Wright was quoting FoxNews interview


So what, Mission Accomplished!!
-fox

Pandora's box is open - it won't be closed. The people who had doubts about Obama now have a voice and they are not going to shut up. No one on any of the news shows today has said anything about the comments being taken out of context. Why would they? They know they will get milage out of this story for weeks. It's a fucking joke.

No kidding. But, it's starting to make the rounds. It won't be long until the pros int he press start enlightening the public to that fact (since so many of us are aware of it already)

I'm sorry.
I made a mistake.
But Obama's still not Hillary.
And, besides, he's very dark in the ads.
Yrs,
Corkscrew

AU do you have a link to the Ambassador's interview? My guess is that the Reverend took a little poetic license in this video. I wouldn't mind seeing and hearing the source material.

"My guess is that the Reverend took a little poetic license in this video."

If you watch the video he appears to be reading from a transcript.

SAN - I think that's just the way he does his public speaking. I can't imagine an Ambassador going on Fox News and quoting his outrage just that way.

""My guess is that the Reverend took a little poetic license in this video."

You are correct, if the transcript of the Peck interview I've seen is the one referenced by the Rev. Not that it matters since Wright was mostly right in the first place.

So Null, you think that America killed all those innocent people "without batting an eye?"

I think we've killed plenty of innocent people, they were collateral damage. Though the rev was also talking about the native indians, 'we' decimated them without batting an eye for sure!

Yes. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were acts of state terrorism that are still being justified by most Americans.

I was wondering about this. This is damaging to Obama at first, but when we see the context of these inflammatory remarks, at least it makes more sense.

If AC is posting on it, that's good news.

I agree BigJohn. I just posted the latest CBS poll on the back page and the news isn't as bad as some would like to believe...

69% thought the speech was good
63% agree with Obama on race relations
71% thought his explanation of relationship with Wright was good
70% say the issue makes no difference
Only 14% say less likely to vote for him
75% of Independents say issue made no difference

AFter watching several of Rev. Wright's sermons, my opinion is he makes a lot of useful sense.

Hi commentary on spiritual matters always is contained in a context you can use in your life this week

I hope the truth about who he is and what he stands for is gaged by his actual words in context and public awareness rather than by FoxNews - who we now know created a strawman from their own barn.

His commentary...

Guess it pays to proof, which I didn't LOL

To be honest though, I still see people milking this for all they can, to continue to dismiss context because it serves their political interest.

I'm sure the repubs will do that, as will the Clintonites (because they have to).

I have to say, Wright's sermon that's been posted, the one that talks about "chicken's coming home to roost" is powerful. It's spiritual. It's scriptural. It's filled with humility and sympathy.

Context means everything.

MRFAIR

African-Americans built this country back when. They fought in the Civil War. They fought in WW2 and Vietnam when they weren't allowed to vote or go where they wanted to go.

Yes, we passed the Civil Rights Act that legislated human status to them.

You and I have no idea what it's like to walk in a black man's skin. Even today, with things vastly improved (at least we mingle here and there) we are not living in the same America most blacks do.

Case in point:

I was in NYC before Christmas. An African-American friend of mine works in management at a Wall Street firm. About 11 pm we hooked up for a bite to eat. I hadn't seen him or his wife in a few years. His wife had other plans so we flagged a cab and went uptown. After dinner, while I was waiting for my credit card and receipt, he went outside to flag a cab. Every cab passed him by - until I got to the curb with him. And that's in 2008.

It's easy for we whites to brush off any concerns or complaints African-Americans may have about the reality of life in America as a black man in 2002, '03, whatever. I lived in L.A. The cops usually stopped single black males walking down the sidewalk because they were black and "in the wrong neighborhood", or even in their own neighborhoods - just to fuck with them.

Obama's right. We need to have a conversation and reconcile once and for all so the color of a man's skin (white or black) doesn't conjure up stereotypes. South Africa had reconciliation. We really haven't yet. We live in two different worlds in the same country.

"I can't get a cab (even though I earn six or seven figures on Wall Street) so GOD DAMN AMERICA!"

AU - I understand 100% what you are trying to to say and I understand 100% that I will never know how tough it is to be black in America. I have said that all along. But I will not give this man a free pass on all those things he says. He speaks like a DR poster on coke. "Condi-Skeez Rice?" "the government GAVE them the drugs?" "God damn America?" to name but a few of his greatest hits.

Just because you say it's in the Bible doesn't mean it's there in the Bible. It seems to justify anti-Americanism.

By the way, have you or anyone you know, been to South Africa lately? I don't think "reconciliation" is quite accurate. To be fair.

