Obama throws pastor under the bus

[FOTD]

quote:Originally posted by mrhaskellok

My perspective is this...it is all about risk.  Knowing what we know about him, do we want to risk it?  Even if his voting record is clean and ya ya ya...do we need another surprise in the White House?  As much as I don't want to say this, this primary isn't going to be long enough for me to really learn what I would like to about him.  To many wierd variables.

Let me guess.....you voted for Dumbya not once but twice. Taking a chance. A cheerleader? A loser? A dry drunk? A preppy? Give me a break.

"Sooprise, Sooprise, Sooprise"  Gomer Pyle

[Hometown]

If you want to be president you have to live your life like you are going to be president and anticipate the political consequences of your choices.  I don't believe Obama ever thought he was going to get this far.

Obama's claim that he was unaware of Wright's beliefs is not credible.  And I expect that his claim will be disproved.

But he is trying to salvage his campaign and being candid about Wright would have killed Obama's last hope of winning the hick vote.

I find myself worrying about the Obama supporters.  Oh, how are these people going to handle this?  It's going to be so difficult for them.  We Clinton supporters have died a thousand deaths without one note of concern from the Obama supporters.  But I still worry about my idealistic bethren.

Wright is right about so many things.  But the hicks live in a state of denial and disrupting their simplistic view of life doesn't earn votes.

Anyway, the Governor of North Carolina endorsed Clinton.  Lots of good things have been happening for Clinton but I doubt we are going to hear about it since the press is mad at Bill for reading their beads.

I still think the "Dream Ticket" is the way out of this mess for Democrats.  The vice president undergoes a lot less scrutiny and bringing Obama in would save the inevitable split in our party if he is not offered the vice presidency.

FOTD, when you say that mean people and political evil is a thing of the past, you highlight the completely unrelistic mindset of many Obama supporters.  And yes, we need every Democrat, each one is important to the party, but you guys don't make it easy.

Like I said here a couple of years ago.  Clinton is going to the White House after she gives McCain one hell of a spanking.

[USRufnex]

quote:Originally posted by Friendly Bear


I don't.  

There are strong strains of Marxist ideology in the Black Theology content of Obama's only known church experience:

An uninterrupted 20-year lovefest until he ran for President, and Reverand Wright's relationship stuck to Obama like a Tar Baby.

"uninterrupted 20-year lovefest"  
"strong strains of Marxist ideology"

Thanks, FB..... for spreading the type of unfair propaganda that would make even Michael Moore blush...

Your ilk said the EXACT SAME THINGS about Martin Luther King back in the day...

It's really shameful that some people have no empathy for anybody at all... period.  And that when someone calls this country out on its "moral deficit".... it's "empathy deficit"... they are rejected out of hand by know-nothing republicans...

http://www.rollingstone.com/blogs/campaign2008videos/2008/01/obamas-ml.php

I know the southside of Chicago.  I sang at a catholic church on the southside.  I've heard stories of the trials and tribulations of St. Sabina's on the southside.  I know that Trinity was one of a handful of churches that have done MORE FOR THEIR COMMUNITY on the southside of Chicago than Victory or Grace or Rhema or Boston Ave, etc, etc... would ever think of doing...

I listened to Wright's speeches on CNN (in their entirety--not the well-chosen soundbites)... I can easily understand why people would sit in his pews for 20 years... I wholeheartedly agree with 80% of what Wright said... of course that's NOT what people will hear from the media.  And I'd be lucky if I agreed with 80% of what my pastor says... especially Father Bob... what a jerk...

If Barack had gone to one of those snoozefest episcopal churches for the last 20 years, he wouldn't be the same person he is today... a person who has INTEGRITY.

Something this country desperately needs.

Despite the fact that slick "fair-and-balanced" networks like Fox News insist on reporting lies that Obama attended a madrassa... is muslim... is a sockpuppet for Farrakhan... etc, etc, etc...

http://www.barackobama.com/2008/01/20/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_40.php

"It's not easy to stand in somebody else's shoes. It's not easy to see past our differences. We've all encountered this in our own lives. But what makes it even more difficult is that we have a politics in this country that seeks to drive us apart - that puts up walls between us."

