Defending the Truth

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That puts Obama's spending over 5 years to almost 13 Trillion. He is going to make the economy worse. The GOP line of Dems = more taxes is true but I see tax as an investment in the country so I don't mind but there is a limit. Shared prosperity isn't bailing out idiots who keep refinancing their homes to pay their credit card bills. What is needed is a change in attitude towards credit and consumerism. Whilst Hilary is clearly politicing (and aren't they all) there is no need to bail out any lender who has bad lending practices designed to make maximum profits in the shortest period of time. And there is no need to 'save' the people who don't borrow from a reputable lender at some time shared prosperity has to met personal responsibility.

Obama your going to increase my taxes to a level that many will find unacceptable. Stop all the huge spending policy initiatives, their is only short term political gain derived from such a move. If you are the Dems candidate you're going to end up like you're robbing peter to pay paul. By this I mean and true or not you're going to have to increase the taxes on the people you are trying to bail out and that isn't going to actually win you any votes, those people being those who earn a 'middle' income

Gosh, I wonder which current candidate make this country's economy get better, or which person that is not running for president can make this country better?

I found this in the online version of Charisma magazine this morning, about Obama and his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. The article mentions a little bit of Louis Farrakhan, the gay community, etc.

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Charisma Magazine

Race, Religion and the Roots of Obama’s Faith
(by J. Lee Grady, editor of the magazine)

I would love to support an African-American for president. But Barack Obama won’t get my vote in November.

Like so many people in this country, I’m embarrassed that we haven’t yet elected an African-American president. It’s been 40 years since Martin Luther King Jr. went to the mountaintop and envisioned a glorious future of racial harmony. I want to see that, too. I share King’s dream.

But when I listen to Barack Obama’s campaign speeches, as stirring as they sound, I feel empty. Obama is not the embodiment of King, and his political sermons don’t make me stand and shout hallelujah. His words about hope and change are hollow. I didn’t fully understand this until recently, when I gained more insight into Obama’s religious roots.

Obama has been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ since 1987, the year he says he rejected agnosticism and accepted Christian faith. But what kind of Christian faith? Thanks to recent media reports, we all know that Obama embraced the faith of his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, whose inflammatory sermons have been played, replayed and debated on CNN, Fox News and countless Web sites during the last few weeks.

[FONT='Trebuchet MS',Verdana,sans-serif] Wright has been Obama’s pastor for more than two decades. He married Barack and Michelle Obama in 1992 and later baptized their two daughters. He counseled Obama during his early political life on Chicago’s South Side. Wright’s sermon called “The Audacity of Hope” became the inspiration for Obama’s 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention. That led to Obama’s best-selling book by the same name. Until this month, Wright served on Obama’s presidential campaign. He has been a quiet and abiding force behind Obama’s impressive rise to political messiah status.

But after the media stumbled onto Wright’s incendiary, hate-filled rhetoric—including a sermon in which he said Sept. 11 was a wake-up call to “white America”—Obama had to distance himself from his maverick pastor. And Obama disappointed us all when, in true Clintonian fashion, he claimed that he really didn’t know Wright spewed so much venom from his pulpit.

Yeah, right. Are we to assume that Obama was sleeping during 20 years of sermons? Considering the decibels produced by Wright’s impassioned oratory, I don’t think that’s possible.

No one could attend a church for 20 years—especially one led by such a controversial and outspoken radical as Wright—without knowing what that pastor believes. Consider these uncomfortable facts about Wright:

** He pastored Trinity, the largest congregation in the ultraliberal United Church of Christ (UCC), from 1972 until this year, when he retired. Fully committed to an agenda of black empowerment, Trinity is also known in Chicago for its inclusion of homosexuals. It has helped lead the UCC’s aggressive efforts to sanctify gay marriage. (Oprah Winfrey, our national New Age priestess, is also a member of Trinity—which makes me wonder what they teach kids in Sunday school.)

** Wright proudly touts himself as a disciple of liberal theologian James Cone, author of the 1970 book A Black Theology of Liberation. Cone once wrote: “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.” (Note: This is called idolatry—fashioning a god in your own image.)