MRFAIR

The U.S. Government has been using the drug trade for 40 years. We've even had the CIA flying coke into the country and using the 'off books' money to fund groups in Central America. Going back to the Vietnam Era, we were actively involved in the heroin trade and allowed our personnel to use it there as a panacea.

I'm no conspiracy nut. I've read many credible MSM pieces on our involvement in the drug trade. Sadly, the largest effect of all those drugs has hit our minorities. Drive through the inner city. Drug dealers rule the streets. Right this minute. Someone is turning their eyes the other way and allowing all these drugs to get in the country. We've stopped bombs. Why not most of the illicit drugs? That's my question in context.

Modern day case in point: Allowing Afghanistan to grow their opium poppies to record breaking bumper crops year after year. They're not making children's paint out of them. They make heroin and morphine for the black market. Sad thing is a lot of that money goes to arm the Taliban.

Wright's not lying. If we wanted to stop the drug trade we'd at least have started in a country we're supposedly in control of at this moment.....right?

MRFAIR

Yes, I have several friends in SoAf. They're quite comfortable living there. My last trip there was about 5 years ago. My first was in 1976 when apartheid was at it's zenith. Only 10+ years earlier did legal apartheid end in the American South.

When the blacks took over their own country they didn't shut out whites for all their egregious transgressions. Nelson Mandela wouldn't allow it to happen as had in the former Rhodesia where landowners were forced off their land and retribution ruled the day.

I have a lot of black friends. Have since I was 16. Music is the great equalizer. I'm lucky in that regard.

As to the post above, I'd like to point out that several countries agreed where the opium for medicinal use would be grown and controlled. It did NOT include Afghanistan. Therefore the U.S. has allowed the drug trade there to flourish better than it has ever, with a lot of the profits arming the Taliban and other radical groups. How smart is that?

Why were we unable to stop the opium poppy? We tried, but Taliban threatened villages who were now planning to grow apples and other fruit. The villagers were more or less forced to continue growing opium poppies. Warlords control it's growth, and they aren't all friendly with us. We just look the other way.

Which all gets back to the fact we took our eyes off the ball in Afghanistan to fight in Iraq. We doubly hurt ourselves bringing tragedy not only to Afghanis for the lack of safety in much of the country, carnage in Iraq, and the carnage of heroin addiction globally continues - largely with opium grown in Afghanistan. The legal poppies are grown in Turkey.

AU...

You're making far too much sense for many of the ignorant privileged class to understand. This entire "controversy" is a classic ploy upon the ignorance and disinterest of the general public in what goes on in the black community, and the intentional misuse of parsed words taken out of their proper context, because to the naked ears and eyes they seem incendiary to say the least.

The people who have been shouting the loudest about the "racism" of Rev. Wright now will ignore the fact that the words and allusions he used were inspired by what a WHITE MAN said on Fox News one evening when Wright happened to be watching. The next controversy will likely be to impugn it was IMPOSSIBLE for Wright to be watching Fox News because everyone knows Fox is blacked out in the black communities, replaced by the New Black Panther Party Network.

The next controversy will likely be to impugn it was IMPOSSIBLE for Wright to be watching Fox News because everyone knows Fox is blacked out in the black communities, replaced by the New Black Panther Party Network.

Tony Roma = Buffafro Bob

"The people who have been shouting the loudest about the "racism" of Rev. Wright now will ignore the fact that the words and allusions he used were inspired by what a WHITE MAN said on Fox News one evening when Wright happened to be watching."

OH!...OK, Tony. Wright isn't a bigot at all...it was some "WHITE MAN." I just can't understand why that "WHITE MAN" accused the "WHITE MAN" of inventing AIDS and infecting the black community or evoking the "United States of KKKAmerica."

No matter...I'm OK with it all now so I'm writing a check as we speak to support Obama and the patriotic Reverend Wright. Wright, Obama...oh, and Michelle...are not bigoted at all and are patriotic American heroes.

The people telling you Wright is a bigot are the same ones who misled you about the "chickens coming home to roost" comment, Jestgettinalong. Maybe there's more to the story than the sound bites they've been using to make him sound like a radical black racist.

"Wright Didn't Make 'Chickens' Comment"

I heard him say it or it was a very good voice over. "He never said let me quote..."

"Imus didn't make 'nappy headed hos' comment, he was quoting..." and so on, and so on, and so on.

Maybe there's more to the story than the sound bites they've been using to make him sound like a radical black racist.

Yeah, Wright is so radical Bill Clinton invited him to the WH to hear Clinton's mea culpa about Monica.

Read the linked article, KBM. Wright prefaced the remark by saying, "I heard Ambassador Peck on an interview yesterday did anybody else see or hear him?"

