posted June 29, 2008 01:23 PM         

"Neptunian illusion in Aquarius may manifest as charismatic leaders of blindly devoted followers. Check your body, use your basic instincts to verify if what you’re being told resonates within you. If it doesn’t descend from the head, then it’s not likely to lead to your liberation."

posted June 29, 2008 02:29 PM         

quote:

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Yeah acoustic, you say you championed Jan Spiller...but, you utterly refuse to take the advice she gave you to adhere to your Capricorn North Node.

---

Have you read the chapter?

"The first job for these folks is to decide to distance themselves from total emotional involvement with their family. Once they let go, they are in a position to proceed with their own life." - Astrology For the Soul, Jan Spiller

I haven't lived around my family in 17 years.

I'm not going to go through point by point refuting your idiocy. Suffice to say, you are sufficiently clueless enough not to have your finger on the pulse of who I am.

I'm not married. I have no kids. I'm in a relationship with a Sag. All these things point to an independent mindset. I have almost no trappings where dependency is concerned.

I've got three entrepeneurial ideas that I'm working on. There's a reason I can make posts like the one you find here: http://www.linda-goodman.com/ubb/Forum23/HTML/000036.html

quote:

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AcousticGod, thank you, you just deconstructed Jwhop for us all. Very enlightening.

---

posted June 29, 2008 03:25 PM         

Yes, he does, but exactly HOW does he propose to go about it? Everyone is so eager for change that they don't even care that he can't answer that with specifics.

I liked him at first. I was also caught up in his charisma. But that's all he has as far as I can tell. So I'm not voting for him.

I don't care about his birth certificate. I don't care about his chart. I want concrete answers and he isn't giving them.

I detest that people bring race into this. Maybe for a small amount of people it's race, but this is NOT a very racist country if he's one of the nominees for President of our country. If we were a predominantly racist country, he wouldn't have gotten this far. We're not racist, but most of us are so disillusioned and eager for change - any change, that we'll believe anything. Anything. Change isn't always good. Be careful what you wish for....

I would never tell anyone how to vote, but I will tell people to look beneath the surface and question everything before you cast your ballot.

And it does matter if he's a muslim. In case you hadn't noticed, a good amount of them want to kill us. I'm not saying he's one of them, but I'm not comfortable with his ties. I'm not comfortable with his "uncle" who is so anti-american that it sends shivers up my spine. Reverend Wright is a racist.

posted June 29, 2008 03:56 PM         

He lists down the issues including the problems and the solutions http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

Not only that....he has PDF file for his blueprint of Change. It's not like he's all vague. He clearly lists the issues and how he is going to address them. He laid out very detailed,clear plans. It's 64 pages long too. He even talked about these things in his speeches too.
http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/ObamaBlueprintForChange.pdf

posted June 29, 2008 03:59 PM         

I disagree. Racism is still a problem in our country.

Racism is still a big issue. If anybody thinks otherwise,he/she's blind.
As a multiethnic person,I am an idealist(Moon in Pisces in 6th square Jupiter-Neptune in Sagittarius in 3rd) in that I wish that we all get along,love each other,and treat each other like fellow human beings. I am a realist(Moon square retrograde Saturn in Gemini in 9th) in that I see that racism is still a serious problem.

My first time being called the n'word was on my 9th birthday by a blue eyed blonde gal who I played with and went to school with. The last time that I was called the n'word was in 2004 in an Astrology chatroom on yahoo after I had confronted the white guy for calling arabs, sand-n'words. I was furious. What made me more furious is that a lot of people in the chatroom thought I was overreacting and that it shouldn't bother me.

In 1991, I also knew a white navy doctor who believed that multiethnic people like me are biologically psychological messed up because of our mixtures. The sad thing is that I even believed in it for awhile.

It was mainly white kids that called me "retard" when I was in special education for my Dyslexia,Dyspraxia.

Retard,n'word are the 2 words that anger me the most.

I agree with a lot of what Reverend Wright said. I disagree with him about the AIDS being created for blacks though.

A lot of White ministers have said things so controversial and bigoted,they don't get condemned like a black preacher who focus on the racism issue and points out that racism is still alive and well.

"The United States is doing little to comply with an international
agreement to end racial discrimination and has downplayed widespread
racism, charged an American Civil Liberties Union report released
yesterday." http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/x773671370

DEKALB, Ill.---- Black students attending Northern Illinois University
say they feel unsafe after racial slurs and references to shootings
earlier this year at Virginia Tech were found scrawled on a bathroom wall.
The university, which was closed Monday as a security precaution, is
scheduled to reopen Tuesday. http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/691002,niu121107.article

Racial microaggressions add up, researchers say http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/820146.html

African-Americans are 10 times more likely than whites to serve prison
terms for drug offenses, even though the rate of drug use doesn't
differ significantly between the two groups, a new national study says. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07345/840756-85.stm?cmpid=localstate.xml

Overlooking racism may lead to undiagnosed mental health disorders http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-09/vu-orm091503.php

Being African American increases a mentally ill individual’s chance of being diagnosed with schizophrenia and reduces the likelihood of that person’s receiving an affective disorder diagnosis. While data have pointed to this fact for several years, psychiatrists are beginning to assess the ramifications of this finding for blacks and how it adds a host of complicating factors to their treatment. http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/36/10/17

CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests the possibility of racial and other disparities in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with schizophrenia and comorbid affective and anxiety disorders. Although various causal explanations are plausible, all point toward the need for enhanced cross-cultural competence at all levels of mental health care, especially in the diagnosis and treatment of comorbid psychiatric illnesses. http://psychservices.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/52/9/1216

Causes, Effects, and Resolutions for Misdiagnosis of
African Americans in the Mental Health Sector http://freednerd.wordpress.com/2006/10/

The (Mis)Diagnosis of Mental Disorder in African Americans
Harold W. Neighbors, Associate Professor, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public
Health, The University of Michigan www.rcgd.isr.umich.edu/prba/perspectives/winter1997/hneighbors.pdf

Clinical Depression And African Americans http://www.health.am/ab/more/clinical_depression_and_african_americans/

Dec 1, 1999 | It took only a few weeks on the job for William Lawson to notice that there was something very strange going on. The psychiatrist had just joined the staff of the John L. McClellan Veterans Hospital in North Little Rock, Ark., and already he had seen patient after patient -- dozens of them, as it turned out -- with the same ill-fitting diagnosis. All African-American men, all veterans of combat in the Vietnam War, they suffered from terrifying nightmares, gut-twisting anxiety, flashbacks of fighting -- classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Yet they'd been assigned a very different condition: schizophrenia. http://dir.salon.com/story/books/it/1999/12/01/schizo?sid=476003

Are schools failing black boys?
Eight percent of the children in America’s public school are black boys, yet their representation in the nation’s special education classes is nearly twice that: 15 percent. African American males are also three times likely as white males to be enrolled in special education programs for "mildly to moderately mentally retarded," according to a 1992 report released by the Office of Civil Rights. http://www.terry.uga.edu/~dawndba/4500FailingBlkBoys.html

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the degree to which Black students are overrepresented and misplaced in special education, as a result of current testing and placement practices, insufficient parental knowledge of special education rights and responsibilities, and the need for more cultural diversity training for teachers. The two subjects interviewed were a special education teacher/chairperson and a principal; both employed in the same school. A class of special education students was unknowingly observed. Interview responses show little satisfaction with the current methods of placing Black children into special education programs. The observations demonstrated that the majority of the children did not need to be placed there. The use of Black psychologists, increased parental support and knowledge, a non-biased test for placement and increased preservice and inservice training was recommended. http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/peterz1.html

Minority parents want prompt diagnosis of child autism
In Hartford, Merva Jackson, executive director of the nonprofit African Caribbean American Parents of Children With Disabilities, said she believes that many black children with autism-spectrum disorders are misdiagnosed as having defiant, oppositional or behavioral problems.
"I think it's just a lack of knowledge" on the part of black families about what autism is, said Jackson, as well as cultural insensitivities or racism on the part of doctors and other professionals who evaluate children. http://www.dailytidings.com/2007/0525/stories/0525_bp_autism.php

According to the federal Household Survey, "most current illicit drug users are white. There were an estimated 9.9 million whites (72 percent of all users), 2.0 million blacks (15 percent), and 1.4 million Hispanics (10 percent) who were current illicit drug users in 1998." And yet, blacks constitute 36.8% of those arrested for drug violations, over 42% of those in federal prisons for drug violations. African-Americans comprise almost 58% of those in state prisons for drug felonies; Hispanics account for 20.7%. http://www.drugwarfacts.org/racepris.htm

