Saturday, June 7, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
Dems Yank Climate Bill
Politico reports:
Apparently three days of debate was enough for what many senators called "the most important issue facing the planet."
With little chance of winning passage of a sweeping 500-page global warming bill, the Senate Democratic leadership is planning to yank the legislation after failing to achieve the 60-vote threshold needed to move the bill to the next stage. After a 48-36 vote on the climate change bill, the Senate is likely to move on to a separate energy debate next week.
The legislation collapsed for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was the poor timing of debating a bill predicted to increase energy costs while much of the country is focused on $4-a-gallon gas. On top of that, a number of industrial state Democrats like Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio were uncomfortable with the strong emissions caps that would have created a new regime of regulations for coal, auto and other manufacturing industries. Republicans, for the most part, held firm against a bill they said would cost billions in regulations while pushing the cost of gas higher.
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Suggesting Obama's VP: Bob The Builder!
"Bob the Builder, Can we fix it? Bob the Builder, YES WE CAN." I'm hoping for Bob the Builder as Obama's Vice.
I guess Obama's Bob the Builder "yes we can" campaign is meant to appeal to the toddler inside all of us.
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Remembering D-Day
Today is June 6. Sixty four years ago on that same day allied forces lead by General Dwight Eisenhower stormed the beaches of Normandy. The sacrifice of the Normandy invasion were immense. The effort was under way by the Western Allied nations to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation. (Interesting digression: The invasion of Normandy by the Allies was originally set for June 5, 1944, but bad weather and heavy seas caused Gen. Dwight D Eisenhower to delay until June 6). Total Allied casualties on D-Day are estimated at 10,000, including 2,500 dead. We remember the sacrifice and dedication of the greatest generation that helped save a world from the triumph of evil. 
Today we face another evil with global ambitions. Europe is in demographic decline, while only their Muslim populations continue to explode. Lebanon's government is being held hostage by Hezbollah. Iraq continues to be a central front in this war against throwback thugs. Iran is racing toward nuclear weaponry. The Palestinian Arabs continue to shoot rockets and mortars into Israel killing innocent civilians. Islamofascists deny the holocaust, including Iran's president, while praying and preparing for another. Fortunately the Islamist enemy does not have the capability of the Nazi foe, but they have the will and they have manpower. They desire the world's most powerful weaponry. As we look forward to a perilous future we must remember the past. Remember the brave souls that stormed those beaches against entrenched Nazi gunfire. Remember that America was once willing to pay any price to defend liberty and defeat the spread of tyranny. The generation that fought the noble war against the genocidal Nazi maniacs is a guidepost for all future generations. Today we face a determined genocidal Jew-hating enemy again. In this protracted struggle we must never forget the lessons of June 6, 1944. 
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Clint Eastwood: Spike Lee "Should Shut His Face"
The following is an excerpt from a article that appeared in the Gaurdian (http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,2283921,00.html
):
"Has he ever studied the history?" [Clint Eastwood] asks, in that familiar near-whisper. The "he" is Spike Lee, and the reason Eastwood is asking is because of something Lee had said about Eastwood's Iwo Jima movie Flags of Our Fathers, while promoting his own war movie, Miracle at St Anna, about a black US unit in the second world war. Lee had noted the lack of African-Americans in Eastwood's movie and told reporters: "That was his version. The negro version did not exist." Eastwood has no time for Lee's gripes. "He was complaining when I did Bird [the 1988 biopic of Charlie Parker]. Why would a white guy be doing that? I was the only guy who made it, that's why. He could have gone ahead and made it. Instead he was making something else." As for Flags of Our Fathers, he says, yes, there was a small detachment of black troops on Iwo Jima as a part of a munitions company, "but they didn't raise the flag. The story is Flags of Our Fathers, the famous flag-raising picture, and they didn't do that. If I go ahead and put an African-American actor in there, people'd go, 'This guy's lost his mind.' I mean, it's not accurate."
Lee shouldn't be demanding African-Americans in Eastwood's next picture, either. Changeling is set in Los Angeles during the Depression, before the city's make-up was changed by the large black influx. "What are you going to do, you gonna tell a fuckin' story about that?" he growls. "Make it look like a commercial for an equal opportunity player? I'm not in that game. I'm playing it the way I read it historically, and that's the way it is. When I do a picture and it's 90% black, like Bird, I use 90% black people." Eastwood pauses, deliberately - once it would have provided him with the beat in which to spit out his cheroot before flinging back his poncho - and offers a last word of advice to the most influential black director in American movies. "A guy like him should shut his face."
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Shaul Mofaz: "If Iran Continues...We Will Attack"
An Israeli deputy prime minister on Friday warned that Iran would face attack if it pursues what he said was its nuclear weapons programme. "If Iran continues its nuclear weapons programme, we will attack it," said Shaul Mofaz, who is also transportation minister. "Other options are disappearing. The sanctions are not effective. There will be no alternative but to attack Iran in order to stop the Iranian nuclear programme," Mofaz told the Yediot Aharonot daily. He stressed such an operation could only be conducted with US support.
I have been saying this for awhile now. It seems all options have been exhausted. It is only a matter of time. If Israel thinks that Iran is on the verge of capability they will have no choice but to attack. The chances that Iran will respond to negotiations or diplomacy are slim. War (or an air raid) is always the option of last resort. But it seems that at some point Israel may have to resort to it.
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Thursday, June 5, 2008
William Jefferson Endorses Barack Obama
On a day that Sen. Barack Obama moved closer to clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, embattled Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, Tuesday became the first of Louisiana’s four Democratic congressional members to back his candidacy. He is perhaps the most corrupt Democrat who somehow has nonetheless remained in office. Allow me to remind you of the August 3, 2005 raid by FBI agents on Jefferson's home in Northeast Washington in which, as noted in an 83-page affidavit filed to support a subsequent raid on his Congressional office, "found $90,000 of the cash in the freezer, in $10,000 increments wrapped in aluminum foil and stuffed inside frozen-food containers." William "Frozen Money" Jefferson endorses Barack "Hope and Change" Obama! I'm undecided as to which is worse: an endorsement from William Jefferson or from Jimmy Carter.
