Why I Support Honduras

Honduras is the new frontline in the war against socialism.

Pro-Chavez Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, tried to push things too far too fast and offended against his country's constituion. He was legally kicked out of office-just as US President Nixon would have been had he not resigned first.

Now the sides are squaring off. The internatioal left is calling for the restoration of Zelaya.


The freedom forces are backing the new Micheletti government.

This statement on Honduras from the Communist Party USA makes the situation clear.

Manuel Zelaya, the legitimate president of Honduras, has made a specific request to the Obama administration to increase pressure on the illegal regime of Roberto Micheletti, which was installed after a coup d’etat on the morning of June 28 of this year. Zelaya has asked the Obama administration to increase diplomatic and economic pressure on the illegitimate regime by taking actions targeting the main culprits. This happens at a critical moment when the talks mediated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias have not progressed due to the intransigence of the coup regime, and when mass protest in Honduras has reached a peak with a general strike and with a growing mass movement in the streets to restore Mr. Zelaya, who is encamped on the Honduras-Nicaragua border, to the presidency.

The coup regime is isolated worldwide, but hangs on because it expects to be able to draw on material resources from the US, in spite of President Obama’s strong statement against the coup. The US ultra-right, led by figures such as Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Congressman Connie Mack (R-FL), and supported by strong business, political media and military networks in the United States, are doing all they can to throw a lifeline to the illegal Micheletti regime. Their hope seems to be to keep the regime in power long enough that the scheduled November elections in Honduras (which Micheletti may move up) can take place under repressive conditions in which supporters of Zelaya’s program of progressive social and labor reforms can not openly campaign without risking jail or violence, and thus can not possibly win. Meanwhile, Micheletti’s de-facto government is increasing repression against labor, peasant, student and other opponents, with reports of several new deaths in the last two days.

The CPUSA agrees that it is necessary to ratchet up the pressure on the de-facto regime, and calls for the following actions:

We should contact the White House and the State Department to demand that the US government respond to President Zelaya’s request by taking the following immediate steps:

*Cancel US visas for the top military and political leaders of the coup.

*Freeze bank accounts in the US belonging to coup leaders as requested by Zelaya.

*Remove US personnel from the military base at Soto Cano, cease all coordination with the coup government’s armed forces, and expel Honduran officers currently being trained at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning Georgia.

*We should demand an end to the activities in support of the coup government by the International Republican Institute and other governmental and non-governmental organizations in the United States who have a heavy responsibility for the current situation.

Further, we should be contacting our members of Congress to ask that they sign on as co sponsors and work for the passage of House Resolution 630, which denounces the coup d’etat and asks the government to take measures to restore the constitutional order in Honduras. This resolution, introduced by Congressman Bill DeLaHunt (D-MA) has 40 cosponsors; this number has to be greatly increased.

Finally, the AFL-CIO, US Steelworkers and Local 10 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union have led the way in calling for the restoral of Zelaya and the constitutional order in Honduras. We should build on these initiatives by getting statements and actions in support from other unions, faith based organizations, and civic and community organizations of every description so as to build a massive solidarity movement with the Honduran people here in the United States.

There is no shooting yet-but that could change at any time.

Honduras should be supported by all freedom lovers as the first serious reversal Latin America's "red tide" has suffered.

If the West stands by Honduras it will embolden the counter-revolutionary forces in Bolivia and elsewhere in Latin America.

By supporting Honduras we defend our own freedom.

Appreciation From a Troubled Zone

I got this email of appreciation in response to some of my coverage of Tamil Tiger support groups in New Zealand.

Just got to to see your blog post. Nice article.

Thanks a million times for covering this struggle and raising awareness. Truly expresses the 'inside' point of view. But, would like to let you know that the main reason for this apathy in Eelam is that the negative role...I reiterate, negative role played by some members of the International Community out of vested interests. Especially India. (I carry a Indian passport, but that doesnt mean, I am very happy with the way the Government there functions. And, added to that the negative role media plays in moulding opinions about various organizations.

With reference to Eelam struggle, which I am sure would re-start soon, I would like to suggest you something. To make an in-depth study / research, you may cover some inter-related issues. Those are:

- Role media has played in moulding opinions.
- Role West and UN should have played.
- Role India / SL should have played to save lives of my brothers and sisters who reside only 26Kms from my province of TamilNadu.
- Distinguishing freedom struggle and terrorism - based on history and oppressive regions of the world.

Lastly, I say this with a heavy heart. Thousands of miles away, you country is much aware of the sufferings of my brothers / sisters. But, there was not even a single significant debate over Eelam struggle in Indian parliament. I truly felt that day, that India is not a Democracy - the great principle. But, a DemocKracy - The art of fooling people. Don't be surprised if the province of Tamil Nadu also joins the struggle for a Eelam and disintegrates with the in-humane government of India.

Would be happy to see more of these coming up on your blog. Thanks again for your effort. Kudos.

SR

Thanks-you are welcome-more to come.

Let Good Parents Be Good Parents

ACT is the only party in Parliament that has consistently stood up for the right of parents to make their own decisions about child discipline.

When National disgracefully voted with the socialists to ban smacking two years ago-ACT's two MP's cast their votes for parental rights and family integrity.

ACT has been virtually the only Parliamentary voice against this corrupt law ever since.



From the ACT party website

ACT New Zealand Deputy Leader and Anti-Smacking Spokesman Hon Heather Roy today urged New Zealanders to exercise their right to democracy and take part in the Anti-Smacking Referendum - voting papers for which will begin arriving in letterboxes tomorrow.

"While postal ballots have historically generated a notoriously low turnout, more than 300,000 people joined together to force this referendum - New Zealanders must not miss this opportunity to have their say," Mrs Roy said.

"The intent of this law was to stem the country's rising tide of abhorrent child abuse. Instead, we have Government intrusion into the lives of law-abiding parents -and 13 children have been killed as a result of abuse since the law was passed.

"Laws must be clear, enforceable and regularly enforced to be effective - but this is not the case we have now. The anti-smacking law is flawed and confusing, with ambiguity around the police's enforcement of it - while it is an offence for parents to smack their children, police have discretion over whether or not to take action.

"If parents are to have any certainty at all in the raising and correction of their children, they should fill out their voting papers and return them by August 21. No New Zealander should miss their chance to exercise their right to freedom and democracy," Mrs Roy said.

The choice is yours New Zealand-do parents know best-or do the police, the courts and Child Youth and Family?

Rodney on Local Government

Why Local Government Minister and ACT Party leader Rodney is going to sort out the councils-at long bloody last.

From Rodney's speech to Local Government New Zealand Annual Conference

Tuesday 28 July 2009

As I have travelled the country I have listened, to you, to ratepayers and to farmers and other businesses.

I have heard loud and clear the concern over rate increases, red tape, unacceptable delays and bureaucratic bungling. We need to do better, much better.

I have also heard loud and clear of the large and unacceptable costs central government has imposed on local government and thereby ratepayers.

Tim Shadbolt wrote to me explaining how his council could easily have held costs to the rate of inflation except for the costs central government had imposed over the past nine years. For this year alone, Invercargill City Council will spend an extra $1.59 million, or nearly eight per cent, of their budget on complying with these additional requirements.

It is clear to me that successive governments have imposed large costs on local government without care or adequate thought. At Local Government New Zealand’s request we have put a moratorium on the introduction of drinking water standards.

Local Governm NZ have also expressed concern at the impacts of the new air quality standards. That’s why a review is underway to examine these issues.

As Minister for Regulatory Reform I want to ensure that central government policy making takes proper account of any costs to be imposed on local government.

With Bill English I am working to tighten cabinet procedures to take better account of local government.

A huge amount of regulation has been passed on by central government to local government to administer.

Two prime examples of over-regulation are the Resource Management Act and Building Act.

