March 29, 2024, 02:48:31 AM *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: NEW CHILD BOARD CREATED IN THE POLITICAL SECTION FOR THE 2016 ELECTION
 
   Home   Help Login Register  
Pages: « 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 »   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: "Is Race the Issue?"  (Read 108734 times)
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Tamikosmom
Monkey Mega Star
******
Offline Offline

Posts: 37229



« Reply #80 on: April 29, 2008, 06:58:14 PM »

Press Club Chief Disputes Notion That Wright Appearance Was Scheduled to Hurt Obama
by FOXNews.com
Tuesday, April 29, 2008


http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/04/29/press-club-chief-disputes-notion-that-wright-appearance-was-scheduled-to-hurt-obama/
Logged

Loving Natalee - Beth Holloway
Page 219: I have to make difficult choices every day.  I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me.  It's not easy.  I ask God to help me.
_____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown
Tamikosmom
Monkey Mega Star
******
Offline Offline

Posts: 37229



« Reply #81 on: April 29, 2008, 08:32:40 PM »

Today ... on National television ... Barack Obama lied to the American people when he implied that he was unaware of the racist, anti-American ideology of his pastor, mentor and friend for the past twenty years.  Keep in mind ... this was the pastor, mentor and friend who he bestow the honor of performing his marriage ceremony and ... baptising his beautiful daughters.

In his own words in DREAMS OF MY FATHER ... Obama reveals that he knew exactly what Jeremiah Wright was all about from the getgo.

Yet ... the media, the Clinton Campaign or the McCain Campaign will not touch on the issue.  Why?
_________

Obama 'Appalled' By Ex-Pastor's Comments
Wright's Comments A 'Show Of Disrespect To Me'
April 29, 2008

Calling the Rev. Jeremiah Wright "not the same person I met 20 years ago," Sen. Barack Obama said Tuesday he was "appalled" by his former pastor's comments Monday at the National Press Club.

More ...
http://www.nbc10.com/politics/16060061/detail.html

+++++++++++++

Obama 'outraged' by Wright's remarks
April 29, 2008

McCain said again Monday that he does "not believe that Sen. Obama shares Rev. Wright's extremist statements or views."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/29/obama.wright/index.html

+++++++++++
Logged

Loving Natalee - Beth Holloway
Page 219: I have to make difficult choices every day.  I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me.  It's not easy.  I ask God to help me.
_____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown
Tamikosmom
Monkey Mega Star
******
Offline Offline

Posts: 37229



« Reply #82 on: April 29, 2008, 11:04:00 PM »

riannon ... in Barack Obama's DREAMS OF MY FATHER ... it is clear that he was well aware of Jeremiah Wright's racist, anti-American ideology from the getgo.

The ministry of Jeremiah Wright ... Barack Obama's pastor/ mentor/ friend for twenty years ... was founded on the ideology of Dr. James Cone.  This ideology is revealed in Cones book ... "Black Theology & Black Power".
_____________

Audacity of Barack Obama and Rev. Wright
by Michael Gaynor
March 18, 2008 01:00 PM EST


In Senator Obama’s first book, titled Dreams of My Father and published in 1995 (after he had been elected president of the Harvard Law Review but before he had been elected to public office), Senator Obama wrote at length about Rev. Wright and his moving “Audacity of Hope” speech.

In Dreams, Senator Obama explained how he met Rev. Wright, whom he mentioned had been “dabbling with liquor, Islam, and black nationalism in the sixties.”

He acknowledged that Rev. Wright immediately had given him fair warning that he was controversial, by quoting Rev. Wright as having said: “Some of my fellow clergy don’t appreciate what we’re about. They feel like we’re too radical. Others, we aren’t radical enough. Too emotional. Not emotional enough.”

He also acknowledged that Rev. Wright let him know at their first meeting that he looked unfavorably on America and expected to continue to do so, by stating, “Life’s not safe for a black man in this country, Barack. Never has been. Probably never will be.”

Senator Obama left with one of Rev. Wright's "Black Value System" Brochures.

More …
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/31321.html

+++++++++++++

TRINITY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST - WEBSITE
"The vision statement of Trinity United Church of Christ is based upon the systematized liberation theology that started in 1969 with the publication of Dr. James Cone’s book, Black Power and Black Theology."

See http://www.tucc.org/talking_points.htm

++++++++++++++

AMAZON

Black Theology & Black Power (Paperback)


First published in 1969, "Black Theology & Black Power" provided the first systematic presentation of black theology. Relating the militant struggle for liberation with the gospel message of salvation, James Cone laid the foundation for an original interpretation of Christianity that retains its urgency and challenge today.

http://www.amazon.ca/Black-Theology-Power-J-Cone/dp/1570751579


"Christ is black therefore not because of some cultural or psychological need of black people, but because and only because Christ really enters into our world where the poor were despised and the black are, disclosing that he is with them enduring humiliation and pain and transforming oppressed slaves into liberating servants."  James Cone

"Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community ... Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love."  James Cone

"In the New Testament, Jesus is not for all, but for the oppressed, the poor and unwanted of society, and against oppressors ... Either God is for black people in their fight for liberation and against the white oppressors, or he is not."  James Cone.

Logged

Loving Natalee - Beth Holloway
Page 219: I have to make difficult choices every day.  I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me.  It's not easy.  I ask God to help me.
_____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown
LouiseVargas
Monkey Junky
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 2524



« Reply #83 on: April 30, 2008, 01:18:21 AM »

Race IS the issue.
Logged

Hope is everything. I see angels everywhere.
Tamikosmom
Monkey Mega Star
******
Offline Offline

Posts: 37229



« Reply #84 on: April 30, 2008, 10:30:46 AM »


I realize that race is the issue of this thread and ... I do not believe I have deverted from the topic.

Louise ... I would sincerely appreciate you thought regards Barack Obama's own words ... own words that reflect the ideology of Jeremiah Wright.

Janet

+++++++++++++++

BARACK OBAMA - IN HIS OWN WORDS

Audacity of Hope: “Lolo (Obama’s step father) followed a brand of Islam ….” “I looked to Lolo for guidance”.

Dreams of my Father: “The person who made me proudest of all, though, was [half brother] Roy .. He converted to Islam.”

Dreams of my Father: “In Indonesia, I had spent two years at a Muslim school”

Dreams of my Father: “I Studied the Koran.”

Audacity of Hope: “I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”

Dreams of My Father: “I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother’s race”.

Dreams of my Father: “The emotion between the races could never be pure….. the other race would always remain just that: menacing, alien, and apart.”

Dreams of my Father: “Any distinction between good and bad whites held negligible meaning.”

Dreams of My Father: “I ceased to advertise my mother’s race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites”

Dreams Of My Father: “I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn’t speak to my own. It was into my father’s image, the black man, son of Africa, that I’d packed all the attributes I sought in myself..”.

Dreams of My Father: “That hate hadn’t gone away,” he wrote, blaming “white people — some cruel, some ignorant, sometimes a single face, sometimes just a faceless image of a system claiming power over our lives.”

