(2008-07-30) — The U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday formally apologized for the U.S. government role in slavery and the Jim Crow laws which legalized segregation for a century after the emancipation of slaves in 1865.
In addition to the apology for “the misdeeds committed against African-Americans” who were held in bondage and lived under segregation, the House also voted to end Affirmative Action policies which “treat black people as if they’re not as capable, intelligent or resourceful as those of other races.”
The legislation ends government discrimination in granting contracts to black-owned firms, as well as “the scourge of demeaning bias” in college admissions and hiring.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus hailed the elimination of “this last vestige of institutionalized prejudice,” and announced the dissolution of the Caucus “now that Congress has fulfilled the Founders’ promise of equality of opportunity under law.”
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79 responses so far ↓
1 conserve-a-tip // Jul 30, 2008 at 9:26 am
Whoa Scott. You are on a roll. Wow. This is really good. Is Pelosi screaming about “below the belt” or anything?
2 conserve-a-tip // Jul 30, 2008 at 9:27 am
Oh yes, and God Help America Return To Your Truth
3 beekabok2 // Jul 30, 2008 at 9:29 am
1st - Part of this is actually a good thing. I have never believed that Affirmative Action was the right way to handle the (true) discrimination that has, and in some cases, still does take place.
4 beekabok2 // Jul 30, 2008 at 9:32 am
C-A-T you beat me this time. I well revise
3rd not 1st
5 JQ // Jul 30, 2008 at 10:18 am
It takes a big person to apologize for someone else’s actions; to admit that someone else was wrong.
6 da Bunny // Jul 30, 2008 at 10:38 am
B. Hussein Obama is already talking “reparations” folks. Great idea…stealing money from people who’ve never owned slaves and giving it to people who’ve never been slaves. And this Congressional “apology” is designed to set the stage for these reparations to become a reality. Decades of handouts via the Great Society and the War on Poverty just haven’t been enough…
7 da Bunny // Jul 30, 2008 at 10:57 am
I’m surprised that “Stretch” Pelosi had the time to “apologize” for slavery and “Jim Crow”…what with her single-handedly “trying to save the Planet,” and all!
Obama, Pelosi, Reid…if these people aren’t proof of the sheer lunacy of the Left, then nothing else could be.
8 upnorthlurkin // Jul 30, 2008 at 11:19 am
Da Bunny - Stretch Pelosi had me spewing coffee!! You character! (I wonder if there’s a big knot at the back of her head from said stretching….?) I’m thinking all her husband’s employees at the tuna factory are deserving of apologies, minimum wage, back pay and reparations for their slavery too… I guess if they don’t actually live here, they don’t count…. isn’t Samoa a(n) US Territory?
9 da Bunny // Jul 30, 2008 at 11:35 am
upnorthlurkin, I wish I could take credit for the “Stretch” bit, but I got it from “The Great One,” Mark Levin, who refers to her by that name on his radio show.
San Francisco, CA used to be a U.S. Territory, too. Now it’s a “sanctuary city” for illegal aliens, homosexuals and other perverts, drug-dealers, and any other form of lowlife one can describe.
10 Fred Sinclair // Jul 30, 2008 at 11:37 am
Prov. 16:25 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
I suppose Affirmative Action policies “seemed right” at the time but the death of self esteem was too high a price to pay.
Just knowing that you wouldn’t be in this school or you wouldn’t be in this job if it weren’t for your skin color would cancel whatever claim you might have to equality.
Competent ability should be the criteria that raises you above the slave mentality of dependence on a higher authority. aka “governmental largesse”.
Affirmative Action is just another way of saying “You’re not as good as we are.”
B.O. STINKS
11 conserve-a-tip // Jul 30, 2008 at 11:45 am
I wonder if they are going to apologize to the illegals who were enslaved in the meat packing plant just raided. Did the House apologize for the employers who paid the illegals less than minimum wage, beat them with meat hooks, sexually assaulted the women and worked them for 12-15 hours a day even though they were as young as 15….oh wait….they came here of their own volition, took the jobs willingly AND stole our identities. That makes using illegals ok. Never mind.
12 Ms RightWing, Ink // Jul 30, 2008 at 12:09 pm
C.a.t.
You are welcome to call the mess.i.uh OB1. That has been my tag for the mess.i.uh for a couple of weeks.
The force that was with us Saturday night has finally been cleaned up. For those that don’t know, the bunker was hit by a small tornado, or as the locals call it a ternader. It was down right weird. Mr Clean it was not.
Any how we got strict crow laws here in Ohio stating you can shoot them between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and between noon and six on Sunday. The crows must be over two pounds or you have to throw them back.
Do not confuse the crow laws with Old Crow which can be consumed anytime in privacy but in public can not be consumed after 2 a.m. Nor can you serve Old Crow in a bar where people are voting.
Crowbars are different than serving Old Crow in a bar and should not be confused. Most hardware stores can sell crowbars .
Cromagnums can not be served in bars nor can you shoot them because they are endangered species and very few of them are still walking erect. To much Old Crow makes them appear like earlier Homo Erectus who often weren’t after eating fermented berries.