"WHITE MAN" of inventing AIDS and infecting the black community or evoking the "United States of KKKAmerica."

Paranoia in the black community is understandable when viewed through the prism of what is already uncontrovertably known that the white American government did to the subjects in the Tuskeegee Experiment. You don't want to mention that one, do you? So to the victims who were used as human guinea pigs for syphillis research, is it that much of a stretch to think AIDS might come from the same mentality as those who dreamed up Tuskeegee?

KKK is symbolic for white-on-black racism and white superiority, everyone should understand that. It speaks to the mindset that by simply passing a few Acts and bills, centuries of institutional bias became moot and that blacks should get over themselves and just play nice so whites won't have to carry any guilt for the sins of their ancestors.

There isn't anything positive in mentioning the things Wright did in the way he did. But its understandable that having a personal, intellectual relationship with history can breed bitterness and scorn. Blacks never put whites in chains, but I will agree that blacks need to free themselves from the bondage of history in order to move forward. But in the same vein, whites need to cut blacks some slack. I can't think of many complicated relationships where one side or the other doesn't get carried away every now and then. Maybe whites should grow thicker skin and quit bitching from their ivory towers about the peasants down below unless they'd like to trade places and join them.

"Maybe there's more to the story than the sound bites they've been using to make him sound like a radical black racist."

Yeah...and maybe Wright is just a bigot (not a racist, there is a difference)...you know, kinda like his hero, Farrakhan, and others.

75% of Independents say issue made no difference


IMHO that is the most telling. Obama will shake this off as the non-issue that it is. Of course, the righties will continue to harp on this, neglecting to mention that their own right wing televangelists said the same things.

Another case of "do as I say, not as I do" morality from the right.

"Maybe whites should grow thicker skin..."

LOL...Whites should grow thicker skin? I'm sure that's something Ferraro would like to say to the Obama people. You can't be serious with that comment...can you?

It's been about 60 years since Brown vs. Board of Education. I've been saying to myself in recent years that finally the racial divide is over. Blacks have integrated into mainstream society as other minorities have in the past.

Whites didn't notice Obama's color until his political rivals brought it up. It was the spark that was to detour Obama's campaign off the road, as it's the subject of debate everywhere. Tonyrama and American Unity took the bait.

Whites should grow thicker skin? I'm sure that's something Ferraro would like to say to the Obama people. You can't be serious with that comment...can you?

Who's been railing on for days and days over something spoken seven FREAKING years ago in one black church in Chicago and trying to imply a few ill-chosen words define the complete character of another man, who may or may not have been merely a WITNESS to said words, without one iota of evidence he's EVER felt or agreed with what was stated, and absolutely NO EVIDENCE thats he ever stated anything remotely close, himself, in a lifetime of recorded thoughts and words?

Now I understand why your moniker is Jest, because surely you must be to ask such an assinine question when you've been one of the chief advocates that because Obama didn't leave his church, he MUST AGREE with everything Wright's ever said!

Tonyrama and American Unity took the bait.

And in my opinion, we've spoken to it with candor and historical accuracy while others merely try to further muddy the waters.

We weren't getting through a campaign with the first black candidate ever with a likely shot at winning the White House, without race becoming a part of the dialog, particularly when the Clintons have tried to use every form of dog whistle they can think of to minimize Obama into another Jesse Jackson.

To say I took any bait is to say that I shouldn't express who and what I am as an American. This debate has been long overdue, and its largely occuring outside the context of Obama. Its happening one-on-one as it should be.

All I've seen is white consternation with what they believed to be a black man out of control. I've yet to see many express what roles race has played in their own lives and speak to how we can make our society better in the process. I see nothing wrong with the conversation because it shows where the bigotry and ignorance continues to lie, and it allows others to make the points that blacks often can't, for we're more interested in trying to hang onto what little we've managed to gain and to build upon that like any other person seeking the American Dream.

"...because Obama didn't leave his church, he MUST AGREE with everything Wright's ever said!"

Oprah left...and Wright attacked HER for doing so. In Chicago politics, it would have probably hurt Obama to leave and incur Wright's wrath, therefor, he didn't. Face it, Tony...he's JUST a politician. He isn't the savior of the nation you want to make him out to be. He'll do what's politically expedient just like any of the rest of them. You know, kinda like the Clintons who you USED to admire.

" he went outside to flag a cab. Every cab passed him by - until I got to the curb with him. And that's in 2008."

Most NYC cab drivers are Arabs. They do not reflect American values or standards.

This debate has been long overdue, and its largely occuring outside the context of Obama. Its happening one-on-one as it should be.

