The free spirit from Kansas who helped shape Obama

obamamomBarack Obama often mentions how his mother was a white woman from Kansas. But a recent New York Times article provided more background on the woman who helped shape the candidate. The profile described Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro (she was named after Obama’s grandfather from El Dorado) as idealistic but also exacting (she used to wake up Obama at 4 a.m. to work on a correspondence course). She was an anthropologist who championed women’s work and helped bring microcredit loans to the world’s poor before dying of ovarian cancer in 1995, the Times reported. “She gave us a very broad understanding of the world,” Obama’s half-sister said. “She hated bigotry. She was very determined to be remembered for a life of service and thought that service was really the true measure of a life.” Obama wrote of his mother, “I know that she was the kindest, most generous spirit I have ever known, and that what is best in me I owe to her.”

91 Comments

  1. ksagnostic
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 6:13 am | Permalink

    “She was an anthropologist who championed women’s work and helped bring microcredit loans to the world’s poor before dying of ovarian cancer in 1995, the Times reported. ‘She gave us a very broad understanding of the world,’ Obama’s half-sister said. ‘She hated bigotry. She was very determined to be remembered for a life of service and thought that service was really the true measure of a life.’ Obama wrote of his mother, ‘I know that she was the kindest, most generous spirit I have ever known, and that what is best in me I owe to her.’”

    And she was an atheist. Imagine that.

  2. Steven Davis
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 6:38 am | Permalink

    That was a fascinating article. Obamma had a hippie mom, before such was even invented.

  3. writerdog
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 7:53 am | Permalink

    What is sad to me, as the day passes these character assets which would be admire and cherished within our own children. Will be used as if they were she was a murder, drunker, street whore and used cigarettes to burn her child as a punishment for wetting the bed. And passed her despicable lack of morals and wanton
    subhuman traits to her son. Yet it would be Obama and his mother who will be the target of ridicule and not those who’s own lack of a sense of morality allows them to turn such admirable human traits to nothing more than a cheap and mindless talking points. It makes one wonder, at the end of the life of those who would do such. What good word maybe said of them?

  4. Barbara
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 7:54 am | Permalink

    This article, though brief, was interesting. Was Stanley, in fact, an atheist? I’d like to know more about her.

  5. GMC70
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 7:57 am | Permalink

    She was a lovely lady. I’m sure she was, as is nearly everyone’s mother, at least from the memories of their children. I don’t doubt that a bit.

    But how is that relevant? Why do I care? What does that tell me about Barack?

    Not much, I’m afraid. I pleasant puff piece in support of the {sorta, almost} presumptive nominee.

    And to think, gosh, a puff piece about the Dem nominee from the New York Times? I’m shocked. SHOCKED, I tell you!! OK, I’m not; we’ll see much more puffing on the Dems behalf from the Times before this year is out. That’s business as usual.

  6. TDT
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 8:13 am | Permalink

    Where’s open thread? I have something to discuss that does not apply to any of these threads!! So I’ll do it here.

    Patriot Act used in drug case; lawyer riled
    BY TIM POTTER
    The Wichita Eagle

    “I thought that this Patriot Act was something passed to protect us all from these terrorist acts, and it would be used very judiciously,” O’Hara said Monday. “This doesn’t seem to be one where these secret searches would be used.”

    http://www.kansas.com/topstories/story/351592.html

    This is where Vaughn and GMC would come in handy. I agree with the defense attorney, I thought that the patriot act was specifically for tracking terrorist using our phone and internet lines in the U.S. I guess I need it explained a little more thoroughly.

  7. ksfarmgrrl
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 8:13 am | Permalink

    Isnt it funny how the “free spirits” in Kansas leave the state as soon as possible?

    I guess that is what it means to be free. Go where you are wanted and appreciated. Where your contributions are valued. Free spirits in Kansas are valued, uh, not so much.

    Kansas. A great place to be FROM!

  8. ghotiphaze
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 8:35 am | Permalink

    Kansas. A great place to be FROM!

    Dying in Kansas is Redundant.
    (everyone has a t-shirt like that, right?)

  9. writerdog
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 8:35 am | Permalink

    I agree it is a nice puff piece and some may have wanted to know more about Obama’s roots since he is going to be unique and maybe a historical figure. As would Hillary Clinton will be if she is to get the nod, regardless of what party they are in. This year certainly has a wealth spring of colorful and interesting candidates of both parties. Life and parents main job is to make an adult, you listen to me and you will in reality often hear my mom and dad… Mainly dad!

