freethefly

My new belief is that Mickey Mouse created everything, even Walt Disney. Walt was created to spread the gospel through animation and amusement parks. Now, I cannot prove any of this, nor can anyone prove that I am wrong. Sounds pretty silly, does it not? Same goes for any concept of a super deity that materalized out of nowhere and created everything in just 6 days. I nor anyone else cannot prove that a god does not exist. Nor can anyone prove that he or she or it does exist. The entire god concept is full of holes. The concept of a god giving his son to suffer for everyones sins is completely flawed. The story would have you believe that god could not had forseen that jesus was going to get his ass nailed to a cross but, wait, god knows all and sees all. Right? So, this says that god KNEW that Jesus was going to be nailed to the cross long before he popped out of Mary's wazoo. He set jesus up to fail. Nice guy. Furthermore if god is all knowing then he knows exactly what each and every person is going to do in advance. This has to be true if there is a god. God has a plan for everyone. Right? God knew what was going to happen to me before it happened. Right. God knows when you are going to hook low and plant your ass into the planet. Right. Seems to me that this god just has a very mean streak being that he knows everything and has just set us all up for whatever fate awaits you. Hell, Mickey would never do that. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Goddamn, that is funny Just about spewed coffe when I got to that part. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

If I were to screw up and injure somebody, I damn well hope that it is you. Serious now, why should someone pay what might amount to thousands in Dr. bills when they were not at fault? Why should the party responsible walk away and pay nothing? I have never sued anyone but, have been sued myself, twice. Lost one, won one. I can honestly say that if someone were to injure me, they will be paying the bill. Why would you want to take on debt that you otherwise would not of had if not for the party responsiible? "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

That is one of the most asinine things I have read on this board or any other board. There is a lot of non christian so I take it that your god must be mighty wet with spit. Considering that the bible has god killing thousands of people just because he is pissed off at something points to a less than "perfect, pure love". "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Let's be honest. There's not a charity or non profit organization, religious or secular, that doesn't want to operate without state of the art facilities or equipment. Since Jesus never existed how can he be part of your argument? Bullshit!!! The AIDS clinic that I sometimes go to gets next to nothing as they are not a "faith based" group. (the infinite wisdom of the Bush admin. thinks that giving more funding to some asswipe church and cut funding to REAL help is the way to battle AIDS). The James river assembly church down here in the baptist belt requires that their members sign contracts and have automatic payments from the bank to the church (got makes sure that the members don't stiff their freaking ass). They run tv commercials throughout the day stating doom unless you become a good baptist zombie and join the flock of brain dead sheep. Their church was once profiled on, I think it was, 60 minutes for a program on multi million dollar churches that do nothing for the community but scam money from the gullible and also get money from the government for their faith based work. These people and people like Billy Graham, John Hagee, Joyce Meyer, ... should all be investigated for the scam that they pull and further more it is pure crap that these scun-nut operations are allowed to be tax free. If there is a god, he don't need no money nor a church with a goddamn tv station inside it. By the way I was raised southern baptist and believe if there is a hell, every last one of these hypocritical dick jerks are well on their way. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

I hope all works out well for the officer and the family of the kid that died. What I have a problem with is statements such as this one; To find it a blessing that a kid had died a horrible death (to me and I am sure to others) is sub-human and shows a serious lack of compassion. Darwin winner? Maybe the same could be said for any skydiver that died under a perfectly functioning canopy? I wouldn't say it. I would say that the person made a tragic mistake and now the family knows what it means to really lose. I would not want to be the father who is awakened to learn that his young son has died. He screwed up but, deserves more than a good riddance. I do not have children that I am raising and will never recieve that sort of news but, my heart goes out to them. I, also, hope that the officer is not punished harshly for his mistake as he could not possibly have forseen this when he placed the kid in the front seat. It is a tragic lesson learned and we should all hope that all LEO's take note and do not make the same mistake. Some on this board may call me a bleeding heart liberal but, I was once extremely bitter towards the poor, the sick and people who did things like this kid. The tragedy in my life was contracting AIDS. I once made fun of everyone who had it. Wished them all death. Not gay, never shared a needle (shot coke a few times) but, I loved the ladies and was on a mission to have them all. I knew nothing at all about AIDS and it got me. Point is is that when you least expect it something is going to get you. Any person here could end up paralyzed or killed from a skydive accident or any other activity. Some here could end up with AIDS from a one night stand, your girlfriend or boyfriend (you are sleeping with every person from their past and they from yours)or a cheating S.O.. I did not know compassion until I found myself needing it the most and the people who were quickest to offer it were the people that I hated the most. Extremely ironic, wouldn't you say? Point being is that you should learn from others and stay open to offer compassion either physically or in thought as you will want it if and when you find yourself needing it most. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

