RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://frontpagemag.com/2012/jamie-glazov/the-communist-frank-marshall-davis-the-untold-story-of-barack-obama%e2%80%99s-mentor/

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Paul Kengor, Ph.D., a bestselling author whose works include Dupes: How America’s Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century; God and Ronald Reagan; God and George W. Bush; God and Hillary Clinton; and The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism. His articles regularly appear in publications ranging from USA TODAY to The New York Times, plus numerous academic journals.

A professor at Grove City College, Kengor is a frequent commentator on television and radio. He earned his bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh and his master’s from American University. He is the author of the new book, The Communist. Frank Marshall Davis: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mentor.

FP: Paul Kengor, welcome to Frontpage Interview.

I would like to talk to you today about Frank Marshall Davis and his ties to, and influence on, Obama.

But first, I would like to begin with you telling us a bit about a gentleman named Spyridon Mitsotakis. You dedicate the book to him. Tell us why.

Kengor: That’s a great question that gets to the heart of how and why I did this book.

Spyridon is a remarkable young man. I met him when I was signing books at CPAC in February 2011. He had bought my previous book, Dupes, and seemed to know more about liberal/progressive dupes and the American communist movement than even I did. He was standing there at the front of the line asking me a new question every few seconds, clearly very precocious—and annoying the folks behind him in line, who told him to move on. I gave him my email address and promised I’d answer his questions in full via email. He said, “Yeah, right.” When he emailed me, I followed through on my promise. He finished our email exchanges by saying, “Hey, by the way, I’m a student at NYU, and we have the largest collection of archives of the American Communist Party. I’d love to help you with research. Let me know if you need anything.”

Well, my plan at that moment was to take my time writing a follow up to Dupes, and not at all to do a biography of Frank Marshall Davis. I figured I’d get to seek more information on Davis for the Dupes follow-up, as I had information on him in the original Dupes. So, I said to Spyridon: “I’m trying to find archives of the Chicago Star, the Party-line publication that Davis wrote for in the latter 1940s. I can’t find them anywhere, not even in Chicago. The Library of Congress claims to have them, but they’re not on the shelf. Can you help me?”

Within about three hours, Spyridon was emailing me PDFs of the Chicago Star. Within about three weeks, he had mailed me copies of every Davis column in the Star. I was blown away by what I read, particularly the haunting similarity to some of Obama’s statements. I soon realized that I, alone, was in possession of a treasure trove of information on Frank Marshall Davis. Spyridon kept digging and finding more and more, and then I realized I had to do this book. It wouldn’t have happened without Spyridon—thus the dedication. The kid could be a future Herb Romerstein.

FP: Wow, well, our thanks and appreciation goes out to Spyridon Mitsotakis — and we wish him bountiful energy and the enthusiasm in his search and battle for historical truth in the road ahead.

Ok, so who was Frank Marshall Davis?

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/309759/dismantling-culture-interview David Gelernter, the Yale professor of computer science, has an alarming yet cautiously exuberant book out, America-Lite: How Imperial Academia Dismantled Our Culture (and Ushered In the Obamacrats). He tells us where we are and how and why we got here, and gives readers a pep talk, encouraging them to be the light (not […]

http://pjmedia.com/blog/the-communist-mentor-frank-marshall-davis/?singlepage=true Were it not for the collective willful amnesia on the part of academia and the media regarding communist subversion in the United States, would Barack Obama be in the White House today? The question comes to mind when reading Paul Kengor’s intriguing political mystery tale about “Frank,” Obama’s much-admired mentor in Dreams from My […]

http://pjmedia.com/jchristianadams/2012/07/17/mark-levin-is-right-on-romney-tax-returns/?singlepage=true

Mark Levin is defending Mitt Romney’s refusal to release his tax returns, and he’s right for a couple of reasons. First, if Obama had been entirely transparent (read: college transcripts and Fast and Furious, to name two), then Romney should play by the same rules. But Obama’s murky academic past remains murky, and his administration’s lack of transparency has been astounding.

