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Big Windbag's posts get easier to read all the time. Just scroll to the bottom to see if there's a name there. <br><br>If not, don't read them! <br><br>Sunil<br><br>> Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2008 16:26:31 -0700<br>> From: no.weatherman@gmail.com<br>> To: vision2020@moscow.com<br>> Subject: [Vision2020] Politics and Religion<br>> <br>> Visionaries,<br>> <br>> I am afraid that I got off on the wrong foot with some of you. They<br>> say that if you want to keep your friends, you shouldn't talk politics<br>> and religion with them and I made the mistake of broaching a highly<br>> incendiary — indeed, explosive — political discussion with you when I<br>> forced Barrack Hussein Obama's long-standing close personal<br>> relationship with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers to the forefront of<br>> this conversation. This was wrong of me. If Obama does not have to<br>> account for his friendship with a man who declared war on the US and<br>> has not rescinded his declaration, why should any of his supporters<br>> have to account for it? It's good enough that we pretend it never<br>> happened and no conflicts exist. After all, what we don't know can't<br>> hurt us.<br>> <br>> Therefore, I wish to try again. Instead of politics, let's talk<br>> religion — Obama's religion — as Rev. Wright's church's magazine,<br>> Trumpet, reveals it.<br>> <br>> Question: What do Barrack Hussein Obama and Louis Farrakhan have in common?<br>> Answer: They both made the cover of Trumpet, except Obama didn't know<br>> that Wright is a radical.<br>> <br>> Jeremiah Wright's 'Trumpet'<br>> The content of the magazine produced by Barack Obama's pastor reveals<br>> the content of his character.<br>> by Stanley Kurtz<br>> <br>> http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/082ktdyi.asp<br>> <br>> To the question of the moment — What did Barack Obama know and when<br>> did he know it? — I answer, Obama knew everything, and he's known it<br>> for ages. Far from succumbing to surprise and shock after Jeremiah<br>> Wright's disastrous performance at the National Press Club, Barack<br>> Obama must have long been aware of his pastor's political radicalism.<br>> A careful reading of nearly a year's worth of Trumpet Newsmagazine,<br>> Wright's glossy national "lifestyle magazine for the socially<br>> conscious," makes it next to impossible to conclude otherwise.<br>> <br>> Wright founded Trumpet Newsmagazine in 1982 as a "church newspaper" —<br>> primarily for his own congregation, one gathers — to "preach a message<br>> of social justice to those who might not hear it in worship service."<br>> So Obama's presence at sermons is not the only measure of his<br>> knowledge of Wright's views. Glance through even a single issue of<br>> Trumpet, and Wright's radical politics are everywhere — in the<br>> pictures, the headlines, the highlighted quotations, and above all in<br>> the articles themselves. It seems inconceivable that, in 20 years,<br>> Obama would never have picked up a copy of Trumpet. In fact, Obama<br>> himself graced the cover at least once (although efforts to obtain<br>> that issue from the publisher or Obama's interview with the magazine<br>> from his campaign were unsuccessful).<br>> <br>> Building on his reputation as a charismatic and "socially conscious"<br>> preacher (and no doubt also upon the fame conferred by his Obama<br>> connection), Wright decided several years ago to take the publication<br>> national. In September 2005, Trumpet officially separated from<br>> Wright's church and became an independent entity, with Wright as CEO<br>> and his two eldest daughters managing the magazine. Then in March<br>> 2006, with key financial backing from the TV One network, Trumpet<br>> released its first nationally distributed issue. The goal was to turn<br>> Trumpet into "a more sophisticated publication that would speak not<br>> just to black Christians but to the entire African-American<br>> community." In November 2005, Wright's daughter and Trumpet<br>> publisher/editor in chief Jeri Wright announced the goal of increasing<br>> circulation from 5,000 to 100,000 in 10 months. Thanks to a national<br>> publicity blitz, she was able to declare that goal had been met well<br>> ahead of schedule.<br>> <br>> If you've heard about the "Empowerment Award" bestowed upon Louis<br>> Farrakhan by Wright, or about Wright's derogation of "garlic-nosed"<br>> Italians (of the ancient Roman variety), then you already know<br>> something about Trumpet. Farrakhan's picture was on the cover of a<br>> special November/December 2007 double issue, along with an<br>> announcement of the Empowerment Award and Wright's praise of Farrakhan<br>> as a 20th- and 21st-century "giant." Wright's words about Farrakhan<br>> were almost identical to those that, just four months later, led a<br>> supposedly shocked Obama to repudiate Wright. The insult to Italians<br>> was in the same double issue.