DebateGate

http://www.stoptheaclu.com/archives/2008/08/28/obama-ayers-failed-chicago-schools-under-ethnic-identity-agenda/


Obama-Ayers: Failed Chicago Schools Under Ethnic Identity Agenda

Angry Obama supporters were asked to contact WGN’s 720 Extension radio talk show en masse to encourage the station to drop an interview with Stanley Kurtz, a National Review Online contributor with new information on Barack Obama. The show went on.

No secret now, why the Obama Campaign is desperately trying to silence National Review Online’s Stanley Kurtz.

Milt Rosenberg’s two-hour interview on WGN Radio last night with Kurtz revealed some of the agenda behind a late 1990’s Chicago public school program, of which Barack Obama was at the helm.

When news of the pending interview broke, the Obama campaign sent out emails, detailing talking points, and asking supporters to flood the radio station with calls and email messages, which they did. (The Obama Wire email appears at the end of this article.)

The Obama campaign was offered to participate in the entire two hour interview. According to Rosenberg’s producer, after the offer was made, a high-level Obama staffer asked for the name of the station manager and then hung up on the producer.

I have listened to the entire interview. It is available for your listening pleasure


Background and my synopsis of the interview:
The University of Illinois released documents yesterday that propelled this conversation forward. Barack Obama and Weatherman terrorist Bill Ayers, who spent a number of years on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List, were the leading powers behind a massive educational reform for the city of Chicago. Then Secretary of Education, William Bennett stated that the Chicago educational system was the worst in the Nation.

William Ayers prepared the proposal that got the seed money for the education reform program that would become the Chicago Annenberg Challenge - some $50M from the Annenberg Foundation, which was then matched by philanthropists and business interests - to total over $100M for Chicago’s failing school system.

With the money came the need for a organization - hence the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC) was formed. The Chairman of the Board was Barack Obama. William Ayers was an ex-officio board member. The two attended meetings together…how often is not yet known.

Obama and Ayers presided over a very powerful political duo: The CAC headed by Obama and The Collaborative, co-chaired by Ayers.

It allegedly worked like this: “Programs” would apply to the CAC for an educational grant. Some programs were chosen, and others were not. Before the CAC was disbanded, almost all, if not all, of the monies were spent.

Kurtz, reading from yesterday’s released documents, gave these examples of who or what received the grants:

Chosen to receive a grant:
The South Shore African Village Collaborative for their “Celebrate African-American Holiday of Juneteenth” (celebrating the Emancipation Proclamation). Some African-Americans celebrate Juneteenth instead of the Fourth of July (a report fromTexas). Kurtz commented that in his reporting of Obama’s previous church, Trinity United Church of Christ, some members told him that Juneteenth was their Independence Day, not Fourth of July (Kurtz did not say that all members held this view).

Turned down to receive a grant:
*The Chicago Algebra Project: goal to increase student achievement

*The District 5 Math Initiative: goal to aid Hispanic students in the process of learning English, to further learn math and science.

Kurtz characterized the information he viewed as showing grant preferences for ethnic identity projects. The grants were evidently not given to schools, but rather to “external partners,” to which schools sought to attach themselves - such as a South Shore African Village Collaborative.

In the meantime, after “external partners” received millions, ethnic identity didn’t help math and science scores. It is interesting to note that this Chairman of the Board position was Obama’s first “executive” experience.

There’s more: Obama’s connections to the Gamaliel Foundation, Kurtz says has a “core point” advocating for a form of “liberation theology.” He further states that his research shows that Jeremiah Wright’s Black Liberation Theology preaching is not an anomaly.

Kurtz refers to a book written by Dennis A. Jacobsen, Doing Justice - Congregations and Community Organizing. This book, according to Kurtz, embodies the views of the Gamaliel Foundation. Further he asserts that Greg Galluzo, “the most important figure” in the Gamaliel Foundation, approves Jacobsen’s book, and is also an Obama mentor. Kurtz believes that Obama was a teacher at the Gamaliel Foundation before Jacobsen wrote the book. Kurtz does not know whether Obama has read the book.

