The
Communist Party USA isn’t always happy with the Democrats, but in the
2012 election, its chairman says, the best bet for advancing the Party’s
goals is to back Barack Obama.
In a report called “Defeating the Rightwing on the Road to Socialism”
delivered to the CPUSA annual conference, Party Chairman Sam Webb moved
to squash sentiments that disgruntled communists should jump off the
Democrat ship and back a third-party candidate for president.
“Some think the Democrats are as bad as the Republicans. Others go
further and say that the Democrats are worse because they create popular
illusions that change is possible within the two-party system,” Webb
said. “And finally there are advocates of running a third-party
presidential candidate in this election.
“I can understand these sentiments, but only up to a point,” he said.
“Like it or not, millions go to the polls in spite of their misgivings …
and the Democratic Party is the vehicle of reform for tens of millions,
the majority of whom are working and oppressed people.”
Therefore, Webb said, communists need to join other left-leaning allies in ensuring Republicans are defeated in November.
“A third-party presidential candidate would only help the extreme
right, as well as isolate the left from the broader movement,” Webb
strategized. “Only a closer alliance of a surging labor movement and its
strategic allies – the African American people, Latino people, and
other peoples of color, women and youth – have the wherewithal to turn
back this corporate counterattack, while at the same time enact
progressive measures.”
Other speakers at the conference threw their support behind Obama
even more succinctly, including Executive Vice Chair of CPUSA Jarvis
Tyner.
“These right-wing nut jobs need to understand, we are not going back,”
Tyner said. “If Obama is elected, of course there will be a struggle; a
struggle that the democratic forces could win, I would say. If he is
defeated, the movement will suffer a big setback and the country will be
pushed backwards.”
According to a report in CPUSA’s news source People’s World, Vice
Chair Juan Lopez warned conference attendees that Republicans would use
racism as a “powerful ideological weapon” to defeat Obama.
“There is no room for cynicism,” Lopez stressed, “if we expect to win
against Republicans who are exhibiting fascist tendencies. The defeat
of Obama would be a dangerous setback on every front of struggle,
especially against racism and for equality for women. It would show that
white people were not ready for an African American president, after
all.”
Joelle Fishman, chair of the CPUSA Political Action Commission,
further contrasted Obama and his “values … upholding the contribution of
work and those who do it,” and Mitt Romney, who allegedly values
“individualism and corporate greed.”
“The poll shows there is a lot of work to be done,” Fishman
trumpeted, “but with a strong platform for jobs and fair taxes, Obama
and Democrats can win voters in swing districts, including white voters
who supported the tea party in 2010.”
Fishman and Webb each remarked on labor-union plans to put huge
ground forces in play for the 2012 election and encouraged fellow
communists to join, rather than fight, the efforts.
“Labor will throw itself into the campaign to elect Democrats, moderate as well as progressive,” Webb told the conference.
“The AFL-CIO grass roots crusade will engage 400,000 members to
canvass their co-workers and neighbors with a unity message for Obama.
SEIU will mobilize another 200,000 members with the same goal,” Fishman
claimed. “Strengthening and enlarging union, civil rights, community and
youth organizations during this election will lay the groundwork for
year-round organizing and for future elections in which candidates who
come out of the movements, including the Communist Party, run for
office.”
Ingrid Mattson, ‘taqiyya’ queen and Barack Obama’s favorite radical Muslim woman, gets her ass whooped by a friend of mine
Barack Hussein Obama chose Ingrid Mattson to offer a prayer at his inauguration
Ingrid Mattson, a Catholic who was
raised in Ontario, CA, converted to Islam, and went on to become a major
figure in the North American Islamic establishment. Until 2010, she
served as president of the Muslim Brotherhood front group, ISNA.
FrontPageUntil
2010, Mattson she was head of the Islamic Society of North America
(ISNA), a leading national organization which, at the 2007 trial in
Dallas of a now-defunct Islamic charity, the Holy Land Foundation, was
named an unindicted co-conspirator on charges of aiding Hamas. The trial
proved to be an explosive event, uncovering a great deal of vital
information about the unsavory connections of supposedly innocuous
Muslim organizations in the United States.
