Rahm Emmanual and Sonal Shah:

Suspected Fascists in Obama Administration

By Mike Ghouse

ccun.org, November 11, 2008

Fascism should have no place in Obama Administration or any nation for that matter. We just got out of it and we cannot let it sneak back in.

Obama has to put every appointee/ nominee through the test of inclusiveness, their interests should be America first and nothing but America. They cannot have bias or hatred for other humans as it may cause them to remain "silent" or "tacitly" approve or disapprove a situation that is "unjust" and unsustainable in the long haul. Of course, Obama will throw every one out who is blatantly biased towards other people; however he has to watch for the subtle ones. Let this be a government of people, you and I have the responsibility to ensure that it is.

We cannot ruin our nation after the freedom we have received on Nov 4th. As friends of Obama we need to be hard on him, tough on him in his early decisions. We cannot let him go far that we cannot straighten him.

Sonal Shah, one of his advisors is claimed to have fascist connections. The piece has appeared in Hindustan Times, one of the respectable Newspapers of India. We have to look at her individual record and not that of her family members. Individuals do wrong (or right) and not their families or faiths. I hope Sonal is clean, but it needs to be affirmed, one bad apple can ruin his administration. (update below)

We need to watch Rahm, what we read and hear about him is not good. Obama needs to put him through some tests if his heart and mind is open towards other people. We need to know if Rahm is prejudiced against Palestinians, if he is, he will be an obstacle to peace in the middle east ruining every chance for the the Israelis to have peace and security,  and continued hopelessness for the Palestinians. We have had bad policies in the Middle East for the last sixty years, we cannot continue with them for another sixty,  it is time to change now and yes we can.  (update below)

Peace in Middle East is a reality if justice to both the parties is ensured. We need to be a catalyst for a realizable hope for Palestinians and genuine security for the Israelis, where both people can drop their guards and feel safe. Sixty years have gone by because of the policies of Palestinian, Israeli and American leadership. It has to change; the “Justness” element has to be included now.

I hope the people at FOX will do something good finally and wash away their sins. Let them be hard on Obama, to ensure beneficial decisions are made for our country. Meanwhile, we have to build a strong opposition to prevent Obama to become the Unilateral Bush with such a mandate. The purpose is to have a clean administration. Let him take the bloody time to put people who are inclusive and respectful of every human. We can't let short-sightedness creep in.

On the international front; what is good for America has got to be good for the World and vice versa to be sustainable. We cannot have advantages over the others, they are deleterious to lasting peace.

Mark Dankof on RBN Radio with Greg Felton: Rahm Emanuel, Zionist Agent as Obama Chief of Staff

On the Republic Broadcasting Network on Sunday, November 9th, Mark Dankof spent two hours with Greg Felton of Vancouver, author of "The Host and the Parasite:  How Israel's Fifth Column Consumed America," discussing the significance of the appointment of AIPAC-Zionist agent Rahm Immanuel as Barack Obama's Chief of Staff, along with other evidences of Israel's ongoing control of the American political process. 

Greg Felton's web site may be accessed at http://www.gregfelton.com

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Obama Advisor's Disturbing Affiliations in India

Published on November 11, 2008 - 12:35am

by Vinod K. Jose

http://election411.org/blog/id/4611302/obama-advisors-disturbing-affiliations-india

The economist of Indian origin on President-Elect Barack Obama's transition team, Ms. Sonal Shah, has one dubious credential on her resume--her relationship with the Hindu extremist group, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). This militant group was held responsible for the genocidal pogroms against Muslims in the western Indian state of Gujarat in 2002 that killed 2,000 people and rendered 100,000 homeless. Ms. Shah was the "National Coordinator" for the VHP in North America . So the lingering question is: why hasn't the Obama team vetted enough on Ms. Sonal Shah's Hindu extremist connections?

Beyond those affiliations, Ms. Shah's resume reads well. At 40, she works in Google's global development team and promotes philanthropy. She served as Vice President for Goldman Sachs, in its environmental protection department. She also worked at the Department of Treasury. It is Ms. Shah's "charity" works that throws up some disturbing questions.

The non-profit organization she founded, Indiacorps, sends Americans of Indian origin to work on development projects in India. While Indiacorps is associated with many secular organizations, it also has Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation, the educational wing of VHP as a project partner. This is an organization that has not only misused funds but also diverted the grants to "create disharmony amongst religious groups and formed political cadres [with the aid money]," says a federal enquiry report. The government subsequently stopped all grants to Ekal Vidyalaya in 2005.

