I don’t know about you but I remember being 17 all too well. I remember thinking I was the smartest person in the world. And I remember thinking my parents were complete idiots who didn’t understand me or any of the teenage turmoil, tension and occasional trauma I was going through.
It turns out I was wrong. No big surprise there.
Sure my parents weren’t always right. But they did their best while I was at my worst and I really regret putting them through all of that stupid drama. In the end we all got through it though. Primarily because my parents and I were able to face these problems together, as a family.
And that’s exactly what Rifqa Bary and her parents need to do, and exactly what state and county officials in Florida and Ohio are trying to facilitate.
Unfortunately a bunch of hate-mongering, religiously-intolerant fuckwits like Pam Geller keep trying to get in the way by turning an everyday family argument into a tool to promote their own anti-Muslim agenda.
I really don’t know too much about Pam Geller and her past. But I have a feeling that her early family life and her childhood were pretty fucked up. I hate to make general assumptions like that but I can come up with no other plausible reason for Pam’s complete and total disregard for the health and wellbeing of Rifqa Bary.
To say Pam Geller has an agenda is a massive understatement.
Pam Geller has a deep seated hatred of Muslims that infects everything she does, says and writes. As a result, Pam Geller has become everything that she claims to be against. She is waging her own personal Jihad against anything and everything Muslim and she’s more than willing to sacrifice a young teenage Ohio girl in order to achieve her goals.
Don’t believe me?
Here’s a word cloud of her last few posts:
Allah, God, Muslims, Fight, Terrorist, Attacks, Jihad… etc.
Tony Perkins is pissed because someone decided to host a religious event without inviting him. Boo hoo.
CNN’s “Compassion Forum”, held this past Sunday, allowed both Democratic candidates to answer questions about their faith that, thankfully, didn’t come from Christofascist asshats like Perkins.
As a result, the forum focused on issues that real Christians should care about. Things like poverty, human rights and the worldwide AIDS crisis.
According to Perkins, these are not the issues closest to Christians’ hearts.
Instead, Tony claims that: “our priority as Christians should be as those of the Founding Fathers; protect the sanctity of human life, preserve marriage, and defend religious liberty.”
In other words: take away reproductive rights from women, prevent gay people from getting married, and prevent hate crimes legislation and equal rights laws that protect americans based on their sexual orientation.
Listen up, shitbird! None of these things was mentioned by our founding founders.
And, for that matter, none of them was mentioned by Jesus either.
I got the sense today that Barack Obama was tired. Tired of the hatred and fear-mongering insanity that has gripped not just Republicans, but Democrats as well. I know I get tired when I have to endure the same types of slurs I saw used against blacks in the south now retooled to attack anyone of a Middle Eastern heritage or having a name that is not familiar to the average Anglo-Saxon Caucasoid. I get tired when I see the same type of fear and ignorance used against blacks in the south retooled to attack two men or two women who happen to fall in love and have the audacity to want to live their lives in the same way other Americans do. I get really tired when I see this country become bastardized into something that it was never intended to be.
I’m tired too. Tired of Democrats trying to slyly blow the old racist Southern Strategy dogwhistles in a way that would have made George Wallace proud. Tired of right wing attacks perpetrated on fear and loathing – and tired of some Democrats co-opting that message. I’m tired of the right-wing blogosphere manufacturing lies out of whole cloth, even while staring evidence against those claims square in the face. I’m tired of being called a “cultist” because I prefer one candidate’s message and policy positions over another’s. I’m tired of people taking a statement of clear facts (Clinton’s support from racist voters was greater than her margin of victory in Ohio) and turning it into the fabrication “all Clinton supporters are racist.”
I’m tired of responding to attacks intended to leverage racism being called “playing the race card”. I’m tired of encouraging the poor and downtrodden to stand up for themselves in the face of massive exploitation being called “fomenting a class war”. I’m tired of assholes and jerks who will say anything in order to protect their privilege, or the privilege of others.
I’m tired of people ignoring plain facts in favor of discredited and disproven dogmatic ideology.
I’m tired. Worn down. Like an old millstone.
And then Obama steps up, and gives a speech that reminds me of the stakes. That reminds me that the struggle to fight thru the fatigue is worth it. We can overcome. We shall overcome.