Yet it was almost entirely ignored –
and, when not ignored, whitewashed – by the mainstream American
media. Mattson “has been disturbingly equivocal about Wahhabism, the
repressive and backward strain of Sunni Islam that is the state creed in
Saudi Arabia,” describing it as “a reform movement” and comparing it –
incredibly – to “the European protestant reformation.” (Read more of her quotes below the video)
In the video below, Mattson is
caught off guard, when Liz Trent starts asking her questions about
abrogation* and sharia, to which Mattson tries to tap dance around the
truth.
*ABROGATION : This is a key term in studying the Quran.
There are some peaceful, tolerant verses in the Quran. But the violent,
intolerant ones have abrogated (abolished, done away with) them. The
Quran itself explains what to do with conflicting verses. If two
passages conflict, it says, the one written later is better than the one
written earlier. The earlier passage has been abrogated by the later
one. The bad news for non-Muslims is that almost all the peaceful
passages were written earlier, and the intolerant, hateful, and violent
ones were written later (read more about this).
Because the audio is hard
to hear in parts, Liz has provided text describing what is going on. At
the end, Liz mentions she has read ‘Reliance of the Traveler,’ A Classic
Manual of Sharia Law, endorsed by most Islamic authorities, that
describes in detail how the purpose of jihad is to go to war to force
Islam on all unbelievers. With a look that could kill on the face of
Mattson, Liz wisely ends the discussion there.
If Muslim Americans are to
participate in such a critique of American policy, however, they will
only be effective if they do it, according to the Prophet’s words, in a
“brotherly” fashion. This implies a high degree of loyalty and
affection. This does not mean, however, that citizenship and religious
community are identical commitments, nor that they demand the same kind
of loyalty. People of faith have a certain kind of solidarity with
others of their faith community that transcends the basic rights and
duties of citizenship.
The first duty of Muslims
in America, therefore, is to help shape American policies so they are in
harmony with the essential values of this country. In the realm
of foreign policy, this “idealistic” view has been out of fashion for
some time. Indeed, the American Constitution, like foundational
religious texts, can be read in many different ways. The true values of
America are those which we decide to embrace as our own. There
is no guarantee, therefore, that Americans will rise to the challenge of
defining themselves as an ethical nation; nevertheless, given the
success of domestic struggles for human dignity and rights in the
twentieth century, we can be hopeful.
There’s a prejudgment, a
collective judgment of Muslims, and a suspicion that well “you may
appear nice, but we know there are sleeper cells of Americans,” which of
course is not true. There aren’t any sleeper cells.
CHAT PARTICIPANT: What can
you tell us about the Wahhabi sect of Islam? Is it true that this is an
extremely right wing sect founded and funded by the Saudi royal family,
and led by Osama bin Ladin? What is the purpose of the Wahhabi?MATTSON:
No it’s not true to characterize ‘Wahhabism’ that way. This is not a
sect. It is the name of a reform movement that began 200 years ago to
rid Islamic societies of cultural practices and rigid interpretation
that had acquired over the centuries. It really was analogous to the
European protestant reformation. Because the Wahhabi scholars
became integrated into the Saudi state, there has been some difficulty
keeping that particular interpretation of religion from being enforced
too broadly on the population as a whole. However, the Saudi scholars
who are Wahhabi have denounced terrorism and denounced in particular the
acts of September 11.
CHAT PARTICIPANT: Osama bin
Laden made a reference that Muslims have been living in humiliation for
80 years. Did he refer to the Treaty of Sevres in 1920 that dismantled
caliphates and sultanates?MATTSON: Yes, he is referring to that,
to the overthrowing of the caliphate, which was a plan of European
powers for many years. This deprived the Muslim world of a stable and
centralized authority, and much of the chaos that we’re living in today
is the result of that.
