HOLD YOUR NOSE - HERE COMES REV. CORNEL WEST AGAIN, FOLKS

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree
 

HOLD YOUR NOSE - HERE COMES REV. CORNEL WEST AGAIN, FOLKS
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Tavis Smiley and Cornel West traveled all across the country on a bus under the pretext of being so passionately concerned about poverty in America that they just HAD to do something about it - but of course, that was BEFORE the election, and when they had books to sell. But now that the election is over, and they don't have any books to sell, they couldn't bring themselves to walk down the street from Tavis' office to support the Black Friday demonstrations taking place all across the country against Wal-Mart - Tavis' major sponsor, a member of ALEC, and the biggest abuser of the working class in America today.
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And not only did they fail to attend ANY of the demonstrations taking place across the country against Wal-Mart, they didn't even issue a comment of support. All we've heard coming from the Smiley/West camp are crickets - and as everyone knows, that's extremely uncharacteristic of Cornel West, who would trade a kidney for a sound byte.  So I'd say that just about says it all about those two - Tavis Smiley and Cornel West are two of the biggest hypocrites that the Black community has ever suffered. Yet West recently had this to say:
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"The kind of courage that these brothers had in 1971 is in short supply," said Dr. West. "It’s in short supply. Because when you bring together the national security state and the military industrial complex, when you bring together the prison industrial complex and all the profits that flow from it, when you bring together the corporate media multiplex that don’t want to allow for serious dialogue unless we got sister Amy (Goodman) or brother Tavis (Smiley) and some others, and then when you bring together the Wall Street oligarchs and the corporate plutocrats and they tell any person or any group, ‘if you speak the truth, we’ll shoot you down like a dog and dehumanize you the way they typically the brothers in Attica’, the only thing that will keep you going is you better have some love in your heart for the people."
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Tavis Smiley is in direct violation of the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists, which states the following in part:
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Act Independently

 Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know.
Journalists should:

—Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived. 

— Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility. 

— Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity 

— Disclose unavoidable conflicts. 

— Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable. 

— Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.  

— Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money; avoid bidding for news.

Yet, Cornel West recently said in another forum:

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“The kind of courage that these brothers had in 1971 is in short supply,” said Dr. West. “It’s in short supply. Because when you bring together the national security state and the military industrial complex, when you bring together the prison industrial complex and all the profits that flow from it, when you bring together the corporate media multiplex that don’t want to allow for serious dialogue unless we got sister Amy (Goodman) or brother Tavis (Smiley) and some others, and then when you bring together the Wall Street oligarchs and the corporate plutocrats and they tell any person or any group, ‘if you speak the truth, we’ll shoot you down like a dog and dehumanize you the way they typically the brothers in Attica’, the only thing that will keep you going is you better have some love in your heart for the people.”

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NICE SERMON, REV. WEST, BUT WE’D PREFER YOU LIVE US A SERMON INSTEAD OF ALWAYS PREACHIN’ US ONE.

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1). If you have so much “love for the people,” why is it that you’ve never taught at a school that the average Black student can get into in your ENTIRE career?

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2). And where was your "love for the people" when you sat back and watched your “Brother Tavis” Smiley be paid by Wells Fargo to Judas-Goat over 30,000 minorities into being swindled out of their homes and life savings in the Wells Fargo “Ghetto Loan” scam?

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3). And why doesn’t your “love for the people” inspire you to encourage Mr. Tavis ‘Accountability’ Smiley to be “accountable” and return the money he made off the scam to the people who lost their assets?

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4). And why doesn’t your “love for the people” inspire you to encourage Mr. Tavis ‘Accountability’ Smiley to speak out on the atrocious way that his Walmart road dawgs treat it’s workers?

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UNTILYOU DO THESE THINGS “BROTHER” WEST, YOU AND THE “HONORABLE” MR. TAVIS SMILEY HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO CREDIBILITY IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY.

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RELATED ARTICLE

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THE REAL HISTORY OF THE POVERTY TOURS
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A QUESTION FOR BOTH TAVIS SMILEY AND CORNEL WEST

http://wattree.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-question-for-both-tavis-smiley-and.html

 

Eric L. Wattree

Http://wattree.blogspot.com

Ewattree@Gmail.com

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

Stanley 'Tookie' Williams - An All American Boy

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Stanley 'Tookie' Williams - An All American Boy

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This article was originally written in December of 2005.  It wasn't written to glorify either crime, murder, or the gangster lifestyle that a minority of Black and Hispanic youth embrace in the hood. It was written to reflect the reality of life in this nation’s inner cities, and the culture of wasted humanity that it spawns. 
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In the end, it turned out that Tookie Williams was a brilliant young man, and he just might have possessed a mind that could have cured many of society’s ills. This nation cannot afford such a waste, and the Black community cannot just sit back and allow this sort of thing to continue, because the fact is, Stanley 'Tookie' Williams was actually an All American Boy; the only thing he did that we don't routinely honor our young men for, was applying his American values toward his own interest, instead of Exxon/Mobile's.

