Brutally Honest

Explaining Wright-ology

First up, the erudite and most good Doctor:

One of the more interesting angles to this controversy has been a question raised about whether Pastor Wright is in fact trying to undermine the presidential campaign Senator Obama. At first glance, such a turnabout is confusing, and the best rationale offered to date is that the good Pastor is a bit frosted about being straight-armed by his young protégé. While this may well be true, allow me to put forth another possibility, one which I believe to be far more plausible.

Jeremiah Wright cannot allow Obama to succeed.

Say what?

Yes, you heard me right. Consider this:

Jeremiah Wright lives, breathes, and exists to proclaim that Western civilization in general, and America specifically, are intractably racist and evil, and have been so ever since their foundation. We have all heard and read the sermons and the church bulletins, talking about how white men go to church on Sunday and lynch black men on Monday; how we are a terrorist nation bent on killing people of color and the poor; how the U. S. government created the AIDS virus for the purpose eradicating the black community. In Pastor Wright’s dark world, American society is incorrigibly racist, incapable of change, and the source of all problems in the black community and the world. The black man is a victim, oppressed, and the society in which he lives irredeemable.

Then along comes Obama.

This man, carefully mentored for 20 years under your tutelage, decides to run for President. And he starts winning — winning in part due to huge support from the black community, but winning in even larger part because of white voters. He becomes a rock star, the darling of the lily-white media, the heartthrob of the white intellectual elites, preaching a message of post-racial reconciliation and hope.

And he keeps on winning. In fact, he looks likely to be the democratic presidential nominee. And he looks highly competitive to become president of the United States.

By all measures, in a rational world, this should be a moment of enormous triumph for the black community, a testimony that America is finally beginning to move past race to the dream of Martin Luther King: to judge a man based on the content of this character rather than the color of his skin.

But if you are Jeremiah Wright, your world is falling apart.

There's more, all of it worthy.

And speaking of worthy, there's the streetwise wisdom of Black & White on the Grey Matters:

Religious Leftists: This one's for you

Cadillac Tight is toasting you Jeremiah Wright defending toadies (and you know who you are):

90% of Obama supporters had to have been hitting the sauce last night, however: If anyone was thrown under a bus during Obama’s hastily arranged press conference yesterday, it was them.

These poor folk have been arguing since early March that Obama was 100% correct in not disavowing Jeremiah Wright. Wright’s words were “speaking truth to power” after all, his love for America manifest due to his service in the Navy and Marine Corps, and his racism wasn’t racism, it was simply “the way the black church does things”.

Boy, Obama put the kibosh on their feeble attempts at rationalizing Wright, didn’t he? And in the process of doing so, made himself look like a fool. No one with half a brain could possibly believe that Obama saw anything different in Wright’s performance at the National Press Club than what we’ve all seen since the “God damn America” clips came to light, and certainly not anything different than what he’s seen during his twenty-year relationship with Wright.

Indeed.  I've been trying to say the same thing now for a day or two but Joe put it most articulately.

I'm asking, again, where are you Wright Apologists?

Hmm?

Revealing Jeremiah Wright's Pathology

Riehl World View pulls back the sheets:

... the saddest and perhaps most revealing truth of all for Wright and likely some in the Black community is buried within it. It's the last portion of this phrase.

"Louis Farrakhan is not my enemy. He did not put me in chains, he did not put me in slavery, and he didn't make me this color."

Think about what that really means. Those aren't the words of a proud Black individual. They are the words of someone who is angry, primarily, ... because they are Black. They are the words of a racist - of the anti-Black variety; of someone who has come to view the Black race as inferior somehow.

Has Wright internalized White racism so deeply? Perhaps that explains his recent real estate choice, to retire in a gated, predominately White community.

I realize it may sound absurd and certainly isn't politically correct to point it out. But words mean things, as they say. And Wright's own words are revealing of a personal psychology as troubled as any of Obama's current political woes.

Jeremiah Wright simply doesn't like Black people. Why else would he be looking for someone to blame, or holding a grudge simply because he is Black?

What a shame Wright has apparently never come to face his own truth.

Baldilocks adds her own diagnosis:

The most infuriating thing about Wright is his attempt to cover himself using other black people, black Christians, by saying that attacks on him weren’t really about him but about the ‘black church.' And then he wants to fling around epithets like "Uncle Tom."

Let's be clear. Neither blackness, African, American or European origin, American nationality or American allegiance need a defense because such a defense would inherently be just as erroneously-focused as Jeremiah Wright's jeremiad. Ethnic origins aren’t things to be defended, denigrated or repudiated or sworn allegiance to--my own heritage stems from this continent and two other continents--these things simply are; these facts are existential. Nationality is special: it’s existential but can also be voluntarily retained or released. And allegiance to any entity is entirely voluntary, but no one has to prove his/her allegiance to this country as part and parcel of a repudiation of an ethnicity or heritage.  Those days went out with FDR.