The complexities and bureaucratic processes of this legislation have heaped costs on councils, which have then been passed onto users and ratepayers.

The reform of these two Acts now underway will go a considerable way to lessening councils’ planning and regulatory costs and make it simpler to administer the legislation.

You have also made clear to me that the processes and procedures set out in the Local Government Act are imposing unnecessary cost, making your jobs harder, and slowing down our boat.

Accordingly I am looking at that Act. My review is guided by principle.

The first thing is that I believe in local government. That is to say, wherever possible, I believe that decisions are best left with individuals. Where government is involved, it’s best to have a government as local and as close to the people affected as possible. That’s why I support and believe in local government.

My job is not to tell councils what to do. My job is to provide the best environment for you to get on and do your job reflecting the wish and desire of your communities and their willingness to pay.

Can't come soon enough, Rodney.

Socialist Suck-ups and Chavez Syncophants

Jim McIlroy and Coral Wynter from the Brisbane branch of Aussie's largest marxist-leninist group Democratic Socialist Perspective are making a video about their idol Hugo Chavez.

They come across like a couple of primary school suck-ups trying to please teacher.



One reason I started studying socialists, was to try and figure out why the believe the crap they do.

Twenty years on I'm still struggling.

How Not to Get Yo' Ass Kicked by the Police

Chris Rock's advice to Professor Gates. The usual Chris Rock language warnings apply.

Obama File 80 Michelle and Barack's Black Panther Mentor

Obama file 79 here

US President Obama has waded into a controversy over the arrest, in his own house of black Harvard academic Henry Louis Gates.

Why would Obama risk a public backlash defending this man and criticising the police?

Well it turns out that Obama regards Gates as a friend and they have several acquaintances in common on the black left.



Gates co-wrote two books with Obama's "comrade", Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member Cornel West. Gates is also close to another DSA supporter who Obama once shared a DSA organized forum with-academic William Julius Wilson.

But more interestingly Gates' lawyer Charles Ogletree is a long time friend and mentor to both Michelle and Barack Obama.

It also turns out that Ogletree was a hard core radical with roots in the Maoist influenced Black Panthers movement. It also seems that Ogletree is still a militant leftist and is still called on by the Obamas for advice.

In 1970, Charles Ogletree enrolled at Stanford University near San Francisco, then a major center of black activism. Ogletree became a campus radical, organizing an Afrocentric dormitory and editing a campus Black Panthers newspaper called The Real News. He also traveled to Africa and Cuba with student activist groups. In 1973 Ogletree was president of the radical Black Student Union.

Ogletree's first interest in the law came when he attended the trial of Black Power activist and then Communist Party USA member Angela Davis.

By 1986 Ogletree was director of Harvard's introduction to trial advocacy workshops, where students were taught that law can be "an instrument for social and political change…a tool to empower the dispossessed and disenfranchised… and a means to make the privileged more respectful of differences,"

Ogletree also began a Saturday School Program so that "African-American students could learn from other professionals of their own heritage". Barack Obama became one of his regular students.

Ogletree claims to have mentored mentored both Michelle and Barack Obama during their time at Harvard. According to Ogletree the Obama's have called on him for advice since that time.


"I met Michelle when she started her legal career here at Harvard in the fall of 1985, and I was able to watch her develop into a very strong and powerful student leader. She was an active member of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, where she served as a student attorney for indigent clients who had civil cases and needed legal help..."


"I met Barack three years later when he arrived at Harvard Law School in fall of 1988. He was quiet and unassuming, but had an incredibly sharp mind and a thirst for knowledge. He was a regular participant in a program that I created called the Saturday School Program, which was a series of workshops and meetings held on Saturday mornings to expose minority students, in particular, to critical issues in the study of law. Even then I saw his ability to quickly grasp the most complicated legal issues and sort them out in a clear, concise fashion.

I was faculty adviser to the Harvard Black Law Student Association. I routinely gave career advice, and often personal advice, to students who would come in with questions about where they should work, how they should use their legal skills and talent, and was it possible to do well and do good...My advice to people like Barack and Michelle was that they could easily navigate the challenges of a corporate career and find a variety of ways to serve their community—through financial support, through volunteer legal services, and through getting involved in community efforts. So this advice started then, and I guess it must have been useful enough. They have not hesitated to call on me over the past 20-plus years as needed.

It's one thing to see Michelle and Barack keep their promises by going back to Chicago and serving those communities. It's another thing to see them have the dream of leading the nation as the President and First Lady and to see that happen. I was most deeply touched during Barack's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver...It was a moment of deep reflection that I will never forget, and it is an incredible reality today to realize that not only are the President and First Lady younger than me, but they are two people that I've had the honor and pleasure of mentoring over the past 20 years."

After the election Ogletree had messages for both of his protoges.

"For the President, it was a personal message about the things that he needed to do. Without getting into any details, the central point was: Make sure you keep your promises. With Michelle, it was more my sense and my hope, that has now been realized, that she would not just be a great First Lady and a phenomenal First Mom, but that she would also be able to use her many gifts and talents in the community in ways that were natural to her. I've been particularly pleased this past week to see her not only out building support for her husband's stimulus package, but talking about families and children and education and health care, where she's going to be incredibly helpful".

As Ogletree seems not to have abandoned his youthful radicalism, it might be interesting to know what kind of advive he has given the first couple over the years.

In 2000 Ogletree joined the Reparations Coordinating Committee, a group pursuing a lawsuit to win reparations for descendants of African slaves.

The committee was convened by the TransAfrica Forum, a partner organization the radical Institute for Policy Studies. Ogletree serves on the Board of TransAfrica Forum-alongside long time Communist Party USA front activist Johnetta Cole and board chairman and Progressives for Obama founder Danny Glover.

The committees objectives were;

''To ascertain, document, and report comparative repair and restitution in the United States and abroad on behalf of the contemporary victims of slavery and the century-long practice of de jure racial discrimination which followed slavery;''

''A. To detail a range of feasible relief, reform, reconciliation, and restitution initiatives to make America better for everyone.''

''B. To identify and structure causes of action that would be cognizable in domestic and international tribunals and courts;''

''C. To begin a comprehensive review of such initiatives with leading domestic and international institutions'';

''D. And to work cooperatively with other groups pursuing reparation claims.''


James Lloyd; Alfred L. Brophy; Michele Roberts; Kimberly Ellis (at back); Johnnie Cochran; Randall Robinson; Charles J. Ogletree; Dennis Sweet; Adjoa Aiyetoro; Eric J. Miller; Sharon Cole; James O. Goodwin

The committee, which Ogletree co-chaired was a mixture of top trial layers and seasoned radical activists. It included Johnnie Cochran of OJ Simpson fame Randall Robinson and Ogletree's co-chair Adjoa Aiyetoro-in the 1990s involved with the Communist Party splinter group Committees of Correspondence.


Bowman, Jones, Boudreaux

On December 8 2005, Former Black Panther members John Bowman, Hank Jones and Ray Boudreaux held a meeting at the Washington, D.C. office of Trans-Africa Forum. They were complaining about re-newed police investigations of a 1971 police killing in San Francisco that they had been accused of.

The three Panthers had been indicted at the time by a grand jury, but were released when the court rendered a decision stating the methods used to obtain information were unlawful.

The former Panthers were flanked by Danny Glover, reparations activist Ron Daniels, Democratic Socialists of America activist and Progressives for Obama co-founder Bill Fletcher jnr and Charles Ogletree.

Ogletree, said that the community should protect the rights of the former Panthers with their lives

''"These gentlemen, Ray Boudreaux, Hank Jones and others have been victims of the most vicious forms of American terrorism and torture...It takes a village to protect its elders. We tell them today, through our presence here and through our commitment that we will provide a protective blanket over them. They will not come in this village and take these elders, except over our dead bodies''."

