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Has Affirmative Action Helped Black People?

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by Benjmain T. Moore, Jr.

President Kennedy

The Question of “Affirmative Action” has been a contentious matter since it was first introduced in 1961 by then President Kennedy. The words “affirmative action” were first mentioned in Executive Order 10925. It was proposed as a method to redress the discrimination that persisted in spite of”Civil Rights Laws” and constitutional guarantees.

It is one thing to put laws in place. It is quite another thing to put in place mechanisms that make certain those laws are enforced. Unlike some of our more recent Presidents who are known for their unfunded mandates, President Kennedy took the next step. Criteria were established and enforcement mechanisms were put in place to ensure compliance with “Civil Rights” laws.

President Lyndon Johnson (LBJ)

President Lyndon Johnson continued President Kennedy’s legacy giving a speech defining “Affirmative Action” in March of 1965. In September of that same year, he signed Executive Order 11246 which enforced “Affirmative Action” for the first time. It required government contractors to hire minorities and treat them with the same considerations they gave their white employees. Equal pay for equal work, equal benefits and equal opportunities for promotions and advancements.

Has affirmative action helped Black people?

Shirt seen at a Mitt Romney rally. Racism is alive, well and out in the open.

Let us examine this critically. First, make no mistake the institutionalized racism upon which this nation was founded is as alive and well today as it was back then. In spite of what we’d like to believe, the election of our first African-American President has revealed the cancer which has been festering just beneath the surface of society. When grown men, whom we’ve entrusted with the responsibility of governing, are willing to commit the treasonous act of destroying our economy rather than work with a Black President for the betterment of all, imagine what things were like back in the early 60’s when racism didn’t have to slink in the shadows.

Those who opposed affirmative action were not without guile. The first thing they did was successfully connect it to the “woman’s suffrage” movement. The plan was ingenious. By having women classified as minorities, and folded up under the affirmative action umbrella, they effectively broadened the scope of the program to such and extent, loopholes and the opportunity for mischief were the inevitable results.

Since the number of females is roughly equal to that of males, by definition, being a female does not and should not qualify one for minority status. While any fair minded person would agree that women certainly have their own issues which need and deserve redress, the purpose and intent of the affirmative action program was to redress historic injustices against Black people.

Gaming the system

Unemployment rate for Blacks versus Whites

Employers were quick to realize if they hired a Black female, they got a two for one deal. They could double count her as two minorities. They could also pad their minority numbers by hiring white women. Thus, they effectively diluted the intent and effectiveness of the program. Black males who were the nominal “bread winners” in the Black family did not see the increase in jobs intended by the program. In addition, this role reversal created a destructive pressure on the Black family. Mothers are critical to family cohesion. When they began leaving the home to enter the workforce in greater numbers Black families began to destabilize. Children with mothers at home, do better in school, are less likely to get into trouble, do better and are more apt to become productive, contributing citizens.

Prospective employees at a jobs fair

Yet another technique was “malicious obedience.” This technique was designed to generate anti-affirmative action sentiment from the white workforce. This was the hiring of any warmed bodied Black person regardless of skill and qualifications. This of course meant that a skilled Black person did not get the job and white people developed resentment because it was clear that their unskilled co-worker was there merely because of his skin color. Employers were not at all bashful about pointing out, that they were being forced to hire Black employees because they had to meet their quotas.

I am not saying that these practices were the norm for every employer. There were many who appreciated the concept of “affirmative action,” and did all they could  to carry out the provisions of the law to the best of their abilities. It only takes a few bad apples to spoil the bunch and there were considerably more than a few racist employers who did all they could to undermine and game the affirmative action program.

This classic misdirection was also used in our institutions of higher learning. In 1954 “Brown v. Board of Education” was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to this case, the prevailing theory that you could have a duel track – now a track for each minority group – system wherein Black people could attend an all Black school and receive an equal education to their white counterparts, was a carry over from “Reconstruction” following the Civil War. Black people were no longer Slaves, but they were not welcomed into, and were denied access to the institutions and facilities used by white people.

A young Thurgood Marshall

The case argued by the NAACP’s lead attorney and future Supreme Court Chief Justice Thurgood Marshall, proved that for a variety of reasons, separate was not equal. Schools are funded by tax resources which are directed – just as they are today – based on political interests. Just as suburban schools receive the lion’s share of tax money, the all white schools receive more funding than Black schools. This disparity in resources means that two children, one white and one Black who applied themselves fully under this so called “separate but equal” system would come out with unequal educations.

From my own experiences, I attended an inner-city school up until the 4th grade. Leschi Elementary was experimenting with what was then the cutting edge approach of allowing students to progress at their own skill level. In 4th grade I was in a 6th grade reading class – the highest they offered – and I was taking what they called “5th grade Algebra.” I thought I was doing well. My grades were good and I was presumably advanced for my grade and age.

That year my parents bought a house in the suburbs. I was enrolled in an “all white school” – except for me – and I discovered very quickly there is a difference. Although I may have been advanced for an inner-city school, I was way behind the other white kids who were not experimenting with learning at their own pace. They were simply moving along as the curriculum required. It took me several months to get back up to speed.

Here’s the upshot. Had I continued on with the inner-city schools, I may have easily made the Honor Roll and graduated from high school with honors. The rude awakening wouldn’t have come until I sat down for my college entrance exams. Those exams weren’t geared toward inner-city applicants. They were designed to level the field across all schools regardless of privilege. My SAT scores would have been too low to merit consideration for most colleges.

This problem would not have been because I had not applied myself. Nor would it have been because I had not earned good grades. It would have been the result – ultimately – of some politician deciding to funnel money to the schools in the affluent white suburbs and not the largely minority inner-city. To then pretend that SAT scores are applicable across the board is an exercise in sophistry.

Colleges know this. There is a direct correlation to the amount of money spent and the quality of education received. If this were not the case, “Ivy League” schools like Harvard, Princeton and Yale wouldn’t be able to command the high tuitions they require. Students are willing to go into debt because they understand, you get what you pay for. Inner-city schools are no different. You don’t get what you don’t pay for.

The end result of this insidious perfidy – if allowed to go unchecked – would be the creation of a permanent underclass not unlike a stratified society based on a Caste system. India is thousands of years older than we are. They are an ancient people with records – Vedas – going back so far into history, they are considered by some scientist to be anachronistic works of fiction. Why aren’t they the World’s “Super Power?” I submit it has everything to do with the stratification of their society and their creation of permanent under classes. When you limit the potential of a segment of your population you’re cutting yourself off from the most important resource we have, the human mind.

Affirmative action for white people

The fact of the matter is, white people benefit from affirmative action all the time. They don’t call it that. They do not perceive it as affirmative action, yet that is exactly what it is. You’ve seen glaring examples of it lately. Michelle Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, Todd Akin to name but a few. All supposedly have college degrees. Two have been – one is – governors of are largest States – based on land mass – one is a sitting congresswoman and the other is running for the U.S. Senate. Need I say more? How did any of them even get into college let alone receive a degree?

By the time I entered high school – Todd Akin – I had a working understand of human reproduction. By the time I entered high school – Sarah Palin – I was very familiar with a “World Map and Globe.” By the time I entered high school I had a reasonable grasp of American history. I could recite the standard reasons for WWI and WWII I knew that the Russians had been our allies in WWII. I had a working definition of the differences between Communism, Socialism and Capitalism. I had studied the McCarthy era and black listing – the “Red Scare” – and had a reasonable understanding of the dangers of labelling people and why certain individuals and companies did so for their own gain. Yet, these people seem to be totally ignorant of the basic facts any high school student who’s paid attention in class should know.

Notice any minorities in this graduating class?

One of the programs used to provide affirmative action for white people with regards to education is the “Legacy Program.” If either of your parents or grandparents attended a University, you are given special consideration for admission to that University. In fact you will get more points for your legacy status than any consideration you might receive under affirmative action based on your race. Does anyone truly believe that George W. Bush truly got into Yale, graduated and then got into Harvard and received a legitimate MBA? I sincerely doubt he could graduate from the high school I attended. Yet because his father and grandfather attended Yale, he had no problem getting in. He took a seat that other, better qualified white people and minorities did not get. 

The reverse discrimination argument

The theory behind this attack on affirmative action is that preferential treatment on the basis of race – 400+ years of discrimination to the contrary – is now a violation of various equal protection clauses in the law. It is actually rather clever however, it fails to take into account that affirmative action was put in place to address the already existing disparity in opportunity, education and hiring practices. I’ve already demonstrated that with the dilution of affirmative action provisions through the rolling up of women and other minorities under it’s umbrella, affirmative action has not truly been applied in the manner it was intended. Has affirmative action helped Black people? Not as it was originally intended to do.

The basis of these reverse discrimination law suits ironically by their very nature admit to an original existing discrimination. Hence the “reverse” clause. They are predicated on a sense of white entitlement and white privilege. Black people are only 12% of the total population. Just 12%. If you said that colleges had to set aside 12% of available slots for Black people that’s 88% of available slots for everybody else. Thus, white people already have their 88% and they’re now drooling with anticipation at getting our meager 12%. This would be bad enough if we actually had 12% set asides, which we do not.

I want to introduce you to Tim Wise. He is an activist and advocate for racial equality and he puts things in a manner that other white people can understand. The following is a 9:31min excerpt from one of his lectures. I believe you’ll find it enjoyable and enlightening.

Tim Wise on White Privilege

Defining affirmative action

A tale of two cubicles

Imagine two employees or two students. One has everything they need. They have a nice work cubicle with a powerful computer connected to the Internet via a high speed network. The other has only pencil and paper. If you give them similar assignments, whom would you expect to perform? You decide to “level the playing field” as it were by giving the employee with only the pencil and paper, a computer as well. However, you give him or her an old IBM-XT computer connected to the Internet over a 300 baud modem. Do you feel better? You did do something, but did you actually level the playing field? Of course not. Yet, in essence you gave out some affirmative action.

The game of life?

To use another analogy, consider a Monopoly Game. One that’s being played with real money, real property/land and what happens in the game happens to you in real life. Further imagine that this game has been going on for the past 1,000 or so years. There are hotels on Board Walk and Park Place. In fact there are hotels on all the properties. Whenever someone leaves the game – through death – one of their heirs takes their chair and the game continues.

The passage of the “Civil Rights” laws now means you get to play. We’ll give you your $200 dollar salary and let you roll the dice. Do you want to play? Would you play under these conditions? I’ve been involved in Monopoly games where I prayed to go directly to jail. At least I could sit out my 3 turns without worrying about having to pay anything.