As far as I know there are no laws keeping Cromagnums from voting as long as the are erect and not wearing a concealed crowbar
13 upnorthlurkin // Jul 30, 2008 at 12:33 pm
For another chuckle, Lucianne dot com has a link to a column by John Kass talking about his addiction to hopium.
(For the more open minded among us, there’s hilarity to be had at the peoples cube dot com too… caution PG13 rating for language)
14 Beerme // Jul 30, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Wow! You folks are on a roll, today!
I found this quote in the link representative of Michigan’s elected officials:
“Today represents a milestone in our nation’s efforts to remedy the ills of our past,” said Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
BTW, Ms. Cheeks-Kilpatrick is Kwame’s Mommy…
15 conserve-a-tip // Jul 30, 2008 at 12:58 pm
MsRightwing,Ink: I giggle myself silly over #12
Do you reckon that we’ll be fortunate enough to watch OB1 eat crow in November?
I’m thinking that this move in the House is just a precursor for ‘reparations’ that will be attempted. I sincerely hope that they make the attempt before November in a stupid and misguided idea that it would be putting the vote focus of white guilt onto Obama, the Save-yer. I think that the result, however, would be such anger across the country, that McCain would win in a landslide.
16 conserve-a-tip // Jul 30, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Beerme, your quote might be sandwiched between OB1’s latest quotes:
““This is the moment . . . that the world is waiting for,”
and
““I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions.”
The poor guy’s little, scrawny neck isn’t going to be able to hold that head up much longer.
17 Shelly // Jul 30, 2008 at 1:04 pm
You are all especially funny today! I love mess.i.uh. And hopium? Let’s hope enough Americans are figuring out that this guy is a joke.
18 Shelly // Jul 30, 2008 at 1:11 pm
I couldn’t find the Kass article, but thought this subtitle was fantastic:
Women voters aren’t warming to “cool” Obama.
- Particularly those who had to raise children and don’t want to do it for a president.
19 upnorthlurkin // Jul 30, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Wow, Lucianne’s on a roll today too! You have to go to the “next 25 articles” twice! It’s right below an article by John Bolton called, “One World? Obama is on Another Planet”
20 Ms RightWing, Ink // Jul 30, 2008 at 1:24 pm
c.a.t.
Eating crow. sigh, I knew there was another crow was missing
21 Fred Sinclair // Jul 30, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Obama Wouldn’t Be First Black President
By Aysha Hussain
In 2001, Bill Clinton was honored as the nation’s “first black president” at the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Annual Awards Dinner inWashington, D.C.
Research shows at least five U.S. presidents had black ancestors and Thomas Jefferson, was considered the first black president. “son of a half-breed Indian squaw and a Virginia mulatto father.”
President Andrew Jackson, was the son of an Irish woman who married a black man. The magazine also stated that Jackson’s oldest brother had been sold as a slave.
Abraham Lincoln was said to have been the illegitimate son of an African man, according to Leroy’s findings. Lincoln had very dark skin and coarse hair and his mother allegedly came from an Ethiopian tribe. Lincolnwas nicknamed “Abraham Africanus the First”
Warren Harding had black ancestors between both sets of parents. Chancellor also said that Harding attended Iberia College, a school founded to educate fugitive slaves.
Calvin Coolidge, was proud of his black heritage.
B.O. STINKS
22 conserve-a-tip // Jul 30, 2008 at 1:32 pm
MsRightwing, Ink: I hate to do this to you, but I thought of another one….I’ve got to crow over my memory….OB1 is just emulating Peter Pan in the song, “I’ve Gotta Crow” See Below:
It’s just that I am what I am
And I’m me!
When I look at myself
And I see in myself
All the wonderful things that I see
If I’m pleased with myself
I have ev’ry good reason to be.
I’ve gotta crow!
I’m just the cleverest fellow
‘Twas ever my fortune to know;
I taught a trick to my shadow
To stick to the tip of my toe
I’ve gotta crow!
I think that the Democrat Convention should make this the song upon which OB1 enters and they could strap him into one of those harness thingys and he could come swinging across the stage just like Mary Martin!! I should go into convention planning. I’d make a mint.
23 mindknumbed kid // Jul 30, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Is this what we send them to Washington for? This kind of stuff must be extremely important to our future, it is critical to our energy independence, national security interests, solving the mortgage “crisis”, etc…
24 everthink // Jul 30, 2008 at 2:21 pm
CAT
You say:
“Oh yes, and God Help America Return To Your Truth”
Amen! Pray too for the Right Wingnuts to know The Truth when they see it!
ET
25 mindknumbed kid // Jul 30, 2008 at 2:34 pm
We see The Truth in your mess-sigh-uhhhh. The Left Wingnuts are the problem, they are all loose and in total disarray.
26 conserve-a-tip // Jul 30, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Ya know, ET, wingnuts are of vital importance to holding a bolt into place. No wingnuts - bolts slip out and everything falls apart. And since the wingnuts you oppose are right, what else could you want? We all want the right/correct wingnut.