6) Mattson teaches the jihadists Sayyid Qutb and Syed Abu’l-`Ala Mawdudi in her course at Hartford Seminary – see the syllabus here.
Maududi on jihad (Jihad in Islam, page 9): “Islam
wishes to destroy all States and Governments anywhere on the face of
the earth which are opposed to the ideology and programme of Islam
regardless of the country or the Nation which rules it. The
purpose of Islam is to set up a State on the basis of its own ideology
and programme, regardless of which Nation assumes the role of the
standard bearer of Islam or the rule of which nation is undermined in
the process of the establishment of an ideological Islamic State. It
must be evident to you from this discussion that the objective
of Islamic ‘Jihad’ is to eliminate the rule of an un-Islamic system and
establish in its stead an Islamic system of State rule. Islam
does not intend to confine this revolution to a single State or a few
countries; the aim of Islam is to bring about a universal
revolution.” ”Islamic ‘Jihad’ does not recognize their right to
administer State affairs according to a system which, in the view of
Islam, is evil.
8 Although
she recommends and teaches Abdul ala Maududi, who advocates violent
jihad against non-Muslims (see above), Mattson is highly critical of
Christians who make the factual statement that texts by Muslims support
violent jihad against non-Muslims — and sheequates Christian critics of violent jihad with Osama bin Laden, who wages violent jihad.
Mattson on critical statements by Christians about Muslims:
“I don’t see any difference
between that and al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden [using] Islamic theology
to justify violence against Americans. What’s interesting is if you
compare [their] statements about what Islam is and what Muslims believe,
you’ll find they are almost identical, and I reject both
interpretations — both the non-Muslims who are saying that Islam
justifies violence against Christians and Jews, and the Muslims who are
saying it. “
“As a practicing Muslim, I
believe that there is a core of fundamental beliefs and practices that
distinguish authentic Islam from deviations. I also believe that apart
from this essential core, the task of interpreting the application of
Islamic norms to human society is an enormously complicated task, which
inevitably leads to a broad range of opinion and practice. I agree with ”
Sunni” Muslims, the majority of the Muslim community worldwide, that
after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, no one has the right to claim
infallibility in the interpretation of sacred law.”
Ingrid Mattson, the first
woman president of the Islamic Society of North America, said Friday at
the opening of the group’s 43rd annual convention that labeling terrorism as “Islamic” was not helpful to people of her faith.”
If our major concern is security, security of this country, this is a
term that has very bad resonance in the Muslim majority world and makes
us feel uncomfortable here,” Mattson said. Mattson said her group would
argue for a change in rhetoric away from “Islamic fascism.” …..As an alternative to “Islamic
fascism,” Mattson suggested the words “terrorism, crime, violence,”
adding that she and other Muslims don’t understand why the label
“Islamic” is included when Bush and other leaders talk about terrorism.
11) Mattson denies the actual state of women’s rights under Shariah law:
“MATTSON: Muslim women have
the same legal rights as Muslim men. The Prophet Mohammed’s wife was a
businesswoman. The legal rights of women were enshrined in Islamic law.
However, cultural practices in many societies have prevented those
rights from being enforced.”
CHAT PARTICIPANT: Does the
Taliban place blame upon women for the weakness of men in their society?
Is that why they place such restriction upon them?MATTSON: The Taliban
place restrictions on everyone in their society, men and women. In their
minds, they are protecting women from other men by placing these
restrictions on them.
“That can be frustrating. I
want to also make sure people understand that although American Muslims
do have a responsibility to clarify their views on terrorism and
violence done in the name of Islam, we don’t have control over these
situations. We don’t have some sort of magic power over all Muslims in
the world.”
“‘Right-wing Christians are
very risky allies for American Jews,’ Mattson said, ‘because they [the
Christians] are really anti-Semitic. They do not like Jews’ and enter
into the alliance on the basis of fundamentalist beliefs that it would
be desirable for all Jews to return to Israel. She suggested that
fundamentalist Christians might turn against Jews or that there could be
backlash from ordinary Americans against Jewish and fundamentalist
Christian supporters of Israel.”
