Yep, most "anti-Americans" display just that when they decide to devote their life to politics.
I think the record adequately reflects that people (in both parties) have been known to sometimes enter politics for reasons other than patriotism or selflessness.
As such, the mere fact that Obama is a politician is hardly evidence that he doesn't harbor closet antipathy toward our nation.
I think they managed to get at least one clip where Clinton launches some attack with those strategists and handlers that are always hovering and nodding the lines THEY wrote, right behind her. Sort of like puppet masters who just feel a need to constantly be there as she's parroting their lines.
when you're filling up your tank next time or your job gets outsourced, remember that Obama doesn't wear a flag lapel.
Quote:
Hailed until only months ago as a silver bullet in the fight against global warming, biofuels are now accused of snatching food out of the mouths of the poor.
Billions have been poured into developing sugar- and grain-based ethanol and biodiesel to help wean rich economies from their addiction to carbon-belching fossil fuels, the overwhelming source of man-made global warming.
Heading the rush are the United States, Brazil and Canada, which are eagerly transforming corn, wheat, soy beans and sugar cane into cleaner-burning fuel, and the European Union (EU) is to launch its own ambitious programme.
But as soaring prices for staples bring more of the planet's most vulnerable people face-to-face with starvation, the image of biofuels has suddenly changed from climate saviour to a horribly misguided experiment.
On Friday, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said biofuels "posed a real moral problem" and called for a moratorium on using food crops to power cars, trucks and buses.
The vital problem of global warming "has to be balanced with the fact that there are people who are going to starve to death," said Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
"Producing biofuels is a crime against humanity," the UN's special rapporteur for the right to food, Jean Ziegler of Switzerland, said earlier.
Biofuels may still be in their infancy but they are growing rapidly, with annual production leaping by double-digit percentages.
In a speech on Wednesday that set down a target for reducing US carbon emissions, George W. Bush pointed to legislation requiring US producers to supply at least 36 billion gallons (136 billion litres) of renewable fuel by 2020.
In 2007, 20 percent of grain -- 81 million tonnes -- produced in the United States was used to make ethanol, according to US think tank the Earth Policy Institute, which predicts that the percentage will jump to nearly a quarter this year.
"We are looking at a five-fold increase in renewable fuel," Bush's top climate change advisor, Jim Connaughton, said in Paris on Thursday at a meeting of the world's major greenhouse-gas polluters.
But more than half of that legislatively-mandated production would come from "second-generation" biofuels made from non-food sources such as switchgrass and wood byproducts, he said.
The EU's and the Brazilian delegates in Paris contested the link between biofuels and the world food crisis.
"This is highly exaggerated," Sergio Serra, Brazil's ambassador for climate change, told AFP.
"There is no real relation of cause and effect between the expansion of the production of biofuels and the raising of food prices. At least it is not happening in Brazil."
EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said experts would report back by the end of May on how to guarantee that Europe's planned biofuel boost would not impinge on the environment or the poor.
"There are a lot of concerns about social impacts, rising food prices and environment issues, and for all those reasons we want to insist on sustainability criteria in our legislation," he said.
Defenders of biofuels say food shortfalls have multiple causes, including a growing appetite for meat among the burgeoning middle class in China and India.
On average, it takes more than four kilos (eight pounds) of grain to produce one kilo (two pounds) of pork, and two kilos (four pounds) of grain to yield a kilo (two pounds) of beef.
Climate change may well be a contributing factor.
Some scientists fear rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns may be worsening water scarcity in key agriculture areas such Australia's wheat belt, and rice-growing deltas may be hit by saline intrusion from rising seas.
In addition, the surging cost of oil has had an indirect impact on many poor people, adding to the pinch caused by rising food prices.
i'll also remember when i see people starving that he is backed by the eco-nazi's as well...
SCRANTON, Pa. - As Sen. Hillary Clinton was preparing to campaign here today, Sen. Barack Obama was meeting with voters at a diner and apparently pretty hungry. "Why can't I just eat my waffle?" he said, when asked a foreign policy question by a reporter at the Glider Diner. ...
Though he sees himself as a progressive who has risen above prejudice, Barack was reflecting and pandering to the prejudice of the class to which he himself belongs, and which he was then addressing.