This endorsement came on the same day Obama financial backer Tony Rezko was convicted on 16 charges.
Just to make things worse, the brother, sister and niece of indicted Rep. William Jefferson were indicted themselves today for allegedly skimming hundreds of thousands of dollars from non-profit groups they controlled, according to the Associated Press. But only Republican politicians are corrupt, right?
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Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Begs For Death Penalty
The AP reports:
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the reputed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, told a military judge at his arraignment Thursday that he welcomes the death penalty as a way to martyrdom and ridiculed the proceedings as an "inquisition."...
He and four other detainees accused of plotting al-Qaida's 2001 attack were at turns cordial and defiant at their arraignment, the first U.S. attempt to try in court those believed to be directly responsible for killing 2,973 people in the bloodiest terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil. One defendant said he deeply regrets not joining the hijackers who crashed passenger airliners into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. "I have been seeking martyrdom for five years," said Ramzi Binalshibh, the alleged main intermediary between the 19 hijackers and al-Qaida leaders. "I tried for 9/11 to get a visa but I could not." Asked if he understands that he could be executed if found guilty, Binalshibh said: "If this martyrdom happens today, I welcome it. God is great. God is great. God is great." Calmly propping his glasses on his turban to peer at legal papers, Mohammed grinned at times and insisted he would not be represented by any attorneys. The other detainees quickly followed suit and said they too wanted to represent themselves. The former No. 3 al-Qaida leader explained he believes only in religious "Sharia" law and railed against U.S. President George W. Bush for waging a "crusade war." The judge, wearing a crewcut and black robes, warned Mohammed that he faces execution if convicted of organizing the attacks on America. But Mohammed said he welcomes the death penalty. "Yes, this is what I wish, to be a martyr for a long time," Mohammed declared. "I will, God willing, have this, by you."
Are wer to be surprised that KSM wants to be martyred? Not at all. He expects to be greeted by his black eyed virgins in the afterlife. I say the U.S. should be more than happy to oblige this rotten Jihadist scumbag. It gives us insight into the mindset of the Islamofascist. They value death. In late September of 2001 Maulana Inyadullah in his hole in Peshawar offered this soundbite to the Daily Telegraph's David Blair: "The Americans love Pepsi-Cola, we love death." I'll keep my soft drinks and you keep your Sharia. Otherwise, your wish is our command.
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George Galloway "Prays For The Safety Of Barack Obama"
The following is an interview with British MP George Galloway, which aired on Al-Aqsa Hamas TV on May 2, 2008. This radical says to his friends, the radical Palestinians, "I pray for the safety of Barack Obama, and I pray that he can shift the United States attitude to this question." He went on to say that "as we come towards the November elections, and the real prospect of a significant victory for Obama, everyone will have to re-find their footing, and these puppet presidents and corrupt kings may discover that the ground has moved under their feet, Allah willing." This man is a member of the British Parliament who is rooting for the West to fail in the global struggle with Islamic Jihadism.
George Galloway seems to be hoping for a Barack Obama presidency and seems to think it may signal a sea change in favor of the Jihadists. I hope he is wrong, but what does it say that Galloway is praying for Barack Obama? Does it not say anything that a rabid defender of terrorist Jihadists has come to the conclusion that Obama is the better candidate? http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1785.htm
If you do not know or have not heard of the mad ravings of George Galloway then you must check out this sampling:
http://www.hitchensweb.com/GallowayLeafletFINAL.pdf
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Mahmoud Ahmadeniwackjob Promises Destruction Of America And Israel
On June 2 Mahmoud Ahmadenijad delivered a speech that included rhetoric that has unfortunately become the norm. It bothers me when the President of Iran continues to promise the destruction of the Great Satan America and the Little Satan Israel, and there is not an ounce of shock value left in the Western world. The crowd wildly chantes "Death to America" eight times. Mahmoud states that "the cruel and arrogant have reached a total dead end, and thanks to God, the countdown for the decline of America's demonic power has begun" and that "the Zionist regime has reached a total dead end. Thanks to God, your wish will soon be realized, and this germ of corruption will be wiped off the face of the world." Iranians race toward nukes must be stopped at all costs. We cannot allow a madman who plainly declares his intentions to destroy Israel and America to attain the world's deadliest weapon. We cannot allow, under any circumstances, a nuclear Jihadist state.
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1784.htm
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"Obama The Naive" By John Bolton
John R. Bolton is the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He is now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the author of "Surrender Is Not an Option." This Op-Ed by Bolton appeared in the Los Angeles Times:
Barack Obama's willingness to meet with the leaders of rogue states such as Iran and North Korea "without preconditions" is a naive and dangerous approach to dealing with the hard men who run pariah states. It will be an important and legitimate issue for policy debate during the remainder of the presidential campaign.
Consider his facile observations about President Kennedy's first meeting with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, in Vienna in 1961. Obama saw it as a meeting that helped win the Cold War, when in fact it was an embarrassment for the American side. The inexperienced Kennedy performed so poorly that Khrushchev may well have been encouraged to position Soviet missiles in Cuba in 1962, thus precipitating one of the Cold War's most dangerous crises.
Such realities should cause Obama to become more circumspect, minimizing his off-the-cuff observations about history, grand strategy and diplomacy. In fact, he has done exactly the opposite, exhibiting so many gaps in his knowledge and understanding of world affairs that they have not yet received the attention they deserve. He consistently reveals failings in foreign policy that are far more serious than even his critics had previously imagined.
