Think About It

Obama Cuts Reverend Wright Loose

Coming off a loss in Pennsylvania and with the Indiana and North Carolina Democratic primaries just a week away, Barack Obama took a machete to his ties with Reverend Wright.  Speaking in North Carolina, Obama mustered up his best imitation of moral outrage and said, "I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened over the spectacle that we saw yesterday."

Obama’s denunciation came the day after the Reverend Jeremiah Wright gave two high profile speeches laced with Farrakhan-like rhetoric.  Wright also made a statement that hinted at an off-the-record conversation between Wright and Obama.  Wright had stated, "If Senator Obama did not say what he said, he would never get elected.  Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls."

Obama, faced with another seven months of Wright’s bombastic racial remarks, undoubtedly decided it was time to publicly repudiate Wright before Wright could scuttle Obama’s campaign.  "What became clear to me is that he was presenting a world view that contradicts who I am and what I stand for," Obama said. "And what I think particularly angered me was his suggestion somehow that my previous denunciation of his remarks were somehow political posturing. Anybody who knows me and anybody who knows what I'm about knows that I am about trying to bridge gaps and I see the commonality in all people."

“I have known Reverend Wright for 20 years," said Obama. "The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago.  Obviously, whatever relationship I had with Reverend Wright has changed.  I don't think he showed much concern for me, more importantly I don't think he showed much concern for what we're trying to do in this campaign."

Obama has clearly cut his ties to Wright, the man who officiated at his wedding, baptized his two daughters and has been his pastor for 20 years. Obama titled his second book, "The Audacity of Hope,"  from a Wright sermon.

I suspect Obama may have waited too long before coming out with his denunciation of Wright.  First, Wright’s past statements are forever tied to Obama.  Second, Obama’s denunciation of Wright will not insulate him from statements made by Wright between now and November.

Reverend Wright wasn’t the only one who was left to twist in the wind; loopy commentators from CNN and other left-wing media outlets quickly rushed in to spin Wright comments before the NAACP as being some sort of stellar civil rights speech.  Oops!

In addition to your comments, the questions are:

Will Reverend Wright continue his high profile public appearances between now and November?
Will the media cover these speeches?
How will Wright react to Obama’s denunciation?
Will Obama’s denunciation hurt him with African-American voters?
How much will this help Obama with white voters?

Israel's Spies Among Us

Federal agents arrested 84-year-old Ben-Ami Kadish, an American, last week on four counts of conspiracy and espionage.  Kadish is suspected of passing secrets on nuclear weapons, fighter jets, and missiles to Israel in the 1980s.  This case is linked to the Jonathan Pollard spy scandal that rocked U.S.-Israeli relations.  Pollard is currently serving a life term.

Spying by Israeli agents may have been more wide spread than originally thought according to persons close to the case.  Kadish admitted he spied for Israel, reporting to the same Israeli government handler to whom Pollard answered.

State Department spokesman Tom Casey said, "This was not the kind of behavior we would expect from friends and allies...”

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said of the arrest: "We know nothing about it.  We heard it from the media."   Israel has unsuccessfully sought Pollard's release.

Kadish was born in Connecticut and worked as a mechanical engineer at the Army's Picatinny Arsenal in Dover, New Jersey.  He spied from 1979 to 1985, and he continued contact with the unidentified Israeli handler until last month.

Kadish allegedly passed 50-100 classified documents on nuclear weaponry to his Israeli handler.  Other documents pertained to the f-15 fighter jet and Patriot missiles.

Even though we are an ally of Israel, they apparently feel the need to steal our military secrets. 

The questions are:
Why is Israel engaging in espionage against us?
What actions should we take against Israel?
When caught, should Israeli agents be treated differently from those of another country?
Should Pollard or Kadish be  pardoned?

