We Report; You Decide

by hilzoy

TPM has a post about Fox's recent documentary about Obama. I was dimly aware of it, but I didn't know that when Andy Martin appeared on Fox, he claimed that Obama "had once trained to overthrow the [US] government." I went and looked up the transcript on Lexis/Nexis, and post the relevant parts below. But first, a bit of background on Andy Martin:

"A quick word about Andy Martin. During a 1983 bankruptcy case he referred to a federal judge as a "crooked, slimy Jew, who has a history of lying and thieving common to members of his race." Martin, who in the past was known as Anthony Martin-Trigona, is one of the most notorious litigants in the history of the United States. He's filed hundreds, possibly thousands, of lawsuits, often directed at judges who have ruled against him, or media outlets that cover him unfavorably. A 1993 opinion by the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in Atlanta, described these lawsuits as "a cruel and effective weapon against his enemies," and called Martin a "notoriously vexatious and vindictive litigator who has long abused the American legal system." He once even attempted to intervene in the divorce proceedings of a judge who'd ruled against him, petitioning the state court to be appointed as the guardian of the judge's children."

That's Chris Hayes, from the Nation. You can see some of the rulings in a few of Martin's court cases here (check out footnotes 3 and 4) and here. The last contains one of Martin's complaints, which I excerpt below the fold, so that you can see who we're dealing with.

Now for the transcript. It's from Hannity's America, 'Obama And Friends: A History Of Radicalism', aired on Oct. 5. (Video here.)

"HANNITY: In 1985, fresh from Columbia University Obama returned to Chicago to become just that, a community organizer, a job he says qualifies him in part to hold a nation's highest office. What exactly is a community organizer? After all, he didn't know what it was when he started as one.

ANDY MARTIN, AUTHOR AND JOURNALIST: I think a community organizer in Barack Obama's case was somebody that was in training for a radical overthrow of the government. You have to really stretch to believe his story that he was living in New York City. He was earning 50,000 to 60,000 a year. And he left this to come to Chicago, to a city where he knew no one, to suddenly start, quote, "organizing," unquote, people.

In my opinion, Barack Obama had already been influenced by his radical ideology and philosophy, probably had met William Ayers in New York and was coming here to lay the foundations for what he thought would be some sort of a political movement that he would be a part of.

My view is that the community organizing was actually kind of sham event that really Bill Ayers was testing him. Because the way these radicals work, they don't give you a big project until you pass muster with a small project. And so they sent him out to Chicago to see what he would do. He passed the test.

OBAMA: And I decided to become a community organizer. I organized black folks at the grassroots. It was in these neighborhoods I received the best education that I ever had.

MARTIN: He had virtually no impact in his so-called community organizing career except to lay the foundation for his future radical associations. It was then also I believe that he was exposed perhaps by Louis Farrakhan to Kahlid al-Mansour. Because while he was a community organizer that Khalid al-Mansour starts raising money to promote Obama to Harvard Law School.

So obviously, in Ayers' mind and al-Mansour's mind, Obama had proven his reliability. He was somebody that could be trusted to do what he was told. And all of a sudden, they now are going to take him to the next level. All that comes out of the years in Chicago. Obama wasn't organizing a community. He was organizing his career and organizing his life's step to the next level. That's all he did in Chicago."

I see. Obama "probably" met William Ayers in New York, and followed him to Chicago, where he could be groomed for higher things, and subjected to "tests". That makes perfect sense. Also, someone with an Arab name starts "raising money to promote Obama to Harvard Law School", apparently under the misapprehension that you can buy your way in. It's all a very clever ploy, because somehow -- via communications from the spirit plane? a Ouija board? -- Ayers et at knew that Obama would end up running for high office, and winning.

Right.

Sometimes people describe Fox News as a sort of antidote to more liberal news stations. That's not true. When CNN airs a "documentary" that presents, unchallenged, claims that John McCain is running a child porn ring from one of his seven houses, we can talk about equivalence. Until then, we have several news networks, but Fox is not among them.

As noted above, I put excerpts from some of Martin's filings below the fold. I thought it might be a good idea to provide some context that would allow you to assess his credibility. If crazed and ugly anti-Semitic ravings upset you, do not read them.