** Wright, who is 66, has often aligned himself with non-Christian influences including the militant African National Congress and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Trinity’s magazine honored Farrakhan in the 1980s. This year Obama deftly distanced himself from Farrakhan and said he does not share his pastor’s support of the Muslim leader. (Nice try, bro, but we needed to hear a much stronger denunciation of Farrakhan’s toxic beliefs.)

** In various sermons that have reportedly been removed from Trinity’s bookstore recently, Wright clearly condemns the United States. He once said the song “God Bless America” should actually say “God Damn America,” he has claimed that the U.S. government created the AIDS virus to kill black people, and he often rants about “the United States of white America” while denouncing white evangelical leaders.

Perhaps before we welcome Obama as our national savior we should consider the questionable prophet who anointed him when he was just a young politician. Personally I don’t trust the oil that Wright has used to christen this new king.

I understand that African-Americans who have been mistreated in our society are frustrated. Racism is wrong and it must be continually challenged. But Martin Luther King Jr., a man who believed the Bible, taught us in the 1960s that the path to racial healing begins with forgiveness. Jeremiah Wright has rejected that path. He preaches a gospel of hate, bitterness and alienation. He is certainly not empowering the black community with a counterfeit religion that idolizes race, ignores biblical holiness and denies Christ as the only source of salvation.

Obama says he will bring change to America. I can predict that if he wins the presidency in November, and his infamous pastor has even minimal influence on his years in the White House, it will take a generation to recover from those tragic changes.

J. Lee Grady is the editor of Charisma. He invites you to share your political views on our Web forum by clicking below.

Its a good piece Highwayman and I am not embarrassed we haven't elected an African American or a woman as President..I shred my liberal guilt related to both on a trip to the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis located at the Lorraine Hotel. In that place I saw the dignity with which primarily African Americans with the help of some White Americans fought together to over come prejudice. And I watch now and know that there have been significant changes and these changes have come about not because I feel guilty or embarrassed or ashamed but because the people in the 60's had true hope. Not hope based on excuses, white America must understand black anger. I do understand anger about the past, I don't understand why African Americans keep reaffirming the past in the present via the hatefilled bile spewed forth by people like Wright. Its not helping anyone its making them powerless. And white liberalists have to stop treating African Americans as spoiled children. The toosl are there for them to pick up and slowly but surely they are, the black middle class is actually growing at rapid rates. The condescending nature of some of the most liberal people in our society towards African Americans makes me sick.

Obama's speech on race while beautiful also left me empty . Not only did he not address the major issue with regards to many Americans and in particular African Americans the breakdown of the family and not only use his own grandmother as a comparison to Wright which makes me wonder what part of america would he sell out for his own political future??? But he told White America we are wrong for expecting Black People to do what we all fought for over 40 years ago .....the same rights and therefore responsibilities as the rest of the country and made excuses with a mention of black America should stop calling white people racist all the time (POT KETTLE BLACK OBAMA) . The thing is most of White America doesn't give a crap what color someone is when it comes down to it (racist butjobs aside of course), the only people who really care someone is black are black Americans and they are using it to keep themselves down. And certain elements within the Liberal camp are helping to do this..these people are not true liberals they are PC do-gooders. (btw apparantely Oprah quietly left going to the Trinity Church some time ago because she found Wright offensive and whilst attends the UCC not Wrights church anymore, well have to ask Gary if thats correct he being the biggest Oprah fan ever)

Thank you, Gadget, for your analysis. For the lack of better words, I do wonder if this year we might be looking at the most volatile campaigning ever. I mean I don't know how it was between Johnson and Goldwater, or between Nixon and McGovern.

But since when did religion ever play a part in someone's campaigning, as we witnessed Wright's speech? Years ago a candidate like JFK's campaign did not affect him when the country knew he was a member of the RCC.

You know Highwayman, I am sort of sick of peoples religous beliefs being used as an excuse for bad behavior. Kennedy did a speech about being a Catholic and promised his religious beliefs would not influence his Presidency and that the Pope would not be the ruler supreme of the USA. But he didn't use it as an excuse for anyones bad behavior least of all the bad behavior within the RCC itself.

