Coal Industry
Mohammed the Bear
BMW 1-01-09 interview begins at 30-minute mark
Don't Taze Me, Bro! T-shirt
Finally, Ramadan Coke
Mitt Romney Post
2007 BugsGoneWild.com Calendar
Ramadan Coke
Coal Industry
As of 12-31-08
After reading the transcript of the speech Barack Obama delivered in Berlin yesterday, I’ve concluded that at least two parts of his speech appear to have been “recycled” (i.e., they were used by others first).
In the seventh paragraph of the transcript, Obama said this:
Barack Obama delivers a speech in Berlin July 24, 2008.
“On that day, much of this continent still lay in ruin. The rubble of this city had yet to be built into a wall. The Soviet shadow had swept across Eastern Europe, while in the West, America, Britain, and France took stock of their losses, and pondered how the world might be remade.”
Using the exact phrase, “how the world might be remade,” and without the words, “Barack” and “Obama,” a Google Advanced Search yielded only six results. Two of those results showed promise.
The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens and the I Ching by Terence and Dennis McKenna
One result showed that the phrase had appeared 14 years ago in a book, The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens and the I Ching, by Terence and Dennis McKenna (Harper Collins 1994):
But there were two philosophies then among the revolutionaries on how the world might be remade. One path, endorsed by the political activists, advocated a traditional Western strategy: seizing political power and using that vantage to … – Link.
I suspect Obama and his speech writers relied upon the above-named book for speech content for several reasons:
- No one can doubt that Obama is a revolutionary who sees a landscape most Americans do not;
- Obama wrote in one of his books that he had experience with a multitude of illegal drugs, some of which must have been of the hallucinogenic variety; and
- Having drawn so much criticism for his relationships — or lack thereof — with Islam and Christianity, Obama must have found comfort in a book that reflected the teachings of I Ching, one of the fundamental books of Confucianism.
Eleven paragraphs later, Obama said:
“While the 20th century taught us that we share a common destiny, the 21st has revealed a world more intertwined than at any time in human history.”
Through a second Google Advanced Search, I found the late Congresswoman Barbara Jordan (D-TX) had used the phrase, “…we share a common destiny,” as part of her 1976 Democratic Convention Keynote Address — “Who Then Will Speak for the Common Good?” — in New York City:
The Late Rep. Barbara Jordan (D-TX)
“Let there be no illusions about the difficulty of forming this kind of a national community. It’s tough, difficult, not easy. But a spirit of harmony will survive in America only if each of us remembers that we share a common destiny.”
Over the years, I’ve found that politicians who use phrases like “…we share a common destiny” tend to be the same ones determined to foist their marxist, socialist and nanny-state policies and programs on the people. It’s the kind of change in which few Americans — contrary to Obama’s campaign sloganeering — can believe.
14 responses so far ↓
1 Always On Watch // Jul 25, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I knew that some of the phrasing was familiar. And that technique helps him to bond with the masses — or certain masses, anyway.
Great post, Bob!
2 hotoffthepress2 // Jul 25, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Thanks, AOW!
3 Larry S // Jul 25, 2008 at 6:41 pm
You are, officially, out of your mind! You find two phrases from an almost half hour speech, Google it, and determine it’s plagiarism? (By the way, “plagiarism” is the word grown-ups use when they mean somebody “recycled” somebody else’s work.)
NONSENSE!!!
But it gives us some good feeling knowing that you were kepy off the street by Googling this crap for hours on end. Keep up the good work!
4 the world // Jul 25, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Good Lord, you people are stupid.
5 hotoffthepress2 // Jul 25, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Larry S — Unlike you, it only took me a couple of seconds to Google it. Better luck next time!
6 hotoffthepress2 // Jul 25, 2008 at 7:11 pm
the world — You’re the one who got sucked into reading it. ha ha
7 Joe Fleet // Jul 25, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Those phrases are so non-specific. You’re making a huge leap to suggest that he cribbed these phrases from these other sources. It’s just bad cognition on your part. Why don’t you attempt some interesting writing instead of attempting to conjure fear using methods that are tenuous at best. Seriously, I’ve heard conspiracy theories about the moon landing that hold more weight than your arguments.
8 stogie // Jul 25, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Unlike lazybones Bob, I have googled every word in the speech and have determined that every single word in it has been used by someone, at some point, in history. Osama’s… snicker, excuse me… Obama’s failure to use his own words proves that he is the black, leftist, Muslim, reincarnation of Hitler! Wooop woop yarrrg blarg!
9 fredgie // Jul 25, 2008 at 11:54 pm
This post is meant as parody, right?
10 SqueakyRat // Jul 26, 2008 at 1:27 am
You set a new standard for stupid. All previous stupid is now smart.
11 stogie // Jul 26, 2008 at 2:13 am
Dear Mr. McCarty,
Please excuse my crude hyperbole above. This is what I meant to type:
Those short phrases, of seven and eight syllables respectively, express old and unimpeachable human ideals. To say the fact that they have been misused by tyrants in the past makes them something to be afraid of is as ridiculous as saying that the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea has more than two words which correctly describe that state (one of them being “of). I mean, I don’t go around saying that “liberty” and “freedom” are bad words even now after they’ve been so thoroughly sullied by people like Dick Cheney or that ridiculous brain-damaged man-child he has present his decisions to the public (George W. Bush, in case I was being too cryptic).
12 hotoffthepress2 // Jul 26, 2008 at 5:41 am
Just making the same sorts of claims Mr. O makes daily.
13 Dodge // Jul 29, 2008 at 2:04 am
oops! same phrases? yes. dont you think of something of diferent to google or write. You suggest that you can be smarter than him, isn’t it? go to hell
14 Jake // Nov 11, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Dodge - “Drop” something lately? (Acid) for all you dumb asses that elected somone you know nothing about.
Leave a Comment