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Dec 29th, 2019
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This is an interesting article. Perhaps when Obama quotes the Bible about being "my brother's keeper" he is thinking only demographically and not in terms of actual people, such as his own flesh and blood relatives, like his half-brother, George, who lives in REAL poverty. This article is amazing...simply amazing. Fr. Deacon Daniel http://townhall.com/columnists/DineshDSouza/2008/09/08/help_obamas_half-brother_move_out_of_his_hut [ Linked Image] Help Obama's Half-Brother Move Out of His Hut
The biggest scandal of the election campaign is going unreported, for the most part, by the mainstream newspapers and TV shows. Imagine if John McCain or Sarah Palin had a half-brother who was living in a hut. Imagine if McCain, a multimillionaire, did nothing to help the guy. Imagine if McCain came to the convention and spoke incessantly about compassion and how he was inspired by the biblical mandate: we are our brothers' keepers! This would be the lead story on the evening news.
So why aren't the networks covering the fact that Barack Obama's half-brother George lives in a 6 by 10 foot hut in the slums of Kenya? It took a reporter for the Italian edition of Vanity Fair to locate George Obama. Obama noted that when he met his famous half-brother in 2006 “we spoke for just a few minutes. It was like meeting a complete stranger.” George Obama also told the magazine that “I live here on less than a dollar month,” and “if anyone says something about my surname, I say we are not related. I am ashamed.” Obama has done absolutely nothing to help his unfortunate half-brother.
Apparently alarmed that this report could hurt Obama, CNN dispatched one of its reporters to do cover-up work for the Obama campaign. This is a hopeless enterprise; anyone who sees pictures of George Obama's dwelling place on the web knows that they reveal the worst images of African poverty. Moreover, for all its propagandistic intent, the CNN report is unintentionally damaging to Obama. The reporter cannot hide the fact that George Obama comes from a "ramshackled slum." A neighbor tells CNN that Barack Obama really should connect with his half-brother and "see how he's living" and do what he can to "improve our way of life."
CNN attempts to portray George Obama as a self-reliant fellow who doesn't want any help. The network quotes him saying, "I was brought up well. I live well even now." George, however, speaks in a halting voice; he is trying to maintain his self-image. George also says, "I'm Kenyan...I would love to live in Kenya." Presumably George gave this answer to a question asking whether he'd like to move to the United States with Barack Obama's help. These answers, however, in no way suggest that George doesn't want Barack Obama's intervention to relieve his grinding poverty. A man's effort to maintain his dignity should not be exploited to pretend that he doesn't want a helping hand.
When I posted on my AOL blog about George Obama last week, the Obama apologists could do no better than to say that Barack Obama doesn't owe his half-brother anything. But sibling assistance is not a matter of debt. Rather, it is a matter of family values and compassion. Obama has cited as his favorite Bible verse Jesus's statement: whatever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me. It seems that the Republican allegation that this man is full of pretense and empty words--in other words, a modern-day Pharisee--is more than justified.
Obama may not want to help his 26 year old half-brother, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't. I'm starting the George Obama Compassion Fund which has the goal of raising some money to help George Obama move out of his one-room hut. George also wants to become a mechanic and surely he could use some funds to get the training he needs to fulfill his humble aspirations. Currently George lives on a few dollars a month. Even a few thousand dollars would completely transform this man's life.
I'm putting up $1000 to get this fund started. I invite people to send me small contributions--$5, $10, $25, whatever you can spare. Send them to P.O. Box 3384, Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067. Make your checks to "George Obama." I will then contact the Obama campaign and offer them the money on the condition that they forward it to George Obama in Kenya. The advantage of this approach is that not only does George Obama benefit from our generosity, but also Barack Obama can use the opportunity to improve his relationship with his half-brother. Let's foster Obama family values, and give a break to a guy who really needs it.
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I think the person should set up a trust fund at a bank and send the money there instead of to him, a lot more would be given that way. I would not send it through Obama, I don't think it will ever get there. There are plenty of relief agencies or concerns that could set it up, to help him get the funds he needs from what is received, and leave the other Obama - not George - wondering what happened.
