The Facts

Ugh. It seems that every time I turn around the "Grand Ole Party"...that consists of people who consider themselves to be conservatives...christians...or of having high morals...are using smear tactics to try and win over votes. And...even more ridiculous than that...they're working!

I just watched a video where a rapper wrote a song smearing Obama...bringing up issues that included the following:

"the surge worked, but Obama won't give McCain any credit". People seem to be so pissed off that Obama didn't vote for the surge...and it appears now that the surge worked, simply in the sense that violence is down. I heard someone use a great analogy the other day. Imagine a child running around on top of a table, obviously somewhere he shouldn't be. The kid proceeds to knock over a glass of juice. Saying that the surge "was successful" is like saying that the child then goes to find the right towel to clean up the juice. THE CHILD SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE. Do people just ignore that fact? And by what standards do we measure success? Are we forgetting that over 4,000 American troops have died so far??? I support my troops...I'm thankful everyday that there are so many selfless Americans out there that are willing to die in order to keep me safe. But I also trust that the person that we elected to lead our country would not be willing to send us into a war unless it was the last option...clearly not the case here!
"In modern war there is no such thing as a victor and vanquished...there is only a loser, and the loser is mankind."
-U Thant, Burmesse UN Secretary General

Along these lines, in this absurd video I watched, there is a clip that comes up and states "Change. We cannot Afford".

Of all the issues that people are taking into account during this election...this one just irks the crap out of me! "Change we cannot afford"?????????? This coming from those that support the war!! It's outrageous! We are a country so willing to risk American lives on a daily basis to restore diplomacy in other countries...yet we have the audacity to turn our hearts away from the millions of people that need our help...IN OUR OWN COUNTRY! It's sickening...truly. Here...maybe this will put it into prospective for those of you McCainians....


WAR COSTS IN PERSPECTIVE
With $872.6 billion, the cost of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan so far, the United States could fund...
...a year's worth of health care for 117 million Americans ($7,439/person)
...one year of public elementary school for 116 million children ($7,500/child)
...four years of public university tuition for 35 million students ($6,185/student)
...145 billion mosquito nets to help stop malaria in the developing world ($6/net)
...4.6 billion laptops to promote literacy in the developing world ($188/laptop)

Source: http://armscontrolcenter.org/policy/securityspending/articles/supplemental_war_funding/

I don't care whether or not you support the war that we are currently suffering through. But for those of you that support the war, and then say that we cannot afford change in this country...its truly sickening.


Onto another issue. What's with the photos of Obama wearing a Muslim turban? Just to clarify, his grandfather was a Muslim. Since when does that make him a Muslim? I'm sure that somewhere one of my great relatives was a racist...heck...I'm sure somewhere down my ancestry...someone in my family once owned a slave. Does that make me racist? NO! Enough with the "guilty by association" tactics....they're stupid and naive...used only when "searching" for arguments that have nothing to do with the important issues at hand.

Now onto the dear dear Reverend Wright. Sheesh. I won't even begin to go into the number of things he has been quoted saying that are very controversial (as I'm sure you've heard them all), and Obama attended his church for 20 years. He was forced out of his church by his fellow American's that couldn't grasp where Rev. Wright was coming from. First of all many...MANY...of his quotes were taken out of context, and everyone knows the harm that can be done when only portions of a dialogue are provided. As Americans, I would like to think that we seek out the entire truth...not portions of it. There is one sermon in particular that I would like to discuss.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfu2P6cGhWo **sorry couldn't figure out how to put it on here**

Did we already forget that only 50 years ago, this man had to step off of the sidewalk to let a white man pass, this man had to get off of a bus if there weren't enough seats for white people, this man had to live in fear EVERYDAY that one of his "fellow Americans" could torture him, burn him at the stake, or beat him to death...and nothing would be done about it??

My Pastor once told me during marriage counseling, that we should never "expect" forgiveness (from other people)...but rather we should hope for it....pray for it...ask for it. I truly think that applies to this situation. We have no idea what this man...and millions like him...had to endure on a daily basis...no idea. So I don't understand why people are so shocked, when they hear, that perhaps ...a black man is still a bit PISSED OFF, when he remembers what his family went through. His anger truly is justified. How do we put a time limit on when he should "forgive and forget"? Its us who have forgotten. Every time we get angry or offended when we hear words like this, we have forgotten the anguish...torment...hate...torture...fear...that our fellow Americans encountered everyday because of us....we have forgotten.

So. There is my latest annoyance. I understand that people have different opinions. That life experiences allow people to put more value on certain issues than others. It simply shocks me when these values are based on outright lies...or "portions" of the truth.

Through these blogs...I'm only hoping to separate truth from fiction.