At Verizon, first they brought in offshore contractors (OC). The contractors didn't know anything. They claimed to, but the project lead was an OC and covered it. The employees trained them. This included the high-dollar products that companies were dying to have. Next, they started replacing employees with the OCs. Then, they moved the jobs to Verizon India. After the last pension-buyout, they moved 200 jobs there, no replacements of US employees in the US. This was the beauty part. Someone announced that all the managers who had been moving jobs there... were not needed. Turns out that there are managers there also. "B-b-b-but wait! We just outsourced the workers, not us!" "Sorry about your luck. Here's your knife back." Ingersoll Rand did just this. Offshore corporate office in the Bahamas = saves them millions in not having to pay U.S. taxes on their profits. Next they moved the majority of the plant operations in the U.S. of Hussmann Refrigeration to Mexico after they brought the new workers up from Mexico for training in the U.S. plants. It really sucked having to train the people who are going to take your high paying Union job to a plant that will pay them the lowest possible wage. I purposely gave as much wrong information as I could about how to operate the Robotic welder. I should had stayed on the railroad instead of going to the plant (I wanted to be at home more). They can't move an entire rail system to another country. Next time you're at the gocery store you can scowl at the merchandizer that you take the refrigerated food from as it was most likely made in Mexico or China by low wage workers. I worked at Hussmann from late 84 after leaving Ca. untill mid 87 to take a railroad job. Went back to the plant in Dec. of 95. Thought I made a great move. My mistake. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

I would bet the farm that if this was your child you would scream bloody murder. No doubt, the kid made a mistake and he should had paid for it in court. How many here can say that they never screwed up? I feel sorry for the cop as I am positive that he believed that he did everything right. An unfortunate chain of events. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Had the officer put the kid in the backseat and closed the doors the kid would be alive today. Backdoors in every cop car I have seen do not have inside handles. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Not at all. There have been LEO's in the family. My nephew is a cop in the Kansas City area. I do have an issue with cops who step out of the boundaries that they are to operate within. The Dirty Harry mentality belongs in the movies, not the real world. Cops are to uphold the law and bring a suspect in to be tried and allowed to defend themselves. They are not to be judge, jury and executioners. I hope that my nephew or any other cop never finds themself in such a situation. I hope that all LEO's strive to learn something from this and any other such case. Been to all of those places. I did railroad inspection and have tied up the railcar in some of the worst neighborhoods imaginable. Seems that you never ended up in the ritzy part of town. One of my favorite areas was in Harlem. Kickass blues bars. Even though we would be about the only white guys in some of those clubs, no one ever gave us trouble. Also, I have been in every major U.S. city as well as every small town along the rails. Never had any trouble in black bars but have had a number of fights in white redneck taverans. Now, why is that? Now this is kinda funny. One night we were in an Upper Eastside bar across the street from Dangerfields comedy club (saw Rodney doing his standup act that night). I stood up from my bar stool to go to the head when my wallet fell out of my back pocket. The wallet was on a chain. I stuck it back into my pocket and it fell out again. I looked down back there and saw that someone slit the side of the back pocket. I spoke up and it turned out that several other people at the bar also had their pocket slit. I guess that the slitter hoped to pick up wallets as people got up and walked away. Got to admit that the guy was good as I never felt a thing. NYC crazy place. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

A member of the Saddle Tramps MC. I was affiliated with the Road Saints MC. This happened over 20 years ago when the clubs were fueding. I am no longer a member of any MC but still ride. Naw, the guy was just a bad shot. Actually, it is not all that easy to hit something that is moving with a pistol. I was in a fist fight when the guy drew down on me and a bro of mine screamed gun. I saw the gun and ducked just as he pulled the trigger. Your chances of survival are constantly challanged no matter what you do. Be it skydiving, riding a motorcycle, working in a factory, driving a car on the freeway, taking a shower in a tub that has no non-slip, ect... a persons safety is constantly challanged whether you step outside your house or not. I enjoy the challange. What is going to happen, will, regardless of the precautions one may take. I guess this makes me a fatalist. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

