Let the gaming begin; Rand Paul follows in his father's footsteps

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Ron Paul supporters made up for their lack of popular support by gaming the sort of unscientific instantaneous "polls" conducted by TV shows and websites. I put polls in quotes because these barely qualify as polls. They are presented as an unscientific snapshot of the audience's opinion, but they are not even that. They are so easily gamed by an organized group as to be worthless.

This was demonstrated by the Paul supporters, who won virtually all of these polls by wide margins, even as Ron Paul got mostly single digit percentages in the Republican primaries. This led many Paul supporters to allege a conspiracy to rig the vote. It also led to embarrassed explanations from CNN anchors.

Now comes news that Ron Paul's son, Rand Paul, a candidate for U.S. Senate from Kentucky, is going down the same path.

Check out the following post at the Daily Paul website organizing the gaming of a small instant "poll" conducted by the website Kentucky.com: *NEW* Rand Paul Poll at Kentucky.com - You know what to do! | Ron Paul Wins! | Campaign for Liberty at the Daily Paul

Posted July 28th, 2009 by Michael Nystrom

The poll is midway through the article:

http://www.kentucky.com/l...

So far, Rand is LOSING - 204 - 131 to Grayson! You know what to do!

This post is followed by comments tracking Rand Paul's sudden rise in the "poll" as his supporters game it. The last comment reads:

11:15 am
On July 28th, 2009 freeyourmind says:

Trey Grayson 226
44%

Bill Johnson 4
1%

Rand Paul 286
55%

Total Votes: 516

----------------------------------------------------
The revolution will not be televised...

Here's a word to readers of Kentucky.com: I don't know whether or not the revolution will be televised, but I do know that it will not be reflected in instantaneous poll results on Kentucky.com.


(As of 6:00 pm on July 30, Rand Paul is ahead in the "poll" with 3841 votes, 77% of the votes cast.)


UPDATE July 31, 2009 11:00 pm

The Ron Paul campaign admits to gaming the polls in Kentucky to make Rand Paul look like he's doing better than he really is -- right here.

UPDATE August 1, 2009 1:15 pm

A member of the Ron Paul forum has posted the following on that forum's thread about the poll gaming:

"Check out the blogger Adam Holland's "worth reading" list.
Meed (sic) I say more?"

Answer: Yes, please. Say more.

Inevitable? Dieudonne: "Jews killed Jackson"

Oh wait... a comment to the post says he only blamed "Zionists" for killing Michael Jackson, just as they killed Jesus. Right.

read here: Seismic Shock: Dieudonne thinks Jews killed Jacko

and here: Dieudonné welcomes anti-Semitic remarks of Michael Jackson

GOP congressman compares Obama to Hitler

Appearing on Alex Jones' wacky conspiracy theory radio show, Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert has claimed that President Obama's health care plan will be a form of socialism which will "kill senior citizens". He also claimed that the government will "tell you what you eat, what you drink, how you exercise, (and) where you live". He was just getting started. He went on to state that the government will mandate when Americans will be permitted to have children, comparing this to a government program to limit the population of wild horses.

Then there was this exchange of ideas:

JONES: Did you hear about the (White House) science czar calling for putting stuff in the water to sterilize us?

GOHMET: No, I had not heard that. [...]

GOHMERT: People are always willing to give up their liberty to get economic stability.

JONES: Look at Hitler.

GOHMERT: Absolutely. Boy that’s the best example, maybe the best example. […]

JONES: As the Time magazine headline said, we’ve almost got national health care. They’ve almost got eugenics control grid over us. Can you speak to your website, how we help you. In closing, the youth brigades, national service compulsory in a group outside the military under the Democratic party control in the city year in the red and black uniforms? [...] In closing, and we’re going to let you go sir, the youth brigades, national compulsory service, the Democrats have introduced those bills. Your take on that?

GOHMERT: Well you just referred to that point in history where this stuff has been done before. It was done in the 1930s and its not the only place its been done. It has been done throughout history.

JONES: Mao did it.

GOHMERT: Well that’s exactly what I was thinking of. This is the kind of the thing we got to stop. We got to get back to the roots, the basics.

The Think Progress website, in a piece called Gohmert Trades Ideas With Conspiracy Theorist, Says Obama Health Plan Will ‘Absolutely Kill Senior Citizens’, points out that Republican attempts to derail health care reform initiatives have increasingly resorted to charges that reform will kill the elderly. As explained here and here and here, these tactics are part of a Republican plan to derail health care reform through deception and by adding poison pill amendments.

Concerning Alex Jones, they point out that he

"has made a name for himself propagating conspiracies ranging from the claim that Bill Clinton planned the Oklahoma City bombings to the idea that the attacks on 9/11 were orchestrated by a cabal of American and Israeli government officials."

AUDIO OF THE INTERVIEW is online here.

Congressman Louie Gohmert (Rep., Texas)

A response to Ron Paul supporters

In a comment responding to two recent posts about anti-Semitic material on Ron Paul's websites (read here and here), I've heard from someone called Dan Hansen. He writes:

Adam,

You went looking for anti-semites on open political forums and (surprise) you found them.

You could do the same using any common search engine. You can find plenty of anti-semitic rants using google, yahoo, it does not matter.

But you didn't. You went to C4L (i.e. Campaign for Liberty, the official Ron Paul campaign website) and other sites affiliated with Ron Paul. After finding anti-semitic rants and forums on those sites you then disparage the small government, pro-liberty, anti-interventionist wing of the Republican party.

I say disparage. "Oldguy" speaks of nuts. "Beth" speaks of Paultards (and more nuts). Another fellow speaks of a cult. (NOTE: Dan refers here to reader comments to the post.)

I don't know if this means much to you but you are engaging in a rhetorical fallacy given the rather over-the-top name of "Affirming the Consequent". The attempt to smear politicians using guilt-by-association with unattractive supporters is old. I discuss it a bit in a (too) longish blog of my own - see http://web.me.com/dhansen/Site/Blog/Entries/2009/7/5_Poor_Logic_in_Politics_(I).html

Ron Paul is no anti-semite. Several core economists of the movement were and are Jewish (Rothbard, von Mises, Block). And you will find plenty of people in the community that find the message of individual freedom and small government to be very compelling.

"Oldguy" basically asks - "Why does Ron Paul attract these types?". The answer is simple - they find something attractive in the message. For example, they may like the anti-Fed message.

Regardless, Paul's reason for disliking the Fed is based solely on reasons deriving from his views on monetary policy and his political philosophy.

Why do your anti-semites dislike the Fed? You've been spending some quality time reading (and cutting and pasting) their comments. I think you can figure it out. It doesn't have much to do monetary policy, does it?

So they may support him - but for their own reasons that generally have nothing to do with the movement as a whole.

Presuming that you are trying to have a serious discussion of the small government wing of the Republican party then you do Dr. Paul and yourself a disservice by engaging in this sort of poor logic. It turns your article into a simple ad hominem hit piece.

Now, if that's actually your intent then I've wasted my time. Hopefully not. Hopefully you'll take a look at what the political movement is all and see if there is some common ground that we can work together towards. Say, getting the Fed transparency bill passed.

Dan:

Contrary to what you write, I did not "disparage the small government, pro-liberty, anti-interventionist wing of the Republican party". In fact, I never mentioned those issues at all. I looked at two Ron Paul websites, neither one of them "open political forums" as you assert. Both are moderated by administrators who can approve or disapprove content as they decide to. Those who run the two Ron Paul websites which I looked at have the ability to delete material they deem inappropriate. What I found there was extremely troubling.

