Let's talk about Czars

[Paradyme]

Good thing their just czars and not people really important like the people who own and control the media or the people who control the money supply.

How are they less important?

 

[Paradoxium]

Wow Volcker is not paid a dime.

 

[Shemtov]

I'm suprised Obama hasn't apointed a swine flu czar yet.

 

[Kelly]

Damn, I thought this was about Russian royalty...

 

[chaseter]

Lets talk about czars ba-by. Lets talk about De-mo-cracy. Lets talk about czars, lets talk about czars.

 

[Paradyme]

Controversial Obama Administration Official Denies Being Part of 9/11 "Truther" Movement, Apologizes for Past Comments

A top environmental official of the Obama administration issued a statement Thursday apologizing for past incendiary statement and denying that he ever agreed with a 2004 petition on which his name appears, a petition calling for congressional hearings and an investigation by the New York Attorney General into "evidence that suggests high-level government officials may have deliberately allowed the September 11th attacks to occur."

Van Jones, the Special Advisor for Green Jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, is Number 46 of the petitioners from the so-called "Truther" movement which suggests that people in the administration of President George W. Bush "may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war."

In a statement issued Thursday evening Jones said of "the petition that was circulated today, I do not agree with this statement and it certainly does not reflect my views now or ever."

He did not explain how his name came to be on the petition. An administration source said Jones says he did not carefully review the language in the petition before agreeing to add his name.

"My work at the Council on Environmental Quality is entirely focused on one goal: building clean energy incentives which create 21st century jobs that improve energy efficiency and use renewable resources," Jones said in his statement tonight.

Jones also said in his statement that "In recent days some in the news media have reported on past statements I made before I joined the administration – some of which were made years ago. If I have offended anyone with statements I made in the past, I apologize."

With a history of incendiary and provocative remarks, many of them dealing with his view of how whites exploit minorities, Jones has emerged as the subject of much conservative scrutiny in recent days, particularly from Fox News' Glenn Beck. (Jones defenders point out that most of Beck's criticism came after a group Jones helped found, Color of Change, began pushing advertisers to boycott Beck after he accused President Obama of being a racist.)

Jones is the best-selling author of The Green Collar Economy and a leader in the "green jobs" movement -- the idea that clean energy jobs can create jobs, especially in poor communities. He has been praised from leaders ranging from Al Gore to former eBay CEO (and Republican) Meg Whitman, who in May said that Jones is doing "a marvelous job… I’m a huge fan of his. He is very bright, very articulate, very passionate. I think he is exactly right.”

Earlier this year a profile of Jones in the New Yorker, author Elizabeth Kolbert wrote that "the basic premise of Jones’s appeal—that combating global warming is a good way to lift people out of poverty—is very much open to debate. ... it’s not at all clear that the number of jobs created by, say, an expanding solar industry would be greater than the number lost through, say, a shrinking coal-mining industry. Nor is it clear that a green economy would be any better at providing work for the chronically unemployed than our present, 'gray' economy has been."

But those theories aren't the ones that have made Jones a lightning rod in the past few weeks.

In 2005 Jones told the East Bay Express that the acquittal of Rodney King's assailants in 1992 in that infamous police brutality case changed him significantly. "I was a rowdy nationalist on April 28th, and then the verdicts came down on April 29th," he said. "By August, I was a communist."

Jones and other young activists in 1994 formed a group called Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement, or STORM, rooted in Marxism and Leninsm. Two years later, Jones launched the Ella Baker Center, an Oakland, Calif., based "strategy and action center" which states that it tries to "promote positive alternatives to violence and incarceration."
In February during a discussion on energy at Berkeley, Calif., (and prior to his joining the Obama administration) Jones referred to Republicans using an epithet for a proctological orifice, which he called "a technical, political science term."

Asked why Republicans asserted more control of the Senate when they had a smaller majority before 2006, Jones said "the answer to that is, they're a--holes." He added that President Obama is not an a--hole, but, "I will say this. I can be an a--hole, and some of us who are not Barack Hussein Obama are going to have to start getting a little bit uppity."

"I apologize for the offensive words I chose to use during that speech," Jones said in a different written statement to Politico on Wednesday. "They do not reflect the views of this administration, which has made every effort to work in a bipartisan fashion, and they do not reflect the experience I have had since I joined the administration."
- jpt

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalp...t-of-911-truther-movement-apologizes-for.html

...

Green jobs czar signed 'truther' statement in 2004

President Obama’s “green jobs czar” Van Jones has been targeted again and again by conservatives for his controversial views and now they’ll have another item to use as fodder.

Mr. Jones signed a statement for 911Truth.org in 2004 demanding an investigation into what the Bush Administration may have done that “deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war.”

His name is listed with 99 other prominent signatories supporting such an investigation on the 911Truth.org website, including Code Pink co-founders Medea Benjamin and Jodi Evans, comedienne Janeane Garofalo, Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia and others. He's identified as the executive director for the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights on the statement, which he founded before going to the White House. The statement is available here. Mr. Jones is number 46.

