Obama's former "Green Czar" calls him a Communitarian

This article has been re-posted all over the internet in the past 2 days. I've looked at about 10 pages of search returns, and only one I opened so far added anything original to the Rebel Pundit's story.

Reading the comments from various sites shows how many people think Van Jones made the term up, and how most say it's just another word for communism. (Exactly what happened when Bill Clinton used the word in Montreal. Nobody there knew what it is either and the reporter said Clinton "coined the phrase"). Only one website that reposted Pundit's article had a link to the ACL, and that was onlysecond hand via democratsagainstunagenda21. 

Really interesting is Van Jones' description of it..... and his telling Breibart there's really no way to look it up. Our anti communitarian research has been on the internet for ten years, we're on the wiki "communitarian" page, but for some reason readers never did a keyword search that would lead to us, or to Etzioni, nor did Jones obviously.

Is this a great way to further confuse the American people, or what?

"Jones compared the president’s address to that of Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 and recommended that the theater full of college students read Reagan’s “powerful” and “strong,” inaugurals, which he said were “rooted in American tradition and values,” but “unabashedly” and “unapologetically conservative.”'

Following Jones's comparison of President Obama to Ronald Reagan, the “unabashedly conservative” president, I pressed Jones further for some insight into what and who President Obama really is.

Jones replied: “He is a communitarian.” He then elaborated briefly: “I mean you always have individualism, communitarianism, as a part of the, American story, and I think we’ve overbalanced the individualistic direction and I think he’s trying to rebalance toward communitarianism.”

Later, when asked (off tape) to define "communitarian," Jones was unable to answer or to point toward any source for a definition. He said there wasn’t really a way to look up “communitarianism.”

He did reiterate, however, that he saw communitarianism as a counterbalance to libertarianism, which he equated to “individualism.”

Jones declined an interview with Breitbart News following the lecture.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/01/24/Van-Jones-Obama-is-an-unabashed-Communitarian

Leveraging Human Assets for the Common Good

Communitarian programs control every facet of human life. The communitarian system is designed to dictate to every human being entered in their database. The New World Order is not some random idea that can not possibly be realized in our lifetimes. The coming police state is not only about robo-cops and FEMA detention camps. Not everyone will be arrested or achieve martyrdom... the communitarian system is designed for those who remain "free."

Neighborhood-community-communitarian programs and policies are designed down to the smallest human detail. The only glitch to the whole plan is it's a DATA DRIVEN SYSTEM. The most common complaint made by LA21 planning groups in the late 90's was the NEED FOR MORE DATA. It is impossible to plan who does what in a communitarian collective if you don't know who knows how to do it.

ABCD is always presented the same way all communitarian programs are. ABCD promoters assure us it's just a more moral, enlightened solution to global neighborhood problems. In this wiki article the description starts out reading like an ABCD Institute press release, but then in the final paragraphs we get an alternative viewpoint of ABCD, a view which is shared by people like me who were identified as problems when we attempted to contribute in local LA21 planning meetings. I'm reprinting this here because I plan to reproduce it in the book under the chapter about ABCD, and I want to use this exact version and save it in hard copy and online ... forever.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset-based_community_development

Asset-based community development

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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This article or section reads like a news release, or is otherwise written in an overly promotional tone. Please help by either rewrite this article from a neutral point of view or by moving to Wikinews. When appropriate, blatant advertising may be marked for speedy deletion with {{db-spam}}. (May 2010)

Asset-based community development (ABCD) is a methodology that seeks to uncover and utilize the strengths within communities as a means for sustainable development. The basic tenet is that a capacities-focused approach is more likely to empower the community and therefore mobilize citizens to create positive and meaningful change from within. Instead of focusing on a community's needs, deficiencies and problems, the ABCD approach helps them become stronger and more self-reliant by discovering, mapping and mobilizing all their local assets. Few people realize how many assets any community has, for example:

• Skills of its citizens, from youth to people with disabilities, from thriving professionals to starving artists
• Dedication of its citizens associations — churches, culture groups, clubs, neighborhood associations
• Resources of its formal institutions — businesses, schools, libraries, community colleges, hospitals, parks, social service agencies

By the late 1990s, communities around the country were mapping and using these resources in imaginative ways, bringing them out of the closet and into creative synergy with each other, with dramatic results. Asset-based community development has provided leaders and institutions in all sectors with an approach that is relatively cheap, effective and empowering, that avoids paternalism and dependence — an approach that can be supported by all parts of the political spectrum and initiated at any level of civic life.

The first step in the process of community development is to assess the resources of a community through a capacity inventory ^[1] or through another process of talking to the residents to determine what types of skills and experience are available to a community organization. The next step is to consult with the community and find out what improvements the residents would like to make. The final, and most challenging step, is to determine how the residents' skills can be leveraged into achieving those goals.^{[1] {my emphasis and link}}

Using this model, the communities who hire ABCD speakers to influence their citizens are looking for an opportunity to create artificial community consensus. By creating farmed neighborhood associations they sideline actual community participants who often do not agree with the city policies. These artificial groups use the Delphi technique to block participation by real community members who raise points that are avoided by city-sponsored neighborhood groups. Under the guise of creating 'sustainable communities' neighborhood associations will be developed that are run by hand-picked city insiders who will rubberstamp city programs like redeveloping neighborhoods and redesigning streets. This visioning is supposedly community based but is not. They shut down any dissenting voices and marginalize, ridicule, attack, silence, and ignore those who do not agree.

'Mapping community assets' is a way of controlling and managing a group of people and directing them to use their skills in a pre-determined way to 'benefit' the community. Who decides what benefits the community? The hand-picked 'leaders'. By mapping a community are these groups determining who has something to offer the collective and who does not? What happens to those who do not contribute to the collective? How are they 'leveraged' into contributing? The Asset-Based Community Development Institute^[2] is located at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Its founders, John Kretzmann and John L. McKnight, are the major proponents of this community development philosophy.

Contents [hide] 1 See also 2 References 3 Further reading 4 External links

[edit] See also

• Allotment gardens
• Community development
• Community-based participatory research (CBPR)
• Participatory rural appraisal (PRA)
• Searsolin
• Praxis intervention
• Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action (PCHP)
• Democrats Against UN Agenda 21

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} McKnight, John; Kretzmann, John. "Mapping Community Capacity". Northwestern University. http://www.northwestern.edu/ipr/publications/papers/mcc.pdf.
2. ^ Asset-Based Community Development Institute

[edit] Further reading

• John P. Kretzmann and John L. McKnight, Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community's Assets (Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research, 1993)
• From Clients to Citizens: Asset-Based Community Development as a Strategy for Community-Driven Development
• What is Asset Mapping? by John Emerson, 2004.
• PCHP Website
• Author Guidelines
• A Vision for Progress in Community Health Partnerships
• Inagural Issue Sample Reader
• Guidelines for Writing Manuscripts About Community-based Participatory Research in Peer- Reviewed Journals
• Beyond the Manuscript Podcasts
• Community Policy Briefs
• Editorial Board
• Access PCHP at Project MUSE
• Asset Based Community Development in a local community

[edit] External links

• Asset-Based Community Development Institute
• ABCD Asia Pacific Network
• Inspiring Communities ABCD in Australia and New Zealand
• Family Action Centre Australia
• Social Leadership Development Course, SEARSOLIN
• Nurture Development ABCD approach in Ireland
• KaBOOM! is the ABCD approach used to build playgrounds in the U.S.
• Asset-Based Community Development -- An Overview By Gord Cunningham and Alison Mathie, Coady International Institute
• Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action- The mission of the Journal is to facilitate dissemination of programs that use community partnerships to improve public health, to promote progress in the methods of research and education involving community health partnerships, and to stimulate action that will improve the health of people in communities. Communities, as defined by the Journal, may be based on geography, shared interests, or social networks. The Journal is dedicated to supporting the work of community health partnerships that involve ongoing collaboration between community representatives and academic or governmental partners. This area of research and evaluation may be referred to as community-based participatory research (CBPR). The W. K. Kellogg Foundation defines CBPR as a collaborative approach to research that equitably involves all partners in the research process and recognizes the unique strengths that each brings. CBPR begins with a research topic of importance to the community and has the aim of combining knowledge with action and achieving social change to improve health outcomes and eliminate health disparities.
• NORC Blueprint -- a guide to community action for the development of effective NORC programs

