President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address

Full transcript as prepared for delivery of President Barack Obama's inaugural remarks on Jan. 20, 2009, at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many.

They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn. Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.

To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages.

We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Sen. Ted Kennedy
May God bless and continue to keep the Kennedy family in His divine will. We pray for Sen. Kennedy's full recovery, strenghth and peace in this time of need!

FROM THIS POINT OF VIEW, WE SEE THROUGH A MIRROR DIMLY...

But soon we will see clearly.  And after tonight we will have renewed vision and a better outlook on what it means to be American and not just visitors on a work visa.

We will now wake up to a better view for our children who can now see themselves as world leaders and as men, women who can achieve any thing-- even the impossible! And then our children will invision us as the ones who made it possible to not only dream but live your dreams!

Mankind has made a huge step forward in our growth. We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal!

We Grieve with you Dear Brother

We mourn at the passing of Madelyn Dunham, grandmother of Sen. Obama.  Our prayers are with you and your family at this time of sorrow and homegoing.

We love you, dear brother and will bear you up.

Pastor Dr. Ricardo Enoch Nunez and First Lady Emily Elisabeth Nunez, along with The Church of Philadelphia family send our love and condolences.

2Cor 1:3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ

 

CONGRATULATIONS!!

To the future President and First Lady of these United States of America, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama!

I have traveled with you as far as I can go, but my love and continued support for both of you will never end. Yu are on dry land now and those who carried you across the water must let you now go forward alone on dry land. You are now on top of the mountain enjoy the view and conversation as you walk with God. 

Remember me my brother and my first lady Emily the reason I draw breathe! 

The Kid in the Sandbox
Now Playing: The Hypocrisy of the Chicken Coop

Before us, we witness an adolescent.  An adolescent that is developmentally delayed.  This adolescent has been playing in a sandbox all to herself.  She will not allow others to play and build sand castles.  This adolescent has built a castle, and she plans to sit, a queen, alone in that castle. 

The adolescent of which I am speaking of is the un-United States of America, who is showing the immaturity of a spoiled, repressed, sociopathic brat.  Who does not allow anyone to play in her sandbox, but looks around at everyone else’s sandbox and picks and chooses who can play in theirs.   If she’s not happy with the person in the adjoining sandbox, she sends those who helped to fortify her sandbox over to destroy, plunder the resources and sometimes depose those sitting in their own sandbox. 

The goals of the Civil Rights movement, the movement for Women’s Rights and the rights of all immigrants were simply to allow those who have toiled to maintain the sand in America’s sandbox to maybe take a thimble full of sand and build a small community of solitude for themselves:  after all, they were the ones who filled that sandbox. 

We have prayed relentlessly to have equal opportunity, to be seen as an equal.  Only to find that now in 2008, we are still told that we’re not good enough; we’re not qualified enough or that America does not know enough about us to allow us to play in the sandbox in which we have built.   

When we have prayed and hoped that the thoughts of segregation and division were beneath the surface, it is clearly apparent by listening to those that consider themselves Republican and Conservative, those who speak for “all Americans”, that it is not beneath the surface, it is just not spoken of.  Now the other half of the sandbox, being northern America, can see what those in the southern part of America have been saying all along.   

This is not rhetoric from the 1960’s.  This is not about the bombing in Alabama and of Dr. King’s home.  This is not even about Dynamite Bob Smith.   This incendiary hate is coming from those in 2008 who proclaim to be Christians.  Those who hold on to separatist mind sets and Aryan mentality.  Those feelings don’t stem from past moments of hate, lunch counter violence, the right to vote, the right of equal education, to ride on public transportation or sit down and eat beside another human being, the right to simply choose from the menu the food you paid for instead of being handed a greasy paper bag with yesterday’s leftovers.   No, these old tactics are being resurrected from the Southern playbook and used by the “New Republican Party”, let’s call them the NRP. 

This racism is rooted in the past, but it is wrapped around civil rights violations that have occurred in the last ten years:  the dragging death of James Byrd, Jr., the sodomizing of a young Latino male with a broom handle by some young American teenagers in Texas, the shooting of two Colombians who had broken into a house, but were leaving the scene unarmed by a neighbor who bragged to 911 dispatch that he was going out to take the law into his own hands, and who was acquitted in a Texas court.   

The NRP fans the flames of hate and divisiveness with the likes of Laura Ingram, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs, Rush Limbaugh; you know the usual suspects.  They have repackaged their divisive nation of “US against THEM”, adorned it with the American flag and the Bible, as if Jesus Christ was a white American and cared not for anyone else but the Republican party. 

We have long questioned America’s ability to show maturity, to enter the rest of the world and act civilized.  It is unfortunate that what we get in return is a country that rejects its own, that turns its back on those who helped build it and who uses the Bible to manipulate and keep in bondage those who the Bible sought to set free. 

Apparently in this America, it is not enough to be Christian; you must also be a white Christian.  Then it is okay for your children to have pre-marital sex that results in pregnancy while you label them brave for doing so.  Then you’re told that you’re demonstrating a pure and Christian heart for accepting someone who made the choice to live outside God’s will.  It seems apparent that just being Caucasian is all that is required to be a real American Christian.  No one challenges the fact that you know little about scripture, and you follow not the guidelines of the Bible at all:  except to misquote it and use it as a weapon to your own advantage. 

You proclaim that you are patriotic and somehow this is code that only Anglo-Americans can be truly patriotic.  That anyone else is suspect.  This is shameful and less than honorable, when we have men and women, homosexual and straight, Black and Latino dying and sacrificing for this nation and for your right to mistreat them. 

