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and was the U.S. ambassador for China.
Cyrus F. Freidheim Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Valerie B. Jarrett is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, the senior adviser for the Barack Obama administration, and her great uncle is Vernon E. Jordan Jr.
Vernon E. Jordan Jr. is Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a senior director at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, an Oak Bluffs (MA) homeowner, a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Spike Lee is an Oak Bluffs (MA) homeowner, and married to Tonya Lewis Lee.
Tonya Lewis Lee is married to Spike Lee, and a director at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund.
Eric H. Holder Jr. was an intern at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, is the attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice for the Barack Obama administration, and a trustee at Morehouse School of Medicine.
Louis W. Sullivan was the president of Morehouse School of Medicine, and is Oak Bluffs (MA) homeowner.