I haven't dropped in there for awhile..today's posting from Dan seems is an interesting and agreeable read.
Dex
Today at 8:25am, Dan wrote:
Today at 12:38am, freshprinze wrote:Obama's church? What happened to everyone?
http://www.tucc.org/about.htm
"We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian... Our roots in the Black religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. We are an African people, and remain "true to our native land," the mother continent, the cradle of civilization. God has superintended our pilgrimage through the days of slavery, the days of segregation, and the long night of racism. It is God who gives us the strength and courage to continuously address injustice as a people, and as a congregation. We constantly affirm our trust in God through cultural expression of a Black worship service and ministries which address the Black Community."
http://www.tucc.org/talking_points.htm
"One of the biggest gaps in knowledge that causes the kind of ignorance that you hear spouted by this man [Erik Rush] and those like him, has to do with the fact that these persons are completely ignorant when it comes to the Black religious tradition. The vision statement of Trinity United Church of Christ is based upon the systematized liberation theology that started in 1969 with the publication of Dr. James Cone’s book, Black Power and Black Theology."
I'm going to ask you a hard question, Dr. Burisch. I know about your child and the possible sensitivities is could raise. I am not asking you who is Esau but I do want to know what your take is on Obama in the light of recent "hand over heart" questions, his link to a Church practicing Black Theology, and Dr. Cone's relationship to the Nation of Islam? I saw your post, and it is unbiased except you posted it? What are you trying to say?
Shabbat Shalom, Freshprinze!
"What happened to everyone?"
We're still here! All of us! New Hampshire just proved that!
Me? I'm presently watching a CFR Briefing about the Iranian Nuclear Issue, by Gary Samore, while changing a portion of our upcoming Lotus presentation. But, that's beside the matter...I'll take a few minutes...
Esau has been ruled out of the question? You mean I can't chat about Isaac, Rebekah, and Jacob? One thing is for sure....he was a "doer"! (Look into the Hebrew origin of the name.)
Sensitive? No! I am no stranger to openly discussing the issue of "African American" rights and liberation theology! What, specifically, do you want to talk about?
What I ask, is what is your point? What are you trying to say? You focused on only a part of the news post. For me, I am suspicious of ANY and ALL attack ads being launched against ANY candidate. ESPECIALLY one who just lost a primary he expected to win! (Given I am personally aware that Senator Clinton's campaign was expecting to lose, and the tone of the "reasonably level" as well as the "smear" news at the time, I suppose Obama expected to win?)
All that said...these "items" have been raised on numerous internet news sites, blogs, and television shows. Other questions, perhaps arising due to the fact that many feel they don't "know" enough about Mr. Obama, have been raised.
For instance, his website says:
http://www.barackobama.com/about/
Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961. His father, Barack Obama Sr., was born and raised in a small village in Kenya, where he grew up herding goats with his own father, who was a domestic servant to the British.
Barack's mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in small-town Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression, and then signed up for World War II after Pearl Harbor, where he marched across Europe in Patton's army. Her mother went to work on a bomber assembly line, and after the war, they studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program, and moved west to Hawaii.
It was there, at the University of Hawaii, where Barack's parents met. His mother was a student there, and his father had won a scholarship that allowed him to leave Kenya and pursue his dreams in America.
Learn more about Barack's life, family, and accomplishments.; Barack; Barack Obama; Barack TV; Obama; Speeches; This appears on the "Meet Barack Page"
http://link.brightcove.com/services/lin ... =353512430
Barack's father eventually returned to Kenya, and Barack grew up with his mother in Hawaii, and for a few years in Indonesia. Later, he moved to New York, where he graduated from Columbia University in 1983.
Remembering the values of empathy and service that his mother taught him, Barack put law school and corporate life on hold after college and moved to Chicago in 1985, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment.
The group had some success, but Barack had come to realize that in order to truly improve the lives of people in that community and other communities, it would take not just a change at the local level, but a change in our laws and in our politics.
He went on to earn his law degree from Harvard in 1991, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Soon after, he returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law. Finally, his advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate, where he served for eight years. In 2004, he became the third African American since Reconstruction to be elected to the U.S. Senate.
It has been the rich and varied experiences of Barack Obama's life - growing up in different places with people who had differing ideas - that have animated his political journey. Amid the partisanship and bickering of today's public debate, he still believes in the ability to unite people around a politics of purpose - a politics that puts solving the challenges of everyday Americans ahead of partisan calculation and political gain.