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I went to view the remains of Stanley 'Tookie' Williams, the Friday after America released his body from its death chamber. He went to Washington High School with my late wife. When I went inside the mortuary’s Slumber Chamber where Tookie’s body lie in repose, there was only two of us there, a lady sitting in the front pew quietly weeping, presumably a member of Tookie’s family. It was obvious that the lady was in great pain, so in spite of the fact that I didn’t know her, I offered her my condolences. The chamber was quiet and solemn.  Then, after paying my respects, I walked out the side door of the mortuary - and into an absolute zoo.    
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In the parking lot next to the mortuary there was a crowd of people partying like it was New Years Eve - the music was blasting, one car was on lifters so high that it seemed to be standing on end, and three sisters were dancing in a heated frenzy before a crowd of maybe a hundred people shouting, “Go ba-by! Go ba-by! Go ba-by!” It was unbelievable. But the scene outside the mortuary that night served to reinforce a point of view that I’ve held for many years now - it's time for our people to wake up and sniff the funk, because the fumes are emanating from all around us, and it’s coming at us from every direction. That goes for the American people in general, but black people in particular.
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As black people, we have a beautiful and festive culture, and I realize that in the past that festive spirit has been used to great effect as a defense against pain.  But times are changing in this country, and they’re changing faster and more drastically than we’ve ever known before.  So, if we are to survive as a people, we must adapt to that change - and we’d better do it real fast.
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Looking at the United States today, one can’t help but recognize that it’s become reminiscent of Germany during the 1930s, just prior to the rise of fascism.  We have a regime currently in power that’s stolen two elections, and has taken over every branch of government; they invaded a sovereign nation on false pretenses, and they’re saber rattling towards others; They’ve set up concentration camps all over the world, and they’re torturing innocent people.  As we party, they’re not only passing laws that will allow them to spy on American citizens, but arrest those citizens, while denying them rights supposedly guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States.
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We’ve got to start thinking the way this government thinks (notice that I didn’t say “the White man,” because if a White man happens to be poor or middle class, he’s in trouble too). We‘ve got to start thinking ahead.  When I was in The Marine Corps way back in 1971, even then, they had me out in Twenty-nine Palms training reservists in desert warfare.  So you see, while we’re living in the moment, this government is thinking ahead.  And when you consider the fact that Bush is now spending 2 billion dollars a week in Iraq, and sending this country into so much debt that it precludes our funding education, Medicare, most entitlement programs, and possibly, even Social Security, you’d better believe they have a game plan in mind.  They have to have one, just to deal with the resulting social upheaval that is sure to result - and they are practicing that game plan in Iraq as we speak.  So it is past time for black people to set our party hats aside, at least for the moment, and embark on a very serious and sober reassessment of where we stand in this country today.
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Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-America - I Love America.  America has provided me and my family with a way of life, and opportunities, that we might not have found in any other place in the world. But what I love most about America is the American ideal, those ideals that we may not always live up to, but we aspire to.  It is the American ideal that makes America special, and it is the assault on those ideals that makes me very nervous about the Bush administration. Under Bush, we seem to be losing sight of what America stands for. He claims that the terrorists hate us because of the American ideal of freedom, justice, and equality.  But if that is indeed the case, the terrorist are clearly winning this war, because with every day that passes those ideals are being whittled away.
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When Bush invaded Iraq in response to 9-11, he demonstrated very clearly his propensity for venting his hostility towards people of color.  In spite of the fact that all available evidence pointed to the fact that Saddam Hussein had absolutely nothing to do with attacking this country, his invasion of Iraq seems to say, “Oh well, one Arab is just like another - they’ll do.”  That is not the American way.
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And as a result of that policy, United Press International reported on July 12, 2005 that according to an Iraqi humanitarian organization, 128,000 Iraqis have been killed since the U.S. invasion began in March 2003.  The report goes on to say,  “chairman of the 'Iraqiyun' humanitarian organization in Baghdad, Dr. Hatim al-'Alwani, said that the toll includes everyone who has been killed since that time, adding that 55 percent of those killed have been women and children aged 12 and under.”  Thus, according to this report, more women and children are being killed in Iraq than anyone else - and that, is not the American way.
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In addition, it has now come to light that the Bush administration has been spying on Muslims in their homes, businesses, and mosques, without warrant, since September 11, 2001. Conservative spin doctors try to justify this policy by saying that this fudging of the Constitution only affects
0.1% of the people, so those of us who don’t have anything to hide, don’t have anything to worry about.  But the fact is, these violations set a precedent that sends the nation down a slippery slope that affects us all.  It’s not only a gross violation of an entire community of people, but a corruption of the United States Constitution that places us all in jeopardy. That is not the American way.
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So it is clear that our government, under Bush, has no understanding, nor respect, for limits.  Since he's already demonstrated his propensity to paint all people of color with the same brush, it’s not a very big leap from terrorist, to Muslim, to Black Muslim, to black people in general.  And while that's not the American way, it's a glaring reality.
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So, again, it is past time for the black community to turn down the music for a minute and get serious. The Cabbage Patch can wait, because if there has ever been a time in our history where it is incumbent upon us to focus, educate ourselves, and become politically engaged, it is now. We’ve demonstrated over the years that we can party hardier than any group of people in the world, but at this point in our history, we have absolutely nothing to party about.  Tookie’s body should attest to that fact.