Job applicants with African-American sounding names are far less likely to get a callback as are similarly qualified "white" candidates, according to researchers at the University of Chicago and MIT, who submitted 5,000 bogus resumes in response to job ads. Half the resumes bore stereotypical African-American names such as Latonya and Tyrone; half sported traditionally Anglo names like Kristin and Brad. http://www.psychologytoday.com/rss/pto-20030430-000001.html

Can a 'Black' Name Affect Job Prospects?
Can a Black-Sounding Name Hurt Your Career Prospects?
But capable doesn't always matter. A job recruiter for Fortune 500 companies in northern California revealed an ugly secret."There is rampant racism everywhere. And people who deny that are being naïve," said the recruiter, who spoke on the condition her name would not be used. http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Story?id=124232&page=3

Thomas is one of eight black women suing the department store for racial discrimination after she allegedly was told that Dillard's beauty salons charge black customers more than whites because of the "kinky" nature of "ethnic" hair. http://www.courttv.com/people/2006/0425/dillardssalon_ctv.html

Black Customers File Discrimination Lawsuit Against Waffle House http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/georgia/news-article.aspx?storyid=31028

(CNN) -- Most Americans, white and black, see racism as a lingering problem in the United States, and many say they know people who are racist, according to a new poll.
But few Americans of either race -- about one out of eight -- consider themselves racist.
And experts say racism has evolved from the days of Jim Crow to the point that people may not even recognize it in themselves. http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/12/racism.poll/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush acknowledged persistent racism in America and lamented the Republican Party's bumpy relations with black voters as he addressed the NAACP's annual convention Thursday for the first time in his presidency.
"I understand that racism still lingers in America," Bush told the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "It's a lot easier to change a law than to change a human heart. And I understand that many African-Americans distrust my political party." http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8IVQT000&show_article=1

The researchers performed fMRIs on 13 white participants. During the scans, participants viewed a series of faces -– some of which could be consciously seen and some of which were presented so quickly that participants did not report seeing them. The researchers found that for the ultra-brief subliminal images, amygdala activity was greater in response to black faces than to white faces, suggesting that at least initially, black faces provoked a stronger emotional reaction than white faces. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-12/hu-bar120804.php

Stereotypes of black people http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotypes_of_Blacks

Despite the fact that half of all blacks say they have experienced discrimination in the past 30 days, whites persist in believing that we know their realities better than they do, and that black complaints of racism are the rantings of oversensitive racial hypochondriacs. Blacks, we seem to believe, make mountains out of molehills, for Lord knows we would never make a molehill out of a mountain! http://www.guerrillanews.com/threads/13568/why_whites_think_blacks_have_no_problems

Being Black and Beautiful Against Stereotypes http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/entertainment/index/beautiful042507

Affirmative Action: Who Benefits? http://www.apa.org/pubinfo/affirmaction.html

No Surprise - Skin Tone Study Reveals Preference for Light-Skinned Employees http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/skintonestudy925

WASHINGTON (NNPA)- Some thought color discrimination among African Americans had pretty much blown away with the black cultural revolution of the 1960s and 1970s.
But according to sociologists, academics and other measures of the nation's social barometer, the issue is still rooted in day-to-day life. http://www.frostillustrated.com/atf.php?sid=2381

Failed party promotion underscores color divide between US black women
Yasmine Toney describes herself as a "dark-skinned sista." So when she heard about a recent club promotion in Detroit, allowing all-night free admission to black women with fair or light skin, she was incensed.
"It's offensive," Toney said. "It continues a negative stereotype."
"I'm perceived to be aggressive, assertive, attitude-having ... a lot of things, because my complexion is darker," said the 24-year-old receptionist. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/19/america/NA-GEN-US-Skin-Tone.php

Obviously Wright made some true statements. I feel that a lot of people are blind to the reality of what blacks(especially darkskinned blacks) still deal with in regards to racism,discrimination,bigotry,and mistreatment. When a black preacher points it out,they are seen as crazy,racist,and God knows what else. I have a big problem with that. I am very concerned about how people can be so naive and be in denial about racism. We still have a long way to go to achieve Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's dream.

I want to reiterate that all racism,discrimination,bigotry,and mistreatment is wrong......it doesn't matter if you're Black,White,Native American,Asian,Pacific Islander,or whatever a person's background is.

Raymond Andrews

posted June 29, 2008 04:06 PM         

Obama's success fuels affirmative action's foes

By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer Sat Jun 28, 7:17 AM ET

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama's political success might claim an
unintended victim: affirmative action, a much-debated policy that he
supports.
ADVERTISEMENT

Already weakened by several court rulings and state referendums,
affirmative action now confronts a challenge to its very reason for
existing. If Americans make a black person the leading contender for
president, as nationwide polls suggest, how can racial prejudice be so
prevalent and potent that it justifies special efforts to place
minorities in coveted jobs and schools?

"The primary rationale for affirmative action is that America is
institutionally racist and institutionally sexist," said Ward
Connerly, the leader of state-by-state efforts to end what he and
others consider policies of reverse discrimination. "That rationale is
undercut in a major way when you look at the success of Senator
Clinton and Senator Obama." Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York
battled Obama to the end of the Democratic primary process.

Other critics of affirmative action agree. "Obama is further evidence
that the great majority of Americans reject discrimination, reject
prejudice," said Todd F. Gaziano, a scholar at the conservative
Heritage Foundation and a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Not so fast, say supporters of affirmative action. Just because Barack
Obama, Oprah Winfrey and other minorities have reached the top of
their professions does not mean that ordinary blacks, Latinos or women
are free from day-to-day biases that deny them equal access to top
schools or jobs, they say.

As affirmative action's power has diminished, minority enrollment has
fallen at many prominent colleges, said Gary Orfield, an authority on
the subject at UCLA.

"If people get the impression from Obama's success that the racial
problems of this country have been solved, that would be very sad,"
Orfield said. "In some ways we have moved backwards" in recent years,
he said.

Wade Henderson, head of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights,
said, "Exceptions don't make the rule."

"By any measure, Obama and Clinton are clearly exceptional
individuals," he said. "When you really examine the masses of
Americans, especially women and people of color, you still find
incredible disparities," which justify the continuation of affirmative
action programs.

Obama, who asks voters neither to support nor oppose him on the basis
of his race, has dealt gently with affirmative action. He says his two
young daughters have enjoyed great advantages, and therefore should
not receive special consideration because of their race.

"On the other hand," he said in an April debate, "if there's a young
white person who has been working hard, struggling, and has overcome
great odds, that's something that should be taken into account" by
people such as college admission officers.

"So I still believe in affirmative action as a means of overcoming
both historic and potentially current discrimination," Obama said.
"But I think that it can't be a quota system and it can't be something
that is simply applied without looking at the whole person, whether
that person is black, or white, or Hispanic, male or female."

Tucker Bounds, spokesman for Republican presidential candidate John
McCain, said McCain's commitment to equal opportunity for all
Americans "means aggressively enforcing our nation's
anti-discrimination laws."

"It also means rejecting affirmative action plans and quotas that give
weight to one group of Americans at the expense of another," Bounds
said. "Plans that result in quotas, where such plans have not been
judicially created to remedy a specific, proven act of discrimination,
only result in more discrimination."

Affirmative action, a term coined in the early 1960s, is a loosely
defined set of policies meant to help rectify discrimination based on
race, religion, sex or national origin. It quickly proved
controversial, especially in the public arena, as some white males
alleged they were losing government jobs and public university
admissions to less qualified minorities and women.

The Supreme Court ruled 30 years ago that universities could use race
as one factor in choosing applicants, but it banned quotas. Subsequent
court decisions placed more restrictions on affirmative action, and
Connerly and others launched ballot initiatives that virtually
crippled it in some states.

In 1996, California voters passed Proposition 209, pushed by Connerly.
It bars all government institutions from giving preferential treatment
to people based on race or gender, and particularly affects college
admissions and government contracts. Similar measures passed in
Michigan and Washington state, and Connerly hopes to have versions on
the ballots this fall in Colorado, Nebraska and Arizona.

The erosion of affirmative action is forcing colleges and other
institutions to seek new ways of pursuing diversity, with mixed results.

"What had been a national policy is being dismantled, state by state,"
University of Washington President Mark A. Emmert wrote in the
Christian Science Monitor last year. He said his campus has learned
that it still can "ensure diversity and access to higher education,
particularly by taking socio-economic factors into account."

While Emmert laments the erosion of affirmative action, others say it
is overdue. It's great if Obama's success hastens the process, they
say, but previous achievements by blacks in business, government,
entertainment and other fields already have undermined the argument
that racial discrimination is rampant.

