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REQUIEM

Below are the two final essays to be posted on Allegiance and Duty Betrayed. The first one is written by a friend -- screen name 'Euro-American Scum' -- who, over the past four years, has been the most faithful essayist here. He has written about everything from his pilgrimage to Normandy in 2004 to take part in the 60th–year commemoration of the invasion, to his memories of his tour in Vietnam. His dedication to America’s founding principles ... and those who have sacrificed to preserve them over the past 200+ years ... is unequaled. Thank you, E-A-S. It has been a privilege to include your writing here, and it is a privilege to call you my friend.

The second essay is my own farewell. And with it I thank all of the many regular visitors, and those who may have only dropped in occasionally, for coming here. I hope you learned something. I hope a seed or two was planted. But, even if not, I thank you for stopping by ... 25 March, 2010

3/15/2008

Believe Him at Your Peril

Obama-Wright.jpg

Early on in this interminable campaign, I was fervently hoping that Barack Obama would somehow manage to gain momentum and overtake Hillary Clinton (who made no bones about the fact that she figured she could simply waltz into Denver in August, the pre-ordained nominee – arrogance having never been a short suit of hers. She figured God himself wouldn’t dare deny her.)

When Obama began to win a few primaries and caucuses, I was thrilled to think that Her Highness might receive a comeuppance of sorts. But when Obama delivered his forty-five-minute victory speech last month after the Wisconsin primary, much to the chagrin of his handlers, he made public much of his ideology that the media, until then, had been successful in keeping under wraps.

It was after that speech that, for the first time ever, I began to think that Hillary Clinton looked good, relatively speaking.

As evidenced by that Wisconsin victory speech, and everything I have managed to dig up since, regarding his political ideology, Senator Obama is an avowed socialist – even crossing over the line into communist doctrine. Much of what he proposed in his Wisconsin victory speech might well have been lifted straight out of the teachings of Saul Alinsky or Karl Marx.

Yet that painful revelation proved to be just the tip of a monstrous iceberg. Now we are learning that Senator Obama also closely associates himself with virulent hate-America/black power crowds. They are among his circle of friends and advisors – people who despise the foundations upon which this republic was founded, who blame America for many of the ills of the world, who believe that many of the tragedies that have befallen our citizens (9/11 most prominent among them) were somehow ‘deserved’ because we are rapists and plunderers who prey upon the less fortunate of the world, and who believe that the time has come for black people to wrest power from the evil white man in order to mold America into a black-oriented culture.

I heard today that Obama now conveniently ‘deplores the divisive statements’ made by Rev. Wright – that he has not left Trinity Church because he knew that Rev. Wright would soon be retiring, and he simply wanted to tread water there until someone new took over.

The most hate-filled of Rev. Wright’s sermons that I have heard took place back in 2003. Senator Obama was a member in good standing during that particular toxic, hate-America tirade. Was it then – five years ago – that he decided to spend the next five years ‘treading water’ and listening to such anti-American garbage?

One of two things is true:

(1) Senator Obama is a pathological liar, who authors ‘situational’ explanations that bear no resemblance to the truth.

(2) He is an indecisive man, who refuses to tackle glaring problems, and prefers instead to assume the position of ‘spectator’, hoping the problem will simply go away.

I'm betting the farm on (1). But no matter which of the two is true, a man who practices either isn’t fit to be the leader of a Boy Scout troop, let alone rise to the position of leader of the free world.

These next eight months are going to be very critical in determining the survival of our republic. I pray every day that the American voter does his homework for a change, because walking into the voting booth and voting for a man who despises the real America -- the one envisioned by our Founders – will surely portend the tragic end of that magnificent vision.

~ joanie

40 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wonder if Oprah knew all this when she endorsed him.

Anonymous said...

We live in frightening times.

Anonymous said...

daveburkett: Good question about Oprah.

She probably didn't, but I'll bet Hillary has known about this for a long time.

Luis said...

A scary prospect.

I hope for the good of America (and indeed the wider world) that the American voters do their home work this time, as you say.

If not, it may prove the ancient Greek proverb:

"Those whom the Gods seek to destroy, they first make mad".

Anonymous said...

If this monster wins the Presidency, it will be because the voters hate America also, or else they haven't "done their homework" as you said. Either way, we'll get what we deserve.

Anonymous said...

This man wouldn't have stood a snowball's chance in hell when the voters cared about knowing what the candidates stood for, and when the media cared about telling them. But you have to go a long way back to remember those days.

Anonymous said...

BELIEVE HIM AT YOUR PERIL.

That says it all.

Anonymous said...

Well said.

Anonymous said...

He frightens me, and his wife frightens me even more. Their elitism is obvious, even though they try to hide it. They make the Clintons look good. I hear that he is most popular among college students, and that just goes to show what's going on (or isn't going on) on college campuses these days. I figure these students are either naive or well indoctrinated by leftist teaching.

Anonymous said...

Sort of an aside and news update:

ShadowStats.com has a new feature, "Indicators:"

http://www.shadowstats.com/economic_indicators

Also, their traditional "Alternate Data" page:

http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data

For updates on news and the general debate over the status of the economy and Wall Street (and money and banking), this may interest:

http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/

* * *

First_Salute
March 15, 2008

Anonymous said...

