Fear of a Black President
How a potential Obama presidency has become a rallying cry for white supremacists.
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YahooThe prospect of an African American president is bringing the nation's white supremacists out of the shadows—and, along with them, some subtler versions of racialist populism. Both hearken back to another economically and socially turbulent time in the United States, in the early 1980s.
Daniel Cowart (above) and Paul Schlesselman, the two neo-Nazis arrested for plotting to kill 102 African American high school students and then embark on a killing spree that would end with the assassination of Barack Obama, clearly drew inspiration from a criminal white nationalist group called The Order. In the early 1980s, members of The Order carried out a series of crimes that included robbery, counterfeiting, and a high-profile murder in order to advance their plans to found a white homeland.
The connection to The Order is evident in the numbers the two men had scrawled on their car: 14 and 88. The so-called Fourteen Words is a slogan—"We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children"—coined by Order member David Lane, who also authored an article called The 88 Precepts. In white supremacist circles, 14-88 is a shorthand expression of allegiance to the beliefs put forth by Lane and The Order. Their aim was to establish a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest, where they could preserve the Aryan race from being polluted by nonwhites and enslaved by what they called the Zionist Occupied Government of the United States. (Lane also advocated polygamy and a kind of European paganism he called "Wotanism.")
The plot hatched by Cowart and Schlesselman seems to have posed little real threat to Obama: Their plans to
"dress in all white tuxedos" and top hats and "drive their vehicle as fast as they could toward Obama shooting at him from the windows" is as unlikely as it is grotesque. Considering the nation's history of deadly school shootings, however, the skinheads' plan to rob a gun store and then shoot 88 students and behead 14 more at a predominantly black high school is (with the possible exception of the beheadings) frighteningly plausible.
A look at Cowart and Schlesselman's model is sobering as well. For two years, from 1983 to 1985, The Order—also known as the Brüder Schweigen or Silent Brotherhood—was active, violent, and deadly. In order to finance their mission, the gang robbed a series of banks and armored cars and ran a counterfeiting operation, and was best known for the 1984 murder of Denver talk-show host Alan Berg. The group's founder, Robert Jay Mathews, modeled himself after the main character in National Alliance leader William Pierce's The Turner Diaries. Mathews was killed in a fiery shootout with federal agents in 1984, while David Lane was arrested in 1985 and died in prison last year while serving a 190-year sentence. Both have become heroes and martyrs to the white supremacist movement.
During the heyday of the racist far right in the 1980s, The Order was only one of the groups active across the United States. (I reported on that subculture for years, and produced a book and a film about it.) But those who track the white power movement generally view it as in decline after the 1980s—swallowed up in part by the onset of Christian fundamentalism, muffled by the anti-government policies of conservative Republicans, and floundering around without clear purpose or leadership. Yet remnants of it have clearly survived. They surfaced with horrific results in Oklahoma City in 1995, after Timothy McVeigh also found inspiration in The Turner Diaries and The Order. And they can be found among today's skinheads and their fellow travelers. Some of these are part of biker gangs—including the Sons of Silence, who were implicated in a threat against Obama at the Democratic convention in Denver. Some have joined the anti-immigrant vigilante movement, committing drive-by shootings of Mexican laborers. Others are scattered around doing their own thing, picking fights in bars, beating up gay men or random African Americans. According to one report, their numbers in the US military have grown as recruitment efforts become more desperate.
Wherever they exist, white supremacists are clearly coming out of their dark corners in response to Obama's presidential campaign. Both federal law enforcement officials and independent organizations that monitor hate groups are reporting increased traffic on the Internet, and even a kind of twisted optimism that Obama's election will produce a "backlash" and lead to the white uprising they've dreamt about. In June, David Duke wrote, "Obama will be no worse for us than any of the White sell-outs that came before him. But, Obama will be a clear signal for millions of our people. Obama is a visual aid for White Americans who just don't get it yet that we have lost control of our country, and unless we get it back we are heading for complete annihilation as a people...Obama is the wake up call."
I've heard similar statements this month while traveling across the country with a crew from Guardian Films. In Missouri, we interviewed Steven Boswell, member of the National Socialist Movement, who says he is "hearing things coming out of people's mouths now" that he never heard a few years ago, like "that there's gonna be a race war coming up, and we better be ready for it." He predicts that "as the economy continues to get worse, as our country continues to be overrun by Mexicans, as Obama gets elected and takes office, there will be opportunities that we have to be ready for and have to capitalize on."