Defenders of affirmative action cite continuing disparities between
blacks and whites in areas such as income, education achievement,
health care and incarceration rates. These disparities, however, "have
roots in problems that are not addressed by affirmative action," said
Abigail Thernstrom, a Manhattan Institute senior fellow and vice chair
of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

They are complex, deep-seated factors that put many minority children
behind their peers as early as kindergarten, she said. In confronting
such challenges, she said, "racial preferences don't solve anything."

To some extent, Obama agrees that affirmative action is poorly suited
to address such problems. But it still is needed, he says.

"Affirmative action is an important tool, although a limited tool,"
Obama told National Public Radio last year.

"I say limited simply because a large portion of our young people
right now never even benefit from affirmative action because they're
not graduating from high school," he said. "And unless we do a better
job with early childhood education, fixing crumbling schools,
investing to make sure that we've got an excellent teacher in front of
every classroom, and then making college affordable, we're not even
going to reach the point where our children can benefit from
affirmative action."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080628/ap_on_el_pr/obama_affirmative_action;_ylt=As\
Hh0UkF31xB2ft8Ywfo5pRsnwcF

posted June 29, 2008 04:08 PM         

Why shouldn't they stay here? It's their country too. They worked their butts off to help whites build this country against their will since 1619. A lot of blacks fought in the Civil War, thanks to Abraham Lincoln making that possible. Why shouldn't they get a peace of the pie? Why shouldn't the Native Americans for that matter? Even after the Civil War ended, the Klu Klux Klan terrorized blacks. They had abolutionist Frederick Douglass speaking out against injustice. Black Codes were passed that denied Blacks their civil rights. Blacks wanted to stay in the country because they felt that USA was a country where everybody is equal. Frederick Douglass stressed that. He was dead set against going to Africa. He was half black from his mother and half white from his father. His 2nd/last wife was White. This was a man who believed in interracial harmony to the utmost even though he was a former slave who knew what it was like to get his back whipped. He wanted to live the American Dream. He and many other blacks felt that they had a chance to make it in USA like the whites. They considered themselves "Americans", but unfortunately they were not treated like Americans.

What about the Native Americans? If they are unhappy here in USA, where should they go?? They were here first. They aren't called Native Americans for nothing. Calling them Indians is geographically incorrect as they are not from India. Christopher Columbus called the people of America, Indios because he thought he was in India after sailing west. He believed the world was round,and that's why he sailed west. Amerigo Vespucci showed that North America,South America was actually different continents and not India. America was named after him.

It is argued that after 143 years after emancipation,blacks grumble about "The Man" keeping them down and whining about how badly they are treated by white institutional racism.

Emancipation didn't end racism,bigotry,mistreatment,discrimination. The Jim Crow laws can tell you that. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had to lead the civil rights movement to inspire a nation and that led to blacks in the South getting Civil Rights with President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Civil Rights acts. It took a Southern Black Man to lead the Civil Rights movement. It makes sense. After all, he experienced the racism,bigotry,discrimination,mistreatment of being Black in the South. It's often people that have experienced things themselves that make powerful advocates and activists.

It's not about being angry about slavery. It's about the racism,discrimination,and bigotry that goes on here in USA right now. Heck..I am not angry about slavery. I know that I wouldn't be here because of slavery. I can't go back to Africa like some racists whites tell people because my roots aren't just from Africa. They are from Portugal,England,France,Italy,Germany,Spain, Israel, as well as right here in America. USA is a meltingpot, multiracial,multiethnic,multifaith country, and I am glad that I am here. However,that doesn't mean that I shouldn't be in discontent with what goes on here in USA. Racism is a big problem. Absence of slavery and no Jim Crow laws doesn't rule out racism,discrimination,and bigotry.

Another thing is that the average Black is not even all Black. They are tryhybrid mixture of Black,White,and Native American. Blacks and Native Americans mixed. Some blacks joined native american tribes. Many whites raped black women,and so they had mixed children,and that's why there are many lightskinned blacks like Reverend Wright. It was very common for whites to rape their black women slaves. Rape is a form of power like everybody says. For a white master to rape his black slave woman was telling her that he had power over her. That's why a lot of blacks don't like it when a white man and black woman are in a relationship. A lot of whites don't like it when a black man and white woman in a relationship because they view it as the black man getting back at the white man by messing with their women. That's how a lot of people think. Many more people thought that a long time ago. Some indentured white servants even mated with blacks,and so there were interracial relationships without rape. Interracial relationships were considered a threat to society. That's why they passed antimiscegenation laws. That's why they passed the one drop rule(if you are part black,you're black). They wanted to keep the white race pure. Many lightskinned mixed people passed for white too. like my stepfather's mother. Many whites have black in them. I read that a quarter of whites in USA have some black ancestry. Heck...James Watson,the Nobel Prize winning DNA scientist that claimed blacks were less intelligent than whites, was shown to have some black ancestry. Of course,yesterday scientists,doctors(including psychiatrists) came up with theories of blacks being genetically inferior.

As you know, I am born from an interracial relationship. I am a representative of the Great American meltingpot. I defy the one drop rule. I don't like society fitting me into a box. I don't like blacks fitting me into the race box,and I don't like whites fitting me into a race box. Many other multiethnics don't like it either. Tiger Woods is a perfect example. He refers to himself as Cablinasian. I consider myself American,but I embrace all my heritage and background. I am not blind and naive when it comes to racism,bigotry,discrimination,and mistreatment in our country. I won't hesitate to speak out against it. I won't hesitate to defend people who are slammed because they speak out against it. Things need to change. Leaving the country isn't going to change things.

Raymond N. Andrews

posted June 29, 2008 04:14 PM         

By LINN WASHINGTON, Jr.

The same day that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama stood in Philadelphia delivering a stirring speech on racism in America, authorities shut down a section of I-95 in that city to conduct emergency repairs on a crumbling support beam.

In many ways this serious infrastructure damage to the East Coast's main north-south interstate highway--causing that closure--is as symbolic of conditions in America as the race-based 'Rev. Wright' controversy triggering Obama's speech.

America's infrastructure--from bridges to railroads to pipes delivering drinking water--is crumbling because of chronic inattention.

The chronic inability of America to really address racism has corroded its lofty promises since before the drafting of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia over 200-years ago. Obama began that speech quoting from the Preamble to the Constitution.

Remarks regarding racism in America by Rev. Jeremiah Wright--the retiring pastor of the Chicago church Obama attends--have become fodder in this year's contentious presidential campaign.

Yet, is Wright wrong about racism--as Obama stated in that speech--or is he right? Are Wright's remarks treasonous as some critics proclaim or do his remarks reveal truths that for many are not self-evident?

Many slam Wright for raising a historically correct albeit uncomfortable fact: the role of racism in America's founding.

The US Constitution that Obama quoted at the outset of his speech enshrined slavery--a point the Senator discussed in the first dozen sentences of that speech.

America's first president, George Washington, kept slaves in the Executive Mansion he occupied in Philadelphia during part of his presidency.

The location of the stable where Washington's slaves lived in Philadelphia is literally at the entrance of the current pavilion housing the iconic Liberty Bell. That stable housing Washington's slaves was steps from Independence Hall, the building where America's Founders approved the Constitution.

Rev. Wright is not the first black to provoke criticism for criticizing constitutional shortcomings.

Legendary US Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall sparked a firestorm in 1987 when he criticized imperfections in the Constitution--like slavery and barring women from voting--during a speech in Philadelphia celebrating the bicentennial of that document.

Critics call Rev. Wright un-American for assailing America's skewed priorities like spending for prisons while short-changing public education and job creation.

During the 1990s Pennsylvania authorities built eleven new prisons yet only one new public high school in Philadelphia, Rev. Wright's hometown. According to Pa government statistics, most of the people sent to that state's prisons are unemployed and undereducated.

Two months ago, America celebrated a national holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights activist who consistently urged America to rise above its racism--a central theme of Obama's recent speech.

Dr. King provoked intense criticism during the last year of his life for assailing America's skewed priorities, particularly funding a foreign war (Vietnam) while failing to fully attack poverty from Harlem to the hollows of Appalachia.

On the day of his death Dr. King was in Memphis, TN fighting against employment discrimination, a recurring problem in America.

The first major race riot in Philadelphia (1834) involved whites rampaging to bar blacks from jobs.

Six years ago, protests against discriminatory exclusion of minority and female construction workers cast a shadow over completion of the Constitution Center--the magnificent multi-media museum where Obama delivered that Philadelphia speech.

Just weeks before Obama's speech, clashes over continuing construction industry racism dominated deliberations about expanding Philadelphia's Convention Center.