From one of Anthony Martin's complaints, included as Appendix A here:

"4. This is a civil rights law suit against a group of Jews who have acted, combined and conspired to violate the laws of the United States and to (a) deprive plaintiff of due process of law and (b) to steal plaintiff's property through the manipulation of this court and other instrumentalities of the federal government, all in violation of the laws and Constitution of the United States.

5. In 1980, plaintiff was kidnapped on void legal process, and held incommunicado, and was not released from kidnapping until April, 1982.

6. While plaintiff was absent from his property, this property was seized by the defendant Jews.

7. Substantially all of the "bankruptcy judges" who have had connection with plaintiff's property have been Jews.

8. All of the trustees appointed by said judges have been Jews.

9. All of the counsel for said trustees have been Jews.

10. The Jews speak and intrigue among themselves, but refuse to talk with plaintiff, except when they have him in chains Messiah-style.

11. Defendant Lavien has flatly asserted it is permissible for him to meet in secret with Jewish lawyers to determine how to loot plaintiff's property.

12. Substantially the entire bankruptcy court system in the entire United States is manipulated and controlled by Jewish judges and Jewish lawyers.

13. Although Jews constitute about 3% of the national population, they constitute almost 100% of the bankruptcy court judges and lawyers.

14. In almost 100% of the cases filed in Connecticut, Jewish bankruptcy judges appoint Jewish bankruptcy trustees who choose Jewish lawyers to represent them.

15. The court may take judicial notice of the fact--exemplified in this case--that Jews, historically and in daily living, acted through clans and in wolf pack syndrome to exclude all goyim from their circles.

16. Whatever they may say publically, in private Jews hate Christians, and have paranoid delusions about themselves and Christians. Jews think of themselves as a master race, or "chosen people," and hate Christians for worshiping a man whom Jews assassinated and regard as a poseur.

17. Jews work through a national network. For example, when defendant Coan wanted "help" in New York, he chose to call another Jew. When the defendants have sought help, it is always from within the closed system of bankruptcy Jews or its appurtenances.

18. Non-Jewish lawyers in Connecticut refer to the Jewish cabal, euphemistacally, as "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," chosing a non-Jewish, but semitic, parallel.

19. The existence of the Jewish bankruptcy clan discourages Christian lawyers from participating in the bankruptcy court process and bringing Christian concepts, values and moral standards to the administration of bankruptcy justice.

20. No sociological evidence exists that Jews have superior intelligence or any other special characteristics, other than the herd instinct, which would make them a master race or natural leaders absent their ability to combine and operate in concert.

21. The plaintiff is an honest man, who has worked hard for his property and, in the style of a Palestinian, is beset by a horde of bankruptcy Jews who are trying to steal his property, and destroy what they cannot steal.

22. The actions of the defendant Bankruptcy Jews affect interstate commerce, both generally and specifically in plaintiff's case, where FCC radio licenses, operating in interstate commerce, have been seized by the defendants or their agents.

23. The conduct of the defendants amounts to a combination and conspiracy in violation of the Antitrust laws, 15 USCA Sec. 1 et seq.

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff sues and demands judgment for damages sustained by plaintiff in violation of the antitrust laws."

Later in the same complaint:

"28. Because the defendants are all Jewish, they do not think that the American laws apply to them. Therefore, for example, defendants have schemed to deny plaintiff his constitutional right to counsel. Defendants have refused to obey rules and regulations which require full monthly disclosure of all financial transactions in which they have engaged. Defendants have only exchanged this secret information with other Jews, or tried to enter into manipulative "settlements" to steal plaintiff's property, all in violation of both the letter and spirit of the Justice Department regulation."

From an affadavit submitted by Martin, at the same link:

"2. It is obvious that since September, 1980, my property has been subjected to a massive, continuing Holocaust by Jew judges and Jew lawyers. One cannot ram a never-ending stream of Jews down a man's throat for years, and expect a person to take it. Just as the Jews claim they have a right to "fight" to avoid a Holocaust, so too a Christian has a right to "fight" (in this case through invocation of the judicial power) to protect himself from a Jewish inspired and Jewish engineered Holocaust which has sought to steal my property and to have me killed by agents of Jewish thieve squads.