The Reverend Jeremiah Wright on African-American Education

Reverend Jeremiah Wright gave his much anticipated speech to the NAACP last night.   Fox carried it in its entirety, so I thought I would watch it.  I thought Wright, in an effort to calm the political waters, would make a conciliatory speech that would portray him as a thoughtful moderate.  Instead, what I saw was a fiery demagogue masquerading as a pastor.  The most disturbing part of his message had to do with the education of African-American children.  He apparently now has a Ph.D. in Psychology in addition to his theological education, or one might think that from watching his speech.  He went into a lengthy diatribe about how black children in the U.S. and in Africa use their right brains to learn while whites use their left brains.  The Reverend Wright explained this is why white teachers find black children sitting and standing on their desks and not paying attention in class.  This is code for, “It’s the white teacher’s fault; just keep doing what you’re doing.”   

Wright next chastised those who speak out against how young African-Americans speak.   (That would be whites and Bill Cosby.)  The Revered Wright went into a lengthy and faulty comparison of how New Englander’s pronounce their words and how young African-American mispronounce their words.  He forgot to mention that the New England accent is just that, an accent.  Moreover; Wright forgot to mention it is the grammar and syntax of young African-Americans that is being criticized, not just their mispronunciation of words.  In other words, “ebonics is just fine, just keep doing what you’re doing.”

There will undoubtedly be those in the media and elsewhere who will praise Wright’s speech as being one of those great speeches on race in America.  First, much of his speech was spent in justifying the poor performance of African-American children in school.  Not once did he suggest that their parents had any part to play in their children’s education.  Second, Wright engaged in his own subtle racism by mocking whites for not being more understanding of the African-American culture.

The Revered Wright has tapped into that surefire formula for creating a following:  Blame all of the African-American’s problems on the white man, while not taking any responsibility for your own actions.  If anyone criticizes him, they are a racist.   

The questions are:
Will the majority of the African-American population ever see these Revered Wrights in their true light?
How can our educational system be modified to assure that young African-Americans will get a good education?
Will the Obama campaign be able to keep the Revered Wright under wraps until November?

Capital Punishment in America

Thomas Arthur of Alabama, Earl Wesley Berry of Mississippi and Carlton Turner of Texas are all on death row, and all lost their bid to have the Supreme Court rule lethal injections cruel and inhumane.  The Supreme Court blocked their executions last fall while it considered a challenge to Kentucky's lethal injection procedures.  Last week’s court’s decision will clear the way to resume executions by lethal injection.

Defense attorneys based their appeals on the procedure used during lethal injections.  Three drugs are used in succession; one to put the inmate to sleep, one to paralyze and one to stop the heart. Attorneys for the condemned men alleged the drugs are often used incorrectly, which causes excruciating pain.

A trial court sentenced Thomas Arthur to death for killing Troy Wicker, 35, of Muscle Shoals, Ala., in 1982. The victim's wife, Judy Wicker, testified she had sex with Arthur and paid him $10,000 to kill her husband, who was shot in the face as he lay in bed.

Another trial court sentenced Earl Wesley Berry to death for the 1987 murder of Mary Bounds.  Berry beat Bounds to death as she left her weekly church choir practice.   

Carlton Turner, of Dallas, was sentenced to death for killing his parents in 1998.

Americans in numerous surveys and polls have overwhelmingly supported capital punishment.   Most Americans feel little sympathy for those who murder; however, hardly a month goes by when we see a case where someone who is innocent has been cleared by DNA testing.  The Innocence Project has cleared 216 wrongly convicted individuals by using DNA testing. Sixteen of these people were on death row when DNA testing cleared them.   These cases point out the obvious; the criminal justice system isn’t always perfect.   All of this brings up many interesting questions.

The questions are:
Should the death penalty be abolished?
How do we guarantee that an innocent person won’t be executed?
How can we guarantee a life sentence means life?
What approach should we be taking?

Obama the Marxist

Barack Obama gave us a glimpse into how his administration would handle corporate business in the U.S.  Yesterday, Obama called for a windfall tax on oil company profits. 