This is all sadly consistent with the long history of American Nativism, in which periods of social insecurity and economic despair have yielded increased racism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia, together with a populist distrust of national government. It was during the farm crisis of the 1980s, amidst an epidemic of foreclosures, that I last heard rural Midwesterners describe elaborate conspiracies in which Jewish bankers—who sometimes had ties to international communism, as well as to the black and brown people who served as their frontline troops—had already taken over the US government, and would soon arrive to deprive "sovereign" white men of their land, their rights, their freedom.
Twenty-five years later, I'm hearing thinly encoded messages that suggest that this kind of thinking still prevails among some people here in the heartland—perhaps gaining new fuel from the apocalyptic financial meltdown. In Missouri last week, as we filmed a story on ethanol, a plant manager shared with the Guardian's correspondent his belief that Obama is not only a Muslim, but also hinted that he may be the anti-Christ whose coming was predicted by the Book of Revelation.
Such beliefs seem to be once again finding purchase among people who would never sport a swastika tattoo or identify as white supremacists, but rather think of themselves as hardworking, patriotic Christians who have been double-crossed by the system. When the despair runs deep enough, and finds no other outlet, it can veer into the kind of racialist, paranoid populism that is both more understated and more widespread—and thus more frightening—than the skinheads with their sawed-off shotguns and Nazi salutes.
Some portions of this piece originally appeared on Guardian Films Road to the White House blog.
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Good! We will have a replacement population for the prison systems once we CHANGE the racist prosecution of black men in this society. I am a retired white criminal justice professional and the crimes against the black population in our society far exceeds the crimes of the Soviet Gulags.
The populist sentiment you describe still prevails! White,middle America is tired of being "SOLD OUT! In less than a generation ,our industrial might has been sold out from under our noses by the rich and powerful who control the world economy.There is a vast yet still "silent" majority of people who are just about fed up with the demolition of America and Obama's election could well be the fuse that ignites a powder keg!
In reading this alarming article I couldn't help but notice the picture on the left of the young child dressed in white robes. That picture clearly demonstrates how racism survives from generation to generation.
It is taught.
"the rich and powerful who control the world economy" led by neocons, Bu[deleted]es, Keating 5, Big Oil, etc. You're right, America (white and otherwise) needs to wake up. Obama exemplifies the real America.
It has been white guys that did all of the selling out, and prior to 9/11, white guys that committed the biggest terrorist attack against the general population, yet many people still see no problem with profiling any non-white for any imagined criminal activity they might commit, yet with plenty of evidence to warrant it, no one profiles white men.Puzzling.
Unfortunately I have heard the same sentiments from people in the heartland due to the fact they are losing their jobs to illegal Hispanics. The hatred is growing and this right-wing populist moving is gathering momentum. Unfortunately, racism is here and will never go away. I think it is firmly embedded in the human psyche and can never be fully eliminated.
I think the fact that the guy in the photo is named "COWART" sums it all up. These people are not now, nor have they ever been something to fear. They are mentally ill thugs, and they exist on the farthest margins of society. If any of them do make legitimate threats against Obama, they will be dealt with.
I noticed that the usual right wing whack jobs that go around leaving comments on other stories on this site, don't touch this story at all. Hmmm...I wonder why?
I dislike skinheads. I didn't care for their company growing up, and don't care for em now. I think that there's too much of this ethnic garbage, and not enough evidence of mature thought and dialogue in our society today. I have met racists of othe ethnicities, and yes, there are, there are arab racists, hispanic racists, black racists, asian racists, and indian racists. Race is a fact of life. It's also a piddling minor fact of life. Racism, the means by which people seek political or economic advantage due to their skin color/background/whathaveyou, is also a fact of life, and it's fairly been institutionalized in government today. But, I question: Equal opportunity, or vengeance opportunity? There are some, especially in liberal circles, who fairly get their jollies by pitting people of different backgrounds against each other, turning our own colleges and universities into societal battlegrounds, and won't bat an eye at fanning the fire. To my view, 'the game' only lasts until the college deans see fit to pour several gallons of cold water on the thing, and expel any students that do not adhere nor conform to expected conduct as members of the collegiate student body. You're going to meet people in life that are different from you. How maturely you handle the encounter says much less about your skin color than what's between your ears, and how well you've learned to use it. It's also a partial reflection on society itself. Will we tolerate pro-white, pro-black, pro-hispanic racism and policies, or will we seek their abolition, to be replaced by the solemn admonition, 'either you all pull your socks up and start acting like adults NOW, or this facility/jobsite/whathaveyou will be CLOSED, starting tomorrow!'. Something like that, anyway. But, we don't live in a perfect world, and many that have reached the age of majority take with them into adult life certain juvenile and ignorant tendencies, and believe somehow that 'society' should be or owes them this or that, rather than themselves attempting to be brave and industrious enough to go out and make an honest effort at making something of themselves. Some of the more interesting people I've ever met in my life have been of other ethnicities, in fact from other countries. And, some of the people in the above group are folks I would not want to meet in a dark alley, and the same goes for them non-colored 'white fellers', too, and not just men, let's be equal-opportunity, here, gender doesn't get you 'off the hook', either. Myself, a caucasian, I feel that I've been around enough different people(s) that I 'get it' on race, and I do my level best to try and treat everyone equally, but you can only do what you can do, there, and when you meet prejudice coming back the other way, it can be pretty difficult trying to bridge that gap.
