Once again, a videographer sitting vigil at the Northern Illinois Women's Center has shown us what abortion does to the people who participate. Video of the incident is at YouTube, and here are some excerpts (including a full transcript) from an Pro-Life Corner's report, "A Breeding Ground Of Hate In The Heart Of Rockford, IL."

Another sad chapter played out at the Rockford IL, abortion clinic known for the racism of its most vocal supporter and the anti-Christian bigotry of the buildings owner.... On that day, a young woman and man arrived at the abortion mill and quietly entered the building. Later that same morning as the young parents were driving out they stopped at the exit of the clinic and specifically asked a pro-lifer to come over and talk with them. It was easy to see the young woman who had calmly entered the abortion mill earlier that morning was now very agitated, and resentful. ...

It is important to note that the pro-lifer was talking to the abortion mill owner when this very young girl called over to him (the male pro-lifer), pointed directly at him and said she wanted to talk specifically to him. It is this young girl who initiated the following conversation.

Girl to pro-lifer: Hey, come over here.

Male Pro-lifer: [goes over to vehicle] Yes, Ma’am.

Girl: What’s your take on all this? Without some babbling bulls***?

Male Pro-Lifer: Well, every human life has value and every person is loved by God and that is a child in the womb.

Girl: Honey, did your dad rape you as a child? Were you sexually abused?

Pro-lifer: Why are you so angry?

Girl: Oh, I’m not angry.

Pro-lifer: To rip a child apart, to rip their heads from their body and to cut their arms and legs off and flush them down the toilet

(Girl interrupts, intelligible) Pro-lifer: Of course they do that, that’s what abortion is. Here they’re doing that up to 18 weeks. The child is bigger than your hand. A baby can kick and scream. (Thus the silent scream)

Girl: I’m not 18 weeks pregnant.

Pro-lifer: But many of them are.

Girl: I don’t care about that.

Pro-lifer: We care about people. I guess that’s the difference from maybe where you are.

Girl: You can’t even see it on an ultrasound. [Note: Translation of that line ay nt be 100 accurate]

Pro-lifer: Oh, yes, you can. So you’re not pregnant? Wonderful.

Girl: No, I’m pregnant. [Says more, but is indistinct]

Pro-lifer: Every person has value.

Girl: I have another question for you. What’s your take on becoming a transsexual?

Pro-lifer: I don’t think it really matters in this situation here.

Girl: I’m just asking you what your take is on it.

Pro-lifer: It’s something I wouldn’t really offer an opinion on when children are dying here. I stay more focused on these babies.

Girl: Yeah. Maybe you should consider becoming a transsexual, go get pregnant and then find out how it is.

Pro-lifer: You don’t have to be a woman to know that killing a baby is wrong. Killing a child is always wrong.

Girl: Is it legal?

Pro-lifer: It was not illegal to kill Jews in Nazi Germany; it was not illegal to own slaves.

Girl: S***! If I could I’d still own slaves. If I could I’d go over to Germany and shoot every f****** Nazi in the face. Along with every f****** Jew. What are you gonna do about that?

Pro-lifer: Pray.

Girl: Pray ? [Pause] I hope somebody locks you in a mental institution, I really do.

Pro-lifer: God loves you.

Girl [sarcastically] God loves you too, honey. God bless you!

[Driver starts out the drive, starts toward Broadway. Girl hangs out window; you can hear her laughing all the way to the stop sign.]

Please pray for this tortured soul. Also, don't miss reading the rest of the commentary at Pro-Life Corner

In another recent incident, Rockford police twice failed to respond to pleas for help, and may have allowed women and children to be victimized.

At about 7:30 am a car with a Wisconsin license plate pulled into the parking lot. The girl in the passenger seat looked no more than 14 years old and was extremely upset. The older woman driving her looked nothing like the young girl (so we assumed she might not be her mother.)