As you must be aware as a Campaign for Liberty blogger yourself, registering to post at the blog requires providing your name, address, phone number, and a working email address. (Read here.) The Ron Paul Forums registration is a bit more basic, but does require revealing a working email address. (Read here.) Those who abuse the forum can be readily identified and their accounts suspended. Website administrators also have the power to delete individual blog posts and comments on both websites.

The Ron Paul Campaign for Liberty bloggers I wrote about have, for the most part, been writing for the website for years, some with hundreds or even thousands of contributions, much of it of a similar ilk to that which I wrote about. The Ron Paul Forums website is set up for briefer comments with a more conversational tone. The troublesome material I found there was similarly put there by long-time "senior member" users, and was frequently supported by other Ron Paul in the subsequent give and take. Those who run both the blog and forum have had more than an ample opportunity to deal with this matter appropriately.

Your comment that it is very easy to find the sort of anti-Semitic hate speech and conspiracy theory I found on the Ron Paul website elsewhere on the internet is undoubtedly true. Have you asked yourself what sort of website publishes that sort of stuff? It is very largely published by extremist groups and individuals. When a mainstream politician (to the extent Ron Paul is that) publishes this stuff, it is very obviously noteworthy. At the very least, it calls into question just how mainstream he is.

The obvious question (the one you're avoiding) is: why does the Ron Paul campaign provide a forum for hate speech? Your argument that these are completely open forums without any limitations on content is demonstrably false. While the websites include hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pages of hate speech and conspiracy theory, you would be hard pressed to find that volume of material advocating positions in opposition to Ron Paul -- for example, supporting President Obama. I'm not advocating that the Ron Paul campaign should have to publish such material, only demonstrating that they do limit what is said on their websites. They choose to allow the sort of hate speech I found -- massive amounts of it. Moreover, when compared to some real political issues I searched for comparison's sake, I found much more concern with terms such as "Illuminati" and "Rothschild". How do you explain this focus?

Why do you think the campaign attracts those who believe in these conspiracy theories? Your argument implies that any blog or internet forum would attract a similar pool of racist conspiracy nuts, but I don't believe that to be true. These people are not trolls or agents provocateur, writing offensive material to hurt Ron Paul. They are Ron Paul supporters with very troubling beliefs.

Your argument that the candidate cannot be judged by his supporters is partially true, but has limits. It was raised during the Republican primaries after I found that one of the people on Ron Paul's slate of delegate candidates in Tennessee was a neo-Nazi and Klan leader named Will Williams (aka "White Will"). This guy also served as the county organizer for the Paul campaign in his home county and organized several internet meetups on his behalf. Williams actually used his position in the Paul campaign to attempt to spread his racist beliefs. Ron Paul supporters claimed that Paul had no power over who ran as a delegate on his behalf. Sadly for that argument, the law in Tennessee requires presidential candidates to sign a statement approving of these delegates, so Ron Paul did have a say. Now you claim that Ron Paul has no say over what he publishes on the internet. That argument is also false. If he wants to stop this, he can.

When Ron Paul was found to have published for many years a newsletter with racist content, he first defended that material, then denied any knowledge it in spite of the fact that the columns were signed by him, published in the "Ron Paul Newsletter" and even referred to details of his personal life. (Read here and here and here.) That was taking plausible deniability into the realm of the implausible. Do you believe that the same elves who wrote the parts of his columns he now disavows also administer his websites? Would you argue that, just as a candidate can't be held responsible for his supporters, he can't be held responsible for columns written, signed and/or published by him, or for the material published on his websites? Why do you want to hold your candidate to this absurdly low standard?

If a candidate maintains websites with the massive quantity of offensive content of the two in question, this really does say something about who he is and what his candidacy means. Ron Paul supporters need to confront these issues head on and stop using the sort of obfuscations you resort to, Dan.

Political leaders have some very basic responsibilities, one of which is not to promote hate and conspiracy theory. Ron Paul has failed this very basic test.

A Note About the "Rothbard Defense"

One last thing: let me address the "Rothbard Defense". That's what I call Ron Paul's usual response to charges of anti-Semitism. Paul says (as you did) that his mentor Murray Rothbard was Jewish and that, therefor, Paul can't be anti-Semitic. The logical fallacy of this defense should be very apparent to a logical fallacy debunker like you, Dan. To those naive enough to take this defense at face value, and to those with no knowledge of Rothbard's views, this defense may be convincing; however, Murray Rothbard was an advocate of extreme and very troubling views concerning Jews and other minorities. He started young, as a supporter of Strom Thurmond's run for president on a segregationist platform in 1948. (Read here.) Later in his career, Rothbard advocated that the Libertarians work with the racist far-right including David Duke, leader of the Klan and American neo-Nazis, and wrote approvingly of Duke's runs for offfice in Louisiana. (Read here and here.) Rothbard was a strong long-time proponent of the views of Harry Elmer Barnes, the original Holocaust denier and Pearl Harbor conspiracy theorist. (I also discovered, in one of his Barnes columns, that Rothbard approvingly quotes the fascist author F. J. P. Veale's Advance to Barbarism, a book written in opposition to the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. Read here.) Rothbard published columns claiming that FDR allowed Pearl Harbor to be bombed because he and the "interventionists" in his administration wanted the U.S. to be forced to enter the war. Rothbard saw this as part of a Roosevelt plan to expand the federal government. He was also a supporter of Charles Lindbergh's isolationism. (Read here.) And here's a Rothbard obit by the anti-Semitic author Mark Weber.

The fact that Rothbard was of Jewish background hardly makes Ron Paul's friendship with him evidence of friendship with Jews. There's every evidence that Rothbard was no friend of the Jews himself. The fact that Ron Paul has to resort to citing his association with Rothbard to prove his friendship with the Jewish people really says a lot, doesn't it?

[NOTE: For those who want to read it, the Ron Paul Campaign for Liberty webpage of Dan Hansen, author of the comment this post replied to, is available here. It features a cartoon comparing Republican Senator Lindsay Graham to Mao. I thank Dan for his comment and hope he continues reading and commenting here.]

UPDATE: While this was being written, I received a comment from a person calling himself "Join the Ron Paul Revolution". JTRPR writes that he opposes food having kosher certification because this is a tax on gentiles. He also writes that I am lumping together legitimate criticism of Israel with bigotry to disparage Israel's critics. The fact that JTRPR has taken an anti-Semitic position himself really makes my point, doesn't it? It's not me who is lumping anti-Semitic and anti-Israel statements together; it is he and the other Ron Paul supporters I quoted in the posts. (Read here and here.)

All You Fascists Bound To Lose

Woody Guthrie

Ron Paul forum anti-Semitism

I recently reported on the promotion of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on the official website maintained by successor organization to Ron Paul's 2008 presidential campaign. This organization, called the Campaign for Liberty (or "C4L") has on its website literally hundreds of webpages devoted to "Illuminati", Rothschilds, Khazars and other similar issues of burning importance. You can read that article here.

I turned over a similar rock called the Liberty Forest which is the Ron Paul campaign's official internet forum. Here's some of what I found scurrying underneath.

It seems sane enough to look at the homepage. The logo reads LIBERTY FOREST: RON PAUL FORUMS and includes a picture of a small tree and a graffiti-like banner reading "Audit the Fed!" Let's go inside.

