2010: The Year the Second Amendment Dies?
Increasingly, it is understood that social and economic development can only take off if people feel safe in their communities. This concept brings together issues of disarmament and development in an exciting new way. The 2009 Secretary-General’s report:
The United Nations system, regional and subregional organizations, national and local governments, and civil society organizations have mobilized to prevent and reduce armed violence through evidence-based interventions, but responses need to be scaled up. Armed violence prevention and reduction efforts must be carefully designed, targeted and monitored. Programming options include interventions related to conflict prevention and peacebuilding, to interventions targeting demand and risk factors at the individual, relationship and societal levels.
The report places particular emphasis on tackling the risks and effects of armed violence and underdevelopment. This includes implementing existing conventions and agreements associated with armed violence and development; improving the effectiveness of armed violence prevention and reduction policies through investment in the production, analysis and use of evidence; strengthening capacities to diagnose, articulate strategies and implement programmes; developing measurable goals, targets and indicators for armed violence prevention and reduction; building partnerships among the United Nations system and with regional organizations, national authorities and civil society to ensure coherent policy and programming; increasing resources for armed violence prevention and reduction; and fostering greater international action.
V. Observations and recommendations
63. Tackling armed violence successfully requires coordinated responses that draw on different areas of expertise. Many Governments, civil society actors and United Nations entities are starting to work together to address risk factors and the negative effects of armed violence on development, but the international response is still somewhat fragmented. In bringing together donors, Governments of affected States and civil society, as well as in uniting core competencies and developing good practices, the United Nations system is well-positioned to help catalyse more coherent, comprehensive, coordinated and integrated initiatives, and to encourage targeted armed violence prevention and reduction policies and programmes at the international, national and local levels.
64. In order to be successful, policy responses must involve meaningful and legitimate local ownership, and full partnerships between Governments and civil society. They must also be integrated into regional and subregional approaches.
65. In order to be effective in its role as a convenor and catalyst, the United Nations system, as well as national and local governments and civil society, will need to scale up support to affected States in designing and implementing armed violence prevention and response strategies. The following recommendations are proposed:
(a) Strengthen the implementation of existing global conventions and agreements. There is a range of existing agreements that can contribute to the prevention and reduction of armed violence. United Nations agencies should support national Governments to uphold, implement and strengthen existing global and regional norms and measures, including relevant international and regional treaties, conventions and other instruments that contribute to the reduction and prevention of all forms of armed violence. These include the Firearms Protocol; the Programme of Action; the universal conventions and protocols against terrorism; the three conventions on narcotic drugs; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the conventions on the rights of women and children; Security Council resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008) on women, peace and security; and the 2005 World Summit Outcome document. There should also be a concerted effort to ensure that international norms and standards are reflected and implemented at the national and local levels through the adoption of national legislation and other domestic measures.
(b) Improve the effectiveness of armed violence prevention and reduction policies and programmes through investments in the production, analysis and use of evidence. Effective approaches to armed-violence prevention and reduction will require investments by national Governments and international organizations in high-quality data-gathering and analysis capacities. Comprehensive, reliable and timely information is critical for informed policymaking and programming, monitoring and evaluation, and the forecasting of future trends and needs. This will involve ongoing and baseline data collection and analysis, the regular transfer of knowledge and lessons learned and innovative approaches to bring evidence and analysis into the programming process. The most comprehensive picture of conflict, non-conflict and interpersonal armed violence is likely to be obtained from a combination of data drawn from the public health and criminal justice systems, combined with population-based surveys, civil society monitoring, as well as rich historical and cultural research. Routine monitoring and evaluation of armed violence prevention programmes will increase the range of evidence-based options to prevent armed violence available to national authorities, local authorities and civil society.
(c) Strengthen national and local capacities for armed violence prevention and reduction. States have the primary responsibility for preventing and reducing armed violence. Multilateral and bilateral agencies can support Governments of affected countries by strengthening national and local capacities to address armed violence, including capacities to collect reliable data on the scope and scale of armed violence and victimization, and on different risk and resilience factors. This could include the development of national armed violence prevention and reduction strategies, investments in national and local surveillance systems, establishment of effective criminal justice systems based upon the rule of law, including reinforcement of counter-terrorism and policing capacities, and support for programmes targeting specific risk factors and at-risk groups. International agencies and national Governments can also ensure that armed violence prevention and reduction practices are integrated into wider development strategies, such as United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks, Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, and other national and local plans. Local actors and in particular governments, community authorities (including local governments and community peace and security committees), research institutions and the media should be supported and strengthened in order to design, implement and measure the effectiveness of local strategies and interventions. Several United Nations stakeholders can be involved in these activities, including the three United Nations regional centres for peace and disarmament.
(d) Develop measurable goals, targets and indicators for armed-violence prevention and reduction. A growing body of evidence demonstrates how armed violence hinders the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and, more generally, social, economic, political and human development. Yet armed violence reduction efforts are seldom incorporated into strategies for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The Millennium Development Goal Review Process, starting in 2010, provides an opportunity to consider the reduction of armed violence as an important requisite to meeting the Millennium Development Goals, in particular through the development and endorsement of a set of goals, targets and indicators to achieve measurable reductions in armed violence and tangible improvements in human security. Developing measurable goals on armed violence towards 2015 will offer the opportunity to integrate security-related themes into the possible follow-up of the Millennium Development Goals (see S/2008/258).
First Committee of the UN General Assembly, 2009
Throughout October 2009, governments are attending the First Committee, which proposes and adopts resolutions on disarmament and international security. Their discussions include resolutions on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and small arms control. North American Members List is shown below. Contact information provided for your convenience.
| Canada | |
| Amnesty International – Canada 214 Montreal Road Ottawa Ontario K1L 1A4 CANADA Telephone: + 1 613 744 7667 Fax: + 1 613 746 2411 hhomes@amnesty.ca www.amnesty.ca |
Canadian Peacebuilding Coordinating Committee (CPCC) 1, Rue Nicholas Street, #1216 Ottawa Ontario K1N 7B7 CANADA Telephone: +1 613 241 3446 Fax: +1 613 241 4846 cpcc@web.ca www.peacebuild.ca |
| Coalition for Gun Control 3300 Boulevard Rosemont Bureau 211 Montreal Quebec HIX 1K2 CANADA Telephone: +1 514 725 2021 Fax: +1 514 725 5926 cgc_montreal@compuserve.com www.guncontrol.ca |
Group of 78 145 Spruce Street, Suite 206 Ottawa Ontario K1R 6P1 CANADA Telephone: +1 230 0860 Fax: +1 563 0017 group78@web.ca www.hri.ca/partners/g78 |
| One Sky PO Box 3352 Smithers BC V0J 2NO CANADA Telephone: +1 250 877 6030 Fax: +1 250 877 6040 nikki@onesky.ca www.onesky.ca |
Oxfam Canada 300 – 294 Albert Street Ottawa Ontario K1P 6E6 CANADA Telephone: +1 613 237 5236 Fax: +1 613 237 0524 elizabethb@ott.oxfam.ca www.oxfam.ca |
| Physicians for Global Survival (PGS) 208-145 Spruce Street Ottawa Ontario K1R 6P1 CANADA Telephone: +1 613 233 1982 Fax: +1 613 223 9028 pgs@web.ca www.pgs.ca |
Project Ploughshares 57 Erb Street West Waterloo Ontario N2L 6C2 CANADA Telephone: +1 519 888 6541 Fax: +1 519 888 0018 lgriffiths@ploughshares.ca eregehr@ploughshares.ca www.ploughshares.ca |
| Small Arms Firearms Education Research Network (SAFER-Net) 3300 Boulevard Rosemont Bureau 211 Montreal Quebec HIX 1K2 CANADA Telephone: +1 416 979 5000 ext. 6740 Fax: +1 416 979 5249 wcukier@ryerson.ca www.ryerson.ca/SAFER-Net |
South Asia Partnership – Canada (SAP Canada) 1 Nicholas Street Suite 200 Ottawa Ontario K1N 7B7 CANADA Telephone: +1 613 241 1333 Fax: +1 613 241 1129 sap@sapcanada.org ffaisel@sapcanada.org www.sapcanada.org |
| David Jackman (individual) 95 Main Street Apt. 206 Ottawa Ontario K1S 1B8 CANADA Telephone: +1 613 237 8762 djackman@cyberus.ca |
Peggy Mason (individual) 2077 Kinburn Side Road RR#2 Kinburn Ontario K2A 2H0 CANADA Telephone: +1 613 832 9322 peggymason@bellnet.ca |
| Alan Simons (individual) 1 Kenwood Avenue, Suite 2, Toronto Ontario Canada M6C 2R6 Tel. (416) 473.0354 Skype: alansimons alansimons@rogers.com |
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| United States |
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| Adopt-A-Minefield, UNA-USA 801 Second Avenue New York NY 10017 USA Telephone: +1 212 907 1314 Fax: +1 212 682 9185 mburke@unausa.org www.landmines.org |
Amnesty International – USA – Military, Security and Police Transfers Working Group 202 East Riverside Street Williamston MI 48895 USA Telephone: +1 202 544 0200 Fax: +1 202 546 7142 swaltz@umich.edu www.amnestyusa.org/arms_trade |
| Arms Trade Resource Center 66 Fifth Avenue 9th Floor New York NY 10011 USA Telephone: +1 212 229 5808 Fax: +1 212 229 5579 berrigaf@newschool.edu www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms |
Coalition To Stop Gun Violence – USA (CSGV) 1023 15th Street NW Suite 600 Washington DC 20005 USA Telephone: +1 202 408 0061 Fax: +1 202 408 0062 mikebeard@csgv.org www.csgv.org |
| Crime Gun Solutions LLC (CGS) 2214 West Greenleaf Drive Frederick Maryland 21702 USA Telephone: +1 301 631 2950 Fax: +1 301 631 2950 JJVinceCGS@aol.com |
Derechos Human Rights 46 Estabrook Street San Leandro California 94577 USA Phone: +1 510 483 4005 Fax: +1 603 372 9710 marga@derechos.org www.derechos.org |
| Economists Allied for Arms Reduction (ECAAR) 330 East 38th Street New York NY 10016 USA Telephone: +1 212 490 6494 Fax: +1 212 490 6494 lucywebster@ecaar.org www.ecaar.org |
Firearm Injury Center – Medical College of Wisconsin Medical College of Wisconsin 8701 Watertown Plank Road Milwaukee WI 53226 USA Telephone: +1 414 456 7676, +1 414 456 7670 Fax: +1 414 456 6472 hargart@mcw.edu rlwjd@mcw.edu www.mcw.edu/fic |
| Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies Hampshire College 893 West Street Northampton MA 01002 USA Telephone: +1 413 559 5563 Fax: +1 413 559 5620 mklare@hampshire.edu www.hampshire.edu |
Franciscans International 211 East 43rd Street. Room 1100 New York NY 10017 USA Telephone: +1 212 490 4624 Fax: +1 866 283 0134 fdeacon@franciscansinternational.org |
| Global Action to Prevent War GAPW c/o LCNP 211 East 43rd Street New York NY 10017 USA Telephone: +1 212 818 1861 Fax: +1 212 818 1857 coordinator@globalactionpw.org www.globalactionpw.org |
HELP Network 2300 Children’s Plaza #88 Chicago IL 60614 USA Telephone: +1 773 880 3826 Fax: +1 773 880 6615 contact@helpnetwork.org www.helpnetwork.org |
| Human Rights Watch – Arms Division – USA 1630 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 500 Washington DC 20009 USA Telephone: +1 202 612 4321 Fax: +1 202 612 4333 arms@hrw.org www.hrw.org |
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) 727 Massachusetts Avenue. 2nd floor Cambridge MA 02139 USA Telephone: +1 617 868 5050 ext 203 Fax: +1 617 868 2560 mvalenti@ippnw.org www.ippnw.org |
| Join Together Boston University School of Public Health 1 Appleton Street Boston MA 02116 USA Telephone: +1 617 437 1500 Fax: +1 617 437 9394 info@jointogether.org www.jointogether.org |