  10. ghotiphaze
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 8:47 am | Permalink

    We grew up in different households, Writer’D. I heard Mom; I FELT Dad!

  11. TDT
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 9:13 am | Permalink

    Personally, my mom was the one who inspired me and my brother, and she was also the one who disciplined us. She was scary when she was mad, and when she wasn’t, she was everything to both of us. My dad was kind of just there. He worked and piddled outside and left my mom to raise us pretty much.

  12. writerdog
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 9:19 am | Permalink

    I did not “felt dad” until I was fifteen and over six feet tall. Mom was until then the punisher if I needed corrected she was the one and I was dad’s precious boy and he could not watch. But at fifteen and after several times of me just ignoring and walking away from mom. Dad set the ground rules for his dealing with me. “Rick, you are big enough now I am not sure I could take you in a fair fight. So if need be, I will pick up the heaviest thing available and hit you with it! YOU will listen to your mom and you will listen to me… Is that clear?”. Dad was six five and I had to look up to see his face, the look on it told me he was speaking the truth and good advise to listen to as long as I still lived in his and mom’s house. I miss that ole man….

  13. Econ101
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 10:01 am | Permalink

    “Micro credit loans to the worlds poor”??

    Sub prime?

  14. Rage
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 10:47 am | Permalink

    And she was an atheist. Imagine that.

    I see ksag beat me to it.

    Of course, the right-wing noise machine will add that to the list: that damn unpatriotric atheist muslim black nationalist Christian bigot!

  15. Regular
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 10:53 am | Permalink

    Interesting, the Obama mama…

  16. Max
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 10:54 am | Permalink

    As the Experts in the Press reach new depths of Investigative Journalism, they now move on from the Candidates Pastors to the Candidates Mothers.

    Ok, now we need to hear about Hillary’s Mom and John’s Mom too. Are they also annoited saints?

  17. ksagnostic
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 10:55 am | Permalink

    “‘Micro credit loans to the worlds poor’??

    “Sub prime?”

    Uhm, no.

  18. Max
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 10:56 am | Permalink

    When he was 10, Obama’s Mamma bought him a pet Llama, from the Dali Lama.

  19. Max
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 10:56 am | Permalink

    Next we need Investigative News stories on the Candidates Fathers.

  20. GMC70
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 11:01 am | Permalink

    “right-wing noise machine?”

    Is that the same thing as the infamous “vast right-wing conspiracy?” HeeHee . . .

    Seems to me that the hits Obama’s taking are coming from Hillary’s compound. But don’t let facts get in your way, folks.

    Just thinking: is there a “left-wing noise machine?” Well, of course. That would be CBS, NBC, ABC, NY Times, LA Times, MSNBC (Olberman, in particular), DailyKos (Olberman’s a regular there), PBS, etc., etc., etc.

  21. CF2K
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 11:15 am | Permalink

    GMC70,

    Still asserting your subtle and nuanced media critique, I see. Still denying that Fox News is a Right Wing mouthpiece? Yet another episode of “who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes,” brought to you courtesy of GMC70.

    My refutation of your “both sides are equally bad” canard, GMC70? McCain’s free ride at the hands of the corporate media. It’s almost like we’re back in 1999, when broadcast media tore Gore apart while handling little Georgie with kid gloves. McCain knows JUST how to play them, and they report as he wants them to report: “Straight Talk,” indeed.

  22. ghotiphaze
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 11:16 am | Permalink

    GMC, considering who funds the media outlets you cited (and some arguable would include PBS into that list), do you honestly think they’re actually left-wingers? Or the Eagle? Isn’t it more likely that any left-leaning stories are there for entertainment purposes and to foster debate and dissent?

  23. ghotiphaze
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 11:17 am | Permalink

    Then again, considering who owns Direct TV, I’m amazed that Link TV is allowed to be carried.

  24. GMC70
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 11:36 am | Permalink

    Perhaps I should add CF2K and much of the paranoid left routinely seen here to that list as well . . .

    I think you’ve made my point for me, CF. If you’re upset that Fox provides something of a balance, well, boohoo.

    Remember, it’s a relatively recent phenomonon that news media even pretended to be “balanced.” For most of our history, newspapers were routinely seen as organs of one party or the other. At least there was honesty in that. Mostly, the media lies to themselves in claiming balance, but sometimes (Dan Rather springs to mind) that thin veneer peels away.

    McCain isn’t getting attention because that isn’t where the story is; the story is the fight on the Democratic side. The story on the Republican side is, well, over. And don’t worry, CF, there’ll be plenty of time for hit pieces in the fall.

