Lockett said: It seems that, while I was writing my comment, Jannis submitted hers. I have only one thing to say to her: Show me one dental hospital in Alabama that still has segregated waiting rooms, and I'll believe that your comment is relevant.

Lockett said: P.S. Sorry, I was so focused on Connie's statement of inherent white racism that I forgot about the rest of her driveling post. Erm, here it is: "I have felt exactly the way this wonderful being expressed his views in this speech for years. There is a racial divide that is embedded in all of us. It so unfortunate that slavery made this ugly truth a reality. We are 450 years post slavery and the remnants of slave masters still exist in the minds of those that have been favored. You can deny it all day; but until you sort out in your mind what actually happened 450 years ago - you will not come to terms with the racial divide. Barack Obama is the real deal. Regardless of his ethnicity, America can not and will not get another person of this caliber for 50 years. I believe in my soul this man is an Apostle. To stand before millions of Americans and not disown his Pastor speaks volumes. He is honest and his integrity level is something Americans have never experienced in a politician. We can put Hillary in the white house and have to worry if Bill is flirting with the staff; we can put John McCain in office and worry about another 10,000 young men and women dying for a war that should not have been. Or we can put a man, that is black and white; rich and poor; and honest in everything he say and watch the world become a better place." To your statement that "I believe in my soul that this man is an Apostle" - do you even know what an Apostle is? Here's the definition, in case you're wondering: "n. A missionary of the early Christian Church." Yep, Obama fits that description perfectly, don't you think? Regarding your statement that "To stand before millions of Americans and not disown his Pastor speaks volumes", you're entirely right. It speaks volumes about his agreement with Wright's twisted theology. You say that "We can put Hillary in the white house and have to worry if Bill is flirting with the staff; we can put John McCain in office and worry about another 10,000 young men and women dying for a war that should not have been. Or we can put a man, that is black and white; rich and poor; and honest in everything he say and watch the world become a better place". Heads up(pun possibly intended) - a possible threat of Bill getting blowjobs is the least of our worries if Hillary's elected. And, do you really think that Iraq isn't a better place after Saddam's ousting? Would you prefer to have his intentional torture and murder of his own civilians continue? Do you really think that a military presence shouldn't be maintained to protect Iraq's infant democratic government? You honestly think that the mere presence of Barack Obama in the Oval Office is enough to bring "change" - it will invariably be change for the worse unless Obama stops making charismatic speeches and starts actually thinking up a plan for this "change". Obama has given me no reason to believe that he is competent - but you apparently don't need reasons.

Jannis said: I have listened to the furor over the comments of Senator Obama's former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. It has not deterred me form being one of his supporters and casting my vote for him as the next president of the United States. Senator Obama's speech should have put an end to the controversy and moved all to examine and re-examine their roles in the issues of race in America to begin a dialogue of healing. It matters to everyone and to me in particular because of my story of racism as I experienced it as a child. Growing Up “Alabama” Chapter Seven Growing up “Alabama,” not to mention growing up black and female, meant that I had to face the racism that permeated, no, that was indeed the lifeblood coursing through the veins of the rivers and clay hills that was my home. Daddy and momma did a good job of shielding us from the people and events that shaped the south in the sixties, but sometimes I wonder if I was just naïve, immature, and stuck in escape by reading every book I could get my hands on, taking a mental journey to worlds imaginary and real, that I would ordinarily never be able to conceive if I did not read and see the facts of them in my books. There were, however, events that could not be avoided, that remain indelible in my mind, scarred on my heart and that still leave a bitter and sour taste on my tongue. When I was young, I really can’t remember how old I was, but I must have been between the ages of four and eight, my father was the pastor of Hopewell Baptist Church in Lowndes County, Alabama. On the weekends that Daddy was to preach there, the entire family would tightly sandwich ourselves into the car and make the trip from Tuscaloosa. In my child’s mind, the country roads were beautiful unknown lands, blanketed in kudzu and with densely wooded forest where all kinds of mysteries were waiting to be discovered. We would usually make a stop at “Cousin Chen’s” (whose real name was Evelina Davidson) house during the trip. She and her daughter, Victoria, were close to the family and would visit us in Tuscaloosa from time to time. I remember Cousin Chen as a brown skinned, gray haired lady, a little stout, and who always had a dip of snuff under her lip. That dip of snuff was always trouble for my siblings and me when she would visit us in Tuscaloosa. Having that dip of sour smelling snuff tucked in her lip meant that one of us would have to get a tin can, fill it with