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David - I'm not sure what you are wanting from us here. Both threads are to do with the families of someone who is in the public eye at present. In politics nothing can ever be kept secret no matter how you try
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Well, let's see what the differences might be: Your post involves the moral failure of Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin's 17 year old daughter, who is not running for office and yet IS taking responsibility for her actions by keeping her child (instead of destroying it through abortion, which Obama seems to favor...even outside the womb) and marrying the man who got her pregnant. My post involves the moral failure of Presidential Candidate Barack Hussein Obama, who STILL has not done anything to lift his REAL brother, George, out of poverty despite his own personal millions, and yet endlessly touts his credentials as his "brother's keeper" and moralizes ad nauseum about the need for all of us to bring "hope" and "change" to our nation and the world. I would say that the Republican VP Candidate's teenage daughter is demonstrating more personal responsibility, compassion towards the weakest in society and moral courage than is the Democratic Presidential Candidate. She, a teenager, is dedicating her life to helping her flesh and blood. He won't even write a check. God bless, Fr. Deacon Daniel
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In politics nothing can ever be kept secret no matter how you try. This statement is perfectly accurate. My only criticism is that it is perhaps too narrow. Anybody who wants to go to the trouble can usually find out anything! The best way to keep something a secret is to go to some crowded public place (Times Square in New York, O'Connell Street in Dubln - every city has some such place) and shout out your secret at the to of your lungs. No one will pay the least attention! For the impending presidential election in the USA, perhaps the trick would be for loads of people to write to Obama, announcing that we wish to vote for him but cannot do so in conscience if he does not assist his brother. I'd be willing to make a small bet that his brother will suddenly be the lucky recipient of lots of assistance from Barak Obama! He strikes me as someone who grasps very well that when votes are counted, they count them one, by one, by one, by one, by one . .. Fr. Serge
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Fr. bless,
I don't know if this is a fair comparison - for all we know George Obama wants to live in Kenya and doesn't want to leave. I have an uncle who refuses to leave the mountain range that his father (my grandfather) acquired over a century ago, no matter that the area is nearly impossible to get to and he'd be better off about 4 miles downhill... what can I do? He's a grown man and has made up his mind - I send as much money as he'll accept and bring him stuff when I go visit...
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"I send as much money as he'll accept and bring him stuff when I go visit..."
There are many folks like this who depend on their relations for one thing or another.
The problem with Obama's brother is how easy it would be for Obama to double George's income. He could send $12.00 a year and ensure that his half-brother's income be doubled. Yet that may be too much to ask.
Terry
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In politics nothing can ever be kept secret no matter how you try. This statement is perfectly accurate. My only criticism is that it is perhaps too narrow. Anybody who wants to go to the trouble can usually find out anything! The best way to keep something a secret is to go to some crowded public place (Times Square in New York, O'Connell Street in Dubln - every city has some such place) and shout out your secret at the to of your lungs. No one will pay the least attention! For the impending presidential election in the USA, perhaps the trick would be for loads of people to write to Obama, announcing that we wish to vote for him but cannot do so in conscience if he does not assist his brother. I'd be willing to make a small bet that his brother will suddenly be the lucky recipient of lots of assistance from Barak Obama! He strikes me as someone who grasps very well that when votes are counted, they count them one, by one, by one, by one, by one . .. Fr. Serge Although I think in Chicago, they count them 1x2!  Fr. Deacon Daniel
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What? Obama isn't running for President of the World, or of Kenya, or of Africa. He's running for President of the United States! As much as we think he should, it really isn't his responsibility to help lift Kenyans out of poverty.
Also, Obama only met his father once when he was about ten; he really never knew him at all. With this in mind, his half-brother, by a father he never knew, living a world away, is not really the conventional idea of a "brother" and I think your post seeks to exploit that. The only connection these two man have is biological; and I'm not saying that doesn't mean anything, but I don't think it means Barack Obama is some sort of ogre because he is working to better his own nation instead of spending time on a relative he's never known living in Africa.
And, if CNN was doing "cover up" work for Obama, why would they publish that story? Or why would they publish that story in a way that could be damaging? Either their reporters, editors, and executives are complete idiots (which I don't think is the case), or it wasn't really their mission to "cover up" for Obama.