Now take left wingnuts…they’ve been left. What good is a wingnut if it is left? It is useless. A left wingnut is a wingnut just aching to be found.
And so, I have just given you the truth. I’m just sayin’…….
27 mindknumbed kid // Jul 30, 2008 at 2:59 pm
c-a-t, et’s problem is that once he gets Truth, he is not equipped to handle it.
28 conserve-a-tip // Jul 30, 2008 at 3:22 pm
MKK: ET lives in a world that has walls. ( Don’t we know it?!) You WANT him on this blog. You NEED him on this blog. He and Nannie Pelosi save lives ….er….the World! [Nicholson imitation off]
29 MajorDomo // Jul 30, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Couldn’t resist this wv:
1,000,000 cannot
One million truths cannot convince a liberal that he is wrong. Take et, f’rinstance….
30 Libby Gone // Jul 30, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Does this make Obama just another “also ran”?
31 Ms RightWing, Ink // Jul 30, 2008 at 3:50 pm
c.a.t.
Of course there is Sheryl Crow whose only law is not to use more than one tissue at a time when relieving oneself.
She is a vegetarian so likely she does not eat crow, but is dumb enough to leave one thinking some person may have bent a crowbar over her head.
So how old is she? Old enough to have crows-feet around her eyes?
I think I ran the gambit on the crows, except for crowberries and crows nest of which seemingly find no place in this conversation
Unless, that is, OB1 drinks Crowka Cola
32 mindknumbed kid // Jul 30, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Ms RW, If OB1 drank it would he crowk? Bring it on and let’s find out!
33 mindknumbed kid // Jul 30, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Maybe someone used a crowbar to open up Sheryl’s (and the likes of her) noggins and remove the contents thereof… that easily explains them. I suspect she is among the throng that is pledging their undying love to the new mess-sigh-uhhh. I’ve tried to use a few extra squares of TP to offset her stupidity ere since I heared her “preach”.
34 JamesonLewis3rd // Jul 30, 2008 at 4:19 pm
As far as I’m concerned, this (faux-victimization-by-proxy of the American Negro) is the perfect way to disempower the American Caucasian.
Do I feel guilty? Not a bit. Why should I feel guilty because somebody is so pathologically LAZY that they don’t realize that slavery has been over for, like, 140+ years?
I’ll tell you what—NOBODY would EVER have enslaved me. NEVER. They ALL went along with it. Cowards.
That’s what they are all ashamed of and that’s what they are projecting onto the rest of us.
My family and I would have died first, trust me.
35 RedRum151 // Jul 30, 2008 at 4:49 pm
@29 — “Take et, f’rinstance….”
Take et where, exactly?
& then what?
36 mindknumbed kid // Jul 30, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Fantasy Island… he’s about halfway there already and I’m sure he’d appreciate a lift.
37 everthink // Jul 30, 2008 at 5:08 pm
JL3
You say:
“I’ll tell you what—NOBODY would EVER have enslaved me. NEVER. They ALL went along with it. Cowards.”
My family owned slaves. You are just ignorant!
Early slaves had no place to hide; they were arrested on sight and returned to their owners, and were often lashed, or lynched as an example.
Cowards?
After JFK, MLK, Jr., and RFK all Democrats risk death in pursuit of high public service, because some misguided little fella like you, with a rifle, may want to feel big!
Barack Obama daily proves his bravery, and his love of the United States!
ET
Colin Powell did not run for president because Alma was afraid for him. However, he WILL endorse Barry.
38 JQ // Jul 30, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Re: #34
That seems awful darn close to blaming slaves for being slaves. That’s an absolutely indefensible stance. American slavery was an evil example of what man can do to his fellow man; the families enslaved by those Americans were, indeed, victims, and no one has the right to take that away from them.
I keep telling myself that America has moved past our racial issues, that race is only a tool used by the left to pretend that they’re more righteous than the rest. I mean, who really thinks they way they used to before MLK and the civil rights movements?
Then I read comments like that one, and I think, “Oh. Never mind.”
39 everthink // Jul 30, 2008 at 5:23 pm
“The perfect way to disempower the American Caucasian.”
The only way this can happen is for people like you to prove yourself unworthy of the trust which empowers you.
ET
40 JQ // Jul 30, 2008 at 5:42 pm
I sympathize with the everything that the slaves went through.
For the original slaves, who were uprooted from their lives in Africa (often by their own countrymen), somehow survived the trip across the ocean, only to be treated as livestock by other men.
For their children, who never knew the basic “American” right of liberty, and spent their entire lives as the personal property of another human being.
And for their descendants, who have had to reconcile their God-given liberty and personal responsibility with constant reminders that they used to be considered less than human, and many still consider them to be inferior.
Do I feel personally responsible for their plight? Should I? Of course not. However, I’m not naive enough to believe that centuries of degradation, humiliation, and segregation can be wiped away because a generation or so has been “allowed” to vote. It should be, but since when has man been the shining example of forgiveness?
