In recent months we have read of issues with soldiers having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in record numbers and in the last couple of weeks psychologists have noted the rise of foreclosures are having dire affects on the mental health of families in America. Has it occurred to anyone that much of this stress has been induced by the media itself?

For instance, a man who serves his country and lives through the hell of war only to be told his friends died in vain and the war is stupid, is sure to have psychological problems. These anti-war media echoed comments from Democrats only add to the actual issues of PTSD, often causing mild cases that could normally be dealt with to become exacerbated.

And, if we look at the economic situation in the US, much of it was caused by a destroying of consumer confidence, which occurred in part by Democrats telling everyone that the economy was bad, when in fact the economy had never been better in the history of our Republic. So, many of the challenges we face today in America are media induced thanks to the negative comments, Bush hate speech and mimicking of anti-American sentiment of our enemies.

Amazingly enough even with the bombarding of the minds of the American People of all this insanity, our nation is doing quite well considering. But do you know what is really hurting America right now? It's all the massive BS being slung by politicians during this Presidential race. America is sure to need psychological help with PTSD due to all the Obama footage being played by the mass media hysteria during this nomination process. It's just incredible what money can buy.

By: Lance Winslow
"Lance Winslow" - Online Blog Content Service. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net. Lance Winslow's Bio

Isn't it true that a person can be known by the company he keeps? After reading Barack Obama's Dreams From My Father, I'm left perplexed by his denunciation of Jeremiah Wright this week. Obama's pleading ignorance on Wright's character is contradicted by what he says in his own book. The Wright he saw speak at the National Press Club IS the same person he met 20 years ago. What's more, Dreams reveals a long-standing pattern of Obama choosing friends and associates who see the world exclusively through a prism of racial division.

Before he joined Trinity United Church of Christ, Obama knew that Wright had dabbled in "liquor, Islam and black nationalism" and was a proponent of black liberation theology, as outlined by James Cone, in his book Black Power and Black Theology. Cone states that "black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy." If Obama weren't as erudite as he is, one could maybe believe that he didn't know anything about black liberation theology. But, let's get real! He's nothing, if not well-read.

Wright is roundly credited with leading Obama to Christianity. His Audacity of Hope sermon, which moved Obama to tears, and for which he names his second book was a turning point in his life. In Dreams, Obama quotes from the sermon, that hope sits on a world "...where white folks' greed runs the world in need...." Can we accept that that didn't raise a question in Obama's mind as to whether Wright spoke in divisive terms? Maybe it did. Maybe it didn't. If not, then is Obama's thinking so alligned with Wright's that he was blind to his racially-charged message?

In Dreams, Obama mentions Trinity's Black Value System and its "disavowal of the pursuit of middleclassness." To understand what that means, I went to the Church website. The site explains that, according to the "methodology on control," it is believed that "captors" identify a "talented tenth" of the subjugated and then try to separate them from the others by (and the following are quoted verbatim):

1. killing them off directly, and/or fostering a social system that encourages them to kill off one another,

2. placing them in concentration camps, and/or structuring an economic environment that induces captive youth to fill the jails and prisons,

3. seducing them in a socioeconomic class system which, while training them to earn more dollars, hypnotizes them into believing they are better than others and teaches them to think in terms of "we" and "they" instead of "us"

These teachings weren't and aren't secret. They're on the Church website, for goodness sake, so how can we believe Obama was not aware of them? His attempt to distance himself from Wright rings hollow, given that Wright never misrepresented who he is. In fact, Reverend Wright's belief system fits seemlessly with other friends and associates Obama references in his book.

Ray. Obama's highschool friend in Hawaii. Ray tells Obama that they are "playing on the white man's court,...by the white man's rules." According to Ray's logic, "any distinction between good and bad whites held negligible meaning," because whites are ultimately in control, even of what blacks are allowed to think. His exchanges with Ray leave Obama pondering what happens if a black person refuses to accept his powerlessness. Obama muses, if you "...lash out at your captors, they would have a name for that, too, a name that could cage you just as good. Paranoid. Militant. Violent. Nigger."

