492 Cafe

Chomsky on Obama's Campaign

"Change, hope and so on (as campaign rhetoric) ... was kind of reflexive. Any party manager this year ... would instantly conclude that our theme in the election has to be change, because people hate what's going on.""The goal of advertising is to create uninformed consumers who will make irrational choices. ... Markets are supposed to be based on informed consumers making rational choices. Industry spends hundeds of millions of dollars a year to undermine markets and insure you get uninformed consumers making irrational choices. ... And when they turn to selling a candidate, they do the same thing. They want uninformed consumers, voters, to make irrational choices. So you undermine Democracy in much the same way as you undermine markets."

"The Wall Street Journal ... talked about this tremendous grass roots army that had been developed, which is now waiting for instructions. ... What they don't seem to realize is that the ideal they are describing is dictatorship, not Democracy."

Quotes

Obama picks Joe Biden for Vice President

"The choice of Biden must have been a conscious attempt to show contempt for the people who were ... organizing for (Obama), as an antiwar candidate."

"(Biden is) one of the strongest supporters of the war in Iraq in the Senate, a long time Washington insider, (who) rarely deviates from the party vote. The cases where he does deviate are not very uplifting. He did break from the party in voting for a resolution ... a blow against poor people who are caught in this immense debt that's a large part of the basis for the economy these days. ... (He) usually votes with the Democrats on the ultra-nationalist side."

Obama picks Rahm Emanuel for Chief of Staff

"(Rahm Emanuel is) ... one of the strongest supporters of the war in Iraq in the House. ... the only member of the Illinois delegation who voted for Bush's effective declaration of war., and again, a longtime Washington insider."

"Also, (Rahm Emanuel is) ... one of the leading recipients in Congress of funding from the financial institutions, hedge funds and so on. He himself was an investment banker."

Obama Picks Wall Street and Washington insiders, Makers of Fraud, Bailouts and Theft

"Obama's (first) choices to run (the economic recovery) were Robert Rubin and Larry Somers, Secretaries of the Treasury under Clinton. They are among the people who are substantially responsible for the crisis." " There was a meeting of a group of ... advisors to deal with the financial crises. Their careers, their records were reviewed in the business press. Bloomberg News ... concluded that most of these people shouldn't be giving advice about the economy, they should be getting subpoenas. That includes Rahm Emanuel ... " (enthusiastic applause)

"(Dean Baker is) ... one of the few leading economists who's been right all along about predicting what's happening. (He) said that 'selecting them is like selecting Osama Bin Laden to run the War on Terror."

Obama's contempt for Real Democracy

"I'll mention just one thing about Obama's website (indicating) what's happening ...

One of the major problems coming is Afghanistan / Pakistan. Take a look at Obama's website, under foreign policy issues. The names don't even appear. We're supposed to be ignorant and meddlesome outsiders. We're not supposed to know what 'Brand Obama' (means.)"

So, What's Next ?

"Well, that's a good indication of what's to come next, if we look at (Obama's) actions."

About the Gig

492 Cafe managed sound for the fundraiser, which played to a full house, including the balconies

Boston Talk Radio Meister Christopher Lydon and CCTV received 492 Cafe's audio feeds, which included audience response.

Democracy Now and Z-Magazine also shot their own video.

The Arlington Street (Unitarian) Church has a nice sound system with lots of speakers.

-Photo: Roger Leisner (Radio Free Maine)

Emcee Dorotea Manuella, Noam Chomsky, Radio Meister Christopher Lydon and Audio Technician Freeman Z.

AIPAC: Undue Foreign Influence?

Since his days as a fund-raiser and then a "political adviser" – read: enforcer – for President Clinton, Emanuel has earned notoriety as a no-holds-barred politico. Accept the good with the bad because it’s of a piece, said Steve Rabinowitz, who worked with Emanuel in the Clinton White House.

"He can be a ‘mamzer,’ but he’s our mamzer," said Rabinowitz, using the Yiddish term for "bastard," speaking both as a Democrat and a Jew. "Sometimes that’s what you need." (source)

Turning Tide Videos

Check out Turning Tide's offerings of DVDs including...

More Topics: The Peace Pagoda, South America, and much more