Tony

You might give some though to what the War on Drugs has done to black communities. It's Jim Crow in a more insidious form. I don't think Obama has ever mentioned it. You too should look past color. I suspect he's an Uncle Tom.

Show me where I've ever stated that Obama isn't a politician. I haven't. We need politicians to occupy the jobs requiring POLITICS.

I simply believe him to be better than most and much more honest to boot. Yes, he came from the Chicago system, but I don't think it defines him as much as you do. Only time will tell, but you currently can't look at his time as an elected official and point out the cronyism and corruption that are symbolic with the Daley machine. Yes, he was friends with Rezko, but most of what Rezko did wasn't illegal and every person can only judge someone on what they see themselves. I haven't read a single word that Rezko was some dispicable low-life that everyone loathed. Was he likely corrupted? It appears so, but that still doesn't mean that Obama is or was.

I judge Obama based on what I see and can read about the man and the judgments of others who spent considerable time working both with and against him. They, to a person, recount an extraordinary man, regardless of their own personal political leanings. You judge him by stereotypes and your own political fears.

You might give some though to what the War on Drugs has done to black communities.

He has mentioned it and it is one of the glaring differences between Hillary and himself. I'm surprised you don't know this. Obama was for the legislation retroactively allowing resentencing in certain drug cases due to the disparity in law over powder versus crack cocaine.

He's spoken very passionately about the crisis that finds nearly as many young black men in jail as there are in colleges. Hillary evidently decided that being "tough on crime" was more important than being fair and trying to do the right thing, so she voted against the bill. Believe it or not, this has been a BIG part of the black swing from Hillary to Obama within the community. To many husbands and fathers are languishing in prisons while their children grow up without their guidance.

You've just uncovered another example of different communities focusing on different issues unbeknownest to the other.

We need politicians to occupy the jobs requiring POLITICS.

Funny flag. There would be no prostitution without prostitutes either.

What is so radical about Wright's sermon? Wright is expressing a certain perspective that many share in the US. Using Christian teachings to condemn the US and magnify the injustices our nation has inflicted on some is no more a new thing than those who overlook the abuses and claim US greatness supported by those same Christian teachings.

Throughout the history of our country, and probably any other country you can name, we have contradictions. All men are created equal some say, others say yeah, if you are a white man. The promise of Life, liberty and pursuit of happiness? Did the Native-Americans get that same promise?

When I first heard Rev. Wright's comments I was amazed but then when I thought about them and tried to put them in perspective I came to think that him saying God Damn America is no more radical than a priveledged white mega-church preacher talking about how the US was founded on the Bible and is blessed by God.

Our nation has done a lot of great things for the world but we've also committed some horrible deeds. I don't agree with everything Rev. Wright said but I have at least come to understand where he's coming from.

"You judge him by stereotypes and your own political fears."

Stereotypes? No, Tony, I don't do stereotypes. Even if I did, he wouldn't fit the "stereotype", would he? I do, however, fear his politics. He's way too far left for me. As one who used to vote democrat, I feel the party has been hijacked by the far left and Obama epitomizes that demographic. I long for democrats like JFK, Scoop Jackson, Mendel Rivers, Sam Nunn, John Stennis et al. Unfortunately, no democrat presidential candidate has resembled any of them for decades now. If it makes you feel any better, I like our current governor, a democrat, and voted for him last election. But, this is Tennessee after all, and not California or Oregon.

Most NYC cab drivers are Arabs. They do not reflect American values or standards.

Well They Were Trained By And Learned From The Previous Generation Of Cab Driver/Owners And Fleet Owners. It Happens And Is Not A Myth.

-Sarge

Tony

I hardly pay attention to what the candidates are saying, but I believe you. But I also remind you that political rhetoric is carefully orchestrated for mass appeal. If Obama should become president, he will be much different for the worse from what you expected.

wright is a racist pure and simple. If you peole can not see this then your are blnd or stupid or both. You pansies have to quit saying "well, terrible things were done in the past, so it's ok fo these people to do this". You know what, all races, religions, countries have done terrible hings in the PAST. If we keep revisiting every wrong done in the past and try it right it then we are doomed.The past is the past, let's move forward.

" he went outside to flag a cab. Every cab passed him by - until I got to the curb with him. And that's in 2008."

Most NYC cab drivers are Arabs. They do not reflect American values or standards. - Vernon


May I propose this post by Vernon as the reason there is little point in arguing to what extent anybody's remarks are racist or not.

Jest...

Cool, I believe you. My personal feelings are indeed that Obama is a liberal, but even more importantly, he's a pragmatist and understands limitations better than most. Many have criticized him politically for accepting less than he wants for the sake of concilliation, and I think this bodes well for his potential presidency.