The last portion of the interview was given to callers and emails, most of which were angry that Kurtz was allowed radio time. One emailer confused Kurtz with Weekly Standard editor, Bill Kristol, referring to “the vile traitor Bill Kristol.” Another asked about FCC oversight of the “unbalanced” station.

It was striking that few callers had anything to say more than the email’s talking points. Some pulled out the constant whine that Obama was only eight years old when the Weathermen were bombing our U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, the State Department building, etc. They further pointed out Obama has “denounced” William Ayers. He did not, however, denounce him until he was forced to for the sake of his political campaign, and he wasn’t eight years old when he and Ayers began their educational reform.

Obama Wire email as printed in The Politico.

    From: Obama Action Wire
    Date: Wed, Aug 27, 2008
    Subject: Chicago: CALL TONIGHT to fight the latest smear

    [Name] —

    In the next few hours, we have a crucial opportunity to fight one of
    the most cynical and offensive smears ever launched against Barack.

    Tonight, WGN radio is giving right-wing hatchet man Stanley Kurtz a
    forum to air his baseless, fear-mongering terrorist smears. He’s
    currently scheduled to spend a solid two-hour block from 9:00 to 11:00
    p.m. pushing lies, distortions, and manipulations about Barack and
    University of Illinois professor William Ayers.

    Tell WGN that by providing Kurtz with airtime, they are legitimizing
    baseless attacks from a smear-merchant and lowering the standards of
    political discourse.

    Call into the “Extension 720? show with Milt Rosenberg at (312) 591-7200

    (Show airs from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. tonight)

    Then report back on your call at http://my.barackobama.com/WGNstandards

    Kurtz has been using his absurd TV appearances in an awkward and
    dishonest attempt to play the terrorism card. His current ploy is to
    embellish the relationship between Barack and Ayers.

    Just last night on Fox News, Kurtz drastically exaggerated Barack’s
    connection with Ayers by claiming Ayers had recruited Barack to the
    board of the Annenberg Challenge. That is completely false and has
    been disproved in numerous press accounts.

    It is absolutely unacceptable that WGN would give a slimy character
    assassin like Kurtz time for his divisive, destructive ranting on our
    public airwaves. At the very least, they should offer sane, honest
    rebuttal to every one of Kurtz’s lies.

    Kurtz is scheduled to appear from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. in the Chicago market.

    Calling will only take a minute, and it will make a huge difference if
    we nip this smear in the bud. Confront Kurtz tonight before this goes
    any further:

    http://my.barackobama.com/WGNstandards
    Please forward this email to everyone you know who can make a call tonight.
    Keep fighting the good fight,
    Obama Action Wire

Disclaimer: This is my view and my word-processed interpretation of portions of the interview, although I have diligently attempted to represent the conversation closely, if not exactly, as I heard it.

Related:
Chicago Annenberg Challenge Shutdown (Kurtz)
Inside Obama’s Acorn (Kurtz)

Obama/Ayers Funnel Funds to Jeremiah Wright and The Arab American Network?

Why the Obama-Ayers Connection Matters

» Filed Under Barack Obama, Communism, Congress, Education, Elections, Government ethics/corruption, Illegal Activities, Interview, Liberal Media/Bias, News, Obama/Biden, Politics As Usual, Socialism, State of Education, Wonky Media, religion, terrorism

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/09/sarah_palin_vs_barack_obama.html

Sarah Palin vs. Barack Obama
By Gerard Baker

Democrats, between sniggers of derision and snorts of disgust, contend that Sarah Palin, John McCain's vice-presidential pick is ridiculously unqualified to be president.

It's a reasonable objection on its face except for this small objection: it surely needs to be weighed against the Democrats' claim that their own candidate for president is self-evidently ready to assume the role of most powerful person on the planet.

At first blush, here's what we know about the relative experience of the two candidates. Both are in their mid-forties and have held statewide elective office for less than four years. Both have admitted to taking illegal drugs in their youth.

