In the 'YouTube Debate' for the Democrats the other night, a man posed a question asking whether the candidates supported Reparations.

Only three candidates answered the question, leaving us to ask Clinton, Dodd, Biden, Lopez-Richardson, and ....some old guy who didn't get to answer very much and then grumbled when they did let him open his mouth....i digress.

John Edwards was the first up to bat:

I'm not for reparations. I can answer that questions (sic). But I think there are other things we can do to create some equality that doesn't exist in this country today.

Today there was a report that, right here in Charleston, African Americans are paying more than their white counterparts for mortgages than any other place in America, any other place in the United States of America.

And here's an example. What is the conceivable explanation for this, that black people are paying more for their mortgage?

And, by the way, it's not just low-income African Americans; it's high-income African-Americans. There's absolutely no explanation for this. It goes to the basic question that I raised just a few minutes ago.

To have a president that's going to -- is going to fight for equality, fight for real change, big change, bold change, we're going to have to somebody -- we can't trade our insiders for their insiders. That doesn't work.

What we need is somebody who will take these people on, these big banks, these mortgage companies, big insurance companies, big drug companies. That's the only way we're going to bring about change. And I will do that as president.

Then Senator Barack Obama answered:

I think the reparations we need right here in South Carolina is investment, for example, in our schools. I did a...

(APPLAUSE)

I did a town hall meeting in Florence, South Carolina, in an area called the corridor of shame. They've got buildings that students are trying to learn in that were built right after the Civil War. And we've got teachers who are not trained to teach the subjects they're teaching and high dropout rates.

We've got to understand that there are corridors of shame all across the country. And if we make the investments and understand that those are our children, that's the kind of reparations that are really going to make a difference in America right now.

and then Kucinich:

I am.

The Bible says we shall be and must be repairers of the breach. And a breach has occurred.

We have to acknowledge that. It's a breach that has resulted in inequality in opportunities for education, for health care, for housing, for employment. And so, we must be mindful of that.

But it's also a breach that has affected a lot of poor whites as well.

We need to have a country which recognizes that there is an inequality of opportunity and a president who's ready to challenge the interest groups -- be they insurance companies or mortgage companies or defense contractors who are taking the money away from the people who need it.

Yes, I am for repairing the breach. Yes, I am for reparations.

what are reparations?

I cannot state with any authority that I fully understand the reparations movement as a whole. There are many views within the voices I've listened to over the years about what this would mean for not only the black community, but also to first nations people that were subjected to genocide by Europeans who now have dominance over the nation in a way that culture doesn't cut through. Special acknowledgement should be paid to the imperialist expansion over Hawaii and other island nations, so we can arrive at whether we have arrived passed the expansionist ways of the European ancestors.

In asking myself what do I support and what resonates, I look to sources of justice and simplicity of language.

First, I meditate on the word itself...Reparations (the action of repairing)

To look at US history over 231 years, several events and shifts indicate that The People can shift to ground that is not only more equal but that repairs painful tears in the fabric of the nation. In my sight are moments that overwhelm the ugly history of chattel slavery, jim crow laws and segregation. In my life time the melting of boundaries seems more apparent than just one generation back to my baby boomer parents.

Now I can't say Edward's isn't for reparations even though he said it because he described reparing actions that one might believe will rebalance the losses.

And Obama too described a necessary and system deep and then softly attributed it to reparations. He did demonstrate that he knows the actions of repairing schools and "corridors of shame" were important.

But to me, Kucinich hit it right on with stating the overall principle at hand with his quote from the 2nd Book of Kings, chapt 12,v5 with:

"we shall be and must be repairers of the breach." And a breach has occurred.

In determining a course for a nation why is it that the clarity of Kucinich's comments and his already founded courage to file a bill to Impeach Cheney, his opposition to this war, and his belief that we should also have a Department of Peace can go so ignored?

What is it that people are looking at when they can still support a candidate like John Edwards as a "champion of the poor" and that he along with Obama and Clinton are the 'fore runners' in this race?

I have a good friend who used to eliminate candidates, including Kucinich on what she called the "sexy factor" and that no matter how tuned into the process I may be that Americans choose their candidates on a "sexy factor."

Is this true? Do we simply resonate with some base level meme that tells us..."uh..different" and we move like Lemmings towards a new cliff of the same gorge.

I'm trying so hard to see any of these people meeting with foreign leaders, informing us about what new path the US will take, and who will respect the 2 other branches of government.

Will I be frightened by Clinton telling me she's decided to carpet bomb Sudan like her husband did a decade ago?

