Ruling by a Radical

Shaun Harbord

Really you have lost all sense of proportion.

N

Melanie,

Have you even read "Rules for Radicals"? There is no Marxism in it. Alinsky doesn't claim to be a commie or a Marxist. Secondly, i don't know what the big deal is, don't you watch the news? Obama is going to bankrupt the USA so none of the ACORN crap (i mean them not your writing) matters.

Tory Bear

It just gets more and more scary. Check out the Obama Youth here

Bill M

No she hasn't lost all sense of proportion. This is the reality to come. All one has to do is dig a bit and you'll find it all there.

The White House is planning to take over the role of executing the national census in an alleged attempt to manipulate the findings to determine where the money will be going. In the past, census takers were nice private citizens who are looking for some extra pocket change or retirees looking for something to do. Who is the First CO looking to contract to help collect the census data?? ACORN.

Beyond banks, they will be seizing financial houses, insurance companies and other businesses that have a major effect on our economy. There will be no safe place to put your money. The pigs at the trough will be "managing" your nest egg.

There's tons more going on. It's all happening VERY QUICKLY through Executive Orders, Presidential Task Forces and other legal but more subversive and inconspicuous means. The goal is to get to a point of no return as rapidly as possible to achieve his desired control over the economy and money system and then from that personal freedoms currently protected by our cherished Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Congressmen and Senators want to keep their jobs so they read the polls and crumble quickly playing the game he wants them to play.

The Speaker of the House is smitten with some sort of twisted puppy love for this evil leader. So he has her on puppet strings.

This is the real and tragic demise of the United States of America happening before our eyes. Freedoms lost at home, and influence lost overseas. The leveling of a nation for the purpose of leveling of all nations under a Marxist or more sinister regime.

Call me nuts, but watch it happen.

Cam

Oh goody, a national homeguard under Big Brother's auspices. This sounds like the American young people in a couple of generations could turn out to mirror Cuban's youngest politician, 18-year-old Liaena Hernandez (check her out at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7784234.stm). Her education was with the military, the only government she's ever known is communism, and the only government she believes will ever work for Cuba is communism.
An admirable success for state-controlled brainwashing from the cradle up. No doubt it can also work in other parts of the world, given enough time.

George Laird

Dear Melanie

What is wrong with Obama understanding that ordinary people haven't a voice and haven't been able to make a real contribution to society?

Why shouldn’t the little people get a voice?

Everyone has the right to be heard, why do you think that should be the right of a select few?

Don’t you believe in democracy?

In your article you have a picture of German soldiers with the Nazis flag to paint Obama as a Fascist.

You then imply that Obama has a secret Marxist agenda.

Get a grip.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

An American

Melanie,

I've mentioned Obama's call for a civil army many times on this blog. I don't think many took us seriously.

If Congress allows this to happen...the most likely recruited will be disaffected black, hispanic and white youth, many who don't have jobs and can't get into college or the military...because they can't pass the entrance exams. Some will come from gangs and perhaps prisoners on early release if they sign up. They will continue to be told that the white/rich man is holding them down...now they can get even..."We're not looking for a fight...That will come later, when we have an army...and apparently uniforms supplied by Obama's government and my taxes.

Mussolini's Brown Shirts were nothing but thugs that beat people in the streets and intimdated everyone in sight. Hitler had his Youth Corp. brain-washed to turn in their parents if they spoke against Hitler or the Nazi Party. Hitler's SS was one of the most feared internal armies in history and was filled with sadistic, moronic followers who did Hitler and his madmen's bidding. Witness the killing of 6,000,000,000+ European Jews, and political prisoners, etc.

Is this the direction Obama is taking us? Why would he need a large internal army? Does he intend to overturn our Constitution, ignore Congress and the Supreme Court and run this country by mob rule?

If so, he forgets one thing... Americans are not Germans or Italians. Americans are strong individuals (anyway, my generation is) many of whom own guns.

Obama only won the election by 6%...and his approval rating is dropping. Everything he and his advisors are doing is destroying the economy and people's lives. Is this on purpose? Probably...they need a weak American. But will inflation or a depression win them the supporters they'll need? Hitler only rescued the Germany economy by waging war on Europe and building a war machine. What would be Obama's way out?

If this all comes to pass, we very well may be looking at a civil war. Somehow, I don't think our Generals and military will side with Obama. They already have great animus for the liberal left and their girlie boy.

I find it interesting that the three leaders I've mentioned here are all rather effeminate...wonder if that has anything to do with their mental makeup and political ambitions.

An American

Melanie,

I've mentioned Obama's call for a civil army many times on this blog. I don't think many took us seriously.

If Congress allows this to happen...the most likely recruited will be disaffected black, hispanic and white youth, many who don't have jobs and can't get into college or the military...because they can't pass the entrance exams. Some will come from gangs and perhaps prisoners on early release if they sign up. They will continue to be told that the white/rich man is holding them down...now they can get even..."We're not looking for a fight...That will come later, when we have an army...and apparently uniforms supplied by Obama's government and my taxes.