Malik. A follower of the Nation of Islam, Malik sometimes shot hoops with Ray and Obama. Around this time, Obama is searching for an authentic identity and says Malcolm X's autobiography spoke to him. As he considers Malcolm writing that he wished the white blood in him could be expunged, Obama realizes that his "own white blood would never recede into mere abstraction." This leaves him wondering what he would sever if and when he leaves his white family "at some uncharted border."

Frank. Well known Communist Party member and radical poet/author Frank Marshall Davis, with whom a teenaged Barack and his grandfather hang-out. Frank draws a clear divide between white society and black society, seeing American blacks as having only two choices: stay true to your color, or else you sell-out your people. He warns Obama that college is "an advanced degree in compromise," and that the "real price of admission" is, "Leaving your race at the door. Leaving your people behind."

Consequently, at Occidental College in Los Angeles, he does anything he can to convince himself "that I wasn't compromized" and to "avoid being mistaken for a sellout." To accomplish this, he intentionally chooses friends from among politically active black and foreign students and selects Marxist professors. In the dorm, he "discussed neocolonialism, Franz Fanon, Eurocentrism, and patriarchy." Franz Fanon, by the way, is the author of Black Skin, White Masks, which describes blacks as having a divided self-image. According to Fanon, this happens when black "subjects" lose their ethnic identity and imitate the cultural norms of white "colonizers".

Marcus. A friend at Occidental who Obama describes as authentically black; he's a "most conscious brother." Obama quotes him as saying, "White people don't see us as human beings." Because Marcus' "lineage was pure," Obama says, it made him feel a little off balance, like he could never catch up to him because of his white parentage.

Sadik. A Pakistani friend Obama lives with after transfering to Columbia University, whose tourist visa was expired. While living in Manhatten, Obama attends Socialist conferences at Cooper Union, African cultural fairs in Harlem and Brooklyn, and attends a speech by Black Power's Kwame Toure at Columbia.

It becomes clear to him that if he achieves financial success and succumbs to it's trappings, that he really would be selling-out his people, as Frank had warned him years ago. So, he concludes that with success, "You would find yourself on the side of the line you never intended to be on." What line? The color line, one presumes.

Unnamed Girlfriend. This is perhaps one of the most poignent stories Obama shares. He says he was in love with a white woman while at Columbia, but broke up with her after he decides they had no future together. He says their worlds were too different, and he didn't want to risk living in hers. He had earlier observed, "The emotions between the races could never be pure; even love was tarnished by the desire to find in the other some element that was missing in ourselves. Whether we sought out our demons or salvation, the other race would always remain just that: menacing, alien, and apart."

Rafiq al Shabazz. Rafiq is a fellow community organizer in Chicago, where Obama moves after graduation. A Black Nationalist, Rafiq causes Obama to again question the value of cultural assimilation. He questions the virtue of judging people by their individual character, versus by their race. Maybe his mother was wrong that everyone should stand on his own merits. Maybe race trumps all that. He writes, "If nationalism could create a strong and effective insularity, deliver on its promise of self-respect, then the hurt it might cause well-meaning whites, or the inner turmoil it caused people like me, would be of little consequence."

But that's all in his past, you might say. Obama's thinking has moved beyond racial and socioeconomic divides. After all, his goal is to unite America. Yet, he observes in the Dreams' epilogue that the study of law is, in part, "a glorified accounting that serves to regulate the affairs of those who have power -- and all too often seeks to explain, to those who do not, the ultimate wisdom and justness of their condition."

So America's legal system is here to keep the powerless in their place, right? Obama's own story in Dreams From My Father brings us full-circle back to the question of Reverend Wright, and whether Obama is genuinely shocked by Wright's divisive words.

Truly, a man is known by the company he keeps.

Barack Obama. Relationship with Jeremiah Wright

By: C. Daugherty

In an interview carried by CNN Monday April 15, 2008 McCain answered the questions about his age and whether he had the stamina for the job with an invitation for anyone who doubts his stamina to come along with him on his campaign. That silenced everyone.