Legal Community Against Violence (LCAV) Firearms Law Center 268 Bush Street, Suite 555 San Francisco CA 94104 USA Telephone: +1 415 433 2062 Fax: +1 415 433 3357 www.firearmslawcenter.org |
| Maha Vajra Films 2811 Iroquois Road Wihnette IL 60091 USA Phone: +1 847 736 1954 jamiemurrayiii@hotmail.com |
Million Mom March / Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence 1225 Eye Street NW, Suite 1100 Washington DC 20005 USA Telephone: +1 202 289 7319 Fax: +1 202 408 1851 stopgunvio@aol.com www.stategunlaws.org www.gunlawsuits.org www.millionmommarch.org |
| Monterey Institute of International Studies – Program on Security & Development (SAND) 460 Pierce Street Monterey CA 93940 USA Telephone: +1 831 647 4142 Fax: +1 831 647 4199 elaurance@miis.edu www.cns.miis.edu |
New Yorkers Against Gun Violence Telephone: +1 212-679-2345 Fax: +1 212-679-2484 nyagv@nyagv.org www.nyagv.org NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security |
| Oxfam America 1112 16th Street NW #600 Washington DC 20036 USA Telephone: +1 202 496 1304 Fax: +1 202 496 1190 jruthrauff@oxfamamerica.org www.oxfamamerica.org |
Oxfam International 355 Lexington Avenue, Third Floor New York NY 10017 USA Telephone: +1 212 687 2091 Fax: +1 212 687 2092 nicola.reindorp@oxfaminternational.org www.oxfam.org |
| Program on Global Security & Disarmament 3140 Tydings Hall College Park MD 20742 USA Telephone: +1 301 405 4969 Fax: +1 301 405 8822 pgsd@gvpt.umd.edu merrigold@erols.com www.bsos.umd.edu/pgsd |
Quaker United Nations Office – New York (QUNO) 777 United Nations Plaza New York NY 10017 USA Telephone: +1 212 682 2745, +1 212 682 8713 Fax: +1 212 983 0034 sclarke@afsc.org www.quno.org |
| Small Arms Working Group (SAWG) C/O CDI 1779 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington DC 20036 USA Telephone: +1 202 797 5283 Fax: +1 202 462 4559 rstohl@cdi.org www.cdi.org |
Task Force for Child Survival & Development 750 Commerce Drive, Suite 400 Decatur Georgia 30030 USA Telephone: +1 404 687 5635 Fax: +1 404 371 1087 mrosenberg@taskforce.org www.taskforce.org |
| The Fund for Peace 1701 K Street NW, 11th Floor Washington DC 20006 USA Telephone: +1 202 223 7940 Fax: +1 202 223 7947 pbaker@fundforpeace.org www.fundforpeace.org |
Trauma Foundation San Francisco General Hospital San Francisco CA 94110 USA Telephone: +1 415 821 8209 Fax: +1 415 282 2563 www.traumaf.org/ |
| Veterans for Peace (VFP) 216 South Meramec Ave St. Louis MO 63105 |
Vivat International 211 East 43rd Street, Suite 706 New York NY 10017 USA Telephone: +1 646 487 0003 Fax: +1 646 487 0004 maco@vivatinternational.org www.vivatinternational.org |
| Watchlist on Children & Armed Conflict C/o Women’s Commission for Refugee Women & Children 122 East 42nd Street, 12th Floor New York NY 101168 USA Telephone: +1 212 551 2743 Fax: +1 212 551 3180 www.watchlist.org www.womenscommission.org |
Women’s Action for New Directions (WAND) 691 Massachusetts Avenue Arlington MA 02476 USA Telephone: +1 781 643 6740 Fax: +1 781 643 6740 info@wand.org www.wand.org |
| Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF) 777 UN Plaza, 6th Floor New York NY 10017 USA Telephone: +1 212 682 1265 Fax: +1 212 286 8211 wilpfun@igc.org www.reachingcriticalwill.org www.peacewomen.org www.wilpf.int.ch |
World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP) 777 United Nations Plaza, 9th Floor New York NY 10017 USA Telephone: +1 212 687 2163 Fax: +1 212 983 0566 info@wcrp.org www.wcrp.org |
| World Peace Foundation 79 John F. Kennedy Street Cambridge MA 02138 USA Telephone: +1 617 496 9812 Fax: +1 617 491 8588 world_peace@harvard.edu |
World Vision International (WV) 800 West Chestnut Avenue Monrovia CA 91741 USA Telephone: +1 626 301 7715 Fax: +1 626 301 7786 don_brandt@wvi.org www.wvi.org |
| Worldwatch Institute 25 Treasure Road Riverhead NY 11901 USA Telephone: +1 631 369 6896 Fax: +1 626 608 3189 mrenner@optonline.net www.worldwatch.org |
Loretta Bondi (individual) Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies 1717 Massachusetts Avenue NW, 5th Floor Washington DC 20036 USA Telephone: +1 202 663 5956 Fax: +1 202 663 5879 lbondi1@jhu.edu http://transatlantic.sais-jhu.edu/bondi.php |
| Barbara Frey (individual) 214 Social Sciences Building 267 Avenue 19 South Minneapolis Minnesota 55455 USA Telephone: +1 612 626 1879 Fax: +1 612 626 2242 freyx001@umn.edu http://hrp.cla.umn.edu |
Bill Godnick (individual) USA Telephone: +1 305 251 6813 w.h.godnick1@bradford.ac.uk wgodnick@aol.com wgodnick@international-alert.org |
| Matt Schroeder (individual) Arms Sales Monitoring Project Federation of American Scientists 1717 K Street NW Washington DC 20036 USA Telephone: +1 202 454 4693 Fax: +1 202 675 1010 mschroeder@fas.org www.fas.org/asmp |
Rachel Stohl (individual) 1779 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington DC 20036 USA Telephone: +1 202 797 5283 Fax: +1 202 462 4559 rstohl@cdi.org www.cdi.org |
| Daniel Webster (individual) Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 624 North Broadway Baltimore MD 21205 USA Telephone: +1 410 614 3243 Fax: +1 410 614 9055 dwebster@jhsph.edu |
The Greatest Scam In The History of Earth
Control: The House and Senate climate bills contain a provision giving the president extraordinary powers in the event of a “climate emergency.” As chief of staff Rahm Emanuel says, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.
If you thought the House health care bill that nobody read has hidden passages that threaten our freedoms and liberty, take a peak at the “trigger” placed in the byzantine innards of both the House-passed Waxman-Markey bill and the Kerry-Boxer bill just passed by Democrats out of Sen. Barbara Boxer’s Environment and Public Works Committee.
As Nick Loris of the Heritage Foundation points out, the Kerry-Boxer bill requires the declaration of a “climate emergency” if the concentration of carbon dioxide and other declared greenhouse gases in the atmosphere exceeds 450 parts per million (ppm). It was at about 286 ppm before the Industrial Revolution and now sits at around 368 ppm.
That figure was picked out of a hat because the warm-mongers believe that’s the level at which the polar ice caps will disappear, boats can be moored on the Statue of Liberty’s torch and dead polar bears will wash up on the beaches of Malibu.
The Senate version includes a section that gives the president authority, under this declared “climate emergency,” to “direct all Federal agencies to use existing statutory authority to take appropriate actions … to address shortfalls” in achieving greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions.
What the “appropriate actions” might be are not defined and presumably left up to the discretion of the White House. Could the burning of coal be suspended or recreational driving be banned? Sen. David Vitter, R-La., asked the EPA for a definition and received no response.
Competitive Enterprise Institute scholar Chris Horner says “this agenda transparently is not about GHG concentrations, or the climate. It’s about what the provision would bring: almost limitless power over private economic activity and individual liberty for the activist president and, for the reluctant leader, litigious greens and courts” packed by liberal Democrat appointees.
“Environmental groups have been working to deny grazing rights to America’s ranchers for decades. They do so by claiming violations of environmental policy, suing federal environmental agencies and ultimately, tying up ranchers’ time and resources in costly, and often baseless, court battles,” said Jeff Faulkner, Western Legacy Alliance (WLA) member. “What makes this situation worse is the fact that these environmental groups such as Western Watersheds Project and the Center for Biological Diversity are shaking down federal government programs so they can access taxpayer dollars to fund their radical agendas.”
Two of the federal programs that are seemingly handing out millions, and possibly billions, to environmental groups are the EAJA and the Judgment Fund.
The EAJA was established approximately 30 years ago by Congress to ensure that individuals, small businesses and/or public interest groups with limited financial capacity could seek judicial redress from unreasonable government actions that threatened their rights, privileges or interests.
According the U.S. Department of the Treasury website, the Judgment Fund, which was created in the 1960’s, “…is available for most court judgments and Justice Department compromise settlements of actual or imminent lawsuits against the government. Congress has added a number of administrative claim awards (settlements by agencies at the administrative level, without a lawsuit). The Judgment Fund has no fiscal year limitations, and there is no need for Congress to appropriate funds to it annually or otherwise. Moreover, disbursements from it are not attributed to or accounted for by the agencies whose activities give rise to awards paid. Absent a specific statutory requirement, the agency responsible is not required to reimburse the Judgment Fund.”
Since 2003, the Judgment Fund has paid out $4.7 billion in judgments, including the reimbursement of attorney’s fees. It appears environmental groups have accessed millions of taxpayer dollars from this fund; however, the Web site reporting these payments does not indicate to whom the payments were made or for what purpose. Additional investigation reveals that the same environmental groups benefiting from EAJA payments are accessing the Judgment Fund to millions of dollars each year.
An article at Fox News about the open letter noted:
American taxpayers are being forced to fund thousands of lawsuits filed against the federal government by environmental organizations — with their lawyers clocking thousands of hours and charging fees of up to $650 an hour.
The U.S. government hands out millions of dollars each year to various environmental organizations to help protect fish, wildlife and other aspects of the environment. And every year, those same groups spend millions suing the government over everything from forest policy and carbon emissions to water quality and wolf habitats.
Who paid the attorneys fees? The American taxpayers did.
In the lucrative world of environmental law, the biggest defendant is the federal government, and taxpayers foot the bill. The nation’s ten largest environmental groups have sued the government more than 3,000 times in a nine-year period, according to legal fund the Western Legacy Alliance, an Idaho-based legal fund that defends ranchers and farmers.
Now, the growing number of cases is beginning to attract the attention of some lawmakers in Congress.
Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., has written to the Department of Justice asking for an investigation, pointing out that much of the money being paid comes out of the Equal Access to Justice Act fund, which Congress set up for the indigent and public interest groups to recover legal fees.
Right now, the government does not account for how much is paid out to whom or for what reason.
“These are taxpayer dollars that are being used by the federal government to compensate people who have sued the federal government. I believe that taxpayers have the right to know who those people are and how much they’ve been paid,” Lummis told Fox News.
They should not expect any help from the current Administration, however.
Bloomberg noted: Billionaire George Soros, looking to address the “political problem” of climate change, said he will invest $1 billion in clean-energy technology and donate $100 million to an environmental advisory group to aid policymakers. [He] announced the investment in Copenhagen on Oct. 10 at a meeting on climate change sponsored by Project Syndicate. The group is an international association made up of 430 newspapers from 150 countries.
…Soros’s announcement comes two months before 190 nations will gather in the Danish capital for a final round of negotiations on a new climate treaty that includes provisions to finance clean- energy projects in developing nations. Talks last week in Bangkok were marked by a dispute between richer and poorer nations over whether to renew or abandon the Kyoto Protocol, the only existing global agreement to reduce carbon dioxide, which is blamed for global warming.
Soros, 79, also will establish the Climate Policy Initiative, a San Francisco-based organization to which he will donate $10 million a year for 10 years.
Extreme left journalist George Monbiot ignored all the facts I provided when he was pointing a finger at me. He’s ignoring them again, which forces him to assume the deniers are at fault. He wrote, “There is no point in denying it: we’re losing. Climate change denial is spreading like a contagious disease. It exists in a sphere that cannot be reached by evidence or reasoned argument; any attempt to draw attention to scientific findings is greeted with furious invective. This sphere is expanding with astonishing speed.”
The sphere is expanding for several reasons.
- All evidence rejects the hypothesis that human CO2 is causing warming or climate change.
- Facts are gradually getting to the public despite obstructionism by journalists like Monbiot.
- Temperature projections of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are consistently wrong.
- Record cold temperatures are occurring everywhere.
- Motives of those pushing the need for reduction in CO2 are being exposed.
- Economic costs of a completely unnecessary action are emerging.