I think, though, that if we generally try to 'drop the hyphen' out of our daily interpersonal dealings, and put the focus on expecting people to behave maturely, as adults, and not otherwise. The gentleman depicted in the above photograph is wearing a tattoo on his right shoulder, the familiar swastika, infamous symbol of the german third reich, one of the three axis powers that lost the second world war. Maybe that bears repeating. One of the three axis powers that LOST the second world war. One piece of nazi doctrine talked about 'lebensraum', or 'living space'. The germans wanted to go BIG. And, for a brief time, they did. The nazi swastika enveloped most of europe, and covered a good chunk of russia, too. Italy got swept up into the fascist frenzy, and the narrative was familiar, industrial production, quest for natural resources located in other countries, and you have to fairly question whether or not the United States has basically become um, 'colorized' by the outcome of WWII that we somehow picked up a little bit of that whole fascism thing. German science and medical knowledge has been incorporated into the Great American Database along the way, how about erstwhile german ideology?
Part of this whole thing is also karma.
Dating back centuries, the generally caucasian 'white devils' went forth and explored the world in their little wooden boats, and established colonies the world over, and formed empires, even. Wiping out native peoples along the way, people like Ponce De Leon secured the riches of the New World for the royalty of the Old World. The British had an empire, and they're generally a caucasian lot, and so did the French, and so did the Germans. For that matter, so did the Romans. So did the Russians. And, so did the Mongols.
(Did I miss anybody? Probably.) Anyway, back to present-day, and the global superpower that the United States has now become. We are heirs, so to speak, to the outcome of a long, long string of military victories. That's nice.
As a result of traveling half the world and vanquishing foes far and distant, peoples of these various countries have now come to reside within the borders of the United States, and in its' territories. Question is, are we really mature and sufficiently well-schooled to do this successfully? The US has only existed as a country for a paltry 2.3 centuries, officially, and we're still experiencing some growing pains and internal frictions here and there, and, wouldn't you know it, there's outside pressures, too, economic, environmental, as well as the little-discussed fact that there's now something like 7 billion people wandering the face of the earth, generally looking for a place to stay and raise their kids. This guy is worried about the fate of 'white children'? What about the fate of ALL children, the world over? We still live in the shadow of WWII, at least insofar as The Bomb is concerned, and there are other aspects of those years that continue to make their influence felt in present-day. You still see people questing for the 'ubermensch', pumping themselves up at the gym, taking steroids, and doing other things which are generally commensurate with the whole Superman thing, and I reiterate: Grow UP. Get that swastika lasered off, and grow some hair, and get a JOB, like everyone else. Same goes for his multi-ethnic counterparts. Most likely we're going to see ten billion people alive all at one time, during our lifetimes, and I'll guarantee they won't be white.
Besides, most of us 'white fo'k' are actually more pinkish-tan, verging on brown, depending on the interval to the last opportunity for a shower. I say, 'if ya cant walk down the street and be civil to folks that are a little different than you, then you need to take a night class or three'. And with that, I'll shut up. Hope it wasn't a complete waste of your time.
Jim is hyperventilating again. These two buffoons were taken into custody without a fuss barely hours into their petty crime spree. They thought about a robbery, ran away when they saw a dog and two parked cars, shot at the windows of a church and were arrested without incident.
Immediately during their post-arrest interview, they started to puff themselves up with nonsense about a plot - 88, 14, white tuxedos. A conspiracy indictment is going to be very unlikely.