"For the well-off in this country, high gas prices are mostly an annoyance. But to most Americans, they're a huge problem, bordering on a crisis," said Obama.  Obama called for heavy federal taxes to be imposed on oil companies selling oil above $80 a barrel.  "And at the same time [we will] go after a windfall profit tax that would be used to provide relief to low-income folks," Obama said.

Regardless of what one thinks of oil companies profits, Obama’s plan is clearly a Marxist scheme to redistribute wealth from the coffers of corporate America and give it to “low income folks.”   Apparently, under the Obama doctrine, any corporation that is thought to be making too much profit would be subjected to an excess profits tax.   This money, in turn, would be handed down with great magnanimity by Saint Obama to the lowest income group.

The last time I checked, all of the major oil companies were publicity held companies, which means the stock of these companies is owned directly or indirectly by average Americans.   It also interesting to note that the federal government already taxes consumers a hefty 15% on each sale at the pump. 

In contrast, John McCain is proposing a plan to cut federal taxes on gas this summer to counter rising prices. 

The questions are: 
If elected, how far would Obama go in his quest to tax excess profits?  Would the pharmaceutical industry be next on Obama’s hit list?   
Where would Obama draw the line on excess profits? 
What is an excess profit for a public corporation?   
Would he decide those on his corporate hit list should be subjected to an excess profits tax?   
Is Obama the new Robin Hood?

CEO Salaries vs. Athlete's Salaries

"Ernie" has some thoughts on the salaries paid to athletes and corporate CEOs.

"Very shortly sports will undergo the NFL and NBA drafts.  Several outstanding college players (many of whom can barely read and write) will become instant millionaires.  Fans will cheer, applaud and envy each of those fortunate souls, but you'll hear very few sound their displeasure over salaries that rise far beyond wasteful exorbitance.  It's amazing where our values have gone.  Some athlete gets millions and millions in endorsements before he ever steps into a pro arena, plus millions in salary, and people don't bat an eye.  Some permiscuous drug addicted actress signs for $10 million to do a slut movie and nobody sees anything odd about that.  Yet, let some CEO get a $10 million retirement bonus and the libs and their media accomplices scream to high heaven.  It's not fair that he gets all that money while a factory worker has to get by on $40,000/year!  It's "big business" at its evil worst once again!  A perfect example of why we need to redistribute the wealth! 

It bears asking the question, why should any athlete make millions of dollars a year playing a kid's game?  Truly,  Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees makes more money a year than some teams pay their entire roster.  He's a sports hero, but Jack Welsh is a selfish "big business" parasite.  You can cite example after example of "celebrities" making obscene amounts of money, but what you won't hear is media and/or public outrage.  (They save that for business people).  Or how that wealth should be spread around to illegal immigrants.  (Thank you, Nancy Pelosi).  Does anyone really believe we'll ever return to the moral values and Christian principles that founded this once great nation?  I don't think so."

Food Shortages or the Beginning of a World Wide Famine?

Are world wide food shortages imminent?  According to many experts, we are entering an era of world wide food shortages brought about by several factors. 

Food prices rose sharply in 2006-2007, and the outlook for 2008 is much worse.  Raw food prices have risen 22% in the past year, which has translated into an overall 6.5% increase in grocery prices during 2007.
Wheat prices rose 92% last year.  The price of corn is up 44% over what it was 15 months ago.  Rice is up nearly 40%.

Russia and India have begun to embargo food for export.  Imported rice is being rationed by many large retailers in the U.S.   Food riots have occurred in several countries.  Starvation is rampant in parts of Africa.  We have been one of the world’s leading exporters of food, but all of this may change.

So, what’s going on?  It appears to be a number of factors coming together at the same time.  We supply about 55% of the world’s supply of corn, but nearly one-third of our corn crop is going into Ethanol production.   This along with other factors has triggered an increase in corn prices.  The demands of the rising middle-class in China and India have driven food prices to higher levels.  Livestock, fed on grain, is also proportionally higher.  Higher fuel prices is adding to the cost of farming and transporting raw food to processing plants and eventually to the stores. 