Will Edwards fall into the unthinking role of middle ground good guy who smiles well, has anti-gravity hair and story of poverty to overpaid lawyer to lend to good guy credibility?

I don't feel him. Maybe he's being like Gore. After he quits running for office he'll be real and let his hair down.

Obama has a voice closer to my generation and that is where I feel pretty comfortable. The fact that he has become wealthy won't be an auto-distraction for the anti-capitalist in me, but his squeaky clean image so far shows me some promise. I'd love to hear substantive criticism if its available. So far I just know about he smoked or his campaign contributions are typical of all campaigns.

He has a chance to become a shift in the dominance of European ancestry at a time when the US could use a shift in paradigm.

But what about the little guy on the end, who still got more time than that old white haired guy who didn't get much time and when he did, he grumbled and groaned about his time.

Kucinich really reflects what so many "leftists", "progressives", "liberals" and "anti-war" types have asked for. But why isn't he resonating with the masses?

When I turn to the other channels outside news, he isn't mentioned or is only mentioned for his physical stature. My parter tells me "he's cute", and she isn't the first time I've heard that. His message speaks to the flower power in each of us.

Why aren't we going to be going that way?

Then I turn back to the "news" channel hydra CNNFOXMSNBC to watch HardballFactorSituationDMorrisFOX aka Lords of Illusions they have already picked their favorite Fantasy Politician League players and are ready to bet to the finish line which candidate will make them the most ratings.

You'd think Giulliani saved Jesus at the Battle of New Orleans with his best girl by his side.

You'd think that actor guy, who is uglier than sin and so full of shit that he still thinks Libby is innocent, would be the next Ronald Reagan (blessed be his name before all others in the heavily book of Rove)

Then there’s the fake candidate Mitt Romney and his "just chill out" reaction to a recent citizen who asked him to justify previous comments, and his pathetic attack on Obama's call to consider responsible discussion on sex in schools.

Many of these candidates for both the GOP and DEMs are frauds and full of themselves to think they should preside over a nation. I call into question most of their motivations and almost all their political actions.

What use is our system if the candidates are only going to be some of the glibbest and shameless people who can stand up and say, "I'll be the light" for you to follow?

I kind of like Ron Paul. He's from our neck of the woods and represents a smaller government like I believe in. Could you see the GOP nominating a man who says that the US was a victim of its own policies?

California says yes to Ron Paul right now in the polls, but barely a blip elsewhere it seems.

Back to Reparations

I support the full action of our Federal government to open a full discussion and official statement acknowledgment of responsibility and remorse from the United States and founding colonists to the First Nation people's that were the victims of genocide. I want the same proclamation to resound remorse for the devastation to our border area in the South due to an ongoing war with Mexico and an agreement to work out remaining struggles in the best interests of the locals in those areas today.

I demand the Federal Government fully acknowledge the violation of the toppling of the Hawaiian monarchy and imperialist invasion of Hawaii and other island nations.

I support the full action of our Federal Government to open a full discussion on the inner workings of chattel slavery, jim crow laws, and segregation and the needed systematic changes that would reflect a society that would have existed had African slaves been able to settle here as free people, never having been slave to no man and able to reach an equal status from the start instead of being explicitly valued as 3/5ths a human being.

I support whatever reassessment of revenue from the taxes of known survivors of slavery and their progeny for a period across at least 3 generations, tax breaks for businesses in impoverished communities regardless of race, and forward reaching legislation that encourages the Federal government to balance investment in communities in a fashion that balances the nation as a whole and establishes or restores stability to needed communities.

Most important though, I support the open dialogue about the travesty of slavery, jim crow laws and segregation outside the white guilt paradigm, and without the 'why do I have to write a check' mentality. I want to see our leaders willingly, thru goodwill and love for our future, start talking about how such a painful history can be redeemed thru actions of current and future generations.

or at least...

Let me have a candidate who doesn't say, "I don't support reparations" then describes reparations.

Let me have a candidate who isn't talking about race as a way to get elected but is tired of the underlying racism, classism, and sexism, that runs this system.

February 24, 2007, Virginia became the first state of the US to acknowledge involvement and wrong doing in slavery. When will the others step forward and do the same? When will the Federal Government do the same?

What do you think?

I'm not a sports junkie. I've spent too many hours emploring my city to spend the big stadium money on local community building needs and ideas. Even when a mega-church took over our old basketball/hockey/concert facility, I asked why we couldn't turn it into a sports facility for kids to have sports like soccer, basketball and others. So, all the sports channels and magazines going on and on about sports seems quite a distraction from my primary concerns.

Save one.