“The American government
has not criticized sufficiently the brutality of the Israeli government,
believing that it needs to be “supportive” of the Jewish state. The
result is that oppression, left unchecked, can increase to immense
proportions, until the oppressed are smothered with hopelessness and
rage.”
“Thus, it is not
permitted for a Muslim to maintain a close friendship with a highly
intelligent person who engages him or her in stimulating conversation,
if that person continuously derides the sacred (Qur’an 5:57-58).
Indeed, since preserving faith is the highest priority, it is important
that Muslims avoid demoralizing dependence on other faith communities
for their protection and material needs….Clearly there are groups among
American Christians and Jews who are so hostile to Muslims that we
should not join with them even in shared concerns, lest we lend any
credibility to their organizations.
ISNA, which URJ has
accepted, apparently uncritically, as a “partner,” has a long history
of association with extremist trends in Islam. ISNA has served as a
front group for Wahhabism, the official sect in the kingdom of Saudi
Arabia; the jihadist ideologies originating in Pakistan with the
writings of a certain Mawdudi and the Deoband schools in that country —
the latter of which produced the Afghan Taliban, and the Ikhwan
al-Muslimun, or Muslim Brotherhood.
Op-ed:
The Trayvon Martin case should NOT be about race
By: Diane Sori
Here’s something that‘s sure to raise a few eyebrows but it’s what a lot of people are thinking besides myself...George Zimmerman is deliberately being used to ignite Obama’s BEFORE the election, hoped for race war AND so is Trayvon Martin! While I know this will indeed inflame some, no pun intended, I want people to seriously think through the entire incident but to take the race of the two people involved completely out of the picture. Once that’s done, I think an entirely different picture will emerge as to who did what and why they did it.
For starters, no one wishes a young man to have lost his life...no one. That is truly sad and something that both Trayvon Martin’s family AND George Zimmerman will have to live with for the rest of their lives. But let’s NOT fall into the media hype that this young man was a saint because he wasn’t. And the photos posted all over by the media were that of Trayvon Martin as a child NOT the current 17 year old strapping young man who was over six feet tall and built like a brick house. Remember also that Trayvon had recently been suspended from school for being in possession of marijuana and that could be at the crux of this entire unfortunate event.
Recently, a rash of robberies had been taking place in the gated townhouse community where the incident occurred, and where George Zimmerman lived and patrolled as part of his neighborhood Crime Watch team. It was known to the community’s residents, but hushed up by the media, that the perpetrator in these robberies gained access to the homes by prying windows open with a screwdriver. The items that were stolen from the homes were all items that could easily be pawned for cash, and nine out of ten times that type of robbery is done by young people to get money to buy drugs.
And here’s the kicker reported by only a few news networks...when police arrived at the scene of the shooting a screwdriver was found ON Trayvon Martin...the same young man that had recently been suspended from school for carrying around grass in his backpack!
Coincidence maybe, but it also could be that Trayvon Martin was the person, or one of the people, who had committed these very robberies, and why... because he needed money to buy grass. This happens with young people all the time...they need money to buy dope and they just don’t have it so they steal it.
Trayvon Martin knew no one in the community and no one let him in, as reported by some of the media. So why was he there...I don’t think just to walk the neighborhood and go on his merry way. If the puzzle pieces fit correctly, and I only say IF this is the scenario, Trayvon Martin was there to steal so he could get money to buy dope. This would not be the first time someone did this nor will it be the last.
Now George Zimmerman enters the picture and sees this young man, who he didn’t recognize as a resident, sulking through the back alleyways of the homes, the very alleyways were the person, or persons who committed the previous robberies entered and exited from.
