A Dawg's eye view

By making it illegal to discriminate against same-sex couples and allow them to join their lives legally California has taken a big step forward, joining states like Massachusetts, Vermont, and Hawaii.

Religious arguements aside (and please if you are against it for RELIGIOUS reasons don't bother to comment, that arguement is played and can easily be rebutted with logic and common sense), there really is no reason why our homosexual brothers and sisters cannot enjoy their lives and join them legally if that is what they wish. It is good to actually see some progress in the way we treat other people, especially people that are not like us and do not believe like we do.

Eventually, even here in Texas, all Americans regardless of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation etc. will enjoy the same rights and priveledges. That day may be a long-time coming, but it WILL get here. There is no longer any way for anyone to justify this kind of blatant bigotry and discrimination. No arguement that holds water. We have come a long way with women's rights, and the rights of minorities, but we still have a long way to go before we are all-inclusive. This step for California is a step in the right direction, and I hope to see other states shirking off the old and tired excuse for discriminatory practices, and embracing what is right for all of us, all Americans.

  OK, I am no prude, but if I saw this girl I would think she was a prostitute and not going to a prom. Is there no decency left? You want to feel sorry for a high school girl getting arrested instead of being allowed to enter, then you see her dress, then you hear her speak and you understand. Any parent who lets their child leave the house looking like this, prom or not, should be shot! She looks like she is going to walk the streets, its not cute, its not sexy, its trashy. And please don't say anything about her race, this happens with all races.

 

You may have thought your prom night went badly, but Marche Taylor, a high-school student from Houston, Texas left hers in handcuffs, and not for the reasons you might think. According to the Dallas Morning News,

Madison High's prom took place at the Sugar Land Marriot. But Taylor only got as far as the lobby because when she tried to enter the ballroom an official stopped her.

She was told her dress violated a school dress code.

"She shook her head, she was like you are not getting into this prom," said Taylor. "We were arguing back and forth because I wanted to know why I can't get into my prom."

Even after offering to provide more cover, Taylor was still denied access to the final soiree of the school year.

At that point, Taylor said she was furious. After all this was her senior prom. She argued if she couldn't get in, she wanted her money back.

Things got so bad, the next thing she knew, someone had called the police. Officers showed up, handcuffed her and escorted her out.

A good friend of mine recently blogged on his myspace about a disagreement with his partner over politics and who to vote for. He made several very good points, but I won't quote them all, just the few that I think everyone should consider no matter who they are supporting:

"I personally don't care about the color or gender of the person who wants to be the leader of this country. My criteria is based on a little more substance than "who would be a cute prom date or who would make a good beer buddy."

1) Are you smarter than me?

2) Are you listening to me?

3) Can you relate to me?

4) Do you want to be President for yourself or for "us" (Americans...ALL Americans?)

5) Are you being disrespectful to your opponent(s)?"

He makes a good point, don't you think?

By Cenk Uygur, Huffington Post Posted on March 19, 2008, Printed on March 20, 2008

Rudy Giuliani's priest has been accused in grand jury proceedings of molesting several children and covering up the molestation of others. Giuliani would not disavow him on the campaign trail and still works with him.

Mitt Romney was part of a church that did not view black Americans as equals and actively discriminated against them. He stayed with that church all the way into his early thirties, until they were finally forced to change their policies to come into compliance with civil rights legislation. Romney never disavowed his church back then or now. He said he was proud of the faith of his fathers.

Jerry Falwell said America had 9/11 coming because we tolerated gays, feminists and liberals. It was our fault. Our chickens had come home to roost, if you will. John McCain proudly received his support and even spoke at his university's commencement.

Reverend John Hagee has called the Catholic Church the "Great BLEEP." He has said that the Anti-Christ will rise out of the European Union (of course, the Anti-Christ will also be Jewish). He has said all Muslims are trained to kill and will be part of the devil's army when Armageddon comes (which he hopes is soon). John McCain continues to say he is proud of Reverend Hagee's endorsement.