Let’s sweeten the deal a bit for you. We’ll give you some”affirmative action.” We’ll give you Baltic Ave. No hotels. No houses. You’d need Mediterranean to put those up and we’re not sure we want to give you that much “affirmative action.” Besides, some of the other players are grumbling because we gave you Baltic Ave. How about now? Would you play with real money now?

This is what “affirmative action” is. It is an inducement to get you to play a game you can never truly win. Your objective is to merely survive. Has “affirmative action” benefited Black people? Truthfully? The Jury is still out.

2012 VP Post Debate Wrap Up

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Vice President Biden vs. Congressman Ryan

by Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

2012 VP Post Debate Wrap Up

Overall, great debate! We got to see two spokesmen for their respective points of view, champion their cause. Possibly because of all the resume padding done on Paul Ryan, I was prepared for a high level dissertation on the mathematics of our budget and economy. I had my pencil, paper and calculator all ready to go. Much to my surprise, none of it happened. As a matter of fact, none of the math was beyond what I could handle in my head. This makes me wonder what exactly was Paul Ryan talking about during his interview with FOX News’ Chris Wallace? I try – not always successfully – to keep an open mind. When Paul Ryan told Mr. Wallace that in essence, the math was too complex for the scope of their discussion, my plate was set for some complex whiz bang mathematics. The fact that none of this manifested during the debate makes me suspect that Congressman Ryan was dodging the question. When people dodge questions I become extremely curious. What was he trying to hide?

Early into the debate – I mean very early – it became apparent to me that Congressman Ryan was over matched, in over his head and out of his depth. I was extremely puzzled midway through the debate, by his quip, “when you don’t have a record to run on…” No you didn’t say that to Vice President Joe Biden? His record began before Paul Ryan was in high school! Experience showed. Congressman Ryan was talking theory. Vice President Biden was talking experience. Experience trumps theory every time!

Let’s look at what I thought were some key points.

Afghanistan

When you blow away the monkey dust Congressman Ryan was trying to throw in the air, the Romney-Ryan ticket says they will do the exact same thing the Obama administration is already doing! President Obama – and Joe Biden was very emphatic on this – will have us out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Congressman Ryan says that the Romney-Ryan plan is also to leave by 2014… but he’s against letting anybody know the date. New flash! You just spilled the beans Paul!

Social Security – Medicare

This argument was all Joe Biden. There were two key issues that Vice President Biden hammered home. The first was, when congressman Ryan talks about savings, those savings mean a reduction in benefits paid out to people who’ve already earned those benefits. You’ve paid for them over the course of your working life. Congressman Ryan kept throwing around the magic age of 54 and younger. In other words, if you’re 55 don’t worry because nothing changes under the Romney-Ryan plan for Medicare. Here’s the problem. IF you’re in your 20’s just starting your career, you can in fact plan for, less government assistance when you turn 65. You can buy insurance, annuities whatever you need to do to prepare. If however, you’re 40, 50 or 54, there is simply not enough time to restructure your retirement plans.

Romney-Ryan tax plan

Trust me!

This was the one where I put pencil to paper in preparation! In spite of Mitt Romney’s claims to the contrary, following the first Presidential debate, the fact checkers have confirmed that Mitt was lying. His tax plan does indeed cost 5 trillion – that trillion with a “T” – dollars. The moderator was right on point by holding congressman Ryan’s feet to the fire. The renowned Republican math wizard simply could not make the figures balance nor could he say how they would pay for it. I must confess to being somewhat let down. Well, not really! What it did was confirm to me that these two simply cannot be trusted under any circumstances. The only way to pay for their tax plan is to do away with the home owner deduction, deductions for sending your kids to college, in essence the very things that make the middle class possible!

When asked if people making less than 100k a year should be paying close to 30% or more in income taxes while Mitt Romney pays 14% on the $20 million he admits to making… congressman Ryan of course had no answer. Vice President Biden won this one hands down.

Libya

I’d call this one a draw if I did not have some idea of how things work. Surprisingly congressman Ryan feigned ignorance. When things are unfolding… particularly something as serious as an international event in which we lose one of our ambassadors, there exists what is known as the “Fog of War.” Things go dark. Reports begin coming in. The American people want to know what is going on and you have to tell them what you know at that time. You have a 50/50 chance of being either right or wrong. It is all based on what’s happening on the ground and many times you don’t know what’s going on until you actually get boots on the ground and collect evidence and tapes. Personally I was not pleased with the Romney-Ryan ticket using this tragedy in an effort for political gain.

Iran

Here again was an issue that did not play well for the younger inexperienced congressman Ryan. When the moderator asked what would a Romney-Ryan ticket do to keep Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon, congressman Ryan did not have any answer. There was nothing he could offer by way of any differences. Congressman Ryan seemed unaware of the magnitude of the sanctions already in place. He was unaware of the fact that the U.S. and Israel are on the same page. He did not seem to understand the difference in having fissionable material and having an actual weapon to deliver it in. He simply did not know. The only thing they could do differently that is not already being done is to immediately declare war on Iran. In a word, reckless! This one again went clearly to Biden.

Abortion

This one was interesting and we heard a clear difference between the two candidates. How you’d score this depends on your personal convictions. What was interesting was, congressman Ryan’s position is either different from Mitt Romney’s or he succeeded in pinning down Mitt Romney much to Mitt Romney’s dismay. Depending on the day of the week and the crowd he’s talking to, Mitt Romney is either totally against abortions in all cases or he’s for abortions in certain cases. The good thing about this is, we may here Mitt have to take an actual position, stick with it and clarify it.

Conclusion

In my opinion, Joe Biden won this debate walking away. It wasn’t even close. It is difficult to debate someone who was present and participated in history when all you’ve got is untried and unproven theory. I admire congressman Ryan’s scrappy-ness, but he was simply out of his league.

In case you missed it, here is the complete debate

Did Slavery Benefit Black People?

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by Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

Did Slavery actually benefit Black People? This silly narrative resurfaces from time to time, promoted by racist white people whom ironically enough, never seem to say this in the presence of Black people unless they’ve got security and strength in numbers close at hand. Presupposing this notion indicates not only an ingrained sociopathic racism, it reveals a paucity of historical knowledge and American history in particular. One might just as easily – in the spirit of a free exchange of ideas of course – ask if the Jewish Holocaust benefited the Jews? After all, they got the “Nation of Israel” out of the deal?

A beginning is a very delicate time… well, not really!

As with most atrocities in human history, this one too began with religion… the Catholic Church in particular.

“We grant you [Kings of Spain and Portugal] by these present documents, with our Apostolic Authority, full and free permission to invade, search out, capture, and subjugate the Saracens and pagans and any other unbelievers and enemies of Christ wherever they may be, as well as their kingdoms, duchies, counties, principalities, and other property […] and to reduce their persons into perpetual slavery.” __Papal Bull from Pope Nicholas V in 1452 known as the Dum Diversas

What the “Dum Diversas” did was usher in a new type of slavery. A type of slavery which had never before been seen in recorded human history. Chattel Slavery. Prior to this, Slaves had rights, they could own property, they could acquire skills or a trade, they knew the date of their release because slavery was not in perpetuity. They could even buy their freedom early if they were talented.

Under the aegis of the “Dum Diversas” once enslaved you were a slave for the rest of your life. You could never again own property. If you were born to parents who were enslaved, you were a slave merely by accident of birth. You were born without a future. Did slavery benefit Black people? Do you think being born into Slavery was a benefit?

One of the attendant myths is that most of the Slaves were sold to the slave traders by other Africans. Did any of this happen? To be sure, it did happen on occasion. However, when you look at the sheer numbers, it becomes immediately clear that the percentage of Slaves captured in battle and sold by other Africans becomes insignificant.

The enslavement of Africans was a booming business. As with all businesses, records were maintained. Profit and loss statements. From capture to being sold at auction was called “The Middle Passage.” During the 400+ years that Slavery was practiced in the Americas, by conservative estimates, over 100 million Africans lost their lives. These were Africans who never made it to the auction blocks to live out the rest of their lives under the misery and degradation of Slavery. Africans were considered expendable and replaceable.

Where the Slaves Went

The other thing to understand is, what became The “United States of America,” received no more than 4% of the Slaves. The bulk of the Slaves went to South America, the West Indies and a few went to Europe. The lions share of the Slaves went to the West Indies. Why? In a word, “Rum.” Slaves were brought in to work the sugar cane plantations. The sugar was used to make Rum. The Rum was sold back in Europe and in the United States. The drug of choice was alcohol in the form of Rum and just as with Cocaine today, the cost in human misery was staggering. Did Slavery benefit Black people? A lot of white people certainly got rich selling the Rum.

The Rum-Slave-Triangle

It was quite common for the slaves working the island sugar cane plantations to simply be worked literally to death. As far as they were concerned, they had an endless supply. No doubt it was the excessively harsh conditions that lead to the Slave revolts and uprisings that eventually led to the liberation which never occurred here. The Slaves in the islands had no choice. They were dead either way.

Slavery in these United States

Haitian Revolution – the beginning of the end of Slavery in the Caribbean

Had it not been for the Haitian Revolution, the Louisiana Purchase never would have happened. France needed the money to put down the Slaves who’d had enough in Haiti. Thus Napoleon made a deal with Jefferson which amounted to a little less than 3 cents an acre. The Louisiana Purchase solidified what was then only the seed of a notion. It was a concept that came to be known as “Manifest Destiny.”

Slaves clearing land for infrastructure expansion

Ask yourself, how did a budding set of colonies, leap forward, catch and surpass the much more mature and established industries of Europe? The simple answer is all the free labor provided by Slaves. The largest cost when it comes to expansion is in building your infrastructure. Your next concern is logistics. How do you supply “civilization” to those people who expand into newly opened territories? They will need food to get started, they will need axe heads, shovels, plows, saws, nails, hammers and a host of other things we rarely consider and take for granted.

Slaves with their children picking cotton.

The only reason the South was so ready to secede from the Union was, because they made heavy use of slave labor. They could always undercut European prices on quality textiles. Because of fear and the mechanisms of oppression and control, Slaves were denied access to educational opportunities. Thus, it was more difficult to make full use of them in the industrialized Northern States. The products of industry created in the North could not compete price wise with the older more mature industrial production in Europe.

10,000 Confederate bodies stretch into the distance. They’d rather die than work their own fields.

People forget that the entire reason for the Civil War had to do with trade tariffs. In order to protect the fledgling manufacturing industries from the predatory trade practices of Europe, the Government of the United States placed tariffs on incoming European industrial products. This levelled the playing field for American manufacturers. Europe in kind did the same thing which affected the price on textiles they were importing from our Southern States. Quite naturally this cut into the profit margins – which were already way out of line due to free labor – of the plantation owners and they went through the roof.

