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Title: Obama says he opposes slavery reparations, apology
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URL Source: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D92A5GCG0&show_article=1
Published: Aug 2, 2008
Author: Chris Wills
Post Date: 2008-08-02 10:15:47 by christine
Keywords: None
Views: 650
Comments: 54
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama opposes offering reparations to the descendants of slaves, putting him at odds with some black groups and leaders. The man with a serious chance to become the nation's first black president argues that government should instead combat the legacy of slavery by improving schools, health care and the economy for all. "I have said in the past—and I'll repeat again—that the best reparations we can provide are good schools in the inner city and jobs for people who are unemployed," the Illinois Democrat said recently. Some two dozen members of Congress are co-sponsors of legislation to create a commission that would study reparations—that is, payments and programs to make up for the damage done by slavery. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People supports the legislation, too. Cities around the country, including Obama's home of Chicago, have endorsed the idea, and so has a major union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Obama has worked to be seen as someone who will bring people together, not divide them into various interest groups with checklists of demands. Supporting reparations could undermine that image and make him appear to be pandering to black voters. "Let's not be naive. Sen. Obama is running for president of the United States, and so he is in a constant battle to save his political life," said Kibibi Tyehimba, co-chair of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America. "In light of the demographics of this country, I don't think it's realistic to expect him to do anything other than what he's done." But this is not a position Obama adopted just for the presidential campaign. He voiced the same concerns about reparations during his successful run for the Senate in 2004. There's enough flexibility in the term "reparations" that Obama can oppose them and still have plenty of common ground with supporters. The NAACP says reparations could take the form of government programs to help struggling people of all races. Efforts to improve schools in the inner city could also aid students in the mountains of West Virginia, said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau. "The solution could be broad and sweeping," Shelton said. The National Urban League—a group Obama is to address Saturday—avoids the word "reparations" as too vague and highly charged. But the group advocates government action to close the gaps between white America and black America. Urban League President Marc Morial said he expects his members to press Obama on how he intends to close those gaps and what action he would take in the first 100 days of his presidency. "What steps should we take as a nation to alleviate the effects of racial exclusion and racial discrimination?" Morial asked. The House voted this week to apologize for slavery. The resolution, which was approved on a voice vote, does not mention reparations, but past opponents have argued that an apology would increase pressure for concrete action. Obama says an apology would be appropriate but not particularly helpful in improving the lives of black Americans. Reparations could also be a distraction, he said. In a 2004 questionnaire, he told the NAACP, "I fear that reparations would be an excuse for some to say, 'We've paid our debt,' and to avoid the much harder work." Taking questions Sunday at a conference of minority journalists, Obama said he would be willing to talk to American Indian leaders about an apology for the nation's treatment of their people. Pressed for his position on apologizing to blacks or offering reparations, Obama said he was more interested in taking action to help people struggling to get by. Because many of them are minorities, he said, that would help the same people who would stand to benefit from reparations. "If we have a program, for example, of universal health care, that will disproportionately affect people of color, because they're disproportionately uninsured," Obama said. "If we've got an agenda that says every child in America should get—should be able to go to college, regardless of income, that will disproportionately affect people of color, because it's oftentimes our children who can't afford to go to college." One reparations advocate, Vernellia Randall, a law professor at the University of Dayton, bluntly responded: "I think he's dead wrong." She said aid to the poor in general won't close the gaps—poor blacks would still trail poor whites, and middle-class blacks would still lag behind middle-class whites. Instead, assistance must be aimed directly at the people facing the after-effects of slavery and Jim Crow laws, she said. "People say he can't run and get elected if he says those kinds of things," Randall said. "I'm like, well does that mean we're really not ready for a black president?"
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#15. To: scrapper2 (#8)
I can tell you and I do not have the same definition of "middle class." From where I live, you are describing the "wealthy." I live in a rural area and anyone with a six-figure income is very, very well off to me. Hardly ANYONE has a pension plan. Lots have bass boats, F-150s and SUVs. These remain parked the majority of the time these days. Many, perhaps the majority, have negative net worths. I own two homes free and clear, but they weren't in a "bubble" and are not equal to one of your so-called "nice" homes. There are more than just "two Americas," to paraphrase John Edwards. There are dozens of them and it's why I say, almost every chance I get, that Lincoln was BY FAR the worst president in our history, because he prevented these dozens of new countries from flourishing, each with its own set of policies. So if I am not even in the middle class, I even more can say that if my vote were for sale, I'd have to give it to the guy so many on this site seem to love to hate.
