Socialism Brings No Hope for Change

I am in Washington, D.C. surrounded by expensive SUVs, Hummers, Mercedes, and “environmentally friendly” Priuses sporting stickers with Hope and Change, Socialism 2012, advertising socialism and communism, to the detriment of the “evil” capitalist system that afforded them those cars and a luxurious lifestyle.

A few beat up cars are liberally covered in communist slogan stickers, phony empty words that promise “redistribution of wealth” and a nanny state. I ponder for a moment if progressives are still waiting for their free gas, housing, day care, jobs, education, medical care, endless vacations, and a chunk of paradise from the “filthy, rotten rich” who deserve to be stripped of everything they own. I still do not understand why they call themselves “progressives” when they are really longing for regression to a life of slavery to the government.

Ardent Democrats and some Republicans believe the rhetoric that a socialist/communist state will bring Shangri La because it will be delivered by a community organizer who has a sonorous voice and reads speeches well. Is it futile to remind them that many countries who have tried the communist model have failed miserably? Millions have lost their lives in re-education camps due to famine, persecution, or refusal to comply with the daily communist indoctrination.

I wished I could take my fellow American citizens back in time to 1977 to show them our life under communism in Romania. Would they wake up every morning at 4 a.m. to stand in line for hours in frigid temperatures until stores opened to fight over an insufficient number of bottles of milk, loaves of bread, or bags of rice, leaving often empty-handed because the supply delivered ran out?

Read it all here.
 

ACLU's Radical Roots

Dr. Paul Kengor, the political science professor, did some reding in the archives and found some interesting connections to Communism.

I often get asked why something I’ve found in communist archives from, say, the 1920s, pertains to America right now in the 21st century. Well, indeed, past is often prologue, as what happened a century ago is hardly irrelevant to today’s political stage.


That certainly seems the case with what I’ve found on the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), from its challenging of Christmas carols in public schools seven decades ago to its recent actions trying to compel Catholic hospitals to do abortions and denouncing the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for opposing birth control and contraception in “health care” reform legislation. Few organizations have been as consistently radical in advancing abortion as the ACLU, to such a degree that Alan Sears and Craig Osten, authors of The ACLU vs. America, refer to “the ACLU’s crusade against the unborn child.”


How ironic that I would find the seeds of these things in communist archives or, even more directly, in the pro-communist or pro-Soviet writings of the ACLU’s founders.


On the founder of the ACLU: Roger Baldwin. To get a sense of where Baldwin stood on all of this, probably the single best source is his 1928 book, Liberty Under the Soviets. The title was no joke. This champion of American “liberties” and founder of the American Civil Liberties Union, was, like many ACLU founders and board members, alternately fascinated and enthralled with the Leninist-Stalinist state, having traveled there with other progressives in the hope that they had found the “new world.”…


This is the quite interesting, quite untold history of the founding of the ACLU, conveniently sunk into a historical-educational black hole.

Professor Kengor tried to submit the story to the New York Times, whose opinion page editor is a nice enough man to respond to him, although the answer was “No” and the editor didn’t elaborate about the ‘why not’.

This early connection of the ACLU to the Soviet legalization of abortion, which Baldwin called “a great advance,” helps explain the organization’s zeal for legal activism to uphold free and unfettered access to abortion at any time for anyone. But what’s hard to understand is why the ACLU hasn’t learned from Soviet Russia’s abortion access.

Within a decade, there were millions of abortions in the country. It got so bad that Joseph Stalin, a mass-murdering tyrant, was horrified — for pragmatic (not spiritual/moral) reasons — and temporarily banned abortion, given that entire future generations were being wiped out in the womb. Re-legalization took place under Nikita Khrushchev in the mid-1950s. By the 1970s, there were a staggering seven to eight million abortions per year in the U.S.S.R., with some five million-plus in Russia alone, according to official Soviet statistics. The very worst year for abortion in America, post-Roe, pales in comparison to the average year for abortion in the Soviet Union. It was a death culture that makes modern America look like a life culture. To the extent that Roger Baldwin, ACLU founder, supported that legalization, here was the bitter fruit.

So it’s not surprising that they join with Planned Parenthood in cases like the new law in South Dakota requiring that women have a real choice. Or any other case in which the ACLU comes down on the unreasonable side of the American liberty cause.

