Misery Index

OBAMA'S OWN WORDS

In Obama's autobiography, Dreams of My Father:

"In the Muslim school, the teacher wrote to tell mother I made faces during Koranic studies."

From 2006 when Obama delivered the keynote address at a conference sponsored by Jim Wallis and the magazine Sojourners.

"For one thing, I believed and still believe in the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change..."

In a January, 2007 interview with the Chicago Sun Times.

I came to Christianity through the black church tradition where the line between evangelical and non-evangelical is completely blurred.

Obama asserted in December, 2007,

"I've always been a Christian."  "The only connection I've had to Islam is that my grandfather on my father's side came from that country [Kenya].  But I've never practiced Islam."

In February, 2008, Obama claimed:

"I have never been a Muslim. ... other than my name and the fact that I lived in a populous Muslim country for 4 years when I was a child [Indonesia, 1967-71].  I have very little connection to the Islamic religion."

In March, 2008, stated during Obama's "Race" speech.  [Transcript and Video of the speech]

"The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith...."

During an interview (Video) by ABC's George Stephanopoulos on "This Week", Obama was talking about what he described as "smears" that were claiming he was Muslim when he maintains he is a practicing Christian.

"Let's not play games," Obama stated.  "What I was suggesting - you're absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith.  And you're absolutely right that that has not come."

Stephanopoulos immediately interrupted Obama, stating, "Christian faith."

Nicholas D. Kristof of the New York Times,

"In a free-ranging interview with the New York Times, Obama described the Muslim call to prayer as "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset."

The Times' Nicholos Kristof wrote Obama recited, "with a first-class [Arabic] accent," the opening lines of the Muslim call to prayer.

The first few lines of the call to prayer state:

Allah is Supreme!
Allah is Supreme!
Allah is Supreme!  Allah is Supreme!
I witness that there is no god but Allah
I witness that there is no god but Allah
I witness that Muhammad is his prophet....

"If I were a Muslim, I would let you know..."

OBAMA'S CAMP OFFICIAL WORDS

Robert Gibbs, Obama's communications director has stated to the Washington Post, that

"Senator Obama has never been a Muslim.  As a six-year-old in Catholic school, he studied catechism."

Two months later, Paul Watson of the Los Angeles Times (available online in a Baltimore Sun reprint) reported that the Obama campaign had retreated from that absolute statement and instead issued a more "nuanced" one:

Obama has never been a practicing Muslim.

At Jakatar's Roman Catholic Franciscus Asisi Primary School, pictured below - right, school documents show a "Barry Soetoro", serial number 203,  as being born in Honolulu, Hawaii on Aug. 4, 1961.  Additionally, school documents show that his father is listed as "L Soetoro Ma" who worked as an official of the Director General's office in the TNI Topography division of the Indonesian Army.  Barry's religion was listed as Islam/Muslim.  Although the school takes children of any religion at that time, each student must choose one of five state-sanctioned religions when registering - Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Catholic or Protestant.  Additionally at the time, the elementary school had just opened the previous year and wanted to enroll as many students as possibly, so it welcomed children of any religion, said Israella Dharmawan, his first grade teacher.

"At that time, Barry was also praying in a Catholic way, but Barry was Muslim," Dharmawan said.

Because Barry had registered as a Muslim, this meant that during the third and fourth grades, Barry learned about Islam for two hours each week in religion class.

He attended here for three years until his family moved from H Ramir Street to Dempo Street, where he attended Sekolah Dasar Negeri Besuki Primary School for one year, now called Model Primary School Menteng 1.

At the Besuki Primary School (Pictured left), a public school in Jakarta, that did allow students of all faith to attended however, Obama's faith is listed as Muslim.  The school is indeed a government primary school and not a madrassa as some have claimed.

However, third-grade teacher Effendi, said she remember clears that at this school, he was registered as a Muslim, which determined what class he attended during weekly religion lessons.

"Muslim students were taught by a Muslim teacher, and Christian students were taught by a Christian teacher," said Effendi.

Obama wrote in his autobiography, Dreams of My Father,

In Indonesia, I'd spent 2 years at a Muslim school, 2 years at a Catholic school.  In the Muslim school, the teacher wrote to tell mother I made faces during Koranic studies.  In the Catholic school, when it came time to pray, I'd pretend to close my eyes, then peek around the room.  Nothing happened.  No angels descended.  Just a parched old nun and 30 brown children, muttering words."

Additionally, speaking to Kaltim Post, Tine Hahiyary, who was principal of Obama's school while he was enrolled there, said she recalls he studied the Qu'ran in Arabic.

"At that time, I was not Barry's teacher but he is still in my memory" claimed Tine, who is 80 years old.  The Kaltim Post says Obama's teacher, named Hendri, died.