Here’s what I do come to defend, to stand in defense of: Christianity and Christians who are black. Jeremiah Wright defames both and speaks for neither and little obscure me will not let him use either as fig leaf. Yes, our ancestors in this country and our kinsmen across the water fought to be just as Christian as other Christians—as Christian as our brothers who are white. And many of the latter stood for us and side-by-side with us—not because of us primarily but because of the One Who is Primary. Has that particular battle been won? I say yes, though the war continues. But Wright not only continues to fight the battle, he willfully misunderstands the nature of the War and identity of the Enemy. And by doing that, he becomes the tool of the Enemy. That’s his choice, but not mine and not that of those who focus on the Redemption offered by Christ instead of getting upon the Cross themselves.

To quote myself, there is no “black church.”  There is only the Church.

Amen.  Preach it sister.  And I do mean sister.

Lifelock.Com: An answer for the next time?

A few months ago, my oldest son began receiving mailings from credit card companies, each one seeking additional information to accompany a previously submitted application for credit.  The problem?  He hadn't applied for any of them. 

For the next several weeks, he spent countless hours on the phone with the credit card companies, with department store credit bureaus, with authorities and online as he attempted to straighten things out.  It was a nightmare and he continues even now to try to undo the damage.

So when I received an e-mail promoting the services of Lifelock.com, I was intrigued.  You may have seen the TV commercial with the CEO of the company blurting out his Social Security Number.  It does tend to grab you. 

LifeLock has their own blog, a promotional discount code for first time enrollers, and this page explains the value of the service being offered.

Given the crap that the oldest has had to go through, LifeLock seems to be an answer to the question of what one might attempt to do to fight the ID thieves that are lurking.

"can we also revist the 'Bush is inarticulate' canard again?"

Via Gerard, a classic:

So very sweet.

The chickens are coming home to roost

Amanda Carpenter brings us the blow by blow:

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama sought to temper news headlines in the aftermath of his longtime friend and former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s controversial media tour by denouncing Wright’s recent remarks.

Obama called Wright's conspiracy theories about the U.S. government and praise of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan "ridiculous" and "offensive" in a hastily-organized news conference in North Carolina.

"When he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS; when he suggests that Minister Farrakhan somehow represents one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st century; when he equates the U.S. wartime efforts with terrorism, then there are no excuses. They offend me. They rightly offend all Americans. And they should be denounced, and that's what I'm doing very clearly and unequivocally here today."

Actually, not all Americans are offended by Wright's comments.  Some have defended them.  They've attempted to make the case that we critics are making mountains out of molehills. 

What do these sanctimonious leftists say now?  Can they continue to defend Wright while continuing to support Obama? 

And what of Obama?  What does this say about the man?  20 years of this bombastic bullshit from the pulpit and only now he decides that comments made by Wright are ridiculous and offensive?  Only now he believes that Americans are offended?  20 years of hatred from the pulpit, in the bulletins, 20 years of relationships with anti-semites like Farrakhan and only now is he outraged?  Only now does he see the man to be divisive?

What kind of person can believe anything Obama is saying at this point?  What amount of gullibility would be on display?

Here's just part of what he said that I find to stretch the bounds of credulity:

Yesterday we saw a very different vision of America. I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened over the spectacle that we saw yesterday. I have been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ since 1992. I’ve known Reverend Wright for almost 20 years. The person that I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago. His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate, and I believe that they do not portray accurately the perspective of the black church.

They certainly don’t portray accurately my values and beliefs. And if Reverend Wright thinks that that’s political posturing, as he put it, then he doesn’t know me very well. And based on his remarks yesterday, well, I may not know him as well as I thought either.

Now, I’ve already denounced the comments that had appeared in these previous sermons. As I said, I had not heard them before. And I gave him the benefit of the doubt in my speech in Philadelphia, explaining that he has done enormous good in the church. He has built a wonderful congregation. The people of Trinity are wonderful people, and what attracted me has always been their ministries reach beyond the church walls.

But when he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS, when he suggests that Minister Farrakhan somehow represents one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st centuries, when he equates the United States wartime efforts with terrorism, then there are no excuses.

They offend me. The rightly offend all Americans. And they should be denounced. And that’s what I’m doing very clearly and unequivocally here today.

Let me just close by saying this. We started this campaign with the idea that the problems that we face as a country are too great to continue to be divided, that in fact all across America people are hungry to get out of the old, divisive politics of the past.