Thomas More Society’s amendment (HB 3156) to the Illinois Ambulatory Surgical Treatment Center Act will help prevent medical abuse against women during a crisis pregnancy…Thomas More Society attorney Peter Breen’s testimony aided an amendment to move toward a full vote by Illinois state representatives. This amendment, drafted by the Thomas More Society, will require abortion clinics to meet the same safety standards as all other outpatient surgical centers…

I thank the Illinois House Agriculture Committee for its efforts to close a loophole that traps women in unfettered abortion facilities. Women need the peace of mind that every surgical facility in Illinois plays by the rules,” says Breen. “I’m amazed that the ACLU found the time and money to print t-shirts mocking this committee for standing up for women’s rights, rights that require abortion facilities to match standards including licensing, a statutory number of scrub stations, and washable ceilings in the procedure and recovery rooms and ventilation. Why is the ACLU opposing sanitary medical facilities for women?”

Read the full article here.

Cults and Social Control

Randall Carmicle

The melting pot effect – the blending of cultural and ethnic traditions to make America what it is – is also the breeding ground of cults. The different cultures and religious beliefs make America is fertile ground for the growth of cults.

The definition of a religious group as a “cult” depends on who defines it. For most first-century Jews, Christianity was a cult. However, Gamaliel had the right idea: If this be the work of men it will come to naught, but if it be of God, we cannot overthrow it.” (Acts 5: 38, 39)

A cult, by the most liberal definition, is any religious group based on the interpretation of an individual person, that is, personal revelation versus received tradition. By this definition, Judaism could be a cult, since rabbis teach their personal interpretations in the Talmud. They do not teach from the canonical text of the Bible which developed organically from ancient times.

Dr. Charlie Braden, author of Those Who Believe, defines cults as “any religious group which differs significantly in one or more respects as to belief or practice from those religious groups which are regarded as the normative expression of religion in our total culture.”

Walter Martin, a Baptist minister and teacher of Biblical Theology, simplifies this, defining a cult as “a group or people gathered about a specific person or person’s misinterpretation of the Bible.”

Deceivers Want Control

The problem with cults is the attempt by misguided and often deluded leaders to control. I do not condemn the followers. We are to love and have compassion for those who have been deceived by false prophets. These are people for whom Jesus Christ died. My argument is with the teachers of false doctrine who lead their flocks to the “second death” for money, for power, or to feed their own egos.

Christ warned about such as these. “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring for good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them.” (Matt. 17:15-23)

The Growth of Cults

There are an estimated 17 million cult members in the United States alone. The average cult owes much of its existence to Christian terminology. Cult leaders often borrow material from the Bible, using it out of context. Biblical terminology is mixed with Evangelical clichés and used to the cult leader’s advantage.

The problem of evil is rarely discussed in cults as a matter of personal sin and the necessity of atonement by Jesus Christ for salvation. Instead the emphasis tends to be on the evil of those outside the cult, or on the love tolerance and forgiveness to be exercised by members within the cult. One gets the impression that only cult leaders and their followers have all the answers to life problems.

A cult generally begins with an authoritarian pronouncement from the founder. This is institutionalized by the cult and after the founder’s death becomes part of the dogmatic system that defines the cult. Cult members are required to adhere absolutely to the dogma which is held has having supernatural authority.

The Apostle Paul writes, “Deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ, and no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” (II Corinthians 11:13-15)


Why People Join Cults?

Many people are cult ready” are those who feel themselves to be socially marginalized, disenfranchised, or on the periphery. They long to be part of something greater than themselves. They want to feel that they belong and that they serve a purpose. They are usually lonely people who have become isolated from family and friends or who come from dysfunctional families. Often they are jaded by the hypocrisy that they encounter in established forms of religion, blaming the religion rather than recognizing the fallibility of the human.

Absence from God’s love leaves an emptiness inside that some fill with earthly pleasures. Others may seek a more spiritual way to fill the void and these are often attracted to cults. Attachment to a cult can’t satisfy the inner longing, however. It may even have tragic results, as in the tragedy of Jones Town on November 18, 1978, when over 900 cult followers of “Rev” Jim Jones committed forced suicide. A note found on the body of one of the “commanders” reveals the despair and isolation of the People’s Temple. The sealed note was apparently written just prior to the ritual suicide and said, “Dad, I see no way out. I agree with your decision— I fear only that without you, the world may not make it to communion. For my part, I am more than tired of this wretched merciless planet and the hell it holds for so many masses of beautiful people—Thank you for the only life I’ve known.”


How Cults Recruit

The progenitors of false religions look for lonely people in homeless shelters, among drug abusers and in places where run-away children congregate. They show them kindness and generosity and give them a sense that they are loved. This draws them into the fold where they are then indoctrinated.