The following day McCain outshined all his opponents in his bid for the White House by outlining his economic strategy for the country. In an Associated Press article April 15, 2008 the details of Sen. McCain's plan look like the most practical short and long term proposals for the economy that anyone has heard of in a decade. McCain's proposal has a raw common sense appeal that is garnering the interest of everyday Americans and some top economists for whom the economy is a strong suit.

The most appealing aspect of John McCain's proposal is that it speaks to the most pressing problem Americans are facing today; the price of gasoline. Travelling to and from the job is cutting into family budgets even without all the necessary driving that remains. Gasoline prices keep pumping up the cost of food and consumer goods and it is suppressing the economy faster than the present government stimulus package can bolster it. Won't spend has given way to can't spend which is the opposite of stimulus.

After seeing oil company execs feed Senate committees the "supply and demand" speech and the "we're investing in the search of alternative fuel sources" diatribe to explain huge profits McCain has countered with an in your face bit of good old American practical problem solving that can't easily be ignored.

McCain has warned that both of his Democratic rivals are about to spring the single greatest tax hike in history on an unsuspecting America if either one is elected. The "big change" that Hillary or Obama propose for America will translate into the "big tax hike" according to McCain.

As a takeoff from the title of Barack Obama's book "The Audacity of Hope" published by Random House, McCain said "All these tax increases are the fine print under the slogan of 'hope:' They're going to raise your taxes by thousands of dollars per year - and they have the audacity to hope you don't mind."

Essentially what McCain is proposing should shame corporate America after offering only status quo answers to the public and at the same time trim big government long enough for the average Joe to make a recovery.

McCain's proposal has many elements but the most brilliant is to cut government taxes on gasoline during the upcoming summer months by about 19 cents per gallon for gasoline and 24 cents per gallon for diesel. McCain's proposals were outlined in a speech made at the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University. He referred to the cut as a "gas-tax holiday." Speaking of hope, most Americans would hope that the tax cuts would become permanent, now that's audacity!

The most frequent objection to the idea of cutting gasoline taxes comes from the fact that almost all the taxes raised from gasoline goes to maintain the highway system in this country. This fact may be what will keep the tax cut from being permanent but it still can be used at times for a stimulus and a relief measure.

Included in his plan are guarantees for student loans, higher tax exemptions (doubled) for dependent children, simpler tax systems for filers, and the suspension of discretionary spending by anyone except the military and vets for a period of one years time.

John McCain announced that the economy was not his strong suit less than two weeks ago and now to almost everyone's surprise he is putting forth the most practical economic solution heard in a long time. Perhaps the audacious hope that Obama speaks of will be found in Senator McCain.

American sensibility often outweighs the gravitas and the suave of the orator; this is what is so unique about American politics. Give us some common sense and we will give you our ear even if you don't hold a degree in economics from Harvard.

By: Michael Bresciani
Rev Bresciani is the author of two Christian books one that is entirely on the second coming of Christ. He is a contributing columnist for several online news and commentary sites. His articles are read throughout the world. Please enjoy a visit to http://www.americanprophet.org

Sadly, we are all thoroughly familiar with the terrorist's and insurgent's use of the suicide bomber. Graphic images from Israel and Iraq of the vicious asymmetrical warfare tactic have been burned into our consciousness. Sacrificing themselves for the glory of their cause, the bombers strap on explosive-laden vests or belts, approach their often unsuspecting targets and detonate the explosives, killing themselves and their victims in the gory equivalent of the poor man's precision-guided bomb. As is the case among terrorists and politicians, success inspires imitation. Noting the devastating effectiveness of the tactic, the Clintonistas have adapted it to the political realm and have used it with similar success against an often equally unsuspecting Barack Obama.