A few months back, Michelle Obama revealed her mindset about America with the remark that, "for the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country." Barack has now revealed how he, too, sees the country. The Great Unifier divides the nation into us and them.
The "us" are the privileged cosmopolitan elite of San Francisco and his Ivy League upbringing. The "them" are the folks in the small towns and rural areas of that other America. Toward these folks, Obama's attitude is not one of hostility, but of paternalism. Because time has passed them by, Barack believes, they cannot, in their frustration and bitterness, be held fully accountable for their atavistic beliefs and behavior.
...In Barack's mind, black anger and resentment at "racial injustice and inequality" are "legitimate."
But the anger and resentment of white folks, about affirmative action, crime and forced busing are born of misperceptions -- and of "bogus claims of racism" manipulated and exploited by conservative columnists and commentators to keep the racial pot boiling and retain power, so the right can continue to do the bidding of the corporations that are the real enemy.
That while Obama hides his true ideology well, his core beliefs are inherently divisive, and that Obama has a condescending contempt for the white Americans he would presume to lead.
i love how you guys are playing the angle that whites are victims of obama's racism. everything he says is somehow racist, but if a black person mentions slavery or segregation then wondy says they should get over it.
Originally Posted By: Friendly Neighborhood Ray-man
i love how you guys are playing the angle that whites are victims of obama's racism. everything he says is somehow racist, but if a black person mentions slavery or segregation then wondy says they should get over it.
Who the fuck is siding with WB? Besides, I think most of us are condemning Obama for his duplicitous nature when it comes to race. He uses it as both a sword and a shield depending upon the situation.
whomod said: I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules. It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness. This is true both in politics and on the internet."
Originally Posted By: Friendly Neighborhood Ray-man
i love how you guys are playing the angle that whites are victims of obama's racism. everything he says is somehow racist, but if a black person mentions slavery or segregation then wondy says they should get over it.
Who the fuck is siding with WB? Besides, I think most of us are condemning Obama for his duplicitous nature when it comes to race. He uses it as both a sword and a shield depending upon the situation.
"you guys" pretty much means G-man and wondy. the two posters above that one.
Well, for my part, the only comment I had was that I thought Buchanan's pun was vaguely racist and, therefore, damaging to his credibility on the issue. Beyond that, I've pretty much said the same sort of thing as Doc (and, for that matter, BSAMS and a few others including, I think, WB on this issue), namely, that Obama has been duplicitous about race in this campaign.
At the same time, I've also praised Obama when I thought he rose above that sort of thing.
So, I'm not sure how you can lump me into some sort of "racist against Obama" catagory, other than the fact that you've always tended to display the same knee jerk response as people like Rev. Wright, namely, that anyone who disagrees with a race baiter must be racist.
A cross-site scripting vulnerability in the social networking section of Sen. Barack Obama's campaign site was exploited over the weekend to redirect users to the URL of rival Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), researchers claimed today.
According to the U.K.-based antifraud company Netcraft Ltd., someone identified only as "Mox" confessed to the hack in an entry on the Community Blogs section on the Obama site Sunday. Obama, an Illinois Democrat, leads Clinton in the race for the party's presidential nomination. The site exploit occurred just before this week's big Pennsylvania primary.
Two high school seniors in Scranton, Pa., are paying a high price for their interest in politics.
Colin Saltry and Joey Daniel say they skipped gym class on Monday to rush over to a diner where Sen. Barack Obama's motorcade had just pulled in for an impromptu breakfast stop.
The two met Obama, and they say he even signed excuse slips for them to show their teachers. That didn't work. Saltry and Daniel got one-day suspensions for leaving school grounds, and Saltry has been ordered to resign as senior class president.
Saltry says it was worth being suspended to meet Obama, but he didn't expect to be bounced from his class presidency.
Assistant Superintendent William King says the rules are clear, and adds that if the students had approached a teacher about wanting to leave campus, they probably would have been given permission.
i want a president that cares about education, not that supports skipping school.
Two high school seniors in Scranton, Pa., are paying a high price for their interest in politics.
Colin Saltry and Joey Daniel say they skipped gym class on Monday to rush over to a diner where Sen. Barack Obama's motorcade had just pulled in for an impromptu breakfast stop.