So much for the similarities. How about the differences?

Political experience

Obama: Worked his way to the top by cultivating, pandering to and stroking the most powerful interest groups in the all-pervasive Chicago political machine, ensuring his views were aligned with the power brokers there.

Palin: Worked her way to the top by challenging, attacking and actively undermining the Republican party establishment in her native Alaska. She ran against incumbent Republicans as a candidate willing and able to clean the Augean Stables of her state's government.

Political Biography

Obama: A classic, if unusually talented, greasy-pole climber. Held a succession of jobs that constitute the standard route to the top in his party's internal politics: "community organizer", law professor, state senator.

Palin:A woman with a wide range of interests in a well-variegated life. Held a succession of jobs - sports journalist, commercial fisherwoman, state oil and gas commissioner, before entering local politics. A resume that suggests something other than burning political ambition from the cradle but rather the sort of experience that enables her to understand the concerns of most Americans..


Political history

Obama: Elected to statewide office only after a disastrous first run for a congressional seat and after his Republican opponent was exposed in a sexual scandal. Won seat eventually in contest against a candidate who didn't even live in the state.


Palin: Elected to statewide office by challenging a long-serving Republican incumbent governor despite intense opposition from the party.


Appeal

Obama: A very attractive speaker whose celebrity has been compared to that of Britney Spears and who sends thrills up Chris Matthews' leg

Palin: A very attractive woman, much better-looking than Britney Spears who speaks rather well too. She sends thrills up the leg of Rush Limbaugh (and me).

Executive experience

Obama: Makes executive decisions every day that affect the lives of his campaign staff and a vast crowd of traveling journalists

Palin:Makes executive decisions every day that affect the lives of 500,000 people in her state, and that impact crucial issues of national economic interest such as the supply and cost of energy to the United States.

Religious influences

Obama: Regards people who "cling" to religion and guns as "bitter" . Spent 20 years being mentored and led spiritually by a man who proclaimed "God damn America" from his pulpit. Mysteriously, this mentor completely disappeared from public sight about four months ago.

Palin: Head of her high school Fellowship of Christian Athletes and for many years a member of the Assemblies of God congregation whose preachers have never been known to accuse the United States of deliberately spreading the AIDS virus. They remain in full public sight and can be seen every Sunday in churches across Alaska. A proud gun owner who has been known to cling only to the carcasses of dead caribou felled by her own aim.


Record of bipartisan achievement

Obama: Speaks movingly of the bipartisanship needed to end the destructive politics of "Red America" and "Blue America", but votes in the Senate as a down-the-line Democrat, with one of the most liberal voting records in congress.

Palin: Ridiculed by liberals such as John Kerry as a crazed, barely human, Dick Cheney-type conservative but worked wit Democrats in the state legislature to secure landmark anti-corruption legislation.

Former state Rep. Ethan Berkowitz - a Democrat - said. "Gov. Palin has made her name fighting corruption within her own party, and I was honored when she stepped across party lines and asked me to co-author her ethics white paper."


On Human Life

Obama: Devoutly pro-choice. Voted against a bill in the Illinois state senate that would have required doctors to save the lives of babies who survived abortion procedures. The implication of this position is that babies born prematurely during abortions would be left alone, unnourished and unmedicated, until they died.

Palin: Devoutly pro-life. Exercised the choice proclaimed by liberals to bring to full term a baby that had been diagnosed in utero with Down Syndrome.

Now it's true there are other crucial differences. Sen Obama has appeared on Meet The Press every other week for the last four years. He has been the subject of hundreds of adoring articles in papers and newsweeklies and TV shows and has written two Emmy-award winning books.

Gov Palin has never appeared on Meet the Press, never been on the cover of Newsweek. She presumably feels that, as a mother of five children married to a snowmobile champion, who also happens to be the first woman and the youngest person ever to be elected governor of her state, she has not really done enough yet to merit an autobiography.

Then again, I'm willing to bet that if she had authored The Grapes of Wrath, sung like Edith Piaf and composed La Traviata , she still wouldn't have won an Emmy.