A police officer was parked across the street from the mill so we asked the officer to check on the situation. We told him many of us saw a car from out of state pull in with a girl definitely under age and a woman driving who did not look like her mother. We simply asked the officer to go into the abortion clinic and check to see if the woman was her mother and if the young girl was in distress. The officer said he would have to check downtown. He made a call and then told us their was nothing he could do and remained in his car.

Does anyone think that the officer would have had to "check downtown" if he had received this report anywhere but at an abortuary?

The second incident took place at about 8:30 am. A large truck came flying into the parking lot, and a young man came running out. We asked if we could help, and he yelled out, "I'm here to get my wife out." After he was in the mill a short time, he came out in tears. He came to us for help. He said his wife is here for an abortion, and he doesn't want her to do it. But when he tried to talk with her, the abortion clinic staff (so much for "choice") told him he couldn't talk to her, and if he didn't leave immediately, they would call the police and have him arrested. The sidewalk counselors, foolishly believing that a man has a right to talk with his wife, took him immediately over to the squad car that was still parked across the street and the officer who saw the whole thing. We told the officer the situation and simply asked him if he would escort the young man into the clinic so he could talk with his wife for a few moments. The officer said he had to call downtown. After a couple of minutes the officer told us he could not help in any way and continued to sit in his squad car. It really was a heartbreaking morning to see how helpless we are in the face of such evil. But you know as well as we do, in the end, the victory of Jesus Christ and His cross will bring justice and mercy to all mankind.

I admit I'm not certain that the officer could have legally intervened in this case, but that just shows how far our nation has fallen when a man is helpless while his wife has their child turned into medical waste.

On the same day, the clinic's owner broke up sidewalk couneling in progress:

We had one chance to help a mother and child when they stopped in the driveway to talk with the sidewalk counselors. Sadly, the abortion clinic owner got on his amplified sound system again and threatened the scared and nervous mother with arrest if she didn't immediately pull into the abortion mill. The loud booming sound of the speakers and the threat of arrest scared the poor young mother into doing something she might not have done if she was given a few more minutes to hear of all the help, love, and resources the Christian community has to offer for mothers in need.

More information is available at the link above. Please pray for an end to these horrors and for the safety and success of the Christians who stand for life every time the abortuary is open.

Chris Clukey
Contributing Editor

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - As Barack Obama broadens his outreach to evangelical voters, one of the movement's biggest names, James Dobson, accuses the likely Democratic presidential nominee of distorting the Bible and pushing a "fruitcake interpretation" of the Constitution.

The criticism, to be aired Tuesday on Dobson's Focus on the Family radio program, comes shortly after an Obama aide suggested a meeting at the organization's headquarters here, said Tom Minnery, senior vice president for government and public policy at Focus on the Family.

The conservative Christian group provided The Associated Press with an advance copy of the pre-taped radio segment, which runs 18 minutes and highlights excerpts of a speech Obama gave in June 2006 to the liberal Christian group Call to Renewal. Obama mentions Dobson in the speech.

"Even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools?" Obama said. "Would we go with James Dobson's or Al Sharpton's?" referring to the civil rights leader.

Dobson took aim at examples Obama cited in asking which Biblical passages should guide public policy - chapters like Leviticus, which Obama said suggests slavery is OK and eating shellfish is an abomination, or Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, "a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application."

"Folks haven't been reading their Bibles," Obama said.

Dobson and Minnery accused Obama of wrongly equating Old Testament texts and dietary codes that no longer apply to Jesus' teachings in the New Testament.

"I think he's deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology," Dobson said.

"... He is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter."

Joshua DuBois, director of religious affairs for Obama's campaign, said in a statement that a full reading of Obama's speech shows he is committed to reaching out to people of faith and standing up for families. "Obama is proud to have the support of millions of Americans of faith and looks forward to working across religious lines to bring our country together," DuBois said.

Dobson reserved some of his harshest criticism for Obama's argument that the religiously motivated must frame debates over issues like abortion not just in their own religion's terms but in arguments accessible to all people.

He said Obama, who supports abortion rights, is trying to govern by the "lowest common denominator of morality," labeling it "a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution."

