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President Barack Obama is a Christian who prays daily, a White House official said Thursday, trying to tamp down growing doubts about the president's religion.
A new poll showed that nearly one in five people, or 18 percent, believe Obama is Muslim. That was up from 11 percent who said so in March 2009. The survey also showed that just 34 percent said Obama is Christian, down from 48 percent who said so last year. The largest share of people, 43 percent, said they don't know his religion.
White House spokesman Bill Burton said most Americans care more about the economy and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and "they are not reading a lot of news about what religion the president is." He commented on Air Force One as Obama headed for a vacation in Massachusetts on Martha's Vineyard.
Burton added, "The president is obviously a Christian. He prays everyday."
At least that article calls it an Islamic Center near the site, rather than GROUND ZERO MOSQUE. Not that it really matters. It seems with each passing day the USA is becoming less "the land of the free" and more "the land of the white christian heterosexuals". Perhaps it was always like that, but at least people pretended otherwise. If we asked these people to tell us where it is acceptable to build a mosque I doubt they'd give a sane answer. It's never been about the location of the mosque. It's about Muslim=Terrorist.
I'm not going to pretend Islam is a great religion. From what I know of it it certainly seems like the most extreme of the world's major faiths. In fact, as an atheist, I'd rather there is no religion. But, suggesting you're defending your free nation by restricting the constitional rights of your fellow citizens is hilariousily hypocritical.
Anyway, back on topic. It doesn't matter what religion people think Obama is, because it shouldn't matter what religion he is in the first place.
I think one of the Bush administration's major successes is that it managed to destroy the last semblance of what the US was and hoped to be, both culturally and economically. We're now just a bunch of divided idiots ripe for corporate exploitation. People don't even know what they're angry about any more, they're blindly buying into ideas and proposals that are detrimental to themselves for the further gain of the already-wealthy, and we are allowing ourselves to be manipulated and turned into a nation of hate and short-sighted stupidity by the very people we SHOULD be angry at.
It seems with each passing day the USA is becoming less "the land of the free" and more "the land of the white christian heterosexuals". Perhaps it was always like that, but at least people pretended otherwise.
On the latter, it's actually quite the opposite. It's just that as the USA gets less and less homogeneous, white Christians are gradually losing their power base, and people feel threatened (both economically and culturally) so they're now much more out in force about it than, say, 30 or 40 years ago.
How to be a Conservative:
You have to believe everything that has ever gone wrong in the history of your country was due to Liberals.
What cultural background is the claims of? Google (TM) returns a couple results about the two major sub-cultures or Muslim; Shiite and Sunni. Google Profile (TM) or Facebook allows you to simply choose your belief, one sub-culture I can't find for Muslim believers at the moment. I believe it was pro-nounced "Tsi," probably a lesser of the two faiths as it's not easily found through every-day means.
emptythought wrote:What cultural background is the claims of? Google (TM) returns a couple results about the two major sub-cultures or Muslim; Shiite and Sunni. Google Profile (TM) or Facebook allows you to simply choose your belief, one sub-culture I can't find for Muslim believers at the moment. I believe it was pro-nounced "Tsi," probably a lesser of the two faiths as it's not easily found through every-day means.
Are you thinking of Sufism (a follower/practitioner is a "sufi")? It's a family of mystical traditions within Islam that doesn't fall along clear sectarian lines.
"You know, I have a great, wonderful, really original method of teaching antitrust law, and it kept 80 percent of the students awake. They learned things. It was fabulous." -- Justice Stephen Breyer
When I first heard the story about the "Ground Zero Mosque," I thought it was exactly that. A mosque right on top of the site of the old trade towers. Which would of course be completely outrageous. Not just as a mosque, but as any religious institution. A church would be equally offensive to me because of the simple fact that it was religion that brought those towers down.
Then you learn that it's 2 blocks down... and you think, "WTF?!"
"He who cannot draw on 3,000 years is living hand-to-mouth." -Goethe
Eviltaco64X wrote:But he's only taken 6 vacations in his 19 months in office! Cut the guy a break.
Technically, I don't have a problem with that. Grover Cleveland was the last who tried his best to uphold the tradition of a part-time President. They aren't supposed to control the nation.