The two met Obama, and they say he even signed excuse slips for them to show their teachers. That didn't work. Saltry and Daniel got one-day suspensions for leaving school grounds, and Saltry has been ordered to resign as senior class president.
Saltry says it was worth being suspended to meet Obama, but he didn't expect to be bounced from his class presidency.
Assistant Superintendent William King says the rules are clear, and adds that if the students had approached a teacher about wanting to leave campus, they probably would have been given permission.
i want a president that cares about education, not that supports skipping school.
Other than ensuring the Greatest Show on Earth will continue, does it matter that Hillary Clinton defeated Barack Obama Tuesday in Pennsylvania by nine-plus points? Barack Obama is the nominee.
No matter how many kicks the rest of us find in such famously fun primary states as Indiana and South Dakota, it's going to be McCain versus Obama in 2008.
the cement set around the Clinton coffin last Friday. The Obama campaign announced it had received the support of former Sens. Sam Nunn of North Carolina and David Boren of Oklahoma.
Both are what some of us nostalgically call Serious Democrats. They represent what the party was, but is no more: sensible on national security, spending and middle-class values. Obama receiving their imprimatur is like hands reaching out from the graves of FDR, JFK and LBJ to announce: "Enough is enough. This man is your nominee. Go forth and fight with the Republicans." Make no mistake: Superdelegates with sway took notice.
In a campaign of surprises, none has been more breathtaking than the falling away of Clinton supporters, loyalists . . . and friends. Why?
Money. Barack Obama's mystical pull on people is nice, but nice in modern politics comes after money. Once Barack proved conclusively that he could raise big-time cash, the Clintons' strongest tie to their machine began to unravel. Today he's got $42 million banked. She's got a few million north of nothing.
But it's more than that. Barack Obama's Web-based fund-raising apparatus is, if one may say so, respectable. The Clintons' "donor base" has been something else.
It is hard to overstate how fatigued Democratic donors in Manhattan and L.A. got during the Clinton presidency to have Bill and Hillary fly in, repeatedly, to sweep checking accounts. The Lincoln Bedroom rental was cheesy. Bill's 60th birthday gala (tickets $60,000 to 500K) was a Clinton fund-raiser. The 1996 John Huang-Lippo-China fund-raising scandal pushed Clinton contributors toward a milieu most didn't need in their lives. Hillary's 2007 Norman Hsu fund-raising scandal was an unsettling rerun of what the donor base could expect from another Clinton presidency.
It was all kind of gross, but the Clintons never seemed to see that. When Obama proved he could perform this most basic function in politics, it was a get-out-of-jail-free card for many Democrats. For some, this may be personal. For others, it is likely a belief that the party's interests lie with finding an alternative to the Clinton saga. One guesses this is what Sam Nunn and David Boren concluded.
Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania prove it won't be easy. Barack Obama himself said Tuesday night, "I'm not perfect." He heads to the nomination freighted with all the familiar Democratic tensions that keep a Sam Nunn off the ballot: race and gender obsessions, semipacifism and you bet, bitter white voters. So be it. For modern Democrats, winning the White House always requires some sort of magic to get near 50%. For the Clintons, that bag is empty. The Democrats have a new magician. It's Obama.
Rev. Wright says that Obama only condemned his remarks because he had to act like a politician
Quote:
Barack Obama's former pastor condemned the furor set off by his fiery sermons, which became a political crisis for the Democratic White House hopeful, as "devious" and "unfair," in an interview released Thursday.
Pastor Jeremiah Wright said in the interview that excerpts of his sermons now posted on YouTube were ripped out of context by critics who had no idea of the good works done by the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where Obama worships and where Wright was a pastor until recently.
"I felt it was unfair. I felt it was unjust. I felt it was untrue, I felt for those who were doing that, were doing it for some very devious reasons," Wright told PBS television in an interview to be broadcast on Friday.
Video clips of Wright's sermons at the mostly African-American church played repeatedly on news shows prompted Obama to deliver a landmark speech on racial reconciliation last month.
Wright was shown in the clips assailing US and Israeli "terrorism," calling on blacks to sing "God damn America," and alleging that AIDS was spread by the US government.