Consider the following statement, which was lost in the controversy over his comments about negotiations: "Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. ... Iran, they spend 1/100th of what we spend on the military. If Iran ever tried to pose a serious threat to us, they wouldn't stand a chance."
Let's dissect this comment. Obama is correct that the rogue states he names do not present the same magnitude of threat as that posed by the Soviet Union through the possibility of nuclear war. Fortunately for us all, general nuclear war never took place. Nonetheless, serious surrogate struggles between the superpowers abounded because the Soviet Union's threat to the West was broader and more complex than simply the risk of nuclear war. Subversion, guerrilla warfare, sabotage and propaganda were several of the means by which this struggle was waged, and the stakes were high, even, or perhaps especially, in "tiny" countries.
In the Western Hemisphere, for example, the Soviets used Fidel Castro's Cuba to assist revolutionary activities in El Salvador and Nicaragua. In Western Europe, vigorous Moscow-directed communist parties challenged the democracies on their home turfs. In Africa, numerous regimes depended on Soviet military assistance to stay in power, threaten their neighbors or resist anti-communist opposition groups.
Both sides in the Cold War were anxious to keep these surrogate struggles from going nuclear, so the stakes were never "civilizational." But to say that these "asymmetric" threats were "tiny" would be news to those who struggled to maintain or extend freedom's reach during the Cold War.
Had Italy, for example, gone communist during the 1950s or 1960s, it would have been an inconvenient defeat for the United States but a catastrophe for the people of Italy. An "asymmetric" threat to the U.S. often is an existential threat to its friends, which was something we never forgot during the Cold War. Obama plainly seems to have entirely missed this crucial point. Ironically, it is he who is advocating a unilateralist policy, ignoring the risks and challenges to U.S. allies when the direct threat to us is, in his view, "tiny."
What is implicit in Obama's reference to "tiny" threats is that they are sufficiently insignificant that negotiations alone can resolve them. Indeed, he has gone even further, arguing that the lack of negotiations with Iran caused the threats: "And the fact that we have not talked to them means that they have been developing nuclear weapons, funding Hamas, funding Hezbollah."
This is perhaps the most breathtakingly naive statement of all, implying as it does that it is actually U.S. policy that motivates Iran rather than Iran's own perceived ambitions and interests. That would be news to the mullahs in Tehran, not to mention the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah.
It is an article of faith for Obama, and many others on the left in the U.S. and abroad, that it is the United States that is mostly responsible for the world's ills. In 1984, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick labeled people with these views the "San Francisco Democrats," after the city where Walter Mondale was nominated for president.
Most famously, Kirkpatrick forever seared the San Francisco Democrats by saying that "they always blame America first" for the world's problems. In so doing, she turned the name of the pre-World War II isolationist America First movement into a stigma the Democratic Party has never shaken.
This is yet another piece of history that Obama has ignored or never learned. There may be one more piece of history worthy of attention: In 1984, Mondale went down to one of the worst electoral defeats in American political history. We will now see whether Obama follows that path as well.
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Palestinians Kill Israelis With Mortar Shells And Rockets
The Jerusalem Post reports:
Amnon Rosenberg, 51, a father of three from Kibbutz Nirim was killed, two others were seriously wounded and a fourth suffered light wounds noontime Thursday when a mortar shell fired by Palestinian terrorists from the Gaza Strip hit a factory in the western Negev kibbutz of Nir Oz...
Hamas claimed responsibility for the fatal attack. In a statement issued by the group, it pledged to "continue to strike the Zionist military locations and settlement colonies around the Gaza Strip as a response to the nonstop aggression against our people."...
The mortar shell attack was the latest in a growing number of lethal rocket attacks from the territory. In early May, Jimmy Kedoshim, 48, a member of Kibbutz Kfar Aza was killed by a mortar shell fired by Hamas terrorists, and Shuli Katz, 69, from Kibbutz Gvar'am, was killed by a Kassam rocket during a visit to Kibbutz Yesha.
On Saturday, two people were wounded by a Kassam rocket in a community in the western Negev's Eshkol region. Shrapnel from the rocket wounded a Thai chicken coop worker, partially severing his hand. A second man was lightly wounded.
On Wednesday, a rocket fired at the Nahal Oz fuel terminal wounded a Palestinian worker there.
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Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Senate Halted Over Bush Judicial Nominees
The Washington Times reports:
"Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made good on his promise of retribution against Democrats for their slow pace in confirming judicial nominees by bringing the Senate to a halt Wednesday. He forced a clerk to read every word of the 491-page global warming bill. The Senate requires unanimous consent to do many of the housekeeping measures, such as bringing up amendments and moving to and from bills. Mr. McConnell, Kentucky Republican, withheld his consent, forcing the stalemate. 'It is important that judicial emergencies are filled with qualified judges, and we will use the various tools at our disposal to ensure that those nominees and the Republican Conference are treated fairly, and that the Majority takes its commitments seriously,' Mr. McConnell said. Eight appellate court nominees have been approved this Congress, which Republicans say is only half the rate it should be. They also say Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada failed to meet his pledge to confirm three appellate nominees by Memorial Day. "
Harry Reid makes promises he won't keep and sees a response in the Senate. The choice lay in the hands of the Democrats. As syndicated radio host Hugh Hewitt points out, they could give President Bush's judicial nominees, especially ones for the Appellate Courts, "the same treatment given to previous administrations, or things were going to start moving very slowly in the Senate." Hewitt further points out that "Senator Boxer, after complaining bitterly to any reporter in the Senate gallery wishing to listen, took to the floor during this process a couple of times, desperately trying to stop the open reading of the bill on which she wants people to discuss and vote. I guess the irony was lost on her." This goes to show that some Republicans take judicial appointments seriously. Hopefully Reid got the message. Feel free to watch the parliamentary tactics being employed by the Republican Senate leadership.