<br>> <br>> I obtained the 2006 run of Trumpet, from the first nationally<br>> distributed issue in March to the November/December double issue. To<br>> read it is to come away impressed by Wright's thoroughgoing political<br>> radicalism. There are plenty of arresting sound bites, of course, but<br>> the larger context is more illuminating — and more disturbing — than<br>> any single shock-quotation. Trumpet provides a rounded picture of<br>> Wright's views, and what it shows unmistakably is that the<br>> now-infamous YouTube snippets from Wright's sermons are authentic<br>> reflections of his core political and theological beliefs. It leaves<br>> no doubt that his religion is political, his attitude toward America<br>> is bitterly hostile, and he has fundamental problems with capitalism,<br>> white people, and "assimilationist" blacks. Even some of Wright's<br>> famed "good works," and his moving "Audacity to Hope" sermon, are<br>> placed in a disturbing new light by a reading of Trumpet.<br>> <br>> Getting across his political message is Wright's highest priority.<br>> Back in May 2007, the liberal, Chicago-based Christian Century<br>> published an extended study — really a defense — of Wright's church.<br>> Attempting to inoculate Wright (and Obama) from critics like Sean<br>> Hannity and Tucker Carlson, Christian Century dismissed the notion<br>> that Wright's Trinity church "is a political organization constantly<br>> advocating for social change." Yet in Trumpet, Wright and his fellow<br>> columnists show themselves to be exactly that.<br>> <br>> Wright is the foremost acolyte of James Cone's "black liberation<br>> theology," which puts politics at the center of religion. Wright<br>> himself is explicit:<br>> <br>> "[T]here was no separation Biblically and historically and there is no<br>> separation contemporaneously between 'religion and politics.' . . .<br>> The Word of God has everything to do with racism, sexism, militarism,<br>> social justice and the world in which we live daily."<br>> <br>> In fact, for all his rousing rhetoric, Wright is a bit of a policy<br>> wonk, moving fluidly and frequently from excoriations of American<br>> foreign policy in various African countries, to denunciations of<br>> Senate votes on the minimum wage, to fulminations against FCC<br>> licensing policies and Clear Channel, and so much more. Wright is up<br>> to speed on local, national, and international politics, and it's<br>> tough to imagine him missing an opportunity to confer with Obama on<br>> his wide array of legislative crusades.<br>> <br>> When Trumpet surprised Wright with a "Lifetime Achievement Trumpeter<br>> Award," it said that he "preaches a liberation theology" whose<br>> "religious message [is] fused with political activism." Not only does<br>> black liberation theology founder James Cone see Wright as his most<br>> important follower, but Wright's successor as pastor at Trinity, Otis<br>> Moss III, also views Wright as the quintessential political pastor.<br>> Moss (himself now considered the most promising young<br>> black-liberationist preacher in the country) turned down the<br>> opportunity to step into the leadership of his own preacher-father's<br>> nationally known church for a chance to serve at the still more<br>> renowned Trinity. Wright's Trinity, affirms Moss, is "the most<br>> socially conscious African-centered and politically active church in<br>> the nation."<br>> <br>> While the majority of Trumpet's articles weave radical politics into a<br>> religious framework, some are purely political. For example, the April<br>> 2006 issue features a column entitled "Demand Impeachment Now!" The<br>> author pointedly refuses to call Bush "president," merely referring to<br>> him as the "resident" of the White House (and therefore as "Resident<br>> Bush"). Another piece taunts Vice President Cheney for his shooting<br>> accident and ends, "America, it's time for regime change." Neither<br>> piece has so much as a religious veneer.<br>> <br>> What about patriotism? While many consider Wright's call for God to<br>> damn America irredeemable, others might argue that "in context,"<br>> Wright's prophetic denunciations actually prove his love of country.<br>> Unfortunately, neither Wright nor any of the other regular Trumpet<br>> columnists displays a trace of this "I'm denouncing you because I love<br>> you" stance. On the contrary, the pages of Trumpet resonate with<br>> enraged criticism of the United States. Indeed, they feature explicit<br>> repudiations of even the most basic expressions of American<br>> patriotism, supporting instead an "African-centered" perspective that<br>> treats black Americans as virtual strangers in a foreign land.