dirt, and bring it to her for a makeshift spittoon. Of course, that foul smelling dip of snuff meant that we would be sent to empty the tin can when Chen had filled it with the nauseating brown spittle. In spite of her nasty habit, we loved her and I guess that perhaps she fulfilled the role of a grandmother with my father’s mother being dead and my mother’s mother living so far away in Savannah. After church services one Sunday in Lowndes County, we went to Chen’s house for dinner. There were other adults there from the church community, but of course, being a child, I, as well as my brothers and sisters, was not allowed to sit in the living room to either listen or participate in the grown folks’ conversations. Children were seen and not heard in those days, but it surely didn’t stop me from listening. The grown folks, in low and solemn tone, were talking about a lynching. I couldn’t hear who it was, but from the bits and snatches of the hushed conversation, I heard that a man in the community had been taken by the Klu Klux Klan, strung up on a tree, and killed. What was his crime? In the 1960s, being black in the wrong place in Lowndes County, Alabama was all that was needed. I had known all about the Klan, how they dressed in their white robes with the pointed hoods that covered their faces; how they hated black people and would kill them for almost anything. This was Alabama in the sixties, and no matter how well my parents tried to protect and shield us, there were things that we just couldn’t avoid knowing and understanding; things that we had to know to survive. It was this knowing and listening to the grown folks talk that evening, that made the drive back to Tuscaloosa one of the most frightening nights of my young life. Nights in rural Alabama can be wondrously beautiful and all too often horrendously frightening at the same time, especially when you are you young. The night of the drive back to Tuscaloosa from Lowndes County, was one of those nights that was full of moonlight streaming through pines and forest growth streaking across my eyes in blurring ghostly images, while the car raced along the highway. Because our family was so large, to ease the strain and give me a chance to breath, sometimes I would lie in the space between the backseat and the rear window. This was one of my favorite things to do, as I would be able to gaze at the bright stars twinkling in the Alabama sky or go to sleep without someone’s elbow, knee, or butt poking, twisting or squirming all over me. On this night, I lay there in that space, my eyes not gazing at the stars or my mind wondering about them. Instead, I was vigilantly watching the deep shadows of the woods that were pierced here and there with shards of moonlight, waiting, seeing, horses with their white robed riders holding blazing torches, tear through the underbrush to the highway where they would stop our car and lynch my family too. Every light of a car approaching us was a car loaded with the Klan, ready to stop us in the road. It was my just imagination from the overheard grown folks talk that evening, but it was my reality from growing up black in Alabama too. Racism and the events of the civil Rights Movement are almost synonymous with Alabama. Tuscaloosa was the city where Governor George Wallace, in 1963, stood in the door of the University of Alabama to prevent the first black students from entering that bastion of what was white higher education. Although I lived in the same city, the cocoon of protections that my father and mother wove around my siblings and me prevented us from any first-hand knowledge of the incident, leaving us, along with the rest of America, as spectators of the event on the Huntley Brinkley Report broadcast. As much as they protected us, the events and effects of the Civil Rights Movement inevitably touched us. In the shadows of Richard Nixon becoming the 37th President of the United states; the scandalous car accident on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts involving Senator Ted Kennedy, killing for him any chance at the White House; the largest music festival of the counterculture being held in Woodstock, New York; and Neil Armstrong taking the first steps on the moon with his fellow astronauts, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins orbiting above, 1969 in Tuscaloosa saw the court ordered desegregation of the Tuscaloosa County Schools imposed, when I was to go to seventh grade. Our home on the corner of 37th Avenue and Seventh Street was zoned so that I had to leave the all-black Westlawn Junior High School and attend the all-white Tuscaloosa Junior High School. The prospect of attending a majority white school did not really matter that much to me. My parents had raised my siblings and me to believe that we were as smart, as good, and as capable as anyone else, that we could and would excel if given the chance. And as such, the prospect of attending this new school was not intimidating. While I could attend classes with white children at Tuscaloosa Junior High School, the greater community was still struggling with the issues of equal access for African Americans. While I could become friendly with white classmates, there was still a distinct difference when I left those hallowed halls of junior high school education and entered the businesses of Tuscaloosa. During my seventh grade school year at Tuscaloosa Junior High School, my mother had to visit a dentist—a white dentist, and I would go with her for the appointment on this occasion. I distinctly remember other visits to Dr. Jackson’s office and having to enter through a side door. By this time, however, Blacks were no longer