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Climate Bill A "Super Bowl" For Lobbyists
Politico reports:
The climate change legislation being debated now in the Senate is the Super Bowl for lobbyists, roping in everyone from Alaskan Inupiaqs to venture capitalists.
“We’re only this far because of the array of citizen groups, business, labor, environmentalists, religious communities, hunters, anglers, you could go on,” Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) told reporters on Capitol Hill. “It’s this mighty force rising out from the American public.” …
Depending on how Congress eventually deals with global warming, the outcome will inevitably hurt some companies while creating significant new markets for others.
Sponsored by Lieberman and Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), the measure would cut greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 70 percent by 2050. It mandates a trading system, known as cap and trade, that would allow companies to purchase carbon credits through an auction process. The bill also provides billions of dollars in subsidies for conservation and environmentally clean technologies.
Business is pushing for various carve-outs. Real estate groups, for example, are backing an amendment allowing a portion of the carbon credits to be given to building owners who improve the efficiency of their properties.
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Obama Pretends To Toughen Up In Front Of AIPAC
The AP reports: "There's no greater threat to Israel or to the peace and stability of the region than Iran," he told the powerful pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Council (AIPAC). "The danger from Iran is grave and real and my goal will be to eliminate this threat," he said, adding loudly to add emphasis that he would "everything" to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. "The Iranian regime supports violent extremes. And challenges across the region. It pursues a nuclear capability that could spark a dangerous arms race," he told AIPAC's annual meeting in Washington.
This type of rhetoric is obviously approriate in a forum where Iran is viewed as the most serious threat to the Jewish State. But it does not fit the previous actions of Barack Obama as Senator. Not to mention his idiotic promises of meeting with Iran's leaders without preconditions. Obama supporters must please answer this question: If he really believed there was "no greater threat" than Iran and he aims to "eliminate that threat" then why did Obama oppose a resolution designating Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization? Playing to his far left primary base, he called the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment "sabber-rattling." Does that sound like someone who believes that Iran is the greatest threat? Even Senator Hillary Clinton voted for the Kyl-Lieberman amendment, joining 29 other Democrats and 47 Republicans as the Senate OK’d the non-binding statement. Senator Joe Lieberman, co-sponsor of the amendment with Senator John Kyl asked at the time: “How can you vote against a request that the administration impose economic sanctions on a group that the U.S. military has presented us ample evidence is a terrorist group killing American soldiers?”
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Tony Rezko Guilty On 16 Charges
CBS News Reports:
A prominent fundraiser for Sen. Barack Obama (and Democrat Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois) was convicted Wednesday of fraud and money laundering after a high-profile federal trial provided an unusually detailed glimpse of the pay-to-play politics that has made Illinois infamous. The jury delivered a mixed verdict against Obama's one time Chicago backer that found Rezko guilty of scheming with the government's star witness to get kickbacks out of money management firms wanting state business. Rezko was found guilty of 16 of 24 counts.
Rezko has known Obama since he entered politics and was involved in a 2005 real estate deal with the Democratic presidential candidate. So here we have it, ladies and gentelman. Another Obama associate from Chicago was neck high in corruption while being a financial backer of Barack Obama. How many dirty associations can this presidential candidate have before people are totally fed up?
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McCain Challenges Obama To Ten Joint Townhalls
The Honorable Barack Obama
Obama for America
P.O. Box 8102
Chicago, Illinois 60680
Dear Senator Obama:
In 1963, Senator Barry Goldwater and President John F. Kennedy agreed to make presidential campaign history by flying together from town to town and debating each other face-to-face on the same stage. In Goldwater's words, those debates "would have done the country a lot of good." Unfortunately, with President Kennedy's untimely death, Americans lost the rare opportunity of witnessing candidates for the highest office in the land discuss civilly and extensively the great issues at stake in the election. What a welcome change it would be were presidential candidates in our time to treat each other and the people they seek to lead with respect and courtesy as they discussed the great issues of the day, without the empty sound bites and media-filtered exchanges that dominate our elections. It is in the spirit of President Kennedy's and Senator Goldwater's agreement, in the spirit of the politics of change, and to do our country good, that I invite you to join me in participating in town hall meetings across the country to discuss the most important issues facing Americans. I also suggest we fly together to the first town hall meeting as a symbolically important act embracing the politics of civility.
I propose these town hall meetings be as free from the regimented trappings, rules and spectacle of formal debates as possible, and that we pledge to the American people we will not allow the idea to die on the negotiation table as our campaigns work out the details. I suggest we agree to participate in at least ten town halls once a week with the first on June 11 or 12 in New York City at Federal Hall until the week before the Democratic Convention begins at locations to be determined by our campaigns.Ê Federal Hall is particularly fitting as it was the place where George Washington took the oath of office as our first President and the birthplace of American government hosting the first Congress, Supreme Court and Executive Branch offices. These town halls should be attended by an audience of between two to four hundred selected by an independent polling agency, could be sixty to ninety minutes in length, have very limited moderation by an independent local moderator, take blind questions from the audience selected by the moderator and allow for equally proportional time for answers by each of us. All of these are suggestions that can be finalized by our campaigns. What is important is that we commit to participate in these history making meetings to join in the higher level of discourse that Americans clearly would prefer.
To show our good faith, we should both commit to the first town hall I have suggested. In the mean time, we can work out dates for future town hall meetings.
I look forward to your favorable reply and to the opportunity to work with you to give Americans a better opportunity to understand our differences, our agreements and the leadership we offer them.
Sincerely,
John McCain
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Clinton Anger Over Vanity Fair Author
Todd Purdum's piece, featured in this month's edition of Vanity Fair, included former advisers criticizing former President Clinton for bringing negative attention to Hillary Clinton's candidacy and for surrounding himself with friends who might discredit her campaign. Slick Willy did not like that at all. He said Purdum was Purdum a "sleazy," "slimy," and a "scumbag." And I thought McCain was the one who was supposed to have a temper?
