4um: AIM Identifies Mysterious Obama Mentor As Communist Party Revolutionary.

Title: AIM Identifies Mysterious Obama Mentor As Communist Party Revolutionary.
Source: AIM
URL Source: http://www.aim.org/.
Published: Feb 19, 2008
Author: Cliff Kincaide
Post Date: 2008-03-20 17:54:13 by Jethro Tull
Keywords: None
Views: 423
Comments: 17

AIM Identifies Mysterious Obama Mentor As Communist Party Revolutionary.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A mysterious friend and adviser to Barack Obama when he was growing up in Hawaii is identified in a new column by Accuracy in Media editor Cliff Kincaid as a member of the old Moscow-controlled Communist Party USA. "Obama's communist connection adds to mounting public concern about a candidate who has come out of virtually nowhere, with a brief U.S. Senate legislative record, to become the Democratic Party frontrunner for the U.S. presidency," Kincaid writes in the column, "Obama's Communist Mentor," posted on the AIM website http://www.aim.org/.

Obama's mentor "Frank" is Frank Marshall Davis, who was publicly identified as a member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). Obama, in his book, Dreams From My Father, refers to him repeatedly as just "Frank," without a middle or last name.

Kincaid explains, "The reason is apparent: Davis was a known communist who belonged to a party subservient to the Soviet Union. In fact, the 1951 report of the Commission on Subversive Activities to the Legislature of the Territory of Hawaii identified him as a CPUSA member. What's more, anti-communist congressional committees, including the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), accused Davis of involvement in several communist front organizations."

AIM recently disclosed that Obama has connections to the Democratic Socialists of America and that he sponsored a "Global Poverty Act" designed to send hundreds of billions of U.S. foreign aid to the rest of the world, in order to meet U.N. demands. The bill has passed the House and a Senate committee and awaits full Senate action.

Accuracy in Media is a citizens' media watchdog organization whose mission is to promote fairness, balance, and accuracy in news reporting. Founded in 1969, AIM is the oldest non-profit press watchdog group in America. For more information, please visit http://www.aim.org/.

To arrange an interview with AIM editor Cliff Kincaid, contact Sarah Schaerr Norton at (202) 364-4401 ext. 107 or sarah.schaerr@aim.org.

Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link.

Cliff Kincaid

http://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=60942

CONTACT: Sarah Schaerr Norton of Accuracy in Media, +1-202-364-4401 ext 107, Sarah.Schaerr@aim.org

Web Site: http://www.aim.org/

Accuracy In Media (AIM) is an American organization which monitors the news media in the United States. Founded in 1969 by Reed Irvine, at the time an economist with the Federal Reserve, AIM describes itself as "a non-profit, grassroots citizens watchdog of the news media that critiques botched and bungled news stories and sets the record straight on important issues that have received slanted coverage".

It commonly attacks what it sees as media bias. Despite AIM's claim of political neutrality, it is frequently described by the mainstream media and other media watchdog groups as a conservative organization. On March 19, 2008, AIM launched a new website called What Liberals Say.[7] The website will focus specifically on liberal media matters.

In the early days, AIM was run primarily by Irvine and then-executive secretary Abraham Kalish. Kalish and Irvine would send letters to the editors of many newspapers promoting their organization. If a letter was rejected, AIM would buy space in that paper and print the letter. Beginning in 1975, AIM began purchasing stock in major media companies, which allowed Irvine to attend their annual meetings and make AIM's views known. He has been described as combative and occasionally rude during those encounters. Irvine now has an annual private meeting with the publisher of The New York Times, which critics say serves primarily to isolate other shareholders from Irvine's campaigning. Times vice-chair Sydney Gruson claims "I never find any merit in AIM's allegations."

Irvine claims that 75 percent of AIM's funding comes from contributors donating US$100 or less. Only three donors of the remainder are given by name: the Allied Educational Foundation, Shelby Cullom Davis, and billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife. Scaife gave $2 million to Accuracy in Media since 1977 -1997.

Other groups that have supported AIM include Mobil Oil and Union Carbide. In 1985, AIM received a $20,000 grant from the Adolph Coors Foundation, and $7,000 from the Texaco Philanthropic Foundation. In 1986, it received $5,000 from Texaco.

In December 2004, the American Institute of Philanthropy gave AIM a grade of "C+" for not-for-profit effectiveness. It noted that it would have awarded a grade of "A", but reduced the grade because AIM retains 4.1 years' worth of operating expenses in assets. It feels that AIM is in a poor position to ask donors for more funding when it is already cash-rich.