being forced to enter establishments through a back door and my mother and I entered through the front door of the dentist’s office. Low and behold, there sitting in the empty waiting room was one of my white classmates from school. He recognized me and we exchanged greetings, with him beckoning me to come where he was sitting. Of course, with talking being the paramount activity for junior high students, I could not pass up the chance to chat with this friend while my mother was signing in and talking with the receptionist. Thoroughly engaged in conversation, learning that his mother was also seeing the dentist and rehashing the happenings at our school, I barely heard my mother call my name, “Jannis! Jannis, come on, let’s sit down.” “I’m going to sit right here Momma,” I replied and went right on talking with my friend. “Jannis, come on!” Momma said with a more insistent tone. “But I’m talking with my friend. Can’t we just sit here?’ was my naïve answer. “Jannis, come on right now!” Momma said softly though loaded with steel, through gritting teeth and a tightly set jaw. One look at my mother’s face told me that I had better get up right now and there was no chance of me changing her mind. Because I was pissed with all of the temper of adolescent rage about not being able to talk with my classmate, I looked my mother more closely in her eyes and it was then that I saw not the anger that I expected from me being a disobedient child, but pain. Momma grabbed my hand firmly and ushered be through a swinging half door next to the receptionist’s desk. We proceeded down a small hall to another glass door on the right and entered. There I saw crowded into the available chairs black folk. There were hardly two chairs available for my mother and me, but we found seats. It had at last dawned on me why my mother had been so insistent that I get up, leave my conversation with my white friend—the only individual sitting in the first waiting room—and go with her. We both sat in stony silence while the others waiting on the dentist buzzed in conversation. I imagine my mother feeling the shame, too painful to explain, from having to make me sit in the “colored” waiting room. My angry thoughts were, “This is crazy! All those empty seats in the front! What difference does it make?” The same white dentist who put his white hands into the white mouth of my friend’s mother would put the same white hands into my black mother’s mouth. Yet, we could not sit in the same waiting room. This event is scorched upon my mind and I cannot forget my mother’s face in the dentist’s office. It is part of who I am. It is the part of me that meant being touched by racism. It is a part of me growing up Alabama. Growing up black in Alabama also meant that our family was poor, but I, nor my brothers and sisters knew it. We had food to eat every day and clothes-sometime made by my mother and sisters or hand-me-downs—to wear. My father pastured at least eight churches to take care of us. He was not always paid in cash for preaching the gospel. There would be the weekends when he would come home with bushel baskets of peas, beans, corn, other vegetables, and the occasional live chickens in a crate. These were the hand-grown goods of the poor black folks in rural Alabama and all that they had to support their minister. And, because of their labor and my father’s ministry, we ate well and did not know that we were poor.  

Dave said: wow connie, Your post is just scary on so many levels. An apostle? Others would worry that a man that can swoon millions with talk alone is the anti-christ. The man has told us about change, yet has not given us a hint as to how he will achieve this change. It is too late to disavow his pastor. What speaks volume is that he attended this church for 20 years. The comments and college thesis of his wife, the refusal to recite the pledge of allegiance or the simple act of placing his hand over his heart during it's recital now become contextual to the argument that this man talks the talk but is not walking the walk. It is one thing to disagree with the policy of your opponent, but to not perform the simple gestures that would signal unity as an American first, speaks volumes. Your ability to rationalize 20 years of a man that attended what stongly appears to be a black separatist church without question also speaks volumes. This revelation if obama's past has only given white supremacists the fuel they need to bolster their points of view and recruit more members. Obama's 20 years in that environment and instead of throwing the pastor under the bus offered up his white grandmother as the sacrificial lamb instead speaks volumes. Obama has through his own actions and inactions, set this up to what it will ultimately be: an election that will decided more along racial lines than policy. There will be more revalations about this that will serve only to hurt obama's chances. Mark my words that obama's own family will come out swinging against him for what he did to his grandmother. How you plan to reconcile that and still support the man remains to be seen. This obama debacle could go one of two ways: it could open up the racial dialogue that some people desperately need. By that I mean the internal audit that most people need to come to grips with what makes them tick. The other outcome is even more pronounced polarization of racial lines. Unfortunately, the usual suspects are lining up on their respective sides making the latter the most likely outcome. Then you have connie who will not question this revalation and plow forward with blind devotion to the new testament book of the apostle obama. Very scary indeed.