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RNC Ad: Dems On Obama's Inexperience
Democrats in their own words:
Check out http://www.gop.com/News/NewsRead.aspx?Guid=ac72bce6-2e8b-4bf0-8490-3b14cdc5f022 for a laundry list of quotes from Democrats attacking Barry Obama.
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Change You Can Xerox
This is not the first time plagiarism has been an issue for Barack Obama. He copied his "Just Words" speech from Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts without any attribution. Hillary Clinton mocked Obama saying he represented "change you can xerox." Watch this video and decide for yourself if we have another instance of change you can xerox.
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Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Why Is A Presidential Candidate Connected With So Many America Haters?
Allow me to remind my readers who Father Michael Pfleger is before you see this new clip that has surfaced. Obama identified Pfleger in a 2004 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times as a key source of spiritual guidance. Pfleger is a regular guest speaker at Obama's church of twenty years. He is a supporter of Wright and Farakhan. In September, the Obama campaign brought Pfleger to Iowa to host one of several interfaith forums for the campaign. Pfleger has given money to Obama’s campaigns and Obama as a state legislator directed at least $225,000 towards social programs at St. Sabina’s, according to the Chicago Tribune. Recently in a sermon he mocked Hillary claiming that she thought a black was stealing her show. Pfleger has been scrubbed from the Obama campaign’s page that features the testimony of faith leaders. In this new clip Pfleger says "America is the greatest sin against God."
Politico's Ben Smith has drawn attention to Obama's ties to other radicals. William Ayers served with Obama on the board of the Chicago-based Woods Funds. "While Ayers and Dohrn may be thought of in Hyde Park as local activists, they're better known nationally as two of the most notorious -- and unrepentant -- figures from the violent fringe of the 1960s anti-war movement," Smith wrote. When Illinois State Senator Alice Palmer decided to retire in 1995, she hand-picked local left-winger Barack Obama as her successor. In order to introduce Obama to influential liberals in the district, she held a function at the home of Bill Ayers and his wife Bernadine Dohrn. This was, really, the beginning of Obama's political career, and it linked him forever with Ayers and Dohrn, with whom, as his campaign has acknowledged, he continues to have a friendly relationship. Ayers and Dohrn were famous radicals, and fugitives from the law, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In a debate Obama replied that he does know Ayers and that he had done reprehensible things forty years ago but that the ancient history was irrelevant because it does not reflect his values or ideas.
Here is a picture of William Ayers, the Weatherman member who was on the same board as Obama, standing on Old Glory: 
Here is a video of his wife Bernadine Dohrn from last November:
And then of course there is the infamous Jeremiah Wright, Obama's pastor of 20 years with whom we all know Obama is very close:
Louis Farrakhan has offered an unsolicited endorsement of Obama. Let us not forget that Michelle Obama has said she was proud of her country for the first time in her adult life because her husband was running.
Barack Obama himself said the following in his book, "Dreams from my Father" in 1995: “It is this world, a world where cruise ships throw away more food in a day than most residents of Port-au-Prince see in a year, where white folks’ greed runs a world in need, apartheid in one hemisphere, apathy in another hemisphere … That’s the world! On which hope sits!" Is it surprising that a man who wrote "white folks' greed runs a world in need" was drawn to the likes of Wright and Pfleger? This man does not belong anywhere near the White House. I don't think he should be in the Senate either.
How can Obama have all these connections with virulent America haters and still be considered a candidate for President of this country? There is absolutely nothing wrong with Americans drawing conclusions about Obama's judgement, character, and mindset when he has all these rabid anti-American connections. Is this really the man that is going to lead our country? Is he really the man the Democrat Party has chosen as thier candidate to lead the free world?
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Fox News Reports On Obama Pro-Palestinian Connection
The report includes clips from an interview given by Ali Abunimah who says that Obama had close ties with pro-Palestinian activists as a State Senator in Chicago. He says the he even introduced Obama on stage once at a pro-Palestinian fundraiser.
By the way, Ali Abunimah is a radical. Allow me to give you a sampling of the things Abunimah has said or written concerning Israel:
The Jewish State: “Ending the occupation does not solve the problem. The Jews do not view all human beings as equal. The 1948 borders were calculated to harm Christians, Arabs, Palestinians and Muslims.”
Apartheid: “There are many similarities between the Israeli and South African cases which make the comparison compelling.”
Apartheid and Justification for Terror: “If Israel is going to maintain a military occupation over millions of people by nothing but brute force, then no power on earth is going to stop some of these occupied people responding in kind. The only way to end the violence is to end the occupation, and to allow Israelis and Palestinians to live side by side in peace as equals. Apartheid solutions, such as building ghettoes or fences for Jews or Palestinians will only perpetuate the violence.”
Electronic Intifada (Abunimah's website) Arafat Obituary: “The Arafat who was routinely scorned by American politicians, talk show hosts, and in thousands of American newspaper editorials for years was not a real human being, but a crude and simplistic caricature that often relied for its power on racist stereotypes about Arabs pervasive in American popular culture. The meme had been entirely conceived to distract from the real issues.”
One State, Two Peoples: “The insistence on partition, not on one state, is increasingly a delusional deviation from this reality . . . It is the moment, therefore, for us to declare the era of partition over and commit to a moral, just and realisable vision in which Israelis and Palestinians build a future as partners in a single state . . .”
Hamas Election Victory: “It reduces the conflict to its most fundamental elements: there is occupation, and there is resistance . . . Hamas’ victory pulls the rug from under the project of trying to deflect the blame for the conflict from Israeli colonization to Palestinian internal pathologies.”
Israel Killing Civilians, Stealing Land, Apartheid: “Meanwhile, Israel continues to build a comprehensive system of apartheid, to kill Palestinian civilians and to steal their land with total impunity . . .