“I would give no thought of what the world might say of me, if I could only transmit to posterity the reputation of an honest man.” - Sam Houston
I don't know how it can be done, but I'd LOVE to see the country broken up into a dozen new ones. Lincoln will turn over in his grave. Good.
“I would give no thought of what the world might say of me, if I could only transmit to posterity the reputation of an honest man.” - Sam Houston
So you would sell your vote to a marxist establishment tool for your own self interest. STUNNING I TELL YA! ;-)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
I don't know how it can be done, but I'd LOVE to see the country broken up into a dozen new ones. Lincoln will turn over in his grave. Good. Let me guess, you're going to settle in Mississippi? ;-)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
But does he support additional Holocaust reparations, including judgments against the insurance industry and the American people for not stopping the Holocaust earlier?
LOL, you're as bad about the Jews as neocons are about the mohammedans. There's a ditch on both sides and almost everyone seems to be in one. ;-)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
I'm already settled and the state in which I live already has experience as a sovereign nation.
“I would give no thought of what the world might say of me, if I could only transmit to posterity the reputation of an honest man.” - Sam Houston
I'm already settled and the state in which I live already has experience as a sovereign nation. You can address me directly if you dare. ;-)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
You need to read the entire thread. Up near the top I already said I was voting Libertarian. I said "if" I were selling my vote. I replied to "All" by accident. Sorry to "All" but "Rotara."
“I would give no thought of what the world might say of me, if I could only transmit to posterity the reputation of an honest man.” - Sam Houston
From where I live, you are describing the "wealthy." Middle class by my definition, wealthy by your definition - who cares - none of the people who have more than you have owe you anything. Why do you believe you are entitled to more of the income earned by those who are in an economic class above you? What do you bring to the pot? The middle class and the wealthy pay way more than their share to keep Fedgov afloat. The worker bees are maxed out in income taxes. Re-distribution of wealth, punishing hard work and success did not benefit the Soviet Union and it will not benefit America.
Concentration of wealth through bailout of Wall Street bankers is not going to work either. I owed them nothing either, but look who "won" in D.C. the other day.
“I would give no thought of what the world might say of me, if I could only transmit to posterity the reputation of an honest man.” - Sam Houston
Libertarians would not muse aloud about increasing taxes. Ron Paul would never dream about arguing the benefits of higher taxes, even in a theoretical way. You may believe you are Libertarian but it sure doesn't seem that way to others reading this thread.
I know what you're saying. And not saying. ;-)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
Would he sign this type of legislation? What ever we've done, will never be enough. We will always be asked to do more. I think Obama would gladly sign this kind of legislation.
I owed them nothing either, but look who "won" in D.C. the other day. No offense but it doesn't sound like you have much to worry about your modest income tax contributions being what is used to bail out Wall Street bankers. Fyi, the Dems were just as much on board with the bail-out as the Gopers.
You need to come to grips with the stage of the game, the lack of rules and the fact that there's nothing short of revolution (again) for us to regain what was lost. When you get that, then the next step is more clear. ;-)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
I wish it were modest. Then I wouldn't have had to pay the AMT last year. If the GOPigs had wanted to stop this, they could have. Paulson ORDERED Bush to reverse his stance on this and he complied. For months before that, the Chimp was going bananas threatening to veto it.
“I would give no thought of what the world might say of me, if I could only transmit to posterity the reputation of an honest man.” - Sam Houston
Partisan is partisan, but D is committed Socialist. R was turned into that as well. ;-)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
Of course Obama will support the Holocaust Reparations Bill just as he will ultimately support Slavery Reparations. He's a consummate flip flopper. His actions thus far and the people he supports - slavery reparations advocates - would suggest he's currently playing his white Dem supporters for the gullible stooges they are.
Come on, by now surely you know that there's only one Party with two faces; one goal. The Dildos and the Reptiles have America completely played out.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
I'm confused. First you're talking about ditches. Next you're talking about lawlessness. Then you're talking about revolution. I can't keep up with you. Between Hal Lindsey and the rapture, I'm pretty much out of your cultural milieu.
You and I don't have much in common, I've concluded. Take care and be well. ;-)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
Likewise.
Me, too.
I didn't know about those pro-reparations people he knows. Martin seems to focus on Chicago City Council, Alderwoman Dorothy Tillman. He also mentions Rep. John Conyers, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. We know that on that committee, Dennis Kucinich has called for reparations.
