Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Why I'm not voting for Barack Obama and Neither Should You!!!
I know this title will catch many of you by surprise, especially since I have written of my support for him on this very blog. But I must say my eyes have been opened in the last few months. My rabid and blind support for the greatest country on the planet will no longer let me turn a blind eye to the blatant hatred of America shown by Obama. I mean it started with his pastor, how can you sit there while a man spews hatred about America in every sermon for 20 years believe every word of it then all of a sudden now that you are running for president act like black people don't agree with every word their pastor says, we know how the black church works. A pastor preaches a sermon everyone subscribes to his beliefs fully, a pastor says it, we believe it. But, I stuck with Obama through the Rev. Wright flap. I even stuck with him through the whole "bitter" dust up. But there is one issue that I cannot under any circumstances overlook. It is the proverbial straw that broke the camels back. The final weight pulling on the string that ties me to my support for Obama. I cannot support a candidate for president who does not wear a flag pin on his lapel. I mean that's how you truly show that you love something. Think about it, when you really care for something a lapel pin is really the only way to keep it close to your heart. If you are a Christian and you don't wear a cross lapel pin then you just don't love Jesus. If you graduated from a University and you don't wear the Alumni lapel pin then I question your love for your Alma mater. If you love dogs and you don't wear a dog lapel pin then you might as well be Mike Vick. If you love your kids, wallet photos don't do it anymore, you have to make lapel pin pictures, otherwise CPS will come get your kids, clearly they are not in a loving home. People open your eyes to the real issues here, patriotism and character. Obama doesn't want to wear a flag pin to show his love for the very country where he seeks to be president. He must be an Anti-American terrorist. Think about it. While we are thinking about it, we should all check ourselves. I don't see nearly enough lapel pins on people outlining their beliefs. I think we should all re-evaluate what we hold close to our hearts. There was a time when you truly loved something you put in on a bumper sticker. That's no longer good enough, we have to put it right on our chests, sporting it proudly over our hearts. I say to you Barack Obama you will not get my vote, because I love the red white and blue and I pin my flag pin directly to my chest!!! And if you don't support your country like I do then what kind of president will you be?
Friday, March 14, 2008
Don't Fall for the Political Slight of Hand....Isn't Obama Running for President?
By now I'm sure any of you with the slightest interest in politics have heard the latest negative long shot being disseminated by the media. This campaign has been an interesting one, I'm surprised this is my first blog about it. But I was trying to watch the political process play out from the outside looking in without having to shove my opinion and thoughts into the process, though on an extremely small scale.
What has moved me to speak is the media pure avoidance of the slight of hand politics of the republican party and the Clintons. It's is obvious that these political street magicians would rather us distracted by the motion. Its the most basic principle of prestidigitation, look over here at the motion while I perform magic under concealment. It is what is happening to Senator Obama and has been since he took the overall delegate lead. Its when the Clintons or the republicans say "we can't beat you on the issues, so let's take the focus off the issues and place it on Louis Farrakhan's endorsement of Obama." Let's try to connect all the bad things Farrakhan has said with Obama, does America really want a president that was endorsed by a racist?" They have tried to connect him with radical Muslims because of his name, they have made up lies about his father, who left when he was two, teaching him Islam. They have said that Muslims will be dancing in the streets because someone with the name Hussein has become the President. They have tried to play on every basic fear of white Americans pleading for them to stop voting for this man. They have questioned his patriotism using pictures that are grossly out of context. They have questioned his wife's patriotism because of comments she made. And I can deal with all of that, those things you expect coming from conservatives, racist and his opponents.
But what really pushes my buttons is the blatant disregard for the sanctity of the black church. The surfacing of old sermons by Obama's former pastor Jeremiah Wright. The showcase of his politically incorrect statements over the years in front of his congregation. Now, I personally don't believe politics have a place in the pulpit, but if there should be one place you shouldn't have to worry about being politically correct, it is in the pulpit. To use Excerpts from Wright's sermons and twisting them to fit your agenda is disrespectful to him his position and the entire church and to the word that he was preaching on that given Sunday. There is a reason that churches tend to be racially consistent. There are black churches, there are white churches, there are Irish churches and polish churches etc. but not much diversity in church congregations. This is why. How many white people, if they actually heard the entire sermon, would Wright's message help. Maybe a few. A black persons experience in America is quite unique to black Americans, a white person will never understand what it is like being black in America. Many preachers at black churches tap into these experiences to relate to the congregation. In a sense you won't understand Wright's comments because he wasn't talking to you.
I always find it funny how quickly some white people claim reverse racism and say his message is hateful. Since he is a minister I'm sure the intention of his message was to spread the word of God to his congregation, to play a portion of a religious speech where religion is not mentioned is blatantly misleading.
