February 26, 2009
Family is the most important thing that I can imagine. The people, themselves, closest to me by blood, marriage and true friendship are more vital to my happiness and sanity than anything else on this earth. Sure food, clothing and shelter are the trump cards for basic survival but what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world… I got my priorities in order, do you?
The federal government is scheduled to begin its trial of Barry Bonds for perjury on March 2, 2009 in San Francisco. He is accused of bearing false witness before a federal grand jury on the question of whether he “knowingly” took steroids. How important is it for “we the people” to hang a scarlet letter on Barry Bonds? Raise your hand if you think justice cries out for a ruling that Barry Bonds “knowingly” took steroids and then shaded the truth when asked about it before a grand jury.
Our government, in the middle of a trillion dollar international economic storm is expending millions – yes millions – of our tax dollars prosecuting a pampered athlete for taking drugs to enhance his ability to entertain us.
How dare he!
I’m not advocating for mass drug abuse, anarchy or even willful ignorance of cheating. I am saying that there are more important things federal prosecutors can be working on right now.
Let’s start with this Bernie Madoff character and the $50 billion he supposedly swindled from investors. We all know you don’t pull off that kind of heist on your own. That was an inside job if I ever heard of one. Government agencies charged with the monitoring of his stock trades gave him a free ride for over a decade. How do you move $50 billion from tangible, traceable assets to thin air without a trace?
I can’t deposit ten grand in my account without setting off a series of bells and whistles at the bank. $50 billion huh? A whole lot of heavy hitters were in on that mess and we need to see them all doing the “perp – walk” not just this Madoff character who so far is being treated like a lone gunman. Where is the team of federal prosecutors making arrests; getting low level conspirators to flip; working their way up the ladder until they bring down all of Madoff’s accomplices?
How about the $125 billion that has gone missing in Iraq? There has been rampant war profiteering since the beginning of the Iraq War. United States and Iraqi government officials have diverted money earmarked for the “reconstruction” of Iraq into their own pockets in a naked and blatant grab for cash. Some Army personnel and civilian contractors have been indicted for low level profiteering – a few million here and there – but the scope of fraud that leads to $125 billion in losses has not been addressed in any meaningful way.
You would think some of our sharp, avenging angel prosecutors would be crawling all over this; making the lives of our elected officials and their big money backers squirm until we got our money back.
You got folk sweating the President over a stimulus package of $800 billion but won’t move heaven and earth to capture people who are violating the public trust and robbing America of billions during a time of war?
And what about the propensity for police officers to gun down African-American men? From New York and Amadou Diallo to the Bay Area and Oscar Grant, police have been vulgar in their violation of their fellow citizens. This madness has been going on since the 60′s (1860′s) and no one in a position of authority has taken it upon themselves to stamp it out? How many African-Americans need to be murdered by police officers before the Justice Department steps in and starts prosecuting crooked/ bigoted/ incompetent cops with the same zeal that they prosecute Gambinos, drug dealers and uppity ball players?
As an African-American man with a beautiful young sun, I admit a degree of bias in seeking protection from stray bullets. Nevertheless, with or without a proactive Justice Department, I have no intention of going out like a lamb to the slaughter. The Willie Lynch Era been over…
I am hopeful that this new Justice Department, under the capable leadership of Attorney General Holder, adjusts its priorities and focuses on what is important to all of us.
A. Baraka Scott (…brother from another)