Endorses boycott of Israeli Academics: “It seems that Israeli professors should never be deprived of their ability to enjoy conferences in Oslo, London or Florence no matter how bad things get in Palestine, no matter how imprisoned Palestinians are in their ghettos and no matter how complicit major Israeli institutions are with the apartheid system.”
The EU: “In the absence of real solidarity from European and other governments, more Palestinians have concluded that armed resistance is the only means they have to stand up to Israel's relentless colonization . . . I do not support violence of any kind, but there is no greater hypocrisy than calling on an occupied people to renounce violence when you are complicit in the occupier's violence against them.”
Disengagement From Gaza: “Israel is adapt at creating complications which then absorb and exhaust all available diplomatic and political energy, while it uses the time to entrench itself ever more deeply in the occupied territories.”
Colonization, Apartheid, Land Grabbing: “The Israelis want time to complete the colonization of the West Bank, especially the huge tracts recently grabbed through construction of the apartheid wall. Israel wants no discussion of such final status issues as Jerusalem or refugees as long as there exists any slight chance that such issues might not be settled their way.”
Israel will star war: “And, as Israel gets further into its corner, the chances increase dramatically that it will seek to resolve its existential problem not just at the expense of the Palestinians, but by spreading the conflict to its neighbors.”
This is the man who introduced Obama at a pro-Palestinian fundraiser in Chicago and vouches for the fact that Obama was ardently pro-Palestinian.
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Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act
The Senate began what is expected to be a weeklong, contentious debate Monday over legislation to combat global warming by mandatory reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky called it "a giant tax on virtually every aspect of the economy," and accused Democrats of being "laughably out of touch" in taking up the bill when the country is reeling from $4 a gallon gasoline and other high energy costs. President Bush said at a White House event that the measure amounted to "a huge spending bill fueled by tax increases" and that it "would impose roughly $6 trillion in new costs on the American economy." White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush would veto the bill as it stands, but said it seems unlikely the legislation will clear the Senate anyway.
Read what Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma has to say about this proposed bill: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121244985951839615.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
Here is an excerpt from the Inhofe piece:
With average gas prices across the country approaching $4 a gallon, it may be hard to believe, but the U.S. Senate is considering legislation this week that will further drive up the cost at the pump.
The Senate is debating a global warming bill that will create the largest expansion of the federal government since FDR’s New Deal, complete with a brand new, unelected bureaucracy. The Lieberman-Warner bill (America’s Climate Security Act) represents the largest tax increase in U.S. history and the biggest pork bill ever contemplated with trillions of dollars in giveaways. Well-heeled lobbyists are already plotting how to divide up the federal largesse. The handouts offered by the sponsors of this bill come straight from the pockets of families and workers in the form of lost jobs, higher gas, power and heating bills, and more expensive consumer goods.
Various analyses show that Lieberman-Warner would result in higher prices at the gas pump, between 41 cents and $1 per gallon by 2030. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says Lieberman-Warner would effectively raise taxes on Americans by more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years. The federal Energy Information Administration says the bill would result in a 9.5% drop in manufacturing output and higher energy costs.
Carbon caps will have an especially harmful impact on low-income Americans and those with fixed incomes. A recent CBO report found: “Most of the cost of meeting a cap on CO2 emissions would be borne by consumers, who would face persistently higher prices for products such as electricity and gasoline. Those price increases would be regressive in that poorer households would bear a larger burden relative to their income than wealthier households.”
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Obama Clinches Nomination
Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday. Obama arranged a victory celebration in St. Paul, Minn., at the site of this summer's Republican National Convention. In a conference call with members of the New York congressional delegation this afternoon, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said she'd be willing to consider a spot on Sen. Barack Obama's ticket, if it's offered to her. The general election begins today, my friends. Sen. John McCain said, "I have known Sen. Clinton, I admire her and I respect her. She has inspired generations of American women to believe that they can reach the highest office in this nation and I respect that." Hillary has been a very popular presidential candidate and she sure did garner a lot of Democrat votes. In that vein, to start this campaign, let me remind you what Clinton had to say about Barack Obama back in March. If she does become the VP, this clip alone can run as an ad. She offered the Commander In Chief test:
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Jerusalem Day 2008
Jerusalem Day, or Yom Yerushalayim, was celebrated yesterday in Israel. Jerusalem Day celebrates the miracle that was the Six Day War and the reunification of the holy city of Jerusalem. Herea are some photos of the festivities.
Jews pack the Western Wall, where tears of joy were wept by the liberating IDF paratroopers 41 year earlier: 
Dancing in the Cardo, the old Roman central commercial avenue, where Roman ruins still remain:
Dancing through downtown toward the Old City:
Wild dancing breaks out at Damascus Gate, the main Arab marketplace in eastern Jerusalem:
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Initiative For Constitutional Amendment In California
The initiative that would again outlaw gay marriage in California has qualified for the November ballot, the California Secretary of State announced. All that is needed for this to pass in November is a simple majority. All those who believe in protecting traditional marriage must come out and vote this November for this initiative. The measure would amend the state constitution to "provide that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." Let it be a sign to the courthouses across the country that the people are sick of a few judges changing the definition of marriage. Let it be a sign that there will be a response to legislating from the bench. Conservative Californians, your vote actually counts this November!
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Monday, June 2, 2008
John McCain's AIPAC Speech
Senator John McCain opened American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference 2008 in Washington, D.C. in front of more than 6,500 pro-Israel activists from all 50 states. To watch the full speech follow this link:
http://aipac.com/about_AIPAC/Learn_About_AIPAC/2841_12163.asp
Here are some highlights. In the following video McCain slams Obama's call for an Iran summit:
Here is another highlight from McCain's AIPAC speech:
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Congressman Kanjorski Lies About Surge
Some Democrats, including Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA), have attempted to revise recent history. They claim the surge was a result of Democrats forcing Bush to get into a "surge mentality." This is blatantly false. The Dems were opposing Bush every step of the way. Even the very same Kanjorski is on tape calling the surge "ill-concieved." Don't let Democrats try and rewrite history before our very eyes.
