Outrageous!!!

I’m a fan of the second amendment, just like I’m a fan of the first amendment, but I don’t own a gun and I certainly don’t carry a gun. Recently at an anti-Obamacare rally in AZ, one of our many gun-toting citizens decided to appear at the rally armed; a gun on the hip and an assault rifle over the shoulder - all of it perfectly LEGAL.

Do I think it was necessarily a good idea? No. It’s not something that I would do. But I am not about to tell someone else that they can’t. Especially when it’s legal and… well… they have an assault rifle. J

Now here is the interesting part that I wanted to talk about. The American Thinker has a clip of the man (obviously cropped like mad) that was played on MSNBC. The reason MSNBC played the clip is so that they could go on a long rampage about how all of this healthcare protesting has a racist tint to it. REALLY!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

Here is the best part…

Are you ready?

The part that they cropped out of the video is the part that shows that the man CARRYING the assault rifle… is BLACK.

Go to American Thinker and watch the video then look at the full picture below it. Ridiculous.

Once again. This has nothing to do with race. It has everything to do with a BAD IDEA and a BAD BILL. By calling it racist or even strongly hinting that this is racist, totally diverts people from the real issue, which of course, is the goal. How dishonest of MSNBC to do that. It just goes to prove… once again… how IN THE TANK they are for this administration that they would sacrifice any shred of professional integrity that they might have one time had, in order to smear people that oppose the administrations agenda.

Shame on you MSNBC!

BTW... if you watch the video, the MSNBC egghead says "a Mark Hinckley figure", but obviously, being a moron, he messes it up. The man who tried to assassinate President Reagan was mentally deranged, JOHN Hinckley. Seriously, where do they get these people?

IT'S NOT ABOUT RACISM!!!!!!

I am so tired... let me say that again, SO TIRED, of being labeled racist because I don't agree with someone's policies or agenda.

It has nothing to do with race!

It has everything to do with economics, liberty, small government principles, concern for family and future generations, and what's that other thing... oh yeah COMMON SENSE!!

The race card has been played and over-played. No body's buying it any more. Give it up and move on to a real debate about ISSUES, IDEAS, and POLICY.

Really? Wow.

Up until this point I have credited President Obama with being a very savvy politician, and he may still prove himself again in the future, but I must say, as a politician and a leader, he’s wearing a lot of egg right now.

A few days ago police were called to a neighborhood in Cambridge, MA when someone called to report a possible burglary. Police arrived at the house and found a man inside who affirmed that he was the owner of the home and became belligerent with police. They requested to see his identification to confirm that he was the rightful owner and he refused and instead accused them of being racists. He yelled at them, apparently demeaning the arresting officer and even the officer’s mother. The man continued his rude behavior and was eventually arrested for disorderly conduct after the officer repeatedly tried to calm the man down.

Three things about the man: he is a Harvard professor, he is black, and he is a friend of the President.

Not uncommon in disorderly conduct cases, the man was released and the charges were dropped.

Wednesday night during President Obama’s press conference on health care reform (now being called health INSURANCE reform… a little rebranding) the president was asked about the arrest in Cambridge. He replied,

”I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there's a long history in this country of African Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately.”

So, while acknowledging that he doesn’t have the facts in the case, the President goes on to refer to the officer’s actions as stupid and strongly hints at the officers being racists.

Really? On national television? Without knowing the facts in the case you immediately blame and disparage the public servant and really ALL of law enforcement?

Most people have a healthy and well earned respect for police officers and this particular officer in question has been held up by his fellow officers and everyone in his community as above reproach in this area. In fact he was actually hand picked to teach classes to law enforcement on avoiding racial profiling.

The President has been back peddling but has not apologized for his comments.

Rasmussen (currently considered the most accurate political pollster) is going to report this morning (according to Drudge) that the President’s approval numbers have dropped below 50% for the first time this week.

On a side note, I have heard NUMEROUS times people quoting the fact that blacks and Latinos are stopped more by police officers. Why is this an issue? I really don’t care what race a person is, if they are suspected of committing a crime, I HOPE that police officers are confronting them. I hope they are stopping all people they suspect of a crime, regardless of their race, and the LAST thing I want an officer to be concerned about when he confronts ANYBODY is whether or not he is going to be called a racist… especially by the President.