Barack Obama called on Ogletree and Democratic Socialists of America member Cornel West, during his 2008 Presidential campaign. Ogletree and West both joined Obama's Black Advisory Council.


Cornel West, Charles Ogletree

''Ogletree has advised Obama on reforming the criminal-justice system as well on constitutional issues. He is a member of the Obama campaign's black advisory council, which also includes Cornel West, who teaches African-American studies at Princeton University. The group formed after Obama skipped a conference on African-American issues in Hampton, Va., to announce his presidential candidacy in Illinois.''

Maybe Obama was just sticking up for old friends?

Obama file 81 here

4% For Freedom

The Washington DC based Heritage Foundation has launched a "4% For Freedom" campaign.

Heritage is worried that defense spending under Obama is imperilled and that this will have dire consequences for freedom world wide.

I agree. Who is going to hold Russia, China, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran etc etc in check if not the US is no longer able?

Can you see the UK doing it? Canada? Australia? New Zealand?

Heritage is fighting back with a call to ensure that US defense spending remains at least 4% of GDP.

It deserves every thinking Westerner's support.

Check it out here

Catherine Delahunty Is Definitely a Mad Communist

If you don't believe Green MP Catherine Delahunty is a mad communist, follow this link to watch her addressing Socialist Worker's recent "Marxism Alive 2009" conference.

That right wing scumbag Trevor Loudon even gets a mention a minute or two in.

Democrat Skeleton Un-earthed.

A US friend sent me this-he reckons an archaeologist has found the skeleton of the first Democrat.

Breitbart on Obama

An interesting take...

"Yes, I am a Communist!"

No, not really.

Emboldened by having a "friend" as president and by the world wide "recession", the Communist Party USA is gingerly feeling its way back into the public arena.

Here's the latest CPUSA promotional video shot a recent Marxist School in New York.



Seem just like normal folk, don't they?

Never Yet Met a Stupid Indian

Woops-sorry about the racism.

Why can't our leaders be this smart? Why can't we stand up to the Americans when it REALLY counts?

India rebuffs US carbon demands

From the Financial Times

India on Sunday night rebuffed an appeal by Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, to embrace a low-carbon future in which the two countries would work together to devise new ways of consuming and producing energy.

Mrs Clinton, on a five-day visit to the country, said that low-carbon emissions would not jeopardise India’s high economic growth rates and its goal of lifting millions of people out of poverty. She offered a technological partnership to secure the fast growing nation’s energy supplies and help boost the livelihoods of its farmers.

“There is simply no case for the pressure that we, who have been among the lowest emissions per capita, face to actually reduce emissions,” Jairam Ramesh, India’s environment minister told Mrs Clinton. “And as if this pressure was not enough, we also face the threat of carbon tariffs on our exports to countries such as yours.”

In spite of the two countries’ battles in global trade talks and fears of India’s slipping down the US’s priority list, Mrs Clinton vowed that Washington would not do “anything” to stand in the way of the world’s largest democracy’s economic progress.

Speaking in Delhi on Sunday, Mrs Clinton said: “We believe that economic progress in India is in everyone’s interest and not just in the interest of Indians.”

“There is a way to eradicate poverty and develop sustainably that will lower significantly the carbon footprint of the energy that is produced and consumed to fuel that growth.”

Her comments come as global leaders try to agree a course of action to combat climate change and to break a deadlock over the Doha round of trade talks at the World Trade Organisation. New Delhi has sided with Beijing to oppose binding caps on its carbon emissions. They argue that developed nations should take responsibility for global warming. India has also clashed with the US over the terms of the global trade deal. The Indian government welcomed the US’s partnership but refused to agree to emissions caps.

Mrs Clinton is the most senior official of President Barack Obama’s administration to visit India since his election at the end of last year. The Indian government had close ties to the Republican administration of former president George W. Bush. Mr Bush helped end decades of isolation for India’s nuclear programme by striking a civil nuclear agreement between the two countries.

Some Indian officials express anxieties that a Democrat administration may turn to more protectionist measures in an economic downturn and also revisit earlier attempts during the presidency of Bill Clinton to find a settlement for Kashmir, disputed territory between India and Pakistan.

Black Businessman Bashes Boxer

Dopey California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer gets a flea in her ear from Chairman and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Congress Harry C. Alford.



Go Harry!

Deal Over Military Strike on Iran?

An interesting op-ed from Investors.com

Are certain Western interests doing a deal with Israel to allow an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities?

Finally Admitting The Obvious

Iran: Western officials are reportedly offering Israel a deal to support a military strike on Iran in exchange for Israeli concessions on a Palestinian state. Even diplomats now realize diplomacy won't pre-empt nuclear terror.

A report in the Times of London on Thursday indicated that some European governments consider Israeli military action to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities so inevitable that they want to get what they can from Israel by jumping on the bandwagon ahead of time.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, according to diplomatic sources, offered "concessions on settlement policy, Palestinian land claims and issues with neighboring Arab states, to facilitate a possible strike on Iran."

A British official said that under such an agreement between Israel and Western nations, an Israeli military operation could become a reality "within the year."

Communist, Socialist, Debate Way Forward Under Obama

Here's Carl Dix-a life long Maoist and a leader of the US Revolutionary Communist Party.

He's touting an upcoming debate on the need for continuing revolutionary activity under Obama with Cornel West of Democratic Socialists of America.



Like most DSA members, West is an ardent Obamaphile and was in 2008, a member of Obama's two man Black Advisory Council.

In broad terms, the US Ultra-left-Revolutionary Communist Party, Trotskyist splinter groups etc, regard Obama as just another capitalist ruler.

The extreme left-Communist Party USA, Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, Democratic Socialists of America, have worked with Obama for years and regard him as a friend.

That's the essence of the US left Obama debate.

Is Obama just another capitalist ruler, or is he a genuine "progressive" who should be worked with to move the revolution forward?

Cuba Trains Future Pacific Revolutionaries Under Our Noses

While NZ and Aussie troops are working to stabilise Timor Leste (East Timor) and both country's taxpayers are forking out for aid-the Cubans are making ideological hay under our noses.

Hundreds of young Timorese are training in medicine in Cuba, as are other young people from Tuvalu, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and even our tiny near neighbour Nauru.



This second video shows more clearly that the students are learning more than medicine. They are being taught to identify with Cuba, Castro and the ideals of the Cuban revolution.



While we send soldiers and aid around the pacific, Cuba is indoctrinating hundreds of young islanders, many of whom will one day hold influential positions in their native countries.

Che Guevara was a medical doctor was he not?

Illingworth Canes "Anti Smacking" Law

From Family First.

An Op-Ed in the Christchurch Press yesterday by Grant Illingworth QC has highlighted a number of legal concerns shared by Family First about the anti-smacking law.

In the article titled “ Good Motive, but bad law ”, Mr Illingworth QC who specializes in public law says that the anti-smacking law is an inappropriate response to the problem of child abuse for three reasons -
“...the first is that the amendment is an extremely poor piece of legal drafting in that it is calculated to create confusion rather than clarity. The second is that it criminalizes behaviour which should not be classified as a criminal offence. The third is that it fails to provide adequate protection for those whom it was designed to help.”

He also attacks the confusion of the law, which has been confirmed by recent research commissioned by Family First, and says that it
“... translates into an absolute rule that you are never allowed to administer even a very mild smack if your purpose is to help a child to learn how to behave. Confused? So am I. And it seems obvious that a law which confuses people is not going to help much in regulating their behaviour.”

Mr Illingworth rejects the police discretion clause and labels it “muddled thinking” and “bringing the law into disrepute”. He says
“ It is a serious thing to say that someone has committed a crime, irrespective of whether the person is prosecuted. Surely we should reserve that kind of condemnation for situations that really warrant the intervention of the criminal law.”

