In defense of Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright

Actually, more in defense of Senator Obama's relationship with him. I haven't heard this aspect brought out at all; I didn't listen to the "speech", so I don't know if it was mentioned by the senator. I haven't read everything written, haven't listened to all the pundits. This is just my take on it.
I was a single mother, and even though I had been married to the father of my older children, he wasn't a participant in their lives except sporadically. My father, their grandfather, was the male role model most present in their lives. He showed them how a man treats his family, his job, his friends. He was not perfect, but no matter what, he was their father figure, and they would no more reject him than they would me.
Barack Obama was raised by a single white woman, and his white grandparents were the other stable adults in his life, according to what I know of him. The role models he had for living life as a black man in the US (and trust me, no matter the color of his mother's skin, he was going to live his life as a black man in this country, we are not yet color blind) were few. And he has developed a strong bond with Pastor Wright, as a spiritual advisor and I would imagine in some sense as a surrogate father. The people in our lives who fill those spaces are not easily denounced or rejected. Whether perfect (no one is) or not, we accept their failings short-sightedness, prejudices and anger and love them anyway. Many people have said angry, hateful things but still love the country, still love their friends and children, still do good work. I don't want to point out all the religious leaders that John McCain has embraced, because I think he does that for political reasons. Senator Obama and Pastor Wright have a different relationship. They don't have a bond for political reasons; it seems to be deeply personal. If it were his father saying these things would we expect him to denounce him? It is possible that he didn't really hear these things the same way many people listening to the clips do, because we don't always hear things said by people we love the same way others do. We hear the underlying message, not the rhetoric.
I can't go back and tell you everything my father ever said; I can tell you how he loved me, how he taught me right from wrong, and how he showed me to respect others. I am sure that for Senator Obama, he can tell you all the good Pastor Wright has done, and he would be right.

So now torture is okay?

(Click title to link to NY Times article)

President Bush vetoed a bill which would have banned the CIA from using waterboarding as an interrogation technique. His entire Presidency has been devoted to increasing the powers of the executive branch, and this is just one more step. If we elect another Republican to the presidency, in a few years this will not be a representative republic but an empire, with the president as emperor.
If for no other reason this is why we must put a Democrat in the White House.

Recent shootings

I couldn't link to all of them if I wanted, but it seems that lately there is a shooting almost every day somewhere. And almost all of them are with legally obtained weapons. We even had a deputy solicitor here in Charleston who pulled a gun on a fellow driver (pointing at her while they were driving). He lost his job and his law license has been suspended.
But one thing I would like to point out. Every time one of these shootings happens, at Wendy's or a school or wherever, someone who is opposed to any type of gun control makes the observation that one armed person could stop the attack. Well, I differ. Especially since most of these people kill themselves, after a few minutes of shooting. I doubt any of them would be deterred by the thought or even the knowledge that someone in the room could have a gun and shoot them. These shootings are not the argument for less gun control that the "let everyone have a gun" crowd would like us to believe.

So the Government is only spying on the bad guys?

"FBI Director Robert Mueller says an upcoming Justice Department report will show the bureau improperly used national security letters to obtain personal data on Americans during terror and spy investigations."
(click on the title for the whole story)
Yet we have been repeatedly told that the only people being investigated were people who had some kind of ties to terrorists. Who did they think they were fooling? Oh, right, the 20-30 percent of people who still think George W. Bush is a great president, the ones who are so frightened of the bad men in the turbans that they would vote for the devil himself if they thought he would keep them safe.

Education?

My son's science teacher is a Hillary Clinton supporter, and while I am happy she's a Democrat, I don't think she should bring it in the classroom. Whether it is politics or religion or even vegetables, should a teacher's personal preferences be part of the curriculum?