It's time to Break It Down!
In a word, no! That could very well end this post. But since I have put forth what many, no doubt, consider a provocatively contentious premise, I will "Break It Down!"
I saw yet another poll recently that showed the number of people who believe President Obama is a Muslim, is not a Christian, or that his faith practices are unknown, continues to rise. One of the attendant assertions often accompanying this misinformed judgment is the equally misinformed notion that our Founding Fathers were Christians who, based the establishment of the United States of America on the bedrock principles of Christianity. Presumably, is is this juxtaposition that frames President Obama an an outlier to so many.
As a practicing Christian, I have concluded it is my solemn duty and responsibility to set the record straight and disabuse any and all of that romantic, but wrong-headed belief. First, it is important to note that while there were certainly some Christians among the founders of this country, by virtually all accounts, most of the principal founders, including the first four Presidents, were Deists, also known as Free-Thinkers; a philosophy that emerged in the era known as The Age of Enlightenment.
As such, while Deists accepted the notion that a Supreme Being created the universe, they believed that reason and observation governed our world and its outcomes, not faith and or religion. They contended that said Supreme Being maintained a non-interference posture, somewhat akin to the Prime Directive popularized in Star Trek episodes and movies. Additionally, they believed in neither prophesy, nor miracles.
A review of the United States Constitution, Ratified September 17, 1787, reveals that Article 6, Section 3, states, “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
The only mention of religion in the Constitution is exclusionary in nature. Moreover, the words, "Jesus Christ, Christianity, Bible, and God" do not appear at all; never!
While most of the men who chartered this country may not have espoused or embraced Christianity or any other organized religion, for that matter, they did promote religious freedom. In crafting and Ratifying the Bill of Rights (December 15, 1791), which comprise the first ten amendments to the Constitution, the Founders ensured the first amendment documented the new Nation’s commitment to preserving the right to freely establish and practice religion (as well as to exercise free speech, to maintain a free press, to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances):
• First Amendment – Establishment Clause, Free Exercise Clause; freedom of speech, of the press, and of assembly; right to petition
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
President Obama, like the majority of Americans today, is indeed an adherent of the Christian Faith. However, if genuine intellectual curiosity compels you to zero in on and elevate for closer inspection the religious views of some of our Nation’s leading patriot citizens, consider the following luminaries, and the associated quotes and writing attributed to them:
• George Washington (First President)
The father of our Country was private about his beliefs, not unlike the 44th President. However, Washington was widely believed to have been a Deist.
Historian Barry Schwartz writes: "George Washington's practice of Christianity was limited and superficial because he was not himself a Christian... He repeatedly declined the church's sacraments. Never did he take communion, and when his wife, Martha, did, he waited for her outside the sanctuary... Even on his deathbed, Washington asked for no ritual, uttered no prayer to Christ, and expressed no wish to be attended by His representative." [New York Press, 1987, pp. 174-175]
Paul F. Boller states in his anthology on Washington: "There is no mention of Jesus Christ anywhere in his extensive correspondence." [Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1963, pp. 14-15]
"Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by the difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be depreciated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society."
- Letter from George Washington to Edward Newenham, 1792
"Gouverneur Morris had often told me that General Washington believed no more of that system (Christianity) than did he himself."
-Thomas Jefferson, in his private journal, Feb. 1800
• John Adams (Second President)
"As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation. But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends, have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed?"
-letter to F.A. Van der Kamp, Dec. 27, 1816
"I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved-- the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!"
-Letter to Thomas Jefferson
"The priesthood have, in all ancient nations, nearly monopolized learning. And ever since the Reformation, when or where has existed a Protestant or dissenting sect who would tolerate A FREE INQUIRY? The blackest billingsgate, the most ungentlemanly insolence, the most yahooish brutality, is patiently endured, countenanced, propagated, and applauded. But touch a solemn truth in collision with a dogma of a sect, though capable of the clearest proof, and you will find you have disturbed a nest, and the hornets will swarm about your eyes and hand, and fly into your face and eyes."
- Letter to John Taylor
"Can a free government possibly exist with the Roman Catholic religion?"
-Letter to Thomas Jefferson
• Thomas Jefferson (Third President)
"In every country and every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot ... they have perverted the purest religion ever preached to man into mystery and jargon, unintelligible to all mankind, and therefore the safer engine for their purpose."
- To Horatio Spafford, March 17, 1814
"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced an inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth."
- "Notes on Virginia"
"Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.
- Letter to Peter Carr, Aug. 10, 1787
"The truth is, that the greatest enemies of the doctrine of Jesus are those, calling themselves the expositors of them, who have perverted them to the structure of a system of fancy absolutely incomprehensible, and without any foundation in his genuine words. And the day will come, when the mystical generation [birth] of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation [birth] of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."
- To John Adams, Apr. 11, 1823
• James Madison (Fourth President)
"What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not."
- "A Memorial and Remonstrance", 1785
"Experience witnesseth that ecclesiastical establishments, instead of maintaining the purity and efficacy of religion, have had a contrary operation. During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."
- "A Memorial and Remonstrance", 1785
"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."
-Letter to Wm. Bradford, April 1, 1774
"The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries."
-1803 letter objecting use of gov. land for churches
• Abraham Lincoln (16th President)
Interviewer Opie Read once asked Lincoln about his conception of God, to which he replied: "The same as my conception of nature." When he was asked what he meant by that, he said: "That it is impossible for either to be personal."
His former law partner, William Herndon, said of him after his assassination: "[Mr. Lincoln] never mentioned the name of Jesus, except to scorn and detest the idea of a miraculous conception. He did write a little work on infidelity in 1835-6, and never recanted. He was an out-and-out infidel, and about that there is no mistake." He also said that Lincoln "assimilated into his own being" the heretical book Age of Reason by Thomas Paine.
Lincoln's first law partner, John T. Stuart, said of him: "He was an avowed and open infidel, and sometimes bordered on atheism. He went further against Christian beliefs and doctrines and principles than any man I have ever heard."
"The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my profession."
-Spoken by Abraham Lincoln, quoted by Joseph Lewis
• Benjamin Franklin (Founding Father)
". . . Some books against Deism fell into my hands. . . It happened that they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough Deist."
"I cannot conceive otherwise than that He, the Infinite Father, expects or requires no worship or praise from us, but that He is even infinitely above it."
- "Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion", 1728
"I wish it (Christianity) were more productive of good works ... I mean real good works ... not holy-day keeping, sermon-hearing ... or making long prayers, filled with flatteries and compliments despised by wise men, and much less capable of pleasing the Deity."
- Works, Vol. VII, p. 75
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason."
-in Poor Richard's Almanac
• Thomas Paine (Founding Father)
"Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst."
"Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half of the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.
"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any Church that I know of. My own mind is my own Church. Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all."
"The story of Jesus Christ appearing after he was dead is the story of an apparition, such as timid imaginations can always create in vision, and credulity believe. Stories of this kind had been told of the assassination of Julius Caesar."
In sober reflection, it is at first blush, difficult to fathom why many contemporary religious fundamentalists have not fervently disavowed these patently irreverent 18th Century Free-Thinking radicals. Based upon their own damning words and writings, it is clear that in many of the most well-known instances, the Founding Fathers did not share the same ideals, nor any of the religious fervor of the sanctimonious, "religiously pure," and superior lot that so virulently condemn President Obama for being non-Christian.
In the past I have noted the hypocrisy laid bare in many of the arguments subjected to evaluation by the court of public opinion; chalk up another one. And the next time you hear someone boldly and fervently pitching the notion that, “The United States of America was founded by and for Christians,” smile...and appreciate the you have encountered the true meaning of the phrase “Ignorance is bliss.”
I’m done; holla back!
Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/. A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deists
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/freedom/constitution/text.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/freedom/doi/text.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Adams
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Madison
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Paine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
You Wouldn't Know It, But...
It's time to Break It Down!
The Great Recession Is Officially Over! In fact, not only is it over, it ended in June, 2009, or 15 months ago. Say what?
That’s almost as long as the downturn lasted; 18-months, which makes the recent economic malaise, that began in December, 2007, the longest continuous economic downturn in the United States since the Great Depression (1929-1933). It is also the deepest, in terms of job losses.
This past Monday, economists, specifically, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), considered the arbiter of record for economic turning points, confirmed the nascent details of the recovery. Consumers, workers, homeowners, and especially the trenchantly unemployed, continue to express doubt, frustration, and frequently, utter disbelief at that assessment. Largely because, even while a number of leading economic indicators are rebounding, an incredibly large number of Americans are still unemployed.
In grappling with ones personal belief system about the State of the Recession, it is important to remember that the declaration of the Recession’s end revolves around a fairly technical, but significant point. In essence, the Recession is not deemed over, because all indicators are fully recovered, but rather because we have passed what has been determined to have been the economic nadir, which in this case, occurred in June, 2009. Since that time, total output has increased, as have numerous other key measures of economic activity.
Still, the rate of recovery is slow; so laggardly, if the unemployment rate, currently at 9.6%, continued dissipating at its current pace; unemployment could still top 9% through the end of 2012. In that regard, this Recession distinguished itself from the economic disruptions of 1981, 1991, and 2001.
The combination of high unemployment and slow recovery give this downturn a deep and wide footprint. While the over all unemployment rate was greater in the Recession of ’81, at 10.8%, compared to 10.1% in 2009, and the job market, which bottomed six months after the worst of the economic downturn in ’09, it took nineteen months to do so after the 2001 Recession. The absence of the double-barrel impact rendered those episodes less nettlesome.
For those who look to insinuate political significance to such matters, there are probably too many to enumerate, but a couple resonate poignantly. The first point is the Obama Administration, which rightly claims to have inherited this Recession from the policies of George Bush, can ill afford to take comfort in the NBER’s proclamation. Any thing approximating a recovery is in far too embryonic a stage to warrant celebrating, or to offer Americans substantial reasons to cheer, for that matter. The second point is, given the almost imperceptible pace of the recovery, there is still more than ample time for the country to slip back into secondary or even tertiary doldrums. Certainly no saleable arguments can be made to make such reversals, should they occur, the province of Bush policies.
Since the latest Recession began just under three years ago, more than 7.3 million jobs have disappeared, and over 2.5 million families have seen their homes repossessed. Unemployment soared above 10%, and still hovers at 9.6%, while the number of underemployed, combined with discouraged workers, who do not factor into unemployment statistics, render the economic outlook in the near term dismal for many, still.
All these “Nightmares on Wall Street,” Main Street, and your street are being turned into the ammunition, or at the very least, tools, to foment change in Washington. The mid-term elections take place six weeks from now, and the Tea Party and its alter ego, the Republican Party, appear to have appropriated the agenda and most of the relevant talking points from the Democrats. The debate among pundits, talking heads, and other media mavens seems mostly to revolve around, not whether some combination of the Tea Party and the GOP can cobble together an alliance to re-take one of the Houses of Congress, but how large will their advantage be…in both Houses?
In the interim, the current Loyal Opposition has created just enough side bar issues to keep things interesting:
• Jan Brewer, incumbent Governor, and Republican Gubernatorial candidate in Arizona asserted that Law Enforcement officials found beheaded bodies in the Arizona desert, and then refused to respond to questions from the media on the subject
• Joe Miller, Senate candidate in Alaska, maintains some Social Security benefits are unconstitutional
• Christine O'Donnell, Senate candidate in Delaware contended she once “Dabbled into Witchcraft,” faces allegations of misusing campaign funds, was sued by Fairleigh Dickinson University, her alma mater for unpaid tuition, and ultimately was required to complete an additional course before receiving her degree.
Moreover, there is a chance all these candidates might win. To paraphrase former President Bill Clinton, we may b entering a period of politics that is fact-free; when experience in government is a negative attribute. Heading into mid-term elections, in many unflattering ways, the Obama Administration finds itself being cast as the ghost of the former Bush Administration, challenged by a cadre of energized opponents, who like their former selves are brandishing the mantle of change (from current government practices) as its most effective implement.
This President understands that he and his Party are between a rock and a hard place. In a Town Hall Meeting Monday in Washington, DC, President Obama noted that economist declaring the Recession over doesn’t change the reality of those who are out of work or struggling. Mr. Obama faced one woman who said she voted for him, but who added, “I’m exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for, and deeply disappointed with where we are right now."
"Is this my new reality?" she asked.
The President responded, "My goal is not to convince you that everything is where it ought to be. It's not." Still, Mr. Obama went on, “Things are moving in the right direction under policies I have put in place.”
Undoubtedly, the question of the hour, or at least, of Election Day, will be, “Is that enough?” Yes, “You Wouldn’t Know It, But…The Great Recession is Officially Over…Really!
I’m done; holla back!
Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/. A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/20/AR2010092005999.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/21/vets-cfo-on-obama-i-am-exhausted-of-defending-you/?hpt=T2
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1596469896&play=1
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/business/economy/21econ.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39271659/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy
http://www.indystar.com/article/20100921/LOCAL18/9210321/Recession-officially-over-but-few-cheers?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CIndyStar.com
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec10/news_09-20.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39269753/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/
http://consumerist.com/2010/09/recession-is-officially-over.html
http://wcco.com/local/recession.over.unemployment.2.1922888.html
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1595943737&play=1
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/20/the-recession-has-officially-ended/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCvfPFDm3ho
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0elygJ63-o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwIY44Z670A
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?play=1&video=1165373282
http://seekingalpha.com/article/215790-banks-still-not-lending-credit-crunch-continues
http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/economics/why-are-banks-not-lending/comment-page-1/
The Great Recession Is Officially Over! In fact, not only is it over, it ended in June, 2009, or 15 months ago. Say what?
That’s almost as long as the downturn lasted; 18-months, which makes the recent economic malaise, that began in December, 2007, the longest continuous economic downturn in the United States since the Great Depression (1929-1933). It is also the deepest, in terms of job losses.
This past Monday, economists, specifically, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), considered the arbiter of record for economic turning points, confirmed the nascent details of the recovery. Consumers, workers, homeowners, and especially the trenchantly unemployed, continue to express doubt, frustration, and frequently, utter disbelief at that assessment. Largely because, even while a number of leading economic indicators are rebounding, an incredibly large number of Americans are still unemployed.
In grappling with ones personal belief system about the State of the Recession, it is important to remember that the declaration of the Recession’s end revolves around a fairly technical, but significant point. In essence, the Recession is not deemed over, because all indicators are fully recovered, but rather because we have passed what has been determined to have been the economic nadir, which in this case, occurred in June, 2009. Since that time, total output has increased, as have numerous other key measures of economic activity.
Still, the rate of recovery is slow; so laggardly, if the unemployment rate, currently at 9.6%, continued dissipating at its current pace; unemployment could still top 9% through the end of 2012. In that regard, this Recession distinguished itself from the economic disruptions of 1981, 1991, and 2001.
The combination of high unemployment and slow recovery give this downturn a deep and wide footprint. While the over all unemployment rate was greater in the Recession of ’81, at 10.8%, compared to 10.1% in 2009, and the job market, which bottomed six months after the worst of the economic downturn in ’09, it took nineteen months to do so after the 2001 Recession. The absence of the double-barrel impact rendered those episodes less nettlesome.
