Journal sm62704's Journal: Obama: Judged by the company he has kept 20
I've chastised folks for blindly following tired cliches ("money doesn't grow on trees"? Tell that to an orchard owner) but here are two I'm going to trot out here, neither one as universal as any of the others.
"Birds of a feather flock together"
"You are judged by the company you keep."
Well, the first holds true for birds; different species usually don't fly in formation. But it doesn't always hold true for humans, all of whom ARE the same species (except perhaps for my ex-wife, Evil-X, who I suspect was spawned in the depths of hell itself)
But you are indeed judged by the company you keep, even if those judgements may be unfair.
I've had misgivings about Barack Obama since he first ran for Senate. His campaign headquarters was right next door to recycled Records on Adams street downtown here in Springfield. When I walked by his headquarters, I never saw anyone in there except black people.
I've walked past Republican HQs, even when they were running some redneck, and saw people of all races. I thought at the time Obama was racist, but after finding out his mother is white I decided that he must be pandering, like all politicians do.
But then I logged on to his church's web site. It was an "unashamedly black church" and it had the most racist, anti-American rant I'd ever seen.
The post was long gone before the so-called "Christian" pastor with his "unashamedly black church" hit the news. The first thing that struck me was that Christians don't go to black churches, and Christians don't go to white churches. Christians go to Christians churches.
Obama then quit the church he had gone to for twenty years, with its racist, white-hating preacher who had been Obama's close personal friend for political expediency. Score more negative points for him in my book.
Now another of his close personal friends is headed to prison.
Yes, I've known three people who went to prison, one a close personal friend and another the brother of an even closer persoanl friend, as well as my cousin who I haven't seen since I was a kid... no, make that four, Mike's cousin is in a Misouri prison for DUI (what George Bush paid a hundred dollar fine for).
But I'm not running for President, now am I? I'm just posting journals about drinking and hookers (and Obama and other nefarious things and people) on slashdot.
But I think there's little to fear that Illinois will lose its Senator. The nature of Republican politics makes it a near certainty that both the first black President and the first woman President (unless Bush and Cheney both die before January) will be Republican.
Neither Democratic front runners had a chance. I just hope McCain won't be as bad a President as I fear he will be.
I'm voting for Bob Barr, and I thank God he doesn't have a snowball in hell's chance of winning.
Sen. Barack Obama, calling the saga of convicted Chicago power broker Tony Rezko "a sad story,'' suggests that he has had plenty to say already about any support that he had drawn from Rezko in the past and is focused on the presidential campaign ahead.
"Obviously, he was a friend, he was a supporter, he raised money for my campaigns,'' Obama said in an interview with Tom Negovan of WGN in Chicago. "Now, he's a sad story of somebody who clearly crossed the line.''
Rezko, whose friendship and fundraising benefited the careers of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Obama and others, was convicted Wednesday of using political clout to orchestrate millions of dollars in kickbacks. A federal jury found Rezko guilty on 16 of 24 counts in a trial that exposed an ingrained culture of corruption in Illinois government.
God help our nation whichever one of these corporate-owned power hungry men win.
Wow (Score:2)
White Christians certainly do go to white churches, and black churches exist because blacks weren't welcome in those white churches until very recently (and still aren't in many). Do you really expect a religious tradition edging on half a millennium to up and disappear because a portion of wh
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Any church that wouldn't welcome blacks in it has something SERIOUSLY wrong with both its pastor and its congregation. You have to remember that Pat Robertson and his ilk have done more
Christianity doesn't have any tenets (Score:2)
Pat Robertson and his ilk are just as 'true Christians' as you and yours. If you want to identify as Christian in a general sense, rather than a specific denomination, you'll have to accept that you're putting yourself in the same category as them. Even on a denominational level, you're almost certain to find similar people pretty much anywhere but the Unitarian Universalists. Maybe even there.
No one is judging you for things others have done. You don't seem to realize
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A Christian preacher doesn't preach the polar opposite of what the Bible says Christ taught. Robertson does.
If a church is thought of as a "black church" because it's so deep in the ghetto that the only Christians for miles around are black (and the only white people around are hoodlums) it's still not a "black church". It's a Christian church that only blacks are attending.
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You really don't seem to get what the black church is. They're not churches that just happen to have black members, it's an independent tradition. It's no more racist than the Church of England.
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Christianity is based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Period. When Jesus said leaves no wiggle room, no "well it's ok to assassinate a foreign leader because he's a commie."
Nope (Score:2)
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That's the kernel of your problem right there. Your experience is not other's, and to expect it is folly. Revel in the differences between us instead of fearing them.
Kinda surprised. After reading your JEs for a while, I expected a little more tolerance from you.
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Sorry to hear about the cold. Is it as ridiculously hot in Springfield as it is here near Chicago? It's been in the high 80s to 90 here lately, I'm getting sick of it.
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I lived in the South for a number of years and had the opportunity to attend services at a black church. I didn't see racism.
Not all black churches are racist, but Trinity sure as hell is. I mean, c'mon. "The United States of White America"? "Whites invented AIDS to commit genocide against blacks"? Did you totally miss the whole Father Pflager rant? Did you look at the congregation's reaction when Pflager claimed that Clinton felt she was entitled to the nomination because she was white and Obama is black? They cheered in agreement!
It makes no difference what black church you attended. I'm glad the one you visited is not
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You might want to consider some history before you dismiss that specific comment as a mere racist rant.
I am well aware of the Tuskegee Study, and have considered it. Click your own link, and you will find that the Tuskegee study was ended 36 years ago because of the public outcry that ensued after the existence of the study was published to a national audience in the New York Times.
In other words, the public did not tolerate such wanton disregard for human life even back then. So could you please explain to me how we get from a despicable study that ended 36 years ago because the public did not tolerate i
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Then he's progressing from his days campaigning for Senate. I thought "this guy's pandering." But 50/50 split between white/black still isn't very good, considering that the US Census Bureau says [census.gov] that 12.9% of the population is black.
If I have a factory with 100 employees and only four of them are black, I'm not only going to be called racist but I'll be sued for disscrimination. If I have a factory with 100 employees and half of
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Don't judge a man by his vicar (Score:2)
However, I don't really judge people on what their vicars come out with. Most priests are all a bit nuts in some way or another, but they don't hold the real power in the church, there is normally a committee of lay people who watch the vicars come and go.
Wow. (Score:2)