I was born in Maryland and spent my first thirty years living there, first in the Appalachian Mountains, then on the Eastern Shore, and later in suburban Washington. After a year in South Carolina, I moved to Georgia in 1977. I soon met another park ranger who worked in Florida. She was a wonderful woman who became my best friend. then my wife, and soon the mother of our three children. I spent over eleven years working in the historic city of Savannah, Georgia, and on the moss-draped sea islands nearby before moving to Atlanta.. In 2007, I retired from the National Park Service and a career dedicated to preserving and interpreting resources and themes in the cultural and natural history of the United States. It was a most rewarding experience. Today, I enjoy living in the rolling hills and woods of the Appalachian Piedmont east of Atlanta.
Sometime during this week in 1967, one of the Western Hemisphere's - if not the world's - most infamous Communist butchers met his fate by firing squad in Bolivia. In death, the image of Ernesto "Che" Guevara has become a world-wide symbol for revolution. It is an appalling and ubiquitous reality. In a brief post at Townhall, Humberto Fontova tells readers all they need to know about the horror behind the smiling face.
Charles Barron is a dangerous radical communist and anti-Semite. And the Democrats are about to nominate him for US Congress two weeks from today. Let’s face it, this isn’t your daddy’s Democrat Party anymore.
This is a terrible turn of events on all fronts. Read more about it here. There's more about Barron here. It is unbelievable that the party of Roosevelt, Truman, and Kennedy would tolerate such a vile individual.
In Los Angeles on May Day, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) co-sponsored and marched under Communist banners in an event calling for the end of capitalism in the United States. OTR defends the right of any person and/or organization to participate in such an event. OTR also believes all American voters need to know about this May Day march. Those who get their news from main stream media sources will never hear about it. And why is this important?
Keep in mind that the SEIU gave Barack Obama $28,000,000--more than any other organization-- to win the White House. Keep in mind that SEIU President Andy Stern has visited the White House more times--53 times--than any other individual since Barack Obama's inauguration.
Here is your link to the May Day march, with a hat tip to Ed Driscoll at Instapundit. You don't need to read anything--it is full of great links though-- just study those pictures.
With evidence like this, voters need to know that, in Barack Obama, the Democratic Party is toying with the potential destruction of the United States as we know it.
Like most Americans who are aware of current affairs, OTR knows that communism has its share of sympathizers in the United States. The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) is their organization, but it's official hard-core membership is at best in the low thousands. Still, the broad appeal of much of the party's ideology to the "oppressed" classes makes the CPUSA presence on the national stage far greater than its membership would indicate. That presence makes for some nice linkages.
One of the links in this leftist network is Minnesota's Secretary of State, Mark Ritchie. Ritchie played a significant role in the "election" of Al Franken. Now he's playing the same role in the race for Minnesota's governor. Read more about it here.
It's no wonder that the anti-capitalist George Soros has created and funded organizations to install leftists as secretaries of state across the nation. He has no issue with using any politics in order to establish European style socialism--it's a recognized failure-- in the United States.
Whether we like it or not, the full political spectrum has every right to exist in our republic. The key is making sure that spectrum follows the high moral and ethical standards set forth in our founding documents and perpetuated through our courts. This is a high calling and a difficult one as well, but those who value freedom must be ever vigilant. Anything less charts a perilous course.
Title: Joseph Stalin; from the Soros link found in the link above.
Sugar production throughout the Caribbean has dropped in the last few years, but the industry in Cuba appears to be a disaster. It's the worst harvest in 105 years. Though there are plenty of factors driving the market, a report by Cuban officials places much of the blame on internal issues. Babalu's Val Prieto has a comment and link here.
Before you write me off as a paranoid Bircher straight out of the the 1950s, please pay attention to this list of 45 Communist goals read into the Congressional Record in 1963. The list comes from the work of Cleon Skousen, who really was linked to the John Birch Society at a time when it was discredited by what was to become the mainstream conservative movement led by William F. Buckley Jr. When you put many of these points, especially related to geopolitics and defense, in the context of 47 years of history, the outcome doesn't sound nearly as loopy as it may have two generations ago.
Thanks to Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit for the link.
Scott Johnson channeled my thoughts perfectly in his post on the fall of the Berlin Wall twenty years ago today. It would be impossible for me to add to it, so I'll simply supply a link here.
Johnson uses Peter Robinson's recollection of the event for the body of his post. Robinson is a key player in the story as he wrote the famous "tear down this wall" speech for his president. Readers already know of my great respect for Robinson. If you have not read his memoir, How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life, please add it to your reading list.
