regarding the teaching of power, allow me to share this little power mantra i use with my children: be a leader, not a bleeder.

James, most of us don’t have a plan to get out of debt in the next 5 yrs, thus we will continue to spend an enormous amount of energy and time making someone else rich while we barely break even. All the while setting up our children will inherit our deadly financial habits and lifestyle. Screw that!! My child (and the youth that I work with) will learn POWER and how to maneuver their way in life without debt (slavery) and how to empower the community in which they reside. They will understand that politics without economics is a symbol without substance. They will understand and learn from history, insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different outcome.

As far as your comments toward John. Most people are not racists (prejudice but not racists), but I agree most people operate daily within their ethnicity (nationalists).

Barack Obama has attended this church for 20 years. When he was unable to attend, Obama told Anderson Cooper that he got tapes of Rev Wright’s sermons to listen to.

Wright and Obama believe in Black Liberation Theology. This is a racist religion that claims black people are oppressed by white people. It also calls for black people to rise up and destroy the “white enemy”.

It also preaches against the separation of church and state, and Black Liberation Theology itself is a mixture of politics and religion.

Mainstream black christian ministers say that Black Liberation Theology is a racist anti-white religion.

All of the racist comments Reverend Wright made come from Black Liberation Theology, Obama’s chosen religion.

john, most people fear things they don’t understand.

and john, i don’t know where you live, but i’ll say this again, most people are racist and nationalists; most people don’t have any respect for other cultures and races. you must be living in a dream world….

I agree with this statement 100 percent. And I am glad to live in a country where people can disagree with government policies in such a vocal manner.

his message is only repugnant to those who lack a sense of history and humor.

I don’t know about that … the whole black liberation theology thing is a bit scary to 21st century white folks — folks who never owned slaves and who live their lives with respect for people of different cultures and races.

Seeing white people, Jews and the government as the “enemy” doesn’t seem very pastor-like.

the only thing he painted was his personal disdain for the poor choices made by the united states government, his personal disdain for the mainstream media, and his personal disdain for his critics labelling him as unpatriotic. i believe most of what his ideas are worthy of serious discussion, except for the nonsense about an aids conspiracy, which, with the way that aids is transmitted would never make sense.

regardless, in america, the freest country in the world, he is still entitled to believe and say what he wants, outrageous as it may seem.

as for sugar-coating his message to suit your needs; while that is a popular technique amongst many people, particularly middle managers, parents and coaches, not everybody uses–or is required to use “constructive criticism”–as a part of their critical repetoire. i would venture to say that it’s not part of the critical repertoire of many social gospel preachers such as wright.

his message is only repugnant to those who lack a sense of history and humor.