That they could win such a lawsuit is the real tragedy. If thier son couldn't figure out that jumping 60 feet into a river with his hands cuffed behind his back was not smart then he was simply taking up space in thier house and would have been a long term liability to them anyway. They should be thanking the police. That is really ignorant thing to say. A 16 year old kid died a tragic death. The parents lost their son. Would you say the same if this were to happen to your own child? This cop made a major mistake and this does not sound right at all. Once in custody the prisoners safety is the police resposibilty. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

It was dark with minimal light. They would had seen muzzle flash. When I got shot, the guy was about 10' max from me, I saw the flash. Never heard the gun fire though. The bullet put a burrow along the side of my head. Another inch to the right and it would had gone through my eye and out the back. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

There was no gun so, this is a false statement that you are making. They are trained to react to a real threat, not an imagined threat. And, again, there was no gun. From what I understand is that the cop got in front of a moving car afterwhich he stepped to the side. The car was then boxed in by two vehicle and the police opened fire. So this guy is shot all to hell yet he keeps raising this imaginary gun and then he... what? Threw it out the window or did he use imaginary powers and make it just disappear into thin air??????? Yup, your qualification are as such that they should call you as an expert witness. Now, I am just speculating that he may have been going for a cell phone.[?] And you were there? Oh, and the phrase is Monday morning quarterbacking. What makes you believe that the cops didn't snag the cash and stash themselves a throwdown? LMAO I spent more than half my life riding the streets of St. Louis and East St. Louis in a motorcycle club. I have also lived and worked in N.Y.C down in the subway and worked the LIRR out of Jamaica. Fucking NYC is a powderpuff compared to St. Louis. Think I am bullshitting? Check the crime statistics for cities. St. Louis is #1, Woo Woo NUMBER FUCKING ONE, YEAH!!!! Oh, by the way, never been shot in powderpuff city. St. Louis? Took a round in North City. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

http://www.politicalpettoys.com/ Wish I had thought of this. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

LOL, sometime back I bought a HP scanner, printer, copy and fax. $170.00 at best buy. It didn't work. Best buy said that it was out of their hands and that I should call Hewlitt Packard. I call and I find myself talking to someone with broken english. Through most of the conversation this yahoo is trying to sell me ink for a printer that does not work. Finally he gets on track and says that they will send me a new printer. The printer arrives. The lid is all screwed up. Makes me mad. I look at the label for the S.N. and see that it is a refurbished model. I am not happy. I call HP and again get someone who is more concerned with selling me products for an item that does not work. I tell this moron that I am through with talking to idiots such as himself and that I want to speak with his supervisor. I tell the sup that I am not at all happy with what they sent. He agrees and says that they will send a new product. New product arrives. Not new but, again, refurbished and it jams up while printing. Another call to the idiots in India. Again, more of the same. Another piece of crap arrives and it does not even power up. Once again, I am on the phone but, I am not going to listen to some dipshit wishing to sell crap that I do not need. I go through several people before someone would give me the number to the U.S. corporate office. I explain what has happened. He checks the records on this and agrees that I have been given the run around and tells me that he will personally see to it that I will get a new printer that day and that he will also upgrade to a better model. Within two hours a truck from BestBuy pulls into my drive and delivers a $350.00 printer, scanner, copy and fax and it works just great. The lesson that I learned is to tell the asshat on the other end to shove the sell pitch and to give me the corporate number. You want to get shit done? Go to the top. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