I just pray for the day when we can all just forget the past and look to the future. That’s not naivette; that’s hope.
(I know, I know: KUMBAH YAH, MY LORD…)
41 conserve-a-tip // Jul 30, 2008 at 5:53 pm
JQ and ET, what about the Indians? (I’m one) What about the Irish? What about the Polish? What about the Jews? What about me when I was in the 7th grade and they made fun of my clothes, my birthmark and my hair? Maybe I should hunt those suckas down and make ‘em pay.
Sorry, people on this earth have all been discriminated against in some way, shape or form and the only way one grows and becomes a responsible, mature adult is to let the past go away and deal only with the present. You make your own happiness. Victimization does nothing except help people to feel helpless.
42 JQ // Jul 30, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Re: 41
CAT, I don’t disagree with you. It’s up these folks to take what they’ve got and make the most out of it. They shouldn’t rely on someone else to give them just enough to survive; that’s what emancipation freed them from. The American way is for each person to take responsibility for their own lives and those of their family.
All I’m saying is that it isn’t an all-or-nothing issue; we don’t have to choose between “aw, pity the black man” and “aw, screw ‘em.” They came from a harsh place right here in the U.S. of A. Not some far-off dictatorship or communist regime. Georgia. Missouri. Virginia. Mississippi. These people were subjected to this evil treatment right in their own current backyards. Not 140 years ago, but just a few decades ago. Isolated hate crimes still pop up.
Are they alone in being mistreated? No. But they are unique to a degree, you have to admit. I would say that American Indians are in a similar plight, but we’re discussing African Americans today.
I just get kind of tired of seeing a rubber-stamp right-wing perspective in this forum. We don’t have to be all-or-nothing on every issue.
43 RedPepper // Jul 30, 2008 at 6:41 pm
JQ: You make some good points. I’d like to point out another angle, though.
America is certainly not unique because we once practiced human slavery here. Many, many countries have as well.
We are unique, however, in the price we paid to end human slavery.
And, I’d be happy to go on from there and discuss the details, but that’s probably enough for just now.
44 conserve-a-tip // Jul 30, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Amen RedPepper.
45 everthink // Jul 30, 2008 at 7:00 pm
“Victimization does nothing except help people to feel helpless.”
Nice, from the mouth of Rush to your ears, now on to my eyes.
Have you seen the video demonstration of what black 6 years think of their own race?
One on one, they showed the children a black and a white doll. They asked the little boys which is the “good doll” and which is the “bad doll”. Overwhelmingly, the boys choose the white doll as good, and the black doll as bad.
They asked the little girls which was the “pretty” doll. Overwhelmingly, the choose the white doll as the “pretty doll”.
Whether you agree or not, don’t you think these children may effect your life adversely unless they learn to love people like themselves.
Indians may have had that problem, maybe they still do; but not the Irish or the Polish.
I doubt Jews hold their own poorly.
~
Where you dressed like, and did you wear your hair like those “Mormon Compound” girls?
If you don’t overcome your resentment, your going to turn into a Right-Wing Nutjob.
Polish jokes ended with John Paul II, maybe President Obama will have the same effect!
ET
46 da Bunny // Jul 30, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Rush played the “gangsta’ rapper,” Ludacris’ “song” [rant] promoting Obama on the air today. Hate-filled, evil lyrics about Hillary, McCain, GWB…among other nonsensical garbage. I’ve heard that Obama is a fan of Ludacris. Small wonder…Ludacris spews the same racist hate as Jeremiah Wright.
47 Libby Gone // Jul 30, 2008 at 7:48 pm
I never owned a Slav.
A few Huns , but never a Slav.
48 conserve-a-tip // Jul 30, 2008 at 8:27 pm
ET, early childhood is something I know about. The father was a well-respected expert on early childhood and I have my degree and certificate in K-12. So let me enlighten you a little bit. When small children see people of other races, very, very rarely do they notice a difference in skin color. They do however pick up on differences in physical attributes like mustaches or long hair or bushy eyebrows. They pick up on size as well. But if you put children of different races in a room to play together, and ask them what differences there are between them, they will talk about clothes, shoes, hair, and whether they are girls or boys. If these children picked dolls that were black vs white as good vs. bad, it is because there is a natural tendency to pick white of ANYTHING as the good and black or dark of anything as bad. Black hats on cowboys vs white hats on cowboys. White horses on Cindarella’s coach and dress vs. the black garb of the wicked stepmother. Snow White with her white and light blue frock vs. the black of the witch. The white of the Good Witch of the East vs. the Black of the Wicked Witch of the West. These were toys to them, not people and therefore judged as good or bad.
One of my father’s favorite stories to his students was about when I was a little girl. He and my mom invited a black colleague over for dinner one night. The colleague came into the house, I took one wide-eye look and ran down the hall in a flash. My father was embarrassed. However, a few minutes later, I reappeared with my favorite doll and went straight up to the man and asked to climb up in his lap. I wanted to show him my doll, but I also sat there just staring at his face. Everyone sat there just waiting for the uncomfortable question that they knew I was going to ask. Finally, I pointed to his face and said, “What’s that?” I was totally fascinated by his mustache. I had never seen one before. I never noticed his skin color at all.