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset-based_community_development"

Categories: Community | Community building | Community development | Community organizing | Urban studies and planning | Development | Rural community development | Social sciences

Building a Communitarian Planned Police State

Community (communitarian) Oriented Policing plays a key role in building a new world. Community police are in almost every nation now, and they are directly involved in ALL Local Agenda 21 neighborhood planning efforts. The COPS suggest new laws that help them gather necessary data. The COPS have the database of every resident's personal information on laptops in their cars. Here's a nice video produced by the Sacramento Police Department that describes how the COPS program was first tested in government housing projects that were left to rot for years. When they introduced their communitarian solution to the police neglect, there were many residents who welcomed it. What the video doesn't tell you is how they expanded the COPS program into the private sector in 1999. http://www.sacpd.org/inside/history/cb02.aspx

In June 2000 I went to a meeting at Town Hall in Seattle, Washington where Jody Kretzmann spoke to a group of community "leaders" about a "new approach" to Rebuilding Communities. I've posted this before and some of my readers are already familiar with it. But since I have so many new readers who are as yet unaware of the process underway, I thought I'd go ahead and post it again. With all the interest in UN Local Agenda 21 now, it might help to know exactly HOW it's being implemented at the grassroots level, globally. http://www.abcdinstitute.org/capacity/

"My time at Public Allies also gave me the opportunity to work with John McKnight and Jody Kretzmann, who developed the Asset-Based Community Development approach to neighborhood development, and that really influenced how we worked with communities. Some of you may be familiar with this approach, but the approach acknowledges that all of us, every single one of us breathing in this community, in this planet, those of us serving and those of us who are being served, that we're all both half-full and half-empty. We all have skills and talents that make us good friends, family members, workers, and leaders, and we also have needs and shortcomings that come along with those strengths. We can't do well serving these communities, I learned with Public Allies, if we believe that we, the givers, are the only ones that are half-full, and that everybody we're serving is half-empty. That has been the theme of my work in community for my entire life -- that there are assets and gifts out there in communities, and that our job as good servants and as good leaders is not only just being humble, but it's having the ability to recognize those gifts in others, and help them put those gifts into action. Communities are filled with assets that we need to better recognize and mobilize if we're really going to make a difference, and Public Allies helped me see that." Michelle Obama, June 16, 2009

ABCD is the program Barack and Michelle Obama were trained in, and John McNight is the guy who signed Obama's Harvard Law School application. Jim Diers was Director of the Department of Neighborhoods when the Roosevelt Neighborhood Plan designated our homes as a pilot test for the COPS' COMPASS database. One primary goal of our pilot test was to find "innovative" ways around the 4th Amendment, identified by SPD Police Chief Norm Stamper as an "identified barrier to the program." Diers wrote a book in 2004 about his experiences there called Neighbor Power. It "describes Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods and its bold experiments in bottom-up neighborhood planning and development."

"Jim Diers has a passion for building neighbor power. Since moving to Seattle in 1976, he put that passion to work for an Alinsky-style community organization, a health care cooperative, and a community development corporation. Diers was appointed the first director of Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods in 1988. He served under three mayors over the next 14 years as the department grew to become a national model for planning and development powered by neighbors. " http://www.neighborpower.org/

So what kinds of gifts does Michelle Obama expect us to share? When we are all "mapped and mobilized," these are the things good citizens must perform for the common good:

The Capacity Inventory
http://www.abcdinstitute.org/resources/

This copyright material may be reprinted with the following attribution: "Reprinted with permission of John P. Kretzmann and John L. McKnight, pp. 19-25, from Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community's Assets, Evanston, IL: Institute for Policy Research (1993)."

Hello. I'm with (local organization's name). We're talking to local people about their skills. With this information, we hope to help people contribute to improving the neighborhood, find jobs or start businesses. May I ask you some questions about your skills and abilities?

Part I -- Skills Information
Now I'm going to read to you a list of skills. It's an extensive list, so I hope you'll bear with me. I'll read the skills and you just say "yes" whenever we get to one you have. We are interested in all your skills and abilities. They may have been learned through experience in the home or with your family. They may be skills you've learned at church or in the community. They may also be skills you have learned on the job.

Health
Caring for the Elderly ________
Caring for the Mentally Ill ________
Caring for the Sick ________
Caring for the Physically Disabled or Developmentally Disabled ________
Now, I would like to know about the kind of care you provided.
Bathing ________
Feeding ________
Preparing Special Diets ________
Exercising and Escorting ________
Grooming ________
Dressing ________
Making the Person Feel at Ease ________
Office
Typing (words per minute) ________
Operating Adding Machine/Calculator ________
Filing Alphabetically/Numerically ________
Taking Phone Messages ________
Writing Business Letters (not typing) ________
Receiving Phone Orders ________
Operating Switchboard ________
Keeping Track of Supplies ________
Shorthand or Speedwriting ________
Bookkeeping ________
Entering Information into Computer ________
Word Processing ________
Construction and Repair
Painting ________
Porch Construction or Repair ________
Tearing Down Buildings ________
Knocking Out Walls ________
Wall Papering ________
Furniture Repairs ________
Repairing Locks ________
Building Garages ________
Bathroom Modernization ________
Building Room Additions ________
Tile Work ________
Installing Drywall & Taping ________
Plumbing Repairs ________
Electrical Repairs ________
Bricklaying & Masonry ________
Cabinetmaking ________
Kitchen Modernization ________
Furniture Making ________
Installing Insulation ________
Plastering ________
Soldering & Welding ________
Concrete Work (sidewalks) ________
Installing Floor Coverings ________
Repairing Chimneys ________
Heating/Cooling System Installation ________
Putting on Siding ________
Tuckpointing ________
Cleaning Chimneys (chimney sweep) ________
Installing Windows ________
Building Swimming Pools ________
Carpentry Skills ________
Roofing Repair or Installation ________
Maintenance
Window Washing ________
Floor Waxing or Mopping ________
Washing and Cleaning Carpets/Rugs ________
Routing Clogged Drains ________
Using a Handtruck in a Business ________
Caulking ________
General Household Cleaning ________
Fixing Leaky Faucets ________
Mowing Lawns ________
Planting & Caring for Gardens ________
Pruning Trees & Shrubbery ________
Cleaning/Maintaining Swimming Pools ________
Floor Sanding or Stripping ________
Wood Stripping/Refinishing ________
Food
Catering ________
Serving Food to Large Numbers of People (over 10) ________
Preparing Meals for Large Numbers of People (over 10) ________
Clearing/Setting Tables for Large Numbers of People (over 10) ________
Washing Dishes for Large Numbers of People (over 10) ________
Operating Commercial Food Preparation Equipment ________
Bartending ________
Meatcutting ________
Baking ________
Child Care
Caring for Babies (under 1 year) ________
Caring for Children (1 to 6) ________
Caring for Children (7 to 13) ________
Taking Children on Field Trips ________
Transportation
Driving a Car ________
Driving a Van ________
Driving a Bus ________
Driving a Taxi ________
Driving a Tractor Trailer ________
Driving a Commercial Truck ________
Driving a Vehicle/Delivering Goods ________
Hauling ________
Operating Farm Equipment ________
Driving an Ambulance ________
Operating Equipment & Repairing Machinery
Repairing Radios, TVs, VCRs, Tape Recorders ________
Repairing Other Small Appliances ________
Repairing Automobiles ________
Repairing Trucks/Buses ________
Repairing Auto/Truck/Bus Bodies ________
Using a Forklift ________
Repairing Large Household Equipment (e.g., refrigerator) ________
Repairing Heating & Air Conditioning System ________
Operating a Dump Truck ________
Fixing Washers/Dryers ________
Repairing Elevators ________
Operating a Crane ________
Assembling Items ________
Supervision
Writing Reports ________
Filling out Forms ________
Planning Work for Other People ________
Directing the Work of Other People ________
Making a Budget ________
Keeping Records of All Your Activities ________
Interviewing People ________
Sales
Operating a Cash Register ________
Selling Products Wholesale or for Manufacturer (If yes, which products?) ________
Selling Products Retail (If yes, which products?) ________
Selling Services (If yes, which services?) ________
How have you sold these products or services? ________
Door to Door ________
Phone ________
Mail ________
Store ________
Home
Music
Singing ________
Play an Instrument (Which one?) ________
Security
Guarding Residential Property ________
Guarding Commercial Property ________
Guarding Industrial Property ________
Armed Guard ________
Crowd Control ________
Ushering at Major Events ________
Installing Alarms or Security Systems ________
Repairing Alarms or Security Systems ________
Firefighting
Other
Upholstering ________
Sewing ________
Dressmaking ________
Crocheting ________
Knitting ________
Tailoring ________
Moving Furniture or Equipment to Different Locations ________
Managing Property ________
Assisting in the Classroom ________
Hair Dressing ________
Hair Cutting ________
Phone Surveys ________
Jewelry or Watch Repair ________
Are there any other skills that you have which we haven't mentioned?
Priority Skills
When you think about your skills, what three things do you think you do best? Which of all your
skills are good enough that other people would hire you to do them? Are there any skills you
would like to teach? What skills would you most like to learn?
Part II -- Community Skills
Have you ever organized or participated in any of the following community activities?
Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts ________
Church Fundraisers ________
Bingo ________
School-Parent Associations ________
Sports Teams ________
Camp Trips for Kids ________
Field Trips ________
Political Campaigns ________
Block Clubs ________
Community Groups ________
Rummage Sales ________
Yard Sales ________
Church Suppers ________
Community Gardens ________
Neighborhood Organization ________
Other Groups or Community Work? ________
Let me read the list again. Tell me in which areas you would be willing to participate in the
future.
Part III -- Enterprising Interests and Experience
Business Interest
Have you ever considered starting a business? Yes _____No _____
If yes, what kind of business did you have in mind?
Did you plan to start it alone or with other people? Alone _____Others _____
Did you plan to operate it out of your home? Yes _____No _____
What obstacle kept you from starting the business?
Business Activity
Are you currently earning money on your own through the sale of services or products?
Yes _____No _____
If yes, what are the services or products you sell? Whom do you sell to? How do you get
customers? What would help you improve your business?