Add to this the world population explosion.  The world population has doubled in the last 40 years and it is expected to increase by another three billion by 2040. 

The questions are: 
How severe will the shortages become? 
How much of the increases are being driven by commodity speculators?  Will America become the next “Saudi Arabia” of food?
Will the U.S. embargo food? 
Will our position as a leading exporter of food give us the needed leverage with oil producing countries?
Will the world’s population eventually outpace our capacity to produce food?
Will the U.S. drop its Ethanol program?
Are the oil companies conspiring to kill the bio-fuels program? 

Was Pennsylvania Obama's Waterloo?

Although Barack Obama received 92% of the African-American vote in Pennsylvania, it didn’t blunt Hillary’s sweep of the Pennsylvania Democratic Primary last night.  With 99% of the vote tallied, she won with a robust 10% lead.  Has the average voter caught on to Obama’s lack of substance?  A breakdown of the Pennsylvania vote shows Hillary won big in the rural and blue collar areas of the state.  Interestingly enough, these were these same areas George W. Bush won in 2000.  Anything can happen in a political campaign, but the experts are predicting Hillary will have a similar win in Indiana in another couple of weeks.  It looks as though the only state left that Obama can win is North Carolina, which has a substantial African-American population. 

So what does all of this mean?  It appears that several deductions can be made from these events.  If Hillary wins by a similar or larger margin in Indiana, then it’s clear that Obama is losing some of his mojo with voters.  When the two go into the Democratic Convention, the super delegates will have to consider that Obama will be vulnerable in all areas except in heavy urban areas with substantial African-American populations. 

The questions are:  Will enough of the Super Delegates defect to give the nomination to Hillary?  Will the Super Delegates go with Obama for fear of being called a racist?  If Obama is the Democratic nominee, will a large percentage of those who voted for Hillary defect to McCain?  Will there be enough defections to swing the election to McCain?

Gun Control Coming in 2009?

  It’s pretty clear where Obama and Hillary Clinton stand on gun control.  Both are given a grade of “F” by the National Rifle Association, despite Hillary Clinton’s new found love of duck hunting.  If either is elected President, gun owners can be assured there will be renewed efforts to further restrict gun ownership.  A friend send me some interesting information on countries that imposed gun control.

In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------
In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
---------------------------
Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated
------------------------------
China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
----------------------------
Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------
Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------
Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million 'educated' people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
-----------------------------
Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million.
-----------------------------------
  I can't vouch that all of these statistics are 100% accurate, but one thing is clear: It's much harder to take over a country whose citizens are armed.  Meanwhile, in the U.S., forty states have passed “Right to Carry” laws that allow citizens with no criminal records to carry concealed firearms, once they pass a prescribed training class.  Gun control advocates fought against passing these laws, predicting an apocalyptical vision of shootings in the streets, wild west style.  Of course none of this came to pass.  Actually, there was a decrease in crime in those states. 

However, with all of this being said, there are many questions that deserve discussion: 

Should handgun sales be restricted to those without criminal records?  What should be done to filter out persons with mental problems?  Who should not be allowed to own a handgun - a long gun?
Should semiautomatic weapons be outlawed as some gun control advocates suggest? 

My Son in Iraq

This is a little different for a blog entry, but a couple of friends of mine who live in Washington have a problem that I suspect is shared by many parents of service men and women who are serving in Iraq.  They are an older couple who live in a small suburban community, and they attend church regularly.

The problem is this:  Different well meaning people will often come up to them after church and inquire about how their son is doing in Iraq.  The well meaning but oafish people will then make the statement, “We need to get out of this awful war in Iraq, so your son can come home.”  Or, words to that effect.  While well meaning, it’s hurtful.

The couple doesn’t want to offend these well meaning people, but they would like to have a non-offensive reply ready when these statements are made.  Any suggestions?