49 conserve-a-tip // Jul 30, 2008 at 9:13 pm
I tol’ ya. If the lib’rals don’t think OB1 is gonna throw their lily white butts to the sharks, they is one dumb crowd. They gonna pay thru the nose for all their sins.
50 Fred Sinclair // Jul 30, 2008 at 9:39 pm
“Here comes the orator! With his flood of words, and his drop of reason.” —Benjamin Franklin
Short excerpt from a guest essay by Mr. Alexander’s colleague Kathleen Parker.
The ecstasy of Barack
Much has been made of the religious tenor of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
Reports of women weeping and swooning—even of an audience applauding when The One cleared his proboscis (blew his nose for you mortals)—have become frequent events in the heavenly realm of Obi-Wan Obama.
His rhetoric, meanwhile, drips with hints of resurrection, redemption and second comings. “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for,” he said on Super Tuesday night. And his people were glad.
Actually, they were hysterical, the word that best describes what surrounds this young savior and that may be more apt than we imagine. The word is derived from the Greek hystera, or womb. The ancient Greeks considered hysteria a psychoneurosis peculiar to women caused by disturbances of the uterus.
Well, you don’t see any men fainting in Obi’s presence.
Perhaps Ben Franklin was a prophet of sorts?
“dogpile” or google Kathleen Parker’s name; she’s pretty much of a (a lot) super conservative.
51 JamesonLewis3rd // Jul 30, 2008 at 9:51 pm
There is a word I could have left out of my previous comment.
52 PanamaRed // Jul 30, 2008 at 10:03 pm
ET: You ever heard of “indentured servants?” Did you know a negro who bought his freedom bought other negros who were slaves? No, the children are not guilty for the sins of their fathers so why should I pay for your ancestor’s arrogance by owning slaves? You can pay if you like, but I don’t think your indignance reaches your wallet does it ?
My family goes back to 1774 on my father’s side, further on my mothers…no slaves we know of, so I’m not paying reparations. I would endorse a certificate from the government offically apologizing to those who were slaves and granting them full, if belated, citizenship on them, suitable for framing. Unfortunately, Obama does not qualify for either reparations or certification since his ancestors were never slaves in this country. I never got to oppress anyone, so no mo’ money from here jack!
It perplexes me why, if it’s so terrible here, that blacks don’t want to return to the homeland like the Jews did. Would the fact that trying to use “slave guilt” in Africa by playing the “race card” won’t work when everyone is the same color?
53 RedPepper // Jul 30, 2008 at 10:21 pm
c-a-t #49: Interesting. I wonder if Barack’s white half intends to pay reparations to his black half. So far, the evidence is not encouraging - heck, he can’t even be bothered to give his children birthday and Christmas gifts! They oughta be demanding reparations from their parents !
BTW, is Obama aware of the fact that slavery was practiced by the Maya? The Aztecs? How about the Huron and the Iroquois? Not to mention the Comanchee, the Tlingit, the Creeks, the Pawnee, the Foxes, Sioux, Ojibwas and others?
Maybe he should return to Harvard University and take a quick refresher course in history?
54 RedPepper // Jul 30, 2008 at 10:48 pm
JL3 #51: Well … I personally would have wanted to at least make favorable mention of the slave rebellion in Haiti (1791-1804), among others … but I don’t assume that you intended to be mean-spirited, as some put it. Patrick Henry’s speech says it best, for me -
“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”
55 Ms RightWing, Ink // Jul 30, 2008 at 10:51 pm
re:46
da bunny
Perhaps somebody posted Ludacris’s song already. Things have been crazy around here and I didn’t get a chance to read all the posts.
If not here it is and the bad words are muffled
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulcGldJlKiA
56 JamesonLewis3rd // Jul 30, 2008 at 11:06 pm
My grandfather had a trucking business in Moscow; his wife was from Kiev, I think, and they had a daughter. He stayed behind while his family went to Shanghai to live in the Russian ghetto there. My mother completed high school there (report cards in Chinese) and a few years later, in 1948, she met and married Staff Sergeant JL2nd.
The Jamesons came over here in 1647; they were clergy and authors. My Great-Grandmother was a Jameson.
I believe (hearsay, really) the Lewis she married was 1/2 Natural-Born Native of the Northwest Territory. There were a lot of missionaries on that branch (Jameson) of the tree.
I was born right in the middle of downtown Columbus (well, a couple of blocks over), within walking distance of the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers in a Valley plowed by a recent Glacier.
My father “vanished” in 1957. My mother committed suicide in 1974.
Who do I get to blame for all that? How much do I get? Gimme.
57 Fred Sinclair // Jul 30, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Excerpt from Wiki “For a variety of reasons, internal growth of the slave population was not enough to fulfill the demand in Muslim society. This resulted in massive importation, which involved enormous suffering and loss of life from the capture and transportation of slaves from non-Muslim lands. In theory, slavery in Islamic law does not have a racial or color component, although this has not always been the case in practice.
