Uppity Wisconsin

UPDATE: Obama to give speech Tuesday addressing Rev. Wright.

The Wall Street Journal:  "To be sure, such attacks often fail to mention that presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain had a similar uncomfortable brush with controversy when he gratefully accepted the recent endorsement of Texas televangelist James Hagee, best known by some by some for referring to the Roman Catholic church as “the great whore,” and a cult. “I repudiate any comments that are made, including Pastor Hagee’s, if they are anti-Catholic or offensive to Catholics,” McCain said, during a recent stop in heavily Catholic New Orleans.

Will Obama get a similar pass? The Illinois senator clearly hopes Tuesday’s speech will help. An aide said it is specifically tailored to address the mess wrought by Wright."

***** 

There is, at least in my mind, a political racial platitude to the whole controversy, still....I think it qualifies as worthy of analytical debate.  This is one of those things which should be put into the context of it's actuality.

I, for one, find it difficult NOT to agree with this preacher's comments, sure they're not what the "status quo" says is acceptable, however the mere fact that some claim them unacceptable, does not necessarily confer inaccuracy.

Have factions in the US government, without the consent of it's citizenry, terrorized other nations?  Read William Blum's "Rogue State", a literal plethora of our wanton disregard for the security of our nation as regards the tenents of democracy.  But also a damning critique of our subversion of other nation states in this same pursuit. (think Taliban)  What would you call the Iraq situation?  Are the citizens of Iraq living in terror?  I believe they are.  I certainly wouldn't wish to be an Iraqi citizen under US occupation.

Have these same factions and their ideological or profiteering partners of the US government, without the consent of it's citizenry, sold arms to the Iranians who with "our" knowledge, sold them to the Contras.

"proceeds from the arms sales went to the Contras, a right-wing guerrilla organization engaged in an insurgency against the leftist Sandinista government of Nicaragua." ....?(wikipedia)

Have factions of the US government overthrown democratic governments of nation states and installed totalitarian regimes...?  They have...time and time again .....without the consent of the citizenry of the America.  Has factional involvement in these types of activities created animosity in the world for the US and have these animosities "come home to roost"?  It's difficult to disagree.  And when one considers the "players" involved, the focus becomes increasingly crisp.

Wikipedia:  "The Wall Street Journal reported on January 29, 1997^[45] on activities at the Mena, Arkansas airport allegedly involved then-governor Bill Clintonin a coverup of illegal drug-trading activity. The Wall Street Journal article goes on to state:

At the center of the web of speculation spun around Mena are a few undisputed facts: One of the most successful drug informants in U.S. history, smuggler Barry Seal, based his air operation at Mena. At the height of his career he was importing as much as 1,000 pounds of cocaine per month, and had a personal fortune estimated at more than $50 million. After becoming an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration, he worked at least once with the CIA, in a Sandinista drug sting. He was gunned down by Colombian hit men in Baton Rouge, La., in 1986; eight months later, one of his planes—with an Arkansas pilot at the wheel and Eugene Hasenfus in the cargo bay—was shot down over Nicaragua with a load of Contra supplies.

In 1998, CIA Inspector General Frederick Hitz published a two-volume report^[46] that substantiated many of Webb's claims, and described how 50 contras and contra-related entities involved in the drug trade had been protected from law enforcement activity by the Reagan-Bush administration, and documented a cover-up of evidence relating to these activities. The report also showed that Oliver North and the NSC were aware of these activities. A report later that same year by the United States Justice DepartmentInspector General Michael Bromwich also came to similar conclusions."

In my mind, it is within this context that the highly publicized preacher's comments were meant, however poorly delivered.  The use of the words "factions of our government" would have been much more precise.  One can only consider the preacher's words "radical" if one defines TRUTH as a "radical" concept..