In the Illinois State Senate, this meant working with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead by creating programs like the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which in three years provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state. He also pushed through an expansion of early childhood education, and after a number of inmates on death row were found innocent, Senator Obama worked with law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases.
In the U.S. Senate, he has focused on tackling the challenges of a globalized, 21st century world with fresh thinking and a politics that no longer settles for the lowest common denominator. His first law was passed with Republican Tom Coburn, a measure to rebuild trust in government by allowing every American to go online and see how and where every dime of their tax dollars is spent. He has also been the lead voice in championing ethics reform that would root out Jack Abramoff-style corruption in Congress.
As a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator Obama has fought to help Illinois veterans get the disability pay they were promised, while working to prepare the VA for the return of the thousands of veterans who will need care after Iraq and Afghanistan. Recognizing the terrorist threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, he traveled to Russia with Republican Dick Lugar to begin a new generation of non-proliferation efforts designed to find and secure deadly weapons around the world. And knowing the threat we face to our economy and our security from America's addiction to oil, he's working to bring auto companies, unions, farmers, businesses and politicians of both parties together to promote the greater use of alternative fuels and higher fuel standards in our cars.
Whether it's the poverty exposed by Katrina, the genocide in Darfur, or the role of faith in our politics, Barack Obama continues to speak out on the issues that will define America in the 21st century. But above all his accomplishments and experiences, he is most proud and grateful for his family. His wife, Michelle, and his two daughters, Malia, 9, and Sasha, 6, live on Chicago's South Side where they attend Trinity United Church of Christ.
"Yes," I watched the 5min:46s video on that site.
For those undecided (and even if you are decided)- go to the Barack webpage (
http://www.barackobama.com/about/ ) and watch the video!
In that video he says, "We are one people, all pledging allegiance to the Stars and Stripes, all of us defending the United States of America." He further indicates a separation between his faith life in his church and his public life. If he is elected, he will be elected for a PUBLIC LIFE, given the core values of this Nation for separation of Church and State. (What happened that day, when he apparently didn't lift his right hand to his heart during the Anthem, I do not know? And do you know what? I'm not going to ask him! To my knowledge, we have no good evidence of anti-American activities by him. To continuously harp on the one act, smells of McCarthyism! Mongraal made his statement, and notice that he is now leaving it be. There it sets, his opinion. His right.)
Like it or not, like him (Barack) or not, we are speaking about the issue of who will be the next President of the United States, not whether Barack will decide to run for what would be only his second term as a United States Senator! "Yes," I know the qualifications, and "no" I do not support them being changed. Together with this, we are at war against a ruthless enemy who wants to kill us, our way of life, and civilized society across the Earth. Our choices must be careful ones.
Also, this is no longer 1801! We have not shunned "foreign entanglements" as warned against by such people as Thomas Jefferson. Get over it! Jefferson may be considered by most Americans as one of our nearly-hallowed Founders, but he doesn't tell us what to do, today. (While I maintain a great and abiding respect for Jefferson's position as a Founder, and more than some respect for his sociopolitical narratives, especially including the Declaration - I am not blinded about the abhorrent and deeply immoral issue of Slavery; nor the foolishness toward, criminality thrust upon, and brazen disrespect issued toward, the sacred Native American Peoples!)
The world economy and security issues are intertwined. Did you see the statement of "rhetorical confusion" by Ron Paul in the latest Republican debate about from whom we are borrowing to pay who? HE WAS RIGHT! ...IN PRINCIPLE! But...where are we...in the REALITY of Global Politics? High handed (and "headed") Nationalism becomes an apparent joke in the face of the hypocritical political webs which are being weaved! I do feel we are in an early preparatory incarnation of the realization that the distant future of humanity is not Nationalistic - but that we are rightly emissaries of ONE EARTH. (Some see it, some feel it, stronger than others: perhaps a deep wish, perhaps a visionary endorsement of futures yet to be realized. But...as Dr. Sagan used to say.."...we have much promise.")
Do I like him? (Barack) I don't know him. I don't know enough about him to say "I think I do." Do I like many of the things I have heard from him? Yes. Do I feel he is the best person to be President next, "OBVIOUSLY, NO!"
I have been asked in email (no it's not just your question, Freshprinze... ... ...) whether I think it would be a danger if a black man becomes President?
NO!
(While I felt immediate offense by even being asked, I will carry no lasting umbrage against the ignorance of the person asking.)
