How the media injected black men with syphilis

March 23, 2008

When Malik Shabazz spoke for the New Black Panthers on talk shows last week in regards to Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s racial comments, he stated the US gov’t infected black men with syphilis according to the Tuskegee Experiment. Conservative pundits didn’t know how to rebuttal him. They couldn’t deny the Tuskegee Experiment took place between 1932 and 1972 where over 300 poor and mostly illiterate black sharecroppers were denied treatment for syphilis. It is one of the more shameful chapters in US history, alongside slavery and lynching.

However, it’s disconcerting pundits didn’t argue a crucial fact. Black men were NOT injected with syphilis. The men who volunteered to participate were already infected. The ethically unconscionable and monstrous act by federal researchers was denying them proper treatment of penicillin. Instead, the subjects were informed they had “bad blood” and were studied like lab rats to examine how syphilis would take its toll over the course of years.

But Shabazz was not the only one to have uttered this dangerously misleading inaccuracy without question. Obery Hendricks, professor at the NY Theological Seminary, stated on The O’Reilly Factor “we do know the government injected black men with syphilis.” Journalist Ed Gordon also stated “the government was giving syphilis to black men” on Hardball with Chris Matthews. Woefully inaccurate statements, which can’t be excused as “taken out of context”, have now become, for some, absolute truth.

Extreme fear of political incorrectness coupled with ignorance has muddied the waters of a needed dialogue once again on mainstream news channels. It’s no wonder we have yet to achieve a rational and peaceful resolution between blacks and whites as well as the left and right, when those in the media who speak to millions of viewers each day and earn just as much per year don’t do their homework.

As the battle for network ratings continues on the issues of racism and politics, it’s amazing no one has touched upon another study from the Tuskegee Institute to addresses the utter irony behind Rev. Wright’s hateful berating of Condoleeza Rice as “Condoskeeza” or Colin Powell as “Colonel Colon” for their Republican partisanship. Between 1880 and 1951 over 3,437 African Americans were lynched in the US. These crimes occurred not only due to the deep-rooted hatred in states along the Cotton Belt, but mainly because lynching wasn’t considered a federal crime.

Yet, during that same time, 1,293 white Americans were also lynched. Nearly all were Republicans who no doubt defied the Southern Democratic agenda of segregation. Also known as the Dixiecrats, this was the Democratic base Franklin D Roosevelt didn’t want to upset in order to pass his New Deal programs. This was the reason why FDR, nowadays viewed by many as a Democratic demagogue, never signed anti-lynching legislation during any of his four terms in office. Ultimately, some of these programs granted unions power to lock blacks out of the labor force during the Great Depression.

It wasn’t until after 1948 when Harry Truman introduced anti-lynching legislation that lynching finally became a federal crime. Truman, the same president who dropped the atomic bomb and inspired Rev. Wright to state “God damn America” (and break with the Third Commandment no less) for Americans supposedly not even batting an eye to the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Just another obscure and ironic historical fact that shows life isn’t as black and white or left and right as the mainstream media would have us believe.

The Ron Paul Revolution lives!!

I just got this absolutely killer Ron Paul video from  www.HighTidepromo.com.

Ron Paul wins! and so does the human race

As the Democratic presidential race descends to new depths of personal negativity and John McCain disintegrates,  the cause of human liberty has emerged as the clear winner in the 2008 presidential race.

 

A little over a year ago few people had ever heard of Ron Paul, there were no Ron Paul meet up groups.  Rudy Giuliani was a shoo-in to win the Republican nomination and probably the presidency.  The Republican Party was firmly in the hands of the big government neo-cons and the Libertarian party was as usual pondering its naval.

Cultural change has to happen before political change and as Avery Knapp, leader of New York City’s Ron Paul meet-up puts it “ collectivism won the 20^th century”. 

What a difference a year makes!  Today pretty much everyone, whether they like him or not, knows who Ron Paul is. Twenty-somethings debate non-interventionist foreign policy, the gold standard and elimination of the Fed and the IRS.  By the way they don’t debate “whether” on these issues, they debate “how”.

Of course that debate hasn’t made it through the thick skulls of the vast majority of major party candidates yet or even a majority of voters.  But no one is dismissing the Ron Paul Revolution anymore either. 