The Arab slave trade was most active in West Asia, North Africa and East Africa. Slavery claiming the sanction of Islam is documented presently in the African republics of Chad, Mauritania, Niger, Mali and Sudan.”
Do you suppose the U.N. might require all Islamic countries to follow America’s example and free any and all slaves currently held with an apology to include all former slaves and appropriate recompense?
Should we all hold our breaths while we wait for them to comply?
Maybe the U.N. could do the same with descendants of the Roman empire. And another couple of dozen countries that have ever held slaves?
IN GOD WE TRUST
58 JamesonLewis3rd // Jul 30, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Red Pepper~~
In the 5th grade at Holy Spirit Elementary School, I memorized that famous speech for an oratory competition. By the time I gave the speech I had been reading and rereading those words for a month (yes, I was O/C back then, too) and did some research, too. Those words and their expression of the ultimate meaning of Liberty (that goes beyond even honest, passionate patriotism) have never left my heart.
I’ll never forget standing on that platform (no podium) in front of the whole school—talk about Cotton-Mouth!
59 Fred Sinclair // Jul 30, 2008 at 11:23 pm
MRW, Inc #55 - Thanks a lot. Not! I clicked on the link and managed to listen to almost half of the noise before I had to spin my chair, Fortunately (for me) the puke landed on the carpet instead of my keyboard.
What a sickness. Isn’t there laws against ’stuff’ like that?
B.O. STINKS
60 da Bunny // Jul 30, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Ms. RightWing re: 55
That so-called “song” is racist garbage combined with filth. Ludacris is ludicrous. He’s J’Wright set to “music.” Probably follows “black liberation theology,” too.
61 conserve-a-tip // Jul 30, 2008 at 11:31 pm
MsRightwing, Ink: Welllll….what can I say? They misspelled their name - it should be Lewd-a-Chris. I will say that it makes me want to get out the vote for my peeps against their peeps.
Going to bed with a headache and a neckache. Can’t stand it no more and that video just cinched it.
Y’all have a nice night!
62 Fred Sinclair // Jul 31, 2008 at 1:10 am
I believe it was Tarl Cabot in one of John Norman’s Gor series books that said “One cannot free slaves, they have to free themselves.”
Lincoln didn’t “Free” the slaves, he gave them a mock freedom. Slavery was replaced by a j.o.b. (just over broke)
Today’s slaves in no way involve race. Today’s slaves are chained by chains far stronger than mere steel links. Chains composed of cards. Credit cards and/or time cards comprise the links.
How many men or women are free to get up from their desk and walk away? How many can go to Europe for a year or two if they wish? The bonds of debt keep many in jobs they hate, forced to laugh at the bosses jokes, forced to ‘overlook their boss making a pass at their wife at the Christmas Office Party?
Letting someone establish your worth by what they pay you. Determining where you live and what kind of house you can live in, what kind of car you can drive, when and if you can take a vacation and for how long; all based on what they decide to pay you.
I read that after a big name Hollywood star died, a reporter was at her mansion of a house and was curious about a room, set apart and totally bare excepting for a large table. On the table there was an old style time clock. Inquiring, she was told that before she went to Hollywood, she worked in a plant in Oregon. After she became famous, she returned to the plant and bought the time clock and had a special place made for it. When asked why? she said, “because I wanted to own that which once owned me.”
The piece I read identified the star as Bette Davis but when I went to Wikipedia, it wasn’t in her background. The plant was supposed to be a millinery where she worked making women’s hats. No reference to the plant or Oregon either.
Whether true or not; it could have been another big star and either way it’s a good story and makes a great point - “…to own that which once owned me.”
Your slavery isn’t over until you start and run your own business. Even then I’ve had owners tell me that it often reverses and the business owns them. The really big plus is that no matter what - you’ll always be the last one to go.
IN GOD WE TRUST
63 Ms RightWing, Ink // Jul 31, 2008 at 1:45 am
Gosh, now I feel bad.
Sure didn’t want to make ya’ll messed up so bad. Reckon from here on in I will keep the bad stuff away from here.
64 camojack // Jul 31, 2008 at 3:42 am
Scott could have just stopped at “House Sorry” and left it at that…
65 conserve-a-tip // Jul 31, 2008 at 9:06 am
OK! So who is playing the race card in this race??? Hmmm. Let’s see. Nanny Pelosi apologizes to blacks in the country for all of the bad, bad, white people who live here, OB1 calls for reparations to be made to the recipients of that apology and now the Save-yer says here “So what they’re going to try to do is make you scared of me. You know, he’s not patriotic enough, he’s got a funny name, you know, he doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.”
Methinks he doth protest too much about the Wrong Revererend Wright. I do believe that he actually heard what the man said after all. It’s not nice to lie to the public.
Captcha: on remark Thenk yew very mudge
66 conserve-a-tip // Jul 31, 2008 at 9:07 am
Oh yes, and good morning!!
