1. The U.S. government, not long dead Southern planters, bears the blame for slavery. It encoded it in the Constitution in article one. This designated a black slave as three-fifths of a person for tax and political representation purposes. It protected and nourished it in article four by mandating that all escaped slaves found anywhere in the nation be returned to their masters. In the Dred Scott decision in 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed that slaves remained slaves no matter where they were taken in the United States.
2. Major institutions profited from slavery. Several states and cities now require insurance companies to disclose whether they wrote policies insuring slaves. This is recognition that insurance companies made profits insuring slaves as property. The insurance industry was not the only culprit. Banks, shipping companies, and investment houses also made enormous profits from financing slave purchases, investments in southern land and products, and the transport and sale of slaves.
3. The legacy of slavery endures. In its 2006 State of Black America, the National Urban League found that blacks are far more likely to live in underserved segregated neighborhoods, be refused business and housing loans, be denied promotions in corporations, suffer greater health care disparities, and attend cash-starved, failing public schools than whites.
4. Former Federal Reserve Board member Andrew Brimmer estimates that discrimination costs blacks $10 billion yearly through the black-white wage gap,
denial of capital access, inadequate public services, and reduced social security
and other government benefits. This has been called the “black tax.”
5. Since the 1960s the U.S. government has shelled out billions to pay for
resettlement, job training, education, and health programs for refugees fleeing Communist repression. Congress enthusiastically backed these payments as the morally and legally right thing to do.
6. The reparations issue will not fuel more hatred of blacks. Most Americans
admit that slavery was a monstrous system that wreaked severe pain and suffering on the country. Also, there was no national outcry when the U.S. government made special indemnity payments, provided land and social service benefits to Japanese-Americans interned during World War II, Native-Americans for the theft of lands and mineral rights, and Philippine veterans who fought with the American army during World War II.
7. There is a precedent for paying blacks for past legal and moral wrongs. In 1997 President Clinton apologized and the U.S. government paid $10 million to
the black survivors and family members victimized by the syphilis experiment
conducted in the 1930’s by the U.S. Public Health Service. In 1994, the Florida legislature agreed to make payments to the survivors and relatives of those who lost their lives and property when a white mob destroyed the all-black town of Rosewood in 1923. Public officials and law enforcement officers tacitly condoned the killings and property damage. The Oklahoma state legislature has agreed that reparations payments is the morally right thing to do to compensate the survivors and their descendants for the destruction of black neighborhoods in Tulsa by white mobs in 1921.
8. Most tax money to redress black suffering should go into a fund to bolster funding for AIDS/HIV education and prevention, under-financed inner-city public schools, increased public school teacher salaries and standards, extensive year-round black education programs, early childhood education programs for inner-city residents, small black business investment, elderly transportation and financial assistance programs, expanded job skills and vocational training (daycare included), drug and alcohol counseling and rehabilitation, computer access and literacy training programs, and to improve public services for the estimated one in four blacks still trapped in poverty to name a few.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
8 Reasons for Reparations
Monday, February 26, 2007
UPDATE:U.S. court upholds same-sex teaching to children
Sat Feb 24, 2007 11:20AM EST
BOSTON (Reuters) - A federal judge in Boston has dismissed a suit by two families who wanted to stop a Massachusetts town and its public school system from teaching their children about gay marriage, court documents show.
The families last year filed the suit asserting that the reading of a gay-themed book and handing out to elementary school students of other children's books that discussed homosexuality without first notifying parents was a violation of their religious rights.
Federal Judge Mark Wolf ruled on Friday that public schools are "entitled to teach anything that is reasonably related to the goals of preparing students to become engaged and productive citizens in our democracy."
"Diversity is a hallmark of our nation. It is increasingly evident that our diversity includes differences in sexual orientation," he said.
He said the courts had decided in other cases that parents' rights to exercise their religious beliefs were not violated when their children were exposed to contrary ideas in school.
The complaint filed against the town of Lexington, about 12 miles west of Boston, had said the school had "begun a process of intentionally indoctrinating very young children to affirm the notion that homosexuality is right and normal in direct denigration of the plaintiffs' deeply held faith."
OBM: Schools are for education not indoctrination. K-10 grade should be off limits for this type of information, at best…11 & 12 grade it should be voluntary. All parents should be allowed to provide their children with the belief system of their choice. Since this is allowed in public schools then all parents should be notified in advance and offered vouchers and/or federal assistance for private schools that do not have this in their curriculum.
The book that sparked the case was "King & King" which tells the story of a crown prince who rejects a bevy of beautiful princesses, rebuffing each suitor until falling in love with a prince. The two marry, sealing the union with a kiss, and live happily ever after.
The Lexington school system had said reading the book was not intended as sex education but as a way to educate children about the world in which they live, especially in Massachusetts, the only U.S. state where gays and lesbians can legally wed.