Picketts Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg

The reason they voted to secede was because they believed that they could then negotiate their old profit margins by claiming to no longer be part of these United States. The North disputed and that disagreement led to the Civil War. As the war went on and the body count rose, it became apparent to Abraham Lincoln and others, that the South could continue to fight – logistics – so long as they had a free labor source at home tending their fields, growing their crops and producing the goods and services they needed for their war efforts.

If you actually read the “Emancipation Proclamation,” you will note that it only applied to the Slaves in the rebellious Southern States. If you were a Slave in the North, it did not apply to you. Thus the notion that Abraham Lincoln freed the Slaves is specious on it’s face. His “Proclamation” applied to States he did not control.

Did Slavery Benefit Black People?

The stacking of human beings as though they were cargo.

One of the common arguments of racist is to compare the standard of living and the lifestyle of African Americans with people in various nations on the African continent. To be sure there is a remarkable difference. However, we need to examine some facts. In 1492 the entire European population was estimated to be at 60 million. Compare this figure to the 100 million Africans who lost their lives during the 400+ years the Atlantic Slave Trade was in business. There were more Africans murdered – never made it into enslavement – than the entire population of Europe. When you add to this slaughter, the number of Africans who actually were sold into Slavery, what we’re really talking about is an African genocide. This was the largest holocaust in recorded human history.

There is really only one true resource on this planet. It is the “Human Resource.” All the solutions to all our problems ultimately come from the human mind. They are applied through human ingenuity. Every white person who has ever lived in these United States, traces their ancestry back to Europe. You no doubt are familiar with the old time machine paradox? “Could you go back in time and murdered your grandfather before he met your grandmother?” The point acknowledges that if your grandparents never got together, you wouldn’t exist.

African children in poverty. Yet some white people say that slavery benefited Black people?

Keep this concept in mind when you’re looking at the African Holocaust. There were entire branches of the human family that were extinguished. Some of those minds that were aborted generations before they had the opportunity to be born, may have held the cure to death and ageing. They may have held the solution to a faster than light drive which would make interstellar and intergalactic exploration possible. They may have invented new forms of abundant, efficient clean energy. These marvels are not to be… or if they come may come too late.

Ever hear of “The Real McCoy?” His inventions were so good there were knock-offs.

Even with the racial discrimination that Black people – descendants of Africa – have faced here in America, their contributions have helped to make American society the society we enjoy today.

A few inventions by Black Inventors:

  • air conditioning unit Frederick M. Jones July 12, 1949
  • almanac Benjamin Banneker Approx 1791
  • auto cut-off switch Granville T. Woods January 1, 1839
  • auto fishing device G. Cook May 30, 1899
  • automatic gear shift Richard Spikes February 28, 1932
  • baby buggy W.H. Richardson June 18, 1899
  • bicycle frame L.R. Johnson October 10, 1899
  • biscuit cutter A.P. Ashbourne November 30, 1875
  • blood plasma bag Charles Drew Approx. 1945
  • cellular phone Henry T. Sampson July 6, 1971
  • chamber commode T. Elkins January 3, 1897
  • clothes dryer G. T. Sampson June 6, 1862
  • curtain rod S. R. Scratton November 30, 1889
  • curtain rod support William S. Grant August 4, 1896
  • door knob O. Dorsey December 10, 1878
  • door stop O. Dorsey December 10, 1878
  • dust pan Lawrence P. Ray August 3, 1897
  • egg beater Willie Johnson February 5, 1884
  • electric lampbulb Lewis Latimer March 21, 1882
  • elevator Alexander Miles October 11, 1867
  • eye protector P. Johnson November 2, 1880
  • fire escape ladder J. W. Winters May 7, 1878
  • fire extinguisher T. Marshall October 26, 1872
  • folding bed L. C. Bailey July 18, 1899
  • folding chair Brody & Surgwar June 11, 1889
  • fountain pen W. B. Purvis January 7, 1890
  • furniture caster O. A. Fisher 1878
  • gas mask Garrett Morgan October 13, 1914
  • golf tee T. Grant December 12, 1899
  • guitar Robert F. Flemming, Jr. March 3, 1886
  • hair brush Lydia O. Newman November 15, 18–
  • hand stamp Walter B. Purvis February 27 1883
  • horse shoe J. Ricks March 30, 1885
  • ice cream scooper A. L. Cralle February 2, 1897
  • improv. sugar making Norbet Rillieux December 10, 1846
  • insect-destroyer gun A. C. Richard February 28, 1899
  • ironing board Sarah Boone December 30, 1887
  • key chain F. J. Loudin January 9, 1894
  • lantern Michael C. Harvey August 19, 1884
  • lawn mower L. A. Burr May 19, 1889
  • lawn sprinkler J. W. Smith May 4, 1897
  • lemon squeezer J. Thomas White December 8, 1893
  • lock W. A. Martin July 23, 18–
  • lubricating cup Ellijah McCoy November 15, 1895
  • lunch pail James Robinson 1887
  • mail box Paul L. Downing October 27, 1891
  • mop Thomas W. Stewart June 11, 1893
  • motor Frederick M. Jones June 27, 1939
  • peanut butter George Washington Carver 1896
  • pencil sharpener J. L. Love November 23, 1897
  • phone transmitter Granville T. Woods December 2, 1884
  • record player arm Joseph H. Dickenson January 8, 1819
  • refrigerator J. Standard June 14, 1891
  • riding saddles W. D. Davis October 6, 1895
  • rolling pin John W. Reed 1864
  • shampoo headrest C. O. Bailiff October 11, 1898
  • spark plug Edmond Berger February 2, 1839
  • stethoscope Imhotep Ancient Egypt
  • stove T. A. Carrington July 25, 1876
  • straightening comb Madam C. J. Walker Approx 1905
  • street sweeper Charles B. Brooks March 17, 1890
  • thermostat control Frederick M. Jones February 23, 1960
  • traffic light Garrett Morgan November 20, 1923
  • tricycle M. A. Cherry May 6, 1886
  • tricycle M. A. Cherry May 6, 1886

Did Slavery benefit Black people? It sure benefited white people.  The above list is but a few of the many things invented by Black people that we use every day. You probably are using something invented by a Black person right now. The typewriter for instance is what we call a “foundational invention.” Without the typewriter you wouldn’t have a computer keyboard. The typewriter had to come first.

What if there had been a European Holocaust?

The further back you prune a branch, the more leaves you remove from the tree. All those secondary and tertiary branches that split off, and the branches that split off from them are removed the closer to the trunk you make your cut.

1912 Ford Model T

If an ancestor of Henry Ford had died or Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, they would not exist. Imagine what the world would look like today. If an ancestor of the Wright brothers had been killed, would we have Jet airliners today? Think of some of the people who invented vaccines, or made earth changing discoveries, if their ancestors had been swept up and murdered, what

iPhone 5

would the world look like today?

When you look at Africa, you’re looking at a continent that was plundered of it’s most precious of all resources, the human resource. The things that Africans may have created and invented that would have benefited the entire planet have now been lost to racist greed and the capitalism of human bondage. We are paying for this today whether you realize it or not. I have listed but a few of the contributions that the descendants of Africa have made to Western Civilization… if we can call it that. Even so, imagine what contributions they might have made had they been treated equally, and had access to the same educational opportunities as their white counterparts. A mind is truly a terrible thing to waste. Remember this when some racist fool deigns to open his mouth and spew hate speech with a smile. The answer to the question is, “No, Slavery did not benefit Black people. It benefited white people and in the process may have mortally wounded humanity.”

Psychosis – A peek into the mind of Mitt Romney

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Unacceptable!

by Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

psy·cho·sis  (s-kss)
n. pl. psy·cho·ses (-sz)
A severe mental disorder, with or without organic damage, characterized by derangement of personality and loss of contact with reality and causing deterioration of normal social functioning.

Psychosis – A Peek into the mind of Mitt Romney

The more you see of Mitt Romney, the more apparent it becomes that something is just not quite right. At first I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. He presents a very polished package. Someone called him, “the Presidential candidate from central casting.” If you were shooting a movie that called for someone to play the role of the President, if Mitt Romney showed up at the auditions, he’d be a “shoe in.” Perhaps that’s just it! It’s as if he’s playing a role. What are his positions? Depends on the script of the day.

Anorexia – Psychosis

A “layman’s” definition of psychosis is that state of being when your subjective reality does not align with objective reality. We sort of define objective reality as what you bump into while walking around with your eyes closed. Subjective reality is often defined by how you process objective reality in your mind. For instance, someone who is anorexic looks in their mirror and sees an obese person looking back at them… even though they only weigh 95 pounds. That is a rather obvious psychosis.

Some psychoses are not nearly so obvious. To be sure, the mental health field delineates and categorizes them based on various other headings related to treatment methodologies, how they manifest and a host of other areas beyond the scope of this discussion. Our working definition will focus on that schism between objective and subjective reality.

What do we really know about Mitt Romney? Actually precious little. Except for the broad overview of his life, there are only two records we can be fairly certain of. We have an idea of what he did at Bain Capital and we have a record from his time as Governor of the State of Massachusetts. The rest is anecdotal as supplied by Mitt. Unfortunately, it has become apparent that Mitt and the “truth” may not even be passing acquaintances.

Mitt Protesting FOR the Vietnam War

We really know more about his father, George Romney’s history than we do Mitt’s. We know he was given a million dollars at his birth by his father. I’ve also heard it was 100 million. We know he sat out the Vietnam war in France supposedly doing “missionary work” for the Mormon Church. We know he fully supported the Vietnam war going so far as to participate in counter protests. We know he holds a law degree and an MBA from Harvard. We know he is a “Bishop” in the Mormon Church. These are things we know… or think we know.

The reality is, what we have is a broad overview of Mitt Romney. It is much like reading the blurb on the back of the dust jacket of a book. Far too often, the synopsis on the back of the book exceeds the content contained between its covers. When it comes to someone running for the office of President, we need, demand a good deal more information. Given the number of people Mitt would have to of interacted with over his personal and professional life and careers, it has not escaped my notice that there are precious few people who have deigned to offer commentary on their experiences with Mitt, either growing up, in school or in business.

Bad Haircut

The most notable account we have of “Mitt the early years,” involves an act of viciousness which stretches the very definition of bullying. The incident concerns a young man at a boarding school Mitt was attending. This young man wore his hair in a manner Mitt found objectionable. Though unsaid, the flavor of incident implied that this youth may have been Gay. In any event, Mitt gathered a group of his friends, ran this kid down and forcibly cut his hair. 