Second, if Romney releases his tax records, they will be descended upon by a pack of hyenas disguised as CPAs and a mischief of rats disguised as political consultants. The benign will be presented as malignant by liars. The cost of enabling liars is higher than the cost of the status quo.

Third, and perhaps most of all, Romney should resist release to prove he knows how to fight like his enemies do, not like his friends don’t. Savor this gem: “In all likelihood, he won’t be able to maintain a position that looks secretive and is a departure from campaign conventions.”
Advertisement

Really? Says who? The New York Times? The Chattering Class? Perhaps Peggy Noonan?

Enough already. Enough with “all likelihood” equivocation and highbrow invocation of “campaign conventions.” The Left knows how to brawl. The Left knows how to create new “campaign conventions” from scratch. It’s time that conservatives recognize that the rules they thought governed campaigns in 1992 no longer apply. This crowd we are up against has rewritten the book on governance, on politics, on convention, all in the name of rewriting the book on America.

Romney can show he understands what he is up against by ignoring the debating society on the right. He should roll up his sleeves and swing. He should release his tax returns after Obama releases his academic records and Holder releases Fast and Furious documents to Chairman Issa — and plainly say so.

http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/

The other day I was in a genteel local clothing store with a decidedly genteel clientele – the type of people who dress on weekdays almost as if they’re going to church. The staff, in manner and appearance, reflect the ethos.

In the background, as usual, there was no obtrusive “musack” but there were the pleasant strains of classical music from CDs that the store sells as a sideline.

As I approached the changing rooms, garment in hand, I heard a well-dressed middle-aged man ask the genteel, middle-aged sales lady standing nearby what the music (Smetana’s Vltava) was that was being currently played.

“I think it’s Smetana,” she said. “But I’m not sure.”

“Yes, it is Smetana,” I heard myself saying, to smiles and nods. Evidently the store was about to notch up another CD sale.

And then, for good measure, since these were obvious music-lovers, I added: “It’s very similar to the Israeli national anthem.”

I suppose I expected to hear: “Really! How interesting!” or “That’s a coincidence. I wonder why.”

Not a bit of it. The genteel customer and the genteel sales lady look profoundly shocked. Then the lady threw her head back and roared an off-putting kind of laugh, while the man, not to be outdone, swiftly followed with curious hollow guffaws. He didn’t seem as keen to purchase a copy of the CD now.

http://www.thecommentator.com/article/1423/banning_circumcision_in_germany

“There are now moves from our government to protect the tradition of male circumcision among the Jewish and Muslim community in Germany. For a legal problem there will be a legal answer.Fine, but what will remain – along with the feelings that have been hurt – is that for two weeks this country has been locked in a ridiculous debate while genocide is continuing in Syria, while Iran moves further towards obtaining nuclear weapons, while no one knows what will happen to women’s rights in Egypt and while not a single person in this country has stood up to call for an end to the barbaric practice of female genital mutilation.”

For a little more than two weeks I have been in a state of shock. Since the Cologne verdict banning male circumcision at the end of June I have sat numerous times in front of my computer and looked at an empty page that remained empty.

I couldn’t find the right words to describe how hurt I felt about the court’s decision. And I experienced the worst nightmare that can happen to a journalist: writer’s block.

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/

Elections are won by demographics. No soup company blindly dumps cans of its newest “Turkey Coconut Bouillon with Nutmeg and Omega 3” in Aisle 6 of the supermarket without testing to see what demographics such a hideous concoction might appeal to. Will the product appeal to lesbian single mothers, divorced Asian firefighters or eccentric Latvian millionaires? Politics is no different.
A political party has its base, definable groups who groove to its message, who eat up the red meat that its candidates toss their way. It has the demographic groups which will always vote for it and those who might swing its way. It knows them by race, gender, age, class, sexuality, home ownership and a thousand other statistical slices of the pie. It has those numbers broken down by states, cities and neighborhoods so that it has a good estimate of its chances in a given place and time based on the demographics of the people who live there.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/309765/obama-flouts-rule-law-andrew-c-mccarthy

A new prison scheme could enable him to close Gitmo.

