Yesterday, I tuned into Rush Limbaugh as I sometimes do. It was funny at first because it sounded like he would explode trying to understand why everyone was so excited about Barack Obama’s inauguration – or as he called it, the immaculation of the messiah. It was funny at first but then he said this: The only reason this is such a big deal is because Obama’s Daddy was black. So I turned Rush off for the last time. He like so many others has now become a relic from the last century.
What he and Hannity, Coulter, Boortz, Beck, Cheney, Rove, Hasselbeck, Palin and even Bush will never understand is exactly why this is indeed a very big deal for more than just the African-American community. For so many of us, these last 8 years have been a slow, painful near-death experience of something we had held so dear for so long – Faith and Hope. No matter how hard things had been in the past, Americans always held on to their Faith in our country and Hope that better days lay ahead . But 8 years ago we lost Hope and we lost Faith. Elections could be stolen. Personal rights could be taken away. The price of a barrel of oil was worth more than the very lives of our children. Our vote no longer counted and our voices no longer heard. Our leaders – in whom we had given our trust - had failed us.
But with Barack Obama we decided we would not go quietly. We took hold of the last bit of Faith and Hope left in us and we gathered our strength for one last fight. No. We would not go quietly. We would not go quietly at all. We would march and we would call and we would write and we would give and we would listen and we would respond and we would vote. We would rise up and take our country back and we would do it for our children and our grandchildren and for our soldiers and for the world and yes even for ourselves. No. We would not go quietly.
Today as millions stood on the Mall and millions more sat in front of televisions and computer screens, we watched as Hope and Faith placed its hand on the bible and said:
“I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
And this time Mr. Limbaugh cannot fool us… nor can Ms. Coulter insult us… or Elisabeth scream over us… or Mr. Rove scare us… or Dick Cheney hide from us… or even President Bush lie to us. Not this time. Because this time it was about Hope and it was about Faith. This time we said, “Yes, we can.”
Thanks for stopping by everyone. I’m going to go now and check on Harold and then call my children and my grandchildren and even Margaret. And I am going to re-live every blessed moment about today with them. Because yes, we can. Yes, we did.. I mean it. Really.
YES WE DID!!
The proudest moment for our country and me as an American that I can remember!
By: Monster Librarian on February 11, 2009
at 1:55 PM
Lovely. Here were my thoughts at the time. I’m still taking it all in…
By: alice on February 1, 2009
at 3:01 PM
Thanks once again Helen! Your words give me hope for a future full of promise. Our children deserve more than they have been handed lately and President Obama appears to represent the voice of promise, reason, and hope, already, as his campaign promised. Let the naysayers stand on the sidelines. Let them whine and and try to block and criticize. It will no longer work, because the American people have woken up from a long slumber. Fear mongering, skepticism, and bullying no longer work. It will take some people some getting used to, but they will, eventually. Hope is kind of contagious. Slowly, it will infect all of us and humanity will be better off for it.
By: Easier on January 28, 2009
at 8:21 PM
Wow, I was directed here through the compuserve writers’ forum and I think I LOVE you guys!
Count me in as a new fan from Canada.
You go, girls.
By: A Novel Woman on January 27, 2009
at 11:37 AM
The sarcastic remark above was me, didn’t mean to be stealthy…
By: Charles on January 26, 2009
at 6:57 PM
“Maybe so, but my God can kick your God’s ass!”
…or maybe his god can kiss my god’s ass? Ooops, that is the next post
By: Anonymous on January 26, 2009
at 6:42 PM
“If a tree falls on a voice from the wilderness, does anyone care?”
“There is only one truth and that is God’s truth.”
Maybe so, but my God can kick your God’s ass!
By: MirrorMan ∆ on January 26, 2009
at 6:37 PM
Voice from the Wilderness…If a “born again” fundamentalist “christian” (and I use the term loosely) falls in the forest, does it make a sound?
I went through the whole context of Christian history earlier and so forth, as if it would matter…but yours is a poorly reasoned take off on “Pascal’s Wager”.
Yawn…
By: Charles on January 26, 2009
at 4:45 PM
CAUTION:
‘Holier than Thou’
Bible worshiper above!
This has been a public service announcement.
PEACE ~ Δ
By: Whirled Peas Δ on January 26, 2009
at 4:33 PM
Margaret and Helen Who?