Connie R. said: I have felt exactly the way this wonderful being expressed his views in this speech for years. There is a racial divide that is embedded in all of us. It so unfortunate that slavery made this ugly truth a reality. We are 450 years post slavery and the remnants of slave masters still exist in the minds of those that have been favored. You can deny it all day; but until you sort out in your mind what actually happened 450 years ago - you will not come to terms with the racial divide. Barack Obama is the real deal. Regardless of his ethnicity, America can not and will not get another person of this caliber for 50 years. I believe in my soul this man is an Apostle. To stand before millions of Americans and not disown his Pastor speaks volumes. He is honest and his integrity level is something Americans have never experienced in a politician. We can put Hillary in the white house and have to worry if Bill is flirting with the staff; we can put John McCain in office and worry about another 10,000 young men and women dying for a war that should not have been. Or we can put a man, that is black and white; rich and poor; and honest in everything he say and watch the world become a better place.

Dave said: oh and ken, If you want to cry about how the price of food is going up you need look no further than certain sects of your own party. I am by no means a degreed economist, but I do have the basic understanding of supply and demand. Follow me on this if you can. Al gore and his followers have convinced many that global warming is a man made phenomenon. Thus people believe that we can "grow" our own fuel and it is called ethanol. The dirty little secret about this bio fuel is that the resources, energy, and labor it takes to produce one gallon of ethanol is more than it takes to refine one gallon of gasoline from oil. If it say takes 2 gallons of gasoline to produce one gallon of ethanol then aside from slighty lower emissions from gasoline blended with 10 percent ethanol, where is the net gain? Now take into account how much corn is required to produce one gallon of ethanol. With the narrow view that bio fuels will save the world the supply of corn is no longer available. The lower or lack of a supply of something the higher the price. Chicken and beef farmers feed their animals what? Yes corn. So guess what. Their cost of doing business goes up. They in turn will pass the cost on to the end consumer. The same goes for any product you buy off the shelf that contains corn starch, corn syrup, etc. The cost goes up. Now if you believe these bio fuels will save the world then you shouldn't be complaining about the costs. If you believe there is a net loss by the use of theses fuels, then you are pointing the finger in the wrong direction. Higher gas prices ( see above post) also drive up the end costs of goods. Remember plastic, PVC, etc are all made from petroleum by products. If you believe that a one degree rise in the earth's temperature spells doom for life as we know it then how do you not see billions of dollars going to third world countries impacting supply and demand on our own economy. Oh and by the way by enabling all of these third world countries to come on line as modern countries with no restrictions on pollution, if global warming is really man made, then the American consumer is the enabler to the citizens of third world countries. Again, if you don't believe you can put a price on the environment, don't cry to me about the higher costs of goods to the end user. I see two ways to change it. One buy American where there are some measure of environmental regulations. Two- continue to do whatever it is you do and then demand the government control the price of goods. Now you are looking at socialism or communism. I prefer the republic and free enterprise method. Unfortunately, many people don't see the broader implications of what appears to be a good idea. The idea of a cleaner world is great. Maybe you should realize that you as consumers have more ability to change the world than any president, senator, or congressman ever can. Just look at how spending habits have done more to ship jobs overseas, increased the polluntants of third word countries, and triggered a trickle down effect of higher consumer prices across the board.