"We are told that those who differ from us on a few things are different from us on all things; that our problems are the fault of those who don't think like us or look like us or come from where we do. The welfare queen is taking our tax money. The immigrant is taking our jobs. The believer condemns the non-believer as immoral, and the non-believer chides the believer as intolerant."

"For most of this country's history, we in the African-American community have been at the receiving end of man's inhumanity to man. And all of us understand intimately the insidious role that race still sometimes plays - on the job, in the schools, in our health care system, and in our criminal justice system."

"And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands are entirely clean. If we're honest with ourselves, we'll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King's vision of a beloved community."

"We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. The scourge of anti-Semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community. For too long, some of us have seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity."

"Every day, our politics fuels and exploits this kind of division across all races and regions; across gender and party. It is played out on television. It is sensationalized by the media. And last week, it even crept into the campaign for President, with charges and counter-charges that served to obscure the issues instead of illuminating the critical choices we face as a nation."

"So let us say that on this day of all days, each of us carries with us the task of changing our hearts and minds. The division, the stereotypes, the scape-goating, the ease with which we blame our plight on others - all of this distracts us from the common challenges we face - war and poverty; injustice and inequality. We can no longer afford to build ourselves up by tearing someone else down. We can no longer afford to traffic in lies or fear or hate. It is the poison that we must purge from our politics; the wall that we must tear down before the hour grows too late."

"Because if Dr. King could love his jailor; if he could call on the faithful who once sat where you do to forgive those who set dogs and fire hoses upon them, then surely we can look past what divides us in our time, and bind up our wounds, and erase the empathy deficit that exists in our hearts."

Preach it!  Brother Barack!  []

[Friendly Bear]

quote:Originally posted by USRufnex

quote:Originally posted by Friendly Bear


I don't.  

There are strong strains of Marxist ideology in the Black Theology content of Obama's only known church experience:

An uninterrupted 20-year lovefest until he ran for President, and Reverand Wright's relationship stuck to Obama like a Tar Baby.

"uninterrupted 20-year lovefest"  
"strong strains of Marxist ideology"

Thanks, FB..... for spreading the type of unfair propaganda that would make even Michael Moore blush...

Your ilk said the EXACT SAME THINGS about Martin Luther King back in the day...

It's really shameful that some people have no empathy for anybody at all... period.  And that when someone calls this country out on its "moral deficit".... it's "empathy deficit"... they are rejected out of hand by know-nothing republicans...

http://www.rollingstone.com/blogs/campaign2008videos/2008/01/obamas-ml.php

I know the southside of Chicago.  I sang at a catholic church on the southside.  I've heard stories of the trials and tribulations of St. Sabina's on the southside.  I know that Trinity was one of a handful of churches that have done MORE FOR THEIR COMMUNITY on the southside of Chicago than Victory or Grace or Rhema or Boston Ave, etc, etc... would ever think of doing...

I listened to Wright's speeches on CNN (in their entirety--not the well-chosen soundbites)... I can easily understand why people would sit in his pews for 20 years... I wholeheartedly agree with 80% of what Wright said... of course that's NOT what people will hear from the media.  And I'd be lucky if I agreed with 80% of what my pastor says... especially Father Bob... what a jerk...

If Barack had gone to one of those snoozefest episcopal churches for the last 20 years, he wouldn't be the same person he is today... a person who has INTEGRITY.

Something this country desperately needs.

Despite the fact that slick "fair-and-balanced" networks like Fox News insist on reporting lies that Obama attended a madrassa... is muslim... is a sockpuppet for Farrakhan... etc, etc, etc...

http://www.barackobama.com/2008/01/20/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_40.php

"It's not easy to stand in somebody else's shoes. It's not easy to see past our differences. We've all encountered this in our own lives. But what makes it even more difficult is that we have a politics in this country that seeks to drive us apart - that puts up walls between us."