Part IV -- Personal Information
Name_____________________________
Address _____________________________
Phone _____________________________
Age _____________________________
Sex: F_____ M_______

The President Talks by Ezra Klein, WA Post

Obama's latest speech is being defined as "communitarian" in the conservative news?

http://www.conservativeforchange.com/2010/03/obama-we-are-communitarian-not.html

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/03/the_president_talks.html

Yet, Ron Paul told us today at lewrockwell.com that Obama's politics are called corporatism....

Lately many have characterized this administration as socialist, or having strong socialist leanings. I differ with this characterization. This is not to say Mr. Obama believes in free-markets by any means. On the contrary, he has done and said much that demonstrates his fundamental misunderstanding and hostility towards the truly free market. But a closer, honest examination of his policies and actions in office reveals that, much like the previous administration, he is very much a corporatist. This in many ways can be more insidious and worse than being an outright socialist. Socialism is a system where the government directly owns and manages businesses. Corporatism is a system where businesses are nominally in private hands, but are in fact
controlled by the government. In a corporatist state, government officials often act in collusion with their favored business interests to design polices that give those interests a monopoly position, to the detriment of both competitors and consumers.

A careful examination of the policies pursued by the Obama administration and his allies in Congress shows that their agenda is corporatist. For example, the health care bill that recently passed does not establish a Canadian-style government-run single-payer health care system.
Instead, it relies on mandates forcing every American to purchase private health insurance or pay a fine. It also includes subsidies for low-income Americans and government-run health care “exchanges.” Contrary to the claims of the proponents of the health care bill, large insurance and pharmaceutical companies were enthusiastic supporters of many provisions of this legislation because they knew in the end their bottom lines would be enriched by Obamacare.

Similarly, Obama's “cap-and-trade” legislation provides subsidies and specials privileges to large businesses that engage in “carbon trading.” This is why large corporations, such as General Electric support cap-and-trade. To call the President a corporatist is not to soft-pedal criticism of his administration. It is merely a more accurate description of the President’s agenda.

When he is called a socialist, the President and his defenders can easily deflect that charge by pointing out that the historical meaning of socialism is government ownership of industry; under the President’s policies, industry remains in nominally private hands. Using the more accurate term – corporatism – forces the President to defend his policies that increase government control of private industries and expand de facto subsidies to big businesses. This also promotes the understanding that though the current system may not be pure socialism, neither is it free-market since government controls the private sector through taxes, regulations, and subsidies, and has done so for decades.

Using precise terms can prevent future statists from successfully blaming the inevitable failure of their programs on the remnants of the free market that are still allowed to exist. We must not allow the disastrous results of corporatism to be ascribed incorrectly to free market capitalism or used as a justification for more government expansion. Most importantly, we must learn what freedom really is and educate others on how infringements on our economic liberties caused our economic woes in the first place. Government is the problem; it cannot be the solution.

Using precise terms can prevent current debates from degenerating into dialectical arguments that lead everyone to the exact same compromise, called communitarianism. Why would Paul explain the merger between socialism and corporate fascism and then use the WRONG term to define the new balanced way of thinking?

Here's what happens when an American starts studying communitarianism:

http://www.floppingaces.net/2010/03/19/communitarianism-the-new-communism-reader-post/

Obama - Democratic Strategist or clone?

Is it true that no one has ever come forward from Obama's past and said they knew him? I've heard this so many times but it really is too freaky to even contemplate. Not one former student can remember him from Columbia? Well, maybe we should ask Dr. Amitai Etzioni who was the lead professor of sociology at Columbia until 1984 if he knew Obama. (Chris? Can you call him back?) If he says he did not have Obama in ANY classes, then we can follow up with more questions, starting with the picture of him with Obama and the role John McKnight played in getting Obama into Harvard (does anyone remember him from there?)

Obama the Sociologist – Obama’s fundamental political strategy is based on a sophisticated sociological perspective that political scientists, campaign managers and even many progressives largely ignore.
http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/strategist/2009/02/obama_the_sociologist_obamas_f.php

I used to think the idea of him being an Egyptian clone was funny. Not anymore. I was only at CSUC one semester and I can name many people I met there. I was at UMass for only 2 years and can name even more people I met there, including my academic advisor Prof Howard Ziff who remembered me after I was gone for 15 years. How are we supposed to believe nobody can remember Obama from Columbia? That's just nuts.

Smart Growth was the mandate for all the communitarian police actions taken against rental tenants in Seattle in 1999. The Washington State Growth Management Act was passed in 1990, 2 years before LA21 was introduced at Rio. Our neighborhood plans were based on the 1987 UN definition of "sustainability" and the lead City Agency, the DCLU, hasdas its Director a man who was also a presenter at Rio, with a company called Sustainable Seattle. I asked every one of the seven city, county and federal agencies working to implement Roosevelt's "vision" what their term "livability, quality of life, and sustainable" means. After numerous requests, the Department of Neighborhoods Director finally responded, in writing (aka "on the record") that the city had "no definition for these." No suprise this big affirmation was presented in Seattle. :)

BREAKING: Cabinet officials affirm committment to smart growth and livability at national conference

February 6th, 2010
By Steve Davis

A few of the record-breaking 1,700 attendees at the New Partners for Smart Growth conference in Seattle might have been pinching themselves on Thursday night after hearing three of President Obama’s cabinet secretaries emphasize the importance of smart growth, sustainability and livability as core goals shaping the work of their three massive federal agencies.

Demonstrating the Obama Administration’s commitment to making neighborhoods more livable, sustainable and affordable, Secretaries Ray Lahood and Shaun Donovan of the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development came to Seattle to discuss their plans to use their giant agencies’ budgets and programs in unison to help American families in rural, suburban and urban communities have better options for affordable housing and getting where they need to go each day. Making sure that future growth in our towns and cities results in affordable homes in walkable neighborhoods close to places to work, shop or go to school means less money wasted on skyrocketing transportation costs — saving money for everyday Americans.

(Lahood and Donovan were joined by Assistant Administrator Mathy V. Stanislaus from the Environmental Protection Agency, filling in for EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, who was unable to attend due to a conflict, but sent a video message for the conference recipients to watch.)

Secretary Ray LaHood made it clear that the federal government will be a powerful supporting partner in the work that all of us are doing across the country to ensure that the neighborhoods, communities and cities we call home are great places to live for decades to come. “You guys are the dreamers; the innovators — but we are going to partner with you to do this work,” he said.