Let’s look at a few areas where the Ron Paul Revolution won resounding victories. The internet is considered by many to be the campaign tool of the future and the Ron Paul Revolution buries the competition with 106,000 meet-up group members, in over 1500 meetups.  Mike Huckabee is a distant second with 19,000 members and 496 groups.  But let’s look at what those meetups are doing.  Ron Paul meetups are 10 times more active than Huckabee’s and account for about 90% of all presidential meetup activities.

Candidate            Members         Groups            meetup events

Ron Paul                 106,000          1500            37,000

Mike Huckabee        19,000            496               3,600

Barak Obama             7,000            105               1,000

Hillary Clinton             1,800              36                  334

John McCain                   36                1                      0

Source: http://www.meetup.com/topics/polact/cand/pres/

How about fund-raising?  Of course the party of big money, the Democrats, have their fangs much deeper into corporate America. Clinton and Obama have each raised about $140 million primarily from people connected to financial institutions and law firms.  McCain gets his money from people in similar industries and firms but he has only raised about $50 million.

Compared to the big money crowd Ron Paul, having raised about $32 million, might not look like much.  But as Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney know, money can’t always by you love.   And when an unknown guy who ”had no chance” raises nearly as much as the winner of the Republican nomination you have to ask yourself where it all came from.  It turns out that the guy who wants to bring the troops home from everywhere, and leave health care to the free market gets much of his money from people in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Health Care. 

It’s also worth mentioning that “budget-balancer” John McCain has about  $5.2 million cash on hand and about $5.5 million in debt.  You do the math.  Is that how he’d run the country?   In contrast “crazy” Ron Paul has about $6 million cash on hand and 0 debt.  What? Zero debt?  Excuse me – I’ll have what he’s having.

Sources: http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/moneyweb.asp?cycle=2008

What’s wrong with this picture? 

The democrats are busy spewing venom.

The big government Republican nominee has more debt than money and his army consists of a professional campaign staff.  The sitting Republican President is a world-class bozo with record low approval ratings and the neo-cons are in disarray.

On the other hand, the Ron Paul Revolution is flush with cash and bursting with young, energized, committed volunteers who are busy right now expanding their grass-roots decentralized, free market network.  They are preparing for phase 2:  running Freedom Movement candidates, raising awareness and educating the public as to why Human Liberty works better for everyone, and taking action to change outcomes in DC, State Houses and City Halls.

As Arlo Guthrie said if “50 people a day do it they call it a movement.”  This one goes by a few names, the Freedom Movement or perhaps the Second American Revolution and it’s happening now, right before your eyes.  Everyone doesn’t agree on everything.  That’s the beauty of the free market.  But we share a belief in Human Liberty as the best way to improve the human condition.

The majority of the Ron Paul army is Republican or “libertarian-republican” but there is a significant minority of  “libertarian-democrats” as well.   It also includes some members of the Conservative Party and Constitution Party.  We also share critical principles with social liberals.

Major party approval ratings dwindle and the Ron Paul army has declared it’s intention to save the Republican Party, to turn it away from Bush, neo-cons, big spending and war and back to principles of freedom and small government. Meanwhile, Libertarian Party membership is up 25%.    Freedom Movement candidates are starting to build their campaign teams with veterans of the Ron Paul primaries.

People are talking about non-intervention, sound money, free markets and all the other thinsg that go along with Human Liberty.

What’s wrong with this picture? 

Nothing is wrong with it.

Ron Paul wins, and so does the human race.

McCain Soft on Taxes - Hard to Stomach

What sets John McCain apart from the rapidly thinning Republican Presidential field? He is the only remaining Republican candidate who has not pledged to refuse to raise taxes.  According to Americans For Tax Reform, Huckabee, Romney  and of course, our hero Ron Paul, have all all signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.   McCain has not.

With a recession looming, tax cuts (and of course the attendant spending cuts) are badly needed.  Recessions reduce tax revenue and increase deficits so you could argue that the only politically practical way to control the deficit is to keep the economy strong by cutting taxes.   Interest rate cuts just encourage more bad investment decisions and prolong the agony. For some background on the problems with interest rate regulation check out www.mises.org.

