In his column “The Real Racial Entitlements” [4/1/13 TPP], Jesse Jackson decries with full justification the racial taunt issued by Antonin Scalia, member of the “lynching” Supreme Court Justices, during arguments on the Voting Rights Act. Scalia argued that “whenever a society adopts racial entitlements it is very difficult to get out of them through the normal political processes”.
It appears that this “lynching Supreme” is not acquainted with the US Constitution and its Amendments, and specifically with Amendments XV, XIX, XXIV and XXVI. These Amendments specifically identify the right to the vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of race, whether you are a female of any race, on account of any poll tax, or if you are a person of 18 years of age of any race! The addition of the clarifier on race in all of these Amendments is simply to state that there is NO racial entitlement allowed to enter into this issue, period!
It is evident that “lynching Supreme” Antonin Scalia is most happy to revive the US Civil War of the 1860s, to again deny African American citizens the Right to Vote. The XV Amendment became effective in February 1870, after slavery had been outlawed in December 1865 with Amendment XIII.
The fact that Antonin Scalia, a member of the “lynching Supremes,” is able to get away with making such an assertion on “Racial Entitlements”, during arguments in the Supreme Court hearing, clearly identifies that this “lynching Supreme” is unfamiliar with the US Constitution and its Amendments. What to do about such a gross dereliction of duty in this Supreme Court “lynching Justice”?
There is a remedy spelled out in Article Ill, Section 3 of the US Constitution, which states in part “Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.”
“Lynching Supreme” Scalia is denying the validity of those Amendments most closely tied to the US Civil War, namely Amendment XIII ending slavery and XV giving the vote to those who had it denied to them on account of race or slavery. By his own words, in open Court Scalia has given Aid and Comfort to those Enemies of the United States, namely the remnants of the Confederacy who are not willing to accept the outcome of the Civil War. That is clearly TREASON!
When “Lynching Supreme” Scalia took office in September 1986, did he not swear to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”? He is obviously not willing to recognize the Amendments dealing with the Right to the Vote for all United States citizens. Otherwise, how can anybody justify allowing his comments to stand without challenge to his competency?
It seems that the only appropriate action against such an activist racist “judge” is the impeachment of Antonin Scalia Furthermore, by his decisions he has also proven to be an incompetent member of the Supreme Court!
Is there the need for any more proof, or must we wait until he comments on the decision of the case that precipitated his confession in open court?
Enrique Gentzsch
Minneapolis, Minn.
It boggles my mind trying to understand how our politicians make decisions that are causing the destruction of our Earth, atmosphere, water and food supply, and do not seem to consider their own children or grandchildren. Their offspring will have to try to survive in this new poisoned Earth they are creating, as will yours and mine.
The decisions to allow fracking, to continue offshore drilling, to allow drilling with the mot dangerous and dirty type of fuel from the shale near Alaska’s indigenous peoples’ land, to allow a pipeline across the width of our entire country — which is guaranteed to leak, like all the others have; to risk our aquifer and other water supplies, to continue to give subsidies to dirty and dangerous gas, oil, coal and nuclear pwer plants, are all absurd decisions! And for lawmakers to want to upgrade our nuclear weapons and their delivery systems is unconscionable.
Physicians for Social Responsibility is an organization consisting of doctors who are extremely concerned about how these unwise policies are affecting the health of Americans. PSR wants policies in place that will protect our health now and in the future. Cutting tax subsidies to dirty energy producers is one of their ideas. They believe that money would be better spent supporting clean energy industry and jobs and also address the public health needs arising as we adapt to a warming climate.
The Wilderness Society is calling on the Bureau of Land Management to issue strong rules for fracking. To quote them, “Fracking is a risky business that requires pumping millions of gallons of water, sand and toxic chemicals into the earth to extract oil and natural gas from rock (usually) thousands of feet underground. Fracking can contaminate drinking water, can pollute the air and threaten wildlife. We are demanding that the BLM guidelines require oil and gas companies to disclose the chemicals they use, as well as conducting a baseline water test before fracking begins to help protect against contamination.”
I seriously wonder if these dirty energy corporations, and the politicians they paid to get elected, can see past today into the future the are creating. This is the only planet that can support life as we know it. Once it’s destroyed, it’s game over.
Carol Burger
Mount Juliet, Tenn.
So, people in the firearms industry are spending big bucks in attempts to gain new customers among the very young. Why does that come as no surprise? We’ve seen it before in the tobacco industry, and it led to many deaths, and so will the recruitment of kids packing guns.
But hey, that’s American business for you, and the way it is practiced nowadays. Whatever makes money is okay, and if you can disguise it as a favor you are doing for society all the better. It allows the perpetrators to sleep well at night. (That is if they don’t live in a low income section of big cities, where the guns are the tools of the crime trade.)
But far be it from me to stand in the way of prosperity. I used to have a business, and I know how on slow days there is a temptation to go out on the street to corral some customers. And we allowed young kids to come into our place and some hung out there. But I and my business partner told them we were moms, so if they came in they were going to get mom talk. And I guess they needed mom talk, and that was why they kept coming back.