On the other hand, when did calling America wrong become hateful. Our congregation has been burned, hanged, sprayed with water hoses, beaten in the streets, dragged behind trucks, had crossed burned in their yards, had its leaders assassinated, threatened and jailed unjustly because of the color of their skin, by other Americans, who called themselves patriotic. So, sorry white America if some of my people are not thanking God everyday for America. I apologize for Rev. Wright telling his congregation what he believes to be true. And sorry his congregation didn't just get up and walk out on his message.
But to bring it all back into perspective. What do Rev. Wright's beliefs have to do with Barack Obama's ability to be president. That is the slight of hand, "Don't worry about the war and heath care, listen to, his pastor preaches hatred!" This is where this hatred thing falls apart for me. If Rev. Wright hates whites does that mean Obama hates whites. Isn't his mother white? Wasn't the only family he knew growing up all white? Isn't his grandfather that he speaks of fighting in WWII white? So does he hate them too? Does he hate half of himself?
You choose your spiritual leaders because of how they feed your spirit, what does your ministers opinions about Hillary Clinton or 9/11 or America have to do with how he feeds your religious spirit. Republicans and Obama's opponents would love for you to believe that political opinion and spirituality go hand and hand, but they don't. If that's the case, my preacher might be supporting McCain does that make me a conservative republican? The bottom line is, if you put a camera in every politicians church in the country you would have hours and hours of footage that can be viewed out of context as "hate." And if a politician or anyone goes so far as to choose their spiritual leader by political correctness and what looks good on TV, then their spirituality is for show, and I would rather have an admitted non-believer calling the shots than a spiritual fake.
What has moved me to speak is the media pure avoidance of the slight of hand politics of the republican party and the Clintons. It's is obvious that these political street magicians would rather us distracted by the motion. Its the most basic principle of prestidigitation, look over here at the motion while I perform magic under concealment. It is what is happening to Senator Obama and has been since he took the overall delegate lead. Its when the Clintons or the republicans say "we can't beat you on the issues, so let's take the focus off the issues and place it on Louis Farrakhan's endorsement of Obama." Let's try to connect all the bad things Farrakhan has said with Obama, does America really want a president that was endorsed by a racist?" They have tried to connect him with radical Muslims because of his name, they have made up lies about his father, who left when he was two, teaching him Islam. They have said that Muslims will be dancing in the streets because someone with the name Hussein has become the President. They have tried to play on every basic fear of white Americans pleading for them to stop voting for this man. They have questioned his patriotism using pictures that are grossly out of context. They have questioned his wife's patriotism because of comments she made. And I can deal with all of that, those things you expect coming from conservatives, racist and his opponents.
But what really pushes my buttons is the blatant disregard for the sanctity of the black church. The surfacing of old sermons by Obama's former pastor Jeremiah Wright. The showcase of his politically incorrect statements over the years in front of his congregation. Now, I personally don't believe politics have a place in the pulpit, but if there should be one place you shouldn't have to worry about being politically correct, it is in the pulpit. To use Excerpts from Wright's sermons and twisting them to fit your agenda is disrespectful to him his position and the entire church and to the word that he was preaching on that given Sunday. There is a reason that churches tend to be racially consistent. There are black churches, there are white churches, there are Irish churches and polish churches etc. but not much diversity in church congregations. This is why. How many white people, if they actually heard the entire sermon, would Wright's message help. Maybe a few. A black persons experience in America is quite unique to black Americans, a white person will never understand what it is like being black in America. Many preachers at black churches tap into these experiences to relate to the congregation. In a sense you won't understand Wright's comments because he wasn't talking to you.
I always find it funny how quickly some white people claim reverse racism and say his message is hateful. Since he is a minister I'm sure the intention of his message was to spread the word of God to his congregation, to play a portion of a religious speech where religion is not mentioned is blatantly misleading.
On the other hand, when did calling America wrong become hateful. Our congregation has been burned, hanged, sprayed with water hoses, beaten in the streets, dragged behind trucks, had crossed burned in their yards, had its leaders assassinated, threatened and jailed unjustly because of the color of their skin, by other Americans, who called themselves patriotic. So, sorry white America if some of my people are not thanking God everyday for America. I apologize for Rev. Wright telling his congregation what he believes to be true. And sorry his congregation didn't just get up and walk out on his message.
But to bring it all back into perspective. What do Rev. Wright's beliefs have to do with Barack Obama's ability to be president. That is the slight of hand, "Don't worry about the war and heath care, listen to, his pastor preaches hatred!" This is where this hatred thing falls apart for me. If Rev. Wright hates whites does that mean Obama hates whites. Isn't his mother white? Wasn't the only family he knew growing up all white? Isn't his grandfather that he speaks of fighting in WWII white? So does he hate them too? Does he hate half of himself?
