I am soooo NOT a political guy. REALLY! I am bothered by what is going on in this country and how ignorant people can be and yet act like they know what is going on. I do not claim to know it all, but the vast majority of people in this country are so... I don't know, BRAIN WASHED by the media. Their channel-surfing mentalities have absorbed bits and pieces of info and let it congeal into half-baked bits of faulty information they take as being TRUTH--at least, THEIR version of the truth.

This morning I got an email. It was some nasty forwarded thing that was sent to everyone on an email mailing list. I've copied/pasted it below:

Probable U. S. presidential candidate, Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a black Muslim from Nyangoma-Kogel, Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white atheist from Wichita, Kansas. Obama's parents met at the University of Hawaii.
When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced. His father returned to Kenya. His mother then married Lolo Soetoro, a radical Muslim from Indonesia. When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocated to Indonesia. Obama attended a Muslim school in Jakarta. He also spent two years in a Catholic school.
Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim. He is quick to point out that, He was once a Muslim, but that he also attended Catholic school.
Obama's political handlers are attempting to make it appear that Obama's introduction to Islam came via his father, and that this influence was temporary at best. In reality, the senior Obama returned to Kenya soon after the divorce, and never again had any direct influence over his son's education. Lolo Soetoro, the second husband of Obamas mother, Ann Dunham, introduced his stepson to Islam. Osama was enrolled in a Wahabi school in Jakarta. Wahabism is the radical teaching that is followed by the Muslim terrorists who are now waging Jihad against the western world.
Since it is politically expedient to be a Christian when seeking major public office in the United States, Barack Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background.
Let us all remain alert concerning Obamas expected presidential candidacy.
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That was the message. That weird, from-out-of-left-field fear-mongering bothered me, so I replied:

I know Obama has Muslim ties---but he's pretty amazing. However, condeming him for being raised Musim is like condeming the U.S. Japanese citizens to the internment camps, like we did during WW 2 or the whole Red scare during the 50s McCarthy era. The Republicans have screwed things up soooo much in the last 6 years. The war is a disaster (and there were NEVER any weapons of mass destruction found) and, where Clinton had gotten us out of debt and we had a surplus, we are now BILLIONS if not TRILLIONS in debt! I feel we need a Democratic candidate in office. The two front runners seem to be Obama and Hillary Clinton. Both would be powerful yet, with Obama a black Muslim and Clinton a woman, I think Americans won't vote for either and we'll be doomed to more of the same Republican crapola... Scare tactic messages like this one about Obama (which probably originated with a Republican party member) won't help either.
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I said what I wanted to say. But someone had to reply back... This is what he said:

Bullshit....Clinton did nothing in office except ride the economic wave, which was set up by a Republican, and cut the military budget putting us in the military state that we are in....not enough body armor and armored hummers for our troops. The economy is a cicular animal that crashes every 10 years, then comes back stronger. Also war helps our economy.

I would not have wanted to be president and had 9/11 happen (which was planned durring the Clinton administration). A country screaming for revenge and a big decision to make. Bush did make a lot of mistakes...but he did have to pick up after Clinton did nothing to take Osama out...who he was warned about countless times. Don't get me wrong...I think we should have went to Iraq, won the war and left. Let them rebuild their own country. There isn't any way that you will put a democracy in a country full of uneducated, religious, fanatics. These people do not value life. They know nothing but hate for anyone who is not of their religion. I don't mean muslims...I am talking about the religious fanatics who don't understand what the muslim religion is all about or who warp it to get people to murder others.

I personally did not like Clinton, because I thought he let those third world countries piss on us. They bomb an embassy, a destroyer and god knows what else and we fire one missile at them. That is outrageous. Even though Bush has made mistakes I think that he needs to be commended for standing up to, not only the terrorist group, but the United Nations. The United Nations has become a joke...all talk and no action. I vote we kick their ass out of our country and start a new Ally group who is not afraid to act...don't let those dam French chicken bastard in either!

