"This blog isn't, as I've written before, political. But since politics affects America's decision-making process regarding the war on terror, the topic comes up. This is one of those times." Again. (From one of yesterday's posts.)
What people in national leadership, in a time of war, think is true, and what they believe about it, is vitally important.
Here's a quote I used last week, in "Ideas Matter" (March 7, 2008):
"The truth is that ideas are all-important. The massive and seemingly-solid institutions of any society – the economic institutions, the political institutions, the religious institutions – are always at the mercy of the ideas in the heads of the people who populate these institutions." Written by Irving Krystol in 1973, quoted by John Howard, former Prime Minister of Australia. From John Howard's Irving Kristol Lecture - 'Sharing Our Common Values'," transcript in The Australian (March 5, 2008).
And here's something from today's news:
"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes three-strike laws and wants them to sing God Bless America.
"No! No No!
"God damn America ... for killing innocent people.
"God damn America for threatening citizens as less than humans.
"God damn America as long as she tries to act like she is God and supreme." The Reverend Jeremiah Wright Jr., spiritual adviser of an American presidential candidate, in a sermon delivered in April 2003.
And, The Reverend J.W. seems to believe that American foreign policy invited the 9/11 terror attacks:
"We bombed Hiroshima. We bombed Nagasaki. And we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon and we never batted an eye," Wright said.
"We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because of stuff we have done overseas is now brought back into our own backyard. America is chickens coming home to roost."
And, he thinks that America invented AIDS to wipe out "people of color."
"The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color. The government lied."
These are the considered words, recorded and willingly sold on DVD, of a man who may have the ear of the next president of the United States. The Reverend Wright married Barack and Michelle Obama, supports Mr. Obama's candidacy, and is the presidential contender's spiritual adviser.
I am very concerned that a spiritual adviser like The Reverend Wright could be as wrong for his president, as Grigory Efimovich Rasputin was for rule of Alexandra and Nicholas II.
Update: Barack Obama has gone from rejecting 'some' of The Reverend Wright's statements, to calling them "inflammatory and appalling.."
Welcome to the 21st century. The Cold War, WWII, and WWI are over.
The 19th and 20th centuries' class conflicts and colonial issues are behind us.
"Oppressed proletariat" and "European expansionism" are no longer relevant.
Religious fanatics want their beliefs to rule the world.
Free people want to stay that way.
Here's my view of the 21st century's great conflict -
Friday, March 14, 2008
"God Damn America:"
Wright, Obama, and the Presidency
Labels:
America,
common sense,
politics,
the human condition,
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Blogroll
Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1
Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.
In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.
- American Islamic Congress
- American-Islamic Forum for Democracy
- Americas Interests.blog an Australian's perspective (on January 29, 2009 the author announced the end of new posts, and explained his reasons for doing so. He is, however, keeping the 21 months of accumulated posts on line, because of "the role that it plays in a larger ecosystem of information" - I recommend AI as an archival resource. )
- Blog 4 Human Rights: Human Rights in Georgia (the nation) News, Opinions, Videos and Photos (Why blogroll this? Georgia is about 10% Muslim, very near the Middle East: and human rights is a critical part of the War on Terror.)
- CAIR Council on American-Islamic Relations
- The Capitol Tribune "A Journal by a Citizen and Servant of the Republic."
- The Conservative Hawk An articulate conservative blog: definitely political, opinionated, informed, and intelligent
- Defenders Council of Vermont "...our mission is to educate the citizens of Vermont about the nature, reality and threat of radical Islam, deepen Vermonters' understanding of America's heritage, honor the men and women of the armed services and their families, and support the efforts of others to help our armed forces work with local populations in foreign lands."
- DefenseLink Blogger's Roundtable provides source material for stories in the blogosphere concerning the Department of Defense (DoD) by bloggers and online journalists.
- FactCheck.org "aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics". It's "a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania". From what I've seen, this non-partisan website must be quite annoying to all sides
- Fiqh Council of North America "...a body of qualified Islamic scholars who live in the United States or Canada."