Dreams of My Father: “There were enough of us on campus to constitute a tribe, and when it came to hanging out many of us chose to function like a tribe, staying close together, traveling in packs,” he wrote. “It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names”

Dreams of my Father: “Desperate times called for desperate measures, and for many blacks, times were chronically desperate. If nationalism could create a strong and effective insularity, deliver on its promise of self-respect, then the hurt it might cause well-meaning whites, or the inner turmoil it caused people like me, would be of little consequence.”

Dreams of my Father: “To avoid being mistaken for a racial sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets. We smoked cigarettes and wore leather jackets. At night, in the dorms, we discussed neocolonialism, Franz Fanon, Eurocentrism, and patriarchy.”

Dreams of my Father: “there was something about him that made me wary,” Obama wrote. “A little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.”

Dreams of my Father: “the reason black people keep to themselves is that it’s easier than spending all your time mad, or trying to guess whatever it was that white folks were thinking about you.”

Dreams of my Father: One line in Malcolm X’s autobiography “spoke” to Obama “it stayed with me,” he says. “He spoke of a wish he’d once had, the wish that the white blood that ran through him, there by an act of violence, might somehow be expunged.”
Logged

Loving Natalee - Beth Holloway
Page 219: I have to make difficult choices every day.  I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me.  It's not easy.  I ask God to help me.
_____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown
Tamikosmom
Monkey Mega Star
******
Offline Offline

Posts: 37229



« Reply #85 on: April 30, 2008, 11:07:04 AM »

Louise ... if Armstrong Williams was presently a candidate who was  running for the office of President of the United States and ... I were American ... he would be my candidate of choice when I consider the alternate choices ... Obama ... Clinton ... McCain.

His race would be a non-issue.

Janet

++++++++++

"Armstrong Williams is a widely-syndicated columnist, CEO of the Graham Williams Group, and hosts the Armstrong Williams Show."

Sunday's Dirty Secret
By Armstrong Williams
Monday, March 17, 2008


Arriving in Washington DC during the 80's, my most difficult challenge was finding a church home. Having grown up in the Pentecostal and Methodist faith Sunday worship was a staple of my weekly routine. For almost 10 years I canvassed the nation's capitol seeking a church that would nourish my fleshly failings and remind me of what our creator expects of us as human beings. What was consistent in going from pulpit to pulpit was that ministers were more interested in political rhetoric, the endorsement of political candidates, and the denouncing of some government or community proposal, than the gospel. It was quite disheartening for many years knowing that ministers were not teaching or preaching the word of God, but that their sermons were becoming political rallies. I was stunned at the blame cast upon the White man, the racial divisive, and all the things that seemed to divide and separate us from our neighbor. Then in 1995 I attended First Baptist Church in DC where the Rev. Frank Tucker presided and my spirit finally found what it was seeking. I will never forget meeting with the Pastor prior to joining and expressing my feelings about what I was looking for in a church. I made it clear that my interest was in the word of God and not political rallies, condemnation of America, and various politicians occupying the pulpit on Sunday. He shared my concerns and promised that this wasn't the case at his church. Since being a member of Pastor Tucker's church for about 13 years, he's never disappointed my spiritual yearning. Throughout the years I've taken Whites, Muslims, Jews, and people of all walks of life to worship with me and they all have left feeling that they could join the pastor's congregation.

There are still pockets of so called black churches and mosque today that can identify with the Rev. Wright‘s lace-filled, anti-American, hypocritical sermons. During the 50's, 60's and 70's the black church was a place where blacks could gather and unite away from the harshness and brutality of racism and vicious hatred. It was a place where ministers could help their congregation express their anger, frustration, and America’s ungodliness towards their brethren. Many ministers during those tumultuous times were considered heroes and pillars of the community for they were preaching against an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. People like Jeremiah Wright are still preaching as though we’re in the 50’s or 60’s and are locked in this time warp. They refuse to elevate and celebrate the progress of America and how Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s campaign is evidence of that amazing paradigm shift.

It is impossible for Senator Barack Obama and his wife to have patterned Rev. Wright's church and not have embraced his teachings and vision of America. My minister does and has always had a profound impact on my outlook about life and strengthening my spirit to forgive the transgressions of this world and not to induce more hate and separation. I find it difficult to believe Senator Obama when he tells us that he was unaware of his Pastor's vicious message from the pulpit and that had he known there would have been condemnation. Many black intellectuals are still angry for what they perceive as the continuous crippling effect of racism and slavery in America on their careers. The irony is that many of their children have embraced this country, finding success and prosperity, while their parents continue to allow their wounds to be nurtured in this hopeless mindset preached from the pulpit. Michelle Obama’s expression of how for the first time she was proud of America was indicative of the influence of her Pastor.

Senator Obama should admit to the fact that since campaigning he’s seen a different America. He must show that he rejects and repudiates this school of thinking.  Furthermore that no one should be a member of congregations and mosque that preach this hatred and conspiratorial thinking, which continuously emphasize the worst in our country and not the phenomenal progress made.  This past week was not an exemplary moment for the man who prided himself on integrity and honesty throughout this campaign.  The fact is the Senator has no plausible excuse for why he remained a member of Rev. Jeremiah's church. He and his family should have immediately left his congregation for the embrace of a church that teaches the bible rather than the alienation, lunacy, and outright mockery of Christian teachings.

It was impossible for my spirit to endure these churches, as can be evidenced by my negative descriptions of them. It makes no sense for someone in search of America’s promise and potential to worship in a place where a doctrine of hatred is the central theme. I was taught that church was a place of escape and rest, but I didn’t want someone who is supposed to be a religious leader feeding me poisonous information. My reason for going to church has always been for a spiritual recharge, not more of the same; I deal with politics 24/6, and one day a week I get a chance to take a break from all that. I believe this to be healthy, and think it sad that I had to try so hard for so long to find a church that was able to provide the rest or Sabbath, mentioned in the Bible. The day must come when churches (Black or otherwise that preach this hate speech) will return to the Word. No one should ever be forced to search for such a lengthy duration or give up and settle in a church that is unacceptable and pay the price that will eventually implode Senator Obama’s to date well run campaign.

http://krla870.townhall.com/columnists/ArmstrongWilliams/2008/03/17/sundays_dirty_secret
Logged

Loving Natalee - Beth Holloway
Page 219: I have to make difficult choices every day.  I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me.  It's not easy.  I ask God to help me.
_____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown
Tamikosmom
Monkey Mega Star
******
Offline Offline

Posts: 37229



« Reply #86 on: April 30, 2008, 11:12:59 AM »



Link to the above commentary.

http://krla870.townhall.com/columnists/ArmstrongWilliams/2008/03/17/sundays_dirty_secret
Logged

Loving Natalee - Beth Holloway
Page 219: I have to make difficult choices every day.  I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me.  It's not easy.  I ask God to help me.
_____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown
Tamikosmom
Monkey Mega Star
******
Offline Offline

Posts: 37229



« Reply #87 on: April 30, 2008, 08:02:24 PM »

I predict that the following transcript will become Barack Obama's downfall.  He outright lied to the American people.  Jeremiah Wright's racist, anti-American ideology has been consistent since the getgo and has not changed one iota.

However ... it gets even worse.  Barack Obama's books DREAMS OF MY FATHER and THE AUDICITY OF HOPE ... confirm ... in his own words ... that Obama embraced Wright's ideology twenty years ago.

Also ... Barack Obama's long time radical associates adhere to a Marxist, anti-American philosophy.