Let me also point out that this is the same Kanjorski who recently admitted that Democrats "stretched the facts" to gain control of Congress in 2006. "I'll tell you my impression. We really in this last election, when I say we...the Democrats, I think pushed it as far as we can to the end of the fleet, didn't say it, but we implied it. That if we won the Congressional elections, we could stop the war. Now anybody was a good student of Government would know that wasn't true. But you know, the temptation to want to win back the Congress, we sort of stretched the facts...and people ate it up," said Kanjorski.
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"Jerusalem Is Muslim," Temple Mount "100% Islamic"
"Jerusalem is Muslim. The blessed Al Aqsa mosque and Harem Al Sharif (Temple Mount) is 100 percent Muslim. The Israelis are playing with fire when they threaten Al Aqsa with digging that is taking place," said Abbas' chief of staff Rafiq Al Husseini. He also said that any Israeli action that "offends" the Mount will be answered by 1.5 billion Muslims. The Temple Mount is Judaism's holiest site. It is not Islam's holiest site. Husseini's radical rhetoric was in response to Israel's plans to build a new bridge from the Western Wall area to the Temple Mount because the old bridge was damaged two years ago. When Israeli workers attempted to repair the bridge, the Palestinians said the work was threatening the Al Aqsa Mosque. This flies in the face of facts. The mosque is located hundreds of feet away. Not only that but the work did not tunnel under any Mount foundation or touch any structure connected to the mosque. Finally, the repair work was conducted under the scrutiny of an accessible 24/7 webcam.
Let us remember who Israel is dealing with here. Taysir Tamimi, chief Palestinian Justice and second most important cleric after the Mufti of Jerusalem has said the Jewish Temples never existed, the Western Wall really was a tying post for Muhammad's horse, and Abraham, Moses and Jesus were prophets for Islam. "Israel started since 1967 making archeological digs to show Jewish signs to prove the relationship between Judaism and the city and they found nothing. There is no Jewish connection to Israel before the Jews invaded in the 1880s," said Tamimi. "About these so-called two Temples, they never existed." He said that the "the Western wall is the western wall of the Al Aqsa Mosque. It's where Prophet Muhammad tied his animal which took him from Mecca to Jerusalem to receive the revelations of Allah." Excavations prove the Jewish Temples existed, but Tamimi claims that "all this is not real. We don't believe in all your versions. Your Torah was falsified. The text as given to the Muslim prophet Moses never mentions Jerusalem. Maybe Jerusalem was mentioned in the rest of the Torah, which was falsified by the Jews."
Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran. It is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible 656 times. Jews pray toward Jerusalem. Muslims turn their backs on Jerusalem and face Mecca. Yet apparently "Jerusalem is Muslim" and the Temple Mount is "100% Islamic?"
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Ahmadenijad Says Israel Will Disappear
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad predicted on Monday that Muslims would uproot "satanic powers" and repeated his controversial belief that Israel will soon disappear, the Mehr news agency reported. "I must announce that the Zionist regime (Israel), with a 60-year record of genocide, plunder, invasion and betrayal is about to die and will soon be erased from the geographical scene," he said. "Today, the time for the fall of the satanic power of the United States has come and the countdown to the annihilation of the emperor of power and wealth has started."
Since taking the presidency in August 2005, Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called for Israel's complete destruction.
"I tell you that with the unity and awareness of all the Islamic countries all the satanic powers will soon be destroyed," he said to a group of foreign visitors ahead of the 19th anniversary of the death of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Ahmadinejad also expressed his motivation is a dangerous apocalyptic vision. He is a radical Islamic extremist. He rerfes to the return to earth of the Mahdi, the 12th imam of Shiite Islam, alongside great religious figures including Jesus Christ.
"With the appearance of the promised saviour... and his companions such as Jesus Christ, tyranny will be soon be eradicated in the world."
Ahmadinejad has always been a devotee of the Mahdi, who Shiites believe disappeared more than a thousand years ago and who will return one day to usher in a new era of Islamic dominance.
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Wafa Sultan Returns
Arab-American pyschiatrist Wafa Sultan returns to Al-Jazeera:
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1783.htm
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Trent Duffy To Scott McClellan: Was It All A Lie?
Trent Duffy was deputy assistant to President Bush, but more importantly, deputy press secretary from October 2003 until March 2006 under Scott McClellan. He wrote this damning and scathing must-read op-ed in the Washington Post about his former boss:
Dear Scott,
Since you're not answering my e-mails anymore, I'm writing to pose a few questions that haven't been asked on your truth, honesty and candor tour:
· Was it the truth or a lie when you told me, during a series of personal discussions in your West Wing office in late 2005 and early 2006 (at the apex of what you now call your period of "disillusionment" and "dismay"), that you were happy in your job and proud to serve President Bush and that you had no intention of leaving soon? What about in April 2006, when rumors swirled about a change at the podium, and you again told me you wanted to stay?
· Was it the truth or a lie when you told me around Christmas that the excerpts released by your publisher were being "taken out of context" and that your book wasn't going to be a hatchet job?
· Was it the truth or a lie when you assured your former deputies that you wanted our "full participation" in the book?
· Was it the truth or a lie when, after countless briefings, you complained that the White House press corps was too tough, unfair, over the top and didn't get it?
· And, finally, you like Barack Obama's message and don't know if you're a Republican?
