Pete DeFazio: Art Robinson's Here!

“The public already knows, Peter, that you are a liar. Do you really want to be known as a coward, too? Why don’t you stand up and debate me in events in which we ask each other questions and the public – freely admitted to the event – evaluates our answers? If you can overcome your fear; if you can face me man to man in actual timed, back and forth debates of the real political issues – rather than continuing to hide yourself behind “moderators” and “forums” where rules made by you and your friends protect you from your opponent, you might at least rise to the level of a courageous liar – a level considerably higher than your current situation.”

~Art Robinson

Peter DeFazio has been in office so long I can't remember when he WASN'T in office.  I know I could research it quickly but why waste the time, he's been there far too long.  

The Fourth Congressional District of Oregon has long been a Democrat stronghold.  No credible candidate has faced off against DeFazio forever until 2010 when Dr. Art Robinson came along.  Not only did he give Pete a run for his money, he actually scared Pete.  Pete would not debate Art and still refuses to.  Pete would not allow town hall meetings and still doesn't.  In 2010, Pete DeFazio relied on over $1 million to run smear ads against Art Robinson and it worked.  He won by about 10 points.  

2012 is a whole new ballgame!  With this really funny radio ad from the Republican Super PAC, the tide is turning. The NRCC has also moved Art Robinson from the highly sought after "Young Guns" to the even more sought after "On the Radar".  He's even won the Ron Paul campaign over to endorsing his candidacy! 

Art Robinson is not your usual candidate for Congress.  He is not only a brilliant physicist (yes he really IS a rocket scientist) but he is extremely knowledgeable on Constitutional law and the founding of our nation.  He is a great patriot.  Did you know that nearly 17% of ALL homeschool materials were written by Dr. Art Robinson?  How much have you looked into this man?  He is the BEST chance for Oregon to gain ONE more Republican in the US House!  Imagine what a great help that would be for Congressman Greg Walden?

He has written a book this year detailing everything he believes in for America.  "Common Sense in 2012" is available HERE.  NO other candidate running for any congressional seat has written anything quite like this.  He's a gracious, humble man who wants to be a citizen representative, you know, the way Congress was meant to be?  

Barack Obama inflates his resume!

It has been noted by Charles Krauthammer and others that very few people have stepped forward to vouch for Barack Obama.

Indeed, there would seem to be an especially conspicuous absence of witnesses to the years after graduated from Columbia and before he moved to Chicago to work as a community organizer.

Well, it turns out that one of his co-workers has in fact written about Mr. Obama during those days. And while he is an admitted fan of Obama’s, he claims that he has inflated his resume considerably.

Others who worked with Obama at Business International have subsequently chimed in.

First, Mr. Obama’s version as presented in from Dreams From My Father, pp 55-6:

CHAPTER SEVEN

"… And so, in the months leading up to graduation, I wrote to every civil rights organization I could think of, to any black elected official in the country with a progressive agenda, to neighborhood councils and tenant rights groups. When no one wrote back, I wasn’t discouraged. I decided to find more conventional work for a year, to pay off my student loans and maybe even save a little bit. I would need the money later, I told myself. Organizers didn’t make any money; their poverty was proof of their integrity.

Eventually a consulting house to multinational corporations agreed to hire me as a research assistant. Like a spy behind enemy lines, I arrived every day at my mid-Manhattan office and sat at my computer terminal, checking the Reuters machine that blinked bright emerald messages from across the globe. As far as I could tell I was the only black man in the company, a source of shame for me but a source of considerable pride for the company’s secretarial pool. They treated me like a son, those black ladies; they told me how they expected me to run the company one day…

Nevertheless, as the months passed, I felt the idea of becoming an organizer slipping away from me. The company promoted me to the position of financial writer. I had my own office, my own secretary, money in the bank. Sometimes, coming out of an interview with Japanese financiers or German bond traders, I would catch my reflection in the elevator doors-see myself in a suit and tie, a briefcase in my hand-and for a split second I would imagine myself as a captain of industry, barking out orders, closing the deal, before I remembered who it was that I had told myself I wanted to be and felt pangs of guilt for my lack of resolve.

Then one day, as I sat down at my computer to write an article on interest-rate swaps, something unexpected happened. Auma called. I had never met this half sister; we had written only intermittently…
[A] few months after Auma called, I turned in my resignation at the consulting firm and began looking in earnest for an organizing job…"

We are supposed to believe that “something happened” and the rest is history.

Here, however, is a somewhat different perspective on Obama’s halcyon days as a “spy behind enemy lines,” from a site called Analyze This:

Barack Obama Embellishes His Resume
July 9th, 2005
Dan Armstrong

Don’t get me wrong - I’m a big fan of Barack Obama, the Illinois freshman senator and hot young Democratic Party star. But after reading his autobiography, I have to say that Barack engages in some serious exaggeration when he describes a job that he held in the mid-1980s.

I know because I sat down the hall from him, in the same department, and worked closely with his boss. I can’t say I was particularly close to Barack - he was reserved and distant towards all of his co-workers - but I was probably as close to him as anyone. I certainly know what he did there, and it bears only a loose resemblance to what he wrote in his book.
Here’s Barack’s account:

"Eventually a consulting house to multinational corporations agreed to hire me as a research assistant. Like a spy behind enemy lines, I arrived every day at my mid-Manhattan office and sat at my computer terminal, checking the Reuters machine that blinked bright emerald messages from across the globe. As far as I could tell I was the only black man in the company, a source of shame for me but a source of considerable pride for the company’s secretarial pool."

First, it wasn’t a consulting house; it was a small company that published newsletters on international business. Like most newsletter publishers, it was a bit of a sweatshop. I’m sure we all wished that we were high-priced consultants to multinational corporations. But we also enjoyed coming in at ten, wearing jeans to work, flirting with our co-workers, partying when we stayed late, and bonding over the low salaries and heavy workload.

Barack worked on one of the company’s reference publications. Each month customers got a new set of pages on business conditions in a particular country, punched to fit into a three-ring binder. Barack’s job was to get copy from the country correspondents and edit it so that it fit into a standard outline. There was probably some research involved as well, since correspondents usually don’t send exactly what you ask for, and you can’t always decipher their copy. But essentially the job was copyediting.

It’s also not true that Barack was the only black man in the company. He was the only black professional man. Fred was an African-American who worked in the mailroom with his son. My boss and I used to join them on Friday afternoons to drink beer behind the stacks of office supplies. That’s not the kind of thing that Barack would do. Like I said, he was somewhat aloof.

"… as the months passed, I felt the idea of becoming an organizer slipping away from me. The company promoted me to the position of financial writer. I had my own office, my own secretary; money in the bank. Sometimes, coming out of an interview with Japanese financiers or German bond traders, I would catch my reflection in the elevator doors—see myself in a suit and tie, a briefcase in my hand—and for a split second I would imagine myself as a captain of industry, barking out orders, closing the deal, before I remembered who it was that I had told myself I wanted to be and felt pangs of guilt for my lack of resolve."