Did Zimmerman overreact...should he have listened when he called the suspicious person into the police and was told to stand down...yes, he should have but his reactions were that of someone trying to prevent a neighbor from being robbed. George Zimmerman truly believed he was doing the right thing in going after Trayvon Martin, especially after he called out to Trayvon to stop and wait for the police to arrive to see if there was indeed a problem or not. Instead of stopping and waiting, Trayvon Martin came at Zimmerman, jumped him and slammed his head into the ground, as proven by recently released photographs. Trayvon continued to beat on Zimmerman, who then took out his gun and shot Trayvon in self-defense, in the chest, NOT in the back, IN THE CHEST...proving Trayvon Martin was NOT trying to retreat or get away.
Now, if you re-read what I just wrote, you will find that nowhere in this scenario do I mention either person’s race...and why...because race should NOT and would NOT have been a factor in this case if the media did not make it so. And the media only fed into this because Obama and his minions, such as Al Sharpton, Eric Holder, the New Black Panthers and the like, all saw this as an incident they could capitalize on and use in Obama’s re-election campaign! They figured this shooting could help them ignite a race war and fuel into the already started class warfare tactics Obama was using every time he gave a speech. What better way to take people’s minds off Obama’s failed policies and record than to divert people’s attention and sympathies to an incident that involved a white man killing an unarmed black youth.
Or was Trayvon really unarmed...remember the screwdriver found on his body, the same type of screwdriver that was used in the break-ins, could have been used as a weapon against Zimmerman if given enough time in which to use it.
It also dishonors Trayvon Martin’s family if only they would realize it and see that their son is being used as nothing more than campaign fodder.
There are NO winners here, only losers, but the coals of racial tensions should NOT be fueled by the death of this young man nor should another man be made a scapegoat just to prevent threatened riots. The truth will come out, it always does, and in this case the truth just might not be what some want to hear.
Let my people go
From: Jihad Watch
Q: What should happen in light of the fact that the leaders of many nations believe that Iran is not only developing nuclear weapons, but also wants to share them with the Islamic world?
A: We hope that the Iranian leadership understands our concerns and that finally it will stop its nuclear program.
That in brief describes the political situation around the Iranian nuclear program ...
Statements from politicians are very scarce. Maybe this is the fault of the upcoming U.S. presidential election or the elections in France, or other political phenomena. In other words, everything is okay, but the reality is not as smooth as our words make it out to be.
Evidence of this are some facts which I will set down here.
The fact is that several countries of the Caucasus and the Middle East said that they will use unmanned aircraft of their own production.
The first in their ranks was Turkey. Then Georgia, Iran, and Armenia. The Turks and Georgians held successful tests of their flying drones.
The fact is that Ministry of State Security agents detained Iranian intelligence agents in Azerbaijan. And several days ago, the same ministry said that it had uncovered a terrorist group linked to Al Qaeda. In the north of the country there were arrested about 20 people who were accused of terrorism. Based on the names of the cities and places in which there were special operations, it can be assumed that those arrested are members of the Lezghin nation, who live on both sides of the Russian and Azerbaijani border.
The war rhetoric of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev toward Armenia is growing every day. The Armenian side is not in retreat. Every day, the local media disseminates information about the shelling of border areas.
Recently in Turkey there were arrested several former military men. Among the military men for whom there were issued warrants of arrest in Turkey were former leaders of the General Staff who were accused of coup attempt in 1997.
Recall that in February 1997, at a meeting of the Turkish National Security Council, there were adopted a number of decisions regarding the fight against Islamic supremacism. After that, under pressure from the military community, the government led by Islamist Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan fell.
Now the Ankara Prosecutor's Office is investigating, within the framework of a warrant of arrest that was issued in 1997 by former Deputy Chief of General Staff Cevik Bir for four generals who have held senior positions in the military in Turkey.
The Office also issued a warrant for the arrest of the former State Security Court Prosecutor Nuh Mete Yuksel.
Turkish police reported detaining 14 more soldiers in the investigation of the coup d'etat that was being prepared in 2003. Note that the Turkish media do not have accurate data on the number of prisoners. The Turkish television station NTV reported that previously the court issued a warrant for the arrest of 95 suspects.
Recall that in late February of this year, Turkish authorities detained 70 soldiers who were suspected of plotting against the government.
