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Obama Delegate Norman Solomon Defends Warmongering Death Penalty Democrats
On Hiroshima Day, August 6, 2008, when we commemorate the racist and unnecessary use of atomic weapons Democratic President Harry Truman against Japan to warn the Soviet Union that the 20th Century was to be the “American Century,” Norman Solomon shamefully defended the warmongering pro-death penalty Democratic Party in a debate with antiwar activist Larry Everest on 94.1 FM KPFA’s Flashpoints on the non-existent differences between Democrat Obama and Republican McCain.
On Hiroshima Day, August 6, 2008, when we commemorate the racist and unnecessary use of atomic weapons Democratic President Harry Truman against Japan to warn the Soviet Union that the 20th Century was to be the “American Century,” Norman Solomon shamefully defended the warmongering pro-death penalty Democratic Party in a debate with antiwar activist Larry Everest on 94.1 FM KPFA’s Flashpoints on the non-existent differences between Democrat Obama and Republican McCain.
This program can be heard at: http://www.kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=27718
The current street chant is “We remember Hiroshima (Democrat Truman); we remember Vietnam (Democrats Kennedy and Johnson), Democratic Party, we know which side you’re on.”
The horror of hearing Obama delegate, Democrat Norman Solomon, one of the shameful defenders of the government’s conspiracy theory lie on the 9/11 Inside Job, on antiwar community radio, KPFA, 94.1 FM, was illustrated once again on this broadcast, and hopefully it is the last time we have to suffer with these shameful defenses of the Democratic Party on KPFA.. It lasted an entire half hour on Hiroshima Day, when we should have heard about the crimes of Democrat Harry Truman, who not only dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6 and 9, 1945 respectively but also arrested Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and Morton Sobell in 1950 in a vicious frame-up to build support for a war of anti-communism against Korea, in an attempt to make Jew, Communist and traitor synonymous. Sobell was imprisoned for some 19 years, freed essentially by the peace movements against the next anti-communist war, the war against Vietnam. The Rosenbergs were murdered by the American government, Democrats and Republicans together, on June 19, 1953. By refusing to cooperate with the government’s frame-up, they literally broke the back of the Cold War, perpetrated by Democrat Harry Truman.
Norman Solomon tried to raise the issue of Supreme Court appointments. The anti-abortion majority, Roberts, Alito, Kennedy, Scalia and Thomas, were all approved by Democrats as well as Republicans. It was Nixon appointee Justice Harry Blackmun who wrote the majority opinion in 1973 in Roe v. Wade, guaranteeing women a right to a safe and legal abortion. It was Kennedy appointee, Justice Byron White, who dissented. It was the massive peace movement, and its accompanying civil rights movements including the women’s liberation movement, that made possible this 1973 decision legalizing abortion, not the Democrat-Republicans. The biggest issue the Democrats like to promote is that they support women’s right to abortion which is a lie. Senator Majority leader Harry Reid is anti-abortion, Democrat Dennis Kucinich had an anti-abortion record before he suddenly became pro-choice (but not pro-abortion) in order to run for president so as to divert the peace movement to the dead-end of the Democratic Party, and the Democratic Party is busy welcoming the anti-abortion crowd.
The other civil rights issue, besides women’s rights, that was not discussed was the death penalty. Both Obama and McCain are staunch supporters of the racist, anti-workingclass death penalty, which is always a class weapon against the workingclass, and in racist USA, a racist weapon. By supporting the death penalty, Obama makes very clear that he will do nothing to oppose the prison-industrial complex and the daily police state terror in the black community. As Larry Everest stated, Obama has been promoting the vicious lie that the problems of the black community, overwhelmingly workingclass, are their own fault. His speech on Father’s Day condemning African-American fathers would have made Hitler proud.
A major domestic issue that was not discussed was healthcare. Both Obama and McCain support private insurance funded healthcare systems, like the disaster we have now, resulting in the US having the highest infant mortality and lowest life expectancy in the industrialized world. The rest of the industrialized world has national healthcare provided by their tax dollars. We pay the most and receive the least.