Here's a page from a forum thread called "Mobilizing the Christians!" Let's check it out. It includes a post by a Ron Paul supporter called "EastWindRain", a "Senior Member" of the forum with 365 posts there. On this page, he has a lengthy post featuring an image of Conde McGinley's American fascist newspaper "Common Sense" with the banner headline "SO CALLED "JEWS" COINED THE WORD "ANTI-SEMITISM" AS A SMEAR-WORD; AS A SMOKE SCREEN FOR COMMUNISM!" (See p. 10 of this pdf for background on "Common Sense".) This is followed by images of George W. Bush near an Israeli flag, and Condoleeza Rice on the dais of an AIPAC convention. These images are followed by a sequence of eight fraudulent quotes from the Talmud, including the following:

"Sanhedrin 55b. A Jew may marry a three year old girl (specifically, three years "and a day" old).

"Sanhedrin 54b. A Jew may have sex with a child as long as the child is less than nine years old.

"Kethuboth 11b. When a grown-up man has intercourse with a little girl it is nothing."

These absurd pseudo-quotes are followed by the following paragraph:

"Jews are not Semitic people, bur are imposter's, (who have no right to the holy land) who have committed Identity Theft on a MASSIVE Scale, and are using the Christian Religion to make the gullible Christians of the world believe that the creation of Israel is biblical prophesy coming true. It is all an evil plot to destroy Western Civilization and bring it under Talmudic control and law. (Not Biblical law. No more 10 commandments or Christmas as they are "Offensive" to Zionists.) Wake up people and defend your own heritage and freedoms before we are hauled off to the Gulags or death camps (Like they did to Russia) which have already built in America by FEMA!" (sic)

Embedded in this epic post are several YouTube videos blaming "Zionists" for starting World Wars I and II as part of a conspiracy to take over the world. That's about 50 minutes of viewing pleasure for the bigoted conspiracy lunatic. The videos have the title "Benjamin Freedman Speaks: A Jewish Defector Warns America". This is followed by 16 (!) YouTube videos about "Illuminati" and the Council on Foreign Relations. All of these have been marked by YouTube as "removed due to terms of use violations", which most likely means that someone complained that they're hate speech.

This is followed by links to two Google videos claiming that anti-hate speech laws would make Christianity illegal, a video called "Deir Yassin Remembered", and a video (by Holocaust-denier Fredrick Toben of the Australia's Adelaide Institute) called "Kosher Food Tax Scam". The latter propagandizes for gentiles to oppose products being certified kosher because this somehow imposes a "Jewish tax on food". This is followed by more phony quotes from the Talmud and a map of "Khazaria" featuring a large Star of David. Then this:

"The bottom line is the people who currently call themselves Ashkenazi Jews are not descended from Abraham. They are imposter's who have committed identity theft. They are Mongolian/Turks who simply converted to Judaism around 840 AD. They have no legitimate claim to the holy land and they HATE Christianity. Any Christian who supports the terrorist state of fake Israel (not the real Israel spoken of in the bible) is a brainwashed fool lead astray by their pastors who sold out to the Zionists by taking a pay off called the 501c3 Tax Exempt status form. Which allows the church to keep the money collected tax free if they preach only certain sermons. Every Christian should be flipping mad and should now have a desire to get to the bottom of Zionism. And if it is found that Zionism runs contrary to Christianity, then Zionism should be removed from Christian society permanently. We live in a Christian nation. Screw all people, in North America, who think Christmas is "Offensive". Remember "Thou Shalt have no other God's before me". Exodus 20:3

"Ron Paul is the only Presidential Candidate who win end all this garbage and treason" (sic)

EastWindRain signs all his posts with the following:

"Watch "Loss Of Liberty" and learn how 34 Americans were murdered...

Support www.obamacrimes.com; sign the Petition to make Obama show his original Birth Certificate."

Here's another EastWindRain post. It reads:

"The Ron Paul movement has to somehow open its self up to the world. There are many Patriots who live outside the U.S. who want to donate, for they have learned the truth about Zionism and Communism. They have learned how the Federal Reserve works, the USS Liberty Attack, the bombing of Dresden, the Rothschild banking conspiracy, the 9/11 attacks, the fake war on Terror, No more wars for Israel, the evilness of the UN which is controlled by the Zionists etc. Zionism Controls America and the West. Basically the whole world. Globalism, which is under the control of Zionism is destroying the sovereignty of the nations of the world. The Patriots of the world are working towards the destruction of Zionism. Once America is freed other nations will follow. The world must unite to destroy the evils of Zionism.

Learn about the Kosher food tax, the bombing of the King David Hotel, the Lavon Affair, The Talmud, Johnathon Pollard who is a Zionist spy who got caught and is now in prison. I could go on and on. People we have been suckered into believing the lies of the Zionist propaganda television machine. Long live Freedom and long live Freedom of Speech. Research these topics and more, while the Internet is still free. Remember they are trying to shut down the Internet because it is exposing THEIR evils of the past. The Zionists are caught and they know it. This is why they are now passing HATE LAWS to shut the Internet up, so people will remain ignorant and in the dark. If we remain in the dark, we will never wake up, and we will never be able to free ourselves from THEIR evil power structure that they have built for themselves. It is time for the people to get educated and fight back. Smashing the evils of Zionism into oblivion. We are fighting the same enemies that the Founding Fathers fought back in 1776. The evil Rothschild banking cartel and their affiliate members. "The answer to 1984 is 1776". But first we need to educate the masses. Learn as much as you can, as fast as you can. Remember the clock is ticking."

He follows this with:

"The people of the world want to donate to a hero who will fight the evil Zionist New World Order. Ron Paul is that hero. "

Another Ron Paul supporter replies:

"I don't think repeating "evil Zionist New World Order" is doing any good. It scares people off really. induce it with arguments backed by checked facts. Use the same tactic as Ron Paul. Don't call them names."

Here, a forum member called Ricky J (also a Senior Member of the forum with 1,897 posts) writes that:

"If Jews only bought form (sic) Jews they would be in big trouble. I buy from everyone, except Jews. I can't support people that go by the Talmud in any way."

Here is a chapter-long quote from a book called "Descent into Slavery" by Des Grifin. The chapter is called "The House of Rothschild" and includes the following paragraph:

"On September 11th the attack on the World Trade Center is orchestrated by Britain, America and Israel under the orders of the Rothschilds as a pretext for removing the liberty of people worldwide in exchange for security, just as they did with the Reichstag fire in Germany where the citizens were lied to in order to give up liberty for security. They also will use the attacks to gain control of the few nations in the world who don#65533;t allow Rothschild central banks and so less than one month after these attacks, US forces attack Afghanistan, one of only 7 nations in the world who don't have a Rothschild controlled central bank. The Labour Party leader and likely next Prime Minister of the UK is Tony Blair, a Bilderberger and Elite "chosen one". Blair attended the 1993 Bilderberg meeting in Greece with his "opponent" Kenneth Clarke. During his 1996 visit to the United States, Blair met a series of Elite frontmen, including Bill Clinton, Henry Kissinger, Alan Greenspan, head of the Federal Reserve and George Soros, the global financial manipulator who operates under orders from the House of Rothschild. All of them are Bilderbergers.

