Fired Up - Ready To Go

And here the final proof that Hillary Clinton is indeed shameless and will stop at nothing  in her ill-fated quest for the office of President of the United States.

For someone who has been in the public eye for over 35 years (or as she claims it has over 35 years of experience), Mrs. Clinton above all others knew what the appropriate answer to the line of questioning she was being subjected to during her interview. This is not a case where she can claim ignorance - she's out campaigning and she is aware of at least two incidents where her staffers were accused of fostering clearly inaccurate racial overtones into the current campaign. By not definitively shutting down that line of questioning, she leaves the door open to those on the fringe and others who need actually no motivation for their un-abiding hatred for anyone who is "different" or not "like them".

All that could have been alleviated by an appropriate answer. It is telling how quickly during the last debate that she emphatically insisted that Senator Obama repudiate Minister Louis Farrakhan. She made a point of making him publicly reject and denounce (double negative - anyone?) the minister on live television.  

John McClain   for all his issues IMMEDIATELY rejected comments made by a  radio talk show host - Bill Cunningham

 This coming from the "terribly bad and horrible republican candidate - one for whom we all should be shuddering in terror of the "vetting" that he will aim directly at Senator Obama come this fall - he had the understanding to know that he needed to outright  reject the overtly racist behavior of someone seeking to perpetuate and encourage fears of Barack "Hussein" Obama as being some sort of secret terrorist by virtue of his middle name being Obama.

How then is it, that Mrs. Clinton could be unaware the ramifications of her responses to the questions posed to her. More importantly - an opportunity for her to display some of the "leadership skills" she is trying to lay claim to by setting an example of how that kind of questioning is not and will not be tolerated and instead she half answered her way out of it.

People it is not cool to do whatever it takes to advance yourself. This is one of the concepts that is destroying this country. That and racism. Hillary Clinton displayed complete irresponsibility in  answering those questions in the manner in which she did. So reprehensible is the idea that she of all people knows all too well the truth of Senator Obama's religious beliefs and chose NOT to emphatically deny rumors, but signaled by the way she answered that it was ok for those kinds of questions to be asked in the first place.

ON SNL one night, on 60 minutes the next night feeding into rumors about Senator Obama's religious beliefs and or the possibility that he might be Muslim and  therefore not elect able based on that?

Not a day goes by that I don't lose more and more respect for this woman and the kind of campaign that she is running.  I have already lost all respect for her husband Bill but that was lost long ago when he was impeached for lying to congress about having  a sexual affair with an intern. I think I and most women can stop feeling sorry for Hillary right now as being the "wronged woman."  In this case the two of them deserve each other.

Birds of a feather definitely do flock together.

For those confused minds  out there:

The TRUTH about Senator Obama and the American Flag Issue

THE TRUTH ABOUT SENATOR OBAMA'S RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

BARACK OBAMA and FAITH

Barack Obama is a committed and active Christian. He has been a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago for 20 years, where he continues to attend services with his family. Barack has never been a Muslim or practiced any other faith besides Christianity, and in January 2005 he was sworn into the U.S. Senate on his family Bible. - from barackobama.com

AND SHE REALLY IS A MONSTER

First to put things into perspective I present the actual definition of monster from  wiki as:

The term "monster" refers to a being that is a gross exception to the norms of some ecosystem. Usually characterized by an ability to destroy human life or humanity, more than an example of "survival of the fittest", natural law, or innate evil. A person referred to as a monster is taken as exceptionally evil, grotesque, unreasonably strict and uncaring, sociopathic, and/or sadistic. The word monster connotes something wrong/evil; e.g.: a monstruous being is: very morally objectionable, physically or psychologically hideous, or a biological sport (a distinct sense of the word), i.e a freak of nature.

If this current campaign has done nothing  it has surely shown how truly monstrous Ms. Clinton can be on more than one occaision.

"unreasonably strict and uncaring"

Voting to initiate military force against a foreign nation based on a report that she did not even bother to read, would I am sure fall into this category. After all what would it matter to her it was not her son or daughter going off to fight.  Why should she care if soldiers are sent off to fight a war based on false pretenses that she might have had insight to had she bothered to read the report prior to voting to support this unjust war/

" A monstrous being is: very morally objectionable"

A person who would knowingly cast aspersions on someone's religious background, giving only the most lukewarm of denials when asked directly if she thought that Senator Obama was Muslim, this after stating that she has met his family and knows him so well. Knowing that this particular story was being passed around as gospel truth and  of all people knowing how destructive this can be - not just in this campaign but even to the point of creating racial tensions in this country she laughs it off as no big deal - "she feels  sympathy for anyone who has to get smeared with rumors?"