In yesterday's interview ... Obama should have come clean to the American people ... confessed to deceiving the American people regarding his true agenda ... an agenda to further his ideology from the highest position in the the land ... the President of the United States of America

Janet


Transcript
Obama’s Remarks on Wright
Published: April 29, 2008


The following is a transcript of a press conference held by Senator Barack Obama in response to recent statements by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., as provided by Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign and Federal News Service.

SENATOR BARACK OBAMA: Before I start taking questions I want to open it up with a couple of comments about what we saw and heard yesterday. I have spent my entire adult life trying to bridge the gap between different kinds of people. That's in my DNA, trying to promote mutual understanding to insist that we all share common hopes and common dreams as Americans and as human beings. That's who I am. That's what I believe. That's what this campaign has been about.

Yesterday, we saw a very different vision of America. I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened over the spectacle that we saw yesterday.

You know, I have been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ since 1992. I have known Reverend Wright for almost 20 years. The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago. His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate and I believe that they do not portray accurately the perspective of the black church.


They certainly don't portray accurately my values and beliefs. And if Reverend Wright thinks that that's political posturing, as he put it, then he doesn't know me very well. And based on his remarks yesterday, well, I may not know him as well as I thought, either.

Now, I've already denounced the comments that had appeared in these previous sermons. As I said, I had not heard them before. And I gave him the benefit of the doubt in my speech in Philadelphia, explaining that he has done enormous good in the church. He's built a wonderful congregation. The people of Trinity are wonderful people. And what attracted me has always been their ministry's reach beyond the church walls.

But when he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS, when he suggests that Minister Farrakhan somehow represents one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st century, when he equates the United States wartime efforts with terrorism, then there are no excuses. They offend me. They rightly offend all Americans. And they should be denounced. And that's what I'm doing very clearly and unequivocally here today.

Let me just close by saying this: I -- we started this campaign with the idea that the problems that we face as a country are too great to continue to be divided, that, in fact, all across America people are hungry to get out of the old divisive politics of the past.

I have spoken and written about the need for us to all recognize each other as Americans, regardless of race or religion or region of the country; that the only way we can deal with critical issues, like energy and health care and education and the war on terrorism, is if we are joined together. And the reason our campaign has been so successful is because we had moved beyond these old arguments.

What we saw yesterday out of Reverend Wright was a resurfacing and, I believe, an exploitation of those old divisions. Whatever his intentions, that was the result. It is antithetical to our campaign. It is antithetical to what I am about. It is not what I think American stands for.

And I want to be very clear that moving forward, Reverend Wright does not speak for me. He does not speak for our campaign. I cannot prevent him from continuing to make these outrageous remarks.

But what I do want him to be very clear about, as well as all of you and the American people, is that when I say I find these comments appalling, I mean it. It contradicts everything that I'm about and who I am.

And anybody who has worked with me, who knows my life, who has read my books, who has seen what this campaign's about, I think, will understand that it is completely opposed to what I stand for and where I want to take this country.

Last point: I'm particularly distressed that this has caused such a distraction from what this campaign should be about, which is the American people. Their situation is getting worse. And this campaign has never been about me. It's never been about Senator Clinton or John McCain. It's not about Reverend Wright.

People want some help in stabilizing their lives and securing a better future for themselves and their children. And that's what we should be talking about. And the fact that Reverend Wright would think that somehow it was appropriate to command the stage, for three or four consecutive days, in the midst of this major debate, is something that not only makes me angry but also saddens me.

So with that, let me take some questions.

Q: What are you going to do --

Q: Senator --

Q: Senator --

SEN. OBAMA: Yeah, go ahead.

Q: Why the change of tone from yesterday? When you spoke to us on the tarmac yesterday, you didn't have this sense of anger, outrage --

SEN. OBAMA: Yeah. I'll be honest with you: because I hadn't seen it yet.

Q: And that was the difference you --

SEN. OBAMA: Yes.

Q: Had you heard the reports about the AIDS comment?

SEN. OBAMA: I had not. I had not seen the transcript. What I had heard was that he had given a performance. And I thought at the time that it would be sufficient simply to reiterate what I had said in Philadelphia. Upon watching it, what became clear to me was that it was more than just a -- it was more than just him defending himself. What became clear to me was that he was presenting a world view that -- that -- that contradicts who I am and what I stand for. And what I think particularly angered me was his suggestion somehow that my previous denunciation of his remarks were somehow political posturing. Anybody who knows me and anybody who knows what I'm about knows that -- that I am about trying to bridge gaps and that I see the -- the commonality in all people.

And so when I start hearing comments about conspiracy theories and AIDS and suggestions that somehow Minister Farrakhan has -- has been a great voice in the 20th century, then that goes directly at who I am and what I believe this country needs.

Jeff?

Q: Senator, what do you expect or what do you plan to do about this right now to further distance yourself, if you think you're going to do that? And does this say about your judgment to superdelegates, who are right trying to decide which Democratic nominee is better? Because your candidacy has been based on judgment, what does this say about it?

SEN. OBAMA: Well, look, as I said before, the person I saw yesterday was not the person that I had come to know over 20 years. I understand that -- I think he was pained and angered from what had happened previously, during the first stage of this controversy. I think he felt vilified and attacked, and I understand that he wanted to defend himself.

I understand that, you know, he's gone through difficult times of late, and that he's leaving his ministry after many years. And so, you know, that may account for the change.

But the insensitivity and the outrageousness, of his statements and his performance in the question-and-answer period yesterday, I think, shocked me. It surprised me. As I said before, this is an individual who has built a very fine church and a church that is well- respected throughout Chicago.

During the course of me attending that church, I had not heard those kinds of statements being made or those kinds of views being promoted. And I did not vet my pastor before I decided to run for the presidency. I was a member of the church.

So you know, I think what it says is that, you know, I have not, you know, I did not run through -- run my pastor through the paces or review every one of the sermons that he had made over the last 30 years. But I don't think that anybody could attribute those ideas to me.

Q: What effect do you think this is going to have on your campaign?

SEN. OBAMA: You know, that's something that you guys will have to figure out. And you know, obviously we've got elections in four or five days. So we'll find out, you know, what impact it has.

But ultimately I think that the American people know that we have to do better than we're doing right now. I think that they believe in the ideas of this campaign.

I think they are convinced that special interest have dominated Washington too long. I think they are convinced that we've got to get beyond some of the same political games that we've been playing. I think they believe that we need to speak honestly and truthfully about how we're going to solve issues like energy or health care.

And I believe that this campaign has inspired a lot of people. And that's part of what, you know, going back to what you asked, Mike, about why I feel so strongly about this today.

You know, after seeing Reverend Wright's performance, I felt as if there was a complete disregard, for what the American people are going through and the need for them to rally together to solve these problems.

You know, now is the time for us not to get distracted. Now is the time for us to pull together.

And that's what we've been doing in this campaign. And, you know, there was a sense that that did not matter to Reverend Wright. What mattered was him commanding center stage.

Q: Have you had a conversation with Reverend Wright and --

SEN. OBAMA: No.

Q: What's going to happen if these distractions continue?