"Am I required in a democracy to conform my efforts in the political arena to his bloody notion of what is right with regard to the lives of tiny babies?" Dobson said. "What he's trying to say here is unless everybody agrees, we have no right to fight for what we believe."

The program was paid for by a Focus on the Family affiliate whose donations are taxed, Dobson said, so it's legal for that group to get more involved in politics.

Last week, DuBois, a former Assemblies of God associate minister, called Minnery for what Minnery described as a cordial discussion. He would not go into detail, but said Dubois offered to visit the ministry in August when the Democratic National Convention is in Denver.

A possible Obama visit was not discussed, but Focus is open to one, Minnery said.

McCain also has not met with Dobson. A McCain campaign staffer offered Dobson a meeting with McCain recently in Denver, Minnery said. Dobson declined because he prefers that candidates visit the Focus on the Family campus to learn more about the organization, Minnery said.

Dobson has not backed off his statement that he could not in good conscience vote for McCain because of concerns over the Arizona senator's conservative credentials. Dobson has said he will vote in November but has suggested he might not vote for president.

Obama recently met in Chicago with religious leaders, including conservative evangelicals. His campaign also plans thousands of "American Values House Parties," where participants discuss Obama and religion, as well as a presence on Christian radio and blogs

Both of these items come to us via The Corner at National Review.

First, there's these thoughts from Michael Goldfarb at McCain HQ:

Obama Flip-Flop on Gun Control? Or New Politics? Or Both?

Barack Obama appeared at a fundraiser in Philadelphia last night where he delivered the following remark:

“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun."

A couple thoughts from McCain HQ on this. First, Barack Obama has a long track record as a proponent of stringent gun-control regulations--to the point that a questionnaire filled out by his staff, and with the candidate's handwriting on it, stated that Obama favored a ban on the manufacture, sale, and distribution of handguns. Can we assume that Senator Obama now opposes efforts to ban the possession of handguns?

Second, would Obama be carrying a concealed weapon to this fight? Will he have a permit?

And finally, we're having second thoughts about our proposed series of town halls.

Second, if you're loooking to get a gun of your own (specifically, a shotgun) Tom Costello at Radio Free New Jersey has an excellent primer. Don't make the mistake of skipping the last few paragraphs; it looks like they're part of his recommendations on picking a gun for shooting clays, but there's some good advice in there for anyone buying a weapon.

Chris Clukey
Contributing Editor

Our condolences to the familes of the scouts killed at Little Sioux last night, and the scouts who survive them. As you'll see from the AP article, the survivors exemplified the words "Be Prepared." The Scout Law says that a Scout is brave, and they will need to be at their bravest in the days ahead, especially those with serious injuries, who are still hospitalized.

Also, a big thank you to the EMS and National Guard personnel who responded, especially the helicopter crews who were probably dodging storm cells to get in there. Some of the photos CNN is airing show helicopters landing in a field at the camp in daylight...it's horrifying to imagine that they weren't able to get in before that, or that it took that long to dig someone out of the wreckage.

Chris Clukey
Contributing Editor

I agree completely with Winfield Meyers at The Democracy Project: President Bush has committed an obscene offense against liberty. (Note that I've edited this quote slightly for clarity)

Bush Awards Medal of Freedom to Donna Shalala

According to a White House press release, President Bush has awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a woman who did her best to stamp out freedom of speech while chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Donna Shalala. And she's still at it today at the University of Miami, where she serves as president.

Of all the educators in the country to choose from, including those who have suffered under the type of politically correct regimes that Shalala has built up and overseen, the choice of Donna Shalala to receive our nation's highest civilian award is beyond puzzling; it is obscene.

Watching that little tyrant stand on the same stage with Peter Pace and get our highest civilian award for protecting freedom is going to be video ipecac.

Andy McCarthy points out that these may be the last Medals of Freedom awarded by a Republican president for four or eight years. And one of them is being squandered on someone who will not even allow people to talk about ideas she disagrees with.

Chris Clukey
Contributing Editor

http://genniferandpaula.com/

Hats off to these brave ladies who have dared to tell the truth about Bill Clinton. Please visit the site and supoort their brave stand !