This incidence aside, tasering children is becoming more common. Do a search and you'll find many cases. Police Use of Stun Guns on Children Riles Parents Officers Taser Boy, 6, and Girl, 12 MIAMI (Nov. 13) - Miami-Dade police have acknowledged using a stun gun on a second youngster just weeks after subduing a 55-pound first-grader with a 50,000-volt shock. In the second instance, a 15-year-veteran officer used his Taser to immobilize a 12-year-old girl who was playing hooky from school. Police Director Bobby Parker defended the decision to shock the 6-year-old boy on Oct. 20 because he was threatening to injure himself with a shard of glass he was holding, but he said Friday that he could not defend the decision to shock the fleeing girl, who was apparently drunk. According to the incident report, officer William Nelson responded to a complaint that children were swimming in a pool, drinking alcohol and smoking cigars about 11 a.m. on Nov. 5. Nelson said he noticed the girl was intoxicated and told her to get dressed so he could take her back to school. "While walking the girl to the police car, she took off running through the parking lot," Nelson wrote in his report. Nelson, 38, said he chased her and yelled several times for her to stop. Nelson said he pulled out the Taser and fired when the girl began to run into traffic. The electric probes hit the girl in the neck and lower back, immobilizing her with 50,000 volts. Nelson said he fired "for my safety along with the girl's safety." Paramedics treated the girl, who went home with her mother. Parker said department policy permits officers to use the Taser to apprehend someone, but he said he expected his officers to use better judgment, especially when police had no plans to arrest someone playing hooky. The first incident had already exposed the department to more criticism for its use of Tasers, which it has begun distributing in greater numbers to officers. "The police could have handled this better," said the 6-year-old boy's mother, Kathy Rojas. "They did not have to shoot him." Parker said that, in light of the disclosure of the second incident, the department will review its policy. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Considering that policy of late is to ignore any real threat and illegaly invade a country that poise no threat... "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Kinda stupid to hire people who cannot handle an 11 year old kid. Lucky that she wasn't carrying a Glock. "He was a big 11 year old so, yes I emptied the clip and reloaded an emptied it again just to make sure". Hell, ya wouldn't hire dwarfs to handle max security prisoners why hire some wimpy person who can't handle children? "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

