Book Reviews: "The Manchurian President"

RBO: L.A. Times smears exposé outing president. ‘Manchurian President’ describes extremists in White House posts", by Brenda J. Elliott

The LA Times has attacked a blockbuster book investigating President Obama and his radical connections, claiming the work echoes a movie in which communists try to hypnotize their way into the White House, WND reports. The book’s introduction, however, specifically states the work does not echo the film’s plot of a president brainwashed into becoming a sleeper agent for communists. “Pumped up polemics,” is how the LA Times described a series of hard hitting political books dominating the nation’s bestseller list, most notably including the new work, “The Manchurian President: Barack Obama’s ties to communists, socialists and other anti-American extremists.”

The new title, from WND senior reporter and WABC radio host Aaron Klein and historian Brenda J. Elliott, has been a NY Times bestseller since its release last month and just yesterday hit the esteemed Publishers Weekly list of top-selling books. The LA Times claimed the book “echoes [The Manchurian Candidate movie] the 1962 classic film in which Chinese communists try to hypnotize their way into the White House.” While the title is taken from The Manchurian Candidate book and movie, Klein writes in the book’s introduction the work specifically does not echo the film’s plot of a hypnotized president. (...) >>>

Jun 5, 2010
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"The Grand Jihad", by Andrew McCarthy -

Big Journalism interview with Andrew McCarthy

Many Westerners can't face the truth about the connection between Jihad and the Koran. Islam is not a moderate, but an extreme belief. Islam is not mainstream. It is not a religion as we understand it. There is no separation of Mosque and State. It does not distinguish between spiritual and daily life, and that includes the law. Sharia law is making inroads. The Project is an incremental, but comprehensive campaign.

Jihad is the method to establish Sharia law. There is a debate in Islamist circles if one way to establish it, terrorism, hasn't outlived its usefulness with all the blowback. Word has it the Muslim Brotherhood is ready to throw Al Qaeda under the bus. The peaceful way to obtain the objective is through dawa, or stealth Jihad. There is no question that the objective of the Project is to establish Sharia law. The discussion is over the method.

Freedom to Muslims means submission to Islam. Therefore a discussion about freedom for women is ridiculous, as the two debators will talk at cross purposes. Peace in Islam means the establishment of global Sharia (the global Caliphate).

The Islamists agree with the left that the biggest obstruction to their ideals are liberty, individualism and the US Constitution (capitalism, Classical Liberalism, Liberty). There are historical links between the Left (and the far Right) with Islamism. But also now there's an understanding with advocacy groups like CAIR, ACLU and the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

People are evading the evident for two reasons. The assertion that the Project is real is often met with the response that the premise in effect validates the central thesis of the salafist-whabbist violent fringe of Islam. This is an admission that it is true, but that the interlocutor isn't willing to accept the fact: if 1.5 billion Muslims are convinced of this we're doomed, they say. Indeed. The other reason they are denying it, is because they share an agenda with the Islamists: the destruction of the free world. The media narrative in the Gaza propflot story was in place even before events had played out.

There are currently 85 Sharia Courts in the UK. There are 'debates' about it in the Netherlands. Full Sharia is thus established through a temporary state of apartheid: one law for Muslims and another for the rest of us. People's imagination just can't be stretched to the extent they can see it happen.

Asked what McCarthy sees as the remedy, this is awareness. Go after the terrorists obviously, but we must with all means at our disposal raise awareness to counter the dhimmi mentality. The 15 story 911 Mosque is a case in point: it has the subtlety of a sledge hammer. It's telling that in the name of tolerance and outreach a symbol of Muslim triumphalism is erected near Ground Zero.

June 2, 2010
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Why Wilders and Hirsi Ali are right about Islam -

WSJ : "They Need to Be Liberated From Their God", by Matthew Kaminski

The 'Son of Hamas' author on his conversion to Christianity, spying for Israel, and shaming his family. 'I absolutely know that in anybody's eyes I was a traitor," says Mosab Hassan Yousef. "To my family, to my nation, to my God. I crossed all the red lines in my society. I didn't leave one that I didn't cross." Now 32, Mosab is the son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a founder and leader of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Throughout the last decade, from the second Intifada to the current stalemate, he worked alongside his father in the West Bank. During that time the younger Mr. Yousef also secretly embraced Christianity. And as he reveals in his book "Son of Hamas," out this week, he became one of the top spies for Israel's internal security arm, the Shin Bet.