    Ghoti - who owns the media outlets is largely (though not entirely) irrelevent as to ideology. The owners (stockholders) don’t care about ideology, though those who run the newsrooms do. The owners care about profit.

  25. : :
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 11:48 am | Permalink

    I see that Moms are no longer sacred territory. I sure hope Obama doesnt like apple pie!

  26. ghotiphaze
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 11:48 am | Permalink

    If you’re upset that Fox provides something of a balance, well, boohoo.

    Remember a few years ago when Fox news dumped a couple of it’s reporters for blowing the whistle on fox news refusing to air the sanctioned article of Monsanto”s antibiotics in the milk being a carcinogen. The forced the writers to rewrite the article 40-some times to squeeze out any semblance of truth before finally dropping it all together. Sorry, the ‘fair and balanced’ just don’t get it with me.

    Ghoti - who owns the media outlets is largely (though not entirely) irrelevent as to ideology.

    When you consider most are owned by Disney, Time-warner, and a couple of others, with wide ranging interests in many other companies, do you htink they’re going to cut their own throats? Fair and balanced as long as they don’t tell the truth is what you mean. And it isn’t just Fox, it’s all of them. Not to mention that these huge, multi-nationals are also the ones putting our politicians into their life of indolent luxury. Can’t get any fairer’n that!

  27. CF2K
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 11:53 am | Permalink

    GMC70,

    And profit isn’t ideology? What is more ideological than capitalism?

    Your admission makes my point for me: you earlier denied that Fox slanted right, and now you try to efface your earlier assertion in some sort of facile “balance” argument. Well, GMC70, which is it: were you right before, or are you right, now?

    It is undoubledly true that the history of American media is the history of interested and partial reporting. But so what. What this observation obscures is the obvious slant in all corporate-owned media toward a double standard in its reporting on Democrats versus Republicans. Media are lazy: they fall back on their story frames, the most basic of which is “Republicans strong, Democrats, weak.”

    It doesn’t hurt, of course, that John McCain has, by virtue of his committee work in the Senate, directly overseen the very industry that reports on him. One would think this is a fact that ought to be taken into account; but not according to GMC70. Rather, there’s no “story” with McCain. Really? There’s no story with a Republican front-runner who is detested by the Right-Wing base, and who actually considered joining the Democratic Party on two occasions?

    When you refuse to deal with facts, GMC70, it tends to suggest that you’re spinning–and spinning hard.

  28. TDT
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 11:54 am | Permalink

    Econ101
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 10:01 am | Permalink
    “Micro credit loans to the worlds poor”??

    Sub prime?

    Econ - Check this out.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcredit

    or this

    http://www.grameen-info.org/mcredit/nytimes.html

  29. ghotiphaze
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 11:56 am | Permalink

    Oh, yeah, GMC, I forgot to ask about all the air-time the telecommunications act of 96 got. remember how that all worked out in the end?

  30. Nathan
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 12:02 pm | Permalink

    CF2K,

    GMC70 is dealing with the facts. His argument is somewhere in the middle and you are still way out in left field wondering why he is so far right.

    The fact that you still can’t see that is why people like you think fox news is so far right wing as well.

    Yes, I think McCain gets a pass from the media. He is the medias golden boy, the Maverick.

    Just like I think Hilary and Obama get passes as well. Why did it take so long for the media to finally come forward with having evidence Hilary lied about her trip to Bosnia?

    I think it is disturbing that the very people who supported the so called campaign finance reform, which gives so much power to the media, are now the front runners in the nomination. Imagine that!

  31. GMC70
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 12:11 pm | Permalink

    CF -

    You think the fact that part of the hard right detests McCain (hell, McCain/Feingold’s direct attack on the 1st amendment alone is enough to detest McCain!) and that he considered being a Democrat at times will hurt him?

    It comes out sounding like he is, or at least has been, what Obama is painting himself as - beyond partisanship, interested in getting things done. And he was doing it when Obama was still learning the ropes in Daley’s political machine.

    Again, CF, right now the attention’s on the Democratic catfight. There will be plenty of time for hit pieces on McCain in the fall.

    And you’re right, CF, when you say that lazy newsrooms tend to fall back on their story frames. But I see that frame as something rather different; it usually comes out as “Democrat Good, Republican Bad.” An example of that is the Ferraro gaff. Yes, she was criticized and chastized, as she should have been. But had a Republican of similar status said that, nothing short of drawing and quartering would have been satisfactory; hell, some on the left here even defended her! The usual double standard. Both of us, of course, see that reporting through our own rose-colored frames, wearing our own biases, aware or unaware.