And, what was said on April 11, 2003 concerning looting in Iraq; Rumsfeld and Myers on Anarchy and Looting ("Catastrophic Success") in Iraq: "Free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things. For suddenly the biggest problem in the world to be looting is really notable." Following are excerpts from an April 11, 2003 press briefing by Rumsfeld and Myers http://www.dod.gov/transcripts/2003/tr20030411-secdef0090.html Q: Mr. Secretary, you spoke of the television pictures that went around the world earlier of Iraqis welcoming U.S. forces with open arms. But now television pictures are showing looting and other signs of lawlessness. Are you, sir, concerned that what's being reported from the region as anarchy in Baghdad and other cities might wash away the goodwill the United States has built? And, are U.S. troops capable of or inclined to be police forces in Iraq? Rumsfeld: Well, I think the way to think about that is that if you go from a repressive regime that has -- it's a police state, ... and then you go to something other than that -- a liberated Iraq -- that you go through a transition period ... With respect to the second part of your question, we do feel an obligation to assist in providing security, and the coalition forces are doing that. The San Francisco Chronicle on the same day reported: The medical system in the capital has "virtually collapsed," the committee said in its statement. Of the 40 hospitals in the city, 39 have been looted or closed. The ICRC, the only international organization functioning in Baghdad this week, said its workers were able to venture outside their offices for only a limited time on Friday. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/04/12/MN90334.DTL The Independent reports: The group of young men standing at the gates of Al- Kindi hospital in blue surgical gowns were not doctors or medical orderlies. The giveaway was the Kalashnikov automatic weapon each of them nursed. "We are volunteers who are protecting the hospital from looters and thieves," said Hayder Daoud, a 30-year-old engineer with close-cropped hair and several days' stubble. "The British and American forces will not protect us so we have to protect ourselves. None of us work here, we just organised ourselves. Some of us are from the neighbourhood, some are from farther away." http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=396396 Q: How quickly do you hope to do that? Isn't that a pressing problem? Rumsfeld: Wait. Wait. your question... suggests that, "Gee, maybe they were better off repressed." Let me say one other thing. The images you are seeing on television you are seeing over, and over, and over, and it's the same picture of some person walking out of some building with a vase, and you see it 20 times, and you think, "My goodness, were there that many vases? Is it possible that there were that many vases in the whole country?" Q: Do you think that the words "anarchy" and "lawlessness" are ill-chosen -- Rumsfeld: Absolutely. And here is a country that's being liberated, here are people who are going from being repressed and held under the thumb of a vicious dictator, and they're free. It's just unbelievable how people can take that away from what is happening in that country! Q: I think the question is, if you -- if a foreign military force came into your neighborhood and did away with the police, and left you at the mercy of criminals, how long would you feel liberated? Rumsfeld: Well, that's a fair question. First of all, the foreign military force came into their neighborhood and did not do away with any police. There may have been some police who fled, because the people didn't like them, and because they'd been doing things to the people in the local community that the people wanted to have a word with them about. But we haven't gone in and done away with any police. In fact, we're looking for police in those villages and towns who can, in fact, assist in providing order, to the extent there are people who can do it in a manner that's consistent with our values. A marine has been extensively quoted in the press as saying while observing the widespread looting, "Hell, it ain't my job to stop them, goddamn Iraqis will steal anything if you let them." This quote will likely forever be cited as representative of the US's shameful inactions as the country that they first "liberated" by blowing it apart continued the destruction by tearing it apart on their own. So I don't even feel the need to cite a reference. Google will be my reference on this one. Q: Given how predictable the lack of law and order was, as you said, from past conflicts, was there part of General Franks' plan to deal with it? And -- Rumsfeld: Of course. Q: Well, what is it? Rumsfeld: This is fascinating. This is just fascinating. We did... recognize that there was at least a chance of catastrophic success, if you will, to reverse the phrase ... and that we needed to be ready for that; we needed to be ready with medicine, with food, with water. And, we have been. From VOA news on the same day: Red Cross spokeswoman Nada Doumani on April 11, 2003 stated of the situation in Baghdad: "No hospital is any more functioning properly, normally in the capital, We have even heard about hospitals which have closed down. They have just shut the doors." http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=9B530C0F-F7C6-4BCF-8A94B1736ADB946D Q: Yes, but Mr. Secretary, I'm asking about what plan was there to restore law and order? And, you say, "Well, what was it in the plan?" The plan is a complex set of conclusions or ideas that then have a whole series of alternative excursions that one can do, depending on what happens. And, they have been doing that as they've been going along. And, they've been doing a darn good job. Q: Yes, but Mr. Secretary, I'm asking about what plan was there to restore law and order? Rumsfeld: Well, let's just take a city. Take the port city, Umm Qasr -- what the plan was. Well, the British went in, they built a pipeline bringing water in from Kuwait; they cleared the mine of ports (sic); they brought ships in with food; they've been providing security. In fact, they've done such a lousy job, that the city has gone from 15,000 to 40,000. Now think of that. Why would people vote with their feet and go into this place that's so bad? The reason they're going in is because they're food, there's water, there's medicine and there's jobs. That's why. The British have done a fantastic job. They've done an excellent job ... and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things." Q: Can I do a quick follow-up? Q: Mr. Secretary? Q: Mr. Secretary? Rumsfeld: I think I'll go over here. Q: How about my follow-up, Mr. Secretary? Rumsfeld: Well, we're considering it. Q: There's some additional specificity here. While you have just expressed yet again your dismay at the