Larry Martin Vs. Time Magazine

I sent Ms. Claire Suddath with Time magazine an email immediately after I read the interview with myself entitled "The Blogger Behind the Obama Hit Job". My email to Claire simply said "There were a few minor errors in your article." For a brief moment I guess I was expecting to hear back from Time magazine acknowledging the error and perhaps printing an apology and retraction, but as I hit the send button on my email I came to the bitter realization that Time magazine had accomplished exactly what they had initially set out to do and that was to damage and discredit both Dr. Corsi and myself.

In their zeal to discredit Corsi, Time Magazine takes on one of Dr. Corsi's main sources for his book "The Obama Nation", that being myself. Superciliously dismissive of both my blog and myself, Time magazine goes on to describe me as being a "less-than-authoritative source" and then proceeds with the character assassination.

"Corsi repeatedly relies on Martin's accounts of Indonesian news reports to bolster his case for Obama's connections to Islam. For example, in a translated article about a secular school that Obama later attended, Martin writes: "Each Friday, all the school childen [sic] must wear Muslim clothes and that also includes children who are non-muslim [sic]." But that line does not appear in the original news report. What was Martin's source for his repeated insistence that Obama's former school requires students to dress in traditional Muslim attire on Fridays?"

Oh, but that line does appear in the original news report and here it is in the complete context. The following line below is from the original Indonesian news report used as a source. Kaltim Post - 27 January 2007

"Itu sekolah Islam? Bukan, itu sekolah umum berstatus negeri sejak 1970. Tiap Jumat, anak sekolah mengenakan pakaian Muslimah, termasuk yang beragama non-Muslim."

It is an Islamic school? No, it has been a State school since 1970. But every Friday, the children are required to wear Muslim clothes, and that includes the non-Muslim children.

Unusual? Hardly, a US State Department report on religious freedom in Indonesia clearly states that elementary and secondary students in Indonesia are at times forced to undergo religious instruction in a religion other than their own and recently there have been reports of female Catholic students being forced to wear the Islamic veil.

Its one thing for the biased Time magazine to be superciliously dismissive of both myself and my blog. It's another to defame and libel me.


To be continued...

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Time Magazine Reporting For Duty

It is one thing to be called "The Blogger Behind the Obama Hit Job" and quite another to be referred to as a "less-than-authoritative source". Needless to say, it naturally begs the question - Who would be an authoritative source? For much of America's mainstream media, the answer is of course themselves. But alas the times they are a changing.

On to the rebuttal.

"The first mention of Martin's blog comes on Page 52 of Obama Nation, when it is cited as the source for Corsi's assertion that when Obama's Muslim stepfather registered him at a Catholic school in Indonesia, Obama's religion was recorded as "Islam." No one disputes that."

Actually, the Obama camp and America's mainstream media has been disputing this from the very first day it was reported on this blog.

"In fact, Martin is not the only one who reported the information; on Jan. 25, 2007, the same day that Martin posted it on his blog, the Associated Press reported the same information, from the Fransiskus Assisi Catholic school, and ran a photograph of the document."

Actually, the post Time magazine is referring to was posted here on the 24th of January 2007 and not the 25th. And not to split hairs or anything, but don't forget that over here in Southeast Asia we are a day ahead of you guys back in America. (International Date Line). That would make my posting actually 2 days prior to the Associated Press report.


"Although Lolo Soetero, Obama's stepfather, was nominally a Muslim, Obama (then known as Barry Soetoro), studied Catholic catechism at the school."

Nope false. Obama never studied "Catholic catechism" at school, he studied Islam.


"What was Martin's source for his repeated insistence that Obama's former school requires students to dress in traditional Muslim attire on Fridays? "I've lived [in Southeast Asia] for 20 years; I go to schools all the time," he says. However, he admits that he never visited Obama's former school on a Friday."

Martin's source is... Martin himself. Did you think I was going to use CNN as a source?

Having spent almost my entire adult life in Southeast Asia, I think I might have an idea of what goes on in the schools here and believe it or not, but after 20 years I don't need a weatherman to tell me which way the wind blows.