For those who look to insinuate political significance to such matters, there are probably too many to enumerate, but a couple resonate poignantly. The first point is the Obama Administration, which rightly claims to have inherited this Recession from the policies of George Bush, can ill afford to take comfort in the NBER’s proclamation. Any thing approximating a recovery is in far too embryonic a stage to warrant celebrating, or to offer Americans substantial reasons to cheer, for that matter. The second point is, given the almost imperceptible pace of the recovery, there is still more than ample time for the country to slip back into secondary or even tertiary doldrums. Certainly no saleable arguments can be made to make such reversals, should they occur, the province of Bush policies.
Since the latest Recession began just under three years ago, more than 7.3 million jobs have disappeared, and over 2.5 million families have seen their homes repossessed. Unemployment soared above 10%, and still hovers at 9.6%, while the number of underemployed, combined with discouraged workers, who do not factor into unemployment statistics, render the economic outlook in the near term dismal for many, still.
All these “Nightmares on Wall Street,” Main Street, and your street are being turned into the ammunition, or at the very least, tools, to foment change in Washington. The mid-term elections take place six weeks from now, and the Tea Party and its alter ego, the Republican Party, appear to have appropriated the agenda and most of the relevant talking points from the Democrats. The debate among pundits, talking heads, and other media mavens seems mostly to revolve around, not whether some combination of the Tea Party and the GOP can cobble together an alliance to re-take one of the Houses of Congress, but how large will their advantage be…in both Houses?
In the interim, the current Loyal Opposition has created just enough side bar issues to keep things interesting:
• Jan Brewer, incumbent Governor, and Republican Gubernatorial candidate in Arizona asserted that Law Enforcement officials found beheaded bodies in the Arizona desert, and then refused to respond to questions from the media on the subject
• Joe Miller, Senate candidate in Alaska, maintains some Social Security benefits are unconstitutional
• Christine O'Donnell, Senate candidate in Delaware contended she once “Dabbled into Witchcraft,” faces allegations of misusing campaign funds, was sued by Fairleigh Dickinson University, her alma mater for unpaid tuition, and ultimately was required to complete an additional course before receiving her degree.
Moreover, there is a chance all these candidates might win. To paraphrase former President Bill Clinton, we may b entering a period of politics that is fact-free; when experience in government is a negative attribute. Heading into mid-term elections, in many unflattering ways, the Obama Administration finds itself being cast as the ghost of the former Bush Administration, challenged by a cadre of energized opponents, who like their former selves are brandishing the mantle of change (from current government practices) as its most effective implement.
This President understands that he and his Party are between a rock and a hard place. In a Town Hall Meeting Monday in Washington, DC, President Obama noted that economist declaring the Recession over doesn’t change the reality of those who are out of work or struggling. Mr. Obama faced one woman who said she voted for him, but who added, “I’m exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for, and deeply disappointed with where we are right now."
"Is this my new reality?" she asked.
The President responded, "My goal is not to convince you that everything is where it ought to be. It's not." Still, Mr. Obama went on, “Things are moving in the right direction under policies I have put in place.”
Undoubtedly, the question of the hour, or at least, of Election Day, will be, “Is that enough?” Yes, “You Wouldn’t Know It, But…The Great Recession is Officially Over…Really!
I’m done; holla back!
Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/. A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/20/AR2010092005999.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/21/vets-cfo-on-obama-i-am-exhausted-of-defending-you/?hpt=T2
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1596469896&play=1
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/business/economy/21econ.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39271659/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy
http://www.indystar.com/article/20100921/LOCAL18/9210321/Recession-officially-over-but-few-cheers?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CIndyStar.com
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec10/news_09-20.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39269753/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/
http://consumerist.com/2010/09/recession-is-officially-over.html
http://wcco.com/local/recession.over.unemployment.2.1922888.html
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1595943737&play=1
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/20/the-recession-has-officially-ended/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCvfPFDm3ho
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0elygJ63-o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwIY44Z670A
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?play=1&video=1165373282
http://seekingalpha.com/article/215790-banks-still-not-lending-credit-crunch-continues
http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/economics/why-are-banks-not-lending/comment-page-1/
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Art of the Slam: The Sky is the Limit!
It's time to Break It Down!
When I decided to develop today’s theme, it was almost as though I erased the tape from last week’s post. For some reason as I saw and heard the details of former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich’s latest screed on President Obama, I first envisioned the co-architect of the Contract with America having executed a laser-like slam, befitting the intellectual that his credentials suggest, and even some of his critics insist he is.
In fact, Paul Begala, a Georgetown University Public Policy Professor, currently teaching at the University of Georgia School of Law, Democratic Party Strategist, and frequent CNN Commentator, referred to Gingrich, who holds a Ph.D. from Tulane University, as brilliant, even while he deconstructed the projected Presidential candidate’s latest (with emphasis) attack on President Obama. To fast-track bringing you up to speed, in the event you missed it, Newton (OK, you knew Newt had to come from somewhere), speaking to the conservative National Review, recently slammed President Obama, saying the he is a con man who has a Kenyan Anti-Colonial Worldview. Of course, Mr. Obama would have inherited this supposed sinister Afro-prism from his father, who was born in Kenya.
Dr. Gingrich arrived at this piece of genetics-based evolved brilliance, as a result of reading a Forbes Magazine cover story by Dinesh D’Souza (another Point of Light of the Right Wing), in which the author asserts among other things:
• Our President is trapped in his father's time machine. Incredibly, the U.S. is being ruled according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s. This philandering, inebriated African socialist, who raged against the world for denying him the realization of his anticolonial ambitions, is now setting the nation's agenda through the reincarnation of his dreams in his son. The son makes it happen, but he candidly admits he is only living out his father's dream. The invisible father provides the inspiration, and the son dutifully gets the job done. America today is governed by a ghost.
In framing the importance of the Forbes article, Gingrich says that “D’Souza has made a stunning insight into Obama’s behavior — the most profound insight I have read in the last six years about Barack Obama.”
Now as I noted earlier, that this is just the former Speaker’s “latest” slam of the President should be emphasized. In essence, slamming President Obama is an undertaking Mr. Gingrich has elevated to an art form. In last week’s post I listed 10 persons of interest who found their way into the headlines by attacking President Obama. Generously, Newt Gingrich was not one of them. Upon further reflection, that ranks as an oversight of glaring proportion.
Just in case you forgot, the list included:
1. Rush Limbaugh
2. Sean Hannity
3. Glenn Beck
4. Sarah Palin
5. Joe Wilson
6. Jim DeMint
7. Rusty DePass
8. Joe Barton
9. Ben Quayle
10. Ann Coulter
Looking back, in the grand scheme of things, no such list could be complete, absent Newton Leroy Gingrich. Going back to Mr. Obama’ first months in office, Gingrich has lobbed one searing attack after another. A review of his assortment of assaults by verbal grenade includes a litany so varied, I concluded, in “The Art of the Slam: The Sky is the Limit!”
His slams are scathing and consistent; here are 10:
• Most Dangerous President Ever
• Anti-Catholic Values (Re: Notre Dame Commencement Speech)/Gingrich is a recent Catholic convert…an apparent concession to his third wife
• Most radical President in American History
• Clueless; dangerously confused
• Initiating a power grab
• Starting a dictatorship
• As dangerous to American way of life as Nazis and the Soviet Union/Communists
• Secular Socialist (To Save America: Stopping Obama’s Secular-Socialist Machine…the title of Mr. Gingrich’s latest book)
• Authentically dishonest; factually insane
• Con man with a Kenyan anti-Colonial worldview
A cynic’s worldview might be, there is no better way for the potential 2012 Presidential candidate to stay near the top of the 24/7 news cycle in politics than to busy himself launching serial attacks on the incumbent. This current slam may in fact smell of that rancid tactic, but it is clearly more; bigger than that.
