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Ear to the Ground

Rev. Wright Can’t Catch a Break

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Posted on Mar 26, 2008
Rev. Wright
thepage.time.com

Lost in the discussion of the Rev. Wright controversy and its impact on the Obama campaign is the fallout for the minister himself. Wright’s first public events since his sermons went YouTube, a revival in Tampa and a series of sermons in Houston, have been canceled. A third event, where he is supposed to be honored, has been downgraded to “pending.”

Time / The Page:

Was scheduled to preach three guest sermons at Houston’s Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, where he’s a regular.

Canceled citing security concerns for himself, his family and the church due to flap over controversial statements.

Plus: Dallas Morning News says Saturday events where he is to speak and be honored by Texas Christian University are “pending.”

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By Fuck OFF, April 29 at 12:11 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Wright BLOWS

Wright can go to hell, and his supporters can FOLLOW HIM.

And to you fucking marxists on this board, the day IS coming....

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By jackie, March 28 at 7:13 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Thanks for posting the FULL text so we have an alternative to the propaganda by the media.

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By Rodney, March 27 at 2:09 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Reverend Wright

Reverend Wright is a loving christian man who loves America but disagrees with American policies. We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal was written by slave owners. America hates to hear the truth about itself. We bomb and kill in the name of democracy, when we really bomb for imperealism and capitalism. We sell weapons to Dictators who conform,and kill and overthrow the ones who don’t. Our military occupies 150 countries,upholding regimes at the barrel of a gun. Then if there is no oil or money to be made, we look the other way like we did in Rawanda,Sudan.the Congo,Haiti,and all the other non white Countries. Saddam was our buddy as long as he was fighting Iran,who was our buddy when we put the Shah in power. Kadafi was our enemy until we needed his oil. Israel has done nothing for America except influence our politics to America’s detriment. All while draining billions upon billions of taxpayers dollars so Bush and the others before him can control the world. It’s all about to come to a end. Unless we change our ways, our economy will collaspe from our greed and imperealistic ways the same as the former USSR. Reverend Wright is trying to warn us before that day comes.

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By WriterOnTheStorm, March 27 at 10:41 am #
(74 comments total)

Interesting comment Maani, although it would be more correct to say that this is not a Christian idea as much as a jewish one. In fact, many early jewish communities, especially the messiah sects who contributed to the myth of the christ figure, lived by strict communal (communist) rules. These rules were often so stringent, that members could not live in major population centers, but had to establish their communities is isolated areas. In these isolated areas, survival depended on the contributions of each and every member of the community. It was simply evolution at work on a social scale.

The particular passage that you cite, I suspect has more to do with establishing a precedent for tithing within the christian following. As for Marx ‘stealing’ this idea, I would say he no more stole it from the christians, than did the christians from the jews. Ideas can evolve as well as anything else. Marx may have believed that this idea could apply to much larger groups than the Essenes were. In that regard he was probably wrong.

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By kay, March 27 at 8:23 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Rev Wright should be honored for his years serving the Lord. Shame be to those who demonize the reverends words by parsing his meaning to their sick political advantage. Those who demonize the truth are a curse sent to us by the Lord, for allowing the Lords words to be twisted and perverted by the religious right.
Rev Wright stepped up to the plate to defend all humanity and his words should not be twisted by those with a twisted mind. God damn America"for treating citizens less than human” those were his words and they are correct and truthful. Truth is a rare subject these past 7yrs, for it has been manipulated, bent, and twisted to suit the religious right and their enablers. When you look at this bunch of lip service christians and their sanctimonious piety it make one wonder what bible they read from.
I wish Obama would mention the words “for treating American citizens less than human” every time some jerk off says God damn America. Treating citizens less than human is exactly what happen in New Orleans. Had this been a neighborhood of the prominent elite they would have been remove long before the levee broke. This was an indefenssible act on the Bush admin. but they have a way of ignoring pleas for help from those they consider less than themselves. Here in America and abroad. But our limp dick media refuse to stand up for truth and lets this Administration go on with their facist tatics against humanity.
I salute you Rev Wright for yopu courage to say what needed to be said. I will also vote for a man whom i feel shows courage and faith in the midist of racism and hatred. He refuses to roll around in the gutter like others. He faces the issues head on and doesn’t hide or run from them, how refreshing. I believe Obama is a man of light not darkness, truth not lies, healing not division, integrity not stupidity, vision not delusion, humbleness not arrogance, eloquence not perverseness.
So face it it folks, the lord has damned us by allowing the spawns of the devil to inhabit earth at this time. By the way im an old white woman who deeply admires Obama and the enlightenment he brings to so many for hope and change.