Dave said: Lockett, Ken is on the kool-aid. He hates what I am and what I do. Some people philosophically don't see a need for US service members because they believe that everything can be solved all diplomatic like. The spectrum runs from mild disagreement to extreme hate. Many cases stem from evny, due to the fact that people are just unable to make it in the military. Many have real honest disagreements and some disagree because they can't cut it. Unfortunately, most liberals that have something to say, don't disagree with us they hate us. They project their political hatred onto us. I honestly think that if they could get away with it, they would be waiting for us to return from overseas, not with open arms but with chants of "baby killer" and spit. Now we are called the uneducated dregs of society that are too stupid to think for ourselves. We are somehow brainwashed by propoganda. Just so you know ken, I did six years active, did two tours, and got out in 1995. I got out because bill clinton gutted the military and sank moral to all time lows. In 2007 I signed back up with the reserves and would have done it sooner if my personal life had allowed it and will be getting deployed again. My 8 year commitment has long been over. This is a personal choice, "freedom of choice" if you will. I busted my ass working from 95 to the present and own my own mildly successful business. I watched my paycheck get ripped apart to pay for entitlements I don't think I should be responsible for. So ken.... I have lived on both sides..... There probably are veterans on welfare. I would put forth that most of them, whether they realize it or not, have choosen that life for themselves. I have never believed that my veteran status should give me a lifetime of being cared for by the government. The military was a stepping stone that taught me that hard work and determination led to fruitful results. Fortunately, I learned that growing up and the military just re-enforced that notion. Anybody, including veterans, that believe because of what they have done previously in life earns them a free ride for the rest of their lives are doomed to failure, misery, and attempting to blame others for their shortcomings. You have the nerve to call me a house servant without looking at your own ideals. The civil rights act passed only because tof he republicans in congress at the time. Altough we have had some republican presidents over the years, both houses of gvernment were dominated by democrats for the last 40 years, with a brief republican control during the some of clinton and Bush years. Why do you feel so hopeless when the democrats have had so much power for so long? We should already be in the land of your utopia. The democrats have done nothing in the last 40 years except pit the rich against the poor and the black against the white, the haves against the have nots. The field masters jackson and sharpton have told the black community they cannot improve their lot without voting democrat and have reaped financial benefits while keeping almost an entire race on the "democrat vote plantation". The party that gave the south and the nation the jim crowe laws transformed into the democrat party when those laws were deemed unconstitutional and found new ways to use the black community to their advantage. Instead of giving them just enough food and shelter to work the fields, the black community is being given just enough food, shelter, and hope to pull the lever for the next democrat. The old are being pitted against the young by being told that we wish to reduce or strip them of social security so that they vote democrat. In fact every group is being told they will lose something should they not vote democrat. Harry Belafonte once called Colin Powell and Condeleza Rice house servants. This is the standrd tactic of democrats; call a black person an uncle tom or house servant. They are portrayed as somehow giving into "whitey" and turning their backs on their black heritage, instead of seeing someone who has suceeded in life working toward a goal and acheving it. I found out long after Belefonte's accusations, on the History Channel, that he long ago sang and danced for "Whitey" in Vegas and at the end of his performance was not even allowed to stay in the hotel. He was relegated to having to sleep across the tracks. Seems kind of odd that he would participate in segregation to advance his career and then lash out at people who have truly succeeded in their careers by calling them "uncle toms". In contrast the black community has marginalized Bill Cosby who has told the black community that the government is not their be all and end all and that personal responsibility and moral strength are the hallmarks of success. The black community cannot lash out and call an icon like Bill Cosby an "uncle tom" or "field master" so they ignore him. It is just a fundemental difference between you and me ken. I believe that the capacity for change and a better quality life is within the individual while you only believe change can be brought about from one individual that will somehow transform the masses with a speech. My hope lies within while yours rests on the election of a man to office. Now tell me again how I am a house servant easily molded by propoganda. Lockett, see I can be nice and rational. Stupidity, however, drives me to rants that may sometimes be off point. Here is another one I posted a few days ago in another forum on this site. Let's see if these "true believers" have any real debate or argument in them or will they just revert to "yes we can" . Dave Says: March 18th, 2008 at 12:07 pm Where do I start with you sheeple, First you are idiots. My god there should be a test before you crazy liberals are allowed to vote. It should be based on Civics, Free Enterprise, and American History at least. First