You choose your spiritual leaders because of how they feed your spirit, what does your ministers opinions about Hillary Clinton or 9/11 or America have to do with how he feeds your religious spirit. Republicans and Obama's opponents would love for you to believe that political opinion and spirituality go hand and hand, but they don't. If that's the case, my preacher might be supporting McCain does that make me a conservative republican? The bottom line is, if you put a camera in every politicians church in the country you would have hours and hours of footage that can be viewed out of context as "hate." And if a politician or anyone goes so far as to choose their spiritual leader by political correctness and what looks good on TV, then their spirituality is for show, and I would rather have an admitted non-believer calling the shots than a spiritual fake.
Friday, January 25, 2008
The Audacity to Vote
Recently, I have been watching everything politics. Whether it be on conservative talk radio or on national news stations like CNN and MSNBC. I admit while I have always voted in every election, local and national. I find myself infatuated with the political process right now. Like many people, the main reason is the possibility of change. The last eight years have been particularly draining and people are tired. Also, its the chance to make history. For the first time ever in the America's 200+ years a black man and a women are the democratic front-runners for President. 2008 could be the year that America shows that it is ready to move past the inherent problems of race and gender that have ruled in this country for decades. While everyone tries to make race a non-issue, I will bring it to the forefront. Race has been and always will be an issue, the only difference is how much of an issue.
The strange thing is that a lot of Obama's most fierce opposers have been black people. The first time that we have a chance to have a man of any color other than white as the leader of the free world, and his opposers "use the same comb" as the saying goes. It seems to be a generational difference, with older blacks backing Clinton and younger blacks backing Obama. I know that Bill Clinton has been called "the first black president" a distinction that I detest because he is not a black man. That distinction is born of stereotypes and generalizations. Finding its roots in an argument that to be black you must speak jive, dance well, play a saxophone, cheat on your wife, smoke marijuana and lie? What does the successes and failures of the former president have to do with his wife. The first lady can't veto a bill, OK a war, oversee the economy etc. I say this not to tell you who to vote for but to open your eyes to the reality of the situation. Does eight years as the first lady count as experience?
Some of the same people who are going to vote for Clinton because she is a Clinton, are the same people who don't want you to vote for Obama "simply" because he is black. I ask what is wrong with support. The funny thing is if we don't vote for him the headlines will read "Black Voters don't back Black Candidate" but if we do, it's "simply" because he is black. Plenty of white people won't vote for him "simply" because he's black. Just like millions of women may vote for Hillary "simply" because she is a women. An interesting question is how many black people are not voting for Obama because they have been conditioned, for decades, to believe that a black man can't handle a job of this magnitude?
People, white black purple and green can vote for who they want, but if it's OK for anyone else to find something in common with a candidate and back them, then as a black person you can vote for Obama "simply" because he's black. Logically, a black man would look out for issues that effect the black community more than another candidate. That may not be true, but i sure would like to find out. Things can't get any worse than Bush.
Bottom line, go to the polls and support your candidate, whoever it may be, but don't feel the need to validate your choice with anyone but yourself.
The strange thing is that a lot of Obama's most fierce opposers have been black people. The first time that we have a chance to have a man of any color other than white as the leader of the free world, and his opposers "use the same comb" as the saying goes. It seems to be a generational difference, with older blacks backing Clinton and younger blacks backing Obama. I know that Bill Clinton has been called "the first black president" a distinction that I detest because he is not a black man. That distinction is born of stereotypes and generalizations. Finding its roots in an argument that to be black you must speak jive, dance well, play a saxophone, cheat on your wife, smoke marijuana and lie? What does the successes and failures of the former president have to do with his wife. The first lady can't veto a bill, OK a war, oversee the economy etc. I say this not to tell you who to vote for but to open your eyes to the reality of the situation. Does eight years as the first lady count as experience?
Some of the same people who are going to vote for Clinton because she is a Clinton, are the same people who don't want you to vote for Obama "simply" because he is black. I ask what is wrong with support. The funny thing is if we don't vote for him the headlines will read "Black Voters don't back Black Candidate" but if we do, it's "simply" because he is black. Plenty of white people won't vote for him "simply" because he's black. Just like millions of women may vote for Hillary "simply" because she is a women. An interesting question is how many black people are not voting for Obama because they have been conditioned, for decades, to believe that a black man can't handle a job of this magnitude?
People, white black purple and green can vote for who they want, but if it's OK for anyone else to find something in common with a candidate and back them, then as a black person you can vote for Obama "simply" because he's black. Logically, a black man would look out for issues that effect the black community more than another candidate. That may not be true, but i sure would like to find out. Things can't get any worse than Bush.
Bottom line, go to the polls and support your candidate, whoever it may be, but don't feel the need to validate your choice with anyone but yourself.
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