Captcha: Proficient Habit: Checking Scrappledom each day.
67 JamesonLewis3rd // Jul 31, 2008 at 9:19 am
Now that BO has let his true colors shine and injected his malignant racial hatred into the campaign, the Leftist blogosphere (and maybe the MSM, I don’t know) has taken his cue and is going both berserk and apoplectic simultaneously.
Here is a vile, puerile exampile (hold your nose).
68 conserve-a-tip // Jul 31, 2008 at 10:10 am
JL3rd: from the article: with oversexed and/or promiscuous young white women.
As opposed to oversexed and/or promiscuous young black men like Lewd-i-chris?
69 Shelly // Jul 31, 2008 at 10:11 am
Lively debate since last I checked the thread!
There is only one issue to this apology and the slavery debate. Slavery around the world - including that which is currently going on - is perfectly fine. Slavery that existed in America 140+ years ago, and which hundreds of thousands of men died to end, is pure evil. Isn’t everything America does?
70 upnorthlurkin // Jul 31, 2008 at 10:27 am
JL3, at least the title is correct….Muckraker indeed! These people are really ill. I try and keep up with some of the garbage they’re spewing, but I can take very little of it. It must be terrible being that unhappy and angry all the time!!
71 JQ // Jul 31, 2008 at 10:41 am
Re: 69
Since when is “slavery around the world” fine? I’ve never heard anyone take this position.
Slavery has always been wrong; men should never be “owned” by other men. However, American slavery was especially evil for a few reasons.
First and foremost, America was founded on the belief that all men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with the right to liberty. How do you reconcile that belief with the kind of brutal slavery that we saw in the South?
The answer? African slaves aren’t human! Therefore, they have no God-given right to liberty. Slavery throughout history has always been on a man-to-man basis; people became slaves because they were prisoners or losers at war, not livestock. American slavery degraded humans to the position of animals, taking even their God-given humanity away. (We have evolutionary theory to thank for that one, by the way; go, Darwin!)
Actually, the primary motivations for the Civil War were economic and a desire to keep the Union intact. Slavery was definitely an issue, but even Lincoln wasn’t going to make it a sticking point if it meant maintaining the Union. Remember, the South broke away from the North and started the whole fiasco, not the abolitionists in the North.
Yes, the majority decided that slavery was wrong and it was symbolically abolished by Lincoln. That’s a major kudo to us. However, it took a century to move people’s opinions enough to allow a black man to cast a vote; obviously, we hadn’t yet moved past the “black inferiority” thing. That was less than 50 years ago; can we really expect all of these wounds to have healed over completely?
Are they being unreasonable? Yes. Are they demanding un-Constitutional treatment? Absolutely. Should we grant it to them? Absolutely not. Should we scorn them for their condition? No.
I’m not demanding reparations for today’s African Americans. Just some patient, Christian understanding.
72 da Bunny // Jul 31, 2008 at 10:59 am
The mindset that performs “songs” like “Obama is Here” [and any other rap filth] deserves neither my compassion nor my understanding. People who spend their lives gangbanging, selling drugs, indiscriminately procreating, and continuing to vote themselves onto the “democrat plantation” don’t deserve to receive money stolen from law-abiding, tax-paying, productive citizens of whatever color. I, for one, am sick to death of being forced to fund “evil.”
73 upnorthlurkin // Jul 31, 2008 at 11:03 am
OT, hat tip Mudville Gazette; “We have come … to express our gratitude and appreciation for the sacrifices made by these great warriors, soldiers, in freeing the Iraqi people and in helping us in Iraq recover from tyranny and dictatorship,” Jawad Karim al-Bolani, Iraq’s minister of the interior, said through a translator to a handful of journalists in the lobby of the medical center.”
For the life of me, I can’t figure out where all the Lamestream Media was….oh yeah, following some other guy…..
74 upnorthlurkin // Jul 31, 2008 at 11:07 am
I’m not sure what happened to my title for the comment above….It was titled;”Someone (important) made time for our wounded troops” and was about the Iraqi minister of interior visiting our wounded at Walter Reed.
75 JQ // Jul 31, 2008 at 11:53 am
OK, I can see how my position could be hard to extract from my comments. From a very cursory glance at what I’ve written, one might presume that I’m the follow-up preacher to Jeremiah Wright.
Let me assure you that this is not the case. I am not under the illusion that the black people of America are being kept down by “the man.” I agree that it is up to each and every one of them to better their own situation. I believe that the hate-speech spewed out by the rap industry is just dragging the country further back into a racially-divided quagmire. I believe that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are anything but reverend fathers; rather, they’re just as bad as the aforementioned rap industry, doing their darnedest to make sure that blacks and whites are treated differently.
I just want to make sure that the baby isn’t tossed out with the bathwater. Don’t dismiss the suffering that has been felt by the current, living generations of American blacks. To the best of my knowledge, there are now no living former slaves, but there are certainly those alive today who can still remember segregation and the degradation of not being allowed to vote alongside their white brothers.