08R4ever...

Come out from under your rock and view Wright's comments in their proper context. That is what this thread is about and even those who thought him the epitomy of evil now see there was much more there than any hate. He was preaching the biblical ways, pure and simple. May not be to your taste, so be it.

May I propose this post by Vernon as the reason there is little point in arguing to what extent anybody's remarks are racist or not.

I don't think he gets the irony of his own words.

"Most NYC cab drivers are Arabs. They do not reflect American values or standards."
- Vernon

Sitdown,

Damn "Slap Me On My Ass And Call Me Shirley"

I fully missed that "Implication"

1. Does It Imply That Americans Are Bigoted By Institution, Because They Will Not Pick Up Black Passengers ?

2. Does It Mean That Arabs Do Not Have The Capabilities To Be Americans Because They Do Not Have American Values or Standards ?

3. It Was Not What Vernon Meant At All, And What He Meant That Arabs Have Not Gained The Previous Generation Cab Drivers Predigest Ways ?

4. It Was A "Typical" Mis-Understanding ?

5. That It Was None Of The Above ?

-Sarge

Remember how Ron Paul got booed when he mentioned a statement in the 911 commission Report about Al Qaeda and Iranian extremism being due in part because of "blowback" from our foreign policies in the ME?

Sort of like chickens coming home to roost.

But no one wanted to know the truth about our foreign policy.

They couldn't handle the truth.

You whiners can't handle the truth.

You'd rather dine on Bullshit.


The overthrow of a legitimate and democratically elected government in Iran on behalf of a British oil company, and installing a monarch who tortured and killed people to maintain control, eventually caused the Islamic Revolution and the elevation of religious dogma over political rationale.

Hence our problems with Iran and Hezbollah.

We just had to deliver a comeuppance to the Russians so we trained and supplied the mujaheddin giving birth to bin Laden's group - in the same area they are now using to attack us in Afghanistan.

Then we ignored the wacko alliance within Saudi Arabia. Bush hired a PR firm to spice up the argument for "liberating" Kuwait to preserve a dictator who can only shit into a gold plated commode, and then left troops in SA to protect a corrupt regime with 5000 princes, while many Wahhabi's live in squalor outside the 5000 palaces.

For a nation that touts democracy and individual freedom we don't seem to support it overseas, and there's been a rollback since 911 within this country - not that we haven't had similar situations before.

So this faux outrage is bullshit.

It's also "typical" of the ignorant to protest any opinion that doesn't fall within the "my country right or wrong" though it is "typical" that these same people complain about the PC imposition on free speech.

Even the Founders were critical of this country as it grew into a nation.

Sometimes I think that no one ever left high school.

And just how do we know exactly who was being called names? I was called names by blacks and hispanics when i was growing up, so do I get some slack?

IDIOTS

I was called names...Posted by 08r4ever

Your mother called you names. In fact she may have started doing that before you were born. Get over it.

"And just how do we know exactly who was being called names? I was called names by blacks and hispanics when i was growing up, so do I get some slack?

IDIOTS"


I'm assuming that "Idiot" and "Bigot" were the two names 'dem damn blacks and spics called you most huh?

AAAAAAAAWWWWWWW that's not nice guys. Hey it's a beautiful day, I think you should leave the basement and et some fresh air. If you mow the lawn maybe your mommy will give you your allowance.

I was right.. IDIOTS..

Nope, I got a "spic" mowing my lawn and all the "blacks" are doing the work so far this morning.


(i.e. the hispanic-run and owned landscaping company is renovating the townhome and every other agent who is working today happens to be black.)


So nope, I got some time to kill on here being mean to you.

Duh de duh.

What's your excuse?

Malcolm X made the chicken comment about Kennedy's assasination and Ward Churchill echoed it when talking about the reasons behind 9/11.

Well They Were Trained By And Learned From The Previous Generation Of Cab Driver/Owners And Fleet Owners. It Happens And Is Not A Myth.

-Sarge

Posted by Sarge

Sarge, the previous generation was Pakistani's!

"Malcolm X made the chicken comment about Kennedy's assasination and Ward Churchill echoed it when talking about the reasons behind 9/11."

Ward Churchill is a lying con man opportunist whose writings are intellectually bankrupt and who has been, thankfully, discredited by all but the real fringe lunatics of the Left. He claimed to be Native American in order to secure tenure at U. of Colorado, even though he is 100% white, and was subsequently fired for reseacrh fraud and the misappropriation of grant funds from the university. He is a common grifter and a fucking disgrace.

