Yet Another Connection…

Original Link: http://rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com/2008/06/yet-another-connection.html

By Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

Between Bush and Obama. This one is prety shocking, I think. Well, it might be to Obamabots. Those of us still in the rational world aren't really surprised by ANYTHING this guy wil say or do, but still - this one is big. And, coincedentally, it also goes along with two other posts I had recently regarding Obama pursuing Evangelical Christians and his little spat with James Dobson.

Okay, Okay, I'll get to the point: Obama wants to continue the Faith Based Initiatives Program,and EXPAND the amount of federal dollars GOING to the organizations involves in it. But wait - it gets better! He wants to allow them to HIRE and FIRE on the basis of RELIGION!!! You read that right - this self-titling Constitutional scholar wants to allow YOUR tax paying dollars to go to faith-based initiatives, allowing them to decide if the person is religious enough, their KIND of religious, and to dismiss them should they decide the employee's belief system does not match closely enough to the organization. Hold on, there is even more! According to the AP Article, "Obama TO Expand Bush's Faith-based Programs,",
Obama proposes to elevate the program to a "moral center" of his administration, by renaming it the Office of Community and Faith-Based Partnerships, and changing training from occasional huge conferences to empowering larger religious charities to mentor smaller ones in their communities.

Pay attention to that name change, so that you KNOW he is talking about faith-based programming using federal dollars in the future.

In a further pander to Evangelical Christians, Obama said,
"In time, I came to see faith as being both a personal commitment to Christ and a commitment to my community; that while I could sit in church and pray all I want, I wouldn't be fulfilling God's will unless I went out and did the Lord's work," he was to say.

Huh. I wonder if he thinks the "Lord's Work" includes character assassinations, and vote stealing??? Those two look mighty close to breaking a couple of Big Ones to me, but, hey, what do I know? But I digress...

You are going to LOVE this next quote! In it, he throws together a bunch of issues facing us, ending with a quintessential Naval metaphor (get it?):
"The challenges we face today, from putting people back to work to improving our schools, from saving our planet to combating HIV/AIDS to ending genocide, are simply too big for government to solve alone," Obama was to say, according to a prepared text of his remarks obtained by The Associated Press. "We need all hands on deck."

Why, yes we do. To make sure you never become president!

Ironically, it was just the other day that Obama sent out Mrs. Obama to shore up his support among - Wait for it - GAY groups!! No, I am not kidding, and I am not making this us. (For those of you who might be unaware, Evangelical Christians, certainly those affiliated with organizations like James Dobson's "Focus on the Family," are not too keen on gay people. They kinda think of us as big ol' sinners, to cut to the chase!) According to the article,

Barack Obama will fight for equal rights for gays just as he fought to help working-class families overcome poverty, the Democratic presidential hopeful's wife told a gay Democratic group Thursday.

Recalling his past work as a community organizer to help struggling families, Michelle Obama said he would take the same approach as president.

HAHAHAHAHA!! Obama is going to help the LGBT Community the same way he has helped those folks during his Community Organizing days? Those people without heat and all of that in the Southside of Chicago? That's how well he is going to do for US? Oh, WHEEEEE!!!!

Believe it or not, there is still more.
Touting her husband's record pushing for workplace discrimination legislation as an Illinois state senator and his support of civil unions, Obama noted her husband also had brought a call for equality to conservative groups, telling churchgoers they need to combat homophobia in the black community.

His workplace discrimination legislation? As in what, PUSHING for workplace discrimination?? As Upppity Woman pointed out in her excellent piece, "Sexist Obama Pays His Female Staff Less Than The Males" in No Quarter, Obama is not exactly a prince in the Sexual Equality department, certainly in the realm of equal pay for equal work. It is more like the Sexual INequality department. Just freakin' spare me.

Okay, sure - he can tell conservative churches that they need to stop attacking LGBT people, and do more about HIV/AIDS, but when one of his BFFs is Senator Rev. James Meeks, a blatantly ANTI-GAY activist, and when he campaigns with Donnie McClurkin, a noted ANTI-GAY activist, it is just a little hard to take this seriously. He can SAY whatever he wants to say, but his ACTIONS clearly indicate otherwise. There is a world of difference between Senator Clinton's relationship with the LGBT community and Obama's - Clinton actually HAS a relationship with the LGBT community!! Just sayin'.

Oh - and no doubt, what Michelle Obama also said during this speech is just gonna PISS Donna Brazile off:
Michelle Obama also drew a connection between the struggles for gay rights and civil rights.

"We are all only here because of those who marched and bled and died, from Selma to Stonewall, in the pursuit of a more perfect union," she said at the event, held days before the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots between gays and New York police, and the city's annual gay pride parade.

"The world as it is should be one that rejects discrimination of all kinds," she said.

Whooey, is that ever gonna make Donna MAD!!!! Remember, Howard Dean got into some hot water (as in, faced a law suit) because of his firing of a gay man. In an article in the Washington Blade, regarding choosing Civil Rights delegates for the National Convention in August, and including gay people in the Civil Rights contingent to that convention,
Dean said some “influential individuals” within the DNC Black Caucus, such as Donna Brazile, opposed the plan because it was seen as “an affront to the civil rights movement.”

All righty. I bet Ms. Brazile might just have a little chat with Michelle on this. How dare she go against Donna's party line?!?!

Apparently, though, the 200 - 300 people there drank the Cult Aide - they raised over $1 million for him. I am going to make an unsubstantiated guess and say they MUST have been Log Cabin Republicans!! How else to explain it?! I certainly can't any other way. This man has done ZERO for our community - ZERO, actually, he has done NEGATIVES for our community, and while John McCain probably isn't going to be winning any GLAAD or HRC awards any time soon, neither is Obama. Oh, wait - someone DID win the HRC award, and coincedentally, her initials are HRC!!! But why bother with trivialities?!?!

Anywho, it sure will be interesting to watch the hoops Obama will jump through as he tells every single group, no matter how much their varying beliefs/realities may be diametrically opposed, that he suppports THEM, and will do everything possible for THEIR agendas. I guess this just highlights - again - the importance of the PUMA and Just Say No Deal coalitions, to point out Obama's bald-faced lies, flip flops, pandering, and frightening policies. Speak out, speak loud, and expose this charlatan for who he is! Power to the PUMA!