Here was an opportunity for her to stand up and show some leadership ability in stopping that rumor dead in it's tracks and setting a tone for this campaign that would not tolerate that kind of innuendo being put forward no matter what it is - another one of those missed opportunities

"Usually characterized by an ability to destroy human life or humanity,"

Samantha Powers,  Obama staff member, highly respected in her field of expertise caught up in the emotional wringer that has dragged all and sundry through the last several days of campaign, caucus and primaries, made the unfortunate choice to  call Ms. Clinton a monster, for that she lost her job.

The Iraq War which has cost this country to date over $500 billion dollars, has cost 3,974 us soldiers their lives - killed over 700,000 Iraqis and caused millions more to become refugees

  White Water -  Jim Guy Tucker: Governor of Arkansas at the time, removed from office (fraud, 3 counts)

  John Haley: attorney for Jim Guy Tucker (tax fraud) ,William J. Marks Sr.: Jim Guy Tucker business partner (conspiracy)

  Stephen Smith (Whitewater): former Governor Clinton aide (conspiracy to misapply funds). Bill Clinton pardoned.

  Webster Hubbell: Clinton political supporter; Rose Law Firm partner (embezzlement, fraud)

  Jim McDougal: banker, Clinton political supporter: (18 felonies, varied)

  Susan McDougal: Clinton political supporter (multiple fraud, contempt of court) Bill Clinton pardoned.

  David Hale: banker, self proclaimed Clinton political supporter: (conspiracy, fraud)

  Neal Ainley: Perry County Bank president (embezzled bank funds for Clinton campaign)

  Chris Wade: Whitewater real estate broker (multiple loan fraud) Bill Clinton pardoned.

  Larry Kuca: Madison real estate agent (multiple loan fraud)

  Robert W. Palmer: Madison appraiser (conspiracy). Bill Clinton pardoned. John Latham: Madison Bank CEO (bank fraud)

  Eugene Fitzhugh: Whitewater defendant (multiple bribery)

  Charles Matthews (Whitewater): Whitewater defendant (bribery)

Bill Clinton 's um indiscretions?

How many more lives will be destroyed is the question we all need to ask ourselves this campaign season.

Actually, monster does not quite cover the scope of it all.

"Whoever fights monsters should see to it in the process that he does not become a monster." Friedrich Nietzsche

African Methodist Episcopal Church.

The AMEC grew out of the Free African Society (FAS) which Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and others established in Philadelphia in 1787. When officials at St. George's MEC pulled blacks off their knees while praying, FAS members discovered just how far American Methodists would go to enforce racial discrimination against African Americans. Hence, these members of St. George's made plans to transform their mutual aid society into an African congregation. Although most wanted to affiliate with the Protestant Episcopal Church, Allen led a small group who resolved to remain Methodists. In 1794 Bethel AME was dedicated with Allen as pastor. To establish Bethel's independence from interfering white Methodists, Allen, a former Delaware slave, successfully sued in the Pennsylvania courts in 1807 and 1815 for the right of his congregation to exist as an independent institution. Because black Methodists in other middle Atlantic communities encountered racism and desired religious autonomy, Allen called them to meet in Philadelphia to form a new Wesleyan denomination,

The following is a statement issued by the AME Church

PRESS RELEASE: March 22, 2008
For Immediate Release

SOCIAL ACTION Commission
African Methodist Episcopal Church
1968 W. Adams Blvd. Suite 314
Los Angeles, CA 90018


IN DEFENSE OF THE REV. JEREMIAH WRIGHT AND THE BEST OF PROPHETIC TRADITION IN THE BLACK CHURCH :

Several months ago, early in the Democratic race for the nomination to run for president, conservative radio pundits began attacking Senator Barak Obama by playing a small snippet of a sound bite from one of the sermons delivered by his pastor, the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright who was the spiritual leader of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

Some of Dr. Wright's critics loudly declared that his prophetic preaching style of denouncing white racism was in fact, "reverse racism."

By repeatedly broadcasting 20 second sound bites from some of the powerful sermons delivered by Rev. Wright, media pundits from all of the major media, right wing, moderates and left-wing broadcasters have repeatedly shaped a distorted view of Rev. Wright and as a result, the news coverage has reflected negatively upon Senator Barack Obama.