And they write innumerable books; being too vain and distracted for silence: seeking every one after his own elevation, and dodging his emptiness. - T. S. Eliot
Candy Corn! And they write innumerable books; being too vain and distracted for silence: seeking every one after his own elevation, and dodging his emptiness. - T. S. Eliot
I never once enslaved Kucinich, seems pretty damned flimsy case.
And they write innumerable books; being too vain and distracted for silence: seeking every one after his own elevation, and dodging his emptiness. - T. S. Eliot
The post office article is encouraging and daunting at the same time. Freedom is never free, though. That's what I've learned.
Who is making you pay for it? That's first question I teach in my intro to C#/criminology course I'm offering with the tuna plate.
And they write innumerable books; being too vain and distracted for silence: seeking every one after his own elevation, and dodging his emptiness. - T. S. Eliot
You too, what?
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
The Jews?
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
Like buckeye, I am confused by what you post at times.
Then allow me to clarify. What specifically confused you? ;-)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
I feel that's my duty as an American! What would you do for a klondike bar? Would you lay in the road and get hit by a car?
And they write innumerable books; being too vain and distracted for silence: seeking every one after his own elevation, and dodging his emptiness. - T. S. Eliot
The Jews? No, LOL, that would be stupid.
And they write innumerable books; being too vain and distracted for silence: seeking every one after his own elevation, and dodging his emptiness. - T. S. Eliot
The Jews? No, LOL, that would be stupid. There has to be some jew somewhere that has a cut in it, though. ;-)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
Prolly prefer to keep quiet with all them big brains and all...
And they write innumerable books; being too vain and distracted for silence: seeking every one after his own elevation, and dodging his emptiness. - T. S. Eliot
I'd like to tell them that if not for whites there would never have been an abolition movement. And, if not for American whites who knows how long the institution may have endured? (the way it does in dark countries to this day) Of course they want to bleed the descendants of abolitionists and those who fought and died in the war that ended the evil in America just as they want to compensate those who either are not descendants of slaves or were perhaps non white slave holders themselves. In other words, blacks want to be enriched by whites with no regard for any factor but skin color. We should give blacks a choice ( in a referendum) between a million dollars cash for each, or the equivalent sum being spent on health care, education, laptops for all students and urban renewal, and see which they choose. Of course they'd opt for the cash and if we were foolish enough to pay them (with even more near-worthless 100 dollar bills fresh off the presses) then BMW dealers, custom bling vendors, gun dealers, drug entrepreneurs and African American undertakers would be the next classes of windfall millionaires in America. But, it would truly end any obligation to these perpetual victims before they return broke and bitter in a year asking for more. (If we had done this before spending trillions on programs that failed it would have been a bargain) Of course the next time we'd have to hear how they were victimized again, this time by the cash payments with no meaningful assistance in financial planning, and how evil racist whites knew that would happen and "dat's wye dey did it!" The streets would be littered with abandoned luxury sportscars (whites, browns, Asians etc., wouldn't want the stigma and the danger of driving a pre-owned "reparations ride") and America would have a new list of criminal cartel warlords, but in the time it takes to say "Send all dem hoes to my room! Oh, and I'll have another Cutty Sark wid a twist of lime!" most blacks that don't OD or die in shootouts or flaming car wrecks would be right back to where they were-poor as catshit and blaming whitey. TODAY ON OPRAH! "WHITE HOES TOOKS MY FIVE SONS' MILLIONS AND NOW SOMEONE GOT TO PAY!" Also, Special guest speaker NOI Health Minister Abdul Alim Muhammad claims that "Jewish doctors are no longer injecting blacks with AIDS-SICK WHITE HOES ARE KILLING US!" TOMORROW A SPECIAL EDITION OPRAH! DON'T MISS OPRAH'S INTERVIEW WITH A WHITE FORMER PROSTITUTE-MADAM WHO EARNED 78 MILLION DOLLARS IN 8 MONTHS AND NOW LIVES ON A PRIVATE ISLAND WHERE SHE SAYS, "BLACKS AREN'T WELCOME!" And now a CHI TOWN Channel 6 fast facts news break: The Chicago Board Of Health's "Bring Out Your Dead" plan has been abruptly halted after several of the incinerator trucks were firebombed and machine gunned and the crews of health workers murdered. "We've pleaded with residents and tried to explain that if dead bodies are not properly disposed of the neighborhoods will become hot beds of disease, and the aquifers are already testing positive for plague" Paul Toby Tweed of the University of ILL Health Sciences Department said. "But, we were again forced to retreat because of the withering gunfire and absence of police response to the breakdown of law and order in certain PRP (Poor/Rich/Poor again) enclaves of the city." Tweed said.