    And gosh, CF, you say ‘capitalism’ as if it is BAD!

  32. J R
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 12:13 pm | Permalink

    STILL no thread on John McCain and how he went looking for the endorsement of the bigot Hagee, got it, then lied about it?

  33. : :
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 12:15 pm | Permalink

    Not gonna happen, JR!

  34. ghotiphaze
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 12:20 pm | Permalink

    you say ‘capitalism’ as if it is BAD!

    I agree, capitalism is, in and of itself, a good thing. Now the ‘robber baron’ mentality…oh, well, I guess it worked fine before.

  35. GMC70
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 12:20 pm | Permalink

    Nathan - good point. CF sees anyone who disagrees with him as “right wing.” It’s an understandable perspective from his view - nearly everyone IS to the right of him! But it is a skewed perspective.

    All of us have our own perspectives, of course. And certainly I think of myself as mostly in the middle, though certainly the right middle. And certainly it is true that the middle today is largely to the right of where it was say, 30 years ago. That’s a good thing, in my opinion, BTW. We are probably in for a swing to the left over the next decade or so. Just as the left overreached, the right did. And the right will pay the price for that overreaching.

    Get used to it, Nathan. We’re gonna be fighting a rearguard action for a while. Much of what we’ve gained will be under attack by a left that despises their caricature of the right. You will see strawman after strawman put up and then sanctimoniously knocked down. And much of the media will be a willing participant.

    And so it goes . . . the more things change, the more they stay the same.

  36. CF2K
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 1:53 pm | Permalink

    GMC70,

    “It comes out sounding like he is, or at least has been, what Obama is painting himself as - beyond partisanship, interested in getting things done.”

    HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

    I mean, that’s rich, though coming from someone like you, GMC70, who innocently asserts that capitalism is non-ideological, fairly predictable.

    So what are St. John’s positions? He’s for war in Iraq (and on Iran) without end, continuing Bush’s tax cuts, locking in economic privilege. This means that he is “beyond partisanship?” In what universe, GMC70? The one in which 70% of Americans want us OUT of Iraq?

    Please. What McCain TRULY is, is “beyond competence,” to say nothing of “beyond accountability.” Is there anyone who has a more undeserved reputation for, well, knowing what the hell is going on?

    Here is some windy nonsense from St. John on economic policy, specifically housing:

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080325/pl_nm/usa_politics_dc

    Here is St. John on Iraq:

    “One of the things I would do if I were President would be to sit the Shiites and the Sunnis down and say, ‘Stop the bullshit,’” said Mr. McCain, according to Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi, an invitee, and two other guests.”

    http://www.brendan-nyhan.com/blog/2006/05/john_mccains_so.html

    For all his posturing, he’s a hard-right ideogogue on every issue, foreign and domestic, that matters. If what you want is a Wingnut who’s beyond competence, McCain’s your man: the perfect inheritor of Bush’s legacy of failure and destruction.

    If you liked George, you’re gonna LOVE John!

  37. Regular
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 1:56 pm | Permalink

    Sadly, all the Muppet poster CF2K is rhetoric filled with animosity.

    Be gentle with him folks, he has a hand stuck up his back controlling his every motion!

    (chortles)

  38. Posted March 25, 2008 at 2:05 pm | Permalink

    Regular
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 1:56 pm | Permalink
    Sadly, all the Muppet poster CF2K is rhetoric filled with animosity.

    Be gentle with him folks, he has a hand stuck up his back controlling his every motion!
    ===========================================

    Dont you EVER have anything pertinent to add??? Must it always be sexual inuendo when you disagree with someone?? There is NO opinion related to what was posted!! And not even good Ad Hominem… Just ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK!!!

  39. GMC70
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 2:11 pm | Permalink

    “sexual inuendo[sic]” ?????

    Chas, I know you’re not the brightest bulb here (nor perhaps am I), but can you please point out the “sexual innuendo” in Regular’s remarks? I am at a loss to see any there.

    Or perhaps your reaction speaks far more to you than to Regular . . .

  40. Posted March 25, 2008 at 2:16 pm | Permalink

    Sure GMC…. If you dont see it, sorry!!

    REGULAR said >>>>

    “Be gentle with him folks, he has a hand stuck up his back controlling his every motion!”

