THE MAGICIAN DOES IT AGAIN

• Head U.S. CEO Barack Obama has just appointed Michael Taylor senior advisor to the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. This is the same man that was in charge of FDA policy when GMO's were allowed into the U.S. food supply without undergoing a single test to determine their safety. Taylor is now America's food safety czar. The magician continues his slight-of-hand tricks as we lead up to the November national elections. Obama's corporate overseers are very happy with him.


• Our newsletter is at the printer and just might be ready by the end of this week. It will be put in the mail to about 3,000 people right away. I try to keep our snail mail address list trimmed down because I can't see mailing newsletters to folks who linger on the list for years without giving any indication of support. I like to carry folks for awhile on the list but want to see if they either give a donation or show some commitment to doing something locally to support our work. So it's not just money we are looking for. Over my years as an organizer I've found that most people have about a three-year period where they settle on an issue and then they grow impatient and move on - I call it the MacDonald's view of social change. They drive up and want to see your immediate success - then when it doesn't happen they move on to greener pastures. They mean well but we've all been conditioned to be transient in our political socialization. It's not that folks have to join our group - they could join others and that would be fine - but this dynamic runs through all movements. Only about 20% stay with an issue over many years but those folks are the gems. Every movement relies on those gems to keep alive. I remember Abbie Hoffman, who came to one of our weekend retreats when I was working for the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice saying, "You've got to take good care of your spark plugs." He was right.


• Civil rights activist and PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley pissed off some Democrats last summer when he accused Obama of not doing enough for poor African-Americans and launched with Princeton professor Cornel West a “poverty tour” of the U.S. to highlight economic disparity. Smiley was scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the 20th annual MLK luncheon on Jan. 16 hosted by the Peoria [Illinois] Civic Center, but has been replaced by Georgetown professor Michael Eric Dyson because of his comments. “I don’t see my role as one of criticizing the president. I see my role as one of holding the president — this and every other president — accountable,” Smiley said in an interview on Fox News on Monday. “Something is wrong with this country … that so often the political right, and I am no defender of the political right … gets accused of playing the game of political correctness. What this underscores is that those on the left, the Democrats can play that game of political correctness as well.” According to Smiley, six out of 1,500 people who bought tickets for the event complained about his appearance. The fact that they prevailed, he said, is a “quintessential example of political correctness.”

Obama's team has been strong arming dissent from the left his whole time in office.....Chris Hedges is right about the bankruptcy of the liberal class. This is one more illustration of why the oligarchy loves the magician. Once again he shows how he effectively keeps so-called progressive institutions (like the 20th annual MLK luncheon in Peoria) toeing the line and taking on the task of repressing anyone like Smiley who dares to challenge the corporate policies of Obama. It's quite sad really.