If any young Black American or Latina woman was known to be pregnant outside marriage and proclaiming to be a Christian at the same time, this scandal would have been a career ender for any politician of color.  She would have been labeled a “hoochie or baby-mama” or whatever derogatory name that the Limbaugh’s and Hannity’s like to use.  And her parents would have been dragged through the mud. 

We have men and women serving and dying for this country who have to stand in welfare lines and receive food stamps just to barely make ends meet.  Have you ever wondered why around every military base there are numerous trailer parks, liquor stores and pawn shops?  The trailer parks are where most men and women who served in this country end up putting their spouses so that they won’t get evicted, because they can’t afford a decent home.  The pawn shops are for when the food stamps don’t last to the end of the month.  And a solider who is fighting the war might have to ask their wife or husband to take the only thing they have of value and pawn it, just to have milk and cereal and keep the lights on.  And the liquor stores soothe the troubled spirit of that man or woman who can’t provide for their family, even though they have the wounds to show for it. 

But this is not what the Limbaugh’s and Hannity’s would have you believe.  This is not what those who complain about the “welfare queens” from Katrina want you to know.  They would have you believe that every penny of resources is going into the hands of those “EVIL” black people; those dark, suspicious Negroes who have suffered through three hurricanes, a devastating flood, the near-destruction of a state.  And yet, those victims of natural disaster still don’t lay the blame in the hands of Anglo-Americans.  They went into their churches and they prayed.  You see, they didn’t have much to start with.  But they had their lives, and their dignity.  And they gave thanks to God.  They mourned and buried their dead, and to this day, they are still trying to reconnect and find family members who were scattered throughout the U.S. and are still missing. 

But you only need to tune into shortwave radio here in the great state of Texas to hear how these “EVIL Negroes” are somehow re-routing all of the money, benefits, and resources from this state’s economy into their pockets.  That somehow these “EVIL Negroes” perform some kind of witchcraft or voodoo, and Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae just magically gave them home loans that they couldn’t afford to buy mansions on a hill. 

Forgive me for making this obvious statement, but the reason why anyone applies for a loan for home financing is because they couldn’t afford to pay cash for a house.  Let me make it simple:  everyone who has a home, unless you’re a multi-millionaire, purchased a home far beyond your economic means to pay for it.  But yet, the only one’s being blamed for this mortgage crisis are people with skin pigment problems. 

We only need look at the current election, listen to shortwave radio or gird your stomach and watch the nightly news to know that we should not be allowed out of our playground.  America is too immature and probably should be put on punishment.  America needs a long time out.  America was told to repent of her sins of racism, her sins of slavery.  But what we get is a raging fist toward God and an unrepentant heart.  And we see America’s chickens coming home to roost. 

From E.E. Nuñez:  The final days of this campaign season have seen a worrisome rise in the dangerous, racist slurs and hate-filled speech that has always roiled just beneath the surface in this country.  It is a precarious road we are on:  one that could lead to violence, and ultimately bring destruction upon this already wounded nation. 

 

Those who have launched this campaign of hate should know two things:  1. This is not 1968.  The people of this country have not been soothed by the balm of peace and non-violence that Dr. King applied; and 2.  Those who have much to hide should keep watch over the skeletons in their own closets before demanding that someone else clean out theirs.

 

The following excerpt from a current article reveals some of those stones that could shatter glass houses.

 

Guilt by Association

by Mike Lux

October 10, 2008

 

An excerpt from this article

…First, let me say that this is nothing new in politics. For as long as Presidential campaigns have been waged, both sides of always tried to accused their opponents of "sleeping with the enemy" or having connections to people who are not upstanding folks. As I'm sure many of you remember, we spent a lot of time defending Clinton against these types of attacks during the 1992 race. However, John McCain and Sarah Palin are going far further, and far nastier, with this tactic than any campaign in memory.

…should not let the McCain campaign drive this debate without pointing out their hypocrisy, and we should hold the traditional media accountable when they cover McCain's wild accusations without exploring any of the associations in McCain and Palin's careers. So I decided to put together a list of people with frightening beliefs and/or criminal backgrounds that McCain and Palin are tied to. My criterion is that I looked for people that are or were in fact closer to McCain or Palin than Ayers. I think we should all push to make the traditional media really dig into these relationships.

12. Pastor John Hagee. You all remember when the Pastor Hagee scandal broke a couple months ago. Since then, McCain has distanced himself from the Pastor, but it's still important to remember this relationship and to note that while Obama has also distanced himself from Rev. Wright, the McCain campaign, along with GOP operatives continue to tie the two to each other and it's expected that Wright's name will make a return to the debate during next week's debate in New York.

In February of 2008, Hagee endorsed McCain's candidacy, calling him a, "man of principle, [who] does not stand boldly on both sides of any issue." For his part, McCain said that he was "very honored by Pastor John Hagee's endorsement." Unfortunately, Hagee has a litany of statements in the public record that are not only troubling, they are downright offensive and radical. Think Progress has more on Hagee's past comments. For starters, Hagee once referred to Catholicism as "The Great Whore," and in talking about U.S. foreign policy he said, "The United States must join Israel in a pre-emptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God's plan for both Israel and the West... a biblically prophesied end-time confrontation with Iran, which will lead to the Rapture, Tribulation, and Second Coming of Christ."

McCain has denounced some of these more radical statements, but the mere fact that he actively sought Hagee's endorsement for a year means that he should be held to account for Hagee's radical views - if Wright remains on the political table, Hagee should be there right next to him.