Power Line's John Hinderaker asks the question, then answers it simply and completely in the affirmative. How else could you describe anyone who admired the philosophy of a 20th century tyrant who killed 70,000,000 of his own people? Amazing. And where is the state-run media on this one?
The Soviet empire fell twenty years ago, but you don't seem to hear much about it. For the most part, it was a brief flurry of activity occurring at the end of a long and slow decline. [Dismantling the Berlin Wall, left, is a good example of news at the time.] In addition, the event may have impacted a large area, but reports seemed to focus only on celebrations on borders and other interfaces that made for "good" television news. There's no question that the end of the Cold War was a big event in the free world. Why have we ignored it over the years? William Katz at Urgent Agenda draws our attention to Reason magazine and its post by Matt Welch that may enlighten us on why we don't acknowledge this event perhaps as much as we should. Your link is here.
Political and social upheavals almost always lead to displacements in time and space. Something as commonplace as a telephone book may answer the lingering questions that accumulate as people rebuild their lives and associations far removed from the place they knew or imagined. Such is the case with a 1958 phone book from Cuba, one that presents information and impressions of the island BC, "before Castro."
For the last fifty years, anti-capitalist forces here and abroad have worked overtime to create a negative image of Cuba BC. Thanks to Babalu Blog and its link to evendon.net, you can explore the real Cuba before communism destroyed it. Let your fingers do the walking. There's nothing like an original source.
I'm not especially happy seeing my tax dollars paying the salary of Van Jones, an avowed communist and black nationalist, to be the administration's Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. His personal political affiliations don't bother me; it's his right. Having a "Green Czar" at the White House works, as well. What bothers me is having another far leftist in a high profile position officially linked to the environmental movement. If you think Joseph Stalin was concerned about pollution because he was a communist, you need a serious, reality-based history lesson.
Our environment, natural and cultural, is something we all share. Having its interests claimed by a political group is unsettling, first, because it is dishonest and, second, because it excludes and alienates those with differing points of view. I would expect President Obama's political appointments to advance the causes for which they are employed; however, this appointment bears all the hallmarks of a hidden agenda. This is the reason why. Although Glenn Beck occasionally needs stronger meds and a rubber room, I think his guest makes good sense here.
There is plenty more on the Internet about Van Jones, especially after his "Republicans are assholes" comment of February 11, 2009, went mainstream in the Washington Post and elsewhere:
Frankly, this really doesn't bother me. I think we all know what Jones was trying to say and to a large extent, he's correct; however, most folks would have exercised more discretion. Perhaps we can just call it a "social justice" moment for someone who never expected to work in the White House. In any case, Van Jones now finds himself monitoring the distribution of $30,000,000,000. All we can hope is that all those greenbacks really go to promote "green."
For more on Van Jones, there is a nicely balanced bio at Wikipedia, including a link to Jones's revealing blog at the Huffington Post. For a conservative POV and the breaking news that Jones was a 9/11 truther - and a believer that hip hop holds the key to social change - check out this link at Gateway Pundit.
Imagine a U.S. senator enlisting the Soviet Union to help his party defeat the president of the United States. Senator Ted Kennedy proposed this to Soviet President Yuri Andropov in 1983. The letter was found in the Soviet Archives in 1991. Peter Robinson has the sordid details here in his column at Forbes.com. Source: George Moneo, Babalu. I'll bet you won't hear about it in the state-run, mainstream media.
The Obama administration is poised to use the National Endowment for the Arts to affect policy. Read about it here.
In it's 45 year history, the NEA has never been used this way. One could expect it in collectivist regimes, the usual set of socialists, communists and fascists, but not in the United States unless there is a national emergency. We did have Federal Project Number One under the Works Progress Administration during the Roosevelt years. It was devoted to promoting the arts, but not as propaganda. That would change with the coming of World War II when the arts did play a policy role under the U.S. Office of Emergency Management.
Our times may be tough, but this recession is not as difficult as the one many of us faced in 1982. This issue bears careful watching as it has its roots in the leftist Saul Alinksy playbook for community organizers. Obama knows this playbook well, as does Hillary Clinton.
With the recent visit to Cuba by the lefty fringe of the Congressional Black Caucus, you'd think that paradise island was Eden. Four Cuban basketball team members apparently weren't very happy in paradise after playing a game in the Canary Islands. They missed the return flight and are likely to claim political asylum. Babalu has the details here.
