Tuesday, August 31, 2010

THE 2010 PRESEASON COLLEGE FOOTBALL FAN POLL....10.NORTH CAROLINA

BLACK BUZZ SPORTS NEWS
August 31, 2010
South Bend, Indiana

Black Buzz Sports News Preseason Fan Poll
RK TEAM
1. Alabama
2. Texas
3. Florida
4. Ohio State
5. Virginia Tech
6. TCU
7. Nebraska
8. Oklahoma
9. Oregon
10. North Carolina
11. Wisconsin
12. Miami of Florida
13. Florida State
14. USC
15. Iowa
16. LSU
17. Arkansas
18. Pitt
19. Auburn
20. Georgia Tech
21. Georgia
22. Penn State
23. Oregon State
24. West Virginia
25. South Carolina

Other teams receiving votes Clemson, Houston, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Missouri, Arizona, Washington, Boston College, Navy, Mississippi Sate, Mississippi, Oklahoma State, Temple , Connecticut, Cincinnati, SMU.

*Boise State was not ranked in the top twenty five because they basically only have a two game season. They play Virginia Tech and Oregon State and if the Buffaloes can beat V.Tech and Oregon State they may have a cake walk to the bogus BCS Championship game.
This college football season promises to be one of the most exciting in the last several years.
The ACC will be one of the top conferences in the country and North Carolina is simply loaded with mucho talent. The Clemson Tigers will upset a lot of the tier-one teams in the country and Miami and FSU are definitely ready for prime time.
Virginia Tech is also loaded on the offensive side of the ball and Ryan Lightning Williams is one of the premier backs in the country. Williams will team with (Thunder) Darren Evans to form one of the most formidable running back tandems in the country. Evans missed the entire 2009 season with an ACL injury but he is bigger and stronger than the Freshman sensation- lightning Williams. How can anyone beat a team that has thunder and lightning in their line-up?
Hokie qb, Tyrod Taylor is very steady and he proved that he can win in the clutch. Don't be surprised if the Hokies take on Bama, Florida or Texas for the fraudulent National title game.
Coach Ralph Friedgen at Maryland could be on the hot seat, but he has in fact resurrected Maryland football since 2001. And being an alumnus of Maryland could possibly buy coach Friedgen two more years as the head coach in a highly competitive ACC. The Terps will beat teams they were supposed to lose to this year. So don't sleep the Turtles!
Mike London, the new head coach at the University of Virginia will have to perform miracles in restoring pride and integrity into the Cavaliers program. But I do think that coach London will be up to the task. Watch for steady improvement in the Virginia program now that they have broken into the Tidewater/Hampton Roads area in recruiting some of the top talent in the state. London was able to beat the Hokies Beamer in some of the recruiting battles for some of the top talent in the State.
What high school recruit from the State of Virginia in their right mind would choose the Ma & Pa Kettle, Tobacco Road town of Blacksburg, Virginia over one of the most scenic, picturesque campuses with a top stellar elite academic program located in one of America's most livable cities---Charlottesville, Virginia? Do the parents and recruits read at all in the State of Virginia?
The University of Virginia will not lower its tough academic standards just to have a top tier one football program like the football factory schools such as Nebraska, FSU, Florida, Tennessee, Auburn, Oklahoma, Alabama, Arkansas, USC, South Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia. But I do believe that coach London has the Virginia Cavaliers moving in the right direction and they will be able to compete with the heavyweights in the country in two years.
The SEC is loaded with top flight running backs and appears to still be the strongest conference from top to bottom. But the ACC and Big 12 are making up for lost time which is evidenced by the number of pros being drafted from the ACC and the Big 12.
Even with Mark Ingram, due to an injury, missing Bama's first game against San Jose State, Trent Richardson, his replacement may be the best all around running back in the country. With a healthy Ingram and Richardson they may be the best one-two punch in the country. Perhaps Ingram and Richardson will be the modern day version of Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside as Army's famous running back duo of Doc Blanchard and Glen Davis were first labeled who led Army to three consecutive undefeated seasons back in the 1940's. Both Blanchard and Davis won the Heisman Trophy at Army.
*Glen Davis is one of the greatest all around athletes in West Point history. Davis played guard on the basketball team, ran track and played baseball. Davis ran the 100 yard dash in 9.7 and the 220 yard dash in 20.9. He is still known as the fastest man to ever attend the West Point Military Academy. The Brooklyn Dodgers offered Davis a $75, 000 signing bonus to sign with the "Bums" but his military commitment prevented him from signing. I watched Davis on TV catch a pass from the Rams Bob Waterfield, and he ran for an 82 yard TD in the Championship game against the Browns in 1950 which the Browns won on a field goal by the great Lou the Toe Groza. No one on the Browns could catch Glen Davis even though he wasn't one hundred per cent healed from a knee injury. Davis ran 9.7 in the 100 yard dash and the great legendary Jess Owens best time in the 100 Yard dash was 9.4. Glen Davis was fast and he could really motor with the football.
Alabama wide receiver, Julio Jones could be a number one draft choice next year. Jones has very good hands, good separation on the ball and he blocks well.
The NCAA should intervene and prevent Alabama from playing Georgia State on November 20. Georgia State is a Division 1-AA school located in downtown Atlanta playing in their first year of football of any kind. Georgia State is not the University of Georgia or Georgia Tech. What a farce! I'm ashamed of Bama.
Saban is too arrogant and he may be brought down to size this year. It won't be a cake walk for Bama this year.
Watch out for Florida's Jeff Demps! Mr. Demps is a man on a mission and he may be the fastest running back in the history of college football with his 9.96 100 meter dash time which is better than the legendary 1964 Olympic 100 meter champ Bullet Bob Hayes. Demps is simply electrifying and look for him to put on a show reminiscent of Gayle Sayers in his prime.
What is it about the air in the State of Florida that makes humans run so fast? The Florida Gators have another Pouncey on the offensive line (Mike) and some of the pro-scouts think he is already better than his identical twin brother Maurkice who's a starting rookie center on the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers would be wise to trade up a notch to draft (2011) the other twin brother Mike, who can also play guard.
The Florida Gators have a mountain of talent and Urban Meyer may be the greatest offensive coach in College football.
Auburn and South Carolina are gaining on Bam and the Gators. Auburn has a running back who may not be the second coming of Bo Jackson but Mario Fanin can really carry the mail.
All three of the top Florida schools, Florida, Florida State, and Miami will be in the hunt for a Major BCS bowl.
LSU's Richard Murphy could be the best back in Tiger land in more than a decade. Kentucky's running back Derrick Locke combines both power and blazing speed .
The Georgia Bulldogs return their entire offensive line so look for Caleb King and Washun Ealey to run wild this fall. Georgia wide out A. J. Green needs someone like Matthew Stafford throwing the ball . Green could be the first wide receiver chosen in next year's draft and he will battle Julio Jones and Jon Baldwin for the highly covet Biletnikoff Award.
If Georgia coach Mark Richt can keep his Dawgs off of the police blotter, they may surprise a lot of SEC Conference foes this season. Georgia brought Richt to Athens to win a National title but he hasn't delivered. If Richt doesn't win nine games, he will indeed be on the hot seat in the Dawg Nation. Furthermore, Richt keeps loosing many of the recruitment battles with Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, FSU, LSU, and Tennessee for many of the four and five star recruits in the State of Georgia.
The Ohio State Buckeyes should go as far as Terrell Pryor can take them. The Buckeyes have a seasoned offensive and defensive line, so most of their success will be dependent on the young man from Jeanette PA, Terrell Pryor. I told Pryor last year that playing quarterback in Division 1-A is a 365 day job. We shall see how much progress the man from Jeanette, PA has made. Craig Ironhead Heyward's son, Cameron is simply a dominating beast on the Ohio State defensive line. He could be the first defensive lineman chosen in next year's professional draft.
Wisconsin will challenge the Buckeyes and the Badgers may have the best offensive line in college football. The Iowa Hawkeyes are a very good team who play basically in a weak conference but make no mistake about it, the Hawkeyes are for real.
If Jo Pa gets his troops up to play Bama and they pull an upset, Penn State may be able to hang out with the big boys in the Big Ten Conference. The Nittany Lions will have to get consistent play at the quarterback position, and the starting qb position is still up in the air.
* When was the last time a Big Ten running back was inducted into the Pro-Football Hall Of Fame located in Canton, Ohio?
Someone should tell the Pittsburgh Steelers hierarchy that if they want a nasty, good, fast, tough as nails running back, they need to take a tour of the Southeastern Conference this fall.
As usual, the Big 12 has some of the best talent in all of college football playing under its jurisdiction and even though Nebraska is back, the Longhorns and Sooners will be in the thick of things as they both desperately try to play with Bam and the Gators and the other heavyweights in the SEC. Watch out for those Baylor Bears!
Stoops is loaded at Oklahoma and so are the Texas Longhorns who promise to run the ball more this year. Texas Tech is very talented and they should win games that they were supposed to lose.
The PAC TEN is solid and USC, Oregon, Oregon State and Stanford can play with any team in the country.
Look for Oregon State's Jacquizz Rodgers to have a field day against the likes of Boise State and the Stanford Cardinals have a Heisman candidate in their Quarterback, Andrew Luck.
The Pitt Panthers should win the Big East title with West Virginia, Cincinnati and U.Conn breathing down their backs. From top to bottom of the Big East Conference, the Panthers have the best and most talent but the Mountaineers have a veteran ball club and WVU's speedy Noel Devine is among the elite backs in college football. Isn't Devine from Florida?
The Panther wide receiver Jon Baldwin from Aliquippa, PA could be the number one wide-out in the country this year and he should be taken in the first round of next year's professional Draft. Baldwin is a special talent and is a Darrell Revis type of ball player playing the wide-out position.
Aliquippa, Pennsylvania has produced some outstanding football players such as Mike Ditka, Tony Dorsett, Sean Gilbert, Ty Law, Darrelle Revis, Paul Posluszny and a whole host other fine athletes such as Pistol Pete Maravich, Robert Pipkin and others.
The Panthers have depth at each position and their upcoming game with the Utah Utes will tell where the Panthers are this season. Pitt wins the game against Utah in a shoot out 45-38.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Unspoken Symbols of Terror