Mussolini's Brown Shirts were nothing but thugs that beat people in the streets and intimdated everyone in sight. Hitler had his Youth Corp. brain-washed to turn in their parents if they spoke against Hitler or the Nazi Party. Hitler's SS was one of the most feared internal armies in history and was filled with sadistic, moronic followers who did Hitler and his madmen's bidding. Witness the killing of 6,000,000,000+ European Jews, and political prisoners, etc.

Is this the direction Obama is taking us? Why would he need a large internal army? Does he intend to overturn our Constitution, ignore Congress and the Supreme Court and run this country by mob rule?

If so, he forgets one thing... Americans are not Germans or Italians. Americans are strong individuals (anyway, my generation is) many of whom own guns.

Obama only won the election by 6%...and his approval rating is dropping. Everything he and his advisors are doing is destroying the economy and people's lives. Is this on purpose? Probably...they need a weak American. But will inflation or a depression win them the supporters they'll need? Hitler only rescued the Germany economy by waging war on Europe and building a war machine. What would be Obama's way out?

If this all comes to pass, we very well may be looking at a civil war. Somehow, I don't think our Generals and military will side with Obama. They already have great animus for the liberal left and their girlie boy.

I find it interesting that the three leaders I've mentioned here are all rather effeminate...wonder if that has anything to do with their mental makeup and political ambitions.

Conservative Cabbie

Can we please stop it with the conspiracy theories. It's like a bad Dan Brown novel (is there a good one?).

There is enough ammunition with which to attack Obama: exploding deficits, foreign policy gaffes, his reliance on his teleprompter and his inability to put a coherent sentence together without it's aid, his dishonesty and his demagoguery, that we don't need to misinterpret his every action as being subversive.

Sure, drafting a citizens army makes me uncomfortable but this mobilisation of his supporters is a perfectly normal way of politicking. Pro-lifers, environmentalists, trades unions, pro-choicers etc all act in this way to support their agenda.

Obama will not be beaten by a rabid right wing paranoia who invoke conspiracy at the drop of a hat. He will only be beaten by a redeveloped positive conservative agenda that serves as a counterpoint to Obama's relativist, statist and immoral agenda.

HarleyDavidson

Come on now, don't you all love Obama? He's America's new world leader voted in by the American public, still high voter satisfaction what more can you ask?

The rest of the world? Who cares about that? That's not America. Most Americans don't even know anything about Canada their neighbor to the North. Average American think Canadians have dog team and live in igloos. Ask an average American on the street and they'll claim America's oil comes from the middle east when their number one supplier of oil, gas, and electricity comes from Canada. Who knew? Americans? Like, duh?

The American media is self centered self replicating navel gazing entity who spend more time writing about Obama's abs or Michelle's arms or Michelle's clothes or which movie star is using botox or breast implants than writing about some foreigners no one care about in the media.

Sharia law? Terrorists? That's so last year. We're just gonna appease them . . . anyway spring is just now coming our way and we're busy, okay? Raking the yard, barbecues and doing other stuff and getting our motorcycles in road condition and stuff. We're busy, okay.

You guys handle that Foreign stuff it's on your doorstep not ours, okay? Oh, right, that economy thing? Look I still have a job so let someone else worry about that stuff it doesn't effect me, okay!

Raymond in DC

One presumes the uniform will be "green", and its "volunteers", in a future history of this failed experiment, will come to be known as Green Shirts.

Apropos, last evening I attended a lecture for alumni from a prominent Canadian university. The lecture, by a prominent history professor, was little more than a paean for the new Age of Obama, and most of the attendees apparently had also drunk the Kool-Aid. I felt rather alone.

Cam

George Laird,
Melanie's picture of Hitler serves to remind us of a government that recruited its country's youth as part of a frightening regime.
And there's nothing wrong with the 'little people' having a voice. The problem is when giving them a voice is a front for negotiating them into a force that undermines the country's stability.
Do you honestly believe that any politician is sincerely concerned about the people's voice just for the people's sake?
Get a grip.

Cam

George Laird,
Melanie's picture of Hitler serves to remind us of a government that recruited its country's youth as part of a frightening regime.
And there's nothing wrong with the 'little people' having a voice. The problem is when giving them a voice is a front for negotiating them into a force that undermines the country's stability and maybe the people's own rights.
Do you honestly believe that any politician is sincerely concerned about the people's voice just for the people's sake?
Get a grip.

Insufficiently Sensitive

"Sure, drafting a citizens army makes me uncomfortable but this mobilisation of his supporters is a perfectly normal way of politicking. Pro-lifers, environmentalists, trades unions, pro-choicers etc all act in this way to support their agenda."

Pro-lifers, environmentalists, trades unions, Old Uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all can pool their own resources and organize till the cows come home. This is different. Obama's seriously upped the ante: his new street army of Komsomols are to be funded from the U.S. Treasury to the tune of $6,000,000 through 2014, if the current GIVE Act numbers remain whole. And participation shall be mandatory for students.