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ADDED AFTER BARACK OBAMA'S ELECTION

Since I wrote that article eight years ago, there has been some change - with respect to the Black community, it's gotten worse.  Some Obama critics - like Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, and the entire Republican Party - would say, that makes their point.  Even though we've elected a Black president things have gotten worse. But that's not true.  On a national level things have gotten a lot better. Under the Bush administration the nation was hemorrhaging 850,000 jobs per MONTH, and this nation, and the world as a whole, was racing towards a second Great Depression, so on a national level things are much better.
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What the steady decline of the Black community does clearly indicate, however, is that we're not doing nearly enough to help ourselves. So why are Obama critics wasting so much time on television, selling books, and rolling around in buses promoting themselves when there is so much work to be done in the community? Why aren't they in the community with their sleeves rolled up and educating the community to the need for change, and about how to bring that change about?  The answer is, because they don't care. All they care about is their own enrichment. So the fact is, we've got to stop waiting for them, and start caring about ourselves. So let's get moving.
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About Tookie and Others Like Him

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we must also remember while we’re condemning Tookie that society creates it’s own monsters. All any person is, is a walking, breathing, bundle of past experiences, and society creates those experiences. So society plays a huge role in what we become as individuals. Then, why is it that two people from the very same sociological group will become complete opposites - one will become Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams, and the other, Dr. Ben Carson?
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First, is parenting - our parents help to shape the way we view reality, how we deal with adversity, and determine whether we feel entitled or deprived. Second, is predisposition - some people tend to be appeasers, while others are combative. And finally, every individual is shaped by micro experiences - the individual experiences that serve to shape our personalities. Maybe at some point in his life Tookie Williams was slapped by a cop, and Ben Carson never had that experience. So although Carson is from the very same sociological group, his INDIVIDUAL life experience has shaped him differently.
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Thus, Tookie Williams wasn't just BORN to be rebellious, he BECAME rebellious as a result of what he's experienced in life. And Carson wasn't BORN to be a subservient kiss-ass (which is clearly what he is), his INDIVIDUAL experience has shaped him into what he's become. Therefore, society creates its own monsters.
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This society also created Gorge W. Bush and Dick Cheney, and while, granted, Tookie Williams was alleged to have killed the innocent people that he was executed for (there was evidence to the contrary, but the state refused to examine it), we know for a fact that Bush and Cheney was responsible for the death of over a million people, the maiming of thousands of others, and the torture of still others. So even if Tookie was guilty of what he was accused of, his crime doesn’t even begin to approach the magnitude of Bush and Cheney’s. Yet, instead of killing Bush like society did Tookie, we built him a library.
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Thus, Tookie’s major crime wasn’t murder, per se - mere murder is routinely a part of the American ethic. Tookie’s major crime was allegedly murdering in the promotion of his own agenda, rather than the agenda of Haliburton and Exxon/Mobile, in which we hand out medals.
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Now, those are the facts. Bush and Cheney turned the American military into nothing less than the Crips with a dental plan. Tookie merely took the American ethic - in which he’d been indoctrinated by all of his life - and applied it to his own environment. As far as he was concerned, he was America, and everybody else that didn’t see things his way, was the USSR.
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Thus, the existence of the Tookies in the Black community is our fault, because we’re so busy watching BET, MTV, ESPN, partying and having a good time, that we're failing to educate our own young people in OUR own values. We're allowing them to take on the very values that were responsible for our enslavement - and I'm not speaking as a detached academic from an office atop Mt. Olympus; I'm speaking as a hood rat . . . just like my late friend, Tookie.