3. The Jews have been running roughshod over me for literally years, since 1980, seeking to destroy and steal my property. Although I was not a Jew hater when these cases began, any love for the Jews I may have had has been dissipated by barbaric tortures inflicted on me by the Jews. I can see now that anti-semitism has a real root in the ageless manipulation, chicanery and murder by the Jews.

4. Jews killed the son of God, and seek to deny the fact, and seek to murder and loot and steal from anyone who opposes their efforts at world domination and efforts at overcoming the curse flowing from the assassination of the Son of Yahweh. There is no question that, in biblical times, Jews were the "chosen people," chosen by Yahweh to fulfill the coming of his son, the Messiah, and that Jews blew it, and killed the son of their God, and are suffering for it. They continue to delude themselves that they are "chosen people," even though that role ended 2,000 years ago in assassination, and they continue to sin, steal and blaspheme in the same way that brought about the destruction of the kingdom, and the First Holocaust. As part of their greedy, unsavory efforts, Jews have been conducting a war against me and my property for over two, and nearly three years.

5. In the war against me generated by Jew greed, Jew judges have played a leading role. They act supine in favor of Jew lawyers, enter fictitious findings of fact, seize my property and purport to permit its liquidation, jail me illegally, and seek to harass me and prevent me from exercising my constitutional right of access to the courts.

6. Like the man in the movie Network, I have had it "up to here" with lying, cheating, thieving Jews who are harassing me. I intend, and have begun, a counterattack within the law, by seeking to change the law, and seeking to have a constitutional amendment adopted which would restrict the rights of Jews to act as they do. I am a man of peace, not violence, and would never take a step of personal violence against anyone, even a Jew. But I believe the state, under the law, has the right to engage in state-sanctioned violence where appropriate to protect the state from lawless conduct. This is why I propose a constitutional amendment to seize the property of the Jews, under due process and democracy, and to distribute obscene Jew wealth to feed the hungry, house the homeless and clothe the needy.* I do not seek money for myself. I did not initiate this war, but I will complete it. I do not seek to steal the property of the Jews, as they seek to steal mine. They began the matter by seeking to loot my life's work and hard earned money, and will be called to answer under the law, as amended. Of course, history teaches that laws can be changed, and what is law today is not necessary law tomorrow. Given one more cyclical, Jewish-inspired recession, or depression, late in this decade, the climate will be more favorable for my proposed amendment to pass. Already there are stirrings in the government that the American people, and government, are fed up with Jew harassment, repeated daily on a national scale, of the same kind I have experienced since 1980.

7. I do not believe I can receive Justice from a pack of Jew thives, judges and lawyers. I have a right under my constitution (i.e. that of the United States) to a "neutral and detached" judge. "Judge" Krechevsky is not neutral or detached. He is part of a Jew conspiracy to steal my property. And I don't like it. The Jews have spat upon me, lied against me, defrauded the courts of my country, and denounced me falsely. These are known Jew tactics to loot and steal, are used by Jews worldwide, and most often result in the murder and expulsion of Jews when governments change hands (i.e. Iran). I repeat that despite the violations of my rights, I believe the rights of Jews should only be abridged peacefully, by constitutional amendment, thereby legitimizing, peacefully, the relief I seek in the long run for the hatred and abuse I have suffered since 1980 from the bankruptcy court system."

***

This is the person Fox used as one of the main sources for its "documentary", without challenge or rebuttal. Does he sound even remotely trustworthy to you? We report; you decide.

Comments

[Gary Farber]

"Does he sound even remotely trustworthy to you?"

No, but this seems oddly timed; the whole thing about Martin was gone into backwards and forwards by umpty blogs a week ago, as well as the repercussions, the further responses from Hannity to the blog and journalistic responses to the program, and the use of Martin, and so on.

(I didn't think it much worth being redundant about, but I did throw in a couple of links about a week ago.)

[Gary Farber]

The NY Times did a piece on Martin yesterday, btw.

[AndyK]

Well, I think the uproar was inadequate (unless I've missed something). Maybe it's just a sign of how the rest of the media doesn't consider Fox to be an actual news source, but I would have expected both Hannity and the network to be hounded over this at least to the extent that CBS and Dan Rather were hounded over the Texas Air National Guard story four years ago.