international news media, in fact, the reporting does factually show there are some certain number of Iraqi citizens that have spoken on-camera quite directly about their own concerns about the safety and security in Baghdad and that situation. There have also been absolutely verified reports that it is not just regime targets but indeed hospitals, banks, other facilities essential to society. The ICRC has been on TV today saying that hospitals are being looted, not regime targets you're speaking of, and that they can't even get there to resupply these essential hospitals. Now, my question is, General Brooks said this morning that the military -- U.S. military -- did not want to reconstruct the Iraqi police force in Baghdad because the feeling of the U.S. military is that that Iraqi police force has been operating against the U.S. military. He didn't feel that was a secure solution. So with some specificity, what type of Iraqi force can you bring to bear in Baghdad to have Iraqis help restore security? And, what types of specific tasks are you now going to assign the U.S. military to do to help restore the situation, which the people of Baghdad appear to be concerned about? Myers: (Laughs.) Q: But I guess what I'm not hearing here is, either one of you gentlemen, what tasks, with some specificity if you can, what U.S. military forces in Baghdad will now be doing to help calm the situation, or do you just -- Rumsfeld: ... for suddenly the biggest problem in the world to be looting is really notable. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Maybe, someone in Africa should be doing the apologizing, for their ancestors sold/traded their own people. In 1807 Britain outlawed slavery. In 1820 the king of the African kingdom of Ashanti inquired why the Christians did not want to trade slaves with him anymore, since they worshipped the same god as the Muslims and the Muslims were continuing the trade like before. The civil rights movement of the 1960's have left many people with the belief that the slave trade was exclusively a European/USA phenomenon and only evil white people were to blame for it. This is a simplicistic scenario that hardly reflects the facts. Thousands of records of transactions are available on a CDROM prepared by Harvard University and several comprehensive books have been published recently on the origins of modern slavery (namely, Hugh Thomas' The Slave Trade and Robin Blackburn's The Making Of New World Slavery) that shed new light on centuries of slave trading. What these records show is that the modern slave trade flourished in the early middle ages, as early as 869, especially between Muslim traders and western African kingdoms. For moralists, the most important aspect of that trade should be that Muslims were selling goods to the African kingdoms and the African kingdoms were paying with their own people. In most instances, no violence was necessary to obtain those slaves. Contrary to legends and novels and Hollywood movies, the white traders did not need to savagely kill entire tribes in order to exact their tribute in slaves. All they needed to do is bring goods that appealed to the kings of those tribes. The kings would gladly sell their own kins. This explains why slavery became "black". Ancient slavery, e.g. under the Roman empire, would not discriminate: slaves were both white and black (so were Emperors and Popes). In the middle ages, all European countries outlawed slavery (of course, they retained countless "civilized" ways to enslave their citizens, but that's another story), whereas the African kingdoms happily continued in their trade. Therefore, only colored people could be slaves, and that is how the stereotype for African-American slavery was born. It was not based on an ancestral hatred of blacks by whites, but simply on the fact that blacks were the only ones selling slaves, and they were selling their own kins. (To be precise, Christians were also selling Muslim slaves captured in war, and Muslims were selling Christian slaves captured in war, but neither the Christians of Europe nor the Muslims of Africa and the Middle East were selling their own kins). Then the Muslim trade of African slaves came to a stop when Arab domination was reduced by the Crusades. (Note: Arabs continued to capture and sell slaves, but only in the Mediterranean. In fact, Robert Davis estimates that 1.25 million European Christians were enslaved by the "barbary states" of northern Africa. The USA bombed Morocco, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli in 1801 precisely to stop that Arab slave trade of Christians. The rate of mortality of those Christian slaves in the Islamic world was roughly the same as the mortality rate in the Atlantic slave trade of the same period.) Christians took over in black Africa, though. The first ones were the Portuguese, who, applying an idea that originally developed in Italian seatrading cities, and often using Italian venture capital, started exploiting sub-Saharan slaves in the 1440s to support the economy of the sugar plantations (mainly for their own African colonies of Sao Tome and Madeira). The Dutch were the first, apparently, to import black slaves into North America, but black slaves had already been employed all over the world, including South and Central America. We tend to focus on what happened in North America because the United States would eventually fight a war over slavery (and it's in the U.S. that large sectors of the population would start condemning slavery, contrary to the indifference that Muslims and most Europeans showed for it). Even after Europeans began transporting black slaves to America, most trade was just that: "trade". In most instances, the Europeans did not need to use any force to get those slaves. The slaves were "sold" more or less legally by their (black) owners. Scholars estimate that about 12,000,000 Africans were sold by Africans to Europeans (most of them before 1776, when the USA wasn't yet born) and 17,000,000 were sold to Arabs. The legends of European mercenaries capturing free people in the jungle are mostly just that: legends. A few mercenaries certainly stormed peaceful tribes and committed terrible crimes, but that was not the rule. There was no need to risk their lives, so most of them didn't: they simply purchased people. As an African-American scholar (Nathan Huggins) has written, the "identity" of black Africans is largely a white invention: sub-Saharan Africans never felt like they were one people, they felt (and still feel) that they belonged to different tribes. The distinctions of tribe were far stronger than the distinctions of race. Everything else is true: millions of slaves died on ships and of diseases, millions of blacks worked for free to allow the Western economies to prosper, and the economic interests in slavery became so strong that the southern states of