screed

my aunt sent this out tonight:

Probable U. S. presidential candidate, Barack Hussein Obama was born in
Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a black Muslim from
Nyangoma-Kogel, Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white atheist from Wichita,
Kansas.

Obama's parents met at the University of Hawaii.

When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced. His father returned
to Kenya.

His mother then married Lolo Soetoro, a radical Muslim from Indonesia.

When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocated to Indonesia. Obama
attended a Muslim school in Jakarta. He also spent two years in a
Catholic school.

Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim. He is
quick to point out that, "He was once a Muslim, but that he also
attended Catholic school."

Obama's political handlers are attempting to make it appear that
Obama's
introduction to Islam came via his father, and that this influence was
temporary at best. In reality, the senior Obama returned to Kenya soon
after the divorce, and never again had any direct influence over His
son's education.

Lolo Soetoro, the second husband of Obama's mother, Ann Dunham,
introduced his stepson to Islam. Obama was enrolled in a Wahabi school
in Jakarta. Wahabism is the radical teaching that is followed by the
Muslim terrorists who are now waging Jihad against the western world.

Since it is politically expedient to be a Christian when seeking major
public office in the United States, Barack Hussein Obama has joined the
United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim
background.

Let us all remain alert concerning Obama's expected presidential
candidacy.
Please forward to everyone you know. The Muslims have said they plan on
destroying the US from the inside out, what better way to start than at
the highest level.

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i responded with this:

I'm extremely disappointed that you're helping to spread this crap.
One of the tenets that makes this country great is the separation of
church and state, and while that is not true in practice, I firmly
believe that it's something we should all be striving to achieve.

The email you forwarded looks like nothing more than a cheap attempt
to distract voters from the issues by creating false controversy.

We cannot forget that this country was founded by people fleeing
religious intolerance and looking for a place where they could
practice their beliefs in freedom. To ignore that not only flies in
the face of the basis of the Constitution, it makes a mockery of the
ideals that our founding fathers fought and died for.

If you disagree with Obama or Brownback or Clinton or McCain that's
fine; convince me with your points about the issues, but please don't
sling mud. There will be more than enough of that during the campaign,
and we, as citizens, as the the government (because that's what we
are; WE elect the government to act on our behalf) have a civic duty
to ensure that it's the issues that are at the forefront, not
prejudice or bias.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

my response is heavy-handed and jingoistic, but fer fucks sake, this campaign is going to be ugly enough as it is, we don't need to fan the flames.

batten down the hatches, it's going to get UGLY!