11. Thomas Muthee. Sarah and Todd Palin have another Pastor problem. His name is Thomas Muthee and he is an evangelist and witchdoctor, who Sarah Palin has credited with helping her to win her governorship in 2006. Hannah Strange from the Times Online has more on the Muthee-Palin relationship.

At a speech at the Wasilla Assembly of God on June 8 this year, Mrs Palin described how Thomas Muthee had laid his hands on her when he visited the church as a guest preacher in late 2005, prior to her successful gubernatorial bid.

In video footage of the speech, she is seen saying: "As I was mayor and Pastor Muthee was here and he was praying over me, and you know how he speaks and he's so bold. And he was praying "Lord make a way, Lord make a way."

"And I'm thinking, this guy's really bold, he doesn't even know what I'm going to do, he doesn't know what my plans are. And he's praying not "oh Lord if it be your will may she become governor," no, he just prayed for it. He said "Lord make a way and let her do this next step. And that's exactly what happened."

Just like the Wright sermons, there are tons of YouTube clips that highlight this guy's sermons. The Palins' association with this guy really brings into question some serious issues - for example -does she believe that Muthee's spiritual hand helped seal her election in Alaska? Had this guy preached in front of Obama or his congregation, can you imagine what the outrage from the Right would be? Moreover, Muthee has made anti Catholic statements. He was once quoted as saying, "Brazil is occupied by Catholics... but people are being saved anyway!"

10. Mustafa Abu Naba'a. A while back, McCain also had another fundraising scandal involving one of his big bundlers from Florida, who also has close ties to Gov. Charlie Crist. This man is Mustafa Abu Naba'a, who is a dual citizen of Jordan and the Dominican Republic. He was tasked with collecting checks for McCain bundler Harry Sargeant III. His contribution to McCain was returned because the donations were solicited by a foreign national and may have been collected in violation of federal election laws. Matthew Mosk of the Washington Post has more on this fundraising scandal and it's implications - needless to say, this bundler wasn't doing things above-board and the fallout should be scrutinized - this is not the kind of person a presidential campaign or a potential President of the United States wants to have hanging around.

9. Ali Jawad. As the McCain campaign and RNC research team comb through the Obama campaigns donation history looking for ties to foreign donors and those presumably with Arab sounding names trying to draw some connection, it's important to remember that John McCain has had some issues in the recent past receiving donations from shady people that he later had to return.

One of those people was Ali Jawad, a member of McCain's Michigan Finance Committee. Jawad is president of Armada Oil & Gas Company and founder of the Lebanese American Heritage Club. According to Jake Tapper at ABC News:

In this 2002 story, Jawad is quoted saying he "rejects talk that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that should be shunned by the United States and other governments. 'Killing innocent people -- we reject that,' he said. 'Hezbollah does not fit this category. It has protected its people."

The article goes on to say:

In 1997 he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor insurance fraud. Prosecutors accused him of submitting names of non-employees to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan to receive health insurance benefits and claims. He received two years of probation and he paid approximately $6,000 in fines and restitution.

8. Oliver North, John Singlaub and U.S. Council for World Freedom. A couple days ago, the Associated Press detailed the relationship between John McCain and The U.S. Council for World Freedom. AP:

The U.S. Council for World Freedom aided rebels trying to overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua. That landed the group in the middle of the Iran-Contra affair and in legal trouble with the Internal Revenue Service, which revoked the charitable organization's tax exemption.

The council created by retired Army Maj. Gen. John Singlaub was the U.S. chapter of the World Anti-Communist League, an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America. After setting up the U.S. council, Singlaub served as the international league's chairman.

What's more?

In two interviews with The Associated Press in August and September, Singlaub said McCain became associated with the organization in the early 1980s as McCain launched his political career. McCain was elected to the U.S. House in 1982.

Launched his political career? Sound familiar?

The Council was notorious for its affiliation with white supremacists, etc. Also, remember that Oliver North played a large role during the Iran-Contra and was convicted in 1989 of shredding documents, accepting an illegal gratuity, and aiding and abetting in the obstruction of Congress. On February 12, 2008, the McCain campaign circulated a column that North wrote in the Washington Times touting, "extolling the senator's virtues, under the heading "In Case You Missed It: Oliver North on John McCain."

Sam Stein at the Huffington Post has a great piece about McCain's connections with the U.S. Council for World Freedom.

7. Charles Keating. For many younger voters, the name Charles Keating might not have meant anything until early this week. However, for those of us who have been around for a while and have been deeply involved in politics, the Keating Five Scandal is still very much in our memories. This week, the Obama campaign hit McCain hard on the Keating issue - producing a 13-minute documentary on the scandal and tying McCain's actions back then to the crisis we face today in our economy. They hit him on judgment and they want to re-introduce Charles Keating to the American people, and rightly so. Keating was a close friend of the McCain's. McCain and his family vacationed with Keating, on Keating's buck and the favors that McCain helped to curry for Keating during the 1980's helped to bring about the fall of the Savings and Loan industry, one of the largest economic calamities of the 20th century. Just this past week, Think Progress dug up a letter correspondence between McCain and Keating - which punctuates their friendship and loyalty.

The Washington Times reports that in 1986, John McCain wrote a note on House stationery to Charles Keating, chairman of a failed savings and loan association who went to prison in the late 1980s. In the letter, McCain apologized for listing Keating as part of his Senate campaign finance committee. Keating wrote in response: "You can call me anything, write anything or do anything. I'm yours till death do us part."

