Obama Made His Career “Collaborating with the GOP”
“I think he liked the 2010 election outcomes, that brought the Right back to power in the House,” says Paul Street, author of The Empire’s New Clothes: Barack Obama and the Real World of Power. “I think that’s his comfort zone. This is his career, collaborating with the GOP,” says Street, who worked for years as a researcher for the Chicago Urban League. Although “deluded liberals and progressives” continue to insist that Obama shares their values, “they just don’t get it. This guy is just very conservative.”
White House Retaliates Against Whistleblowers
The Obama administration is taking retaliation against whistleblowers “to a new level,” says Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, herself a renowned whistleblower and author of the book, No Fear. “The president has suggested that psychologists, psychiatrists and sociologists should be deployed throughout the federal government to ferret out whistleblowers,” says Coleman-Adebayo. “They want to see if there is even a potential that you might blow the whistle on injustice or corruption.”
“Baby Doc” Has Friends in High Places in Haiti
Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, the dictator who returned to Haiti 25 years after being run out of the country, still has “cadres in power of some sort in the [Rene] Preval administration, and in business and many other venues in society,” says Haitian journalist and community activist Roger LeDuc. In addition, France, the United States “and, to some extent, Rene Preval,” are anxious to divert attention from the recent disastrous elections. Duvalier has been charged with corruption and embezzlement, and prosecutors say they are investigating possible crimes against humanity.
Progressive Candidate Claims Detroit Teachers Victory
Steve Conn, candidate for president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers on the Defend Public Education/Save Our Students ticket, says he is the rightful winner in the race, and that incumbent Keith Johnson rigged the vote count. Conn charges Johnson and national union president Randi Weingarten with “running the union as a tool of [education secretary] Arnie Duncan and the anti-public education privatizers.” A Day of Action is schedule for March 2, in Detroit.
Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network is hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey. A new edition of the program airs every Monday at 4:00pm ET on PRN. Length: One hour.
A 1989 talk by Black feminist Beverly Smith reminds us that for Black women, the right to abortion can be a woman’s right to life.
Contributing Editor Ann Garrison continues her reporting from the Horn of Africa. She is once again in Ethiopia.
John Parker is the Socialist Unity Party candidate for U.S. Senate in California on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket. Parker is on a fact-finding trip observing the U.S./NATO proxy…
This week’s featured author is Nick Nesbitt. Nesbitt is Professor of French and Italian at Princeton University. His book is The Price of Slavery: Capitalism and Revolution in the Caribbean.