Rather's credibility was permanently damaged because of inadequate checking over the reliability of the new documents. CBS was raked over the coals for ages for having let this on the air.

CBS at least had the excuse that they were fooled by misrepresentations from the producers -- not much of an excuse. And after doubts were raised, they eventually had to investigate and publicly eat crow.

Fox went ahead and suggested a whole bunch of ridiculous nonsense about Obama, based on the information of a guy whose background as a paranoid anti-Semite and all around barking loon was discoverable through a five-minute web search. Did they really not know? Have their feet been held to the fire? Has Hannity apologized or retracted? Or even suggested he was sloppy?

Yeah, this was all over the blogs, but it got little traction in the MSM, the New York Times story -- which doesn't really deal much with Fox's or Hannity's role in this -- and the L.A. Times story notwithstanding. The only real challenge to them that I've seen was Gibbs's imitation of Hannity's bullying; and the real message there was not "How dare you give such credence to Martin?" as "How do you like it when the tables are turned and you're made guilty by association?"

I'm still waiting for Fox and Hannity to repudiate the show and apologize. Maybe they have, but I couldn't find anything beyond "Hannity denounces Martin's anti-Semitic statements" in a web search. Anyone who presented Martin as "author and journalist" rather than "author, journalist, and paranoid barking loon" is at least as guilty as Rather was.

People from across the political spectrum kept hammering on CBS. Why doesn't Fox get the same treatment?

[Anthony Damiani]

You think the McCain child-porn ring is restricted to only ONE of his seven houses?

Man, hilzoy. You can be so naive sometimes.

[Warren Terra]

Gary, I'm perfectly willing to believe that this story could have been in our newspapers weeks ago, but I don't think it has been. I read the New York Times story, and I think that it failed to thoroughly convey just how viciously and elaborately racist Martin's filings were, and the extent of his paranoid delusions. More importantly, while the New York Times story said that Martin was used by Fox to baselessly allege that Obama trained to overthrow the US government, it was not at all clear that in the Times that Fox used tape of Martin spinning an elaborate wheels-within-wheels paranoid fantasy, complete with Ayers grooming Obama from his college days, a mysterious guy with an arab-sounding name somehow bribing Harvard, and Louis Farrakhan in on the conspiracy for flavor. Frankly, overblown handwaving about the subversive nature of Saul Alinsky's theories of popular democracy could, in winger eyes, possibly be stretched to justufy the quote the Times used about disrupting the government; the more complete Fox transcript Hilzoy quotes is fundamentally different in kind and is a transparently absurd delusion, of the sort that even the more extreme of the well-known winger bloggers might well be ashamed to quote, even if the source being quoted weren't already well known to be a paranoid fantasist. I'd actually be interested in hearing about grounds for defamation after an entity purporting to be a news network uses such claims in a documentary.

[John Thullen]

And to think, I was feeling kind of badly lately about my OBWI rants regarding the nature of the beast formerly referred to as the Republican Party.

Apologies from Sean Hannity, should they be forthcoming, should NOT be accepted.

His career requires ruination. He shouldn't be able to step outside his door for any number of years without an angry mob threatening to tear him to pieces.

Ruin him now, and the rest of the filth, including Limbaugh, or they will accomplish new depths of ugliness during Obama's Presidency.

They WILL stoke nationalistic, anti-Semitic ugliness as the world's economic condition worsens.

These types always end up killing Jews when things get bad.

Going after Obama's origins was just a warmup.

They are an insult to cocksuckers everywhere.

[AndyK]

Hey, there, I'm going way OT, but I wanted to be the first one here to announce that Krugman just won the Nobel Prize!

economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/paul-krugman-wins-economics-nobel/?hp

I like that.

[Gary Farber]

"Rather's credibility was permanently damaged because of inadequate checking over the reliability of the new documents. CBS was raked over the coals for ages for having let this on the air."

Hannity is an opinion columnist equivalent -- a commentator; not a news anchor.

I'm hardly defending him; I'm just pointing out that that the two aren't remotely equivalent.

[MeDrewNotYou]

There's not much I can do but laugh at lines like...

This is why I propose a constitutional amendment to seize the property of the Jews, under due process and democracy, and to distribute obscene Jew wealth to feed the hungry, house the homeless and clothe the needy.