Obama and the Audacity of CNN


"In a 2007 post, Martin also claims that the Indonesian title of Obama's book The Audacity of Hope — Menerjang Harapan — means "Jihad." This, says Martin, is what Indonesians see when they encounter Obama's book. However, his translation is a distortion of the Indonesian phrase, which in English is literally "To Challenge Hope."'

"Menerjang Harapan" is not an Indonesian phrase nor is it a distortion. It is two Indonesian words that are never used together. Google it (the two words together) and the only references you will find will be Barack Obama's own self-serving book.

In the context the words are used it leaves the actual meaning open to ambiguous interpretation, kind of like poetry if you will. As I stated and as many of the comments have conceded, the translation is incorrect and done in such a way as to excite the Indonesians. How exactly it excites the Indonesians is the only area of contention.

It is the truth that always prevails.


Justice Holmes once wrote, "when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas - that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market."

Barack Obama can fight back all he wants and accuse his adversaries of bigotry and racism, he can coerce a compliant and malleable mainstream media to do the same, he can publish long-winded rebuttals and set up websites to "fight the smears" and when worse comes to worse he can always threaten his opponents. Why not... it is what they would do in Indonesia.

I've seen many people over the years here in Southeast Asia who have dared to speak out, many who were imprisoned, bankrupted or beaten for simply speaking out. I've seen many who have been denied both political and religious freedom and I've seen their oppressors employ the very same exact tactics that Barack Obama is employing. The accusations of bigotry and racism, the state-controlled media and untimately the threats.

Like Barack Obama, I've lived in Southeast Asia, albeit a long longer than Obama did. But unlike Barack Obama I've never been subscriber to cultural or moral equivalency nor have I felt compelled to deride my own country in a a pathetic effort to establish that equivalency. I know that deriding my own country overseas only emboldens those who deny freedom and liberty to others. As an advocate of American exceptionalism, I've always felt myself compelled to spread the message of what is good about America rather than what is bad and for me that normally starts with steaming bowl of chili con carne and a plate of tacos.

"Peace, Love and American hegemony, one plate of tacos at a time"

Have you seen the look on a Malaysian or Indonesian's face as they timidly for the first time in their lives poke around at a plate of crispy tacos, when they lift that crispy, crunchy tortilla shell and bite into that Tex-Mex goodness? I have seen it and it is a sight of beauty and love that completely transcends all political, ideological and religious differences.



Related Posts:


America's Ambassadors or America's Shame

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You're Not The First

"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."

~ Douglas Adams

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Barack Obama Vs. America

"His is just one of what will likely be many more lie-filled books rushed to print this election cycle, which are cobbled together from debunked internet sources to make money and advance a partisan agenda. We will respond to these smears forcefully with all means at our disposal."

For freedom loving Americans, the words above should be downright chilling, they are hateful and combined with the ominous threats issued from Obama's team are downright Orwellian. But what is more disturbing though than the words themselves is the collusion of the mainstream media and those who have traditionally assumed the role in America as the vanguards of free speech.

Emboldened and aided by a sycophantical mainstream media eager to tag-team and pummel Corsi relentlessly with vile ad hominem attacks and characterize both him and his book in the most defamatory and vituperative of terms. Where is the outrage? It was Barack Obama himself who touted his foreign policy credentials with the cute anecdotal stories of his childhood in Indonesia. To paraphrase Justice Stewart, where does he get off crying "Smear", when an opponent or an industrious blogger or reporter discovers and proves that Barack Obama or rather Barry Soetoro was all the while being dishonest with the American people. For Obama, the best test of truth is not to get itself accepted in the competition of the market but to kill the messenger. Not only is this un-American, but unacceptable.

Our country's forefathers and those who made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom would be rolling over in the graves at the prospect of Obama's "change" and progression evolving in policy.

For the advocates of this perverse militant egalitarianism, reasoned argument is replaced by a conditioned reflex as Obama's legions of lickspittle automatons mindlessly parrot as "evidence" whatever Obama himself has written in any one of his own self-serving books. You see this has never been about the free interchange of ideas or even the ascertainment of truth, this is all about entitlement and nothing not even freedom or liberty is going to get in the way.