About voting in a democrat or republican...I say vote for the lesser of two evils. Unfortunately, I haven't liked any canidates for a long time. They all seem to be horrible. Funny how all the really intelligent people work in the private sector and we are stuck with rich, draft dodging, womanizing, "c" students.
I hope that Hillary does not get in...I don't want to see the first woman president get in and screw up the chance for other women. Let's get a well educated woman, who is not afraid to act...I would like to hear Condoleza Rice and what she would do. Truthfully, I don't care if the president is black, white or yellow...man or woman....if he/she is the best for the job then I say go for it.
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I couldn't let that go. SO, I wrote/sent this off in response:

Iraq had NOTHING to do with 9/11. Remember? Osama was supposed to have been in Afghanistan. The 19 terrorists on the planes that day were from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Lebanon...NOT Iraq. Osama was under the watch of the CIA as far back as the mid-80's (the REAGAN years) and there have been numerous reports and speculation over the years that Osama and his Al Qaida organization were issued weapons by the CIA and funded by the Saudis in there jihad against the Soviets. Where do you get your information? FOX news?

Clinton rode the ecconomic wave---huh? We were TRILLIONS in debt when he went in to office. The deficit was spiraling out of control under Reagan and then Bush. Under the Republican watch, it was at an all-time high.

And war is good for the ecconomy? If you say so---but tell that to the families who've had their loved ones killed in this stupid war in Iraq (that was about fictional weapons of mass destruction--NOT Osama Bin Laden. You've got our invasion of Afghanistan and the not-soon-after invasion of Iraq confused. The two countries do NOT even share a common border.) Inflation is rampant. Health care costs are sky rocketing. Big corporations and drug companies are running the show. Halliburton (which we are getting our military equipment from) is making a mint...which is feeding into the pockets of Bush (a big share owner) and Chaney (who was Halliburtons chief executive officer right before becoming vice president)--which should have been a HUGE conflict of interest and never allowed to happen.

You are right about the unenviable job of being president after 9/11. Bush did what he thought he had to do. But I was appalled during the last presidential elections that abortion and gay marriage (two issues that are not that big of a deal in the whole scheme of things at the moment) were his major issues. HUH? We were in (and still are in) a war! I don't even want to speculate about Kerry--since it is a mute point now.

Bush stood up to the United Nations (and France) about the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" so he could go to war. The United Nations was opposed to that, as they found NO proof of these so called weapons. France felt the same way. We went to war anyway---and the weapons were NEVER found. But, in your head and in most other Americans heads, the war in Iraq was about the terrorists... You've forgotten about the so-called WMDs. Hello? The United Nations and France were right.

As for Clinton, yes--he had his sex scandal with Monica Lewinsky. That was inexcuseable---but had NOTHING to do with his actions as president (The impeachment trial led nowhere, because, morally, as a married man his actions were wrong---but they were NOT illegal, unlike Bush's wire-tapping of private citizens, per say...). The whole White Water scandal ---the Republicans spent MILLIONS trying to dig up dirt...and NO DIRT was ever found. He wasn't great, but Clinton got us out of debt and TRIED to reform health care (although he was defeated there).

I agree that a man or woman, black or white, or any race or religon, could and should be able to run the country if they are the best person for the job.

Which brings me back to the original email, which was about Barak Obama... That original email is obviously designed to scare any potential voters AWAY from Barak Obama simply because of his parental lineage and religon. By focusing on the fact that he's a (GASP! o' the HORROR!) Muslim, the originator is trying to install fear into who or what Obama may be. For most white non-muslims, Muslim means terrorist in this day and age. That email says NOTHING about what he's done or what he stands for. It's all about being "alert"and about his connection to terrorism (however tenuous) through his education...

We may not agree on our politics or or views of how things have come to the way they are now. But if you say "I don't care if the president is black, white or yellow...man or woman...if he/she is the best for the job", then I sincerely hope you'll look PAST smear campaigns and fear-inducing crap like this email and really LOOK into the politician to see who they really are--and NOT what they are being made out to be.
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I got one more email follow-up from a different person. This is what it said:

RIGHT ON, BROTHER (or SISTER!) Tell it like it is!!!! GREAT ANSWER!!!!!
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I'm sure I haven't heard the last of this. I may even get some nasty remarks on here as well. I don't know everything that is going on, but I also hate blatant ignorance and stupidity. If you have something to say, KNOW what you are saying first. Don't let people like Rush Limbaugh or FOX news be your only source of "information". USE your freakin' brain!