I thought the Republicans were so recently harping on leaving the candidates' private lives out of the discussion, especially when the Bristol Palin stuff hit. Her pregnancy is taboo, as is John McCain's adulterous acts on a crippled wife whom he basically deserted, but this is fair game? I really don't get it.
Alexis
Last edited by Logos - Alexis; 09/09/08 05:09 PM.
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Alexis,
A few points:
1. Obama is touted (and touts himself) as the purveyor of hope and change, and calls us all to be "our brother's keeper". You do not see the irony and sheer hypocrisy of that in light of his total neglect of his own flesh and blood brother, even if he is only a half-brother?
2. As Terry points out, $12 a year would double his income. Even if he he was my half brother, I would find some means to help him out of his squalor.
3. We are not talking about all of Kenya or even generic "Kenyans", but rather about family. Not sure why that is so difficult to see...
4. Bristol Palin SHOULD be left out of this mix. The decisions of Sarah Palin's 17 year old daughter have no bearing on the Governor's viability as a candidate, although, as I pointed out, her decisions regarding her baby are more impressive than Obamas vis-a-vis his brother. Obama's fraternal neglect does have a bearing, although I admit that I am already biased against a man who favors the murder even of innocent infants.
5. I know little about McCain's previous marriage, the circumstances under which he divorced or the health of his previous wife. McCain never excited me as a candidate anyway. As far as I'm concerned (and many others like me), I'm voting for Palin, not McCain. A growing number of us would like to see her at the top of the ticket, whatever his previous heroism.
God bless,
Fr. Deacon Daniel
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I would venture to guess that since Bristol Palin is only 17, she is doing what she is told to do and is not entirely making her own decisions concerning her marriage or at least her unplanned pregnancy. Especially when it is considered how much more in the public eye her family has recently become beyond the borders of Alaska. My prayers go out to her and the father of her baby.
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I would venture to guess that since Bristol Palin is only 17, she is doing what she is told to do and is not entirely making her own decisions concerning her marriage or at least her unplanned pregnancy. JOHN K: I don't know. There is still a strong evangelical culture in America that has kept the idea of the man "doing the right thing"--and by that they mean marry the woman you impregnate. I know that this seems a throwback to a time long ago, but I know people who still believe that this is the way to go. They also believe that the couple then have an obligation to make the marraige work. Now I also hasten to add that this culture is strongly rooted in the churches that these folks are part of. These churches provide a strong group support system for those who are fully committed. So as much as the young lady may have been told to marry her boyfriend, it may be just as possible that this is part of her upbringing and, as such, as much a part of who she is as anything else. BOB
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I would venture to guess that since Bristol Palin is only 17, she is doing what she is told to do and is not entirely making her own decisions concerning her marriage or at least her unplanned pregnancy. JOHN K: I don't know. There is still a strong evangelical culture in America that has kept the idea of the man "doing the right thing"--and by that they mean marry the woman you impregnate. I know that this seems a throwback to a time long ago, but I know people who still believe that this is the way to go. They also believe that the couple then have an obligation to make the marraige work. Now I also hasten to add that this culture is strongly rooted in the churches that these folks are part of. These churches provide a strong group support system for those who are fully committed. So as much as the young lady may have been told to marry her boyfriend, it may be just as possible that this is part of her upbringing and, as such, as much a part of who she is as anything else. BOB Bob, Alaska still has a bit of the frontier spirit about it, does it not? Perhaps they marry young in Alaska!  Fr. Deacon Daniel
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I know that if I were an irresponsible teenager and joined with an irresponsible lass, my dad would do his best to see that I marry the girl if she were pregnant. He would also be praying that she wouldn't have an abortion. I would do the same to my son. A "Southern sense of honor" would be a part of it, but that social pressure would not be the main influence for me.
I don't see how it would be reasonable to suggest that "Palin forced Bristol to carry her baby". I've seen an op/ed, though it may have been a normal news article, which said just as much. It is a very presumptuous opinion and it assumes that Bristol would not virtuously keep her baby and seek to provide as stable a home as she could offer for him or her. (No unborn child is an 'it'.)
Terry
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