And if you think that taxing Republicans and moderate Democrats to fund such street armies is 'fair' or 'in their interests' or 'beneficial' to the taxees, you're faking. This is a partisan ripoff to boost lefty political power at the expense of everyone else - a tactic that hasn't been seen since the Hitler Youth, or Stalin's Komsomols.

Guard your remaining valuables, and ready the tar and feathers.

An American

Conservative Cabbie,

Granted, I put the worse scenario out there...but historically, what past leaders formed a large civilian army "as powerful as our armed forces"? Obama's quote.

Please enlighten me....

This isn't a small number of groupies getting together, we are talking about hundreds of thousands of misguided losers who worship the ground this fraud walks on.

And, please give some of us credit... so far, he's doing exactly as we predicted...actually he's moving faster than I expected. I predicted he would be more stealth. Apparently, he's come to the conclusion that the American public is so incredibly stupid, that he can get away with anything anytime.

An American

Raymond in DC,

The uniform will definitely have to have an image of the Messiah, after all it's his army. An image like that 'Obama-Che' print you saw everywhere that was so popular with Obama's worshippers. It was so artistic...the artist stole the image from someone else's photo, but that's beside the point...and instilled such fervor...you almost wanted to raise your hand in salute and yell 'Heil Obama' or kneel and pray before it.

Ronnie

Y'know Cabbie, somehow I just don't think this is a great idea. I don't care how the legislation is drafted or what public justifications have been made, you just never know where a thing like this can go in a few year's time.

I don't think that 'sinister' is too strong a word here.

I vote no.

An American

Ronnie,

Thank you.

Mike_W

Obama and the Weathermen

'The Weathermen were a far Left, Maoist-inspired revolutionary organisation that advocated urban guerrilla warfare and terrorism to sow the seeds of a communist revolutionary movement in America. They were characterised by their infatuation with Black Power and Third World revolutionary movements as the motors of global revolution, and by their rejection of the white working class as racist and reactionary. They carried out an extended campaign of bombings, robberies, violent demonstrations, riots and jailbreaks that began in October 1969 with the abortive “Days of Rage” in Chicago and continued through the 1970s.
...
We move with the people of the world to seize power from those who now rule … We’ve got to actively fight. We’re going to bring the war home to the mother country of imperialism. AMERIKA: THE FINAL FRONT … We start to build a Red Army by fighting in the streets now. We’re going to knock the pig on his ass in those streets. [Tom Thomas, “The Second Battle of Chicago 1969”, in Harold Jacobs (ed.) Weatherman, 1970, pp. 197–99]

Violence was a non-negotiable necessity for the Weathermen as they desperately sought credibility in the eyes of the Black Power activists they idolised:

“We’ve got to show people that white kids are willing to fight on the side of black people and on the side of the revolution around the world. If you’re not going to fight, then you’re not part of us. It’s as simple as that.” [p. 199]
...
the 1969 Weathermen manifesto was notable for its insistence that the vanguard role in the revolution would be taken by American blacks led by the Black Power movement, operating in conjunction with Third World revolutionary groups. White university students and other young people in America were to serve in an auxiliary role only, this status reflecting their need to atone for their “white skin privilege”, which always left whites in a compromised position within the global revolutionary movement, according to the Weathermen (Varon, p. 50).'

https://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2009/3/obama-and-the-weathermen

beloved

What we were told was to expect an O supporter to knock on our doors and request us to make a pledge of loyalty to the Great Leader, O. The Dems had a difficult time finding many volunteers for this Dem project, but they found some.

They do not want to knock on my door. Jesus and my husband are the only ones for whom I've ever pledged devotion.

The volunteer law is silly considering that the American people are almost addicted to volunteerism. Gov't control of this public sector will result in less volunteerism, which our gov't well knows. This law is a power grab.

The only ones who need encouragement for service in America are self-serving politicians in Washington. Congress and the President should serve us or step down.

Conservative Cabbie

Ronnie

I don't think a forced draft is a good idea either, I wouldn't like it in this country either. But let's face it, the cub scouts and the brownies are uniform wearing groups that are hardly alinskian threats to the constitution. It will all depend on the context that these groups are used in. Interesting that I'm the voice for moderation this time though whilst you're the voice of paranoia.

An American

My jibe about Dan Brown level paranoia wasn't directed at you. it was just a coincidence that my post came after yours. It was directed at Melanie.

Conservative Cabbie

Insufficiently Sensitive

There is a difference between Obama's mooted civilian army and the mobilisation of his supporters to further his message.

Those supporters going on to the streets of Birmingham, Alabama aren't funded by the taxpayer, they're funded either by Obama's own campaign funds or by the D.N.C. That was the comparison I was makng, it is no different to the mobilisation of different pressure groups.

"And if you think that taxing Republicans and moderate Democrats to fund such street armies is 'fair' or 'in their interests' or 'beneficial' to the taxees, you're faking."

I don't but that isn't what this is. I see this as more an army of forced volunteers - a domestic V.S.O. My libertarianism doesn't lke the forced side of this, but it is more likely that this 'army' will be helping old ladies and cleaing ponds rather than dragging dissentors from their beds.