So while we still live in a world scarred by racism and sexism, homophobia and islamophobia, where the evisceration of worker’s rights is called a “right to work” and it’s your fault your job was outsourced to another country and you are on public assistance, we can, and will build a better, stronger America. I’ll get on that rope and pull; but I can’t do it alone. It will take people of all faiths – and no faith. It will take people of all colors, sexes, genders, and orientations. It will take people of differing beliefs but common purpose; perhaps even with different concepts of how to achieve the goals of equality. It will take Obama supporters, Clinton supporters, and heck – even McCain supporters.
So what say you? Do you embrace hate and divisiveness? Or do you embrace hope for equality? As we’ve seen, nearly 50 years after the civil rights movement, and nearly 150 after the Civil War, we still have a long ways to go towards a world where race really doesn’t matter, and you are judged purely by the content of your character. But we can take an important step right now; not by electing Barack Obama, but by refusing to leverage his race against him (or Clinton’s gender against her), and refusing to stand silently by when others do the same. For while I strongly feel that Obama is the best candidate for the Presidency, I will not begrudge him losing a fair election decided on the merits of the positions of the candidates involved. That is democracy. What is going on now is not democracy – it’s crass fear mongering. We like to claim we are the world leader in freedom and democracy. Now it’s time to back up that talk with some action.
I’m beginning to think there is a flatal flaw in religion if there are so many out there who spout the most horrendous of slurs and vulgarity during time when they should be inspiring their “flock” with words of divine inspiration. This Manning guy is nuts. He sounds like a Hillary (and Bill) supporter who is coming unglued like some of her other supporters and apologists.
This almost looks like a parody on SNL:
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This one should lose any tax exempt status there was (but it won’t):
With Easter quickly approaching, I was really starting to expect some ‘War on Easter’ articles and posts from the bible-thumping right. It’s pretty pretty quiet though. Until today.
That’s when I came across this article in the Christian-themed Citizen USA newspaper about that dangerous false prophet: The Easter Bunny.
In it the author warns us to keep ‘fanciful characters’ like the Easter Bunny far away from our children because such characters ‘threaten their faith in the true and living God.’
The problem is: kids, like all people, want to believe in stuff. And it’s dangerous to let them believe in imaginary stuff like a big rabbit that brings gifts because then they might not want to believe in stuff like an all-powerful, omniscient, yet invisible God who listens to the prayers of every single person on Earth.
According to the author:
Man has always had a desire to worship because God has made evidence of Himself apparent to all. However, man has also always had the temptation to make God into an image that was comfortable to him.
In this case- I guess ‘man’ is more comfortable taking his children to the mall to be photographed with a big, fuzzy bunny instead of, say, a guy dressed as the rotting corpse of Jesus just risen from the grave.
Unfortunately, I don’t think she really makes a convincing argument or offers us any alternatives.
Might I suggest fear? It’s worked for the Catholic church for years.
For example, casting the fuzzy little hare as a a demonic beast- as the antichrist who is here to win over Jesus’ followers and destroy the world. Now THAT’S pretty scary! (you could also make him gay, if that helps)
I’m sure there are plenty of passages in the Bible you could use, but I always prefer the good old guilt-through-anagram method.
It’s easy for Santa because the obvious anagram for his name is Satan.
Anagrams for ‘the Easter Bunny’ are a little less obvious- but just as scary and evil…
Betray Thee Nuns – a message to kids to ignore the teachings of religious leaders.
Stab The Eery Nun – the beast wants kids to stab Nuns! Especially the old, scary ones.
Turbans Teeny He – a reference to the islamic nature of this false rodent profit.
And for ‘Peter Cottontail’…
Recant Polite Tot – a call to children to disavow their belief in Jesus.
Latte Protection – the evil rabbit promises protection for latte-drinking liberals.
Rectal Inept Toot – not sure exactly, but obviously something gay and immoral.
Taco Entitle Port – the furry beast urges amnesty for illegal immigrants.
In short, if you want your small children to learn to worship your god- then you need to either hide everything from them (homeschooling anyone?) or make them fear everything else!
How quickly do you think the likes of Ben Keeler and his cohorts (so very caught up with Obama’s pastors words) will mention this one:
Senator John McCain hailed as a spiritual adviser an Ohio megachurch pastor who has called upon Christians to wage a “war” against the “false religion” of Islam with the aim of destroying it.
