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Invisible People
According to ABC News: “Cochran helped win acquittals for O.J. Simpson and Sean "Puffy" Combs. Starr is famous for his relentless prosecution of the Whitewater case. But now the two high-powered esquires have formed an unlikely alliance to defend three men arrested April 13 for chaining themselves to the Sudanese Embassy. Liberal talk-radio personality Joe Madison, former D.C. delegate Walter E. Fauntroy and former Reagan adviser Michael J. Horowitz landed in jail for about six hours last month after the embassy protest. The trio hopes to call public attention to the civil war and famine that have claimed 2 million Sudanese lives since 1983. Horowitz says Sudan's rulers have denied international food aid to many Sudanese Christians and animal worshippers, leaving many of them to die of starvation. Convictions on the illegal entry charges against Madison, Fauntroy and Horowitz carry penalties of up to six months in jail. Starr told ABCNEWS' Good Morning America that the men were simply displaying their feelings about how the Sudanese people have been treated by their government. "The long and short of the matter is that these individuals were not, in fact, interfering with the orderly operations of the embassy," says Starr. "They were expressing symbolically in this quiet and nonviolent way, their strong disapproval and outrage at the practices of the government of Sudan." The men hope their well-known defense duo will help shed light on Khartoum's role in the civil war and that government's failure to free slaves captured from southern Sudan. UNICEF estimates that some 12,000 to 15,000 people are now held in bondage in Sudan. Cochran says he Starr share a common concern for the plight of the Sudanese people. "Ken and I have joined forces on this very important issue of slavery in Sudan," said Cochran. "Modern day slavery, the treatment of women and children, is incomprehensible." In a symbolic flip of allegiances, Cochran represents former Reagan adviser Horowitz, and Starr is representing Democrats Fauntroy and Madison. President George W. Bush, who discussed the situation in Sudan at an American Jewish Committee event May 3, said that he has appointed a special humanitarian coordinator, USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios to the Sudan, calling it a "first step." The new administrator's focus will be on making sure that American aid gets to the needy in Sudan. "Our actions begin today," Bush said. "My Administration will continue to speak and act for as long as the persecution and atrocities in Sudan last."
Typical of a Government devoted only to itself and all those who support and feed what has become a tyrant far worse then any English King we originally sought freedom from, they place a continual emphasis on a series of smokescreens designed to make Politicians look good and deceive the very people they should be serving. While there can be no doubt that the inhumanities inflicted on the Sudanese people are wrong, it should be noted that there are also many Americans who are suffering at the hands of their Government. When welfare reform began the Government painted a picture of single mothers sitting around, watching TV all-day and making babies. Endless reports were aired on all the major TV Network news programs depicting all cash and food stamp recipients as welfare cheats, criminals and frauds. But that was not is not the true face of those seeking help in America. The people who can benefit from help have been made invisible by a Government bent on controlling everyone. Most people who need help are victims of a Government that has spent many years rewarding success and punishing failure. While stressing the need for a good education to get a good job, they cut back on student programs and allow schools to fall apart. By shifting control of federal entitlement programs to States, they create a system which I call the musical poor. States get rid of their welfare and food stamp recipients by making it impossible for them to get the benefits they need so that they’ll be forced to move elsewhere. And on it goes until they just give up. Then, the system is burdened with abandoned children and the remains of broken families. The current system of welfare in American is not designed to help people get on their feet, but rather to punish them until starvation is a better option then running to the benefits office every few weeks to keep endless appointments or fill out bottomless piles of paperwork. This mentality keeps those needing these benefits from being able to get to their jobs. Yes, most work! Many are working, raising a family and trying to attend school so that they can get better jobs. But typical of a Government bent on ignoring the less fortunate who are unable to feed the federal giant with the billions of dollars it needs to keep the citizenry in perpetual slavery, you never hear about people who have to quit school, take minimum wage jobs and watch their children starve because someone in a state benefits office writes a memo worried about the bottom line. Sure, I know. You’re not one of “those” people. You lifted yourself up by your own bootstraps and made it in the Land of the Free. But, guess what. The Government has you under even more control then they do the poor! So, you own your house, right? All paid off, huh? Just try not paying your local, state, county, regional or federal taxes and see what you own! Don’t be so quick to look down your nose at the poor. They could be you, tomorrow. Not only will the Government make sure it gives as little as possible to the poor, but the day you stop paying them the freedom