Miranda Rose Smith

Dear Mr. Laird: Each ordinary person has a voice. Its called a ballot. "Voice" and "ballot" are the same word in Hebrew. Any Ameican who participates in a blood drive or visits elderly people in nursing homes-and millions of Americans do more than that-is contributing to society. Notice that Obama's national service is supposed to be allowed on college campuses, the same college campuses that now ban the ROTC?

Ronnie

Cabbie, I know, it's weird. Does this make me a warmonger I wonder.

I would normally agree with you but I always have a bad feeling about these things. The Boy Scouts, Brownies and B.B. were not part of any political party's election campaign based on a very populist message and were not set up by that party when newly established in office.

That's what bothers me.

Dave

You do know the previous chap was wire tapping, using rendition, locking people up without trial and torturing them? To be less concerned with that and more with this looks a little bonkers.
And a picture of the Hitler Youth? Really?

JamesJ

This why we have a Second Amendment here.
ROTC on campus = bad
Lil Brown Shirts on campus = good

beloved

CC,

Presidents are not supposed to pressure us. O has everything backwards.

Timothy L. Pennell

They're not like 'Hitler Youth' as much as they are like Hitlers' Brownshirts. Like the RABBLE that was packed in to busses, and driven to Ct. to TERRORIZE these AIG folks, and their FAMILIES. You know...Like Kristalnacht. To JamesJ-You're exactly right. It's gettin to be 2nd Amendment time. About time.

Nick in Virginia

What is really scary about this is the "Jonestown" mentality of 0bama's followers (people under 50 may have to research "Jonestown Massacre" - after all, this is where the phrase "kool-aid drinker" came from).

Of course, when people start worshipping an individual like this, there is an opposing faction that builds up inordinate amounts of contempt for the individual and his followers. Nothing good can come out of this situation.

Valentinus

It's so funny to see how Melanie scourges the British civil liberties brigade for its paranoid exaggeration of the British police state and then comes out with this nonsense. All she does is show how little she understands traditions of civil activism in the US to which opinion across the whole political spectrum is wedded. Interestingly––look at the support for the Obama measures from assorted right of centre think tanks in the US. This is nothing to do with the measure and everything to do with Melanie's irrational (what would her words be? Gross, groundless Obama-hatred or something inflated like that) hostility to the new President.

John Birch

Conservative Cabbie: Your effort at common sense is clearly swimming against the tide on this blog. This post by Melanie is ridiculous. As you note, there are plenty of areas where Obama can be challenged but conspiracy theories are not the way to go. The Republicans still seem divided with no clear alternative to Obama apparent (the way there was with Reagan waiting in the wings to go after Carter) so perhaps that why rational challenges aren't appearing.

Nick in Virginia

Hey Dave,

Despite your liberal bias there, the wire tapping was pronounced constitutional by the FISA court itself (the decision was made in 2006, but not released until AFTER 0bama was inaugurated. But if you only read/listen to the MSM, you might not even know that). Rendition in its current form started under Clinton. People being "locked up without trial" were terrorists captured either on the battlefield or in support of terrorist activities. According to the Geneva Conventions, these people are designated "illegal combatants" and are not afforded the protections given to "legal combatants", and even they don't have the right to trial - they can be detained for the duration of the conflict.

If you can't see that 0bama's threat is to the citizenry of this country, NOT to its enemies, then you are the one who is bonkers.

War is Peace

If you fear Obama's intentions, then surely you think laws giving the president carte-blanche is a bad idea, and that wiretapping, spying on protesters etc. have the potential to be used against conservatives as well as liberals and that is why your constitution should be protected regardless of your political hue.

An American

I think that this action by Obama frightens me more than all the other far-left cockeyed plans he hopes to force on us.

It screams intimidation, both mental and physical.

Why should our youth and citizens be forced to give time to Obama's issues? I thought we were free people. There is no such thing as forced charity. Charity is given from the heart. Americans are enormously generous with their time and money. I give approximately 4 months a year to wildlife conservation...not counting my donations to several other worthy causes. I refuse to be forced to give my valuable time to something I'm not interested in of believe in. Hopefully, millions of others will feel the same.

If my children were still of school age, I would be forced to take them out of public school and home school them to protect them from the likes of Obama.

On the more sinister side, I believe Obama's volunteers will be brainwashed to intimidate by force.

I just hate everything about socialism...Obama wants to make us into identical drones who he has complete control over, down to forcing our children into a forced youth corp for mind control...how incredibly sick.

Dave

Hey Nick in Virginia! O RLY?!

syn

All it will take is for Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod to manufacture a 'crisis' in order to make this well-funded youth group mandatory

beloved

G. Laird,

Presidents are not supposed to represent just "the little people," of which I am. They are supposed to represent ALL Americans. That's why it is dangerous for Presidents to call out individuals as scapegoats for public anger. O does so in almost every speech, and it is very UnPresidential. Presidents are supposed to be non-partisan; certainly Bush was, which is why he never rebuked those who criticized him.