"Unfit For Publication"? I'm sorry Barack Obama, but this is America and not some tinpot dictatorship and if Penthouse Magazine and Jet Magazine are fit for publication then so is Jerry Corsi's book. Having said that though, there is no doubt in my mind that you and your legion of jackbooted apparatchiks would have Corsi's book consigned to the flames if you had the power and that Mr. Obama is why you must be stopped at all costs.

So back to the threat that "We will respond to these smears forcefully with all means at our disposal."

Well Mr. Obama, I am one of Jerry Corsi's "debunked internet sources", now vindicated and I say, bring it on.

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Obama: A Vote for Servitude

"In America," Obama says, "we have this strong bias toward individual action. You know, we idolize the John Wayne hero who comes in to correct things with both guns blazing. But individual actions, individual dreams, are not sufficient."

Barack Obama ~ Interview with the Chicago Reader 1995


You are reading the words of a man, a man vying for the presidency of the United States of America and who does not have the faintest clue of what America stands for.

Barack Obama's call for sacrifice is the direct opposite of what America stands for, of why America has became a beacon of hope for the oppressed throughout the world. They have come here to escape poverty and dictatorship; they have come here to live their own lives, where they can exist by right and not by permission of the government, the community or any collective. Obama's philosophy of duty, obligation and sacrifice that which he calls "change " differs little from that of countries like Iran or Venezuela.

To quote Ayn Rand, "America's abundance was not created by public sacrifices to "the common good," but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes." That includes the free men and the shareholders of companies like Exxon Mobil or General Electric and of men like Bill Gates or Warren Buffet.

It was John Adams who once said, "The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If "Thou shalt not covet" and "Thou shalt not steal" were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free."

Dick Durban's veiled threat to the oil companies that there is a limit to the amount of profit they can make should give an indication to all of what this "change" is that Obama speaks of. Today it will be the oil companies and then who will it be tomorrow...?

The right to liberty and freedom gives us the right to act on our own judgment, the right not to have a gun pointed at our heads, forcing us to part with our property for the collective good or to just simply exist as a mere tool to serve the goals of others.

Transformed by the language of conflict and coercion, Obama's philosophy of "change" not unlike Marxism or Islamic totalitarianism has become an ideology of violence to be resisted uncompromisingly by those among us who value property above fraternity and liberty above equality.

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A Brilliant Liberal Mind

"I started thinking, 'How does one stop it?' " ~ Danielle Allen

It is not often that I read something from back home that puts a chill down my spine, but the recent article in the Washington Post by Matthew Mosk entitled "An Attack that Came out of the Ether" did just that.

In the article, an enamoured Mosk fawns over the diabolical musings of Dr. Danielle Allen who obsesses over the "secret identities" of 23 individuals and how they can be silenced. Their crimes you may ask? Speaking ill of the left's golden calf. While both Mosk and Allen agonize over the alleged rumors concerning Barack Hussein Obama's Muslim heritage neither makes the attempt to simply refute the allegations and instead subtly implies that the government should be able to control what people write and say.

It is a central tenet of the first amendment that the government must remain neutral in the marketplace of ideas. But Dr. Danielle Allen is not alone is her desire to stifle and inhibit the free flow of ideas, just last year I posted an essay here entitled "Freedom From Fear" where one of Dr. Allen's liberal comrades Dr. Eddison Richardson called for Ann Coulter to be arrested for implying that John Edwards was a faggot.

In the words of Justice Holmes,

"...when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas - that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out."

It's been said that one never truly appreciates something until they have lost it. For the majority of Americans it is difficult to imagine what the loss of freedom and liberty is like. Many can't imagine living in a country where you can be arrested for you say or write. Like many of you, growing up in America I had always taken my liberty and freedom for granted. That all changed when I moved overseas and discovered firsthand that it is our love of freedom and liberty that has made our country an exceptional nation, it is today what we fight for.

Our forefathers before and our brave soldiers today are fighting and sacrificing their lives for freedom and liberty, not for diversity, respect, tolerance, "politcal correctness" or for that matter "Hope" and "Change".

Shame on you Danielle Allen and shame on the Washington Post.

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Obama: Outside Looking In

I suppose I should apologize for the lack of updates. To all that have emailed, all is well, I've just been terribly busy with work recently. Rest assured that the blogging will return very soon with fresh updates regarding how Obama's campaign is being viewed overseas here in Southeast Asia.

