Food for thought

[MMJ_fanatic]

BARACK OBAMA – MUSLIM APOSTATE?
For Al Qaeda, the answer – and the implication – is clear.
By Shireen K. Burki
from the May 19, 2008 edition

STAFFORD, VA. - Osama bin Laden must be chuckling in his safe house. After all, the 2008 campaign could very well give Al Qaeda the ultimate propaganda tool: President Barack Hussein Obama, Muslim apostate.
The fact that Senator Obama – the son of a Muslim father – insists he was never a Muslim before becoming Christian is irrelevant to bin Laden. In bin Laden's eyes, Obama is a murtad fitri, the worst type of apostate, because he was blessed by Allah to be born into the true faith of Islam.
There are two types of apostates according to sharia (Islamic law) and the Hadith (sayings of the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him).
The first type is murtad milli, one who converted to Islam and later renounced the faith. The second, and most egregious, type is murtad fitri. It refers to a person born of a Muslim father who renounces his birthright. Two recent examples of the latter are Magdi Allam (a male Egyptian who converted to Catholicism in Italy) and Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Somali-born woman who's now an atheist). Both now face death threats.
According to Islamic jurisprudence, children of a Muslim father – even an apparently nonpracticing one, such as Obama's father, and irrespective of the mother's faith – are automatically Muslims. Most Muslims around the world agree: A child of a Muslim father is a Muslim. Period.
Should Obama become US commander in chief, there is a strong likelihood that Al Qaeda's media arm, As-Sahab, will exploit his background to argue that an apostate is leading the global war on terror (read: attacks against fellow Muslims). This perception would be leveraged to galvanize sympathizers into action.
Remember: Al Qaeda's ultimate goal is to restore the caliphate (the Islamic form of government that would preside over the community of believers) and expand Dar al Islam ("Abode of Islam"). Reaching it requires a long war against all – Muslim and non-Muslim – who don't share its extremist Wahhabi worldview.
Al Qaeda, though, has struggled recently to recruit volunteers for this jihad. While bin Laden retains significant support as someone willing to stand up for Muslim concerns, most Muslims abhor Al Qaeda's terrorist methods whose primary targets are innocent noncombatants.
But an apostate as head of the United States could change this equation. It would be a propaganda boost for Al Qaeda's mission. All one has to do is read Al Qaeda's public statements to recognize how frequently it makes baseless apostasy accusations against fellow Muslims who challenge its message or actions.
That's why Obama is bin Laden's dream candidate.
Once branded as an apostate, President Obama would face enormous difficulties in the foreign policy realm, especially in the fight against terrorism.
He's caught between a rock and a hard place. If he softens the US strategy against Al Qaeda and its ideologues, his apostasy might be an afterthought for Al Qaeda. But if he acts firmly in America's national interest to defeat the terrorist threat, he'd be vilified in an Al Qaeda propaganda campaign for reneging on his "true identity."
Furthermore, his administration would struggle to positively engage the Muslim world, where Islam isn't just a religion, it's the way of life. Conservative Muslim populations that are riddled with poverty and low literacy rates can be more readily swayed to join the cause against the "Great Satan" (the US) if their imams and mullahs shout that it is led by an apostate.
Diplomacy is highly personal. The leaders of America's Middle Eastern allies – such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar – already feel besieged by jihadists and disgruntled citizens who see their governments as toadies of the West. The murtad card could intensify that pressure, so leaders of these countries might be compelled to distance themselves from Washington.
In short, an Obama presidency – which might be fine domestically – could have serious repercussions for US foreign interests at a time when it is especially vulnerable in a tight global oil market.
So far, Al Qaeda has been conspicuously quiet on Obama's candidacy. But that should not come as a surprise. Hoping Obama gets elected, they're probably waiting until he's taken the oath of office to begin branding him a traitor to the faith of his fathers.
Islamic terrorists know that the long road to success lies in stoking the "clash of civilizations." To reach their goal of restoring the Caliphate in a form that fits their worldview, they need massive numbers of Muslims to join their global jihad.
Bin Laden and his followers have already shown their willingness to exploit real or imagined religious schisms to expand their support base. So it's not hard to imagine bin Laden praying that Obama wins this November.