"We are told that those who differ from us on a few things are different from us on all things; that our problems are the fault of those who don't think like us or look like us or come from where we do. The welfare queen is taking our tax money. The immigrant is taking our jobs. The believer condemns the non-believer as immoral, and the non-believer chides the believer as intolerant."

"For most of this country's history, we in the African-American community have been at the receiving end of man's inhumanity to man. And all of us understand intimately the insidious role that race still sometimes plays - on the job, in the schools, in our health care system, and in our criminal justice system."

"And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands are entirely clean. If we're honest with ourselves, we'll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King's vision of a beloved community."

"We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. The scourge of anti-Semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community. For too long, some of us have seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity."

"Every day, our politics fuels and exploits this kind of division across all races and regions; across gender and party. It is played out on television. It is sensationalized by the media. And last week, it even crept into the campaign for President, with charges and counter-charges that served to obscure the issues instead of illuminating the critical choices we face as a nation."

"So let us say that on this day of all days, each of us carries with us the task of changing our hearts and minds. The division, the stereotypes, the scape-goating, the ease with which we blame our plight on others - all of this distracts us from the common challenges we face - war and poverty; injustice and inequality. We can no longer afford to build ourselves up by tearing someone else down. We can no longer afford to traffic in lies or fear or hate. It is the poison that we must purge from our politics; the wall that we must tear down before the hour grows too late."

"Because if Dr. King could love his jailor; if he could call on the faithful who once sat where you do to forgive those who set dogs and fire hoses upon them, then surely we can look past what divides us in our time, and bind up our wounds, and erase the empathy deficit that exists in our hearts."

Preach it!  Brother Barack!  []

Propaganda?

No, it's the Truth, and in a Political Season, entirely fair.

If Barack Hussein Obama merely wanted to remain a U.S. Senator from Illinois, the grounding of his beliefs would be immaterial.

Now, he aspires to be Commander in Chief.

Character Counts.  As we found out with Wm. Jefferson (Blythe) Clinton.

And, intelligence matters, as we found out with Mr. Potato-Head Geo. W. Bush.

[USRufnex]

Yes.  Character DOES count.

That's why I'm giving $$$ to Barack Obama's campaign.  And will continue to give until he is the president of the United States.  

Compare the massive number of speeches Obama's given to the soundbites from Rev Wright... rinse... repeat...

Have you heard any of Rev Wright's sermons in their entirety?!?

[iplaw]

Too little too late.

Why is he breaking ties now?  Wright has been preaching these types of messages for 20+ years.  Nothing he said at the Press Club speech he gave was any more inflammatory than what he's said before.  Why denounce it so strongly now?    He's preaching the same garbage he was before Obama first confronted the issue a month ago.

I only see two reasons he's doing this now.  He's either:

1. A very, very poor judge of character and really missed this guys rantings for the last 20 years; (not likely since he has snippets of Wright's sermons in his book)

OR

2. A politician just like the rest of them and will do/say what he needs to get elected.

Neither one looks good for the man who supposedly is "above the fray."  This guy's biggest draw has been his carefully crafted image that has made him look like a political outsider, uncorrupted by the system.  Once people see he's just another politician the balloon will burst and a real analysis and vetting can begin.

[iplaw]

quote:Originally posted by USRufnex

Yes.  Character DOES count.

That's why I'm giving $$$ to Barack Obama's campaign.  And will continue to give until he is the president of the United States.  

Compare the massive number of speeches Obama's given to the soundbites from Rev Wright... rinse... repeat...

Have you heard any of Rev Wright's sermons in their entirety?!?

I have heard extended (10 min+) clips of larger segments of sermons where these "rants" are supposedly in context.  The extra context doesn't help his case.

I could be wrong, but I'm guessing you haven't heard any of the sermons in their entirety either though...

[USRufnex]

I have heard them and COMPLETELY disagree with you.  Which is certainly not a surprise by any stretch...

"Too little, too late"....?!?

More like... "d****d if you do, d****d if you don't"...