If public service is about watching who you keep as company, then Charles Keating is still very much on the table. For years since the scandal, McCain has written and talked about how the Keating Five Scandal changed his life and how he would be forever transformed by the incident. However, in a conference call with reporters last week, John Dowd, the lawyer who represented McCain during the Senate Ethics Committee investigation spoke of the investigation as a "classic political smear job" and professed that "John had not done anything wrong." This alone re-opens the entire incident and the press should now be asking John McCain if he too believes the investigation was a "smear job" and that he had "done nothing wrong." Keating is a classic example of the company you keep coming back to haunt you.

6. G. Gordon Liddy. Liddy has been a name in national politics for many years. However, many pieces of his biography have been forgotten. If a candidate for President of the United States is presumed guilty for the company that he keeps, then McCain's relationship, both financial and personal, with G. Gordon Liddy is very troublesome. Oliver Willis has more in a recent Media Matters report that lays out this relationship:

As Media Matters for America has noted, Liddy served four and a half years in prison in connection with his conviction for his role in the Watergate break-in and the break-in at the office of the psychiatrist of Daniel Ellsberg, the military analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers. Liddy has acknowledged preparing to kill someone during the Ellsberg break-in "if necessary"; plotting to murder journalist Jack Anderson; plotting with a "gangland figure" to murder Howard Hunt to stop him from cooperating with investigators; plotting to firebomb the Brookings Institution; and plotting to kidnap "leftist guerillas" at the 1972 Republican National Convention -- a plan he outlined to the Nixon administration using terminology borrowed from the Nazis. (The murder, firebombing, and kidnapping plots were never carried out; the break-ins were.) During the 1990s, Liddy reportedly instructed his radio audience on multiple occasions on how to shoot Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents and also reportedly said he had named his shooting targets after Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Liddy has donated $5,000 to McCain's campaigns since 1998, including $1,000 in February 2008. In addition, McCain has appeared on Liddy's radio show during the presidential campaign, including as recently as May. An online video labeled "John McCain On The G. Gordon Liddy Show 11/8/07? includes a discussion between Liddy and McCain, whom Liddy described as an "old friend." During the segment, McCain praised Liddy's "adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great," said he was "proud" of Liddy, and said that "it's always a pleasure for me to come on your program."

5. Kemper Marley. Kemper Marley was a wealthy liquor distributor and Arizona rancher who had close ties to the Hensley family, namely Cindy McCain's father. He was long suspected of being involved in the bombing and murder of Don Bolles, an investigative reporter for The Arizona Republic who specialized in crime reporting. According to Marley's 1990 obituary in the New York Times, "John Harvey Adamson, the only person whose conviction in the slaying has been upheld, said in court documents that he had been hired by Max Dunlap, a wealthy contractor who had been reared by Mr. Marley, to kill Mr. Bolles for writing articles damaging to Mr. Marley."

A Phoenix-area newspaper did a story during McCain's 2000 Presidential bid about the Hensley family history and their associations with shady characters. According to the Phoenix News Times, "The Hensley saga, meanwhile, swirls with bygone accounts of illicit booze, gambling, horse racing, deceit and crime. James Hensley embarked on his road to riches as a bootlegger."

Kemper's money, along with the Hensley family, helped John McCain get where he is today. It's important that questions are asked about McCain's knowledge of Kemper Marley and what involvement and impact he had on McCain's early political career.

4. Don Diamond. Then, there is Don Diamond. In April, 2008, the New York Times did a detailed story on Diamond's relationship with McCain and the favors that McCain curried for Diamond, who wanted to develop land in California on the site of a closed Army base.. In their lede, they write, "For Mr. McCain, the Arizona Republican who has staked two presidential campaigns on pledges to avoid even the appearance of dispensing an official favor for a donor, Mr. Diamond is the kind of friend who can pose a test."

Here's more from the Times:

Donald R. Diamond, a wealthy Arizona real estate developer, was racing to snap up a stretch of virgin California coast freed by the closing of an Army base a decade ago when he turned to an old friend, Senator John McCain.

When Mr. Diamond wanted to buy land at the base, Fort Ord, Mr. McCain assigned an aide who set up a meeting at the Pentagon and later stepped in again to help speed up the sale, according to people involved and a deposition Mr. Diamond gave for a related lawsuit. When he appealed to a nearby city for the right to develop other property at the former base, Mr. Diamond submitted Mr. McCain's endorsement as "a close personal friend."

Writing to officials in the city, Seaside, Calif., the senator said, "You will find him as honorable and committed as I have."

Courting local officials and potential partners, Mr. Diamond's team promised that he could "help get through some of the red tape in dealing with the Department of the Army" because Mr. Diamond "has been very active with Senator McCain," a partner said in a deposition.

A longtime political patron, Mr. Diamond is one of the elite fund-raisers Mr. McCain's current presidential campaign calls Innovators, having raised more than $250,000 so far. At home, Mr. Diamond is sometimes referred to as "The Donald," Arizona's answer to Donald Trump -- an outsized personality who invites public officials aboard his flotilla of yachts (the Ace, King, Jack and Queen of Diamonds), specializes in deals with the government, and unabashedly solicits support for his business interests from the recipients of his campaign contributions.

