[Reckoner]

Originally Posted by Ledgem

Unless you were intending to use the term "terrorist" for its shock value...

Well it's not like Ku Klux Klan or Al Quaeda level things I'm talking about, but is still terrorism.

Originally Posted by Ledgem

As for the video, I don't see what the problem is. Whoever put it together did a very good job, but their intended message is very clear. If you don't mind my asking, what's your ethnicity?

I'm a bit of a mutt, mostly Mexican/Russian/German, but half my family is Jewish (the Russian side) and I got a tinge of Arabic roots from the other side.

Originally Posted by Ledgem

Regarding campaign donations and other forms of corporate goodwill, nobody makes a big deal over it because it's seemingly been going on forever. And do you honestly expect any politicians to take a stand against it? Why would they - it makes their task of fundraising a heck of a lot easier. Who wants to hit up thousands/millions of people for donations when you can just make friends with the CEOs of a few companies, wine and dine them at your ranch (sorry, expensive house), and be set?

I guess this is the chief failure of government in history through and through. I don't think a problem like this can ever be fixed then.

Originally Posted by Ledgem

What's the point of calling him an America hater, then? "Because it's true"? Why not examine what he's saying, where he's coming from, and understand the issues he's raising and his frustration with the system? If you do that and still reach the conclusion that this man just hates America and that's it, then I'd be very interested in reading your thoughts on many of the points and issues he raises to see how you reached that conclusion.

I call him an American hater to show that Obama is affiliated with an American hater, a president affiliated with an American hater is bad news to me. I can go read more on this guy if I want, but I don't think I'd find anything better than all this radical nonsense he's already spewed. He's talked about the government allowing the black man to be kept down by law all this time (Which is more linked to politicians wanting to save face than actually wanting to keep the black man down), he's also said that our terrorism in the world came back to us on 9-11. America's actions in the cold war era and on were more or less sketchy at times, but the man makes it seem like we had it coming, as if we deserved it. He damns America, and he damns the white man.

My conclusion on this man is that he is very angry and confused with society, so he channels this into an outrageous aggression to a point where his thoughts are pretty much anti-American. I realize what you're saying, there is most likely a why to what he thinks, but that's like justifying a killer because he was abused as a child.

Originally Posted by Ledgem

That they didn't show the whole sermon is a good point. If you took even three sentences out of this post to you, would you say that it was giving a clear picture of my thoughts and ideas? People are very quick to judge, but nobody wants to sit down and judge it fairly by putting it all in context. I haven't seen the entire thing in context, myself; perhaps he is rightfully earning those condemnations. I'm not going to be overly judgemental or self-righteous and make that call without seeing the whole thing and even hearing some explanations first, though.

You make it seem like this is something very complicated, this isn't the bombing of Hiroshima here. The Reverend Wright incident has seemed very straight forward to someone like me, I pretty much understood what he said.

Originally Posted by Ledgem

Your bias has shown through what that middle sentence, though. You have clearly made up your mind, and I don't think that any of us can persuade you to think about it differently. I'll just state that on my end, even though Obama will likely get my vote (if he receives the Democratic nomination), I have not bought into the demonizations of Hillary and I am not at war with the Republican party enough to blankly say that I'd never vote for McCain. I am anti-politician as far as politicians these days have been behaving.

I'm open to change in my opinion, I just haven't seen anything that I would agree with regarding Obama. If you talked to me 3-5 months ago I would've actually defended Obama, but certain things that I learned about him have changed my view completely. At this moment of my life I don't particularly like either political party too much, my main problem with Mccain is his wish to continue the Bush administration's policy in Iraq, but otherwise I wouldn't mind voting for him over Hilary (There is also a factor of economy that I think Hilary might be able to curve our recession).