There is no way that these hopeless losers were in any way comparable to Robert Mathews. They might have aspirations, but those sort of yearnings are typical of the fantasy life of skinheads.
Jim should and does know better. He has the knowledge and experience to report and analyze the situation. Instead, he joined the sensationalist yelping.
What is very real is the fact that incidents like this and other reactionary acting out will increase if and when - as seems nearly certain now - we elect a black president.
Anyone with experience in confronting and halting hate attacks knows that a necessary precondition is an atmosphere of permission. This is exactly what Palin and the reactionary right is doing.
The most effective and certain means of preventing - or stopping once started - these epidemics of violence by self-marginalized losers is to publicly, emphatically, and with certainty of consequence and condemnation remove any inkling that this sort of behavior is in any way, shape or form permissible.
Feeding the hysteria, attempting "dialog" or other ways of playing into their game only extend the time that it takes to stop this misbehavior.
A first step would be for the Democrats to step up and confront the ugly atmosphere of violence and repression the Republicans have repeatedly injected into the political arena.
If communities make it absolutely clear, in the most public manner possible, that political violence and intimidation are not only unacceptable, but also will involve swift and sure consequences, then this unconscionable conduct will stop. Anything other than direct and forthright confrontation is an invitation to continue misbehaving.
Were these gay white supremacists? Between the butch pose and foo-foo eyeliner...I'm be more worried about this guy poking me than shooting me.
A guy like that would get laughed at where I come from. What a poseur!
It's amazing that the pinheaded skinheads can't figure out that the Republican fatcats are the ones who robbed them. Their wrath at Obama is completely misdirected. He's the only one who is actually interested in helping the people.
" ...I'm afraid of Americans,
I'm afraid for the World... "
G*d help the Secret Service.
http://thiscanadian.typepad.com/this_canadian/2008/01/obama-god-help.htm...
http://thiscanadian.typepad.com/this_canadian/2008/08/the-doomsday-co.ht...
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/04/firm-spied-on-environmen...
My father walked across France and into Germany in World War II to deny the Nazis world-rule. These neo-Nazis are among the heinous individuals spawned since then ... and I beleive they deserve the same treatment.
I haven't been doing worth a damn with white christians lately; dunno about you.
Colin Powell's wife would not let him run for President and we got George Bush-real bad trade there!Good for Osama and Cheney, bad for America! Let's hope we learned our lesson!
I haven't been doing worth a damn with white christians lately, dunno about you.
This makes me want to vomit right here in my cubicle.
What I want to know is why these two "enemy combatants" are not already in Gitmo. You can be sure that if they were named Ali or Kahlid there would have been major Homeland Security press. A terrorist is a terrorist, whether they hijack a plane or bomb a women's health center.
Why are not these terrorist groups being rounded up? Is it because the pose no threat to white people? It will be hard for us to sustain such a double standard in the eyes of the world. This will have hard repercussions if Jewish people are attacked. We will allow the attacks on our gay, Hispanic and black populations, but because they control the media, it will be less tolerated when Jewish people are attacked. Nevertheless, this is an American problem, which America is responsible for nipping in the bud.
Obama descends from slave-owning Southern gentry, on his mother's side.
Surely white supremacists can identify with that.
FEAR & IGNORANCE! The bane of any free civilization.
I noticed a long time ago that what was good for the "black man" was also good for the average white man. The only problem was the social stigma that was attached by the FEARFUL & IGNORANT!
People who are IGNORANT also FEAR change. Even if the change will improve their well being. It's a sad fact of American culture.
If you are on a boat that is sinking from the weight of your FEAR & IGNORANCE, and you are flailing in the water on the verge of drowning and you notice a man on the shore with a life-ring to toss you.
Would you care wether he is BLACK or WHITE? Or would you succumb to your FEAR & IGNORANCE and slip beneath the waves with your racist pride intact!
This is the decision that the racist electorate must face this year. Since the man on the shore reaching-out to help them is only HALF black, maybe HALF of them will choose to be rescued.
Looks like a lot of Americans will need to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century!
BE A SUCKER FOR THE RICH................VOTE REPUBLICAN!
Most of the race tension has been caused by the media. In the same way that Obama has been getting 65% of favorable media coverage, in the same way the media has been playing the racist card on his behalf. (By the way I am Black so don't go there.) It is sad when Mason University calls Fox news the most balanced news team. I used to associate the "Left" with intelligence but now I see that is lacking even with Mother Jones. If Obama is treating the media horribly now, how will he treat you later. Examples:
1. Biden tells Barbara West that she and her station will no longer get any more interviews.
2. Philadelphia TV station get the same treatment because they asked good questions.
3. 3 reporters get thrown off the Obama airplane because they support McCain but guess who replaces them?