Britain’s Climate Research Unit, University of East Anglia, suffered a data breach in recent days when a hacker apparently broke into their system and made away with thousands of emails and documents. The stolen data was then posted to a Russian server and has quickly made the rounds among climate skeptics. The documents within the archive, if proven to be authentic, would at best be embarrassing for many prominent climate researchers and at worst, damning.
The electronic break in itself has been verified by the director of the research unit, Professor Phil Jones. He told Britain’s Investigate magazine’s TGIF Edition “It was a hacker. We were aware of this about three or four days ago that someone had hacked into our system and taken and copied loads of data files and emails.”
The paper goes on to discuss, at length the individual emails, and if you have not yet seen them, I urge to to follow the link.
In Australia, where the story first broke, the Herald Sun noted:
…So the 1079 emails and 72 documents seem indeed evidence of a scandal involving most of the most prominent scientists pushing the man-made warming theory – a scandal that is one of the greatest in modern science. I’ve been adding some of the most astonishing in updates below – emails suggesting conspiracy, collusion in exaggerating warming data, possibly illegal destruction of embarrassing information, organized resistance to disclosure, manipulation of data, private admissions of flaws in their public claims and much more. If it is as it now seems, never again will “peer review” be used to shout down skeptics.
This is clearly not the work of some hacker, but of an insider who’s now blown the whistle.
Not surprising, then, that Steve McIntyre reports:
Earlier today, CRU cancelled all existing passwords. Actions speaking loudly.
Hackers have broken into the data base of the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit – one of the world’s leading alarmist centers – and put the files they stole on the Internet, on the grounds that the science is too important to be kept under wraps.
The ethics of this are dubious. But the files suggest, on a very preliminary glance, some other very dubious practices, too, and a lot of collusion – sometimes called “peer review”. Or even conspiracy.
“The files contain so much material that it is going to take some time t o put it all in context,” says Ball. “However, enough is already known to underscore their explosive nature. It is already clear the entire claims and positions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are based on falsified manipulated material and is therefore completely compromised.
“The fallout will be extensive as material continues to emerge. Reputations of the scientists involved are already destroyed, however fringe players will continue to be identified and their reputations destroyed or sullied.”
While the mainstream media is bending into pretzels to keep the scandal under the rug, Climategate is already the biggest scientific scandal in history because of the global policy implications.
George Soros and the Catholic Church Align? The Devil’s In The Details
The critical role of the Catholic Church in passing national health care reform legislation is coming under serious media scrutiny. But the story has taken a strange turn. It has now been revealed that George Soros, the billionaire hedge fund operator and well-known atheist, has been pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into “progressive” Catholic groups that are significant players in the national debates over health care and immigration.
On the surface, it would appear that Soros would be opposed to many positions of the Catholic Church. A major financial backer of the ACLU, Soros supports such causes as drug legalization, the rights of “sex workers” and felons, euthanasia, radical feminism, abortion rights, and homosexual rights. He does all of this in the name of promoting an “open society.”
2008
To provide general support to the Air Traffic Control Education Fund, which helps musicians use their talent and high profiles to effect social change by connecting them to activists, organizations, and issue campaigns.
Oakland, CA | $100,000 | 2 years | www.atctower.net
2009
To support Air Traffic Control, an Oakland-based organization which supports musicians and managers in lending their talents to social justice by connecting concerned artists to activists, advocacy organizations and issue advocacy campaigns.
Oakland, CA | $125,000 | 3 years | www.atctower.net
2009
To support American Rights at Work Education Fund (ARAWEF), a national organization which advances workers’ rights for people seeking a voice and better conditions on the job. ARAWEF builds diverse coalitions, conducts public education campaigns, and builds innovative engagement efforts to engage community and business support.
Washington, D.C. | $150,000 | 1 year | www.americanrightsatwork.org
2008
To support Yalla Vote, a civic education and nonpartisan voter engagement project to increase civic engagement of the Arab American community in the 2008 election and beyond.
Washington, D.C. | $75,000 | 1 year | www.aaiusa.org/foundation
2008
To provide general support to Asian Pacific Islander American Vote, a national non-partisan organization that encourages local nonprofits working in Asian American communities to build civic and voter engagement activities into their work.
Washington, D.C. | $250,000 | 2 years | www.apiavote.org
2009
To support the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center Foundation, which provides social justice organizations with education, research, and strategic assistance on ballot initiatives and referendums at the local and state levels across the nation.
Washington, D.C. | $100,000 | 2 years | www.ballot.org
2009
A grant to support the Bus Federation, a unique coalition of five state organizations in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington that seek to engage young people in civic engagement work and develop them as leaders.
Portland, OR | $150,000 | 2 years | www.busfederation.com
2009
A grant to support Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, a national organization that educates Catholics and the broader public about the Catholic social justice vision of the common good and connects that vision to specific advocacy efforts.
Washington, D.C. | $100,000 | 1 year | www.catholicsinalliance.org
2009
A grant to support the Center for American Progress, one of the nation’s largest progressive think tanks.
Washington, D.C. | $1,000,000 | 2 years | www.americanprogress.org
2008
To support Campus Progress, which seeks to cultivate a new generation of writers, policy analysts, communications specialists, and activists to build a progressive movement in which young leaders play a leading role in achieving lasting gains for this country.
Washington, D.C. | $500,000 | 2 years | www.campusprogres.org
2009
To support Center for Civic Policy, which utilizes innovative strategies to build 501c3 nonpartisan civic engagement capacity and advances social justice at the state and local levels.
Albuquerque, NM | $200,000 | 2 years | www.civicpolicy.com
2008
To support the national convening of the Civic Engagement Networks Project, an emerging effort that includes participation from the Center for Community Change’s Community Voting Project; National Coalition for Black Civic Participation; Pushback Network; State Voices; and the We Are America Alliance.
Albuquerque, NM | $25,000 | 1 year | www.civicpolicy.org
2008
To provide general support for the Center for Community Change, a national organization and resource center for grassroots organizations, which seeks to build the power and capacity of low-income people, particularly people of color, to change their communities and the public policies that affect their lives.
Washington, D.C. | $600,000 | 1 year | www.communitychange.org
2009
To support the Center for Community Change, a national resource center for grassroots social justice organizations, with a particular emphasis on groups working in low-income, people of color and immigrant communities.
Washington, DC | $930,000 | 1 year | www.communitychange.org
2008
To support the Center for Community Change’s Fair Immigration Reform Movement, a national grassroots coalition of immigrant rights organizations working for comprehensive immigration reform.
Washington, D.C. | $250,000 | 1 year | www.communitychange.org
2009
To support Generation Change, a project of the Center for Community Change, which recruits, trains, and sustains the next generation of community organizers and social justice nonprofit leaders.
Washington, D.C. | $300,000 | 1 year | www.communitychange.org/our-projects/generationchange
2009
A grant to support the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest, an advocacy organization that protects the ability of nonprofits to engage in lobbying and other forms of advocacy.
Washington, D.C. | $50,000 | 1 year | www.clpi.org
2008
To support the Center for Progressive Leadership, a national training institute dedicated to developing the next generation of progressive political leaders through intensive training programs for youth, advocates, and future candidates.
Washington, D.C. | $200,000 | 2 years | www.progressleaders.org
2009
To support the Student PIRGs, a national organization which facilitates non-partisan student activism by recruiting and training college students to become engaged in policy campaigns, elections, and the political process.
Chicago, IL | $100,000 | 1 year | www.studentpirgs.org
2008
To provide general support for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, one of the nation’s premier policy organizations working at the federal and state levels on fiscal policy and public programs that affect low- and moderate-income families and individuals.
Washington, D.C. | $1,500,000 | 2 years | www.cbpp.org
2009
To support Choice USA, an organization which mobilizes and develops the skills of young people to be the leaders of a more inclusive and effective reproductive justice movement. This project was co-funded by the OSI Equality and Opportunity Fund.
Washington, D.C. | $150,000 | 1 year | www.choiceusa.org
2008
To provide general support to the Civic Engagement Fund, a re-granting fund dedicated to providing training, education, and technological resources to a national network of leaders and organizations that build capacity for nonpartisan civic engagement, public policy advocacy, and issue-related programs.
| $200,000 | 1 year
2008
To support the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute’s work as part of the State Fiscal Analysis Initiative, a network run out of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and which provides state-based research and policy support around budget, tax, and fiscal issues in state capitals in ways that advance the interests of low- and middle-income Americans. The Open Society Institute is part of a funding collaborative that divides up State Fiscal Analysis Initiative groups for grantmaking purposes.
Denver, CO | $150,000 | 2 years | www.cclponline.org
2009
To support Democracia U.S.A., a Miami-based national organization that advances civic engagement among the nation’s fasting growing demographic group by conducting nonpartisan voter registration and voter education in Latina/o communities.
Miami, FL | $500,000 | 2 years | www.democraciausa.org
2009
To support Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, a New York City-based think tank focused on conducting research and promoting progressive economic and social policies.
New York, NY | $350,000 | 2 years | www.drummajorinstitute.org
2008
To provide general support for the Drum Major Institute, a New York City-based think tank focused on promoting progressive economic and social policies, including DMI’s Scholars and Fellows program, focused on the development of a new generation of policy and advocacy leaders from diverse backgrounds.
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New York, NY | $400,000 | 2 years | www.drummajorinstitute
Economic Policy Institute
2009 To support Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, DC-based policy center that researches the impact of economic trends and policies on working people in the United States and around the world. Washington, DC | $550,000 | 2 years | www.epi.org |
2008
To support the Mississippi Economic Policy Center’s work as part of the State Fiscal Analysis Initiative, a network run out of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and which provides state-based research and policy support around budget, tax, and fiscal issues in state capitals in ways that advance the interests of low- and middle-income Americans. The Open Society Institute is part of a funding collaborative that divides up State Fiscal Analysis Initiative groups for grantmaking purposes.
| $150,000 | 2 years | www.ecd.org
2009
A grant to support Faith in Public Life, a national strategy center advancing faith in the public square as a positive and unifying force for justice, compassion, and the common good. This grant is co-funded by U.S. Programs’ Equality and Opportunity Fund in recognition of Faith in Public Life’s work to advance comprehensive immigration reform.
Washington, D.C. | $450,000 | 2 years | www.faithinpubliclife.org
2008
To support the Four Freedoms Fund at Public Interest Projects, a collaborative grantmaking pool that addresses issues related to advancing the rights of immigrants, including a nonpartisan civic engagement initiative focused on building the civic engagement capacity of local immigrants’ rights organizations.
New York, NY | $300,000 | 1 year | www.fourfreedomsfund.org
2009
A grant to support the annual immigrant civic engagement convening for the Four Freedoms Fund at Public Interest Projects, a national funding collaborative established to safeguard immigrants’ civil rights and civil liberties and promote the full participation of immigrants in a democratic society.
New York, NY | $80,000 | 1 year | www.publicinterestprojects.org/projects/partner-and-collaborative-funds/fff
2009
A grant to support the Roosevelt Institute’s work on economic policy and its student-led network of campus think tanks that connect student ideas to advocacy. This grant is co-funded by the Seize the Day Initiative in recognition of Roosevelt’s leadership in creating a new economic paradigm.
Hyde Park, NY | $500,000 | 2 years | www.rooseveltinstitute.org
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Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation
2009 A grant to support the Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation, a driving force in the donor community in advancing effective voter registration, education, and protection. Portland, OR | $100,000 | 2 years | http://funderscommittee.org |
2008
To support the Gamaliel Foundation, a network of grassroots, interfaith, interracial issue organizations working to build power and a more just society, in its Faith and Democracy Campaign, which combines faith and values work with organizing around issues at the state and national levels.
Chicago, IL | $300,000 | 2 years | www.gamaliel.org
2009
A grant to support the Generational Alliance, a national collaboration of youth engagement organizations working to empower low-income youth, youth of color, and LGBTQ youth through community organizing and non-partisan voter engagement, arts and culture, communication and media, policy, and leadership development.
Washington, D.C. | $100,000 | 2 years | www.generationalalliance.org
2009
A grant to support the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training, a national organization that promotes the connection between fundraising, social justice, and social justice movement building, particularly for people of color communities and organizations.
Oakland, CA | $100,000 | 1 year | www.grassrootsfundraising.org
2008
To provide general support to the Grassroots Policy Project, an educational and research organization working in partnership with grassroots community groups, activist networks, statewide coalitions and other training organizations to encourage strategic approaches to issues of social and economic justice.