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By Greg Bacon, March 27 at 8:20 am #
(114 comments total)

“Has Jeremiah Wright somehow forgotten the hundreds of thousands of Union soldiers who gave their lives to free the slaves? “

The slaves weren’t freed by the Emancipation Proclamation until 1863. The war began in 1861. And the only slaves freed were the ones from the South, not the North.

The ones “freed” were then urged to take up arms against the South to help the faltering Armies of the North.

The Civil war was fought to keep the southern states from bolting the union, not to free the slaves.

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By Sharon Ash, March 27 at 6:37 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

www.n2peaceandjoy.com

Well, Mr. Wright, it appears that your ‘God damn chickens have come home to roost’.  How do you like it now?  More fun when you could crow your hate and division from the pulpit?  You make the KKK and Bob Jones University proud.  Remember, hate and division are still hate and division whether it is spewed from a white, black, brown, red or yellow mouth.

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By Conservative Yankee, March 27 at 5:58 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

“hundreds of thousands of Union soldiers who gave their lives to free the slaves”

Time for a history lesson.

Despite what your public-school education imparted, the “Union Soldiers” gave their lives to keep southern cotton flowing to Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire, and out of British Mills. Many of these “Union Soldiers” were from shipping families who were decimated economically when the slave trade ended. The ships which began the slave trade sailed from Boston, New York, and Portsmouth.  The North was sort-of-like the drug dealer who doesn’t use.... BUT profits from the addiction.

Lincoln did not free all the slaves. That fate` was not accomplished until ratification of the 13th amendment. Lincoln punished the South and threatened the non-rebellious slave states by using the power of presidential proclamation to free slaves in any state which participated in “rebellion.” (1863) Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, and New Jersey; kept their pro-slave laws until passage of the 13th amendment in February of 1865. Lincoln was opposed to giving the right to vote, or full citizenship to entities he considered “far inferior” to white folks.

During the Northern War of Aggression (as it is still named in the South) The citizens of New York City rioted and lynched and stoned black folks living there because (in the opinion of New Yorkers of the time) if there were no blacks, there would be no economic upheaval. 

The era of the “Civil” War is the most lied about period in our history....

Dismounting from high horses is difficult… we Northerners have been unable to complete the task in over 100 years.

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By cwhipps, March 26 at 11:43 pm #
(43 comments total)

This is all so sad, (or perhaps comical) when you hear his complete sermon, and especially his comments “God damn America” in context.

It’s sad when you consider that, all the man was saying is “thou shall have no other God before God”.

It’s the first of the “Ten Commandments”. He said it in a Christian Church. (He’s a Christian minister, for Christ’s sake)

Or… it’s all so comical. I’m working (not really) on a screen play:

“The Pastors Are Coming! The Pastors Are Coming!”

Based on “The Russians Are Coming! The Russians are Coming” the story pits a small New England town against a U-Boat filled with black preachers, led by Rev. Jeremiah Write. The comedy centers around a love story, and a thrilling scene where a small boy is saved from falling off a church steeple by one of the preachers.

Pat Buchanan plays the signature role of the old mailman who rides through town yelling “the Pastors are coming!” at odd moments, seemingly oblivious to the fact that everyone knows this. (remarkable acting on the part of Pat Buchanan who somehow rides his bike “no-hands” while chopping the air in hatchet like motions to emphasize his point)

In the last scene, the previously frightened town folk help the pastors escape out of gratitude for saving the young boy, the lovers part with resigned looks, and and Pat Buchanan, still ranting, “The Pastors Are Coming” at the top of his lungs, rides his bike off the end of a pier to the delight of all.