The news of this double conversion has sent ripples through the Middle East. One of Mr. Yousef's handlers at the Shin Bet confirmed his account to the Israeli daily Haaretz. Hamas—already reeling from the assassination of a senior military chief in Dubai in January—calls his claims Zionist propaganda. From the Israeli prison he has occupied since 2005, Sheikh Yousef on Monday issued a statement that he and his family "have completely disowned the man who was our oldest son and who is called Mosab." (...) As the son of a Muslim cleric, he says he had reached the conclusion that terrorism can't be defeated without a new understanding of Islam. Here he echoes other defectors from Islam such as the former Dutch parliamentarian and writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali. (...) "The problem is not in Muslims," he continues. "The problem is with their God. They need to be liberated from their God. He is their biggest enemy. It has been 1,400 years they have been lied to." These are all dangerous words. (...) >>>

Mar 6, 2010
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Levin explains in essence the tenets of this blog: why the French and the American Revolutions are entirely different in nature. It explains the chasm between Europe and the US, between liberal democracy and liberty, Rousseau versus Locke, subjectivism or objectivism, collectivism and individualism, anti modernism versus modernism.

Salvo: "Statist Analysis: Liberty and Tyranny: "A Conservative Manifesto," by Mark Levin, reviewed by Terrell Clemmons

In Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto, Mark Levin identifies and analyzes two divergent, mutually exclusive philosophies of governance. Tracing the threads of each through American history, Levin discusses America’s founding, the Constitution, federalism, the free market, environmentalism, immigration, and the rise of the welfare state and shows how the conservative principles upon which America was founded have fostered opportunity, prosperity, and strength, and have preserved freedom.

Established on belief in divine providence and natural law, conservative principles recognize “a harmony of interests” and “rules of cooperation” that foster “ordered liberty” and a social contract, which brings about what Levin calls the civil society. In the civil society, the individual is recognized as “a unique, spiritual being with a soul and a conscience.” Though civil society recognizes and sanctions a transcendent, objective moral order, which the citizen has a duty to respect, it acknowledges man’s imperfection and anticipates flawed observance. (...) >>>

Dec. 29, 2009
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Who's recommendation would you take?

MSNBC is running a poll: Glenn vs. Oprah. Vote here ...

NYTimes: "For Thrillers, Glenn Beck Is Becoming New Oprah"

Virtually every novelist in America fantasizes about being picked to appear on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show. But now an increasing number of writers have discovered a new champion: Glenn Beck, the outspoken media darling of populist conservatism. On his radio show and cable television programs, first on CNN Headline News and now on the Fox News Channel, Mr. Beck has enthusiastically endorsed dozens of novelists, a majority of them writing in the thriller genre. Mr. Beck, who now attracts 9 million weekly listeners on radio and 2.7 million daily viewers on television, often selects authors whose plots or characters reflect political stances that mirror his own. But he also promotes the work of authors who may disagree with many of his views. (...) >>>

Nov. 5, 2009
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PJM Political 6/13/09: "Will Soft Despotism Mean Lights Out For The West?" (audio link)

Paul Rahe's website

In our Library

June 14, 2009

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A recent article on Pajamas requests to "[P]please circulate and pass on my review. The new Ayers release will get much media attention. And I believe my critique will be effective in countering it" ... here's an informative interview with an FBI agent on the Ayers issue ...

Pajamas Media: "Shame on The New Yorker," by Ron Radosh

Shame on The New Yorker and its editor David Remnick for playing a role in the attempt of Bill Ayers and his publisher to resurrect both Ayers’ book and his reputation. Beacon Press has announced that they are releasing an updated version of Ayers’ 2001 book Fugitive Days on November 12^th, a publication date purposely held until after the election. As most everyone knows, the original edition had the misfortune of being published on 9/11/2001, a date that led to cancellation of Ayers’ book tour, and to reams of negative publicity. The last thing the American public wanted to hear about was the glamorization of a 1960’s terrorist. (...) >>>

8th Nov 2008
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Le Quebecois Libre: "New Book by Prof Ed Younkins celebrates Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged"

Since it's publication in 1957, Atlas Shrugged, the philosophical and artistic climax of Ayn Rand's novels, has never been out of print. It continues to receive critical attention and is considered one of the most influential books ever published, impacting a variety of disciplines including philosophy, literature, economics, business and political science.

A new 432-page book entitled, Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged: A Philosophical and Literary Companion is about to be released by Ashgate Publishing Company and the editor is Wheeling Jesuit University professor, Edward W. Younkins.

Younkins is also the author of Capitalism and Commerce, and is executive director of Wheeling Jesuit University's Institute for the Study of Capitalism and Morality.

Celebrating the 50th year of Atlas Shrugged's publication, this companion book by Younkins is an exploration of Ayn Rand's pivotal work. Contributions were specially commissioned from a variety of eminent scholars who admire and have been influenced by Rand's book. Younkins included essays that analyze the novel's integrating elements of theme, plot and characterization from many perspectives and from various levels of meaning. >>>