Although this incident occurred in his youth, it does give insight into his character. By the time you reach high school, your sense of right and wrong should be thoroughly developed. This pattern of preying on the weak would manifest time and again, later in his life. Indeed this philosophy became the business model for Bain Capital.

From what we’ve been told and what we can reasonably deduce Mitt enjoyed a life of privilege. Money, status and power were his by birthright. He enjoyed the best that money and power could afford. As the result of this it is apparent that he developed a sense of entitlement. In particular there was the world he lived in, the circles he moved in and then there was the rest of the world.

Consider his counter-protest in favor of the Vietnam war. Nobody in Mitt’s family as far as we know, ever served in the military. Mitt had no intention of going to Vietnam himself. Everyday the news showed the bodies of service men being returned home. There were people who had been to Vietnam, returning with  missing arms and legs. Yet with the body count rising on a daily basis, Mitt Romney who could easily have volunteered, was taking issue with those students who were against the needless carnage of the Vietnam war.

Final voyage

In essence, Mitt was all for others sacrificing and dying for the Country, but not so much that he would risk his own life serving. When asked about this, I believe his statement was words to the effect, that he had more important things to do. There were a lot of young people who had more important things to do. However, they lacked the money, power and connections to avoid the draft by hanging out in France. Most people would have had that inner voice telling them, in a matter of life and death, such as war is, that the least you could do is remain silent.

Clearly to Mitt, the war was something to be fought and died in by those lessor than he. Privileged people such as himself, were above sacrificing and risking their lives. Only someone suffering from psychosis could compartmentalize the realities of the Vietnam war such that they could support the war, while refusing to participate in it. Personally, I find the insight this yields into Mitt’s character extremely disturbing. Empathy is extremely important for healthy human interactions. The inability to place one’s self in the shoes of another is a symptom if not the definition of a sociopath. Serial killers are sociopaths. They are incapable of being moved by the pain and suffering of others.

Connecting the dots

Romney dog on the roof

Poor doggy!

It might be easy to dismiss these types of events as isolated instances of bad judgement… but they keep occurring. You can draw a straight line from his bullying, to his view – paraphrasing – that war is great for the peasant class, but not for him, to the business model of Bain Capitol, to his comments about the “47%.” Even strapping the family dog to the roof of his car is evidence of a lack of empathy. When you cannot understand how others – even creatures – feel, your only true concern is what is best for you. Your focus becomes your own convenience. I submit, people who exist in this state are dangerous to be around. They are incapable of feeling responsibility for the welfare of others.

Etch-A-Mitt

Mitt’s ability to lie at the drop of a hat is further symptomatic of this type of pathology. My suspicions are, he could easily pass any polygraph test because he has no compunction against lying. These are not the 1950’s. Not only are most interviews by public officials video recorded, they’ve got this thing known as “YouTube.” You could spend a day watching Mitt debate himself. When it was politically expedient to be “Pro-Choice,” Mitt told a heart wrenching story about his sister-in-law who had died because of a botched, back-alley abortion. Had abortions been legal, she might still be alive today. Of course now that it is no longer politically expedient for him to be “Pro-Choice,” he’s now all for the overturning of “Rowe v. Wade” and promises to appoint Supreme Court justices who would.

The very subject of abortion evokes an extremely visceral reaction in those who oppose it. It’s not like waking up one day and deciding you like chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla. People have been murdered over this issue. The fact that Mitt can so easily change his position indicates not only a lack of character, but the inability to empathize with either side. He has no dog in the fight so – as Jon Huntsman so aptly put it – “like a well lubed weathervane,” Mitt switches according to the direction of the wind wherever he happens to be.

Of water heaters, ironing boards and tuna fish

Most of the outrageous things that have come out about Mitt Romney and his family have not been the result of investigative journalist going through their trash or putting them under surveillance. Most of it has come directly from Mitt or Ann Romney in interviews. The story about the dog strapped to the roof, that was from Mitt recounting a story he thought would be funny. I believe he foresaw our reaction going a different way. Anyone who loves animals simply cringed in horror and were dumbfounded with amazement that:

  1. He did it in the first place.
  2. He thought it was funny.
  3. He would actually tell anyone about it.

In her efforts to kick their “common folk credentials,” Ann Romney spun some incredible – dare I say ridiculous – tales as well. “Rule of Thumb,” trying to sound like you’ve experienced “hard times,” is extremely offensive to those who actually have. When you’re married to a man who was born with millions of dollars, if you really want to try and pull off a “hard times” story? You’ll do much better going back into your own life before you met your husband.

I simply shook my head when Ann recounted her and Mitt having to rough it in one of their son’s unfinished basements. The story of eating tuna fish, using the ironing board as a table and using a door stretched across two saw horses for a desk… even that didn’t work. Why? Poor people have no use for desks! As I listened to her further efforts to humanize Mitt by relating a story to show how “cheap” – her words – he was, immediately I saw the similarities with the movie, “The Coneheads.” These people simply had no clue how normal people live, thus they were making things up out of thin air!

When Ann Romney recounted how Mitt would turn off the water heater each time they left home – she didn’t mention they were going to one of their other homes – I said to myself, who on earth does that? Really getting into the spirit of things, she then related how upon their return they’d have to take cold showers until the water got hot again. Were they on some sort of a forced schedule? From cold water to hot water only takes the average water heater about 45 minutes max. She put the icing on the cake by telling her audience that “Mitt said that a cold shower was good for them.”

The therapeutic value of cold water notwithstanding, She really made her husband into kind of an Ass! What type of man, who is worth millions, does these types of things to the people he claims to love? I love my wife and there is no way I’d have her eating tuna fish, like cat food from a can off of an ironing board in an unfinished basement. If Mitt will do these types of things to his own flesh and blood, what wouldn’t he do to you? He claims to love them. He doesn’t even know you. Perhaps this is why he found it so easy to destroy perfectly good companies, break them apart, send jobs overseas, rape the pension funds and fire the workers?

He as much as said the same to Jim Lehrer the night of the debate. Flippantly and with his famous smirk on his face, he told Jim that if he were elected, he and “Big Bird” would be looking for work. No thought about the actual human consequences. Rather than even consider raising the taxes on millionaires and billionaires, like the bully he is at heart, he goes after whomever he perceives to be weak and or vulnerable. Wall Street? Leave them alone. Sesame Street? Gut ’em! The Public Broadcasting Corporation hasn’t caused one family to lose their retirement or get their home foreclosed on. Wall Street on the other hand damn near brought the World to it’s knees. Good looking out Mitt!

Mitt and the Brown people

Because Mitt has truly been like a “well lubed weathervane,” taking his word on some position he is claiming at the time, doesn’t really seem prudent. We’ve pretty much established that he will say and do anything to achieve his ends. Thus, oft times we find more truth in studying the forces and institutions that contributed to shaping whom he has become.

What are the odds?

Central to Mitt’s narrative has been his Mormon faith. The problem is, when you look at the teachings of Mormonism you begin to understand why a Mitt Romney campaign rally simply does not look like the America most of us are familiar with. Mitt is surrounded by a sea of white faces. Yes, recently they’ve grabbed some Black and Brown people from somewhere and tried to position them in such away they’d be seen in the background pictures, the truth is, it’s all a set up fake. I saw one Romney rally where the hired minority didn’t even stay for the entire rally. He was standing over Mitt’s shoulder one minute and gone the next! Just long enough for a couple of photographs.

Caught!

The fact that Mitt has no clue about minorities was further evidenced by him appearing in “Brown Face” on Univision. Really Mitt? You think the only thing we care about is who’s skin tone is similar to ours? Indeed this is a classic case of projection and says so much about the psyche of racist white people. For them, skin color is all they see. Thus, they – Mitt – simply assumed that Brown people would respond similarly. “Wait until they get a load of me!” “A little touch of spray on tan, and I’ll have them eating out of the palm of my hand!” As it turns out, not so much.

The problem stems from the teachings of the Mormon Church. According to Church teachings, Black and Brown skin is the result of a curse from God. If you were raised from an early age believing this, how might such a belief affect your opinions and shape your dealings with people you were taught to believe were cursed? The following short video presentation lays these teachings out.

Banned Mormon Cartoon

Yes, I know Mitt recounted his reaction to hearing about his Church’s change of position regarding Black people. How he wept to the extent he had to pull over. I suppose it is equally fair to wonder, was he weeping for joy or weeping in dismay? Given his proclivity for coming down on both sides of every issue, we may never know.

Cracking under the pressure?

The problem with lying is, when you lie, you are really attempting to push a fabricated false reality off onto someone else. This actually requires some effort. You must remember the details and maintain the façade in order to sell it. The more lies you tell, the more this pressure mounts. At the rate and levels Mitt has been lying, the pressure is starting to show. Watch his eyes and watch his head movements.

What is Ann Romney trying to tell us?

“My biggest concern should Mitt be elected, is for his mental well being.”

In an interview given to KTVN in Reno Nevada on 27 September 2012, Ann Romney made this startling admission. What a peculiar thing to say. She’s not worried about the physical strain of the job. She’s worried about whether or not he could take the mental strain. Think about this for a moment. Ann Romney knows Mitt Romney better than anyone currently living on this planet.

Does he look well?

Given our rather bloody and violent history, one might think most women would be concerned for their husband’s physical safety. “I hope the Secret Service are as good as they say they are.” This would have been an expected response. Even something like, “my biggest concern would be that his policies take affect as soon as possible so we can turn this country around.” Even though I’m rather fond of the direction we’re heading, that response would have been a politically cogent response. But no, “speaking off the cuff” – aka from her heart – the very first worry she expresses is for her husband’s mental health. Hell! Now I’m concerned… even more than I already was!

We know the office of President of these United States is possibly the most intense, complicated and stressful job on this planet. All one need do is look at how our Presidents age before our very eyes. Chris Christie need not apply. He’d drop dead of a heart attack or a stroke within 6 months.

The Nuclear Football

Why is the President’s mental health so important? Along with all the daily stress of domestic and foreign events, at all times next to the President is a uniformed military officer carrying a black satchel. In this satchel is the power to alter the face of this planet or destroy it. I’m talking about the “nuclear football.” This is one of the things that brings a new President down to earth. It is a cold, hard and terrifying reality. Wherever he – or possibly she – goes, like a black shadow it follows them. Even when you see the President and First Lady out enjoying a romantic dinner, just out of camera range is a military officer standing nearby holding the fate of the world in his hands. It is an ever present and constant reminder of the seriousness of the job.