Reverend Rod Parsley believes America was founded to destroy Islam. Since this is such an outlandish claim, I have to add for the record, that he is not kidding. Reverend Parsley says Islam is an "anti-Christ religion" brought down from a "demon spirit." Of course, we are in a war against all Muslims, including presumably Muslim-Americans. But since Parsley believes this is a Christian nation and that it should be run as a theocracy, he is not very concerned what Muslim-Americans think.

John McCain says Reverend Rod Parsley is his "spiritual guide."

What separates all of these outrageous preachers from Barack Obama's?
You guessed it. They're white and Reverend Jeremiah Wright is not. If it's not racism that's causing the disparity in media treatment of these preachers, then what is it?

I'm willing to listen to other possible explanations. And I am inclined to believe that the people these preachers go after are more important than the race of the preacher. It's one thing to go after gays, liberals and Muslims - that seems to be perfectly acceptable in America - it's another to accuse white folks of not living up to their ideals.

I think there is another factor at play as well. The media is deathly afraid of calling out preachers of any stripe for insane propaganda from the pulpits for fear that they will be labeled as anti-Christian. But criticism of Rev. Wright falls into their comfort zone. It's easy to blame him for being anti-American because he criticizes American foreign and domestic policy.

If Rev. Wright had preached about discriminating against gay Americans or Muslims, there probably would not have been any outcry at all. That falls into the category of "respect their hateful opinions because they cloak themselves in the church."

But one thing is indisputable - the enormous disparity in how the media has covered these white preachers as opposed to Rev. Wright. Have you ever even heard of Rod Parsley? As you can see from what I listed above, all of these white preachers have said and done the most outlandish and offensive things you can imagine - and hardly a peep.

If the disparity in coverage isn't racist, then what is it?

© 2008 Huffington Post All rights reserved.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/have-you-left-n
o-sense-of_b_99244.html

One day last week, a fourth-grade teacher asked the children what their fathers did for a living.

All the typical answers came up: Fireman - Mechanic - Businessman - Salesman - Doctor - Lawyer, and so forth.

However, little Justin was being uncharacteristically quiet, so when the teacher prodded him about his father, he replied, 'My father's an exotic dancer in a gay cabaret and takes off all his clothes in front of other men and they put money in his underwear.  Sometimes, if the offer is really good, he will go home with some guy and stay with him all night for money.'

The teacher, obviously shaken by this statement, hurriedly set the other children to work on some math problems and then took little Justin aside to ask him, 'Is that really true about your father?'

'No,' the boy said, 'He works for the Democratic National Committee and is helping to get Hillary Clinton elected as our next President, but I was too embarrassed to say that in front of the other kids.'

Too bad he can't really vote!

Question of morals/ethics. I recently had a friend tell me about this, I will give my reply after I have gotten a few from you- but I don't want to taint or sway what you would normally say in this situation.

You are at the gym, you go to put your stuff in a locker and there sits an ipod. Nothing else in the locker, and there was no lock on it or any indication that anyone had it locked at some point.

Do you:

A) take it and keep it for yourself
B) turn it in to the front desk at the gym
C) something else I didn't consider

OK, time to get serious. The title was just to get the attention of those for and against the homosexuals in our society. Being one of them I have some strong opinions about the people that are against, but in favor of trying to educate rather then anger those people I will try not to be too insulting. But in light of some rather heated discussion from another blogger I feel compelled to write my own on the subject.

• Homosexuality is not a sin. That is to say, BEING a homosexual is not in and of itself sinful.
• Homosexuality is not a choice. Whether one is born that way, or becomes that way via childhood trauma, or upbringing the fact is that it is quite simply not a choice to be a homosexual. There is no proof or bible passage that says otherwise. Being one myself, and having the experience of attempting to not be I have personal first hand knowledge that I did not choose it. Had I been given a choice it would not have been to be gay- I would much rather have gotten married and had a few kids, part of me still wants that but obviously not with a woman- no offense, just no attraction.
  