Cambridge, MA | $100,000 | 2 years | www.grassrootspolicy.org
2009
To support the Hip Hop Caucus (HHC), an emerging national organization that inspires non-partisan voter participation and community engagement from the hip hop generation, specifically from young people who are not on college campuses. This grant is co-funded by U.S. Programs’ Campaign for Black Male Achievement in recognition of HHC’s work to advance civic participation from—and green jobs for—young Black men.
Washington, D.C. | $150,000 | 2 years | www.hiphopcaucus.org
2008
To provide general support for the Institute for America’s Future, which provides research, training, and communications assistance to organizations working on a wide spectrum of issues.
Washington, D.C. | $500,000 | 2 years | www.ourfuture.org
2008
To provide general support for the Interfaith Education Fund, which provides organizing, technical assistance, training, and research support to a broad-based network of local interfaith coalitions known as the Industrial Areas Foundation.
| $300,000 | 18 months | www.industrialareasfoundation.org
2009
To support the Funders’ Collaborative on Youth Organizing, a national intermediary that increases funding for youth organizing groups and develops strategies to promote to funders the importance of investment in the leadership of low-income youth of color in social justice organizing.
Brooklyn, NY | $150,000 | 18 months | www.fcyo.org
2008
To support the Kentucky Tax and Budget Initiative’s work as part of the State Fiscal Analysis Initiative, a network run out of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and which provides state-based research and policy support around budget, tax, and fiscal issues in state capitals in ways that advance the interests of low- and middle-income Americans. The Open Society Institute is part of a funding collaborative that divides up State Fiscal Analysis Initiative groups for grantmaking purposes.
Jeffersontown, KY | $75,000 | 1 year | www.kyyouth.org
2008
To provide general support for the League of Young Voters Education Fund, which engages and supports young people, particularly those who do not attend college, those from low-income communities, and youth of color, helping them to lead and actively participate in creating change in their communities.
| $600,000 | 2 years | www.theleague.com
2008
To support the Louisiana Budget Project’s work as part of the State Fiscal Analysis Initiative, a network run out of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and which provides state-based research and policy support around budget, tax, and fiscal issues in state capitals in ways that advance the interests of low- and middle-income Americans. The Open Society Institute is part of a funding collaborative that divides up State Fiscal Analysis Initiative groups for grantmaking purposes.
| $150,000 | 2 years | www.lano.org
2009
A grant to support the Movement Strategy Center for its work to strengthen the social justice movement through increasing the capacity of individuals, organizations, alliances, and sectors to be more strategic, collaborative, and sustainable.
Oakland, CA | $150,000 | 1 year | www.movementstrategy.org
2008
To provide general support for the Movement Strategy Center, which strengthens the progressive movement by teaching organizers and organizations training, movement building, and networking skills through capacity-building, convenings, and research and information.
Oakland, CA | $200,000 | 1 year | www.movementstrategy.org
2009
To support the National Domestic Workers Alliance, a New York City and Oakland-based coalition of 15 domestic worker organizations from 10 major cities that seeks to organize and build the power of domestic workers to improve their living and working conditions, bring visibility to the struggles of this unrecognized workforce, and end the exclusion of domestic workers from protection as a workforce.
| $200,000 | 2 years
2008
To support the National Organizers Alliance in launching a new web-based career center and job clearinghouse, “Organizers for America,” for community organizers seeking to work with civil rights, faith, issue, labor, and neighborhood organizations.
| $40,000 | 1 year | www.noacentral.org
2009
To support the National Training and Information Center (NTIC), a 36 year old national resource center that supports, strengthens, and coordinates multi-issue grassroots community organizations working for social and economic justice, on housing, fiscal service regulation, and immigration issues. (This project was co-funded by the OSI Equality and Opportunity Fund’s Neighborhood Stabilization Initiative and the Seize the Day special funding initiative.)
Chicago, IL | $600,000 | 2 years | www.ntic-us.org
2008
To support the New America Foundation’s Next Social Contract initiative, a domestic policy effort to develop a new metanarrative to assess how the American social contract evolved, why it fails to meet needs today, and how it can be reinvented for the conditions of a largely post-industrial and increasingly diverse society.
Washington, D.C. | $500,000 | 2 years | www.newamerica.net
2008
To support the New Democracy Project—a think tank and advocacy organization that promotes democratic participation, economic fairness, and social justice—and the Center for American Progress in producing an agency-by-agency guide for a new administration relying on leading scholars, authors, and former officals. (This project was co-funded by the OSI Equality and Opportunity Fund, National Security and Human Rights Campaign, and Transparency & Integrity Fund.)
| $100,000 | 1 year | www.newdemocracyproject.org
2008
To support the State Fiscal Analysis Initiative, a network run out of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and which provides state-based research and policy support around budget, tax, and fiscal issues in state capitals in ways that advance the interests of low- and middle-income Americans. The Open Society Institute is part of a funding collaborative that divides up State Fiscal Analysis Initiative groups for grantmaking purposes.
Trenton, NJ | $150,000 | 2 years | www.njpp.org
New Organizing Institute
2009
To support New Organizing Institute, a Washington, DC-based organization that enhances civic engagement and social justice organizing by enabling nonprofit groups to take advantage of the latest advances in new technology.
Washington, DC | $200,000 | 2 years | www.neworganizing.com
2009
To support the New York City-based National Campaign to Restore Civil Rights, a nationwide coalition of lawyers, academics, students and community activists that joined together in response to a series of Supreme Court decisions that have eroded civil rights protections, particularly in the area of federalism.
New York, NY | 300,000 | 18 months | www.rollbackcampaign.org
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New York Lawyers for the Public Interest / Campaign to Restore Civil Rights
2008 To support the Campaign to Restore Civil Rights, a coalition of over eighty federal, state, and local organizations that seek restoration of key legal protections eroded by federal courts over the past decade. New York, NY | $200,000 | 1 year | www.rollbackcampaign.org
Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network
2009 A grant to support the Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network, a national alliance of direct and human service providers and agencies building the civic engagement capacity of the nonprofit social service sector. St. Paul, MN | $300,000 | 2 years | www.nonprofitvote.org |
2008
To support the State Fiscal Analysis Initiative, a network run out of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and which provides state-based research and policy support around budget, tax, and fiscal issues in state capitals in ways that advance the interests of low- and middle-income Americans. The Open Society Institute is part of a funding collaborative that divides up State Fiscal Analysis Initiative groups for grantmaking purposes.
Silverton, OR | $150,000 | 2 years | www.ocpp.org
2008
To provide general support for the Partnership for Working Families, which provides research and technical assistance to a network of metropolitan-based economic justice organizations focused on community benefit agreements.
Washington, D.C. | $350,000 | 2 years | www.communitybenefits.org
2009
A grant to support the Partnership for Working Families, a national network that provides policy, communications, research, organizing and legal resources to metro-based affiliates that are working to advance economic and social justice in their communities.
Washington, D.C. | $300,000 | 2 years | www.communitybenefits.org
2008
To support Young People For, which provides fellowships and internships to youth in an effort to diversify the leadership of social change movements, support young people to effect change, and sustain social change leadership over the long term.
Washington, D.C. | $400,000 | 1 year | www.youngpeoplefor.org
2009
To support the PICO National Network, a 36-year-old network of congregation-based community organizations which brings the voices of people of faith and faith leaders to the public debate on national priorities, including housing, health care, and immigration. (This project was co-funded by the OSI Equality and Opportunity Fund’s Neighborhood Stabilization Initiative and the Seize the Day special funding initiative.)
Oakland, CA | $600,000 | 2 years | www.piconetwork.org
2009
A grant to support the Progressive States Network for its work to provide non-partisan support to state legislators with background research on public policy and linking legislators and state advocates to each other across state lines.
New York, NY | $300,000 | 2 years | www.progressivestates.org
2009
A grant to support the Pushback Network, a national collaboration of grassroots groups and networks, that seeks to build “bottom-up” state-based alliances to increase civic participation by leaders from marginalized communities.
| $225,000 | 18 months | http://pushbacknetwork.org
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Right to the City Alliance
2008 To support the Right to the City Alliance, an emerging national network of local base-building organizations and allies committed to building a movement for urban justice, human rights, and democracy, in a strategic planning and organizational assessment process. Brooklyn, NY | $100,000 | 9 months | www.righttothecity.org |
2009
To support Right to the City Alliance, a Brooklyn, NY-based emerging national alliance of more than 50 urban base-building organizations and allies committed to building a movement for urban justice, human rights, and democracy.
Brooklyn, NY | $500,000 | 2 years | www.righttothecity.org
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Rockwood Leadership Program
2009 A grant to support the Rockwood Leadership Program, a national non-profit that promotes social change by providing individuals, organizations, and issue sectors with powerful and effective training in leadership and collaboration. Berkeley, CA | $400,000 | 2 years | www.rockwoodleadership.org |
2008
To support the Rockwood Leadership Program in conducting an independent, thorough evaluation of its programs, and to provide underwriting support for the incoming class of its most advanced offering, Leading from the Inside Out, the Rockwood Yearlong Fellowship for Social Change Leaders.
Berkeley, CA | $109,000 | 1 year | www.rockwoodleadership.org
2008
To provide general support for Ruckus Society, a capacity-building and intermediary organization that provides trainings to grassroots organizations and young individuals working on environmental, human rights, and social justice issues.
Oakland, CA | $100,000 | 2 years | www.ruckus.org
2009
To support the Harlem-based Social Justice Leadership which provides innovative high-quality leadership training to staff of community organizations, labor unions, and other grassroots social justice organizations in Miami, New Orleans, and New York City.
New York, NY | $100,000 | 1 year | www.sojustlead.org
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State Voices
2008 To support State Voices, a network that supports year-round state tables for 501(c)(3) organizations that foster collaborative issue policy work, economies of scale, rigorous evaluation, and efforts to engage socially responsible and historically underrepresented communities in and out of election seasons. Detroit, MI | $200,000 | 2 years | www.statevoices.org |
2009
A grant to support State Voices, the convener and technical assistance provider for 16 permanent, year-round state tables for more than 545 diverse non-partisan 501(c)(3) organizations that foster collaborative voter engagement and multi-issue advocacy work.
Detroit, MI | $600,000 | 18 months | www.statevoices.org
2009
To support the Civic Engagement Fund, housed at State Voices, which provides shared voter file access, trainings, and technical and strategic support to more than 540 local, state, and national affiliate non-profit organizations seeking to enhance non-partisan voter participation in sixteen states.
Detroit, MI | $400,000 | 1 year | www.statevoices.org
2009
A grant to support Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a grassroots network of students who are concerned about the impact drug abuse has on communities and how the “War on Drugs” is failing.
Washington, D.C. | $100,000 | 2 years | www.ssdp.org
2008
To support the We Are America Alliance, an umbrella group of partners and allies dedicated to encouraging maximum civic participation in immigrant communities across the country.
| $200,000 | 1 year | www.weareamericaalliance.org
2008
To support the Opportunity Agenda, a social justice organization that works collaboratively with other organizations, spanning isolated issues and constituencies, to integrate strategic communications with those organizations’ advocacy and research. This grant was co-funded by the OSI Equality and Opportunity Fund.
New York, NY | $400,000 | 2 years | www.opportunityagenda.org
2009
To support WireTap Magazine, based in San Francisco, CA, an influential independent news and culture youth web magazine which amplifies the voices of young people from diverse backgrounds in order to shape the political discourse and spotlight issues that impact their lives.
| $200,000 | 2 years | www.wiretapmag.org
2008
To provide general support to the Tobin Project, an alliance of leading academics across the social sciences and humanities that redirects and harnesses academic work for public purposes and policy debates.
Cambridge, MA | $450,000 | 2 years | www.tobinproject.org
2009
A grant to support the Tobin Project, a network of leading academics from law, economics, history, politics, and policy working to reframe fundamental debates about foreign and domestic policy.
Cambridge, MA | $225,000 | 1 year | www.tobinproject.org
2009
A grant to support United for a Fair Economy’s Tax Fairness Organizing Collaborative, a national network of state-based organizations that educates and organizes for fair taxation at the state and local levels.
Boston, MA | $150,000 | 1 year | www.faireconomy.org/tfoc
2008
To provide general support for the United States Student Association Foundation, which provides education and organizing materials, technical assistance, and training to students in the United States Student Association network who are organizing on issues of access on the campus, state, and federal level.