And this...

which has sought to steal my property and to have me killed by agents of Jewish thieve squads.

Just has me thinking of a great movie- Jerry Seinfeld and Billy Crystal are... Jewsassins!

[Warren Terra]

MeDrew, isn't Billy Crystal and Jerry Seinfeld practically the definition of a not-great movie? Don't make me make you watch Mr. Saturday Night ...

(I remember watching Mr. Saturday Night on videotape, back before DVDs and DVD extras; unusually for the era, there was an announcement from Billy Crystal before the abomination main feature, in which he said to watch through the credits for a special message. After the credits, Crystal came back on and said basically that he knew the movie was horrible, he was really very sorry, but it was the fault of the studio, who forced him to butcher the film, and if he'd been allowed to include a couple of scenes it would all have hung together and been transformed to a near-masterpiece. He then played the scenes - and they were easily worse than the proceeding excrescence. So, really, don't make me make you watch it.)

[MeDrewNotYou]

Haven't seen it, and now I'm scared to try... ^.^;

But I remain confident that the concept of the film will carry it through!

I'd recommend replacing one of the guys with Dr. Ruth, but a friend told me she was in the Israeli army for a while. A tiny woman who knows everything about sex is one thing. A tiny woman who knows everything about sex and can probably kill you with her bare hands is too ludicrous to be believable.

[Gary Farber]

I've actually met Dr. Ruth Westheimer -- we had an Exciting Conversation back when I was working for a Big Publishing Company, and she got lost looking for our publisher, and stopped at my desk and asked me for directions -- oh, the thrills and glamour -- and in person she's exactly like she seems on tv.

But remember, she can actually kill you with sex.

[MeDrewNotYou]

But remember, she can actually kill you with sex.

Could you send me some wetnaps? There's iced tea all over my desk now.

[Carol A.]

Sadly, most Fox viewers don't even realize they're being played. They buy right into the "fair and balanced news" tag.

Back in the day, no patriotic American ever questioned authority. Many viewers regard the FNC anchors as authority figures, like a Crokite or Huntly and Brinkley were in their day. People seem to believe that these fine, upstanding Americans, whom they invite into their living rooms every night, would never, ever, deceive them. They also cling to the belief that the "news police" would never allow anchors to spew lies, distortions, or unfounded attacks.

Like my elderly relatives, many lack skills in critical use of media and an understanding of what technology can produce. They believe everything they hear, read, and see.

Some viewer feel reassured by Fox's morality campaigns, such as outlawing low-riding pants, banning bump and grind dancing at the prom, or cheering for outbound troops. These little distractions seem to confime that anchors are on the side of everything good and decent in America.

Election after election, they are swayed into voting against their own interests. No wonder the Republican Party ridicules those with higher education and mocks intelligence as an "elitist" quality. People are much more easily swayed when they don't question.

For many, Fox is the only available option for 24/7 news. It is broadcast in rural areas where other stations are not available.

I can excuse the elderly because it's a cultural thing, but what I find most alarming is how many young people today are being lured in and sucked under by right wing, conservative media bias.

[Gary Farber]

"It is broadcast in rural areas where other stations are not available."

I wasn't aware Fox News is broadcast at all; do you have any cites on this, please?

[libarbarian]

Because the way these radicals work, they don't give you a big project until you pass muster with a small project.

Yeah, that is definitely how these radicals work, as well as Amway, the mafia, and almost any corporation in America.

In fact, the only place where this doesn't apply is the GOP where they give you big jobs if you know the right people even if you've completely fail at every small project so far.

My God, it's unintentionally hillarious

[Jon H]

"Just has me thinking of a great movie- Jerry Seinfeld and Billy Crystal are... Jewsassins!"

Adam Sandler pretty much already did it.

[MeDrewNotYou]

Adam Sandler pretty much already did it.

Yeah, but Sandler came across as tough, not someone I'd mess with. Billy Crystal, on the other hand... Just imagine him stammering a joke just before he breaks your neck. You'd never know what hit you! He's the ultimate killing machine.

[troutay]

This is sickening. I would rather watch bad porno movies than Fox.

[troutay]

And don't say there are no bad porno movies.