To my compatriots back home, many who are war weary and hopelessy enslaved by political correctness, it is difficult to explain exactly how a vote for Obama = a vote for appeasement, but what Americans are playing with is "fire".

In many ways I'm shocked to hear how my original reporting on Obama has been refered to by the mainstream media as simply rumours and fear mongering. It is amazing how so many Americans will trust CNN and simply dismiss everyone else "out of hand".

With your support we can win, we can expose CNN and Obama for the lies they have told the American people. And with your support I will do all that is required to see that Obama never sees the White House.

Never in my life have I been so outspoken, but then again, I've seen the other side and I know exactly how the prospects of an Obama presidency will be perceived.

Obama must be stopped at all costs.

Say tuned.

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Good Luck Barry...! From Indonesia

"Good Luck, Barry!" the shout gave birth to Indonesia's Obama Fan Club established by the childhood friends and alumni of the Democrat party's presidential candidate.

The shout of support was given by 18 childhood friends of Barack Obama from when he went to school at SDN 01 Menteng (Besuki Primary School), Indonesia on Saturday, March 1st at 2:30pm.

18 from the original 40 of Barack Obama's classmates gathered around in the schoolyard against a backdrop on the roof that read "Good Luck Barry".

"Not all of Obama's friends could come" There are those who are deceased and those that no longer live in the area said Sonni Gondokusuman, one of the alumni of SDN Menteng.

The Obama Fan Club was formed to show support for Obama. "This is our way of showing our support for Barry" said the coordinater of the Obama Fan Club, Rully Dasaad

"From the first time I saw him on televison, I knew Barry was ambitious" He has wisdom. I am sure he will win said Rully who is a professional photographer.

Would Rully and his friend's hope be realized?

Obama Fan Club: Good Luck Barry

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Obama's Messianic Foreign Policy

In a recent response to the circulation of a photograph of Barack Obama dressed in what has been described as "traditional Somali garb" Obama's foreign policy adviser, Susan Rice, said that the circulation of the photograph was divisive and suggested "that the customs and cultures of other parts of the world are worthy of ridicule or condemnation."

The statement, of course, begs the question "Are some customs and cultures of other parts of the world in fact worthy of ridicule or condemnation?" Being bolstered by the certainties of my own "expatriate empiricism", my first reaction was simply to say to myself "yeah and so what?" I mean despite the political incorrectness, the harsh reality is that some of the customs and cultures of other parts of the world are in fact worthy of our ridicule or/and condemnation.

I don't suppose Susan Rice has ever come face to face with the proclivities of a cultural who experience no moral dilemma with beating their wives to within an inch of their lives or with customs of a primitive society who to this very day still dine on the occasional "long pig". But you see, this is where expatriate empiricism trumps not just the liberal academic intelligentsia of the West but the profound intellectual arrogance of Barack Obama's ivy-league foreign policy advisers.

Aside from the fact that the photographs of Barack Obama in of themselves never actually "said" or "suggested" anything, it was Susan Rice's recondite statement concerning the photograph that I found confounding. Not just because Susan Rice's statement and vociferous indignation seemed to be completely devoid of any literal meaning, or attributed to any logical thought process, but because I question how a foreign policy adviser who subscribes to the doctrine of cultural and moral equivalency can effectively advise the Presidency on issues that concern not only nation's interests, but our national security as well.

"Why must we change and yet our enemies get to remain the same? Don't ever expect to hear the Obama camp ever answer that question. The harsh reality is that for Barack Obama and his foreign policy advisers, this isn't about what is in America's best interests or even our nation's national security. It is about America changing and seeking atonement by redressing the sins of the past. Led by an administration who is predisposed to see America not as an exceptional nation, but as a bully, a war-mongering ogre, perpetually bloodied with the guilt of imperialism and inescapably tainted by a past history of inequality and racism.

Understanding Obama and his foreign policy

As Spengler would so adroitly point out, "Cherchez la femme" - When you want to uncover an unspecified secret, look for the woman. As Mona Charen would uncover in Obama's own book he inadvertently sheds some light on his formative years and the political views of his mother.