"Behind the creation of the European Union is the Bilderberg Group, the deeply secretive cartel of leading bankers, heads of transnational corporations, politicians, academics and "opinion formers", media bosses and military chiefs. The Bilderberg Group is part of a network including the Royal Institute of International Affairs (UK), the Council on Foreign Relations (USA) and the Trilateral Commission (USA, Europe, Japan). All work to the same agenda. The European Union we see today has been designed from the very beginning by those who control the Bilderberg Group - the House of Rothschild, the Rockefellers, and the "blue blood" families (tribes) of Europe. The transformation of Europe into a massive centralised dictatorship is only a strand of the global web of deceit I detail in 'And The Truth Shall Set You Free' , but it is a key part of the New World Order agenda for centralised control of the planet. The Elite who dominate the global financial and political systems are seeking to impose a world government, central bank and currency which would oversee and dictate the policies of three groupings of superstates. A small number of extremely wealthy people, descendants of wealthy families in Europe and the U.S, own a major part of the material wealth of the world. This power is concentrated in London which is the centre of the world banking system. The control they exercise is kept within the original families and passed down from generation to generation. They are highly organised, operating in secret through a web of 'private' organisations."

The author apparently believes that grammar and punctuation are instruments of the global Rothschild Bilderberg conspiracy.

The post ends with the question

"How are all of the following individuals and organizations connected? Freemasonry, The Federal Reserve, The Rothschild's, The Rockefeller's, The Carnegies, The Council On Foreign Relations, The United Nations, the Bilderbergers, The Club of Rome, The Trilateral Commission, Lucis Trust,The World Constitution and Parliament Association, Ted Turner, the Jesuits, and the Illuminati."

I don't have the answer to that question, and I wasn't able to find it on the Ron Paul Forum. I did find the text of ... "BENJAMIN FREEDMAN SPEAKS: A JEWISH DEFECTOR WARNS AMERICA", still blaming "Zionists" for World Wars I and II and warning of the Jewish-Bolshevik takeover of the U.S. This thing is pretty popular here. Here's a quote from the last paragraph of the speech:

"Do you know what Jews do on the Day of Atonement, that you think is so sacred to them? I was one of them. This is not hearsay. I'm not here to be a rabble-rouser. I'm here to give you facts. When, on the Day of Atonement, you walk into a synagogue, you stand up for the very first prayer that you recite. It is the only prayer for which you stand. You repeat three times a short prayer called the Kol Nidre. In that prayer, you enter into an agreement with God Almighty that any oath, vow, or pledge that you may make during the next twelve months shall be null and void. The oath shall not be an oath; the vow shall not be a vow; the pledge shall not be a pledge. They shall have no force or effect. And further, the Talmud teaches that whenever you take an oath, vow, or pledge, you are to remember the Kol Nidre prayer that you recited on the Day of Atonement, and you are exempted from fulfilling them. How much can you depend on their loyalty? You can depend upon their loyalty as much as the Germans depended upon it in 1916. We are going to suffer the same fate as Germany suffered, and for the same reason."

After stumbling across Benjamin Freedman's speech in the two instances I just quoted, I decided to search the Ron Paul Forum for the term "Benjamin Freedman". It got 31 hits. (Read here.) Let's compare that to a real issue which is currently being debated. Choose one at random, just to compare. Let's say the "Employee Free Choice Act". That search term gets only 24 hits on the Ron Paul Forum. (Read here.)

Thanks Ron Paul! What other presidential candidate would provide a forum where conspiracy nuts can post anti-Semitic hate literature?

Oh what you can learn on the Ron Paul website

The Ron Paul presidential campaign organization has changed its name to the Campaign for Liberty. They seem to be campaigning for the liberty to demonstrate their insanity. Here are some examples of what you can learn on the Campaign for Liberty website.

Here's a page called The History of Satanic World Banking. It says

"The following history of Satanic World Banking leaves out the current Tax Free Trust Fund Contributers of the Lucis Trust aka The Lucifer Trust that educates worldwide on how to be the best Luciferian one can be . . . if by best, we mean worst, that is . . .

"The Lucifer Trust is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and recognized by the Tri-Lateral Commission as well as the United Nations . . .

"Additionally, here is a good site.

"I want to start by showing you how much influence this family has upon the majority of the worlds banks, and thus the world's finace system. Here is info as taken from their own website;

"Rothschild has been at the centre of the world's financial markets for over 200 years. Today, it provides Investment Banking, Corporate Banking and Private Banking & Trust services to governments, corporations and individuals worldwide. It is organised globally so that clients can obtain the advice and services they require wherever it suits them. Through 49 offices in 34 countries, from the Americas through Europe to Australia, clients can access Rothschild ideas and expertise. It ranks amongst the world's largest privately-owned banks.

--------------------------

"Here is just a brief history of how this satanic family originated and how they were the major force behind the design of the Illuminati.

--------------------------

"1743: Mayer Amschel Bauer was born in Frankfurt, Germany, he is the son of Moses Amschel Bauer, a money lender (banker) and the owner of a counting house.

"Moses Amschel Bauer had a red sign above the entrance door to his counting house. This sign was a red hexagram (which geometrically and numerically translated into the number 666) which under Rothschild instruction will end up on the Israeli flag some two centuries later.

"1753: Gutle Schnaper, an Ashkenazi Jew (future wife of Mayer Amschel Bauer), born to respected merchant, Wolf Salomon Schnaper.

"1760: During this decade Mayer Amschel Bauer works for a bank owned by the Oppenheimers' in Hanover, Germany. He is highly successful and becomes a junior partner. Whilst working at the bank he becomes acquainted with General von Estorff.

"Following his father's death, Bauer returns to Frankfurt to take over his father's business. Bauer recognises the significance of the red hexagram and changes his name from Bauer to Rothschild, after the red hexagram or sign signifying 666 hanging over the entrance door ("Rot," is German for, "Red," "Schild," is German for, "Sign".

"Now Mayer Amschel Rothschild, he discovers that General von Estorff is now attached to the court of Prince William IX of Hesse-Hanau, one of the richest royal houses in Europe, which gained its' wealth by the hiring out of Hessian soldiers to foreign countries for vast profits (a practice that continues today in the form of exporting, "peacekeeping," troops throughout the world).

"He therefore makes the General's re-acquaintance on the pretext of selling him valuable coins and trinkets at discounted prices. As he plans, Rothschild is subsequently introduced to Prince William himself who is more than pleased with discounted prices he charges for his rare coins and trinkets, and Rothschild offers him a bonus for any other business the Prince can direct his way.

"Rothschild subsequently becomes close associates with Prince William, and ends up doing business with him and members of the court. He soon discovers that loaning money to governments and royalty is more profitable than loaning to individuals, as the loans are bigger and are secured by the nation's taxes.

"1770: Mayer Amschel Rothschild draws up plans for the creation of the Illuminati and entrusts Adam Weishaupt, a Crypto-Jew who was outwardly Roman Catholic, with its organization and development. The Illuminati is to be based upon the teachings of the Talmud, which is in turn, the teachings of Rabbinical Jews. It was to be called the Illuminati as this is a Luciferian term which means, keepers of the light.

"1776: Adam Weishaupt officially completes his organisation of the Illuminati on May 1 of this year. The purpose of the Illuminati is to divide the goyim (all non-Jews) through political, economic, social, and religious means. The opposing sides were to be armed and incidents were to be provided in order for them to: fight amongst themselves; destroy national governments; destroy religious institutions; and eventually destroy each other.