<br>> <br>> Although the expression "African American" appears in Trumpet, the<br>> magazine more typically refers to American blacks as "Africans living<br>> in the Western Diaspora." Wright and the other columnists at Trumpet<br>> seem to think of blacks as in, but not of, America. The deeper<br>> connection is to Africans on the continent, and to the worldwide<br>> diaspora of African-originated peoples. In an image that captures the<br>> spirit of Wright's relationship to the United States, he speaks of<br>> blacks as "songbirds" locked in "this cage called America."<br>> <br>> Wright views the United States as a criminal nation. Here is a typical<br>> passage: "Do you see God as a God who approves of Americans taking<br>> other people's countries? Taking other people's women? Raping teenage<br>> girls and calling it love (as in Thomas Jefferson and Sally<br>> Hemmings)?" Anyone who does think this way, Wright suggests, should<br>> revise his notion of God. Implicitly drawing on Marxist "dependency<br>> theory," Wright blames Africa's troubles on capitalist exploitation by<br>> the West, and also on inadequate American aid: "Some analysts would go<br>> so far as to even call what [the United States, the G-8, and<br>> multinational corporations] are doing [in Africa] genocide!"<br>> <br>> According to Wright, America's alleged genocide in Africa, as well as<br>> its treatment of "Africans in the Western diaspora," both leads to and<br>> flows from a single underlying truth: "White supremacy is the bed rock<br>> of the philosophical, ideological and theological foundations of this<br>> country." So for Wright, it's really not a question of correcting<br>> America in the spirit of a loving patriot. America, to Wright, is a<br>> kind of alien formation, scarcely less of a "cage" for "Africans in<br>> the Western Diaspora" than it was during the days of slavery: "[T]his<br>> country is built off, and continues to exist on, the premise of white<br>> supremacy." Again and again, Wright makes the point that America's<br>> criminality and racism are not aberrations but of the essence of the<br>> nation, that they are every bit as alive today as during the slave<br>> era, and that America is therefore no better than the worst<br>> international offenders: "White supremacy undergirds the thought, the<br>> ideology, the theology, the sociology, the legal structure, the<br>> educational system, the healthcare system, and the entire reality of<br>> the United States of America and South Africa!" (Emphasis Wright's.)<br>> <br>> One of Wright's most striking images of American evil invokes<br>> Hurricane Katrina. Here are excerpts of a piece in the May 2006<br>> Trumpet:<br>> <br>> "We need to educate our children to the reality of white supremacy.<br>> <br>> "We need to educate our children about the white supremacist's<br>> foundations of the educational system.<br>> <br>> "When the levees in Louisiana broke alligators, crocodiles and piranha<br>> swam freely through what used to be the streets of New Orleans. That<br>> is an analogy that we need to drum into the heads of our African<br>> American children (and indeed all children!).<br>> <br>> "In the flood waters of white supremacy . . . there are also<br>> crocodiles, alligators and piranha!<br>> <br>> "The policies with which we live now and against which our children<br>> will have to struggle in order to bring about 'the beloved community,'<br>> are policies shaped by predators.<br>> <br>> "We lay a foundation, deconstructing the household of white supremacy<br>> with tools that are not the master's tools. We lay the foundation with<br>> hope. We deconstruct the vicious and demonic ideology of white<br>> supremacy with hope. Our hope is not built on faith-based dollars,<br>> empty liberal promises or veiled hate-filled preachments of the<br>> so-called conservatives. Our hope is built on Him who came in the<br>> flesh to set us free."<br>> <br>> Given Wright's conviction that America, past and present, is<br>> criminally white supremacist — even genocidal — to its core, Wright is<br>> not a fan of patriotic celebration. Predictably, Columbus Day is a day<br>> of rage for Wright. Calling Columbus a racist slave trader, Wright<br>> excoriates the holiday as "a national act of amnesia and denial," part<br>> of the "sick and myopic arrogance called Western History."<br>> <br>> Strangely, given his view of this country, Wright insists that real<br>> credit for America's discovery goes to Africans. As evidence for the<br>> African discovery of America, Wright cites Dr. Ivan van Sertima's book<br>> They Came Before Columbus. (Sertima's work has been severely<br>> criticized by scholars and was dismissed by prominent British<br>> archaeologist Glyn Daniel in a 1977 New York Times book review as<br>> "ignorant rubbish.") Wright concludes: "Giving Columbus the credit is<br>> called 'American History' or 'The History of Western Civilization.'<br>> Back in the 1960's we called it what it was and is, however, and that<br>> is 'a pack of lies.'"