A lawyer for the families said they would appeal the ruling, the Boston Globe reported on Saturday.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Iraq:The hidden story
| The story of what does not get reported in Iraq by the mainstream media. | |
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Monday, February 19, 2007
Intelligent Dust - A Score for Evil....What Else Will It Be Used For?
Hitachi’s new RFID chips (pictured on right, next to a human hair) are 64 times smaller than their mu-chips (left)
RFID keeps getting smaller. On February 13, Hitachi unveiled a tiny, new “powder” type RFID chip measuring 0.05 x 0.05 mm — the smallest yet — which they aim to begin marketing in 2 to 3 years.
By relying on semiconductor miniaturization technology and using electron beams to write data on the chip substrates, Hitachi was able to create RFID chips 64 times smaller than their currently available 0.4 x 0.4 mm mu-chips. Like mu-chips, which have been used as an anti-counterfeit measure in admission tickets, the new chips have a 128-bit ROM for storing a unique 38-digit ID number.
The new chips are also 9 times smaller than the prototype chips Hitachi unveiled last year, which measure 0.15 x 0.15 mm.
At 5 microns thick, the RFID chips can more easily be embedded in sheets of paper, meaning they can be used in paper currency, gift certificates and identification. But since existing tags are already small enough to embed in paper, it leads one to wonder what new applications the developers have in mind.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Highway to Hell: Texas Governor Rick Perry Needs to Resign!
while I don't agree with everything....he does have a few good points.
School Officials Hate Children; Major Cause of Teen Violence
This guy has some wild ideas about alot of things, but I am feeling him on this one!!!!!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Illegal Gambling made legal Because its Good for You
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is pitching a lottery privatization proposal. It's no real shock. Daniels is a privatization cheerleader, advocating for privatizing roads and social services. One of the reasons to criticize these moves is that they waste money, hurt people, and create massive opportunities for corruption.
But the underlying public logic behind privatization is that we're going to make government more efficient. The real and private logic is much more explicit -- it is a way to help friends get rich. This promise is a tough one to make because a lot of it doesn't make government more efficient (shocker!). But the storyline has been repeated so incessantly by right-wing knuckleheads that it has transformed itself into common sense, even when it is presented in a way that is pretty clearly nonsense.
Privatized lotteries is a horrible idea. Privatization is a lie perpetuated on the American public to line the pocket of some capitalists who, in all honesty, do not contribute anything new to the economy.
It's made all the worse when you talk about lotteries. Those scams are a continual bleed on the poor, stealing money by offering empty promises of great wealth. The odds of winning a lottery are so astronomically low that they cannot be comprehended by the vast majority of people, and the absurd pseudo-mathematics of "well, SOMEONE's going to win; it might as well be me!" takes hold.
OBM: HYPOCRISY!!!!......Gambling is illegal if the profits go into your pocket, But its legal if the profits go into the states pocket. Now its also legal if the profits go into friends of the states pockets. Either make it legal for everyone or no one!!!!!
It is nothing less than the most regressive tax system imaginable. The vast VAST majority of lottery revenue comes from lower - lower-middle income households. It goes to supporting rich school districts with upper income class citizens who live in giant McMansions, but don't wish to pay their fair share of property taxes. It is in this sense "Robin Hood in reverse," and the country is worse off for the proliferation of lotteries. Add to that the sadness of gambling addiction that can fundamentally ruin families and take food from the mouths of children, and you have a grotesque, insidious injustice exerted upon Americans as a whole every day, with every slap-happy lottery jingle and every cutesy little TV "Mega-Millions for Life" add.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Naomi Klein - No Logo (2of4)
Understanding attempts to advertising control your mind!!!!
Naomi Klein - No Logo (1of4)
Understanding attempts to advertising control your mind!!!!
Monday, February 12, 2007
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Who Watches The Watchers In Surveillance Society?
By Reuters
InformationWeek
Sun Feb 4, 9:08 PM ET
CHICAGO - In some cities in Europe and the United States, a person can be videotaped by surveillance cameras hundreds of times a day, and it's safe to say that most of the time no one is actually watching.
But the advent of "intelligent video" -- software that raises the alarm if something on camera appears amiss -- means Big Brother will soon be able to keep a more constant watch, a prospect that is sure to heighten privacy concerns.
Combining motion detection technology with the learning capabilities of video game software, these new systems can detect people loitering, walking in circles or leaving a package.
New microphone technology can isolate the sound of a gunshot and direct the attached camera to swivel and zoom in on the source. Sensitivity may reach the point where microphones could pick out the word "explosives" spoken in a crowd.
"There's just not enough personnel to watch every single camera," said Chicago emergency operations chief Andrew Velasquez. "We are piloting analytic software right now ... where you can set that particular camera to watch for erratic behavior, or someone leaving a suitcase on the sidewalk."
Since the attacks on the United States of Sept. 11, 2001, sections of New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago and even a few smaller U.S. towns have been blanketed with closed-circuit cameras. Privately owned cameras are also proliferating.