Yea, this tortuous invective hits multiple hot buttons, including:
• President Obama is not “like us” tenet (anti-Colonial worldview)
• Raises the issue of race (Kenyan)
• Subtly reprises the Muslim question (his father was one)
• Pulls in the Birther argument (Kenyan)
Among items considered conventional wisdom in some circles, two were that, Mr. Gingrich is positioning himself to be counted among the Republican Party’s list of prospects for 2012, and that by representing the conservative, but intellectual element, he would bring more rational discourse to the debate, in place of the pandering to segments that use race and the politics of difference and derision to generate interest and inform debate. Realistically, if "What's past is prologue," indeed, Mr. Gingrich has assured point number one, and simultaneously and dismissively obliterated number two. Too bad; that shapes up as an opportunity lost.
Time has a way of rearranging personal recollections. Moreover losing elections often leaves people bitter, spiteful, and petty. With those key points in mind, I want to stipulate several basic truths. In November, 2008, the electorate of America the Beautiful, voted Barack Obama President of these United States, rather convincingly. His worldview, whatever it is, was shaped by having attended and graduated from Columbia University, and Harvard University Law School. Along the way, he served as President of the Harvard Law Review, and Senator from the State of Illinois. He is a former Professor of Constitutional Law, and an acclaimed author.
Newt Gingrich professes to be enamored with Dinesh D'Souza's propaganda. He suggests that despite Mr. Obama's heavily influenced, and incredibly successful American experience, the President is influenced in a more dominant way by a man he hardly knew. For the record, the milestones accumulated by this President would have served to legitimize any if not all of Mr. Obama’s 43 predecessors as having a sufficiently American worldview. Make of that whatever you will or may, as it pertains to both Mr. Gingrich, and President Obama.
Mr. Gingrich is entitled to his opinions of course. Beyond that, he, Mr. D’Souza, and anyone else from the Republican Right may conjure up as many defamatory theories as their fertile minds can conceive. Mr. D'Souza, who was once engaged to Ann Coulter, is no stranger to questionable social theory. He wrote a book in 1995, entitlled The End of Racism, in which he argued segregation was merely a well-meaning attempt by paternalistic whites to help blacks "perform to the capacity of their arrested development." He has urged the repeal of every major civil rights law in the land, including those that allow blacks to sit at lunch counters and use the same water fountains as everyone else. What a guy!
It is clear that when it comes to President Obama and “The Art of the Slam, the Sky is the Limit!” At the end of the day, as much as the partisan opposition rues it, there is one inescapable fact, already emblazoned in permanent ink on the Tablets of American History: Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States (POTUS).
I’m done; holla back!
Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com./ A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newt_Gingrich
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinesh_D'Souza
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Begala
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ng%C5%A9g%C4%A9_wa_Thiong'o
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0927/politics-socialism-capitalism-private-enterprises-obama-business-problem.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIEKA6f5zuw&feature=related
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/13/AR2010091305307.html?wpisrc=nl_pmheadline
http://johnkingusa.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/13/plouffe-slams-gingrichs-line-of-attack/
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS390&=&q=gingrich+calls+obama+a+con+man&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=COLvHopyPTKHDAYWWhgSk7P2vBgAAAKoEBU_Qr2x9
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090420/pl_politico/21445
http://mediamatters.org/research/201005210050
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-06-30-gingrich-slams-obama-on-bp-gulspill-and-sounds-off-on-climate/
http://www.wisepolitics.com/newt-gingrich-slams-obama-1408.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3kjohN5gfs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DTVQTQFC2Y&feature=fvw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXq_t3LR170&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpoiGC-ElYg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESG9IrOjX7c&feature=related
http://www.vidoemo.com/yvideo.php?i=S3YxTmp1cWuRpTXd6UTg&newt-gingrich-slams-obama-on-chavez-handshake=
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1644078/newt_gingrich_slams_press_over_first.html?cat=9
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/246302/gingrich-obama-s-kenyan-anti-colonial-worldview-robert-costa
http://www.amazon.com/Save-America-Stopping-Secular-Socialist-Machine/dp/1596985968
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/05/16/gingrich_on_obamas_secular_socialist_machine.html
http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/newt-gingrich-calls-president-obama-naz
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/12/gingrich-obama-kenyan-worldview_n_713686.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129851689
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/gingrich-president-exhibits-kenyan-anti-colonial-behavior/
When I decided to develop today’s theme, it was almost as though I erased the tape from last week’s post. For some reason as I saw and heard the details of former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich’s latest screed on President Obama, I first envisioned the co-architect of the Contract with America having executed a laser-like slam, befitting the intellectual that his credentials suggest, and even some of his critics insist he is.
In fact, Paul Begala, a Georgetown University Public Policy Professor, currently teaching at the University of Georgia School of Law, Democratic Party Strategist, and frequent CNN Commentator, referred to Gingrich, who holds a Ph.D. from Tulane University, as brilliant, even while he deconstructed the projected Presidential candidate’s latest (with emphasis) attack on President Obama. To fast-track bringing you up to speed, in the event you missed it, Newton (OK, you knew Newt had to come from somewhere), speaking to the conservative National Review, recently slammed President Obama, saying the he is a con man who has a Kenyan Anti-Colonial Worldview. Of course, Mr. Obama would have inherited this supposed sinister Afro-prism from his father, who was born in Kenya.
Dr. Gingrich arrived at this piece of genetics-based evolved brilliance, as a result of reading a Forbes Magazine cover story by Dinesh D’Souza (another Point of Light of the Right Wing), in which the author asserts among other things:
• Our President is trapped in his father's time machine. Incredibly, the U.S. is being ruled according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s. This philandering, inebriated African socialist, who raged against the world for denying him the realization of his anticolonial ambitions, is now setting the nation's agenda through the reincarnation of his dreams in his son. The son makes it happen, but he candidly admits he is only living out his father's dream. The invisible father provides the inspiration, and the son dutifully gets the job done. America today is governed by a ghost.
In framing the importance of the Forbes article, Gingrich says that “D’Souza has made a stunning insight into Obama’s behavior — the most profound insight I have read in the last six years about Barack Obama.”
Now as I noted earlier, that this is just the former Speaker’s “latest” slam of the President should be emphasized. In essence, slamming President Obama is an undertaking Mr. Gingrich has elevated to an art form. In last week’s post I listed 10 persons of interest who found their way into the headlines by attacking President Obama. Generously, Newt Gingrich was not one of them. Upon further reflection, that ranks as an oversight of glaring proportion.
Just in case you forgot, the list included:
1. Rush Limbaugh
2. Sean Hannity
3. Glenn Beck
4. Sarah Palin
5. Joe Wilson
6. Jim DeMint
7. Rusty DePass
8. Joe Barton
9. Ben Quayle
10. Ann Coulter
Looking back, in the grand scheme of things, no such list could be complete, absent Newton Leroy Gingrich. Going back to Mr. Obama’ first months in office, Gingrich has lobbed one searing attack after another. A review of his assortment of assaults by verbal grenade includes a litany so varied, I concluded, in “The Art of the Slam: The Sky is the Limit!”
His slams are scathing and consistent; here are 10:
• Most Dangerous President Ever
• Anti-Catholic Values (Re: Notre Dame Commencement Speech)/Gingrich is a recent Catholic convert…an apparent concession to his third wife
• Most radical President in American History
• Clueless; dangerously confused
• Initiating a power grab
• Starting a dictatorship
• As dangerous to American way of life as Nazis and the Soviet Union/Communists
• Secular Socialist (To Save America: Stopping Obama’s Secular-Socialist Machine…the title of Mr. Gingrich’s latest book)
• Authentically dishonest; factually insane
• Con man with a Kenyan anti-Colonial worldview
A cynic’s worldview might be, there is no better way for the potential 2012 Presidential candidate to stay near the top of the 24/7 news cycle in politics than to busy himself launching serial attacks on the incumbent. This current slam may in fact smell of that rancid tactic, but it is clearly more; bigger than that.