So...in response I just ask, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH AN AMERICAN, QUALIFIED BY THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION, THE SUPREME LAW OF OUR LAND, AND WHOSE PEOPLE HAVE PAID SOME OF THE DEEPEST PRICES TO BE FREE, BEING PRESIDENT?"
(I will also say that, due to my knowing the identity and history of one of the writers, I rather declare their apparent racist intention, acting as an underpinning to such a question, constitutes the only potential for danger. Get over your skin color - grow up!)
I would respond almost the same, about a woman being President:
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH AN AMERICAN, QUALIFIED BY THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION, THE SUPREME LAW OF OUR LAND, AND WHO IS A MEMBER OF A GENDER THAT HAS PAID SOME INCREDIBLE PRICES FOR FREEDOM AND PERSONAL RIGHTS, BEING PRESIDENT?"
The bottom line is:
WE MUST PICK THE PERSON WE FEEL IS BEST FOR THE JOB!
Does this mean that we should discount what makes the person great: their history of personal struggle against racial or gender prejudice, and other things? Absolutely not! There is no doubt that struggle increases personal strength, and when such strength is directed positively can change the world for the better! (But...let's be fair handed to candidates other than Hillary or Barack! ...and in truth...for instance...the horrors John McCain suffered in North Vietnam as a POW is something for which we should all be very respectful. {And before anyone raises the specter, such a respect is not contingent on historical or deeper geopolitical questions.})
I have also been asked whether Bill Clinton was showing "racism," concerning certain comments he has recently made? I never speak for another person's heart - but reserve my comments for their actions - including their words, and only try to carefully reflect on their history to elucidate my view of "intentions." Given what I know of his (William Jefferson Clinton's) history, I seriously doubt he intended anything of a racist nature. If anyone feels different, and can elucidate why, please feel free to correct my ignorance. (You are welcomed to privately email comments as well, and either have them published {with or without your name - your choice too} on the Eagles Forum, or leave it between us. I am never too "anything," not to be corrected.
A media manager for Obama is said to be advising the media that former President Bill Clinton should be told to "butt out" with regard to the campaigning he is doing for Hillary. It doesn't work that way! Any citizen can campaign for any candidate. A President doesn't cease being a citizen after the term(s) of office. Bill has decided to campaign for the Senator from New York...who "just happens" to be his wife and the former First Lady! That's his right! What the media decides to cover is their decision.
To the issue of the "swearing in" should Barack be elected. I received a letter stating he swore into his Senate seat "with a Koran"(Quran, Qur'an, "Allah be praised!")!
This statement about Obama is INCORRECT! The person who was "ceremonially" sworn in with the Holy Qur'an was Rep. Keith Ellison, on Thursday, January 4, 2007!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16473968/
Rep. Ellison used a Holy Qur'an once owned by THOMAS JEFFERSON!
I do not comment on this issue, lightly. I hear people tell me and write to me "If he's elected, he better use a Bible!"
Personally, Barack, Hillary (and anyone else for that matter) better damned well say these words:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." - Article 2, Section 1, The Constitution of the United States of America
Now...let me ask you (all - but certainly the Americans as it's our national drama...) something...
Where in the Supreme Law of our land, the document the jingoists and rampaging Nationalists so often cite as their personal "heart-writ", does it say the person's left hand must be placed on a Judeo-Christian Bible?
Don't give me the "it's tradition" crapola - as THE CONSTITUTION IS OUR LIVING TRADITION! Don't give me the "theological" crapola unless you are willing to argue the real beliefs of the Founders and win - hint- you won't. (I've had the extreme honor of standing in one of their most private archives, and have read some of their privately shared thoughts, so know exactly where to go, in reference, to defend my position if needed.)
If you shove a Judeo-Christian Bible, a series of Holy documents for which I have great respect, and the Torah (commonly called the "Old Testament" by many Christians, and before the complexity of the Hebrew construction of which I remain in reverential awe), under the hand of anyone - as a precedent or qualification to become President -
...then how does it feel to argue for an established Church?
May I remind you?
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." -Amendment 1, The Constitution of the United States of America
Are you going to argue that it isn't the Congress? Right. But...the separation of Church and State is now supported by the Supreme Court and a huge litany of Federal and other court decisions!