4. Why does the media not report that Ayers is most likely the ghost writer for Obama's book?
5. What happened to Vera Baker?
6. Does anybody not care about the half a billion dollars in donations and where it is coming from?
Anybody home or are we going to wake up like we did after we elected Bush and say, "Oops, we did it again."
By the way, I am not voting for either Obama or McCain because I know them well. My Black brothers will be in for a surprise if Obama gets elected. He is a white man with half black skin and who is too afraid to stand up for who he is. His culture is white. Most of "us" can't tell the type of drink that man is having and we would have to work half a day to afford it.
America, there is a saying about buyer beware. America, we are being sold something and we are buying it because Oprah et al says it is good. Guess what? Oprah knows s*** when it comes to things like this. Vote with intelligence and not with polls or marketing.
I feel sorry for us. Both the Democratic and Republic parties should be outlawed for leaving us with two of the worst choices in history. Do them a favor by voting in a brand new Congress.
Jesus! These Americans don't learn. I remember high school and reading my history book, which showed policemen thrusting ferocious dogs onto a defenseless black man. That was back in the 60s! Almost half a century later, I read almost the same thing, except that now these racists prefer to kill children. I don't know why American society is so sick, but I think it might have to do with something known as karma. I mean all the innocents assassinated in these imperial wars must be clamoring for justice somewhere, and God, if you believe in Him, must be really mad. In fact, you don't have to be God to feel mad as hell with American behaviour. Imagining how the average fat ass munches on his snacks and watches the latest Idol show while thousands of other people around the world get rocketed, machine gunned and tortured by these white terrorists who call themselves freedom fighters is revolting. I suspect the worst is yet to come, and it will be terrible for a spoiled, ignorant, indifferent and arrogant people.
Why does the media not report that Ayers is most likely the ghost writer for Obama's book? Probably because it's pure speculation, without a shred of real evidence to back it up.
niggers
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tagged as:
- solution
i fucken hate niggers
These ugly, pathetic losers are frightening, but even more frightening and sad is how they are encouraged by McCain and Dubya-with-lipstick Palin. As usual the Repubs can't win an election on their politics of greed so they resort to character assassination (McCain: "I'm a REAL American!" to the crowds) and they both demonize Obama in thinly veiled attacks to promote the idea he isn't a Christian (he is proven to be more of a Christian than McC, who normally couldn't care less about religion, and Palin, by his life of working for the poor and downtrodden, his tolerance & his desire to find peaceful solutions to world conflicts - what have either of the GOPs ever done for anyone that required real giving of themselves? And McCain says he won't talk to anyone he considers an enemy - more wars are his solution). Palin's slurs have caused her rabid Conservative followers to even chant to kill Obama and death to him! The media has not made as much of this as they should have. This is serious from a candidate for VP! If Biden had encouraged the same behavior towards McCain, McSame/Palin would have made it a daily campaign theme (and rightly so). When challenged on this McCain said he wouldn't criticize any of his supporters! What?! Where is the outrage in the media? From anywhere? No wonder these rightwing loonies are emboldened!
Then there is Palin's membership in an extreme rightwing religious movement - the New Apostolic Reformation Movement - which claims to have gotten her elected in Alaska, wants to take over the US government and start a war with Russia to end the world to cause their Rambo-style Christ to return and kick butt. They claim they killed Mother Theresa with their prayers (because she was evil), they want to destroy the Catholic & Mormon churches (and all the others, since they are the only true believers - like they all say) and they admit they are now praying for the death of McCain just after his election so Palin and They can step in and create their version of a theocracy and bring about the end of the world! Where is the pathetic US "news" media. Don't they do any investigative journalism anymore? No wonder they are rated by Reporters W/O Borders 52nd in the world.
These Neo-Conservatives are dangerous and even after 28 years of their gutting of the constitution, ruining the economy with their failed unregulated free market capitalism, letting the infrastructure crumble, cause the suffering and death of millions all over the world with their economic hitmen, assassins and military invasions, their assault on basic civil rights and their cold-hearted arrogance, they still spew the old crap about creating wealth (they don't tell their ignorant followers for whom)and "values"(which they never define) which still get millions cheering, even after all these years have proven what this bunch is really about. It boggles the mind.