I cannot tell you how important it is that we understand the true nature of Islam, that we see it for what it really is. In fact, I will tell you this: I do not believe our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but I do not shrink from its implications. The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed, and I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore.
Again. Let me just repeat. Our country was FOUNDED (in part) to destroy Islam. It is our divine purpose.
Ben? Anyone? We’ll be here waiting for you to repudiate these latest hateful and divisive remarks. Lisa Renee? Anyone?
Keep in mind I don’t support the positions of any of these people and I don’t put too much stock in it affecting how one might govern the country – though Bush’s “faith based initiatives” do give some pause. Some people, both left and right do seem to put enough stock in it to be going ballistic, though.
Hagee has offered some highly provocative views on a variety of subjects.
For instance, he linked Hurricane Katrina to the gay rights movement: ” … All of the city was punished because of the sin that happened there in that city.”
He has also denounced the Roman Catholic Church as “the great whore of Babylon” and “a cult.” He blames it for the Holocaust and predicts its imminent demise.
“This is the apostate church,” Hagee said. ” … this false religious system is going to be totally devoured by the anti-Christ.”
“It was the disobedience and rebellion of the Jews, God’s chosen people, to their covenantal responsibility to serve only the one true God, Jehovah, that gave rise to the opposition and persecution that they experienced beginning in Canaan and continuing to this very day….
How utterly repulsive, insulting, and heartbreaking to God for His chosen people to credit idols with bringing blessings He had showered upon the chosen people. Their own rebellion had birthed the seed of anti-Semitism that would arise and bring destruction to them for centuries to come…. it rises from the judgment of God upon his rebellious chosen people.”
It should be clear that his militant support of Israel is about getting Jews to their position so Jesus can return and bring the Rapture, not about actually supporting Jewish people. What was McCain’s response to earning the endorsement?
Mr. McCain, who has been on a steady search for support among conservative and evangelical leaders who have long distrusted him, said he was “very honored’’ by Mr. Hagee’s endorsement. Asked about Mr. Hagee’s extensive writings on Armageddon and about what one questioner said was Mr. Hagee’s belief that the anti-Christ will be the head of the European Union, Mr. McCain responded that “all I can tell you is that I am very proud to have Pastor John Hagee’s support.’’
Of course, the “liberal” talking head shows on Sunday barely even mentioned this, despite Russert hammering on Obama at the debate in Cleveland.
Now, as I’ve mentioned before, this is a free country; Hagee is free to endorse whomever he wants, and frankly I don’t care who he endorses. What is potentially alarming about this that McCain welcomes that support.
In a development in the incident that has been beat to death by rightwingers here as proof that Islam is not a religion of peace, a British schoolteacher in Sudan has been pardoned by the President of Sudan and had the remainder of her 15 day jail sentence commuted.
A British teacher in Sudan jailed over the naming of a teddy bear has been released from police custody, the British Embassy in Khartoum said, several hours after Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir pardoned her.
Gillian Gibbons, freed after Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir granted her a presidential pardon earlier Monday, apologized for any distress her actions may have caused.
Now clearly her ignorance of what Muslims would find offensive (and thus she was unequipped to override her students) is not worthy of jail time, but the pardon shows some sensitivity by Sudanese officials. The fact that some hardliners agitated for her execution isn’t really noteworthy: hardliners here in the States say all kinds of crazy things that aren’t really indicative of our justice system. (For example, that thieves shot by homeowners got “justice”; that’s only true if you believe all thieves should be executed.)
In fact, I’d like to point out this passage from a Time article about protests around the time of her sentencing:
Riot police looked on as the protesters marched from the palace to Unity High School, where Gibbons had taught, and then on to the British embassy. But the demonstration was isolated, and most of Khartoum remained peaceful. Many Sudanese families spent the afternoon in the city’s small parks along the Nile River as usual.
Teachers at Unity High have stood by their colleague, noting that the first complaint came only last week despite the fact that parents had been aware of the class bear’s name since September.
Funny, I don’t remember seeing right-wingers mentioning any of this. Probably because it undermines their propaganda.
Well, conservatives are beating the drums of war, and this time it’s about that old conservative saw: the alleged liberal/ACLU “War on Christmas”. Of course, we all know it’s not a war on Christmas, but actually a war on unconstitutional government endorsement of religion, but conservatives don’t like to let facts get in the way of a good rant.