Our nation has done a lot of great things for the world but we've also committed some horrible deeds. I don't agree with everything Rev. Wright said but I have at least come to understand where he's coming from.
Posted by johnny_hotsauce


Thank you Johnny. You have encapsulated the true value of this discussion. Thanks for not being a knee-jerker.

That's why this country is so great. Our mistakes and misdeeds are always someone else's fault.

Doesn't matter. We will play the sentence fragment over and over until our sheep, er, the viewers believe that was the only thing said.

--FOX "NEWS"--

Nappy: I know who Ward Churchill is, I was merely stating the known history of Chickens Coming Home To Roost.

Briwo: Sorry if my post appeared to be arguing for/against your point.. that was not my intent. I was simply chiming in on Churchill's record. No harm no foul. Or fowl, I guess, given the ongoing chickens reference.

AU - we can can only assume he is reading the Ambassador's words verbatim. Do you have a link for the Ambassador's actual interview?

Peck will be back from his cruise in a few days. He's been out of the country. We'll hear from the man himself.

FoxNews, interestingly, doesn't have a transcript available in their archives.

Do you see Wright reading when he breaks away from his sermon? He is not reading off the cuff.

According to accounts I've read of Peck and FoxNews they didn't like him telling the realities of situations. He kinda blew their rosy ass rah rah scenarios. There's no love lost between them. I'm sure he'll be forthcoming with a statement or interview when he gets back. Interesting it would come out just now while he is out of the country....

Nappy: It's all good, without being to see each other or hear voice inflection, it can be hard decipher intent in a post.

Here's what I was refering to:

When queried by reporters concerning his views on the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November 1963, Malcolm X famously and quite charitably, all things considered replied that it was merely a case of "chickens coming home to roost."

On the morning of September 11, 2001, a few more chickens along with some half-million dead Iraqi children came home to roost in a very big way at the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center. Well, actually, a few of them seem to have nestled in at the Pentagon as well.

The Iraqi youngsters, all of them under 12, died as a predictable in fact, widely predicted result of the 1991 US "surgical" bombing of their country's water purification and sewage facilities, as well as other "infrastructural" targets upon which Iraq's civilian population depends for its very survival.

If the nature of the bombing were not already bad enough and it should be noted that this sort of "aerial warfare" constitutes a Class I Crime Against humanity, entailing myriad gross violations of international law, as well as every conceivable standard of "civilized" behavior the death toll has been steadily ratcheted up by US-imposed sanctions for a full decade now. Enforced all the while by a massive military presence and periodic bombing raids, the embargo has greatly impaired the victims' ability to import the nutrients, medicines and other materials necessary to saving the lives of even their toddlers.

All told, Iraq has a population of about 18 million. The 500,000 kids lost to date thus represent something on the order of 25 percent of their age group. Indisputably, the rest have suffered are still suffering a combination of physical debilitation and psychological trauma severe enough to prevent their ever fully recovering. In effect, an entire generation has been obliterated.

Well They Were Trained By And Learned From The Previous Generation Of Cab Driver/Owners And Fleet Owners. It Happens And Is Not A Myth.

-Sarge

Posted by Sarge at 2008-03-22 10:41 AM | Reply

Shirley;

Of course! Arab taxi drivers spend two years at the New York Taxi Academy, learning all about their trade from wizened old taxi veterans. You retard.

They got a driver's license and were issued a cab. They then pick and choose their passengers, based mainly on wo they expect to pay the fare and give a tip.

Too late - bumper stickers have been printed and issued.

Say Vern:

"Most NYC cab drivers are Arabs. They do not reflect American values or standards."
- Vernon

Sitdown,

Damn "Slap Me On My Ass And Call Me Shirley"

I fully missed that "Implication"

1. Does It Imply That Americans Are Bigoted By Institution, Because They Will Not Pick Up Black Passengers ?

2. Does It Mean That Arabs Do Not Have The Capabilities To Be Americans Because They Do Not Have American Values or Standards ?

3. It Was Not What Vernon Meant At All, And What He Meant That Arabs Have Not Gained The Previous Generation Cab Drivers Predigest Ways ?

4. It Was A "Typical" Mis-Understanding ?

5. That It Was None Of The Above ?

I Guess You Forgot All About Your...... Hmm Remark On Arab American Values and Standards ?

I'll Be Waiting Knot-Head

-Sarge

I just found a transcript of Rev Wright's letter to the NYT - which they never printed:

March 11, 2007

Jodi Kantor
The New York Times
9 West 43rd Street
New York, New York 10036-3959

Dear Jodi

Thank you for engaging in one of the biggest misrepresentations of the truth I have ever seen in sixty-five years. You sat and shared with me for two hours. You told me you were doing a "Spiritual Biography" of Senator Barack Obama. For two hours, I shared with you how I thought he was the most principled individual in public service that I have ever met.

