Thanks for the link katy.

Fred,

I don’t know what got me banned, but it wasn’t profanity, insults or threats.

I just assume that because most of my comments disagreed with the prevailing sentiment, that I probably got flagged for abuse quite a bit.

hellinabucket.

I’m going to look at the Obama link. I’ve got to go for a walk with the kids, but I give an honest assessment if I think it goes far enough.

I don’t know, is Wright still on the Obama campaign staff?

Like most everybody here, I love the country. I also love the flag and what it represents, while I respect the nationalism of those non-Americans here.

I was a little embarrassed, but my wife told my mother-in-law that I tear up at the national anthem and at flag events. (I’m glad I was by myself, when I visited Arlington).

My mother-in-law spends alot of time at garage sales and found a flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol (coincidentally, on my birthday, but four year before) for the Memorial Day Association of Minneapolis, courtesy of Senator Hurbert Humphrey. She gave it to me, because she thought I might like it.

It is my favorite material possession.

I agree you can’t make the flag stronger by banning the burning of it. It’s actually comforting to know the ideals it represents are so strong, burning it won’t diminish it.

He’s clarified his position. Go find it and read it backup. you can do it.

There are many policy decisions made by rich white folks that do just that…..repress black neighborhoods.

I think that as blacks and latino’s become a larger and larger part of the decision making comunity that this will eventually change but I also believe that rich, white folks will fight that for as long as they can….just as they did in South Africa.

Here’s the thing about Pastor Wright.

He’s probably a great guy. But, if Barack wants to be the President of all Americans, he needs to show leadership and set the tone.

I’m not sure if I can convince you, but let me make a sincere effort.

Some examples: (I disagee with all these examples):

Black people are repressed by rich, white people.

We have so much crime in this country because of poor black
people.

Welfare payments have skyrocketed because of unwed teenage
black mothers.

I can’t get a job, because of all the illegal mexican people.

All these examples sound racist and divisive to me. The first of the examples is what Pastor Wright is saying.

I respect Pastor Wright’s right to express his opinion. Barack Obama needs to decide where he wants to take the country. If he’s apathetic about Wright’s comments, considering the relationship – it can be viewed as an endorsement. It’s the reason Ferrero was dropped from the Clinton campaign. Barrack is smart enough to provide the distance between him and Wright. The sooner he does it, the more it will look like his idea, and the more Presidential he’ll look.

……………………………………………..
I have to admit that I came to this blog with a lot of anger and foolishly lashed out at a lot of people in the beginning. I have had to let it go as it was eating me alive.

There are it turns out, several of you here who have what I can only call twisted or arcane views of events but are here for the diversity of ideas and discussion. Southern Man seems to fall into that catagory too.

What exactly got you banned as CaptainMantastic?

On My Faith and My Church
Posted March 14, 2008 | 04:28 PM (EST)

The pastor of my church, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who recently preached his last sermon and is in the process of retiring, has touched off a firestorm over the last few days. He’s drawn attention as the result of some inflammatory and appalling remarks he made about our country, our politics, and my political opponents.

Let me say at the outset that I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy. I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it’s on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue.
[...]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barack-obama/on-my-faith-and-my-church_b_91623.html
.

you MUST read the whole thing… it’s very short… to the point…
and satisfying to any thinking person.

STAY COOL, BARACK.

I agree about the flag burning…..it is sad when people feel so strongy that their country is betraying their values that they are compelled to make such an emotional statement….it does get everyone’s attention.

What exactly is it about Pastor Wright’s comments that you find so divisive? Detail it for me please.

But, here is a link to the thread where we agreed that flag burning was important. (post 124 Republic of Stupidty references my deleted post).

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/01/31/hume-laughs-at-idea-of-americans-being-beheaded/

And, for fun, scroll down to 137 where you eventually admit that I am reasonable.

It’s like a stroll down sweet memory lane.

