Letters to the Editor
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Does God bless us when we do evil?
The Old Testament prophets essentially said, God damn Israel for not living up to her ideals of justice and compassion. I guess it's OK if words like these were spoken a few thousand years ago, but not OK if they are spoken now. Though I love the United States and claim it as home, I am fully aware that our country has at times done evil things deserving of God's wrath. We have supported genocide in Central America. We are responsible for 5 million Iraqis losing their homes and becoming refugees. We are responsible for the deaths of perhaps a million Iraqis. Our Congress has on numerous occasions cut off funding for needy children. Who could argue that God would bless America for these actions?
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more like FALSE-flag waiving
I really like Gary Kamiya, no I really do, but this is the 2nd week running where he has either bought hook line and sinker the 'Official' narrative of how 9/11 was carried out [and by who]
There is overwhelming evidence of at the very least Bush administration complicity with allowing 9/11 to happen and then covering that up, or at worst having his true but hidden backers actually instigate it. It's no use starting some stupid flame war about this, one of the true patriots who seriously doubts the official story and has signed up to 911patriots.com is the highly distinguished winner of the National Medal of Science Lynn Margulis.
http://www.infowars.com/articles/sept11/university_massachusetts_prof_calls_for_new_911_investigation.htm
Salon could do worse than for example conducting an interview with her, but just like kamiya says that questioning 9/11 (from the point of view of 'chicken home to roost' is nuclear for the Democrats) so it appears that it's also nuclear for Salon, who like to portray themselves as fearless in their quest for the truth. Really, you won't look good when the real history is written, if want to be among the counted, you have to stand up when it counts.
Having said that, I always find Kamiya highly engaging and he's of course right that real patriotism and stupid knee-jerk patriotism are not the same thing at all and that you have too much of the latter and are not allowed to voice enough of the former.
In my view the whole point of 9/11 was to allow the US to play victim and so was enabled to suddenly 'legitimately' go on a war rampage using plans for Afghansitan (at first and then Iraq) that were begun before 9/11, so it's no surprise therefore that treating 9/11 as a sacred myth is mana from heaven for the republicans, they'd be crazy not to use this incendiary (but equally wrong) footage of Wright.
What's beyond belief to me is that he is being pilloried for saying something, which in my view is wrong, by another set of people who are intentionally covering up the truth.
US politics is an absurd hall of mirrors where you can be denounced for indulging in a mistaken (but plausible) theory about a major atrocity by people who are peddling a catastrphically brazen falsehood themselves, and that this must not be pointed out.
You deserve McCain, you really do. until you wake the F*** up.
Even Orwell would balk at the duplcity at the heart of US public and political life.
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Knee-jerk Patriots and Scoundrels
As for all of those so-called patriots who think that wearing a flag on one's lapel or belting out the national anthem at a ball game or believing that everything our government does is sacred, and that those of us who disagree or dissent should be accused of high treason, I offer a quote from Dr. Samuel Johnson, a wise gentleman if there ever was one. Speaking of knee-jerk patriots he said, " Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." Apparently, from the sorry state of affairs, the scoundrels have been in charge for far too long. Down with knee-jerk patriots and up with Barack Obama, a genuine American patriot whose brilliance and integrity are a rarity in today's political scene !
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Flag Wavers
Nice article. Of course the flag wavers are not "real Americans". They are unthinking selfish individuals driven by greed and a lust for power. Rather than being patriots they are the opposite. They denigrate American values, our constitution, and the rule of law. As we have seen in the past 7-8 years they are willing to destroy America in their quest for personal power and individual wealth.
The Rev. Wright is right. Watch the longer, more complete excerpts of his sermons (rather than short clips taken out of context) and you find yourself agreeing with him more and more. He is an inspiring and informative speaker who has a good knowledge of the history so-called "Americans" want to forget.
I am not personally familiar with what Rev. Wright has said about HIV, but even those comments need to be considered in view of documented historical facts about what the government has done to blacks in the past. Remember a few years back when it came out that the government sponsored a study of siphulus in blacks, and allowed the disease to develop untreated over a period of tens of years just to see what would happen? While whites may have forgotten about this incident I doubt if blacks have.
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Rev Wright of the Westboro Baptist Church
It's not hard to see that one is much like the other. Westboro blames everything on homosexuality and gleefully tells America that they deserve it. Rev. Wright just expresses the same insanity in a Black context.
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Religion
Frankly, Wright is free to say what he wants. Obama on the other hand, a politician, wanted to get the credentials of being in a church. So he joined the community church that would give him the ins in Chicago. Then on the national stage he plays up his religiosity and his transcedance when it comes to the matter of race. Guess, what, he got caught. He is not transcended. It's all words.
Axelrod and Obama let the Obama story get away from them. Then the speech was somehow going to bring back the story. The speech worked for the faithful. They now can feel good again. Obama overplayed his Christian card to prove he was not a Muslim, when he should have slapped people down who alleged that being a Muslim is somehow a smear. But he kept silent again for political expediency. Once again, when Obama should have used his platform to do something with courage, he chose silence.
Obama is a politician who used the Wright. I feel bad for the congregation cause they lost their privacy. Wright on the other hand, when it comes to theology violated one of the main Christian tenets. As was shown in the picture of him and Bill, he attended the meeting in the White House where Bill obviously was doing an act of contrition and confession to the ministers. Well, Wright, from the pulpit, falls into the gutter when he talks about Bill doing the "black people the way he did Lewinsky" followed by a gesture of pumping with his arm. I don't know about anyone else, but the vulgarity of that statement from the pulpit diminishes Wright's so called Christian credentials. Just another fanatic marginal American minister who uses Christianity for political purposes and personal gain.
On this score, no high marks for Wright and his so called progressive politics. Just another man who uses Christianity. Obama used, Bush used it, and Wright uses it.