 

What if BMW were to make a rifle ? I think we've found it in the new German Sport Guns GSG-5 Rifle. The unit is chambered in .22 long rifle and is almost an exact copy of its HK big brother. The form and fit are excellent and you see it priced at about $700.00 if you can locate one. These are hot and I just found one for you at http://www.tampaguntrader.com/viewlist.asp?cid=10017&sid=50259

 

When conservatives point out the sort of things I'm going to point out in this post, they are accused of "using fear" and other such crimes against warmness and fuzziness. There are two problems with that. First, these things are scary and there is almost no chance that mainstream media sources will ever ask any hard questions about them or even give them a passing mention. Second, the Presidential campaign is the most important job interview in the world. Imagine that a guy gets his English Lit degree and then expects to interview for Chief of Surgery at a major metropolitan hospital. (Yes, I know he wouldn't actually get an interview, but just go with me). If the interviewers point out that he's not qualified for the job, are they doing so out of fear, or using fear, or are they simply being responsible and sensible?

So, here are a few items that serve to remind us that Senator Obama is not qualified for the job he seeks, and the followers who see him in messianic terms are not anywhere near the most troubling of those under his banner, those he seems to be tolerating as graciously as he tolerated Jeremiah "God D*** America" Wright. If I find it scary that he may soon be the leader of the Free World, it's for the same reason that I'd be scared if my doctor had a B.A. in English Lit for his medical training, and had come to the surgical suite after having breakfast with a bunch of organ smugglers.

Anti-Semitism we can believe in--Little Green Footballs found this first, but I have to give the folks at Modern Conservative the nod for more extensive coverage and a beauty of a headline. A group of anti-Semites has been blogging at Obama's official site since April.

But LGF does get the credit on this one, which shows Obama's promise to "Take immediate steps to confront the humanitarian disaster in Iraq and hold accountable any perpetrators of war crimes." (Emphasis mine.) I agree with LGF that he probably isn't talking about Al Qaida. Think for a moment of the governments you've heard of that jail members of the previous regime for the "crime" of executing legal policies and you'll find they can all be described with one word, a word that begins with "T" and ends with "otalitarian."

Mark Hemingway at NRO documents the Obama campaign's effort to smear Joe Lieberman as some sort of...well, some sort of smear campaign operative. He also documents Newsweek's willing help with the effort to smear Lieberman.

Lastly, we reach the scariest part, the "Chief of Surgery with an English B.A." portion of our tour. Before reading this money quote from the Al-Fin blog you may want to read this definition of the term "neoteny."

In November, voters in the US will have the opportunity to elect a US President who has done essentially nothing. Never flew a jet fighter or served in any type of military or national guard unit. Never operated a successful business or served in an important administrative position. Barely served half a US Senate term. Never faced re-election as US Senator. No record of achievement, legislation, or accomplishment. The very picture of a quite special psychological neotenate, sliding his way toward an important position at a time in history where challenges to western civilisation are growing critical.

Welcome to the Kindergarchy.

Chris Clukey
Contributing Editor

Jesse Jackson Jr. says so. Via Ken Shepherd at Newsbusters, here's a quote from Josephine Hearn's piece in the Politico on reaction to the end of the nomination fight. The emphasis is Shepherd's:

On Capitol Hill, as across the country Wednesday, African-Americans reflected on Illinois Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's historic rise as the first black presidential nominee to lead a major political party. They noted that only a few decades ago, African-Americans were fighting across large swaths of the South for basic human rights, hardly pondering the possibility that one of them might soon lead the country.

Many black lawmakers said they were elated at Obama's victory.

Many said they never thought such a day would come.

[...]

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), son of the one-time presidential contender, said Obama's victory overwhelmed him.

"I cried all night. I'm going to be crying for the next four years," he said. "What Barack Obama has accomplished is the single most extraordinary event that has occurred in the 232 years of the nation's political history. ... The event itself is so extraordinary that another chapter could be added to the Bible to chronicle its significance."