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ODE TO TOOKIE

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Tookie?
Yeah,
I knew Tookie;
I WAS Tookie,
And I knew his pain.
*
I knew the pain of a child
That the cold, smirking
Eyes of society
Peered down upon;
Of being caught like
A doe in the headlights
Of unbridled hatred
For nothing more than
Just . . . being;
Of being
Under-acknowledged,
Under-appreciated,
And under-educated,
By a society
Intent on robbing me
Of the innocence
That is every child’s birthright.
And I know the churning, agonizing,
And unfocused anger
Of a youth
Who knows anger
Much too soon.
*
So,
Tookie?
Yeah,
I knew Tookie;
I WAS Tookie,
But I ain’t going out like that.
*
Because some the greatest minds
I’ve ever known
Held court while sitting
on empty milk crates
In the parking lot
Of ghetto liquor stores;
And at their feet I embraced
The love of knowledge,
And through their tutelage
Defined self-worth
In my own terms.
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These were the "Eulipians"—
Writers, poets, musicians, painters,
And uncommon drunks—
Those shade-tree philosophers who
Contemplated the fungus
Between the toes of society;
Who danced with reckless abandon,
Unfettered by formal inhibition
Through the presumptuous
Speculation of the ages.
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Yes, the Eulipians,
Who lived in county jails,
Cardboard boxes, alley ways,
And luxury apartments.
Seemingly insignificant
Here in Great Bruteland,
But of ultimate significance
In the eyes of God.
*
While these obscure intellectuals
Stood well outside the mainstream
Of academy,
I watched with astonished delight
As they sang, scat, blew, and scribed
Their various philosophies into the
Mainstream of human knowledge.
*
Tookie?
Oh Yeah,
I knew Tookie;
I WAS Tookie,
*
But I met the Eulipians,
Who, from their ragged podiums,
Put forth the proposition
That knowledge was free, thus,
Would transcend attempts to be
Contain through barriers of
Caste and privilege - and even,
Institutionalized murder -
Leaving man's innate thirst
For knowledge free to overwhelm
His lust for stupidity.
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So,
Tookie,
Yeah,
Yes in deed, I did know Tookie;
I WAS Tookie,
But I choose a different tact.
While I refuse to lunge
Against your saber,
In a glorious and defiant act,
Look into my eyes, my man--
I still got my brother’s back.
*
You thought you had him,
While facing death,
But he went down like
Like Trojan -
Leaving your silly asses,
With your silly smiles,
Standing there
Shocked and frozen.
*
"What’s up, baby,
Can’t find a vein?
You been beggin’ to do this,
So let’s us do this thang.
But if y’all
Waitin’ around
To see some pain,
I ain’t the only one gon’
Die here,
You jive ass, lame.
*
"Faint of heart?
Give it here,
I’ll stick the damn thang for ya;
I’m a man of the hood
And strong of heart,
So I goin' down
Like a warrior.
*
"Naw, my man,
You don’t see no fear;
You really look surprised!
I’m gon’ honor my people
As I leave here,
So just stick me,
So I can close my eyes and die.
*
"You schemed and cheated
To take me out,
So let us get this on;
You can still my body
And take my breath,
But my heart
Will still live on."
*
So,
Tookie?
You mean
THAT Tookie.
Yeah, I knew Tookie,
We’ve planted his heart
Within the hood;

So what you saw as dirt,
We see as soil,
To sow this tragedy,
Into something good.
*
Tookie,
Oh yeah,
I KNEW Tookie,
But I ain’t goin’
Out like that.

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A SENSIBLE SOLUTION TO WHITE SUPREMACY
http://wattree.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-sensible-response-to-white-supremacy.html
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Eric L. Wattree
http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

A Message To A Very Close Conservative Friend

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

A MESSAGE TO A VERY CLOSE CONSERVATIVE FRIEND

Tom,

You just don't seem to get it. It doesn't matter why Obama had his educational records sealed. That's his business. Maybe he just doesn't want crazy Republicans harassing teachers and friends in his background just to try to find dirt to use for political advantage. The less information you make available to conspiracy nuts the better, because it gives them material to distract from addressing America's business.
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If Republicans were as tenacious in addressing America's business as they are in trying to find dirt on Obama, this nation would be experiencing some of the most astounding success that it has ever experienced, but instead, they're acting like irate children determined to sabotage American progress. The American people are sick of it, and you're going to pay a heavy price for it in coming elections.
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Americans are adults who are interested in addressing the nation's concerns, but the Republican Party is determined to play in a sandbox and engaged in spitball fights. It's a clear sign of ignorance, an inability to focus, and gross immaturity. That's why they're such grossly inept administrators and had to literally HIDE both Bush and Cheney during the last two election cycles.
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That's why I'm so shocked with you, Tom. It makes me scratch my head - how can a person be so brilliant in his profession, and most other areas, yet be so clueless regarding political issues? If this was anything other than politics you'd see right through it - and I know you can. When your Conservative buds started pilling in on me, it was like a light switch went on in your head. Your military training kicked in and it was you and I against them, and you defended my position more effectively than I could. So I KNOW you know this stuff. But when it's just me and you, all of a sudden you become clueless again. What's up with that? I think I'm just the only progressive you like, so politically, you're thinking with your emotions rather than your intellect.
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Answer the question and read the links below. They say it all. Tom, you don't fit in with Republicans. You have a different set of values. I know for a fact that you're not a racist, and you have much too much intelligence to be hangin' with the dummies. Get onboard, man, and start fighting for America. That's your nature.

***************

GOP: A One Hundred Year Record of Swindling the American Peoplehttp://wattree.blogspot.com/2010/10/gop-one-hundred-year-record-of.html
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Do Racism, Conservatism, and Low I.Q. Go Hand in Hand?http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/millennial-media/201304/do-racism-conservatism-and-low-iq-go-hand-in-hand

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Lower cognitive abilities predict greater prejudice through right-wing ideology.
Published on April 22, 2013 by Goal Auzeen Saedi, Ph.D. in Millennial Media
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Eric


Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

AMERICAN VALUES

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

AMERICAN VALUES

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ATTENTION FASCISTS!!!