But he said in the interview with the Bill Moyers show that the use of soundbites from sermons he gave six years ago and more, made him the target of hatred and were "something very new and something very, very unsettling."
Conservatives have focused on Obama's refusal to disown Wright, despite his rejection of the remarks, suggesting the racially sensitive issue could feature in the general election campaign if he becomes Democratic nominee.
But Wright said he and Obama never discussed politics, and was not surprised when the Illinois senator criticized his comments during his Philadelphia race speech.
"He's a politician. I'm a pastor. We speak to two different audiences ... so what happened in Philadelphia where he had to respond to the sound bytes, he responded as a politician."
we already figured that out. well all of us but ray and whomod...
Rev. Wright says that Obama only condemned his remarks because he had to act like a politician...
Wright sounds like he's saying that Obama largely agrees with his worldview but hides his true feelings for political reasons, which might be true.
But let's interpret this more charitably: Obama disagrees with Wright but never discusses it with him. If someone who was "like an uncle" to you preached that the US government invented AIDS to kill black people, would you take him aside and tell him he's off-base?
You might...if you were remotely qualified as a leader.
Losing Ground After losing Pennsylvania and a difficult month of scandals, Barack Obama's double-digit lead over Hillary Clinton has dropped to seven points in the latest NEWSWEEK poll.
By Brian Braiker | Newsweek Web Exclusive Apr 26, 2008 | Updated: 2:40 p.m. ET Apr 26, 2008
After an important primary win in Pennsylvania, Hillary Clinton has reduced Democratic rival Barack Obama's double-digit lead among registered Democrats and voters leaning Democratic by more than half, according to the latest NEWSWEEK poll. Plagued by controversies over Rev. Jeremiah Wright's comments and the candidate's own "bitter" remarks, Obama has seen his favorability rating slip significantly in the last week, the poll found.
The survey found that Clinton now trails Obama by seven points, down from 19 just one week ago. The previous NEWSWEEK poll, conducted on the eve of the Pennsylvania primary, found that more than half (55 percent) of registered voters believed Obama was more electable, while 33 percent gave the edge to Clinton. The current poll finds Obama leading 46 percent to 38 percent. (For complete poll data, click here.) ...
Newsweek There is also the matter of Obama going negative. When a candidate sets himself as being above that sort of thing & then resorts to it, there just may be some eventual blowback. And what is going to be his line in a general election? Can he go back to the persona that he had back in Iowa & the early primaries?
Hillary Rodham Clinton now leads John McCain by 9 points in a head-to-head presidential matchup, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll that bolsters her argument that she is more electable than Democratic rival Barack Obama.
Obama and Republican McCain are running about even.
The survey released Monday gives the New York senator and former first lady a fresh talking point as she works to raise much-needed campaign cash and persuade pivotal undecided superdelegates to side with her in the drawn-out Democratic primary fight.
Helped by independents, young people and seniors, Clinton gained ground this month in a hypothetical match with Sen. McCain, the GOP nominee-in-waiting. She now leads McCain, 50 percent to 41 percent, while Obama remains virtually tied with McCain, 46 percent to 44 percent.
Both Democrats were roughly even with McCain in the previous poll about three weeks ago.
Since then, Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary, raising questions anew about whether Obama can attract broad swaths of voters needed to triumph in such big states come the fall when the Democratic nominee will go up against McCain. At the same time, Obama was thrown on the defensive by his comment that residents of small-town America were bitter. The Illinois senator also continued to deal with the controversial remarks of his longtime Chicago pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
"I don't think there's any question that over the last three weeks her stature has improved," said Harrison Hickman, a Democratic pollster unaligned in the primary. He attributed Clinton's gains to people moving from the "infatuation stage" of choosing the candidate they like the most to a "decision-making stage" where they determine who would make the best president.
Added Steve Lombardo, a GOP pollster: "This just reinforces the sentiment that a lot of Republican strategists are having right now — that Clinton might actually be the more formidable fall candidate for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that Obama can't seem to get his footing back."
The AP-Ipsos poll found Clinton and Obama about even in the race for the Democratic nomination. Underscoring deep divisions within the Democratic Party — and a potentially negative longer-term impact — 30 percent of Clinton supporters and 21 percent of Obama supporters said they would vote for McCain in November if their preferred candidate didn't win the nomination.