Some cults recruit by telling people what they want to hear. The message may excuse the person’s bad habits by blaming the corrupt government or self-serving religions. Recruits are told that they can find purpose, salvation, love and happiness only by following the message of the cult founder. Through involvement in the cult, they can become complete and the find inner peace that they have never known. Coming from a charismatic leader this message is very appealing. Once a cult has several followers others “jump on the bandwagon.” Members recruit others through personal contact. Once these are drawn into the cult, they are isolated from all outside influences.


The Psychological Structure of Cultism

In his book The Open and Closed Mind, Dr. Milton Rolceachs notes three reasons or “regions” of a belief system recognized by psychologists.

The first is that which encompasses the individual’s primitive outlook on the world and asks questions such as “Is the world a threatening or an accepting place?” The cult sets itself up as a safe and accepting place over against the world. The belief system is characterized by close mindedness.

The second region touches on the area of authority and asks questions such as, “What is an authority for me?” and “Whose word am I to accept as authoritative?” The cult interprets the world for potential recruits and members, invoking biblical texts and/or sayings of the founder as the ultimate authority. Rational evaluation of truth claims is discouraged or forbidden.

The third region is more peripheral but still important. It asks about the details of people’s daily lives in the cult. The cult member is committed to a way of life that sustains the community. The mindset of isolation can be extreme. This includes a strong element of dislike towards outsiders, which is one reason that rational dialogue with a cult member is difficult or nearly impossible.

All of the world’s religions have heretical branches that develop around a charismatic leader. In America cults have found fertile ground in moral relativism and in the liberal advocacy of “rights” whereby people justify personal choices in religion that can lead to harm and to the second death (Revelation 20).

UK: Government and Your Brain

Is neuroscience becoming a political issue? One of Britain's leading magazines, Spiked, has launched a campaign to make the public aware of the dangers of the politics of the brain. Brendan O'Neill warns that both conservatives and liberals believe that "they have both the right and the capacity to invade our brains and reshape how we perceive and interact with the world around us". O'Neill points out that Prime Minister David Cameron's new coalition government has set up a "behavioural insight team" at 10 Downing Street and that an influential liberal think tank has established a "social brain project".

The aim of these policy wonks, he says, is "to find subtle ways to change our behaviour, not through the old, Blair-style bossy approach of telling us what to do, but by offering incentives, by 'priming' us with subliminal messaging, by changing the 'choice architecture' of our daily lives so that we are influenced, sometimes unconsciously, to behave in what the government considers to be the right way."

Popularised by the recent best-seller, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Wealth, Health and Happiness, the policy-makers are encouraged by neuroscience research which claims that much of human motivation is unconscious and that it can be successfully manipulated by what Spiked calls "the brain cops".

"Most shockingly of all, the nudge brigade sees it as its responsibility to exercise willpower on our behalf, because apparently we're too fickle to do it ourselves. The government should become a 'surrogate willpower', says Mindspace; government action can 'augment our freedom' by pushing us to make the right choices. They don't only want to remake our minds; they want to become our minds, Big Brother-style. It speaks volumes about the nudge statists that they cannot see what a whopping contradiction in terms it is to label government pressure as 'freedom' and external interventions into our brains as the exercising of 'willpower'." ~ Spiked, Nov 1
 
From here.

ACLU Presses for Abortions in Catholic Hospitals

WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services is considering a request from the American Civil Liberties Union that it compel Catholic hospitals to provide emergency abortions.

But the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has vowed not only to provide free legal defense for any hospital the HHS takes action against, but to sue the feds to stop them.

“We have acknowledged receipt of letters from the ACLU and an organization holding the opposite view, but have taken no other action,” said Ellen Griffith, spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “All we can say is that the matter is before us for consideration.”

Read it all here.

Is President Obama a Muslim, a Socialist or Confused?

Time Magazine reports that 24% of Americans believe that the current occupant of the Oval Office is a Muslim. The White House felt it necessary to defend the President, saying that "President Barack Obama is a Christian who prays daily as it looked to tamp down growing doubts among Americans about the president's religion."

White House spokesman Bill Burton added, 'The president is obviously a Christian. He prays everyday.'"

So do Muslims, Bill.

H/T: Rick Lobs Blog and there's a good discussion on this at Midwest Conservative Journal.

From all that I've seen and read it appears that the President is conflicted.  It is more likely that he is a socialist sympathetic to Islam for emotional reasons. Traditional Islam is not sympathetic to socialism, however.  The poor are cared for through the distribution of alms handled by clerics and Islamic charities, not through tax-payer funded government agencies.