Black Buzz News Service
College Park, Maryland
August 29, 2010

Written by Solomon Comissiong Media, Politics, War and Peace, World News Aug 27, 2010

The Islamic Community Center and Terrorism Symbols:
America’s Quest for Hypocritical Perfection

A substantial number of Americans seem to savor opportunities that will expose them for the barbaric hypocrites they are. As if it were simply not good enough to be mindless sheep non-critically responding to the drumbeat of the historically anti-democratic corporate media; they eagerly strive to one up their idiocy. Recently certain groups, like the white supremacist Tea-Partiers, have enthusiastically vied to parade themselves around as the biggest, most xenophobic and racist buffoons. However, the continued so-called controversy surrounding the proposed building of an Islamic Community Center, a few blocks away from Ground Zero, has enabled other mental midgets to emerge from the self-isolated rocks they dwell under. Many opportunistic Democrats, self-righteous Republicans, racist right-wingers and lemming-like liberals, have all assembled like the “ugly Americans” they are, to openly exercise their disdain with the building of the Park 51/Cordoba Initiative Islamic Community Center relatively close to Ground Zero. The assertion that because the alleged 9/11terrorist hijackers were of the Muslim faith automatically means that Islam and those who worship under its auspices must also be potential terrorists, is laughable, pathetic, and odious, all rolled into one socially limited display. It reveals the continually unchecked racist and white supremacist undertones that plague the lives of people of color, worldwide. Needless to say, any Christian American calling a Mosque or an Islamic Community Center a symbol of terrorism, without recognizing the emblematic terror that their churches represent is a damn hypocrite. Using their criteria perhaps we should say that all white males should be seen as terrorists predicated on the terrorist act of one Timothy McVeigh—-who also happened to use biblical narrative to partly justify his blowing up of a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995?

Unfortunately most Americans have a purposefully limited understanding of history. They are not supposed to understand, by design—for if they did they would understand (whether they agree with the actions or not) the terrorist campaigns their country has waged on people dating back to its illegal founding. And certainly most so-called Christians are not supposed to understand the countless vile, evil and duplicitous things that have been done, all in the name of Christianity. They are supposed to obediently imbibe large doses of slanted information from their pastor, priest or reverend, without any critical thought whatsoever. At this time a simple minded pastor from Florida name Terry Jones is planning the burning of hundreds of Korans on September 11, 2010, all the while his faithful congregation endorses his repugnant actions.

Understanding the role Christianity (and religion in general) has played throughout the ages in pacifying and cognitively decapitating masses of people, is a big NO-NO. Many Christians are trained to have a very narrow comprehension of their multi-versioned bible— never to wonder why it has had so many versions in the first place. This is not to say that there have not been liberating, human rights oriented and revolutionary figures emerge from the church who have also encouraged their followers to think for themselves. Individuals like Richard Allen, James Cone and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have inspired countless black Christian-goers to emancipate themselves from a white supremacist system. Black liberation theology has been used by various justice centered pastors to liberate their audiences. Dr. King had the courage to call America the greatest purveyor of violence on the planet—how many Christians do we hear chanting that today? Not as many as we should. Simply being a Christian does not make someone innately bad, however Christianity has often been used as pretext for systematic acts of terrorism to those who are deemed “different”. This must be understood loud and clear for it is seldom discussed openly and within context inside most American mainstream outlets. Perhaps more Christians, especially black Christians, might be well served to listen to sermons from pastors like Ray Hagins.

Most Christians are systematically taught to conform within an already conformist society. It is common to hear TV pundits and snake-oil politicians bellowing on television that they want to see more prominent members of the Muslim community denouncing terrorism. However why don’t we ever hear these disingenuous cretins pleading for prominent members of the Christian community to denounce the systematic murder, by way of illegal unjust wars, of 1.5 million Iraqi and over 23,000 Afghani civilians. These actions have all been committed and endorsed by a country that is prominently referred to as a Christian nation and who’s Pledge of Allegiance says “One Nation Under God”. Make no bones about it— that pledge is referring to a so-called Christian God. The hoi polloi don’t hear these appeals from so-called Christian “leaders” because they, and certainly most Christians, are not supposed to even think such thoughts. That kind of honest and critical thought process would be political and “patriotic” blasphemy. However, since many right wing and liberal Christians wish to erroneously generalize and equate an Islamic Community Center with terrorism, predicated on their limited understanding of the tragic events of 9/11, I feel that it is only fair that the same shoe is worn on the other foot— in regards to the defining of terrorist imagery. As Malcolm X said in his historic The Ballot or the Bullet speech, “what is good for the goose is good for the gander”

Often the definition of certain terms all depends on who is, or is not, doing the defining. For tens of millions of slain black Africans and Native Americans, Christianity was a symbol of terrorism. It was white so-called Christians who used their interpretation of the bible, as well as their religion, to justify the continued enslavement of Africans and Indigenous Americans, and plunder of their land and resources. White Americans in the 1800s even created a term for it, Manifest Destiny. For blacks throughout the south the image of the cross could justifiably be seen as a symbol of terror—after all it was the predominately Protestant Christian Ku Klux Klan that would symbolically burn a cross at their rallies, after they terrorized an innocent black family, or burned a black man at the stake. The Christian bible was always close at hand.