Larry Everest, author of Oil, Power & Empire, did a good job of advocating grassroots organizing but needs clearer definitions of the capitalist parties and what is to be done to get rid of it before humanity and the planet are destroyed. It is not only true that the Democrat-Republicans are the parties of the ruling imperialist capitalist class, which perpetrates a dictatorship, but also these parties are paid to play the good cop/bad cop game by the SAME CORPORATIONS, who of course are giving money to both because they expect both parties’ candidates will guarantee maximum profits, the goal of capitalism, which always means the vicious exploitation of the workingclass. Grassroots organizing around various issues is fine but the only way we can get rid of capitalism is by supporting labor organizing so that labor is strong enough to carry out a general strike. Only labor can put an end to the private profit system that is the cause of all these wars.
As to voting, elections simply confirm the class struggle that has preceded them, if any. We now have alternative electoral parties that do not accept corporate contributions, namely the Green Party, running Cynthia McKinney for President, and Peace & Freedom Party, running Ralph Nader for president. For those who participate in voting, only by voting your conscience can you send a clear message of what you need and want done.
Norman Solomon even admitted that there is no difference between the Democrats and Republicans when it comes to supporting the US military base called Israel, which steals Palestinian land and murders and torturers Palestinians, all paid for with our tax dollars to the tune of $4 billion a year. Yet, he continues to defend the Democrats and is in fact a delegate to the Democratic Party convention. Such a person has no business being on KPFA at all. THE PALESTINIAN ISSUE IS A LITMUS TEST ISSUE, and every single Democrat and Republican at all levels fails on this issue. Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland-Berkeley supported the resolution praising the Butcher of Palestine, Ariel Sharon. Only the Green Party and the Peace & Freedom Party support the Palestinian liberation struggle.
Norman Solomon claimed that things somehow improve under the Democrats. This writer has witnessed almost 60 years of living in the backward USA and things have only gotten worse, whether it be the pro-war, death penalty Democrats or Republicans in office. Some improvements were made in the 1960s and 1970s, but only because of mass struggle against the capitalist class for its war against Vietnam, and its racism at home, but also because both struggles were based on the economic advances and comparative prosperity made possible by the labor movement of the 1930s. It was the 1934 general strikes in San Francisco, Minneaplois and Toledo that made possible the 1935 laws providing for Social Security and unemployment insurance and the right to organize labor unions. The economy has declined, labor is much weaker, and there are no more crumbs to toss to the workingclass, so the twin parties of the capitalist class, the Democrat-Republicans, have nothing to offer us, and neither does Norman Solomon, and his rotten Democratic Party, which only exists to make sure we never vote Red or Green as there is no other reason for two capitalist parties with the same capitalist agenda to exist.
This program can be heard at: http://www.kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=27718
The current street chant is “We remember Hiroshima (Democrat Truman); we remember Vietnam (Democrats Kennedy and Johnson), Democratic Party, we know which side you’re on.”
The horror of hearing Obama delegate, Democrat Norman Solomon, one of the shameful defenders of the government’s conspiracy theory lie on the 9/11 Inside Job, on antiwar community radio, KPFA, 94.1 FM, was illustrated once again on this broadcast, and hopefully it is the last time we have to suffer with these shameful defenses of the Democratic Party on KPFA.. It lasted an entire half hour on Hiroshima Day, when we should have heard about the crimes of Democrat Harry Truman, who not only dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6 and 9, 1945 respectively but also arrested Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and Morton Sobell in 1950 in a vicious frame-up to build support for a war of anti-communism against Korea, in an attempt to make Jew, Communist and traitor synonymous. Sobell was imprisoned for some 19 years, freed essentially by the peace movements against the next anti-communist war, the war against Vietnam. The Rosenbergs were murdered by the American government, Democrats and Republicans together, on June 19, 1953. By refusing to cooperate with the government’s frame-up, they literally broke the back of the Cold War, perpetrated by Democrat Harry Truman.
