WHY I DON’T CRITICIZE DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS EQUALLY

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

WHY I DON’T CRITICIZE DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS EQUALLY
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Let’s get this silly non-issue settled once and for all. Black people vote Democratic because it's in our best interest and we recognize that the Republican Party is toxic to the Black community. While the Democratic Party is not everything we'd like it to be, at least it's not working against our interest.
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Common sense dictates that we have to prioritize our efforts. And while the Democrats may be the Bogeyman, the Republicans are the Devil, so it would be highly imprudent to criticize both parties equally. If we did that we would be dividing the Black vote and lending comfort to the GOP, who are leaving no stone unturned to reverse the Civil Act.
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So people like Tavis Smiley and Cornel West need to just put the silly argument that Black people are blindly following President Obama to rest. It suggests that Black people are stupid. So if they can’t contribute something constructive to the national dialogue, they need to just shut up.
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The Black community has been trying to send them that message for a few years now, but they’ve been thumbing their nose at us, and every time we look up they’re denigration yet another high-profile Black person. They've both become serial offenders in that regard. It's gotten to the point where even if they said something relevant it would be ignored, because they've become renowned for their petty, spiteful, irrelevance. West's latest racist slander is calling MSNBC the "Rent a Negro Network" - consider what an uproar that would cause if a White person said that. So yet again, West is being divisive, racist, and engaging in nonconstructive mudslinging.
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It's not clear whether West is struggling to remain relevant, or he's merely becoming senile.That's not our problem. But the fact that he and Tavis Smiley have become a liability to the Black community is very much our problem, so it's time to take the gloves off and actively go after these two.
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Yes, they have the right to their opinion, but when they begin to hurt the Black community by making us all look stupid, it’s time for us to shut them down and boycott any, and everything, they’re involved in. Only then, will we actually see just how important their opinion is to them. Frankly, I think they’re much more interested in their pocket.
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While these two are hard at work trying to divide the Obama coalition, the Republicans are actively engaged in trying to obstruct the Black vote, obstruct all legislation that could possibly provide jobs in the Black community and America as a whole, they’re trying to circumvent the United States Constitution and women’s right to privacy by invading a woman’s uterus, they’re trying to obstruct the rights of gays, they’ve disenfranchised Michigan voters by firing duly elected officials and replacing them with handpicked cronies who are completely unaccountable to the people, and they're applauding the murderer of an innocent and unarmed Black child. I could go on for pages, but I’m sure I've made my point. The GOP is, literally, the domestic enemy of the American people.
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On the other hand, much of what we’re complaining about with regard the Democrats is our own fault, because we've allowed ourselves to become so distracted by hedonistic pursuits that we're leaving the store unattended, so it's no wonder we're having problems.
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But again, Tavis and West aren't adding one constructive thought to the discussion. On the contrary - they seem to be delighted by the situation, because our misery provides them the opportunity to advocate that we cut off our head to cure a hangnail, when all we actually have to do is take a page from the Tea Party and start voting a few people out of office during the primaries.
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We need to start with congress, because they control the purse strings.  If certain Democratic legislators are unresponsive to our condition, we should vote them out of office during the primaries, and then run someone who is more cognizant and observant of our needs. That’s what the Tea Party does, and that’s exactly why Republican politicians are scared to death of this small handful of people. We should follow suit and do the exact same thing, because to even entertain the suggestion that Black people become more bipartisan - or do anything else to dilute our vote in the general election - is total lunacy, because to dilute our vote, is to dilute our power.
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Thus, the very first thing we should do is put everybody on notice by making it unquestionably clear that we’re fed up with the nonsense - and the best way to do that is by shutting Tavis Smiley and Cornel West completely down as a clear and unequivocal message to their admiring clones, wannabes, and obsequious minions in the wings. Because even as we speak these people are watching, learning, and preparing to follow in their divisive and self-serving footsteps.
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It's time for the Black community to start cleaning house, and the most appropriate place to start is with these two self-appointed, unelected, omens of self-destruction.

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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.

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Are We Lying On God To Justify Our Own Bigotry - Again?

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Are We Lying On God To Justify Our Own Bigotry - Again?