    Get it??? If not, take off rose colored glasses, and repeat step 1…

  41. Regular
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 2:17 pm | Permalink

    Tis ok GMC, evidently Chas was denied access to puppets when he was a child. :)

  42. Posted March 25, 2008 at 2:18 pm | Permalink

    ALSO, GMC — I made a somewhat more generalized statement that what you apparently were reading… Keyword: EVER…. :-)

  43. Posted March 25, 2008 at 2:21 pm | Permalink

    Ummm actually, Regular, I had quite a collection of puppets… and one makes them move by sticking a hand up their “butts”

    I am NOT going to let you spin out of this one… You do it quite frequently… NOT this time!!

  44. Regular
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 2:26 pm | Permalink

    How are Muppets controlled Chas?

    (why I’m explaining this to the doltish cud chewer of spin?)

    How Muppets work:

    http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/muppet1.htm

  45. Posted March 25, 2008 at 2:30 pm | Permalink

    Hey, YOU made the off handed comment… Live with it!!

  46. Posted March 25, 2008 at 2:31 pm | Permalink

    Oh yea, do try to stay on the thread topic…

  47. Regular
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 2:32 pm | Permalink

    Not even worth replying Chas…

    One day, if you admit you are just wrong about something, life will be so much easier and you won’t have a stroke.

  48. Posted March 25, 2008 at 2:34 pm | Permalink

    Why would I admit being wrong about something, that I am not wrong about?? That would be disingenuous… Now, you want to say something that might even come CLOSE to being ON THREAD??? For a change?? Geez!!

  49. littlejohn
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 2:42 pm | Permalink

    Wow. Obama’s mom liked to help others. Obama perhaps not so much?

    Obamas Gave Less Than 1% of Their 2000-2004 Income to Charity
    March 25, 2008 4:06 PM

    This is why politicians don’t like to release their tax returns!

    Bloomberg News crunches the numbers on Sen. Barack and Michelle Obama’s newly-released tax returns and finds:

    “The Obamas’ donations to all recipients totaled $2,350 in 2000, $1,470 in 2001, $1,050 in 2002, $3,400 in 2003, and $2,500 in 2004. They also paid federal taxes totaling $311,044 during the same period on their $1.2 million of income.”

    I gave more that that, on income far less. hmmm.

  50. Regular
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 2:47 pm | Permalink

    littlejohn,

    Looks like Obama doesn’t believe what the Bible says about tithing.

    Maybe that’s what the Reverend Wright was so cranky about, his Church wasn’t putting their tithe into the collection plates. :)

  51. Posted March 25, 2008 at 2:56 pm | Permalink

    Not all churches believe in “tithing” in the strictest so-called biblical sense… In fact, many believe in what is called Proportional Giving… instead of “tithing”

  52. littlejohn
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 3:01 pm | Permalink

    I don’t really give a rip about tithing, one way or the other. I do care that somebody that wants so much more of my tax dollars, is apparently not quite as in touch with voluntary giving.

  53. Posted March 25, 2008 at 3:01 pm | Permalink

    Once again, we are OFF THREAD why???

  54. littlejohn
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 3:01 pm | Permalink

    apparently, he doesn;t believe in proportional giving, either

  55. Posted March 25, 2008 at 3:07 pm | Permalink

    I dont even speculate about what folks give to charities… Whatever the amount, it is a good number… Even $1 a week is giving!! :-)

  56. TDT
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 3:12 pm | Permalink

    LJ - I found that statistic alarming myself, so I went in search of the article. You are right, between 2000-2004 they gave less than 1% to charity. But there is more to it than that. They had student loans and young children. In 2005 and 2006, they gave more than 5% of their income to charity, or about $137,000. So when they had it to give, they did. More on the story:

    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aHdvU_NJzIcI&refer=home

  57. littlejohn
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 3:13 pm | Permalink

    “Chas.
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 3:07 pm | Permalink
    I dont even speculate about what folks give to charities… Whatever the amount, it is a good number… Even $1 a week is giving!! ”

    Glad you feel that way. Then quit supporting attempts to involuntarily consficate my earnings so that they can be involuntarily given to others.

  58. littlejohn
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 3:17 pm | Permalink

    TDT-

    I understand bill. And raising children. I do not understand giving 1% or less. On such a large income. Particularly for someone who is intent on raising taxes, to support helping “poor” Americans.
    It is, in my opinion, extremely hypocritical to cry out for more income transfer, while giving such a pittance. I am extremely disappointed. This is the first real evidence of some disingeneousnous on the part of Barak Obama.