(coming to a ballot box near you)

Obama-Webb ‘08

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By Liza, March 26 at 8:56 pm #
(49 comments total)

Why can't people let this go?

As many have said before me, Reverend Wright is not running for president.  This is the first time in my memory that a politician has been so viciously attacked for the words of another.

Reverend Wright has been critical of US foreign policy and he is a fire and brimstone preacher.  That is all there is to it.

Pope John Paul II was critical of US foreign policy.  He was a major voice opposed to the US invasion of Iraq and he surely got that one right.  Too bad no one in the US listened to him including the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church. 

He must have thought he had some kind of moral authority.

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By Outraged, March 26 at 7:56 pm #
(869 comments total)

Teach Your Children

by Graham Nash

You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good bye.

Teach your children well,
Their father’s hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picks, the one you’ll know by.

Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

And you, of tender years,
Can’t know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.

Teach your parents well,
Their children’s hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picks, the one you’ll know by.

Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

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By Douglas Chalmers, March 26 at 6:48 pm #
(2932 comments total)

#Jacob Freeze, March 26: ““Cyrena” is back with more ad hominem attacks on whoever criticizes Obama, and it’s just another example of how Obama’s pretence of transcending the culture wars...”

#Quote cyrena: “US cultural or the history of ethnic breakdowns… and that’s the WAY.... It’s been that way for nearly 300 years you moron...”

Back to your constant running ‘theme’ , cyrena - and the fact that you’ve repeated this same thing in more than 73% of your posts.... we’ve all figured out by now, that it is YOU who have these race issues, as well as the gender issues, duh.

In your sick little legalist mind, you have accepted that your “1/16th black ancestry” makes you “one BLACK” merely because they told you so. You are so utterly conformist with your white rulers and their methodology and their supremacist rules on paper that you don’t even realize that you are still actually a slave, cyrena, uhh.

USA = white people in denial; black people in denial; native Americans in refusal; confused Asians and Latinos........ on and on, on and on...........

And, just like Barack Obama, you rush at the chance of grabbing your litle bit of power even though it is all still totally within the white mans’ scheme of things. You and he don’t care or even give a damn as that is all you really want - to be seen and to be heard vainly struttin’ yo’ stuff an’ hollerin’ as loud as yo’ can, grrrl.

So, you and Wright and Obama are “psychologically twisted and/or compromised person(s)” and you don’t even realize it, cyrena. No amount of shouting or screaming will change any of it or the fact that you are 15/16th white, or whatever! “Deeming” is merely a kind of insanity......... designed to keep you in slavery.

Whatever “history has delegated or otherwise ‘assigned’ any person with” is NOT the real point - and you know it. If you can’t understand that, then all you have to do is go look at yo’self in the mirror and check it out. By the way, don’t forget to look right into your own eyes when you tell yourself all those lies about being “black” in future.........

That’s sure to put an end to your “twisted comprehension” - and don’t forget to take a good dose of laxative while you are at it, uhh. That’ll resolve those “unresolved ‘issues’ “ for you, cyrena

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By Peter RV, March 26 at 3:33 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Thanks Fellows,
You helped me discover another carefully crafted deception about Obama.
It was truly eye opening, thanks again,
Regards,
Peter

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By Douglas Chalmers, March 26 at 2:53 pm #
(2932 comments total)

True colors of Obamarama......

like an ordinary human, he did get some things wrong, Louise. And like Tibet’s Dalai Lama, he got spirituality and other issues confused.

For all the good he did and all his bravery in speaking the unpalatable truth about the USA, attacking Hillary Clinton merely for being a white woman was still a dreadful mistake.

Thus he still has his own unaddressed personal issues to resolve as far as race and color and gender are concerned. The fact that Wright is of mostly white accestry is something that he seems to have overlooked.

Smearing Hillary for being “rich” (Nancy Pelosi is far richer - and his own church is reasonably wealthy) and for being “white” ("she ain’t never been called a nigger") yet saying nothing about his own white relatives or Barack Obama’s white mother and grandmother were extremely hypocritical.....