As Shepherd points out, no mainstream media source has commented on this intriguing little bon mot, even though the Politico is one of the most oft-quoted sources in political coverage these days and even though (do I even need to write this?) it would certainly be a top story for days if someone said something similar about John McCain or (Shepherd's example) Mike Huckabee.

Chris Clukey
Contributing Editor

Court: Texas had no right to take polygamists' kids

May 22 01:43 PM US/Eastern

View larger image

SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) - A state appellate court has ruled that child welfare officials had no right to seize more than 400 children living at a polygamist sect's ranch. The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled that the grounds for removing the children were "legally and factually insufficient" under Texas law. They did not immediately order the return of the children. Child welfare officials removed the children on the grounds that the sect pushed underage girls into marriage and sex and trained boys to become future perpetrators. The appellate court ruled the chaotic hearing held last month did not demonstrate the children were in any immediate danger, the only measure of taking children from their homes without court proceedings.

Here's an update from the folks at Pro-Life Corner about the odd behavior at the abortuary in Rockford, Illinos, specifically dealing with this anti-Christian display in one of the windows:

Note that the button reads "Jesus says this clinic stays open."

Interestingly, this display has some things in common with voodoo altars, (see the Pro-Life Corner article for full details) but Father Euteneuer of Human Life International says, “It's not voodoo nor mockery--it is blasphemy from a demonic industry.”

Not included in the article is this pic they forwarded to us of the "Condom Monster" greeting pro-life protestors at the clinic back in the day. Note that he's wearing a "Keep Abortion Legal" T-shirt.

No matter what their political inclinations might be, I don't think this is what the folks at Children's Television Workshop had in mind.

More on the Condom Monster and some other costumed antics from the clinic crew coming soon...

Chris Clukey
Contributing Editor

---

Uh-oh, here we go again: Meet Obama's new pastor
Otis Moss compares Wright to Jesus, backs up predecessor on AIDS, drugs

---

Posted: May 01, 2008
11:40 pm Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Rev. Otis Moss (Courtesy Cleveland Plan Dealer)

JERUSALEM – More pastor problems for Sen. Barack Obama?

The man slated to become chief pastor at the Trinity United Church of Christ has called blacks "lepers" with a "skin disease," claimed U.S. entertainment corporations operate with "disdain" for black people, and in a fiery sermon claimed retired pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright was "lynched" by the media and compared the embattled pastor to Jesus.

Otis Moss III, lauded this week by Obama as a "wonderful young pastor," also recently refused to deny claims by Wright that the U.S. government was involved in distributing illegal drugs to minorities or spreading the AIDS virus to blacks.

The 37-year-old Moss, nicknamed the "hip-hop pastor" by congregants, will become the head of Trinity Christ in June, taking over for Wright, whose controversial remarks landed Obama in hot water.

Following a series of national media interviews given by Wright last week, Obama strongly denounced some of Wright's statements as "divisive and destructive."

Wright had defended his views that the U.S. was to blame for the 9-11 attacks and referred to Nation of Islam head Louis Farrakhan as "one of the most important voices in the 20th and 21st century." Wright also quoted controversial Farrakhan remarks, such as his calling "Zionism" a "gutter religion."

(Story continues below)

While slamming Wright this week, Obama told the New York Times he will continue his membership in Trinity. He referred to Moss as "wonderful."

"Well, you know, the new pastor – the young pastor, Rev. Otis Moss, is a wonderful young pastor. And as I said, I still very much value the Trinity community."

In what was labeled his first national broadcast interview, Moss spoke last month to National Public Radio amid national media controversy surrounding some of Wright's views.

NPR interviewer Michelle Noris asked about Wright's statements regarding the spread of drugs and AIDS:

"As part of a member of this new generation is that a concept that you embrace? That the government was involved in the distribution of drugs or in the spread of HIV and AIDS?" asked Noris.