I have loved Le Tour De France since I was a teen. I have the knowledge of its inner history like baseball junkies can quote Ty Cobb's record and the value of tobacco cards. With some near mythic legends in the race like Eddie Merckx, Fausto Coppi, Jacques Anquetil, and Bernard Hinault, and anectdotes galore, the Tour is no normal sports event. It is like having a Superbowl every day in a different city for 23 days. I watched the tour while it was under the guidance of Jacques Goddet and Félix Lévitan (1962 to 1986) Jean-François Naquet-Radiguet (1987 to 1988) Jean-Pierre Courcol (1988 to 1989) Jean-Marie Leblanc (1989 to 2005). Maybe their influence has something to notice like NFL commissioners and the like in our big leagues.

This race did a few things for me that one might not see elsewhere, except maybe World Cup, if you're into that.

1.) gave me distinctions of the European cultures and senses of nationalism.

2.) taught me about Basque nationalism.

3.) reminded me yearly of Bastille Day

4.) provided some connection to study Bernard Tapie and his Murdochesque desire to be everywhere and in control of so much. la vie claire

But most interesting to me were the 'russians' in the race and how they were the fastest track riders we'd ever seen, great at sprinting, and yet so unknown outside Olmypic circles. It was a key indicator of how things were changing related to the Soviet meltdown.

Then came the American dominance of the tour with Lance Armstrong. Now, I don't know Lance personally at all, and couldn't tell you while swearing on...well...something sacred to me,...whether he's a corrupt person and has a good public smile. I could however tell you that my grandmother really looked to him for hope related to her cancer and at least knew someone had beat the damned disease that gets 1 of 2 men and 2 of 3 women. And I knew he could easily have had an inner determination that a person who had not beaten cancer might not have.

And from 2002 on, I was watching the "freedom fries" garbage mix with an adulation of the great rugged Armstrong figure dominate that little whimpy snooty France. (that's how it was presented anyway)

Their last great champion was Bernard Hinault, unless you recognize Laurent Fignon as a champion figure (i dig him). The Americans, and of course The Spaniard, dominating your race in conjunction with their dominance of Iraq, Afghanistan, and influence around the world wouldn't seem too favorable to me if I were French.

But what is on my mind now is...I'm Not Watching This Year.

I know that so far, 3 people have been booted and several teams have pulled out as a result. And the same method to announce the test results is being called in question. The same lab is being used, and it is the same tour organizer, Christiane Prudhomme.

I'm tuned in on it for a different reason though. Its because I truly believe in habeaus corpus. I have been told, and don't care if its true outside of symbol, that I'm descended from King John, who signed the Magna Carta, and many of the barons who were rebelling who made him sign it. The principle of the document established a person's right to some justice.

"we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right."

Accusations take seconds to make and if false never quit their ringing. And accusations that are true often get mitigated by the frequency of 'WOLF!' by others while the witness or victims of wrongs go ignored.

Comes forth Floyd Landis

Last year I was already beginning my tune out, so my little "protest" over the conduct this year isn't really isolated. I sort of tuned in, but wasn't video taping all the stages like i've done for almost 20 years. As fate has it, I taped 3 stages...the first, the last, and...the fateful stage 17 where Landis came from a big bonk the day before and recaptured his win for the Tour.

As many know, he was accused of doping as seen in raised testosterone. Then I must be clear, I don't care what the lab says at this point because my primary background related to their results isn't in biochemical studies, but process of evidence...I know a little bit more about that.

So as we see these new stories of riders being immediately disqualified by a lab that follows no info release procedure that would match how we view our rights before a grand jury.

If an athlete dopes, cheats, and it can be proven, you've got my support. But with the denials mixed with bad disclosure procedures confuse it to the point that I don't tune in now.

Maybe this is the year that is needed to have a full meltdown. Maybe in a week we'll have 3 teams left and they will be only the little domestiques who are abused and ignored in the long and short of it.

And Landis still has hearings coming to conclude his innocence or guilt. I'd honestly love to see a proclaimation of innocence. I'd be none too surprised to hear guilt at this point.

Bright side

There are more germaine issues I'm focused on these days, and the tour is the tour. Maybe it will work itself out, but I will be less tied up in the TV race I've tuned into with mothlike attraction. This could give time to complete a degree or two from a good school. It could lead to more summer time with my children riding our bikes.

Ok, back to reading more impeachment opinions, looking for solutions to greater problems than French bio labs. CSPAN2 will also be airing the Judiciary committee preparing contempt charges.

I don't want to turn this into a pathetic Chris Matthews sports view either. Congress better get its act together and have some accountability. And last, I won't be writing on sports again...well at least not until after next July 14th when I might have another view on la mort de Le Tour De France.