Shireen K. Burki is an adjunct professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington, in Fredericksburg, Va. The daughter of a Muslim father and a Christian mother, she spent her childhood in Islamabad, Pakistan, where she studied Islam at school.

[ycartrob]

Cue Sarah'r:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/v/BaxECcTjCuw&hl=en&fs=1[/media]

[purvis9876]

BARACK OBAMA – MUSLIM APOSTATE?
For Al Qaeda, the answer – and the implication – is clear.
By Shireen K. Burki
from the May 19, 2008 edition

STAFFORD, VA. - Osama bin Laden must be chuckling in his safe house. After all, the 2008 campaign could very well give Al Qaeda the ultimate propaganda tool: President Barack Hussein Obama, Muslim apostate.
The fact that Senator Obama – the son of a Muslim father – insists he was never a Muslim before becoming Christian is irrelevant to bin Laden. In bin Laden's eyes, Obama is a murtad fitri, the worst type of apostate, because he was blessed by Allah to be born into the true faith of Islam.
There are two types of apostates according to sharia (Islamic law) and the Hadith (sayings of the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him).
The first type is murtad milli, one who converted to Islam and later renounced the faith. The second, and most egregious, type is murtad fitri. It refers to a person born of a Muslim father who renounces his birthright. Two recent examples of the latter are Magdi Allam (a male Egyptian who converted to Catholicism in Italy) and Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Somali-born woman who's now an atheist). Both now face death threats.
According to Islamic jurisprudence, children of a Muslim father – even an apparently nonpracticing one, such as Obama's father, and irrespective of the mother's faith – are automatically Muslims. Most Muslims around the world agree: A child of a Muslim father is a Muslim. Period.
Should Obama become US commander in chief, there is a strong likelihood that Al Qaeda's media arm, As-Sahab, will exploit his background to argue that an apostate is leading the global war on terror (read: attacks against fellow Muslims). This perception would be leveraged to galvanize sympathizers into action.
Remember: Al Qaeda's ultimate goal is to restore the caliphate (the Islamic form of government that would preside over the community of believers) and expand Dar al Islam ("Abode of Islam"). Reaching it requires a long war against all – Muslim and non-Muslim – who don't share its extremist Wahhabi worldview.
Al Qaeda, though, has struggled recently to recruit volunteers for this jihad. While bin Laden retains significant support as someone willing to stand up for Muslim concerns, most Muslims abhor Al Qaeda's terrorist methods whose primary targets are innocent noncombatants.
But an apostate as head of the United States could change this equation. It would be a propaganda boost for Al Qaeda's mission. All one has to do is read Al Qaeda's public statements to recognize how frequently it makes baseless apostasy accusations against fellow Muslims who challenge its message or actions.
That's why Obama is bin Laden's dream candidate.
Once branded as an apostate, President Obama would face enormous difficulties in the foreign policy realm, especially in the fight against terrorism.
He's caught between a rock and a hard place. If he softens the US strategy against Al Qaeda and its ideologues, his apostasy might be an afterthought for Al Qaeda. But if he acts firmly in America's national interest to defeat the terrorist threat, he'd be vilified in an Al Qaeda propaganda campaign for reneging on his "true identity."
Furthermore, his administration would struggle to positively engage the Muslim world, where Islam isn't just a religion, it's the way of life. Conservative Muslim populations that are riddled with poverty and low literacy rates can be more readily swayed to join the cause against the "Great Satan" (the US) if their imams and mullahs shout that it is led by an apostate.
Diplomacy is highly personal. The leaders of America's Middle Eastern allies – such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar – already feel besieged by jihadists and disgruntled citizens who see their governments as toadies of the West. The murtad card could intensify that pressure, so leaders of these countries might be compelled to distance themselves from Washington.
In short, an Obama presidency – which might be fine domestically – could have serious repercussions for US foreign interests at a time when it is especially vulnerable in a tight global oil market.
So far, Al Qaeda has been conspicuously quiet on Obama's candidacy. But that should not come as a surprise. Hoping Obama gets elected, they're probably waiting until he's taken the oath of office to begin branding him a traitor to the faith of his fathers.
Islamic terrorists know that the long road to success lies in stoking the "clash of civilizations." To reach their goal of restoring the Caliphate in a form that fits their worldview, they need massive numbers of Muslims to join their global jihad.
Bin Laden and his followers have already shown their willingness to exploit real or imagined religious schisms to expand their support base. So it's not hard to imagine bin Laden praying that Obama wins this November.