Washington, D.C. | $600,000 | 2 years | www.usstudents.org
2008
To support the Center for State Innovation, an effort to provide policy advice and research to innovative state executives (governors, secretaries of state, attorneys general, and treasurers, primarily).
Madison, WI | $250,000 | 1 year | www.stateinnovation.org
Voto Latino
2009
A grant to support Voto Latino (VL), an emerging national organization that informs and motivates Latino youth to engage in civic participation by leveraging the latest technologies to promote positive change. This grant is co-funded by U.S. Programs’ Strategic Opportunities Fund in recognition of VL’s census outreach leadership and the Seize the Day Initiative in recognition of VL’s cutting edge use of new media outreach strategies.
Washington, D.C. | $225,000 | 2 years | www.votolatino.org
2009
To support Campus Camp Wellstone, a project of the Wellstone Action Fund, which runs trainings and develops curriculum for a diverse community of young people and organizations that seek to inspire greater activism from young people.
Minneapolis, MN | $200,000 | 2 years | www.wellstone.org/our-programs/campus-camp-wellstone
2008
To provide general support to the Western States Center, which seeks to build a movement for political reform and economic, racial and environmental justice in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and Alaska.
Portland, OR | $100,000 | 1 year | www.westernstatescenter.org
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Western States Center
2009 To support Western States Center, a Portland, OR-based organization that builds power to advance social justice through provide training, consultation and resources to a wide range of community and constituency-based organizations in the Pacific Northwest, Great Basin, and Intermountain West states. Portland, OR | $100,000 | 1 year | www.westernstatescenter.org |
2008
To support the Wisconsin Budget Project’s work as part of the State Fiscal Analysis Initiative, a network run out of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and which provides state-based research and policy support around budget, tax, and fiscal issues in state capitals in ways that advance the interests of low- and middle-income Americans. The Open Society Institute is part of a funding collaborative that divides up State Fiscal Analysis Initiative groups for grantmaking purposes.
Madison, WI | $150,000 | 2 years | www.wccf.org
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Youth Engagement Fund and Table
2008 To support the Youth Engagement Fund and Table, which coordinates a 501(c)(3) table of national youth groups and their field programs aimed at mobilizing and permanently engaging young voters, ages 18-29. | $250,000 | 1 year |
2009
A grant to support the Youth Engagement Fund and Table housed at the Tides Foundation, a non-partisan 501(c)(3) collaborative table of youth civic engagement organizations that exists to increase the ability of each group to meet voter registration and mobilization goals.
| $150,000 | 18 months
The Many Faces of George Soros
GEORGE SOROS- A Primer: DISCOVER THE NETWORKS SAYS: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977 Multi-billionaire funder of leftwing causes and groups Founder of the Open Society Institute Stated that defeating President Bush in the 2004 election “is the central focus of my life” George Soros was born on August 12, 1930 in Budapest, Hungary. His father, Teodoro Schwartz, was an Orthodox Jew who, in 1936, changed the family surname from Schwartz to Soros in order to enable his family to conceal its Jewish identity and thus to survive the Nazi Holocaust. In 1947 Soros’ family relocated from Hungary to England. Five years later, George graduated from the London School of Economics. He subsequently worked for a London stockbroker.
In 1956 Soros, with meager personal assets, emigrated to the United States. He would go on to become one of the world’s leading hedge fund investors and currency traders. In 1969 he started his enormously successful Quantum Fund, which, over the ensuing three decades, yielded its long-term investors a four thousand-fold gain on their initial 1969 investments.
In a $10 billion 1992 deal whose success was contingent upon the devaluation of the British Pound, Soros earned himself a $1 billion profit and the title, “the man who broke the Bank of England.” To date, he has amassed a personal fortune exceeding $7 billion. In addition, his management company controls billions of dollars more in investor assets.
In 1979 Soros established the Open Society Institute (OSI), which serves as the flagship of a network of Soros foundations that donate tens of millions of dollars each year to a wide array of individuals and organizations that share the founder’s agendas. Those agendas can be summarized as follows: promoting the view that America is institutionally an oppressive nation
promoting the election of leftist political candidates throughout the United States
opposing virtually all post-9/11 national security measures enacted by U.S. government, particularly the Patriot Act
depicting American military actions as unjust, unwarranted, and immoral
promoting open borders, mass immigration, and a watering down of current immigration laws
promoting a dramatic expansion of social welfare programs funded by ever-escalating taxes
promoting social welfare benefits and amnesty for illegal aliens
defending the civil rights and liberties of suspected anti-American terrorists and their abetters
financing the recruitment and training of future activist leaders of the political Left
advocating America’s unilateral disarmament and/or a steep reduction in its military spending
opposing the death penalty in all circumstances
promoting socialized medicine in the United States
promoting the tenets of radical environmentalism, whose ultimate goal, as writer Michael Berliner has explained, is “not clean air and clean water, [but] rather … the demolition of technological/industrial civilization”
bringing American foreign policy under the control of the United Nations
promoting racial and ethnic preferences in academia and the business world alike
promoting taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand
advocating stricter gun-control measures
advocating the legalization of marijuana Organizations that, in recent years, have received direct funding and assistance from George Soros and his Open Society Institute (OSI) include the following. (Comprehensive profiles of each are available in the “Groups” section of DiscoverTheNetworks.org):
Alliance for Justice: Best known for its activism vis a vis the appointment of federal judges, this group consistently depicts Republican judicial nominees as “extremists.”
America Coming Together: Soros played a major role in creating this group, whose purpose was to coordinate and organize pro-Democrat voter-mobilization programs.
America Votes: Soros also played a major role in creating this group, whose get-out-the-vote campaigns targeted likely Democratic voters. American Civil Liberties Union: This group opposes virtually all post-9/11 national security measures enacted by U.S. government. It supports open borders, has rushed to the defense of suspected terrorists and their abettors, and appointed former New Left terrorist Bernardine Dohrn to its Advisory Board.
American Constitution Society for Law and Policy: This Washington, DC-based think tank seeks to move American jurisprudence to the left by recruiting, indoctrinating, and mobilizing young law students, helping them acquire positions of power. It also provides leftist Democrats with a bully pulpit from which to denounce their political adversaries.
American Family Voices: This group creates and coordinates media campaigns charging Republicans with wrongdoing.
American Friends Service Committee: This group views the United States as the principal cause of human suffering around the world. As such, it favors America’s unilateral disarmament, the dissolution of American borders, amnesty for illegal aliens, the abolition of the death penalty, and the repeal of the Patriot Act.
American Immigration Law Foundation: This group supports amnesty for illegal aliens, on whose behalf it litigates against the U.S. government.
American Library Association: This group has been an outspoken critic of the Bush administration’s War on Terror — most particularly, Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, which it calls “a present danger to the constitutional rights and privacy rights of library users.”
The American Prospect, Inc.: This corporation trains and mentors young leftwing journalists, and organizes strategy meetings for leftist leaders.
Amnesty International: This organization directs a grossly disproportionate share of its criticism for human rights violations at the United States and Israel.
Arab American Institute Foundation: The Arab American Institute denounces the purportedly widespread civil liberties violations directed against Arab Americans in the post-9/11 period, and characterizes Israel as a brutal oppressor of the Palestinian people. Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now: This group conducts voter mobilization drives on behalf of leftist Democrats. These initiatives have been notoriously marred by fraud and corruption.
Bill of Rights Defense Committee: This group provides a detailed blueprint for activists interested in getting their local towns, cities, and even college campuses to publicly declare their opposition to the Patriot Act, and to designate themselves “Civil Liberties Safe Zones.” The organization also came to the defense of self-described radical attorney Lynne Stewart, who was convicted in 2005 of providing material support for terrorism.
Brennan Center for Justice: This think tank/legal activist group generates scholarly studies, mounts media campaigns, files amicus briefs, gives pro bono support to activists, and litigates test cases in pursuit of radical “change.”
Brookings Institution: This organization has been involved with a variety of internationalist and state-sponsored programs, including one that aspires to facilitate the establishment of a U.N.-dominated world government. Brookings Fellows have also called for additional global collaboration on trade and banking; the expansion of the Kyoto Protocol; and nationalized health insurance for children. Nine Brookings economists signed a petition opposing President Bush’s tax cuts in 2003.
Campaign for America’s Future: This group supports tax hikes, socialized medicine, and a dramatic expansion of social welfare programs.
Campus Progress: A project of the Soros-bankrolled Center for American Progress, this group seeks to “strengthen progressive voices on college and university campuses, counter the growing influence of right-wing groups on campus, and empower new generations of progressive leaders.”
Catholics for a Free Choice: This nominally Catholic organization supports women’s right to abortion-on-demand.
Center for American Progress: This leftist think tank is headed by former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta, works closely with Hillary Clinton, and employs numerous former Clinton administration staffers. It is committed to “developing a long-term vision of a progressive America” and “providing a forum to generate new progressive ideas and policy proposals.”
Center for Community Change: This group recruits and trains activists to spearhead leftist “political issue campaigns.” Promoting increased funding for social welfare programs by bringing “attention to major national issues related to poverty,” the Center bases its training programs on the techniques taught by the famed radical organizer Saul Alinsky.
Center for Constitutional Rights: This pro-Castro organization is a core member of the open borders lobby, has opposed virtually all post-9/11 anti-terrorism measures by the U.S. government, and alleges that American injustice provokes acts of international terrorism.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Reasoning from the premise that tax cuts generally help only the wealthy, this organization advocates greater tax expenditures on social welfare programs for low earners.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington: This group litigates and brings ethics charges against “government officials who sacrifice the common good to special interests” and “betray the public trust.” Almost all of its targets are Republicans.
Coalition for an International Criminal Court: This group seeks to subordinate American criminal-justice procedures to those of an international court.
Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund: Defenders of Wildlife opposes oil exploration in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It condemns logging, ranching, mining, and even the use of recreational motorized vehicles as activities that are destructive to the environment.
Democracy Alliance: This self-described “liberal organization” aims to raise $200 million to develop a funding clearinghouse for leftist groups. Soros is a major donor to this group.
Democracy 21: This group is a staunch supporter of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, also known as the McCain-Feingold Act.
Democratic Party: Soros’ funding activities are devoted largely to helping the Democratic Party solidify its power base. In a November 2003 interview, Soros stated that defeating President Bush in 2004 “is the central focus of my life” … “a matter of life and death.” He pledged to raise $75 million to defeat Bush, and personally donated nearly a third of that amount to anti-Bush organizations. “America under Bush,” he said, “is a danger to the world, and I’m willing to put my money where my mouth is.” Claiming that “the Republican party has been captured by a bunch of extremists,” Soros accuses the Bush administration of following a “supremacist ideology” in whose rhetoric he claims to hear echoes of “Nazi slogans.”
Earthjustice: This group seeks to place severe restrictions on how U.S. land and waterways may be used. It opposes most mining and logging initiatives, commercial fishing businesses, and the use of motorized vehicles in undeveloped areas.
EMILY’s List: This political network raises money for Democratic female political candidates who support unrestricted access to taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand.
Feminist Majority: Characterizing the United States as an inherently sexist nation, this group focuses on “advancing the legal, social and political equality of women with men, countering the backlash to women’s advancement, and recruiting and training young feminists to encourage future leadership for the feminist movement in the United States.”
Free Press: This “media reform” organization has worked closely with many notable leftists and such organizations as Media Matters for America, Air America Radio, Global Exchange, Code Pink, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, the Revolutionary Communist Party, Mother Jones magazine, and Pacifica Radio.
Funding Exchange: Dedicated to the concept of philanthropy as a vehicle for social change, this organization pairs leftist donors and foundations with likeminded groups and activists who are dedicated to bringing about their own version of “progressive” change and social justice. Many of these grantees assume that American society is rife with racism, discrimination, exploitation, and inequity and needs to be overhauled via sustained education, activism, and social agitation.
Gamaliel Foundation: Modeling its tactics on those of the radical Sixties activist Saul Alinsky, this group takes a strong stand against current homeland security measures and immigration restrictions.
Human Rights First: This group supports open borders and the rights of illegal aliens; charges that the Patriot Act severely erodes Americans’ civil liberties; has filed amicus curiae briefs on behalf of terror suspect Jose Padilla; and deplores the Guantanamo Bay detention facilities.
Human Rights Watch: This group directs a disproportionate share of its criticism at the United States and Israel. It opposes the death penalty in all cases, and supports open borders and amnesty for illegal aliens.