Egyptians Want Democracy, Not Nepotism

ANHRI/IFEX) - 2 August 2010 - The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) condemned the arrest of 15 citizens in Alexandria for distributing flyers urging citizens to sign a petition calling for political reform. The citizens were arrested on allegations that these demands pose a "threat to public peace and security". In contrast to this, the government has lauded the distribution of flyers advocating for the nomination of the president's son in the upcoming presidential elections of 2011.

The demands outlined in the flyers are considered fair and have been agreed upon by those who call for reform and democracy in Egypt. The demands include ending the state of emergency, election monitoring by the judiciary and allowing Egyptians who live abroad to vote, among others. However, security officers arrested the citizens who distributed the flyers while, at the same time, they welcomed the actions of other citizens who posted flyers calling on people to vote for the president's son for the presidency, which shows a blatant double standard and police prejudice towards one party versus another.

ANHRI said, "Shame on the government for arresting citizens for expressing themselves publicly and peacefully. The government should welcome people who call for reform and democracy in the same manner that it welcomes supporters of the president's son. Reform and democracy are in the best interest of everyone, they do not favour any particular individual or group."
For more information:

Arabic Network for Human Rights Information
10 Elwy Street
Apartment 5
Behind the Central Bank
Downtown Cairo, Egypt
info (@) anhri.net

Phone: +20 239 64058
Fax: +20 239 64058

Arabic Network for Human Rights Information
http://www.anhri.net/

W.F. Buckley on Liberals

Here is William F. Buckley's definition of Liberalism as he used the term in his 1959 book, Up from Liberalism.

"They are men and women who tend to believe that the human being is perfectible and social progress predictable, and that the instrument for effecting the two is reason; that truths are transitory and empirically determined; that equality is desirable and attainable through the action of state power; that social and individual differences, if they are not rational, are objectionable, and should be scientifically eliminated; that all people and societies strive to organize themselves upon a rationalist and scientific paradigm."
 
 
Hat Tip to Rick Lobs

France to Bann Scientology

PARIS (RNS) In a groundbreaking case, a Paris court will decide for the first time whether to dissolve the Church of Scientology in France, which is facing charges of organized fraud.

The demand was made by French prosecutors on Monday (June 15) as they wrapped up their case against the church’s Paris headquarters and bookshop. If found guilty, the institutions may also face a nearly $6 million fine.

Six members of the church are also on trial, and may also face heavy fines along with prison sentences if convicted.

The plaintiffs, two former Scientologists, claim the church conned them into spending tens of thousands of dollars in bogus products in the 1990s, including an “electrometer” that the church says can measure energy levels.

But the church, which claims a membership of 45,000 in France, rejects the accusations and claims it is being persecuted.

The plaintiffs, are “apostates who ... want to criticize their ex-religion,” Fabio Amicarelli, a European Scientology representative, told French media recently.

While the charges pose the most serious challenge to the French church to date, they are only the latest clash in a nearly two-decade long battle against Scientology. Several fraud cases have already been judged and several members convicted of embezzlement in France, where Scientology is viewed with deep suspicion.

In one case, the head of the church’s Lyons chapter was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 1996 for his role in a member’s suicide.

Founded in 1954 by late American science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, the church is considered a religion in the United States with adherents that include Hollywood stars Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

The French government, however, lists Scientology as a sect, reflecting an official intolerance of unorthodox religions. Indeed, the government even has an official sect watchdog body—known as MIVILUDES, the Interministerial Mission for Monitoring and Combatting Cultic Deviances.

A government report published in May said the number of religious sects had tripled in France over the past 15 years to at least 600 different movements.

From here.

Electronic Control of Masses

Valery Filimonov, academician, biocybernetics and management systems expert, introduced Interfax-Religion to his thoughts on prospects of turning humanity in controllable “biomass” and comments on who stands behind these attempts, what are the dangers of electronic control over people.

- Do you consider universal technotronic dictatorship a myth or reality?

- It’s an old dream of the high and mighties. Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote about necessity of total control and technotronic dictatorship in 1968. David Rockefeller cynically said, “The super-national sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination” Today their plans are gradually materializing. All of us can witness the process. They foster the society where each person will stay under the vigilant eye of the Big Brother who keeps guard of the interests of today's masters, the kings of profiteering and the pawnbrokers of the global scale. It is becoming only evident that the current recession is part of the world's elite scheme to enslave humanity.

- What are the dangers of electronic control over people? Is it real to turn humans in controlled mass of cyborgs?- Today we can assert that not only are they establishing the system of continuous surveillance, but also they are building the system of absolute power over people. What is the use of spending billions for peeping through the keyhole! For example, Opinion 20 of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies states the need of "the transformation of the human race" through "the multiplication of body-friendly technologies" which can "herald the coming of cyborgs.” It proposes to modify individuals “via various electronic devices, under skin chips and smart tags.”