John Kennedy said that a rising tide floats all boats. He said that in response to white men complaining about efforts to help blacks in America. His point is a valid one today. If we help the lowest of our citizens, it raises all of our living standards……

Fred, I agree with Kennedy, but I think you’re mistaken about why he said it. I believe he was responding to criticisms that his tax cuts would only benefit the wealthy. It a common republican refrain today. Check it out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_rising_tide_lifts_all_boats

Also, it sounds like you’ve forgotten the conversation, but a while back, we both agreed that flag burning is an important element of free speech. It makes me sad when someone burns a flag, but it is essential for those that disagree with American policy to be able to communicate it.

I disagree with your apathy for Pastor Wright’s divisive comments.

I believe that Obama will feel compelled to address them, more forcefully, fairly soon. If he doesn’t, I believe it will have a have a serious negative impact on his campaign. It will be interesting to see how Obama handles the situation.

Well, not me Captain. The two issues are completely different.

Hagee is preaching hatred of homsexuals….period.

Wright is railing against real, documented oppression. See civil rights, slavery, etc. See “Why did Americans see affirmative action as necessary?” Also Wright is railing against greed and oppression of all empovershed classes….not just black. Just because he points to the rich white people who have been responsible for it does not make it a racist statement….just a statement about racists as it should be clear to all that the blacks have suffered more than the other races in this country.

John Kennedy said that a rising tide floats all boats. He said that in response to white men complaining about efforts to help blacks in America. His point is a valid one today. If we help the lowest of our citizens, it raises all of our living standards……nes pas?

Just because we passed civil rights laws and had a short war on poverty does not mean that these problems have gone away. In fact they are more prevelant now than they were 10 years ago……you know I am going to say that the reason is the policy decisions of this republcan administration…..and that would be correct.

You get upset when people burn the flag….so

you may not see the difference but most rational people do.

This was not just some pastor that endorsed Obama. He is the pastor of the church that Obama attended for 20 years. He married Obama and his wife Michelle. His kids were baptized by this pastor.

I’m no fan of Ferraro, but when she implied that Obama is in the position he is in because he’s black, she was refudiated and cut from the Clinton campaign staff.

If you answer this charge by saying “Why should Obama have to separate himself from Wright, when McCain hasn’t distanced himself from Hagee” or try to shift attention somehow to the Bush administration and undercover agents; isn’t that politics as usual? Isn’t Barrack promising change. Is tit-for-tat leadership, or is it simply more of the same. The same that Obama has convinced us he’s going to change.

Pastor Wright suggests that one of the problems with the country, is that he believes it is run by rich, white people. Not a problem because of rich people, but because of rich ‘white’ people. It is plain and simple, a racist view.

I don’t believe these are Obama’s sentiments. I think Obama’s a good guy. But, the answer is simple. Obama needs to strongly repudiate the racist and anti-American comments Wright preaches. If he is the leader he wants us to believe he is, he has to do the hard work and make us understand that Pastor Wright’s comments are unacceptable. And Pastor Wright must be taken off Obama’s campaign staff (I believe he’s still on it.)

When TP asked if McCain should repudiate Hagee’s comment, I didn’t cheerlead for McCain or try to change the subject. I came out again Hagee’s homophobia and McCain’s association.

If Obama wants my vote, he needs to be more than the same old, same old.

Which progressives here will agree with me?

The sentiment you see in the clip; is that the sort of thing you think will bring this country closer together. (regardless of our past record on race relations)?

Would you suggest that we follow your lead in bringing our country closer together……I submit that is you and your mentality that has caused the situation of which this whole incident in merely indicitive. In other words you caused it, now you want us to listen to you as to how to fix it……seriously…..

Is that the case?

Captain, you can try to paint this any way you want….my question to you would be…

If you are so outraged about this and consider it un-American then why are you not at least as outraged by the un-American activities of the current aministration……outing a an undercover agent comes to mind…

Well, it’s actually over 3 minutes. Maybe you got the wrong clip. Here’s the 3 minute snippet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAYe7MT5BxM