Immigrant Legal Resource Center: This group claims to have helped gain amnesty for some three million illegal aliens in the U.S., and in the 1980s was part of the sanctuary movement which sought to grant asylum to refugees from the failed Communist states of Central America.
Independent Media Institute: This group provides leftist organizations with “strategic communications consulting, training, coaching, networking opportunities and concrete tools” to help them “achieve their social justice goals.”
Institute for Policy Studies: This think tank has long supported Communist and anti-American causes around the world. Viewing capitalism as a breeding ground for “unrestrained greed,” IPS seeks to provide a corrective to “unrestrained markets and individualism.” Professing an unquestioning faith in the righteousness of the United Nations, it aims to bring American foreign policy under UN control.
Institute for Women’s Policy Research: This group views the U.S. as a nation rife with discrimination against women, and publishes research to draw attention to this alleged state of affairs. It also advocates unrestricted access to taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand, stating that “access to abortion is essential to the economic well-being of women and girls.”
International Crisis Group: One of this organization’s leading figures is its Mideast Director, Robert Malley, who was a President Bill Clinton’s Special Assistant for Arab-Israeli Affairs. His analysis of the Mideast conflict is markedly pro-Palestinian.
Joint Victory Campaign 2004: Founded by George Soros and Harold Ickes, this group was a major fundraising entity for Democrats during the 2004 election cycle. It collected contributions (including large amounts from Soros personally) and disbursed them to two other groups, America Coming Together and the Media Fund, which also worked on behalf of Democrats.
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law: This group views America as an unremittingly racist nation; uses the courts to mandate race-based affirmative action preferences in business and academia; has filed briefs against the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to limit the wholesale granting of green cards and to identify potential terrorists; condemns the Patriot Act; and calls on Americans to “recognize the contribution” of illegal aliens.
League of United Latin American Citizens: This group views America as a nation plagued by “an alarming increase in xenophobia and anti-Hispanic sentiment”; favors racial preferences; supports the legalization of illegal Hispanic aliens; opposes military surveillance of U.S. borders; opposes making English America’s official language; favors open borders; and rejects anti-terrorism legislation like the Patriot Act.
League of Women Voters Education Fund: The League supports taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand; supports “motor-voter” registration, which allows anyone with a driver’s license to become a voter, regardless of citizenship status; and supports tax hikes and socialized medicine.
Lynne Stewart Defense Committee: IRS records indicate that Soros’s Open Society Institute made a September 2002 grant of $20,000 to this organization. Stewart was the criminal-defense attorney who was later convicted for abetting her client, the “blind sheik” Omar Abdel Rahman, in terrorist activities connected with his Islamic Group.
MADRE: This international women’s organization deems America the world’s foremost violator of human rights. As such, it seeks to “communicat[e] the real-life impact of U.S. policies on women and families confronting violence, poverty and repression around the world,” and to “demand alternatives to destructive U.S. policies.” It also advocates unrestricted access to taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand.
Malcolm X Grassroots Movement: This group views the U.S. as a nation replete with racism and discrimination against blacks; seeks to establish an independent black nation in the southeastern United States; and demands reparations for slavery.
Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition: This group calls for the expansion of civil rights and liberties for illegal aliens; laments that illegal aliens in America are commonly subjected to “worker exploitation”; supports tuition-assistance programs for illegal aliens attending college; and characterizes the Patriot Act as a “very troubling” assault on civil liberties.
Media Fund: Soros played a major role in creating this group, whose purpose was to conceptualize, produce, and place political ads on television, radio, print, and the Internet.
Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund: This group advocates open borders, free college tuition for illegal aliens, lowered educational standards to accommodate Hispanics, and voting rights for criminals. In MALDEF’s view, supporters of making English the official language of the United States are “motivated by racism and anti-immigrant sentiments,” while advocates of sanctions against employers reliant on illegal labor seek to discriminate against “brown-skinned people.”
Meyer, Suozzi, English and Klein, PC: This influential defender of Big Labor is headed by Democrat operative Harold Ickes.
Midwest Academy: This entity trains radical activists in the tactics of direct action, targeting, confrontation, and intimidation.
Migration Policy Institute: This group seeks to create “a North America with gradually disappearing border controls … with permanent migration remaining at moderate levels.”
Military Families Speak Out: This group ascribes the U.S. invasion of Iraq to American imperialism and lust for oil.
MoveOn.org: This Web-based organization supports Democratic political candidates through fundraising, advertising, and get-out-the-vote drives.
Ms. Foundation for Women: This group laments what it views as the widespread and enduring flaws of American society: racism, sexism, homophobia, and the violation of civil rights and liberties. It focuses its philanthropy on groups that promote affirmative action for women, unfettered access to taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand, amnesty for illegal aliens, and big government generally.
NARAL Pro-Choice America: This group supports taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand, and works to elect pro-abortion Democrats.
NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund: The NAACP supports racial preferences in employment and education, as well as the racial gerrymandering of voting districts. Underpinning its support for race preferences is the fervent belief that white racism in the United States remains an intractable, largely undiminished, phenomenon.
The Nation Institute: This nonprofit entity sponsors leftist conferences, fellowships, awards for radical activists, and journalism internships.
National Abortion Federation: This group opposes any restrictions on abortion at either the state or federal levels, and champions the introduction of unrestricted abortion into developing regions of the world.
National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy: This group depicts the United States as a nation in need of dramatic structural change financed by philanthropic organizations. It overwhelmingly promotes grant-makers and grantees with leftist agendas, while criticizing their conservative counterparts.
National Council for Research on Women: This group supports big government, high taxes, military spending cuts, increased social welfare spending, and the unrestricted right to taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand.
National Council of La Raza: This group lobbies for racial preferences, bilingual education, stricter hate-crime laws, mass immigration, and amnesty for illegal aliens.
National Council of Women’s Organizations: This group views the United States as a nation rife with injustice against girls and women. It advocates high levels of spending for social welfare programs, and supports race and gender preferences for minorities and women in business and academia.
National Immigration Forum: Opposing the enforcement of present immigration laws, this organization urges the American government to “legalize” en masse all illegal aliens currently in the United States who have no criminal records, and to dramatically increase the number of visas available for those wishing to migrate to the U.S. The Forum is particularly committed to opening the borders to unskilled, low-income workers, and immediately making them eligible for welfare and social service programs.
National Immigration Law Center: This group seeks to win unrestricted access to government-funded social welfare programs for illegal aliens.
National Lawyers Guild: This group promotes open borders; seeks to weaken America’s intelligence-gathering agencies; condemns the Patriot Act as an assault on civil liberties; rejects capitalism as an unviable economic system; has rushed to the defense of convicted terrorists and their abettors; and generally opposes all U.S. foreign policy positions, just as it did during the Cold War when it sided with the Soviets.
National Organization for Women: This group advocates the unfettered right to taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand; seeks to “eradicate racism, sexism and homophobia” from American society; attacks Christianity and traditional religious values; and supports gender-based preferences for women.
National Priorities Project: This group supports government-mandated redistribution of wealth — through higher taxes and greater expenditures on social welfare programs. NPP exhorts the government to redirect a significant portion of its military funding toward public education, universal health insurance, environmentalist projects, and welfare programs.
National Security Archive Fund: This group collects and publishes declassified documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act to a degree that compromises American national security and the safety of intelligence agents.
National Women’s Law Center: This group supports taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand; lobbies against conservative judicial appointees; advocates increased welfare spending to help low-income mothers; and favors higher taxes for the purpose of generating more funds for such government programs as Medicaid, food stamps, welfare, foster care, health care, child-support enforcement, and student loans.
Natural Resources Defense Council: One of the most influential environmentalist lobbying groups in the United States, the Council claims a membership of one million people.
Pacifica Foundation: This entity owns and operates Pacifica Radio, awash from its birth with the socialist-Marxist rhetoric of class warfare and hatred for capitalism.
Peace and Security Funders Group: This is an association of more than 50 foundations that give money to leftist anti-war and environmentalist causes. Its members tend to depict America as the world’s chief source of international conflict, environmental destruction, and economic inequalities.
People for the American Way: This group opposes the Patriot Act, anti-terrorism measures generally, and the allegedly growing influence of the “religious right.”
Physicians for Human Rights: This group is selectively and disproportionately critical of the United States and Israel in its condemnations of human rights violations.
Physicians for Social Responsibility: This is an anti-U.S.-military organization that also embraces the tenets of radical environmentalism.
Planned Parenthood: This group is the largest abortion provider in the United States and advocates taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand.
Ploughshares Fund: This public grantmaking foundation opposes America’s development of a missile defense system, and contributes to many organizations that are highly critical of U.S. foreign policies and military ventures.
Prison Moratorium Project: This initiative was created in 1995 for the express purpose of working for the elimination of all prisons in the United States and the release of all inmates. Reasoning from the premise that incarceration is never an appropriate means of dealing with crime, it deems American society’s inherent inequities the root of all criminal behavior.
Project Vote: This is the voter-mobilization arm of the Soros-funded ACORN. A persistent pattern of lawlessness and corruption has followed ACORN/Project Vote activities over the years.
Proteus Fund: This foundation directs its philanthropy toward a number of radical leftwing organizations.
Public Citizen Foundation: Public Citizen seeks increased government intervention and litigation against corporations — a practice founded on the notion that American corporations, like the capitalist system of which they are a part, are inherently inclined toward corruption.
Sentencing Project: Asserting that prison-sentencing patterns are racially discriminatory, this initiative advocates voting rights for felons.
Sojourners: This evangelical Christian ministry preaches radical leftwing politics. During the 1980s it championed Communist revolution in Central America and chastised U.S. policy-makers for their tendency “to assume the very worst about their Soviet counterparts.” More recently, Sojourners has taken up the cause of environmental activism, opposed welfare reform as a “mean-spirited Republican agenda,” and mounted a defense of affirmative action.
Thunder Road Group: This political consultancy, in whose creation Soros had a hand, coordinates strategy for the Media Fund, America Coming Together, and America Votes.
Tides Foundation and Tides Center: Tides is a major funder of the radical Left.
Urban Institute: This research organization favors socialized medicine, expansion of the federal welfare bureaucracy, and tax hikes for higher income-earners.
USAction Education Fund: USAction lists its priorities as: “fighting the right wing agenda”; “building grassroots political power”; winning “social, racial and economic justice for all”; supporting a system of taxpayer-funded socialized medicine; reversing “reckless tax cuts for millionaires and corporations” which shield the “wealthy” from paying their “fair share”; advocating for “pro-consumer and environmental regulation of corporate abuse”; “strengthening progressive voices on local, state and national issues”; and working to “register, educate and get out the vote … [to] help progressives get elected at all levels of government.”
YWCA World Office, Switzerland: The YWCA opposes abstinence education; supports universal access to taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand; and opposes school vouchers.
“Secondary“ or “Indirect“ Affiliates of the George Soros Network
By Discover The Networks
In addition to those organizations (“primary” or “direct” affiliates) that are funded directly by George Soros and his Open Society Institute (OSI), there are also numerous “secondary” or “indirect” affiliates of the Soros network. These include organizations which do not receive direct funding from Soros and OSI, but which are funded by one or more organizations that do. These secondary affiliates also include organizations that work collaboratively or synergistically with Soros-funded groups. Among these secondary affiliates are the following:
Air America Radio: Funded by Democracy Alliance, which is heavily bankrolled by Soros, this radio station was created to advance the cause of the Democratic Party and the political Left. Catalist: Headed by Soros ally Harold Ickes, this political consultancy seeks “to help progressive organizations realize measurable increases in civic participation and electoral success by building and operating a robust national voter database of every voting-age American.” Toward this end, it helps leftist organizations conduct more effective get-out-the-vote drives and targeted political advertising.
Center for Progressive Leadership: Funded by the Soros-bankrolled Democracy Alliance, this anti-capitalist organization is dedicated to training future leftist political leaders.
J Street: Founded in April 2008, the Washington, DC-based J Street describes itself deceptively as “the political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement.”
Media Matters for America: Seeking to “systematically monitor [the media] for conservative misinformation” and to discredit anything that “forwards the conservative agenda,” this group, which has intimate ties to Hillary Clinton, works very closely with the Soros-backed Center for American Progress. It is heavily funded by Democracy Alliance, of which Soros is a major financier.