"Weishaupt soon infiltrates the Continental Order of Freemasons with this Illuminati doctrine and establishes lodges of the Grand Orient to be their secret headquarters. This was all under the orders and finance of Mayer Amschel Rothschild and the concept has spread and is followed within Masonic Lodges worldwide to the present day.

"There is a website that has information on angels, fallen angels, ufos, secret groups, aliens, alien abductions, NWO, one world government, and much more, the website is called: The Great Deception, and can be found at this url: http://www.great-deception.com

"By Robert W. Benjamin

"You may publish this article in your ezine, newsletter, or on your web site as long as it is reprinted in its entirety and without modification except for formatting needs or grammar corrections.

----------------------------------------------------

"Robert W. Benjamin has been in the software business on the internet since 2001, and has been producing low-cost and free software for numerous years. He first released public domain products on the AMIGA and C64 computer systems in the late 1970's-80's. He as authored a book called: Unknown Creatures - Over 50 of the most documented creatures of Cryptozoology, and he has written several reports and articles related to the Biblical end times, and numerous other sujects.

"Unknown Creatures"

Here's something on the website called The Bolshevik-Zionist Axis. It's written by a certifiable conspiracy nut called Dr. Peter David Beter. It says

"Both Bolshevism and the political force known as Zionism have common roots which are not widely known. Both were created by the Rothschild interests, whose support was also responsible for the meteoric rise to riches of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., a century ago. Bolshevism and Zionism also have common historical roots in the so-called "Kingdom of the Jews" of a thousand years ago. This kingdom was situated in what is now southern Russia, between the Black and Caspian Seas. It consisted of a people known as the Khazars of a Mongol-Turkic origin whose leader officially adopted Judaism as the state religion. This was done as a political ploy to enable Khazaria to maintain its political independence of two powerful neighbors. These were the super-powers of that day: the Moslem empire of the Caliphs to the South and the Christian empire of Byzantium to the west.

"Prior to the official adoption of Judaism, the Khazars were a brutal and warlike people. This did not change when they took upon themselves the politically inspired title of "Jews." The Khazar empire extended far northward into what, under Christian Prince Vladimir, became known as Russia. The Khazar empire even included the ancient Russian city of Kiev, where Vladimir ruled.

"Khazar rule was brutal and oppressive, without any of the compensating advantages offered by other empires, such as protection against outside powers or improved civilization. Finally the Christian forces of Prince Vladimir's Russia and Byzantium combined to attack the Khazar "Kingdom of the Jews", so-called, and utterly destroy it. The Khazar "Jews" were driven out of their homeland between the seas, many of them into eastern Europe. There they mingled to some extent with Jews of the diaspora from Palestine, but they carried with them a peculiar heritage. It was a heritage of bitter hatred for Christianity in general and for Russian Christians in particular.

"Down through the centuries, the "Khazar Jew" dream of regaining their lost empire has been passed down from generation to generation. This dream has developed into two branches. One branch emphasizes restoration of power over Russia, and crystallized into Bolshevism. The other branch, emphasizing the old, falsely religious "Kingdom of the Jews" concept, emerged as the political force known as Zionism. Both are aimed at world power. Both are equally ruthless, devoid of regard for human life. They differ only in geographic emphasis and in some tactics. With their common roots and common basic objectives, the Bolsheviks and Zionists work together hand in glove.

"When Bolshevism was injected into Christian Russia in 1917, it was done with the help of the Rockefeller Cartel. From that time onward there was a covert alliance between those who controlled American policies behind the scenes (the Rockefeller Cartel) and those who ran the Soviet Union (the Bolsheviks). The Rockefeller Standard Oil interests were given control over marketing of the oil from the giant Russian Baku oil fields in 1926. Over the years, the Rockefeller Cartel saw to it that the Bolshevik regime in Russia was propped up in every way necessary to keep it in power.

"While the United States and the Soviet Union pretended to be at odds, they actually were involved in a pincers movement to gobble up the entire world. The falsified animosity between Washington and Moscow was staged in order to polarize the world and cause nations to form up into two camps dominated by the two super-powers. Those who chose to remain independent of both the United States and the Soviet Union--the so-called "Third World"--were targeted for brushfire wars and revolutions to bring them to heel, one by one. Meanwhile the long-term goal was--in the words of a secret White House directive--"to so alter life in the United States that it can be comfortably merged with life in the Soviet Union." In this way, an all-powerful "one world" government would ultimately be achieved. That was to be the fulfillment of a "commitment" established early in the Twentieth Century by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and allied foundations in the Rockefeller orbit.

"In order to "merge" American life into the pattern of Soviet life under the Bolsheviks, it was clear that the quality of American life would have to be lowered a great deal. It required subtle movement of the American political system in the direction of dictatorship. It required weakening of America's financial and monetary system. And to bring about the radical changes desired, it meant wars with the United States carefully maneuvered into a losing position. America's first no-win war was the Korean War. A decade later, America became embroiled in the losing Vietnam War, which was artificially dragged out with all possibilities for military victory vetoed by the White House.

"The final war was to be a carefully programmed "Nuclear War I", fought primarily on American soil, between the United States and the Soviet Union. Plans called for it to erupt in the late 1970's, but developments in Russia changed that. The Bolsheviks who had run the Kremlin since 1917 were the targets of a decades-long overthrow campaign by a tough sect of native Russian Christians. Their power had begun to outweigh that of the Bolsheviks in certain areas starting in 1953, when Stalin died. This was the reason for Nikita Khruschev's famous "de-Stalinization" campaign afterward. In the mid-1970's this anti-Bolshevik sect finally reached such a level of power that they completely overthrew and expelled the remaining Bolsheviks in the Kremlin. There followed a heavy wave of expulsions of Bolsheviks from positions of power in Russia, which was depicted in the Western press as emigration.

"As the Bolsheviks were losing their grip on Russia, so-called detente fell on hard times. The Rockefeller-Soviet alliance had been based on Bolshevik control on the Soviet side, and when that was terminated, so was the secret alliance. The alliance was fractured by the still-secret Underwater Missile Crisis of 1976; a year later it was broken completely by the equally secret Battle of the Harvest Moon in space.

"At that point the four Rockefeller brothers made a fatal mistake. Since their former secret allies in the Soviet Union had been the Bolsheviks, they welcomed the expelled Bolsheviks from Russia into positions of power here in the United States. They reasoned that the expelled Bolsheviks would know the weak spots of the upstart new group who had taken over the Kremlin and could help the Rockefeller Cartel deal with them.

"What the Rockefeller brothers forgot is that the Bolsheviks are incapable of sharing power with anyone. Worse yet, the Bolsheviks are state socialists, who seek to concentrate all power into the hands of a few (themselves) by way of government. The Rockefeller Cartel, by contrast, represents corporate socialism--the concentration of power into the hands of a few by way of corporations, with minimum governmental interference. Both seek the same goal, but by means which are diametrically opposed. They cannot coexist within the same society.

"The Bolsheviks no sooner acquired positions of power here in the United States than they began using it to topple the four Rockefeller brothers. By mid-1978, Bolshevik influence within the Pentagon was causing a radical shift of American strategic policy onto a first-strike nuclear posture. Meanwhile in July 1978, the death of John D. Rockefeller, 3rd, took place, weakening what had been the four-brother unit. In November 1978 the Guyana Massacre took place, as part of a military operation masterminded by the Pentagon Bolsheviks and with crucial participation by Israeli commandoes (sic). Then in January 1979, the all-out Bolshevik grab for power began with the murder of Nelson Rockefeller.