Moss replied: "Well, I think in terms of that particular narrative, I think we need to be very, very honest in terms of that our government has the ability to place a Hubble Telescope in the sky but yet we haven't had the political will to shut down drugs coming into our community. And from that perspective I think that's something we can look at in terms of policy. That we just have lacked the political will."

Like Wright, Moss has a trail of fiery sermons posted on YouTube.

In one, an animated Moss compares blacks to biblical "lepers" who have a "skin disease."

"You see they still are lepers. They still have a skin disease. They had a skin disease. They had a skin disease. Based on their skin condition, they were considered to be second-class citizens. They had a skin issue. They had a skin disease.

"And the lepers lived in a leper project. The lepers had bad health care. The lepers were disrespected. They had funny names for lepers. The lepers were considered inferior. They had an inferior school system. The lepers lived in a ghetto leper colony. The lepers were segregated from everybody else," he continued.

Moss went on to imply those who segregated blacks are the "enemy."

"But they (blacks) refused to give up. They decided to leave the city. They said that's not going to stop me from my destiny. Once they left the particular area, they then find out God has cooked things up. The camp of the enemy...nobody is there. So they go into the enemy's camp. They find food. They find shelter. They find gold. They find silver. They even find some drink. In the enemy's camp. They find gin and juice. In the enemy's camp."

"The one who wanted to destroy them ends up being the one who blesses them. Every once in a while God will use your enemies to end up blessing you," said Moss.

In his Easter sermon last month, Moss said Wright was "lynched" by the international media.

"No one should start a ministry with lynching, no one should end their ministry with lynching,” Moss said.

"The lynching was national news. The RNN, the Roman News Network, was reporting it and NPR, National Publican Radio had it on the radio. The Jerusalem Post and the Palestine Times all wanted exclusives, they searched out the young ministers, showed up unannounced at their houses, tried to talk with their families, called up their friends, wanted to get a quote on how do you feel about the lynching?” he stated.

He went on to compare Wright to Jesus:

"The people gathered around Jesus, they knew better. But they kept repeating sound bytes from his ministry. They kept saying, you know, things like the last shall be first and didn't say the first shall be last."

"They just kept quoting things. Did not talk about his parables. Did not talk about his work. Just there he is on the cross being lynched. No rabbis came to the aid of Jesus during his lynching."

Moss served under Wright as an assistant pastor for two years. He graduated from Yale Divinity School and is the son of a preacher and former adviser to Martin Luther King Jr.

Under Wright, Moss wrote in the Trinity church newsletter that American entertainment companies operate with contempt for the black community.

"Currently, there are about eight companies controlling 90% of everything we hear, read, watch on television or view in the movie theater. These companies operate with contempt and disdain for the Black community," Moss wrote.

He was introducing an article featured in the newsletter about the music industry and blacks.

That same church newsletter was widely featured in the media after it was reported the bulletin reprinted an opinion piece by a top Hamas official that defended terrorism as legitimate resistance, refused to recognize the right of Israel to exist and compared the terror group's official charter – which calls for the murder of Jews – to America's Declaration of Independence.

The Hamas piece was published on Wright's "Pastor's Page," which later printed an open letter by a pro-Palestinian activist that labeled Israel an "apartheid" regime and claimed the Jewish state worked on an "ethnic bomb" that kills "blacks and Arabs."

B. Husinsanes let them eat cake attitude over the gas tax shows his snobbarry....

$25 wont buy a arugula salad ! Or even one of kkk wright's dvd sets like......

• Loving God, Hating Your Country
• Ridin' Dirty in the Pulpit
• America's Genocides on Colored People
• Farraklan...... Islam is One of Many Paths to Heaven
• Politics Our Religion, Religion Our Politics
• Hate Is Not a Four Letter Word
• Don't Be Middle Class Like Whitey
• In My Congregation's Blouse Are Many Mansions For Me
• Jesus Was Born a Poor Black Child

Pastor vs The Pol: Did Wright Mean To Hurt Obama?

Chicagoans Who Know Both Men Tell The Story Of Betrayal; Controversy Continues On Despite Obama's Best Attempt To Cut It Off

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Chicago friends of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Sen. Barack Obama say both men are simply sad following a controversy and eventual falling out that came to a head Tuesday.