Smart Growth America applauds HUD, DOT and EPA for the powerful message delivered by cabinet secretaries flying across the country to tell 1,700 planners, local officials, advocates and ordinary citizens that they’ll be making smarter growth and livability the norm and the standard — not the exception.

Obama's call to communitarian service

My interview with George Butler last night was live from College station, Texas, where Obama and Bush are hosting this forum today. He's a lovely man and for some reason his efforts give me hope. But wow, I still find it hard to believe that Americans don't know what Americorps is or where it originated. It's almost mind blowing to know that patriotic Texas and all the Christians down there support such obvious occultism. The Points of Light Foundation came up in my research very early on, and I had no problem finding the background for this idea is a theosophical vision. I included the link at the ACL on our What the Communitarians Stand For page. How insulting to all the good people of Texas who put their faith and trust in Bush Sr. I'm sure it's extremely confusing for them now that Bush/Obama are leading them into their globalist New Age nightmare. Is everyone that blinded by the word "community?"

Do not confuse the "call to service" with authentic charity that comes from your heart. This call is to serve the STATE as if it is our NEW GOD. I refuse to serve the communitarian God because, as a natural born American, I am free to seek my own path to Heaven. Maybe that commandment about putting "no other Gods before me" is worthy of Christian consideration:

Obama and elder Bush team up on call to service

By EILEEN SULLIVAN
Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- President Barack Obama, who has called on Americans to perform more community service, is joining former President George H.W. Bush in urging citizens to volunteer.

Bush on Friday was to host a forum on volunteering at Texas A&M University, to be attended by Obama, who initiated a "United We Serve" call to service in June that culminated in a national day of service on the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The forum is affiliated with the Points of Light Institute, an organization that honors people and groups who participate in community service. Bush created the Daily Point of Light Award in 1989 to honor volunteers. The forum will be held at the A&M campus at College Station, Texas, where Bush's presidential library is located. It was expected to draw students, faculty and Points of Light award winners. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a former president of the university, was planning to attend as well.

As a candidate, Obama promised to make a call to public service a cornerstone of his presidency.

On the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday this year, on Jan. 19, the day before Obama's inauguration, the president-elect, Hollywood stars and thousands of other Americans volunteered across the country.

In April, Obama signed into law the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which tripled the size of the AmeriCorps community service program.

And in late June, when Obama kicked off the call to service program, he and his family worked with other volunteers at Fort McNair in Washington and helped load 15,000 backpacks with books, healthy snacks and toys for children with parents in the armed forces.

Obama's Communitarian Humanitariansm - the un-named consensus

His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population. (Nobel Press Release, October 9, 2009)

From our friend Pete this morning we get the whole truth about Obama's Noble & Peaceful intentions, well, everything except the philosophy, law and religion that are shared by the mystical majority who support him. Most people have no idea what values they share with each other, and it certainly helps to keep them in the dark when respected, talented writers like Michael Chussudovsky leave it out of every article they write. What if Michael had included just one line about Obama's humantarian guru Dr. Amitai Etzioni (GWU-PNAC-CFR-IDF-Palmach-EU-NATO-UN-ABCD) and the fact that the Pentagon quotes his books in their Daily Briefings, or expounded just a bite on the communitarian theory that justifies Just War?

My 19 year old son is one of the US Marines heading for Afghanistan next month. :(

Obama and the Nobel Prize: When War Becomes Peace, When the Lie Becomes the Truth

by Michel Chossudovsky


When war becomes peace,

When concepts and realities are turned upside down,

When fiction becomes truth and truth becomes fiction.

When a global military agenda is heralded as a humanitarian endeavor,

When the killing of civilians is upheld as "collateral damage,"

When those who resist the US-NATO led invasion of their homeland are categorized as "insurgents" or "terrorists."

When preemptive nuclear war is upheld as self-defense.

When advanced torture and "interrogation" techniques are routinely used to "protect peacekeeping operations,"

When tactical nuclear weapons are heralded by the Pentagon as "harmless to the surrounding civilian population"

When three quarters of US personal federal income tax revenues are allocated to financing what is euphemistically referred to as "national defense"

When the Commander in Chief of the largest military force on planet earth is presented as a global peace-maker,

When the Lie becomes the Truth.

Obama's "War Without Borders"

We are the crossroads of the most serious crisis in modern history. The US in partnership with NATO and Israel has launched a global military adventure which, in a very real sense, threatens the future of humanity.

At this critical juncture in our history, the Norwegian Nobel Committee's decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to President and Commander in Chief Barack Obama constitutes an unmitigated tool of propaganda and distortion, which unreservedly supports the Pentagon's "Long War": "A War without Borders" in the true sense of the word, characterised by the Worldwide deployment of US military might.

Apart from the diplomatic rhetoric, there has been no meaningful reversal of US foreign policy in relation to the George W. Bush presidency, which might have remotely justified the granting of the Nobel Prize to Obama. In fact quite the opposite. The Obama military agenda has sought to extend the war into new frontiers. With a new team of military and foreign policy advisers, the Obama war agenda has been far more effective in fostering military escalation than that formulated by the NeoCons.

Since the very outset of the Obama presidency, this global military project has become increasingly pervasive, with the reinforcement of US military presence in all major regions of the World and the development of new advanced weapons systems on an unprecedented scale.

Granting the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama provides legitimacy to the illegal practices of war, to the military occupation of foreign lands, to the relentless killings of civilians in the name of "democracy."

Both the Obama administration and NATO are directly threatening Russia, China and Iran. The US under Obama is developing "a First Strike Global Missile Shield System":

"Along with space-based weapons, the Airborne Laser is the next defense frontier. ... Never has Ronald Reagan's dream of layered missile defenses – Star Wars, for short – been as...close, at least technologically, to becoming realized."

Reacting to this consolidation, streamlining and upgrading of American global nuclear strike potential, on August 11 the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force, the same Alexander Zelin cited earlier on the threat of U.S. strikes from space on all of his nation, said that the "Russian Air Force is preparing to meet the threats resulting from the creation of the Global Strike Command in the U.S. Air Force" and that Russia is developing "appropriate systems to meet the threats that may arise." (Rick Rozoff, Showdown with Russia and China: U.S. Advances First Strike Global Missile Shield System, Global Research, August 19, 2009)

At no time since the Cuban missile crisis has the World been closer to the unthinkable: a World War III scenario, a global military conflict involving the use of nuclear weapons.

1. The so-called missile defense shield or Star Wars initiative involving the first strike use of nuclear weapons is now to be developed globally in different regions of the World. The missile shield is largely directed against Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.
2. New US military bases have been set up with a view to establishing US spheres of influence in every region of the World as well as surrounding and confronting Russia and China.
3. There has been an escalation in the Central Asian Middle East war. The "defense budget" under Obama has spiraled with increased allocations to both Afghanistan and Iraq.
4. Under orders of president Obama, acting as Commander in Chief, Pakistan is now the object of routine US aerial bombardments in violation of its territorial sovereignty, using the "Global War on Terrorism" as a justification.
5. The construction of new military bases is envisaged in Latin America including Colombia on the immediate border of Venezuela.
6. Military aid to Israel has increased. The Obama presidency has expressed its unbending support for Israel and the Israeli military. Obama has remained mum on the atrocities committed by Israel in Gaza. There has not even been a semblance of renewed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
7. There has been a reinforcement of the new regional commands including AFRICOM and SOUTHCOM.
8. A new round of threats has been directed against Iran.
9. The US is intent upon fostering further divisions between Pakistan and India, which could lead to a regional war, as well as using India's nuclear arsenal as an indirect means to threaten China.

The diabolical nature of this military project was outlined in the 2000 Project for a New American Century (PNAC). The PNAC's declared objectives are:

* defend the American homeland;
* fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theater wars;
* perform the "constabulary" duties associated with shaping the security environment in critical regions;
* transform U.S. forces to exploit the "revolution in military affairs;" (Project for a New American Century, Rebuilding Americas Defenses.pdf, September 2000)

The "Revolution in Military Affairs" refers to the development of new advanced weapons systems. The militarization of space, new advanced chemical and biological weapons, sophisticated laser-guided missiles, bunker buster bombs, not to mention the US Air Force's climatic warfare program (HAARP) based in Gokona, Alaska, are part of Obama's "humanitarian arsenal."