Forty years ago--Feb 1968--the Kerner Commission issued recommendations calling for massive action "backed by resources" to address America's infamous legacy of racism--recommendations never fully funded due partly to siphoning resources into the Vietnam War.

Consistent calls over the past decade for addressing America's crumbling infrastructure encounter claims that 'no-cash' is availabledespite the federal government's ability to find over $500-billion for the Iraq War that hit the five-year mark this month.

Rebuilding America's crumbling infrastructure provides an excellent vehicle for addressing a concern critical to the nation's viability that also energizes the faltering economy with jobs and business opportunities.

The $6-billion cost Pa's Governor recently said is needed to modernize I-95 through his state alone equals a few months of Iraq War costs.

Pumping cash into needed infrastructure renovations can also address the poverty and prejudice underlying America's perennial 'race' problem.

Federal funding for infrastructure upgrades is not unique.

During an economic downturn in the mid-1970s, for example, the federal government distributed two billion dollars to state and local governments for public works projects to stimulate the national economy.

Interestingly, the exclusion of minority contractors from that stimulus resulted in a minority set-aside that prompted a lawsuit from Philadelphia-area contractors backed by trade unions claiming reverse discrimination despite their receipt of over 99% of the initial allocation and 90% under the set-aside provision.

Recounting America's past and present racism by Rev. Wright or others does not brand all whites racist, assert that racism is a barrier to all blacks or ignore the nuances of inequities confronting too many Americas regardless of color or creed.

When America's Founding Fathers issued their Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia over two centuries ago, many in England were unaware of the "history of repeated injuries" that document listed against their King.

Forty years ago, the Introduction of the Kerner Commission report noted white Americans "never fully understood what [blacks] can never forget"--the role of white institutions in sustaining America's racially discriminatory society.

It may surprise some, but blacks want to move beyond racism also. Blacks have always wanted to move beyond racism but racism blocks advance.

In January 1800 Congress debated a petition signed by 73 Free Blacks living in Philadelphia asking for the extension of America's 'promises' of freedom and justice to persons of color. That petition was the first from blacks seeking an end to slavery. Additionally, that petition specifically sought congressional protection from the illegal practice of kidnapping Free Blacks into slavery.

Congress rejected that petition.

During debate on that petition at Independence Hall--two blocks from the Constitution Center--one congressman proclaimed "Thank God for slavery." Rev. Wright is pilloried today for asking God to "damn America" for its racism during a church sermon years ago.

In February 2008, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination faulted the US for failing to address racism against its racial minorities--criticism receiving scant news media attention in comparison to the orgy of coverage on comments by Rev. Wright.

Irrespective of Rev. Wright's remarks, it's wrong to put America's long festering race woes solely on the back of Barack.

Instead of Hillary Clinton or John McCain showing self-proclaimed leadership by denouncing the duplicity of using Obama's candidacy as a barometer for racism in America, the pair remained silent, savoring political advantage.

Politics like race is a time tested weapon of mass deception exploited to smoke-screen public attention important issues.

Near the dawn of the 20th-Century, power-brokers and their puppet politicians' foisted Jim Crow segregation to splinter inter-racial populism rising in the South at that time.

The 1896 US Supreme Court decision legalizing segregation resulted from a discrimination lawsuit in New Orleansthe city where the pathetic federal response to flooding a few years ago again exposed many Americans to realities of race/racism.

Forty years ago, the Kerner Commission declared the time was now to make good on the "promises of American democracy to all citizenswhite and black, Spanish-surname, American Indian and every minority group."

The Kerner Commission, like Obama in his speech, spoke about "unfinished business" of this Nation.

The issue today is as it was at the time of the 1968 Kerner Report and that 1800 congressional debate: making the promises of democracy real for all Americans.

We have the way. Do we still lack the collective will?

Linn Washington Jr. is a columnist for The Philadelphia Tribune.
http://www.counterpunch.org/washington03252008.html

posted June 29, 2008 04:15 PM         

Barack Obama is being depicted as even more Black now since the Rev Wright fiasco. A lot of whites are criticizing Obama if he is all for unity, then why does he go to a Black church. Do they ever stop to think that Obama wants to get more in touch with the Black in him just like he is already in touch with the White in him after growing up with his White family on his mother's side? A lot of whites accuse Rev Wright of being a racist. How is pointing out the racism in USA being racist? All you have to do is remember that President Bush said to the NAACP about that racism is still a problem in USA. He said that you can change laws,but you can't change a heart. The American Civil Liberties Union called out USA on its racism. They noted the racial profiling that exists in USA. A survey shows that many Americans know people that are racists. Even 20/20 did a show that revealed that people with black sounding names get much less job callbacks than people with white sounding names. These are things that confirm that racism is a still a problem. Rev Wright refers to USA as the US of KKK, and people think that's being paranoid. Can you deny the fact that the KKK still exists in USA? There are 179 Klu Klux Klan Chapters across the United States,and they include 5,000 to 8,000 members. There could even be more members because independent chapters has made KKK groups more difficult to infiltrate and researchers find it hard to estimate their numbers. Some argue that KKK is different because it's not a violent organization now. My response to that is "If there is an Al Qaeda organization in USA that is not violent,should they be allowed to exist here in USA like the KKK. Should the Black Panthers for that matter? I don't believe that any organization that has roots in terrorism should be allowed to exist. Therefore,I believe that all organizations that have terrorist roots should be completely banned. Rev Wright criticized American's policy overseas, and that gets him labeled Anti-American. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr did the same thing,and even said that USA is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world. Does that make Dr. King Anti-American? I don't think so.

Barack Obama had refused to disown his pastor as he refused to disown his white grandmother. Many whites criticized him for throwing his grandmother under a bus. All Barack did was point out that his grandmother made racial remarks about Blacks. How is telling the truth about his white grandmother throwing her under a bus. It's okay for white people to point a black person's racism, but its not okay to point out a white person's racism? I just don't get that at all. It seems like a double standard. Many whites criticize Obama for not disowning his pastor much earlier. Have they ever heard of the sell-out factor? Obama would have been in a dillemma: please whites in America and anger blacks in America for rejecting a pastor who is prominent in the Black community and who is known for doing a lot to help Blacks which would result in being a sell-out by Blacks OR please blacks in America and anger whites in America and be called a racist by Whites. These are issues that we bi-ethnic Black,White people deal with. We are often challenged to make a choice when it comes to having affinity with whites or having affinity with blacks. Abolutionist,Frederick Douglass was the son of black woman and white man. He was married to a black woman for a long time until her death. Later on,he married a white woman. He was given a hard time by both blacks and whites. Blacks accused him of betraying Blacks by being with a white woman. Today that's being called a sell-out. His response was that his first wife was the color of his mother,and now his second wife is the color of his father. He wanted to make a point that he wasn't all black and that he acknowledge both his white and black parents. He believed that being married to a white woman shouldn't be a problem for he is half white. Frederick Douglass was the embodiment of unity of Blacks and Whites. Barack Obama has denounced his pastor, and he still is being criticized by whites for taking too long to denounce him, but he's also being criticized by blacks for denouncing him too. The conflict of the black and white halves inside him and mirrored by the outside world are very apparent.

Obama has been accused of being an elitist for talking to San Franciscans about blue collar working class Pennsylvanians about being bitter and that that they could cling to guns and religion. Obama's opponents made the elitist charge after the senator from Illinois said some small-town Pennsylvanians are understandably "bitter" over the government's failure to reverse their economic decline and, in their frustration, "cling to guns and religion." He made the statement at a recent fundraiser in San Francisco, California. Bill Clinton said something similar. He said " When their economic policies fail, when the country's coming apart rather than coming together, what do they do? They find the most economically insecure white men and scare the living daylights out of them. They know if they can keep us looking at each other across a racial divide, if I can look at Bobby Rush and think, Bobby wants my job, my promotion, then neither of us can look at George Bush and say, 'What happened to everybody's job? What happened to everybody's income? What ... have ... you ... done ... to ... our ... country?'" So why is it that Obama says similar things and is referred to as being an elist and angers the blue collar working class whites. Could the word "elitist" actually be referred to as "uppity" which is often reserved for blacks who stood up for themselves. Many racist whites believe that blacks should "stay in their place" and they can be offended by a black person who is successful. Of course, if a black person talks about the problems that they have,they could be far more offended than a white person saying it. If a white person said, he would be often viewed as being understanding and compassionate. There is something patronizing and condescending when a Black express understanding and compassion for the problems of whites.