- Foreign Policy Watch "Diplomatic strategy, international news, and thoughtful political analysis"
- www.free-minds.org Another flavor of True Islam: one more articulate than many
- Free Muslims Coalition "American Muslims and Arabs of all backgrounds who feel that religious violence and terrorism have not been fully rejected by the Muslim community in the post 9-11 era."
- GlobalSecurity.org "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. We try to bring you the facts, to help you form your opinion."
- Hudson Institute: Center on Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the Muslim World
- IntelCenter "Our focus as a company is on studying terrorist groups and other threat actors and disseminating that information in a timely manner to those who can act on it."
- Iraq the Model "New points of view about the future of Iraq."
- Islam.com "...an information portal site on the internet that is pure, clean and 'worthy of its name', InshaAllah."
- islamispeace.org.uk "...invites you to challenge your ideas of Islam and Muslims."
- Islamic Circle of North America "... to seek the pleasure of Allah (SWT) through the struggle of Iqamat-ud-Deen (establishment of the Islamic system of life) as spelled out in the Qur'an and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)"
- Islamic Republic News Agency Iran's official news agency
- Islamic Society of Central Florida (ISCF) "...an organization which strives to serve the greater Central Florida community by catering to the social, religious, and educational needs of its Muslim inhabitants."
- Islamic Society of North America "...playing a pivotal role in extending those bridges to include all people of faith within North America...."
(but note another view) ) - Islamic World News أخبار العالم الاسلا
- Michael J. Totten's Middle East Journal The War on Terror, as observed on the ground
- Muir S. Fairchild Research Information Center A research resource for United States Air Force Air University students, "provided as a public service by Muir S. Fairchild Research Information Center and the Maxwell Support Division."
- Muslamics Affad Shaikh and "A Writing Collaborative" This American Muslim Affad Shaikh, a very west-coast Muslim Los Angelano
- Muslims Against Sharia An organization of Muslims, presumably dedicated "...to educate non-Muslims about the differences between moderate Muslims and Islamists..." - with a curious way of practicing Peace, Love Light, (words in their website's logo).
- National Interest, and as a corollary, Primacy "These are indeed my personal pontifications on the vicissitudes of International Affairs." (Be prepared for big words, long sentences: and unexpected insights.)
- PM’S World
- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty "disseminating factual information and ideas"
- The Straits Times (Singapore) "...strives to be an authoritative provider of news and views, with special focus on Singapore and the Asian region...."
- Urban Conservative "Conservative 2.0 - A New Breed of Conservative
- Why Islam? "... articles, books etc on Islam and comparative religion. ... initiated by volunteers from ICNA (Islamic Circle of North America). ..."
Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.
In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.
9 comments:
Ooo. Ouch. Yeah. Rasputin was a bad egg. But he seemed to have been rather more subtle and classier than this guy.
Brigid.
More subtle, at least. I don't know how "classy" Rasputin was.
Neither had class. I am not sure that the Reverends words will come to pass so easily. As i write Obama's party machine is in full throttle damage control as a result of the comments. Will this sink him? Some think so and I am inclined to agree, we shall see.
http://thehillchronicles.com/?p=1660
No man spends 20 years in a church and then says he doesn't know what type of man, or what beliefs his pastor holds. Especially when you call him your "mentor" and spiritual guide. Obama goes so far as to say Wright was “like an Uncle” to him. This story really has revealed something disturbing about Obama. The fact that he would be part of any radical church that preaches such divisiveness and distain toward one’s country and groups of people is appalling. Obama’s church is so radical it awarded Louis Farrakhan and achievement award. Farrakhan is a racist and an anti-Semite. No, this is an outrage! This is not acceptable. This is a story that should not go away. Democrats need to come to their senses and oust Obama. If not, then the republicans should use this story for all its worth to ensure Obama’s defeat in the fall. This really does reveal something disturbing about Obama. He says one thing but he has been doing another. He only rejects Wright now because he’s been found out. I certainly hope a very methodical investigation has begun to determine if Obama is telling the truth about not being present when Wright was on one of his hate rants. For Obama to say he was never there to hear any of these, I just don’t buy it.