"Looking back, I'm not sure Lolo ever fully understood what my mother was going through ... why the things he was working so hard to provide for her seemed only to increase the distance between them ... He landed a job in the government relations department of an American oil company. ... Sometimes I would overhear him and my mother arguing in their bedroom, usually about her refusal to attend his company dinner parties, where American businessmen from Texas and Louisiana would slap Lolo's back and boast about the palms they had greased to obtain the new offshore drilling rights, while their wives complained to my mother about the quality of Indonesian help. He would ask her how it would look for him to go alone, and remind her that these were her own people, and my mother's voice would rise to almost a shout."

"They are not my people!"

Herodotus once said that "If anyone, no matter who, were given the opportunity of choosing from amongst all the nations in the world the set of beliefs which he thought best, he would inevitably - after careful considerations of their relative merits - choose that of his own country"

A young mulatto abandoned by his black Kenyan father and cared for by his white American mother, an anthropologist and Islamophile who hated America and subsequently went native. We may never completely understand the pathological self-criticism that Obama holds deep down in his soul, the overwhelming guilt that consumes him or the messianic aspirations that he now seems to revel in.

What we do know is that in Plato's Euthyphro, Socrates would advance argument that piety to many gods, who all want conflicting devotions is impossible. Something the Democrats and their Golden Calf have yet to realize.

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Rick Moran Succumbs to Obama Mania

Here at "An American Expat in Southeast Asia" I try to write about the subjects that I have an intimate knowledge of. Subjects that pertain to Southeast Asia and ones where I can offer a clear and concise analysis of and a perspective from an American citizen here. Many of my posts here regarding Barack Obama starting in January of 2007 have been my own direct translations of Indonesian media reports along with my own analysis and opinion of how Barack Obama's bid for the presidency is viewed here in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. In fact the very first English language translations on the web of the life of a young "Barry Soetoro" were first posted here back in January of 2007. I've spent a lot of time researching Barack Obama in Indonesia and interviewing people in the region. Speaking the language and having spent much of my adult over here, I think I am fairly qualified to opine on the matter.

That is why I took issue with a recent post by Rick Moran at Rightwing Nuthouse entitled 'Enough With All Of This "Obama Is A Mooslim" Crap'. In a haughty long-winded screed aimed at fellow conservatives Rick Moran wielded a broad brush and accused his fellow conservatives of being "ignorant" and "unschooled" for having the audacity to dare question issues pertaining to Barack Hussein Obama's Muslim heritage. I emailed Rick Moran and asked him to clarify his remarks with regard to how Muslims elsewhere perceive Barack Obama and his Muslim heritage what Moran had considered "bizarre". In a Pavlovian response, Rick Moran accused me of being a "bigot" and that he didn't "give a shit" what I had to say regarding Obama. Needless to say, I was taken aback. This is the type of response I've come to expect from the Obama fanbois but one that I didn't expect to receive from a self-proclaimed conservative. Surely one would think that substance trumps symbolism, but apparently not for Rick Moran.

For Rick Moran, it's quite simple, and that is the the veracity of these reports regarding Barack Obama's heritage or patriotism is not to be made an issue of. What is an issue for Rick Moran though is the audacity of conservatives to dare tread into what Moran and his liberal cohorts consider to be an illegitimate area of inquiry. For Moran, simple things like facts though are irrelevant. Exacerbating Moran's agony it seems was the publishing of a photograph of Barack Obama dressed as some sort of Muslim goat herder. The same Barack Obama who won't wear an American flag pin on his lapel.

Between now and November I will continue to translate Indonesian media reports and offer a perspective from Southeast Asia offering a fresh insight when I can. And if I uncover photos, I'll see that they get published as well. I will stand by what i have said previously that an Obama presidency will be disastrous for Southeast Asia and to the overall war on terrorism. I'm also not alone in my sentiments. Greg Sheridan has also recently voiced his concerns on how an Obama presidency will affect the region. In the end though it will be for the American voters to decide.

And Rick Moran? As far as I'm concerned, Mr. Moran can sit there on his fat ass in front of the computer screen with his bag of Doritos and can of Diet Coke and stew all he wants. Eventually he will have to come to the bitter realization that his hubris and sanctimonious sermonizing contribute nothing to the national debate or to the marketplace of ideas.

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