(I posted this on another site on 7/19/08)

To believe in one's country - especially when that country is this grand and wonderful United States of America - is more than just something you can say in passing and then go about your daily business as if you hadn't said it.

Belief requires action:

Get up every morning and thank God (or whomever you believe in - Allah, lucky stars, whatever) that you were born in the land where the greatest opportunity to achieve your dreams exists.

Dare to dream! You've been given this wonderful opportunity - it's wasted if you don't DO SOMETHING WITH IT!!

Do something every day to work towards that dream!

Don't you dare let anyone else tell you "you can't do it" or "you're not good enough". In this country - if you work hard enough - and long enough - and treat people the right way while you're at it - you can be anything you want to be!

Be responsible! Do what is necessary, as a citizen, as a taxpayer, as a member of your family - especially as a member of your family.

FREEDOM is not defined as the absence of responsibility. FREEDOM is the reward for the exercise of responsible choices and behavior. BE RESPONSIBLE!

Don't expect others to take care of you. If you're able-bodied, able-minded - you have the obligation to take care of yourself - and any others that you bring into this world. DO IT! AND BE PROUD OF IT!

ACHIEVE! You have the obligation as an American to achieve! You do not have the right to sit on your butt and watch others do and expect them to do for you as well. Failing to try - failing to at least put out an honest effort - is a betrayal of the very LIBERTY you have been entrusted with.

We all have the right to succeed, and to reap the rewards of that success. No one has the right to take that away from us.

We all have the right to fail, to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and try again. But NO ONE has the responsibility to do it for us. When we fail, it is OUR JOB to get up - not the government's job.

STOP saying SOMEONE OUGHT TO DO SOMETHING.
DO SOMETHING!!!

I believe in the power of the individual to dream, to apply effort towards that dream, to fail in the effort if necessary, but to eventually succeed and fulfill that dream!

I DO NOT believe in the right of groups to usurp the individual's right to achieve!

I believe EXCUSEISM is the worst sort of cancer affecting this country. The willingness of her citizens to accept anything less than 100% effort from themselves and each other is a disease. STOP MAKING EXCUSES for why you CAN'T do it - START FINDING WAYS YOU CAN!!!

I believe the federal government's role should be to protect our nation from external enemies, and to prevent barriers to our individual success. Anything more than that is an overreach on the part of the Federal Government. GET OUT OF OUR WAY, WASHINGTON!!

I believe the American Citizen is the most gifted, most potentially powerful person on the planet. He or she has the opportunity and the right to achieve things most other citizens of the world cannot even imagine. We have the responsibility to live up to that opportunity - or we risk losing it. Every time we accept "good enough" when "GREAT" was possible, we risk losing it.

GO OUT THERE AND ACHIEVE!! IT'S YOUR BIRTHRIGHT! IT'S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!
IT'S YOUR DESTINY!!!

(I posted this blog entry on another site on 3/17/08)

Barack Obama has been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ for over 20 years. He has also been a community leader for much of that time. He may even owe some of his success to his membership in this church.

When the senior pastor of a church preaches "non-christian" sermons like the ones Rev. Wright has preached, it is the responsibility of the church-members to address the issue with church leadership (deacons, elders, etc) to ensure the preacher is censured and brought back to his JOB - preaching the gospel of Christ.

If the elders take disciplinary action against the pastor and he does not correct his behavior - he should be dismissed. If the elders - in agreement with the pastor's errant message - do not take action; the churchmember should leave the church and find another church which is being run correctly.

Barack Obama took no action to correct Rev. Wright through the elders or on his own initiative - throughout the 20 years he has been a member.

We must assume:

1 He agrees with Rev. Wright on these controversial issues - or

2 He did not have the courage to take a stand against Rev. Wright and his preaching (until it became a political liability).

Either scenario disqualifies him (Obama) from the presidency.

I don't believe you can sit in a pew that long without taking action unless you believe the "gospel" the pastor is preaching. Especially when you're exposing your wife and children to the same nonsense.

A bit wordy, but you get my point, I hope.
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BTW - I can think of a hundred reasons not to vote for Obama, and never get to skin color or religion.

As additional information, when interviewed last year by Sean Hannity, Rev Wright mentioned the works of Jim Cone Black Theology and Black Powerand Dwight Hopkins, who both teach something called "liberation theology" - the idea that God must serve the black cause, or blacks must abandon God. And that the "black cause" includes defeating and subjugating white people in the world. Rev Wright is an adherent to the principles Dr Cone and Dr Hopkins espouse.

Now this is astonishing to me - a person who has always tried to practiced Dr. King's philosophy of judging others by the content of their character. Knowing these facts makes me seriously doubt Barack's ability to govern a multicultural nation.

Addendum: As of this date, Barack Obama has resigned his membership in Trinity United Church of Christ. It is my humble opinion that his resignation - just like his membership - is more a matter of political expediency than a matter of Christian conscience. What else is he willing to do for the sake of "political expediency"? Does the man have any real Moral Backbone at all?