THESE ARE AMERICAN VALUES
Here we have a White Marine, covering our first Black president, while proudly standing at attention and allowing himself to be rained upon. This photo speaks volumes about American values, and it's what MOST Americans believe in.
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SO YOU CAN STOCKPILE WEAPONS IF YOU WANT TO, BUT KNOW THIS - THAT MARINE, AND HIS BROTHERS, WERE SPECIALLY TRAINED, TO WIPE YOUR CRAZY ASSES OUT! 
* 
SINCE MOST OF YOU RAN FROM MILITARY SERVICE,
YOU'RE  MAKING THE MISTAKE OF THINKING
THAT BECAUSE THAT MARINE IS WHITE,
HE'S GOING TO GRAVITATE TO YOUR POINT
OF VIEW,
BUT YOU'RE GOING TO BE SADLY
DISAPPOINTED.
*
THAT'S A MARINE,
  SO ALL YOU REPRESENT TO HIM IS THE 
DOMESTIC ENEMY OF UNITED STATES,
PEOPLE WHO ARE ATTACKING
THE VALUES THAT HIS BROTHERS HAVE
DIED TO DEFEND.

*
SO TAKE A MOMENT AND LOOK
INTO THAT MARINE'S EYES -
THAT'S CERTAIN DEATH YOU'RE LOOKING AT.
*
THESE ARE HIS VALUES . . .
THE UNITES STATES MARINE CORPS
HAS SEEN TO IT . . .

*

 

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 *

Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does

 

LIFE WITH VAL

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

LIFE WITH VAL

(The Party)
by

Eric L. Wattree

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Today, November 8, 2013, is a very special day in my family’s life. It’s the birthday of my late wife, Valdie LaVern Wattree, who died during the early morning of April 27, 2005. But to my entire family it seems like she past just yesterday, because she left such an impact on all of our lives that we still haven’t managed to lay her to rest. I wrote the piece below while Val was still alive, and kept me scratching my head.

.

This one’s for you, baby. Since you’ve passed, I’ve found that life can go on, but not without you in my heart. Until Death Do Us Part - and Beyond.

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Val and I are 44 and 46 years of age, and we've been married for 25 years. We were married on a Christmas morning, and she’s been an ongoing gift in my life every since. We have two kids - a 23 year old daughter, Kai, and a 21 year old son, Eric, Jr. They both graduated from college last month (Eric, on my birthday).
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I met Valdie when she was 14, and my life hasn't been the same since. I'm sort of a laid-back, ‘cerebral’ kind of guy who refuses to make a move without thinking it through. You know the type - the kind of guy who people aren't really sure about until they get to know him. Val, on the other hand, is a totally spontaneous, what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of person that everyone loves on first sight. But she's *so* spontaneous that the kids and I have to keep an eye on her to keep her out of trouble.
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In both high school and college my son was the school basketball star, and before each game countless kids would congregate at my house waiting for Val. Others would go to the gym early to save seats in the bleachers, waiting for her to show up - and when she did, the party was on.
.

The kids used to call the section where Val sat "The Dog Pound." More than once a player on the other team would miss free throws or plays because they were laughing so hard at something Val might have said about one of the referees or opposing players - and the funny thing was, in spite of that, the referees and the kids on the other teams loved her, and they all called her by her first name - though some of the kids called her "Nani" (baby-talk for mommy).
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Kids who were scheduled to play our team would come by the house and say, "Now Val, this is just a game. Don't be doggin' me on the court next week." And she'd say, "I ain’t gon have to, my son's gonna do it for me - and get out of my refrigerator; don't Ruth feed you?" Sometimes after a game my son would say, "Momma, you know, you were a bad girl at the game today, don't you?" And she'd say, "What? His toupee was on crooked!" Sometimes I seriously wonder was the Whoopie Goldberg movie, "Eddie," loosely based on Val's Antics.
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She is so out there. She lives in her very own universe. I tell her sometimes, "Val, if WWIII broke-out, you wouldn't even know it until you heard the blast. And it's true. Val is so oblivious to the things that the rest of us worry about that it verges on dangerous. In spite of the fact that she is well known as one of the top Property Administrators at Hughes Aircraft in El Segundo, Ca., she manages to leave all of her business acumen in her desk at work. One day, for example, she saw a very expensive household item that she wanted to buy. So she came to me and asked if it was alright for us to purchase it. At the time, we were sort of strapped, so I told her that we didn't have the money. She looked at me with deep disappointment, and said with total sincerity, "What do you mean we don't have the money? You have a box full of checks in your desk drawer." So, needless to say, I handle the money in the family.
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But her disarming personality has also helped us out of a number of uncomfortable situations. About ten years ago when we moved from Los Angeles to Covina, California, we were one of just a few Black families in the area. Not being use to that sort of situation, we - make that I - was more than just a little uncomfortable. And to make things worse, one of the neighbors had a huge Confederate flag spread across one entire inside wall of his garage - and the garage door was always open, so whenever we drove down the street his blazing Dixie flag hit us right in the face. I felt uncomfortable with it, but hey, that flag was draped across that wall long before we moved into the neighborhood, and besides, the man has every right to love Dixie - and the only thing I hate more than a racist is a person who comes into a situation and thinks everyone else should rearrange their lives to accommodate him. So I just learned to ignore it, as I THOUGHT Val had.
.