For hundreds of millions of blacks and Latinos whose ancestors were terrorized by whites in the name of Christianity, and the often misinterpreted bible, a symbol of horror could easily a church. The religion of Christianity was forced upon millions of black and brown people. It was either the “Christian way” or death! However, because many of us (black, white and brown) have no historical perspective; we seldom recognize these aspects of Christian history. Many continually allow themselves to be force fed a steady diet of one person’s perspective and interpretation of the bible, every Sunday, without asking critical and necessary questions or better yet—-doing their own research. However, as stated earlier, critical thought is not a virtue promoted widely throughout the US and especially not in most churches. If it was promoted in most churches we would possibly see tens of thousands of Christian Americans protesting their government’s actions that are contradictory to the Ten Commandments. Unfortunately the words, “Thou Shall Not Kill” are simply trendy words that scores of sheep-like Christians blindly cling to. They have willing become walking, talking and breathing paradoxes. This is why so many Christians can oppose abortion while at the same time supporting indiscriminate and imperialistic wars which claim the lives of hundreds of thousands of children and babies by way of so-called “smart bombs” and drone attacks. Despite what the US Constitution says America has never had a separation of church and state. They are only shallow words and ideals, merely used to sell the outdated and dysfunctional US Constitution to those who the government knows will never carefully examine it nor will they juxtapose it to a blatantly unjust society. If the people did they just might demand justice for all and issue a referendum to rewrite large segments of the constitution. This action (rewriting the constitution) has been democratically done in places like Bolivia, Venezuela, and most recently Kenya.

Littered throughout America are symbols of terror that rain trepidation upon masses of black and brown skinned people. Police uniforms are symbols of terror to scores of young black and brown men. Just ask the families of black men who were unwarrantedly murdered by police, such as Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Adolf Grimes, and Trey Joyner. Police terror in America knows no limits when it comes to dishing out hell to black and brown communities. Police terror has even found its way into the homes of seven year old black girls like Aiyana Stanley-Jones. She was needlessly murdered by Detroit police in an unwarranted raid.

What has historically been done to black people in America, by the Police, has been nothing short of state sponsored terror. But why do so many of us seldom see these actions as blatant examples of terror? The answer is simple—many of us have been conditioned to passively accept these actions as acceptable aspects of society. We have been socially conditioned to even cast doubt on the victims and not those doing the terrorizing. We have been conditioned believe the lie that America is a beacon for freedom, justice and equality. These are myths promoted by mainstream American outlets (school, media, and government) to keep the masses in a state passivity and disillusionment. Until many of us mobilize, organize, and demand justice—-we will continue to unwittingly ignore the numerous symbols of terror that continue to wreck havoc on so many communities of color. Silence in the face of terror only legitimizes it.

Solomon Comissiong is an educator, community activist, author, public speaker and the host of the Your World News radio program (www.blogtalkradio.com/Your-World-News ).

3 Responses for “Unspoken Symbols of Terror”

bell says:
August 28, 2010 at 4:25 am
1. If you are interested in police misconduct, I would suggest perusing:
http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com/
2. While Japanese politician Ichiro Ozawa likes the ideals of American democracy, he recently described Americans as “somewhat monocellular”. He then went on to observe, “When I talk with Americans, I often wonder why they are so simple-minded.”
3. From shortly before World War II, between 2/3 and 3/4 of the American public self-identified as church members. That range stayed steady for decades. Then, with the election of George W. Bush, the numbers began dropping. By the end of his presidency, church membership had fallen 14%. Thus, it would seem that Bush did for church membership what Reagan did for the middle class.

Reply
kiksuya says:
August 28, 2010 at 4:55 am
Excellent article Solomon! So many critical and absolutely valid points where made. Somehow for some reason in this country it is acceptable that when people of color or a systematically oppressed group do anything whether good or bad they be scrutinized to the last detail. Further, somehow the actions of one or a few are attributed to their entire race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation or whatever disenfranchised group they may be a part of. However, when those that belong to the status quo aka European-Americans do anything its legitimacy and what they do is not seen as a reflection of white people as a whole or Christians for the sake of this argument but rather as an action of an individual person. Why is such an unfair standard held for people of color and other disenfranchised groups?
Well perhaps is in the words of the eloquent and brilliant Bell Hooks, it is because this place called America is a “white-supremacist-capitalist-patriarchy.” Where the actions of white people mainly White men in positions of power have impunity to all the atrocities that they commit. And by virtue of that the organizations that they control and serve also are immune to the Justice System i.e. the Vatican, majority of Christian churches and of course the government that has led the way in instilling terror, economic & political instability, concentrated poverty, rural displacement, systematic rape, starvation etc on a number of “third world” nations, known as the United States of America!
Colonizers and conquistadors came to the Americans with a a cross & bible in one hand and sword in the other and in the “name of God” slaughtered millions of Indigenous peoples, deceitfully gave them an innumerable amount of diseases, enslaved tens of millions of Africans, held them in bondage for hundreds of years annihilated their cultures and beliefs of communal subsistence and respect for mother earth among many other virtuous values but somehow they are not seen as symbols of terror? I think undoubtedly on a large scale Christianity has organized any number of terrorist attacks. I am not condoning that we employ the same narrow-minded tactics of those against the mosque and say that all Christians are bad and that they and their churches should be shunned and harassed routinely like is done with Muslims and Islam. However, for once in your life be a people of your word. If you claim to a beacon of justice then take a hard look in the mirror and analyze the policies of this stolen nation towards Latin American, African, Asian and Middle Eastern countries. Be just as critical of the religious foundation of the Founding Fathers of Destruction (better known as the Founding Fathers) and see how in fact a significantly larger sector of Christianity did promote and instill terror!
So in conclusion if the presence of a mosque is a breeding ground for terrorists and the right to construct anything on private property should be contested then for me and billions of people of color the training centers of Multinationals, the Vatican, and U.S. military bases, in which mostly white men are trained are, certainly breeding grounds for terrorist!

Reply
rabshakeh says:
August 28, 2010 at 1:58 pm
right on solomon! the hypocrisy and hubris of americans, especially christian americans is rivaled only by their staggering stupidity, and the ridiculous dustup over the mosque at “ground zero” is just one example. especially since the building in question would not be a mosque and it would be several blocks from where the wtc buildings stood. nevermind that the u.s. gov’t facilitated and orchestrated the demolition of the wtc buildings and that the “hijackers” were mostly saudi citizens and not remotely connected to the gov’ts nor the people of iraq or afghanistan. lets not muddle the issue with facts. unfortunately, as outrageous and egregious as the “mosque at ground zero” controversy is, we don’t have to look very far to see other examples of american idiocy – just look to d.c. today [28 august] where thousands of braindead americanists are rallying around the “mental midget” glen beck. it is indeed a sad and tragic time.

ONE NATION: RELIGION & POLITICS: Paul Dafydd Jones and Charles Mathewes: A New Religious Narrative for Obama

Black Buzz News Service
Charlottesville, Virginia
August 29, 2010

Barack Obama’s election in 2008 gave many people—Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike—the hope that America was entering a new phase in its history. Just maybe the nation was about to do something remarkable: embrace a style of politics defined less by old arguments about race, religion, gender, sexuality, and culture and more by new visions of the common good.

Few would have predicted what’s happening now. A growing number of Americans believe, mistakenly, that the president is a Muslim, and most of them cite the media as the source of their information.

Of course, suspicion about Obama has been a problem since he first appeared on the national stage. Another complicating factor is the rise of a politicized brand of journalism which has blurred the boundary between fact and fiction in ways that would make even the most ardent postmodernist blush.

What’s new, too, is the failure of Obama and his team to handle matters effectively. Given that millions more people think Obama is a Muslim now than 18 months ago, we’re seeing a serious failure to communicate.

Let us be clear: we don’t think that, in principle, a Muslim president is at all problematic. Indeed, it’s profoundly worrying that the mere idea of a Muslim president is met with moral outrage. Beyond the not-so-subtle racism at work, the “secret Muslim” claim is empirically false and politically toxic, and it marks a refusal to heed the high ideals upon which this nation was founded.

Still, the question of the hour is this: how should Obama respond? Here’s our suggestion: the White House should discontinue its purely reactive approach to claims about Obama’s beliefs and undertake a sustained effort to have him tell his own story as a Christian believer.