Moving Ideas Network: This coalition of more than 250 leftwing activist groups is a partner organization of the Soros-backed Center for American Progress. Promoting the candidacy of leftwing politicians, the Moving Ideas Network was originally a project of the Soros-backed American Prospect and, as such, received indirect funding from the Open Society Institute. In early 2006, The American Prospect relinquished control of the Moving Ideas Network
New Organizing Institute: Created by the Soros-funded MoveOn.org, this group “trains young, technology-enabled political organizers to work for progressive campaigns and organizations.”
Schumann Center for Media and Democracy: PBS broadcaster and Schumann Center President Bill Moyers is a trustee of the Open Society Institute’s Board of Directors. The Schumann Center shares many of OSI’s agendas.
Service Employees International Union: The current President of SEIU is the former New Leftist Andrew Stern, who sat on the Executive Committee of the Soros-created America Coming Together.
Sierra Club: This organization’s Executive Director, Carl Pope, co founded America Coming Together, in whose creation Soros played a major role.
Think Progress: This “project” of the American Progress Action Fund, which is a “sister advocacy organization”of the Soros-funded Center for American Progress and Campus Progress, seeks to transform “progressive ideas into policy through rapid response communications, legislative action, grassroots organizing and advocacy, and partnerships with other progressive leaders throughout the country and the world.” Think Progress promotes an agenda identical to that of the left wing of the Democratic Party.
Vote for Change: Coordinated by the political action committee of the Soros-funded MoveOn.org, Vote for Change was a group of 41 musicians and bands that performed concerts in several key election “battleground”states during October 2004, to raise money in support of Democrat John Kerry‘s presidential bid.
Working Families Party: Created in 1998 to help push the Democratic Party toward the left, this front group for the Soros-funded ACORN functions as a political party that promotes ACORN-friendly candidates.
In a November 2008 interview with Spiegel, Soros made some comments that accurately outlined precisely the course that President Obama’s administration would eventually pursue in 2009:
“I think we need a large stimulus package which will provide funds for state and local government to maintain their budgets — because they are not allowed by the constitution to run a deficit. For such a program to be successful, the federal government would need to provide hundreds of billions of dollars. In addition, another infrastructure program is necessary. In total, the cost would be in the 300 to 600 billion dollar range [in addition to the $700 billion bailout which the government already had given to the financial industry]…. I think this is a great opportunity to finally deal with global warming and energy dependence. The U.S. needs a cap and trade system with auctioning of licenses for emissions rights. I would use the revenues from these auctions to launch a new, environmentally friendly energy policy. That would be yet another federal program that could help us to overcome the current stagnation.”
The interviewer then said: “Your proposal would be dismissed on Wall Street as ‘big government.’ Republicans might call it European-style ‘socialism.'” Soros replied: “That is exactly what we need now. I am against market fundamentalism. I think this propaganda that government involvement is always bad has been very successful — but also very harmful to our society…. I think it is better to have a government that wants to provide good government than a government that doesn’t believe in government…. At times of recession, running a budget deficit is highly desirable. Once the economy begins to recover, you have to balance the budget. In 2010, the Bush tax cuts will expire and we should not extend them. But we will also need additional revenues.”
Apart from the more than $5 billion that Soros’ foundation network has donated to leftist groups like those listed above, Soros personally has made campaign contributions to such notable political candidates as Charles Rangel, Al Franken, Tom Udall, Joe Sestak, and Sherrod Brown.
SOROS POLITICAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS: (a partial list) http://www.campaignmoney.com/biography/george_soros.asp
GEORGE SOROS FOUDATIONS: Below are links to International Soros foundations, arranged alphabetically by country or area. |
SOROS CHARITIES found at irs.gov shows:
Jennifer and Jonathan Allan Soros Foundation
New York
NY
USA
Paul & Daisy Soros Foundation
New York
NY
USA
Soros Charitable Foundation Tr
New York
NY
USA
Soros Economic Development Fund
New York
NY
USA
Soros Foundation-Hungary
New York
NY
USA
Soros Foundation-Newly Independent Baltic States
New York
NY
USA
Soros Fund Charitable Foundation
New York
NY
USA
Soros Humanitarian Foundation Tr
New York
NY
USA
News for 09/16/2009- An Open Letter to the Good Democrats of America
Good Democrats of America,
Your party has been co-opted by special interests and in particular, a billionaire who cares nothing for your country, your principles, your opinions. You need to take back your party, or as this may be impossible at this late date, you may need to start a new party of your own, reflective of your principles. Time is of the essence. Allow me to first introduce you to the actual head of your party. This will be an ongoing series. You don’t have to believe what I am saying, but please take time to investigate for yourself. I am confident the real Democrats of America do not condone corruption, anti-constitutional activities and laws or socialism.
Meet George Soros http://www.soros.org/…
http://www.discoverth…
George Soros was born on August 12, 1930 in Budapest, Hungary. His father, Teodoro Schwartz, was an Orthodox Jew who, in 1936, changed the family surname from Schwartz to Soros in order to enable his family to conceal its Jewish identity and thus to survive the Nazi Holocaust. In 1947 Soros’ family relocated from Hungary to England. Five years later, George graduated from the London School of Economics. He subsequently worked for a London stockbroker. In 1956 Soros, with meager personal assets, emigrated to the United States. To date, he has amassed a personal fortune exceeding $7 billion. In addition, his management company controls billions of dollars more in investor assets.
In 1979 Soros established the Open Society Institute (OSI), which serves as the flagship of a network of Soros foundations that donate tens of millions of dollars each year to a wide array of individuals and organizations that share the founder’s agendas. Those agendas can be summarized as follows:
*promoting the view that America is institutionally an oppressive nation
*promoting the election of leftist political candidates throughout the United States
*opposing virtually all post-9/11 national security measures enacted by U.S. government, particularly the Patriot Act
depicting American military actions as unjust, unwarranted, and immoral
*promoting open borders, mass immigration, and a watering down of current immigration laws
*promoting a dramatic expansion of social welfare programs funded by ever-escalating taxes
*promoting social welfare benefits and amnesty for illegal aliens
defending the civil rights and liberties of suspected anti-American terrorists and their abetters
*financing the recruitment and training of future activist leaders of the political Left
*advocating America’s unilateral disarmament and/or a steep reduction in its military spending
*opposing the death penalty in all circumstances
*promoting socialized medicine in the United States
*promoting the tenets of radical environmentalism, whose ultimate goal, as writer Michael Berliner has explained, is “not clean air and clean water, [but] rather … the demolition of technological/industrial civilization”
*bringing American foreign policy under the control of the United Nations
*promoting racial and ethnic preferences in academia and the business world alike
*promoting taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand
*advocating stricter gun-control measures
*advocating the legalization of marijuana
Moreover, there are numerous “secondary” or “indirect” affiliates of the Soros network. These include organizations which do not receive direct funding from Soros and OSI, but which are funded by one or more organizations that do. These secondary affiliates also include groups that work collaboratively or synergistically with Soros-funded entities. In 1996 Soros launched the Soros Documentary Fund with a mission to “spur awareness, action and social change.” Over the ensuing decade, this Fund would help finance the production of several hundred documentaries. In 2001, the Fund’s leadership was turned over to Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute with a continuing mission: “to support the production of documentaries on social justice, human rights, civil liberties, and freedom of expression issues around the world.” According to journalist Rondi Adamson, most of the documentaries that that the Fund supports “are highly critical of some aspect of American life, capitalism or Western culture,” and generally share Soros’ worldview that “America is a troubling if not sinister influence in the world, that the War on Terror is a fraud and terrorists are misunderstood freedom fighters, and that markets are fundamentally unjust.
According to Richard Poe, co-author (with David Horowitz) of the book The Shadow Party:
“The Shadow Party is the real power driving the Democrat machine. It is a network of radicals dedicated to transforming our constitutional republic into a socialist hive. The leader of these radicals is … George Soros. He has essentially privatized the Democratic Party, bringing it under his personal control. The Shadow Party is the instrument through which he exerts that control…. It works by siphoning off hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign contributions that would have gone to the Democratic Party in normal times, and putting those contributions at the personal disposal of Mr. Soros. He then uses that money to buy influence and loyalty where he sees fit. In 2003, Soros set up a network of privately-owned groups which acts as a shadow or mirror image of the Party. It performs all the functions we would normally expect the real Democratic Party to perform, such as shaping the Party platform, fielding candidates, running campaigns, and so forth. However, it performs these functions under the private supervision of Mr. Soros and his associates. The Shadow Party derives its power from its ability to raise huge sums of money. By controlling the Democrat purse strings, the Shadow Party can make or break any Democrat candidate by deciding whether or not to fund him. During the 2004 election cycle, the Shadow Party raised more than $300 million for Democrat candidates, prompting one of its operatives, MoveOn PAC director Eli Pariser, to declare, ‘Now it’s our party. We bought it, we own it.…'”
The Shadow Party
The so-called “Shadow Democratic Party,” or “Shadow Party,” is a nationwide network of more than five-dozen unions, non-profit activist groups, and think tanks whose agendas are ideologically to the left, which are engaged in campaigning for the Democrats. Its activities include fundraising, get-out-the-vote drives, political advertising, opposition research, and media manipulation. The Shadow Party was conceived and organized principally by George Soros, Hillary Clinton and Harold McEwan Ickes — all identified with the Democratic Party left.
A political consultancy called the Thunder Road Group (TRG), located on the 7th Floor of the historic Motion Picture Association of America headquarters at 888 Sixteenth Street NW in Washington, DC, serves as the unofficial headquarters of the Shadow Party. Three other Shadow Party groups also lease space in the same building, including America Coming Together (ACT), America Votes, and the Partnership for America’s Families. The clustering of these groups in a building owned by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is significant. The MPAA has long enjoyed a close relationship with the Democratic Party; many high-ranking Democrats have transitioned comfortably from government jobs into glamorous posts in the MPAA’s upper management.
As of August 2004, the husband-wife team of George Soros and Susan Soros had contributed $13,120,000 to Shadow Party groups and operations, second only to Soros’ longtime friend and collaborator, insurance mogul Peter B. Lewis ($14,175,000). The third leading donor was Jane Fonda ($13,085,750), followed by Hollywood producer Stephen Bing in fourth place ($9,869,014). Other major funders of the Shadow Party include the Tides Foundation and the Open Society Institute (both Soros funded entities).
SOROS Has Successfully “TARGETED” Other Countries for “Regime Change”
Asserting that America needed “a regime change” to oust Bush, Soros declared that derailing the President’s reelection bid in 2004 “is the central focus of my life … a matter of life and death.” “America under Bush,” he said, “is a danger to the world, and I’m willing to put my money where my mouth is.”
Soros had previously experienced considerable success in effecting “regime change” elsewhere in the world. For instance, he helped fund the 1989 “Velvet Revolution” that brought Vaclav Havel to power in the Czech Republic. And by his own admission, he helped engineer coups in Slovakia, Croatia, Georgia, and Yugoslavia.
When Soros targets a country for “regime change,” he begins by creating a shadow government — a fully formed government-in-exile, ready to assume power when the opportunity arises. The Shadow Party he has built in America greatly resembles those he has created in other countries prior to instigating a coup.
Soros’ Vision is Reflected in Our Government Today:
In a November 2008 interview with Spiegel, Soros made some comments that accurately outlined precisely the course that President Obama’s administration would eventually pursue in 2009:
“I think we need a large stimulus package which will provide funds for state and local government to maintain their budgets — because they are not allowed by the constitution to run a deficit. For such a program to be successful, the federal government would need to provide hundreds of billions of dollars. In addition, another infrastructure program is necessary. In total, the cost would be in the 300 to 600 billion dollar range [in addition to the $700 billion bailout which the government already had given to the financial industry]…. I think this is a great opportunity to finally deal with global warming and energy dependence. The U.S. needs a cap and trade system with auctioning of licenses for emissions rights. I would use the revenues from these auctions to launch a new, environmentally friendly energy policy. That would be yet another federal program that could help us to overcome the current stagnation.”
The interviewer then said: “Your proposal would be dismissed on Wall Street as ‘big government.’ Republicans might call it European-style ‘socialism.'” Soros replied:
“That is exactly what we need now. I am against market fundamentalism. I think this propaganda that government involvement is always bad has been very successful — but also very harmful to our society…. I think it is better to have a government that wants to provide good government than a government that doesn’t believe in government…. At times of recession, running a budget deficit is highly desirable. Once the economy begins to recover, you have to balance the budget. In 2010, the Bush tax cuts will expire and we should not extend them. But we will also need additional revenues.”