- What do you think about the scales of such control? Who hides behind these technologies and what is the aim?

- According to a number of international agreements, new world order is usually called global informational society or global network society. In fact, this unitarian transnational cyber society will become an electronic death camp. People will be turned in impersonal user-friendly “bio object.” He will be helpless before cyber system, which is to control the society, and its masters. In fact, it will be global technotronic fascism using the latest informational and telecommunicational technologies as a powerful instrument of electronic suppression of free human will. It is an open secret that the main driving force behind the global Internet community unites antichristian and cosmopolitan members of the world's elite, rather than science experts.

Read it all here.

Transparency: Moldovan Tax Inspectorate

(IJC/IFEX) - 30 April 2009 - The Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections - Coalition 2009 - calls on the Main State Tax Inspectorate of the Republic of Moldova to ensure transparency regarding the fiscal verification of non-governmental organizations which were active during the 2009 elections.

On 30 April 2009, Coalition 2009 sent the Main State Tax Inspectorate an official inquiry under the Law on access to information no. 982 of 2000, requesting information on fiscal controls recently ordered by this public institution with regard to several non-governmental organizations active during the electoral campaign, including member organizations of Coalition 2009.

Thus, Coalition 2009 addressed to the Main State Tax Inspectorate several inquires, including the following:

- What are the NGOs subjected to tax control in this period and under which criteria were they selected for verification?

- What is the purpose of these tax checks and based on which decisions were these carried out?
(. . .)

Recently the Main State Tax Inspectorate ordered simultaneous fiscal controls of a number of civil society organizations which were active during the election campaign, through media monitoring, independent election observation and civic education activities.

For additional information please contact the Secretariat of the Coalition 2009 at: +373 22 23 53 43 / ext. 108, e-mail: info@alegeliber.md, contact person - Nicolae Panfil, Secretary of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections - Coalition 2009.

Coalition 2009 is a voluntary union of non-governmental organizations, aiming at contributing to the conduct of free, fair, transparent and democratic elections of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova.

Coalition 2009 continues the efforts of civil society to contribute to the conduct of free and fair elections started by Coalition 2005 and Coalition 2007. Currently the Coalition includes more than 70 member NGOs. For further information, contact Independent Journalism Center (IJC), 53 Sciusev str., Chisinau MD 2012, Moldova, tel: +373 22 213 652, +3732 2 227539, fax: +373 2 226 681, e-mail: assistant@ijc.md, Internet: http://www.ijc.md

Left Bandies "Hate Speech" Slogan

I have detected a disturbing trend in the tenor of the debate now coming from the left.

Blogs, phone calls to talk radio and letters to the editor all ring with the same theme. Anything that is remotely critical of our president or the Democrats in Congress is now being characterized as "hate speech." Liberals have even been emboldened to shout at me across busy floors of public commerce. The political dialogue in this country has taken a nasty turn.

When I took a vacation from my column here at The Tennessean last week, the left-wing blogosphere rejoiced that the only decidedly conservative voice of the Sunday opinion page had, at last, been banished. Sorry to disappoint you: I'm back.

You may not agree with my opinions. They may, in fact, enrage you, but you should be willing to at least listen to what those who don't share your vision of what this country ought to be have to say.

A few weeks ago, the editor of a small-town newspaper very publicly banned my writings from his newspaper. Not over something I had written in his newspaper, mind you, but because of a position I had taken in The Tennessean. What could possibly be so distasteful as to warrant my lifetime ban from his publication? I dared ask the question, "What are we getting for our federal tax dollars?'' When George W. Bush was spending money on what people on the left claimed was an "endless, pointless, immoral war,'' then questioning the expenditures of the federal government was not only acceptable but mandatory.

Now that the liberals have taken over Washington, it seems that criticizing massive bailouts and so-called stimulus packages to the tune of trillions of dollars we don't have is suddenly repugnant if not downright unpatriotic.

The left has always had its forums. The Big Three networks along with CNN, PBS, NPR, MSNBC and countless others have always given voice to the liberal way of thinking. Filmmakers like Michael Moore and Al Gore release propaganda pieces disguised as documentaries. Although we on the right point out the obvious, we don't insist that these entities be shut down.