Shireen K. Burki is an adjunct professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington, in Fredericksburg, Va. The daughter of a Muslim father and a Christian mother, she spent her childhood in Islamabad, Pakistan, where she studied Islam at school.

SERIOUSLY?

[purvis9876]

McCain wasn't even born in the United States. Both of them are shit, though.  ;)

[MMJ_fanatic]

Cue Sarah'r:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/v/BaxECcTjCuw&hl=en&fs=1[/media]

Guess you missed this part:
Shireen K. Burki is an adjunct professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington, in Fredericksburg, Va. The daughter of a Muslim father and a Christian mother, she spent her childhood in Islamabad, Pakistan, where she studied Islam at school.

[ycartrob]

Cue Sarah'r:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/v/BaxECcTjCuw&hl=en&fs=1[/media]

Guess you missed this part:
Shireen K. Burki is an adjunct professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington, in Fredericksburg, Va. The daughter of a Muslim father and a Christian mother, she spent her childhood in Islamabad, Pakistan, where she studied Islam at school.

didn't miss it at all. Your goal is to project fear into the nation by saying Obama is connected to terrorists. It's about 3 steps short of actual thought. (and you really think Muslim extremists aren't throwing us their A game already? like they are really gonna bear down if Obama is elected? Think.)

What I like about ol' Sarah'r here is she doesn't try to hide her hatred behind the facade of intellectualism, she just comes right out and speaks it; sort of brave compared to some of the republican party trying to illicit fear b/c them "Muslims all want to kill us". I like the double shot, play them both at the same time.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/v/BaxECcTjCuw&hl=en&fs=1[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/v/BaxECcTjCuw&hl=en&fs=1[/media]

[Angry Ewok]

Palin Accuses Obama of "Palling Around" with Terrorists
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/04/palin-accuses-obama-palling-terrorists/comments/

Sarah Palin, using some of her strongest language to date to question the character of the Democratic presidential nominee, accused Barack Obama on Saturday of "palling around with terrorists."

Palin, speaking at a closed fundraiser in Colorado, was referencing Obama's ties to Bill Ayers, a founder of the 1960s radical group The Weather Underground. That relationship was examined in a front-page article in The New York Times on Saturday.

"This is not a man who sees America as you see America, and as I see America," Palin said. "Our opponent, though, is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect -- imperfect enough that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country. Americans need to know this. ... I think, OK we gotta get the word out. This is in fairness to the electorate we gotta start telling people what the other side represents."

The Times article she mentioned concluded that Obama and Ayers did not appear to be close.

Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan released a statement in response accusing McCain's campaign of launching "Swiftboat-like attacks in hopes of deflecting attention from the nation's economic ills."

He said the Times article made clear that Obama and Ayers were not close, "much less 'pals'."  

Ayers' group took credit for bombings, including nonfatal explosions at the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol four decades ago.

Ayers now is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He and Obama live in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood and served together on the board of the Woods Fund, a Chicago-based charity that develops community groups to help the poor. Obama left the board in December 2002, and he has denounced Ayers' past activities.

The McCain campaign has indicated it will step up its attacks on Obama's character and judgment in the final month of campaigning.

Palin, for instance, said on Friday that some of Obama's statements on America's foreign policy should disqualify him from being president.

"Some of his comments that he has made about the war that I think may -- in my world -- disqualifies someone from consideration as the next commander in chief," Palin told FOX News. "Some of his comments about Afghanistan and what we are doing there, supposedly just air-raiding villages and killing civilians. That's reckless."