Sorry, it’s Friday, I had to rant just a… little bit…

Voter Intimidation Charges Dropped Against Members of Racist Group

Charges were dropped today against members of the KKK who stood outside polling booths in Philadelphia intimidating voters with racially charged comments and brandishing a baseball bat. The three men dressed in white robes and stood outside a polling booth during the November presidential election in a position where everyone coming to the polling place had to pass. Other election observers were intimidated by the brandished weapon and had racial slurs hurled at them.

Despite the testimony of numerous witnesses (including a YOUTube video) and the statements by many of this being the worst case of “voter intimidation” they had ever witnessed, the Feds dropped all charges against the three members after winning an injunction against the man brandishing the bat.

Does that rub you the wrong way?

Does that make you say, “WHAT!?”

It happened just like that this week. Accept the men were not members of the KKK, but of the New Black Panthers. They were not dressed in white robes but in black from head to toe. It wasn’t a baseball bat, but a night stick. The racial slurs included one testimony of whites being told “you are about to be ruled by the black man, cracker.”

It was appalling when it happened.

It’s appalling that it is being dismissed.

If you believe racism is wrong, as I do, then it is wrong no matter what race it is directed against. If you believe voter intimidation should not be tolerated, as I would affirm, then you can’t pick and choose who it is okay to intimidate.

The law is there for a reason. It should be enforced.

Ducking the Issue

It happens quite a bit. Someone gets called out on something and instead of addressing the real issue, they get 'outraged' over something completely irrelevant.

For instance, the McCain campaign came out with a very effective ad linking Obama's advisers to the corrupt federal mortgage industry. Check it out.




The reaction from the Obama camp was... this ad is racist. That's right. Racist.

What? That makes no sense.

Playing the race card whenever they want to duck an issue. That's not change, that's the same old trick.

Is this racist?

John McCain denounced this ad as "racist". Huh? What is racist about it? It doesn't talk about race at all, in fact it doesn't say anything about it! What it does bring up is the judgement of Moore and Perdue, something very pertinent to this election. It points out that Obama associates and surrounds himself with questionable (at best) and radical people. Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, Tony Rezko and Jeremiah Wright, all people that are completely out of touch with the rest of the country, maybe even with reality itself.

The problem with bringing up the issue of race is that it becomes a hot button. If you get any where NEAR it sensors go off and everything blows up. Why go there? You don't have to. Take the high ground, trust me, it's WIDE OPEN TERRITORY. John McCain should have said, "It just sounds to me like they are questioning Obama's associations and the judgement of Moore and Perdue in endorsing him, which are two issues that the people of North Carolina really need to consider."

I know McCain is tough. He's been tough on conservatives for years now! I wish he would show his Democratic challengers the same kind of "love" that he's been showing us.

Black Liberation Theology and How it Encourages Racism

We have all been watching on the news, the internet and blogs like this as Rev Jeremiah Wright decries the evils of white rich people, white America and even America itself. As an active citizen of America I am deeply offended and even more disturbed by the teachings of this man and by the vehement defense that he has received from many members of the black community. Black callers to radio programs have been defending Rev Wright’s teaching as something that white people in America can’t understand because we are part of the white oppression.

The teaching or rather perspective from which Rev Wright is teaching is called Black Liberation Theology. The premise of the theology is that your view of God and Christ is affected by your status in life. The idea is that blacks see Christ differently because they are or perceive themselves to be, oppressed. A rich white person may see God as a loving God who bestows love, mercy and blessings upon his followers, who must use those gifts to help others. A black person who lives in a poorer black neighborhood would look around and see the world from a perspective of being oppressed. They are not living in the blessings of God, but rather living under the oppression of Satan revealing himself through the perceived racism of white America. Jesus is their savior from Satan and from white oppression, because Jesus himself was a poor black man, living under the oppression of white people.

I won’t begin to approach this from a theological or biblical perspective because truly any rational and legitimate student of the word would be able to point out the cavernous holes in the philosophy. Surely Jesus went to the poor and the downtrodden, as well as to the sinners, the prostitutes, the rich tax collectors, the farmers, the tradesmen and even the well educated doctors. The beauty and the incredible grace of Christ is that he is for all people of all races, all walks of life, for all time.