And at the same time, Turkey celebrates the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad. The Turkish president in his message said that "the life of the Prophet Muhammad is a model for all mankind. He has always called people to brotherhood, tolerance and mutual assistance." President Gul also said that the life and personality of the Prophet Muhammad best reflect the light of Islam and the Quran to all mankind.
According to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, all people should be guided in their lives by the laws of brotherhood.
In turn, the leader of the Republican People's Party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, stressed that all of humanity benefits from the life of the Prophet Muhammad, which is an example of charity.
The region looks like a powder keg.
On whatever side you want, light a fire and it will explode. And next to the barrel, crazy people are running around with torches. But the situation is not funny. This is the reality.
I would be happy if I'm wrong ...
The leader of the Caucasus jihadists, Dokka Abu Usman, in his last address to the mujahideen on video, explained how they should solve their disagreements.
"Please refer to the Qur'an, and you'll find the answers," he said.
I have heard many times that the Mujahideen turn to the Qur'an and the Hadith as guides. In the Hadith they read: "The Last Hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews. The Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: 'Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him;' but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews" (Sahih Muslim, Kitab al-Fitan wa Ashrat as-Sa'ah, Book 41, 6985). So the Jews will hide behind trees and the trees will say, "Muslim! The servant of Allah! Come, look there is a Jew behind me, he hid here, behind me, come and punish him." Only the tree Gharqad will not say this, for it is the tree of the Jews "(Kitab al-Fitan, hadith. In 2239).
Question: Does Iran want a nuclear bomb, and will it share it with the Islamic world?
Answer: I do not know ... The ayatollahs and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said no.
It would be better if you believe what Moses said: "Let my people go."
WND EXCLUSIVE
Occupy prepares nationwide May Day mayhem
'Direct action' to shut down economy, block bridges, tunnels
Occupy’s plans for nationwide May Day chaos are going ahead full-speed ahead, with the movement boasting of “direct action” schemes that include protest marches, shutting down the financial sector, and blocking bridges and tunnels.
The group’s official websites announce plans to “occupy” Manhattan-bound bridges and tunnels as well as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Tuesday.
Besides street protests, sympathizers are asked to engage in a U.S. general strike to “shut it down,” referring to the country’s economy.
The MayDayNYC.org website, which serves as a national planning hub, published the call to arms:
“This May Day, Occupy Wall Street, in coalition with numerous other organizations and occupations, calls for a Day Without The 99%: No Work, No School, No Shopping, No Housework, No Compliance. Let’s take the streets, reclaim our communities, and support each other. NOT the 1%.
“If you can’t strike call in sick. If you can’t call in sick hold a slow down. We know how to shut it down because we’re the ones that prop it up.”
The Manhattan-based Occupy calls for “direct action and civil disobedience” in Midtown throughout the day, including “creative disruptions, bank blockades, outreach to commuters and tourists, and more!”
“On May 1, 2012, autonomous direct action groups within Occupy Wall Street, as a part of the global mobilizations for general strike and economic non-compliance, will block one or more Manhattan-bound bridges or tunnels to protest the shameful opulence of the 1%.”
Occupy warns: “We are announcing these blockades now as a fair warning to the rest of the working people of New York and New Jersey who are considering joining the strikes and mobilizations of the day: the city will be shut down, so enjoy the day without the 99%!”
In the San Francisco Bay Area, protests are slated to kick off with Occupy activists congregating at 6 a.m. Pacific Time to “Occupy the Golden Gate Bridge.”
The Bay Area schedule is replete with “anti-capitalist” events such as an “anti-patriarchy” protest and actions to protest “gentrification.”
Occupy Seattle calls for a “revolt/blockade” as well as participation in the general nationwide strike to “shut down the global circulation of capital that every day serves to enrich the ruling classes and impoverish the rest of us.”
The plan to shut down the U.S. economy is reminiscent of plans first hatched in March 2010 by Stephen Lerner, a controversial anti-capitalist SEIU organizer. Lerner visited the Obama White House at least four times.