As a proud American I will never be able to express, politely, just how much this story bothers me. I was impressed with Obama to a degree. Now, I see where and who he has been willing to associate himself with, and what he may stand for. Of course he rejects it now, he has too. This is actually sad but it needed to come out now.
Americans better wake up.
American Interests,
and
Jeff,
As of Sunday night, March 16, 2008, the Clinton campaign is being very quiet, Obama is still putting distance (plausibly or not) between himself and this remarkable minister, and The Reverend "Damn America" Wright is claiming that news media has been engaging in character assassination against him.
Considering how blacks with politically correct beliefs are treated in America, there could be a winnable lawsuit here, and possibly criminal charges against the news media's "hate speech."
I hope not, though.
Here's an observation I've been nursing. This is what Pastor Wright said in his infamous sermon. These seem to be the hot-button words:
"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes three-strike laws and wants them to sing God Bless America. No! No No! God damn America … for killing innocent people. God damn America for threatening citizens as less than humans. God damn America as long as she tries to act like she is God and supreme."
Now, here's a quote from Thomas Jefferson:
"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever."
If you read through the rhetoric to the subtext, it seems to me that Jefferson and Wright were saying basically the same thing here, and for the same reasons.
Dave Core,
I acknowledge that America is far from perfect, and that, as Jefferson said, "God is just, ... His justice cannot sleep forever."
However: "If you read through the rhetoric to the subtext" - I tried. And, although I could probably, in a sort of 'higher criticism' way, have The Reverend Wright say anything from that Jefferson quote, to a declaration that the Martians are coming, I try to be realistic: and give the man credit for having the wit to say what he means.
What comes out is a man who believes that blacks are downtrodden, and that the Civil Rights Act oughta be passed.
I realize that he's got a lot of anger, and that he probably didn't get all the benefits that he wanted. But that doesn't excuse his blanking out, during the last four decades: particularly since he's speaking in a forum where a reasonable person would realize that his words will be noted, and considered.
I'm not saying that Wright wasn't a little less eloquent than Jefferson, but then, Wright was speaking to a specific audience that understood and maybe even shared his anger. He wasn't advocating the overthrow of the government. He wasn't calling for a race war. He was saying exactly what Jefferson said. Both men can be paraphrased in the same way. "A country that treats the black man as a second class citizen and acts with such hubris deserves not God's blessings, but rather the disdain of a just God."
As for this: "What comes out is a man who believes that blacks are downtrodden, and that the Civil Rights Act oughta be passed." Um, okay. And what's wrong with that?
Remember in the movie Malcolm X where Denzel Washington in the title role said, "We didn't land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed on us?" Who would we cast in the role of Pastor Wright in the movie version of his life? I'm thinking Danny Glover, but he may be too old for this shit.
Dave Core,
I'm sorry. The Reverend Wright is, no doubt, black. Because of that he is, in some quarters, assumed to be in the right.
There is no doubt in my mind that he is quite sincere in his "God Damn America" statement and desire. This may not be an express desire to overthrow the government, but it certainly does not indicate any great preference for the government to remain intact.
Now, "As for this: 'What comes out is a man who believes that blacks are downtrodden, and that the Civil Rights Act oughta be passed.' Um, okay. And what's wrong with that?"
There is nothing at all wrong with that desire. The first Civil Rights Act was passed in the nineteenth century. The second was passed in 1964.
My point in referring to what apparently is an obscure historical detail was that The Reverend Wright does not seem to have left the early sixties, when there really were laws and practices which hurt blacks - and white trash.
Finally, this blog is about the War on Terror and related topics. For that reason, I'll be paying less attention to American cultural atavisms, except as they affect the conflict between a particular flavor of Islam and people who would rather live in the present.
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