SEN. OBAMA: Well, the -- I want to use this press conference to make people absolutely clear that obviously whatever relationship I had with Reverend Wright has changed as a consequence of this. I don't think that he showed much concern for me. I don't -- more importantly, I don't think he showed much concern for what we are trying to do in this campaign and what we're trying to do for the American people and with the American people.

And obviously, he's free to speak out on issues that are of concern to him and he can do it in any ways that he wants. But I feel very strongly that -- well, I want to make absolutely clear that I do not subscribe to the views that he expressed. I believe they are wrong. I think they are destructive. And to the extent that he continues to speak out, I do not expect those views to be attributed to me.

Q: I remember after the story -- when the story immediately broke, Trinity Church -- the current pastor kind of defended Reverend Wright. I'm wondering -- I don't know how they reacted to the latest, but I'm wondering if you continue planning on attending Trinity.

SEN. OBAMA: Well, you know, the new pastor -- the young pastor, Reverend Otis Moss, is a wonderful young pastor. And as I said, I still very much value the Trinity community. This -- I'll be honest, this obviously has put strains on that relationship, not because of the members or because of Reverend Moss but because this has become such a spectacle.

And, you know, when I go to church it's not for spectacle. It's to pray and to find -- to find a stronger sense of faith. It's not to posture politically. It's not -- you know, it's not to hear things that violate my core beliefs. And so -- you know, and I certainly don't want to provide a distraction for those who are worshipping at Trinity.

So as of this point, I'm a member of Trinity. I haven't had a discussion with Reverend Moss about it, so I can't tell you how he's reacting and how he's responding.

Okay? Katherine (sp)?

Q: Senator, I'm wondering -- to sort of follow on Jeff's question about you, know, why it's a little different now, have you heard from some of your supporters -- you know, you have some -- (off mike) -- supporters who expressed any alarm about what this might be doing to the campaign?

SEN. OBAMA: Well, look, the -- I mean, I don't think that it's that hard to figure out from -- if it was just a purely political perspective. You know, my reaction has more to do with what I want this campaign to be about and who I am. And I want to make certain that people understand who I am.

In some ways, what Reverend Wright said yesterday directly contradicts everything that I've done during my life. It contradicts how I was raised and the setting in which I was raised. It contradicts my decisions to pursue a career of public service. It contradicts the issues that I've worked on politically. It contradicts what I've said in my books. It's contradicts what I said my convention speech in 2004. It contradicts my announcement. It contradicts everything that I've been saying on this campaign trail.

And what I tried to do in Philadelphia was to provide a context and to lift up some of the contradictions and complexities of race in America -- of which, you know, Reverend Wright is a part and we're all a part -- and try to make something constructive out of it. But there wasn't anything constructive out of yesterday. All it was, was a bunch of rants that -- that aren't grounded in truth, and you know, I can't construct something positive out of that. I can understand it. I, you know, the -- you know, people do all sorts of things.

And as I said before, I continue to believe that Reverend Wright has been a -- a -- a leader in the South Side. I think that the church he built is outstanding. I think that he has preached in the past some wonderful sermons. He provided, you know, valuable contributions to my family.

But at a certain point, if what somebody says contradicts what you believe so fundamentally, and then he questions whether or not you believe it in front of the National Press Club, then that's enough. That's -- that's a show of disrespect to me. It's a -- it is also, I think, an insult to what we've been trying to do in this campaign.

Q: Senator, did you discuss with your wife, after having seen Reverend Wright -- (off mike) -- and what was her --

SEN. OBAMA: Yeah. No, she was similarly -- anger.

Joe?

Q: Reverend Wright said that it was not an attack on him but an attack on the black church. First of all, do you agree with that?

And second of all, the strain of theology that he preached, black liberation theology, you explained something about the anger, that feeds some of the sentiments in the church, in Philadelphia.

How important a strain is liberation theology in the black church? And why did you choose to attend a church that preached that?

SEN. OBAMA: Well, first of all, in terms of liberation theology, I'm not a theologian. So I think to some theologians, there might be some well-worked-out theory of what constitutes liberation theology versus non-liberation-theology.

I went to church and listened to sermons. And in the sermons that I heard, and this is true, I do think, across the board in many black churches, there is an emphasis on the importance of social struggle, the importance of striving for equality and justice and fairness -- a social gospel.

So I think a lot of people would rather, rather than using a fancy word like that, simply talk about preaching the social gospel. And that -- there's nothing particularly odd about that. Dr. King obviously was the most prominent example of that kind of preaching.

But you know, what I do think can happen, and I didn't see this as a member of the church but I saw it yesterday, is when you start focusing so much on the plight of the historically oppressed, that you lose sight of what we have in common; that it overrides everything else; that we're not concerned about the struggles of others because we're looking at things only through a particular lens. Then it doesn't describe properly what I believe, in the power of faith, to overcome but also to bring people together.

Now, you had a first question, Joe, that I don't remember.

Q: Do you think --

SEN. OBAMA: Do I think --

Q: (Off mike.)

SEN. OBAMA: You know, the -- I did not view the initial round of soundbites, that triggered this controversy, as an attack on the black church. I viewed it as a simplification of who he was, a caricature of who he was and, you know, more than anything, something that piqued a lot of political interest.

I didn't see it as an attack on the black church. I mean, probably the only -- the only aspect of it that probably had to do with specifically the black church is the fact that some people were surprised when he was shouting. I mean, that is just a black church tradition. And so I think some people interpreted that somehow as -- wow, he's really -- he's hollering and black preachers holler and whoop and -- so that, I think, showed sort of a cultural gap in America.

You know, the sad thing is that although the sound bites I've -- as I stated, I think created a caricature of him. And when he was in that Moyers interview, even though there were some things that, you know, continued to be offensive, at least there was some sense of rounding out the edges. Yesterday I think he caricatured himself, and that was a -- as I said, that made me angry but also made me sad.

STAFF: Last question.

SEN. OBAMA: Richard.

Q: You talked about giving the benefit of the doubt before -- mostly, I guess, in the Philadelphia speech, trying to create something positive about that. Did you consult with him before the speech or talk to him after the speech in Philadelphia to get his reaction -- (off mike) --

SEN. OBAMA: You know, I tried to talk to him before the speech in Philadelphia. Wasn't able to reach him because he was on a -- he was on a cruise. He had just stepped down from the pulpit. When he got back, I did speak to him. And I -- you know, I prefer not to share sort of private conversations between me and him. I will talk to him perhaps some day in the future. But what I can say is that I was very clear that what he had said in those particular snippets, I found objectionable and offensive and that the intention of the speech was to provide context for them but not excuse them, because I found them inexcusable.

So -- yeah, go ahead.

Q: The other day, on Sunday, you were asked whether -- to respond to -- (off mike) -- is this -- you said you didn't believe in irreparable damage. Is this relationship with you and Wright irreparably damaged, do you think?

SEN. OBAMA: There's been great damage. You know, I -- it may have been unintentional on his part, but, you know, I do not see that relationship being the same after this. Now, to some degree, you know -- I know that one thing that he said was true, was that he wasn't -- you know, he was never my, quote-unquote, "spiritual adviser."

He was never my "spiritual mentor." He was -- he was my pastor. And so to some extent, how, you know, the -- the press characterized in the past that relationship, I think, wasn't accurate.

But he was somebody who was my pastor, and married Michelle and I, and baptized my children, and prayed with us at -- when we announced this race. And so, you know -- so I'm disappointed.