If Barack was promoted, his new job responsibilities were more of the same - rewriting other people’s copy. As far as I know, he always had a small office, and the idea that he had a secretary is laughable. Only the company president had a secretary. Barack never left the office, never wore a tie, and had neither reason nor opportunity to interview Japanese financiers or German bond traders.

"Then one day, as I sat down at my computer to write an article on interest-rate swaps, something unexpected happened…. I had never met this half sister; we had written only intermittently. …[several pages on his suffering half-sister] …a few months after Auma called, I turned in my resignation at the consulting firm and began looking in earnest for an organizing job."

What Barack means here is that he got copy from a correspondent who didn’t understand interest rate swaps, and he was trying to make sense out of it.

All of Barack’s embellishment serves a larger narrative purpose: to retell the story of the Christ’s temptation. The young, idealistic, would-be community organizer gets a nice suit, joins a consulting house, starts hanging out with investment bankers, and barely escapes moving into the big mansion with the white folks. Luckily, an angel calls, awakens his conscience, and helps him choose instead to fight for the people.

Like I said, I’m a fan. His famous keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention moved me to tears. The Democrats - not to mention America - need a mixed-race spokesperson who can connect to both urban blacks and rural whites, who has the credibility to challenge the status quo on issues ranging from misogynistic rap to unfair school funding.

And yet I’m disappointed. Barack’s story may be true, but many of the facts are not. His larger narrative purpose requires him to embellish his role. I don’t buy it. Just as I can’t be inspired by Steve Jobs now that I know how dishonest he is, I can’t listen uncritically to Barack Obama now that I know he’s willing to bend the facts to his purpose.

Once, when I applied for a marketing job at a big accounting firm, my then-supervisor called HR to say that I had exaggerated something on my resume. I didn’t agree, but I also didn’t get the job. But when Barack Obama invents facts in a book ranked No. 8 on the NY Times nonfiction list, it not only fails to be noticed but it helps elevate him into the national political pantheon.

As Mr. Armstrong suggests, if Obama would exaggerate about such things as this, what else has he exaggerated or made up out of whole cloth?

The comments to this post are also quite intriguing:
Comment from Bill Millar
Time: October 30, 2007, 8:17 am

The thing is, I worked next to Barack nearly every day he was at Business International–on many days angling for possession of the best Wang word processing terminal.

I had MANY discussions with Barack.

I can tell you this: even though I was an assistant editor (big doings at this “consulting firm”) and he was, well, he was doing something there, he certainly treated me like something less than an equal.
Funny thing… A journalism/political science major… Writing about finance… Pretending in his book to be an expert on interest rate swaps.
I remember trying to explain the nuance of these instruments to him in the cramped three Wang terminal space we called the bull pen. In contrast to his his liberal arts background, I had a degree in finance and Wall Street experience, so I knew what I was talking about.
But rather than learn from a City College kid, the Ivy Leaguer just sort of rolled his eyes. Condescendingly. I’ll never forget it. God forbid he leave the impression that a mere editor like myself knew more about something than did Barack.
He was like that…
But know what? I can forgive him for being immature–which is probably all that was at the time. Don’t we all believe we know everything at just around that age?
That said…he was a lot older when he wrote his book. Mature enough by this time to realize that his account of his time at Business International could be described as embellishment…

By the way, there should be no doubt as to Mr. Armstrong’s bona fides on this subject. Even the New York Times has

cited him as an authority for an article on this period of Mr. Obama’s storied life.

Madame President?

Well, we have ourselves a real interesting situation now don't we?
The Democrats have nominated themselves a Black.
The Republicans have nominated a Woman.
Hmmm......so many choices.....
Opening thoughts?
I like Sarah Palin, politically, socially and she seems to be a very intelligent woman.
But, just like the Lord Messiah Barry Obama, she has NO experience.
She does look a lot better then he does, so she gets points for that.
As for what to do in November? Still not sure. I really would have preferred Mitt Romney as VP but I think they would have looked like two rich old white dudes so that was ruled out.
Tom Ridge? Not sure why he was dropped.
I guess I feel sort of sorry for Gov. Palin. I think she is being used politically. That's nothing new, but it still just doesn't feel right.

As for the messiah, all he lacked was robes the other night and he really would have looked even sillier. Why does he put on that accent thing on some speeches and turns it off in others? I thought Bill Clinton was long winded, 44 minute acceptance speech? Yikes, it was like being in Chemistry lab again.

This election, although perhaps "historic" is the most painful Presidential election in my 30 some odd years of voting eligiblity.

Where's Ross Perot when you need him?

I make my predictions now:

Obama wins with only 46% of the vote, as most Conservatives stay home as do the Hillaryistas, meaning we will have a President, just as we did with Clinton, who did not win even a majority of the votes, but rather, won by default.

Either way, McCain or Obama, if one of them dies in office, we are in really bad shape for a President. Joe Biden? Sarah Palin? Yikes.

Is Barack Obama a legal US Citizen?

The following is an article from the July 7, 2008, issue #27 from "The American Free Press" Newspaper, an article by Assistant editor, Pat Shannon.

"It now appears that Barack Obama is consitutionally ineligible for the office of president.

John McCain's eligibility was established in 1964, when courts ruled Sen. Barry Goldwater was eligible although he was born in Arizona when it was a territory, not a state. McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone when it was a U.S. territory and, even as the controlled media continues to ignore the ineligibility of Obama, it will not go away. While few doubt that the Democrats will manage to pull off his nomination, all remain poised to view the legal performance.

The first hurdle will be having Obama produce his birth certificate, which so far he has refused to do, and prove that he was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961, as he has always claimed. There is speculation that his American mother may have brought him to Honolulu shortly after his birth in Kenya , but no proof of that has been shown.

According to the law on the books at the time of Obama's birth, the office of president requires that a candidate be a natural citizen if the child was not born to two U.S. citizen parents. Since he was not, should it be proven that Obama was not born in Hawaii , as claimed, he is ineligible without further debate. Now, assuring that he was born there, he has another problem.

According to a legal researcher who has contacted the AFP, U.S. law very clearly states: "If only one parent is a U.S. citizen at the time of one's birth, that parent must have resided in the United States for a minimum of 10 years, five of which must be after the age of 16." And therein lies Obama's new problem. Barack Obama's father was never a U.S. citizen. Interestingly, there isn't much paperwork on the marriage of Obama's parents, and this has a few researchers speculating that it never took place at all.