Obama was outraged at what his pastor said, and gave a marvelous speech on race in Philadelphia... guess it wasn't enough for YOU or the Republicans, however if Obama "threw his pastor under the bus" a few weeks ago, you would have accused him of being "disloyal."

So, how often does John McCain beat his wife?... you know, McCain used to like to go to strip clubs...

Does this make John McCain:

A)  a churchgoing christian
B)  a hypocrit
C)  a secular-humanist
D)  just a mere sinner who wants to be president

Seems like a fair question given the political season, n'est-ce pas???

I worked with some of the "sistahs from the southside" on day jobs in the loop.

Funny how the media has given equal time to black republican strategists to give moronic comments on Obama and Rev. Wright when approx 90% of blacks are voting for Sen Obama.

[Friendly Bear]

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

Too little too late.

Why is he breaking ties now?  Wright has been preaching these types of messages for 20+ years.  Nothing he said at the Press Club speech he gave was any more inflammatory than what he's said before.  Why denounce it so strongly now?    He's preaching the same garbage he was before Obama first confronted the issue a month ago.

I only see two reasons he's doing this now.  He's either:

1. A very, very poor judge of character and really missed this guys rantings for the last 20 years; (not likely since he has snippets of Wright's sermons in his book)

OR

2. A politician just like the rest of them and will do/say what he needs to get elected.

Neither one looks good for the man who supposedly is "above the fray."  This guy's biggest draw has been his carefully crafted image that has made him look like a political outsider, uncorrupted by the system.  Once people see he's just another politician the balloon will burst and a real analysis and vetting can begin.

The reasons Obama attended, joined, and stayed in this church might shed some insight on his character.

I suspect that he joined Wright's church because it was a popular, growing South Chicago church.  And, he had ambitions to want to move up the political ladder.

I suspect he STAYED because he agreed with much of what Reverand Wright preached.

Otherwise, most people if their core values are too often offended by a minister's preaching, simply vote with their feet - moving elsewhere or just staying at home.

Having a portion of the membership of a large, influential local church backing him probably helped gain him his first elected State office.

Obama was not really vetted in his U.S. Senate Race.  His rival, GOP candidate Mr. Ryan's campaign imploded when his sealed, California divorce proceedings from well-endowed Star Trek actress Jeri Ryan was pre-emptorily UNSEALED by a Unsympathetic judge, revealing an ugly custody dispute and many, wild, unproven allegations.

Disgusted, Ryan was so sick of these dirty politics that he withdrew from the race, and the GOP had to find a last-minute replacement candidate from MARYLAND - Alan Keyes, as a substitute.  He lost by 70% to 30%.

Mr. Obama also has the unfettered support from the odious Cook County Democratic Machine.

If you lie down with dogs, expect to catch some fleas.

[Conan71]

I think it's pretty easy to explain:

Obama's camp never thought Hillary would stoop so low as to buy propaganda from Rove & Company in the primaries. [}:)]

Best thing McCain can do is sit back and keep his yapper shut for four more months.

[FOTD]

Petrified posting.

The right wing nuts went to the church web site, saw the words "unashamedly Black" and declared that to be anti-white. Which it is not. They seem to forget America spent 375 years making people ashamed to be black. They also seem to forget Rush and company preaching "its time for black people to take care of their own community". So its a little duplicitous to say a church that responds by treating aids patients and prison ministries is Racist because it trying to help the Black communuty.  Yet the right wing "decides" its a "racist church" and before long Charlie Gibson is saying it too. By the way, saying America is run by rich white men is not racist. Its irrefutable fact.  Its the same Karl Rove crap they pulled getting us in the media to call Iraq part of the "war on Terror" when we knew damned well it didn't have antthing to do with terrorism, But Fox kept saying it.


What you saw in that debate was the result of the right wing's total control of the so-called Liberal Media.  That debate could not have been more Republican if Rove wrote the questions himself. In reality, he did, by pushing and cornering the so called liberal media into acting more right wing than the right wing.

Then to defend themselves by claiming Obama is whining about being asked tough questions, and, again, labeling his responses as defensive, because its suits  the ABC's need to deflect the criticism,  is just offensive.