<br>> <br>> Contempt for Columbus Day is hardly novel, but in the 2006 July/August<br>> issue, regular Trumpet columnist the Rev. Reginald Williams Jr. comes<br>> down hard on the Fourth of July, which Williams dismisses as "the<br>> national holiday of the dominant culture." Williams invokes Frederick<br>> Douglass's famous 1852 Fourth of July address:<br>> <br>> "What to the slave is the 4th of July? What have I to do with your<br>> national independence?. . . What to the American slave is your 4th of<br>> July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in<br>> the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant<br>> victim. To him, your celebration is a sham . . . your national<br>> greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and<br>> heartless . . . your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings<br>> . . . mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin<br>> veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages."<br>> <br>> To Williams, Douglass's words ring every bit as true today as they did<br>> before the Civil War and the abolition of slavery. (This column is<br>> illustrated with a large picture of slave manacles.) Williams goes on<br>> to echo and update Douglass, condemning the Fourth as "nothing more<br>> than a day off work and a time for some good barbeque to the millions<br>> of African Americans who suffer and have suffered under the policies<br>> of this government and this country." Liberation theologian that he<br>> is, Williams is particularly hostile to those who "will even invoke<br>> religious fervor, and biblical quotes to justify their flawed sense of<br>> phony patriotism." No flag pins here.<br>> <br>> Hostility to capitalism is another of Trumpet's pervasive themes. As<br>> we've seen, Wright blames multinational corporations for conflict and<br>> poverty in Africa. Trinity Church urges parishioners to boycott<br>> Wal-Mart, and Wright decries what he calls "the "Wal-martization of<br>> the world." In another one of his regular Trumpet columns, Reginald<br>> Williams criticizes McDonald's for failing to heed leftist advocacy<br>> groups by voluntarily raising the price it pays for tomatoes (so as to<br>> raise the wages of tomato pickers). Williams apparently wants to<br>> replace market mechanisms with a pricing system dictated by "human<br>> rights groups."<br>> <br>> While the nationally distributed issues of Trumpet in 2006 contained<br>> no pieces blaming 9/11 on America's "terrorist" foreign policy (as<br>> Wright did in a famous sermon), one remarkable piece defended<br>> then-congresswoman Cynthia McKinney's suspicion that the Bush<br>> administration knew about the 9/11 attacks before they happened. This<br>> column, "The Beloved Cynthia McKinney" (illustrated with pictures of<br>> McKinney in model-like poses), decries the fact that McKinney was<br>> "tarred and feathered in the press" for raising questions about<br>> possible government foreknowledge of 9/11. The "crimes of 9/11," it<br>> darkly announces, are "not only unsolved, but covered up by both<br>> Democrats and Republicans."<br>> <br>> America's justice system is another favorite Trumpet theme. Wright<br>> likes to call it "the criminal injustice system." A piece headed "Read<br>> Me My Rights: Protocol for Dealing with the Police" decries racial<br>> profiling and counsels those detained to refuse to speak to police<br>> without a lawyer present. Reginald Williams calls prisons "the new<br>> concrete plantations" and likens the inclusion of nonvoting prisoners<br>> in state population counts to the official counting of nonvoting<br>> slaves in state populations before the Civil War. In other words, the<br>> abolition of slavery and segregation notwithstanding, America is still<br>> a fundamentally racist nation. Wright likes to call the American North<br>> "up South."<br>> <br>> Is Wright an anti-white racist? He would certainly deny it. In When<br>> Black Men Stand Up for God (a book he coauthored, in praise of Louis<br>> Farrakhan's Million Man March), Wright says, "The enemy is not white<br>> people. The enemy is white supremacy." There are white members of<br>> Wright's church, and black liberation theologians have always, if a<br>> bit reluctantly, welcomed support from white radicals. Nonetheless,<br>> the problem of reverse racism keeps coming up, abetted by episodes<br>> like the assault on "garlic-nosed" Italians.<br>> <br>> Wright's swipe at Italians is actually directed toward the Romans who<br>> crucified Jesus (in what James Cone calls a "first-century lynching").<br>> Following black liberation theology, Wright emphasizes that the black<br>> Jesus was "murdered by the European oppressors who looked down on His<br>> people." In a sense, then, disclaimers notwithstanding, Wright turns<br>> the crucifixion into a potential charter for "anti-European" anger.