I'm posting today because we are having a Sommelier Guild of Atlanta function tomorrow night.
What's the Sommelier Guild of Atlanta?
It's a bunch of people in Atlanta who get together once a month for wine tasting. We meet at a restaurant and have a dinner or something light with each flight. Some of the members are in the wine business, like my friend Michael, who is the wine buyer for Greens Beverages (shameless plug) in Atlanta. If any Atlanta bloggers want to get good wine advice, go to the Greens on Buford Highway and ask for Michael Bishop and tell him the cripple sent ya. Trust me, he knows his wine and will do right by ya. I get no compensation for this plug.
OK, what do I want to talk about today? Howza 'bout reparations for slavery and Cynthia McKinney?
I opened up the Saturday Atlanta Urinal and Constipation yesterday morning and I came across this article. For a change, I'm only going to comment on a few things in this article because most of it is bullshit and not worth the time to dignify it by repeating it.
The previous sentence was an inside joke and is understood by anyone who caught a spokeswoman for the Millions (?) For Reparations March on C-Span yesterday. Any time a caller asked a question about why, say, immigrants who came here after slaveryTM should have to pay for reparations, she responded 'I'm not going to dignify that question with an answer. Now that's a debating tactic I never thought of.
GOC, why do you think we oughta abolish the income tax?
Because it is too cumbersome, has too many regulations, and ... Oops, I forgot. I won't dignify that question with an answer.
"This rally is part of an overall strategy to obtain reparations for the black family in America," said (Ron) Parker, 49, a member of the non-profit Institute of the Black World, 21st Century. "We want to bring attention to all the vestiges of slavery in this country and then set up a foundation for alleviating all the problems."
Believe me Ron, we won't forget about slaveryTM because you won't let us! Look, slaveryTM ended almost 140 years ago. Don't you think it's about time you quit whining about it? Hey, in your words during all the Clinton scandals, 'That's old news. Can't we just move on?' I agree, Can't we just move the fuck on? (Sorry, I woulda done the starts with f, but that's an old joke and it's time to just move on) Jesus H. Christ, you'd think you guys have the freaking franchise on slaveryTM. And I got some news for you whining bastards, we've already paid reparations in spades (no pun intended). How many people died in the Civil war to free your whining sorry asses?
On my mother's side of the family, my great-great-grandfather, Charles Gruner, moved here from Germany in 1850. He joined the Union Army in 1860 and fought in the Civil War. There's some of your reparations. On my father's side of the family, my great-great-grandfather William Wilson, and my great-grandfather John Alexander Wilson, and his brother, all fought for the Union Army. (I hope I got this right. If not my sister will be all over me.) So there's some more of your reparations.
Since the advent of the Great fucking Society in the 60's we have poured over 5 trillion dollars down the black hole of poverty programs that haven't worked. I know there are more white people than black people on welfare, but let's just say we gave 1 trillion dollars to subsidize fight poverty in the black community. There's your reparations bucko.
Millions for Reparations was conceived by delegates at the world conference on racism in South Africa last September.
A waste of time. Cynthia McPiggy was there. They passed a resolution against Israel. We chose not to dignify it with an official delegation. So we were not officially represented. Screw you.
Mary Hoover, education chairwoman for the coalition, said most of the rally planning began about two months ago.
"We didn't want to go another year without making a statement," said Hoover, an education professor at Howard University. "We wanted to have this rally this month."
Good for you. No one cares. Shut up. Go home.
She also said they want to extend the reparations debate beyond African-Americans and slavery.
"We want to educate two groups of people, our own African-American community and the wider population," Hoover said. "We also hope this may spark a new movement for Native-American reparations and for reparations for other oppressed groups in this country."
OK Let's do the Indians too. How far back do ya wanna take this shit? I read somewhere that blacks claim they were the real Egyptians and built the Pyramids and all the Egyptian temples. They did a lot of that with Hebrew slaves. So lets have the blacks pay reparations to the Jews.