I posted this message at
www. voicefromthewilderness.wordpress.com
I don’t think I have ever encountered such blind adoration of one man as I have seen in the past few months. Barack Obama is seen by many people as God…they have referred to his speeches as “It was as if God was speaking.” I just read a post at margaretandhelen.wordpress.com titled “Yes We Did” and I heard there the same drivel that I have heard from all the other Democrats. Bush lied, Bush is an idiot, Bush got us into an unnecessary war, etc… What they, like millions of others fail to take into consideration, indeed they really do not care about the fact that we have not been attacked since 9-11-01. Because we have taken the fight to the enemy, they have not been able to come here.
But it is interesting to me how these Democomies don’t care. They want all the terrorists who have been captured and imprisoned set free because, “they are people too you know! You got to give them a chance. If we don’t bother them they won’t bother us.” This is the stupidest line of reasoning that I have ever heard. Indeed it is clear that the liberal, tree hugging, non-flushing philistines, (I mean democrats) would welcome an attack if only to teach America a lesson. Let me tell you something if you hate America so much, why don’ t you move to Putin’ s Russia. If you are so hard up for a totalitarian regime, there are plenty to choose from. China, Cuba, Russia just to name a few. I hear that North Korea is an extra creepy place to be. Communists ought to love a place like that. And if that doesn’t float your boat, hows about joining up with Muslim extremists like Mahmood Im-a-nut-job or Bin Ladin. You’d probably have a whale of a time with them eh!
And speaking of non-flushing idiots, we have a message from the stars of Hollywierd who think it would be great if we had the same unsanitary conditions as 3rd world countries. “Hey, lets not flush the toilet until we have had a deuce.” How stupid is that! Again, if you like sewers, go somewhere else. I can’t imagine visiting the homes of these very strange people who only use one square of toilet paper (iky pooh) and won’t flush their toilets till they are so full that only a plumber can fix it. They probably go out in the yard since they think we should live in caves anyway. That is all except the real nutjobs like Algore and his followers who believe that human beings are parisites which need to be exterminated so that “The earth can return to its pristene beauty and glory.” IDIOTS! NINCOMPOOPS, NITWITS!
And for those of you who bowed the knee on Tuesday to worship Barack Obama, for those of you who consider him to be the new messiah, and for those of you Hollywierdo’s who have vowed to be his servants, man I really feel sorry for you. You have bought the same lie that has destroyed every country it has touched. Commumism never brings the peace, hope, and joy it promises. it only brings heartache, oppression, and death to millions of ‘dissenters.’ “Why don’t you just give him a chance Mike?” You know, this is the stupid line that all of his supporters fall back on when confronted with the facts. Well I’m sorry but nothing good will come of an Obama presidency. I only pray that the True God will intervene and restore America to it’s roots of godliness and Biblical truth and do away with this nonsensical ‘all inclusive tolorance’ with its companion ‘people of faith.’
There is only one truth and that is God’s truth. Yeah I can hear Margaret and Helen and their ilk (no an ilk is not a big deer) saying “You’re a bigot.” So be it. If a bigot is someone who loves God (not allah) and His Son Jesus Christ, I’m your guy. If a bigot is someone who trusts in the Bible (not the koran or any other so called ‘inspired’ book) that’s me. I can hear you say, “What’s true for you may not be true for me.” How stupid is that! I want you to try that one when you’re standing before the Throne of Judgment. “Well I don’t believe in God or the Bible or Jesus or the need for salvation Mike. I only believe in what I can see! Great. Then you don’t believe in air which I may point out YOU CAN”T SEE! Why don’ t you walk across a busy freeway and say to yourself “I don’t believe in cars and trucks, I don’t believe in cars or trucks, I don’t, I don’t, I dont, I don’t, I don’t believe in cars or trucks.” Why don’t you take a stab at that and lets see how far you get. And when you’re lying on the road I’ll be glad to ask you (ala Dr. Phil) ”How’s that workin for you?”
You can come up with any kind of drivel you want to justify yourselves and your position but in the end it will all fall flat. You claim that abortion is your right but you don’t see that you are aborting yourselves out of existence. I have never seen such dummies. You have vowed allegiance to your new (really your latest) messiah but your faith is misplaced. He will not, he cannot succeed in creating the earthly utopia you desire. It has never worked. From the Tower of Babel to today, it has never worked! Barack is not going create peace on earth and he’s not going to pay for your mortgage or you gas. He is just a man and in the end you will see the truth of this.