  59. TDT
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 3:24 pm | Permalink

    Is $200,000 a year for 4 people in Chicago, IL such a large income LJ? Considering I have $30,000 in student loans with a BA, I can only imagine the student loans the BOTH of them have. That right there is a BIG, HUGE bill. But we may have to agree to disagree. And you notice that he spent 26% in income taxes as well. That also is a big chunk of change.

  60. Posted March 25, 2008 at 3:29 pm | Permalink

    LJ - TDT — I am also guessing that much of that $1.2 Mill. is in investment income… and not hands on income… When you take that figure out, it would make a big difference in “available” income Vs. giving…

    LJ — What you are talking about with tax increases, has nothing to do with charitable giving… Taxes are not voluntary!!

  61. littlejohn
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 3:32 pm | Permalink

    TDT-

    $200,000 a year puts him in the top brackets. The very people he want to pay MORE IN TAXES. I suppose they might have children, and student loans, and high taxes too. That is why I call it hypocritical.
    If a high income or otherwise wealthy person wants to raise my taxes, or the taxes of others, inmy opinion, they should voluntarily lead the way with higher giving to charity. And I don;t mean their church, though that counts. Just my opinion
    In any case, no fault here between us. We can just agree to disagree. I am not hostile, even towards Obama, about this. I am just disappointed.

  62. littlejohn
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 3:33 pm | Permalink

    “LJ — What you are talking about with tax increases, has nothing to do with charitable giving… Taxes are not voluntary!!”

    Yeah? No shit!

  63. GMC70
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 3:34 pm | Permalink

    Regular -

    Have you ever known Chas to admit error? EVER? Even when the anvil is falling on his head?

    SSDD. Chas attempts to “out” a James McCluer (wrong one, it turned out) by printing a obit - he even bolded the name - and then when called on it denies he did same, arguing that he put the obit in to point out the good deed of donating organs. Uh-huh. Why wasn’t that in bold?

    Even Chas’s defenders can’t stomach that one.

    And now, apparantly, he doesn’t understand the workings of a puppet. Or, perhaps, he always understood putting one’s hand in a puppet as putting one’s hand “up the butt.”

    Well. Alrighty then. I guess that’s not too weird . . . oh, c’mon, yes it is! There is, it appears, no other explanation. Chas believes that puppetteers are sodomizers. Or maybe virtual sodomizers? Is that it, Chas? You can tell us - Dr. Freud would like to know, because if so, you’re a quite interesting case.

    BTW - He’s not incharge of the children at his church, is he?

  64. Vaughn Tolle
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 3:34 pm | Permalink

    Chas., according to the Bloomberg piece linked by TDT, there are no reported capital gains or dividends, so investment income seems not to be the source of the Obamas income. The increase in giving, again per Bloomberg, occurred after Sen. Obama began receiving royalty income from his book, which increased their income substantially.

  65. littlejohn
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 3:36 pm | Permalink

    Chas-

    Your statement means nothing. If it was investment income, it was still income. Not asset increase. If it was income, it was available. Of course, if you want to remove investment income from higher taxes, I would like to see you say so.

    You are right. Taxes are not voluntary. If you want me to give more involuntarily, you better be giving more than me as a percentage voluntarily, or just shut up

  66. littlejohn
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 3:38 pm | Permalink

    Anyway,

    I’m outta here. Probably for the evening. Peace be upon you and yours, regardless of our differences

  67. Carville
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 3:46 pm | Permalink

    Chas.
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 2:56 pm | Permalink
    Not all churches believe in “tithing” in the strictest so-called biblical sense… In fact, many believe in what is called Proportional Giving… instead of “tithing”
    =============================================

    Donating 1% of your income to the Church is proportional?

    $1,200,000 in income and Obama gives $2,500 to charity?

    Wow, should have income taxes be THAT proportional too.

    How much does the church say to give?

  68. Carville
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 3:46 pm | Permalink

    Hillary gave more then that.

    Her tax returns will reflect she’s very generous.

  69. Posted March 25, 2008 at 4:27 pm | Permalink

    Obama’s Church does not SET a tithing amount for its members… however, some churches do… Each congregation to its own… Why should people complain about how much Obama givs to charities?? If his Tax return showed too much, you all would just bitch about that… you all are never satisfied with anything anyway!!

    GMC — I guess you dont think a young man donating organs so others can live means anything… must really suck to be you with that mindset!! BUT, you have no problem supporting Regular’s intended SMEAR on CF2K by calling him a Muppet… A large dummy controlled by an operator’s hand up its — yes, “butt” for lack of a better term!! Get over it.. I know damned well what Regular meant… And so does anybody else that bothers to read Regular’s usual posting habits here much…

    I have nothing to admit I was wrong about!