The call for reparations has ignited emotional debate in African-American circles and angered some nonblacks who believe the demand is unwarranted and divisive. Though proposals vary, most advocates say black Americans should receive some sort of financial compensation for slavery.
They already have. We've spent over 1 trillion dollars in welfare on blacks alone and that's just a conservative estimate. Bet it's a lot more. They have the highest standard of living for blacks on this planet. Even the poorest black person in America has a higher standard of living than a large majority of blacks anywhere else.
Rob Redding, a local radio talk-show host, said he hopes the rally forces Americans to discuss more openly the legacy of slavery.
The disproportionate number of blacks in prison, on welfare and behind in educational systems is directly linked to slavery, Redding said.
OK. Let's take this bullshit apart one by one.
"I really don't want to see African-Americans receive handouts," said Redding, who works for WAOK (AM-1380).
You must be the only one then. Wait a minute! I take that back. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Johnny Cochraon don't either. They want to set up a foundation. Guess who'll get most of the money? Just another shakedown.
"I just want to see African-Americans get closure on this issue."
I do too. Shut up. Go home. Move on.
And now on to Cynthia McPiggy. Ah Rachel thanks for giving her that name. This article was also in yesterday's AJC.
Washington --- Several contributors to Rep. Cynthia McKinney's campaign are among the alleged "enablers of terrorism" named in the $1 trillion lawsuit filed this week by families of some Sept. 11 victims.
Cynthia receiving donations from organizations tied to terrorists? I'm shocked! I'm not saying that she did anything wrong, but don't you think we should have an investigation as to what Cynthia knew about 9/11 and when she knew it?
Among the defendants are:
The lawsuit defendants who contributed to McKinney's campaign could not be reached Friday and did not respond to telephone messages.
But she's their 'strategic choice' for Congress.
Telephone calls on Friday to the McKinney campaign were not returned. The congresswoman faces former DeKalb County State Court Judge Denise Majette in the 4th District Democratic primary Tuesday.
Why not. Maybe we should have an investigation as to what Cynthia knew and when she knew it.
In a televised debate earlier this month, McKinney responded to questions about her donors.
"All of our contributions are legal," she said. "My opponent, on the other
hand, has an awful lot of Republican money going into her coffers."
Republican campaign contributions are illegal? When did they pass that law?
In an earlier interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, McKinney had
said, "My relationships with the Arab-American and American Muslim
communities are based on the belief that they, like Americans of all ethnic
and religious backgrounds, are full members of the American family."
Except Jews and white people.
But McKinney campaign coordinator Wendell Muhamad had played down FBI
investigations of some of these same donors. He had said that the agency
historically has hounded minorities and now is targeting Muslims and people
with Arab-sounding names.
Yeah, 'cause that's where the terrorists are. All the hijackers were from Muslim countries and they all had Muslim sounding names. Now if we could just get our airport screeners to realize the obvious and stop hounding little old ladies in wheelchairs. Hey, remember the screener who made the lady drink three bottles of her breast milk because the screener thought it might be explosive? Wonder if she asked the lady, 'Ya want fries with that?'
About one-fourth of the individuals who have contributed to McKinney's
campaigns over the past five years have names that appear to be
Arab-American or Muslim, according to an informal study of Federal
Election Commission records by the Journal- Constitution.
And a big bunch came in on 9/11. What did she know and ... oh , never mind.
Their contributions total $142,950, one-third of the money McKinney
collected from individuals over the last five years, the AJC review indicated.
And whole big bunches (most) of it came from outside her district.
Arab-American leaders call McKinney a longtime supporter.
And I'm so proud to live in her district.
Two more days until the primary. My polling place is less than a mile away. I'll be there when it opens. For the first time in my life, I'm voting for a Democrat and looking forward to doing it. I'm voting for Denise Majette.
It will feel great.
Posted by denny at August 18, 2002 04:07 PM