On page 27 of "Obama: From Promise to Power", David Mendell writes: "Obama later confessed that he never searched for the government documents on the marriage, although Madelyn (Obama's maternal grandmother) insisted they were legally married." He also notes that Obama's father apparently was not legally divorced from his first wife back in Kenya at the time, a point of contention that ultimately led to their separation. This also would suggest that there may never have been any legal marriage by Obama's parents at all, but the Constitution does not ban an illegitimate child from the White House, as long as he was born inside the U.S.

Obama's mother was born in Kansas and was only 18 when Obama was born. This means even though she satisfied the citizen requirement for 10years, she was not a citizen for at least five years prior to Obama's birth. In essence, the mother alone is not old enough to qualify her son for automatic U.S. citizenship. At most, two years elapsed from his mother turning 16 to the time of Barack Obama's birth when she was 18. His mother would have needed to have been 16 + 5 = 21 years old at the time of Barack Obama's birth for him to be a natural-born citizen. Barack Obama was already three years old at the time his mother turned 21. Technically, Obama should have been naturalized as a citizen, but that, of course, would disqualify him from holding the office of president.

If the allegations are accurate, America could install in January of 2009 a new president who is not even a U.S. citizen, neither born nor naturalized.

It should be demanded that Obama produce his 1961 Hawaiian birth certificate. If he cannot satisfactorily do so, he should be deemed immediately ineligible to hold the office of president."

Cindy McCain for Vice President? Why Not?

Cindy McCain
Not only is she the gorgeous wife of a US Senator and fashion model gorgeous I might add, she is probably the most capable and intelligent potential First Lady or even First Lady PERIOD. The qualifications I list below are just some highlights. I think I may have gotten over my problem with John McCain, as my candidate, I choose CINDY McCAIN for Vice President!!!

She graduated from Southern Cal and was a special-needs teacher. After her Dad died she became involved with his beer distributing firm and is now the chairwoman. Sales have doubled since she has taken over from her father and she was smart enough to get a pre-nup with John that insures she keeps the dough! No offense John, but she EARNED it!

She and John have a 19 year old serving in Iraq, another son in the Naval Academy, a daughter recently graduated from Columbia University, an adopted daughter (see below for her story) in high school, and a son who is the finance guy at the beer firm.

In 1991, Mrs. McCain came across a girl in an orphanage in Bangladesh. Mother Teresa implored Mrs. McCain to take the baby with severe cleft palate. She did so without first telling her husband. The couple adopted the girl who has had a dozen operations to repair her cleft palate and other medical problems.

She's active with 'Halo Trust' - an organization that works to clear land mines, provide water and food in war ravaged and developing countries.
She is active in the overseas mission 'Operation Smile', a charity for corrective surgery on children's faces. She makes many overseas trips, unannounced to help those in need.

She has had two back surgeries and became addicted to pain killers. She talks openly about it which she says is part of the recovery process.

I'm surprised the media is so quiet about her attributes.

She sounds more capable than Hillary or Obama for president and a heck of a lot more capable then Michelle for First Lady. We would really get two for the price of one. She’s a person with business and international experience. Although John did work for the firm for awhile when he left the Navy, she, however, has the real business experience. Very interesting.

Oh yes - one more thing - she has never said she is not proud of her country or that she has never been proud of her country. It seems she has just worked and acted to make it better.

McCain Surges to 4-Point Lead in USA Today/Gallup Poll

This just in! Although many of us, as Republicans are holding our noses, John McCain is leading! Part of this is due to the "audacity of hope" that kept Obama from actually Physically visiting our troops, instead he literally "called it in".

From CNN/Newsmax:

A surprising poll released Monday confirms Sen. Barack Obama's worst nightmare: he actually lost ground to Sen. John McCain after a global trip meant to buck up his sagging credentials in foreign and military policy.

The USA Today/Gallup poll has McCain leading Obama by four points, 49 percent to Obama's 45 percent, among likely voters.

Just last month, the same poll had McCain trailing by six points to the neophyte U.S. senator.

Among registered voters, McCain was just three points behind Obama -- a statistical dead heat.

The USA Today/Gallup poll is consistent with the Rasmussen tracking poll, which also shows Obama ahead by just three percentage points -- again a statistical tie.

The polls suggest that Obama's efforts to act like a president abroad -- even though he has yet to be elected -- may have backfired among American voters.

In Berlin, Obama spoke to 200,000 cheering Germans. The Democratic candidate used the foreign platform to express the view that he was a "fellow citizen of the world" and apologized for America's imperfections.
Later, he decided not to visit wounded American soldiers at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in southern Germany. When the Pentagon informed Obama's campaign that the hospital would be closed to the press and campaign staff -- only the senator and his official staff would be allowed in -- Obama decided to cancel the event.

McCain has been quick to seize on Obama's ill-advised decision to cancel the humanitarian visit to the hospital.
A McCain television commercial released on the Internet this past weekend chided Obama for his callous act.
"And now, he made time to go to the gym, but canceled a visit with wounded troops,” the ad says. “Seems the Pentagon wouldn’t allow him to bring cameras. John McCain is always there for our troops.”

© 2008 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

Barack Obama, the New World Order and the Media Makes him the Messiah!

Barack loves me this I know
For the media tells me so

Cit-i-zens with big doe eyes

We are dumb but he is wise

Yes Barack loves me

Yes Barack loves me

Yes Barack loves me

The media tells me so

If you have watched the sickening coverage of Obama's trip to the Middle East, you see how the media have already granted him the Potentate of America.

When I saw him standing on the Temple grounds, on the very place that Jesus Christ, Solomon and David stood, I couldn't help but be sickened.

The media has made him The Messiah.

There is more here than just this though. In the radio world we are really seeing it.

A couple days ago, Micheal Savage, a controversial talk show host made some disparaging remarks about autistic children.

It was bad, not nice and probably stupid, but still covered by Free Speech. You can turn the dial.

I bring these two things together because I believe it is only the beginning of what we will see with an Obama Presidency. Political Correctness will run rampant.

Today he is going to be standing in the very same place the Hitler once exhorted the crowds of Germany to build the Third Reich or as he wanted a One World Government. Obama aides say they are expecting as many as a MILLION Germans to turn out for a CANDIDATE, not a PRESIDENT!

I have pasted below an email we received at our radio station from a major supplier of national advertisers. They now consider RUSH LIMBAUGH a "controversial" talk host and want all of their commercials pulled from his show due to the Savage problem.

important affiliate memorandum
To: All Affiliates
From: Dial Global Traffic Department
Re: Controversial Programming
date: 7/23/2008
At the request of our clients listed below, we would like to remind all affiliates that all spots including all paid units, make-goods and bonus weight cannot be aired during controversial programming. (This includes Michael Savage and Rush Limbaugh)

This restriction applies to all commercial audio listed below regardless of the source of the order.