Significantly, he ridicules those who have attacked the Referendum question as confusing and says
“... the question is a justifiable response to the problem created by the wording and legal effect of the new section. The law, as it now stands, means that the use of mild force for the purpose of well-motivated parental correction is a criminal offence. The question posed in the referendum simply asks us to say whether that should be so.”

Can't wait for the referendum.

Papua-New Guinea/China to Increase Military Ties

China continues its unrelenting drive for influence in the South Pacific.

From Radio Australia News

Papua New Guinea's military says it's looking to strengthen its ties with China following a 10 day visit by the country's top officer.

Commodore Peter Ilau toured China meeting government ministers and also examined the possibility of an aircraft purchase to replace some of PNG's ageing fleet.

He says it is also a chance to develop the skills of his soldiers in handling a variety of problems at home.

"Because of the disaster prone area that Papua New Guinea is, we are looking in the modern PNG efforts to repond to natural disaster," he said.

"That's one of our core businesses as well, so China is also a country also that we can share ideas with and work on in improving the capabilities of our engineers."

Obama Met Top Communist Leader In Moscow

Why would Obama bother to meet with the leader of Russia's Communist Party?

From Cuba's Granma

MOSCOW, July 8.— Former Russian presidential candidate Guennadi Ziuganov has demanded an end to the US blockade on Cuba at a meeting with American President, Barack Obama, advisors of this political leader announced today.

"If the new administration is really for change, you should turn this embarrassing page of the history of the United States, which has been open for over half a century," said the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation at the meeting.

Sources close to the president of the second most voted for political party in Russia, told Prensa Latina news agency that Ziuganov also asked for the release of the five antiterrorist fighters who are currently serving sentences in US prisons for trying to avert violent actions against Cuba.

Ziuganov, who is also the head of the Communist Bloc the Duma (the Parliament’s Lower Chamber) urged Obama to suspend NATO expansion and give up the unnecessary antimissile defense shield in Eastern Europe, the sources added.

The official organ of the Russian government, the Rossiskaya Gazeta, and the Interfax news agency reported Ziuganov’s statements advocating the end of the US blockade on Cuba on Wednesday. (PL)

30,000 Scientists Want to Sue Al Gore For Fraud

This is good.



Thanks to Anne.

Gore on "Global Governance"-What the "Climate Change" Scam is Really About

Below is six minutes of the world's most tedious and uninspiring speaker.

However the "money quote" is only about 80 seconds in. Spare yourself the rest.

Former US Vice President Al Gore, July 7, 2009 in Oxford at the Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment, sponsored by the UK Times.

Gore admits that the Congressional climate bill will help bring about “global governance.”



Hat Tip RBO

Cap-and-Trade Bill "Dead" in US Senate?

When I was last in the US, a leading libertarian "think tanker" assured me that Obama's Cap-And-Trade Bill was far too much of a mess to ever pass the US Senate.

Republican Senator jim inhofe is of similar view.

As New Zealand and Australian governments are both contemplating similar bills, it is worth reading Senator Inhofe's analysis.

Unfortunately New Zealand lacks both an Upper House and politicians who are willing to call the "climate change" hoax for what is is.

From NewsMax

The cap-and-trade bill to curb carbon emissions has passed the House of Representatives, but there's "not any way in the world" that it will pass the Senate, Sen. Jim Inhofe tells Newsmax.

The Oklahoma Republican, Ranking Minority Member on the Committee on Environment and Public Works, says the bill — strongly backed by the Obama administration and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — currently has only 34 supporters in the Senate.

That is not only far short of the 60 votes needed to defeat a filibuster, it is also short of the 51 votes needed for a majority in the Senate.

The House bill requires a 17 percent reduction of greenhouse gases — mainly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels such as coal — by 2020 from 2005 levels, and about an 80 percent reduction by mid-century. It would also allow polluters to buy and sell emission allowances as a way to ease the cost of compliance.

"The House of Representatives passed it with 219 votes," Sen. Inhofe told Newsmax.TV's Ashley Martella.

"That's just one over the 218 that would be required. So there's a lot of arm-twisting.

"All the far-left extremist environmentalists were celebrating. The Al Gore guys thought it was the greatest day in the world. And yet they knew all the time that there's not any way in the world they're going to be able to get that passed out of the Senate.

"We had a committee meeting back when the Republicans were the majority. I chaired the Environment and Public Works Committee. Now it's Barbara Boxer, so you have a little bit different philosophy there. She's doing everything she can to try to get a cap-and-trade bill passed, but she cannot do it.

"I'm counting votes over here and the most votes she'll be able to come up with are 34. Of course you need 60 in the Senate."

Inhofe said "great news" came out of a recent hearing at the Committee on Environment and Public Works

"We had Lisa Jackson, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. I [said to her], 'You know, there are a lot of people out there who really believe that manmade gases cause global warming. I don’t believe that, and science does not agree with that now. But if you do believe it, I have to ask you this question: What good would it do for us to unilaterally, in the United States, pass a cap-and-trade tax, which would be the largest tax increase in the history of our country, if we know that China and India and the great polluters around the world are not going to join in?'

I asked, "Is it going to reduce CO2 emissions if we alone in America pass a cap-and-trade bill?' She said no it would not.

"That is probably the major victory in the last 10 years that I've had in fighting this hoax that has been perpetrated on the America people."

Martella noted that supporters of cap-and-trade will likely put great pressure on liberal senators to support the bill, and asked if they might eventually garner enough votes to pass the measure.

Inhofe responded: "We have a lot of new Democrats who really don't want to go back to their state and say, 'Look at me. Aren't you proud? I helped pass the largest tax increase in the history of America.'

"They're not going to do it."

Communist Party on Palin

The US left hates Sarah Palin. They are terrified that she could spark a new genuine conservative movement that might seriously challenge their man Obama's monopoly on power.

Sarah must be demonised at all costs.

Here's the Communist Party USA's take on the Palin phenomonon-from People's Weekly World editor Terrie Albano.

It reveals more about Obama and the movement that elected him than it does about Palin.

I think Sarah Palin is definitely going to build a national network for her presidential run in 2012. She has backing from some GOP elite, like William Kristol, for example. The GOP is desperately looking for people who can excite its base, and what we saw in 2008 is that Sarah Barracuda can do just that. But it’s the fascist-leaning part of the GOP’s base. And that is what she is going to build on. Remember those rallies during the presidential campaign? She brought the crowd to a fevered pitch where Obama was called “traitor” — and everything but a child of God – as my mother used to say.

So here is my prediction: she’s going to criss-cross the lower 48 and build up her storm troopers on a national level. Those in the GOP elite think this is the way to go. The more moderate still left in the GOP are a weak minority. The GOP has gone more and more to the far-right since the election of Obama. Witness the increasing shrillness of Rush Limbaugh — the self-proclaimed leader — of the GOP, Newt Gingrich and the others in the media blabosphere like Glenn Beck.

Why else would Obama-hater Jon Voight get such an enthusiastic response to his pseudo-religious and apocalyptic speech where he compared the president to Julius Caesar and then applauded all those bloviators who “stay on course to bring an end to this false prophet, Obama.” (Et tu Brute? Julius Caesar asks just before getting assassinated.) This is how low the GOP is stooping and Palin is gonna jump on that bandwagon. She has already greeted – as governor – a political party that wants Alaska to secede from the United States and has ties to neo-Nazi groups. Her husband is a member of that party.

Second prediction: Three areas Sarah Barracuda is going to attack the Obama administration and try to drum up support on: racism, role of government and the role of the United States in the world. These themes are dynamically intertwined and are the heart and soul of the ideology of the far-right and corporate power. Already attacks on the role of government are happening — using anti-Communism (i.e. everything the government plays a role in is “socialistic”) and racism. And on a new foreign policy — that Obama is making America “weak.” Militarism, racism and anti-Communism are a potent mix and standard fare for the pro-corporate far-right. Palin will do all that with her “family values” sex appeal.