To Moonbats:

Conservatives say Bush was not actually a conservative. A conservative would not have promoted TARP. Nevertheless, Bush represented ALL Americans and took responsibility for defending us from terrorists. The Bush bashing sounds way out of touch with current events. It doesn't "speak truth to power," and misses the mark.

War is Peace,

no, I'm not in favor of extending US Constitutional rights to terrorists who are not US citizens. The US Constitution is protected when we defend it from those who want to destroy it. It's difficult for me to tell the difference between the Feds and the enemy, right now.

Karen USA

The shadow of the darkest barbarism is descending over the world. People of the Enlightenment must find one another and unite against this evil.

Skyblazer

Can you say: President for Life?

2Brixshy

dave says:

"You do know the previous chap was wire tapping, using rendition, locking people up without trial and torturing them? To be less concerned with that and more with this looks a little bonkers."

Dave, Obama voted in favor of FISA (wire tapping) when in the senate, and has done nothing to abolish it as president. Obama signed an executive order authorizing the continuation of renditions in his first month of office. His justice dept. recently cleared gitmo of any charges of malfeasance.

To accuse the previous chap of this stuff, and ignorantly exonerate the stuttering dolt currently infesting the white house looks a bit hypocritical.

Original Tony

It's a form of Kristallnacht and Che Guevera all mixed into one (although possibly not only against Jews this time but ALL opponents of THE O)and it's happening right in front of our eyes.

The O is now looking at gun registration/ownership and reclassification of various weapons...the next will be a ban on them. Then watch out!

Is anyone aware that hundreds of detention areas exist in the USA? Most are old factories near railroads.

2Brixshy

regarding this facistic GIVE legislation-

Federal funding to advocate for a specific political party's leftist ideology under the guise of "community involvement" is a travesty.

It is not giving a voice to little people, it is not like the boy scouts- it is institutionalized propaganda. It is also completely contra to the precepts of democracy.

Under this bill, we will be required to volunteer? Well that's a nice euphemism- sort of like "arbeit macht frei", isn't it?

And what if I decline to honor this requirement? Will I be jailed because I choose not to advocate for a specific political policy? That's some awful shaky ground there... but then again per president karioke, the constitution is merely something to be done away with.

Linda

Valentinus, what "assorted right-of-centre think tanks" support Obama's measures? Europe is going to miss the USA when we are gone.

An American

Skyblazer...

I've thought the very thing...I hear people saying, well, we can vote Obama out next time...I not so sure we'll have a next time.

Did everyone see Rahm Emanuel repressing his laughter (finger pressing down on his lips) while Obama side-stepped every question the press asked him at the last press conference.

Now Obama is picking questions from the American public to answer today...gee, I wonder who will pick these questions...Then on the basis of one question...he'll say that this what the 'American People' want.

Karen USA
One very smart person I admire said some 20 years ago that the far-left movement was planning to destroy America (I thought he was crazy at the time). He said these people would go down as the most evil force in all of history...because they destroyed the greatest Democracy ever formed by men. It's all coming true.

Syn,
They always seem to come up with an emergency for all their proposed plans...don't they?

SukieTawdry

Forgive me while I indulge in a little paranoia:

Obama and his cohorts (conspirators?) don't much care for private volunteerism and charitable giving (heck, until he decided to run for president, Barack and Michelle didn't engage in much of either and even then, the bulk of their giving was to their racist, Marxist church). You see, if people are left to their own devices, they might associate themselves with the "wrong" causes like pro-life and or the "wrong" organizations like the Salvation Army which puts God at the forefront of its mission or the JDL which supports Israel and Zionism.

The first prong of the attack is to make charitable giving and volunteerism more costly. Obama's proposed budget reduces the deductibility of donations for higher income earners, the very people who do the bulk of the donating. It's only a start, but it's a good one.

Since the intent is to make those of us in the Obamanation dependent on government, the Obamites need to eliminate to the extent possible those organizations that compete with government in, for example, feeding the hungry and housing the homeless. Starving them of the resources to do their charitable works will go a long way towards that end. Eventually, with luck and good design, many charities will dry up altogether.

GIVE will provide the manpower to take the place of private volunteerism. Except now, Obama's army will be dispatched to serve only the "right" causes and they will be funded by taxpayers (which means funding will be virtually limitless).

Yes, service in this civilian force will be mandatory. There will be uniforms. And barracks. And boot camp. And indoctrination. Lots and lots of indoctrination. And should the need arise to help put down a rebellion by citizens who cry "Enough!", well, the GIVErs will be available to assist with that as well.

Welcome to Obama's Brave New World.

George Laird

Dear Ms. Smith

“Each ordinary person has a voice”.

Having a voice doesn’t mean democracy.

“Its called a ballot. "Voice" and "ballot" are the same word in Hebrew”.

Casting a vote doesn’t mean change in all circumstances; it doesn’t even mean your views are worth the paper they are written on. In this country, you are ignored before your vote, courted when they need it and forgotten after it.

