Heartbreaking: 'Best Friend' Chomsky Turns on Hugo Chavez

When you've lost "renowned scholar" Noam Chomsky, you know things are bleak. First he admits he has cancer, and now his socialist pals are turning on him. Poor Hugo.

Hugo Chávez has long considered Noam Chomsky one of his best friends in the west. He has basked in the renowned scholar's praise for Venezuela's socialist revolution and echoed his denunciations of US imperialism.

Venezuela's president, who has revealed that he has had surgery in Cuba to remove a cancerous tumour, turned one of Chomsky's books into an overnight bestseller after brandishing it during a UN speech. He hosted Chomsky in Caracas with smiles and pomp. Earlier this year Chávez even suggested Washington make Chomsky the US ambassador to Venezuela.

The president may be about to have second thoughts about that, because his favourite intellectual has now turned his guns on Chávez.

Speaking to the Observer last week, Chomsky has accused the socialist leader of amassing too much power and of making an "assault" on Venezuela's democracy.

"Concentration of executive power, unless it's very temporary and for specific circumstances, such as fighting world war two, is an assault on democracy. You can debate whether [Venezuela's] circumstances require it: internal circumstances and the external threat of attack, that's a legitimate debate. But my own judgment in that debate is that it does not."

Chomsky, a linguistics professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, spoke on the eve of publishing an open letter (see below) that accuses Venezuela's authorities of "cruelty" in the case of a jailed judge.

The self-described libertarian socialist says the plight of María Lourdes Afiuni is a "glaring exception" in a time of worldwide cries for freedom. He urges Chávez to release her in "a gesture of clemency" for the sake of justice and human rights.

Chomsky reveals he has lobbied Venezuela's government behind the scenes since late last year after being approached by the Carr centre for human rights policy at Harvard University. Afiuni earned Chávez's ire in December 2009 by freeing Eligio Cedeño, a prominent banker facing corruption charges. Cedeño promptly fled the country.

In a televised broadcast the president, who had taken a close interest in the case, called the judge a criminal and demanded she be jailed for 30 years. "That judge has to pay for what she has done."

Afiuni, 47, a single mother with cancer, spent just over a year in jail, where she was assaulted by other prisoners. In January, authorities softened her confinement to house arrest pending trial for corruption, which she denies.

"Judge Afiuni has suffered enough," states Chomsky's letter. "She has been subject to acts of violence and humiliations to undermine her human dignity. I am convinced that she must be set free."

On the upside for the ailing dictator, it appears his good buddy Bill Ayers is still in his camp.

Surprise! Bin Laden Fond of Jimmy Carter and Noam Chomsky

There's a reason they're called useful idiots.

In 2007, he complained that Democratic control of Congress had not ended the war in Iraq, a fact he attributed to the pernicious influence of “big corporations.” In other messages he commented on the writings of Noam Chomsky, the leftist professor at M.I.T., and praised former President Jimmy Carter’s book supporting Palestinian rights.

You may recall bin Laden sounded ominously like a certain former Vice President.

Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, blamed the United States and developed countries for not halting climate change and said that the global economy should immediately abandon its reliance on the American dollar, according to an audiotape released Friday by the broadcaster Al Jazeera.

“Talk about climate change is not an ideological luxury but a reality,” Mr. bin Laden was quoted as saying in a report on Al Jazeera’s English-language Web site. “All of the industrialized countries, especially the big ones, bear responsibility for the global warming crisis.”

Hugo Chavez Fantasy: Sean Penn, Oliver Stone or Noam Chomsky as US Ambassador

If none of the above crackpots make the cut, he'll settle for Bill Clinton.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sought to end a diplomatic stand-off with the United States on Tuesday by suggesting it name Bill Clinton, actor Sean Penn or director Oliver Stone as its envoy to Caracas.

In the latest flare-up between the ideological foes, Washington withdrew the visa of Venezuela's ambassador last week in retaliation for Chavez's rejection of President Barack Obama's nominated ambassador to Caracas.

U.S. diplomat Larry Palmer had criticized Venezuela's government, saying morale in its military was low and there were clear ties between members of the Chavez administration and leftist rebels in neighboring Colombia.

In a televised speech late on Tuesday, Venezuela's firebrand president said he had come up with a solution.

"I hope they name Oliver Stone. I'll suggest a candidate ... Sean Penn, or (linguist and philosopher Noam) Chomsky. We have a lot of friends there. Bill Clinton!" Chavez said.