• Suicide was a constant thought growing up because of the stigma, I got through that obviously without taking that way out- but over 50% of the teens that commit suicide do not find a way to deal, and because of the religious zealots that would rather see a young life snuffed out for being gay than to embrace him or her they continue to take their own lives. Too many kids are rejected by their own families, what a shame.
  
• Whether or not the sexual act is a sin is up to the individual to decide. Whether or not you believe in the bible you have to allow each person to come to that conclusion on their own. God created us as individuals with our own wills so that we would choose Him. Taking that away and making everyone believe the same thing goes against the very nature of following ones heart to the truth of His glory and His son Jesus as our savior. If He wanted little obedient robots that is what we would be. Some Christian religions believe sex even within a marriage is sinful unless you are procreating- are they right?
  
• Homosexuality is not a "lifestyle" as some put it. There are many homosexuals that live lives not unlike any of the heterosexual people on this blog, work, eat, pay bills, pay taxes, go to church, volunteer, have kids, get married (although they currently have to do that out of state).
  
• Gay marriage is just marriage. Nothing really gay about it except it usually involves two men or two women. Its their right to do it if they want, and it does not cause any harm to hetero marriage in any way. Divorce does, cheating does, marrying some guy you met last night does, but gays getting married has no effect on marriage whatsoever. The people against it use religious reasons to justify their ignorance, but marriage has nothing to do with religion. If right wing conservatives really cared about marriage they would address the many causes of divorce that involve the "sin" they are so against, but they won't do that will they? Fact is there is NO SOUND REASON why gays and lesbians can't marry. It's pure bigotry. One Fox blogger is fond of making the comment that Democrats seek to take away rights, and she does it every time she has an opportunity to, but its Democrats who seek to give the rights to everyone and leave no one out. Of course I'm sure as soon as she reads this she will spout some pious religious reason for it, but like I said earlier there is NO SOUND REASON to deny this right.
• Homosexuals are EVERYWHERE. We are in your churches, your schools, your malls, your police force, your military, your government. We aren't just hairdressers and interior designers, we are everything anyone else can be and more. And we're not going anywhere. Even if you believe it's wrong, you have no right to push your belief on me or anyone else that is gay. Chances are you have a family member or friend who is gay even if you don't know it. Just a hint if they are hidden- they are usually the ones that shout the loudest against it. Now turn and look at your co-workers and the people in your church and see if you don't see one of us there.
• Everyone has the right to believe what they want. I certainly don't want anyone taking that right from me, so I won't try to take that from anyone else. Just keep in mind that when your day comes, you will have to answer for all you have done and it will have nothing to do with anyone else. Let people be who they are, give everyone the same rights and respect that you think you deserve.
  

...about all these blogs against Obama (4 out of 6 on the front page)- at least it has people interested in politics and voting.

 

Not sure if this is true or not, but worth a read regardless.

Alabama
Judge

Some of you may be wondering what Judge Roy Moore has
been doing since he was removed from the bench for
refusing to remove the Ten Commandments from his
courtroom wall. Please read the poem he wrote. It's
below his picture.
   
  The following is a poem written by Judge Roy Moore
from Alabama . Judge Moore was sued by the ACLU for
displaying the Ten Commandments in his courtroom
foyer. He has been stripped of his judgeship and now
they are trying to strip his right to practice law in
Alabama ! The judge's poem sums it up quite well.

America the beautiful,
or so you used to be.
Land of the Pilgrims' pride;
I'm glad they'll never see.

Babies piled in dumpsters,
Abortion on demand,
Oh, sweet land of liberty;
your house is on the sand.

Our children wander aimlessly
poisoned by cocaine
choosing to indulge their lusts,
when God has said abstain

From sea to shining sea,
our Nation turns away
From the teaching of God's love
and a need to always pray

We've kept God in our
temples,how callous we have grown.
When earth is but His footstool,
and Heaven is His throne.