for those of you kool-aid drinkers, Ronald Reagan was the greatest American president in the 20th century. For those of you too young to remember he and George Bush handed Jimmy “what did he do?” Carter and ass whipping that failed in comparison to the rout of 1984, when he took 49 of 50 states, crushing the unstoppable hope for change that was Mondale/Ferraro. While in contrast, the perception of this greatly loved, and “first black president”, Bill Clinton won neither election with 50 percent of the vote. Now with W. in office we have to hear about how he “stole” 2 elections. Look at the numbers folks and you will see he took at least 50 percent in both elections. Quit trying to revise history. Back to President Reagan, the man took action. Blow up a jet over Scotland and you better find a hole and stay low. In contrast you can attempt to bring down the World Trade Center in 1993, blow up two embassies, and run a rubber boat laden with explosives into the USS Cole killing US service members and get away with it for years because it was consisered a crime paramount to armed robbery and not terrorism. Instead of taking care of business with these people the Clinton administration decided the problem was with America and that we needed to change our policy and accomodate the world so that they would love us more. I am no fan of many things the republican party and Bush administration does, however, it is for far different reasons than the majority of the contributors here. I can agree with Obama on the need to kick the lobbyists out of Washington D.C and all 50 state capitals. That’s where the agreement stops. I disagree with the Bush administration and republicans t(hat were) in congress on numerous things: Prescription drug plan, pork barrel spending, the immigration (or lack there of) policy, and many other things(Democrats in Republican Clothing). President Ronald Reagan, as much as possible, made Americans responsible for their own actions, and many didn’t want that, they wanted handouts and when they didn’t get them blamed the government. I am no fan of abortion. When I say that I am talking about the “no my life’s not in danger, the baby is perfectly heathy, and even though it’s my fault for making the adult decision of having unprotected sex, I really don’t care for the adult responsibilities like raising a child at this time in my life, so could you please suck it out?” crowd. The 40 million or so abortions that have been performed to date in this country speaks to the selfishness of Americans. They want the pleasure without paying the price. The worst part is that this mentality is pervasive in every aspect of liberal life. It’s always someone elses fault and there should be a mechanism to bail people out for making poor decisions whether it be buying a house or car they can’t afford to begin with, getting an abortion, trying to justify commiting a crime because of their upbringing, and the list goes on. Back to abortion though. While I find it repulsive that the mojority of abortions are done to escape responsibility under the much better slogan “freedom of choice”, what did these people really have to teach those kids? If they believe in abortion on demand and somehow didn’t get an abortion Al Gore would most likely be president. These kids would have been taught that they are victims of the system and that only government can take care of them from the cradle to the grave. Democrats and liberals are basically commiting genocide on themselves. On the other side of the spectrum you have the “Pro-Life” people that will blow someone or something up to stop an abortion clinic in the name of “insert choice here” and yet have probably rescued more animals from the pound than adopted “unwanted children”. So basically if you fall into either catagory you people are out of touch with reality as far as I am concerned. What has 40 million plus abortions cost the US? I would have to say 40 million or so wage earners. Why does America need so much foreign labor? 40 million dead fetuses. Why are wages going down and prices going up? Illegal Foreigen labor that will do it cheaper and uses tax payer services yet don’t pay any tax other than sales tax on what they need and sending the rest to their country of origin. Obama WILL NOT bring jobs back to America people. I am not a big blame America first kind of person, but in this instance I have to and I am not free from blame in this either. Everytime one of us goes shopping we tell big and small business what we want with our pocketbook. If you go to the store to buy the cheapest item you can no matter where it is made, business WILL respond by giving you more of it. Every time YOU purchase a foreign made product over something MADE IN AMERICA, YOU ship that job overseas. Billions upon billion of US dollars go to CHINA and other countries every year. The Chinese have dropped their bicycles and purchased cars in record numbers and have thus had to make huge improvements to their infrastructure. What is the conseqence to pouring all this money into China? “Yes you in the back.” That’s right record high oil and gas products. To quote your great savior “It’s the economy stupid.” If you send your money to China hand over fist giving a billion people the money they need to buy cars the demand on oil goes up thus, anybody? Exactly, raises the price of gas. Yet somehow millions of Americans think that big oil is gouging us on the price of gasoline. Wise up you dumbs**ts it’s your own fault. The moral of the story is this; YOU as a consumer have far more power to “bring back jobs” to America. When you shop buy American whenever possible, if you don’t really need it don’t buy it. Every dollar you spend on a product MADE IN AMERICA is a vote for American labor and will have more effect than ANY politician telling you they will somehow solve the