Please forgive me, Scott, if this sounds personal, but you've just filleted me and everyone who worked with you, for you and for George W. Bush for being propagandists, manipulators and lemmings. That isn't exactly a bank shot. Since you have set the standard that it's honorable -- indeed, that it's in the public interest -- to harshly critique one's former boss in public, allow me to refresh your memory if some of the above doesn't come quickly to mind.
Your recent assertion that you were becoming "disillusioned" and "dismayed" in the 10 months before your April 2006 departure is amazing. It does provide you with a neat excuse for suggesting that you left the White House on principle. But I'm having trouble believing it, as is most everyone who worked closely with you at the White House and in the press corps during this time. Yes, I know you were troubled over the Valerie Plame case, but you told me repeatedly you were gleeful about your job.
Remember?
You hired me as your deputy in October 2003 and said more than once that the typical tenure of a White House press secretary before burnout was about two years. After two years went by, we were about halfway into what you now call your period of disillusionment.
As Christmas approached, your mood was as festive as the White House eggnog. Seeing your delight, I suspected you might be having second thoughts about serving only two years or so. So I asked you. You said you weren't going anywhere, you loved the job, you were feeling good. Now, you say you were actually suffering through a gut-wrenching ordeal and were looking for the exits.
When the first "teaser" excerpts of your book hit the press in December, my phone lighted up with calls from reporters. Before responding, I called you; you said the publisher had taken liberties, you didn't mean to attack the president and to point reporters to your 2006 interview with Larry King as your genuine take on things. You told me that your book was still about the poisonous partisan atmosphere in Washington and didn't breathe a hint about Iraq or Hurricane Katrina. This was long after you were outside the White House bubble, amigo.
You also assured me, when we've talked the past two years, that you wanted your deputies to review the book and share our thoughts. Thinking you actually meant what you said, I reached out to you two months ago to take you up on your offer. Radio silence. Why didn't you keep your promise to me and the other professionals who gave years of their lives working for you?
The press was easy on us? How many times did you race up the ramp from the briefing room to your office after a raucous media cross-examination to complain how the press was unfair, naive, too tough and way too "liberal." Would any in the White House press corps agree they were softies?
All that aside, the revelations that you are "intrigued by Senator Obama's message" and that you don't know if you are a Republican anymore make me wonder if you ever had any convictions. If you were just drinking the Kool-Aid at the White House, have you now switched flavors with your newfound friends?
Perhaps you have had an epiphany. Maybe it is better to appease terrorists and let them fight us here instead of taking them on overseas. Maybe we should return our public education system to factories of mediocrity run by teachers unions instead of demanding and delivering educational excellence for our children. Maybe we should let the government ration health care and get between us and our doctors. And maybe we should raise taxes, punish individual enterprise and destroy the incentive for hard work to pay for more government programs.
Think about it. You may not be able to now, since you have conceded your inability to think clearly and independently inside a bubble atmosphere, be it at the White House or while on a media-frenzy book tour.
But do it anyway. On your own, without a publisher around. And let me know what you figure out.
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Sunday, June 1, 2008
Iraq Progress Update
Reuters reports: "U.S. troop deaths in Iraq fell to their lowest level last month since the 2003 invasion and officials said on Sunday improved security also helped the country boost oil production in May to a post-war high. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Iraq's oil minister credited better security for the two milestones, which illustrated a dramatic turnabout in the fortunes of a country on the brink of all-out sectarian civil war just 12 months ago. ...
Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani told Reuters in an interview that the improved security had helped Iraq, which has the world's third-largest oil reserves, raise oil production to a post-war high of 2.5 million barrels per day in May. ...
The military says violence in Iraq is now at a four-year low following crackdowns by U.S. and Iraqi forces on Shi'ite militias in southern Basra and Baghdad and on al Qaeda in the northern city of Mosul, its last major urban stronghold. 'In May we have exceeded for the first time a 2 million barrels per day export rate. In production we have exceeded 2.5 million bpd,' Shahristani said. The number of Iraqi civilians killed in May also fell, to 505, after reaching a seven-month high of 968 in April, figures compiled by the interior, defence and health ministries showed. U.S. officials credit the turnaround in security to President George W. Bush's decision to send 30,000 extra troops to Iraq, a rebellion by Sunni tribal leaders against al Qaeda, and a ceasefire by anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr."
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Obama Quits Trinity United
Sen. Barack Obama said Saturday that he has resigned from the church that he has proudly been a member of for 20 years. His resignation now is purely politically motivated, hoping people will no longer make his spiritual mentors and place of worship an issue in the campaign. The fact remains that 20 years as a member of the church is more indicative of Obama's true feelings than his quiting this political thorn in the midst of a campaign for the presidency. Anyone who is not a liberal hack would recoginze this obvious fact. Reverend Wright, and even Reverend Pfleger, should remain a legitimate issue in this campaign. We should not allow Obama to define the terms of this debate. That is all he is trying to do by leaving the church whose pastor married him, baptized his children, and was the inspiration for the title of his book.
It is interesting to note the exact reason Obama has given for departing from the church. It has nothing to do with a fundamental disagreement with radical anti-American racist pastors being the leaders. Obama said that "we don't want to have to answer for everything that's stated in the church. We also don't want the church subjected to the scrutiny that a presidential campaign legitimately undergoes." He admits in simple terms that he does not want to answer for his past and his associations and that is the only reason why he is leaving the church. That is because there is no politically acceptable answer for everything that's stated in the church. He even said he was resigning with Obama said he was resigning "with some sadness" and that this "is not a decision I come to lightly." There is no reason to feel an ounce of sadness when leaving a church whose leaders are so extremely fond of the racist Jew-hater Louis Farakhan. His departing from the church, by his own admission, has nothing to do with the radicals that preach there.
Allow me also to give you a flashback from only ten weeks ago. This is what Obama had to say then about the church: "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. ...
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."
This departure from Trinity United is not a profile in courage. It is political expediency and political cowardice.
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