tax, that money which allows YOU the right to live good in America, is the day they come after what you have left. We are taught that true liberals care about the poor and true conservatives care about themselves. It’s all a lie! While Governor of New York State, Democrat Mario Cuomo continually cut services for the poor and mentally ill. He froze the wages of those that work with the poor and care for the mentally ill. Rather then raising revenues from the rich, Democratic Mayor of New York David Dinkins sent out legions of Parking, Truck and Taxi Enforcement Agents. They spent years making it all but impossible for people who work in low income jobs such as Taxi and Delivery Truck Drivers to continue to work without paying off high fine tickets for things like improperly sized letters on the sides of trucks to dirty windshields on Cabs. Those who didn’t want to take their lives in their hands by using public transit to get into New York City faced the wrath of quota-controlled Parking Agents who wrote ticket after ticket whether they were deserved or not. For a time, the number reason people moved away from New York City was “parking tickets.” Conservatives like Rush Limbaugh are quick to say how anyone can be successful in America. While continually railing against entitlement programs, Rush himself had to borrow substantial sums of money from his relatives when his career and first marriage was on the skids. Hey Rush, not all of us have rich relatives to hit up for a c note or ten! Conservative and Liberal Lawmakers often speak of family values, but continually vote down the expansion of programs or new programs that can help people help themselves. They again remind us of the Welfare Culture previous entitlement programs gave birth to. No one wants to bring that back, but to abandon people who have already been victimized by our System is wrong. That abandonment has caused of prison system to reach record levels of incarceration. Unsupervised children, abandoned by parents having to work two or more jobs just to pay the rent and left without programs for affordable childcare, wonder the streets in search of food or an identity. Now the control freaks that run things in Washington hide behind a banner of tax relief. Of course they have to cut income taxes; they have raised all the other taxes so high that people are beginning to notice a major slip in their lifestyles. If you doubt that you are merely a pawn of the powerful consider the recent alliances between people like Ted Kennedy and George Bush on various pieces of legislation. What is the difference between the very conservative Bush and the very liberal Kennedy. Oh, probably a few hundred thousand bucks. Both are rich kids of privilege telling how well they understand the plight of the poor. The poor stand on the streets of Austin, TX, with signs that say “Will Work For Food” while the state is listed as in the top ten of those doing the least for families. The poor cannot afford to live in Boston, Mass, anymore. Or even nearby! We have all been had. Just when I thought that most Americans had fallen under the spell of Political Ideology and bought the bill of goods that Politicians are selling, I read a book called Nickel and Dimed. This is a book you probably will not hear much about because it flies in the face of what Politicians want you to believe. As the raise the Minimum Wage a paltry few cents a year, the Politicians know this will not benefit the poor and will probably just punish small business owners. But, for them it’s far cheaper and more popular then deliver real help where it’s needed. This is best illustrated by Barbara Ehrenreich in her book Nickel and Dimed. The book is the result of her experiences. In an effort to discover if people who earn low wages (from minimum to nine dollars an hour) could make ends meet, she tried doing it herself. With the admitted advantage of a car and no kids to feed, she took minimum wage jobs in several different parts of the USA. Only in Maine, where she had to work seven days a week, was Barbara able to survive on her wages. But, again, she has no family or children and owns a car. Why should you care? Because those children thrown out into the street, desperate for food and supervision of any kind are the future of this nation. They can become a legion of criminals or productive citizens. Why pay for more Police and build more jails when, for a few bucks, we can make our nation safer and show the world that we are in step with other nations that actually care about their citizens. More Police and more Jails mean more control over people, not ways to help those who need it. Laws that restrict our freedoms and help make this more of a Police State then it already is help no one except those bent on exercising absolute power over us all. Send a message to your Government. Let them know you are tired of being their cash cow while your freedoms vanish and others, less fortunate, are left to starve. Most people that need help have gotten the message. They do not want to sit around on welfare. They want to be ahead. But, like you, they want their children to be able to eat. They want to be able to spend the time with their kids, living in decent housing, and teaching them what’s right from wrong. Tell the rich liars and lawyers swatting on the sacred seats in our Government Legislature to make this a better nation by helping our people become better citizens. Tell the Politicians to stop trying to control people and start finding ways to serve them That’s what we elected them for! Use your vote while you still have one. You could end up as the next invisible person.
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