John McCain't will go down in defeat by Obama. Oklahomans will suffer for lack of progressive Congressmen and Senaturds. But our Republic will be saved from arrogant, unregulated, and incompetent government.

[iplaw]

quote:I have heard them and COMPLETELY disagree with you. Which is certainly not a surprise by any stretch...

Really!?!?

Would you care to provide us with expanded context transcriptions or videos that put these few comments into context?  Since you've obviously obtained and listened to these sermons to put this loon in context.

quote:"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."

quote:When [Obama's] enemies find out that in 1984 I went to Tripoli with Farrakhan, a lot of his Jewish support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell."

quote:I am happy to learn that the Nation of Islam's The Final Call, a newspaper that issues Louis Farrakhan's concerns regarding HIV/AIDS as genocide, has a direct link to our website. I applaud Minister Farrakhan, and a half dozen other Black leaders, who have grasped the truth about HIV/AIDS as a utilitarian population control plot, and have the guts to say it.   

Any help would be appreciated.

[Friendly Bear]

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

quote:I have heard them and COMPLETELY disagree with you. Which is certainly not a surprise by any stretch...

Really!?!?

Would you care to provide us with expanded context transcriptions or videos that put these few comments into context?  Since you've obviously obtained and listened to these sermons to put this loon in context.

quote:"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."

quote:When [Obama's] enemies find out that in 1984 I went to Tripoli with Farrakhan, a lot of his Jewish support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell."

quote:I am happy to learn that the Nation of Islam's The Final Call, a newspaper that issues Louis Farrakhan's concerns regarding HIV/AIDS as genocide, has a direct link to our website. I applaud Minister Farrakhan, and a half dozen other Black leaders, who have grasped the truth about HIV/AIDS as a utilitarian population control plot, and have the guts to say it.   

Any help would be appreciated.

Couldn't Reverand Wright's motivation be something as simple as REVENGE?

Afterall, he had to suddenly RETIRE as lead Pastor.

He may not have been ready to retire, but due to Barack Obama's backers, Wright got the rug jerked out from under him.

Now, it's Payback time.

[FOTD]

Another Huffington Post post....too bad. Ignore it if you are so.

What Exactly is Rev. Wright Saying?
     Posted April 30, 2008  

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-lauria/why-exactly-is-rev-wright_b_99413.html

Let's look dispassionately, if we can, at exactly what this man is saying.

He says the U.S. military has killed millions of people in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and in this hemisphere since the end of World War II. Isn't that a verifiable fact? Were any of these peoples enemies of the United States who posed a genuine threat to American security? We can unequivocally say the Vietnamese, Iraqis, Panamanians and others were no direct threat. That is why doctored intelligence and misinformation were needed to justify these offensive wars, from the Gulf of Tonkin to Saddam's "involvement" with 9/11.

There have been less lethal forms of suffering imposed by U.S. foreign policy, such as Washington's support for autocratic regimes in Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Is it surprising that a group, no matter how crazed, might want to seek revenge against the United States for their unjustified suffering? No right thinking person would have any difficulty understanding that.

Saying that former Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is one of the most important voices of the 20th Century is patently absurd. Saying that African-Americans listen to what he says but don't always agree with him, sounds like fact. Wright clearly exaggerated his point here and did damage to his overall argument.

His comment that AIDS is a government biological weapon against the black community seems incredibly irresponsible without absolute proof. He cited two books at his press conference. I was unaware of these books and suspend judgment until reading them. Having learned the facts from Senator Frank Church's committee in the mid-seventies about CIA LSD experiments with American citizens and considering what we know about the Tuskegee Syphilis scandal, Wright is unfortunately right to say he wouldn't put it past the U.S. government to do anything.

Wright's knowledge of the history of the black church in America and his powerful defense of African-American culture, its music, its mode of preaching and worship is of the highest order and America needs to hear it.

So let's add up the scorecard.

He's right about revenge against American brutality over the last 60 years of foreign policy.