    So, stop whining and bitching!!

  70. Regular
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 4:37 pm | Permalink

    Actually Chas, the perpetual misinformed peda-ore.

    I starting calling CF2K the Muppet poster because of his earlier use of referring to himself in the third person. (CF2K says, CF2K does etc.) Even CF2K thought it was accurate and a bit humorous.

    I said “hand up his back” in reference to his Muppet status. CF2K has said nothing to me about it.

    So Chas, other than being a obnoxious ‘but-insky’, what else you got other than your smooth-brained analysis of puppets.

    Sort of like there are no Luby’s in San Angelo eh Chas?

  71. GMC70
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 4:44 pm | Permalink

    “I guess you dont [sic] think a young man donating organs so others can live means anything…”

    If that was what you were posting that obit to highlight, I’d agree with you. But you weren’t. You thought you were outing one of our posters here. Yes, I know, you deny it. I know you’re lying. You know you’re lying. Everyone here knows you’re lying. But you persist in sticking to your story nonetheless.

    “I know damned well what Regular meant…”

    No, you didn’t, not back at the moment. You immediately jumped, bizarrely, to a “sexual innuendo.” Wow, that speaks volumes. Now you proceed to deny you meant that. You’ll probably deny you said it, too.

    But I know better. Readers here know better (though most simply roll their eyes at another bizarre Chad moment). And you know better, too.

    A normal person would, in the first instance, admit his error in judgement and move on. Had you done so, it would be forgotten by now. A normal person (well, first, a normal person doesn’t think of puppetry as sodomy!) would admit he misread Regular’s statement and move on.

    You’re not a normal person, Chas. I’m beginning to question your intelligence, if not your sanity. Plus, it appears, you bugger puppets.

    That’s creapy.

  72. GMC70
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 4:47 pm | Permalink

    And crEEpy, too.

  73. Posted March 25, 2008 at 5:13 pm | Permalink

    GMC… Apparently you didnt do well in spelling… James of the Blog spells his last name McCluer… Get that??? McCluer….

    The family in the obit I posted spelled its name — are you ready??? McClure!!

    MCCLURE You get it??? I have known for a LONG time how James spells his name… I CAN read… I CAN spell….

    For you to continue to pick away at the obit I posted about a very honorable young man, who was foreward thinking enough to sign an organ donor card at his age… For you to keep on bitching, and moaning about that is reprehensible, to say the least!! In your profession, it is nearly close to malfeasance at the most!!

    WHY dont you give it up??? I know the difference in names… I knew that differrence when I posted the obit!!

    I have posted here NUMEROUS times, I do not know how one section of an edit/copy from legacy.com got transferred to the blog in BOLD…. I am not a computer software genius… As far as I am concerned — it is a totally moot point!!!

    IF the two family names had been the same, then you might have a complaint!! BUT, you DONT have a complaint!! Even JAMES himself said it was NO RELATION TO HIM OR HIS FAMILY!!

    Now, I would kindly suggest you just drop the entire thing!! You have already dishonored that terriffic young man enough!!

    That young man doesnt deserve all of the massive negative HYPE you and others have given him, that dishonors what he DID in saving the lives of FIVE OTHER PEOPLE!!!

    I hope his story lives on!!

    As for Regular, and his stupid remark about CF2K being a muppet(puppet) It WAS a remark filled with sexual inuendo!!! You of all people on this Blog should know that… and yet, you DEFEND his usual type of lunacy!! YOU of ALL people!!

  74. Regular
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 5:18 pm | Permalink

    Chas is wonking once again…

  75. Posted March 25, 2008 at 5:26 pm | Permalink

    James the whiner — champion wonker!! LOL

  76. GMC70
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 5:27 pm | Permalink

    “I have posted here NUMEROUS times, I do not know how one section of an edit/copy from legacy.com got transferred to the blog in BOLD…. ”

    Chas, I notice you got “I CAN read” properly bolded. Huh! - how is that? And despite your bold (pun intended) assertion, it’s clear you can’t. Read, that is. Or at least can’t understand what you read.

    But like the old country song says, that’s your story and you’re sticking to it. It’s lame, it would require coincinence upon coincindence upon coincidence to have any chance of being true, but you’re sticking with it.

    Just like you’re sticking with the “sexual innuendo” stuff.

    Both are lies, and we both know it.