Soros Money Financed Communist Van Jones AIM Column By Cliff Kincaid
http://www.aim.org/ai…
When the list of donors to the Van Jones “Green for All” organization is examined, one name stands out-the Open Society Institute of billionaire George Soros. The Green for All 2008 annual report is also notable for the pictures of the powerful people who associated with Jones. They include House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Vice President Al Gore. While the Open Society Institute was supporting Green for All in 2008, when Jones was running it, the Soros-funded organization was financially underwriting the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights when Jones was in charge of that group. The Open Society Institute gave the Ella Baker Center $151,800 in 2006 and $140,000 in 2007. Jones ran this group during the years 1996-2007. He then emerged as a senior fellow at the Soros-funded Center for American Progress. Other funders of the Green for All group included Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection, the Rockefeller family, Men’s Warehouse, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the New World Foundation, the Schwab Charitable Fund, the Streisand Foundation, the Service Employees International Union, and the Tides Center and Foundation. The 990 IRS forms of the Open Society Institute also disclose $560,000 in 2007 and $455,000 in 2006 to the Equal Justice Society, whose president, Eva Paterson, emerged as the major apologist for Jones when he came under attack for his communist background and anti-American statements.
News for 09/07/2009- Can’t get to DC? Join the Virtual March on Washington, FCC Smoking Gun, A Little Holiday Video Fun
http://defeatthedebt….
Conservative Talk Radio- How Those at the FCC Want To Shut It Down- The Official Report – Does this sound Constitutional to You?
http://www.americanpr…
From the Center for American Progress, the Soros Progressive Movement now in charge of our government, here is the report the new FCC head and FCC “Diversity” Czar are using to co-opt free speech in America. This is a 40 page pdf document co-authored by Mark Lloyd, the Diversity Czar, himself. Here is a peek:
“As this report will document in detail, conservative talk radio undeniably dominates the format:
Our analysis in the spring of 2007 of the 257 news/talk stations owned by the top five commercial station owners reveals that 91 percent of the total weekday talk radio programming is conservative, and 9 percent is progressive.
Each weekday, 2,570 hours and 15 minutes of conservative talk are broadcast on these stations compared to 254 hours of progressive talk—10 times as much conservative talk as progressive talk.
A separate analysis of all of the news/talk stations in the top 10 radio markets reveals that 76 percent of the programming in these markets is conservative and 24 percent is progressive, although programming is more balanced in markets such as New York and Chicago.
This dynamic is repeated over and over again no matter how the data is analyzed, whether one looks at the number of stations, number of hours, power of stations, or the number of programs. While progressive talk is making inroads on commercial stations, conservative talk continues to be pushed out over the airwaves in greater multiples of hours than progressive talk is broadcast.
These empirical findings may not be surprising given general impressions about the format, but they are stark and raise serious questions about whether the companies licensed to broadcast over the public airwaves are serving the listening needs of all Americans.
There are many potential explanations for why this gap exists. The two most frequently cited reasons are the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 and simple consumer demand. As this report will detail, neither of these reasons adequately explains why conservative talk radio dominates the airwaves.
Our conclusion is that the gap between conservative and progressive talk radio is the result of multiple structural problems in the U.S. regulatory system, particularly the complete breakdown of the public trustee concept of broadcast, the elimination of clear public interest requirements for broadcasting, and the relaxation of ownership rules including the requirement of local participation in management.”
A Little Video Fun This Labor Day?
We’re the Government and You’re Not
http://www.youtube.co…
A video guide to citizenship
Hey Congressman, I got a twenty here for you
http://www.youtube.co…
Obama .. just another socialist pr*** in the wall
http://jst4us.ning.co…
LOL- all in fun adaptaion of Pink Floyd “The Wall”
Ezra Taft Benson Warns of Socialist Agenda!! MUST SEE
http://www.youtube.co…
News for 08/17/2009- Special Edition- A NEW AND BREWING CRISIS
Let’s Take A Look At Mark Lloyd, FCC Diversity Officer (Czar), and Where He Stands On Issues by Desiree Paquette
Last Friday news broke which suggested a new agenda for the Federal Communications Commission, the government entitiy which issues licenses to broadcasters and broadcasting companies throughout the US. Under the Obama Administration, there is a new position at the FCC called the Diversity Officer. The Diversity Officer has the ability to put into place new regulations. Our new Diversity Czar has an agenda all his own, formulated over several years. This agenda entails creating a new license fee for private broadcast compaines, EQUAL TO THE ANNUAL OPERATING BUDGET OF THAT COMPANY, then redistributing those fees to public broadcast stations to hire, in effect, minority talent and minority owned broadcast entities. There is not one entity who could survive paying their entire annual budget as a new tax, thus as the vast majority of privately owned broadcast entities promote and give voice to middle America, this overwhelming majority of the public would be left with NO VOICE and certainly NO DISSENTING VOICE for the policies and programs put forth by the minority far left segment of the population.
Let’s take a closer look at our new “Diversity Czar”, shall we?
Mark Lloyd has a very distinctive pedigree which cerrtainly fits the bill for a Diversity Czar. His history shows him to have started in broadcasting at NBC and CNN, then moving on to degrees from U of M and Georgetown University. According to his bio posted online at http://www.netcaucus.org/biography/mark-lloyd.shtml
Mark Lloyd is a senior fellow at the George Soros funded Center for American Progress focusing on communications policy issues, including universal service, advanced telecommunications deployment, media concentration and diversity. From the fall of 2002 until the summer of 2004, Mr. Lloyd was a Martin Luther King, Jr. visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he taught communications policy and wrote and conducted research on the relationship between communications policy and strong democratic communities. He also served as the executive director of the Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy, a non-profit, non-partisan project he co-founded in 1997 to bring civil rights principles and advocacy to the communications policy debate.
Let’s take a closer look at his past positions. According to Civil Rights.org The Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy, it deals with.. The rules that govern the National Information Infrastructure concern and impact us all. Communications policy will determine whether all citizens will be able to participate effectively in the political process, have access to the public airwaves, share in the fruits of publicly-funded research, or maintain their privacy. Communications policy is a civil rights issue. The Civil Rights Forum works to bring civil rights organizations and community groups into the current debate over the future of our media environment. The Forum is a project of the Tides Center, a national non-profit organization which manages hundreds of projects that promote change toward a healthy society — one which is founded on principles of social justice, broadly shared economic opportunity and a robust democratic process. The twin goals of the Forum are to introduce civil rights principles and advocacy to the implementation of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, and to reframe the discussion over the role of media in our society around the needs of communities and the rights of citizens.
An article posted at zimbio.com at http://www.zimbio.com/The+Searched/articles/H7FW6nnt-NU/Mark+Lloyd+New+Chief+Diversity+FCC+Draws+Fire shows the newly appointed assoiciate general counsel and chief diversity officer at the Federal Communications Commission, is having a rough time of it during his first days on the job. Lloyd has come under fire from some right-wing media sites, after two an article Lloyd authored in 2007 urging liberals to file complaints against conservative talk radio stations came to light.
In “Forget the Fairness Doctrine,” Lloyd writes that conservative radio stations have abonded the bottom line as their primary motivator, and are purely ideological organs. He argues, however, that ressurecting the Fairness Doctrine, which forced radio and television stations to give equal time to opposing viewpoints, is not the answer. He does, however, suggest the private radio broadcasters, due to the fact that they use public airwaves, should be required to donate and support public radio.
In 2009 Center for American Progress’s Progressive Media project emerged as a major communications war room on behalf of Obama’s domestic and foreign policy agenda and CAP became a strong advocate for escalation in Afghanistan. Progressive Media is run through the Center for American Project Action Fund, the more political 5014 arm of CAP. It coordindates closely with the Common Purpose Project, an effort to create message discipline among the pro-Obama organizations, with a direct tie to the White House. The Center for American Progress — which has emerged as perhaps Washington’s most influential idea factory in the age of Obama — is launching a major new war room, to be staffed by nearly a dozen people, that will focus on driving the White House’s message and agenda, I’m told. … The new war room – which is called Progressive Media – represents a serious ratcheting up of efforts to present a united liberal front in the coming policy wars. The goal of the war room will be to do hard-hitting research that boils down complex policy questions into usable talking points and narratives that play well in the media and build public support for the White House’s policy goals. … The war room – a joint project of CAP Action Fund and Media Matters Action Network — will be headed by well-known liberal operative Tara McGuinness, who worked on John Kerry’s presidential campaign and was a major player in the anti-war movement during the Bush years.” Jennifer Palmieri is the project’s communications director.
Mark Lloyd has served on the boards of directors of dozens of national and local organizations, including the Independent Television Service, OMB Watch, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund. He has also served as a consultant to the Clinton White House, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Open Society Institute and the Smithsonian Institution. The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) is a 501(3) “non-profit public policy organization dedicated to promoting the democratic potential of today’s open, decentralized global Internet,” according to its website. CDT’s stated mission is “to conceptualize, develop, and implement public policies to preserve and enhance free expression, privacy, open access, and other democratic values in the new and increasingly integrated communications medium.” In 1994, Jonah Seiger “helped found and served as Communications Director for the Center for Democracy and Technology. “CDT pursues its mission through research and public policy development in a consensus-building process based on convening and operating broad-based working groups composed of public interest and commercial representatives of divergent views to explore solutions to critical policy issues. In addition, CDT promotes its own policy positions in the United States and globally through public policy advocacy, online grassroots organizing with the Internet user community and public education campaigns, and litigation, as well as through the development of technology standards and online information resources.”
At an article from Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/10/pub-fccs-new-hire-previously-targeted-gop-radio-stations/ comes the following: The FCC’s new chief diversity officer laid out a battle plan two years ago for liberal activists to target conservative talk radio stations, and critics say they are concerned that he now will want to bring back the “Fairness Doctrine.” Mark Lloyd, who was named the associate general counsel and chief diversity officer at the Federal Communications Commission last month, is under attack for authoring a June 2007 report entitled “The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio” and a subsequent essay, “Forget the Fairness Doctrine”. “What he lays out is a battle plan to use the FCC to threaten stations’ licenses with whom they do not agree with politically, and now he’s at the FCC waiting to take their calls,” Motley told FOXNews.com. “This is not about serving the local interest, it’s about political opposition.” In February, a report in the American Spectator said aides to Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., met with FCC staff to discuss ways to re-enact Fairness Doctrine policies and to apply them to the Internet as well. Both the FCC and Waxman’s office denied the report.
Bought and paid for “Community” organizations such as ACORN, far left wing organizations such as Apollo Alliance, Tides Center and Center for American Progress, and corruption in the form of SEIU, are quickly taking the place of the Constitution of The United States of America. Please take a few moments to watch this video, in which Glenn Beck explains the interconnectivity and undue influence these groups are having on the Obama Administration. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7Yc858QdXo&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Ftherealbarackobama%2Ewordpress%2Ecom%2F2009%2F07%2F29%2Fthe%2Dapollo%2Dalliance%2F&feature=player_embedded#t=29 The above video also details how the Apollo Alliance developed what became the Stimulus Bill.
Our government is turning into a Chicago style scam. Please, look for yourself and become aware. They would have you believe it’s Democrat vs Republican. IT IS NOT! It’s much different than that. Most democrats would not endorse the coruption that is gripping our government. Neither would Independents, Libertarians, Republicans.
Free speech is turning into free speech only if it agrees with the Administration’s view point. The majority of the population is being dismissed. Opportunities for citizens to speak out are being filled instead with paid operatives (see help wanted ads in column from 08/14/2009), SEIU and ACORN members, while the authentic public is locked out and left standing in the street.
There is no substitute for knowledge. Your country is being taken away from you on a daily basis. It is important that you realize what is going on. If you condone it, do nothing. If you DON’T, please do what you are able to do. Pass along informative emails, attend a local tea party. If you can afford to do so, JOIN US 09/12 for the march on Washington. details at http://912dc.org/
Single Payer from A Canadian Citizen’s View (video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_Rf42zNl9U
CITIZENS SURROUND ACORN BUS (thank you for standing up America) http://www.semiautorifles.com/forums/f10/people-surround-acorn-bus-1277.html
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Soldier For Liberty 