He exaggerated about Farrakhan, and his statement about AIDS is out there, but judgment is pending study of the books he cited.

The timing of Wright's remarks couldn't be worse for Obama and for all of us who want Obama elected. But for a man like Wright who has been speaking out for decades in relative obscurity to give up his first chance at the national stage -- because of Obama -- was obviously too much for him. He has his job to do, Obama has his, but he could not be blind to the damage he's done Obama.

Having said all this, the American people need to hear what Wright is saying about foreign policy. Instead too many Americans defend the myths their rulers fed them in school and that are constantly reinforced in the corporate media: myths that serve their rulers' interests, not theirs or those of countless innocent people around the globe. The specific myth in question is that American leaders are spreading democracy with their invasions and military interventions rather than merely extending their political and economic power.

One of the corporate media's jobs is to defend these myths that aid corporate interests by vilifying Wright or anyone else who dares doubt them. A careerist press has to join the chorus of condemnation.

Too many Americans seem to have such a personal stake in propping up the Big Lies about their country that they lash out at anyone who challenges them. They appear in denial about what their government has been doing to people. Is that denial to avoid feeling guilt? But the American people are not guilty of the crimes of government, only of identifying with government and of confusing their own interests with their leaders' interests by believing the lie that somehow they too benefit from militarism.

Until America grows up and faces the painful facts about what government has been up to it will never make the changes Obama is talking about. Without a frank, national self-examination, it won't give up militarism and cut defense spending to attend to the American people's critical domestic interests, such as alternative energy, health care, education and public transportation.

Rev. Wright may be wrong about some things, he may exaggerate, but he's spoken about some matters we can no longer ignore. There is a feeling of impending crisis in the air: energy and food shortages, a new war with Iran. Now is the time to speak out. More importantly, now is the time to question what we are being told. "

[USRufnex]

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

quote:I have heard them and COMPLETELY disagree with you. Which is certainly not a surprise by any stretch...

Really!?!?

Would you care to provide us with expanded context transcriptions or videos that put these few comments into context?  Since you've obviously obtained and listened to these sermons to put this loon in context.

quote:"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."

quote:When [Obama's] enemies find out that in 1984 I went to Tripoli with Farrakhan, a lot of his Jewish support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell."

quote:I am happy to learn that the Nation of Islam's The Final Call, a newspaper that issues Louis Farrakhan's concerns regarding HIV/AIDS as genocide, has a direct link to our website. I applaud Minister Farrakhan, and a half dozen other Black leaders, who have grasped the truth about HIV/AIDS as a utilitarian population control plot, and have the guts to say it.   

Any help would be appreciated.

Well...... in the "casting pearls before swine" catagory....

http://essence.typepad.com/news/2008/03/the-full-story.html

The full story behind Wright's 'God Damn America' sermon
March 21, 2008

I just finished listening to the nearly 40-minute sermon Rev. Jeremiah Wright gave on April 13, 2003, titled, "Confusing God and Government."

For those of us watching and listening to the media in the last week, it is better known as the "God Damn America" sermon.

Wright's scriptural focus was Luke 19:37-44 (reading from the New Revised Standard Version).

In this sermon, Wright spoke about the military rule during biblical days, led by Pontius Pilate. It was clear, through his language, such as "occupying military brigade" that he was making an analogy to the war in Iraq.

"War does not make for peace," he said. "Fighting for peace is like raping for virginity.

"War does not make for peace. War only makes for escalating violence and a mindset to pay the enemy back by any means necessary," he said.

He then gets to the thesis of his sermon, saying, "y'all looking to the government for only what God can give. A lot of people confuse God with their government."

Wright criticizes the Bush administration and it supporters for using Godly language to justify the war in Iraq. He equates using God in America as condoning the war in Iraq to the same perspective of Islamic fundamentalists.

"We can see clearly the confusion in the mind of a few Muslims, and please notice I did not say all Muslims, I said a few Muslims, who see Allah as condoning killing and killing any and all who don't believe what they don't believe. They call it jihad. We can see clearly the confusion in their minds, but we cannot see clearly what it is that we do. We call it crusade when we turn right around and say that our God condones the killing of innocent civilians as a necessary means to an end. WE say that God understand collateral damage. We say that God knows how to forgive friendly fire.