Mona Charen had a characteristically great column Tuesday about President Obama’s illegal welfare policy. The president purports to be unbound by federal welfare law, which imposes work requirements on welfare recipients. The Washington Times reports that “such activities as motivational reading, housework, weight loss, and journaling” will now qualify for exemption from work requirements.

There is nothing new about this sort of thing. As Mona points out, “It’s old news that Obama has contempt for the rule of law. He’s declined to ‘take care that the laws be faithfully executed’ on many subjects: immigration, the Defense of Marriage Act, labor laws, and environmental rules, among others.”

To take yet another example, Congressman Steve King of Iowa observes that Obama has serially flouted the federal law that requires the president to submit a plan to address Medicare’s fiscal health if, as long ago happened, the program’s trustee issues an insolvency warning. The president does not even deem himself obliged to follow the health-care law he famously championed, imperiously issuing numerous “waivers” to excuse non-compliance. He asserts executive privilege frivolously to stonewall Congress’s investigation of his Justice Department’s Fast and Furious program. In addition, he flouts the Constitution’s requirement that Congress actually be in recess before a president can make recess appointments.

http://www.andrewbostom.org/blog/2012/07/17/christianitys-death-rattle-in-gaza/ Christianity’s Death Rattle in Gaza? A report today (7/17/12) in Haaretz [2] highlights the ongoing plight of Gaza’s tiny, fragile Christian minority. Their miniscule numbers have shrunk from a mere 3,500 to about 1,500 since Hamas seized control in 2006, dispersed among 1.7 million Gazan Palestinians, overwhelmingly traditionalist, Hamas-supporting Muslims. Briefly ignoring their dangerous […]

http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/2182/Time-to-Declare-Victory-over-Madness-and-Come-Home-from-the-COIN-Crusades.aspx

From the Sydney Morning Herald a report titled “”Fears over Afghan army, Taliban collusion.” As you read it, ask yourself at what point in this tragically familiar, numbingly repetitive cycle of Afghan army/Taliban collusion do Western commanders, both civilian and military, bear responsibility for KNOWING FULL WELL that such collusion is commonplace?

In the act of betrayal described below, the target of the raid mounted by Australian troops and their Afghan “partners” was a Taliban leader of 100 men from a handful of villages. Ask yourself also: How is that those 100 measly fighters in the Afghan bush magnetically draw the concentrated might of the Western democracies? Better: tell me how is it that those 100 fighters threaten the Western democracies in the first place? The strategic vision driving this and other such assaults is a joke. The COIN strategy of remaking Afghanistan in our PC image has failed. It is time to declare victory over madness, over delusion, and leave. That’s a “winning strategy” according to an ex-Green Beret friend with multiple stints in Afghanistan, who wrote: “By ‘winning’ I mean leaving Afghanistan as soon as possible, burning in place or blowing up all our materiel we can’t carry with us quickly.”

Ten years on, we can now say with certainty that, try as we might, we did not win the people’s “hearts and minds”; we did not win the people’s “trust” — the fundamental goals of the Bush-Petraeus-Obama-Mullen-McChrystal policy. This failure was preordained by the decision to ignore the truth about Islamic culture, by our arrogant assumption that we could win over its collectivist, supremacist, misogynist, totalitarian heart with bribery and blood, with self-sacrificial ROEs and training procedures that have killed innumerable troops. The fact is, COIN didn’t work in Afghanstan — just as COIN didn’t work in Iraq (or anywhere analogous). But we fight on till our deadline, and send our Sgt. Diddams into danger, day after day.

To what end?