Here’s one fact, however, that’s hard to ignore: the ACLU threatened to sue a county government in Hawaii last year if they didn’t put a Christmas tree up.
County workers raised a festive tree at the Kalana O Maui Building Wednesday with just five days to go before Christmas, after receiving a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union warning that the existing holiday display of a Hanukkah menorah was unconstitutional. The letter threatened a federal lawsuit if the display was not corrected.
“That’s fine, to have the menorah up, but it needed to be part of a holiday display that was secular in nature,” said Deputy Corporation Counsel Traci Fujita-Villarosa. “We’re just adding to the holiday decorations.”
In its letter to the county sent Tuesday, the ACLU cited case law that found government displays of religious symbols on their own could be perceived as an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. But government displays that included secular holiday symbols, like Christmas trees, alongside religious symbols, did not endorse religion.
“The goal of the ACLU is not to ruin the celebration of Hanukkah or any other religious holiday, but rather to ensure that the government does not endorse the views of one religion to the exclusion of others,” wrote ACLU Legal Director Lois Perrin.
And the rabbi who originally asked for the menorah to go up? Well, unlike right-wingers who hyperventilate about the mythical “War on Christmas” every year, he wasn’t a pansy. In fact, he supported the ACLU.
Rabbi Sholom Schusterman, who runs the Maui Mitzvah Center, wasn’t fazed by the last-minute addition of the Christmas tree to the display, and supported the action “100 percent.”
“I think it’s wonderful,” he said.
How refreshing. A man of faith who isn’t so insecure that he must have the government validate his faith at the expense of all others.
Since I’m allegedly a pro-terrorist blogger, I suppose I should be the one to post about this here on Plunderbund. An open letter to Christians has been issued by a diverse collection of Muslims.
Scores of Muslim clerics, theologians and academics issued an open letter yesterday to all Christian leaders saying the two religions need to work more closely together, given that they share the basic principles of worshiping one God and loving thy neighbor.
In sweeping terms, the letter notes that 55 percent of the world’s population is either Christian or Muslim, “making the relationship between these two religious communities the most important factor in contributing to meaningful peace around the world.”
Probably the hardest factor to solve, too, given the widespread misconceptions about each other. If this can be accomplished, maybe respect for people of all faiths might be possible. I know; pipe dream.
The letter quotes the Koran and the Bible, particularly the New Testament, to illustrate how their basic principles mirror each other. It says the Prophet Muhammad’s stance was perhaps inspired by the Bible.
The letter notes that there are differences between the religions and that Islam teaches its faithful to resist those who attack them, but it concludes that the world’s two largest faiths should compete only “in righteousness and good works.”
Among the 138 signatories were senior theologians from around the world, including Sheik Ali Gomaa, the grand mufti of Egypt and hence the top Sunni Muslim figure there, as well as about a dozen other grand muftis. Ayatollah Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad, a Shiite Muslim from Iran, also signed.
No luck getting Saudi Arabian Wahhabi scholars to sign on, unsurprisingly.
Some analysts see the letter as being addressed as much to Muslims as Christians, although the chances of it influencing radicals is considered slim. Radicals often interpret “love thy neighbor” as help thy neighbor find Islam, said Prof. Muqtedar Khan, director of Islamic Studies at the University of Delaware.
In addition, politics, not theology, shape anti-Western attitudes among Muslims, Professor Khan said. “They have a problem with the occupation of Iraq, with the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians; it’s not about Christianity.”
Ooo, this contradicts right-wing dogma here in the states. Despite the fact that you’ve frequently denounced terrorism, Khan, this statement combined with your essay explaining why Hamas getting involved in the political process may actually be a good thing is sure to get you labeled as an Islamofascist. Sorry.
An atheist State Sentator – in Nebraska – is suing God. Presented in it’s entirety, mostly because I can’t figure out what to cut out. (Not only is this guy an atheist, but he doesn’t belong to a political party, and has been in office longer than I’ve been alive – and I was born in the mid 70s. He’s definitely a “wild hair”.)
OMAHA, Neb — State Sen. Ernie Chambers is suing God. He said on Monday that it is to prove a point about frivolous lawsuits.
Chambers said senators periodically have offered bills prohibiting the filing of certain types of suits. He said his main objection is that the constitution requires that the doors to the courthouse be open to all.