War against the Truth

This is a war against the truth. When war becomes peace, the world is turned upside down. Conceptualization is no longer possible. An inquisitorial social system emerges.

An understanding of fundamental social and political events is replaced by a World of sheer fantasy, where "evil folks" are lurking. The objective of the "Global War on Terrorism" which has been fully endorsed by Obama administration has been to galvanize public support for a Worldwide campaign against heresy.

In the eyes of public opinion, possessing a "just cause" for waging war is central. A war is said to be Just if it is waged on moral, religious or ethical grounds. The consensus is to wage war. People can longer think for themselves. They accept the authority and wisdom of the established social order.

The Nobel Committee says that President Obama has given the world "hope for a better future." The prize is awarded for Obama's

"extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons."

...His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population. (Nobel Press Release, October 9, 2009)

The granting of the Nobel "peace prize" to president Barack Obama has become an integral part of the Pentagon's propaganda machine. It provides a human face to the invaders, it upholds the demonization of those who oppose US military intervention.

The decision to grant Obama the Nobel Peace Prize was no doubt carefully negotiated with the Norwegian Committee at the highest levels of the US government. It has far-reaching implications.

It unequivocally upholds the US-led war as a "Just Cause." It erases the war crimes committed both by the Bush and Obama administrations.

War Propaganda: Jus ad Bellum

The "Just War" theory serves to camouflage the nature of US foreign policy, while providing a human face to the invaders.

In both its classical and contemporary versions, the Just war theory upholds war as a "humanitarian operation." It calls for military intervention on ethical and moral grounds against "insurgents," "terrorists," "failed" or "rogue states."

The Just War has been heralded by the Nobel Committee as an instrument of Peace. Obama personifies the "Just War."

Taught in US military academies, a modern-day version of the "Just War" theory has been embodied into US military doctrine. The "war on terrorism" and the notion of "preemption" are predicated on the right to "self-defense." They define "when it is permissible to wage war": jus ad bellum.

Jus ad bellum has served to build a consensus within the Armed Forces command structures. It has also served to convince the troops that they are fighting for a "just cause." More generally, the Just War theory in its modern day version is an integral part of war propaganda and media disinformation, applied to gain public support for a war agenda. Under Obama as Nobel Peace Laureate, the Just War becomes universally accepted, upheld by the so-called international community.

The ultimate objective is to subdue the citizens, totally depoliticize social life in America, prevent people from thinking and conceptualizing, from analyzing facts and challenging the legitimacy of the US-NATO-led war.

War becomes peace, a worthwhile "humanitarian undertaking." Peaceful dissent becomes heresy.

Military Escalation with a Human Face. Nobel Committee grants the "Green Light"

More significantly, the Nobel Peace Prize grants legitimacy to an unprecedented "escalation" of US-NATO-led military operations under the banner of peacemaking.

It contributes to falsifying the nature of the US-NATO military agenda.

Between 40,000 to 60,000 more US and allied troops are to be sent to Afghanistan under a peacemaking banner. On the 8th of October, a day prior to the Nobel Committee's decision, the US congress granted Obama a 680-billion-dollar defense authorization bill, which is slated to finance the process of military escalation:

"Washington and its NATO allies are planning an unprecedented increase of troops for the war in Afghanistan, even in addition to the 17,000 new American and several thousand NATO forces that have been committed to the war so far this year."

The number, based on as yet unsubstantiated reports of what U.S. and NATO commander Stanley McChrystal and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen have demanded of the White House, range from 10,000 to 45,000.

Fox News has cited figures as high as 45,000 more American soldiers and ABC News as many as 40,000. On September 15 the Christian Science Monitor wrote of "perhaps as many as 45,000."

The similarity of the estimates indicate that a number has been agreed upon and America's obedient media is preparing domestic audiences for the possibility of the largest escalation of foreign armed forces in Afghanistan's history. Only seven years ago the United States had 5,000 troops in the country, but was scheduled to have 68,000 by December even before the reports of new deployments surfaced. (Rick Rozoff, U.S., NATO Poised For Most Massive War In Afghanistan's History, Global Research, September 24, 2009)

Within hours of the decision of the Norwegian Nobel committee, Obama met with the War Council, or should we call it the "Peace Council." This meeting had been carefully scheduled to coincide with that of the Norwegian Nobel committee.

This key meeting behind closed doors in the Situation Room of the White House included Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and key political and military advisers. General Stanley McChrystal participated in the meeting via video link from Kabul.

General Stanley McChrystal is said to have offered the Commander in Chief "several alternative options" "including a maximum injection of 60,000 extra troops." The 60,000 figure was quoted following a leak of the Wall Street Journal (AFP: After Nobel nod, Obama convenes Afghan war council, October 9, 2009).

"The president had a robust conversation about the security and political challenges in Afghanistan and the options for building a strategic approach going forward," according to an administration official (quoted in AFP: After Nobel nod, Obama convenes Afghan war council October 9, 2009).

The Nobel committee had in a sense given Obama a green light. The October 9 meeting in the Situation Room was to set the groundwork for a further escalation of the conflict under the banner of counterinsurgency and democracy building.

Meanwhile, in the course of the last few months, US forces have stepped up their aerial bombardments of village communities in the northern tribal areas of Pakistan, under the banner of combating Al Qaeda.

This article originally appeared on GlobalResearch.ca.

October 12, 2009

Michel Chossudovsky is the publisher of GlobalResearch.ca.

Copyright © 2009 Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research


http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig10/chossudovsky1.1.1.html

Obama's Community Volunteerism - my youtube tutorial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43zQ2luyUto

Ask President Obama a question about Heatlhcare reform

I found this place because somebody there posted a link to my blog. Some of our questions will be selected and read during the online forum tomorrow. I asked if Obama shares the same philosophy as his Healthcare advisor. What's the odds he'll answer that?

http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/aug20web

Obama -- the joke's on us

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-obama-posters,0,940643.story

My access is limited and my inbox is spammed with virgina raines and her crowd along with a bunch of other crap I never signed up for (Conservative Alerts, Townhall, Chuck Baldwin etc.). Almost didn't see this. What a great b-day suprise 4 days later! Thanks to John at Stop Common Purpose for sending this cartoon of Obama which is going up all over LA, and for making the appropriate dialectical synthesis change to the outdated term "socialist" used by the posters.

Is Barack Obama the One True Fishgod?

I've been meditating on my new role as a tribal elder and High Priestess in the Salmon Nation. After I learned my people have been claimed by the great white fathers of a new sustainable salmon nation (EcoTrust, a UN NGO), I realized just how far these global change agents will take their sick joke. Almost immediately afterwards I was struck by the realization that I can be whoever I want to be in this theatrical production put on by the communitarians. If Etzioni can call himself our guru, then I can rewrite my role in this farce and say I was ordained by grandfather King Salmon and ritually purified on the Copper River during high Solstice 2008.

I am concerned that Obama the Messiah is an imposter. What if he actually belongs to the Cult of the Dead Fish? Then again, maybe he's the Messiah for people who worship the ancient Greek half-man, half-fish god Nereus. According to the editors at Wiki, "Nereus was known for his truthfulness and virtue." Ophra Winfrey says basically the same thing about Obama. Hmmm.

Or heaven forbid, what if he's Oannes, the Babylonian half-man half-fish god, sent by Ea to deliver unto us the ever changing art of civilization?

Some Priestess I'd make. I was wrong to assume the Salmon god would be Dagon. He isn't just a fish god as it turns out :

Dagon was a major northwest Semitic god, reportedly of grain and agriculture. He was worshipped by the early Amorites and by the inhabitants of the cities of Ebla and Ugarit (which was an ancient city near the Mediterranean containing a large variety of ancient writings and pagan shrines). He was also a major member, or perhaps head, of the pantheon of the Biblical Philistines.

His name appears in Hebrew as דגון (in modern transcription Dagon, Tiberian Hebrew Dāḡôn), in Ugaritic as dgn (probably vocalized as Dagnu), and in Akkadian as Dagana, Daguna usually rendered in English translations as Dagan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagan

Ancient religions are very confusing to me, almost as confusing as the modern ones. Is this what my mother meant when she asked me to have faith in Obama?