“Any Ameican who participates in a blood drive or visits elderly people in nursing homes-and millions of Americans do more than that-is contributing to society”.

I have a health respect for people who have done charity work for no reward other than the satisfaction of helping others.

“Notice that Obama's national service is supposed to be allowed on college campuses, the same college campuses that now ban the ROTC?”

Do the people who sign up for Obama’s “National Service”, are these people armed?

What is wrong about some kind of mandatory service to foster integration?

Is the problem that rich kids would be required to do the service?

What would be the difference between this and a gap year?

I spent several years doing charity work for free off my own bat; it never did me any harm.

I can’t see Obama not giving people a choice in the areas that they would want to work in to help the community. Helping people is a good way to help yourself as well as others.

Like anything, the details need to be closely looked at, but as an idea, it has merit.

In America; they do I believe a programme called Workfare which I understand is about forcing unemployed people to work for their benefits did you object to this?

If you didn’t, was it because it only involved poor people who had no voice?

Surely, if you want to stand up and be counted; you should be standing up for everyone not just the select rich few because something now impacts on them.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Valentinus

I've passed this one around my colleagues fpr a laugh. As one of our elder statesmen commented, 'Have these people always been Spectator readers? Thank goodness I dropped it.' It was always going to be difficult for the Right to cope psychologically with Obama (and no doubt there will be a burgeoning of conspiracy theories in the coming years), but this kind of junk journalism is up there with the shock-jock theories that Obama takes his instructions from Beijing; that he is planning a world currency; and that the US supermarkets can access only enough bank credit to purchase one week's foodstuff at a time. I'm keeping this one for posterity, so that when Obama leaves office or is voted out we can have another laugh. Anybody seen David Icke anywhere? Swear I saw him here few minutes ago.

ConservativeChicagoan

It is nice to know that there are reporters in EU who understand the magnitude of what the obama regime is about to do to America. As one of the 62 million who did not vote for this dispicable excuse for a man, because we knew he was an anachist, I will restrain from saying "told ya so". This evil man, did nothing for the people of Chicago as a community organizer. The millions he was supposed to oversee to help children in the Chicago public schools, did not buy one textbook. It was wasted on getting student to become activists. More young Americans are killed on the streets of Chicago, than in all of Iraq. Obama did not do a thing for the young people of Chicago. Obama became my senator, after his goons took out first his democrat, and then his republican opponents, but digging up dirt on them. Meanwhile, he refuses to release any of his personal health, school or birth records. What is he hiding???? Then he barely gets his feet we in the Senate and he lauuches into his campaign for president. He then sics his goons on Clinton, floods the caucuses with his believers and steals the nomination. Helped along by the billoinaire Soros, who had so much success manipulating and destroying the English economy, he did the same thing in the US. With the left wing hollywood loons and most of the American press on his team, it is surprising that he did not win by a bigger margin. Obamao is a total narcicist who basks in adulation and has no desire to actually help others. One look at his smug face when he is introduced, or his swagger getting off AF1 is proof. Look at how he has to give his speeches before the multitudes while refusing to sit down with any reporters where the questions are not pre scripted. This man is evil. He will destroy everything that is great about America and then the whole world will come crashing down. Wake up World! See the man for who he really is before it is too late!

Ellis

Au contraire, An American. He's moving fast not because he's concluded that the American public is incredibly stupid, but rather because he's realizing that it is NOT quite as stupid as his handlers told him it was.

Which puts him in the position of someone running along the top of a precarious wall, hoping to get as far as he can, as fast as he can, before he slips or someone nudges him off.

John Birch

Conservative Cabbie: Who do you think will face Obama in 2012? I'd put my money on Mitt Romney.

An American

Conservative Cabbie and other history buffs,

Who else in history has established an civilian army?

An civilian army that will be paid, have academies with four year courses and uniforms. Children and adults may be forced to serve. And perhaps guns for the leaders.

Looking forward to your answers.

Insufficiently Sensitive

Conservative Cabbie:

I omitted some zeros in my funding for the GIVE Act: it's six billion, not million, by 2014.

And I wasn't just grabbing fancy foreign words when I named the proposed INvoluntary foot soldiers as Komsomols. The illumination comes from a book by Orlando Figes entitled "The Whisperers".

In dear Mother Russia after 1917, and particularly after the Great Leader Stalin took full control, the loyalty of ordinary citizens to Party and Leader was universal, and heavily self-disciplined. This after a million or so Russians had been killed in the Civil War, and the Cheka had gained practically unlimited power to arrest/imprison/murder.

Citizens had been classified by their social origin as "the people" on one hand, and the evil capitalists/kulaks/counterrevolutionaries on the other. Children of the second bunch were denied much support of society unless they renounced their parents and made a great show of their loyalty to the Party. Permission to join the Komsomols was the badge of acceptance into society and the chance of getting an education, an apartment, any official cooperation from the government.

And the self-discipline of these strivers for the acceptance of society and the Party was nearly universal. They willingly rejected their family values in exchange for total obedience to the Party, and later to the godlike Stalin.

