The Tribune Online, Page 3

Unchecked Capitalism and the Fall of Corporations

It is a bit premature, but I'm willing to bet that someone, somewhere knew about this Toyota situation and failed either by corporate persuasion or personal cowardice to inform the public...if I'm wrong, I apologize.

I know from whence I speak, for I am under a court decree in an out of court settlement from speaking specifically of why I left IBM, what I did for IBM, and what IBM was doing to the public. Just prior to IBM's tremendous fall from grace in the eighties going into the nineties, I saw during my bout with it, coming from all sides and couldn't imagine the line up of that support for this company, ranging from Bill Clinton, to Michael Jordan, and even David Duke of the KKK.

I was pursuing the company under the "qui tam" laws with no support by Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa in support of the "whistle blowers" laws, Democratic Representative John Conyers of Michigan, who claimed that this was not a concern within his jurisdiction, and Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who then as a US Attorney for the District of Southern Alabama refused to initiate an investigation.

I guess when they found out that I was simply a black male engineer in the employ of "Big Blue" or translated more aptly a "Nigger" versus a major white collar corporation, they refused to get involved. I deliberately refuse to use the term "N-word" which makes me want to puke with its "lukewarmth" message. I have written about this conflict in the book "How One Becomes Wealthy..." http://theroanoketribune.com/custom3.html

IBM long had a reputation of defeating opponents in court going way back before the anti-trust suit by the Carter Administration that was tossed by the incoming US Attorney General under the Reagan Administration(William French Smith, his architect of "conservative" policies) who left office immediately after turning the tide for International Business Machines. A former reporter for one of the major newspapers eventually wrote a book about "Big Blue's" fall and being that I was still involved in my legal battle during the time, I could not give details for I was unable to say anything out of court.

Nevertheless, I eventually knew that the only option I had was to expose IBM in the newspaper of which I ran an ad(Commercial Notice 5102, New York Times; April 4, 1985) telling what they were doing. That and only that brought about a settlement in 1986. It definitely was not going to happen via the judicial process of which they could beat any opponent with their money and influence that was prevalent in all segments of capitalist USA. In other words, "money talks and bullsh*t walks" when capitalism is unchecked...each and every time.

You either have to know how to "bring it" or stay in your dark hole of cowardice.

I write this article because of what I saw in the movie "The Insider" with Al Pacino and Russell Crowe about the expose of the cigarette industry. You see, when capitalism is unchecked, corporations will go as far as they can to get away with as much as profitably possible before having to come to grips with situations that cause injuries and death.

Limbaugh gives vitriol a vacation

Rush Limbaugh was one of the judges for the Miss America pageant this past Saturday whereby Miss Virginia won the title over the talented contestants. It appears that the judges were selected from a broad spectrum and not tinged by an ideologue template of which I felt Limbaugh would be bringing his own homemade batch from his "ditto head" talk show...but apparently not. Observations showed that he was jovial, amiable, pleasant to be around, and living up to the caliber of pageant judge. However, with the exception of his interview with the new Miss America on his talk show...he was back at it...still the ideologue windbag. I still fervently believe Limbaugh is an inbred racist from his upbringing in Missouri and enough talent to camouflauge it with what he calls "conservatism" aka white male supremacy.

So, what would convince me he's not an inbred racist? Well, if you must know, it will be when he opts to marry a Black American woman and raise her children as his own...short of this? Nothing!

Homophobia and the Military

The debate about homosexuality in today's military ensues. As a black man and a proud veteran of the US Navy...race was the main topic and not so much sexual orientation when I joined. During my initial boot camp training while at Great Lakes, the companies were assembled, I believe two or three times to divulge if we had homosexual tendencies. If so, we were instructed to report to the battalion commander's office. No one in my company took the offer. I am told those individuals who did got discharged. Now, this was during the Vietnam conflict and I dare say this would have been a ticket to skip it. We were also told upon getting our billet as to the more specialized fields of training that naval personnel would be boarding gun ships for "in country" missions, and all the while I was under the impression that the most I would have to do is swim and sail ships to romantic islands. I digress.

Nevertheless, as a black we were specifically forbidden while in naval uniforms to participate in civil rights marches or associated activities, and if caught in civil disturbances, we could be punished by military court...clear enough. I dare say the same rule of thumb applies to gays and lesbians...maybe not, I don't know.

Let's carry on...when arriving at boot camp with guys from various parts of the US, you didn't know the mettle of one guy from another, and the process begins to break everyone down to find out who's got what in terms of intelligence, stamina, guts, and few other qualities and then rebuild a cohesive team with a solid naval foundation. During that time I saw some of the brawniest machos break down and blubber like babies, others had mental breakdowns.

Upon graduating from boot camp and going to my first assignment which was more schools, there was this one guy who clearly had what might be considered effeminate tendencies, and smart as a whip...passing exams in the upper nineties like it was kindergarten. As to his sexual tendencies, I had absolutely no idea, but I do know that this guy could be relied on in a life and death situation when it came to intelligence, and I would welcome him on my team in any location.

So, if I were in San Diego, and saw the "Boatswain Mate" who was my company commander in boot camp dressed up and running down the street as a "flaming queen"(no disrespect to civilians who exercise this choice), I would be concerned because he would be acting like an idiot, showing gross disrespect for his position as a leader in the military and thus should be reported as unfit and dishonorably discharged. 

"Tea-baggers"...political infringers and nothing more?

The Teaparty Movement had its first national convention in Nashville this past week with the arrival of about 600 participants. From the televised interviews, their platform was that they felt the President was an "ideologue". This sounded like drivel straight out of the Limbaugh "talk soup" of which he claims having over twenty million listeners, of which only approximately one percent could even spell ideologue let alone know what it means. My math shows they were probably the ones who showed up at this assembly of less than reasonable "mental mass". Limbaugh, Hannity, Levin and a few other true right-wing ideologues were no where to be found to what could be the eventual third party that they have and still bemoan.