In North America, Shah coordinated one of the major fund-raising campaigns for VHP in 2001, to help the earthquake victims of Gujarat. However, serious allegations were raised concerning how dollars raised in America were used on the ground. In Gujarat, less than a year later, there were mass killing of Muslims by the VHP men.

Not only was this money used to fund hate against Muslims, Christians and members from the lower caste communities, but it also violated tax laws.

In the context of an Indian television exposé on the involvement of "spiritual gurus" in money-laundering, former income tax commissioner Mr. Vishwabahndhu Gupta implicated Shah's VHP as a "religious mafia" who "floats bogus trusts" and violated tax regulations . Mr Gupta said his department has evidence of how foreign money was misused by VHP's youth wing, Bajrang Dal, in Gujarat.

In the last two months, Bajrang Dal was in the news again from the East Indian state of Orissa, where dozens of Christians were killed, 1400 houses and 80 churches burned, nuns raped and thousands pushed into refugee camps. The Orissa government, supported by the Hindu right wing parties, did very little to stop the violence against the Christians.

So this is the question to Obama from the quarters of his liberal, democratic constituency: howsoever much professionally qualified Ms. Shah might be, can she ever be an advisor in an administration of "change" when she has neither rectified her past relationships nor denounced any possible ongoing affiliations with the militant Hindu extremists?

On the contrary, newspapers in Shah's state, Gujarat, are speculating on how her proximity with Obama can help the man behind the 2002 killings rebuild his image internationally . The Chief Minister of Gujarat and the poster-boy of the extremists, Narendra Modi, was denied visa to the US in 2005 for his genocidal programs against Muslims. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom and dozens of lawmakers had campaigned successfully with the State Department to bring Mr. Modi in strict accordance with the Immigration and Naturalization Act, including Section 212 (a) (2) (G) which denies access to "any alien who, while serving as a foreign government official, was responsible for or directly carried out, at any time, particularly severe violations of religious freedom." Every year, Mr Modi gets an invitation from the Gujarati community in the US, including from Ms. Shah's father, Ramesh Shah, Vice President of the Overseas Friends of the Bharatiya Janata Party (OFBJP). But the führer is yet to make it across the Atlantic.

Unlike what Gujarati newspapers seem to imply, it could be a long shot for Ms. Sonali Shah to get visa for a man accused of genocidal crimes. She is on the Obama advisory board to do something else: probably, to help him with the economy.

Change.gov doesn’t need someone affiliated to VHP Inc . That is not "diversity-representation." Remember, this is an administration that is watched closely not just in the US, but all over the world.

VINOD K JOSE is a producer with Pacifica Radio. He has a Masters degree in Journalism from Columbia Journalism School and won the Foreign Press Association award in 2008 for his reporting on South Asia. Vinod can be contacted at vkj2103@columbia.edu.

RSS reception for Sonal Shah

DH News Service, New Delhi:

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Nov112008/scroll20081111100142.asp?section=updatenews

Gujarati expatriate Sonal Shah, an economist who has now been appointed an advisory member by US President-elect Barack Obama, would be invited by the RSS and accorded a public reception at her village in Gujarat.

Shah’s father Ramesh Shah, who has strong RSS affiliations, has been approached by the Sangh outfits to make arrangements for her visit to her native village Gabat in Sabarkantha.

Asked to comment on Sonal Shah’s association with the Sangh Parivar, the RSS national executive member Ram Madhav told Deccan Herald that her father had been “a staunch supporter of the RSS”. He, however, denied that she herself was associated with the RSS. “Where are women in the RSS?” he quipped.

“She has been a Democrat for the last 20 years and has worked very hard for the victory of Obama for the last six months,” said Madhav.

“She is from the family of the RSS... There is nothing wrong with it,” he said.

The Shah family migrated to the US in 1970 and has been active in the overseas VHP activities.

Shah’s father had headed the Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation, which collects funds from the US residents to support the tribal schools in India run by  Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad, one of the oldest RSS outfits working in the tribal areas in India.

Appointment sparks protest in US

New York, pti: Three Indian-American groups have protested the appointment of Sonal Shah in American President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team, claiming that she is closely associated with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. They warned against Hindutva “infiltration” into the power centres of the US society.