We've voted in a government
that's rotting at the core,
Appointing Godless Judges;
who throw reason out the door,


Too soft to place a killer
in a well deserved tomb,
But brave enough to kill a baby
before he leaves the womb.

You think that God's not
angry,that our land's a moral slum?
How much longer will He wait
before His judgment comes?

How are we to face our God,
from Whom we cannot hide?
What then is left for us to do,
but stem this evil tide?

If we who are His children,
will humbly turn and pray;
Seek His holy face
and mend our evil way:

Then God will hear from Heaven;
and forgive us of our sins,
He'll heal our sickly land
and those who live within.

But, America the Beautiful,
If you don't - then you will see,
A sad but Holy God
withdraw His hand from Thee.

~~Judge Roy Moore~~

This says it all. May we all forward this message and
offer our prayers for Judge Moore to be blessed and
for America to wake up and realize what we need to do
to keep OUR  America the Beautiful.

Pass this on and let's lift Judge Moore up in
Prayer.He has stood firm and needs our support.

IN GOD WE TRUST!

Crusading lady politician battles sexual deviants

 

By Oklahoma State Rep. Donna Cun*inghamm

I know that many good Christians have heard about it. But how many of you have actually read the Gay Agenda?

Well, I am one of the few outside the homosexual underground to have actually read this shocking plan for world domination. And although doing so puts me in great jeopardy, I have stepped forward to expose these perverse radicals to the Christian world.

As you can see from the photo on the left, the Gay Agenda has been clearly stamped “Top Secret” and is intended only for the eyes of known homosexuals and pedophiles. The penalty for non-deviants who dare read this dangerous publication — and survive the mental damage it could inflict — is DEATH!

I was able to prevent the damaging effects of the Gay Agenda by holding three Bibles between my legs and having my husband Gene — a Baptist minister — sprinkle me with holy water after turning each page.

The Gay Agenda is a 100-year plan to recruit and convert the entire world population to homosexuality. It was written in 1958 by Liberace, Rock Hudson, Truman Capote, Pope John XXIII, Joan Crawford and over 30 other secret homosexual activists. So, the plan is already 50 years old and has progressed toward the halfway mark.

During the past 50 years, the Gay Agenda has made the following achievements:

• The takeover of Hollywood from the Jews
• Male cheerleaders
• TV
• The infiltration of the mental health profession
• Disneyland
• The domination of the fashion industry
• The control of vital local businesses such as beauty shops and florists
• Disco
• “Happy” Meals
• The Internet
• Harmful fads such as body waxing for men and the G-spot
• The inclusion of Ice Dancing in the Olympics
• Speedos
• Artificial insemination
• Nipple rings
• The divorce of Prince Charles and Princess Diana
• Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
• Blogs

Each one of these items were carefully planned and thrust upon an unsuspecting public. But as I wrote, the list is only half finished!

The Gay Agenda has the following goals remaining:

• President Barack Hussein Obama
• The destruction of marriage
• Project Runway season 10
• Over-the-counter Viagra
• Pregnant men
• Senior citizen nudity
• Human sacrifice
• Mandatory vegetarianism
• Sex toys in school colors
• Trisexuals
• High heels and pantyhose required as business dress for men
• KFC sells fried aborted baby parts
• President Paris Hilton 

Shocking? Well, this is what the homosexual activists have in store for society. The next 50 years will spell the destruction of all that good Christians hold dear unless we ban together to put a stop to the Gay Agenda!

Look out people, they are taking over the world!

In it's entirety...

As Prepared for Delivery...

.. “We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.” 

Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America’s improbable experiment in democracy.  Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787. 

The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished.  It was stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations. 

Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution – a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time. 

And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States.  What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part – through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.

This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign – to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America.  I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together – unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction – towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.   

This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people.  But it also comes from my own American story. 