STAFF: Thank you.

SEN. OBAMA: All right. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/us/politics/29text-obama.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Logged

Loving Natalee - Beth Holloway
Page 219: I have to make difficult choices every day.  I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me.  It's not easy.  I ask God to help me.
_____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown
Tamikosmom
Monkey Mega Star
******
Offline Offline

Posts: 37229



« Reply #88 on: April 30, 2008, 10:28:08 PM »

America needs Jeremiah Wrights
By Rev. Barbara Reynolds, NNPA Columnist
March 25, 2008


For 20 years, Rev. Wright has been a "friend, mentor and pastor." This is how Sen. Obama described him in a letter dated February 5, 2007.

In that letter, the senator wrote "I constantly remember Rev. Wright as the shepherd who guided me to my commitment to Christ one Sunday morning at Trinity. I often consider, as I work in the Senate how he lives his life-a life of service to Trinity, Chicago and the nation; his activism on behalf of causes that few would champion and his dogged commitment to the first principles of love for God and fellow man. And in my personal walk, I seek daily to imitate his faith."

http://www.louisianaweekly.com/weekly/news/articlegate.pl?20080324g
Logged

Loving Natalee - Beth Holloway
Page 219: I have to make difficult choices every day.  I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me.  It's not easy.  I ask God to help me.
_____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown
Dihannah1
Monkey All Star Jr.
****
Offline Offline

Posts: 5264


God watch over our children and keep them safe.


« Reply #89 on: April 30, 2008, 11:33:32 PM »

This may be a little off topic here, but all I can say right now, is Janet, YOU amaze me with your research skills and providing all the documentation here and on Natalee's thread.  You are truly talented in research on ANY topic!   I appreciate it so very much for bringing us the "FACTS"!
Logged

God has FINAL Judgement!<br />
Tamikosmom
Monkey Mega Star
******
Offline Offline

Posts: 37229



« Reply #90 on: May 01, 2008, 04:04:33 PM »

This may be a little off topic here, but all I can say right now, is Janet, YOU amaze me with your research skills and providing all the documentation here and on Natalee's thread.  You are truly talented in research on ANY topic!   I appreciate it so very much for bringing us the "FACTS"!

Thank you Di.  You made my day.

Hugs

Janet
Logged

Loving Natalee - Beth Holloway
Page 219: I have to make difficult choices every day.  I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me.  It's not easy.  I ask God to help me.
_____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown
Tamikosmom
Monkey Mega Star
******
Offline Offline

Posts: 37229



« Reply #91 on: May 01, 2008, 04:09:00 PM »

Hillary Clinton Sits Down With Bill O'Reilly
Thursday, May 01, 2008


O'REILLY: Can you believe this Reverend Wright guy? Can you believe this guy?

CLINTON: Well, you know...

O'REILLY: What do you think?

CLINTON: Well, I'm going to leave it up to voters to decide, you know.

O'REILLY: No, but what do you think as an American? You're an American.

CLINTON: Well, what I said when I was asked directly is that I would not have stayed in that church.

O'REILLY: No, no, no, no. But you're an American citizen. I'm an American citizen. He's an American citizen, Reverend Wright. What do you think when you hear a fellow American citizen say that stuff about America? What do you think?

CLINTON: Well, I take offense at it. I think it's offensive and outrageous. And, you know, I'm going to express my opinion. Others can express theirs. But, you know, it is part of, you know, just an atmosphere that we're in today where all kinds of things are being said. And people have to, you know, decide what they believe. And I sure don't believe the United States government was behind AIDS.

O'REILLY: Now, when I see people jumping up and applauding when he says that, and other things — we're the moral equivalent of Al Qaeda — when I see my fellow citizens, I don't care what color they are, jump up and applaud that, that disturbs me.

CLINTON: Well, Bill, this is part of the mosaic and diversity of America. And obviously, on opinions like that...

O'REILLY: That's hateful.

CLINTON: Well, you know, I happen to think that is just totally off base. It's, you know, so far out it's hard to even understand and take seriously. But what people are talking to me about is not that, I've got to tell you. What I hear is what's happening in their lives. I mean...

O'REILLY: No, I know that.

CLINTON: ...let somebody else worry about, you know, taking on whatever someone said.

O'REILLY: But trust me on this.

CLINTON: But you know...

O'REILLY: ...television ratings for Reverend Wright, through the roof.

CLINTON: Really?

O'REILLY: Folks are engaged here.

CLINTON: Well, I think though they're making up their minds. They're weighing it.

O'REILLY: Yes.

CLINTON: They're trying to figure it out. But I think for the presidential campaign, they want to know more about what I'm going to do about gas prices, to be blunt. You know…

O'REILLY: But look, I feel sorry for Barack Obama on this one, all right? I feel sorry for him. His whole campaign has been derailed by some loony guy. Isn't that amazing?

CLINTON: Well, he spoke out forcefully yesterday. And...

O'REILLY: Do you feel sorry for Obama?

CLINTON: Well, I think that he made his views clear finally that he disagrees. And I think that's what he had to do.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,353759,00.html
Logged

Loving Natalee - Beth Holloway
Page 219: I have to make difficult choices every day.  I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me.  It's not easy.  I ask God to help me.
_____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown
Tamikosmom
Monkey Mega Star
******
Offline Offline

Posts: 37229



« Reply #92 on: May 01, 2008, 04:18:26 PM »

Barack and Michelle Obama
Wednesday, April 30 NBC Nightly News


BRIAN WILLIAMS: We turn now to the presidential campaign. Barack and Michelle Obama sat down with Meredith Vieira from Today on NBC as they try to put the drama over their former pastor behind them. At the same time, Senator Hillary Clinton, in an unusual setting, repeated some of her criticism of the whole situation. Our report on politics tonight from NBC's Andrea Mitchell.

ANDREA MITCHELL: Barack and Michelle Obama today campaigning together in Indiana.

BARACK OBAMA AT CAMPAIGN EVENT: The situation with Reverend Wright is difficult. I won't lie to you.

MITCHELL: Before sitting down for an exclusive joint interview with Meredith Vieira for the Today show tomorrow.

BARACK OBAMA, IN TODAY INTERVIEW: This is somebody who married Michelle and I.

MITCHELL: Clearly trying to move past the controversy over the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, but when pressed, explaining why he didn't denounce his former pastor sooner.

BARACK OBAMA: If I wanted to be politically expedient, I would have distanced myself and denounced him right away. Right? That would have been the easy thing to do, that would be the standard stock political advice. I don't think anybody who watched me yesterday thought I was being calculating because it obviously wasn't an easy thing to do.

MICHELLE OBAMA: You know what I think, Meredith? We got to move forward. You know, this conversation doesn't help my kids, you know. It doesn't help kids out there who are looking for us to make decisions and choices about how we're going to better fund education.

MITCHELL: Also in Indiana today, Hillary Clinton, who was campaigning again skyrocketing gas prices, but criticized Obama for not quitting his church sooner when pushed during an interview with Bill O'Reilly on Fox.

HILLARY CLINTON ON FNC: I'm going to leave it up to voters to decide.

BILL O'REILLY: But what do you think as an American. You're an American.