Yeah, Barbara West is asking the real questions... written by her husband, a Republican Strategist
If they are making themselves known it would seem to be a good thing. It is the hiding in dark places figuratively and actually that makes them all the more dangerous. But I would add that for every 1 that comes out there are 5-10 who still seem normal and move among us.
How easy is it to blind us Americans? I do not know but we elected Bush twice and we are in Iraq and we just gave away 700 billion plus to bail out capitalists. But, we are different on the left and the likes of Mother Jones are shedding the light, right?
Does anyone find it strange how all of a sudden the particular is applied to the general. I believe that is a logical fallacy. If I were to apply this to Obama then I would be accused of who knows what. After all, it was Obama who sat in the pews of one of the best black churches in America (his own words in '95)listening to the hatred and racism of Rev. Wright. If I were to apply the same logic what would I say about the association of Obama with a known terrorist Ayers. Perhaps we should not apply this fallacy to his association with Khalidi who has had a Palistinian dance group of children performing a beheading and then stomping on US flags. Was that the video that the LA times is trying not to show?
But, why look at Obama. Couple of months ago, in India there were Christians persecuted and killed. Several nuns were raped. Do we paint all Indians with the same brush? Why not? This has been taking place in their society for several hundred years. They also have a caste system.
Considering the size of the US and the fact that freedom is a virtue, we should be celebrating the good because there is a lot of it. You know, every time there is a problem anywhere it is US who are there. So, couple of skinheads do not make for a racist society. Maybe it is a reflection of the sick hearts whose minds are mirrored in this article. You forget that it really does not matter who the candidate is people are people and they will go after whatever they can in order to win. That is the game. Racism has been as much a part of the game as has age discrimination and sexism. If as much were written about the destruction of Hillary and Palin (sexism) as racism, maybe Obama would not be in the running at all.
Mother Jones, will Obama be spreading the wealth to you like he has to his Kenyan aunt who the US government has been trying to deport for the last 4 years? Or will Obama be helping you like he has his mother in law who is still living in the same apartment that Michelle was raised in? Sharing 101!
His book, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and inheritance” reveals a growing rage so typical of the anger of a traumatized child. He reports the misdirected hate doesn’t go away, “It formed a counter-narrative buried deep within each person and at the center of which stood white people.”
Obama’s childhood pain causes him to over read racism in others. High school classmate noted in Hawaii where everyone was some kind of minority, “Obama made everything out like it was racial.” Is Obama warning that he’s a closet racist?
www.americasstrugglewithsuccess.com
I don't think Obama is the solution for anything. Democrat or Republican, it's the same imperial arrogance for the rest of the world. Isn't Obama the one who is going to send more troops to Afghanistan? Isn't he the one who went to kowtow before AIPAC? Isn't he also the one who is going to continue rocketing Pakistan? The whole American political system needs to be changed, but I´m afraid the American people will have to wrestle political sovereignty away from the elites in order to do this. I wonder if this can be done peacefully. Let's not forget that Lincoln himself justified a popular insurgence in the face of a tyrannical government.
Their ego trip is as big as president bush's - and as important as the lame duck himself....
It's hard to image someone who considers himself/herself that superior to everyone else AND as always proving themselves to be inferior - foolish - petty people
Wow - are you serious? In this day and age there are still racists. I suppose I am not surprised since there still seems to be many sexists.
It is sad to see so much self-hatred still exists (which is at the root of condemning others). One people, one love, one world...and then we graduate. Don't we all want to graduate?
Now that the writing is on the wall. All the delusional, down in the mouth, nattering nabobs of negativism are coming out of the woodwork! Doing what they do best..........[deleted], [deleted], [deleted].
No matter what you think the PROBLEM is it will NEVER be solved in a Presidential Election.
The people do NOT elect a president! The Electoral College does that. It makes me laugh whenever the major media outlets use the latest voter polls to justify their incessant coverage of a non-existent "horse race"!
If you go to an Electoral Vote projection website you will see the ONLY thing that matters. Obama is projected to win by 160 electoral votes! For all intents and purposes this election is OVER! Why do you think you see the Repukelicans behaving like trapped animals with their lies, racism, hate, and fear tactics. Even THEY know that the jig is up.
You don't change a two party monopoly with a presidential election. You do that with LOCAL elections and work your way up to NATIONAL seats!
Electing a president is choosing a person to give the keys to drive the car that you ALREADY have! G.W. Bush took the keys and CRASHED the car! So we are just trying to elect a COMPETENT driver at this point!