I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas.  I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton’s Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas.  I’ve gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world’s poorest nations.  I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners – an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters.  I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible. 

It’s a story that hasn’t made me the most conventional candidate.  But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts – that out of many, we are truly one. 

Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity.  Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country.  In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans. 

This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign.  At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either “too black” or “not black enough.”  We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary.  The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.

And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn. 

On one end of the spectrum, we’ve heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it’s based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap.  On the other end, we’ve heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.  

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy.  For some, nagging questions remain.  Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy?  Of course.  Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church?  Yes.  Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views?  Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.  

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial.  They weren’t simply a religious leader’s effort to speak out against perceived injustice.  Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam. 

As such, Reverend Wright’s comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems – two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.

Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough.  Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask?  Why not join another church?  And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way 

But the truth is, that isn’t all that I know of the man.  The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor.  He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God’s work here on Earth – by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.

In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:

“People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend’s voice up into the rafters….And in that single note – hope! – I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion’s den, Ezekiel’s field of dry bones.  Those stories – of survival, and freedom, and hope – became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world.  Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories tha t we didn’t need to feel shame about…memories that all people might study and cherish – and with which we could start to rebuild.”

That has been my experience at Trinity.  Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety – the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger.  Like other black churches, Trinity’s services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor.  They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear.  The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.

And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright.  As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me.  He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children.  Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect.  He contains within him the contradictions – the good and the bad – of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community.  I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
 
These people are a part of me.  And they are a part of America, this country that I love.

Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable.  I can assure you it is not.  I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork.  We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias. 

But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now.  We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America – to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality. 

The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through – a part of our union that we have yet to perfect.  And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American. 

Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point.  As William Faulkner once wrote, “The past isn’t dead and buried.  In fact, it isn’t even past.”  We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country.  But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven’t fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today’s black and white students.

Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments – meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations.  That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today’s urban and rural communities.

A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one’s family, contributed to the erosion of black families – a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened.  And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods – parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement – all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us. 

This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up.  They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted.  What’s remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.

But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn’t make it – those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination.  That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations – those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future.  Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways.  For the men and women of Reverend Wright’s generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years.  That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends.  But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table.  At times, that anger is exploited by politicia ns, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician’s own failings.

And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews.  The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright’s sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning.  That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change.  But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community.  Most working- and middle-class white Americans don’t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race.  Their experience is the immigrant experience – as far as they’re concerned, no one’s handed them anything, they’ve built it from scratch.  They’ve worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor.  They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense.  So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committ ed; when they’re told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time. 

Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren’t always expressed in polite company.  But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation.  Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition.  Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends.  Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze – a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many.  And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns – this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding. 

This is where we are right now.  It’s a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years.  Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy – particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.

But I have asserted a firm conviction – a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people – that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union. 

For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past.  It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life.  But it also means binding our particular grievances – for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family.  And it means taking full responsibility for own lives – by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.

Ironically, this quintessentially American – and yes, conservative – notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright’s sermons.  But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change. 

The profound mistake of Reverend Wright’s sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society.  It’s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country – a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past.  But what we know -- what we have seen – is that America can change.  That is true genius of this nation.  What we have already achieved gives us hope – the audacity to hope – for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed.   Not just with words, but with deeds – by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations.  It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper. 

In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world’s great religions demand – that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us.  Let us be our brother’s keeper, Scripture tells us.  Let us be our sister’s keeper.  Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well. 

For we have a choice in this country.  We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism.  We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news.  We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words.  We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

We can do that.
 
But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we’ll be talking about some other distraction.  And then another one.  And then another one.  And nothing will change. 

That is one option.  Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time.”  This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children.  This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn; that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem.  The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy.  Not this time.  

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don’t have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together. 

This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life.  This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn’t look like you might take your job; it’s that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit. 

