Ready to rumble: Obama versus Fox News

For five hours this past week, Fox News and Glenn Beck did more to shed light on the Obama administration than all the other national networks combined since the inauguration. I felt like an excited schoolboy listening to a long-awaited Radio Free Europe broadcast behind the Iron Curtain. Those five one-hour programs not only challenged President Obama's appointed advisers and czars but demanded that the president or his staff refute any statements or facts that weren't true.

As American citizens, we have a fundamental right to know who is advising our president and what their powers are. If this is the most transparent administration ever, then tell us, truthfully, what are their qualifications and their personal backgrounds? President Obama promised to fundamentally transform our country, but little did we know his personal appointments and advisers would include a communist, socialists and radicals. Why is Obama surrounding himself with these people?

Van Jones: Special adviser and green-jobs czar. Self-proclaimed radical and co-founder of the communist-affiliated group STORM. He sits on the board of the Apollo Alliance, which is a special-interest group that supported Obama. The group helped write the stimulus bill. According to Harry Reid, "The Apollo Alliance has been an important factor in helping us develop and execute a strategy that makes great progress on these goals in motivating the public to support them." The New York chair of the Apollo Alliance is Jeff Jones, co-founder of the domestic terrorist group the Weather Underground. The other co-founder was Bill Ayers, the former controversial friend of Obama. When asked what a green-jobs czar does, Jones said: "What I do, to kind of make it simple, I'm basically a community organizer inside the federal government." Why is Apollo Alliance even involved in writing an emergency Recovery Act bill that has funneled money to groups like ACORN? We were told the legislation would produce jobs and stimulate our economy.

Mark Lloyd: Federal Communications Commission diversity chief. In 2006 he wrote the book "Prologue to a Farce: Communications and Democracy in America." He wrote, "It should be clear by now that my focus here is not freedom of speech or the press. ... This freedom is all too often an exaggeration. ... At the very least, blind references to freedom of speech or the press serve as a distraction from the critical examination of other communications policies." He considers freedom of speech a distraction. This Obama appointee has proposed a tax on radio companies that would equal 100 percent of their operating budgets. If you can't pay, you would lose your license, which would be sold to a minority group. If you can pay the tax, that money would go to the government-run National Public Radio. So much for free public speech on the radio.

Cass Sunstein: Regulatory czar. He proposed bans on hunting and eating meat. He believes your dog has a right to an attorney in court. He supports a bill that would give Obama emergency control of the Internet.

John Holdren: Science czar. He once proposed compulsory sterilization to control the population.

Ezekiel Emmanuel: Health care adviser. He is a proponent of the "complete lives system," which puts values on lives based mostly on age.

Carol Browner: Global-warming czar. Associated with Socialist International, a group for global governance.

Jeffrey Immelt: New York Federal Reserve director. Appointed by Obama, Immelt is not on the administration's payroll. He is CEO of General Electric and also owns the NBC network and MSNBC. Not only are his networks strong supporters of Obama, they sell "Yes We Did" dolls and Obama mugs and T-shirts in their gift shops. Immelt was influential in the writing of the health care bill and the cap-and-trade bill. His companies stand to make billions of dollars if both bills are passed.

Obama promised that, if elected, he would change the culture in Washington. Thanks to the boldness of Fox News, the curtain is beginning to rise, and we can now see the players behind the scenes. This administration if infiltrated with former lobbyists, special-interest groups, union and global corporations. Not only do they have the president's ear, but they are participating in the writing of legislation that will affect generations to come.

Why aren't Republicans and Democrats both screaming from the floors of their chambers? How many communists and socialists does our president have to hire before our representatives and senators stand up and say, "No more. Why don't you write your own bills and read them before complaining about robust town hall meetings?"

Every one of the 30-something czars and advisers need to go before House and Senate committees and answer some tough questions. If anyone has a criminal record or is an avowed communist, that person has no business in our nation's White House.

If the president has nothing to hide, I challenge him to do a nationally televised news conference on Fox News. He has been challenged with dozens of serious questions, and the American people deserve answers. It's sad and unfortunate in a free society that only one news network is unafraid of its own government. I hope this will start a national movement among newspaper and television reporters to hold this government accountable.

I think there should be a freeze on all legislation until we know who is writing our bills and shaping our government's policies. Do not spend another tax dollar until we know who's running our country. If no one in Washington will speak out, we will. Republican or Democrat, current officeholders can all be replaced in 2010 and 2012.

William Piercey Sr. is a Cape Girardeau resident.