3. Marylin Shannon. Over the past couple days you've heard the line about Obama "palling around with terrorists" come out of Sarah Palin's mouth on numerous occasions and with relative ease. Well, it's important to note that John McCain's friend, Marilyn Shannon, a Republican official from Oregon, once praised a woman who was convicted of attempted murder in the shooting of an abortion clinic doctor. According to Raw Story:

McCain and Shannon appeared together at a fundraiser for the Oregon Citizens Alliance in 1993, a gathering of Christian right extremists that even fellow Republicans advised McCain not to attend because the group was so far outside the mainstream.

Speaking before McCain, Shannon offered some kind words for Shelley Shannon, who was accused and later convicted of shooting an abortion doctor: "I'm not related to Shelly Shannon, but I think she's a fine lady," the vice chairwoman of the state Republican Party said. McCain apparently said nothing to contradict that judgment, and less than three months later he voted against a bill that would make abortion clinic bombings a federal crime.

Author and journalist Frederick Clarkson has written extensively about the Army of God, the radical Christian organization that trained Shelley Shannon and others like her to bomb abortion clinics and attack abortion providers. He provides some more details on Shannon. She was eventually convicted of the attempted murder of a Wichita, Kan., doctor and of committing a spree of abortion clinic arsons across the west.

Keep in mind that Shannon was a delegate for McCain to this year's Republican National Convention in Saint Paul. The McCain campaign showed no oversight in allowing her to attend. Moreover, as Think Progress points out - when asked by the CBS Early Show to respond to an article where accusations were made that McCain had palled around with someone who held these radical and dangerous views, McCain-Palin campaign spokesperson Nancy Pfotenhauer said, "The article also concluded ithat if Senator McCain had hung out with somebody who had bombed abortion clinics, no one would consider [raising the issue] illegitimate.

So, what Pfotenhauer is saying is that this issue is legitimate and that McCain should have to respond. Let's see if he does.

2. Alaska Independence Party - Joe Vogler, Mark Chryson and Steve Stoll. As the GOP continues to parse and amplify the words of Jeremiah Wright, mind you, not his words on peace and spiritual matters, but rather the passages where he was critical of America on racial and foreign policy issues, it's important that we make sure Americans know about Joe Vogler, the founder of AIP. In some cases, his words are nearly identical to Rev. Wright's, and in many cases they are worse. Vogler has been quoted as saying, "the fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government" and "I won't be buried under their damn flag..."I'll be buried in Dawson. And when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones home." Vogler even went so far as to renounce his allegiance to the United States, which is far more extreme than anything that came out of Rev. Wright's mouth. In the course of denouncing Federal regulation over land, he said, "And then you get mad. And you say, the hell with them. And you renounce allegiance, and you pledge your efforts, your effects, your honor, your life to Alaska." TPM has a great piece with all of these quotes, along with audio of Vogler's interview.

There's also Mark Chryson and Steve Stoll, both AIP members and close political associates of Sarah Palin. Here's Salon's write-up on these two and their association with Palin's run for Mayor of Wasilla.

Though Chryson belongs to a fringe political party, one that advocates the secession of Alaska from the Union, and that organizes with other like-minded secessionist movements from Canada to the Deep South, he is not without peculiar influence in state politics, especially the rise of Sarah Palin. An obscure figure outside of Alaska, Chryson has been a political fixture in the hometown of the Republican vice-presidential nominee for over a decade. During the 1990s, when Chryson directed the AIP, he and another radical right-winger, Steve Stoll, played a quiet but pivotal role in electing Palin as mayor of Wasilla and shaping her political agenda afterward. Both Stoll and Chryson not only contributed to Palin's campaign financially, they played major behind-the-scenes roles in the Palin camp before, during and after her victory. Palin backed Chryson as he successfully advanced a host of anti-tax, pro-gun initiatives, including one that altered the state Constitution's language to better facilitate the formation of anti-government militias. She joined in their vendetta against several local officials they disliked, and listened to their advice about hiring.

The Salon piece that I quote from above has some really ripe, detailed information on the AIP, as well as its more shady members. Palin has not renounced these men or to the best of my knowledge, even addressed their associations with them.

1. Todd Palin. The "first dude" has gotten pretty much a free ride from the traditional press over the past six weeks. He's done a couple softball interviews on FOX News and has pretty much sat in the background as his wife has been introduced on the national stage. Not much attention has been paid to the fact that Todd Palin was a member, for eight years, of the Alaska Independence Party, a radical group that advocates for Alaskan secession from the United States of America and is linked with radical secessionist groups, militias, and white supremacists groups from all over the country. We don't know the full extent of Todd Palin's beliefs when it comes to AIP and their radical views, but the problem is - no one is really asking. As Ambinder puts it in a post he did on October 4:

Todd Palin, a former member of the Alaska Independence Party, might well have seen America unlike his wife did -- that is, an America that one can secede from. He was comfortable belonging to and being associated with a political party whose founder seemed to delight in denouncing the principles that hold our union together.

If there is even a remote chance that this guy is going to be living in the Vice President's house or White House for the next 4 or 8 years, we deserve to know the truth about his radical views of America, especially given how much Gov. Palin has clearly relied on him for policy-making help while Governor of Alaska.

Over John McCain's long political career, he has made many "friends." It's evident in the short time that the country has known Sarah and Todd Palin that they also had a bunch of friends - all who should be causing trouble for them in the closing weeks of this campaign. If the McCain-Palin ticket wants to constantly remind voters about Obama's "friends," it's imperative that we do the same....

What is Antichrist?
Now Playing: An Open Letter to Mr. George Noory from E.E. Nunez

Dear Mr. Noory,

I have been listening to your show for years, and to Art Bell before you.  I am very disappointed in you allowing your long-time guest John Hogue make implications about Sen. Barack Obama being the antichrist.  And your allowing your callers to carry on this heinous and dangerous mischaracterization.