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By jake2, March 26 at 2:19 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

The Rev. Dr. Wright, former Marine, took stewardship of a congregation to 90 and helped it expand to 4000. The congregation serves needs throughout the South Side and has missions abroad. He ministered to President Johnson. Review his sermons for their context.

courtesy The RealMacDaddy, posted in a comment at HuffPo.

These videos are in total about 20 minutes long. But please watch them and then you will see that there have been some egregious liberties taken with what has been broadcast. Pass the word on, tell your friends, tell your family, tell everyone. There was a reason Barack Obama was a member of this Church for 20 years.

America"s Chicken have come home to roost:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOdlnzkeoyQ&feature =related
God Damn America:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvMbeVQj6Lw&feature =related

Hillary ain"t never been called N****R
Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciWzbtiwUxA
Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvcmqnju9PM&feature =related

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By Christian Prophet, March 26 at 1:45 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Everybody is looking for Obama in all the wrong places. Look at his Marxist THEOLOGY. See:
http://christianprophecy.blogspot.com/

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By Conservative Yankee, March 26 at 1:44 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Another Lynching… What ever does “freedom of speech” mean?

Has it come to mean only porn, money, and boiler-plate?

Free speech is what it is..\\

Now, most people in these United States were not yet born when the Tuskegee project took place. Doctors used Black men as lab rats.  Reverend Wright remembers. Later when blacks had to move to the rear of buses to accommodate white folks Jerry Wright was there. When folks with dark pigmented skin were forced to urinate in the street and behind filling stations because the bathrooms were reserved for whites, Mr Wright was forming his opinions and testing the waters.

Jerry Wright is from another time. A time of lynchings, humiliation, and disenfranchisement. You can’t erase that, any more than you can deny Byron de la Beckwith, Lester Maddox, and Bull Conner were white.

He’s an old man with memories of another time, and he will soon be supremely irrelevant. It is really ashame that we can’t use these incidents as “teachable moments” Rev Wright has history to impart. stop attempting to drown him out!

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By Louise, March 26 at 12:50 pm #
(761 comments total)

Meanwhile the ever-grinning and verbally vile Rev. Pat Robertson and Pastor John Hagee go marching on. Spewing hatred and condemnation for all Gods children. Except the ones who send them money, or vote according to their dictates of course.

The way I look at it. The most perfect example we have is the way the religiously learned and powerful, and the people who followed their lead, attacked and destroyed Jesus Christ. Using that as an example, one would have to draw the obvious conclusion.

Wright is perhaps the only one who is right in all of this controversy. Because he is the one being attacked and destroyed.

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By Peter RV, March 26 at 12:31 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Hypocrisy

I know almost nothing about Rev. Wright, except the obvious thing that Clintons are using him to clubber Obama.
Could he possibly be worse than Rev.Hagee,Rev. Robertson or what it was late Rev. Falwell?

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By Lee, March 26 at 12:19 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

He can dish it out, but ...

Pastor Wright is having a tough time ... poor baby!
If you’re going to dish it out, then you should also be able to take it! And ... can this guy dish it out! It’s called taking Responsibility for your actions ... not, blaming the messenger ... the context ... or whatever. What goes around comes around ... ya know, like the principles of justice, like what should be taught in churches.

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By Jim Yell, March 26 at 12:17 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander

Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell were two of many divines who heaped ridicule and threats on the nation for not doing what they wanted and yet hypocrits that they are hardly anyone worked themselves into the lather that has fallen on Rev. Wright.

In truth such a dramatic presentation is common amongst black devines. I would agree that it was an ill advised thing to say, if he wants Obama to win. Still in fact I at lest can accept the explaination and even notice that the reaction to what he said is out of contect and meaning to what he said.

This is America and his point has merit, not to say that Obama or myself has to believe everything the good reverend believes.

The Flap is mainly enflamed by the Hillary camp and the Republicans. My distaste for Hillary is largely the same distast I have for Bill-in-toto. I don’t like manipulation and opportunism of the Clinton type. I have a modest optimism that Obama is genuine in his inclusive declarations, but I know that Clintons are not serious about anything but power.

Before allowing coporate news to inflame you with silly passions, think about that.

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