If you want a NEW car, you go back to the drawing board and rebuild from the BOTTOM-up! But very few people want to do that because it involves REAL commitment and involvment. Lets face it, the only time most people even pretend to get involved in the political process is during presidential elections. I doubt if ANY of the mental midgets spewing hate and ignorance in these postings could tell you who their Representatives or Senators are! The REAL irony is that they don't even choose the winner(electoral votes do that). If you want to really make a change in the process, go out and elect a LOCAL politician to work for you.........and then another, and another, and another! DUH. The journey of a thousand miles begins with ONE step. Start taking the necessary steps............or shut-up!
I have only one thing to say to our new president:
"ILLIGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM"
BE A SUCKER FOR THE RICH..............VOTE REPUBLICAN!
P.S.>> God bless Studs Terkel. A truely insightful American whose progressive viewpoint and sharp wit will be sorely missed! Rest in peace dear friend.
I live in New England,and have lived in some of the largest cities in it.I came back to my native,small town in Connecticut to be close to family,and raise my two children.Before this election,I thought that most of the people I knew here from growing up,were good,honest people.I can't tell you how enraged I have become.Within the past two months,I have heard things that make my blood BOIL,and I will never respect the most of the people I grew up with again.I have heard the "N" BOMB from people I thought I knew.It is truly disgusting,and I am shocked EVERY TIME I HEAR IT!They are racist,stupid bigots.I teach my children that we are ALL THE SAME.We all bleed red.I hope that Obama becomes our Pres.,and teaches them a lesson.Hate breeds hate.BUT UNDER OUR ROOF,LOVE BREEDS LOVE,and UNDERSTANDING,and TOLERANCE.
I live in New England,and have lived in some of the largest cities in it.I came back to my native,small town in Connecticut to be close to family,and raise my two children.Before this election,I thought that most of the people I knew here from growing up,were good,honest people.I can't tell you how enraged I have become.Within the past two months,I have heard things that make my blood BOIL,and I will never respect most of the people I grew up with again.I have heard the "N" BOMB from people I thought I knew.It is truly disgusting,and I am shocked EVERY TIME I HEAR IT!They are racist,stupid bigots.I teach my children that we are ALL THE SAME.We all bleed red.I hope that Obama becomes our Pres.,and teaches them a lesson.Hate breeds hate.BUT UNDER OUR ROOF,LOVE BREEDS LOVE,and UNDERSTANDING,and TOLERANCE.
I could not agree with you any more.
As an immigrant from Puerto Rico, a U.S possession or colony, I was faced with the discrimination that prevails in this country. Being raised in a predominately mixed neighborhood I was labeled a [deleted] to the so called white race, and honky to the blacks. What is a child to do? learned to take the best of all peoples and work from there. I Think your response was very well thought out, very good!
Supremacists look for any excuse for their existence. I wish Daniel Cowart had given the FBI a reason to take him out rather than waste taxpayer money to feed and house the creep and pay his legal bills. He is a killer, a psychopath and is unredeemable and so are his cohorts. Sooner or later, all of these domestic terrorists will be weeded out and either jailed or killed by their own actions. For those right wing haters who have families, they may want to think twice before putting themselves and their families at risk of arrest or worse, death by violence. Violence begets violence and has no place in a civilized 21st Century America.
Racists are cowards. They don't have the guts to be individuals.
The real knowledgeable ones will rise only if Obama wins. If he does win, we all shall see how many assasination attepms he can survive.
Very soon Barack Obama will be your new President. This is a reality you cannot alter or escape from. It is fact. It is history. It is justice for the world.
Many of you have seen the light and have accepted the truth. And we thank you for your support and aid in electing Barack Obama.
To those who have rejected the truth you have no reason to fear Barack Obama. He is wise and just and he will follow the principals followed by his African forefathers. Barack Obama is the son of Kings and Queens who started human civilization thousands of years ago. Barack Obama remembers his heritage and his obligations to the Truth, Justice and the Future.
Barack Obama understands what is wrong and what needs to be done. Barack Obama has intelligence and vision that has lasted for over a millennium. Barack Obama was born with the appropriate ways of thinking, speaking, and acting and this will inspire you to be liberated for now there is no shackle which can keep you enslaved.
An African Proverb tell us:“Then command the servant, thusly: Make an Elder's staff causing my son to stand in my place I will instruct him through the speech of the listeners and the counsels of the first of the ancients who listened to the divinities. In so doing troubles will be removed from the people.”