Obama leads Clinton in pledged delegates, but she has the advantage among superdelegates with about a third yet to make up their minds.
Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean said Monday that one of the two must drop out of the race after the primary season wraps up in June so Democrats can unite before the late-summer convention and the fall campaign.
He also urged undecided superdelegates — members of the Democratic National Committee as well as Democratic governors and members of Congress — to side with either Clinton or Obama before the August convention so the party can come together to take on McCain. The Arizona senator clinched the GOP nomination last month and has been campaigning freely since.
Also on Monday, the head of the Republicans' House campaign committee said the party would rather face Obama in November because the GOP believes Clinton would be more of a threat to McCain among moderate voters.
Said Tom Cole, a congressman from Oklahoma: Obama "is by any definition very liberal, to the left of Hillary Clinton, in a center-right country. That is very, very helpful to us."
Nearly half the people in the AP-Ipsos poll said the protracted Democratic primary will hurt their party's chances in November; more Obama supporters than Clinton backers said they had that fear.
Overall, people said they trusted Clinton and Obama about the same to handle Iraq and the economy; McCain got similar ratings on Iraq but trailed both Democrats on the economy. And while roughly the same percentage of people said they trusted both Democrats to understand their problems, fewer trusted McCain.
When pitted against McCain, Clinton now wins among independents, 50 percent to 34 percent, when just a few weeks ago she ran about even with him with this crucial group of voters. Clinton also now does better among independents than Obama does in a matchup with McCain.
Clinton has a newfound edge among seniors, too, 51 percent to 39 percent; McCain had previously had the advantage. And, Clinton has improved her margin over McCain among people under age 30; two-thirds of them now side with her. McCain leads Obama among seniors, while Obama leads McCain among those under 30 but by a smaller margin than Clinton does.
She also now leads among Catholics, always an important swing voting group in a general election, and improved her standing in the South as well as in cities and among families making under $25,000 a year. But she lost ground among families making between $50,000 and $100,000; they narrowly support McCain.
The poll, taken April 23-27, questioned 1,001 adults nationally, with a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points. Included were interviews with 457 Democratic voters and people leaning Democratic, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.6 points, and 346 Republicans or GOP-leaning voters, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 5.3 points.
i hope this news doesnt cause whomod to beat his wife again....
After performing Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety, Roger Waters did the usual Pink Floydian thing with the giant inflatable pig. But Mr. Rogers, who apparently has never read Shut Up and Sing, made sure that the pig was festooned with the word "Obama" on its porcine belly. Not entirely sure that's the endorsement I'd want if I were running for president of a real country, as opposed to unicorn-emperor of the mythical kingdom in Roger Waters's head.
Unfortunately for Mr. Rogers, the giant inflatable pig broke its moorings and went floating off into the night. A $10,000 reward and lifetime passes to the Coachella music festival have been offered for the pig's return.
But one wonders if, under our byzantine campaign-finance laws, a floating. pig-shaped billboard for Barack Obama constitutes an illegal campaign donation.
Unfortunately for Mr. Rogers, the giant inflatable pig broke its moorings and went floating off into the night. A $10,000 reward and lifetime passes to the Coachella music festival have been offered for the pig's return.
2 things when i first read the headline on Yahoo i thought they were referring to Oprah.
why do they call Roger Waters, "Mr. Rogers: wouldnt he be Mr. Waters?
Barack Obama angrily denounced his former pastor for "divisive and destructive" remarks on race, seeking to divorce himself from the incendiary speaker and a fury that threatens to engulf his front-running Democratic presidential campaign.
Obama is trying to tamp down the uproar over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright at a tough time in his campaign. The Illinois senator is coming off a loss in Pennsylvania to rival Hillary Rodham Clinton and trying to win over white working-class voters in Indiana and North Carolina in next Tuesday's primaries.
"I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened over the spectacle that we saw yesterday," Obama told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.
His strong words come just six weeks after Obama delivered a sweeping speech on race in which he sharply condemned Wright's remarks but did not leave the church or repudiate the minister himself, who he said was like a family member. After weeks of staying out of the public eye while critics lambasted his sermons, the former pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago made three public appearances in four days to defend himself.