If Ann Romney is concerned, we should be too. The office of the Presidency of these United States is not some trophy you feel you’re owed. It is not the icing on the cake for an over padded résumé. You hold in your hands, not only the lives of every American, but the billions of lives around the globe. It would be nice to know that the person holding those lives, was a person who actually gave a damn! More importantly, it would be nice to know that their mental health was not in question and that their word actually meant something.

Why Republicans Say You Shouldn’t Vote For Romney

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Republicans say you shouldn’t vote for Romney!

Write this down, you may never hear me say this again… There are times when we ought to listen to Republicans!

From their own mouths, “Why Republicans Say You Shouldn’t Vote For Romney.”

There’s nothing more that needs to be said.

VOTE EARLY!

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CLICK HERE, and take care of all of this RIGHT NOW!!
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Post Debate Wrap Up

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Round #1

by Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

Have you ever taken a tumble, got back up, shook yourself off and felt just fine? Then a few days later you realize you must have twisted something? Perhaps you were in a minor “fender bender” and made an assessment of yourself and determined you were unscathed, then a few days, sometimes a week later you were at the doctors office being treated for back spasms or an aching neck? Often it takes a few days to fully comprehend the results of an event.

“Thrilla in Manilla”

As a child I remember “The Greatest.” Back before the days of Cable television, HBO, Pay-Per-View, we used to listen to Cassius Clay and then Muhammad Ali’s fights on the radio. Many of my readers may be too young to remember those days when we’d all huddle around the radio listening to Howard Cosell call the fight. We all developed a love hate relationship with Howard. He was so biased against Ali in how he called the fight that it became hilarious. Muhammad would be taking a terrible beating… right up until he knocked his opponent out.

Ali – Frazier

We could hardly wait until Saturday afternoon when ABC’s “The Wide World of Sports” came on, and we could watch it for ourselves. We were crestfallen when Muhammad refused to go to Vietnam. We understood his principal, and as the Black Community we had his back. Many of us had lost loved ones and also disagreed with the war and why it was being fought. When the boxing commission stripped him of his title we were further disappointed but we understood.

After 3 years when they gave him back his license – something to do with the money they were losing – we all eagerly anticipated him regaining his crown. The man currently holding that crown was “Smokin Joe Frazier.” Back then, most of us did not realize that he and Muhammad Ali were actually close friends. Muhammad got back to training and after a few preliminary bouts, a title match was confirmed. Almost every radio in the Black Community was tuned to the fight that night. It was to be the night that Ali reclaimed his glory and won back the title wrongfully taken from him by lawyers. Nobody and I mean nobody could take it from him in the boxing ring!

The fight went the full 15 rounds – that’s what they fought back then – and at the end, Joe Frazier was declared the winner by decision. We were dumbfounded and outraged. When they showed the fight on Wide World of Sports, we could see that the fix was in. Muhammad Ali clearly won the fight but they couldn’t give it to him because of all he represented.

Best Friends

After the fight, Joe Frazier was nearly unrecognisable. Both eyes were swollen shut. His lips were puffy and swollen and he had to spend two weeks in the hospital recovering. Muhammad looked none the worse worse for wear. A couple of bruises but he was giving interviews the next day. He was seen out at dinner and looking forward to the rematch. I submit, if you’re in a fight and you put your opponent in the hospital for a couple of weeks, and you walk away virtually unscathed? I don’t care what anyone says, you won that fight!

The Handshake

On 3 October 2012, Mitt Romney and President Obama met in Denver, CO for their first in a series of 3 debates. Although it should come as no surprise, I’m fully in the tank for President Obama. However, I tried to put my biases aside and listen as though I were an undecided, independent voter still trying to make up my mind. Of course there are some caveats to this. For one, I’m somewhat of a Political “wonk.” I’m retired and I watch the news all day long. My television pretty much stays on MSNBC. Thus, I am not like a casual viewer, unfamiliar with events.

Early on in the debate it became apparent to me – yeah I counted Mitt’s prepared, canned “zingers” – that Mitt was swinging for the fences, fighting for his political life and the truth was the first casualty. During the Republican primary debates, Jon Huntsman referred to Mitt as a “well lubed weathervane.” I saw what he meant. Essentially, President Obama was debating a “brand new Mitt.” Everything he’d said, every

Jon Huntsman

position he’d taken over the previous 18 months meant nothing.

If you were paying attention, you should have noticed Mitt catch himself. He almost let the cat out of the bag. When the subject of his healthcare plan was being discussed, Mitt turned smugly and disavowed it, coming just short of saying, you can’t discuss my health plan because I haven’t told anyone what it really is.

When pressed on his 5 trillion dollar tax cut – that is what it would amount to if you cut everybody’s taxes by 20% – Mitt denied the figure amounted to 5 trillion dollars. This is a relatively simple math problem. He had no answers other than to say his plan was deficit neutral. How? Why? “Because he said it is.” How will you pay for it? “I’ll pay for it by closing loopholes.” That sounds nice until you give it some thought. The problem of course is, there are not that many loopholes. 5 trillion dollars is a lot of money. When pressed, on whether he would take it out of the military budget his answer was “no.” In fact he plans to increase military spending.

I’m a grown ass man. I don’t accept, “trust me” any more. I need to know what it is exactly you’re going to do. Will you take away the home owner’s deduction? Mitt danced, dodged and said nothing. He did it with flair and conviction, but I’ve heard “corporate speak” before and can cut right through it. My vocabulary is at least as big as Mitt’s and I actually understand it when you say you’re going to blow smoke up my ass. You can call it incense enema therapy but I know what that means.

Mitt criticized the President on his alternative energy programs then in the next breath proclaimed that he was going to make America energy independent. Again with the smoke and mirrors! I was simply stunned when Mitt proclaimed he did not know corporations were given a tax break for shipping jobs overseas. I understand that people lie for various reasons. Actually I’ve come to expect it. All I ask is that you make it a good lie. Make it believable. Make it entertaining. When you don’t, you’re calling me stupid and I tend to get offended.

All together, Mitt told 27 lies in 38 minutes. Not too shabby. I’m not sure if that’s a record, but it at least deserves an honorable mention. President Obama stuck closely to the facts. To be sure any time you put forth a concept there may be other ways to approach it. Yet, the so called fact-checking sites had an extremely difficult time finding much President Obama said to be incorrect. I suppose the question is, can you win a debate by simply lying about everything? Can you lose a debate by being honest?

The point of a debate is for two opponents to set forth their best arguments and pick one another’s arguments apart. The operative word here is best argument. If we’re just going to make it up as we go along, we’re really having a competition in creative story telling. Ricky Gervais should run on the Republican ticket and reprise his role from “The Invention of Lying.” He’d be a shoe in.

It seems there wereat least 3 audiences watching the debate that night. The Republicans who thought that Mitt Romney simply mopped the floor with President Obama. The Democrats who were disappointed that President Obama did not put Mitt in check and call him on his lies. Then there were the pseudo-Independents who were actually trying to hear something informative. As you might expect, the reactions of all three groups were somewhat different.

Immediately following the debate, a poll was conducted of 100 people. I found the results interesting. 46 of them said that Mitt Romney clearly won it. 22 said President Obama clearly won the debate. I figured these two groups were probably fairly partisan in their views. 32 called it a draw. What does this mean? Remember this was prior to all the fact checking.

President Obama as the incumbent is like the champ. To take his title you must knock him out or beat him so decisively there is no question in the minds of the judges. The fact that 54% of those polled did not believe Mitt won the debate means that Mitt lost. At least with this group of people polled.

Does style win over substance? That depends on whether you want a President from “central casting” or a President who will perform competently? I for one am not in the market for incense enema therapy. Another real question which springs to mind, deals with a possible strategy being employed by President Obama.

Following the debate, Democratic Pundits were running around with their hair on fire saying, “why didn’t President Obama hit back?” “He didn’t even bring up the 47% comments!” “You’d do that on a bet!” A couple of things. First, Mitt Romney was expecting that. He was hoping for it. An estimated 70 million people were watching the debate. Mitt Romney was all prepared to offer his “mea culpa” and present his explanation with an apology. He didn’t get that opportunity. The evidence is, Mitt went on the Hannity show and gave his carefully practiced remarks. The difference of course is, Hannity has a much smaller audience. Those who watch Hannity are already going to vote for Mitt anyway. Thus, not bringing it up frustrated Mitt’s plans.

While the President may not have had the opportunity to get as much practice in as Mitt – he is running this nation after all – his advisors had thoroughly studied Mitt and probably predicted he would sprint towards the center by disavowing his previous positions. Since most people do not watch politics all day long, They needed to get Mitt to commit to his positions. They put the buckets with quick set concrete in front of Mitt and he stepped right in. In the next debate he gets pushed off the pier.

Jim Lehrer

There was an unexpected added bonus. Jim Lehrer was manhandled and pushed around so badly by Mitt Romney, all subsequent moderators will now come loaded for bear with all their fact checking done. When you want to catch an Eel, you’ve got to put sand on your hands or it will slip right through your fingers. Mitt is one slippery Devil. This concludes my post debate wrap up until the next time.

Strong Delusion – Black People, Their Churches and Their Clergy

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The Way of the Slave. Many are still on that path.

by Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

“We grant you [Kings of Spain and Portugal] by these present documents, with our Apostolic Authority, full and free permission to invade, search out, capture, and subjugate the Saracens and pagans and any other unbelievers and enemies of Christ wherever they may be, as well as their kingdoms, duchies, counties, principalities, and other property […] and to reduce their persons into perpetual slavery.” __Papal Bull from Pope Nicholas V in 1452 known as the Dum Diversas

For the first time in recorded human history, it became possible to become a slave in perpetuity. Chattel Slavery was born. Prior to that Slavery wasn’t for life. Slaves had rights, could own property, buy their freedom early and knew their release dates.

In 1492 Columbus was going to discover a “new world” and the market in human misery was going to explode. Africans in particular were going to become an expendable and replaceable commodity. During the 400 plus years slavery was practiced in the “Americas,” by conservative estimates, 100 million Africans would lose their lives between the point of capture but before they made it to the auction blocks. This was the greatest holocaust in recorded human history.

Think about all of the issues our returning soldiers face when returning home. The things they’ve seen, the things they’ve done have consequences that many times require years of therapy under the care of a trained psychologist. Only a true socio-path is immune to human suffering. To be sure many slave traders were socio-paths, not all were. These people needed some way to compartmentalize what they were doing. They needed some way to rationalize what they were doing to their fellow human beings.