They are doing everything in their power to limit and roll back the tremendous people’s victory last November and Sarah is going to try to be their gal to do it.

Third prediction: It will get ugly — but they won’t be successful.

Don't be quite so sure about that Terrie.

Honduras Can Be Saved from Communism

The nasty fascist Honduran military has just deposed democratically elected president Zelaya-or so most of the world believes.

Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media doesn't accept propaganda-he digs for the facts.

Below is a transcript of an interview conducted by Cliff Kincaid with Alejandro Peña Esclusa, president of UnoAmerica and the author of The Foro de São Paulo: A Threat to Freedom in Latin America. Peña Esclusa, a former Venezuelan presidential candidate and a prominent critic of the Hugo Chavez regime in Venezuela, has been spearheading opposition to the Sao Paulo Forum, a coalition of communist and leftist parties and terrorist movements in Latin America. With the end of the Cold War in 1989, it was believed by many that communism was on the wane. However, with Fidel Castro isolated in Cuba, he reached out to Luiz Inácio Lula de Silva of the Worker's Party of Brazil, who would later become President of Brazil. An event was hosted in São Paulo, Brazil in 1990, the seat of Lula's power, bringing together what came to be known as the São Paulo Forum.

AIM UnoAmerica recognized the new Honduran government. Who and what does UnoAmerica represent?

ESCLUSA UnoAmerica is an Alliance of Latin-American Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), created to defend democracy and freedom, both currently in danger in our continent. We decided to recognize the new Honduran government because the ousting of President Manuel Zelaya was actually an impeachment. Zelaya wanted to change the Constitution, without the approval of the Supreme Court and the Congress, in order to stay illegally in power. As in all democratic governments, there are three branches of power in Honduras. In this case, the Executive wanted to stage a coup against the Constitution, and the other two powers (Legislative and Judiciary) did not let that happen. It is very simple.

AIM Why is the world allied against the new government?

ESCLUSA In part, because of disinformation, and in part, because Hugo Chavez and his allies have been conducting a black propaganda operation against the new government, in order to defend their friend Zelaya. Unfortunately, some authorities in the U.S. have fallen for that version, without really knowing what went on.

AIM Why is Obama siding with Chavez and Castro on this matter?

ESCLUSA I believe that, on the one hand, Obama is beginning to show his socialist tendencies, which were denounced during the American presidential campaign. On the other hand, Obama is letting himself be influenced by several presidents of Latin America, particularly Lula of Brazil, who is the real power behind the São Paulo Forum.

AIM Can Honduras be saved from Chavez?

ESCLUSA I think it can, but it requires the participation of all citizens, not only of Latin America, but of the U.S. as well. Honduras is facing tremendous pressures, and will not be able to bear them without the help of the world public opinion. Every article, every interview, in favor of the Honduran democracy helps to defend their institutions against Chavez's assault.

AIM What has happened to the Organization of American States?

ESCLUSA Unfortunately, 15 presidents of Latin America belong to the São Paulo Forum, and seven other governments (especially from the Caribbean islands, who are dependent on Chavez's oil shipments) do as well. We could say, then, that 22 of 34 of the votes in the OAS are controlled by Chavez. José Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the OAS, himself belongs to the Chilean Socialist Party, which is a member of the São Paulo Forum.

AIM Some of the pro-Zelaya protesters in Honduras have been seen with symbols of Che Guevara. What does that tell you? Why the fascination with Che?

ESCLUSA The São Paulo Forum has done a lot of propaganda in favor of Che and Fidel Castro. It is now trying to change the history books in order to modify our traditional conservative values and create instead a new set of principles based on socialism. Many youngsters are victims of that campaign.

AIM What is your opinion about the negotiations that have been announced between the Honduran government and Zelaya?

ESCLUSA I welcome any negotiations that will serve to prevent violent confrontations. And I think it's the best way to find a durable solution to the Honduran crisis. But it's fair to say that there are not two factions in Hondurans, but just one, because the overwhelming majority of the Honduran population supports the new government. The other "faction" is composed of paid agitators financed by Chavez and led by foreigners, most of them Nicaraguans linked to the government of Ortega.

AIM What center-right or pro-American governments exist in Latin America today?

ESCLUSA I would say only four: Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Panama. Don't be fooled by Lula; he is with Fidel Castro and with Chavez, but he is so hypocritical that he will claim to be a friend of the U.S.

AIM How much freedom is left in Venezuela?

ESCLUSA There is very little room left for freedom and democracy in Venezuela. This is a "third generation" dictatorship; not so cruel and obvious as Fidel Castro's, but just as evil. There are elections, but rigged. There is certain freedom of press, but the media is threatened with closure if it "crosses the line." Not all Chavez's adversaries are persecuted, just some, but enough to spread fear among the rest. All three branches of power are controlled by Chavez. The Constitution has been rewritten to allow Chavez to stay in power indefinitely. Venezuelan petrodollars are used to export his Marxist revolution throughout Latin America. And the government is closely related with Colombian narco-terrorists and Islamic fundamentalists.

AIM Can freedom be saved in Venezuela?

ESCLUSA Yes, but not through elections, because, as I mentioned before, they are rigged. Only a process similar to that of Honduras can rescue democracy and freedom in Venezuela. That's why Chavez is so interested in crushing the new Honduran government. He does not want such an example spread to his own country.

AIM Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future of freedom in Latin America?

ESCLUSA I am very optimistic, but it will be a very complicated and traumatic outcome, which many won't understand. Exactly as what is happening in Honduras. I think it would be useful for the American population to read again their own Declaration of Independence, especially the part about the rights of the people to be free from tyrants. This is exactly what Hondurans are doing today, and most probably what Venezuelans will do in the near future.

It is a shame that President Obama is aligning himself with the allies of Chavez and Ahmadinejad to crush a democratic process in Honduras. I ask myself: Will he really be conscious of the tremendous damage he is inflicting to democracy and freedom in our continent? Does he really know the danger he is posing to the national security of the United States?

Open Letter To Obama

Thomas Paine addresses the President



Thanks to Maria.

Former Young Nat/Committed Maoist, Takes Helm At NDU

If the National Distribution Union could possibly move an atom further left, it will do so under the leadership of new National Secretary Robert Reid.


Reid, the current NDU president is set to replace Laila Harre in August as she departs for an HR job with the Auckland Transition Agency.

Reid has a more than 35 year history on the left and is easily one of the country's most committed socialists.

The son of a Dunedin Presbyterian Minister, young Robert started out Tory, joining the Young Nats at 14 at Kaikorai Valley High School in the late '60s.

Unfortunately he also joined the Marxist leaning Student Christian Movement, which combined with the Vietnam War, turned Reid to the Dark Side.

By the early '70s Reid was involved in student politics at Lincoln College and was active in solidarity with breakaway East Pakistan-now Bangladesh.

When not hanging around with the Progressive Youth Movement, Reid was leading another Maoist front-Organisation to Halt Military Service (OHMS-formed to organise resistance against the Compulsory Military Training then in force.

By 1973 Reid was in Wellington-serving as Victoria Uni Students Association Man Vice President.

Always interested in international affairs Reid was assistant-secretary of South Pacific Action Network (SPAN), another Maoist run organisation, designed to encourage revolutionary activity in the region. SPAN shared its PO Box with the NZ/North Korea Friendship Society.

In 1974-75 Reid was chairman of Wellington Committee On Vietnam. His duties including writing a letter to Christchurch "ex" communist Elsie Locke
20.2.75 COV, Wgtn-wrote letter with Geoff Woolford to Elsie Locke (mother of Green MP Keith Locke) asking her to sign Declaration against Vietnam war.

Through late 70s Reid worked, like many of his comrades in the Wellington Marxist-Leninist Organisation, in car factories in the Hutt Valley. The Maoists were intent on infiltrating industry at the time and burrowing into the union movement from below.