On Monday, Wright criticized the U.S. government as imperialist and stood by his suggestion that the United States invented the HIV virus as a means of genocide against minorities. "Based on this Tuskegee experiment and based on what has happened to Africans in this country, I believe our government is capable of doing anything," he said.
And perhaps even worse for Obama, Wright suggested that the church congregant secretly concurs.
"If Senator Obama did not say what he said, he would never get elected," Wright said. "Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls."
Obama stated flatly that he doesn't share the views of the man who officiated at his wedding, baptized his two daughters and been his pastor for 20 years. The title of Obama's second book, "The Audacity of Hope," came from a Wright sermon.
"What became clear to me is that he was presenting a world view that contradicts who I am and what I stand for," Obama said. "And what I think particularly angered me was his suggestion somehow that my previous denunciation of his remarks were somehow political posturing. Anybody who knows me and anybody who knows what I'm about knows that I am about trying to bridge gaps and I see the commonality in all people."
Although Obama leads in pledged delegates, no Democrat can win the nomination without the support of the superdelegates, the elected officials and party leaders who can vote their preference. The Wright furor forces those Democrats to wonder about Obama's electability in November.
Facing that reality, Obama sought to distance himself further from Wright.
"I have been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ since 1992, and have known Reverend Wright for 20 years," Obama said. "The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago."
The Illinois senator said of Wright's statements Monday: "All it was was a bunch of rants that aren't grounded in truth."
"Obviously, whatever relationship I had with Reverend Wright has changed," Obama said. "I don't think he showed much concern for me, more importantly I don't think he showed much concern for what we're trying to do in this campaign."
Obama said he heard that Wright had given "a performance" and when he watched news accounts, he realized that it more than just a case of the former pastor defending himself.
"His comments were not only divisive and destructive, I believe they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate," Obama said. "I'll be honest with you, I hadn't seen it" when reacting initially on Monday, he said.
Wright had asserted that criticism of his fiery sermons was an attack on the black church. Obama rejected that notion.
"He has done great damage, I do not see that relationship being the same," said Obama.
Wright recently retired from the church. He became an issue in Obama's presidential bid when videos circulated of Wright condemning the U.S. government for allegedly racist and genocidal acts. In the videos, some several years old, Wright called on God to "damn America." He also said the government created the AIDS virus to destroy "people of color."
Obama said he didn't vet his pastor before deciding to seek the presidency. He said he was particularly distressed that the furor has been a distraction to the purpose of a campaign.
"I gave him the benefit of the doubt in my speech in Philadelphia explaining that he's done enormous good. ... But when he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS. ... There are no excuses. They offended me. They rightly offend all Americans and they should be denounced."
While Obama said he remains a member of the church "obviously this has put a strain on that relationship.
"There wasn't anything constructive out of yesterday," said Obama. "All it was was a bunch of rants that aren't grounded in truth."
At one point, Obama said he understood the pressures Wright faced but wouldn't excuse his comments.
"I think he felt vilified and attacked and I understand him wanting to defend himself," Obama said. "That may account for the change but the insensitivity and the outrageousness of the statements shocked me and surprised me."
I find this behavior by Obama disgusting. A person cannot disown their pastor anymore than they can disown a relative. Does Obama not see that Rev. Wright is just lashing at at all the discrimination America has thrown at him? What makes this the most disgusting is Obama has a white grandmother, through her racist ways he should understand the pain Rev. Wright is going through. I'm glad whomod and Ray made me see the light, hopefully they can talk to Obama and get him to understand as well!
Someone's a filthy sticking liar. Does he really expect people to believe that he didn't know about that "Government concocted the AIDS virus to kill of black people" sermon until now? Or, for that matter, that throughout the 20 years worth of sermons he sat through there wasn't a one that was even slightly similar in its extremism before now?
After performing Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety, Roger Waters did the usual Pink Floydian thing with the giant inflatable pig. But Mr. Rogers, who apparently has never read Shut Up and Sing, made sure that the pig was festooned with the word "Obama" on its porcine belly. Not entirely sure that's the endorsement I'd want if I were running for president of a real country, as opposed to unicorn-emperor of the mythical kingdom in Roger Waters's head.