About a month or so after we moved in, however, the lady from across the street invited us to a party that she was having. Again, being the laid-back kind of guy I am, I felt uncomfortable about the prospect. I don't like parties as a matter of course. You have to stand around laughing and smiling when you really don't feel it, and discuss issues that you really don't care about (How about those Dodgers?). It's not my thing - it makes me feel phony - and I had the feeling that this party would be all that multiplied by a thousand - especially, not knowing anyone, and being the only Black couple there: "Hey, Bubba! Guess who’s comin’ to dinner?"
.
But Val immediately lit-up. The lady had said the magic word - PAAAAAR-TAY! Before I could say a word, Val took the ball and ran with it. "I'd love to! Hey, can I be the bartender? I make the best...." The lady ended up at our house all afternoon laughing and talking with Val. By the time she floated back across the street, under the influence of a quart of Val's "sample" Margaritas, Val was up on all the neighborhood gossip, and the two women had forged an unshakable "Most Favorite Neighbor" Treaty.
.
This was going to be more complicated than I thought - it had become serious. We had just moved to the area, and already, life as we were just coming to know it was about to come to a screachin' halt. I could just picture this nice, quiet neighborhood under the influence of Val and her notorious mixed drinks. Once the neighbors came down from their hangovers they'd never forgive us. I could just see the headline of the next day’s San Gabriel Tribune now - "BLACK CHICK CORRUPTS COVINA!" - and knowing my woman, there was no doubt in my mind that’s exactly what was about to happen.
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Val has a real knack for mixing drinks in a way that masked the liquor. She can blend various juices, fruits, and crushed ice with more artistic flare than a Renaissance master. If she could pull-off the same thing with paint and canvas we'd be instant millionaires. She can mix these drinks so well, and make them so pleasing to the taste, that people generally forget about the gallon of liquor that's in them. We'd have parties where I'd here non-drinkers saying, "Ah Val, can I have another "slush," please?" I'd think, "slush, indeed. The only thing that's going to be slushed is you, in about five minutes." Val got a real kick out of it - and now she was about to do it to our new, unsuspecting, neighbors.
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The night of the party I wasn't as uneasy about it as I had been previously, because by then I'd had a week to get to know both Rose, who seemed to have made Val her closest friend on the block, and her husband, Al, who was really a nice guy. But I still wasn't passionate about the prospect of being paraded about as the new Black guy on the block to a lot of people that I didn't know. So I begged off with a cold that I had made it a point to cultivate three days prior to the event.
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The night of the party I kissed Val on the cheek and told her to have a good time. But as she was leaving I held on to her hand and reminded her, "but not too good of a time." She promised to be good, and she was off.
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I then got comfortable and settled into the bedroom to watch television for the night, but I kept the windows open and the blinds open so I could keep an eye - and ear - on the party.
.
By 12:30 a.m. the party was going full blast. I could hear the laughter and the faint sound of music playing in the house, but by 2:00 a.m. I began to hear the sounds of Val working her magic. A couple of guys who I recognized as two of my more conservative neighbors were in front of the house arm-wrestling on the hood of a brand new Chrysler, and another guy was calling out to a woman who was struggling down the street barefoot in an evening gown. So I decided I'd better drop in on the party and rescue these people from my recklessly fun-lovin' woman.
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When I walked in it was clear that Val was in full control of the festivities. It was also clear that I didn't have to worry about uneasy small-talk, because everybody in the house was about as loose as you can get, and still stand up. Val walked up and hugged me, saying, "Hi, honey! Hey everybody! This is my Nu-Nu, Eric." I heard various drunken responses:
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"Hi, Eric!"
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"Hey, Nu-Nu!" 
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"What's his name? Nu-NU!!!?  What the Hell is that, Swahili?"
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"Big, ugly rascal, ain't he? Just kiddin', don't beat me up, brother!"
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Then this one guy walked up and said, "Hi, I'm Stewart. I live down the street. This is quite a lady you've got here."
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"Yeah, I know," I said. "I hope she's been behaving herself?"
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"Naw, I can't say that she has," the man said, in a Southern drawl. "First, she done got everybody drunk - but I can't fault her for that, because that's what I came here for - but then, she called me a Commie."
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I said, "what!?"
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Then Stewart's wife chimed in. Between the booze and her laughter, she could barely get her words out. She introduced herself as Sue, and said, "No, she asked my husband, 'Are you a communist or something?' And my husband said, 'No, I ain't no damned Commie. What made you say that?' Then Val said, 'Well, why you got that Communist flag in your garage?'" Sue went on, trying to talk through her laughter, "Then Stewart said, 'That ain't no damned communist flag! That's Old Dixie. We from Georgia.'"
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With that, someone else took up the story. "Then Val said, 'Same thing.'" Then everyone fell out laughing all over again (even me, because I knew Val was serious) as Stewart stood there pretending to be incensed. But everyone knew inside that while the joke was suppose to be on Stewart, we were actually laughing at the childlike innocence in which Val viewed what should have been a very uncomfortable subject - especially in the current situation.
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But it turned out that Stewart had been receiving a lot of ribbing over the flag for quite some time, and Val's remark just put the icing on the cake. But again, it turned out that both Stewart and Sue were really nice people. Stewart is quite an intellectual, and - believe it or not - has turned out to be my closest friend in the neighborhood. We spend hours together debating everything. He said, "I admit, I’m a Southern bigot - I think we should lynch anyone who roots against Georgia Tech." 
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But Stewart and I agreed on one thing - since the essence of our being is what we think, and physical attributes are purely superficial, it makes more sense to define ourselves according to the way we think, rather than the way we look - and if that is true, then our preoccupation with race is an exercise in stupidity. 
.
I really like that guy, and if it weren’t for Val we probably never would have met. And she’s brought so many other things into my life. I discovered my love for writing as a direct result of finding that I didn’t write well enough to answer the love letters she used to send me while I was in the Marine Corps; she encouraged me to go to college, and she also talked me into buying my first Commodore 64 Computer when personal computers first hit the market. So, while living with Val can indeed be challenging, I can’t imagine life without her.
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I could go on and on about this woman, but I’ve got to go now--it’s time for me to mount a campaign for dinner.
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"Oh, Sugar Lips!"
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"Sugar Lips my ass. Hit the microwave, Buddy!"
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Happy Birthday, Baby.