“Thus anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody — even God,” Chambers said.
Chambers said he decided to file this lawsuit after a suit was filed in early September in federal court against Lancaster County Judge Jeffre Cheuvront. He’s the judge who was hearing a sexual assault case, where the woman wants to use the words rape and victim during her testimony.
Chambers lawsuit, which was filed on Friday in Douglas County Court, seeks a permanent injunction ordering God to cease certain harmful activities and the making of terroristic threats.
The lawsuit admits God goes by all sorts of alias, names, titles and designations and it also recognizes the fact that the defendant is omnipresent.
In the lawsuit, Chambers said he’s tried to contact God numerous times.
“Plaintiff, despite reasonable efforts to effectuate personal service upon defendant (‘Come out, come out, wherever you are,’ has been unable to do so,’” Chambers said.
The suit also requests that the court, given the peculiar circumstances of this case, waive personal service. It said that being omniscient, the plaintiff assumes God will have actual knowledge of the action.
The lawsuit accuses God “of making and continuing to make terroristic threats of grave harm to innumerable persons, including constituents of Plaintiff who Plaintiff has the duty to represent.” It says God has caused, “fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes, pestilential plagues, ferocious famines, devastating droughts, genocidal wars, birth defects and the like.”
The suit also says God has caused, “calamitous catastrophes resulting in the wide-spread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth’s inhabitants including innocent babes, infants, children, the aged and infirm without mercy or distinction.”
Chambers also says God “has manifested neither compassion nor remorse, proclaiming that defendant will laugh” when calamity comes.
Chambers asks for the court to grant him a summary judgment. He says as an alternative, he wants the judge to set a date for a hearing as expeditiously as possible and enter a permanent injunction enjoining God from engaging in the types of deleterious actions and the making of terroristic threats described in the lawsuit.
Now, I’m not so sure that Chambers’ suit accomplishes his goal – in fact, I’m not sure what his goal is. But damn if it don’t make me laugh.
Well, anything that impugns on the separation of church and state infringes on freedom of religion, so it’s not exactly like this is a new thing for these guys. But this is pretty blatant. Prisons Purging Books on Faith From Libraries:
Behind the walls of federal prisons nationwide, chaplains have been quietly carrying out a systematic purge of religious books and materials that were once available to prisoners in chapel libraries.
The chaplains were directed by the Bureau of Prisons to clear the shelves of any books, tapes, CDs and videos that are not on a list of approved resources. In some prisons, the chaplains have recently dismantled libraries that had thousands of texts collected over decades, bought by the prisons, or donated by churches and religious groups.
So why the purge of religious texts? Pearl-clutching about “islamofascists”, of course. Funny, I can’t remember a single one of these guys being cultivated in the American prison system.
Traci Billingsley, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons, said the agency was acting in response to a 2004 report by the Office of the Inspector General in the Justice Department. The report recommended steps that prisons should take, in light of the Sept. 11 attacks, to avoid becoming recruiting grounds for militant Islamic and other religious groups. The bureau, an agency of the Justice Department, defended its effort, which it calls the Standardized Chapel Library Project, as a way of barring access to materials that could, in its words, “discriminate, disparage, advocate violence or radicalize.”
Ms. Billingsley said, “We really wanted consistently available information for all religious groups to assure reliable teachings as determined by reliable subject experts.”
But prison chaplains, and groups that minister to prisoners, say that an administration that put stock in religion-based approaches to social problems has effectively blocked prisoners’ access to religious and spiritual materials — all in the name of preventing terrorism.
“It’s swatting a fly with a sledgehammer,” said Mark Earley, president of Prison Fellowship, a Christian group. “There’s no need to get rid of literally hundreds of thousands of books that are fine simply because you have a problem with an isolated book or piece of literature that presents extremism.”
Unsurprisingly, limiting the list to 150 books for each religion means that even “acceptable” Western Christianity is being restricted.
Timothy Larsen, who holds the Carolyn and Fred McManis Chair of Christian Thought at Wheaton College, an evangelical school, looked over lists for “Other Christian” and “General Spirituality.”