Exit Stage Right

photos from
http://obamamessiah.blogspot.com/

“Seeing God as eminent in all of creation, then we should not speak of a connection between Spirit and nature—they are one; God is the fish, God is the tree” http://www.northernyearlymeeting.org/article/384/

In Obama Remarks, Theme Of 'Responsibility' Emerges

Chris Bieber just sent this link out and I had to post it before I log off today.

For some reason now I feel like writing a letter to Dear Dr. Etzioni, and asking, "Please Sir. When are Americans going to be told what Obama means by "responsibilty?" Does it mean this: http://www.gwu.edu/~icps/rights.html

Who can/will/wants to explain explain to our citizens HOW is it possible that Obama's meaning is the same one "that belonged to outgoing President Bush, who in his 2000 campaign talked about ushering in a "responsibility era."?"

Are Americans asking what these boys mean by "more responsibility?" No? Bummer.

From this morning's Washington Post:

Obama will talk about restoring a sense of responsibility in the country, Gibbs said, conveying his belief that "we need more responsibility and accountability, certainly, in the way our government acts."

"We have to have it, certainly, within many of our financial institutions that sort of have gotten us to where we are in this economic crisis today," Gibbs said on "Fox News Sunday." "Obviously, the American people are going to have to give some."

Rahm Emanuel, the incoming chief of staff, said the "culture of responsibility" would be sought for American leaders as well as the population at large. "We need that culture of responsibility, not just to be asked of the American people, but its leaders must also lead by example," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press." In Obama Remarks, Theme Of 'Responsibility' Emerges Advisers Say Inaugural Address Will Also Stress Accountability, By Anne E. Kornblut Washington Post Staff Writer, Monday, January 19, 2009; Page A04

Whatever happened to the "Culture of Protected Individual Enterprise"? Did it ever exist? How obvious to you is it that we "have to give more?" More of what, exactly?

From the Harvard Educational Review of The Spirit of Community: Rights, Responsibilities, and the Communitarian Agenda, By Amitai Etzioni, New York: Crown, 1993. 323 pp. $22.00. http://www.hepg.org/her/abstract/249

"Etzioni demonstrates the value of reframing policy discussions and moral discourse around the connection between rights and responsibilities."

"Although Etzioni's communitarian message is apparent, the normative choices embedded in his plan are not. Specifically, issues of social and cultural diversity, the need to protect the voices of a society's marginal thinkers, and the importance of reflective and critical dialogues are noted by Etzioni in The Spirit of Community, but the challenges they imply for his agenda are never fully explored. When one assesses his broad vision and his educational plan as outlined in chapter three, "The Communitarian School," his inattention to democratic goals becomes clear."

So where does Bush, Obama's and Emanuel's idea of a culture the requires national volunteer service come from? Near the close of the above review, Kahn explains:

"It frequently seems as though individuals believe it is their right to decide whether or not to be responsible, and Etzioni helps us understand the costs of this orientation. He proposes, for example, that all youth perform a year of national service after high school as an "antidote to the ego-centered mentality," as a means of providing meaningful social service, and as "a grand sociological mixer . . . for developing shared values and bonds among people from different racial, class, and regional backgrounds" (pp. 113–114)."

This is the same requirement of youths living in Etzioni's home, the state of Israel. Of course in Israel, mandatory public service has nothing to do with developing bonds with the Palestinian residents who "share" their homeland with the European Zionists.

And Constance Cumbey just sent this, wow, it appears a lot of us are paying attention to the developments in DC.. not to the celebrations but what they're really celebrating.

"A day away from becoming the nation's 44th president, Obama visited 14 injured vets from Iraq and Afghanistan at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Then he visited Sasha Bruce House, a shelter for homeless teens in the District of Columbia, chatting with volunteers who were helping to repaint rooms and then pitching in himself.

"We can't allow any idle hands. Everybody's got to be involved," Obama said. "I think the American people are ready to do that."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090119/ap_on_go_pr_wh/inauguration_rdp

Is Obama a Natural Born Citizen? The Donofrio Case

No matter what your opinion is of the continuing questions regarding Obama's eligibility status (and believe me, I have seen the way Obama supporters react to these charges), this attorney's blog is a good example of what happens to information when it makes its way into the alternative and mainstream news. Interesting role World Net Daily plays in distributing false information about him, and I really like this man's attitude about petitions, form letters and following him. Why do people assume that if you stand up for something, the next "natural" step is you have to lead others to reach the same conclusion? When people tell me that communitarianism sounds good to them now, I say, "Okay. See ya." Well, usually. :)
http://naturalborncitizen.wordpress.com/

The Great Birth Certificate Scandal/Cover-Up of ‘08, By Joan Swirsky

Here's a mainstream media journalist speculating on why nobody in the press will discuss all the lawsuits seeking to require Obama to produce a Certificate of Birth. She thinks "ruthless Islamic enemies" blackmailed Bush into helping them get Obama elected. Has she seen evidence of this connection? I couldn't disagree more, but I have seen several of the Obama complaints and what she says about the situation is dead on.

It's interesting to see this topic finally printed in a Tulsa newspaper. We the People's full page ads asking the courts to require he produce an original birth certificate come out Dec 1st in the Chicago Trib. I can't imagine what will happen if it turns out Obama is ineligible, but if I was a communitarian seeking to cause chaos to the established government of the US, I'd see this as the perfect opportunity. A good way to rile up the Dems is to take away their victory. Fomenting revolution among the "right" is easy if you blame the fiasco on all the high ranking, top level Muslims in the White House who surround President Bush. Making a global (final) mockery of the American system is assured if the first black president is a fraud. Is that ultimately Obama's role?

The Great Birth Certificate Scandal/Cover-Up of '08, By Joan Swirsky, Tulsa Today, Monday, 24 November 2008
http://www.tulsatoday.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1799&Itemid=2

The Etzioni- Biden- Zionist plan for "soft" partitioning Iraq

"During the interview conducted by the Jewish 'Shalom TV' Biden said, "I am a Zionist. You don't have to be a Jew to be a Zionist.""
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0%2C7340%2CL-3586542%2C00.html

"ON MONDAY, June 18, some of Washington's "usual suspects" in the controversy over the Mesopotamian war assembled at the invitation of Sen. Joseph Biden, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and George Washington University professor Amitai Etzioni. The topic for debate was the so-called "plan Z" for Iraq, which Biden has embraced and which calls for a "soft partition" of that country." http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/793qobod.asp

"On 26 September 2007 the United States Senate voted 75–23 in favour of an amendment to the defence spending bill for 2008 that authorises the US government to “encourage” Iraqis to find a “federal” solution to the internal conflicts in their country." http://www.historiae.org/biden.asp

As for John McCain's choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, I suppose it doesn't matter that her campaign website explained her philosophy is to promote the "common good." The little town of 9000 people (Wasilla) where she was mayor is a hotbed of communitarian rebuilding efforts. Alaska is regulating and assuming control over everything, exactly the same way it was accomplished in Seattle in 1999, at the "community level." Alaska's current government is all about "providing" the same things the Russian Communist Party promises, for a price.

Here's an example of the price:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kmktYC2E-s&eurl=http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/

Obama's "change" promises a continued path toward world government

Here's a nice summary of what Obama was talking about in Berlin a couple days ago. He used all the key communitarian phrases and told us flat out our new communitarian legal requirements for global citizenship, "Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more -- not less."

Obama's "change is not a choice, it is the one way, the only way." From Intelstrike,

http://intelstrike.com/?p=286

"“Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more — not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.”" Barack Obama, July 24, 2008, Berlin

Here's Tom DeWeese explaining Obama's Global Poverty Act and how it fits in to the Charter for Global Democracy at newswithviews.com: http://newswithviews.com/DeWeese/tom114.htm

Obama's Communitarianism, by Amitai Etzioni

Amitai Etzioni is a trained Fabian change agent from Israel who quietly introduced Martin Buber's communitarian synthesis to the United States in 1954. He was invited into the White House under the Carter Administration in 1979. Today he is the leader of the Communitarian Network and the author of 20+ books that he didn't write.

Etzioni is the only dual Israeli/US citizen adviser in the White House who is NEVER named in the expose lists of Zionists with influence. His vast influence on current American policies and programs is rarely covered by NWO researchers, and his position in the White House is never publically questioned by the mainstream press. He remains hidden and untouchable.

