31 January 2004

Reparations Wrap-up

This government of, by and for the people did not include the Black race for centuries, though we've been here sharing the burden of this great experiment called democracy since day one. Neither slavery, nor Jim Crow would have lasted without the government's complicity. The government has unconditionally apologized to all other groups that it has wronged, except for people of African descent.

Despite being treated as less than human, we have willingly fought this nation's battles since 1619. Africans in America didn't confiscate nearly two billion acres of land from Native Americans. But, we've paid taxes and given our lives so that whites who did confiscate the land could develop and financially benefit from it. Black folks forked over their hard-earned money to support a federal Indian Bureau and state commissions that gave Natives benefits that Blacks didn't get.

Money from our pockets made up the $13 billion that rebuilt Germany under the Marshall Plan, and Japan under the Point Four Plan, though Black soldiers and their families were denied the FHA loans that returning white soldiers and their families received after the war was over. We didn't imprison Japanese Americans in the 1940s, but our tax dollars helped to pay $22,000 in reparations awarded to each descendant in 1992.

The descendants of the formerly enslaved Africans in America were politically disempowered until the mid-60's. Anyone with whiney protests about the length of time that has passed since enslavement should take a long look at what was holding us back. Anyone with ignorant laments about the rich and famous of our ethnicity, should just shut up. No one is asking for personal checks made out to every American of African descent.
Taxes

Death and taxes got you down? Why not incorporate? Not only can Your Name Corp. outlive you, but as a corporate entity, you can join the more than 60 percent of U.S. businesses that pay no income tax at all. Welcome to the corporate world, where profits were up 8.9 percent last year [2000], but corporations paid 2.1 percent less in income taxes.

The Treasury Department says the problem of corporate tax evasion is "unacceptable and growing." And while it's difficult to document an absence of taxable income, the circumstantial evidence is compelling: Large corporations reported $119 billion less income to the IRS than they did to shareholders in 1996, the last year examined in a recent Treasury report. Of course, such creative bookkeeping is not risk-free: Both UPS and Compaq got busted last year for using illicit tax shelters. But getting nabbed is the exception to the rule. Odds against the IRS auditing a large corporation this year: 100-to-1. —.:Tim Dickinson:.

Scuttlebutt

Joe Lieberman will drop out of the presidential primaries on the 3rd of February. Coincidentally, this is the same day matching federal funds will be disbursed, enabling him to pay off his campaign debts.

.:Dennis Kucinich's:. new Press Secretary, .:William Rivers Pitt:. of truthout.org fame, has signed on solely to pad his resume. One can but hope that he actually believes in Dennis' message, even if he doesn't believe in the man as a candidate.

The current defense budget doesn't include approximately $40 billion in spending for military operations in Iraq. What kind of nincompoops don't include expenditures for an ongoing war?

The U.S. expects to capture Osama bin Laden soon. .:buzzflash:. predicted the capture would be timed to boost Dubya's election bid. (Note the use of election, he can't be re-elected because he was merely selected the first time.)

28 January 2004

Positive Campaign Alert

Much ado has been made about the presidential candidates wooing voters with a positive campaign.

What is more positive than telling people they have the power to .:take back:. the nation from the elitist, warmongering millionaires now squatting in the White House? What is more positive than promoting .:peace:. over warfare?

It isn't that the candidates and their supporters aren't positive, it's that the press is determined, as they were in 2000, to fool everyone into believing that up is down, black is white, hot is cold, positive is negative, and that Dubya was elected.
Iraq WMD Hearing on CSPAN

David Kay, the man Team Dubya was counting on the find those weapons of mass destruction, was the man of the moment this afternoon on CSPAN. True to his reputation, he used every contortion of logic possible to downplay the significance of the Iraq Survey Group's failure to find anything at all. Though I can't quote him verbatim, he made a wild statement that went something like this:
I wouldn't be surprised that we find he was a bigger threat to world peace because of the complete corruption of his regime. It was only a matter of time before there was a connection between someone in his regime and those terrorists who were seeking WMD.
Fortunately, for those being thoroughly entertained by the spectacle, Jeff Sessions of Alabama later said he and other members of Congress were convinced that Saddam must have WMD, because this whole "thing" could have been avoided if he had only allowed the Weapons' Inspectors to come in to the country. David Kay then agreed with him by way of saying that Saddam was in violation of U.N. Sanction 1441.

For anyone confused by any of that, shame on you! These are the lyingest bastards ever known to mankind. Nothing they say should confuse you. It should only make you more aware of their inability to tell the truth!
It's Never About Race

The Miami Herald did a .:computer analysis:. of approximately 800,000 felony criminal cases (1993 - 2002) and concluded the judicial system is "more likely to punish blacks than whites" who are charged with the same crimes and have the same criminal history. Even when defendants had the same quality of legal representation, Black defendants were given harsher penalties 44% more often.
In 1999, in separate incidents just three months apart, Fort Lauderdale police stopped Tim Carter and Richard Thomas as they walked along the Florida East Coast railroad tracks. Police found a cocaine rock on Carter, who is white. Police found a crack pipe with cocaine residue on Thomas, who is black. Both men blamed drug addictions.

Carter said he went to court expecting to get five years in prison, but the judge took into account that his wife was about to deliver a baby and the family needed his income. He got a withhold, and the judge sent him to drug rehabilitation.