Thank you for your help in this matter.
· ACURA
· LOWES
· AFLAC
· MARRIOTT
· AMERICAN EXPRESS
· MASTERFOODS
· ABC FAMILY
· MAYTAG
· ABC TV
· MCDONALDS
· AMERICAN HOME PRODUCT (ALL BRANDS)
· MERCK
· AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS
· MGM
· AMERIPRISE
· MICHELIN
· AMSTEL LIGHT
· MICROSOFT
· ASTRA ZENECA/NEXIUM
· MORNINGSTAR
· AT&T
· NABISCO
· AUTOLITE
· NAPA AUTO PARTS
· AUTOZONE
· NAT'L ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS
· AVON
· NESTLE
· BAYER (ALL BRANDS)
· NISSAN
· BUENA VISTA
· NYSE
· CAMPING WORLD
· OFFICE DEPOT
· CAPITAL ONE
· OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE
· CARRIER/AIR CONDITIONING
· OUTDOOR LIFE NETWORK
· CASTROL
· PARAMOUNT
· CICI'S PIZZA
· PEP BOYS
· CIGNA
· PEPSI
· CINGULAR
· PETCO
· CLOROX (ALL BRANDS)
· PETSMART
· COKE
· PFIZER ( ALL BRANDS)
· COUNTRYWIDE
· PRESTONE
· DELL
· PROCTER & GAMBLE (ALL BRANDS)
· DISCOVERY NETWORKS (All Brands)
· PROGRESSIVE
· DURACELL
· QUAKER OATS
· DUREX (AIR AMERICA)
· RADIO SHACK
· ELI LILLY
· RED LOBSTER
· EPSON
· REI
· EXXON
· RE/MAX (AIR AMERICA)
· FAMOUS FOOTWEAR
· RENT A CENTER
· FEDEX
· RENT-WAY
· FOOTACTION
· ROBERT HALF (ALL BRANDS)
· FRITO-LAY
· SALVATION ARMY
· GEICO
· SC JOHNSON (ALL BRANDS)
· GENERAL ELECTRIC
· SCHERING PLOUGH (ALL BRANDS)
· GENERAL MOTORS (AIR AMERICA)
· SEARS (ALL BRANDS)
· GLAXOSMITHKLINE (ALL BRANDS)
· SHELL
· GOODYEAR
· SHERWIN WILLIAMS
· HALLMARK
· SONY
· HBO
· STERLING / KAY JEWELERS
· HEINEKEN
· STATE FARM
· HERSHEY (ALL BRANDS)
· TGI FRIDAY
· HEWLETT PACKARD (Do Not Air in Canada)
· TOYOTA
· HOME DEPOT
· TOYS R US
· HONEYWELL
· TRAVELOCITY
· HORMEL
· TYSON
· HOTWIRE
· US ARMY
· INTERSTATE BATTERIES
· USA TODAY
· INTUIT
· US NAVY
· JC PENNEY (ALL BRANDS)
· VERIZON
· JENNY CRAIG
· VISA
· JIFFY LUBE
· WACHOVIA
· JM SMUCKERS
· WALGREEN'S
· JOHN DEERE
· WALMART
· JOHNSON & JOHNSON
· WELLS FARGO
· JP MORGAN / CHASE BANK
· WRIGLEY (ALL BRANDS)
· KMART
· WYETH (ALL BRANDS)
· KOHLS (Destroy Copy After Final Airing
· XEROX
· KRAFT (ALL BRANDS)
· ZICAM


_______________________________________________________________________________
www.Dial-Global.com

That is what we got from them and there is the website. If you want to blast them, feel free.

I am afraid that Talk Radio as we know it will not exist if Obama is elected. He will quickly seek us out and destroy us!

"To Drill or not to Drill, that is the question"

Above is an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. I found a great article on MessNBC.com about Americans and their "new" found feelings on oil drilling and looking for more ways to get more GAS!

Now, many of you know, I bought a scooter and I can tell you, the gas savings last month alone was over $150! I will have the scooter paid off in gas savings by September.

I am not doing this to help the environment, nor to hurt the "BIG BAD OIL BARONS" rather it is because I am CHEAAAAAPPPPPPP!!!!

Now that we are paying $4 or more per gallon (and I have news for you if you had any hope of it dropping, it ain't gonna!), how do you feel about drilling in ANWR or off the coast lines of the US?

"Drill so we can fill"? "No way jose, we have to find NEW alternatives to oil"!

I will put a poll up for a week or so.

Below is the text of the story on MESSNBC. See if you are in the NEW majority!

Poll: Conservation takes back seat to drilling

WASHINGTON - High gasoline prices have dramatically changed Americans' views on energy and the environment, with more people now viewing oil drilling and new power plants as a greater priority than energy conservation, according to a new survey.
The poll released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center shows nearly half of those surveyed — or 47 percent — now rate energy exploration, drilling and building new power plants as the top priority, compared with 35 percent who believed that five months earlier.
The Pew poll, conducted in late June, showed the number of people who consider energy conservation as more important declined by 10 percentage points since February from a clear majority to 45 percent. People are now about evenly split on which is more important.

The number of people who said they considered increasing energy supplies more important than protecting the environment increased from 54 percent in February to 60 percent and the number of people who favor oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge also increased.
"This shows the real impact of higher gas prices on the public," said Carroll Doherty, associate director for the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, which commissioned the telephone survey of 2,004 adults from June 18 to June 29. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, slightly larger for subgroups.

Since February, gasoline prices have soared from just over $3 to a national average of $4.08 a gallon, according to the Energy Department.

Changes across demographics:

Among the survey's most astounding findings is the dramatic increase in a span of five months in the support for energy exploration and production among groups that have traditionally championed conservation as being the answer to the country's energy problems.

For example, the percentage of liberals who said expanding energy exploration was their most important priority doubled from 22 percent in February to 45 percent; increased by 19 points to 50 percent among independents; and by 18 points to 46 percent among women.

Young people, who in the past have overwhelmingly leaned toward conservation, saw the most dramatic shift. Just over half of the people from 18 to 29 years of age saw expanding energy exploration more important, double the number in February.

The poll showed people remain sharply divided over oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which is now off limits. But in the June survey the number of people favoring drilling there increased to 50 percent, compared to 42 percent last February. Those who opposed drilling fell from 50 percent to 43 percent.

The survey comes as Congress is in the midst of a bitter debate over how to respond to the country's energy problems and as the two major presidential candidates also are sharply divided on energy priorities.

McCain vs. ObamaGOP:

Candidate John McCain has called for building more nuclear power plants and ending a blanket moratorium on drilling in 85 percent of the country's coastal waters. Advocates of that approach argue that opening new areas to drilling would send a signal to oil markets, and put pressure on prices to fall.