It's what he does when he isn't on vacation that bothers me.
"He who cannot draw on 3,000 years is living hand-to-mouth." -Goethe
Eviltaco64X wrote:But he's only taken 6 vacations in his 19 months in office! Cut the guy a break.
Veteran CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller, a fastidious keeper of presidential statistics, has kept count. By his tally, Obama has embarked on nine “vacations†since taking office, bringing his total days off to 48. Some of those trips lasted a day and some, like his Christmas holiday in Hawaii, more than a week.
By comparison, Bush had visited his ranch in Crawford, Tex., 14 times at this point in his administration and spent 115 days there. And yes, Democrats let him have it, too, complaining that he was a chronic vacationer.
Jeeba Jabba wrote:It's what he does when he isn't on vacation that bothers me.
I second that. He's been a coward on the issues I'd hope he tackle, and has spent too much time on others that have been criticized for being too socialist. At this point, I hope he'll actually make some key changes away from his cabinets continuation of too many Bush policies, even if it means losing in 2012. Believe it or not, the most prevalent rule has been more of the same, more of what Bush did for 8 years.
Seriously, broadcasters, journalists: just give up now. Because either you're making things worse, or no one's paying attention anyway. May as well knock back a few Jagermeisters, unplug the autocue, and just sit there dumbly repeating whichever reality-warping meme the far right wants to go viral this week. What's that? Obama is Gargamel and he's killing all the Smurfs? Sod it. Whatever. Roll titles.
The difference here is that Bush used to clear brush at his ranch, and Obama is taking vacations in which 30-something rooms are reserved for his wife and kids. I'm guessing that Americans are getting pissed off because it's a bit elitist of him.
We need to cut off some of these horribly bloated government programs, run a proper budget, and maybe take some restrictions off of businesses so that they can get through the recession a little easier.
We should also legalize marijuana/drugs and tax them up the ass. That way, the drug market for the US government would turn from a negative (since they spend billions on propaganda ads and law enforcement on them) to a profit.
Eviltaco64X wrote:The difference here is that Bush used to clear brush at his ranch, and Obama is taking vacations in which 30-something rooms are reserved for his wife and kids. I'm guessing that Americans are getting pissed off because it's a bit elitist of him.
The biggest cost incurred by taxpayers is the security needed to cover Obama and his family. I doubt that cost changes if they're in the Ritz-Carlton or a Texas ranch. After Mrs. Obama's trip to Spain, the press secretary stated during a press briefing that she will pay for everything except the security costs. Some people might consider it … "elitist*" … for a President to enjoy a more cosmopolitan environment, but I disagree. I've always thought of the presidency as the hardest job in the world, so I am personally fine with him going to New York City or wherever he wants to go.
EDIT: The other thing about presidential vacations is he's still involved in meetings and briefings. It's not like he goes to Bermuda and does blow off of a hooker's chest. He gets to deal with two wars, budgets and teabaggers in a lawn chair instead of the Oval Office. Who else would want to take a vacation and bring his office with him? Sounds like hell.
^ What Pixel said. People have their heads so far up their asses any more it's ridiculous; and it's downright depressing how ready the media and a large percentage of people are to grab onto whatever manufactured BS is being slung by right-wing hatemongers, regardless of how absurd.
I used to try to engage in meaningful and level conversation with everyone I met, but things have gotten so ridiculous over the past seven or eight years that I'm just fucking done.
The American right has become such a farce that there are no two ways about it any more.
If you are "conservative" in the American political sense (i.e. right-wing, a supporter of the Republican party, a teabagger, or anything along those lines), you are either:
A. both grossly misinformed and painfully gullible/naive, or
B. an evil manipulative bastard trying to coax as many people as possible into category A for your own short-term gain, consequences be damned.
bizzle wrote:I am against the New World Order and the "government" ripping us off. What does that make me?
It makes you nonspecific in what you're talking about.
I understand that. Question still stands.
Well, in order to answer the question, one would have to know what you meant by "new world order" (which could mean anything from global corporatism to UN conspiracy theories), and by "government ripping us off." Both statements are so vague as to make it near impossible to respond.