"During the first few months of 1979, Rockefeller power over the United States Government was shattered by the Bolsheviks here. However, the Bolsheviks were stopped short of complete success in their takeover bid by the intervention of Russia's KGB. The new Kremlin rulers knew that a complete takeover by the Bolsheviks here would lead quickly to nuclear war, and they acted to prevent it. Even so, Bolshevik control over the Pentagon has been strong ever since early 1979, onward through the end of the AUDIO LETTER series in late 1982.

"A fierce power struggle is underway within the United States Government between the now entrenched Bolsheviks and the Rockefeller Cartel, which is trying to take back its former power. In addition, a limited new quid pro quo against the Bolsheviks was established by the Rockefeller Cartel and the New Kremlin early in 1982. The Cartel and the Kremlin still have some accounts to settle with each other, but both are deadly enemies of the Bolsheviks. To destroy them, they have agreed to work together in certain ways.

"The Bolsheviks here in the United States have as a major goal a deliberate nuclear war by which to smash the Russia which overthrew them. As an avenue toward that war, the Middle East is critical. In that area, the Bolsheviks here are relying upon their close allies, the Zionists, to pave the way for war.

"Just as most Americans are unaware of the Bolshevized nature of their government, most Israeli citizens are unaware of the true goals of their Zionist government. Americans and Israelis alike scratch their heads with worry and puzzlement over actions of their respective governments. While constantly talking peace, both are systematically increasing the dangers of war.

"The radical Zionist regime in power in Israel from 1977 onward is headed by men who were terrorists in the 1940's. Today, as heads of the world's third most powerful military power, they continue to practice terrorism but on a grander scale. Theirs is a doctrine of military terrorism, designed to lead deliberately to new and wider conflicts as the map of Israel grows steadily. The country which calls itself "Israel" today bears little resemblance to the promises of the small but vocal Zionist minority who brought about the Balfour Declaration in 1917. The peaceful, tranquil haven for oppressed Jews does not exist. Instead, the dire warnings published in 1919 by a galaxy of prominent anti-Zionist American Jews have been fulfilled in the bloody history of Zionist Israel."

Here's a page by a kid in Nevada who calls himself "illuminati hater". He says

"I became involved with Ron Paul and his Revolution because just like everyone here, I sense the coming of a dark age in America. I am here because I want to help Dr. Paul, and the rest of C4L wake up America, and help lead the Revolution in bringing government back to it's constitutional limitations. Besides the R3VOLUTION, my other passions include videogames, anime, movies, reading, music, and LOST."

Maybe he's been reading a piece by the prolific hate propagandist Henry Makow: "Was Hitler was an Illuminati agent?". Its also on the Ron Paul Campaign for Liberty website. (Read here.) Of course he could be reading any of the 582 webpages on the website devoted to the subject of the "Illuminati". (Read here.) It appears that, in the world of the ronpaulians, conspiracy theories involving Illuminati qualify as a major political issue.

Here's a column published on the Ron Paul website which concerns the Rothschilds' secret control over the United States. It claims that the Rothschilds assassinate anyone who tries to interfere with their nefarious agenda, including Presidents Lincoln, Garfield and Kennedy. It's only one of the 97 webpages concerning the Rothschilds currently available on the website. (Read here.)

You can also find advocates of the lunatic "sovereign citizen" movement, which asserts that the government has no legal authority over them. (Read here for an example on the Ron Paul website. Find background here and here.) This movement is behind a number of domestic terrorist incidents.

Also on the Ron Paul website, you can find this column claiming that "Zionists" were behind 9/11. It cites as its main source a Holocaust denying con artist by the name of Colonel Donn de Grand Pre. The colonel claimed at various times to be "one of the chief arms negotiators for both secretaries of defense, Bob McNamara and Mel Laird" (here), and a personal friend of the Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Generals Shelton and Pace. Only problem is that Shelton and Pace never heard of the guy. (Read here.) This bigoted colonel with the phony resume was published by the neo-Nazi Willis Carto's publishing houses American Free Press/Barnes Review. (Read here and here and here.)

The Ron Paul website also seems to like the colonel. A column on the Paul websites quotes a Donn de Grand Pre trilogy of books called "Barbarians Inside the Gates". (Read here.) The column says, in part:

"Representative Louis T. McFadden in a May 2, 1934 radio address stated: It would be a monstrous mistake for any intelligent citizen of whatever nation to close his eyes to the evident fact that for nigh sixty years, the Jews have surely and rapidly though almost invisibly climbed to the heights of government wherefrom the masses are ruled. Politically, financially and economically they have seized the reigns of governments of all nations and their invasion in the realms of social, educational and religious fields not less important.

"Congressman McFadden, who was Chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee, knew the power that the Jews wielded and the calamities that they caused. Just as the PROTOCOLS provided, the Talmudic Jews controlled the money supply through a central bank (The Federal Reserve Bank). Congressman McFadden sated: "It [the depression] was not accidental. It was a carefully contrived occurrence....The international bankers sought to bring about a condition of despair here so that they might emerge as the rulers of us all." ...The end result, if the Insiders have their way, will be the dream of Montagu Norman of the Bank of England 'that the Hegemony of World Finance should reign supreme over everyone, everywhere, as one whole super-national control mechanism.'...

"In essence, the international Jewish money power used corrupt politicians to push through the Federal Reserve Act, which gave them a monopoly to print the money of the nation."

Hey! Thanks Ron Paul for providing a forum for complete lunatics to promote anti-Semitic conspiracy theories! God forbid that you and your John Birch buddies ever con the American public into taking this kind of BS seriously.

Buchanan pal already back to stupid bigot tricks

James Edward's reformation didn't last long. He claimed that his recent bigoted posts were due to job-related stress. He just couldn't handle seeing sexually suggestive commercials. That's what made him rave like a Nazi. (Read here.)

He seems to have returned to normal (for him) rather quickly. He's already written (here) that

"Jonathan Klein, the Jewish president of CNN/US, has responded to the Jewish president of the SPLC’s demand that Lou Dobbs be fired, by not so subtly ordering Dobbs and his staff to quit talking about Obama’s birth certificate, because “the story is dead”."

He's also referred (here) to the SPLC as the "Semitic Poofter Libel Crew".

I wonder if Lou Dobbs, who has been complaining on the air that he is the victim of the "left-wing media", will appreciate the support of the David Duke demographic. I suspect that this will not help his case.

UPDATE (10/2/2009): This post has received more nuisance comments than any I have ever posted. On a daily basis, it gets spammed with obscene comments drawn from Japanese porn websites. (I moderate the comments on this blog, so you never see this stuff.)

I had no idea that a) racists have so much free time on their hands and b) that they like Japanese porn websites. Who knew?

Buchanan's friend the Jew-hater now claims to be a "liberal" hater

Ever wonder what Pat Buchanan's friends say about Jews in private? No need to wonder. Here's what Buchanan friend James Edwards says in public:

"Vile Jew" here.

"Classic piece of Jewish garbage" here.

On Sarah Palin: "great for Jews and Mexican, horrible for white folks" (Read here.)

"Rep. Jane Harman: another Jewish traitor for Israel". (Read here.)