Just how did the battle of wills play out behind the scenes?

CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports Obama felt betrayed and Wright felt sand-bagged. Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church said he has been speaking to both men as the events of the past 24 hours unfolded.

TELL US: Has Barack Obama Done Enough To Adress The Rev. Wright Controversy?

He counseled Obama Tuesday morning, and while CBS 2 talked to him Tuesday evening, Rev. Wright called his cell phone.

"I don't think he had any intention to hurt Barack. He loves Barack," Pfleger said. "I think the pain and the moment took over."

That moment was in a place Pfleger called "a lion's den" – The National Press Club.

"The people who were close to him pleaded with him not to do it," said WVON radio host Roland Martin. "We knew what the questions were gonna be, but it really was the antics, the looks the dismissive tone, the strut. It was being flippant, some say being pompous and arrogant."

That appearance Monday was far from a pastor's comfort zone, like St. Sabina on the South Side, the site of Wright's first appearance after his words drove a wedge between him and Obama.

Fr. Pfleger says Wright's first instinct Monday was to defend his reputation.

"Sometimes you get caught up in the emotional response because you're hurt, because you're injured," Pfleger said.

Mayor Richard M. Daley called the current flap a dangerous distraction.

"You better believe it; you cannot have distractions in any campaign," Daley said.

Meanwhile Sen. Hillary Clinton's supporters said the relationship between Obama and Wright raised new doubts about who'd be the better candidate to take on presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain.

"The Republicans are salivating over this issue," said Clinton supporter Delmarie Cobb.

"People are still saying how could you, as the pastor, knowing full well this is your member has a chance to do something no other African American has had a chance to do in the history of this nation, and you still move forward as if its no big deal," Martin said.

It's clearly a big deal now. The polls already show that. Though a whole lot can happen between now and November. Obama, if he survives and wins the nomination, can only hope other issues will make voters forget about Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Barack Obama pal is an enemy, too

BY JOHN M. MURTAGH

Wednesday, April 30th 2008, 4:00 AM

During the April 16 debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, moderator George Stephanopoulos brought up "a gentleman named William Ayers," who "was part of the Weather Underground in the 1970s. They bombed the Pentagon, the Capitol and other buildings. He's never apologized for that." Stephanopoulos then asked Obama to explain his relationship with Ayers. Obama's answer: "The notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn't make much sense, George." Obama was indeed only 8 in early 1970. I was only 9 then, the year Ayers' Weathermen tried to murder me.

In February 1970, my father, a New York State Supreme Court justice, was presiding over the trial of the so-called "Panther 21," members of the Black Panther Party indicted in a plot to bomb New York landmarks and department stores. Early on the morning of Feb. 21, as my family slept, three gasoline-filled firebombs exploded at our home on the northern tip of Manhattan, two at the front door and the third tucked neatly under the gas tank of the family car.

I still recall, as though it were a dream, thinking that someone was lifting and dropping my bed as the explosions jolted me awake, and I remember my mother pulling me from the tangle of sheets and running to the kitchen where my father stood. Through the large windows overlooking the yard, all we could see was the bright glow of flames below. We didn't leave our burning house for fear of who might be waiting outside. The same night, bombs were thrown at a police car in Manhattan and two military recruiting stations in Brooklyn. Sunlight, the next morning, revealed three sentences of blood-red graffiti on our sidewalk: Free the Panther 21; The Viet Cong have won; Kill the pigs.

For the next 18 months, I went to school in an unmarked police car. My mother, a schoolteacher, had plainclothes detectives waiting in the faculty lounge all day. My brother saved a few bucks because he didn't have to rent a limo for the senior prom: The NYPD did the driving.

In many ways, the enormity of the attempt to kill my entire family didn't fully hit me until years later, when, a father myself, I was tucking my own 9-year-old John Murtagh into bed.