"We say that God will bless the shock and awe as we take over unilaterally another country, calling it a coalition because we've got three guys from Australia, going against the United Nations, going against the majority of Christians, Muslims and Jews throughout the world, making a pre-emptive strike in the name of God. We cannot see how what we are doing is the same thing is the same thing that Al-Qaeda is doing under a different color flag – calling on the name of a different God to sanction and approve our murder and our mayhem."

He continues on his thesis of equating government with our God, saying that God sent the early settlers to America to take the country from Native Americans; ordained slavery; and that "we believe that God approves of 6 percent of the people on the face of this earth controlling all of the wealth on the face of this earth while the other 94 percent live in poverty and squalor while we give millions of tax breaks to the white rich."

He also criticizes the "lily white" G-7 nations for controlling the world's capital.

Then Wright speaks to:

1. Governments lie. "This government lied about their belief that all men were created equal. The truth is they believed that all white men were created equal. The truth is they did not even believe that white women were created equal, in creation nor civilization. The government had to pass an amendment to the Constitution to get white women the vote. Then the government had to pass an equal rights amendment to get equal protection under the law for women. The government still thinks a woman has no rights over her own body, and between Uncle Clarence (Thomas), who sexually harassed Anita Hill, and a closeted Klan court, that is a throwback to the 19th century, handpicked by Daddy Bush, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, between Clarence and that stacked court, they are about to un-do Roe vs. Wade, just like they are about to un-do affirmative action. The government lied in its founding documents and the government is still lying today. Governments lie."

"The government lied about Pearl Harbor. They knew the Japanese were going to attack. Governments lie. The government lied about the Gulf of Tonkin. They wanted that resolution to get us in the Vietnam War. Governments lie. The government lied about Nelson Mandela and our CIA helped put him in prison and keep him there for 27 years. The South African government lied on Nelson Mandela. Governments lie.

"The government lied about the Tuskegee experiment. They purposely infected African American men with syphilis. Governments lie. The government lied about bombing Cambodia and Richard Nixon stood in front of the camera, 'Let me make myself perfectly clear..." Governments lie. The government lied about the drugs for arms Contra scheme orchestrated by Oliver North, and then the government pardoned all the perpetrators so they could get better jobs in the government. Governments lie.

"The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of people of color. Governments lie. The government lied about a connection between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein and a connection between 9.11.01 and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Governments lie.

"The government lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq being a threat to the United States peace. And guess what else? If they don't find them some weapons of mass destruction, they gonna do just like the LAPD, and plant the some weapons of mass destruction. Governments lie.

2. Governments change. He said long before the United States colonized the world, so did Egypt.

"All colonizers are not white. Turn to your neighbors and say that oppressors come in all colors."

He then went back to the Bible and spoke about the changing of kings in Babylonia.

"Prior to Abraham Lincoln, the government in this country said it was legal to hold African in slavery in perpetuity...when Lincoln got in office, the government changed. Prior to the passing of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution, government defined African as slaves, as property. Property, people with no rights to be respected by any whites anywhere. The Supreme Court of the government, same court, granddaddy of the court that stole the 2000 election. Supreme court said in it's Dred Scott decision in the 1850s, no African anywhere in this country has any rights that any white person has to respect at any place, any time. That was the government's official position backed up by the Supreme Court – that's the judiciary; backed up by the executive branch – that's the president; backed up by the legislative branch and enforced by the military of the government. But I stop by to tell you tonight that government's change.

"Prior to Harry Truman's government, the military was segregated. But governments change.

"Prior to the Civil Rights and equal accommodation laws of the government in this country, there was backed segregation by the country, legal discrimination by the government, prohibited blacks from voting by the government, you had to eat and sit in separate places by the government, you had sit in different places from white folks because the government said so, and you had to buried in a separate cemetery. It was apartheid, American style, from the cradle to the grave, all because the government backed it up.