Humberto Fontova reports on Babalu that Steven Soderbergh's four-hour long simpatico biopic, entitled Che, has grossed about $30 million world-wide, including a total take of $293,708 in North America. The good news is the cost of production: $58 million. Che seemed to have had high production values and a quality cast, but the subject was a stinker. Soderbergh has every right to worry about his career.
Didn't see this film in theaters. Don't plan to put it in a Netflix queue either. And God help us if a musical gets to Broadway.
Alberto de la Cruz, blogging at Babalu, posts a letter today from Iris and Jorge Antunez questioning why the Congressional Black Caucus ignores political oppression in totalitarian Cuba.
Babalu has more on the trickle down economics going on in Cuba regarding the easing of monetary remittances during the Bush years. Seems that the regime only pocketed about 250 million dollars over those few years. Will even more money go to subsidize this dictatorship? Read the post here.
Here's another take on the CBC pilgrimage to Fidel's "Freedonia." The only certified winner in this game is the Castro family. In 2006, Forbes Magazine named Fidel Castro as the world's seventh richest "leader." His fortune, skimmed from island tourism, retail and drug industries, was estimated at 900 million dollars.
My friends, I cannot confirm some essential information for an original post on the Congressional Black Caucus and their recent visit to Cuba . My story must wait, but the truth about this outrageous incident can't, so here is a link to Michelle Malkin's post on the issue.
The following members made the trip:
Barbara Lee (D-CA, 9th District) Laura Richardson (D-CA, 37th District) Mike Honda (D-CA, 15th District) Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO, 5th District) Bobby Rush (D-IL, 1st District) Marcia Fudge (D-OH, 11th District) Mel Watt (D-NC, 12th District)
These seven people are either profoundly stupid - lacking in intelligence - or cheerfully promoting a collectivist America in place of the constitutional republic we now enjoy. These people are dangerous. You can hear just how clueless they are in this collection of sound bites courtesy of Rush Limbaugh:
OTR is deeply disturbed by the Congressional Black Caucus's fawning before the communist dictator of Cuba. He has a draft post addressing this issue, but is awaiting confirmation of a few details before committing an article to the universe. He's finding it hard to contain the anger and using this alert as a vent.
In Los Angeles on May Day, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) co-sponsored and marched under Communist banners in an event calling for the end of capitalism in the United States. OTR defends the right of any person and/or organization to participate in such an event. OTR also believes all American voters need to know about this May Day march. Those who get their news from main stream media sources will never hear about it. And why is this important?
Like most Americans who are aware of current affairs, OTR knows that communism has its share of sympathizers in the United States. The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) is their organization, but it's official hard-core membership is at best in the low thousands. Still, the broad appeal of much of the party's ideology to the "oppressed" classes makes the CPUSA presence on the national stage far greater than its membership would indicate. That presence makes for some nice linkages.
Before you write me off as a paranoid Bircher straight out of the the 1950s, please pay attention to this list of 45 Communist goals read into the Congressional Record in 1963. The list comes from the work of Cleon Skousen, who really was linked to the John Birch Society at a time when it was discredited by what was to become the mainstream conservative movement led by William F. Buckley Jr. When you put many of these points, especially related to geopolitics and defense, in the context of 47 years of history, the outcome doesn't sound nearly as loopy as it may have two generations ago.
The Soviet empire fell twenty years ago, but you don't seem to hear much about it. For the most part, it was a brief flurry of activity occurring at the end of a long and slow decline. [Dismantling the Berlin Wall, left, is a good example of news at the time.] In addition, the event may have impacted a large area, but reports seemed to focus only on celebrations on borders and other interfaces that made for "good" television news. There's no question that the end of the Cold War was a big event in the free world. Why have we ignored it over the years? William Katz at Urgent Agenda draws our attention to Reason magazine and its post by Matt Welch that may enlighten us on why we don't acknowledge this event perhaps as much as we should. Your link is here.
Imagine a U.S. senator enlisting the Soviet Union to help his party defeat the president of the United States. Senator Ted Kennedy proposed this to Soviet President Yuri Andropov in 1983. The letter was found in the Soviet Archives in 1991. Peter Robinson has the sordid details here in his column at Forbes.com. Source: George Moneo, Babalu. I'll bet you won't hear about it in the state-run, mainstream media.
In it's 45 year history, the NEA has never been used this way. One could expect it in collectivist regimes, the usual set of socialists, communists and fascists, but not in the United States unless there is a national emergency. We did have Federal Project Number One under the Works Progress Administration during the Roosevelt years. It was devoted to promoting the arts, but not as propaganda. That would change with the coming of World War II when the arts did play a policy role under the U.S. Office of Emergency Management.