Stone visited Caracas in May for the local premiere of his documentary "South of the Border," which profiles Latin America's leftist leaders. He told reporters he admired Chavez and his record since coming to power in 1999.

Penn, who has been involved in humanitarian efforts following Haiti's earthquake, won best actor Oscars for his roles in the Clint Eastwood-directed drama "Mystic River" and as slain gay activist Harvey Milk in the movie "Milk."

Chavez also recounted how he met U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton briefly on the sidelines of Dilma Rousseff's inauguration ceremony on Saturday in Brazil.

"I said to Senora Clinton 'How is your husband?'" he said. "But I made a mistake because I speak very bad English, and I said 'How is your wife?' She laughed, then I said husband."

What a card that Hugo is, slipping in a little lesbian humor. No word if Huma Abedin was present.

Comedy Gold: Chomsky Warns of Fascism Coming to America

Courtesy of the evil tea partiers, of course.

“I’m just old enough to have heard a number of Hitler’s speeches on the radio,” he said, “and I have a memory of the texture and the tone of the cheering mobs, and I have the dread sense of the dark clouds of fascism gathering” here at home.

Good grief. He's starting to sound like Tim Robbins.

“The level of anger and fear is like nothing I can compare in my lifetime,” he said.

He cited a statistic from a recent poll showing that half the unaffiliated voters say the average tea party member is closer to them than anyone else.

“Ridiculing the tea party shenanigans is a serious error,” Chomsky said.

Yeah, because if you make enough fun of them then mass murder and concentration camps are up next, obviously. You've been warned.

Of course most of the problem stems from the fact people just can't find the liberal viewpoint anywhere.

“People want some answers,” Chomsky said. “They are hearing answers from only one place: Fox, talk radio, and Sarah Palin.”

Uh, wouldn't that be three places?

Chomsky invoked Germany during the Weimar Republic, and drew a parallel between it and the United States. “The Weimar Republic was the peak of Western civilization and was regarded as a model of democracy,” he said.

Does ObamaCare cover treatment for mental illness among aging liberals?

Bin Laden Channels His Inner Algore, Blames U.S. For Global Warming

This is really going to cause some consternation with the Gaia crowd. Do they come down on the side of sanity or do they align themselves with the world's No. 1 terrorist?

Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, has condemned the US and other industrial economies, holding them responsible for the phenomenon of climate change.

In an audio tape obtained by Al Jazeera, bin Laden criticised George Bush, the former US president, for rejecting the Kyoto pact and condemned global corporations.

Of course the entire U.S. Senate rejected Kyoto while Bill Clinton was president, but let's not allow facts to get in the way.

"This is a message to the whole world about those responsible for climate change and its repercussions - whether intentionally or unintentionally - and about the action we must take," bin Laden said.

"Speaking about climate change is not a matter of intellectual luxury - the phenomenon is an actual fact."

Thus bin Laden now firmly places himself in the realm of the far left kooks (see Obama, Barack) who believe in the global warming hoax. I guess he can no longer be criticized.

In the new recording, bin Laden says "all the industrial states" are to blame for climate change, "yet the majority of those states have signed the Kyoto Protocol and agreed to curb the emission of harmful gases".

He continued: "However, George Bush junior, preceded by [the US] congress, dismissed the agreement to placate giant corporations. And they are themselves standing behind speculation, monopoly and soaring living costs.

"They are also behind 'globalisation and its tragic implications'. And whenever the perpetrators are found guilty, the heads of state rush to rescue them using public money."

The Kyoto Protocol, a UN treaty aimed at combating global warming, was adopted in December 1997 and has since been ratified by 187 states, but not by the US congress.

Although a signatory to the agreement, the US under Bush refused to ratify the treaty, saying that it should contain binding goals for developing countries to reduce emissions as well as those for industrialised nations.

Umm, again we'll point out George W. Bush was not the president in 1997. But hey, why let facts get in the way?

Bin Laden also sends a shout-out to one of his lefty pals in the U.S.

In the new recording, bin Laden said: "Noam Chomsky [the US academic and political commentator] was correct when he compared the US policies to those of the Mafia. They are the true terrorists and therefore we should refrain from dealing in the US dollar and should try to get rid of this currency as early as possible.

"I am certain that such actions will have grave repercussions and huge impact."