HILLARY CLINTON: Well, what I said when I asked directly is that I would not have stayed in that church. I think it's offensive and outrageous and, you know, I'm going to express my opinion. Others can express theirs.

MITCHELL: Clinton is courting O'Reilly's viewers, even though he has been one of her harshest critics....

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2008/04/30/nbc-highlights-michelle-obamas-spin-talking-about-wright-doesnt-help-ki


Logged

Loving Natalee - Beth Holloway
Page 219: I have to make difficult choices every day.  I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me.  It's not easy.  I ask God to help me.
_____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown
Auntiem
Monkey Junky Jr.
**
Offline Offline

Posts: 517



« Reply #93 on: May 01, 2008, 08:44:18 PM »

   Is Race the Issue????  It depends from where you are coming!   I don't have the time,energy or knowledge to go into one of my old, long lost tirades, but.... Is Race the Issue?  If you are Obama, I believe it is inargueably YES!!  He is a racist, has been a flamboyant one, but now that it is to his determent, he is a "closet" racist!!

     Am I a racist, absolutely NOT!!  My dream for America is for the absolutly most qualified person to be our next President.  Unfortunately, he does not care to throw his General's hat in the ring...Colin Powell!!!! A responsible, centered, experienced, true Patriot!!!

        Would I vote for a woman?  Only if she too, possessed the above qualifications of Colin Powell, and golly gee,....the ONLY woman I can think of is...you got it, Condoleeza Rice.

       So I guess there are some who have "issues" with Race, the racists......and the only people I can see who "fit that bill", are Obama and his supporters.

      It's becoming more and more apparent that many (not ALL) of the Black race would vote for an African-American "Jack-the Ripper" if he was running, or more realistically, the Very Reverand Al Sharpton!!!  Who once again, instead of putting his time to constructive deeds, to help his race, like publicizing the many missing African-American women and children, or working in the MANY underprivilidged neighborhoods, their unsuccessful schools, abused children, he is hell bent on jumping at every opportunity to undermine the NYPD.....who, by the way are working the hardest in the Black neighborhoods to keep the law-abiding citizens, trying to live and work in peace, SAFE.......just go into one (I work in one), and ask the people, (not the dealers and hookers) the decent, God-fearing, law abiding ones, they'll tell you.  Their only help IS the PD and they know and respect them!!!
Logged
A's Fever
Monkey Junky Jr.
**
Offline Offline

Posts: 806



« Reply #94 on: May 02, 2008, 12:23:38 PM »

Here is a very different point of view offered by Peggy Noonan in today's Wall Street Journal.  Interesting also because she is a prominent Republican, having been an assistant to Reagan and a speechwriter for George Bush.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120966911007860195.html?mod=hps_us_inside_today

DECLARATIONS
By PEGGY NOONAN   

   
Loyal to the Bitterness
May 2, 2008

I am out of step. There is something that is upsetting others whom I care about and whose thoughts are often not unlike my own. And it's not hitting me the same way.

I am referring to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. I disagree with and disapprove of the things he says. The U.S. government did not spread AIDS among the black community, 9/11 was not the chickens coming home to roost, etc. He seems like a bright man, warm, humorous and compelling, but also needful and demanding of the spotlight, a showman prone to crackpottery, and I have to wonder how much respect he has for his congregation. He shows a lot of fury and does a lot of yelling for a leader of the followers of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

 
AP 
When he is discussed on news shows, pundits are asked what they think Mr. Wright's political impact will be, which is another way of saying: What will people think of this?

I always wish they'd say what they themselves think. I think what Mr. Wright has been saying is extreme and radical, and people don't like extreme and radical when they're pondering who their next leader will be, and as Mr. Wright has been Barack Obama's friend and mentor for 20 years, this will hurt Mr. Obama. This is borne out in the week's polls. From the New York Times: 48% of Democrats say he can best beat McCain, down eight points since April. The proportion of Democrats who say Mr. Obama is their choice for the nomination is now 46%, down six.

I also think that if Hillary Clinton wins because of the Wright scandal, it will leave a sad taste in the mouths of many. Mr. Obama reveals many things in his books, speeches and interviews but polarity and a tropism toward the extreme are not among them. What happened with Mr. Wright should not determine the race. Mr. Obama's stands, his ability to convince us he can make good change, his ability to be "one of us," that great challenge for a national politician in a varied nation, should determine the race.

But I am finding it hard to feel truly upset about what Mr. Wright has said. This is the out-of-stepness I referred to. So here I will talk not about how people will respond to him but how I do.

* * *

I do not feel a sense of honest anger or violation at his remarks, in part because I don't think his views carry deep implications for our country. I have been watching America up close for many years – if you count a bright childhood, for half a century. I have seen, heard and respected the pain of a people who were forced to come here when they did not want to and made to live in a way that no one would want to. Who could deny them their grief or anger? I have seen radicalism and extremism, too. I have seen Stokely Carmichael, the Black Panthers, the Black National Anthem, Malcolm X, James Baldwin, Louis Farrakhan. I came to see their radicalism as, putting the morality of policy based on rage aside, essentially unhelpful and impractical. It wouldn't work as an American movement, not long-term. Hatred plays itself out, has power in the short-term but is nonsustaining in the long. America, and this is one of its glories, has a conscience to which an appeal can be made. It may take a long time, it may take centuries, but in the end we try hard to do the right thing, and everyone knows it. Hatred is a form of energy that does not fuel this machine and cannot make it run.

And all the time I was watching the old days of rage, blacks in America were rising, joining the professions, becoming middle class, assuming authority, becoming professors and doctors. No one is surprised anymore to meet a powerful man or woman who devises systems by which others should live – that would be a politician – who is black.

I came to think all the talk of radicalism and extremism amounted to little, and was in the end rejected by the very people it was meant to rouse. They didn't buy it.

This week I talked to a young man, an Irish-American to whom I said, "Am I wrong not to feel anger about Wright?" He more or less saw it as I do, but for a different reason, or from different experience.

He said he figures Mr. Wright's followers delight in him the same way he delights in the Wolfe Tones, the Irish folk group named for the 18th-century leader condemned to death by the British occupying forces, as they say on their Web site. They sing songs about the Brits and how they subjugated the Irish and we'll rise up and trounce the bastards.

My 20-year-old friend has lived a good life in America and is well aware that he is not an abused farmer in the fields holding secret Mass in defiance of the prohibitions of the English ruling class. His life has not been like that. Yet he enjoys the bitterness. He likes going to Wolfe Tones concerts raising his fist, thinking "Up the Rebels." It is good to feel that old ethnic religious solidarity, and that in part is what he is in search of, solidarity. And it's not so bad to take a little free-floating anger, apply it to politics, and express it in applause.

He knows the dark days are over. He just enjoys remembering them even if he didn't experience them. His people did.

I know exactly what he feels, for I felt the same when I was his age. And so what? It's just a way of saying, "I'm still loyal to our bitterness." Which is another way of saying, "I'm still loyal." I have a nice life, I'm American, I live far away, an Englishman has never hurt me, and yet I am still Irish. I can prove it. I can summon the old anger.

Is this terrible? I don't think so. It's human and messy and warm-blooded, as a human would be.