But does McCain get it? Apparently not. While McCain has scored at high as above 80% with the ATR he has also fallen to 66%. ATR suggest that he has “tried to reinvent himself as a taxpayer friendly Senator”. Sure John, I trust you.

Here is a short list of other completely wrong headed McCain Votes

No - Economic and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act, Conference Report - May 26, 2001
No - Death Tax Repeal Sense of the Senate – February 13, 2002
No - Permanent Repeal of the Death Tax - June 12, 2002
No - Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 - May 15, 2003
N0 - Jobs and Growth Conference Report - May 23, 2003

The list goes on and on.

To all you prospective McCain voters - please ask yourself whether our economy can withstand higher taxes. Then ask yourself if Ron Paul isn’t a better choice.

The Redistribution of Debt

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It’s a saying as old as history, and just as toxic. It’s misled millions to believe they’re doomed to poverty and that wealth is just an elusive dream for a select few. But the 2008 Economic Stimulus package may help put us all on equal footing. By ensuring everyone experience poverty through massive inflation.

Both Democrats and Republicans are in favor of the plan. The proposal would pay up to $600 to individuals, married couples up to $1,200, plus $300 per child, and even many who don’t earn enough to pay taxes, can receive up to $300. The total plan will cost an estimated $150 billion dollars. But despite it’s good intentions, the program may turn a mild recession into a full-blown one, or worse.

There’s only three ways it can be paid for: taxes, new currency or credit. Through taxes, while it would force government to cut spending in the short term, which is a good thing, there’s no doubt taxes will be raised in the long run to compensate. If it’s paid by printing new currency, the dollar would definitely devalue even further and our current inflation would spiral out of control. But the real problem is credit. By merely tacking it onto the national deficit, which is currently at $9 trillion, it will still devalue our dollar with taxpayers footing this seemingly endless debt.

There’s no doubt spending stimulates an economy. It was lack of spending which fueled the panic from the 1929 Stock Market Crash into the Great Depression. Which is why it’s ironic to hear those who at one time swore the “trickle down theory” only benefited the wealthy, are now clamoring for the potential spending behind the stimulus package. Some, such as the AFL-CIO Labor Union, claim it isn’t enough.

But spending on credit, especially amounts that can’t be realistically paid for, creates serious problems. After all, that’s what got us here in the first place thanks to the subprime mortgage crisis. This is why the Economic Stimulus package is nothing short of a welfare handout. Simply giving money away and conditioning people to an entitlement mindset every time they make mistakes will never address this fundamental problem.

And deficit spending by a government comprised of career politicians who believe they can manage our money better than we can, creates disastrous results. Especially when they simply take our money out of one pocket just to put into the other. Minus inflation no less, not to mention compounding interest. That’s not even the redistribution of wealth. It’s the redistribution of debt.

The Myth of Giuliani the Manager

Campaign myth #4762: Rudy Giuliani is a good manger

Fact: Giuliani is a poor fiscal manager

- Today’s Daily News headline story: “Poor Rudy - Cash crunch leaves Giuliani campaign aids without pay”.  Ok so he’s putting his remaining $7 million into Florida and a few aids “volunteered” to go without pay.  What will Rudy do with the Federal deficit the next President is bound to inherit from our current ”conservative” administration?   By the way Rudy’s personal net worth is estimated by some to be between $30 and $60 million.

-While Rudy deserves some credit for controlling spending in his first term,  he left poor Mike Bloomberg with a $6 billion deficit. By the way - this wasn’t only due to 9/11, remember the economy was headed south long before 9/11 and City revenues along with it.  Tax-Hike-Mike’s dismal handling of the deficit will be the subject of another post on this blog.

Fact: Giuliani doesn’t set priorities well.

-In Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11, Wayne Barrett goes on for chapters about Rudy’s turf wars with the Port Authority, his failure to prepare NYC for terrorist attack even after the first World Trade Center bombing, his inability to cut through bureaucracy to acquire new radios for the Fire Department… the list goes on.

-Meanwhile Rudy picked fights with anyone who couldn’t defend themselves such as cab drivers, street vendors, night clubs, African hair braiders….

Fact: Giuliani can’t manage his team

In Grand Illusion, Barrett also describes how Rudy failed to resolve the turf wars between the Police, Fire Department and Emergency Management which to a great degree led to many of the problems encountered on 9/11.

