re the Salvation Sentra:I wonder if the crosses made it sell any better? Would an FSM F150 get as many takers?

Incident’ly, here are the referenced verses if your readership is a bunch of lazy bastards who can’t be bothered:

John 3:14: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.

1 Timothy 2:5: For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:39: Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(KJV version, natch.)

I’m not sure I have much to add here that hasn’t already been hashed over by anyone within hand’s breadth of a microphone.

Mr. Imus, as I’m understood, had his bread buttered by making inflammatory statements of bald racism, sexism and anti-gay-ism (is that a word?). Only in a slow news cycle are we shocked to hear of this!?

My cynic’s cap is on fully when I say that I was surprised to hear that he was fired. If it was good enough for the last twenty- to thirty-odd years, after all, was it really that bad what he said a couple of weeks ago?

As many of the high-roaders point out, or at least allude to in passing, what does our collective indignance over the Imus flap say about our relative silence over the poverty, and causes thereof, exposed by last year’s hurricanes? About the rest of our entertainment class that profits by using such language?

What does it say about us (the very collective “us”) that we aren’t outraged by this, too?

That’s really all I have to say about that.

I think that I was embarrassed at what I wrote - not so much because I disagree with it, but because anything that comes out of my mouth after 12:00A is potentially inflammatory.

Man, you’re reply was awesome. I’d love to hear a follow-up through the lens of the Imus debacle.

Dickerson’s point in this conversation is more about his culture & heritage, not his skin color. We, as Americans, have a very precise definition of what it is to be Black. Some descriptions/stereotypes include attributes describing athleticism, rhythm, musical ability, and rap. Very few of us, Black people included, put “eloquence” or “intelligent” on that list. What does that say about Americans in 2007?

KOM: “. . . I’m honestly beginning to think that it’s the Sharpton’s and Jackson’s that are holding society back.”

That is spot on. And I think that was my larger point. Deep in Dickerson’s book, and somewhere in the midpoint of that interview, she says exactly that–that the old guard, the Jacksons & Sharptons, etc, have stayed on the stage too long, have failed to take any sort of replacement under wing to replace them, and have been offering the same, tired old snake oil to the same effect. They should retire.

That having been said, I believe that King’s Dream of a people being judged on its merits, and not on the basis of skin color has been realized. There is no need for a Jackson or a Sharpton or a Farakkan anymore to lead a people to an illusory Promised Land.

In a day where Obama can run for president, where Alan Keyes and Colin Powell can be Republican, and Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy can pit their respective teams in the Super Bowl, we’re living the Dream.

KOM: “We’re thinking, ‘Wow, he’s not Hillary!’”

ABH (Anybody But Hillary) in 2008!

I’m generally in step with you, but to quote that article gives me pause.

First and foremost, should it matter? If so, to whom? Are “involuntary” blacks getting the short end of the stick from “voluntary” immigrants?

Between the lines, am I to read, “Well, I wouldn’t have voted for, you know, {hushed voice) a black guy. But Obama’s okay!

Isn’t that the reverse of holding us (Us, I say, because I’m from relatively recent emigration myself), all responsible for slavery?

When is it that we’re going to get the fuck over ourselves and just vote for a candidate?? It doesn’t have to be about race — I’m honestly beginning to think that it’s the Sharpton’s and Jackson’s that are holding society back. How are we ever supposed to get over race, when it’s the minority that will never give it up?

I don’t wish to sound racist here, but it’s the simple idea of stating anything like this that makes one sound racist (a catch-22 at best!) Why is it that the 98% of us (this time I mean “whites”, by “us”) who don’t give a shit about ethnicity are highjacked by the minorities into guilt about the other 2%??

I can’t speak for the black community. All that I can say is that those of us who are looking at Obama as a candidate aren’t thinking, “wow, a black guy!”. We’re thinking, “Wow, he’s not Hillary!”

“so much hate” indeed. you’re exactly right to say that no one reads the bible. but i think there is more to it than just americans behaving as functionally-illiterate. that sounds harsh, but what else do you call someone who can read, but refuses to? what do you call a person who chooses to watch the latest “american pie” drivel instead of something more intellectually challenging?, one who thinks that michelangelo’s paintings, or demille’s films are documentary, instead of artistic, cooptative representation?

about this lack of understanding of the fundaments of one’s professed belief-system: does it have something to do with our consumer culture, where religion is packaged and commercialised like so much soap or hot dogs, only to be purchased and experienced at the trust and terms of a well-coiffed, silver-tongued huckster? does it have something to do with an arrested-development complex afforded us by our post-industrialist relative comfort?

sorry if i sound cynical about this, but as i plan(ed) to reveal in a later, more lengthy post, i was a “true-believer” for many years. only as the supposed trancendental experiences i was supposed to have never manifested; only after the twisted acrobats of logic i had to perform to upkeep the charade collapsed in on themselves; only after i could no longer bear the heaping scorn of people who profess the words of that billboard–who also profess to love me, could i finally shrug all this off and walk away unencumbered. (much like the blond character in latter days, and, as his character experienced, there was some anguish to be had for a while. but it was not unsurmountable.)

and my life has become all the richer for it. . . albeit at the cost of near ostracism from my extended family, for the family business is pentecostalism. whenever they talk of demons and heaven, i can only respond with a wan smile and hope that they’re not offended.

What kills me is that no one seems to read the Bible. Per Christ, (paraphrasing, somewhat), Love God above all else. Love your neighbors as yourself. Upon these hang all the laws and the prophets.

It’s clear that the Son of Man has taken the 10 commandments, and made them so simple that even I could understand. If we believe ourselves to be Christians, we should believe that God, as a deity, an object worth praise, comes first. And that should be obvious. Second, the golden rule.

And that’s it - upon these hang all the laws and the prophets.

How can there still be so much hate in the name of Christ? I don’t get it.

Christ certainly never voiced an opinion about abortion.