Talk radio seems to be the last remaining bastion of conservative thought -- dare I say, common sense -- and the liberals have set their sights on closing it down. Liberals who, no doubt, read from talking points hand-crafted by back-bench strategists, call my show with accusations of "hate speech." When asked to provide specifics, they fumble and mumble and accuse me of hating the president. I don't hate the president. I rather like him, on a personal level. What's not to like? He's personable. He's charming. He's intelligent.

What I hate is what he's attempting to do to this country. He sincerely believes that the government can spend its way out of debt. As I've said, that's akin to believing one can drink his way to sobriety. It defies logic but logic is not the currency of liberalism; emotion is.

Liberals look at our current economic situation and scream and cry that our government should do something. Anything! That's an emotional response to a problem that requires logic and common sense to solve. It's easy to throw money at a problem in a fit of misguided compassion, but throwing money around is exactly how we got here. So those of us who criticize the policies of this administration are systematically targeted for destruction.

What's so disturbing about this trend is the damage it does to our fundamental right to freedom of speech, to freedom of the press, to the free exchange of ideas. It is not I who hate; rather, it is those who disagree with me who hate me for holding an opinion contrary to their own.

These supposedly open-minded liberals seem to be all about diversity except when it comes to diversity of thought.

From here.

Phil Valentine is an author and syndicated radio talk show host with Westwood One, heard locally on SuperTalk 99.7WTN weekdays from 4-8 p.m. His column appears on Sundays. For more of his commentary and articles, visit PhilValentine.com.

Herbert Schweiger: "Our time is coming again"

Herbert Schweiger makes no attempt to hide his Nazi views. At his home in the Austrian mountains, the former SS officer gazes out of a window to a view of a misty alpine valley. Described to me as the ‘Puppet Master’ of the far right, Schweiger, 85, is a legendary figure for neo-Nazis across the world.

‘Our time is coming again and soon we will have another leader like Hitler,’ he says.

Still remarkably sharp-minded, Schweiger was a lieutenant in the infamous Waffen SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, an elite unit originally formed before WWII to act as the Führer’s personal bodyguards.

This is his first interview for four years and the first he has ever given to a journalist from outside Austria. It happens a few weeks before he is due to appear in court charged with promoting neo-Nazi ideology.

It will be the fifth time he has stood trial for breaking a law, the Verbotsgesetz, enacted in 1947 to halt the spread of fascist ideology. He has been found guilty twice and acquitted twice. It quickly becomes apparent that little has changed in Schweiger’s mindset since his Third Reich days.

‘The Jew on Wall Street is responsible for the world’s current economic crisis. It is the same now as in 1929 when 90 per cent of money was in the hands of the Jew. Hitler had the right solutions then,’ he says, invoking the language of Goebbels.

The room is filled with mementos from his past and indicators of his sickening beliefs. His bookshelf is a library of loathing. I spot a book by controversial British Holocaust denier David Irvingand one on the ‘myth of Auschwitz’. On a shelf hangs a pennant from the SS Death’s Head unit that ran Hitler’s concentration camps. Such memorabilia is banned in Austria but Schweiger defiantly displays his Nazi possessions.

Read it all here.

Venezuela: Term Limits Removed

Venezuelans yesterday voted to abolish term limits for elected officials, boosting Hugo Chávez's ambition to rule the country for decades.

Electoral authorities said 54% of voters in the referendum backed a constitutional amendment allowing indefinite re-election, with 46% rejecting it – a margin of almost 1 million voters.

An exultant Chávez appeared on the balcony of the presidential palace in Caracas to address cheering supporters after the result was announced. "It is a clear victory for the people," he said. "It is a clear victory for the revolution."

The result boosts his effort to transform the Opec country into a socialist state and burnish his leadership of Latin America's "pink tide" of leftwing governments.

The president's mentor and ally Fidel Castro sent congratulations from his sickbed in Cuba.

The US made no immediate comment, but the Obama administration will be dismayed at the prospect of an emboldened foe in Caracas.

Chávez, a 54-year-old former tank commander, has been in power for a decade and plans to run for election again when his term ends in 2013. He has spoken of ruling beyond 2030.

However, plunging oil revenues are expected to hit the Venezuelan economy and the petro-fuelled Chavez diplomacy soon.

Some analysts predict stagflation and devaluation of the bolivar currency – the kind of grim cycle that undid previous Venezuelan leaders – and there was speculation that Chávez had rushed through the referendum before the crisis hit.

The unexpectedly wide margin of victory prompted rapturous celebrations among "chavistas", who credit their charismatic leader for poverty-alleviating social programmes, notably free health care and discounted food.

"We did it, we won – this is a great night," Freddy Ramirez, a 48-year-old security guard, said.