And who is giving the mom talk to those new customers the gun folks are trying so desperately to turn into gun buyers? I sure hope it isn’t the kind of mom the killer of the kids in Newtown had, who helped him to polish his skills, so when he went off to slaughter other kids he had a grand success,
All this talk of arming children reminds me of a day long ago, when I was over at my mom’s house, and my little nephew was there, and he was crawling around on the floor underneath her kitchen table. Suddenly he made a gagging sort of noise, like an “ack, ack, ack”, and I thought he must have found some piece of food or dirt and had put it in his mouth and he was choking on it. So I stuck my head under the table to see what he had. What it was was a toy gun an older cousin must have left there, and he was in his little mind shooting it. And he was 11 months old.
So the gun folks don’t have to worry that they won’t have enough customers. They will always find them in the ranks of the very young, or among those who have never progressed beyond the childlike fears of there being a bogey man behind every bush or tree, and that guns are the answer to everything.
And little kids will sometimes get their hands on those guns and kill themselves or others. But that, I guess, is the price we have to pay for living in a “civilized” society.
M.E. Johnson
Eckert, Colo.
It appears that efforts to curb gun violence since the Newtown massacre has brought out the best and worst in the members of Congress. John F. Kennedy’s best-selling and Pulitzer Prize-winning 1956 book Profiles in Courage is an inspiring account of eight senators of both parties — John Quincy Adams to Robert A. Taft — who had the courage to do what was right instead of what was politically expedient. Apparently many members of Congress have substituted cowardice for courage.
Most Congressional Republicans and a few Democrats today appear to be examples of Profiles in Cowardice with regard to gun violence by threatening to filibuster and not even permitting a vote on legislation designed to save the lives of American children and adults in order to receive financial support from the NRA and gun manufacturers. The name of every member of Congress with the amounts they have received from the NRA and gun manufacturers should be highlighted in every publication in our country along with a reference to Profiles in Courage.
Edward L. Koven
Highland Park, Ill.
For many years America has supplied Israel and Egypt with $5 billion in direct military aid. Money that is used to kill, subjugate and confine Palestinians in the Gaza strip. Last year President Obama gifted Israel an additional $70 million; this year, $205 million more of our tax dollars paid for Israel’s Iron-Dome project.
During Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent visit to Egypt, he gifted that country with an additional $250 million in American aid to support Egypt’s “future economy” along with $60 million more to foster their “engine of democratic change.” Kerry also stands at the ready to unlock $1 billion in aid promised by President Obama and $100 million more of a long-term pledge of $450 million “to spur reform.”
To date, America has given the Syrian insurgents $110 million in aid and President Obama has also endowed Jordan with $200 million to assist in providing relief for Syrian refugees who have fled to Jordan.
Mr. President, America has 3.6 million “refugees” in our country called homeless people, 23 % of them are veterans and Google tells us there are 1.6 million homeless children in America. We have 12 million unemployed Americans and 48.6 million of our citizens have no health care.
America is twisting in the winds of $16 trillion of debt with annual interest payments of approximately $400 billion. Our infrastructure is crumbling, sequestering will reduce veterans benefits by over 5% and we are closing schools for lack of funds.
As he gave away several billion of our tax dollars to Egypt, Kerry stated “the United States can and wants to do more to help the Egyptian people at this difficult time.”
Yoo-hoo guys, our country is over here.
Ed Hodges
Appleton, Wis.
Its introductory phrases render the Second Amendment hopelessly archaic and endlessly ambiguous. The Second Amendment is a sham. A former chief justice of the United States called it a fraud perpetrated on the people.
Yes, the present court overturned a D.C. gun ban in 2008. This is the same court that brought us the decision in Citizens United, ironic proof that the judiciary, supposedly the most learned of the branches of government, is, instead, the most unenlightened.
Arguments used to defend the legitimacy of the Second Amendment have, necessarily, been models of tortured logic. The NRA and the gun industry may want to have a new amendment ratified, one that is straightforward and without caveat. They just might have the political power to do it.
Walter O. Jones
Lake Crystal, Minn.
Here is a thought: Instead of raising the minimum wage across the board to a piddling $9 or $10 per hour, split the increase up. Make an increase for part time workers to $13 or $14 per hour, but leave the full-time increase at the proposed $9 or $10. That would create an incentive to hire full-time employees and perhaps pay some benefits. A worker would still have trouble paying rent or supporting a family, but he would be a little closer if he had a full-time job.
Richard W. Crockett
Monmouth, Ill.
During the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq generous rewards were offered to citizens of these countries for turning in terrorists that were living and operating within their midst. Some took full advantage of the opportunity by pointing fingers at innocent people, who happened to be their personal enemies, and in the process effectively killing two birds with one stone, ridding themselves of a foe or adversary, and collecting a generous reward. This filled the cells of such infamous prisons and compounds as Abu Graib, Bagram and Guantanamo to capacity.
Mostly ignored by the corporate mainstream media is the fact that of 166 prisoners presently in Guantanamo, the majority has been on a hunger strike for weeks, protesting current inhumane treatment, torture and poor living conditions. Most disturbing and unreported is, that 86 of these inmates have been found innocent and cleared for release years ago, yet are still held captive in violation of international law.
We are always so eager to criticize human rights violations by others. So, how would we react, if these same atrocities were committed by any other country, especially one we happen to be in disagreement with?
Joe Bahlke
Red Bluff, Calif.
From The Progressive Populist, May 1, 2013
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