In 1980 Reid helped found a new organisation-the Workers Communist League (WCL)-popularly known as the "weasels" for their sneaky and underhand tactics.

By 1983 Reid was on serving on the WCL Central Committee and as an Engineering Union delegate at General Motors.

By 1985 he was National Co-ordinator for the Employment Network, where he worked closely with another old Maoist hang-around, future Labour cabinet Minister Paul Swain.

In July 1986 Reid and Swain co-wrote an article for radical journal Race Gender Class "The Government Employment Strategy: A Critique" The article argued thatleft wing activists are challenged to "develop alternative strategies alongside unemployed groups". The WCL dominated the unemployed workers movement that was very active at the time.

By the late '80s Reid was WCL International Affairs officer-a role which brought him into close contact with several foreign communist and radical organisations.

The WCL's main foreign cause at the time was supporting the Maoist led insurrection in the Philippines. Reid and many of his comrades set up the Philippines Solidarity Network (PSN) which sent comrades to the Philippines to observe the rebels in action and toured several Filipino revolutionaries through this country. PSN was a WCL dominated organisation, but it was fronted by former Trotskyite Keith Locke.

In late 1989 Reid and his partner Maxine Gay joined a nine person New Zealand delegation invited to attend a Workers Conference in Tokyo and Osaka. This was the beginning of People's Plan for the 21st Century (PP21) a pan Pacific radical movement, uniting militant unions, NGOs, indigenous groups and others in a push for a new type of socialism, to replace the failed models of the 20th century.


While mainly involving former Maoist organisations, PP21 was initiated by several Japanese radicals, including Muto Ichiyo who had worked closely with a Soviet KGB connected ring in smuggling US Vietnam War deserters through Japan in the early '70s.

PP21 later merged with the World Social Forum movement, a rotating semi-annual gathering of communist parties and radical movements.

In the early 90s Reid was Manawatu Secretary of the Council of Trade Unions (CTU), but lost his job after Ruth Richardson's admirable Employment Contracts Act cut union membership and revenues.

The WCL dissolved around the same time, but Reid joined its shortlived successor group Left Currents-as did another old "weasel" future Green MP Sue Bradford.

In late 1993 Reid was in Thailand working for the PP21 organising committee. The same year he served on the National Organising Group for the Peoples Assembly/ Building Our Own Futures (BOOF)project-the New Zealand PP21 affiliate.

An article in the People's Network's Common Ground Vol 1 No 1 1994 stated that "PP21 was the international inspiration for the Peoples Assembly and the ongoing activity and more than a dozen people from Aoteoroa have been involved in International PP21 activities."

Reid participated in the Peoples Network with several former WCL supportrs, including Maxine Gay, Quentin Jukes and Sue and Bill Bradford until it dissolved into the Green Party in the late '90s.

Reid worked for another PP21 affiliate through the '90s-Asia Pacific Workers Solidairty Links-travelling often to Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines to laise with the area's many militant trade unions.

In 1995 Reid was chairman of Aoteoroa Non-Governmental Organisations Association (ANGOA)-a "weasel" infiltrated organisation charged with dispersing taxpayers money to various "charitable" causes.

In 1998, Reid joined with several other militants to set up the UNITE union-now lead by militant Marxists Matt McCarten, John Minto and Mike Treen.

In the late '90s Reid was a leading light in TUF (Trade Union Federation), a militant breakaway from the CTU, led largely by former WCL members.

In 2001 Reid was one of the initial sponsors of Christchurch based anti free trade group ARENA-a coalition of former Maoists, anarchists and Maori radicals.

Other ARENA sponsors included; Dr Jane Kelsey, Professor of Law, Auckland University; Moana Jackson, Ngati Kahungunu, Ngati Porou; Maxine Gay, President, NZ Trade Union Federation; Cherryl Waerea-i te-rangi Smith, Ngati Apa, Ngati Kahungunu, Te Aitanga A Hauiti; Radha D’Souza, APEC Monitoring Group; Aziz Choudry, Coordinator, GATT Watchdog, PP21 activist; Annette Sykes, Ngati Pikiao; Bill Rosenberg, CAFCA; Leigh Cookson, GATT Watchdog; David Small, Senior Lecturer in Education, University of Canterbury; Gillian Southey; Joe Davies, Coordinator, East Timor Independence Centre Otautahi; Murray Horton, CAFCA and former PP21 activist Trish Murray.

In 2002 Reid was Alliance Party candidate for Wellington Central.

Robert Reid has been an active member of the Alliance since its inception...Robert is President of UNITE, a union especially for low waged, part-time, casual and unemployed workers. He was National Secretary of the former Footwear Workers Union. He is coordinator of the Council of Trade Unions Industry and Economic Development Programme. He serves on the transition board for the new Textile, Clothing, Footwear and Carpet (TCFC) Industry Development Organisation. Robert has been active in the anti-free trade movement for many years. This involvement has been through union activity opposed to the elimination on tariffs on New Zealand manufacturing industries through to membership of anti-free trade organisations such as ARENA.

After 2005 visit to China with a CTU delegation Reid said the situation was worse than anything he had seen on official or un-offical trips to China, but added "Before we throw any more stones at China we should clean up our own industry first."

Robert Reid is set to lead New Zealand's third largest and possibly, strategically most important, union. He will take over an organisation completely dominated by Socialist Party of Aotearoa communists, former Maoists and anarchists.

At what crucial point will Reid turn his union against the National/ACT government?

Is it if, or is it when?

Stalin's Kiwi Henchmen

Old radical Mark Derby has compiled a book about New Zealand's contribution to the Republican (communist) cause during the Spanish Civil War.


“This book is the first-ever account of New Zealand’s role in the Spanish civil war of 1936–39, a war that became a ruthless rehearsal for World War Two.

Volunteers from more than 50 countries arrived in Spain to take sides. This book records the actions of New Zealanders involved, including those who worked for the Spanish cause at home by raising funds, lobbying politicians, writing poems and spreading propaganda.

Kiwi Compañeros includes contributions from some of New Zealand’s leading writers and historians. It draws on personal letters, recently released military documents and previously unpublished photographs to tell an all-but-forgotten story.”

While you have to admire the courage and commitment of these people, it is important to remember, they were all cogs in Stalin's murderous war machine.

Would any author dare glorify the one or two Kiwis who collaborated with Hitler?

What's the moral difference?

Why is serving one evil cause better than serving another?

US Communist Judith LeBlanc Tells Aussies About Obama's Foreign Policy-After All, She Should Know

I have consistently maintained that the Communist Party USA-operating through the US labor movement, organizations like ACORN, Jobs with Justice and of course United for Peace&Justice played a leading role in electing their "friend" Barack Obama.

The next step is to pressure the Obama administration into implementing the Communist Party's agenda.

Not that the pressure need be that great. It is really only needed to give the impression that Obama is responding to public pressure, rather than marching towards socialism of his own volition.

Judith LeBlanc is Communist Party USA Vice President and national organising co-ordinator of United for Peace and Justice, the largest US national peace coalition.


LeBlanc is currently "downunda" at the invitation of the Communist Party of Australia and the Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition to take part in the protests against the Talisman Sabre joint US-Australian military exercises which are taking place at Shoalwater Bay near Rockhampton from July 6-26.

While in Sydney Judith LeBlanc spoke to Communist Party of Australia leader Anna Pha about the US peace movement and the significance of Obama’s election.

Some excerpts from the CPA's latest Guardian

Guardian: Judith, could you please tell us about United for Peace and Justice?

Judith LeBlanc: United for Peace and Justice grew out of the struggle to prevent the war in Iraq and it was the coming together of the traditional peace and disarmament groups nationally and a range of local peace and justice centres and coalitions and new grass roots groups that emerged in this struggle to prevent the war. It began with 300 organisations and has grown to 1,400 member groups.