Norman Solomon tried to raise the issue of Supreme Court appointments. The anti-abortion majority, Roberts, Alito, Kennedy, Scalia and Thomas, were all approved by Democrats as well as Republicans. It was Nixon appointee Justice Harry Blackmun who wrote the majority opinion in 1973 in Roe v. Wade, guaranteeing women a right to a safe and legal abortion. It was Kennedy appointee, Justice Byron White, who dissented. It was the massive peace movement, and its accompanying civil rights movements including the women’s liberation movement, that made possible this 1973 decision legalizing abortion, not the Democrat-Republicans. The biggest issue the Democrats like to promote is that they support women’s right to abortion which is a lie. Senator Majority leader Harry Reid is anti-abortion, Democrat Dennis Kucinich had an anti-abortion record before he suddenly became pro-choice (but not pro-abortion) in order to run for president so as to divert the peace movement to the dead-end of the Democratic Party, and the Democratic Party is busy welcoming the anti-abortion crowd.
The other civil rights issue, besides women’s rights, that was not discussed was the death penalty. Both Obama and McCain are staunch supporters of the racist, anti-workingclass death penalty, which is always a class weapon against the workingclass, and in racist USA, a racist weapon. By supporting the death penalty, Obama makes very clear that he will do nothing to oppose the prison-industrial complex and the daily police state terror in the black community. As Larry Everest stated, Obama has been promoting the vicious lie that the problems of the black community, overwhelmingly workingclass, are their own fault. His speech on Father’s Day condemning African-American fathers would have made Hitler proud.
A major domestic issue that was not discussed was healthcare. Both Obama and McCain support private insurance funded healthcare systems, like the disaster we have now, resulting in the US having the highest infant mortality and lowest life expectancy in the industrialized world. The rest of the industrialized world has national healthcare provided by their tax dollars. We pay the most and receive the least.
Larry Everest, author of Oil, Power & Empire, did a good job of advocating grassroots organizing but needs clearer definitions of the capitalist parties and what is to be done to get rid of it before humanity and the planet are destroyed. It is not only true that the Democrat-Republicans are the parties of the ruling imperialist capitalist class, which perpetrates a dictatorship, but also these parties are paid to play the good cop/bad cop game by the SAME CORPORATIONS, who of course are giving money to both because they expect both parties’ candidates will guarantee maximum profits, the goal of capitalism, which always means the vicious exploitation of the workingclass. Grassroots organizing around various issues is fine but the only way we can get rid of capitalism is by supporting labor organizing so that labor is strong enough to carry out a general strike. Only labor can put an end to the private profit system that is the cause of all these wars.
As to voting, elections simply confirm the class struggle that has preceded them, if any. We now have alternative electoral parties that do not accept corporate contributions, namely the Green Party, running Cynthia McKinney for President, and Peace & Freedom Party, running Ralph Nader for president. For those who participate in voting, only by voting your conscience can you send a clear message of what you need and want done.
Norman Solomon even admitted that there is no difference between the Democrats and Republicans when it comes to supporting the US military base called Israel, which steals Palestinian land and murders and torturers Palestinians, all paid for with our tax dollars to the tune of $4 billion a year. Yet, he continues to defend the Democrats and is in fact a delegate to the Democratic Party convention. Such a person has no business being on KPFA at all. THE PALESTINIAN ISSUE IS A LITMUS TEST ISSUE, and every single Democrat and Republican at all levels fails on this issue. Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland-Berkeley supported the resolution praising the Butcher of Palestine, Ariel Sharon. Only the Green Party and the Peace & Freedom Party support the Palestinian liberation struggle.