Some convinced themselves that Africans were “sub-human.” They told themselves that Africans were just a little above animals. This may have salved their consciences… until they began raping African women. Having sex with animals is a mortal sin. This undoubtedly created a continual state of cognitive dissonance. Other’s convinced themselves they were “missionaries.” Sure they were enslaving the bodies of Africans, but they were also exposing them to Christianity thereby saving their immortal souls.

Christianity was the perfect religion for their dirty job. The Christian Bible is rife with passages that speak of being a servant or pleasing God by pleasing your “master.”   If Slaves could be Christianized and learn to accept Slavery as their God ordained station in life, it would serve to pacify them. The plan was simple. Make the Slaves believe that the only true God was the Christian God. Make them believe that this God was all powerful. Make them believe that this God was watching over them and by extension it was his will that they be Slaves.

To this end, Slaves were robbed of their culture, their languages and their names. They were given good Christian names. They were not allowed to speak their own languages. Families frequently were broken up with children being sold off so they could not pass on their culture in secret. It was a diabolically, insidious system of control.

Praise House

There were no unions for slaves. They worked from sun up to sun down. The only day they did not have to work was on Sunday. At first white people allowed the slaves to enter their churches to hear the “Gospel.” Of course that didn’t last long because children will be children. Young children who had not yet learned to hate, no doubt began playing together. The solution was to build slave churches. These were places, usually on plantations where slaves were allowed to attend Sunday services. They had their own Black Preachers, many who could not read, but who could recite the stories they’d been told. They were allowed to go to the white church and listen to the sermon, then go and relate that sermon to the Slaves.

John Jasper – Slave Preacher from Virgina

Being a Black preacher was the first opportunity to have an officially recognized position in white society. You were viewed as being better than and above the other Slaves. You were a safe Negro. You had embraced turning the other cheek, non-violence and more importantly, the position that prayer and supplication to God would eventually solve your problems and the problems of your people. So long as you were praying and leading others to pray, all was good. The simple fact is, Black people believed more in the white Jesus than white people did.

It is difficult to resolve the teachings of Jesus with the practices required to sustain a Slave culture. Beatings, lynchings, rapes, murder, paedophilia, buying and selling humanity. Breaking up families for a profit, working people literally to death are inconsistent with what Jesus taught. Yet it was from the people who did these things that Black people were given Christianity. It seems fair to wonder if white people actually read their Bible before they started passing them out?

Nevertheless, Slaves embraced Christianity. Getting some time off on Sundays no doubt has something to do with why Sunday services in Black Churches last so long. As Slaves, you didn’t want your time in church to end. When church was over it was back to the fields. Why are Black church services are so frenetic and energetic? If you’re dragging out a service, the “Massah” was bound to come to see what was taking so long. They had to make him believe that they were totally consumed with spiritual ecstasy. Convulsing on the floor in the “Spirit,” whooping and hollering were essential theatrics in making the service last as long as possible. The Slaves revered their Black preacher because he was able to work the system for their benefit.

Civil Rights Movement

Rather than dealing with us, white people as always, were much more comfortable dealing with their designated go betweens, the “Black Clergy.” You hear these code words today if you’re paying attention. How many times have you heard a pundit use this phrase whenever the subject turns to Black issues, “Black leaders say…?” Have you ever heard an issue addressed where the phrase, “White leaders” is used? “Asian leaders?” “Hispanic leaders?” The only other group where ethnic leadership is even remotely referenced are Native Americans. Native Americans also experienced near genocide at the hands of white people. Coincidence?

During the “Civil Rights Movement” it was quite natural that the prominent leaders of the movement were members of the Black Clergy. They had taken a system set in place for control of Black people and used it to defeat that very system. White people never expected the non-violent protests of Martin King, Jr. to be effective on other white people. Turn the other cheek? Really? In the face of police

Martin meets Malcom

dogs, fire hoses and billy clubs? The miracle was that it did work!

Malcom’s message of “self-reliance” and nation building caused him to be seen as a threat. Black people building their own businesses and communities, following a different religion, and by no means adopting non-violence as a code was the white man’s nightmare. In point of fact, it was the old “good cop – bad cop” approach. Malcom was preaching “By Any Means Necessary!” Martin was preaching “Passive Resistance!” Together they offered a difficult choice and posed one helluva problem! It is not surprising that both were assassinated under mysterious circumstances we have yet to reach the bottom of to this day.

Not only had white people been paying attention to the power these men wielded, Black people were paying attention too. Some coveted this power, but not to empower Black people. When power becomes an end in its self, corruption always results!

How far we’ve fallen

[KJV] II Thessalonians 2:11,12
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Today we have a proliferation of Black Clergy. In the Black community you will find a church on one corner and a liquor store on the other. Both are selling “spirits” just under a different name. Being a Black preacher is an easy route to a respected career with professional standing. It does not require a college education and the rewards can be staggering if you have the gift of gab. If you want a title? Confer one upon yourself. Print your business cards and people will begin calling you by whatever title you’ve chosen.

Black people have been conditioned from 400 plus years of slavery to need religion and to want a leader to follow. They will accept almost anyone who offers to fill that void. It is not my position that all Black Clergy have malicious intent. A good many of them are sincere and have convinced themselves that they are carrying out a “calling” on their lives.

There are two types of Black Clergy that concern me. You need to be wary of both of them. The first are purely out for financial gain. For them it’s all about the “Benjamins.” Fine house, expensive car, lifestyles of the rich and famous. They live by the 11th Commandment, “he who dies with the most toys wins!”

Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr.

The second are much more insidious and a lot more dangerous. These people quite often do have a college degree. They have a vision which they are adept at selling to their gullible followers. For them, religious faith is a tool they define and redefine in order to manipulate and control the behaviour of those in their “flocks.” What they’ve discovered is, one of the quickest ways to notoriety, financial gain and fame is to become the mouthpieces for white people whom because of the racial history of this nation, find it politically incorrect to publicly proclaim the racist stereotypes of the past.

Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson

Issues like affirmative action, welfare, “State’s Rights,” absentee fathers, children being born out of wedlock, if I put together a program wherein I dealt with these issues from the stereotypical white perspective, I could have my own radio talk show by next week. “Black people need to try harder!” “They need to apply themselves in school!” “The ‘playing field’ is now level!” Ignore the realities of poverty, red-lining, underfunded inner city schools, racial targeting by law enforcement and all the other realities that comprise the Black experience in America. Speak in support of the agenda of that segment of society composed of racist white people and they will find a platform for you to preach from. What’s more, the money will roll in.

Pastor James David Manning

We now have a crop of these shills running around like apostles to the Black community. Self-appointed and self-anointed. They’ve tailored their message to resonate with religious ideology of the Black community. If you show a Black person something written in their Bible, suddenly it has the weight of All Mighty God! Most don’t know enough about their Bibles to place the passage in context. They don’t know enough about their Bibles to know about contradicting passages. Everybody knows that God parted the “Red Sea” during the “Exodus.” What most do not know is that the actual Greek calls it a “Sea of Reeds” or a marshy place. “Red Sea” is a mistranslation.

Abortion

2000 Census Chart

This wedge issue is quite popular. Who doesn’t love babies? I had a Black preacher tell me that abortion was the “black holocaust!” She went on to say that “millions of Black babies are aborted every year!” Her point was, I shouldn’t vote for President Obama because he supported a woman’s right to choose. Fortunately, she was talking to a “critical thinker.”

2009 Incarceration Rates in the U.S.

With all those “Baby Mamas” running around, it just doesn’t seem likely that a lot of Black babies are being aborted. In point of fact, in spite of “open season” being declared on Black males by our judicial system – 40% of the 2,300,000 people in our prisons are Black – our population is actually growing. We were only 12% of the population and we’re now nearing 13%. This is in competition with all that “illegal immigration” they keep whining about. No, I really don’t think abortion is a Black problem.

Margaret Sanger Founder of Planned Parenthood

To be sure, the original plan of the “American Eugenics Movement” as imported from Nazi Germany by Margaret Sanger, was to control and reduce the population of “undesirables” in the United States. In particular, she was after the Negro race. She founded “Family Planning” – an innocuous sounding name – and “Centers” sprang up in poor, depressed minority communities all around the United States. All was good and nobody said a word.

In 1973 with the passage of Roe v. Wade, they were off to the races. Literally! All was good and going according to plan, up until the mid 1980’s when the “bean counters” did a study and discovered something appalling. More white babies were being aborted than black and other minority babies. According to their projections, white people would be a minority in the United States by the year 2050. Panic set in. Something had to be done. This is when abortion was sold to the “Religious Right” and it became “America’s Sin!” All of this was before, they became concerned with “illegal immigration.”


The Black Clergy in the timeless question of the “House Slave” were now asking, “Massah, is we sick?” Forgive my schadenfruede, but when a weapon formed against me, blows up in the face of my enemy? I am not likely to rush to his side to render aid. No Massah, we ain’t sick, but you are!

Gay marriage

This is another manufactured wedge issue. It is interesting to note, that Jesus never once said anything about homosexuality as recorded in the Gospels. How could he have made such an oversight given all the furor over homosexuality today? He could have slipped it into “The Sermon on the Mount.” How about, “Blessed are those who hate Gays, for they shall inherit a righteous society?”

Black Choir Getting Down

The facts are, Gays are essential to the Black Church. They sing in and direct the choirs. They are the musicians that play that funky gospel sound that whips the congregation into a frenzy. And yes, without them, those tithes and offerings that the Black Clergy love to reap would be significantly less. When that lovely young man with that high falsetto moves you to tears, your wallet opens. This is no longer, “Massah is we sick?” This is “Massah, you want us be sick for you?“

I fully understand people making the biblical case for morality. Although, basing morality on the Bible can be problematic. For instance, is there anybody who believes ordering the slaughter of nursing infants is moral? Perhaps this is why abortion isn’t mentioned in the Bible?

Send in the clowns

[KJV] Matthew 7:4,5
4  Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5  Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

Since the Black Clergy has decided to interject morality into political decisions, it only seems fitting that we take a peek into their skeleton filled closets. After all, if you’re going to tell me that the person I vote for needs to be a paragon of moral virtue and hew to the values of the Christian Bible, perhaps I should take a close look at you?

Eddie Long

Eddie – somebody done somebody wrong – Long

What can you say about the disgraced pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia? He really gives those paedophile Catholic Priests a run for their money. While he stuck closely to the “letter of the law” by waiting until his prey – like fruit ripening on the vine – were of legal age, in point of fact, he began grooming them in his “Long Fellows Academy” for young men, while they were mere children.