Now we are in the midst of retooling the peace movement, so to speak, and finding new ways to involve people in ending the war in Afghanistan and to build a bridge to that longer-term movement that is needed to end US militarisation and the militarisation of our domestic budget.

G: What is the attitude to those wars in the US?

JB: I think the peace movement scored an incredible victory with the election of Barack Obama and him keeping his pledge that he would set a deadline, a timetable for US withdrawal from Iraq. Of course the timetable that has been set by the new administration is not all that we would like. But you never win a total victory, you always win part and you continue to struggle.

We feel that in many ways our work to end the war and the occupation in Afghanistan is starting from a sound basis. Majority opinion opposed the [Iraq] war and that was mobilised and galvanised into support for the defeat of McCain.

Now we are trying to take that movement that rose in support of the Obama election and the majority opposition to the war in Iraq into a new national dialogue of the history and the impact of the war and the occupation of Afghanistan...

So now we are operating in a new environment, in a new political space in which perhaps we will have great success in helping people understand that you cannot solve issues around national security with war. That the mere presence of the US military in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan gives rise to insurgency. So we want to help the American people to begin pressing Congress and the Obama administration to step back and to tell us what is the exit plan...

So, the movement for peace, the social movements in our country, are they ready to fill the political space that the election of Obama has created? Not quite, but I think the peace movement has enough experience in the six years of the struggle to end the Iraq war to know that it is going to take a strong, well organised, vocal peace movement to make the changes that are needed.

G: So far, how do you assess Obama’s foreign policy?

JB: I think the Obama administration has made headway changing foreign policy. It has spoken about the differences it wants to make in its relationship to Cuba, in its role in pressing for a just Middle East peace between Palestine and Israel, in its relationship to the Muslim world. But the truth is that in order for those words to become a reality we need a stronger peace movement and we need one that can advocate forcefully and in a meaningful way the direct interconnectedness between peace and justice, between domestic policy and foreign policy.

I think the Obama administration has done a good job in thinking through the fact that the Bush administration fomented a considerable amount of not only anxiety but death, dying and anger by launching what was called the “global war on terror” and they dropped that terminology. Unfortunately they did not end the military practice of waging war in the name of national security in Afghanistan.

Obama’s voting record in the Senate was, and he has maintained this position after becoming president, that there is a need to reduce nuclear arms, that there was a need for ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. He is making good on that promise by initiating talks with Russia to cut nuclear armaments. We are hoping, as he said in a speech in Prague recently, that it is not only the moral responsibility of the US to cut nuclear arms but it is a necessity to move towards the abolition of nuclear weapons.

The struggle for nuclear disarmament and the abolition of nuclear weapons is a critical issue for the peace movement to regroup and to retool and for building a mass movement around. We had a very strong and vibrant movement around nuclear disarmament in the ’80s.

We hope to take Obama’s words [on nuclear disarmament] and build a movement that calls for abolition in our lifetimes. We are busy at work planning with our international partners a year-long national petition drive to call on Obama to abolish nuclear weapons.

We are launching it on the anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and concluding this petition drive at the time of the May 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Conference at the United Nations. We hope to apply such mass pressure on the Obama administration that they will take rapid steps to not only sign the joint agreement with Russia to reduce nuclear warheads but also to end the testing of new nuclear weapons and to begin to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in Congress and take giant steps forward before that 2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty conference.

We are very hopeful that we can build that mass movement because people understand the nature of war in a different way because of Iraq and because of what’s going on in Afghanistan. They also know that the Obama administration is not the agent of change but can be the vehicle for change. We think that nuclear weapons is a good starting point.

I predict that unless the US public wakes up, eventually ALL of the Communist Party's peace and foreign policy agenda will become official Obama administration policy.

The Communist Party USA is intent on reducing US nuclear and military power to the point that America will have no chance of opposing the united forces of Russia, China, Cuba and the radical Islamic world.

This is how it works.

The Communist Party and their allies, domestic and foreign (Cuba, Russia, China etc), develop an agenda or wish list.

This agenda is disseminated through the Communist's front organizations and sympathetic bodies such as the AFL-CIO and the peace movement into the Democratic Party.

The Communists and their allies then work to elect as many sympathetic leftist Democrats as possible to the Congress and Senate. These people are beholden to the Communist Party and are willing to use their positions to advance the Party's policies and agenda.

Meanwhile, the Communists ramp up street protests and rallies in support of their pre-set policy positions.

With almost identical policy coming at them from the unions, the peace movement, from Congress and even the Oval Office, American public opinion begins to shift in the desired direction.

Judith LeBlanc has every right to be confident.

Her Party, which most Americans don't even realise still exists, is in near complete agreement with the foreign policy agenda of the US government.

Communists Aim To Cancel Australia/US Military Exercise

Communist Party members from two countries are working to cancel an important Australia/US annual military exercise.


The US-Australian Talisman Sabre 09 (TS09) military exercise began on July 6 at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area near Rockhampton will conclude on July 26.

15,000 US troops will join 8,000 Australian personnel for the exercise, run annually for several years.

According to the Communist Party of Australia's Guardian

Military of both countries will be met by peace campaigners calling for the war games to be cancelled.

According to CPA organiser and National Coordinator of the Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition, Denis Doherty

“Talisman Sabre will cost over $50 million in the midst of an economic crisis. We peace campaigners speak for the 70 percent of Australians who do not want more money spent on the military.

“The live-fire exercises practice invasions, they make Australia a greater target, they train our forces to take US orders, and they bomb unique and fragile locations on the edge of the irreplaceable Great Barrier Reef.

“Talisman Sabre is addressing threats that do not exist, while aggravating those that are rapidly advancing, including climate change, hunger, and crippling poverty.

“War and its preparation make these problems worse. Talisman Sabre should be cancelled,”

Peace campaigners are converging on the Rockhampton-Yeppoon area from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

The Communist Party of Australia has been active in the campaign against Talisman Sabre.

Members have helped with the organisation and some are travelling to Rockhampton. Branches in two states have contributed banners to hang at actions in Rockhampton.

The Party’s major contribution has been as the chief sponsor of a tour by US peace activist Judith Le Blanc, She is visiting Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and will join the Peace Convergence in Rockhampton.

Judith LeBlanc is a Vice Chair of the Communist Party USA and is Chair of the Party’s Peace and Solidarity Commission.

She is the Organising Co-ordinator of United for Peace and Justice, the largest anti-war coalition in the USA, dominated since its founding by CPUSA, party offshoot Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism and the almost equally as radical Democratic Socialists of America.

Mad Mags 3

David Farrar at KiwiBlog linked to my recent post on Massey Uni Marxist Margaret Trawick.

David also searched for more of Mags's writings on the M-fem mailing list "a place for marxist-feminists to hang out". He found some interesting posts, including this one

I cannot bring myself to hate any category of human beings so much that I would want to kill them all - despite what I said last night.
Isn't this supposed to be a good thing?

Anyway, it is not guys' fault that they are guys.
Not that it matters whether it is their fault or not.
After all, it was not the smallpox virus's fault that it was the smallpox virus.

But it got eradicated anyway - nothing personal.
The Holocaust was based on this idea. Better not go there.
But even lesbians do not as a rule advocate male infanticide - while female infanticide is practiced all over the place. And it is the mothers who do
this, of course.

"Right-to-life" advocates say abortion is like the Holocaust. We disagree with them. But in a way they have a point. Selective female feticide happens in China and India. We think it is wrong. Too close to infanticide. But abortion is not wrong - as long as it is not gender selective.

But would selective male infanticide be wrong?

Also this one, which fortunately does reveal that Mags is not beyond redemption.

It is just an interesting question, why. If female human beings have been exploited and misused by males since time began, if the most fundamental class division is between female and male human beings, and if females can get along fine without males, except for basic reproductive purposes, then why do not females simply eliminate males, cull them as male calves or goats or sheep are culled by farmers and sold for meat. Because if males are allowed to reach adolescence, they only make trouble from then on out. They fight and kill one another by nature. Better to cull them before they reach this stage.