Norman Solomon claimed that things somehow improve under the Democrats. This writer has witnessed almost 60 years of living in the backward USA and things have only gotten worse, whether it be the pro-war, death penalty Democrats or Republicans in office. Some improvements were made in the 1960s and 1970s, but only because of mass struggle against the capitalist class for its war against Vietnam, and its racism at home, but also because both struggles were based on the economic advances and comparative prosperity made possible by the labor movement of the 1930s. It was the 1934 general strikes in San Francisco, Minneaplois and Toledo that made possible the 1935 laws providing for Social Security and unemployment insurance and the right to organize labor unions. The economy has declined, labor is much weaker, and there are no more crumbs to toss to the workingclass, so the twin parties of the capitalist class, the Democrat-Republicans, have nothing to offer us, and neither does Norman Solomon, and his rotten Democratic Party, which only exists to make sure we never vote Red or Green as there is no other reason for two capitalist parties with the same capitalist agenda to exist.
For more information:
http://www.kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arc...
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So mr/ms dollar sign says Norman Solomon has "no business being on KPFA" for failing to toe the more-radical-than-thou line so popular among the usual cadre of KPFA-bashers.
I can hardly wait for the calls to remove "entrenched staff" Dennis Bernstein and his cast of dozens from the Peoples Radio Station.
Free Speech Radio for Approved Speech Only!
How Radical.
I can hardly wait for the calls to remove "entrenched staff" Dennis Bernstein and his cast of dozens from the Peoples Radio Station.
Free Speech Radio for Approved Speech Only!
How Radical.
Oh God. I certainly hope that $ and his/her like do not prevail and take over KPFA or this country. A least we have some free speech now on KPFA with various ideas. $ would ban thoughts and ideas not approved by...who knows who...perhaps a Minister of Information. I am so sick of this hateful, one-sided, my way or you’re wrong view. It gets us nowhere, and alienates most of our listeners. Wake up! No one cares to hear stuff like this. This is why KPFA and all of Pacifica are in deep financial trouble. The right wing is laughing at us standing in a circle and shooting each other.
It is time for reasonable people with strong progressive political ideas to throw all the biased, one-sided, prejudiced, nut cases out of Pacifica and replace them with people who value all people and are willing to allow and debate all points of view. Let people hear all sides and they will make up their own mind. We don’t need “Ministers of Information” to filter our views. We have those on corporate media already.
It is time for reasonable people with strong progressive political ideas to throw all the biased, one-sided, prejudiced, nut cases out of Pacifica and replace them with people who value all people and are willing to allow and debate all points of view. Let people hear all sides and they will make up their own mind. We don’t need “Ministers of Information” to filter our views. We have those on corporate media already.
Norman Soloman has no business speaking on Pacifica airwaves as a media critic, especially on issues about the current presidential election campaign. He is a delegate for the Obama candidacy. If Soloman truly supports democracy and electoral fairness, as he often claims, why isn’t he speaking out against the corporate media blackout about third-party candidate such as Ralph Nader? Based on what he said throughout the interview, he is acting as an PR agent and apologist for Obama. It has come to light that Soloman and his elk are nothing more than the ‘flip-side’ of the mainstream media, with the same goal of controlling and managing public discourse, and not unlike the modus operandi of the Democratic Party, using different tactics. They are corporate clones. FAIR and Mr. Soloman are recipients of corporate foundation funding over the years. No doubt the fat cats amongst the Democratic Leadership Council are quite satisfied with Soloman’s PR work for Obama, and no doubt their tax-exempt foundations will fill FAIR’s coffers in the future. “Quid Pro Quo” at work.