"But guess what? Governments change. Under Bill Clinton, we got a messed up welfare to work bill, but under Clinton blacks had an intelligent friend in the Oval Office. Oh, but governments change.

"The election was stolen. We went from an intelligent friend to a dumb Dixiecrat. A rich Republican who has never held a job in his life; is against affirmative action (and) against education – I guess he is; against healthcare, against benefits for his own military, and gives tax breaks to the wealthiest contributors to his campaign. Governments change. Sometimes for the good, and sometimes for the bad."

"Where governments change, God does not change. God is the same yesterday, today and forever more. That's what his name I Am means. He does not change.

God was against slavery on yesterday, and God, who does not change, is still against slavery today. God was a God of love yesterday, and God who does not change, is still a God of love today. God was a God of justice on yesterday, and God who does not change, is still a God of justice today.

"God does not change."

3. He then speaks of the government in his Bible text and said the Romans failed. Then he said the British government failed even after it colonized the world. He said the Russian government failed. The Japanese government failed. The German government failed.

"And the United States of America government, when it came to treating her citizens of Indian descent, she failed. She put them on reservations.

"When it came to putting her citizens of Japanese descent fairly, she failed. She put them in interment prison camps.

"When it came to putting the citizens of African descent fairly, America failed. She put them in chains. The government put them on slave quarters. Put them on auction blocks. Put them in cotton fields. Put them in inferior schools. Put them in substandard housing. Put them scientific experiments. Put them in the lower paying jobs. Put them outside the equal protection of the law. Kept them out of their racist bastions of higher education, and locked them into positions of hopelessness and helplessness.

"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three strike law and then wants us to sing God Bless America. Naw, naw, naw. Not God Bless America. God Damn America! That's in the Bible. For killing innocent people. God Damn America for treating us citizens as less than human. God Damn America as long as she tries to act like she is God and she is Supreme.

"The United States government has failed the vast majority of her citizens of African descent. Think about this. Think about this. For every one Oprah, a billionaire, you've got 5 million blacks that are out of work. For every one Colin Powell, a millionaire, you've got 10 million blacks who cannot read. For every one Condi-Skeezer Rice, you've got 1 million in prison. For every one Tiger Woods, who needs to get beat at the Masters, with his Cablanasian hips, playing on a course that discriminates against women, God has this way of brining you up short when you get to big for your Cablanasian britches. For every one Tiger Woods, we've got 10,000 black kids who will never see a golf course. The United States government has failed the vast majority of her citizens of African descent."

"Tell your neighbor he's (going to) help us one last time. Turn back and say forgive him for the God Damn, that's in the Bible though. Blessings and curses is in the Bible. It's in the Bible."

Where government fail, God never fails. When God says it, it's done. God never fails. When God wills it, you better get out the way, 'cause God never fails. When God fixes it, oh believe me it's fixed. God never fails. Somebody right now, you think you can't make it, but I want you to know that you are more than a conqueror through Christ. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you."

He then went on to talk about the salvation of Christians through the death of Jesus Christ. The sermon ended with a song proclaiming, "God never fails."

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I agree with about 80% of this sermon.

I agree that pig-headed, pin-headed lawyeristic BS artists who consistently subscribe to pro-republican dogma...... who wouldn't give a damn about anybody except their own selfishness.....

Are the very same people who play gotcha games with Rev Wright... an older generation black man who doesn't put up with YOUR crap, IPLAW, when it comes to his congregation.

Rev Wright was in the MARINE CORPS... I have much more respect for him over idiotic chicken hawks like Dick Cheney and George W. and the politically correct republican Hoi palloi who insist that the only way you can be a patriot in this country is to be one of those "I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free" craptistic bull mullarky... "Amerika, Amerika, uber alles"...

Enough is enough.  Not this time.  Not this year.  

In my years attending evangelical churches, I heard MANY THINGS I didn't agree with... and I stayed in the church for years, not because I agreed with statements like "Ronald Reagan is God's president" but the other things....

But of course, you won't believe me...