I'm sure as a journalist, you are well aware of the racial tensions that are being brought to bear on this campaign season.  We have been inundated with statements, implicit and explicit, about Sen. Obama’s character, his associations, his wife’s character, his upbringing, his parentage, his citizenship and his patriotism.  Many times, these statements are euphemisms for a more sinister and offensive concept.  This entire campaign season has become proof of what people of color have been saying was going on behind the scenes, and many times in plain view, for decades.  Now no one, who is honest with himself, can say that racism doesn’t exist in this country.

I am fully aware of the Constitution along the topics of freedom of speech.  What you might not be aware of is that one’s right to free speech ends at the doorstep of that speech that endangers the lives of others who are protected by that same constitution.  It is irresponsible and unforgivable to continually fan the flames of hate from your listeners who are clearly sympathetic to the likes of Ron Paul and who embrace racial stereotypes, separatist points of view, and some might say, psychotic and unstable positions of thought.

But moreover, as you claim to be Catholic, you should be even more careful of what you allow others to proclaim in the name of Christianity.  While you are not responsible for the thoughts of your guests and callers, as a media figure, you are obligated to research and learn the truth about what you allow to be claimed under your auspices.  

The term antichrist is bandied about these days, oftentimes as another euphemism for those who wish to appear to be well-read bible scholars and not the xenophobic, conspiracy theorists that they truly are.  The Bible is very clear about who THE antichrist is or will be.  Anyone who uses this term should take the time to learn about who and what an antichrist is before speaking ignorance to incompetence.

The Bible tells us that there are many antichrists, as in anyone who denies the deity of Jesus Christ or who rebels against His teachings.  To be quite honest, much of the subject matter on your shows is regularly antithetical to what is in the Bible.  While I believe in freedom of speech, many of your guests are allowed to say whatever they will about God, Jesus and the Bible without challenge or rebuttal.  And while many guests and callers are allowed to twist and misconstrue the actual concepts and ideas of the bible into some form of religion that suits them, no one is allowed to actually quote scripture on your show.  That leaves us with the suggestion that those antichrist ideas being presented on your show are agreeable to you. 

To claim that someone other then Jesus Christ is the messiah is antichrist.  To claim that aliens from other planets are gods who created us is antichrist.  To claim that Jesus was one of those aliens, and merely just one more god in a group of equal gods is antichrist.  To attempt to awaken demonic spirits using incantations or to control events and people with witchcraft is antichrist.  And to claim that Lucifer and Jesus Christ are brothers and equal sons of God is antichrist.  All of these assertions have been made on your show at one time or another.  You have stated on your show, yourself, that you could believe that God is an alien.  This clearly reveals your lack of understanding of scripture, and some might say brings into question your religious affiliation and your true agenda.

There have been many antichrists in past history.  But for anyone to claim that Sen. Obama is THE antichrist, as spoken of in the book of Daniel, is misguided and ill-informed.  And in my opinion, these people who repeatedly call into your show and Ian Punnett’s show to express their abject terror at the prospect of Sen. Obama being elected are, in fact, really proclaiming their ignorance of the Bible and of anyone different than themselves.

I applaud Mr. Punnett for repeatedly correcting these callers about their fears about Sen. Obama, who was born in the United States.  Curiously, no one seems to have these fears about Sen. McCain who was actually born in Panama.  And no one has these fears about Gov. Palin, who has ties to an organization who wants to secede from the United States, and who has all but claimed war against this country.  But all is well there, no need for fear about Sen. McCain’s or Gov. Palin’s patriotism or citizenship. 

Anyone in this country who is descendant from any race or ethnicity other than white European should be concerned when so much emphasis is being placed on who or what a “real” American is, whether they be African American or Lebanese American.   What do you think all your conspiracy theorist guests would deduce from such ideas?

Even more treacherous, is the fact that the bible clearly states that the antichrist will be killed by a mortal head wound, but will miraculously recover.  By continuing to suffer these fools and their hateful rhetoric, you are tacitly condoning the notion that someone ought to do something about this so-called antichrist issue.  This is very dangerous ground on which you tread, Mr. Noory. 

It is ludicrous for these people, who are clearly unstable, to call into your show on a nightly basis and embrace what they believe to be aliens, willing to mate with them and even worship them, but at the same time, refuse to accept a human being who lives on the same planet with them because of race or color.  And to continually allow this race-baiting and degradation is like screaming fire in a crowded movie theater.  It is inciting violence.

I encourage you, as a Christian, to read your bible and understand the mind of God, who has freely described the characteristics of the antichrist for all to see.  It is only a mystery to those who choose to be blinded by color and race.

I would strongly recommend that if you are going to bring up the subject of the antichrist, that you have guests on who have a real background in Eschatology and Theological studies, instead of someone simply pushing their agenda.  It is a dangerous thing to mislead people.  In times past, this has brought about witch hunts and lynchings.  And ignorance, intolerance and hate speech have brought about the assassinations of our most beloved leaders and severe damage to this nation's psyche.  We dare not repeat history.

I suggest that some of the guests on your show should be more properly vetted for mental stability, honesty of agenda, credibility and credentials on their subject matter.  Not only are many of these guests not any type of authority on the subject of their choice, they have actually just created imaginary friends and fantasy themes.  What they express is merely wild speculation and hyperbole, couched in multi-syllable words and undocumented rhetoric.