I have spoken and written about the need for us to all recognize each other as Americans, regardless of race or religion or region of the country, that the only way we can deal with critical issues like energy and health care and education and the war on terrorism is if we are joined together.

And the reason our campaign has been so successful is because we have moved beyond these old arguments.

What we saw yesterday out of Reverend Wright was a resurfacing and, I believe, an exploitation of those old divisions. Whatever his intentions, that was the result. It is antithetical to our campaign. It is antithetical to what I am about. It is not what I think America stands for.

And I want to be very clear that, moving forward, Reverend Wright does not speak for me. He does not speak for our campaign. I cannot prevent him from continuing to make these outrageous remarks, but what I do want him to be very clear about, as well as all of you and the American people, is that when I say that I find these comments appalling, I mean it.

It contradicts everything that I am about and who I am. And anybody who has worked with me, who knows my life, who has read my books, who has seen what this campaign is about, I think, will understand that it is completely opposed to what I stand for and where I want to take this country.

I'm afraid that 20 years of listening to the man, allowing him to baptize your children, writing a book where the title is inspired by the guy, talking in Philadelphia about how you can't disown him and so much more all add up to give you Obama a serious credibility problem, one that only the gullible, the shallow and the ignorant would buy into.

I close once again challenging the Religious Left, and you know who you are, to speak up and defend your defense of Jeremiah Wright, especially now that Obama has dumped him like he has.

You have free reign in the comments.  Let's hear it.  I can't wait (though I suspect I'll have to).

If Jeremiah Wright represents the Black Church...

... then Bill Cosby is the much needed Martin Luther.

Eric Scheie at PajamasMedia gives us cogent thoughts on today's very wrong Wright appearance before the National Press Club:

... it didn’t take me long to find the Wright event on video in six YouTube segments.

Er, now that I’ve watched them all, I should say, six sickening YouTube segments .

20 minutes in, I was just about ready to throw up. The more I watch this malignant man, the less I want to watch. For starters, I find myself unable to stand Jeremiah Wright’s smarmy, sing-songy voice. Now, lest I be accused of racism in the way some have been accused of sexism for not liking Hillary Clinton’s voice, let me say that one of the things I most like about Barack Obama is his voice. He has a pleasant speaking manner, in stark contrast to Hillary’s screechy braying.

I’m no Hillary fan, and I may regret saying this lest it sound favorable to her, but Wright makes Hillary Clinton’s screeching and braying sound almost pleasant.

His supercilious insincerity, and mocking, deriding tone — all while he spews hateful and vindictive far left claptrap — belongs on Berkeley’s Communist controlled KPFA radio, if it even belongs there.

Wright talks about events of hundreds of years ago as if they’re happening right now. His tripe is some of the vilest demagoguery I’ve heard.

As I watched him, it occurred to me that I’d rather be getting a colonoscopy. (Or maybe even watching Ann Coulter, assuming that’s a distinction with a difference.)

But then another sickening thought occurred to me.

What sort of person could watch this crap for 20 years?

Now now, Eric! To each his own. One man’s soothing words of healing are another man’s poisonous rhetoric.

Somehow, I don’t find anything soothing in statements like this:

Reconciliation, the years have taught me, is where the hardest work is found for those of us in the Christian faith, however, because it means some critical thinking and some re-examination of faulty assumptions when using the paradigm of Dr. William Augustus Jones. Dr. Jones, in his book, God in the ghetto, argues quite accurately that one’s theology, how I see God, determines one’s anthropology, how I see humans, and one’s anthropology then determines one’s sociology, how I order my society.

Now, the implications from the outside are obvious. If I see God as male, if I see God as white male, if I see God as superior, as God over us and not Immanuel, which means “God with us,” if I see God as mean, vengeful, authoritarian, sexist, or misogynist, then I see humans through that lens.

My theological lens shapes my anthropological lens. And as a result, white males are superior; all others are inferior.

And I order my society where I can worship God on Sunday morning wearing a black clergy robe and kill others on Sunday evening wearing a white Klan robe.

(More on Jones here; he called Giuliani a fascist, helped Tawana Brawley avoid testifying, mentored Al Sharpton, and provided a platform for anti-Semite Leonard Jeffries.)

This is apparently Wright’s view of American religion. The very worst and most bigoted aspects of the past are treated as if they’re alive today in the form of “the Christianity of the slaveholder.” What’s with the wild cheering he got for saying things like that? As I wondered, the announcer said “the applause and the comments you hear from the audience are not necessarily those of the working press.” Well that’s a relief.

If you can stand to listen, the above (and more) can be heard on Part 3 of the YouTube video. (The rest are here.)

It would be hard to imagine any Jew talking this way about Germans, and the Holocaust is still within recent memory. Wright not only never lived through the stuff he excoriates white America for, he grew up in middle class affluence, with a pastor father and a mother who was vice principal of Philadelphia High School for Girls.