Fireworks lit up the night sky and cars filled with flag-waving supporters drove around the capital.

However, not everybody celebrated. "Chavez has screwed this country enough already," Ricardo Torres, a 56-year-old courier, said.

He blamed the president for crumbling infrastructure and high crime and inflation.

Voters had narrowly rejected a referendum to abolish presidential term limits in December 2007.

Chávez learned lessons from that defeat, this time widening the terms of the referendum to allow mayors and governors to run indefinitely, giving them an incentive to mobilise support.

The government's "red machine" waged a formidable campaign. Posters urging a "yes" vote saturated the country, state TV networks cheered for the "si" and civil servants were sent out to canvass.

A flyer gave 10 reasons for voting yes. Number one said: "Chávez loves us and love is repaid with love", and the second stated: "Chávez is incapable of doing us harm".

Read it all here.

Global Taxes?

CNBC is an “industry partner” of the World Economic Forum this week.

CNBC is a subsidiary of General Electric, whose GE Capital is receiving a $139-billion taxpayer-financed loan guarantee as part of the Wall Street bailout. CNBC’s sister networks are NBC and MSNBC.

Other “industry partners” of the WEF include Reuters, the British-based news agency. A Reuters story about the meeting that starts on Wednesday sounds like a press release from the organization, hailing its “achievements” over time but failing to note that Reuters is a sponsor of this year’s event.

CNBC is advertising a “No Way Back – the Road to Recovery” debate hosted at the conference by CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo. One of the participants is Steve Schwarzman, Chairman, CEO and co-founder of the Chinese-funded and partly owned Blackstone Group.

Representing Chinese economic dominance in what Henry Kissinger has labeled a “New World Order,” Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is speaking to a special session of the conference on its first day.

The event’s corporate sponsors, which pay about half a million dollars each to participate, include several failing institutions that have received tens of billions of dollars from U.S. taxpayers. They include Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Morgan Stanley. These entities are termed “Strategic Partners” of the World Economic Forum.

But will CNBC highlight this kind of extravagant spending when the cable business network is helping sponsor the event?

In a major embarrassment, the WEF has released a report, “The Future of the Global Financial System,” which acknowledges “intellectual stewardship and guidance” provided by a steering committee co-chaired by John Thain, the former Merrill Lynch & Co. chief executive officer who was recently ousted from Bank of America in a scandal. Thain oversaw the disastrous sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America and was criticized for lavish spending on office decorations, including a $1,405 waste basket and $87,784 rug.

The other co-chair of the committee was David Rubenstein, co-founder and managing director of The Carlyle Group, who has been quoted as saying that China holds the key to the world economy’s future. One report notes that Rubenstein says Carlyle “was an early investor in the Chinese marketplace,” that its China office “has hired many native-born Chinese, and the company is seeking to build its buyout and growth-capital businesses there.”

“The Global Agenda 2009” report says that “sovereign states do not adequately address problems reaching across borders” and that “international taxation” may be needed to generate the “additional resources” for “global governance.”

Read it all here.

Obama's Social Engineering

Barack Obama’s wholesale support for the LGBT community is front and center on his agenda. Barely day 2 of his administration and the insanity begins. America’s social and moral fabric is being assaulted as never before. The consequences of these policies will have devastating effects on America’s future and all our freedoms. Madness, sheer madness!

Fight Workplace Discrimination: President Obama supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and believes that our anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. While an increasing number of employers have extended benefits to their employees’ domestic partners, discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace occurs with no federal legal remedy. The President also sponsored legislation in the Illinois State Senate that would ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples: President Obama supports full civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples. Obama also believes we need to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally-recognized unions. These rights and benefits include the right to assist a loved one in times of emergency, the right to equal health insurance and other employment benefits, and property rights.

Oppose a Constitutional Ban on Same-Sex Marriage: President Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2006 which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and prevented judicial extension of marriage-like rights to same-sex or other unmarried couples.

Repeal Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell: President Obama agrees with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars replacing troops kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation. Additionally, more than 300 language experts have been fired under this policy, including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. The President will work with military leaders to repeal the current policy and ensure it helps accomplish our national defense goals.

Expand Adoption Rights: President Obama believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation. He thinks that a child will benefit from a healthy and loving home, whether the parents are gay or not.

For more.

Something is Very Wrong with Black Friday

At his Business Ethics Blog Chris MacDonald has written about the trampling to death of a Wal-Mart employee. The 34-year-old employee was knocked down by a crowd that broke down the doors of the Wal-Mart at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, N.Y., and surged into the store. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital at 6 a.m.