John Cooper said, "I'll bet Hillary has known about this for a long time."

You can count on it. Sean Hannity and others have been trying to get this story out for a year. Now is the perfect time for it to hit the headlines so you can bet that "friends of Hillary" in the media have timed this just right so that Obama's momentum ends in Pennsylvania. If Hillary wins big there it's over for him.

Anonymous said...

"...the American voter does his homework for a change..."

If you really believe that, then you got into the wacky-weed or I have a bridge to sell you.

Anonymous said...

robmaroni: Come to find out, Investors Business Daily ran an editorial called Obama's Real Faith back in January, 2007! I'm a subscriber, but I must have missed that one.

They've published the sequel today: Obama's Jeremiad

Anonymous said...

Attacks on his Church Trouble Obama

Talk about a fluff piece. But then what are we to expect of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Anonymous said...

From the Investors Business Daily Article Cooper linked:

That Obama's preacher would sound like Farrakhan is no coincidence. The two are old pals. In the '80s they traveled to Libya together to pay homage to terrorist Muammar Qaddafi. Last November, Wright honored Farrakhan with a "lifetime achievement" award and featured him on the cover of his church magazine, Trumpet.

Obama has never directly repudiated his pastor's praise for Farrakhan: "I assume that Trumpet magazine made its own decision to honor Farrakhan based on his efforts to rehabilitate ex-offenders."

This is disingenuous by half. The magazine is produced by Wright's church and published by his daughters. Second, the article never mentions Farrakhan's work with ex-cons.

Obama's campaign also issued a lukewarm denunciation of Wright's leaked sermons, saying only that "there are things he says with which Sen. Obama deeply disagrees." Like what? We don't know. Has he ever walked out of a sermon in disgust? We don't know. But we need to know, and voters deserve to know. Now.


Amen.

Anonymous said...

He's the worst snake oil salesman to run for president in our entire history and the snake oil he's selling is deadly.

Anonymous said...

From Accuracy in Media: Obama's Communist Mentor:

Well worth reading.

Excerpt:

Trevor Loudon, the New Zealand-based blogger who has been analyzing the political forces behind Obama and specializes in studying the impact of Marxist and leftist political organizations, notes that Frank Chapman, a CPUSA supporter, has written a letter to the party newspaper hailing the Illinois senator's victory in the Iowa caucuses.

"Obama's victory was more than a progressive move; it was a dialectical leap ushering in a qualitatively new era of struggle," Chapman wrote. "Marx once compared revolutionary struggle with the work of the mole, who sometimes burrows so far beneath the ground that he leaves no trace of his movement on the surface. This is the old revolutionary ‘mole,' not only showing his traces on the surface but also breaking through."

Anonymous said...

Max, the AIM article is excellent. Thanks for the link, I forwarded it to many people.

Anonymous said...

Will you people crawl back under your rock. There's always a communist behind every bush and the sky is always falling. HAHAHAHAHAH!

Anonymous said...

Here's a typical example of what his supporters write to explain away your facts in the article above. The trouble is his glibness is very effective with the uninformed electorate so his kind is very dangerous:

The Dark Side of Obama

"He's no saint, but he's the most intriguing candidate at the moment."

(Character doesn't matter. Charisma does.)

God help us.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said: Will you people crawl back under your rock. There's always a communist behind every bush and the sky is always falling. HAHAHAHAHAH!

It's too bad your ignorance, and the ignorance of millions like you, may cost the rest of us our freedoms.

Anonymous said...

Obama started unravelling when his stupid wife opened her big mouth.

Fun to watch.

Anonymous said...

Obama's wife is anything but stupid. She's a cunning, holier-than-thou left-wing megalomaniac.

Anonymous said...

Off-Topic: Joanie, have you seen what gold is going tonight?????? Jeez!

joanie said...

Thanks, all, for the excellent comments. The links, especially, are eye-openers. And, despite the fact that the readers here are well-informed and aware of this man's horrifying 'credentials', I have to agree that, if the American voting public is foolish enough to nominate and elect him, we do indeed deserve what we get.

joanie said...

Luis, your Greek proverb is very apropos. Thanks, as always, for stopping by and adding your always insightful comments.

joanie said...

Dave, yes I've seen what gold is doing tonight. And I noticed that the Fed (a pox on their houses) has cut the discount rate by .25% on a Sunday night.

The desperation is becoming palpable, and, in the long run, these sleight-of-hand monetary policies will simply intensify the problem.

We are headed for economic times that are going to make the Great Depression seem like a walk in the park.

While I feel very fortunate to have invested heavily in gold over the last decade, it's hard to know how to continue to prepare for the coming storm. I am heavily invested in other commodities as well (natural resources, metals, agriculture), but there's not a whole lot else to do but pray that the eventual landing isn't 'fatal' to too many people.

Very dark days are ahead, I'm afraid, thanks to our leaders' greed, power-hunger, short-sightedness, and unwillingness to genuinely think of 'the children'.

~ joanie

Anonymous said...