She was referring to Obama's remarks last summer about Afghanistan in which he said: "We've got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians which is causing enormous problems there."

Republicans lashed out at him at the time, though the Associated Press published a fact-check shortly afterward that showed, by their count at the time, Western forces had killed 286 civilians in the country, compared with 231 killed by militants in 2007.

The escalated effort to question Obama's character dovetails with TV ads by outside groups questioning Obama's ties to Ayers, convicted former Obama fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko and Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

McCain adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer followed up on both of Palin's remarks Saturday, citing Obama's Afghanistan comments and ties to Ayers in questioning his judgment.

"Apparently Senator Obama has no problem associating with someone like that, and somehow thinks that this unrepentant terrorist is rehabilitated," she told FOX News.

[Angry Ewok]

Worst election year ever.

[ManNamedTruth]

The Times article she mentioned concluded that Obama and Ayers [highlight]did not appear to be close[/highlight].


He said the Times article [highlight]made clear that Obama and Ayers were not close,[/highlight] "much less 'pals'."  

Ayers' group took credit for bombings, including [highlight]nonfatal[/highlight] explosions at the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol f[highlight]our decades ago[/highlight].

Ayers now is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He and Obama live in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood and served together on the board of the Woods Fund, a Chicago-based charity that [highlight]develops community groups to help the poor[/highlight]. Obama left the board in December 2002, and he has[highlight] denounced Ayers' past activities.
[/highlight]

Not sure what kind of point your trying to make, just wanted to point some keywords out.

[Angry Ewok]

I posted an article related to the discussion. Not exactly "making a point"... I do think it's hilarious that you highlight the fact that the explosions were nonfatal, though. What kind of point are you trying to make, there? That a guy who plants a bomb that fails to kill people isn't as bad as a guy who plants a bomb that succeeds in killing people?

[ycartrob]

hey Brad, your ride's here

[media]http://www.youtube.com/v/BaxECcTjCuw&hl=en&fs=1[/media]

[Penny Lane]

MMJ--interesting article - maybe there is a tiny bit of truth to what she's saying given her upbringing and experience

Bin Laden and his followers have already shown their willingness to exploit real or imagined religious schisms to expand their support base. Duh

there was nothing wrong w/Obama's statements on afghanistan--proven by what happened a couple weeks ago in pakistan-maybe not politically correct but certainly true.

[MMJ_fanatic]

Obama-ACORN Root Causes of Mortgage Crisis?

FBI Investigates U.S. Financial Crisis - Where Did $1 Trillion Go?

The high-risk subprime mortgage social engineering community service experiment by left-wing ACORN and Obama has created the largest financial crisis since The Great Depression.  The full reach of the corruption and scandal may never be known but those who created it must not be rewarded.  The architects, primarily left-wing Democrats, created laws, took donations, looked the other way and instead were too busy overseeing donations to their own presidential campaigns and robbing main street blind.  Now these same left-wing Democrats blame everyone else and get up on their high horses and say, "we are here to save you" from the crises they created.

Yes, Mr. Obama knows a great deal about the mess.  He is a central figure in the left-wing ACORN exploitation of financial institutions and pressuring them to make high risk loans.  The very same left-wing ACORN was guilty of voter fraud in the last presidential election.

Now these same Democrats want to do another high risk "community service," social engineering experiment. They want to elect a high-risk, low experience, socialist one of the same community organizers that created the mess to be our next president.  We cannot experiment with the office of president and learn as we go. Barack Obama is not qualified and has no history of success as a leader in government or business.

The FBI investigation

An FBI investigation is under way at Lehman Brothers and three other contributors to America's financial crisis to determine whether they put pressure on ratings agencies to award top ratings to securities they issued.

Concerns that Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG or Lehman may have sought to encourage agencies to inflate their ratings - by offering higher fees or the promise of more work - form part of a broad inquiry by the bureau.

The agencies are widely regarded as having failed debt holders by attributing the top ratings to many securities that turned out to be extremely risky and have lost investors hundreds of billions of dollars.