Fortunately, it will be up to the American people and not their self-appointed leaders in Hollywood and New York to determine who really has the better experience to be president.
Gerard Baker is US Editor and Assistant Editor of The Times of London. Email: gerard.baker@thetimes.co.uk
Page Printed from: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/09/sarah_palin_vs_barack_obama.html at September 02, 2008 - 04:12:02 PM PDT

Another great reason Palin was selected is the debate between Obama's experience to be POTUS versus Pailin's experience to be VPOTUS.

Clearly the women has more experience than Obama.

Again, I say McCain is a genius to have made this VP choice.

When Obama losses he always has the option to start working for the people in his state by actually showing up for what he was elected for - - - the US Senate

If Obama had his way on the surge:
1. We would have lost HUNDREDS more soldiers
2. We would have lost the war
3. We would have had to return
Obama has shown reckless judgement and should not be POTUS under any circumstance.



http://iht.com/articles/2008/09/01/mideast/iraq.php

U.S. hands back security of Anbar Province
By Dexter Filkins
Monday, September 1, 2008

RAMADI, Iraq: Two years ago, Anbar Province was the most lethal place for American forces in Iraq. A U.S. marine or soldier died in the province nearly every day, and the provincial capital, Ramadi, was a moonscape of rubble and ruins. Islamic extremists controlled large pieces of territory, with some so ferocious in their views that they did not even allow the baking of bread.

On Monday, U.S. commanders formally returned responsibility for keeping order in Anbar Province, once the heartland of the Sunni insurgency, to the Iraqi Army and police. The ceremony, including a parade on a freshly paved street, capped one of the most significant turnabouts in the country since the war began five and a half years ago.

Over the past two years, the number of insurgent attacks against Iraqis and Americans has dropped by more than 90 percent. Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia has been severely degraded, if not crushed altogether, in large part because many local Sunnis, including former insurgents, have taken up arms against it.

Since February, as the security situation improved, U.S. commanders have cut the number of marines and soldiers operating in the province by 40 percent.

The transfer of authority codified a situation that Iraqi and American officers say has been in effect since April: The Iraqi Army and police operate independently and retain primary responsibility for battling the insurgency and crime in Anbar. The United States, which had long done the bulk of the fighting, has stepped into a backup role, going into the streets only when accompanied by Iraqi forces.

But the dynamic that has brought such calm to Anbar, welcome as it is, seems fragile. Many former insurgents now man the local police forces, or remain on the U.S. payroll as loosely supervised gunmen working for the so-called Sunni Awakening Councils.

But with most of the Sunni population having abstained from voting in 2005, many are now claiming that the present arrangement leaves them unrepresented. Local Sunni leaders have warned that provincial elections must go forward if violence is to be averted.

Still, as the parade marched along Ramadi's Main Street on Monday, the signs were mostly good. The ceremony was a primarily Iraqi affair, with the U.S. marines wearing neither helmets nor body armor, nor carrying guns. The festive scene became an occasion for celebration by Iraqis and Americans, who at several moments wondered aloud in the sweltering heat how things had gone from so grim to so much better, so fast.

"Not in our wildest dreams could we have imagined this," said Mowaffak al-Rubaie, the Iraqi national security adviser, who flew in from Baghdad. "Two or three years ago, had we suggested that the Iraqis could take responsibility, we would have been ridiculed, we would have been laughed at. This was the cradle of the Sunni insurgency."

Indeed it was. Anbar Province became the most intractable region after the toppling of Saddam Hussein in April 2003. More than 1,000 American marines and soldiers have died in the province, a quarter of the total U.S. toll.

Anbar's second city, Falluja, was the scene of the biggest battle of the war, in which nearly 100 Americans died and more than 500 were wounded.

Bordering on three countries, Anbar was also considered the primary transit point for foreigners entering Iraq.

The fighting devastated much of Anbar. Falluja, a city of 250,000, was razed, and large parts of Ramadi, a city of 500,000, were reduced to ruins.