"I remember that he studied 'mengaji' (recitation of the Qu'ran)", Tine said, according to an English translation by Loatze.

Mengaji, or the act of reading the Qu'ran with its correct Arabic punctuation, is usually taught to more religious pupils and is not known as a secular study.  In other words, it's a little more than just "play" at being a Muslim.  To put it in a Christain context, it's well beyond and above Sunday School.

The Muslim claim has also been stated by Paul Watson of the Los Angeles Times, Haroon Siddiqui of the Toronto Star who visited the Jakarta school and found that "Three of his teachers have said he was enrolled as a Muslim."

The LA Times recounts statements made by Obama's third- and fourth grade teacher:

"At that time, Barry was also praying in a Catholic way, but Barry was Musilm.  He was registered as a Muslim because his father, Lolo Soetoro, was Muslim."

According to the blog "An American Expat in Southeast Asia" back in January 2007, well before the Muslim issue;

"That being said, Islam plays a very important role in Indonesian schools and a foreigner might be surprised to find out that religious classes are compulsory for all Indonesian students."

All Indonesian students are required to study religion at school and a young "Barry Soetoro" being a Muslim would have been required to study Islam daily in school.  He would have been taught to read and write Arabic, to recite his prayers properly, to read and recite from the Qu'ran and to study the laws of Islam.

Obama Barack Hussein might not have attended an Indonesian madrassa, but evidence will show later that he has not been completely forthcoming on his Muslim heritage and upbringing.

Here is an extremely  slow loading  video showing Obama on the campaign trail while an Indonesian reporter explains before Obama came to the United States, he attended two schools in Indonesia as a child.  The two schools are included.

BTW, if you're interested, he is a video below of a reporter visiting Obama's childhood home.  It too is  rather slow loading.

Mzee Hussein Onyango Obama - Obama Jr's Grandfather, who he has admitted was Muslim, however he has also stated that Mzee was the only person in the family that was Muslim.  According to Sarah Obama, Obama Jr's Grandmother in Africa, Mzee had converted to Islam from Roman Catholicism and taken the name Hussein, but also said that his children had inherited only the name, not the religion as each person should be able to choose how they worshipped.

Barack Hussein Obama Sr.  - There is not much known about Obama Sr. 's religion other than a few family quotes, and he has quite a large family.... 

Obama explains in his autobiography that his Kenyan father was Muslim, but only indirectly, when Obama explains to a girlfriend in Hawaii that his name is not "Barry," as he was then commonly called, but "Barack," a name Barack explains means "Blessed" in Arabic.  He further explains that the name was his father's and says, "My grandfather was a Muslim." 

Obama also claimed that Obama Sr. was an atheist although he was buried as a Muslim. 

Druing the 2004 DNC, Obama claimed his father was "a non-practicing Christian".

Stanley Ann was Obama's Mother.  Maxine Box, Stanley Ann's best friend in high school, remembered Ann.  "She touted herself as an atheist, and it was something she'd read about and could argue."  (Corsi & Corsi, pg. 42) 

Lolo Soretor was Obama's Step-Father.  Lolo and Ann married in 1965 when Obama Jr. was 4.  He has been stated to be a Muslim who had been sent by the Indonesian government to study in the United States.  

Roy Obama (pictured with Obama Jr.) - Obama Jr.s half brother who he wrote about along with Obama Jr.'s 1992 wedding;

"The person who made me proudest of all," Obama wrote, "was Roy.  Actually, now we call him Abongo, his Luo name, for two years ago he decided to reassert his African heritage.  He converted to Islam, and has sworn off pork and tobacco and alcohol." 

According to a Investor's Business Daily  article, Roy is a Luo activist and a militant Muslim who argues that the black man must "liberate himself from the poisoning influences of European culture."  He urges his younger brother, Obama Jr, to embrace his African heritage. 

Additionally, Raila Odinga, head of the same Luo tribe to which Obama's late father, Obama Sr belonged, is a Marxist who reportedly has made  pact with a hard-line Islamic group in Kenya to establish Shariah courts throughout the country.  He has also vowed to ban booze and pork and impose Muslim dress codes on women - moves favored by Roy.  Obama Jr. has stated that he disagrees with his brother however, and most recently, Obama interrupted his New Hampshire campaign to speak by phone with Odinga, who claims to be his cousin.

Malik Obama, Obama Jr.'s half brother.  The picture on the left was supposedly taken in 1985 (which is probably the 1983 trip Obama Jr took to Africa) when the two first met.  Malik has been stated to say "Barack Obama’s half brother Malik said Thursday that if elected his brother will be a good president for the Jewish people."  There is some debate over whether an added statement of, "despite his Muslim background" was really made.  It can not be found in the audio of the one side of the interview, which was made via phone.