Soloman repeats the warned-out mantra that once Obama is elected the progressives will keep him in line. Where were the progressives when Nancy Pelosi took everything off the table back in 2006, including Impeachment? Where were they when the majority Democratic Party Congress and Senate voted to increase war funding? Where were they when FISA was passed, and especially Obama having signed on? What about allowing more off-shore drilling? Where are they on Bonusgate? It was the Democrats who used State workers with tax-payer’s money to kept Nader off the ballot during 2004, and they did the same thing with Carl Romanelli in 2006 in PA. Why hasn’t FAIR and COUNTERSPIN done anything to expose this electoral malfeasance? After all, they are the so-called media critics. Where are they when the current Congress/Senate voted to extend Social Security Benefits to ‘undocumented’ immigrants while people living in this country are losing their pensions? Where are the progressives now when Obama has shown he is not an ‘anti-war’ candidate? Soloman used the Republican Party as an example of ‘party loyalty’ in past elections. He must assume his audience doesn’t know any better, since Ross Perot immediately comes to mind as the so-called Spoiler for the Republican Party. His suggestion that the progressives can hold Obama’s feet to the fire after he’s elected is based on some wild fantasy that has yet to show any tangible evidence.
Soloman talks a good talk. Like Obama, he knows the intrinsic value of ‘doublespeak, even while he voices opposition to media/politician doublespeak, and has written books about this topic. ’The reason many people who still don’t see what a charlatan he is, is because Pacifica Radio and other so-called alternative media are part of the problem, and not the solution.
During this election, we haven't heard any in-depth coverage of third-party candiates such as Ralph Nader, who is really offering an alternative to the two party duopoly. For examply, when Amy Goodman had Nader on DN, Inc. program months back, she didn't pose questions to Nader to help flesh out his presidential platform and how it differs from the corporate candidates. Instead, we get the same old 'spoiler' blame game, which does not stand up to scrutiny, and it only serves to perpetuate the myth. For that, Soloman and Goodman are both fulfilling their roles.
Soloman repeats the warned-out mantra that once Obama is elected the progressives will keep him in line. Where were the progressives when Nancy Pelosi took everything off the table back in 2006, including Impeachment? Where were they when the majority Democratic Party Congress and Senate voted to increase war funding? Where were they when FISA was passed, and especially Obama having signed on? What about allowing more off-shore drilling? Where are they on Bonusgate? It was the Democrats who used State workers with tax-payer’s money to kept Nader off the ballot during 2004, and they did the same thing with Carl Romanelli in 2006 in PA. Why hasn’t FAIR and COUNTERSPIN done anything to expose this electoral malfeasance? After all, they are the so-called media critics. Where are they when the current Congress/Senate voted to extend Social Security Benefits to ‘undocumented’ immigrants while people living in this country are losing their pensions? Where are the progressives now when Obama has shown he is not an ‘anti-war’ candidate? Soloman used the Republican Party as an example of ‘party loyalty’ in past elections. He must assume his audience doesn’t know any better, since Ross Perot immediately comes to mind as the so-called Spoiler for the Republican Party. His suggestion that the progressives can hold Obama’s feet to the fire after he’s elected is based on some wild fantasy that has yet to show any tangible evidence.
Soloman talks a good talk. Like Obama, he knows the intrinsic value of ‘doublespeak, even while he voices opposition to media/politician doublespeak, and has written books about this topic. ’The reason many people who still don’t see what a charlatan he is, is because Pacifica Radio and other so-called alternative media are part of the problem, and not the solution.
During this election, we haven't heard any in-depth coverage of third-party candiates such as Ralph Nader, who is really offering an alternative to the two party duopoly. For examply, when Amy Goodman had Nader on DN, Inc. program months back, she didn't pose questions to Nader to help flesh out his presidential platform and how it differs from the corporate candidates. Instead, we get the same old 'spoiler' blame game, which does not stand up to scrutiny, and it only serves to perpetuate the myth. For that, Soloman and Goodman are both fulfilling their roles.