His "communitarian theory" is a hoax, and he is nothing more than a kabbalistic fraud for the U.N. We sucessfully disputed his bogus theory in our manifesto over 5 years ago. Even the Vassar sociology class this past spring couldn't come up with even a short rebuttal to our thesis. Too bad there's still not ONE university in the world that will allow for an open debate between the two schools of thought. Of course, since communitarianism is taught to students worldwide as the ultimate, perfect synthesis (giving rise to no antithesis), our thesis cannot possibly exist. What would happen to the communitarian's capitalist versus communist arguments if they had to be defended against anticommunitarianism?

Don't be deceived by pretty phrases. Communitarian writings drip with sappy hopeful dreams of building global utopia. "Obligations, duty and sacrifice" are key communitarian words that actually mean CONSCRIPTIONS, SLAVERY and POVERTY. (Isn't it interesting to learn that China is building the model communitarian slave villages when my communitarian law page claimed years ago that communist China was the model for Etzioni's communitarian governance? http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/science/20080623-0503-china-ecocity-.html)

Etzioni's unnamed and unacknowledged ghost writers make great efforts to use the word "we" when they write for him about the USA. (Ask Erin Riska who writes Etzioni's articles.) From his blog: http://blog.amitaietzioni.org/2008/05/obama-the-second-half.html

May 23, 2008

Obama: the second half

In the my wildest dreams, during eighteen years of championing communitarianism, I did not expect a presidential candidate to be as strongly identified with this political philosophy as Obama is. It is hence particularly important that he will not limit his message to “we are not from red states, not from blue states, but from the United States”—but will add: “Ask not what your country….”; that he will go beyond we-are-all-in this-together kumbaya—to we all will have to put our shoulders to the wheel to get this train back on the tracks; from feel-good politics, sprinkled liberally with the holy water of hope that has no cost-- to political leadership which seeks a mandate for change that will require sacrifices for the common good,. In short, follow the communitarianism of responsibility above and beyond that of community-building, which is by far the less taxing part.

In The Audacity of Hope, written before Obama declared his bid for the presidency, the author showed, even more then President Kennedy, he understood that we should “ground our politics in the notion of a common good.” Obama was well versed not only in the language of rights and entitlements but also that of obligations. In those far away days, in 2005, he wrote, “We value the imperatives of family and the cross-generational obligations that family implies…We value patriotism and the obligations of citizenship, a sense of duty and sacrifice on behalf of our nation.”

Better yet, Obama used to stress that “in the end a sense of mutual understanding isn’t enough. After all, talk is cheap; like any value, empathy must be acted upon.” He recounted with pride that when he was a community organizer “[he] would often challenge neighborhood leaders by asking them where they put their time, energy and money.” In those days, he put it better than any other communitarian when he stated: “ If we aren’t willing to pay a price for our values, if we aren’t willing to make some sacrifices in order to realize them, then we should ask ourselves whether we truly believe in them at all.”

On the campaign trail many of these profound insights have faded. We now hear painless declarations such as “Our prosperity can and must be the tide that lifts every boat; that we rise or fall as one nation.” And such undemanding observations as “…too often, we lose our sense of common destiny; the] understanding that we are all tied together.”

True, occasionally we still hear echoes of the old Obama; but now the recognition that sacrifice we must appears as a sort of after thought. On the campaign trail Obama typically declares that now we “…require a new spirit of cooperation, innovation, and shared sacrifice.”

The nation is upon hard times. Its coffers are empty; creditors are at the gate; the military is exhausted and depleted; the regard with which America is held overseas is at all time low, and major economic and security challenges pile up like that many storm clouds. The nation demands a prolonged period of restoration, one in which merely replenishing all that was squandered will entail raising taxes and keeping new expenditures under a tight leash. In plain English--sacrifices. If the next president will enter office without a mandate for such give rather than take, especially for imposing a hefty tax on oil, we are likely to sink deeper into the ditch in which we have been cast rather than to start to climb out.

Granted, being straight with the American people is to engage in risky politics. Walter Mondale got his head handed to him when he candidly addressed the need for raising taxes (although his main problem was not his candor but that he seems to look forward with glee to higher taxes rather than bemoan their inevitably). Jimmy Cater got into similar trouble when he tried to impose a tiny tax (50 cents) on gasoline. And John F Kennedy did not get to “Ask Not” until his inauguration. In contrast, Ronald Regan sailed into White House on wave of hope of a new morning in America, which required no more than being there at dawn.

Maybe the best one can hope for is not a Churchillian call for ‘blood, sweat, and tears,” but for Obama as the presidential candidate to quote the author of Audacity of Hope. For him to lay out the full communitarian message-- that community building does not mean merely embracing one another and laying to rest our divisions, but also serving the common good. That our rights are sacred but so are our responsibilities.

Better, Obama can employ a communitarian device and ask the people what they believe. Do Americans see a need for sacrifices? How would they free us from our dependency on imported oil? What are they willing to do to get the nation out of debt? How far do they hold that nation should go in protecting itself from terrorism?

Posted at 04:54 PM in Current Affairs | Permalink

Obama: Preacher for the Communitarian Church

"His work as an organizer led him to the church, the church was the heart of the community in which he was working, he became religious because of his commitment to social change. It was neither personal, nor familial, but part of his forming an identity, but not just as an individual, as a member of a community." Mark Schmitt writing about Obama's religion, March 19, 2008

Obama's religion provides Christian bragging rights for his supporters. But, none of them wants to explain that the church Obama belongs to isn't exactly Christian. Mark Schmitt wrote, "His work as an organizer led him to the church." Nice way of just slipping that organizer term in there and making it seem as if it's a quite natural transition to go from being a Fabian trained change agent, "committed to social "change," to infiltrating Christian churches and the Democratic Party and cleverly changing all of it into one lovely theory called communitarianism. What would his voting flock do if they knew the official religion of the communitarian community is an ancient pagan cult that worships Lucifer? Would they care? Should they care?

The thing that really gets me is how often we hear the word "change" as if it's a good thing. It's like everyone in the country is hypnotized to forget all the Soviet and Red Chinese propaganda and slogans. But the communitarians are great alchemists and sorcerers, so I suppose mass hypnotism isn't out of their range of tricks.

High Priest Obama
What is Obama's religion based upon? An African-Communitarian-Pholosophy!
http://www.amazon.com/Kawaida-Theory-African-Communitarian-Philosophy/dp/0943412102
http://theosplatz.blogspot.com/2008/04/look-at-trinity-united.html

Wednesday, March 19, 2008
"Obama as Communitarian
http://unabgeschlossenheit.blogspot.com/2008/03/obama-as-communitarian.html

Via Ezra Klein, I've found that someone has done what I, to my great regret, have not been able to do but have wanted very much to do - describe the relationship between Obama and communitarian philosophy. I'm glad others have picked up on this. Schmidt name-drops Michael Sandel and Charles Taylor, calling Obama "the most deeply communitarian politician -- in the sense of Michael Sandel or Charles Taylor's point inarguable point that our identities cannot exist outside of our of social interactions and networks -- I have ever seen."

"Schmidt is correct that the point is inarguable, and yet very, very few people in America appreciate it. In some ways, this individualistic culture is constitutionally averse to it. It goes directly against the grain of what seems to belong most to American culture - the idea that society merely gets in the way of individual thought, belief, and action. There is undoubtedly some insight in the individualistic perspective, but it misses about half of the truth. I strongly agree with the communitarian perspective, but I am aware of very few people who share it. But Obama does. And, even better, he makes a good case that communitarian insights have a home in American tradition and practice.

"Also, Schmidt on "theories of change."

Here's a bit of what Ezra Klein had to say about Obama's communitarianism:

"I'm mystified when people talk about Obama as if he were pure ego, as if he believes that the "Barack Obama brand" itself delivers change. He is in fact the most deeply communitarian politician -- in the sense of Michael Sandel or Charles Taylor's point inarguable point that our identities cannot exist outside of our of social interactions and networks -- I have ever seen. His identity -- as African-American, as Christian -- is chosen and it is chosen because it situated him within a community.