Yea, this tortuous invective hits multiple hot buttons, including:
• President Obama is not “like us” tenet (anti-Colonial worldview)
• Raises the issue of race (Kenyan)
• Subtly reprises the Muslim question (his father was one)
• Pulls in the Birther argument (Kenyan)
Among items considered conventional wisdom in some circles, two were that, Mr. Gingrich is positioning himself to be counted among the Republican Party’s list of prospects for 2012, and that by representing the conservative, but intellectual element, he would bring more rational discourse to the debate, in place of the pandering to segments that use race and the politics of difference and derision to generate interest and inform debate. Realistically, if "What's past is prologue," indeed, Mr. Gingrich has assured point number one, and simultaneously and dismissively obliterated number two. Too bad; that shapes up as an opportunity lost.
Time has a way of rearranging personal recollections. Moreover losing elections often leaves people bitter, spiteful, and petty. With those key points in mind, I want to stipulate several basic truths. In November, 2008, the electorate of America the Beautiful, voted Barack Obama President of these United States, rather convincingly. His worldview, whatever it is, was shaped by having attended and graduated from Columbia University, and Harvard University Law School. Along the way, he served as President of the Harvard Law Review, and Senator from the State of Illinois. He is a former Professor of Constitutional Law, and an acclaimed author.
Newt Gingrich professes to be enamored with Dinesh D'Souza's propaganda. He suggests that despite Mr. Obama's heavily influenced, and incredibly successful American experience, the President is influenced in a more dominant way by a man he hardly knew. For the record, the milestones accumulated by this President would have served to legitimize any if not all of Mr. Obama’s 43 predecessors as having a sufficiently American worldview. Make of that whatever you will or may, as it pertains to both Mr. Gingrich, and President Obama.
Mr. Gingrich is entitled to his opinions of course. Beyond that, he, Mr. D’Souza, and anyone else from the Republican Right may conjure up as many defamatory theories as their fertile minds can conceive. Mr. D'Souza, who was once engaged to Ann Coulter, is no stranger to questionable social theory. He wrote a book in 1995, entitlled The End of Racism, in which he argued segregation was merely a well-meaning attempt by paternalistic whites to help blacks "perform to the capacity of their arrested development." He has urged the repeal of every major civil rights law in the land, including those that allow blacks to sit at lunch counters and use the same water fountains as everyone else. What a guy!
It is clear that when it comes to President Obama and “The Art of the Slam, the Sky is the Limit!” At the end of the day, as much as the partisan opposition rues it, there is one inescapable fact, already emblazoned in permanent ink on the Tablets of American History: Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States (POTUS).
I’m done; holla back!
Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com./ A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newt_Gingrich
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinesh_D'Souza
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Begala
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ng%C5%A9g%C4%A9_wa_Thiong'o
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0927/politics-socialism-capitalism-private-enterprises-obama-business-problem.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIEKA6f5zuw&feature=related
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/13/AR2010091305307.html?wpisrc=nl_pmheadline
http://johnkingusa.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/13/plouffe-slams-gingrichs-line-of-attack/
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS390&=&q=gingrich+calls+obama+a+con+man&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=COLvHopyPTKHDAYWWhgSk7P2vBgAAAKoEBU_Qr2x9
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090420/pl_politico/21445
http://mediamatters.org/research/201005210050
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-06-30-gingrich-slams-obama-on-bp-gulspill-and-sounds-off-on-climate/
http://www.wisepolitics.com/newt-gingrich-slams-obama-1408.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3kjohN5gfs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DTVQTQFC2Y&feature=fvw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXq_t3LR170&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpoiGC-ElYg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESG9IrOjX7c&feature=related
http://www.vidoemo.com/yvideo.php?i=S3YxTmp1cWuRpTXd6UTg&newt-gingrich-slams-obama-on-chavez-handshake=
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1644078/newt_gingrich_slams_press_over_first.html?cat=9
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/246302/gingrich-obama-s-kenyan-anti-colonial-worldview-robert-costa
http://www.amazon.com/Save-America-Stopping-Secular-Socialist-Machine/dp/1596985968
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/05/16/gingrich_on_obamas_secular_socialist_machine.html
http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/newt-gingrich-calls-president-obama-naz
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/12/gingrich-obama-kenyan-worldview_n_713686.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129851689
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/gingrich-president-exhibits-kenyan-anti-colonial-behavior/
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Racialism: Why We Can't Move On!
It's time to Break It Down!
“Herein lies buried many things which if read with patience may show the strange meaning of being black here in the dawning of the Twentieth Century. This meaning is not without interest to you, Gentle Reader, for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line.” W. E. B. Du Bois wrote that as he fashioned the opening of his now historic “The Souls of Black Folk,” in 1903.
In postulating this great truth, Du Bois, who was known to be brilliant, established that he was also prescient. The first half of the Twentieth Century was steeped in an evolving array of efforts to move past America’s Original Sin, slavery. Jim Crow, the Ku Klux Klan, and The Civil Rights Movement, were headline news throughout the first fifty years of the century. School Desegregation, Civil Rights law, race riots, voting rights, and equal access to public accommodations drove the public agenda for much the following twenty-five years. Efforts to ensure Equal Employment Opportunity, highlighted the final quarter of the century.
In reflecting upon Dr. Du Bois’ prediction, to conclude that he nailed his assessment is to concede the obvious; sort of a sad but true commentary. Perhaps, if it ended there; if as a society, we actually moved on at the advent of the Twenty-First Century, we, as Americans, might be able to credit ourselves with a slow, but steady progression. We could say, though it took all of a hundred years to do so, we solved and eliminated the race issue in America. Alas, I am forced to “say it ain’t so!” The undeniable truth is Dr. Du Bois understated the trenchant nature of this mendacious ill. In fact, if the first decade of this century is any indication, “The problem of the Twenty-First Century is the problem of the color line.” Déjà vu, all over again!
How can that possibly be the case? To be sure, there is certainly a segment of the populace who will declare it is not. They will, in some cases filled with pride, and in other cases, filled with resentment, but in every case, quickly, point to the fact that America elected a black man President in 2008. Case closed, they will add, gleefully, or indignantly, but always forcefully.
Here this and know; “Denial is not just a river in Egypt!” As we approach the three-quarter mark in this the eleventh year of the Twenty-First Century, there is an element in this country that seems committed to foment racial intolerance at every turn, to roil the waters of hateful speech on a daily basis, and to promote interracial fear, loathing and distrust as Articles of Faith and creed.
Yes, America is a “Free” country. And as such, a wide variety of speech is protected, including the sorts I have just referenced, and consider patently vile. Perhaps as you read this, you are thinking to yourself, what is the big deal? Why would you concern yourself with this issue?
Allow me to bring a higher level of clarity to the subject by citing just a few of the myriad examples that are circulated in the public domain on a regular basis.
Rush Limbaugh brought us such brilliant concepts as:
• Barack the Magic Negro (A song which Rush actually called brilliant)
• Little boy/man child president
• Affirmative Action is to blame for Obama’s presidency
• Halfrican American in reference to Barack Obama (& Halle Berry)
• Wants President Obama to fail
Sean Hannity adds:
• Obama isn’t fit to be a Senator much less President
• Obama eats his burgers with mustard… (What?)
• Obama is a racist based on Church website
Glenn Beck’s contributions include:
• Obama is a racist with a deep-seated hatred of white people
• Planning a rally at the Lincoln Memorial on the 47th Anniversary of the Reverend Dr, Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream speech…to reclaim the Civil Rights movement (from whom?)