import and American labor problem. Someone posted somewhere on this site that the American government is a disgrace because of it’s history. Well you need to go somewhere else a**hole. Yes America did have slavery. The dirty little secret is that tribes in Africa sold the “POW’S” of rival tribes to the Dutch traders for basically pennies not the Hollywood version of whites going of into the jungle and somehow “capturing” an entire tribe with a net. Black on Black crime over turf greatly contributed to the number of slaves available. Of course in revisionist history that part must be left out because….., well it kinda puts some of the blame on the Africans that “Just couldn’t all get along.” Many people pounding the pulpit on slavery are the same people sustaining modern day slavery. What? Yes you. See the paragraph above. Do you really think that the products you buy from third world countries aren’t in part made in “sweatshops” around the world? Do you really think slavery in America would have endured as long as it did if people used their wallets to back up their words? Well guess what slavery is still alive and well in the world and you may be contributing to it without even knowing it. Some people are forced to work in sweatshops and others do it of their own accord to take the thousand or so dollars they may make a year and support their families. Making wise informed decisions when YOU spend YOUR money puts the responsibility of American jobs and modern day slavery where it lies: WITH YOU In a nutshell, I despise liberals telling me that they will solve all the problems and injustices in the world with the stroke of a pen. Success in America does not lie with a dominate party in the White House or Congress. It lies within all of us. It relies on us making the hard decisions to sacrifice what we want now in order to achieve what we want later. Government shold be able to go on an eleven month vacation and nobody should notice because we as individuals are handling our own responsibilities, raising our children to be responsible, and taking control of our own destiny, instead of voting for a living and relying on someone else for our own happieness in life. That is what Ronald Reagan stood for and that is why he was the greatest President of the 20th century and god willing America will get back to that mindset one day.

anonymous said: Just like Obama said the distractions continue.

Lockett said: To Ken: "This line of discussion is a wonderful example of being red, white, and blue on the outside but truly being black and white on the inside. The military has been notorious for scraping the bottom tenth of our fine country and turning them into solders. Why the bottom tenth? They are the easiest to “shape” into “fine solders”. It is easy to judge people struggling everyday when you live inside a protected system. There is a saying about Marines they are the first to go and the last to know. Making judgments about a group of people based on fed information and propaganda is what strangles his country now. If you really want to know about government cheese recipients, go to census.gov and get real answers. Formulate real solutions. When you are allowed to be a house servant under the red, white, and blue; you are fighting for freedoms and liberties that all Americans enjoy. Many solders are on welfare because they came home to NOTHING. They get up to nothing. The economy and bassackwards government left them nothing. Be angry about that. Spread prejudice about that. One thing we know about history is the house servant never had the courage to tell the master what’s wrong. Not even when it comes to other house servants……Be a real solder for the truth and don’t let distraction impede the defense of true liberty. Through all of this back and forth school yard discussion has anyone noticed that eggs are still 4 dollars a dozen. Propaganda tastes good depending on the point of view meat and eggs taste better from everyone’s point of view. This must change. YES WE CAN, SI SE PUEDE!" I couldn't make head or tail of your argument. Sorry. Anyway, what kind of a word is "bassackwards"? Is it a ward used to deliver bass sacks? Or am I missing something? Also, that bilingual chant at the end is just weird.

Ken said: This line of discussion is a wonderful example of being red, white, and blue on the outside but truly being black and white on the inside. The military has been notorious for scraping the bottom tenth of our fine country and turning them into solders. Why the bottom tenth? They are the easiest to "shape" into "fine solders". It is easy to judge people struggling everyday when you live inside a protected system. There is a saying about Marines they are the first to go and the last to know. Making judgments about a group of people based on fed information and propaganda is what strangles his country now. If you really want to know about government cheese recipients, go to census.gov and get real answers. Formulate real solutions. When you are allowed to be a house servant under the red, white, and blue; you are fighting for freedoms and liberties that all Americans enjoy. Many solders are on welfare because they came home to NOTHING. They get up to nothing. The economy and bassackwards government left them nothing. Be angry about that. Spread prejudice about that. One thing we know about history is the house servant never had the courage to tell the master what’s wrong. Not even when it comes to other house servants......Be a real solder for the truth and don't let distraction impede the defense of true liberty. Through all of this back and forth school yard discussion has anyone noticed that eggs are still 4 dollars a dozen. Propaganda tastes good depending on the point of view meat and eggs taste better from everyone’s point of view. This must change. YES WE CAN, SI SE PUEDE!