Though no one was ever caught or tried for the attempt on my family's life, there was never any doubt who was behind it.Only a few weeks after the attack, the New York contingent of the Weathermen blew themselves up making more bombs in a Greenwich Village townhouse.

As the association between Obama and Ayers came to light, it would have helped the senator a little if his friend had at least shown some remorse.

But listen to Ayers interviewed in The New York Times on Sept. 11, 2001, of all days: "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough."

Though never a supporter of Obama, I admired him for a time for his ability to engage our imaginations, and especially for his ability to inspire theyoung once again to embrace the political system. Yet his myopia in the last few months has cast a new light on his "politics ofchange."

Nobody should hold the junior senator from Illinois responsible for his friends' and supporters' violent terrorist acts. But it is fair to hold him responsible for a startling lack of judgment in his choice of mentors, associates and friends, and for showing a callous disregard for the lives they damaged and the hatred they have demonstrated for this country.

It is fair, too, to ask what those choices say about Obama's own beliefs, his philosophy and the direction he would take our nation.

At the conclusion of his 2001 Times interview, Ayers said of hisupbringing and subsequent radicalization: "I was a child of privilege and I woke up to a world on fire."

Funny thing, Bill: One night, so did I.

John M. Murtagh is an attorney, an adjunct professor of public policy at the Fordham University College of Liberal Studies and a member of the city council in Yonkers. A longer version of this appears on www.city-journal.org.

Monday, April 28, 2008

BARACK OBAMA

Wright: This Wasn't an Attack on Me, It Was an Attack on the Black Church

Watching Wright at the National Press Club, I thought the headline would be that he said we have witnessed an "attack on the black church, not an attack on Jeremiah Wright." But he's hitting a wide variety of notes... hitting the Bush administration for "cutting billions in food stamps to pay for war in Iraq." Wright mentions his Goddaughter arrived in Iraq last week; he declares that those who questioned his patriotism used their positions to avoid military service.

Hits those who "worship Sunday mornings in a black clergy robe, then burn crosses on Sunday evening with a white Klan robe."

"The Christianity of the slave-holder is not the Christianity of the slave."

UPDATE: Wright says, "launched by people who know nothing of the African-American church"...

On Farrkhan: "How many people do you know who could get one million people on the mall? Farrakhan is like E.F. Hutton. When he talks, black America listens. Whether they agree with him or not, they listen."

On Obama's reaction: "We both know that if Obama had not said what he said, he would never get elected."

A genuine laugh: "I'm not running for office... I am interested in being vice president."

Asked about God d*** America: "I'm not a spiritual mentor... I'm his pastor. I told him that if he's elected, on November 5, I'm going after you, because you're now a representative of a government (check transcript?)... It's about policy."

"We have never apologized for slavery. We have never apologized for Japan."

I missed it, but I understand that he said, "You can't do terrorism, and not have it come back to you."

"He had to distance himself from those statements because he's a politician."

On the Government created AIDS: Have you read "Medical Apartheid"? I read different things.. Cites the Tuskeegee Experiments. "I believe our government is capable of doing anything."

Obama denies likening Israel to apartheid. Says that was Jimmy Carter. Says he believes Israel has a right to exist, and that Israelis have a right to exist, and but that "reconciliation" is necessary.

"In Biblical history, there isn't a word between Genesis and Revelation that wasn't written during one of six eras of oppression. Says he was comparing oppressions... Imperialism was going on in Luke... We have troops stationed all over the world. We rule the world." (A smattering of applause.)

Wright reiterates two key points — one, not that he was not attacked, but that the entire "African-American church was attacked." I wonder how many African-American churches are comfortable with Jeremiah Wright being the national spokesman for their entire religious community, elected circumstance.

Second, Wright keeps emphasizing that his critics know "nothing of the traditions of the African-American church community." But how much must one know about the African-American church in order to decide whether or not something is offensive? Is the declaration that the U.S. and al-Qaeda do the same acts under different color flags — do you or I need to have extensive background in that field of study before rejecting that argument? Declaring that our policies "grind people under"?

Are only historians of the black church entitled to criticize Jeremiah Wright?