.

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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does

A Response to "Jackleg Preachers" From Rev. V. R. Williams

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

A Response to "Jackleg Preachers" From Rev. V. R. Williams

Rev. V. R. Williams says:

November 4, 2013 at 7:32 pm
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Dear, dear Mr. Wattree,
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Please do Christianity a favor and just stop. You are so wrong on sooo many levels. If you have a complaint don’t hijack the Word of God to try to validate your emotion based arguement. You’re endangering yourself and causing harm to the spiritually immature. Express your opinions without perverting the Text. Really, you’re not doing God any favors.

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While there are ‘jack-legs’; there are also men and women of God who have committed their life to ‘going into all the world’ for no other reason but for the cause of Christ.
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With the love of God,
Rev. V. R. Williams
******
Rev. Williams,
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Where are they?
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As much money as churches are taking in, and out, of the Black community, there shouldn’t be a such thing as “the hood.” What I see is a lot of big, magnificent churches in the middle of poverty, squalor, and suffering. I see a lot of talking about what God’s gonna do for you, and very little discussion about what YOU’RE going to do for the community. I see preachers riding around in big cars, and living in luxurious homes while taking 10% off the top of people’s income who can’t even afford to feed their families. I see preachers strutting around trying to be big shots, and putting very little effort into helping the people. I see preachers telling their “flock” to PRAY for God to help them feed their families, while the preacher is passing the basket to feed his.
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Reverend, you’re a man of God, why don’t you give you’re money to the poor (like Jesus) and PRAY for God to pay your house note instead of passing the basket? Where’s your faith? And why don’t you keep your churches open during the week and use some that tithe money you pull in to hire unemployed mothers to provide affordable childcare for working mothers? You could turn your church into a full service daycare center and pre-school during the week – and in the process, you could be teaching job and parenting skills to the unemployed mothers. That would save the employed mothers in the community up to $400 a month, and more, in childcare costs. Four hundred dollars a month would go a long way toward helping working mothers to live a better life:
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Matthew 6:1-34
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“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. …”
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So, Reverend, where are all these good “men and women of God who have committed their life to ‘going into all the world’ for no other reason but for the cause of Christ?” I hear a lot of preaching, testifying and advice on how the people can get into Heaven when they die, but very little public service to the people while they’re alive.
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All I see are hypocrites praying out loud in the churches, “synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others.” And as Matthew says above, getting their reward right here on Earth.
******
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Rev. V. R. Williams says:

November 5, 2013 at 11:39 am

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I can’t speak for any other ministers, child of God. But as for what you asked of me … my church just conducted a coat drive, actually purchasing new coats for children. We’re only a small church, but we donated 4 times the number of our membership to a local shelter for families.
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We save no money from what we collect. We pay our bills and conduct outreach ministries. I have a personal phone that I pay for (I take no salary) but my ministry phone is a pre-paid plan that is dependent on our finances as our outreach efforts take priority.
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I preach and teach your very sentiments. But what I’m suggesting is you’re doing what you accuse the ungodly ‘preachers’ of doing. You’re incorrectly using the Word of God to make a point.
You sound like so many I am trying to reach; like you have been hurt by the church. Sweetie, know all churches aren’t like the jacked-up churches. All reverends, I am a female by-the-by, are not like the ones who have hurt so many that are in need of help.
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Some of us ministers hurt with you and take responsibility for those whose use the title of God to work for Satan. But if one has eye’s to see they are responsible for what they see. God wouldn’t leave His children with out true deliverers of His Word. Pray for guidance to a true ministry and when you find it scream as loud as you can to drawn attention and the lost to it.
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Would love to talk with you more. I pray to God you have accepted Christ as your Savior. And, please, don’t let Satan, no matter what his title or how he’s dressed, keep you from the glories that God has for you.
******
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Wattree says:

November 5, 2013 at 2:03 pm

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Rev. Williams,
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My apologies. If you’re doing the things that you’ve indicated, I’d like to thank you for your service and apologize for my less than respectful tone – even though I generally allow the person that I’m talking with to set the tone of the discussion, and you did kinda come at me.
.
That said, it’s very easy for me to take a disdainful tone with most preachers due to their delusional arrogance of thinking that they can speak for God, and also, their condescending presumption that anyone who doesn’t agree with their religious beliefs is some sort of heretic. After all, what we happen to believe is nothing more than an accident birth – if you’d been in Israel you’d probably be a Jew, in China or Tibet, a Buddhist, or in Iran, a Muslim. So our religion is nothing more than a reflection of what we’ve been TAUGHT to believe, it’s not the word of God, and anyone who doesn’t at least consider that fact is naive. Thus, the only way that we can know God’s will is by observing what he has done, and he made birds to fly, fish to swim, and man to think. So based on that fact, I’m certain that it wasn’t his intent for us to believe in talkin’ snakes.
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But as a result of my attitude, many people think I’m hostile towards religion, but I’m not. I’m hostile toward ignorance. I was raised to be a Christian by loving Christians just like yourself and the ones that you referenced above. But I feel that it’s essential that we be perfectly candid regarding this issue, and many people are simply not used to that. Generally, the only people who feel free to discuss this issue with the kind of candor that I try to bring to the subject are atheists who are hostile toward all or most religion, but I’m just as adamant against atheism as I am organized religion. I believe in individual spirituality, because I have a problem with any manner of group-think. One’s spirituality should be between that person and God – period.
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When God created man, he did his job with precision, so we don’t require a User’s Guide, or a Bible, to know right from wrong any more than birds need a map, a compass, and a calendar to know when and what direction to fly South during the winter. When me and my neighbor’s wife start making goo-goo eyes at each other, I don’t need a Bible to tell me I’m wrong. I can hear God in my head saying, “Eric, now you know what you’re thinking ain’t cool.” So I put my prurient thoughts out of my mind. And when I was a kid in church, God used to stay on my case, because I used to like to watch the women sitting in the pews in their miniskirts.
.   
So the fact is, the Bible is nothing more than a book (much like Reader's Digest) that was compiled nearly 400 years after the death of Christ by the Catholic Church. It was based on books that THEY selected, and there was a huge argument – just like what goes on in our congress today – over what books to include, and what books would be banned. So the bottom line is, the Holy Bible is the word of the Catholic Church, not the word of God, and one would think that more preachers would know that, and I think they do – at least, the one’s who are educated. Man simply uses the Bible, and similar books, as a way to make ignorant people believe that he speaks for God, and as we all know, that’s a highly lucrative gig.
******
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Rev. V. R. Williams says:

November 5, 2013 at 2:52 pm

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Let me just say this … Never underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit and what God has predestined to be. Yes, I understand societal influence and the canonization of The Holy Writ. But what I believe goes beyond what I understand. And I love, believe, and need the Bible.
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Luv and God bless!
******
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Wattree says:   
November 5, 2013 at 3:07 pm
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My pleasure, Reverend.
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And again, thank you for your service, and keep up the good work.

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Eric L. Wattree
.

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Eric L. Wattree

Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

Jackleg Preachers: Don't Let Them Take You to Hell With 'Em

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Jackleg Preachers: Don't Let Them Take You to Hell With 'Em

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Matthew 6:1-34

"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ..."
.
It is said that God works in mysterious ways. Nothing illustrates the truth of that statement more thoroughly than the current controversy over Pastor Marvin Winans’ refusal to bless a woman’s child before his church because the child was born out of wedlock. God used that lady, Charity Grace, and her son, Joshua, to send us a very important message - STOP WORSHIPING THESE PREACHERS!
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God blessed man with human intelligence, and we should bless our OWN children with the knowledge and wisdom that he bestowed upon each one of us as individuals. No preacher is any closer to God than you are, yet, one of the biggest problems that we have in this country is far too many of us are running around claiming to worship God when, in fact, we're worshiping preachers, and in turn, those preachers are making us stupid, mean-spirited, and hateful.
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A perfect example of that is the preachers who are telling their congregations to rise up and fight against the right for gays to get married. We should be doing just the opposite. We should encourage marriage, not only among gays, but among ALL people who are in love, because marriage promotes stability. And with respect to the issue of gay marriage specifically, the Bible - the "word of God" that these preachers are suppose to be following - very clearly says to these preachers, and all others, to "Judge not, that ye be not judged."
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Matthew 7:1-5 of the King James version of the Holy Bible is very emphatic in saying the following:
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"(1)Judge not, that ye be not judged. (2) For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. (3) And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? (4) Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? (5) Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."
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Thus, many preachers are not only NOT following the "word of God," but they’re rewriting the Bible to conform to their own bigoted points of view. They’re helping to perpetuate the very same kind of ignorant and bigoted stupidity that has plagued Black people for centuries. And the reason that they have that warped and un-Godly mind-set is because Black people were taught about religion by the very same people who had us tied-up next to the mules, and many preachers are too brainwashed to recognize that fact.

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As Black people we should never forget that we’re the product of the very same racist and bigoted environment as White people, so many of the more weak-minded among us are just as bigoted and racist as any sheet-wearing Hillbilly, and many (but not all) of our preachers are a prime example of that fact.
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These preachers have neither the wisdom, knowledge, intelligence, nor morality, to speak for God.
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Matthew 23:25
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.