The Title got you, didn't it? Good, it got me too when I first saw it.
Quickly, do you know what Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Greg Palast have in common? Yeah! They both said these words, but why ask God to zero in His Divine damnation against Pennsylvania? (Gasp!!!)
This morning I logged in to check my email, scrolled down to see who the sender of each one was and also scanning the subject line to see if there was any which needed my immediate attention and response, this is my regular first-thing-in-the-morning routine since I receive so much of it, as I was scrolling down, my eyes caught one from my dear friend Dorinda with the subject line "God Dam America - Especially Pennsylvania", it took a second or two to register on my mind as the scrolling down continued, so I scrolled up to it and read it again, sure enough, that's what it said.
I opened it and read what was all about, by the way, as Obama's supporters, we are kind or bruised and a little gun shy on this subject, wouldn't you? It seems that in every network program, there will come the time when they play again the video clip of Rev. Wright's post 9/11 sermon, and that no matter how serious or non partisan the host/s pretend to be, you know that an attack and condemnation of the "Hateful words" Is sure to follow in the segment's menu, the name of Sen. Obama will be said and if they mention McCain's cristofacistsrighwingwackopreacher supporters, they will draw comparisons and come to the conclusion that those, as opposed to Rev. Wright, are main stream.
So all of that went through my mind in an instant, like in "What now? As I read Dorinda's short message, "aurora, i want to read this more closely before posting... my brain isn't engaged yet. d", we do that very frequently when we find or receive articles/alerts about pieces from people whom we consider progressive, writing what it is essentially a 'hit piece' on Obama masked as an analysis or opinion, so we check with each other to see what exactly they are saying, I looked down and that's when the gasp came out.
Greg Palast? Well, by now the microwave oven signaled that my half cup of water was hot enough to make myself some instant coffee and decided that it'd be better if I read what Greg had to say while ingesting some caffeine, to which I'm addicted; I do comprehend and digest information better without the distraction of my body asking me for my first caffeine dose of the day.
You can imagine what went through my mind during the minute or so that it took me to prepare my hot drink and take a couple of gulps of it before sitting again in front of my computer, Greg Palast... Hmmmm, I wondered how long will it take the 'talking heads' on the networks to get hold of this and spin it every which way, making sure that Rev. Wright's name was thrown in the mix and wondering if they were witnessing the beginning of a "God Damm America" Epidemic, specially on Fixed News.
I read the article, I was transfixed for a few seconds until my mouth exploded with a WOW!, I stood up and paced a few feet back and forth while continuing to voice, wow, wow, wow - and that word was the first line on my reply to Dorinda, WOOOOOW!!!! WOOOOOOW!!!!!, my second line read: WOW! Does that answer your question?
During the day I kept thinking that Greg's piece should be widely shared, I'd love to see the 'talking heads' try to spin this one, I decided that I could place it on a Diary at Daily Kos but since I had posted on Monday, I had to wait until Tuesday to do it again, I couldn't wait but had to. Too bad, because today is the anniversary of the grounding of the Exxon Valdez, of which Greg makes a note of it too.
In the afternoon (3:30) we had a very intimate and small memorial ceremony for Ed Hoffman at the lobby of the SRO hotel where I live and where he lived for about 20 years, Mr. Ed as he was called by everybody, was an all around loved, helpful to all true gentleman of another era, whom I called a friend and that is how he recognized me, 77 years old, he passed away a couple of weeks ago - he was a Democrat and one of the first questions he would ask a person he was meeting for the first time was: Are you a Republican? If the answer was no, he would say, good! I don't talk to Republicans, I don't like them - if you asked him, he'd tell you why, he was very intelligent and well informed and I still have to write more about him to post at the Lobby.
Mr. Ed's Memorial placed me on a more reflexive mood and this Diary started to take shape, I wanted to share a little bit how I felt and feel about Greg's piece, as usual, he far exceeded my expectations, I wondered on the context in which Rev. Wright's full sermon would be viewed by people after reading what Greg had to say. Will it change the conversation? Some minds? After all, Greg is a white man and a very respected investigative journalist, reporter, film maker and many more positive things that Greg does so well.
Anyway, here it is the text of the article and a link to the original with my highest recommendation for you to read it, also, at the bottom, you'll find the video/link to Reverend Jeremiah Wright's full sermon in case you have not seen it, it does explain and helps to understand Barack Obama's words regarding the totality of what his Pastor is and how he couldn't be categorized by the selective clips that the MSM continues to play in "A loop".