    I don’t know whether you’re just brazen or stupid. I gotta tell you, however, the latter is winning out. I guess I should let this go, and I will, but damn, it’s just too easy. It’s just so obvious.

    I guess I’ll just hide the puppets when I meet you. And keep my back turned away.

  77. GMC70
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 5:30 pm | Permalink

    Of course, Chas, I guess it’s better that you bugger puppets than people.

    ;)

  78. American Way
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 6:22 pm | Permalink

    “I don’t know whether you’re just brazen or stupid.”

    It is possible to be brazenly stupid.

    (Chas should fess up on the obit. post. It just makes him look bad.)

  79. Posted March 25, 2008 at 7:48 pm | Permalink

    Damn Trolls!!!

  80. American Way
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 8:12 pm | Permalink

    Yes Chas. You trolls are bad. Very, very bad.
    It’s sad (sigh) to see you out there as :: or
    is it :; or is it JM, impersonating the very beings you abhor.

    I have restricted access to the WEBLOG from my soon to be born grandchild because of the likes of you.
    My daughter and husband were over and asked me what I was doing on line. I had to shield her stomach from seeing the likes of you.

    Horrible.

  81. Posted March 25, 2008 at 8:14 pm | Permalink

    Chas.
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 7:48 pm | Permalink
    Damn Trolls!!!

    Two colons, same a$$hole. ::

    :0D

  82. Posted March 25, 2008 at 8:33 pm | Permalink

    SOL, YOU REALLY SHOULDNT TALK ABOUT YOURSELF LIKE THAT!!

  83. Posted March 25, 2008 at 8:36 pm | Permalink

    AMWAY — Better shield her from the likes of the crap you post about other folks while you are at it!! OR, you could just go away!

  84. Posted March 25, 2008 at 8:43 pm | Permalink

    Chas.
    Posted March 25, 2008 at 8:33 pm | Permalink
    SOL, YOU REALLY SHOULDNT TALK ABOUT YOURSELF LIKE THAT!!

    ___________________________________________

    Are you even aware that your caps lock is on?

    Hey, with two colons, cane you fart in harmony?

  85. Posted March 25, 2008 at 9:35 pm | Permalink

    Another good thread trashed with personal a attacks and stupid, ignorant ad hominems!! And bodily function SICKO humor!! Even Michael Moore has better humor than this bunch of wing nuts!! ROFL!!

  86. Posted March 25, 2008 at 9:36 pm | Permalink

    I wouldnt know about two colons, Sol… Thats somebody else… guy calls himself Square Peg…

  87. Adjaloo
    Posted March 26, 2008 at 10:30 am | Permalink

    Barack’s mother, Stanley Durham, was an angel in human form. Her utmost humanity and free given spirit has instilled in her son an inherent mercy that he displays in his life. Barack will be a blessing to America. The racist, bigot, hate mongering,fear mongering sons of the devil guys at fox news will try to bring him down. But guess what, God Almighty will protect and guide him.

  88. Adjaloo
    Posted March 26, 2008 at 10:31 am | Permalink

    Barack’s mother, Stanley Durham, was an angel in human form. Her utmost humanity and free given spirit has instilled in her son an inherent mercy that he displays in his life. Barack will be a blessing to America. The racist, bigot, hate mongering,fear mongering sons of the devil at fox news will try to bring him down. But guess what, God Almighty will protect and guide him.

  89. parkay
    Posted March 26, 2008 at 3:01 pm | Permalink

    It seems that Obamanation’s heroic father was actually a drunken polygamist who occasionally abandoned wives and children when convenient, and eventually killed himself driving drunk in Nairobi, Kenya.
    Obamanation’s Pastor Wright doesn’t like Italians, either, since they, like the Jews, condemned and executed Christ, and also because they eat garlic.
    Obamanation’s separatist, apostate Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago has discovered that Israel worked on an “ethnic bomb” that kills blacks and Arabs.
    Obamanation’s top military adviser and national campaign co-chairman Merrill A. McPeak, has said that American Jews are the problem in Middle East peace negotiations, and compares Palestinian terrorist organizations to American Christian conservatives who support military defense of our national security and vital interests.
    (Numbers 11:5; John 10:17-18)

  90. Mary Caruso
    Posted March 26, 2008 at 7:37 pm | Permalink

    Adgaloo….I hope you’re right.

  91. Mary Caruso
    Posted March 26, 2008 at 7:39 pm | Permalink

    parkay…Obama hadn’t seen his father since he was two yrs old..what does his biological father have to do with his ability to lead a nation?

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