Obama Offers Carrot Sticks to Iran

The mullahs were too busy laughing to comment.

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama said on Sunday he was prepared to offer Iran economic incentives to stop its nuclear program, but he also warned that sanctions could be toughened if it refused.

"We are willing to talk to them directly and give them a clear choice and ultimately let them make a determination in terms of whether they want to do this the hard way or the easy way," Obama told NBC's "Meet the Press" program.

Dealing with Iran's uranium enrichment program, which some Western countries say is being used to develop a nuclear bomb, will be one of the first foreign policy tests for Obama after he takes office on January 20.

Iran last month signaled it was expanding its nuclear enrichment program, a clear sign that it has no intention of bowing to Western pressure. Tehran says the program is purely for peaceful purposes to generate more electricity.

Obama will never have the stones to attack their reactors and the Iranians know it. They're busy, meanwhile, test-firing missiles from ships. They don't take the IAEA seriously and I highly doubt any "incentives" offered by Obama will be a deterrent.

Force they'll understand. Meaning it's probably going to have to come from the Israelis.

Meanwhile, from the Department of Redundancy Department, famed linguist and liberal icon Noam Chomsky is giving interviews to Iranian state media blaming the United States for terrorism. What a guy.

South Korea Military Bans Chomsky Books

Apparently they feel reading the drivel of Noam Chomsky will affect their mental power.

No kidding.

South Korea's Defence Ministry, which maintains a force of about 670,000 troops to fend off an invasion from the communist North, also feels threatened by the likes of American linguist Noam Chomsky.

The ministry said Friday it may punish some officers for harming "the military's mental power" by trying to bring books it considers too leftist onto its bases.

The ministry earlier this year banned 23 books from the country's military facilities include two volumes by Chomsky and the best seller "Bad Samaritans" by a Korean professor at Cambridge University, Chang Ha-joon.

A group of officers said the move was censorship and appealed to the country's highest court to overturn the ban. They argue that since soldiers are free to read the books off base, they should be allowed to bring them into their barracks.

'One Must Not Forget That This Country Was Founded by Religious Fanatics'

More wit and wisdom from noted "public intellectual" Noam Chomsky. Privately, I think the guy has lost it, but he does manage to choke up a couple of honest points, save for the smarmy comment about religious fanatics.

SPIEGEL: Do you prefer the team on the other side: the 72 year old Vietnam veteran McCain and Sarah Palin, former Alaskan beauty queen?

Chomsky: This Sarah Palin phenomenon is very curious. I think somebody watching us from Mars, they would think the country has gone insane.

SPIEGEL: Arch conservatives and religious voters seem to be thrilled.

Chomsky: One must not forget that this country was founded by religious fanatics. Since Jimmy Carter, religious fundamentalists play a major role in elections. He was the first president who made a point of exhibiting himself as a born again Christian. That sparked a little light in the minds of political campaign managers: Pretend to be a religious fanatic and you can pick up a third of the vote right away. Nobody asked whether Lyndon Johnson went to church every day. Bill Clinton is probably about as religious as I am, meaning zero, but his managers made a point of making sure that every Sunday morning he was in the Baptist church singing hymns.

SPIEGEL: Is there nothing about McCain that appeals to you?

Chomsky: In one aspect he is more honest than his opponent. He explicitly states that this election is not about issues but about personalities. The Democrats are not quite as honest even though they see it the same way.

SPIEGEL: So for you, Republicans and Democrats represent just slight variations of the same political platform?

Chomsky: Of course there are differences, but they are not fundamental. Nobody should have any illusions. The United States has essentially a one-party system and the ruling party is the business party.

'The Big Powers Are Going Down'

Another absurd claim from the hairy munchkin.

Iran's president on Tuesday blamed the U.S. and other "big powers" for global ills such as nuclear proliferation and AIDS, and accused them of exploiting the U.N. for their own gain and the developing world's loss.

But, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, time was on the poor countries' side.

"The big powers are going down," Ahmadinejad told foreign ministers of the Nonaligned Movement meeting in Tehran. "They have come to the end of their power, and the world is on the verge of entering a new, promising era."

The more than 100-member NAM is made up of such diverse members as communist Cuba, Jamaica and India and depicts itself as bloc-free. But most members share a critical view of the U.S and the developed world in general.

No doubt most Democrats agree with him. They hate that America is a powerful country.