(That separation, in my view, has been rightly decided where people have been defended against being oppressed by any Religion, and wrongly where the judicial system has been used to oppress the citizenry from exercising their Freedom of Speech, where such practice involves their expression of Religion! Yes, we know about the concerted effort to argue for the removal of "God" from the public square - an effort doomed to failure as God is extant in the very people doing the arguing! )
Given one may loudly argue "tradition," as did the Loyalists just prior to those difficult events of Lexington and Concord and just after (no offense whatsoever intended to my wonderful friends from (truly) Great Britain ), allow me to ask you a question about tradition?
What tradition do you follow? An important question! Why do I ask it? If your "personal" tradition is...say...(just randomly picking a church in the U.S. )..."Episcopal" (the beautiful Church of my late step-grandfather, David)...
...you would want to swear in with an appropriate Bible with the "Old and New Covenants," yes? Right!
Could you be trusted, being an "Episcopal" (only as an example, and as my family has certain Liturgical ties), as a President, even if you were sworn in on a...say...Roman Catholic (I was baptized as such) version of the Holy Bible?
Of course! Why? You may argue...the same God? Great!
Fine! Now...stepping away from the examples...understand I am now done using the examples before I ask this question...and direct it to a specific writer who wanted their questions addressed this way...reacting to their "slant"...fine...
WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO CLAIM THAT THE GOD OF THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE OF ISLAM IS NOT THE GOD OF THE SO CALLED "OLD TESTAMENT".....JUST UNDERSTOOD DIFFERENTLY, THROUGH THE HUMAN LENSES AND PRISMS OF CULTURE??????? This argument extends to all cultures and traditions, and yes...I understand about the beliefs of certain "literalists" and the dogmatically inclined.
But...you would still want to pick for yourself? Of course you would! So, maybe, would someone from the Great Tradition of Islam!
When the person places their hand on the text to which they believe -THEY KNOW- binds them to Almighty God - while they do their PUBLIC ACT of swearing to the words in the United States Constitution, I fail to see how the argument for only a Judeo-Christian Bible has merit?
You don't like that? Like something (or someone ) close to George (Washington, not the idiot presently in office) may have said - 'take your pound of bread and meat, and your gill of beans and rum and stand up like an American!' Do it for everyone's rights, not just your own!
As I see it, it's a hard truth, but I also know about the bases for most wars, and will not ignore that to satisfy anyone from any one tradition wishing to make themselves feel "exclusive." Truth be told, as I understand it, the only exclusive club to which any of us belong is called "humanity" and before even that..."life."
In other words I think we all have it right - and all have it wrong - all at the same time!
I doubt we will find true peace with justice for all people, until that notion of a "true humanity" is both understood and practiced. When it is, there will be no more need for soldiers to guard "walls." There is no need now...but in my humble view we just haven't been able to convince our "so high and mighty" selves of that truth, yet.
Our life time? Well...that's kind of hard to see from this desk...
...as people are still busying themselves being very concerned about what they feel is such an overarching need to "strike" Barack Obama's skin color because they refuse to see what "human" truly means, and (directed to men) be reproving of Hillary Clinton's gender because the very thought of one (without externally evident gonads) being in charge, makes you realize that what you lack runs deeper than your quiet embarrassment over personal fantasy measurements! ( Guys, we'll all laugh together one day! Oh...not you, right? --> )
Yes...it's difficult from this desk...but yet I see hope...why?
Some reasons...
1. I feel the beauty in humanity. I see it in my fellow human's eyes, and feel it from them every day! Humanity is both male and female - together! What another beautiful dualism in this Cosmos!
2. The tide is rising in the world - the "human rights" tide, the understanding that we are ONE PEOPLE...and while it is "just the tide" right now...eventually...no tin-dictatorial power will be able to stop the human wave of desire to be FREE!
3. The Peace and Love that I felt that day...that extraordinary day for me in 1981...when great pain was taken away from this undeserving, to be healed, servant...
It was not dictatorial, nor was it reproving, nor was it just male, nor was it just female, it...
It just loved me for me. There's no emoticon to match (break)
Okay...back...I guess...ummm...anyway...that day.
and
4. The man...that MAN...the one I saw that day that I haven't really talked about (for maybe good reason) while lying on my back in the Clean Sphere while that little beautiful person (Chi'el'ah) was practicing his version of "streaming memory media"! He was darker skinned. But his blood was red, just like all of us! Maybe it was all of us.
Oh, boy...end of entry. I guess that is what I am saying. I'll be back in a few days.
Love,
Dan