The Holocaust Museum shooting and Dr. Tiller assassination were only covered by the media because "a white man, a right-winger, did it". (Read here.)

"Jews and their lackeys (are) demanding that the Pope do something about a couple priests who’ve committed the blasphemous sin of questioning the MSM (mainstream media) spin on World War 2" (i.e. that the Holocaust occurred). (Read here.)

"Jews and free speech don't mix". (Read here.)

"Jewish homosexual to head Chicago Public Schools". (Read here.)

Jews are responsible for the gay rights movement (which he objects to, of course). (Read here.)

Holocaust denier David Irving is a "survivor of the Jewish holocaust against free speech". (Read here.)

KKK and neo-Nazi leader David Duke is "the most outspoken voice for white Americans, (who was) arrested (in Prague) for saying things Jews don't approve of." (Read here.)

Of course, James Edwards has been writing this way for years, so these comments don't come as a surprise. What comes as a surprise is this, posted on his website yesterday:

"Sometimes when I run across certain stories, and I blog about them, I let my emotions get the best of me, and in my anger I use phrases and words I later regret. That’s happened a lot lately, so I've gone through and edited some recent posts. New readers shouldn't get the wrong idea from a couple of posts out of over a thousand…stick around, check the site out, and give the blog and radio show a chance."

For some reason, Edwards now claims to have seen the light. He's gone back to edit two recent posts to change references to "Jews" to "liberals". That "vile Jew" referred to above became a "liberal". Another post titled Why are Jews despised all over the world? was edited to read Why are liberals despised all over the world? . The lead of the latter article originally read "To Jewish advertising agencies, white women are nothing but whores." Now it reads "To liberal advertising agencies, white women are nothing but whores."


Edwards forgot, however, to change the categories that post is filed under. He still has it filed under the tags "Hatred of White People" and "Jews".

Edward now claims that he wrote those two bigoted posts because he got all worked up over the issue he was writing about and lost his head. Those posts dealt with sexually suggestive advertisements for Burger King and Sprite. I can see how something like suggestive advertising can cause someone to lose their head and suddenly turn into a Nazi.

[UPDATE (7/24/09 8 pm): Edward's reformation didn't last long. Read here.]

Edwards, who hosts a radio program called the Political Cesspool, is associated with the racist organization Council of Conservative Citizens, originally known as the White Citizens' Councils. He has cited neo-Nazi David Duke as his hero and inspiration, and worked with Duke to organize a conference of the racist group EURO in Memphis in November, 2008. (Read here.)

More about Edwards here and here and here. Video here. Read here and here for background on the CCC. Here is the CCC's webpage commemorating Black History Month, which they devote to promoting the idea that Martin Luther King was a communist.

Here is a cesspool webpage honoring the cop who arrested Rosa Parks, neo-Nazi Holocaust denier Mark Weber, and Pat Buchanan. According to that page, Pat Buchanan's website also posted his Political Cesspool interview. Edwards has ungrammatically stated about his radio program that "their confirmation as a powerhouse in the movement was cemented" when Pat Buchanan appeared on the show in 2006. Read here. In 2000, Edwards was a Buchanan delegate at the Reform Party's national convention, and was a national committee member for that party. In 2002, Edwards ran for the Tennessee State Assembly on the ticket of a breakaway faction of the Reform Party associated with Buchanan called the America First Party. (Read here.)

By the way, the Political Cesspool program promotes something called the Luftwaffe Aircrew Re-enactors Association.

My previous posts about Edwards are available here and here and here and here and here. The Southern Policy Law Center has called Edwards "the nexus of hate in America". (Read here.) Read the cesspool's guest list here.

James Edwards is pictured below with Pat Buchanan, a baseball bat (wrong grip for playing baseball -- right grip for threatening a racially-motivated beating), and a Confederate battle flag.

























Here's some more of what Buchanan's friend has been saying about Jews.

Southern Poverty Law Center to CNN: Remove Lou Dobbs From The Air

Dobbs has already turned his program into a platform for anti-immigrant racists, now he's promoting bizarre conspiracy theories alleging that the President is not a citizen.

Dobbs, who gets several hours of international airtime per day, is a "birther". Is there no one better qualified to host an important news show? How about someone in a tin foil hat? Maybe a member of the flat earth society?

Read here: SPLC Asks CNN to Remove Dobbs

The officer was not a wise Latina

The idea that police, or judges, or any profession should include a diversity of racial and ethnic groups outraged Republicans in the recent Sotomayor hearings. At least Judge Sotomayor's expression of this idea, the "wise Latina" speech, absurdly became the focus of their baseless charge that she was racist.

Now comes news that, yesterday at about noon, Harvard history professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested in his own home by a Cambridge police officer investigating if the house was being burglarized. The white officer felt that Gates was not deferential enough to him. (Read here.) At the time of his arrest, Gates was in the process of trying to identify the police officer (who had refused to show his badge or i.d.) and was calling the chief of the Harvard Police. The arrest appears to have been designed as much to prevent Gates from filing a complaint against the officer as to punish the distinguished African-American professor for talking back to a white policeman.

Here is what I would like to ask the Republicans who raked Judge Sotomayor over the coals for her "wise Latina" speech. Do you think that a wise African-American police officer would have made a better decision than that made by this white one?

Lithuania's selective amnesia

The Third Estate has an interesting piece by one of their writers who's currently travelling in Lithuania. He's visited the so-called "Museum of Genocide Victims" in Vilnius and has noted that through some oversight, certain years have been excluded from its historical record. These reflect Lithuanians' selective memory concerning their history since 1939.

"(M)any different myths (have been) created. The myth of the Workers’ State and the fabulous development it promised, the myth of the proud ethnic Lithuanians against the degenerate Jews and Gypsies or the cunning Russian occupiers, the myth of the salvation of the free market from state planned paralysis, and many others. But what is of particular interest, and particular concern, is the creation of the post 1991 national myth. If the stories the country’s museums tell is anything to go by, there is a deeply problematic story being told.

"‘Museum of Genocide Victims’ in Vilnius is a clear example of it. This is a museum housed in a former KGB building, which offers an account of the history of the period 1940-91 which is as exaggerated as it is incomplete. For a start you would expect something called the ‘Museum of Genocide Victims’ to have something to say about Genocide; but there is nothing. The museum’s story begins in 1939, has a brief gap from 41-44, and starts again in 1944. During this period, 300,000 Lithuanians, 200,000 of them Jews, were executed by death squads or in camps. This accounted for 94% of Lithuania’s Jewish population. These figures are acknowledged, but despite the fact that they dwarf the numbers imprisoned, executed or deported by the KGB the story of the holocaust in that country is not told"

The author notes in passing that this obliteration of memory is related to a resurgence of fascism. In every instance, fascism requires the creation of false history. This is true for several reasons: to create a false golden age which must be reattained, to create false demons which must be fought, and to erase the fascists' own bloody fingerprints.

Lithuania has been a victim both of Nazi and Soviet occupation. About that, there can be no dispute. The question is whether those who choose only to remember the crimes of the Soviets will succeed in resuscitating the demons of the right.

Read the rest here: Lithuania – New Myths and Old. (Hat tip: Harry's Place)

On a personal note: I once met an Estonian woman who claimed about her homeland "we were very accommodating to our Jews". (It actually sounded more like "vee vurr werry accommodating...") I found her view surprising considering that Estonia's Jews were completely wiped out -- for the most part killed by local militias. She went on to tell me at great length how difficult it was for her to leave Estonia and flee to Germany to escape the Soviets.