You can see where I'm going with this. Six billion dollars will do nicely for the down payment on an organization of cadres to organize and train the acolytes of Great Leader Obama, and to cast social opprobrium on those draftees who don't get with his program. The social pressures inside these 'service' or 'security' groups will be nothing like the Boy Scout oath, nor the US Declaration of Independence. It'll be, for the individual, nothing; for the Party (oh, I suppose they'll call it 'social justice'), everything.

This President is the first since Roosevelt to be running a cult of personality, and the above thoughts on gummint-funded Komsomols are the natural outgrowth of the political adoration rallies we saw during last year's Presidential campaign.

Original Tony

An American: 4:44pm

Excellent....well said!

An American

Insufficently Sensitive,

Very scary...but true.

When a young person's education, career and future livelihood is on the line...what will most of them choose? Most will choose the easier course. Those lacking in intelligence and education along with minorities will rise to the top quickly.

Americans have to be strong and fight this evil with all our strength.

beloved

Original T said,

Is anyone aware that hundreds of detention areas exist in the USA? Most are old factories near railroads.

b: We heard of them, but my pastor (who read the bill you refer to) said the story is a distraction for us. The prisons are empty, and the bill "Give" should be our focus.

beloved

google "tax party my towm, state"

Go to one on April 15th.

Conservative Cabbie

John Birch

I think I'm with you on that one. Some of the younger possibles with higher potential than Romney may sit 2012 out, particularly if Obama is riding high in the polls. Also, Romney may be seen as the safe bet by the party in the primaries, not particularly exciting but has proven competence and won't exite the left in the way that Palin, Jindal or Sanford will.

One other long shot - Hayley Barbour - governor of Mississippi. Again proven competence with age and experience on his side.

Conservative Cabbie

An American

Check out FDR and The American Legion.

He wanted them to become his "extra-constitutional" "private army"

FDR had prepared text for a radio address which said "I reserve the right to command you in any phase of the situation (Great Depression) which now confronts us."

The leader of the American Legion said in the 20's: "the fascisti are to Italy what the American Legion is to America".

Also, Woodrow Wilson had the American Protective League (a private organisation but authorised by the Wilson administration) which harrassed dissentors during WWI and "cracked down on seditious street oratory".

The source for the above is Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism". If you haven't read it yet, you really should. A real eye-opener into the lefts fascistic heritage.

Conservative Cabbie

Insufficiently Sensitive

That was genuinely interesting, my knowledge of Russian history is very poor. However, I think it's a little early to start drawing comparisons, however loosely, between Stalin and Obama.

Like I've said, I'm not comfortable with the potential for this 'private army' but I can also see it as a force for good (if properly voluntary). Whether it's helping old people, clearing the inner-city detritus (no, not the people) or cleaning beaches etc. Only time will tell, I'm just going to hold back on any criticism until we know more.

"This President is the first since Roosevelt to be running a cult of personality,"

Completely agree and that concerns me. Having said that, would any elected official, given a very loyal, very activist support base, not want to use them.

An American

C. Cabbie,

Thank you for the info. on the book. I'll check and see if Amazon has it.

I believe that Roosevelt did great harm to our country by instituting a welfare state mentality. I absolutely hated his monument in Wash. DC...it had bronze statues of all these poor starving Americans standing in a bread line, waiting for Roosevelt to feed them...just awful.

I hope you are right about Obama not being a threat to our liberties...because if you're wrong, we are all in for some real hurt. I have never before prayed for my country, but I do now.

Our press is really playing this down but...did you recently see the black mob marching in Oakland, California on behalf of the black ex-con that murdered four white policmen in cold blood? The mob was angry because police killed the black ex-con after his mass murder of these officers. I don't believe this would have happened before Obama was elected...there's an element of our society that now believes that anything goes...Unfortunately, Obama's election may set race relations back decades, if some of his black deciples continue to abuse their freedoms and threaten the rest of us...just a thought.

beloved

We already have volunteers. We do not have to be told to volunteer. This is a power grab. There will be fewer volunteers, not more, when gov't takes over. This area of public life is not broken.

An American

beloved,

As far as I'm concerned, most of what was good about Americans and America is broken.

The far-left liberals are busy destroying all of the good, strong traits that make us uniquely American.

I'm a person who trys not to hate...but I am so full of anger right now over the daily destruction of everything that I hold dear as an American...I can barely contain it.

I had a long time friend that voted for Obama and when I told her he was a socialist...she said, "so what's wrong with Socialism?" Mind you, she is a 65 year old registered Republican with her own successful business. I asked her reason for voting for Obama and she said that she was tired of all of the political dissention over the past years. When I pointed out that it was the Democratic Congress, the liberal press and Hollywood that spewed haterd with the intention of literally destroying Bush for the past seven long years...she was non-committal. She was giggly and kept saying we needed 'Change'...and was actually irritated that I didn't vote for him...it was completely weird.

I've written about this event before because I still can't quite understand the hold that Obama has over people.

And I've come to the conclusion that I need to be more selective of the friends I make in the future.