The real problem with Black Liberation Theology is the victim mentality behind it and the crippling, rather than enabling effect that it has on its followers. By blaming rich white people for the ills and deterioration they see in their own lives and their own communities they deny themselves the power to change it. Someone who lives their life blaming others for their position will never be able to change it because it is something that is beyond their control. It truly becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. By blaming someone else, you give that person power over you. Whether or not it is a power that they accept, or perceive or even weald is completely irrelevant. The victim becomes a slave to the person that they perceive as their master. This whole situation is bizarre because it is a slavery created, maintained and reinforced by the victim themselves! It is a dream killer, a motivation crusher, an ambition stopper, and the mentality itself saps the strength, energy and will of the person to do anything but complain about their own victimhood.

Those who would think differently are outcasts. Their ambition, drive and motivation to do more and achieve is perceived as a denial of the oppression. They are perceived as giving in or becoming a part of the system that is dominating their people. By following their dreams and proving that the victim status into which they were born is actually reversible and that people have the power to change their condition, they are in some way a traitor to their own people. They become “more white” or “aren’t black enough”. As Michele Obama revealed in her own senior thesis at Princeton, it actually can create a sense of guilt in those who have improved their condition because they feel that they have somehow abandoned their own people.

More than forty years ago Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. taught that the world would only be free of racism when there was equal opportunity for all people. His dream was that people wouldn’t be judged by their race, but by their character. Under his vision those who chose to excel would be celebrated and held up as roll models, not cast aside as turn coats. Blacks who have achieved great positions through hard work and tremendous discipline, like Colin Powell and Condi Rice would be congratulated, not denigrated.

The effects of this dangerous and self deprecating philosophy are obvious. 70 percent of black children are born out of wedlock. There are more black men in prison than in college. Victimhood strips away responsibility, accountability and even self respect. Mistakes are blamed on the system, on their oppressors, on anyone but themselves. There has a disastrous effect on young black people to engage in dangerous and irresponsible behavior because after all, they were put into this situation by their oppressors.

Black Liberation Theology is dangerous. Not to the “rich white oppressors” but to those who see themselves through the prism of victimhood. This actually makes them vulnerable to the teachings of men like Saul Alinski who taught that power could be obtained by convincing people that they are miserable (or victims), give them an object of their misery (rich white people) and then present yourself as their savior (socialist politicians who want to perpetuate the victimhood because it preserves their constituency).

The salvation is through ownership. Look around you and realize that you have opportunities and then take them. America is the land of opportunity for those who would see them. It is the land of the free for those who are willing to take responsibility for it. Stop living as a victim and enjoy the salvation that Christ has already delivered.

Obama's mentor

A great article today in the WSJOnline about Obama and his lack of denunciation of Jeremiah Wright and his audacious allegations. So far the ones that you can here on YOUtube, out of the man's own mouth include the following (but are not limited to):
- It's America's own fault that 9/11 happened
- America is racist
- God should condemn America (okay I cleaned up the language on this one)
- Luis Farrakhan is a great man (leader of the Nation of Islam who has said that white people are the skunks of the earth and repeatedly blatant anti-Semitic statements)
- America created AIDS
- The US of KKK A

The list goes on. I advise you to listen to the tapes, but I do warn you about the language.

Even IF Obama distances himself from Wright and his comments, which he has NOT done yet, how much credit does that get him? After all, he has been a close friend, mentor, pastor, sounding board and confidant to Obama for 20 years.

This isn't new information. This isn't something that came as a sudden revelation. He's been sitting and listening to this man and his racist hatred, of white people and of America, for 20 years. The fact is that Rev Wright and his racism is apart of who Obama is.

Do we really want someone with that perspective in the White House?

Jeremiah Wright (Obama's Pastor) and Racism

Jeremiah Wright has been the pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ for the past 36 years. You can read his bio from the church's website here.

I've mentioned before that the man is a racist. You can see a shining example of what I am talking about here as he 'preaches' from the pulpit of TUCC about how Obama is qualified because he's black and Hillary isn't. The IRS is currently investigating this same video to see if TUCC has violated their tax exempt status.