FALSE POSITIVES
The encroachment on privacy in what civil libertarians call a "surveillance society" may be a price willingly paid by citizens who fear terrorism and crime.
But ever-alert software capable of maintaining a continuous "watch" on security cameras multiplies the risks of harassing innocent people, privacy experts say.
"I don't buy it. The number of false positives are going to be astronomical," said David Holtzman, author of "Privacy Lost." "It's extremely dangerous to abrogate legitimate law enforcement authority ... to a camera."
In Chicago's darkened, windowless surveillance center, Velasquez looks forward to using new technology, which has had some success elsewhere.
The port of Jacksonville, Florida, has dispensed with human monitoring of cameras altogether by sending alerts and live video to the personal digital assistant of the nearest officer on patrol, according to a spokesman for ObjectView Inc.
ObjectView is one of two dozen companies seeking to perfect so-called intelligent video -- an industry whose sales will grow from $60 million to $400 million within five years, according to global consulting group Frost & Sullivan.
Meanwhile, Texas is evaluating a pilot program in which it allowed Internet access to video of unmanned sections of its border with Mexico and urged viewers to send an e-mail if they spotted something.
"The cameras don't replace police officers. They are in essence a force multiplier. They serve as an extra set of eyes," Velasquez said.
OGLING
The Chicago center is manned 24 hours a day by veteran police officers. A dozen screens depict a few street corners and a stadium, while others are tuned to cable news or Web sites.
They can retrieve video from thousands of cameras and their universe is expanded by private cameras owned by cooperating buildings and stores, but they can monitor only a few at a time.
Velasquez said his officers receive training on privacy and constitutional rights -- for example it is illegal to look into private homes and offices -- and digital recordings hold his officers accountable and prevent abuses that have occurred elsewhere.
In Britain, which has 4.2 million government security cameras, 2 million in London alone, a study showed that male surveillance workers sometimes ogled women on their screens, while others focused on minorities excessively.
But privacy experts also note another British study, from 2002, which said surveillance cameras did not lower overall crime rates, and mereley pushes crime elsewhere.
"Cameras are great tools for solving crime. They're not really that helpful in preventing crime," said Ed Yohnka of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Velasquez disputed the conclusion that cameras don't prevent crime, saying he constantly fields requests from residents asking for a camera to make their neighborhood safer.
He said cameras contributed to a drop in violent crime in the city of Chicago in recent years, a drop that is widely attributed to improved police work in countering gangs and street-corner drug dealing. At the same time, gang activity has surged in some Chicago suburbs.
The city's prosecutors said they rarely use video evidence in court from the cameras, which are encased in bulletproof boxes topped by blue flashing lights and are a common sight in crime-ridden neighborhoods.
Downtown, the cameras are less obtrusive, though a pair mounted on a park fountain was removed after an outcry that they defiled the art.
Holtzman, the privacy expert, wondered where the line will be drawn if authorities opt to use the cameras to spy on suspects or to sniff out low-level crimes.
There are no legal barriers to video being subpoenaed by, for instance, a divorce lawyer seeking evidence of infidelity, he said.
"I think there's a certain amount of freedom you want to give people that live in the city to kind of screw up a little bit," he said.
By: Andrew Stern
Cornel West - Democracy Matters
| Award-winning scholar, professor, author and social commentator Cornel West speaks at the National Constitution Center. Richard Stengel interviews Professor West about his most recent book, Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism. In this controversial sequel to 1993's Race Matters, West's takes what Publisher's Weekly calls an "unflinching" look at what he sees as American imperialism. American democracy, argues West, is at risk because of threatened by free market fundamentalism, aggressive militarism and escalating authoritarianism. West makes extensive use of literary and historical parallels, ranging from Alexis de Tocqueville, Herman Melville and Ralph Waldo Emerson to Toni Morrison. Dr. Cornel West, the Professor of Religion at Princeton University, is a respected scholar of religion, philosophy, and African-American history. Located on Philadelphia's historic Independence Mall, the National Constitution Center is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing public understanding of the U.S. Constitution and its relevance to Americans' daily lives. For more information, call 215.409.6600 or visit www.constitutioncenter.org. | |
Thursday, February 01, 2007
The War Against the Third World: What I've Learned About U.S. Foreign Policy
| CIA covert operations and US military interventions since World War II. A video compilation of footage and speeches recorded in the 1980s and 1990s. What you didn't learn in school and don't hear on the mainstream media. Featuring a speech by Martin Luther King junior, a speech by John Stockwell, "Coverup: Behind the Iran Contra Affair", "School of Assassins", "Genocide by Sanctions" (about Iraq), a speech by Philip Agee, a speech by Amy Goodman about the genocide and ethnic cleansing in East Timor, "The Panama Deception", a speech by Ramsey Clark, and a speech by S. Brian Willson. | |
