obama and religion

okay, this is me coming down hard on the ny times and any and all other facets of the main stream media who want to argue that obama has changed his mind about the place where religion and politics commingle...

obama's early career as a community organizer revolved around religious ties when he discovered how well organized the church communities are. many churches and religious communities are already raising money, awareness, and armies to fight poverty, encourage education, and stifle crime. it would be stupid to ignore the good things churches and the religious are already doing, especially at a time when our government and country has proven, without a doubt, that it is too incompetent to handle all the problems our country faces.

like it or not, politics needs the help of churches and organized religious groups to help us empower the disenfranchised, the bitter, the poor, the uneducated, and those who don't yet know they can make a difference in their own lives and their country.

anyone who knows me knows how i personally feel about religion. i have a very distrusting view of most organized religions, including the sects of christianity that helped shape my parents and the rest of my family. too many times in my study of world history, have i seen terrible things done to masses of people in the name of god. "witches" burned, moors murdered for refusing to convert, the holocaust, 9/11, burning crosses in the south, the daily threat of suicide bombings in cities around the world. terrible things that run in absolute contradiction to the very moral code religions claim to embrace. it makes me angry and disgusts me when the holier-than-thou spew venemous hatred in the name of god.

but i also have been blessed to know many good people who find comfort in religion, who work hard through their churches to better their communities, who stand strong against crime and poverty, and fight for better education. good people who make our country better find ways to be involved through their church when their politics do no present such opportunities.

only a foolish politician would shun the goldmine of resources within the religious communities in this country.

his move toward center does weigh heavily

i've struggled this week (and last) with obama's perceived shift toward the center, trying to figure out how to feel about it and how to deal with it, as the media makes it appear as though he is moving further from my own liberal ideals. i mean, no matter what, i'm committed to obama and seeing him elected president. he is a far better choice than mcsame, and this country needs a major overhaul if we're going to make it, and start thriving again. and obama is the right leader for the unenviable task at hand.

but it doesn't mean i don't worry about things...

i disagree with obama's presumed FISA vote, because the slope on which my rights to speak, assemble, and maintain a private life become far too slippery when we give "get out of jail free" cards to leaders who think it below themselves to follow the very laws they made an oath to defend.

that's what george w. bush, king of douchebags, did. i have no idea why he didn't go to congress and ask for an extension of his right to electronically survey those he thought might be terrorists (or, heaven forbid, seek a warrant as the law instructs). maybe the evidence he'd've had to use was too flimsy to get congress to agree so he went and did what he felt was right. and because we know what kind of judgment, forethought, and logical reasoning is employed by our king of douchebags, it is very, very, very dangerous to give up our rights to him (or any leader).

FISA (the "new and improved" version) makes it against the law for the president to do what our dubya did (much like the new law, the old law said he couldn't do what he did) and goes on to say that we can't sue the telecom companies for illegally handing over the requested info (oh yeah, because the telecom companies don't have smart enough lawyers on payroll to know the law required them to say no to an attorney general making demands without a warrant). so basically, the new law says to the president, we've made it clear that you aren't going to get in trouble for breaking the law, so do as you wish.

i don't like that. no matter who our president is. and i fully support senator feingold's filibuster next week. and so should everyone who gives a rat's ass about their constitutional rights...