• Recants the racist assertion only to replace it with Black Liberation Theology proponent, which nobody accepts
Sarah Palin asserts:
• Obama is a community organizer (pejoratively)
• Obama pals around with terrorists
• Obama supports Death Panels for the Health care program
Congressman Joe Wilson, South Carolina, yelled:
• You lie, at Obama, during a Joint Session of Congress
Senator Jim DeMint, South Carolina, argued:
• If we can defeat Obama on this (speaking of Healthcare Reform), it will be his Waterloo; we can break him
Rusty DePass, South Carolina GOP Activist, says:
• Gorilla escaped from the Columbia, SC Zoo was ancestor of Michelle Obama
Congressman Joe Barton, Texas, apologized:
• To Tony Hayward, BP CEO, because President Obama negotiated a $20 Billion fund to pay for damages on the Gulf Coast caused by the BP oil spill
Ben Quayle (Son of former Vice President Dan Quayle), called:
• Obama “The worst President ever!”
Ann Coulter suggests:
• “The nonsense about President Obama being a Muslim has got to stop. I rise to defend him from this absurd accusation by pointing out that he is obviously an atheist."
During the 2008 Presidential Campaign, I heard more times than I can enumerate how much some people wanted Mr. Obama to win, because it would at long last put the race issue behind us for good. While I never believed it was that simple, I am convinced many folks did…and still do. That is to say, Mr. Obama was elected, and they are done; so moved on.
In all candor, most of those people were white, and they believe, largely, that the main reason the issue is still front and center so often, is because blacks won’t allow it to die, preferring instead to do all within their power to force whites to languish in a state of unquenchable guilt.
The examples above, a small but easily attainable sample, are intended to show the unmitigated hate and ad hominem attacks that President Obama is subjected to on the regular. Newsflash; that is not the cure! No matter who you are, regardless of you ethnicity, independent of your political leanings, subjecting the President of the United States, who happens to be black, to such attacks is not going to result in easing tensions among blacks and whites in America, any more than practicing anti-Semitism or burning Korans will lead to peace in the Middle East, or make the world a safer, more secure place.
So in the event you ever contemplate “Racialism, and wonder, Why We Can’t Move On,” consider the many perpetrators who continue to fan the flames, vigorously. If you really care about the likelihood that the problem of the color line, just as it was during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, will be the problem of the Twenty-First Century, you should engage those in your own sphere of influence who fan the flames, and impress upon them why you feel they should stop.
In “Stride Toward Freedom,” his 1958 book, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote: “He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” Indeed, it is easy enough to say I am not my brother’s keeper. But, in point of fact, you are; each of us is. And that’s all I have to say about that. I’m done; holla back!
Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com. A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/racialism?&qsrc=
http://www.bartleby.com/114/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile
http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic35955.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIZDnpPafaA&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW9zikASCdg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2of_3gh47o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l46t_nrySg4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_liberation_theology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Church_of_Christ
http://mediamatters.org/research/200701240010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u5BcAJzAaE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fduTGkNWK3s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lovF-f8bkTU
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Wilson_(U.S._politician)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/14/rusty-depass-south-caroli_n_215439.html
http://www.examiner.com/liberal-in-national/bp-oil-spill-liberal-pundits-attack-gop-rep-joe-barton-s-apology-to-bp
http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/08/gop-patriot-ben-quayle-hammers-obama-in-victory-speech/
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20015403-503544.html?tag=pop
“Herein lies buried many things which if read with patience may show the strange meaning of being black here in the dawning of the Twentieth Century. This meaning is not without interest to you, Gentle Reader, for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line.” W. E. B. Du Bois wrote that as he fashioned the opening of his now historic “The Souls of Black Folk,” in 1903.
In postulating this great truth, Du Bois, who was known to be brilliant, established that he was also prescient. The first half of the Twentieth Century was steeped in an evolving array of efforts to move past America’s Original Sin, slavery. Jim Crow, the Ku Klux Klan, and The Civil Rights Movement, were headline news throughout the first fifty years of the century. School Desegregation, Civil Rights law, race riots, voting rights, and equal access to public accommodations drove the public agenda for much the following twenty-five years. Efforts to ensure Equal Employment Opportunity, highlighted the final quarter of the century.
In reflecting upon Dr. Du Bois’ prediction, to conclude that he nailed his assessment is to concede the obvious; sort of a sad but true commentary. Perhaps, if it ended there; if as a society, we actually moved on at the advent of the Twenty-First Century, we, as Americans, might be able to credit ourselves with a slow, but steady progression. We could say, though it took all of a hundred years to do so, we solved and eliminated the race issue in America. Alas, I am forced to “say it ain’t so!” The undeniable truth is Dr. Du Bois understated the trenchant nature of this mendacious ill. In fact, if the first decade of this century is any indication, “The problem of the Twenty-First Century is the problem of the color line.” Déjà vu, all over again!
How can that possibly be the case? To be sure, there is certainly a segment of the populace who will declare it is not. They will, in some cases filled with pride, and in other cases, filled with resentment, but in every case, quickly, point to the fact that America elected a black man President in 2008. Case closed, they will add, gleefully, or indignantly, but always forcefully.
Here this and know; “Denial is not just a river in Egypt!” As we approach the three-quarter mark in this the eleventh year of the Twenty-First Century, there is an element in this country that seems committed to foment racial intolerance at every turn, to roil the waters of hateful speech on a daily basis, and to promote interracial fear, loathing and distrust as Articles of Faith and creed.
Yes, America is a “Free” country. And as such, a wide variety of speech is protected, including the sorts I have just referenced, and consider patently vile. Perhaps as you read this, you are thinking to yourself, what is the big deal? Why would you concern yourself with this issue?
Allow me to bring a higher level of clarity to the subject by citing just a few of the myriad examples that are circulated in the public domain on a regular basis.
Rush Limbaugh brought us such brilliant concepts as:
• Barack the Magic Negro (A song which Rush actually called brilliant)
• Little boy/man child president
• Affirmative Action is to blame for Obama’s presidency
• Halfrican American in reference to Barack Obama (& Halle Berry)
• Wants President Obama to fail
Sean Hannity adds:
• Obama isn’t fit to be a Senator much less President
• Obama eats his burgers with mustard… (What?)
• Obama is a racist based on Church website
Glenn Beck’s contributions include:
• Obama is a racist with a deep-seated hatred of white people
• Planning a rally at the Lincoln Memorial on the 47th Anniversary of the Reverend Dr, Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream speech…to reclaim the Civil Rights movement (from whom?)
• Recants the racist assertion only to replace it with Black Liberation Theology proponent, which nobody accepts
Sarah Palin asserts:
• Obama is a community organizer (pejoratively)
• Obama pals around with terrorists
• Obama supports Death Panels for the Health care program
Congressman Joe Wilson, South Carolina, yelled:
• You lie, at Obama, during a Joint Session of Congress
Senator Jim DeMint, South Carolina, argued:
• If we can defeat Obama on this (speaking of Healthcare Reform), it will be his Waterloo; we can break him
Rusty DePass, South Carolina GOP Activist, says:
• Gorilla escaped from the Columbia, SC Zoo was ancestor of Michelle Obama
Congressman Joe Barton, Texas, apologized:
• To Tony Hayward, BP CEO, because President Obama negotiated a $20 Billion fund to pay for damages on the Gulf Coast caused by the BP oil spill
Ben Quayle (Son of former Vice President Dan Quayle), called:
• Obama “The worst President ever!”
Ann Coulter suggests:
• “The nonsense about President Obama being a Muslim has got to stop. I rise to defend him from this absurd accusation by pointing out that he is obviously an atheist."
During the 2008 Presidential Campaign, I heard more times than I can enumerate how much some people wanted Mr. Obama to win, because it would at long last put the race issue behind us for good. While I never believed it was that simple, I am convinced many folks did…and still do. That is to say, Mr. Obama was elected, and they are done; so moved on.