Obviously everyone at some point in time has associated with someone of questionable character. That's fine. Of course if you know that this person is a racist because you have been listening to him preach for OVER 20 YEARS, and you call him your spiritual mentor, and one of your most famous speeches and your second book, The Audacity of Hope was actually INSPIRED by this person. That' s a different story all together.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, racism is wrong, whatever color it takes or favors. You cannot sit back and say that it is okay, because he is just trying to encourage or reach out to those of African heritage. If the wording was reversed and you were talking about a presidential candidate who attended a "white" church who preached about and encouraged members to hold onto their Aryan roots and how a presidential candidate was inferior because they weren't white, would you consider them a racist?

What if they had associated themselves with this group for more than 20 years?

Would you consider that person a racist?

Would you consider that person for president?

Wouldn't it be racist to hold whites to one standard and blacks to another?

UPDATE: Another SHOCKING example of what I am talking about.

Democrats and Race

With all of the blustering the Democrats due about Republicans being racists, it's stories like this that are a shining example of where the real racism lies.

Color blindness is ALWAYS the best policy. People should advance based on their talents, abilities, hard work and ambition, not on their race or their sex.

Affirmative action had it's time and that time has passed. The only contribution it makes now is stoking the very fires it was meant to quench.

What does Obama stand for, according to the record

After drilling down a bit through the Senate website you can do a search in the THOMAS system on different bills, motions, and amendments and their sponsors.

Well, being the uber-political geek that I am, I have been performing this activity on Mr. Obama.

Interesting.

There are 113 bills, amendments and motions that he has sponsored. The system does not currently supply information for 29 of these because they are amendments or additions that are only made available at specific times (strange). From reading the titles or summaries of all of the available items, I would say that the top priorities for Obama have been (in no particular order):

- Veterans benefits (very admirable and much needed)
- Education (I'm really torn on this one because there is only one other country that spends more MONEY on education than we do, yet we fall short of progress. Most of Obama's measures go to support low income and underperforming students)
- Limiting the approval of military spending and actions
- Bills to recognize or aid African Americans specifically (10 of them)

I've downloaded several of these bills and have been digging through them and will probably post more later.

Some things that concern me are:
- His solutions to education problems seem to focus at throwing more money into the system. I am personally in favor of supporting the voucher system and cutting out the beauracracy that is the Department of Education and start focusing on educating kids. John Stossel has a great article on wasteful school spending here. I think Obama does what all liberals do. Take a failed system and throw more money at it... and where do they get that money? Oh yeah, my paycheck.

- He tries to play commander in chief, but he's only a Senator. How much control will he relinquish to this same body if the rolls are flipped?

- Most of the things that he has legislated are either handouts or pandering to certain groups and many of them are racial in nature.

One thing that has come up recently, that really concerns me is the whole idea of racial preference. I started researching Obama's religion when I got the whole email chain about Islamic schooling. What I found really concerned me.

Here is an excerpt from their webpage:

A congregation committed to ADORATION.
A congregation preaching SALVATION.
A congregation actively seeking RECONCILIATION.
A congregation with a non-negotiable COMMITMENT TO AFRICA.
A congregation committed to BIBLICAL EDUCATION.
A congregation committed to CULTURAL EDUCATION.
A congregation committed to the HISTORICAL EDUCATION OF AFRICAN PEOPLE IN DIASPORA.
A congregation committed to LIBERATION.
A congregation committed to RESTORATION.
A congregation working towards ECONOMIC PARITY.

Very strange 10 point vision for a church. I've never seen a church that mentions Africa twice, but never God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Is this really a church or some African Cultural Center? "Economic Parity"? What on earth does socialism have to do with worshiping God?

I also read an article about Obama's spiritual mentor and HIS mentor. You can read that here.

Now, anyone who knows me, knows that I am anything but racist. I hate racism. I hate racism of anykind. I truly wish that this country and this world would live the dream that MLK had, where people would not be judged "by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character". But racism goes both ways. Hating me because I'm white, or just as bad, giving someone else preference OVER me because I'm white and they're anything else is just as wrong as holding someone down because they aren't white.

I've heard all of the arguements for afirmative action and quite frankly, I think they had a place at one time. But that time is gone. Long gone. It's time to move on.

Class rhetoric and race baiting should have no part in a presidential election. Unfortunately those are the only two things that are repeated over and over by ALL of the Democratic candidates. Sad for them. Sad for us.