How is it that while Soloman can remain so popular amongst all you cult followers, he's able to silent the 9/11 real story on kpfa back in 2002? Are you aware that Soloman contacted Maldari and the rest of the gatekeepers on kpfa to keep Michael Ruppert off the airwaves? Of course, we support 'free speech' but we don't support phones like Soloman who portends to be a media critic but have yet to criticize the mainstream, as well as the so-called 'free speech' radio for not covering the Nader campaign but can get away with speaking as an Obama delegate. You people can believe whatever you want to beleve but you folks who are continuing to close a blind eye to Soloman's behavior, are the ones whom are being fooled, and it's hurting the country. Imagine, Obama's next eight years and we will get what was given to us under the Clinton adminstration -- more wars and more economic subjugation. Do you remember Clinton's so-called 'welfare reform'? It wasn't perpetrated by a Repbulican. Remember Albright's comment "It was worth it to killed thousands of Iraqi children due to US imposed economic sanction"? Remember Clinton's war on former Yugoslavia which literally destroyed that country? By way of your comments about free speech, it is the very issue we are complaining about concerning Pacifica Radio and the left media hegemony's 'unfree speech' behavior during this election campaign. It's nice to talk free speech but lets demand that those who claim expert in free speech practice what they preach.
Why isn't Solomon calling for fair coverage of the Ralph Nader campaign and call for alternative" media to advocate including Nader in the presidential debates?
Why hasn't Solomon editorialized on the fairness and civic obligation of having Ralph Nader and third party candidates included in the presidential debates? He is too busy promoting Obama, and sad to say but a lot of people will follow like sheep to slaughter. This is but one example of the sorry state of "alternative" media in this country.
Why hasn't Solomon editorialized on the fairness and civic obligation of having Ralph Nader and third party candidates included in the presidential debates? He is too busy promoting Obama, and sad to say but a lot of people will follow like sheep to slaughter. This is but one example of the sorry state of "alternative" media in this country.
Thank you John, your assessment is right on. The sad fact is so many folks who claim to support free speech turn a blind eye when it comes to Mr. Nader's free speech rights. Why hasn't there been outcry from the "alternative" media concerning the bias Jim Crow style ballot access laws for independent, third party candidates? These archaic laws were designed by the Democratic and Republican parties to intentionally hinder and lock out third party, independent candidates which only serves to stifle people's choices, and continues the ironclad grip of the two party duopoly. In the meantime, Norman Solomon, a longtime associate of the media watch group Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR), and founder of the Institute for Public Accuracy, is promoting Obama's campaign, while claiming to be a media critic. You mean to tell us you folks don't see any conflict of interest here?? Wake Up!
Challenge Dennis Bernstein, and Normon Solomon. Ask them why they aren't interviewing Ralph Nader & Matt Gonzalez, and dispelling the "spoiler" fallacy? Why do they continue to play into the lesser of two evils syndrome, and regurgitate the same old- same old tired diatribe? There is no free speech if it is confined in a box, especially if the perameters are controlled and determined by the left media gatekeepers like Normon Solomon.
Everybody knows that the alleged spoiler syndrome would not exist, if Congress, controlled by the duopoly, were to step up to the plate and bring about IRV (Instant Runoff Voting). Everybody knows, except for the lobotomized crowd, that the electoral college is an obsolete abomination, that access to the ballot is utterly corrupt and tilted toward the duopoly,and that campaigns and parties often resort to unsavory tricks to suppress the vote, and toss third party candidates off the ballot. (Bonusgate Scandal, PA). With "alternative" media such as it is- who needs it?? We've got more than enough of it with the mainstream.
Everybody knows that the alleged spoiler syndrome would not exist, if Congress, controlled by the duopoly, were to step up to the plate and bring about IRV (Instant Runoff Voting). Everybody knows, except for the lobotomized crowd, that the electoral college is an obsolete abomination, that access to the ballot is utterly corrupt and tilted toward the duopoly,and that campaigns and parties often resort to unsavory tricks to suppress the vote, and toss third party candidates off the ballot. (Bonusgate Scandal, PA). With "alternative" media such as it is- who needs it?? We've got more than enough of it with the mainstream.
So it's not Norman Soloman you think should be gagged, necessarily, but ANYONE who supports or belongs to the Democratic Party -- which probably comprises the majority of KPFA's listeners, regardless of what our local third-party ideologues wish to believe.
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