Maya Soetoro-Ng, Obama's half sister,  explained to Jodi Kantor of the New York Times:

"My whole family was Muslim, and most of the people I knew were Muslim."

Classmate Rony Amir, who is now the Manager at the Bank Mandiri, in Jakarta who went to school with Barry,  recalls the following in two different articles:

"Barry was previously quite religious in Islam.  His birth father, Barack Hussein Obama was a Muslim economist from Kenya.  Before marrying Ann Dunham, Hussein Obama was married to a woman from Kenya who had seven children.  All the relatives of Barry's father were very devout Muslims."

"We previously often asked him to the prayer room close to the house."

"He was often in the prayer room wearing a 'sarong', at that time, he was quite religious in Islam but only after marrying Michelle, he changed his religion."

"If he was wearing a sarong he looked funny."

Rony continues further that Obama at one point had to change his religion if he ever intended later to run for the office of the President of the United States because America would never elect a Muslim to be President of the United States.

Emirsyah Satar, CEO of Garuda Indonesia says that not only did he change his name from Barry Soetoro to a more Islamic name Barack Hussein Obama, but he remained a Muslim all his life and that his later conversion to Christianity in 1992 was perhaps not so sincere, that he only changed his religion only so that he could marry Michelle.

Aulfin Adi, who describes himself as among Obama's closest childhood friends stated in a LA Times article:

"We prayed but not really seriously, just following actions done by older people in the mosque.  But as kids, we loved to meet our friends and went to the mosque together and played." 

Lolo and Barry would walk to the makeshift mosque together, Adi said.  "His mother often went to church, but Barry was Muslim.  He went to the mosque."  "And I remember him wearing a sarong."

WHATS IN A NAME?

It has been stated that Barack Obama was orignially naed "Baraka" which comes from the Arabic word meaning "blessed" and comes directly from the Koran.

Emirsyah Satar, CEO of Garuda Indonesia, where Obama's mother worked for a time, says that not only did he change his name from Barry Soetoro to a more Islamic name Barack Hussein Obama, but he remained a Muslim all his life and that his later conversion to Christianity in 1992 was perhaps not so sincere, that he only changed his religion so that he could marry Michelle.

The Chicago Tribune states:  "Six months after they wed [Stanley and Obama], another letter arrived in Kenya, announcing the birth of Barack Hussein Obama, born Aug. 4, 1961.

More recently, Muammar Gadhafi said the following during a recent televised national rally, and this also might help to explain why the Obama camp is being mum about certain campaign donations.  You can also view the video on MEMRI (The Middle East Media Research Institute) including the entire transcript.

"There are elections in America now.  Along came a black citizen of Kenyan African origins, a Muslim, who had studied in an Islamic school in Indonesia.  His name is Obama."

"All the people in the Arab and Islamic world and in Africa applaud this man."

"They welcomed him and prayed for him and for his success, and they may have even been involved in legitimate contribution campaigns to enable him to win the American presidency.

"We are hoping that this black man will take pride in his African and Islamic identity, and in his faith, and that [he will know] that he has rights in America, and that he will change America from evil to good, and that America will establish relations that will serve it well with other peoples, especially the Arabs."

Gadhafi went on to lament statements Obama made at a June 4 address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committe in which the presidential candidate stated if he is elected president, "Jerusalem would remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided."

But the next day, during a CNN appearance, Obama explained he meant Jerusalem shouldn't be physically divided with a partition and was not referring to the city remaining in exclusively Jewish hands.

Gadhafi addressed this new statement by Obama.  "But we were taken by surprise when our African Kenyan brother [Obama], who is an American national, made statements [about Jerusalem] that shocked all his supporters in the Arab world, in Africa, and in the Islamic world.

"We hope that this is merely an elections 'clearance sale,' as they say in Egype - in other words, merely an elections lie.  As you know, this is the farce of elections - a person lies and lies to people, just so that they will vote for him, and afterwards, when they say to him, 'You promised this and that,' he says:  'No, this was just elections propaganda.' This is the farce of democracy for you.  He says:  'This was propaganda, and you thought I was being serious.  I was fooling you to get your votes.'

An Egyptian newspaper, Al-Masri al-Youm, refers to his "Muslim origins."

One Al-Jazeera analysis calls him a "non-Christian man."  A second refers to his "Muslim Kenyam" father, and a third, by Naseem Jamali, notes that "Obama may not want to be counted as a Muslim but Muslims are eager to count him as one of their own.

Some American Muslim leaders also perceive Obama as Muslim. The president of the Islamic Society of North America, Sayyid M. Syeed, told Muslims at a conference in Houston that whether Obama wins or loses, his candidacy will reinforce that Muslim children can "become the presidents of this country." The Nation of Islam's Louis Farrakhan called Obama "the hope of the entire world" and compared him to his religion's founder, Fard Muhammad.