I just reread an editorial entitled "Don't Shake Your Fist at God."  It was written by a friend mine. In the editorial he comes out against same-sex marriage based on the Bible, and his view that it is not a civil rights issue. He refers to gays as "reprobates" and implies that by allowing same-sex marriage our society is on the threshold of becoming a latter-day Sodom and Gomorrah.
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My friend is a very gifted writer, but I found his position on this particular issue to be absolutely ridiculous. While I'm as straight as they come, and it's beyond my comprehension why with all the beautiful women in this world one man would want to marry another, it is just as incomprehensible to me why one group of people would insist on shoving their belief system down everyone else's throat.
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It simply eludes me why a person who's against same-sex marriage can't be satisfied with simply taking the position that since I'm totally against same-sex marriage, I'm going to make it a point to marry someone of the opposite sex, then just leave it at that. But that's not good enough for some people. Some people aren't satisfied unless they can make their opinion THE LAW. There's simply got to be some kind of pathology attendant to that kind of obsession.
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I was raise by devout Christians, and most of my values are consistent with the values reflected in the Bible, but I didn't get any of them by reading the Bible. All of my values evolved around the principle of minding my own business and treating people the way I want to be treated–and I didn't get that from the Bible either; I got it through what God gave us to live by long before there was any such thing as a Bible–it's called, common sense.
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For that reason, even though my values are consistent with those of the Christian tradition, I have refused to formalize my association with the Christian community, because I've known too many Christians over the years who are more interested in looking down on other people than looking up to God. Too many tend to be narrow-minded and discriminatory in mind-set. They also tend to be more interested in preaching a sermon, than living one.
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This world would be a much less hostile place if we would simply live, and let live, as long as individuals are not hurting others. I don't see what's so difficult about that concept. But even if we did decide to abolish certain behaviors, I'd go after the bigots long before I went after the gays. After all, Rush Limbaugh is having a much more negative impact on society than Little Richard.
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I've pointed out several times in my columns that true Christians are some of the most loving and beneficent people in the world, but unfortunately, there are far too many demagogues hiding among their number. Some of the most vicious bigots in the world find the Christian community a very convenient place to hide and spread their hatred and bigotry. By feigning to be Christians, these demagogues are allowed to say, "It's not that I hate everybody who don't look, think, and act like me, it's just that God does." That allows them to promote the demonization and slaughter of anyone who is different from themselves, while at the same time wrapping themselves in the alleged "word of God" - ask Sitting Bull.
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That creates a serious problem within the Christian community, because much too often these bigots are in positions of authority, and since many Christians believe that these authoritarian bigots have a direct pipeline to God, their poisonous bigotry tends to seep into the thinking of legitimate Christians.
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We've seen the demonic impact of these people throughout history. We saw them during the Inquisition when they burned so-called "witches" alive, and they raised their ugly heads again with the brutality of slavery, and yet again during the so-called "Manifest Destiny," where they justified the slaughter of nearly all the Native Americans across this land. Now we see them, once again, spreading their malevolence in the middle-east, while at the same time disseminating their poison here at home.
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So I want to take this opportunity to point out to my well-meaning, but grossly misguided colleague, that whenever one group in our society attempts to demonize another, that's not God's will - that's the will of bigots, and it is, indeed, a civil rights issue.
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When I was a kid, about five years old, I had a friend who was quite effeminate. It was clear that he was "different" long before we even knew his sexual orientation. It was obvious that the adults already knew he was gay - even though he didn't even know what the word meant at the time - because they use to whisper and giggle whenever he'd come around. But of all my friends, even then, he was the smartest and the most loyal.
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Later in life, it turned out that he indeed was gay, but there is no one on the face of this Earth that can tell me that he had a choice in the matter, anymore than I had a choice in growing up to love women, because he was effeminate before he was old enough to make a choice, or even know their was a choice to be made. Therefore, if God made him gay, who are we to discriminate against an act of God?
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With respect to the Bible, many Christians tend to be quite hypocritical in picking and choosing what scriptures they choose to adhere to. While those who are against gay marriage often select scriptures that tend to justify their bigotry, there is another scripture - one that seems to me to be much more reflective of what Christianity is suppose to be about. It says, "Judge ye not."
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What makes that scripture so important is that it seems to be a warning from God. It tells man to stay out of God's business, because man is much too narrow-minded and stupid to understand why God chose to do what he has done.
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It is also important for Black "Christians" to remember that the people who taught us the attitudes and religious beliefs that many Black people so passionately embrace had us tied next to the mules when they taught it to us. They were killing and abusing us even as they taught us to "Love thy neighbor," and it seems that many of us have learned their lesson well - that God wants us to love our neighbors, except for the ones the bigots taught us to hate.
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We should also remember that at the time that Barack Obama was born, there were many states in this union where it was illegal for his mother and father to marry. There were many people who thought that reflected God's will as well - and many still do.

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.

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