His rival, Democrat Barack Obama, has emphasized incentives for conservation and development of alternative domestic energy sources and opposes expanded offshore drilling. Backers of that approach argue that moving away from a fuel tied to international markets is the best long-term safety net against volatile prices.
The Pew poll, however, showed Republicans and Democrats moving closer together on the production vs. conservation dispute. The number of Democrats who said they saw increased production as the top priority jumped by 16 percentage points since February to 46 percent. Republicans holding that view declined from about half to 43 percent.

With the exception of the Arctic refuge, the poll did not address any specific energy proposals such as whether to lift drilling moratoria in some ocean waters, the pros and cons of nuclear energy, or the environmental impacts of coal burning power plants on global warming.
It sought to address general energy priorities, said Doherty.
Public frustration over high gas prices and a warming toward more energy production has surfaced elsewhere as well.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's Web site calling on people to sign a petition to "drill here, drill now" has recorded more than 1.2 million hits.

Dr. Dobson accuses Obama of 'distorting' Bible

From the Associated Press:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - As Barack Obama broadens his outreach to evangelical voters, one of the movement's biggest names, James Dobson, accuses the likely Democratic presidential nominee of distorting the Bible and pushing a "fruitcake interpretation" of the Constitution.

The criticism, to be aired Tuesday on Dobson's Focus on the Family radio program, comes shortly after an Obama aide suggested a meeting at the organization's headquarters here, said Tom Minnery, senior vice president for government and public policy at Focus on the Family.

The conservative Christian group provided The Associated Press with an advance copy of the pre-taped radio segment, which runs 18 minutes and highlights excerpts of a speech Obama gave in June 2006 to the liberal Christian group Call to Renewal. Obama mentions Dobson in the speech.

"Even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools?" Obama said. "Would we go with James Dobson's or Al Sharpton's?" referring to the civil rights leader.

Dobson took aim at examples Obama cited in asking which Biblical passages should guide public policy — passages like Leviticus, which Obama said suggests slavery is OK and eating shellfish is an abomination, or Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, "a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application."
"Folks haven't been reading their Bibles," Obama said.
'Deliberately distorting'Dobson and Minnery accused Obama of wrongly equating Old Testament texts and dietary codes that no longer apply to Jesus' teachings in the New Testament.

"I think he's deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology," Dobson said.
"... He is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter."

Joshua DuBois, director of religious affairs for Obama's campaign, said in a statement that a full reading of Obama's speech shows he is committed to reaching out to people of faith and standing up for families. "Obama is proud to have the support of millions of Americans of faith and looks forward to working across religious lines to bring our country together," DuBois said.

Dobson reserved some of his harshest criticism for Obama's argument that the religiously motivated must frame debates over issues like abortion not just in their own religion's terms but in arguments accessible to all people.
He said Obama, who supports abortion rights, is trying to govern by the "lowest common denominator of morality," labeling it "a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution."
"Am I required in a democracy to conform my efforts in the political arena to his bloody notion of what is right with regard to the lives of tiny babies?" Dobson said. "What he's trying to say here is unless everybody agrees, we have no right to fight for what we believe."

The program was paid for by a Focus on the Family affiliate whose donations are taxed, Dobson said, so it's legal for that group to get more involved in politics.

Possible visit last week, DuBois, a former Assemblies of God associate minister, called Minnery for what Minnery described as a cordial discussion. He would not go into detail, but said Dubois offered to visit the ministry in August when the Democratic National Convention is in Denver.

A possible Obama visit was not discussed, but Focus is open to one, Minnery said.
McCain also has not met with Dobson. A McCain campaign staffer offered Dobson a meeting with McCain recently in Denver, Minnery said. Dobson declined because he prefers that candidates visit the Focus on the Family campus to learn more about the organization, Minnery said.

Dobson has not backed off his statement that he could not in good conscience vote for McCain because of concerns over the Arizona senator's conservative credentials. Dobson has said he will vote in November but has suggested he might not vote for president.

Obama recently met in Chicago with religious leaders, including conservative evangelicals. His campaign also plans thousands of "American Values House Parties," where participants discuss Obama and religion, as well as a presence on Christian radio and blogs.

President Barack Obama Brings Change?

Look closely at that Seal. From the Associated Press:

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks during a meeting of Democratic Governors at the Chicago History Museum in Chicago Friday, June 20, 2008.

A new seal debuted on Obama's podium Friday, sporting iconography used in the U.S. presidential seal, the blue background, the eagle clutching arrows on left and olive branch on right, but with symbolic differences. Instead of the Latin 'E pluribus unum' (Out of many, one), Obama's says 'Vero possumus', rough Latin for 'Yes, we can.' Instead of 'Seal of the President of the United States', Obama's Web site address is listed. And instead of a shield, Obama's eagle wears his 'O' campaign logo with a rising sun representing hope ahead.

Okay, so this is interesting isn't it?

Change for a buck?

The Audacity of Death: Obama and Abortion

Although I provide a link to Randy Alcorn's blog on the right, I felt this story was too good to pass up and wanted to allow you to read it here as well.

Please carefully read the article and be aware of what this candidate will do as president!

From the Wall Street Journal 6/5/08

According to Barack Obama, Gianna Jessen shouldn't exist.

Miss Jessen is an exquisite example of what antiabortion advocates call a "survivor."

Well into her third trimester of pregnancy, Gianna's biological mother was injected with a saline solution intended to induce a chemical abortion at a Los Angeles County abortion center. Eighteen hours later, and precious minutes before the abortionist's arrival, Gianna emerged. Premature and with severe injuries that resulted in cerebral palsy. But alive.

Had the abortionist been present at her birth, Gianna would have been killed, perhaps by suffocation. As it was, a startled nurse called an ambulance, and Gianna was rushed to a nearby hospital, where, weighing just two pounds, she was placed in an incubator, then, months later, in foster care.

Gianna survived then, and thrives now, because, as she told me recently with a laugh, "I guess I don't die easy." Which is what the abortionist might have thought as he signed his victim's birth certificate. Gianna's medical records state that she was "born during saline abortion."
* * *
As an Illinois state senator, Barack Obama twice opposed legislation to define as "persons" babies who survive late-term abortions. Babies like Gianna. Mr. Obama said in a speech on the Illinois Senate floor that he could not accept that babies wholly emerged from their mother's wombs are "persons," and thus deserving of equal protection under the Constitution's 14th Amendment.

A federal version on the same legislation passed the Senate unanimously and with the support of all but 15 members of the House. Gianna was present when President Bush signed the Born Alive Infants Protection Act in 2002.

When I asked Gianna to reflect on Mr. Obama's candidacy, she paused, then said, "I really hope the American people will have their eyes wide open and choose to be discerning. . . . He is extreme, extreme, extreme."