<br>> <br>> Wright, however, rejects the notion that "black racism" is even<br>> possible. That is why he prefers the term "white supremacy" to<br>> "racism." "Racism," says Wright, is a "slippery" and "nebulous" term,<br>> precisely because it seems potentially applicable to blacks and whites<br>> alike. The term "white supremacy" solves this problem, and Wright<br>> deploys it at every opportunity.<br>> <br>> Wright opposes "assimilation," expressing displeasure with the likes<br>> of Condoleezza Rice, Clarence Thomas, and Colin Powell. He dismisses<br>> such blacks as "sell outs." Wright's hostility to assimilation goes<br>> beyond classic American expressions of pride in ethnic or religious<br>> heritage. For example, Wright claims that "desegregation is not the<br>> same as integration. . . . Desegregation did not mean that white<br>> children would now come to Black schools and learn our story, our<br>> history, our heritage, our legacy, our beauty and our strength!" This,<br>> for Wright, is genuine "integration."<br>> <br>> One of the most striking features of Wright's Trumpet columns is the<br>> light they shed on his longstanding theme of "hope." Wright's<br>> "Audacity to Hope" sermon is built around a painting he describes of a<br>> torn and tattered woman sitting atop a globe and playing a harp that<br>> has lost all but a single string. In that sermon, Wright's allegory of<br>> hope amidst despair concentrates on our need to soldier on in faith<br>> amidst personal tragedy. Yet the "Audacity" sermon also features<br>> allusions to South Africa's Sharpeville Massacre (1960) and "white<br>> folks's greed [that] runs a world in need."<br>> <br>> In Trumpet, the political context of the "hope" theme is harsher<br>> still. Instead of counseling determination amidst personal tragedy,<br>> Wright uses "hope" to exhort his readers to boldly carry on the<br>> long-odds struggle against white supremacist America: "We deconstruct<br>> the vicious and demonic ideology of white supremacy with hope." Here's<br>> another passage in the same mode:<br>> <br>> "[O]ur fight against Wal-Mart's practices has not been won and might<br>> never be won in our lifetime. That does not mean we stop struggling<br>> against what it is they stand for that is not in keeping with God's<br>> will and God's Kingdom that we pray will come every day."<br>> <br>> In that earlier striking passage on the post-Katrina flooding in New<br>> Orleans, Wright speaks of his determination to "drum into the heads of<br>> our African American children (and indeed, all children!)" the idea<br>> that America is flooded with the "crocodiles, alligators and piranha"<br>> of white supremacy. That image creates the context for one of Wright's<br>> most energetic invocations of "hope":<br>> <br>> "We are on the verge of launching our African-centered Christian<br>> school. The dream of that school, which we articulated in 1979, was<br>> built on hope. That hope still lives. That school has to have at its<br>> core an understanding and assessment of white supremacy as we<br>> deconstruct that reality to help our children become all that God<br>> created them to be when God made them in God's own image."<br>> <br>> The construction of a school for inner city children undoubtedly falls<br>> into the category of the "good works" which nearly everyone recognizes<br>> as a benefit bestowed by Trinity Church on the surrounding community,<br>> Wright's ideology notwithstanding. But is a school that portrays<br>> America as a white supremacist nation filled with predatory alligators<br>> and piranha a good work?<br>> <br>> Wright's status as a father-figure comes through clearly in the pages<br>> of Trumpet. In a Trumpet interview, Jesse Jackson characterizes Wright<br>> as "between a huge father, pastor, preacher, [and] prophet." Wright's<br>> young minister protégés call him "Daddy J" and "Uncle J," and perhaps<br>> this latter name prompted Obama's reference to Wright as "like an<br>> uncle." Obama's longing for a father figure surely gave him a great<br>> hunger to get to know what Wright was about. In their first meeting,<br>> Wright warned Obama that many considered him too politically radical,<br>> and it is simply inconceivable that in 20 years' time someone as sharp<br>> as Obama did not grasp the intensely political themes repeated in so<br>> much of what Wright says and does. Radical politics is no sideline for<br>> Wright, but the very core of his theology and practice.<br>> <br>> There can be no mistaking it. What did Barack Obama know and when did<br>> he know it? Everything. Always.<br>> <br>> Stanley Kurtz is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.<br>> =======================================================<br>> List services made available by First Step Internet, <br>> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <br>> http://www.fsr.net <br>> mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<br>> =======================================================<br></body>
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