By the summer of 2006, insurgents had tried to kill Anbar's governor, Mamoon Sami al-Rashid, 29 times. They failed with Rashid, but that was an exception. Rashid's immediate predecessor, Raja Nawaf, was kidnapped and murdered. His deputy, Talib al-Dulaimi, was shot and killed. The chairman of the Anbar provincial council was also murdered. Rashid's personal secretary was beheaded and most of his ministers went into hiding.

What finally broke the stalemate, according to former insurgents and local leaders, was a local revolt against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the radical insurgent group believed to be led primarily by foreigners. As the group began to expand its goals beyond killing Americans to include sectarian assassinations and imposing a fundamentalist Islam, local tribal leaders struck back and reached out for help to U.S. forces. The "Sunni Awakening" was born, and it soon spread across the Sunni areas of Iraq.

Saadi al-Faraji used to be a gunman for a local group called the Islamic Movement of Holy Warriors, which focused mainly on attacking Americans. Then, in 2006, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia tried to take over his group and force them to kill Iraqis who worked for the government, including police officers.

"Qaeda declared that we were apostates, and they demanded our heads, because we would not kill Iraqi soldiers or Iraqi police," Faraji said.

The Islamic Movement of Holy Warriors began attacking Qaeda fighters at about the same time that a local Sunni sheik named Abdul Sattar abu Risha struck a deal with the Americans and formed the first Awakening Council. The Islamic Movement formed its own Awakening Council, and today, Faraji is a colonel in the Iraqi police.

As for his view on Americans, Faraji said they had evolved.

"They made mistakes, and so did we," he said. "The past is past."

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/31/cnn-poll-obama-49-mccain-48/


August 31, 2008
CNN Poll: Obama 49, McCain 48
Posted: 08:00 PM ET

From CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (CNN) — On the eve of the Republican convention, a new national poll suggests the race for the White House remains dead even.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Sunday night shows the Obama-Biden ticket leading the McCain-Palin ticket by one point, 49 percent to 48 percent, a statistical dead heat.

The survey was conducted Friday through Sunday, after both the conclusion of the Democratic convention and McCain’s selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.

A previous CNN poll, taken just one week earlier, suggested the race between Sens. McCain, R-Arizona, and Obama, D-Illinois, was tied at 47 percent each.

“The convention — and particularly Obama's speech — seems to be well-received. And the selection of Sarah Palin as the GOP running mate, also seems to be well-received. So why is the race still a virtual tie? Probably because the two events created equal and opposite bounces — assuming that either one created a bounce at all,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

Barack Obama’s acceptance speech in front of a crowd of more than 80,000 people at INVESCO Field in Denver on Thursday night wrapped up the Democrats’ convention. It was one of the most widely watched political conventions in history.

The poll suggests that the convention made people who watched more likely to vote for the Democratic ticket. Fifty-one percent of registered voters said the convention made them more likely to support Obama; only 32 percent said they were less likely to back the Democratic nominee.

“Sixty-four percent rated Obama's acceptance speech as excellent or good, giving it significantly higher marks than any other recent acceptance speech. The Democratic Party’s favorable ratings went up, and the GOP's favorable ratings went down. Historically speaking, the convention was better than some and worse than others in the public's mind — not a home run, but a hit nonetheless,” says Holland

Less than 12 hours after Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, McCain introduced Palin as running mate, surprising the political world.

So far, according to the poll, four in 10 Americans are not familiar with Palin. Thirty-eight percent of those questioned viewed her favorably and 21 percent unfavorably.

Men appear to have a slightly favorably opinion of Palin than women; 41 percent of men view her favorably, five points higher than women.

Americans seem evenly divided on whether McCain made a wise choice in selecting Alaska’s first term governor, who’s been in office for less than two years.

Fifty-two percent rate the selection of Palin as excellent or pretty good; 46 percent rate it as fair or poor.

Is Palin qualified to be president?

Fifty percent say she is unqualified to assume the presidency if that becomes necessary; 45 percent say she’s prepared for the White House.