The thing is to not let your affiliation with bitterness govern you, so that you leave the Wolfe Tones concert and punch an Englishman in the nose. In this connection it can be noted there is no apparent record of people leaving a Wright sermon and punching anyone in the nose. Maybe they're in search of solidarity too. Maybe they're showing loyalty too.

* * *

Few voters will be more inclined to vote for Barack Obama because his friend, mentor and pastor is extreme. They will think it makes Mr. Obama less attractive. They will not think Mr. Obama handled the challenge with force, dispatch and the kind of instinct that turns dilemma into gain.

And yet . . . it doesn't get my blood up. It doesn't hurt my heart. It doesn't make me feel I need to defend my country. Because I don't see it as attacked, only criticized in a way that is not persuasive.

Mr. Wright seems to me to be part of the great "barbaric yawp," as Walt Whitman called the American people fighting, discussing, making things and living. I like the barbaric yawp. I don't enjoy it when it makes me wince, but at least when I am wincing, I know the yawp is working.

 
Logged
Tamikosmom
Monkey Mega Star
******
Offline Offline

Posts: 37229



« Reply #95 on: May 02, 2008, 02:38:06 PM »

Peggy Noonan
Wall Street Journal
Loyal to the Bitterness
May 2, 2008


I also think that if Hillary Clinton wins because of the Wright scandal, it will leave a sad taste in the mouths of many. Mr. Obama reveals many things in his books, speeches and interviews but polarity and a tropism toward the extreme are not among them. What happened with Mr. Wright should not determine the race. Mr. Obama's stands, his ability to convince us he can make good change, his ability to be "one of us," that great challenge for a national politician in a varied nation, should determine the race.
http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB120966911007860195.html

+++++++++++++

Barack Obama did not distance himself from Jeremiah Wright until forced to do so in the middle of his campaign for leader of the Democratic Party and ... this only occurred when he was challenged regarding his twenty year relationship with Wright who embraces a racist, anti-American ideology.  At that point in time ... Jeremiah Wright had been on Obama's campaign payroll as "Religious Advisor" ... a position he no longer holds.
 
Also ... Barack Obama has never refuted his racist, anti-American words in his books AUDACITY OF HOPE and DREAMS OF MY FATHER.  The first edition DREAMS OF MY FATHER was published in 1995 and ... the last edition was released in 2007.

Janet

+++++++++++

BARAK OBAMA - IN HIS OWN WORDS

Audacity of Hope: “Lolo (Obama’s step father) followed a brand of Islam ….” “I looked to Lolo for guidance”.

Dreams of my Father: “The person who made me proudest of all, though, was [half brother] Roy .. He converted to Islam.”

Dreams of my Father: “In Indonesia, I had spent two years at a Muslim school”

Dreams of my Father: “I Studied the Koran.”

Audacity of Hope: “I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”

Dreams of My Father: “I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother’s race”.

Dreams of my Father: “The emotion between the races could never be pure….. the other race would always remain just that: menacing, alien, and apart.”

Dreams of my Father: “Any distinction between good and bad whites held negligible meaning.”

Dreams of My Father: “I ceased to advertise my mother’s race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites”

Dreams Of My Father: “I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn’t speak to my own. It was into my father’s image, the black man, son of Africa, that I’d packed all the attributes I sought in myself..”.

Dreams of My Father: “That hate hadn’t gone away,” he wrote, blaming “white people — some cruel, some ignorant, sometimes a single face, sometimes just a faceless image of a system claiming power over our lives.”

Dreams of My Father: “There were enough of us on campus to constitute a tribe, and when it came to hanging out many of us chose to function like a tribe, staying close together, traveling in packs,” he wrote. “It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names”

Dreams of my Father: “Desperate times called for desperate measures, and for many blacks, times were chronically desperate. If nationalism could create a strong and effective insularity, deliver on its promise of self-respect, then the hurt it might cause well-meaning whites, or the inner turmoil it caused people like me, would be of little consequence.”

Dreams of my Father: “To avoid being mistaken for a racial sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets. We smoked cigarettes and wore leather jackets. At night, in the dorms, we discussed neocolonialism, Franz Fanon, Eurocentrism, and patriarchy.”

Dreams of my Father: “there was something about him that made me wary,” Obama wrote. “A little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.”

Dreams of my Father: “the reason black people keep to themselves is that it’s easier than spending all your time mad, or trying to guess whatever it was that white folks were thinking about you.”

Dreams of my Father: One line in Malcolm X’s autobiography “spoke” to Obama “it stayed with me,” he says. “He spoke of a wish he’d once had, the wish that the white blood that ran through him, there by an act of violence, might somehow be expunged.”
Logged

Loving Natalee - Beth Holloway
Page 219: I have to make difficult choices every day.  I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me.  It's not easy.  I ask God to help me.
_____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown
Tamikosmom
Monkey Mega Star
******
Offline Offline

Posts: 37229



« Reply #96 on: May 02, 2008, 02:51:34 PM »

Peggy Noonan
Wall Street Journal
Loyal to the Bitterness
May 2, 2008

I also think that if Hillary Clinton wins because of the Wright scandal, it will leave a sad taste in the mouths of many. Mr. Obama reveals many things in his books, speeches and interviews but polarity and a tropism toward the extreme are not among them. What happened with Mr. Wright should not determine the race. Mr. Obama's stands, his ability to convince us he can make good change, his ability to be "one of us," that great challenge for a national politician in a varied nation, should determine the race.


http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB120966911007860195

+++++++++++++++

I disagree.  It is imperative that the American people determine if Barack Obamas words, actions and the company he keeps  throughout the campaign reflect his words, actions and the company he keeps prior to the campaign.  In other words ... it is important there is not deception ... it is important that votes are not cast for a "wolf in sheep's clothing".

Listen to Obama's "A More Perfect Union" speech and ... read the above quotes from his books.

It is apparent ... SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT!

Janet

++++++++++

Obama: ‘I’m a Pretty Darned Good Politician’
by FOXNews.com
Wednesday, April 16, 2008


In a speech to Jewish community leaders in Philadelphia, the Democratic presidential candidate was asked whether the recent controversy over Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s retiring pastor, could lead to him being attacked by Republicans in the fall and create the possibility of turning his candidacy into one akin to failed candidates George McGovern and Michael Dukakis.

At the end of a long response, Obama said: “Let me make one last point about the comparison to McGovern and Dukakis, both excellent men, but I’m a pretty darn good politician. And I can give a pretty good speech and I can connect and inspire the American people in ways that I think will become apparent.