 This list just scratches the surface.  Take a look at what Jacob Weisberg said in this Slate post.

“This comparison doesn’t make the case for Bloomberg as president so much as it underscores what a scary place a Giuliani White House could be. President Rudy would give powerful speeches denouncing terrorism while assuming extraordinary wartime powers. He’d reject compromise with his antagonists and ignore the nuts and bolts of running a government. After a few years, he’d be on nonspeaking terms with much of his Cabinet, never mind his fellow world leaders. By the time he got done, he might make us appreciate George W. Bush.”

Fortunately Rudy’s chance seem to be dropping fast.  Unfortunately, it’s hard to tell who would be worse given the choice of Rudy and John McCain.

Of course that isn’t the only choice.  There is still a libertarian choice in the New York primary:  Ron Paul.

As Rudy fades, what new evil lurks?

Remember back in September when Giuliani was the heir apparent to the neo-con throne?  According to an average of poll results at RealClearPolitics.com in 3 short months America’s Mayor has slipped from about 23% in the New Hampshire polls to about 9% dropping from 2nd to 4th place.    I guess he’s not New Hampshire’s mayor. Unfortunately,  he has been replaced by an even scarier proposition,  the free-speech-snuffing John McCain.

As illustrated in this famous video , John McCain thinks it’s OK to joke about bombing Iran, but as an author of  McCain-Feingold he feels that serious political speech must be regulated.   According to this story, when asked about criticism of his “bomb-bomb-Iran” joke, he suggested critics should “get a life”. 

Now of course we hear that the new National Intelligence Estimate indicates that Iran ended it’s effort to develop a nuclear weapon in 2003.   But we can’t hold Senator McCain accountable because he might not have read it.  He didnt bother to read the one on Iraq before he voted for that war either.  They don’t read the bills they pass.  Why read National Intelligence Estimates?  It will only cloud the decision making process with pesky old facts.

Is this the kind of judgement and due diligence we should expect from a Presidential candidate?  Well - unfortunately yes.  Particularly if you are talking about Republicans.   With the exception of Ron Paul,  they all cling to the same neo-con dogma that ruined the Bush regime (not to mention our civil liberties and our economy) and which will almost certainly hand the White House over to the socialists in November.

But New Hampshire voters might still surprise us by turning away from the big government neo-cons and their welfare-warfare state.

 Granite State Republicans and Independents - vote for Ron Paul.    

Libertarian National Committee Resolution Urges Ron Paul to Seek LP Nomination

It’s no secret that many - probably most - Libertarians support Ron Paul’s Republican candidacy even though there is a large crop of candidates who plan to seek the LP Presidential nomination.  At least one prominent Libertarian candidate has said he will support Ron Paul even while he continues his own run.

Now it’s offical. The Libertarian National Committee yesterday resolved to congratulate Ron Paul for ” his success in spreading a message of peace, prosperity and freedom” and urged him to seek the LP nomination if he is not nominated by the Republicans.

Read the resolution here. 

Presidential Candidates and Medical Marijuana: Republicans flunk except Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo

I just received a mailer from the Marijuana Policy Project.  If you are not a member - sign up now.  This is one of the most effective organizations anywhere promoting an issue important to libertarians.

The mailer includes a report card for 16 Democratic and Republican presidential candidates and the results are pretty interesting.  The only real surprise is that Hillary Clinton got something right for a change - indicating (according to the report card) that she would end federal raids on legal medical marijuana users.

Did you know that the federal government ignores state law in medical marijuana states and arrests and imprisons law abiding citizens?   After you read this you might want to take a look at what’s happening Pakistan.   Constitution? - we don’t need no stinking Constitution.

 The Democrats actually do pretty well in the report card.  Only Joe Biden scores less than an A.   Chris Dodd seems to have read the Constitution and says he would leave it to the states - yeah Chris! .  Mike Gavel says he would legalize marijuana - yeah Mike!.

Then we have those pillars of small government the Republicans.  Of course Ron Paul scores an A+.  No surprise there.  As a doctor an a libertarian Dr. Paul hits yet another bulls-eye referring to people making their own choices and to state law.  Tom Tancredo also earns an A+ referring to state law.  Good work Tom - I can see you read the Constitution too.  