Thus, not only do we have homosexuality, we have it with under aged children. Remember, the age of consent in Georgia is not the same for other States. Had he done the same in New York he’d be sitting behind bars for the rest of his unnatural life. Question: How much did you hear from the Black Clergy denouncing Eddie Long? Plenty of “let’s hold him up in our prayers,” not much denouncement. Evidently, the Bible applies to pastors differently?

Creflo Dollar

The Two Faces of Dr. Dollar

High Priest of Prosperity, the Reverend Doctor Creflo Dollar is not used to hearing “no.” What’s worse, when he makes a decree, not only does he expect it to be obeyed, you’d better act like you’re elated! This is particularly true if you happen to be one of his children. Evidently Dollar’s 15 year old daughter had been planning on going to a party over the weekend. Dollar told her that because of her grades, she could not attend the party as she’d been planning. So far, I have no problem with this. I’d even go so far as to call this good parenting. We need more of it.

What happened next was entirely uncalled for. Not just by any parent, but especially in the case of a “man of God.” When his daughter turned and walked into the next room crying, this enraged Dollar. He followed her and according to the police reports, slapped her and assaulted her. Really? What should a disappointed 15 year old girl have done differently?

Did you hear any of the Black Clergy weigh in on this? I didn’t. The Bible is full of aphorisms on how we ought to conduct ourselves. “Do violence to no man” comes to mind.

Noel Jones

Bishop Noel Jones and “Baby Mama” Stacy Francis from the X-Factor

Yet another Pentecostal Bishop and pastor of a mega-church seems to have a problem keeping his pants zipped. The Bible is quite clear about sex outside of marriage. Fornication, adultery, lying, murder and idolatry – worshipping money? – are all sins that will send you to the same Hell. There is no “Hell-lite” for lessor sins. Every sin gets the same treatment according to the Bible.

Charismatic Bishop Noel Jones has used his fame to gain access to women who were vulnerable and seeking spiritual advice. Under the doctrine of “fair exchange being no robbery,” while he was ministering to their spiritual needs, they were ministering to his physical needs. Every so often there is a “parting gift.” “X-Factor Star,” Stacy Francis received just such a gift. She now has the select distinction of being Noel Jones’ “Baby Mama.” Have you heard any of the Black Clergy speak out on this? I haven’t.

Jamal Bryant

Jamal – I love my Bentley – Bryant

Following in the footsteps of his betters, Jamal Harrison Bryant is yet another example of mega-church pastor who cannot seem to keep his private parts out of his cash drawer. It must be painful. I know it was painful for his wife. She’s sitting on the front pew as the “first lady” and the 17 year old girl her husband is sleeping with is sitting on a pew behind her. How much is enough? Money, fame, beautiful wife and you’re looking over your wife’s shoulders at your next score. Have you heard any of the Black Clergy speak out against this? Nope! Silence so deafening you can hear a pin drop.

Zachary Tims

Zachary Tims

While I’d never speak ill of the dead – well, I would under certain circumstances – it is quite common for the untimely ends of famous people to work their way into sermons as a “cautionary tale. “We now turn to rising evangelical star, Zachary Tims. Mega-church pastor, young, attractive, frequent spots on the “TBN Network,” it all came crashing down when he was found dead in a hotel in New York on August 12, 2011. He was found on the floor with a packet of white powder in the pocket of his shorts.

While the family successfully went to court to keep the toxicology reports sealed until 2013, the evidence is fairly obvious. Police are wondering if there may have been a sexual encounter? Once again, I have not heard so much as a peep from the Black Clergy.

[KJV] I Peter 4:17 
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

My message to all those Black Preachers who have suddenly discovered their moral fortitude? Before you conflate the job of President of these United States with being “Pastor in Chief,” get the skeletons out of your own damn closets! I can’t hear you over the tremendous din from all those bones rattling around.

Nu Jack Slavery – The Prison Industrial Complex

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Capitalist no longer recruit and pay their labor force… They have them arrested!

“Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget and I’ll tell you what you value!” __Joe Biden

Years ago I was told how to cook a frog. I’ve never eaten one, however I filed that information away with all the other trivia neatly catalogued in my head. The trick is you do not toss a frog into boiling water. It seems that frogs take objection to this and will hop right out of the pot. The trick is you put the frog into cold water and slowly turn up the heat. The frog swims contentedly until it’s too late and he’s cooked.

It seems this method also works on us humans. I am amused by those people who have boosted gun sales and thus the profits of the firearms industry to record levels. “It’s coming!” “Any day now!” “I can feel it, you’d better get ready!” They’re stocking up on guns and ammunition. Some are storing food and water all preparing for the apocalypse they see just over their horizon. “President Obama is coming for our guns!” The facts are, under President Obama you now have more “2nd Amendment” protections than under any other President in recent history. President Obama is the first President whom I’ve heard state in public and on the record that he believed the 2nd Amendment applied to the individual and not a State militia. Under President Obama you may now go armed in our National Parks. You probably missed that one didn’t you?

Predator Drone in action

The United States government is not in the least worried about it’s citizenry being armed. Ask the Taliban. Ask the rebels in Afghanistan. Unless you’re packing something that can shoot down a “Predator Drone,” you and your group are not a threat. My advice? Don’t pick a fight where there isn’t any. Whatever you may think about the government, it is here to protect you and provide for the common welfare.

Know Your Enemy

“It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles…” Sun Tzu (Art of War)

The problem is not our government but the corporate interests who’ve been busy buying it. When they asked Benjamin Franklin what they’d arrived at as he was leaving “Independence Hall” at the close of the “Constitutional Convention,” his reply was, “a Republic if you can keep it.” I cannot help but wonder if old Ben might not have seen this coming? Someone said that a Democracy will only last as long as it takes the people to realize they can vote themselves money out of the public treasury. Having a Republic guards against that. Yet, there are techniques to pick the lock on the treasury vault under a Republic. Buy off the Representatives and the heads of the various branches of government. Corporations have been doing just that for all their worth!

Jack Abramoff

If you do not like a law, which is easier? Mounting a campaign and stirring up public sentiment to get that law changed? Or, identifying key legislators and buying them off? I’m sure we already know the answer.

Time for a quick refresher course on our philosophy of government. Man is endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights. I’m sure you’ve heard that somewhere before. We do not have a King claiming divine right of rule. Thus, each citizen gives up a portion of their power and grants our government some of our God given rights to rule over us. This is where the power of Government stems from. It comes from you, me, us individuals granting to our Government a portion of our power to use that power for the betterment of our society. This is why we say we have a government, “for the people, of the people and by the people.” That is how it is supposed to work in theory.

Corporations have been busy subverting this for nearly as long as they’ve been around. One such example is our Prison Industrial Complex. The following 5 minute video highlights an extremely disturbing trend.

When a person violates our laws, the offence is considered to be against all of us collectively. Depending on the crime or infraction, it can also be against individuals. When they are punished we the people are collectively punishing them.

This poses a sticky question. When our prison system becomes a for-profit industry, hasn’t the doctrine of the collective will of the people been violated? A State run prison is an instrument of the people. If you escape it, you’re subverting the collective will. However, should you escape a corporate prison, it seems to me that is something quite a bit different.

The Forgotten Men

Privatizing prisons has become an extremely profitable international industry. With the down turn in our economy, bottom feeders have found a booming business. America’s largest private incarceration corporation – Corrections Corporation of America – has made an offer to the States. They will buy up their cash strapped penitentiaries and run them at a cost savings. There is however one catch. The States must guarantee a 90% occupancy. Think about this for a moment. How do you guarantee a 90% occupancy? What would you do if you found yourself falling short?

Are you feeling the temperature rise? Perhaps your swimming pool has merely become a hot tub? Nothing to worry about. Kick back and relax. What this does is create a monetary incentive for police officers to make more arrests, even in speculative circumstances. It creates incentives for corruption, the planting of evidence, the manufacturing of charges. It creates a bias in the court for judges to not only find you guilty, but to give you the longest sentence possible under the law. No leniency for first time offenders. Is this what we want?

The adage of, “well, you shouldn’t have done it in the first place,” really needs to be examined. Most cases do not go to trial. They’re settled by “plea agreement.” Yes, I understand you saying in the comfort of your Den, sitting at your computer, “well, I’d never take a plea.” Trouble is, when they come after you, they can make that plea look awfully appealing. Let’s say you were driving home one night through a construction zone. There are a lot of those around these days. I’m sure you’ve seen the signs that give out the increased penalties and fines in these zones.

Back Room Deals. Public Consequences

Let’s further say, they ended construction in a zone near your home but hadn’t gotten around to taking those signs down. Where I live there are quite a few deer. So, one night on your way home, “Bambi” jumps out. Reflexively you swerve to avoid the deer and clip a car in the on-coming lane. It spins out and someone is severely injured. The deer goes on about it’s merry way. You are the only one who saw the deer. The police estimate your speed at being 10 miles over the speed limit and they arrest you and file charges. Why? They’ve got a cash incentive. The prosecutor and the judge also have a cash incentive. The prosecutor tells your attorney he’s going for the 8 year maximum. Personal injury in a construction zone. They’ll offer you a 4 year plea deal. Do 4, get a day for a day and you’ll be out in 2 years. How’s it sounding now? Do you roll the dice? If you lose you’ll be in for 8 years. The judge also has an incentive to find you guilty.

Your wife or husband? They want you back as soon as possible. You’ve just lost your job. They’re not going to hold it while you’re in prison. Your attorney is not working for free. Or did you go with a Public Defender? You never thought it would come to this but here you are.

SLAVERY

Nu Jack Slavery

How exactly does a private firm run a prison at a cost savings? They view the inmates as a labor force. You would be surprised at how many of the goods and services you use are provided by prison labor. Telemarketing is now done at some prisons. Think about that the next time you buy something over the phone. You may have just given your credit card information to a prison inmate. Corporations simply love it because if their product can be assembled by prisoners, they don’t have to pay minimum wage or supply benefits. Their profit margin increases. Corrections Corporation of America gets their cut and profits are made off of the injustice of destroying innocent lives. Nowhere but in America!

Smell something cooking? Might be you! We are silly enough to actually pay what we call “Legislators” to do nothing but pass laws. More and more laws are going on the books. You cannot make it through your day without breaking numerous laws. Most are obscure and unknown but should they want to get you, those laws exists as tools for them to use.

The drug war will go on even though off the record, everybody knows the solution is decriminalization. If you decriminalized drugs and took the money out of them, the drug industry would dry up within a couple of months. The violence would stop and society would be a much safer place. If everybody knows this, why then does it continue? Because the State also profits off of the drug war. Most of the people in prison are non-violent offenders. The perfect employees for the Prison Industrial Complex.

Should we tax churches?