Mike Berger, a spokesman for 911Truth.org, told the Washington Times over the phone that all of the signers had been verified by their group. He said 9/11Truth.org board members “spoke with each person on the list by phone or through email to individually confirm they had added their name to that list.”

“I think in most cases they spoke to them personally,” he added. “No one’s name was put on that list without them knowing it.”

Fox News personalty Glenn Beck has described Mr. Jones as a "radical" on his program and many conservative blogs have questioned his political tactics and strategies. Mr. Jones recently landed in hot water when a video surfaced of him calling Republicans a disparaging name at an energy lecture in Berkeley, California last February. He apologized for those remarks in an email to the Politico this week.

The White House has been contacted for comment and this blog will be updated with their statement when provided.

UPDATE: A response was provided to reporters Thursday evening. In it, Mr. Jones apologized for signing the statement and said he doesn't feel that way today and never has had such thoughts, although the 911Truth group claims to have personally confirmed support from all of their signers.

"In recent days some in the news media have reported on past statements I made before I joined the administration – some of which were made years ago," Mr. Jones said. "If I have offended anyone with statements I made in the past, I apologize. As for the petition that was circulated today, I do not agree with this statement and it certainly does not reflect my views now or ever.

"My work at the Council on Environmental Quality is entirely focused on one goal: building clean energy incentives which create 21st century jobs that improve energy efficiency and use renewable resources," he added.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/webl...n-jobs-czar-signed-truther-statement-in-2004/

 

[SuBe]

Yeah, Van Jones is trouble. But, imagine that, Obama appointing a self-avowed Communist to a Czar position. Isn't that like ironic or something?

 

[Addendum]

It's not illegal to be a communist. Unpopular, yes

 

[Paradyme]

Who said it was illegal?

 

[Addendum]

Then why the big deal

 

[Paradyme]

The man has the Presidents ear. Obama appointed him or am I mistaken?

 

[Addendum]

Dude, everyone has the president's ear. Especially when he appoints like a hundred people

 

[Paradyme]

If you can't see the big deal in that then I don't know what else to say. It reflects badly on Obama. Although, from what I'm hearing Van Jones probably won't be in that position for much longer.

 

[Addendum]

If someone is a communist, or socialist, or anarchist, or liberal, or progressive, or conservative, or libertarian, or a nationalist, or a moderate, I don't ****ing care.

 

[Paradoxium]

Why the hell would an anarchist be advising Obama or anyone in government to begin with?

 

[Addendum]

Why the hell would an anarchist be advising Obama or anyone in government to begin with?

Having someone on the inside helps

 

[Paradoxium]

Come on now, that's stretching it.

 

[Addendum]

It worked with the Lufthansa heist. It works with law enforcement.

 

[SuBe]

If someone is a communist, or socialist, or anarchist, or liberal, or progressive, or conservative, or libertarian, or a nationalist, or a moderate, I don't ****ing care.

You don't care if someone is put in a position in our Government that is against what this country is about? That's like asking Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to be a Homeland Security Advisor.

 

[Addendum]

You don't care if someone is put in a position in our Government that is against what this country is about? That's like asking Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to be a Homeland Security Advisor.

It's not illegal to have a political view that is against "what this country is about" or "what someone thinks this country is about"

 

[chaseter]

A 9-11 Truther is working in the White House...why???

 

[SuBe]

It's not illegal to have a political view that is against "what this country is about" or "what someone thinks this country is about"

Just because something is not illegal, does that mean we should do it? Shouldn't we have people that lead this country and those that advise them, love this country for what it is, and try to continue to defend this country for what it is? Instead of remake it into something it is not? Doesn't that go against the oath to defend this nation and it's Constitution?

 

[Addendum]

It's up to the individual. If someone wants to join the American Nazi Party, that's their choice. I think that group is full of ****, but I won't prevent someone from joining. Same thing goes if another person wants to join the Communist Party USA, or if another wants to sign a petition by the 9/11 Truther movement, or the Birther movement, or wants to be a teabagger, or thinks David Icke is right.

 

[SuBe]

Ok, you are ok with crazies joining crazy groups. But, should the President, of the United States, our country, leader of OUR Government, personally choose a person that is a self avowed Communist? That is a 9/11 Truther? And, take that crazy and put him in charge of one of the President's most important positions? The Green Jobs Industry that the President campaigned on?

What kind of advice would you expect to get out of a Self Avowed Communist with regards to the Green Jobs Industry? Especially if that industry is supposed to replace the Energy Industry someday????

Let's see, Communists believe in a certain type of Economy, a Communist one. This guy would be put in charge of creating a new industry, something that would have huge effects on the whole of the Economy.

1+1=2 my friend.

 

[Carcharodon]

Just because something is not illegal, does that mean we should do it? Shouldn't we have people that lead this country and those that advise them, love this country for what it is, and try to continue to defend this country for what it is? Instead of remake it into something it is not? Doesn't that go against the oath to defend this nation and it's Constitution?

Let his actions speak for him. Barring somebody from a government advisory position because of something he *might* do is ludicrous, especially since if his actions DO reflect what you say I doubt he'll be allowed to continue them.