The FBI, which is also investigating whether any of the four institutions deliberately misled investors about the true health of their assets, is expected to demand that they "hold all papers and e-mails under lock and key" as it sifts through the evidence, a source said.

How did we get here?

FOLLOW THE MONEY AND CORRUPTION!  A Lending Policy created by democrats for democrats run by democrats monitored by democrats enforced by community organizer democrats and profited from by democrats.

The following information is condensed from an article by Stanley Kurtz. O's Dangerous Pals.

Fannie and Freddie acted in response to Clinton administration pressure to boost homeownership rates among minorities and the poor. However compassionate the motive, the result of this systematic disregard for normal credit standards has been financial disaster.  ONE key pioneer of ACORN's subprime-loan shakedown racket was Madeline Talbott - an activist with extensive ties to Barack Obama. She was also in on the ground floor of the disastrous turn in Fannie Mae's mortgage policies.

Obama Trains ACORN Staff in Shakedown Tactics

It would be tough to find an "on the ground" community organizer more closely tied to the subprime-mortgage fiasco than Madeline Talbott. And no one has been more supportive of Madeline Talbott than Barack Obama.

When Obama was just a budding community organizer in Chicago, Talbott was so impressed that she asked him to train her personal staff.

He returned to Chicago in the early '90s, just as Talbott was starting her pressure campaign on local banks. In those years, he also conducted leadership-training seminars for ACORN's up-and-coming organizers. That is, Obama was training the army of ACORN organizers who participated in Madeline Talbott's drive against Chicago's banks.

Obama Funds ACORN

More than that, Obama was funding them. As he rose to a leadership role at Chicago's Woods Fund, he became the most powerful voice on the foundation's board for supporting ACORN and other community organizers. In 1995, the Woods Fund substantially expanded its funding of community organizers - and Obama chaired the committee that urged and managed the shift.

That committee's report on strategies for funding groups like ACORN features all the key names in Obama's organizer network. The report quotes Talbott more than any other figure; Sandra Maxwell, Talbott's ACORN ally in the bank battle, was also among the organizers consulted.

More, the Obama-supervised Woods Fund report acknowledges the problem of getting donors and foundations to contribute to radical groups like ACORN - whose confrontational tactics often scare off even liberal donors and foundations.

Indeed, the report brags about pulling the wool over the public's eye. The Woods Fund's claim to be "nonideological," it says, has "enabled the Trustees to make grants to organizations that use confrontational tactics against the business and government 'establishments' without undue risk of being criticized for partisanship."

Obama Aware of Intimidation Tactics

The Woods Fund report makes it clear Obama was fully aware of the intimidation tactics used by ACORN's Madeline Talbott in her pioneering efforts to force banks to suspend their usual credit standards. Yet he supported Talbott in every conceivable way. He trained her personal staff and other aspiring ACORN leaders, he consulted with her extensively, and he arranged a major boost in foundation funding for her efforts.

And, as the leader of another charity, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, Obama channeled more funding Talbott's way - ostensibly for education projects but surely supportive of ACORN's overall efforts.

In return, Talbott proudly announced her support of Obama's first campaign for state Senate, saying, "We accept and respect him as a kindred spirit, a fellow organizer."

In short, to understand the roots of the subprime mortgage crisis, look to ACORN's Madeline Talbott. And to see how Talbott was able to work her mischief, look to Barack Obama.

Tell the Congress to Stop the Wall Street Bailout and Prosecute!

Keep calling your Congressmen today, toll free numbers include 1.877.851.6437 and 1.866.220.0044, or call toll 1-202-225-3121 AND REGISTER YOUR OUTRAGE at increasing oil prices!

DO NOT BE SILENCED - MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

Together, we can preserve the Constitutional rights our Founding Fathers intended our people to have forever.