These are some things that I have see as double standards of blacks and whites which are part of the ethnic divide. The perceptions,opinions,and views often differ between what a black person does and a white person does. It's always been that way,and those things have to change. I haven't use the word,race except for saying the presidential race. That's because I don't acknowledge the concept of races. I acknowledge ethnic groups. We are all part of the Human Race. In that we are the same. Therefore,we should focus more on that and less on our differences. Like Reverend Wright said, being different doesn't mean deficient. People can be different and equal, but they don't have to be separate. The unity of differences can bring about meaningful co-existence of ethnic groups that advance the evolution of the human race.

I have talked about the issues of ethnic relations in our country. It's not about trying to divide us. I believe that pointing out things isn't dividing but waking people up. I don't believe that ignorance is bliss.

We should discuss about our differences and their similarities. Learning about the similarities to find common ground.

There could be a multiethnic,multicultural week which would be about all ethnic groups getting together, teach about their cultures and way of life even included their cuisine. There could be multicultural,multiethnic exhibits.

We could watch movies with interethnic theme like "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner","Guess Who","Soulman","Jungle Fever",and others. There could be books about multiethnic people and interethnic relationships like "Love In Black and White" by interethnic couple, Mark and Gail Mathanabe. Music based on multiethnic relations could be played like

"Ebony and Ivory" by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder, "Black and White by Michael Jackson",and "Take Away the Colour" by Ice MC.

There could be an annual survey in regards to ethnic relations including questions like how many know people of certain ethnic groups, how many people go to gatherings,functions that involve different ethnic groups, things like food. We could also ask things about interethnic friendships/dating/relationships. Questions about negative things should be asked including experiences of ethnic bigotry,discrimination. We could ask about fears,resentments in regards to ethnic groups. I also feel that questions of affirmative action,reparations can be part of the survey. I also believe that ethnic stereotypes need to be addressed during the survey to see how many people believe in them. After all,ethnic stereotypes tend to be offensive and they factor into ethnic prejudices. I also believe that we should make the June 12, 1967 Loving vs. Virginia Supreme Court Ruling (that struck down all interracial marriage laws in USA) ruling the day that multiethnic,multicultural week begins. We can discuss the importance of that ruling and how it has impacted interethnic relations.

These surveys can be done anonymously too. I feel empathy and tolerance can only be done through actual experiencing. I feel that you have to walk a mile in a person's moccasins to understand them. That's just my view.

Maybe that's how we can bring ethnic groups together.

I am the son of a white woman born in Oakland,California and a black father born in New Orleans,Louisiana. I had a stepfather born in Boston,Massachusetts,and he was mixed(Black,White,Native American,Polynesian) himself with his mother(a mixed woman who passed for white in USA) born in Trinidad in the West Indies I had half Japanese stepsisters. I have a stepgrandmother that is Hispanic who is the mother of my part Hispanic aunts/uncles. I have half Filipino cousins as the result of one of my maternal uncles married to a Filipino woman. Therefore I have a diverse heritage and background. I was even born in the multiethnic,multicultural city of San Francisco,California which is where my parents met. I grew and still live in Sacramento,California which was identified by Time magazine and the Civil Rights Project of Harvard University as the most racially/ethnically integrated major city in America. I grew up believe that we should all love each other. I grew up believing in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's Dream. God bless the day when the gap between Blacks and Whites is closed.

Here is a pictures of me and my mother
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q112/Astynaz/ray3yrsold.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q112/Astynaz/ray21whismother.jpg

I end with a poem that I wrote:

U N I T Y

Unity is our ultimate goal

for we are the same

underneath our skins

that come in many colors.

Remember our blood

is the same color.

So keep that in mind.

Don't throw away the dream

which is unity.

There are no separate races

for there is only one race,

and that is the Human Race.

We are all created equal

because we are all human beings,

and so we should unite

on our home planet, Earth.

In order for our world to survive,

we have to stop the violence

and eradicate the hate

which will ultimately destroy us all.

Eternal peace will only be achieved

through love and compassion

as we struggle to coexist.

We should love each other

for we are all related

and should be in unity.

Raymond N. Andrews

posted June 29, 2008 04:41 PM         

Slavery is horrible, but it ended a long time ago. What about current slavery in this country and others? Human trafficking of people for sex and to use as servants is alive and well. Let's all get mad about that now, because we can actually end this modern day slavery. There's someting we can do about it and it's very prevalent. It's hapenening now - to all races. It's horrible, but no one really seems to care about it or talk about it.

Racism in some form will always exist, unfortunately. People will always find some group to discriminate against. There are really bad people in the world. People discriminate against: Mentally disabled/ill people, gay people, elderly people, women, and every other race and creed.

posted June 29, 2008 05:30 PM         

The white MALE vote put Obama where he is.
I'm black female, and I didn't vote for him. Mainly because he never said much as far as I'm concerned but I get it, it's part of his tactic. To find out what he's about, a person is definitely going to have to go to his website. The first smart thing he's done is consider the media a foe. He doesn't give them much to work with. He sticks to the speech. Smart.

Anyway...You'd have to deaf, dumb and blind to see that we don't live in a different American than we did even twenty years ago!

I mean, the Cancer guy that I so often right about...Got updates...LOL! We'll he's bald with sexy tatoos and white! And when I look at him, I see a human being who just happens to be white. With a history, and a culture that's all his. With, friends, acquaintances, and neigbhors...and so forth...BUT, you're gonna always have those people. And as long as we're human, there's going to be some sort of division. In countries where everyone is the same ethnicity there's division! Tribalism, classisms, heck humans can always find a reason. It's a flaw that we have to be aware of and control, understand. It's our need to be loved, and respected, and the fear of it not being so. So we cling to what makes us better than the other individual, so we think, and what ensues is prejudice. Funny, story, yesterday one of my girlfriends call me to tell me this story about a woman somewhere who sent her 2nd grade daughter to school with a shirt that read "N Word". Well, my friend got mad at me because I didn't get mad. My friend said, she must've wanted her daughter to get "killed" (which I thought was an ignorant to say) because she went to a predominatey black school. So I asked her, has was the young girl treated? Apparently the woman isn't too racist, she has her daughter in this school. My friend didn't like that. So, I furthered it by saying, some people come off ignorant because they don't know how to handle their frustrations. We'll I learned a long time ago, that I don't need to demonize someone different to make myself feel better about who I am. My friend hasn't.

AND...I don't discriminate when it comes to who I love. And at the same time, I do notice, in this case, the Cancer, the differences in how we think and what we believe because of our backgrounds. And I think that's wonderful.

Anyway...Just the fact that Obama is running for President, says a lot about our people. Funny, one of my professors insisted on this society has transformed into a class based society first and foremost. I'm actually starting to believe him. And if we don't wake up and see that we're not as racist as we think we are, but more so fearful, we're going to all be in the same field, looking for Scarlett O'Hara's potato...

Or are we already in that field????

Just paid $53 bucks for gas yesterday. I'm at about $230 a month now.

posted June 29, 2008 05:38 PM         

I can understand that some people are uncomfortable with Rev. Wright having been his pastor. I wouldn't have been a member of that church, but it seems that the church has been doing a lot of good for its community. Rev. Wright's comments must be put into prospective. Like most blacks who are old enough to have known overt segregation/racism and who are still witnessing covert segregation/racism, they carry bitterness within them and are still processing the traumatic effect of racism, yet somehow, folks expect them to have gotten over it and be loving to all.

I myself went through a driving-while-black incident last year, and lemme tell you, I was PO for months. I consider myself a very peace loving person, a very open-minded person (I am Pisces rising), but to witness a white police officer lying through his teeth in court before a white judge who will not look you in the eyes was quite an experience. It happened right after an eclipse involving Uranus opposition to my Mars, so, I guess, in the scheme of things, if that's all that happened, I was lucky, because I could have been killed in a freak accident or something. Uranus doesn't play.

I am no longer bitter about it. I feel sorry for the officer. I am not the one who has to walk around with the knowledge that I did something immoral. I am not the one who has to walk around with so much hatred in my heart that I will feel the need to commit perjury because I don't like someone's color.

posted June 29, 2008 05:58 PM         

and even said

"Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government. "

Jeremiah Wright is no Dr. King, but he did speak out against foreign policy and the violence that US govt is all about.

In that way, he was similar to Dr. King.

Of course, Jeremiah Wright was no match for him.

"Beyond Vietnam"

Address delivered to the Clergy and Laymen

Concerned about Vietnam, at Riverside Church

4 April 1967

New York City
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/MLKapr67.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b80Bsw0UG-U

I checked out Eris because his speech was controversial as he spoke out against the status quo and said things that many didn't want to hear. It definitely stir things up. He was diverged from the political norms. King was disowned by many of his supporters, was denounced as a traitor to the nation. Dr. King questioned the legitimacy of America's Cold War policies and assumptions. That led him to be viewed as a Communist sympathizer and put under surveillance by his own government. Obviously, Dr. King was viewed as Anti-American.