On March 18, 2008, Senator Obama made a brilliant defense of himself and his membership at Trinity Church , as well as, his personal relationship with Reverend Jeremiah Wright. He disavowed and denounced the "words" of Rev. Wright in the video-sound bite that was played over and over in broadcasts in the United States and perhaps, all over the world. Senator Obama also addressed the destructive nature of racial oppression and the resultant anger and resentment left in its wake. For many, Mr. Obama's speech was on-target, for others it was not enough. Senator Obama needs no one to defend him; however, beyond the attacks on Senator Obama, there is a greater concern.

The attacks of the media; the so-called conservative, and liberal or "moderate" critics have not only attacked Senator Obama, but much more significantly, have attacked the traditions of preaching, the black religious traditions; the cultural and spiritual traditions that have encouraged and helped black Americans to persevere for over 375 years of racial and economic oppression.

White and some black commentators have expressed shock and dismay because of a few brief video sound-bites. Newscasters are critical of Dr. Wright, express dismay that a pastor would condemn the United States , even though the U.S. supported racist policies of apartheid in South Africa that kept Nelson Mandela imprisoned. Those in the media express shock that a black pastor would question whether we should sing "God Bless America," while remembering the injustices against people of color, the lynching of black men for decades without serious intervention by the government, and using black Americans as medical guinea pigs as the government did with its syphilis program in Tuskegee.

Many broadcasters and whites fail to understand that black pastors are expected to question the moral authority of the U.S. government in a world in which the wealthy are allowed to benefit because their wealth and political connections. Black preachers are expected to vehemently speak out when America allows genocide to be perpetrated by dictators who support U.S. policies.

Like the so-called liberal ministers in Alabama who chastised Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as he sat imprisoned in a Birmingham Jail, these news pundits charge Rev. Wright, and by extension the black church, with "mixing politics with religion" and misleading "ignorant black people" into an adversarial relationship with "their government." And like those so-called "liberal" white preachers in Alabama who attacked Dr. King, several have even quoted various biblical texts as evidence that Rev. Wright, and Trinity United Church of Christ are not following Christian biblical principles.

It is our responsibility to understand that God does not sit outside the walls of human history and it is our responsibility to stand up in defense of, not only Reverend Jeremiah Wright, but also in defense of the best prophetic biblical traditions.

The words and actions of some media pundits seem to imply that Senator Obama and black people should renounce our historical and religious heritage, our culture and our faith before we can be accepted into the American "mainstream." Those who criticize appear willing to accept black Americans, only if we do not remind America of the struggles we, as black people, have had to overcome.

To ask black clergy, and laity, to remain silent in the face of a continuing racist reality is no different than Pharaoh demanding that Moses and Aaron be quiet in the face of Egyptian cruelty. It is no different than the Old Testament elite demanding that Isaiah remain silent about the treatment of widows and orphans; and no different than Jesus remaining silent at the exploitation of the poor.

The black preacher and black Christians, in the prophetic tradition of Black Liberation Theology, from Richard Allen, the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church; Bishop Morris Brown, Bishop Paul Quinn, Bishop Daniel Payne, and Bishop Henry McNeil Turner to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, walk in a proud tradition.

In the past, as well as now, we sit surrounded by great men and women who have refused to bend down to a "state religion."

The so-called conservatives who demand that we separate ourselves from our prophetic tradition are doing nothing less than calling on us to deny our God.

This is a time of testing, not only for America, but for us, as black and white Americans, and many of us have decided that we will not bow down to the God of an American "state religion."

We have the biblical lessons of Daniel; of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. We have the lessons of John, the Revelator, on the Isle of Patmos, and we have the example of Jesus.

We, the members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church proudly embrace the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Trinity United Church of Christ as walking well within the best biblical traditions and the best traditions of black prophetic preaching and a faith that has brought us, "This Far by Faith," because we have come too far to turn around now.

Editor's Note: The Press Advisory appended below is released on behalf of the AME Church by the Social Action Commission Chair - Bishop Carolyn Tyler Guidry reference our denomination's position in the dialogue about the coverage of one of the prophetic voices in religion and a champion of the Black Church, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, D. Min.


Bishop Carolyn Tyler Guidry, Social Action Commission Chair

The AMEC Website