[ycartrob]

Obama heals hundreds
         AUSTIN — Ginny McCallum, 43, who has been confined to a wheelchair for much of her adult life, came to hear presidential candidate Barack Obama speak at the University of Texas. Afterward she found herself in a wheelchair access breezeway as Obama and his entourage exited the arena. The candidate spotted her, came over, grabbed her hand and pulled her up. She found herself standing for the first time in eleven years.
   "He smiled at me and said, 'Yes, you can,'" she says. "I was so stunned I didn't know what to do."
   McCallum is among hundreds of people who say they have been healed by the Democratic candidate, in one of the most surprising and little-acknowledged aspects of his campaign. Reporters have shied away from the story, chalking it up to "Obama-mania" and people's feelings of elation.
   "We don't talk about it a lot, but yeah, it does happen," says one staffer who says he has seen multiple people healed on a rope line. "We don't know exactly how or why it's happening, and the Senator won't talk about it. He usually insists that people keep it quiet and just report it to their pastor or priest."
   Greeting supporters after a rousing speech in Houston, Obama stepped into the dense crowd and spontaneously began touching people: a legally blind woman, a man deaf in one ear, a cancer sufferer and a lame man.
   "Yes, you can," Obama said as he laid hands on afflicted bodies.
   The people's reactions were so joyous as to be almost frightening. They jumped and shouted and wept. Before they could thank or embrace the candidate he was well down the rope line healing others. Their excitement was lost in the general din of the crowd.
   Aides acknowledge that the phenomenon is occurring with greater frequency.
   "His power goes beyond simple inspiration," says one aide. "There is something developing here that I'm not sure any of us fully understands."
   They say Obama has told them privately that his time has not yet come, so it would be inappropriate to talk about the healings right now. He says he will wait until the convention to speak publicly about the "special calling" he believes he has to lead the country. They do expect him to start alluding to "the providential nature of what is happening on the campaign trail" in an upcoming address, mostly because word is getting around.
   People have begun bringing relatives by the score to campaign events in hopes of a healing touch.
   "It's not the speeches that are drawing people anymore, as good as they are," says a senior staff member. "It's people wanting to get better, and wanting their friends and relatives to get better. It's the belief that there's something more here."

[ycartrob]

Palin Brushing Up On Foreign Policy At Epcot

    ORLANDO, FL—Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin sought to silence those who have criticized her lack of foreign affairs experience Tuesday by announcing plans for a weeklong, 10-nation tour of Walt Disney World's Epcot. According to Palin, the trip—her first past Frontierland—will include speaking engagements at Norway's famous Viking ride, sausages at Germany's Kaufhaus, and, time permitting, a fact-finding mission to Future World. "This ambitious trip should finally demonstrate that I am ready to assume the vice presidency, whether by standing in long lines at Morocco's Tangierine Café or by sitting down face-to-face with Mexico's Three Caballeros," Palin announced during a campaign stop outside a Chinese restaurant in Tulsa, OK. "All of our neighbors deserve good diplomacy, from the Universe of Energy down to the French pavilion." Palin also promised a visit to the American Adventure exhibit before returning home, adding that she hoped to learn more about her own nation and the diverse peoples within.

[ycartrob]

Parents Of Obama Volunteer Couldn't Be More Proud, Sick Of Son

     OAK PARK, IL—Parents of Obama '08 campaign volunteer Mark Lowe said their son's selfless work for the Illinois senator has shown the 22-year-old to be mature, civic-minded, and absolutely unbearable to talk to. "I remember when I was going to vote for Hillary Clinton in the primary, and [Mark] spoke for 30 minutes about how Obama is the next Kennedy, the only candidate capable of bringing real change, and how Hillary embodies everything that's wrong with Washington," David Lowe, 58, said. "It's incredible that he's so passionate about our nation's future, and now he really needs to shut the hell up." Lowe, who spends up to 40 hours a week sending e-mails, making phone calls, and engaging complete strangers in drawn-out discussions about Obama's message of hope as he canvasses door-to-door, is expected to cost the Democratic nominee some 15,000 votes.

[ycartrob]

Obama's Hillbilly Half-Brother Threatening To Derail Campaign

    BOONEVILLE, KY—Barack Obama's once-commanding lead in the polls slipped to two points Monday, continuing a month-long slide that many credit to the recent appearance of the Democratic candidate's heretofore unknown half-brother, Cooter Obama.