WND was first to report Lerner was the brain behind some of the economic protest templates being used by the Occupy Wall Street campaign.
Lerner last year laid out a mass economic protest plan intended to bring down the stock market. He boasted it could be used to cause a new financial crisis. His ideology prompted some conservative critics to go so far as to label him an economic terrorist.
Writing in the Washington Post last September, columnist Harold Meyerson, the vice-chairman of Democratic Socialists of America, quoted Lerner describing how a coalition was fomenting the current economic protests.
Lerner described himself as part of the coalition, referring to the organizations behind the demonstrations as “we.”
Lerner told Meyerson: “It’s a confluence of planned and unplanned demonstrations. … We build on each other. We go ping-ponging back and forth.”
In an interview about the Wall Street protests, Lerner outlined his goals: “How do we bring down the stock market? How do we bring down their bonuses? How do we interfere with their ability to, to be rich?”
In an oped titled “This can be our moment,” published in the radical In These Times magazine, Lerner calls on followers to “go on offense” and “make Wall Street pay for the trillions it stole from us.”
Lerner outlined his campaign to “stoke simmering discontent into concrete, concerted direct action to challenge corporate extremism.”
Lerner’s campaign was intended to sow “the seeds of a movement that turns the tables on [Wall Street].”
“There are actually extraordinary things we could do right now to start to destabilize the folks that are in power and start to rebuild a movement,” Lerner said.
During the presentation, Lerner called for a mass strike by mortgage payers that, he said, could cause a new financial crisis.
“And so the question would be, what would happen if we organized homeowners en masse to do a mortgage strike. Just say if we get, and, and, if we get half a million people to agree, we’ll all not, we’ll agree we won’t pay our mortgages, it would literally cause a new financial crisis,” he said.
Occupy partners with anarchists
The latest Occupy plans come as WND reported earlier this week Occupy has partnered with an anarchy movement to deploy joint chaotic actions aimed at protesting capitalism.
Last weekend, Occupy D.C. and an anti-capitalist group calling itself the Anarchist Alliance D.C. Network caused a ruckus at an International Monetary Fund convention. Protesters reportedly attached climbing ropes to security barricades outside the main IMF entry checkpoint and pulled them down. Other ropes were used to pull down obstacles along the path delegates used to attend the meetings.
Protesters stormed several hotels where IMF delegates were staying, including the Washington Circle Hotel and the Mayflower.
A Facebook “anarchy” page was created in the run-up to the IMF event. The page, titled “Anarchy Spring training and IMF protest in DC-April 19th to 20th-2012,” served as an online planning forum.
The site boasts of a Manhattan protest earlier this month, following an anarchy book fair, in which agitators marched through the streets turning over trash cans and spraying anarchy symbols on local businesses. Protesters reportedly used eight-foot-long metal pipes to smash the windows of a Starbucks in New York’s East Village.
One group, calling itself the First of May Anarchist Alliance, has partnered with Occupy to protest the Trayvon Martin shooting.
The anarchy tactics apparently come directly from the playbook of a direct-action organization known as the Ruckus Society, which helped to spark the 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle that turned violent.
Ruckus is directly tied to Occupy. WND previously reported official direct-action training resources for Occupy events include several manuals from the Ruckus Society.
Ruckus was also listed as a “friend and partner” of Occupy events, including the movement’s Days of Action held in October 2011.
Ruckus is funded by the George Soros-financed Tides Center, which has been involved in Occupy since the movement’s onset.
Another grantee of Tides is the Adbusters magazine, which first announced the Occupy movement.
MoveOn.org, which has joined Occupy, is funded by Tides.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With additional research by Brenda J. Elliott
WND EXCLUSIVE
'War' promised if IRS attacks church speech
Dispute erupts when bishop criticizes assault on religious liberties
By Dave Tombers
While a group that opposes expressions of Christianity in public forums wants the IRS to use its formidable power to crack down on what pastors say, one legal foundation says, “Bring it on,” promising a “legal war” if churches are attacked on such issues.