Every other Republican earns an F.  FDR would be proud.  Shouldn’t the candidates of the party of small government read the Constitution and resist using the federal government to enforce their own view of morality - especially when the will of the people in those states has been made clear in the democratic process? 

Giuliani, the big “liberal Republican” in the bunch proves his big government instincts referring to the FDA’s assessment that marijuana has no medical benefit.   Well Rudy - a lot of doctors and a lot of voters think the FDA is wrong.  Rudy is big on obeying the law. Perhaps he should make it clear whether he would obey the law in this case.  Rudy - does the FDA over-rule the Constitution?

Romney’s comment is classic.  “I don’t want medical marijuana…”  Well Mitt - no one is forcing you to take it are they.  And I don’t think the sick people in medical marijuana states really care what a Governor of some other state thinks as long as he doesn’t become President.

I really can’t believe this is the crop the Republicans have raised up.  Except of course for our hero, Ron Paul, there isn’t an ounce of leadership in the batch.  I can’t wait til after the primary to change my registration back to Libertarian. 

Mitt, Rudy and you other flunkies - just keep pandering to your “big government conservative” base.  Hillary is counting on it.

Global warming or not - Green is libertarian

It’s fashionable in some libertarian circles to dismiss global warming  but I think sustainability is very libertarian.

Think about property rights.  For example,  it’s pretty obvious that if you dump your trash on my front porch, or more accurately my front stoop,  that’s a crime against my property.  If your factory belches smoke that provably gives my kid asthma that’s a crime against his person.  If you use resources without paying for them, in a way that provably and permanently damages the planet,  at worst you are committing a crime against the property of many and at best you are being a selfish meany who wouldn’t be very popular or successful in a functioning libertarian society.

Being libertarian ought to be about paying for the resources you consume whether it’s exotic hardwood for the fretboard on my next 5 string or whether it’s a cubic foot of clean air.  Of course the exotic hardwood is expensive and the (relatively) clean air - so far - is pretty cheap.  There’s that free market at work.   That part seems pretty easy.

It’s gets a little difficult to prove you are causing my kids’ asthma or global warming.  It’s also pretty hard to pin down my rights to air.  It’s made more difficult by the fact that our rulers make decisions in the back rooms about how much asthma we can accept in order to keep those workers working and the campaign contributions coming.   National standards for vehicle emissions or smoking bans might be considered a little arbitrary compared to decentralized decisions based on free will and the market.   That’s why those types of decisions need to be left up to the court system and the markets.  Of course those decisions won’t be perfect but they will be pretty good and a whole lot better than decisions made by politicians and bureaucrats.

Smoking bans are a great example.   Not too long ago an otherwise intelligent person suggested to me that smoking was somehow similar to dumping garbage on his lawn.  That’s not the first time I have heard such nonsense.  Comparing smoke that I exhale in your general vicinity and that dissipates in a second and that you can walk away from,  to dumping garbage on your lawn is complete nonsense.  It’s provably your lawn and the garbage will be there for a few days or a few weeks unless you or I remove it.  Please don’t waste my time if that’s the best you can do.   Smoking bans are nothing more than our rulers imposing their own morality on us just because they can.

Let’s talk about vehicle emissions.  I personally believe vehicle emissions reduce my quality of life considerably.  I wonder if the smoking ban supporters are willing to ante up to compensate me for that.  You can easily walk away from cigarette smoke in most cases.  Unless you want to buy me a spaceship I can’t really walk away from vehicle emissions.   If you decide not to drink (or work) in my smoking bar you haven’t lost much.  If I have to leave the city or the planet to escape your vehicle emissions it costs me a great deal.

So how could a libertarian solution help?

Re-writing history is always a little speculative but consider the myriad of ways that government has worked against the market to increase gasoline use:

-military control of the middle east to reduce gas costs

-highway programs

-GI Bill that promoted suburban housing

-protectionist tariffs on high fuel efficiency cars 

-Monday holidays to promote vacationing

-Tax incentives on heavy SUVs

 I’m sure there are many more.  See my point? 

If we pretty much agree that things are not going so well at the moment, whether it’s global warming or foreign policy, or health care, or terrorism, maybe we should try something different.  

Big government isn’t the solution.  It’s the problem.