God Dam America - Especially Pennsylvania
By Greg Palast
Sunday, March 23, 2008, Forest City, PA
The kids were snoozing so I drove along the back roads skirting the Lackawanna River on a dawn hunt for black coffee and a newspaper.
I think even Norman Rockwell would have found this place too sticky sweet, too postcard: the weathered barns, the fallow fields perfectly snow-frosted; red, white and blue flags already up on the clapboard farmhouses and the white-washed church in the valley already full for Easter prayers.
At a gas station, I scored the paper and coffee, spilled some on the front page – the closest thing I’ve got to a religious ritual – then parked in front of a row of insanely pretty salt-box houses shining like mad teeth on the river bank.
One was missing a pick-up in the driveway; its screen door was left half-open, and there was a letter taped to the window. The Sheriff’s Notice of eviction. Another foreclosure.
God damn America.
I know that’s what Obama’s spiritual guide would say.
But why? It seems likes He’s already done a pretty good job of damning these United States.
And He seems to have really taken it out on this corner of Pennsylvania.
The gargantuan Bethlehem steel works have dwindled to a few robot-operated mills controlled from Mumbai, India. The only remainders of nearby Carbondale’s mining industry are in display cases at the ageing Coal Inn. But you could still get out by selling your home to ski tourists from New York – until this year when mortgage markets turned cancerous. That leaves Forest City’s one industry, lumbering – which we can kiss goodbye since a recent ruling by the NAFTA board which allows the import of cheap Canadian wood.
Some local kid has made the paper having been thrown, helmet first, into the volcano called Iraq. The Scranton Times-Tribune, two pages after the photo of a priest blessing a bowl of who knows what, noted that three soldiers killed in yesterday’s bombing are, "pushing the death toll in the five-year conflict to nearly 4,000" – which is true if you don’t count Iraqi dead. But Someone must be counting them. (From way up in heaven, I wonder if we look like a nation of Christians – or an empire of Romans.)
Phil Ochs, before he killed himself, wrote,
"This is a land full of power and glory,
Beauty that words cannot recall.
But her power shall rest on the strength of her freedom.
Her glory shall rest on us all."
Whatever. It’s a difficult place to be an atheist, in this America, surfeited as it is on every vista with signs of His overwhelming grace and His exasperated wrath. It’s as if the Lord Himself is just as confused and frustrated and disappointed as the rest of us by blessings so abused.
There’s one consolation. He has apparently granted Pennsylvanians the privilege, come April 22, of choosing which Democrat will lose in November.
Which may not mean much to Sandy Ryder on whom the spirit of Easter has landed like a ton of bricks. Sandy, says the flyer tacked up at the Bingham diner, was, "Recently diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer." She’s a, "Single mother of two – Tony and Brandon – and Grandmother of one – Jason."
And there they were in a photocopied portrait, the earnest elder son and little Jason to her right, the young slacker (Tony? Brandon?) slouched to her left. The town’s hawking a benefit for Sandy, $10 at the door, "including Food and Beverage" and a "Chinese auction."
(I’ll bet Al Qaeda could pick up some recruits here – if Osama would offer health insurance.)
Whatever. This is, after all, Holy Week, which marks the anniversary of the grounding of the Exxon Valdez, the day the giant oil corporation soaked 1,200 miles of Alaska’s coast with crude sludge. March 24 marks 19 years since the grounding and 19 years since Exxon’s promise to compensate the ruined fishermen. You should watch the 19-year-old video-tape of Exxon’s man in Alaska. I especially like the part where he tells the fishermen, "You have had some good luck – and you don’t realize it."
I know some of the fishermen on the TV footage, like the Anderson family, Eyak Natives. I can tell you, the Eyak don’t feel so lucky, still waiting for the Supreme Court to act on Exxon’s latest stall on payment. They’ve seen plenty of Sheriff’s Notices these past 19 years.
So Happy Easter.
George Bush tells us he’s, "feeling just fine." And we should be glad for him, I suppose.
Bush ends his most belligerent speeches by saying, "God bless America."
So, why hasn’t He?
Maybe you can tell us, Mr. President: Why hasn’t He?
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Greg Palast is the author of the NY Times best-selling books Armed Madhouse and Best Democracy Money Can Buy. Read his reports at www.GregPalast.com and sign up for the audio podcasts RSS here.
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CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC & Fox News LIED
about pastor Jeremiah Wright. See 9/11 sermon in context