These people have to deal with the mental and emotional debt of several generations of their people being brainwashed into believing that they’re less than human, at a minimum less than the white man. This has to be overcome, to be sure, but that’s a burden that myself and other white folks have never had to deal with; how can I possibly judge someone for having a hard time overcoming such a hurdle that I’ve never, on my hardest day, come close to?
I’ve got a racist grandmother who, despite her protestations, holds a basic disdain for mexicans and blacks (always spoken in a whisper, as if they’re waiting around the corner). I know that an undercurrent of similar disdain still flows through our country, probably still through this very forum at times.
It’s a hard balance to strike between moving beyond the horrific past and being patient of those who are having a hard time doing so.
76 everthink // Jul 31, 2008 at 12:32 pm
PanamaRed
“ET: You ever heard of “indentured servants?”
Yes, indentures were legal instruments in common use during colonial times. They were often used to bind a apprenticeship, or contract labor in return for passage.
“Did you know a negro who bought his freedom bought other negros who were slaves?”
I don’t understand your question, but for the most part, slaves had no access to the courts.
“No, the children are not guilty for the sins of their fathers so why should I pay for your ancestor’s arrogance by owning slaves?”
My family’s debt was paid in full with blood.
“You can pay if you like, but I don’t think your indigence reaches your wallet does it ?”
I am against reparations as such; but I think the United States should try to make amends at least in the recognition of the sins of our founders.
My family goes back to 1774 on my father’s side, further on my mothers…no slaves we know of, so I’m not paying reparations.
My family arrived in Virginia August, 1636 on the “Safety” from Bristol. Later, we did own slaves, but I too, REFUSE TO PAY REPARATIONS!
“I would endorse a certificate from the government offically apologizing to those who were slaves and granting them full, if belated, citizenship on them, suitable for framing.”
Sounds nice to me.
“Unfortunately, Obama does not qualify for either reparations or certification since his ancestors were never slaves in this country.”
I agree, but he has the same right as any other citizen, otherwise qualified to be the President of the United States! I am related to Barack Obama through his mother. Barack Obama is also related to my own slave holding ancestors.
“It perplexes me why, if it’s so terrible here, that blacks don’t want to return to the homeland like the Jews did.”
This is their homeland, as much as it mine, or yours!
Would the fact that trying to use “slave guilt” in Africa by playing the “race card” won’t work when everyone is the same color?
Is it Barack Obama who is playing the race card, or you?
ET
77 JamesonLewis3rd // Jul 31, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Logically, the so-called “slave-guilt” mentioned above belongs squarely in Africa which sold itself off in the first place.
I do not empathize with the effette, elitist delusions of today’s stereotypical American Negro, nor do I sympathize.
78 JQ // Jul 31, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Re: 77
I do believe there was plenty of guilt to go around. The fact that the native slave traders were the initial offenders doesn’t absolve the eventual slave owners and sellers of their own guilt. If that’s what you were implying, then I can see that critical reasoning stops here.
I’m certainly not implying that “the white man” owes “the black man” anything. I don’t feel any guilt for the actions of narrow-minded bigots in the past; those crimes were theirs alone. I resent it when I’m told that I should feel guilty and obligated to make reparation to the descendants of slaves. That’s not what I’m talking about here.
I’m just trying to show that the Republican Party (MY PARTY) has a heart. That underneath our “he who does not work shall not eat” bravado, we still feel pain for those who “shall not eat.” That our exhortations to “pick yourselves up by your bootstraps” are driven by a genuine desire for those poor souls to succeed, not to rub our own successes in their faces.
I desperately need to believe that this is true. These are trying times for every member of every political party; it’s a time for all of us to look at who we are, and what our parties represent.
Do I belong here? I believe my answer is “yes,” but lately, it’s been more of a lesser-of-two-evils situation for me.
79 Beerme // Jul 31, 2008 at 6:59 pm
JQ,
I appreciate your insistence on some reasonable application of “perspective”. Really, I do. Keep in mind, though, that the slaves were not held as non-humans by the founders. Any reading of the constitution will show you that the founders were intent on ending slavery within a decade or so. It is the combination of financial interests and prejudice that kept it from occurring on schedule.
We should not minimize the anger and humiliation felt by today’s Blacks because of their ancestors’ slavery. It is real and poignant. Neither should arguments equate indentured servitude or ancient forms of slavery to the enslavement of Africans. That form of slavery is unique and most contemptible because it enslaved because of the person’s race. It minimized or dehumanized based on race.
On the other hand, this country has paid that debt and the people responsible, like ET’s relatives, are long dead. It needs to be dropped. There is no comparison to be made between the conditions of African-Americans today (even in the deep South) and those of the days of enslavement or even Reconstruction. This constant whining about victimization drives the attitude you seem to decry in people of the Republican Party.
Guilt is no better than ignorance and they both drive twisted outcomes from their bearers. Equality is now. All must make the best of it. Remember, the conservative movement is made up of ALL kinds of people.
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