I also believe that Eris which I feel is connected to ideology and the believing that one's views are right but others are wrong has to do with exposing the selfrighteousness,hypocrisy that people have. It's like pointing out people's crap stink even though they act like it doesn't.

using noon time because of unknown time

Direct Midpoints (both near and far)

Eris conjunct Mercury/Node midpoint - '36 applying

Ceres conjunct Eris/Node midpoint - '41 separating

Saturn oppose Chiron/Eris midpoint - '09 applying

Here is some interesting stuff:

Commentary: Race, faith and politics

(CNN) -- The revelation of controversial comments made by the longtime pastor of Sen. Barack Obama, and the equally hot aftermath from the general public that led to the junior senator from Illinois delivering a strong speech/sermon on race in America, has opened anew the explosive connection between three of the most volatile issues today.

If a poll were taken, there is no doubt that race, faith and politics would be the most emotional, passionate and divisive topics. Why? Because all three are so deeply personal. What one person sees as a negative, another would determine as a strength. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/21/roland.martin/index.html?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail




The prophetic anger of MLK
After 1965, the civil rights leader grew angrier over America�s unwillingness to change.
By Michael Eric Dyson
April 4, 2008

ON THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY of Martin Luther King Jr.�s death, few truths ring louder than this: Barack Obama and Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. express in part the fallen leader�s split mind on race, a division marked by chronology and color.

Before 1965, King was upbeat and bright, his belief in white America�s ability to change by moral suasion resilient and durable. That is the leader we have come to know during annual King commemorations. After 1965, King was darker and angrier; he grew more skeptical about the willingness of America to change without great social coercion.

King�s skepticism and anger were often muted when he spoke to white America, but they routinely resonated in black sanctuaries and meeting halls across the land. Nothing highlights that split -- or white America�s ignorance of it and the prophetic black church King inspired -- more than recalling King�s post-1965 odyssey, as he grappled bravely with poverty, war and entrenched racism. That is the King who emerges as we recall the meaning of his death. After the grand victories of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, King turned his attention to poverty, economic injustice and class inequality. King argued that those "legislative and judicial victories did very little to improve" Northern ghettos or to "penetrate the lower depths of Negro deprivation." In a frank assessment of the civil rights movement, King said the changes that came about from 1955 to 1965 "were at best surface changes" that were "limited mainly to the Negro middle class." In seeking to end black poverty, King told his staff in 1966 that blacks "are now making demands that will cost the nation something. ... You�re really tampering and getting on dangerous ground because you are messing with folk then."

King�s conclusion? "There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism." He didn�t say this in the mainstream but to his black colleagues.

Similarly, although King spoke famously against the Vietnam War before a largely white audience at Riverside Church in New York in 1967, exactly a year before he died, he reserved some of his strongest antiwar language for his sermons before black congregations. In his own pulpit at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, two months before his death, King raged against America�s "bitter, colossal contest for supremacy." He argued that God "didn�t call America to do what she�s doing in the world today, " preaching that "we are criminals in that war" and that we "have committed more war crimes almost than any nation in the world." King insisted that God "has a way of saying, as the God of the Old Testament used to say to the Hebrews, �Don�t play with me, Israel. Don�t play with me, Babylon. Be still and know that I�m God. And if you don�t stop your reckless course, I�ll rise up and break the backbone of your power.� "

Perhaps nothing might surprise -- or shock -- white Americans more than to discover that King said in 1967: "I am sorry to have to say that the vast majority of white Americans are racist, either consciously or unconsciously." In a sermon to his congregation in 1968, King openly questioned whether blacks should celebrate the nation�s 1976 bicentennial. "You know why?" King asked. "Because it [the Declaration of Independence] has never had any real meaning in terms of implementation in our lives."

In the same year, King bitterly suggested that black folk couldn�t trust America, comparing blacks to the Japanese who had been interred in concentration camps during World War II. "And you know what, a nation that put as many Japanese in a concentration camp as they did in the �40s ... will put black people in a concentration camp. And I�m not interested in being in any concentration camp. I been on the reservation too long now." Earlier, King had written that America "was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race."

Such quotes may lead some to wrongly see King as anti-white and anti-American, a minister who allowed politics to trump religion in his pulpit, just as some see Wright now. Or they might say that King 40 years ago had better reason for bitterness than Wright in the enlightened 21st century. But that would put a fine point on arguable gains, and it would reveal a deep unfamiliarity with the history of the black Christian church.

The black prophetic church was born because of the racist politics of the white church. Only when the white church rejected its own theology of love and embraced white supremacy did black folk leave to praise God in their own sanctuaries, on their own terms. Insurgent slave ministers such as Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner hatched revolts against slave masters. Harriet Tubman was inspired by black religious belief to lead hundreds of black souls out of slavery. For many blacks, religion and social rebellion went hand in hand. They still do.

For most of our history, the black pulpit has been the freest place for black people. It is in the black church that blacks gathered to enhance social networks, gain education, wage social struggle -- and express the grief and glory of black existence. The preacher was one of the few black figures not captive to white interests or bound by white money. Because black folk paid his salary, he was free to speak his mind and that of his congregation. The preacher often said things that most black folk believed but were afraid to say. He used his eloquence and erudition to defend the vulnerable and assail the powerful.

King extended that prophetic tradition, which includes vigorous self-criticism as well -- especially sharp words against the otherworldliness that grips some churches. In 1967, King said that too many black churches were "so absorbed in a future good �over yonder� that they condition their members to adjust to the present evils �over here.� " Two months before his death, King chided black preachers for standing "in the midst of the poverty of our own members" and mouthing "pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities." King struck fiercely at the ugly, self-serving practices of some black ministers when he claimed that they were "more concerned about the size of the wheelbase on our automobiles, and the amount of money we get in our anniversaries, than ... about the problems of the people who made it possible for us to get these things."

Obama has seized on the early King to remind Americans about what we can achieve when we allow our imaginations to soar high as we dream big. Wright has taken after the later King, who uttered prophetic truths that are easily caricatured when snatched from their religious and racial context. What united King in his early and later periods is the incurable love that fueled his hopefulness and rage. As King�s example proves, as we dream, we must remember the poor and vulnerable who live a nightmare. And as we strike out in prophetic anger against injustice, love must cushion even our hardest blows.

Michael Eric Dyson is a professor of sociology at Georgetown University and the author of 16 books, including the just-published "April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr.�s Death and How It Changed America."
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/suncommentary/la-oe-dyson4apr04,1,1626213.sto ry

Jeremiah Wright is viewed as being racist and Anti-American???? Man.....Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said similar things. Does that make him racist and Anti-American????

I don't think so.

I want to show that many people know Dr. King for his leading the civil rights movement but Dr King was known for criticizing American's foreign policy as well as calling out USA on its racism which Rev Wright did. I also said straight up that Rev Wright is no Dr. King because he is not as great and inspirational as him. So it would seem that if people knew that similar things were known about Dr King, then people would understand what Rev Wright was saying and that he's not necessarily Anti-American nor racist. If he is, then that would make Dr. King Anti-American and racist.

A lot of people get angry when people say things that they don't want to hear because the truth can hurt. Sometimes,people are afraid to say things. Therefore,they might keep things to themselves and say it in places where they feel safe like in a church.