In all candor, most of those people were white, and they believe, largely, that the main reason the issue is still front and center so often, is because blacks won’t allow it to die, preferring instead to do all within their power to force whites to languish in a state of unquenchable guilt.
The examples above, a small but easily attainable sample, are intended to show the unmitigated hate and ad hominem attacks that President Obama is subjected to on the regular. Newsflash; that is not the cure! No matter who you are, regardless of you ethnicity, independent of your political leanings, subjecting the President of the United States, who happens to be black, to such attacks is not going to result in easing tensions among blacks and whites in America, any more than practicing anti-Semitism or burning Korans will lead to peace in the Middle East, or make the world a safer, more secure place.
So in the event you ever contemplate “Racialism, and wonder, Why We Can’t Move On,” consider the many perpetrators who continue to fan the flames, vigorously. If you really care about the likelihood that the problem of the color line, just as it was during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, will be the problem of the Twenty-First Century, you should engage those in your own sphere of influence who fan the flames, and impress upon them why you feel they should stop.
In “Stride Toward Freedom,” his 1958 book, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote: “He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” Indeed, it is easy enough to say I am not my brother’s keeper. But, in point of fact, you are; each of us is. And that’s all I have to say about that. I’m done; holla back!
Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com. A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/racialism?&qsrc=
http://www.bartleby.com/114/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile
http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic35955.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIZDnpPafaA&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW9zikASCdg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2of_3gh47o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l46t_nrySg4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_liberation_theology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Church_of_Christ
http://mediamatters.org/research/200701240010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u5BcAJzAaE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fduTGkNWK3s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lovF-f8bkTU
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Wilson_(U.S._politician)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/14/rusty-depass-south-caroli_n_215439.html
http://www.examiner.com/liberal-in-national/bp-oil-spill-liberal-pundits-attack-gop-rep-joe-barton-s-apology-to-bp
http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/08/gop-patriot-ben-quayle-hammers-obama-in-victory-speech/
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20015403-503544.html?tag=pop
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Turning the Page: American Combat Mission Ends; A New Dawn Begins
It's time to Break It Down!
Operation Iraqi Freedom ended at 5:00 P.M. EDT, yesterday. President Obama called it “turning the page.” As the directed combat portion of the American mission in Iraq ended, a new phase, Operation New Dawn begins today.
For Americans, the cost of this war has been staggering. Over a million American troops have served in the Iraq War, of which, more that 4,400 lost their lives, over 32,000 of them were injured, upwards of a trillion dollars has been spent, and the conflict has lasted 7 ½ years, and counting. Why still counting? Because even though the majority of our troops have been drawn down, from a peak of 170,000, to a number not to exceed 50,000 (currently about 49,500) will remain in Iraq to train and consult with the Iraqi Army and security forces until at least next July.
Yet, when cast in a more expansive light, the affects of the war effort on American soldiers and their families have not been calculated fully. One must consider the still mounting costs to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury, to provide physical therapy and rehabilitation, to conduct counseling, and to acquire medication. By some estimates, the costs of addressing similar conditions in soldiers returning from the Korean War did not peak until more than 50 years after the end of the war.
Of course, this battle is being fought in Iraq. So as sobering as the preceding numbers are, a number that must be added to the already staggering panoply is 100,000; that is the tally of Iraqi civilians killed in the war since the United States launched the initiative, March 20, 2003. Yes, war is hell; believe that! Always has been; always will be.
When it comes to Iraq, President Obama was a reluctant warrior; a fact his political opponents are not about to let him forget that now. You may recall, that as a member of the U.S. Senate, Mr. Obama opposed the war, and the Troop Surge, that would eventually be viewed as the magic bullet, or at least the deciding factor in turning the tide on America’s efforts.
Conservatives have lamented, loudly and often, President Obama’s decision not to publicly laud former President George W. Bush for zealously pushing the Surge. In talking-head-moments after the President’s speech, the hue and cry reached nearly crescendo level. Undoubtedly, Mr. Obama and his team are left to wonder whether this outcry is a function of short-term memory loss, or just another in the litany of ploys designed to deflect his decisions, and minimize his accomplishments. OK, in reality, they do not have to wonder.
On one hand, it is true that after roughly four years of an already protracted war initiative, the Bush White House proposed and executed a Surge that was so successful, it not only established superior American tactics for the Iraq War, it apparently also serves as a prototype for the war in Afghanistan. At first blush, that does sound laudable.
Alternately, when a wide angle lens is applied to the historical events that preceded the war, the record reflects that President Bush introduced the now infamous Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) gambit in order to sell the war. Most historians and politicians concede this level of weaponry simply never existed; moreover, a majority of analysts surmise, in turn, that without that lever, The Iraq War may never have been launched.
That would have reduced the conflict greatly, sharply curbed the casualties and deaths, and eliminated hundreds of millions of dollars in spending. It may also have enabled Americans to focus on speeding up the timetable to devise and implement a more effective and efficient strategy to “Disrupt, dismantle, and defeat Al-Qaeda, and to prevent them from re-establishing a foothold in Afghanistan in the future.”
President Obama, in his typically understated and restrained style, was respectful enough to avoid incorporating those record-clarifying facts into his Oval Office remarks last night. His most direct reference, a deftly nuanced one-liner, “A war to disarm a state became a fight against an insurgency,” likely went largely unnoticed.
Undoubtedly, he marveled at the seemingly limitless capacity of his critics to shift, at will, into SMM (Selective Memory Mode). Never-the-less, despite the stonewalling that President Obama must expect by now (because it goes on unabated), he called President Bush to commemorate the official end of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In addition, in his speech, he referred to the former President as a patriot, and noted that, “no one could doubt President Bush’s support for our troops, or his love of country and commitment to our security.”
Turning the page was cornerstone of the President’s remarks last night. However, he also made a case for intensifying American efforts in Afghanistan to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and sharpening our collective focus to beat back economic doldrums here at home. The principal point about the drawdown of American forces in Iraq is that country must begin taking responsibility for its own safety and national security. Effectuating the troop withdrawal may be equated with geopolitical tough love.
In deed, if that is the case, Afghanis may do well to take note, because President Obama has put the Afghan government on notice that he intends to initiate a similar troop drawdown in Afghanistan starting in August of 2011. Not surprisingly, critics abound in relation to that point as well. The United States initiated war (Operation Enduring Freedom) with Afghanistan, October 7, 2001, in response to the September 11th terrorist attacks. If the President is able to honor his commitment to wind down this conflict, or the American combat role in it, by the end of 2011, it would be after an entire decade. In characterizing our exit from Iraq, the President noted we have honored our responsibility. After a more than a decade, it is likely he will be ready to cast our commitment to Afghanistan in the same light.
Make no mistake, overseeing, and ultimately downsizing two wars that ran simultaneously in the Middle East is, as Vice President Biden said of Congress passing Health Care legislation, a BFD. On many levels, unless you know more than most about Sunnis, Kurds, Shiites, the Taliban, and Al Qaeda, fathoming the nuanced dimensions of either, and certainly both of these wars will require more than a primer. I submit that for President Obama, Congress, and most Americans, the biggest deal going on within these shores is regaining control of and revitalizing the moribund economy that has plagued us for the better part of the past two years.
Over 2/3 of Americans want our troops brought home from Iraq; a similar number are opposed to increasing our presence in Afghanistan, but 100% of Americans want the the economy to be transformed into a robust economic engine sufficient to fuel business development and expansion, and to elevate job creation a level necessary to put America back to work. The tacit reality is, the Obama Administration could accomplish every other objective it holds dear, and let us be clear, it has not, and the political climate would still be somewhere between rocky and downright hostile.