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A Crystal Cathedral?

by Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” First Amendment – U.S. Constitution

From this “Amendment” the entire doctrine of the separation between Church and State is drawn. Read it carefully. It says nothing about taxation. It also mentions the “Press.” If one may infer a tax exempt status for Churches, based on this Amendment, Fox News, MSNBC, The New York Times et al, should also get in line for their tax exempt statuses.

Historically, churches being exempt from taxation goes all the way back to the Roman Emperor Constantine. Following his conversion to Christianity it is said he exempted all Christian churches from taxation. This practice continued through the middle ages largely because it was believed the work churches did in caring for the poor and needy relieved the burden on the government. Back then, this was probably a valid assumption.

From the founding of this Nation, churches were not taxed and received a formal exemption from taxation in 1894. Prior to this no less than three Presidents, Madison, Garfield and Grant had called for taxing churches pointing out that by the early 1900’s these tax exemptions had cost the American taxpayer 1 billion dollars. Imagine what that has grown to today.

When people and institutions do not pay their fare share, be they the 1% or multi-billion dollar, international corporations like GE, the taxpayer is footing the costs. The common roads, the infrastructure, emergency services are not free. The taxes these institutions are not paying get defrayed amongst those who are paying. Put another way, your taxes are increased by some percentage because of loopholes, tax evasion or unmerited tax exemptions our government grants to various institutions.

[KJV] Philippians 2:7 
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

When it comes to churches, things have gotten out of hand. Rather

Paula White’s Rolls Royce in front of her Italian home

than following in the footsteps of Jesus, pastors are emulating the titans of corporate greed. They do not measure their success by how many people they help or how many lives they make better, wealth = success. Not just wealth, but conspicuous wealth. As a rule, Americans have no problem with wealth. If you’ve been extremely successful financially, more power to you. However, how you make that wealth does make a difference.  For instance, we have no problem with the financial success of a Bill Gates, a Warren Buffett or a Steve Jobs. However, we do take issue with the head of a Columbian drug cartel’s opulent lifestyle. Why? Because he makes his wealth off the misery, death and destruction of people who are addicted to a product that is killing them and destroying their lives and the communities in which they live.

Coronation of Eddie Long

But preachers are not drug dealers! Let’s examine this. Religion has indeed become a product which is being marketed to the public. Like insurance, it is sold to you as an “Eternal Assurance Policy.” It is an intangible product. You cannot touch it, taste it or smell it. It makes you feel a certain way to be sure. However, you do not know if what you’ve paid for is real until after you die. No customer has ever been able to return and ask for a refund. Not from any church. Not from any denomination. They cannot all be right. Thus, some groups must be in error and those who embraced those faiths surely must have gotten their feelings hurt once they crossed into the afterlife. Everybody cannot be right. Somebody has to be wrong. If everybody is right, What’s the point in having different denominations?

While there are faith based charitable organizations that actually do

make a difference such as, “The Salvation Army,” “World Vision,”

Creflo Dollar’s Private Jet

“Bread for the World,” compared to proliferation of “mega-Churches,” these organizations are a drop in the bucket. Mega-Churches and their pastors have become profit driven silos of greed. If the pastor has a Rolls Royce… or two, a private jet, a multi-million dollar estate, I’m going to want to see an even greater investment in programs designed to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and care for the sick.

One of Paula White’s Homes

When the housing market was in full meltdown mode and home foreclosures were spiralling out of control. The members of these mega-churches were hit as hard as everyone else. You did not hear any news stories suggesting that those who tithed, donated and supported the lavish lifestyles of their pastors were somehow blessed or exempt from the economic chaos facing secular society. Something else you did not hear was, how any of these mega-churches came to the rescue of their struggling parishioners. You did not hear about churches stepping up to help those who’d donated thousands of dollars over the years, keep their homes.  If these wealthy mega-churches did not rise to the occasion and help their own members, what type of commitment do they have to social programs that feed, clothe and shelter those who are unable to donate to their operations?

Separation is a two-way street

“Good fences make good neighbours.” __Robert Frost

If you don’t want me getting into your business, stay the hell out of mine! Over the past few decades we’ve seen an exponential growth in church activism. No longer is it enough for them to preach and promote their doctrines to their congregations or to those who choose to tune into them over the airwaves. Now they are bent on seizing the legislative power of government to force people who do not subscribe to their views, to live by those views. Now we have a problem.

They tested the water years ago with what are known as “blue laws.” In many States across this nation you cannot buy liquor on Sundays. The secular public has by and large accommodated this nonsense. We just buy our liquor on Saturday. Annoying? Yes, but in most places, not annoying enough to mount a campaign to change the law. Emboldened by the apparent apathy of secular society they’ve now decided to flex their muscles and  not just weigh in on various issues, but are donating money and motivating their parishioners to take sometimes violent action in an effort to force society to conform to church dogma.

Murdered in Church

While one might argue that church membership makes a prima facie case for mental instability, certainly telling unstable parishioners that doctors who perform abortions are murderers is tantamount to loading the gun, putting it in their hand and pointing them in the direction of the nearest abortion services clinic with a blessing from God. Once reason and rationality is replaced with self-righteous faith, the surrealistic irony cannot be grasped by the misguided missiles they’ve released. If abortion is murder and murder is forbidden by God, then murdering an abortion provider makes you just as deserving of God’s judgement as the person you’re murdering.

There is also the oxymoron of promoting an omnipotent God who is involved in all aspects of human affairs but whom for some reason needs and requires human beings to do his dirty work. If God wants someone dead, why does he need me, you or anyone else to kill them for him? Couldn’t God simply take their next breath? Their next heartbeat? How is this any different than some radical Islamic Imam convincing his followers to strap on a bomb vest and go detonate themselves so they can enter paradise? If the Imam truly believed his message, he wouldn’t be present to deliver it because he would have already blown himself into paradise.

Mormons rally against Prop-8

Abortion is not the only issue churches want to weigh in on. They also have taken an issue with what we do in the privacy of our homes and in our private relationships. Irony of ironies the Mormon church actually donated millions of dollars to defeat “Prop-8” in California. A group who’s hallmark was redefining “Marriage” fought tooth and fang to prevent the redefining of marriage. It is difficult to imagine the level of delusion necessary to make sense of group who’s very tenets of faith originally taught that men must have multiple wives in order to enter heaven, forming their mouths to defend “traditional marriage.” Surely their lips must have split!

It is one thing to promote the tenets of one’s faith to those who have embraced that faith. It is quite another to mobilize and attempt to enact laws to force the rest of society to conform to your particular brand of religion.

Christian Terrorism

Terry Jones promoting burning of Qur’ans

What happens when promoting your twisted theology causes the deaths of American Service Personnel? In 2010 Nit-Wit Florida pastor Terry Jones thought it would be a dandy idea to promote what he called, “Burn a Qur’an Day.” Because – possibly by design – this message made it on to YouTube and around the Internet, it was eventually seen in Islamic countries where American forces are stationed. As you might expect, Muslim fundamentalist were not too pleased with this idea. The result? Embassies were attacked and people died. 20 in just one attack in Afghanistan. Good idea? Not if your son or daughter is currently stationed over there.

How much did this cost the U.S. Taxpayer? I do not know. If it was your child that got killed because of this, what price would you place on his or her life? Security at American Embassies had to be increased. Battle groups were moved into the area. Air support was increased and you and I had to foot the bill through increased taxes. Didn’t notice your taxes go up? When money is directed away from the services you are receiving, you’re getting less for what you’ve paid. This amounts to an increase in the cost of what you’re paying for.

Children being raised to hate

If this weren’t enough, to add insult to injury – literally – upon trying to bury our sons and daughters who gave their last measure of devotion, families have had to contend with the shenanigans of Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church. They literally bussed people to the graveside services of our fallen soldiers to picket the ceremonies by hurling such epithets as “God Hates Fags” and “We’re Glad Your Dead.” Of course the sexual orientation of the fallen is never considered. Doesn’t matter that our dead sons and daughters were straight. The fact they serve in our military which – through no fault of their own – no longer discriminates on the basis of race, gender or sexual orientation, is enough. If you don’t hate “Fags” as much as Fred Phelps, you’re just as guilty and on your way to hell too!

Church and taxation – the facts

When we exempt churches from paying taxes, we the taxpayers are

Creflo Dollar’s Estate

giving them free money. We have done this under the aegis that they would use these benefits for the betterment of society and in fulfilling the philosophical mission of the historical Jesus. Clearly this has not been the case. Not only have they grown fat from the largesse of the  American tax payer, they are now using this wealth to socially engineer society back to the medieval period we refer to as the “Dark Ages.”

Not long ago I had a preacher tell me to “stay in my lane.” I promptly informed her that as a devout Agnostic I have no lane. Clearly she had forgotten we were not in her church and she was not in her pulpit. What had led to our interaction was her spouting her inability to vote for President Obama because of religious reasons. She didn’t like the fact that he was not willing to break his oath to uphold the Constitution and thought he ought to ban abortions by an “executive order.”

Of course the fact that the other candidate is a bishop in a church that teaches that God has endless celestial sex with his thousands of wives, made her no never mind. The belief that Jesus and Lucifer are brothers? Hardly even a speed bump. When I pointed out these flagrant contradictions to the faith she claims to hold, she quickly switched to the “Gay Marriage” issue. She is not an unintelligent woman which is why I did not let her off the hook. We are not electing the titular head of a religious institution. The United States is not a theocracy. Although the President when taking the “Oath of Office” placed his hand atop a Bible, he did so while affirming his obligation to uphold the Constitution of the United States.

Provision in the Constitution ensure equal rights and equal protections under our laws. There are no exceptions for race, creed, gender or sexual orientation. These people will cry loudly and spare not when it comes to the evils and corruption of our government yet in the same breath want our government to intrude it’s self into our most intimate and private moments.

It was not lost on me that this was one of those pastors who owns a $200 thousand dollar automobile and resides in a multi-million dollar estate. It was then I had my epiphany! She was not voting her religious convictions, she was voting her own economic interests. Understandable except for the part where she was using her office to persuade others barely scraping by, to vote in lock step with her under the guise of the issues being religious in nature.

We take a dim view of this type of behaviour which is why official political commercials always have the phrase, “I (candidate’s name) approve of this message.” This is to let those hearing the commercial know who is behind the commercial and what their biases may be. If churches want to get involved in government, they need to stop pretending and pay their taxes like every other institution.

I’ll be fair. If they can show conclusively that they’ve given to their communities in actual dollar value the amount they would be assessed in taxes, we can allow them to write off those taxes against their contributions. I suspect we won’t have nearly as many oversized, expensive churches surrounding by low income housing.