For two hours, I talked with you about how idealistic he was. For two hours I shared with you what a genuine human being he was. I told you how incredible he was as a man who was an African American in public service, and as a man who refused to announce his candidacy for President until Carol Moseley Braun indicated one way or the other whether or not she was going to run.

I told you what a dreamer he was. I told you how idealistic he was. We talked about how refreshing it would be for someone who knew about Islam to be in the Oval Office. Your own question to me was, "Didn't I think it would be incredible to have somebody in the Oval Office who not only knew about Muslims, but had living and breathing Muslims in his own family?" I told you how important it would be to have a man who not only knew the difference between Shiites and Sunnis prior to 9/11/01 in the Oval Office, but also how important it would be to have a man who knew what Sufism was; a man who understood that there were different branches of Judaism; a man who knew the difference between Hasidic Jews, Orthodox Jews, Conservative Jews and Reformed Jews; and a man who was a devout Christian, but who did not prejudge others because they believed something other than what he believed.

(continued)

I talked about how rare it was to meet a man whose Christianity was not just "in word only." I talked about Barack being a person who lived his faith and did not argue his faith. I talked about Barack as a person who did not draw doctrinal lines in the sand nor consign other people to hell if they did not believe what he believed.

Out of a two-hour conversation with you about Barack's spiritual journey and my protesting to you that I had not shaped him nor formed him, that I had not mentored him or made him the man he was, even though I would love to take that credit, you did not print any of that. When I told you, using one of your own Jewish stories from the Hebrew Bible as to how God asked Moses, "What is that in your hand?," that Barack was like that when I met him. Barack had it "in his hand." Barack had in his grasp a uniqueness in terms of his spiritual development that one is hard put to find in the 21st century, and you did not print that.

As I was just starting to say a moment ago, Jodi, out of two hours of conversation I spent approximately five to seven minutes on Barack's taking advice from one of his trusted campaign people and deeming it unwise to make me the media spotlight on the day of his announcing his candidacy for the Presidency and what do you print? You and your editor proceeded to present to the general public a snippet, a printed "sound byte" and a titillating and tantalizing article about his disinviting me to the Invocation on the day of his announcing his candidacy.

I have never been exposed to that kind of duplicitous behavior before, and I want to write you publicly to let you know that I do not approve of it and will not be party to any further smearing of the name, the reputation, the integrity or the character of perhaps this nation's first (and maybe even only) honest candidate offering himself for public service as the person to occupy the Oval Office.

Your editor is a sensationalist. For you to even mention that makes me doubt your credibility, and I am looking forward to see how you are going to butcher what else I had to say concerning Senator Obama's "Spiritual Biography." Our Conference Minister, the Reverend Jane Fisler Hoffman, a white woman who belongs to a Black church that Hannity of "Hannity and Colmes" is trying to trash, set the record straight for you in terms of who I am and in terms of who we are as the church to which Barack has belonged for over twenty years.

The president of our denomination, the Reverend John Thomas, has offered to try to help you clarify in your confused head what Trinity Church is even though you spent the entire weekend with us setting me up to interview me for what turned out to be a smear of the Senator; and yet The New York Times continues to roll on making the truth what it wants to be the truth. I do not remember reading in your article that Barack had apologized for listening to that bad information and bad advice. Did I miss it? Or did your editor cut it out? Either way, you do not have to worry about hearing anything else from me for you to edit or "spin" because you are more interested in journalism than in truth.

(continued)

Forgive me for having a momentary lapse. I forgot that The New York Times was leading the bandwagon in trumpeting why it is we should have gone into an illegal war. The New York Times became George Bush and the Republican Party's national "blog." The New York Times played a role in the outing of Valerie Plame. I do not know why I thought The New York Times had actually repented and was going to exhibit a different kind of behavior.

Maybe it was my faith in the Jewish Holy Day of Roshashana. Maybe it was my being caught up in the euphoria of the Season of Lent; but whatever it is or was, I was sadly mistaken. There is no repentance on the part of The New York Times. There is no integrity when it comes to The Times. You should do well with that paper, Jodi. You looked me straight in my face and told me a lie!

Sincerely and respectfully yours,

Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.,
Senior Pastor
Trinity United Church of Christ

NOTE: He said,

"
Out of a two-hour conversation with you about Barack's spiritual journey and my protesting to you that I had not shaped him nor formed him, that I had not mentored him or made him the man he was, even though I would love to take that credit, you did not print any of that.

and yet The New York Times continues to roll on making the truth what it wants to be the truth.