“There are some well-chosen things in here,” Professor Larsen said. “I’m particularly glad that Dietrich Bonhoeffer is there. If I was in prison I would want to read Dietrich Bonhoeffer.” But he continued, “There’s a lot about it that’s weird.” The lists “show a bias toward evangelical popularism and Calvinism,” he said, and lacked materials from early church fathers, liberal theologians and major Protestant denominations.
The Rev. Richard P. McBrien, professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame (who edited “The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism,” which did make the list), said the Catholic list had some glaring omissions, few spiritual classics and many authors he had never heard of.
“I would be completely sympathetic with Catholic chaplains in federal prisons if they’re complaining that this list is inhibiting,” he said, “because I know they have useful books that are not on this list.”
Wow. Who ever would have thought that this government would suppress liberal Christianity and attempt to forcibly spread conservative evangelical Christianity. I suspect the Calvinism favored is of the Christian Reconstructionism variety.
Perhaps the best summary comes from a UofM law prof.
“Government does have a legitimate interest to screen out things that tend to incite violence in prisons,” Mr. Laycock said. “But once they say, ‘We’re going to pick 150 good books for your religion, and that’s all you get,’ the criteria has become more than just inciting violence. They’re picking out what is accessible religious teaching for prisoners, and the government can’t do that without a compelling justification.”
I just finished watching the CNN special on God’s Warriors this morning, and I found it fair and interesting. If you missed it this past week, you can catch it tonight and tomorrow at 9PM (two parts). I recommend it.
Last night, CNN debuted part one of “God’s Warriors”, a three-part series looking at people of the three Mosaic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) who feel they are God’s Warriors. Last night was Judaism, tonight (9PM) Islam, and tomorrow (also 9PM) Christianity.
Here’s an example of the “God Warrior” concept found on GodTube.
The long, hard slog
by Brian on March 18, 2008 · Comments
Eric wrote this earlier today in reaction to Obama’s speech about race.
I’m tired too. Tired of Democrats trying to slyly blow the old racist Southern Strategy dogwhistles in a way that would have made George Wallace proud. Tired of right wing attacks perpetrated on fear and loathing – and tired of some Democrats co-opting that message. I’m tired of the right-wing blogosphere manufacturing lies out of whole cloth, even while staring evidence against those claims square in the face. I’m tired of being called a “cultist” because I prefer one candidate’s message and policy positions over another’s. I’m tired of people taking a statement of clear facts (Clinton’s support from racist voters was greater than her margin of victory in Ohio) and turning it into the fabrication “all Clinton supporters are racist.”
I’m tired of responding to attacks intended to leverage racism being called “playing the race card”. I’m tired of encouraging the poor and downtrodden to stand up for themselves in the face of massive exploitation being called “fomenting a class war”. I’m tired of assholes and jerks who will say anything in order to protect their privilege, or the privilege of others.
I’m tired of people ignoring plain facts in favor of discredited and disproven dogmatic ideology.
I’m tired. Worn down. Like an old millstone.
And then Obama steps up, and gives a speech that reminds me of the stakes. That reminds me that the struggle to fight thru the fatigue is worth it. We can overcome. We shall overcome.
So while we still live in a world scarred by racism and sexism, homophobia and islamophobia, where the evisceration of worker’s rights is called a “right to work” and it’s your fault your job was outsourced to another country and you are on public assistance, we can, and will build a better, stronger America. I’ll get on that rope and pull; but I can’t do it alone. It will take people of all faiths – and no faith. It will take people of all colors, sexes, genders, and orientations. It will take people of differing beliefs but common purpose; perhaps even with different concepts of how to achieve the goals of equality. It will take Obama supporters, Clinton supporters, and heck – even McCain supporters.
So what say you? Do you embrace hate and divisiveness? Or do you embrace hope for equality? As we’ve seen, nearly 50 years after the civil rights movement, and nearly 150 after the Civil War, we still have a long ways to go towards a world where race really doesn’t matter, and you are judged purely by the content of your character. But we can take an important step right now; not by electing Barack Obama, but by refusing to leverage his race against him (or Clinton’s gender against her), and refusing to stand silently by when others do the same. For while I strongly feel that Obama is the best candidate for the Presidency, I will not begrudge him losing a fair election decided on the merits of the positions of the candidates involved. That is democracy. What is going on now is not democracy – it’s crass fear mongering. We like to claim we are the world leader in freedom and democracy. Now it’s time to back up that talk with some action.
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