This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag.  We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should’ve been authorized and never should’ve been waged, and we want to talk about how we’ll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned. 

I would not be running for President if I didn’t believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country.  This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected.  And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation – the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election. 

There is one story in particularly that I’d like to leave you with today – a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King’s birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.   

There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina.  She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there. 

And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer.  And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care.  They had to file for bankruptcy, and that’s when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches.  Because that was the cheapest way to eat.

She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.

Now Ashley might have made a different choice.  Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother’s problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally.  But she didn’t.  She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.

Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they’re supporting the campaign.  They all have different stories and reasons.  Many bring up a specific issue.  And finally they come to this elderly black man who’s been sitting there quietly the entire time.  And Ashley asks him why he’s there.  And he does not bring up a specific issue.  He does not say health care or the economy.  He does not say education or the war.   He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama.  He simply says to everyone in the room, “I am here because of Ashley.” 

“I’m here because of Ashley.”  By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough.  It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

But it is where we start.  It is where our union grows stronger.  And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins. 

Well first let me state before I write this, that I do not either engage in or encourage illegal drug use.

After hearing of the tragic accident this morning of the drunk driver who while running from the police ran into and killed an innocent, a though occurred to me. Why is it that we hear so much about drunk drivers and the accidents they cause which are often fatal to at least one innocent but hardly ever the driver themselves, but very little about a person under the influence of marijuana doing the same?

The reasons can be multiple, maybe they aren't reported as much? Maybe the media does not see them as outstanding enough? Or maybe there just aren't as many. Although I do not use marijuana, I know people who do. And of those people I have never seen one of them act out in a violent way while under the influence. I have never known any of them to get into a car accident while under the influence either. Marijuana by its nature calms one down, while on the other hand alchohol is a stimulant and a depressant which can wreak havic on even the most sane of us. So why is Marijuana tauted as being so harmful when the most harm I have ever seen it do to a person is make them a little lazy, or hungry and after a lifetime of use a little forgetful?

It seems to me we could not only save billions of tax dollars that are spent fighting the "war on drugs" by legalizing Marijuana, but we could make billions of dollars off the tax revenue AND have some FDA control.

I am not necessarily for legalization, but pointing out some of the flaws in the logic of having a legal drug (alchohol) readily available that has caused a lot of problems for our society, while an illegal drug that if legal would not cause near as much and actually relieve some of societies woes remains illegal.

Just looking to hear some points of view on this.

Just some thoughts, what are your points of view on this?

• Congress can vote themselves raises- they should not be able to do this without the public's input
• There are no term limits- there should be term limits of 8 years, like the president
• They continue to collect their salary after retirement-should be a percentage equal to what is common in any business. If term limits are set this would not be an issue.
• Their spouse continues to collect their salary after their death-an even smaller percentage of what the retirement would be if this was changed. If term limits set this would not be an issue.

These are just a few of the items I think we should think about reforming, if not just to save tax dollars to at least have some fresh voices voted in as our society changes and progresses so should the congress that is supposed to represent them.

Of course they have to vote on these changes themselves which is one more thing I think should be changed.

I have to laugh every time I read one of the "Obama is the anti-Christ" or "Obama is a Muslim", or "Obama will take the U.S. to hell" postings in here and craigslist. Can someone please tell me why they all read like the people writing them are a bunch of red-neck, ignorant, bigoted, and uneducated morons?

Hey, I just answered my own question. LOL!

Have something to say? Try backing it up with FACTS. It's OK to have your own opinion, but for God's sake try to say something real that you can back up and not just spouting a bunch of ignorant rhetoric. It's funny how so many call Obama supporters "sheep" when they are the ones following all the BS and posting all this crud without knowing what they are talking about- just "following" what some other moron said.

Go ahead, vote for McCain and see where that vote will get you. 4 more years of lies, war-mongering, creating separation between the classes, making the rich richer, screwing the middle class. And if you think Hillary will be any different you got another thing coming.