You done hit de nail right square on de head dere brudder.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.
#16. To: Pissed Off Janitor (#9)
To club America with taxation and inflation at the same time will break the country.
#17. To: Sam Houston (#15)
So if I am not even in the middle class, I even more can say that if my vote were for sale, I'd have to give it to the guy so many on this site seem to love to hate.
#18. To: Sam Houston (#16)
To club America with taxation and inflation at the same time will break the country.
#19. To: christine (#0)
#20. To: buckeye (#19)
But does he support additional Holocaust reparations, including judgments against the insurance industry and the American people for not stopping the Holocaust earlier?
#21. To: All (#16)
#22. To: Sam Houston (#21)
To: All
#23. To: Rotara (#17)
(Edited)
#24. To: Sam Houston (#15)
I can tell you and I do not have the same definition of "middle class."
#25. To: scrapper2 (#24)
#26. To: Sam Houston (#23)
You need to read the entire thread. Up near the top I already said I was voting Libertarian. I said "if" I were selling my vote.
#27. To: Sam Houston (#23)
#28. To: Rotara (#20)
#29. To: Sam Houston (#25)
Concentration of wealth through bailout of Wall Street bankers is not going to work either.
#30. To: buckeye (#28)
#31. To: scrapper2 (#29)
#32. To: scrapper2 (#29)
Fyi, the Dems were just as much on board with the bail-out as the Gopers.
#33. To: buckeye (#28)
(Edited)
#34. To: Sam Houston (#31)
If the GOPigs had wanted to stop this, they could have.
#35. To: Rotara (#30)
#36. To: buckeye (#35)
I'm confused. First you're talking about ditches. Next you're talking about lawlessness. Then you're talking about revolution. I can't keep up with you. Between Hal Lindsey and the rapture, I'm pretty much out of your cultural milieu.
#37. To: Rotara (#36)
#38. To: buckeye, Rotara (#35)
I'm confused. First you're talking about ditches. Next you're talking about lawlessness. Then you're talking about revolution. I can't keep up with you. Between Hal Lindsey and the rapture, I'm pretty much out of your cultural milieu.
#39. To: scrapper2 (#33)
Psst. Ready to pay reparations for slavery? Obama's your man. — A Presidet Barack Obama would force American taxpayers to compensate "victims of slavery" (Andy Martin, 2007).
#40. To: buckeye (#39)
RIPTON, Vermont: Robert Frost wrote once that "good fences make good neighbors." We love Frost - we live on land he once owned in this small Green Mountain town - but that's the poet being cynical. What really makes for good neighbors, as the 562 residents have learned over the years, is a post office like the one this town has enjoyed since the 1800s. Tucked into a tiny corner of the general store, the post office is our town commons, a place where neighbor has no choice but to rub shoulders with neighbor.
#41. To: Rotara, buckeye (#36)
Between Hal Lindsey and the rapture
#42. To: buckeye (#39)
We know that on that committee, Dennis Kucinich has called for reparations.
#43. To: Dakmar (#40)
#44. To: buckeye (#43)
Freedom is never free, though. That's what I've learned.
#45. To: scrapper2 (#38)
Me, too.
#46. To: Dakmar (#44)
Who is making you pay for it?
#47. To: Rotara, buckeye (#45)
You too, what?
#48. To: scrapper2 (#47)
Like buckeye, I am confused by what you post at times.
#49. To: scrapper2, rotara, buckeye (#47)
I am confused by what you post at times.
#50. To: Rotara (#46)
Who is making you pay for it?
#51. To: Dakmar (#50)
Who is making you pay for it?
#52. To: Rotara (#51)
#53. To: James Deffenbach (#11)
(Edited)
Stupid cs. How long should white people be expected to keep "paying a debt" that no white has owed in half a dozen generations (or more)? And it is also true that not all that many white people owned any slaves and that some blacks owned slaves. But they never want to talk about that. I think the best thing anyone can do when Jesse, Al or any of the rest of the poverty pimps start agitating for reparations is to tell them to piss up a rope.
#54. To: HOUNDDAWG (#53)
Lord Acton
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