Chris wrote, "Police are apparently investigating. That's good; charges should be laid, and I hope the tramplers go to jail for this (it's going to be hard to apportion responsibility among various members of the mob, but that's a problem for a different kind of blog). But from a business ethics point of view, it's clear that Wal-Mart also has to take action, here.

The 2005 attack-documentary, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" claimed that Wal-Mart's lax security was responsible for crimes committed in Wal-Mart parking lots. In my review of that movie, I suggested that was unfair. But today's death happened inside a Wal-Mart store, and was presumably incited by the sale Wal-Mart was having. I'm not saying Wal-Mart was responsible — the death was the mob's fault, and it's not at all clear that Wal-Mart could have foreseen that their low prices would cause a frenzied crowd to rip the front doors of their hinges and trample an employee. But now it has happened. And it cannot happen again. Wal-Mart has either to improve security measures during future big sales events, or cancel such events altogether.

Tribes Banish Offenders

ONAMIA, Minn. -- Fed up with a recent spate of chronic lawlessness, tribal lawyers for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe are turning to a tool both new and ancient to rid their community of troublemakers.

Four band members were recently banished from the reservation -- excluded for five years based on myriad assaults and weapons violations.

Tribes in Canada, Arizona, New York and Washington state also have turned to the old practice in recent years.

Such punishment was at one time essentially a death sentence. Those ostracized were either left to the whims of enemy tribes or, more likely, starved or froze alone without the help of their community. The modern-day version, formally called exclusion, is less harsh.

For example in the Mille Lacs Band, an excluded member is still entitled to the $7,000 yearly share of Grand Casino gambling profits -- as long as the deposit is done automatically or a relative picks up the checks, because the excluded can't set foot on the reservation and can be held in contempt or charged in state court with trespass for trying.

The four newly banished members can request reinstatement in 2013 if they remain law-abiding and can show they've been working regularly.

"It's an extreme way to deal with a problem and a little bit rare," said Solicitor General Rjay Brunkow, the top lawyer for the Mille Lacs Band of 4,000 members, about 100 miles north of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

"I think you're going to see it more and more as gangs and criminal elements start to make their way onto the reservations, especially those closer to metro areas."

Read it all here.

Swiss Direct Democracy Needs Tweeking

Lawrence B. Solum has posted the abstract on Johannes Reich's An Interactional Model of Direct Democracy - Lessons from the Swiss Experience. Reich is on the Law Faculty of the University of Basel. Here is the abstract:

Direct democratic decision-making has often been associated with populism, irrationality, and oppression of minorities as it requires allegedly "cognitive overstrained" citizens to decide on complex political issues often brought forward by special interest groups. The usage of popular initiatives in particular in the State of California seems to provide conclusive evidence for all of these shortcomings. Due to its constitutional arrangement and its diverse structure, Switzerland - which historically served as a blueprint for introducing instruments of direct democracy at the state-level during the progressive area in the United States - offers a unique case to assess these claims: More than half of the world's referenda held at the national level during the 20th century have taken place in Switzerland. At the same time, the Swiss Federal Constitution provides for limited constitutional review only, excluding Federal statutes and international law from judicial control. Based on the lessons from the Swiss experience, this paper argues not only for a more realistic approach to popular decision-making but for a more differentiated understanding of the general term "direct democracy" by pointing at the often neglected importance of the interface between institutions of direct and indirect democracy. At the same time, it cautions against simplistic demands for "popular constitutionalism". In sum, this paper champions what I call an interactional model of direct democracy.

Keywords: democracy, direct democracy, tyranny of the majority, political system of Switzerland, power sharing in multicultural societies, Swiss constitutional law, comparative constitutional law, judicial review, constitutional review, popular constitutionalism, direct democracy in California

Read it at Legal Theory Blog.

How "International" is Community?

Peter Matthews, the Guitar Priest, has a balanced piece on government at his blog. Here is what he has to say:

"I am a strong advocate of a smaller and more limited Federal government. This is not because I am a libertarian who believes in self-ownership and personal autonomy. I am a communitarian rooted in the tradition of Catholic social teaching. However, community is a meaningful concept only when it is envisioned and implemented on a human scale. The fashion of speaking of large interest groups as communities -- e.g., the international arts community -- is, to my mind, an utterly meaningless and somewhat Orwellian way to use the word community.

I believe deeply in both community and order. The vision I embrace is of a multiplicity of communities each with their own telos and sphere. Government is good -- contra libertarians. But government should be limited -- contra statist progressives."

Read it all here.