"Extreme" may not be the impression the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have bought Mr. Obama's autobiography have been left with. In "The Audacity of Hope," Mr. Obama's presidential manifesto, he calls abortion "undeniably difficult," "a very difficult issue," "never a good thing" and "a wrenching moral issue."

He laments his party's "litmus test" for "orthodoxy" on abortion and other issues, and even admits, "I do not presume to know the answer to that question." That question being the moral status of the fetus, who he nonetheless concedes has "moral weight."
Those statements are seriously made but, alas, cannot be taken at all seriously. Mr. Obama has compiled a 100% lifetime "pro-choice" voting record, including votes against any and all restrictions on late-term abortions and parental involvement in teenagers' abortions.

To Mr. Obama, abortion, or "reproductive justice," is "one of the most fundamental rights we possess." And he promises, "the first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act," which would overturn hundreds of federal and state laws limiting abortion, including the federal ban on partial-birth abortion and bans on public funding of abortion.

Then there's Mr. Obama's aforementioned opposition to laws that protect babies born-alive during botched abortions. If partial-birth abortion is, as Democratic icon Daniel Patrick Moynihan labeled it, "too close to infanticide," then what is killing fully-birthed babies?
* * *
On the campaign trail, Mr. Obama seldom speaks about abortion and its related issues. But his few moments of candor are illuminative. When speaking extemporaneously, Mr. Obama will admit things like "I don't want [my daughters] punished with a baby." Or he'll say that voting for legislation allowing Terri Schiavo's family to take its case from state courts to federal courts in an effort to stop her euthanasia was his "biggest mistake" in the Senate. Biggest mistake?

Worst of all are Mr. Obama's accusations against antiabortion advocates. He recently compared his relationship with unrepentant domestic terrorist William Ayers, a member of a group responsible for bombing government buildings, to his friendship with stalwart pro-life physician and senator Tom Coburn.

In his campaign book, Mr. Obama accuses "most anti-abortion activists" of secretly desiring more partial-birth abortions "because the image the procedure evokes in the mind of the public has helped them win converts to their position."

All this explains why the National Abortion Rights Action League voted unanimously to endorse Mr. Obama over Hillary Clinton, as did abortion activist Frances Kissling, who called Mrs. Clinton "not radical enough on abortion."

It's surprising that 18- to 30-year-olds, the most pro-life demographic in a generation, are the same voting bloc from which Barack Obama, the most antilife presidential candidate ever, draws his most ardent supporters.
What's not surprising is that Gianna Jessen, who turned 31 last month, plans not to support Obama.

In "The Audacity of Hope," Mr. Obama denounces abortion absolutism on both ends of the ideological spectrum. That is audacious indeed considering Obama's record, which epitomizes the very radicalism and extremism he denounces.

Mr. Allott is senior writer at American Values, a Washington-area public policy organization.

Mike Huckabee putting foot in mouth again!

The story below is from Tokyo where Mike Huckabee is now. Although this is noble, it is not the problem with Barack Obama. With friends like this, the Republicans don't need enemies!

TOKYO (AFP) — Former US presidential contender Mike Huckabee urged his fellow Republicans on Wednesday not to denigrate Democrat Barack Obama, saying they should celebrate the historic moment of a black candidate.

"Republicans will make a fundamental if not fatal mistake if they seek to win the election by demonising Barack Obama," Huckabee told a news conference on a visit to Tokyo.

The former Arkansas governor said that, having grown up in the segregated South, he never thought he would see an African-American win the nomination of a major party for the US presidency.

"I do not want to have anyone misrepresent or miss the opportunity to celebrate what I think is a landmark achievement, not just for Barack Obama, but for the United States of America," he said.

The country was able "to get to a point where we did not see his colour but we truly saw his charisma, his message and what he brought to the campaign trail," Huckabee said.

Huckabee, who won the first nomination contest in Iowa on the back of support from evangelical Christians, said he hoped Republican John McCain would defeat Obama but urged his party to highlight policy differences and not race.
Huckabee said the troubled US economy would be the top campaign issue and doubted that Obama's race would come into play.

"When people are really hurting -- and they are right now -- they're not looking at a person's race," he said.

Huckabee declined comment on whether he wanted the vice presidential nomination, other than to say that McCain would be more likely to pick him if he chose to focus on winning over Southern and conservative voters.
"You can't accept an invitation to the prom until the football captain asks you. So I'm not going to go out and buy the outfit just yet," Huckabee said.

Kate Norley and Vets for Freedom Video on Barack Obama and Iraq

Here is an awesome commercial running from Vets for Freedom asking a legitimate question of Barack Obama: "Why won't you come visit the troops in Iraq?"
She is an Iraq Veteran who asks "why won't you meet with General Petraeus, but would meet with terrorists?" This is HUGE!!

How we can ALL be Equal, Truly Equal

(There, MICK, I have three, count them THREE, new entries for you!)

I confess that I am disturbed by the American election. There is way too much interest in race and gender on both sides of the aisle. There must be some way to evaluate a candidate without subjecting candidates to a racist or sexist (whether straightforward or reverse) discrimination.

I propose the Burkha, for all candidates. Also, I would like to take the NAMES off the candidates. A name like "Barack Obama" says worlds, as does Hillary "Clinton."

Therefore I propose that all candidates must remain in a Burkha throughout the election season, and go only by a number. In addition, I humbly submit that voices should be disguised by a robot voice, so that every thing that a candidate says, sounds exactly like everything every other candidate says. Only the ideology, or the intellectual positions, would therefore be in play. There is way too much emphasis on how candidates look. And way too much emphasis on how some candidates sound.

I would like also all members of our society to dress in Burkhas, irrespective of gender (the Taliban's attempt to disguise all males behind a heavy beard doesn't go FAR enough). Also, we should just have numbers instead of names. And the numbers should never be prime numbers, or people would start to fight over them, and to talk about how their number is a "prime" number and mine, for example, is not. Also, the robot voice should be in effect for one and all, even within the confines of one's home. There should be NO sense that an individual has ANY identity whatsoever, aside from their number (numbers should begin in the trillions, and never be primes, but other than that, numbers that are seen to be special for any reason should be taken out of circulation). I think that in this way true equality can be reached. And that, after all, is the American way.

Barack Obama goof ups or Obamaism's

Let's take a look at the latest "Obamaism's"!

1 - "I have been in oh, 57 states so far and have a few more to go".

2 - "As Commander OF Chief......."

3 - "My uncle freed prisoners from Auschwitz or Buchenwald err one of those places".

4 - (At a Memorial Day speech) "We are here to honor those who have fallen in wars for this country and some of them I see standing here today".

5 - (To a news reporter, female) "Hey Sweetie, can you hang on a minute".

Yes this is the man who would be President. And the libs thought George W. Bush was dingy!

The Godless State of Oregon, or How Barack Obama Won

How did Obama win so handily in Oregon, but lost so badly in Kentucky on the same day?