It is one thing to interview the likes of Ron Paul (who has ties to David Duke, racist dogma and white separatist groups), Alex Jones or Jerome Corsi (who freely quotes himself as a footnote).  It is quite another to encourage or not challenge their separatist rhetoric and fanatical viewpoints.  It leaves one with the notion that you either agree with them or you’re not adverse to the idea that certain groups of people deserve mistreatment.

I would hope, Mr. Noory, you are above such a debase and uninformed viewpoint. 

Sincerely,

 

Emily E. Nuñez

 

THOSE WHO LIVE IN GLASS HOUSES

 

I would like to note that I’m conducting myself according to scripture found in Matthew 18:15-18: 

15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. 16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. 17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. 18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 

I have addressed you personally over the phone and by email about your behavior and your actions.  But you have refused any Christian counseling.  In fact, you feel you are above that.  You leave no recourse but for me to address you in public before the church. I have attempted to rise above the cheapness and the insults levied at my character by the ignorance that is Steve Quayle.  But once again, when you false teachers should be teaching, you have need to be taught. 

You slither around on your low-budget shortwave radio show like a man with too much estrogen and make childish accusations about Sen. Barack Obama and proclaiming that no prophet of God or minister should be connected with him because of his views on abortion.  You continue to force my hand to reveal the hypocrite that you are.  Mature adults can actually have friends that they don’t always agree with 100 percent.  Mature adults can entertain a two-way conversation with people who have differing opinions.  It is only those who live in fear, those terrified of change, who become isolationists and reject any information that does not support they separatist and racist points of view. 

Just because I support and endorse Sen. Barack Obama for President does not, in any way, mean that I endorse or accept his views on abortion.  Quite frankly, for those of you who are not mildly retarded or stuck on stupid, Sen. Barack Obama’s opinions on abortion are just that:  his opinions.  They do not change who or what I am.  And they do not guide me in my relationship with God.  For God is the author and finisher of my faith.  And it is His word that guides me in my beliefs and my actions; not the opinions of any man or any person who calls himself a man. 

No group should have monolithic beliefs.  No one agrees with everything that their pastor says or everything that their president says.  That would be cultic, such as we see with those who isolate themselves in far off secluded areas so that they can gather together to nurse their conspiracy theories and hide from reality.  Those who make every effort to surround themselves with people who look just like them, think just like them and spout the same rhetoric that they hold fast to.  And they take those theories deep into their wretched hearts and turn them into false facts that support their warped view of the world seen only through the prism of their fear and hatred. 

No, only a separatist, supremacist cult would believe every idea and opinion of its leader.  That is insanity.    

I’m going to say this so that even the quite slow can grasp this Steve:  the Senator from Illinois is running for President of the United States of America.  He is not running for Pastor or Prophet.  And he is not running for Counterfeit Watchman like you have portrayed yourself to be.  By constantly writing me to ask me to give you information on what the Lord has said for that day and then running to your low-budget show regurgitating that information, all the while saying that the Lord revealed this information to you.  That makes you a fraud of the faith.  You claim to have stood before the Judgment Seat, but Jesus revealed none of Himself to you.  And because you know not the nature of God or His Son, you seek out more and more information:  For Information is your god. 

2Timothy 3:1-9 1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, 7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. 9 But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.  

 

Not only have you taken words that were given by another man of God and used them as your own to claim the credit, but over and over I warned God’s people through you about their sins and about things coming upon this earth, and you refused to give that part of the information out.  Afraid that a convicted heart might mean a tightened purse string, you instead, parlayed your skills into peddling gold and silver by way of fear.  You don’t want your listeners to know that there is a way out that doesn’t require gold and silver. And the very pastors you berate and accuse of this behavior, you, yourself emulate without hesitation.

 

 

And by withholding God’s word from His children, you tie that very millstone around your own neck.  But you can’t see the huge logs of lying, manipulation, fear-mongering, self-centeredness and covetousness in your own eye, because you’re too busy pointing out the splinter of who I might be voting for in my eye.

All of your solutions begin and end with buying your gold and your silver; which puts your listeners in bondage to you, because they have to buy and sell with you in the event something happens.  You are, thereby, making God’s children captives:  again tightening the millstone. You live your life just as you conduct your faith:  you take what you want from scripture and use it to manipulate those foolish enough to follow you.  The rest you pretend doesn’t exist or you outright reject.  Just as you have rejected every passage of scripture that tells you and the misguided fools that listen to you that gold and silver will not help them in the end, instead teaching a doctrine that goes against everything the bible says about gold and silver. 

The only way that anyone is going to get right with God is to depend completely and 100 percent on Him, through his son Jesus Christ.  Piling up all the gold, silver and food in the world only makes you a stationary target.  And it makes you an easy mark for those who know that Christians who are misguided put their faith in material things and physical attributes, and not on the things of the spirit.  And it is those easy marks that you prey upon:  stoking their fears of God’s wrath, the end times, the New World Order and people who don’t look like them.  But never telling them that they must leave all they own and follow Jesus. 

You use Jesus as a marketing tool, pulling out your PowerPoint presentation and throwing His name about for effect.  But not believing a word that He said.  Because we are known by the fruits that we produce, and your fruits are a conglomerate of fear, weakness, opportunism and false bravado.   

When the scriptures talked about the wealthy not getting through the eye of the needle and the rich man who couldn’t get into heaven, they were speaking directly about you.  The scriptures also spoke of you when it talked about the man who built barns instead of preparing his soul for heaven. 