Thomas got convicted and sent to prison.
As usual, they insist it isn't because of race or racismm and cite a host of irrelevant factors, that entitle white defendants to have adjudication withheld, that aren't present in the cases of Black defendants. They're right; it isn't racism that motivates them, it's deeply ingrained white supremacy. Of course a white defendant will straighten up and fly right, they're white, but a Black defendant is a born criminal who needs jailtime.

The see white defendants and automatically think of their friends, their relatives, or their children. They see Black defendants and think of lifelong criminals.

When protesting the accusations of judicial bias, they never stop to ask themselves why they see one picture with white defendants, but a different picture with Black ones. Hmmm, let's see . . .could it be because they're BLACK?! If race played no role in the disparate treatment, all 15 y/o defendants, charged with the same crime and with the same criminal history, would remind them of their friends, relatives or children.

26 January 2004

Democrats Cry for Principled Leaders, but they won't vote for one . . .

A message from Dennis Kucinich


In September of 2002, before five of my fellow candidates joined the President in claiming that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, I repeatedly and insistently made the point that no proof of that claim existed and as such that there was no basis to go to war. Six months later, even Dr. Dean was still claiming that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. "

The Institute for Public Accuracy has compiled the following quotes, (listed in chronological order):

[August 4, 2002] Sen. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN: "Every day Saddam remains in power with chemical weapons, biological weapons, and the development of nuclear weapons is a day of danger for the United States. " [See: .:Counterpunch .:. Faux News:.]

[Sept. 12, 2002] Rep. DENNIS KUCINICH: "Since 1998 no credible intelligence has been brought forward which suggests that Iraq is manufacturing weapons of mass destruction. . . " [See: .:Kucinich 1 .:. Kucinich 2:.]

[Oct. 9, 2002] Sen. JOHN KERRY: "Why is Saddam Hussein attempting to develop nuclear weapons when most nations don't even try? According to intelligence, Iraq has chemical and biological weapons . . . Iraq is developing unmanned aerial vehicles capable of delivering chemical and biological warfare agents. . . " [See: .:Common Dreams .:. John Kerry Speech:.]

[Oct. 10, 2002] Sen. JOHN EDWARDS: "We know that he [Hussein] has chemical and biological weapons. " [See: .:John Edwards Statement:.]

[Jan. 18, 2003] Gen. WESLEY CLARK: "He [Hussein] does have weapons of mass destruction. " When asked, "And you could say that categorically?" Clark responded: "Absolutely. " (on CNN, Jan. 18, 2003). On finding the alleged weapons Clark said: "I think they will be found. There's so much intelligence on this. " (on CNN, April 2, 2003) [See: .:FAIR .:. CNN Transcripts 1 .:. CNN Transcripts 2:.

[March 17, 2003] Dr. HOWARD DEAN: "[He and others] have never been in doubt about the evil of Saddam Hussein or the necessity of removing his weapons of mass destruction. " [See: .:Dean on TV:.]

Kucinich, who led the effort in the House of Representatives in challenging the Bush Administration's march toward war attempted repeatedly to warn America that there was no basis to go to war:

On Sep. 3, 2002, on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Dennis Kucinich said, "I don't think there's any justification to go to war with Iraq. There's no evidence that they have weapons of mass destruction. There's no. . . there's nothing that says that they have the ability to deliver such weapons, if they did have them. There's been no stated intention on their part to harm the United States. "

On Sep. 4, 2002, on Buchanan and Press, Buchanan asked "Congressman Kucinich, does not the President have a clear, factual point here? Saddam Hussein is developing these weapons of mass destruction, he agreed to get rid of them, he has not gotten rid of them. Kucinich replied: "Well, frankly we haven't seen evidence or proof of that, and furthermore we haven't seen evidence or proof that he has the ability to deliver such weapons if he has them, and finally, whether or not he has the intent. I think that what we need to be doing is to review this passion for war, that drumbeat for war, that's coming out of the White House, and to slow down and to let calmer heads prevail and to pursue diplomacy…. "

On Sep. 7, 2002, Dennis Kucinich gave a speech in Baraboo, Wisconsin, called "Architects of New Worlds," in which he said "There's no evidence Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, or the ability to deliver such weapons if it had them or the intention to do so. There is no reason for war against Iraq. Stop the drumbeat. Stop the war talk. Pull back from the abyss of unilateral action and preemptive strikes. " [See: .:Kucinich:.]

25 January 2004

Meanwhile, back on the ranch . . .

Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown & Root, received $6 million in .:kickbacks:. from a Kuwaiti company. I'm shocked! It wasn't that long ago that the Pentagon decided no one involved with those government contracts had done anything wrong.

The good news is that with their extra money, they can hire some of those laid off workers from Kodak Eastman. Right?
Job Growth? What Job growth? Where?

Two days after Dubya the Clueless .:told:. his deaf, dumb and blind supporters that, "For the sake of job growth, the tax cuts you passed should be made permanent", Eastman Kodak told its workers that the services of 23 percent of them (12,000 to 15,000) would no longer be required by the year 2006.

In December of 2003, there were 1,000 new jobs created . . .nationwide. At that rate, it will only take a little over a year for all those laid off employees to find new jobs, provided no other company does any downsizing, or outsourcing.

Ya' just gotta' love the kind of job growth this country has been experiencing lately!
It'll Never End as Long as We're There

Another soldier was .:killed in Iraq:. today, as a result of continuing ambushes. If pictures of the flag-draped coffins of U.S. soldiers were broadcast across the nation, would the American people be less silent about this illegal war?