I watched with special attention the recent documentary on public television about Henry Wallace, a former Secretary of Agriculture, vice-president during FDRs third term and Secretary of Commerce in Roosevelts brief fourth term. In 1948, Wallace ran for president under the banner of the Progressive Party and was soundly defeated, garnering only one million votes nationwide in the popular vote. He became publisher of the New Republic for a stint and then faded away into relative obscurity. Yet there was a moment in history that could have made his name forever infamous. The documentary did not mention it.
But intelligence scholar Chris Andrew did, in 2000 on CBS 60 Minutes and CNN. Henry Wallace, it was divulged in formerly secret KGB files, was set to impose on the U.S. a Soviet-run administration. According to Andrew, referring to his book The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archiveco-authored with former KGB Colonel Vasali Mitrokhin: The fact that Roosevelt survived three months into an unprecedented fourth term in the White House deprived Soviet intelligence of what would have been its most spectacular success in penetrating a major Western government. The NKVD (the forerunner of the KGB) succeeded, nonetheless, in penetrating all the most sensitive sections of the Roosevelt administration. The Democrats dropped Wallace as FDRs running mate for the 1944 presidential race, depriving him of the presidency and the opportunity to establish a Soviet-appointed Cabinet.
This information was available to the producers of the Wallace documentary. Yet it was omitted, which is one example of the refusal of scholars and the media to recognize the revelations over the past 15 years that clear up many of the disputes and false assumptions that continue to divide the interpretation of recent history. The more the data stack up, the more revisionist scholars refuse to recognize that the Left in this country was largely manipulated by the Soviets. In other words, as several leading historians have admitted: Joe McCarthy was right. Three of the most prominent scholars on the subject will be here for the third Raleigh International Spy Conference August 31-September 2. Go to www.raleighspyconference.com for more information.
NOTES FROM LA-LA LAND
The top domestic terrorism threat in the US today, according to the FBI, is environmental and animal rights activists. These eco-terrorists earned their new stature after the G-men compared the groups against right-wing extremists, the KKK, anti-abortion groups and the like.
First Lady Laura Bush, while on a tour of the Middle Easta gutsy undertaking in itselfwas asked about the rioting and 16 deaths set off by a false report in Newsweek magazine that pages of the Koran were desecrated at a US prison for terrorists. She said simply that she doesn't really blame Newsweek since the US is a country where a news item doesn't set off riots and mayhem. So how was Newsweek to know that shoddy reporting would cost lives, she is implying? This seems a bit disingenuous, that slanted news reporting is okay in the US since we don't take to the streets when serious errors occur? If we did, based on the steep decline in credibility of the national mass media, wed be demonstrating every day. If you read just the New York Times and listened only to National Public Radio, youd be on the street night and dayweekends and holidays included.
With this incident, we are receiving a taste of what being an empire is all about. In 1847, with the British Empire at its zenith, the Raj in India was faced with rioting in the predominately native military ranks when a rumor spread that ammunition was encased in animal fat from pigs and cows. Moslem soldiers could not touch pork and Hindus were forbidden to eat beef; the rioting turned into armed insurrection.
Im starting to relate to Russians and Germans who woke up one day to find they were living in a tyrannical dictatorship. The Communists in 1917 and the Nazis in 1933 took over by enacting a peoples revolutionthe Soviet Socialist Republic and National Socialismeach selling a better life under the faade that the new ruling elite operated in the name of the Peopletherefore in everyones best interest. Actually, the new regimes were acting in the interests of a very few people who used the legerdemain of effective propaganda and the theatrics of popular rallies and pressure politics to gain power. The elite, acting as if they were sanctioned by the masses, set to work to impose their agendas as they saw fit with terrifying efficiency.
Now it appears the City of Raleigh is in the grip of elitists who want what's best for the people, whether they like it or not. City Council Resolutions pop up weekly calling for more regulatory interference, for example, a proposed fine for not keeping your yard looking nice or for allowing poison ivy to grow. Meanwhile, our roads are becoming impassable as our leaders sit back and watch plans for a commuter train to Durham soak up road funds. And the curbside trash pick-up plan, concocted by City staff and environmental activists in the community to cover up the cost of recyclinga project dear to their little green hearts that is costing the City a bundlehas turned our residential avenues and lanes into slums for the day. And, as expected, the trash police are now required to enforce compliance. I'm waiting for the knock on the door in the dark of the night.
The 300-acre Dorothea Dix property now up for grabs is the subject of public hearings with the consensus tilting to creating a public park. People like me who want to see a metropolitan private development with homes, condos and shopping obviously do not attend these meetings as they usually draw people with a heartfelt but usually nave agenda. These folks always want parks and public spaces because they are weighed down with the propaganda that we are losing green spaces and the option of development will pollute the air and kill us all.
Raleigh has enough green space to support herds of antelope already. What is needed at Dix is a cosmopolitan mixed-use development that sets aside a portion of the land for public use. The proximity of Dix to center city Raleigh and the burgeoning Centennial Campus to the west, makes it perfect for upgrading the profile of the City with a first class project where people actually live and work and shop. That's how you put soul in a city, not by creating more underutilized park space that must be maintained and kept secure.
Triangle Transit Authority goons walked unannounced into a Raleigh business recently to inform the owners, in front of employees and customers, that they were there to help them relocate. The owners had no idea what was going on and were obviously upset. The TTA Gestapo seemed unconcerned that the investment and livelihood of the owners were in the way of a proposed TTA rail corridor.
First off, under what authority is TTA going around threatening to snatch personal property? Second, what makes them think the rail transit system will be funded? The Feds are taking another look at the viability of rail transit in the Triangle, as they should have done long ago before a cadre of activists went around our backs to impose mass transit on the community knowing there was no factual basis to justify it in the first place.
The bill in the legislature calling for a statewide ban on smoking in restaurants and public places runs contrary to nature in North Carolina. This is the home of tobacco and of the original colonists who broke away from Great Britain to get government out of their lives. The impetus for the ban comes from the usual suspects who are compelled to legislate behavior, and run right over individual rights with no shameall the while performing as useful dopes for insurance companies.
Ive got some ideas to help them create the perfect world they so righteously yearn for. After all, these dangers are costing society billions and are driving up health costs for us all:
Seat belts on dogs. How many times do you see dogs running freely around the back of open pick-up trucks? This is cruelty to animals and potentially dangerous as a distraction to drivers.
Helmets on golfers, tennis players and soccer teams. This is an obvious threat. Golfers are in constant danger of being hit; tennis players actually stand in the way of violently struck balls aimed right at them; and with so many kids playing soccer, cared for by moms who are concerned about their children, this is an urgent need.
Automobile safety. Obviously, cell phones must be banned, along with radios and TV sets that distract drivers and cause accidents. And no more eating in the car; this is very dangerous and causes accidents that drive up insurance rates and costs society billions.
Ban sky-diving and air travel. Everyone knows how bad it is when planes crash.
Ban swimming and sunbathing. Thousands die every year while swimming and doctor care for sunburn cases and skin cancer is costing society billions in increased medical costs.
Ban alcohol. This didn't work so well in the 1920s, but Prohibition is the only solution to address the ravages of alcohol on society. Drunk driving, domestic violence and workplace productivity losses to alcoholism are costing society billions. And the medical needs are alarming: cirrhosis of the liver, loss of brain cells, decline in immunity to disease and rehabilitation are costing society billions and billions.
There, now, is everyone happy?