Virginia Bob

Valentius, my wife is from Argentina and she says she has seen it before. I hope you can have a good laugh about it in a few years, but the simply fact of the matter is that almost the only thing anyone knows about our new president-Messiah is that he wrote his autobiography twice and can talk the birds out of the trees.
Now draw conclusions.

An American

Insufficiently Sensitive,

I've read your 3-27 comment three times now.

I'm always surprised at how incredibly uneducated, uninformed and stupid most of our political leaders are.

They can't hold a candle to some of the people like you who blog here.

Thanks for sharing.

Conservative Cabbie

An American

"The far-left liberals are busy destroying all of the good, strong traits that make us uniquely American"

This I whole-heartedly agree with. I also agree with you partly on Roosevelt. However, as a European, I have to give him huge credit for his support in the face of Nazism (as, obviously, I do to all Americans).

An American

C. Cabbie,

It is true that America's entry into the war helped win it, without a doubt. It also helped Roosevelt get us out of the depression. Many members of my family worked in plane factories, parachute factories. My father was a young RR Engineer and he hauled, on occassion, German prisoners of war to detention camps.

We're just fortunate it wasn't someone like Obama serving as president at that time, being a good Nazi himself, I doubt he would have given the UK a helping hand. How things have changed since those 'innocent' altruistic days...who would have ever thought that we would have a far-left socialist Muslim as president of the United States. I'm still in denial.

I had three uncles in the war. One was stationed in the UK as an air force mechanic. The other served somewhere in Europe and the youngest served the longest and fought in N. Africa and Italy. He wouldn't talk about the war until he was quite old. I had several conversations with him and wish I had recorded them for posterity. He was only 18 when he joined and was a tank mechanic and served under Gen. Patton. I also had a cousin that was only 18 when he marched in the Bataan Death March...They all made it home alive, but some never recovered completely health wise and it took its toll on some of them mentally. My youngest uncle was a nervous wreak for his remaining life...

Thank you for your appreciation for what America has done for Britain. We get such a bad rap from everyone worldwide while they expect us to step in to solve their problem...No more. Our far-left wanted to destoy our powerful position in the world and they have succeeded. Obama is busy cutting our defense budget just like Clinton. I don't know how he thinks we will be able to defend ourselves in these dangerous times...or give other countries a helping hand if needed.

In the future, there will be no Americans coming to the rescue.

On another note, I. Sensitive's take on the Russians brought to mind a conversation we had with a well-known Russian physicist acquaintance. He told us that every single adult male in his family was killed in WWII. It practically wiped out his entire family.

American history buff that you are...I thought you would like to hear my families' war stories.

beloved

An American: As far as I'm concerned, most of what was good about Americans and America is broken.

The far-left liberals are busy destroying all of the good, strong traits that make us uniquely American.

B: What traits would those be?

An American: I'm a person who trys not to hate...but I am so full of anger right now over the daily destruction of everything that I hold dear as an American...I can barely contain it.

B: Hugs4U. Same here. Good news from the Fedzilla! The government has a new website to help us stop crying and being sad about what they are doing to us. The US Federal Government cares about your mental health during this economic recession that they created. The website is a cross between webMD and church. Are you attending any tea parties? Several congress members will attend the one I'm going to. Of course, they did not vote in favor of the porkulus. They are safe to attend.

An American: I had a long time friend that voted for Obama and when I told her he was a socialist...she said, "so what's wrong with Socialism?" Mind you, she is a 65 year old registered Republican with her own successful business. I asked her reason for voting for Obama and she said that she was tired of all of the political dissention over the past years. When I pointed out that it was the Democratic Congress, the liberal press and Hollywood that spewed haterd with the intention of literally destroying Bush for the past seven long years...she was non-committal. She was giggly and kept saying we needed 'Change'...and was actually irritated that I didn't vote for him...it was completely weird.

B: The o'voters I talked to had similar giggly non-answers. Just wait until your friend files taxes next year.

An American: I've written about this event before because I still can't quite understand the hold that Obama has over people.

And I've come to the conclusion that I need to be more selective of the friends I make in the future.

B: You must be in an O'area. I am not. Hope we're internet friends.

PS: We are going to win.

An American

beloved,

The traits I admire in Americans are hard work, a sense of fairness and decency, individualism and most of all being self-sufficient.

My fear is that our generation has worked so hard to make it better for our children and grandchildren, that they are softer...I see it in my grandchildren...they've had a pampered life compared to mine. Will this translate into people who won't have the will to fight for what is right for the future of this country.

Our family is split politically...we have a conservative daughter and son-in-law with one conservative grandson and one liberal grandson. A liberal son..where did we go wrong... and daughter-in-law, who is basically a Communist...both lawyers. So, at family gatherings...we don't talk politics without getting into 'it' big time.

Yes, lots of people in my state voted for Obama and with everything happening, they still like him....amazing. With some people, things have to absolutely fall apart before they see the big picture. Of course, some never do. I remember meeting a young German woman in my youth that still adored Hitler after all the destruction he brought on his people and country.

Thank you for the kind encouragement.