I can go further, and discuss Balaam’s ass, but that’s enough analogies about you.  I’m sure you get my point. There is always a sore spot with separatist, single-minded, Christian fanatics who stand in judgment of everyone and everything who don’t push their party line.  Jesus commanded us to go out into all the world and teach the gospel.  And how would a Watchman on the Wall go about revealing the nature of God and depth of His word to all the world if they refuse to interact with anyone who does not agree with them?  So that means you are going against scripture when you regurgitate your form of the gospel to people who already believe exactly what you believe.  This leads one to think that you really don’t believe the scriptures at all.  And after talking to you at length, it is quite clear that you cannot defend your beliefs.  Because as an unanchored man, you are unstable in all your ways; and so are your beliefs. 

God said that He is not the author of confusion.  And in 2Timothy 1: 7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.  But there is continually a cloud of confusion and fear around you when it comes to you and your god. And when you make your living by encouraging a spirit of fear, you sacrifice the power, the love and the sound mind.  And I got a chance to witness the latter firsthand.  

You seem to believe that those who vote for Sen. Obama are somehow unsaved or not Christian like you are (Oh, What would Dr. King do?)  So where, exactly, will that put you?   Are you saying that if your daughter, your pride and joy, came to you and told you that she was carrying the child of an African American male, that you with your good old-fashioned separatist views, would not pay for the best doctors you could find to perform the abortion?  And if you do make that statement in the affirmative, your moral compass is more broken than I thought it was. 

You want to bring into question Sen. Obama’s beliefs and points of view and make the connection that this somehow makes him unfit for office.  How many so-called Christians have you helped to get elected or that you’ve endorsed who did absolutely nothing when they became President or Congressman in their stance on Roe v. Wade, or human or civil rights for that matter?  And after that child is born, how many of those little bastard children are left to fend for themselves, abandoned in foster programs and orphanages, whose mothers are refused entrance into churches because they are tainted?  How many of those children must grow up in poverty or without a decent education?  How many are labeled as problem children, learning disabled or worse and put on the fast track to prison? 

As you can see, abortion is not the only issue that we should be focusing on.  There are myriad social and spiritual issues that Watchmen should be addressing, not just the one hot-button topic that the mainstream political machine tells you to espouse. 

Let me make it a little easier for you.  Why don’t you just play this game of Six Degrees of Separatism with me?  You endorsed Ron Paul.  Ron Paul, who was also supported by David Duke, a white supremacist and former Grand Dragon who keynoted a Holocaust debunking conference hosted by Ahmadinejad.  A conference that revered the work of Adolf Hitler, while simultaneously denying that the Jews were persecuted.  Ron Paul who produced a white supremacist newsletter for years, who stated that black boys who commit crimes should be tried as adults because they are inherently stronger and swifter, who wraps himself in his interpretation of the constitution to encourage isolationism, not giving aid to anyone, anywhere, and letting everyone outside the United States either starve to death or figure out how to make it on their own after we play politics in their land, leaving it war torn and destitute.   

Ron Paul who was also publicly endorsed and financially supported by Alex Jones, who believes that the current administration was responsible for 9-11, who has made statements and actions that could be construed as subversive towards our government, who stated on air that, in a country of immigrants, no one with parents born outside the U.S. should be allowed to run for president, and has direct connections with Jerome Corsi, someone that you also have connections with, as well.  Jerome Corsi who appears on talk shows such as The Political Cesspool, a radio show hosted by White Nationalist James Edwards. 

Isn’t that something?  In three steps, one could connect you with a former KKK Grand Dragon, a leader of an extreme Muslim country and the most hated dictator in a hundred years.  And in a just few more steps, one could connect you with an isolationist, racist Congressman, a fanatical, racist radio talk show host and two White Nationalist devotees.  It’s interesting how the words “extreme”, “fanatical” and “racist” continue to come up in connection with you.  That could lead one to believe that you, too, are an extreme fanatical racist.   Because, according to your logic, you must totally agree with everyone around you. 

And with all this information, you have the unmitigated gall and audacity to proclaim that you are a wholesome, all-American man with Christian values, even when the company you keep denies that truth.  You should not cast stones in a glass house.  

You seemingly endorse the thoughts and beliefs of George Noory and Art Bell when you continuously go onto their shows, kissing up to them.  One or both of these men have connections to witchcraft, freemasonry and alien (demon) worship.  But your admiration for them isn't really true, is it?  For if we believe the emails that you sent to me, you don’t share any of their values.  In fact, you have a very different opinion about all of these men than what you state when you’re on the air with them. 

My point, Steve, is that it would greatly behoove you to sit your immature self down, stop conducting yourself like a female, and act like a man.  Because we have barely scratched the surface of the truth that is you. But I really don’t want to take the time or the effort to reveal the true side of you and your real nature to all the people that you manipulate. 

If you have an opinion about Sen. Obama, then state your opinion without trying to attack the character of others; while you still have some character left.

America grows up?

In a nation where we still have issues with the likes of David Dukes, Ron Paul, Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck and Laura Ingram; in a nation where the Aryan Brotherhood and Ku Klux Klan still exist.  We are alone among white lead nations in that it is possible in this tempest of hate and ignorance, America will take its place before all other white ruled nations as the first nation of its kind to nomminate the first African American President!

With all our faults and shortcomings maybe we are finally prepared for the title of world leaders!

Let is now seek God for guidance and prayer for our leaders and those they will lead.  The dream is now a reality.  Rest in peace Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  Job well done, you did not sacrifice in vain!