Obama uses religion alot, and more power to him, but he always uses it as an excuse for some of his less then liberal leanings which makes him sound a little like a member of the right wing religious GOP or bad behavior, maybe not his, but someone elses.

Now I must go and ponder how the hell the toilet womans boyfriend went whilst she sat there for at least the last month of her 2 year stint in the bathroom...there is but one throne in that beautiful moveable estate. I've been trying to work it out since the story broke and as he was just arrested for flopping it out in public I may have found me answer....interested Gadgets just must know.

As for Obama's plan..its Hilarys plan she announced last week just hers costs half as much and involves more job training to make people more employable when they lose their jobs..Obama seems to want to keep the unscrupulous lenders and half assed speculators in business despite his claims otherwise with regards to lenders. Why cannot people see he is full of it?????

I guess as 28% of people who voted for Hilary in the primaries are saying they will vote for McCain over Obama and then a further 13% saying they just won't vote as opposed to the 19% of Obama voters who said they will vote for McCain over Hilary and the 3% who say they won't vote at all..many people see he is full of it and simply he isn't as likeable as his 'fans' would like to think..

I don't understand exactly how you can place that pricetag of 13 trillion dollars squarely upon Obama's shoulders, Gadgetory. Have you placed the cost of our war in Iraq in this category?
All in all; whatever candidate any of us believe in; I believe most of the "help" people seek must come from within ourselves first.
Should the government crack down upon predatory lenders? Sure. But why should you (or anyone else) agree to terms that you know you can't possibly afford? Whom do we blame for this mistake?
Are there some things the government can do to regulate this problem? Sure.
Personally, I would like to see all adjustable-rate mortgages abolished. This would make sure homeowners do not get an unwelcome financial surprise every few years. Another thing: All mortgages need to be capped at no more than 12%. Yes, it seems harsh. But it makes lenders think before granting such loans to those whom might be unable or unworthy of such debt. Mortgage guidelines should be regulated so that an applicant's debt ratio can be no more than 35% of their income.
All said, we have the responsibility ourselves not to get in over our heads in debt. We need to start educating ourselves and our children on the vast differeces between needs and wants.
And we also must take it upon ourselves to plan ahead for our retirements.
We cannot continue to delude ourselves that Social Security will be able to take care of us in our elderly years - even if it still is solvent; which is open for debate.
Right now, I would gladly speak for any candidate whom would be willing at this time to put forth their such plans before Congress right now. McCain, Clinton, and Obama are all still US senators; and could do so. I know they are all trying to say their plans are the best ones to follow; and therefore they are trying to ride this thought into theWhite House. Add this to the Iraq war question and I think that the first one to make an effort to do so gets the prize. We'll see which one does.

Gotta love this Wright stuff lol.

I swear for one week, I couldn't turn on the news, any news channel, without hearing a sermon. I guess they called a time-out on the war in Iraq for a lil bit, I'm guessing they needed a story to prove to their respective viewers that they were tough on Obama LMAO.

Take note that the media at large never played the full sermons of Rev. Wright, nor did they take the time to explain why he gave an award to Louis Farrakhan in the 80s. All they did was toss "GD America", Farrakhan, "9/11", and some out-of-context snippets of a couple of sermons, and hoped that something would stick. Lucky for them it all did, the media folks saved their own asses by destroying the name of a good pastor and US veteran. (Wright served in the Marines and in the Navy.)

Bravo US media, bravo. And a special three cheers for Sean Hannity for whine-gasming about this non-story for a couple of weeks on both of his TV shows before the rest of the media started "reporting". Hope that inflated ego of yours, after thinking you were the one who made everyone pay attention to Wright, feels great!

Good golly, Mike, Joe, and Gadget: I wonder if Wright has ever been confronted on his "GD America" sermon? I wouldn't surprised if Farrakhan and Wright were somehow related, however distant. Don't know if they would like to share a bed together, though.

Whenever the media hears something about Wright and Obama, they go into a feeding frenzy, don't they.

BTW, I enjoy watching and listening to Sean Hannity.