Why, it was just yesterday House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was welcoming statements from Ahmadinejad. I wonder why she'll have to say today?

Meanwhile, the psychotic dwarf revealed that he spoke with a presidential candidate last year.

Hmm.

Speaking of useful idiots, prominent Democrat Noam Chomsky adds some more America-bashing.

However, the influential American philosopher and author, Noam Chomsky, has a different view.

“I do not think the difference between participation and listening is a diplomatic quibble,” Chomsky told the Mehr News Agency in a recent interview.

“The Bush administration is under severe international and domestic pressure to rein in its radical extremism, which has led to catastrophes everywhere, and might bring about even worse ones” the American lecturer noted.

Take a breath, dude.

Jewish Students Flee Arab Mob at York University

The proponents of tolerance and diversity were unavailable for comment.

Jewish York students flee from mob

York University saw the worst antisemitic display ever on that campus last week, said Ben Feferman, senior campus coordinator for the Canadian region of Hasbara Fellowships, an Israel advocacy organization spearheaded by Aish Hatorah.

The Betar-supported Campus Coalition of Zionists (CCZ), together with Hasbarah, manned a table in Vari Hall, with permission from the university, with pamphlets and brochures about the danger emanating from Iran.

However, the situation became very difficult for the students who participated. They were vastly outnumbered by pro-Arab students who surrounded them, and eventually the pro-Israel activists fled. As they left, there was cheering by the pro-Arab mob.

According to Feferman, “I’ve never seen anything like this at York. We weren’t even discussing the issues anymore. It was pure Jew hatred. That’s what it’s come to.” In fact, Feferman noticed an acquaintance there and said hello, but received no acknowledgement. She emailed him later that day to apologize, explaining that she didn’t want everyone to know she was Jewish. To Feferman, this episode is a red light. “We know there’s a crisis when a student on campus is afraid to reveal she’s Jewish and feels unsafe,” he said.

Another disturbing issue that day, according to Feferman, was that a Hillel executive was standing nearby, watching. Feferman can’t understand why he didn’t take action or get his students to help out.

More at Dust My Broom, which notes:

The following day, Palestinian Media Watch’s Itamar Marcus addressed York students on the daily indoctrination of children living under the Palestinian Authority to hate Jews.

“It was absolute chaos,” Hollander declared. “It was impossible to moderate. People would ask loaded questions. Marcus wasn’t given an opportunity to respond. He refused to get into a screaming match. One girl, raised in Canada, said she herself would gladly be a suicide bomber and would have no qualms raising her daughter to become a shahid.”

And this:

A couple of weeks ago, when US-based anti-Israel professor of linguistics Noam Chomsky was scheduled to address York students via satellite, CCZ and Hasbarah joined forces to provide information about what Chomsky stands for.

“We wanted to do a protest,” Feferman said, “but the university administration wouldn’t allow it, saying they didn’t want a lot of noise and they were afraid that signs could be used as weapons.” The students settled for a table with handouts about Chomsky and two large posters, one depicting Chomsky with [Hezbollah leader] Nasrallah. One poster quoted Chomsky’s statement: “I see no antisemitic implications in denial of the existence of gas chambers, or even in denial of the Holocaust.”

There's also plenty of radicalism at Ryerson University.

H/T: Daphne.

The Growing Leftist-Islamist Convergence

A rather disturbing look in the New York Sun today on the increasing unity between the left and Islamists (via Captain's Quarters).

Over the past year, multiple international conferences have featured leaders of the anti-global left and Islamist groups working together. Go to any anti-war or anti-globalization demonstration in the West and chances are you will see the flags of Hezbollah and Hamas waved by people wearing Che Guevara T-shirts. And at some of these meetings, members of such radical Islamist groups as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and Hezbollah have enjoyed starring roles.

The roster of Islamist-left alliances quietly grows every day: Massachusetts Institute of Technology linguistics professor Noam Chomsky praises Hamas and denounces America on Hezbollah's Al-Manar television. London Mayor Ken Livingstone invites a leading Islamist, Sheikh Yosef Al-Qaradawi, who is known for supporting suicide attacks, to visit his city. Iranian President Ahmadinejad calls for a world without America even as he plays host to a Tehran peace conference attended by American Mennonites, Quakers, Episcopalians, Methodists, and leaders of the National Council of Churches.

The left wonders why their patriotism, or lack theroef, is always in question.

When you align with our enemies, you become one yourself.