posted June 29, 2008 07:15 PM         

this is what I wrote to the woman that I love

It has always been hard for me being the offspring of an inter-ethnic Black/White couple. I always felt that I didn't belong or didn't fit in. I felt torn between ethnicities. The good things about it was that it made me very tolerant and accepting of people of all ethnicities. It helped me believe in unity and universal love to the point that I did what I can to build bridges and close gaps between ethnic groups. I grew up believing that USA was a melting pot,and that I definitely reflected that. That didn't make me feel superior in any way though. A lot of times,I struggled with inferiority. I guess there was inferiority about being part black that I was in denial of for a long time. Not knowing my black father didn't help either. I never knew any of my relatives related to the black in me. I only knew the relatives related to the Portuguese in me on my maternal grandfather's side. I looked at my mother,and she has this peaches/cream complexion. I wondered "What happened to me?" I would see my maternal grandfather, and I would wish that I looked like him with his olive complexion and straight black hair. I straightened my hair a lot until some time after I got out of the navy. I actually felt flattered when a stepcousin told me "With the way you wear your hair,you look a lot like him" in referring to my grandfather. Yeah...the Portuguese is pretty obvious in me. I definitely grew up with a lot of confusion about ethnic identity as a multi-ethnic person. I always tried to transcend ethnicity and preferred multiculture and rejected Afro-centrism. I didn't like people labeling me "Black" because I had Black in me. I hated the one drop rule("if you're part black,so you're black"),and I still do. I wanted everybody to accept all of me and not just part of me. I wished that for every multiethnic person. The Presidential race got me to confront my ethnic identity again. Barack Obama is the son of a white woman and black man like myself,and I couldn't help identify with him. In some ways,we had very similar experiences. As a liberal that wanted a democrat to be elected President, I was torn between Hillary and Barack. I just wanted to stay neutral,and so I said "All I care about is a liberal being president" You were so passionate about Hillary that I was scared to pick sides because I didn't want you to feel that I was against you. I also didn't want you to assume that I pick Obama because of his ethnic background. Of course,I never saw him as "Black" just like I don't see myself as "Black." I considered him mixed,mulatto,bi-ethnic Black/White. I also want to let you know that I never assumed that you supported Hillary because she's a woman nor white. I felt that you truly believed that Hillary was the best candidate based on her history as a politician. I felt the same way about Barack. I also felt that he was more inspirational, idealistic, and liberal. I couldn't help identify with his idealism as I am very idealistic too. He resonated to me. He had to go through a lot of rumors about his background,past,religion,etc, and I tried to see past that. After all, I know that rumors aren't necessarily true. I was a victim of false rumors,and it really hurt. I felt the Jeremiah Wright fiasco was a bit out of hand, and I felt that he was unfairly judged for it when he spoke out against ethnic bigotry and foreign policy. I did believe that Jeremiah was wrong on some things like AIDS conspiracy. I also disagreed with his talk about how blacks and whites differ in how their brains process information. As a neurodivergent son of a neurodivergent black man and a neurodivergent white woman,I know that's not true. I did agree with his "Different doesn't necessarily mean deficient" because that's true. Many people with divergent minds are highly intelligent,creative,innovative,and even geniuses. I was very touched by Barack's Perfect Union speech that addressed ethnic relations. It was a type of speech that expressed my own idealism that I have expressed in poetry. He also talked about the history and realities of the ethnic divide,how we all need to come together and get past our fears and prejudices. That's what I have always wanted for our country. That's what I have always wanted for our planet. I know that he's far from perfect. No politician is. They all seem to have some type of baggage. I don't think that there is any such thing as an honest politican. I don't even think "Honest Abe" Abraham Lincoln was all that honest either. Politics is a ruthless,cut-throat field like Wall Street stockmarket,and so it seems that politicians have to be ruthless in some ways. This can lead to playing on people's fears and prejudices too. This presidential race got me to confront my ethnic identity for sure in regards to who and what am I. Am I "black" (as in should I accept the one drop rule and let society label me),"mulatto","multi-ethnic","mixed","Bi-ethnic Black/White. I came to the conclusion that I don't want any of these labels. I just want to consider myself a human being and nothing more. I don't want to acknowledge ethnic labels. I was brought up to be conscious about ethnicity by my stepfather who was ethnically mixed like me too,but I was never an ethnic bigot and grew up to have a United Nations mentality that reflected my background. I hate using the word,"race." I believe that there is only one race - The Human Race which I expressed in my poem,"Unity". All of us are the same species - Homo Sapiens. As a couple, I don't see us as interracial,inter-ethnic,nor mixed. I see us as a couple that consists of a man and a woman that love each other. Nothing more. I believe our relationship transcends ethnicity, age difference,etc. Social constructs can't divide us,and we won't let them. You definitely didn't. You saw through my skin and into my soul, and I was the same with you. We can keep on doing that. Our love is not Black and White. It's just Raymond and Meghann.

posted June 30, 2008 05:22 PM         

You can always tell when someone's in the deep doo. They're forced to lie about events.

Neither lalalinda or I took a position "against" what Jan Spiller said. We used her own excepts you posted to refute your nonsense.

Yeah, there you were acoustic telling other members here "how they were", "how they felt" and "how they reacted" based on their North/South nodes. Members you didn't know a damned thing about. They kicked your arrogant ass over that and with good reason.

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You're one to be talking about South Node, oh Pisces South Noder. Explains more about your paranoia, your extremism, and your fear of being a victim quite succinctly. That's why you rail against the Left, isn't it? You're afraid of being a victim...so only by going on the offensive can you feel like you're providing for your own emotional needs...acoustic

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Your delusional comment, your jwhop as victim comment, would surely get you laughed out of the room by anyone who knows me acoustic. You are simply clueless.

This site is littered with your South Node statements and conduct. Your South Node which Jan Spiller warned you Capricorn north nodes to avoid..and if you didn't, it would lead to your destruction.

On the other hand, there's nothing or next to nothing showing any Pisces South Node activity in anything I do, think or say and it's been that way since I was 6 or 7 years old.

posted June 30, 2008 05:30 PM         

June 30, 2008
Obama's Callous Indifference
By Peter Kirsanow

Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen declares that Barack Obama is " 'likable enough' -- in fact, so much so that he is the most charismatic presidential candidate I have seen since Robert F.Kennedy." Well, even though I've never spoken with Obama, I don't like him very much (I did testify with him [and a few others] once about a bill he'd sponsored on voter intimidation, but at the time he didn't impress me as unlikable, just a little intellectually lazy) .

This hasn't always been the case. Until early February, I tended to agree with all the news stories that contained the obligatory man-in-the-street quotes proclaiming him "decent," "likeable" and a "nice guy with a beautiful family."

According to the hagiography that passes for reporting about Obama, my attitude is rare. And, admittedly, unsophisticated. After all, I'm black so I shouldn't just like Obama, I should love and praise him. Sure, I'm conservative, but according to a recent AP story the Obama magic is so powerful that even black conservatives are in a swoon. But then, I'm also one of those bitter guys from flyover country.

I disagree with nearly all of Obama's positions, ranging from energy policy to the Iraq war. The National Journal's determination that he's the most liberal member of the Senate is a serious understatement. There may not be a more liberal elected official in all of Washington. But like most people, I like lots of folks with whom I have major policy disagreements. Put another way, if Barack Obama came up to me tomorrow, took my hand, looked me in the eye and said "when I'm president, I'll fight to win in Iraq, beat hell out of terrorists, appoint Supreme Court justices like Thomas and Roberts, cut taxes, secure the border, enact free market health care reform, honor our military and use the bully pulpit to prevent cultural decay,'' I'd still dislike him. Maybe more than I do now.

To be sure, Obama displays horrible judgment, surrounding himself with the likes of Wright, Pfleger and Ayers. He has a lot of close friends who seem to hate America. That's pretty unusual for the average person, but it's highly peculiar and troubling for someone running for Commander-in-Chief. It alarms me and makes me suspicious, but it's not why I dislike him.

Nor is it because he's an empty suit. He's gone further saying nothing than almost anyone in recent history. He's done nothing, yet he's poised to become the most powerful man on earth. He looks like he's never broken a sweat, furrowed a brow or dirtied a knee. That's not something to dislike. In today's culture it's something to admire-even envy.

These all may be reasons for voting against Obama, but they're not, to my mind, reasons for disliking him. No, I dislike Obama because of his personal qualities.

Wait a minute. Aren't we constantly regaled about all of his endearing qualities? He makes people faint and write songs about him. Hardened journalists get tingles up their legs just thinking about him.

Yet certain discrete actions can provide instant insights into a person's character. They can betray vivid flaws in a seemingly gleaming persona.

And they compel one to make judgments about the actor.

The acts may vary by degree, in turn prompting different degrees of reaction: the pillar of the community seen pilfering from the collection plate; the co-worker who uses a racial epithet behind a colleague's back. Indeed, people recoiled from the once popular Michael Vick when they found out he'd abused dogs.

I began to dislike Obama when I discovered that while in the Illinois state legislature in 2002, he voted against the Induced Birth Infant Liability Act. The bill was designed to extend the same medical care to babies who happen to survive an abortion attempt as is enjoyed by all babies born alive.

I couldn't believe anyone would vote against such a bill. In fact, when a similar measure-- the Born Alive Infant Protection Act-- was brought before the U.S. Senate, not one Senator voted against it. Even NARAL Pro-Choice America didn't oppose the bill.

Admittedly, I'm a bit of a curmudgeon. It's difficult for me to like someone who's eager to extend a panoply of constitutional rights to terrorists but who refuses to provide the most fundamental rights to a living, breathing infant.