At this point, trenchant unemployment and tepid job growth are Mr. Obama’s greatest challenges. So while I am pleased to be “Turning the Page, happy that the American Combat Mission has Ended, and simply delighted to Begin a New Dawn,” what I really want to know is what the President is going to do to turn our faltering economy into a turbo-charged dynamo. At that point, Mr. Biden need not say anything. I will exclaim, “That is a BFD!”
I’m done; holla back!
Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/. A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkBDh8STp5U
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/08/31/obama.oval.office.address/index.html?hpt=T1
http://www.thespec.com/news/article/252748--obama-leaving-iraq-no-time-for-victory-lap
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2010/08/gates-gets-emotional-speaking-of-fallen-in-iraq.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20015259-503544.html?tag=cbsContent;cbsCarousel
http://blogs.reuters.com/frontrow/2010/08/31/obama-ends-iraq-war-where-it-began-the-oval-office/
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/09/01/a_rallying_call_for_battles_ahead/
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-baghdad-scene-20100901,0,1147525.story
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/opinion/01friedman.html
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/u-s-has-new-603033.htm
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/World+Today+Iraq+ready+stand+alone+says+prime+minister/3465056/story.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20015262-503544.html
Operation Iraqi Freedom ended at 5:00 P.M. EDT, yesterday. President Obama called it “turning the page.” As the directed combat portion of the American mission in Iraq ended, a new phase, Operation New Dawn begins today.
For Americans, the cost of this war has been staggering. Over a million American troops have served in the Iraq War, of which, more that 4,400 lost their lives, over 32,000 of them were injured, upwards of a trillion dollars has been spent, and the conflict has lasted 7 ½ years, and counting. Why still counting? Because even though the majority of our troops have been drawn down, from a peak of 170,000, to a number not to exceed 50,000 (currently about 49,500) will remain in Iraq to train and consult with the Iraqi Army and security forces until at least next July.
Yet, when cast in a more expansive light, the affects of the war effort on American soldiers and their families have not been calculated fully. One must consider the still mounting costs to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury, to provide physical therapy and rehabilitation, to conduct counseling, and to acquire medication. By some estimates, the costs of addressing similar conditions in soldiers returning from the Korean War did not peak until more than 50 years after the end of the war.
Of course, this battle is being fought in Iraq. So as sobering as the preceding numbers are, a number that must be added to the already staggering panoply is 100,000; that is the tally of Iraqi civilians killed in the war since the United States launched the initiative, March 20, 2003. Yes, war is hell; believe that! Always has been; always will be.
When it comes to Iraq, President Obama was a reluctant warrior; a fact his political opponents are not about to let him forget that now. You may recall, that as a member of the U.S. Senate, Mr. Obama opposed the war, and the Troop Surge, that would eventually be viewed as the magic bullet, or at least the deciding factor in turning the tide on America’s efforts.
Conservatives have lamented, loudly and often, President Obama’s decision not to publicly laud former President George W. Bush for zealously pushing the Surge. In talking-head-moments after the President’s speech, the hue and cry reached nearly crescendo level. Undoubtedly, Mr. Obama and his team are left to wonder whether this outcry is a function of short-term memory loss, or just another in the litany of ploys designed to deflect his decisions, and minimize his accomplishments. OK, in reality, they do not have to wonder.
On one hand, it is true that after roughly four years of an already protracted war initiative, the Bush White House proposed and executed a Surge that was so successful, it not only established superior American tactics for the Iraq War, it apparently also serves as a prototype for the war in Afghanistan. At first blush, that does sound laudable.
Alternately, when a wide angle lens is applied to the historical events that preceded the war, the record reflects that President Bush introduced the now infamous Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) gambit in order to sell the war. Most historians and politicians concede this level of weaponry simply never existed; moreover, a majority of analysts surmise, in turn, that without that lever, The Iraq War may never have been launched.
That would have reduced the conflict greatly, sharply curbed the casualties and deaths, and eliminated hundreds of millions of dollars in spending. It may also have enabled Americans to focus on speeding up the timetable to devise and implement a more effective and efficient strategy to “Disrupt, dismantle, and defeat Al-Qaeda, and to prevent them from re-establishing a foothold in Afghanistan in the future.”
President Obama, in his typically understated and restrained style, was respectful enough to avoid incorporating those record-clarifying facts into his Oval Office remarks last night. His most direct reference, a deftly nuanced one-liner, “A war to disarm a state became a fight against an insurgency,” likely went largely unnoticed.
Undoubtedly, he marveled at the seemingly limitless capacity of his critics to shift, at will, into SMM (Selective Memory Mode). Never-the-less, despite the stonewalling that President Obama must expect by now (because it goes on unabated), he called President Bush to commemorate the official end of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In addition, in his speech, he referred to the former President as a patriot, and noted that, “no one could doubt President Bush’s support for our troops, or his love of country and commitment to our security.”
Turning the page was cornerstone of the President’s remarks last night. However, he also made a case for intensifying American efforts in Afghanistan to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and sharpening our collective focus to beat back economic doldrums here at home. The principal point about the drawdown of American forces in Iraq is that country must begin taking responsibility for its own safety and national security. Effectuating the troop withdrawal may be equated with geopolitical tough love.
In deed, if that is the case, Afghanis may do well to take note, because President Obama has put the Afghan government on notice that he intends to initiate a similar troop drawdown in Afghanistan starting in August of 2011. Not surprisingly, critics abound in relation to that point as well. The United States initiated war (Operation Enduring Freedom) with Afghanistan, October 7, 2001, in response to the September 11th terrorist attacks. If the President is able to honor his commitment to wind down this conflict, or the American combat role in it, by the end of 2011, it would be after an entire decade. In characterizing our exit from Iraq, the President noted we have honored our responsibility. After a more than a decade, it is likely he will be ready to cast our commitment to Afghanistan in the same light.
Make no mistake, overseeing, and ultimately downsizing two wars that ran simultaneously in the Middle East is, as Vice President Biden said of Congress passing Health Care legislation, a BFD. On many levels, unless you know more than most about Sunnis, Kurds, Shiites, the Taliban, and Al Qaeda, fathoming the nuanced dimensions of either, and certainly both of these wars will require more than a primer. I submit that for President Obama, Congress, and most Americans, the biggest deal going on within these shores is regaining control of and revitalizing the moribund economy that has plagued us for the better part of the past two years.
Over 2/3 of Americans want our troops brought home from Iraq; a similar number are opposed to increasing our presence in Afghanistan, but 100% of Americans want the the economy to be transformed into a robust economic engine sufficient to fuel business development and expansion, and to elevate job creation a level necessary to put America back to work. The tacit reality is, the Obama Administration could accomplish every other objective it holds dear, and let us be clear, it has not, and the political climate would still be somewhere between rocky and downright hostile.
At this point, trenchant unemployment and tepid job growth are Mr. Obama’s greatest challenges. So while I am pleased to be “Turning the Page, happy that the American Combat Mission has Ended, and simply delighted to Begin a New Dawn,” what I really want to know is what the President is going to do to turn our faltering economy into a turbo-charged dynamo. At that point, Mr. Biden need not say anything. I will exclaim, “That is a BFD!”
I’m done; holla back!
Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/. A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkBDh8STp5U
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/08/31/obama.oval.office.address/index.html?hpt=T1
http://www.thespec.com/news/article/252748--obama-leaving-iraq-no-time-for-victory-lap
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2010/08/gates-gets-emotional-speaking-of-fallen-in-iraq.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20015259-503544.html?tag=cbsContent;cbsCarousel
http://blogs.reuters.com/frontrow/2010/08/31/obama-ends-iraq-war-where-it-began-the-oval-office/
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/09/01/a_rallying_call_for_battles_ahead/
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-baghdad-scene-20100901,0,1147525.story
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/opinion/01friedman.html
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/u-s-has-new-603033.htm
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/World+Today+Iraq+ready+stand+alone+says+prime+minister/3465056/story.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20015262-503544.html
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