the United States opposed repealing it. But those millions of slaves were just one of the many instances of mass exploitation: the industrial revolution was exported to the USA by enterpreuners exploiting millions of poor immigrants from Europe. The fate of those immigrants was not much better than the fate of the slaves in the South. As a matter of fact, many slaves enjoyed far better living conditions in the southern plantations than European immigrants in the industrial cities (which were sometimes comparable to concentration camps). It is not a coincidence that slavery was abolished at a time when millions of European and Chinese immigrants provided the same kind of cheap labor. It is also fair to say that, while everybody tolerated it, very few whites practiced slavery: in 1860 there were 385,000 USA citizens who owned slaves, or about 1.4% of the white population (there were 27 million whites in the USA). That percentage was zero in the states that did not allow slavery (only 8 million of the 27 million whites lived in states that allowed slavery). Incidentally, in 1830 about 25% of the free Negro slave masters in South Carolina owned 10 or more slaves: that is a much higher percentage (ten times more) than the number of white slave owners. Thus slave owners were a tiny minority (1.4%) and it was not only whites: it was just about anybody who could, including blacks themselves. Moral opposition to slavery was widespread even before Lincoln, and throughout Europe. On the other hand, opposition to slavery was never particularly strong in Africa itself, where slavery is slowly being eradicated only in our time. One can suspect that slavery would have remained common in most African kingdoms until this day: what crushed slavery in Africa was that all those African kingdoms became colonies of western European countries that (for one reason or another) eventually decided to outlaw slavery. When, in the 1960s, those African colonies regained their independence, numerous cases of slavery resurfaced. And countless African dictators behaved in a way that makes a slave owner look like a saint. Given the evidence that this kind of slavery was practiced by some Africans before it was practiced by some Americans, that it was abolished by all whites and not by some Africans, and that some Africans resumed it the moment they could, why would one keep blaming the USA but never blame, say, Ghana or the Congo? The more we study it, the less blame we have to put on the USA for the slave trade with black Africa: it was pioneered by the Arabs, its economic mechanism was invented by the Italians and the Portuguese, it was mostly run by western Europeans, and it was conducted with the full cooperation of many African kings. The USA fostered free criticism of the phenomenon: no such criticism was allowed in the Muslim and Christian nations that started trading goods for slaves, and no such criticism was allowed in the African nations that started selling their own people (and, even today, no such criticism is allowed within the Arab world). Today it is politically correct to blame some European empires and the USA for slavery (forgetting that it was practiced by everybody since prehistoric times). But I rarely read the other side of the story: that the nations who were the first to develop a repulsion for slavery and eventually abolish slavery were precisely those countries (especially Britain and the USA). As Dinesh D'Souza wrote, "What is uniquely Western is not slavery but the movement to abolish slavery". (That does not mean that western slave traders were justified in what they did, but placing all the blame on them is a way to absolve all the others). To this day, too many Africans, Arabs and Europeans believe that the African slave trade was an USA aberration, not their own invention. By the time the slave trade was abolished in the West, there were many more slaves in Africa (black slaves of black owners) than in the Americas. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Well, they'll stone ya when you're trying to be so good, They'll stone ya just a-like they said they would. They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to go home. Then they'll stone ya when you're there all alone. But I would not feel so all alone, Everybody must get stoned. Well, they'll stone ya when you're walkin' 'long the street. They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to keep your seat. They'll stone ya when you're walkin' on the floor. They'll stone ya when you're walkin' to the door. But I would not feel so all alone, Everybody must get stoned. They'll stone ya when you're at the breakfast table. They'll stone ya when you are young and able. They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to make a buck. They'll stone ya and then they'll say, "good luck." Tell ya what, I would not feel so all alone, Everybody must get stoned. Well, they'll stone you and say that it's the end. Then they'll stone you and then they'll come back again. They'll stone you when you're riding in your car. They'll stone you when you're playing your guitar. Yes, but I would not feel so all alone, Everybody must get stoned. Well, they'll stone you when you walk all alone. They'll stone you when you are walking home. They'll stone you and then say you are brave. They'll stone you when you are set down in your grave. But I would not feel so all alone, Everybody must get stoned. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

In the big church here in Jacksonville, a lot of the deacons are carrying during the service. The Lord works in mysterious ways. King of the Hill; Monsignor Martinez, "Vaya Con Diaz!!" "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

YES!!! We are an extremely powerful lobby. Now, let's see what we can do about arming those bears in the National Parks "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever stolen something? Have you ever looked at another woman with lust? Have you ever ever taken the Lord's name in vain? Are you saying that in your ENTIRE life you have never told a lie? Not even as a small child? You have never taken a cookie as a child even after your mother said "no"? As a teenager, when you first started to notice girls, you have never thought that a certain girl looked "Hot"? You have never smashed a finger and then blurted out a curse such as "Goddamn it" Are you saying that you are perfect and without any sins, your ENTIRE life, at all? I highly doubt that you are completely without "sin". This statement implies that regardless of what one does that person is hell bound, no matter what they do to make up for what they have done. So, if you have stolen only one cookie you are on your way to hell. You like bass fishing? Best fire proof your boat as I am told that the lake can be hell on the hull. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young