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State Executive Director Barry Lynn recently wrote a letter to the IRS demanding help in quashing the speech of a leader in the Roman Catholic Diocese in Peoria, Ill.
The April 19 letter calls a recent homily given by Bishop Daniel Jenky a violation of IRS regulations relating to the tax-exempt status of the church, because Jenky cited atrocities of past governments, specifically naming Hitler and Stalin, and then cited the failings of the Obama administration.
The homily was also reprinted in the Catholic Post, and urged Catholics to stand by their religious convictions, even outside the walls of the church.
“Hitler and Stalin, at their better moments, would just barely tolerate some churches remaining open, but would not tolerate any competition with the state in education, social services, and health care,” he said.
“In clear violation of our First Amendment rights, Barack Obama – with his radical, pro-abortion and extreme secularist agenda, now seems intent on following a similar path,” the homily says.
The homily included the plea, “Now things have come to such a pass in America that this is a battle that we could lose, but before the awesome judgment seat of Almighty God this is not a war where any believing Catholic may remain neutral.”
Jenky even included a dire prediction for the nation if Catholics don’t stand by their convictions.
“This fall, every practicing Catholic must vote, and must vote their Catholic consciences, or by the following fall our Catholic schools, our Catholic hospitals, our Catholic Newman centers, all of our public ministries – only excepting our church buildings – could easily be shut down.
“Because no Catholic institution, under any circumstance, can ever cooperate with the intrinsic evil of killing innocent human life in the womb,” he said.
He was opposing the Obamacare mandate that employers, including schools, hospitals and others, pay for abortions for employees.
American’s United tells the IRS that this homily puts the Catholic bishop afoul of the law, and demands that an investigation of the priest be undertaken.
In the letter to the IRS, AU says in part, “Bishop Jenky compared Obama to Hitler and Stalin and accused him of pursuing policies that will close Catholic institutions.
“Moments later he exhorted members of his flock not to vote for candidates who fail to uphold Catholic values.
“It is impossible to interpret this as anything but a command to vote against Obama,” Lynn said.
The Thomas More Society says that the law and the Bill of Rights is on the bishop’s side, and promises a “free and aggressive legal defense to any religious leaders targeted or victimized for the robust exercise of their free speech rights.”
“The Internal Revenue Service has no legal right to investigate, let alone threaten or penalize the Catholic Diocese of Peoria for illegal ‘electioneering’ after Bishop Daniel Jenky, C.S.C., referred to policies of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin while delivering a robust, wholly legitimate critique of current federal efforts to quash and curtail religious liberties,” says Thomas Brejcha, president of the Thomas More Society.
“References to egregious, historical mistakes on the part of political leaders of the past in messages to congregations, even in an election year, are fully protected by the First Amendment, whether those messages are delivered from the pulpit or on soap boxes in the public square,” he continued.
“We think the law is very clear,” said Brejcha.
“Well-settled federal law does not prohibit churches and other tax-exempt non-profits from speaking out against government policies at odds with the common good or – as in this case – constitutionally obnoxious.”
“Where would the civil rights movement have been were it not for the courage of those of our religious leaders who spoke truth to power on behalf of the disenfranchised?” Brejcha added.
“When Bishop Jenky said, ‘…every practicing Catholic must vote, and must vote their Catholic consciences…,’ he’s simply telling people that their religious convictions and values matter outside the church walls,” said Brejcha.
Twice recently the Thomas More Society has faced down the IRS on behalf of religious groups. The society said one case was when the IRS was holding up approval of the Coalition for Life of Iowa’s request for tax-exempt status, while simultaneously pressing its pro-life members to stop conducting prayer vigils outside a Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Iowa City.
“After TMS challenged the IRS’s legal position, the service’s demands to stop the picketing were suddenly dropped and the Coalition promptly received IRS approval for tax-exempt status,” the organization reported.
In another case the group challenged the IRS for “highly improper demands” made by the agency about prayer vigils conducted by the Christian Voices for Life.