As for Bush and his supposed stupidity, I only ask you to find a book (I happen to have a copy because the local library didn’t want to have it on their shelves anymore) called “A Compendium of Speeches of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.” He is also considered to be something of a messiah for democrats but if you read his speeches you will see that his doctrine and policies were the same as that of Ronald Reagan, and both George Bush’s (and I may add, opposite of that of his “allegedly”murdering brother Ted).
Barack Obama is not Abraham Lincoln and placing his hand on the Lincoln Bible is not going to somehow tranform him into a reincarnation of the 16th President. Abraham Lincoln was a Republican and a man who loved God, the true God (not allah) and His Son Jesus Christ. Abraham Lincoln was characterized by honesty and integrity, something Obama knows nothing about. (Can you say Rezko or Reverends’ Wright and Phlager) He wasn’t called “honest Abe” for nothing. And it was the Republicans, (this is a matter of public record) who sought to end slavery and segregation while the Democrats (also a matter of public record) fought to retain both programs. It has been the Republican Party which has fought to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America while the Democrats have worked feverishly to establish a communist/socialist Amerika. The black population has been held captive since the Civil War by the Democratic Party who keeps them subjucated to welfare programs so they won’t be able to rise up and get ahead. And they call Republicans un-american. What is more American than freedom! I call upon all true American Patriots to rise up and stand for the truth once again! And if you don’t like it Margaret and Helen, go someplace else!
By: Voice from the Wilderness on January 26, 2009
at 4:16 PM
Great post! Don’t forget to include Michelle Malkin in the hit parade of the angry mushrooms.
By: Melissa on January 26, 2009
at 8:23 AM
This blog was a not bit funny today, but it was beautiful. You said it perfectly.
God Bless.
By: Katrina in Ohio on January 25, 2009
at 10:51 PM
Incredibly beautiful and right on. We would and will NOT go quietly. Hope has come again. We’ve been given back space to believe again. Thank you.
By: Kim on January 23, 2009
at 10:56 PM
“Winning by four percentage points does not a mandate make. Just thought I’d point that out, folks.
So lovely how Gina has been treated.”
Alright, anonymous, lets take a little trip down Memory Lane, shall we? Pay attention, because this will be well worth the price of admission (Definitely an E Ticket!)
Let’s start with your first theorem, that “four percentage points does not a mandate make”. (Hee, hee! He makes it too easy!) Since you failed to make any kind of relational statement to qualify that number, I had to take it upon myself to go look it up. (See, I THOUGHT about it. It’s called “critical thinking”, and I quote from: http://www.criticalthinking.net/
“Definition of Critical Thinking. Critical thinking is here assumed to be reasonable reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do. This rough overall definition is, we believe, in accord with the way the term is generally used these days. Under this interpretation, critical thinking is relevant not only to the formation and checking of beliefs, but also to deciding upon and evaluating actions. It involves creative activities such as formulating hypotheses, plans, and counterexamples; planning experiments; and seeing alternatives. Furthermore critical thinking is reflective — and reasonable. The negative, harping, complaining characteristic that is sometimes labeled by the word, “critical”, is not involved”
I am not going to ask you to engage in this act because you have made abundantly clear in previous posts that “thinking” is not your strong point, but I digress.)
To continue: Your four percentage points are based on the “Popular Vote”, which is fine, I suppose, but in the 2004 Election, Bush one by only 2.4 percent of the popular vote, and in 200 he LOST the popular vote by .5 percent, and then proceeded to destroy the country by proclaiming the HE had a mandate! So it seems the point you were trying to make is expertly concealed by your barber!
And as for how gina has been treated, it is the same as any other loud-mouthed ignoramus (Wanna see one? Find a Mirror!) who bothers to descend into any enlightened group and start spewing their filth and expect to be respected for childlike idiocy! We tolerate their churlishness and ignorance for a time, but eventually they are told to leave and come back when they can behave in a more civilized manner. Trust me; we aren’t holding our breath, because you don’t even have the decency to add a decent “handle” to your login. I, and the others, will at least identify ourselves and stand up for what we believe in. You and your ilk merely open the door, spout some garbage, and dash off into the night not unlike some juvenile prank about setting a bag of dog droppings on fire on someone’s doorstep.
You may be bitter (Ya think?) that the Republicans have lost and that the Bush nightmare is over, but as I recall a statement from a previous election: “You LOST! Get over it!”
Now before I lose my temper and start using foul language, I suggest you get off your parents computer and finish your homework.
By: MirrorMan ∆ on January 23, 2009
at 10:27 AM