In other words, Obama should talk publicly about what he believes and how he believes it. He needn’t do it all the time. He needn’t do it all that often. But when he does do it, he should do it simply, plainly, frankly, and deliberately.

So far, the president has made occasional remarks about his beliefs, but they’ve been just that—occasional and largely an afterthought to his public persona. His administration has proved astonishingly “unmusical” when it comes to religion. No one in Obama’s inner circle seems to understand how religious issues and themes are implicated in his presidency and how religion factors into domestic and international politics.

But isn’t Obama’s Christianity a private matter? Isn’t it peripheral to the real issues at hand? Not right now. The culture is desperate for adult guidance when it comes to religion. While citizens stand under no obligation to talk about their religious convictions, people expect more of the president, and this political moment requires more from this president, lest discussions about religion become still more coarse and vicious, and our political culture even more degraded.

We’re not suggesting Obama should talk about his faith for purely pragmatic reasons, although God knows—and Rahm Emanuel does, too—there are likely to be political advantages. He should recognize by now that if he won’t talk about his beliefs, his opponents happily will; politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum. There are sound civic reasons for doing this as well. The office of the presidency has a representative function. It is not just about the day-to-day running of the government. It’s about shaping public conversation on a variety of matters of common concern, religion included.

Nor are we asking Obama to be the believer-in-chief of American civil religion. We’re simply saying he should offer himself as one example in America today of what it means to believe. He should render his religious persona public, for the good of the republic as a whole.

A president willing to talk about his own faith could do some powerful civic good. Obama’s biography suggests he has much to offer. He has spoken movingly of his mother as someone who did not believe in God, but who epitomized a life well lived. He has intimate knowledge of Islam and other religious traditions and appreciates their richness in a way that has not hindered his Christianity—a serious believer who is seriously alert to the power of other beliefs.

He’s clearly given serious thought to religion as a reality in the world. In a speech he gave in 2006, he described politics as the art of what’s possible and religion as the art of the impossible—a thought-provoking idea, to say the least. Religiously, he embodies where the nation itself is headed, as American Christianity undergoes a period of dramatic transformation and the categories we typically use to talk about belief become less and less sufficient for describing the real dividing lines, generational changes, and demographic shifts we are experiencing.

What we are proposing, then, is for President Obama to tell us about his religious identity, and to do so in ways that befit his office. Despite the degraded condition of our public debate about religion, he has the opportunity to give voice to our collective desire to speak more openly, and more honestly, about the faiths that make us who we are—and thus to make out of those many faiths one nation.

Paul Dafydd Jones and Charles Mathewes teach religious studies at the University of Virginia.

18 Responses to “Paul Dafydd Jones and Charles Mathewes: A New Religious Narrative for Obama”

Julett M. Broadnax says:
August 23, 2010 at 7:11 pm
This makes a lot of sense. It is difficult for me to believe that people continue to spread rumors and cause others to believe he is a Muslim. And like you said, even if he is – that does not make him a Jihadist. The man truly seems to be a very charismatic, caring individual, with strong family values. Why not air his beliefs – not to try to win votes as some presidents in the past have done, but to set a tone that says – my faith and values are my guiding light in forming my conscience and how it relates to the practice of governing this country. Give the man a chance – don’t run him out on rumors and innuendoes.

Winn Collier says:
August 23, 2010 at 7:24 pm
“The culture is desperate for adult guidance when it comes to religion.”
Stellar.

J says:
August 24, 2010 at 3:43 am
“Beyond the not-so-subtle racism at work..”Muslim is not a race. The new operations head of Al Qeda is an American. There is a very serious and deadly enemy of America and freedom that is fed by Muslim states, their leaders use Islamic justification, they operate out of Mosques. They target the US in the name of Islam, their leaders are religious officials, they recruit on the basis of Islamic religious fervor. Their state goals are theocracy (Islam) and sharia law (Islam). Their fight against us they call jihad (Islam), and their stated goal is reinstitution of a unified Caliphate (Islam).
It is not racist or irrational to fear the spread of Islam or infiltration by muslims into American political systems. It is PC foolishness to give excuse and cover to dangerous enemies of our freedom by labeling any concern about Muslim supporters in government office.

Lovelle says:
August 24, 2010 at 10:41 am
Great point(s) of view. I do think that, while we think that clarification does what it supposed to do, this may not happen in this case, because, as we have seen before, time and time again– it’s not what President Obama says that matters (e.g., birther controversy), it’s what people want to think. So–the only way to get people to think differently, is for all of us to start dialoguing about Islam, the Qur’an, etc., in public space, on national media. In short, he can’t change our pre-conceived notions, only we can do that, and it starts with educating ourselves, reading, and dialoguing in academic halls, faith centers, barber shops and beauty salons. I believe it was your colleague, Dr. Valerie Cooper who talked about the need for dialogue on a radio show not too long (within the last year) ago.
–Lovelle

rick benson says:
August 24, 2010 at 2:25 pm
The real reason why people say- Obama is a muslim, Obama is a socialist or communist, Obama is the worst president ever- is because Mr. Obama is black. A black man is the President of the United States, and he is succeeding both at home and on the world stage, and it is driving people crazy. It is really all about his blackness. If he were a Bible-toting pentecostal, it would be about something other than Islam.The enemies of the President, including Fox News, cannot jusy say, “we are against a black man because he is black.” So there are all of these ginned-up excuses. like he is a muslim.I agree that Rahm E. has ill-served his boss, and that he has a “tin ear” on many issues. But there is no wayfor him to win this battle. Mr. Obama cannot stop his unforgivable blackness.

Sarah says:
August 24, 2010 at 6:14 pm
You seem to be asking of one man what most of us can’t, or won’t, do ourselves- talk openly and honestly about our faith, in public. You also seem to assume that Americans will be pleased with the faith system that Obama espouses, but how likely is that, given our disparate beliefs? Obama was not elected to be our Christian leader, or a religious leader of any kind. He was elected, in part, to serve as a moral leader for our country. He demonstrates his moral values every day. Asking Obama to talk about his Christian faith is asking him to “prove” it, but he is not our pastor, our preacher, or our Pope. Let’s keep the boundaries clear- I want a moral leader, not necessarily a Christian leader. And while I consider myself a Christian, I know that many who also call themselves Christian, would not. Would we ask JFK to talk about being Catholic? Would we want Bush to tell us what it means to be a good Evangelical Protestant? Please.

Saranell Hartman says:
August 24, 2010 at 9:20 pm
Reading this reminded me of an article in Newsweek I read during the election. I found it to be a helpful explanation of the complexity of Obama’s spiritual journey- one I resonated with, one I would guess in our age many would resonate with.
http://www.newsweek.com/2008/07/11/finding-his-faith.html
I do hope that Obama and his team heed the challenge put before them by Dr. Jones and Dr. Matthews

EnEm says:
August 25, 2010 at 9:59 am
Who cares what religion he belongs to? Why this hangup about his faith? It doesn’t matter if he belongs to any specific faith or to no faith at all. He needs to understand the Constitution to run this country, not the Bible or the Koran or the Avesta for that matter.
As for “new visions of the common good”, let me say there are no new versions. It’s the same tired, non-workable bromides of socialism that tout the common good” to be the “good of the majority”. That concept can only be practiced in a Democracy where the rule of the majority holds sway. The United States of America is **not** a Democracy. It’s a Republic, a system of politics in which the rule and rights of the minority are of paramount concern. The individual is the “smallest” minority. Thus Republicanism is expected to support the rights of the Individual. Suffice to say that even the Republican party or the sad Tea Baggers are not aware of this distinction.