For Sandel and others, "communitarianism" was a critique within liberalism to the overly "atomistic" and legalistic view of identity of rights-oriented liberalism and particularly the influence ofJohn Rawls. There was an attempt in the 1990s to build a kind of political movement around the idea, and Bill Clinton adopted some of the language, but it didn't really go very far, partly because, as Paul Starr writes in Freedom's Power, "it has at best been a supplement or corrective to tendencies within liberalism." But in Obama that supplement or corrective can be quite substantive, as I thought was shown in Alec McGillis's comparison of Obama and Edwards in their approaches to poverty -- for Edwards poverty is about not having enough money, and the solutions are economic, including helping people move to where jobs are, where Obama was attracted to comprehensive efforts to rebuild community, including the non-economic aspects of li

So, it looks like the term is slowly making it's way into the mainstream, finally. Our years of struggling to get people to believe it's real are coming to an end.

Devvy Kidd's April 24 article at newwithviews mentions the word COMMUNITARIAN Ten Times! Right on Devvy! http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd356.htm

Henry Makow's April 15 article called "Obama's Slip Revealed His True Colors" calls Obama a "communist" and doesn't use the word communitarian once: http://www.savethemales.ca/obamas_slip_revealed_his_true.html

We went and poked around Vassar's Sociology department and looked at other courses relative to Quality of Life. Unbelieveable how long they've been teaching everything we write about at the ACL. It's all connected. Community organizers have to be trained somewhere, don't they? How else would they gain their deep committment?

"[237b. Community Development] (1)

"This course provides “hands-on” lessons in community organization, urban inequality, and economic development that are intended to supplement theoretical perspectives offered in other classes. Students examine local efforts to revitalize neighborhoods, provide social services, enhance social capital among residents, and promote homeowner and business investment in the contemporary city."

Vassar teaches it's students where modern social theory originated.

"247a. Modern Social Theory: Marx, Durkheim, and Weber (1)

(Same as Anthropology 247a and b) "This course focuses on a comparison of the principal assumptions and the central concepts contributing to the formation of modern social theory. Readings include selections from Marx, Durkheim, and Weber. Ms. Moon."

More recent references to communitarianism:

"Tonight I would have you contrast John Adams — a fine, wise venture in historical recreation — with the peculiar views expressed by Michael Hirsh in Newsweek. Hirsh thinks the nation has been “coarsened by Southernism,” which he contrasts with the “diplomatic, communitarian Yankee sensibility.” Say what? When did such a thing ever exist, outside the Oneida colony?" http://www.seablogger.com/?p=10613

"A speech designed to lull us into a warm communitarian stupor does not change who populates Obama’s campaign staff. They are the left of the left, the progressive revisionists, and the leftovers of the Carter and Clinton administrations in all their folly. They are the socialists, the raging radicals, the globalists and the opportunists that do not learn from failure and cannot see beyond their insipid ideologies. The pleasing demeanor and the measured voice cannot hide the heart of Senator Obama’s loyalties. Change for change’s sake is usually a failure. Change for ideology’s sake often is a disaster." http://wordforit.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/our-imperfect-union/

"There have always been two major threads twisting through American history; call them the "communitarian" and the "individualistic." The first, embodied by the likes of Jefferson and Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and the Kennedys, have understood and counseled that this nation's progress depends on a collective "we're-all-in-this-together" attitude. In an earlier generation, the "communitarian" thread was perhaps best expressed by JFK when he said "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

"In opposition to this has been the "individualistic" thread; the one best embodied by the Adamses and Tafts, by Nixon and to a lesser extent by Reagan. This attitude understands and fosters an America that is the product of unbridled, untrammeled, unregulated individual effort. It is the Horatio Alger myth writ large; the "Anyone-with-the-will-and-energy can-make-it-in-America" point of view.

"This week, Senator Barack Obama declared himself to be firmly, foursquarely and articulately, a devotee of the communitarian school of thought and action. As such, he, like Kennedy before him, has laid down a communal challenge to America. It is the challenge of FDR -- that we not fear the present, but work together as a nation so that the weakest and the least among us can find dignity and hope in the future. It is a call to our higher angels; a call that requires us to collectively roll up our sleeves and together, work for a better society, a better world." http://kurtfstone.typepad.com/kurt_f_stone_speaks_/2008/03/the-speech.html

"Political, social and cultural issues aren’t what they used to be. Things have been changing. Change agents are hard at work within the church, transforming churches from Christ centered, Spirit-led, Word focused, Gospel proclaiming, called out (from the world) assemblies, into what they would like them to be: communitarian social service distribution centers. The plan involves recruiting Christian churches to work in unity with other religions, the government, and corporations, to solve the world’s social, economic and physical problems." http://witnessingencouragement.wordpress.com/2008/02/11/change-agents-in-your-church/

"According to the communitarian network Democracy Now, Demonstrators converged in big cities like New York, Dallas, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco Miami and San Francisco, and smaller towns in Vermont and Ohio, among others, to add their voices to a call to end the war."http://paraguayparakeet.blogspot.com/2008/03/iraq-war-unpopular-abroad-and-in-us.html

"Bring on the next civic generation, the Millennials: "Listen to Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, and you'll notice one of his most encouraging characteristics is his communitarian ethic.

"He uses 'we' instead of 'I.' He talks about the role of citizens, not just his own. His standard cheer is the Chicano rallying cry 'Si se puede!' -- Yes we can! in English -- and it speaks to the hunger so many Americans like myself share. We yearn for a revitalization of a communal civic ethic in this country, after decades of individualism on steroids."" http://www.anewworkforce.com/2008/04/bring-on-next-civic-generation.html

Here's a post called "Watching the Political Discourse Change"
http://www.richardfarrell.com/archives/263:

"More than 20 years ago Ronald Reagan shifted the dominant political discourse in America. Today it looks like it may be Obama’s time. His campaign for president continues on a visionary path. Odd it is to see a communitarian vision poised against the backdrop of the every capitalist for himself theater of the past 20 plus years."

And then there are those who are sure communitarianism is just plain nice:

"There’s something to be said for communitarianism like that, for understanding how relationships work and trying to smooth them over. It’s not about greed or commercialism, and it surely isn’t about being communistic, as people so often declare with misplaced vitriol these days. It’s about sharing, and learning to do it as an adult, to help other people out." http://greetingsearthlings.wordpress.com/2008/03/29/the-great-communitarian/

I suppose my work could be considered "misplaced vitriol" (virtiol: bitterly abusive feeling or expression.) But based on my research, I don't think it qualifies as misplaced. And THAT is the debate we have yet to have in this country, isn't it?

And here's an Independent Communitarian Blogspot (as if there can be such a thing) who well understands the communitarian roots in Buber's I and Thou theory:

"The essence of a society beneficial to all independent communitarians, would be a charter that guides custom, while allowing for privacy and associational freedom,
recognizing that we are symbiotic lifeforms living on a symbiotic planet.
I Am The Way I Am, meets I And Thou and flourishes." http://independentcommunitarian.blogspot.com/2008/04/citizenshop.html

Anyway, the point is.. there's LOTS of people talking about communitarianism these days. Have we moved out of the conspiracy theory category yet?

This is the definition of a communitarian according to a new political "test":

"Communitarian

"Your commitment to both equality and stability makes you a blend of the Socialist and the Conservative. This combination may seem unusual but consider the way in which both think loyalty to community takes priority over loyalty to oneself.

"You recognise the value of traditional culture and institutions. You also value government intervention in the economy. You hope that a combination of traditional values and interventionist economics will protect your way of life. You are concerned that the twin forces of free markets and permissive culture promote selfishness and erode community standards. If this is too bland for you then try the Authoritarian on for size." http://politicalobjectivestest.blogspot.com/2007/04/communitarian.html

"In fact these mexican illegals are living under a different and separate law and judicial system than we. They also have separate economics than us."- This is actually, literally, true. Technically, there is the current constitutional law at work, but they have brought Communitarian Law with them. This is the future for the US, they know, much of the judiciary, and the govt knows it. Some of LE knows it. At present everyone is living in a twilight of the “old system”, the illegals, and their enablers at official levels know that it is only a matter of time before their legal system supercedes the constitutional one. Mexico’s bureacrats, and law graduates, are already gearing up for the introduction of communitarian law into the US, knowing that their American equivalents will be handicapped by qualifications in a system that no longer exists. The NAU bureacracy and judiciary will be top heavy with Mexicans. Similar thing occurred in Europe with the EU, the early communitarian nations dominated."
Comment on thread at immigration watchdog.com