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/04/16/obama-im-a-pretty-darned-good-politician/


A More Perfect Union
Watch Barack's speech on race in America and building a more perfect union.

http://my.barackobama.com/hisownwords
Logged

Loving Natalee - Beth Holloway
Page 219: I have to make difficult choices every day.  I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me.  It's not easy.  I ask God to help me.
_____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown
Tamikosmom
Monkey Mega Star
******
Offline Offline

Posts: 37229



« Reply #97 on: May 03, 2008, 12:09:08 AM »

BARACK OBAMA'S VERY CONTROVERSIAL PASTOR
By Sharon Hughes
February 3, 2008
NewsWithViews.com


http://www.newswithviews.com/Hughes/sharon53.htm

++++++++++++++++

A Message from our Pastor
Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, Senior Pastor
Maybe I Missed Something


http://www.cmaucc.org/EMRJeremiahWright2.pdf

++++++++++++++

Obama's Minister Honored Farrakhan
Monday, January 14, 2008 7:49 PM

 
http://www.newsmax.com/kessler/obama_wright_farrakhan/2008/01/14/64332.html

+++++++++++

Obama’s mentor and pastor honors Louis Farrakhan
January 15, 2008


http://hotair.com/archives/2008/01/15/obamas-mentor-and-pastor-honors-louis-farrakhan/

+++++++++++++

Obama's Farrakhan Test
By Richard Cohen
Tuesday, January 15, 2008


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/14/AR2008011402083.html

+++++++++++++

As 'Millions More' March Approaches, ADL Exposes Farrakhan's and Shabazz's Racism and Anti-Semitism
New York, NY, October 6, 2005


http://www.adl.org/PresRele/NatIsl_81/4804_72.htm

++++++++++++

Farrakhan: Racist or righteous?
July 12, 2001


http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/07/12/farrakhan.case/index.html

++++++++++++

Obama distances himself from Farrakhan
January 15, 2008 08:06 PM


http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/01/obama_distances.html

++++++++++++

Trinity United Church of Christ - Website

http://www.tucc.org/about.htm
http://www.tucc.org/talking_points.htm

++++++++++++

A Candidate, His Minister and the Search for Faith
Published: April 30, 2007


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/us/politics/30obama.html?pagewanted=1

+++++++++++

Disinvitation by Obama Is Criticized
By JODI KANTOR
Published: March 6, 2007


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/us/politics/06obama.html

+++++++++++++
Logged

Loving Natalee - Beth Holloway
Page 219: I have to make difficult choices every day.  I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me.  It's not easy.  I ask God to help me.
_____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown
Tamikosmom
Monkey Mega Star
******
Offline Offline

Posts: 37229



« Reply #98 on: May 03, 2008, 12:52:41 PM »

Within Islamic tradition, the concept of Taqiyya (التقية - 'fear, guard against')[1] refers to a controversial dispensation allowing believers to conceal their faith when under threat, persecution or compulsion.[2]

The word "al-Taqiyya" literally means: "Concealing or disguising one's beliefs, convictions, ideas, feelings, opinions, and/or strategies at a time of imminent danger, whether now or later in time, to save oneself from physical and/or mental injury." A one-word translation would be "Dissimulation."http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Taqqiyah


Dissimulation is a form of deception in which one conceals the truth. It differs from simulation, in which one exhibits false information. Dissimulation commonly takes the form of concealing one's ability in order to gain the element of surprise over an opponent.
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Dissimulation

++++++++++++

Louis Farrakhan backs Obama for president at Nation of Islam convention in Chicago
February 25, 2008


Speaking to thousands of members of the Nation of Islam at their annual convention Sunday in Chicago, Minister Louis Farrakhan praised presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama as the only hope for healing the nation's racial divisions.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-farrakhan25feb25,0,6391391.story


Farrakhan Praises Obama as ‘Hope of Entire World’
by Associated Press
Monday, February 25, 2008


CHICAGO — In his first major public address since a cancer crisis, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said that presidential candidate Barack Obama is the “hope of the entire world” that the U.S. will change for the better. The 74-year-old Farrakhan, former leader of the black Muslim group, never endorsed Obama outright, but spent much of his nearly two-hour speech Sunday to an estimated crowd of 20,000 people praising the Illinois senator.

“This young man is the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better,” he said. “This young man is capturing audiences of black and brown and red and yellow. If you look at Barack Obama’s audiences and look at the effect of his words, those people are being transformed.”

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/02/25/farrakhan-praises-obama-as-hope-of-entire-world/


Wright's words raise doubts on Obama, not black church
May 1, 2008


WASHINGTON — Here's where the Rev. Jeremiah Wright went wrong.
Barack Obama's former pastor said in a raucous news conference at the National Press Club this week that the tempest surrounding a few of his more contentious sound bites was an attack on the black church.

<snipped>

Wright can no longer complain he has been taken out of context. He provided his own context, such as when he declared Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan one of the most important voices of the 20th and 21st centuries. But Farrakhan has espoused too many racist, anti-Semitic views over the years to be considered important in the healing and reconciling Obama says he wants.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/raasch/2008-05-01-newpolitics_N.htm


Obama Dropped Flag Pin in War Statement
Obama Stops Wearing Flag Pin, Says He'll Show Patriotism Through Ideas
By DAVID WRIGHT and SUNLEN MILLER
Oct. 4, 2007


An eagle-eyed reporter for the ABC affiliate in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, noticed something missing from Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama's, D-Ill., lapels.

Obama will no longer wear US flag pin, but will show patriotism through ideas."You don't have the American flag pin on. Is that a fashion statement?" the reporter asked, at the end of a brief interview with Obama on Wednesday. "Those have been on politicians since Sept. 12, 2001."

The standard political reply to that question might well have been, "My patriotism speaks for itself."

But Obama didn't say that.

Instead the Illinois senator answered the question at length, explaining that he no longer wears such a pin, at least in part, because of the Iraq War.

"You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin," Obama said. "Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq War, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest.

"Instead," he said, "I'm going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Story?id=3690000
Logged

Loving Natalee - Beth Holloway
Page 219: I have to make difficult choices every day.  I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me.  It's not easy.  I ask God to help me.
_____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown
Tamikosmom
Monkey Mega Star
******
Offline Offline

Posts: 37229



« Reply #99 on: May 03, 2008, 03:46:59 PM »

Did Jeremiah Wright do a little more than just "dabble" with Islam?

Janet

++++++++++

Audacity of Barack Obama and Rev. Wright
by Michael Gaynor
March 18, 2008 01:00 PM EST


In Senator Obama’s first book, titled Dreams of My Father and published in 1995 (after he had been elected president of the Harvard Law Review but before he had been elected to public office), Senator Obama wrote at length about Rev. Wright and his moving “Audacity of Hope” speech.

In Dreams, Senator Obama explained how he met Rev. Wright, whom he mentioned had been “dabbling with liquor, Islam, and black nationalism in the sixties.”

He acknowledged that Rev. Wright immediately had given him fair warning that he was controversial, by quoting Rev. Wright as having said: “Some of my fellow clergy don’t appreciate what we’re about. They feel like we’re too radical. Others, we aren’t radical enough. Too emotional. Not emotional enough.”


He also acknowledged that Rev. Wright let him know at their first meeting that he looked unfavorably on America and expected to continue to do so, by stating, “Life’s not safe for a black man in this country, Barack. Never has been. Probably never will be.”

Senator Obama left with one of Rev. Wright’s “Black Value System” brochures.

When Senator Barack listened to Rev. Wright’s “Audacity of Hope” sermon, September 11, 2001 was years away, but, Senator Obama admitted in Dreams, Rev. Wright castigated America.

More …
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/31321.html
Logged

Loving Natalee - Beth Holloway
Page 219: I have to make difficult choices every day.  I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me.  It's not easy.  I ask God to help me.
_____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown
Pages: « 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 »   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Use of this web site in any manner signifies unconditional acceptance, without exception, of our terms of use.
Powered by SMF 1.1.13 | SMF © 2006-2011, Simple Machines LLC
 
Page created in 6.25 seconds with 20 queries.