TRM says:
August 25, 2010 at 2:49 pm
If this essay reflects the scholarship provided by the religion department, I am sad as I am currently paying my daughter’s tuition at UVA.
A few points of disagreement:
1. “Indeed, it’s profoundly worrying that the mere idea of a Muslim president is met with moral outrage.”
If it were true that Obama was a Muslim, It might not be the mere idea of a Muslim president but for some simply the concern that he lied about an important element of his background.
2. “Beyond the not-so-subtle racism at work”
I am tired of Obama’s supporters playing the race card in regards every area of criticism. And it is literally every area by one faction or another. Surely they understand it is quickly losing its intended intensity.
3. “Obama should talk publicly about what he believes and how he believes it.”
This will never happen for obvious reasons. A. Obama will do nothing to discuss his religious journey and revive any discussions of his 20 years with Rev. Wright. The media buried this story and the administration will let it lie. B. In January 2009 there was much talk of the selection process for his Washington church. I am not sure if he ever attended the winning church. If he did regularly attend any church, you can be sure we would have seen it in the news footage. C. Obama’s replacement for Rev. Wright is Jim Wallis. Given Obama’s sinking popularity, he cannot afford to bring Wallis’ views into the public discussion nor his associations.
Separately, use of the “tea bagger” euphemism is weak EnEm. Say what you mean since many readers here will not know what you intended. Use of an obscene phrase such as this is intended to show your arguments are more valid?

LH says:
August 25, 2010 at 3:27 pm
Funny … when the born-again Bush talked about Judeo-Christian principles and prayer affecting his legislative compass it was quite a different story. Suddenly we are encouraging presidents to talk about their faith … or just this president who might possibly hold religious beliefs that are recently deemed “racially attacked”? Awww c’mon … I couldn’t care less what Bush or this guy believes and I don’t need a dialogue from a president about it to “teach” me. Always pandering pandering pandering to the imaginary offended party when the so-called offended party is part of our overall political agenda … yawn!

Craig Duckett says:
August 25, 2010 at 3:45 pm
Paul Dafydd Jones and Charles Mathewes are obviously instructors of religion, because their comments regarding Obama and faith clearly reveal they are more schooled in supernaturalist mumbo-jumbo than in political science, critical thinking, and rational inquiry.
The culture may be “desperate for adult guidance when it comes to religion” but the culture doesn’t want to hear what the adults might tell them: that it’s time to grow up, to claim personal responsibility for one’s life, and to put to bed Bronze Age superstitions once and for all. Instead, culture is like a wide-eyed child with sticky hands pretending with all it’s might not to know that Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny aren’t real.
I suspect one of the reasons Obama doesn’t openly discuss his religious views is because, like most thinking people willing to be brutally honest with themselves, deep down inside he knows he’s agnostic.

NR says:
August 25, 2010 at 3:48 pm
I think this President is inclined to keep his Christianity to himself because it is particularly complex and not amenable to simplicities but is for discussion only between himself and his select pastoral go-to’s.

Arsailman says:
August 25, 2010 at 5:12 pm
Religion doesn’t belong in politics. I think President Obama should keep silent on this issue, as it is really no one’s business but his. It’s true no one sees him going to church, but Ronad Reagan didn’t either, and he wasn’t branded a Muslim. Having to go before the public and reiterate that he is a Christian appears to be a seemy way to handle the issue. Usually, issues should be discussed and made clear, but this isn’t one of them. After complaining about his Christian minister during the campaigns, the same people are intimating that he is a Muslim.How cinical and dishonest…

Holly Seiferth says:
August 25, 2010 at 6:04 pm
“Nor are we asking Obama to be the believer-in-chief of American civil religion. We’re simply saying he should offer himself as one example in America today of what it means to believe. He should render his religious persona public, for the good of the republic as a whole.”
The implication in this line of reasoning is that there should be an effort on the part of those in power to promote a religious republic – it is echoed in sentences like that which closed the article – “the faiths that make us who we are—and thus to make out of those many faiths one nation.” Specifically in the way President Obama’s mother is described – “He has spoken movingly of his mother as someone who did not believe in God, but who epitomized a life well lived” – my eye is drawn to the “but.” “But” as a conjunction signals a contrast, exception, contradiction as it were of seemingly contrary ideas.
Should I expect “Religion & Ethics Newsweekly” to suggest anything less? Certainly not.
I can only offer that there is an equal opportunity to reinforce the feasibility of a strong secular government for the express purpose of avoiding the possibility, nevermind the temptation, of using government as a vehicle for promoting the ascendancy of any particular religious paradigm into a national construct. “Under God” was inserted into the pledge of Allegiance in 1948, and the primacy of allegiance to a republic, indeed the republic itself, was subordinated to a somewhat indeterminate deity, with the inclusion of those words, in an effort to strive towards an explicit religious national identity – a mistake, in my estimation.
I think that President Obama’s religious reserve is appropriate – it might even suggest humility. Organized religion, in my estimation, has an affinity for authority. There seems to be an irresistable desire to seek from those who command the attention and respect of others their embrace or at least their acknowledgement and encouragment of religion. It to some extent tethers religion to cultural ascendancy – with testimonials making authority figures something akin to glitterati spokesmodels. Having a leader frequently discuss the spiritual runs the risk, unnecessarily, of transforming them into a spiritual leader. Is it critical that the President, for instance, describe the foundation of his belief in tolerance as a civic moral prerequisite as the teaching of Jesus Christ? Is religious tolerance the First Amendment provides for a national value because of the coincidental intersection of a sufficient number of religious faiths on this matter, or is it civic axiom of a secular republic? Belief, is, afterall, binding only to believers. Law offers no exemptions – especially when it comes to dealing fairly with a pluralistic society.

N.B. says:
August 25, 2010 at 7:03 pm
Again, this just proves that politics and religion and so entwined, it’s impossible for the simple minded to separate one from the other.
It’s not a new or strange concept that existing organizations operate in the name of religion, to obtain political victories. Nor is it unheard of politics dictating to the masses what to believe of other religions.In short, Al-Qada is not operating to defend a Religion. They are operating to defend land. Their motherland. If Israel had never infiltrated the Middle East, Al-Qada, Hisbullah, and various organizations, wouldn’t have come into existence.This is politics. Their religion is irrelevant. Their methods, are atrocious, and have NO basis in Islam., no matter what they claim.
I understand it requires time and dedication to read AND understand the Holy Qoran. But I will try, in very summarized terms, to highlight the pillars of Islam;-The belief in One God, and One God only, and that Mohamed, PBUH, is the last of His messengers-5 daily prayers-Fasting in the Holy month of Ramadan-Zakat (giving alms, a certain percent of what you own, to the needy)-Pilgrimage to Mecca, requested only of the able.
I will focus here of the first of these pillars. I need to emphasize, Mohamed, being the LAST of His messengers. In other words, there were previous messengers, BEFORE Mohamed, that all Muslims believe in.All Muslims believe in Abraham, in Moses, in Jesus, and in Mohamed, as the major Messengers of God.All Muslims believe the Books these Messengers brought were divine, the Torah. the Bible, and the Qoran.All Muslims also believe in the numerous religious figures in the Torah and Bible..Soleman, David, Josef, the Virgin Mary, Jonas, John…In short, the Qoran is nothing more than a “collection” of the three religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.The differences between these three religions is NEGLIGIBLE compared to the similarities.
We are all people, brothers and sisters. Sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. How different are we really? We all want good, for one and for all.
If within the SAME FAMILY you find angles and demons, why is it so hard to understand the same exists withing religions? If a member of the X-family becomes a serial killer, does that mean that all the Xes be condemned to this title?
It’s easy to point fingers when they are not being pointed at you. Islam, in short, is being bullied.

Linzy says:
August 25, 2010 at 7:39 pm
ideology kills!