Joanie, do you know about Jim Rogers' philosophy? You sound like one of his followers.

Anonymous said...

Obama's Pastor Disaster

Mark Steyn at his best.

Anonymous said...

Joanie,

I'm surprised the stock market hasn't plunged even more than it has this morning. I think too many investors are still swallowing the "everything's gonna be alright" swill that's being dished out. I wish I could. I'd sleep better at night.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this.

Anonymous said...

Joanie,

Did you hear Jim Cramer's advice on Bear Sterns last week (that they had no liquidity problem) and then backtracking today (he hadn't really understood the question). Talk about snake oil salesmen!

joanie said...

A little while ago I was in the back of the house folding laundry. I had left the television on (I watch FoxNews for about a half hour in the afternoon). In the distance I heard someone (a member of the administration or the Fed?) giving a mini-speech, assuring us all that the economy is robust and that the Fed has just ridden in on a white horse and saved the day. He was followed by some kind of analyst who talked about 'our own Fed versus the rumor mongers'.

When I was finished with the laundry, I came into the computer room to check on the market. In the short time it took me to fold two loads, and the spinners to tell their lies, the Dow had gone from triple-digit negative to positive.

I wonder how these people can sleep at night. Better yet, I wonder how those who believe them can manage to put one foot in front of the other, and breathe in and out, without explicit instructions from an 'expert'.

~ rumor monger

Similar 'expert' opinions (compiled by FR's Travis McGee):

"Derivatives have permitted financial risks to be unbundled in ways that have facilitated both their measurement and their management…. As a result, not only have individual financial institutions become less vulnerable to shocks from underlying risk factors, but also the financial system as a whole has become more resilient.”~~Alan Greenspan, May 2003

"American consumers might benefit if lenders provided greater mortgage product alternatives to the traditional fixed-rate mortgage."~~Alan Greenspan, February 22, 2004

“The use of a growing array of derivatives and the related application of more-sophisticated approaches to measuring and managing risk are key factors underpinning the greater resilience of our largest financial institutions.”~~Alan Greenspan, May 2005

"We're not about to go into a situation where (real estate) prices will go down. There is no evidence home prices are going to collapse."~~Alan Greenspan, May 21, 2006

“The damage from the subprime market has been largely contained. Fortunately, the financial system and the economy are strong enough to weather this storm.”~~Richard Fisher, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President, Apr 4, 2007

"All that said, given the fundamental factors in place that should support the demand for housing, we believe the effect of the troubles in the subprime sector on the broader housing market will likely be limited, and we do not expect significant spillovers from the subprime market to the rest of the economy or to the financial system."~~Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, May 17, 2007

"I don't think we're headed into a recession. But there's no question we're in a slow down and that's why we acted with over $150 billion worth of pro-growth economic incentives, mainly money going into the hands of our consumers... The purpose is to encourage our consumers - to give 'em money - to help deal with the adverse effect of the decline in housing values.~~President George W. Bush, Feb 28, 2008

"There is absolutely no truth to the rumors of liquidity problems that circulated today in the market. Bear Stearns' balance sheet, liquidity and capital remain strong," ~~Alan Schwartz, Bear Stearns CEO, March 10, 2008

Anonymous said...

Those quotes show that Greenspan, Fisher, Bernanke, Bush and Schwartz are no better than Jim Cramer. Like someone else here said, they're no better than snake oil salesmen. And when people's life savings and retirement savings are at stake, such lies should be grounds for prosecution.

Anonymous said...

Is anyone taking bets on which reaches 3,000 first -- the Dow or gold? I think it's going to be a close race. ;)

Anonymous said...

Another good piece Joanie. I've already made a copy for our mutual friend.

I must say that you certainly have a lot of very smart people here if one judges by the posted comments. Lots and lots of very insightful stuff.

I'm as frightened as any of you about the economy but I'll leave that for those much better with numbers than I am.

As to the election, I'm actually slightly encouraged by the recent happenings to Obama's campaign. As much as I dislike the prospect of John McCain behind the Resolute desk, it looks more and more as though that will be the case and at least our slide will be somewhat slower than if Hillary or Obama were in that chair.

joanie said...

Thanks, Barry.

I agree with all of your observations, and appreciate your making a copy for B. (I generally mail him copies of those columns that I think might interest him, so you've saved me .41). :)

Happy to see you posting your valuable insights here once again.

~ joanie

Anonymous said...

Thomas Sowell, writing about Obama:

His personal character matters, just as Eliot Spitzer's personal character matters--and just as Hillary Clinton's character would matter if she had any.

Anonymous said...

Joanie, you need to have a new section along with your "quote of the week" and "photo of the week." You need to have "lie of the week" and I nominate this as the first entry:

The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation. When these statements first came to my attention, it was at the beginning of my presidential campaign. I made it clear at the time that I strongly condemned his comments. But because Rev. Wright was on the verge of retirement, and because of my strong links to the Trinity faith community, where I married my wife and where my daughters were baptized, I did not think it appropriate to leave the church. - - Barack Obama 03-14-08

Anonymous said...

Obama Visits Billionaires Row, a great photo essay by Zombie.