Did I mention that my grandfather came to the U.S. from Estonia? That's what started that particular conversation. I noticed that this woman's last name had an odd blend of vowels. I asked what kind of name it was. Estonian. I said my granddad came from there. "Oh. What's the family name?" "Chasan." "That doesn't sound Estonian." "It's Jewish." "Oh. Vee vurr werry accommodating to our Jews."

Fascist follies in the European Parliament

Csanád Szegedi (pictured at right), one of three newly elected Hungarian members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from the fascist Jobbik party, came to the parliament's July 14 opening session wearing the uniform of the party's illegal Magyar Garda militia. (Read here, and here, in an article auto-translated from Slovak. Background here in an article in French.) This uniform is based on that of Hungary's Arrow Cross, a pro-Nazi party which committed mass murders of Jews during the Holocaust. (Read here.) A ruling declaring the Magyar Garda illegal was affirmed by a Hungarian appeals court on July 3. The original ban followed a rising tide of anti-Roma violence, in which the paramilitary conducted several pogroms culminating in the murder of a Roma man and his young son.

Szegedi's two fellow Jobbik MEPs, Krisztina Morvai and Zoltán Balczó (pictured below on an earlier occasion), came to the EP opening session attired in 19th Century Hungarian military uniforms. Jobbik advocates returning Hungary to what they regard as its "golden age" by expanding its borders to include Slovakia, Transylvania, Ruthenia, and other areas it lost after World War I. That sort of populist nationalism tends to appeal to the far-right. It bypasses the brain and goes straight to the gut. It even reaches across the Atlantic and appeals to American neo-Nazis at Stormfront (here) and the Ron Paul crowd (here).

After the Hungarian fascists had their costume party, a MEP representing Hungary's ruling Socialist Party moved that the EP ban the wearing of paramilitary uniforms in parliament sessions. (Read here.)

Meanwhile the two British National Party (BNP) representatives, Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons, were assigned seats in the back of the room. Another British non-aligned party MEP refused to be seated next to them. (Read here.)

When Krisztina Morvai gave her first speech to the parliament, she first identified herself as a "human rights attorney" (her usual shtik), then argued against a proposal that the EP study what action to take with respect to Iran. She claimed that Hungary's human rights record was worse than that of Iran, and that any look at the crimes of the Iranian dictatorship must be preceded by a study of Hungary's treatment of its far-right.

Nick Griffin later rose to support Morvai's argument, parroting her speech and taking it a bit further. Griffin claimed that the west focused on Iranian human rights violations and not on Hungary's purported suppression of its fascists because of a shadowy international conspiracy. He went on to claim that, if the EP studied the Iran question, British soldiers would soon be returning from a war with Iran with horrific injuries. (He also indicated that British soldiers live on the banks of picturesque rivers.) Based on his concern for British young people, Griffin demanded an inquiry into Hungary's suppression of its fascist militias.

Watch them here:

With respect to the Magyar Garda uniform's similarity to that of the Arrow Cross, as a point of reference, pictured below are Arrow Cross militiamen circa 1944-1945 wearing their winter uniforms. You may be interested to know the current views of an Arrow Cross leader who escaped justice in Australia. Read about that here.

Arrow Cross militia receiving machine guns from German Consular employee, 10 Pasar�ti avenue, Budpest (Source: Hungarian National Museum)

Magyar Garda demonstration

Star Ledger whitewashes Rep. Garrett's environmental record

In a puff piece, the Newark Star-Ledger has completely distorted the record of Congressman Scott Garrett with respect to the environment. Bob Braun writes in the Ledger that Garrett "has a reputation as pro-conservation". (Read here.) He doesn't offer any facts to support this conclusion, because there aren't any.

The fact is that, on a scale of 100, Garrett was given a 15% rating by the League of Conservation Voters, an 8% rating by Environment America, and 16% by Republicans for Environmental Protection .

On the other hand, an anti-regulation group called American Land Rights Association gave him 83%. That group OPPOSES pro-conservation legislation.

Braun's statement that Garrett 'has a reputation as pro-conservation' is a complete fabrication. You have the right to your own opinion, Bob, but you do not have the right to your own facts. Now just who do you claim considers him a conservationist?

(Details on Garrett's ratings are available here.)

Why doesn't Ron Paul come out as a truther? Too busy, and can't handle the controversy

Is Ron Paul coming out as a truther? The "9/11 truth" group called "We Are Change LA" asked Ron Paul why he doesn't "come out about the truth about 9/11?". The ambush interview apparently caught him off guard. He answered that he hasn't done this "(b)ecause I can't handle the controversy ... I just have too much to do."

The interview can be viewed below, although the audio is of poor quality.

A transcript of the brief interview is available here: WeAreChangeLA questions Ron Paul about the IMF and why he won't come out about 9-11 Truth | 911Blogger.com

The BNP and fascism

Edmund Standing at Harry’s Place has an important report on the British National Party and fascism. Read it here.

Methodist missionary to Israel: having portrait of Golda is "not very American"

In honor of the Fourth of July holiday, Janet Lahr Lewis, the United Methodists' chief liaison for Methodist visitors to Israel and Palestine, has published a column on the Methodists' official website in which she complains that the U.S. Ambassador's residence in Israel has on its walls

"portraits of ... Golda Meir, Menachem Begin, even Theodore Hertzl -- not very American in my view."

She goes on to write that

"For me, though, the Israel independence day evokes visions of slaughter and destruction, of forced marches and imprisonment. The U.S. Independence Day evokes thoughts of “freedom fighters” and “patriots.” ... Why don’t we refer to Palestinians fighting for the same rights as “freedom fighters” and “patriots,” instead of as “terrorists” and “extremists”?"

Lewis' column is published in the July 13, 2009 edition of the "Faith in Action" newsletter published by the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, which can be read here.

Lewis serves as the coordinator of Methodist missionaries working in Israel and Palestine. A biographical statement on their website states that

"Lewis ... educates visitors about the realities of the situation, organizes conferences, develops media campaigns, offers worship opportunities, hosts delegations to the area and oversees other special events ... (She) is the main contact for Volunteers in Mission teams and United Methodists who wish to follow the recommendation of the denomination’s General Conference to spend a significant amount of time in the area with local Christians."

While serving as the United Methodist liaison to Israel and Palestine, Lewis simultaneously served for many years as one of the leaders of the Palestinian organization Sabeel, working in Sabeel's Jerusalem office and organizing their international outreach. Sabeel is one of the main promoters of the anti-Israel boycott and divestiture movement. (Read here.)

The Methodist church may have their reasons for questioning how "American" their countrymen are. They should make those reasons explicit, rather than snipe in an offhanded manner. If they consider having portraits of Israeli leaders to be un-American, they should explain exactly why. If they cannot, they should apologize for promoting the view that friendship with Israel represents disloyalty to the United States.

Moreover, the United Methodist church needs to explain why their liaison in Israel and Palestine, charged with facilitating both missionary visits and church tours to the area, would characterize the founding of the State of Israel in such a biased, distorted manner.

Lastly, the United Methodists should clarify whether they agree with Lewis' characterization of Palestinian military actions against Israel as patriotic freedom-fighting.

Do these views represent the official policy of the United Methodists or are they only the personal views of their chief missionary representative in Israel?