Margaret Placentra Johnston says:
August 25, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Something that would be very difficult to explain to the public is that Obama seems to embody most of the traits of true mature spirituality. This is a spiritual stance beyond the petty (ethnocentric) differences among religions and one that seeks to include everyone in its universal worldview.
Not only does he show the traits but as far as I can see his life story points to that likelihood as well. The participation in a Christian church – not because that church had the final and only correct answer – but out of a desire for a religious community. When that affiliation became problematic, he had no trouble disaffiliating.
The atheist mother who taught him to live a good life and his being “seriously alert to the power of other beliefs” point him further in the direction of spiritual maturity – an absolute rarity on the American political scene!
I have no idea how Barack or anyone else could convey this message, or if he is even aware that his stance seems to be more mature than most. I feel very sorry that folks who are seriously immature in the sense of their religion may be able to denigrate the efforts of the one person who could, with a little cooperation, lead us as a nation, away from the influence of special interests and selfish motives and toward a true appreciation of the greater public good.
Margaret Placentra Johnston

Florien Wineiter says:
August 28, 2010 at 10:18 am
I believe the current effort to demonize Islam and Obama are simply the latest chapter in the on-going program to portray the U.S. as a Christian Nation. Historically Jews, Mormons, Buddhist, Masons, and others, have been portrayed as unAmerican because they were NOT Christians. This campaign has been continuous since the Articles of Confederation attempted to make us an independent member of the civilized nqations of the world.Humans seem to have a dark need to fear others, Many Christians fear everyone who is not a Christian as they define their sect.

Norman Finkelstein: Israel Is a Satanic State

Black Buzz News Service
New York, New York
August 29, 2010

American Jewish Professor Norman Finkelstein has heavily criticized Israel over its operation in Gaza. A son of Holocaust survivors, Finkelstein has been barred from Israel for 10 years and was denied tenure at DePaul University in Chicago because of his critical stance on Israeli policies.
According to Finkelstein, Israel, a state built on the ashes of the Holocaust, is now committing a holocaust against Palestinians in Gaza. In a telephone interview with "Today's Zaman," Finkelstein said Israel was a "terrorist state" created by the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948. Praising Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish people for their courage in supporting Palestinians, Finkelstein referred to Israel as a "satanic" and "lunatic" state. Finkelstein's parents survived the Nazi camps in World War II and then immigrated to the US.
After his book “The Holocaust Industry,” in which he accused many prominent Jewish leaders of abusing the victims of the Holocaust, was published, Finkelstein was almost declared persona non grata by America’s influential Zionist circles.
Zaman: What does Israel want to achieve with this operation?
Finkelstein: Basically, Israel wants to achieve two goals: to restore what it calls its deterrence capacity — that means to spread fear among Arab states about itself. This is a core principle of Israeli strategic doctrine. Arab states have to be afraid of Israel, afraid of its military might, and Arabs should do what Israelis want. They shall follow Israeli orders.
Israel’s military deterrence suffered a setback in May 2000, when Hezbullah succeeded to expel Israeli occupying forces from south Lebanon. Almost immediately in the aftermath of the failure, Israel planned another war with Hezbullah to re-establish its deterrence capacity. In 2006, after long preparation and using its air force, Israel suffered another ignominious defeat in Lebanon against Hezbullah.
The second goal was to defeat the Palestinian peace offensive. This has been another basic principle of Israeli doctrine: You do not negotiate with Arabs. You give them orders. The Palestinian organization Hamas was becoming too moderate; it was transmitting, giving the signal that it was ready to go along with the two-state settlement based on pre-1967 borders. The leadership of Syria and the West Bank have also been making statements like this. So Israel started to get worried that it would be obliged to negotiate a settlement which the international community has been supporting for the last 30 years.
Those who are against this settlement are the US or Israel, backed by the US. So when Hamas was becoming moderate and holding to the cease-fire it agreed in June 2008, it was showing herself to be a credible negotiating partner. Hamas was standing by its word. In the meantime, Israel has neglected another core principle of cease-fire, namely easing the blockade. So Israel had to defeat this Palestinian peace offensive. It always does this. It provokes Palestinians into reacting, and it wants to either destroy Hamas or inflicts so much damage that Hamas will have to say it will never negotiate with Israel. That is exactly what Israel wants. Israel never wants a moderate negotiating partner because if there is one, pressure on Israel will grow. Hamas is willing for a settlement; Hamas stands by its word. But Israel does not want to negotiate.
Zaman: What you are basically saying is that Israel is not interested in peace at all.
Finkelstein: Israel wants peace in its terms, and its terms are that West Bank should belong to their state.
Zaman: Will the operation be successful?
Finkelstein: First of all, we have to use proper language. There is no operation, and there is no war. What is happening is a slaughter, a massacre. When you have 200 to 300 kids killed, that is not a war. When you have a strong military going in against a defenseless population, that is not a war. When you shoot a fish in a barrel, we do not call it a war. As an Israeli columnist put it, it does not need too much courage to send jets and helicopter gunships to shoot inside a prison. What just happened was not a war. One-third of the casualties were children. It was not a war; it was a just a massacre.
In terms of the Israelis’ goals, you have to say it was successful. It inspired fear among Palestinians and Arabs generally that Israel is a lunatic state and that you have to follow its orders. No. 2, it destroys Hamas as a negotiating partner. You now hear from Hamas that it will not negotiate peace. That is what Israel wanted.
Zaman: On your Web site, there is an argument that the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors are doing to the Palestinians exactly what was done to them by the Nazis. Do you agree with that?
Finkelstein: I think Israel, as a number of commentators pointed out, is becoming an insane state. And we have to be honest about that. While the rest of the world wants peace, Europe wants peace, the US wants peace, but this state wants war, war and war. In the first week of the massacres, there were reports in the Israeli press that Israel did not want to put all its ground forces in Gaza because it was preparing attacks on Iran. Then there were reports it was planning attacks on Lebanon. It is a lunatic state.
Zaman: But do you agree with the characterization?
Finkelstein: Look at the pictures and decide for yourself. I am not going to tell people what they should think about it. But what I say is they should look at the pictures and decide for themselves. (For the pictures go to: http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=2510) Zaman:
Zaman: Why have you been barred from entering Israel for 10 years? As the son of Holocaust survivors, you cannot enter Israel.
Finkelstein: Let’s be clear on a certain point. I was not entering Israel; I have no interest in going to Israel. I was going to see my friends in the occupied Palestinian territories. And Israel blocked me to go and see my friends in the West Bank. Under international law, I do not think they have any right to do that. I was not posing any security threat to Israel. The day after I was denied entry to Israel, the editorial of "Haaretz" was asking, “Who is afraid of Norman Finkelstein?” They were also saying that I was not a security threat. I do not have any particular interest to go and visit that lunatic state.
Zaman: There are Jewish intellectuals who now call Israel a “terrorist state.” Is that a correct description?
Finkelstein: I am not sure how you cannot agree with that. The goal of the operation was to terrorize the civilian population so that Palestinians would be afraid of Israel. This is the dictionary definition of terrorism. The dictionary definition of terrorism is targeting a civilian population to achieve a political goal. The goal of this operation or rather massacre was to terrorize the civilian population and to wreck and destroy as much civilian infrastructure such that the Palestinians would submit. When you attack schools, mosques, ambulances, hospitals, UN relief organizations, what is that? If this is not terrorism, then what is terrorism?
Zaman: In your famous book, The Holocaust Industry, you argue that the state of Israel, one of the world’s most formidable military powers, with a horrendous human rights record, cast itself as a victim state in order to garner immunity to criticism. Have we seen this during the Gaza operation?
Finkelstein: They tried to use the Holocaust; it was funny in a very sick way. The leader of the American Jewish Committee, David Harris, wrote an article, and he said it is no coincidence that this war in Gaza is occurring around Jan. 27, which is Holocaust Remembrance Day. He wants to pretend some connection. In fact there is a connection, and the connection is Israel is committing a holocaust in Gaza. But that is not the connection he had in mind. He wanted to play the Holocaust card; I think that it is not working very much anymore. It was clear that during this last massacre in Gaza, liberal Jewish public opinion turned against Israel. If you look at the petitions, demonstrations, letters, support to Israel, not only in the international community but also among the Jewish community, is diminishing. So the Holocaust card, the anti-Semitic card, is not working as efficiently as it was working once.
Zaman: You will probably be called anti-Semitic as well.
Finkelstein: I do not think this propaganda is successful anymore.
Zaman: In your book Beyond Chutzpah, you argue that Israel was created after the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, but the question whether it was premeditated remains to be answered. If it is premeditated, then can it be called genocide?
Finkelstein: Well, it was premeditated, and I think the record is pretty clear. Even Israel’s former minister of foreign affairs, Shlomo Ben-Ami, in his book published several years ago called “Scars of War,” said that it was quite clear that it was a premeditated expulsion in 1948 and it was anchored in the Zionist philosophy of transfer. Ethnic cleansings are ethnic cleansings, and they are war crimes.
Zaman: Why do you think US media is so one-sided and so pro-Israeli?
Finkelstein: I think it has two components. First of all, Israel serves American interests in the region and American media always give a free pass to those states that serve American interests. That is the overall picture and not much different from other parts of the world. The horrendous governments like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, they also get free passes in the American media. This is the larger context.
And there is, of course, the secondary factor, which is the ethnic element. In many of these newspapers and the media in general, there is a large Jewish presence, and there is a sense of Jewish ethnic solidarity, which plays a role. But I think we have to qualify the secondary factor in two ways. We should not lose sight of the primary factor, which is Israel is the client state of US.
No. 2: In this past war, the liberal Jewish population mostly under the age of 40 completely defected from the war, the massacre. They have been opposed to the massacres from the first day.
Zaman: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been very critical of Israel on Gaza, and some American circles lambasted him in return. What do you think about his stance?
Finkelstein: I wish he had gone further. I wish he had gone as far as Qatar, Mauritania, Bolivia and Venezuela in breaking diplomatic relations with that lunatic state. But as far as he has gone, the point on which he stands, has been terrific. And I was glad to see Hamas respected the gestures of the Turkish government and said they would be willing to have Turkish troops stationed on “our border.” That is a very high praise for the Turkish government.
Turks are showing Palestinians compassion, decency and justice. All the Turkish people should take pride in this stance, as was the case on the eve of the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. It was the Turkish people and government who showed courage. Ninety-six percent of the Turkish people opposed the war in Iraq. The Turkish government refused to give Americans use of their land to attack Iraq. Now Turkish people and the Turkish government are redeeming themselves again by standing on what is right, what is decent and what is just. I say the highest praise for Erdogan and the Turkish people.
Zaman: How do you feel about Israel’s operation in Gaza personally as the son of Holocaust survivors?
Finkelstein: It has been a long time since I felt any emotional connection with the state of Israel, which relentlessly and brutally and inhumanly keeps these vicious, murderous wars. It is a vandal state. There is a Russian writer who once described vandal states as Genghis Khan with a telegraph. Israel is Genghis Khan with a computer. I feel no emotion of affinity with that state. I have some good friends and their families there, and of course I would not want any of them to be hurt. That said, sometimes I feel that Israel has come out of the boils of the hell, a satanic state. Ninety percent of the population continues to cheer, to exalt and feel proud and heroic. They send a Sherman tank to a playground and torch children. Is this heroism? Is this courage?
Zaman: You were not allowed to teach at DePaul University despite a very good academic record and also had some problems in getting your Ph.D. from Princeton. Why?
Finkelstein: Well, I had some problems. I really cannot discuss my problems in the face of what is going on in Gaza. It will be so silly, trivial and stupid. Three hundred or so children — they were incinerated to death; phosphorus bombs were thrown indiscriminately over Gaza. Everything these people wanted to rebuild was destroyed again. This Israeli state invaded in 1978, again in 1982, again in 1993, again in 1996, again in 2006, and 2008, and it always destroys, destroys and destroys. And then these satanic narcissistic people throw their hands up in the air and ask, “Why doesn’t anybody love us? Why don’t our neighbors want us to be here?” Why would they?
Interviewed by SELÇUK GÜLTASLI
"Today's Zaman" (Turkey) Jan. 19, 2009
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=164483

