President Obama's opponents are violent racists?

Carter again cites racism as factor in Obama's treatment - CNN.com

"'I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he's African-American,' Carter told 'NBC Nightly News.'"

Does this mean that everyone who has expressed any strong disapproval of the President Obama's policies and actions is motivated by racism?

The CNN article states that Bill Cosby agrees with Jimmy Carter, so it must be true. And Nancy Pelosi warned us yesterday that the president's opponents are inciting violence.

Is there a coordinated effort to silence and discredit the president's political opponents by smearing them as violent racists?

University of Illinois -where clout greases the skids

Clout goes to college -Chicago Tribune
U. of I. chief says clout list had little impact -Chicago Tribune

It's an outrage that college admissions should depend on political connections -especially at a public school. This should be stopped.

But it's also outrageous for schools to consider ethnicity or gender in their admissions criteria. College admission should not be based on who you know. Nor should it depend on your religion, sex, race, or ethnicity.

Trying to right historic wrongs through "affirmative action", by giving special consideration to individuals because of their sex or color, only exchanges one form of discrimination for another. You can't promote justice or fight racism by using race as an admission criterion. Besides, who wants to graduate college under a cloud of suspicion that you "made it" only because less was expected due to your racial background?

Fairness demands equal requirements and equal opportunity. This is the way to combat discrimination and protect the dignity of every person.

Do Sotomayor's prejudices make her unfit for the Supreme Court?

Sotomayor's Controversial 2001 Remarks -- and Their Context -Political Punch

In 2001, Judge Sonia Sotomayor delivered the Judge Mario G. Olmos Memorial Lecture at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where she said "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

Further excerpts from her speech indicate that her "wise Latina woman" comment was not a careless and embarrassing gaffe. It rather was a conclusion reached through thoughtful consideration. All the more reason for concern that Sotomayor does not embrace a judicial philosophy blind to race and gender.

On what basis can we hope she will impartially uphold the rule of law, providing equal justice regardless of race, ethnicity, creed, and gender?

Should the next Pope be black?

Black Pope could follow Barack Obama's election, says US archbishop -Times Online

Dear Archbishop Wilton Gregory,

I don't know whether Your comments quoted in the above article were misrepresented, but You were quoted as saying that the election of Barack Obama was "a great step forward for humanity and a sign that in the United States the problem of racial discrimination has been overcome".

Given Mr. Obama's radical and energetic promotion of abortion and complete disregard for the lives of the defenseless unborn, the suggestion that his election nonetheless is "a great step forward for humanity" frankly is disgusting and unworthy of any Catholic, much less a bishop. I am deeply troubled that You could obscure the situation with such unfortunate remarks.

On a secondary point, You are quoted as stating, "My own election as head of the US Bishops Conference was an important signal. In 2001 the American bishops elected someone they respected regardless of his race, and the same thing could happen with the election of a Pope." Eminence, either You were elected head of the bishops' conference because You were respected regardless of Your race, or You were elected in part because of Your race. Were there equally qualified white or asian bishops who were passed over because their skin color was not preferred? If skin color counts so much that bishops are guided by it, is this really the sort of "message" You think the Church should endorse and society should embrace?

There's a name for that message and philosophy: it's called "racism". It should have no place in society, and certainly not in the Church.

In a truly just society, skin color is not considered a job qualification, and it neither disqualifies nor favors candidates for office. In a society which rejects racism leaders are selected because of their accomplishments, capabilities, vision, and character: not the color of their skin. When our Church and nation finally become "color blind", then we will be sending a message truly worth celebrating.

If Your remarks have been misrepresented by the TimesOnline article, You may wish to consider publishing a clarification. If however they reflect Your mind on the matter, then I respectfully but firmly voice my disapproval.

Best regards,

John Robin

All black people -including Barak Obama- should understand

Black people were systematically enslaved and oppressed in the United States for hundreds of years. Their humanity was denied, their human rights trampled.

You'd think that with such a history, black people would be quick to denounce and combat other forms of oppression that, like slavery, deny both the humanity and basic rights of the vulnerable.

Why do so many white people tolerate legalized elective abortion? Despite slavery's history perhaps whites are still slow to recognize oppression, at least when the oppression is praised by some as a sacred right and enshrined by unjust law... just as slavery was enshrined and defended as a right.

But why do so many black people tolerate and even defend legalized elective abortion? Why don't they recognize it for what it is, and denounce it and all its defenders, both black and white?

That to me is a great mystery.


“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.” -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“A nation that kills its children is a nation without hope.” -Pope John Paul II