Sorry, Spud knows he's signed off a couple times now but I simply had to return briefly to make a couple of quick comments here.

All MSM exists not so much to inform the national debate but to shape it.

By accenting various aspects of a story or editorialising certain ideas over others.

By trumpeting some stories continually while totally ignoring others.

It's an old game and it's been played longer than anyone blogging here has been alive.

The New York Times is a special case. It prides itself on being America's 'Document of Record'.

The convenient Rightist sound-byte declares that the NYT is a bastion of evil libral thought and regularily denounces it.

This newspaper that now hosts Bill Kristol's psychotic propaganda is a bastion of liberal thought?

Sure, there are some great writers who come from a leftist perspective but the management is now, and has always been, corporatist first and foremost just like every other bigtime MSM outlet in the country.

Watching them jump on board the "Let's Electronically Lynch Obama via Rev. Wright" bandwagon recently is as telling and obvious to anyone who pays attention as reading the columns found there in the lead up to the Iraq war penned by Judith Miller.

Folk who are fond of reading the works of Noam Chomskey are not unfamiliar with the notion that the NYT is one of the American governments best means of "manufacturing consent.

Spud is one of them fondly Chompskey reading folk.

Good eye, AU!

Spud'll be back in the afternoon tomorrow but fer now it's back to teh ole fart-sack.

Them Easter Eggs aint gonna find themselves ya know! (The fact that Spud did the hiding is a big help in that regard, admittedly)

Happy Easter, everyone!

He is risen.

Spud's going back to sleep now.

Be Well.

All the posturing and the elaborate defenses of Obama's racist pastor is kinda funny. A whole lot of cut-n-pastin' and "he was just quoting another guy" and now letters to the editor of the New York Times.

The Reverend Wright is either crazy, or a despicable human being. Does he REALLY believe that AIDS was created by the government to destroy blacks? If so, he's a lunatic. If not, and he's just saying so to get his congregation riled up, he's a horrible piece of shit.

Obama is a graduate of Harvard Law School. And when he says he can no longer disavow Reverend Wright, than he can his own black community, I have a question: why the hell not? Or do I have to take it as a given that they're all as nutty as he is?

I was an agnostic on Obama a month ago. Not any longer. He's managed to surround himself with people who make the Friends of Bill look sensible and level headed. And that is really, really amazing. I wouldn't have thought that was possible.

So the Reverend Wright is typical of the black experience in America, whereas his grandmother is an "average white person." Really? His white grandmother thought nothing at all of raising her bi-racial grandchildren in an age where such things were guaranteed to raise eyebrows. Seems to me that grandma represents what we as Americans should strive for, and Reverend Wright and his ilk should be cast aside. Obama disagrees, though. Which makes him just as despicable as his so-called "reverend".

wright is a fucking racist. Pure and simple.

Remember how Ron Paul got booed when he mentioned a statement in the 911 commission Report about Al Qaeda and Iranian extremism being due in part because of "blowback" from our foreign policies in the ME?

Sort of like chickens coming home to roost.

But no one wanted to know the truth about our foreign policy.

They couldn't handle the truth.

You whiners can't handle the truth.

You'd rather dine on Bullshit.


The overthrow of a legitimate and democratically elected government in Iran on behalf of a British oil company, and installing a monarch who tortured and killed people to maintain control, eventually caused the Islamic Revolution and the elevation of religious dogma over political rationale.

Hence our problems with Iran and Hezbollah.

We just had to deliver a comeuppance to the Russians so we trained and supplied the mujaheddin giving birth to bin Laden's group - in the same area they are now using to attack us in Afghanistan.

Then we ignored the wacko alliance within Saudi Arabia. Bush hired a PR firm to spice up the argument for "liberating" Kuwait to preserve a dictator who can only shit into a gold plated commode, and then left troops in SA to protect a corrupt regime with 5000 princes, while many Wahhabi's live in squalor outside the 5000 palaces.

For a nation that touts democracy and individual freedom we don't seem to support it overseas, and there's been a rollback since 911 within this country - not that we haven't had similar situations before.

So this faux outrage is bullshit.

It's also "typical" of the ignorant to protest any opinion that doesn't fall within the "my country right or wrong" though it is "typical" that these same people complain about the PC imposition on free speech.

Even the Founders were critical of this country as it grew into a nation.

Sometimes I think that no one ever left high school.

Posted by OzarkAggie at 2008-03-22 11:26 AM | Reply | Flag:

Excellent post.

RiR

Ya sure you were agnostic on Obama.

Nice try Alabama Big Republican :-)