In recent history, the only running mate to earn less confidence from the public was Vice President Dan Quayle in 1992.

Ultimately however, the Palin pick may have minimal effect on the race for the White House.

Almost six in 10 Americans say Palin’s selection as McCain’s running mate will have no effect on their vote. One in five say it makes them more likely to vote for McCain; one in five say it makes them less likely.

Three quarters of all voters think McCain chose a female running mate specifically because he thought adding a woman to the Republican ticket would help him win in November.

“If McCain was hoping to boost his share of the women's vote, it didn't work,” Holland said.

“Women now appear slightly more likely to vote for Obama than they did a week ago, 53 percent now, compared to 50 percent. But McCain picked up a couple of points among men. More important, McCain solidified his party's base with the Palin selection, dropping Obama's share of the Republican vote six points to just 5 percent now. The Palin selection did not help among women — that may come later — but it did appeal to Republican loyalists.”

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. Poll was conducted from Friday through Sunday, with 927 registered voters questioned by telephone. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.

– CNN’s Alan Silverleib and Paul Steinhauser

Ex-Dem Chair Apologizes for Hurricane Remark

August 31, 2008 5:55 PM

ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports: Former DNC Chairman Don Fowler apologized on Sunday for joking in a private conversation that the timing of Hurricane Gustav demonstrates that God is on the side of the Democrats.

"If this offended anybody, I personally apologize," Fowler told ABC News. "It was a mistake, and it was a satirical statement made in jest. And one that I clearly don't believe."

Fowler was secretly recorded by the person sitting behind him while flying from Denver, Colo., to Charlotte, N.C., following the Democratic National Convention. His conversation with Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., was anonymously posted to YouTube and highlighted by RedState.com, a conservative blog.

Watch it HERE.

"One doesn't anticipate that one's private conversation will be surreptitiously taped by some right-wing nutcase," said Fowler. "But that's the nature of what we're dealing with."

Fowler, a superdelegate who endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2007, was caught on tape saying: "The hurricane’s going to hit New Orleans about the time they start. The timing is -- at least it appears now that it’ll be there Monday. That just demonstrates that God’s on our side. [Laughter] Everything’s cool."

McCain and RNC officials announced on Sunday that they will suspend most of the convention program for Monday, including speeches by President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Republicans will only take up essential business when their convention gets underway on Monday and will not hear primetime speeches.

Fowler said his remark was "facetious" and a "satirical comment" on the late Rev. Jerry Falwell.

Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11,  Falwell told "The 700 Club," "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"

Falwell, who later apologized, said he viewed the attacks as God's judgment on America for "throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked."

Fowler sought to contrast his religious views with those expressed by the late Rev. Falwell before his death.

"I believe in a benevolent God," said Fowler. "I'm a religious person. It was a facetious statement, some might even say satirical, play off of what Falwell said."

"If it offended anybody. I'm sorry for that," said Fowler. "I don’t think anybody in America wishes for something bad to happen to New Orleans. I certainly don't."

After the video surfaced on RedState.com, Fowler, the former DNC chairman and Spratt, the South Carolina Democratic congressman with whom he was talking, were pilloried by the chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party.

"The outrageous behavior of two of the Obama campaign's highest profile supporters in the south is despicable, a cynical politicization of life and death," said Katon Dawson, the chairman of the South Carolina G.O.P. "I call on Barack Obama to immediately denounce Fowler and Spratt and demand sincere apologies from these members of the Democratic leadership."

Fowler was unnerved by the experience but he said that he does not think that people should be prohibited from taping such conversations.

"I have to say that I  am a free speech advocate and would not suggest that people should be prohibited from taping such conversations," said Fowler. "But nevertheless it seems to be a bit extreme to tape a private conversation like that."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/08/ex-dem-chair-ap.html

This hurricane is starting to look really really bad. It might not be a bad idea for everyone to say a prayer today.

Multitudes of people praying has proven to make a positive difference in the outcome of war, death, destruction and cancer.