The appeal of the tactic is multifaceted. First, it is devastatingly effective. While a supporter or surrogate is politically sacrificed in the attack, it allows a campaign to inflict potentially critical damage on an opponent. In the process it promotes an embarrassing or controversial story that the opposition would prefer to not have to address and that the media might otherwise consider taboo or below the belt. As we'll see, the Clintonistas, though unable to inflict mortal damage, have effectively used it to engage in race-baiting and character assassination. In addition to this, unlike the traditional perpetrators, political suicide bombers inflict little if any collateral damage. Innocents rarely get caught in the attack, as it is target and candidate specific in nature. Finally, while campaigns reap the benefit of the bomber's attack, they maintain the illusion of plausible deniability. Letting the story play until press coverage boomerangs and seeks to determine the campaign's culpability, candidates then complete the suicidal nature of the attack by claiming the surrogate went off the reservation and made personal, unscripted comments. The rogue is unceremoniously tossed aside with a wink and a nod, having completed their mission and damaged the opposition. That being said, let's take a look at how effective the Clintonista suicide bombers have been in attacking Obama and playing on the doubts and fears that accompany his candidacy.

The first suicide bomber dispatched by the Clinton camp was Billy Shaheen, husband of former Governor of New Hampshire Jeanne Shaheen and Co-Chairman of the Clinton campaign in the Granite State. In December, Shaheen warned Democrats that Obama was a flawed candidate that was vulnerable to Republican attacks in the general election campaign on his admitted past drug use. Failing to see the irony of an attack from the Clinton camp on the issue of drug use, Shaheen speculated that Republicans would expand on the admitted recreational use to question whether or not Obama had engaged in trafficking or dealing. Having succeeded in getting the issue into the media spotlight and subtly triggered a secondary explosion of racially stereotypical angst, Shaheen dutifully apologized and resigned from the campaign.

The next race-baiting suicide attack occurred in South Carolina in January, when Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson insinuated that Obama was using drugs while the Clintons were selflessly working on issues critical to the black community. In addition to again raising the specter of a minority candidate with a drug use Achilles' heel, it also sought to wrap Hillary in the mantle of Bill's title as America's honorary first black president. Again, having succeeded in his suicide mission, Johnson dutifully apologized to the Obama campaign and assured the media he was referring to his community organizing efforts and not his drug usage.

The most recent and rabid bomber to appear on the scene was former Democratic Vice Presidential-nominee Geraldine Ferraro. In an eerie echo of Rush Limbaugh's analysis of the media's treatment of Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback Donovan McNabb, Ferraro asserted that Obama "...would have not be in this position." were he white. Speaking from her own experience, Ferraro defended her remarks on the basis that had she been a man, she would not have been in the position of being Walter Mondale's 1984 running mate. While going through the motions and resigning her position on Clinton's Finance Committee, she did not take the option of quietly fading into the background once the smoke had cleared from her attack. In contrast to the scripted apologies and exits of Shaheen and Johnson, Ferraro indignantly protested any comparison between her own comments and those of Obama's controversial spiritual advisor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whom she called a "racist bigot." Not satisfied with the success of her initial attack, Ferraro triggered a secondary detonation that heaped additional damage on an Obama camp already reeling from the devastating explosion of the Write controversy.

Having mastered the suicide bomber tactic and witnessed its effectiveness, the question for the Clintonistas is who will be the next martyr for the cause and when will they be dispatched? With time growing short and the odds growing long, pressure will increasingly mount to launch more spectacular attacks with greater frequency in the hopes of blasting Obama out of the nomination and Hillary's increasingly narrow and tortuously steep path to the presidency.

By: Dwight Alvis
http://bareknuckledpundit.blogspot.com/ ... mbers.html

This week it was reported that Senator Barack Obama has done some interesting work as a director of a charity. Fellow board members of the Chicago based nonprofit Woods Fund include the notorious Weather Underground terrorist leader turned university professor, Bill Ayers. Ayers and his wife, former FBI fugitive and Weather Underground leader Bernardine Dorhn, have hosted a get to know the candidate Obama event in their home.

The Woods Fund gave money to the Arab American Action Network (AAAN) during Obama's tenure. The AAAN was co-founded by Columbia University Professor Rashid Khalidi, a fund raiser for Obama. Khalidi has documented ties to the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

It is time for Obama to be truthful about his association with these known terrorists and to demonstrate to the American people that he fully understands who these people are and what they have done.

