Signs of the times: Obama's eye
Friday July 10, 2009
Yes, this photo of Obama ostensibly eyeing a young woman (apparently a 17-year-old delegate from Brazil--where are her parents?!) at the G-8 Summit is the hottest Google search item. And of course the question of what Obama was thinking is a leading...
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About Pontifications
This blog is no longer updated and is closed for comments. We welcome your comments about Catholicism in our Catholic forums.
David Gibson is an award-winning religion writer who specializes in writing about the Catholic Church, which he joined as a convert at the age of 30. He is the author The Rule of Benedict: Pope Benedict XVI and His Battle with the Modern World. He also wrote The Coming Catholic Church: How the Faithful are Shaping a New American Catholicism. He has written about Catholicism for leading newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, New York magazine, Boston magazine, Fortune, Commonweal, and America. Gibson worked in Rome for Vatican Radio for several years and traveled frequently with Pope John Paul II. He later covered religion for The Star-Ledger of New Jersey. He has co-written several recent documentaries on Christianity for CNN. For further information check out his website at dgibson.com.Search This Blog
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it is so important that we pray for are prez. in this time of confusion and fear, we must trust that GOD is still in control and although the journey through this valley of dust is difficult we must remember that persecution is the way of true christianity and that although the world is against us, we must remember that we our not apart of this world, which goes by with a puff. so let the worldly enjoy the creation, as our only HOPE is that we will be with the creator. thank GOD for purgatory, and pray that the prez finds a healthy fear of the true Almighty.
It is good to have a President who is not a professional eunuch.
As Clement of Alexandria said when tasked with spending too much time with the women of the church, "The Lord was not ashamed to make them and I am not ashamed to look at them."
Leave it to FOX to find the gutter, wallow in it, and drag anyone else nearby to join them. Their sense of news is laughable, not laudable.
Fox News is hardly alone in disseminating pseudo-news, though particularly skilled at it. This was the same story that greeted me as I foolishly watched part of Good Morning America today. A male anchor, ostensibly a journalist, explained the image with fascinating analysis, while his female counterparts giggled with girlish delight.
Face it. The "man" is a stinking pig. Presidential? He barely qualifies a ghetto material. Enough already. If I caugh him looking at my daughter like that he would get a punch in the nose.
I love the continued bias that not only the bloggers here on B-net display, but also that of those reading these blogs and leaving ridiculous comments. Are people so uneducated that they willingly take a blogger or even a news agency at their word without fact checking?
Yes, when you take a video such as the one with President Obama and freeze frame it right where you want it to be, you can give the world a false perception. I would love to know how many of these people who are falsely accusing Obama have watched the full video clip to see, what in actuality and reality, was Obama being a gentleman and helping the woman behind him down the stairs. The idiocy of of it all! Do any of the bloggers on B-Net actually adhere to the values of their religious beliefs? Do you not value truth and honesty? Do you not value other human beings reputations, regardless of their political views? What a shame.
I don't like our new President's policies at all, but as a male I know and recognize beauty when I see it myself. Can I downgrade any man for recognizing it also?
Jason, to answer your question, yes we do, I think, mostly. :)
The assumption that the man doesn't have enough going on that he even NOTICES a female besides his wife is laughable. I check and double check everything that I have to suffer to hear from FOX news...which is purposely rare!
You did watch the video? I watched it and it was not what fox was reporting.
I'm new here. Is beliefnet just a brand? What connection if any do you have to religion? I thought the picture was funny at first, but now i see that it's not meant as a joke to you folks.
I encourage David Gibson to do fact check on this photo and story. When you look at the actual video of the event you will see that Obama was not oogling the 17 year old but trying to negotiate steps with another person who is cropped from this photo. As far as Fox, trust them as much as you trust the original Fox in Luke 13:32.
Also cropped from your photo is that the step below the one shown is twice as steep as the one shown. Obama apparently was taken by surprise by the depth of the second step (which almost reaches up to the young lady's knee, so he is looking at the treacherous step and then turns to help a middle aged woman (his aide I assume)to negotiate it. Look at where Sarkozy is looking. Obama's face is not turned that far back. His eyes would have had to have been skewed wildly to the right. And too bad someone chose to crop that last step. Along with the lies printed in the right wing hate media, the doctored photo was enough to fool the weak minded folks that follow them or who just believe everything that comes down the pike. A more complete photo and the video is available at http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/10/one-more-take-on-that-photo/
I ask for a follow up post from the original blogger. Is this the discourse we can expect from Catholic commentators? We post misleading photos. People go nuts putting in their two cents.
Meanwhile, our economic system is unsustainable and causing damage to planetary carrying capacity, and prophets are needed to say so.
Our security system is a threat with weapons on the loose that could destroy millions while altering the ecological balance.
Our equity system is such that there are few winners and many losers in the fight for daily bread, and we need disciples to teach what they've been taught to pray and live, "Give us this day our daily bread. Give to all of us. Make sure the hungry are fed. And give to the stuffed a hunger for justice."
Our faith systems are concerned with determining ticket destinations for the deceased- smoking or non-smoking- a clear diversion from Christ's focus of praying that God's Kingdom and will be done right down here, on earth, as in heaven.
So we get a ridiculous post on a distorted photo instead of inviting national, global and faith leaders to deal with our common crisis points of prosperity, security, equity, and genuine meaning of faith.
I ask David to repent with me on moving away from silly stuff to serious stuff. The planet is in the balance.
David,
It's no secret that I'm no fan of Obama. That said, clean up your act buddy. Your posts have begun to slide below the level of reporting in the National Enquirer. So many have become so poor that I've not dignified them with participation. A guy with your intelligence and literary skills can, and should, do much better. This post was a new low.
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