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Environmental racism is still present in New Orleans

BLACK BUZZ NEWS SERVICE
August 24, 2010
New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans... Five years ago, tropical storm Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans and the entire Gulf coast region.
Today, New Orleans is smaller, less poor, more Hispanic and less Black.
As the city of New Orleans builds, Blacks are still in the areas not protected from floods. More importantly as usual, the poor suffer and the affluent prosper. Nothing has changed in New Orleans. It's the same "Old Wine in New Bottles."
The lower ninth war in New Orleans used to have 18,200 citizens before hurricane Katrina. The lower ninth ward now has 1800 residents and the city of New Orleans is doing everything in its power to stop those Blacks from coming back into the city. New Orleans will never again be called a Chocolate City. There is no semblance of Black political or economic power in New Orleans today. Hurricane Katrina achieved and accomplished what the Republican Party couldn't which is the disempowerment of the economic and political clout of African Americans. This effect will be felt for decades.

Sleuths 'Do Drop In' : Hill City, Police Raid Nite Spot

BLACK BUZZ NEWS SERVICE
The Robinson & Saunders Archives
The Pittsburgh Courier Archives
The James S. Robinson Jr. Project
August 24, 2011
Pittsburgh PA.

The above titled article appeared in The Pittsburgh Courier on Saturday January 20, 1945. This article is part of the James S. Robinson Jr. Project. Mr. Robinson was the second person of color in the United States to receive the coveted and highly acclaimed American Legion Honor School Award in 1925 while attending the famous Watt Street School which is now Robert L. Vann Elementary school located in the Hill District of Pittsburgh Pa. The James S. Robinson Jr. Project is about the life, accomplishments, achievements, trials, tribulations of Mr. Robinson, and the impact of his actions on the Hill District of Pittsburgh, the City of Pittsburgh, Butler PA, and the United States of America.

HILL CITY, POLICE RAID NITE SPOT
Following up numerous complaints in the Hill City Friendly Service Bureau from parents that their teenage children were frequenting the Do- Drop Inn at 74 Fullerton Street during the wee hours of the morning, City Detective Voyle Parker and John Thompson took the advice on the window of the establishment and "did drop in"at 2:45 a.m., just after the Sabbath was over this week.
The juveniles apparently had noticed the Hill City representatives nosing about the place and eased out just before the detectives arrived, Hill City Director James S. Robinson told Magistrate McDiarmid at the hearing in Morals Court Monday morning. Only two juveniles were caught in the raid which nettled 50 men and nine women adults. A large crowd of youngsters stood across the street and watched police raid the resort, Robinson said.
Two pregnant girls barely over the adult age limit and several servicemen were arrested. A quantity of beer was said to have been confiscated by detectives.
At the hearing before Magistrate McDiarmid in Morals Court, the alleged proprietors James Copening, 45, 74 Fullerton Street and Thomas Miller, 33 Colwell street were held for Court on charges of keeping a disorderly house. The 59 visitors were fined $ 5 or ten days in jail.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Top US Senator Assassinated As Obama "Weather War" Plunges WorldInto Chaos

Black Buzz News Service
Deadhorse, Alaska
August 14, 2010
(BBNS)