Questions on Iraq

One of the questions the junior senator from Illinois needs to address is who will his advisers be in an a Barack Obama administration? Given his recent statements on Iraq, one can only hope that he will shed his foreign policy advisers for people with a greater understanding of the current Middle East situation.

In the Democrat Party debate Tuesday night, Obama was asked whether he would reserve the right to redeploy the troops after an American pull out of Iraq. His answer was illustrative of his inability to grasp the current ground truth:

"As commander in chief, I will always reserve the right to make sure that we are looking out for American interests. And if Al-Qa'ida is forming a base in Iraq, then we will have to act in a way that secures the American homeland and our interests abroad."

What? Is he unaware that Al-Qa'ida in Iraq (AQI) has formed the Islamic State of Iraq in 12 provinces led by its own emir? Does he think that AQI is staging in Afghanistan and Pakistan waiting for the American exodus before establishing themselves in Iraq? Exactly what does he think AQI is doing and where?

In exchanging foreign policy barbs with McCain through the media, Obama demonstrates further ignorance when he made the following remark:

"They took their eye off the people who were responsible for 9/11 and that would be Al-Qa'ida in Afghanistan, that is stronger now than at any time since 2001."

While it is debatable as to whether the Iraq invasion was a mistake, there is now overwhelming evidence demonstrating the incompetency of Al-Qa'ida's (AQ) jihad.

Conclusion

As both incidents indicate, Obama would be better served by staying on point with the "hope" message than demonstrating to the world the foreign policy inexperience of the Democrat front runner.

By: Samuel Brown VI
Samuel Brown VI is the Director of Operations at the Non Governmental Intelligence Agency (NGIA) http://www.thengia.org and provides analysis about information he finds the website Thinking Points (http://thinkingpoints.thengia.org). NGIA is committed to provide a pure analysis of current and ongoing situations in the world, while applying historical lessons learned for a comprehensive view of how that may impact our lives. This analysis is conducted without any political, administration, organization and/or agency bias, agenda, goals or gains. NGIA goes beyond the headlines and the sound bites to better educate and inform the public, business and government sectors on what they can do to recognize the threat and protect themselves.

Elliot Spitzer, the former Attorney General of New York, Current Governor of New York and Prostitution Ring Organizer, stated he apologizes for his actions. Interestingly enough, as Attorney General he closed down and prosecuted several high-profile, high end prostitution rings and numerous street level prostitution rings. So, was he just trying to get rid of the competition, apparently so, and yes, there is a lot of income to be made in the prostitution sector, as it is one of the oldest industries known to mankind, but why is the Governor of New York so busy supporting it?

Getting rid of the competition or his political opponents by hook or by crook seems to be a repeating theme in Elliot Spitzer's play book. If you will recall during his run for mayor he had his political opponent tailed by the New York State Police to find something embarrassing, they did, and that ended up in the New York Times a week before the election. Big City Politics as usual and yes you can find it in Illinois or New York. Elliot Spitzer makes Rudy Guiliani look like a Saint and makes President Bill Clinton's famous blow-job look like child's play.

Apparently, high class women in Elliot Spitzer's prostitution ring went for $1,000 to $4,500 per hour, well, that is a lot more than Monica Luewinski's free-bee servicing of the President, just another day at the office. Elliot Spitzer was considered the epitome of the strength of the Democratic Party in the New York and the North East, a shining star of hope to root out our corruption, but now, it shows to what extremes the arrogance of power takes in Big City Politics.

Elliot Spitzer was both friends to Barack Obama and to Hilary Clinton, who he was forced to endorse for President due to the political hierarchy in New York, even though he is much more similar in style, poise, speeches and rhetoric to Barack Obama. Some say Elliot Spitzer's climb in politics was leading to a potential run for the White House after Hilary Clinton's eight years in office and this is why he endorsed her. Who knows, but this is a very sad day for politics and political corruption in America. This is unforgivable, and now many are asking that Elliot Spitzer resign immediately, the rest want to see him do a significant amount of prison time - forthwith!

By: Lance Winslow
Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance Winslow's Bio