Perhaps it's a failure to comprehend Obama's exquisite intellectual nuance. He rationalized his vote in language that evokes Dred Scott. Obama challenged the constitutionality of the bill,contending that conferring equal protection, i.e.,personhood, upon a "pre-viable fetus" would render the bill an unlawful anti-abortion statute.

At what point after birth does Obama call a baby a person and not a fetus? One day? Six months?

To be clear: I don't hate Obama as those suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome hate President Bush. I just have a hard time generating warm, fuzzy feelings for someone who voted against helping newborns struggling to live. But that's just me.

posted June 30, 2008 05:43 PM         

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You can always tell when someone's in the deep doo. They're forced to lie about events.

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I didn't lie about any event. I used Jan Spiller to make my point, which is what LaLalinda was trying to refute. Your memory is in a haze there brother.

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Your delusional comment, your jwhop as victim comment, would surely get you laughed out of the room by anyone who knows me acoustic. You are simply clueless.

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One only need look at your posts in GU to know with 100% certainty that I am correct about this. Why do you rally against the Left? Because you think the Left is Communist. You think all Communists are murderous dictators. Therefore it's quite simple to see that your activism here is simply a result of your paranoia that someone's going to make you a victim. You actually naively believe that somehow the Democrats in America would embrace dictatorship, which is ironic considering how you defend the current administration's attempts at circumventing being checked by Congress and the Supreme Court.

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On the other hand, there's nothing or next to nothing showing any Pisces South Node activity in anything I do, think or say and it's been that way since I was 6 or 7 years old.

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posted June 30, 2008 06:09 PM         

It happened to both Hillary and Obama during the Primaries with their Ascendants. I also think it makes it easier for "The Law of Subsumption" to take place. The Law of Subsumption means that the leader of this country begins to live the chart of the country and the country begins to live the chart of the leader.

For some reason, we have to read the charts of political leaders and royalty differently. I wish I could elaborate, but it's sort of like doing mundane astrology, it's not the same as reading for individuals. If anyone else knows more about it, please chime in.

Geocosmic Valentine

posted June 30, 2008 06:39 PM         

I don't need to protect myself from anyone and certainly not from members of the whining, thumbsucking, wussified left.

Let's recap here acoustic. Just who is it always running around showing everyone their oowies. Who is it constantly whining that jwhop bit them...right here Randall and it hurts soooo much. Poor babies.

Here's a clue acoustic, it's never me complaining.

I decided to kick ass when leftists started showing up on GU telling the most outrageous lies about Bush. Those leftists couldn't be bothered to complain about policy, couldn't be bothered with real discussion about policy and events. They just lied through their teeth about Bush the person.

So, they got bit, TS babies...and you were one of them acoustic.

You didn't make your point using Jan Spiller's writings. As usual, you don't understand the ramifications of what you post. That incident was no exception. Lalalinda was right and as usual, you were wrong..in lots of ways.

I wonder if you can even remember what the discussion was all about? Think...Personality traits...so you said.

How true, I do despise communists. All reasonable, thinking people do. After all, 2 communist dictators killed...intentionally and deliberately, about 200 million of their own citizens in the 20th century. Not to mention some others who are still operating and doing the same thing. Hey, what's not to love about communists.

posted June 30, 2008 07:41 PM         

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I don't need to protect myself from anyone and certainly not from members of the whining, thumbsucking, wussified left.

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Anyone reading your stuff over the years would have to be utterly and totally convinced of your paranoia over Communism and Socialism. No chart placement can save you from your own words.

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Let's recap here acoustic. Just who is it always running around showing everyone their oowies. Who is it constantly whining that jwhop bit them...right here Randall and it hurts soooo much. Poor babies.

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Not me! And no one says that you give other people "oowies" either. The complaint is your bullying (which is only words, and can't really cause any permanent damage). Only a person with a victim mentality needs to try to control people by attempting to get them to back off. If you were secure in yourself you wouldn't feel the need to try to scare everyone off from standing up to you. It may work well in person, but over the internet it's a whole 'nother ballgame.

People have tried coming to your aid saying, "Don't mess with the lion," and I don't buy. Never have. When natives of foreign lands can beat you at the most elementary of political issues, it's clear that you're no match for most of your detractors. You're a grandiose ego that has no comprehension of itself. You have to be able to self-assess in order to self-correct. Since you don't do the latter, the former skill must not be present.

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I decided to kick ass when leftists started showing up on GU telling the most outrageous lies about Bush. Those leftists couldn't be bothered to complain about policy, couldn't be bothered with real discussion about policy and events. They just lied through their teeth about Bush the person.

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BS. We've been over all of this before. The way you act is under your own control. Don't be a VICTIM and BLAME others for what you do. You fool yourself if you believe you're kicking anyone's ass.

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You didn't make your point using Jan Spiller's writings. As usual, you don't understand the ramifications of what you post. That incident was no exception. Lalalinda was right and as usual, you were wrong..in lots of ways.

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You obviously don't remember. I justified my point using Jan Spiller's book. LaLaLinda tried to say that the South Node doesn't confer traits, which IS in opposition to what Jan Spiller says. You and her both lost. Neither of you know more about Nodes than I do, and you both proved as much in those conversations.

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That has nothing to do with my Pisces South Node. Think Leo, Aries and Scorpio...who would put communist dictators to the sword..in an instant. Think Saddam Hussein hanging from a rope..another socialist dictator who killed about a million of his own people. Good riddance.

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posted June 30, 2008 08:41 PM         

When you called Bush a murderer, you got your ass kicked.

Then you said the US oppressed/repressed Iraqi citizens..before the war when Saddam was in the process of murdering, raping and torturing them, you got your ass kicked.

When you said America repressed/oppressed Iraqi citizens by not packing up a water treatment plant and shipping it to Saddam..while Saddam was still in power...your got your ass kicked.

When you said Bush, hyped intelligence data to take America to war, you got your ass kicked.

When you said Bush/Cheney et al pressured US intelligence analysts to distort data, you got your ass kicked.

Too numerous to mention them all here acoustic. But good solid ass kickings were what you got for your lying leftist rhetoric.

Others got the same treatment for their lies.

Now acoustic, you have complained about getting your butt kicked royally. I have never complained about anything. I merely requested members keep discussions to issues and leave personalities out of it. To no avail so the ass kickings will continue as incidences arise.

I'm not surprised you see this as bullying. I see it as the proper reward for lying rhetoric which advances no discussion.

Poor baby, you didn't use the word "oowie" but you sure are a thumbsucking whiner who joined in with the other whiners when things didn't go their way.

The fact you need to lie is all the indication anyone needs to determine what kind of person you are.

Most people reading what I say about Communists would come to the conclusion I'm right and if they had any doubts about that, the truth about communists is easy to find.

I know it pleases you to attempt painting me as a victim or of having a victim mentality acoustic. But you're the one with the passive/aggressive victim personality disorder and while you attempt to get others to come to your aid, I never do. I let others speak for themselves and say what they please.

Now as to my actions being under my control...that's correct. As I've told you before, it's my full intention to come right after you or anyone else lying through their teeth with personal attacks on the person of Bush. I've done that just as I said I would. Wise up.

The discussion about Nodes centered on your insistence that Nodes conferred "Personality Traits". That's bullshiiit and you lost that argument. Jan Spiller said no such thing and lalalinda was right.

O'Bomber has surrounded himself with some of the most vile and destructive Marxists in America, including his political guru Davis, a lifelong communist and member of the Communist Party USA. Then, there's Bill Ayers and his wife. Both domestic terrorist bombers who were part of a group which bombed police headquarters, bombed the Pentagon and killed armored car guards in a robbery attempt..or perhaps, they succeeded in the robbery. Then, there's Tom Hayden, a 60's radical Marxist who blogs for O'Bomber at Huffington Post. His spiritual guru is Wright, a proponent of Black Liberation Theology. An offshoot of Liberation Theology tied to Liberation Marxism.

How about you not attempting to put words in my mouth. I never said half the people of the US are Marxists or Socialists. Liberals are not socialists and certainly not Marxists but you're no Liberal.

posted June 30, 2008 09:07 PM         

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Now acoustic, you have complained about getting your butt kicked royally. I have never complained about anything. I merely requested members keep discussions to issues and leave personalities out of it. To no avail so the ass kickings will continue as incidences arise.

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OH my gosh! Is anyone reading this?!

What a total load of BS! You know better than to lie through your teeth like that.

First, I invite you to name a SINGLE instance of me complaining about getting my butt kicked by you. There are none. In the reverse, you've disappeared for months when I've thoroughly embarrassed you.

Second, you've NEVER been the person asking for people to keep it civil. Since long before my time people were asking that courtesy of you, and you haven't complied. You prefer the name-calling nonsense you try to pass as authority.