Folks go to church in Kentucky, they believe in God in Kentucky, they are basically good, moral people in Kentucky.

What do I base this on? Read the following exit poll data on Oregon from tonight's election coverage on CNN.com:

Schneider: College educated, non-religious voters carry Obama
Posted: 11:14 PM ET
From CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider

(CNN) – CNN just predicted Obama will win the Oregon primary. How did the Illinois senator win there so easily?

Obama won big in another category: among those voters who say they do not have a religion, or have another religion outside of Catholicism, Protestantism, and Judaism.

Nearly 30 percent of Oregon Democrats said they were not religious and those voters went for Obama by 21 percentage points, 60 percent to 39 percent. And among those voters who listed "other" as their religion, a group that made up 10 percent of the vote, Obama won by 42 points, 70 percent to 28 percent.

So, you ask yourself, "what kind of state do I live in" if you are in Oregon. God help this state.

George W. Bush Still Has It! Israel Speech!

This is the thought coming out of Israel on President Bush's speech last week that the liberals and Barack Obama in particular have blasted.
I have never been more proud of him as President.
This is a very special speech and this review from the Jerusalem Post is well worth reading!


Analysis: If only Israel's leaders would speak as Bush did
Herb Keinon , THE JERUSALEM POST
May. 15, 2008

The cynics among us will say that words don't mean much, that talk is cheap, and that the lofty rhetoric US President George W. Bush employed on our behalf in the Knesset Thursday will be forgotten tomorrow.
But the cynics will be wrong.

Sometimes, when you're knee-deep in the day-to-day, when you're just struggling to get by, when you're facing forces that seem so much bigger than you, there is a need for someone from the outside - someone bigger and more powerful - to come by, pat you on the back, tell you that you are not alone, and remind you both of your inherent worth and that it is all inherently worth it.

That is what the Bush did Thursday in the Knesset.

Centuries of suffering and sacrifice were to pass before the dream of a Jewish state was fulfilled, Bush reminded us. "The Jewish people endured the agony of the pogroms, the tragedy of the Great War, and the horror of the Holocaust - what Elie Wiesel called 'the kingdom of the night.' Soulless men took away lives and broke apart families. Yet they could not take away the spirit of the Jewish people, and they could not break the promise of God."
Were that Israel's own leaders would speak in similar terms; were that Israel would believe as much in itself.

"Yet in spite of the violence, in defiance of the threats, Israel has built a thriving democracy in the heart of the Holy Land," the US president said, reminding us of our not insignificant accomplishments. "You have welcomed immigrants from the four corners of the Earth. You have forged a free and modern society based on a love of liberty, a passion for justice, and a respect for human dignity. You have worked tirelessly for peace. And you have fought valiantly for freedom."

We know all that, and over the last few weeks our own leaders - from President Shimon Peres to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi - have taken the opportunity of the 60th anniversary to remind us. But, oddly, it somehow sounds more honest when it comes from an outsider, more genuine from somebody who doesn't have to say it.
When, during our current bout of self-doubt and fear, was the last time an Israeli leader stood up and with a conviction that made you believe he meant it, not that he was just mouthing tired phrases, said - as Bush did Thursday - "Masada shall never fall again."
And then, even more importantly, Bush added, "Citizens of Israel: Masada shall never fall again, and America will always stand with you."

Words? Maybe. But they are important words, because if ever this country is again to take another calculated risk for peace, it will have to know that the US stands completely behind it.

Words? Maybe. But if ever the Arab world will ever come around to accepting Israel's existence, it will have to know that it cannot drive a wedge between Jerusalem and Washington.
The speech, at parts elegantly phrased, also echoed sentiments many of us feel, but rarely hear aired outside the shtetl.

Bush said not to be swayed by popularity polls or the capricious opinion of "international elites."
He said that we deserve a normal life just like everyone else in the world; that the UN has treated us shabbily; that those who openly ask whether Israel has a right to exist are anti-Semites, and that those who excuse this sentiment are little better.
He said we have the right to protect ourselves and - of course - that we don't have to negotiate with those who want to destroy us. He took on, without mentioning them by name, the Jimmy Carters and Walts and Mearscheimers of the world who say that if the US would just break with Israel, all its Middle East problems would vanish.

"This is a tired argument that buys into the propaganda of our enemies, and America rejects it utterly," Bush said, setting up what at first sounded somewhat corny, but on second blush was the most back-stiffening line of the speech. "Israel's population may be just over seven million. But when you confront terror and evil, you are 307 million strong, because America stands with you."

By referring to an unnamed senator silly enough in 1939 to have thought he could have talked Hitler out of invading Poland and starting World War II, Bush also flicked a stinging jab at Democratic presidential hopeful Barrack Obama, who wants to talk to Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "We have an obligation to call this what it is: the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history," Bush said.

Many of us know all that intuitively, and indeed talk about it weekly around the Shabbat table. But it's one thing for us to say it, and another for it to be uttered by the world's most powerful individual, especially when he didn't have to say it.

Remember, Bush didn't have to utter these thoughts: his political career is over, he no longer needs the Jewish vote or campaign support - further proof he actually meant what he said.

Isn't This Fun? The Democrats Keep Bashing Away!

I actually got this from an Obama supporter! Haha! Rush Limbaugh's rather dubious "operation chaos" is actually working.

John McCain is now either tied or leading in polls over either Democrat as they just keep killing each other.

Now if only we could get Fred D. Thompson to get back into it!!!

GO FRED '08

Barack and Michelle Obama Make Some Big Bucks!!

Yep, Barack Obama and Michelle Obama live like the big boys they so much despise publicly.

From the Associated Press today:

WASHINGTON — Barack and Michelle Obama's annual income jumped to nearly $1.7 million the year he joined the U.S. Senate, fueled by earnings from a best-selling book and her promotion at a Chicago hospital, according to tax returns the Obama campaign released Tuesday.
The Illinois Democrat, who previously released his 2006 tax forms, made public his returns for the tax years 2000 through 2006. His campaign said in a statement that the disclosure was designed to put pressure on his opponent, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, who has yet to release her recent returns but has promised to do so before April 15.
Arizona Sen. John McCain will release his tax returns next month, campaign spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker said.
The Obamas earned $1.67 million in 2005 and $991,296 in 2006, the returns show. Their income spiked thanks mainly to the sales of his two books, "Dreams from My Father," first published in 1995, and "The Audacity of Hope," a best seller in 2006.
In 2005, Michelle Obama, an administrator at the nonprofit University of Chicago Hospitals, was promoted to vice president of community affairs, and her income rose to $316,962 from $121,910. She also earned $96,000 on two boards of directors in 2005 and 2006, including $63,000 from TreeHouse Foods. She quit that post last year because TreeHouse supplies Wal-Mart, whose policies her husband has criticized.
From 2000 to 2004, the couple's income ranged from $207,647 to 275,000.
In 2006, the Obamas reported giving $60,307 to charity, or about 6 percent of their income. From 2000 to 2004, they gave a total of $10,770, or less than 1 percent of the $1.2 million they earned during that period.
"As new parents who were paying off their large student loans, giving $10,000 to charity was as generous as they could be at the time," Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said. The Obamas have two daughters, Malia, 9, and Sasha, 6.