But this excitement also has a dark side – suspicions that Obama is a traitor to his birth religion, an apostate (murtadd) from Islam. Al-Qaeda has prominently featured Obama's stating "I am not a Muslim" and one analyst, Shireen K. Burki of the University of Mary Washington, sees Obama as "bin Laden's dream candidate." Should he become U.S. commander in chief, she believes, Al-Qaeda would likely "exploit his background to argue that an apostate is leading the global war on terror … to galvanize sympathizers into action."

And Obama's father was Muslim.  So Obama went to a Muslim school, studied Muslim, had a Muslim father, but yet states "I wasn't brought up Muslim."

ISLAMIC LAW

If Obama was once a Muslim, he is now what Islamic law calls a murtadd (apostate), an ex-Muslim converted to another religion.  Therefore, Obama could be a target of fatwah, someone whose blood may be shed according to Islamic law.

http://www.answering-islam.org/Silas/apostasy.htm

RANT ON 

Do I believe that Obama as a devout Muslim at one time?  Yes.

Do I believe that Obama is a Christian today?  Kinda, it's highly debatable and I think his original upbringing does effect the way he thinks.

Do I believe that Obama made an attempt to switch to Christianity back in 1992?  Yes.

Do I believe that Obama made a half hearted attempt to change to Christianty back in 1992 for Michelle?  Yes.  [Remember Obama stated in his own words that Reverend Jeremiah Wright "The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith...."  2008-20 = 1988]  And Rev. White was the man who officiated the ceremony between Barack and Michelle in 1992.] 

Do I believe that Obama today is a devout Christian, not following the Muslim faith?  No.

Do I think he's lied about not being a Muslim?  Yes.

And remember, this isn't more about Obama being a Muslim, it's about him possibly lying about it, in other words, possible deception.  And feel free to disagree with me on any of my personal statements, you as a human are entitled to that right however, you as an American are entitled to the truth about a potential Presidential Candidate.  This is about a possible denial of facts, this is about claiming to be something you are not, this is about being something you are not.    And ultimately is it not about what I think.  It's not even about what you think.  It's about whoever the person that is going to be our next President thinks and believes in. 

I've spent more hours on this post than I have with any other post.  I've read way too many articles about the man.  I've read through way too many speeches the man has made.  I've read too many articles about his family history.  And I've read way too many excerpts from his two books.  But I get a good feeling of who the man is now.

I also believe that Obama is "confused" regarding his biological father, religion, politics and his race and thus his reasons for hiding so many things. I mean seriously.  His biological father was Muslim, who was married to at least three if not four women at one time.  He has half-brothers and half-sisters all over Africa.  His mother was an activist, who was also trying to find the "truth" about religion.  Obama states she was a Christian, her high school friends state she was an atheist.    Obama Jr was taught in a Muslim and a Catholic school.  (Can you image having a Nun for a teacher and then later in the day going to a class to learn about Islam?  Pretty confusing.)  Race wise, he's 50% white, 44% Arab, and 6% black.  The 6% isn't even legal in the United State for claiming heritage, as 12.5% is, but yet, he appears black.  So no matter what his DNA may be at 50% white, the man appears black, and was treated black growing up, especially in a time in the 60s when a white woman with a black child wasn't looked highly upon, and dealt with the paradox of this fact throughout his life by trying to be both many times.  Statements from him of "I was too black" or "I was too white" (not exact quotes, but close) in many interviews is an obvious clue to this.  He can't find a happy medium to make everyone happy, and be accepted.  But what he needs to do, is do what makes him happy inside.  Screw everyone else.

I even think this is why he won't release his original birth certificate, and only released a "Certification of Live Birth", which is no more than the "short" form of a birth certificate.  I believe he was born Baraka Hussein Obama, and when his mother remarried Soreto, his name changed to Barake "Barry" Hussein Soreto.  I think when he became of age, he had his name changed to Barack Hussein Obama.  So why doesn't he tell the truth?  Because he's still got issues with it, and he's still trying to find himself, that's all.  He's just trying to find himself, of who he is, and what he is.  Unfortunately, we don't need someone in the office who doesn't know who or what he is.  Maybe in 10 or 15 years, he might be a good President, but based upon reading way too many articles, sections of both his books, and reading about his past history from family and friends, he's not ready yet.  And no, that is not an endorsement for McCain... it's the truth, at least from my point of view.

And Obama, I'm not saying in anyway you are a "bad" person. It's not about good or bad.  It's not about us or them.  It's not about black or white.  It's about "Us" and "We".  It's about this nation as a whole, and trying to keep it the great nation that you came here for.   I'm simply saying, you're not ready to be truthful.  When you are, then you may be ready to be President.