By Sorcha Faal and as reported to her Western Subscribers

A new report prepared for Prime Minister Putin by Russia's foreign military intelligence directorate (GRU) states that a former top United States Senator, Ted Stevens, was assassinated this week after he attempted to gather evidence"proving" that President Obama has unleashed America's devastating "weather weapons" against the World.
As we had previously reported on in our August 3rd report titled "Russia Burns, China Drowns: US To Blame?" Russian research scientist Dr. Andrey Areshev has joined the ranks of International scientists and experts stating their belief that the extreme weather chaos currently battering our Planet is being caused by the Tesla technology based weapons systems directed from Alaska's High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, otherwise known as HAARP.
Now according to this GRU report, Senator Stevens was approached less than a fortnight ago by his longtime friend and Alaskan bush pilot Theron "Terry" Smith whose son-in-law, Alaskan Air National Guard Major Aaron W. Malone, was killed on July 28th after having his C-17 US Military aircraft "targeted" by a HAARP"Tesla Beam" while in the air over Anchorage, Alaska causing it to crash and explode upon impact killing all aboard. [Note: The Russian translation for"targeted" as used in this report does not assign HARRP blame as it includes an"accidental" verb component.]
Upon Senator Stevens beginning his investigation into HAARP's causing the crash of the Major Malone's C-17, this report continues, he enlisted the aid of two powerful Washington power brokers, oil fortune heir William "Bill" Phillips Sr. and former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe.
Phillips was a longtime ally and supporter of Senator Stevens and as the heir to the Phillips Petroleum fortune is said in these reports to have in the past used his vast fortune to privately finance US intelligence "activities" to support his countries efforts to gain access to Global oil reserves.
Phillips had long warned Americans that the United States does not have any big oil companies. And it's true: the largest American oil company, Exxon Mobil, is only the 14th largest in the World and is dwarfed by the really big oil companies -- all owned by foreign governments or government- sponsored monopolies -- that dominate the World's oil supply.
With 94% of the World's oil supply locked up by foreign governments, most of which are hostile to the United States, the relatively puny American oil companies do not have access to enough crude oil to significantly affect the market and help bring prices down. Thus, ExxonMobil, a "small" oil company, buys 90% of the crude oil that it refines for the US market from the big players, i.e., mostly-hostile foreign governments.
O'Keefe was the former administrator for the Untied States space agency NASA from 2001-2005, and whose reign included the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster that occurred on February 1, 2003, when upon its reentry into Earth's atmosphere disintegrated over Texas, and which this report says O'Keefe"always" blamed on HAARP because at the exact time of this tragedy it had begun transmitting in what is called "deep sea communication mode".
[Note: During the "Navy Deep-Sea Communication" operational mode, the shortwave radio pulses are all, with military precision, exactly 6.25 seconds long with either exactly 15 or 30 second spaces between pulses. Those long and short binary spaces in between the pulses are actually the coded message. Something like the dits and dahs of very slow Morse code. In this mode, the power is usually at maximum. Unlike the research mode, which mostly runs at night, the US Navy communication mode can be at any time of the day or night, any month of the year. The transmissions may run continuously for about 10 to 30 hours, or from one to several days. Following the 9-11 World Trade Center attack, and just minutes after the President declared the highest Defense Condition Four (DefCon4), HAARP began transmitting at highest power for 18 hours in "deep-sea communication" mode. This is the only way to communicate the DefCon4 condition and updated battle commands to the US nuclear submarines on station miles deep in the ocean.]
The various transmission ranges of HAARP are important to note, this report says, as "immediately prior" to Senator Stevens plane going down Russian satellites orbiting over the Arctic detected a "powerful" 3.39 megahertz signalemanating from HAARP's Copper Valley Area, Gakona, Alaska base and"directed" over the region this tragedy occurred in.
According to US news reports Phillips was killed in this crash [photo 2nd left] and O'Keefe is in hospital in critical condition, and with Senator Stevens being killed also means their investigation into HAARP has died along with them.
To the chaos erupting all over the World as the result of Obama's allowing the use of these catastrophic HAARP "weather weapons" it can only be described as being "biblical" in the apocalyptic destruction it is causing, and which includes:
Ø The greatest heatwave and destructive fires Russia has experienced inover 1,000 years.
Ø The greatest flooding Central Europe has experienced in over 800 years.
Ø Flooding in Pakistan so epic the United Nations has named this megadisaster as being worse than the 2004 tsunami that shattered the Indian Ocean basin.
Ø Flooding so catastrophic in China the death toll is soaring into the thousands.
Ø A heatwave so terrible in Japan it has caused its hospitals to be flooded with over 21,000 heatstroke victims.
Ø A heatwave of unprecedented proportions that has gripped the eastern and southern parts of the United States this summer and shows no signs of abating.
Ø Temperatures so low in the western United States that farmers in California are now reporting their fruits and vegetables are being destroyed.
Ø A catastrophic drought hitting Africa that has put over 10 million people in immediate danger of starvation death.
Ø A catastrophic winter occurring in South America that has killed in Bolivia alone between 3-6 million fish and thousands of cattle in Brazil, and hundreds of people.
To what is linking these Global weather catastrophes we can read as reported by Britain's Channel 4 News science correspondent Tom Clarke who in his video report titled "Turbo-Charged Monsoon Confounds Forecasters" states:
"Normally the jet stream is a giant loop of high speed winds that whip round the upper atmosphere. The jet stream isn't involved in day to day weather - it's too high up - but because it pushes the atmosphere around it's very important in steering large scale weather patterns below. The stream has split in two. One arm has gone north, another south. The patch in the middle is Russia's drought. A circulating pattern of air has been sitting over Russia for far longer than normal,causing the extreme temperatures and wildfires they've had there.
But what's happening over Pakistan is even stranger. The southern arm of the Jet stream has looped down so far it has crossed over the Himalayas into north western Pakistan. Experts at the Met Office tell me this is very unusual.
And the result is that the fast moving jets stream winds high up has helped suck the warm, wet, monsoon air even faster and higher into the atmosphere - and that has caused rains like no-one can remember. It has turbo charged the monsoon if you like. They're not sure that's ever happened before."
To HAARP's ability to affect our Earth's jet streams we can further read from a report prepared in the 1990's by the US Air Force and which, in part, states:
"HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program), being constructed for the Air Force and Navy by an ARCO subsidiary, is such a project. Touted as scientific research, HAARP is a thinly disguised project to "perturb" the ionosphere with extremely powerful beams of energy to see what military uses it can serve. According to the HAARP RFP, these energy beams will be used to "control ionospheric processes in such a way as to greatly enhance the performance of C3 systems (or, to deny accessibility to an adversary)." That sounds like a weapon to this writer. Other such projects go by the code names BIME, RED AIR, CRRES, EXCEDE, CHARGE IV, WISP, ACTIVE, HIPAS, RADC, AIM, etc.. Nuclear bombs exploded in high altitude tests in the late fifties and early sixties by both the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. caused weather and jet stream changes that lasted almost 20 years. Do the HAARP heaters offer the same potential as they "perturb" the ionosphere? The ionosphere is home to many beneficial natural phenomena among them filtering the sun's harmful rays and reflecting radio waves used for communications. Although not totally understood, the ionosphere also directly effects the weather systems and the jet streams."
To the reasons for Obama unleashing of HAARP weapons upon our World we had touched on in our August 3rd report "Russia Burns, China Drowns: US To Blame?"and though not conclusive contains:
Ø The catastrophic flooding in China and apocalyptic heat and fires in Russia put both of these US enemies in the position of having to ask the Americans for food aid as their summer crops are being destroyed on an unprecedented basis.
Ø The epic flooding occurring in Pakistan is effectively destroying that Nations ability to both feed and defend itself and whom Obama has labeled as one of the Americans number one enemies.
Ø The devastating heat occurring in the United States will enable Obama to push through the US Congress a "Global Warming" tax agenda many believe will be the "final nail" needed to destroy the United States as a major World Power.
To the "unintended consequences" of Obama's "weather war" against the World we can now only glimpse as the wholesale destruction of summer crops in the Northern Hemisphere is now warned will cause food riots as inflationary pressures upon what little food is left to feed our Planet can very well push us all into Total Global War.And finally, though we do not know what the outcome of these momentous events will be, it is in our knowing to warn, that above all else, everyone reading these words should make the storing of food their top priority as this Summer of Woe will surely become a Winter of Discontent.
© August 11, 2010 EU and US all rights reserved. Permission to use this report in its entirety is granted under the condition it is linked back to its original source at WhatDoesItMean.Com.
[Ed. Note: Western governments and their intelligence services actively campaign against the information found in these reports so as not to alarm their citizens about the many catastrophic Earth changes and events to come, a stance that the Sisters of Sorcha Faal strongly disagrees with in believing that it is every human beings right to know the truth. Due to our missions conflicts with that of those governments, the responses of their 'agents' against us has been a longstanding misinformation/misdirection campaign designed to discredit and which is addressed in the report "Who Is Sorcha Faal?".]