There's much more at PJMedia and I think every word ought to be read.

And I end with a question.  Where are the Religious Left apologists for Jeremiah Wright now?  Do they still think he's worth defending? 

Seriously?  Someone ask the question.  Someone give the answer.

Tornadoes rip through area

Over 200 hurt in neighboring Suffolk, roughly 30 miles southeast of my home:

Two apparent tornadoes struck the city of Suffolk, city spokeswoman Dana Woodson said. Bob Spieldenner from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management said at least 200 people were injured there.

At least 18 more people were injured when the storm hit Colonial Heights, Spieldenner said. Three of those were taken to hospitals. Woodson initially said one person died in Suffolk but later said the death was not connected to the storm.

Sentara Obici Hospital in Suffolk was damaged, but remained operational, Spieldenner said. Another hospital in the city also was treating the injured, Woodson said.

Sentara spokesman Dale Gauding said about 60 people were being treated, and he expected most to be released.

"We have lots of cuts and bruises," plus leg and arm injuries, he said. Some of the hospital's windows were cracked, apparently by flying debris.

"Multiple buildings have been destroyed, homes have been destroyed," Woodson said. She said the areas around the hospital and in the community of Driver were hardest hit.

My brother John and his family live within 10 miles (as the crow flies) of where the tornadoes touched down, his neighborhood however was spared.  I talked to my sister-in-law roughly half an hour or so before the storm hit but within the warning window just to make sure she was aware and she was on top of it.

I then talked to my youngest brother when tornado warnings were issued for his neighborhood in Gloucester County (roughly 30 miles north of my location) and though things were rocky even as we spoke, there were no reports of tornadoes touching down.

Our immediate area was spared though it did get ugly for moments.   As I write this, storms continue in the area hampering recovery efforts in the hardest hit areas. 

Governor Kaine has declared a state of emergency for damaged locations and the Red Cross is on the scene.  The Disaster Action Team (DAT) I'm a member of has not at this time been activated.

If you're a praying type, prayers for those affected I'm sure are coveted.

Say what?

Kate is less than enthused about the latest Dowd-ism:

The inexplicably still-employed Maureen Dowd;

Hillary grows more and more glowy as Obama grows more and more wan.

Is she draining him of his precious bodily fluids?

I'll leave that one alone.

Obama distancing himself from the Black Church

This according to the right-brained Jeremiah Wright:

In a defiant appearance before the Washington media, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright said Monday that criticism surrounding his fiery sermons is an attack on the black church and rejected those who have labeled him unpatriotic.

"I served six years in the military," Barack Obama's longtime pastor said. "Does that make me patriotic? How many years did (Vice President Dick) Cheney serve?"

Wright spoke at the National Press Club before the Washington media and a supportive audience of black church leaders beginning a two-day symposium.

He said the black church tradition is not bombastic or controversial, but different and misunderstood by the "dominant culture" in the United States.

So... according to that portion of Jeremiah's brain that is functioning, that part that is making Obama's brain hurt like hell, Obama's actions to put distance between himself and Wright's controversial statements must mean, according to the left side of my brain, that Obama is distancing himself from the Black Church. 

Hmm...  wouldn't that be problematic?  Or am I just thinking... differently...  speaking of which, Gerard has some left-brained related comments:

It would seem there is a profound difference between the black brain and other brains after all. At least according to Reverend Wright. According to this shining exemplar of Barack Obama and the deep scholarship of black liberation theology, black people are right-brained and white people are left-brained. Asian people don't make the discussion since that would be, well, unfortunate.

If you're like me you've probably been wandering about the world babbling something about racial equality in America that affirms, "There are no differences except differences of degree between different degrees of difference and no difference." You could also say, "All men are created equal." How left-brained of you.

Now comes Reverend James Wright to set us all straight. He notes in passing that the right-brain of black people is somehow descended from the griots of Africa. The griots were people who could remember long, very long, poems; proto-rappers if you will. White people had something like that too, but then they invented ... writing. Or was it the Asians? I forget since, alas, my griot genes are slim to none.

At any rate, being descended from griots seems to me to be a lucky win in genetic lotto if you get one of the 100 top rapper slots in the world. It will probably be a bit more problematic if you want to get a job that involves actual analytic skills.

In the mean-time, Wizbang had a caption contest for the following pic at their place over the weekend:

My vote would be something like:

"Umm... like... Obama... like... I'm just not getting your Pastor guy... like, Oh My God... totally... like right brain, left brain, as if?... ok, you know, I think he's good and everything... whatever... like... duh... ok, Betches, like let's go get some pizza... fer shur..."