Please understand that I could not advocate such a program. My only children are two sons, and I love them more than I love anyone or anything else in this world, and after them comes my love for my partner, who is male. I would die for the sake of any one of them if I had to, no questions asked.

Just goes to show-deep down, love and the best aspects of human nature may trump even the worst case of Marxist ideology.

Mad Mags 2 Massey Marxist Mags 'n' Me Mix-it-up!

Marxist Massey University academic Margaret Trawick is not happy with me.

I recently wrote this post which looked at Mags's attitude to men and to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger terrorist organisation.

Mags wrote to me privately asking me to take down the post. Here's Mags's email with comment from me.

Mags If you believe, as you say you do, in "freedom with responsibility" you will take down your post about me, at http://newzeal.blogspot.com/2009/06/masseys-mad-marxist-mags-mocks-men_04.html

Your post defames Massey University because it suggests that Massey would appoint to a professorship the kind of "mad Mag" you ridicule in your post. Your post also discourages students from enrolling in 146.307, a Massey paper on gender I have taught for several years, because you say "Mags [meaning me] seems not to like men very much . . . unless they are Tiger Terrorists." Another person is teaching that paper now, by the way. Do you want to unjustly take students away from her too?

Me I hardly defame Massey University by re-publishing the readily accessible writings of one of its staff. Defamation is the deliberate or irresponsible misrepresentation of fact proven to damage a person or organisation's reputation. If your writings damage Massey's reputation, I suggest they take it up with you.

Secondly I regard 'gender studies' as socialist indoctrination rather than a genuine academic discipline. I don't know who teaches your old course, but if my writings save only one innocent young lass from attending, I'll give myself a pat on the back.

Mags In fact, both my brothers and both my children are men, and I like those four men very much. In fact, as the mother of two and sister of the other two, I love them. I have friends who are men, and I like them, too - otherwise they would not be my friends.

Me Touching, but hardly relevant.

Mags If I was a man-hater and taught a university paper on gender, this would be, in my view, quite unethical. I like all my New Zealand students, male and female. They are real human beings to me. It seems to me that you fall a bit short of that status. My post on M-Fem that you quoted out of context does not belie my caring for men. But there are some men (and women), such as you, that I really cannot stand.

Me You wrote;

Women and girls do 2/3 of the world's work for 5% of the income.
So when women stop everything stops.

.... and everyone starves. Don't you think women know that? This is why
we cannot go on strike. Be glad we don't kill every one of you fuckers.
All we need to perpetuate the species is your sperm.

Funny that Marx didn't think about this.

I quoted your whole post and gave the link to your previous posts-so how can I be quoting you "out of context"?

Any career minded person who would post a statement like that-able to be accessed by any journalist, blogger or future employer, should not expect to be regarded as

A A rational human being.

B A serious academic.

Mags Get the message from that post: (1) that women can get along very well without the likes of you, and (2) that we could get along without men in general, if we did not love them so much. Even when they make us angry enough to use dirty words, we still care for them, and even love some of them.

Me Thanks for that.

Mags And I can't believe you used that old post from an organization called Global Spy, whose HQ used to be in Florence, Kentucky. If you have ever driven through Florence, KY, as I have on several occasions, you would see how unwittingly comical those "Global Spy" people are. I used to drive through the town of Florence on my way from Cincinnati to Louisville, my home town. Even Kentucky, a red state (that means Republican) and poor as dirt, has freedom of speech. They also have laws, which they enforce, rather like New Zealand. Maybe that is why Global Spy doesn't have a website anymore. Now they have a shop in Bellevue, KY. Doesn't say what they sell.

Me If a first year student wrote that paragraph in an assignment in any respectable university, I would expext them to get a "D-". You're a professor?

Mags The full story of just two of the more egregious massacres of Tamil civilians in Kokkadichcholai by Sinhala Sri Lankan soldiers, is told in my recent book, Enemy Lines, selling well at Amazon.com and available at the Massey University library. Unfortunately, people like you who most need to be apprised of the facts of what has happened in Sri Lanka, and continue to happen more egregiously now that the LTTE has been defeated, will never read that book, or anything that might appear to be sympathetic to Tamil people. Fortunately, there are a fair number of Western scholars who have devoted their lives to the study of Tamil literature, culture, and people. That is because Tamil culture is rich and inspiring, worth many lifetimes of devoted study.

Me I am sure Tamil culture is as deep and rich as you say it is and the people are generally intelligent and friendly. What is your point?

Mags For the record, I am not a member or supporter of the LTTE, and have never received or given material goods to them. Moreover I have spoken against them to their faces, where there were many people, most of them Tamil. Guess what? They don't mind at all if an ordinary person like me criticizes them to their face, in public. They listen. In this among other respects, they are quite different from the current President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapakse. What I have said and written is more ethical and professional than he or you can even imagine. Most New Zealanders get it, though. If you really are a member of the ACT party, they are even worse off than I thought.

MeYou have studied the Tamil Tigers in the field for seven years. You have spoken conferences and public lectures supporting the Tamil cause and have written numerous articles extolling girl soldiers and other aspects of the Tamil revolution.

You support the Tigers' war and consistently denigrate the Sri Lankan government and army.

Do I regard you as a Tamil Tiger sympathiser? Damn right I do!

Mags The most serious offense of your post is your implication, and apparently your true belief, that Tamils are Tigers, members of the LTTE, by definition. There are seventy million Tamil speakers, which means Tamil people, in this world, and only a tiny number of them are members or even supporters of the LTTE. Many Tamil people intensely dislike the LTTE, although they appear to have more sympathizers now that the Government of Sri Lanka has murdered thousands of unarmed impoverished human beings, all of them Tamil citizens of Sri Lanka, including many young children. This is a fact. Look it up.

Me Huh? Where? "Murdered thousands"? Firstly, casualties of war are not murder. Secondly where does the "thousands" figure come from? The LTTE are like the IRA, Spain's ETA etc-terrorist thugs who claim to speak for the "people". Where have I claimed or implied that the Tamil people and the Tigers are synonomous?

You are allowed to mark papers?

Mags Unless you think that what the Government of Sri Lanka has done, just in the past two months, is justifiable. If you add to that what successive governments have done in the past fifty years, the total is genocide.

Me There are few angels in war Mags-I'll grant you that. However, the Tigers launched a Marxist/ethnic conflict against the Sri Lankan government, which had every right to respond. What were they supposed to do? Stand by while Tiger suicide bombers slaughtered hundreds of innocent people?

Mags I do not say these words lightly, or without the most serious thought, research and experience.

Me Or perhaps just a hint of Marxist bias?

Mags Please take your post about me off your website and do not put it anywhere else. Destroy it. I will keep a copy on my computer, in case I ever need it.

Me Just a hint of a threat there Mags? What would you "need it" for? Can I expect a letter from your lawyer? (PO Box 36 043 Christchurch will get me). A complaint from the Human Rights Commission? A friendly visit from some Tamil "patriots"?

Come on Mags. Be explicit. Don't beat around the bush woman!

Mags And more importantly, please issue a true apology to all Tamil people, most of all to New Zealand Tamils, to Massey University, and to me.

Sincerely,

Margaret Trawick

Me Well there's no reason to apologise to any Tamils as I've never criticised any per se. Massey-well I've called into question the validity of one of their courses, but I'll claim fair comment on that.

You Mags however have posted some pretty inflammatory stuff on the net. You have sent me this semi-coherent email, which you should have known, if you did your homework, I'd promptly post on this blog.

How many people could be reading this tomorrow? Do you think your writings have done your employer credit?

If there are any apologies springing from this exchange, they won't be coming from me.

Your move.

Trevor Loudon