Barck Obama is here now to listen, to instruct and will lead you to your new life.
America will have a new start. A change to right itself. A change to correct its wrongs and address its sins. If you support change that will bring forth social and economic justice, you will stand with Barack Obama. Those who have been denied justice in America will get justice. Those will have been denied opportunity will be given opportunity. Those will falsely imprisoned will be freed. Those who are guilty will be punished. America’s salvation is at hand.
Those who have profited in America will play a role helping others. Justice requires equality and fairness and those who have the means will now be fair and will contribute to equality.
Stand with Barack Obama and you will be honored you for your work, sacrifice, dedication and devotion on behalf of all oppressed peoples.
Stand with Barack Obama and you will be honored and celebrated and remembered in song and praise and by your children.
Well "Dr.Q", you better pray that you didn't use your own ISP to make that threat against the life of our next President of the United States!
I'm sure others also reported your stupidity to Mother Jones and the FBI. The Secret Service will be seeing that also. Any other rocket scientists want to play macho games?
BE A SUCKER FOR THE RICH(or a racist idiot)..........VOTE REPUBLICAN!
Let them crawl from the rocks under which they live and make themselves known. I feel they are in for a very big surprise.
By the way, John McCain has relatives who are Black. His family did own slaves and there was more than a little "race mixing" that went on. The McCain campaign specifically requested that his family NOT talk to the media about it. They have a family reunion every year, but John has yet to accept an invitation to attend. The white supremists might want to tred lightly. You never know to whom you might be related....can you spell Strom Thurmond?
If only these people will fill their minds with something of substance they would not be sought out by the Republican Party, who more than ever made a mission of inciting these kinds of people into action for their own selfish gains!
Palin & McCain should be held responsible for a lot of this, they have had the most hate filled campaign since the 1960s.
These people teach their children to hate and fear others rather than to look deeper into their own shortcomings which is mostly a lack of education and self value. Rather than examining themselves to see that they need to get up and go to school, get out of those small rural communities and venture out to meet other people they stay locked up in their closed minded like cages blaming others for their state of being!
Well if there is anyone keeping them down it is themselves and the Republican Party that they put so much stock in, but who don't give a damn about their poor state of being one way or the other.They can not reason that Obama is trying to help them too while McCain only wants to help himself and his rich supporters!
They will mess around and call those black, Hispanic and Asian gangs out on their behinds and believe you me they ARE well organized to deal with them! Let something happen to Obama and you had better know they will get that war they THINK they want!
HAVE YOU VOTED??
GOT TO VOTE!!!!
These are the kind of people that sit around all the time watching FOX or listening to Rush Limbaugh!
A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE!
THESE PEOPLE KEEP THEIR MINDS LOCKED UP IN CAGES LITTERED WITH LIES, THEY EAT FEAR AND BREATE HATE!
THEY KNOW THEY CAN'T FIGHT AGAINST THE RICH SO THEY FIGHT AGAINST THOSE THEY THINK ARE WEAKER THAN THEMSELVES! COWARDS THEY ARE! THEY THINK IF THEY FIGHT AGAINST PEOPLE THE THE SYSTEM TRIES TO KEEP DOWN THEY THEMSELVES PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE SYSTEM AS MOVERS AND SHAKERS. THEY DON'T REALIZE THEY ARE VICTIMS OF THE SYSTEM AS MUCH AS THOSE THEY CONSIDER WEAKER OR LESS THAN THEMSELVES! THE JOKE IS STILL ON THEM BECAUSE AT LEAST BLACKS AND HISPANICS KNOW WHAT AND WHO THEY FIGHT AGAINST AND WHY, THEY DON'T HAVE A CLUE THAT THE SYSTEM HAS CHANGED, IT'S NO LONGER BASED ON RACE SO MUCH, BUT THE HAVES AND THE HAVE NOTS! THEY NEED TO REASON THIS OUT BECAUSE IF THEY WERE ABLE TO GET RID OF ALL BLACKS THEY STILL WOULDN'T BE ANY BETTER OFF, THEY WILL STILL BE IN THE SAME SITUATIONS THEY ARE NOW IN. LOST AND WITHOUT!
MOTHERS EDUCATE YOUR CHILDREN SO THAT THEY CAN MOVE PAST ALL OF THIS AND HAVE A FUTURE OF PROSPERITY RATHER THAN STAYING LOCKED IN THOSE CAGES OF FEAR, HATE AND LIES!