Unfortunately for Mr. Rogers, the giant inflatable pig broke its moorings and went floating off into the night. A $10,000 reward and lifetime passes to the Coachella music festival have been offered for the pig's return.
But one wonders if, under our byzantine campaign-finance laws, a floating. pig-shaped billboard for Barack Obama constitutes an illegal campaign donation.
The Associated Press reports that "anyone with information on the pig should e-mail lostpig@coachella.com."
I'm SURE that no one will abuse that email address.
Would you rather vote for a president who would give you the white oxford shirt off his back? Or do you prefer the tight-fisted guy who wouldn't give a cane to a blind man if he owned a lumber yard?
All three candidates for president sound like Mother Teresa when they talk about helping the poor. But what do they actually do about it? Do they give until it hurts? Or do they have alligator arms that can't reach their kangaroo pockets?
Thanks to their tax returns, we can get a pretty good idea. And it turns out that the biggest talker is the cheapest giver.
That's Barack Obama. The "community organizer" talks about "our empathy deficit." He told the Chicago Tribune we need to pay more attention to "the child who's hungry, the laid-off steelworker, the immigrant woman cleaning your dorm room."
Things must have been pretty cushy for Obama at Harvard. I never had any immigrant women cleaning my dorm room in college. I can honestly say that nobody cleaned it.
But how does Obama back up his talk? In 2007, the Obamas earned $4.2 million.
They donated about $240,000. That's 6 percent - well above the national average of 2.2 percent.
But in 2005, he donated 4 percent. And in 2001 and 2002, the Obamas gave less than half of 1 percent. One of his biggest donations in 2006 was to Trinity United Methodist Church - home of the Rev. Jeremiah "God damn America" Wright.
In the past two years, the Tribune reported, the Obamas gave to reading programs, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, the Muntu Dance Theatre and international aid.
Bill and Hillary Clinton grudgingly released tax returns under pressure from Obama. There were no embarrassments like their tax returns from Arkansas, when they took deductions for donating used underwear ($2) and used socks ($9).
Since 2000, the Clintons earned $109 million and donated $10.2 million - 10 percent.
The Bush years have been very good to the Clintons. They made millions from book deals and speaking fees that gave seizures to liberals when Ronald Reagan "cashed in." They went from $416,000 in 2000 to an average of $13.6 million per year since then.
Ten percent to charity is generous. But nearly all of it went to the Clinton Family Foundation, which has been accused of hiding shady donations to the Clinton Library, paying salaries to Clinton friends and making gifts to buy endorsements for Hillary. The Washington Post reported: "The foundation has enabled the Clintons to write off more than $5 million from their taxable personal income since 2001, while dispensing only $1.25 million in charitable contributions over that period."
John McCain's wife, Cindy, owns businesses worth more than $100 million, but they file separate tax returns and hers have not been released, so it is impossible to make a direct comparison to Obama and Clinton. On his income of $405,409, he donated $105,467 in 2007.
That's 25 percent of his income. The year before, he gave 26 percent.
From 2001 to 2006, they donated $950,000 to the McCain Family Foundation, and it gave away $1.6 million. Private schools got $500,000.Harper's sniped, "McCain apparently received major tax deductions for supporting elite schools attended by his children." But many parents spend on private schools while also paying taxes for public schools.
Last year, the McCain Family Foundation's biggest donations went to Operation Smile (facial surgery for poor children) and for removal of land mines.
Since 1991, McCain has donated all his Senate pay raises to charity, totaling $450,000; since 1998, he has donated $1.8 million in book royalties.
Tax returns don't show how the Obamas and Clintons advocate for the poor. But it's easy to spend other people's money. The test of character is how you spend your own.
Arthur Brooks, author of "Who Really Cares," found that conservatives are 30 percent more generous than liberals: "You find that people who believe it's the government's job to make incomes more equal are far less likely to give their money away."
Clinton and Obama talk a lot about raising taxes to help the poor. But if the definition of character is what you do when nobody's watching, they didn't do much. And the definition of that is hypocrisy.
All kidding aside, I feel pity for Ray and whomod. Finding out their hero is a lyer must be gut wrenching. Hang in their guys.
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