Long kept a family secret, the overalls-clad, straw-chewing Kentuckian first entered the public spotlight in July, when he drove his 1982 Ford flatbed pickup through the press corps at an Obama rally in order to inform his brother that he caught the skunk that had been living under his front porch. According to witnesses, Cooter's skunk proceeded to spray Washington Post political reporter Michael D. Shear in the face.

"Sorry 'bout that, mister! Some tomater juice'll take care of the stank," Cooter said as his mortified younger brother led him off the stage. "Shoot, Barack, you didn't tell me you was runnin' for president!"

Since Cooter's emergence on the national scene, the Obama campaign has downplayed the brothers' relationship. A statement issued last week by Obama's top adviser, David Axelrod, claimed that the two lived together only for a brief period in 1981, shortly before Barack left to attend Columbia University and Cooter had to drop out of chicken-killing school because an air conditioner fell on his head.

Nonetheless, political experts said Cooter's increased visibility in recent weeks has hurt Obama's polling among urban, upper-middle-class, non-straw-hat-wearing voters. The Obama camp has scrambled to control the damage caused by Cooter's penchants for loudly practicing his banjo during Obama's speeches, repeatedly referring to Barack by his childhood nickname, "Ol' Jelly Legs," and chasing his troublemaking pig, Mbogo, in the nude in the background of Obama's CNN interview on the importance of education.

The problem came to a head last week, advisers said, when Cooter arrived unannounced at a $100-a-plate fundraiser, slipped past security, and proffered a jug of moonshine to the high-society donors, claiming it would "straighten their curlies." In addition, dozens of would-be attendees at a Cedar Rapids, IA town-hall meeting Sunday were turned away at the door by the elder Obama, who was sitting at the entrance in a rocking chair and brandishing a double-barreled shotgun.

"What Sen. Obama's half-brother meant to communicate was that he was pleased that the candidate's message of change is fostering vigorous dialogue," Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said following the incident. "In no way was his proposal to 'fill y'all's backsides with rock salt' intended to be taken in any other way."

In the past two weeks, Obama has lost support from such groups as PETA, which withdrew its endorsement when Cooter punched a swan in the face, claiming it was "one of them mean ones"; the Clean Energy Group, which protested Cooter's recent attempt to fry a squirrel in a flaming 20-gallon barrel of diesel fuel; and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), whom Cooter mistook for an outhouse Monday and urinated on for 35 seconds.

"I thought we would be able to escape controversy by leaving the country for a week and visiting Iraq and Europe," an unnamed source in the Obama camp told reporters. "Little did we know that Cooter would command just as much attention back home by getting drunk with the Russian ambassador, lighting off fireworks, and crashing Obama's campaign limo into a creek in the Ozark Mountains."

Despite the setbacks he has caused, Cooter has secured a small but devoted following, and has occasionally managed to reflect well on the campaign. At a speaking engagement to which Obama arrived two hours late, Cooter kept the crowd's spirits up by breaking out a washtub string bass and a washboard and holding an impromptu hoedown.

Although his primary focus has been to support his brother, Cooter Obama said he is not without political aspirations of his own.

"Shoot, I'm helpin' because I love my brother," Cooter said. "Maybe if he gets elected he can make me Secretary of Moonshine. Course, that don't mean I ain't votin' for the other fella. Ol' Jelly Legs wants to take my guns away."

[ycartrob]

[bowl of soup]

Did you know that his middle name is Hussein?  I mean really?  John McCain's middle name is Sidney.  His wife is called Cindy Hensley McCain.  Ms. Palin's middle name is Louise and she calls her husband Todd.  Todd was a member of the Alaskan Independence Party until 2002 and they call for the secession of Alaska from the US.

I think this is all a plot by the AIP to finally overthrow the USA.  Then we'd finally see some fucking drilling baby.

[primushead]

If a candidate isn't named John Smith and hasn't had a facial from George Washington, I refuse to vote for him.