Note their "generous" giving over the years. Sounds like most professing Christians doesn't it?

Anyway, so much for his "Pastor" and the whole "poor black man" thing.

Barack Obama Backs off his Pastor

Barack Obama has done exactly as I predicted and has backed away from his "pastor". (Please see the video below)

Though distancing himself from Rev. Wright, he still calls him "pastor" and "spirtual mentor" and more.

Here is the story that came out today:

On Friday, Mr. Obama called a grab bag of statements by his longtime minister, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., “inflammatory and appalling.”
“I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue,” he wrote in a campaign statement that was his strongest in a series of public disavowals of his pastor’s views over the past year.

Earlier in the week, several television stations played clips in which Mr. Wright, of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, referred to the United States as the “U.S. of K.K.K. A.” and said the Sept. 11 attacks were a result of corrupt American foreign policy.

On Friday, Senator John McCain’s campaign forwarded to reporters an article in The Wall Street Journal in which Mr. Wright was quoted as saying, “Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run,” and accusing the United States of importing drugs, exporting guns and training murderers.

Later in the day, Rush Limbaugh dwelled on Mr. Wright in his radio program, calling him “a race-baiter and a hatemonger.”
In the statement he released a few hours later, Mr. Obama, known for his uplifting messages about national unity, professed a certain innocence about his pastor’s most incendiary messages.
“The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation,” he said.

The eight-paragraph statement, first posted on the Web site The Huffington Post, did not recount Mr. Wright’s claims but addressed concerns about whether his beliefs reflected Mr. Obama’s. “He has never been my political adviser,” Mr. Obama wrote. “He’s been my pastor.”

Mr. Obama has belonged to Trinity for two decades. He was married by Mr. Wright, and his two daughters were baptized by him.
Mr. Obama credits a sermon of Mr. Wright’s, “The Audacity of Hope,” with drawing him to Christianity, and he used those words as the title of his second book.
But the evening before he announced his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Mr. Obama started to distance himself from Mr. Wright, canceling an invocation he had asked the minister to give at his presidential announcement.

Mr. Wright, 66, who last month fulfilled longstanding plans to retire, is a beloved figure in African-American Christian circles and a frequent guest in pulpits around the country. Since he arrived at Trinity in 1972, he has built a 6,000-member congregation through his blunt, charismatic preaching, which melds detailed scriptural analysis, black power, Afrocentrism and an emphasis on social justice; Mr. Obama praised the last quality in Friday’s statement.

His most powerful influence, said several ministers and scholars who have followed his career, is black liberation theology, which interprets the Bible as a guide to combating oppression of African-Americans.

He attracts audiences because of, not in spite of, his outspoken critiques of racism and inequality, said Dwight Hopkins, a professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School, in an interview last year.

But Mr. Wright’s blistering statements about American racism can shock white audiences.
“If you’re black, it’s hard to say what you truly think and not upset white people,” said James Cone, a professor at Union Theological Seminary and the father of black liberation theology, who has known Mr. Wright since he was a seminary student.
Mr. Wright is no longer on Mr. Obama’s African American Religious Leadership Committee, though Mr. Obama’s aides would not elaborate on the circumstance of his departure, and Mr. Wright did not answer a message left on his cellphone requesting an interview.

The minister’s defenders say the statements that have been playing this week on television are outliers, taken out of context, and that he is not antiwhite. The United Church of Christ, the denomination of the Chicago church, is overwhelmingly white. And Mr. Wright is an equal opportunity critic, often delivering scorching lectures about black society, telling audiences to improve their education and work ethic.
“I can remember Jeremiah saying in probably half his sermons: Everyone who’s your color ain’t your kind,” Richard Sewell, a church member, said in an interview last year.

One of the statements that have been most replayed this week comes from the sermon Mr. Wright delivered following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards,” he said. “America’s chickens are coming home to roost.”

Asked in an interview last March to explain the sermon, Mr. Wright said he had been questioning the country’s desire for vengeance against the perpetrators, counseling his congregants to look inward instead.

Immediately after the attacks, the country’s response was “to pay back and kill,” he said. But before it got “holier than thou,” he said, the nation should have considered how its own policies had led to the events of that day. (Last year, Mr. Obama said, “The violence of 9/11 was inexcusable and without justification,” and added that he and his wife were at home on the day of the sermon, tending to their new baby.)
In the interview last spring, Mr. Wright expressed frustration at the breach in relationship with Mr. Obama, saying the candidate had already privately said that he might need to distance himself from his pastor. But perhaps the two could repair things, said Mr. Wright, pointing out that Mr. Obama’s opponent, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, had faced worse.
“At least there are no semen stains on any dresses,” Mr. Wright said, one of several digs he has taken at the Clintons.
“That kind of frankness scares people in the campaign,” he added.

I still have some questions for Barack Hussein Obama and I can't ask them any better than a man named Jay whom I have met in the blogger world. I humbly ask his permission to print the following from his blog:

Some questions for Barack Obama:
1. Do you believe that the HIV virus was invented by the United States government in order to commit genocide against people of color? If not, then why did you sit under a pastor for twenty years, who preaches that?

2. Do you believe that America deserved the attacks of 2001? If not, then why did you ask a minister who does believe it to perform your wedding ceremony and to baptize your children?

3. Do you believe that the United States government gives illegal drugs to people? If not, then why did you quote a minister who believes it in the title of your book, The Audacity of Hope?

4. Do you believe that God has damned or should damn America? If not, then why are you a member of a church where the minsiter said repeatedly, “God damn America”?

If my church pastor preached things that I completely disagreed with, I would probably choose to attend a different church. Your pastor is your spiritual teacher and adviser, and if you believe that his teachings are wrong, then you should no longer submit to his leadership.

The Reverend Jeremiah Wright has been Barack Obama’s pastor for many years, and now Obama has condemned many of his recorded statements. What’s going on? Why did Obama listen to him preach all those years, but now, when his presidential hopes are at stake, Obama condemns some of his statements.

This is not just a casual acquaintance or a peripheral political supporter. This is the minister who performed his wedding ceremony and who baptized his children. This is the minister whose words he quoted in the title of his book, The Audacity of Hope. For about 20 years, he has been Obama’s spitirual mentor.

So why were Wright’s beliefs acceptable to Obama for the last twenty years, but now they are not?